Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 310

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 310

My Happy Ending(5)

Im Hae-jun is driving the yacht. Following Seol Ha-woon’s guidance, with the small hamster Hae-suni perched on his shoulder, he’s embarking on a final journey to find ‘the door’.

Seol Ha-woon leaned against the bow railing, gazing at the sea, then suddenly asked.

“I’m curious. How long are you going to keep that hamster with you?”

Im Hae-jun glanced at Hae-suni on his shoulder and gripped the steering wheel more tightly.

“…Until the end.”

“Until the end?”

“You never know. Maybe we can… leave together.”

Seol Ha-woon smiled faintly. That laughter made Im Hae-jun’s heart feel heavier. More than Hae-suni, it was actually Seol Ha-woon he was more worried about.

Because he couldn’t leave together with them. Because he was someone who would disappear when this world ended.

Though the person himself seemed completely unbothered.

“Are you okay, master?”

“I’m fine.”

Beings recreated in this labyrinth disappear when the labyrinth ends.

He must surely know. If it’s Seol Ha-woon, there’s no way he wouldn’t know that he would vanish the moment Im Hae-jun left this labyrinth.

“Why? That’s a lie.”

“I don’t lie.”

“How can you be okay, as a human being?”

“Because I decided to be okay with it.”

Seol Ha-woon answered calmly. Suddenly, the sunset sinking toward the seaside shattered and fell across his profile.

Im Hae-jun stared at him blankly.

“If you decide to… does that make it work?”

“Hae-jun.”

Seol Ha-woon called his name. His voice mixed with the sound of waves and resonated softly.

“I killed many people. Really, so many people.”

Im Hae-jun felt like his heart was sinking with a thud.

“I shot while looking into their eyes, and sometimes I blew them up from a distance.”

Swoooosh──

The water splashed up slightly and wet his cheek. Im Hae-jun quietly listened to his voice.

“What I learned there was… first, I must accept it even if I become that target myself.”

Seol Ha-woon explained his principle in the simplest and most straightforward language.

“If I harmed others, I should be prepared to suffer the same fate. There’s nothing uglier than running away when you’re actually in that position.”

The red sunset slowly sank beyond the horizon. Soon the world would be dyed in dark navy blue.

“It’s the same for you, Im Hae-jun. If you decided to wander the labyrinth, it’s no different from deciding to destroy the fake.”

Im Hae-jun suppressed the rising sigh. Instead, he looked at Hae-suni fidgeting next to the steering wheel.

“Even if I’m fake, I’m just fulfilling my duty.”

Seol Ha-woon smiled faintly. His smile contained no regret, no lingering attachment, no fear.

“So. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Im Hae-jun turned his gaze away from him. He focused on the steering wheel for no reason. While focusing on the path we would take, he hid his sniffling nose.

Kim A-rang and the production team watched them from the monitoring room.

The explorers were each embarking on their final journey with their own ‘fake Seol Ha-woon’. All of them had left their happiness behind and willingly set out on the path to return to true reality.

It was a journey with a predetermined farewell.

“…Ah, this is kind of touching.”

Even Im Hyeong-uk had an emotional expression this time. Actually, from now on it wasn’t really monitoring anymore. It was just appreciation. Just watching their journey.

Of course, there was also a friend who couldn’t embark on the journey in proper condition.

─Lee Jong-soo : Mmph, mmmmph! Mmmph! Mmmmmmph!

Lee Jong-soo was completely detained by Seol Ha-woon. His mouth was tightly bound with blue tape, making only incomprehensible sounds, and his hands were tied behind his back. He struggled desperately, but Seol Ha-woon paid no attention and dragged him to stuff him into the trunk.

─Lee Jong-soo : Mmmmmph! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!

Lee Jong-soo is filming a thriller all by himself.

In his ideal world was his deceased grandmother, and Jong-soo didn’t want to leave that memory. He stubbornly insisted that he would only consider leaving after eating all of grandmother’s chicken stew, grandmother’s chicken soup, grandmother’s kimchi stew, grandmother’s soybean paste stew, and grandmother’s galbi soup.

He even begged while crying.

You don’t know how precious grandmother is to me!

It was quite a memorable quote clip, but Seol Ha-woon had no mercy.

Anyway, Jong-soo would eventually reach the door too.

Watching such scenes, Kim A-rang was suddenly filled with bittersweet feelings. This long journey was now truly coming to an end. The past days of laughing, crying, and sometimes cursing while staying up all night flashed by like a panorama.

This would be our last labyrinth exploration together with them.

“How is it?”

Yoon Sa-hyuk, who had approached at some point, asked. Kim A-rang chuckled while watching Jong-su still squirming like a worm in resistance.

“I was watching Jong-su because he’s funny.”

“What about Seol Ha-woon?”

“I think he’ll arrive soon.”

Seol Ha-woon would be the first to conquer the labyrinth this time too.

He would leave his happiness behind and return to the original world.

He would willingly come to meet us.

“We have one Seol Ha-woon on our side too.”

Yoon Sa-hyuk silently placed his hand on Kim A-rang’s shoulder. Probably meaning not to get too immersed.

Kim A-rang let out a deep sigh filled with regret.

Now, less than a month remained.

I finally reached the door.

A massive door shining alone in the pitch-black darkness. Beyond this, there would probably be our real world.

A world where Labyrinth Exploration NaN is still airing, but where I can never meet Seo Ji-hyuk again.

That is my reality. A reality I cannot deny and must accept.

“….”

I turned around.

The path I had walked, the world I had left behind stretched out distantly. In the night sky, stars several times larger than in reality were embedded like jewels.

I suddenly felt like Seo Ji-hyuk would appear to bid me farewell.

It was a damn labyrinth.

It spread my happiest ending before my eyes and made me come all the way here.

It was a perfect world where I could have everything.

A place where my comrades were alive and peaceful daily life was promised.

It wasn’t an easy farewell for me either.

But there was no choice.

Rest that relies on fake happiness is ultimately like a sand castle. It’s just an illusion that will disappear without a trace when a wave comes once.

In this perfect world, there was no Kang Hyeon, and there was no me from ‘that day’.

That alone made this not a world where I should stay.

Sssssssss….

The wind blew, brushing through my hair. Cold air seeped deep into my lungs. I gripped the dog tags hanging around my neck. The metallic texture dug into my palm.

Perhaps this is the reason I can stand up again. Because I’m the one who left you alone on the battlefield, because I’m the one who already knows the sorrow of losing comrades.

Even that painfully agonizing process is a precious part of what made me who I am today. The happy memories, the memories I want to erase, the pain that hurt to death, my broken leg.

All of those things make up the person called Seol Ha-woon.

“I can’t correct the path I’ve walked.”

I lowered my gaze for a moment. Then I raised my head again toward the front, toward the camera that must be filming me from somewhere.

Suddenly, I had something I wanted to say.

Right now, at this moment, to the viewers who have been watching Labyrinth Exploration. And to everyone who might have had the same worries as me somewhere, someday, I had something I wanted to say.

“The life you have lived.”

Perhaps for someone, it might be a daily routine that goes around like a hamster wheel. A life of waking up at the same time every day, taking the same subway, sitting at a desk no different from yesterday and spending the day.

Days when today feels the same as yesterday, and tomorrow will be no different from today, when just enduring each day has become the only goal.

“The path you have walked,”

Or perhaps it’s time spent drowning in the sorrow of losing someone, unable to escape from the pain of a crumbling world.

Sitting down in irreversible failure, endlessly blaming yourself, clutching your torn heart while feeling like you can’t take a single step forward—despair, moments when even breathing feels burdensome under the weight of all that suffering.

“I don’t think any of it is wrong.”

Having gone through all those processes, I now stand here.

You can’t always succeed, you can’t always be happy.

All the wounds and regrets, and moments of joy come together to finally form the existence that is me.

“That’s why…”

I looked straight at the camera, at the world beyond it.

“We are undeniably real.”

Suddenly, a smile formed. This was perhaps something I was saying to myself as well.

To myself, who was about to leave this happiness behind, words I wanted to say that I wasn’t wrong.

I, we all already know. That real life is a place where you move forward while embracing all the pain of loss and wounds of regret.

But we will eventually find our own happiness.

Without fail.

I reached out and opened the door.

Creeeeak──.

Beyond it, the lights dimmed. The familiar set stage was warmly illuminated.

Clap clap clap clap clap!

Suddenly, applause erupted from all directions. Countless staff members were cheering toward me. They approached with bouquets and flower necklaces, but I raised my hand to stop them for a moment.

I stretched out my arm. I rolled up my sleeve and activated my sequence. I concentrated all my nerves to detect the waves of magic power touching my body. I carefully checked even the slightest fluctuations.

Normal.

Only then did I exhale in relief and bow my head in greeting.

“Thank you.”

Kim A-rang approached through the crowd. Her face showed a mixture of fatigue and relief.

“First place. How is it, the feeling of returning from a long journey? If you want, psychological therapy is prepared too.”

“…I’m fine. It was fun.”

Rather than feeling regretful or disappointed, I actually felt relieved. The feeling that something that had been empty was filled again. Rather, it felt like I had been ‘recharged.’

“Now… there’s really just one live broadcast left.”

At Kim A-rang’s words, I smiled bitterly. Just when I thought it was over, there’s still one more left.

“Yes.”

I answered briefly.

“What about the other friends?”

“It’ll probably take a while. Rest up.”

“Ah… can I monitor together?”

“No.”

Kim A-rang shook her head.

“Absolutely not.”

“…Ugh, I’m tired.”

I returned to the empty dormitory. The other colleagues hadn’t returned yet. There were quite a few who were eliminated early from this labyrinth, but most of them left saying they would receive psychological therapy or something.

The production team isn’t telling us what the rest, the guys still inside the door, are doing.

Thanks to that, I was confined alone in the dormitory.

“Yaaawn…”

I yawned for no reason while looking around cautiously.

Only after confirming no one was there, well, of course no one was there.

I let out a long breath.

Actually, I’m not that strong of a person either. Though I pretended to be calm, the experience in that strange world left indelible traces deep in my heart.

So, I brought just one piece of loot from inside that labyrinth.

It was ‘memory.’

I closed my eyes.

I synchronized all my senses with my sequence and recalled a scene from beyond the door of memory, from that perfect world.

All of us squad members sitting side by side by the riverside at sunset, taking photos.

The moment I spent with Seo Ji-hyuk and Yoon Jeong-hyeop and… them, alive and breathing, that warm air, I captured with my sequence. I drew that memory exactly as it was on white paper.

Magic power seeped into the paper and the landscape was completed.

A kind of magic photograph that reproduced memory exactly as it was using sequence.

“Hmm.”

I gazed at it quietly. We were all smiling. Without realizing it, laughter spilled out as I followed their example.

I should put this picture in a frame and place it somewhere visible.

“…It’s the best among the loot.”

The loot you can have from a fake world is my memory that will remain real.

The precious story called ‘what if.’

I held it close to my heart.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————