Let You Down (8)

I left the city with Seer. We arrived at a fairly distant suburb—a seemingly abandoned town where ruined buildings, gas stations, and the remnants of communication facilities and server computers emitted a faint, faded electric hum.

Right in the middle of it sat an elevator leading underground.

"Please, step in," Seer said.

I stepped onto the elevator. Seer stood beside me, but he still maintained that precise one-step distance.

I asked him, "I believe it's about time you told me what this is about."

"Yes," Seer nodded. "We are currently conducting an excavation."

"...An excavation?"

"An operation to trigger a rift."

A rift. The word felt strangely familiar.

"...By rift, do you mean...?"

"A labyrinth."

A labyrinth. So the concept of a labyrinth existed even here in NaN World.

Suddenly, a sense of cognitive dissonance flashed through my mind.

A Labyrinthine inside a labyrinth, trying to unearth another labyrinth inside it.

"I don't quite understand. If it's an excavation, does that mean you're producing a labyrinth?"

"Calling it 'production' would be a misnomer. We are unearthing a labyrinth that lies buried beneath the earth."

Hence, an excavation.

"As you know, Ha-woon, a labyrinth is an asset. This particular one holds unprecedented value. If we can monopolize and control it, it will generate hundreds of millions of NaN Dollars in revenue."

Ding.

The elevator reached the underground floor.

"However, it seems the information has leaked. Most likely the work of my sister."

"A succession feud?"

"You are quick-witted."

The elevator doors slid open. I stepped forward, leaning on my cane. A wave of acrid smoke rushed in. I quickly pulled on my gas mask.

"Follow me."

Seer walked ahead as if the air didn't bother him at all. There were numerous laborers digging into the earth.

Thud!

The ground suddenly shook. I braced myself, instinctively planting my cane.

"...If they accidentally trigger the rift doing this, those workers will be in danger."

"It is fine. The coordinates have been precisely calculated."

"..."

I silently observed the excavation site in detail.

"You plan to move the labyrinth."

At that, the corner of Seer's mouth twitched slightly.

"Yes. We plan to excavate the entire bedrock containing the labyrinth and transport it to a more suitable location. Deep underground like this is hardly ideal for marketing."

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The sound of pickaxes striking the earth echoed dismally.

"Why aren't you using machinery or robots here?"

"We must guard against hackers. No matter how advanced technology becomes, in the end, the only thing a human can truly trust is another human. This way."

Seer opened the door ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to an office set up on one side of the mining site.

"Come in."

First, I used Sequence's radar to scan the interior.

Scanning a closed room was a habit of mine. An unverified enclosed space was, after all, just another word for a death trap.

"...What the?"

Two other people were sitting on the sofa. They both looked up at me. The tension in my shoulders instantly vanished.

Kate and Kim Du-gyeom.

Seer introduced them. "These are the teammates who will be working with you."

"...I thought I was going solo."

Then again, considering the massive amount of WP offered, there was no way they'd let me do this alone.

"It would be too much for one person. The other side has hired their own mercenaries, so we had to form a team to counter them."

Kate was fine. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠In fact, her combat capabilities made her an exceptional asset to any team.

The problem was Kim Du-gyeom.

I glared at him. Kim Du-gyeom's expression soured for a split second, but he quickly jumped up and approached me.

"Ha-woon. Good to see you."

"Can't say the same."

"...Ah, so you two already know each other."

"No. I don't know this guy."

I don't know a piece of shit like him.

"Is it just the three of us?" Kate asked in her clear, crisp voice.

"Yes. This is the profile of the opposition we recently acquired."

Seer placed a document on the table. Kim Du-gyeom flinched as he read it, and Kate's face hardened. On the other hand, a faint, inexplicable smile played on my lips.

"Hmm..."

I picked up the profile.

The photo, face, and description in the document belonged to someone no one could ever mistake.

"...Kang Hyun?"

The name of the man who would be my enemy.

"We'll have the advantage in numbers."

Meanwhile, at a base camp far from Seer's mining site, Kang Hyun was listening to a briefing on the raid.

"We need to crush them before they finish excavating the labyrinth, but they've hired some specialists of their own."

The one who had hired Kang Hyun was Shindra. Ominous and heavily built, she had formulated a plan to attack her brother's excavation site and claim the labyrinth for herself.

"We've managed to get our hands on their profiles, but we don't know their exact combat capabilities. They're just randoms who popped out of nowhere."

Shindra turned to look at Kang Hyun.

"Can you handle this for sure?"

"I will do my best," Kang Hyun replied neutrally.

His response was noncommittal.

"Come on, 'do your best'?"

Thud. Another teammate clapped a hand onto Kang Hyun's shoulder. He gave a confident grin and flashed a thumbs-up.

"We'll get it done, no matter what. Trust us."

Kim Dong-ha. An A-Tier warrior, he had been hired by Shindra alongside Kang Hyun.

Shindra smirked.

"...Fine. I'll trust you. First, take a look. These are the profiles of the specialists the other side hired."

She projected the information via a hologram.

"This guy is a swordsman, just like you two."

First was Kim Du-gyeom.

Kim Dong-ha nodded seriously.

Du-gyeom. He's a nice kid and pretty strong, but with Kang Hyun by my side, he'll be a breeze.

Sorry about this, buddy.

"Next."

The second was Kate. This one was a highly troublesome opponent. Kim Dong-ha unconsciously scratched the tip of his nose.

Shindra let out a dry chuckle.

"Looks like this one gives you pause."

"Ah, well..."

Kim Dong-ha glanced at Kang Hyun. Kang Hyun replied calmly, "It's fine. I have the elemental advantage over her."

Destroyer. Kang Hyun was well aware of Kate's magical attribute.

But she would never be able to hit him. Just as one could not shoot down a hummingbird with a mere pebble, it was a simple matter of physics.

"Good. Now for the last one. The most recent hire."

Click.

The holographic page turned.

"Rumor has it he's a spellcaster."

"Pfft."

Kim Dong-ha snorted instinctively, but Kang Hyun's eyes suddenly grew cold and heavy.

"Ah, this guy. I know him."

Kim Dong-ha stepped forward with a shrug, making no effort to hide his confidence.

"The limping spellcaster. Nothing to worry about. With a lineup like this, you can leave it all to us."

Shindra gestured toward Kang Hyun. "What about you?"

Kang Hyun said nothing. He only stared intently at Seol Ha-woon's face projected in the hologram.

Shindra's brow furrowed. "What? Is there a problem?"

"Come on, a problem? Just trust us. Ninety-nine point nine percent guarantee!"

Kim Dong-ha's boisterous laughter faded into the background.

Kim Dong-ha might look down on him, but Kang Hyun did not.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

He felt their chances of victory had just plummeted to fifty percent—no, far below that.

Seol Ha-woon.

He was an unpredictable man. It wasn't just because of the judgment he had shown in the escort labyrinth, or the meticulousness and cold composure he had displayed in the situational labyrinth.

His exterior possessed a clear structure and order. He disguised his outer self with absolute rationality.

But his true inner self...

...was a chaos that defied observation, making any attempt to peer inside utterly meaningless.

Facing him as an enemy, how would he move?

How would he try to 'kill' them?

Kang Hyun looked down at his fingertips. A faint tremor testified to a sudden surge of tension and excitement rising from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soles of his feet.

"Get some rest today. We set out at dawn," Shindra announced, dismissing them.

Kang Hyun quietly let out a breath.

I returned to the surface. Seer's forces were deployed across the area. Most were armed with firearms, but there was no shortage of warriors clutching katanas and samurai-like combatants.

"They will likely launch their raid soon. They'll want to finish this before the labyrinth excavation is complete," Seer said.

I was highly dissatisfied with Seer's lack of detail.

"Is that all the intel you have?"

"Regrettably, yes. Their numbers will likely exceed ours, but it won't be on the scale of an army. If they make too much noise, external hyenas will try to sink their teeth into the corporation's vulnerabilities. Family matters must remain family matters."

Seer pointed toward the road.

"Here are the items you requested."

I had asked him to prepare certain supplies.

"Is it sufficient?"

"Yes. Not bad at all."

Landmines, C4, dynamite, Claymores, cube- and baseball-shaped bombs, several steel plates tempered with mana, and even a terminal to map out the local geography.

This was more than enough.

I placed my hand on the explosives, imbuing them with my Cognitive Image of destruction and concealment. A rough yet beautiful spell formula etched itself onto their surfaces.

"Well then. I shall watch from a distance."

Seer boarded a pre-arranged helicopter.

Businessmen were always like this, and rightfully so. If the financier died, who would pay me?

Whirrrr. The helicopter lifted off smoothly and departed.

I sat down on a chair. Studying the map on the terminal, I began marking specific points. These were the locations where I would plant the explosives.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kate asked, having approached me at some point.

"No. Please focus on how to defend the surface, Kate."

It was painfully obvious, but if we lost control of the surface, everyone underground would die. All the enemy would have to do is pump toxic gas down the elevator shaft.

"Hey, how about I go out on a scouting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠run?"

This time, it was Kim Du-gyeom speaking. His intentions were transparent. He wanted to slip away under the guise of scouting and pull some underhanded stunt.

"Shut up and stay put."

I needed to keep this bastard where I could see him.

"..."

Kim Du-gyeom bit his lip.

Kate glanced in my direction. "What do you plan to do, Ha-woon?"

"I need to prepare."

"...Prepare?"

"Yes. It will likely take some time."

My opponent was Kang Hyun.

Because he was my enemy, and because I respected his abilities, I could not afford to let my guard down.

"Even if I make every possible preparation..."

Some people shone brilliantly even when standing alone in a crowd.

A single individual of a completely different caliber could introduce countless variables onto a battlefield.

That vast disparity, that dazzling majesty, sometimes felt like an insurmountable wall.

"...I still wonder if I can win."

Kang Hyun was that kind of person. An outlier who far exceeded the average. If he truly set his mind to it, he might be able to slaughter everyone here through sheer individual might.

"I see," Kate added softly. "It seems you are already on the battlefield, Ha-woon."

With that, she walked away, and I picked up one of the steel plates Seer had provided.

I channeled mana into the cold metal.

Creak. Groan. The steel writhed from within, shifting its shape.

It was a spell formula to summon a Familiar. It was a technique that any spellcaster with a modicum of talent could use without much difficulty, but I intended to craft the familiar most familiar to me.

A drone.

Screeech. Clack.

A total of six drones were completed.

Once I infused four of them with mana and linked them to my optic nerves...

"...It works."

The peripheral vision of the drones was shared with me. It gave me a headache, feeling as though my sight had been split into four separate screens, but it was manageable.

I rigged the drones with explosives.

The best way to defend a stronghold was simple: deny entry entirely. Thus, the drones would lay traps along the paths the enemy was bound to take.

Whirrrr.

Watching the drones take flight under my command, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

Kate's words from moments ago echoed in my ears.

—It seems you are already on the battlefield, Ha-woon.

"The battlefield..."

I muttered her words, casting my gaze downward. The tilting moonlight cast a long, stretching shadow.

...Perhaps it wasn't a matter of "already."

I was "still" trapped on the battlefield.

Those days were now in the distant past, but those very memories defined who I was today. The too many souls who had passed through my life, and the incredibly precious friend who could never be laid to rest in my heart, remained as vivid to me as if it had all happened just last night.

"..."

I gripped the dog tags hanging against my chest.

The memories were crystal clear, but the physical traces had faded.

The only proof left that I had ever been there was this single set of dog tags.