Chapter:3

Pant...gasp...pant

dab, dab, dab, dab, dab

Bam!

Sung kicked the door open and kept on running.

"Grrr-owl!" It growled

The door was opened again as a human-like creature with a deformed face and hair all over its body chased after him on all four.

Even though the limbs of the creature resembled human limbs, who were designed to run on 2 legs, it still possessed a formidable speed.

The creature appeared to move somewhat slower for a moment or so, after colliding with the door but it started to gain its former speed again.

But Sung wasn't slow either

It won't be an overstatement to say that Sung was speeding like a bullet.

'Shit!'

dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab,

'It's demi-human! No, it's a zombie! No, it's a werewolf! No, it's something els--!'

"Growlll!" his thoughts were cut off by the creature's growl.

Pant...pant...

His stamina which was boosted by adrenaline was now depleting.

Bam!

He kicked another door open and closed it instantly and managed to slow it down a bit.

Pant...pant...

'Ah...I am closing my limit at this rate, it might get me!'

"Grrrr-owll!!" This time the growl was heard pretty close to Sung.

His eyes snapped open.

He turned his head and saw that creature was just about 8 feet away from him and was closing in the distance.

"No..No..No!! Get away! GET AWAY D*MN IT!!"

The creature was just a foot away but before it could get him, Sung took a sharp turn, due to its low intellect the creature didn't turn at the right time leading it into colliding with the wall in front of it.

It slowed down again as Han Ji took it as a golden opportunity to make his escape, before the creature could notice he entered the nearest door possible.

He slammed the door close behind him.

Pant...pant... pant...

He leaned his back against the door, trying to catch his breath.

As his body slowly leaned further making him, sit on the floor.

"Pant...Pant... I think I was able to get awa--"

His voice was cut off by a 'not so unfamiliar sound'.

Bwwwzzrrr!!

It was then his vision blurred again as the door behind him disappeared along his surroundings.

Making him fall flat on his back.

"Aaargh!" he exclaimed in surprise and pain as his head hit the carpeted moist floor.

"Ah.. D*mn this place..." he muttered under his breath as he stood up again rubbing the back of his head.

Suddenly, he realised something, there wasn't even a bit of moisture In his hair even though he fell on a moist floor, the same went for his clothes.

'Should I be surprised now...? Oh, come on I guess I've seen too much already to be surprised from just this much.'

He steadied his breathing and slowly regained his stamina after a few minutes.

Even though he was relieved to get away from that thing, still hunger and thirst bothered him.

His face fell as he walked again.

'Ah...I wish there was something to eat, maybe something like Ramyeon or Japchae noodles..'

He thought as a smile appeared on his face as he thought about his favourite food, but his dreams were interrupted by a growl.

Though this time it was his stomach.

"Urgh... all I can do right now is

to keep going..."

He kept walking without rest.

***

After a couple of doors, he found himself in another long hallway but this one had a different thing.

There was a door which stood out completely among the other doors, and so did the walls around it.

Instead of mono-yellow colour, it was more orange-ish, if he focused closely he could see something written on top of it but he can't read it from the side.

He approached it slowly,' Looking won't hurt will it?'

[ARCHIVE ROOM.]

He read the text written in bold letters on the door.

'Hmmm..? So it has an archive room, maybe it is an office after all...'.

He looked at the door for a second.

It is said that there is not much of a difference between humans and animals, but what made us different from them was a special feeling that made us grow as species and evolve differently.

Curiosity.

But it isn't said curiosity killed the cat, for no reason.

And Han Ji's mind was filled with curiosity right now, but his own conscious was warning him about entering this room.

'Maybe I can find a map here....or maybe something worse than 'that' thing too, there are way many possibilities...' he thought as he stared at the door.

Then he brought his face close to the door and placed his ear on it.

All he heard was silence.

Even though curiosity might kill the cat, but can also be rewardful as it might lead to knowledge, which is the thing that helps us human beings to evolve further and further.

'Here goes nothing' he let out a deep breath and licked his parched lips and grabbed the handle.

He creaked the door open and first took a peek inside.

The first thing he saw was a table and a chair.

Luckily, the room was safe and he entered the room and close door the behind him.

He let out a sigh of relief and scanned the room.

Aside from the chair and table, there was an office water filter in the room too.

The water filter was placed on a small cabinet that had some paper cups stacked on top of each other.

To Han Ji right now the water filter looked like the most beautiful thing one can find on the Gods green earth.

He reached to grab a cup but suddenly held back.

'Wait, this can be a trap..., what if it's this Office is an area created by some sort of Psychopath to kill people in different ways....' he held himself back and took a look around.

He then saw that the table had an office folder on it.

Again curiosity took over his mind and he sat on the chair and looked at the folder.

After a moment of thinking and trying to guess what it might have contained.

He dragged it close to him and Opened it the first thing he saw on the first page was a symbol.

It resembled a circular maze that one might find in kids' books more than often, but the difference was he could only see entrances to the maze and on it, there was a text in Bold later with Fancy font, 'L.A.B'.

Below the symbol, there was something written in small text.

[Labyrinth Adventurers Bureau]

'Ah...so that's what the 'L.A.B' means here? But what is this "Labyrinth"?'

He thought and then flipped the page.

On the second page, he found some text in regular font.

[Greetings Fellow wanderer, Welcome to 'The Labyrinth'...]

'Labyrinth again? what is this? Greek mythology?'

As if the person who made this document knew everything about the reader the next line stated.

[..You're probably wondering, what is Labyrinth? So please read it carefully and sit down on the chair before you read further because what you read, might be too much for your brain...]

'Say what...? You think I haven't seen enough unbelievable stuff already?'

[..I am sorry to tell you that you have unfortunately, under some circumstances glitched out reality...]

"Glitched out of reality!?"

Han Ji was surprised but didn't find it unbelievable, In fact, it was the most logical explanation for everything he saw till now.

[..It may sound ridiculous but it is the truth, and now I need you to calm down...because mental stress here can lead to a fate worse than death...]

Even though Han Ji was surprised he was able to remain composed right now for some reason.

[..So back to the question, What is Labyrinth? Labyrinth is an alternative reality where you appear when you 'Noclip' out of reality.

The Labyrinth contains an infinite amount of different areas that we refer to as 'Stages'...]

'Infinite? does that means....it has no end...? and I can never get out!?'

Han Ji's breathing picked up the pace, he started hyperventilating.

Soon the breaths turned into sobs, his lips quivered and tears rolled down from his eyes...

"No...No...No....No!! Come on!! God d*mn it!! It can happen! There are still so many things I want to do!! Who's gonna take care of my mom!? My good-for-nothing father?! That b*stard who left my mom for his secretary?!"

He kept on crying as he leaned back in the chair his mind was a blur of emotions, and Memories of his mother kept on flashing in front of his eyes.

it felt like he was reliving every painful moment of his life again.

When in primary school he was called a disgrace by his teacher.

When his mom told him that his father would never visit them.

When he was bullied for being Asian.

And when his girlfriend left him...

It felt like pain from all those moments was now being inflicted on him.

Sob...sob...sob..

He bit his lower lip trying to stop his sobs but then suddenly

Knock...Knock.

His ears tensed up when they heard the sound of knocking on walls.

"Heok!"

He gasped and for a moment he even forgot sobbing.

'What the f*ck...? I thought this room was safe?!'

He stared at the wall with wide eyes as his hands were trembling with fear.

After a while of staring at the wall, unable to figure out what might be going on here he thought about reading the document, hoping it might tell something about those sounds.

[..Currently, you are on 'Stage 0', It is the most common place where a wanderer usually appears after they Noclip, if it makes you feel better in anyways, I'd like to tell you that Stage 0 is the second safest Stage to get spawned.]

The page ended and Han Ji sweatdropped in surprise and fear and gulped his nervous saliva.

'If this place is supposed to be one of the safest I would rather not like to know what the most dangerous Stage looks like...'

he flipped the page to continue reading,[We hope you didn't come across any of the 'quiddities'. Quiddities are Creature that exists in the Labyrinth there are many different types of quiddities in the Labyrinth, they are creatures that surpass an individual's imagination, we have recorded over 1000 quiddities but it's not rare to get reports of unknown quiddities too...]

He frowned and mentally applauded the person who created this document for their astonishing insight.

[..To survive in Labyrinth there are three things that you need to take care of, your hunger, thirst and mental state, if you're hungry, thirsty or in mental despair it's not unusual to have audible and visual hallucinations, if you're hearing knocks and footsteps from the outside please have some water from the filter and food from the cabinet...]

"Phew..." he sighed in relief to know that finally he can quench his thirst, satisfy his hunger and that the knocks were nothing but just a hallucination.

He stood from the spot and approached the water filter when he poured some water into a cup he noted something about water.

Its texture was little milky and it let out a faint smell of vanilla and rosy

Even though it looked a little different from regular water, his gut was telling him it was safe to drink.

He brought the cup close to his lips and sipped.

'Sweet...'

The water tasted sweet and had a little minty essence.

In no time he swallowed the liquid down and went for another and another.

He opened the cabinet and found a tin can.

He looked at the label

[Sweet Beans]

he opened the can and in about a minute the contents were emptied.

Even though it wasn't the best-tasting thing in the world but to him, it tasted like that.

After eating and drinking he had a satisfied smile on his face,

"Thanks for the meal," he muttered under his breath

For some reason, he even felt calmer and collected after the meal.

'Well I guess hunger just got to my head.' he thought as he approached the documents again.

[..The water from the filter is not regular water but rather it's a special liquid only found in the labyrinth, and we call it the 'Almond Water' It is the main source of hydration and can also help one recover from mental stress.]

'So That explains why I feel a little better now..'

He flipped the page and continued to read.

[Now wanderer you need to know the basics of living in Labyrinth.]

***

He touched the walls of the room in different spots.

Until he finally heard that same unpleasant sound

Bwwwzzrrr!!

'Yes...!' He smiled.

[You need to learn How to Noclip first, You can Noclip inside a Stage and also move from one Stage to another, to Noclip touch the wall,fIoor or anything until you hear the same sound you heard the moment you arrived here....]

'I don't know, what is my purpose here, or what are the things that await me on the other side..'

He stepped back and braced himself.

'If there is an exit from this Labyrinth or not?'

[..When you find the spot that makes the sound run at it, it will take you to Stage 1...]

'..but if there is an exit I'll find it and return to my home..'

He walked into the wall.

Bwwwzzrrr!!

'..My name is Sung Han Ji the man that will trace the whole Labyrinth!'