Normalizing the Labyrinth City in the Game

A moment of silence fell at Siwon’s answer.

But it was only for a moment.

“…Sigh.”

“?”

“You seem to have a rather severe case of pseudologia fantastica. That’s a floor that hasn’t even been explored yet.”

“No, it’s true….”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure it is. What’s your name?”

The receptionist’s tone, which seemed somewhat sarcastic, was slightly irritating, but he decided to ignore it.

Knowledge is power, ignorance is poison.

What’s the point of preaching to a fool who doesn’t even know the veracity of the information?

“…Siwon.”

“Pardon? What did you say?”

“Siwon, I said. My name.”

“Yes… Sion. Is that correct?”

“No, ha… Yes. That’s right. That one. Sion.”

He decided to just accept it when they kept getting his name wrong.

Whether it’s Sion, Sian, Sean, or Shaun.

Siwon wasn’t particularly good at singing, but as long as they understand who they’re referring to, isn’t that enough?

“Yes, Sion… I’ve confirmed it. Then….”

After that, Siwon went through a few more procedures as guided by the receptionist.

Confirmation of place of birth and date of birth.

“…I came from beyond North Mountain, and I don’t know my date of birth. I’m twenty-seven this year.”

Everything except the last statement was a lie, but it’s not like he could say he came from South Korea.

‘Is it not South Korea anymore?’

Such a question suddenly occurred to him, but he quickly dismissed it.

Photo-taking for identity comparison.

Most facilities and tools in this world are similar to medieval times, but.

Interestingly, there are several magical items and facilities that are similar to or even superior to modern civilization.

One of them is this photo studio covered in white.

“What is this place for?”

He already knew, but asked to avoid suspicion.

“It’s where we take a picture of your appearance to put on your ID card.”

“…What’s a picture?”

“….”

‘Ah, did I go too far with that?’

The receptionist’s expression hardened for a moment, but soon returned to normal.

“You’ll see when you get it. Now, smile. Smile~”

“….”

“No, I said smile… Never mind. I’m taking it~”

Click!

Along with the familiar sound, a flash of light struck Siwon’s eyes.

After that, they asked for some more information, but he only answered with prepared lines.

Roughly speaking, questions similar to those you get during immigration checks when traveling abroad continued.

What’s your reason for becoming an explorer, where do you stay, and so on.

After all those procedures, the receptionist announced that the entry examination was over.

“Okay, that’s all done… Come back tomorrow to receive your ID card.”

“…Can’t I get it today?”

“What? Well, it’s not impossible… but it takes a long time.”

“How long?”

“It would take at least six hours… If you’re in a hurry, I could give you a temporary ID card.”

What Siwon actually needed was indeed a temporary ID card, but.

He had spoken in a roundabout way to avoid suspicion.

“Then please give me that.”

“Alright, understood.”

The receptionist then took out a piece of paper and wrote down a few squiggly letters.

A moment later.

“What are you doing? Not giving it to me.”

“I’ll give it to you after payment.”

…As expected.

The setting where they take money first because of people who eat and run seems to still be alive.

“…How much is it?”

“Including the entry fee, ID card production cost, and temporary ID card fee… it’s a total of 1 gold. You do have that, right?”

“…What?”

Siwon frowned.

“No, does it cost 1 gold just to make a piece of paper?”

“Ask the Explorer’s Guild Master about that, not me.”

“Can’t you discount it a bit? Even just 10 percent…”

“That would come out of my salary, do you think that’s possible?”

“…Tch.”

In LAOA, you could haggle every time you made a transaction, but there were a few places where such haggling was impossible.

One of those places was this guild office.

A place that takes the full amount for request fees, entry fees, and promotion fees.

He asked just in case it might be possible in reality, but it seemed unlikely.

“Here you go.”

A sad jingling sound spread across the table.

‘Ah, no. My precious money….’

Before Siwon could feel despair, the receptionist’s fingertips immediately snatched it up.

“Hmm….”

Not content with that, she began examining the gold coin Siwon had handed over from various angles.

“That’s real gold.”

“Everyone says that, so just wait a bit.”

‘…Surely, she wouldn’t have put fake money in there?’

A sudden anxiety.

But it was quite a reasonable anxiety.

That crazy menhera might very well do such a thing.

“Okay~ It’s been confirmed~”

‘…Phew.’

Only after the receptionist’s customer service-like words came out, could Siwon feel at ease.

“From now on, you are a member of the Explorer’s Guild~ Welcome to the guild~ Explorer~”

The receptionist said this and handed Siwon a brown piece of paper.

“….”

He looked at it closely just in case, but he couldn’t understand what was written at all.

He could tell that the black was letters and the brown was the background.

Siwon once again felt grateful for King Sejong’s benevolence.

‘…But, how do you read blood letters?’

It was a question that suddenly occurred to him, but.

‘…I guess only that side has special privileges.’

He decided to just let it go.

After all, if you can’t read blood letters, you can’t even guarantee survival clearing the 3rd underground floor.

…Maybe God was flexible in these aspects?

‘Thanks a lot, you bastard.’

While Siwon was inwardly cursing at God.

“…What are you doing, not leaving?”

The receptionist asked, looking at Siwon standing still.

‘Ah, come to think of it….’

There was a reason Siwon remained here.

“…Can I also receive a request?”

“You only have a temporary ID card, are you already going to take on requests?”

“…I like doing things quickly, whatever it is.”

Whatever happened to Siwon’s country before he died.

Siwon was Korean.

He was a person with “hurry, hurry” ingrained in his body.

…Of course, he also had a one-year time bomb necklace around his neck.

“Hmm, just a moment….”

After a while, the receptionist came back with a paper listing requests that 1st class explorers could accept.

“….”

“What’s wrong, nothing you like?”

“Well, I’m a foreigner.”

“…?”

“I can’t read the letters.”

“…AH!!!”

Then the receptionist, as if she had made a big mistake, began reading the papers one by one.

‘…The word “foreigner” is indeed a cheat key.’

Fortunately, they don’t suspect anything even if you can’t read the letters.

He thought it would be good to use the foreigner card later when revealing that he could read blood letters.

“What’s written here is the extermination of 10 goblins. As proof, you need to cut off both ears and bring them back….”

The receptionist’s explanation continued for about a few minutes.

Siwon memorized everything she said.

“That’s all. Which one would you like to do?”

The receptionist said this and spread out the papers in her hand.

A total of five requests.

“…Is this all?”

“Why, nothing you can handle? But, there’s nothing easier than these….”

“No.”

“…?”

“It’s too few. Please bring more.”

“…What did you say?”

The receptionist tilted her head.

“No, just bring everything. All requests possible for 1st class, everything.”

“No, that’s, it’s not impossible… but you might die.”

“I’m entering a place where I might die anyway, so what.”

It was a blatant lie.

The reason Siwon was entering the labyrinth was solely to survive.

“Fine, whatever. I won’t stop you, but… there’s a condition.”

“A condition?”

It’s something he never heard in the game.

‘…Well, I couldn’t even carry out requests in the first place.’

Even Siwon asking for more requests now was a kind of eccentricity.

Something that could never be done in the game.

It wasn’t impossible, so having conditions was understandable.

“Find another 1st class explorer party.”

“…What?”

Cancel.

A party is really not an option.

“No, you want me to enter the dungeon with other 1st class explorers?”

“You’re a 1st class too, aren’t you?”

“No, I am, but! If I go with those guys, I’ll die from cancer.”

“Cancer? What’s that….”

“It’s, a disease people often get where I’m from. You get it from stress….”

Wait, why am I explaining this?

“Anyway! I can’t do it. At least 2nd class explorers….”

“Wouldn’t idiots who would accept an inexperienced 1st class guide not be 2nd class?”

“….”

It was a fact, so he had nothing to say.

“If you don’t like it, just take five requests and go alone.”

“…Wait a moment. Let me, let me think about it.”

‘What should I do?’

His head was in confusion.

One side was shouting to just go alone, while the other side was shouting that it would be too slow and to take anyone and carry them.

A battle between angel and devil.

Of course, the right side is the devil. That bastard.

Does he even know how trash-tier 1st class explorers are?

Befitting people from a country without compulsory education, most are blockheads with strong stubbornness.

Moreover, on the surface, Siwon has never entered the labyrinth yet, so it’s questionable whether they would listen to his sincere advice.

“…Can you write down that I want to join a party?”

“Well, that’s not difficult.”

The receptionist immediately picked up a pen at Siwon’s words and wrote something on the brown paper.

“…What did you write?”

“Ah, well… A fully skilled 1st class guide is looking for a party.”

“Hmm.”

That’s not a bad recruitment message.

“You can just hang it over there on the recruitment board! Haha….”

“….”

He felt an inexplicable uneasiness, but Siwon mindlessly stuck the paper he had just received on the recruitment board.

“Hmm, what should I do now….”

If there’s a party that wants Siwon, they’ll probably take this paper and bring it to the office.

There was still a lot of time until then.

“Maybe I should prepare for exploration a bit.”

Tomorrow, a stirring will come to the Argantolla Labyrinth.

Things would proceed according to plan only if he entered the labyrinth before that.

Siwon immediately left the Explorer’s Guild.

There was a mountain of supplies he needed to prepare.

The recruitment process is rough and difficult.

It’s even more so when they’re looking for slaves rather than explorers of equal standing.

“Hassan! How about this one?”

“Hmm?”

The gaze of Hassan, a 1st class adventurer, turned towards a brown paper stuck on one corner of the recruitment board.

“Sion, 1st class guide, no labyrinth exploration experience. Note… prone to showing off.”

“How is it, isn’t it good?”
The question from his colleague and friend, Abdul.

Hassan’s mouth curved into a smile.
“…It’s good.”
A novice guide full of bravado.
Just the right person to make into a slave.