Moon’s Labyrinths (Web Novel)

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 looked 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.