Chapter 301
The news of Hyunwoo’s ambush, which really wasn’t an ambush, once again took the world by storm . To be precise, it raised the whole world's alert levels to a level so high that one couldn’t raise it anymore even if the world went further down the tubes .
Sungyoon entered a particular building . Since he and Plu-El resided in Korea, the Mayor practically lived in Korea too . Therefore, the Korean government had temporarily allocated them a building to work in . The building had a grandiose name: the Temporary City Hall of Armstrong City . There were only two such halls in this world, one in Korea and the other one in the US .
‘Still, the Temporary City Halls are useless since they are located on Earth . ’
However, these buildings weren’t meaningless in the sense that they brought awareness to the population at large . They were a constant reminder of Armstrong city .
The building was big enough to back up its name . Giving Sungyoon and the others this building was a calculated move by the Korean government . If Armstrong city were to be regained, any help given right now would translate into more power within the city .
Of course, only a few rooms in the building were being used . After all, any bureaucratic work related to Armstrong city had ground to a halt .
‘Still, he's an amazing person . He could retain his position as the mayor of Armstrong city . ’
Michael Smith, the mayor of Armstrong city, was known for being conservative . He always worked to take the safest path, but his abilities were undeniable . Some might make fun of him for being a coward, but Armstrong city had always been under constant threat from various avenues . A person with his traits was the ideal person to be the mayor of such a city .
That was why he could keep his mayoral seat despite losing Armstrong city .
Moreover, the world was too busy blocking the all-out attack from Grenoid, and Michael Smith was the only person available to take lead on the plan to recover Armstrong city .
“Do I go in here?”
Jiyoon looked nervous as she stood behind Sungyoon . Normally, she wouldn't come to these meetings, but Jungbum had grown to a considerable size . Jimin was the president of the company, and she couldn’t always follow Sungyoon, so she had started to slowly delegate more work regarding Sungyoon to Jiyoon .
Jiyoon wasn’t a simple temp worker anymore . She acted like Sungyoon's manager .
Not too long ago, Sungyoon had asked Jiyoon how her college was going . The workload on her plate wasn’t something she should be able to keep up with as a full-time student .
She looked abashed, but proud at the same time as she had replied to him .
‘I'm working directly under the great Knight . Of course, my university made sure that my work under you is counted toward my college credit . ’
Jiyoon’s major was related to the study of labyrinths and moonstones . Therefore, the arrangement made sense . However, her university was amongst the top five universities in Korea, so Sungyooon was a bit surprised upon hearing that they had been so flexible .
Sungyoon and Jiyoon got on the elevator . The Mayor’s office was located on the top floor, and the elevator quickly reached the place . When the door opened, Sungyoon immediately stepped toward the Mayor’s office .
“Nonsense!”
A loud noise erupted from within the office .
Sungyoon had been about to knock on the door . His hand froze in the air, and he turned to look at Jiyoon, who stood next to him . Her eyes had turned round as she stared at the door .
“Even if he committed a crime, you have no right to confiscate his enormous fortune!”
Sungyoon felt a little bit of anger rise within him . He had never heard this voice before, but the voice was dripping with greed, and Sungyoon was very familiar with that quality .
‘Her voice sounds like the voice of my ex-wife or Jimin’s mother . ’
The matter must be an important one since such a woman had gotten involved . She sounded like a hyena blindly searching for money, and Sungyoon had no desire to spend any time with her .
He unenthusiastically knocked on the door several times and entered with a strong preconceived notion of the woman .
It was called the Mayor’s office, but it looked as if a small company had been shoved into a large floor . Sungyoon caught sight of a woman arguing with one of the employees .
Her face was full of wrinkles, but it still retained signs of beauty . One could tell that she would've been popular amongst men in her youth . However, her slanted eyes revealed her extreme temper, and the shape of her mouth revealed the extent of her greed .
“Ah! You're here, Mr . Sungyoon!”
The employee greeted Sungyoon in an exaggerated manner . He looked hopeful as he thought he could use Sungyoon to get away from this tenacious woman .
“I’m sorry, Madam . Your opinions don’t matter . If you're dissatisfied with the ruling, please go through the court . Please do it through official channels . ”
The employee didn't even wait for her answer as he got up .
“Are you here to see the Mayor?”
“Yes . I was told it was an urgent matter, so please lead me to him right now . ”
Sungyoon wasn't here on urgent business; he just wanted to help the employee escape this tough situation .
It seemed Sungyoon had guessed right about the situation as the employee’s face brightened .
“Since it's an urgent business for the Knight, I’ll lead you to the Mayor right now!”
The employee spoke in a loud voice as if he were performing for an audience .
“As you can see, you’ll have to leave for today . ”
The woman chewed on her lips . She wanted to say some sharp words, but she was having a hard time coming up with the right words .
The employee used this opportunity to quickly lead Sungyoon and Jiyoon away .
After a moment, the woman pushed her anger down . She fumed as she snatched up her handbag and barged out the door . The door slowly closed behind her .
“Whew~! She’s finally gone . ”
He shouldn't be saying this in front of guests, but the employee had suffered too much under the woman’s barrage . However, an embarrassed expression soon appeared on his face as he led Sungyoon to the Mayor’s room .
When the door opened, the Mayor scrunched up his face in displeasure . However, his face relaxed when he saw Sungyoon in the doorway .
“Ah! You're here, Mr . Sungyoon . ”
He guided Sungyoon and Jiyoon to the sofa .
“I’m sorry . A person was causing me a lot of headaches earlier . . . ”
“I saw the woman outside . ”
The Mayor’s forehead creased up once again .
“She is Hyunwoo Sung’s mother . ”
As if he needed to vent to someone, the Mayor answered the unasked question .
The unexpected information surprised Sungyoon .
“His mother? Was she here to argue his innocence?”
It seemed she was a mother . If she was really here for such a person, he would have to revise his opinion of her .
As expected, he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover .
“If she were here for that, I would've taken pity on her . But no . She came here for his money . ”
He should have known . It seemed he could indeed judge a book by the cover . His initial instinct was right .
“Didn’t the government confiscate his entire fortune?”
“Yes . He's a traitor to humanity, and his actions caused an astronomical amount of damage . ”
“Did that woman receive a penalty too?”
Even if Hyunwoo had caused immense harm to humanity, he was an individual . Most countries couldn’t pursue damages using guilt by association .
Despite knowing this, Sungyoon wondered if she was punished somehow . That could explain her rage .
“No way! She just didn’t like the fact that her son’s entire fortune would belong to the government . She started showing up a couple of days ago . She thinks she has a right to a portion of her son’s fortune . She even argued that she should have the entirety of his fortune . ”
“Did she talk about her son?”
“It was surprising, but she wasn’t interested in him even one bit . ”
The Mayor let out a sigh .
“Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised . It was one of the phenomena that occurred when Connectors started making an exorbitant amount of money through the labyrinths and the moonstones . ”
Sungyoon could feel Jiyoon’s eyes twinkle . As someone who was still young, she was curious about such topics .
“I’ve researched into Hyunwoo Sung’s past . He doesn’t have a father . ”
The Mayor rubbed at his neck .
“Hyunwoo Sung’s mother used to work on the Moon when she was young . She was a prostitute who specialized in working with Connectors . Moreover, she bore three children from her line of work, their fathers unknown . ”
“I’m guessing she didn’t have those children because she liked kids?”
“Of course not . She wanted to become a mother of a Connector . That was why she worked on the Moon . She wanted to receive a Connector's seed . However, she was one of the many unlucky ones . All three of her children didn’t show signs of awakening . In a flash, the three children became a burden to her . From that point on, she started treating them poorly . ”
Both Sungyoon and Jiyoon frowned .
“Since she was able to work on the Moon, she was pretty . However, she wasn’t beautiful enough to serve the really high rank Connectors . Her main clientele were 1st Gen Connectors . It doesn’t matter what Gen the father is; the children born from any gen of Connectors awaken at a similar rate . However, she concluded that her children didn’t awaken as Connectors because they were the children of 1st Gen Connectors . She spoke all kinds of unkind things about 1st Gen Connectors in front of her children . ”
Sungyoon treasured Shinhae, who was a normal human, and the actions of Hyunwoo’s mother was unthinkable to him .
“Thankfully for her, Hyunwoo Sung awakened late as a Connector . As if that wasn’t enough, he became one of the top Connectors of Earth . After many twists and turns, her gamble had succeeded . Afterward, she lived the good life on the money Hyunwoo Sung earned . ”
“She is acting that way because she can no longer live a life of luxury? Is she that disappointed?”
“She is . Her golden goose is now gone, and it spurred her into action . ”
It might be a serious issue for her, but no one felt sympathy for her .
“What about her own fortunes?”
“It seems she could withdraw the money from Hyunwoo Sung’s bank account at will . So she didn’t accumulate much wealth in her own name . Now that his accounts are frozen, she has no idea how she’ll live . Her future is dim . ”
The Mayor rubbed his hands .
“Let’s stop talking about that subject . We have other urgent matters to discuss . First of all, I’m glad you're safe, Mr . Sungyoon . ”
The Mayor almost had a heart attack when he had received news that Hyunwoo had ambushed Sungyoon .
“We’ll increase the number of guards around you and deploy more people around all your family members . ”
Sungyoon felt such a move was useless .
‘He won’t be able to assign Connectors to guard us . ’
Connectors were the main line of defense against monsters; they couldn’t be reassigned so easily . And regular police and soldiers had no chance against Connectors and monsters .
Still, it was better than nothing .
‘I can’t always keep them by my side . ’
Most Connectors and troops were useless against a Connector of Sung Hyunwoo’s caliber . As expected, they had to stop the monsters from attacking Earth .
“Has the frequency of the attacks decreased?”
“It's still the same . ”
The Mayor shook his head from side to side .
“It isn’t just the monsters . The Rejected are causing a lot of trouble too . The Connector you killed not too long ago was one of the Rejected . ”
“Wasn’t he a Connector?”
The Rejected was a group consisting of those children of Connectors who couldn't become Connectors .
“According to our investigation, Fabion had been conducting some outrageous experiments . ”
The Mayor brought out a thick envelope of documents from the drawer of his desk .
He pushed it toward Sungyoon . Sungyoon read the documents, and his face stiffened .
“Is this true?”
“All true . ”
Sungyoon started to flip through the documents faster . It appeared as though he were taking a cursory look, but he made sure to read all the crucial information .
“We’ve confirmed all the information with Fabion’s chairman Lee Dongin . ”
Sungyoon almost threw down the documents .
“They were artificially making Connectors . . . ”
“Among the Rejected, all the ones in charge of fighting are Connectors now . ”
It truly was a shocking piece of news .