Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon’s side held the sway in the situation.

Still, even if he was a major screw up, Jaeho was Hooyoung’s son. Therefore, Daesung group continued to hound Sungyoon. They used all their resources to find even a single weakness that could bring him down.

However, none of their attacks stuck.

Jaeho had hired a terrorist organization, kidnapped Miyun and her family, and ambushed Sungyoon. The facts were cut-and-dried.

Daesung couldn’t bury the facts to this enormous scandal. In fact, Jimin counter-punched by suing Daesung. Since a terrorist organization was involved in this case, the government got involved too. In many ways, Sungyoon’s victory was guaranteed.

However, Sungyoon didn’t care about that. He had a bigger problem on his hands.

“Ah-hahahahaha!”

Shinhae ran across the grass in the large backyard as a small white-furred dog chased after her. Sungyoon looked at them with a satisfied smile on his face.

They had moved to a new house. It was a country house with a large backyard. Sungyoon thought his former house would forever be associated with the death of Shinhae’s mother, so he had immediately decided to move. He had the money anyway.

However, even after moving, Sungyoon was uneasy at heart. Shinhae was energetic as she played in front of him. Her mother had died, but she wasn’t acting like it. That woman wasn’t like a mother to Shinhae, so the girl’s reaction was understandable. But, the way Shinhae had initially reacted when learning of Miyun’s death bothered him.

‘If I go to the Moon right now....’

Sungyoon had brought her a dog so that she would have a loving companion, but his heart was still restless. He was willing to do anything for Shinhae. Although he didn’t regret any of his actions, he didn’t know how to proceed from here on out.

It happened at that moment.

Ding-dong!

Sungyoon and Shinhae looked toward the front entrance. Two women stood in front of the gate.

“Jimin unni and Jiyoon unni are here!”

Bark! Bark!

Shinhae ran to the front entrance, and the dog followed behind her. Her small hands unlocked and opened the front gate.

“Hey, Shinhae!”

“Jiyoon unni!”

Jiyoon gave a tight hug as Shinhae buried her face in her chest. They could feel each other’s warmth. After letting go of Jiyoon, Shinhae opened both her arms toward Jimin.

“I want one from Jimin unni too! Unni!”

Jimin let out a bright smile as she hugged Shinhae.

Sungyoon had asked the two women to look after Shinhae and told them that she might have been traumatized by her mother’s death.

Of course, the two women came to Sungyoon’s house to play with Shinhae. They did this despite it being a day’s travel away, and thanks to them, Sungyoon could relax a bit.

If it were the two of them, they would do their best to make Shinhae forget about her mother’s death. Moreover, they would take good care of Shinhae when he went back up to the Moon.

‘Does she need a mother?’

Shinhae’s birth mother had given Shinhae the worst memories. However, Sungyoon had realized that Shinhae missed having a mother.

‘... Will a new mother be ok?’

If a woman could treasure and take good care of Shinhae, it would be the best solution to the problem.

Sungyoon absentmindedly stared at Jimin and Jiyoon.

***

It had been a while since Sungyoon had returned to his residence on the Moon. The house was empty; Chelsea was at her lab, while Grace and the Ross siblings were raiding a labyrinth.

Sungyoon threw all his luggage into his room and tried to burn the time. Night came to Armstrong city, and the front door of Sungyoon’s house opened.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

The one to enter was Chelsea. She was dressed in her usual thick glasses and dirty lab coat.

“Did everything turn out ok?”

She quickly approached him and asked. The news about Sungyoon’s troubles on Earth had spread across the Lunar city.

“It has been mostly wrapped up. There are some loose ends to tie up, but President is fully capable of taking care of it.”

“That’s good.”

As Chelsea placed her hand on her chest in relief, the front door opened once again. Three tired people entered the house.

Their eyes turned round when they saw Sungyoon.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

They all reacted the same way as Chelsea. By the worried look in their eyes, Sungyoon felt the need to explain what had happened to him on Earth in further detail.

***

“What an asshole!”

Boom!

Tim yelled and slammed a fist on the desk. As the desk shook from the impact, Sungyoon examined it. Fortunately, it hadn’t taken any damage.

“You are going to break the table!”

“Aren’t you angry after hearing this?”

“What does being mad have to do with destroying the table?”

Instead of being a pair of an older brother and a younger sister, the Ross siblings acted the other way. Emily acted like the older sister as she berated Tim. Sungyoon decided to let Emily discipline Tim as he spoke.

“Despite everything, it was nicely wrapped up. You no longer have to worry about it.”

The four relaxed a bit. However, one of them still spoke up in worry.

“Are you ok?”

Emily carefully asked. She wasn’t asking about the aftermath of the incident. She looked genuinely worried about Sungyoon and how he was faring.

Even if they had become enemies, Sungyoon had seen his ex-wife die in front of him and killed his former friend with his own hands.

Sungyoon put on a soft smile. He was normally brusque and emotionless. so the only one who got to see his true smile was Shinhae.

“Thank you for worrying about me. However, I’m really ok. In fact, I feel unburdened.”

“I-is that so?”

Emilly’s cheeks turned red as she avoided his gaze.

“How have you all been?”

It was Sungyoon’s turn to ask. The first to reply was Chelsea.

“It has been the same for me. I am stuck in a lab and have to repeat my experiments over and over.”

“We didn’t have any new experiences either. The only thing a Connector can do up here is raiding the labyrinths. Since Mr. Sungyoon wasn’t present, we couldn’t raid the Great Labyrinth.”

Grace spoke as the representative of the party.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Grace. I caused major inconvenience to the party with my personal matters.”

“It’s fine. No one in the party would cuss you out for what you did.”

Grace put on a gentle smile.

“Thank you very much. I want to say thank you to both of you too.”

Sungyoon bowed toward Grace and the Ross siblings.

“Oh, yeah! The mayor of Armstrong wants to meet you, Mr. Sungyoon.”

Chelsea clapped her hands as if she had just remembered it.

“I planned on meeting him anyway. I have to apologize for breaking my word to him.”

Sungyoon’s visit to Earth was supposed to be short. That was the reason Armstrong city allowed Sungyoon to travel to Earth even when Armstrong city was in a precarious spot. Their rival Lunar city had fallen, so Armstrong city had been on full alert to defend against the monsters. That was why Sungyoon’s absence frustrated the higher-ups to no end.

Sungyoon was a major power that Armstrong could rely on and trust.

“I believe he wants to talk to you about something else.”

“Does he have some other business with me?”

Sungyoon had no idea what Chelsea was referring to, so he just blinked.

***

Sungyoon stood in front of a labyrinth. It was a normal labyrinth close to Armstrong. Sungyoon had gazed at a labyrinth after a long time, and he looked at his surrounding. A lot of people and equipment had gathered there.

When Sungyoon had met the mayor of Armstrong, he couldn’t see a trace of ire on the man’s face. Of course, it would be a lie to say the Mayor wasn’t displeased. However, Sungyoon had been caught up in a unique situation. Moreover, the Mayor had a task that he wanted Sungyoon to perform, so he had suppressed his emotions.

The task that the Mayor requested Sungyoon to do was an easy one. Since he had ignored the recall to the Moon before, Sungyoon readily accepted this request. As a result, he now stood in front of the equipment and the workers.

Sungyoon idly walked between the busy people. He wouldn’t be playing the leading role in this plan. The three Connectors who were currently surrounded by workers and their various equipment would play that role.

“Aren’t you going to get ready?”

Someone spoke up from behind him. Sungyoon looked around to see Chelsea in her spacesuit. Since he had his helmet on, he spoke.

“What preparation do I need to make? I don’t play an active role in this plan.”

“However, you play the most important role as the safety valve.”

Sungyoon smirked.

“If they heard what you said, they’ll feel disappointed.”

Sungyoon pointed toward a group of Connectors gathered on the side; they were the other safety valve for this plan.

“I’m not belittling them. However, Mr. Sungyoon is the best when it comes to fighting Golems in the Great Golem battles. Even they would admit that.”

“The Great Golem battles...”

Sungyoon mumbled to himself.

“The Mayor had a hard time making this decision.”

The most popular theory as to why Gagarin·Yang city was overrun by monsters was the fact that they had destroyed all the Golems from the nearby labyrinths.

Sungyoon thought the theory made sense, and the Mayor probably thought the same.

So why were they exterminating Golems again?

“The Mayor is sensitive when it comes to the safety of Armstrong city. He is a bit temperamental right now.”

“The pushback must have been fierce.”

“Didn’t you meet him not too long ago? He lost so much weight.”

“His complexion wasn’t that good either.”

“To assure the safety of Armstrong, he had to order a mission that might threaten the safety of Armstrong. The decision was met by lot of resistance too. Of course, he isn’t doing well.”

“The experiment he wants to conduct for the safety of Armstrong is...”

Sungyoon looked toward the three Connectors that he had seen earlier.

“Is it an experiment to see if other 1st Gen Connectors can defeat the Golems?”

The three Connectors were 1st Gen Connectors hired by Armstrong.

“Mr. Sungyoon is special. It’s too tempting to try to replicate your success especially against the Golems.”

The highest-ranked Connectors had a hard time fighting against the Golems, yet Sungyoon had been cutting through the Golems like butter even when he was much weaker than his current self.

It was all thanks to the mysterious power inside Sungyoon that even he didn’t know much about. That power was something Armstrong wanted to possess at all costs. They had to see if others could wield powers similar to Sungyoon, and thus, this mission was born. Armstrong had gathered 1st Gen Connectors who fulfilled all the boxes checked by Sungyoon. These Connectors would fight the Golems as Sungyoon had first discovered his power by fighting one.

“Three. That’s more than I had expected. I heard you can count on one hand the number of 1st Gen Connectors qualified to enter the Great Labyrinth.”

“The three of them do not possess all the prerequisites needed to enter the Great Labyrinth. As always, one needs luck too. These three have the ability, but they do not have the gear.”

‘They couldn’t fulfill the prerequisite where one needs three Jewel rank Gems.’

In a few years, Sungyoon was able to gather over a dozen Jewel rank Gems. He had acquired them by evolving lower rank Gems to Jewel rank Gems. However, these Gems were supposed to be really hard to get. This was especially true for the Connectors who raided regular labyrinths. They needed to invest an incredible amount of time and effort to even acquire one Jewel rank Gem. Even then, it wasn’t a guarantee.

“Maybe you should go greet them?”

At Chelsea’s suggestion, Sungyoon approached the three of them with Chelsea walking behind him.

When Sungyoon got close, the three Connectors became aware of his presence.

The support staff that had been making preparations around them gave Sungyoon some space to talk to the three. Their actions showed that Sungyoon held a very high position in this mission.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Woo Sungyoon. I’m here to ensure your safety.”

Sungyoon pushed his hand forward.

The three Connectors glanced at each other for a brief moment before the leftmost one shook Sungyoon’s hand.