Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 311

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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 311

Winter at the Tip of My Nose(1)

Today is Friday. The day of Labyrinth Exploration NaN. While SNS and communities are ablaze with debates about Seol Ha-woon’s elimination, Lee Si-ah is walking down the main street looking at her smartphone.

│Is Seol Ha-woon getting eliminated?│

│Isn’t this preview bait? Could he really be eliminated?│

│As if lol, we get fooled over and over again│

│Don’t you know reverse of reverse of reverse│

│Forget Seol Ha-woon or whatever, I finally solved problem 8. Congratulations to me hehe│

‘Seol Ha-woon’s Ten Problems’ is extremely popular among mages these days.

There are even rumors floating around that some of them might be included in mage textbooks.

│I heard Professor Lee Yun-se solved all 10?│

│He says he won’t reveal them publicly because he wants to solve them together with Seol Ha-woon later│

│lololol Professor Lee Yun-se seems really serious about this│

Professor Lee Yun-se, who rose to stardom through Mitamnan live commentary, claims he’s on the verge of the final 10th problem. According to him.

I heard he’s appearing on New Quiz this time too, and he recently created an SNS account to communicate with viewers quite often.

“…Huh?”

Lee Si-ah suddenly spread her palm wide. Rustle rustle. Pure white snowflakes swayed and settled down.

When she looked up, sleet was scattering about.

As Lee Si-ah stared blankly— words that Yoon Sa-hyuk had once said flickered in her ears.

Mitamnan will end on the day the first snow falls.

“Sigh.”

Lee Si-ah let out a sigh and opened the door to a shop.

“Oh, Si-ah’s here?”

“Yes. I came to buy some equipment.”

It’s the electronics market she frequents, where she came to make full preparations for the final live broadcast ticketing.

Lee Si-ah first checked the website on a laptop.

│Live Broadcast Ticket Reservation Schedule Notice│

The final episode of Labyrinth Exploration NaN will be broadcast live. At Korea’s largest Sangam Stadium, accommodating a whopping 60,000 people. But even those 60,000 seats aren’t enough.

The war has already begun.

“I heard people are even coming from overseas to buy those.”

“That’s right.”

It’s ridiculous. People from all over the world are flocking just to watch the final episode of a mere broadcast program on site.

Countless celebrities including Hollywood movie stars and sports stars have already posted feeds about coming to Korea. Starting this week, airplane tickets to Seoul are sold out no matter where you depart from in the world.

The mindset is wanting to watch Mitamnan’s final broadcast locally, together with the local atmosphere. Because of this, accommodation costs, hotel fees, etc. are far beyond Olympic host cities.

That’s how much Mitamnan is no longer just a simple broadcast. It’s a culture that penetrated this entire year, and a phenomenon of the times that will be remembered for quite a long time.

“Mitamnan is really ending.”

“That’s right~”

Lee Si-ah placed the equipment on the counter.

“900,000 won total.”

“Yes.”

“Si-ah, what’s so great about that Seol Ha-woon?”

“Oh. How did you know? That I’m a Seol Ha-woon fan.”

“…Look at what you’re wearing.”

A hoodie in Seol Ha-woon’s colors. And from her smartphone case to keyring, everything is Seol Ha-woon.

“Ah. Right.”

“They say his victory is almost confirmed?”

“Not yet. It’s a taboo word among us.”

“Oh my. I see.”

Actually, SNS was already in a festive mood. Viewers planned gatherings to commemorate the finale, posting photos of goods to share on the live broadcast day and cheering each other on.

“Well, I’ll be going.”

“Alright.”

After leaving the shop, she stood in front of the bus stop. Soon a familiar bus arrived. It was the so-called ‘Mitamnan bus’ with the entire bus wrapped in Seol Ha-woon’s face. Among them, the Seol Ha-woon bus.

“Lucky me.”

The interior was quite crowded due to rush hour, but Lee Si-ah grinned and got on the bus. Holding the equipment in her arms, she looked around at the people.

Students sitting in seats had blankets printed with Kang Hyeon’s face covering their knees, and the office worker next to them had a Seol Ha-woon character keyring attached to their smartphone. From phone cases and earphone cases in people’s hands to small dolls hanging on bags. Everything is Labyrinth Exploration.

“Hey, this time he’s really going to be eliminated.”

“Are you getting fooled again?”

“Bet? Bet?”

“How much.”

“50,000 won.”

All the conversations on the bus were only about Labyrinth Exploration. Lee Si-ah looked at the scenery passing by outside the window and got off the bus.

As soon as she arrived home, she quickly sat in front of the sofa.

“Open the door~”

Turning on the TV, placing her laptop, setting down her smartphone, while hugging a Seol Ha-woon cushion.

-Open the door

-Open it

-Damn

-Let us in

-Please stop the ads

┌──Labyrinth Exploration NaN──┐

She watched the starting live broadcast.

Haa, haa…

First, groaning echoes. Then footsteps stepping deeply into sand, somehow hot footsteps appear.

─Im Hae-jun : Haa, haa…

The opening is Im Hae-jun, Kate, and Seo Ji-woo’s party. They are advancing through a hopeless desert.

─Seo Ji-woo : Ha, damn. Ugh, it’s hot. Ugh.

─Kate : ….

─Im Hae-jun : Haa, haa….

Without saying anything, they advance through the desert for almost a minute. The sun is insane. Heat haze flickers like candlelight, and their faces are almost dried to death.

Lee Si-ah is puzzled.

“What’s with them?”

Seol Ha-woon must have left a shelter for them.

-What?

-Why is Seo Ji-woo?

-Seol Ha-woon made a shelter for them

-Ah haha, Seo Jiwoo is going off to find even greater fortune.

The chat is also puzzled, and then the perspective switches.

─Yoon Hwa-rim : Wow. Thanks to this, I survived. Really.

Yoon Hwa-rim’s party is resting comfortably inside a cabin that’s like a cool ice cream box. They’re even drinking water and making ice.

-They found a shelter

-Wow lol crazy, Yoon Hwa-rim’s cart even works as a freezer lol

-Yoon Hwa-rim is just gonna make a fortune lololol

The two parties are such a contrast. Lee Si-ah finds it puzzling. Could Seo Ji-woo really have bad luck?

While tilting her head in confusion, Seol Ha-woon appeared on screen!

─Seol Ha-woon : ….

Riding on a camel, he’s sprinkling something on the ground. Experience orbs.

-What’s with the sharing?

-What?

-Why is he throwing orbs on the ground?

-Did this guy get heatstroke too

Cacti suddenly start growing where he scattered the orbs. They grow rapidly.

The camera closes up on them as they quickly grow tall and fill the desert.

Crunch!

A camel that appeared out of nowhere chews on the cactus. As vividly as if it were an apple.

-Wow haha they’re eating it so deliciously

-What?

-Gasp, could it be?

-But why bother doing this?

-???

-?

-??

-Cute

─??? : What’s with the cactus….

Another voice cuts in where Seol Ha-woon has already left.

─Lee Jong-soo : Huh?!

Kang Hyeon’s party. Lee Jong-soo points ahead.

─Lee Jong-soo : It’s camels!

The camera pulls back to a wide shot, showing the camels chewing on cacti.

And beyond them─

─Lee Jong-soo : Over there! Over there! It’s a shelter!

─Lee Jun-ho : Whoa!

─Kang Hyeon : Let’s hurry!

“Wow.”

Lee Si-ah smiled, understanding why Seol Ha-woon had scattered the experience orbs.

─Lee Jong-soo : First, catch the camel, catch the camel!

─Kang Hyeon : No need. They’re docile.

─Lee Jong-soo : Oh really? Then let’s go inside and rest! I’m dying from the heat!

The party making a commotion and laughing cheerfully in the forest of camels and cacti.

It’s a simple story.

Among them, Seol Ha-woon’s voice flows like reading a fairy tale.

Camels like cacti.

-Wow, this is also for the younger ones ㅠㅠㅠ

-Worried his brothers might have to walk on two legs.. when he only has one leg..

-He has two legs, you idiot above

-It’s just a meme lol not a seizure

-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Seol-bastard is crazy

-Why does Je Mal-ol only think about others?

-Who called this kid a thug..

-If Je Mal-ol just doesn’t get eliminated this week, he’s secure in first place..

Meanwhile, at the backhill of Maze Exploration NaN Dormitory.

I’m refining my magic power at that place I always climbed.

“Haah….”

Breathing long and deep, first organizing the path of magic power flowing through my circuits.

I’ve cleansed my body through fasting, and got sufficient sleep too.

There’s plenty of time until the final live broadcast. The upcoming rest will be quite long, so now is the right time.

Now it’s finally time to attempt the fourth refinement.

However, I was afraid.

I couldn’t help but be afraid.

This isn’t simple training. Every moment is a life-or-death struggle crossing the threshold of death.

Refinement is an extreme discipline notorious even in the mage community. Therefore, all mages know. That if you succeed in refinement, the quality of your magic power improves dramatically.

They only know.

Because of the hellish pain that comes as the price, and the risk of failure, no one can easily choose it.

No matter how many refinements one undergoes, it will become increasingly difficult each time, and if one succumbs to the pain, the circuits could be permanently damaged, or in the worst case, lead to death from mana rampage.

I am…

“Are you watching?”

At my question, mini Truck emitted a mechanical sound.

─Yes. Master’s vital signs are stable.

This is Aro, an assistant and medical officer prepared for any emergency, a refinement observation robot. It won’t be much help though. The moment refinement itself fails, life as a mage comes to an end.

However, if I retreat out of fear, I won’t be able to advance even a single step further.

I sat deeply in the wooden chair. I wrapped the gem string borrowed from Yoo Yul tightly around my right arm. The cold touch of the gems pierced my skin.

In that state, I deploy refinement.

“Huu…”

I take a deep breath, and with the exhaled breath, I concentrate mana into the gem string.

Crack──!

An ominous catching sound. The mana circuits in my body began to fluctuate violently.

This is where it begins.

With my will, with my mana, I must forcibly tear apart the circuits within me. I must tear and tear again. Like damaging muscle fibers to build muscle, I must shred the circuits to pieces and reconstruct them wider and stronger.

This brute simplicity is the principle of refinement.

I closed my eyes. I imagined the sharpest and most vicious form of mana within me. Memories of crystals, shards of broken glass, and even sharper forests of blades. I manifest all these images as mana and let them rampage through my circuits.

Crrrrrrrack───-!

Mechanical sounds echo from within my body. Like a propeller spinning, or a drill boring through organs.

Kiiiiiiiiik——-!

I cannot even scream. Such agony penetrates my entire body.

Ssssssssk──

The sound gradually diminishes. The noise disappears. Breathing becomes shallow. The world grows distant.

I focus myself within my body.

────.

At that moment, a stream of mana penetrated through me. A burning sensation like pouring boiling molten metal into my veins. Pain as if each nerve was being carved thousands upon thousands of times. My heart rampages so wildly it seems ready to burst through my sternum. My vision flashes white, and it feels like my brain is boiling.

As if my lungs were punctured, my diaphragm stops functioning.

“──.”

I quietly coughed up blood. Red fresh blood scattered in droplets across the blue grassland. But I couldn’t stop. I mustn’t stop.

If I stop here, everything becomes meaningless.

Having decided to climb the blade’s edge, I must never look back.

I gritted my teeth. I endured the waves of pain. My consciousness drifted far away, and my body’s sensations became numb one by one.

At the moment when the sensation of circuits being crushed reached its peak, paradoxically everything around me began to feel incredibly vivid.

“…”

I blankly looked up. No, my body had collapsed in that position.

The sky is being dyed. Not simply the crimson sunset of a fading sun. I can see the color of mana itself, which forms the foundation of the world.

The hidden side of the world that couldn’t normally be seen.

Mana particles floating in the atmosphere sparkle like the Milky Way. Each time the wind blows, they ripple like dancing, and trees circulate their own unique mana from roots to branch tips.

All natural things in the world seem like living, breathing mana organisms. Even the tiny flutter of a grass insect’s wings carries minute mana fluctuations.

All sounds approached three-dimensionally, and all primary colors burned into my retinas.

In that wonder──I was enveloped in a sensation as if I had become one with the world.

Cough.

The moment I coughed up blood again, a silhouette appeared above my blurring vision.

It was a man with black hair.

No, he was entirely black from head to toe. A pitch-black coat, black jeans, Black Walker boots.

He stood silently before me, looking down indifferently at me consumed by pain.

Then suddenly, he put something in his mouth.

Flick!

A small flame blazed in the darkness. It was a cigarette. The burning cigarette light illuminated his sharp contours.

Tae-woo.

The mage’s appearance was so surreal it seemed like a hallucination created by pain.

He silently exhaled cigarette smoke in a long stream.

Whooooo…

With the sight of gray smoke mixing into the cold air as the last thing I saw, I lost consciousness.

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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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