Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon entered the company after being called by Jimin . He sat in the corner of the office like a sack of barley, looking bored as he gazed at the person sitting in front of him .

The person had worn a clean suit . He nervously looked at Jimin, who was sitting behind her desks . She asked him a couple of questions, and he answered her while stumbling over his words at times . Moreover, the logic behind his answers wasn’t perfect .

This man had applied for the job after Jungbum had put out a hiring ad . Jimin gave this man’s resume to Sungyoon, and he checked it .

The man had graduated from a university in Gyeonggi-do Province, and his grades were decent . He had a couple of certificates associated with Connector-related industries, and this made him unique amongst the pool of prospective employees . However, Sungyoon could clearly say that this man wasn’t a talented individual . If even he could see it, then Jimin probably had the same opinion .

‘It’s because this isn’t a large company . ’

Jungbum was a small scale company . Before Sungyoon arrived here, it was heading down the path of bankruptcy . Of course, they hadn’t expected the cream of the crop to show up .

Still, it wasn’t as if there were a few applicants . A lot of people were interested in the high salary and pretty good benefits, and the company wouldn’t be stuck in a position where they had no applicants to hire even after having money to spend .

It seemed the interview had come to an end, and Sungyoon saw Jimin send out the applicant . The man was really nervous . He was a bit unsteady on his feet as he got up, but he left after wrapping things up pretty cleanly .

“Hoo-ooh~!”

Jimin let out a sigh . It seemed her blouse was suffocating her, so she opened up a button .

She had been interviewing people all day . It was understandable that she was tired by now . Fortunately, this was the last interview of the day .

“What about him?”

Jimin asked for Sungyoon’s opinion while he organized the resumes in front of him .

“I’m not sure . I see no problems in his resume . ”

However, that was it . Sungyoon used to run a company . He had hired people that looked good on the surface but turned out to be ticking time bombs . They had caused more trouble with their incompetence than they were worth .

‘We’ll be fortunate if it ends there . ’

The worst case was when they also had a rotten personality, as when it came to personality, it was a complete crapshoot when hiring people . A resume didn’t have a section describing the person’s character .

At the very least, Sungyoon’s first impression of the man’s resume was good .

“What about the other people interviewed today?”

Four men and three women had come for the job today . When Sungyoon heard Jimin’s question, he narrowed his eyes as he looked over their resumes .

Normally, he would be resting at home and playing all day with Shinhae . He had only come out to the interview because Jimin had requested it . As the only Connector of the company, it seemed she wanted his input in hiring employees . Although the Ross siblings had given their word that they would sign a contract with Jimin’s company, it wasn’t official yet . So Sungyoon was still the only Connector affiliated with Jungbum .

“These people looked decent . ”

He was working for this company as a Connector, but he had no idea which skill sets were needed to succeed in a company trading in moonstones . Unlike the employees that would be working in the company, Sungyoon was more like an independent contractor contracted to this company . That was why he was a bit clueless about these matters . Still, he did his best to pull on his prior experience of running a company and recommended candidates that looked decent in his eyes .

He handed her a total of three resumes .

Jimin looked over them and then put those in a separate pile . It seemed the people who received a favorable assessment from Sungyoon would have a leg up in the hiring .

“I look forward to working with you tomorrow . ”

Jimin spoke .

The interviews didn’t end today . A couple more applicants were still left . If she had been truly desperate, she would’ve hired the best of the bunch from today’s interviews . However, she had some breathing room . Jimin wanted to interview as many people as she could before hiring . Of course, she wanted Sungyoon to continue coming to the interviews in the meantime .

“Understood . ”

The work was a bit annoying, but Sungyoon didn’t complain . It seemed he wanted to get to know the people he would be working with in the future .

“I’ll be heading out for today . ”

“Wait a moment, Mr . Sungyoon . ”

Jimin stopped him as he was about to get up .

“What’s the matter?”

“I finished negotiating with the Ross siblings’ company . ”

“... Already?”

Last time, it had taken her a while to extract compensation . But not much time had passed since the incident at the siblings’ company, yet the negotiations had come to an end .

“In the last couple of incidents, the story was spread to the outside public . Moreover, the criminal justice system of Armstrong was involved, so the companies couldn’t do as they like . Basically, too many eyes were watching them . However, this incident was kept quiet, and no outside party knows about it . We can end this matter since the two companies have come to an agreement . Above all else, the other company is being very proactive . The Ross siblings have left their company, and if Louis is arrested, it would be a big blow to them . ”

“I see . ”

Sungyoon guessed the recording given to him by Tim had a big part in getting things resolved so quickly .

In some ways, that company probably hated his guts . As if stealing two promising prospects weren’t enough, he had almost ruined the life of their remaining prospect .

Of course, Sungyoon didn’t feel any guilt over it . He was the victim, and Louis had brought it all on himself . Still, they were probably grinding their teeth blaming him .

But the matter had been resolved, so he planned on not worrying about it . The only thing he was interested in was the siblings’ contracts .

“Does that mean you were able to smoothly terminate the contract of Mr . Tim and Ms . Emily?”

He was more concerned with the contract than the amount they could extract for damages .

“Yes . There will be no negative consequences . ”

It was good news, but Jimin looked a bit unsatisfied .

“If possible, I wanted to take back some Devices and Gems as compensation, but I guess I was asking for too much . I couldn’t get the upper hand since we prioritized the termination of the contracts . Still, at the very least, I thought I would be able to extract a couple of Gems . ”

She was dealing with a large company, and it seemed she wasn’t able to get a contract she was satisfied with . Displeasure emanated from her entire body .

“I deposited the compensation fee and the profits from the moonstones into your bank account . ”

Their business had come to an end for the day . As always, Sungyoon headed toward the nearest ATM to check his balance .

As he gazed at the number displaying an amount of over 8 million dollars, only four words came to Sungyoon’s mind .

‘Let’s pay it back . ’

It had been just over a year since he had been betrayed and pushed to the lowest point in his life . He was left with a huge debt in the process, and he thought it would drag him down for eternity . However, he was finally capable of paying back all of it .

Of course, it wasn’t as if he had gained enough money to pay off the debt only now . He had enough money to pay off his debt even prior to this deposit . However, he hadn’t touched that money in case of an emergency . A need might arise at some point since he operated on the moon . So he had delayed paying off his debt . Moreover, his debt didn’t have any interest, so he didn’t feel the need to pay it back immediately .

Still, debt was debt . He had money to spare, and he didn’t want to continue carrying around such a load on his shoulders .

‘Should I eat something delicious with Shinhae today?’

The debt no longer had any meaning to him, but it had been a noose tightening around his neck in the past . When he thought about it disappearing, his mood improved, and his steps became a bit lighter as he headed towards home .

* * *

When he returned, he found his home empty . Shinhae had gone out to play with Jiyoon . They had been very disappointed when they had learned he wouldn’t be going with them, thanks to his work .

With nothing else to do, Sungyoon decided to clean the house before Shinhae came back home . He sucked up all the dust with a vacuum cleaner and wiped the floor with a wet rag .

‘There is no way this place looks like a house where only a father and daughter live . ’

As he kept cleaning, he kept finding numerous signs of an adult woman living in this place, the makeup on top of the drawer, the expensive toiletries in the restroom . After coming back from his long stay on the moon, whenever he would clean the house, he would find the long hairs of a woman . Jimin’s gown always remained hung on the clothing rack as if she didn’t even plan on taking it back with her . Not to mention, she commandeered one of the drawers, which held all her stuff . It had become a location forbidden for Sungyoon to open .

Sungyoon was the man of the house, yet his presence was the least in this house .

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang at that moment . Sungyoon tossed the cleaning rag into the restroom and went to the front door .

As soon as he opened the door, a small living being latched onto his leg .

“Dad!”

It was his daughter .

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes! We went to the zoo!”

It seemed she had a great experience today, as her cheeks were rosy from excitement . Sungyoon stroked her head . Then, he looked towards Jiyoon, whose face displayed a smile .

“Thank you for playing with Shinhae today . ”

“It was nothing . I had fun too . I expected Mr . Sungyoon to go out with us . But I guess you were busy today . ”

In some ways, Sungyoon was her first love . It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t looking forward to spending time with him .

“My company is planning on hiring new employees . And since I’m the company’s only Connector, the president wanted my input . ”

“Is dad’s company big?”

Shinhae, who had been listening to the conversation, asked him . Sungyoon’s company couldn’t be called big . In fact, it was a very small one . However, his daughter was looking at him with expectant eyes, so he was having a hard time answering her question . Although Sungyoon never made idle boasts, he still was like every father in the world and wanted to be the amazing Superman in front of his daughter .

“Mmm . It is a really good company . ”

He technically didn’t lie to her .

“Wow~! Dad is amazing!”

Shinhae’s eyes turned round as she yelled out . It wasn’t as if he didn’t feel uncomfortable by the answer he gave, but when Shinhae looked at him with eyes full of admiration, he felt really good .

“The company is expanding?”

Jiyoon asked .

“Yes . We are planning on adding more Connectors, so we are short on manpower . We are thinking about hiring temp workers too . ”

Was he mistaken? But he thought he saw Jiyoon’s eyes twinkle .

“What is Mr . Sungyoon’s company name?”

“It is called Jungbum . ”

As if she didn’t want to forget it, Jiyoon repeated the company’s name several times . Then she laughed as she looked at Sungyoon, and some profound significance was hidden in her laugh .

“I’ll be leaving now . ”

“If you have time, you can have dinner with us . ”

He planned on eating out already, so he invited her . He wanted to repay her for taking care of Shinhae today . Normally, he would’ve never invited her, but he had decided to pay off all his debt, so he was in a good mood right now .

“Are we eating something delicious?”

“Yes . Let’s eat something delicious outside . ”

Sungyoon grabbed Shinhae’s hand as he looked towards Jiyoon . She looked a bit conflicted at first but soon came to a decision, and a relaxed smile appeared on her face .

“I’ll shamelessly accept your offer . ”

Sungyoon took his wallet and handphone from his house, and then, the three of them left to feast outside .