One on One (2)

There’s a saying that time heals all wounds.

It means that no matter how difficult something is, it will get better with time.

So, keeping that in mind

One, two, three…

After counting to three in my head, I opened my eyes again.

My head had cleared a bit, but unfortunately the scene in front of me was still the same.

A single-sized bed.

A computer on the desk.

The living room and the kitchen area visible through the wide-open door.

There’s no doubt, this is Lee Han-soo’s room.

Ever since the day I took the pills, I’ve been brought here every 15th of the month at midnight when the community opens.

Could it be a dream?

Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind, but I quickly shook my head.

I don’t know why this has happened, but it’s real.

So what I need to do now is not deny it, but rather identify the cause and find a solution.

“Why did I end up here?”

I muttered to myself, trying to organise my thoughts.

First of all, time flows differently in the labyrinth and the city.

Normally, no matter how many days I spent in the labyrinth, only 36 hours would pass in the city.

That’s why, even after exploring the labyrinth for over two months, I had never been summoned to the community. Until now.

But

‘I’ve ended up here, anyway’

Once I put aside the question of whether it was realistically possible, the answer came quickly.

No matter how unrealistic it seemed.

How could the community open while I was exploring the labyrinth? When something doesn’t make sense, there’s usually an equally nonsensical reason behind it.

“Time is passing normally outside.”

If that’s the case, then it makes sense that I entered the community from the labyrinth.

“Damn It”

Once my thoughts were somewhat organized, the vague sense of anxiety disappeared. And in its place, concrete, real-world problems surfaced.

Will I be trapped here forever?

If the labyrinth closed normally outside, they probably think I’m dead. How will I clean up that mess?

“Ugh…”

This is insane.

Since just sitting here and thinking won’t solve anything, I moved to the computer and clicked the mouse.

[Long Live Korean Independence] – 2 users online.

Baek-ho and Hyun-byeol are already here.

Although I was late in organizing my thoughts, I checked the community board before entering.

I didn’t even need to search—there were countless posts about me.

Click.

I clicked on the most-commented post, and the original text appeared, along with a ton of comments below it.

[Is the “giant” really dead?]

Is he and the Royal Family pulling another fake death stunt?

[BurtusMaximus: Seems real this time. There’s a witness who saw him open a portal on the 1st Floor and enter a hidden area.]

[└OP: Seriously? How’s that even possible?]

[BurtusMaximus: When Jandel opened the portal, others followed him in, but the portal closed mid-entry. They got left behind.]

[└OP: Thanks for the info. But should you be sharing this here?]

[BurtusMaximus: Everyone who needs to know already does.]

└ Nyacreeps: Among those left behind, only one survived and returned. That guy’s absurdly lucky—he didn’t go in, and he even survived the first floor when Berzark was summoned.

Yeah… I thought it’d come to this.

The community was my only window into the outside world, so I kept scrolling.

The players’ reactions were all over the place.

[MUST READ) Three proofs Bjorn Jandel is alive.]

[Futuralis: There’s nothing here?]

[└NExtlevEL: Are you dumb? ‘Nothing’ is the point.]

[└Futuralis: What do you mean ‘nothing’?]

[└NExtlevEL: Your brain.]

Some cracked jokes or brushed off the situation with memes, while others spread rumors with dubious “evidence.”

And then…

[Guys, I’ll share how to open the portal.]

You all know about the new stone monument in the Crystal Cave’s Dark Zone, right? That’s where Bjorn Jandel opened it and met with disaster.

So, the big question is: What’s the condition for opening the portal?

Long story short, it’s probably connected to the 3rd floor. Several explorers had spotted Bjorn Jandel there.

Great. They’ve already figured it out.

[these99: If that’s true, it makes sense. He went up to the 3rd Floor, came back down to the 1st, and opened the portal.]

[ionboii: Tsk tsk, look at the clickbait. He claims to be giving out information, but it’s just random speculation]

[└EdwardBless77: It doesn’t seem to be a rumour. There are quite a few people who actually saw him on the 2nd floor]

[└AI_DIDIGO: Info 1, Bjorn Jandel actually descended to the 1st floor on the 7th day and immediately opened the portal in the Crystal Cave.]

At this point, it’s safe to assume that the route we took during this exploration has been completely exposed…

[└EdwardBless77: DIDIGO, What’s info 2?]

[└AI_DIDIGO: Info2: The portal closed the moment 60 people entered. Estimated max capacity for the hidden area: 60.]

It’s like these guys who weren’t even next to us know everything about us.

‘Well, I guess I’ve learned as much as I can…’

Just as I was about to end my stalking and enter the Korean chat room, I habitually clicked on the next page and noticed a post that caught my eye:

[I’m one of the explorers who followed Bjorn Jandel into the hidden area.]

…Who is this?

***

[I’m one of the 60 people you’re all guessing about.]

[I can’t reveal my real name, but what I’m about to say is all true, so please don’t take this as a joke and listen carefully.]

[Right now, we’re on the underground 1st floor, a place called the Records Archive.]

[This floor is a very unique floor…]

Who wrote this?

The first name that came to mind was Versil.

But, if I thought about it for a second, there’s no way he would have written this. It’s just that Versil is the only player I know for sure.

‘It wouldn’t be strange if there’s one more among the 60.’

Moreover, as I continued reading, the list of suspects gradually narrowed. The details OP had included to gain trust revealed some personal information.

[After we got separated from Bjorn Jandel, we continued exploring on our own…]

It’s not the Silver Lion Clan or the members of the small teams working with them. Therefore, the remaining suspects are only those we met while passing through the Library Island.

[Of course, we have no idea where Bjorn Jandel is now. We had to stop our exploration because suddenly monsters started pouring down from the sky and isolated us.]

Thanks to this, I learned something new.

The Rainy Season isn’t limited to the Monster Island —it happens across the entire floor.

Well, I don’t know how they survived that event, though.

Do monsters not enter the library?

[At the moment, we’re trapped on an island. Not only is the island crawling with monsters, but our ship is damaged, making escape impossible. Our only hope was to hold out until the labyrinth closed, but…]

[Seeing that I woke up here today, it seems that’s not going to work either. That’s why I’m sharing my exploration results publicly in this post.]

[To those who wish to enter this place, or to those who plan to explore in the future, I beg you. If you come here, please come to our island and rescue us. We will not only share the information we’ve gathered with you, but we will also reward you in other ways.]

[The island we’re on is located at 19 degrees from the starting rock island…]

O.P then revealed the sailing route from the rock island to their island.

I don’t have much knowledge about sailing, but judging by how complicated the route sounds and how long it takes, it doesn’t seem to be the Library Island.

[Also, whether he has already escaped and is in the city, or is still trapped here, if you meet Baron Jandel, please relay this message.]

[We’re waiting for him here…]

That was the end of OP’s long post.

As I thought about who exactly wrote this, I remembered the uneasy look the leader of the Hex Clan had given me.

[As expected… it seems the Baron hasn’t found a way out either.]

This is why human intuition is so scary.

Who would have thought I’d guess his identity like that?

For some reason, I felt strange, but I continued reading the comments one by one.

[Darulus: What is this, is it real?]

MarkG: Nobody’s dumb enough to believe this, right?

Paweł: If only they’d put this effort into something else…

Most of them treated it like a troll post, but not everyone:

TheRobson75: The details are oddly specific for a made-up story… Could it be that even if the labyrinth closes, time keeps flowing normally there.

Many were skeptical, and quite a few decided to believe the post.

[Bling0_0: For some reason, I feel like this post is true. I can’t even imagine Bjorn Jandel dying. This makes much more sense…]

[└AI_DIDIGO: Info 1, there’s no pattern of lying in this post.]

[└EdwardBless77: So what’s the conclusion?]

[└AI_DIDIGO: Conclusion, there’s a 72.8811% chance that the content of this post is true.]

[└Pnec: Bullshit. He’s dead. That barbarian bastard.]

[└Pnec: Who the hell are you? Do I know you?]

[└Bling0_0: You don’t? Turns out your dick isn’t the only thing that’s 3cm—your brain’s got 3kb of memory too.]

[└Pnec: Ah, I remember now. That cockroach bastard lol.]

[└Bling0_0: You’ll forget in three seconds anyway. Why bother?]

What’s wrong with these idiots fighting here?
‘Seriously, some people have way too much time on their hands.’

I checked the rest of the comments, but for some reason, the O.P didn’t engage in the comments.

Did he think that replying would make his post seem fake?

I don’t know, but since it had already been almost 30 minutes since the community opened, I closed the forum and headed to the chat room.

[Long Live Korean Independence] – 2 users online.

Fortunately, both of them were still in the chat room.

Click, click.

Feeling bad for making them wait so long, I quickly entered the chat room and saw Hyun-byeol and Lee Baekho facing each other, a few steps apart.

They were talking like they were having an argument, with serious expressions on their faces…….

“Oh, hyung! You’re here!”

“…Huh?”

Both of them turned their heads towards me at the same time.

“Sorry I’m late. But what were you two talking about so seriously?”

“W-well…”

Hyun-byeol looked flustered by my question.

Seeing this, Lee Baekho chimed in with a sly voice.

“She kept asking if you’re Bjorn Jandel.”

“What?”

“I told her I didn’t know, but she kept insisting, so I just said no. But she still kept asking. If you’re not going to believe me, why even ask?”

“Hyunbyeol, is that true?”

“…Do you believe him?”

Yeah, it’s true.

If she had just said no, that would have been the end of it, but the way she’s talking…

For some reason, I felt a chill run down my spine.

The fact that she’s behaving this way suggests she knows something about my identity…

It’s a bit sudden, but a crisis can be turned into an opportunity if it’s handled well.

“By the way, what made you think I was Bjorn Jandel?”

The world currently believes that Bjorn Jandel is dead, Hyun-byeol is more likely to think she’s made a mistake and answer honestly.

“…You actually believe him?”

“I’m not mad. Just tell me.”

Seeing that there’s no point in dodging the question, Hyun-byeol reluctantly opened her mouth.

In a voice as small as an ant’s.

“I wasn’t… completely sure.”

“But?”

“…I know exactly when you came here.”

“Go on.”

“Out of all the explorers who started at that time, Bjorn Jandel is the only one who rose to prominence like that. The only close comparison is the Blood Spirit Queen, but she’s a woman.”

Ah. So that’s why she thought I might be Bjorn Jandel.

“You used to talk to me a lot about games, remember? Always going on about how Shield Barbarians were the best.”

“You… remember that?”

“Of course. You’re the one who told me.”

Hyun-byeol replied as if it was obvious.

I couldn’t respond, and Lee Baek-ho whistled beside me.

“Wow… Hyunbyeol noona is amazing. Hyung, think about it. If I had a noona like this, I’d never let her go—”

“Shut up. Please, for the love of God.”

I agree.

Is Lee Baek-ho suffering from some kind of disease that will kill him if he remains silent? I glared at him and he shrugged his shoulders and closed his mouth.

“……”

“……”

The atmosphere became awkward as Lee Baek-ho made a scene.

Hyun-byeol avoided eye contact and spoke up again.

“Anyway, that’s why… I thought you were Bjorn Jandel… but then they said you were dead…”

“……”

“And… no matter how long I waited, you didn’t show up here… So I got a little worked up and pressed him. Since he knows your identity…”

Ah…

“So why were you so late today? I was really worried!”

Hyun-byeol raised her voice to change the mood, and I found myself apologising.

“I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t ask for an apology, I asked why.”

“I was going to come in right away, but there were some interesting posts on the bulletin board, so I had to check them out.”

“Huh? Interesting posts? Hyung, what were they?”

Lee Baek-ho also showed interest in my words, so I decided to be honest. After all, it was information that anyone could find by just glancing at the forum.

“So, time flows simultaneously in that floor and the city?”

“Yeah, that’s what they were discussing.”

“Wait a second! Then that means Bjorn Jandel could still be alive, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so?”

When I answered nonchalantly, Hyun-byeol glared at me with fire in her eyes.

She didn’t say anything, but I could almost hear her voice.

‘Why are you talking like it’s someone else’s business! That means there’s still a chance you’re Bjorn Yandel!’

I shamelessly smiled back at her, not avoiding her gaze, and Lee Baek-ho let out an exclamation.

“Wow, this is the level of mysteriousness you need to keep a girlfriend hooked, huh? I really admire you, hyung!”

What is he even talking about? He’s got more secrets than I do.

It was a bit absurd, but I couldn’t say anything as he continued with his bullshit.

“Still, it’s a bit disappointing.”

“…….”

“I wish I were as smart as you, hyung.”

Ugh… way to make the atmosphere heavy.

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