WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 51 - Shell Casing Plaza (3)
The next morning, Shell Casing Plaza was unnaturally quiet.
Especially in one corner of the plaza, where sticky Latin music would usually be playing without fail. All sound had completely vanished from there.
Everyone stared at the scene before them with their mouths hanging open.
"Dear God!"
"What the hell happened here……?!"
The three-story prefabricated building that Los Muertos had used as their headquarters looked as though it had been hit by an airstrike. Only its skeletal frame remained standing.
Between the collapsed debris were unmistakable traces of the fierce battle from yesterday.
Bloodstains slicked the pavement, bullet holes scattered all over the walls, and countless shell casings littered the area…
Anyone could tell that the organization that had swaggered around Shell Casing Plaza was utterly finished. The gang members of Los Muertos had, quite literally, vanished.
Everyone held their breath and whispered among themselves.
"I heard those damn bastards got wiped out?”
"Even El Carnicero? Who the hell killed that lunatic?”
"No clue. I heard they messed with the wrong shop.”
"What shop?"
“No, I think Marco just ran wild and pissed off someone important.”
"How are people supposed to live like this…? In front of real power, we’re nothing but flies……”
Similar conversations spread everywhere.
In one alley, a few Eastern European gang members had gathered together. The arrogance they usually carried themselves with had completely vanished. Their expressions were uneasy, and every little sound made them jerk their heads around while muttering curses under their breath.
On the opposite side, a group of African explorers sat cleaning their weapons, their vigilance at maximum. They looked worried they might be next.
Everyone simply watched the situation unfold with anxiety gnawing at them.
* * *
Meanwhile, the person responsible for causing all this chaos with a single remake, Park Minho, was perfectly at ease.
While drinking the premium coffee Director Yoon had sent him as a gift, he listened to Kim Sungjin’s report.
"The cleanup is complete, Minho-nim.”
"Well done.”
"We eliminated 72 gang members. That includes four executives and their boss, ‘Madman’ El Carnicero.”
Kim Sungjin brought over a metal briefcase. Then unlocked it.
-Click.
With a heavy sound the lid opened, revealing a dazzling sea of gold inside.
"These are the gold coins secured from their headquarters vault. Director Yoon instructed us to hand all of them over to you, Minho-nim.”
The gold coins the gang had desperately accumulated astonishingly totaled 121 coins.
"That’s quite a lot.”
"I hope it proves useful.”
Park Minho’s total wealth had now reached 455 gold coins. Even after setting aside Seol Suyeon’s share, it was still an absurd amount of money.
Kim Sungjin believed this enormous pile of gold coins was essentially a bribe meant to keep Park Minho, the holder of Reality Manipulation and Reality Collapse abilities, on TBU’s side. The more help Park Minho received from Director Yoon, the more indebted he would become.
But in reality, that wasn’t actually the dynamic between Park Minho and Director Yoon. It was closer to that of a master and servant. Director Yoon was currently in a state where he’d do anything to prove his loyalty.
However, Kim Sungjin had brought one more piece of news.
“We’ve gotten the results regarding the investigation into Seol Suhyeok-nim.”
"Please tell us.”
"Yes. Based on various circumstances and evidence, we’re almost certain that several months ago, Seol Suhyeok-nim followed a newly emerging religious group called the ‘Church of Molting.’”
Seol Suyeon quickly interrupted in surprise.
"The Church of Molting?”
“Yes. It’s a newly formed religious organization within the Backrooms. Very little is known about them. They’re an extremely closed-off group.”
According to Kim Sungjin, the Church of Molting preached the doctrine: ‘Only by shedding the shell of flesh and awakening one’s true self can one escape the cycle of the Backrooms.’
“They say once you join, you can never leave.”
“Could he really have gotten involved with some cult? Suhyeok would never do something like that…”
"I can’t say for certain. The Church of Molting’s base is reportedly on Floor 24. It’s an extremely dangerous level, so very little information is available about it.”
Having finished his report, Kim Sungjin stood up.
“If we discover anything else, I’ll let you know.”
"Thank you.”
After Kim Sungjin left, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon discussed things and settled on a larger goal. First they would pass through the Floor 15 Error Junkyard, then they would eventually reach the Church of Molting on Floor 24.
"If it’s really as dangerous as they say, rushing there all at once would be impossible.”
"Yeah, I understand. Let’s move one floor at a time.”
* * *
Park Minho asked the gallery for advice on how he should proceed after Floor 8.
ㄴ(Chiavelli) First thing you need is party members. You two somehow managed up until now, but it’ll get rough from here on, you know?
ㄴYeh, once the Backrooms get serious, having a party is way better.
ㄴ(Cheezza) It gets even more dangerous than this?
ㄴ(LostHassan) What? Did you think once you adapted the Backrooms become some cozy neighborhood? There’s a reason so many people here are dead.
ㄴ(NCEInstaReject) Even with Reality Manipulation, your abilities are still extremely restricted, right? You absolutely need dependable teammates.
Park Minho accepted their advice and decided to recruit some party members. However, the first member came surprisingly easily.
"I’ll join you.”
It was Ivan.
"Weren’t you only supposed to handle security duties?”
“Correct. However, Director Yoon instructed me not to limit myself by location.”
"If you’re only tagging along because of your bodyguard work…”
"Not at all. Please allow me to accompany you. I’m a mid-rank Awakened, and I know quite a bit about the Backrooms. I believe I can be useful.”
After hearing him go that far, he couldn’t really turn him down, so he accepted Ivan into the party. He definitely felt like someone who could become an excellent guide.
"Alright. I’ll be counting on you, Ivan.”
The second party member also appeared almost immediately. Nicola, noticing that Park Minho’s group was preparing for exploration, stepped forward.
"Mister...!"
The young man, who had been selling firearms modified with anomalous properties, looked at him with desperate eyes.
“I…I want to come too! Please take me on the exploration!”
"All of a sudden?”
"I want to find Uncle Drago. I can’t just sit here waiting forever.”
"Well, I mean..."
"I believe he’s alive, but even if he isn’t, I want to at least find some trace of him. Please.”
Park Minho understood his determination, but he still was quite reluctant to bring the kid along. Just as he was about to refuse, Nicola caught on immediately and hurriedly spoke up.
"Let me show you the anomalous objects I’ve prepared!
Truthfully, Nicola had been preparing all kinds of things for the day he’d finally go exploring the Backrooms himself.
First, he held out a can covered in strange attached components.
“This is a sonic bomb. I gave out a few for free and tested them. They said it works really well against entities.”
"What about your teammates?”
"You just cover your ears the moment I throw it. The entities don’t even know what hit them.”
He kept pulling out all sorts of equipment. There was a device that deployed a translucent energy barrier and improvised deployable mines made out of scrap metal.
But the most useful ability by far was his power to immediately combine or repair anomalous objects on-site.
"Hmm......"
After thinking for a moment, Park Minho looked at Nicola’s hands and asked,
"Why are all your fingernails blue underneath?”
"This? Every time I use my combining ability, I get backlash bruising under my nails. If I leave it alone, my nails fall off. When it gets really bad, my fingers can break too…though that usually only happens when I combine more than three things.”
He’d apparently pushed himself so hard over time that not a single finger looked undamaged anymore.
"I really want to find Uncle Drago. I absolutely won’t slow everyone down! Uncle taught me how to shoot properly too.”
Park Minho still couldn’t decide easily when Ivan suddenly offered his advice.
“How about bringing him along? Even if he looks like this, he’s still an Awakened. In the Backrooms, usefulness matters more than age.”
"Hmm......"
“And even if Los Muertos was wiped out, that doesn’t mean the danger is completely gone. Someone else could easily become interested in Nicola’s ability.”
Park Minho had been interested in Nicola’s ability to combine anomalous objects. Eventually, he nodded.
“Alright. But you’d better prepare yourself mentally. And you take responsibility for your own life, got it?”
"Yes! Yes, sir! Thank you!”
Just like that, a four-person party led by Park Minho was formed.
* * *
The party gathered all kinds of supplies and equipment.
Nicola’s modified firearms, phase compression backpacks, hardtack, jerky, energy bars, drinking water, cooking gear, water purification filters, anomalous drinks, medical kits, and so on.
They prepared enough supplies to survive for nearly 3 weeks.
Finally, the group boarded the tactical vehicle Team Leader Kim Sungjin had prepared.
-Vrooooom.
With a heavy rumble, the tactical vehicle started moving and quickly arrived at the fortress city’s gate. The guards, normally stiff and unfriendly toward explorers, immediately snapped to attention upon seeing Kim Sungjin and saluted sharply.
"Clear! No abnormalities detected!”
As they quickly passed through the gate, the city’s neon signs and lights rapidly faded into the distance behind them.
“Wooow…I haven’t been outside the city in forever.”
Nicola stared out the window in amazement. Floor 7, where the fortress city was located, was an enormous underground world.
The ceiling, packed with countless stalactites, rose over a hundred meters high. And all around them, stalagmites rose from the ground like trees.
Clunk. Thud!
After traveling along the rough, uneven road, they finally reached their destination.
The entrance to Floor 8.
[FLOOR 8 : Abandoned Mine Shafts]
Several explorers could be seen nearby beneath the sign. Some groups sat together waiting for their teammates, while others were preparing for exploration.
“Passing through here will take you into the Floor 8 Abandoned Mine Shafts. Since you arrive at a random location within Floor 8, everyone must hold hands before entering.”
After getting out of the vehicle, Kim Sungjin gave the necessary explanations and led them toward the entrance.
"Who are they?”
"No idea. A senior officer is personally escorting them?"
"Isn’t that Ivan with them?”
But although people whispered curiously among themselves, no one approached.
"Then I wish you a safe return.”
"Thank you.”
Park Minho nodded to Kim Sungjin, then took his party members’ hands and stepped into the pitch-black mine entrance.
For a moment, he felt weightless, then his feet touched solid ground.
A humid, slightly warm tunnel stretched before them.
-Click.
-Click.
As planned beforehand, everyone switched on their flashlights. But because of the unique darkness itself of these abandoned tunnels, the light couldn’t travel very far. It was as if the darkness itself had real weight, pressing suffocatingly down on everything around them.
“Ivan, take the lead and brief us as we move.”
"Understood."
Ivan took the lead. Seol Suyeon and Nicola stayed in the middle, while Park Minho guarded the rear.
-Drip, drip. Drip.
Tiny droplets of water endlessly fell from the ceiling. Most of the wooden support beams holding up the walls had long since rotted away, making the entire place feel like it could collapse at any moment.
“Do not walk on the tracks.”
Ivan warned the group.
“Mine carts occasionally pass through at absurd speeds. If you're standing on the rails, you’ll get hit. It’s one of the most common causes of death on this floor.”
The group moved while keeping close to the tunnel walls.
-Clang! Claclang!
After walking for a while, rhythmic metallic sounds echoed from ahead.
The group immediately tensed up, but Ivan calmly continued leading them. Then finally, as something entered the range of their flashlights, everyone except Ivan sucked in some air.
"Agh!"
"Ugh!"
"Gasp!"
In a corner of the tunnel, something shaped like a person was swinging a pickaxe. It looked like a corpse, or maybe a doll made from packed dirt. But where its eyes should have been were simply empty holes. Wearing worn-out work clothes, it endlessly brought the pickaxe down again and again.
"A Miner entity.”
Ivan spoke indifferently.
"You’ll see them often on Floor 8. They won’t react unless you disturb them first. Sometimes they’ll stare at you creepily, but it’s easier to just think of them as part of the scenery.”
Just as he said, even with their flashlight beams shining directly on it, the thing showed not the slightest bit of interest in them and continued to work mindlessly.
They encountered various other anomalous phenomena unique to Floor 8 as well. But with Ivan acting as an excellent guide, they managed to pass through everything without much difficulty.
If they had come here without guidance, several of the dangers they encountered would’ve been enough to spell certain doom for them. But thanks to Ivan’s advice, they had smoothly avoided them one after another.
As they moved deeper into the tunnels, the temperature rose and the air thickened with humidity.
Par Minho and the others repeatedly had to wipe the sweat forming on their foreheads. To exaggerate a little, it felt like they’d walked into a sauna.
"The temperature is rising. Before dehydration sets in, you should drink……”
Ivan, who had been giving his usual briefings, suddenly fell silent. Then he signaled everyone to stop.
Faced with the sudden change, the group immediately shut their mouths and focused on him. Because this was the first time since entering Floor 8 that Ivan had shown signs of tension.
They were currently standing at a T-shaped intersection where a horizontal tunnel and a vertical tunnel met.
Just as they were considering whether to go left or right, they heard dozens of footsteps.
-Step. Step. Step.
A moment later, countless Miner entities appeared. Each dressed differently from the others, they moved in a single-file line from the right side of the tunnel to the left.
The Miner entities showed no interest in the group. A few glanced their way briefly but simply turned their heads and kept walking.
Ivan, however, looked thoroughly unsettled.
"I’ve…never seen anything like this before.”
Ivan turned to Park Minho and asked for his opinion.
“If we follow them, we may encounter a phenomenon on Floor 8 that has never been discovered before. What would you like to do?”
The safe option was to ignore them and continue on. But the strange occurrence was stirring both curiosity and suspicion inside of him.
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