A Sanctuary in the Labyrinth

Thanks to the Shut-in Bloodma dropping another bombshell without warning, Kim Min-woo was having an absolutely chaotic day.

Inside a car heading somewhere.

In the front seat sat the driver and Kim Hyun-ah, who was nonstop making calls.

"Mobilize everyone right now. The Bloodma Building, and bring in his parents too—every single one of them!"

-Understood.

After hanging up, Kim Min-woo let out a long sigh.

It was a massive, no—an earth-shattering success, but he couldn't just laugh it off.

"This situation is way too big."

It wasn't as if there had never been attempts to create safe zones inside the Labyrinth. The major Ether powers had poured Ether into the effort, as he knew all too well.

The problem was that every single attempt had failed.

Korea had never even tried, so they didn't understand, but the United States, China, and India certainly did.

Just how monumental this was.

Stepping out of the car upon arrival, Kim Min-woo and Kim Hyun-ah headed straight into the building.

An urgent meeting had already been arranged.

Following the guidance of security personnel, they entered the room.

"Welcome, Association President Kim Min-woo."

"Yes, Mr. President. I'm sorry for the sudden visit."

"Not at all. There must be a good reason. I have my suspicions as well."

At the President's nod, everyone except Kim Min-woo left the office.

"What exactly happened?"

"I haven't confirmed the details yet, but… it appears a safe zone has formed on the second floor of the Labyrinth."

"…So he created it all by himself?"

"Yes…"

President Park Jung-ang drew in a deep breath.

For a moment, he tapped the table with his fingers, deep in thought.

"What about Park Hyun-gi's family relations?"

"He has both parents. They're both only children, and his grandparents have all passed away from old age."

"Then there are three people we need to protect."

"Yes."

If he were just an ordinary rank 1, there would be no need to go this far.

The issue was the safe zone that had just been announced.

"We've received contact from the United States. We've agreed to receive assistance. We'll build safe houses. We'll urge all three to relocate and provide Ether-based personal protection."

"Understood."

"Please make sure they're as comfortable as possible. This is no longer just Korea's problem, Association President Kim Min-woo."

Kim Min-woo, the one who understood the situation best, nodded with a grave expression.

"By the way… what is he doing right now?"

What was the man who had flipped the world upside down occupied with at this very moment?

"He's developing a new menu for the inn's restaurant…"

"…"

It was about diversifying the breakfast menu at the inn.

***

United States Awakener Management Agency.

Elena sat at her desk, staring seriously at her monitor.

-Isn't Labyrinth exploration exhausting? In a place where you can't even sleep properly, let alone eat a decent meal, we've prepared this for you.

Tap, tap.

-Isn't Labyrinth exploration exhausting?

Tap, tap.

-Isn't Labyrinth exploration exhausting?

Elena kept rewatching the video uploaded to Bloodma TV.

"…I was wrong."

She had assumed the Shut-in Bloodma's ability was that of an S-rank or SS-rank Monster Tamer.

His power to control countless monsters would surely have a huge impact on the future Labyrinth, she had predicted.

That was why she had acted the moment she obtained the initial information.

Strengthen friendly relations with Korea and win the Shut-in Bloodma's favor.

Then, starting from the fourth-floor Labyrinth where the world gathered, use his monster army to protect America's upper-middle rank awakeners—that had been the plan.

"The Bloodma Guard made sense, but the Bloodma Gentleman was where things started feeling off."

When he built the escort business, she had simply thought he was a clever person.

The idea of using monsters to make money.

Elena had been pleased by his intelligent application of his ability.

Since he was smart, she figured he would also understand how important cooperation between the two countries would be later on.

But starting with the Bloodma Gentleman, things had deviated from her expectations.

Wasn't he a Monster Tamer?

Then how was he producing equipment?

That was where the questions began, but even with America's intelligence capabilities, they couldn't locate the production site, so they had no choice but to move on.

Since they weren't in a hostile relationship, there was no reason to dig deeper and risk offending him.

She slid open a drawer and pulled out a document stamped "Top Secret" in red.

It was a classified file containing all the results of experiments the United States had conducted with Ether.

Elena flipped through the pages and spread one section open on her desk.

At the top of the document were the words:

"…He definitely used Ether to create it."

There were certain rules when it came to using Ether.

Of course, many believed the capricious system decided everything at random, but that wasn't entirely true.

First, requirements related to the Labyrinth were far cheaper than those in reality.

Even so, requests to create safe zones in the Labyrinth demanded astronomical amounts of Ether, which was why they had never been attempted before.

Second, when applied directly to another person, the Ether requirement increased explosively.

If you asked the system to "kill that person over there," it would require tens of thousands of Ether.

Directly interfering in someone else's life required paying thousands or tens of thousands of Ether as a baseline.

As expected, it was an inefficient method that saw little use.

And third, there was the hypothesis that the system measured causality on its own.

Though the system was capricious, this too had become accepted theory to some degree.

"If Alex, who has wind abilities, asks for a wind-related skill, it doesn't cost much Ether… but if he asks to create a fire-related ability, it demands tens of thousands."

Elena tapped the table with her finger.

After a moment of deliberation, she reached a conclusion.

That meant Park Hyun-gi's ability was specialized in creating safe zones.

"Monster Taming… his own safe zone, or perhaps a domain…"

Elena drew a thick line through the word "Tamer" next to Park Hyun-gi's name.

"His ability is at least SS-rank, and it's something the world has never seen before."

Over the crossed-out word "Tamer," Elena scribbled something new.

After writing, she let out a deep sigh.

"I was thinking of helping him out and making him America's reliable right hand… but at this rate, we might end up being the ones getting swallowed instead?"

After pondering for a long while, Elena stood up.

"Still, it's better than China. We'll proceed as is."

As if she had made up her mind, Elena strode out of the room.

The now-empty office.

On ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Elena's desk, the document remained, now corrected beside Park Hyun-gi's name with a question mark:

'King or Lord.'

***

"Haaaaaaaah."

"Master sleepy?"

"No, it's not that. This chair is just so comfortable. Sitting here makes me all relaxed and drowsy."

"Weren't you reluctant to sit in it at first?"

"That was because there were so many people watching. Now it's just you and me, Mongmo."

I sat in the audience chamber chair, monitoring the territory status and my familiars.

After upgrading the territory and establishing the outpost base, a new function had been added to the audience chamber.

It was the "Outpost Base Status."

"Mongmo."

"What is it?"

"Does Outpost Base 1 mean there's also an Outpost Base 2?"

"Hmm… That could be. The fact that they bothered numbering it suggests as much."

"Can this be made with Ether too?"

"Try it! If you don't have enough Ether, it won't be accepted anyway!"

"Ah, right. Ether usage."

[Please state the usage.]

"Create a second-floor outpost base crystal."

"Whoa, this actually works."

"How many does it need, Master?"

"Forty. Looks like the second one costs ten more. Still, that's not cheap, is it?"

"Considering the value of an outpost base, it's a bargain! It seems we can keep adding more."

"Then should I just cover the entire second floor?"

"Hmm… That wouldn't be very efficient."

"Why?"

Mongmo floated in the air and spread his fingers wide in front of me.

He thrust out five tiny pink fingers.

"There are five areas on the second floor! And only three gates open at a time!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"If we have the resources, we could do all five, but since we're also running the Bloodma Guard, it would be inefficient! The most efficient approach is three locations! That way, no matter which gate opens, at least one inn will appear."

"Make sure an inn appears in at least one location, and handle the rest with the Bloodma Guard?"

"Exactly! We don't have Ether to spare!"

Mongmo's words made sense.

Even if we only built three outpost bases, an inn would appear in every possible scenario.

Then we could operate those with kobolds and designate the rest as Bloodma Guard zones.

Maximum profit with minimum investment.

"In that case, I need to gather more Ether first."

"Indeed! If the Golden Goblin raids the second floor about six times, we should have enough for the next outpost base in three months!"

"Who has time to wait that long?"

"Hmm… Then?"

The Golden Goblin usually brought back between seven and nine Ether every two weeks from the second floor.

If we waited about three months, we could collect forty Ether.

But who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had time to wait?

"Once this reset ends and everyone escapes, leaving the Black Forest empty, let's head up to take down the boss."

"Ah! You mean…?"

"Yeah. We haven't fully prepared yet, but we can send the Golden Goblin to the third floor first, right?"

We planned to fully establish the second-floor business and expand the Bloodma Guard to the third floor, but there was no need to wait for the Golden Goblin.

Right now, it had nothing to do and was just running around the first floor all day.

If it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went to the third floor, the Ether supply would explode again.

"Understood! The Golden Goblin will be delighted to have work again!"

"Good. Let's go with that. Are there still a lot of idle kobolds?"

"Yes! Not many people are staying at the inn yet, so a large number are just lounging around!"

"Hmm…"

They had been hired as item-detection dogs, but since not many people were visiting the inn, fewer than a thousand kobolds were actually working.

At that moment, an idea popped into my head.

"Mongmo, go fetch Association President Kim Min-woo for me."

"Huh? Why?"

"I just had an idea."

Kobolds specialized in finding things.

Finding items was good, of course, but an even better business opportunity had come to mind.

"I'm sure he'll love this."

An idea the government side would definitely appreciate.

***

At the very moment the entire world was buzzing over the Bloodma Group's new business venture, shocking news broke in South Korea.

"Hahaha. Choi Kang-hyuk, you've made the right choice. How could they treat a ranker so poorly? Korea really doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, those guys have no eye for talent."

In a hotel in Tokyo, Choi Kang-hyuk was meeting with Nakamura, the Deputy Director of Japan's Awakener Management Agency.

"We'll be counting on you from now on. We'll send over a team of secretaries to assist you soon. In the meantime, please rest comfortably."

"Yes, and about the promised…?"

At Choi Kang-hyuk's question, Nakamura smiled and reached into his jacket.

What he pulled from the inner pocket was a bottle containing Ether.

"Here it is. Two hundred Ether. The remaining two hundred will be—"

"Yes, paid after five years of service. All magic stones will belong to Japan."

"Hahaha! Then we'll be counting on you."

Nakamura stood up and extended his hand to Choi Kang-hyuk.

After a smiling handshake, Nakamura left the room.

Secretaries waiting outside approached him.

"Keep him in a good mood while monitoring him closely. Also, extract as much information about Korea as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Recently, Japan had been closely watching the news coming out of Korea.

Though still far behind in the Ether rankings, Korea was rapidly catching up with the sudden appearance of a new talent.

Since having their lead stolen by Korea was unacceptable to Japan's pride, Nakamura had secretly contacted several individuals in Korea.

In the end, Japan's Management Agency succeeded in poaching an A-rank blacksmith and an S-rank awakener ranker.

Though it cost a staggering four hundred Ether—two hundred upfront and two hundred after five years—it was by no means a losing deal.

Choi Kang-hyuk earned around one hundred Ether per year, so Korea would lose one hundred from its rankings while Japan gained one hundred.

If this investment could widen the gap that the Shut-in Bloodma had narrowed, it would be well worth it.

After all, they absolutely could not lose to Korea.

"Heh heh, with Korea managing their rankers so sloppily… you lot are destined to struggle beneath us forever… Hahahahaha."

***

"Yeah, screw it. I'll live in a place that actually appreciates me. What does it matter what country I was born in? It was my own fault for staying in a country that wouldn't even give a single Ether to their rank 1."

Choi Kang-hyuk opened the bottle and immediately absorbed the two hundred Ether.

With this, he should be able to explosively increase his Ether earnings once he enhanced his abilities.

If he kept growing steadily like this, surpassing S-rank and reaching SS-rank might even be possible.

Satisfied with the Ether being absorbed into his body, Choi Kang-hyuk enjoyed the lingering sensation for a while before casually picking up his phone.

"By now, it must be absolute chaos over there."

Choi Kang-hyuk entered the Korean community forums with anticipation.

Nothing was more satisfying than watching his ex-girlfriend's feed, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had dumped him and was now crying about it—even if he had no lingering attachment.

So yeah, they should've treated him better while they had the chance.

"…??"

"……?"

"???"

But there wasn't a single post about Choi Kang-hyuk in the community.

The news had definitely gone up.

By now, it should have been complete chaos.

After searching the community for a long time, Choi Kang-hyuk finally found a mention of himself in a corner.

"Th… these bastards…!"

Choi Kang-hyuk's body trembled as he opened the search bar.

What the hell were they talking about? Just as he was about to check the search results—

"Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!!"

Crack!

Choi Kang-hyuk hurled his phone with all his strength.

"I moved to another country and no one cares? I'm even ranked below kobolds?! Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!"

Choi Kang-hyuk's screams of despair echoed throughout the Tokyo hotel.

The End