Moon's Labyrinths

This break had come after a month, and Sungyoon really took the time to relax. He planned on resting for around 3 weeks. Urgent businesses like getting the Personal Labyrinth assigned had been taken care of. There was no reason for him to go to his company. Moreover, he had reported his dangerous misadventure, where he had encountered another Bigfoot, to Jimin. Chelsea had been next to Jimin at that time, and she also piled on him by reproaching his actions. Both ladies scolded him to be a bit more careful.

The Mana Stream within Sungyoon’s labyrinth lasted two weeks. Moreover, he had to wait an appropriate amount of time for the monsters to relocate themselves. In the beginning, he had wanted to go in as soon as the Mana Stream ended. However, he had scrapped that idea when he almost died to a Bigfoot, which had suddenly appeared in front of the labyrinth's entrance.

Yesterday was like today, and today was like tomorrow. Peaceful and boring days continued.

However, today was a bit of a special day.

Sungyoon looked at Shinhae, who had worn traditional Korean clothing. He looked at her with love in his eyes.

She was wearing a beautiful hanbok, which doubled her cuteness. She had donned a bright red skirt and a blue jeogori, and her sleeves were decorated with colorful stripes.

Although Shinhae looked cute wearing anything, the hanbok brought out a different form of cuteness. Her cuteness had gone off the charts.

It seemed the hanbok was more uncomfortable than her normal clothes, so there was a bit of awkwardness in her movement. However, she was a kid. She ignored the awkwardness as she moved around the house, and her skirt fluttered every time she moved.

Sungyoon looked pleased. He had made a big decision in buying a hanbok for Shinhae.

Usually, hanboks were more expensive than normal clothes. For adults, they only had to worry about getting fat as their body wouldn't go through any changes. Unlike the adults, children grew rapidly each day. There was a good chance that this hanbok had to be discarded after one year.

However, Sungyoon had taken everything into consideration and had gifted a hanbok to his daughter. He didn’t feel an ounce of regret about that decision.

“Dad, look at this!”

Shinhae, who was wearing her hanbok, spun in place. The bright red skirt danced in the air as centrifugal force made it whirl. The little girl was the apple of his eyes, so, of course, Sungyoon was moved by this sight.

“Uh-whew! You are too cute!”

He spoke as he kneaded Shinahe’s soft cheeks. The little girl laughed, but it seemed she found his gesture tiresome and quickly moved her face away from his fingers. Sungyoon groped the empty air in loss.

“Dad, dad! Sebae!”

“Of course! Dad has to receive sebae from Shinhae!”

Any feeling of loss was gone. Sungyoon spoke loudly as he sat in front of her.

It had been a while since he could celebrate a holiday with Shinhae. When his company went bankrupt, he had fallen to the bottom, and he hadn’t been able to celebrate any holidays with his daughter. Not to mention, he had to entrust her to an orphanage before he went to the Moon. After he started going to the Moon, he spent the majority of his time there. In the past year, he had missed Children’s day, Lunar New Year, Christmas, and even her birthday. This was why celebrating a holiday today with Shinhae was that much more precious to him.

“Happy New Year!”

Shinhae yelled out loud as she kowtowed towards Sungyoon. It seemed that she had learned how to bow in kindergarten. Sungyoon looked very satisfied as he watched her.

“I will!”

He purposefully spoke in a solemn manner, but there was also a playful tone to his voice. Shinhae got up. She wasn’t familiar with the hanbok, nor used to making these gestures. She wobbled for a moment as she got up, and Sungyoon flinched as if he wanted to go prop her up. However, the little girl was successful in regaining her balance.

“New Year’s money!”

Shinhae ran towards Sungyoon and pushed both hands out towards him. Of course, Sungyoon wasn’t going to act cheap on such an occasion. All the money he had earned was for his daughter.

“Wait a moment!”

Sungyoon took out his wallet. He had been prepared for this moment. He took out four crisp 50 dollar bills, which he had withdrawn from the bank, and handed them over to Shinhae.

“Wow~!”

She had just turned 6 years old. Of course, it was an enormous amount of money to her. However, Sungyoon looked satisfied by the fact that Shinhae liked the gift.

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang. Shinhae looked happy, and Sungyoon looked happier than her. Both of them turned their heads towards the door, and a familiar expression arose on their face. It seemed someone they expected was visiting.

“Ah! It must be unni.”

It seemed Shinhae had a hunch as to who it was, and she hurried off to the interphone. Her cute little hand clutched the four bills, which fluttered as she ran.

“It is unni!”

When she checked who was on the display, Shinhae didn’t bother picking up the receiver for the interphone. She went out to the front door.

Click!

“Unni!”

As soon as Shinhae opened the door, the woman outside ran in. The child didn’t dodge as she allowed the woman to pick her up.

“Shinhae!”

She spoke haltingly in Korean, but it wasn’t hard to understand her. The woman hugged Shinhae’s small body.

“You are here again today, Ms Chelsea.”

Sungyoon showed a little displeasure when he spoke, and there was a bit of sarcasm in his voice too. Whenever Chelsea had time, she would drop by to interfere in his quality time with Shinhae.

“Ah! Happy New Year, Mr Sungyoon!”

However, his sarcastic remark had no effect.

“Also, I wish Shinhae to have a prosperous new year!”

“Yes! Happy New Year, unni!”

They grabbed each other’s hands and spoke their New Year’s greetings with a bright smile on their faces. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say this sight was almost picturesque.

After Chelsea had arrived on Earth, she kept wearing flashy clothes. She had always made money, but she had never spent it. She now shopped as if she wanted to spend all her money. She adorned herself with nice things. Jimin had to wonder if she was spending a bit too much, but she had to remember that Chelsea hadn’t shopped like this in years. It was probably ok to let her do as she liked for now. Jimin let out a sigh. She also had a conversation with Sungyoon to let Chelsea do as she pleased for a little while.

Chelsea was looking very charming in a new way, as she had worn a red skirt and a yellow jeogori. The hanbok displayed the elegance of Korean traditional style, and she was wearing one.

Of course, Sungyoon didn’t show any interest.

“What brings you here?”

“Do you have nothing to say about my outfit?”

“It is a hanbok.”

“….”

Chelsea shut her mouth. Of course, she knew it was a hanbok. Everyone and their mother knew this was a hanbok. At the very least, she wanted his opinion on whether it looked good on her or not. In fact, she wanted him to say a bit in detail why this hanbok looked good on her. However, the man's reply was basically like giving a short answer to a descriptive question.

However, Sungyoon didn’t see what was wrong with his response. He didn’t speak any further.

“Unni, it is pretty!”

“Isn’t it? As expected, I only have Shinhae!”

How could such a cute child come from a cold, dark, and brusque man? Chelsea thanked god for the existence of this beautiful miracle as she hugged the little girl once again.

“Wrap it up! Just go in!”

Chelsea had been squatting down so that she would be able to hug Shinhae, but when she was about to get up, someone pushed her from the back. There was clearly malice behind the action.

“Kyaaa!”

Chelsea had lost her balance. She could barely stop herself from falling by placing her hands on the wall.

“You came too, president?”

“She dragged me here saying it's New Year.”

Jimin walked forward from behind Chelsea. She was still wearing a black suit that was reminiscent of the funeral black. When she saw Chelsea barely regain her balance, she clicked her tongue. Then, lowering her head towards Sungyoon, she spoke.

“I’m sorry. I should control her a little better.”

“No, it’s fine! Shinhae likes her.”

Chelsea always got in the way of him spending quality time with Shinhae, so it would be a lie to say he was in a good mood. However, such petty emotions melted away when he saw the smile on the child's face.

“Ah! Jimin unni came this time!”

Shinhae quickly glued herself to Jimin’s leg. Jimin threw away all negative emotions she had up until that point, and softly stroked the little girl’s head. Shinhae closed her eyes as she smiled. She was like a cat, and Jimin’s lips naturally turned upwards into a smile.

Sungyoon let the two of them in.

“Why are you holding money?”

Shinhae was struggling to take off her shoes within the skirt of the hanbok. She was unaccustomed to these clothes, so she was having a hard time. Then, Chelsea, who had been watching Shinhae, caught sight of the money in hands of the little girl, who proudly showed her spoils to Chelsea.

“New Year’s money!”

“Wow! You received a lot!”

Chelsea spoke in an exaggerated manner to express her surprise. Shinhae pulled her shoulders back in pride.

“You want to sebae to unni?”

“Huh? I can do it?”

“Of course!”

In fact, she wanted to experience the culture of sebae. Chelsea sat down in the living room to receive sebae from Shinhae. At some point, she had grabbed Jimin’s hand and pulled her down with herself. It seemed Chelsea wanted her to also receive sebae from Shinhae. Jimin also desired that, so she didn’t resist Chelsea's overbearing actions.

The two ladies sat next to each other. It was awkward for Chelsea to sit crossed-legged on the floor, but she worked at it. After a bit of effort, she was able to twine her legs.

“Happy New Year!”

Shinhae once again kowtowed. Chelsea and Jimin let out gentle laughs as they watched her cute actions.

“Jeez! You are so cute. So I’m supposed to give New Year’s money now?”

Chelsea took out her wallet, and Jimin followed suit.

‘How much do I have to give her?’

Chelsea counted the money in her wallet as she thought about it. There was a culture around sebae, and the one that received sebae had to give money to the person who bowed. Chelsea knew this, but she had no idea how much she had to give. She looked towards Shinahae's bed, where Shinhae had carefully placed her money. She counted how much Sungyoon had given her, clearly seeing four 50 dollar bills.

‘Do they normally give so much?’

Of course, she would be giving it to Shinhae, so she didn’t consider it a waste. She had saved up a lot of money over the years. Still, she thought two hundred dollars was a bit too much for a six-year-old. This was why she glanced to the side where Jimin was taking out her money.

Jimin outdid Sungyoon. She was taking out six 50 dollar bills. Jimin put on a bright smile as she handed over the money to Shinhae. Chelsea misunderstood thinking this was all completely normal, so she took out four 50 dollar bills.

In a flash, Shinhae had received a massive amount of money. She became excited. She ran into her little room, and she opened her drawer to take out her little wallet. After storing all the money inside, she put the wallet back into the drawer.

“I’ve received a sebae. Now I want to try giving a sebae.”

She really was trying her best to enjoy the full Korean culture on this trip, so she muttered those words. Her eyes headed towards Sungyoon.

“Now that I think about it, Mr. Sungyoon is pretty old, right? Should I be calling you elder?”

He looked to be in his early to mid 20s, but he was in his late-30s. Chelsea’s eyes twinkled. She had found her target. She would be able to get some New Year’s money from him through sebae.

However, Sungyoon was a steel wall.

“Our household doesn’t give New Year’s money to people that are already making money. Moreover, there isn’t too much of an age difference between me and you. The age difference isn’t high enough for you to sebae to me.”

Then Sungyoon spoke the next words as if it was a throwaway sentence.

“Ms. Chelsea is 30 years old this year.”

“What the hell! I’m 28 years old!”

Chelsea shouted, and Jimin burst out laughing next to her. Chelsea glared at her friend. However, it was as if Jimin was using this opportunity to let go of all her stress. Her tinkling laughter didn't show any signs of dying down.

In the end, Chelsea pouted. She gave up on giving a sebae. To be precise, she gave up on gathering some New Year’s money.

“Do you think it’ll be ok?”

Jimin finally calmed down after she laughed for a long time. She spoke as she watched Shinhae exit her small room.

“I was in a good mood, so I gave it to her. However, I wonder if we gave too much.”

“Huh? Weren’t we supposed to give a lot?”

“Who the hell gives so much money to a child?”

Chelsea wanted to hold up a mirror in front of Jimin as an answer. She was taken aback by Jimin’s words. However, Jimin looked troubled, and Sungyoon also looked serious. Shinhae was so precious to him that he hadn’t hesitated to give 200 dollars to her. He became serious, because this had to do with educating his child.