Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 27

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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 027

Snow Flower(2)

I completed the framework of the cabin in 8 hours. I erected 4 cleanly cut main beams and laid the floor. It looked sparse, but it was half complete.

“…About one more day should do it.”

That was a monologue for the viewers.

Half a day more would be enough. Originally, foundation work is the most difficult and takes the longest in construction. Plus, the tools I’m using are incredibly good. I can achieve ten times the efficiency with one-tenth of the strength I used to use.

“For now….”

I’ll stop here for today.

I slumped down on a tree stump.

Crackle crackle. I placed a frying pan over the campfire I had lit earlier, warming myself by its heat. When the pan was adequately heated, I tore off some pork belly and placed it on top.

Sizzzzzzle──-

Pork belly is perfect in this situation. Among meats, it has exceptionally superior calories per mass ratio.

I held my breath for a moment while watching the pork belly cook.

Suddenly, fine powder began to fall gently. I quietly raised my head.

Snowflakes calmly descending from the pure white sky. Some of them caught on tree branches forming nature’s art, while others touched the ground and piled up softly.

It was a hazy landscape. Time seemed to have stopped. As if the entire world was moving away from me….

“….”

I silently flipped the meat. The cross-section was an artistic brown. It was a perfect Maillard Reaction.

In the past, there were similar situations like this. Desert. Snowy wasteland. Arctic. Glacier. Underground. Coal mine. I didn’t discriminate. We were like that. Those things were training.

Without realizing it, I looked across from me.

It still felt like that guy was sitting there. Like he was drooling while peering into the frying pan.

‘Ha-woon. Isn’t this all cooked already?’

Seo Ji-hyuk. To the guy flailing his arms and asking, I respond.

“Not yet.”

‘No, stop bullshitting. You always say not yet. No matter how I look at it, it seems fully cooked.’

The shadow that had grown long was now cast over his spot. A smile leaked from the corner of my mouth.

“Just wait a little longer.”

Damn bastard.

Seo Ji-hyuk, who used to chuckle at those words, is no longer in this world.

I can never see his smile again.

I lowered my face while gritting my teeth. I flipped it while pretending to examine the pork belly.

It was properly cooked.

There’s no need to cut it with scissors here. Properly cooked meat is fully cooked inside even without cutting.

I picked up the whole pork belly with tongs and chewed it as is. Juices burst from the cross-section.

“…It’s delicious.”

Is it because of the scenery? Or is it because it’s after doing labor?

Or maybe….

I took out the dog tags I wear like a necklace.

Though I always wear these dog tags, they’re not actually mine.

[ Seo Ji-hyuk ]

It was my comrade’s last request. His dying wish to deliver his dog tags to his younger sibling.

I’m meeting his sibling right before my eyes, but I can’t bring myself to hand this over.

To some extent, it’s because I’m afraid.

I don’t know why.

I don’t know.

Because I don’t even know myself.

* * *

“…That guy really eats deliciously.”

In the group monitoring room where dozens of production staff sit in front of monitors, each in charge of one explorer, Kim A-rang is watching Seol Ha-woon in the middle of his whole pork belly mukbang.

“Slurp.”

She unconsciously smacked her lips. The meat was cooked perfectly evenly. He grilled it amazingly well.

If only he could put some kimchi on that pork fat, it would be the cherry on top, but unfortunately there’s no kimchi, probably because its calorie efficiency is low.

“Right? We could just broadcast this as a mukbang show. Wow… he’s just tearing into it.”

The youngest writer also swallowed her saliva.

The sight of him picking up a strip of whole pork belly with tongs and tearing into it with his mouth would definitely get over ten million views if released as a short-form video.

The youngest writer pressed her hand to her temple.

“This is driving me crazy. Today we’re going to eat Seol Ha-woon’s foo-, no, we’re going for pork belly, PD-nim.”

“We should. Absolutely.”

While they were discussing dinner plans.

Im Hyeong-uk PD quietly appeared from behind.

“What’s this? PD Kim, is it Seol Ha-woon again?”

He snorted while looking at Kim A-rang’s screen. Kim A-rang replied briefly.

“Yeah.”

“Why~ do you keep obsessing over the 96th place guy?”

Im Hyeong-uk is always like this. From when we were hired as first-year colleagues until now, he’s been constantly competitive.

Kim A-rang calmly pointed at the screen.

“You should watch too. Seol Ha-woon’s character is pretty good.”

“He’s in last place. What’s going to come from adding UDT to last place?”

“Sure~ you think that way~”

Seol Ha-woon is connected to quite a few places. Right now he’s a man acknowledged by championship candidate Kang Hyeon, he’s in a mentor position for Im Hae-jun who has high potential but lacks mental strength, and just now in the shopping moment there was quite an appealing scene.

To Seo Ji-woo, who was distracted by luxury goods, he threw a handbag full of various survival items and casually said one line while pretending to be indifferent.

It’s cold outside.

“Well~ if PD Kim pushes for him, he’ll probably rise to 40th place at least. After all, you’re the right-hand person.”

Kim A-rang let Im Hyeong-uk’s sarcasm go in one ear and out the other.

Just then, PD Yoon Sa-hyuk, who had gone out for a drink, returned.

“Oh! PD Yoon, you’re here!”

Im Hyeong-uk quickly bowed. Kim A-rang shook her head.

That’s why you can’t become the right-hand person. Yoon Sa-hyuk isn’t someone who likes flattery. Rather, he likes people who work well without sleeping, even if they slap his cheek.

“Going well?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk asked Im Hyeong-uk.

“Yes. Nothing special happened. You finished editing and reviewing episodes 1-4, right?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk nodded. As he said, the first broadcast of Labyrinth Exploration was not far off. It was the reason her heart occasionally tightened even while monitoring.

“PD Yoon, you really worked hard. You were even called to the parliamentary audit this time….”

“Hard work my ass. Go work.”

“Ah, yes.”

It wasn’t ‘go rest’ but ‘go work.’ That’s so like Yoon Sa-hyuk.

He sipped his instant coffee and stood behind Kim A-rang.

“You’re watching Seol Ha-woon. How is he?”

“…PD-nim. May I dare say something?”

Kim A-rang looked up at Yoon Sa-hyuk. Sincere wrinkles formed between her brows.

Yoon Sa-hyuk raised his eyebrows. It meant to speak.

“PD Yoon, please keep an eye on Seol Ha-woon too.”

“Hmm… why should I do that?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk always asks fundamentally. He digs into the causes of results, the basis of arguments. On the other hand, Kim A-rang is a very intuitive person.

They’re completely different from each other, but perhaps that’s exactly why they create synergy.

“First pick. You might want to change your mind.”

Then a faint smile appeared on Yoon Sa-hyuk’s lips.

“Alright. I’ll keep an eye on it when I have time.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk isn’t someone who makes empty promises. When he says he’ll watch if he has time, it means he really will watch if he has time.

“Yes. Good luck with your work.”

“You too, Producer Kim. You’re not going home, are you?”

“…I already brought all my daily necessities to the duty room.”

The 15-day survival labyrinth.

At most 2 episodes, at most 2.5 to 3 episodes worth of content, but for that content, the production staff has to suffer for 15 days. Even the content per episode will be enormous, around 2 to 3 hours each.

“Good luck.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk sat back down at his seat and started working, and Seol Ha-woon on the screen likewise resumed his construction.

“This guy really seems like he’s trying to build a house…”

Could he actually build it?

As if reading that thought, Seol Ha-woon spoke.

──It’ll be finished soon.

* * *

[ 340 : 10 : 35 ]

The snow mountain where the boundary of the horizon was ambiguous. Seo Ji-woo was crouched down, staring intently at something. In her field of vision, she caught sight of a deer perking up its ears.

Swoosh.

Seo Ji-woo licked her lips and gathered magic power in her grip.

Today’s daily bread. The beast she desperately hoped would become just that.

Whirl!

She wove a snare and shot it out. But her fingertips trembled.

“Ugh!”

Beyond the snare that grazed through empty air, the deer ran away.

“Ah. Damn.”

It was because of her hands. Already 20 hours in. Her hands exposed to the blizzard were nearly frostbitten.

The gloves woven with formulas were now useless too. Because they generated no heat.

In the first place, formulas that generate heat in a place without heat sources like this have efficiency close to zero.

Many people misunderstand, but formulas aren’t miracles that create something from nothing. Rather, they’re closer to miracles that amplify something from something.

“…At this rate, won’t my hands break?”

She gritted her teeth hard.

She shouldn’t be suffering from this level of pain. Her brother had endured much harsher ordeals. Right now, she was just a bit short on funds and a little cold.

“Can’t be helped.”

Seo Ji-woo finally took out the handbag from her waist. The bag that Seol Ha-woon had suddenly thrown to her along with the words “it’s cold outside.”

She hadn’t even opened it until now because of her pride, but now wasn’t the time to be picky about cold or warm rice.

“…!”

As soon as she peeked inside, there were gloves. Seo Ji-woo quickly put on the gloves. She layered lines of magic power like thread on top of them. This would greatly amplify the cold-weather function.

“I can live…”

Looking inside further, there were emergency rations, chocolate, matches, oil, and even a mini burner and pot.

Seo Ji-woo unconsciously smiled foolishly, but suspicion quickly arose.

“But wait.”

Why on earth did that person give this to me?

Suddenly, Yoon Hwa-rim’s voice replayed in her head.

‘I’m telling you, Ji-woo, he likes you.’

Come to think of it, Seol Ha-woon had been doing things to get my attention since the third preliminary round. Saying things like half right, half wrong.

…No way.

Seo Ji-woo took out chocolate from the handbag and put it in her mouth.

“Ahh…”

The chocolate melting on her tongue. The feeling of absorbing the small high calories throughout her whole body was like heaven itself.

Seo Ji-woo came to her senses with the power of sugar.

She absolutely had to succeed in hunting.

* * *

[ 330 : 10 : 35 ]

Snore snore snore…

Survival labyrinth, 30 hours elapsed. Im Hae-jun was still sleeping. Continuously from when he made the underground tunnel until now. He seemed to be trying to endure the labyrinth through sleep alone, which wasn’t necessarily a bad survival method.

Im Hae-jun’s suitcase was already full of high-calorie food. So if he minimized his waking hours and didn’t move around, he might be able to last reasonably long.

In reality, Im Hae-jun had no unnecessary tossing and turning, as if hibernating. His small build made him really look like a squirrel.

‘…’

Suddenly Im Hae-jun’s eyes opened.

“Oh. He’s awake.”

The writer in charge of monitoring him also muttered with half-sleepy eyes.

It was the first time he opened his eyes in 14 hours, but without any reward for waiting, Im Hae-jun just blankly moved his body to open his suitcase and stuffed high-calorie foods including chocolate straight into his mouth. You could clearly see his brain was still asleep.

Gulp.

Without chewing much, he swallowed, then lay down flat again and fell asleep.

“…That’s comfortable at least.”

The writer yawned and sank into the chair.

Just as he was about to follow Im Hae-jun into sleep, in that moment.

Ooooh.

Suddenly a strange cheer came from nearby.

“…?”

The writer looked in that direction. Producer Kim A-rang’s seat. Behind it, other PDs and staff had gathered as if watching something.

What were they doing?

The writer, tired from 14 hours of sleep watch, also stretched and stood up.

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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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