How the Villain Lives

43. Endless labyrinth.

Day 3.

Still nothing has changed. In the meantime, it was found that the distance from the crossroads is constant and the steel towns come from the second crossroads. I told everyone to let me know if they noticed anything strange, but no one told me.

'There's nothing wrong yet...'

I was following myself silently without making any noise, even in the same situation as the elite people. But I didn't know how long to stay calm. In some cases, long-term missions took ten days or fortnight, and in others, survival missions lasted as long as a month. I thought it might be a little hasty to worry about it after only three days.

However, there is a clear difference between such missions and the missions that are being carried out now. If you look at it big, two things. The environment and purpose are different. I can't compare it to a wide stretch of field inside a dungeon that's so narrow. Of course, it's not like a thousand guns are small inside. It's generous enough not to feel frustrated when fighting. But being trapped somewhere creates severe mental stress.

"What's the mood like?"

"It's okay. I've never done a long-term mission like this before."

"Still, please take a little more care and relax as much as you can."

"Aren't you looking at our kids so ridiculously? You think we've been locked up once or twice in a dungeon like this?"

Coercive said with an explicitly grumpy expression. I know that ghosts speak out of concern for themselves. But even that kind of consideration should be done by trying to cover the opponent. You, Yoo Baek Woo, Choi Yoo Jae, and the seven colleagues here are the ones who have proven their ability and trust enough to show their backs and even put their lives on the line.

"Have you ever done a mission called Lactsha's Groundwater? I've survived for over a fortnight in a hellish space where there's no sunlight and all sorts of bad smells and filthy monsters. If you can afford to worry about us, you might want to go to Kim Lee Hyun over there or worry about your colleagues."

"… Got it."

I had a lot to say, but I couldn't keep talking in front of such a proud person, so Sung-hoon was forced to stop talking there.

'I don't know how many great missions you've made, but this is not the case right now.'

At least the mission of Lactsha would have been given a precise goal. So, no matter how difficult the situation, we can finally clear it with hope that we can break it. However, this mission has no end in sight. There is no precise purpose, no clue, just the same space is infinitely repeated. In this situation, how long can people stay normal?

That part of me could not come up with a definitive answer, no matter how strong I was. However, I was confident that the rupture would come at a time not too far away.

Day 7.

"This maze is infinite."

"... Does that mean analogy?"

Kim Lee Hyun also knew what he meant by wandering through the maze so far. Nevertheless, asking again is that we cannot accept the current situation that much.

"It's not a metaphor, it's literally meaning."

"……."

"... I'll turn my back."

In the meantime, I turned around a few times and looked back on the way I had come, but I couldn't get any results. So three days ago, I decided to go straight to one side. The consequences of walking like that continued to be devastating. The wall didn't show up. Of course, they may be so vast that they can't even imagine.

"Isn't that too hasty a determination? If we go any further, won't something come out?"

"It could be. But what do you think will change if you continue to find the wall like this?"

"……."

"I don't think there's an answer in this simple way."

"So what are you going to do?"

Contrary to what he had just shown, he was a little restless. It may seem so honest with the big devices that lead people, but in other words, it's just as frustrating right now.

'From now on, it's time to experiment on your own. However, the people who are here...'

If it had been a party of his men, he would have started the experiment from the beginning by using people as mormots and sending them there without hesitation. But now we have to see the situation around us. Even though I have done things that are unimaginable so far, and I have done things that look at people's lives lightly, at least that was the cause of people in other cities.

Even if you don't think so, it's best to postpone experimenting with people until as close as possible.

"Let's change the way. For now, let's get out of this maze first. A maze can escape by finding an exit, but it's not the only way out."

"How are you going to escape without finding an exit?"

"Is there really only one way? You just have to create an exit."

"... What?"

Sung-hoon said lightly, staring at the force of his head, who did not understand his words.

"Let's dig an exit with strength."

Day 10.

Whenever you cross two crossroads, you will see a herd of steel. If you turn this upside down, it means that no Steel City will appear, no matter what you do. Using that time, Sung-hoon entered a major experiment.

The first attempt was to use force to dig through the wall. The walls were quite rigid, but they began to break slightly as they rolled their arms, crushed them, and other toprankers imposed their strength. The idea that if you go through a wall without going through a passageway, there might be a change. Although it was certainly plausible, I was forced to quit after a short period of overwhelming stamina.

The next thing I did was I dug a hole in the floor and ceiling. I thought something would change if I kept looking up and down in the building, whether it was underground or somewhere.

"Shit, what kind of digger do I look like? Don't you think I'm the only one who's pushing me too hard?"

"I'm shoveling hard, so please understand a little bit. Still, aren't you the fastest worker on the double? Khh."

"One more smile and I'll stick this pickaxe on your face."

"……."

Seong Hoon was eager to shut up and shovel because the mask option might burst and create a useless dispute. Selling the aisle upwards and downwards was accomplished in its own way. At some point he succeeded in digging a hole through the bottom.

At first, everyone was happy to know that there was a cavity underneath, but as soon as they widened the hole and came down, all their faces were hardened.

Repeat.

The boring labyrinth that had been seen from above was spread out equally beneath. I went upstairs in case I wanted to, but everyone shut up when I saw the same repeated labyrinth. As I saw hope for a moment, the despair that came at the moment of its disappearance was unspeakable.

After realizing that nothing had changed, whether it was going up or down, Kim Yi-hyun shut her mouth firmly and spit out one.

"From now on, I'll send people myself."

If it had been a few days ago, there would of course have been a rebound. However, people after experiencing despair only agreed to Kim Lee Hyun's opinion in silence.

Day 15.

"In the end, where did you go?"

"I'm not missing because I like to talk. I'm dead. You must have met a bunch of steel in the first place, but how are you going to survive without a top-ranker?"

"He's been killed."

Kim Lee Hyun's men were talking in silence, but none of them could hear the conversation. Nevertheless, everyone was giving in to pretending not to hear. It was because they had a little anxiety in one corner of their heart.

It was all agreed that in order to get out of this endless maze, all kinds of methods had to be tested. No matter what happens, it is natural not to send toprankers to complete this mission, but it is quite different from what you know with your head and what you know with your heart.

Is that all you need, top-ranker? They will not step on a subject that is much more powerful than ours, but they will look back and eat bread safely. Isn't this it? '

'If we keep going like this, we might get out one day...' '

"Did you ever get out of this maze? '

Short for short, long for full time. For those who have been through all sorts of things and have always survived across the line, exploring the fortnight was not so difficult. However, it is the case only if it was an ordinary maze. The fortnight journey that followed within the same infinitely repeated space was enough to make even toprankers anxious.

This anxiety wasn't just about the people Kim Lee Hyun brought in. Mirina kept her mouth shut, as always, and was just standing behind Sung-hoon's back, but even Elina's servant had a slight anomaly.

After deliberately retreating to a close, Eli opens his mouth, looking at the place where the servant is crouching.

"I'll get rid of the annoying introduction and get straight to the point. The employee is in pretty bad shape."

"You're not feeling well?"

"I think the current situation is under extreme mental stress. You know, the servant has a bit of a side to it, right?"

I could say that the prototype of the plan to create a mental flaw and make a faithful subordinate, not a slave, was a servant. Mormot was the first employee to experiment with unconscious brainwashing, self-hypnosis, and mental magic loyalty improvements.

This allowed the employee to use his or her original talents to arouse an unusual level of aggression of his or her own free will without fear. But that's what was holding my ankle right now.

"I'd rather be perfectly psychic, but in many ways the employee is unstable because of the many things they've released to avoid harming the possibility of growing. Now, it looks like nothing, but over time, anxiety will be expressed in action."

"Can't you tell me exactly what that means?"

"What's the simplest way to put it is murder? It's not a dying Gangster, it's a dying Gangster. It's screaming and screaming, and according to its own expression, it might try to kill a man who tastes like a cut. I woke up asleep and people might die."

"... That's the worst."

I didn't know there was going to be a difficult situation because there was no one to kill.

"For now, try to find as much stability as you can, whether you're on medication or counseling."

"I've been using it for a long time. If you're going to consult, you'd better do it yourself. because she's much more mentally willing to her brother than I am. And remember, this is just a temporary room. I don't know what to do with Sung-hoon if the limit is really exceeded."

"What are you doing?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination."

As I watched Eli disappear, leaving a strange fox, Sung-hoon swept away the raised chicken flesh.

'I'll have to sneak one person out to relieve the stress.'

It was Sung-hoon who earnestly wished that he would not be subject to the crooked desires of the servant.

Day 20.

Still nothing has changed. However, at the beginning of this time, a blatantly grim energy began to envelop me. There are many complex reasons, but one of the most crucial of them is the fact that food is falling.

Those who realized the importance of food during past survival missions were based on bringing a week's worth of food into the inventory. This time it could have been a class A mission, so everyone knew that even though I brought a lot of food, the amount was limited and it was decreasing.

The only problem there was not that.

"Why are you behaving like this?"

"What do I look like?"

"Because you don't know who's in this situation? If you hadn't done this mission, you wouldn't have done this!"

"... That's ridiculous. Isn't everyone aware that this mission is dangerous? You are obviously a thousand horses, and you voted strongly to follow me and choose this sentimental gateway. But now that things aren't going to work, are you going to let go of your anger?"

"After all, you're right!"

"Stop, everybody, calm down!"

"Ghost, step back for now."

Seong Hun and Kang Han, who were hitting each other in the distance, snorted as if they had nothing to do with the people around them. The relationship between each other began to squeak a little. The cerebral cortex is going to do this, but it's the people down there, not to mention me.

There was a slight discord among Kim Yi-hyun's forces, who boasted that they had more control than anyone else, and there was a quarrel. There is no monster that can never win, nor is death confirmed. Just the fact that there was no end to it, people were slowly getting tired.