Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 221

—————
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 221

Child of Beginning (10)

Wol-ryeong Village Housing Complex

A spooky alley where various houses of Wol-ryeong Village are gathered. Lee Jun-ho walks along the roadside and bends his knees.

─Lee Jun-ho: …This.

Something red has fallen on the ground.

At first glance it looks like a red stone, but looking closely.

─Lee Jun-ho: It’s a red bean.

A faint smile spreads across Lee Jun-ho’s lips.

Wolryeong Police Station

This time it’s Wolryeong Police Station, Kate.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Huh? Kate, you came too? Are you going to sleep here?

At the police station are Yoon Hwa-rim, Kang Hyeon, Seo Ji-woo, and Im Hae-jun (sleeping).

Kate looks Yoon Hwa-rim up and down.

─Kate: Why did you specifically choose a red padded jacket…

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Oh this? I found it. It’s an item that boosts mental strength.

Kate stares at Yoon Hwa-rim intently, then extends a poster.

─Kate: Would you like to do this together?

It’s a temple bounty poster.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Hmm~ That’s the bounty thing Mal-ok Ham mentioned! Sounds good! But let me sleep first.

─Kate: Yes.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Will the party be just us two?

─Kate: No. I’ve got a few more people in mind.

The phrase “got a few more people in mind” somehow sounds meaningful.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Sounds good~

Yoon Hwa-rim smiles brightly.

-Seeing Hwa-rim smile always feels good

-Kind of like a vitamin feeling..

-At first she was just a virus but the kid changed a lot while doing labyrinths

-People have to learn by getting broken after all

Starting from the Defense Labyrinth, Yoon Hwa-rim’s evaluation has completely changed.

─Kate: And, Ji-woo?

─Seo Ji-woo: Huh? Oh, why Kate.

Seo Ji-woo, who was eating a lunch box, looks up.

To her…

─Kate: Could you possibly make me a rope?

Kate makes a strange request.

-Rope?

-Why rope?

-What for?

-A rope made by Seo Ji-woo would be sturdy lol

Tick─ Tick─ Tick─

8 o’clock

Along with the clock sound, the entire Wol-ryeong Village is covered in black fog.

Wol-ryeong Temple

─Kate: Everyone, how’s your mental strength status?

Lee Jong-soo, Yoon Hwa-rim, Ryu Yeon-hwa, Lee Sin-hye.

It’s a 5-person party with these four people.

─Lee Jong-soo: Yes.

The camera shows them one by one.

Lee Jong-soo’s red bean necklace. Ryu Yeon-hwa’s red socks. Lee Sin-hye’s red mirror. Yoon Hwa-rim’s red padded jacket.

-They’re all red

-Red clothes.. human skin mask..

-Could the culprit be among them?

“Creepy.”

That could be possible.

─Kate: Everyone. You’ve all read this magazine, right?

Kate holds up a magazine called ‘Temple Journey’.

─Ryu Yeon-hwa: I’ve definitely memorized it.

─Lee Sin-hye: I got it. If there’s anything different from this magazine, we just run away, right.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Then everyone, shall we fighting?!

Yoon Hwa-rim energetically extends her hand, Fighting!

Everyone climbs the stairs together.

─Kate: One, two, three, four, five… one hundred seven.

Stepping on the 107th stair to enter the temple.

─Kate: Check it.

Everyone scatters in unison to check for abnormalities in the temple.

─Lee Jong-soo: 9 shoes. Checked!

─Lee Sin-hye: 3 incense sticks. Confirmed.

─Ryu Yeon-hwa: …The stone pagoda is also the same. The stone pagoda is beautiful. Was it made in early Joseon…

─Kate: This place seems fine. Let’s pass.

Wolryeong Police Station

Scene change. Lee Jun-ho sitting in a chair, lost in thought, is shown.

-Wow Jun-ho is so handsome

-This guy is really good-looking too lol

-Enough, show me Seolha ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Damn eye-rotters already got enough screen time, stop whining

-Well, he did get quite a lot of screen time.

“…Show some restraint.”

Excessive fandom is not good for Seol Ha-woon at all.

─Lee Jun-ho: Are these all the victim files?

─Im Hae-jun: Yes hyung. That’s all of them.

─Seo Ji-woo: Hey. The CCTV is decoded. Everyone gather.

Seo Ji-woo interprets the formula preservation data and manifests it.

Whirr. A video appears in the air. It’s CCTV footage of Wolryeong Bridge.

─Lee Jun-ho: Wolryeong Bridge… That’s certain.

Lee Jun-ho twisted his lips as if he understood.

─Kang Hyeon: Right.

The CCTV footage also plays on the broadcast.

Victims walking trudgingly across the bridge. It’s seemingly ordinary footage, but for the viewers, a certain ‘color’ is highlighted.

-They’re all wearing red clothes

-Right, damn, they’re all wearing red clothes.

All the people crossing the bridge are wearing red clothes.

-Hey, is the shaman the culprit?

-It could be a trap

-Always suspect the production team.

─Lee Jun-ho: Why was there so much resentment specifically at Wolryeong Bridge.

Lee Jun-ho’s expression is like Conan who discovered the culprit.

─Lee Jun-ho: I’ll go check it out. To Shaman Village.

Wol-ryeong Temple

Through cross-editing, it’s Kate’s party climbing the temple again.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Ah, I’m sweating. This is harder than dealing with ghosts.

─Lee Sin-hye: I know right… Ah, our stair count.

─Kate: I’m counting for sure.

Kate climbs the temple stairs. The camera captures her shoes, ankles, and the stairs.

Ninety-nine,

One hundred,

One hundred and one,

One hundred and two,

One hundred and three

One hundred and four,

One hundred and five,

One hundred and six,

One hundred and seven.

─Kate: Now one hundred and eight.

─Lee Jong-soo: Phew. Thank goodness.

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Should we go back down?

Kate glances around at them. Everyone is ready to retreat, but,

─Kate: One hundred and eight.

Kate stepped on the stair.

The remaining four’s expressions went blank.

The viewers felt the same way.

-What?

-Huh?

-What?

-?

-?

-???

-What is this?

─Yoon Hwa-rim: What, what are you doing!

Kate smiles brightly and taps the stairs a few more steps.

Suddenly the space warps and distorts.

It’s completely different from an ordinary temple. Like a goblin shrine, all the buildings are twisted, and the entire background is red.

Sachjol (Death’s Abyss)

It’s the Death Temple!

─Kate: As expected. Even if just one person steps on it, the whole party ends up like this. That’s fortunate.

Kate gestures to them.

─Kate: Come up, everyone. Don’t be scared.

A tone more calm and enchanting than ever. Kate’s eyes turn red like magic.

-Holy shit

-Was Kate fake?

-Fuck what is this

-Damn what is it

-Hey

-Ah this is so unsettling, she’s like an ending fairy

-Lololol fuck lolololol

Ominous premonitions are never wrong.

[To be continued next week]

“Gyaaaah!”

Lee Si-ah let out a scream. The spirits in the chat also started crying out.

-?Fuck

-??Ah shit

-Who said to close it

-?? You have to show us everything today

-Wow it’s 10 o’clock, damn we’ve been at this for 3 hours already?

-Fuck open it you bastard, won’t you open it?

-Where’s Yoon Sa-hyuk? I’m really curious

-Ah I’ll buy the PD’s home address

-Why are they acting like that asking to show Kate

-Fucking bastards, want to taste being slaves?

-These damn bastards are holding Kate hostage lol

-Isn’t 40% viewership enough? These crazy bastards for real

-You. Bad guys! You will. Face divine punishment!!

-Turn on. The broadcast. Again!

“It’s chaos.”

Kate’s impact is definitely no joke. Especially the overseas SNS feeds are completely dominated by Kate.

#KateWTF

#MixtapeNaNCliffhanger

#KatesTrueColors

#NaN_Kate

Even the continental Weibo is all about Kate stories.

“She really nailed being an ending fairy…”

Too brutal to be called a fairy, but she was still pretty.

Jingle-jingle-jingle-

Quietly. It’s the preview!

Jingle-jingle-jingle-

The bell sound rings softly like a funeral dirge, and the red-tinted scenery of Imgak Mountain appears.

The time has come.

A voice mixed with noise, unidentifiable.

After that, breathless scenes follow in quick succession.

Thump thump thump thump thump!

First, Kang Hyeon and Lee Jun-ho are being chased by some giant vengeful spirit.

Kang Hyeon: I’ll leave the rest to you! Jun-ho, do well!

Kang Hyeon jumps to the opposite side of Jun-ho to draw the vengeful spirit’s attention, and Jun-ho nods sadly.

Lee Jun-ho: …Thanks.

Scene transition.

In Sachjol where red energy swirls, Yoon Hwa-rim is furious looking at Kate.

Yoon Hwa-rim: What are you doing right now!

But Kate faces them completely unfazed.

Kate: It’s something I have to do.

The expressions of those explorers briefly pass by.

Next, information about the labyrinth appears.

Yoo Ji-in: This is today’s labyrinth entrance. Explorers, please go in and lie down.

Countless rectangular coffins placed inside a ruined building.

The moment the explorers reluctantly enter and lie down in the coffins, the world turns upside down.

Yoon Hwa-rim: Wow, what is this place?

It’s an apocalyptic landscape. Under an ashen sky, an empty city where everything is broken and rusted. Collapsed skyscrapers stand ominously like giant tombstones.

Seo Ji-woo: Everything’s destroyed… What is this.

A labyrinth where everything has been turned into a wasteland.

Traces of life are faint, and only bizarre plants contaminated by radiation rustle here and there.

Kang Hyeon: It looks like… modern times.

Kang Hyeon recovers various supplies necessary for survival from the abandoned bunker.

Kate: …It’s nuclear war.

On the surface where gray winds endlessly roll in, Kate mutters while holding a gas mask to her chest.

Im Hae-jun: Ah, I’m hungry. Isn’t there anything to eat?

Im Hae-jun is searching for food like a squirrel in some unknown underground shelter.

Im Hae-jun: Yaaawn. Why am I so sleepy?

Then he lies down next to the subway tracks and falls asleep.

Ryu Yeon-hwa: Korea… has collapsed?

Ryu Yeon-hwa looks around with a dazed expression in front of the collapsed Gwanghwamun, as if she can’t believe it.

Besides them, Jo Woon, Kim Woo-hyeon, Lee Jong-soo, and Kim Dong-ha all add a word each in the preview, but Seol Ha-woon’s figure is nowhere to be seen.

“Does he not have screen time in the next labyrinth…?”

Just when she was hastily feeling disappointed!

The camera descends into a deep underground bunker.

A wardrobe comes into view.

Someone’s hand opens it, and inside is a military uniform. It’s clean without a single wrinkle, as if it had been waiting for its owner all this time.

…

Quiet silence and breathing sounds.

Soon, the back figure of someone looking at the military uniform is revealed.

It’s a long-haired man.

“Gasp!”

Lee Si-ah unconsciously covered her mouth.

Naturally, there’s only one person in Labyrinth Exploration with such a unique silhouette and atmosphere.

Seol Ha-woon.

He reaches out to pick up the military uniform and slowly puts it on.

A deep voice permeates through such an elegant scene.

Seol Ha-woon: My principle is…

With that incomplete line as the last.

[Enjoy Labyrinth Exploration NaN, and take a trip to Europe too~]

The preview also ends.

“Wow. Wow.”

Lee Si-ah can’t breathe.

Honestly, it’s nothing particularly special. Just Seol Ha-woon putting on a military uniform.

But…

From a fan’s perspective, it’s perfect in itself.

Lee Si-ah quickly captured the preview as a clip and uploaded it to the community.

│Labyrinth Exploration preview, Seol Ha-woon putting on military uniform│

The view count skyrocketed instantly and it became a popular post.

Derivative posts also attached in enormous numbers.

│Hey, that’s Je Mal-ol at the end of the preview, right?│

│Ah damn, next week you bastard when are you coming│

│First time seeing a crazy guy appear for 3 seconds in a preview and take all the attention│

│For real, because of Mal-ol, Kate got buried immediately, don’t even know what that was│

│Really, every scene Mal-ol appears in has insane impact│

│A story about a man who gave up being a soldier due to injury putting on the uniform again ㄷㄷ how do you endure it│

│The production team knows too well how to use Seol Ha-woon..│

│If someone says “My principle is…” followed by “always right,” that shit would be legendary lmaooo│

│Will Seol Ha-woon show his experience from his UDT days?│

Lee Si-ah feels pleased while reading all sorts of posts, but then becomes unpleased again. Her heart pounds like crazy.

“Ah, I want to watch it quickly…!”

* * *

[ Weekly Rankings ]

1. Seol Ha-woon

2. Kang Hyeon

3. Kate

4. Lee Jun-ho

5. Seo Ji-woo

6. Ryu Yeon-hwa

7. Jo Woon

8. Yoon Hwa-rim

9. Im Hae-jun

10. Lee Jong-soo

Real-time rankings were displayed in the production team’s editing room.

The vote difference between 1st-5th place isn’t much, and the vote difference between 6th-10th place isn’t much either.

The buzz will definitely be maintained.

‘Who will be 1st place’ is as much a topic as ‘who will catch the last train’.

“This is crazy. Seol Ha-woon has already turned Silt upside down.”

#Soldier_SEOL_Returns

#MyPrincipleIs

#ApocalypseHaun

#Seolhaun

#Trailer_Seolhaun

#I’m right

“But is putting on a military uniform really that amazing… I haven’t seen the edited version so I don’t know.”

“It does feel good though. I’m also curious about the next episode.”

“Huh? PD Kim, you don’t know either?”

“Yeah. I was kicked out during monitoring. PD Yoon did all the editing.”

This was the incident that made Kim A-rang distrust Yoon Sa-hyuk.

He forced the labyrinth knowing Kate’s danger, and hid the reason from her too.

“So I don’t know what happens to clone Seol Ha-woon either…”

Kim A-rang looked at the instant coffee filling her paper cup.

“But why…”

She suddenly becomes curious.

Why does PD Yoon always drink only this instant coffee? Only this specific brand’s specific mix.

And why does he always work for exactly 45 minutes and rest for exactly 15 minutes?

How could he handle such insane workload for over ten years without taking a single day of annual leave?

“Wow. PD, look at the preview’s view count.”

The junior writer pointed to YouTube on the monitor screen.

│Labyrinth Exploration NaN Episode 21 Preview│

18.1 million views·1 hour ago

“It’s 18 million views from 1 hour ago. It’s all just talk about Seol Ha-woon… there really are a lot of people crazy about Seol Ha-woon.”

Kim A-rang grinned. A smile just naturally appeared without her knowing.

From soldier to mage, from 96th place to 1st place.

He was Kim A-rang’s own masterpiece.

“You’re seeing it for the first time too. A character like Seol Ha-woon.”

The first time is important. Seol Ha-woon isn’t a common character. Rather, he’s the type that’s hard to meet even once in a lifetime.

Therefore, there’s no resistance. No immunity either.

Because he’s different from anyone we’ve ever met before…

“That’s true. He’s sleeping now.”

Seol Ha-woon is sleeping soundly in the inn room he cleaned himself.

Her sleeping appearance is so quiet and soft that her usual fierce personality can’t be felt at all.

“Keep watching her. Even like that, she’s the type who suddenly wakes up and kills people.”

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