The Rainbow Does Not Exist (3)
The Haleford residence is deep and silent. A stillness born from wealth accumulated over centuries. Stained glass windows reaching the ceiling dictate the light, and external noise is blocked by barriers, unable to seep in.
Marble pillars stretch endlessly through the vast corridors. Between them, servants appear and vanish like ghosts, only when needed.
Thus, the power of Haleford was manifested not in ostentation, but in the form of isolation and control. It was a loftiness of a different dimension, distinguishing them from the outside world.
“…Elder.”
Cautiously, a voice calling out to someone’s retreating figure sinks deep.
“Butler Mave has delivered the information.”
Power and authority are built upon listening.
Deception—perceiving the outside from within and bending it into the desired shape.
The Elder of Haleford was a man skilled in such stratagems.
The eighty-nine-year-old serpent had retained the sharpness of his youth while accumulating only experience.
“That child will only accept as much as I desire.”
The Elder recalls Percival.
He was a foolish child. He wore clothes that did not suit him and was buried in petty emotions.
In the end, he was buried by a more destructive child.
The Elder still remembers the sight of that child.
The child standing in the middle of the ruins.
The child born of the battlefield, who extinguished the existence known as Percival.
‘Yes. I killed him.’
The child answered his question with burning intensity. Every part of his heart was upright. The Elder watched with surprise at that hardness, something he had rarely seen in over eighty years.
That was the reason he did not kill him. It was a miracle that he was still breathing after daring to murder a direct descendant of Haleford.
However, the disposition of that time and the judgment of now are different.
From now on, it is the share of Kate, the direct descendant, not the Elder.
“Truth is merely belief. When beliefs gather, they become truth, and when they scatter, they become lies.”
Before the name of Haleford, precedence and causality are unimportant.
The distinction between black and white, right and wrong, is also meaningless.
It is not irrationality, but the law of the jungle.
Even the concept of ‘justice’ that forms the foundation of society is merely a system for the power-holders behind the scenes to blur the eyes of the ignorant.
The real ones are us, and the fakes are them.
“It is the test to be given to the children.”
One child killed Percival. The other child loved Percival.
The truth was prepared that way.
Only a single cross-section was placed.
The choice left behind is their share.
Things need to change.
Lee Jun-ho told me he hoped I would become a consistent person, but even he said that because he didn't know my past.
I turned someone who could have been an ally into an acquaintance, and someone who could have remained an acquaintance into an enemy.
I was a total idiot.
It wasn't a belief that only I was right.
It was because I couldn't trust others.
I slowly changed after meeting a certain guy, but my already ruined human relationships couldn't be undone. I didn't receive help when I needed it most desperately.
So, I want to live a little better now, too.
I want to make some allies.
It’s a realization I reached late, after suddenly becoming terminally ill.
Fortunately, I found that sucking up is easy. Maybe it’s because I heard so much bullshit from soldiers serving their superiors.
[ The Night of the Exposure Incident ]
Anyway, the main broadcast of Labyrinth Exploration NaN is still ongoing. These days, the runtime is basically over 150 minutes, so it’s quite long. How does a 3-hour broadcast get 30% viewership?
—Seol Ha-woon: ….
Seol Ha-woon leaves the dormitory. It’s the day he received leave during the school violence and military bullying exposure incident.
Seo Ji-woo finds me waiting for the bus at the stop.
—Seo Ji-woo: Are you okay?
Seo Ji-woo on the screen asks.
I get a slight chill on the back of my neck right now.
—Seol Ha-woon: …None of your business.
—Seo Ji-woo: Well, I guess it’s none of my business…. I’m sorry.
It’s a scene we rehearsed beforehand, but it’s so cringey.
—Seo Ji-woo: I’m sorry.
—Seol Ha-woon: For what.
I’m thinking about turning off the TV.
—Seo Ji-woo: That I couldn’t… contact you. I think I… was scared, too. I think I couldn’t trust you. I thought you weren’t that kind of person, but….
—Seol Ha-woon: …It’s okay. I’m used to it.
Just as the chat was getting quite rowdy, Seol Ha-woon gets on the bus. Seo Ji-woo watches the departing bus for a long time.
And… entering the interview scene.
—Is there a reason you went to find Ha-woon at that time?
The PD asks Seo Ji-woo a question.
—Seo Ji-woo: …Actually.
She fiddles with her earlobe as if contemplating, then answers with a mischievous lift of her lips.
—Seo Ji-woo: Seol Ha-woon and my brother were in the same unit.
I was stunned for a moment.
On the other hand, the live chat became incredibly fast.
Something feels like the promise is changing.
—Seo Ji-woo: I do care about him, but that’s just… he strangely reminds me of my brother. That’s all.
You said you’d help me with the aggro.
—Do you have any good personal feelings, perhaps….
—Seo Ji-woo: Hey. Would I have something like that? I’m busy enough with spirit arts study and training.
Seo Ji-woo scoffs, lol fills the live chat, and I let out a dry laugh.
She planned to stab me in the back from the start.
Cute.
Ding. A text arrived.
[Im Hae-jun: lol Ssaboo got rejected lol]
It’s Im Hae-jun.
[Im Hae-jun: lololololololololololololololol]
He keeps laughing.
I moved the truck I left outside. I went to Im Hae-jun’s dormitory and knocked hard.
BANG!
[Im Hae-jun: wtf]
[Im Hae-jun: Ssaboo, someone just knocked on my door;;]
Seo Ji-woo’s interview continues.
—Seo Ji-woo: Ha-woon probably doesn’t have those feelings either. Because he knows I’m a comrade’s younger sister.
She smiles broadly.
Ding. A text arrived from Seo Ji-woo too.
[Seo Ji-woo: Sorry lol I had a bit of malice back then lol I was going to stab you in the back harder, but I think it got edited out lol sorry]
She’s honest. But since the result isn’t bad, I’ll let it slide.
“…Whatever.”
Now that I’m on track, I should stop this fake game.
However, I’m still anxious.
Seo Ji-woo, who still harbors the suspicion that ‘maybe I am Seo Ji-hyuk’s friend,’ will definitely make it into the debut group if the broadcast continues like this.
If she, who was supposed to voluntarily withdraw around this time, debuts, what will happen to that Black Call….
The main broadcast flowed along.
—Yu Ji-in: I will announce the results of the first count.
Already the first count. Yu Ji-in begins calling names with a solemn face.
1st Place. Lee Jun-ho
2nd Place. Kang Hyun
3rd Place. Kate
4th Place. Seo Ji-woo….
I skimmed the live chat with glazed eyes and turned it off.
“Shouldn’t this be dealt with somehow?”
These days, it feels like the entire internet is being polluted.
14th Place. Seol Ha-woon
I quickly turned the live chat back on.
Am I popular with the kids? That’s the first time I’ve heard that in my life.
—Yu Ji-in: It’s the Defense Labyrinth!
Anyway, after that, they enter the Defense Labyrinth.
Yu Ji-in explains the rules of the Defense Labyrinth first.
[ Please decide on attack and defense. ]
Everyone sits in their chairs and thinks for a long time. The image of the explorers agonizing over their roles is portrayed quite coolly.
Then, the time of choice.
—Kang Hyun: I will choose offense.
—Lee Jun-ho: Offense.
—Seo Ji-woo: Hmm… Offense!
—Jo Woon: Defense. I will protect them.
—Ryu Yeon-hwa: Offense. I will do it.
—Lee Jong-su: Warriors are offense. Usually, spirit users seem to choose defense a lot, and archers and—
Lee Jong-su talks too much, so he was cut off in the middle.
—Im Hae-jun: Offense~
—Kate: Defense.
Everyone chooses their roles, and then the interviews of the offense teams are shown.
──Regarding the reason for choosing the offense team.
They even filmed interviews like this.
Well, the waiting time was quite long while the defense team was setting up the base.
—Kang Hyun: It’s not that attack is easy… it’s not that kind of meaning.
—Lee Jun-ho: Attack, well, it also looks fun.
They are cross-edited one by one.
—Im Hae-jun: Honestly. Honestly, I thought attack had less to do than defense, but more than that.
—Jin Ho-jong: Since all 50 people were choosing at the same time, exchanging opinions on roles was impossible. So I thought about it quite a bit, but.
—Ryu Yeon-hwa: At first, I thought of defense, but I thought I was a spirit user who suited attack better. Also.
One round passes, and back to Kang Hyun.
—Kang Hyun: I recognized that it was a team battle with 50 people. I had to choose a role where the team would win rather than an individual. In that sense….
Kang Hyun speaks seriously, then,
—Lee Jun-ho: Come to think of it, there was one definite defender, right?
Lee Jun-ho appears with a face full of smiles.
—Lee Jun-ho: Well, for one, his ability seems like he was born for that kind of defense….
Im Hae-jun follows immediately.
—Im Hae-jun: Since that brother will definitely do the defender role, I thought I could trust him and be on the attack team.
A simultaneous shout-out from the offense team members about ‘someone’.
—Im Hae-jun: Yes. I trusted him. Because he’s a person worth trusting.
—Ryu Yeon-hwa: If that person does defense, let’s choose offense with peace of mind….
While the reactions in the live chat are also gradually filling up.
Thud—.
The cane strikes the ground.
The camera shows the back of a man limping as he walks. Although it’s about half the level of when I was on active duty, fortunately, my build still remains quite intact.
—Seol Ha-woon: I.
He didn’t agonize over his role. As if he was prepared just like that, he said.
—Seol Ha-woon: I will choose defense.
The screen is filled with Seol Ha-woon’s face.
Strangely, it seems like I have a lot of close-up shots. Kim A-rang says it’s because my skin is good….
The chats are flying up.
It’s quite a burdensome edit, but to be a little honest.
No matter how I think about it, the protagonist of this Defense Labyrinth is me.
Please send us your stories.
If you have any concerns about abnormal phenomena that you want the Labyrinth Exploration explorers to solve, please send them along with your story.
“…Oh. It’s over.”
With the segment asking for stories as the finale, the main broadcast ended.
Wait, then that means I’m the ending?
“Ahem.”
It’s unnecessarily burdensome.
I stretched and snapped my fingers.
Swoosh.
The sensation of space slightly crushing, and immediately after, I entered the subspace.
“Aro. Have you been well?”
The first floor of the Astroal Merchandise new office building. Aro was standing in front of the counter.
Greetings, Master.
“Yeah. But, looking here….”
Should I say it has the touch of human hands? Or that it smells like people?
There were many such traces in the building.
“Looks like quite a few customers came?”
I have been receiving one team regularly per day.
That’s a good thing. Of course, I take profits bordering on profiteering, but at the same time, it’s a rescue operation.
“How’s the revenue?”
Currently, it is a total of 35,692 Diamond Coins.
At the exchange rate, 10,000 diamonds is 100 million won. Excluding the money Aro takes, she’s earned almost 400 million won.
“Oh, you’re so pretty. What do the customers say?”
Everyone was satisfied.
“They would be satisfied. Because if they’re dissatisfied, they get kicked out. So, shall we spend some coins now?”
Yes. I will show you the catalog.
Aro projected the catalog from the panel. There were many items, and all the formats were familiar.
It was indeed MoMo.
“Hmm….”
While skimming through the catalog, I discovered an item with various functions stuck onto it.
Grade: Epic
Description: A coat made of special fibers from an ancient guardian. Grants the wearer significant magic resistance.
Particleization: The coat can be particleized according to the wearer’s will. Upon reconstruction, the coat is restored to its most ideal state, and all contamination and damage are removed.
Devour: Once every 48 hours, invest 100 Diamond Coins to increase the wearer’s magic stat by 0.01. (Max increase: 1.5)
Adaptive Outer Shell: The coat’s properties change according to the environment the wearer is in.
Wearing Catalyst: The coat’s fibers act as a catalyst when casting formulas or spells.
“This is it.”
It’s a must. On top of ‘significant’ magic resistance, it even raises my magic stat. Although I have to invest coins frequently, it can’t be compared to magic power.
“Let’s go with this. How much is it?”
It is 35,000 Diamond Coins.
“…It is expensive.”
Still, considering even my magic coefficient, it feels like a finishing item.
“Give it to me.”
Understood.
Whirrr-
Aro blinked her eyes.
I have requested the order. It will be delivered in one business day.
“So I can’t get it right away.”
Even a day is a waste. It’s 0.01 magic power.
At that moment, Aro looked at my feet.
Master. What is this?
She showed interest in the truck.
Suddenly, my heart felt at ease.
“As expected, you recognize it. Let me introduce you. This is my No. 1 familiar.”
The truck is useful. It’s not a lie, it’s the truth.
If I connect with the magic coefficient, I can share senses without any side effects, and I can move it like my own arms and legs.
It’s the best familiar ever. A familiar like this, I could never find anywhere else.
Aro watched me like that for a moment, then suddenly tapped the laptop.
“Why?”
Download. Please.
“…Download? What, a drama?”
There are dramas and movies. I have checked the items that need downloading.
“Oh, yeah. You can’t use the internet in here, right?”
You can’t use the internet inside here.
Instead, the explorer community can be used even in the subspace. Because the medium is magic power, not the internet.
I should teach Aro how to use it later.
“Did you find it fun?”
It is for learning purposes, not for fun.
“You’re kidding me. Anyway, I’ll bring it.”
Yes.
Aro’s panel chirped. I smiled at the sight of her moving her two arms smoothly as if she were happy.
“You worked hard. You did a good job.”
Yes. Thank you, Master.
Like this, let’s try building some affection, too….