WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 54 - Abandoned Mine Shaft (3)

Hearing those words Park Minho stated firmly,

“There is a way to open an Entity Rift.”

The gathered explorers reacted with disbelief.

“What?”

"What did you say?”

Murmurs spread through the crowd before turning into derisive laughter.

"Looks like he’s lost his mind.”

“He’s mistaken. He probably saw some other kind of crack and thought it was an Entity Rift.”

“Exactly. That’s why you can’t trust brats…”

At that moment, Ivan stepped forward.

“He isn’t lying. Our leader can truly open Entity Rifts. I’ll tell you what we saw inside.”

His words carried weight since Ivan possessed enough strength and experience that none of the explorers present could dismiss him lightly. When he explained that they had entered something that looked like a waiting area and discovered countless dormant Miner entities, many of them looked genuinely shocked.

“You really entered an Entity Rift…?”

“The miners were asleep?”

Still, they weren’t willing to accept it so easily.

“The Backrooms can fool even someone of your caliber? Enough nonsense.”

Wang Wei cut him off, clearly unwilling to listen further.

At that point, Park Minho decided on a faster solution.

“Wang Wei. Take us to the Entity Rift your group discovered. The one we found had no trace of the Molting Church.”

"What a joke!”

“If I fail to open the Entity Rift, I’ll give each of your parties 50 gold coins.”

“What…? You’re insane!”

Even under the current circumstances, that was enough money to make people’s eyes light up.

“All you have to do is guide us there. And if I fail, your 2 parties each walk away with 50 gold coins. Are you really going to turn that down?”

Trying to persuade them would be insanely lengthy, drawn-out, and tedious. This approach, on the other hand, was far more effective.

Wang Wei’s interest was immediately piqued.

"Do you really have that many coins? What reason do I have to trust your words enough to guide you?”

“Do you want me to show you?”

Park Minho pulled a bundle of gold coins from his phase compression backpack. It contained exactly 100 of them.

The surrounding explorers immediately opened their eyes wide.

"Those are real!”

“I’ve never seen that many before.”

“Wow…Damn."

Greed flickered across more than a few faces. Noticing that, Park Minho decided to make one thing crystal clear.

“You’d be wise not to get any funny ideas. If a fight breaks out, I’m confident I can kill most of you.”

Wang Wei frowned.

“For a youngster, you’ve certainly got a big mouth.”

Ivan answered in a chilling tone.

“I’m not joking. And this gentleman is someone a high-ranking TBU executive holds in special regard. I’ll guarantee it. If you try anything stupid, you’ll never make it back to the fortress city.”

Just then, as Wang Wei tried to determine whether that was a bluff or not, a voice came from among the Indian explorers.

“Isn’t that guy the one from the rumor?”

“Rumor?”

“You know, the story about that Latino gang that picked a fight with some East Asian kid and got wiped out.”

“Right. I heard about that too.”

“Yeah. I was wondering why a TBU strike team got involved in some back-alley dispute…”

In the end, after Wang Wei and Rahul, the leaders of the two parties, discussed the matter, they agreed to visit the location suspected to contain an Entity Rift.

“Let’s make this clear first. Park Minho. If you fail to open the Entity Rift like you claim, you’ll hand over those gold coins. And after that, you'll follow our plan and hunker down. We’ve already compromised enough. No complaints, right?”

Park Minho turned to Rahul.

“You feel the same way?”

“I do.”

He nodded at that.

“Fine. Take us to the Entity Rift you found. If I can’t open it, I’ll do as you asked.”

* * *

As the three parties advanced together, the distortions within the mine grew even worse.

-Ruuuuumble!

-Crack!

The explorers trembled with anxiety.

“There’s not a single stable area left!”

“At this point, wouldn’t the inside of the Entity Rift be safer…?”

Strangely enough, that thought seemed increasingly convincing. Even Wang Wei, who was leading the way through the tunnels, began to quicken his pace.

“This way! I’m sure of it!”

As the sulfur smell grew stronger and stronger, Wang Wei’s confidence only increased.

Several hours later, the group arrived at a massive rock wall at the end of a tunnel.

“Here it is! Here!”

-Crunch! Crack!

Anomalous crystals continued to grow all around them.

Wang Wei and the others were no longer feeling relaxed. At first, they had worn expressions telegraphing their intent to wait and see if Park Minho could actually open the Entity Rift.

But now, their faces practically screamed, 'Please just open it already.’

“Hurry up! At this rate, even the exit’s going to disappear!”

They weren't wrong. The tunnels they’d used to get here were already being sealed off by the rapidly growing anomalous crystals. Eventually, 2 members of the Chinese party lost their nerve and bolted.

Wang Wei’s eyes widened in shock as he shouted after them.

"Li Bo! Yu Xunan! You idiots! Get back here!”

Their voices echoed from deeper within the tunnels.

“You’re the idiot, Wang Wei!"

“Greedy fool! Ptui!”

Wang Wei’s face instantly turned bright red. Trembling with rage, he snarled at Park Minho.

“If you can’t open that Rift, you’d better prepare yourself for the consequences!”

His tone made it clear that, after losing face like this, a handful of coins wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him.

Without replying, Park Minho stepped forward.

'This won’t be easy.'

Nearly half a day had passed, but he had to put on the noose again. He hadn’t fully recovered, so the burden was immense. Even so, there was no other choice.

Park Minho pulled out the King's Noose from his shadow that served as its rack.

"...!”

Once again, it felt like his throat was being crushed. His vision was dyed completely crimson.

At the same time, the atmosphere around them changed. Even the onlookers seemed to sense something, their eyes widened.

Then part of the massive rock wall collapsed, revealing an entrance.

-Craash!

Since this was the second time he’d used the power, he couldn’t open the Entity Rift as cleanly as before. Instead, he forced it open through sheer brute force, practically smashing his way through.

But those watching could only stare in disbelief.

“What the hell did he just do?!”

“What kind of ability is that?”

Questions flooded their minds, but one thing was certain. The Entity Rift had opened. More importantly, the scene beyond it was completely different from the abandoned mine.

A concrete corridor appeared before them. Everyone hesitated at the unfamiliar sight, but there was no time to stand around. Even now, anomalous crystals were continuing to grow behind them.

-Crack! Craaaack!

“Let’s go! Staying here won’t do us any good!”

Once again, Wang Wei took the lead, and everyone rushed inside after him. Soon after, Rahul, the leader of the Indian party, approached Park Minho.

“Remarkable. Just what kind of ability is that?"

Park Minho, drenched in cold sweat, rubbed his throat before replying.

"...It’s difficult to explain.”

“It certainly looked that way.”

Various traces littered the area around them. Empty ritual implements, ash from burned sulfur, anomalous magic circles drawn across the floor, and so on.

Wang Wei clicked his tongue.

“It really is the Molting Church. No doubt about that… These aren’t traces from a day or two ago. They’ve been coming and going here as if they owned the place. The rumors were true.”

Everyone proceeded through the concrete corridor under a cloud of tension.

Seol Suyeon was especially tense. She couldn’t help thinking about her younger brother.

Then suddenly, Park MInho was hit by a powerful wave of dizziness.

"Uugh…!”

"Are you alright?”

In the end, Ivan had to support him.

“It seems you’ve overexerted yourself.”

“Lean on me.”

At the same time, a piercing ringing filled his ears, accompanied by a strange voice.

[...%$#@$%#......]

He couldn’t understand the words. But he was certain it was spoken in some sort of language.

Startled, he looked around, but no one beside him seemed to hear it. He quietly asked Ivan,

“You don’t hear anything?”

Ivan wore a puzzled expression. Then Park Minho began seeing hallucinations.

He saw figures wearing ash-gray robes, presumably members of the Molting Church, driving massive iron spikes into a gigantic mass of flesh resembling a brain. As they chanted in low murmurs, the flesh writhed in agony before ultimately obeying the commands of the gray-robed figures.

Afterward, the Miner entities marched one after another into the waiting room. Labor throughout Floor 8 completely ceased. And the level’s anomalous activity began to increase.

'Ah……'

Park Minho understood immediately. That unknown entity had clearly shown him the situation it was trapped in.

The next vision seemed to be explaining something.

Several rusted iron spikes had been driven into that brain-like mass of flesh. One by one, a few of those spikes were pulled out in a specific sequence. As that happened, the brain regained partial control over Floor 8 and began fighting back against the gray-robed figures.

It was as if it were showing him that if he did exactly like this, it could free itself.

The vision repeated itself over and over inside Park Minho’s mind. Again and again, it drilled the order of the spikes into his memory.

'It’s asking for help.’

Since they couldn’t communicate through words, it had to be using hallucinations instead.

[#@$#@ -!!]

He still couldn’t understand what it was saying, but it seemed to be agreeing. However, Park Minho had no intention of working for free.

“And the payment?”

Immediately, a new vision appeared in response.

Entity Rifts stretched through countless levels like an enormous anthill. Then they began sealing shut.

-Thud! Thuud!

Massive barriers descended preventing both entities and humans from passing through.

The members of the Molting Church would no longer be able to descend from their headquarters on Floor 24 ro Floor 8. Nor would anyone else be able to use the shortcuts connecting various floors.

Yet amid all that, Park Minho alone was handed a strangely shaped key. Using that key, he could freely travel through the various floors connected by Entity Rifts.

A pass to use these shortcuts…? Not bad!'

Very few explorers could do something like that. And once the Entity Rifts became even more restricted than before, that privilege would become even more valuable.

But Park Minho was effectively being promised a free pass.

And that wasn’t all.

The next vision showed the Miner entities. Then it revealed an enormous warehouse where the ores they gathered were stored.

Inside were not ordinary anomalous minerals. Instead, there were exceptionally rare and unusual ores. Materials that only appeared rarely even within Floor 8. The biological system then split that special stockpile in half and showed Park Minho taking one portion for himself.

And it wasn’t a one-time payment. The vision made it clear that he could collect it every month.

'Seriously? You’re offering me hold of the mine’s monthly profits?’

An answer came immediately.

[......%&%#$#......!!]

There was no doubt it meant yes.

“Now that’s an interesting offer…”

He had come here to deal with the Molting Church answay. There was no reason to refuse. Besides, the biological system was clearly cornered and suffering greatly. That was why it was offering such generous terms. Park Minho had little reason to decline.

“Alright. I’ll help you."

At that moment, the hallucination ended.

"...Oppa? Are you okay?”

Seol Suyeon’s face appeared right in front of him.

“What happened?”

“You passed out. We’re taking a short break right now.”

Park Minho had suddenly collapsed while walking, forcing the group to stop.

“Hey! Are you alright?”

"Are you okay?”

Wang Wei and Rahul hurried over to ask. Both of them had realized by now just how important Park Minho was, and neither bothered hiding their concern.

"I’m fine……!”

Park Minho’s eyes suddenly widened.

At that moment, the biological system shoved a flood of information directly into his mind.

A complex map of the Entity Rift network abruptly appeared in my head. It felt as though someone had downloaded a map straight into his brain.

Even stranger, several red dots were rapidly moving across that map.

Those red dots were undoubtedly hostile beings.

The biological system was assisting him, more or less projecting a mini map inside his head.

Park Minho immediately called over the two leaders.

“Wang Wei, Rahul, over here.”

Then he hurriedly explained.

“The enemy is approaching. We still have some time. This is our chance to turn the tables and ambush them before they reach us.

* * *

A short while earlier.

The strikingly handsome man standing beside the High Priest spoke up.

“High Priest, the Rift has been forced open.”

"...I sensed it just now. How strange. Are there others besides us who can open Rifts?”

This was no ordinary ability. Opening Entity Rifts was one of the church’s most closely guarded secret arts. If traveling through Entity Rifts had been easy, the Molting Church’s schemes would have been exposed long ago.

Yet now, just as everything was approaching completion, an intruder had appeared.

“What unfortunate timing.”

The High Priest turned to the man he trusted most and assigned him a special task.

“I’ll give you 20 followers. Can you deal with them?”

“Of course. They are nothing more than minor variables. They know nothing about this palace. The battlefield favors us.”

“Good. Under no circumstances can the ritual be interrupted.”

“Rest assured. It will be taken care of."

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