Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon kept killing the monsters as he advanced . He didn’t know how long it had been . However, he was starting to encounter fewer monsters . But he didn’t notice it and just kept advancing forward .

After a while, Sungyoon was barely able to escape the sealed off tunnel .

“Hey! Hey, you there! Why are you coming out from there!”

When he exited the tunnel, the sentry on guard was surprised and taken aback . Then, the sentry started questioning .

“How the hell did you get in there?! We’ve been sealing that place off at all times!”

‘As expected, this place was supposed to be sealed-off . ’

By the look of his equipment, this was another sentry, not the one he had seen earlier .

“I’m curious about that too . ”

Sungyoon answered with a tired voice . He just had a flashback of entering into the sealed region, and running around like a mouse from monsters . It created an adverse reaction . He had been so nervous and tense that he had forgotten about his fatigue . Exhaustion washed over him all at once .

Sungyoon gave a complete account of his story to the sentry . This sentry had a helmet without a face mask, and it allowed Sungyoon the chance to get a good view of his face . As Sungyoon’s story progressed, the sentry’s face hardened .

“Nicholas! That son of a bitch! I knew he is normally an irresponsible and an ill-tempered bastard, but I never knew he was capable of doing this!”

The sentry sounded very angry as he shouted .

‘Nicholas . Is that the sentry’s name?’

He didn’t know if it had been a mistake or a prank . However, Sungyoon knew that this person had manufactured a scenario where he could have lost his life . He made sure to remember that name .

“I’ll report this to the upper management of Armstrong . You should report this to your country’s Support Center . ”

“Understood . ”

It seemed this sentry was different from the man called Nicholas .

“I’m sorry . I am still on duty, so I can’t leave this spot . Will you be able to reach the entrance of the labyrinth by yourself? If not, you can wait with me here for a while . You can choose to go out with me . ”

Sungyoon did an assessment of his body . He was fine . No, the Gold Gem was still active, so he was overflowing with energy compared to his normal self . He was very fatigued, but it wouldn’t deter him from fighting . Above all else, he would be encountering only the low ranked monsters from this point on .

“I’m fine . ”

The sentry looked over Sungyoon’s body . Soon, he noticed the golden luster around Sungyoon’s weapon . His eyes went towards the wrist where the Device held a Gold Gem in one of its slots . At first, the sentry had a surprised expression on his face, but soon, a sympathetic look appeared on his face . It was a knowing expression . He knew what kind of situation Sungyoon had been in, and he could deduce how the connector had been able to come back out alive .

“Please take care of yourself . ”

At the sentry’s words, Sungyoon nodded . He once again moved to exit the labyrinth .

Every monster he met afterwards were all small fry . They were unbelievably weak compared to the monsters within the sealed region . Now, he was wearing good gear and was imbued with the power of the Gold Gem . He didn’t even break a sweat killing them .

He could see a light in the distance . It was the light from Armstrong city . It looked like light shining down from heaven to Sungyoon .

‘How long has it been since I’ve entered the labyrinth?’

He had entered the sealed region, and then, he had been chased around by monsters . It felt as if several hours had passed . Sungyoon looked down at his watch .

‘I was there for a whole day . ’

Normally, this would be around the time he would wake up . He would be making preparations to enter into the labyrinth . He shook his head from side to side as he exited .

Since the Mana Stream was imminent, there weren’t that many people in front of the labyrinth . Sungyoon took a deep breath . He was out of the labyrinth, and it made him feel very relieved .

Sungyoon turned off his Gems . He was finally at a location that was completely safe, so he no longer needed to keep his Gems activated . Sungyoon unsummoned his equipment . The light from the Gems started to fade away as they went to sleep .

Pah-jeek!

He heard the sound of something breaking . Sungyoon bit his lips . He didn’t even have to look down . He knew the source of that sound .

‘I don’t know how I’ll be able to look the president straight in the eye . ’

She had given it to him, so he could use it to save his life once . However, he couldn’t help but feel bad when he thought about how much that Gem was worth .

Ting!

At that moment, he heard a sound that woke him up from his reverie . Naturally, his gaze headed towards where he had heard the sound .

‘This is...!’

Sungyoon’s eyes widened . Something gold rolled across the ground .

‘Gold Gem!’

It wasn’t broken or crushed . The Gold Gem had clearly maintained its star shape . Sungyoon looked bewitched as he picked up the Gem .

It was as if he had seen an alien descending from a UFO . He kept turning the Gold Gem as he looked at it . Then his gaze went towards the Device where the Gold Gem had been slotted . The slot had been burnt black, and it was completely broken .

He had placed the Gold Gem in a lower rank slot and had forcefully activated it . However, the Gold Gem was fine . Only the slot had been damaged .

This meant only one thing .

Sungyoon currently had the capacity to be able to activate a Gold Gem .

‘Is this for real?’

He was dumbstruck at the unexpected good news . He stood there looking at the Gem for a brief moment .

* * *

“... what did you say?”

Her pretty face scrunched up, and she suddenly looked fierce . The receptionist, who was also pretty, looked like a beast closing in on its prey . Sungyoon thought it was weird that the women around him didn’t lose their beauty when they frowned . He once again explained his story .

“The one tasked to clean up the Beginner’s labyrinth made a mistake, and you went into the sealed region . You were barely able to get out alive . Am i correct?”

“To sum it up, yes . ”

The receptionist’s frown deepened . She was one of the receptionists that he had only interacted with when he picked up his ration of water and vitamins . This was the first time seeing her so angry .

“Understood . We’ll be sure to do our job . We’ll investigate it thoroughly . ”

She sounded resolute as if she was about to immediately get to the bottom of this .

“What was his name?”

“According to the other sentry, his name is Nicholas . ”

“Nicholas... . ”

The receptionist pulled out a paper and she wrote down the name .

“You probably went through a lot today . Please go rest . ”

The receptionist always had dead eyes when she interacted with the beginner Connectors . Sungyoon got goosebumps when she let out a kind smile as she told him to go rest . It once again confirmed the fact that the man named Nicholas had done an act of monumental folly .

* * *

Unlike the day before, Nicholas was in a very good mood . He had thrown the idiot beginner Connector into hell, and he couldn’t stop himself from humming .

“Oh my . Did something good happen?”

A half-naked woman leaned in next to him . She tapped his sturdy shoulder as she asked the question .

“Something good? Yes, something good did happen . ”

Nicholas laughed as he raised his glass . He downed the alcohol .

“What happened?”

There was another woman on the other side . Nicholas was sandwiched between the two women . She refilled his glass as she asked the question . This woman also wore a skimpy outfit .

“There was something that caused me a lot of frustration in recent days . Just know that I was able to solve that problem, and it feels awesome . ”

Nicholas had a woman on each arm . After he gave a vague answer, he downed another glass of alcohol . The two women looked a bit miffed at his answer, but they no longer questioned in regards to that topic . It was against professional etiquette to ask questions that a customer refused to answer .

‘Is he still on the run? No, he probably got eaten by now . ’

He thought about the maggot, who was seeing the real labyrinth within the sealed region . Nicholas smiled . The more he thought about it, the more it felt satisfying . He never expected to come across a once in a lifetime opportunity to get rid of that maggot .

‘This is why it pays to do good things in life . ’

Even as he had that thought, he knew that line was dumb as hell . Nicholas started to laugh by himself .

‘I hope there comes a time when I’ll be able to get rid of that impertinent bitch . ’

Nicholas’ thoughts moved on to Chelsea . In some ways, everything started when she turned him down . Sungyoon and Chelsea would be dismayed if they heard what he was thinking . However, Nicholas truly felt the blame lay with Chelsea .

‘It’s too bad when you consider her face . ’

His gaze cooled as he looked at the two women who were acting coquettish in his arms . They were prostitutes working on the moon . Moreover, they were pretty high-quality prostitutes, but they didn’t look as pretty as that bitch . She had been very pretty even without makeup . If she dolled herself up, she would be very beautiful . He couldn’t imagine how much more beautiful she would be .

‘Then there’s the princess . . . ’

It had been his first time seeing the famous princess Grace . He had known that she was extremely beautiful through the screen, but in real life, she was much more beautiful .

Nicholas smacked his lips as he thought about the two women .

‘It can’t be helped . ’

If he got another shot, he would make sure not to miss that opportunity . He decided to play with these two pretty women all night . Nicholas was about to pull the women closer by placing his hands around their slim waists . It happened at that moment .

He heard a commotion outside .

“What’s going on?”

One of the women got up to check what was going on outside .

Slam!

The door to the private room was slammed open as two people entered into the room . The two women were surprised, so they moved closer towards Nicholas .

The two people, who had entered the room, were armed to the teeth . Nicholas gulped . By the look of their equipment, he knew . These two Connectors were stronger than him .

He pressed down on his urge to cuss . Nicholas quietly stood up .

“What’s going on?”

Nicholas was polite as he asked the question . If anyone that knew him saw this, they would be shocked by his respectfulness . However, it wasn’t that surprising . He was a petty man that acted strong against the weak, and he acted weak in front of the strong .

“Nicholas Laughton?”

“That’s me . ”

“Please come with us for a moment . ”

One of the Connectors, who had entered the room, raised something in his hand . Nicholas felt his heart freeze when he saw it .

He had brought up a card, but it wasn’t a normal card . It was a special card distributed by the upper management of Armstrong City . It basically signified that this person was their proxy . Most of the people with this card were given the power of attorney, and they had the right to arrest criminal suspects in Armstrong city .

The prostitutes, who were next to Nicholas, quickly moved away from him . Nicholas couldn’t stop himself . He had threatened the police of Armstrong several times, so he had spent some time in a jail cell . However, he had never seen someone with the card arrest a high ranked Connector .

“T . . . there must be some kind of a mistake . . . ”

Nicholas’ eyes roamed the room as he tried to think of a way to get out of this predicament . If he had done no wrong, he would have yelled at the top of his lungs . He would have professed his innocence . However, there was one particular incident that made him feel guilty .

‘Fuck! Did they catch me doing it?’

He had pushed the maggot into hell . He was sure he got caught doing it .

‘How?’

Did that maggot somehow come back alive?

‘No . There is no way . ’

By the time he got off his shift, the maggot still hadn’t come out . He had been in the sealed region for a very long time . Of course, the maggot would have been eaten by the monsters . His bones were probably consumed too .

‘So, how!’

He thought hard about it, yet he couldn’t understand how they found out .

The Beginner’s labyrinth was a place to grow beginner Connectors who would allow the world to gain much in the future . It was the reason why the Armstrong City considered the Beginner’s labyrinth to be as important as the Great Labyrinth . If someone was found to have done something wrong within the Beginner’s labyrinth, the penalty wouldn’t be small . If it was revealed that Nicholas’ action was intentional instead of a mistake . . .

Nicholas’ body shook .