Chapter 28
Chapter 28
While Sungyoon was firming his resolve to enter into the labyrinth, Jimin was waiting for the spaceship she would have to board . Chelsea had come to see her off, so she stood next to her . Her hair was disheveled, and she was wearing large dorky glasses . The slightly stained lab coat was still one her, and it showed that her fashion sense remained the same .
“Send me a message when you get home, Jimin!
She gave Jimin a tight hug . Jimin’s space suit got in the way, but Chelsea didn’t care . There was clear disappointment in her eyes at the prospect of separating from Jimin .
“Yes, I’ll contact you . ”
Jimin returned a light hug .
“You should come up here occasionally, so you can buy your poor researcher some food!”
Jimin wondered why Chelsea hadn’t said anything about it, but Chelsea was Chelsea . She let out a sigh as she let go of the hug and pushed Chelsea away .
“Aht! You pushed me! It means you won’t be buying me any meals in the future!”
Chelsea struggled to glom onto Jimin again . However, Jimin remained unmoved .
“You can buy your own meals . ”
“How much do you think I make as a researcher?!”
Chelsea grumbled .
“I don’t have much money anymore . ”
Jimin acted as if she was searching her pockets . She was wearing a spacesuit, so she didn’t have any pockets . However, Chelsea got the message .
“…it’s because of your company?”
Chelsea spoke in a low voice as she asked the question . Her bright and energetic self was nowhere to be seen, and her face had turned serious .
Jimin shrugged .
“I was a young woman that had no prior business experience, yet I tried to enter into the biggest market where moonstones are acquired and traded . I was over my head . I thought I could somehow make it because I received a large inheritance from my father . ”
“If you set up the company to make money, I wouldn’t have said anything . I could accept your choices . ”
Chelsea’s sharp eyes cut into Jimin, but Jimin didn’t say anything .
“Jimin . While I resided in the Moon’s research facility, I saw a lot of Connectors . Their lives are closely intertwined with death . Most of them hate going into the labyrinths, but the magical energy of the Moon draws them in . Moreover, the cost of living is expensive here, so they need money . They must enter the labyrinth to live a decent life up here . A good portion of them greet their death here and can never make it out of the labyrinth . ”
It felt as if Jimin would be sucked into Chelsea’s blue eyes, but she didn’t turn away .
“Death occurs frequently amongst the Connectors . However, I don’t know much about the circumstances surrounding your father’s disappearance . I just know that he must have been a great man since you love him so much . However, I think you are being too reckless in sending all these Connectors into the labyrinths to find out whether your father is truly dead or not . If the father you love was here, he wouldn’t have wanted you to do this . ”
‘Ah ah! This again . ’
All her remaining family and friends had said the same thing to her . They said her father wouldn’t have wanted this . Her eyes showed a little bit of displeasure at Chelsea’s words .
However, she didn’t say anything, as she knew everyone that had told her these words treasured her . They said what they said, because they loved her . Moreover, they knew how the Connectors behaved . These words were only for her sake .
In the end…
“Don’t worry, Chelsea . ”
Jimin let out a small smile, but there was an unbelievable amount of sadness in that smile .
“He is the last one . I don’t have much money left . ”
Also, she was tired . She had been holding onto a thread of hope all this time . She was too tired to wait for a fairy-tale like miracle to occur .
Chelsea showed the exact opposite emotion from what she was feeling, and her face brightened .
“Yes! I see!”
Chelsea gave Jimin a tight hug .
“It’s fine . Your father would have understood . ”
Chelsea couldn’t stand to see her friend struggle like this . Maybe this was why she acted so bright in front of her .
Jimin could feel her friend’s worry for her, so she couldn’t say anything .
“Still, I’m still the president . Please look out for Mr . Sungyoon . ”
“You are referring to the person I met yesterday?”
Chelsea stepped back from Jimin, and she thought about Sungyoon, whom she had met yesterday .
Her first impression was simple . He was grim and brusque . That was it . He didn’t look like someone that liked to cooperate with others . He wasn’t the type of person she liked .
‘At the very least, he wasn’t hitting on us . ’
That was the one thing she liked about him . Jimin and Chelsea were considered to be very beautiful in all reaches of the world . Most men tried to talk to them with evil intentions in their hearts . It was annoying . However, Sungyoon seemed to have no interest in the opposite sex . As a Connector, he treated Jimin as his president .
“What kind of person is he?”
She was suddenly curious, so she started asking more questions .
“He isn’t like the previous Connectors hired by your company, right? They ran away after they stabbed you in the back . ”
Chelsea remembered two particular Connectors . One had received all the support he could from Jimin, and then he broke his contract when his status as a Connector improved . The other Connector tried to seduce Jimin, but when Jimin didn’t fall for him, he became annoyed . He was a son of a bitch that moved onto another company when his advances were rebuffed . Of course, he had also received all kinds of support from Jimin .
Connectors had sinned against Chelsea’s friend . They were all assholes . Of course, Chelsea would be suspicious of Sungyoon .
“I don’t know . I haven’t known him for too long . There is no way I have figured him out yet . ”
There was a proverb that said, ‘You can sound water ten fathoms deep, but you cannot sound the human heart a single fathom deep . ’
“He’s been fine so far . At the very least, he isn’t like those two . ”
She saw him show an unbelievable amount of love towards his daughter . There was no way he was like the two trash from before .
“Is that so? I’m glad to hear that . ”
However, Chelsea's words sounded dark for some odd reason . It seemed she wasn’t able to let go of her negative thoughts .
“If you are worried, you could check in on him . In fact, I was going to ask you to help him in my place . ”
“Hmm…”
Chelsea propped her chin on her hand as she thought .
‘Maybe, he isn’t bad? On the other hand, he might be trying to rip off Jimin . He might be trying to make her fall on her face . ’
He might look disinterested, but he might be faking it . While she helped him, she could keep an eye on him . She could assess what kind of person Woo Sungyoon was .
Moreover, Chelsea had already realized something . Jimin was oddly acting favorable towards Sungyoon . She remembered the human trashes in Jimin’s employ in the past . However, Jimin had never acted favorable towards any of them . She clearly interacted with them in her capacity as the president of her company .
‘She shows favor towards him, but I don’t think she is interested in him as a woman . ’
In the end, Jimin had a favorable impression of him . This was why Chelsea had to make sure to Sungyoon was a decent person . Since Jimin had to run her company, she’d never had a real boyfriend . This fact made Chelsea worry more .
“Alright . What are friends for? I’ll help him occasionally, and I’ll find out what kind of person he is!”
“That’s good . If you said no, I was going to charge you for this . ”
Jimin took out something from her luggage, and she waved it in front of Chelsea . Chelsea’s expression stiffened . Jimin was waving a small piece of paper . Jimin was waving it slowly, so Chelsea could see what it was without much difficulty .
It was the receipt from the dinner they ate yesterday .
“Ah ha ha ha! W . . . weren’t you treating me to a meal as your friend?”
“Do you really think I would treat a friend to a meal at this price?”
Jimin pushed the receipt towards Chelsea as she winked .
“O . . . ok! I understand! I’ll help him! I was going to do as you asked in the first place!”
In the end, Chelsea surrendered . Jimin looked satisfied as she put away the receipt back into her luggage .
“For your information, I kept all the receipts from all the meals I bought you in the past . ”
Chelsea’s face turned white .
“Wait a moment! If you charge me for all of that, you’ll bankrupt me!”
Chelsea had asked Jimin to buy her something delicious every time she came up to the moon . The memory of these instances came at her hard in her brain . Every one of these meals had been very expensive .
“You know what you have to do if you don’t want to go bankrupt, right?”
“Ah, shit! I’ve been betrayed by the friend I trusted the most!”
She acted as if the sky… . No, she acted as if the ceiling of Armstrong had fallen . She despaired .
Jimin looked on with a benevolent look on her face . Chelsea bent over as she grabbed her knees . She kept sighing as she mumbled to herself . Jimin grabbed Chelsea’s shoulder in a kind manner .
“Please do this for me . ”
Chelsea raised her head . Up until now, Jimin had bludgeoned Chelsea with money . However, there was a small, but kind smile on her lips .
“You always get your way . ”
“Oh my . I’m a bit shocked to hear such words from you . ”
“Hmmph . Stop being so coy . You are no picnic either . ”
The two of them glared at each other . However, it lasted only for a moment, and then they broke out into laughter .
“Please do this for me, friend . ”
“Yes . Don’t worry about it, friend . ”
The two of them hugged each other . The space suit again got in the way a bit, but it wouldn’t stop them from hugging .
After finishing their goodbye, Jimin got on the spaceship . From the Aldrin space port, Chelsea watched the spaceship fly into space with her friend on board .
* * *
Crunch!
He once again felt a horrifying sensation . Blood spurted out from the wound he made with his spear, and it soaked his shoes . However, Sungyoon didn’t blink an eye . He silently continued his ‘work’ .
Pshook!
He extracted the spear blade . The Mad Dog died with its tongue hanging out, and its corpse was swept up by light . The only thing left behind was a small Moonstone .
Tul-suhk!
After he shoved the moonstone into his pouch, he sat down on an elevated part of the floor .
‘I’ve killed six with this . ’
He was thirsty . It was the consequence of being so tense . As a Connector, his body didn’t need food, but he needed water .
‘I wonder how much I made?’
Each country ran a state-run support center . At the very least, they provided food and a place to sleep for their country’s Connectors . He had checked out the support center with Jimin before . However, they merely provided vitamins and 1 . 5L of water per day . Everything else had to be purchased .
‘I should go pick up the supplies . ’
His lack of preparation was inexcusable .
Sungyoon slowly assessed his body . At the end, he concluded that he was a bit dehydrated, and that nothing else was wrong with his body .
‘I can go a little bit more . ’
He got up once again when he got enough rest . His spear was covered in blood . Sungyoon unsummoned his spear .
Chwahk!
All the blood on his spear fell to the floor . Afterwards, he summoned his spear again, and this time, the spear had regained its original color .
After he swung his spear a couple of times, Sungyoon once again moved deeper into the labyrinth .