How a Black-Haired Barbarian Survived the Labyrinth in Another World-Chapter 12: Escape from the labyrinth

Anne's expression hardened.

"But didn't Skassi say he'd help look for them?"

"We've already found all the scattered comrades. Are you really trying to collect their corpses now?"

Jeong Yushin felt a throbbing pain in his head.

When he had decided to save Anne and travel together, he should have never mentioned looking for comrades.

It wasn't part of the plan, but by chance, they had found two people. Maybe it was just luck.

Jeong Yushin felt that way, but Anne might have felt differently.

Not by chance, but by fate—some inevitable twist of destiny.

'I've been spinning the hope circuit too much. There's a whole bunch of bullshit tangled in there.'

A late regret surged up.

He had joined a family-like small company as an outsourced worker. When he raised questions about tasks outside the contract, he was cursed out by the young CEO.

With one mistake, the family-like party had fallen apart.

Somehow, he had managed to find a way to survive by luck.

And, by even greater luck, he had found people.

Now, the deceased CEO was the one asking to be found.

It was truly frustrating, but with the last remaining conscience of a modern-day person, Jeong Yushin spoke to Anne.

"Anne, I swear on my conscience, Ka'al is dead."

"The situation was urgent. Maybe you saw it wrong?"

"Fuck this."

It was a disaster.

He couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Enough. I'm going alone. You all figure it out. Whether you find him or not, I don't care."

Anne spoke urgently.

"Skassi! Do you really think you can go alone?"

"It'd be better than dying looking for a dead bastard."

Jeong Yushin packed his things and stood up.

"Skassi!"

Anne's desperate voice echoed through the dark tunnel.

'He's really lost it.'

Jeong Yushin gritted his teeth and turned his back.

Just as he was about to leave the tunnel, something fell from the hard leather armor. It was soaked in goblin blood, but he could clearly recognize it.

A brown clump of fur.

It belonged to Darmong.

Jeong Yushin stared blankly at the clump of fur that had fallen to the ground.

"Why is this here?"

A deflated sound escaped from Jeong Yushin's lips.

The beastman who had taken him in when he had nowhere to go.

The beastman who had helped him unreservedly when he aimed to be an explorer.

Without Darmong's help and advice, Jeong Yushin might still be wandering the streets. Though he had paid for lodging.

He picked up the clump of fur and fiddled with it.

After standing there for a long time, Jeong Yushin finally spoke.

"Anne, let's go to the central area. There are plenty of explorers passing through there, so we can get some help and advice. If we meet a good explorer, it’ll be easier to find a comrade. This is my last concession."

Anne, who had been silent, spoke.

"Understood."

'We should probably part ways there.'

Jeong Yushin stuffed the blood-soaked fur into his pants.

Jeong Yushin and the group packed up and left the outer resting area.

Mari, like Dean, tied a rope around her waist and dragged it along.

In the long silence, each of them ventured through the darkness with their own thoughts.

Several hours passed. Or maybe it was just a few minutes?

It felt like they had been walking all night. Or maybe they had been crawling.

There was no goblin attack.

Maybe because they were covered in goblin blood and filth?

Who knows.

By the time the feeling in his soles had completely disappeared, they reached the boundary between the central and outer areas.

And then.

He found Ka'al.

Only the mangled, half-eaten head remained.

Arms and legs that looked human and beast-like formed strange shapes, stacked together, and the heads were beautifully decorated on top like a Christmas tree.

Among them was Ka'al's head.

The grotesque structure was a totem marking the boundary between the outer and central areas, a territory marker of the hobgoblins.

"There it is."

Jeong Yushin pointed at Ka'al's head with a finger.

Anne's body stiffened like a statue.

It was the expression of someone witnessing something that should not exist.

Anne staggered toward it.

"Ah... ah..."

She stared blankly, then knelt down and vomited on the ground.

"Uweeeeeek!"

Jeong Yushin approached the totem and carefully took Ka'al's head.

"Mari, it's Ka'al."

"Ka'al? Ka'al. Ka'al. Ka'al."

Mari hugged Ka'al's head that Jeong Yushin handed to her with great care.

Jeong Yushin patted Anne's back as she continued to vomit and cried, speaking to her.

"Look at them. Dean and Mari. If it weren’t for you, they wouldn't have survived here. Are you just going to stay on your knees, crying like this?"

Anne looked at Jeong Yushin with exhausted eyes.

"Don't look at me. Look at them. Your village friends."

Jeong Yushin grabbed Anne's chin and turned her to face Mari and Dean.

One of them was smiling softly, and the other was tenderly stroking Ka'al's head.

"Don't you feel sorry for them? This happened because of you. If you hadn't stopped us from going to the second floor in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"Th-that... Ka'al..."

"He's dead. Are you going to blame a dead person? Don’t you think Ka'al would be sad? Do you really think you have no responsibility in this?"

"..."

"I found Ka'al's head, so do you want to find the body too? Then let’s part ways here. I'll go first. You can come slowly with your friends."

Jeong Yushin took his hand off Anne's chin and stood up.

Crash!

Anne grabbed Jeong Yushin's arm. Where she found the strength, it hurt immensely.

"We're going. I'm going. You fucking bastard! You heartless bastard!"

Jeong Yushin spoke calmly.

"Anne, if you speak like that, I can't go with you. I'm not your friend, and I'm not your subordinate. Do you understand?"

Anne suddenly laughed.

'This is terrifying.'

The laughter stopped abruptly. Anne staggered to her feet.

"Let's go, Skassi."

"Do you still have the strength to shoot a bow?"

"Don't worry. Even if I die, I'll shoot."

[The key to motivation is responsibility.]

Jeong Yushin tried to instill a sense of responsibility in Anne, just like he saw on YouTube.

‘The result is successful.’

Her twitching eyes were a bit scary, though.

‘At this rate, I might be a motivational speaker, huh?’

"Alright. Let’s go."

He clapped his hands and got everyone's attention.

Jeong Yushin pulled Dean along, and Anne dragged Mari as they walked.

"Finally."

Jeong Yushin muttered in a trembling voice, his body battered and exhausted.

After many twists and turns, they had arrived.

He saw a large cave with a monument.

He had expected to meet other explorers on the way to the teleportation zone, but he didn't.

Food was a problem, but the bigger issue was that they had run out of torches. Though the church had provided candles, there was a looming sense of crisis that if they ran out of those too, they were done for. He had reduced sleep and rest, walking diligently.

Dean and Mari were fine, but Anne's condition was critical.

Her pale face and cracked lips.

The bandage wrapped around her stomach was already soaked with blood and reeked of decay.

Her unsteady gait made it seem as though she might collapse at any moment.

So, just before they reached the monument, when the hobgoblins attacked, he thought it would be the end.

But despite her almost fatal condition, Anne killed four of them with near-miraculous archery skills. The remaining five were dealt with by Jeong Yushin.

Amid their desperate struggles, Dean was smiling quietly, and Mari was sitting, peeing herself while holding Ka'al's head.

'Guess it’s a good thing they showed up.'

He turned his head to look back.

Anne was almost a walking corpse, and Dean and Mari were so exhausted from the forced march and battle that they were sitting on the floor.

As soon as he touched the monument, two portals opened.

A red portal leading down.

A blue portal leading out.

"Let’s go."

Dean tried to enter the red portal, but Jeong Yushin shoved him into the blue one first. Then Mari. Then Anne.

Finally, Jeong Yushin.

The blue light enveloped him, and he felt a sense of floating.

Then the clear sky.

The group stood in front of a massive magic circle, presumably the exit of the great labyrinth.

A strange sense of liberation surrounded his body.

"Hahaha. Fuck, we made it!"

Jeong Yushin shouted loudly, then collapsed. People dressed in priest robes rushed toward him, but his vision blurred, and he couldn't see them clearly.

"I’m alive. Geck."

He muttered one more word before fainting.

When he opened his eyes, he was looking at an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Are you awake? This is a relief station next to the labyrinth's exit."

An old priest with white hair spoke.

"How long have I been lying down?"

"About five hours."

He sat up and looked around. The room resembled a hospital ward, with several beds scattered around. There weren’t many people occupying them.

"Pretty soon, it'll be full. It's almost evening."

"How can I repay this favor? Thank you."

He was moved to see such a kind organization in this world.

"One silver coin."

Jeong Yushin felt like he'd been hit on the head with a hammer at the sudden mention of an enormous amount.

"Excuse me?"

Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.

"You weren’t injured much, so I only used basic recovery magic. That’ll be one silver coin. If it's hard to repay, you can owe it. You can slowly pay it back through the guild."

‘Why is it so expensive? Is this right?’

His dissatisfaction probably showed on his face, and the old man chuckled.

"It’s cheaper than the cost of your life."

'That’s true.'

Jeong Yushin nodded without further argument and handed over the one silver coin.

With only one silver coin and a few copper coins left, his pocket felt emptier.

At least he had collected some hobgoblin ears, so it wasn’t all bad.

"Oh! And your companions."

"Yes. What happened to them?"

"Honestly, it’s serious. Especially that red-haired girl."

"Did she die?"

He asked flatly, though he wasn’t really curious or eager to know.

"No. She was on the verge of death, but we managed to save her."

"Well, that's good."

His indifferent tone made the old man’s eyebrows twitch.

"Skassi, weren't you the party leader? Didn't you come out last from the labyrinth?"

"That wasn’t me. The friend with only his head left was the leader."

"So what should we do? The only sane party member left is you."

"Everyone should deal with their own debts. But can you heal the ones who are a little crazy?"

"The girl has a chance, but the boy is impossible."

Mari could be healed, but Dean couldn’t.

"Well, they'll figure it out. I’ll leave now."

He stood up from the bed and started packing.

At that moment, the door to the room suddenly burst open.

Bang!

"Anne! Dean! Ka’al!"

A large human male entered, shouting loudly.

His limp made it clear that he was one of Ka’al's injured comrades.

"...Mari?"

The man's gaze fixed on one spot as he looked around the room. His trembling voice echoed in the quiet ward.

Mari was sitting beside Anne's bed, tenderly stroking Ka'al's head.

Dean was squatting beside her, continuing to smile.

"What... is this?"

The man struggled to approach and speak.

"Mari, Dean. What happened? Tell me! What is this head?"

Jeong Yushin, wearing his backpack, approached.

"It’s no use. Mari’s mind is shattered, and Dean is crazy."

"Who are you?"

The man growled aggressively.

"I’m the replacement who joined."

"Explain what happened!"

"See the head Mari is holding? It's Ka’al."

"What... what did you say?"

The man repeated the question as though he hadn’t heard it correctly, but his gaze remained fixed on Ka’al’s head in Mari’s arms.

"It’s Ka’al. He got trapped in a hobgoblin trap, stabbed with a spear, and his skull was smashed with a club. He died."

A silence fell over the room.

The man suddenly collapsed, his legs giving way.

"Ugh... Uweeeek!"

And then he started to vomit.

At that moment, the old man approached, clicking his tongue.

"Don’t puke in the hospital room, it’s unhygienic."

"I agree."

Jeong Yushin nodded.

After vomiting his guts out, the man suddenly jumped up and grabbed Jeong Yushin by the collar.

"You bastard! What did you do?! Why are you the only one unharmed?!"

'Did this bastard’s brain filter break?'

Jeong Yushin swung his fist and punched the man’s jaw.

Smack!

The man staggered, then collapsed to the floor.

"Fighting in a hospital room. Tsk tsk."

The old man clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

Jeong Yushin clicked his tongue too and spoke.

"I saved all of them and brought them out. You should be thanking me. I ran like a madman, taking arrows like a porcupine, risking my life to save your comrades. I can’t even show you my wounds."

He exaggerated a bit.

"Hmm. It wasn’t quite like that."

The old man interrupted suddenly.

Jeong Yushin and the man locked eyes.

"This is the first time I’m seeing you, old man. Looks like your head’s hurting. You’re Ka’al’s comrade, right? What’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ your name?"

Ignoring the old man’s awkward laugh, the man spoke.

"Tarum."

"Right, Tarum. We need to go somewhere together. Right now."

"Where?"

"The Explorer Guild."

"Why?"

"To collect the bounty for the extermination request. You need to pay for your friends' treatment, right?"

"Why should I go with you?"

"I’m thinking if the reward distribution is weird later, you might complain. If you don’t want to, forget it."

"I’ll go with you."

Tarum, who had been hesitating, nodded and answered.

He was clearly shaken by the sudden shock of his village friend’s death but seemed to regain his composure quickly.

"There’s an Explorer Guild building next door. It mainly handles extermination and gathering requests. It shouldn’t take long since it’s not a busy time."

The old man chimed in.

"The old man’s words are reasonable and clear, but are you really crazy?"

Tarum asked, and Jeong Yushin shrugged.

"It might be temporary dementia. Do you really think that’s important? With no idea how much the treatment will cost?"

"Well... you’re right."

"Let’s go."

He wanted to finish the reward distribution as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to be involved with these annoying people any longer.

Tarum hesitated but eventually followed Jeong Yushin.

They left the relief station and entered the Explorer Guild building next door.