Chapter 65
Chapter 65
‘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 . ”
“…s.h.i.+t!”
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 spa.r.s.e . 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 occurrs 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 s.h.i.+nhae 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 to 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 his spa.r.s.e belongings that he had brought from earth . Then he headed towards the s.p.a.ceport .
* * *
“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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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 embarra.s.sing 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 make up, 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 backwards . 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d . 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 b.i.t.c.h who used to be Sungyoon’s best friend .
“Uh . Sungyoon… No . Mr . . . Woo?”
Chelsea was careful with her words . She walked on eggsh.e.l.ls . 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 b.i.t.c.h . If he turned down her offer of friends.h.i.+p, he would be letting that b.a.s.t.a.r.d influence him . He didn’t want that b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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 s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, 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 to 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 gooseb.u.mps . ”
“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 step mothers . When he heard Hweeyoung’s complaint, he let out a laughter 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 cla.s.smates 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 laughter 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 thing 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 a.s.shole . 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 .