Chapter 123
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: The Wandering Monk Togi
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A short while before Kang Seol overcame the trial of Doubt, Park Chang-sik was experiencing hell.
His voice was swallowed even as he screamed. He couldn't see ahead. Unknown sensations brought not curiosity, but terror.
'Get me out... Someone...'
Memories of how he'd ended up here and what he'd been doing all this time began to blur.
His mind was being corrupted.
Then, suddenly, the surroundings brightened.
The last ascetic overcomes Ignorance.
Ignorance vanishes from the Labyrinth of Penance.
"Uh... Uuuh...?"
Light reignited his deadened mind.
"Ugh... Uuuuaaaah!"
Drool flowed like water, soaking his armor.
The sudden light brought intense pain to his eyes. He screamed and squeezed them shut.
"Kaaaaah!"
A moment of silence followed.
"D-Did I... survive? Am I... alive?"
The pieces spilling from his mouth felt miraculous, tears threatening to pour out.
No, he was already crying.
After enduring forgotten time in utter terror, this sudden freedom made his heart drop.
"Haaa..."
A deep, heavy sigh revealed his relief. Regaining his senses, he began assessing the situation.
"Where... is this?"
Looking closely at the floor, something felt off.
The walls were strangely shaped too.
But above all, the smell.
An indescribably foul stench emanated from the cave connected to the floor.
"A tongue?"
It just hit him that way.
As the floor beneath him squelched, the feeling solidified into certainty.
Mental shock received.
Mind corrupted.
"I-I have to get out!"
Rumble-!
The tongue-floor contracted, trying to swallow Park Chang-sik.
He flailed desperately, yanking the handle of a nearby door.
"Uwaaaah!"
He threw himself through it.
Clunk.
As Park Chang-sik vanished, the tongue swept over the spot.
"Haa... Haa..."
Grateful for the breathable air, he confirmed he was alive.
"Where is this...? Did Snowman succeed?"
Without him, his mind would've shattered beyond repair.
The overwhelming terror from deprived senses had battered his psyche mercilessly. He never wanted to feel that again.
Park Chang-sik regretted it.
And admitted it. He'd underestimated the Labyrinth of Penance.
'What about the others... still in there?'
Glancing around, he saw only a long stone bench. Nothing else.
He sat and checked his top concern first.
Mental Pollution: 79.
If he'd been extracted even a bit later, the outcome would've been disastrous.
'If I'm this bad... the others...'
Park Chang-sik didn't dwell on the negativity. He had to push toward hope.
Overcame the assigned penance.
Qualified to challenge the Truth.
Wait until the fates of all ascetics are decided.
Hunger vanishes.
Thirst vanishes.
"Wait... is that it?"
It felt like the system—or the labyrinth itself—was telling him so.
Wait. The most important part was still ahead.
Feeling stifled, Park Chang-sik stood and took a few steps forward.
"Whoa... whoaaa!"
Plop, plop...
A small pebble kicked by his foot tumbled into the void.
"What is this place?"
It wasn't quite a room. More like a subway platform—the floor dropped off sharply just ahead of the bench. A fall from that height would shatter bones.
In the middle of the void floated a square platform, connected by a narrow bridge barely wide enough for one person.
He decided not to act rashly and wait here for Snowman. After all, he'd survived solely thanks to him.
'No doubt—if he hadn't come with us, we'd all be dead.'
Still, quick situational awareness was Park Chang-sik's strength.
He sat back down, staring straight ahead.
"...Statues?"
Five statues faced forward.
A knight gripping a sword, a robed mage with a staff, a priest in vestments holding a thick book, a beast clutching a treasure chest, and a reaper—one hand wielding a grim scythe, the other a lantern.
An inexplicable pull drew Park Chang-sik's gaze. For days, he stared at them endlessly.
Then, a message appeared.
Someone's mind has been fully corrupted.
"...What?"
At that moment, a sound came from a door nearby—not the one he'd entered through.
"Kwaaaaaagh-!"
Boom-!
The door burst open forcibly, something emerging.
"A p-person...?"
No, it was ethereal— gaseous yet liquid-like, hard to call human.
Park Chang-sik instinctively knew what it was the moment he saw it.
"No way... A soul?"
Someone's soul screamed as it flew off somewhere.
It headed toward the reaper statue with the scythe.
"Groooaaan..."
Whoosh-!
The soul was sucked into the reaper's lantern.
Hummm...
Hum...
The lantern hummed briefly before falling silent as if nothing happened.
A red glint flashed in the reaper's eyes, then faded.
"N-No. This can't..."
A place inescapable even by death.
The true face of the Labyrinth of Penance had yet to reveal itself.
Ignorance. Doubt.
Having cleared two penances, Kang Seol felt remarkably calm.
'No doubt. We're progressing faster than during the Blood Saint's run.'
They'd entered the labyrinth earlier than the pieces challenging Ascension, yet achieving superior results.
Seeing tangible progress greatly encouraged him.
'But... a mental corruption already?'
Exceeding 80 mental pollution meant danger. Delusions, auditory hallucinations, visions—real-time breakdown in the labyrinth.
'Come to think of it, it's been over a week already.'
Just two penances had consumed that much time.
Ignorance, Doubt, Pain, Endurance.
The ascetics scattered across the four gates were enduring their own ordeals.
'Mental corruption victim... probably from Endurance. Highest odds.'
In Kang Seol's assessment, Endurance was the toughest; Ignorance and Doubt average; Pain the easiest of the four.
'Collapsed already. Pity.'
They'd all chosen to enter. Anything more was indulgence.
'28 mental pollution... Not a bad start.'
He couldn't let it hit 100 before reaching the end.
To avoid that, minimize accumulation in the early, relatively average or easy penances.
'Endurance is the hurdle...'
That's why he'd scheduled at least a month for this run—Endurance.
Ascetics spend most of their conquest here. Hard to shortcut; absolute time investment required.
'Anyway, clear Pain first, then worry.'
The dim surroundings suggested this was Pain, not Endurance.
Then, a voice from Shadow Space.
"Master! You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Whoosh-!
Swish-!
Karen and Karuna suddenly emerged, standing beside Kang Seol.
Karuna spoke.
"An unknown force kept us trapped in the shadows."
Karen nodded.
"We watched... worried you might get charmed by those things..."
"Me?"
Kang Seol chuckled at Karen's concern.
Jamad called from Shadow Space.
"Screaming without being touched... What a horrific experience."
"You didn't hear anything, did you?"
Kang Seol shook his head.
"Tch..."
Karen crossed her arms, looking away.
"So, where are we?"
"Next penance."
"Feels... different? What do we do here?"
"This one... nothing much."
"Really?"
Kang Seol eyed the dark space.
Shing-
A statue matching his height approached from afar.
Armored, long sword in hand.
"What's that?"
"Smash it."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"Ah..."
Swoosh-!
Karen dashed toward the statue.
Stab-!
The knight statue thrust its sword at her.
Dodge-!
She evaded lightly, swinging her ember blade.
Kwaaack-!
The statue's head flew clean off. Karen's swordsmanship was masterful.
Thud, thud...
The headless statue collapsed.
Karen turned back with a grin.
"Montara Empire swordsmanship—how was it?"
Clap, clap, clap!
"Excellent. Care to show more?"
"...Pardon?"
Pain is unsatisfied.
Mind corrupted.
She turned at Kang Seol's response. Now two statues.
"Shall I show a bit more?"
Kang Seol shrugged.
Swoosh-!
Similar scene.
Her blade severed both heads in an instant.
Kwajik!
"Phew... See that?"
"Yes, saw it well."
"Satisfied?"
Pain is unsatisfied.
Mind corrupted.
Kang Seol grimaced slightly, shaking his head. Karen felt a chill and turned.
"Oh no..."
Now four statues.
"How long does this go on?"
"Until we show our all, probably?"
Pain's trial was the simplest and easiest penance—but one with no tricks.
Just smash the statues relentlessly, over and over.
Kwajiiik!
Kwajik-!
Kang Seol scowled.
"Just dipping our toes in hell for a bit."
Kwaaaack!
Booom!
Pierce-!
"Agh! That hurts!"
Kwaaang-!
Crack...
Karen smashed the head of the statue that had stabbed her shoulder.
"Huff... Huff..."
"Haa... Haaa... Phew..."
The party was battered.
Kang Seol could barely maintain Night Raven form from exhaustion; his summons lacked energy to lift a finger.
Around them lay countless statue debris.
The once pristine figures were mangled, as if mauled by beasts.
Thud.
Drained, Kang Seol eyed the final message.
Pain is satisfied.
His mind soon blurred.
Overcomes Pain.
Pain vanishes from the Labyrinth of Penance.
...
Fsssh...
Twitch...
Some time later, Kang Seol realized the next penance had begun.
Crunch...
Sand crunched between his teeth.
'Here...'
He struggled to rise.
"Groan..."
Scorching sun, endless sand. He was stranded in a desert.
'Endurance penance started. But...'
Kang Seol had no sense of time passed.
He tried opening his inventory to address hunger and thirst first.
"Ha..."
All water had lost color, turned ashen like ash-tainted. Insight revealed it would kill unpleasantly.
'Water's spoiled. Food...'
Opening the Fresh Ingredient Pouch, he scowled.
"All rotten."
The pouch had failed. Likely due to the labyrinth's unique environment.
Spices worked, but inedible alone.
'Not easy from the start.'
Three months' provisions for Endurance—all spoiled.
Truth be told, he'd half-doubted bringing food would work.
Water alone would've been lucky. Nothing salvageable.
'Sigh... Same as Blood Saint then?'
Despite losing three months' supplies, Kang Seol didn't despair. He moved.
The Blood Saint had survived this. He'd already endured hell once; no reason he couldn't.
That's what he thought.
And three days passed.
By then, Kang Seol detected a critical error. Far longer without edible sustenance than anticipated.
"Haaa... Haa..."
No food at all, no viable provisions found. His body was starting to fail.
"Damn... food..."
Thud.
'Dropped in a completely different spot from Blood Saint...'
The Blood Saint had landed in desert too, but encountered game or water every other day.
In other pieces, this was harsher than the Blood Saint's trial.
Sprawled eagle, Kang Seol saw clear blue sky.
How could such a space exist inside the labyrinth?
Rather than seeking food, that odd thought came first.
"Haha... Anything..."
Then, the utterly unexpected happened.
"Still alive?"
Someone spoke to him.
Summons from Shadow Space? No.
"Hallucinations now...?"
"Young man, how'd you enter here?"
"...Huh?"
The clear sky blocked by a figure, Kang Seol's eyes widened.
'...A person? In this labyrinth... a human?'
No raiding party member.
No one that old had entered.
Middle-aged, bushy-bearded man. He pulled something from his bosom.
"Dragon fruit I saved a few days back. Eat if you're collapsing from hunger."
Three days starved, but meeting a person here shocked more than food.
Taking the dragon fruit blankly, Kang Seol asked.
"Who... are you?"
"My name?"
"Your name... Yes, your name."
"Too long since I used a name instead of 'me'."
The man grinned, showing gapped teeth.
"Togi. Pretty sure that's my outside world name."
"Togi... No... Impossible..."
"Why?"
Togi, the back-alley hack monk.
A favorite of Kang Seol's.
The first piece to challenge the Labyrinth of Penance.
And the piece lost here.
"Young man?"
"...Alive? All this time?"
He was still wandering this place.