Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 212

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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 212

Child of Beginning (1)

Yoo Seok-hoon stood on Han River Bridge. He gazed at the dark flowing waves and fell into thought. He imagined sinking forever into these depths.

There was nothing left anymore. He wasn’t a soldier, and revenge wasn’t as sweet as he had thought.

What did I even want?

Did I want Seo Ji-woo to hang herself, or did I want Seo Ji-hyuk to be defiled?

“…From the beginning.”

He startled at the sudden voice and turned to look beside him.

It was Seo Ji-woo. She had appeared at some point and slowly approached. Everything about her resembled Seo Ji-hyuk remarkably.

“I wished my brother wasn’t a soldier.”

She continued speaking quietly.

“I wished he wouldn’t get hurt, wouldn’t die. I wished he would be a brother by my side rather than a proud brother.”

Yoo Seok-hoon stared at her profile.

“But my brother couldn’t do that, it seems. He had to be there, it seems. To do the things he believed were right.”

Seo Ji-woo raised her gaze. Yoo Seok-hoon was reflected in her blue eyes.

“I’m just saying that’s how I felt.”

A faint smile spread across her lips.

“Since no one is perfect, I understand Major Yoo Seok-hoon hating my brother. My brother made a terrible mistake. He sacrificed his unit members for his own beliefs and greed.”

The person who loved Seo Ji-hyuk more than anyone was acknowledging Seo Ji-hyuk’s wrongdoing.

Yoo Seok-hoon took a breath without saying anything.

“My brother wasn’t a hero.”

How are heroes made?

And how were they made?

To the higher-ups, the name ‘Seo Ji-hyuk’ was most suitable.

He had defied orders from above. He rejected the political game involving multiple countries coveting Gustav’s magic.

In the end, he sacrificed himself to rescue the children. It was a result exchanged for his unit members’ lives, but value judgment was impossible.

To Yoo Seok-hoon, his comrades were more precious, and to the world, the children were more precious.

Lives cannot be weighed for importance. We just conveniently count numbers. It might be instinctive calculation. The younger the age, the more people, the more precious…

“Major, please do what you want to do. It’s okay to expose my brother’s wrongdoings.”

All the unit members were buried at the National Cemetery. However, they weren’t remembered by everyone like Seo Ji-hyuk was.

“You have the right to do so, Major.”

But even if that were changed, even if the truth were revealed now, what could really be different?

Time that has already flowed by cannot be turned back.

“…Go.”

Right now, it was just too burdensome to look at. This woman resembled Seo Ji-hyuk too much.

Seo Ji-woo bowed her head and left.

“…”

Yoo Seok-hoon let out a hollow laugh on the empty bridge. He just found himself laughing.

Then.

“What are you planning to do now?”

Yoo Yul appeared from somewhere.

She was a strange person. Her build was small, but her presence was dozens of times greater.

Even when he met 4-star officers, it wasn’t to this extent.

Yoo Seok-hoon lowered his face and answered quietly.

“I don’t know.”

He had been stopped for too long. He had been trapped in hellish days.

Did he have the driving force to move, the fuel to go forward?

It didn’t seem like it.

It seemed like it was time to fade away now.

“Don’t you still have things left to do?”

Yoo Seok-hoon raised his head. There was some certainty in Yoo Yul’s eyes.

She seemed to know everything about him. She had too vast a range to be just a mage.

Yoo Seok-hoon remembered something Seo Ji-hyuk had said once.

“Ji-hyuk once said he met a mage long ago.”

He looked at her intently and asked.

“Was that you by any chance?”

“…”

Yoo Yul silently leaned her back against the railing. She looked up at the night sky for a while like that.

“Well. I’ve met so many people.”

Gradually, her body grows longer. The plump flesh seems to go down and stretch upward, making her clothes loose.

Yoo Seok-hoon was shocked.

“But I could have met him at least once. With one of my memories.”

Her voice had changed. Her eyes held the light of a crescent moon.

She turned her gaze diagonally.

“What are you staring at like that?”

“No…”

Yoo Yul, no, Tae-yul.

One of the mages who could be counted among the best not just in South Korea but worldwide, and not just in the present but in history.

“Were you… the mentor?”

Tae-yul chuckled.

“I thought a few people would notice, but I guess the character ‘yul’ is common. Only one person figured it out.”

“That one person is…”

“Who do you think?”

Her counter-question was the answer itself.

Seol Ha-woon.

“I thought he didn’t know, so I was playing along a bit.”

Yoo Seok-hoon shook his confused head left and right and asked back.

“Why go so far as to hide your appearance-“

“It’s fun.”

Tae-yul took out gum from her pocket and chewed it. Her expression was quite innocent.

“You were fun too.”

“…Was it just for fun?”

Tae-woo and Tae-yul. These two siblings are particularly special even among mages.

“Then what would I seek from you? Sorry, but I have no feelings toward you.”

Becoming a mage doesn’t suddenly age you by decades. It doesn’t make you mature. It doesn’t make you live forever.

They are just ordinary humans with insight and experience proportional to the years they’ve lived.

“You’re just entertainment.”

However, Tae-yul and Tae-woo have lived ‘longer’ than their physical time.

“My helping you, watching over Seol Ha-woon and Kang Hyeon and enjoying labyrinth exploration – it’s all because it’s fun.”

If age is proportional to the size of memories, Tae-yul is already an old tree that has lived decades longer than now.

“I’m curious.”

Tae-yul asked with her eyes slanted diagonally.

“Whether you’ll commit suicide here, or challenge that task you haven’t completed yet.”

Yoo Seok-hoon met her gaze head-on.

“I… will exit here.”

But he wouldn’t choose either option.

Until just a moment ago, it was definitely one of the two, but Seo Ji-woo had changed him.

“Ice cream. I’m thinking of starting a franchise. I have quite a lot of national compensation money left.”

Tae-yul blinked for a moment then chuckled. She nodded and approached him.

“That sounds fun.”

Then he placed his palm diagonally on his face.

“In the end, what’s visible is the problem. Human society is like that. We all live deceiving our inner selves.”

Swooosh… Gentle magic power sprayed out from his palm like waves. It covered Yoo Seok-hoon’s burned face as if caressing it.

He unconsciously closed his eyes.

Before long, Tae-yul took a step back.

“That is merely a mask, but if you never take it off, it’s no different from your bare face.”

Yoo Seok-hoon blankly placed his hand on his own face. There was skin. Instead of scars and pus, he felt smooth flesh.

“Think of it as a reward for the entertainment you provided.”

She was pleased.

The memories of the dead man named Yoon Jeong-hyeop, the life of the human named Yoo Seok-hoon, Seo Ji-hyuk’s contradictory ending, and above all, that bastard Seol Ha-woon’s unexpected tears.

“In my view, it was quite satisfactory.”

Tap.

Tae-yul turned around.

“Ah…”

As a single tear flowed down from Yoo Seok-hoon’s eyes, Tae-yul disappeared like mist.

He hurriedly lifted his cell phone to reflect his face.

It was perfectly restored.

To the face of a man in his thirties that had remained in Yoon Jeong-hyeop’s memories, but aged a bit more naturally than that.

“Hah…”

Yoo Seok-hoon breathed heavily and fell to his knees.

A mage is a being who can completely destroy or save a human.

That maxim he had heard once was desperately understood.

* * *

…What was that ‘form’?

In the underground of the desert, I gazed at it.

When the door opened, what did I see inside it?

Did I see anything at all?

A door is surely a device that separates inside from outside.

──!

The explosion that seemed like starlight was overflowing.

What completely destroyed my body lasted only an instant. But that moment felt too long to me. Fragments of consciousness floated beside me.

It was definitely related to Seo Ji-hyuk’s death.

I still had an incomplete mission remaining.

〔Beep. The Astroal Hotel and bank have been completed.〕

After finishing my morning routine, I came to Astroal Merchandise. I was thinking of chatting with Aro for a while.

Since she’s the only one I can open my heart to.

“Indeed. They’re well built.”

The hotel and bank. Everything was completed. I don’t know how much money this will make.

Will I be able to spend what I earn? It seems like everything just gets reinvested.

〔Master.〕

“Give me a few mints.”

I still have some aftereffects from refinement.

〔There is a reserved VIP guest here to see you.〕

“…A reserved VIP guest?”

Thud. Footsteps approaching from behind the main office building. Then a voice was heard.

“Nice to see you.”

It was the mage Tae-woo. He casually approached and sat down in a chair.

I stared at him blankly. He was an unexpected visitor.

“What brings you here?”

His profile definitely resembled a wolf.

Tae-woo asked.

“Are you the owner of this space?”

“Yes.”

There was no need to lie. He was asking while already knowing.

Tae-woo nodded.

“Well made.”

〔I’m in charge of overall operations and design.〕

Aro suddenly took credit. I glared at her.

“This is my eighth visit.”

〔I’ve recorded today’s date and visit number.〕

Aro seemed to have developed some kind of connection with Tae-woo. Tae-woo looked at me and explained.

“I’m not good with time.”

“A mage doesn’t know time?”

“I’m a bit mixed up. I became that way at some point.”

“…Did you invent a time machine or something?”

The mage of time and space.

That’s Tae-woo’s epithet, but even for a mage, the idea of manipulating time is hard to believe.

He took out a cigarette pack from his inner pocket. While picking out a cigarette, he asked.

“Seol Ha-woon, what kind of gesture do you like?”

“Gesture?”

“Yeah. Any hand motion is fine.”

I thought for a moment, then raised one hand to my forehead. It was shading my eyes.

“So that was it.”

Tae-woo took out his smartphone and showed me his gallery. It was full of old newspaper clippings.

“What is this?”

“An album collecting me.”

A real photo of a March 18, 1934 article that he found while scrolling through his gallery.

Kyeongseong where streetcars operate!

Streetcars racing through Gyeongseong.

There was someone who had taken a photo while shading their eyes in front of some streetcar.

He looked like Tae-woo.

No, it was definitely Tae-woo. His appearance was too alien for the 1934 scenery.

“Is this you?”

“Yes. Not now, but it’s a photo my future self will take.”

“…”

I stared at him blankly.

A mage.

A real mage had appeared.

“To be precise, I don’t ride a time machine. I deviate from the timeline. That’s my magic.”

Tae-woo continued speaking while exhaling smoke.

Now that I look at it, even the cigarette pack isn’t a modern item. It’s Doraji cigarettes that have already been discontinued.

“Just like how MoMo is part of magic.”

Tae-woo mentioned MoMo. I was greatly surprised, but didn’t show it.

“…How do you know about MoMo?”

“You told me. A slightly more future you told a slightly more past me.”

Tae-woo raised his eyebrows.

“Seol Ha-woon. You’re a mage candidate.”

He then stubbed out his cigarette in a portable ashtray.

“I have the authority to visit you anytime, and if you waver or go berserk, I have the duty to exclude you. I’m a specialist in that regard.”

His eyes sharpened like a beast’s. It was quite a deadly warning.

I shook my head.

“There’s no way I would do that.”

I had already been shaken enough to be shaken, exploded enough to explode, and came this far.

“Right.”

Tae-woo had always been expressionless from our first meeting until now.

“And don’t underestimate the mage. Does that woman not know you?”

That woman probably meant Yoo Yul.

“I’m aware of that too.”

All operations proceed under the assumption that the opponent ‘might know.’

It’s an infinite loop anyway. I know that you know that I know that you know that I know that you know.

What matters is the timing of taking action, so nothing changes yet.

“But… Tae-woo.”

Before that, Tae-woo knows about MoMo.

If that’s the case, then perhaps.

“Do you also know about the door?”

“The future me might know.”

Tae-woo’s immediate answer was ambiguous. Neither affirmative nor negative, but words discussing timing.

“However, I can’t be certain that future me is me. Just like you can’t say the you from 5 years ago is you.”

I nodded.

The me from back then and the me now are different. We might be completely separate people.

“But it’s certain that you from that day saw magic.”

Tae-woo turned away from me.

“And most magic is better for the world when it disappears.”

Step. Step. I don’t know why, but his footsteps were particularly heavy.

“I’ll come find you again later. There’ll probably be fun in matching timelines.”

He soon created a rift in the air and left the subspace.

Whoooosh… Wind flowed in through the gap and then stopped.

Beep. Aro’s panel flickered.

〔It’s the Time Mage.〕

“…That’s right.”

A mage who gained the concepts of time and space through his own magic.

I can’t even begin to grasp where he stands. I can’t even see what level he’s at.

For me, there’s still a long way to go.

* * *

The day of filming when all the explorers returned from vacation.

The filming schedule was set again.

“Ah. Looks like it’s group viewing again today. How embarrassing.”

Im Hae-jun next to me grumbled. This time too, we gathered in a large room.

“Hyung. Did you have a good time?”

“Hyung-nim. I missed you haha.”

Kang Hyeon, Lee Jong-soo, Kim Dong-ha and others greeted me and naturally gathered nearby.

“Ah, move aside hyung, this is my seat.”

Im Hae-jun growled, trying to secure the seat next to me.

“You move away. My ears hurt.”

“…Master, I’m hurt.”

Just then, Yoo Ji-in appeared.

“It’s good to see everyone.”

She smiled bitterly and glanced around at us.

“There really isn’t much left now, the remaining labyrinths too…”

She suddenly stopped speaking. She sniffled as if holding back tears, then fanned herself with her hand fan to compose herself.

“I’m sorry. I suddenly got emotional…”

“It’s okay!”

“Don’t worry about it!”

The explorers encouraged her with applause, and

“Alright. Then…”

Yoo Ji-in smiled brightly again and resumed her commentary.

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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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