Moon's Labyrinths

Of course, Miyun didn’t plan on making her move right now .

“Don’t talk bad about Dad!”

Shinhae yelled out once again and stepped out from behind Jimin .

Miyun let out a sigh . She spoke in an open manner as if she wanted everyone to see what she was dealing with .

“When I take her back, I’ll have to teach her some manners again . ”

Shinhae flinched in surprise and once again clung to Jimin’s leg .

“I . . . I don’t want to go... . ”

The little girl looked up at Jimin . She looked like a puppy burrowing into the arms of its owner when faced with a large predator .

Jimin was furious . Although she had expected Shinhae to be afraid of Miyun, she never imagined the fear would be this much . Jimin could guess how Miyun had treated Shinhae in the past . She gently took Shinhae into her arms, and Shinhae burrowed her face into her chest .

“It seems you keep underestimating us . We have no intention of handing Shinhae over to you . ”

“Is that so?”

A big smile appeared on Miyun’s lips .

“Well, it can’t be helped . It has been a while since I’ve met my daughter . I can’t fight in front of her . It would be unsightly . I am doing this because I love this child . ”

Saying those words, Miyun turned around with a clean movement . She acted as advertised .

Other than her birth mother, Jimin had never wanted to slap someone more than Miyun .

“Ah! I almost forgot!”

Miyun suddenly turned her head to look over her shoulder .

“Please send my ‘love’ to my husband . I’ll be calling him at a later date . I want to talk to him about Shinhae . ”

‘As expected, she is planning something . ’

Jimin could guess this plan had something to do with money or Lee Jaeho . No, it might be both .

“Wait a moment . ”

Miyun was about to leave when Jimin stopped her .

“What is it?”

“Mr . Sungyoon isn’t like his past self . You won’t be able to use him and dump him so easily now . It seems an impression of a person doesn’t change easily . ”

Miyun was confident in making her move against Sungyoon because she thought he hadn’t changed that much .

“I’ll give you one warning . Mr . Sungyoon isn’t someone that’ll be easily manipulated by you like before . It is all thanks to you . ”

It had nothing to do with his wealth, power, or fame . Sungyoon’s personality had changed at a fundamental level . It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the past Sungyoon had died, and Miyun was the one who had killed him . Shinhae was Sungyoon’s everything now, and Jimin wondered if Miyun knew how dangerous it was to mess with Shinhae now .

In the past, Sungyoon had been willing to sacrifice everything for Shinhae . The current Sungyoon would be willing to destroy everything for her sake .

“Thank you for your warning . ”

Miyun laughed as if she found Jimin’s words ridiculous .

“However, I know my ex-husband very well . We were married once . Yes . I know him very well . ”

Miyun still wasn’t getting what Jimin was saying . However, Jimin didn’t care as she had already expected this .

“I warned you . Now please scram . ”

“I’ll do so . I’ll see you ‘next’ time . ”

Miyun finally left .

When she couldn’t hear Miyun’s voice any longer, Shinhae hesitantly looked up .

“... She’s gone?”

“Yes, she is gone”

Shinhae acted like the main character of a horror movie . She kept trembling while looking at her surroundings as if she were worried a ghost might suddenly show up .

After hearing Jimin’s confirmation, Shinhae finally let out a sigh of relief . However, she didn’t let go of Jimin, and Jimin didn’t put her down either .

“Unni . Do I have to live with that person again?”

“No, you don’t . You will live with your dad . ”

Shinhae let out a bright smile . However, her complexion was pale, and she was still a bit shaken and worried .

“It’s fine . Everything will be fine . Shinhae’s dad is an amazing person . There is no way he’ll send you to that woman . ”

“Yes! Dad said he can win against ten lions! Dad is an amazing person!”

Fortunately, Shinhae had regained her strength . Jimin smiled as she talked to Shinhae . Even as she was having the conversation, Jimin thought about what she had to do in the future .

‘I should contact Mr . Sungyoon just in case . Also, I should increase the security around Shinhae .

Jimin’s eyes turned fierce .

‘Yes . Bring it on, Mr . Sungyoon’s ex-wife . ’

Jimin ground her teeth, and her will to fight burned fiercely .

***

Sungyoon had come up to the Moon, but he was hunting by himself .

The Ross siblings would be joining him a month later . Grace was helping the recovery efforts of London, and she would be arriving on the same day as the Ross siblings .

Suh-guhk!

Sungyoon cut down the monster coming at him .

Ggyahhhhhhhh!

The Mad Dog screamed when its leg was severed, and soon, its body started to emanate smoke .

This monster was a low-rank monster with no resistance to magical energy . The lightning of the sword was anathema to the Mad Dog .

Sungyoon showed no interest in the Mad Dog’s corpse as he could instantly kill the monster by severing its leg . He swung his sword a couple more times in the air as he fell deep into his thoughts .

‘What was it?’

He tried to remember the sensation he felt when he had cut down the Super Golem with a single strike . It was a sensation only felt by high rank 1st Gen Connectors . Sungyoon still couldn’t pin down the source of that sensation .

“Sunbae-nim!”

At that moment, a man ran toward Sungyoon . The man had a short buzz cut and an innocent appearance .

He was equipped with a crude sword, shield, and armor . At a glance, anybody could tell he was a beginner Connector .

This man was a new Connector who had entered Jungbum . He had become Sungyoon’s junior colleague .

His name was Kim Sukhwahn . Sungyoon was overseeing Sukhwahn’s hunt for the next couple of days at Jimin’s request .

“Here . ”

Sukhwahn gave two moonstones to Sungyoon . These moonstones were incredibly small compared to the moonstones gathered from the Great Labyrinth, but they meant the world to Connectors who were just starting out, like Sukhwahn .

“Good job . You reacted very well this time . ”

Two Mad Dogs and a Slash Cat had attacked them at the same time . Sungyoon had taken care of the Mad Dog and left the other two to Sukhwahn .

Under the tutelage of Sungyoon, Sukhwahn’s skill had risen . He could easily kill two monsters now .

“You can drop the honorific . I’m younger than you . ”

Sukhwahn was a very diligent worker . Moreover, he had entered Jungbum because he admired Sungyoon . He was very friendly toward Sungyoon .

“I’ll think about it . Let’s end it here today . ”

Sungyoon looked at his watch . It was about time to return . He gathered the moonstone of the Mad Dog that he had just killed, and put away all three moonstones into his storage Gem . Then he climbed up the labyrinth with Sukhwahn .

The two of them were hunting within the Beginner’s Labyrinth, but this Beginner’s Labyrinth wasn’t the one that Sungyoon was familiar with .

The Beginner’s Labyrinth within Armstrong city had been sealed, and a new one had been created just outside the city .

It was less accessible than the previous labyrinth, and one had to use the Moon Surface Vehicle to reach this place . So, this new location wasn’t very popular right now .

“It seems you’re in a better mood now . ”

While they were climbing the labyrinth, Sukhwahn spoke to Sungyoon .

“You looked like you were in a very bad mood until not too long ago . ”

“I had received some not too good news . ”

When Sungyoon had heard that Miyun had tried to approach Shinhae, he had been livid with anger .

That damn woman was once again trying to act on her greed . She was planning to use his treasure, Shinhae, against him . Thankfully, Jimin had been by Shinhae’s side, and Miyun was forced to walk away without making much of a fuss . Sungyoon had been barely able to calm himself down .

Still, he knew that Miyun would approach Shinhae once again in the future . It was only a matter of time .

If he was being honest, Sungyoon was willing to kill Miyun . Of course, this was the absolute worst-case scenario .

For now, he delegated all the matter about Miyun to Jimin .

Of course, he didn’t feel good about it .

And even after a few days had passed, his mood was still sour .

“Don’t worry about it . I feel better now . ”

Sungyoon couldn’t continue to be angry . He pushed down the anger so that he could return to living his own life .

When the duo exited the Beginner’s Labyrinth, they saw a large crowd at the entrance . It wasn’t out of the ordinary .

The Beginner’s Labyrinth always had heavy traffic . In fact, there were clearly fewer Connectors here compared to the crowd that appeared in the old Beginner’s Labyrinth .

One of the reasons behind that was the new Lunar city . A lot of Connectors had gone to volunteer for work on constructing the city .

It meant they would be banned from entering Armstrong . But they still did that as any Connector who helped in the construction of the new city would get very small rights to the city . A lot of beginner Connectors and the 1st Gen Connectors, who usually hunted in the Beginner’s Labyrinth, were successfully lured away by this promise .

This was especially true of the Chinese and Russian Connectors . Almost all of them were helping build the second city .

Sungyoon drove the company’s Moon Surface Vehicle as both of them returned to Armstrong city .

When he arrived at his lodging, Sungyoon received a message . The higher-ups of Armstrong wanted to speak to him .

Sungyoon went to the first district . After walking past the spaceport, several consulates, and the research facility, he reached a certain building .

This building was quite larger than most of the buildings in Armstrong . It was the city hall where Armstrong was governed . This was the first time Sungyoon had visited this place .

A clerk guided Sungyoon to a room on the third floor . The sitting room was decorated in quite a fancy manner, and Sungyoon had to wait for a short amount of time before a man entered the room .

“I’m sorry for making you wait . ”

With an apology, this man extended his hand toward Sungyoon .

“It’s an honor to meet the famous Knight of London . My name is Michael Smith . I’m the mayor of this city . ”

Smith was the highest rank official amongst the higher-ups of Armstrong . He possessed the title of mayor, but he was the mayor of the only city on the Moon . The power he possessed here was drastically different compared to the mayors on Earth .

“I am Sungyoon Woo . It’s nice to meet you . ”

Sungyoon shook Smith’s hand .

The two of them looked at each other .

“I heard you had some business with me . What is it?”

“I would like to discuss something very important with you, Mr . Woo . ”

Smith spoke with a very serious expression on his face .

“First, I would like you to say thank you . I heard you turned down the offer from the other city . ”

It seemed that information had already leaked . Sungyoon replied .

“I have business with the Great Labyrinth of this city . ”

“It really is a blessing . If Mr . Woo had gone over to that city, it would’ve caused a big headache for us . ”

Smith shook his head from side to side . As the mayor of Armstrong, he used to have complete control over the Connectors . This moment of weakness was unlike him .

‘It means he views the birth of a rival city as a big threat . ’

“You probably know this, but the construction of the new city lit a fire under our feet . It doesn’t help that the other city is promising great benefits to the Connectors . The Connectors are flocking there in droves . Even the number of Connectors going into the new Beginner’s Labyrinth has precipitously gone down . ”

Sungyoon nodded . He had seen it with his own eyes .

“We went over many countermeasures . Several plans were crafted, and we decided to choose one of them . And we would like Mr . Woo’s help . ”

“What kind of help?”

“We would like to hunt down the Golems . ”

Sungyoon’s face hardened .

“... Are you out of your mind?”

It was a very rude thing to say, but Sungyoon had to ask that question .

Smith must have expected his reaction as he didn’t seem offended .

“The ones to bring about this mess in the first place was the Golems . I hope you didn’t forget that . ”

“I haven’t forgotten about it . However, we need to hunt down the Golems . If we are successful, we can show everyone that we have the power to respond to the threat of the Golems . Also, it would allow us to further our research about labyrinths . Our status would be raised . ”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“Of course . Even the Super Golem wasn’t able to overcome a Connector of Sir Russell’s caliber . Moreover, Sir Russell hadn’t been fighting at full strength as he was worried about causing collateral damage . We’ve already received a verbal commitment from several high rank Connectors including Charlie Russell, Danny Bruce, and Sung Hyunwoo . ”

This news surprised Sungyoon .