Hate You (Part 1)

Thirteen minutes left. The end of the tedious Survival Labyrinth was finally within arm's reach.

The inside of the cabin was completely bare. The chairs we had painstakingly crafted, the wooden table, and even the bed frame had all been sacrificed as kindling.

There was nothing left to burn, but fortunately, the howling blizzard that had raged until moments ago was gradually dying down, fading into a near-silent whisper.

"...Is it over? Did we make it?"

Seo Ji-woo muttered, her voice laced with anticipation.

"Hey. Don't say things like that."

Lee Jun-ho quickly shut down her jinx.

I grabbed the cabin's doorknob. It was frozen solid and wouldn't budge.

"Open this for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me."

I gestured toward the door, looking at Lee Jun-ho.

"Can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even open a door? What a weakling."

Lee Jun-ho strode over and yanked it with all his might.

Crack! Shatter! The ice splintered, and the entire door shattered into pieces.

"I didn't ask you to break it."

"...Ahem."

"Oh?! The sun is out!"

In the meantime, Seo Ji-woo dashed out first, with the wolf following close at her heels.

"The sun is up! It's actually up!"

Seo Ji-woo looked up at the clear sky, a bright, radiant smile on her face. The word 'radiant' had never felt more fitting.

Looking at her, I was reminded of Seo Ji-hyuk.

Her occasional innocence, her sudden moments of gravity—she was the spitting image of him.

Family resembles family. A premise so obvious, yet it struck me with a strange, heavy weight today.

"Nnngh..."

Lee Jun-ho stretched his arms, casting a sidelong glance at me.

"Excuse me. Can I ask why? Why do you have that?"

He was likely referring to Seo Ji-hyuk's dog tags.

"No."

I shook my head.

The story between Seo Ji-hyuk and me wasn't something to be shared with anyone. It shouldn't be.

Because keeping it quiet was the best way to honor him.

Right on cue, the timer for the Survival Labyrinth ran out.

"It's over!"

Seo Ji-woo approached and raised her palm for a high-five. I threw scissors. Her face contorted.

"Seriously? Have you never heard of a high-five?"

The NaN system window flashed across my retinas.

After clearing the Survival Labyrinth, we were teleported back to the studio set.

Thirty-three people. More than half of the participants had failed this labyrinth. Compared to my previous timeline, the number of dropouts had increased by about twenty.

The reason the future had changed was undoubtedly due to the variable known as Seol Ha-woon—me.

"Oh! Hyung! I knew you'd clear it too!"

"...?"

It was Im Hae-jun. I hadn't expected him to survive.

He actually looked quite healthy. Had he gone into hibernation somewhere?

"That's my hyung!"

"Since when am I your hyung?"

"I cleared it thanks to you, Hyung!"

Click. Clack.

The sharp click of high heels echoed across the studio. It was Yu Ji-in. Making her grand entrance once again, she offered a faint smile as she scanned the survivors.

"You've all worked so hard. It must have been incredibly difficult, right?"

Most of the explorers who rasped out a reply had completely hoarse voices.

Yu Ji-in nodded in understanding.

"The Survival Labyrinth is notorious even among active explorers. While there are external threats, in the end, it is a battle against oneself."

I scanned the faces of the survivors. Kang Hyun, Jo Woon, Kate, Kim Du-gyeom... Kim Du-gyeom.

That bastard Kim Du-gyeom survived too?

"Since everyone must be exhausted today, I won't keep you long. Please, go and rest. As for the Snowflake you received as a reward, I'll let you figure out what kind of item it is and how to use it on your own."

I looked down at the pristine, translucent white flower resting in my palm.

Cold resistance.

An item that raised a highly valuable 'resistance' stat.

While base resistances varied from person to person, they typically started between -2 and 2. For instance, someone who easily succumbed to heat would start with a heat resistance of -2, while someone who tolerated the cold well might have a cold resistance of 2.

These resistances couldn't be easily raised through training, so explorers usually had to rely on labyrinth loot to boost them.

In terms of market value... well, it would easily fetch ten or twenty million won.

"That concludes today's filming."

Yu Ji-in dismissed us with a benevolent smile. The survivors trudged back to their dorms, but I headed straight for the restroom first.

I had been holding it in for the last three days.

I walked straight into a stall, only to find there was no toilet paper. The other stalls were exactly the same.

"...Ah, damn it."

How does a major broadcasting station not stock toilet paper?

Just as I was about to leave, I ran into someone walking in.

Lee Jun-ho.

Perfect timing. Without a word, I held out my hand. It was a silent demand to hand it over.

Lee Jun-ho tilted his head, looking slightly displeased. I frowned back at him.

"What?"

"...This. Shouldn't Ji-woo be the one holding onto this?"

"Then you give it to her."

"......"

Lee Jun-ho pursed his lips before finally pulling out the dog tags. I snatched them away and shoved them into my pocket.

"...Were you two in the same class? In UDT."

Lee Jun-ho asked tentatively.

I gave a curt reply.

"None of your business."

"Why did you pretend not to know her?"

Lee Jun-ho muttered to himself, clearly frustrated.

"You know what Ji-hyuk hyung meant to Ji-woo."

"Still none of my business."

Seo Ji-woo was not my concern.

She resembled Seo Ji-hyuk, but she wasn't him. The guy I owed, the guy who owed me, the only guy I could truly call a friend—that was Seo Ji-hyuk, not Seo Ji-woo.

"What the fuck do you mean it's none of your business?"

Lee Jun-ho suddenly blocked my path, his face flushed with anger. He looked ready to grab me by the collar, but I was all too familiar with that kind of look. It didn't scare me in the slightest. If anything, it was almost cute.

Lee Jun-ho still had a lingering air of youth about him.

"......"

I silently stared him down. His pupils trembled slightly.

I spoke.

"...It means you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

To be fair, Lee Jun-ho wasn't exactly sane either. He was a destructive maniac, a latent killer with a deep darkness inside. Even after debuting in second place, he would spend his free time wandering the mercenary quarters looking for cheap thrills, eventually dying in a Black Call.

He was hollow inside.

In a way, he resembled me.

"Move."

"......"

Lee Jun-ho took a step aside. I thought he would leave, but instead, he walked into one of the stalls. I guess he had been holding it in too.

"Hey. There's no toilet paper in there."

—......

No response. Lee Jun-ho didn't come out. No, he couldn't. It was already in progress.

"Want me to get you some?"

—......

"Guess not. I'm leaving."

—B-bring me some.

I chuckled and walked out of the restroom.

—Where are you going?!

Lee Jun-ho's desperate voice called after me.

I shot back.

"I have to go get the toilet paper first, don't I?"

—...Ah.

Back in my room, I collapsed onto the bed. My entire body was exhausted, but today was the broadcast day for Labyrinth Exploration NaN.

I had to watch the premiere.

Well, technically it was episode 2, not the premiere.

The opening sequence for episode 2 had just finished.

"I guess the level test was episode 1."

The beginning of the episode picked up right after the level test, showing the contestants exploring their dorms.

—Seo Ji-woo: Wow, this place is huge.

Seo Ji-woo marvelled as she looked around her room. Seriously, why was it so big? It looked at least five times the size of mine.

After that, the daily lives of several other contestants flashed by in a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠montage.

"Oh, there I am."

Seol Ha-woon, dressed in his NaN uniform, was walking down a path. Limping along, leaning on his cane.

"......What is up with the camera saturation?"

The footage looked incredibly gloomy. It felt like they had intentionally applied a bleak filter, and there was absolutely no sound except for the rhythmic thud of my cane. I was pretty sure I had muttered to myself quite a bit back then.

I opened the live chat on my smartphone.

"Tell me about it."

On the bright side, I had surprisingly a lot of screen time. The scene shifted to the library, where someone approached Seol Ha-woon as he studied a spellbook.

It was Yu Yul.

—Yu Yul: Studying? Everyone else is resting or chatting at the cafe. Why are you here alone?

Yu Yul asked Seol Ha-woon a few questions before taking a seat next to him.

—Yu Yul: Well, since you're studying while everyone else is playing, I'll give you a private mentoring session.

Most of our conversation had been edited out, skipping straight to the point.

—Yu Yul: First, try Mana Breathing.

—Seol Ha-woon: Mana Breathing...

—Yu Yul: Yes. Do it.

—Seol Ha-woon: ...I don't know how.

—Yu Yul: You don't know?

Yu Yul frowned at Seol Ha-woon, who didn't even know what Mana Breathing was.

—Yu Yul: Bullshit. Then how did you open your circuits?

—Seol Ha-woon: I just...

—Yu Yul: Just?

—Seol Ha-woon: I just did it, and it worked.

At that moment, Yu Yul's voiceover cut in.

—"If you don't know Mana Breathing, your circuits shouldn't normally open."

It was an interview cut.

In a pitch-black room, Yu Yul sat in a chair and spoke.

—"And yet, contestant Seol Ha-woon's circuits were already open. Quite a lot of them, in fact."

—Is that uncommon?

—"Of course it's uncommon. That's why I asked him."

The scene transitioned back to the library.

Yu Yul asked me.

—Yu Yul: How many months has it been?

—Seol Ha-woon: About... three and a half? Maybe four months.

I glanced at the live chat again.

It was a relief I had said four months. If I had said one month, they would have treated me like a pathological liar.

"Hey. Move on already."

Being called a screen-time hog made me feel strangely self-conscious.

Fortunately, the actual training scenes with Yu Yul were completely edited out, and the show transitioned to the contestants' daily life in the dorms.

Jo Woon and Lee Jun-ho had another sparring match, Kang Hyun practiced mana training in the gym, Ryu Yeon-hwa and Seo Ji-woo studied spell formulas, and Im Hae-jun shot arrows at the range.

Those days flew by in a flash.

—Yu Ji-in: Welcome back. I trust you've all had a good rest?

It was time for the next challenge, the Cargo Labyrinth.

This is where it starts getting interesting.

—Yu Ji-in: First, the contestants whose names appear on the screen, please step up to the platform.

The top 12 from the level test stood on the platform, and Yu Ji-in began explaining the team draft.

—Yu Ji-in: From now on, you must select a total of three teammates.

"Whoa." "Wow." The reactions of the other explorers were shown in close-ups one by one. My face was briefly caught on camera as well.

—Lee Jun-ho: I'll pick B-Tier Rank 24, Spellcaster Kim Woo-hyeok.

The first choice of the rank 1 contestant, Lee Jun-ho. It was a bit of an unexpected choice, but the live chat didn't react much.

—Seo Ji-woo: A-Tier Warrior Kim Dong-ha.

—Kang Hyun: I will pick A-Tier Spellcaster Yun Hwa-rim...

First, the elite Team A (gold spoons) was finalized, followed by the underdog Team B (dirt spoons).

—Im Hae-jun: I will pick Rank 96, Spellcaster Seol Ha-woon.

Near the absolute end of the draft, Im Hae-jun picked me.

In truth, he had no choice but to pick me. I was the only spellcaster left.

—Yu Ji-in: Now, I will reveal the challenge.

It seemed everyone had more or less figured it out. After all, the Cargo Labyrinth was the most popular type.

—Yu Ji-in: It is Cargo Escort. This challenge is a cooperative mission between Team A and Team B.

Yu Ji-in belatedly announced that it was a cooperative mission, and the alliance draft followed, though it wasn't particularly exciting.

—Jo Woon (Team A12 Leader): Yes, I will choose Team B1.

A12 and B1, A11 and B2, A10 and B3... they paired up in that manner, until—

—Kang Hyun (Team A4 Leader): Team A4 will choose Team B12.

Only Kang Hyun's final choice prompted a flurry ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of question marks.

"Just watch and see."

I chuckled softly and leaned back. I was incredibly confident about this Cargo Labyrinth.

Whether it was screen time, performance, or anything else.

"Heh."