Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon had gone through a very arduous battle, so the two of them decided to take a rest. Hyunwoo told him that he knew a good place to rest. He started guiding Sungyoon to an unknown location.

Hyunwoo struck down every monster they encountered with a single blow. Sungyoon quietly followed after him.

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, the current of magical energy hitting his body changed. Since it was the Mana Stream period, the magical energy had been turbulent. Suddenly, the already turbulent magical energy became more violent.

“The magical energy became more turbulent. Will I be ok?”

Since this was his first time experiencing this, Sungyoon asked the question to Hyunwoo.

“You’ll be fine. At your level, you won’t feel any adverse effects from the magical energy. Moreover, the fact that the magical energy is raging like this means I found the right place.”

Hyunwoo kept moving inward.

The magical energy was progressively getting rougher and harsher. How much time had passed as they pushed through?

Hoo-ook!

Suddenly, he couldn't see anything.

‘What the hell!’

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings in surprise, but he couldn’t see anything. He quickly touched his eyes. He didn’t feel anything amiss.

He didn’t feel any liquid that might be blood. He didn’t feel any pain in his eyes. It was as if he had entered a place without any light.

‘Now that I think about it, there’s no magical energy!’

Until a moment ago, the magical energy had been running wild as it stimulated all his senses. He could no longer feel it.

The labyrinth didn’t have any light within. The only reason why Connectors could see their surroundings was the magical energy delivering the information of their surrounding instead of light. Magical energy acted as a medium for the information. Of course, Connectors wouldn’t be able to see their surroundings if magical energy wasn’t present.

“Are you surprised?”

His surroundings brightened as soon as he heard Hyunwoo’s voice.

Sungyoon had to close his eyes when he saw the blinding light. He blinked his eyes a couple times to get used to it, and he checked the source of the light.

The only time Sungyoon experienced seeing light in the labyrinth was when the monsters spawned. This was why he became tense at the presence of the light.

Instead of a monster appearing, Sungyoon saw Hyunwoo, who was holding a lantern.

“…what is going on?”

Sungyoon became very surprised. It was impossible to use any modern conveniences inside the labyrinths.

This was why the acquisition of the moonstones was something only the Connectors could accomplish. However, Hyunwoo was holding an electric lantern right now. The lantern in Hyunwoo’s hand ruthlessly broke apart his preconceived notion.

“Have you heard about the Magical Void before?”

“…Magical Void?”

He slowly went over what was explained to him about the labyrinths. Sungyoon remembered hearing such a word amongst the explanations in the past.

“It is a space that appears within the Mana Stream. They are like the eye of a storm. These spaces are completely devoid of magical energy. It is theorized that this phenomenon is caused by an interaction between the current of magical energy and the layout of the labyrinth. Of course, it is only a theory. No information is certain when it comes to the labyrinths.”

Hyunwoo took up the lamp as he took the lead. Since the magical energy was completely gone, Hyunwoo’s lantern was the only source of light in this completely dark labyrinth.

The Magical Void encompassed a pretty large area. They continued to walk until they reached a large wall. It was a dead end.

Hyunwoo placed the lantern in one corner, and he sunk to the floor.

“You can rest without worry. Magical Voids are places where monsters do not show up. You don’t have to be so tense.”

Then he spread his legs.

Sungyoon followed his advice. He sat down.

“Eat.”

Hyunwoo tossed something to him. It was a sandwich with ham, cheese, veggies and some sauce in it. Sungyoon bowed his head to express his thanks, and he bit down on the sandwich. His tongue was in ecstasy as he ate something that was hard to acquire on the moon.

Hyunwoo also took out his own sandwich, and he started eating it.

For a while, only the sound of them chewing food could be heard within the labyrinth.

“Do you have a sleeping bag at the very least?”

“Yes.”

When he navigated through the Beginner’s labyrinth, he had carried around a worn out blanket given to him by the Support Center. He now used a high quality sleeping bag, which had been fairly pricey. He kept it stored within his Storage Gem.

“That’s good. Let’s stop hunting for the day and stay here until dawn comes.”

Then Hyunwoo started pouring out items from his storage Gem. These were items that Sungyoon would have never imagined bringing to a labyrinth.

Hyunwoo took out charcoal, a BBQ grill, meat, all kinds of vegetables and even soju. Sungyoon’s mouth fell open. He forgot to swallow the food in his mouth. However, Hyunwoo wasn’t bothered by Sungyoon’s dumbfounded look. He just continued to make preparations for a cookout.

How should he react to this? Sungyoon was momentarily left speechless.

He was barely able to open his mouth when Hyunwoo started placing meat over the charcoal.

“…what is all this?”

“Huh? What’s wrong? You don’t like BBQ?”

Hyunwoo filled a cup with soju, and he passed it to Sungyoon. He was being offered alcohol, but he didn’t dare drink it.

Even if this was a Magical Void, this was a labyrinth filled with monsters.

On the other hand, Hyunwoo downed a large cup of soju. He drank without even eating any appetizers. He had the face of a 20 year old, yet he acted exactly like an old man.

“What are you doing? You should drink too.”

“…are you sure this is ok?”

Sungyoon refused to drink the soju, so he just held his cup as he asked the question. Hyunwoo poured himself another cup as he disregarded Sungyoon’s worries.

“Jeez. Did you only live your life by being duped?”

Hyunwoo grumbled in displeasure.

“I know a lot about the Magical Void. This phenomenon also exists in the Great Labyrinth. The Great Labyrinth’s Mana Stream lasts all year long. That is why Magical Voids exist all year long too. I owe a great deal to the Magical Voids.”

He once again downed the cup of soju.

“What characteristics does it have?”

Sungyoon was more interested in the information regarding the Magical Void than the soju.

“It isn’t much. Monsters never enter into this place. We tried to lure monsters into this place, but they always stopped in front of the Magical Void. Monsters would either vent steam from their noses or run away from this place. They would never voluntarily enter this place.”

“It means they are incapable of entering this place.”

“No, that isn’t true. We threw a couple monsters into the Magical Void, and they didn’t die instantly. It just turns out they just really hate entering this place.”

The meat was starting to turn brown. Hyunwoo quickly flipped them over before he burnt the meat.

“That is why you shouldn’t worry. You can drink the alcohol. This place is safe.”

Hyunwoo was an old hand in the labyrinth, and he was making a definite statement in regard to their safety. Sungyoon carefully drank the soju. The bitter taste of alcohol hit his nose.

“Hahahaha. It’s good, right?”

Hyunwoo laughed magnanimously.

“This is the most unique place to have a BBQ! I tried drinking foreign liquor here, but it couldn’t get me in the mood! Soju is the best for a place like this!”

Hyunwoo downed another cup.

In a flash, the soju bottle was almost empty. However, Hyunwoo didn’t pour out the rest. He just downed the remaining alcohol by placing the bottle on his lips.

It seemed he didn’t want to waste a single drop of alcohol. Hyunwoo sucked and licked at the entrance of the bottle.

Hyunwoo was so relaxed in drinking his alcohol that Sungyoon started to relax too.

“I’ll grill them.”

Sungyoon took the tongs from Hyunwoo, and he grilled the meat. Smoke appeared within the labyrinth.

This was how Sungyoon experienced BBQing and camping in the labyrinth. His day came to an end by doing something that was beyond a unique experience. It was insanity.

***

Tim and Emily were in an unfamiliar place called Korea, so they decided it would be best if they used two weeks to get familiar with this place.

It wasn't just about them being in a different country. Korean culture was very different from their own culture, so everything felt awkward to them.

Since they were in a bit of a time crunch, they went around learning about the monetary system and how much everything costs.

Finally, the day when they would go to the moon as Connectors of Jungbum was near.

“Hello!”

Tim gave an energetic greeting as he entered the company.

He spoke in a slow and hesitant manner, but he was clearly speaking Korean. Tim gave his greeting in Korean every time he visited the company, and his mouth felt comfortable saying those words now.

“Hello.”

Emily followed up after him, and she also spoke her greeting in Korean. She spoke in a cautious manner.

Tim had confidently shouted out his greeting, but Emily spoke each word in a deliberate manner. This might be why Emily’s pronunciation was much better than Tim at this point in time.

“Welcome.”

There was a young man typing furiously into his computer. The young man stood up. His name was Lee Hyungwon, and he was one of the newly hired employees of Jungbum.

There was another female employee nearby. She paused from her work, and she bowed her head towards the Ross siblings.

She was also a newly hired employee of Jumgbum. Her name was Shin Junghwee.

“Is the president in?”

Tim queried. He only knew a few words alongside the standard greetings in Korean. Since he couldn’t ask a coherent question in Korean, he spoke in English.

Hyungwon and Junghwee let out an awkward laugh.

Since they were only capable of being hired by a company of Jungbum’s size, it was obvious that they weren’t elites capable of speaking English.

They usually stumbled over their words as they incorporated hand gestures to get their point across in English.

Fortunately, they were able to understand the word ‘president’ in English, so they just nodded their heads as they pointed towards the president’s office.

Tim nodded his head when Hyungwon let out an awkward laughter as he pointed towards the president’ office. He walked towards the door.

Jungbum had gotten quite big. The square footage of the office space had increased, and all the employees had their own space where they could work.

Of course, it was big compared to Jimin’s previous office space. When compared to Fabion and the Ross sibling’s old company, Jungbum was extremely small.

However, the two of them weren’t disappointed. Tim liked the idea of contributing to the growth of a company. Emily had no complaints since Sungyoon was in this company.

Boom! Boom!

Tim’s massive hand knocked on the door to the president’s office.

“Please enter.”

She had spoken in Korean, but she had spoken words he knew. Tim opened the door. He saw Jimin working behind her desk.

“It’s me, president.”

Tim walked into the president’s office.

Emily quietly followed in behind him.

“Good afternoon.”

When she realized it was the Ross siblings, she started speaking in English.

Tim spoke.

“We plan on heading up to the moon next month. We wanted to visit you before we did that.”

“It seems you plan on getting back to full swing. Do you remember the appointed time and place?”

“Of course.”

Tim pounded his chest as if he was telling Jimin to rely on him. Tim felt Emily give him a salty glare. Jimin nodded her head as if to acknowledge that Tim was someone that was reliable.

“You are quite dependable. Please help Mr. Sungyoon, so you can reach your goal of raiding the Great Labyrinth.”

“Of course.”

Why did they leave their former company? His old company disparaged his dead mother, and it was a part of the reason why they had left. However, there was another reason. They left, because their old company didn’t want them to raid the Great Labyrinth.

In the past, the Great Labyrinth had been a distant goal. It was a goal that they could only dream about, but they were starting to see their dreams being realized. They could see their goal in front of their eyes.

At that moment, it became a bit noisy outside the office.

“What’s going on?”

Tim poked his head out from the president’s office.

He saw two people enter into the company. It was a woman and a child.

“It is Shinhae.”

Emily had poked her head out next to Tim. Her eyes shone. Shinhae alongside Sungyoon held all of Emily’s interest right now.

Shinhae was the daughter of the man she was interested in. She had to get close to Shinhae no matter what.

A woman had brought Shinhae into the company. It was Jiyoon, who had recently been hired to Jungbum as a temp worker.

“Is it already that time?”

Jimin had expected the two of them, so she stood up from behind her work desk. She exited her office.

“It’s unni!”

Shinhae ran towards her. She smiled towards Shinhae. It was a smile that rarely appeared unless Shinhae was present. Jimin hugged the child.

“Thank you for taking care of her.”

“It was nothing. I adore Shinhae too.”

Jiyoon laughed as if it was no big deal.

“Shall we go eat dinner?”

Jimin relaxed the arms around Shinhae. She took a firm grip of Shinhae’s hand as she spoke.