'Must've lost my mind.'
Tad? As if.
'That's no thing to say in front of kids.'
Replaying the line—one that only a third-rate villain would spout—having left his own mouth, Lee Yeon-woo clicked his tongue inwardly.
'No matter how I think about it, sothing's definitely wrong with ....'
[Yesn't?]
'So it seems.'
He rapidly reverse-engineered the situation.
'Either it's an aftereffect of the physical improvent coding, or the fallout from the penalty with The Guest Without Taste. Then again, spending eight months tearing apart my brain without rest would strain even .'
[Yes.]
Even Coco didn't deny that.
'But even so... I never imagined a situation like this.'
What had just happened left even Lee Yeon-woo himself bewildered.
'I never coded anything like this.'
[Correct.]
More than tired, he was at a loss.
Just because the thing he needed to remove from sight was docile and couldn't be reasoned with, he'd shown the kids sothing they shouldn't have seen. What cri had those students committed?
'The mont I tried to use my administrator authority, didn't General Manager Mode switch on?'
[Coco. Not aware.]
'If even you don't know, then nobody in this hotel does.'
[Correct!]
'The switch just flipping on by itself....'
[Hello?]
'And just now, I conducted a custor satisfaction survey out of nowhere.'
In this Water Wraith habitat. To kids who had nearly been hurt monts ago.
'I may not know for sure, but it must have been an extrely unnatural flow.'
He couldn't explain it properly, but the two students standing behind him had frozen solid as well.
'No—it'd be more accurate to say they've noticed I'm insane. I've got the order wrong.'
[Yes.]
'Your co-owner's intelligence is dropping in real ti, and that's your reaction, Professor Cat?'
[Hehe!]
[Coco. Guarantee. Useful.]
'It's certainly useful for subduing enemies, but it's not a function ant for use on kids I need to escort. And it wasn't a scene they needed to see.'
He should have just shooed it away and been done with it. No matter how broken his filter was, showing gore splattering in front of civilians he was supposed to protect wasn't his preferred approach.
'To be precise, I don't want to scare them.'
A fully grown adult—who had stepped up to save them, no less—terrorizing kids beyond necessity? What use would that be? And it wasn't as though Lee Yeon-woo gained anything from doing so.
But the problem was:
'Systemic communication with the Hunting Grounds' monsters is impossible.'
[Yes!]
'It's not as though I was unaware, Coco.'
The monsters here were closer to mindless carnivorous plants, devoid of any particular reason. No matter how hard Lee Yeon-woo tried to control them, he couldn't elicit any response more precise than base instinct.
Their default behavioral modes were limited to 'attack' or 'flee.'
'If I hadn't held central control authority, they'd have charged or scattered long ago.'
[Correct!]
The problem was that the 'taming' in question fell strictly within the realm of bestial instinct—aning the monsters specifically avoided Lee Yeon-woo himself and him alone. But what good did it do for only him to be left untouched?
'When the little lumps of flesh hiding behind are the targets.'
"Not it" while everyone else is fair ga.
[Eee?]
He'd wanted to ask 'if I'm standing right here and you attack my charges, what does that make ?' countless tis, but he'd held his tongue. And so, with all these worries already piling up, a student had gotten attacked.
'It even pushed through the General Manager's authority-born pressure to attack—quite the appetite on that one.'
[Jellyfish. Flee. No.]
'That's why I attempted to impose physical control.'
[Yes.]
'I didn't expect the system's sanction to manifest like this.'
Communication was impossible, so he couldn't shout it away. Pressure alone wasn't enough to make it retreat. And having a physical brawl with blood flying in front of kids was inefficient.
'So I tried to apply precise pressure solely on the jellyfish monster to drive it off, without any fallout reaching the students....'
He reproached his earlier self.
'And because that was a bit of a pain, I just went and popped it?'
[Hehe.]
'This isn't funny, Coco.'
[No?]
'Of course you'd think so, you rotten cat.'
If the task had truly been too tedious, he could have simply stuck close to the kids and acted as a monster repellent. But because that was too much trouble, he'd gone and burst an innoce—
[No?]
'Of course, it was attempted murder, so not exactly innocent.'
At any rate—bursting the monster? But the situation had co to this regardless.
"......"
Surrendering his human rights for a while and becoming a repellent seed like the better option.
'...I didn't want to scare them any further, but it can't be helped. No matter how much attention I pay, there's a limit to how many monsters in this Hunting Ground I can watch for.'
Resignation ca quickly.
'I'll adjust the scale and direction of my presence through the system.'
He quietly opened a coding window. A lifeti in the sciences, and here he was doing all manner of things.
Had he simply committed to being a repellent from the start, this accident wouldn't have happened. With zero combat experience, Lee Yeon-woo was bound to make operational mistakes like this even with the hotel system's assistance.
'My long ivory tower logic is being rendered laughable by this brutish thod.'
[Eee?]
'I'm saying the tedious overti looks like it'll drag on.'
The road ahead was pitch-dark, but in the end, what he had to do remained unchanged.
He had a system that would revive him if he died—but those students didn't. They were fragile beings who could die from the slightest touch. A single slip of Lee Yeon-woo's fine-tuned control could lead to their permanent injury.
'As long as I've taken this on, I'll get them out alive.'
He simply carried out the ager sense of responsibility left to him in silence. A world in shambles, and still he saves people. That was the way 'Lee Yeon-woo' had chosen.
"......"
[Eee.]
But with his Emotional Continuity withered dry, he was overlooking one fact. That the two lost souls feared him more than the Hunting Grounds' monsters.
A jellyfish monster was a danger that fell within the bounds of their 'common sense.'
But Lee Yeon-woo was....
"......"
"......"
...a being outside of common sense.
***
Within a presence that began to press upon the air as naturally as spreading fog—
"......"
If Rawi had his way, he'd have liked to ask 'what the hell is your ga?'
'This is strange.'
He watched the sunbae-nim he was chatting with, and then 'sunbae-nim.'
"Is it okay to move this openly?"
"She won't co chasing right away. Her hunting has a sort of cooldown."
"Saying 'cooldown' really does make it sound like a ga."
"Is that so?"
His voice was neat but chilled, as if cold had settled into it. That much was natural. He clearly looked like soone important in this labyrinth, and considering how eerie this place was, it suited him.
'A rigid tone like a soldier or agent, a dry way of speaking that cuts straight to the conclusion without unnecessary flourish....'
But.
"......"
"Staying in one place isn't feasible. Once she's drawn her blade, she won't stop hunting until the prey leaves her territory. But if you learn her patterns, it's easy enough to avoid her."
"...Right."
Looking at Seo's expression, Rawi sympathized.
'His tone is too honest.'
There was a quietly model-student quality to him.
'If anything, it feels overly refined.'
His voice was cold, sure, but the way he kept tossing out bits of advice. For a 'higher-up' or 'insider' of this kind of labyrinth, sothing felt off.
'The fact that he offered to help us in the first place was already strange....'
The way he moved through this place as if it were his own living room. The way he'd dismissed those ghost-rivaling subordinates with just a few words.
'Wait—were they even subordinates? For a simple hierarchy, the dynamic felt odd, didn't it? One side groveling like a fanatic while the other looked thoroughly sick of it—that feeling was definitely... not absent.'
Rawi thought the current situation was running on a thoroughly abnormal track. It felt like watching a machine whose cogwheels had never shed, being forced to turn anyway.
"......"
Including 'that thing' they'd just witnessed.
"Don't enter buildings that look intact. From now on, we'll hide primarily in skeletal shops and hardware stores."
"Is there a reason?"
"In enclosed spaces, this damp fog will eat away at your cognition before you know it. I'd rather not watch you go mad from hallucinations and put air holes in each other's heads."
"I-I see."
At the end of his blunt explanation, he looked back at the two with fatigue-laden eyes.
"You're not looking well."
"That's not the case."
"Before you collapse—wouldn't so rest be in order?"
"...We're...."
Seeing Seo hesitate as if nothing were wrong, Rawi cut in.
"I'd like to rest."
"...Yes, so he says."
Seo, looking deep in thought, followed up.
"Could we take a brief rest?"
Lee Yeon-woo gestured toward a ruined shop with a glance.
"Go inside. I'll stand watch."
"Will you be alright?"
"I have no interest in tornting tired people."
"There can't be just one or two monsters living around here."
To that, Lee Yeon-woo glanced at Seo and added.
"It's sothing I can do."
Perhaps it was a verbal habit.
"I hope you get enough rest."
"...If you'd do that for us, we gratefully accept your consideration."
Lee Yeon-woo answered by opening the ruined shop's door instead.
Seo and Rawi entered cautiously, but sure enough, there were no traps. No monsters either. Lee Yeon-woo withdrew into the dense fog outside.
"......"
Finding a passable chair and sitting down, Rawi propped his chin in his hand.
"......"
"......"
Seo held out a notepad and pen.
Even as a rookie, Rawi was quick on the uptake. He took the pen Seo offered and, so no sound would carry beyond the crumbling wall, wrote on the damp paper.
[Is it just or is this weird?]
Seo wrote his reply beneath it.
[It's definitely weird]
[Does this kind of thing happen in labyrinths?]
[If you're lucky, there are sotis guides—beings like NPCs in a ga]
[And you think that's him?]
No—the probability that he wasn't even 'human' was far greater.
'His behavior's just strangely human-like, is the thing.'
A human quality of consideration that tried to pretend it wasn't there.
'A human-like... sense of duty, maybe....'
Seo must have felt the sa, because he answered without difficulty.
[I'm not sure. The situation is unusual, and above all there's way too little information]
[Understood]
Having written that, Rawi silently moved his pen once more.
[Why on earth is he helping us?]
Setting aside 'that thing' they'd seen and felt just now, since that was a personal characteristic.
The subordinates who had stood behind Lee Yeon-woo—whom he commanded. Rawi rembered the horrific killing intent they'd displayed. Had permission been granted, he and Seo would have died without a trace—or been ruined in a way worse than death.
Rawi, too, knew the fate that befell humans entangled with Dokkaebi.
[He strong-ard his own subordinates who wanted to kill us and sent them away]
[It wasn't a natural situation]
[What would normally have happened?]
[Personally, I was praying to die within a day]
[That bad, huh]
[Seeing the look on the subordinates' faces, a clean death seed off the table]
[Oh]
That last one—he'd written it because he had nothing else to say.
"......"
Rawi dragged a hand down his face.
[What the hell is he?]
[Beats ]
After writing that, Seo continued a mont later.
[There are too many possible scenarios to consider]
[Could you write so out anyway?]
[The dissonance I'm feeling makes think he might not be a Dokkaebi belonging to this labyrinth]
Fuck.
[So he IS a Dokkaebi?]
[His outfit and deanor seed to match well with that oddly placed elevator]
[That's true]
[Either a Dokkaebi from a labyrinth connected to this one]
"......"
[Or the master who created this place or the elevator-side labyrinth]
[We still don't know if he's human or Dokkaebi?]
To Rawi's question, Seo deliberated with pen in hand before answering.
[Did he look human to you?]
"......"
Rawi's hand holding the pen went rigid.
"......"
[Hard to say]
Even he couldn't understand how the words 'hard to say' could co out after seeing that.
'Even after that beyond-cognition sothing from just monts ago, or those golden eyes.'
Had he lost his mind? A defense chanism, trying to paper over the incomprehensible by calling it a mystery? Or was it simply that the man served as their only escape route and shield, making Rawi want to believe?
And yet, to call it re escapist delusion, the being called Lee Yeon-woo—who had returned to black eyes and exhaled a weary sigh—his conduct was...
'Too...'
...upright.
"......"
"......"
Watching Rawi, Seo continued writing.
[I can think of many hypotheses, but honestly the unfavorable ones outnumber the hopeful]
[So it's about ti we die?]
[But setting aside all the unfavorable scenarios, the very fact that soone who appears associated with the labyrinth is helping insignificant rcenaries for free defies common sense]
Rawi understood that too. But Seo seed to think his junior needed a fuller explanation, and continued in his gentle handwriting.
[A Dokkaebi can contract with humans, but it's a being that's nearly impossible to control]
[I know—a natural disaster you can't reason with]
He'd heard that until his ears bled.
[You can't approach them with common sense]
[That goes for non-Dokkaebi too. Whether he's an Artist or whatever, just being associated with the labyrinth ans he should have killed us by rights]
[Taking the lead as a guide, even standing watch—]
[That's probably unprecedented]
After twirling his pen for a mont, Seo added.
[Still, if he really is an Artist, there are rare cases]
The pen paused briefly, then continued.
[Including what you saw]
"......"
Rawi looked at Seo, then wrote his reply.
[You an that Won○ok?]
[I don't know what you're talking about, but the golden eyes]
[So you know what I saw there]
[You're an Artist, so you'd have seen more than ]
[It's not like I got a clear look either]
[Anyway, stuff like that]
After deliberating, Seo continued.
[There are definitely Artists who've reached a level that's utterly inhuman]
This was why Seo hadn't concluded that Lee Yeon-woo was 'not human' even after seeing 'that.'
[You're confused because you sensed sothing clearly human in what you saw, aren't you]
[I can't say you're wrong]
[Artists never deny what they themselves have judged. I get it]
Seo knew that 'such Artists' existed. Rawi had sensed 'good humanity' within it. Both were confused for those reasons.
Because the world had gone mad enough that they simply couldn't be certain.
[But either way, this is a miraculous situation]
[It's rare, then]
[He's clearly soone associated with the labyrinth, of all things]
[That's true]
If anyone else learned of this situation, they'd scoff and say 'that's one hell of a well-crafted lie.' That was how far beyond common sense things had gone.
"......"
Rawi moved his pen.
[But it's not like we can just co out and ask what his angle is]
[No, the risk of backlash is too high]
Seo was right.
Rawi had only latched on because he'd watched Seo's initial gamble pay off. What could they accomplish by standing their ground in the first place?
'I just hope we don't get drawn and quartered for the cri of impudence.'
However suspicious, a lifeline had been thrown down. Below was nothing but a bottomless abyss, so in practice, there was only one choice.
How sturdy the rope was—that they'd find out by clinging to it with everything they had.
[Common sense says we should be probing each other about what we know]
To Seo's words, Rawi wrote his reply.
[Better to play dumb for a bit than accidentally trip a bomb and die together, right?]
[I don't know if this situation will end with 'a bit,' but for now, yes]
A sentence that conveyed a sigh even without audio.
[Besides, the other side is drawing lines too]
Lee Yeon-woo must know this situation was awkward as well. If he'd intended to share, he would have by now. That he hadn't ant either he felt no need, or there was a need to hide it.
Either way, there was no reason to cross a line and antagonize him.
[Anyway, he said he'd get us out alive, and he's even standing watch, so we should humor him until things go south, don't you think]
[I suppose so]
[Doubly so if the other party is a Dokkaebi]
[We have to, if we want to avoid a fate worse than death]
[Right]
After hesitating, Seo added a short note.
[Rest]
Then he closed the notepad and tucked it away.
"......"
"......"
Rawi leaned deep into the chair and peered at the silhouette beyond the hole in the wall.
'...If not for this situation, he's dangerous enough that I should run without looking back, but....'
Given how his face and manner of speaking shifted on a di, at minimum he was a madman; at maximum, a split personality. Recalling those '■■■ pup■ls,' Rawi gazed at the back standing by the doorway.
"...Hmm...."
His impression was so heavy that Rawi only noticed now. Compared to that tall build and broad shoulders, the body was gaunt—all bone with not an ounce of flesh—and Rawi's brow furrowed.
'Why does he keep... looking approachable...?'
Strangely, the urge to get closer kept rising.
'Have I lost it after all?'
Thinking so, Rawi quietly averted his gaze. Written notes or not, the man couldn't be unaware they'd had a private conversation, so it was ti to start being careful.
Rawi smacked his lips with an inexplicable sense of regret.
'No matter how much slack he's giving us, who knows how long that'll last.'
He didn't want to die from a montary misjudgnt.
"......"
Fighting to stay awake, he closed his tired eyes.
***
Whether the two were exchanging written notes inside or had passed out cold, it was no concern of Lee Yeon-woo's. Had he known they were finding their own way to survive, he would have simply found it comndable and moved on.
'...So....'
Lee Yeon-woo rolled his eyes as he continued his thoughts.
'This level of distance should be about right.'
At the entrance of the derelict building, where mist crept in. He leaned at an angle against the wall, watching the darkness, silently reviewing his next escort plan.
The trial and error from sending Director Lee Seon-hae's group out had been an exhausting precedent in many ways. Planting a clumsy sense of intimacy or obligation only resulted in shackles that clouded each other's survival instincts here.
'To get those two lost souls outside as quickly and safely as possible, I need proper positioning. A thin layer of trust—enough to make them follow my lead—and distance that prevents personal reliance... that's all I need.'
He mustn't let them panic from excessive fear, but he also mustn't let them cross the line.
[Yes.]
'I refuse to get entangled with Human Guests again like last ti. Completing the rescue cleanly and going our separate ways is better for everyone's ntal health.'
[Yes!]
'Thank you for the enthusiastic agreent, Coco. It's very comforting.'
Making a hot iced aricano.
Well, that was the situation.
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