New Friends (1)

Bind. Lee Si-ah scrolled through the community app for office workers. There were so many posts about Labyrinth Exploration NaN that a separate tab had been created just for the show.

Instagram, in particular, was at a point where if you didn't know Labyrinth Exploration NaN, you couldn't understand the feeds and reels being uploaded.

Season 2 winner Lee Je-hoon's one-pick is also Seol Ha-woon!

The impact of the Snowy Labyrinth itself was so immense that the padding jackets and suitcases worn and carried by the contestants of Labyrinth Exploration NaN were completely sold out, even though it was early summer.

Even Lee Si-ah, who wondered, Why on earth would anyone buy a padding jacket in the summer? bought Seol Ha-woon's padding jacket and suitcase immediately. She suddenly felt like going on a trip to the polar regions.

This was a special effect that was actually occurring.

And that wasn't all.

In a weekend variety show that Lee Si-ah often watched, which had been airing for nearly twenty years, a scene like this appeared:

─A: She's totally fallen for Seol Ha-woon lately.

─B: That's right, Oppa. Did you see last week's ending? Seol Ha-woon smiling? My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw that... A person who never smiles in his life suddenly smiled, and he looked so much like a boy.

─A: Hey, tone it down a bit... Didn't you say Kang Hyun was your one-pick before? Are you migrating like a bird?

─B: Oh, that's just how it is, things change~ When are they coming on as guests?

─A: Ugh... Know your place, know your place.

─B: Ah, what do you even know, Oppa! I can like them!

Both A and B were famous celebrities.

As such, topics related to Labyrinth Exploration NaN frequently appeared on public broadcast variety shows.

In particular, "Are you Je-Mal-Olh?" had become almost like an idiom in daily life. Even on observational ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠variety shows, if a celebrity pushed their opinion too hard or was stubborn, captions would read, "Are you Je-Mal-Olh?"

To that extent, it was the joy of so many people. A program that helped them endure hard times and tolerate dirty workplaces.

An explorer audition variety show that made them look forward to tomorrow, Labyrinth Exploration NaN.

Lee Si-ah sat in front of the TV.

"Phew..."

She took a deep breath, waiting for the commercials to end.

The live broadcast of Episode 7 begins.

─Yu Ji-in: To those who have worked hard, depart~!

The opening shows Yu Ji-in in midsummer attire, declaring a vacation right after the Survival Labyrinth.

─Yu Ji-in: This time, it's a real vacation. Instead, you have to film how you spend your vacation. Also, there are instructors who have opened special lectures just for you!

Special lectures by instructors. It was something that existed in Seasons 1 and 2 as well.

─Yu Ji-in: The instructors will give you a very small quiz. You must solve it to receive the special lecture. Of course, it's first-come, first-served...

Vacation begins!

The self-cameras of individual explorers are edited into about a minute of footage. They each return home to rest for a day, and from the next day, they head to the special lecture locations.

The first segment is Lee Jun-ho.

─DK: Oh. You're here?

The instructor is DK, posing coolly while lying on a hammock between bamboo trees.

He says that to receive his instruction, one must be able to withstand "a single clash."

─Lee Jun-ho: Yes. I'm ready.

─DK: Good. I like your spirit.

DK swung his sword. A strike heavily layered with CG-like effects.

Claaaaang!

Lee Jun-ho staggered, but successfully parried it.

─DK: Ho... As expected. Good. Pass.

Afterward, scenes of Seo Ji-woo and Yun Hwa-rim visiting Spellcaster Lee Min-ho, Kang Hyun visiting Yu Ji-in, and many other explorers visiting their instructors are shown, but Lee Si-ah's interest lies elsewhere.

Seol Ha-woon.

"He's on," she muttered.

He arrived at Kim Se-jin's antique shop.

Quite a few spellcasters had visited before, but they had all returned without even knowing what the quiz was.

─Elderly Man: ...Hum?

An elderly man at the counter looked at Seol Ha-woon, pretending to recognize him.

Seol Ha-woon stared intently at him.

At that moment, Seol Ha-woon asks the elderly man.

─Seol Ha-woon: By any chance, are you Spellcaster Kim Se-jin?

The elderly man's movements froze. He tilted his head without saying a word.

Ahem. With a dry cough, his face melted away. In an instant, the elderly man in his 80s transformed into Kim Se-jin.

It was Polymorph.

─Kim Se-jin: You have excellent senses. That was indeed my quiz. Nine people came by and they all went back.

Kim Se-jin smiled at Seol Ha-woon.

"Heh."

Lee Si-ah shrugged her shoulders with pride. The other members of the Snow Removal Crew probably felt the same way.

Ah, "Snow Removal Crew" was a term that had recently popped up for Seol Ha-woon's fandom. They said it was an abbreviation of "Please Seol Ha-woon" and "My Words Are Right Seol Ha-woon"... It was just thrown together to make searching easier, so she didn't particularly like it.

Anyway.

At Kim Se-jin's antique shop. Seol Ha-woon, the only one who saw through the quiz, made a request to Kim Se-jin.

─Seol Ha-woon: I want to grow as a spellcaster.

─Kim Se-jin: Aren't you growing well enough already, Ha-woon?

─Seol Ha-woon: I understand a spellcaster's Flame of Cognition to some extent. But I believe there is more to the essence of a spellcaster.

Kim Se-jin stared at him before rising from his seat.

─Kim Se-jin: ...Follow me.

The two of them reuniting for the first time since the final qualifiers. The live chat was already buzzing with excitement.

─Kim Se-jin: Ha-woon, your left leg is too big of a penalty as a spellcaster. You have virtually zero mobility on the battlefield. You probably want a way to compensate for that lack of mobility as much as possible, right?

─Seol Ha-woon: Yes.

Kim Se-jin had Seol Ha-woon stand in a place like a training ground.

─Kim Se-jin: Try using a magic formula on me.

Bang bang bang bang bang! At that moment, Seol Ha-woon unleashed Magic Bullets.

Nothing happened. The Magic Bullets vanished right in front of Kim Se-jin.

─Kim Se-jin: More. Go all out. Pour out every method you use when you intend to harm someone.

This time, he fired bullets almost like a machine gun, but they all vanished into thin air.

─Seol Ha-woon: Did you neutralize them?

─Kim Se-jin: Calling it neutralization is a bit of a misnomer. The moment you fired the Magic Bullets, my mana, which is connected to my nervous system, reacted first.

Kim Se-jin raised the back of his hand. A faint layer of mana was shimmering just above it.

"Whoa," she gasped.

─Kim Se-jin: Let's think of mana as cells. I overlap those cells outside my body like this. And then, I connect them to my nervous system. Simply put, it's the process of linking mana, the brain, and the spinal cord...

The content of the special lecture was heavily edited. It was probably because it was top secret.

A few messages in the live chat caught Lee Si-ah's eye.

Comments from people presumed to be spellcasters. They said it seemed like a dangerous technique. But Seol Ha-woon is a genius, so he can do it.

Such faith existed for Lee Si-ah, and for the Snow Removal Crew.

Meanwhile, the perspective shifted to another explorer, and when it returned to Seol Ha-woon, he was lying on the ground, drenched in sweat and blood.

─Seol Ha-woon: Haah... Haah...

Seol Ha-woon gasped for breath. Staring down at him, Kim Se-jin asked:

─Kim Se-jin: Ha-woon. Why do you want to grow as a spellcaster?

Drenched in sweat, Seol Ha-woon contemplated before answering in a dark, sunken voice.

─Seol Ha-woon: ...To survive.

─Kim Se-jin: But you are alive, aren't you?

─Seol Ha-woon: No.

Seol Ha-woon's voice trembled faintly. It was a breath close to exhaustion.

─Seol Ha-woon: I am dead.

The words I am dead.

─Seol Ha-woon: I was a soldier. For a long time. So perhaps I still mistakenly think of myself as a soldier.

For the first time, a scene where Seol Ha-woon revealed his inner thoughts.

Lee Si-ah pondered over it. Naturally, she nodded.

This line might be the best expression to describe him.

Next, Kim Se-jin's interview scene is shown.

──Yes. Seol Ha-woon is a complicated person.

Kim Se-jin's voice is soft and stable. His face is also quite cute for his age, making him look even younger than Seol Ha-woon at a glance.

──An elite soldier who was deployed to a battlefield where people killed and were killed. But he's not anymore. The body that used to roll and fly over walls and fences, the muscles that looked like they could even block bullets—he doesn't have those anymore.

Such a cold reality. An unavoidable fact.

How must he have felt when he woke up from his coma?

How terrifying must his skin-and-bones body and his unmoving limbs have been?

──Instead, he found a new talent. Did another path open when one was broken? He completely absorbed the teaching method I showed him. A technique that even a ten-year veteran spellcaster would find difficult.

Kim Se-jin smiled faintly. He shook his head as if in admiration.

At that moment, the PD asked him:

──How much talent does Explorer Seol Ha-woon have