WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 43 - Sealed Underground Railway (2)
Seol Suyeon’s eyes showed three different colors depending on the target.
First, beings with high Anomaly Levels, in other words, genuine threats, appeared as 'red.'
Second, beings with middling Anomaly Levels appeared 'green.' Team Leader Kim Sungjin nearby was a perfect example. He was an Awakened, so strong by human standards, but within the anomalous world, his position was ultimately quite ambiguous.
Lastly, there was 'blue.' That color represented beings with weak or nearly nonexistent Anomaly Levels. Park Minho, after removing the noose, as well as the armed TBU guards, all appeared blue.
But one of the guards was strange.
"What do you see?”
"He’s blue…but there’s something red attached to his head.”
"His head?”
"Yeah. Inside his head, there’s some kind of lump? What is that…?”
"Wait a second.”
Park Minho had the perfect tool for situations like this. For the first time in a while, he pulled out the scanner and activated it.
[Brain Leech / Parasitic Entity / Deeply fused with current host. Treatment difficult.]
[Scheduled to hatch in three days and spread larvae.]
"...Good grief.”
At this point, Park Minho felt like he needed to make a habit of pointing the scanner at every new person he met.
At the same time, he was reminded yet again just how deep and horrifying the darkness of the Backrooms truly was.
'A parasitic entity? That’s horrifying.'
As he frowned, realization suddenly struck him.
'Wait. I finally get to try out the shadow, right?'
The Shadow Modification Circuit’s most important role so far had simply been serving as a stand for the noose. But in truth, the thing itself was an incredibly powerful tool.
Because it possessed the ability to steal anomalous traits.
[Anomalous Ability Theft. Gold is omnipotent. Pay gold coins to steal the abilities of anomalous entities you encounter. Your shadow can store up to 3 abilities.]
[Stolen abilities remain usable indefinitely. They do not conflict with the owner’s original abilities.]
[The cost varies depending on the ability.]
Honestly, Park Minho had been itching for a chance to use it ever since obtaining it. And now an opportunity had practically fallen into his lap. The moment he activated the shadow’s ability, information about stealable powers surfaced in his mind.
[Parasitic Vision / Intermediate / 10 coins]
[Share the vision of a target implanted with an anomalous parasite for three days. After three days, larvae hatch and kill the host. Can only function within the same floor.]
[Leech Drain / Intermediate / 10 coins]
[Continuously drains the life force of a target implanted with an anomalous parasite.]
Both abilities were extremely tempting. Whichever one he stole, Park Minho himself would gain the ability to secretly implant anomalous parasites into other people.
‘This is genuinely evil as hell… Which one should I take?'
Both had clear uses. If used cleverly, vision sharing could extract all kinds of information. Even aside from that, it would be useful when escaping from entities.
But Leech Drain also held quite some allure. Draining someone’s life force was essentially attacking and healing simultaneously.
After thinking it over, Park Minho chose the second ability, Leech Drain.
'If I want to survive longer, Leech Drain’s the better option.'
Normally, he was the type who prioritized information above all else. But after nearly dying so many times recently, his instincts naturally pushed him toward the latter choice instead.
Park Minho pulled 10 gold coins from his pocket and scattered them onto his shadow.
-Cliiink.
The shadow immediately absorbed them, and the skill activated.
-Gurgle, gurgle.
The shadow rippled violently like a mass of tar before exercising its anomalous power and stealing the Brain Leech’s ability.
'Got it.'
He hadn’t even awakened yet, and he had already obtained an anomalous ability. And not just any ability, but one far more powerful than he’d expected.
'I seriously hit the jackpot here.’
But then, the guard carrying the parasite suddenly staggered.
"Uuugh…”
"What’s wrong? Hyuncheol!”
"Dizzy…! Ugh!”
In the end, the guard named Hyuncheol collapsed onto the floor, throwing the surrounding group into chaos.
"What the hell’s happening to him?”
"Hyuncheol! Hyuncheol!”
“Medic! Hurry!”
Park Minho’s heart dropped. For a moment, he worried that using the shadow had somehow harmed the man.
Of course, the scanner had already stated that treatment would be difficult and that larvae would hatch in three days, but even so, that didn’t mean the man deserved to die.
-Beep.
Park Minho hurriedly activated the scanner again.
[Brain Leech / Parasitic Entity / Critical failure in sustaining life force due to loss of absorption ability.]
[Larva hatching failed.]
"...!"
That was not the result he had expected. Because Park Minho had stolen the absorption ability, the Brain Leech had lost the very function it used to siphon nutrients from its host.
'This is basically ruining someone’s finished meal at the last second?'
The parasite had secretly attached itself to the host and struggled all the way to the verge of hatching its larvae only for Park Minho to completely ruin its reproduction and drive it to death.
After observing for a moment longer, Park Minho activated the scanner again.
-Beep.
[Brain Leech / Parasitic Entity / Deceased.]
In the end, it had died.
'Man, this feels absurdly satisfying…'
He gained a new ability and saved someone’s life at the same time. From the Brain Leech’s perspective, it was nothing less than a bolt from the blue.
Meanwhile, the medic continued delivering his report.
"Team Leader, I can’t determine the exact symptoms. He’s currently unconscious, but his vital signs are relatively stable.”
"Hmm..."
Kim Sungjin looked troubled. They couldn’t afford to halt the entire mission because of one agent.
"Should we leave him behind at the hotel?”
Surprisingly, though, after about 15 minutes, the man named Hyuncheol regained consciousness.
"Hm...?"
"What the–? Are you okay?”
"What happened?”
"You passed out, idiot.”
"What...?"
The man himself looked completely clueless.
"...Is it anemia?”
“The hell kind of nonsense is that?"
However, soon after, he started suffering from nosebleeds and severe dizziness, which ultimately forced him to stay behind in the hotel hospital. It seemed that even though the parasite had died, lingering aftereffects still remained.
"We’ll send someone for you later, so just rest for now.”
"I’m sorry, Team Leader.”
"Forget it, idiot. Passing out and spraying noseblood all over the place..."
Meanwhile, Park Minho was deep in thought about the parasite’s origin.
'Did it latch onto him in the underground railway section? If that’s the case, maybe I can steal more abilities there?'
After all, he didn’t necessarily need someone to be infected. Simply discovering parasites would be enough.
'Maybe I can gain something else too…'
And so, as planned, the remaining personnel entered Floor 5.5, the Sealed Underground Railway.
* * *
What TBU did not know was that there were unexpected intruders already lurking within the Sealed Underground Railway.
They were gents of Sigma Four,' a special containment unit belonging to the NCE.
What distinguished them from ordinary Foundation special task forces was simple. They actively utilized anomalous entities during operations.
Publicly, the NCE preached the extermination of anomalous entities, yet Sigma Four embodied the organization’s hypocrisy perfectly by weaponizing those same entities themselves.
“The parasite implanted in the target has died."
-Bzzzt―.
An agent who was inspecting a device called a ‘Parasite Transceiver’ delivered the report.
"What…?”
The Sigma Four team leader frowned sharply while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"The signal confirms the parasite’s death.”
"You’re telling me those idiotic TBU bastards noticed it?”
"I don’t know."
Not long ago, the NCE had obtained critical information through a collaborator embedded inside TBU. Apparently, TBU guards had rushed to the Liminal Grand Hotel in order to escort an unidentified VIP.
The NCE judged that this was no ordinary matter and dispatched Sigma Four to uncover the target’s identity.
Sigma Four was ideal for this mission. The Brain Leeches they employed were extraordinarily effective for information gathering.
The only issue was that they had to remain on the same floor as the parasite. Vision sharing was powerful, but not powerful enough to transcend Backroom floors.
At present, Sigma Four’s agents were hidden within a secluded area of the underground railway, waiting.
As soon as TBU entered the railway sector, they should’ve been able to gather information without fail. And yet, the parasite had suddenly died.
"Goddammit…!”
The team leader scratched his head irritably, brows raised high in frustration.
"What about implanting another vision-sharing parasite?”
"We can implant one, but it takes time for it to properly fuse and mature enough to transmit information. TBU will probably return to headquarters before that happens. Unless we plan on following them all the way to Floor 7, it would be pointless.”
“No matter what, going as far as Floor 7 is impossible…”
Lately, the NCE had begun conducting operations in the Backrooms far more aggressively than before. But Floor 7, TBU’s headquarters, was still an area that was nearly impossible to infiltrate.
"What are you planning to do then? The Foundation’s going to demand results no matter what.”
"What other parasites do we have?”
"We have 4 suicide-induction parasites.”
The suicide-induction parasites were far smaller than the vision-sharing parasites. They resemble horsehair worms, slipping through a target’s nose and attaching themselves to the brain.
They didn’t possess enough power to physically destroy the brain on their own. Instead, they emitted peculiar electrical signals and hormones that drove the host toward suicide.
"So we can eliminate four people before we even start……”
"You’re considering an attack?”
"It’s worth considering. The Foundation said reconnaissance comes first, but that we should exercise flexible judgment. In other words, they’re telling us not to come back empty-handed.”
"...That’s true. If we return with nothing, it won’t end well for us.”
"But what if we return after securing the VIP?”
"The reward would definitely be substantial.”
"Exactly. That’s it.”
Currently, there were 12 Sigma Four operatives hidden in the area. All were fully armed, and their team leader was an Awakened. If they used the suicide parasites to cull four people before launching the attack, the odds were more than favorable.
"And those idiots have gotten complacent. They camp in the exact same spot every single time. If we hit them while they’re asleep, it’ll be easy.”
"Understood."
"Good. Everyone get ready. We’re going ahead to plant the parasites around the campsite first.”
* * *
Park Minho and Seol Suyeon entered the Sealed Underground Railway escorted by the TBU. The surroundings were pitch-black and shrouded in deep darkness, like an abandoned subway line left to rot underground.
-Bzzt, bzzzzt.
A few old fluorescent lights still clung to life, but they were so dim that their glow was helplessly swallowed by the darkness.
However, once the guards switched on the flashlights attached to their rifles, the area became considerably brighter.
Inside the Backrooms, light could repel entities more effectively than bullets sometimes, which was why night vision equipment wasn’t commonly used.
Still, there were certain areas where even the flashlight failed to illuminate anything. Some darkness possessed anomalous properties of its own.
"If we continue along this rail line, we’ll eventually reach Floor 7. There are a few branching paths, but one of our guides will lead the way, so there’s no need to worry.”
Park Minho nodded at Kim Sungjin’s explanation.
"We’ll be in your care then. How long will the trip take?”
"1 night and 2 days. There’s a relatively safe resting area where we can camp comfortably.”
The group traveled for 8 hours straight. Along the way, Seol Suyeon spotted numerous entities lurking within patches of anomalous darkness that even the flashlights couldn’t penetrate. The red glow made them impossible for her to miss.
Every single one of them looked horrifying, yet none attacked and merely stared.
Still, the sight of dozens of grotesque eyeballs hanging from the ceiling, rolling wildly as they followed her movements, was enough to grind away at her nerves.
Cold sweat streamed down Seol Suyeon’s back, but she endured it silently so she wouldn’t slow the group down.
'It’s okay. As long as the entities don’t rush us, there’s nothing to worry about…’
Eventually, they arrived at what appeared to be a temporary shelter once used by railway workers during construction. A resting area had been carved into one side of the tunnel, and inside were construction materials along with several half-destroyed containers.
"Let’s rest here.”
After walking through the dark tunnels for 8 straight hours, both Park Minho and Seol Suyeon were utterly exhausted. Soel Suyeon in particular was mentally drained after constantly seeing entities invisible to everyone else.
In contrast, the TBU escorts were clearly veterans. Even while hauling around piles of equipment and supplies, none of them showed the slightest sign of exhaustion.
"Your sleeping area is over here.”
Kim Sungjin prepared a resting place for Park Minho and Seol Suyeon inside one of the containers. Though half of it had been torn apart, it still blocked the wind and provided cover on both sides, making it the best spot available in the camp.
"But is it really fine for only us to use the container?”
"It’s fine. Please don’t worry about it. We’re used to this.”
The agents skillfully lit a campfire and heated their food. After dinner, they assigned pairs for watch duty, and everyone quietly spread out their bedding and lay down.
-Crackle, crackle.
Only the sound of the campfire burning echoed softly through the tunnel. The escorts fell asleep as if this routine were second nature to them, and even Kim Sungjin, who had kept scanning the surroundings until the very end, eventually began to nod off.
As silence settled over the camp, something strange occurred.
Nearby piles of dirt shifted slightly. The parasite-like creatures resembling horsehair worms crawled out from beneath the soil. Without making a single sound, they slithered toward the sleeping escorts.
Their movements were so subtle that nobody noticed them. The guards on watch were focused on the railway tracks ahead, not the campsite itself.
-Squirm, squirm.
Once the parasites reached their targets’ faces, they secreted a yellowish fluid from their bodies. It was an anesthetic substance meant to prevent the host from noticing when the parasites entered through the nasal cavity.
A moment later, the creatures slipped smoothly into the escorts’ nostrils.
"Khg...!"
"Hmpf!"
A few of the men twisted in discomfort, but the irritation must not have been severe, because their breathing soon steadied once more. Just like that, four of them were infected in an instant.
At the same time, Seol Suyeon was trapped in a terrible nightmare. After repeatedly seeing entities that nobody else could perceive, she had begun suffering from cognitive contamination.
"Ngh…! Ugh!”
Her face was drenched in sweat. After tossing and turning for quite some time, she finally jolted awake.
"Uuugh......"
Her head throbbed painfully. She desperately wanted a painkiller. Frowning, she reached up to adjust her glasses, which had slipped down her face, and then a chill ran down her spine.
"...!"
The heads of four sleeping escorts were flowing red.
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