Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 58

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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 058

Let you down(6)

[Estin Corporation]

I arrived in front of the corporate building that Jeka had introduced me to. It was one of the tallest buildings even in downtown Rainos.

“Stop right there.”

A security guard blocked my path. Not just his eyes and limbs, but parts of his torso were prosthetic too. At this point, I wondered if he was more machine than human.

I handed him my business card.

“…Please wait a moment.”

He communicated with someone somewhere, then stepped aside.

“77th floor. Have a good day.”

I entered the elevator inside and pressed the button for the 77th floor.

Ding.

As soon as the doors opened, a secretary greeted me.

“This way, please.”

It was an executive’s office.

Inside, a man stood looking out the glass window. I also took a moment to admire the view beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass.

A rather chaotic city where advertising drones flew back and forth projecting holograms, air taxis carrying VIPs soared through the sky, and all sorts of neon signs flickered. Very different from Earth, but a world where Earth’s imagination was fully realized.

“You’ve arrived.”

Soon the man turned to look at me.

“Nice to meet you.”

He was a neat-looking man. His hair was slicked back in a 2:8 part with pomade, his suit was tidy, and unusually for a world where prosthetic eyes were standard, he wore rimless glasses.

“I’m Seer, branch manager of Estin Corporation’s Rainos division. Please, have a seat.”

Seer gestured to the sofa. I sat down without a word.

“Your name is Ha-woon, correct?”

“Yes. You said you had something to discuss.”

“That’s right.”

He sat across from me.

“As you know, Estin Corporation is one of the largest corporations in NaN.”

NaN is NaN. The name of this world.

I told him.

“You can skip the introduction.”

I didn’t have time to spare.

“Yes. I’ll get straight to the point. We’re trying to expand into the outskirts of Rainos. It’s business expansion.”

He placed a USB-sized video chip on the table. Whirring. A hologram began playing.

“But lately, scavengers have been swarming our construction site. Someone must be behind it.”

It was footage of masked intruders conducting guerrilla sabotage.

“Thanks to them, construction is delayed and we’re suffering astronomical losses.”

I tilted my head.

“Couldn’t the company just deploy its own personnel?”

“Our security forces are currently concentrated elsewhere. Dispersing that manpower is probably exactly what the enemy wants.”

“So you know who the enemy is?”

“Yes.”

Seer nodded. I pretended to consider and leaned back.

“You want me to handle all these wild dogs by myself?”

“To be more precise, we’re looking for a mage with that level of skill.”

[ Quest Generated ]

■WP 3,000

It’s a 3,000 WP Quest.

“…”

I quietly looked around the office. Suddenly, a well-packaged bottle of liquor on the shelf behind caught my eye. I gestured toward it with my chin and asked.

“Do you like alcohol?”

Seer looked where my gaze was directed.

“No. I don’t particularly like it. I received it as a gift.”

Then he got up from his seat and picked up the snake wine. He was quite perceptive.

“If Ha-woon is a mage with the skill level I’m thinking of.”

Thunk. He placed the snake wine on the table.

“I can give you this much as a gift, not even as a down payment.”

I looked at the Labyrinth Person named Seer.

My first impression of him was a well-honed blade. A person who was business-minded to the bone. A corporate executive skilled at hiding his true self. The type you shouldn’t trust carelessly, but…

I really wanted this snake wine.

【Lucky Snake Wine】

■ Grade: Unique

■ Description: Snake wine that brings luck. Drinking it makes you feel like good fortune will come for a while.

■ When consumed: Luck +5 for 180 minutes. Permanently Luck +0.5.

This was why I hadn’t opened any random boxes yet. Luck is a stat that fluctuates wildly depending on specific consumable items or locations.

If I drink this snake wine, my luck will increase by 5 for 3 hours. It’s the difference between getting rare items from random boxes that would normally give common items, and getting unique items from boxes that would give rare ones.

“Well. If you insist on giving it as a gift.”

Better than not getting it at all.

* * *

A dark construction site. A half-built pile of framework that didn’t even look like a building yet.

I stood in the middle of it. A hollow wind swept in. Acrid smoke and small stone fragments hit my gas mask and scattered.

Rumble.

Soon the noise signaling the start of construction began. The work was left to the machines.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Robots with shapes I’d never seen on Earth moved about freely, digging the ground, transporting steel beams, erecting pillars…

I looked up at the sky while leaning on my walking stick. The full moon was clear. There were many stars burning like cigarette flames.

Whirring. Crash. Bang. Bang.

Just as the thunderous noise of the construction site echoed from all directions.

Multiple presences crept into my ears.

An ambush.

I lowered my gaze. The magic power in my nervous system reacted sharply. Time slowed down. My field of vision widened. My hearing opened up.

I could see what couldn’t be seen, hear what couldn’t be heard.

Fifteen in number.

Armed with magic bullet machine guns.

No, they had already fired.

Countless mana bullets were rushing toward me through the air.

Dark formulas followed behind them. Dark magic power clung to the road surface, writhing like shadows.

I perceived the space.

First, I formed a mana barrier in the path of the bullets. Dozens of bullets stopped three steps in front of me.

I understood how Kim Se-jin had blocked my mana bullet.

It was simple.

If you see it slowly, you can respond adequately.

I released my magic power. I reversed the trajectory of the bullet I had caught.

Next, I analyzed the formula rushing toward me. It was a type of curse. A rather troublesome kind that projects the mage’s will.

However, breaking it was easy.

I just needed to observe the formula deeply with my ‘eyes’, then burn away the core that composed it.

Tssssst!

The curse stuck to the asphalt.

Then, I recalled his formula. My amplified nervous system accurately remembered the visual information, and I reproduced the same curse and shot it back. With much faster speed and far superior power than his.

…Sequence.

Within accelerated thoughts of hundreds of fractions of a second, I perceived and controlled the area my senses could reach without any gaps.

Not just hearing, but also smell, and even the touch of air against the back of my hand. Through all of this, I interpreted my surroundings, responded, and tied up the situation first.

Then I restored my nervous system.

───-

Dozens of bullets flowed back in blue streams. Those that had been shot at me were wrapped in my magic power and pierced through the opponents’ throats.

Gack! Kuk! Urk! Ugh!

Countless death throes rang out like a chorus under the moonlight.

“…”

I quietly closed my eyes. I calmed my body with deep breaths.

The headache was quite severe. I took out my thermos and poured black tea into the lid.

One sip.

When I closed my eyes and savored it, I definitely felt my mind and body calming down.

Two sips.

I drank the black tea. I endured the pain that felt like my skull would burst, like my mind would snap.

The backlash of Sequence, high-speed spells, was enormous. It felt terrible. Enough to make me doubt whether I could endure it with this rag-like body that had barely finished rehabilitation.

Three sips.

That’s why I need to become stronger.

I need to become more solid than I am now.

The [MoMo] system I obtained is not me. It’s merely a part of me.

Since it wasn’t originally mine, I had no reason to depend on the status window.

Since I was born into this world, the only object of my faith has been myself.

If there’s a religion I follow blindly, it’s only the desires of the human called me.

[MoMo] is just a weapon in my hands. I must not be intoxicated by it, nor lean on it. My limits lie beyond the status window.

I am ultimately me.

I am nothing more than ‘Seol Ha-woon’.

“…Hah.”

I shook off the overload with a single sigh. My mind and body calmed down appropriately. The synergy between black tea and [Body That Responds Well to Medicine] was definitely good.

I belatedly looked at the scene I had created. There were many of them scattered all around.

Fifteen in number. A battle that probably ended in 3 seconds.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Applause came from not far away.

“Perfect.”

It was my employer.

* * *

Monitoring Room. Most of the staff who pull all-nighters day after day look haggard, but PD Kim A-rang’s eyes still sparkle today.

Thanks to Seol Ha-woon.

“Wow… that’s really distinctive.”

The writer next to her admired. Seol Ha-woon’s combat was that special.

“Right?”

Seol Ha-woon just stood there. He didn’t move a single step. From the same spot, he deflected all attacks, developed formulas, and wrapped up the situation.

Actually, what came after was more cinematic.

He simply drinks a cup of tea. Leisurely. His long hair fluttering in the wind enhances the mystique of a mage, and his eyes gazing into the distance seem to contemplate the flow of mana, but his somewhat melancholy and worn expression makes his character even more three-dimensional.

“I told you he’s upper-tier material.”

Satisfied, Kim A-rang glanced to the side.

“What do you think, Mentor Yoo Yul?”

Yoo Yul was there at some point. Mentors were allowed to participate in monitoring.

Yoo Yul said.

“He’s overworking his body.”

“…Pardon?”

Kim A-rang tilted her head.

“But he’s not moving his body?”

“Moving your body would actually be much more comfortable.”

It was hard for Kim A-rang to understand, but well, if a high-ranker said so.

“Oh right. Mentor Yoo Yul. Did you know? Seol Ha-woon says so many good things about you.”

Honestly, Yoo Yul’s casting was unexpected for Kim A-rang. She didn’t know who Yoo Yul was either. She just accepted it because it was Yoon Sa-hyuk’s decision.

“You haven’t seen the mentor survey yet, have you? He seems to think of you almost like a teacher.”

Yoo Yul is, of course, lacking in external aspects. She actually has particularly many antis among the mentors.

The public is blatantly harsh about appearance. When they become the subject of evaluation, they cry about appearance supremacy, but behind the mask of anonymity, they become the same evaluating subjects.

“How about you? Seol Ha-woon, as a disciple.”

But Kim A-rang wants to somehow connect the master-disciple relationship between her and Seol Ha-woon. Since narrative comes from relationships, she needs to somehow bring out this ordinary person’s character to benefit Seol Ha-woon too.

“…I don’t have the hobby of taking disciples.”

Yoo Yul herself didn’t seem very interested.

“Well then. I’ll be going.”

Yoo Yul got up from her seat.

Kim A-rang looked at Seol Ha-woon on screen again.

He was growing rapidly. He was a completely different mage from that first interview when he was playing around with barriers. His daily strengthening was visible, and his unique individuality was among the best of all explorers from previous seasons.

“Mage…”

So, she occasionally wondered. Seol Ha-woon is—according to his own words—a mage of only 5 months now.

If he had originally walked the path of a mage instead of a soldier, could he have become a mage?

“…PD. But this time we’ll really get a whole movie. If Seol Ha-woon goes to Seer, and that friend goes to the opposite side…”

Kim A-rang snapped back to attention at the writer’s words. She nodded and quickly noted down editing points.

“That’s what I’m saying~”

They had to compress the open world of 96 explorers into 3-4 episodes worth of content. While maintaining an interesting storyline and polishing the editing to be smooth.

Well, more than half of the 96 would have almost no screen time, close to being completely cut.

Kim A-rang focused on Seol Ha-woon once again.

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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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