Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 294

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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 294

Talking to the Moon(6)

A peculiar academic fervor was in full swing at Astroal Merchandise. Aro had opened study rooms for mages, and they were packed day after day.

“How did he really do this? It’s amazing.”

Above the heads of the mages gathered in the study room, their respective levels floated around.

〔Level 7 Mage〕

〔Level 6 Mage〕

〔Level 8 Mage〕

Hologram tags that displayed Seol Ha-woon’s problem-solving stages in real-time, applied only in this study room.

This had somehow become a badge of honor proving skill among mages, and thanks to this, Astroal became a sacred place for solving Seol Ha-woon’s problems.

Aro’s plan to increase the ‘floating population’ had hit the mark.

Moreover, mages have a lot of money. They spend it freely.

Since Astroal now had convenience facilities like dining halls and cafes, the mages quickly became regulars.

“They say if you solve up to problem 10, you get 500 million.”

“But even if it’s 500 million. You have to solve it to get 500 million.”

“I heard they also give some secret artifact besides the 500 million.”

“Ah, but the professors will solve them all.”

“No. They say only practical mages would be able to solve them.”

Mages aren’t stupid. If these problems had ended with merely ‘getting the right answer,’ they wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic.

However, they’re experiencing it firsthand. In the process of trying to understand Seol Ha-woon’s intuition, and at the moment they finally understand it, their magic power becomes one step more refined.

Therefore, this isn’t simple problem-solving. It’s closer to training that deconstructs a genius’s way of thinking and makes the scattered pieces your own.

Anyway.

Astroal prepared special products for them.

Namely, stimulants.

Of course, not drugs. Legal items that refined Astroal’s specialty mint to maximize only the awakening effect, this was also an excellent money-making method.

“Give me ten cups of Astro Coffee.”

A specialty product sold only at Astroal Cafe. Moreover, dozens of cups could be made from one Astroal mint root, so it was very cost-effective.

“Five cups of Astro Coffee.”

“Ah. Hey, I’ll be thinking about this coffee even after going outside.”

“The taste is addictive. The beans are also even…”

Without running viral marketing, they naturally chattered among themselves, and while chatting, they posted articles and photos of mint-colored coffee on the internet and Explorer Net, and curious explorers who saw those posts obtained invitations and came visiting again.

Watching such a perfect cycle, Astroal thought.

〔Muhahaha.〕

Naive humans. You always get fooled by me and willingly offer up the wealth you’ve built.

Muhahaha. Give me more. Give me everything you have. Muhahaha…

Whiiiiiiiiing───!

With an eardrum-splitting roar, the airplane crashes. The aircraft shakes uncontrollably, and emergency lights flash frantically, but I just stand still and concentrate. I spread and arrange magic power around me.

Kwaaaaa——!

The airplane free-falls.

However, my magic power has already formed layers.

A softening formula that absorbs impact. The tremendous shock generated during the crash will flow softly and scatter just before touching my body.

Kwagwagwagwagwang──!

Finally, the aircraft collided with the ground. The roar of metal tearing and exploding. The world turned upside down, but nothing happened to me. I simply walked out calmly between the fuselage.

“…”

Whiiiiii──-

Cold wind blows. The road surface is pure white. Snow has accumulated.

“…Where is this place again.”

I looked around, but there was nothing.

Ding!

Suddenly a status window appeared.

[Travel Log]

Where are you right now?

What are you thinking right now?

Where is your heart heading right now?

Let’s share with everyone.

“…?”

Travel Log. The ID is Seol Ha-woon, and it’s a strange status window with photo upload and photo capture functions like SNS.

What is this.

I turned on the camera for now. It wasn’t much different from that function on smartphones. I switched to selfie mode and took a picture of my face.

Click.

I uploaded it roughly.

│Test Upload│

Photo

@Seol Ha-woon Selfie

Comments appeared as soon as I uploaded it.

─Lim Hae-jun: Oh master~ Master is first as expected lol I didn’t do it because I was worried about what would happen if I uploaded this

─Lee Jun-ho : Ab to the so to the lutely

─Lee Jong-soo : Absolutely right, hyung-nim!

─Kim Dong-ha : Nice to see you, hyung-nim~

─Jo Woon : Hello.

─Ryu Yeon-hwa : Good day.

─Kang Hyeon : Hyung. Doesn’t Travel Log seem like making photo albums?

─Yoon Hwa-rim : Oppa, can I ask you a question?

─Lee Shin-hye: Hehe; Should I teach you how to take selfies??

─Seo Jiwoo: lololol you’re terrible at taking selfies lmao lolololololololol

I was watching pleasantly until I frowned at the last comment.

“What are you laughing at.”

Then.

〔Travel Log Rating : ★☆☆☆☆〕

〔1 Travel Point acquired!〕

“…1 star?”

What the hell. Did I really take a bad selfie?

I watched the travel log for a moment and then nodded.

“So this is like a farewell trip.”

This is the last labyrinth. We’ll part ways after finishing this labyrinth.

Probably only 8 people will gather to debut, but even those 8 won’t be able to meet as often as we do now.

So maybe the concept is that the explorers are given time to share their hearts like this.

I turned my gaze. I took a photo of the airplane that just got completely wrecked.

│Airplane crashed│

Photo

@Seol Ha-woon As soon as I got on, an emergency happened, then the fuselage crashed and got completely wrecked, ending up like this

─Im Hae-jun : Holy;;;

─Kang Hyeon : Hyung, are you okay?

─Lee Junho: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’m always right and I always survive though

─Seo Ji-woo : Oh awesome

─Lee Jong-soo : Wow;; I’m riding a train right now.

─Yoon Hwa-rim : Oppa, but could you maybe give me a hint for problem 8? Please

〔Travel Log Rating : ★★★★☆〕

〔Very novel incident!〕

〔4 travel points acquired!〕

I also looked at the other kids’ travel logs.

│Riding a horse~ hehe│

Photo

@Im Hae-jun A shot from on top of the horse.

─Lee Jong-soo : Wow~ Hae-jun looks cool

─Seo Jiwoo: lol

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Hey Jun-ah, I’m riding in a car right now lol

─Kate : Hae-jun. Could you take another photo showing the horse properly?

└Im Hae-jun : Huh Kate noona, why?

└Kate : It seems a bit different from my horse.

└Lim Hae-jun: Of course everyone says different things lol

└Kate : That’s not what I meant.

└Im Hae-jun : Okay, just a moment

│Magnificent horse (Im Hae-jun’s)│

Photo

@Lim Haejun is so handsome lol

It’s a selfie Im Hae-jun took with his horse. It’s big and has jet-black skin with a glossy sheen.

It really doesn’t suit Im Hae-jun at all.

─Lee Junho: Wow, he’s more handsome than Lim Haejun ㅋㅋ

└Lim Hae-jun: It’s a female though lol

└Lee Junho: Hahahaha sorry

─Kang Hyeon : Hae-jun, you can ride horses too

└Im Hae-jun : Hehe~~

─Kate : Ah;;

└Im Hae-jun : Noona, what’s wrong?

└Kate : Just a moment. I’ll upload a photo too.

Kate suddenly uploaded a photo of her horse.

│My horse looks like this│

Photo

@Kate It’s smaller than it looks in the photo. Its height is similar to mine.

She must have written it in a hurry since there was a typo…

“Hup.”

I barely held back my laughter. Kate’s horse was a donkey.

It looked like a donkey, and its size was even at foal level – a total disaster.

─Seo Jiwoo: hahahahahahahahahaha

─Lee Junho: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

─Lee Jun-ho : Isn’t that the one from Shrek?

─Lee Jong-soo : It’s cute.

─Lim Haejun: It’s quite different from my boldness hahaha

┗Kate : Hae-jun, I think our horses got switched..

┗Im Hae-jun : I don’t think so

┗Kate : If we switched, they’d suit each other

┗Lim Haejun : ㅗ

┗Kate : ?

┗Lim Haejun: Ah typo ㅋㅋ sorry

I also left a comment.

─Seol Ha-woon : Just ride it. Even if it’s a speechless beast, let’s not judge by appearances.

It was my attempt at humor.

Ding.

A reply came immediately. I thought it was Kate, but.

└Yoon Hwa-rim: Oppa, please give me a hint for problem 8 ㅠㅠㅠ please ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

“What’s with her, she keeps doing this.”

│Riding in a car│

Photo

@Kang Hyeon It seems like a trip without a destination. I’m riding in a car but I don’t see a single person. Anyway, it seems like we’ve entered the labyrinth for sure.

His is just ordinary road scenery. It seems I’m the only explorer whose transportation went to hell.

─Im Hae-jun : Hyung looks cool

─Lee Junho: lol maybe we could meet up later? Don’t you get travel log bonuses when you meet up?

┗Ganghyeon: That could be possible lol

┗Im Hae-jun : Hyung, why don’t you reply to my comments

─Seo Ji-woo : Yeah, I’m going too but I don’t see anyone

└Kang Hyeon : Exactly lol

I felt like uploading another travel log. I took a picture of the scenery in front of me. A pure white snowy hill.

│Snowy Wasteland│

Photo

@Seol Ha-woon So white.

〔Travel Log Rating : ★☆☆☆☆〕

〔1 Travel Point Acquired!〕

“Why is this only 1 point again.”

Does it not know how to appreciate scenery?

─Kang Hyeon : The scenery is pretty

─Lee Jun-ho : Je to the mal to the ol

─Yoon Hwa-rim: Don’t ignore me, oppa, give me a hint for problem 8 ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

─Seo Ji-woo : What am I supposed to do??

“…I want to smack the back of her head.”

Seo Ji-woo has been constantly picking on me.

│Wolf Spotted│

Photo

@Seo Ji-woo So cute lol

Finally Seo Ji-woo uploaded a log too.

I immediately left a comment.

─Seol Ha-woon : It’s not cute though?

“How’s that.”

You try getting a taste of it too.

└Seo Ji-woo : ?

└Im Hae-jun : lololololol

└Kang Hyeon : lololololol

└Yoon Hwa-rim : Oppa why do you keep ignoring what I say..

Meanwhile, Yoon Hwa-rim is showing some strange obsession. Isn’t there a block function?

─Kate : Wolves aren’t cute on average.

└Seo Ji-woo : Way cuter than your donkey lololol

└Kate : ?

└Kate : lol

Two consecutive comments. Proof that she got triggered.

Kate picked a fight for no reason and got triggered.

What a rookie.

If you’re going to pick a fight, you shouldn’t get triggered. Even if you do get triggered, you shouldn’t show it.

I walked while leaning on my walking stick.

Isn’t there something to take a picture of and upload? I found myself unconsciously scouting the surroundings.

A journey without a destination.

Yoo Ji-in’s words about travel being a process of finding your true self suddenly came to mind.

I walked across the snow-covered land. I stepped onto the snowy wasteland.

The snow crunched, and the wind tousled my hair.

Then at some moment.

──Grrrrrrrrr.

The fine hairs on my neck stood up.

A low, threatening growl.

I slowly looked over there.

In the swirling snowstorm, a massive form stood. Pitch-black fur, shoulders rising like mountains, two eyes glowing red.

It was a bear.

I hurriedly opened the travel log. I took a picture of the bear.

│Bear Spotted│

Photo

@Seol Ha-woon About 3 meters tall, a perfect adult specimen. Magic power mixes with every breath it exhales. It looks like an individual that has reached the level of a magical beast rather than an ordinary wild animal.

As soon as I wrote the post, comments came flooding in.

─Lee Jun-ho : Jemal-ol crazy lol

─Kang Hyeon : Holy;

─Seo Ji-woo : Are you insane?

─Lee Sin-hye : Oppa run away!

─Lee Jong-soo : Wow hyung;; You really met the big boss;;

─Lee Jong-soo : Isn’t that a Snowy Mountain Grizzly? Then it’s B-rank;; Hyung, that’s a B-rank monster.

─Kate : Are you crazy?

─Im Hae-jun : As expected of master.. completely fearless.. without any fear.. I’ll learn from you.

Looking at those comments, I smiled without realizing it.

〔Travel Log Rating : ★★★★★〕

〔Life-risking Photography!〕

“So it takes this much to get 5 points.”

I understood.

First, let me earn points while gradually learning about this labyrinth…

Monitoring Room.

Yoon Sa-hyuk was watching their feeds being uploaded in real-time to 〔Travel Log〕.

“…At least the kids look like they’re having fun, so that’s good.”

Kim A-rang said. Yoon Sa-hyuk nodded too.

“Right.”

He has no intention of making the final labyrinth intense. Instead, he hopes about a spoonful of emotion gets added.

There’s no benefit to be gained from pushing their stamina to the very limits of hell in the final labyrinth.

It’s better to create an emotional whirlwind instead.

“Wow. Seol Ha-woon really took a photo of a Snowy Mountain Grizzly.”

The staff members let out hollow laughs as they looked at the Snowy Mountain Grizzly uploaded to the travel log feed.

Snowy Mountain Grizzly. Adults are B-grade monsters, and B-grade is just below decent High Rankers.

It’s a beast that would make ordinary people panic at first sight or faint from being overwhelmed by its presence.

Kim A-rang chuckled softly.

“It’s still pretty ordinary so far.”

However, this Labyrinth is also clearly a Labyrinth.

The explorers have explored Labyrinths through the program so far, and the Labyrinths have learned the explorers’ inner selves.

Yoo Ji-in had said it. It was written in the script like this too.

Travel is a process of finding one’s true self.

Therefore, the explorers will also discover their true ‘selves’ in this travel Labyrinth…

—————
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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