The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth - Chapter 16

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 16 - VTuber (1)

A desperate battle was unfolding right before his eyes.

While Unit 2 grabbed one of the scythe monster’s arms, Unit 1 slammed a heavy blow into its face.

-Crack!

Blood splattered, but the monster retaliated instantly, swinging its long tail, smashing into Unit 1.

-Bam!

The force was overwhelming. White fragments burst apart as Unit 1 was sent flying, crashing into a nearby concrete pillar.

-Boooom!

Its body collapsed onto the ground, dark fluid pooling beneath it.

But Unit 1 stood back up with unwavering determination. With that same furious expression drawn on its face, it marched forward like a Terminator and kicked the scythe monster.

-Bam!

The enraged creature tried to bite down on Unit 1, but Unit 2 wrapped it in a headlock, forcing it back.

Unit 2’s intent was clear. No matter what, it would push the monster back and open a path for Park Minho and Seol Suyeon to reach the poster.

Their goal never had been victory.

Unit 1 joined in and for a moment, the monster’s stance faltered. It was forced back helplessly.

“Kweeeeeeeh!”

Furious, it began to swing its scythes wildly. But with its balance broken and Unit 1 and Unit 2 pressed in close, it couldn’t land a proper hit.

Both of the mannequins were pushing themselves to the absolute limit. At one point, black fluid sprayed out of one of Unit 2’s joints as if a hydraulic line had ruptured.

Park Minho couldn’t move. He just stood there, watching them fight.

All he could think was that he had to help them, but he was far too powerless.

Seol Suyeon clenched her teeth and yanked his wrist hard.

"Minho-nim! We have to go! We really have to go!”

He couldn’t answer. Seeing that, she shouted even louder.

"Hey, you idiot! This is exactly like those scenes in movies! Are you going to let them die for nothing?! Don’t you dare freeze up now!”

She wasn’t wrong. Not a single bit. If they hesitated here, it would be the worst ending possible where all of them would die in this place together.

“Fine!"

Park Minho ran toward the poster together with Seol Suyeon. At that moment the scythe monster thrashed wildly, trying to grab him, but Unit 1 and Unit 2 clung to it relentlessly.

He trusted them and just kept on running.

"KweeEEEEH!”

The monster’s screams echoed behind him ceaselessly, until finally, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon reached the poster.

All that was left now was to jump.

Minho turned for one last look at Unit 1 and Unit 2 and then froze, faced with something unexpected.

While Unit 1 desperately clung to the monster, Unit 2 was running toward him waving its hands frantically.

It was like it was telling him to not do that.

"What?"

The exit was right in front of him. Why was it stopping him?

Beside him, Seol Suyeon stomped her feet anxiously.

"Hurry! Minho-nim!”

Time was of the essence right now. Should he trust Unit 2 and wait? Or should he just jump in?

After a brief moment of hesitation, he made a decision.

"Wait."

"What…?!”

They would have been sliced to pieces long ago if not for those two. He didn’t know the reason why they were stopping him, but he had to trust them.

But then, Unit 2 did something completely unexpected.

It suddenly reached out and tore the mosaic-blurred poster apart without a shred of hesitation.

-Riiiip!

At the same time, a burst of light scattered like particle effects from a game, and the poster was destroyed.

Literally.

The poster, which had been the only exit, vanished without a trace.

"What...?"

Park Minho’s mind went blank.

"What the hell is this…?”

He trusted it and waited, only for it to destroy their escape?

Was it all an act?

Like an entity, pretending to help, just to plunge a human into maximum despair?

He couldn’t understand.

"What are you doing?!”

Right when he shouted, something new appeared where the poster had been.

-Whooooooosh.

A green light. A brilliant green glow spread as another poster appeared.

No, it looked more like a door. It felt alive and at the same time strangely nostalgic.

It was completely different from the one before.

The mosaic poster had been unsettling and distorted. Something one would choose only because one had no other option.

This green one, on the other hand, brought relief just by looking at it. It was like one was seeing ‘home’......?

"No way?"

"Kiek!”

Unit 2 pointed at it, nodding urgently, telling them to go.

This was a hidden route. Something no human had ever discovered.

Only entities capable of tearing through the system’s surface could reveal it.

"Kiieeek!”

Unit 2 cried out as if certain that this was the right path. Then a heavy thud echoed from behind them.

-Boom!

Park Minho hurriedly turned. In the distance, Unit 1 had collapsed to the ground. It body was half-crushed, barely holding its shape.

And yet, even in that state, it clung to the monster’s leg, refusing to let go.

“Kweeeeeh……"

The scythe monster shook its leg as if annoyed. And Unit 1, like a puppet with its strings cut, was flung aside, rolling weakly across the floor.

The monster was injured as well, blood streaming from its body. It’s right scythe was half-broken, dangling uselessly.

Perhaps due to its injuries or perhaps shaken by the mannequin’s desperate resistance, it seemed to have grown cautious. It slowly closed the distance, but there was no doubt that it had no intention of letting its prey escape. Its killing intent filled the area.

Unit 2 instantly made its decision.

"Kiek!”

It shoved Seol Suyeon, who was standing right in front of the poster.

Until now, Unit 2 had only been gesturing, because the chances of success were higher if they jumped in themselves.

But now there was no time left to wait.

"Kyaaaaah!"

With a startled scream, Seol Suyeon was pulled into the green poster. Her scream quickly faded and vanished.

Now it was Park Minho’s turn.

But Park Minho was no longer thinking straight. His eyes were locked on Unit 1. Unit 1 was motionlessly lying in a pool of its own dark fluid.

"Hey! You piece of shit!”

Seol Suyeon was already gone. That meant he was only responsible for his own life now.

'Do I even have anything worth going back to?'

No parents, no siblings. Piles upon piles of student loans. No job. Just an endless cycle of part-time work.

Park Minho clenched his left hand tightly.

'Maybe I can fight.'

His left arm had hardened like a mannequin’s. In other words, it should be tougher and stronger.

It would still be like throwing an egg at a rock, but he had no intention of backing down.

"Come on! You bastard! Let’s do this!”

But at that moment, Unit 2 grabbed him and easily lifted him up.

"Huh...!"

Startled, Park Minho tried to protest, but before he actually could, Unit 2 hurled him straight into the poster.

-Swoooosh!

A strange sensation enveloped his entire body, like falling into a pool made of jelly.

* * *

"Hah...!”

Park Minho snapped his eyes open.

Everything around him was pitch-black. A void where up, down, left, and right meant nothing. He floated weightlessly.

And then, he saw something like a massive frame right in. No, maybe not a frame, but a movie screen. Beyond the glowing rectangle, he could see the place he had just been.

Unit 2 was there.

After throwing Park Minho into this place, it steadied itself and turned back.

"Kweeeeeeh!”

The scythe monster was already charging. However, Unit 2 didn’t dodge. Instead, it lowered its stance, grabbed the monster by the waist, and shouted.

"Kieeeeeek!”

For a brief moment, it lifted the creature, far larger than itself, and slammed it into the ground. It was like a wrestler executing a throw.

-BOOOOM!

The impact was strong enough to even shake the screen Park Minho was watching through.

Taking advantage of that moment, Unit 2 turned its head toward where Park Minho was.

To Unit 2 there was only the green poster. There was no way it could actually see him, and yet it seemed to be smiling.

Its face was a mess, covered in black fluid, but that expression was still vivid.

( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

It raised both hands toward where Park Minho was. It was trying to give a double thumbs up like it always did, but its left arm fell limply before it could.

Unit 2 barely managed to raise its right hand and gave a thumbs-up.

It didn’t even know what that gesture meant. It only remembered that whenever it did a double thumbs-up, Park Minho would laugh.

-What’s this? That’s adorable! Hahaha!

Park Minho’s voice echoed in its head. It liked that.

If this was going to be the end, then it wanted to do something Park Minho liked.

Just as it was about to turn back toward the scythe monster, the creature’s massive body crashed down.

-Craaaash!

The giant scythe came down mercilessly onto the fallen Unit 2.

-Crack! Crunch! Slash!

White plastic fragments and black fluid exploded outward like fireworks, spraying everywhere with each movement of the blade.

Park Minho screamed.

"No! NO!”

He thrashed his arms and legs, trying to force his way back into the frame.

However, no matter how hard he struggled, he didn’t move an inch, as if he were floating in zero gravity.

"Stop! You fucking bastard! STOP!”

Just then, he felt something pulling hard on him from behind.

It was as if the problem of direction caused by not entering the poster voluntarily had just been fixed.

"Let go! LET GO!”

Park Minho tried to resist the force pulling him away, but it was useless.

Light poured in and then a violent wind roared around him.

-WuooOOOOOSH!

It felt like his face would be peeled off by the sheer force of it.

It felt like falling or being sucked into a massive vacuum.

'Damn it… I’m sorry.’

That was his last thought.

Park Minho lost consciousness.

* * *

-Chirp! Chiiiirp! Chirp!

A soft, yet oddly irritating, birdsong rang in his ears.

Park Minho’s consciousness slowly returned.

The first thing he felt was warmth. Like he was lying under gentle sunlight. Light speed through his eyelids, clear and bright.

Then, a gentle breeze.

A soft wind, rustling grass and leaves, brushed past him.

It was too warm and too peaceful to be in the Backrooms.

His mind booted back up like a computer coming out of sleep mode.

He shot upright.

"......!"

And then he froze, bewildered by the surrounding scenery.

"Huh? Where is this…?"

It was a normal hillside.

Trees he’d seen countless times. A small park halfway up the mountain. Simple exercise equipment. Benches for resting. Park Minho himself had been lying on one of those benches.

It was unmistakably the real world he remembered.

'What is this? Is there a floor in the Backrooms that looks exactly like reality?'

Then wouldn’t an entity show up?

At that moment, someone came walking up the mountain path, which made the startled Park Minho tense up.

He looked carefully and saw it was just an old man in a tracksuit.

The man seemed slightly startled upon seeing Park Minho, but soon frowned in disapproval and walked past him.

Then, he suddenly stopped, turned back, and pulled out a 10,000 won bill from his pocket.

“Young man, you look like a mess. Go get yourself some kalguksu or something. Tsk…homeless already at that age."

His tone was rough, but his heart was kind. After offering a few words of encouragement, telling him he could get through this, the old man clasped his hands behind his back and disappeared down the mountain path.

"......?"

Park Minho accepted the money without thinking but couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Only then did he look down at himself.

Clothes filthy from everything he’d been through. A bag stuffed with random items. An unwashed face.

To anyone else, he probably looked like a homeless person.

Park Minho pocketed the money, stood up, and walked to the edge of the small park. He then looked down and let out a quiet groan.

"Aah..."

It was the same villa complex at the base of the mountain that he saw every day.

He was back.

* * *

Park Minho stood there in a daze for a long time. Everything felt like a dream.

He looked at his left hand, noticing that the mannequin-like hardening was gone. Just like the forum users had said, minor symptoms disappeared once you left that floor.

He quickly opened his bag and froze.

"Hah......"

The laptop and all the items were still there. Even the pile of gold coins worth 30 billion won.

It felt like a dream, but it wasn’t.

It had all actually happened.

Park Minho opened the laptop, intending to report everything to the forum, but suddenly stopped.

'No, wait.’

This laptop was a Backrooms perk. An anomalous item connected to that place. If he turned it on, would he be dragged back in?

Fear instantly crept in.

He didn’t think he could survive going back again.

Now that he thought about it, everything he had with him felt rather dangerous.

'They said there’s something called Anomaly Levels, and if that contaminates things, reality itself can warp.’

Even those gold coins. Weren’t they anomalous objects as well? There was no telling what kind of trouble they could cause.

He felt reluctant about everything he had brought back from the Backrooms. Even the clothes he was wearing.

Who knew what strange effects this might trigger and send him back?

Yet, he couldn’t just throw away something as valuable as this laptop or the coins.

After some thought. He decided to hide them here.

This mountain behind the villa was where he’d played as a child. There were places only he knew.

One of them was a spot with a large rock where adults never came.

There was a narrow gap underneath, just big enough to crawl into. It had been his secret base as a kid.

'That’ll do.'

There was no way he was bringing anything connected to the Backrooms into his home.

After searching for a while, Park Minho finally found the rock.

‘It really hasn’t changed since I was a kid.'

The gap beneath it was the same as well. He was too big to crawl inside now, so instead, he shoved the heavy bag into the opening, then covered it with dirt and fallen leaves, camouflaging it perfectly.

"Phew…That should do it."

After that, Park Minho slowly made his way down the mountain toward his run-down villa.

For some reason, the walk home felt unfamiliar and unbearably long. His whole body ached and his legs trembled from muscle pain. He didn’t even know how many times he nearly collapsed.

But the moment he stepped into his cramped home, an indescribable sense of relief washed over him. Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his face.

"Hgk...Sob."

All the emotions hit him at once, so hard he had to clench his teeth just to hold himself together.

After a while, Park Minho took a shower, then threw everything he’d been wearing into a trash bag.

The outerwear, underwear, and even his shoes. All of it.

There was no telling what kind of Anomaly Levels from the Backrooms might still be clinging to them, treating them like things exposed to radiation.

'The only problem is this…’

His smartphone. It was too important to just throw away.

He plugged it in, turned it on, and was immediately flooded with missed calls and messages.

Most of the calls were from his boss. The rest were unknown numbers.

But what stood out was a single text message.

<A request has been received to access your mobile location data.

Reply Y to consent, N to refuse.

(Requester: Anyang Police Station)>

"What…? Wait, could this be—?"

It looked like while he was in the Backrooms, his boss had reported him missing.

Normally, no one would file a missing person report over a part-timer disappearing. But Park Minho had been close to the owner of Daomi Pizza. He was almost like family.

His boss must’ve been shocked when he vanished, calling him over and over and eventually reporting him missing.

'He probably even came by my place. Yeah, that sounds like him.'

The guy was nosy, but really kind. Someone Park Minho relied on.

"Ah…I should call him.”

But he was too exhausted. Park Minho dropped his phone and collapsed into sleep.

* * *

How much time had passed?

It felt like he’d only just dozed off, but when he woke up, it was already the next morning.

"Uugh…What?”

He could’ve slept longer, but something kept waking him up. The doorbell.

-Ding, dong―!

'Is that my boss?'