Tales of the Labyrinth

Chapter 11: Awakening

“…….”

Hwanin opened his eyes to the feeling of his throat prickling with cold and thirst. As he blinked a few times, he took in the sight of the grayish interior of the pit.

There seems to be no sunlight streaming through the gaps in the tree roots.... It should be night time. But why was it so bright?

Normally, he’d barely be able to make out the outline of his hands, yet now he could see the patterns on the dirt walls. However, he had no time to question this gray world, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a corona berry.

With a few bites, sweet and tangy juice gushed out, moistening his dry throat.

Quack.

Hwanin glanced with tired eyes at emergency ration, who cried out as if demanding some for itself. After spitting out the seed, he took out two slightly crushed corona berries from his pocket and pressed them to its beak before pulling it into his embrace.

Quack?

…... Warm. As he thought about how duck down parkas weren’t expensive without reason, he patted emergency ration's back as it wriggled in his arms.

At Hwanin's gesture, emergency ration quieted down, and he curled up further, closing his eyes to try and sleep again.

He didn’t know how long he had slept, but his condition was slightly getting better.

Whether it was genuinely better or because his senses had become numb, he couldn't tell, but the fact that he felt less pain was a welcome thing.

After repeating the cycle of waking up, eating a corona berry, and falling back asleep several times, he finished all 21 berries. Even the ones he set aside for emergency ration were gone. Only then did Hwanin manage to push himself up.

“I'm alive…...”

His body was in the worst condition imaginable, as if he had competed in an ironman triathlon and then fought a 12-round boxing match.

His arms, legs, and face felt like little more than skin over bones. His fingers were so thin that the joints were visible, and when he pressed on his stomach, it just sunk in. 

He looked as though every bit of energy in his body had been spent on healing.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 1 PM. It couldn't have been a whole day... maybe two? Or three?

Quack…….

Emergency ration, nestled between his legs, let out a weak cry.

It seemed to be from hunger, which made Hwanin guess that about three days must have passed.

He, too, felt the gnawing pangs of hunger. Staggering, he leaned on his staff to lift himself and left the hideout.

Squinting against the blinding sunlight, Hwanin frowned and picked up the spear lying at the entrance. He also took emergency ration and put it on his shoulder.

“…….”

Feeling the weight of emergency ration pressing down on his shoulder, Hwanin realized how bad his condition was.

It couldn’t weigh more than 2 kilograms, yet it felt so burdensome.

More than that, Hwanin noticed that his mind was a bit... strange? Changed? In any case, he felt something had shifted.

Previously, he had no qualms about butchering emergency ration, but now, thinking about eating it made him feel a little repulsed.

Logically and rationally speaking, the right choice would be to take the risk, roast emergency ration here at the hideout, and replenish his strength.

However, instead of eating emergency ration, Hwanin decided to go out and find food. 

After thinking for a moment, he concluded that the presence of emergency ration gave him a lot of comfort.

Fragments of a memory from his student days flashed through his mind.

-You know how, when you wake up from a nightmare, having someone next to you makes you feel incredibly relieved? Have you ever felt that, In?

-No.

-Really?

-I’ve never had a nightmare.

-Wow, you’re really amazing! 

Was it back in middle school? He couldn't remember who he was talking to.

That part wasn’t important. What mattered was that now, he thought he understood what that sense of relief felt like.

Who would have thought he’d find so much comfort in the small, warm creature in his arms?

Watching emergency ration curiously tilt its head as if searching for food, Hwanin thought quietly.

If he managed to escape the jungle..... or failed and faced a situation where he's going to die—he decided to let emergency ration free.

Using the spear as a crutch, Hwanin climbed out of the crack in the ground and clicked his tongue slightly.

The hideout was located in a crevice that's wide enough for two people to pass through, caused by an earthquake. And to leave, he had to either scale a 3-meter wall or go all the way around.

‘I’ve barely walked 100 meters, and I’m already out of breath.ʼ 

Hwanin had no strength left to climb up the tree roots, so he chose a detour, but after walking about 100 meters and coming out to a gentle slope, he was already gasping for air.

If he ran into a monster now, he knew exactly what would happen. Hwanin began to wander through the jungle, trying to find something to eat as quietly as possible.

He wasn't just wandering aimlessly. His goal was corona berries, and the location was the forest inhabited by the unknown predator.

The green and beast-headed monsters ate all the corona berries in this area, so he can’t get them.

To gather any, he’d need to venture further into areas they didn’t frequent.

The shelf life of corona berries was about 3 days. Hwanin planned to take as much as he could while he was out, return to the hideout, and recuperate for a few more days.

Inhale—exhale. Inhale—exhale…

To move quietly as possible, Hwanin had been breathing minimally, when he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. Thud—He dropped to one knee.

‘Did I not get enough oxygen because I was breathing too shallowly?’

He quietly breathed, focusing on the sensation of filling his lungs with air through both his nose and mouth.

Was it because his body was so exhausted? Simply taking deep breaths had cleared his mind of distractions, leaving his head remarkably clear.

It reminded him of the time when he was preparing for the college entrance exam at a mountain temple. It was the same feeling he had experienced when he first started meditating according to the schedule. 

Feeling his mind and heart at ease, Hwanin opened his eyes and flinched, his shoulders tensing.

“..... What?”

The world looked like it had an entirely new hue, as if a faint mist filter with additional colors was layered on top.

The brown tree trunks appeared reddish brown, while the green underbrush and tree leaves took on shades of amber, purple, and pale yellow.

Bzzzzzz—

“…….”

Originally blue, a bee-like insect flew in front of his eyes with a now-greenish tint.

Quack.

Emergency ration quacked softly, as if it had also seen the insect. Caught off guard, Hwanin frowned as he looked at it. The once-green emergency ration now appeared tinged with a light jade hue.

It wasn’t just emergency ration—his own body had also taken on a light greenish tint.

Through the pale green overlay, he could still see the original color of his hands and the dirt-covered coat he was wearing. Feeling unusually unsettled, Hwanin rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

“……?”

When he opened them again, emergency ration had returned to its original color, and the world was back to normal.

Standing frozen for a moment, Hwanin pulled himself together, limping forward as he observed his hand. He opened and closed it a few times before shaking his head slightly.

‘I must be seeing things. My condition is worse than I thought.’

Hoping to find food not too far ahead, Hwanin didn't stop and continued trudging. 

After walking for about an hour, his body gradually became more comfortable.

The burn and wound on his right thigh and the area below it still felt dull, but the rest of his body seemed to be regaining sensation.

‘Was my body stiff from lying around like a corpse for days? Walking must have loosened it up.’

In any case, it wasn’t necessarily a bad situation—if only the hallucinations didn’t keep appearing.

Since he started seeing them after taking deep breaths, the world would occasionally take on additional colors whenever his concentration wavered. 

Now, he could just slightly strain his eyes and the world's basic colors would be painted over.

“..... Am I having drug reactions?”

Hwanin even wondered if some unknown bacteria had infected the wound on his thigh, and messed up his head.

Aside from overstimulation from the overwhelming array of colors, there didn’t seem to be any other adverse effects. 

The hallucinations weren’t running wild, and he could control them at will.

“Annoying.”

Ever since he met the green monster with the staff, incomprehensible things have been happening one after another. 

The strange phenomenon happening to his body felt like an extension of that, but it’s frustrating because he couldn’t figure out what it was. 

Anyway.

Continuing onward without running into any monsters, Hwanin finally discovered his first bush of corona berries after three hours of walking.

Relieved, he filled his hunger by picking the edible corona berries.

Quack, quack.

Hwanin fed the less ripe ones to emergency ration and diligently picked only the fully ripe ones. Absentmindedly, he strained his eyes and frowned at the color of the corona berries.

‘Light green?’

The color overlaying the orange corona berries was the same light green as his own.

A hypothesis flashed through Hwanin's mind.

He quickly turned his gaze to the bush and examined the berries. Those that had just begun forming were jade green, turning bright green when about the size of a fingernail. As they grew slightly larger, they shifted from light blue green to willow green, before turning light green when they reached the size of a 10-won coin.

He picked all the light green berries and put them in his pocket, and then looked around the bush. 

There it was. A mushroom that looked similar to an oyster mushroom, but with a blue cap. 

Wild mushrooms were a typical example of what should not be eaten on Earth without proper knowledge. 

These mushrooms were easy to find near the corona berry bushes, but he didn’t touch them because of their innate risk. Anyway, the mushroom was purple.

After glancing around for a moment, Hwanin used the tip of his spear to break off a piece of the mushroom. Then, he skewered it onto a twig and brought it close to emergency ration's beak.

Quack. Quaaack.

Emergency ration refused to eat, turning its beak, as if telling him to take it away.

Discarding the blue, purple-tinged mushroom, Hwanin looked around and spotted a coral-shaped mushroom growing on a nearby tree trunk. 

Its original color was yellow, but in the hallucination, it was blue-green close to light green.

He then broke off a piece with the spear tip and brought it to emergency ration's beak. This time, unlike before, it snatched it up lightning fast.

“……!”

Hwanin felt a flash of clarity in his mind.

The colors he saw in his hallucinated vision was the unique color that defined the essence of a living thing.

If he ate something that was of a different color system than himself, it would be poisonous. On the other hand, eating something with a similar color system posed no harm.

This hypothesis was further confirmed with the help of emergency ration. 

Living things could be broadly categorized into five color systems.

Red color system.

Yellow color system.

Blue-green color system.

Purple color system.

Neutral color system. 

Both Hwanin and emergency ration were in the blue-green color system, specifically light green and lime green.

Although both green, Hwanin’s shade was closer to pure green, while emergency ration's had a slight hint of blue. 

Emergency ration ate anything from blue to green, with about 10% blue mixed in.

This included insects, fruits, bark, and roots of colors such as green, light blue-green, mint, and emerald green.

However, it absolutely refused anything cerulean or blue.

Kkihiik!

Kiruruak!!

The green monsters tested what happens when you eat something with a different color system.

While verifying his hypothesis, Hwanin had encountered two green monsters. He had quickly subdued them with his overwhelming reach and conducted a biological experiment.

Kki.... Kurruk.... Weeek.... 

Ki, kikihi.... Kikik....

When he force-fed the blue mushrooms (with a hallucinatory color of purple) to the creatures whose hallucinatory color was as dark as their green skin—they began vomiting, experiencing diarrhea, and passing bloody urine within five minutes. They eventually died, choking on their own vomit.

The hypothesis was correct.

“That should have resolved the food issue.”

Though his body felt heavy and exhausted, his mind was at ease.

He also discovered that eating things that turned white would not harm his body.

Curious about how fruits, mushrooms, or insects would change when cooked, he gathered as many types as possible—including mushrooms, fruits, tree roots, bark, and insects, to experiment. When roasted, the colors mostly turned neutral.

If cooked lightly, the original colors gradually faded until they turned white. Cooking them further caused them to darken, and if you burn them, they turn completely black.

The experiment with the neutral colors was conducted by three beast-headed monsters that came to the campfire.

They were a green color close to blue. The beast-headed monster that ate the charred black coral mushroom suffered from extreme abdominal pain, while the beast-headed monster that ate the well-roasted coral mushroom that turned white (with its hallucinatory color being blue-green) was completely fine.

“I guess I can’t eat monsters.”

Since the hallucinatory color was similar to blue-green, he wondered if roasting the beast-headed monster would make it edible. However, the monster’s blood and internal organs were purple, and after it was killed, its color gradually turned black.

When he cut off a front paw and roasted it, the purple color didn’t disappear; instead, the smoke that came out while cooking started to take on a faint purple hue, so I quickly covered it with dirt and put it out.

If he could eat monsters, he wouldn’t have to worry about food at all.

Having completed his testing process, he began to collect edible items in earnest using his hallucinatory vision. 

Tree bark, corona berries, roots of unknown plants, various mushrooms, etc…….

Hwanin was surprised to find so much food in the jungle. Even though he'd overflowed his pockets, there was still so much edible stuff that he took off his coat and started stuffing it full.

He ended up collecting a whopping 5 kilograms of food.

Tying his coat into a bundle and slinging it over his back, he headed toward his hideout while munching on some coral mushrooms. They had no flavor but offered a chewy and crunchy texture.

With his spirits lifted, the pain in his body and legs felt a bit lighter.