WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 27 - Goshiwon (3)

Park Minho was immediately interested. At the same time, something didn’t add up.

“How does a vending machine even give out stuff like that?”

"I’m not exactly sure either. But according to the rumors, that machine is meant for the managers."

"A manager-only vending machine……?”

"Yeah. They say there’s even a Manager’s office beyond it. That’s why an entity guards the entrance, so it can’t be used by just anyone.”

According to Lee Yumi, the entity was absolutely terrifying.

"Everyone called it the ‘Cleaning Supervisor.’ It’s so tall it almost touches the ceiling of the goshiwon and wears a blood stained apron over a hazmat suit and…what was it they said? Oh, it looks like someone who cleans after people who died alone.”

"......."

"It carries this pitch-black mop and scrub brush, and you can smell detergent and bleach just from getting close.”

"Just hearing that gives me the chills.”

"Right? And apparently, when you run into it, it checks whether you’re ‘qualified.’ and if you’re not, it just kills you on the spot.”

"Qualified…?"

"I don’t really know the details. I just heard it from the older survivors. The ones who used to be here.”

"Where are they now?”

"They left to somewhere. But I don’t think it was anywhere good…”

"Hmm......"

"Anyway, Mister. That entity is way too dangerous.”

But Park Minho’s thoughts were already locked on the word ‘qualified.’

‘Could a VIP-Guest Certificate work?'

He had been told it allowed access to the Manager’s office. If that was true, then logically, it should also let him pass whatever was guarding the way. The only problem was that he had only one life to test that theory.

If he was wrong, the results would be incredibly terrible.

"Hmm......"

After thinking it over, Park Minho pulled out the certificate and scanned it.

-Beep.

[VIP-Guest Certificate / Mid-tier / Anomalous Item]

[Verification Uses Remaining: 0/3]

"Huh...? What’s this?”

Verification Uses? That made things a lot more convincing.

"I’m going. Show me the way.”

"Seriously? Mister?”

Park Minho had one more thing he could rely on.

The yellow armband.

It reduced hostility from humanoid entities. Even if the pass didn’t work, it should at least buy him enough time to run.

"I’ve got a plan."

"What even is that piece of paper? You’re seriously betting on that?”

"You’ll see."

"Hmm......"

"By the way, are you going to be okay? You said the manager’s office is nearby, right?”

"Ah, the manager’s usually not around at this time of day. Honestly, the manager’s office might be safer right now.”

"You really know a lot about the Manager."

"Well, yeah. I’ve been running from it for 4 months, so I kind of had to learn. But, erm…what should I do…?”

For Lee Yumi, the problem wasn’t the Manager. The real issue was the Cleaning Supervisor blocking the way to the Manager’s office and the manager vending machine. She had no idea how Park Minho planned to deal with something like that.

After a bit of hesitation, Lee Yumi finally made up her mind. There was something she wanted as well.

"Alright. But I’ve got a condition.”

"What is it?”

"You buy me a gun in exchange for guiding you.”

"A gun?”

"Yes, a gun. Like the one you’re carrying.”

"Hmm…It’s not impossible, but don’t you need coins more?”

At that, Lee Yumi let out a long sigh.

“Haah…If I get caught, I owe four gold coins in rent. Who do you think actually has that kind of money?”

She had already given up on ever paying her dues. And on top of that, she had another, realistic problem.

"Entities are scare, sure, but people are worse. If you’re small, they treat you like trash by default, you know? But if I have a gun that changes things, right?”

"Sounds like you’ve had it rough.”

"Yeah. I’ve had stuff taken from me…been beaten up……Honestly, people like you are, Mister.”

Underestimating someone who had survived 4 months alone in the Backrooms would be a severe mistake. She was already far from ordinary.

'Besides, don’t they always tell you to be wary of women, children and the elderly in marital arts novels?'

And Lee Yumi was two out of those three. So wasn’t she twice as dangerous?

Even while chatting casually, Park Minho never dropped his guard.

In fact, he was even getting annoyed at how long the barrel of his SCAR-H was. If something went wrong, he needed to fire instantly, but the barrel was so long that it would definitely get snagged somewhere first.

"So where do you even get a gun? If you’re asking for mine, that’s not happening. This is all I’ve got.”

“You can get them from vending machines.”

"Seriously?”

"Yeah. How do you think those raiders got theirs?”

Apparently, the weapons from these machines were so good that explorers from other floors would come here on purpose just to get them.

"Alright, then it’s fine."

"Good. Then we have a deal. 3 silver coins upfront."

3 silver coins were roughly worth 10 million won. (approx. 6.805,84 USD)

"Isn’t that a bit steep?"

"What’s with that reaction? Without me, you wouldn’t even find the place. And you’re asking me to guide you into an area with an entity. I should demand at least that much.”

"Fine. But I don’t have change right now. I’ll pay you after I used the vending machine.”

Park Minho took out a gold coin. Its shine made Lee Yumi’s eyes go wide.

"Wow……! That’s my first time seeing a gold coin. But still, no upfront payment? How am I supposed to trust that?”

"If I pay you after, I’ll give you 5 silver coins instead. How about that?”

He already agreed to buy her a gun and now even offered 5 silver coins. It was an incredibly tempting offer to Lee Yumi, so she only hesitated for a moment before she accepted.

"Alright. I don’t know if this is a good idea though. If that entity rips you apart, that’s it.”

"Every investment comes with risk."

* * *

The 4 months Lee Yumi had survived here were now very apparent.

Her navigation skills were undoubtedly exceptional.

"Mister, watch your step in this hallway. It looks fine, but you’ll just drop right through.”

"Noclip?”

"Yeah. A few adults disappeared here. No one knows where it leads, but sometimes you can hear screams from below. Doesn’t sound like a nice place, right?”

"Hm......."

If Park Minho had come alone, he would’ve fallen straight through. And that wasn’t even the last situation. Things like that kept cropping up.

“If you go that way, you’ll wander around in circles for a whole day and end up right back where you started."

"That fork over there…I don’t know what’s there, but when I checked around, there wasn’t a single speck of dust. Isn’t that weird? Like no dust at all! I don’t know what it its, but best not to go that way, yeah?”

Park Minho couldn’t help but think that hiring Lee Yumi as a guide was absolutely the right call. As he followed behind her, he casually scanned her with his device.

Nothing came up. If something didn’t have an Anomaly Level that meant they were just a normal human.

After walking for a while, Lee Yumi’s expression grew tense.

"That’s it. Right over there.”

She pointed to a pitch-black door at the end of the hallway.

"The entity known as the Cleaning Supervisor is inside. I don’t know what you're planning, but good luck. I need you alive if I want to get paid.”

She took a few cautious steps back.

“I’ll wait here. I sure as hell am not going with you.”

If anything went wrong, she was ready to bolt.

"Got it."

"Honestly, I don’t know if it’s really worth risking your life just to use a single gold coin. But if the antibiotics are that urgent, I guess you don’t have a choice.”

Naturally, Lee Yumi assumed that the one gold coin Park Minho showed her was his entire fortune.

"Alright. Let’s do this.”

Park Minho strode forward and stopped in front of the black door. He had a plan backed by justified confidence, but that didn’t stop the tension from creeping in.

-Gulp.

He swallowed dryly, then pushed the door open.

-Click.

The moment he turned the handle, a sharp, overwhelming smell of bleach hit his nose.

“Ugh…”

It was so strong it made his eyes sting, and his throat prickle.

The inside no longer looked like those cramped goshiwon rooms. The walls had been torn down into a wide open space, lit only by a few flickering fluorescent lights.

And in the center of the room stood exactly what Lee Yumi had described.

A figure in a bloodstained hazmat suit, wearing a rubber apron. Its face was covered by a gas mask, but not just worn…it looked like it was fused to its skin, like it was a part of its body.

'Yeah, no way that’s something I’m beating in a fight…’

Behind it there was a door with a sigh hanging above it.

<Authorized Personnel Only>

He was definitely in the right place.

"Grrrr……grrgh…"

The Cleaning Supervisor reacted to his presence.

However, unlike other entities, it didn’t immediately charge at him. Instead, its glowing red eyes locked onto him through the gas mask.

It was as if it was trying to say that it would instantly tear me apart if I wasn’t qualified.

"Hooh…”

Park Minho took a deep breath and started walking toward the Cleaning Supervisor.

-Step, step.

The floor was made of slick tile, water squelching under his feet. Behind him, Lee Yumi stood frozen, mouth slightly open as she watched.

'That guy’s…seriously insane.’

Unfortunately, from what Lee Yumi had seen, people like that never ended well.

Then, a wet, gurgling voice echoed out.

"Contamination detected……elimination.”

At the same time, the Cleaning Supervisor raised the steel scrubber in its left hand.

The scrubber twisted, tightened and reshaped itself into a sharp, lethal weapon.

"You’ve got to be kidding me…!”

Park Minho clenched his teeth and prepared to run. He was sure it would work, but something had gone wrong.

Just as he turned to flee, a massive shadow swept past him, before the air exploded.

BOOOOM!

A violent gust slammed into him. He barely managed to keep his footing.

'What the hell just…?'

However, he had no time to think.

-Craaaaaash!

A deafening explosion erupted behind him, like a building collapsing.

"...!"

He spun around. The black door he came through and the entire hallway had been completely obliterated.

Concrete walls were torn apart, the corridor beyond laying wide open.

Through the thick cloud of dust he saw a clearly terrified girl, Lee Yumi, collapsed on the ground.

"Ah.......!"

The Cleaning Supervisor had ignored Park Minho entirely and rushed straight for Yumi. Its warped voice echoed again…

"Contaminant…! Eliminate! Contaminant…! Eliminate!”

Park Minho’s eyes widened.

'It completely ignored me. Even though I was right in front of it, it went for Lee Yumi instead…? Ah!’'

Then realization hit him.

"Stop!”

The Cleaning Supervisor froze instantly just as it raised its arm to tear Lee Yumi apart.

Park Minho sprinted forward, stepping between the two.

"She’s with me!”

From what he could tell the VIP Guest Certificate definitely worked.

The Cleaning Supervisor hadn’t even considered Park Minho a target from the start. But anyone without that status was just a contaminant that needed to be erased immediately.

"Authorize her. She’s coming with me.”

"......."

Its glowing red eyes stared down at him through the gas mask as if troubled. Then it spoke.

"Reason...?"

He needed to find an excuse, and fast.

"She’s my porter! My porter! I need her to use the vending machine!”

"......"

The Cleaning Supervisor didn’t answer. There was no way to tell what it was thinking.

But it didn’t look like the Cleaning Supervisor was going to allow it, so Park Minho pulled his last card. He thrust the Certificate forward and shouted.

"I’m a VIP Guest! If I’m a VIP, I should be treated like one! Don’t you see the contact number the manager gave me?!”

"......."

"It clearly says complaints can be submitted! Then what the hell is this if not a damn complain?! Do I really have to call the manager out here to fix this?!”

"......."

Silence fell. Park Minho felt like he was suffocating.

Then the Cleaning Supervisor slowly lowered the weapon in its hand.

"...Authorized."

It stepped back. The vicious red glow in its eyes faded and turned green. And just like that, it lost all interest in Park Minho and Lee Yumi, turning away to resume cleaning the surroundings.

"......"

Lee Yumi stood there, half out of it, trembling violently. Park Minho quickly hoisted her onto his back and ran for the ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ door.

* * *

"Mister…? What the hell did you even do……?”

Her voice shook behind him. Lee Yumi clung tightly to his back, still unable to calm down.

"It let us through because I’m a VIP Guest.”

"A VIP?”

"Yeah."

"I've never heard of something like that. Erm…you can put me down now……”

Once on her feet, Lee Yumi pulled something from her bag and chugged it. Barley tea.

"Drinking this helps calm me down.”

It was an anomalous drink, rare even in the goshiwon, and one of the reasons she’d managed to resist cognitive contamination this long.

"Haah…I seriously thought I was going to piss myself. Actually, I might have."

"You okay?”

"Yeah… For a second, I thought it was over.”

Thanks to the barley tea, she recovered quickly.

Meanwhile, Park Minho scanned the pass again

-Beep.

[Verification Uses: 1/3]

Just as he expected.

"If you’re good let's move."

"Yeah, okay.”

Lee Yumi took the lead again and before long, they found it.

"According to what the adults said, it should be around here…Ah! There! There it is!”

They had finally reached their destination.

Park Minho quickly scanned the items to which a grin spread across his face.

It had everything imaginable. Anomalous trait pulls, anomalous items, antibiotics, drinks, guns, ammo and more.

'Now this is what gold coins are for.'

Meanwhile, Lee Yumi looked completely crushed.

"Figures. It’s an manager machine, so the selection's insane…but ridiculously expensive.”

Most of the anomalous items and trait pills were priced in gold coins. To Lee Yumi, it didn’t even look like stuff meant to be bought.

"Still, at least it has the antibiotic you need. You’ve got one gold coin, right? Use that for the antibiotic, and whatever’s left…you can get my gun and my payment from that.”

Park Minho shook his head.

"I’m not doing that though."

Lee Yumi frowned immediately.

“Wait, Mister! You didn’t seem like that kind of person…Are you seriously trying to stiff me right now? I almost died back then, okay?!”

“No, that’s not it. I’m just going to get everything I need.”

"Huh? What?”

"Honestly, why would I cheap out over five silver coins? I’ll give you more, so just wait a bit. Let me get my stuff first.”

And with that, Park Minho pulled out a pile of gold coins. Lee Yumi looked like she was about to faint.

"Tha—....! Huh? What? Th-tha……! That’s…! M-mister……?”

She was so shocked she couldn’t even form a sentence.

How could someone have so many gold coins? It just made no sense to her. And then, fear crept in.

'Wait, is this guy…an entity?’

Maybe he was actually the Manager in disguise. That would explain both the coins and the Cleaning Supervisor’s attitude.

Her demeanor flipped instantly, turning incredibly polite.

“O-of course! No rush at all! Take your time. And, you know, if you don’t feel like paying me, we can just pretend the deal never happened, haha!”

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