Moon’s Labyrinth - Chapter 293

The information regarding the return of the survivors from Armstrong city and the arrest of Fabion was gradually released to the news. This was a scandal that developed after the fall of Armstrong city. Therefore, the government controlled the release of the information to get ahead of the media frenzy.

A large company had acted in an immoral manner. Moreover, the crimes weren’t the usual tax evasion, embezzlement, or bribery. It wasn’t a political crime. It was murder, and this news shocked everyone.

On top of that, the media soon gave the public another bombshell: the existence of the Moon people. Of course, the public was going crazy. People were starting to theorize the possibility of Fabion causing the downfall of Armstrong city.

The world had focused its attention on Korea, where the core members of Fabion were imprisoned.

“Hey, Jimin! It’s been a while!”

“Chelsea!”

As Chelsea gave a big wave, Jimin rushed forward to hug her.

Her best friend and her husband had gone missing at the same time. It had been a big source of worry for Jimin. Just a while ago, Chelsea had told Jimin through the phone that she was fine. However, Jimin couldn’t help but shed tears when she saw her best friend in real life.

“Ah ha ha! Were you worried about me?”

“Of course, you dummy!”

When Jimin saw Chelsea laugh without a care in the world, she snapped. It was unlike her, but Chelsea’s cheeky expression triggered her. She lightly punched Chelsea’s side, but Chelsea reacted in an exaggerated manner. She held her side and groaned.

Sungyoon stood off to the side as he watched the old two friends reunite.

“I’m glad to see it.”

Grace, who stood next to him, also looked at the reunion with a small smile on her face. Tim and Emily had similar expressions too.

“Where’s the Mayor?”

When the situation calmed down, Sungyoon asked Chelsea, who was arranging her disheveled hair.

“Follow me.”

Chelsea pushed up her thick glasses. Whenever she returned to Earth, Chelsea always wore fashionable clothes. However, right now, she was still dressed in her dirty lab coat and still wore her thick dowdy glasses.

‘Is she trying to say she’s on the clock as a researcher today?’

Chelsea led the way to a large building.

As Sungyoon walked behind her, he saw a lot of security inside the building. Police, as well as soldiers, guarded the place. He also sometimes caught sight of Connectors in full gear, albeit they were a few in number.

The elevator ascended to a certain room.

“Ah. You’re here.”

The Mayor greeted Sungyoon. However, he wasn’t alone in the large room.

“You are here too, Director?”

“I’m the director of the International Moon research facility. How could I miss this meeting.”

The Mayor, the Director, and Sungyoon had come here to give their opinion. They were here to represent their profession. Of course, Sungyoon’s party members and Chelsea had also been called here. Aside from them, there were a couple more people in the room. Most of them were Connectors who had met the Moon people. They had also participated in the bloody battle within Armstrong city.

Some people in the room crowded around Sungyoon to shake his hand. They were all politicians with important positions in their respective countries. It was a whirlwind as Sungyoon greeted every one of them. Only then did he get a chance to greet the Mayor.

“As expected, the Knight is very popular.”

“I’m still not used to it.”

Sungyoon thought he would never get used to it in his lifetime.

“Don’t think too much about it. You deserve to be praised. You earned it with the work you did.”

“You deserve a lot of credit too, Mayor.”

“I don’t deserve any credit. I am the mayor of Armstrong city, yet I was unable to protect the city. I lost humanity’s only base in space. I am no longer a mayor. How can I be a mayor when I have no city?”

The Mayor mocked himself, and he sounded cynical.

In Sungyoon’s opinion, the situation couldn’t be blamed on the Mayor, but his opinion couldn’t console the man in his current situation. Glancing at his watch, Sungyoon changed the topic.

“It’s almost time.”

The prominent politicians had already taken their seats. They remained silent as their face hardened from nervousness. The number of people chewing gum or cracking their necks kept increasing as time passed.

Several of them quietly got up, holding cigarette boxes in their hands. However, everyone returned before the meeting was about to start. There were no empty seats.

Tick!

The second hand of the clock ticked, and an odd tension descended in the room.

It didn’t take long for the door to open once again. A person entered under guard by multiple Connectors.

Plu-El nervously looked around the room, but then, she met eyes with Sungyoon. At that moment, she felt her nervousness dissipate. She looked happy to see him, and seeing this acknowledgment in her eyes, Sungyoon bowed his head.

“That person is…”

This woman was also her mother, a mother she never knew she had until a while ago. A complicated expression appeared on Jimin’s face. As the representative of the company affiliated with Sungyoon, Jimin had been allowed to witness this interrogation.

Plu-El sat in the chair placed at the center of the room. She wasn’t restrained, but Connectors surrounded her.

The Mayor picked up the mic.

“I feel no need to introduce myself. I will forgo the formalities. You’re all busy people, so we will hold a Q&A session with a descendant of Planote.”

He had referred to her as a descendant of Planote instead of one of the Moon people. Moreover, he had called it a Q&A session instead of an interrogation. The Mayor tried to look out for Plu-El to the best of his ability.

“Do you mind retelling the story that you told us before?”

He passed the mic to her.

Plu-El wasn’t used to a microphone, so she stammered a little bit. And when her voice started to ring out in the room, amazement appeared on her face.

She continued to haltingly tell her story. It was the same story she had told to Sungyoon and the others on the Moon.

Every country had a general outline of the story prior to this meeting, but they all wanted to hear the story for themselves.

As Plu-El explained it, one could hear groans and gasps in the room.

“This concludes what I told the Mayor and everyone else.”

Plu-El put down the mic.

The Mayor looked around the room.

“Does anyone have any questions for—”

Before the Mayor could finish his words, everyone raised their hands.

The Mayor randomly picked and pointed at a person.

“The monster… was it called Grenoid? You said the seal is unraveling. Will the seal stop unraveling if we no longer bring moonstones to Earth?”

“No. Once the seal starts unraveling, it’s impossible to stop it. Moreover, the seal would’ve unraveled anyway even if you didn’t take the moonstones. The proof is in the fact that Connectors showed up on Earth even before moonstones had been transported to Earth. It proves that the seal was in the process of unraveling. It’s only a matter of time before the seal will break.”

The person who had asked the question groaned.

The Mayor pointed at a different person.

“Was the incident in Armstrong city related to Grenoid?”

“Yes. The magical energy, which is supposed to keep Grenoid in check, leaked out onto the surface of the Moon. It means magical energy is not sealing Grenoid anymore. With this, it would become easier for Grenoid to spread its influence. Monsters originate from Grenoid’s body. Of course, they attack under its control. Only Grenoid could pull something like this off.”

The Mayor turned to another person.

“I heard you made Gems from corpses of Connectors. Are the Gems that Connectors use made similarly?”

“No. We made Gems from corpses of Connectors because our people were short on resources. We had to use desperate measures to survive in the labyrinths. Moreover, our people stopped making Gems out of corpses when our situation stabilized. We only made a few Gems from the dead because it was tradition. We only started manufacturing them after Fabion ambushed us and we lost a lot of our people, Devices, and Gems.”

Another person raised his hand. His question was heavier than the one from before.

“Why did the descendants of Planote attack our cities on the moon and earth? What was the reason behind it?”

Plu-El glanced at Sungyoon.

Sungyoon had suffered the most under the attacks from the moon people.

Plu-El let out a sigh as she carefully chose the words she was about to speak.

“We came to stop Kevil, who came down to earth. We came down to kill the 1st Gen Connectors. It was also the reason why we attacked Mr. Sungyoon.”

This was their first time hearing this. She clearly said her people had come down to earth to kill people.

As a 1st Gen Connector, Sungyoon paid close attention to Plu-El’s words.

“I get that you wanted to stop Kevil. However, you just said you came to kill the 1st Gen Connectors. Why is that?”

“The Grenoid is up to something. It plans to carry out this plan using the 1st Gen Connectors.”

“It is true that some 1st Gens of earth were kidnapped by Kevil. The survey party that you attacked first did have a 1st Gen Connector amongst them. Was it really necessary to kill the 1st Gens?”

“The surest way of denying what the enemy wants is to destroy what they want. At the time, we considered the people of earth to be enemies thanks to Fabion, and we were desperate to stop the Grenoid. We had no reason to hesitate.”

“Why does it want to use the 1st Gen? In most cases, the 1st Gen Connectors are weaker than their descendants.”

The person, who was asking the question, kept glancing at Sungyoon. He knew Sungyoon was a 1st Gen, and he didn’t want to offend Sungyoon.

He did his best to make his question as non-offensive as possible.

“It seems I’ll have to address this before I can move forward.”

Plu-El fixed her posture a bit.

“It seems a lot of people on earth tend to ignore the 1st Gens. In terms of pure talent, the 1st Gen Connectors are overwhelmingly better than the 2nd and 3rd Gen Connectors.”

Everyone became surprised by her words. Her words smashed into pieces what they considered to be common sense.

“They were the first ones to draw out the magical energy of the moon despite the long distance. Of course, their talent is better.”

“Then why are their abilities inferior to the 2nd and 3rd Gens?”

“It probably has to do with the fact that 1st Gens aren’t used to the magical energy. Their talent is so excellent that they were able to draw out the magical energy by themselves. However, they lived their whole lives without magical energy, so the body isn’t prepared to receive the magical energy. This is why their abilities suffer.”

“Are you saying the bodies of 2nd and 3rd Gen Connectors are ready to accept magical energy?”

“One or both parents are magical energy users. Of course, the children would be used to the magical energy. Since the body is used to the magical energy, their chances of awakening as Connectors is increased. Of course, it is a separate issue as to whether the 2nd and 3rd Gen have the comparable talent to the 1st Gen.”

One of the mechanisms of Connectors that couldn’t be explained by the scientists was revealed by Plu-El at that moment.

The director and Chelsea were busy typing into their laptop. They were feverish as they made sure they transcribed Plu-El’s every word.

“Why would Kevil want to gather these talented 1st Gen Connectors?”

“I am not sure, but I do know it is some plan that would be helpful to the Grenoid. The 1st Gens are talented enough to be used as ‘sacrifices.’”

Sacrifice.

It was a terrifying word.

Most people frowned when they heard the word.

There were a few that were a bit disgusted by Plu-El, who had spoken with a cavalier attitude.

“Is there a possibility that those that were kidnapped are still alive?”

“You shouldn’t get your hopes up. Grenoid considers humans to be enemies that have to be killed. There is no way it would treat the 1st Gen Connectors well.”

Afterward, questions continued to be asked. Plu-El answered all the questions best to her knowledge.

When the interrogation that was characterized as a Q&A session came to an end, the politicians started to leave by ones and twos.

Everyone looked like they had a headache from receiving the troublesome information.

Soon, the room became empty. However, Sungyoon’s party did not leave the room. They approached Plu-El.

“It has been a while, Mr. Sungyoon.”

Plue-El greeted Sungyoon. Then she turned to look at the people around him.

There were people that she recognized, but there was one that she had never seen before.

The woman was studying Plu-El.

This was their first meeting, but Plu-El knew who she was.

“You are Ms. Hahn Jimin.”

She was Plu-El’s other daughter.