[Last place has been decided! But how can this be?!]
One of the two participants fighting over last place had gone over the time limit too.
[With a timeout, today's penalty goes to two! They will enter the Dark Labyrinth for a 66-hour expedition!]
"N-no! S-save me!"
At the same moment the mask on Falsehood changed to a smiling one, screams rang out. The color drained from the two men's faces. But when Falsehood snapped his fingers, black fog spread across the floor in an instant. The participant thrashing to keep from being dragged off was hauled away into the darkness by the many black hands that came up from under his feet. Only long fingernail marks remained where he had been dragged away.
[No. 2011, you are awarded 40 points.]
[No. 2666, you are awarded 30 points, plus 2 additional points.]
[No. 3029, you are awarded 20 points.]
[No. 5004, you are awarded 10 points.]
The point notices sounded through the screen. Seeing that the points for the four he had stolen had been added, the man who had helped Ocheonsa smiled brightly and walked over to her.
"Let me know if you need help again."
"Thank you."
Ocheonsa promptly took the hand he had held out so kindly, with that clean-cut face of his, and shook it. It didn't seem like a hand she should take so carelessly, but this was a nutcase meeting a nutcase, so I decided to stop paying attention. I felt that if I butted in, I would end up with a headache.
"Expert No. 2011, it's a pleasure to meet you for the first time. I used to be active in the Canadian market...."
"I'm applying for the Dark Labyrinth expedition."
The man had started talking to Min-seo, who was standing right next to Ocheonsa, but Min-seo cut him off and raised her hand. Then she declared that she would walk into the labyrinth of her own accord, the very labyrinth the penalized had screamed and thrashed to keep out of.
"Please confirm that the points for breaking the record this time are 250 points."
[Great!! No. 2011, if you set the escape record, I'll add 20 bonus points!]
An uneasy feeling began to creep in. It was because Min-seo was looking at me.
"I'll go in with No. 3029."
[Oh! A new challenger! Excellent!]
Things were moving along on their own, so I hurriedly cut in.
"W-wait a moment. I'm not taking the challenge."
The Dark Labyrinth, no less.
What's more, I hadn't the slightest intention of doing something as insane as crawling into the penalty myself after placing.
"Sounds fun. I'll apply too."
My head whipped around instantly. Crazy bastards.
The man smiled an innocent smile like an idol's, enjoying my dumbfounded expression. I hurriedly composed my face and tugged Min-seo by the arm.
"What on earth are you thinking?"
As I whispered and checked on the man, he was still smiling with that vague expression. As if she had expected it, Min-seo turned my gaze back toward her and answered my question.
"Got to earn points. And sometimes soul fragments turn up while you explore the labyrinth."
I knew it.
Her goal was soul fragments. And as it happened, I was short on the soul fragments needed for my skill-up too. So another route to get the soul fragments I lacked was the Colosseum.
"Will it be all right?"
"Why wouldn't it be? If you can recover fragments at the cost of getting your mind rattled a little, it's a win."
What Min-seo meant was that once you went into the labyrinth, powerful mental attacks would come. If it were bodily injury, I could at least use shop items to recover, but this was different. The horrible memory of eating that candy at the auction house and having my emotions forcibly extracted came back to me, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Once we're in the labyrinth, there's no physical damage, just the mental attacks?"
"Wouldn't that depend on you, Min-jae?"
"......."
"The next Colosseum is in two days, so let's get out before then. We're taking part right away."
They were all doing as they pleased.
The guy who had joined the labyrinth expedition to strike up some connection with Min-seo, and her, saying it all so casually: the situation had clearly gone insane. On top of that, the man's eyes showed his determination not to miss this chance.
'Haa. I give up.'
Now that going in was a done deal, what I could do was this.
"How many points do I get if I explore this time?"
I raised my hand and asked Falsehood.
Equivalent exchange. I had to at least make sure I got points to match the risk. Fragments might turn up and might not, but if I went in, the points were guaranteed.
[No. 3029, this is your first expedition. In that case, I'll add 40 points!]
"Whew. Understood."
A sigh escaped me on its own. It was as many points as first place in a D-difficulty game, so it was by no means a small amount, but I had been getting that many points all the time from trading with ghosts, so it felt like I was taking a serious loss.
"Other things turn up in the labyrinth now and then, so don't worry."
"What sort of things?"
I kept my face blank, but at Min-seo's words, as if she had read my mind, I answered indifferently.
"If the people dragged in earlier are dead, everything that makes up one human body?"
"......."
"Ah! There might be things from people dragged in before, too."
"...I see."
It was an answer that made me feel I would need to pull out and use every item I had.
"It's my first time in the Korean labyrinth, so I'm a little nervous."
At the man's tactless butting in, I folded my arms and said nothing. After the man declared he was going in, Min-seo had been openly smiling at him, but the sour feeling wouldn't go away. I had a strange sense of déjà vu.
"What? Items turn up too, so it's that good? Then I'm going in too!"
Please....
I had no intention whatsoever of babysitting a kid even inside the labyrinth. But since we were going in together, it was an extension of a team game. To prevent any further damage caused by Ocheonsa, someone had to mark her full-time.
I wasn't thrilled about going into the labyrinth with her, but when Ocheonsa showed her will to explore, Falsehood's ten snake heads swayed from side to side, dancing. He looked quite excited.
[Every participant applying for the expedition, what a rare thing indeed!]
The lively hiss, hiss of the snakes' flicking tongues and applause from the stands came shooting out.
[Right! Will they manage to set the record?! Since this is a special case, we'll open betting! Whoever comes closest to guessing the escape time will receive an entire human soul!]
"Wooooooah!"
Like a ballpark crowd watching a player hit a home run with the bases loaded, a fierce roar rained down from the stands. Of course it did. Not a fragmented soul, but a whole person's soul. The ghosts were all on edge to guess it down to the second.
[Right! Then the four will now enter the Dark Labyrinth!]
Unlike with the penalized, Falsehood showed us to the entrance of the labyrinth like a gentleman, then opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. It was silent pressure to hurry up and go in.
When I dragged my heavy, unwilling feet through the entrance, the door closed, and in an instant everything turned pitch black as an abysmal darkness settled. In that moment.
DING-A-LING DING-A-LING.
With a lively sound, I heard the melody of an item box opening, and everything around us lit up.
CRACKLE!
[Candle That Lights the Dark : Brightly lights your surroundings so you will not get lost in the dark.]
"This is my item, so everyone pay me 1 point each."
It was the item I had given Ocheonsa. She had only been given it herself, yet she casually extorted 1 point from each of us and was delighted with herself. I should have used a candle item first. But there was no need to use two now, so I handed over the point before things got noisy.
"Huh? A skull."
The moment we went in, we found a skull lying sprawled near the entrance, bleached white. It wasn't a pleasant sight, but Ocheonsa squatted down, looked at the skull, and turned her head to Min-seo.
"Unni. Can I take this?"
"Yes. But it's garbage."
Min-seo conveyed simply and clearly that it was neither an item nor worth any points and kept her eyes on Ocheonsa, but she grinned and picked up the skull.
"I think it'd look pretty if I bedazzle it with diamonds at home."
"It's heavy, so let me carry it for you. You'll hurt your hands."
Well, isn't that something.
I was speechless. The man, carrying the skull in Ocheonsa's place, seized the opportunity to ask her a question.
"How old are you?"
"I'm 15."
FLINCH—
Since she had been wearing a high school uniform, I had assumed she was 17 or older, and at Ocheonsa's age, much younger than I had thought, I went rigid.
"Weren't you wearing a high school uniform back then?"
"Ah. I skipped grades abroad and transferred straight in."
A brief silence passed.
"Just right."
Whatever it was that was just right, the man's meaningful chatter went on. Min-seo had no intention of waiting and quickened her pace, and of course, knowing the way, she took the lead. The people who naturally fell behind kept talking among themselves, and I broke away from the group and went to Min-seo's side.
'If I keep talking back there, I'm going to lose my mind.'
"What are the odds of finding a soul in the labyrinth?"
"30%."
1/3, so it was worth a try, as Min-seo said. It meant that many people had met their deaths in this labyrinth, but fortunately my item box was full of goods from the shop.
"Is it finders keepers?"
"Hmm. I always come alone, so I never thought about it, but let's do that."
Before long, the straight path ended and a fork split into four.
"Let's split up."
Even at Min-seo's suggestion that we split up in a labyrinth where none of us knew the way, everyone was calm. No one objected, so I quietly gauged the mood, and the man looked over the fork with a smiling face.
"It seems the paths come back together into one later. Then there's no need for all of us to move together."
"In that case, I'll split off too. Ocheonsa, you take the candle."
Min-seo and the man seemed able to take care of themselves without my worrying, and the candle item was better off with someone, so I gave it up to Ocheonsa.
"Little miss. If you're ever in danger, call my name, Daniel, and I'll come help you."
She wasn't listening, but the man who had introduced himself as Daniel was unwavering. Min-seo went into one fork first, I went into the left path, and we split up.
We were at the start of the labyrinth, so there was no need to worry about dangers yet. I had heard dangerous things only came out from the early-middle stretch, so it seemed fine to go a little easier for now.
CRUNCH!
Something crumbled under my foot. A familiar sound.
"Another skull?"
I held the Soul Charger to it, but there was no reaction, so this skull had no soul.
I thought it was a dud and was about to move on when something floated up.
[Eyeball of Despair]
A rare eyeball that has remained without decaying.
A delicacy for gourmets; touching it directly can induce hallucinations.
I had gotten the first item of the labyrinth expedition. I grabbed the floating eyeball directly with my hand, but the Talisman of Protection's effect was active, so I saw no hallucinations.
I hadn't checked the points yet, but given how much those creatures especially loved anything with the word "despair" in it, I was sure it would trade at a high price.