‘No! I can’t let it end like this!’
His eyes hardened. If he went along without putting up a fight, all his secrets would be revealed. There were a good number of people who had witnessed his confrontation with the maggot.
‘Do I have time to activate my Gems?’
Nicholas tried to get a measure of the two Connectors who had barged into the room.
However, his opponents were no pushovers.
Ssssk!
A large sword was placed next to Nicholas’ neck.
“Do not do anything rash. How long do you think it’ll take you to completely activate your Gems? I don’t think it will be faster than me decapitating your head with my sword.”
“…Shit!”
Nicholas spat out his anger and frustration before he lowered his head.
* * *
Sungyoon sat in view of the Great Labyrinth, and he continued to glare towards it. The Beginner’s Labyrinth was currently like a market that had been closed for the day. Not many people entered it. The number of Connectors entering into the Great Labyrinth was also sparse. The traffic of the Great Labyrinth was comparable to the traffic of the Beginner’s Labyrinth right now.
‘It is said that the Mana Stream constantly occurs within the Great Labyrinth.’
It was due to the Mana Stream, that the lesser ranked Connectors couldn’t enter into the Great Labyrinth. As soon as monsters were killed in the Great Labyrinth, the Mana Stream immediately replenished the monsters. These were the brutal obstacles one had to overcome as Connectors.
However, Sungyoon didn’t plan on backing down. He glared at the Great Labyrinth.
Sungyoon’s reputation for his eccentric behavior had started to spread a little bit within Armstrong city. This was why curious people pointed and stared at Sungyoon. However, it didn’t bother him. He had to reflect on his goals once again. He had to blunt the fear that had developed that day.
After he had almost died in the Beginner’s Labyrinth, he once again started feeling fear towards death. His fear was suffocating him. In a very short amount of time, he had almost died twice. He almost died to the Bigfoot, and he almost died when he entered the sealed region.
When he was fighting, he only thought about his survival, so he didn’t have the time to feel fear.
However, now everything had ended. He had gone to the ‘chicken coop’ next to the support center to lie down and started reviewing the past events. In doing so, he had become overwhelmed by fear. He desperately took out the picture of his daughter and kept looking at it. Before he knew it, he was rubbing his face against the picture. He would be meeting her soon.
However, it wasn’t enough to control his fear. This was why he came to see his final goal. He came to renew his goals once again by watching the Great Labyrinth.
‘Yes. I have to put Shinhae in a good environment. She needs a good education, and she’ll get to eat delicious foods. Also, I have to honor the contract of raiding the Great Labyrinth.’
He would willingly put his life on the line to make these goals come true.
In addition, didn’t he find out that he had the capacity to use the Gold Gem?
‘I wonder if the president will like that news.’
The Great Labyrinth was almost an obsession for her. There was hope now. There was a chance that he would be able to make her wish come true. He was sure she would be very happy.
He kept talking to himself as he blunted the fear that had seeped into his heart.
‘Alright. Shall I start heading back?’
Sungyoon stood up.
The Mana Stream would start to sweep through the Beginner’s Labyrinth starting that day. He had no reason to stay on the Moon. Sungyoon went to gather the sparse belongings that he had brought from Earth. Then he headed towards the spaceport.
* * *
“Thank you for your hard work.”
A pale and soft hand was raised towards him. Sungyoon naturally shook the hand offered to him.
“Thank you.”
“It seems you’ll be able to spend time in paradise once again for the near future.”
Chelsea sounded very jealous as she spoke.
Sungyoon stared at her.
“Hmm? What’s wrong? Did you perhaps fall for me?”
Chelsea wrapped her two arms around her body, and she moved away from him. Sungyoon smirked.
“It seems I won’t have to worry about you. You are capable of making jokes like that.”
“Ah ah. I was wondering why you were acting this way.”
Chelsea laughed with him.
“You don’t have to worry about me. It is true that I became afraid when that bastard threatened me, but I won’t let that keep me down. I don’t have that delicate of a personality.”
“Still, you should be more careful from now on. This is especially true for someone as beautiful as you, Ms. Strobe.”
Chelsea looked at Sungyoon with surprise in her eyes. She never expected him to say such an embarrassing statement. She never expected him to call her beautiful. A playful smile appeared on her lips, and she poked his arm.
“Oh my! You called me beautiful. Thank you! Are you perhaps interested in me, Mr. Woo?”
Chelsea brushed her hair back as she put on a coquettish smile. She still wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her clothes were a mess. Despite all of this, her natural beauty trumped such minor details. Anyone, who had coincidentally caught sight of her gesture, looked mesmerized as they stared at Chelsea.
She was making a joke, yet Sungyoon took a step backward. He looked really against that idea.
“I have no interest.”
Chelsea’s eyebrows twitched. She hated men who approached her solely based on how her face looked. However, she became miffed when Sungyoon showed such overt signs of not being interested in her.
‘Should I make a run at him once?’
She was so miffed with Sungyoon’s reaction that, for a moment, she had such thoughts. However, Chelsea let out a sigh as she erased these thoughts from her mind.
‘Why am I having such childish thoughts?’
It seemed she was still affected by the earlier incident. She was sure that was it.
“Anyways, I want to thank you again for helping me from that bastard. When I go back to Earth, I’ll buy you a meal.”
“Understood. I’ll see you next time, Ms. Strobe.”
“Just call me Chelsea.”
“… are you sure?”
Sungyoon looked a bit surprised as he asked the question. However, Chelsea was firm as she nodded.
“In return, I’ll call you Mr. Sungyoon. Aren’t we good enough friends? We can call each other by our first names.”
Chelsea winked. However, Sungyoon was unable to reply right away.
‘Friend….’
Chelsea didn’t have much difficulty using that word, but that word had a negative connotation to Sungyoon. Whenever he heard that word, it made him think of the son of a bitch who used to be Sungyoon’s best friend.
“Uh. Sungyoon… No. Mr... Woo?”
Chelsea was careful with her words. She walked on eggshells. When he had heard her suggestion, a dark cloud had formed around him. She was taken aback. She wondered if he hated the idea of being friends with her.
Sungyoon shook off such negative thoughts. Chelsea had only good intentions behind her offer. She had nothing to do with his past dealings with that son of a bitch. If he turned down her offer of friendship, he would be letting that bastard influence him. He didn’t want that bastard to drag him down by the ankles. This was why he decided to accept Chelsea’s offer.
“I would like that. I do think of you as a friend. Understood. Let us call each other by our first name, Ms. Chelsea.”
Chelsea's face brightened when Sungyoon gave his answer.
“Well, I look forward to working with you after you come back.”
She once again pushed her hand forward, and Sungyoon gave a firm handshake. However, his inner thoughts were conflicted. Would he really be able to trust a friend once again? Sungyoon wasn’t confident it could happen.
* * *
The sun had moved past the mountain, and it was time for darkness to descend. There was a house located just outside of Seoul, and night descended there too.
It was a sweet little house. It was two stories high, and it had a beautiful backyard. There was a vegetable garden, and numerous flowers decorating the backyard, giving an insight into what the house owner liked.
A car arrived in front of the charming house.
It was an extremely expensive brand of car. People would show admiration from just seeing the logo. Its design reminded one of a spaceship, and it was fancy enough to make other cars avoid driving too close to it on the road.
After stopping at the driveway, the car door opened upwards in a stylish manner. A man got out of the car.
He had short hair, and firm lips. He looked like a stubborn person. However, one could see it occasionally in his actions. At times, he had a carefree way of carrying himself, and it indicated that he had a lively personality. If one wanted to put a negative spin on it, it looked as if he had a frivolous personality.
His name was Hahn Woosung. He was a pretty successful Connector. He was in his mid-20s, but he had inherited Gems and Devices from his father. He had also received a lot of support from his company, so his talent was already starting to blossom.
He opened the front door. He smelled something he had missed. Dinner was being prepared, and the smell of the fragrant bean-paste stew filled the house. Woosung’s mouth watered before he knew it.
“You are here, Woosung!”
“Mother!”
A woman came out of the kitchen, and she greeted Woosung. He put on a bright smile as he hugged her.
“Mother? Why are you calling me by mother? That’s a bit too much. Just call me mom. You are going to give me goosebumps.”
“Ah ha ha ha! I’m getting too old for that.”
“Aiin told you to do that, right? She is so rigid and formal! Jeez!”
The woman, who had greeted Woosung, was one of his stepmothers. When he heard Hweeyoung’s complaint, he let out a laugh as he scratched the back of his head.
“Still, I'm glad you are here. Please come in.”
Hweeyoung welcomed Woosung into the house.
“Are you hungry? Wait a moment. I’ll prepare dinner for you.”
“What about other mother?”
“Aiin went to a meeting. She said she is meeting up with her old classmates from elementary school. When is your hyung coming?”
“He’ll be a little bit late.”
“He really is the worst when it comes to how he treats his family. You should make sure to never become like him. Alright?”
Woosung let out a bitter laugh as he just accepted her advice.
His mother went back into the kitchen to finish dinner, so he decided to look around the house. The house was clean. It seemed the house had been cleaned not too long ago. He couldn’t see a speck of dust. The interior design was simple. It only possessed the essential furniture. The only thing that was abundant was the numerous pictures hung on the wall.
Woosung stood in front of the wall with the pictures. He gently brushed his hand over a picture frame. All the pictures on the wall were pictures of his entire family. It was pictures of his father, mothers, brother, and sister.
It was when all of his family laughed, cried, fought, and loved together.
“You miss it, right?”
Hweeyoung had snuck up next to him. She had a bright smile on her face.
“I do. Why don’t we all live together again? I’m sure hyung and noona will agree to it. If they don’t want to, I would like to take care of my mothers.”
“It’s fine. I’m having fun living with that stiff woman. You shouldn’t be thinking about living with us. You should hurry up and marry. You should start a family.”
This topic came up again. Whenever he returned home, both of his mothers always repeated the same thing. Woosung used his brain to the fullest. He had to escape this pit that was trying to trap him.
“S... so, what’s noona doing these days?”
Hweeyoung stared at Woosung when she heard his question. Woosung did his best to avoid her gaze.
“Tsk tsk. The only things you learned are these petty tricks.”
His mother could see through his obvious tactics. His intentions were revealed immediately. Woosung hunched his shoulders. He had a robust physique, but he looked like a whipped dog at that moment. It was an interesting sight.
Hweeyoung didn’t have any intentions of berating him any further. She decided to answer Woosung’s question.
“She is still running her company.”
“Still?”
She was still wasting her time on that? Woosung gripped his head.
“She said this is her last attempt. She only brought in one employee this time.”
“He’s probably an unreliable asshole. Why didn’t you stop her?”
He thought about the past Connectors brought into Jimin’s company, as he spoke.
“Do you really think she’ll listen to me if I tried to stop her? Are there any children, including you, who listen to their mothers?”
“That’s… You do have a point, but….”
What could he say when his mother came at him like that? Woosung had no choice. He shut his mouth.
“Oh no. The stew is boiling over!”
Hweeyoung ran into the kitchen when she heard something overflow. Woosung was left alone in the living room. He let out a deep sigh as he looked at the floor.
It seemed he would have to go meet his noona.
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