Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 238

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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 238

Dangerously(4)

─In Zone 5, won is the most important thing. You can’t even gain experience points.

“Can’t gain experience points?”

Rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle.

I followed the young boy with the truck.

─Yes. Instead, you can exchange won for experience points at the ‘Platform’. Getting to the Platform is the hard part, but if you hold out long enough, you can earn much more than in Zones 3-4.

The young boy walked while carefully paying attention to the lights along the roadside.

─There, do you see the convenience store?

I turned the truck’s head. There was definitely a convenience store there.

│GX24│

The sign’s letters were a bit different, but the interior and internal design were incredibly familiar.

─There are quite a few restaurants too.

Various shops lined up around the convenience store. Rice soup, McDonolds, restaurants, etc… There were even people eating inside.

“Does everyone have a lot of money?”

─You can earn won if you put your mind to it. It regenerates here and there, and you can just get a part-time job. The problem is that apartment rent increases every month.

“Every month?”

─Yes. People who can quickly get out of Zone 5 don’t need to worry about it, but those who lack the ability or are a bit greedy find it harder as time goes on.

Well, I had already earned 20,000 won. The 30,000 won rent wasn’t a burdensome amount.

“What about the murderers?”

─The murderers actually have specific conditions and areas where they appear. How many do you know about?

“Three.”

─Ah. Then it must be the clown, shadow, and doctor that appear around this apartment complex.

─That’s right. The apartment complex is relatively safe, but named murderers are different from regular murderers.

“Regular murderers?”

─There are people who commit robbery.

I roughly understood what he was talking about.

“What’s the way to get to Zone 6?”

Then the young boy glanced at me.

─…Before that, you need to keep your promise first.

It seemed he planned to hide the most important information. Smart kid.

Rattle rattle rattle rattle.

We passed all the apartments and shopping areas and reached some kind of shantytown. Even there, the young boy opened a shabby door quite deep underground.

─Sis. I’m back. Are you okay?

The young boy’s sister was lying on the ground. She was very thin and started coughing as she got up.

─…Cough. Yeah. I’m fine. Cough.

─I got some food.

The young boy looked at me. I took out food from the truck’s cargo hold and placed it on the ground. Then I zoomed in with the camera to check the woman’s condition.

“It looks like she has a separate illness besides malnutrition.”

The sister’s eyes widened at my words.

─The truck is talking…?

“Is that all?”

I proudly extended a robotic arm and took the woman’s temperature.

Coughing. Fever. Breathing problems.

“Pneumonia? Antibiotics should be enough.”

This truck’s concept was versatility from the start, so it was loaded with all kinds of medicine, and the antibiotics were even loot brought from the Space Maze.

It’s super antibiotics that Julione left behind, so pneumonia can be cured in one shot.

Whirr.

I took out antibiotics from the cargo hold and injected them into the woman’s vein.

─Huh…?

While she was still bewildered, I had taken care of all my promises.

Words need weight, and weight is contained in actions.

I never break my word.

I turned the truck’s head to look at the young boy.

“Now tell me. What’s the way to get to Zone 6?”

* * *

Swish─ Swish─ Swish─

Lee Jun-ho opened his eyes at the strange sound.

“…Yawn.”

He yawned and looked around blankly. It was still the temple’s wooden floor.

But the entrance wasn’t visible. The side that should definitely be open to the outside was shrouded in darkness, and Kang Hyeon and Lee Jong-soo seemed to have disappeared.

“Where is this place.”

Lee Jun-ho quickly got up. Over there, on the pitch-black opposite side, he caught a glimpse of a flickering blue flame.

“…That thing.”

Ominous. Somehow it felt like he shouldn’t approach it.

“Jun-ho?”

Suddenly someone appeared behind him. Lee Jun-ho flinched and trembled.

“Oh. You startled me. Where did you come from?”

It was Kang Hyeon. He looked Lee Jun-ho up and down.

“I just walked and ended up…”

Then he pointed to the blue lantern fire ahead.

“Let’s go that way.”

“…Huh?”

“Let’s go.”

“No… doesn’t it feel ominous?”

Kang Hyeon took a step forward, and Lee Jun-ho eventually stepped back.

Kang Hyeon tilted his head.

“Jun-ho?”

“Hey. Let’s just not go. I have a bad feeling.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Kang Hyeon nodded and drew his sword. Before Lee Jun-ho could react, he fired like a bullet.

Slash!

He cut right through Lee Jun-ho’s body.

“…Huh?”

Dark red energy leaked from the split shoulder. The thing that had been imitating Lee Jun-ho… looked at its own body blankly and scattered.

“…”

Kang Hyeon sheathed his sword again.

“Hey, yo! Kang Hyeon!”

Another Lee Jun-ho appeared from behind him. Lee Jun-ho put his hand on Kang Hyeon’s shoulder and looked around.

“What is this place? Where’s Lee Jong-soo?”

“I don’t know about Jong-su yet… over there.”

Kang Hyeon gestured toward the blue flame again.

“I think Ha-woon hyung left it for times like this.”

“Huh? Ah~ right.”

This Lee Jun-ho chuckled and nodded as if agreeing.

The two walked side by side toward the blue lantern fire.

“Guys!”

In the meantime, Lee Jong-soo also appeared.

“Wh-where is this place?”

“We don’t know yet either. Just follow us for now.”

The three of them huddled together and sat down right beneath Seol Ha-woon’s candlestick.

“Phew….”

“Don’t move for now. Stay here if possible.”

Lee Jong-soo let out a sigh of relief, and Lee Jun-ho brushed his sweat-soaked hair. Kang Hyeon looked closely at the two of them before lowering his gaze.

How long had they been sitting there huddled together like that? A few minutes perhaps.

“…Everyone?”

A voice drifted from somewhere. They all looked in that direction.

There was a monk.

He spoke with a benevolent smile.

“You are all dreaming right now.”

“…Dreaming?”

The three looked at each other.

“Yes. A dream you’re all sharing together. It will be dangerous if you stay too long. You must wake up now.”

The monk gestured at the air. Then an exit appeared.

Moonlight streamed in, brightening everything around them.

“Oh, thank goodness. Thank you!”

Lee Jong-soo bowed deeply at the waist. Lee Jun-ho seemed suspicious, but still got up from his seat.

Kang Hyeon stopped the two of them.

“Jong-su. Jun-ho.”

Kang Hyeon quietly glared at the monk.

“Which side will you two believe?”

The exit created by the monk was too bright. It was full of natural objects and peaceful.

Anyone would think it looked real.

On the opposite side, the blue flame was clearly shrouded in darkness. It flickered precariously but didn’t go out, remaining vivid even alone.

This was the fire created by Seol Ha-woon.

“….”

Lee Jong-soo understood what Kang Hyeon meant. He pondered for a moment, but soon took a step back.

Shing.

Lee Jun-ho also drew the sword from his back and instead aimed it at the monk. He smiled.

“Yes. I understand.”

Moonlight illuminated him, and horns slowly sprouted from his forehead.

“Your faith is strong.”

At that moment, they all woke up from their sleep.

“….”

“….”

“….”

They opened their eyes in a daze. The three men sat up and scratched their disheveled hair.

Right next to them, the blue candlestick and flame that Seol Ha-woon had placed still blazed brightly,

“Huh?”

A ‘door’ that hadn’t been there before appeared in the temple courtyard.

[5th Zone Entrance Reincarnation Gate : Opens 444 minutes after knocking]

“…Let’s not open it right away.”

Lee Jun-ho said.

“We’ve suffered enough hardship already.”

If possible, they’d wait for the mage. Warriors and swordsmen have garbage utility. So there’s no need to deliberately seek out hardship.

“Hey, but isn’t that a portal?

Whirr- Whirr-

An oval portal was also rippling next to the bizarre door.

Lee Jong-soo swallowed.

“Right. Our supplies are running low, aren’t they? Let’s have someone go get food.”

“Oh, good idea. Then-“

Lee Jun-ho and Lee Jong-soo were about to play rock-paper-scissors.

“Both of you go. I’ll stay here and guard.”

Kang Hyeon willingly yielded.

“Will you be okay? Alone?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Kang Hyeon nodded and gestured toward the blue candlestick.

“It’s still here.”

Seol Ha-woon’s magic power. They say mages are people who help the main force even from very far away, and that’s really true.

“If you two go together, you’ll be able to bring back more supplies too. But you have to be back within 3-4 hours.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll set a 180-minute timer as soon as we arrive.”

“Okay. See you later.”

Lee Jun-ho and Lee Jong-soo used their tickets together.

Kang Hyeon remained alone and sat on the temple steps. He quietly closed his eyes with his sword leaning against his shoulder.

Thud. Thud.

Had he dozed off for a moment?

At some point, footsteps rustled in his ears.

─Oh, what’s that over there?

A familiar voice. Kang Hyeon opened his eyes.

─Looks like a fortress?

He got up from his seat and went to the temple entrance first. He saw explorers walking toward this place.

Yoon Hwa-rim, Jo Woon, Kim Woo-hyeon, Ryu Yeon-hwa.

“…So all the mages were over there.”

The mages that Lee Jun-ho had wanted so badly – there were three of them in one party.

“Oh? It’s Hyeon!”

Yoon Hwa-rim also spotted Kang Hyeon. Kang Hyeon waved at them.

“Hyeon~”

“Kang Hyeon!”

“Hyung!”

Watching them rush over busily, Kang Hyeon smiled.

Could there be a fake among them?

Probably, there definitely would be.

* * *

The boy’s name was Jin. His sister’s name was Yen.

I looked around the dwelling through Truck’s eyes.

“It seems like we’d die immediately if a killer came.”

I don’t know how many months they’d lived here, but it was so unrealistic that it was rather suspicious.

─As long as the fire doesn’t go out, it’s fine. There’s that wardrobe too.

Jin casually pointed to the wardrobe.

─The wardrobe is really big, right? When the clown comes, we run to the wardrobe, and with the doctor, we just don’t make eye contact, and most importantly, the killer doesn’t have multiple bodies. Except for the ‘Shadow’.

Jin shuddered as he mentioned the shadow. It seemed to be the one he disliked most.

“Why did you two come to this place?”

Then Jin looked back at me.

His sister, Yen, spoke first.

─The place we originally lived was more of a hell than here.

Jin also gave a bitter smile.

─They say all kinds of people from the world gather in this maze. Not just from the continent we lived on, but from other….

Yen continued in a calm tone.

─I mean, people from other worlds. You’re probably also from such a different world, aren’t you?

This seems to be part of the labyrinth’s setting itself.

“I know. But there’s District 3.”

─…Do you know what the punishment is for committing crimes in District 3?

“External banishment.”

─Yes, that’s right. We actually came here with our father. I heard that father was originally one of the early members who pioneered District 3.

He was betrayed, so he was banished to this place, that kind of story.

However, I shouldn’t believe everything. All memories are edited to favor oneself.

Jin said.

─This Zone 5 actually has quite a large population too. If you follow the rules well, you can survive. At least there’s no worry about being bullied by the Rulers. And we’ve actually saved up quite a bit of won.

Jin chuckled. Yen lightly hit Jin’s shoulder.

─Ah, why. We were saving it to buy medicine for sister anyway.

“Are you planning to exchange the won for experience points on the Platform?”

─Well… just moderately? Actually, I think experience points change us for the worse. Power should only be as much as one can handle….

For a young kid, his thinking is healthy. He’s not a bad seed.

“So, what’s the way to get to Zone 6?”

─The Platform.

“That Platform where you can exchange experience points?”

Jin nodded.

─Yes. That’s the Train Platform. You can go to Zone 6 from there, and you can also exchange won. But you need a tremendous amount of won. You have to buy a train ticket.

Thanks to that, the destination was decided.

“How do we get to the Platform?”

─You need to leave the Apartment Complex. If you walk along the road for a bit, you’ll find a bus stop, and you can take the airport bus from there.

Take the airport bus to the Platform, get a ticket from the Platform.

Somehow all these elements feel familiar.

─The ticket price keeps getting more expensive, so now it’s probably over two million won.

Then won and time are the problems. Even if I keep running Truck and farming, it would take at least a month.

I stroked my chin and pondered business ideas.

“By the way, why can’t the killers enter the apartment?”

─Because there are guards.

“…Guards?

─Yes. The guards are NPCs. Just like how killers are one with the Maze, NPCs are also one with the Maze. That’s why guards can protect the apartment.

In other words, it’s not the ‘system’ but an NPC called ‘guard’ that artificially blocks the killers.

Then there’s no reason I can’t create a ‘space’ similar to an apartment.

“Are there many residents living in makeshift places like yours?”

─Makeshift? We worked so hard to build this… There are probably quite a few though.

“I see.”

I temporarily cut the connection with Truck.

Now it’s time to move my main body.

A business idea came to mind.

The theme of Zone 5 is DEATH or ALIVE.

The most valuable commodity here is safety.

I still have plenty of experience points left, and I brought enough supplies, so I was thinking of building a Goshiwon that sells safety.

Even with daily rent at just ten thousand won, I’d make two million won quickly.

“Camel. Follow me. Let’s go scout for a site.”

I went down the apartment stairs with Camel and Fox.

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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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