Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 64 (Part 1): Runaway (1)

From the moment I descended from the rocky mountain, I had been tracking Kang Hyun. The whispers in my ‘ears’ felt far too suspicious to ignore.

Taking advantage of the moment when Sindra’s gang entered the restaurant, I slipped out through the back door alone, planted a bomb in the car, and, almost by accident, ended up saving Kang Hyun and forming a party with him.

“Hm.”

We strolled through the city together. Instead of fleeing outward, we walked deeper into its heart. Blending into the crowd was the plan, all while keeping an eye out for anything worth grabbing.

“…This one seems interesting.”

At a mana shop somewhere in the city, I spotted a book titled [Mana Integration]. It was a specialized text on neural implants. In this world, implants for the central nervous system had already been developed.

“Mana integration…”

It piqued my interest. Not that I wanted to get an implant myself, but the way they were designed fascinated me. It was so… *magical*.

If done right, I might even be able to manipulate implants with sorcery.

[Basic Mana Implant Blueprint]

Magic is both a formula and a tangible reality. If I could grasp the principles behind how implants worked, I might be able to manifest them.

“Will you have time to read that?” Kang Hyun asked, fiddling with a book of his own.

I held the book up to the shopkeeper.

“How much for this?”

The shopkeeper raised three fingers.

“Three thousand.”

Surprisingly cheap. I had a decent amount of cash from Sier, too.

“Then… what about this one and that one as well?”

I picked out three more related books.

Honestly, I was desperate.

I *had* to strengthen my nervous system somehow. The more I used sequences, the more I understood them, the more I felt it viscerally.

This technology eats away at a human’s lifespan.

“Fifteen thousand.”

“What if I add three mana stones to that? Any discount?”

“…With the mana stones, thirty thousand.”

Mana stones must be the pricey part.

I handed over a stack of cash. Kang Hyun bought three books too—a novel series.

He’d asked *me* if I had time to read, yet here he was, outdoing me.

Outside, we sat on a nearby bench.

I stuffed the books into my bag and pulled out the mana-treated carbon fiber plastic I’d bought at a workshop. Kang Hyun’s eyes lit up with interest.

“What’re you doing, Hyung?”

“Watch this. It’s pretty cool.”

I placed a mana stone on the plastic and used it as a medium to engrave a familiar formula.

The plastic twitched and transformed into a drone. Kang Hyun’s eyes widened like saucers.

“This should last about a week.”

“That long?” he asked, incredulous.

“It’s got a mana stone.”

Of course, even without a mana stone, my formulas hold up pretty well. Call it a talent. My ability to sustain mana phenomena is exceptional.

Still, without a steady mana supply, it’d last two or three days at most. For anything over a week, a mana stone was essential.

“…That’s amazing,” Kang Hyun said, staring at the drone with wide, doughy eyes.

“What? Wish you’d become a mage now?”

“No.”

I linked a sequence to the drone.

Now, everything it saw and heard would be relayed to me. A far deeper connection than a standard familiar.

*Wiiiing.*

The drone lifted into the air. A bird’s-eye view from above. I shared its sight.

…They’re here.

“We should get moving.”

A tail had been following us from a distance. I hadn’t noticed until I sent out the familiar.

They were clever, I’d give them that.

“Got it. Where to?” Kang Hyun asked.

I stood and glanced somewhere in the distance. About ten minutes away on foot, a suitable sign caught my eye.

“Since I’ve got eyes and ears outside, we need a safe place to hole up inside.”

Kang Hyun’s gaze followed mine.

“…That place?”

“Yeah.”

[Armand HOTEL]. A lone hotel, slightly off the main strip.

“Four stars. Not bad for a longer stay.”

At my words, Kang Hyun’s face took on a slightly naive expression.

“Follow me. We’ve already got company.”

* * *

Fragments of information trickled in from across the continent. Faint, fleeting, but undeniably strange pieces that, when pieced together, led to an answer. A rationality that suspected the outside from within the world, like a blind man deducing the shape of an elephant.

Sier looked up at the endless sky stretching beyond the high-rise. The word ‘endless’ suddenly felt oddly finite.

“What’s your plan for dealing with them?” Sindra, his sister, asked.

Sier answered curtly.

“Throw them into the labyrinth.”

It was the only response and, at the same time, an experiment born of mild curiosity.

If our world is a labyrinth, what would happen to them in a labyrinth within a labyrinth?

“Fine. Let’s say you’re right, whatever that means,” Sindra said, glaring at Sier. “I still don’t fully buy it.”

The series of battles had been a process of confirmation and verification. The sibling rivalry between Sindra and Sier was no lie.

But when a common enemy appeared—one that threatened to shake the very foundation of the world beyond the two of them—personal pride and petty squabbles had to be set aside.

“Will our struggling even work?”

“It’s better than not struggling at all,” Sier replied.

His goal was to prevent them from clearing the labyrinth.

Even Sier didn’t yet know the purpose of this ‘Non-World,’ but sitting idly by and awaiting annihilation was far worse than fighting back.

“Hm…?” Sindra frowned at her device. A message had just come in. “They failed to capture them.”

“A pity. But there are no blind spots for us in this city.”

Suddenly, Sier’s rimless glasses glinted. A message had arrived.

“They’ve confessed.”

Kim Dong-ha. He’d spilled the method for escaping the labyrinth.

“What is it?”

“WP.”

“…WP?”

“Yes. Performing certain actions here earns World Points, which can be exchanged for a ticket at the Exchange Office to return.”

The Exchange Office. A building whose origins predated even Sier’s birth, used by residents like a bank. Its true purpose was now clear.

“Then the answer’s simple. We just need to capture all of them….”

As Sier turned, something caught his eye in the lens of his glasses.

Under the sofa.

A tiny button lay on the pristine office floor.

It looked like just a button, but upon closer inspection… it was imbued with mana.

A listening device.

“…”

Sier quietly sifted through his memories. The lenses of his rimless glasses rewound a moment from the past.

—

─”Do you like alcohol?”

Seol Ha-woon, asking about alcohol. As Sier turned to fetch the snake wine, Ha-woon’s reflection appeared in the glass window. He dropped a small button and nudged it under the sofa…

The corner of Sier’s mouth twisted.

“He’s alive.”

* * *

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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