Chapter 157

Chapter 157

If she was busy or otherwise occupied, Jimin would sometimes bring Shinhae to the company . So it wasn’t strange to see the little girl inside the company premises .

However, Jiyoon found Shinhae’s reaction a bit odd . Normally, the little girl would smile brightly and cling to her . But this time, she fidgeted her hands as she monitored Jiyoon .

Of course, such a reaction startled Jiyoon, so she decided to strike up a conversation .

“Hello, Shinhae! You are drinking milk?”

“Yes . ”

As always, the little girl answered her questions well . Moreover, Jiyoon didn't feel as if Shinhae disliked her .

She carefully placed her hand on Shinhae’s head and stroked it . Shinhae didn’t try to avoid her touch . In fact, she seemed to like the warmth that she could feel through her head . She even moved her head in rhythm to Jiyoon’s hand strokes .

Jiyoon then made herself a cup of coffee and sat down next to the little girl . Shinhae held a transparent cup with milk inside . She slowly sipped her milk to match the speed of Jiyoon drinking her coffee .

“Did you come here with Jimin unni?”

“Yes . Unni said to play here for a moment . ”

Jimin was her president, but to Shinhae, she was merely a close unni . So in front of Shinhae, Jiyoon always referred to Jimin as 'Jimin unni' .

Jiyoon then took the initiative to chat, and they started conversing about various topics . Like all young adults her age, Jiyoon liked getting off work on time, and she would wait for Friday to arrive . However, she was having a lot of fun interacting with Shinhae, so she didn’t mind going home a little bit late .

But she continued to notice that Shinhae was reacting to her in an odd way . Her usual lively self was nowhere to be seen .

“Is something wrong, Shinhae?”

In the end, she decided to be direct . However, she didn’t browbeat her, and made sure Shinhae didn’t feel pressured to answer . She tried her best to look kind so that the little girl wouldn’t be scared .

Shinhae showed hesitation, so she added .

“If something is wrong, unni will help you . ”

She took a firm grasp of the child’s hands . The small and soft hands were dainty and cute .

It seemed Shinhae had come to a decision, and with some hesitation, she opened her mouth .

But the words the child spoke were very surprising . And they were especially shocking for Jiyoon .

“Do you not like me, unni?”

Shinhae shrunk in on herself as she glanced at Jiyoon . Jiyoon’s heart fell into her stomach . She had forgotten this version of Shinhae . It was the past version of her that Jiyoon had seen at the orphanage .

“What do you mean? Why would unni hate you?”

She pressed down on the shock and bewilderment she was feeling and did her best to calmly speak . However, she couldn’t help it, and her voice rose a pitch .

“Recently, unni acts like you don’t want to see me . ”

“What do you mean…!”

She shut her mouth as a suspicion came to her mind . In the past, she had a conversation with Jimin and Emily, where they had talked about Sungyoon, and whether they liked him or not . At the time, she had been taken aback when the topic of marriage was brought up . Sungyoon was a divorced man, and she was a woman in her early twenties . Moreover, she had grown up in a regular household . Even if she was interested in Sungyoon, she couldn’t easily accept the topic of marriage to a Connector .

The problem had arisen when she had felt the weight of the word called marriage . Due to it, she was maintaining a bit of distance from Shinhae .

She thought she wasn’t making it obvious, yet the little girl had noticed it .

“No . Unni really likes Shinhae . ”

“Really? Unni won’t become like my mom?”

Her doe-like eyes were filled with anxiety and doubt . Jiyoon hugged her slim and small body without realizing it .

“No . Unni will never become like Shinhae’s mom . You don’t have to worry about that . Alright?”

In the beginning, Shinhae had been a bit tense . But when she heard Jiyoon’s words, she melted into her unni's body .

“Yes!”

The girl sounded ecstatic as she returned Jiyoon’s hug .

‘I’m an idiot… . I acted that way toward an already hurt child . ’

Jiyoon blamed herself as she hugged Shinhae tighter .

‘Mr . Sungyoon is Mr . Sungyoon . Shinhae is Shinhae . ’

She made a promise to herself . She wouldn’t let other problems change how she treated Shinhae .

But then, something odd happened . When she made that resolve, a new feeling arose within her heart .

‘If it's becoming a mother to a child like her, wouldn’t it be ok?’

Up until now, she had been flustered when the talk of marriage was brought up . This was the first time she had a positive mindset toward the idea . It germinated in her mind .

***

While Jiyoon was in the midst of repairing her relationship with Shinhae, Jimin was listening to Sungyoon’s report .

“… Can you repeat that again?”

- I would like to accept a new member into the party .

He was sending this transmission through the communication device in the company building on the Moon .

In the past, whenever something truly important happened, he would return to earth and personally give Jimin a report . If it wasn't possible, he would send her a short text .

Of course, everything came down to money, and the prospects of Sungyoon’s party had risen . They were able to buy a Moon Surface Vehicle with a communication device, and they could now afford to install one in their company building too .

Jimin could see Sungyoon’s face through the screen on her phone . As usual, his face was expressionless . But for some reason, she found his face looking impudent today .

“Who’s the party member again?”

- Ms . Taylor . Her full name is Grace Elizabeth Victoria Taylor .

“So this is the Princess Grace you went to save? Do I have this right?”

- It seems she doesn’t like being called Princess Grace .

Jimin was at a loss for words for a brief moment . The Connectors who were called strongest belonged to another stratum, but still, in terms of name recognition, Grace was equal to them .

No, the regular people in the streets were more familiar with her name .

However, Jimin quickly calmed down . Her calm and cool nature had a role in this, but there was also the fact that Sungyoon was someone who always brought her shocking news .

Basically, she was used to it now .

‘Should I be happy, or . . . ’

The Princess' powers were not bad . It was a well-known story that she was close to entering the Great Labyrinth .

Moreover, Sungyoon was a very picky person . If she wouldn’t be any help to their party, he would've turned her down . He wouldn’t have cared if she were a princess or not .

‘The problem is me . ’

Jimin had dealt with large corporations with confidence before . However, with Grace, it would be different .

‘I’ll have to talk to the British monarchy . ’

Corporations were easy to handle if one could find profit for each side . But dealing with a government entity was something else .

- If you are uncomfortable with it, I can turn her down .

He still hadn’t contacted Grace yet . And although he had agreed with the Ross siblings to let Grace join their party, he wouldn’t force it if the president of his company was against it .

“No . I've heard about her abilities ad nauseam . It is a good thing since the power of the party would grow . ”

She would be a great party member, and as a small company like Jungbum, it was almost impossible to snag such a prospect .

- I think so too . Above all else, she is also aiming for the Great Labyrinth . We’ll be able to achieve your goals faster .

“… . ”

- President?

Jimin became oddly silent . She had been single-minded in her pursuit to find the traces of her father . So Sungyoon had expected her to be happy about that news .

But her reaction was unexpected .

“… That’s right . You’ll be closer to achieving my goal . ”

She replied, but there was no strength to her voice .

- Are you feeling ok?

“I’m fine . I was thinking about work that’ll be coming my way . The preparations will be slightly different from when we signed the Ross siblings . ”

Jimin recovered, and she spoke in a calm manner, showing her normal self .

They then spoke for a while more .

When the call ended, Jimin tossed her handphone on the desk . She had slammed it as hard as if she were throwing it . Then, she leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling .

She had forced herself to act normal in front of Sungyoon . It was quite obvious, and she looked very tired from doing it .

“Yes . They have to raid the Great Labyrinth . ”

She had ignored all the objections in her surroundings that had tried to stop her from achieving this goal . She had come this far . That was why they had to raid the Great Labyrinth .

“This feeling of uncertainty is temporary . ”

She kept thinking she was driving Sungyoon toward his death . This thought significantly weakened her resolve .

“I have to gather my resolve once again . ”

But even when she said those words, the strength didn’t return to her eyes .

***

Monsters rushed at them, but their number wasn’t just one or two . Five of them were attacking the party . Moreover, these weren’t weak monsters like the Goblins or the Orcs . Their ranks were similar to that of the Centaur .

However, Sungyoon and Tim remained calm as they faced their opponents .

They had done this on purpose . All five monsters had been spread out across this floor, yet the two Connectors gathered them in one place .

“Please disengage!”

They heard the signal which they had been waiting for .

Sungyoon and Tim ruthlessly pushed back the monsters, and then, ran backward without hesitation .

Boooooom!

They could feel high heat erupting from behind them .

The duo continued to run, but they turned their heads to look at Grace’s magic .

Two monsters immediately died after being squarely hit by Grace’s spell . The other three suffered massive damage from the heat, and they were barely able to stay on their feet .

Sungyoon and Tim immediately changed course . They charged at the remaining monsters, who had lost a significant portion of their ability to fight . The monsters were no match for the two .

In a flash, they had slaughtered all of them .

“As expected, your magic is amazing . ”

Tim sounded giddy as he picked up the moonstones .

Grace had officially joined their party, and as expected, their party’s firepower had experienced a massive increase .

Their party could take on these monsters without Grace too, but it was clear Grace’s power would shine with the monsters getting stronger .

‘Her ability to kill multiple monsters is outstanding . ’

In the past, they had to kill monsters one by one . But they could now hunt in an efficient manner .

“Still, it's a bit too bad . I didn’t really get the opportunity to use this . ”

Tim raised his shield . But it wasn’t the shield he had carried in the past .

It was a very thin Kite Shield letting out a platinum light . If one went by its appearance, one had to wonder if this shield could block an attack . However, it was more durable and offered more than any shield Tim had possessed before .

“Do you feel the same way, Mr . Sungyoon?”

“Not really . I hope we don’t run into a situation where I have to test the defense of this armor . ”

Sungyoon let out a bitter laugh . However, a platinum helmet was covering his face, so his party members couldn’t see his expression .

It was the armor from the Gem he had received as a reward . However, it wasn’t a normal armor Gem .

Since it was a Platinum rank armor, its durability and defense were guaranteed to be high . However, this armor had another drastic difference from the other armor Gems he had possessed before .

The others summoned a piece of armor such as body armor, helmet, gauntlets, leg armor, etc . But this Platinum armor protected his entire body . It consisted of a helmet, a breastplate, faulds, gauntlets, and boots . It even had a chain mail that protected his joints .

It really was the perfect set of plate armor .

The armor gave him the appearance of a knight that had jumped out from a fairy tale .

There were very few armor Gems that summoned a complete set . It didn’t matter what rank the Gem was .

Thanks to his new armor, his attack style had changed .

In the past, he was tasked with defending the party members . And although his shield had a quite high defense, he no longer had to use it . He left the defense to his armor, and he would use either his sword or halberd . His battle style had changed to a more attack-oriented style .

Even if he took up his shield, the shield would be worse in defending the attacks than the Platinum rank armor .

However, this didn’t mean he wanted to push his armor to the limit .

Even if he was wearing good armor, that kind of experience wouldn’t be fun at all .

“Oh . A Gem came out . ”

Tim found a shiny Gem next to the moonstones .

“Isn’t it Mr . Sungyoon’s turn?”

“It is, but I don’t need it . ”

It was an X-shaped Gem, which let out an orange light . It was an armor Gem . Sungyoon already had a Platinum rank Gem, so he didn’t need it .

“I don’t need it either . ”

The Orange rank was the second-highest rank in the Rainbow rank Gems, but Tim possessed an armor that was one rank higher than it .

“Let’s check what it is first . ”

Sungyoon took the Gem from Tim and placed it into an empty slot . He unsummoned his current armor, and then summoned the Orange rank Gem .

“Wow!”

Tim exclaimed .

“That is quite stylish . If it’s this, I think you can keep it, Mr . Sungyoon . ”

It flowed down from his shoulders, and it was quite soft . Sungyoon turned his head to look at the red cape flowing down his back .