New Friends (3)
—Seol Ha-woon: "Because this time, too, I will be absolutely right."
Is this Seol Ha-woon's legendary quote? Or is it just insane trolling?
Either way, Lee Si-ah's mouth hung wide open, unable to close.
The broadcast had already transitioned to a mid-program commercial. Lee Si-ah collapsed onto the sofa.
She had sensed that the atmosphere was a bit off on the day of the live labyrinth, but who would have thought there was this kind of behind-the-scenes drama? Still, wasn't this a bit too much, even for Seol Ha-woon? No matter how she looked at it, it felt like trolling.
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, Lee Si-ah opened SilTalk again with weary eyes. Since the server belonged to a massive conglomerate, it had been restored in no time.
She felt strangely nervous, fearing that the chat would be flooded with hate directed at Seol Ha-woon...
— lol ah this is so f*cking fun
— lmfao sh*t this is spectacular
— lollll
— Je-Mal-Olh says, "My words are right."
— Historically, watching a fight has always been the most fun.
— But why are they acting like that? Isn't it right to just let Seol Ha-woon do it?
— No, Kim Du-gyeom is f*cking hilarious too lol. They're fighting like crazy, but if it were me, I'd just let him have it.
— Those bastards have no faith, none at all...
— Exactly, f*ck, they should've just made Seol Ha-woon the Scout;
— Kim Du-gyeom is kind of sketchy. He says it's a burden himself, yet he stubbornly insists on doing it.
"...Huh?"
The public opinion was strange.
It was one thing for Seol Ha-woon not to get hate. After all, it was highly entertaining.
But the spark had suddenly jumped to an unexpected place.
Lee Si-ah quickly browsed through social media and online communities.
Lee Si-ah clicked on those accounts.
"...Ah."
She could roughly see why.
Seol Ha-woon and Kim Du-gyeom. If one had to weigh whose fanbase was thicker, it was obviously Kim Du-gyeom.
Kim Du-gyeom had been active in the exploration industry since he was young, he was handsome, and he had great chemistry with Ryu Yeon-hwa throughout the broadcast.
On the other hand, Seol Ha-woon, to put it coldly, was mostly popular among the casual viewers.
He had lived for twenty-eight years, but the time he had spent in the public eye was a mere fifty days.
And yet—when she looked at the accounts defending Seol Ha-woon this time.
There were a lot of Lee Jun-ho fan accounts.
In other words, this was the reward for Seol Ha-woon helping Lee Jun-ho in the previous episode.
It wasn't necessarily a conscious decision of "I must repay him," but rather Seol Ha-woon's favorability rating had skyrocketed within Lee Jun-ho's fandom.
Thanks to this, anyone defending Kim Du-gyeom faced a collective lynching.
Kate's fandom, rather than poking the hornets' nest that was Seol Ha-woon, chose to beat up the easy target, Kim Du-gyeom.
"...Ah."
From here on out, it was no longer a matter of who was right or wrong.
It was a turf war between fandoms.
Kim Du-gyeom gripped his smartphone. Vrrr, vrrr. Even though it wasn't on silent mode, the vibration was intense.
"...Ah, f*ck. What kind of bullsh*t is this?"
Crack. Veins bulged on the back of his hand. The screen cracked.
Snap!
The tempered glass shattered and flew off, and the screen went black.
"Those f*cking sons of b*tches, seriously."
Kim Du-gyeom threw the smartphone onto the floor. The main broadcast wasn't even over yet, but he was incredibly pissed off.
"F*ck, should I just track them all down and kill them? Bastards who wouldn't be able to say a single word to my face..."
He couldn't take it anymore. Kim Du-gyeom stormed out.
Ding. A text message arrived from Ryu Yeon-hwa.
It was his second phone. The one he had just smashed was his third phone.
"...Do I look okay?"
Is she mocking me?
That idiot Ryu Yeon-hwa is absolutely useless. If she's so worried, she could've just written a single line on social media.
Replying half-heartedly, Kim Du-gyeom walked aimlessly before sitting down on a bench along a walking trail. He stared at his smartphone, biting his nails.
"...You said it was a hundred million won, right?"
That was the amount he had been offered.
While browsing the community, Kim Du-gyeom had found someone claiming to have been bullied by Seol Ha-woon in school, and he had approached them pretending to be a reporter.
They said that if he paid them a hundred million won, they would not only provide the tip-off but also write posts on the internet.
"A hundred million won..."
A hundred million won was no small sum. But the information was solid. There was proof, too.
What if they took the money and ran? He could just track them down and slit their throat.
"...F*ck."
Yeah.
If he could ruin that bastard Seol Ha-woon, a hundred million won was a price well worth paying.
Kim Du-gyeom opened an anonymous messenger.
—Yu Ji-in: "Now~ we will begin the voting for the Scout!"
Right after the mid-program commercial.
The conflict between Seol Ha-woon and Kate, and the issue of selecting the Scout, was resolved rather anticlimactically.
— Ah what, why a sudden vote?
— You said the team would decide lollll what the f*ck, did the production crew get shot in the head?
— The production crew has zero sense.
— They should've let them fight to the end.
Indeed.
The other seven teams selected their Scouts relatively smoothly, and for the Plaza Team, Kim Du-gyeom was elected through the vote.
Kim Du-gyeom, who entered the labyrinth beforehand, dug up quite a bit of good information.
— Kim Du-gyeom is doing just fine, why is everyone bashing him?
— Those bastards are just diseased with the belief that Seol Ha-woon must always be right.
— What did Kim Du-gyeom even find out lol? Didn't he just find out what the plaza looks like? Even if Grandpa Lee Chul-soo and Grandma Yoon Ok-ja from next door went in holding hands, it would be the same.
— If Mal-Olh had gone in, the labyrinth would be over by now ^^
Public opinion seemed to lean slightly toward Kim Du-gyeom, only to be immediately beaten down.
—Yu Ji-in: "Everyone, please begin your meeting."
Now, all teams formulated their strategies based on the information gathered by their Scouts.
Kang Hyun's luxury hotel, Im Hae-jun's casino, and so on... Everyone had eight members working together, but the Plaza Team had only seven.
— They're really doing it without Seol Ha-woon lol
— Kate would just accept Seol Ha-woon if he bowed his head. But Seol Ha-woon never bows. This team is hopeless.
— Seol Ha-woon probably has the most operational experience there lol. That noble lady seems to think having money and backing means she can do everything well.
— Control your inferiority complex above.
— Kate is f*cking pretty lol
Lee Si-ah was itching to spoil the ending, but time flew by, and soon it was the day of the live labyrinth.
A massive crowd gathered at the live stage.
—Yu Ji-in: "Labyrinth Exploration NOW AND NEVER. Welcome, live audience!"
Lee Si-ah closely examined the audience on the screen. Was I caught on camera too?
—Yu Ji-in: "From now on, your explorers will enter the labyrinth. Here is the first team."
First up was the team receiving the most attention.
—Yu Ji-in: "Swordsman Lee Jun-ho, Archer Kate..."
Seol Ha-woon's team entered the Plaza Labyrinth.
SilTalk and online communities went wild. The broadcast wasn't even over yet, but people were already shifting blame and looking for a scapegoat, arguing over who did well and who did poorly.
Objective: Resolve the situation
First attempt.
The seven members, excluding Seol Ha-woon, moved systematically according to their pre-arranged sectors.
—Kim Du-gyeom: "Huh? Could that be...?"
Kim Du-gyeom spotted something.
It was a tall, abandoned building. Sensing something suspicious, he ran toward it, dealt with the enemies, and climbed up to the rooftop, but...
—Seol Ha-woon: "You're late."
Seol Ha-woon was already there. Having been beaten to the punch, Kim Du-gyeom's face filled with fluster.
—Kim Du-gyeom: "How did you..."
—Seol Ha-woon: "It's a habit. Looking for high ground. I've neutralized the sniper, so you go down."
— Wait, what? He wasn't even planning to interfere;;
— lol Seol Ha-woon must've been scared of Kate, he was all talk.
— Look at how f*cking incompetent Kim Du-gyeom is.
— A nice but incompetent subordinate is the worst.
And then, the first battle occurred. From amidst the crowd, a thorn monster erupted into the sky and sliced the politician's neck.
First Attempt: Failed
— lol what is that thorn guy? Looks f*cking strong.
— Lee Jun-ho will probably handle him?
— lol this is gonna be fun.
The chat was full of laughter. Did everyone think they would resolve it within three or four attempts?
Second attempt.
As soon as it began, Lee Jun-ho and Kim Du-gyeom launched a joint attack and sliced the thorn monster to pieces.
—Kim Du-gyeom: "Labyrinthin neutralized!"
Boom—!
Despite their efforts, the politician on the platform was caught in an explosion and blasted into the sky.
— He's flying like a pinwheel lol
— lol why did he die in such a funny way lmfao
— lollll
Second Attempt: Failed
Afterward, the third attempt. This time, nothing unusual happened. The team members all moved by the book.
Seol Ha-woon neutralized the sniper on the rooftop, Lee Jun-ho dealt with the thorn monster, and the bomb was defused.
However.
Third Attempt: Failed
Of course it wouldn't work.
Lee Si-ah watched SilTalk with a smug smile.
— ??
— ?
— What?
— Hey. What is this?
— ?? Why is it a failure?
— Isn't it over?
— Is there something left?
Suddenly, the screen cut away.
The camera panned.
Accompanied by an ominous, jazz-like soundtrack, someone's back was shown. It was a man leaning on a cane. He turned around. The lens captured his profile.
A jawline sharp as if carved by a chisel. Eyes resembling a beast's. Deep dark circles.
Seol Ha-woon.
— Oh sh*t, no way?
— Hey, is that bastard really going around interfering? lol
— lollll wow is he really sabotaging them? lol
— Mal-Olh is running wild;;
Every viewer focused on Seol Ha-woon. A deliberate, long-take close-up of Seol Ha-woon continued, leaving them no choice but to watch.
Leaning on his cane, he walked forward, fired a wire, and landed on the rooftop of the abandoned building. Just before his feet touched the ground, he reverse-jetted his mana to prevent even the slightest impact—a delicate display of mana control.
Whoosh!
He shot and killed the sniper already positioned on the rooftop with a silenced round, lay down in his place, and mounted the sniper rifle.
The entire sequence was captured in a single, unedited take.
—Seol Ha-woon: "...A fifty-fifty chance."
Seol Ha-woon muttered softly as he aimed somewhere. Meanwhile, the other team members completed their respective duties, and as if matching their timing—
Click.
He pulled the trigger. The camera followed the bullet's trajectory. At the end of the rushing gunfire was the security chief.
Splat!
Hit directly in the temple, the security chief died instantly.
And...