057 – A Room You Can’t Leave Without Completing a Task #2
Whirrrrrrr—.
The mechanical noise reverberating through the basement prevented Seugal from getting any sleep.
When she cracked open an eye, she saw Yu Yeo-reum pedaling away on a cheap exercise bike.
“Hey, I can’t sleep because of the noise!”
Seugal’s irritation flared instantly. Not only had the male student, Hanamjin, ignored her request to bring a TV but he had provided Yu Yeo-reum with exercise equipment, much to her dissatisfaction.
‘Do I have to listen to this whirring sound all day today?’
That morning, the male student had informed her, “I’m going into the Great Labyrinth today, so I may not be able to visit for a while,” as he delivered water and food. This meant Seugal would have to spend 24 hours alone with Yu Yeo-reum.
‘It would’ve been nice if Yining were here.’
It had been quite some time since the fluffy cloud Demon Beast had last visited the basement—an outcome of Yining’s unease with Yu Yeo-reum, who reacted like a hissing cat whenever the creature was around. This caused Yining to avoid the basement altogether.
As this realization dawned on her, Seugal’s dislike of Yu Yeo-reum intensified.
‘I feel like I made a mistake bringing her here, but I can’t send her back now.’
Whirrrrrrr—.
The ongoing sound of the exercise equipment continued. Soon, a sweat-drenched Yu Yeo-reum got up and started stretching before wiping herself down with a towel. Watching this, Seugal began to feel a twinge of anxiety.
‘Wait, how can her body shape be maintained when she hasn’t eaten anything for days?’
Even in Seugal’s mind, a fellow female, Yu Yeo-reum’s toned physique seemed impressive. To a high school boy in his prime, it was practically poison.
And if Yu Yeo-reum attempted to subtly charm Hanamjin with her allure?
Could the perverted Hanamjin resist such temptation?
In that case, Yu Yeo-reum might coax various items out of Hanamjin beyond mere exercise equipment, leading to a more comfortable life in the basement. Watching such a scenario unfold, Seugal might find herself gnashing her teeth in jealousy.
Perhaps, Yu Yeo-reum might even be calculating this very outcome.
The very fact that she so brazenly exposed parts of her body like her armpits, chest, and abdomen in front of a male student was troubling. Seugal concluded that her suspicions were probably correct.
‘I had no idea what this girl was thinking, but maybe she was just waiting for an opportunity to seduce someone and live luxuriously. This girl is creepy and unlucky.’
Seugal decided she couldn’t let this situation continue and fervently desired a “concept” to counter it.
And in that moment, she awakened to a concept.
‘Done!’
With the newly attained concept, Seugal resolved to instill it into Yu Yeo-reum. Transferring a concept required a deep understanding of the target, but after spending days with Yu Yeo-reum, Seugal felt she had grasped her character well enough.
In Seugal’s mind, Yu Yeo-reum was akin to a sneaky thief who subtly flirts while pretending disinterest.
Like the proverb about how quiet cats are the first to leap onto the kitchen counter, Yu Yeo-reum might feign indifference while secretly charming others before making her move. Determined to curtail her antics, Seugal decided to impose a new concept—essentially a shackle—onto her.
“Yu Yeo-reum, there’s a mosquito on your shoulder.”
Snap!
Seugal touched her shoulder and covertly transferred the concept.
“It wasn’t just you hitting my shoulder for no reason, was it? That was so childish of you.”
“Meow.”
When Seugal stuck out her tongue, Yu Yeo-reum simply frowned, unaware of what was about to happen.
However, after about five seconds, her face turned bright red.
“Huff!…”
After checking herself, Yu Yeo-reum dived under the blankets, much to Seugal’s uncontrollable amusement.
“Hahahaha! How do you feel? Suddenly feeling embarrassed about your body, huh? How’s that working for you?”
“What… What did you do to me?”
“It’s not what I did; I just taught you what it means to be modest as a woman! I gave you the concept of «Self-Composure»!”
“Self-composure?”
Given that Seugal possessed the concept of «Proper Young Lady», deriving the “Self-Composure” concept was no great feat. With this, Yu Yeo-reum would now behave in a chaste manner, resembling a daughter-in-law from a noble family in the Joseon Dynasty. She would no longer seduce male students with her alluring body.
“Now you can’t subtly flirt either. How pathetic! Reflect on just how immodest you’ve been acting around men!”
Seugal couldn’t wait to show the embarrassed version of Yu Yeo-reum to Hanamjin and tease her endlessly.
If only Hanamjin would hurry up and return to the basement—.
At the thought, Seugal suddenly became angry.
‘Why should I be waiting for him anyway?’
—
The exploration of the Great Labyrinth requires at least a pair, it was said. Forming teams of four was most common.
Our team was no different.
The team leader, Jang Hyun-ah, was a 21-year-old woman with bleached blonde hair, vibrant and striking like a flower. A choker around her neck gave the impression of someone very fashion-conscious.
“Apparently, she’s a veteran who possesses a 3-rank «Vibration» concept,” someone had told me.
This «Vibration» concept turned out to be immensely useful during labyrinth explorations, so after graduating from Yeongsa High, she immediately became an outstanding investigator. Jang Hyun-ah placed her palm on the floor and sent out vibrations.
Drrrrrrrrrrrrr-.
“There are no demon beasts ahead.”
It felt like an ultrasonic detector. The vibrations presumably detected the monsters. I couldn’t help but wonder.
“Vibration-nuna, how exactly did you awaken to the concept of vibration? That ability doesn’t seem very common.”
The admiration was genuine.
But instead of Jang Hyun-ah answering, Jeon Somi—an elegant-looking model—reacted with sudden irritation.
“Hey! Calling the team leader Vibration-nuna? What kind of bad habit is that? And did you know that asking Awakened Ones about the reasons behind their concept manifestation is considered extremely rude?”
「Name: Jeon Somi
Possession: 《Slipperiness Lv.2》 – Slippery like the best loach.
Condition: 《Irritant》 – She’s very upset that someone other than Prince Juhyun is part of our team. She’s ready to nitpick.」
Jeon Somi, still holding a grudge after the embarrassing video of her falling went viral, had been relentlessly attacking me every time I spoke, which was incredibly annoying.
Then the team leader, Jang Hyun-ah, added:
“When I was in elementary school, I used to be overweight. A side effect of medication. I thought if my body would naturally shiver during exercise, I could burn more calories. Do you understand?”
She likely awakened to the «Vibration» concept because she wanted something similar to one of those vibrating exercise belts.
As I processed this explanation, Jang Hyun-ah gave a nonchalant shrug.
“You should know by now that it wasn’t for some perverted reason. If you’re satisfied, stop asking and focus on the expedition. The Great Labyrinth is not a children’s game. One wrong step here, and you’ll get hurt—or worse.”
It seemed like the team leader’s authority here was immense. Jang Hyun-ah actually used that authority to assign various tasks to Baek Yeo-ul, the bread shop attendant.
“Baek Yeo-ul, there seem to be about three traps ahead. Go check them out.”
Baek Yeo-ul was often the guinea pig for investigating traps, thanks to her «Misfortune» concept that always triggered them.
“Kiik!”
Sure enough, taking a single step had triggered the trap—a brick on the ground clicked, sending arrows shooting down from the ceiling.
Baek Yeo-ul’s face turned pale as she moved forward cautiously.
“Gyahk!”
Klick!
Whooosh!
Flames erupted from the walls or the floor collapsed beneath her feet. Once all three traps were triggered, the rest of the team—Jang Hyun-ah and Jeon Somi—safely navigated past by stepping on clear tiles.
“It’s annoying to activate every trap because of someone. And yet, we can’t just ignore them in case they trigger sudden explosions.”
“Right, Hyun-ah. If only Juhyun were here, things would be so much easier. Why did they assign this random guy to our team? This is so annoying.”
“…”
Baek Yeo-ul seemed irritated by the experienced team members and clenched her fists. Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to retort. But when Jang Hyun-ah asked if she had complaints and threatened to remove her from the expedition, Baek Yeo-ul had no choice but to grit her teeth and agree reluctantly.
Just as we reached a fork in the road, left or right, the team leader paused to consider.
“We’ll go left.”
Why left?
“Vibration-nuna, I think right is the correct path.”
“Ha! Hah! Hey, Hanamjin! Who do you think you are, interrupting the team leader? Do you have any experience with this kind of exploration? We’ve been doing this for over three months!”
“Small, it’s fine, Somi. Hey, YOU. Shut up and follow me. I’m king and president here. We’re going left, got it?”
And so, we headed left.
But as I observed, the graffiti on the walls was translating itself clearly to me.
【The left path is blocked by a collapsed wall…!】
【If you’re heading to the dining hall, please use the right path…!】
Of course, the left path was truly blocked.
A crumbling wall prevented further entry.
“I told you we should’ve gone right.”
“Aaah, how annoying! Why’d we have to pick the broken path?”
“We’ll have to turn back and take the right route. Why is our luck this bad?”
The seniors shot a glance at Baek Yeo-ul, blaming the unfortunate choices on her.
“If only we had gone right when the new guy suggested it…”
For once, Baek Yeo-ul spoke up, perhaps feeling wronged.
This caused Jeon Somi and the others to collectively explode in fury.
“What was that?”
“Disgraceful.”
It was disgraceful to me, too. I had to bring up what I had wanted to say since earlier.
“It’s not going to work. From now on, I’m the team leader. I’m the new king and president, and those who don’t follow my orders will face penalties.”
“Wha? Do you think you can randomly replace the team leader? High school brats with not even a drop of bl**d dried yet! Don’t overstep your boundaries!”
BAM!
Jeon Somi smacked the back of my head.
I believed in the necessity of punishment for those who crossed the line.
“Dare to talk back to the Great Labyrinth President? Kick, Hanamjin!”
I slapped Jeon Somi’s cheek with my palm, and she fell to the ground, rubbing her burning face in shock.
“You crazy b*stard! How dare you hit a senior! Do you want to d*e? You don’t care even if your midterm results get ruined?”
What good is acing the midterm tests if the world’s going to collapse in a year anyway?
School diplomas are nothing but useless pieces of paper.
“Hyun-ah! This is unacceptable! Let’s just kick him out! What an a**hole! He hasn’t even graduated yet—how dare he disrespect current explorers? Doesn’t he know what fear is?”
Jeon Somi screamed, threatening to grab my hair as if she were a maniac. But knowing that I had apprehended several rank-3 fugitives, she refrained from physical confrontation.
“Barking dogs seldom bite.”
At that moment, Jang Hyun-ah crossed her arms and said calmly,
“Hanamjin, right? If you’re so confident, why don’t you try being the team leader?”
“Hyun-ah! What are you saying right now?! Didn’t you see my cheek get slapped? Slapped! By him!”
「Name: Jeon Somi
Possession: 《Slipperiness Lv.2》 – Slippery like the best loach.
Condition: 《Anger》 – She’s very upset after being slapped. Additionally, she’s furious about Jang Hyun-ah, who she thought was her ally, making random decisions.」
「Name: Jang Hyun-ah
Possession: 《Vibration Lv.3》 – She can generate precise vibrations like a construction machine.
Condition: 《Amusement》 – Watching her ignorant junior talk so loudly is amusing. Also, seeing her arch nemesis Jeon Somi’s slapped face is relieving.」
I thought she and Jeon Somi were friends, but apparently not. What is friendship anyway?
Slllll.
Jang Hyun-ah slowly blinked and said,
“Hanamjin, from now on, you’ll lead the expedition into the labyrinth. But if you fail, you’ll pay the price, and maybe even strip and crawl on your knees to apologize.”
If she wanted to see me n*ked and crawling, she was undeniably a pervert.
“And if I succeed?”
“Success? Do you even know how hard it is to find treasures? Even I, a seasoned veteran, may discover one in a month if I’m lucky.”
“If I find a treasure and succeed, will you answer one question? I’m curious about what breakfast you ate during the days you and Prince Juhyun spent together in a hotel last week.”
I intended to extract information about Prince Juhyun and the Imperial Group from these women. Perhaps information that could even expose Seo Do-cheol’s weaknesses.
But Jeon Somi looked completely bewildered and countered,
“What’s this nonsense? Did Hyun-ah meet Juhyun last week? Hyun-ah, didn’t you take leave to visit your hometown?”
“…What nonsense is this? Why would I meet Juhyun? I went to the countryside last week.”
Mentioning Prince Juhyun and the hotel stay seemed to unsettle Jang Hyun-ah significantly.
The information I received from the Ramen shop owner seemed reliable after all.
Regardless, I distanced myself from the seniors simmering in a strange tension and stared at the fairy writings carved into the wall near the dining hall.
【Close to the dining hall is the princess’s bedroom, so please eat quietly…!】
The princess’s bedroom. Surely, there must be some treasure inside.
—
