I Am (3)
The Labyrinth Exploration series itself is a massive magical invention, but nobody actually knows who invented it.
There are plenty of speculations, of course. Some say the creator is the same person who invented Bitcoin. Others claim it's the main PD, Yoon Sa-hyeok, or perhaps his long-lost brother, or maybe a friend from his college days.
Regardless of their identity, this mysterious inventor entrusted the Labyrinth Exploration series to iONET, a minor cable channel in South Korea, and PD Yoon Sa-hyeok used it to produce an explorer audition program.
The level test will begin in 3 minutes.
"Whoa. This is amazing."
"You guys can all see this too, right?"
"You can't touch it, though."
"Oh, oh! It's following me. It's actually following!"
The participants' reactions varied wildly. Some laughed and chatted with those next to them, some tapped the air, and others looked around in wonder, clearly fascinated by this unfamiliar system.
"Whew..."
On the other hand, I took a deep breath and prepared myself, forcing my mind to settle into a calm, serious state.
For me, this was a matter of life and death. My remaining lifespan was barely seventy days, after all.
You will be teleported to the labyrinth shortly.
Please note: receiving fatal damage will trigger an emergency recall. Once you fail a labyrinth, you cannot challenge it again.
3... 2... 1...
With the countdown, the space shifted. To be precise, I was teleported.
Thud.
I planted my staff on the ground first.
"...Hmm."
Find the loot and escape.
The labyrinth's objective floated in the air.
The ground beneath me was rough, gritty stone. It was pitch black all around, rendering everything invisible.
But this entire process would be recorded, and my entire... no, an edited version of me would be watched by the whole world.
I focused mana into my eyes. The intent I willed was 'Optic Nerve Awakening'.
My vision brightened with a blue hue, revealing the path ahead clearly.
"...Optic Nerve Awakening."
I made sure to chant it aloud.
Just in case they didn't know what I was doing.
Tap. Tap.
I walked slowly. I had watched the broadcast of Season 3's level test before my regression, but it was so long ago that my memory was hazy.
Kereuk— kereeuk—
As I walked, a clicking tongue sound echoed from the right side of the straight path.
I could tell from that single syllable alone. Goblins.
They weren't enemies to be taken lightly. They formed packs and absolutely never traveled alone.
Kereuk— kereeuk— kereuk—
Advancing a bit further, as expected, there were three goblins near the path. The torches hanging on the wall illuminated their faces. They looked like they had been bashed in with bricks.
"..."
I quietly extended my fingertips.
Kereuk— kereeuk!
Kerek!
They seemed to be conversing. Goblins had low durability, so if I aimed right between their eyes, I could take them down without much trouble.
"Trigger."
Bang.
A magic bullet pierced right between one goblin's eyes. The sound was significantly muffled, but there was still a small pop. Immediately, I fired another.
Bang.
By the time the second one fell, the third one had noticed me.
Kereeuk!
It rushed at me, its eyes glaring. It wasn't a straight charge. It was zigzagging—a basic evasive maneuver.
Cunning bastards.
I waited calmly. Until its short strides brought it right in front of my nose.
Keeeeeek!
It tried to plunge its blade into my neck, but—bang.
I shot it right between the eyes first.
No matter how small and agile they were, they had to stop eventually. They couldn't attack me without stopping. All you had to do was not succumb to fear.
"Hmm..."
I picked up a torch from the wall and looked up. Near the ceiling of the labyrinth, there was a hollowed-out space.
The most important thing on a battlefield is securing the high ground. If I positioned myself up there, I could probably grasp the entire layout of the labyrinth.
I reached my hand toward it.
Whirrr! A wire-like thread of mana shot out and latched onto the wall. The next moment, my body floated into the air, and adjusting my speed appropriately, I landed up there.
Thud!
I misjudged my landing. The impact on my left leg was severe. I collapsed, clutching my knee.
"Ugh..."
It hurt.
It hurt so much I couldn't even speak, but it was manageable.
"Haah, haah..."
Exhaling slowly, I pushed myself up. Leaning heavily on my staff, I surveyed the labyrinth.
The primary objective of this labyrinth was to find the loot.
To do that... mana.
Labyrinth loot possessed a unique flow of mana.
The further away it was, the harder it would be to detect, but with a Magic stat of 11.5 and my traits 【Good Ears, Good Eyes】, it should be possible.
I focused mana into my optic nerves. A distinct current was captured on my deeply blue-tinted retinas.
A long, continuous thread-like flow.
I just had to follow it.
"Found it."
I nodded, striking a cool pose.
You have to act like you know what you're doing to secure even a single extra second of screen time.
In the monitoring room of Labyrinth Exploration NaN, where they observed the participants and picked out editing points, Kim A-rang marveled anew.
"Lee Jun-ho is incredibly good."
As expected of a talent nurtured with utmost care by Celion, one of the Big Four guilds. His unique style of swinging his longsword was highly flashy and satisfying to watch. It was obvious why the martial arts world had its eyes on him.
"Goblins lose their heads the moment they make eye contact."
"They say his talent for fusing muscle fibers with mana is exceptional."
Yoon Sa-hyeok's voice carried the smell of cup ramen. Kim A-rang glanced over at him.
"...What the. When did you open that ramen?"
"Just now."
"You should've said something. I'm hungry too."
"There was only one left."
Yoon Sa-hyeok subtly turned his King Lid cup ramen away, fearing she might ask for a bite. He was decent-looking, but there was a reason he was still single.
Just then, Lee Jun-ho finished.
"He finished in seventeen minutes. He's first."
"Because he just bulldozed his way through. He didn't place first; he just finished first."
"What's the difference?"
Yoon Sa-hyeok continued, slurping his ramen.
"Lee Jun-ho was hit seven times. He tripped three traps. In a real-life scenario, that could have been fatal."
"But this isn't real life—"
"'But' doesn't mean anything. Are we picking celebrities? We're selecting explorers who will enter actual labyrinths."
"...Fine, fine."
Pouting, Kim A-rang scanned the profiles of the other participants.
Second place had just emerged.
The spellcaster, Ryu Yeon-hwa. She was also incredibly fast, but her hit count was quite high at nine. She had also tripped two traps.
"What do you think of Ryu Yeon-hwa?"
"She's a talented spellcaster. Especially gifted in offense, but careless. At this rate, she's highly likely to become a glass cannon."
Glass cannon. A slang term for heavy hitters whose durability was inversely proportional to their massive output.
Third place was Seo Ji-woo. Hit count: zero. Traps: four.
"Seo Ji-woo got caught in a lot of traps, though her hit count is zero."
"Rumor has it she has some mental issues."
"Really?"
"Her older brother died about a year ago."
Kim A-rang's eyes widened.
"Are you an encyclopedia? How do you know all this?"
"It's basic research."
Next was Kim A-rang's favorite... no, as an assistant PD, she shouldn't let personal feelings get in the way.
Kang Hyun was the fourth to escape the labyrinth.
Hit count: zero. Traps: one.
"He's perfect."
"Indeed."
This time, even Yoon Sa-hyeok smirked without any complaints. That smile carried many meanings.
Confidence that this season would be a massive hit.
In truth, Kang Hyun was PD Yoon Sa-hyeok's top pick.
Of course, ninety-six young people appeared on Labyrinth Exploration, but in the end, only six or seven would drive the show's popularity.
Furthermore, in the early stages, they needed a 'protagonist' to immerse the viewers. Whether it was a fake protagonist or a real one didn't matter.
In that regard, Yoon Sa-hyeok was quite a fox.
If they pushed their top pick too hard from the start, it could trigger a backlash. So, they would set up a fake protagonist first, and then, at a certain moment, create a captivating 'real' protagonist moment to shift the weight.
This season... Lee Jun-ho would probably play the role of the fake protagonist. Though a double-protagonist setup wouldn't be bad either.
"But Kang Hyun is self-taught, right? I've never seen an individual explorer like him."
"His father was an explorer."
Did he get homeschooled by his dad? What an enviable father-son duo.
"Still, he's human. He tripped one trap."
"There's one trap in there that's practically impossible to avoid."
"Really?"
If Yoon Sa-hyeok said so, it was true.
"Even most active-duty veterans would fall for it if they were careless."
"...Ah, I know which one you mean."
Snap. Kim A-rang snapped her fingers.
"The last one?"
"Yeah."
Yoon Sa-hyeok threw his empty ramen cup straight into the trash. He had finished every last drop of the broth.
"I'll leave you to wrap things up."
He stood up from his chair.
"Where are you going?"
"To grab some food. Eating ramen made me hungry."
"...Excuse me?"
"Keep up the good work."
What a bizarre man. Yet, Kim A-rang couldn't help but feel proud. Not of Yoon Sa-hyeok, but of herself standing by his side.
During the first season, he wouldn't entrust her with anything. But starting from the latter half of Season 1, he slowly began to trust her. Now, in this season, his trust had grown to the point where he could leave the room entirely.
"Sure, sure. Go ahead."
No reply came. He had already left.
He was unnecessarily fast. You could tell he used to be an explorer.
"...Hmm~"
Resting her chin on her hand with a slight pout, Kim A-rang examined the faces of the participants still tackling the labyrinth.
I walked along the mana trail of the loot. I occasionally ran into goblin packs, but I killed them all. They probably didn't even sense my presence.
The safest way to deal with an enemy is to kill them from a distance.
"I think I'm almost there."
Then, a fork in the road appeared. The loot's mana led to the right, so I naturally prepared to head that way, only to pause.
Kereureuk—
Signs of life. I felt quite a few movements.
I crouched down and placed my hand on the ground.
Sssssst.
I channeled mana into the floor.
Spreading mana through the ground using Mana Manipulation, I counted the number of presences caught in the vibrations.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.
Fifteen in total.
Too many to handle with just magic bullets. But there didn't seem to be any other path.
Can't be helped.
I condensed a spell formula in the air.
What I wanted to create was a damp wind. A thick mist to drench this entire space.
"Spread."
The moment I whispered, air rushed into the passage.
Whoosh.
The wind felt heavy and damp. The torches exposed to the moisture went out one by one, plunging the corridor into pitch blackness.
Kereuk?
Kerelek.
The panicked noises of the goblins grew chaotic. I lowered my posture. I drew a knife from my lower back.
It was a military dagger I had actually used during my service.
I was a spellcaster, of course, but there was no rule saying a spellcaster couldn't engage in close combat. A spellcaster's role, after all, was simply to use spells to achieve their objective.
Therefore.
⟨ Concealment ⟩
I chanted the incantation I needed. It was a spell I had never attempted before, yet it formed perfectly as if I had used it dozens of times. A film of mana clung to my body and staff.
I tapped the ground with my staff.
No sound. Not a single trace left behind.
Nodding, I advanced, holding my breath.
The first goblin. Standing behind the creature as it fumbled along the wall trying to relight a torch, I plunged my knife right below its shoulder blades—specifically, 'between the ribs from the upper back.'
If you drive a blade in there, they can't make a sound. Their lungs simply rupture.
The goblin died silently, and my actions made no sound either.
The concentration of the spell was that high.
I laid the corpse down on the ground.
Once again, I approached the one right next to it and stabbed the exact same spot.
A silent death.
Unaware of their comrades' assassinations, and not even realizing their own impending doom, the goblin pack began to fall one by one, slowly fading away...