Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 241

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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 241

Dangerously(7)

4th District, Seol Ha-woon’s Shelter in the Desert.

In that place where the cool breeze was pleasant, Seo Ji-woo was lost in thought.

These days it was always like this. She would toss and turn before sleeping, and wake up several times even while asleep.

“Sigh….”

She was curious.

What did my brother see in that place? What thoughts did he have when he betrayed his comrades and sacrificed himself to save the children?

Was ‘I’ in those thoughts?

Seo Ji-woo eventually sat up.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Oh, you startled me.”

Kate’s back came into view. She was channeling magic power into a basin full of water. The surface trembled and created fine ripples.

“What are you doing? Are you possessed?”

“It’s training.”

“That?”

“Do you know what a ‘Sequence’ is?”

Seo Ji-woo crawled over and peered over Kate’s shoulder.

“I know what it is. It’s what Je Mal-ol uses.”

It was famous for putting tremendous strain on the body. It amplified a mage’s abilities by at least several times, up to dozens of times, but there were reasons why it wasn’t popular.

“Isn’t that incredibly dangerous?”

“Yes. But even with the same Sequence, the manifestation differs from person to person.”

Kate’s tone became calm and settled. She continued speaking in a voice that seemed to recall someone.

“Some people melt all their senses into magic power to dominate entire spaces.”

The most important thing on a battlefield is information. It’s the ability to adapt to unpredictable situations.

In that regard, Seol Ha-woon’s Sequence could be called a control tower that dominated the battlefield itself.

“What about yours?”

“My magic power also awakens the cerebral cortex. But I don’t activate it strongly enough to strain my body. Instead.”

Crackle-!

As the magic power spreading from Kate’s fingertips intensified, the water trembled rapidly and instantly vaporized.

“I forcibly amplify the natural vibration frequency of matter to collapse its bonds from within.”

Kate smiled bitterly.

“I’m someone who can only destroy things.”

“…That’s incredibly cool though? What’s there to complain about?”

“There’s plenty to complain about. My family has magicians. There are corporate heads and politicians too. Considering that structure, simply destroying things isn’t the answer. More versatile abilities are needed.”

Kate let out a light sigh as she thought of her rivals. It was an uncharacteristically unconfident look for her.

Seo Ji-woo pressed down on Kate’s shoulder with her chin.

“Hey. If you’re scared, you lose.”

Kate quickly raised her shoulder and shook her off.

“Ack!”

Seo Ji-woo fell backward on her bottom.

“Ah, damn it….”

“It’s the opposite. You can only win if you’re afraid.”

Fear is a type of respect. The attitude of staying alert to every movement of your opponent, catching even the smallest killing intent and trying to respond.

That is fear.

“Hmm….”

Seo Ji-woo thought for a moment then asked.

“Hey. Do you have a master or something? I heard Sequences are dangerous and you shouldn’t learn them alone.”

“….”

At the mention of a master, one person suddenly came to mind for Kate. His back rose like thick fog.

He possessed incredibly sharp and honed senses. He never made assumptions about anything, and never let his guard down. While moving forward in the present, he looked toward more distant places, and didn’t even exclude the possibility that he himself might be wrong.

Kate could still see those days as clearly as if they were burned into her eyes.

“…I wonder.”

Even if she could hate the person who killed Percival, she shouldn’t bury all the context. She needed to know that ‘story,’ not just the fragment of death.

Because ultimately, I must live my own life.

“If there was one, he would be dead.”

But that person is not who he is now, and is already an extinct existence.

To Kate, those two are completely different.

Probably, Seol Ha-woon himself would think the same way.

“…Huh? Ah… sorry.”

Seo Ji-woo became solemn for a moment. She roughly understood it to mean that the master was already dead. The sentence structure was a bit strange, but Kate wasn’t a native speaker after all.

“Shall we get going?”

They had rested long enough. Seo Ji-woo nodded as well.

“Hey Im Hae-jun. Get up.”

Seo Ji-woo lightly tapped Im Hae-jun’s back with her foot. Im Hae-jun woke up drooling.

“…Ah, I’m sleepy.”

“Come on.”

“What, after sleeping just a few hours….”

“You’re the only one who slept, you know?”

“What are you talking about. I heard all the snoring. I couldn’t sleep because of your snoring, sis.”

“Just get up.”

“Kyaak! Let go! Kraak!”

She grabbed the chihuahua-like Im Hae-jun whose nerves were on edge and made him stand up.

* * *

Whirrr-!

“…?”

Kang Hyeon opened his eyes at the sound of the portal operating.

Lee Jun-ho and Lee Jong-soo had just emerged. They had backpacks strapped front and back, but seemed to be looking around in the air as if searching for something more.

“Huh? What’s this.”

“Eh? Where did the suitcase go? I packed it full.”

Kang Hyeon waved his hand.

“Jun-ho. Jong-su. There’s a weight limit.”

“Weight limit?”

“Yeah. Hwa-rim’s group told us.”

He pointed to the temple floor. Yoon Hwa-rim’s party was sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags.

A smile mixing relief and joy bloomed on Lee Jun-ho’s face.

“Ah, finally we have mages?”

“Hey hey hey. Then wait up. Let’s eat together when they wake up.”

Lee Jong-soo placed a pot lid scattered in the corner of the temple on top of bricks. The setup was vigorous, befitting a warrior.

Lee Jun-ho approached Kang Hyeon and offered him ice cream.

“Kang Hyeon. Want to eat this?”

Kang Hyeon gladly accepted it.

“Thanks. Did you rest well?”

“Well… got some IV fluids. Aren’t you tired?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

Lee Jun-ho gazed intently at Kang Hyeon.

Kang Hyeon always said he was fine. He was never not okay. But there’s no way a person could always be like that.

“Hey. Kang Hyeon.”

Lee Jun-ho sat down beside him. He looked up at the night sky and the distorted moon, raising his eyebrows.

“I don’t understand you.”

…Actually, when we returned to the dormitory, there was a directive from the production team.

Consulting that suggested it would be good to have a slightly deeper conversation with Kang Hyeon.

While thinking I should do it if asked, I was genuinely curious about Kang Hyeon’s inner thoughts.

“Hm?”

Kang Hyeon put the ice cream in his mouth. A pig bar. It tasted good after eating it for the first time in a while.

Lee Jun-ho chuckled and continued speaking.

“Seol Ha-woon hyung is a difficult person. He’s walked a path too different from ours.”

Sometimes when I go home on leave or meet friends, they ask if I’m close with Seol Ha-woon, but honestly I can’t even say we’re close as empty words.

Seol Ha-woon is that kind of person. Someone you can’t carelessly approach.

“Still, I think I know what kind of person that hyung is now.”

Lee Jun-ho’s gaze drifted and reached Kang Hyeon again.

“But you.”

Lee Jun-ho looked into Kang Hyeon’s transparent eyes, and Kang Hyeon silently faced him.

“I don’t know who you are. Still.”

Whoooosh….

The night wind blew, shaking the wind chimes hanging from the temple’s eaves. The clear, cool sound cut through the silence between them.

“I thought we’d know each other somewhat by now, but it’s still the same. You always seem to be standing a few steps behind.”

“….”

Kang Hyeon tried to say something to him, but the words only circled in his mouth before scattering. He thought they were words not yet permitted.

“You and Seol Ha-woon hyung both seem alone. Well, I’m alone too though.”

Lee Jun-ho smiled faintly while fiddling with his sword.

“But Seol Ha-woon looks solid even when he’s alone just because he’s Seol Ha-woon. He doesn’t look precarious at all.”

The most useless worry in the world is worrying about Je Mal-ol. That’s what viewers often say.

“You and I don’t seem to be like that.”

Lee Jun-ho continued with a light sigh.

“So sometimes, tell me about yourself too.”

Kang Hyeon lowered his head for a moment, then looked at Lee Jun-ho and smiled faintly.

“Yeah. Maybe someday I could.”

That’s when it happened.

“Huk!”

“Euhuk!”

Yoon Hwa-rim’s party members who had been sleeping on the temple floor woke up almost simultaneously.

Lee Jun-ho and Kang Hyeon also got up.

“Let’s get ready now.”

“Okay~ Grilling meat!”

Sizzzzle. Lee Jong-soo grilled the pork belly first.

Of course beef is good too, but ultimately for using your body, it’s pork belly. It has the highest calories per mass among meats.

“Everyone come! Eat first, think later!”

Lee Jong-soo called everyone together while grinning.

“Wow, it smells amazing.”

“Jong-su, did you bring this from outside?”

“Yeah. I brought the best meat….”

After taking a rest with five pounds of pork belly along with ssamjang, garlic, and lettuce that would make for a good eating broadcast clip.

“There really is a door.”

They gathered around looking at the Reincarnation Gate that had appeared in the middle of the temple.

“I’m knocking.”

Everyone nodded at Lee Jun-ho’s words.

Knock knock-

The moment he knocked, the scenery completely changed. The air was dyed purple, and the sky curved like dead wood.

[Time Remaining 444 : 44 : 44]

[They are coming….]

An ominous energy echoed, and beyond the forest on the other side.

“They’re coming!”

An army of monsters appeared.

Everyone prepared for battle.

* * *

I destroyed the fake bus, but I became lost in the middle of the highway.

First, I floated blue flames above my head.

Light was essential because of the murderer called ‘Shadow’.

Thud. Thud.

Thud. Thud.

Thud. Thud.

Thud. Thud.

Walking down the endless highway, my knee was throbbing.

My leg was very uncomfortable.

“…Ah, I want to throw away this walking stick.”

I don’t want to walk.

Now I think I understand. Why elderly people throw their walking stick first when they get angry.

“….”

I took out the old booklet from my coat pocket again.

Airport Bus 3333 to Platform

AIRPORT LIMOUSINE

An airport bus that will comfortably guide passengers to the Platform…

● Bus Stop Guide

This airport bus only stops at bus stops. Unauthorized boarding and alighting on the road is absolutely prohibited. Also, disturbances and fights inside the bus are absolutely forbidden.

“…Bus stop.”

It only stops at bus stops. However, there’s no explanation anywhere about what those bus stops are.

Then, shall I make one?

I spilled experience orbs.

I’ve used quite a lot of experience so far, but I should be able to exchange it again once I reach the Platform anyway.

The experience orbs materialized into a metal sign and plastic chair.

It was a decent bus stop.

I sat on the chair.

“Come, bus….”

How many hours did I wait while yawning like that?

Whiiiiiing──.

An airport bus approaches from the distance. My heart pounds.

The bus quietly approached and stopped in front of the bus stop. Hissss. It opened the boarding gate.

Before boarding, I examined it once more carefully.

Airport Bus 3333 to Platform

AIRPORT LIMOUSINE

This time it’s really an airport bus.

I boarded the bus.

“Is this the airport bus?”

“Yes. That’s correct. Do you happen to have any luggage?”

The way they spoke had high credibility from the start.

“I don’t have luggage.”

I sat in a chair. Just in case, I installed magic power bombs the same way.

“We’ll be departing.”

Whiiiiiing──.

The bus glided smoothly through the artificial darkness. The scenery outside the window remained unchanged. Just black walls and fake stars painted on them.

In the silent bus, only the faint vibration of the engine resonated.

I quietly closed my eyes.

“We have arrived. Have a pleasant journey.”

Hissss. The exit opened. I got off the bus.

It was a platform shrouded in swirling mist.

The concrete floor beneath my feet was damp, and old iron columns stood in regular rows.

The train tracks were not visible. From beyond the fog, the smell of rusted metal mixed with musty mold wafted over.

I first headed toward the ticket office.

[Last train … Departing at 23:00]

The current time was 10:30 PM.

“What brings you here?”

The staff member behind the glass window of the ticket office had no expression on their face. No, they had no eyes, nose, or mouth. They looked like an egg ghost.

“One ticket.”

“That will be 2 million won.”

I handed over a bundle of 2 million won in cash.

“2 million won received. I’ll give you your ticket.”

While receiving the ticket, I asked back.

“Can I exchange 3 million won for experience points here?”

“Yes, that’s possible.”

I paid 3 million won.

[You acquire 100,000 experience points.]

100,000. That’s more than twice the experience points I’ve used so far.

I’ll keep the rest in Korean won just in case. Because of the train pamphlet placed in front of the ticket office.

Train Information

●Destination: Unknown.

●Operating hours: Departs promptly at 23:00.

●Seating: Open seating. However, please avoid seats that already have owners.

Precautions

● There are no assigned seats. However, just because a seat is empty doesn’t mean it’s yours. Avoid sitting next to passengers who aren’t looking out the window.

● Please maintain silence within the cabin. Waking sleeping passengers is not advisable.

● Conductors will inspect tickets without notice. If you cannot present a valid ticket, you will be forced to ‘disembark’ at the next station.

For emergencies, please carry Korean won (KRW).

I went to the train platform and stood there.

From beyond the train tracks hidden by thick fog, the sound of clattering echoed.

The train stopped at the station.

“Please show your ticket.”

After having my ticket inspected by a conductor with no face like the ticket office staff member, I boarded the train.

Since it’s open seating, I can sit anywhere.

“….”

There are many people. Their faces are all like eggs without facial features, and most of them are looking out the window.

I sat next to an egg that was gazing out the window.

We will now depart.

I closed my eyes in the rattling train.

I had been awake for too long. It was time to get some sleep.

Tap tap.

But someone tapped my shoulder.

I opened my eyes. A woman and man were looking at me with their hands placed over their mouths.

“Shh. Quietly follow us. This place is dangerous.”

“…Dangerous?”

“Yes. You’re new here, aren’t you?”

The man and woman spoke to me alternately.

“We’ve been on this train for 3 years. If you don’t want to become like those eggs, hurry and follow us….”

—————
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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