Chapter 206
A plump, fleshy hand grabbed Cheonchilbaek’s mouth just as he was about to scream in sudden fright. It was a very swift movement, unsuited to his physique.
It was Paradox.
“Calm down. It’s me, Hurlock Sholmes. It looked dangerous, so I came to help.”
Cheonchilbaek raised both hands to signal that he had calmed down. As Paradox let go of his hand, Cheonchilbaek spoke while catching his breath.
“Huff, huff… I’m sorry. You came to help? Then, the gang fight that broke out in the other sector, by any chance…?”
Paradox grinned and nodded.
“You catch on quick. That’s right. I had Osai and Samsao do it. I figured it would be easier for you to slip out if they drew attention outside. You were taking a while inside, so I wondered if you needed our help. Was it unnecessary meddling?”
“No. Thanks to you, I survived. Otherwise, I would have been trapped without a way out. Thank you.”
Paradox accepted it as if it were a natural, trivial matter. However, from Cheonchilbaek’s perspective, it was not.
They weren’t even in a situation where they could communicate and share opinions, yet he took such bold action without hesitation to help, based solely on the minor circumstance that the infiltration was taking too long.
He got goosebumps at Paradox’s surprisingly accurate, timely insight and drive.
This must be the majesty of a Labyrinth 17-year veteran.
Cheonchilbaek suddenly wondered what crime Paradox, who would have been younger 17 years ago, had committed to be dragged to Labyrinth. Looking at him, Cheonchilbaek realized he definitely wouldn’t have been a petty criminal like himself.
“You flatter me. Given your infiltration skills, you’re quite good. I’m glad my choice to pick you wasn’t wrong.”
Paradox said so and patted his shoulder.
At the same time, a new question arose for Cheonchilbaek.
With that incredible age, experience, and intuition, what on earth had Paradox seen to include him, Cheonchilbaek, in this operation?
Even after I pondered, an answer didn’t come easily.
* * *
Finding the most secretive place possible, the Companions gathered again.
Osai and Samsao arrived with refreshed expressions, having seemingly caused a proper ruckus in Sector 3, and Cheonchilbaek laid out the newly obtained information in front of his seniors.
“The Model Prisoner roster is not in Labyrinth.”
Osai frowned at the bombshell dropped right from the start.
“What? So we went through all that suffering and it was all a useless waste of time?”
Cheonchilbaek shrank back. He was still a little scared of Osai. Even though his appearance had changed to a one-eyed handsome man, he was still the same.
Anyway, he was really impatient. No matter what anyone said, the one who suffered the most here was Cheonchilbaek himself…
“Whoa, calm down. You should listen to people until the end. If it had been just that kind of trivial information, would the Stealer have called us together to explain?”
As always, Paradox stepped in and mediated. Cheonchilbaek forced a smile and added.
“For now, that is. The roster comes from the outside. This time, specifically, the HR Officer is bringing the roster.”
“The HR Officer?”
Before Cheonchilbaek could say more, a string of text appeared at that moment.
『
GM
: You have obtained information about the HR Officer. This is currently the most certain method to access the Model Prisoner roster. It might even be the only one.
Quest Updated!
‘Struggle to Emerge from the Egg(!)’
->Use the HR Officer.』
“Well, that settles our primary objective. The HR Officer of Labyrinth…”
Paradox said, rubbing his hands together.
“Shall we formulate a plan then? Stealer, did you hear when the Officer is coming? Any movement routes, perhaps?”
* * *
Cheonchilbaek thought.
Paradox must be a god.
In a short time, this unfathomable man had sweet-talked the other Prisoners, extracted information from the Model Prisoners, and prepared an operation regarding the HR Officer.
The outline was as follows.
Step 1. Aim for a vacant moment in the HR Officer’s schedule.
Even though the HR Officer was someone who prepared a packed lunch to eat in the newly established office in Labyrinth, Paradox’s resourcefulness was truly amazing.
He said he created a situation where the HR Officer ‘had no choice but to step out,’ although he didn’t explain exactly how he did it.
Step 2. Infiltrate the HR Officer’s empty office.
Even Paradox commented that this part would not be easy.
The security around the office was incredibly strict.
Not to mention the guard drones and surveillance cameras, there were even two Model Prisoners acting as guard dogs, patrolling and obediently submitting to the Officer’s words without any resistance.
Cheonchilbaek thought that even if they somehow dealt with the drones and cameras, the two Model Prisoners who could use supernatural abilities would be the biggest problem, but Paradox’s words were different.
He expressed difficulty, saying that while people could be dealt with in tens of thousands of ways, machines could not.
Fortunately, Osai possessed the [hacking] stat. Originally, he didn’t seem to have much related knowledge or experience, but with the power of the dice, he succeeded in neutralizing the security system without a proper hacker deck or a single tool.
And Paradox and Samsao somehow dealt with the two Model Prisoners. They knocked one out and killed the other.
During the process, a supernatural ability left a large gash on one of Samsao’s arms, but he didn’t seem to mind much.
He just acted tough, saying, ‘Superpowers aren’t much of a big deal either.’
The strange thing was that even up to the moment they died, the Model Prisoners did their absolute best to defend the office desperately to a suspicious degree, but there was not enough time to find out the reason.
Only the injured Samsao moved to another location, while the other three entered the office. Originally, the Officer’s Bio-ID was required, but Paradox had prepared a bypass even for that, allowing them to crawl in through the ventilation shaft.
Inside the officer’s office, Paradox scrutinized the surroundings with sharp eyes.
“He must have hidden the roster access terminal somewhere… let’s see. He would usually handle his work here.”
Not long after, Paradox found a small terminal in a secret compartment inside the drawer of the silver table and pulled it out.
It was hard to tell whether that divine skill-level search ability was an application of the [Investigation] stat, or Paradox’s own inherent ability.
When he stared with admiring eyes, Paradox spoke nonchalantly.
“What are you doing just standing there watching? Come on, we don’t have much time. Let’s get to work. One-Eyed Jack? I’m counting on you.”
At Paradox’s words, Osai, who had become a one-eyed handsome man, reached out to the terminal.
“Don’t worry, I’m slowly getting used to these dice things.”
The core of this plan, the sole possessor of the [hacking] stat, and therefore the only ability user who could access the roster - Osai’s attitude was overflowing with confidence.
Because the [hacking] stat had played a significant role in dealing with the security system, his pride was quite inflated.
It was understandable that he didn’t worry about failing, since it was a value of 4, the highest among the stats.
However, Cheonchilbaek felt anxious for some reason. Was it because things were going too smoothly?
“Shall I do a little hacking?”
In response to Osai’s soliloquy, a string of text appeared.
『
GM
: Upon the Player’s request, a
[hacking]
check will be conducted. Please roll the dice.』
Osai showed off as he flicked and threw the four dice.
Clatter…
Everyone’s eyes wavered. Osai’s expression, in particular, was filled with shock.
⚀⚀⚂⚁
1 1 3 2.
It was a ridiculously terrible number. How on earth did he throw the dice to get such a result?
『
GM
:
[hacking]
stat 4 plus modifiers <- - 0 -> makes a total of
1(Average)
so the result is…
Critical Failure
! Hacking failed, and the security alert is triggered!』
WEEEEEEENG-!
Along with the loud siren, an eerie red warning light blinked.
Cheonchilbaek inwardly spat out abusive language.
‘Osai, you fucking idiot bastard!’
“Osai, you fucking idiot bastard!”
“…!”
For a moment, Cheonchilbaek was startled, wondering if he had expressed his inner thoughts out loud, and covered his mouth.
But he hadn’t. No matter how lacking he was, he wasn’t such an idiot as to confuse someone else’s voice with his own.
Surprisingly, that voice just now… belonged to Paradox.
Even Paradox, who always laughed things off and never lost his composure no matter what happened, couldn’t hold back his anger at this unprecedented trolling incident that had completely ruined his plan.
However, the most flustered one was undoubtedly Osai himself.
“W-what do we do?!”
At his bewildered cry, Paradox gritted his teeth and massaged his temple. Footsteps could be heard from outside.
They were definitely coming to check the office. If they were going to escape, they had to do it quickly. The problem was that even that had a low chance of success.
Thud!
Someone knocked on the locked office door. Already? That was way too fast. At this rate, even running away would be difficult.
Cheonchilbaek and Osai looked at the companions' leader, Paradox, with desperate eyes, but no matter how great Paradox was, as long as he was just a human and not a god, there was no way he could find an answer in such an awkward situation.
If he could, he wouldn’t have been locked up in Labyrinth in the first place.
“Wait! It’s my office, so I will check it.”
The Officer’s voice could be heard faintly from outside. It seemed he had run straight here as soon as he heard the siren.
In that moment, Paradox’s eyes glinted dangerously.