Moon’s Labyrinths - Chapter 127

Chapter 127

Chapter 127

“… What did you just say?”

The stupified Cohen could only utter these words .

In the past, Emily’s mother was a high-rank Connector in the company, and many people used to admire her . But when she went missing in her Personal Labyrinth, her reputation within the company did a complete 180 . She was labeled as an incompetent Connector who lost her life within a low-rank labyrinth .

Cohen also shared that opinion behind closed doors . But even if he had disparaging thoughts about her, she had been one of his closest comrades . It was why he nagged the Ross siblings and tried to lead them onto what he thought was the right path . However, the Ross siblings stubbornly fought him every step of the way .

Of course, he became surprised when he heard that they had found Mrs . Ross’ corpse .

“ . . . Where?”

He couldn’t take Emily’s words at face value . When Mrs . Ross had gone missing, a search party was immediately dispatched, and they had thoroughly searched the entire labyrinth . Cohen had been part of the search party, and he had spent days and nights looking for her . He didn’t give up, but he couldn’t even find traces of her .

Emily shook her head from side to side when she heard Cohen’s question .

“My mother has nothing to do with you now . It happened in Tim’s labyrinth, and now that we aren’t in the same company, I have no reason to tell you what happened . ”

She didn’t care about her mother’s reputation within this company anymore . She wasn’t even going to tell them what they had discovered . She was so fed up with this company .

“I just wanted to tell you the news that we found our mother . I'm telling you this because I remember you crying at my mother’s funeral . Ah . And this might become an issue in the future, so I would like to say this before that happens . ”

This was what Emily truly wanted to tell them .

She took a deep breath, and then, spoke clearly and confidently .

“My mother didn’t die by the hands of low-rank monsters . She died at the hands of an unbelievably strong foe . Moreover, she was able to defeat this enemy before dying . She didn’t die a useless death unlike what everyone suggests in this company . ”

At that moment, it felt as if she was releasing all the grievances she held up until now . She didn’t cry or scream but just spoke in a calm manner, and revealed her pent-up feelings .

“Hmmph . You guys are all talk . ”

Louis spoke in a sarcastic manner . However, his sarcastic words could no longer affect Emily . In fact, she fired back using some sarcastic words of her own .

“Oh my! Mr . Sungyoon stepped on your pride like a bug .  Did your pride come back now that you are amongst a crowd? You are quite shameless . No, you are amazing in some ways . It is hard to develop such a thick skin . . . ”

Louis’ face turned red as he glared at Emily . However, Emily had already put him out of her mind, and looked toward Cohen .

Cohen was still standing absentmindedly . Emily felt a bit sorry when she saw this .

He was a close comrade of her mother, so he had been very kind to the siblings when they were young . That was why she felt very angry and sad that he had changed so much over the years .

Still, this was all in the past now . They would be walking down separate paths from now on .  

“Thank you for everything up until now . ”

It was as if she was using this as a ritual to shake off any residual memories of him . This was her goodbye to him . She focused her eyes and suppressed the bitterness in them, as she left the company .

Ggeeeek!

Kwah-ahng!

The door slammed shut, like a symbolic representation of the severed relationship between the Ross siblings and the company .

Silence reigned within the company building . However, it didn’t take the Connectors too long to start talking once again .

“ . . . What’s going to happen?”

“They really are going to leave?”

“They can leave! But do they think it’ll be easy to form a contract with a large company like us?”

“That’s right! They basically threw away their own good fortune!”

“Still, they were promising prospects amongst the new Connectors . It is too bad to lose them . ”

They all started to talk at the same time . Some were surprised, some angry, some mourning the loss of such good prospects . Louis was the loudest of the bunch as he made disparaging remarks about Sungyoon .

In such unrest, Cohen stood still .

Suddenly, he remembered a very old memory .

It took him back to the time when they were clearing a particularly difficult labyrinth . At that time, Mrs . Ross had been the centerpiece of that party . Being a warrior, she fought as the tip of the spear of their party and defeated the monsters . Cohen was tasked with supporting her .

『You really are amazing . 』

Cohen mumbled to himself as he looked at the monsters she had defeated . She just laughed at his words, and the heartiness of her laughter rivaled any man .

The party decided to take a break during the labyrinth run . And they conversed as they ate .

One of their party members had a storage Gem, so they all were eating bread and meat brought by him . Still eating, she spoke with firm confidence .

『I’m definitely going to the Great Labyrinth . 』

『That’s dumb . Why do you want to go to such a dangerous place?』

『Ah-hahahahaha! You are the one that's saying something dumb, Cohen . We are Connectors . Everywhere we go is dangerous . Moreover, the Great Labyrinth is a completely unknown world . When something is unknown, you explore it . There is nothing more exhilarating than exploring the unknown!』

Her sense of adventure was over the top, but she wasn’t wrong . Cohen could only let out a bitter laugh .

『Well, do as you like . I won’t go near the Great Labyrinth . 』

『The people in our company have no sense of romanticism . 』

She pouted . However, her face soon brightened as she took out a picture from her pocket .

『Anyway, you should look at this! You should see what my children did this time!』

『Ah . I don’t want to! You speak all day when you start talking about your children!』

This bright memory had been buried within his mind . When Emily mentioned that she had recovered Mrs . Ross’ corpse, it had opened up an old door inside his mind, and the memory leaked out .

However, his memories ended in tragedy . When Mrs . Ross didn’t return from her labyrinth, he really had gone crazy looking for her . When it was determined she was dead, he had gone to her funeral, which had been carried out without her body . He had cried his heart out as he honored her .

He had been that close to her .

But soon an odd sentiment had started to float around the company . The opinions about her reputation and skills started to decline as she had died in a low-rank labyrinth . Of course, he didn’t like it when he had heard it back then .

However, days, months, and years passed by . He was faced with a monster called time, and he started agreeing with the prevailing attitude .

He had admired her, but maybe, deep within his heart, he had been fostering a monster called jealousy .  

‘No . It doesn’t matter anymore . ’

She had died a long time ago, and any traces left behind by her had gone with the siblings . Even if he repented with guilt, he couldn’t turn back time . Moreover, he was still skeptical about raids to the Great Labyrinth .

‘Still, I’ll wish both of you luck . ’

Cohen stood within the raucous crowd that talked about the departure of the Ross siblings . He quietly prayed for the siblings as he looked at the door from where Emily had left .

***

After she exited the building, Emily saw Tim and Sungyoon waiting for her . Tim was standing there holding his video camera, and he started grumbling at her .

“What took you so long?”

“I had something I had to do . I wanted to tell Mr . Cohen that we had found mother's corpse . ”

“Hmmph . Why did you do something unnecessary?”

Tim snorted . Unlike his sister, he had zero favorable feelings toward his former company .  

“Still, he cried for our mother . He also did his best to look out for us . ”

“Yet he was part of the group that tarnished our mother’s legacy . He also disparaged us for wanting to raid the Great Labyrinth . ”

It was clear where they agreed in their opinion of Cohen, and it was also clear that there was a difference that they wouldn’t be able to bridge .

Sungyoon wondered if they would get into an argument, so he prepared himself . However, Tim just raised his hands as if he didn’t want to talk about it .

“Ok, ok . Our opinions on this topic are different . Let’s just drop it . Also, he has nothing to do with us now, so why should we fight about him? That would be silly . ”

Tim smirked .

“Anyway, you were amazing . Normally, you hide nervously behind me . However, you spoke your mind today . My stress was blown away by it . ”

Emily blinked . It seemed she remembered what she had done, and her face became dyed-red, and she lowered her head . Tim became more surprised at her reversion to her normal self .  

“What? You weren’t even conscious of what you were doing?”

He lamented .

“I should have known . You weren’t like your usual self . You spoke without tripping over your own tongue . ”

Puhk!

Emily’s foot hit squarely on her brother's shin .

“ . . . You still think you can push around your big bro . That’s still the same . ”

Tim grumbled as he went to rub his shin . Of course, he refused to take this standing down . Before he rubbed his shin, he slapped his sister on the back . The slap was strong enough to cause a noise to ring out . Emily groaned as she tried to reach where she had been slapped, but her hands couldn’t reach the spot on her back .

It was a realistic display of affection between two siblings . As he watched their antics, Sungyoon asked them a question .

“Are you sure it's ok for you to leave your company?”

“It is fine . All the lingering attachments we felt towards the company was severed with today’s event . We had planned on informing them about what happened to our mother, and we would have only maintained our contract if they gave a sincere apology for their past actions . However, I don't even want to give them that opportunity now . I have no appetite for it . ”

The siblings had been ignored before they could even talk about what they had found in the labyrinth . Of course, Louis was the one who had spoken up . But what he spoke were the opinions generally held within the company . Of course, Tim knew this .

“We should give our thanks and also apologies to Mr . Sungyoon . ”

It was as if Tim had never been angry, and a soft smile even appeared on his face .

“First, I would like to apologize for getting you involved with our company . I apologize for you getting insulted and attacked by them . ”

“It’s fine . ”

“No . It isn’t . It especially wasn’t fine when Louis attacked you . . . ”

Tim ground his teeth, but Sungyoon just shrugged .

“You don't have to feel too bad about it . He wasn’t that strong . ”

Tim and Emily let out a bitter laugh .

“We don’t like it when that bastard gets praise, but he is a strong Connector . He is a well-known prospect in our company . His personality is terrible, but he holds great sway within the company . ”

Sungyoon tilted his head in puzzlement .

“Am I strong?”

“Mr . Sungyoon is very strong . ”

Tim had spoken with certainty . However, those words didn't have an effect on Sungyoon . How many times had he almost died before? He knew Tim wasn’t lying, but he couldn’t help it . He didn’t feel that strong .

Tim continued .

“I want to thank you for intervening on our behalf about our contracts . If we think about the stunt that Louis tried to pull off, I don’t think the company will come after us for breaking the contract . However, are you sure about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about putting the termination of our contract as part of your compensation . I’m pretty sure you can get more concessions out of them if that isn’t included . ”

“Is there anything you want?”

Emily quickly jumped into the conversation . It seemed the siblings wanted to pay back their debt to Sungyoon no matter what .

‘Something I want… . ’

He had previously partied up with the beginner Connectors, and they had raided a labyrinth . And after that experience, Sungyoon had only one request he wanted to ask the two of them .

“Do you mind forming a contract with my company?”

Tim and Emily looked surprised, but the surprise lasted only a moment . A smile soon blossomed on both their faces .

“Actually, it was something we wanted to ask you about . ”

“We just became jobless . ”

They had to contract with another company . The two of them inwardly wanted to sign with the same company as Sungyoon, and the company's president, Jimin, had previously invited them to join the company . This move would allow them to party up and raid the Great Labyrinth with each other . Sungyoon was also making a pitch for them to join, so the two siblings no longer hesitated .

“Let us work toward our goal of raiding the Great Labyrinth . ”

Sungyoon pushed his hand forward, and the siblings firmly gripped it .

And so, Sungyoon gained trustworthy comrades, a must in raiding the Great Labyrinth .