Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 57 (Part 2): Let You Down (5)

*Crackle…*

A chilling wave of mana surged. Frost spread rapidly, freezing the warehouse inside and out.

Bico would become a frozen corpse in there.

Not an ounce of pity stirred.

He might be a labyrinth dweller, but freezing to death was too good for a wretch like him.

[ Wanted Criminal Eliminated ]

■ WP + 700

* * *

Zeka, the owner of Chrome Oasis, had been reaping the benefits of a mage who’d appeared out of nowhere.

“What kind of guy is he?”

“Don’t know much.”

Name: Ha-woon. Gender: Male. Class: Mage. Everything else was a mystery.

In just five days, he’d hunted down wanted criminals. He tracked and killed serial killers and human garbage, the kind even Reynos considered a headache. Thanks to that, the city was buzzing with talk about him.

“Weird guy. Only picks jobs that don’t pay well, doesn’t he?”

Zeka nodded at the runner’s comment.

There were plenty of lucrative requests besides hunting criminals or bounties. Yet this man was oddly fixated on lawbreakers.

“Hey, Zeka, you hear about this?”

Another runner spoke up, fiddling with a beer mug.

“They say something similar’s happening in the east.”

“The east?”

“Yeah. Some sword-wielding guys showed up and started causing a stir… Word is their names are two or three syllables too.”

“…Is that so.”

Zeka brushed it off. Strange things always happened in NaN. That was just the way of this world.

*Clink.*

The door swung open. A runner who glanced that way smirked.

“Corporate folks. They sure know how to find people. You hit the jackpot, Zeka?”

Sunglasses-wearing men, clearly from the city center.

“Jackpot, my foot. You see the percentage I take?”

Zeka always worked case by case. He only took flat fees. Greed too much, and you’d get burned—that was his philosophy.

“Come on. Corporates pay brokers extra bonuses, don’t they?”

“That’s just… network maintenance costs.”

As they spoke, two men in suits and gas masks sat at the counter. Zeka addressed them.

“What brings you here?”

They removed their masks and asked, “Heard there’s a decent mage around this area.”

* * *

Hunting criminals was easy. Sure, I’d run into a few tougher than the ‘usual’ me, but thanks to my innate karma, they weren’t hard to handle.

Probably the difficulty scaling unique to [Labyrinth Exploration].

The world is vast, and masters are many—but that doesn’t apply in the labyrinth. It’s a confined space.

Odds are, my current level is top-tier, even on a global scale.

Anyway, after a week of grinding, I’d earned 5,000 WP.

Not bad, but I needed much more.

More than the 10,000 WP for the ticket.

【Carefully Cultivated Tea Leaves】

■ Grade: Rare

■ Overview: Tea leaves lovingly grown in a fine garden.

A sack of tea leaves from the orphanage director. It weighs nearly 10 kg, but to bring it back to the original world:

[ Consumes 1,000 WP to store in inventory. ]

I’d need to invest WP like this.

Greed too much, and I’d end up like a monkey clutching bananas in a trap. But there were so many tempting items.

Besides the tea leaves:

【Snack Box】

■ Grade: Rare

■ Overview: Refines ingredients into various flavored snacks. All toxins from the original ingredients are removed.

An item looted from some criminal, shaped like a box.

Put ingredients in, and it turns them into snacks. Any ingredients—rotten, spoiled, melted, it doesn’t matter. It makes them all into snacks.

It even removes toxins, so in an emergency, this could double—no, triple or quadruple—my survival odds.

Required WP: also 1,000.

【Pony Projector】

■ Grade: Rare

■ Overview: Infuse mana to summon a pony. The pony lasts a short time and requires 24 hours of mana recharging after one use.

Next, the Pony Projector.

It looks like a car key. Infuse mana, turn it on, and a beam projects to summon a pony.

Found it on a network shop. I asked the Chrome Oasis owner to order it for me.

This one’s 1,000 WP too.

Just these three would cost 3,000 WP.

So, I was starting to think it was time to aim for a big score rather than bounty hunting when—

“Care to take on a new job?”

The owner asked at just the right moment. I sipped my tea silently, my eyes urging him to continue.

“Your reputation’s been spreading. Some corporate folks came looking for you.”

He handed me a document.

[ Proposal from Estin Corporation ]

■ WP 3,000

A 3,000 WP quest. Details would be given in person, but it was worth more than taking down five hardened criminals.

“Think it over and go. You’ll earn more than cleaning up trash around here.”

“…I will.”

No need to hesitate or test the waters.

I stood up immediately.

“Mr. Mage.”

Zeka called out as I was about to leave. He seemed a bit reluctant.

“Feels like we won’t see you for a while after this. Where’re you from? Some island out in the Outer Sea?”

Outer Sea. The waters beyond.

Is that what this world calls the realm beyond the labyrinth?

“Just curious, is all.”

Zeka was a curious man. Probably a broker’s habit of fishing for personal details.

“…Better you don’t know.”

That was all I said.

Your world is the labyrinth. You’re not real—you’re just a byproduct that’ll vanish with the labyrinth.

Sometimes, the truth hurts too much to accept.

Dangun

I'm currently Translating the following novels: "Labyrinth Exploration 101" & "The Monarch Who Levels Up by Devouring " If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

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