WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 49 - Shell Casing Plaza (1)
Park Minho slowly raised his eyelids.
The first thing he felt was the cool sensation of the metal operating table against his back.
At some point, the restraints had already been removed. As Park Minho stretched out his stiff muscles and sat up, his eyes landed on Director Yoon standing rigidly in place.
It was a complete contrast to how he had acted just a few hours ago, when he had viewed Park Minho as nothing more than a pawn on his chessboard.
He couldn’t even bring himself to meet Park Minho’s eyes, keeping his head lowered instead. Beads of cold sweat covered his forehead, and his politely folded hands trembled slightly.
Park Minho leisurely watched him while rolling his wrists. Being strapped to the operating table had left him a little sore.
"So, how are you feeling today, Patient 100?”
At those words, Director Yoon completely crumbled.
"D-director…!”
Director Yoon immediately dropped to his knees. His knees struck the cold floor with a sound that made it seem like they might shatter, but he didn’t care in the slightest.
“I-I feel wonderful! It’s all thanks to the great Director’s kindness and generosity! I-I dared not recognize your greatness before…and plotted foolish things.”
He was even panting as he confessed his sins.
"My arrogance and ignorance causing me to try harming the Director was never, never my true intention! This pitiful mind of mine had been devoured by sickness and led me into delusions! Please, allow me a chance to atone!”
Tears of repentance had even formed in his eyes. He had now become Park Minho’s blind follower.
Park Minho nodded.
"The treatment results are excellent. It seems giving you a recovery certificate was worth it after all.”
“Th-thank you…! If you need anything, and I mean anything, just say the word!”
“Hm, shouldn’t we finish the awakening procedure? I ended up taking a trip somewhere ridiculous because of your greed, Executive Director Yoon.”
At those words, Director Yoon slammed his forehead against the floor.
“I am so sorry!”
"I’m not trying to blame you.”
“To tell you the truth… It would actually be better not to force an awakening through assistance devices.”
"...?"
"The truth is, unlike what’s publicly known, these devices have a serious flaw. If someone undergoes artificial awakening through them, their latent potential is drastically reduced. It looks convenient on the surface, but in reality it’s nothing more than a machine for mass-producing generic Awakened.”
It was the first time Park Minho had heard something like that. Now that Director Yoon was under his complete control, obtaining confidential information wasn’t difficult anymore.
"I heard that if you personally handled the synchronization, someone could jump straight to the mid-level?”
"There have been a few successful cases like that…but those people never advanced beyond mid-level afterward. In any case, your awakening is already right around the corner, Director. There’s no reason to intentionally cripple your own potential.”
"I see."
“And I strongly recommend keeping the Energy Core. It has extremely good compatibility with your lightning-type ability.”
Thinking about it, he had once roasted that terrifying Cleaning Supervisor using the Energy Core.
"Didn’t you say TBU was desperately trying to get one though?”
"That’s true. If you sold it, they’d probably pay double the market value.”
“Is that really okay?”
"You don't need to worry about the organization. They’ll suffer for a while, but they’ll eventually find another one somewhere. What’s important is you, Director."
At this point, Director Yoon’s entire way of thinking had been rewritten to put Park Minho above everything else.
* * *
Park Minho ended up moving to a new residence. This was due to Director Yoon’s advice.
"Меня зовут Иван. Я буду отвечать за вашу охрану..."
Naturally, he had no idea what the man beside him was saying. It wasn’t until he received a translation earpiece that he could understand him.
"My name is Ivan. I’ll be responsible for your security…”
TBU’s fortress city was packed with people from all kinds of countries, so translation devices were apparently considered essential.
"Thank you, Ivan. Will you be staying with us?”
At Park Minho’s question, Ivan shook his head.
“I’ll be staying separately outside. Please don’t worry, there won’t be any issues with your protection. If you need anything, feel free to call for me at any time.”
The new residence they settled into was in the district outside the inner fortress walls, where ordinary explorers lived.
It was commonly called Shell Casing Plaza, because spent bullet casings often rolled around on the ground from the occasional gunfights that broke out.
Park Minho and Seol Suyeon got a place on the 3rd floor of a building a little away from that noisy plaza. It was a small one-room apartment, but by the standards here, it was considered quite luxurious.
After looking around, Seol Suyeon wore a satisfied expression.
"It’s a little shabby, but it’s pretty cozy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, thankfully."
After tidying things up, Park Minho sat at the table and opened his laptop. As he browsed the gallery, a new topic came up.
ㄴ(Pitbull) Now that you’ve finally reached Floor 7 and have a base of operations, I can finally tell you.
ㄴ(Cheezza) What’s it this time?
ㄴ(Pitbull) About the White Room. One of your biggest objectives, remember?
He couldn’t ignore the agreement regarding the White Room. After all, the gallery users were helping Park Minho because they wanted him to rescue them from the White Room.
ㄴ(Pitbull) The first clue about the White Room is on Floor 15.
ㄴ(Cheezza) Srsly?
ㄴ(Pitbull) Yehyeh. Get yourself situated first, then make Floor 15 your next target.
ㄴ(Cheezza) It’s closer than I expected. But don’t tell me nobody in the gallery has explored Floor 15 before.
Floor 15 wasn’t deep in. The gallery veterans should’ve been strolling through it like their own backyard.
ㄴ(Pitbull) There’s a reason for that. There’s a special area on Floor 15 called the ‘Error Junkyard.’ It’s almost certain there’s a clue about the White Room there. Problem is, opening the Error Junkyard requires Reality Manipulation or Reality Collapse abilities, so nobody’s been able to touch it. Or at least something similar. The place is completely sealed off. There isn’t even an entrance.
ㄴ(Cheezza) So it’s an area only people with special abilities can access.
ㄴ(Pitbull) Exactly. But there should be some crazy stuff in there.
According to Pitbull, the Error Junkyard was a zone where various glitches that caused problems in the Backrooms had been quarantined. Because of that, it was supposedly filled with anomalous items that could only be described as utterly broken.
ㄴ(Pitbull) The records about the White Room are one of those things too. It’ll be dangerous, so make sure you’re properly prepared.
ㄴ(Cheezza) Got it. I’ll make Floor 15 my target.
ㄴ(Chiavelli) I’m jealous. The Error Junkyard is a palace people want to enter but can’t…
ㄴWait…because he got abilities from that god-tier entity, he’s actually able to enter the Error Junkyard…a palace everyone else can only drool over???
ㄴIt’s that dangerous. Even if someone let me in, I wouldn’t go lol.
ㄴ(Pitbull) If you get TBU’s cooperation, reaching Floor 11 which has an exit to the real world, should be pretty ez. After that, it’ll depend on you.
Park Minho decided that Floor 15’s Error Junkyard would be his next goal.
"Suyeon, let’s go buy some equipment."
Right now, Park Minho didn’t even have a gun. Plus, he had fled and left behind his phase compression backpack and various supplies back at the goshiwon. He needed to properly gear up again.
"Got it. Let’s go!”
Seol Suyeon followed behind him, her rifle swinging lightly from her shoulder. At some point, she had practically become one with the gun.
"Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
When he asked, Seol Suyeon giggled.
“Now it actually feels weird if I go out without it. Oppa, let’s get handguns too.”
“Yeah. We've got a lot to buy. Grenades, smoke grenades…”
After heading outside, Park Minho looked around. Then a voice reached his ear.
-I’m following behind you. Please don’t worry.
He couldn’t even tell where the voice had come from. As expected of someone Director Yoon had assigned. The guy definitely seemed capable.
“…I never imagined there'd be this many people inside the Backrooms.”
Seol Suyeon stared at the shopping district made from crudely connected shipping containers with her mouth slightly open.
"The world population’s over 8 billion. Even if only a tiny fraction disappears, it’d still be a huge number. And lately, there are people intentionally entering the Backrooms as well.”
The place was practically an exhibition of every race on Earth.
Since they had only experienced Korea-themed local Backrooms, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon felt dizzy from the sensory overload.
A Middle Eastern-seeming explorer with a turban was selling bones from some unidentified entity, and nearby a huge dark-skinned man was inspecting his mechanical left arm. In one corner, Southeast Asian-seeming children wearing rags diligently picked up spent shell casings.
They had heard it was a chaotic place where trouble happened constantly, and right on cue, a fight had already broken out.
"You bastard! That thing you sold me malfunctioned!”
“No, that’s impossible! Did you actually read the precautions properly?!”
"Shut your trap and compensate us! My brother got hurt, and you’re still talking back?!”
“I’ll refund you! Just give it back to me!”
Shouting erupted from what looked like a junk shop.
Not long after, a loud crash erupted before a true fight broke out.
Although calling it a fight was generous. It was more like a one-sided assault.
Three guys who looked like gang members were beating up a white teenage boy who seemed to be the junk shop owner.
“You little shit! You’ve been acting cocky just because you’ve got some skills. We’ve been wanting to put you in your place!"
"The guy who used to watch your back disappeared too, so what’re ya gonna do now?!”
“How about just handing over the shop? Huh?”
People nearby only whispered among themselves without stepping in.
“Those assholes are deliberately picking a fight, right?”
“Yeah, the explorer who used to protect that junk shop disappeared.”
"The kid’s running it alone now, so they’re trying to gobble it up.”
Park Minho wasn’t exactly overflowing with justice, but he couldn’t just walk past. The boy’s nose was already broken, and blood was pouring down his face.
At this rate, they were seriously going to kill someone.
"That’s enough, you bastards.”
The Latino gang members stared at Park Minho in disbelief.
"What the hell? Who’s this Chino?”
“You wanna die? What kind of dumb fuck sticks his nose into stuff like this?”
One of them walked over and reached for Park Minho’s collar. His eyes looked extremely vicious, but Park MInho remained calm. Because he had something to rely on.
Sure enough, Ivan suddenly appeared and twisted the guy’s arm without hesitation.
-Crack!
The sound of bone breaking rang out as the guy collapsed, screaming.
"Aaaaaagh! Graaaaagh!”
The other two reacted immediately to Ivan’s sudden appearance. and pulled out handguns.
But before anyone could even process what had happened, a flash of light flickered and their wrists were severed.
"UWAAAAAGH!”
"GRAAAAGH!”
It happened so fast that no one could even tell when he’d drawn his blade.
"Get lost.”
At Ivan’s words, the gang members screamed and fled. They didn’t even bother helping each other. Tripping over themselves in panic, they scrambled into a nearby alley and disappeared.
"...Are you okay?”
Seol Suyeon helped the battered boy back to his feet. The kid looked on the verge of tears, clearly feeling wronged.
“Sniff, I wasn’t selling bad stuff, I swear…”
Park Minho bent down and started helping gather the shop’s scattered items. The people who had been standing around watching nearby also quietly dispersed after Ivan glared at them, awkwardly clearing their throats as they went on their way.
"Does this kind of thing happen often around here?”
At Park Minho’s question, Ivan, who had walked over and begun helping, nodded.
"Yes, since he’s a kid without anyone looking after him, it was only a matter of time before someone picked a fight with him. Sooner or later, someone would’ve tried to take over this shop.”
At that moment, the boy, holding tissue against his bleeding nose that Seol Suyeon had given him, tilted his head.
"Huh? Wait, Miss? You look exactly like someone I know. Are you Korean by any chance?”
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