Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 41

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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 041

Believer(1)

The next morning, at the back mountain of the dormitory that now feels like my own front yard.

I’m in a good mood doing my morning training.

[ Intermediate-Low Mana Manipulation ]

■ You can easily manipulate mana inside and outside your body. The flow of mana becomes slightly more refined.

[ Intermediate-Low Mana Concentration ]

■ You can easily concentrate mana. Mana phenomena last slightly longer.

[Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Concentration], both core techs have risen to intermediate-low level. I could definitely feel the difference. When moving mana, and when forming formulas, those processes became much smoother.

I also developed a new technique.

I spread my palm. A baseball-sized magic sphere appeared.

Grenade in the tiger’s den!

I swung it wide and threw it.

Boom.

The magic bullet exploded in the forest. The ground was dented, and blue fragments stuck between the trees.

The power is much more destructive than a fragmentation grenade.

“1, 2, 3, 4….”

I counted the time while looking at the mana fragments. The mana disappeared in 9 seconds.

This is called phenomenon retention. The degree to which ‘mana itself’ remains in reality even after the formula ends.

According to magician Tae Hyeok’s theory book, 9 seconds is quite a respectable level.

Whoosh!

I extended my wire and climbed up into the tree. I was careful when landing.

“Phew~”

I breathed in the fresh air among the tree branches and looked at the [Mitamnan] dormitory building.

A smile I didn’t know about appeared on my lips.

There, in that place, is a secret I don’t know. Just that fact alone makes an inexplicable vitality spring up inside me.

I don’t know why. They say people need to eat to live, but maybe I was born to be a hunting dog….

Ding!

[ All 96 explorers please gather at the set stage by 5 o’clock ]

It was the first full assembly text in almost a week since the Survival Labyrinth.

* * *

The completely black set stage. In a place where you couldn’t see an inch ahead, 96 explorers gathered.

“Hyung, what do you think it’ll be this time?”

Before I knew it, Im Hae-jun appeared next to me.

“Who knows.”

Thud- Thud- Thud- Thud-

Just then the ceiling lights turned on. A spacious area like a concert hall was divided into eight sections.

Im Hae-jun made an ominous expression.

“…Hyung. We’re not going to sing and dance, are we?”

“Would we?”

Whoosh.

The door in the center of the stage opened and Yoo Ji-in appeared. KPOP music also played in the background.

“Nice to see you~ I’m here again today to explain this labyrinth.”

She was wearing an idol outfit like a full-body suit. Sparkles were stuck all over it, and she wore some kind of hat on her face.

“The next labyrinth conquest will take place tomorrow, right here. With a live audience.”

Live audience. In simple terms, it’s a stage.

“You’ll be thrown into repeating situations.”

Situation labyrinth. A labyrinth where specific situations loop.

Quite tricky, but the most intuitive.

“The time limit for each situation is 10 minutes. The repeat limit is 6 times.”

That means six coins.

“A total of eight people will be thrown into one labyrinth.”

Yoo Ji-in raised her index finger.

To summarize, a total of eight people must quickly understand the situation, figure out the clear conditions, and complete them.

“However, it’s not a team battle.”

Eight people together, but not a team battle.

The explorers murmured.

“You each need to understand the purpose of this situation and move in a direction favorable to completing the situation. It means it’s individual competition, but if you’re blinded by competitiveness and act too selfishly, the audience will evaluate you, right?”

Yoo Ji-in smiled brightly and snapped her fingers.

Various situations appeared on the monitor above the stage.

“The topics you can choose from are as follows.”

│Plaza│Luxury Hotel│Secret Base│Underground City│

│Mercenary District│Casino│School Ghost Story│VR Game│

“….”

I was slightly flustered. The topics themselves were quite different from before my regression.

The first two, Plaza and Luxury Hotel, were the same, but the last six were ones I’d never seen before.

“Please select your desired topic through NaN’s system~ First come, first served for 8 people!”

Tug. Im Hae-jun grabbed my sleeve.

“Hyung. Which one will you do?”

“…Plaza.”

Rather than a confined space like the Luxury Hotel, the open Plaza is more advantageous for me.

“Oh~ Plaza~ It does look interesting.”

“I’m going first.”

I immediately selected Plaza.

Pop!

[ You will be transported to the conference room for situation ‘Plaza’. ]

Round table conference room. No one else was there yet.

I sat down and waited.

After about 5 minutes, the second man arrived.

It was Lee Jun-ho.

“…Ah.”

Lee Jun-ho, who spotted me, pursed his lips as if this was a disaster.

“What’s with the ‘ah’.”

“…Let’s not pretend to be friendly.”

I chuckled. Honestly, it still seemed like a chihuahua barking.

That’s why I’m even more curious. What on earth happens in the next 3 years that makes this guy become so scary.

“Sigh. This is why you shouldn’t be too nice to black-haired beasts. I shouldn’t have opened the door for him back then.”

“….”

Lee Jun-ho just clicked his tongue awkwardly. It seemed like he had nothing to say either.

Swoosh.

Next, the third person arrived.

It was Kate. She glanced between Lee Jun-ho and me before sitting down in a chair.

Swoosh.

Right away, the fourth person – Kim Woo-hyeon the mage.

“Jun-ho hyung!”

“Oh. Hi.”

Kim Woo-hyeon had done the Cargo Dungeon together with Lee Jun-ho. He naturally sat next to Lee Jun-ho.

Ding-

A message came to the NaN system.

[ Im Hae-jun : Master~ I’m going to the casino hehehe! ]

This guy just keeps calling me master, but when it comes to actual work, he thoroughly picks only what’s good for him.

Swoosh.

Then the fifth team member arrived.

“Oh. Hello….”

A drawling voice. Scratching the back of his neck shyly, with a fox-like eye smile.

It was Kim Du-gyeom.

My expression turned coldly dark as I looked at him.

“Oh! Du-gyeom hyung!”

Kim Woo-hyeon seemed happy to see Kim Du-gyeom, and Lee Jun-ho and Kate also looked quite satisfied with Kim Du-gyeom.

But I….

To put it briefly, I want to kill him.

* * *

Kim Du-gyeom is currently mid-20s B-tier, but with his characteristic good-natured charm, he rises to 9th place in the first ranking tally. Just one step away from the debut team at 8th place. Various communities and SNS were treating Kim Du-gyeom as an almost certain debut team member, until a certain moment in the middle of Mitamnan.

His past school violence was exposed.

It was too excessive to be called simple school violence – it was criminal. Not only extortion and violence, but also multiple sexual crimes.

The more you dug into it, the more you’d question whether this bastard was human or beast, and Kim Du-gyeom was eventually forced to leave.

Up to that point, it was still somewhat okay.

If he had just rotted nicely in prison, he wouldn’t have appeared on my radar.

But after that, this bastard did something even more outrageous.

He killed the original whistleblower.

Not just the whistleblower. The whistleblower’s mother, father, younger sibling, and even the two pet dogs the family kept – he murdered them all, then left Korea and became an actual villain.

Kim Du-gyeom was a C-rank wanted criminal right up until I regressed. Considering he was in his mid-twenties, C-rank was quite high.

Meaning he’s a fucking bastard that even calling him crazy would be a waste of words.

“….”

I sat at the round table in the conference room. Kim Du-gyeom was sitting across from me. The innocent-faced bastard was nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

His face itself is on the handsome side. His skills aren’t bad either – rather, they’re excessively outstanding.

The world is sometimes this unfair.

“Hello.”

Kate spoke first. Her Korean pronunciation was better than a native speaker’s.

“I’m Kate, a shooter.”

Then Lee Jun-ho next to Kate also gave a brief self-introduction.

“I’m Lee Jun-ho, a warrior.”

“Ah, I’m Kim Du-gyeom. I’m also a warrior.”

“I’m Kim Woo-hyeon. I’m a mage, and I’m the youngest again haha….”

After going through all seven people – Kate, Lee Jun-ho, Kim Du-gyeom, Kim Woo-hyeon, Lee Jong-soo, Jung Min-gi, and Ryu Wei.

“I’m Seol Ha-woon, a mage.”

A brief silence fell when it was my turn.

The youngest, Kim Woo-hyeon, couldn’t hide his concern. Probably because of episode 2.

─Everyone, please turn on the monitor in the conference room.

Yoo Ji-in’s voice echoed through the conference room speaker.

“I’ll turn it on.”

Kim Du-gyeom stood up with a kind smile.

I pretended not to notice as I tripped the bastard’s foot as he went to turn on the monitor.

“Oh!”

Kim Du-gyeom fell. Attention focused on him briefly, and I said expressionlessly.

“Ah, sorry. I don’t have much feeling in my legs.”

“…It’s okay.”

He got up with a grin. I twisted the corner of my mouth. Lee Jun-ho glanced this way with a strange look.

Kim Du-gyeom won’t be able to say anything no matter what I do to him where there are cameras.

That’s the kind of bastard he is.

Kim Du-gyeom turned on the monitor.

[ Everyone. Can you see and hear me? ]

Yoo Ji-in spoke from within the screen.

[ Then, from now on, we’ll first select a reconnaissance scout. ]

Everyone in the conference room flinched for a moment.

Reconnaissance scout. It’s a natural role when conquering a labyrinth as a group.

However, the problem was that this assignment was individual.

[ Please select one reconnaissance scout through discussion. The reconnaissance scout can experience that situation alone for 5 minutes in advance and acquire information. Here’s something to note – the reconnaissance scout won’t be filmed by cameras, okay? ]

Not filmed by cameras. Meaning they could share information while reading the room, or choose not to share it.

[ Then please select a reconnaissance scout within 2 hours! ]

“…How about Du-gyeom doing it? You’re fast on your feet too.”

As soon as the words ended, Kim Woo-hyeon spoke up. Lee Jun-ho also nodded, apparently thinking the same thing.

Well, Kim Du-gyeom’s past whitewashing seemed to be quite effective.

“I agree too.”

The Chinese Ryu Wei also agreed.

Kate asked Kim Du-gyeom.

“What do you think?”

“Ah, I’m… it’s burdensome, but if you assign me to do it, I’ll try my best!”

His eyes look so kind. How does he do that? Did he gaslight himself?

“Yes. Then.”

Kate nodded and continued as if concluding.

“If there are no further objections-“

“No.”

I raised my hand. Kim Woo-hyeon flinched and trembled.

For reference, Kim Woo-hyeon is 19 years old. The nickname he got in episode 2 was school lunch.

Being young means he’s quite timid.

“I’m against it.”

“Against it?”

Kate asked back.

“Yes.”

“…Is there someone else you’d like to recommend, Seol Ha-woon?”

“I’ll go in myself.”

Self-nomination.

I’d rather be the reconnaissance scout myself.

It’s much better than letting that bastard Kim Du-gyeom go in. The clue that ‘the reconnaissance scout won’t be filmed by cameras’ is important.

At least if there are cameras, he might act honestly considering the image being shown, but it’s obvious what kind of selfish schemes Kim Du-gyeom would pull in a situation without cameras.

It was the same before my regression.

From the viewers’ perspective, strangely, in every labyrinth that guy entered, situations would always arise where only he got the spotlight.

Conversely, explorers who had friction with Kim Du-gyeom, his direct competitors, would fall into shit.

“…I’m against that.”

It was Lee Jun-ho. I narrowed my eyes.

Never again will I take in a black-haired beast.

Lee Jun-ho avoided my gaze and made excuses.

“I mean, mobility is important, right? For a reconnaissance scout… if you go in, it’ll probably end with just walking around.”

I glared at Lee Jun-ho silently. I intensified my stare even more.

Lee Jun-ho pretended to have eye crust and fidgeted with his eyelids.

“I’ll do my best. Seol Ha-woon, sir.”

Kim Du-gyeom tries to persuade me with a very kind tone.

This fucking bastard.

“Still, I’m pretty fast on my feet. I’ll work hard and do well.”

His voice is delicate. Like a sensitive literary boy.

What bullshit.

“If you trust me—”

“No. It’s not about trust or not.”

I stared at Kim Du-gyeom and lifted the corners of my mouth.

“I just don’t like it. You going in.”

Kim Du-gyeom’s expression wavered faintly. A slightly annoyed look showed, but he quickly replaced it with pitifulness. He whined like a puppy.

“Then.”

Kate intervened as if mediating.

“Let’s vote by show of hands.”

In this situation, a vote would definitely favor Kim Du-gyeom.

I said.

“I oppose the vote.”

“…Let’s vote on the vote.”

I didn’t know Kate liked wordplay.

I shook my head.

“I refuse. I’m going in as the reconnaissance scout.”

Kate responded calmly.

“The team has eight members. If the majority agrees, we have to follow that method.”

“Didn’t you hear what Mentor Yoo Ji-in said? This labyrinth isn’t a team battle. It’s clearly an individual competition.”

Kate’s cheeks reddened. She seemed to be getting heated too.

“…Then we’ll have no choice but to exclude Seol Ha-woon in the labyrinth. Are you okay with that?”

I nodded readily.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Fine. Then—”

“However”

I stopped speaking and looked around at these seven people at the round table in turn.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I drummed on the table and declared quietly.

“I will interfere. With all my might.”

The expressions of the other seven soured. All the cameras focused on me too.

It’s obvious what it would look like if this scene aired, but I don’t care.

This isn’t simply because I can’t trust Kim Du-gyeom.

Right now, from the depths of my being, an irresistible hostility is raising its head. They said my innate attribute discovered through [Refinement] was ‘retribution,’ and it really seems that way.

The fact that a scumbag like Kim Du-gyeom can stretch out his legs, smooth out his facial wrinkles, and even pretend to be good while living and breathing—it really doesn’t sit well with me.

“Whether you exclude me or not, I don’t care.”

Of course, I could pretend to follow Kim Du-gyeom’s words while secretly interfering. I could choose a method that gets less criticism.

I just don’t want to.

I want Kim Du-gyeom to know that there’s someone who hates him. I want him to know that there’s someone who sees through his disgusting true face and wants to crush that arrogant skull of his.

“This time too.”

Perhaps this might be for you all who might be hiding somewhere watching Kim Du-gyeom.

For you who are shedding tears of blood while enduring out of fear of retaliation.

“I’ll definitely be right.”

Let’s properly go wild for once.

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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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