Moon's Labyrinths

Chapter 30

Chapter 30


Chapter 30



Tuh-buhk!


When his foot came down on the surface, the sound of his footsteps rang out . It sounded louder than usual .


After he went into the second floor, he found that it didn’t differ much from the first floor . The place was pitch black, and cold walls surrounded him . There was a silence that made one s.h.i.+ver, and the path branched off into different tunnels .


No, there was something different . It was minor, but he could feel it against his skin . The magical energy had become a bit more dense . It seemed the amount of magical energy had increased . But the difference was so small that he wondered if he was imagining it .


Sungyoon started to search for monsters . He wandered around the second floor like a hungry predator looking for prey . As a precaution, he had placed his moonstones inside a plastic bag, and they rattled within his pack .


-Koo-roohk!


The first monster he ran across was a Mad Dog .


‘It seems the Mad Dog is going to be my first monster on the first and second floor . ’


Sungyoon had such thoughts as he watched the drooling Mad Dog . It had bared its teeth towards him .


‘If s.h.i.+nhae wants a pet, I’ll buy her a cat . I’m not buying her a dog . ’


Hamster and lizards were also off the table .


Sungyoon got into his familiar stance as he extended his s.h.i.+eld forward . Since he changed floors, he went back to being cautious in his hunt .


Fortunately, the attack pattern of the monsters hadn’t changed . The Mad Dog was beyond tenacious . It was borderline stupid as it tried to attack Sungyoon’s neck .


Puh-uhk!


He skillfully knocked down the Mad Dog with his s.h.i.+eld . Sungyoon furrowed his brows .


‘I’m definitely feeling more force on impact . ’


He felt electricity run up his arm . He had planned on immediately chasing down the Mad Dog, but he stopped .


Usually, the Mad Dogs on floor one shook their head to overcome their stunned state . This was also true for the Mad Dog on floor two . However, this version of the Mad Dog recovered from its stunned state at a surprising speed .


‘I’m only on the 2nd floor, yet it is so powerful . ’


In his mind, he had cleared the 1st floor quickly, so he had been confident in himself . This was clearly a disadvantageous situation for Sungyoon .


Still, a Mad Dog was a Mad Dog .


Pshook!


Sungyoon’s spear pierced through the Mad Dog’s head .


-Yip!


It still let out a yelp like a dog before it fell . When he retracted his spear, he watched the corpse change into a moonstone .


Toohk!


Sungyoon put away the Moonstone into the plastic bag . The bag became heavier by the new addition .



The difficulty level had clearly gone up, but he thought he would be able to handle it . Sungyoon started expanding his search radius with the stairway at the center .


Fortunately, this place had signs too . He wouldn’t get lost in trying to find the exit .


The frequency of his encounter with monsters went up compared to the 1st floor . It seemed the Big Rat didn’t nest on this floor . All six monsters he encountered were either a Mad Dog or Six-legged Lizard .


After killing his 3rd Mad Dog on the 2nd floor, he was about to move forward once again .


-Keek!


He heard the cry of a monster . Sungyoon quickly raised his s.h.i.+eld, and he looked toward the source of the sound .


A midsized monster was glaring at Sungyoon .


‘Needle Hedgehog!’


It looked as its name implied . It looked exactly like a hedgehog, and Sungyoon became tense when he saw it . It was his first time seeing it, but he knew its ident.i.ty . Its agility, power, and defensive capability was much lower than the Mad Dog . However, it was much more dangerous than the Mad Dog .


Its stiff quills were pointed towards Sungyoon .


Pshoook!


In a flash, a single needle was shot towards him .


Hweek!


Sungyoon twisted his body . The needle flew past him, and a frightening sound of destruction rang out .


He swallowed dryly as he looked at the Needle Hedgehog . He saw its red eyes and stiff quills .


This was why the Needle Hedgehog was more dangerous compared to any of the monsters he encountered up to that point .


‘Ranged attack . ’


It unilaterally attacked its enemy from a place where it couldn’t be attacked easily . Sungyoon would be put in a terrible situation if he wasn’t careful .


‘Is there any cover for me?’


Sungyoon observed his surroundings . Fortunately, he saw a 50 cm deep ditch not too far away . Sungyoon moved into that ditch .


Shook!


A needle shot past above his head . It felt like he was on a battlefield where guns were being used .


Fortunately, the monster could shoot only one needle at a time . This fact gave him comfort . If it shot its needles like a machine gun, he wouldn’t have been able to raise his head .


The needles kept shooting past above his head but running away wasn’t an option for him .


He’ll have to fight much stronger and dangerous monsters in the future . He had all the information about the monster available him . He couldn’t just run away, because the monster was capable of long ranged attacks .


Sungyoon observed the needle being shot towards him .


He could see it . When he became a Connector, his vision had developed to an astonis.h.i.+ng degree . His eyes could pick up the speedy needle .


He already knew he could do this . However, it surprised him when he experienced it for himself .


Sungyoon raised his body .


Shoohk!


The Needle Hedgehog remained in the same location as it kept shooting its needle .


‘Be calm . ’


Sungyoon twisted his body to dodge the needles . He slowly approached the Needle Hedgehog . Most of the needles were dodged, but he had to occasionally use his s.h.i.+eld to block a few needles . When the needle embedded itself in his wooden s.h.i.+eld, he could feel the destructive power behind it . It gave him chills, but he did his best to calm his heart . He continued to advance forward .


Then…


Kwah-jeek!


-Kek!


He stabbed his spear towards the Needle Hedgehog, who was desperately shooting its needles towards Sungyoon . It struggled as the spear embedded itself into the body of the Needle Hedgehog .


Shoohk!


In a flash, it shot another needle . Sungyoon had his hands full as he tried to hold onto his spear . He didn’t notice the needle being shot towards him .


Poohk!


He couldn’t dodge it . The needle flew past his s.h.i.+eld as it embedded itself in the right side of Sungyoon’s stomach . However, his hard leather armor did its job . The needle embedded itself into the armor, but it couldn’t damage Sungyoon .


It was a totally unexpected sequence of events for Sungyoon . He couldn’t come up with a coherent thought as he quickly stabbed with his spear .


-Koo-kek!


This time the spear blade found its mark . It pierced into the Needle Hedgehog’s neck . It let out a grotesque scream before it slumped to the floor .


For a moment longer, Sungyoon kept up his guard against the Needle Hedgehog . Finally, the Needle Hedgehog’s body turned into light . At that moment, Sungyoon dropped to the floor .


‘s.h.i.+t!’


He pulled out the needle from the armor, and he threw it on the ground . He was annoyed . If his heart was still beating, it would be pounding in his chest . It would be beating so hard that it would have felt as if his heart would jump out of his chest .


‘If I hadn’t worn my armor, it would have been really bad for me . ’


He suddenly felt thankful towards Jimin, who had purchased this armor for him . If he wasn’t wearing his armor, the needle would have pierced through his . . .


‘The hospital fee here is probably really expensive . ’


If he was injured, Jimin said he shouldn’t hesitate to go to the hospital . She told him not to worry about the cost of treatment . However, he considered the cost to be too burdensome to use the hospital . Above all else, he didn’t want to get injured .


‘I have to push through this . ’


He couldn’t back off, because he was frightened . He pounded his armor with his fist to encourage himself .


Still, he decided to be a bit more cautious . This place was full of deaths and injuries . Being cautious would work only up to a point .


Sungyoon picked up the moonstone . The only consolation was the fact that it dropped a bigger moonstone compared to the Mad Dog .


‘I’ll leave for the day . ’


This was the first time he had almost been seriously injured . He tried hard to push all his emotions down, but his hands were still shaking a little bit . In truth, he was a bit surprised that he hadn’t lost his will to fight .


He carried his rustling plastic bag as he backed out of the labyrinth without stopping . In the end, he exited the labyrinth without getting into much trouble


However, Sungyoon didn’t immediately head back to his sleeping place . It wasn"t too late yet, and he had to dispel the fear that had been instilled into his body even if it was by a small amount .


Boom!


Fear usually came back like a hammer swung at his heart . He had overcome his fears, but it wasn’t as if he was free of the fear . Still, many of the fears he had from his life were minimized when he came here .


The fear given to him by the Great Labyrinth had such weight .


Sungyoon ignored the desire to turn his head away . He stared straight at the Great Labyrinth .


‘Yes . I can’t be afraid right now . My goal is there . ’


Sungyoon looked at the Great Labyrinth as if he wanted to demolish it with his gaze . Sungyoon stood there for a while as he stared into the terrifying pitch-black maw .


* * *


After returning from s.p.a.ce, Jimin didn’t take a break . She went to work at her company . Even when she didn’t have any Connectors affiliated with her company, she had never taken a day off . Obviously, she wouldn’t rest when she had just one Connector contracted to her company .


‘This should wrap it up . ’


She was typing data into her computer . She was making plans . When Sungyoon went into a Personal labyrinth in the future, he would be able to acquire moonstones in earnest . She was gathering data for a company that’ll transport the moonstones to earth . She might not need this plan, and the probability of not needing this plan was high . Still, she would be ready .


Jimin stretched .


‘It is already this late . ’


The clock hand was already pointing at 8 . She got up from her desk as she got ready to leave work .


Flas.h.!.+


A light flashed outside of the window .


Afterwards . . .


Rumble!


A loud noise rang out . It sounded as if the sky was falling . Jimin approached the window, and she looked outside . Streaks of light illuminated the dark sky .


Gradually, she saw pools of waters form on the ground, and the winds caused waves to form in the puddles . This wasn’t regular rain . It was a fierce storm .


Was it because she was on the moon not too long ago? It had been awhile since she felt melancholy while watching the falling rain .


‘Didn’t he say that her name was s.h.i.+nhae?’


She suddenly thought about Sungyoon’s daughter . He had asked her to look after s.h.i.+nhae . After she came down from the moon, she had been busy with her work . She hadn’t thought about the child . However, she was done with her work for the day .


‘There should be no problem, but . . . ’


If something was wrong, the hired help would have contacted Jimin .


‘Still, I should visit her once . ’


She checked the time once again . While she was watching the rain, twenty minutes had pa.s.sed . At this hour, the child should be alone at home .


She exited her office . She got in her red foreign car, and she drove through the rain .


She was familiar with this road . In the first place, she had purchased the apartment that she had loaned out to Sungyoon . Of course, she knew where it was .


It didn’t take her too long to arrive at Sungyoon’s apartment . The apartment houses in this region were for the lower-income bracket, so all the cars in the parking lot were normal . Her red foreign car stuck out like a sore thumb .


Click!


Jimin opened her umbrella as she exited her car . She could see the porch of the apartments through the rain . It was still too early to sleep, so most of the porches had light leaking out from the windows . Sungyoon’s house was one of them .


Jimin entered the apartment complex, and she rode the elevator up to the floor where Sungyoon resided . She went up to the front door, and she rang the doorbell .


Ding dong!


The sound of a bell rang out . She put her hand down as she waited .


『Who is it?』


A young child’s voice could be heard through the intercom . Jimin pressed her face towards the camera of the intercom . Then she spoke .


“Are you s.h.i.+nhae?”


『…who are you, ajumma?』


The child sounded full of suspicion . Of course, the girl would be guarded when a strange woman had shown up in front of her house . She didn’t feel put off by it . However, the kid had called her ajumma . There were no ill intentions behind her words . In the eyes of a child, older women were all ajumma . Jimin knew this, but a small wound was left behind by that word .


Jimin spoke calmly .


“My name is Hahn Jimin . Unni is your dad’s colleague at work . Did your dad mention me?”


She emphasized the word ‘unni . ’ She couldn’t help it as a woman .


The intercom remained silent for a short moment .


『…I heard about you . 』


“That’s good . Your dad asked me to check up on you . Could you open the door for me?”


The intercom became silent once again . Soon, she heard an electronic beep that indicated the intercom was shut off .


In the end . . .


Click! Click!


Jimin heard the locks unlock . The thick steel door was pushed open, and she could see the small face of a child peek through the gap .


This was how s.h.i.+nhae and Jimin met for the first time .