Moon's Labyrinths

“Thank you for everything . ”

Soobin said goodbye before he left the room . In truth, he didn’t want to offer his thanks . He just wanted to cuss the man out, but he had held himself back . It was useless to speak such words . Nothing would change . He dejectedly walked down the corridor .

He went over the conversation he just had .

‘I’m sorry to say this, but... . ’

The man was careful when he had begun to speak . He had made it look like the words he was about to utter were very difficult for him to say . However, Soobin didn’t fail to see the feeling of annoyance and dismissal flash in the man’s eyes .

‘It seems our company will no longer continue our relationship with Mr . Soobin . It’ll be difficult for us to extend your contract . ’

Although he had expected this, when he heard the actual words, all thoughts left his mind .

It had taken him a very long time to clear the Beginner’s Labyrinth, but he had done it . He thought they would give him more opportunities to prove himself . No, he hoped they would give him more opportunities .

However, such opportunities weren’t granted to him . Maybe, all this had been decided earlier . After he had cleared the Beginner’s Labyrinth, the company hadn’t talked to him about the Personal Labyrinth at all .

He walked towards the break room . He wanted to calm himself by drinking some bitter coffee .

“I heard he’s going to be fired . ”

He had been about to open the door when his hand froze . He heard voices from the break room .

“Who?”

“Kim Soobin . ”

They were talking about him . By the sound of their voices, they were fellow Connectors .

“Ah! Finally?”

“Yes . I overheard the company employees talking about it yesterday . ”

“It can’t be helped . His skills are a bit subpar . Of course, they wouldn’t want to extend his contract . ”

He let go of the doorknob he had been holding . The conversation continued .

“In the first place, he’s only a 1st Gen Connector . The fact that he is affiliated with our company is laughable . ”

“His growth rate was amazing in the beginning . It was why our company had given him a contract . It was a gamble . Also, there are many cases where children of the Connectors enter into the company their parents were affiliated with . Our company was probably thinking more about his children . However, he met his limit so early . They can’t even expect much from his future children either . They are washing their hands of him . ”

Soobin was clenching his fists so hard that his fingernails started digging into his flesh . It was a wonder that he wasn’t bleeding .

As soon as he became able to activate a Green Gem, he had signed a contract with this company . He had been confident . He believed the road to his future would be smooth and easy . However, he had been wrong . Although his Gem rank had risen quickly making a large company interested in him, he had already reached his limit at that point .

“He rose to Green rank quickly, but that was his limit . Also, the quantity of magical energy possessed by him is low . If he uses the Green rank Gem, he can’t simultaneously use a large number of other Gems . He’s just a prototypical 1st Gen Connector who happened to grow a little bit faster . Of course, it is unreasonable to expect the company to extend his contract . ”

He could hear them laugh . It was clearly a laugh filled with derision .

He thought about the party of his ex-president that he had met not too long ago . There was a large distance between the two tables, so the two parties hadn’t talked to each other . However, Soobin had the excellent hearing of a Connector . He was able to listen in on their conversation .

They had been laughing at him too .

“Didn’t they say another person like Kim Soobin has appeared?”

“Ah! I heard about him . Our company is showing interest in him . I think he is with a company called ‘Jungbum’?”

Jungbum! He knew that company . No, it was more than that . He had once been affiliated with that company . Soobin’s eyes twitched .

“They want to sign another 1st Gen Connector? Are they trying to repeat their mistake?”

“He isn’t the same . This person is much better than Kim Soobin . He cleared the Beginner’s Labyrinth in less than a year . ”

He thought about his ex-president’s party . He remembered seeing an Asian man amongst them . He must be the main character of this rumor .

He felt jealous . He felt a sense of inferiority . He wanted to erase that man’s existence from this world .

However, he couldn’t do anything . He couldn’t even enter the break room . Soobin walked away .

* * *

Jimin woke up from her sleep . There was a glazed look in her eyes, and they couldn’t focus . So she blinked . In the end, her vision cleared up . She still should’ve been feeling the after-effects of sleep, yet that wasn’t the case . She was lively for a person that had just woken up . She felt as if she could do anything right now .

She felt that good .

She picked up the handphone on her desk . Hesitating for a moment, she launched the SNS app .

『I turned down the scout . 』

A short text appeared on the screen . The text was lacking any thoughtfulness . The unremarkable text had simply been sent to deliver information . However, it was like a love letter that was whispering sweet nothing to her . She smiled as she read it .

He had been her biggest source of worry . She no longer had to worry about Sungyoon being scouted away from her company . He would continue to be contracted under Jimin’s company, and he would continue working towards entering the Great Labyrinth . When she came to this realization, she couldn’t remain in her room . She once again started to move in a lively manner .

She left her handphone as she exited her room . Chelsea had come back late, so she was still asleep . She got ready and went to her company . She didn’t have much work to do, but this fact didn’t stop her from coming to work early . She wanted to do everything in her power to help Sungyoon right now .

After she arrived at her office, it didn’t take her too long to finish all her work . Since there was no work to do, she started making preparations for the future . A fire had been lit within her .

A call arrived . Jimin looked at the display of her handphone . It was an unknown number .

“Yes . I am Hahn Jimin from Jungbum . ”

She picked up the call . However, no one spoke on the other side of the phone .

“Hello?”

Was it a prank call? She spoke one more time . Finally, she heard the caller speak .

[... president . It’s me . ]

In the beginning, Jimin couldn’t recall who the caller was . He hadn’t revealed his name, just said, ‘It’s me’ . It seemed that he was someone she knew well, but the voice didn’t ring any bell . However, Jimin deduced the identity of the caller . She had a good idea who it was . Her emotion was a clue . There was only one person that made her feel creeped out when he called her president .

She wanted to hang up immediately, but Jimin did her best not to follow through with that desire .

“... why are you calling me?”

Jimin pushed down on the urge to cuss him out . She spat out his name .

“Mr . Kim Soobin . ”

He had received all the support she could offer, yet he had thrown her away like some old pair of shoes . He was the trash that had moved to a different company . At the time, Jimin had called him to make him reconsider . He had sounded annoyed as he proceeded to block her number . That man was calling her right now .

[How have you been?]

“I’m doing very good . However, I feel like I’m in the dumps because I heard your voice . ”

She didn’t cuss him out, but she didn’t plan on hiding the negative emotions she was feeling either . Jimin did her best to make digs at him .

Soobin didn’t speak for a brief moment . Either he was taken aback by her digs at him, or he was trying to control his anger . She didn’t know which was true, but it didn’t matter . She didn’t want to know .

[I really wronged you before . ]

He apologized in a barely audible voice .

“Is that so? Truthfully, I don’t want your apology . If you have no other business with me, I’m going to hang up . ”

[W . . . wait a moment!]

She had been about to end the call, but Soobin desperately yelled out .

“What is it? Just talking to you is getting on my nerves . Hurry up and tell me your business with me . ”

[I...]

Jimin’s eyebrows started to rise as Soobin continued to hesitate . Her patience was running out, so she was about to press the disconnect button .

[... could you contract me once again?]

She heard something unbelievable . She suddenly felt drained . Her brain was reacting slowly . It couldn’t tell if the ridiculous words she just heard right now were real or not .

[I’m prepared to attempt the Great Labyrinth . I know you really wanted that . I heard the Connector affiliated with the president’s company is doing quite well . If I work with him, wouldn’t your goal be achieved more easily? Even if that fellow gets scouted, you’ll still have me . ]

She neither felt the desire to scream or cuss him out . An extremely cold expression appeared on her face .

“I don’t need you . ”

She spoke a single sentence . It was enough . She no longer needed to speak to him any further . She didn’t want to cuss him out . She didn’t want to talk to him . Soobin was about to say something, but she ignored him . She hung up on him .

‘I wondered why he would call me!’

Did he think she was such a pushover? She almost felt insulted .

Her handphone rang once again . It was that damned bastard . Jimin didn’t even hesitate as she ended the call, and then, she blocked Soobin’s handphone number .

She didn’t care where things stood with him . She didn’t want to know what made him change his mind . She didn’t want to know . She had been on cloud nine when Sungyoon had turned down the scout . Now she felt her mood sour .

The desire to work was gone now . Jimin once again picked up her handphone and launched the SNS app . She read the message sent by Sungyoon . The darkness, which was suffocating her heart, fell away . Her anger fell away, and warmth returned to her cold expression .

She kept looking at the message until she felt the desire to work rise again .

* * *

Sungyoon was hugging Shinhae at the Naro Space Center . He was about to head back to the moon, and this was basically a ritual that must be kept . If he didn’t keep this ritual, he wondered if his luck would be cut in half . This was how much he really believed in this ritual .

“Take care and be well . Alright?”

“Yes . ”

Shinhae nodded, and Sungyoon hugged her once again . Then, he raised his head and looked at the people who had come to see him off . As always, Jimin came here with Shinhae . Then there was Chelsea . She hadn’t returned to the United States yet .

“Please take care of her . ”

“Please don’t worry about her . ”

“I’ll take care of her, too, while I’m still in Korea . ”

Jimin and Chelsea spoke . After he finished hugging her, he sent his daughter to the two women .

Shinhae approached Jimin, and she pulled on Jimin’s clothes . It seemed it was some kind of a signal, and Jimin brought something out from her handbag . It was a small rectangular item wrapped in a pretty wrapping paper .

The little girl took the item from Jimin and went toward Sungyoon .

“Dad! Here!”

Shinhae’s small hands presented the item to him .

“Huh? What is this?”

Since his daughter was giving it to him, he took it .

“Present . ”

“Present?”

“Yes!”

Shinhae laughed as she spoke . She looked proud of herself .

“I am so thankful to you, dad . I bought it using my New Year’s money . Jimin unni helped me . ”

Sungyoon froze . His eyes were fixed on the little square-shaped present in his hands . He choked up . It didn’t matter what it was . Any father would become moved when receiving a present from his daughter . This was doubly so for Sungyoon, who was an absolute idiot for Shinhae .

Hug!

When he came to his senses, he was already hugging Shinhae .

“Thank you very much . ”

He was barely able to squeeze out those words with his trembling voice . Even if the present was leftover chicken bones, Sungyoon would consider it more precious than any high-priced items .

“I want to thank you too, Ms . Jimin . ”

Jimin just let out a light laugh when Sungyoon offered his thanks .

If it were up to him, he wanted to feel Shinhae’s warmth in his arms forever . However, that wasn’t possible . Sungyoon let go of his hug .

“Dad will open this later, and I’ll be sure to tell you my thoughts on it . ”

Sungyoon put the present deep into the bag he carried .

“Go to the unnis now . ”

Shinhae listened to her father . She once again moved to the side of Jimin and Chelsea . Sungyoon waved towards them .

“Come back quickly, dad!”

As he waved his hand, Sungyoon’s smile was brighter than ever before .