Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 183
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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 183
Shape of You(3)
A detached house in the Seoul outskirts. A house that Kang Hyeon’s father had personally designed and built.
Kang Hyeon faced an enemy there. The moment sword met sword, he recognized a master. The instant he thought he had cut, the figure scattered and retreated to the living room window.
Kang Hyeon lowered his sword. At the very least, he didn’t want to cause a commotion in this house.
“….”
He silently looked outside the window. Darkness had already settled over the exterior.
A barrier.
“Who are you?”
A man wearing a pitch-black hood. Kang Hyeon looked at him. The man pressed his temples as if his head hurt, then opened his mouth with a sigh.
“Kang Hyeon. Why did you kill them?”
That question contained multiple meanings. Kang Hyeon remained silent while sizing up his opponent.
The man removed his hood as if it wasn’t necessary anyway. Kang Hyeon hesitated at the revealed face.
“Don’t worry. It’s just pure curiosity. For now, at least.”
A famous person.
Someone evaluated to reach triple digits within three years, the winner of the ranker Labyrinth Exploration season just before.
Lee Je-hoon.
“…What do you mean?”
Kang Hyeon asked in a low voice. Lee Je-hoon sat on the sofa across from Kang Hyeon.
With his sharp facial features and angular face outline, he resembled a beast. Like a wolf coiled up.
“Kang Hyeon. I know too. That fakes exist in this world.”
Lee Je-hoon continued while fidgeting with the back of his neck. His voice was calm, but somehow precarious.
“Are you dealing with them?”
A faint breath escaped from Kang Hyeon. Lee Je-hoon chuckled.
“But do you think that’s possible? You can’t eliminate all the fakes.”
In this world, fakes are ‘proliferating’. Like cancer cells.
Lee Je-hoon was also aware of this fact.
“Kang Hyeon.”
He stared blankly at Kang Hyeon. His pupils contained some kind of understanding.
“Can you be certain that you yourself are real?”
…Kang Hyeon is certain.
The existence called Kang Hyeon can only be real. It’s not a matter of choice or belief. It’s the burden he carries from his father and from this world.
Lee Je-hoon stood up from the sofa.
“You know, right? The problem is that program.”
Magic power and magic are ultimately the power of yearning.
The wishes and attention of all citizens, no, all people worldwide are focused on Labyrinth Exploration NaN. Such enormous yearning is sufficient to create new fakes.
“I ask you. Do you think you can overcome this alone?”
How much does Lee Je-hoon know? Kang Hyeon studies him. Fortunately, he’s not as difficult to read as Seol Ha-woon.
Rather, he’s transparent.
“…I will close the ‘door’.”
So that no more fakes can flow out. So that this world won’t be eroded.
Lee Je-hoon looked at Kang Hyeon for a moment. Complex emotions crossed his face.
“Request help.”
“…Help?”
“Yes. Right now.”
Lee Je-hoon gestured toward Kang Hyeon’s pocket.
“You’re already being targeted. By us.”
Kang Hyeon took out his smartphone and sent a message to someone.
The only person he could ask for help right now.
“Kang Hyeon. You know who I am, don’t you?”
“….”
Kang Hyeon answered him with silence. Lee Je-hoon was a wavering person. Therefore, his authenticity was easily detected.
A fake.
“But you don’t need to eliminate me. I don’t need to kill you either.”
Lee Je-hoon looked out the window and smiled faintly.
“Let’s stay in touch often. I’ll DM you. We could be helpful to each other… Well then.”
Lee Je-hoon picked up his sword again.
“Shall we try some acting? I told you. We came.”
Meaning there were colleagues outside.
The moment Kang Hyeon nodded, Lee Je-hoon swung his sword.
Clang-!
Sparks flew with a sharp metallic sound. The air inside the house instantly became tense. A gust of wind swept through the interior. Kang Hyeon parried Lee Je-hoon’s sword strike while gauging his skill.
I’m still lacking. However, it’s not to the point where I can’t reach him.
The moment he thrust his sword while thinking such thoughts.
Kwaaaaaa──-!
A tremendous explosion echoed. At the same time, the barrier surrounding the house shattered like glass.
“…Just who did you request help from?”
Lee Je-hoon glanced outside as if flustered. Kang Hyeon also looked bewildered.
Multiple people’s groans and the sound of bones breaking were loud.
Lee Je-hoon hastily pulled his hood back on and rushed out the front door.
“Let’s meet again later!”
As soon as he stepped out, he disappeared like mist.
Craaash!
Afterward, the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window shattered as a giant figure entered.
“…What the.”
It was a giant. At least that big.
A burly muscular body with white hair and a white beard. Like some manga character.
He swept his gaze around the house and frowned.
“You said you were kidnapped. But you look fine?”
“Uh… I think it’s thanks to you, but I requested help from someone else-”
“That guy’s a bit late. I was a bit fast.”
David strode in and plopped down heavily on the sofa. The house seemed to shake slightly.
Kang Hyeon turned on the living room lights for now.
“Would you like some… coffee?”
“Sounds good.”
As Kang Hyeon walked to the kitchen, the man spoke.
“While I’m here, let me get an autograph too. My wife is your fan.”
“Uh… yes.”
Kang Hyeon made coffee first.
“Don’t you have any t-shirts? Like Mitamnan goods or something.”
“…There aren’t any here.”
“Then what about… some kind of treasured item? Like a sword you used.”
“….”
Kang Hyeon was momentarily at a loss for words. Was this person a robber?
“I do have one treasured item. A wooden sword I used for training when I was young-”
“Oh! If you could sign that, that would be perfect!”
David smiled with satisfaction.
Kang Hyeon thought something was off, but for now he served him coffee.
Just then, another person entered through the wide-open entrance.
“Is it already over?”
It was Seol Ha-woon.
Kang Hyeon asked with his eyes.
Who the hell is this giant person?
* * *
I had ended up staying at Kang Hyeon’s house, and now I was riding back to the dormitory in David Magic Bookstore Owner’s dump truck. Kang Hyeon was sleeping in the back seat.
Just in case, we decided he should evacuate from his house.
“He’s really handsome. He looks even better in person.”
David Magic Bookstore Owner, who had secured the signed wooden sword, looked at Kang Hyeon with affection. I silently raised my eyebrows.
Right now, I just find myself thinking.
If Kang Hyeon is the serial killer. Or if he’s caught up in some kind of ‘incident.’
Then he has changed from before the regression.
However, the only difference between before the regression and now would be me.
What about me made you move?
Ding.
A KakaoTalk message came. It was from Im Hae-jun.
[Im Hae-jun : Master, this is incredible!!]
There was a YouTube link attached.
│Seol Ha-woon Kim Du-gyeom, Court Submission Video│
“…It must have been leaked.”
I pressed the screen.
─Seol Ha-woon : Thanks for clearly confessing your murderous intent. You know? Explorers go to prison even for attempted murder.
─Kim Du-gyeom : That fucking bastard has finally lost it? No, this is good. A mere mage alone with a warrior in a confined space? You just want to die!
Kim Du-gyeom immediately swung his sword, but it trembled to a stop right in front of my forehead.
─Kim Du-gyeom : Th, this is… Fuck, fuck what the…!
─Seol Ha-woon : Listen carefully.
Crackle crackle crackle──-
His blade turned red. Ultra-high temperature magic power concentrated at one point melted the sword.
─Seol Ha-woon : The things you’ve done will be what kills you.
“Ah, I can’t watch this.”
It’s cringeworthy.
I switched to the comments section.
“They’re all in English.”
Whether the leak itself came from English-speaking countries, there were only English comments.
“Ah. You’re quite popular in America these days too.”
“How would you know about the local situation there?”
“….”
David Magic Bookstore Owner turned to look at me. His eyes said ‘what kind of guy are you?’
“Oh right.”
This person is American.
The old man chuckled.
“America has a somewhat different culture. There’s still this mindset that men should be macho, badass, that kind of thing. You seem to fit perfectly with that trend.”
“Then shouldn’t Jun-ho be number one?”
“Kate is number one. The other three guys are neck and neck. But you’re leading among them, something like that?”
“…What? Why won’t you make me number one?”
“Macho or not, there’s no country that loves Americans as much as America itself. It’s the pride of the land of freedom. Oh, with the exchange rate going up, maybe it’s the land of eighteen hundred freedoms now…”
Meanwhile, we arrived in front of the Labyrinth Exploration NaN dormitory.
“Hey. But listen.”
David asked as he stopped the car.
“Yes.”
“When are you going to pay back the book money?”
“…Oh right.”
I had forgotten about it.
* * *
Lee Je-hoon was the winner of Labyrinth Exploration Season 2.
Once an explorer who colored all of Asia. Now a four-digit ranker representing South Korea. To his mother and father, he was a successful son, and to his younger sibling, a proud older brother.
Lee Je-hoon liked himself that way. His origins and authenticity didn’t matter at all.
“…It’s glioblastoma.”
Until he heard those words on a clear day, in a medical office filled with lavender scent.
“Realistically, surgery is impossible at this stage.”
The gray-haired doctor pointed to his brain MRI scan. That calm voice shook Lee Je-hoon to his core.
“….”
It was just because of severe headaches. The occasional rushing tinnitus and dizziness, he had dismissed as nothing serious, thinking it was due to an excessive schedule.
“…How many more years can I live?”
Lee Je-hoon barely managed to ask back.
“On average, about 6 months. But given the nature of glioblastoma… if the tumor growth stops or slows down for any reason, you might expect survival longer than predicted…”
The fragments of hope the doctor tried to offer didn’t reach his ears.
“Absolutely.”
Lee Je-hoon said, hiding his trembling hands.
“Please don’t tell anyone outside.”
The doctor looked into his eyes for a moment, then quietly nodded.
“Of course.”
“…Thank you.”
The memories after that are scattered. Only fragmentary scenes remain, like old film breaking apart.
The sky he stared at blankly after leaving the hospital. The park full of people coming and going. A child who ran toward him with a smile. The tinnitus that filled his ears with a dull ache. Returning home and mindlessly turning on the TV.
[Labyrinth Exploration NaN]
[Nice to meet you. I’m the mage, Seol Ha-woon.]
A man leaning on a walking stick, limping, but introducing himself with unwavering eyes.
From that day on, Lee Je-hoon began paying attention to Seol Ha-woon.
Those who waver envy and sometimes feel jealous of those who don’t waver.
They arbitrarily assume that person can be strong because they haven’t experienced painful or sad things like themselves.
Lee Je-hoon was the same.
But Seol Ha-woon was different.
The injuries remaining throughout his body weren’t simple illnesses.
He was someone whose very breathing was a miracle.
Total paralysis. Irreversible condition.
He was someone who had returned from such death. Someone who had overcome death, not illness.
Lee Je-hoon had become his fan at some point.
─Tap.
Suddenly, footsteps approached.
He looked in that direction and smiled slightly.
“It must be fortunate for you, PD. That Kang Hyeon is safe.”
“The program wouldn’t stop just because Kang Hyeon dies.”
“Then. If all the participants die, would the program stop?”
The other person revealed themselves from the darkness.
“…Lee Je-hoon. What do you want?”
Main PD Yoon Sa-hyuk. His eyes behind his glasses were still difficult to read.
Instead of answering, Lee Je-hoon asked back.
“What do you want, PD?”
“Life. I only want everyone’s life.”
What kind of person was Yoon Sa-hyuk really?
As someone who was merely fake, he couldn’t know then or now.
“PD Yoon. I… was someone who never existed in this world from the beginning. So I hope I could become like someone who was never there for my family from the start. I hope even their memories would disappear.”
“You want your very existence to disappear?”
Yoon Sa-hyuk’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Yes. So I hope my family won’t grieve for me.”
Even if I die, I hope they won’t grieve for me.
Those who would grieve for me are more painful to me than death itself.
“I can’t let that happen.”
Yoon Sa-hyuk was firm.
“Your death will make you real. We can become better.”
Yoon Sa-hyuk continued speaking. Lee Je-hoon turned away as if he wouldn’t listen.
“Just as the real isn’t beautiful solely for being real.”
Yoon Sa-hyuk looked at his back.
“The fake also shouldn’t be destroyed solely for being fake.”
Even Lee Je-hoon himself doesn’t know his own beginning. Probably many parts of his memories are fake.
He had simply appeared suddenly in this world and blended in as if he had always ‘existed.’
He became the eldest son to a family that only had one child, became an older brother, and the world naturally accepted such a him.
If only he hadn’t known he was fake.
It would have been better if he hadn’t known…
Ring ring ring.
The ringing phone. Yoon Sa-hyuk took out his smartphone.
It was Kim A-rang.
“Yeah. PD Kim.”
He answered while looking up at the sky. Moonlight brushed across his glasses.
“I’ll be coming in soon.”
He suddenly smiled.
The mindset needed in this field is optimism. Not agonizing over uncertain pessimism, but simply believing in myself.
“We need to prepare for labyrinth entry.”
Yoon Sa-hyuk is certain.
I will be able to protect them.
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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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