Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 246

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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 246

Dangerously(12)

South Korea, Busan

Busan. This time it’s Kang Hyeon. The scenery of Haeundae where he walks flows by desolately. The sandy beach is covered with pitch-black ash, and instead of waves, the sound of bleak wind ripples between the broken buildings.

-Wow it’s really destroyed

-It feels more real because it’s not CG

-Is this the labyrinth?

Kang Hyeon stops walking while examining various shops here and there to obtain food and supplies.

─Scavenger: Hey. Hands up.

Raiders with rusty firearms emerge from the shadows of the alley.

Enemies!

The moment Lee Si-ah has that thought, Kang Hyeon is already moving. He grips his sword and kicks off the road surface, charging forward.

Fast. He penetrates into their midst before the enemies can even put their fingers on the triggers. It’s not a speed ordinary people can follow.

Swoosh──!

In an instant, he swings his sword to cut the first guy’s neck, uses that momentum to lower his body and sever the second guy’s leg. He raises his sword high again to split the third guy vertically.

There’s no waste in any of his movements. One motion becomes the start of the next motion, and the next motion continues with a clear purpose.

Killing.

Bang-!

A bullet barely fired by one of the raiders in the midst of that slaughter.

At this moment, slow motion kicks in briefly.

Kang Hyeon doesn’t dodge. Rather, with wide-open eyes, he directly looks at it and… raises his sword to ‘cut it down’.

Clang!

The bullet split into two pieces. The swordsman flowed like wind between them and sliced his opponent.

Kugh── Kek── Keggegeok──!

The enemies’ screams echo belatedly, and Kang Hyeon flicks off the blood on his sword.

-Amazing

-Wow holy shit;;

-His style and looks are perfect together

-So damn fast

-No but this guy’s swordplay is really fucking sexy

-Anyone who’s held a sword knows.. that technique just now is fucking insane.. I can feel the wall

“Hmm.”

Lee Si-ah exhaled deeply.

I’ll admit it. Kang Hyeon, you were just comparable to Seol Ha-woon.

Hey. What’s going on?

A voice flows from the radio of the enemies sprawled on the ground.

Did something happen?

Kang Hyeon takes off the gas masks from the fallen guys and dusts them off. He’s about to put it on but hesitates.

─Kang Hyeon: ….

He takes something out of his pocket. Wet wipes. He scrubs the gas mask vigorously and puts it over his face.

-He’s wiping it so hard

-Hahahaha I heard this guy has OCD too

-Hahahahaha

─Kang Hyeon: Nothing happened. I’m coming back.

Kang Hyeon’s answer. The gas mask filters his voice once and also directly modulates it, so the other party accepts it without much suspicion.

Kang Hyeon picked up the terminal next to the radio. The raiders’ routes were displayed on it.

─Kang Hyeon: I should go investigate.

Nodding, he walks toward the enemies’ dwelling.

-Those guys are dead

-But warriors and swordsmen are definitely advantageous in situations like this 

-No no, they have incredibly superior physical abilities but they’re gluttons

-The fuel efficiency is shit lol Ganghyun must be hungry right now?

Thud.

Thud.

But the camera doesn’t follow Kang Hyeon, instead moving sideways to show a certain building.

Supreme Market

A mart that’s almost destroyed and collapsed. There’s a woman carefully walking around inside it.

─Seo Ji-woo: …Is there anything to eat.

-Seo Jiwoo lololol

-Wow they were right nearby

-Hahahaha

-She’s probably gonna find something again

Seo Ji-woo moves around sniffing, then stops.

─Seo Ji-woo: Suspicious.

She stares at the mart’s floor and narrows her eyes.

─Seo Ji-woo: Look here. Compared to the other tiles, this tile is sticking out unusually? It’s awkward.

As if conscious of criticism about luck, she explains directly.

─Seo Ji-woo: It’s not just being lucky, observation skills are also needed… that’s what I’m saying.

What is this, a vlog.

-Are you filming for YouTube? lololol

-She got neurotic because you guys keep calling her a luck-based mage;

-Ji-woo must be really tired too.. people who can’t say a word to her face keep going luck luck and acting up

-But it’s true that her luck is fucking good;

-I seriously want to try game enhancement

When she opens the tile, sure enough, a passage appears inside.

─Seo Ji-woo: Gulp.

Seo Ji-woo carefully goes down below.

─Seo Ji-woo: Wow.

A titanium tunnel is discovered at the end.

─Seo Ji-woo: What? Why is it open?

The door isn’t even locked. When Seo Ji-woo sneaks inside, a space appears.

It’s a bunker full of magic potions, canned food, gas masks, weapons, laptops and classified documents.

─Seo Ji-woo: Nice~

She opens a can first. Just as she sits in front of the laptop while eating it whole.

Creeeeak.

There’s a presence. Seo Ji-woo’s eyes flash sharply.

─Ghoul: Kraaaaaaak!

─Seo Ji-woo: Gasp!

She extends lines to bind the ghoul. A terrifyingly ugly radioactive contaminated being. Its outfit is a bunker suit.

─Seo Ji-woo: Was it the original owner of the bunker…

Kraaaaak- Kraaaaaaak-!

─Seo Ji-woo: Ah, so noisy.

Seo Ji-woo ties up the ghoul like a cocoon, then continues eating while checking the laptop.

[Today’s Diary]

Weather clear. Mood okay.

Anyway, I safely made it to the bunker. Now I just need to wait appropriately and then go to the moon. I was bitten by some weird guy, but if I just do some first aid…

─Seo Ji-woo: The first aid didn’t go well, huh.

Seo Ji-woo examines the materials while looking for a way to get to the ‘moon’.

─Jo Woon: Why is the continent…

Afterwards, Jo Woon wandering in China,

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Let’s go, vroom vroom~

Yoon Hwa-rim riding a cart down the mountain.

─Lee Jong-soo: Hey. That canned food isn’t mine?

─Kim Dong-ha: What are you talking about? I just picked it up.

Lee Jong-soo and Kim Dong-ha bickering with each other at Incheon Airport.

─Lee Jong-soo: Give it here. I marked it.

─Kim Dong-ha: Marked? What mark.

─Lee Jong-soo: …There it is, damn! There’s an X mark at the bottom!

─Kim Dong-ha: Ah.

Explorers like Lee Sin-hye and Kim Woo-hyeon are shown through cross-editing.

THE HOWDY GRIL

Back to Seol Ha-woon again.

The old man and Seol Ha-woon are sitting on chairs on the restaurant rooftop, holding beer bottles.

─Old Man: What reason did you have for joining the military?

─Seol Ha-woon: …Well.

Emotional alternative pop flows languidly from the jukebox.

─Seol Ha-woon: I wanted to protect the values I believed were right. I wanted to complete such missions.

-Je Mal-ol lol

-He seems to like the Je Mal-ol character too

-Hahahaha

-But if that list of missions Seol Ha-woon participated in during active duty is true, it’s really screwed up.

-Je Mal-ol at least doesn’t brag or lie

-Isn’t Seo Ji-hyuk much cooler as a soldier?

-Seo Ji-hyuk received the Taegeuk Order of Military Merit and posthumous medals from 4 other countries, so honestly there’s no comparison.

-Still, if we’re just talking about force, it seems like Seol Ha-woon

─Old Man: The things you believed were right…

The old man looks at Seol Ha-woon and quietly asks.

─Old Man: Did you succeed?

─Seol Ha-woon: …

Then Seol Ha-woon’s lips tremble. Moonlight ripples in his transparent eyes.

-Look at those visuals

-He seems like a really tough person, but strangely sadness seeps from his eyes

-Stop being cringy lol 

-There’s a reason he’s cinema incarnate.

─Seol Ha-woon: Let’s have a drink.

Instead of answering, Seol Ha-woon offers the beer bottle. The old man also nods with a smile.

Clink.

“The beer looks delicious.”

Seol Ha-woon is good at reading people. So he suspects some people enough to kill them, but conversely, he trusts some people enough to share drinks even on first meeting.

The moment the two drink beer, the screen changes again, and this time it’s Seol Ha-woon driving.

─Kate: Snooooore… Snooooore…

And Kate snoring.

-Hahahaha

-Wow look at her snoring

-She’s like a tank

-Cute

-That’s cute lol

-Hahahahahahahahaha that’s hilarious

-She must have been really tired, our princess hehe

-Our princess my ass lol fucking want to beat the shit out of her

─Kate: Snooooore…

─Seol Ha-woon: …

Driving Seol Ha-woon doesn’t even care. He just focuses on driving.

──Tick.

──Tick.

The timer flows like that.

Seoul Subway

Im Hae-jun is still in the subway. He’s the only one in fast forward. Searching all over the subway at 5x speed, then.

─Im Hae-jun: I should set up base here!

He shouts resolutely, then makes his hideout in a space next to the subway track gap.

He brings a scrubber from somewhere and scrubs the interior clean, pushes in food supplies, makes a desk, lays out a sleeping bag on the ground, and even hangs a gas lamp from the ceiling.

-What’s he doing, building a house

-lololol this one’s actually pretty hardworking too

-Squirrel is building a house lol

-Good choice.

─Im Hae-jun: Done.

He looks around his hideout with satisfaction and lies down.

─Im Hae-jun: Need to rest a bit.

He lies down using his duffel bag as a pillow.

♩♬♪- ♪♩♪♬♪-

Lullaby sounds sink languidly, and Im Hae-jun quietly closes his eyes.

─Im Hae-jun: Snore… Snooore… Snooooore…

Along with that snoring comes.

Unwavering comfort.

Mid-commercial. Im Hae-jun floats high into the sky, then settles down onto a bed.

Smonsi Bed

Snore, snore. Im Hae-jun sleeps on it with a happy expression.

It looks like he’s really sleeping, not just advertising.

-I heard Mitamnan’s mid-show ad rates are fucking expensive

-There’s a reason it’s expensive lol deliberately tore off a piece to advertise it

-I heard the total ad revenue per episode exceeds 100 billion these days…

* * *

“PD Yoon. Did you see this?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk’s office. Yoon Sa-hyuk smiled bitterly at the director’s words as he suddenly visited.

“Look at this. Google Trends is at an all-time high right now. It’s the most successful program in history since magic power emerged, you know?”

“That’s fortunate.”

“As expected of PD Yoon. Ah, I’m going crazy. Look at this. The ad rates aren’t even the issue now.”

There’s a stereotype of superiors. Greasy, generous, and greedy.

But Director In Jeong-su isn’t like that. Rather, he’s very neat, doesn’t neglect self-care, and trusts his subordinates.

Director In Jeong-su was also the one who kept supporting when Labyrinth Exploration Season 1’s reception was ambiguous.

“So what I’m saying is…”

“No extension.”

Nevertheless, Yoon Sa-hyuk cut him off sharply.

“We can’t do Mitamnan all year long. The next labyrinth is the last.”

Director In fiddled with his sleeve cuffs and nodded gloomily.

“Well… PD Yoon has never been wrong. It’s disappointing but can’t be helped.”

“Thank you.”

“Still, well. I’m really saving face these days. You know what those terrestrial TV presidents who used to have their heads in the sky are saying to me now? Please just come to the director’s meeting once, they’re saying. Hahaha…”

Yoon Sa-hyuk was going to listen as usual, but Director In actually cut himself off mid-sentence, reading Yoon Sa-hyuk’s expression.

“Oh my. I’ve detained a busy person.”

“No. Let’s watch the live broadcast together before you go.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go, I’ll go.”

Director In left the office. Yoon Sa-hyuk followed and saw him off.

“Get home safely.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Good work~ PD Yoon, you know I love you, right~?”

“Yes. I know.”

The moment the elevator door he boarded closed.

“Things are going well.”

A person appeared from the end of the corridor. It was Yoo Yul.

“…Yes. Thanks to you.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk looked at her. She was focused on her smartphone with both eyes.

He suddenly became curious.

“What do you think?”

“My thoughts?”

“Yes. Your thoughts about Mitamnan, mentor.”

“…Why do you care about my thoughts? I’m just a viewer. Mitamnan is yours, PD Yoon.”

The sound of the live broadcast flowed from her smartphone.

─Seol Ha-woon: Let’s switch shifts now.

─Kate: …Yes.

“As I keep saying, fun, you see. Entertainment, you see. It’s most thrilling when you don’t know.”

Yoo Yul continued speaking.

“So, even if I have to change my memories, I must be ‘someone who doesn’t know.’ I always desire ignorance. Foresight is no fun, and has no taste either.”

“….”

Foresight and blood sausage. Yoo Yul sometimes makes strangely old jokes.

“….”

Yoo Yul’s pupils quietly moved to look at Yoon Sa-hyuk.

Yoon Sa-hyuk leaned his body against the wall.

“…This time I’m curious too. What choice will this Seol Ha-woon make? I’m glad I didn’t monitor.”

“You can look forward to it.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk smiled without realizing it. That’s how confident he was.

“It will be a sufficiently attractive ending.”

Seol Ha-woon. He will become PD Kim A-rang’s masterpiece.

Yoon Sa-hyuk has no intention of stealing his junior’s credit.

Rather, he wants to prove that PDs other than himself can also lead this Labyrinth Exploration series.

“Please watch over us.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk hopes. That this team will continue for a long time, and that they can all grow old together.

Yoo Yul, who had put down her smartphone for a moment, smiled a dangerous smile.

“I shall gladly watch over you.”

* * *

Clatter clatter— Clatter clatter—

Inside the still-moving train, I’m facing the NPCs.

This standoff is long and tedious.

However, the ending is already decided.

“If we just derail this train, possibilities will open for us too. Both you and us, everyone….”

Ilron desperately moved his facial muscles as if trying to persuade me.

“There’s no ending where everyone is happy.”

“We can’t give up without even trying. We have to make an effort!”

“…Effort.”

“Yes. We can at least try to make an effort.”

I repeated the word effort. That word stabbed at an old wound inside me.

If only I had tried a little harder back then, if we had just taken one more step forward.

Could we have seen a future where we all safely rescued the children together?

Was there really a future where Jeong-hyeop, Seok Jun, and Hyeon-jung didn’t die?

“Please help us. If it’s impossible even with derailment, then I’ll accept it.”

Ilron’s acting isn’t bad.

But not as good as Eldia’s.

The curse called Sequence makes me understand everything about them.

The stronger one’s desire for life, the less easily they can hide themselves.

Therefore, I already know. The past they’ve gone through, their only hope, desperation, and even the cunning underlying it all.

From the beginning, these people had no way out.

“…I’m sorry.”

Derailment means failure. These are entities that have extended their lives by making players fail.

“I have no feelings for you whatsoever.”

Therefore, I carry out my principles.

This isn’t some grand justice. Rather, it’s merely correction. An act of destroying falsehood.

Breaking deception and dragging it down to reality.

Part of the sin I once committed against Percival too…

Snap.

I snapped my fingers. Ilron’s face contorted with horror.

───-!

Magic power surged from the bottom of the train. Blue light exploded and swallowed the entire freight car.

The floor tore like paper, and the walls crumpled inward and pressed in. Metal bent with screaming sounds, and the children’s screams were buried in the explosive noise.

Kwa─wa─wa─wa─gwang───-!

Feeling the chain of explosions blooming, I quietly closed my eyes.

—————
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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