Moon’s Labyrinths - Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Chapter 272

- We are fine .

The screen displayed Jimin’s face, and Sungyoon saw no strangeness in her complexion or demeanor .  Suddenly, a small face popped up in front of Jimin .

- Fine! We are fine!

Sungyoon unconsciously relaxed his face .  He didn’t even try to hide the smile that appeared on his face as he ran his hand across Shinhae's face on the screen .

“How’s our daughter doing? Are you doing ok?”

- Yes! I went to a bookstore yesterday with Mom! I bought a lot of books!

“Is that so?”

Shinhae had now become used to calling Jimin mom, and there was no awkwardness to it .

Sungyoon saw Shinhae raise a picture book with the name ‘The Little Mermaid' . Shinhae let out a trilling laugh as she showed her father the underwater kingdom drawn inside the book .

- I’m thinking about teaching Shinhae her letters soon .

“Aren’t you being too hasty?”

- I have no plan on rushing her .

Jimin had just wanted to lay down some seeds and let Shinhae become familiar with her letters . Had Shinhae disliked it, Jimin would have put it off to the future . Unexpectedly, Shinhae loved learning the letters .

Jimin looked at Shinhae as she laughed . It appeared as though she wanted to say ‘Right!’ to Shinhae .  Shinhae nodded in response .  

Sungyoon wanted to ask how they were doing in light of the terrorist attack, but somehow the topic of the conversation had turned into Shinhae’s education .  He pressed down on the urge to keep talking about Shinhae .

“I’ll leave Shinhae in your care . You should listen to your mom, Shinhae . ”

- Yes!

A smile appeared on his face at the sight of his energetic daughter, and Jimin held a similar expression as she watched Shinhae . Suddenly, their eyes met, and Sungyoon spoke .

“Take care of yourself, D-darling . It seems the world is becoming a dangerous place . ”

- Yes . You should take care of yourself too .

In any topic regarding Shinhae, the two could converse without a problem . When it involved the two of them, however, the conversation would become awkward .  Nonetheless, it was evident that they had gotten closer .

Shinhae waved her hand, and Sungyoon did the same before ending the call .

‘That takes one worry off my mind . ’

Sungyoon brushed his hand over his chest, then returned to the living room .  Grace, who had been drinking black tea, looked up at him with a smile on her lips .

“How’s your family?”

“They said they are doing fine . How did you know I was calling them?”

“It's natural to contact one’s family when hearing about a terrorist attack . I also contacted my parents and grandmother . ”

Unlike Sungyoon and Grace, the Ross siblings looked disinterested because they didn’t have any close family to worry about .

The four of them once again paid attention to the TV .

‘Why would terrorist attacks simultaneously occur across the globe?’

Sungyoon wondered about the motive behind the terrorist attacks . Why were they causing so much chaos on Earth? There was already enough trouble on the Moon .

‘There is no way these are related to Fabion, right?’

Earth and the Moon .

An incredible distance separated the incidents in both places, and it was hard to make a connection between them . Yet, a feeling kept nagging Sungyoon .

‘So many things have happened to me that I’m suspicious of everything now . ’

If he told about his thoughts to any other person, they would probably tell him that he was being paranoid .  Sungyoon tamped down his suspicions, but he knew it was best to be on his guard .

***

No one could explain the goal behind the terrorist attacks .  Unlike other terrorist organizations, the ones behind these attacks didn’t put out a manifesto . They just caused indiscriminate destruction .  

As if Earth had attracted all the troubles on the Moon, Armstrong city enjoyed eventless days and its residents lived a peaceful life .  

Sungyoon pulled back his blanket and jumped into his bed .  As always, he took out a picture before he slept .  Of course, it was a picture of a smiling Shinhae, but the picture was a bit different now .  Jimin was standing next to Shinhae with a quiet smile on her face .  

His wife was getting ever closer to his lovely daughter, and Sungyoon wanted to be with them as soon as possible .

‘Why do things have to get so complicated? Jeez!’

Sungyoon sighed when he saw the faces he missed .  Two weeks had passed since he had started monitoring Soyoung’s mother . She hadn’t consumed much in this period, so she was becoming more and more emaciated .

To respond to the terrorist activities on Earth, a lot of Connectors had returned to their own countries .  Armstrong city was running short-handed .

‘It might have been better if we had also returned . ’

Each member of Sungyoon’s party had received a request to return to their country .  However, Armstrong had pulled out all the stops to prevent that from happening . Thus, the four of them were stuck guarding the suspected ambusher .

‘The Mayor's trust in me is giving me trouble . ’

Russell and Bruce had gone back to Earth .  Armstrong city had worked harder to keep Sungyoon’s party in place rather than those two Connectors .  Of course, the name value of the two men was too high for Armstrong to mess with them .

Sungyoon lay in his bed as he ran his hand through his hair .

‘It will soon end . Let’s not think about unnecessary things . ’

Being a suspect, Plu-El would be transported to Earth under heavy security for a proper interrogation .

‘The mission will come to an end . ’

Sungyoon didn’t feel so good about it .

‘… In the end, she didn’t open her mouth . ’

He was worried . Of course, he wasn’t worried about Plu-El, but her daughter, Soyoung .

‘She was a cute child . ’

This thought didn't come to his mind just because Soyoung had gotten along well with Shinhae .  Sungyoon had entrusted Shinhae to an orphanage before, and he knew what happened to children without any parents .

‘She’ll be lonely because of her mother’s sins . ’

As he thought about the girl, something happened .

Kooooooooohng! Kwahhhhhhhng!

His droopy eyes opened wide . He jumped out of the bed, ran to the window, and pulled aside the curtain .

‘What the hell happened!’

Smoke rose from various locations in the city, and a building engulfed in flames appeared in Sungyoon's vision .  His ears picked up screams coming from the direction of the fire, and everyone on the streets was looking at the fire in surprise .

Shwahhhhhhhhhh!

Streams of water fell from the ceiling of Armstrong city . The citywide sprinkler system had been activated, and it was a matter of time before the fire would be extinguished .  Several bystanders became relieved .

However, Sungyoon still felt a chill run up his fine .  

‘The fire isn’t the problem . ’

He had heard an explosion first . If there had been a single explosion, Sungyoon would've returned to bed assuming someone had made a mistake .  However, as his eyes took in at least six buildings on fire, his mind thought back to the event that had occurred on Earth not too long ago .

‘Terrorists!’

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!

More explosions erupted, and the people of the city finally realized what was going on . They started screaming .  Everyone was focused on the burning buildings, but Sungyoon’s gaze headed past the buildings toward Armstrong's walls .

‘If my ears haven’t deceived me . . . ’

Sungyoon had heard explosions in the distance . These explosions hadn't happened inside the city, but near the walls .

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhng!

A siren rang out within Armstrong city, and the situation became hectic .  Due to it being night, the city's lights had been dimmed . Thus, the appearance of a red light now was an ominous sign .

Bul-kuhk!

“Mr . Sungyoon!”

Tim, who was still in his pajamas, burst through the door of Sungyoon’s room .  Soon, Grace and Emily also entered the room, clad in their sleepwear .

“What . . . what . . . what . . . . what’s going on!”

The last one to arrive was Chelsea .  Unlike Sungyoon’s party, Chelsea hadn’t experienced pandemonium before, and her body shook in fear .

“I’m not too sure . It might be a terrorist attack or an attack from outside to take down Armstrong city . We have too little information right now . ”

“Let’s go out to help!”

An ax appeared in Tim’s hand .  A violent light shone in his eyes as if he wanted to decapitate the culprits behind the explosions . However, Sungyoon thought otherwise .

“No . We will continue to stay here . ”

“Are you sure about that? Armstrong is short-handed right now . They’ll need all the helping hands they can get . ”

“Please think about whom we are guarding . ”

“Ah!”

Emily looked toward the room where Plu-El was confined .

“We’ll only move if we get a direct order from Armstrong's higher-ups . ”

Sungyoon faced the four of them as he spoke .

“Ms . Emily and Ms . Grace, you will guard her . She might try to escape using the confusion . ”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

Resolve filled their eyes .

“Mr . Tim and I will guard against any threat from outside . ”

“Please don’t worry about it!”

Tim pounded his chest .

“I’m sorry, but I have a request for you too, Ms . Chelsea . Please stay near the phone . If a call comes, please relay the message to us . ”

“I can do that!”

Her body still shook, but Chelsea clenched her fists .

“Then, let’s get moving . ”

Everyone left the room in a flash . Sungyoon followed the others, but he glanced back once more .  The fire was still dancing in the air .

***

“Wh-what the hell happened?”

One of his comrades spoke up in a flustered voice, but Aruwen kept silent . However, his trembling eyes proved that he was also shocked .

“Hey! Did we set up this many explosions?”

Aruwen's comrade asked the question to the whole group this time, but everyone just shook their head in surprise .

“What should we do, Aruwen?”

The person in the rear asked as he tapped the ground with his spear in an impatient manner .

“This wasn’t in the plan . Are we still going to push ahead?”

All of them had slowly infiltrated Armstrong city through the Great Labyrinth and the Beginner’s Labyrinth . They had gathered a good number of people despite the heightened surveillance all over Armstrong city .

They knew where Plu-El was imprisoned, but their fighting force was too small to confront the troops within Armstrong city . So they had come up with this plan .  To distract Armstrong, they had scattered their men to various locations within the city and caused explosions . It wasn’t a bad plan .

Things had even gone their way . Armstrong city was thrown into confusion by the explosions .  However, their plan had been too successful, and it had been spurred by some unknown factor .

“… We’ll carry it out . ”

“Won’t it be too dangerous?”

“We’ll never get a better opportunity . A lot of their troops are on Earth because of the terrorist attacks . I have no idea why there were more explosions, but it puts us in a more advantageous situation . ”

Aruwen’s words sounded reasonable, so everyone nodded .  They searched for quiet streets as they moved toward Sungyoon’s house .

***

“What the hell is that?”

Aruwen's group and Sungyoon's party weren't the only groups shocked by the larger than expected explosions