Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Exploring the Deep Floors

The penthouse provided by Kronos, a global conglomerate.

Kim Guk-hyeon stepped out onto the terrace and checked CocoaTalk.

Grind.

He clenched his molars at the number that still had not disappeared.

He had treated her and even her younger sibling to such expensive food, yet she was still leaving him unread.

How insolent.

“Is she still not reading your messages?”

At the voice that reached him, he turned his head.

Lee Jin-su, Team Leader of Management Headquarters Team 1 at Kronos.

He was an elite member of the Management Headquarters currently in charge of Kim Guk-hyeon and Yoo Si-yeon’s team.

“She is putting up an iron wall, so why not look for someone else? Hunter Kim Guk-hyeon, you are immensely popular worldwide as well, are you not?”

“Did you come here to add fuel to the fire?”

“Of course not.”

Smiling, Lee Jin-su sat down across from him.

As if this were a familiar situation, Kim Guk-hyeon naturally filled his glass.

“Thank you.”

Kim Guk-hyeon shrugged and clinked glasses with him.

The two men tilted their glasses without saying a word.

After a brief silence, Lee Jin-su opened his mouth.

“We are almost at Floor 100.”

“I know. But is it certain? That there is a secret on Floor 100 that made Yoo Si-yeon the World’s Greatest Sword before the Regression.”

“If you are asking whether it is one hundred percent... then no, it is not. It is merely an extremely high probability.”

“And that great Ariadne calculated it?”

“That is correct.”

Lee Jin-su took a tablet out of his bag.

“This is information on Yoo Si-yeon gathered through Ariadne.”

Yoo Si-yeon, the World’s Greatest Sword, who had not yielded to any persuasion before the Regression.

Yet after the Regression, she had accepted Kronos’s offer at once.

Judging from her style, it could not have been a simple whim.

So they began digging.

What had changed before and after the Regression? What was so urgent that she had to borrow Kronos’s power?

“Are the entries listed on the left information from before the Regression?”

“Yes. We reconstructed it as much as possible and fed it into Ariadne. How does it look from a Ranker’s perspective?”

Kim Guk-hyeon frowned as he scanned the listed information.

When he had only watched from beside her, he had not noticed it, but now that Ariadne had organized it, he felt as if he could see the difference.

“Before the Regression, Player Yoo Si-yeon’s name became known after Floor 100, which is the beginning of the Deep Floors. Then why did she not stand out before that? Because she successfully hid her strength and identity? I do not think so. At least until Floor 100, she was not strong enough to be called the World’s Greatest Sword.”

Lee Jin-su pointed to hundreds of videos.

“These are moments inside the Labyrinth after the Regression when Player Yoo Si-yeon failed to use techniques. They were techniques she enjoyed using before the Regression. Have you seen them while exploring the Labyrinth? Player Yoo Si-yeon using these techniques, I mean.”

Kim Guk-hyeon shook his head.

Come to think of it, he had not seen them even once.

Despite the fact that they were quite powerful and useful techniques.

After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“I don’t quite understand. Then what is her current strength? Even now, she is strong enough to rank fourth.”

“As you know, Yoo Si-yeon’s basic physique itself is outstanding. Furthermore, what made her powerful before the Regression was her unmatched swordsmanship. Skills such as magic or psychic abilities are impossible to use unless acquired, but the realm of martial arts, such as swordsmanship and hand-to-hand techniques, is different. If the body and mind remember them, they can be recreated.”

“They simply won’t be perfect.”

“That is correct. These countless traces of attempts and failures are proof of that. And because she herself will know this best... she must be desperate. That is likely why she came to Kronos.”

The corners of Kim Guk-hyeon’s mouth rose.

“She pretends to be innocent on the outside, but she is pitch-black inside.”

“If she obtains what she wants on Floor 100? She will leave Kronos immediately.”

Lee Jin-su corrected his posture.

“Kronos does not want that situation. Since she has joined us, and since we have brought her up to Rank 4, we would like her to stay as long as possible.”

Kim Guk-hyeon let out a laugh.

Putting a leash on that proud and arrogant woman.

He liked it very much.

“I have also conveyed the situation to Ron Cayley and Lando Mitchell. They will cooperate with you, sir. Therefore, please bring it back. The thing Yoo Si-yeon wants so badly.”

“Don’t worry. It is as good as already in my hands.”

He clinked glasses once more and leaned back into his chair.

The party ranked second in the world was still lingering in the late 80s.

For a while, Kim Guk-hyeon’s party was the only one that could enter Floor 100 of the Labyrinth.

Furthermore, now that Ron Cayley and Lando Mitchell had agreed to cooperate, no variable could possibly exist.

‘Si-yeon. What are you going to do about this? It looks like you will soon have to cling to your big brother, crying and begging.’

He was already looking forward to it.

The sight of Yoo Si-yeon’s proud face twisting in humiliation, that was.

---

The beginning of the Deep Floors, Basement Floor 100 of the Labyrinth.

I slowly drew in a breath.

Perhaps because this was truly the Deep Floors, even the air seeping into my nose felt different.

I crept forward and hid myself behind a massive boulder.

Then I scanned the surroundings with the binoculars I had brought.

‘They are ridiculously huge.’

Titans, monsters with heights that easily exceeded twenty meters and muscles that looked ready to burst.

Dozens of those Titans were wandering throughout the floor.

[This floor has been inverted by an unknown force.]

[Defeat all Titans and reach the summit to clear the floor.]

I looked at the weapon I had drawn a moment ago.

It was a rectangular wooden shield that covered from my wrist to my elbow.

I had wondered, Why did a shield come out when I drew a weapon?!

But when I looked at its option, it was an insane item that returned every physical attack it touched exactly as it was.

However, separate from the fact that the option was absurdly overpowered, I had no intention whatsoever of approaching those twenty-meter giants while holding only this one shield.

If I made even the slightest mistake and failed to block, I would be headed straight across the river to the afterlife.

“Boss. May I dare to offer a word?”

“Go ahead.”

“Let’s retreat after all. Do you see those clubs they’re holding? One hit from those, and you, me, and that lousy seal over there will be flattened instantly.”

She was not wrong.

I, too, had wondered hundreds of times whether it was worth risking my life for a single Hidden Item.

But in the end, my conclusion was that even so, if there was a way out, I had to do it.

The Great Labyrinth Library was the only method I, a Non-Regressor, had to surpass the regressors.

But if I gave up on every book I drew for all sorts of reasons?

Then I would have no choice but to fall behind, just as I had for the past three years.

And putting all those reasons aside, I simply wanted it too badly.

A Hidden Item from the Deep Floors.

“Boss, now that you’re actually here, you’re scared too, right? There’s no need to be embarrassed. The most important thing is your life... Huh?”

Aris drew a question mark at the Child-Sized Bulletproof Helmet placed on her head.

“Boss? Can that club be blocked with this bulletproof helmet?”

“There’s no way. It’s just so you can gain some peace of mind.”

“I see.”

Aris shook her head as Boss Ryu Jin answered casually and continued putting on his equipment.

‘He isn’t human.’

After putting on the parachute, I took out the Everest climbing rope and tied it to Aris and Poporu.

Aris broke into a cold sweat at the rope, which had been tied into very secure knots.

To think he had even bound her in case she ran away midway. As expected, he was meticulous.

“With this, we will share life and death together.”

“I shall follow, du...!”

“O... Oh!”

I had Poporu wear a small bag.

It was a bag filled with anchor pitons that could connect the rope.

“How is it? Is it heavy?”

“It is easy to carry, du.”

As expected of Poporu, a martial artist who trained his body every day.

His basic physique itself was excellent.

“Poporu, from now on, you need to climb ahead of me, drive in these iron pitons, and connect the rope. Like this.”

Once I taught him, Poporu followed along quite well beside me.

For a dugong, even though his hands were plump, he was excellent.

“Let’s depart. Aris, keep watch from my shoulder.”

“Yes! Leave it to me! If something comes, I’ll jump off right away!”

“Why would you jump off? Tell us, and then we go together.”

“Oh, right!”

I glared at Aris, who scratched the back of her head.

That treason DNA of hers could not be let out of sight.

“We depart, du!”

Poporu climbed the cliff first with the pitons and hammer.

Perhaps because his grip strength was good, he climbed even better than I had expected.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Poporu connected the rope and stuck out his thumb.

“Suuuuup!”

After confirming that it was firmly fixed, I used the equipment to climb the rock face.

Perhaps because I had done a mock practice session at the shop where I bought it, it did not feel awkward.

It was merely terrifying because here, I would really die.

Poporu repeatedly hammered, connected, climbed back down, and retrieved the previous pitons.

Aris also read the room and took drinks and snacks out of the bag, putting them into Poporu’s mouth.

It seemed like more of them were going into her own mouth, but surely that was my imagination, right?

We kept climbing the cliff while repeating the same actions.

‘Goddess of Luck. Even if I am being a little greedy, please look after me.’

I did not forget to pray in my heart that misfortune would pass me by.

I raised my head and stared at the area near the summit.

I could not see it yet, but it should be there.

The entrance that would lead me to the Hidden Item...

DING!

A notification sound rang out, one I wished I had not heard at this moment more than any other.

I slowly turned my head toward it.

[The sleeping Labyrinth has detected something!]