The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth - Chapter 20

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 20 - VTuber (5)

The reason the regulars suddenly got fired up and started throwing offers at Park Minho was simple.

They wanted to resurrect immediately.

The regulars who were currently giving Park Minho advice had all been top-tier explorers in life. Because of that, they had pushed deep into the Backrooms and died there.

It would take Park Minho, who had barely just dipped his toes into the early levels, ages to reach that depth.

On top of that, there were tons of people waiting to be revived.

In a situation where even shaving off your ‘queue number’ mattered, the White Room Access Ticket was basically a golden opportunity.

“Offering not just information, but actual power or tangible items. That’s on a completely different level in terms of merit. Realistically, wouldn't that put me first in line for revival? Hehe!”

Chiavelli’s thoughts reflected what everyone else was thinking.

However Park Minho had no intention of accepting easily.

'If I’m going to play hardball, I might as well do it properly. I just pulled a Legendary item. There’s no way I’m just settling for this.'

First, he needed to talk to the people who contacted him.

His goal was simple. Pick apart their offers and squeeze out something better.

▶ Cheezza: Hello, Chiavelli-nim?

▶ Chiavelli: Oh my, Cheezza-nim. I knew you’d come to me!

▶ Cheezza: You said you could give me Miracle Arts?

▶ Chiavelli: Of course. And if you’d like, we could even have a more personal relationship. ♥♥♥

Chiavelli was a user known for her beauty. With a massive following, she was basically the queen bee of the gallery.

But Park Minho couldn’t care less about that. All he cared about was the ‘Miracle Arts’.

Unlike normal awakenings, Miracle Arts were fundamentally different.

One could think of them like divine magic in fantasy.

Instead of using your own anomalous power, you borrowed power from a god-tier entity. And that made it far stronger than normal awakenings.

▶ Cheezza: Don’t you need to actually join the religion to use it properly?

▶ Chiavelli: Ah, indeed. The deeper your faith, the stronger miracles you can access. Oh, and we even have a branch in Anyang, you know?

▶ Cheezza: So you are trying to recruit me ;; Yeah, I’m out.

▶ Chiavelli: Huh? Wait, what? Hold on, Cheezza-nim?

Next up was Kim Chilsung.

▶ Cheezza: Hello Chilsung-hyungnim, what kind of drink are you offering?

▶ KimChilsung: You came at just the right time! If you drink this special beverage I’m offering and you’ll gain herculean strength! You could tear apart entities with your bare hands!

▶ Cheezza: Wow, seriously? Any downsides?

▶ KimChilsung: Unfortunately, you’ll go bald! But all heroes are bald anyway!

▶ Cheezza: Hard pass.

He was absolutely not going bald for this.

The rest of the conversations more or less proceeded in similar ways.

▶ Cheezza: Absolute Entity Encyclopedia? Wouldn’t that overloud my brain with anomalous info?

▶ LostHassan: .....

After dismantling all their sweet-talk offers like this, Park Minho made a new post.

[Title] Hey regulars. If you want to meet me, bring something better

Author: Cheezza

[Content] The offers aren’t cutting it. I need to see some desperation.

The gallery instantly caught on.

ㄴBro definitely got spammed with DMs after showing that ticket LMFAOOOO

ㄴLord Cheezza: “Bring me something better, you peasants" LOOOOOL

ㄴIs this guy actually trying to turn this into an open auction now?

ㄴA single legendary item flipped the entire power dynamic between him and those stuck-up regulars, huh?

The offers Park Minho received were all impressive, but none of them felt like things that would suit him. So the only thing he could do now was wait.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Yeah, I don’t have to use the ticket right away anyway.

ㄴLook at him getting cocky now.

ㄴAs expected, Lord Cheezza is actually putting the regulars in their place.

ㄴWanna roll more gacha?

ㄴGacha gogo

Park Minho was tempted, but Seol Suyeon grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Looking at the chat, this is exactly when people spiral. They’re literally praying for you to go broke.”

"Yeah, you’re right.”

In the end, Park Minho took her advice.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Nah. I’m out. I got my legendary so I’m dipping.

ㄴWow, you scared?

ㄴGacha is all about momentum, bro.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Not happening. No matter how you bait me. The person next to me read the thread and agrees too.

That line made the gallery collectively freeze.

ㄴ??????

ㄴWait, what? She can read it??

ㄴWhat do you mean she read it?? If you’re not a gallery user you literally can’t read this.

ㄴTo normal people it just looks like 34ÖCÄÄÄC»AÍÀÚ???←Corrupted text.

Park Minho looked over to Seol Suyeon. She tilted her head.

“Huh? I can read it just fine though?”

"Want to try treading it out loud?”

Seol Suyeon started reading the comments one by one.

"See? You’re lying…If you lack knowledge, your lies are bound to get caught…I was jealous but turns out you’re just like us…”

The gallery members, already quite salty that Park Minho had a girl with im, immediately pounced.

ㄴ(LostHassan) Bro, there are a lot of virgins here. You don’t need to flex like that, we get it, hehe

ㄴWhy did the regulars suddenly get nicer LOL?

ㄴIsn’t this just schizophrenia? Careful, your ‘girlfriend’ might disappear if you take some meds LOOOOOOOL

ㄴYou can’t prove it, can you?

Park Minho was dumbfounded.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Aren’t you guys going a bit far;;?

ㄴCan’t do it, right?

ㄴHow do you photograph an imaginary girlfriend? LMFAOOOOO

ㄴWelcome to the national delusion forum.

Just like that, Park Minho had turned into a delusional liar.

"Wait…seriously?”

Apparently, if one wasn’t a gallery user, one couldn’t read posts at all. That alone was news to him. But as the ridicule kept piling on, Seol Suyeon snapped.

"Let’s just do it. Give them proof."

"Huh?"

"Let’s do it. Just don’t show my face.”

"You don’t have to go that far…”

"Minho-nim, you’re getting labeled as delusional right now. The thread’s on fire. Are you really just going to sit there?”

Thinking about it, he realized that he would probably get shamed for this until who knows when if he didn’t take care of this.

In the end, Park Minho gave in. As he raised his phone, Seol Suyeon hesitated and asked,

"Should we stand closer? It feels kind of awkward like this.”

"Sure......?"

She moved right next to him until their shoulders touched. Still not satisfied with the angle, she fidgeted a bit, then said,

"Just put your arm around my shoulder.”

"Huh? Are you sure that’s okay…?”

"You literally hugged me earlier when we got startled by that thing. Now you’re shy?”

"I mean, you hugged me, too.”

"...So it’s fine.”

"......"

Park Minho put his arm around Seol Suyeon’s shoulder. At that point, forget taking that selfie, he had to focus just to keep his composure.

‘Why does she smell so nice?’

Seol Suyeon was thinking something similar.

'Why does standing next to him feel so reassuring?'

Only now did she realize why, back in the Backrooms, she had clung to Park Minho like her life depended on it.

'Yeah, this was it.'

Ever since getting out, she felt weirdly unsettled and anxious. But now those feelings settled down.

Her cheeks flushed without her even realizing.

"Should I take it?"

"Ah! Yes!”

Seol Suyeon hurriedly covered her face with her hand.

After taking her photo, Park Minho noticed something while preparing the post.

"A new feature?”

There was an option preventing downloads and screenshots. Normally, that kind of thing could be bypassed easily with a bit of tinkering, but in this anomalous space, it actually worked.

Park Minho uploaded the picture.

[Title] You wanted proof? Here’s your proof.

Author: Cheezza

ㄴHuh???????

ㄴ??????

ㄴWait, this was actually real???

The photo only showed Park Minho’s face. He was smiling confidently, while Seol Suyeon had turned her head away. covering her face with her hand. But her faintly flushed cheeks were clearly visible.

ㄴThat girl is undeniably pretty, right???

ㄴYou can only see the lower half, but… there’s no way she’s not.

ㄴCheezza, you crazy bastard.

But then the comments started shifting in a different direction.

ㄴWhy does the composition look so familiar?

ㄴI swear I’ve seen this somewhere before.

ㄴ(Pitbull) Wait, is this guy an NTR protag?

ㄴBro this is literally like “Heeey XX, are you watching? I’m with your childhood friend right now……” 💀

Only then did Park Minho realize that it really resembled those covers.

ㄴThis guy buried the wholesome boyfriend in the Backrooms and stole the girl.

ㄴKnew it from the start.

ㄴExplain yourself. Explain yourself. Explain yourself.

ㄴ(Cheezza) It’s not like that;; we’re just normal friends.

ㄴCap. What are you two doing after this?

Then came the other kinds of reactions.

ㄴBro…that chest is Cerberus-level.

ㄴShe’s wearing baggy clothes and it’s still like that? How??

ㄴExcuse me, but may I respectfully simp?

ㄴAnomalous storage capacity detected ;;;

Right then, the admin stepped in and shut it down.

ㄴ<Admin> Any further and you’re banned. She’s a civilian. No exceptions. Permaban if needed.

ㄴEeek. Sorry!!!

ㄴI saw nothing. I know nothing.

ㄴI’ll go reflect immediately.

Once things calmed down, Park Minho said he’d delete the post.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Proved it, so I’m deleting.

ㄴNO! This is humanity’s treasure! The world’s treasure!

ㄴI didn’t get to save it! Please!

ㄴYou bastard, don’t you dare.

-Click.

Park Minho deleted the post immediately. Just like that, the proof was gone. Being in an anomalous space made things like this really convenient.

* * *

The hole problem was more or less solved.

It wasn’t growing anymore, and according to the gallery, portals formed by space parasites were one-way only. You could go in through the mouth, but nothing would come out the other way.

"Suyeon-nim, if you ever think about selling this place, let me know. I’ll buy it.”

Even if it was one-way, her apartment was a stable entrance to the Backrooms’ Level 0. That alone made it incredibly valuable.

Right now, Park Minho had already decided to go all the way. He needed to awaken. The reason for that was a conversation he just had in the gallery.

ㄴ(Cheezza) What’s the most reliable way to never get kidnapped again and protect my coins? I signed the agreement so the gallery’s covered, but if I start spending coins outside, that could cause problems, right?

ㄴYeah, that’s definitely an issue.

ㄴ(KimChilsung) True! Even if you’re careful, eventually you slip up!

In the end, there was only one clear answer.

ㄴ(Pitbull) Awaken and get stronger. Strong enough that no one will touch you even with all those coins.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Won’t the NCE just grab me if I awaken???

ㄴ(Pitbull) Not wrong, but there are ways around that. Most people here are just freaking out because they’ve never been outside. Ignorance breeds fear.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Is that so?

ㄴ(Pitbull) There’s a reason people get caught right after leaving. They’re clueless, so they test their abilities in the real world. That’s how the NCE finds them.

According to Pitbull, there were plenty of ways to hide being an awakened.

ㄴ(Pitbull) You can use anomalous items that conceal awakening, or suppress it yourself so your Anomaly Levels don’t leak out. There are lots of options.

ㄴ(Cheezza) But if I use my abilities, I’ll still get caught eventually, right?

ㄴ(Pitbull) There are ways around that too. You can set up equipment to disrupt detection, or even create barrier fields.

ㄴ(Chiavelli) Our cult uses a special incense. It turns into a mist that hides Anomaly Levels. So you can use abilities inside it without getting detected.

ㄴ(Cheezza) Then what if awakened people use that and come rob others? Sounds kinda hopeless.

ㄴ(Pitbull) WHich is why you need to awaken as well.

ㄴ(Cheezza) And to awaken, I have to go back into the Backrooms?

ㄴ(Pitbull) Exactly. Like when you triggered that electrical Noise Phenomenon before. And if you want to properly use your gold coins, you have to go back in.

The reason was simple. Inside the Backrooms were special vending machines one could use with gold coins.

ㄴ(Pitbull) Outside, they’re heavily restricted. They just give out stuff like youth, health and beauty items for the wealthy. But inside? Totally different. If you’ve got enough coins, you can get things beyond your imagination.

ㄴ(Cheezza) But shouldn’t that be possible outside as well? Like through the black market or something?

ㄴ(Pitbull) Sure, but it’s expensive and limited. The most valuable things in the Backrooms are usually energy-based and can’t be taken out. Most people absorb them on the spot. So there are clear limits as to what you can get outside.

Now that he’d decided to awaken, there was no need for him to hesitate about going back in.

"If you give it to me, you can go back to your normal life.”

Park Minho assumed Seol Suyeon would agree. Unlike him, she had a lot going for her in the real world.

But she didn’t answer right away.

"I, erm…”

She hesitated, lips twitching like she was struggling to say something. Then, she opened her mouth, as if she had made up her mind.

"I want to go too. Back to the Backrooms…!”

Park Minho frowned.

"What? You of all people should know that place isn’t a joke.”

She had literally been dragged around as livestock by cannibalistic lunatics. It was a nightmare, through and through.

So why?

"There’s a reason. I wasn’t just dragged into it by accident.”