Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 290

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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 290

Talking to the Moon(2)

Seo Ji-woo sat in front of the camera. She looked quite tired. Disheveled and drowsy, her eyes were half-unfocused. Her eyelids twitched slightly as if lacking magnesium.

“Hello.”

She bowed her head to the camera.

“…Did something happen?”

When the production staff asked, she gave a bitter smile.

“Ah. I’ve been busy with my schedule.”

“What kind of schedule was it?”

“I got so many contacts. Schools and whatnot… I discussed with my guild and said I wouldn’t join any school yet, but I traveled to various places overseas.”

America, China, Japan, Europe, and so on. She practically went on a world tour during her vacation.

“When I went there, it was chaos from the airport… I definitely felt the Mitamnan effect.”

Seo Ji-woo’s airport fashion and Seo Ji-woo’s welcoming crowds, etc. Seo Ji-woo’s arrivals were reported as special events in various countries overseas.

“Do you have to go in person even if you’re not joining a school?”

“Ah. It’s not really necessary, but I went to get some spell books and theory books. Everyone said they’d give me a few books if I just came. You all know spell books are incredibly expensive, right? I need to build a workshop too.”

Decent high-level standardized magic books and spell theory books cost tens of millions of won per book, with many lines formed around hundreds of millions.

“As much as I earned, it all flows out.”

Seo Ji-woo has no foundation. She’s a dirt spoon mage, as people say.

…Honestly, my father is a mage, but I don’t want to receive anything from that bastard.

“There was a lot to do. Anyway.”

Seo Ji-woo looked around the room. The things she had requested were prepared.

A comfortable sofa, a digital clock to display elapsed time, an analog clock to show current time, a game controller and console.

“Seo Ji-woo’s luck test, might as well go all the way… but actually I don’t play games. However, many people kept wondering what it would be like if I played games.”

Variety shows should do what the viewers want rather than what I want.

“That said, mobile games or online games have no end…”

She picked up a game CD.

“The Chronicles of Berionar. It’s a single-player RPG game. I heard this is a really famous game?”

An open-world RPG game with high freedom set in medieval times featuring dragons and fantasy creatures.

“It’s an online game with enhancement features and sufficient playtime, so I’ll give it a try.”

Seo Ji-woo inserted the CD into the console.

Whirrrrrr──

Meanwhile, at Yoon Hwa-rim’s studio apartment. A penthouse by the Han River with a panoramic view of Seoul’s night scenery. The interior was perfectly organized like her personality, with the cart ‘Bungbung’ parked among the clean, monochrome furniture.

“It’s here~ It’s here~ It’s here~”

Yoon Hwa-rim ran to the entrance and received a delivery box. It was a bundle of ‘Seol Ha-woon Theory Problem Sets’ newly released by Magic Hat.

You know, the ones that the Labyrinth Person Erica and some students were solving on the show.

These days, Yoon Hwa-rim is delving into Seol Ha-woon’s theories. While Yoon Hwa-rim herself is a thoroughly theory-based mage, Seol Ha-woon is a mage with incredibly genius-level intuition. If she could understand and internalize his methods, she could grow one step further!

That was her intention.

Yoon Hwa-rim smoothly unwrapped the problem set.

“…Wow.”

Nice quality. The pages are quite thick too.

The first problem is…

Problem 1. The following is part of a magic circuit that constitutes a specific spell. Identify the broken flow and manifest it in the correct form.

Yoon Hwa-rim first looked at the circuit diagram and pondered.

“Hmm… Found it.”

She extended her finger into the air and drew a line with magic power. The line condensed and a soft light gently bloomed.

“It was a light bulb spell.”

This level is easy. Je Mal-ol, how disappointing.

“Heh.”

Next problem.

Problem 2. The following are fragments of an unstable scattered magic spell. Manifest a spell that condenses these into one stable ‘core’.

“…Huh? What’s this.”

Fragment a magic spell and then make it into a core again?

From problem 2 onwards, a change in thinking was needed.

“…”

Scratch scratch. After thinking while scratching her head, she snapped her fingers.

“Ah!”

Eureka. First weave the magic spell fragments together, then join and pull them?

It condenses into one small core.

It’s a cloud. A mini cloud.

“Wow.”

When you poke it, it flinches and spits out water.

“Interesting.”

Seol Ha-woon’s problems are fun. They’re not extremely difficult, but a change in thinking is essential.

More precisely, you shouldn’t be bound by the ‘framework’ of spells.

Many mages regard spells as fixed frameworks. That’s actually how standardized magic is created.

‘Standardized’ itself means a predetermined form.

But Seol Ha-woon is different. All of Seol Ha-woon’s problems guide you to break free from this framework.

“Good, good~”

While solving problems 3 and 4 and understanding his intuition.

Problem 5. Water was spilled on the spell and half of it is covered. Completely restore this spell.

She got stuck on problem 5.

“…Why did they spill water on it.”

Half of what was almost a B4-sized spell had cleanly disappeared.

I’m not a fortune teller, how am I supposed to predict and restore this.

“…”

Yoon Hwa-rim stared intently at the spell. She roughly let magic power flow and scribbled this and that. When that didn’t work, she picked up a pen.

It was a magic stone pen. A quite expensive artifact with a magic stone tip that becomes a spell when written on paper.

Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch.

She scribbled a few times, pondered, scribbled a few more times, pondered, scribbled a few more times and pondered.

At some point, she held her head in her hands.

“…Ah what is this. It’s difficult?”

Me, Yoon Hwa-rim. A theoretical mage produced from the cradle of elites. But I’m stuck on just problem 5?

“If problem 5 is this level then…”

Yoon Hwa-rim sneakily picked up problem 10.

Problem 10. The following are spell diagrams showing the forms of contradictory intuitions called ‘resonance’ and ‘repulsion’. The characteristics of the two diagrams are as follows…

(omitted)

…The two diagrams maintain stable magic power phases when they exist independently. Manifest a completed form where these two intuitions can coexist within one spell.

“…What is this?”

The problem itself is long, and the size of the formula diagrams is even more ridiculous. Two formula diagrams the size of B1 paper.

“….”

Yoon Hwa-rim put her hand to her forehead. She stared blankly for a moment, then opened the formula community.

│Anyone solved up to problem 3?│

│I’m working on problem 4│

│Problem 3 lol finally solved it damn│

│No way, problem 4 is fucking hard too?│

│Problem 2 what the hell is this? Why can’t I even solve 2?│

│This sucks, don’t even bother solving it│

Is this supposed to be helpful? I’m stuck from problem 2?

─ Hahaha there’s even someone who got stuck starting from problem 2

─It’s because you can’t solve it lol

─I thought the same, but it changed after solving problem 3.

─Damn that’s amazing lol Try solving it lol But you probably can’t

│Problem 10, is this even meant to be solved? Fucking kidding me│

│From now on, write how many problems you solved when posting│

Problem 3) Question about this part

Problem 2) I’m a fucking noob

Like this.

“What. Everyone’s doing this?”

Everyone’s really solving them. The entire mage community seems to have turned into a Seol Ha-woon problem-solving community.

Fortunately, I seem to be above average.

│Giving hints to people stuck on problem 5│

“Oh?!”

Yoon Hwa-rim quickly clicked on the post.

Hahaha, would you?

You guys solve it properly among yourselves ^^ By the way, I solved it

“…Asshole.”

Well, they’re whining here because they can’t solve it.

“…Ah, but.”

Her competitive spirit was triggered. Yoon Hwa-rim was a mage with a solid reputation in theory. She had even placed in the Mage Olympiad.

“I will definitely solve this….”

She closed the community and focused on problem 5.

“Haa, haa….”

Kang Hyeon wiped the sweat flowing down his forehead. His steps were heavy as he pushed through the unknown forest.

Thump, thump.

His heart beat roughly in rhythm with his footsteps. His breath had risen to his chin. He was much more tense than in any other labyrinth.

Because here, if you get caught by the killer, it’s ‘over’. It ends without seeing the conclusion of this high-end escape variety show.

Kang Hyeon was an escape room enthusiast. That’s why he had asked the production team for an escape room variety show.

“Cabin. Cabin. Cabin….”

Impatience was evident in his muttering voice.

In this current situation, there was only one hint given. He had to find the cabin.

“…There it is!”

An old roof was visible beyond the thicket. Kang Hyeon hurriedly threw his body forward. Almost sliding down the slope, he stood in front of the creaking door. A small crumpled note was in front of the door.

[An old cabin discovered by chance. Cool air seeps through the creaking door gap. What on earth happened here? But it’s okay. At least the killer doesn’t seem to be able to chase me inside here. I must lock the door.]

“Phew….”

He unlocked the padlock with the key found in the previous stage.

Kang Hyeon carefully stepped inside. Creak. The moment the door closed, someone appeared from behind it.

“Who are you.”

“!”

Kang Hyeon was startled. He reflexively reached for his waist, but there was no sword, so he shone his flashlight instead.

The revealed face was Lee Jun-ho.

“…Jun-ho?”

“Kang Hyeon?”

“You’re not Jun-ho.”

Kang Hyeon suspected Lee Jun-ho. An escape room character? Why is Jun-ho here?

Lee Jun-ho frowned.

“What are you talking about. Why are you here… oh, wait.”

As if realizing something, Lee Jun-ho’s eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me you asked the production team to make an escape room?”

This time Kang Hyeon’s eyes widened.

“Jun-ho, you too?”

“…Yeah.”

“You like escape rooms?”

“Of course! I go there all the time on vacation.”

They discovered an unexpected common interest. Kang Hyeon let out a sigh of relief.

“Let’s lock the door first.”

Click.

Lee Jun-ho locked the door. Then he whispered in a small voice.

“Hey, Kang Hyeon. Somehow. Don’t you think Ha-woon hyung might be here too?”

“…Huh? That could be. That hyung might do escape rooms saying it’s labyrinth rehearsal.”

You tend to think that hobbies you like, others might like too. Especially if it’s Seol Ha-woon, since we have some similarities.

“Seol-Kang-Ho alliance again?”

“Again?”

Lee Jun-ho and Kang Hyeon shone flashlights on each other and laughed quietly.

In the vast ocean, we created our own paradise. We gathered wooden planks widely and floated them on the water surface, securing them with magic stones. In the expanded space, we placed parasols and beach chairs.

“Wow… this is nice….”

The two guests in comfortable short-sleeved shirts and shorts. They’re sitting in beach chairs, enjoying sunbathing under the rising sun.

I watch them while pondering the dinner menu. Today is the third day, so if we leave tomorrow, it’ll perfectly match the filming schedule.

“Everyone. How about sashimi rice bowls?”

A menu that suddenly came to mind.

“Wow! Great!”

“Good!”

Jin Yu-ha claps her hands, and Lee Je-hoon gives a thumbs up.

I immediately started cooking.

Chop chop chop chop. The blade dances in the air. The fresh fish just caught are instantly prepared into bite-sized sashimi. I put rice in a large bowl, generously pile the freshly caught fish on top like a mountain, completing the sashimi rice bowl.

While the VJ was getting insert shots, Kim A-rang asked.

“But Ha-woon. That problem book. What was the content? I saw it briefly before coming, and apparently it sold quite a lot.”

“Nothing special.”

It’s literally my intuition translated into problems.

“When will you release the answer key?”

“I won’t be releasing it, or it might take quite a while. There are still parts where I don’t completely know the answers myself.”

“Huh?”

Problems 8, 9, and 10 especially. Even I can’t theoretically explain these intuitions.

If I were to put my magic power talent in numerical terms, it would be ’14’ or higher, but theory hasn’t caught up to that level yet.

“Is that okay?”

“I’m an incomplete mage, aren’t I? At least for now.”

I smiled.

“But well… there probably won’t be any major issues.”

The reason I set exactly 10 problems in the first place was just to fill out the set. They’ll naturally filter out the overly difficult problems by throwing them in the trash.

That’s what all mages do anyway.

Lee Yun-se. Seoul National University’s youngest professor in the Department of Magic Power Studies. Having studied abroad at Harvard and Oxford under world-renowned scholars, he is a nationally recognized theoretical genius and also the top disciple of the mage ‘Emerald’.

“….”

He skipped going to school today. For the first time since becoming a professor, he declared a ‘free period’.

The cause was a problem set that one of his graduate students had given him, saying Seol Ha-woon had released new goods.

On one wall of Lee Yun-se’s study hangs a massive blackboard. It’s filled with various equations, formulas, and movements of magic power.

All of them are solutions to Seol Ha-woon’s problems.

Looking up at them, Lee Yun-se laughed.

“…Ha.”

His smile gradually deepened.

“Hahaha.”

He felt intellectual stimulation for the first time in quite a while. More precisely, it was formulaic stimulation, but whatever.

It wasn’t just him. Beyond South Korea, all mage societies and academic circles worldwide were focusing on the problems Seol Ha-woon had released.

Professor Lee Yun-se ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. He had devoted an entire day to problem 9. He concentrated so intensely his teeth might fall out, and finally solved it.

The answer to problem 9 was as follows.

A simple sentence.

[Congratulations. You are truly a brilliant person.]

A problem where the process was more important than the answer itself. Brilliant intuition.

“Hahahaha.”

Professor Lee Yun-se burst into loud laughter.

A brilliant person.

When you repeat successes, your personality gets twisted and you start receiving even compliments as evaluations, but these words felt quite good to hear. Beautiful to behold.

Right. You’re quite something too, being able to turn your intuition into problems like this.

He set down his rimless glasses for a moment. Problem 10 still remained, but he needed to calm his mind and body.

“…This is the first time I’ve seen someone express intuition through geometric shapes.”

A glimpse at problem 10. It looked like a problem that would take at least a week, possibly longer.

Lee Yun-se pressed his throbbing temples, but for some reason felt incredibly good. It was similar to how he felt when he placed first in the Formula Olympiad.

[Congratulations. You are truly a brilliant person.]

It was probably because of that sentence above.

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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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