Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 70 (Part 1): Living Like That (4)

I don’t care whether Kate lives or dies. If she dropped dead one day, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

It’s only natural. She’s someone completely unrelated to me. A person from a world far too different from mine.

And yet.

—

[ EMERGENCY QUEST: DEBUT TEAM AT RISK ]

■ A key debut team member is at risk of being damaged.

■ Failure to recover will result in the termination of ID Seol Ha-woon’s regression.

■ Success will grant new rewards.

—

The moment she dies, my regression ends. I’d be thrown back to that dreary, suffocating future.

Not as Mage Seol Ha-woon, but as a crippled, shut-in, rice-scrounging loser… Wait. Those words are a bit too harsh, aren’t they?

But that’s not all.

I had no idea Percival meant this much to Kate. I didn’t realize they’d built such a deep bond of trust, one rooted in her very subconscious.

If Percival was the only one who could heal the festering stress, the pus-like wounds that had unknowingly built up in Kate’s psyche, then I bear some responsibility too.

“…This is complicated.”

*Beep. Beep.* The ominous sound of the ECG monitor filled the room. I looked at Kate, lying unconscious on the bed. In her subconscious, she was silently slipping toward death.

How do I pull someone like her—someone who sees death as happiness—out of this labyrinth?

I don’t have a clue.

“Don’t die, or I’ll shoot.” That’s about the extent of my ideas.

Kate is tired of life. A severe illness, one she doesn’t even recognize, is eating away at her heart.

From what I know, the Hailford family is extraordinarily toxic. Kate’s parents are particularly ruthless. The horror stories Percival shared during my military days were enough to make anyone faint.

People who delude themselves into thinking they’re aristocracy, chosen ones, are exhausting. They demand near-mad devotion not just from themselves but from their children too.

Percival was the opposite.

He wasn’t bound by formality. He loved his family with a passion that felt like a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to express it.

I think I understand why Percival was Kate’s “only margin”—her sole respite.

I also learned, thanks to this subconscious, why she chose the nickname “Kate” over her given name, Catherine.

It’s because Percival called her Kate.

“…A reason to live.”

Tragically, she has none right now.

This labyrinth is granting her only happiness—a peaceful death.

“…….”

I thought about myself for a moment.

Why do I keep living without dying?

My family is gone, not a single one left. The one friend I had is no longer in this world. I was discharged from the military, the place I thought would be my lifelong career.

Why didn’t the pre-regression Seol Ha-woon, holed up in his room playing games, end his life?

Was it just fear of death?

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have joined the special forces in the first place.

Was it because it felt like a waste?

The life my only friend so desperately wanted, the tomorrow that countless people who died before my eyes yearned for…

“…No.”

I’m not living for them.

My purpose is that there’s still unfinished business. A task yet to be completed.

Because my revenge for them remains undone.

*Beep— Beep—*

I looked at Kate, her breathing ragged. The rhythm of the ECG matched her breaths almost perfectly.

“…Miss Kate.”

I once had a thought.

Love and happiness can drive a person to live, but so can their opposites. Anger and hatred can just as surely be the fuel that sets a person ablaze.

“Please wake up for a moment.”

I’ve set the direction.

Now, I just need to move forward.

“…….”

Kate opened her eyes. Seeing me, she gave a faint smile and looked out the window.

“You don’t have to nurse me anymore.”

A bleak winter, the last leaf clinging to the tip of a branch.

I irritably yanked the curtains shut. Kate turned her gaze to me and murmured softly.

“I told you before, didn’t I? People always die someday.”

I understand. If your subconscious, the deepest part of your heart, sees this kind of death as happiness, I have no reason to stop you.

But.

“It’s only natural,” she continued. “To just peacefully—”

“I have something to tell you,” I cut her off.

“Regarding Colonel Percival, I’ve been investigating some things.”

Suddenly, I ask myself a question I still haven’t answered.

Was Colonel Percival truly a good person?

To Kate, he undoubtedly was.

“…Uncle Percival?” she asked.

“Yes. I was deeply involved in the investigation before coming here.”

Percival died before Kate reached adulthood.

“…?”

Kate looked at me, puzzled. I handed her an envelope.

It should contain documents infused with my intentions, my thoughts.

“Colonel Percival was recorded as having died in a labyrinth in the Sahara Desert.”

Percival was a failure as a commander. Too emotional. Without the Hailford name, he’d never have made it to colonel.

He wasn’t suited to be a soldier in the first place.

“…I know,” Kate said.

She didn’t open the envelope.

I continued.

“He was listed as having died during a labyrinth conquest.”

Percival did die in the labyrinth. His body couldn’t even be recovered. The labyrinth consumed him and vanished.

“But the truth is different.”

I gestured to the envelope again. Kate’s brow furrowed slightly—an expression she’d never shown in this subconscious.

“What do you mean, different?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Now, I’ll deliver a version of the past to her. I’ll cast bait into her subconscious.

“He was killed by a comrade.”

Kate let out a sharp breath. Her hands, without her realizing, gripped the blanket tightly. For the first time, a sharp glint flickered in her eyes.

Her trembling voice asked, “By whom?”

I took a moment to steady myself.

The courage to be hated? I don’t need such a thing. This is my doing, and I’ll bear the consequences.

“Someone you know, Lady Hailford.”

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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