Chapter 199

Chapter 199
Chapter 199
“… Isn’t this too excessive?”
Armstrong city had been hit with a double whammy . It had been attacked by the Golems, and a rival city had appeared . Yet, Armstrong would still be the only place churning out moonstones for the near future .
The city was no longer paralyzed, and it was slowly returning to normalcy . New owners had taken over the empty stores . The real estate in the city was still worth a lot .
“If I’m being honest, it is a bit excessive . ”
The Mayor discreetly studied Sungyoon .
‘Didn’t they say his company went bankrupt when his friend betrayed him? It seems his wife was in league with his friend . ’
Sungyoon had become the hero of Earth . Of course, countries, media organizations, and people on the internet were looking into his past .
The Mayor had access to his government’s information apparatus, so the information he had received on Sungyoon was a bit detailed .
‘He distrusts people, especially women . ’
It was the reason the plan to get Sungyoon's genetic material through a honey-pot operation had been a massive bust from the beginning .
‘I probably would've turned out like him if it had happened to me . ’
The Mayor sympathized with Sungyoon as a human being and a man . However, it wasn’t the time or place to reveal his sympathy . If he clumsily made it look like he was pitying Sungyoon, the pity might poison their relationship .
“Half of the reward is to make sure Mr . Sungyoon doesn’t move to the new Lunar city . We want to maintain a good relationship between Armstrong and you . The other half is a bribe . We would like you to participate in the mission to exterminate Golems in the Beginner’s Labyrinth . ”
“You are giving me so much because you’ll be conducting a Golem extermination mission in the future?”
“Actually, we plan to clear the Beginner’s Labyrinth in two months . ”
Sungyoon furrowed his brows .
“The Golem extermination mission ended just a month ago . Aren’t you rushing this too much?”
“A part of me indeed thinks we're being too hasty . This is embarrassing to say out loud, but this decision was politically motivated . ”
An embarrassed expression appeared on the Mayor’s face for a brief moment .
Political motivation .
When this word was mentioned, Sungyoon inevitably thought about the other city .
“Does this have something to do with the new Lunar city?”
“Yes . They heard about us defeating the Golems to stabilize several Labyrinths, so they also immediately moved into action . It seems they’ve already destroyed Golems in several labyrinths . ”
“They are really fast . ”
It had taken Armstrong a decent amount of time to gather all their high rank Connectors .
However, the new Lunar city had cleared several labyrinths just after Armstrong city finished their mission .
“It seems someone leaked our tactic on how to defeat the Golems . The other city knew about how many Golems would appear, and they also knew that the Golems would weaken when Connectors exit the labyrinths . Russia and China used their unique advantage over us on their task . Of course, they had to give up a lot to their Connectors to make it happen . ”
From the beginning, the new Lunar city had promised Connectors rights to own parts of the city . So this venture probably hadn't come at a cheap price .
“It feels like we did all the work, and somebody else got the credit . ”
Sungyoon and the other Connectors had to put their lives on their line to find out how to defeat the Golems . Therefore, he was a bit despondent when he heard others had stolen their battle plan .
“Well, it's unfortunate that our information was leaked, but we did gain information of our own . ”
A mischievous light flashed in the Mayor’s eyes .
“From what I heard, the Golems that the other side faced were very weak . It was the reason behind their rapid pace . Let's take the Golem from the Beginner’s Labyrinth that your party and Sir Russell faced . The Golems in the other city's mission weren’t as strong as this one . That's our guess right now . ”
“Are you saying the strength of the Golems differ depending on where it is located?”
It was in no way good news . These Golems were weaker than the ones the Connectors faced in Armstrong, and it gave rise to the possibility that stronger Golems also existed .
Thankfully, the Mayor shook his head from side to side .
“We wouldn't go so far in making that assumption . However, we found something common between the Beginner’s Labyrinth and the labyrinths that were cleared by the new Lunar city . ”
“What is it?”
“They are all near the Great Labyrinth . ”
It seemed the Mayor was parched, and he drank some water from his cup .
“We chose labyrinths a bit further away from Armstrong for safety reasons . Unlike us, the other Lunar city cleared the labyrinths near their Great Labyrinth . The implication of this information made us all happy . ”
While he couldn't defeat the Super Golems in the missions just by himself, Russell had handled the Super Golem from the Beginner’s Labyrinth very easily . Any of the highest rank Connectors could comfortably take on that Super Golem one-on-one .
“That means we'll have an easy time in the Beginner’s Labyrinth . ”
Armstrong city was trying to prioritize safety . And one of the important steps to ensure that was eliminating all the Golems within the Beginner’s Labyrinth .
“That’s good news . ”
Sungyoon was satisfied with that information . Even if he was basically the ultimate weapon against Golems, he preferred fighting against weaker enemies .
“Yes . This really is good news . This information had a large influence on why we made up our mind to carry out this mission within two months . ”
“Were you able to gain any other information?”
Sungyoon wondered if Armstrong city had learned new information that would make it easier to defeat the Golems of the Beginner’s Labyrinth .
“There was no new information that’ll be helpful in our mission . However, we did learn about something else . ”
A horrified look appeared on the Mayor's face, and he shook his head from side to side .
“Those bastards messed with their Great Labyrinth . ”
“… You're saying they broke the wall of the Great Labyrinth to see if a Golem appears? Is that what you are saying?”
Sungyoon sounded like a person who couldn’t come to grips with reality after seeing something unbelievable .
“You're correct . ”
The Mayor let out a sigh .
“I don’t know if they are amazing or stupid . Since their Great Labyrinth is a bit away from the site of their city, they had decided to conduct this experiment . I don’t know what they expected to appear when they did that . . . ”
The Mayor shook his head side to side as he once again took a sip .
“It's good news for us . Since our Great Labyrinth lies within the boundaries of our city, we would never dream about conducting such an experiment . ”
If things went wrong, a very powerful Golem or some other powerful mysterious being might appear . And if that happened, it would be the end of days for Armstrong city .
“So what was the result of the experiment?”
It was a crazy experiment . Sungyoon didn’t know if he should commend their bravery or laugh at their stupidity . Still, the information would be beneficial to Armstrong, and he was curious about the result too .
“They couldn’t destroy it . ”
“They couldn’t destroy it?”
“Yes . As you probably know, anything that’s destroyed in the various floors of the Great Labyrinth recovers by itself . This holds true for floors like the grassy plains, the plateau, the snowy field, etc . ”
Sungyoon nodded . He had burned the grass in the grasslands, exploded the surface of the plateau, and even melted the snow in the snowy fields in battles with monsters .
However, no Golems had appeared . Moreover, the environment had repaired itself .
“The walls of the Great Labyrinth encircles the floors like the grasslands, or they are located in the tunnels leading toward the next floor . The other city's Connectors used all kinds of methods, but they couldn’t destroy the walls at either location . ”
“Did they hit the wall with high rank weapons as we did?”
“According to the information we received, they even used a Diamond rank weapon . ”
Diamond rank .
It was the highest-ranked Jewel Gem .
The Jewel Gems had eight ranks, and the Rainbow Gems had seven ranks . The Diamond rank Gem was at the pinnacle of these fifteen Gems .
Even the highest rank Connectors had only one of these Gems .
‘The fact that even a Diamond Gem can't do anything to it means that the Great Labyrinth's walls can’t be destroyed with the power of a Connector . ’
The revelation made it clear that Golems wouldn’t appear from the Great Labyrinth and lay waste to Armstrong .
“That’s quite fortunate . ”
“Yes . It really is fortunate . The only thing we now have to do is defeat the Golems within the Beginner’s Labyrinth, and Armstrong will be safe . ”
That concluded all the reasons the Mayor had called Sungyoon .
“Please contact me when it's time . ”
“Understood . How long will you stay in the Great Labyrinth this time?”
“We'll be there for around a month . ”
“Armstrong will contact you around the time when you come back out of the Great Labyrinth . Will you rest in Armstrong before heading back into the Great Labyrinth?”
“No . I've to go down to Earth for a couple of days . I have something I have to take care of . ”
Sungyoon’s eyes turned sharp . The Mayor could sense something was wrong with Sungyoon's abrupt visit to Earth, but he didn't say anything as he led Sungyoon out of the room .
***
Sungyoon's return to Earth was an unplanned one, so he wasn't met with an army of reporters waiting for him .
He was happy to meet Shinhae after so long, but he didn’t have the luxury to relax and spend time with her . He and his party had to enter the Great Labyrinth soon, so he had to settle things quickly .
‘I have to end this before I go back . ’
Sungyoon’s eyes turned sharp, and a killing intent appeared in them .
He entered a cafe with Jimin . The cafe wasn’t crowded, but Sungyoon didn't take any chances . He kept his sunglasses and hat on .
Sungyoon and Jimin burned time and conversed about random topics when a voice interrupted them .
“You guys are here already . ”
Ooh-doohk!
As soon as he heard her voice, Sungyoon clenched his fists, and as if they wanted to express his anger, his fists made a terrifying noise .
Sungyoon slowly raised his head to look at the owner of the voice .
As always, she was dressed in fancy clothes . Her hands held a handbag that proudly displayed a luxury brand logo .
It was a newer handbag . It seemed she had bought a new one with the money she had gained by selling him out .
Sungyoon pressed down on his emotions and spoke .
“It has been a while . ”
But he added another sentence at the end .
“I’m not pleased to see you . ”
“Really? I’m very pleased to see you, Mr . Ex-husband . ”
“Don’t start with that bullshit . Just sit down . I’m really holding myself back right now . ”
Sungyoon felt his throat was burning . He opened the lid to his ice coffee and downed it in one go .
Crunch!
He chewed on the ice, and it seemed the action made him feel a little better .
Miyun sat down on the chair .
“It has been a while, right?”
Jimin asked, but Miyun didn't answer her . She just looked at Sungyoon and Jimin .
The two had been sitting shoulder to shoulder until Miyun had arrived .
“Are you in that kind of relationship already? I’m not sure if I should be congratulating you or not . ”
Miyun had spoken in a sarcastic manner . However, neither Sungyoon nor Jimin reacted to her .
Sungyoon took off his sunglasses .
“Stop with the bullshit . Just tell me what you want . ”
Miyun stared at Sungyoon’s face .
Before she had betrayed him, his face had been full of wrinkles, and he had a potbelly . However, that middle-aged man was nowhere to be seen .
Sungyoon now looked good enough to be called handsome, and Miyun could see that his body was fit through his clothes .
The Sungyoon she had known in her twenties had appeared in front of her . Moreover, his eyes were sharper than before . It was enough to attract glances from women .
She had thought he would hit rock-bottom and die after living a miserable life of looking after his daughter . But all her predictions had been completely off the mark .
Sungyoon had become world-famous . He was the ‘hero' .
Moreover, he had accumulated an amazing amount of money . According to the media, his net worth ranged from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars .
Miyun unintentionally bit her lips . She had thrown away Sungyoon, but he had become the most successful person in the world . Miyun tried to maintain her nonchalance, but she felt aggrieved . She really was regretting her decision .
However, her pride wouldn’t let her reveal such emotions .