Moon's Labyrinths

The air started to get cold, and that time of the year when thin clothes couldn't stave off the cold arrived. In the morning, Sungyoon's mouth would breathe vapor. So he decided to dress Shinhae in winter clothes.

Jimin had already purchased a lot of clothes for Shinhae, and she had prepared them in the little girl's closet. The closet contained coats, paddings, jackets, and other outerwear. Either the clothes had fleece inside or they were thick.

Sungyoon was satisfied when he saw this, but he felt a bit down too. This meant that he had missed the opportunity to go shopping with Shinhae.

Shinhae stared into the fire blazing in the fireplace built into the wall.

The new house had come with a fireplace. It was merely an interior decoration since the floor of the house could be heated. However, they used it to roast some yams or sometimes turned it on for fun.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

Shinhae ran toward the interphone. When she saw who it was, she chirped like a bird as she ran to the door. When the door opened, the Ross siblings entered the house with large bags.

As if she had been aiming for the Olympic gold medal in diving, Shinhae jumped straight into Emily’s arms.

With a bright smile, Emily hugged Shinhae. She stumbled over short Korean phrases while conversing with Shinhae.

Tim picked up Emily's bag, left the two of them to catch up, and went to the kitchen where Sungyoon was present.

“We bought some party supplies.”

Tim sounded a bit sad. He kept glancing at Emily and Shinhae. It seemed he was very disappointed by the fact that Shinhae hadn’t greeted him.

“Is it my face?”

Tim rubbed his face.

He was a 190 cm tall, muscular man. His mere presence was enough to intimidate others, and Shinahe was no exception.

A man as big as a gorilla was looking at Emily and Shinhae as if he were a wet puppy. Sungyoon chuckled at the scene.

Soon, the others entered the house too.

Jimin, Grace, and Jiyoon came in that order. Shinhae ran and jumped into each woman’s arms. As everyone laughed and hugged Shinhae, Tim’s face continued to turn glum.

In the living room, they conversed with each other, while Sungyoon cooked the meat.

It also came to Shinhae’s notice that the Ross siblings had bought party hats. Shinhae wore the first one and placed the next on top of Sungyoon’s head. Then, with an eager expression, Shinhae looked at the others.

Everyone laughed as they lowered their heads to make it easier for Shinhae.

Tim liked the fact that Shinhae had put the hat over his head. He readjusted the strings and asked Sungyoon.

“Are you going to be on standby in three days?”

“Yes. I’ll start on the weekdays. I’ll have to go to the standby location.”

“Don’t you have a helicopter here?”

“Helicopter? There’s the one from the government, but it's parked at the standby location.”

Emily’s eyes turned round. Tim and Grace also looked surprised.

Sungyoon and Jimin had no idea why the three were reacting this way.

Tim opened his mouth first.

“You don’t use a private helicopter, Mr. Sungyoon?”

“Private helicopter?”

After earning a lot of money, Sungyoon had bought an excellent car. However, he had never thought about using a helicopter as his private means of transportation.

“Since you have a large backyard, wouldn’t it be better if you had a helicopter back there? You can hire three pilots, and they can take turns so there is a pilot always on standby. When the government calls on you, you can go straight to the site. It's better than going to the waiting room and doing nothing. You can stay at home, and it won’t cost too much to maintain such a system.”

It wouldn’t cost that much to buy a helicopter. However, along with it, Sungyoon would need a landing field and three pilots on retainer. Moreover, he would have to pay maintenance fees.

However, high rank Connectors made massive sums of money, and they could afford that expense. Of course, Sungyoon was one of those Connectors now.

“You're right. I never thought about it.”

Jimin acknowledged the point.

“Or, the company can buy it and offer its service to Mr. Sungyoon. I’m sure there are some in Korea that travel by helicopters. I’ll look it up.”

Jimin took out her smartphone and sent some messages.

Helicopter!

It was an item that she had never thought about owning, but she had immediately accepted the suggestion.

Unlike the others, Sungyoon was a bit speechless as he drank his alcohol. It had been a while since he had felt this disparate sensation of how he viewed the world differently than others.

“Dad! Is a helicopter is going to come to our house?”

Of course, that disparate feeling vanished when Sungyoon saw the twinkle in Shinhae’s eyes.

“Do you want to ride a helicopter with dad later?”

Shinhae’s eyes overflowed with joy.

***

When her father mentioned that she would be able to ride a helicopter, Shinhae became excited and more active.

She continued to eat cooked meat and drink soda. However, it seemed time was her enemy, and when the short hand of the clock hit ten, her eyelids started to droop and she nodded off.

“This little rascal. She didn’t even wash her face.”

Sungyoon gently picked up Shinhae and placed her on her bed. He kissed her on her forehead, then carefully closed the door.

Afterward, the drinking party became a bit more subdued.

It wasn’t a bad thing. However, Shinhae had been the life of the party, so her absence temporarily brought down the mood.

“Is she sleeping?”

“Yes. She’s completely knocked out.”

Sungyoon answered Jimin’s question as he got back into his seat.

His shot glass already contained clear soju, and he drank it in one go. He then chewed on a piece of meat. Since Shinhae wasn't here, they started talking about more adult topics.

“What did your father say?”

Sungyoon spoke as he looked at Jiyoon, who was carefully cutting the burnt edges off the meat with a scissor. She raised her head.

“He’s mulling over it, but he's leaning toward accepting it.”

“It's to be expected. Many businessmen dream about leading a large company one day.”

“Are you really sure my father will be ok for the job?”

She put down the tongs and scissors and looked at Sungyoon with worry in her eyes.

Her father's company and the company that Sungyoon was trying to buy were very different in scale.

However, Jimin's words calmed some of Jiyoon’s worries.

“We aren’t asking your father because we are close to you, Ms. Jiyoon. We’ve done our research on him, and we believe that he is fully capable of leading a large company. Of course, he’ll need help in the beginning, and we’ll provide the moonstones to him.”

Jiyoon felt a bit better after hearing Jimin, and her complexion brightened.

“Please tell him I would like to meet him. I have some time to spare for the near future.”

Jiyoon nodded at Sungyoon’s request.

As the drinking party moved farther along, the participants became drunk. Everyone was downing drinks as if it were water. The smell of alcohol thickened in the air whenever they exhaled.

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings as he got a hold of his tipsy mind. All of them looked drunk, but they weren’t letting the alcohol rule over them.

“When you go to the standby location, I’ll look out for Shinhae. The helicopter won't get shipped the next day just because we order one.”

Jimin poured the hard liquor over a couple of ice cubes as she spoke. She kept tasting the liquor with her tongue as she waited for the right taste.

Unlike her, Tim forgot the use of a cup. He just drank straight from the bottle and looked at Sungyoon.

“Does Shinhae really stay by herself when you go to the Moon, Mr. Sungyoon?”

“It can’t be helped. Thankfully, Ms. Jimin and Ms. Jiyoon take good care of her, so she doesn't get lonely. Because of them, I can relax when it comes to Shinhae.”

Sungyoon nodded toward the two women.

Jimin shrugged it off as if it were nothing, while Jiyoon looked a bit put on the spot, but she then laughed as she received Sungyoon’s thanks.

Tim’s beard was growing in again, so he rubbed his chin as he spoke.

“Still, it would be better if she had a mother who could live at home and look out for her. Do you ever think about getting remarried?”

Sungyoon had been betrayed by his wife, and he had recently witnessed that ex-wife being killed. Therefore, when she heard Tim speak of such matters, Emily’s eyes turned fierce and she thought of elbowing him.

“I do. I've keenly felt the need for it in recent days.”

It was as if time had stopped.

Jimin had been about to drink her liquor infused with ice. Emily had been about to hit Tim. Jiyoon had been flipping the meat to keep it from burning. Grace had been languidly pouring wine into her cup. All of them came to a stop.

Tim was the only one who couldn’t pick up on the general mood of the group, so he nodded. As he did so, he winked toward Emily as if to ask how she felt.

Emily deflated a bit as she put down her elbow.

Tim continued to speak.

“Mmm. I guess that's preferable. Do you have a type when it comes to remarriage?”

The room turned so silent that even the sound of a pin dropping would be like the roar of an explosion. Everyone focused on Sungyoon’s words.

“I don’t care about looks or abilities. I don’t care about personality either. I just want someone who will take care of Shinhae as a daughter.”

Time continued to move.

The four women didn’t move an inch, but they were deep in thought. The only movement came when they kept glancing at the room where Shinhae was sleeping.

Tim smirked when he saw how the women reacted. He refilled Sungyoon’s cup.

“In some ways, that's a very troublesome requirement.”

How many women in the world could truly love someone else's daughter like their own?

“That's a problem.”

“However, I’m sure your answer is closer than you think.”

Tim put down the hard liquor and gestured toward the women with his eyes. All four were deep in thought, so they didn’t catch it.

Sungyoon’s expression turned peculiar.

‘He knows.’

It was to be expected. The women weren’t shy in expressing their interest in Sungyoon, and even if Sungyoon wasn’t interested in them, it was inevitable that he would notice.

‘If she plays her cards right, my sister might truly find love.’

Tim was pleased. He picked up a full cup and insisted on clinking glasses with Sungyoon.

***

The two-week vacation went by quickly. It was time for the Connectors to take up their assigned duties from their respective countries. Sungyoon left his house early in the morning to travel to the standby location.

He was assigned a room, and it had the same structure as the room from his previous stay.

Sungyoon lay down in his bed and rooted through his pocket to take out something.

‘What kind of Gem is this?’

Before he had entered this room, an administrator had given him this Gem. It was the Gem that he had found on the labyrinth floor in the mission against the ambushers.

The blood on the Gem had been wiped clean, and its smooth faceted surface reflected light. The Device that had come along with this Gem had been donated to the lab since it was irreparably damaged.

‘They have no idea what it is?’

The blood on the Gem had been sent to the lab as a sample, but the researchers hadn’t checked the ability of the Gem since Sungyoon had its ownership.

It was a Gold rank special ability Gem. In the past, Sungyoon would have been excited to possess it, but the rank was mediocre to him now.

Still, the Gem's ability could be good.

‘I hope it isn’t like the Gems from those bastards.’

The Connectors who Jaeho had hired to ambush Sungyoon had died by Sungyoon’s hands, so Sungyoon had received their Gems and Device.

However, neither Sungyoon nor his comrades kept those items for themselves.

Those items were too low in rank. Most of them were Silver rank Gems, and a few were Gold Gems. Moreover, these Gems were mostly weapons and armor. It was almost respectful and foolhardy that those Connectors had tried to ambush Sungyoon with these Gems.

No, they probably never imagined Sungyoon to have become so powerful in a short time of time.

Emily and Grace had been the first ones to lose interest in these Gems and Devices. Tim had also declined since he had better Gems. Since all of them were starting to hit the limit on how many Gems they could use, they had to be picky now.

Sungyoon also didn’t see anything that he really wanted.

If there were other types of weapons, it might be a different story. However, Sungyoon already possessed the same types of weapons as the ones in the Gems. Still, he planned on evolving them to their fullest potential, so he had stored them in the company.

Sungyoon placed the Gold Gem in his hands into his brooch type Device.

‘I’m pretty sure this place has a training facility.’

He was about to test out the ability of the Gem when the alarm rang.