WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 84 - State-of-the-Art Military Base (5)

"Uugh…!”

All of a sudden my head started spinning. It felt as though the world had tilted. And somehow memories of Unit 1 alone came flooding back.

"...Seriously? You are Unit 1?”

They weren't complete memories, but Unit 1 must have been incredibly important to me. A large part of those memories returned all at once, and the way I looked at the man standing before me completely changed.

"Yeah, I’m the same Unit 1 you remember.”

"Wow…… I can’t believe this.”

The Unit 1 I remembered had been a mannequin. A being whose entire vocabulary consisted of making those strange Kiek noises.

And yet the Ma Ilho standing before me looked completely human.

Looking closer at his hearty, boisterous demeanor, I realized something. If Unit 1 had ever become human, this was exactly what I’d imagined he’d look like.

"What happened?”

"Honestly, I didn’t expect this either, Master. I think Floor 15 temporarily gave me a human role.”

"Temporarily?”

"Once we leave this place, I’ll turn back into a mannequin.”

Ma Ilho slowly raised one hand. It was an ordinary human hand. He slowly opened then closed his fingers.

"Even so, I’m happy I was able to meet you like this, if only for a little while.”

I couldn’t even begin to describe how that made me feel.

"...You really do always help me.”

Ma Ilho burst into hearty laughter.

"Hahaha! I do it because I want to, Master. So don’t worry about it.”

"Thank you. But why couldn’t Gu Bonjae break free of the anomaly like you did? He’s an entity too, isn’t he?”

"Hmm…… My guess is that he’s an entity based on a human. Unlike me, who is a pure entity. Besides, he still possesses powerful memories of military life. That probably made him especially vulnerable to this environment. On the other hand, I have no memories of military service whatsoever.”

Thinking about it, that actually made sense. For anyone who had served, military life was the kind of memory that stayed with them forever. People joked that every veteran eventually had nightmares about being drafted all over again.

And Gu Bonjae had served in an era that couldn't even be romanticized as ‘the good old days.’

My own service had been difficult enough, but his must have left even deeper scars.

"Anyway, this touching reunion is nice and all, but we should focus on getting out. Your safety comes first, Master.”

Unit 1 had always been fiercely loyal. If anything, becoming human had only made him even more so.

"You’re right. Let’s do that.”

Nicola, who had been listening beside us, finally spoke up.

"Sergeant Ma. What about Sergeant Gu? Normal methods don’t seem to work. We’ve already tried, but nothing got through to him.”

"Oh, so the moment you got your memories back you threw that military-style speech straight into the trash, huh?”

"Ah, come on. I’m not really a soldier. It’s annoying.”

"Hahaha."

Ma Ilho laughed in disbelief. Then his expression turned serious once again.

"We’ll have to use a more drastic approach.”

As Ma Ilho explained his plan, my jaw slowly dropped.

I’ve already suspected it ever since I’d seen Unit 1 throw punches at the Scythe Monster, but his way of thinking was unbelievably bold.

Nicola stood there with his mouth hanging open too.

"Do you really think that’ll work? Isn’t that way too extreme?”

"A cautious approach has no chance of working. Can either of you think of something faster or better than my idea?”

Neither of us answered. Because we couldn’t.

"......"

"......"

In the end, we decided to go with Ma Ilho’s plan.

"Alright. Let’s do that.”

"Master, there’s one more thing.”

"What now?”

"If we leave like this, all we’ll have accomplished is escaping. We also need to think about searching the Error Junkyard.”

The Error Junkyard was apparently the real reason we’d come to Floor 15 in the first place.

Though with my memories still missing, it didn’t really mean much to me.

"Is that place really that important?”

I was ready to ignore it, but both of them immediately stopped me.

"It is!”

"Master, if we ignore the Error Junkyard, everything we’ve gone through will have been for nothing. If we just leave now and you recover your memories later, you’ll be pounding the ground in regret. I know your personality better than anyone.”

"R-Really…?”

"Really. You were always the type to make bold decisions. From everything I’ve seen, you were someone who believed completely in high risk, high reward. If the payoff was worth it, you’d throw yourself into danger without hesitation. Like a moth flying straight into a flame.”

"Seriously……What kind of person was the old me?”

I still couldn’t picture it, but neither of them seemed to be lying.

"Fine. So what do we do? Nicola already told me about the Error Junkyard. He said we’d need the King’s Noose to break through the wall and enter, but that’s impossible for me right now. Even using my weaker, innate Reality Manipulation makes my head feel like it’s burning and it gives me nosebleeds.”

"That’s fine. That was never your plan to begin with. You weren’t planning to go inside this time. It was only meant to be a reconnaissance mission.”

"Then what's the plan?”

"First, we need to leave a mark.”

"A mark?"

Ma Ilho nodded.

"If we can successfully mark the location of the Error Junkyard, then the next time we enter Floor 15 we won’t have to go through this ridiculous military role play again. We’ll be able to head there directly.”

"Seriously? That’s a great idea.”

“Exactly. Once it’s marked, we can escape this time and come back later for a proper expedition.”

There was no way I could refuse that. The last thing I wanted was to go through this absurd military act all over again.

"But how do we mark it?”

"You can do that with your own Reality Manipulation. It only needs to make a simple alteration, a small marker.”

So my little toy-like ability would actually play a crucial role.

They did say that even the crow of a rooster and the trick of a thief can prove useful.

"Then for the most important question. Where is this Error Junkyard?”

The answer shocked me.

"The regimental brig."

"......What?”

For a moment, I couldn’t even speak. Ma Ilho repeated himself.

"The regimental brig. That’s where the Error Junkyard is.”

Just hearing those dreadful words made my body shudder involuntarily.

The regimental brig.

Normally, the brig was located at the division level, but our unit belonged directly to the corps, so we had our own brig at the regimental headquarters. There was even a detachment of military police stationed there.

How should I put it? To an ordinary soldier the brig was the kind of place you wanted to avoid at all costs. Just hearing the name made you think that you were completely screwed.

"The brig? You seriously expect me to go to the brig?”

"If we wanted to leave a marker, there’s no other choice. From what I’ve been able to determine, the Error Junkyard is located beyond the inside of the brig. We have to physically enter it.”

"Fuck.”

The curse slipped out on its own. Of all places, it had to be somewhere that miserable.

"I see…It was never supposed to be an easy objective. That aside, how are we supposed to get inside?”

Ma Ilho answered without missing a beat.

"Simple. Cause some trouble and get yourself thrown into the brig.”

* * *

How was I supposed to get sent to the brig?

After thinking it over, I came to the conclusion that I’d once again be relying on my beloved senior, Relentless Demon.

Lately, he’d become so hysterical that it wouldn’t have been surprising if a major incident broke out in the unit at any moment.

"Hey, what’s gotten into Relentless Demon?”

I grabbed one of the guys from my intake group and started gathering information. Relentless Demon’s eyes had been bloodshot recently, and he’d been picking on the junior soldiers over absolutely everything.

My peer snickered, as if everyone already knew.

"He came back from leave not too long ago. Got dumped by a girl.”

"Got dumped? That asshole had a girlfriend?”

I could hardly believe it. There were plenty of genuinely decent men in the world. How on earth did someone like Relentless Demon manage to get a girlfriend?

"Not exactly. She worked at one of those establishments. He’d been going there for a while and got friendly with her. They even met up outside a few times.”

"Really?"

"The problem is, she finally got sick of how obsessive he was. When he went back this time, she told him it was completely over.”

Ah, come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing something about that. One day, Relentless Demon had been bragging at the Post Exchange that he had a girlfriend.

I’d thought it was so ridiculous that I’d immediately forgotten about it.

"How do you even know all that?”

"This big bro has great intelligence sources. Plenty of them actually. Anyway, watching that bastard lose his mind is satisfying as hell.”

So that was why he’d been terrorizing all the younger guys lately.

"I think I see an opportunity.”

"Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

"Nothing.”

The opportunity came even sooner than I’d expected.

The very next day I saw all the privates and private first classes from our company gathered behind the boiler room. When I casually asked what was going on, I was told Relentless Demon had assembled everyone to ‘tighten up discipline.’

I hid in a blind spot and quietly watched the scene unfold. Relentless Demon had lined up all the junior soldiers in a row and was going down the line, slapping them across the face one by one.

Smaaack! Smack!

"This bunch of worthless little shits has gotten way too comfortable! Huh?! You think military life is easy? Want me to make sure your military career ends right here?! Huh?”

"No, sir!”

The yelling was harsher than usual, but it wasn't anything new. What happened next, however, made my eyes widen.

"Hey! You brought it, right? The company’s development fund?”

What? A development fund? I’d never heard of such a thing in all my time in the military. And I wasn’t the only one. Even the guys about to be discharged, the veterans who were already causal enough that the younger soldiers talked to them without honorifics, had probably never heard of anything like that.

Under Relentless Demon’s vicious glare, the privates and private first classes hesitantly pulled out 10,000 won bills.

Relentless Demon frowned in obvious dissatisfaction.

"The fuck?! That’s all?! You think our company is a joke?!”

This crossed the line. Beatings were one thing. They were undeniably wrong, but abusive traditions didn’t disappear overnight.

Extorting money was on an entirely different level.

Even the older generations of seniors, the ones people compared to devils and serial killers, had never pulled something like that.

"Huh…He’s completely lost it.”

Ironically, I noticed an old sign discarded behind the boiler room.

[State-of-the-Art Military. Happy Miltiary Life.]

It had been the regiment’s old slogan. When the regimental commander changed, the sign had been taken down and tossed aside.

I walked straight toward the group. Relentless Demon raised an eyebrow as I suddenly appeared.

"What? Park Minho. The seniors looking for me?”

"No."

"Then what? What’re you here for? You trying to join in too?”

Relentless Demon snickered.

"You little shit. I finally stopped dragging you into this once you’d gotten enough seniority, and this is how you repay your great senior’s generosity? Want the two of us to have another one of our little counseling sessions?”

He thought he was joking. To be fair, one of the very few redeeming qualities Relentless Demon had was that once a junior had enough time in service, he’d stop targeting them.

Honestly, though, it was less mercy and more that he’d gotten bored of an old toy.

"Ah, so what’d you come here for?”

When I didn’t answer, his irritation began to show.

"Hey, Relentless Demon."

The moment those words left my mouth, everyone froze, including Relentless Demon himself.

He couldn’t even answer. He simply stared, unable to process what he’d just heard.

"Wh-what did you just say…?”

I repeated myself.

"You got dicks shoved in your ears or something? Knock it off you fucking idiot.”

The torrent of abuse from someone beneath him left Relentless Demon utterly dumbfounded. In the military’s rigid hierarchy, the idea that a junior soldier would openly defy a senior had never even crossed his mind.

The shock was so overwhelming that he couldn't even get a grip at first.

"What? What…? Huh?”

Then his face twisted into something demonic.

"You fucking lunatic, what the hell's wrong with you? R-Relentless Demon?”

That nickname was known throughout the entire company.

But only someone senior to him was allowed to use it to his face. No junior under any circumstances could ever call him Relentless Demon.

Not unless they had a death wish.

"Yeah, Relentless Demon. Cut the bullshit. It’s pissing me off. You really think extorting money from them is normal?”

"You little piece of shit! You wanna die?!”

Relentless Demon’s eyes burned with rage as he charged toward me. He looked ready to tear me apart.

But I’d already decided to make my move. There wasn’t a trace of fear left in me.

-Whoosh.

His wild punch cut harmlessly through empty air.

"Huh? You dodged?”

Just as I thought, the bastard’s reflexes were terrible. Truthfully, I’d never once believed I’d lose to Relentless Demon in a real fight.

It was time to return everything he’d done to me.

A liver shot.

-Pow!!

My fist buried itself deep into Relentless Demon’s liver with a heavy, sickening impact.

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