Chapter 353

Chapter 353
Chapter 353

“Shit! Where the hell are they!”
Tim's nose steamed as he kept pacing around . He looked like he wanted to beat up and smash anything and anyone nearby . Normally, Emily reined him in when he got too excited, but she wasn’t in her right mind either . Therefore, Tim's aggressiveness went unchecked .
“Please calm down . ”
Thankfully, Grace remained calm as she soothed the siblings . However, she also felt anxious .
‘It has been so long . He’s probably fighting Hyunwoo Sung . ’
Before becoming a traitor to humanity, Hyunwoo had been one of the top Connectors of Earth . Moreover, he was on Grenoid's side now . There was a possibility that he had gained some other power . If that wasn’t bad enough, other foes might show up after Hyunwoo .
The party had to somehow rejoin with Sungyoon as soon as possible .
Ta-ta-taht!
Suddenly, the three of them heard footsteps . They stopped searching the tower and looked toward the source of the sound .
Russell descended from a staircase .
“Russell! Did you find Mr . Sungyoon?”
Grace rushed toward Russell as she asked the question . She didn’t use his title like usual . Even though she was calm on the surface, she was so flustered that she forgot to call Russell by his title .
“No . I couldn't find him . ”
The three of them became crestfallen .
“Don’t worry too much . As you know, the Knight won’t lose that easily . Moreover, all the monsters around the tower have run away . He must've done something . ”
Monsters had been amassed around the tower, and they had been fighting a bloody battle with the Connectors . However, they had dispersed a couple of minutes ago . Only a small number of monsters remained outside the tower . Most of them had gone back to the nearby labyrinths .
It meant the being controlling the monsters had died .
“You're probably right . ”
“Of course, I am!”
Russell did his best and acted unperturbed to keep Grace calm .
Ooh-roo-roo-roohgn!
The tower shook .
“Ooh-ahk!”
“Kyahhhk!”
Everyone quickly grabbed the wall to keep their balance .
The vibration was intense, but it lasted only for a short time . That was why none of them fell .
“What . . . what the hell was that?”
Tim looked at his surroundings, but the only thing he saw was the twisted narrow passageways .
“It seems something has happened . . . ”
Russell spoke in a low voice .
“Let’s start moving . ”
If they stayed here doing nothing, they wouldn’t be able to find out any information about what had caused the vibration . Moreover, they wouldn’t find out any information about Sungyoon’s whereabouts .
Everyone followed Russell’s instruction as they started climbing the stairs .
The first to speak was one of Russell’s party members .
“Hmm? Something feels different . ”
“Doesn’t it?”
It was subtle, but Russell got an uncomfortable feeling . He warily looked at around .
“Something has changed . ”
“Did the vibration cause this?”
Russell and his party members spoke amongst themselves . The change made everyone raise their guards . Grace, who did her best to control her worry for Sungyoon, looked at the map . Her eyes widened .
“This is odd . There should be a fork in the path, yet there is none here . ”
Everyone turned their gaze toward the front, then climbed the staircase pointed out by Grace .
Russell carefully touched the wall of the passageway .
“Did the tower's structure change?”
At that moment, everyone heard footsteps coming from the staircase . They turned toward the source of the sound on reflex .
The one making the footsteps started coming into view .
“Ah!”
Someone groaned . The man who had been descending the staircase stopped when he saw them .
“You were here . ”
They were broken in many places, but they were the familiar silver armor and the red cape .
On Earth, he was called the symbol of hope . Everyone recognized him .
“Mr . Sungyoon!”
No one knew who was the first as Tim, Emily, and Grace ran toward Sungyoon . They hugged, cried, and celebrated that Sungyoon was fine .
“You made us worry… . ”
Russell, who had been watching from behind, grumbled in a low voice . However, a small smile blossomed within his helmet .
“Let’s head back right now . ”
Sungyoon spoke as he calmed his party members, who were crying with joy .
“Return? Did you find how we can return the Moon to its original orbit?”
Russell asked the question with anticipation in his voice .
Sungyoon took out a Gem .
“This has the way to solve the problem . ”
“What is it?”
“It's Mr . Hyunwoo’s storage Gem . ”
Everyone’s face hardened when they heard that name .
“That Gem contains the solution? Who said so?”
“Mr . Hyunwoo . ”
“… Can we trust him?”
Russell asked with a dissatisfied expression . His eyes were full of suspicion, and everyone else felt the same . How could they not be suspicious? Hyunwoo had turned his back on humanity . He was the biggest traitor in humanity's history . He was the devil .
“Wouldn’t it be better to search the room you guys disappeared into? Since you could exit that place, there must be an entrance now . No, let me ask this first . What happened? I heard you met Hyunwoo Sung . Did you kill him . ”
“I’ll explain as we go . I guess it won’t be bad to search that place . When the distorted space returned to its normal state, an entrance indeed appeared . If you go straight up this staircase, you’ll arrive at that room . ”
Sungyoon's voice sounded like he was sure that they wouldn’t find much in that room . After all, he had surveyed the place once already . Nevertheless, it didn't mean that others would have no chance of finding anything . The future of humanity was riding on this, so it was good to be double sure .
“Let’s send the other Connectors to search the place . We should head down . I’ll give you a detailed explanation . ”
***
The region around the tower had turned very quiet . Just a while ago, roars of monsters and screams of humans had been reverberating in the air . Bloods and guts had been flying everywhere . It was hard to believe that a bloody battle had occurred in this place . However, the corpses on the ground were proof that it hadn’t been all a dream .
Sungyoon’s party gathered around a support vehicle, which was parked a bit away from the battlefield . Several people, who had been driving the support vehicle, went over the data from the USB that had been inside Hyunwoo’s Gem .
Sungyoon’s party let the men work in peace . They moved a bit away from the vehicle and called the Mayor .
- I see . So that's how Hyunwoo Sung met his end .
A shadow appeared on the Mayor’s face as he spoke through the screen .
- I knew he had a reason for betraying humanity, but I never knew what exactly he went through . It's quite unfortunate .
“He is still a traitor . ”
Russell was blunt . However, his complexion didn’t look great either .
- Yes . He’s a traitor . I don't deny that . However, I'm the Mayor of Armstrong city . It makes me wonder if there is a way I can govern the city in a better way .
The Mayor felt the weight of being the person in charge .
- I can flagellate myself at a later time . Let’s focus on the story on hand . What was inside Hyunwoo Sung’s Gem?
“There was a USB that he called the solution . Then . . . ”
Sungyoon took something out .
“There’s this Gem . ”
It was a Diamond rank Gem .
- Diamond rank Gem? That’s surprising . What is its ability?
“For a certain period, it allows one to recover the power of Gems that have lost their powers after overclocking . ”
- Didn’t you overclock all your Gems in this battle, Mr . Sungyoon?
“Yes . That was why I had been worried, but I can participate in the fight thanks to this Gem . ”
- It seems Hyunwoo Sung prepared a lot of things .
If the solution prepared by Hyunwoo allowed them to defeat the Grenoid, Hyunwoo would have played a pivotal role in defeating the Grenoid . It would mean he would have contributed the most in the effort to save humanity .
The person, who betrayed humanity, had provided the solution to saving humanity .
- He’s a complex person .
It seemed the mayor had the same thought as Sungyoon . They both shook their heads from side to side .
At that moment, one of the people organizing the data from the USB approached them .
“We checked all the data . ”
- Is that so? What information was on there?
The mayor quickly asked the question . Everyone turned to look at the man .
“First, there is a piece of information that I have to tell first . ”
His face had hardened .
Was he nervous because famous and influential people were staring at him?
That wasn’t the case . His face had hardened because the information that he was about to reveal was that serious .
“Hyunwoo Sung was able to estimate the date of Grenoid’s revival . ”
“When is it?”
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every human wanted to know this information .
Sungyoon quickly asked the question .
The man clenched his eyes shut as he spat out his words .
“Tomorrow”
A terrifying silence descended within the vehicle .
***
They were standing on a large hill .
There were numerous craters at the back of the moon, and Sungyoon’s party stood on top of the ridge of a crater .
No one spoke . Usually, Tim hadn’t the silence and boredom, but even he kept his mouth shut .
There was nervousness flowing between them . It was almost as if they were afraid of something .
“…how long do we have left?”
The one to break the heavy atmosphere was Grace .
She gripped her staff as she looked down at the flat ground within the crater .
Sungyoon looked down at his watch .
“I’m not sure . The day will end in eight hours . If it occurs, it should happen within this window . ”
“Do you think Hyunwoo Sung’s plan will work?”
Her voice shook .
She was always cool and collected . This was unlike her normal cold demeanor .
However, everyone present felt the same way .
“It has to work . ”
There can be no distraction .
Sungyoon’s voice sounded heavy .
“I see . ”
Grace became silent after finally opening her mouth .
The clock kept ticking, and if their heart could beat, their hearts would sound like a percussion quartet . It probably would have made their mood worse .
“…Hoo-ooh!”
Sungyoon let out a large sigh . Tim, Emily, and Grace looked towards Sungyoon .
‘Keep it together, Woo Sungyoon . I know you are nervous, you can’t back down . ’
He had experienced many hardships in the past, but the foe that they would fight was on a different level . It automatically made one want to cringe in fear .
However, they couldn’t do that .
Even if they fought with all their might, it might not be enough to win .
They had to use all means possible . They couldn’t fight to their full capabilities if they were weak .
Sungyoon had to come up with a plan, and he had to calm down his party members as their leader .
“I have a bit of wine with me . Do you want to discuss what we’ll like to do after we finish this battle?”
The eyes of his party members turned round as they looked at him .
Then every one of them sent a small smile towards Sungyoon .