Obviously Not A Good Person

"We've been walking in this path for hours and what?! There's not even a single sight of the exit!"

"We're all tired and hungry! It might be fine for you young folk but, what about us elderly people?! You can't expect us to tag along with you without a word of complaint!"

"Everyone please calm down! Let's talk about it in a civilized manner."

"Civilized?! We're stuck in this place without any food and shelter! What civilized?!"

"Then leave." Amidst the noisy complaints of roughly a dozen people, an impatient voice sneered with unhidden mockery. "What? Did you really think we would take care of your each and every need? Oh please. We're not an elderly care service."

"You! How can you talk to your elders like this?! Did your parents not-"

"Ah, before you say something about my parents, I actually never met them before so you can shove it." From within the shadows of the corridor, a teenager wearing a gas mask, looking as if he came straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie, spoke coldly. "I wont say it a third time. If you're just gonna complain more, leave. We don't need dregs following us around."

"You!-"

"Alright. We'll leave." Just when conflict was about to arise, a young girl stepped between the boy and a crowd of fuming people. "Sorry for the trouble."

Seemingly apologizing, but the look in the girl's eyes showed her inner discontent as she began to lead the crowd of angry and reluctant people back to the place where they first found themselves in.

"Tch. Finally got rid of them." The teenager clicked his tongue. "That bunch of pests would have died sooner or later anyways."

"Hansel." Behind the teenager, a tall, well-built man spoke sternly.

"Ah, brother." The teenager was startled, remembering that his older brother was just behind him. All of a sudden, his cold attitude and arrogance disappeared as his countenance turned sheepish. "Sorry... They got on my nerves."

"Mm." The older man nodded but his eyes seemed to be scolding the boy silently. But, despite that, the fact that he didn't stop the boy when he was driving the other people away was already proof of his silent approval.

Then, just as they were about to depart deeper into the maze, they realized that they actually weren't alone.

"Uh-umm..."

"Hoh... Someone actually stuck around?" Hansel made an incredulous sound. A cold-faced girl and a child no older than ten studied him with caution. "So, have you decided to follow along?"

"It's best to move along within the shortest time possible." Like her face, the girl offered an equally cold answer. "I'll be troubling you."

"Dolly too! Dolly wants to find the mushroom princess!" The child who called herself Dolly answered in a strange but enthusiastic way.

"Mushroom princess..?" Unable to process, Hansel looked down and saw the child carrying a tiny bag filled to the brim with glowing mushrooms. "...Oh."

"Well, anyways!" Hansel coughed to dispel the awkward atmosphere which had slowly began to form as he began to walk towards his older brother who had gone ahead earlier. "Count yourselves lucky. Being able to follow us, you'll be sure to get to the exit soon. We're ninety percent sure that this maze leads to the surface."

"How so?" The girl asked monotonously, easily keeping up with the boy's considerably quick pace.

"Hah! Most people don't seem to notice but, the entire maze actually forms an upward slope at a rate of one centimeter with every hundred meters. And, the direction which leads upwards is just this north path!" Hansel said proudly with his chin tilted upwards.

"It's surprising how you could notice such a tiny detail." The girl remarked straightforwardly.

"That's cuz I have this." Hansel pointed to the visor which covered his eyes. "It can measure everything from the angle of elevation of the ground to the exact amount of oxygen in the air within a square meter. The best part is, I'm the one who invented it!"

"That's amazing." Despite her seemingly cold answer, the girl's eyes showed genuine respect, which threw the boy offguard.

"Oh, uh-"

"Hansel." Just as the boy was thinking of how to react, his older brother who scouted the road ahead suddenly called out. The sharpness in his voice caused Hansel to immediately crouch low, his previous lax appearance gone.

"Brother." Hansel quietly creeped forwards to his brother, squatting down behind him.

When he got closer, he began to hear it. Loud screeching and the sound of walls being violently crashed into.

Perhaps affected by the suddenly tense atmosphere, the cold faced girl and the child called Dolly quietly hid in the shadows of a nearby fountain.

"How many?" The older man asked, prompting Hansel to tap the side of his visor.

"... Thirteen. But there might be more at the back. They're approaching very quickly." Hansel drew a sharp breath, catching sight of monstrous silhouettes from his visor. "They're coming!"

The other man's eyes sharpened as he began to draw something out from within his thick coat.

...

[Agility +1]

[Agility +1]

'Ah! I can't anymore!'

[Stamina +1]

'Seriously! I can't anymore! I'm about to die!'

As Haneul was feeling as if it can't get any worse than this, the world seemed to disagreed.

Out of nowhere, a random piece of rubble jutted outwards conveniently, causing him to trip and hit his knee hard onto the ground.

Crack!

A sickening sound of something breaking resounded loudly and Haneul just barely managed to stop himself from shrieking in pain.

With lips leaking beads of blood from where he bit them, Haneul struggled to get up but to no avail.

With every second passing by, the horde of monsters drew closer.

Each second seemed to pass achingly slow.

'Is this it? Am I gonna die this quickly?'

When Haneul's life began to flash into his eyes, a loud shout woke him up.

"Hey! Why are you giving up so quickly?!" Leo suddenly jumped in front of him and began to roughly carry him away like a sack of potatoes. "We can't just have you dying on us, you know!"

'Leo, you-'

Feeling extremely emotional all of a sudden, Haneul felt tears begin to form at the corners of his eyes.

"It is indeed troublesome if you ended up dying. We still need you to lead us out, jiaro."

'You shut up! You were obviously thinking about abandoning me just now!'

"Eh~? How rude." As Leo was running as if his life depended on it, (no, actually his life did depend on it) Red pouted innocently as he ran beside them in a relaxed manner.

'Nevermind!'

"Head to the corner at the end of the corridor!" Tapping Leo's shoulder, Haneul ordered anxiously.

Although he didn't know why he had to, the urgency in Haneul's voice bid him to instantly agree. "Alright! Don't let go."

Suddenly, Leo began to speed up, causing the air to whip past Haneul's face. Unable to take the stinging pain in his eyes, he turned his face to the side and saw Red still running beside them with a relaxed expression.

'Just what kind of monster is this guy?!'

"I'm a human, jiaro~"

'As if anyone would believe that!'

"Fire!"

Then, at that moment, sounds akin to gunshots began to echo along the corridor.

Bang! Bang! Ripp!

Shooting the monsters chasing behind them, seemingly endless bullets whipped past them. Of course, they themselves weren't exactly spared of the attack as a bullet grazed past Leo's cheek.

"Ah! Friendly fire! Friendly fire! Don't shoot!" In his surprise, Leo nearly dropped Haneul to the ground but, fortunately, caught himself at the last minute.

"Hah! People who bring monsters with them are no friends of ours!" With that said, another round of gunshots ensued.

"Wait! It's a misunderstanding! We didn't purposely- Ah!"

'Right. In a situation like this, in the eyes of the other party, we obviously aren't any good people...'

"Damn it! Stop shooting me!"