NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56
056 – The Room You Can’t Escape From #1
Seo Nam Group’s chairman, Seo Do-cheol, finally regained his senses after seeing his hands dripping with blood.
It seemed that a shard from the bonsai pot he cherished so much had stabbed his palm.
He quickly wrapped a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket around the wound to stop the bleeding and returned to the video.
“━━─!”
Seeing his precious daughter silently screaming in agony from the tablet screen, his anger surged once more.
‘Does anyone dare to provoke me like this?’
Seo Do-cheol, who hadn’t shed a single tear even at the funeral of the nanny who had cared for him for 30 years, felt differently when it came to matters involving his daughter.
A child is a parent’s embodiment.
In other words, the one suffering in this kidnapping incident was no different than Seo Do-cheol himself.
He struggled to hold back the profanities rising within him and tried to remain calm. In his mind, there were only three types of people bold enough to pull such a stunt against him.
The most suspicious was the Je Wang Group.
‘If it was you who kidnapped my daughter, know that your sons and daughters will face the same fate.’
The chairman of Je Wang Group cherished his illegitimate son, Wang Ja-hyeon, more than anything.
Among Wang Ji-seok’s many sons and daughters, that boy was the only one who had become a superhuman, so naturally, his affection was profound.
Though he didn’t show it publicly, Wang Ji-seok subtly hinted at wanting to have Seo Ga-eul, his son’s counterpart, as his daughter-in-law in the Je Wang family.
From Seo Do-cheol’s viewpoint, that was the most ridiculous and laughable thing.
The Wang family had merely been servants handling the Seo family’s dirty work from ancient times.
Even if the dynasty fell and a democratic nation arose, the situation where a dog shares a meal with its master would never change.
‘If the parents are dogs, the offspring are dogs too. Children resemble their parents.’
Seo Do-cheol recalled the boy Wang Ja-hyeon, who bowed to him at the conglomerate’s banquet.
He also remembered how that boy had looked at his daughter Seo Ga-eul with various desires shining in his eyes.
If that boy could not hide his bloodlust and had kidnapped Seo Ga-eul—
Crunch.
Just the thought of it made Seo Do-cheol’s teeth almost crack in anger.
“Those bastards!”
He felt disgusted as if his insides were twisting, and his head swam with fury, leading him to collapse.
Thud.
“Chairman, I need to report that the Great Labyrinth below has been opened… Huh! C-Chairman! Pull yourself together! Chairman! Hey! Someone call for help!”
He could hear a commotion of people rushing toward him after he fell, but Seo Do-cheol was lost for a while.
During the time he lost consciousness, he dreamed.
He dreamed of his daughter, wife, and the times when he was happy.
━Honey, our princess wants to marry a prince when she grows up.
━Then daddy has to work hard.
━Wow! Dad is the best!
# # #
“Have you fought monsters before? You should be cautious because you never know where or what monsters might appear. Of course, in this entrance, you don’t have to worry too much about that.”
I walked through the “Great Labyrinth” with Jin Ramyeon. It looked a little different from my imagination, and my disappointment grew.
“Dr. Kim! Are the samples ready yet?”
“Hold on! I’m scanning the murals in this area…”
I had imagined the “Great Labyrinth” to look like a ‘dungeon’ from a game, but the reality was more like a graduate school crowded with lights and researchers in white coats.
In short, this place was a safe zone of the Great Labyrinth secured by Seo Nam Group.
Here, research was conducted on the Great Labyrinth to acquire technological prowess.
Soon Jin Ramyeon whispered in my ear.
“That ‘Zero Cola Fresh’ was actually created by interpreting characters found in the Great Labyrinth. Do you see those people over there?”
Many researchers were struggling with a certain monument.
The characters on the monument were very wavy and looked just like worms. Upon closer inspection, some resembled leaves, some squirrels, and others clouds or spiders.
They must be hieroglyphics.
As I squinted at the letters more closely, characters began to emerge right before my eyes.
【To celebrate the princess’s 10th birthday, let’s brew ‘Nectar’…!】
【Ingredients: Sugar, lime, fairy stream water (can be replaced with soda), honey…】
“What could the last ingredient be? Fairy language is so irregular that I can’t figure out the last word.”
“It sounds like some kind of insect. But isn’t it funny to have insects in drink making?”
“If we want to launch ‘Zero Fresh’ by the end of this week, we need to find out what this is!”
“Does anyone have a way to contact F-Class Joynoh? I think these sentences can only be interpreted with him around!”
Seeing the researchers scratching their heads in front of the monument made my heart flutter.
Helping with the monument research could aid the release of Zero Cola Fresh.
“The last word is honey.”
“Honey?”
“Honey?”
“Honey… That seems right. It’s linked to insects…”
The researchers looked at my face.
As if thinking, who is this guy suddenly giving advice?
I lightly replied.
“I have a concept of ‘emotion.’”
“‘Emotion’? Wait, I’ve seen you somewhere… you’re—!”
“You’re the student from the newspaper! The one from team ‘No Leftover Day’!”
“Yes, I’m Hanam-jjin, ‘Bread Pitt.’”
“Monster Hanam-jjin!”
“Monster!”
“Yes, I’m ‘Bread Pitt.’”
“Hanam-jjin! Come join our department after you graduate!”
“Anytime! I’ll give you my access pass!”
“Well then, shall we all clock out now?”
“Wow! Clocking out in just 48 hours!”
Thus, my first exploration of the Great Labyrinth ended.
It was a little annoying with the researchers and doctors grabbing my clothes, but overall it was a fun experience.
After all, the ‘emotion’ I received from Seo Ga-eul was greatly helpful, wasn’t it? My affection towards Seo Ga-eul couldn’t help but deepen every time this happened.
“I got the labyrinth free access pass. Not bad.”
It was then that I was about to leave the labyrinth.
I thought I might be able to open the closed door with this “seed” ring, so I was about to experiment when I spotted a familiar backside around the corner.
To be precise, it was a big round backside.
“Hey, aren’t you Baek-Yeoul?”
I had no idea what she was doing, but Baek-Yeoul, who was curled up in the corner, looked startled like a mouse caught stealing rice when she heard my voice.
“What, what’s going on!”
Upon closer inspection, it turned out she was secretly eating Choco Pies by herself.
How could she be hiding and eating something so delicious? What a coward.
「Name: Baek-Yeoul
Ability: 《Unlucky Lv. 2》 – Possesses such misfortune even a black cat respects.
Status: 《Sad and Embarrassed》 – Very sad to meet someone she knows while feeling shocked!」
Sad and Embarrassed?
Well, embarrassed, I get it, but what’s with the sad part?
As I looked at Baek-Yeoul, she was rather looking at my face with a concerned expression.
“Hanam-jjin! What are you doing here?”
“Me? I came here with Jin Ramyeon for something at Seo Nam Group. So, what’s up? Is the Great Labyrinth exploration fun?”
“Of course! It’s totally awesome! I’m Baek-Yeoul from the Baek family! I’m the one taking down Jeong-ui-seon—ack! Was that a secret? Anyway! I’m totally carrying in the Great Labyrinth! Today, I’ve already deactivated five traps!”
Seeing her beaming with confidence kinda made me uneasy. But still, her boasting meant that today’s exploration had been worthwhile.
At that moment, someone shouted from around the corner.
“Hey! Baek-Yeoul! Why are you dawdling? Hurry up!”
“Yikes! I gotta go! They can’t progress without me, you know.”
With a sheepish laugh and a scratch of the back of her head, Baek-Yeoul hurriedly ran off with a rather heavy-looking bag.
She stumbled a few times on the stone steps, but soon she disappeared out of sight.
From tomorrow on, am I going to explore this Great Labyrinth with such a big backside?
I feel a bit uneasy!
But it should be fun!
# # #
Baek-Yeoul stuffed the leftover Choco Pie into her pocket and waddled ahead.
Even for an awakened person like Baek-Yeoul, the bag was heavy, making it quite difficult for her to walk.
However, Baek-Yeoul’s steps slowed not just because of the weight of the bag.
She felt a bit heavy-hearted as she turned the corner, anticipating what she might see.
“Hey, where have you been messing around? If you keep that up, I’ll definitely lower your midterm exam score!”
“Someone who started working today already went missing. Who said to go solo? Are you crazy or something? In the Great Labyrinth, if you don’t follow the team leader’s orders, you could really be done for.”
As soon as she turned the corner, she was met with the angry faces of active explorer Jeon Som-i and team leader Jang Hyeon-ah.
They thrust an empty lunch box at Baek-Yeoul.
“You clean this up.”
“Keeping seniors waiting and you’re still doing this.”
The lunchboxes numbered three in total.
One each for the explorers Jeon Som-i, team leader Jang Hyeon-ah, and Baek-Yeoul.
However, for some reason, they had devoured Baek-Yeoul’s share as if it belonged to them.
Baek-Yeoul felt rather upset and sad since she hadn’t eaten a single meal from morning till evening.
“My lunchbox….”
“Baek-Yeoul, you came late, didn’t you?”
“I thought you weren’t hungry.”
The reason Baek-Yeoul was missing was that Jeon Som-i had assigned her to the task of throwing the empty lunchboxes in the trash can by the entrance.
Yet Jeon Som-i pretended to know nothing.
It was mean of Jang Hyeon-ah, Jeon Som-i’s friend, to act oblivious as well.
They had been obviously bullying Baek-Yeoul since morning.
For instance, they would send Baek-Yeoul first to spots rigged with traps.
“Hey, Baek-Yeoul. When you’re around, the traps always get triggered, so you go ahead and activate all the traps first!”
They would pick on her with the idea of her being “unlucky.”
“Damn, how is it that every time I hit a dead end at a fork in the road? Who’s making me this unlucky?”
“Seriously, you’re such a nuisance.”
“……”
Baek-Yeoul’s heart was hardened. So, she thought she had grown used to such childish bullying over the years.
However, after having enjoyed happy school days with friends from ‘No Leftover Day’ recently, she appeared to have softened her heart.
Thus, she felt quite glad when she spotted Hanam-jjin’s face at the entrance of the labyrinth.
When the guy asked if she was okay, she thought about confessing honestly—but—
‘I can overcome this even without friends.’
Baek-Yeoul decided to bear it and hold on.
After all, she was someone who had fought terrifying Level C wanted criminals.
Jeon Som-i felt good thinking about making Baek-Yeoul squirm.
‘Should I trap her in a trap room tomorrow and let her cry and beg for forgiveness? Honestly, that would be too little for the humiliation she gave me last time.’
However, in reality, there was something more important to Jeon Som-i at the moment.
“Hey, Hyun-ah, did you hear? A boy is joining our team as a support tomorrow.”
“I haven’t heard the details. But there’s only one 3rd-year boy who would join our team.”
Jeon Som-i imagined the boy she liked.
The tall, fair-skinned boy with big eyes, Wang Ja-hyeon.
“Surely, it must be Ja-hyeon joining our team, right?”
Jeon Som-i had a crush on Wang Ja-hyeon.
It was because he was the youngest son of a conglomerate. His tall figure and fair skin made him look just like a prince, matching her ideal type perfectly.
He was truly her ideal type.
To think such a student would temporarily join their team—
‘If only Jang Hyeon-ah wasn’t here.’
Jeon Som-i had recently discovered that Jang Hyeon-ah was secretly Dming Wang Ja-hyeon without telling her.
It was undoubtedly because Wang Ja-hyeon was soft-hearted, unable to cut off contact with girls reaching out to him.
But tomorrow…
If she showed that Wang Ja-hyeon was getting close to her, Jang Hyeon-ah, who had been sneaking around like a fox, wouldn’t have any choice but to realize her position and swallow her anger.
As Jeon Som-i was laughing inwardly, Baek-Yeoul trembled with anxiety.
‘Not only Jeon Som-i and Jang Hyeon-ah, but now Wang Ja-hyeon too? That guy is totally unlucky!’
I’d rather tomorrow never come—.
After the women tossed and turned in their beds, each caught in their own thoughts, morning arrived.
“Yes, I am ‘Bread Pitt.’”