WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 53 - Abandoned Mine Shaft (2)
At that moment, the ground began to shake.
-Ruuuuumble!
The vibration was violent. The wooden support beams holding up the tunnel trembled as though they were about to snap at any second, while dirt and chunks of rock rained noisily from the ceiling.
Ivan immediately realized what the red object Seol Suyeon had seen was.
“Minecart! Get off the tracks now!"
The warning he had given them earlier instantly came back to everyone’s minds.
"This way!”
Park Minho grabbed the frozen Nicola by the back of the neck and naked him against the tunnel wall.
At that exact moment, a sharp screech filled the mine shaft.
-Screeeeeeeeeech!
Sparks erupted wildly from the rails running through the dark shaft.
Something had come hurtling forward at tremendous speed before slamming on the brakes.
"......!"
"......!"
Then the minecart came into view. Everyone except Ivan widened their eyes at the grotesque sight.
Its basic shape was undoubtedly that of a mining cart. But 6 mechanical arms extended from either side, each carrying a different heavy tool.
A massive power drill capable of boring through solid rock in moments. Thick hydraulic pincers that looked capable of snapping a human waist in half. And a power hammer built to deliver devastating impacts.
More horrifying still was the thick layer of blood-red rust coating every machine arm and joint. It looked as though the machines had spent years tearing living things apart and bathing in their blood.
Hisssss! Fsh!
The car came to a complete stop, venting scorching steam from its engine. If it had been human, it would have looked positively furious.
Ordinarily, this anomalous minecart had a simple purpose. Transporting the crystals mined by the countless Miner entities. But the mechanical monster had another important function.
It was to remove contaminants from the mine. In other words, they acted as the white blood cells of Floor 8’s body.
Despite sweeping the tunnel with its blazing crimson searchlight, however, the minecart paid no attention to Park Minho’s group. To it, their anomalous signatures were so insignificant that it didn’t warrant its concern.
"Ah...!"
Ivan suddenly understood why it had appeared. It wasn’t after them.
It had come for the spider entities.
"Kieeeeek!”
"Kiek!”
"Kiiiiiiiiiih!”
The pursuing spider entities finally emerged. Clinging to the walls and ceiling, they immediately displayed hostility toward the minecart.
Originally, these spider entities were supposed to remain inside the backstage waiting area hidden beneath Floor 8. But blinded by their combat instincts, they had forced their way into the mine shafts.
From the minecart’s perspective, they were foreign matter, intolerable contaminants.
-Whiiiiiiiiiiir!
All of the minecart’s mechanical arms roared to life simultaneously. At the same time, the spider entities lunged toward it.
But the fight never truly began.
-Boooom! Crack!
The first thing to react was the power hammer. A power hammer with the force of an artillery shell smashed through a spider entity's carapace as if it were made of paper, spraying bodily fluids throughout the tunnel.
The remaining creatures charged forward in fury, but before the might of the gigantic machine, they were little more than gnats.
-Whiiiiiiiiiiirrr! Craaaaaaaash!
The massive drill held by one of the minecart’s arms drove straight through the torso of the second spider entity as easily as piecing tofu. The creature’s fluids and organs were caught in the spinning drill shaft, spraying outward in a gruesome vortex.
"KiEeeEEEEeK!”
The last surviving spider desperately lunged forward and climbed onto the minecart’s upper frame. It tried to bite through one of the mechanical arms.
But the hydraulic claw seized it firmly. Then the remaining arms moved in unison, tearing the creature apart while it was still alive.
-Riiip! Splaaaash!
Pressed against the tunnel wall, the group could do nothing but watch. They were completely frozen.
And the minecart wasn’t finished yet.
-Clank. Clank.
The moment the slaughter ended, all six mechanical arms immediately got to work. They efficiently gathered the spider entities’ remains. The shredded and crushed corpses were tossed one by one into the minecart’s cargo hold.
-Thud!
Once the loading was complete, the minecart released a short burst of steam.
-Fssssh.
Compared to what it had just done, the sound was almost peaceful. Then, moving at a leisurely pace entirely unlike its earlier charge, the minecart disappeared back into the darkness as though it had all the time in the world.
"Haah…Haah……”
Nicola’s legs finally gave out. He nearly collapsed forward before Park Minho caught him.
"Are you okay?”
"Mister, are the Backrooms always like this…?”
Park Minho could only give him a bitter smile. Even Floor 8, which had seemed relatively manageable, became something like this the moment it decided to mark you as a target.
"If you’re going to keep traveling with us, you’d better steel yourself.”
For a moment, Nicola felt his resolve waver, but he clenched his fists and pushed past his doubt.
When he thought about his Uncle Drago, who was likely still wandering somewhere in the Backrooms, he couldn’t afford to give up.
* * *
“We need to hurry. The situation is deteriorating.”
For the first time, Ivan’s voice carried a trace of urgency instead of its usual composure.
And for good reason. Even people who were normally insensitive could feel the change in the abandoned mine shaft’s atmosphere. The usual musty smell was fading. In its place came an oppressive pressure that seemed to squeeze the air from their lungs.
Park Minho immediately recognized what it was.
"Anomalous energy levels are rising throughout the floor. We need to move."
Guided by Ivan, the group pushed forward as quickly as their legs allowed. But the changes were already catching up to them.
-Crack! Buuurst!
Grotesque black crystals with an unnatural sheen burst through the tunnel walls.
Smooth and razor-sharp like obsidian, they erupted throughout the mine like the fangs of some enormous beast. At the same time, the shape of the tunnels began to distort.
Railroad tracks that had once been straight twisted like strands of taffy. Sudden uphill slopes appeared from nowhere. Elsewhere, entire sections had turned into sheer cliffs.
"O-Oppa…! The walls feel alive!”
Park Minho couldn’t have agreed more with Seol Suyeon’s description. The entire mine was writhing and pulsing like the innards of some gigantic living creature.
Even in these conditions, Ivan continued leading them without giving up. But before long, his expressions darkened.
"I’m sorry. I can no longer determine our location or which direction we should be heading…”
Even Ican looked like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth. He was a veteran explorer who had spent years in the Backrooms. The idea that he would get lost in a place as familiar as Floor 8 was unimaginable.
Park Minho placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ivan-ssi. It’s okay. We shouldn’t think of this as the old Floor 8 anymore. For now, let’s choose whichever path has the weakest anomaly concentration.”
"...You’re right."
As they continued forward, they reached a junction where three tunnels met. Then they heard footsteps coming from the other passages.
"Get ready.”
At Park Minho’s command, everyone raised their weapons.
A few moments later, figures emerged from the neighboring tunnels. Fortunately, they weren’t entities, but people.
Explorer parties, just like them, desperately searching for a way out of the chaos.
The group arriving from the tunnel on the right stood out immediately. Every member wore a red armband. The men at the front carried long spears adorned with crimson tassels and coldly gleaming Green Dragon Crescent Blades. At a glance, they seemed to be a Chinese explorer party.
The group from the left looked entirely different. All of them were armed with firearms. Curved swords hung from their waists. And turbans sat atop their heads almost like helmets. An Indian explorer party.
Both ethnic groups were especially numerous within the Backrooms. Perhaps because of that, they tended to stick together rather than mix with explorers from other nations. And they were also pretty infamous for their animosity toward one another.
But given the current situation, both sides looked genuinely relieved to encounter fellow humans.
"Lower your weapons. Surely you understand this isn’t the time to fight, right?”
A heavily bearded man who appeared to be the leader of the Indian party called out in a booming voice.
“Hmph, for once, I agree with you.”
The leader of the Chinese group snorted and lowered the blade of his Green Dragon Crescent Blade to the group.
“What’s your name? I’m Wang Wei.”
"I am Rahul.”
The two men then turned toward Park Minho’s group, prompting Park Minho to step forward.
"Park Minho. Looks like you’re all searching for an exit too.”
Both of them nodded. They were clearly tense and on edge. Wang Wei spat onto the ground and scowled.
"Ptui! What the hell is this? This is supposed to be nothing more than a transit level…!”
Rahul stroked his beard, making no attempts to hide his bewilderment.
"The tunnels suddenly began shaking violently. Every guideline we had placed beforehand was severed, and our Backrooms compass started spinning like it had lost its mind.”
Fortunately, the tunnel distortion had temporarily calmed down. Since they had run into one another, the 3 parties began comparing information.
Wang Wei narrowed his eyes and spoke with great conviction.
"This isn’t natural. I've traveled through Floor 8 more times than I can count. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Everyone nodded. Then Wang Wei proposed something none of them had expected.
“I’m certain that this is the work of the Molting Church… Those cultist bastards.”
The moment that name was mentioned, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon exchanged glances. After all, Seol Suyeon’s missing younger brother was somehow connected to the Molting Church.
"The Molting Church? How could they possibly disrupt an entire floor?”
As Rahul voiced his doubts, Wang Wei grimaced.
"The sulfur smell! You’ve all noticed it, haven’t you? Floor 8 doesn’t smell like sulfur. This isn’t some mine built on top of a volcano after all!”
At the mention of sulfur, everyone looked like something had clicked into place. Seeing their reactions, Wang Wei became even more convinced he was right.
"I know a little about them. The Molting Church carries out horrific biological experiments and rituals in pursuit of shedding the shell of flesh. And sulfur is always involved. Considering how much sulfur we’ve been smelling throughout Floor 8, they’re definitely carrying out something massive!”
Even Rahul, who normally couldn’t stand agreeing with a Chinese explorer, reluctantly nodded.
"So it really is them…”
“What? You know something?”
"Take a look at this.”
Rahul produced a copper brooch. Engraved on it was the symbol of the Molting Church. A two-headed crow.
"My party recovered this. We suspected it might be connected to the Molting Church…It seems your suspicions point in the same direction.”
The problem was that, while there was plenty of circumstantial evidence, nobody had actually seen any members of the Molting Church.
Rahul still wasn’t fully convinced.
“Deep down, I believe you’re probably right, Wang Wei. But my party has spent several days searching throughout Floor 8 and never encountered a single cultist. The same goes for every other party we’ve spoken to.”
At that, Wang Wei offered a bold theory.
"What if they’re hiding inside an Entity Rift?”
"There have been rumors like that. Why do you think so?”
"Because we followed the sulfur smell ourselves. But it suddenly vanished in front of a rock wall. There wasn’t even a crack large enough for a rat to squeeze through, so there’s definitely some kind of hidden passage we don’t know about.”
"Hrmm......"
"And everyone here knows this, right? If you unleash enough anomalous energy inside the tunnels, the minecart always appears. The only place where someone could pull off something on this scale without attracting the minecart would be inside an Entity Rift!”
A heavy silence settled over the group.
"...”
"......."
The theory made sense. In fact, it was probably the most plausible explanation anyone had offered. But it didn’t really solve anything. After all, it wasn’t as though they could simply enter an Entity Rift themselves.
"How about we join forces?”
Rahul finally broke the silence. Wang Wei immediately agreed.
"Of course. Hey! What about you? You’re Korean, right?”
Park Minho nodded.
“Okay. We’ll cooperate.”
Wang Wei continued speaking, as if he had fully expected his answer.
“The Indian group, us, and that mixed party over there with the Korean and Western guy. At least we’ll have decent numbers.”
"Do you have a plan?”
"Find an area with stable terrain that’s easy to defend, then hunker down. Fortunately, we have plenty of food. If we search long enough, we’ll find a section without crystal growths.”
"We’re not short on supplies either.”
"Good. Then we’ll establish a position and wait for rescue. Wandering around aimlessly is asking for trouble. Right now is the time to pull our heads into our shells like turtles and wait for the danger to pass.”
Many in the group nodded. The idea of holding out and observing the situation sounded much safer than taking risks. But not everyone agreed.
Park Minho, in particular, rejected the idea outright.
“No rescue is coming. Waiting around is just another way of dying. Like a frog slowly boiling in a pot.”
Wang Wei immediately bristled.
"Young man! Don’t make reckless decisions based on youthful arrogance! There are a lot of lives at stake here.”
At that, voices of agreement immediately rose from the Chinese party guys.
"A rescue team? Look around. There are countless parties wandering around this enormous floor right now. Even if a rescue force comes, what makes you think they’ll find us? And think about TBU. The first thing they’ll do is seal off the entrance to Floor 8 and figure out how to contain the situation. They’ll be terrified that this anomalous energy might spill back into Floor 7.”
"......"
Wang Wei couldn’t refute that.
“Then what are you proposing?”
“There’s only one option left. We find the Molting Church, who are most likely responsible for all of this. And then we eliminate them. That is our only path to survival. We already have three parties gathered here, so it’s worth trying.”
Wang Wei let out a hollow laugh.
"You idiot! Were you even listening to what we just said? Everything points to them hiding inside an Entity Rift! If they weren't, someone would have encountered them by now! People can’t enter Entity Rifts! So what exactly do you expect us to do?”
The veteran explorer’s expression made it clear he thought the idea was completely absurd.
"If you actually know a way into an Entity Rift, then I’ll call you Grandpa!"
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