Moon's Labyrinths

“That was how I spent years on the bottom while growing up. A person’s life is fragile, but resilient at the same time. It's hard to end it. Anyway, I continued to live my life as a lowly insect, but then, something life-changing happened. I awakened as a Connector.”

Hyunwoo looked at the ceiling. It seemed he was back in his feelings again.

“The chapter of my life without dreams and hopes had come to an end. I had a bright future. Of course, Mother was overjoyed. I didn’t care about that, but it was true that she had given birth to me and raised me. That was why I gave her just enough money so that we would barely see each other. She was satisfied since this was the only reason she had given birth to me.”

Sungyoon thought about Hyunwoo’s mother. Her entire body was draped with luxury items. She was a woman who openly boasted her extravagant lifestyle.

“Then, I met Jungbum.”

Sungyoon's pain subsided a little, and he put strength into his legs to stand up. Hyunwoo didn’t stop him; he sounded drunk on his own words.

“He became my friend, a very close friend. We hit it off as soon as we met. Above all else, we were a duo. We were the aces of our company. At the time, our company was small, and we helped it grow.”

When his pain completely subsided, Sungyoon once again attacked Hyunwoo.

‘Something is off about him!’

Something was changing within Hyunwoo. Sungyoon didn’t think it would be advantageous for him to let Hyunwoo go through with this change. Thus, he stabbed at him with his sword. Shockingly, Hyunwoo grabbed the sword with his hands once again. It seemed the last time hadn't been a fluke.

Sssk!

However, Sungyoon was ready. As soon as Hyunwoo grabbed the sword, Sungyoon unsummoned it, leaving nothing in Hyunwoo’s hands. The halberd made its appearance, and Sungyoon swung it.

Tuh-uhk!

However, Hyunwoo caught his weapon yet again. Sungyoon’s eyebrows twitched, and he unsummoned his halberd. This time, he held his ax in his right hand and his hammer in his left.

Hoo-oohng!

He attacked with both weapons at the same time, thinking Hyunwoo would probably be unable to grab both the weapons.

But, it had been too simple of an idea.

Tah-ahng! Tah-ahng!

Hyunwoo’s hands deflected the ax and the hammer.

Kwahng!

The hammer caused an explosion, but Hyunwoo didn’t receive any damage from it.

Hyunwoo lifted his foot.

Puh-uh-uhk!

Sungyoon once again received a kick in the stomach. He felt as if his internal organs had been crushed.

“Kuh-huhk!”

He screamed and felt as if he were out of breath at the same time. The kick had sent him flying backward again. Unlike before, he didn’t roll across the ground. He just staggered to a halt. However, the pain wasn’t any weaker than before.

When he touched his stomach, he found another location where his armor had caved in.

‘What strength!’

If Hyunwoo had swung his sword, Sungyoon felt as if it would've cut him in half.

“If I think about it, it was my golden age.”

Hyunwoo continued to speak. He didn’t seem interested in the blows that they had exchanged.

“At that time, I had already erased my dark past from my mind. I always thought I would continue to ascend. I was supposed to be in my glory days.”

The excitement was apparent in Hyunwoo's voice. However, in the next moment, that excitement disappeared, and his voice fell. Sungyoon could sometimes get a glimpse of Hyunwoo’s eyes through the visor of Hyunwoo's helmet, and he saw Hyunwoo's eyes turn red.

“I was mistaken.”

Hyunwoo's voice sounded inhuman as he croaked out his words.

“You asked me before. You asked me what Gen I was.”

“I did.”

“At the time, I said I was a 2nd Gen. Honestly, I’m not.”

Hyunwoo’s gloomy voice spoke the truth.

“I'm like you, a 1st Gen Connector.”

This surprised Sungyoon.

“First Gen? I thought you said your father was a 1st Gen? That means...”

The first thing Sungyoon thought about was infidelity, and it seemed Hyunwoo realized what Sungyoon was thinking.

“My mother wasn’t unfaithful. Well, it can’t be called infidelity since she only copulated with Connectors to acquire their seed. She never married or dated any of the Connectors.”

The relationships between Connectors and Hyunwoo’s mother had strictly been those born of desire and selfishness.

“My mother only needed Connector children. This was why she always went after Connectors. I'm sure my father was a Connector.”

“Are you saying a 1st Gen was born from a 1st Gen?”

“It's understandable why you can’t comprehend it. I’m a special case. Let me lay out an example.”

Hyunwoo raised his finger.

“Your daughter was born before you awakened, right? Then I guess she won’t make a good example. Let’s take Jimin for example. Her father, Jungbum, was a 2nd Gen. Woosang and Woosung, who were born as Connectors, naturally became 3rd Gen Connectors. However, like Jimin, not all Connector children become Connectors.”

Jimin was a regular human, so she had to set up a company to search for her missing father. It was an inefficient venture.

“Jimin is a normal child born from a Connector, but what would happen if she awakened now?”

“… Basically, she would be treated as a 1st Gen despite having a Connector as a parent?”

“It isn’t about being treated like one. She would really be a 1st Gen.

"She would be different from 2nd and 3rd Gens because they hold the characteristics of 1st Gens.”

A normal person born to a Connector parent would be newly awakened as a Connector.

“It must be a very rare occurrence.”

The rarity of this occurrence was the reason this information wasn’t well known.

“Yes, I'm rare, and I defied the odds to become what I am.”

Hyunwoo laughed. It was clear that he wasn’t laughing out of joy. Since his voice had become inhuman, his laughter sounded creepy.

“I first found out the truth through the Great Labyrinth. You’ve experienced it before, right? Do you remember the feeling when you first saw the Great Labyrinth?”

Sungyoon had seen the Great Labyrinth for the first time with Jimin. At that time, he had felt fear and pressure. The effect was milder on him than it was on the other Connectors, who either fell to their knees or on their butt.

“My party members also felt fear in the beginning. However, they shed this fear once their power advanced to a certain point. All of them boasted about wanting to clear the Great Labyrinth. I laughed and went along with their words. However, I never got used to the fear. It made me realize that I was a 1st Gen Connector.”

It was a brutal truth that could destroy his future.

“When I had found this out, I had despaired. First Gen was synonymous with hopelessness.”

Hyunwoo’s voice turned rougher.

“When my mother used to beat us, she would tell us that 1st Gen blood was bad. She would say that a 1st Gen Connector wasn’t a proper Connector. A 1st Gen was basically trash. She had said that it was why we didn’t awaken as Connectors.”

However, it wasn’t the last time 1st Gens were derided.

“Then came the mocking laughter of my comrades! The 2nd Gens and the 3rd Gens ignored the 1st Gens. This class warfare was exacerbated in Fabion. Most of their members were 3rd Gens or 1st Gens like me, who had a bad relationship with their parents. Moreover, the one who stood at the top of the 2nd and 3rd Gens was Hahn Jungbum!”

Anger! Hate! A loathsome despair swirled around Hyunwoo's body.

“That was why I couldn’t tell anyone that I was a 1st Gen. Jungbum and the other guys mocked 1st Gens for being useless studs. I couldn’t say a word when they said such things!”

Hyunwoo had hated himself for being a 1st Gen. Moreover, it could've ultimately led to him losing his friendship with a close friend. He had also feared losing his lifestyle. All those reasons had weighed him down.

“Still, I was fine with it at the time. I was much more talented compared to the other 1st Gens, and no one suspected I was a 1st Gen. However, in the end, the time of reckoning came.”

Hyunwoo reflected on another turning point in his life.

“It was time for us to attempt the Great Labyrinth!”

The first turning point in his life was becoming a Connector, which allowed him to soar into the blue skies. The second turning point had sent him plummeting to the ground.

“You know what happens to 1st Gens in the Great Labyrinth.”

There were two reasons other Connectors looked down on 1st Gens. First Gens reached their potential really quickly, and they went insane in the Great Labyrinth.

“I had to find a way. If I were to go mad from fear, everything I had achieved until that moment would've crumbled in front of my eyes.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes had turned red, and the red light his eyes emitted had become clearly visible through his helmet.

‘He’s like a monster.’

Sungyoon sensed an ominous feeling wash over him. However, he couldn’t recklessly attack. Right now, Hyunwoo’s power was on a different level. Sungyoon was trying to spot any openings. He also paid attention to Hyunwoo’s words as they might give him hints on how to defeat him.

“In the end, I found a method. It was a special-ability Gem that reduced one’s fear. It steadied one’s mind and soul in battle. However, this was only a temporary solution. Of course, the Gem’s abilities started tapering off the deeper I went into the Great Labyrinth. Moreover, I reached the limit of my abilities. Even if I was an outstanding 1st Gen, I could never become like you.”

Hyunwoo’s voice became full of envy.

“Every day was filled with anxiety and a feeling of inadequacy. It was driving me crazy. However, there was one thing that made me lose it.”

Ooh-doohk! Ooh-doohk!

A hair-raising sound started to ring out from within Hyunwoo’s armor.

Cold sweat dripped down Sungyoon’s cheek.

“It was a normal day. We went into the Great Labyrinth and harvested moonstones. It was like every other day, but I wasn’t feeling good. I made several mistakes, and it was clear that I was holding back my party members. My party members didn’t mind, and they even bought me alcohol several times to cheer me up.”

Hyunwoo continued to recall those memories, then he arrived when everything came to an end.

“We were heavily drinking. You know how good Connectors are at drinking alcohol. We were drinking cases of hard liquor, and it could've been the reason I had a moment of weakness. I asked a terrible question.”

His eyes lost focus, and he remembered the time he had asked the question to his party members.

“What would you do if you found out that one of your comrades was a 1st Gen?”

Kwah-doo-doohk!

Sungyoon could clearly hear the sound of bones breaking. It sounded like bone grinding against bone. Something was happening within Hyunwoo’s armor, and this made Sungyoon nervous.

“After receiving my question, I could see that they were weirded out. However, they soon burst out laughing, then a barrage of insults followed. They said how could a stud become their comrade? How could cowards who wet themselves at the sight of monsters in the Great Labyrinth keep up with them? They said all kinds of disparaging words. I’m actually surprised that I had endured such abuse. Let me tell you this, Sungyoon. The most shocking part came when Jungbum spoke.”

[There's no way such useless beings can be our comrades. They should know their place. If someone like that tries to enter my party, I’ll beat them up.]

Hyunwoo unsummoned his armor.