Moon's Labyrinths

Chapter 55

Chapter 55


Chapter 55



“You shouldn’t yell out so loudly in this place . It isn’t dignified . ”


The name of the lady who had spoken was Hahn Aiin . She had long hair, and a solemn air surrounded her . The bubbly bobbed-hair woman was named Yoo Hweeyoung, whom Hahn Aiin was scolding .


“So what? This place is noisy anyways . Also, I wasn’t that loud . ”


“It was loud enough . The fact that others are loud doesn’t give you the right to be loud also . ”


Suddenly, the two women started a light verbal sparring . Jimin let out a bitter laughter .


‘The two of them haven’t changed at all . ’


They bickered with each other, but it looked like playful banter between close friends . Even though both women had opposite personalities, they didn’t clash . They supplemented each other’s shortcomings, and they had looked after Jimin’s father Jungb.u.m in the past . They were the ideal mothers in her mind . They were completely different from her real mother . She thought about these two step mothers that were standing in front of her .


‘If these two were my real mothers . . . ’


It was a sentiment she had felt all through her childhood . This feeling once again quietly washed over her like a rising tide . At that moment, she felt a small hand tug at her clothes .


“Huh?”


Jimin turned towards the direction where her clothes were being tugged . s.h.i.+nhae looked a bit shy as she looked toward Hweeyoung and Aiin . The two of them also picked up on s.h.i.+nhae’s presence, and they turned their gaze towards the child .


“What’s wrong, s.h.i.+nhae?”


“Unni . ”


s.h.i.+nhae pointed towards the two ladies .


“These aj—”


Suddenly, s.h.i.+nhae closed her mouth . She placed her hand over her mouth . She was deep in thought as she directed her gaze towards Jimin, who looked at her in puzzlement .


‘Unni hated it when I called her ajumma, right?’


She was about to ask who these ajummas were . However, she remembered the incident where Jimin had really hated being called ajumma . s.h.i.+nhae once again turned towards the two ladies . They looked a bit older, but they were very pretty . They were on that borderline of being called ajumma or unni, and for s.h.i.+nhae, it was an ambiguous situation .


But she firmed her resolve as she opened her mouth .


“Who are these unni?”


s.h.i.+nhae made the best possible choice by choosing that word .


Hweeyoung and Aiin looked surprised . s.h.i.+nhae wondered if she had chosen wrong, and she shrank back a little bit . Soon, s.h.i.+nhae’s body was rocked .


“Kyaaa! What the heck? Unni? Did you just call me unni?”



Hweeyoung suddenly hugged s.h.i.+nhae . She didn’t care if s.h.i.+nhae had spaghetti sauce around her lips and started to rub her face against the child’s cheek . The little girl did not know what was going on . If she were a cartoon character, her eyes would have been spinning at this moment .


“Jimin! Who is this kid? I don’t know who she is, but her parents taught her well!”


Jimin could only let out an awkward laughter . Age was a topic that had a profound effect on women . It was especially true that after a certain age, women became really happy when one told them they looked young . Hweeyong and Aiin were starting to feel their age, and the feeling of getting old was coming on stronger in recent days . That was why s.h.i.+nhae’s words were sweeter than honey to them .


‘This is the result of me reinforcing the word unni to her . ’


Jimin correctly guessed s.h.i.+nhae’s inner thoughts . However, she felt a complicated emotion . She had put in a lot of effort so she could hear the term unni from s.h.i.+nhae . But now she was also lumped in with these women .


“Look! Isn’t this kid really cute?”


Hweeyoung showed s.h.i.+nhae to Aiin . The child was being swung around by Hweeyoung like a doll, and Aiin could see that the girl was overwhelmed . Aiin let out a sigh, and she lightly slapped Hweeyoung’s hand .


“You are causing a lot of trouble for the little girl . ”


“Oh my! Really?”


Finally, Hweeyoung let go of s.h.i.+nhae . s.h.i.+nhae shook her head a couple times to recover her senses, and then she immediately jumped down from the chair . She ran to Jimin’s side . She hid behind Jimin as she warily watched Hweeyoung .


“Look what you did . ”


Hweeyoung could not respond to Aiin’s admonition . She just smacked her lips .


“You lose all control when someone talks about your age . What kind of clothes are you wearing? Do you think you are in your 20s?”


Hweeyoung’s clothes were clearly something the younger generation commonly wore . However, it wasn’t as indecent as Aiin made it out to be . She looked vivacious, yet she didn’t look cheap . At the end of the day, she wore clothes that suited her . She still retained most of her beauty from her youth, so these clothes looked very good on her .


“What is wrong about a woman that is sensitive to her age? Also, you have to work harder as you get older . If not, you’ll age faster . If I wore drab clothes like you, I’ll look much older . ”


Hweeyoung wiped away the spaghetti sauce on her cheek, and she shot some sharp words towards Aiin .


At a glance, one could see that Aiin was wearing conservative clothes . Her clothes were unadorned and modest . However, this didn’t mean her clothes were bland . Her individual fas.h.i.+on style shone through the conservative clothes . These types of clothes looked great for her since she had an elegant look .


In the end, the verbal sparring started again . Jimin had experienced this countless times, so she stopped paying attention to it . They fought like cats, but they always made up . In the end, they laughed with each other as if the argument never happened . They shared a husband, so they were supposed to be in compet.i.tion . They could be called rivals in love, but the two women had overcome that . They had become close friends, and they built up their friends.h.i.+p over time . In some ways, their bickering was an expression of familial love .


While Jimin waited for the light verbal sparring to die down, she tried to soothe s.h.i.+nhae . Jimin smiled as she wiped away the sauce around s.h.i.+nhae’s lips . She explained that the two women weren’t scary people . s.h.i.+nhae had been specially suspicious of Hweeyoung . However, she accepted Jimin’s explanation and returned to her seat .


“Who’s kid is this?”


Hweeyoung stealthily sat next to s.h.i.+nhae, and her eyes shone .


“She isn’t your daughter, right?”


There was a playful light in Hweeyoung’s eyes . She knew it wasn’t true, yet she knew she had found a way to tease Jimin .


Aiin looked at Hweeyoung as if she was pathetic . She sat between Jimin and Hweeyoung, and she looked on with question in her eyes .


“She’s not . She is the daughter of someone that was hired by my company . ”


“Company?”


Hweeyoung’s face stiffened a little bit, and the light in Aiin’s eyes also subsided a little bit .


“Are you still doing that?”


“Yes . ”


Jimin looked away as she answered Aiin’s question .


She really respected these two women, but she didn’t like talking about this topic with them . The two women were the main opponents of her plan to create a company and find Jungb.u.m .


In the beginning, Jimin couldn’t believe it . She wondered if these two women were like her mother . It made her wonder if they married her father for his money . However, as time pa.s.sed, her company wasn’t going as well as she hoped . But even though these two women weren’t related to her by blood, they continued to pour unending love towards her . It made her realize that she had been wrong .


They truly were worried only for her .


“It’s fine . This is the last one . ”


This was why Jimin no longer wanted them to worry . She told them about her decision .


“Last?”


Hweeyoung asked in surprise .


“Yes . I came to the conclusion that my work is useless, and I’m starting to run out of money . ”


Finally…


She was barely able to squeeze out the words that she had accepted not too long ago .


Hweeyoung and Aiin stared into Jimin’s eyes . It was as if they were searching her soul . Jimin’s shoulders hunched a little bit . It was like the times in her childhood when she did something wrong . She remembered them scolding her in this fas.h.i.+on . It didn’t matter how old one was . Most children became nervous under the scrutiny of their mother . It was a natural reaction .


“Alright . If that’s your choice, I’m glad to hear it . ”


Hweeyoung no longer scrutinized Jimin, but it didn’t sound like Hweeyoung had accepted her answer . In fact, the atmosphere around them became heavier .


“Is that what you really want?”


This time the question came from the other side . Aiin was looking at Jimin with calm eyes, but her daughter had shut her mouth . The silence continued for a bit .


“Don’t be mean to unni!”


A very cute voice broke the silence . Three pairs of eyes simultaneously landed on s.h.i.+nhae . s.h.i.+nhae had balled up her hands into cute fists, and she was glaring at Hweeyoung and Aiin . A mere 5 year old was glaring at them . Instead of it being scary, her glare looked really cute .


“Jeez! Jimin’s bodyguard is really scary . ”


Hweeyoung’s shoulders shook from laughter, and Aiin also let out a small laugh .


Jimin silently held s.h.i.+nhae’s hand . Her small hand was warmer than ever before to Jimin .


“I’m fine, s.h.i.+nhae . ”


s.h.i.+hae’s wide eyes looked at Jimin .


“Are you ok? Aren’t these ajummas being mean to unni?”


“A . . . ajum…!”


Hweeyoung’s mouth fell open . In a flash, she had fallen in cla.s.s from unni to ajumma . Hweeyoung read s.h.i.+nhae’s body language, and she realized that s.h.i.+nhae was showing signs of never using the term unni for them .


“If you can’t really accept his death, you can continue your work . If you really are out of money, we’ll support you . ”


Jimin turned to look at Aiin . Aiin’s words had been really unexpected . However, she hadn’t misheard . At Aiin’s words, Hweeyoung nodded her head in agreement .


“Didn’t both of you oppose my work of finding father?”


“We opposed it . ”


Hweeyoung spoke .


“It was obvious that you’ll go through much hards.h.i.+p . ”


It was a th.o.r.n.y path . The moon was teeming with monsters, so there was no way it would be easy to find a missing person there .


“At the time, you hadn’t accepted his death, and we weren’t showing any signs of looking for him . In your eyes, you probably thought us to be cold . However, your father had accepted the incredible risk that came with his work . There was an understanding that he might never come back to us, and we were ready for it . He told us to consider him dead if he didn’t come back for a long time . ”


Jimin could hear sadness in Hweeyoung’s words .


“Your younger siblings are Connectors . They’ve experienced the danger of being a Connector . They felt it to their bones . This was why they were able to easily accept your father’s death . That is why all of us tried to stop you . We didn’t want you to live under the shadow of his death . We hated the idea of it crus.h.i.+ng you . ”


“… so why are you offering money after so long a time?”


Jimin understood the feelings of her mothers now . She could understand the feelings of her siblings . However, she couldn’t stop it . A little bit of animosity entered into her voice .


“We never expected you to look for him for so long . ”


The one to answer was Aiin .


“You were persistent, and you didn’t stop looking for him for the past couple years . This might sound ironic, but we felt very thankful towards you . If you thought we were watching your venture with discontentment, you were mistaken . ”


Aiin let out a gentle smile as she spoke to Jimin .


“There is no way we could hate a child that is working so hard to find the remnants of our husband . ”


At that moment, Aiin’s face was filled with love towards her husband, and it overflowed with affection towards Jimin . It was the same for Hweeyoung . The animosity, which had taken hold in the corner of her heart, melted away when she heard Aiin’s words .


“That is why you should ask for support from us anytime you need it . We can’t fund everything, but we can help you up to a point . You should continue your work until you are satisfied . ”


“… thank you very much, mother . ”


She was so thankful for their care and affection . Jimin subconsciously lowered her head .


“However, I’m fine . Money is a problem, but in truth, I’m really tired . I can’t hold on to this for the rest of my life . ”


“Is that so?”


The two of them didn’t say anything . They didn’t praise her or berate her . They did nothing . They silently listened to what Jimin had to say .


“See? You saw us make up with Jimin unni . Can you call me unni again?”


It seemed Hweeyoung was trying to lighten the mood by speaking to s.h.i.+nhae . Aiin, who had been anxious, facepalmed at Hweeyoung’s antics . Jimin couldn’t hold back a bitter laughter .


s.h.i.+nhae looked back and forth between Hweeyoung and Jimin .


“Did you guys make up?”


“Yes . We made up! We made up!”


“You won’t be mean to unni again?”


“Yes, yes! We won’t be mean!”


s.h.i.+nhae once again looked towards Jimin . Jimin gave a small nod .


“Yes . Ok, unni . ”


“Kyaaaaa!”


As soon as she was called unni, Hweeyoung hugged s.h.i.+nhae . The little body of the child was shaken like a rag doll in Hweeyoung’s embrace .


“Stop it! You are embarra.s.sing me!”


In the end, Aiin slapped Hweeyoung’s back hard with the palm of her hand .