Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 200

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

Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 200

Still life(16)

Hyeon’s Kitchen

In the restaurant bustling with business, Yoon Hwa-rim suddenly looked up at the sky.

“…?”

Something was flowing down. It was falling smoothly from the air, faintly shimmering before settling on the ground.

“Shooting stars?”

At Yoon Hwa-rim’s words, Lee Jong-soo also looked up in that direction. After squinting his eyes for a moment, he nodded as if he understood.

“Ah~ Hwa-rim. This labyrinth seems like it’ll end soon.”

“…Huh? No! Give us just a few more days! We’re in first place!”

Yoon Hwa-rim pouted her lips in disappointment. Lee Jong-soo similarly frowned.

“I know.”

Hyeon’s Kitchen had worked hard all this time and had now become a symbol of this street.

Everyone recognizes us. Everyone loves our food.

“We could still do more. We even finished developing new menu items….”

It’s disappointing.

Lee Jong-soo sighed and murmured wistfully.

“…It really felt like I lived a different life.”

“Exactly.”

Our career paths are already decided. Only explorer. For at least 10-20 years, we’ll be going around labyrinths and fields to make money, or filming programs at broadcasting stations.

Sometimes I really wondered if this was the life I wanted.

That’s why I liked this labyrinth. I could dream of something different, even if just for a while.

Yoon Hwa-rim looked at Kang Hyeon inside the kitchen.

“Hyeon. They say we’re ending soon.”

Then Kang Hyeon also poked his head out of the kitchen.

“So?”

“…So? Aren’t you disappointed?”

“Work.”

Kang Hyeon gestured with his chin toward the restaurant interior, still full of customers.

“There are still lots of customers. We need to do our best until the end.”

“…Pfft. Fine. Okay.”

Lee Jong-soo moved busily again.

“Hyeon’s so cold~ You’re a T type.”

Yoon Hwa-rim also stood in front of the counter.

“….”

Kang Hyeon looked up at the sky alone in the kitchen. Very faintly, very briefly. A slight smile seemed to cross his lips.

“It was good though.”

He murmured his disappointment in a voice so small that no one could hear.

* * *

Appraisal shop. Seo Ji-woo hummed while disposing of the items she had looted today.

“Thank you~ Take care~”

The caring was endless. So much that even I was surprised.

Seo Ji-woo pondered her talent.

I’m lucky. When I ‘decide’ to be lucky, I really become lucky.

People say my talent is luck these days, is that really true?

“Maybe I should try stocks.”

That’s what I’m thinking these days.

“…Hm?”

Suddenly, something was falling gently from the sky.

Shooting stars.

Even in broad daylight, dozens, hundreds of shooting stars were raining down in all directions.

“Must be a signal.”

This labyrinth will probably end soon too. Seo Ji-woo touched her nose tip for no reason. It is a bit sad.

She continued walking down the street and spotted a familiar back of a head.

“Oh? Hey!”

She approached cheerfully and put her hand on that shoulder.

“Kate!”

It was Kate. She glared at Seo Ji-woo with a deeply furrowed brow.

“…What are you doing?”

“The labyrinth seems like it’ll end soon. Look at the sky.”

“Move. I’m looking for traces.”

What traces, I looked and saw Kate holding a classic magnifying glass in one hand. Her outfit was also flashy like some Sherlock Holmes.

“Are you a detective or something?”

Kate asked Seo Ji-woo while following traces on the ground with her magnifying glass.

“Did you make a lot of money?”

“Yeah.”

“How much? I made a whopping five hundred-“

“30 million caring.”

“….”

Kate froze instantly. She stiffened in her slightly bent posture.

Seo Ji-woo asked back.

“How much did you make?”

“….”

Kate mumbled her lips then lifted one corner of her mouth. She pretended to be nonchalant and raised her nose.

“I carry a sense of mission rather than money. I’m a detective.”

“You asked first.”

“Well.”

“What do you mean well.”

“Shh. Focus.”

Kate focused on the evidence on the road surface again.

No need to get aggro from this lucky grasshopper.

…Anyway, I have way more money in the real world.

“I’ll help you too. Whatever it is, we need to catch it before this labyrinth ends.”

But this grasshopper keeps clinging persistently.

Kate didn’t particularly refuse either. She knew it would be useless to refuse.

* * *

Lee Jun-ho likewise looked up at the shooting stars flowing down outside the window and smiled bitterly.

It’ll end soon.

Well, I’ve been here for quite a long time. At first, I wondered what this was. Just live life without any format.

But I lived life as instructed, and somehow it worked out.

If you just live somehow, life somehow works out.

“….”

Lee Jun-ho looked at the children in the room. Would these squirming beggars be able to grow up well? Would they be able to move forward while protecting what they had?

No.

There was no need to worry about such things anymore.

When we leave, this world will end.

These children will also disappear along with this labyrinth.

“…I don’t know.”

Once this broadcast aired, he would probably get heavily criticized. He might even be called to a government audit. ‘Jun-ho Lee who empathized with the Labyrinth People~’ or something like that.

It was a fact, so there was nothing he could do about it.

Clearly, the labyrinth’s goal was to earn caring, but I ended up squandering caring because I was distracted by the Labyrinth People.

I don’t regret it.

I will do what I want to do and live how I want to live.

“Hyung. What are you thinking about?”

Suddenly, the beggar kid asked. His head was only the size of a chestnut, but his limbs were long and lanky, showing promising growth potential – he was the next leader.

Jun-ho chuckled and placed his hand on the kid’s head.

“I’m thinking about whether you, being my successor, will be able to carry on well~”

“Hyung, where are you going…?”

“….”

The question about where he was going annoyed him a bit. It made him grind his teeth until his jaw ached.

“I’m not going anywhere, you punk. I told you from the beginning. I can’t stay for long.”

At that, the leader beggar hung his head low. He seemed very disappointed, but he didn’t ask if Jun-ho couldn’t stay. That was the nature of their promised relationship.

“Take care, okay?”

The beggar smiled at the words to take care. Jun-ho smiled back in response.

“Yes, hyung. I’ll take good care of the younger ones.”

“Good. I trust you.”

Jun-ho nodded and casually looked up toward the window.

He watched the cluster of stars flowing down in white trails together with the kids who resembled his younger sibling.

* * *

After finishing his speech, Arkal returned to the top floor of the school. He looked at the ‘key’ stored in the safe.

Where is the magic of the Magic School kept?

No, what is magic?

It is this entire school.

The reason this school was built on this site in the first place was to manifest magic using students as a medium.

Magic requires sacrifice.

Not all magic is like this, but this school’s magic is.

Perhaps those bastards from the Corrupt Council were right.

The ancestors of the past knew of this world’s inevitable destruction, so they developed this kind of magic and left it at the school.

If they used the lives and magic power of thousands of mages growing here as the price, the door could definitely be opened.

“Professor Arkal.”

Suddenly, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from behind. He could tell without turning around.

Seol Ha-woon. Sunlight streaming through the window cracks gently wrapped around his silhouette.

Arkal looked at him. Seol Ha-woon spoke in a low voice.

“I think I must leave now.”

The atmosphere contained in his words about leaving was quite different. Unlike his usual self, there was a somewhat sharp tone to it.

“I see.”

Arkal answered briefly and turned his gaze back to the window. He hadn’t expected them to be together for long anyway.

“Are you also concerned, Professor?”

“Concerned?”

“Yes. What the enemies said.”

Seol Ha-woon gestured toward the key in the safe.

“They kept babbling that this world could only survive by connecting to other dimensions.”

Seol Ha-woon suspected Arkal. Therefore, this was a question to probe his true intentions.

Whether this professor might change his mind and try to manifest the magic.

Seol Ha-woon doesn’t trust people easily.

“…Haha.”

At that, a gentle smile appeared on Arkal’s lips.

“Seol Ha-woon. What do you think nobility is?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been a noble.”

“It’s a consciousness that prioritizes instinct.”

Arkal looked into Seol Ha-woon’s eyes. His gaze was truly upright. Clearer and more transparent than anyone Arkal had ever seen.

Rather, that’s precisely why his depth was immeasurable. He reflected everything, but revealed nothing of himself.

“In my life, what do I prioritize most?”

Arkal continued quietly.

“Ultimately, it’s consciousness. The consciousness of being chosen. Having the privilege of nobility, one must not act cowardly. I must not commit vile and dirty acts to save myself. We nobles must show behavior befitting our consciousness.”

He clenched his fist firmly.

“In that regard, you are also a noble in a broad sense. Seol Ha-woon.”

“….”

In Seol Ha-woon’s opinion, Arkal was not a chosen person. He was merely a selective person.

However, everyone in the world is a selective person.

What matters is which way that selection leans.

If one can make the right choice at the most crucial moment, that person can be called a righteous person.

Arkal was sufficiently righteous.

“Yes.”

Seol Ha-woon approached Arkal and extended his hand.

“I understand.”

Arkal gladly took his hand.

The prickly yet warm warmth seemed to convey many things.

“You’ve worked hard all this time. I wish blessings upon your future path.”

Just as Arkal was sincerely blessing his future.

[The life game will end soon.]

In the air, a System Message appeared clearly. Seol Ha-woon stared at those letters before looking back at Arkal.

“…Yes. I also learned many things from you, Professor.”

Arkal answered with a benevolent smile.

“Of course you did.”

Arkal to the very end. Arrogant, an egoist overflowing with elitist consciousness.

Seol Ha-woon bowed deeply to Arkal. He left the school without regret.

In the school campus, Silo and Erica, Il Hae-jun and Lee Hae-jun were sitting. They smiled brightly and waved their hands at me.

After exchanging eye greetings, I entered the security room.

Inside, I quietly prepared for farewell.

* * *

“…It’s over.”

Jun-ho confirmed where he was standing.

It was a familiar set stage.

The life I had achieved there had disappeared, and I had returned to my hometown again.

Empty.

My heart feels a little hollow too.

“Wow~”

“It’s over.”

“…Hey guys. How much did you all make?”

“Ah, I couldn’t check exactly. It was several million though.”

Everyone is chatting.

Kang Hyeon gathers with Yoon Hwa-rim and Lee Jong-soo to take photos, Kate and Seo Ji-woo argue about who did poorly and who did well, and Im Hae-jun glances at Seo Ji-woo while quietly slipping out through the back gate.

“Looks like you got along well?”

Lee Jun-ho flinched and turned that way. It was Seol Ha-woon.

He’s the same.

Seol Ha-woon alone is exactly the same as before this labyrinth. Not different at all, constant, and that’s why I’m so glad to see him. Somehow it’s reassuring.

Lee Jun-ho called out to him.

“…Hyung.”

Seol Ha-woon tilted his head. It was a gesture telling him to speak.

“I think I’m going to get a lot of criticism.”

At first, I tried to uphold an explorer’s duty, but those beggars were so endearing. They were unnecessarily kind and cute, so I just couldn’t leave them behind.

“Why?”

“I threw away the labyrinth. I was so focused on the Labyrinth People that money became secondary.”

Then Seol Ha-woon looked at him quietly. It seemed like he was about to say ‘you shouldn’t have done that.’

But.

“It’s okay.”

His words were unexpectedly warm.

“You came back to your place.”

For some reason, his voice is like heavy snow. Cold on the outside, but holding warmth within.

“You just need to come back.”

Seol Ha-woon said this.

“You just need to not stay in a place that isn’t yours.”

“…”

Lee Jun-ho looked at him and quietly nodded. Seol Ha-woon also nodded likewise and turned around.

It was a brief conversation. Just a few words of dialogue, but it strangely touched his heart.

It was comforting.

Lee Jun-ho sighed and smiled faintly.

“That’s right.”

They remained in that place, but I eventually returned to my place.

That’s enough.

No matter how much I wavered, no matter what other dreams I had.

“Since I came back, it’s okay.”

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