Moon's Labyrinths

However, a leopard couldn’t change its spots. In the end, Sungyoon added another sentence.

“Of course, there is a chance that she is secretly harboring some secret design against us.”

Sungyoon’s distrust of others was still up and running. The Ross siblings were able to gain his trust on the basis of their first meeting. But they had put their lives on the line and fought alongside him, and only then they had taken the first step in gaining his trust. But even then, they were barely able to break through his distrust.

He thought about Jimin as his benefactor, and she raised Shinhae like a mother. However, even she was stalled in front of his wall of distrust.

The man personally felt thankful toward Jimin for taking care of his daughter, and he would trust her more than others. However, it wasn’t enough to destroy the wall of distrust.

“Is that so?”

Jimin was well aware of his personality quirks. But the fact that Sungyoon went that far in his praise meant he trusted Jiyoon to a certain extent.

‘I’ll take her under my wings, and if she shows talent, maybe I’ll ask her to join as a permanent employee.’

Jiyoon wanted to become a public servant, so the possibility that she wouldn’t want to join the company existed. However, Jimin had nothing to lose by trying.

‘Of course, this is assuming she proves to be talented.’

The interviews for the day had come to an end.

“I’ll be heading out first.”

When he realized his work was done, Sungyoon stood up. Jimin didn’t hold him back either.

“Goodbye, and take care.”

She said her farewell as she looked at Sungyoon. However, her attention remained on him for a very brief moment, and then she immediately went back to looking at the resumes, mulling over the candidates.

Just as Sungyoon exited the building, he heard a voice full of delight.

“Ah. You are out.”

Jiyoon was leaning against the entrance of the building, displaying a smile. She moved away from the wall and quickly approached him.

“I was going to leave if you didn’t come out in another 10 minutes. I was lucky.”

“You waited for me?”

“Yes.”

“You had no idea when I’ll be coming out.”

“I didn’t wait long. It would be great if you came out, but if you didn’t, it wouldn’t be much of a loss. That was my mindset.”

Her eyes crinkled a little bit.

“Were you surprised?”

What was she asking about? Was she asking about her suddenly showing up at his company for a job? Or was it her spontaneous decision to wait for him coming out?

He had no idea what her intent was in asking that question, but the answer was easy.

“I was surprised.”

The answer would be the same no matter what the question was.

“What is this regarding? Did something happen to Shinhae?”

The only point they had in common was Shinhae. Naturally, he thought that she wanted to talk to him about the little girl. So there was a bit of urgency in his voice.

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

Jiyoon quickly shook her head from side to side so as to not spook the man any further. She felt a little bit bitter.

‘As expected, he has no interest in me.’

However, she quickly got rid of such emotions. In truth, Jiyoon knew she was being unreasonable. She was the one who had developed feelings of love toward him. That was it.

“If Mr. Sungyoon decided to go home early, I wanted to tag along. We’ll be traveling the same way on the subway.”

She already knew he didn’t have a car. However, she was a bit nervous to hear his answer.

Sungyoon might not use the subway to go to his destination. He might ride the bus, or he might take a taxi.

It would be a bit expensive to ride a taxi home from here, but it was a minuscule amount when one considered that Sungyoon was a Connector.

‘I’ll just stay with him until he gets in a taxi.’

She dug deep and tried to be brave for this newly developed feeling that she had never felt before in her life.

And her bravery was rewarded.

“You are right. We can travel together until we have to part ways.”

She sometimes took care of Shinhae, and the little girl liked her. Therefore he didn’t directly turn her down.

“Yes!”

Although Jiyoon wanted to jump in joy, she barely held herself back. The two of them then embarked toward the nearest subway station. A handsome man and a beautiful woman were walking down the sidewalk together, so everyone’s gazes were focused on them. However, both paid no attention to others. This was especially true for Jiyoon. She was making sure this walk lasted as long as possible, so she walked slower than usual. Moreover, she was entirely focused on conversing with Sungyoon and was completely oblivious to her surroundings. This experience was new to her.

She kept talking to Sungyoon. If she could have it her way, she wanted to tell him everything about herself and ask everything about him.

However, she desperately firmed her resolve and avoided her desires. She mainly spoke about Shinhae and how the little girl entertained herself when he was absent.

Jiyoon’s plan worked exactly as she expected it to be. Sungyoon was unbelievably attentive to her words.

Then he started to join in on the conversation. Of course, the person speaking would have more fun if the listener responded in a positive manner.

‘I’ll approach him slowly.’

Jiyoon treasured and embraced the pink-colored emotions that rose out of her heart. She continued to speak in an upbeat manner.

***

Countless planes arrived and departed the Incheon airport. Sungyoon and Jimin stood next to each other as they watched people pour out the gate.

It was clear that they were waiting for someone. Incheon airport was Korea’s best international airport, and also one of the world’s famous hubs for air travel. Therefore the airport was bustling, and a lot of people were coming out of the gates. It was so busy that one might miss the person one was waiting for.

However, Sungyoon and Jimin didn’t have to worry about that. The people whom they were waiting for were very unique and eye-catching.

Sure enough, Sungyoon caught sight of two people exiting the gate.

“They are here.”

Jimin’s gaze followed Sungyoon’s finger. The first person she saw was a very large and tall man with a height of over 190 cms. He was a head taller than everyone around them. But he wasn’t just tall. He was large. Everyone would shy away from fighting him if one went by his outer appearance.

A blonde woman was walking beside him. She also was tall for a woman, and her golden hair swayed back and forth.

Her legs were long, and her body was proportioned in a mouthwatering fashion. It gave her the appearance of a classy model.

Both had worn sunglasses, and each had a suit carrier rolling behind them. Their style of dressing was highly individual, clearly setting them apart from the crowd.

These people were the Ross siblings, who were visiting Korea.

“Over here!”

Sungyoon waved his hand and raised his voice a little bit as he spoke in English.

When the siblings caught sight of him, their faces brightened. They quickly walked toward Sungyoon and Jimin.

“Welcome to Korea.”

Sungyoon spoke as if he was their tourist guide. The Ross siblings let out a small laugh.

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing well. Thank you for asking.”

Tim answered Sungyoon’s question as he shook his hand.

Sungyoon’s gaze headed towards Emily next. The confident woman, who had stood up to Cohen, was nowhere to be seen, and a shy woman stood in her place.

“I am glad you are here too, Ms. Emily.”

“Yes… Yes.”

After they greeted each other, Sungyoon took a step back. He planned on turning their attention toward Jimin, who was standing next to him.

As if she realized what he was doing, Jimin took a step forward.

“I would like to welcome the two of you.”

Unlike her normal self, a small smile appeared on her lips as she spoke.

“Yes. It is nice to meet you again.”

The Ross siblings were a bit stiff as they greeted her. She would be their boss from now on, so, of course, they felt a bit awkward.

It seemed the two of them had studied up on Korean culture, and instead of asking for a handshake, they awkwardly bowed towards Jimin.

“You don’t have to be so formal. You can treat me the same as before.”

It seemed the two of them preferred the option Jimin spoke, and they let out an awkward laugh as they straightened their back.

Then they inquired after each other’s tidings as they exchanged some small talk.

“Shall we go to the company?”

Jimin pointed outside and became the first one to move. The rest of the party followed her.

She got in the car and drove them out of the Incheon International airport, heading toward the company.

“This is Jungbum.”

As she opened the door, she introduced the siblings to their new company. Tim and Emily entered the office and looked at their surroundings.

‘It is small.’

The thought appeared in their heads at the same time. It was very small compared to their previous company, which had used an entire large office building as its headquarters.

However, they weren’t disappointed. They had already expected this.

Above all else, this company would allow them to attempt the Great Labyrinth. The merits outnumbered the demerits.

‘Isn’t it a bit messy?’

No, it was beyond messy.

Papers and plastic sheets were all over the place. The furniture hadn’t been organized either.

It was like looking at a company that had packed up and left in the middle of the night.

As if Jimin could guess what they were thinking right now, she sidled up next to them and spoke.

“It is a mess, right? We had to hire more employees when it became certain that you two will be joining. This is why we rented this new place. It will look like a proper company in three days.”

They were no longer in their old company building. This place was much larger, and there were more rooms.

‘The company had been smaller than this?’

Tim became surprised, but he soon accepted the statement. This company had consisted of two people in Sungyoon and the president. There had been no need for a larger space.

‘The size of the office building doesn’t matter to me.’

In the end, they would mostly raid the labyrinths. He really didn’t care about the size of the office building.

After Jimin finished introducing the company, she once again drove the party to a different location.

Their destination was the outer edge of Seoul.

Almost ten million people lived in Seoul. It was one of the largest proper cities in the developed world. But this didn’t mean Seoul was only filled with large buildings and fancy houses.

If one crossed into the Gyeonggi-do Province, one could still see a lot of fields and paddies.

The four of them arrived at a location where the cold and ruthless power of the city held no influence. Jimin parked on top of a small hill.

The hill had an open space atop looking over a memorable scenery. This open space was surrounded by steel fences, and the top of the hill was cut to make the surface flat. One could see grass starting to grow in this open lot.

The space spanned a total of 264.46 m². It was a location cleared so that a building could be built there. It was one of the sites where the Ross siblings would potentially build a house for themselves.

If they were going to live in a foreign country, they wanted a house to their taste.

Therefore, they had asked Sungyoon to look for sites to build a house. And Jimin had taken on the task instead of Sungyoon.

“We tried our best to fulfill your preferences. If something isn’t to your liking, please immediately tell us.”

After hearing her words, the siblings started to make close observations of their surroundings.

“This will be fine. We’ll have to immediately start construction.”

Tim looked satisfied. But Sungyoon looked a bit worried.

“We have other sites ready. Why don’t you check them all out? You might like the other locations more.”

“Then we’ll build a summer house here, and we can still purchase the other sites we like.”

Sungyoon became temporarily speechless at Tim's nonchalant statement.

However, the only one to be shocked was Sungyoon. Jimin and Emily looked like they agreed with Tim's words.

As expected of children born to Connectors, they viewed money so differently than him.

The Ross siblings started talking in front of the empty lot. They talked about what kind of house they wanted to build, the overall design of the house, and the floor plans.

‘A house….’

Sungyoon looked at the land in front of him. He was currently living in an apartment loaned out to him by Jimin.

He had paid off all his debt, yet Jimin didn’t ask for rent. If he compiled what he knew about Jimin, she would never ask either.

The arrangement had been very good when he didn't have money. But he had money now. Did he really need to live in Jimin’s apartment?

‘Should I buy one?’

Sungyoon quietly started to mull over this problem.