Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 84 (Part 1): New Friends (4)

The final boss had been hiding beneath the skin of a child. Proof, once again, that Seol Ha-woon was right.

While the entire Korean Peninsula was abuzz, Ishia scoured portal sites.

│Seol Ha-woon, a concept gone too far… He should reflect on his own actions before chasing catchphrases.│

│Kate strategizes, Seol Ha-woon clings to stubbornness.│

│“I Just Didn’t Like him.” Always-Right’s all-time worst blunder?│

│Seol Ha-woon sabotages the entire team… Viewers are ‘shocked’!│

As expected, countless reporters had articles ready even before the live broadcast ended.

Ishia hurriedly took screenshots.

Most of these would likely be edited or taken down quietly, but she planned to spread them before that happened. Hadn’t they learned their lesson from last time?
‘Time for you guys to get flamed~’

-Whoa

-Whoa

-Holy sh*t

-Insane

-Wtf

-What the

SilTalk was still flooded with incoherent chatter. The servers were holding up miraculously as posts poured in like a torrent. Normal communication was impossible.

Ishia opened a community forum instead.

│Whoa that│

│What the hell lolol│

│Is my understanding of this right??│

│Always-Right lolol│

│Just insane│

│So damn cold. Shooting a kid;│

│Am I getting this right?│

│Always-Right living up to the nickname lol│

Countless posts flooded in, but refreshing the page pushed them back dozens of pages instantly. Posting now would just get buried, so better wait~

That’s what amateurs think.

Pages getting buried means, in other words, an astronomical number of users are online. In short, the perfect moment to hit the trending posts.

│Mitamna) Reporters who wrote articles too early.jpg│

The .jpg is key. Amid posts filled with nothing but exclamations, a provocative title with a photo? The likes pile up as fast as the views, shooting it straight to trending.

│Views 2,312│ Likes 95│

Just like that.

Comments poured in like rain.

─Looking closely, entertainment reporters are worse than explorer reporters

─lololol reporters are seriously so pathetic

─They’ll probably take it down quietly in a few hours

─These types need to get roasted to learn. Hit like and send it to the main page

“Fufu.”

The labyrinth isn’t over yet.

The boss fight remains.

〓〓〓〓!

Right on cue, the spiked monster roared on the screen.

The boss fight was intense. The monster withstood several of Kate’s javelin throws and deflected Lee Jun-ho’s sword strikes, but it faltered under Seol Ha-woon’s sniper shot.

A shot that precisely targeted its ‘back.’

With its weakness exposed, everyone rushed in, tearing into the boss’s rear.

〓〓!

A scream of agony. On the verge of death, the mutilated boss glared somewhere with rage-filled movements. Then, it fired its spikes.

*Pasasat!*

A desperate act of mutual destruction, filled with pure malice.

The threatening spikes shot up like bullets.

The monster’s target was the rooftop—Seol Ha-woon, who had seen through it and exposed its weakness.

*Huiiii……*

At that moment, the world slowed. Slow motion. The perspective shifted to Seol Ha-woon’s as he stared at the spikes hurtling toward him.

He extended his hand.

The spikes, which seemed poised to pierce his entire body, stopped inches from his face. As if blocked by an invisible barrier, they lost all kinetic energy and fell to the ground.

*Thud. Tudududuk.*

The spike fragments crumbled dryly like grains of sand.

Then, a close-up of Seol Ha-woon’s hand. The ‘mana layer’ on his skin gleamed in the camera lens.

-Whoa, that’s the thing Kim Se-jin told him about, right?
-Learned it that fast, damn
-Always-Right might actually be a genius??
-Seol Ha-woon (High IQ) vs. Lee Jun-ho (Killing Machine) LMAOOO

Ishia skimmed through SilTalk, community forums, and SNS reactions.

│ Spoiler: Seol Ha-woon vs. Kate’s power struggle │

│ Spoiler: Seol Ha-woon and Kate’s argument summary │

│ Spoiler: Peak Seol Ha-woon, Incompetent Kim Doo-gyeom │

Thankfully, Seol Ha-woon’s trolling had been somewhat overshadowed.

No, not just overshadowed.

│ Spoiler: Peak Seol Ha-woon, Incompetent Kim Doo-gyeom │

– Kim Doo-gyeom was legit useless, lol.
– Incompetent Kim Doo-gyeom, what’s with that name, lmao.
– Did Always-Right win this time too?
– That team was so incompetent without Always-Right. They’d probably just be like, “Why’d we fail? Why’d we fail?” and wipe.
– Did you see Kim Doo-gyeom at the end? Threatening to subdue Seol Ha-woon with force, lol, when he did jack sh*t himself.

Instead, Kim Doo-gyeom was the one buried.

* * *

I hate Kim Doo-gyeom. Quite a lot. No, I despise him. It’s not just because of the vile nature of the crimes he’s committed.

There are plenty of villains in this world who’ve done worse than Kim Doo-gyeom.

The reason I remember him specifically is because the people he killed—the entire family he slaughtered—were good people.

*Too* good. People who didn’t deserve to be victims of trash like Kim Doo-gyeom.

I met that family once.

That’s why this situation, while not entirely bad, makes me uneasy.

I can’t shake the feeling that Kim Doo-gyeom, that lunatic, might do something reckless at any moment.

[ Lee Mae-jun: Congrats, hyung. Reels are basically all you. ]
[ Lee Mae-jun: Just passed 100 reels, and half of them were you, lol. Congrats. ]

This guy’s tone suddenly feels cold. Is he sulking, or jealous?

[ Kang Hyun: You were awesome, hyung. ]
[ Kang Hyun: First time I watched live (emoji). ]
[ Kang Hyun: Epic. ]

“What’s with him?”

Three texts in a row, so unlike Kang Hyun.

And then…

[ Seo Ji-woo: Congratulations. ]

“….”

Seo Ji-woo.

She hadn’t texted or even spoken to me since that day, and now, out of nowhere?

It feels ominous, but I decide to reply for now.

[ Thanks. ]

* * *

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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