Chapter 157

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 .