Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 51

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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 051

Spring Rain(1)

All 96 members of Mitamnan gathered in one set stage. The background felt somehow familiar.

The very first place where everyone had assembled – that Pyramid Set.

“Nice to see you. Is everyone here?”

Yoo Ji-in, always dressed in flashy outfits, spoke with an unusually serious voice today as she announced the topic.

“Today is tier re-evaluation.”

Tier re-evaluation.

I had cleared three labyrinths as F-tier. It was about time to move up a bit.

“The results of this tier re-evaluation will be maintained until the first voting tally.”

The first tally is the vote count ranking. It’ll probably be sorted by vote count ranking right after the Situation Labyrinth episodes air.

For me, that time might be a crisis. Kim Du-gyeom’s image will be good until then, while I’ll be in the role of beating him up.

“This tier measurement combines 40% from the on-site audience evaluation of the Situation Labyrinth and 60% from the mentors’ judging scores. Also, please note that there may be discrepancies between future rankings and tiers.”

This means situations like [3rd place, A-tier] could be possible if vote rankings are high but mentor evaluations are low, and conversely [S-tier, 13th place] is also possible.

“I’ll announce S-tier. There are 6 people total.”

The number of S-tier participants had decreased.

[ S Tier: Kang Hyeon, Ryu Yeon-hwa, Seo Ji-woo, Lee Jun-ho, Jo Woon, Kate ]

In alphabetical order, these are exactly the people worthy of S-tier.

“A-tier. I’ll announce it. There are 10 people total.”

[ A Tier: Kim Du-gyeom, Kim Dong-ha, Ryu Wei, Yoon Hwa-rim, Im Hae-jun, Jin Ho-jong… ]

After that, the lists for 14 B-tier, 21 C-tier, and other D, E, F-tier members were announced, and I became C-tier Seol Ha-woon.

It was lower than expected. I thought I’d at least be at the bottom of B-tier.

It’s probably because I couldn’t openly display physical prowess.

Due to mobility limitations, I had stayed away from the ‘battlegrounds’ throughout the labyrinth.

Still, I’m the only one who jumped up three tiers from F-tier. C-tier is a safe zone where I don’t have to worry about mid-season elimination.

The annoying part is that Kim Du-gyeom moved up to A-tier? I guess his talent is being recognized.

“Hyung! I, I’m A-tier!”

Im Hae-jun, who appeared beside me at some point, is also A-tier.

“Now. The dormitories will be reassigned according to tiers, but before that, it would be disappointing to just move on, right? There’s a competition with prizes.”

Yoo Ji-in smiled brightly and snapped her fingers.

“It’s a staring contest!”

Staring contest. Not a snowball fight, but a staring match. This can also be considered a daily life segment.

“You’ll have staring contests according to predetermined brackets. The top 6 will get a chance to draw from a ‘Mystery Box’ specially prepared by the Mitamnan Team, along with an additional minute of self-PR time. Personal videos will be uploaded to the homepage.”

One minute of self-PR. It’s not a small reward. We need vote counts one way or another.

“First, we’ll do a drawing! Very fairly~”

The production crew brought a container filled with 96 small balls. It was similar to a lottery machine.

“I’ll draw.”

Yoo Ji-in operated the machine, but her gestures were somehow strange. Faint magic power was mixed in.

This means it’s not a fair drawing.

“Those whose names are called, please come forward and sit facing each other! Round 1 is Seol Ha-woon and Seo Ji-woo! Im Hae-jun and Kim Du-gyeom! Kang Hyeon and Ryu Wei! Ji Woon-yul…”

* * *

Round 1.

Seo Ji-woo is sitting in front of me. She looks at me, and I also gaze into her eyes.

Seo Ji-woo has blue hair like Seo Ji-hyuk. Her pupils also have a bluish tint. While blue irises are one thing, blue hair is a color that cannot exist biologically in mammals.

Because it’s not a biological result.

When a child with high mana affinity lives exposed to dense magic power from a young age, the magic power dyes the person. Even without dyeing, they naturally get blue hair.

It’s half child abuse.

“…”

That Seo Ji-woo is twitching her lips. Her appearance of trying hard not to close her eyes reminds me of the old Seo Ji-hyuk.

Quite ironically, we had staring contests back then too. They made us monitor each other, calling it training not to close our eyes.

Shitty but nostalgic memories.

I smiled without realizing it. Seo Ji-woo flinched and trembled.

“Why, why are you smiling? What’s so funny?!”

“…What the hell.”

[ Seo Ji-woo eliminated ]

The camera caught Seo Ji-woo. I got up from my seat, and

“Ah, I had no intention of winning anyway. I had no intention of winning…”

Seo Ji-woo muttered to herself as she left.

* * *

Round 2.

This time it’s Lee Jun-ho.

“Why don’t you just close your eyes?”

Lee Jun-ho recommended giving up while trembling at the corners of his mouth. His eyes were already bloodshot.

It’s been 20 minutes already.

“I could do this all day.”

“Ha~ What’s with this bluffing~?”

“Don’t bluff yourself. You’re covered in tears.”

“…I just suddenly thought of something sad.”

By the way, I have good eyes. The free trait 【Good Eyes, Good Ears】 proves that. Here, ‘good eyes’ has multiple meanings.

Lee Jun-ho brought his face close to mine.

“I’m a radish that received mana training. Think you’ll lose?”

“…You buy radishes that received mana training? Do radishes get mana training these days?”

Lee Jun-ho pondered my words and frowned.

“Radishes and mana… what are you talking about?”

The camera caught Lee Jun-ho. Just now, he slightly closed and opened his eyes.

[ Lee Jun-ho eliminated ]

“No way!”

Lee Jun-ho got up feeling wronged.

“Isn’t this cheating? Suddenly saying strange, nonsensical things?!”

* * *

Round 3.

The third opponent is Ryu Yeon-hwa.

This natural white-haired guy is quite famous and promising as a Mage, but this is our first face-to-face meeting.

“Hello. I’m Ryu Yeon-hwa.”

“I’m Seol Ha-woon.”

I pushed in informal speech right from the start. Ryu Yeon-hwa’s temple twitched.

“…Weren’t we meeting for the first time?”

Ryu Yeon-hwa dislikes informal speech on first meetings. He’s a well-raised friend who values etiquette and is unnecessarily fastidious – a young master type.

Perfect as my opponent.

“It’s not our first meeting.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Ryu Yeon-hwa made a hostile expression, and I continued calmly.

“We met before. Back then.”

“Back then?”

“At Aqua Cube.”

“…”

Ryu Yeon-hwa’s expression hardened.

Ryu Yeon-hwa is a famous club lover. He doesn’t go often, but enjoys it about 2-3 times a month. The young master’s deviation, you could say.

It was quite a famous story among the “Mitamnan” fandom.

“…Why bring that up. There are cameras here.”

Ryu Yeon-hwa whispered urgently.

“You always book tables. Must have a lot of money.”

“Shh. Shh. Shh.”

“You close your eyes first. Then I’ll shut up. You can make the top ranks in less than a minute anyway.”

“…Ha. So you’re going to play it this way?”

He gritted his teeth.

“Do you know what my motto is? Strong against strong, weak against weak, threats and such-“

“I even know the MD’s name.”

“Such…”

“You should be careful of that guy. Who knows? He might do something weird using your name.”

Actually, Ryu Yeon-hwa does get caught up in scandals. It’s false accusations, but quite a serious drug problem.

I held up three fingers.

“I’ll give you 3 seconds.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Ryu Yeon-hwa blinked.

* * *

Round 4, the final match.

In a situation where I just need to beat one more person, my last opponent is Kate. She looks formidable at first glance.

“…”

Lips pressed tightly shut. Eyes sharply upturned, more fierce than usual today.

Someone who absolutely won’t let me win.

This time it might be better to not say anything at all.

“…”

“…”

We glare at each other.

Kate is, admittedly, quite a beautiful person. How is her skin like that? Does this person also use something like a 【Mysterious Care Set】?

[ 40 : 15 : 23 ]

The staring contest had gone on for over 40 minutes, but the situation remained the same. Kate seemed determined, maintaining her eyelids even while the muscles in her cheeks were cramping.

Suddenly, I remembered the comedy program I saw this morning.

“Kate.”

Kate showed no expression. I moved my mouth around and said,

“Can I spit?”

I moved my lips as if spitting. Ptui.

“…Crazy-“

Her eyes blinked with contempt.

[ Kate Eliminated ]

“Phew.”

It wasn’t cheating. I didn’t actually spit.

* * *

I climbed onto the Platform using any means necessary.

The 6 winners were Kang Hyeon, Seol Ha-woon, Kim Woo-hyeon, Ji Yeong-ho, Ryu Wei, Kim Du-gyeom. As expected, except for Kang Hyeon, they’re all A~C tier desperate for self-promotion, but that bastard Kim Du-gyeom is really persistent. He managed to make it up here too.

“Everyone~ choose a door and go in!”

Yoo Ji-in pointed to the doors next to the Set Stage. There were exactly six of them.

Kim Du-gyeom butted in with a bright smile.

“How should we decide the order? How about rock-paper-scissors?”

“Go play that by yourself in front of a mirror.”

“…”

Kim Du-gyeom’s expression soured.

Then Kang Hyeon stepped forward with a slightly amused face.

“Everyone, do you know Confession Jump?”

Confession Jump. Similar to 369, but when it’s a multiple of 3, you choose between Go, Back, or Jump – Go means stay, Back means go backwards, Jump means skip one person, something like that.

“Confession Jump…?”

Kim Du-gyeom looked puzzled. Kim Woo-hyeon raised his hand.

“I know it.”

I nodded too.

“I know it. Let’s go with that.”

“Yes, I don’t mind either.”

“Let’s do it. That one.”

Since Ryu Wei and Ji Yeong-ho also said it was fine, the order-deciding game would be Confession Jump.

“Going without practice. Starting from Ha-woon hyung, going left.”

Kang Hyeon waved his arms while reciting the intro. He looked strangely excited.

“Confession Jump, Confession Jump~”

I went first,

“1.”

Kang Hyeon went

“2.”

Kim Du-gyeom went

“Back!”

“…”

Silence.

Since it’s Back, it’s Kang Hyeon’s turn.

I looked at Kang Hyeon.

“Ah.”

Kang Hyeon realized belatedly and made the face of someone who lost their country. I was dumbfounded.

“What are you doing?”

You do it.

“Ah….”

“What’s with the ‘ah’.”

“…Ah”

Just as Kang Hyeon silently let out a sigh.

I turned to look at Kim Du-gyeom with a certain uneasiness. A vile smile was carved like a sculpture on his lips.

This bastard, he knows this game.

I’ve been fooled.

* * *

As a result of the confession jump, I came in first place. Kim Du-gyeom was second. I even put on my 【Enhanced Compression Frameless Glasses】 because I didn’t want to lose to that guy.

Which means I amplified my nervous system just to win a confession jump.

“…Phew.”

“Haun hyung. You’re really good at this.”

Kang Hyeon looked at me with an envious expression.

“You’re just bad at it.”

“…Ah.”

An unnecessarily hurt reaction.

Anyway, I was the first to choose a room.

It was a room that was entirely pink. Four mystery boxes were placed on the table.

The Writer said.

“Choose one of the four and do your self-PR.”

“Yes.”

What should I choose. What should I choose. While pondering, a certain thought suddenly occurred to me.

“By any chance, can I choose later?”

“Huh?”

The Writer tilted her head.

“Later? How would you do that?”

These mystery boxes probably contain pretty good items. The Mitamnan Team is famous for being generous.

But it wouldn’t matter if I opened it a little later.

“I am….”

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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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