Moon's Labyrinths

As soon as Sungyoon and Tim got in and closed the door to the Moon Surface Vehicle, Emily floored the gas pedal. The wheels of the Moon Surface Vehicle started tovigorously spin.

Kwahng!

At the same time, the stalagmites created by Sungyoon's magic spell exploded outward, and monsters started pouring out of the entrance of the labyrinth.

The Connectors watching from the sideline became frightened out of their minds. If they weren’t on the Moon, they would be screaming their heads off.

However, the Moon wouldn’t allow those humans to scream.

The Connectors started to scatter like ants, and the monsters chased after them. In a flash, the surface of the Moon became dyed with blood.

Some ran away toward their Moon Surface Vehicles. But the monsters ripped into those vehicles and attacked the Connectors hiding within.

The Moon Surface Vehicles weren’t designed with battles in mind in the first place.

‘Should I consider ourselves fortunate?’

The other Connectors had become bait, and Sungyoon’s party was escaping without problems.Sungyoon furrowed his brows as he watched the slaughter occurring in front of him. Aside from Emily, who was driving, the other people in the vehicle were also watching the slaughter from beside Sungyoon. Of course, they looked upset by the sight.

Sungyoon decided to heal Tim and his own wounds for now. He could heal only a couple of deep wounds, but it was enough to ease their pain by a significant amount.

However, it would be best if they could receive thorough healing from Emily, who specialized in support magic. So Sungyoon moved toward her to take over the wheel.

But at that moment, it happened.

Something shot out of the entrance of the labyrinth. It moved at a high speed, and in a flash, tore into the nearest monster.

Suh-guhk!

Of course, they couldn’t hear the sound. However, the cut on the monster was so clean that they could imagine the sound. It felt as if the sound were ringing in their ears.

It was a human who had cut down the monster. He started moving in various directions as he slaughtered the nearby monsters in an instant. From the look of his movements, it was clear that he was a high rank Connector.

Tap! Tap!

Someone desperately tapped at Sungyoon's shoulder. When he turned his head to look, he saw a surprised Grace, who kept pointing at the man near the labyrinth.

‘Does she know that person?’

The man had completely handled the situation in front of the labyrinth in short order.

The Moon Surface Vehicle containing Sungyoon’s party came to a stop.

It seemed Tim had notified Emily, who had been in the driver's seat. She appeared next to Sungyoon and looked at the incredible sight in front of her with a dumbfounded expression.

They looked at each other.

It seemed they no longer needed to run away. Moreover, it seemed Grace was acquainted with the high rank Connector who had picked up the pieces of this messy situation.

‘We can’t communicate with each other.’

It was quite frustrating being unable to talk to each other, so he had almost put on his helmet. However, he gave up on that idea since he decided to drive back to the labyrinth first.

When they arrived in front of the labyrinth, they saw a horrible sight. Human limbs were strewn all over the place, and blood had dyed the Moon's surface red.

They could see some corpses and many Connectors clutching at their wounds.

As soon as the high rank Connector finished killing all the monsters, he started moving through the injured to heal them.

Sungyoon and Emily also possessed healing magic, so they decided to take care of the injured too. Tim and Grace approached the high rank Connector.

After the injured were healed to the best of their abilities, Tim and Grace led Sungyoon and Emily into the labyrinth.

The person who had slaughtered all the monsters was waiting for them.

He had taken his helmet off, so they could clearly see his face.

The man hadshort black hair, and he wasn’t that tall.

He possessed the youthful face of a Connector, but a long mustache hanged above his lips. It gave him an air of dignity, and a definite strength was behind his black eyes.

“You are the ones that rescued Grace?”

The man spoke as he approached Sungyoon’s party. He then extended his hand toward Sungyoon.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Charlie Russell.”

Sungyoon already knew who he was. Most Connectors knew who this man was. In fact, it was actually rare to meet a Connector who didn’t know this person.

“It is nice to meet you. My name is Woo Sungyoon.”

Headded another word at the end.

“Sir Russell.”

This man was one of England’s strongest Connectors, and he was treated as a peer of Hyunwoo. Moreover, he had been knighted, and he was a friend of the current Queen.

Looking at him, they could see heembodied everything it meant to be a knight.

***

Sungyoon opened his eyes. He felt the softness underneath, so it seemed he wasn’t in the labyrinth.

Afterfolding his blanket, he opened the curtains to his window. The artificial light of Armstrong was already bright, and it lit up his room.

The clock indicated that it was ten in the morning. Sungyoon let out a large yawn before leaving his room.

He had heard the sound of the TV in the living room. It seemed others had awakened before him.

“Did you sleep well?”

Tim greeted him. He was sitting on the sofa, watching TV.

“Emily is making breakfast. We should wait and eat together.”

It seemed they had also woken up not too long ago.

‘I forgot. It's Ms. Emily’s turn to cook.’

The three of them rotated on cooking duty. Sungyoon realized he could smell the fragrant scent of food being cooked.

They didn’t need to eat, but they chose to eat when they were in their lodging. Their income had stabilized, and they could afford it.

Sungyoon sat next to Tim. They spent the time conversing and watching the TV.

“Come eat!”

After a short while, Emily came out of the kitchen and spoke in a disgruntled manner. However, her eyes turned round when she saw Sungyoon sitting next to Tim.

“Ah! Mr. Sungyoon was there too?”

It seemed she had no idea Sungyoon had woken up. She looked abashed.

Tim mocked her from behind Sungyoon as if to say 'serves you right'. She glared at Tim, and then let out an awkward laugh toward Sungyoon.

“I... I made a lot, so Mr. Sungyoon should have some too.”

She had planned on waking Sungyoon when the breakfast was done, so she had made more than enough food. It was just that she felt aggrieved because she thought she had shown a weird side of her to Sungyoon.

The two men became surprised when they arrived in front of the dining table. They could see steak and all kinds of meat dishes on top of it.

Sungyoon wondered if Western breakfast was usually like this, but he saw that Tim was also surprised by the spread. So it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“What the hell is this?”

Tim asked, still standing in front of his seat.

“What do you mean? It’s food.”

“I’m not asking that.”

The table also hadsimple foods like bread, but they were strictly there as garnish.

“Don’t complain! Just eat!”

Tim shut his mouth at Emily’s fiery words.

“Both of you were injured heavily in the labyrinth. You have to replenish your stamina with some meat.”

When she spoke those words, Tim and Sungyoon realized why Emily had made such rich dishes in the morning.

‘It seems Ms. Emily feels very guilty.’

Sungyoon had known it was the right call for him to task Emily with prepping the Moon Surface Vehicle. However, this meant Emily had received the easy assignment. And her absence probably was a contributing factor as to why Sungyoon and Tim had been hurt so badly.

Tim no longer complained after hearing Emily’s words and silently stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth. Sungyoon followed suit.

After the breakfast came to an end, the three of them sat on the sofa and drank coffee.

The fragrant smell of the coffee hit Sungyoon’s nose. He took a sip.

It wasn’t as good as the coffee on Earth, but he could taste the unique bitterness on his tongue.

‘It's amazing how much things have changed.’

In the past, he had been very anxious about the prices of goods on the Moon. So he had lived the life of a beggar up here. But the remnants of those days were nowhere to be seen. It was as if they had never happened.

The coffee and the breakfast they just ate were eye-poppingly expensive. However, Sungyoon could afford to spend that much with the profit he brought in.

“When should we go?”

Emily spoke as she placed her coffee cup on the table. They were scheduled to receive their rewards for saving Princess Grace today, so they had to visit the British consulate.

“I’m not sure. They didn’t give us an exact time, just a date. Why don’t we head out after we finish our coffee?”

“Let’s do that.”

Tim agreed with Sungyoon’s suggestion. It wasn’t something they had to mull over in a serious manner anyway. So they moved to other topics.

After a short amount of time had passed, Sungyoon’s party left for their destination.

The British consulate was situated in the same region as the other embassies.

But Sungyoon’s company building was placed near the outer edges of the city, so they had to walk a good amount.

The party arrived at two in the afternoon.

They caught sight of the building with the Union Flag hanging overhead.

However, they couldn’t immediately enter the British Consulate. A scuffle was occurring at the front gate.

Two security guards were blocking an irate man, who was yelling out loud.

“Bring out the person in charge, you sons of bitches!”

The man looked like he could turn violent, and the security guards had their hands full.

It seemed this irate man was a Connector, and the two security guards were normal humans. It was the reason why the security guards were having so much trouble.

Sungyoon’s party watched the scene from a short distance away.

“Ah!”

Emily let out an exclamation.

“Isn’t he that person? The one that cussed out at Ms. Taylor when she suggested we all fight together. He was the first one to leave the labyrinth.”

“… You are right.”

Tim took a careful look at the Connector and recognized him. Sungyoon also finally remembered who this person was.

It seemed the man became aware of their presence too. He had subconsciously glanced at Sungyoon’s party when he had run past them in the labyrinth, so it seemed he remembered their faces. Soon, his face turned red from anger.

“You sons of bitches! Well met!”

Hequickly moved toward Sungyoon’s party. It seemed the target of his anger also included them.

When the man acted in a threatening manner, Emily hid behind Sungyoon. On the other hand, Tim’s face turned rigid as he took a step forward.

“What’s wrong?”

Emily became frightened, and Tim was ready to tussle irrespective of the situation.

That was why Sungyoon stepped forward as the representative of his party.

Tim, who was about to take a swing at the man, backed off.

“What’s wrong? You're really asking me what’s up, you bitch!”

Duhp-suhk!

The man grabbed Sungyoon’s collar. Tim wanted to rush forward, but Sungyoon stopped him by raising a hand.

“Yes. Why are you so angry at us?”

Sungyoon spoke with an emotionless voice and a blank expression.

This made the man angrier, andhisface crumpled further.

“You dipped out while everyone was being attacked by the monsters! Did you already forget that!”

‘I was wondering what this was all about.’

Sungyoon had never expected this man to place the blame at their feet.

He didn’t need to look back to see the expressions on Tim and Emily’s face. He could see it clearly in his mind. They probably felt the same way as him.

Sungyoon chose to explain everything in a calm manner.

“First, your group brought the monsters toward us. Do you remember that? Then, we told you that the monsters were capable of exiting the labyrinth. But you cussed us out and were the first one to run away. This created an excuse for everyone else to run out of the labyrinth.”

Sungyoon folded his arms.

“What more could we have done in that situation?”

“You should have gathered the other people by any means possible!”

As expected, it was like talking to a brick wall.

“I lost consciousness after I lost my arm there!”

He wondered why this man had not caused a ruckus at the time. It seemed he had fainted. But judging by the tone of his voice, Sungyoon discerned he wasn’t going to back off easily.

“What do you want?”

“What do you think he wants? He just wants to extort as much money as he can.”

Sungyoon hadn't spoken those words, and it wasn't the disgruntled man either. They all turned their faces toward the speaker.

A man was standing next to the security guards in front of the closed steel gates of the British consulate. He bowed with a flourish.

“Welcome.”

The man was Charlie Russell.