Free Web NovelThe talk about it being dangerous to walk around at night felt pointless, because the way back to their hideout wasn’t dangerous at all.
‘Well, from what I heard, the danger level is basically random anyway.’
On top of that, the way their testimonies about the maze’s danger kept oddly contradicting each other was not great for figuring the place out.
I adjusted the watch and checked Do Yehyun’s location again.
‘If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve just stuck a monitoring camera on him.’
It was just a watch that showed location, so there was no way to cut straight through the maze to get there. And whether it was a malfunction or those bastards had somehow caught on, I didn’t know—but Do Yehyun’s position had been fixed in the same spot for a while now. freёwebnoѵel.com
“This is annoying.”
Even when I tried to connect the comms, it refused to link up, so something was definitely wrong. In the worst case... he might be dead.
‘Yeah, that won’t do.’
Even considering every other route I could use, going back to the hideout was still the best option.
When I made my way back to their hideout, the familiar barrier came into view.
“Hey, drop it.”
I waved at the guy visible beyond the barrier and told him to dismantle it so I could go in, and his expression froze at once.
“Wh-what the hell?”
“Drop this. I need to go inside.”
Instead of dispelling it, the guy bolted off and started frantically calling the others.
‘Ah, these spineless little shits.’
After I waited a bit longer, one thug with a mean-looking face came shambling over and planted himself in front of me like we were squaring off.
“What is it?”
“Drop this. I need to go in.”
“Why the hell should I?”
“Good question.”
Why should he? Nothing in particular came to mind to persuade him with.
I just grabbed a random name bouncing around in my head and spun a lie.
“Gi Cheongmin says to let me back in.”
The thug-looking bastard openly sneered at me.
“Bullshit. Cheongmin’s the one who told us not to let you in. Said if you came back, not to open the gate.”
So that’s what he wasted all that time “giving orders” for—only to go off and pull some perfectly crafted piece-of-shit nonsense like this. Amazing.
I didn’t show it on my face and just shrugged.
“Don’t know. Maybe he changed his mind.”
“He just ditched you, that’s what. If you want in, wait till Cheongmin comes back. He’ll be back when it’s light out.”
“Ah... you spineless fucks, seriously.”
“What?”
Wasting time on this kind of back-and-forth here was exactly what I hated. The first time we came in, we’d already had one round of this—did I really need to be doing the same crap with this idiot in the middle of the night?
I stared down at the ground for a moment, then only lifted my eyes to glare at him.
“That precious Cheongmin of yours... what, you in love with him? A bunch of grown-ass men with no backbone leeching off some guy named Gi Cheongmin or whatever the fuck.”
“The fuck? Ha... forget it, here you go again with the swearing. I’m not opening shit, so just wait out there. You think I don’t know what kind of fucked situation I’ll be in if I let in someone like you?”
Fair point. I acknowledged it cleanly and took a step back.
“Okay. Open it.”
“What the hell are you saying?”
“I’ll ask nicely.”
“You’ve lost your mind. Everyone knows you’re the one who pulled Dokyeong’s tooth. You talking pretty isn’t gonna make me want to let you in.”
“Right. Then let’s just talk.”
“Why the hell would I?”
Yeah, there’s no reason you have to talk either. I cleanly gave up on negotiating and reached my hand out, firing a sharp block of ice right past him.
Shhhhk!
The ice spear shot out in an instant, grazed him, and dropped to the floor, shattering with a crash.
“......”
“I know it just blocks people from going in. Talk this out and negotiate properly before I kill you.”
If I’d shifted the aim just a bit, I could’ve easily blown his head off.
Only then did he freeze in place and slowly ask,
“...What do you want to know?”
“What did Gi Cheongmin tell you? ‘If he comes back, don’t let him in’? That’s it?”
“That’s right.”
So he’d planned to cut me off from the start? If he needed our lives, he could’ve just taken all three of us—why take only two and cause this mess?
No, there was something that bothered me even more.
‘Why didn’t he kill me?’
If he’d knocked me out, it would’ve been easy to finish me off too. Leaving me alive on purpose was what didn’t make sense.
“Hm.”
While I was mulling that over, the guy clamped his mouth shut, then asked:
“Did Cheongmin just... throw you away?”
What was that supposed to mean, ‘just threw you away’? He didn’t seem to be attaching any special meaning to it, but it pissed me off anyway.
“Doesn’t Gi Cheongmin share his plans?”
“What plans. He just... does everything by himself. Just gives simple orders.”
“Then why follow him? Because he’s been here a long time?”
“There’s no one who knows this place better than him.”
It sounded like he’d skipped some parts, so I gestured for him to keep going. The guy frowned slightly and continued.
“He’s been living here for a few months, they say. All the lodgings and stuff he set up here, he brought them in himself. Guess he was planning to stay a long time from the start. Just a guess, though.”
“Is he not leaving because his rank hasn’t gone up as much as he wants?”
“Probably. He’s the strongest of us anyway. Just in terms of raw power.”
“......”
“And Cheongmin’s actually... pretty generous. If you do what he says.”
So a bunch of desperate rank-climbers had gathered and volunteered to be Gi Cheongmin’s dogs. And he’d been living here, biding his time for more chances to raise his rank?
I looked at the guy and asked,
“Do you know him well?”
“To some extent.”
“Then do you also know why he didn’t kill me and just dumped me?”
“That much... I don’t know.”
Yeah, I wasn’t expecting much.
I nodded calmly and looked at him. I’d gotten all I could out of him, and as for more conversation... didn’t seem like there was anything left.
“Got it. Nice talk.”
“Yeah, then if you just wait—”
Before he finished, I fired ice straight from my hand.
Thud!
With the sound of something hard being crushed, he slowly toppled over.
‘First time I’ve used it on a person.’
“H-heuk...”
The bastard standing right next to us collapsed on the spot. I could see chunks of the body scattered all over by my feet.
‘Looks like the maze really is affecting me a bit.’
Normally I would’ve looked for a different solution instead of doing something like this, but I’d carried it out without much hesitation.
Once I’d actually killed someone, I was struck by how absurdly simple it was. I’d thought it would feel very different from killing monsters, but it wasn’t really like that.
Maybe they felt a bit softer and more fragile—that was about it.
I turned my head and looked at the guy still sitting on the floor, staring up at me.
“Mind opening it?”
Shaking like crazy, he crawled over and dispelled the barrier.
I already knew the layout of the hideout. While Gi Cheongmin had been getting ready during the day, all I’d had to do was wander around and take a look at the place.
There were twelve people staying in the hideout. With Gi Cheongmin and Ahn Jinha gone, and the one I’d just killed, there should be nine left.
So, what should I do now? Just calmly wait for Gi Cheongmin to come back?
I looked at the guy who’d dropped the barrier and asked,
“Has he done this before?”
“H-huh, done what?”
“I’m asking if he’s taken people out saying he’d show them the way out.”
“A few times... I think so.”
“Did he take them out just to kill them?”
The guy shook his head frantically.
“Some unlucky ones died, but most of them... I think he just let them go.”
“Unlucky, my ass. Looked more like he planned to kill them from the start.”
I snorted as I answered, and his face went white. I stared at him and thought.
‘He’s scared.’
If someone dies right in front of you, fair enough.
I didn’t know exactly where Gi Cheongmin was right now, but he’d have to come back here no matter what. The only question was whether he’d already killed Ryu Taejun and Do Yehyun by then.
‘If I assume the worst and say they’re dead...’
Then what could I do right now?
Well, honestly, the best way to learn the maze’s secrets was definitely to ask Gi Cheongmin. That meant keeping things friendly with him was ideal. Or I could just flat-out threaten him.
‘But do I have anything I can use to threaten him with?’
I’d come back to the hideout for now, but it wasn’t like everyone here had a personal relationship with him. In other words, there was nothing here that counted as a proper “weakness.”
In that case, back to square one. How about building a friendly relationship from scratch and cooperating?
‘That really is the most rational.’
The problem was, I just really didn’t feel like it.
‘Ah... this is fucking irritating.’
I thought I’d laid out a decent plan, but I had no idea where to start fixing it now. I slowly walked one lap around the hideout and came to a sluggish conclusion.
All I could do for now was wait for Gi Cheongmin to come back, and if I was going to wait anyway, it would be best to do it quietly...
‘But why should I?’
A rebellious urge kept boiling up. Or more bluntly, I was just pissed as fuck. Maybe I was mad at myself for falling for such obvious bullshit, or maybe I was just annoyed that my schedule was completely blocked up.
“Nine people...”
I turned my head and met the eyes of the guy staring at me in fear.
“You know anything about Gi Cheongmin? Or the maze, whatever.”
“Uh, like... what exactly...”
“Never mind. I don’t really feel like knowing right now.”
Cutting him off shortly, I jerked my chin at him.
“Wake everyone else up.”
“...What?”
“Besides you, there should be eight others here. Bring them all out.”
“......”
Yeah, I cleanly dropped the idea of joining hands. It was a gathering of trash anyway—no harm in cleaning it up early.
‘Hm.’
To be honest, this was basically just pointless ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) venting. But... people are supposed to do pointless things now and then.
I watched the guy, who had fully grasped the situation but still wanted to live, sprint off as fast as he could, then lifted my head.
