WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 23 - Backrooms Floor 0 (3)

A grotesque biological Backroom that mimicked Floor 0, nicknamed the ‘Digesting Maze.'

Within the NCE Foundation, this place had been designated as NCE-1121.

During the first expedition, the Foundation discovered that a high-value anomalous object, referred to as the 'Gastrolith,' existed there.

Since then, they had committed significant resources to securing it.

Though multiple attempts ended in failure, their determination to obtain the Gastrolith never wavered. Eventually, they deployed a more elite special operations unit than before called ‘Zeta Nine.'

"Entry complete. Analyzing atmospheric composition."

"Oxygen levels normal. Due to reports of unknown toxins, all personnel are to keep respirator filters active at all times.”

Calm, clipped voices echoed between the nine operatives who had just entered the biological Backroom.

Zeta Nine wasn’t top-tier within the NCE, but it was a unit reserved for seasoned veterans among standard special forces.

“Advance with the deputy leader in the lead.”

At the team leader’s command, the members silently carried out their roles, sweeping through the living maze.

After some time, the deputy leader at the front spoke up.

"Entity signals detected. 50 meters ahead. Three targets.”

At that moment, three entities burst out from the far end of the corridor. Brown bodies with massive, tulip-like mouths split wide open.

"Kieeeeeeeh!”

Even as the entities charged, Zeta Nine remained composed. First, the operators carrying M60E6 machine guns opened fire.

-Ratatatata!

-Tatatatatatata!

A storm of bullets poured out in an instant. The entities were quickly drenched in blood, but they didn’t fall.

"Kweeeeeeeh!”

As they continued to charge ahead, the operative armed with an automatic shotgun stepped forward next.

-Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

The rounds were special incendiary shells, so the entities’ bodies were engulfed in flames in mere seconds.

-Whoooosh!

Even then, they didn’t stop. They were not right in front of them. Then as if on cue, the operatives wielding electrified suppression batons stepped in.

-Bzzzzzzzt!

Smoke rose from the entities’ bodies as the current surged through them.

"Kieeeeeh!”

The entities struggled violently, trying to break free, but the operatives had undergone enhancement procedures. They could only hold them for 5-6 seconds, but that was enough. The team unleashed concentrated fire at point-blank range.

-Ratatatatatatata!

-Tatatatatat!

Bullets tore into the tulip-like heads. And finally, the entities collapsed, covered in copious amounts of blood.

"Keeeeh...!"

"Kirrrrrgh......!"

-Thud!

Their resilience was monstrous. Even the Zeta Nine operatives, who carried out the execution like machines, let out heavy breaths afterward.

"Disgusting…”

"Every job we do is like this, isn’t it?”

"I guess so.”

"Alright, enough chatter. Move out.”

They passed by the corpses of the entities without a second glance.

After moving through several more areas, they found something.

"Team leader."

"What?"

"You should take a look at this room. It looks like personnel from the earlier deployment.”

Inside were five bodies that were embedded halfway into the walls and floor, slowly being absorbed.

"Looks like they were wiped out…”

The team leader clicked his tongue, then noticed something.

"Wait a second. Someone’s been here.”

"Correct. The grenade pouch is empty. Same with the flares. The medkit’s been opened as well.”

"Hmm..."

The team leader’s expression shifted. Entities didn’t care about things like grenades or flares. What they were interested in were anomalous objects and coins.

"Looks like we’ve got some rats running around.”

The deputy leader beside him asked,

"Think it’s the TBU?”

The TBU. A faction of survivors and awakened individuals operating inside the Backrooms.

A group hostile towards the NCE Foundation.

"Most likely.”

"What if it’s just civilians who got dragged in by accident?”

"Civilians don’t make it this deep into a special level. And even if they did, we simply eliminate them since they stepped into a classified Foundation zone.”

"...Understood."

* * *

Meanwhile, Park Minho examined the pile of batteries.

Something about it was strange.

Bones, human or otherwise, were stacked like an island, and countless batteries were piled on top of them.

It was almost like they were being kept away from the biological tissue.

"All of these are in terrible condition.”

The disposable batteries were oxidized, covered in white residue. Lithium-ion batteries from phones and laptops were swollen, with some already ruptured.

Seol Suyeon, who had been inspecting them, offered her opinion.

"Maybe it couldn’t digest them or didn’t want to?”

"Really?”

“Yeah, that white stuff on the batteries is leaked electrolyte. The problem is it’s strongly alkaline, so when it reacts with water, it breaks down fats and proteins.”

That made it a pretty nasty substance for biological organisms, like this Backroom.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. It probably melts its own tissue, so it stacks bones and dumps them here on purpose. And those swollen batteries were probably exposed to a lot of moisture during digestion, reacting with the electrolytes and building up toxic gas. The thing we call swelling.”

"Oh, you know your stuff, huh?”

"Haha, I was a chemical engineering major before I dropped out to become VTuber…”

Either way, these were clearly things this biological Backroom didn’t like. And hearing that, something came to Park Minho’s mind.

"Do you think this might be what the memo meant by making yourself taste bad?”

"You mean the part about making yourself look unappetizing to the tentacles?”

"Yeah. I don’t think there’s only one answer…but this seems pretty convincing.”

"That actually makes sense.”

"Let’s grab some, just in case.”

"I’ve got some ziplock bags.”

Seol Suyeon pulled one out from the side pocket of her pants.

“You sure came prepared."

"I’m just a bit thorough.”

Wearing gloves, Park Minho carefully collected mostly batteries into the bag.

"That should be enough. Let’s go.”

"Ugh……I’m scared the tentacles are going to pop up again.”

"You’ll be fine.”

Just as expected, since there was no blood on them, the tentacles didn’t react. They retraced their steps and made it back to where they had dropped their bags.

"Thank god. My stuff!”

Seol Suyeon, who had carefully packed everything, clearly hadn’t been thrilled about losing it.

“Let’s move. We need to find somewhere safe if we want to rest.”

"Yeah. Though I have no idea where ‘safe’ even is…Wait, what are you doing?”

"Ah, just testing the chalk.”

Park Minho had an anomalous item called the ‘Anywhere Chalk,' which enabled him to pass through walls after drawing a door on them, but the fleshy, damp surface wouldn’t take the chalk at all.

"Not working. We really need to be careful around dead ends.”

"Yeah.”

They tried to navigate using the smell again, but the problem was that they had started getting used to the sour stench of the biological backroom.

“This is bad. Everything smells the same now.”

"Yeah, staying here too long is definitely not a good idea.”

Thankfully, after some effort, they managed to reorient themselves and returned to the area where they had first encountered the entities.

“They’re not going to respawn like in a game, right?”

"Oppa, don’t jinx it.”

"Sorry."

Fortunately, nothing like that happened. They were able to move past the area that had previously been blocked off by the entities.

Staying alert, ready to run at any moment, they continued their exploration. Then, they found something unusual.

“Look at that big room over there!”

"Huh? There’s a door at the end.”

Up until now, this place had been nothing but endless hallways and rooms that kind of just flowed into each other, but not a single door to be found anywhere.

So the appearance of one made it seem like something special was behind it.

“Could that be an exit?”

“I hope so…what should we do?”

It could just as easily be something dangerous, but ignoring it didn’t feel right either. Besides, both of them were exhausted.

They needed to get out of this horrific biological maze and return to the relatively safer Floor 0.

"If we keep wandering like this, we’re going to collapse. Let’s just pray that’s the way out.”

"Yeah. Honestly, I agree.”

They stepped into the room. Calling it a room didn’t feel that accurate since it was enormous. It was about the size of a soccer field, with multiple passages branching off to the left and right.

'Please, let nothing happen...'

But the moment they reached about the middle, entities appeared as if on cue.

Slime-like creatures began pouring out from all side corridors. At a glance, there were well over twenty of them.

Fighting wasn’t even an option.

"Run, run!”

Park Minho and Seol Suyeon sprinted toward the door ahead with everything they had.

Fortunately, the slime-like entities weren’t that fast. They slowly but quite persistently wiggled forward, but it seemed like they might be able to outrun them.

Then the fluorescent lights on the ceiling started to flicker.

"...!"

"...!"

At the same time, both of them remembered the rule.

5. When the fluorescent lights flicker, stop. Absolutely stop.

It had even emphasized it with 'absolutely.'

"Stop!”

Seol Suyeon froze along with Park Minho, but her face turned pale as she looked at the slimes closing in from all sides.

"O-Oppa…?”

She was basically asking him if they were really just going to stand here while those things were crawling toward them.

As if answering her, yellow digestive fluid sprayed down toward the slimes from the flickering ceiling.

-Fsssssh!

The sour stench intensified. Even from a distance, their eyes started stinging, so this stuff didn’t seem to be anything mild.

But the smile-like entities kept crawling forward as if nothing had happened.

-Wiggle, wiggle.

They were creatures adapted to this biological Backroom. The digestive fluid was strong enough to melt even entities, but for these smile-like things, it did nothing.

At most, it slowed them down slightly. And they knew how to exploit the timing when the lights flickered. Their prey would either freeze or panic and run into the digestive spray.

After that, they just had to catch and eat them.

From the perspective of the biological Backroom, these things were like parasites that couldn’t be eliminated, stealing its food.

"What do we do?! What do we do...?!”

Seol Suyeon’s face had gone completely pale, showing clear signs of panic. If they moved, they'd get drenched in acid. If they stayed, they’d be eaten by the slimes.

"Uuugh……!”

Park Minho forced his brain to work.

'Think, think, think.'

There had to be a way. And if there wasn’t, he’d have to make one. Otherwise, this palace would be their grave.

"...!"

Then something from the memo surfaced in his mind.

[The fluorescent lights on the ceiling are its nerves.]

'Nerves...?'

If it reacted to movement, then it might function like vision.

'If that’s the case …'

The moment an idea struck him, he decided to test it immediately. In the end, they’d die no matter if they continued to stay still or moved.

Keeping his body as still as possible, he slowly moved just his arm and pulled out a flare from his pocket.

If those lights really acted like eyes, then the flare should affect them. After all, a flare burned bright enough to temporarily blind anyone who looked directly at it.

"Suyeon, look away!”

At the same time, Park Minho flicked his wrist, keeping his body still, and threw the flare.

-Fwoosh!

-Fsssssssh!

Flames burst and then blinding light exploded outward. Park Minho threw another flare without a shred of hesitation.

As the area filled with overwhelming brightness, something changed. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling suddenly went out. Not just that. The entire space rippled and convulsed, like it was writhing in pain.

At that moment, Park Minho grabbed Seol Suyeon’s arm.

"Now!”

They turned their backs to the light and ran with everything they had, straight for the door.

Thankfully, it wasn’t locked. They rushed inside and slammed it shut.

-Bang!

Light poured in through the gap, but after about 30 seconds, it faded and darkness returned.

Even as they passed the door, the ceiling lights remained off.

"Holy…shit.”

Park Minho’s heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

"S-Suyeon, are you okay?”

"Oppa…my legs are shaking.”

"You did great. Seriously.”

He helped steady her and backed away. Thankfully, there were no signs of the slimes breaking through the door.

After some time, the chaos outside died down, and the fluorescent lights flickered back on.

-Bzzzt. Plink!

They both flinched and looked up, but this time, the lights were shining steadily without flickering. They both let out a long breath and collapsed where they stood.

"Haah…”"

"Aah..."

Their bodies were drenched in sweat. At this rate, it genuinely felt like they wouldn’t survive long. Even though they knew they had to move, neither of them could budge for a while.

After some time, Park Minho spoke up.

"We can’t stay here.”

"Understood.”

They staggered to their feet, like newborn deer learning to walk, leaning on each other as they moved forward.

But they didn’t know yet what lay ahead.

The area they had just passed through was so dangerous that not even the NCE special forces, nor countless other explorers, had ever made it through.

And yet Park Minho and Seol Suyeon had done it. In other words, it was only natural they would now face what so many had sought.

"Whoa…! What is this place?”

Park Minho stared in awe at the room ahead.

It had a dome-like ceiling, and beneath it was a massive island formed from heaps of garbage. Surrounding it like a moat was boiling digestive fluid.

However, there were clusters of debris scattered around like stepping stones. It seemed possible to cross over as long as they were careful.

"Oppa? There’s something over there.”

Following Seol Suyeon’s finger, he saw a small black sphere floating in midair at the center of the garbage island.

That was the Gastrolithe.

A kind of calculus formed from anomalous energy. The undigested remnants of countless entities and explorers who had died on this floor.

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