Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 63

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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 063

Let you down(11)

“Phew!”

Kim Du-gyeom let out a sigh. The battle was over. The enemies had retreated, and the excavation site was defended. Though Kim Du-gyeom was reluctant to admit it, Seol Ha-woon’s contribution had been significant.

Seol Ha-woon’s firepower, connecting all sorts of strategic weapons through formulas, could truly be called a glass cannon.

Glass cannon is an actual job class. It means excellent attack power in exchange for weak durability—a position perfectly suited for someone with one leg missing.

“Um, Kate…”

Kim Du-gyeom shyly approached Kate.

“You worked hard today.”

Kate glanced at him and nodded.

“Yes. You too, Du-gyeom.”

Then she looked somewhere else. It was toward Stone Mountain.

Kim Du-gyeom smiled faintly and said.

“Shall we go together? To look for Ha-woon.”

No matter how much Seol Ha-woon picked fights at random times and acted like a bastard, he just needed to show the opposite behavior. Then public opinion would naturally deliver the appropriate punishment to Seol Ha-woon.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

The two climbed Stone Mountain together.

They reached near the summit, but Seol Ha-woon, who had been positioned there, was nowhere to be seen.

“…Seol Ha-woon? Where are you~?”

Kim Du-gyeom called for him while thinking to himself.

I hope that bastard croaked. He’s probably getting beaten up by Kang Hyeon and rolling around right about now, right? If only there weren’t cameras, I’d deliver the finishing blow myself.

Just as Kim Du-gyeom was searching various parts of Stone Mountain while hiding his vicious thoughts.

“…Huh?”

He discovered blood. Blood splattered here and there on the mountain road. Following it, he found it pooled in one spot like a puddle.

There was no way Kang Hyeon would lose to Seol Ha-woon, so this must be from Seol Ha-woon’s injury.

“Kate!”

He urgently called Kate. Kate ran over quickly. Her eyebrows trembled as she looked at the blood puddle.

She gauged the amount of blood loss with her eyes. It wasn’t enough to cause instant death, but this level would render someone unable to fight. If left untreated for long, it could lead to blackout, and even life-threatening danger.

“Kate. It seems…”

Kim Du-gyeom trailed off, pretending to be sad.

“Yes. It looks like he was forcibly sent back.”

In other words, eliminated once. With this level of injury, he might not recover for the entire duration in the labyrinth.

Then Seol Ha-woon would naturally be eliminated.

“…What should we do.”

Kim Du-gyeom asked. Kate answered briefly, as if wondering why he would ask such a thing.

“We should return.”

* * *

Kate and Kim Du-gyeom returned to Seer’s office. Seer looked back and forth between the two, tilting his head. He seemed to be looking for Seol Ha-woon, who hadn’t returned with them.

Kate said.

“It’s just the two of us.”

“…There must have been unavoidable personnel loss. My condolences.”

Seer, who understood immediately, picked up a bottle of whiskey.

“You both worked hard.”

Glug glug. He poured liquid into a glass. The sharp scent of alcohol spread.

“Before that, would you like a drink?”

Kim Du-gyeom looked slightly tempted, but Kate shook her head.

“It’s fine.”

“Yes.”

Seer swirled his glass. Clink clink. Gazing at the ice cubes clinking transparently, he casually murmured.

“The excavation of the labyrinth will be completed soon. Aren’t you curious about what lies beyond?”

Kate wasn’t curious at all. After all, these people were just fakes inside the labyrinth.

“Congratulations.”

Kate simply congratulated him. Kim Du-gyeom also clapped.

Seer smiled slightly and took a sip of whiskey.

“However, before I send you off. There’s something I’m curious about.”

Kate looked at her wristwatch. Time was too precious to waste on conversation. For some reason, the Quest completion alarm hadn’t come yet.

“Where did you come from?”

Thunk. Like ice falling to the ground and shattering, Seer’s voice scattered coldly.

The meaningfulness contained in that tone brushed against Kate’s nape.

“…Huh? Where, you ask?”

Kim Du-gyeom tilted his head.

“I’m asking about your origins.”

At Seer’s words, Kim Du-gyeom smiled brightly.

“Ah~ We… came from quite far away.”

“Perhaps, beyond the Outer Sea?”

“Outer Sea… ?”

Kim Du-gyeom seemed not to know what the Outer Sea was, and Kate was the same. Seer gazed intently at the two of them. After staring for quite a long time, he nodded slightly.

“I follow all the political situations of this continent. It’s been a habit since childhood… Childhood. Now that I think about it, even those memories are suspicious.”

Seer continued with what sounded like a bitter laugh.

“But recently, strange things have been happening. Not just in Rainos, but in other cities too, people with unfamiliar names that I’ve never seen before have been appearing like mushrooms after rain.”

Clink. Clink.

The ice in the glass swirls.

The air in the area grows cold.

“At first, I thought it was just coincidence… But I thought deeply about it, just for a moment. Like a small dream before falling asleep.”

Seer’s eyes gazed into empty space. As if measuring something invisible, as if reciting doubts he had once harbored.

“When I mulled it over… it was a familiar development. So familiar that it felt unsettling.”

Kate sensed danger from him.

Seer looked out the window.

“So I voiced the hypothesis that had been circling in my head, one I absolutely didn’t want to acknowledge.”

Shadows settled on Seer’s complexion. In a very sad tone, darkly, he murmured words he didn’t want to acknowledge.

“Ah… when we conquer labyrinths.”

Beyond the glass window of the high-rise building. Neon mixed with moonlight dampened his collar, and ominous shadows spread across the faces of the two explorers.

“More specifically… when we enter World Labyrinths.”

Seer gritted his teeth.

“At those times, we used to act in such ways.”

Cold energy spread from Seer. A shiver ran down Kate’s spine. External noise seeped into her heightened senses.

Outside, there were quite a few people.

“It was strange. Why were such things happening in our world. Those people… you people, why.”

Seer glared at Kate and Kim Du-gyeom in turn.

“Why did you come to us.”

A sigh flowed from between his teeth. It was a lament that settled thickly like exhaust fumes.

Creak. He bit down on his molars.

“I’ve pondered it hundreds of times.”

He stared at Kate. The light in his eyes glinted calmly beyond his rimless glasses.

“Actually, it wasn’t contemplation, but an effort to deny it.”

Magic power surged in Seer’s grip.

“However, in the end, there was only one hypothesis that could be called the correct answer. The solution that remained after eliminating all impossibilities.”

He spat out his conclusion with a face full of resentment.

“You people are from a higher dimension…”

Kate lightly tapped Kim Du-gyeom’s shoulder. Kim Du-gyeom also swallowed hard.

“I’ll ask you.”

Seer gripped his wine glass. Crack! His bare hand crushed the glass.

“Am I a Labyrinth Person?”

* * *

[Syndra: Good thing you survived. Where are you?]

Meanwhile, Kang Hyeon received the message at a restaurant on the city outskirts. He pressed the terminal buttons to send a reply.

[I’m at a restaurant. The name is ‘Lacotas’.]

[Syndra: I see. Someone will come for you soon.]

“Here you go~”

Just then, a taco-like dish was served. Kang Hyeon roughly grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth. The mission failure was painful, but his mind was filled with reviewing the battle.

Seol Ha-woon.

Should he have cut him down then? Could he have withstood the mage’s life-risking formula?

Or if he had ignored Seol Ha-woon and focused on the main unit?

Even then, he would have been defeated.

Mage Seol Ha-woon’s Mental Visualization was specialized for multi-person battles. It was impossible to win the fight while keeping him alive.

Seol Ha-woon had fought while already having won.

The best move to turn the tide of battle was to cut down Seol Ha-woon and endure his formula.

However, he lacked the physical ability to withstand Seol Ha-woon’s self-destruction.

In the end, my skills didn’t measure up to his.

Snap!

Someone snapped their fingers. Kang Hyeon looked in that direction. A man in a black robe was sitting at a table. He called the waiter and ordered food.

Jingle.

Just then, the restaurant door opened with the sound of a bell. Armed people entered. They were faces familiar to Kang Hyeon’s eyes as well.

“Ah. So you were here.”

A bald man. The one with tattoos around his eyes sat down next to him.

“What about your friend?”

“He seems to have been captured.”

Kim Dong-ha was captured by them. Since his opponents were Kate and Kim Du-gyeom, he probably wouldn’t be treated roughly.

“Things got troublesome. That bastard Seer hired a tricky mage. You killed that mage, right?”

“…”

He hadn’t killed him, but he didn’t bother to correct it.

“Come with us for now. It’s dangerous here. Seer’s search party is chasing you.”

Kang Hyeon nodded and got up from his seat. He went out the back door with them. Two vehicles were prepared.

“Get in.”

Kang Hyeon got into the passenger seat.

“Put on your safety belt too.”

The bald man kindly reached out and fastened the safety belt for him. Kang Hyeon looked at him with strange eyes.

“You’re being kind.”

“I’ve always been like this.”

He chuckled and stepped on the accelerator. Vroom. Inside the moving car, Kang Hyeon asked.

“Will we do the mission again?”

One more time.

If they clashed just one more time, he felt like he could crush them this time.

“Well… who knows?”

Who knows.

Just one phrase without any particular emotion.

Kang Hyeon’s intuition activated at that voice.

He silently looked at the rearview mirror.

Three men sitting in the back seat. Another vehicle closely following from behind.

Perhaps noticing Kang Hyeon’s expression, the bald man chuckled.

“Quick on the uptake?”

“…”

Kang Hyeon placed his hand on his waist. Click. At that moment, the sound of bullets being loaded from behind. A gun barrel was aimed at Kang Hyeon’s temple.

The bald man’s forehead wrinkles twitched.

“It’s useless. Our world has technology. Divine Fiber that suppresses magic power in the body – have you heard of it?”

Kang Hyeon looked at the safety belt binding him.

As he said, magic power wasn’t moving within his body. The safety belt was holding his magic power captive.

“Don’t worry. We won’t harm you. Well, if you lose an arm or leg, you get forcibly sent back or something, right? Stay still before something worse than that happens to you.”

Someone had already confessed about the system. Probably Kim Dong-ha.

The bald man twisted his lips.

“So. If you just stay quiet-“

BOOOOM-!

An explosion erupted from the bottom of the vehicle. The windows shattered. The bald man gripping the steering wheel was thrown heavily. He was flung over the front bumper and scraped against the asphalt, and the bodies of the men in the back seat also flew forward and crashed into the car body.

Thud! Bang!

The jeep bounced up like a spring and rolled around on the ground. Each time, the men’s bodies were crushed up and down.

Crash! Boom!

In that turbulence, Kang Hyeon was relatively safe. It was thanks to the safety belt.

“…Ugh.”

Inside the completely overturned car. Kang Hyeon frowned in pain. It felt like his ribs were broken.

“Ah, damn it, fucking hell, which bastard…”

There was still one guy whose breath hadn’t been cut off. He tried to get up while spouting curses, but.

Whoosh.

The vibration of wind flowing.

A Mana Bullet that came through the rear window penetrated his forehead. The body that died instantly went limp like seaweed.

Tap- Tap-

The sound of a walking stick hitting the ground came from somewhere.

Kang Hyeon looked at the rearview mirror. First, the hem of a black robe fluttered. Someone who had been there with his back turned at the restaurant was limping closer.

Tap- Tap-

He was already standing in front of the car. Beyond the shattered window, he looked at him hanging upside down from the safety belt and grinned.

“Are you okay?”

Whoosh. The man who threw off his robe hood as if asking about his well-being──Seol Ha-woon said indifferently.

“The safety belt saved you.”

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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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