I AM
For quite some time, I moved in the shadows, taking down fifteen goblins with nothing but pure, manual labor. It wasn't particularly difficult. It was a situation I had already performed countless times back in the military.
“…Is this the place?”
Beyond the goblin corpses lay a massive door. It was the treasure room, where the flow of mana converged. However, you shouldn't just open it because you're happy to find it.
One common sense rule of the labyrinth: "The treasure room only contains treasure."
But sometimes, things happen that break that common sense.
In other words, it means another monster is lurking inside.
How do I know? I watched the original broadcast.
I set up a spell at the very bottom of the treasure room door, right at ankle height. It was a trap similar to a landmine.
One of the laws of spellcraft established by Tae Hyeok, the first mage of South Korea: "Static spells have greater power for the same amount of mana compared to dynamic spells."
Simply put, the firepower of a landmine that an opponent has to "come and step on" is far greater than a magic missile I "shoot" directly.
"Preparation complete."
After setting the spell, I tapped the door.
Immediately, it swung wide open with a bang!
Grrr...
Inside was a goblin that looked like it had been pumped full of steroids. Its height easily exceeded 2 meters, and it must have weighed around 300kg. It was much heavier than old man David, looking more like a bear.
It was a guard protecting the treasure. A mutant far stronger than the average monster in the labyrinth.
Kuaaaa!
The beast let out a roar and charged at me.
"Whoa, startled me."
I stepped back a couple of paces.
Kuaaaa!
Thump, thump, thump. What on earth was it so angry about?
It was a roar that shook the entire labyrinth, but at some point—
A faint resistance caught the ankle of the creature as it charged excitedly.
Snap.
A very thin line. A tripwire trap constructed with my mana. It was a classic tripwire that triggered the trap when pushed against the ankle.
I quickly hid behind the wall.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted. First, the creature's two legs were scattered, and blood and flesh sprayed in every direction.
I peeked my head out.
Kyaaaa!
The goblin guard was left with only its upper body, struggling in vain.
Whew.
Only then did I walk forward.
"Don't feel too wronged. It's common on the battlefield."
You always have to be careful where you step. The same goes for the sky above. On the battlefield, death flickers everywhere you stand. If you lose your reason and move like that, having your upper and lower body separated is getting off cheap.
Kyaaaa!
The goblin guard stretched out its thick arms. It’s quite grotesque seeing it like that with only its upper body left.
I planted a magic missile right between its distorted eyebrows.
Bang.
Only then did it go quiet. I checked the system.
[ 3 : 13 : 21 ]
3 hours and 13 minutes.
That feels like it took too long. Won't this get completely edited out?
"Tsk..."
I entered the treasure room first. A cup adorned with jewels sat on the altar.
The treasure.
I was about to pick it up and leave, but suddenly—
"......?"
The door.
The door I had just entered through suddenly became suspicious.
"...What is this?"
It's strange.
Why do I feel this way? I feel a strange sense of incongruity.
"Hmm."
If so, let's trace back the memories from before the regression.
In the original broadcast, almost all participants entered the same treasure room and left through the same door.
The next scene was...
'Uwaaaaa!'
'Kyaaaaa!'
They screamed and fell straight down. Like some kind of water slide.
"...Hmm."
My suspicion isn't just because of that memory.
Mana, which wasn't visible when I entered, is shimmering near the door. It's very faint, but it's definitely there.
I examined the inside of the treasure room.
If this is a trap, what is the trigger? What caused the trap to activate?
I searched the ceiling, the floor, and the walls thoroughly, but there was nothing that caught my eye.
"What on earth is it?"
I grumbled and inadvertently looked at the treasure. A small cup I could hold in one hand. A thought suddenly bloomed from its smooth surface.
"Wait a second."
The actions I took after entering the treasure room were 'killing the guard and picking up the treasure'.
The only difference between before and after me is this treasure.
"......"
I put the treasure back in its original place, on the altar. As I did, the faint mana that had been lingering on the door vanished.
I smirked.
"Confirmed."
If you retrieve the treasure, that door turns into a trap.
I scraped the ground with my military combat knife to dig out a stone. I carved it so its weight would be similar to the treasure cup and placed it on the altar.
"...That's not it."
The trap on the door remained. It means it's not about the mass.
There is only one answer left.
The mana contained in this cup.
I had never measured the amount of mana in an object in my life, but for some reason, I knew it naturally just by looking at it. It was probably the harmony of my mana stat of 11.5 and [Good Ears, Good Eyes].
I pulled out exactly as much mana as the treasure had and infused it into the stone. Then I placed it on the altar.
Thud.
I looked back at the exit.
The treasure is in my hand, but the mana wrapped around the door—the trap—has vanished.
"Correct answer."
Satisfied, I nodded and walked out majestically. I shrugged my shoulders as I crossed the threshold.
Of course, nothing happened.
* * *
Kim A-rang in the monitoring room reviewed the footage, focusing on the top-tier participants. She analyzed them while taking notes for two hours and decided on the editing points.
"Ugh, annoying. The mentors won't even watch all of this anyway."
The level test is 'for now' the mentors' job. They are probably ranking them while watching this footage right now. Or at least pretending to.
However, due to time constraints, they can't observe all 96 people thoroughly. They'll naturally look at the top-tier, but those who take over two hours to clear the labyrinth will be put on the back burner.
Therefore, the staff needs to point out specific parts and time slots to provide feedback.
Of course, Kim A-rang also puts the bottom-tier on the back burner. Now that she's gained some seniority, she has no intention of taking on those who are a headache to watch every time.
"Then..."
Should I go get something to eat? Kim A-rang, who had risen from her seat, suddenly became curious. She looked at the monitor for no reason.
What happened to that limping guy?
Right on cue, the escape complete message popped up.
"...Huh? Did he just finish?"
The record was 3 hours and 22 minutes.
He had finished in a whopping 3 hours what Lee Jun-ho cleared in 17 minutes and Kang Hyun finished in 25 minutes.
Naturally, he was in last place. An overwhelming last place, 40 minutes behind 95th place.
"And I thought he was a dark horse."
He even boldly sat next to Kang Hyun. Acting like he was something special all by himself.
Good grief.
Kim A-rang, who sneered as if she were dumbfounded, checked Seol Ha-woon's record while practically lying back in her chair.
"He was a guy with nothing special..."
Her words stopped. Her narrow eyes widened slightly. She stared blankly at the screen before sitting up straight.
"What is this?"
Zero hits taken is understandable. If you move carefully enough, it's possible not to get hit even once.
But.
Seol Ha-woon hadn't fallen for a single trap.
According to Yoon Sa-hyeok, he had even bypassed traps that were impossible to avoid.
"...This."
Kim A-rang hurriedly checked the records of other participants.
[ Hits Taken: 9 ] [ Traps Exposed: 2 ]
[ Hits Taken: 3 ] [ Traps Exposed: 3 ]
[ Hits Taken: 4 ] [ Traps Exposed: 3 ]
[ Hits Taken: 2 ] [ Traps Exposed: 4 ]
[ Hits Taken: 2 ] [ Traps Exposed: 3 ]
[ Hits Taken: 1 ] [ Traps Exposed: 5 ]
The [Hits Taken] of the participants were all over the place, but it wasn't like there were no participants with 0 hits taken.
However, no matter how much she scrolled down, and down, and down, she couldn't see a 0 for [Traps Exposed].
In other words, it meant that 'Seol Ha-woon' was the only person who hadn't fallen for a trap even once.
"What is he, really?"
Kim A-rang hurriedly pulled up Seol Ha-woon's video on the monitor. She rewound it to the very beginning and played it.
"Wow... he's incredibly slow."
From the moment he reached the labyrinth, his entire process was long and slow. Admirably so.
Naturally, it was because he limped. It was because his preparations were thorough as his mobility was desperate.
The first point.
Seol Ha-woon identified the enemies from a distance first and killed three goblins. Afterward, he used his spell like a wire to climb to high ground.
He stared at the entire labyrinth with eyes that seemed to read mana, then descended to the ground again and limped his way through the labyrinth.
It was a path so accurate it gave her goosebumps.
He stopped behind walls where enemies were located. He killed the goblins from a distance first, and he didn't even glance at the traps. He ignored the fake rooms that boasted "There's treasure here~" as if they didn't exist in the first place.
Then, the passage just before the treasure room.
It was a space where combat was unavoidable as fifteen goblins were patrolling.
"......"
At that moment, Kim A-rang lost her words.
Seol Ha-woon first extinguished the torches with a spell. Then he melted into the darkness and carried out a covert operation. He limped and muttered.
'Stealth.'
No sound flowed from him as he held a military combat knife in one hand and a cane in the other. Not even the slightest sign of his presence occurred. It was as if the phenomenon of noise itself had been deleted from his actions.
This unbelievable silence was perhaps Seol Ha-woon's spell.
The goblins stabbed by his knife died like gentle lambs. They couldn't even let out a death cry. The group of fifteen goblins was wiped out slowly but surely.
Seol Ha-woon, having cleaned the area, reached the front of the treasure room door. Most people would have just opened it, but he meticulously set up a trap first.
There was a goblin guard inside the treasure room, and the guard threw its body into Seol Ha-woon's booby trap while letting out a roar.
BOOM!
The power was staggering.
Because both of the goblin guard's legs were blown off in one shot.
"...Special forces."
Kim A-rang let out a hollow laugh.
To people these days, soldiers feel a bit distant. However, they carry out missions even more dangerous than explorers. They deal with the remnants of the labyrinth, or humans who have gone mad in the labyrinth—villains.
In particular, the UDT is a special forces unit deployed to front lines created by villains all over the world, such as the Middle East, Manchuria, Northern Korea, and Central Asia.
Come to think of it, there was no way such a person could be ordinary. That was why there was no hesitation in his movements. There was no doubt. There was a basis for every action.
It was the movement of a soldier who had always walked on thin ice. The intuition of a specialist who had survived for years on a battlefield where you lose yourself the moment you don't believe in yourself still remained in him.
Kim A-rang wrote a comment in her notebook.
[ Seol Ha-woon ]
She stopped after scribbling about one line.
If she gave this feedback to the mentors, they would leave comments about Seol Ha-woon. His level test ranking might even go up a bit.
"...No."
She shouldn't do that.
According to Yoon Sa-hyeok, a dark horse has a huge impact on the qualitative catharsis of the program. Therefore, a dark horse must always be an underdog. They must be an underdog.
In other words, Seol Ha-woon must be 96th.
3 hours and 22 minutes is enough to be buried in 96th place.
It's not a personal grudge, but a sense of judgment as a PD.
Even if she delivered this feedback to the mentors, the time taken was too long, so he would ambiguously be between 60th and 70th place. Starting from 96th place would be better for the success of the program and for Seol Ha-woon himself than being buried in such an ambiguous ranking.
Definitely.
"This season... is going to be fun."
A deep smile spread across Kim A-rang's lips.
People like me who edit in a back room, and the viewers who will face the finished product on TV or their phones outside—
I think we'll be able to watch this Season 3 quite deliciously.