Chapter 40. Aptitude Test (4)

Rumble—!

Thud!

The makeshift wall blocking the emergency passage crumbled at last.

A few quick-footed survivors rushed in, shouting in disbelief and excitement, “There really is a passage here!”

“Does this mean we don’t have to break through the enemy defensive setup?!”

Murmurs swelled into hopeful chatter, spreading fast and fierce, like flames dancing through the tunnel’s heart.

Thump. Thump.

As soon as Eun-Ho took the first step inside, Jae-Hyuk caught up beside him, whispering in awe, “Hyungnim! When did you even find this passage?”

“

Um...

Just now?” Eun-Ho replied.

“What?”

Eun-Ho remembered reading a special note scribbled in tiny print at the bottom of the proposal he had stolen from the ghosts. It said

“all side paths that must be sealed off to prevent deviation from the Shadow Path.”

Thanks to that, Eun-Ho had known the side path existed.

He guessed it was probably one of the emergency evacuation routes connecting the tunnels. The tricky part was finding it.

“But how did you even know where to look? There weren’t any signs!” Jae-Hyuk added.

Jae-Hyuk was right. There were no signs or markers. The smooth, bare tunnel walls gave nothing away, perhaps because the signage had been removed in advance.

“I memorized the map,” Eun-Ho replied.

“The map?”

“And the layout of the three Namsan tunnels. There’s an emergency passage in Tunnel 3, about six hundred meters from the entrance. I made sure to keep a pace of fifteen seconds per hundred meters,” Eun-Ho explained.

Jae-Hyuk gulped, his eyes growing wider with each word.

“So based on time and step count...” Eun-Ho pointed to the ground calmly, “... we’re right around that spot.”

“

Whoa!

That’s amazing!”

“

Shh

.” Eun-Ho hushed him quickly, holding up a finger.

Even so, a few awed gasps escaped the others behind them.

“You’re incredible, Hyungnim! Calculating all that while everything was happening?!”

“It’s not a big deal.”

Keeping pace and time had been second nature back in his athlete days.

Jae-Hyuk stared like he was witnessing a miracle.

“I didn’t expect the path to be blocked off this thoroughly, though,” Eun-Ho added.

“

Huh?

”

When Eun-Ho had read about sealing off the side paths, he thought they’d have thrown a padlock on a door or something.

“To be honest, when you started breaking down what looked like a solid wall, I thought you had finally lost it!”

The artificial wall had been made of concrete nearly identical to the surrounding tunnel. If they had not lit a fire and inspected the seams up close, they’d have walked right past it.

It seemed like whoever made this had gone through a lot of trouble.

“Did you find it while you were fighting that thing?”

“More or less.”

“You managed all this in that tiny window? You really are something else, Hyungnim! No one could ever fool you!” Jae-Hyuk’s eyes sparkled with admiration.

Well, thanks to that thug, Eun-Ho had found the passage. As an unexpected bonus, he’d picked up a new weapon too.

“Shame it’s only half a weapon.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Eun-Ho clicked his tongue, quietly regretting its incomplete state as they reached the other end of the corridor. Jae-Hyuk turned back, waiting for Eun-Ho’s signal, and a silent nod was all it took.

Creeeak—

With a rusty groan, the old iron door swung open and a new path lay ahead.

“This way! It leads to the safe zone!”

Their hidden route to safety had finally opened.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"It actually broke open! This is unreal!"

"I know, right? I can even see the exit from here!"

Unlike the uphill lane they’d been trapped in, this one had functioning lights, and sunlight spilled in through the open entrance at the far end. It changed everything, and the weight on everyone's face lifted.

Even Ji-Eun, stretching out her limbs, seemed energized as she said cheerfully, “Alright! Should we make a run for it now?”

“Hold on,” Eun-Ho said. “There’s something I need to take care of first.”

He gave a quick nod to excuse himself and made his way over to Sol-Ah.

“Are you going to warm up or something?” Ji-Eun asked.

“

Umm...

Something like that I guess,” Eun-Ho replied.

Before sprinting the rest of the way, there was one thing he had to take care of: fixing his damn self.

[Caution!]

[You do not meet the minimum stat requirement for Flanged Mace.]

[You’ve developed the status effect, Muscle Soreness, due to overexertion.]

[Time remaining: 59 minutes]

He didn’t even know that certain weapons came with stat requirements. Besides, apparently, forcing oneself to wield something too heavy could result in actual debuffs like this ridiculous “Muscle Soreness” nonsense.

But that thing was throwing this mace around with one hand like it was nothing... To be that nimble with a weapon that demanded 20 Strength, did that guy have some kind of special skill?

[Flanged Mace]

- A brutal mace fitted with metal blades around the head to maximize impact.

- Returns swiftly to the user after being thrown. Increases attack power, but at the cost of weight. Requires high Strength, so handle with caution.

- Increases armor penetration by 10 when equipped.

- Required Stat: Strength 20 or higher.

Unfortunately, even after adding three points from the last trial reward, his Strength was only 14. Thankfully, failing to meet the requirement didn’t make the weapon unusable, just nerfed.

[Item effectiveness has reduced due to not meeting the required stats.]

[Weapon effectiveness reduced: 100% → 40%]

[Overexertion from excessive weight is causing rapid fatigue.]

Eun-Ho could feel his stamina draining much faster than normal.

“Sol-Ah,” he called out quietly as he approached her from behind.

He was preparing to explain, but before he could say a word, she cut straight to the point.

“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” she asked.

“

Huh?

”

"I'm not injured... Just some muscle pain. But how did you know?"

"I can tell. You looked heavier than usual."

Of course she noticed, as expected of the top student from the health science high school.

When Eun-Ho nodded, Sol-Ah silently held out her hand without saying a word.

Fwoosh!

She was the team’s precious healer.

[You have been healed by Healer Yoon Sol-Ah.]

Whoosh.

A soft blue glow unfurled from Sol-Ah’s hands, drifting gently as it settled on his exposed forearm.

The moment it touched his skin, a strange sensation washed over him—cool and warm at once, like the breath of spring after a long winter.

It was calming, yet stirred something within, a quiet strength awakening in his limbs. The healing energy flowed into him, spreading slowly and steadily, easing the ache he hadn’t realized ran so deep.

[Muscle Soreness has been fully healed.]

[Status effect has been cleared.]

He instantly felt lighter—his arms, legs, even his breath. It was like waking up from the best sleep of his life. Now he was ready. There was only one thing left to do: run like hell.

[05:30]

“Let’s go.”

“Alright Hyungnim!”

“Let’s go, Eun-Ho!”

“Yul! Hop on daddy’s back!”

“Min Yeo-Jin, stay focused and keep running, got it?!”

They ran toward that faint sliver of light on the horizon—the only promise left in a world gone dark. Fifty-two survivors moved at their own pace. Some ran alone, while others held the hand of someone they couldn’t afford to lose.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Their silent sprint echoed through the tunnel—a desperate charge through the darkness, fueled by nothing but hope and the fear of what followed.

[04:00]

“Hey!

Haaah...

Wait up!”

Some people were clearly reaching their limits as the clock kept ticking down.

[03:00]

“

Huff... Huff...

”

Others were gasping for breath, their arms and legs flailing as they fought to keep going.

[02:00]

“I can’t breathe... I think I need to stop...”

“Two minutes left! Just a little more! Hang in there!”

“Okay... Okay... I’ll try.”

However, no one gave up. Even as their legs shook like jelly, and even as their chests heaved, they clenched their teeth and kept running.

They pushed forward with everything they had.

[00:28]

“W-we made it! We’re out of the tunnel!”

“Where’s the safe zone?! Where do we go?!”

At last, they escaped the tunnel with nearly thirty seconds to spare.

Fwoosh—!

A burst of sunlight hit them like a spotlight, and people instinctively shielded their eyes.

Eun-Ho shouted toward the group, pointing them onward, “Go right! That tunnel leads to the safe zone!”

It was the same tunnel where they had first entered, where Lee Ye-Ji and the armored ones had been nervously waiting.

Then someone shouted, “There it is!”

“There’s the safe zone!”

Thud!

People threw themselves toward the glowing green circle the moment they saw it, collapsing in exhausted heaps.

[Ten seconds remaining until the trial ends.]

“We’re almost there! Keep going! Sol-Ah, Yeo-Jin, run!”

“Mister!”

“I think I’m going to pass out!”

“You won’t die from this! Just a little more!”

Eun-Ho pushed the last few stragglers forward, urging them across the glowing green line. It felt like stepping out of death’s shadow and into the land of the living.

Then, just a moment later, the final announcement echoed in the ears of the breathless survivors.

[Three, two, one. Time is up.]

[All individuals outside the safe zone will be eliminated.]

“

Haa...

We made it, We’re alive!”

Sunlight streamed in from the tunnel’s entrance. It lit up the survivors like the house lights at the end of a long, intense movie.

Ding!

Then, another cheerful system chime rang out. This time, the message was only visible to Eun-Ho.

[Congratulations!]

[New achievement unlocked: Paving a Path Where There Is None]

[You have acquired the title Pathfinder!]

***

“

Huh?

What the?!”

A desk as wide as a bed groaned beneath the weight of a towering mountain of paperwork. The folders were stacked so precariously, they seemed one breath away from collapsing.

Buried somewhere deep within that paper fortress, a young girl suddenly sprang upright, eyes wide and mouth agape as she jabbed a finger at the glowing screen.

“T-those bastards! Look at that!”

The surveillance feed—the Eye—that she had left running during their absence flickered to life, revealing something no one had anticipated. Eun-Ho and the other Subjects were sprinting out of the tunnel, alive and unharmed.

However, something was wrong. They weren’t coming from the planned route, the Shadow Path.

“Why are they coming out from

there

?!”

They were bursting out of an entirely different corridor—one no one had intended to be used.

“Choi Seung! What the hell happened?!”

Seung flinched at the icy voice that cut across the room like a blade. “I-I don’t understand! I’m sure we blocked off the side path!”

“Did you?! You think this is a job well done? Seriously?!”

“I swear! It was pitch-black in there! There’s no way they could’ve seen anything.”

Everything had been meticulously planned. Only those who survived the brutal gauntlet were meant to make it out of the tunnel. Yet, there they were, sprinting out of some random corridor, alive and unscathed.

“Don’t tell me the other group made it out again.”

“Y-yeah. I-It looks like they did.”

There were no signs of bloodshed nor combat wounds. There was just a full group of survivors, walking out as if they'd finished a training drill, instead of a life-or-death trial.

Seung’s face drained of color as the situation spun wildly out of control, far beyond anything they had accounted for.

With a sharp thud, Harona slammed her hand against the desk. “Damn it! We set the stage so they would tear each other apart, and they keep walking out alive like it’s a school field trip!”

“I... I don’t know what to say.” Seung opened his mouth, ready to spit out some excuse—even a lousy one—but the system cut him off first.

[Administrator Harona, your registered schedule has been canceled.]

[A temporary administrator has been appointed.]

A cold, clinical announcement echoed from the system, which could only mean one thing: Harona was being pulled out.

“

Tch

. That was fast

,

” Harona grumbled.

“Well, it seems like the centre stepped in.”

They didn’t waste a second claiming temporary authority. The speed of the handover was almost dazzling.

Harona let out a dry, bitter laugh. “It’s not the centre. It’s probably him. That genius researcher freak.”

Everyone in the industry had at least heard of the genius researcher from the Future Research Centre. Even someone like Harona, who usually couldn’t care less about internal politics.

“Have you dug up anything on him yet?”

“A little, yes.”

“And?” Harona tapped her fingers on the desk, watching him expectantly.

Seung hesitated and said, “Genius, without a doubt. But sanity? That’s debatable.”

“Wait. Are you saying he’s crazy

?

”

Seung wasn’t sure how much of what he had heard he was even allowed to say aloud.

“Apparently, he’s been doing unspeakable experiments. He’s dissecting Subjects and immersing their pieces in some kind of grotesque fluid...”

“What kind of experiments?”

“Things like attaching limbs while they’re still alive, and removing organs and putting them back in, over and over.”

Harona turned her face away, thoroughly disgusted.

Attaching what? Taking out and putting in where?

She resisted the urge to ask.

“Still... Whatever he’s learning, it must be working. He’s using it in the trials to secure his footing.”

“

Hmph

. So that’s why he’s so obsessed with getting selection authority.” Harona narrowed her eyes, drumming her fingers again in thought. “If his trial thins the herd too much, we’ll be the laughingstock.”

“He might even try to seize full control of all upcoming trials.”

Seung had a point. If things kept going this way, they risked losing the entire domain the Bureau of Management operated in. Harona tugged at a strand of hair, unease crawling up her spine.

Creeeak—!

The heavy metal door swung open without so much as a knock. Then, a man shuffled in behind it, dragging his feet in worn-out slippers.

“Who the hell is that?!”

He wore a stained lab coat, splattered here and there with what looked like a mix of dried red and yellow goo. Wild, ash-colored hair jutted in every direction, as if it hadn’t been brushed in days.

“

Aha!

Finally found you!” said the man.

Only one person would dare barge into Harona’s office. It was never exactly a welcoming place, as Harona had zero interest in social interaction.

“You must be Iro...?” Harona muttered.

Only one name fit the bill—the infamous, mad genius.

“Oh hey! Am I famous now? Cool.”

His eyes were dark and sunken, like he hadn’t slept in days, but there was a gleam in them, clear and cutting enough to make the skin crawl.

“You’re Harona, right?”

“It’s ‘Lady Harona’ to you.” Seung replied, clearly aghast at the way this newcomer spoke.

“

Ah,

sure sure.”

Technically, researchers had their own rank structure separate from admin staff, but this guy was still a rookie. Yet here he was, casually dropping honorifics and speaking to Harona like a drinking buddy.

In response, Iro just gave him a crooked smirk like it wasn’t a big deal at all. Then he turned back to Harona. “You’re smaller than I expected. Kinda skinny, too.”

“... Excuse me?”

“What are you? Like four-foot-three?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Anyone who knew her wouldn’t dare say something that obnoxious to her face. Yet, Iro was ogling her top to toe with shiny, unblinking eyes.

Tap. Tap.

She started drumming her fingers on the desk. It was a habit, or even a reflex—a sign that someone was about three seconds away from getting punched.

Should I hit him? Can I hit him? Actually, maybe I should,

Harona thought.

That thought barely had time to finish forming.

“Oh! That finger!”

The crazy researcher pointed with his eyes widened.

“What?! My finger?” Harona asked.

“Could I have it? Just one. Please?” he said with the same pleading tone a child would use to ask for a lick of someone’s ice cream.

“... What the hell are you saying, you lunatic?”

“Why? You don’t like the idea?”

“

Gee

, did you think I would like that idea?!”

“Then just lend it to me. I’ll take a small sample and give it right back.”

Sample? Sample of what?!

The words reached her throat but she swallowed them back. Instead, she exhaled slowly and cut to the chase with a sour look. “Enough. Anyway, why are you here? I’m busy. If you’ve got nothing important, get lost.”

“Ah, right. Well...”

She wanted to smack him badly, but held back. One wrong move and office gossip would explode.

Ugh, people will probably say that I decked the temp admin after losing her trial slot.

She could already hear them say such things. Therefore, instead, she folded her arms and leaned back, half to stay composed and half to keep this freak at arm’s length.

“Well, I found an interesting Subject.”

“

Huh?

Who?” Harona asked.

“Lee Eun-Ho, was it...?”

Harona’s foot, which had been tapping idly, stopped mid-air.

Lee Eun-Ho? Why him? I’ve never seen this guy care one bit about restructuring. But why all of a sudden?

“I’ve heard that Subject Lee Eun-Ho’s gray matter is dense and his synaptic activity is high. Is that true?”

“Why do you care?”

“I’m just wondering if he’s smart.”

Smart? Yeah, he’s smart. But so what? He’s not seriously trying to poach him already... Is he?

She’d been investing in Eun-Ho for ages—resources, upgrades, even a custom surveillance Eye. There was no way she’d hand over her prized money-maker before seeing any return.

That meant one thing: she couldn’t afford to show even a hint of interest. People always wanted what someone else had poured time and resources into.

Making her decision, Harona stared straight into his eyes.

“I don’t know. I haven’t paid attention to him really.”

“You? Not keeping tabs?

Pfft

, no way.”

“There are hundreds of Subjects. The Bureau’s drowning in work, or hadn’t you noticed?”

She feigned disinterest like a pro.

The researcher just scratched his tangled hair and said, “Well then, just show me the Subjects’ midterm evaluation report.”

“The report? There’s nothing special in there though.”

She made no move toward her desk, ignoring his outstretched hand. Technically, she should hand it over as it's public data, but she really, really didn’t want to.

“

Hmm...

I wonder where it is. Maybe it’s over there?”

Instead of answering, she just sat still, arms folded. Then, Iro walked right up to the mountain of files on her desk and scanned them.

Maybe the genius title was not all hype. His eyes flicked over dozens or even hundreds of labels in mere seconds. Then, without hesitation, he pulled out one file.

- [Sector 13] ROK-SEO Subject Midterm Evaluation Report: Lee Eun-Ho

It was as if Iro knew where it was from the beginning. Seung flinched but Harona didn’t, mostly because she was pissed off.

“What are you trying to do?!”

“What do you mean?”

The way he smirked as he grabbed the folder grated on her nerves.

“I don't get it! High and mighty researchers like you usually avoid the field work like it’s radioactive.”

She threw shade, because what else could she do?

“Well, what choice do I have? Field agents can’t even do their damn jobs.”

“... Excuse me?”

“So we poor geniuses have to step in and save the day. It's tragic, really.”

Harona’s face twisted in disbelief, but she still could not find a snappy enough comeback.

He saw her expression and just tapped the folder’s edge against the leaning tower of paperwork on her desk.

“Try being smart about it. Stop piling up work like an idiot.”

Then he turned and walked out, still wearing those disgusting slippers. Without goodbye, thanks, or anything.

Creeeeak— Bam!

The door shut behind him and Harona stared at it in silence for a beat.

“Is it just me, or do you find him annoying too?”

“Lady Harona. It’s definitely not just you.”

Even Seung agreed.

“

Ugh!

I had everything planned out!”

Crack!

Her pen snapped clean in two as she grit her teeth. Seung, who usually knew better than to get involved, walked up and began gathering the scattered files.

“How the hell did he even know about Eun-Ho? What is he planning?!”

“The fact that he talked about grey matter and synapses just gives me a bad feeling.”

He shuddered, recalling those glossy, deranged eyes.

“Do we cheer for them now? Should we hope for more of them to survive this time?”

“That might actually be the best approach.”

Pfft.

Harona let out a bitter chuckle at how things had turned out. In the footage, Eun-Ho was muttering to himself with an oddly intrigued expression on his face.

She continued to plot how to keep her golden goose alive, just intact enough to keep milking it.

A Pathfinder, huh?