Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 208

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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 208

Empty Car (8)

Stars shimmer in the void. Blue clusters of light seem to beckon me closer with their gestures.

This is not an illusion. These are fragments of magic power bursting forth from within my body.

Like instinct, I gather and assemble those particles.

The pain has long since transcended physical sensation. Within the agony that seems to wear down my spirit, I feel a strange tranquility instead.

Magic power.

It is both an extension of my will and the shadow of my soul.

Therefore, my magic power can draw a path that is mine alone. It can pioneer new frontiers.

It finds order on its own, coalescing and advancing toward one complete form.

The essence of a mage is not found externally.

It already exists within me.

Mental Visualization is not simply an image for implementing spells. It is the form of belief that resides in the deepest part of the mage’s inner self.

Then what do I believe in, what do I desire, and what do I seek to achieve?

My will, beliefs, and principles of action are my magic power, my soul, and my concept.

Refinement is not simply a process of improving the quality of magic power. It is a mechanism for understanding oneself more deeply.

It is a challenge that tests limits while confirming the will to rise above despite everything.

Snap.

At some moment, the world goes dark as if a string has snapped. Consciousness drifts far away.

Very faintly, I feel a warmth that is both warm and cold.

“…”

I quietly opened my eyes. Heavy snow had covered me at some point.

I blinked blankly. My entire body felt shattered, but my heart was lighter than ever before.

Particles of magic power danced in the air. I reached out and grasped them. The rhythm tinged with blue moistened my ears. Music seemed to shimmer.

I can now see, hear, and feel magic power.

A smile flowed across my lips.

* * *

Returning to the dormitory, I accessed the explorer community—specifically, the mage community.

Magicional, an academic site where mages post spells they’re researching and freely discuss them.

│HOT♨ Labyrinth Exploration NaN Next Week Labyrinth of Moonlight Village Spoilers (Insider Info Complete Summary)│

│Info Seol Ha-woon Spell Collection│

│Discussion Is Je Mal-ol Really a Genius, or a Fake Created by Broadcasting? (Data-Based Analysis)│

│Debate Seo Ji-woo VS Seol Ha-woon, Who Has More Talent as a Mage? (Voting in Progress)│

│Academic Standard Spell Hypothesis ‘Resonance Shatter’│

Here too, most topics were about Labyrinth Exploration, but among them, a popular post on the academic board caught my attention.

│Academic Standard Spell Hypothesis ‘Resonance Shatter’│

Recently in labyrinths, the threat of projectile-type attacks has been increasing. We’re trying to develop a new standard spell that can supplement the limitations of existing physical defense or evasion.

1. Target Projectile Magic Power Resonance Detection: By expanding the mage’s detection range, it captures the unique magic power frequency or physical waves possessed by approaching projectiles…

I skipped all the explanations. I stared at the spell diagram.

In my eyes, I can see the path of circuits, and magic power moves naturally.

“It won’t work.”

This standard spell is wrong.

The spell doesn’t function. The internal forces within the circuit collide with each other.

─Garion: Wow. This looks good?

─Cashona: This is more than just decent level.

─ZIAS: You could publish this as a spell book as is

─Author: Thank you haha

The concept itself is fine, but the inherent errors in the spell diagram are too critical.

After roughly registering as a member, I wrote a comment.

─SEOSEO: This won’t work. The internal forces within the circuit collide with each other.

A reply came immediately.

└Cashona: I already finished those calculations before. It can work sufficiently.

└Garion: Please provide at least minimal evidence for your claims.

└Author: Everyone, there’s no need to feed the trolls.

“…Troll?”

How ridiculous.

I specified why this spell wouldn’t work.

This author divided the spell diagram into two sections for efficient implementation, but a bigger problem arose where those sections collide with each other.

Like this, ‘efficiency’ is an element that shouldn’t be handled carelessly. If you pursue it ambiguously, the entire spell gets ruined.

─SEOSEO: …The two sections of the spell diagram inevitably collide. But if you increase the number of circuits, the efficiency you worked so hard to establish disappears… Therefore, to materialize this standard spell, you need to change the circuit deployment method from the beginning.

Third-stage refinement doesn’t simply mean enhancement of magic power.

【True Ear, True Eye】.

My trait has been amplified several times over and perfectly adapted.

I can now distinguish the operating methods and errors of spell diagrams, and operate magic power through the simple ‘act of seeing’ alone.

I have acquired such intuition.

─ZIAS: ??

─Garion: Huh?

Leaving behind the confused comments, I turned on the TV.

Labyrinth Inside

The Labyrinth Exploration production team launched a new program called ‘Labyrinth Inside’.

─Host: Welcome. This is the desk that analyzes labyrinths and explorers in detail, Labyrinth Inside. Today’s first broadcast… First, we have Kim Jeong-wook Ranker, who is the Korean branch director of the Zephyrell School and a high-ranker mage.

Under the familiar face, the subtitle [Zephyrell School Korean Branch Director] appears.

─Kim Jeong-wook: Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Jeong-wook.

─Host: And we’re joined by Professor Park Mi-sun, a former ranker and current strategic analyst

─Park Mi-sun: Hello. I’m Park Mi-sun

─Host: Finally, we have Professor Lee Hyeon-woo, an authority in the field of labyrinth psychology.

─Lee Hyeon-woo: Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Lee Hyeon-woo.

─Host: Thank you all three for taking your valuable time today. First, could Ranker Kim Jeong-wook give us an overall assessment of this Labyrinth of Moonlight Village from a mage’s perspective?

It seems to be a professional analysis program that analyzes this labyrinth for general viewers and examines the explorers’ actions.

─Host: …What about Mage Seol Ha-woon’s used bookstore base camp?

─Kim Jeong-wook: It was a very clever decision. As Professor Park mentioned earlier, there’s a clear reason why Mage Seol Ha-woon ‘specifically’ chose the used bookstore. He first realized that the used bookstore wasn’t just a simple resting space, but a ‘hub’ where information is concentrated and exchanged. He actually acquired various information there.

Actually, it wasn’t ‘specifically’ but ‘coincidentally’ the used bookstore.

─Kim Jeong-wook: Also, Mage Seol Ha-woon induced voluntary participation from explorers through the medium of brass coins, efficiently collecting and controlling information about the entire labyrinth. Furthermore, by providing other explorers with safe space and food, he increased their survival rate and consequently raised the possibility of successful labyrinth conquest. This is a strategy that showed excellent leadership aimed at achieving the common goal of labyrinth conquest, going beyond mere individual survival to the entire team.

Kim Jeong-wook speaks passionately. The screen shows footage of Seol Ha-woon receiving brass coins at the used bookstore and distributing meals to explorers, making boats to help other explorers move, etc.

─Park Mi-sun: To add to that, Explorer Seol Ha-woon’s ‘boat’ strategy is also noteworthy. By recognizing the danger of Wolryeong Bridge and directly creating and providing safe transportation, he gained the trust of other explorers and drew them under his influence. However, I see this as actions backed by meticulous calculation and strategy rather than simple altruism. Ranker Kim Jeong-wook, what are Seol Ha-woon’s weaknesses?

─Kim Jeong-wook: As of now, I’d say only mobility and durability.

─Park Mi-sun: Yes. To supplement his weakness in mobility, he instead helps other explorers and uses them to collect information, etc. Very meticulous…

“…Hmm.”

It seems my image is being established. An extremely sensitive, cold, meticulous mage who doesn’t even trust his allies.

Someone who appears altruistic but ultimately moves people according to his own calculations, a sharp-edged human.

─Park Mi-sun: The way Mage Seol Ha-woon clears labyrinths is similar to a Go player. Endlessly thinking and calculating the opponent’s next move while…

A subtitle appears below: [Seol Ha-woon is a mage who plays Go].

“Even so, it’s not to that extent.”

Lately, I’ve been really feeling that there’s quite a difference between what’s shown and reality.

Even among the current popular community posts.

│Real-time Kang Hyeon Story│

Photos of Yoon Hwa-rim, Seo Ji-woo, Kate

─They seem to have gotten really close

─Kate and Seo Ji-woo are almost like best friends

─Those three go around together almost every day

─I really thought Kate wouldn’t get close to anyone lolol

─Kate seems to be the type who secretly takes care of people she likes.. seriously unexpected

─There’s a reason Kate has so many slaves lolol

Seo Ji-woo, Kate, and Yoon Hwa-rim were confirmed as best friends. I continued exploring the community and SNS.

Before I knew it, my comment had risen to the top on Magicional, the mage community, and the topic on Labyrinth Inside had changed to Lee Jun-ho’s ending.

For today, maybe even two or three days, it seems I’ll have no choice but to slack off like this.

Actually, the side effects of refinement have drained all the strength from my body, so I can’t move.

* * *

“…Where is this place all of a sudden?”

Meanwhile, Seo Ji-woo was dragged by PD Im Hyeong-uk and arrived at some location.

It was a building shrouded in thick darkness. It looked like an abandoned factory.

“Well… it’s nothing major, but there’s someone who wants to meet you, Ji-woo.”

Im Hyeong-uk gave a bitter smile as he guided Seo Ji-woo inside.

“Me?”

“Yes. Please follow me.”

The dark interior was dimly lit with flickering lights. Two people were already waiting in the wide open ground.

One was familiar. Mage mentor Yoo Yul. She sat on a chair with her usual indifferent expression. The other person was blurry, as if hiding their body in the shadows.

“Huh? Yu-yul Mentor?”

Yoo Yul’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Then she pointed to the side.

The man who had been hidden in darkness slowly rose to his feet. He was wearing a hood pulled deep over his head.

“Nice to meet you.”

A low, rough voice.

He slowly removed his hood. The revealed face was hideous enough to make Seo Ji-woo gasp.

Half of it was distorted as if the skin had melted away, and even the other half bore clear, deep burn scars.

“Who are you?”

Seo Ji-woo’s voice trembled. A smile appeared on the man’s lips.

Pus and blood faintly leaked between his lips that were mangled from burns.

“I’m Yoo Seok-hoon, who used to be your brother Seo Ji-hyuk’s superior.”

Seo Ji-hyuk. Her heart sank at that name.

“Ahem.”

PD Im Hyeong-uk coughed awkwardly and stepped backward.

“I should get going first, right? You two, no, three of you have a good time.”

Im Hyeong-uk’s footsteps faded away to the distance as if fleeing.

Only heavy silence remained in the abandoned building.

“I came to tell you the truth.”

Yoo Seok-hoon smiled that eerie smile once more.

“The truth?”

“Aren’t you curious? How Seo Ji-hyuk died?”

Seo Ji-woo swallowed dryly for a moment.

Her brother’s death. For her, it was a wound that would never heal, and also an unsolved mystery.

The official announcement was ‘killed in action during operation,’ but there must be other facts behind it. Deeper circumstances must be lurking.

That was Seo Ji-woo’s intuition.

As if reading her thoughts, Yoo Seok-hoon quietly uttered a single phrase.

“We were betrayed.”

Betrayal.

That one word struck Seo Ji-woo’s skull like a hammer. Her mind felt frozen in an instant.

Betrayal? By whom? Why on earth? Why her brother?

Countless questions spun around in her head, but she couldn’t voice them.

Then, Yoo Yul, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.

“Seeing is believing.”

Seo Ji-woo turned to look at Yoo Yul. Between her fingers was an orb tinged with blue light.

A mysterious color rippled in the darkness.

“It’s the memory of the dead who died alongside Seo Ji-hyuk.”

The memory of the dead. Seo Ji-woo couldn’t even guess what that meant.

“Ji-woo, do you want to see it directly? That day, how this dead person remembers it.”

“…”

Seo Ji-woo looked back and forth between Yoo Seok-hoon and Yoo Yul with trembling eyes.

Yoo Seok-hoon simply watched her, and Yoo Yul remained expressionless as always.

Finally, Seo Ji-woo let out a breath.

“…Show me.”

Yoo Yul nodded slightly. She extended her hand holding the orb forward.

Whoooosh…

Light burst from the orb and filled the entire building.

Whiiiiiii─!

Soon wind began to swirl.

So hot and dry it was hard to open one’s eyes──

It was the desert’s hot wind.

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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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