Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 296

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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 296

Our Night(2)

The landscape of memory always begins with the smell of the sea. Training uniforms soaked in sweat and salt, the hardship of heat and cold, and the fishy wind of Geoje Island that enveloped it all.

‘Ha-woon.’

It started from this time.

Training, meals, sleep, rest. That guy was there in every moment of my daily routine.

‘Ha-woon.’

Like a shadow, or like a stray cat that clings to people.

I don’t know the reason.

Whether he genuinely wanted to learn something from me, or if it was just simple curiosity.

‘Ha-woon.’

I was just struggling desperately not to drop out, but did that look like something amazing in that guy’s eyes?

‘Ha-woon.’

At first, it was annoying. But there was no giving up in that guy’s eyes. Even during training, he stuck with me to the very end. That tenacity somehow won me over. That guy was a stubborn type similar to me. Above all, since he knew how to handle magic power like a mage, I thought there might be things I could learn from this guy too.

It really was like that.

What I didn’t have, Seo Ji-hyuk had so much of.

‘Ha-woon. This. You eat it.’

…Honestly, the choco pies and jellies he secretly handed me at night sometimes were also quite effective. I don’t know where he got them from, but they were very precious food during training.

“Damn Geoje Island.”

Click

I took a picture of this place’s scenery with my travel log.

At that time, I wandered around various places near this island for almost 20 weeks. People said the scenery was beautiful, but I didn’t have the leisure to appreciate such things.

Just rolling, rolling, rolling again, rolling even while sleeping, rolling even while eating…

The scene changed.

‘…Ha-woon.’

One day we sat on the ground and ate. It was filled with the sound of water and the sound of forcibly swallowing food. It was a water training meal.

‘I’m glad.’

Seo Ji-hyuk across from Seol Ha-woon. With his face covered in water, touching his wet buzz cut, Seo Ji-hyuk said.

‘About what.’

‘…That I met you.’

Young Seol Ha-woon frowned.

‘Are you crazy?’

‘No. You know.’

A bright smile appeared on his face after wiping away the moisture.

Looking back now, his smile didn’t match this desolate space at all. That’s why it felt even more surreal.

‘I give up easily. Very easily. I run away easily. I crumble easily.’

Seo Ji-hyuk looked straight at me.

‘But you’re not like that.’

Giving up.

I suddenly thought about it again.

Have I ever given up on anything?

Actually, the word ‘giving up’ itself was ridiculous to me.

‘I don’t give up.’

‘That’s why-‘

‘Because I’ve never had anything.’

Seo Ji-hyuk’s words stopped.

I had never given up on anything. Actually, I only challenged things I wouldn’t give up on.

‘If I let go, everything crumbles.’

People like us are like that.

I thought there were no second chances.

An orphan must not fail. Because if you fail, nothing remains in that place. Because there’s truly no one to lean on, no home to return to.

‘If I fail, nothing remains.’

I captured the two people within the camera’s frame.

Seo Ji-hyuk and Seol Ha-woon who had just turned twenty.

The moment I was about to photograph those two.

‘…No. Something remains.’

Seo Ji-hyuk shook his head. His blue eyes were resolute. They contained unwavering conviction, as if stating an obvious fact.

‘We remain.’

We.

Young Seol Ha-woon laughed as if it was absurd.

But, looking back now after almost ten years have passed.

Your words were right.

Click

I took a photo.

The two people scattered like mist again, and I remained with my walking stick.

My hair had grown much longer compared to then, I had become much thinner compared to then, and I had become much weaker compared to then.

Tap. Tap.

Before long, another memory blooms from my footsteps.

‘Training is concluded!’

The instructor’s voice resonates loudly across the training ground. With hell week and survival week as the finale, the long and arduous training process was finally ending.

‘From today, you are no longer trainees. Remember that you are members of South Korea’s elite forces, the UDT. Sincere congratulations on your graduation.’

Wearing crisply pressed dress uniforms, we stood in formation side by side.

I quietly looked at that moment, at the faces of my faded comrades, and at Seo Ji-hyuk who was smiling awkwardly beside me.

Without realizing it, a tearful smile flowed out.

“Half of them died.”

We worked so hard like this. We really ran hard and became soldiers.

That purpose probably wasn’t to die.

“…”

I let out a sigh. I thought about the camera that would be filming me from somewhere. This labyrinth arbitrarily revived my memories, but it was rather fortunate.

It was fortunate.

“These faces.”

I must not forget them. Not because they died in service for the country. Not because they did good things.

“Please take a good look.”

Just because it’s heartbreaking that youth withered too early.

I hope these people are captured in a moment of the main broadcast.

Click

I took a photo.

‘Private Seol Ha-woon. I have received orders for unit assignment!’

‘Private Seo Ji-hyuk. I have received orders for unit assignment!’

After that, a new beginning continued, and our time flowed quickly.

We had carried out countless missions together. Downtown areas mixed with the smell of blood and gunpowder, the middle of vast seas, buildings occupied by terrorists.

All those memories were too deep and heavy to bring out one by one.

‘Ha-woon.’

Seo Ji-hyuk called my name endlessly.

‘Look at my little sister. She’s already grown this much.’

He would occasionally show me photos he received in letters. I would glance at them and say “So what?” I wanted to ignore him, but.

‘Ha-woon.’

‘What.’

‘Eat this.’

Sometimes he would get things like Choco Pie, Mont Blanc, or Häagen-Dazs – things I absolutely couldn’t ignore, making it impossible to dismiss him.

‘Ji-hyuk. Did you eat?’

At some point, I too began calling his name.

The meaning of comradeship is sharing the battlefield together. Sharing a density stronger than time itself.

‘Private First Class Seol Ha-woon.’

Now we slowly advance forward. Watching comrades fall beside us, holding their funerals, resolving that at least I will survive.

‘Corporal Seo Ji-hyuk.’

‘Corporal Seol Ha-woon’

Just as we were getting used to the military system,

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Captain Yoo Seok-hoon.’

We were assigned to a new platoon.

‘Private First Class Yoon Jeong-hyeop, sir!’

I looked at Yoo Seok-hoon, Yoon Jeong-hyeop, Seol Ha-woon, and Seo Ji-hyuk from that time.

Click

I took their photo.

I carefully opened the travel log.

I wrote the title.

│Looking back, I wasn’t alone│

I always thought I was alone. I believed I had endured everything by myself.

That wasn’t true.

I was leaning on my own heart. Inside it, quite a few guys had already made themselves at home. There were my peers, there were juniors, and there was Seo Ji-hyuk.

“….”

│Looking back, I wasn’t alone│

However, I couldn’t move beyond the title. I couldn’t upload it.

I sat down on the ground for a moment. The soil felt damp to the touch.

The memory stopped. I too wanted to rest from this journey for a while.

Because after this.

After this memory….

“Ji-hyuk.”

I called out to Seo Ji-hyuk.

“…Jeong-hyeop.”

I called out the names of the platoon members one by one. Nine out of those eleven had died. Their faces were like stones weighing on my heart.

I lowered my head. I gritted my teeth. A hot sigh escaped.

Then, another explorer’s feed was posted.

│With Dad.│

Photo

@Kang Hyeon Actually, I was quite shy when I was young. So shy that they thought something might be wrong with me. So I was homeschooled. Dad stayed home with me every day. He gave up his dream of being a high ranker.

Young Kang Hyeon, and Kang Hyeon’s father holding him in his arms.

─Lim Haejun: ㅠㅠ..

—Kate : That’s a nice photo.

—Lee Sin-hye : Thanks to him, Kang Hyeon grew up well.

—Ryu Yeon-hwa : It’s a beautiful photo.

—Lee Jun-ho : He looks handsome.

The next feed was from Im Hae-jun.

│The friend I loved..│

Hamster photo

@Im Hae-jun The first pet I ever raised.. Hae-soon. I still tear up when I see her. Hamsters usually only live 2 to 3 years, but this friend lived for 7 years. She held on until I returned from studying archery abroad, then died that dawn.

─Kang Hyeon : Hae-soon is cute

─Seo Ji-woo : Wow 7 years.. I raised a hamster too but it died after 3 months. The home environment wasn’t good.

─Kate : She’s cute. Living 7 years is a miracle. Are you riding horses well now?

The hamster’s name was Hae-soon….

Must have been female.

“…Pfft.”

I chuckled softly as I scrolled through the feeds. The travel log had filled up with quite a lot of explorers’ feeds.

│Mother and Father│

Photo

@Jo Woon I was born in Sangsan. We were very poor. But poverty wasn’t a problem. I realized at a young age that you can be harmonious even when poor, and that being poor doesn’t mean everyone is unhappy. I was extremely poor, but I was a very lucky child. Though they’re no longer in this world, thanks to this labyrinth I get to meet them again.

I’m grateful.

Jo Woon uploaded a photo of his mother and father smiling at each other.

│1st Place in Horseback Riding Competition│

Photo

@Kate The day I won 1st place in the horseback riding competition. Uncle Percival came and took this photo.

Young Kate holding a trophy with a bright smile, and Colonel Percival beside her, smiling as if even more proud.

My expression hardened for a moment.

─Seo Ji-woo : Oh~ horseback riding~

─Yoon Hwa-rim : Wow~ Kate had an uncle? He’s really handsome! What does he do now?

┗Kate : He passed away

┗Yoon Hwa-rim : ..I see.

─Lim Haejun: Wow, so my sister was that small once too lol

─Lee Jun-ho : Your uncle was handsome

They too are taking a journey like me. Tracing our lives, the trajectory of the path we’ve walked.

Among these, there must be memories they’re afraid to show others, and many embarrassing ones.

But.

“This is all of me.”

There is no wrong path. There are no incorrect answers in life. I must believe this, and believe it again.

At that moment.

│My big brother lol│

Seo Ji-woo had uploaded a feed.

Seo Ji-hyuk standing in front of a door, trying his best to smile. A description of the photo was written in text.

@Seo Ji-woo When mother passed away. Oppa came to find me, saying we should go home together.

I quietly read the feed. Seo Ji-woo had captured the person most precious to her in a photo.

I also looked at my travel log.

│Looking back, I wasn’t alone│

I uploaded photos from my military days. Click. Click. Click.

Diving training photos, underwater meal photos, graduation ceremony photos… even photos of Seo Ji-hyuk and me sitting side by side. I selected them one by one.

@Seol Ha-woon The times came back to me. There was quite a depth I didn’t know about myself. I thought I had grown up alone, but I hadn’t.

I didn’t read the comments. I quietly closed my eyes.

When the show airs, my relationship with Seo Ji-hyuk might be highlighted.

It’s not bad. There’s no reason to avoid it anymore.

You were my friend, and I was my friend too.

Swoooosh…

Then a new path appeared. It was a hospital.

I walked inside. Just as I embraced good memories, I couldn’t avoid the bad ones.

Screams and groans bursting from all directions, the incessant sound of machines, the stinging smell of disinfectant and blood all tangled together.

My comrades lay on every bed. The guys who had been laughing and chatting with me just moments before were fading away, wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

I looked around at them from the middle of the corridor.

Click

I took a photo.

Swoosh. The moment I pressed the shutter, the scene scattered.

The white walls and red bloodstains of the hospital melted and mixed together like an oil painting.

The colorless world distorted once, then was reconstructed into a new place amid cold rain and the smell of earth.

It was the National Cemetery.

Patter patter. Patter patter.

In the pouring heavy rain, Seol Ha-woon stands under a distant tree, watching him.

The honor guard’s disciplined movements, the coffin covered with the national flag, people enduring their grief. All of it seemed distant, as if it had nothing to do with me.

Bang, bang, bang.

The rifle shots echo through the rain, and Seo Ji-hyuk’s coffin slowly, very slowly descends into the ground.

“…I too.”

Sometime.

No, not long ago.

Lee Je-hoon had asked me if I had any friends. He said the Snow Path members were curious too.

The answer to that question, I spoke with my own mouth.

“I had a friend.”

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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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