Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 27 (Part 2): Snowflower (2)

“Watching Seol Ha-woon? How is he?”

“…PD-nim. Can I be honest?”

Kim A-rang looked up at him, her brow creased with sincerity.

Yoon Sa-hyeok raised an eyebrow. A sign to go ahead.

“You should keep an eye on Ha-woon too.”

“Hmm… Why should I?”

Yoon Sa-hyeok always asked for fundamentals. Causes, evidence, reasoning. Kim A-rang, on the other hand, was purely instinctive.

Polar opposites—but maybe that’s why they synergized so well.

“Your top pick might change.”

A faint smile touched Yoon Sa-hyeok’s lips.

“Alright. I’ll watch him when I get time.”

Yoon Sa-hyeok didn’t make empty promises. “When I get time” meant he would watch when he had time.

“Yes. Keep up the hard work.”

“You too. Not going home?”

“…I already moved all my daily necessities to the overnight room.”

Fifteen days of survival in the labyrinth.

At most, it’d fill two, maybe two and a half episodes—but the production team had to suffer through all fifteen days for that footage. And each episode would be a whopping two to three hours long.

“Take care.”

Yoon Sa-hyeok returned to his seat and got back to work. On-screen, Seol Ha-woon resumed construction too.

“He’s seriously trying to build a house…”

Could he actually do it?

As if reading her thoughts, Ha-woon spoke.

“—Should be done soon.”

[ 340 : 10 : 35 ]

On the snowfield where the horizon blurred, Seo Ji-woo crouched, staring intently at something. In her sights—a deer, ears twitching.

*Hff.*

Licking her lips, she gathered mana in her palm.

Today’s meal. An animal she desperately hoped would become just that.

*Whoosh!*

She fired a woven lasso—but her fingers trembled.

“Tch!”

The lasso cut through empty air as the deer bolted.

“Ah, damn it.”

Her hands were the problem. After twenty hours exposed to the blizzard, they were nearly frostbitten.

Even her spell-woven gloves were useless now. They couldn’t generate heat.

In a place with no heat source to begin with, heat-generating spells were almost zero efficiency.

Contrary to popular belief, spells weren’t miracles that created something from nothing. They were closer to miracles that amplified what already existed.

“…At this rate, my hands might break.”

She gritted her teeth.

She shouldn’t be suffering over pain like this. Her brother had endured far worse. Right now, she was just short on supplies and a little cold.

“No choice.”

Reluctantly, Seo Ji-woo pulled out the handbag from her waist—the one Seol Ha-woon had suddenly tossed at her with the words, ‘It’s cold outside.’

Pride had kept her from opening it until now, but this wasn’t the time to be picky.

“……!”

Inside were gloves. She quickly put them on, reinforcing them with mana threads for extra insulation.

“I’ll live…”

Further inspection revealed emergency rations, chocolate, matches, oil, even a mini burner and pot.

A dumb grin spread across her face before suspicion crept in.

“Wait, but…”

Why the hell did he give this to me?

Abruptly, Yoon Hwa-rim’s voice replayed in her head.

*Ji-woo, he’s totally into you.*

Now that she thought about it, Ha-woon had been trying to get her attention since the third preliminary round. Saying she was half-right, half-wrong…

…Nah, no way.

She popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

“Ahh…”

The sensation of it melting on her tongue, the tiny burst of calories spreading through her body—it was like heaven.

The sugar rush sharpened her focus.

She *had* to succeed in hunting.

—

[ 330 : 10 : 35 ]

*Zzzzz…*

Thirty hours into the survival labyrinth, Lim Hae-jun was still asleep. Ever since digging his burrow, he’d done nothing but sleep—as if trying to outlast the labyrinth through hibernation. Not the worst survival strategy.

His carrier was already stuffed with high-calorie rations. If he minimized waking hours and movement, he might last a decent while.

True to form, Hae-jun slept like a bear in winter, utterly still. Small and curled up, he looked like a literal squirrel.

‘……’

Suddenly, his eyes opened.

“Oh. He’s up.”

The writer monitoring him mumbled drowsily.

After fourteen hours of sleep, Hae-jun’s first action was to blankly open his carrier and shove chocolate and other high-calorie foods into his mouth. His brain was clearly still offline.

*Gulp.*

After barely chewing, he swallowed and immediately flopped back down.

“…Talk about easy living.”

The writer yawned and sank into his chair.

Just as he was about to doze off too—

“Ooooh!”

An excited cheer erupted nearby.

“…..?”

He turned. PD Kim A-rang’s station. A crowd of staff had gathered, watching something.

What were they up to?

Even the sleep-deprived writer stretched and stood up to see.

Dangun

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