Chapter 360

Connectors lived simple lives. They entered the labyrinths, killed monsters, and collected the moonstones from the monsters. When it was time to rest, they went to the only city on the Moon and blew off steam.

Shinwoo was the same. It had been several years since he had entered this industry. He had made a name for himself to a certain extent, but his life didn’t differ too much from other normal Connectors.

After hunting in his Personal Labyrinth, he returned to the city. He parked his Moon Surface Vehicle in the large parking lot located on the city's side. Normally, his vehicle would be full of moonstones, but he had left his labyrinth earlier than usual. Therefore, he hadn’t come back with much profit.

‘I feel bad for my party members.’

Right now was supposed to be the busiest part of their schedule, yet Shinwoo had pulled out. His party members had said that it was ok, but he was his party's strongest member. So he felt bad for doing this.

‘I’ll have to treat them to a lot of alcohol next time.’

Shinwoo got off his car and took deliberate steps toward the city. When he arrived at the entrance, the large sign hanging above the entrance to the city came into view.

- Sungyoon City

Every time he saw that sign, he felt a bit uncomfortable. In the past, before he was born, this city was called Armstrong city. However, after the city was rebuilt on the newly-formed Moon, it was renamed as ‘Sungyoon city.’

‘These are the times when it hits me.’

It always reminded him that his father was an amazing person.

Shinwoo opened the gates to ‘Sungyoon’ and entered the city. He walked down a long main street and soon reached a large plaza.

A lot of people were walking around the plaza, and the stores were trying very hard to tout their business. However, the eye-catching part of this area was the large statues in the middle of the plaza. Shinwoo's eyes landed on the statute placed in front of the other statues. The statue's face was familiar, and it resembled Shinwoo’s face.

These were the statues of the heroes who had saved humanity and Earth. The one in the front represented this group; it was Woo Sungyoon. The statue had a solemn and earnest face. Shinwoo laughed because he could see his father looking awkward when his mothers and sisters teased him. After glancing at the statue for a moment, he resumed walking along the main street and entered a building in the end.

“Welcome…! Ah! You're here, Mr. Woo Shinwoo.”

A middle-aged man with an affable face greeted Shinwoo.

“You came back sooner this time. Where are your party members?”

“They are still hunting within the labyrinth. I came back early because I have some business elsewhere.”

“I see.”

“Please dispose of this for me.”

Shinwoo took out a bag containing his cut of the moonstones.

“Understood. I’ll immediately take care of it for you.”

Shinwoo was standing in the building of a specialized company that transported moonstones to Earth. This company had an exclusive contract with his mother’s company, so Shinwoo always brought his moonstones here.

“How are you doing these days?”

The man asked Shinwoo as he put away the bag of moonstones.

“It's always the same.”

“That’s good to hear. It's important that your daily life stays the same. There's nothing better than boring peace. I had the epiphany when the incident with Grenoid occurred.”

The man winked, and Shinwoo awkwardly nodded.

“At the time, I was new to this business. Now, I’m so old. Honestly, I never expected to continue in this line of work after Grenoid was defeated.”

After the battle for humanity's fate had ended, Grenoid’s body had disappeared as it melted into the ground. The remaining source of magical energy within Grenoid was also pulled into the tower at the heart of the Moon. This development had surprised no one. In the information Hyunwoo had left behind, he had predicted something like that might occur.

The labyrinths and monsters had started appearing on the Moon once again after a while.

“It was a relief for us. We regained our way to make ends meet. In that aspect, I’m glad Grenoid's corpse was helpful.”

When the source of magical energy became whole again, it could create monsters after absorbing Grenoid's body. Moreover, the waves of magical energy from the tower had created a complex tunnel as the Moon had been reformed. Magical energy had started to leak out into these tunnels. New labyrinths had appeared on the new Moon.

“This is all thanks to your father and his comrades.”

“Ha ha! Father will be happy to hear that.”

The man’s bright eyes made Shinwoo uncomfortable. His father’s halo had followed him ever since he had been born. It was a burden to him, but at this point, he was somewhat used to it.

‘I’m not in puberty. I’m not my old self who wanted to get out of my father’s shadow.’

Shinwoo inwardly laughed as he thought about his stormy period of adolescence. He then said goodbye to the man and left the building.

‘Finally, it's time to go to Earth!’

How long had it been? Shinwoo looked up at the round Earth floating above the city.

***

Shinwoo's final destination was Korea, but he was on a plane heading toward the US. He had something to do before landing in Korea. Shinwoo stepped inside one of the top universities in the world. Any person would look at someone with envy just for getting into this university.

‘This is the best years of their life.’

Shinwoo looked at the students conversing with each other as they moved through the campus and thought like an old grandpa. However, he was only a couple of years older than them.

“Ah! She's over there.”

It wasn’t difficult to find the person he sought in the crowd of students. Her attention was focused elsewhere, but her eye-popping beauty struck out. However, Shinwoo didn’t care about that. He would recognize his sister no matter what she looked like.

“Hey, Shinhwee.”

“Oppa?”

The girl who had been walking and laughing with her friends widened her eyes when she saw him.

***

“That’s too much. Why do you have to pick me up? I’m old enough now.”

Shinhwee grumbled as she packed up her belongings inside her dorm room.

Shinwoo already had an excuse.

“I guess they still see you as a young girl. I can’t do much since this is an order from our mothers.”

“I’m only a year younger than you.”

She shot back. However, Shinwoo just shrugged.

“Maybe, they don’t think of you as trustworthy. What did you always say in the past? 'I am the daughter of a noble person who saved the kingdom...!' Oof!”

Shinhwee threw the clothes in her hand toward Shinwoo, and he caught it in an exaggerated manner.

“I told you to never bring that up again!”

Shinhwee shouted back at him. Tears appeared in Shinwoo's eyes as he laughed. She glared at him as she approached him and snatched the piece of clothing from his hand.

“Give it back! What are you doing holding your dongsaeng’s underwear!”

“You threw it at me. Stop being delusional. I have no interest in my dongsaeng’s underwear.”

Shinhwee snorted as she resumed packing her luggage.

“How’s school?”

“It is ok.”

Her voice sounded sharp, but she answered every question posed to her.

Shinwoo crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall.

“You really are something. You are a Connector. You were born with enough talent to become one of the highest rank Connectors of this world, yet you chose to go into research. Either way, you’ll have to go to the Moon a lot.”

Since the source of magical energy was still on the Moon, Connectors still felt the urge to go to the Moon.

This was why most Connectors chose to hunt monsters as an occupation.

However, his dongsaeng had chosen the path of becoming a researcher.

She had to go up to the Moon thanks to the pull she felt, and she had to kill monsters if she wanted to provide for her own living expense.

This was why she had less time to study and research compared to others.

Despite these facts, she chose to silently walk down the road to becoming a researcher.

“It is probably our mom’s influence. Well, I don’t regret my decision. Research is fun.”

Shinhwee let out a burst of bright laughter. There wasn’t an ounce of negative emotion on her face.

‘She is the daughter of mother Chelsea. I guess it can’t be helped.’

Shinhwee was the daughter of the famous researcher Chelsea Strobe.

It seemed she had inherited her mother’s blood as a researcher.

“Then you can focus only on being a researcher. Father or I can provide your living expenses on the Moon. It won’t be too hard for us.”

“I can’t live off of dad or Oppa forever. I’m good. This is my life, and I’ll take care of myself.”

‘She’s so headstrong.’

He was worried about the fact that his sister had to work so hard, but at the same time, he was proud of her.

“If that’s what you want, I’m fine with it.”

“Yes. I really love my life right now.”

Shinhwee had a big smile on her lips, so Shinwoo laughed along with her.

“I’ve always been curious about it. Why did you call yourself the daughter of the man, who save the kingdom? Our father saved the world. If you were going to make some teenage fantasy, it should be closer to reality...”

“Get out of here, you dick!”

In the end, Shinwoo was kicked out of the house until Shinhwee packed her luggage.

***

After picking up Shinwee, their next destination was London. They caught a taxi at the airport, and they headed toward their destination.

They arrived at a house with a very luxurious design. When they passed through the large front gate, they arrived at the garden.

“I don’t know how he can live here.”

Shinhwee wore comfortable clothes as she looked at her surrounding. Her sentiment sounded very salty.

“I wouldn't be able to live here. It would be too suffocating.”

“That is the difference between you and me.”

She heard a stiff voice. Shinhwee turned toward the source of the voice with dislike on her face.

A young teenager was walking toward the two of them.

He looked like a beautiful young man that appeared within a shoujo manga.

He had a dignified look on his face, but his face still looked young. This was why his appearance looked a bit unbalanced.

“You are so stuffy.”

“I’m better than you. You don’t even know how to observe basic courtesies.”

“Hey. Let’s stop fighting. It has been a while since we’ve seen each other. We should get along.”

Shinwoo got in between his two siblings. However, it was an empty gesture.

“She’s the one that picked a fight with me.”

“I can’t get along with him.”

Both his siblings looked horrified when Shinwoo suggested that they all get along. Shinwoo let out a sigh.

‘Well, they’ve always been like this.’

Shinhwee was a free spirit, and Shinhyun always followed the rules. Their personalities were like oil and water.

‘They are the same age, so why can’t they get along?’

No, the fact that they were the same age might make it worse.

“I can talk to mother Grace, but he’s too rigid.”

“I should be the one saying that. Mother Chelsea is a free spirit, but she always observes her manners. She is different from you.”

Thankfully, the two of them didn’t despise each other’s mother.

That was a relief.

“Our family is well known around the world. Our history is short, but our father achieved the greatest achievement in human history. We are part of that family. That is why we have to be careful in each of our actions. If we act recklessly, we will give our father and mothers a bad name.”

“Stop saying such ignorant things. This is the 21st century. Who cares about family names? Why should I care about what others think about us? I’ve done nothing wrong, and that should be enough.”

Their words clearly showed their way of thinking.

‘I’m sure their mothers had a big influence on them.’

It was always like this in every era, but the world needed the ingenuity of scientists.

Since Chelsea was Shinhwee’s mother, Shinhwee became influenced by her mother’s world view. This was why she valued common sense, and she viewed the world as a free spirit.

It was the same for Shinhyun.

After Britain became a constitutional monarchy, they had quickly adopted a representative democracy. It also meant they still had a monarchy and aristocracy. It was ironic, but while they were progressive, some parts were still very conservative.

Shinhyun’s great grandmother was the queen, and his mother was treated like a princess. This was why it was inevitable that he had aristocratic manners.

Shinwoo let out a sigh as he watched the two siblings growl at each other. However, he soon let out a smile.

It suddenly reminded him of the past.

‘They acted like that when they were young too.’

Thankfully, the two of them didn’t hate each other. They only bickered when they met each other.

This was why he didn’t worry too much about them.

However…

“It’s fine when we are alone like this. There is a saying that says you get closer the more you fight. But...”

The smile on Shinwoo’s lips disappeared.

He looked at the two with cold eyes.

Flinch!

Shinhwee and Shinhyun forgot to glare at each other. They flinched backward.

“We are having a family dinner after a long time away. You better not act this way when the time comes. ”

He really wouldn’t go easy on them.

Shinwoo didn’t need to say anything further. Shinhwee and Shinhyun easily understood the implicit threat behind his words.

The two of them looked at each other before nodding toward Shinwoo.

Shinwoo was their older brother. Shinwoo normally acted like a pushover, but once he got angry, he was a very scary person.