Moon's Labyrinths

Jimin was so baffled by the woman’s words that her head started to hurt . He never expected such words to come out of that woman’s mouth .

“... did... you... just... say manners?”

She was so angry that she was having a hard time talking . Her breathing was rough . She desperately tried to find words . It was as if she was grinding out her words . She wished this damn woman could feel her anger, and she would just fuck off . However, Ahjung didn’t care about others . She was tactless . If she was tactful, she wouldn’t have been able to live such a shameless life until now .

“Manners! It seems you didn’t learn well from those women! This is why a stepmother is only a stepmother! A stepmother can’t hold a candle to the real mother! It is his fault too! He needlessly died so early, and he made you suffer . . . !”

Bam!

A loud sound rang out in the room . Ahjung shut her mouth . Jimin had thrown her nameplate . It brushed by Ahjung’s head before rolling to the floor .

“Let me say it again...... . ”

Jimin chewed on her lips as she spat out her words . She was glaring so hard that her eyes looked like they were about to pop out .

“If you insult them once again, I won’t hold back . ”

It was as if all the yelling before had been a lie . Jimin’s voice was low, but anger had permeated throughout her voice . The amount of anger couldn’t be compared to her earlier shouts .

This time Ahjung couldn’t come up with a reply . At this rate, Jimin might murder her if she took the wrong step .

Click!

“What’s going on!”

Sungyoon opened the door, and he entered the office . He didn’t want to get in between other people’s fight, so he had been standing outside the door . He quickly came into the office when he heard the loud noise ring out from inside the office .

When Sungyoon entered, Ahjung saw an opportunity . She quickly walked towards the door . It seemed she planned on giving up for the day . Since a third party had entered the room, Jimin wouldn’t try to kill her . Still, Ahjung was worried of being slapped by Jimin . This didn’t mean Ahjung retreated without getting the last word in .

“You should think about this! I made this match for you! I’ll schedule a date, so you better come when the time comes!”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Ajhung’s proposal was not even worth a thought . Jimin turned her down . Ahjung paused at the doorway to glare at Jimin, and Jimin glared back at her . In the end, Ahjung snorted as she quickly exited the office .

“Hah-ah~!”

Tuhl-suhk!

Jimin fell into her chair . Her face looked really gaunt .

“Welcome, Mr . Sungyoon . I showed you an ugly side of me . ”

“Is she your mother?”

He picked up the nameplate near his feet, and he put it back on top of her desk . Sungyoon queried her as he looked at the door where Ahjung had left .

“Sometimes, giving birth to a child doesn’t make you a mother . ”

“I agree . ”

Jimin intently looked at Sungyoon when he chimed in with supportive words . Sungyoon looked down at Jimin as if he was puzzled by her response .

‘Now that I think about it, this man’s wife was quite the gold digger too . ’

Maybe, this was why Jimin was treating Shinhae as if she was special . She saw herself within Shinhae . As she thought about the previous investigation into Sungyoon’s life, she covered her face with one hand . It was said that misery loves company . The fact that she felt interested in him, because of the way he had reacted to this situation was hilarious . It was so hilarious that she felt like she was losing her mind .

Sungyoon didn’t rush her and waited for Jimin to calm herself . He didn’t ask any questions, and neither did he offer any words of consolation . He just stood there in silence . Jimin preferred it over empty platitudes and fake sympathy . He was hurt in a similar way as her . It was enough that he could relate to her .

“She wants me to marry . ”

Maybe, this was the reason why she spoke . She spoke about something unnecessary .

“Marriage...?”

“That’s right . ”

Sungyoon thought for a brief moment . He didn’t know what kind of relationship Jimin had with her mother . However, the earlier spectacle made it obvious that they had a poor relationship . It was really bad . It especially seemed most of the hatred came from Jimin’s side .

“I don’t know if I should be saying this, but that woman is like Mr . Sungyoon’s ex-wife . ”

Sungyoon’s expression visibly worsened .

“You know she is trash . ”

He openly insulted his ex-wife . However, Jimin didn’t disagree with him for using the insult . No, she actually went further than Sungyoon .

“Yes, she is trash . She can’t be recycled . She is the human equivalent of nuclear waste . ”

Sungyoon remembered that Ahjung’s voice had reminded him of Miyun . It seemed his instinct had been correct .

“If it is a marriage recommended by that person... It isn’t something that I should congratulate . ”

If Miyun appeared in front of him with a prospective marriage partner in mind for Shinhae, he would probably rip her mouth off her face .

“That’s right . She only knows about money . When she married my father, he was a well off 2nd Gen Connector . She married my father for his money . ”

As he heard more about Ahjung, it sounded like she was a twin of Miyun .

“She spent my father’s money in foolish ways, and she neglected her family to play around outside . Father always had to remain on the moon for an extended amount of time, so I was left alone with that woman on earth by myself . No one could stop her . Well, she did as she liked until my other mothers came into my life . ”

‘Other mothers . . . ’

It was an odd turn of phrase, and it stuck out in his mind .

In this era, it was common to see Connectors marry again . It was almost rare to see someone, who didn’t remarry . Traditionally, it was common for rich men to have a second family . Of course, this was all done in secret . However, Connectors were quite liberal about their polygamy . It was an open secret .

Of course, the general public didn’t see it in a favorable light . Any Connectors participating in polygamy was looked down upon . Still, the general public couldn’t openly express their objection against their lifestyle .

Currently, the moonstone and oil were the lifeblood of the global economy . The only reason why oil was considered to be an important resource was the fact that not enough moonstones were being excavated . If one took that into account, moonstones were much more important compared to oil . Moonstones could create energy without creating pollution . Unlike other resources, the product created after extracting energy from the moonstone could be used in other helpful ways .

That was the problem . The moonstones were precious, and they were in demand . However, there were a fixed number of Connectors, and they could excavate only so many moonstones .

First Gen Connectors awakened from a population of normal humans . Their parents weren’t Connectors . The probability of a regular human awakening was merely 0 . 0001% .

The odds of being hit by lightning was around 1 in 600,000 . The odds of winning a lottery was 1 in 8,150,000 . The odds of becoming a 1st Gen Connector was higher, but not by much . These were poor comparisons, but all the examples were astronomically low in probability . If one put it in perspective, the probability of a normal human awakening as a 1st Gen Connector was shockingly low .

However, this changed if one had a father or a mother as a Connector . In the cases where both parents were Connectors, the probability of the child awakening as a Connector was over 80% . Moreover, the level of power they possessed differed too . When compared to the abilities of the 1st Gen Connectors, the 2nd Gen Connectors had twice the quantity and quality of magical energy . This was the conservative estimate . Some 2nd & 3rd Gen experienced a boost that was dozens or more higher in magnitude . That was why 2nd and 3rd Gen were treated better than the 1st Gen .

This was the reality, so the goverment weirdly promoted polygamy amongst the Connectors . The 1st Gen Connectors were much inferior in terms of ability compared to the 2nd and 3rd Gen Connectors, and the probability of a 1st Gen appearing was almost a miraculous event at 0 . 0001% . This was why it was better to increase the population of the 2nd and 3rd Gen, who were superior in ability .

If one ignored the moral hazards of polygamy, it was a great way of increasing the number of children sired by Connectors .

“Thankfully, my father found out the truth about that woman when my other mothers came into our lives . She was sent packing . Even then she was unsightly as she tried to extort money from my father . ”

It had caused a very big wound to form in Jimin’s young heart .

“She almost used me like a hostage . ”

Even if a mother neglected, hit and cussed out a child, the mother was the whole world to the child . Her father had to leave for the moon often, so she had to rely on her mother . Of course, her mother had been the world to her too .

However, it ended when her mother callously grabbed her arm . She had screamed at her father to give her money . When that happened, Jimin realized that she was only a means for her mother to extract money from her father . She was merely a tool .

“In the end, my father got fed up . He threw money at her in order for her to give up full custody . My life wasn’t bad afterwards . My mothers were very good people . My father doted on me . However, my birth mother started to slowly appear in my life after 10 years . She had been irresponsible with her money . She showed up only after she was broke . ”

Jimin suddenly stood up, and she opened the refrigerator in the corner of the room . It seemed she was thirsty . She didn’t even use a cup . She started drinking straight from the bottle . A stream of water fell down her lip, but she didn’t care .

Sssk!

After she moved the bottle away from her mouth, she roughly wiped at her mouth . Normally, she was elegant and cool . However, right now, she was acting out of character . It was proof that her heart was greatly troubled right now .

“She’s been like that ever since . She circles around me like a hawk . She only thinks about ways to squeeze a few bucks out of me . She even had the audacity to show up to my father’s funeral to ask about her share of the inheritance . If not for my other mothers stopping me from doing it, I had almost slapped her that day . ”

At that moment, Jimin’s expression indicated that she hadn’t been happy when her mothers had stopped her from hitting Ahjung . She looked aggrieved by the fact that she hadn’t been able to hit her birth mother on that day .

Sugyoon was diligent in listening to Jimin’s words . He wasn’t being sympathetic just because she was his president . He was sympathetic, because what Jimin had gone through was surprisingly similar to what Shinhae had gone through . This was a cautionary tale . If he allowed Miyun to do her bullshit, the same thing could happen to Shinhae .

“You must really hate that woman . ”

“I hate her . She hated me too early on . Unlike my siblings, I’m not a Connector . She didn’t need me after my father’s death, because I couldn’t give her money . . ”

She had memories of Ahjung staring at her with unhappy eyes in her childhood . At the time, she had spoken these words .

‘You are a worthless trash of a daughter . You couldn’t even become a Connector . . ’

“She had neglected me after I failed to awaken as a 3rd Gen Connector . Why would such a woman start to act like a mother to me now? Why would she recommend marriage to me? Hmmph . What an obnoxious bitch . ”

She spoke to herself, but one could hear anger and sadness within her voice .

‘The fact that her child didn’t become a Connector was the sticking point?’

From Sungyoon’s perspective, the woman’s actions were despicable .

Shinhae was Sungyoon’s daughter, but she couldn’t become a 2nd Gen Connector . A child was only born with the potential to become a 2nd Gen Connector if at the time of conception, one of the parents was already an awakened Connector . However, Shinhae was born before Sungyoon awakened as a Connector . She could technically become a 1st Gen Connector like Sungyoon . But, she would have to overcome the 0 . 0001% probability to do so . However, she couldn’t become 2nd Gen Connector Woo Shinhae even if she was the child of Connector Woo Sungyoon .

Sungyoon welcomed this truth . In the first place, he had no desire to let Shinhae work in such a dangerous field of work . Sungyoon couldn’t understand Ahjung, who had berated her daughter for not becoming a money making Connector . He didn’t plan on trying to understand her .

“That woman is really trash . You must have suffered a lot . ”

Sungyoon spoke in a low voice . Unlike his usually monotone voice, Sungyoon’s voice was filled with sincerity .

Jimin, who had been fuming, looked up at Sungyoon .