Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 013

I AM(5)

[ Labyrinth Clear ]

The Set Stage we returned to as soon as we finished the Labyrinth.

I’m sitting in a chair, almost completely exhausted, while the other kids seem to have gotten close and are chatting and laughing with each other. Fresh and youthful bodies. They’re different from me in many ways, as I’m already worn down in many aspects.

I’m envious.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Before I knew it, main MC Yoo Ji-in had appeared. She spoke with a smile in her voice.

“All 96 participants cleared this level test. Now, shall we introduce your mentors?”

The participants applauded. Some even let out cheers.

“High Ranker Warrior, DK.”

At Yoo Ji-in’s introduction, ‘DK’ walks in.

A man dressed like he’s about to rap at any moment. I know his face well from seeing him around. He’s actually a rapper and explorer who’s even released albums.

“Hello!”

Wooooah─ clap clap clap clap─

The participants’ reactions pour out toward him as he waves his hand in a hip manner. Many kids even jump up and overreact.

Ah, so noisy.

My knees are killing me and now my ears are under attack too.

“Next, High Ranker Warrior Kim Yoon-jun.”

Mentor Kim Yoon-jun. A man wearing a coat, but the muscles rippling underneath can’t be hidden. This one is an actor and explorer.

“Nice to meet you.”

The size of the reaction focused on him was similar to DK’s.

“Next. High Ranker Mage Yoo Yul.”

Third, Mage Yoo Yul.

Quite an unfamiliar name. So the participants’ reactions are slightly delayed, and many seem to have brain freeze at the appearance of the person entering.

I was puzzled by this person too when I watched the live broadcast.

Usually when it comes to ‘mentors,’ they’d recruit picks that are at least somewhat famous to the public, but this was a completely unknown explorer.

Anyway, she’s a plump woman. Appearance isn’t everything in the world, but considering the profession of explorer that involves running here and there, it’s quite an unusual body type.

But…

What is this?

My brow naturally furrowed. It was because of the faint aura of Magic Power emanating from her.

It’s not enough to be concerning, but it’s as if she’s already cloaked her body in Magic Power.

It’s very, very subtle, so it’s purely just my feeling.

“Lastly, High Ranker Archer Kim Ji-an.”

Meanwhile, the fourth mentor appeared. She was an archer who used Archery as her main weapon.

The four mentors and Yoo Ji-in took their seats at the judges’ table in order.

“Could everyone please come down from your chairs for a moment?”

At Yoo Ji-in’s words, the participants came down from the Set Stage and stood in a line.

“First, we’ll announce the rankings based on the level test. First, 1st to 10th place, S-tier.”

Rankings.

I’m anxious. No matter how I think about it, I feel like I’ll be in last place.

[ 1st Place Lee Jun-ho ]

[ 2nd Place Seo Ji-woo ]

[ 3rd Place Ryu Yeon-hwa ]

[ 4th Place Kang Hyeon ]

[ 5th Place Kate ]

[ 6th Place Jo Woon… ]

“The ten people whose names were called, please come forward.”

The TOP 10 stood in front of the judges.

First, mentor Kim Yoon-jun took the microphone.

“Our impressions of your level tests… first of all, they were good. I definitely thought that the skills of the MZ generation these days are quite impressive. Though there were certainly disappointing aspects too.”

He pointed at Lee Jun-ho.

“Especially Warrior Lee Jun-ho. You were perfect in every aspect. Speed, boldness, and most importantly, strength. There was nothing lacking.”

“But.”

Then DK picked up the microphone. He stared at Lee Jun-ho through his sunglasses.

“I also think you might be getting hit too much. It seems like you have the mindset that a few dozen Goblins are fine. If you keep taking hits like that, mileage accumulates without you realizing it.”

Lee Jun-ho nodded with a serious expression.

“I think I moved too aggressively because I was thinking I needed to clear it quickly.”

“That can happen. Just don’t do that in real combat. Well, anyway, congratulations on 1st place. You’re definitely qualified.”

“Thank you!”

Lee Jun-ho smiled brightly and bowed.

The mentors gave quite favorable comments to the remaining 9 people as well. About 6-7 sentences each.

“Those in 1st to 10th place, please sit in your respective ranking chairs. Now we’ll call the A-tier, 11th to 20th place explorers.”

The seating was completely rearranged, and next came 11th to 20th place.

The mentors didn’t spare advice for them. They spoke more since there were many areas lacking compared to the top ten.

“B-tier, 21st to 30th place, please come out.”

After that came 21st to 30th place,

31st to 40th place,

41st to 50th place,

51st to 60th place followed.

“We’ll call D-tier 61st to 80th place.”

From 60th place onward, it was 20 people at a time. My name wasn’t on that list either.

“Please come out.”

From D-tier onward, Yoo Ji-in spoke less, and the mentors’ comments were just a sentence or two.

Just things like “Try a bit harder” or “This part was disappointing.”

“We’ll call F-tier 81st to 96th place.”

The last F-tier.

Will I be 81st or 96th?

Actually, even being nervous is a luxury.

It took 3 hours and 20 minutes, so how could I not be 96th place?

“…94th place Kim Jang-hoon. 95th place Lee Jong-hyuk. 96th place, Seol Ha-woon.”

Now that it’s confirmed, it’s not exactly pleasant.

Anyway, I stood at the very end even among the 16 people in F-tier.

The expressions of the kids in this line are quite bad. The mentors only give them about one sentence, half a sentence and that’s it.

The confirmed editing lineup, you could say.

My situation is more serious. It’s only been 3 minutes since I stood up and my knees are already starting to hurt.

“96th place. Seol Ha-woon?”

Suddenly someone called me. It was High Ranker Mage Yoo Yul.

“…Yes.”

I answered while swallowing.

“How did you clear the last trap?”

The last trap. Honestly, I knew someone would ask about this.

But how should I answer? My mouth is completely dry.

I knew they would ask, but I hadn’t thought of an answer.

Could this be camera anxiety? Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d opened my mouth with cameras openly filming me.

“…I could see it.”

Somehow I ended up answering just like that.

“Ah. I see. Got it.”

Yoo Yul quickly lost interest.

Wait, shouldn’t you ask more about this?

Where and how did you see it, what happened to your leg, wow UDT? What did you do at UDT, why did it take so long.

“Alright. Now everyone please sit in order of your rankings.”

“…”

I limped back and sat down in my chair.

I had plummeted from 11th place to 96th place in an instant. I had definitely been next to Kang Hyeon, but now I was impossibly far from the center of the cameras.

This must be how Pluto felt when it was expelled from the planets.

Yoo Ji-in smiled from the center of the set stage.

“Before the full-scale start of Labyrinth Exploration NaN, your rankings have been determined. But don’t be too disappointed, and don’t be too happy either. These rankings are definitely fake.”

After the closing remarks about how the true rankings would ultimately be decided by the votes of the people…

“We’ll shoot the ending scene~”

A staff member interrupted.

The cameras moved to capture detailed shots of everyone from 1st to 96th place.

“Yes. That’s good.”

Filming over. PD Yoon Sa-hyuk stood up.

“Alright, now we’ll move.”

The participants and mentors moved according to the staff’s guidance.

The glamorous set stage was instantly emptied, and the lights had already been turned off, but I just sat there.

It was because of the knee pain.

Now I could barely even stand up. Probably because of the bad landing in the labyrinth.

So I quietly closed my eyes and endured the pain.

“What are you doing?”

Kim A-rang approached and asked.

“…It’s nothing.”

“Then come out quickly. We have some separate filming to do.”

Suddenly, I tapped my wrist. NaN’s information window appeared on my retina.

[ Labyrinth Exploration NaN ]Name: Seol Ha-woonRanking: 96Vote Count: Not Tallied

“…Yes.”

96th place.

My mouth tasted bitter.

I just hoped I wouldn’t get completely edited out.

* * *

──────────

Labyrinth Exploration New Season Explorer List

──────────

The order doesn’t really matter, but I just listed them by agency. There are probably a few missing.

Celion – Lee Jun-ho, Jin Ho-jong, Lee Yoon-seung.

Jeiros – Seo Ji-woo, Ryu Yeon-hwa.

Termion – Ji Woon-yul, Han Yu-ah, Yoon Hwa-rim…

Yutaka Holdings – Kate.

…

Independent – Kang Hyeon, Lee Dong-hyuk, Kim Yoon-seo, Lee Dong-ha, Seol Ha-woon

────────

─Quite a lot of independents.

─Haven’t even watched season 2.. do I have to watch 3?

─Don’t know anyone,, not really interested

└There are tons of promising ones though;; Just Lee Jun-ho alone has high ranker potential

──────────

──────────

Come here if you’re curious about the Labyrinth Exploration explorers.

──────────

I’ve been a core fan since season 1 but it seems some people don’t know, so I’ll write about a few.

First, Celion – Lee Jun-ho.

His position is warrior, and he uses a long sword. The long sword is 120cm long or something like that. His skills are impressive, but he was super famous since his specialized high school days because of his looks. There are tons of old clips floating around, so I recommend checking them out.

Jeiros – Seo Ji-woo, Ryu Yeon-hwa. I think everyone knows Jeiros only trains mages. Both are evaluated as generational talents. Seo Ji-woo is already famous from the direct cam of when she saved traffic accident victims, and she was on the track team in high school. There’s a direct cam of that too and she’s incredibly fit.

Ryu Yeonhwa is from a magic school and has walked runways too. Don’t know if she’s doing modeling gigs or just attention-seeking, but anyway she does a lot of different things. Her pure white hair is supposedly natural btw

Termion – Ji Woon-yul. She’s also a mage. She looks incredibly cute. Termion keeps things so tightly under wraps that detailed information hasn’t been revealed.

Independent – Kang Hyeon. His dad is explorer Kang Jong-hak, and I’ve actually met him. He’s so good-looking it’ll leave you speechless, so prepare your heart when you see him. Or you’ll get your heart stolen…

…There might be some inconspicuous ones among the 96, but saying it’s completely ruined is really an overstatement;;

If you’re not going to watch, then don’t, but it’s finally season 3 so I hope you don’t bash it from the start

────

─Wow how do you know all this;;

─Do you know all 96?

┗Almost? This is my only hobby.

┗lol; Are there people you don’t know?

┗Among the independents, there’s Lee Dong-ha and Seol Ha-woon. I heard Lee Dong-ha is from Magic School or something, but I don’t know, and I have no idea who Seol Ha-woon is. I know all the other 94 people lol

─Still, I don’t think it’ll surpass season 2 though lololol;;

┗ Haha, since season 2 was such a huge hit.

─Still, there’s no one like season 2’s Lee Je-hoon

┗Yeah, that’s what you think.

───

“Hmmmm.”

Editing room. Kim A-rang lurked on other communities with her smartphone.

───

Labyrinth Exploration third season NaN, confirmed for worldwide simultaneous release via OTT

───

─I can already see the producer’s philosophy and artistic intentions

─Even so, it probably won’t be as good as season 2. Will someone Lee Je-hoon level appear?

└Seo Jiwoo was fucking pretty lol check out when she was running on the track team

└Lee Jun-ho or whoever already got contacted by Murim.

─But how many years apart do these seasons come out?

─Ugh fuck I’m jealous. Just going on there makes you tons of money.

└ Nah, honestly the lower ranks don’t have much of a bright future. The whole “dungeons are good” thing is old news… Black calls happen pretty often so one wrong move and you’re straight to the grave lol It’s basically hazard pay.

└You need connections and strings. Being a salaryman might be more comfortable than getting eaten by monsters.

└Didn’t you see that? Those goblin bastards roasting the explorer alive lmaooo that shit was fucking disgusting.

“Producer Yoon. Do we really need to push the viral marketing?”

There are quite a few posts about this season, but they’re all over the place.

“Not yet. We might not need to push it at all.”

Right now, it’s a brief break during editing.

Yoon Sa-hyuk has an incredibly strict routine – he works for 50 minutes, then must take a 10-minute break. Repeat that 13 times a day and he goes home, and if you do those 13 cycles together for 7 years, you can become his right hand.

“That… Seol Ha-woon I mentioned before, have you thought about him?”

She carefully broached the subject.

Kim A-rang had conveyed information about Seol Ha-woon and her thoughts to Yoon Sa-hyuk. Yoon Sa-hyuk seemed quite surprised by Seol Ha-woon’s Zero Trap as well.

“Yeah.”

“So what I’m saying is…”

“I’ll leave the editing to you.”

The words she desperately wanted to hear. Yoon Sa-hyuk delivered them as if it was nothing, and Kim A-rang shrugged her shoulders, pretending to be nonchalant.

“Well, yes. I’ll do that.”

Despite her words, her heart was pounding. She felt that good about it. Much better than she had expected.

“Want to know why?”

“…Pardon?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk suddenly pointed at her.

“Why Producer Kim is in such a good mood.”

“…Why would I be in a good mood? I’m just tired.”

“Because it’s a picture you’re drawing yourself.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk stubbornly hit the mark.

“…”

Thinking about it, that made sense.

Every season of Labyrinth Exploration so far had gone according to Yoon Sa-hyuk’s opinions and achieved tremendous success. Even Lee Je-hoon was Yoon Sa-hyuk’s pick.

Kim A-rang, now a 7th-year PD with enough experience to handle other main programs, always felt like she was hiding behind Yoon Sa-hyuk’s shadow.

Whatever she did, Yoon Sa-hyuk would be right anyway.

In that regard, Seol Ha-woon was the first character Kim A-rang had taken on… well, saying “taken on” sounds like taking responsibility, but anyway.

He was a character she wanted to actively portray.

“Will it be okay?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk twisted his lips into a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll be angry if he breaks while you’re drawing the picture. It has to be someone who won’t break easily.”

“Breaking…”

Kim A-rang thought of Seol Ha-woon.

Considering what he did to me from the first interview, he’s definitely not someone who would break easily. He’s just slow. Because one of his legs is broken.

“…He’s already someone with a broken leg, isn’t he?”

“Pfft.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk chuckled at Kim A-rang’s joke.

This person likes these kinds of cynical jokes. It means he has somewhat sociopathic tendencies.

Kim A-rang stretched and said,

“Aaaah~ You can’t get full from the first spoonful anyway, right? If he breaks, it means my instincts were wrong, so I’ll have to accept it.”

Beep─

The alarm rang on the Digital Clock. It was the signal that break time was over.

Immediately, Yoon Sa-hyuk resumed editing, and Kim A-rang shook her head in amazement as she looked at her own screen.

“…Seol Ha-woon.”

There was Seol Ha-woon.

Confirmed at 96th place, on the Stage after everyone had left.

Sitting alone in the darkness with the lights off, staring straight ahead.

Quite coincidentally, his eyes flash blue for a moment.

It’s the perfect cut for directing.

“This is the situation of the last place…”

And how far will this 96th place climb?

Will it be worth watching?

Or will he just be forgotten like this?

Kim A-rang smiled.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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