WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 73 - The Disposal Site (4)

"Ugh......!"

A wave of instinctive revulsion made Park Minho frown. So that was how he carried Gu Taeson while chasing them. It seemed he could use the inside of his body like a spatial storage bag, much like their own phase-compression backpacks. As expected of an entity, he was grotesque beyond words.

“Kuhahahaha! Everything is finally in place!”

Gu Bonjae was positively elated. But at that very moment, Park Minho silently glanced toward Unit 1, Unit 2, and Seol Suyeon.

It was the signal to get ready to fight. No words were exchanged, but they understood immediately.

"Now that I’ve reclaimed the Molting Church’s tome from those little rats…Hm?”

As Gu Bonjae opened the book, his eyes widened because what he held was a fake.

“Wh-what is this?!”

While searching the survivors’ quarters inside the scrap metal fortress, Park Minho had found another book that looked almost identical to the Molting Church’s tome.

He had pocketed it just in case he needed a decoy.

‘Besides, I had another idea in mind……'

Park Minho had been thinking about new ways to use his abilities for some time.

Then he’d come up with something interesting. And he’d prepared that fake book accordingly.

-Flip, flip.

As Gu Bonjae flipped through the pages with a scowl, a pitch-black shadow rose from between them.

It was Leech Drain, Park Minho’s shadow ability.

Shadow abilities worked by reproducing the original through shadows. For example, when he’d used Cutting, his shadow had transformed into a grinding blade.

Naturally, a shadow imitation wasn’t quite as powerful as the original, but its versatility more than made up for it.

The parasitic leech, capable of using Leech Drain, had also been reproduced as a shadow, hidden between the pages like a booby trap. If the Molting Church’s tome were ever at risk of being stolen, Park Minho had intended to use this fake as a trap.

Gu Bonjae had walked right into it.

The shadow parasite hiding between the pages sprang into the air.

"Gah…!”

That thing, which looked eerily similar to something out of 'Alien,' latched onto Gu Bonjae’s face.

Panicking, he clawed at it with all four arms, but it refused to come off. The shadow parasite forced its way into his mouth and disappeared down his throat.

"Kgh…! Cough! Cough!”

Gu Bonjae violently convulsed as though choking.

The anomalous parasite possessed two effects.

First, it continuously drained the host’s life force, feeding it directly to Park Minho. For Park Minho it functioned as constant regeneration.

Second, it slowed the host’s movements. The parasite was difficult to plant unnoticed, but if it succeeded, it became an incredibly powerful technique.

At that exact moment, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon unleashed a storm of bullets.

-Ratatatata!

-Ratatatatata!

The instant they emptied an entire magazine, Units 1 and 2 each grabbed one of Gu Bonjae’s legs and drove forward in a tackle.

Already staggered by the gunfire, Gu Bonjae had no chance to recover. With both legs swept out from under him, he toppled backwards.

-Booooom!

The steel plates welded onto his shoulders for battle slammed into the floor with a thunderous crash.

Seizing the opportunity, Park Minho activated Cutting.

-Whiiiiiiiiir!

A massive grinder blade formed from his shadow spun furiously as it came crashing down toward Gu Bonjae’s chest.

Gu Bonjae crossed two of his arms and blocked it.

-Krrrrrrrrrrrkt!

The grinder blade chewed halfway through one of his wrists, reducing it to a mangled mess, but then the shadow construct reached its limit and dissipated.

"You miserable little—!"

Enraged, Gu Bonjae tried to push himself back up using the third and fourth arms sprouting from behind his shoulders.

Park Minho immediately rushed into Gu Bonjae’s guard. His goal was simple. Keep him pinned beneath his own weight.

"Uwah!”

It looked completely reckless. At best, he might stall Gu Bonjae for a moment, but with four powerful arms it seemed inevitable that he’d simply be grabbed and crushed.

Even Gu Bonjae himself was briefly surprised by the headlong charge, then wondered what kind of idiot would even do something like this.

-Thud!

Even when Park Minho slammed shoulder-first into him, the impact wasn’t particularly impressive.

But Park Minho possessed excellent combat instinct. He hadn’t charged in without a plan.

"Back off!”

The instant Units 1 and 2 obeyed, Park Minho activated his Electrical Noise phenomenon using the energy core.

-Bzzzzzzt!

He hadn't awakened true lightning powers, but thanks to the energy core, his electricity carried devastating force.

“Uwaaaaaaargh!”

Gu Bonjae screamed. Smoke poured from his body, while flames erupted across several scorched areas.

The pain became unbearable. He slammed Park Minho across the back with both his arms. Then he grabbed him by the neck and hurled him away.

"Agh!”

Park Minho crashed into the ground, rolling across the floor. Normally that blow would have left him gravely injured.

But now he possessed a new shadow ability. Steel Skin.

Thanks to the power he’d stolen from the Grinder Entity, he could instantly harden his body like steel. Like that he survived that impact.

"Uugh……”

His head was still spinning. That much couldn’t be helped. But moments later, the leech parasite siphoned more of Gu BonJae’s life force and transferred it to Park Minho. His condition recovered almost instantly.

Gu Bonjae’s eyes widened.

"You little bastard! A thief through and through!”

He was thoroughly dumbfounded. He’d assumed Park Minho’s only noteworthy trick was controlling these Mannequin Facelings. Instead, he seemed capable of many other unexpected tricks. And that electrical attack had dealt serious damage to him.

After finally pulling himself back to his feet, Gu Bonjae didn’t charge again. Who knew what other abilities Park Minho was hiding? Rather than rush in recklessly, he kept his distance, watching and waiting.

“To think you’d push me this far. Impressive.”

His body had been left battered by the electrical assault. Even Gu Bonjae couldn’t help but acknowledge it.

Park Minho, on the other hand, wore a grim expression.

'He’s even stronger than I expected.'

The attacks were hurting him. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was his absurd durability and his regenerative ability, though it was slow.

The anomalous parasite was still weakening him, but that debuff alone wasn’t enough to create a decisive advantage.

'I can’t use Reality Manipulation anymore… At this rate, I’m going to lose.’

For a moment, the two sides remained at a standoff. Park Minho decided to buy time by talking. Gu Bonjae had a vicious temper. If he kept provoking him, an opportunity might present itself.

“Do you really think your son would want to live as a monster like that? Why won’t you stop this?”

Gu Bonjae snapped at Park Minho’s question.

"Shut up! You know nothing! He only looks like that for now. Once he achieves true Molting, he’ll return to being human.”

Park Minho clicked his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, you’re clinging to delusion. That’s not what true Molting is. You’ve been deceived.”

“What could you possibly know?”

"At the very least, I know more than you do. I’ve fought members of the Molting Church, and I’m currently holding some of them prisoner.”

Thanks to Ivan’s continued interrogations of the captured cultists, they had learned a great deal. The testimony of several high-ranking members had been especially revealing.

True Molting wasn’t simply what ordinary believers were told, casting off the shell of the flesh to become a transcendent being.

The truth was a sacrificial ritual. One that offered the cultists’ bodies to manifest the godlike entity worshipped by the Molting Chruch. Through becoming a fragment of that great entity, they would supposedly attain eternal joy and wisdom.

Of course, if they told new recruits they’d simply be absorbed into a god, most people would recoil. So the church concealed the truth. Only after years of indoctrination, after their so-called faith had been fully cultivated, would they be praised for reaching a special stage and finally be told the real purpose.

Park Minho explained all of this.

"True Molting isn’t about becoming your ideal self. It’s just human sacrifice dressed up with fancy words. In the end, even your son, who spent 13 years inside that egg, was only ever meant to become another offering for the cult.”

"Shut up! That’s impossible…!”

"Don't you think it’s strange? If the Molting Church were telling the truth, then when the egg hatched, Gu Taeson should’ve returned as a human. Instead, he emerged as a grotesque entity. And worse, he was stillborn. What do you think that means? It means Gu Taeson doesn’t want to live as a monster.”

Of course, that was only Park Minho’s speculation. No one could truly know Gu Taeson’s wishes.

But it was enough to shake Gu Bonjae.

“Gu Bonjae, this is nothing more than your obsession. Gu Taeson already died as a human. Can’t you see that forcing him back as a monster is only for your sake?”

His attempt to restore Gu Taeson as a human had failed. Now he was trying to resurrect him as an entity instead, using the craftsmen’s bodies as raw materials.

“If it were me, I’d never want to live like that.”

Gu Bonjae fell silent. Then his rage erupted again.

"That’s nothing but your own assumption! How could someone like you ever understand the bond between a father and son?!”

"Isn't it precisely because I’m an outsider that I can see it more clearly?”

"Enough! Once my son wakes up, he’ll prove every one of your predictions wrong! Now hand over the Molting Church’s tome!”

Even as he roared, Gu Bonjae still didn’t attack.

Just as Park Minho was struggling to find a way to defeat him, Gu Bonjae also viewed Park Minho as a serious threat.

Those Mannequin Facelings were far stronger than normal entities. And that young human possessed one strange ability after another. Who knew what else he was hiding?

'He’s provoking me on purpose. There’s definitely another trap waiting!’

Gu Bonjae’s thoughts raced. He desperately searched for a way out.

Sensing his hesitation, Park Minho immediately made an offer.

"I’ll let you confirm the truth about the Molting Church. How about we stop fighting and go there together?”

"What...?"

Even Seol Suyeon, standing nearby, looked stunned by the unexpected proposal.

"Oppa?"

Park Minho continued explaining to Gu Bonjae.

“I wasn’t lying about having captured members of the Molting Church. Why not interrogate them yourself and hear the truth behind the true Molting from their own mouths?”

"Interrogate them myself?”

“That’s right. You should hear the truth about the Molting firsthand. And if necessary, I can even provide some of the Molting Church members as materials to revive your son. You need humans with strong anomalous energy, don’t you?”

Not just anyone could serve as material. The craftsmen of Sallim-dong had been suitable because they were former explorers or people who had spent decades handling anomalous objects until they themselves became saturated with anomalous energy. More importantly, they had been right there.

The Molting Church would also make excellent material. They had spent years cultivating anomalous energy.

Cruel as it was, Park Minho had long decided that the Molting Church, a group beyond compromise or persuasion, would ultimately be dealt with that way.

"Are you serious?”

"I am. You’ll have plenty of suitable material to work with. And you’ll even have the Molting Church’s own guidance. Wouldn't that be far better than trying to figure everything out by yourself here?”

"Ahem......”

From Park Minho’s perspective, bringing Gu Bonjae to Floor 8 was nothing but advantageous. If they kept fighting here, his chances of winning were slim, but Floor 8 was his home turf.

There were countless Minecart and Miner entities. No matter how powerful Gu Bonjae was, numbers could overwhelm anyone. If enough of the powerful Minecart entities were deployed, even he would eventually be forced to his knees.

'As long as we make it back, our safety is guaranteed.'

He simply needed to coax Gu Bonjae into a battlefield that favored him. Conveniently that arrangement also benefited Gu Bonjae.

"You’d better decide quickly. Jung Manchun can still be saved.”

At the moment, Jung Manchun was dying from the hole through his abdomen. He was desperately pressing against the wound himself, but he wouldn’t last much longer.

"......Hyungnim.”

Seeing Jung Manchun barely conscious, his eyes only half-open, Gu Bonjae hesitated.

"......."

As his rage subsided, some fragment of his former humanity resurfaced. Along with it came a trace of regret. Still, he couldn’t accept the offer without suspicion.

“How can I know this isn’t a trap? Perhaps you’re only trying to lure me somewhere.”

"Then stay here and fight until one of us dies. But if it comes to that, I wouldn’t bet on your son surviving either.”

Gu Bonjae couldn’t afford to gamble everything on a battle whose outcome remained uncertain. If he could meet the Molting Church and obtain more materials, the proposal wasn’t a bad one.

After a long silence he finally accepted.

"Very well. But if this is a trick, I’ll tear you apart.”

"That won’t happen.”

"And the book? You’re handing it over, right?”

“I’ll exchange it for Jung Manchun. But I have one condition. I still need that book myself. Once your ritual is finished, I want your word that you’ll give it back."

"...Fine. Once my son is alive, I couldn’t care less about some worthless book.”

With that, Park Minho exchanged the Molting Church’s tome for Jung Manchun.

"Boss."

"Uugh……”

"For now, drink some sikhye.”

The anomalous sikhye couldn’t heal a wound that pierced straight through the body, but the drink was far more potent than it appeared. Even with grievous injuries, it could greatly extend a person’s survival.

Park Minho tightly wrapped the wound with strips of cloth, then had Unit 1 carry Jung Manchun on its back.

"Let’s head home.”

Never, not even once, had Park Minho imagined he’d be returning to Floor 8 with a monster like that in tow.

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