Normalizing the Labyrinth City in the Game

“…What?”
Whether aware of Rabbit Gondu’s bewildered feelings or not, Siwon just smiled playfully.
“Oh, by the way, you can’t get even one syllable wrong. You’re a rabbit too, so you know, right?”

“What’s that… No, more importantly.”

She recalled the crazy action this foreigner had just done.

A conclusion was reached.

“Are you playing with me now? Telling me to do something that only idiots would do?”

This was clearly a blatant lie.

“What is?”
“That the Hidden Street opens with something like that, does it make sense?”
There are various ways to resolve differences of opinion.
Continuously persuading the other party.
Or blowing their head off and telling them to die. And so on.
Siwon’s choice is always the easy and simple one.

“If you can’t believe it, just don’t do it. I’ll go and open it myself.”

Siwon said this and immediately approached the stone door.

Rabbit Gondu grabbed Siwon’s shoulder as he was about to leave.

“…Is it real? If I do that, will the Hidden Street really open?”

“If you don’t want to believe it, just don’t do it.”

“No, it doesn’t make sense. That such a bizarre and outrageous action would open the Hidden Street…”

“…Hah.”

Siwon sighed at Rabbit Gondu’s words.

‘…That’s right.’
Siwon’s gaze turned towards the top of the stone door.
His eyes, filled with resentment, stared at the blood letters.

If only it wasn’t for that crazy question, it would have been somewhat okay.

But why, how.

A question that you might see once in hundreds of resets, why did it have to pop up now of all times?
‘…Well, this place is originally like this.’
The labyrinth is a place where unexpected variables pop up at every opportunity.
It was like going to a dump and complaining that it smells like garbage.

“Then just pretend you’re being fooled and try it once.”

“….”

Although Rabbit Gondu gave a suspicious look.
“…Ugh!”
She eventually approached the stone door.

“Tu, turn around! Absolutely, absolutely don’t look. If you look, I’ll kill you.”

“….”

‘No, it’s not like it’s anything special… If someone saw, they might think she’s changing clothes or something.’

While thinking this inwardly, Siwon turned his back.

A moment of silence followed.

…No, it wasn’t just a moment.

Even after almost a minute had passed, no sound was heard from behind Siwon.

Like a typical Korean person accustomed to doing things quickly, Siwon’s patience finally reached its limit.

“Hey, are you not doing it, what are you…?”

“Boing boing! The answer is rabbit… boing!”

Siwon and Rabbit Gondu’s eyes met.
“….”
A natural silence.

Rabbit Gondu’s face, with her head lowered, started to turn red.

“I told you, not to turn around!!!”

As Rabbit Gondu screamed, Siwon covered his ears and grumbled.

“No, because no sound was heard even after time passed, I thought something might have happened…”

“Ee, eek…!”

Rabbit Gondu gritted her teeth.

Her expression was all scrunched up, but judging by her inability to say much, it seemed she knew she was somewhat at fault too.

‘No matter how embarrassing, still.’

How could someone who’s supposed to be a stagnant explorer hesitate for several minutes?

It would be strange not to worry.

“…But.”

“Hmm?”

“I did as you said, but why is nothing happening?”
“…Huh?”

‘…It worked fine in the game though?’

Reality was different from games.

Several minutes had passed since Rabbit Gondu performed that embarrassing act, but the door didn’t open.

“….”

Rabbit Gondu’s expression hardened.

In a situation where not even killing intent could be felt, Siwon instead felt fear.

At that moment.

Creak….

“Uh, uh?!”

Startled by the sound of stone moving, Rabbit Gondu turned around.

The sight of the massive stone door moving with a thunderous noise entered Rabbit Gondu’s view.

“It, it’s opening!”

“…Huh?”

‘Shit, why is that opening?’

In fact, that massive door is a fake.

If you give the correct answer to the question, a small room hidden next to that massive stone door should open.

There are a few books placed in the room, but Siwon had memorized all the contents of the books in that room, so there was no need to go there.

That’s why he sold the information.
…That was the scenario Siwon had in mind.

…But why is that massive stone door, which is supposed to be fake, opening?

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s really opening. I never dreamed this would happen!”

“….”

“Hey, why is your expression like that?”

“….”

‘This is different from what I knew, maybe it’s better not to go in.’

Siwon thought this inwardly, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

Because the Hidden Street is a place that only the first person to set foot in it can go to.

“Huh? The blood letters have changed!”

“….”

Siwon raised his head.

[Come in, both of you.]

“…I wonder what it says?”

“It says for both you and me to come in.”

“…?”

Rabbit Gondu’s gaze turned towards Siwon.

“What, why.”
“You, can you read that?”
“Yeah.”

Rabbit Gondu’s mouth fell open.

Her expression was as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

“…Don’t lie.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that today.”

“…You can really read that? Those bizarrely shaped letters?”

“….”
Siwon’s gaze turned back to the blood letters.
Blood letters.

According to LAOA’s setting, these are ancient letters written all over the labyrinth that no one can read.

‘…But players could read them.’

When asked about the reason during a Q&A session, they said it was because the player has memories of the past or something.
Thanks to this, there’s a setting that players can monopolize all the Hidden Streets hidden throughout the labyrinth.

Anyway.

Now LAOA had become reality, not a game, but fortunately, the auto-translation function seemed to remain.

He had memorized most of the phrases written in the labyrinth after doing tens of thousands of resets.

But it would be troublesome if he encountered phrases that change according to conditions, like now.
“Well, I can read it just fine?”
There was no problem with his eyesight.

“You, you’re lying to me. It doesn’t make sense for a Hidden Street to tell both of us to come in together, right?”
“….”

…That’s certainly true.

Siwon didn’t understand that phrase either.

If those words are true, it’s one of two things.

Either that stone door is not actually the door leading to the Hidden Street.

…Or it’s a new type of Hidden Street that wasn’t seen even in the game.

“But, it really says for both you and me to come in… what should we do?”

Both were things he couldn’t tell Rabbit Gondu.

“…Then, I’ll go in first. If what you say is true, you should be able to follow right after, right?”

“Do as you please.”

Siwon was a bit intrigued because he had never seen the stone door open like this even in the game.

‘…Still, I should keep what needs to be kept.’

He had received quite a lot from Rabbit Gondu.

Since it was written for both of them to come in anyway, there shouldn’t be a problem letting her go first.

‘…Yeah right.’
Siwon wasn’t upright enough to consider propriety.
The reason for letting her go in first was because it was safer that way.

‘If she’s offering to go in first, I should be thankful.’

How could he go in first when he doesn’t know what’s inside?

In this situation, Siwon was always ladies first.

“…I’m going in?”

“Yeah.”

If this stone door is like other Hidden Streets, it will disappear the moment she enters.

“….”

Rabbit Gondu swallowed and then pushed her body forward.

That first step towards the Hidden Street, which she had never experienced before.

She too would take that glorious step that she had only read about in books.

“…Huh?”

She was supposed to take the first step, but there was no floor.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Rabbit Gondu screamed and then fell into the darkness of the labyrinth.

“…As expected.”

The blood letters written above were not a lie.

Even though Rabbit Gondu had entered, the stone door was still there.

“Hey! Is there nothing inside?”

“….”

There was no answer.

Just as he was about to thoughtlessly step forward.

‘…Could it be a trap?’

Such a thought flashed through Siwon’s mind.

Simultaneously, the blood letters written above the stone door changed.

[Come in quickly.]

“…Shit, this really seems like a trap.”

It’s become an unfortunate situation for Rabbit Gondu.

But Siwon decided not to enter beyond this stone door.

‘…This is that kind of game after all.’

A game where dying is the default when encountering a situation never experienced before.

This was such a situation.

‘I’m sorry, Rabbit Gondu. I’ll make sure your death wasn’t in vain….’

Siwon immediately turned his back on the stone door and tried to run.

“Uwaaaaah!”

…More precisely, he tried to run, but something shot out from inside the stone door and grabbed Siwon’s body.

“Wh, what is this…!”

Nothing could be seen.

Nevertheless, it held Siwon tightly and wouldn’t let go.

How could something that only appears in economics be grabbing his body?

“Wa, wait a minute! What are you doing…?”

The invisible hand began pulling Siwon towards the stone door.

[…You’re making me use force unnecessarily.]

The blood letters written above the stone door changed again.

“Ugh!”

He tried to twist his body as much as possible to escape, but it didn’t budge at all.

A moment later.

“Aaaaaaaah!!!”

Siwon too fell into the darkness of the labyrinth where Rabbit Gondu had fallen.

“Ugh….”

Although he didn’t feel pain, Siwon let out a groan as if it had become a habit.

How much time had passed?

“Where is this?”

It’s so dark that nothing can be seen.

First, Siwon got up.

“…Huh?”

The moment he got up.
Emerald light bloomed all around the room.

The symbol of that room, which he had only thought of as a rumor.
Because he had never been able to go there even once during tens of thousands of resets.

“No, damn…!”

Siwon cursed, but his expression was filled with joy.

“The Room of Wishes, it was here?”