Free Web NovelHe said he would tell me a way to escape.
‘Even just from the sound of it, it’s not goodwill.’
It sounded closer to, I don’t want to take you in, so I’m kicking you out.
Of course, it was a reasonable thought.
When I didn’t really react, he looked around once and then asked:
“Escaping is your goal anyway, right?”
“Mine?”
What the hell did he talk about with Ahn Jinha?
I frowned and quietly listened to him, and he slowly added:
“I heard you didn’t even come in here with the qualifications of a believer in the first place. And if you’re not particularly interested in raising your Rank, then it’s right for you to leave quickly.”
“That really sounds like goodwill.”
“Because it is goodwill.” frёeωebɳovel.com
Gi Cheongmin added in a bored voice:
“People keep coming in, so I’m saying I’ll pull you out. I’ll even help you take that guy and get him out.”
As he said that, he pointed at Ryu Taejun, who was sitting leaning against the bed.
I followed his finger, gave Ryu Taejun a sidelong glance, and asked:
“What were you originally going to do with him?”
“What are you asking?”
Gi Cheongmin asked back like he was dumbfounded. Well, the answer was obvious. Either kill him, or use him as bait.
It wasn’t hard to guess what kind of talk had gone around in whatever meeting they’d held in their own way.
Maybe he interpreted my silence on his own, because even while his expression twisted, Gi Cheongmin answered faithfully:
“Anyway, we’re way off from the first plan. From what I heard, you seem to have some kind of tracking skill, but we never thought you’d actually find your way here.”
“.......”
“If you’re not even a believer, then what’s your purpose for coming into the maze? Are you /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ planning to report us or something?”
“My purpose?”
“I’m not interested in the answer. I’m just saying that if you have that level of fighting power, there’s no need for me to take a loss by fighting you. That’s why I suggested letting you go out.”
Hearing it like this, it wasn’t that his behavioral logic didn’t make sense, but something snagged.
‘He’s talking about it really easily.’
His attitude was confident, but just from the words, it was no different from admitting there was a one-sided difference in fighting power.
‘Why go that far?’
Since I’d only met him not long ago, it was a bit tricky to figure out what he was thinking. For now, I decided to let it slide, shrugged my shoulders once, and asked something else.
“What’s the escape method?”
“As you probably guessed, you just need to get out of the maze.”
“Guess that means you already know the route.”
“Yeah. I’ve gone almost all the way to the end.”
Almost to the end? And he still didn’t escape?
At this point, leaving my own goal aside, I started getting curious about the ‘god’s’ stats themselves. Just how does it grant wishes that they’re clinging to it like this?
“You didn’t escape because you want to meet the ‘god’?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s fascinating. At this point, I want to meet it too.... They say people originally enter the dungeon with that purpose.”
At those words, Gi Cheongmin’s eyes went cold. He blinked slowly a few times, then answered calmly:
“I don’t want to give you that kind of opportunity.”
“Opportunity?”
“It’ll take quite a bit of time before you run into it. I don’t want to keep you next to us for that long.”
In other words, he didn’t like having me in front of him, so he was telling me to get lost.
“I could just move around separately. It’s not like I asked you for help.”
“That’s even worse. I’m bothered by the idea of other guys besides us wandering around this maze however they want.”
“Why?”
“I just don’t leave variables like that.”
Had he thought this through all the way to variables? Well, this was the same bastard who came up with the idea of attaching an item to a molar of all places, so he would be meticulous about things like this.
Anyway, his attitude was annoying, but looking at the outcome only, it wasn’t bad to learn the paths of the maze.
If it came down to it, I could use it as an escape route, and it would be good for understanding the layout.
I acted like I readily agreed with him and asked:
“Then you’re going to accompany us to the end of the maze?”
“Yeah. I’ll go together with that person you were talking with earlier, just the two of us.”
“Hm.”
Now that was unnecessarily generous.
For a brief moment, I wondered if he was just saying this and actually had a plan to kill all three of us. Of course, wondering about it now didn’t solve anything.
‘What should I do.’
I turned my gaze and met eyes with Do Yehyun, who was staring at this place.
Our original first plan, just like Do Yehyun had said, was to kill Gi Cheongmin and scare the other guys. But as I listened to him, it seemed likely that there was information that only Gi Cheongmin knew.
‘For now, is it right to obediently go along?’
Just then, Gi Cheongmin suddenly turned his head and looked at Do Yehyun.
“How old is he? He looks young.”
“.......”
At the sudden question, I turned my gaze toward Gi Cheongmin.
“No idea.”
“You two don’t know each other well?”
“No, I just don’t see why I should bother telling you.”
Maybe because the guy following me kept his mouth shut, from Ryu Taejun to this bastard, everyone sure had a lot of interest in Do Yehyun.
‘Does he draw aggro for having a pretty face?’
I stared into Gi Cheongmin’s eyes and added:
“Mind your own business.”
“He’s not your real younger brother, right? You don’t look alike. The atmosphere is a bit similar, though.”
“Yeah?”
I answered half-heartedly to Gi Cheongmin’s bullshit, and he stared at me intently and spoke quietly:
“If you hover around him too much, it’s obvious he’s your weak point.”
“Hm?”
He was spouting nonsense in a row now. Do Yehyun is my weak point?
Of course, I would do my best to keep Do Yehyun alive...... but is that a weak point? If I really thought he was a weak point, I wouldn’t have brought him here in the first place.
‘Do Yehyun does get all restless because he’s afraid I’ll die, though.’
I chuckled and answered:
“I’ll be careful not to get found out. Thanks for the advice?”
“.......”
“So, when are you planning to leave.”
I immediately cut off the pointless talk and asked about the departure time, and the answer came back right away.
“Now.”
***
He gave off a nuance like we would leave right away, but the preparations took longer than I expected.
After I got a firm answer that as soon as preparations were finished we would leave this hideout, Gi Cheongmin allowed more than I had thought. First, he let us undo the binding that had tightly tied up Ryu Taejun; he also shared food and partially allowed us to walk around the hideout.
I first gave Ryu Taejun time to get ready and absentmindedly looked around the area.
‘Just how long have they been staying here?’
Even on a structure that looked pretty flimsy on the outside, there were traces of having been made over quite a long time. Unless they had come in here from the beginning planning to live here, it didn’t make sense.
‘Interesting.’
While I was looking around like that, Do Yehyun, who had been following a step behind, came close and asked:
“Are you really going to leave the maze?”
“No.”
When I answered immediately, Do Yehyun quietly nodded, like it wasn’t particularly surprising.
“I think securing an escape route is a good idea. I’m planning to follow and see it.”
“Yes.”
Do Yehyun hesitated for a moment, then asked one more thing.
“What are you going to do about Gi Cheongmin?”
“I’m still thinking. For now, he says he’s going to tell us the way... so I’ll leave him alone.”
“Yes.”
“On the assumption that what he said about showing us the exit is true.”
“.......”
I didn’t know what hidden power he had, but I didn’t think we would lose if we fought.
While I was briefly reorganizing the plan going forward, I heard Ahn Jinha’s voice from behind.
“Uh, hey.”
I turned my head at the awkwardly cut sound, and there was Ahn Jinha, standing uncomfortably and looking back and forth between me and Do Yehyun.
“Why?”
With one leg cocked, Ahn Jinha looked up at me and reported the situation.
“They said everything’s ready.”
“Yeah?”
Well, then we had to go. I pushed his shoulder, telling him to take the lead.
“Let’s go.”
“.......”
Considering how noisy they’d been about preparing, both Gi Cheongmin and Ahn Jinha were dressed simply. They had taken some artifacts, but not in a way that would justify taking this long.
“What did you pack that it took this long?”
“We took care of the ones staying behind.”
I took that to mean he had given some brief orders and nodded roughly.
“Do you know how long until night?”
All I’d heard here was that night was dangerous, so I asked to check.
The answer came from Ahn Jinha’s side.
“...We have quite a bit of time left.”
“Right.”
I answered briefly and quickly checked the condition of Do Yehyun and Ryu Taejun. In the meantime, being tied up and resting here might have been bad for his mental health, but maybe it was good for his body, because Ryu Taejun’s complexion looked glossier than before.
“Then let’s go.”
“Feels like we’re experiencing a fantasy movie.”
When I joked back at Gi Cheongmin’s words, several gazes hit me at once. Smiling faintly, I moved my steps after Gi Cheongmin.
The guys who left the clearing and entered the maze chose their path with familiarity.
While Gi Cheongmin walked quickly at the front, I followed leisurely behind him and swept my gaze over Ahn Jinha beside me, whose discomfort was obvious.
“Why....”
“Just looking.”
“.......”
I used this opportunity to ask Ahn Jinha a few things.
“That clearing you guys chose earlier, that’s the center of the maze, right?”
“.......”
“It’s a guess. I just kept choosing one direction and coming. But if you roughly assume this place has a square structure... well, as long as the maze isn’t ridiculously huge, structurally that place you were just in seemed like the middle.”
“You can’t be sure with just that, can you?”
“It was suspiciously wide. And the paths were open in all directions.”
“.......”
Since there was no answer, I decided I could take it as a yes, counted my curiosity as satisfied, and moved on to the next question.
“Since when has Gi Cheongmin been here?”
“I don’t know either. Longer than me.”
“In terms of days?”
“...I don’t know that either. One day here is different from one day outside, so I really don’t know. It’s not like we’re counting the time all day long.”
At the answer that came back more blandly than I’d expected, I lost interest and focused again on walking.
After I kept moving my steps like that for a few hours, around the time the other guys’ stamina started to wear down, Ahn Jinha spoke in a quiet voice.
“It... feels like it’ll be night soon.”
