Moon’s Labyrinths

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Dark Day of the New Moon

The probability of his request for personal bankruptcy being granted was slim . Sungyoon was able to borrow so much money, because he had used the clout of Jaeho and his company . It wasn't that most of the lenders lent him money because they trusted his company . The truth was that they had their eyes set on Jaeho’s company when they did such an act . However, Sungyoon’s words had become untrustworthy when Jaeho stabbed him in the back . Jaeho had completely cut ties with him . He had suddenly turned into a charlatan, and Korean law wasn’t lax enough to forgive the debt of a despicable con artist .

The result of his bankruptcy claim hadn’t been finalized . However, he had half given up on his bid for bankruptcy .

Moreover, there was something more serious that he had to deal with .

He kept feeling pain in his heart . The pain only lasted several seconds a a time, but it was beyond imagination . It was clear that something was wrong with his heart .

He desperately told himself that it was nothing . However, the frequency of the pain increased as if it was going against Sungyoon’s hope .

He had already been terminated from one construction site thanks to pain .

In the end, he had to accept the fact that his body was broken . The most important organ in his body was broken .

At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to live with Shinhae . The probability of him not seeing Shinhae grow up was going up . He couldn’t live a peaceful life with Shinhae with this body .

Sungyoon felt Shinhae’s body temperature for a long time, then he let her go .

“It is time for you to go back now . ”

Shinhae was close to tears as she nodded her head . Sungyoon looked at Jiyoon since he had to entrust Shinhae to her .

He saw the beautiful face in front of him . He had dated pretty women even before he had met Miyun . However, he had never met someone that matched Jiyoon in terms of beauty .

If he was any other man, he would have tried hard to talk more with her . He wouldn’t have looked at Jiyoon with a black heart, but he would have wanted to carry on a conversation with her .

However, Sungyoon had been stabbed in the back by Miyun . This was why he didn’t show interest in the goddess incarnate in front of him . He was guarded in front of her . The woman in his life before meeting this goddess incarnate was Miyun, and she had been very beautiful too . This was why his wariness had a direct relationship with how beautiful a woman was .

If there wasn’t a connection between the two of them through Shinhae, Sungyoon would not have been friendly towards Jiyoon . He would not have even tried to talk to her .

“Please look after Shinhae . ”

There wasn’t a single evil intention in his words . He just wanted happiness for his daughter . Sungyoon bowed towards Jiyoon .

Jiyoon was in a bit of an awkward situation . She wasn't a daycare teacher . She was just a regular college student . However, the father was making this request for his daughter’s sake, so she couldn’t say no .

“Yes . Yes . I’ll do so . ”

Jiyoon awkwardly laughed as she answered him .

“Ok, Shinhae . You have to go with, unni . ”

Sungyoon grabbed Shinhae’s hand, and he almost had to drag her to Jiyoon’s side . Shinhae didn't look happy as she walked, but she didn’t make any objections and followed her father’s instruction . Then she let go of her father’s large rough hand and grabbed Jiyoon’s slender and soft hands .

Sungyoon rooted around his pocket, and he took out his wallet . There was a luxury brand logo on the wallet . It was one of the few remnants of Sungyoon’s past wealth . The wallet was pricey, but its content was trivial in comparison . There were couple crumpled ten-dollar bills within the wallet . Sungyoon took them all out .

“I want you to buy snacks with this . You can eat it with your friends . ”

Shinhae’s small hands took hold of the bills . She was getting an allowance, so she should have been happy . However, she showed no reaction . The few bills in her hands couldn’t suppress her desire of wanting to stay with her father .

“I’ll see you next time, Shinhae . ”

“Ok, dad . You have to come quickly next time!”

“Of course!”

After he spoke those words, Sungyoon turned his back on them . Shinhae tightly held her cotton candy in one hand, and she used her other hand to wave towards her father . She was waving so hard that her body was swaying to the side .

Sungyoon kept looking backwards as he waved his own hand . It was a heartwarming yet sad scene between the father and daughter . It continued until Sungyoon got on the bus and left .

“Hoohk! Sniff!”

Shinhae started to sob, and tears started to fall from her eyes . Jiyoon had a feeling this would happen, so she wasn't taken aback by Shinhae’s reaction . She crouched next to Shinhae, and she used her white and slender hand to wipe away Shinhae’s tears .

“Stop! Don’t cry . If you cry, your dad will be worried . You don’t want your dad to be worried, right?”

Shinhae kept opening and closing her mouth . She sounded choked up . She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t get past the lump in her throat . Instead of speaking, Shinhae nodded her head . She wiped away her tears with one arm and hardened her expression as she tried to stop crying .

She looked so cute that Jiyoon almost let out a small laughter . However, there was no way Shinhae would like it so Jiyoon desperately held back her laughter

“Let’s go . ”

She was worried she would burst out laughing, so she quickly got up . She took Shinhae’s hand, and they started walking towards the orphanage . Shinhae grasped Jiyoon’s hand tightly as she followed Jiyoon . After Shinhae stopped herself from crying, her expression had hardened .

However, she still occasionally looked back at times . Her eyes took in the site of the bus stop where she had departed .

* * *

Sungyoon was in a very good mood today . He had a lot of debt, and he had a horrifying past . However, he didn’t care about that today . He had spent time with his daughter today, whom he loved . She had filled his sad day with sparkling light . His arduous life would start up again tomorrow, but he would be happy today . He wouldn’t punish himself .

After he got off the bus, he didn’t go immediately to his home . He took out a picture from his wallet . It was a photo, and part of it had been cut away . It was a picture he had taken with Shinhae . Sungyoon was happy and laughing in the picture as he held Shinhae’s hand . Originally, it was a picture where Shinhae was in the middle and a person was on either side of Shinhae . However, he had ripped one side of the picture and put Shinhae at the edge of the picture .

Of course, the one on the ripped part of the picture was Miyun . When he picked up this picture, he ripped away Miyun to cut away his painful memories and history .

Sungyoon was happy as he looked at the photo . He brushed his hand over the picture as he lovingly touched Shinhae . However, his hand never strayed to the torn edge of the picture .

Sungyoon’s steps had lightened as he headed towards his cheap room . The sky had been clear for most of the day as he played with Shinhae, but it was starting to get dark . He had to go past downtown to reach his cheap room . Sungyoon avoided the foot traffic as people were coming out to enjoy the night .

Ba dump!

Sungyoon became surprised . He heard loud heart beats in his ears .

Ba dump! Ba dump!

It was as if someone had pressed max volume on a speaker as the sound of his heartbeat was put on blast near his ears . It was a silly and meaningless thing to do .

Sungyoon looked around to find the source of the sound . However, he couldn’t find any electronics that could make such a noise . Other people went along their way as if they couldn’t hear the sound . In fact, people looked at Sungyoon oddly when he suddenly started to look all over his surroundings .

Ba dump! Ba dump! Ba dump!

The sound of the heartbeat was getting faster . Finally, Sungyoon had a realization . The sound wasn’t coming from an outside source . It was the sound of his own heart beating .

“Kuhk!”

Pain found him . It was the extreme pain that had tortured him recently . However, Sungyoon knew something . This pain was different from his past pains .

He clutched at his heart . He could feel the rapid beating through the hand placed over his heart . It was as if his heart was asking for his help . It was letting out a cry before its death .

Bam!

He fell to his knees . He could no longer stand up .

“Huh-uh! Huh-uh! Huh-uh!”

He was breathing rapidly . Drool was falling from his mouth, but he couldn’t see to it in his current condition .

People were starting to talk around him . They realized something was wrong with Sungyoon .

“Hey . Are you ok?”

A woman, who was walking with a child, grabbed Sungyoon’s shoulder . Sungyoon raised his head to look at her .

He couldn’t see properly, and his whole world had turned white .

“Huh-uhk! Huh-uhk! Huh-uhk! Ooh-ehk!”

In the end, he threw up . It had been awhile he had eaten delicious food, but he had done so as he played all day with Shinhae . He threw up all the food he had eaten .

He could hear people screaming from around him . People frantically moved away from him .

‘This is odd . ’

His consciousness was fading away, yet he was conscious of the fact that something was off .

‘How much time has passed?’

The pain should have stopped already . Normally, the pain lasted only couple seconds . However, the pain was continuous .

Sungyoon realized something at that moment .

‘In the end, it broke . ’

His heart wasn’t just calling out in pain . It had been crying for help . It was the heart’s death throe . It was the ominous bell that alerted the end to his life .

“Damn… it!”

Bam!

He let out a curse in a despondent manner . He once again heard people scream around him .

“Hey! Hey! Wake up!”

Someone was shaking his body . However, he was having a hard time telling if his body was being shaken . Sungyoon’s mind was far away .

“911! Someone call 911!”

There was a frantic energy around him . It seemed the people realized something serious was occurring right now, and they started to panic . Several of them took out their cell phones and they called 911 .

‘No!’

Sungyoon pressed down on his heart .

‘Run! Keep running! I want you to keep running!’

He couldn’t die so early . At the very least, he had to pay off his debt . If he died right now, his massive debt would automatically be ‘inherited’ by Shinhae . Shinhae didn’t know about procedures to relinquish her inheritance . His debt would automatically squeeze around her neck .

‘I can’t let that happen!’

He should have told the director of the orphanage about it .

‘I don’t need a lot of time! I just need to make sure the debt doesn’t pass on to Shinhae……!’

He was feeling his own death, yet Sungyoon only thought about Shinhae’s future .

The loud beating of his heart, which had rung in his ears, was fading away . It had been beating crazily, but now it was starting to slow down . Sungyoon knew it . His heart wasn’t going back to its normal state . He had burned the last flame of his life, and everything was coming to a halt .

‘Ah!’

Sungyoon had an intuition . His heart would never beat again .

‘I promised… I would come see her early . . . . ’

His breathing was slowly coming to a stop .

‘Still… I was able to see Shinhae for the last time . ’

At the very least, that thought brought him comfort . He had felt his daughter’s body temperature . He desperately grasped at the memory of his daughter’s voice and expression . She was his last angel left in this world .

“Shin…hae . ”

He spoke the name that he longed for, and he let go of his mind .

“Hey! Hey!”

A man was shaking him . However, he was like a log with no consciousness . He was like a slim bamboo being shaken by the wind . Sungyoon’s body had lost all strength .

Ba dump!

As if it was expending its last power, Sungyoon’s heart let out a thump then it stopped moving . It was quiet and still .

After that day, Sungyoon’s heart never beat again .