Moon’s Labyrinths (Web Novel)

On their way back home, Sungyoon let Jimin drive. Meanwhile, he just stared at the waiver to disestablish Miyun's maternity toward Shinhae.

“It seems you're in a good mood.”

“Of course. I’m ecstatic. This document is several hundred times more important than the copy of the contract.”

With the copy, Sungyoon could screw over Jaeho and regain his stolen technology. However, the waiver to disestablish maternity was more important to him. After all, Sungyoon always had a Shinhae-centric view.

“It was worth it to pressure Lee Jaeho first. As soon as his business started to tank, I assumed he would break the deal with Lee Miyun’s father. He's quite predictable.”

Jimin spoke as she drove.

“Still, we were lucky. There was a chance that Lee Miyun didn’t have a copy of the contract. If she really hadn't, she would have been like you in the past; she would have had to sell her body to pay off her debt.”

Jimin glanced at Sungyoon.

“We acquired a weapon in the form of the copy of the contract. All the retaliation I’ve been carrying out against Lee Miyun ends right now. We gained everything we needed from her, and she knows that you're no longer a pushover. The probability of her approaching you again is very low.”

However, that didn’t mean Miyun’s misfortune was at an end.

“Lee Jaeho will get his revenge on her. It’ll take care of itself.”

Sungyoon and Jimin merely had to take a step back. They would remove themselves from the foul stench created by those two, who had fucked Sungyoon over in the past. They just had to stand on the sideline and watch Jaeho and Miyun fight in the dirty and foul mud.

“Yeah. They’ll take care of each other by themselves.”

Sungyoon didn’t care what would happen to Miyun.

“We just have to take back the technology you developed from him, Mr. Sungyoon. You poured in your blood, sweat, and tears to create it. It’ll be bad news on bad news for Lee Jaeho. His company is barely hanging on because of that technology. If it's gone, Lee Jaeho will not be able to hold out, and it’ll be the end of Daesung Energy.”

Everything his ‘enemy’ had built would crumble like a sandcastle. Of course, Sungyoon felt good about it.

“Though, we have to make preparations. Jaeho might try to get his revenge on us. When you corner a dog, it might turn and bite.”

“I will protect Shinhae and you, Ms. Jimin.”

From Sungyoon’s perspective, he was just stating the obvious. However, the corners of Jimin’s mouth danced when she heard these words. She was put in the same boat as Shinhae. He had said he would protect both of them, and she was very happy about it.

‘Am I really this easy of a woman?’

Even if this qualified her as one, she didn’t mind it.

“You're dependable. I look forward to it. However, it’ll take him a bit of time before he can move against us.”

When a red light came on, the car came to a stop. Jimin leaned against the handle and let out a pretty laugh as she looked at Sungyoon.

“Are you ready to watch their misfortune?”

***

After he was named as the president of Daesung Energy, Lee Jaeho had carried out numerous plans. However, he had never had it rough as it was now. He was constantly working to get his company back to normal, but his company's state was worsening instead.

He was barely sleeping three hours a day, and he sometimes took short naps to make up for his lack of sleep. His fit body unbefitting his age had disappeared now as he had lost a lot of weight in recent days.

Tul-suhk!

Jaeho dropped into his chair. No, it was more apt to say his body crumpled into the chair. He had the ambitions of making his company the best energy company in the world. However, his former ambitious self was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a middle-aged man downtrodden by life.

‘We somehow got over this hump using normal moonstones, but we're short on the moonstones from the Great Labyrinth. We have to acquire those somehow.’

The world was facing a shortage of moonstones, and it was easier said than done.

‘What do I do about my investment in Gagarin·Yang city? Will I be able to recover some of it?’

Even Jaeho knew there was no way that would happen. Even if a portion of the investments were to be returned—since China and Russia had built Gagarin·Yang city—the priority would be Russian and Chinese companies.

When Jaeho had become an investor, the city management had requested an incredible amount of money from him. On top of that, they had placed all kinds of restrictions on him as a foreign investor. He wasn’t naive enough to believe that they would be kind to him after such a disaster.

Basically, he really had no answer right now.

However, this wasn’t the end of his misfortune.

Bbeeee!

His intercom rang out.

“What is it?”

- Secretary Kim is here.

“Tell him to come in.”

Soon, Secretary Kim opened the door.

“President!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Jaeho could tell with a glance that his secretary was in despair, and he was taken aback by it. An ominous feeling grasped his heart.

“Woo... Woo Sungyoon...!”

As soon as Sungyoon’s name was mentioned, Jaeho’s face crumpled, and despair made its way to his face.

“He sued us for the technology with which we process the moonstones from the Great Labyrinth!”

In some ways, it was a death sentence for Jaeho.

***

Dongin watched the headline story for the nine-o’clock news on the TV.

“They really are relentless.”

He unconsciously mumbled those words, and it showed that he was impressed. The news featured a story on Sungyoon suing Daesung Energy.

The relationship between Sungyoon and Jaeho had been delved into by an investigation discovery show before. It had made all of Korea interested in this topic. However, Sungyoon and Daesung Energy had been quiet up until now.

The scandal had been fading from people's memories when Sungyoon landed a body blow out of nowhere.

‘The fact that they are conducting such an aggressive campaign means they found concrete evidence.’

Sungyoon and Jimin had already attacked Daesung Energy by cutting off the supply of moonstones, but this attack was on a different level. This attack could end Daesung Energy for good.

‘This basically puts the nails in the coffin for Lee Jaeho.’

Jaeho's father, Lee Hooyoung, wouldn’t forgive him for this scandal. And even if the Lee family wanted to bury it, they couldn't. Korean conglomerates were very close to their subsidiaries, and one subsidiary going under meant the conglomerate would suffer massive damage.

The entire Daesung group was now at risk.

As the reason behind this mess, Jaeho wouldn’t be forgiven. Daesung group ran a tight ship.

‘Lee Jaeho should be burning with resentment right now.’

Dongin could imagine it.

Up until now, Sungyoon garnered too much attention. Even Dongin couldn’t predict what would happen around Sungyoon; too many oddities were happening on the moon recently. So, Dongin couldn’t move against Sungyoon. However, this didn’t change the fact that Sungyoon was a thorn in his sides.

Moreover, Dongin had a new uncertainty to worry about now.

‘Thankfully, that ‘bastard’ hasn’t approached Woo Sungyoon yet..’

When he spoke to Jimin, he didn’t show any reaction to his words. He didn’t see any suspicious activities from Hyunwoo or Sungyoon.

Of course, that bastard had experienced betrayal before, so he wouldn’t recklessly approach strangers.

'If the truth became known to the world thanks to that ‘bastard’....'

‘I have to kill him before that happens. I have to find out how he got out of there.’

In many ways, the number of reasons he had to kill Sungyoon was increasing. However, Dongin couldn’t directly act.

‘If I can’t do it, I just need someone else to do it. I believe it is time for me to approach him.’

When he saw the despairing face of Jaeho on TV, a bloody smile appeared on Dongin's face.

***

“You should rest.”

It wasn’t an order. They were just three simple words. However, Jaeho felt the strength leave his body as soon as he heard those words.

After saying those words, Hooyoung looked away from Jaeho. He didn’t tell Jaeho to leave and just ignored him. Jaeho felt the coldness from Hooyoung and moved his heavy feet to leave the room.

‘That’s it.’

He would never inherit the kingdom called Daesung. Moreover, he now had to worry about his name being struck out from the family register.

Jaeho got in his car and headed home. He was ousted as the president of Daesung Energy; he was basically out of work. As soon as he returned home, he started drinking alcohol.

As an idle hobby, he had collected expensive foreign liquor as the president of Daesung Energy. He no longer cared about their value and drank them all like water.

“Fuckk!”

Jaeho yelled out. He could barely pronounce his words. Thankfully, his family was residing in another house. This was a house he had reserved for his own use, so no one was harmed by his drunken antics.

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!”

He cursed like a crazy man as he placed the bottle to his lips once again.

“There’s nothing!”

Crash!

The empty bottle shattered on hitting the wall. Jaeho then took out a new bottle of hard liquor. How long had passed? Jaeho had fallen asleep from being too drunk. No, it was more apt to say that he had passed out.

On the next day...

His eyes opened when the sun was high up in the sky.

“Ooh-ook!”

His liver was screaming in pain from the abuse, and he could smell a foul stench around him. Moreover, he felt something sticky on his cheeks. Jaeho realized he had thrown up in his sleep, and his vomit was all over his face and hair. Thankfully, he hadn’t died from choking on his vomit.

“Ooh-oop!”

However, it seemed he wasn’t done yet. Jaeho quickly ran toward the restroom and gripped the toilet to throw up. He had emptied his stomach when he had thrown up in his sleep, so now he only vomited bile and gastric fluid now. His insides were screaming at him.

“Huhk! Huhk!”

Jaeho took ragged breaths. He still felt as if his stomach was embroiled in a war. He searched for hangover cures and antacid for his stomach. After taking them, he lay down on the floor again. His face still smelled foul, but he didn’t feel like washing himself.

The pain from his hangover clouded his mind, but his gloomy future kept revolving in his mind.

‘Shit! Why does the copy exist in the first place? Why did it show up right now?’

When Jaeho had learned that Sungyoon had sued him, it had surprised him. However, he had quickly settled down.

Sungyoon had no proof; Jaeho had made sure there would be none. So Jaeho wanted to use this opportunity to turn the table on Sungyoon and Jungbum. He planned on countersuing them for money or using the baseless accusation as leverage to solve the moonstone supply problem.

However, his plans went down the drain when Jungbum produced the evidence. They had sent to the media a copy of the contract Jaeho had personally destroyed.

It was a fatal weapon in the hands of Sungyoon and Jungbum. They used their massive reservoir of money to conduct a campaign against Jaeho and Daesung Energy.

‘Lee Miyun! That bitch!’

Jaeho knew who had handed that document over to them. It was obvious.

‘I should have known this would happen!’

Miyun was a conniving woman who only cared about money. Jaeho felt like an idiot for not thinking about the possibility of her possessing a copy of the contract. But there was no use crying over spilled milk.

He walked toward the cabinet with his alcohol. Without even washing his face, he started drinking again.

“You turned into a complete invalid.”

Jaeho jumped in surprise when he heard a voice behind him. He quickly turned around and saw an unknown man with a hood over his face.

“Who... who are you!”

Jaeho took two steps backward as he yelled.

“Is that really important?”

The man's voice was clearly distorted by some device, and it made him all the more suspicious. Jaeho moved further backward.

“Hey. Don’t get spooked too much. I’m here to give you a tempting offer.”

The hooded man spoke as if he were the devil trying to entice a human.

“Don’t you want revenge against Woo Sungyoon, who humiliated you in so many ways? Don’t you want revenge against Lee Miyun?”

The only thing visible below the hood was a smiling mouth.

Jaeho calmed himself.

“… Revenge?”

“Yes! Revenge! It’ll be against Lee Miyun, who handed over the copy of the contract! You can take revenge on Jungbum’s president, who helped Woo Sungyoon! You can make them feel a pain deeper than what you experienced!”

Just listening to those words made him ecstatic, and Jaeho gulped.

“B-but how…!”

“I'll help you. I have grievances against them too.”

Jaeho’s eyes shook, but he didn't acquiesce immediately. He was a businessman to his bone, so he went over the pros and cons of this deal.

“Hmm. Are you worried about it? I’m disappointed. Is that how shallow your sense of revenge is? Hey! You don’t have to worry about anything! It doesn’t matter if you succeed or fail! Your life is already a mess!”

The hooded man cackled.

“Do you have anything else to lose?”

‘Lose?’

Jaeho asked that question to himself.

‘No. I have nothing else to lose.’

Jaeho found it ridiculous that he was hesitating over this decision. He had lost everything he treasured in this world, so how could his life get any worse? A dark expression flashed in Jaeho’s eyes.