Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 54
Only Noblemtl
Old Soldier (2)
Inside the warehouse, the only place with a light on was the dining table. Alan and Taylor were sitting there, looking at each other.
Alan’s indifferent eyes felt colder than usual. Even though he was sitting under the light, Alan’s surroundings seemed much darker.
“Are the meals you ate before the ancestral rites meal before going to the afterlife?”
“That’s a bit harsh···.”
Taylor, who would have cursed at her when they first met or told her to open her wallet because she was hurt, trailed off.
Alan, who noticed her weak appearance, lowered his head slightly.
“I spoke harshly. I apologize.”
Taylor still felt awkward. Was it really a big deal for someone to die in Maze City? And it had only been a week since they had met?
If a person of a vicious or cruel disposition had heard Taylor’s will, he would have told him to die on earth so that he could be recycled more easily.
‘I wonder if even those who don’t say so secretly hope so? Or am I viewing the world too negatively?’
Perhaps the illness of the body was eating away at the mind as well. No, it certainly was. The human body and mind had a great influence on each other.
Taylor chewed on Alan’s words. His tone was harsh and harsh.
After living together for a week, Taylor realized for the first time that Alan’s voice also had highs and lows, so the difference felt even more significant.
“You’re angry.”
“It’s natural to hear that the person you live with suddenly says he or she is going to die.”
“I didn’t say that. You guessed it···.”
Taylor paused, looking into Alan’s empty eyes. He tried to lighten the mood with a light joke, but it had the opposite effect.
“Death is a familiar concept to a labyrinth explorer. But I don’t want to get used to it.”
When a strange phenomenon occurred, why would a rabbit that had never been seen before be put on a cart?
Dennis, why would you be the only one to stop the swarm of wasps when Kakda was the goalkeeper?
Alan is not God. But that doesn’t mean he ignores people in trouble right in front of him, even if it’s the first time he’s seen them.
Taylor was a teacher, if not a respectable one. But he was planning to die, so I was very uncomfortable.
As Alan crossed his arms, Taylor began to make excuses.
“I was thinking of teaching you some of the know-how I had while we were together. You’re so smart, I’m sure you won’t forget it even if I just teach you once.”
“Stop it. If you go down, you were planning to disappear while I sleep, right?”
“···I am a sinner.”
Taylor knew it was something he couldn’t do, but the disease brings unpleasant fantasies buried in the abyss to the surface, and makes people go to extremes.
“Since when have you been planning this unpleasant ending?”
“Unpleasant… I didn’t originally intend to do that, but when I was teaching you the only magical training method that I can call my own, it suddenly occurred to me. As you can see, my physical condition is the worst, so rather than barely surviving, I’d rather recall my old feelings.”
Taylor scratched the back of his head roughly, speechless. Alan poured water into his cup and waited quietly.
“I was lucky to retire alive after working as a labyrinth explorer. But I still dream of exploring below, as if I couldn’t escape my fate.”
Suddenly, the thought occurred to me that if I told Alan everything I knew, I could go easy on him. If I were going to do it, down there.
“And?”
“To be honest, I was scared because I didn’t know when my brain would go crazy. It was definitely me, but it wasn’t me anymore. I was able to control the timing of dementia onset intentionally by using my magical powers, but that was becoming increasingly difficult.”
Alan, who had loaded a few grunts, took his hand off the trigger as he looked at the weakened old man.
“Have you been to the hospital? Is there a possibility?”
Taylor shook his head silently.
“What is the reason it is difficult?”
“The problem is the amount. I roughly calculated it and they asked for 5 million per day. That was the case in the beginning, but now the situation has gotten worse and the price has probably gone through the roof.”
“Since I joined the company at the same time as Chairman Marshall and was an agent, is there any way I can persuade him to lend me money?”
“Agent? Back in my day, it wasn’t that kind of concept. It felt like a vanguard or a pilot operation department. And after I retired, I got greedy and ended up like this, so I have no obligation to do anything there. The Explorers’ Guild is not a family playground, it’s a business.”
The logic of society and money. It was a cold truth that Alan also understood.
“Still, François···.”
“Stop it. I taught them for a while as an instructor, but their skills are completely different from mine. They···”
Taylor’s jaw clenched shut. It seemed to be Breaker’s secret. Or maybe it was an intention to keep even the most mundane things from being spread.
“Let’s skip that story and just look at this.”
While they were talking, Alan drew a human body and colored in the problem areas.
“There is no part that is missing. Even from my perspective, it looks serious.”
“Taking it easy can also be a good choice.”
“Hey, you were getting angry just now at the mere guess···.”
“Focus. You have two choices.”
“I’m mentally prepared. You can speak.”
Taylor’s face was unusually serious as he concentrated. People who have been exposed to hope, even when they know it is futile, tend to show surprising changes.
Alan wrote ‘hospital’ on the paper.
“The first thing is to go to the hospital. This is obviously not possible because of the money.”
“Should I buy a lottery ticket? If I win first place, I can take half and give you the rest. No, I’ll give it to you. I’ve never seen a fool worry so much about other people’s business. It’s touching.”
“I’m talking seriously, don’t joke around.”
Alan quickly reassured Taylor, who returned to normal, this time writing ‘Magicware’.
“The second is to transform your entire body into magic wear.”
“I failed while using MagicWare, and now again?”
“In that case, you should consider whether the problem is caused by a lack of Magic Wear. If it can’t be recovered anyway, you can just replace it.”
“You weren’t a magic engineer, you were a mad engineer.”
Whether Taylor heard the plan or not, Allen spoke clearly.
“The part that was replaced with MagicWare can be frozen and later, when money is saved, regenerative treatment can be performed.”
“Fighting poison with poison… That’s a crazy plan. So how much modification are you going to do?”
“It would be something like the Kiki I saw on a video call last time.”
“He’s a total robot.”
“It’s a work of art to have gotten that far with amateur modifications. Of course, the performance isn’t that great.”
When I brought up Kiki, Taylor’s voice suddenly became very low, as if she was anxious.
“Should I just go to a clinic run by Chilseong or Hextech?”
“What about money? Even if I pour all my pension money into it, it won’t be enough. And I’m not even sure if it’ll work out.”
“Actually, pension is···.”
“I had an idea when I saw the tickets in the trash can. How much did you pour in?”
Taylor waved her hand as Alan’s voice grew cold again.
“No, really. That’s not it. I just took it in advance to treat it. So don’t misunderstand. I’m not that bad of a person.”
“The future looks very dark. What on earth would you have done if I hadn’t come to visit?”
“But you came.”
Taylor winked sheepishly. Alan’s eyes narrowed involuntarily.
“Oh, you just frowned. That’s strange to see for the first time. Do you want to look in the mirror?”
“Enough with the nonsense, let’s get back to the main point. It’s not as expensive as medical treatment, but whole body modification is also expensive. But luckily.”
“Luckily?”
“I am a magic engineer.”
“Can I believe it?”
“You were going to die anyway, right? If you have that kind of mindset, you won’t have any fear. You’ll think of it as practice and take it easy, so you should do the same.”
“Hey, this is···”
Taylor paused in her harsh words and calmed her breathing.
“Are you kidding?”
“Unstable MagicWare will try to control its performance through hacking, so prepare yourself mentally.”
“Hacking? What? Are my ears weird?”
“If you use poison well, it can become medicine. Right now, you can forget about it for a while because you need to save up money to buy magicware.”
*
A dark space, a ceiling and floor made of polished stone, the sound of fluids flowing through the walls, explorers running around with their headlamps on, and people waiting with their mouths open in front of manholes.
Taylor had just entered the labyrinth gate. It was a new feeling to enter a place he had forgotten for years.
After a brief moment of soft admiration, I looked at Alan walking beside me.
“A labyrinth that goes round and round?”
“Is there a place where I can make money faster than here?”
“Casino? Oh, I see. He was nice at first, but he’s getting more and more vicious.”
“Why is an adult acting like a child?”
“I have to keep brainwashing myself into thinking I’m young to make it really true. If I hear you say that, it means I seem like a young guy, so isn’t that a success?”
“No. That’s usually called being immature. It’s definitely not a compliment, so don’t misunderstand.”
Taylor, who had been grumbling, checked the wheelchair as it entered the deserted passage. Its former flimsy appearance had disappeared without a trace, and it had transformed into a thick shape like a single-seater sofa.
“What is the button next to the direction change lever?”
“It’s a shotgun. If you press next to it, it switches to a grenade launcher, but it has two stacks of [Explosion], so only shoot when the enemy is far away.”
Alan checked the wheelchair again to see if there was anything wrong with it and asked Taylor.
“Now that we’ve come down together, we need to be objective about ourselves. What level do you think our skills are?”
“I was at depth 4 at the peak. The automatons would tremble in fear whenever they saw me.”
“Automatons have no emotions.”
“It’s not fun. Are you sick now?”
“Please remove the question marks. And please don’t lie.”
“At best, it would be about 1.5. Assuming you use the wheelchair I made for you.”
“Then let’s go down to the cave right away.”
There were three wagons that Alan had brought, and unlike usual, they were filled with expedition supplies. It felt like too much for two people to use.
“Where are you going to war? You can sell supplies.”
“I will return only after I have earned enough money. You can use the experience and secrets you know on this occasion. Is that also prohibited?”
“There is no problem until the cave, but from the next level onwards, little by little.”
Alan nodded. Taylor’s knowledge was like a secret to the Breakers.
It was impossible to tell anyone essential information for dungeon exploration, such as their preferred routes, water sources, places where good game appears, and safe campsites.
However, Taylor’s direct action was an exception. All that was left for Alan to do was to silently demonstrate it and follow suit.
“Does the ban prevent you from speaking or even taking action?”
“I don’t feel that way yet, but I have a feeling it won’t work. Still, I know a lot of useful information, so just trust me. Now, it’s time to see if my skills have rusted.”
The current location is the 5th floor. The sound of automaton footsteps can be heard beyond the black fog, and then something that resembles a wild boar jumps out.
“Shall we try a wheelchair performance test?”
“I plan on catching those safely, so please sit down for now.”
Even though Alan said that, he didn’t show any particular response. He just stared quietly, and the wild boar that had been running towards him slid down to its knees. It was like an animal that had been heavily injected with anesthetic.
“The hacking speed is really… fast. What were you trying to do to catch it so safely?”
“I intend to use it as a porter. For smooth combat, the leopard needs to be free.”
“If you use a pig as well as a leopard, you will consume magic stones… Did you by any chance eat elixir instead of rice when you were young?”
“It’s just my constitution.”
Alan, unlike before, was not consistent in his ignorance, and Taylor, who had been rolling his eyes here and there, did not mention the matter.
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