Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 60
Only Noblemtl
Episode 60
The guy who was kicked from behind rolled on the floor.
I followed him and struck the guy’s chest with the golden shield.
The golden shield pierced through the bulletproof vest and burst the heart.
“Hey, what is this? You told me to protect you, but you’re doing it all by yourself.”
Bomi let go of the protest as if it wasn’t funny.
“If you’re bored, try hitting some flying human bullets.”
“Oh! That sounds fun.”
Bomi reloaded her arrows and aimed them at the sky.
phut!
As the human shells flew back, Bomi let go of the protest she had been holding.
The arrow flew at full speed and hit the human shell.
An arrow had struck his torso, but he seemed to be alive and thrashing in the air thanks to his bulletproof vest.
However, the impact caused it to change direction significantly and it crashed into the sea instead of Mount Halla.
“Nice shot!”
I praised Bomi and went to catch the human shells that had already landed.
In the meantime, Jinman, who had finished aiming, shouted.
“Ready to fire.”
“Okay, launch.”
I shouted as I split the human shell’s body in two.
phut!
The sound of a powerful cannonade echoed through the lake of Hallasan Mountain.
The shell hit the Viking’s cannon squarely.
Then, with a loud ‘bang!’ sound, a fire broke out and black smoke rose up.
It seemed likely that the gunpowder prepared for use in the cannon had caught fire.
I gave Jinman a thumbs up, and Bomi shouted.
“Nice shot!”
The Viking ship rocked violently, and the captain, riding his winged white horse, lost his balance and almost fell.
But I managed to hold on by holding onto the clown’s head.
The captain shouted.
“Retreat! Retreat! Tactical retreat!”
Dude! They say it’s a tactical retreat to save face while running away.
The watermills and windmills on the side of the Viking began to turn backwards, and the ship began to move backwards.
The remaining duck boats also flocked to the Viking and pushed it.
The smoke that rose up so much as if fish had been burned soon died down.
The fire seemed to be under control, but the ship seemed to be listing a bit, perhaps because of water leaking in.
“Shall I chase after you?”
Jungwoo asked.
I shook my head and answered.
“no.”
“Then should I hit it one more time? It looks like it’ll sink right away.”
Jinman asked.
I shook my head once more and said,
“No. We know where we’re going, so we can take care of it later. Let’s take care of the refugees on the roof first.”
At my words, Jeong-woo turned around and approached the roof.
The people on the rooftop who had been desperately begging for help just a moment ago were now keeping their mouths shut and looking terrified.
They probably think we’re going to go and hack them.
There were even people trying to sneak into the water.
“It’s okay. I know you were forced to act by those pirates. If you cooperate, I’ll provide you with food and water. I’ll also guarantee your safety.”
People seemed half incredulous at what I said, but they didn’t jump into the water anymore.
We boarded the Hallasan ferry without leaving anyone on the roof.
They were holding shields in case anyone resisted or attacked, but as you can see, they didn’t even have the strength to raise a fist.
Nurse Jang quickly diagnosed people and divided them into groups by condition.
Those who can eat regular food, those who need to eat porridge, those who need to get IV fluids, and those who need immediate medical attention.
Bomi, who was aspiring to be a nurse, assisted in the treatment, and Jin-man and I were in charge of food and porridge.
I asked the middle-aged man with the most vivid eyes what had happened.
“As the world was submerged in water, I climbed up to the roof of my house to find a high place. Fortunately, the roof fell off the house and I was left floating on the water like a boat. I floated without knowing where I was going, and when I found someone drowning, I saved them. Over there, old man Hwang, Dongmin, Anyang, and others are the people I saved at that time. We held on, occasionally drinking the food that floated down and the dew that formed on the roof. I thought that if I held on, I would eventually land. Haa~!”
The middle-aged man who had been telling the story let out a long sigh.
“But fortunately, we arrived at a place where the aquatic plants were blooming.”
“Isn’t it a place where the floor is shaped like a lotus leaf and the top is covered with bushes?”
“Yes, that’s right. I see you’ve seen it.”
I had never seen it before, but it was a sea lotus that appeared in the monster guide.
“We were in despair at the time, but even though it wasn’t land, we saw hope just by the fact that there was something we could step on, and we landed with joy. But there were already people there. They had drifted away like us. Among them was DJ Oh Min-ho.”
“Are you DJ Oh Min-ho?”
“Yes. Have you ever heard of ‘Happy Boys’?”
“Happy Boys? Isn’t that an idol group from the 2000s?”
“Yes, that’s right. I was one of the members of that group.”
“Well, that’s because I’m not a fan.”
Happy Boys was one of those so-so idol groups during the golden age of idols.
It seemed like there was a hit song I had never heard of, but if there had been no incident, I wouldn’t have remembered it.
“That member who caused the drug incident.”
“Oh, that kid, the kid who got caught on drugs, took a picture of himself running around naked, and it was featured on the news, right?”
It was such a sensational incident that there were even rumors that it was a plot to cover up a corruption scandal at the time.
The Happy Boys became famous enough to be known to the entire nation because of that incident, but they soon disbanded.
“Yes. I heard that guy later DJed at clubs under the name DJ Oh Min-ho. I’m not interested in music, so I’ve never heard of him. But some people recognized him. Then naturally, people started talking about his previous drug case. Some people even asked him directly why he was running around naked. And some people even asked him if he still did drugs. DJ Oh Min-ho denied it, but people showed excessive interest in him because he had nothing better to do.”
I felt a little sorry for that old Captain.
I have seen many people return to the path of crime because of the scarlet letter of a criminal record.
And I knew how easy and trivial bullying could start.
“DJ Oh Min-ho was a good guy at first. He would voluntarily save people floating in the water and share his food. But when he kept asking about drugs, he started to act strangely. Later, he started avoiding people. He kept going deep into the bushes. Then he would show up naked and dance and sing as if he was drunk. People thought he was crazy, but some people tried to get drugs from him.”
It was obvious even without looking.
I turned to drugs to drown out my despair, frustration, and boredom.
In some ways, it was the perfect soil for drug use.
“That’s how people who make juice out of water came into being.”
It was said that drinking the juice from the fruit of the plant is called fruit consumption.
But the so-called fruit was actually surgery.
As you drink the juice of the operation, the components of the operation accumulate in your body, and when it reaches a certain limit, you will go to the female operation as if under a spell and be eaten.
The female plant receives nutrients to grow the fruit along with the stamens from the food it eats.
“Some people drank juice because they had nothing to eat or drink. DJ Oh Min-ho gained power by monopolizing the fruit and was able to control people. But we refused to drink juice until the very end.”
By the time we finished hearing the story, we had arrived at a sea lotus colony.
The treatment of the people also ended just in time.
Nurse Jang spoke to me as if giving me a tip.
“It seems like there was abuse and cruelty.”
Even so, these people’s willpower is worthy of recognition as they refused to take drugs until the end.
I guess I can accept you as an apartment resident.
From what I heard, they seemed to have a variety of occupations and careers.
Even the middle-aged man who spoke to me right away, Mr. Jeong Ji-hoon, said he was the head of an organic agricultural cooperative.
He said he couldn’t drink juice because he had a habit of not eating new fruits or vegetables until he had tested them.
Because of that habit, I started growing organic vegetables to produce my own food, and the scale grew so much that I even set up a cooperative.
I’m trying to break into hydroponics in my apartment, but it doesn’t seem as easy as I thought.
Wouldn’t anyone who has ever tried growing organic produce find a way out?
Well, let’s take care of that first and then go get the jackpot item.
I also talked to other people, and surprisingly, I heard that the Bangju Church had come to the Lotus Island in the Sea.
“People might not have seen it at night, but I saw the square ship clearly with my own two eyes.”
The square-backed ark ship was certain.
“What did the square boat do?”
“That’s it, Oh Min-ho seemed to be trading something with them.”
The young man, who had been talking intently while receiving an IV drip, scratched his head and said:
“But I ran away as soon as I saw it because I was afraid that I would get caught by Oh Min-ho. I almost peed my pants even though I hadn’t even drank anything.”
To them, Oh Min-ho was no different from a capricious grim reaper.
When intoxicated, he would suddenly kill people for no reason.
By the way, if Bang Joo-sun came, why did he come?
I was curious, but as the young man said, no one else had ever seen the ark.
Maybe the young man was hallucinating because he was hungry.
But I guess we need to check.
Since I was planning to get some great items from the sea lotus colony anyway, I should catch Oh Min-ho and interrogate him while I’m at it.
Just in time, Hallasan Lake arrived at the sea lotus colony.