WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 61 - The Master of Floor 8 (5)

Park Minho had to admit that Wang Wei had good instincts.

"I’ll buy all of it. How much?”

"5 gold coins will do.”

After calculating the market price, Park Minho realized Wang Wei was taking a reasonable profit margin. Not too excessive. It was obvious he wanted an ongoing business relationship rather than a one-time sale.

"I brought food, too.”

"Oh, really?”

Looking closer, it was things like sunflower seeds, spicy beef noodles, mala peanuts, zhacai pickles, and boiled pig ears.

"Ah, come on…! Next time bring some instant rice bowls or Korean seaweed. Spam or canned tuna would be good too. What even is all this?”

"It’s really delicious, you know? Just try it. Once you start eating these sunflower seeds, you can’t stop. They’re practically addictive. You won’t stand a chance, you bastard.”

"Shut up! I’ll take it this time. But if you bring Chinese snacks again next time, I’m rejecting the shipment. Got it, Wang Wei?”

“Look at this guy, picky as hell, just like you’d expect from a bastard like him.”

Park Minho wasn’t saying it for no reason. He’d tried Chinese instant noodles and snacks before. The intense flavors were great the first few times, but from a Korean perspective, they were hard to eat continuously.

“Seriously though, you keep calling me bastard. Listen here, you Chinese bastard.”

"What? Chinese bastard?”

"My grandson, how can you be so disrespectful to your grandfather? Are you eager to pack up and head home?”

Wang Wei, who had gradually slipped back into his usual manner of speaking after briefly using polite language, visibly flinched.

"Uuugh……”

In the end, he returned to a respectful tone.

"My apologies, Respected Elder.”

"That’s better, grandson. Hehehe.”

Wang Wei’s face turned bright red as he trembled with indignation. The Chinese men behind him were snickering at the sight.

"You little shits!”

Only after Wang Wei glared at them did they quiet down. Since things had come to this, he seemed determined to get serious. Standing before Park Minho, he rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"Respected Elder."

"What is it, Young one?"

"......"

"How about you soften the look in those eyes of yours?

"Haha…my eyes must be dry, that’s all. Respected Elder, I have a request.”

"Let’s hear it.”

“I’d like to request exclusive trading rights. If you grant them, I’ll provide all sorts of benefits."

Wang Wei saw this as an enormous opportunity for his organization.

No, if things went well, he might even break away and become the boss of a new organization himself.

"And what exactly can you offer?"

"Anything an organization can do. Mercenary recruitment, forged identities, intelligence gathering, and more. I’ll provide them at exceptionally favorable rates. The quality is practically on par with what you might get in the Fortress City.”

It wasn’t a bad offer. But it wasn’t enough either. After thinking it over a moment, Park Minho made his decision.

"I’ll give you a 3-month exclusivity period. You were the first one to come to me, and it’s repayment for what happened last time. But if you want full exclusivity beyond that, benefits on this level aren’t even close to enough. Think a bit harder.

From Park Minho’s perspective, trading with a variety of groups was far more advantageous. Unless someone offered truly extraordinary terms, he had no intention of agreeing to permanent exclusivity.

"Hm…… Understood. I’ll go back and discuss it with the boss.”

Once the deal was concluded, Wang Wei asked,

"Where should we trade next time? We can’t keep doing business out in the middle of the road like this forever…”

"Hm……”

There was no way Park Minho could bring them into his base. For security reasons, he intended to seal off the entrance and restrict access as much as possible.

In that case, the solution was simple enough.

"I’ll build a trading post. I’ll have a building constructed somewhere around here, and we can conduct business there.”

"Understood.”

Afterward, they shared a drink called Nobaekgan while talking about future cooperation. Whether it was the alcohol or simply his good mood, Wang Wei laughed heartily before departing.

"Hahahaha! I look forward to doing business together! Wealth will come pouring in, and the path to prosperity will be wide open!”

At least now Park Minho had established a supply line for goods from the Fortress City. The next problem was managing the trading post.

"Who should I put in charge of that…?"

"I'll do it, Minho-nim.”

Honestly, there wasn’t really a better candidate than Ivan. Seol Suyoen and Nicola lacked experience, and neither could reliably protect themselves in an emergency.

The problem was that Ivan was already carrying too much responsibility.

There was practically not a single aspect of Park Minho’s plans that Ivan wasn’t involved in.

"Manpower is the issue.”

"I’ll probably have to ask Director Yoon to dispatch additional personnel.”

"Hmm..."

Park Minho trusted Director Yoon. Whether the same could be said for his subordinates was another matter entirely.

'I need people who are actually mine...'

It wasn’t an easy problem to solve.

"Then I’ll have to rely on you for the time being, Ivan.”

"Leave it to me.”

As the two walked back together, the biological system unexpectedly spoke up.

[Refined anomalous energy successfully extracted from eliminated Awakened. Total energy acquired: 87 AC.]

'What? 87 AC?'

AC seemed to be the unit used to measure anomalous energy that could be extracted from Awakened. A mid-rank Awakened typically yielded around 9 to 15 AC, while a low-rank Awakened provided roughly

In other words, the total energy harvested from Rahul’s annihilated party and the other Indian Awakened amounted to 87 AC.

'And what can I do with that?’

[Refined anomalous energy can be used to activate various functions within Floor 8.]

'Doesn’t Floor 8 already have plenty of anomalous energy?’

[Energy extracted from Awakened is different.]

After hearing the explanation, Park Minho understood the difference.

The energy contained within things like Floor 8’s anomalous crystals was comparable to Venezuela’s extra-heavy crude oil.

Extracting usable energy from it required significant effort and refinement. The process was really cumbersome.

In contrast, anomalous energy extracted from Awakened was more like a fully charged battery.

It could be used right away. However, creating it wasn’t easy. Just as batteries required lithium, manufacturing, and power generation before they could store electricity, Awakened energy was the result of human will, effort, refinement, and processing. And Awakened spent years, or sometimes decades, performing that refinement and cultivation themselves.

'So I basically got it for free?"

[Considering that combat took place, describing it as ‘getting it for free’ would be inaccurate. However, I agree that you acquired a valuable resource with relative ease.]

'Nice. So what can I do with it?'

A flood of information immediately poured into Park Minho’s mind.

-Entity Enhancement.

-Aministrator-Exclusive Floor Control.

-Floor Structure Modification.

-Special Zone Configuration.

The first thing that caught Park Minho’s eye was Entity Enhancement. He learned that by spending AC, he could strengthen individual Miner entities or Mincart entities.

Among them one particular option stood out.

'Grant Intelligence?'

[Enables communication with Miner Entities. They can also be ordered to perform more advanced tasks.]

'That’s good.’

He didn’t know exactly how intelligent they would become, but this might solve his manpower shortage.

The cost for granting intelligence was 2 AC per entity.

I could create 10 intelligent workers with just 20 AC.

In a situation like this, trustworthy laborers were incredibly valuable.

There were other upgrades as well, such as increased strength and additional abilities.

[Not only Miners. Minecarts may also be enhanced. Please review.]

At the biological system’s prompting, Park Minho looked through the options and found plenty of surprising upgrades. It was even possible to attach caterpillar tracks to Mincart entities, allowing them to leave the rails.

-Continuous Tracks 5 AC

'Wow…that’s insane.’

Although it was slightly expensive, once modified, they’d become truly terrifying beings. There were plenty of other useful and versatile upgrades as well.

'I can’t believe the manpower problem I’ve been worrying about can be solved this easily!’

At this point, he almost felt grateful to the Indian party for attacking him. Without hesitation, he tried it on a nearby Miner entity.

'Do you see that one standing in front of me? I want to grant it intelligence.'

[Confirmed. Processing immediately and deducting the required cost.]

The dark humanoid Miner entity wearing a hard hat suddenly trembled violently. Its body stiffened as though struck by electricity. After several moments, it recovered and slowly turned toward him.

"Administrator…”

Its voice was husky, as though filled with dust and grit, but there was unmistakable intelligence behind it.

"Please issue your orders. I shall serve the Administrator.”

"Oh.......!"

Park Minho spent some time talking with it and quickly realized that the intelligence-enhanced Miner entity was far more capable than he’d expected. He immediately gave it a name and assigned it a task.

“From now on, your name is Sam. I’ll assign 10 entities under your command. Set up the trading post here and handle all future trade operations.”

"Understood."

"Ivan, please teach him whatever he needs to know.”

"Yes. This is truly remarkable…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Park Minho couldn’t help but feel excited by the new authority he had gained, but before long, his mind cooled.

‘I need to be careful. There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.'

This time, there had been the excuse that they were enemies, but if he started killing innocent explorers just because he wanted AC, then someday he might become an entity himself. Thinking back to the men who had once tried to eat Seol Suyeon, Park Minho established a clear rule for himself.

‘Only enemies or those who commit crimes on Floor 8.'

* * *

After returning to the base, he granted intelligence to 2 more Miner entities.

"You’re Chunsik, and you’re Chunbae. Understood?”

The 2 newly enlightened entities nodded.

"Yes, Administrator…”

"Yes, Administrator…”

Chunsik was assigned as a warden, overseeing the prison and leading other Miner entities guarding the cells.

Chunbae was tasked with assisting in base construction, directing Miner entities involved in the project.

“Whoa. How did you even do that, Mister?”

Nicola’s eyes went wide. The sudden sight of Miner entities behaving like people was hard to believe.

He wasn’t the only one. Even the workers Director Yoon had sent nearly jumped out of their skin when a Miner entity spoke to them.

"Good heavens! What the hell?!”

"...My apologies if I startled you. My name is Chunbae…”

“N-no… It’s just…”

"If you require assistance from the miners, please let me know……Physical labor is our specialty."

"R-right. Thanks…”

At the moment there were only 3 intelligent entities, Sam, Chunsik, and Chunbae, but more would be added in the future.

And so, the foundation of Floor 8 continued to take shape smoothly.

Day by day, the base began to look more and more impressive.

Then something unexpected happened.

[Warning to the Administrator, warning.]

Park Minho had been taking a nap when the telepathic message rang through his mind, causing him to bolt upright.

'Wh-what? What happened?'

[Two Miner entities within the mine tunnels have been attacked and destroyed.]

Park Minho’s response came out loud before he could stop himself.

"Who the hell did it?!”

[Analysis indicates the perpetrators were Awakened individuals. The destroyed entities were transporting rare mineral: Ultra-Pure White Lumistone.]

Park Minho immediately called for Ivan.

"What happened?!”

"Two Miner entities were attacked, and a shipment of rare ore was stolen.”

"Damn..."

Listening to Ivan’s explanation, Park Minho learned that incidents like this occasionally happened.

Normally, nobody bothered the Miner entities. They were stronger than they looked, and most of the time they carried nothing worth stealing.

But there were exceptions. If someone spotted a Miner entity transporting rare ore, the situation changed.

"A normal Awakened wouldn't dare try it, but if there are several mid-rank Awakened working together, they might get greedy.”

“And there’s no punishment for doing that on this floor?”

"Nearby entities will attack them, of course, but that’s the extent of it. There isn’t any system that places bounties on them or anything like that.”

Apparently, this sort of thing had been happening for a long time. But now that Park Minho was the master of Floor 8, there was no way he could let it slide.

The destroyed Miner entities were his property, and so were the stolen rare minerals.

"That won’t do. Ivan, you’re coming with me. We need to find out who pulled this stunt.”

"Understood.”

Park Minho headed back into the mine tunnels with Ivan. At the same time, he issued an order to the biological system.

'Send out a command across the entire mine. Have half the miners stop working and form a containment net. We need to catch them before they get away.'

But the biological system responded with obvious indifference.

[Inefficient. This is merely a rare incident. Diverting half of the miners would result in far greater losses.]

Park Minho understood exactly what it meant. The value of the stolen rare ore wasn’t even close to the amount of new ore the miners could extract during the same time.

But he remained firm.

'This isn’t just about profit and loss. We need to make sure nobody ever tries this kind of bullshit again.’

The amount of rare ore being stolen by Awakened wasn’t particularly large. Compared to the massive stockpiles in the warehouse, it was like a rat quietly nibbling at a corner.

But Park Minho hated the sight of rats.

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