episode_0198

Jeong Yushin opened his eyes.

An old wooden ceiling.

Humidity sticking tight to his skin.

An uncomfortable cot.

He recognized where he was.

The swamp area’s shelter, the witch’s house.

“Scar, are you awake?”

Finn said, suddenly sticking his face in.

“…Yes.”

Jeong Yushin barely opened his mouth to answer. He had no strength in his whole body.

“…”

Finn stared at Jeong Yushin’s face for a while, then sat back down on the chair next to the bed.

“I saw you wandering around with your party members in the hallway area, so why are you alone?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Were you betrayed or something, and you haven’t come to your senses?”

Jeong Yushin frowned at Finn’s question. Betrayal. What nonsense.

“It’s not betrayal. I took the portal to the 10th floor, and suddenly I was alone.”

“Is that so? You’re lucky you haven’t gone crazy.”

“I don’t think I walked for that long.”

“You never know. The red fog is all around, so sometimes your sense of time and direction just flies away.”

Jeong Yushin closed his mouth and thought carefully.

He tried to calculate how long he had wandered through the swamp, but he couldn’t get a sense of it.

Did he lose consciousness because of the ghoul’s poison?

That was a possibility. Because his engraving, Venom Protection, wasn’t a constantly active engraving.

It was an incantation-type engraving that consumed quite a lot of magic power.

When the Venom Protection engraving turned off, the ghoul’s poison, which had been subtly left in his body, must have acted.

Or.

He could have simply passed out temporarily due to rapid marching.

In any case.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Finn shook his head at Jeong Yushin’s gratitude.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything.”

All he had done was pick up the fallen Barbaroi’s helmet to check his identity, and put him on the bed.

There were only two reasons why he saved this Barbaroi guy.

The groceries in his backpack.

If he hadn’t had those, that half-breed Barbaroi would have already been in his stomach.

And curiosity.

‘How did he survive?’

He saw the wounds on the half-breed Barbaroi guy’s armor and helmet.

It looked like he had fought the Swamp Ghouls alone, but he had somehow managed not to die.

‘Wait a minute.’

Finn felt a chill run down his spine for the first time in a while.

Why?

Because it hadn’t been long since he met this guy in the hallway area.

If you’re an Intermediate Lower, you travel through several areas between the 5th and 10th floors.

Forest, hallway, or underground passage.

The standard thing to do was to explore the floors, gather money, recruit talent, and then challenge the 11th floor.

But this guy came straight down to the swamp area and was rolling around. He didn’t know if his party members were dead or what.

He didn’t know if he had talent or a good engraving, but one thing was certain.

‘A reckless guy.’

Finn decided to watch him a little longer, got up from his seat, and approached the fireplace in the corner of the cabin.

There was a large, shield-like pot on the fireplace, and porridge was bubbling in it.

He took out a wooden bowl, scooped out the porridge, and brought it to the Barbaroi.

“Eat. I took some groceries from your backpack and used them.”

“Thank you.”

Jeong Yushin bowed and carefully accepted the bowl and looked down.

Jeong Yushin’s eyes widened.

“What…what is this?”

“What is it?”

“Isn’t this Blood Worm?”

“That’s right. It’s a nutritious food ingredient.”

“…”

“Don’t eat it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Jeong Yushin barely lifted the bowl and swallowed the porridge.

Had he become some kind of otherworldly Bear Grylls, or a natural man?

Crunch.

The texture of the Blood Worm was like sea squirt.

When he crunched the plump Blood Worms with his teeth, the juices popped out and mercilessly ravaged his mouth.

Jeong Yushin frowned and chewed thoroughly. Still, it was edible because it was mixed with jerky and weeds.

“…It’s delicious.”

“Right? It’s not bad.”

As he finished the porridge, his head began to work again.

“By the way, what floor is this?”

“13th floor.”

Finn took a sip of the porridge and answered.

Jeong Yushin stroked his forehead.

Crazy.

Suddenly being transferred to the 13th floor.

Was that even possible?

Jeong Yushin looked down at his silver bracelet.

Was there something wrong with the Bracelet of Connection?

Or was the labyrinth just messing with him?

Finn pointed to Jeong Yushin’s bracelet.

“That bracelet is probably the problem. It looks like you bought it from the Explorer’s Guild, look. The mana circuit here is broken. It’s not working properly.”

The gaunt-faced receptionist guy popped into his head.

A vein popped out on Jeong Yushin’s forehead.

Was that receptionist crazy?

“Is this even possible? Are they trying to screw people over like this?!”

“Whether it’s intentional or a mistake doesn’t matter. The guild’s response will be similar. They’ll either give you a large sum of money and tell you to keep your mouth shut, or they’ll cut off a specific guild member and pretend they don’t know anything.”

“If they handle things like that, who will trust the Explorer’s Guild? Is this okay?!”

Finn shrugged his shoulders.

“No matter how good the system is, what can you do if the problem is people? And the guild’s response will depend on what kind of person you are. What are you?”

“N…nothing.”

“Still, it’s strange. The Explorer’s Guild isn’t such an easy place that they would make a mistake like this. Did you buy that bracelet at headquarters?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk. Do you have a lot of enemies?”

“I had some fights with the guys in the Eastern District.”

“It wouldn’t be random guys. Have you ever interfered with their business?”

“Yes. I’ve smashed a few.”

“This is a method that the guys in the Eastern District often use. They’re the only ones who mess with the Bracelets of Connection. Who’s the committee in charge of the labyrinth entrance now?”

“Astaroth. He’s a labyrinth committee member from the Eastern District.”

“I’m not particularly surprised. When you go back later, look for the Explorer’s Guild employee who sold you this bracelet. If he’s dead, it’s the work of the guys in the Eastern District.”

“But you know a lot.”

“A gold badge isn’t just for decoration.”

Finn’s claim was plausible.

However, that required the premise that Finn was sane.

Jeong Yushin decided to probe Finn a little.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“How are you not going crazy?”

Finn smirked.

“The swamp area law? It’s not that big of a deal. You just need to have a being with ‘thought’ next to you.”

Finn took something out of his arms and shook it.

A black rat was sleeping.

“It’s a rat that was wandering around in Ash Village on the 10th floor. It seems to have been in a box brought by the Merchant Guild. But that’s not important.”

“It’s sleeping quietly?”

“I gave it a sleeping pill.”

“…”

Jeong Yushin was speechless.

To overcome the laws of the labyrinth with such an unexpected and bizarre method.

‘Is this labyrinth experience?’

After that, Jeong Yushin and Finn had various conversations.

Finn mainly talked about the swamp area, and Jeong Yushin talked about what was happening in the city outside the labyrinth.

Finn chuckled.

“Why do you look so tired? You listen to information related to the labyrinth with your eyes shining, but when you talk about what’s happening in the city, your expression is dead.”

“A lot of things are happening at the same time these days, so my head is throbbing.”

“That’s how the world is. I think you have a labyrinth constitution.”

“…”

Jeong Yushin didn’t have much to say.

Finn continued.

“In the labyrinth, you only have to think about one thing. Survival. You can’t get engravings, but you can level up. If you survive, you can become endlessly strong. You know the thrill of breaking through the floors by using your head, right?”

He couldn’t deny it.

It was true.

Recently, he had been breaking through the labyrinth with the help of various people, but he wasn’t as happy as when he had overcome adversity with his own strength and resourcefulness.

“I think you were born with the constitution of a labyrinth wanderer.”

Finn said again.

Jeong Yushin turned his head and looked out the window.

Red fog was surging outside.

* * *

A day had passed. Maybe two days.

It was difficult to count the days because his sense of time was completely messed up.

Jeong Yushin recovered his body at the shelter.

He ate whatever food he could get his hands on without being picky. Because his constitution was so strong, it didn’t take him long to regain his strength.

Jeong Yushin followed Finn outside.

Finn was knowledgeable, as one would expect of a labyrinth natural man.

“This is that Bellflower. It’s a plant that only grows in the swamp, and if you squeeze out the juice and apply it to your legs, bugs won’t burrow into your flesh.”

“Hoo.”

Finn dug up the roots of a tree that stood out in the corner of the swamp and handed one to him.

“This is deer tree root. You can chew on the young ones like this. It’s just right, sweet.”

Jeong Yushin received the root and chewed it. A bittersweet juice filled his mouth.

‘It’s kudzu?’

Finn stared blankly at Jeong Yushin.

“You eat well. Don’t you usually avoid tree roots?”

Jeong Yushin shrugged his shoulders.

“Why are you saying that when you gave it to me? It’s edible.”

“Labyrinth constitution.”

“No. Why are you making such a big deal out of this…”

He didn’t know how many days had passed, but Jeong Yushin had become even more adapted to the swamp.

Finn shared his knowledge of the swamp without reservation.

It wasn’t the kind of knowledge you saw in books, but knowledge that came from experience.

After finishing their exploration together, the two returned to the cabin and sat in front of the bonfire with bowls of porridge.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Jeong Yushin, who was scooping up porridge, raised his head at Finn’s question.

“I have to go to the center of the 13th floor. I heard there’s a powerful monster there.”

“Ah. That monster? It’ll be difficult for even intermediate explorers to catch it.”

What on earth was he talking about?

Finn scratched his head, seeing Jeong Yushin’s expression.

“Well, I don’t like complicated stories, so I’ll tell you briefly. There’s some kind of great magic sword that appeared on the 13th floor, so the explorers flocked to it.”

“Yes.”

He knew that. He had heard the vanguards talking about it on the 10th floor. Was it called a magic sword with cold energy?

Finn continued.

“That monster took advantage of the time when the mediocre explorers were fighting each other, attacked and ate them, and became stronger. From what I saw, it was moving around freely while manipulating the swamp. You have to be careful.”

“Can a monster eat explorers and become stronger?”

“No. I think that’s the monster’s characteristic.”

Jeong Yushin stroked his chin. He thought that taking down the boss monster wouldn’t be so easy.

Still, he had no intention of abandoning Mick, Pete, and Meat Brothers and returning to the city alone.

“Where is that monster? Could you please come with me until there?”

“Swamp Ghouls tend to gather in places with a lot of corpses. Maybe that monster is in a place with a lot of ghouls. And I can’t go with you. I’ve been delayed here for quite a while because of you.”

Finn shook his head and cut off Jeong Yushin’s request sharply.

Jeong Yushin scratched his head.

Tsk.

Too bad.

“I want to go alone too, but how can I? I’ll go crazy.”

“Solve that on your own too. You don’t have much time, so think carefully.”

Jeong Yushin frowned.

Damn it.

Is it impossible to get something for free?

After finishing his meal, Jeong Yushin crossed his arms and fell into thought.

Red fog was wriggling outside the window.

The law of the swamp.

Solitude.

To avoid being devoured by madness, you need to have a being with ‘thought’ next to you.

Finn had found his own answer. He kept an animal next to him to ward off madness.

Jeong Yushin racked his brains.

His brain was burning hot as if it was melting.

He stared at the red fog for a long time, recalling and discarding various thoughts.

Finn quietly watched Scar.

‘There’s no way he’ll come up with a method.’

It was fun to watch the rookie guy falter. Although it wasn’t as fun as rolling around in the labyrinth.

At that time.

The Barbaroi guy jumped up from his seat and hurriedly went outside.

‘What?’

Finn was curious, but he stayed in his place.

After a while.

“I’m back.”

The Barbaroi guy came into the room with the smell of blood.

Finn was surprised and jumped up. Scar wasn’t alone.

“What?!”

Next to Scar.

There was a Swamp Ghoul.

All of its fingernails and toenails, and teeth had been pulled out, and its mouth and arms were tightly bound several times with tough vines.

“Keeeuuueeupp!!! Keueupp!!!”

The ghoul struggled, but Scar didn’t budge and put his hand on the ghoul’s shoulder.

“This is my friend. But his name is Johnson.”

Finn gaped.

“What?!”

“When I thought about it, it wasn’t a big deal. Isn’t a monster also a being with ‘thought’? It doesn’t seem like a good thought, though.”

An intense thrill ran down Finn’s spine. Because it wasn’t a method that some mere Intermediate Lower explorer could have come up with.

Finn couldn’t say anything.

Jeong Yushin bowed politely.

“Well, thank you for everything so far. I’m going to the center of the floor.”

“O…okay. Good luck.”

Finn waved his hand with a blank expression.

“Heh. Was he really crazy?”

Finn stood by the cabin door and muttered as he watched the Barbaroi disappear into the fog.

Jeong Yushin chewed on the vines and hugged the ghoul’s shoulder.

“It’s doable? Johnson, what do you think?”

“Kkipp!!! Kkieeeeeip!!!”

“Yeah. Let’s do our best. If not me, who else can catch the boss monster and normalize the corrupted labyrinth city? My shoulders are really heavy.”

Jeong Yushin patted the ghoul’s smooth head and started walking again.

Into the red fog.