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Chapter Text

It happened so quickly that no one who have been able to dissociate the two powerful bursts. The first one was created when the perfectly normal C-rank gate turned red. Something that shouldn’t be possible, considering that red gates only occurred to dungeons above B-rank.

The second burst came from the inside of the gate, and people would assume that this burst of mana was the reason the gate turned red.

But Sung Jinwoo knew better. He already knew the gate would turn red, without that second burst of mana. The reason? He already lived it.

After the battle against the Monarch of Destruction, the Rulers appeared to him, granting him a favor, whatever he wanted. By choosing to come back in time and preventing the apparition of the gates on Earth, Jinwoo made what other hunters called the ultimate sacrifice – Thomas Andre was particularly impressed when he told him, as was Woo Jinchul when they evoked the possibility before going in battle. But after drinking of the Cup of Reincarnation, Jinwoo knew there was a problem.

The Rulers betrayed him, again, after all these years. What he just drank would take him back, but it was also a poison. They wanted him to drop dead in the past to kill the light he carried as well as the part of chaos.

He would have died if Ashborn’s will didn’t resurface, taking on the poison and dismantling its composition. As he did, Jinwoo knew he wouldn’t be able to travel as far as he wanted, the energy used to counter the poison was too strong to make it back far enough, he would not be thrown back 10 years but at most 1 year. He gritted his teeth and gave the Rulers the most hateful glare he could before he lost consciousness.

Jinwoo woke up as the scenery of the dungeon changed to the frosty forest he knew was the red gate. A quick glance at his side revealed that the team and Song-Yi were still disoriented by the change.

This time, it would be different, Jinwoo swore to himself. Last time, he was cocky because he just gained his army and wanted to show off, even at the coast of others’ life. He will do things differently, because one of his last memory was swearing to his friend – and having Thomas Andre as a friend was still a bit unbelievable – to save humanity.

“Seems like we entered a red gate,” one of the members notified.

“What is a red gate?” Song-Yi questioned.

“A red gate is not a normal gate. You can’t leave until you kill the boss or the dungeon breaks.” Jinwoo offered to his protegee and the White Tiger Guild members. “Time flows differently in these gates. One day here is an hour outside. We could be here for months.”

Jinwoo’s change already manifested when he blocked the two iced arrows that were heading to the two lowest-rank members of the party. He didn’t acknowledge the scream at his back and threw one of the arrow back at one of the Ice Elves spying on them, killing it. The other flew and Jinwoo couldn’t chase him down, he had people to protect.

“What was that?!” A C-rank member of the party asked.

“Ice Elves,” the only woman of the White Tiger Guild answered. “They are very intelligent and cruel. Hunters call them Ice Slayers.”

Song-Yi shuddered along the others at the very accurate description.

“Listen up!” Kim Chul said. “As the only A-rank here, I will see to it that we make a safe return.”

There was small cheers among them, saved it from Jinwoo whose frown goes unnoticed by all but the B-rank woman.

“I am not promising you we will all survive because it could be months before we get out.” The A-rank newbie said. “In a place as dangerous as this, it’ll be difficult to manage all of you as a single unit. That’s why we will form two squads.”

And Jinwoo – who was silent the first time – spoke up.

“We will not. Being separate will only increase the death rate of both parties.”

Silence fell as Kim Chul glared at the man.

“You will do as I say. I already decided that we won’t babysit E-ranks. A red gate is not a joke.”

“First of all, I was the only person here who noticed the arrows. I already killed one Ice Elf, why do you think I won’t be able to kill the others? And second, as manager Ahn introduced you earlier, this is your very first dungeon raid. That the dungeon turned to a red gate was not planned, but I will make sure that we get all out safely.”

Considering that they were currently one A-rank, seven B-ranks, two C-ranks, one E-rank and him, Jinwoo was thinking about it as an easy mission.

As Kim Chul got ready to shout at his face, Jinwoo regretted having made the promise to save the largest number of people, because it would have been way easier to just kill Kim Chul and extract his shadow than to persuade him to cooperate.

“He does have a point,” two B-rank mused.

“All I want is to be safe,” a C-rank whispered.

And even if Kim Chul was often driven by his emotions – mostly anger – he knew deep down that what Jinwoo said was correct. So he reluctantly motioned him to continue.

“This is your dungeon. I am supposed to be a spectator, but I won’t let you die. What I will do is giving you input and explaining to you why I choose to do one thing instead of another. You can consider me an instructor.”

“And about the fights?” The impatient A-rank asked.

“I will fight the boss, you are not strong enough to fight it. I will let you deal with other creatures.”

Kim Chul made a gesture to roughly agree to his terms. The man apparently was respected by his pairs because they all followed.

“Now, what is the greatest threat right now?” Jinwoo asked.

“The Ice Elves?” Song-Yi wondered.

“Ice Bears? I just saw claw marks on the trees,”a C-rank pointed at a tree.

“The weather.” The B-rank mage – Park Heejin, Jinwoo finally recalled – said.

“Point for Miss Park, surviving the cold and frostbites will be the first challenge.”

“But we don’t have the gear to support this!” Another B-rank cried.

“Who said that?”

Jinwoo quickly opened the system’s shop, bought twelve winter coats and pulled them out of the inventory.

“How?!” Everyone squeaked.

“Even powerful mages can only store two or three low-rank items in their spacial dimension. But you pulled all these like it’s nothing?!” A C-rank choked.

“Okay, mister, who exactly are you?” Song-Yi asked after putting her coat on.

Jinwoo repressed a smile at the question. Habits didn’t change. So he would play his part.

“I brought you in here, so it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. In exchange, don’t ask me any question.” He said as he patted her head lightly. “That goes for you too,” he continued for the eight others. “Don’t ask about me.”

“As if!” Kim Chul growled.

Of course, the man was ruining the poetics. Here Jinwoo made an effort to stay in character but the big-mouth couldn’t stick to a script. Jinwoo couldn’t explain the gap between his personality and Iron’s. Both were polar opposite.

And that made him question his summons. He could sense all of them in his shadow, Igris, Tank, Iron, Tusk, Beru, Bellion… he couldn’t explain it but all of them got thrown back with him – even if it shouldn’t be possible for Iron and Greed because they were once human and they were supposed to go back to their alive counterpart. Regardless, they will make his life easier, because if they were here, then that would mean that all of his status were the same as after the war.

Jinwoo would like explore just how much he still had from the future and what he would need to regain because of the default Cup, but now was not the time.

“And now, what are we doing?” A B-rank asked Jinwoo.

“We are in the middle of nowhere. On one side is a path, the one the other Ice Elf escaped, so it probably leads to the boss, and on the other side is a forest which houses Ice Bears. Where do you think we should head to? I want you to explain why you would choose one path or the other.” Jinwoo was enjoying it. That was new to him and training rookies to make them stronger was something he never thought about – he was dead set on leveling up back in the past… future… present… whatever before his reincarnation.

“We need to go out as soon as possible, so we need to kill the boss. So I say we head to this path because it’s the quickest way back on Earth.” Kim Chul’s reasoning was approved by half the team, plus Song-Yi.

“Nice thinking, does anyone have another opinion?” Jinwoo smiled.

“The forest is the territory of the bears. But if they are able to survive here, they must have access to food and water,” Park Heejin said. “We don’t know how far the boss is so we need to secure food and water for at least several days.”

Even Kim Chul agreed to that train of thoughts and Jinwoo finally saw some redemption traits in the man.

“That is the best answer.” Jinwoo approved. “Securing food and waters is a must, not only in gates but in any unprompted situation on Earth. Water, food and shelter. That is the trio you need to retain.”

“Oh! We can find a cave to invest!” A C-rank said.

“Yes. And by being on the bears’ territory, there is little chance of encountering other species.”

“So we would be only facing the Ice Bears!” Another B-rank said.

“But aren’t Ice Bears and Ice Elves on equal footing?” A B-rank questioned.

“They are in strength,” Jinwoo conceded. “But Ice Bears are more simple-minded. It will be easier to deal with them.”

Slowly, the party went inside the forest, ready to fight. Kim Chul was taking the lead, his specialty being tank, he would be the one dealing with the first attack. They walked two minutes before facing the first Ice Bear.

“Don’t panic. Tanks, get ready to block the attack. Mages, attack at distance, fighters, surround him.” Jinwoo’s precise instructions allowed them to deal with the bear swiftly. They all cheered when the bear died. Jinwoo quickly shut them up. “I get that you first victory must be celebrated, but you will draw them to us if you make too much noise. Save the fun for when we get out.”

As they progress, Jinwoo – at the end of the party – allowed his soldiers to infiltrate their shadows. Thus, they will be able to protect them if something happen.

They made it to the cave, the same Jinwoo remembered fighting the leader of the pack who now rested in his shadow. As soon as they got close, the bears exited the cave with war roars.

“We need to maintain the formation!” Kim Chul screamed. “Mages, zone attacks!”

To be fair, the rookie mages did cast fast. They could be faster on normal conditions but fear slowed them a little. On the other hand, Kim Chul did the right thing, he didn’t panic, protecting the whole party with a large shield. The three mages were able to do damages to the first bear but soon it got replace by two. The tanks blocked their attack and the fighters took the two down. The strategy they applied on the first fight was paying off.

“Five bears incoming! Song-Yi, stay behind me.” Jinwoo called.

The bears were too much for them. If they had more training together and experience in dungeons, they would have been able to take them down, but they were new to the job.

Jinwoo took small pebbles in his hand and throw them unnoticed at the bears, aiming for their legs.

“Exploit any weakness they might show!” Jinwoo encouraged them.

He didn’t tell them he was the reason they had weaknesses. And Song-Yi didn’t open her mouth, even if her eyes clearly hold too much questions.

Soon, the C-ranks showed their limits. They couldn’t keep up with the others.

Their B-rank healer did a great job by healing them but he needed time and the bears were still coming. As they fought, the leader of the pack came out of the cave, terrorizing the hunters.

“What do we do now?!” Kim Chul shouted at Jinwoo.

“Continue to deal with the regular bears! I will assist you with that big one.” Jinwoo turned to Song-Yi. “Listen, do not move from this spot. The trees are hiding you but the bears will sense you moving. I’ll protect you, don’t worry.”

Song-Yi nodded and Jinwoo went to the leader who was once Tank.

“That brings back memories,” he chuckled.

While Jinwoo toyed with the leader, he still gave instruction to the party so that they could take down bears after bears until the only one standing was the one Jinwoo tired.

“Last one, don’t back down! Give it Hell!” Jinwoo ordered before stepping back.

By a combination of the bear’s tiredness and the hunters’ determination, they took down the bear leader in less than a minute.

“We did it!” A B-rank said.

Jinwoo let them celebrate that victory. Song-Yi came out of the woods shyly and stayed close to Jinwoo’s side.

“What are we going to do now?” She asked.

“We will camp here for a while. There’s food now.” He answered, pointing at the corpses.

After the celebration, everyone in the party invested the cave, Kim Chul went in the forest to search for wood to light a fire, the other B-rank fighters and tanks moved the bears’ corpses and the mages casted water to drink.

“Do we really need to sleep?” A C-rank martial artist wondered. “We should continue.”

Jinwoo didn’t have to respond. “Of course we need to rest!” Kim Chul said. “We just fought with monsters that were clearly stronger than us. Even if we have a healer, we need normal rest to be able to fight the boss.”

Jinwoo smiled, he was liking Kim Chul more and more.

“What will you do next, Kim Chul?” Jinwoo asked.

The man got jittery at the question, clearly not having anticipate the question from the man posing as their instructor.

“I would let us rest. For us not to be surprised, I would recommend taking turn keeping watch. We would rotate every three hours, with our healer and the C-rank hunters and bellow not doing it because the first one needs more time to recover and the latter because they wouldn’t be able to sense the boss far enough to notify us.”

Jinwoo nodded, approving everything the man said. “That’s the best course of action. I will let you supervise it. I won’t take part in the watch, but I will keep my senses up so you won’t need to worry about missing something. Right now, I can tell you that the boss is far, about two days from here.”

The camp was silent. Not a tense silence but one which was soothing. Song-Yi started to doze off beside him and Jinwoo urged her to lie down and sleep.

Soon, they all were ready to sleep, saved for Kim Chul who decided to take the first watch.

Jinwoo sat down against the cold wall of the cave, in the shadows. Being finally able to relax somewhat, he decided to address the sentiment of wrongness he had since they entered the gate.

It was not supposed to happen like that. It didn’t took long after drinking of the Cup to understand that it would go wrong. The hostility he was able to sense by the end of his struggle with what he just drank made him understand that the Rulers staged the thing. So, as soon as possible – and when he was powerful enough – he would go visit them for a little talk.

Either way, he was now stuck in this reality, unable to turn back time once again. Well, he could tear through the gate and go but, it would mean leaving them all inside the gate – letting them die here. He couldn’t.

Right now, if he remembered correctly, he was still an E-rank hunter, his mom was still suffering from the Eternal Slumber disease, Jeju was still plagued with ants, he didn’t create his guild… But he was already on several hunters’ radar – at least, it was only the White Tiger Guild and the Hunter’s Association for now.

There was so much he needed to do, so many thing he would need to set right before anything could go wrong again.

Holding a sigh back, Jinwoo decided to check his status and the system to understand just how much he retained from before. He already knew he had all his army with him, Bellion pacing in his shadow also made him a bit restless. He also had his black heart with him, along with all of Ashborn’s memories. He was at least a full Monarch right now, that made all of this more bearable. He couldn’t imagine if he had to level up again all the way.

What a surprise to him when his status window showed that his level was frozen at 146. What did that mean? Was that the time that he chose to discontinue the system? He vaguely recalled shutting the system down after gaining Ashborn’s powers in the battle against the Monarch of Fangs. Did that mean that he could not level up anymore? But would he really need to level up when his abilities seemed to grow even now?

Then, he already noticed that he couldn’t do as he wish. Well, to be precise, there was things he couldn’t do now because he already did before. His mana was very high, his speed and strength were high enough for now and he retained all his abilities. But he couldn’t extract the shadows of the bears. Did he lost the capacity to wake them or was that tied to the fact that their shadows were already extracted once? He would need to try on the Elves.

The shadows at his feet moved until they covered the wall. Luckily, no one was watching so deep in the cave.

“My liege,” Beru whispered. “We don’t understand what is happening.”

“The Rulers betrayed us. We are only a rough ten months back in the past instead of ten years. We will need to adjust.”

“We are all at your command, my liege. What do you need us to do?”

“Don’t show yourself until I tell you to. Bellion, if you can start to find the whereabouts of the Monarchs and Rulers, it would be great.”

“Yes, my liege.” And Beru silently vanished in his shadow.

“I will make a spying team, Your Majesty.” Bellion didn’t exit the shadows and voice was not louder than a whisper. With the fact that no one would understand the language, it would pass as a weird echo of the cave.

Jinwoo dozed off a little, listening to the rotation of the hunters keeping watch. When twelve hours passed, the one keeping watch rose from his seat.

“I can sense something approaching.”

That woke the party up. They shook their tiredness off by preparing to fight.

“You need to be quicker to prepare,” Jinwoo commented. “But it is acceptable for a first time. The boss is moving toward us, we have half a day until he reaches us. What is you next action?”

“We are laying trap at the entrance of the cave?” A B-rank tried. “So we could take them out more easily.”

“I approve.” Kim Chul nodded.

“It’s okay to want to ambush them, but now is not right, do you know why?”

“The place!” Song-Yi exclaimed before flinching when everyone turned their head at her. “I mean, we would be trapped in the cave, so they would only have to wait until we lost our will to fight…”

“Oh, yes, that’s right,” the B-rank who suggested the first idea said.

“So what? We move out of the cave and set traps outside?” A C-rank asked.

“Yes, preferably in a large clearing so we can see them coming.”

“We would be playing bait if we just stood in the open,” Kim Chul frowned.

“That’s what I am aiming at. Baits are sometimes necessary, but never endanger yourselves. Your safety always comes first,” Jinwoo’s severe tone rang across the walls of the cave.

They all reluctantly agreed to the plan and set their course to a clearing. They came across one large enough in less than an hour.

“Okay, let’s make traps,” Kim Chul commanded.

Jinwoo observed them setting obvious and less obvious traps but none the Elves wouldn’t be able to spot. It was not a problem, they were learning and he could protect them if they were in real danger.

At this rate, they would finish the dungeon in two days, which was two hours in on Earth. He just wished that they would be able to relax after coming out of the gate.

Chapter Text

Woo Jinchul was not having a great day.

Well, it did began with his favorite iced coffee and an empty desk, which meant that there was no late work. It was the best morning he ever had since a long time. But habits were hard to break and soon his subordinates came with a pile of work he needed to review, approve and present to chairman Go. An ordinary day, in short.

“Chief Woo! Chief Woo!” A scream echoed through the corridor before a panicked woman entered his office without knocking.

“Agent Park, please stop this behavior,” his stern voice reprimanded. “What seems to be this urgent?”

Jinchul was accustomed to some of his subordinates panicking over small things and it would not be different today, especially considering that this employee was known for her dramatics.

“We just received a communication from oversea. Hwang Dongsoo is heading to Korea. He is already in an airplane and is expected by 5. this evening.”

Here goes his perfectly uneventful day. He didn’t know which god he angered but they were not making it easy for him today.

“I will meet him at the airport. Notify your team to prepare for his stay. How long is he supposed to stay?” Jinchul hold back a tired sigh.

“They didn’t say,” the woman squirmed in discomfort.

“Make reservations for three days.”

“Okay, chief.”

And the woman left the room, leaving Jinchul with mixed feelings of injustice, tiredness and fright. He knew why the man was coming, it was clear to him that he would come after the two hunters who escaped the dungeon where his own brother died. The report made by his employees was playing in his head. The E-rank fled the dungeon while the D-rank was able to protect his own retreat with his high-quality gear. If Jinchul had not met the E-rank about two weeks later, he would have believed this report.

But the hunter Sung Jinwoo was an anomaly, even so after the double dungeon incident where he shouldn’t have left alive. Surviving once is luck, twice is a coincidence, thrice is a pattern. Jinchul couldn't blame his team for not investigating further, he himself didn’t question the version the C-rank hunter claimed after the incident with Kang Taesik. But when he came across Hunter Sung, he knew there was more to dig about him than a lucky and resilient E-rank hunter.

His mind came back from wandering and Jinchul left his office with all the papers he approved for his midday report to the chairman.

At the airport, everyone was jittery. Jinchul couldn’t blame them, Hwang Dongsoo just arrived.

“I didn’t expect to come back in Korea so soon.”

“Welcome, sir.” Jinchul bowed from afar.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Woo Jinchul. What brings an agent from the Hunter’s Association here?”

“An S-rank hunter has set foot in Korea, so of course the monitoring team was dispatched.”

“Tsk, the surveillance team? Are you still that old geezer right-hand man? What could that old man do without his most trusted subordinate, huh? Shame on him.” The S-rank smirked.

Jinchul let the insults flow. He couldn’t provoke an S-rank. With all the times Jinchul got condescending words thrown at him, he developed a resistance and a rather impressive poker face. That was also why he didn’t let his team directly in contact with the S-ranks. Most of them would just either piss themselves or throw punches at the insults. Some S-ranks were more lenient and respectful – he could at least be objective with some – but at the end, their selfishness and disregard for people weaker than them was too strong to entirely ignore.

“How long are you planning to stay, sir?” Jinchul didn’t rise from his bow.

“Not for long. No need to worry, I will be leaving right after taking care of a small business.” Hwang Dongsoo then took Jinchul face in one hand to level his face to his. “Will you come with me to the USA? The Scavenger Guild would be delighted to take care of you.” He finished his sentence by passing his tongue on his lips, making the message clear.

“I am loyal to my country and the Association,” Jinchul replied, hinting at Dongsoo’s own betrayal for more fame. A good thing that the S-rank didn’t understand this kind of subtlety.

“Tsk.” The taller man let Jinchul go and marched toward the exit.

“Is your return to Korea linked to E-rank hunter Sung Jinwoo, and D-rank hunter Yoo Jinho?” Jinchul asked behind his shoulder.

The S-rank hunter turn back, clear anger showing on his face.

“You are the head of the monitoring team. I would be disappointed if you didn’t figured it out. Are you going to try and stop me? You?”

Hwang Dongsoo was now menacing but Jinchul didn’t let his face reveal any fear, even if his heart and his brain were trying to stop him from talking and angering the man further.

“I am just doing my job, sir.”

“I won’t be lenient if you continue to pry in my businesses.”

Jinchul was strongly reminded of all the suspicions the older brother was subject to, murdering countless hunters in dungeons, like a lizard cutting off his own tail. They were never able to investigate in fear of the little brother. Now that the older was dead, it was only a question as of when the older would set foot in this mess. The behavior of the brothers were definitely on par. Neither showing guilt for heinous acts. Scumbags, Jinchul thought.

“I will drive you to the hotel for your stay.” Jinchul said.

“No need, I will take care of my business right now. So tell me, where is that E-rank now?”

With a feeling of dread, Jinchul hesitated. “I don’t know of his whereabouts.”

Mana exploded in the airport, suffocating some people close enough and Jinchul was at the center of it. That was it, he angered the man enough. Jinchul didn’t know how to defuse the situation.

“Don’t take me for a fool. You monitoring team are aware of all the hunters’ moves. Do it however you want but I want to know where he is in five minutes.”

Jinchul was relieved when the tension dissipated enough for him to breath evenly again. Bracing himself for what he was about to do, he called the headquarters to locate the man Hwang Dongsoo wanted to kill. It didn't take five minutes.

“Chief, Hunter Sung Jinwoo is in the second zone, in the White Tiger Guild’s district.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Chief, are you okay?” The man at the end of the phone asked.

“Take your leave, it is late enough.” Jinchul commanded, not answering the man.

The call ended and Jinchul returned to the S-rank.

“We can go.”

Hwang Dongsoo smiled creepily before walking to the parking. With each step, Jinchul felt his heart drop more and more. Did he just throw an innocent hunter to a wild animal?

“We need to do what is best for the country.” The chairman had said earlier. And while Jinchul agreed with him, it was different when you were the one responsible for the misery of another human being. That feeling was probably what made S-ranks so unlikable, this disregard for humanity and lack of empathy.

The drive was full of tension, even if Hwang Dongsoo seemed to be in a good mood. Neither made small talks, neither engaged the conversation. It was probably for the best, because Woo Jinchul didn’t know how long he would be able to contain his hatred for the man.

They arrived far too quickly for Jinchul to feel comfortable. But the reception committee was a surprise for them both.

“Look what we have here,” Dongsoo engaged as he got our of the car. “If it isn’t Baek Yoonho.”

“Hwang Dongsoo.” The White Tiger’s guild master acknowledged with heat. “What are you doing in Korea? And why are you in my district?”

Jinchul followed and eyed the red gate that was on display behind the hunters. Hunter Sung Jinwoo really had a lucky star, because not even Hwang Dongsoo would be able to enter a red gate. The only danger now – and what a problem that will be – was a hypothetical fight between two S-ranks. He needed to stop one of them before they decided to remodel the whole city, nay the country.

“Look who’s talking. My question is: Why are you allowing an E-rank hunter who is not even part of you guild in one of your dungeon?”

Baek Yoonho frowned and eyed discreetly one of the manager of his guild. That did not escape Dongsoo who turned to the man.

“Manager Ahn, was it? That is a big promotion from when I was still in Korea.” He smirked. “Why did you allow a complete stranger inside your so precious dungeons?”

“I… It is just that… He is a friend who asked me for a favor. He wanted to know how a team cleaned a C-rank dungeon up.”

“Ha? Just that? Boring.” And Hwang Dongsoo turned around, ready to leave.

The head of the monitoring division thought that it was too good to be true. How would a manager of the White Tiger Guild gain connection to an E-rank hunter like Sung Jinwoo? He couldn’t voice his concern because the American S-rank was too fast grabbing the civilian by his neck and lifting him up in the air.

“Like hell I’m buying it. I’ve always had a knack for sniffing out the fun. Something’s not adding up. That E-rank is supposed to be the weakest hunter of all mankind, I’ve heard of his nickname. Why would you do him this favor?”

Manager Ahn didn’t respond, only because the guild master intervened by grabbing Dongsoo’s hand to make him release his grip.

“Hwang Dongsoo! Let go of my employee.” And now the guild master was angry.

Jinchul needed to think quick to diffuse the situation. He didn’t want to deal with a fight between two S-ranks. So as they readied their punches, he did the most stupid thing he could.

Standing between them, their punches in his hands, Jinchul was still disbelieving that his arms were not ripped from his body. It hurt like hell – the arm he used to stop Hwang Dongsoo more than the other – but his limbs were intact.

“Not bad,” Dongsoo complimented. “You stopped the both of us.”

“If the two of you hadn’t held back at the last second, both of my arms would have been broken,” Jinchul dismissed while rotating his left wrist to make the pain go away. But with each movement being hurtful, he might have it sprained. Hwang Dongsoo really didn’t much held back. “I don’t know what you are trying to pull here, but I personally re-evaluated Hunter Sung Jinwoo two months ago. He is a basic E-rank hunter. Why are you so fixated on him?”

Jinchul didn’t really believed his own words about the E-rank hunter. Something happened to him that was not the double dungeon trauma. But he was not foolish as to reveal it.

“Of course he is. And I know he is not the one who killed my brother. The D-rank probably didn’t either.”

“So, why?” Jinchul pried, even if it would make the man angry.

“Isn’t it simple? It is just an excuse to kill another human.”

The terrifying smile on his face made him look like a psychopath – and he was one without a doubt.

“Regardless,” he continued, “if he entered a red gate, he is already dead. No use to stay here.”

Hwang Dongsoo turned back again and walked to the car. Jinchul was finally able to release the tension that plagued him until now. If Sung Jinwoo comes out of the gate in the near future, he better hide himself for a short period. Jinchul will make sure to relay that order to manager Ahn.

“Look!” An employee called to everyone.

Jinchul looked behind his shoulder where the shout came from only for his blood pressure to rise up high again.

The gate turned blue.

Jinwoo was impressed… in a bad way.

The Elves arrived shortly after they finished setting the traps. The first ones got their bow ready but never shot. The explosion that took them off didn’t give them the time to.

It was disappointing in a sort. From what he recalled, the Ice Elves were highly intelligent. This didn’t add up.

A quick movement of panic was all that was needed for the two mages to take down two other Elves.

“Don’t let your guard down because the first ones were easy to get,” Jinwoo urged. Was that a ploy to make them let their guard down?

The Elves were now forming a group across the clearing. There was a space in the middle for the boss to arrive. Jinwoo remembered his name to be Baruka, the very first one he couldn’t extract the shadow of. This time, he will succeed.

“Greetings, humans.” He said and Jinwoo was now able to differentiate the language from Korean. He could still understand it but he knew how to consciously speak it.

“I won’t let you kill them,” he said while standing in front of the hunters.

“Oh, a human who speak our language… No, you are not human.” The smile on Baruka’s face didn’t waver.

“I also don’t intend to let you live, you would be more useful as my shadow.” Jinwoo smirked when the horse moved back and the other Elves flinched.

“Who are you?”

“I am the new Monarch of Shadows.”

“You understand them?” Kim Chul softly asked him.

Jinwoo didn’t flinch but he reconnected with reality. He was not alone here, he had to protect them.

“I am riling them up, they will be angered and you will be able to take them out more easily. Don’t worry, I have summons who will help you.” A poor excuse, he recognized, but how could he have explain it otherwise?

“Summons?” A B-rank tank asked.

“You will not be able to kill us. The humans are going to die.” Baruka was losing his temper, along with his men.

“Let’s see. Think the Monarch of Frost will mourn you?”

His comment signed the beginning of the fight. Jinwoo couldn’t focus on the others but, he had a total trust in Tusk’s ability to protect the others, along with Iron, Tank and the bears and knights.

He faced the boss with minimal dread. Baruka was not a match for him, but he was still an A-rank boss – and at the higher end of the rank. With Igris’s help, he made a lot of damage.

“Why don’t you drop the act and join me?”

“Shut up!” Baruka raged.

“Why? Does Sillad even know you are here? Trapped in this dungeon, waiting to die?”

Naming the Monarch – whom Jinwoo only remembered the name two seconds ago – seemed to make the Ice Elf mad. Eyes red, the boss attacked relentlessly until he made a mistake and had his heart pierced by Jinwoo’s dagger.

As the boss died, Jinwoo didn’t waste a second to try to revive him.

[Extraction failed. Attempts left: 2/3]

The system seemed to mock him.

“I won’t make you fight against your previous Monarch if it is your wish,” Jinwoo conceded to the dead. “ARISE.”

It worked. Jinwoo didn’t believe his eyes when the slender silhouette of the Elf rose up to greet him. The shadow quickly get on one knee to bow to him.

As he did, Jinwoo eyed the others. They were fighting the last Elf and the sword of a B-rank fighter severed its head.

“Mind if I extract their shadows?” Jinwoo asked Baruka.

“They will be happy to directly serve a Monarch,” Baruka answered in his own language.

The Elf was not the first one of his shadows to talk, but it sure was surprising. Even Tusk, also an S-rank boss, couldn’t when his own shadow got extracted. Did that mean that even now, Baruka was more powerful than Tusk? It couldn’t – Baruka’s status window showed him as an Elite Knight while Tusk evolved into a General. Or did it account for their strength when they have their shadow extracted? Jinwoo didn’t have any lead to follow and he was not interested in finding out. As long as he could understand them, they didn’t need proper language.

“Hunter Sung, are they all your summons?” Kim Chul asked with something in his voice akin to admiration.

As he watched them, Jinwoo chuckled as the A-rank admiration turned to Iron. Of course, he would admire this shadow out of all of them.

“They are.” The shadows disappeared as soon as they finished piling up the Elves. “ARISE.”

Everyone jumped as the shadows got extracted from the Ice Elves’ bodies. They also quickly entered his own shadow, leaving the party flabbergasted.

“No questions,” Jinwoo warned as three of them opened their mouth. “Now, we cleared the dungeon. Congratulations, you succeeded in your first raid. What is the right course of action, now?”

“Signing for psychological therapy,” a C-rank tank answered before blushing.

“I would recommend that for all of you. But, before that?” Jinwoo chuckled.

“We should normally be mining what we could before the dungeon closed, but there is nothing here,” another said.

“We still have the bodies of the monsters. We need to size their essence stones,” Park Heejin countered.

“We don’t have time to do that. We will take one body each to take with us outside. Then we will be able to extract the essence stones. Look behind me.” He concluded while pointing the gate that appeared.

“Finally!”

Each of them grabbed a corpse, Jinwoo taking Baruka’s. They exited the gate two at the time, Jinwoo made sure he was the last. Finally, he will be able to rest and have a better understanding of what happened for him to only jump back ten months.

He already knew that there were things he would do differently. The system was not pressuring him, he will be able to control the events and manipulate them how he wanted them to be.

But first, sleep. Even if he was aware, he hadn’t been able to rest since the beginning of the war with the Monarch of Destruction. He was aching for a hot bath and his bed.

As he exited the gate, he was met by a rather disjointed crew.

“Sung Jinwoo,” a voice declared with heat.

The reincarnate turned his head to the man and almost sighed with passion.

Forgotten the bed, he had another crisis to settle before being able to lie down.

Chapter Text

If Jinwoo wasn’t mindful of the tension in everyone, he would have laughed. He didn’t know whose face was the most entertaining. The white-sheet faces of the party he just led out of the red gate, the sweaty faces of manager Ahn and his aid, the nervous/terrified glance of Chief Woo, or the look of absolute shock on Baek Yoonho’s face. He ignored the last one, it was not worth his time for now.

“Chief Woo,” he addressed, disregarding everyone else. “I am sorry for the fact that I am causing you more paperwork.”

He almost called the man “chairman”, but held back. Go Gunhee was not dead yet. Regardless, he was honest in his apology. Last time, he didn’t appreciate enough the hard work of the monitoring division. The Chief was admirable for putting up with all the S-rank bullshit. And he’d known, because he was a big part of this bullshit.

“It is okay, hunter Sung,” the man replied while not looking at him but rather behind him.

“Hunter Sung, what happened in this dungeon?” The master of the White Tiger Guild growled.

Jinwoo was replaying his answer the last time in his head and he decided that he would not make a scene.

“Your tigers are all out of this mess, go bother them. And sign them for therapy, it would be for the best.” And there he goes letting his mouth talk without filter. He will need to work on this.

“They are all watching you like you’re the Messiah, what happened?!” The man was starting to transform.

Jinwoo sighed before facing properly the man. It wouldn’t do him any good to make enemies as soon as he was back. “The gate turned red, we ended in a frozen forest with Ice Elves and Ice Bears…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because he needed to step out of the way of a fist.

“You have the nerve to ignore me!” the American raged.

And here Jinwoo thought that the man would take the hint. He was regretting his vow to protect humanity because he really wanted to kill the man right now. But he wouldn't, he would not go the easy way and kill those who are rotten – not to say killing the man would create an international incident, something he didn’t want to do yet. He took a long inspiration to calm his nerves.

Without a verbal command, his shadow extended and Greed shot out of it to tackle the man down. It was pure comedy – Greed was the shadow extracted from Hwang Dongsoo – and the shadow was not happy with his alive counterpart.

“As the person with the most experience,” Jinwoo continued his report like it was nothing. “Kim Chul let me lead the raid. I mostly acted as an instructor, I just took down the boss because he was too strong for them.” He pointed to the corpse he still had in his hands. “We sized one corpse each because there was not enough time to extract all of there mana stone. I also want to keep his mana stone as compensation. And a compensation for my fellow E-rank there would be sensible.”

Song-Yi, further away, choked at the last sentence.

“I will sign you for psychological therapy, you were not supposed to see an A-rank dungeon.” Jinwoo said to her.

“But…” The teenager tried to protest.

“We will also cover for her sessions.” Manager Ahn proposed after a quick look at his guild master.

Baek Yoonho was still processing what he heard before turning to his own members for confirmation. They all nodded.

“Hunter Sung also made a point to protect us all and was adamant to not let any of us die,” Park Heejin added.

“I see. Then, I deeply thank you for you help in this raid. And of course you can keep the essence stone of the boss as compensation.” Yoonho said while bowing slightly. “I heard you didn’t have a guild. Are you interest in joining us?”

“I am an E-rank hunter, Guild master Baek,” Jinwoo said lightly.

“I have trouble believing that,” the man replied in the same tone.

“I already have plans for the future, but thank you for the proposition. Song-Yi, let’s go. I will drive you home.” He directed at the teenager.

“Wait here you little punk!” Hwang Dongsoo shouted from the ground.

Jinwoo pulled a grimace. “Ah, I forgot about you. Greed, take Kaisel and help him back in the US.”

And he dismissed them with a lazy wave of his hand. Greed saluted and jumped with his package onto the back of Kaisel who stretched his wings in the sky. Soon, they were out of sight.

“What the fuck just happened?!” Kim Chul screamed while pointing the sky. “You never used these two in the dungeon!”

“They were not needed.”

At least five hunters parroted his words in a defeated mutter.

“Let’s go.” He concluded, pushing gently his protegee toward the car.

“Who are you exactly?” She still asked.

“I won’t answer, stop asking.” Jinwoo said.

The drive back was uneventful, Song-Yi pouting and Jinwoo longing for his bed. When they arrived at Song-Yi’s apartment, they parted ways with minimal talks.

“Jinwoo!” Song-Yi called right before he pulled the car away.

Just Jinwoo? She did acted that way before. Jinwoo rolled down the window.

“See you tomorrow!” She shouted with a smile.

Jinwoo looked at her entering the building, stunned. Tomorrow? What was she talking about? Then it came to him. The dungeon raids to make Jinho a guild master. He did promise him to help. But now, his plans changed. He already knew that his adoptive brother won’t be the guild master his father hoped him to be. But for now, he did sign the contract to help him achieve this. And the money he was promised at the term was a big part of his future plans.

As he drove home, Jinwoo still tried to pinpoint all the events that didn’t happen yet. Big events like the demon’s tower, the S-rank re-evaluation, the Jeju raid, his fight with Thomas Andre and the war was still in his mind, but he had trouble recovering small events that happened in-between. Like the time he started to act like a brother to Jinho, the time he made friends with Cha Hae-In…

That was a line of thoughts for another time. Now, he just wanted his bed... and a nice hot shower if he was awake enough.

“Jinwoo!” A voice came from afar.

The man didn’t even notice when he entered the apartment. He was tired, so tired.

“Goodnight.” He said, passing nearby Jinah while patting her head.

“And dinner?”

“Save a portion for me tomorrow. I am too tired.” And he shut the door before collapsing on his bed, conscience already fluttering towards sleep.

The next morning, Jinwoo was feeling refreshed. It was normal, after all, that was his first night of full sleep since the beginning of the war against the Monarchs. He did sleep between battles, but it had been days – probably more than a week but he hadn’t care to count. He would have liked to sleep longer, but his biologic system wouldn’t let him.

He got up – earlier than his sister – took a week-deserved hot shower and started to prepare breakfast.

“What’s smelling so good?” She asked not two minutes after he started to cook all ingredients.

“Go take a shower before you eat.”

“Party pooper,” she joked before going to the bathroom.

Jinwoo chuckled and finished the dishes by the time she joined him in the kitchen.

“Your lunch is on the counter.” He said as he pointed the box he packed.

“And what miracle happened yesterday for you to suddenly take care of that?”

Jinwoo frowned before recalling that he started doing this when his mom was at home. He did cook for both of them until Jinah reached high-school and insisted on preparing her meals herself. It changed when their mother came back, because she took all the household chores. Wanting to reduce her charge, he started to cook for lunch again.

“Let’s say I am in a good mood. Things will change soon.” Jinwoo didn’t say much before digging in his breakfast.

“If you say so.”

The silence was peaceful as Jinwoo finished adjusting to his new reality.

“What will you do, today?” She asked.

“I have some raids to complete, there will be the last before I…” Jinwoo stopped himself, frowning.

Did the tower still exist? He already completed it during his first life and gained the Elixir of Life. Would he be able ton enter the dungeon again? That would be for the best, so he can compare his powers to the one he had before.

“Before you what?”

“Let’s not talk about it right now, I need to figure it out.”

“You’re different, Jinwoo.” Jinah said, eyeing him curiously. “Not in a bad way, but not really in a good way either. Are you becoming an old man, now?”

Jinwoo chuckled before finishing his plate. There was something he needed to do before Jinah goes to school and, last time, he remembered doing it in secret. Not this time, he wanted her to be safe – to feel safe.

“Jinah, there is something new about me.” He said.

“Are you talking about your newly found interest in making me lunch? Because I can get used to it. I want fried chicken every day!”

“Ha, ha,” he humored her. “No, seriously. It has to do with my abilities as a hunter.”

That sobered her up.

“Are you okay?” She immediately asked while coming closer.

“Yes, I am. Everything is still a bit… new – if you could say so – but it’ll be okay. I gained something and I wanted to share it with you. Igris.”

Jinah flinched back when the knight emerged from his shadow.

“What the fuck?!” She choked.

“I can summon shadow guards,” He simplified. “This is Igris, one one my strongest shadow. I want him to follow you and protect you, should you be in danger.”

“Are you serious? A knight? But what would the others say?”

“He won’t stay here, he can go into your shadow.”

“And if I refuse?” She questioned.

“You know I am stubborn,” Jinwoo sighed. “I will have to do it behind your back.”

“Yes, I feared you would say that. I’m not really against it, just… he’s a bit intimidating. I don’t think I would be comfortable, knowing he is in my shadow…”

Jinwoo also feared it would have been the case. But he could not dispatch any other. They were either too weak or not suited for the mission…

That’s when a commotion broke in his shadow. It was not noticeable to others but Jinwoo was disturbed. The discontent came from Tank who was set on taking this guarding mission instead of Igris. And that would probably do… if he gave the bear two or three other shadows to help him.

“What about a bear?”

“A what now?” Jinah asked, agape.

Igris looked dejected as he returned in the shadow. But as soon as Tank came out – in a smaller version because he could not fit in the kitchen – Jinah shouted out of joy.

“Oh my god, he is so cute!” She approached and lay a hand on its fur. “He is so fluffy! How could a shadow be so soft and cute?!”

“I guess you like it,” Jinwoo noted.

“Like? I LOVE it!” Jinah laughed, burying her face in the fluffiness of the fur. “Can I really have him as a guard?”

Jinwoo blinked rapidly. It was probably a reflect of the light, but for a moment, it seemed like his sister’s eyes were twinkling.

“Yes, with three other bears. He is weaker than Igris, but he can protect you just fine,” he explained.

“Thank you, brother!” Jinah left Tank to hug Jinwoo. The man only smiled while hugging back.

“Just so you know, they are remaining a secret from everyone outside of this house. Well, Song-Yi knows of him but that’s all until I take my reevaluation.”

“You are going to get reevaluate?” Jinah blinked.

“Yes, too much incidents happened since the double dungeon. Everything will be fine. Now you need to go to school, or you will be late.”

“You’re such a killjoy sometimes.” She grumbled.

Tank entered her shadow and three other bears migrate from his to hers before he let her go – he needed to remind her that her lunchbox was still on the counter.

After that, Jinwoo noticed that he had still a good hour before Jinho comes to give him a ride. That let him enough time to make a quick trip to the monitoring building to get his rank reassessed – well, he could at least make an appointment.

The tower was unreachable, its key disappeared from his inventory. So he could go early and avoid Choi Jong-In whom he still didn’t like. Not that the man was a piece of shit, he was actually quite entertaining, but he didn’t like his title, the exact opposite of what Jinwoo’s was.

He was petty, he knew that. But, that didn’t mean that he would work on it.

Technically, it was a quick walk to the buildings – as long as you consider jumping on rooftops at high speed a walk.

Jinwoo was soon in front of the massive buildings, feeling nostalgic. He was about to enter the main building when he stopped.

Chief Woo Jinchul was in the hall, he could see him through the glass doors. In the spur of the moment, Jinwoo turned around and spotted a coffee shop. With an impromptu feeling, he bought two iced coffees and got pods of sugar and cream as a precaution. He sipped his coffee while approaching the building again.

He finally enter the building and the chief turn to face him, as if he had a detector. To be fair, he probably had some kind of abilities that could detect problems in the making – one must develop one to be able to deal with S-rank hunters.

“Hunter Sung,” Chief Woo greeted.

“Chief Woo. Here is a coffee. I thought it would be the least I can do to thank you for all your hard work. I know I have been a bit of a pain lately.”

He didn’t respond except to thank him for the beverage.

“In what way can I help you today?” The chief diverted.

“I want to get my rank reassessed. I think it is time to do so, after what happened with Hwang Dongsoo. I got words that he was dropped off unharmed in front of the Scavenger Guild.”

And Jinwoo was probably imagining things but, was that a vein that was probing on Woo Jinchul’s temple?

“I will see that you have an appointment as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” Jinwoo beamed. “I will be out of reach today, but anytime soon is okay to me.”

Jinwoo filled the form to apply for his reevaluation before finishing his own coffee and exiting the building, shortly bowing his head towards the chief of the monitoring team.

The return home was just as quick as the outward and when he ended in his couch, no even half an hour passed.

“Your Majesty,” Bellion’s voice came from bellow. “I have spied on the Monarchs, they are restless.”

“Are they planning to invade Earth early?”

“No, they are cautious. Your power is leaking through the dimensions and they are wary.”

“They probably know that I awoke as the Shadow Monarch. Organize their surveillance, use the new Elves. But don’t make them spy on the Frost Monarch.”

“At your command, Your Majesty.”

Jinwoo didn’t hide his laugh at Jinho’s face. He remembered that face from before when the younger man first witnessed his shadows in action.

“Boss, please let me at least collect the essence stones.”

Jinwoo didn’t laugh at his defeated face, even though he really wanted to. The three dungeons went just like that and, by 5, they were finished.

“Thank you everyone for staying with us all this time!” Jinho started at the farewell party. “We were able to complete the 19 dungeons without fail. Everyone, enjoy this party!”

“Thank you, boss!” They all cheered before drowning their cup of bier, water or soda – Jinwoo made sure no alcohol made it through Song-Yi.

“Boss, let’s go eat together after this!” Jinho turned to Jinwoo with a big smile.

“Okay, there is something I wanted to tell you anyway.”

For two hours, Jinho was the perfect host to the party, talking to everyone and joking around with all. Jinwoo now saw all the formal education Jinho received. He was an heir of one of the most important corporation, whatever people say.

They hit the first barbecue restaurant on the way. They got seated right in the middle of the restaurant and ordered quickly food.

“You know, I wanted to thank you for putting up with me.” Jinho started after drowning three cups of soju. “Even though I’m probably a nuisance to you. I won’t bother you anymore.”

And Jinwoo will strike down Jinho’s low self-esteem as soon as possible.

“You are not a nuisance. I enjoy hanging out with you. Even if it was first for professional reason, I appreciate you. But it’s more of what you think of me.”

“My brother and I are more than 10 years apart, we don’t really get along so we never really spent much time together growing up. In comparison, not only have you saved my life, but you also helped me achieve my goals… You’re more of a brother to me than the one I share blood with.”

Jinwoo knew his friend didn’t mean to say that last sentence out loud, and he chuckled as the younger one snapped his mouth shut.

“Then let me be an older brother to you,” Jinwoo said while mixing discreetly a sober-up potion with the water he poured him. “I already think of you as family.”

The startled face of Jinho didn’t make him laugh. Jinwoo toasted with him before they drank. The potion was immediate. That confused face when Jinho eyed his glass made him laugh.

“Did you do something to my drink?”

“That’s for me to know,” Jinwoo smiled. “I wanted to talk to you about a project of mine, and I didn’t want you to be drunk while have this conversation. I promise you can get drunk after.”

“You’re such a killjoy, bro.”

The nickname made Jinwoo smile fondly. It was nostalgic and he hadn’t know until now that he missed this.

“So, what’s the big plan?”

Jinwoo debated on how to start the conversation. He did roughly lay out what he would say but having to talk was a bit different.

“There is… something different about me than the rest of the hunters, you’ve picked up on that.” Jinwoo waited for Jinho to nod before continuing. “There is a reason I keep getting new abilities every once in a while, but I can’t tell you exactly what is going on. Just, you need to know that I am way stronger than a regular E-rank.”

He was faced with a deadpanned Jinho. “Bro, that was the most obvious thing about you.”

“True,” the reincarnate agreed. “I plan on getting my rank reassessed.”

“Hm? Now you got me curious.”

“I won’t tell you more for now. Just so you know, I want to start my own guild.”

“Oh,” Jinho said, a bit down. “And there goes my plan on recruiting you, I guess.”

“I’m sorry, I know you wanted me to be part of you guild if your father allowed you to be the guild master…”

“No, I get it. I still have not taken the exam so I didn’t have that conversation with father yet. It’s just one thing to put down during our next meal.”

“If I tell you all that, Jinho, I because I wanted to make a proposition.”

Jinho lifted his head to look deeply at his newly found brother. The younger was naive but not stupid, he instantly new what the proposition would be.

“I… Can I think it over for some times?” Jinho tilted his glass back and forth for a moment.

“Sure, I don’t want to pressure you.”

The rest of the meal was a bit tense but Jinho soon got too drunk to think about all that happened rationally. Jinwoo ended up driving him to his home, like last time.

He was forcing fate, but Jinwoo didn’t mind. He would not severe his relationship with Jinho even if the man refused to be his guild vice-master.

Chapter Text

By making things different, Jinwoo started by taking his reevaluation one week earlier than last time. By chance, there was an available appointment the day after he met Chief Woo at the monitoring center.

The reason he wanted to take it early was purely based on his impression the first time, ending with a rude meeting with Choi Jong-In, the “strongest weapon”. Was he petty for not wanting to meet the man who hold the counterpart of his previous nickname? Yes. Did he care? Absolutely not.

Jinwoo got ready to go but, on the road, made a small detour to buy a coffee and breakfast to Chief Woo. He had noticed than the man had bags under his eyes – even if he tried to mask them by putting his glasses on indoor. The man was probably stressed out and Jinwoo’s record was probably not helping. And after today, the would surely have more on his plate.

As he arrived at the evaluation building, he made sure not to be recognizable. And he was glad he did put a hood and a mask because he just saw manager Ahn’s assistant in the hall.

Jinwoo ignored the man and searched for his target. He found his mana signature behind the two large doors that led to the back of the building. Not wasting time, he approached the doors, only to get stopped by two men in the same black suit every member of the monitoring team wears.

“Please turn around. This is not the evaluation room.”

“I know. I just thought I could bring breakfast to Chief Woo,” Jinwoo explained while showing them the coffee and muffins.

The men looked at each other, having a silent talk Jinwoo was not privy of.

“Chief Woo’s office is at the end of the corridor. Please make sure to knock before going in.”

“Thank you.”

Jinwoo was a bit put off because he was waiting for more resistance from them. He did make sure he didn’t leak of any mana, was that the reason he was let through? Did they think he was harmless enough? Not that he had any ill-intent, but it was a serious breach in security. They didn’t even check on his identity!

Every though left his mind as he knocked at the door. He couldn’t go to the wrong door because of the large golden plaque on the door itself “CHIEF INSPECTOR OF THE SURVEILLANCE TEAM, WOO JINCHUL”.

“Come in,” the voice of the chief came.

Jinwoo entered the office while removing his mask and hood. Chief Woo was seating at his desk which looked about to be collapsing with paperwork. The blond man was wearing a neat suit like he did always. His glasses were not on his nose and let two tired eyes appeared behind a rather large stack of paper.

“Hunter Sung, how did you come here?” The surprise was clear on his face and Jinwoo’s sense of duty pushed him to reveal how he entered, making small comments on the monitoring team’s staff.

“I will see that they are more trained. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“I came with coffee and breakfast,” Jinwoo said in a cheering voice.

“You already thank me yesterday, please don’t make it a habit.” The stern voice coming from Jinchul didn’t make Jinwoo loose his beam.

“I have a feeling I am going to be one of the pain you will have to manage eventually. Even if I try to make it to the minimum, I know problems will come flying around.”

“That is a very realistic observation, hunter Sung.” His voice was still plain, but Jinwoo was able to detect a bit of humor behind the tone.

“I will go now, I have a reevaluation to go to. Also, please take care of your health. You look like you’re about to faint.”

Jinwoo didn’t stay to hear of his response and got back in the hall. He soon got called for his reevaluation. It came out like last time. The “ERROR” message on the machine made the girl’s colleague come in. They both got ecstatic when they finally verified that he was supposedly an S-rank. But Jinwoo already knew he would need to come back in three days so he told them he knew about it and would make an appointment at the reception desk by himself. Last time, he got too much attention and he now just wanted to go home in peace.

As he exited the room with minimal fuss over him, Jinwoo already spotted the tense atmosphere in the hall. He did find it strange but didn’t give more thoughts about it since it was not his business.

He could have strangled himself on the spot – better, strangle fate and its twisted ways. He did think everything was going on smoothly. But he did think it was because he was ahead of everyone here, by being able to remember what would happen.

But even if he could prevent some events, he could not control how people moved. And that’s why he was facing from afar the guild master of the Hunter Guild, Choi Jong-In.

Jinwoo didn’t react. Well, he was pissed, but nothing showed on the outside. The red haired mage didn’t seem to notice Jinwoo and the newly S-rank got uneventfully to the reception desk. By chance, Woo Jinchul was there, probably lecturing the men who did let him pass. Unfortunately, Choi Jong-In was not far from him. He was glad he pulled the hood on.

“Chief Woo, there was something I wanted to discuss with you,” the guild master said. It was not a simple demand, Jinwoo heard that much in his tone.

“Guild master Choi, please wait outside. You are disrupting the evaluation center,” the chief replied with his always-professional-no-nonsense voice.

Jinwoo didn’t listen to the response of the guild master as he approached the desk. Choi Jong-In turned around and made his way to the exit.

“Hunter Sung, I guess your reassessment went without any surprise.” Jinwoo thought he sensed a bit of humor in the tone of the chief but he could be wrong.

“As if it would go any other way,” he answered.

“I always thought I had a good eye for talent, but you’ve proven me wrong.”

The man was clearly thinking of that time he evaluated him at the hospital.

“You don’t need to think like that, you wouldn’t have been able to detect anything back then.”

“Please come by for the advanced assessment in three days at the time,” Jinchul didn’t seem fazed when everyone beside him exploded in excited whispers. He gave Jinwoo a piece of paper with the date and time of his next appointment.

“Should I bring another coffee to apologize in advance for the next time I cause trouble?” Jinwoo only half-joked because he knew he could unintentionally cause chaos whatever he’d do.

“Please don’t cause any in the next few days,” Woo Jinchul deadpanned.

He didn’t say no, Jinwoo noted. He physically replied with a short nod before vanishing from everyone’s sense. Well, he was only using stealth because he didn’t want to have a talk with the guild master Choi who was piercing his back with his eyes.

Jinchul blinked several times at the now empty space before turning to the one who was standing behind hunter Sung.

“Guild master Choi, please wait outside,” he reiterated to the man.

“I can’t, not after overhearing your conversation with that man. Is he really our tenth S-rank?”

“This is a classified information. You know I can’t divulge these without the chairman’s approval. You can go to him if you want any information regarding that hunter.”

Choi Jong-In chuckled before exiting definitely the building. Chief Woo gave some quick order before following the S-rank mage to discuss whatever the man wanted to. And that would now include subtle remarks about hunter Sung.

He fought not to sigh in front of his subordinates. He was definitely not paid enough for this job.

Jinwoo was facing his mother. Well, he was facing his sleeping mom.

After all this time, he finally had the courage to come back to the hospital. Never had he thought he would enter this room again.

He was tempted to give his mom the Elixir of Life right away – the system conserved the three unused bottles in the inventory – but the mana signatures outside of the room bothered him.

He already knew he would meet Go Gunhee tonight, the man would not change his methods. But he was a bit ahead of schedule. It was only three in the afternoon, after all.

Jinwoo sighed before letting his mom’s hand go. He would need to take care of this meeting soon, before his annoyance showed. He left the room in silence, but the click of the closing door echoed in the almost empty hallway.

“You are hard to track, Hunter Sung,” Chief Woo’s voice came from beside the door.

“We do keep running into each other, chief Woo.”

Said Chief tried to hold back an incredulous snort but it came out anyway. Jinwoo smirked. “Do I already need surveillance?” Jinwoo asked, facing him.

“No. Rather than that, I had a question. Were you the one who defeated all the beasts inside the double dungeon?”

“No, I did not,” Jinwoo sighed. “Let’s get down to business,” he continued while turning towards the dark part of the corridor where the chairman was waiting.

“Oh, your senses are sharp, Mr. Sung. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Go Gunhee, I am the chairman of the Hunter’s Association.”

Jinwoo faced the chairman with the sun as only source of light. He didn’t know if it was a trick of light or his own perception, but the chairman looked… old, for lack of better words. His presence was still on par with what he remembered, but quite different. Jinwoo didn’t think it further than him being stronger than the chairman by now. The shadows at his feet also felt restless as they faced the first S-rank to ever awaken in this country.

“Should we find a better place to talk?” The old hunter suggested.

Regardless of the level of power, the chairman still had the same commandeering presence that drawn Jinwoo. They soon took a seat in an empty lounge in the hospital and Jinwoo didn’t partake with the feeling that it was staged. There was two glasses of water on the coffee table, two comfortable seats on each side and a pile of paper that appear too new to have been left by the medical staff.

As they took a seat, Jinchul stood on the side, near the door, as if to guard it from trespassing. The idea of the chief blocking his way out if he wanted to leave nearly made Jinwoo chuckle as a soft feeling made its way to his heart.

“Congratulations on being evaluated as an S-rank, Mr. Sung.”

“Thank you, chairman Go.”

The casual way Jinwoo acknowledged them surprised the chairman.

“You don’t seem to be confused by the fact that the machine couldn’t assess you properly.”

“I already knew I would be an S-rank. The incident with Hwang Dongsoo made it clear.”

“You also don’t seem surprised about my presence tonight.”

“You mean, because I didn’t get an official rank? I know about… was it the “grace period” you nicknamed it?”

That made both hunters from the Association flinch. Go Gunhee looked his right-hand man as suspicion crept in his eyes.

“Chief Woo didn’t tell me anything, if that’s the thing on your mind. I have means of knowing.”

“Forgive me, Mr. Sung, you are really the most peculiar S-rank I ever talked to.” The chairman composed himself again. “The grace period was created so we can meet with individuals such as yourself. As you know, there aren’t many exceptional hunters in the Association, despite the size of the organization. Mr Woo here is our best hunter, and he still is only an A-rank.”

He made a pause to drink from his glass. Jinwoo didn’t reach for his but eyed the chief with curiosity. He hadn’t took the time in his past life to properly evaluate the man. His mana signature was leaking, despite him having a good grasp on it. However, concealing his mana didn’t do much to affect Jinwoo’s observation skills and he was able to determine the man to be at the high-end of the A-rank, at the limit of a low S-rank. He would need to compare his strength to others, but he was sure of his analysis.

“As I can understand those hunters – who would want to join the association when other guilds promise their hunters fame and fortune? – I can’t stop hoping that the next hunter would be willing to join us.”

Go Gunhee continued to expose why the grace period was created while Jinwoo only listened with one ear. Something was bothering him, something that didn’t happen the first time they had this conversation. It was first an impression. When Go Gunhee was talking, moving, every move of his were making him wary.

“We are not a corporation, therefore, we can’t promise you a lot of money. However,” the chairman went on, oblivious to Jinwoo’s internal turmoil, “I’ll be able to help you in other ways. I’ll be able to provide another career path for you, Mr. Sung. Hunters are the one protecting citizens from magic beasts in and out of the dungeons. They’re essential to our country. And the organization that regulate them is the Hunter’s Association. I can make you one of us, Mr. Sung.”

If Jinwoo remembered correctly, it was the end of the chairman’s monologue. But he still had not pinpoint what was different. He tried to remember every encounter he had with the chairman in the months since his reassessment last time, not forgetting the talks about the Jeju raid, the trip to the USA… that time he died.

And that was it! Now that he knew what was wrong with his perception of the chairman, everything was clear.

“Hunter Sung?” The chairman inquired softly.

Jinwoo understood that he was too deep in his thinking that minutes passed. He was able to witness Chief Woo fidgeting from the corner of his eyes.

“Chairman Go, I will try to be as explicit as I can, so please don’t take it personally if I can’t express myself well.”

“Please, go ahead,” the man frowned before nodding.

“There is a part of your power that resonates with mine.”

More vague and you would die, Jinwoo thought as the older hunter blinked. He could see the cogs turning in his head and Jinwoo needed him to stop before reaching the wrong conclusion.

“It’s ticking me off.”

He was sure his eyes glowed as he looked at the chairman in the eyes. Jinwoo should have been more diplomat about that statement because the man assumed a mid-defensive stance, as did the man standing at the door.

“Would you please explain that, Mr. Sung?”

Jinwoo sighed before massaging his temples.

“It’s hard to explain, it has to do with the dungeons themselves and the reason why they appear.”

“Are you saying… that you know how the dungeons appear?” Go Gunhee hesitantly asked.

“I do. This conversation would be so much easier if you just remembered.” Jinwoo mumbled the last part but the S-rank still understood.

“And how would you make me remember something I don’t know?” The chairman was clearly confused, so was Woo Jinchul who lost his poker face.

The question looped in his mind. Would he be able to make others remember? Was that even possible? Of course, it was. He was his own example of inherited memories. Maybe it would be the same for the man? But how?

With an impulsive gesture, Jinwoo’s finger made contact with the forehead of the chairman. The mana wave akin to electricity that traversed his body made the chairman jolt and his hand rested on his heart.

“Sir!” Woo Jinchul exclaimed as he approached the man.

Jinwoo was at the end of a very wary and disbelieving look from the chief. But a small pat on the man’s arm from his superior made him back off.

“Chief Woo, please wait in the corridor.” Go Gunhee commanded.

Jinchul bowed before exiting, still giving him the same look. Jinwoo smiled fondly as the chairman let tears flow down his face.

“I really need to thank you for all you’re doing, Mr. Sung.”

“Please, chairman, drop the formalities.”

“That applies to you too, Sung!” The chairman let a booming laugh escape his lips. “Could you enlighten me about what happened after my death?”

“Humanity prepared for war against the Monarchs, I did kill all of them eventually, but not without a hefty price. The Rulers came down on Earth after that, offering me a favor. I wanted to turn back time, coming back to the moment the dungeons didn’t appear. I wanted to prevent them entirely. But the Rulers betrayed me. I still don’t know why they did that, but I guess it has to do with the history we have. I barely escaped that fate and got thrown back when the red gate appeared, three days ago.”

As Jinwoo exposed this, it anchored it into reality. It was only three days since he came back but he felt like so much happened that it could feed an entire month.

“I am aware of the Monarchs, I died by their hand. But, who are the Rulers?”

“The Monarchs and the Rulers are two faces of the same coin. And each have their own faction, Rulers are some sort of angelic-shaped species and Monarchs rules over what we know as magic beasts in the dungeons. They were created by one Absolute Being who got betrayed by the Rulers. I was – or my precedent existence was – part of the Rulers and loyal to the Absolute Being. They betrayed me too and I became a Monarch, only to be betrayed by them to. And there, millennia later, I am here because the Rulers betrayed me again. That is also why I feel conflicted by your presence, you’re bearing a fragment of the light of a Ruler. It’s to thin to be of consequences in your life, but it’s… unpleasant.”

A small silence followed Jinwoo’s confession.

“That is quite the story, Sung. I fully believe you, but it’s…”

“I understand, it’s complicated to grasp. I don’t think I have fully understood everything about myself either and I am living with my predecessor’s memories.”

The silence that follows was peaceful. They stood like that for minutes.

“What are your plans now, Sung?”

“Short term, I will found my guild. But I want it to function differently than last time.”

“How so?”

“I still want to be able to enter the dungeons alone, I have even more shadows now so it would be even safer for me. And I don’t think anything lower than a Monarch could really make me sweat.”

“Understatement of the century, Sung. I still remember the fight you had with Thomas Andre. Medias were retelling the story of your win for days.”

Jinwoo chortled. He was not aware of that, but he guessed the Korean medias were more sensational than the US’s.

“The thing that will change is that we will work closer to the Association.”

“Oh?” The chairman was intrigued.

“There are too much low-rank dungeons, from A to C-ranks dungeons, they are quickly bought by guilds, but D and E-rank dungeons are more widespread and are not always closed in time to not induce a dungeon break. I want to offer you the possibility of cleaning them before the break. The terms are still rough, but I would take them on their last day before the break and clear them with my shadow soldiers. They can enter the dungeon without me being present.”

“That is a very intriguing proposition, Sung. I know you are powerful but the public doesn’t. And I can’t really bend the rules too much. We would face a riot.”

“I can always go poke around clearing Jeju by myself or engaging a fight with Thomas Andre so that the people will know that having me in Korea and bending the rules for me to stay will be okay.”

Jinwoo was not joking when he made the statement. That was exactly the reason the chairman threw before to bend the rules as Jinwoo wanted.

The man laughed until his side made it uncomfortable.

“Please refrain it for now, you are not even a real S-rank now.” The chairman was enjoying this talk just as much as Jinwoo.

“No promises.”

Soon, they needed to go. Jinwoo, despite having Tank guarding his sister, was itchy to go home. Taking the easy route, the strongest hunter of all time used shadow exchange with a bear of his sister’s guard. He would replace him as soon as he could, but he wanted to avoid the suspicious glare of Jinchul.

The chairman left the lounge with a happy smile. He was quickly accosted by his worried right-hand man.

“Chairman Go, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Chief Woo. I feel more alive than I ever was. Sung is truly a force to reckon with.”

If Jinchul was taken aback by the statement or the appellation, he didn’t show it. Instead, he eyed the room curiously, only to find it empty.

“Sung took a shortcut, don’t worry about it, you will get used to it.” The chairman walked until the coldest window to see the sun declining. “I am in a good mood, I don’t want to get it disrupted. Clear my schedule for the day.”

“But, you have a meeting with the ministers…”

“I don’t want to waste energy on these pompous geezers today, I really want to enjoy my evening. How about some drinks, would you join me?”

“I’m not much of a drinker, sir. Is that alright with you?” Jinchul didn’t really have a choice, he was not about to tell his boss how to do his work.

“Ha, forgive me for being rude, but it’s not a surprise,” the chairman laughed. “I wonder if we could one day rope Sung into these kind of parties when he does settle down...”

Jinchul wanted to beg the man not to force him. It would only mean more paperwork for him if a fight broke between them.

Chapter Text

Jinwoo enjoyed every silence of the grace period. After three days of too much action – and the war that did happen right before – it was good to be in his apartment.

Jinah already knew he was an S-rank and of his talk with the Hunter’s Association’s chairman. He was not keeping her in the dark this time.

“Tell me you did accept the job,” Jinah said the first night, in a small voice.

Jinwoo understood what she was going through. She did last time when the Jeju raid was talked about.

“Jinah, I can’t work entirely with the Association,” he had said. “There are too much dungeons and not enough hunters. I know you are not happy about that, but I can’t just ignore all the hunters struggling. I was at the bottom once, I know how cruel the hunter world is. I’m dead set on making at least underaged people drop from this route.”

“You mean, like you did with Song-Yi?” She asked.

Jinwoo had not know what happened after the red gate, but he was relieved to hear that she got back to school with a newly found determination. True to his words, he had made appointments for her to the psychologist. She had yet to have her first session.

“Yes. I promise you that I won’t be in danger, I’m the strongest hunter out there. And I’m not joking when I say that. You have seen Igris and Tank, and they are only a fragment of my strength. I can defend myself pretty good.”

Jinah did finally accept that he would not drop his job, but it took her a good 24 hours before acknowledging it.

“I want fried chicken every time you come back from a dungeon.” She argued.

“Once every ten dungeons,” he threw back immediately. It would be bad for your health if I take on your proposition.”

“I can exercise. Every three dungeons.”

“Not enough. Every seven gates.”

“Five, and I want to know exactly for how long you will be gone each time.”

“Unforeseen events could hold me back so it won’t always be precise, but I will think of a way to signal you every time something unexpected come forth.”

“Deal.” She grinned and Jinwoo had the disturbing feeling he got played.

“You’re the devil incarnate,” he sighed as she burst out laughing.

“And proud of it!” She then made excuses to evade his brother’s mock anger by saying she needed to go to school. It was when she opened the door that she got frightened by an unfamiliar face.

“Oh my god, you scared me!”

“I’m sorry!” The unknown man said to her. “Is Jinwoo here?”

“Who’s demanding him?” Jinah asked with a menacing glare.

“Jinah, didn’t you say you needed to go?” Jinwoo asked from behind.

“Someone strange is here.”

“I’m not strange!” The man cried.

“It’s Jinho, I did dungeons with him for some time.”

“Oh? So he’s the one responsible for you not being here by mornings or evenings?” Jinah’s glare was now terrorizing Jinho.

“Bro, help me!”

“Jinah, you will really be late.”

“Fine,” she drawled. “Please remember our deal.”

“I won’t do dungeons for a few days, don’t worry.”

Jinah finally went out of the apartment, letting the two man standing awkwardly.

“Bro, you never said your sister was scary! My poor heart!”

Jinwoo didn’t remember Jinho to be this dramatic but it was a nice change of pace. He was still dead set on enjoying as much calm as he could, but now his adopted brother needed him.

“Come in, I’ll make tea.”

They sat down on the couch minutes later, in silence.

“I got thrown out of the house.”

Jinwoo blinked. That happened way later in his memory. Did he changed that too?

“Why?”

“Father… he was hoping I would be part of the corporation’s guild, even if I couldn’t be its guild master. I took the exam yesterday on a whim, results will be out in a few days. He asked about you, the one who helped me. I told him about your proposition and the fact that I was hesitating. He… made it pretty clear that if I joined you, I wouldn’t be able to stand inside the house again. So, I made my choice. And here I am!”

Jinwoo navigated easily into the word-vomit and smiled.

“I’m proud of you to be able to stand on your own. I’m sure it was a very difficult choice you had to make.”

The words made Jinho cry. Jinwoo, not accustomed to console people, let him cry on his shoulder while patting slightly his head.

“So,” Jinho finally spoke after composing himself. “How do we proceed?”

Jinwoo narrated all that happened, from being an S-rank – and Jinwoo pouted at the fact that Jinho wasn’t even fazed by the revelation – to his talk with the chairman, only omitting the parts where he mentioned the Rulers and Monarchs.

“Do you know that we need three people to form a guild? Where do we start searching for someone.”

“I was thinking of someone who doesn’t want to be a hunter. He would only be our third member on the paper. But if we don’t find someone, we could always ask the Association for someone under the fact that it would reinforce the communication between us.” Jinwoo exposed it all with the idea of getting to Jinho’s cousin. He liked her in his last life, he wanted to have that connection again. And for the fact that she was great at managing the image of the guild.

Silence stretched as Jinho didn’t respond, only looking at him with a mix of admiration and depression.

“How are you able to think of that! I was only forming ideas in my head but they are similar to yours! Do you really need me, bro?”

Ouch, the idea was originally from Jinho, he remembered now.

“You are better at diplomacy than me,” Jinwoo offered.

“Not to be rude, bro, but anyone would be better at diplomacy than you.”

It was an attack straight to the heart, Jinwoo made it clear – with lots of dramatics – that he was hurt by that statement. They ended up laughing all day.

Jinwoo was walking silently to the monitoring secondary center. It was there that he would be officially reassessed.

He was not really looking forward, knowing that Choi Jong-In would find a way to intrude, only to offer a place on his guild. It was not like Baek Yoonho who he tolerated more, the fire mage was unnerving on a good day, and it came from experience.

Trying to stop thinking about that, Jinwoo tightened his grip on the small bag intended for Jinchul. The man really needed to take better care of himself. Did he attached a shadow to him and spied at random moments? He would take this secret to the grave.

Reaching the building, Jinwoo already knew that nothing would go as plan. There was too much of people on the small place before the building to be natural for an ordinary Friday. Did a big shot came to get evaluated like it was last time? He was still a week early on his other timeline so it should not be the case.

Fortunately, he had a way to enter the building without being seen. Activating his stealth skill, he passed by everyone and entered the building. He did sense the people's confusion when the automatic doors opened over nothing but he didn’t pay them attention, his focus on the one present inside the building.

Jinwoo didn’t drop his stealth immediately, he was trying to understand what was unfolding before him.

“Please tell me again why you are here, Guild Master Baek,” the voice of Guild Master Choi resonated in the empty hall.

“My answer won’t change because you ask one more time, you jackass,” Baek Yoonho replied.

Jinwoo was still trying to understand this. That Choi Jong-In would be here, he did mentally prepare for that, but Baek Yoonho? Nope, he never would have thought. How did he even know?

On the side, at the very end of the hall, Jinwoo spotted Chairman Go and Chief Woo coming.

“That is quite the scene,” the chairman said without being surprised.

By his side, Woo Jinchul was professional as ever, but Jinwoo did see a bit of annoyance on the man’s face. It was the way he frowned his eyes while looking over his sunglasses that made Jinwoo sure of his assumption.

“It’s already the time, where is that hunter?” Choi Jong-In was the first to ask.

“Being late is not the best first impression,” Baek Yoonho agreed.

“I don’t know, I did see the front door open,” the chairman said in a light tone.

“We all witnessed the door open, but no one came through. It’s a default,” Choi Jong-In argued back.

Jinchul looked like he wanted to sighed.

“Hunter Sung, please show yourself.”

Jinwoo obeyed immediately, dropping it while being right in front of the chief. If the man was taken aback, he didn’t show it. Jinwoo couldn’t said so about the others who did show their surprise.

“Here, to apologize in advance for the trouble.”

Jinchul didn’t question the man and took the bag from his hands.

“Chairman Go,” Jinwoo greeted.

“We agreed on dropping the formalities, Sung, don’t take that back.”

“Okay,” he nodded.

Forgotten S-ranks grew restless as they took the information of Hunter Sung standing before them. The two guild masters were able to contain their uneasiness after a few seconds.

“Let’s go for your evaluation, Sung,” the chairman said.

Jinwoo was prepared for the same boring event, having to summon his shadow army – well only a part of them because they would not fit in the training hall – and then getting home. But, the glint in the chairman’s eyes made him stop his track.

“What are you up to?” he asked directly the man.

Go Gunhee laughed. “I just thought of the best way to evaluate you. Guild masters Baek and Choi, would you like to follow us in the training hall?”

That was a severe breach of security if you asked anyone attuned to the operation of the Association. It caught Woo Jinchul off-guard as the man stood, agape, behind the chairman. Having someone of the outside witnessing the evaluation was a way for the guilds to have leverage on said hunter.

Jinwoo understood that, but he didn’t think them attending the reassessment was much of a change that would explain the maniac glint in Gunhee’s eyes.

“Sure, let’s go with any idea you have,” Jinwoo agreed.

Reluctantly, they all made their way to the training hall. The room was just like Jinwoo remembered, big for anyone who didn’t have so many summons. It looked like he could only fit a small hundred of his summons inside. From the look of Go Gunhee, the man was also reminiscing of his last reassessment.

“Just showing your abilities will be a loss of time, Sung. We both know that. I propose a fight against me” he suggested.

That caught Jinwoo off guard. He then burst out laughing.

“Sure!”

“Perfect! Let’s proceed!”

As both made some light warm up, the two S-ranks that were pulled in get to the side.

“What is the chairman trying to pull?” Baek Yoonho asked.

“I am not one to pry in the chairman’s business. But if I have to guess, I think he wants to show us something.”

“You?! Not prying into others’ business?” Scoffed the beast hunter. “Probably the biggest lie of the century!”

Jinchul observed the word exchange with a dreading feeling, he didn’t want the two other S-rank hunters to have a fight now. Fortunately, they settled quickly, allowing him to relax as well. He took a small sip from the iced coffee the new S-rank hunter brought him. It was only the third time the man did it but the look in his eyes showed that he wouldn’t stop. Jinchul already felt tired of the stubbornness of the young hunter.

His attention got diverted by the start of the fight. He did register that his boss said that the first to kneel down would loose and abandoned his drink to take notes.

Jinwoo was experiencing mixed feelings. On one hand, he did like the thrill of the fight with another S-rank – even if weaker than him – but on the other hand, he was still pissed at the energy he was sensing inside the chairman.

They started with exchanging blows, the chairman being more experiences in this traditional form of fight. Jinwoo evaded all the attacks but some were close calls. Go Gunhee was an old man over 80, he was the first S-rank to awake, nearly ten years ago. His past glory forged his path of the most respected S-rank. But in term of skills, he was average, Jinwoo didn’t know if it was only due to his age or if he really was an average S-rank back in his days – it was a period where S-ranks were not widespread so they didn’t have any comparison at the time.

Soon, Jinwoo entered seriously the fight. Being faster and more agile than his opponent, he delivered blows at quick pace until the chairman could properly block him. Jinwoo could have continued, but he didn’t want the fight to end now.

“It looks like I will really need to go all out,” the chairman said as he laughed.

“Don’t be surprised if I do the same.”

They both released the mana they build up, well Jinwoo released a small part as he didn’t want to make all of the people in the city blackout.

“Should we not stop them?” He heard Choi Jong-In ask from the side.

“How do you want to do that, idiot!” His rival replied.

The talk made Jinwoo have a small delay in dodging the attack that came to him. In fact, he didn’t evade at all. The fist of the chairman collided with his face.

“Sung!” The man exclaimed, followed by the two other S-rank and Jinchul.

The impact created smoke, hiding the face of Jinwoo. But as the smoke vanished, they discovered a strange sight.

Jinwoo did not block the punch, in fact, he didn’t do anything. His arms were still laying flat. The man didn’t even take a step backward to absorb the impact. The only trace of this punch was Jinwoo’s head. He had turn his head for his cheek to absorb the shock, leaving a bruise.

“Holy shit he didn’t even move!” Yoonho choked.

“How powerful is he?!”

Jinchul shared the sentiment of incredulity, but stayed professional.

The chairman, still trying to comprehend what happened, didn’t have the time to move his arm when Jinwoo grabbed it. In an instant, the older man was on the floor, his arm twisted in his back.

“I think that’s my win, sir.”

Go Gunhee acknowledged his loss with a booming laugh. Jinwoo helped the man stand after this and they were soon surrounded by the three spectators.

“That was one hell of a fight!” Baek Yoonho grinned. “If you ever want to, I am open to a fight against you!”

“Of course you brute would think that. Hunter Sung, congratulations on your win,” Choi Jong-In said with a professional smile.

“Sir, are you okay?” Jinchul didn’t waste time in checking the chairman over.

“I’m fine, chief, no worries. Sung, you have a real talent!”

“That is the only thing that made up for my lack of experience in this fight. Should we be on the same power scale, you would have crushed me,” Jinwoo offered.

Jinwoo didn’t even said that to be polite. He was not an adept of fist fight. He preferred his daggers over anything else and his style is more of an assassin than anything else.

“You’re a good front fighter, hunter Sung. But your stealth skill is also a great assess to you. You would be a formidable assassin.” Choi Jong-In was apparently thinking along the same line as him.

“Wait a minute!” Baek Yoonho realized suddenly. “I’ve seen you summon creatures to take down Hwang Dongsoo in an instant! Just how many sets of skills do you have?!”

“Summons?” The Hunter’s guild master wondered.

“Sung, would you please show us?” The chairman intruded.

Jinwoo was playing the last time in his head and smirked.

“You mean this?” He summoned one single knight of his army, the same that he did back in the past. And from the look on Go Gunhee’s face, he remembered too.

“The rapports described powerful summons, Sung. I am sure there are more.”

Jinwoo took extra care to sigh just like he did last time before summoning eighty of his shadows. From his higher ranks soldiers, he summoned Kaisel, Greed, Igris and Tusk. He debated shortly on whether summoning the giants or not before deciding against. Even one of them at half size wouldn’t fit in the room.

Every hunter took a step back at the sight of his army. The mana that exulted from his body could also be one of the factors of this sudden move.

“Holy…”

“Is that even possible?” The mage mused.

“I have more but they wouldn’t fit in,” Jinwoo casually said.

“How… how much more can you summon?” Jinchul bravely asked even if the power display made him want to shut up. He hadn’t felt a mana this powerful ever, no S-rank he had to babysit were this powerful.

“I… don’t know exactly how many,” Jinchul said sheepishly while clearing the room of his soldiers. “ I would say a thousand but I don’t count them precisely.”

Technically, the system hold the count but he didn’t want to open the screen now. Beside the inventory and the online shop, the system was now useless to him.

Also, he knew that he had more than just a thousand shadows. At the end, after the war, Jinwoo was sure he had about one hundred thousand shadows. But he couldn’t say that number out loud. That would broke anyone in here.

And a thousand was probably even too much for them because they blanched so quickly, muttering the number like a mantra. Jinwoo didn’t know how to snap them out of this.

Go Gunhee burst out laughing, making them all jump. It was an effective tactic.

“Sung, you will turn this world upside down. I’m glad you accepted to stay in Korea.”

Jinwoo didn’t know what to say. But Baek Yoonho knew.

“With that much power, you could even raid dungeons alone,” he whispered, astounded.

And Jinwoo finally understood why the chairman wanted the two guild masters to watch the reassessment. Last time, to establish his guild, he was already famous for the Jeju raid. His powers were already displayed worldwide. But now, he was a nobody, he didn’t have any reputation, other than his former one. Having two S-rank hunters confirming the facts would make it easier for the chairman to bend the rules.

Jinwoo, lost in thoughts, watched with an absent look as Jinchul came from his corner to gather with a the S-ranks.

“I am troubled as to what hunter class would fit, Mr. Sung,” Jinchul said while reviewing his notes.

“A mage, he’s summoning soldiers. It should be obvious!”

“He’s a fighter type! Everyone would say that!”

Both guild masters answered at the same time. They looked at each other with disdain.

“How about All-rounder?” Jinchul proposed.

“It might be a bit too much of attention, but I like the idea of keeping it vague.” Go Gunhee hummed as he thought. “How about unspecified or unknown?”

“Why not,” Jinwoo agreed. “I don’t really care.”

“Now that this is taken care of,” Choi Jong-In began with a professional smile. “Mr. Sung, I am very interested in your short and mid-term plans in Korea. Perhaps you already have a guild you want to join? Would you like to discuss what our Hunter Guild can offer you?”

“Oi! You jackass! Stop trying to recruit him!” Baek Yoonho screamed at the man.

“I already have things I want to do, and joining an existing guild is not what I want to do,” Jinwoo smirked. “If my presence is no more needed, I will take my leave.”

“Mr. Sung, please come at the reception desk with me, so we can update your hunter license,” Jinchul invited him. They both left.

“Mr. Baek, Mr. Choi, what are your thoughts about our new S-rank?”

“He’s powerful. And an asset to Korea,” Baek Yoonho immediately replied.

“I agree, not only has he displayed different classes, he masters them and know how to exploit their strengths and weaknesses.”

“Isn’t it weird that he wants to stay in Korea?” The beast hunter asked. “I mean, he could go wherever he wanted with that power and countries will make offers soon.”

“You seem to forget that he is a reawakened hunter. He was an E-rank before, he knows what it is like to be at the bottom. Nonetheless, he is very attached to his family here. His mother is suffering from the Eternal Slumber disease and he won’t abandon her, nor his sister.” The chairman exposed.

“You seem to know him pretty well, chairman,” the mage noticed.

Go Gunhee laughed but didn’t answer the disguised question he asked.

Unknown to them, the duo that left the room had a similar conversation.

“Can I ask you a question, Mr. Sung?” Jinchul tried while glancing at the taller man.

“Do so, Chief Woo.”

“Why would you stay in Korea? I mean, there are countries who would offer you more than what we could, so why stay?”

“I am not a fan of people going overseas and changing their whole life just for money. You can call me a patriot, of sort. But I am also really grateful for the Korean Hunter’s Association, because you are the one who were helping me out first when I was an E-rank. And you paid half of the medicals for my mom, that’s heavy on the balance.”

“Oh.” Jinchul didn’t know how to respond. His usual ready-made sentences nowhere to be found.

They arrived at the front desk where Jinwoo was able to see how they filled out the forms. The chief took his expired license and entered the basics information. They rapidly exchanged on a possible update of living accommodation – due to him gaining more money now – or any contact info that changed over time since his first license. Since neither happened for now, the form was filled quickly. When it came down to the class, Jinwoo watched as Jinchul needed to badge in to access it. He then wrote “UNSPECIFIED” in the blank window.

“Does that satisfy you, Mr. Sung?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Please don’t, I am merely doing my duties.”

“And your duties are not to be forgotten, you do a fantastic job. I fear I might have to compensate you in more breakfast.”

“Mr. Sung, that is not necessary. I assure you, I am capable of taking care of myself.”

“Please do not be offended when I say this, but an energizing bar and a coffee does not constitute a great breakfast.”

Jinchul flinched and Jinwoo darted his eyes away. He did not intend to reveal this. Yes, he was spying on the chief, because his habits were not healthy. He was also spying on his sister to make sure she didn’t get in trouble.

“Mr. Sung, here is your license. The chairman is still talking with other S-ranks but they will come soon. I sincerely congratulate you on becoming officially Korea’s tenth S-rank.” Jinchul bowed a little when he said that.

Jinwoo hid his wince. The man changed entirely the topic after his last comment. And the icy tone he detected under his carefully placed poker face made Jinwoo think that he got too far.

“I will see you around, Chief Woo,” Jinwoo could only say.

And Jinwoo disappeared. If it was by stealth or another technique, Jinchul wouldn’t be able to say.

Chapter Text

Establishing a guild was a lot of paperwork, and that started with the exam. Jinwoo didn’t had to sit on the exam because of his new rank but Jinho’s results arrived on a morning.

“I did it!” He was shouting in the apartment.

“Too much noise. Do shut up!” Jinah mumbled as she entered the living room.

“Congratulations, Jinho,” Jinwoo said from the kitchen.

Jinho was invited to stay with the Sung siblings after the reassessment. He also helped them move in their new one – Jinwoo insisted they left after his official reassessment. The man was getting closer with Jinah, sharing similar taste along with their admiration for Jinwoo’s shadows. Well, at least Tank. The bear was reduced to a plushy by the two younger one and he took the role with delight.

“Bro, I reached out to my cousin yesterday. She’s an E-rank but doesn’t want to go in dungeons. I am waiting for her to call back.”

“Okay. I have to go to the Association today. Do you want to come with me?”

“Will I meet that competent guy you talk about?”

Jinwoo got confused. Did he talk about someone? He doesn’t remember.

“Oh! That man! Jinwoo talked about him after some dungeon that went wrong,” Jinah smiled. “I think I’ve met him back in the hospital.”

Jinwoo blinked. What was she talking about? Was there someone he forgot? The only man that came to his mind was either the chairman or Chief Woo…

“Isn’t he one of the inspector of the surveillance team?” Jinho asked.

Ah, they seemed to talk about Woo Jinchul. But he couldn’t remember talking about him.

“I don’t know if he will be there, but I am meeting the chairman.”

“Oh, sure. Count me in!”

Jinwoo finished dressing Jinah’s lunchbox and they were on their way. With Jinho accompanying him, Jinwoo needed to take his car to go to the Association’s headquarters.

The Hunter’s Association’s headquarters were a complex of five buildings. Each division had his own and all were connected by an underpass. But that was a secret Jinwoo was not supposed to be privy of – only knowing about them because he was the last hope of Korea before.

“Huh? Bro, were are you going?” Jinho asked after they parked.

“I’ll be right back!” Jinwoo stated before make a quick trip to the bakery at the corner. He ordered four iced coffee and some pastries before coming back to his younger brother.

“What are they for?”

“It’s for our meeting,” Jinwoo said without detailing.

They entered the chairman’s office in less than ten minutes. Both men were greeted by the chairman and Chief Woo. Jinho was standing a step behind him as they exchanged polite greetings.

“Thank you for the coffees and food, Sung.” The chairman said.

They quickly delved in small chat and, as the conversation stretched, Jinho got comfortable. Jinwoo had to concede it to the older man, he knew how to lead a meeting.

“Sung, how is your guild faring? Do you have the required number of hunter to found it?”

“We are currently reaching to people, sir. We will be able to confirm it in a short period of time.”

“That is good to hear. If you ever are short on members, please say so. The Association would be delight to provide you with one or two agents.”

Jinwoo chuckled lightly as he saw through the chairman’s proposition. A side glance at Jinho proved that the young man was also aware of what the man was trying to do.

Spying on each other were common. The Association had people in most of the guilds and the guilds had people in the Association. It was mostly regarded as keeping each other in check, but it also served at humbling some S-ranks who think they can do whatever they wanted. Not that they couldn’t if they really wanted, but it was a dissuasive effect.

Just in time, Jinho’s phone rang. He took the call in another room after giving a pointed look at Jinwoo. His cousin reached out. The three who were left didn’t talk much about the guild before Jinho’s return. The smile he had on his face was all Jinwoo needed to know.

“It looks like we have our third guild member.”

“Congratulations,” the chairman chuckled. “That takes care of the first issue. The second I have is one we have already discuss, Sung.”

“My qualification to do high-ranked dungeons by myself, right?” Jinwoo guessed.

“You are sharp. I propose an evaluation based on one of your raid. Chief Woo would go with you inside an A-rank dungeon to report on whether you are able to complete them on your own.”

“I have no problem with that. When do you want it to be done?”

“There is a low A-rank dungeon that appeared not long ago. It is on the Hunter Guild jurisdiction but they already agreed to sell it to us.”

Jinwoo didn’t need the knowing smile of the Go Gunhee to understand which dungeon he was talking about. It was probably for the best. Now that he was an official S-rank hunter, Jinwoo couldn’t infiltrate a mining team to complete the troublesome dungeon of the high orcs. That dungeon would have been the end of the secondary team of the Hunter Guild and only Jinwoo’s presence saved them all from a certain death. The chairman didn’t forget about it.

“Thank you, chairman. If it is alright, we could do it before the official founding of my guild.”

“It would save us paperwork, so let’s do it in two days, if you are agreeable.”

Jinwoo eyed his vice-master who nodded.

“Then it’s set.”

“It is always a pleasure to speak to you, Sung. Maybe one day we could go get a drink together.”

“I will see to it, sir.” Jinwoo smiled.

“An agent will escort you out.”

They left the office and were met with an agent who guided them through the building until they reached the exit. Jinho was silent the entire time so Jinwoo didn’t press him.

But once they got to the car, the younger let out a cry of joy.

“This is going on so smoothly! Bro, you are a genius!”

Jinwoo laughed at the praise before opening the car door.

“No, you are. Winning over your cousin didn’t seem like a quiet affair.”

“Are you kidding me? She trashed my older brother on the phone and agreed immediately. If you’re okay, we can meet her in half an hour!”

“Sure, let’s do this in the guild’s building.”

“Okay! I’m driving!”

Jinho didn’t wait before snatching the keys. Jinwoo chuckled and sat down on the passenger seat. It was good to have the man with him.

Jinchul watched as Jinwoo and Jinho left the office. When they were down the corridor, his boss sat back at his desk.

“Chief Woo, please make preparation according to what we just talked about.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jinchul left the office to go down to his. He had paperwork to fill for him to be able to enter the dungeon with a hunter non-affiliated with the Association.

The new S-rank was as mysterious as one could be. The former E-rank was quiet when others would make noises only to be in the news.

And objectively, Jinchul thought it was going to happen. The man went from E-rank to S-rank. It was similar for a civilian to discover they were an A or S-rank. Jinchul was a hunter for long enough to remember all of them doing so. Even him, when words were out that he was an A-rank, he let power get the best of him. He was cocky, and that costed him by the end.

It was then that Go Gunhee reached to him and he finally entered the Association, nine years ago.

But Sung Jinwoo was not one of these who let power drive their life. The man was… not humble, but confident. Like he didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He was powerful, but he didn’t lost sight of what would be the best for the country.

Jinchul admired Jinwoo, he admired his patriotism, his sense of justice and, very importantly, his resolve to remain discreet.

And that’s probably why he was now disappointed.

Jinwoo appeared like no other and Jinchul clung to this difference that made Jinwoo human. So when Jinchul discovered that he was like any other S-rank, it was hard.

Well, the man was not really like the others, he didn’t show off. But he did what he wanted regardless of the consequences.

The last time he met hunter Sung, he let it known that he spied on Jinchul. That unsettled him, because he was accurate. The implication was that Jinwoo broke into his apartment to spy on him. And as an S-rank, he would never get told off.

Every moment he was in contact with Sung Jinwoo in the past made him shiver. How long had he spied on him? Was it since the first iced coffee he gave him? Also, how did he knew it was his favorite?

Jinchul traded his troubling thoughts for his paperwork, trying hard not to think about their next meeting.

Jinwoo remembered the meeting with Yoo Soohyun, Jinho’s cousin, to be similar to his first one. The woman was teasing her cousin a little while being ecstatic around him.

“I can totally see it! Korea’s tenth S-rank. This is going to be very good. Your face is quite handsome so you will attract people, you are so tall it’s unfair! Yes, once we have merch, we can sell it for a good price.”

“I’m sorry, merch?”

“Yes, merch,” the girl deadpanned. “You are a work of art, it would be criminal not to use it!”

“Sorry, bro. She can be a bit too much sometimes,” Jinho said from behind.

“Too much?! I will show you too much!” She screamed before writing in her notebook.

Jinwoo observed the pair as they whispered their conversation while glancing at him sometimes. Jinwoo didn’t want to broke their connection so he didn’t reveal that he could still hear them – even if some ideas the woman threw were unsettling.

“Bro, do you have an idea for the name?”

Jinwoo was tempted to go with what he suggested last time. But he had the feeling that his propositions would be shut down just like before.

“How about Ahjin?” He finally said.

“Ahjin? Is that your sister’s name backwards?” Jinho asked.

“Huh? I like it! And advertising on the name’s origins will attract more people…”

“Please don’t,” Jinwoo replied. “I want my family to have a peaceful life. Your idea would just draw reporters in.”

“Okay, boss. Anything you want to relay in the conference press we will hold?” She asked.

“The- what conference press?” Jinwoo was at loss. Did that happened last time?

“The conference press, boss,” she repeated in a slow voice. “We are a guild founded by an S-rank hunter. One who apparently doesn’t fit in the hunter system. People will be curious.”

“What do you mean, I don’t fit in the hunter system?”

“Bro,” Jinho intruded with a sigh. “You do know that the hunters’ basic registry is public, right?”

“Yes, and?”

“The Association released a new entry yesterday. You are already in the front lines of the newspapers. They can’t access your detailed info, but they know your name, rank and class. You’re registered as “unspecified”.”

“Ah, I didn’t know they would release that.” It made more sense now. The first time, he already met reporters in front of the building, even if he didn’t talk to them. But now, he is an unknown force with an unknown class that just joined the S-ranks. Of course it would attract attention.

“What does it even mean? You don’t fit in any class? Can’t they just make a new one?” Soohyun mused while scrolling on the social medias.

“They can’t make a new one for me, I’m too different from what a class is,” Jinwoo offered. “Please do not answer any question about that. I want to stay anonymous for now.”

“Does that mean that you won’t appear at the conference? It will give… not really a negative image, but it won’t be good,” she explained.

“I will, but we will need to align our declaration, right?”

“Okay. So, back to my first question: Do you have some things you want to relay in the conference press?”

“Probably that we are working close to the Association, we don’t need to say exactly why, they will find out on their own. And that I don’t want to get contacted directly. They either have to go through the Association or make an appointment.”

“Regardless on who they are?” Soohyun asked.

“Yes.”

“I can work with that! I will write a draft and you can tell me if you want to add anything. Also, we need to make these premises look like an actual office.”

She wasn’t wrong. Besides a table and four chairs, the room was empty, same for the entire building.

“I will make a trip to the bank and set a new account. Soohyun, if I give you the credit card, would you be able to handle it?”

“You will… what, seriously?! It’s my dream! Can I really make it like my dream guild?”

“You will have a limit to the expenses, but yes.”

“Thank you, boss! I will make it the best guild ever!”

“Bro, you did not just release the demon inside my cousin, did you?”

Jinwoo laughed at the antics. It was getting good.

Two days passed quickly. Jinah was at Song-Yi’s place for a school project so he could focus on the dungeon raid that was about to happen.

True to his words, the chairman secured the exact dungeon where he had to step in to save the Hunter’s secondary strike team. By his side, Jinho was checking over on the equipment.

Two cars came soon and Woo Jinchul exited the first one.

“Mr. Sung, Mr. Yoo,” he greeted them.

“Chief Woo,” they responded.

Jinwoo did buy the Chief a coffee and pastries, but left them in his inventory because it was not the time to give it to him. First, he would have to apologize for spying on him. Jinwoo didn’t really regret spying – the man was not taking care of himself – but he could at least admit that he had crossed a line.

“Let’s proceed,” Jinchul said.

“Hum, chief,” Jinho approached the man hesitantly.

“Yes?” Jinchul took off his jacket to reveal his armor. He rotated his wrist to adapt to the feeling of having an armor on.

“Will you be okay?”

Jinchul find it half-adorable and half-insulting to have a D-rank hunter asking this question. The man was also only wearing a helmet for an armor. And to make it even more bizarre, Sung Jinwoo had his regular clothes on. Just how did this team work?

“I may not look like it, but I am an A-rank hunter. I will be okay.”

“No, you misunderstood,” Jinho quickly denied. “I was talking about your mental health.”

“What?” Okay, that was nearing the insult.

“Well, it’s your first time in a dungeon with bro, so please stick to my side during the raid.”

Jinchul nodded, dumbfounded. What was that?

“Let’s go!” Jinwoo called.

The three of them entered the dungeon by walking. They were met with a cave-like corridor. Nothing was indicating that they had to fight, but they were in the dark.

“Are high-ranked dungeons supposed to not have mana lights?” Jinho asked.

“Depends on the dungeons. Let’s make light first.” Jinwoo invoked a floating light – thanks to the system shop – before continuing. “Let’s go down the cave. Please stay behind me at anytime.”

They proceeded silently, Jinwoo calmly walking, hands in his pockets, Jinho also serene as he followed and Jinchul unnerved by their nonchalance.

Soon, noises came from the dark alley. Wolves attacked them as soon as they were visible but they were no match for Jinwoo who killed them with his daggers.

“This is highly unusual,” Jinwoo muttered.

“Why?” Jinho asked.

“Wolves are C-rank monsters,” Jinchul explained. “They are not supposed to be able to survive here.”

“They are domesticated,” Jinwoo said. “Look.”

They approached to witness the collar on the wolves.

“Whatever monster are down there, they are intelligent enough to keep pets.”

Heavy footsteps echoed as Jinwoo stood up.

“Are they high orcs?!” Jinchul choked.

“Looks like it.”

The small crowd of orcs – no more than ten – were decimated in less than five seconds by Igris. The knight knelt down in front of Jinwoo after the massacre before getting back in the shadow.

“Jinho, let’s extract their essence stone!”

“Okay, bro!”

Shadow soldiers came out and the familiar routine Jinwoo knew played before his eyes. Jinho got along well with his shadows, they helped each others and, when finished, Jinwoo called them back.

Away from them, Jinchul was still trying to understand what just happened. Technically, he did understand what happened, he was just shocked at the speed the man neutralized the orcs.

“Chief Woo, are you okay?” Jinho asked.

Jinchul came back to reality with a small nod. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jinwoo looking at him with a flick of worry in his eyes. Jinchul dispelled the vision, he probably imagined the look.

They continued their journey to the boss when Jinwoo made them stop. Not far away, a dozen of high orcs were waiting.

Just how many are they? Jinchul thought.

“Humans,” the creature said in an incarnate voice. “My name is Kargalgan. Come meet me.”

“Sure, lead the way,” Jinwoo replied.

The orcs turned around and Jinwoo made a small gesture to signal his party to come closer.

“Bro, what the fuck was that? Did that monster just talk?”

“This is not a regular A-rank dungeon, Mr. Sung. We should get out.”

“We will not be able to go without a fight. And we need to clean the dungeon. Don’t worry, it will be alright.”

“If you say so,” Jinho breathed a sigh of relief.

Relief that Jinchul didn’t feel. Jinwoo was too careless in his eyes.

“Please rethink it.”

“Chief Woo, I can sense roughly how many orcs there are down there, along with the boss. I can manage them.”

They followed the orc up to a gigantic door. After opening it, the high orcs that guided them went to the side, letting the three hunters march to the boss alone.

Jinwoo was sensing the others’ restlessness so he coated them with shadows. They flinched but didn’t left his side.

The boss was as he remembered. Jinwoo was still finding Tusk to be more calmer than his alive counterpart.

“Welcome, humans,” the boss said from his throne.

“Let’s just fight now,” Jinwoo said, being bored.

“You are cocky, human, to think three of you could defeat my army…”

“Nah, I’m alone in this. But don’t worry, I’m enough to take you down. GET OUT.”

There was about five hundred orcs so he summoned the same amount of shadows. His elites were not all out, for the same reason than in the reassessment room. But this time, he summoned Baruka. The Ice Elf still hadn’t prove his worth so having him fight now was a means to know just how much he can be useful.

“Let’s go.”

Jinwoo didn’t waste time and charged the boss. He was not worry to separate from the others because Tusk would protect them – as well as fight the orcs.

“How!” The boss exclaimed. “You are a Monarch!”

Jinwoo didn’t listen to his ramblings, ending the generals life one after another.

Kargalgan did fight, but he was no match for Jinwoo who used a combination of [Mutilation] and [Ruler’s Authority] to finish the fight in five minutes.

He observed his shadows ending orcs after orcs, Baruka thriving in the violence. He let his shadows finish off the last orcs as he came back to the two hunters.

“Chief Woo,” he heard Jinho say. “I don’t really know how S-ranks fight, but does it seem always that easy to them?”

“No, Mr. Yoo, it is not. Mr. Sung is an anomaly.”

“Let’s extract as many essence stone as we could before the dungeon shuts down,” Jinwoo said.

“Okay! Please rest a bit, bro! Your shadows and I can do it!”

The man left to collect the stones, leaving Jinchul and Jinwoo alone in silence.

“Mr. Sung, you are even more powerful than what we are accustomed.”

Jinwoo didn’t reply immediately.

“I know I am more powerful than the other S-ranks. It’s not power that goes in my head, but I just know what I am capable of.”

“I take your word for it.”

“I… wanted to apologize, Chief Woo.”

“Why tho?” The man got confused.

“I crossed a line, last time. I’m sorry.” Jinwoo was referring to his allusion at spying. He then took the coffee and pastries from his inventory and gifted them to the man.

“How did you do it?” Jinchul’s tone was not accusatory but rather curious.

“I attached one of my summons in your shadow. I was thinking of using it as a faster way to communicate, but I ended up spying by sharing my vision with it.”

The mentioned shadowed perked his head from the ground where Jinchul’s shadow was before waving and going back.

“Okay, I can work with that. But please refrain to do so outside of regular office hours.”

“Sure, I will stick to that.”

Jinchul sipped from the coffee who stayed intact even after an hour before facing completely Jinwoo.

“How did you know that my favorite was iced coffee?”

Jinwoo blinked. “I didn’t know? It’s one of the most popular drink so I figured you would like it. The first time I brought you one, you didn’t use the pods of cream and sugar I added so I just didn’t take them the next time.”

Oh. Jinchul overthought the whole situation. He nearly blushed at the misunderstanding.

“Hey!” The voice of Jinho echoed through the large hall. “I found something!”

Jinwoo and Jinchul walked to the space Jinho was pointing.

“There’s another door here,” Jinwoo commented.

“Is it a double dungeon?” Jinchul asked.

“Probably. And that means it will be even more dangerous.”

“Every double dungeons need to be reported to the Association,” Jinchul recited. “We have to get out.”

“Chief Woo, not to be rude but… you know there’s no one more powerful than me, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Sung. But regardless, we need to get out now.”

Jinwoo totally agreed with Jinchul. He was the perfect example of not reporting back a double dungeon. I costed half the party their life. He was about to turn around and issue the order to exit when a powerful burst of mana emerged from the door.

Jinwoo would have choked on air if he didn’t caught himself. He knew that mana, and by extension he knew what was behind that door.

“Jinho, Chief Woo. You will leave the dungeon and contact the Association. I will enter it and clean it.”

“What? Bro, what are you talking about?”

“Is it related to the sudden mana burst?” Jinchul thought quickly.

“It is. I kinda recognize the mana behind that door. I know what I am going through. Please leave now.”

The two hunters were silent a moment before Jinchul looked into Jinwoo’s eyes.

“I’m coming with you. I am here to evaluate whether you can clean a dungeon by yourself, I won’t leave without you, Mr. Sung.”

Jinwoo cursed Jinchul’s stubbornness. And the man was at least as stubborn as him so he had zero chance to make him change his mind.

“Jinho, get out and contact the Association. Jima will escort you out.”

“Okay…” Jinho’s voice sounded confused.

He left with his shadow and when he was entirely out of the dungeon, Jinwoo faced the door again. From his inventory, he got the cape and the ring out.

“Please wear this, it will protect you from the fire,” Jinwoo said.

Jinchul looked like he wanted to question it but chose to stay silent.

“Let’s go.”

Jinwoo opened the door on a familiar view.

Chapter Text

When Jinchul woke up this morning, he didn’t imagine going through all these emotions. He was supposed to go to the office, do some work, then get to the dungeon he was supposed to supervise to approve of Sung Jinwoo raiding high-ranked dungeons alone.

He did not sign for the absolute confusion he got when dealing with an ARMY of high orcs – those same high orcs that would crush any other team without an S-rank hunter. Neither did he sign for a double dungeon and the stubborn S-rank hunter wanting to raid it alone.

But here he was, waiting by the S-rank side – whom he would rename “trouble magnet” in his folders as soon he he was out – for the vice-master to exit the dungeon.

When Jinwoo gave him the cape and the ring, Jinchul had so many questions but he didn’t voice them. He probably should’ve. Questions like: How do you know what awaits us? To whom belongs the mana burst you recognized? Why don’t you want to wait for a strike team? Could you please stop being evasive and tell me what is happening?

“Let’s go,” Jinwoo said while opening the door.

Jinchul was immediately submerged by the heat. It didn’t burn, but he felt it on his skin. Oh, that’s what Sung Jinwoo meant when he said “protect from the fire”. A glance at the hunter by his side made him realize that he didn’t have any protection to face this furnace.

They entered the second room who looked like a portal to another universe.

“How is that possible?” Jinchul whispered.

There was no cave behind the door. They were met by a destroyed city, buildings were everywhere, caught up in flames.

“Don’t leave my side,” Jinwoo ordered while yanking Jinchul back.

The man didn’t even register that he walked passed the stronger hunter, engrossed by the vision.

“There are monsters down there,” he explained, pointing straight down the path. “I don’t sense a boss stronger than the orc but he could be hiding. GET OUT.”

The shadows extended and a hundred summons came to life. Jinchul observed as the knight named Igris, the Ice Elf, the tank soldier and the one named Greed get in front of the others.

“Take a unit and scout the surroundings. If you face Demon Knights, come back.”

They dispersed as Jinwoo finished giving orders.

He then summoned the dragon.

“We will take Kaisel to scout from above. Come.”

Jinchul let himself be guided on the back of the dragon. It was frightening and fascinating to witness the monster bow to him so he could mount easily.

Jinwoo was gripping him by his sides and Jinchul was starting to wish he wouldn’t let go as the dragon take flight. A fall from that height would kill him, A-rank though he was.

Jinwoo was mentally cataloging every difference with the Demon Tower. If the layer seemed to resemble what he remembered the 80^th floor to be, it clearly didn’t have all the floors to climb until getting to the boss.

The flames were less present than what he remembered and the general place was smaller than the 80^th floor. He sensed familiar mana far away but he really was interested in the boss. Would it be Baran again, or would it be the demons of the 80^th floor? One was more challenging that the other but the major difficulty was protecting the chief from all of this.

Soon, Iron’s group came back to him while pointing energetically at a location ahead of them.

“Looks like we are already getting on the ground.” Jinwoo notified before making Kaisel go down.

They landed in a small place away from the flames.

“Sir Jinwoo!” Came an excited voice from ahead.

“Esil. I did sense you back then.”

The demon girl sprinted to Jinwoo with a smile. She did glance at Jinchul by his side but was quick to avert her eyes.

“I can’t believe you are already here! I was thinking you would wait for another hundred years before visiting us! Do you even know what is happening?”

“Wait, slow down, what are you talking about?”

“I was chilling in the castle when we were teleported here for no reason at all! It’s like the last time! We were finally back in the demon’s realm, just got back in this hellhole!”

Jinwoo was still trying to understand everything the demon was saying. She was talking fast while also making grand gestures. It was the same old Esil, just as tiring as ever.

And that was not supposed to be possible. After drinking the Cup of Reincarnation, Jinwoo didn’t get once in the Demon Tower. Did the Cup not apply for demons and other monsters race?

“Your human is looking at you strangely,” she pointed.

Jinwoo blinked before landing his eyes on a very confused Jinchul. The man was paling as he glances at the demon and him.

“Oh, right, we were talking in demonic language. Sorry,” he apologized in Korean.

“What’s happening? Mr. Sung, please explain to me.”

Jinwoo made Jinchul sit down on a piece of the destroyed building. Everything was too much for a human and he could understand the overflow. Taking his bottle of water from his inventory, Jinwoo gave it to him. The chief took it mechanically.

“Chief Woo, this is one of my most guarded secret. I trust you not to disclose it to anyone outside this dungeon. Well, the chairman is already aware of it, so no worries about him.” Jinwoo made sure Jinchul voiced his agreement before continuing. “I’ve met Esil, the demon girl behind me a while ago. I can’t tell you in which circumstances, but she helped me back then. She will help us again.”

“Why do you mean, help you again,” the girl said in a very human language, Korean even.

“Wait, you can speak Korean?”

“I’m speaking whatever language you are talking, Sir Jinwoo,” she replied. “Demons can mimic languages.”

“That’s useful. So, where is the boss of the dungeon?”

She sighed.

“Seriously, you don’t change. Always eager to go fight. Baran won’t let you go this time.”

“Wait, it’s Baran again? Didn’t I kill him last time?” Jinwoo asked, confused.

She eyed him like he was dumb.

“Beings like you and Baran don’t die, Sir Jinwoo, you merely implant consciousness in another vessel. Baran came back to life about one week ago.”

Jinchul choked at the declaration and Jinwoo hold a sigh. Out of all the things he was hiding, this was something he didn’t want to release.

“Did I say something wrong?” She had the gall to ask, puzzled.

“Esil, just answer the damned question.”

“He’s further away.” She then eyed Jinchul. “You were unconscious to let a human in this dungeon, Baran will kill him first.”

“Do I look like someone who would voluntary put someone in danger?” He deadpanned.

“No, you are not,” she conceded. “But you are putting us in a difficult position.”

“Why, because he is human?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t explain things further because they got attacked by lower demons who targeted Jinchul. Fortunately for him, Iron did take care of them with delight.

“That’s what I’m talking about. The Rulers manipulated us to attack all the humans,” Esil revealed.

“I knew they had a hand in dungeons, but the voice too?” Jinwoo was starting to have a headache. Memories were overlapping with his current life, making it hard to follow a conversation.

“It’s from the first war against Ashborn. They held us hostage, they still do because the war is not over yet. Every race was targeted. And then they took us to the dungeons that opened to your planet. I am restraining myself not to attack your human because I fancy life and you would kill me without hesitation if I ever try to hurt him.”

“Oh, so you do have instinct.”

Jinwoo focused once more on Jinchul’s well-being – and conversing with a demon was not part of this.

“Chief Woo, how are you feeling?”

“I’m… good? There’s too much information for me to be alright.” The man was panting.

“I can guess. I’m sorry that I dragged you in this.” And Jinwoo meant it. He should have insist on Jinchul exiting the dungeon with Jinho. Hell, he could have forced the man out with a summon.

“Please don’t, Mr. Sung. I was the one to insist on coming along. You clearly don’t need me here.”

“But I can’t let you go back now, the Boss could go after you if we split up.”

Jinwoo was stuck. Baran was not to underestimate. Last time, he had Esil to protect but the Demon Monarch didn’t pay attention to the girl, probably because she was a demon herself. Jinchul was different, he was human and he would stick out of the crowd. If Baran also remembered their last encounter, he would not hesitate to take the man hostage.

“This is going to be hard.”

“Sir Jinwoo, are you really fighting Baran again?”

“It’s the only way to shut down the dungeon. I won’t let him go on rampage on Earth.”

“Then allow me to help you again,” Esil decided.

Jinwoo smiled at her before finally standing up from his crouched position beside Chief Woo.

“Chief, are you able to walk?”

“I think it will be okay. I don’t understand what you are talking about with that demon, but the boss is a monster you already fought?”

“That’s right, and he is tougher than the one before.”

Jinwoo watched, surprised, as the chief let a laugh out.

“Mr. Sung, you are defying every power scale on Earth. You just defeated an A-rank boss and his whole army that even a strike team would have a hard time with. I can’t gauge how powerful this monster might be.”

Jinwoo couldn’t resist and laughed as well. Of course, it would seem so. He had so many close call back in his other life that it was natural for him to be cautious.

“Thank you, Jinchul, you just gave me the last push to give this demon the beating of his life.”

Jinwoo didn’t notice the use of the chief’s name but the other did a double-take at this.

They progressed in the city by foot, all the shadows back in hiding. Jinwoo didn’t think it would be of any help because Baran probably already knew they were here, but it was worth trying. Esil was walking by their side, on the opposite of Jinchul. No one talked as they reached what would have been a park.

Like last time, Baran made an appearance by standing above them, on a nearing building ruin. No wyvern this time, so Jinwoo won’t have to bother making him crash on the ground.

“Ashborn’s successor,” the Demon Monarch growled. “You have come to-”

Jinwoo didn’t let him finish and rushed at him, daggers drawn. Baran was agile and evaded all the attacks. Like last time, he invoked lightning to first divert Jinwoo’s attention before throwing punches.

One punch was vicious and caught Jinwoo off-guard. He was sent flying away, colliding with another building. Jinwoo was up shortly after, cleaning the blood covering his eyes with the back of his hand.

“You will die today!” He screamed.

Jinwoo didn’t took the bait and summoned all his shadows. All that were available.

Tens of thousand shadows rushed to the battle with the idea of overwhelming the demon. But Baran was a Monarch, a twice defeated Monarch, but a Monarch nonetheless. Jinwoo saw hundreds of his shadows disintegrating by one strike.

“Igris!” Jinwoo called.

Having Igris fight alongside him was both nostalgic and strategic. Igris was not the strongest – even if he was close to Bellion’s strength – but he was the one Jinwoo fought with the best.

Both were coordinating their attacks without consulting. Jinwoo didn’t even have to say or think at what he wanted Igris to do, they knew each other well enough to bypass this.

Baran was faring well against the two of them, but he tired the more he had to defend himself from these multi-directional attacks. The Demon took a hit close to his heart that made him scream.

It was intense, Jinwoo had never heard a sound this frightening. It was a mix of a distorted war cry and a whine.

“Demons! Respond to me and defeat him!” The monarch said.

Jinwoo had soon his elite shadows taking out swarms of demons without killing them. Fatalities were inevitable, but he wanted to keep the killing at minimum.

“Sir Jinwoo!” Esil’s scream echoed in the park.

The hunter turned his head to see her body trembling, as if resisting something. It was the order Baran just made. Esil was a demon and had no choice obeying her leader. She did do a remarkable work holding back enough and calling to him. By her side, Jinchul was in defense position, ready to strike any menace that came near him.

“Chief, can you knock her out?!”

The man didn’t do anything to prove he had heard him so Jinwoo prepared to intervene as he parried one of Baran’s lightning attack.

But he didn’t have to, Jinchul took down Esil without killing her.

“I can defend myself! Please kill the boss,” he screamed back.

Jinwoo smiled and turned his whole attention to Baran again. But the Monarch ceased his attacks to watch the A-rank.

“A human? Ashborn’s successor, you took a human here?”

The smirk the demon displayed sent a cold shiver through Jinwoo.

“Watch out!” He shouted as the lightning targeted the blond man.

Jinwoo took the attack a few feet away from Jinchul.

“Jinwoo!” The man yelled.

“I’m fine! Get away! Igris will protect you!”

His second strongest soldier left the melee where demons and shadows were fighting – and the shadows were winning – and saluted Jinwoo before tailing the A-rank fighter. Jinwoo had soon Tusk create a wall to really separate Baran from Jinchul.

“Ha, you care about your human, Ashborn’s successor. Don’t worry, I will take care of him after you die.”

Jinwoo was not listening further. His anger at the Demon Monarch targeting Jinchul made him forgot any restriction he unconsciously had. His shadows crept around him, licking his members like an Eldritch monster coming to life.

Soon, the shadows settled on his body like an armor. This sight made Baran laugh.

“A true Monarch, Ashborn’s successor.”

It was his last words. Not that the fight quickly ended after this, but Jinwoo didn’t allow Baran a second of respite between the attacks. Jinwoo didn’t know for how long they fought, but at the end, both were out of breath. The only difference was that Jinwoo was standing while his opponent was kneeling.

The sight was familiar to Jinwoo, he experienced it twice already – even though the first one was a memory.

“You can kill me all you want, Ashborn’s successor. But I will always come back. You will never be able to live in pea-”

Baran’s head was cut off by a clean swipe from Jinwoo. And just like that, the fight ended.

Jinwoo sat down, unable to stay up after this. He was facing Baran’s lifeless body without moving, indifferent to his shadows’ fussing.

“Sir Jinwoo!” An exclamation came from behind.

Jinwoo didn’t know for how long he was sitting there, whether it was minutes or hours. He turned his head to face Esil running to him, Jinchul close behind.

“How are you? Are you hurt? You are hurt! Is there anything I can do to help you heal?” She was panicking, waving her arms everywhere and nearly hitting Jinchul in the process.

Jinwoo sighed and bought a healing potion from his store before downing the liquid, healing successfully.

“Mr. Sung, there are so many inexplicable events happening around you that I can’t figure out how to address them.”

Jinwoo met the chief’s eyes. “I promise you I will explain. But when we are out of the dungeon, and when we have more time.”

“Okay,” Jinchul nodded. “We should get out of here.”

“Please do so quickly, I want to return in the demon realm soon,” Esil intruded.

Jinwoo chuckled and stood up, shooting a last look at the dead Monarch.

Something was not adding up.

“What the fuck.” Jinwoo was not one to cuss, but this was beyond everything he ever experienced.

In front of him, right before the Monarch’s body, a system window was open.

[Extraction possible] it said. And Jinwoo wanted to either bang his head on a hard surface or laugh.

Monarchs were not supposed to be feeding his army of shadows. He was not supposed to be able to extract anything from them. But there stood the system window, taunting him.

He faced Baran’s body, moving automatically and then uttered the words that would haunt any monster.

“ARISE.”

Shadows were dancing around Baran’s body, frightening Esil. Jinwoo was quick to notice that it was not a common extraction. There was no shadow to extract from the Monarch, but a small ball of red mana was now floating above the body, at Jinwoo’s eye level.

“What is that?” He mumbled to himself.

“It’s… how?” Esil stammered, eyes wide open.

“You know what that is?”

“It’s… no, it can’t… it’s not supposed to happen! It can’t be it!”

“Esil!” Jinwoo was loosing patience.

“It’s Baran’s demon heart. It’s the source of his power, the essence of the Monarch.”

Jinwoo mentally assimilated it to his black heart.

“If I consume this, what would happen?”

“I don’t know. It is an unprecedented situation.”

“But theoretically?”

“You could gain the Demon Monarch’s powers. You could become the Demon Monarch.”

Jinwoo stayed silent – more like flabbergasted. This tiny ball of mana could give him another Monarch’s powers. How would that be possible? Was this a byproduct of the system? An anomaly because he turned back time? Or was this supposed to happen in the first timeline, only not happening because he was not strong enough? It was so confusing that Jinwoo didn’t think before bringing his hand closer to the red mana. The mana danced around his fingers, as if wanting to cover the hand.

The mana then got absorbed by his skin and Jinwoo sensed more than anything else the mana moving inside his body, exploring every part of it before settling near his black heart. His own mana heart was sensing the foreign force in his body before accepting it and going dormant.

“Sir Jinwoo, what did you do?” Esil was whispering, not quite believing what just happened.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“You… Sir Jinwoo, you are the new Demon Monarch.”

And then, to his great astonishment, she bowed graciously.

“Do you mean I got his powers?”

“It’s more than that, you are now ruling over the demon realm.”

Great, more work to do, Jinwoo internally pulled a face. There went his uneventful second life. Well, this dream got crushed days ago but he was still hoping for a peaceful life.

“I’m sorry, did you just become more powerful?” Jinchul chocked.

Jinwoo startled at the voice, having forgotten the member of the Hunter’s Association. The chief was standing not far away, a strangely knowing look in his eyes.

“That’s why the device didn’t register you as an S-rank back then. You were not strong from the beginning…” Chief Woo muttered more under his breath but Jinwoo couldn’t hear him.

The now twice-crown Monarch was not surprised the man reached this conclusion. Jinchul was a very intelligent and clever man, he did rose through the ranks of the Association in a short period of time.

“I won’t say a thing, I understand than it is a very unique condition.”

“Thank you, Jinchul.”

This time, Jinwoo used his name with intent, making the man jump back a little.

“Let’s go. The dungeon will collapse soon. Esil, I will come by when I have the time.”

“Okay! See you around, Sir Jinwoo!” Esil beamed.

Jinwoo summoned Kaisel so they could both get out faster. The wyvern roared before racing through the dungeon, exiting the long dungeon in two minutes. Outside, they met Jinho who didn’t react the slightest at the imposing shadow.

“Bro! Chief Woo!”

Jinwoo was quickly surrounded by his younger brother, checking on any injury he could sustain. Jinchul, when landing of the back of the shadow, went to the Association team that was standing in the back.

“Chief Woo, are you okay?”

“I am, don’t worry. We have to go, I need to make a report on what happened.”

“Is… is Mr. Sung able to complete a dungeon by himself?”

Jinwoo and Jinchul both jumped at the question. After what they went through, they completely forgot the reason Jinchul was there first.

“You will wait for my report to the chairman. Let’s depart.”

“At you command!”

The team busied themselves while Jinchul turned back to Jinwoo.

“Please come by the Association in two days, Mr. Sung.”

“I will.”

And just like that, Jinchul left, head full of information he could not reveal to the public. Sung Jinwoo truly is a trouble magnet.

Chapter Text

Figuring out his new demonic powers was not easy. The first time Jinwoo tried to use his power – in a remote place, far away from the population – he obliterated a bunch of trees with lightning. Fortunately, there was no overhead power lines nearby. And after finally registering that it was not the only power he gained, he looked in awe as a demon just popped up from his shadows.

The demons were working like his shadows, at the difference that he couldn’t use mana to revive them when they died – but in theory, he could revive them as shadows. From what he gathered from them, they were summoned straight from the demon realm, ready to fight. Like Baran demonstrated, he could control them and bend them to his will – a power he would likely use to make them not attack humans.

“Master, forgive me if I’m overstepping, but why wouldn’t you let us kill humans?” A demon asked.

From what Jinwoo knew, the demons were ruled by nobility, each clan having its manpower and its rules. Clans were not always on friendly term, some even in open conflict for land or wealth.

The demon who asked the question was not from nobility. He did belong to a clan, but he was an average soldier.

“Because I am human.” Jinwoo was not lying, just toying with the lines between truth and lies. Being a Monarch meant he was not human anymore, but at his core, Jinwoo still was.

“Then,” the demon hesitated, “would you be able to override the voice that asks us to kill them?”

Jinwoo blinked, not having thought about this. From what he knew, the Rulers implanted a fragment of crystal in their head to force them to fight humans. It was not a fragment of light but an unknown material that worked like brainwashing.

“I can try, but I don’t know if you will come out of this alive.”

“I am an average soldier, I don’t have a name, wealth or family. Please experiment on me if it can help the demon race,” he pleaded.

Jinwoo was not conflicted when he took the decision to follow on the demon’s request. Jinwoo did all of this to save humanity, it was what made him turn back time. He did not really care for the other realms.

Without fear of failure, Jinwoo scanned the body of the demon with his mana. He located the crystal inside the brain.

“I will try to remove it,” Jinwoo warned before having his mana wrap around the crystal.

Now that it was done, Jinwoo was at loss for what to do. Should he extract the crystal physically or drain the Rulers’ mana from the crystal? Common sense would suggest that he drains the mana before trying to remove it physically.

Jinwoo did so, he drained the crystal from his mana. The bright mana merged with his own and just like that, all traces were gone. Only the crystal stayed in the head.

The demon was down on his knees, gritting his teeth to not let any sound pass. After Jinwoo withdrew, he seemed to be able to breathe normally again.

“So? Did it work?” Jinwoo asked lazily.

“It did!” The demon rejoiced. “I can’t hear the voice anymore! Master, you removed any trace of the Rulers crystal!”

“The crystal is still in you, but it’s not active anymore,” Jinwoo said, flustered by the demon’s renewed enthusiasm.

“Master, I will serve you until the day I die, please let me serve you along with you shadows!”

Jinwoo blinked. “Do you mean… you want to live in my shadows?”

“My liege, if I can speak up,” Beru said from bellow. “The shadow realm is large enough to welcome any soldiers you add to your army. But I fear it is not suitable for non-shadow to live fully there.”

The what realm now? It was the first time Jinwoo heard of a shadow realm. Did his shadow really live in a realm? Well, he had guessed Ashborn’s previous army lived somewhere, but he had not suspected an entire realm!

“Your Majesty, we could create a portal to connect both the shadow realm and the demon realm. It could be open at every time for each of us to change realm.” Bellion’s idea had merits and Jinwoo was quick to approve of this and charged Bellion and Ruth – the demon knight he just named – to create the portal.

Jinchul was pacing in his office. There was half a day since the chairman got his report from Hunter Sung’s solo raid in the A-rank dungeon. Jinchul reported everything that happened until the discovery of the double dungeon. Well, he did report the double dungeon because it was his duty, but he wrote nearly nothing on how the man was able to kill the second boss. The reports were semi-public, accessible to anyone who was high-ranked enough in the Association – too many people for Jinchul to report every detail when Jinwoo asked him not to.

“Chief Woo,” someone said from the door, “the chairman wishes to see you.”

“I’m heading there immediately.”

Jinchul was stressed, it was the first time ever he lied in his report. Well, lying was a strong term for omission but it was the same. Surely the chairman already knew of this and wanted to question him on this irregularity.

He arrived way too quickly in front of the boss’ office for Jinchul to feel comfortable. For once, he was dreading to face the man. Lifting his hand, Jinchul knocked softly on the door.

“Come in.”

The A-rank took a deep breath before opening the door.

“You wished to see me, sir?”

The man stayed silent as Jinchul closed the door. He only gestured for Jinchul to sit in front of him. That was the first sign that told Jinchul everything was off, wrong.

Usually, Jinchul stood by the chairman’s side as they talked about reports, he never sat down in this office. For the man to invite him to do so, the chairman had to consider him not an asset anymore.

“You are not in trouble, Chief Woo,” the chairman chuckled after seeing the uneasiness on Jinchul’s face. “The topic we will be discussing is long and tedious, I would rather you sit down for this.”

The man nodded and took place on the chair, facing the chairman like he never had since his recruitment.

“Your report is full of holes,” the chairman started. “I don’t blame you for this because I can feel that what you left out of it should not be displayed anywhere.”

Jinchul agreed, even though his heart was racing at the eventual prospect of him getting fired for what he did.

“Could you report to me what happened in the double dungeon? There are no spy, no witnesses, no one to eavesdrop now.”

Jinchul glanced at his shadow without thinking, the soldier hiding there undetectable. Jinchul was hesitating. Would he rather anger his boss or the strongest hunter of Korea and probably the world?

Wait, didn’t Jinwoo said the chairman knows of this? he thought. Would that count as revealing the secret if the man he tells was already aware?

Jinchul took a breath before starting to report everything he left out. He talked about the demon girl, her connection with Jinwoo, her ability to mimic human languages. He talked about Jinwoo’s apparently previous fight with the same boss, not throwing in his own theories but just relating the facts, what he heard. He talked about the Monarchs, what he grasped from their conversation, about the Demon Monarch, his fight with Jinwoo, and Jinwoo’s army which exceeded by far the number he revealed at the reassessment. Finally, Jinchul told his boss of the red mana Jinwoo absorbed, making him apparently the Demon Monarch, growing in power.

By the end, the chairman’s face was drained from its colors, leaving him sweating.

“I’m glad you didn’t report it on the paper. I think Sung said it but I will repeat it. Do not disclose this to anyone.”

Jinchul nodded.

“If I may ask, were you aware of the ability of Jinwoo to become more powerful after each fight?”

“I am aware,” the chairman sighed. “I am aware of the Monarchs and the Rulers too.”

“The Rulers?” Jinchul repeated, lost.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you about them yet. Then please forget it for now, it is not my secret to share.”

“Do you really think he will disclose any secret to me, sir?” Jinchul had a hard time wrapping his head around the declaration.

“Oh, he will. If he didn’t want you to know, you would know nothing,” Go Gunhee laughed. “Now, please stop thinking about getting fired, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. I even think of raising your salary for all your work.”

Jinchul couldn’t say anything after this, leaving the office with a strange feeling of liberation.

Jinwoo was standing in front a familiar door, one he didn’t want to see.

The timing was off, it would be better for him to wait before doing what he was about to do. It was early in the morning, the sun was not even fully up. And he had a meeting in the late afternoon with the chairman of the Hunter’s Association. Really, he should come back another time.

But Jinwoo could not delay this, not after hearing his sister crying this night without him being able to console her. It was something he didn’t want to relive.

Jinwoo took a deep breath and opened the door of his mother’s hospital room.

Jinah was in a daze. She was still thinking her dream was not over, despite getting pinched multiple times by her brute of a brother.

In front of her, in that damn hospital room she visited every day, stood her mom.

She was standing, eyes open, and Jinah needed several seconds to understand.

Her mother woke up. She woke up from the Eternal Slumber disease.

It was not supposed to happen, the doctors said there was no way she would open her eyes again.

But here she was, defying every prognostic.

“Jinah, you grew up just fine,” her mom said.

“MOM!” Jinah hardly believed she let that scream out before hugging the woman.

In the corner, Jinwoo smiled, joining the hug when his mother made a gesture to invite him in.

They left the hospital with the doctors blessing. They also had a hard time believing she was awake, and even more that she was well enough to walk on her own.

“I feel like coming back to life,” Park Kyung-Hye said.

“That’s because you are, mom,” Jinah laughed. “I can’t wait to show you our new apartment!”

Changing apartment was Jinwoo’s idea. The money he made from selling the items of the system shop was enough to buy an apartment in the more secured district of Seoul. Jinwoo insisted on leaving their old apartment because the neighborhood was more and more violent. Jinwoo regulated it with his soldiers but he preferred his family far from this climate of insecurity.

Jinah loved the new apartment, it was closer to her school, closer to Jinwoo’s new guild, and near the center of Seoul. Not to mention the fact that the apartment was double the size of the previous one. She had more space for herself and Tank could come full height in the living room!

Her mother was out of phase at the idea of moving from her old apartment. Well, four years passed since she fell asleep and having changed location right before her awakening was disturbing when Jinah thought like her.

It turned out their mother loved the new flat. She was still trying to figure out where she fit but so did Jinah so it didn’t shock her.

Everything would be fine.

Everything was not fine.

Jinwoo was watching his mother and sister interact in their new living room. Jinwoo was dreading the moment he had to announce that he was a hunter. He won’t lie to his mother, not this time.

“This is a great apartment,” she said. “But, can we really afford such luxury? Please don’t spend money unnecessarily on us.”

And there it goes. Jinah stilled on the couch, glancing at him with unease. Jinwoo reassured her with a smile.

“I am able to support us for a time, don’t worry. My work is paying well.”

“Oh? Did you change job? It’s great, what are you doing now?” Park Kyung-Hye was beaming at him, genuinely happy for him.

And Jinwoo was going to crush her expectation in a single phrase.

“I’m a high-ranked hunter, mom.”

She froze on the spot. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pressed in a thin line.

“Quit it,” she ordered.

“Mom, I won’t quit.”

“And what? You are going to leave us like you dad?”

That hurt. He had to live it the first time, he thought he was prepared for the second time. But here he was, hurt by words he knew were coming.

“Mom, I am powerful, I have responsibilities and I will see that I uphold them.”

“Your father was the same, I can’t fault you for that,” she sighed, still angry. “But the three of us know how it ended. I lost my husband, I don’t want to lose my son.”

She left the living room to her own room. When she left, Jinwoo sighed.

“Jinwoo, are you okay?” His sister’s question took him by surprise.

“Don’t worry, I knew we would have an argument. I won’t quit being a hunter, you know it.”

“Yes, but I can understand mom’s point of view. She just woke up from a four-year coma. The world has changed while she was in the hospital. She is stuck at the beginning of the gates, when it was more dangerous.”

“Jinah, dungeons are still just as dangerous. But we can prepare better as we know more about it. I think I will leave for a bit, let mom settle at home. I also have an appointment this afternoon.”

“Can you bring fried chicken for dinner?”

“Sure, devil incarnate.”

“Hey! Take that back, I’m a personified angel!”

Jinwoo snorted. He quickly kissed his sister’s forehead before heading out.

As the fresh wind blew on his face, Jinwoo took a deep breath. It didn’t go well. He wanted to reveal to his mother that he was a hunter so she could acclimate. Last time, she faced the reality on live without a warning. It was a utopia to think she would react differently.

Jinwoo left the neighborhood and stroll around the center of Seoul, deeply in his thought.

He flinched when a hand grabbed his forearm and only his reflexes stopped him from attacking the man who just did it.

“Mr. Sung, are you alright?”

Woo Jinchul was in front of him, frowning.

“Chief Woo, is there something you wanted to talk about?”

“I called you from behind for two minute straight. You were unresponsive.” It worried me, Jinwoo heard.

“I’m alright. Well, not really right now but everything will be alright soon.” Jinwoo reassured the man with a smile. “Are you fine, thought?”

“Me? Why wouldn’t I?” The man raised an eyebrow.

“Yesterday, we didn’t really talk about what we went through. It could have been traumatic…”

Light sparked in the hazel eyes of Jinchul.

“No, I am okay. Thank you for asking. However, I have a rather long list of things I want to ask you, Mr. Sung.”

“Okay, do you want to ask me now? It will be long to explain it all. It’s already midday. Have you already eaten? Then it’s my treat,” Jinwoo continued as the man denied having had lunch.

They walked to a small restaurant Jinwoo already knew from Jinho. They were seated in a remote area per Jinwoo’s request and ordered dishes without talking to each other.

The silence was stifling at first, neither wanting to make the first move.

“Are you truly okay after everything?” Jinwoo started as the dishes were served.

Jinchul sighed and took off his glasses. He looked at Jinwoo in the eyes.

“It has been difficult, I won’t lie. But it’s manageable.”

Jinwoo nodded. It was more like it. No one would be okay after facing a Monarch.

“Do you want to ask the questions or you would rather have me explaining from scratches?” Jinwoo finally get to the heart of the matter.

Jinchul didn’t answer immediately, taking a sip of water.

“Would you really explain everything to me?”

“I will.”

“Why? I am a mere agent of the Association. If you ask, I won’t even pry in your business. So why would you go to such length as to explain it to me?”

Jinwoo blinked, confused. He tilted his head to the side, considering the question.

“If I was in your shoes, I would want to know everything about what happened. And you are a fabulous agent and a true asset for the country. Many probably don’t know of your name, but you are one of the people who is maintaining this country afloat.”

Jinwoo was probably imagining things, but the face of his interlocutor was deformed by surprise. But as Jinwoo blinked again, he was faced with the neutral face of Jinchul.

They were half-way through their lunch when Jinchul spoke.

“Would you please explain to me everything? I will probably ask as you progress in your explanation.”

“Okay. I have a question first for you: do you believe in any god at all?”

Jinchul was taken aback by the question but replied nonetheless.

“I don’t necessarily believe in any god. But hunters, mana and dungeons exist when ten years ago we would have dismissed the thought. I don’t believe in them, but it won’t surprise me if we discover there are some in the universe.”

Jinwoo chuckled. “There was one being known as the Absolute Being, a god of creation. He was bored by himself so he created two factions, Monarchs and Rulers, and watched them as they fought each other. Rulers are the embodiment of light and truth while the Monarchs rule over chaos. Realizing that the fight was only for the Absolute Being’s entertainment, the Rulers rebelled against the god to stop the endless war.”

Jinchul was nodding along, trying to make sense of all. Jinwoo drank from his glass before continuing.

“There was one Ruler who was fiercely loyal to the Being, he went by the name Ashborn. He was the strongest Ruler among them, the favorite of the Being. When the Rulers rebelled, Asborn didn't take their side. So they betrayed Ashborn and tried to kill him too. But Ashborn was born with both a fragment of light – symbol of the Rulers – and a black heart – the source of power of the Monarchs. He embraced his chaotic nature and became the Shadow Monarch, allowing him to control shadows like soldiers.”

Jinwoo paused his tale and let Jinchul understand how deep he was connected to the characters of his story. The man didn’t say a thing, only motioning for the younger to continue. Jinwoo smiled.

“But Ashborn was not accepted by the other Monarchs. He was powerful, but he was also a former Ruler. So they first fought him. But they accepted him after a few centuries, recognizing him as part of the chaos they embodied. Two of them were very close to Ashborn, friends even.”

Jinwoo grimaced as the memory played in his mind.

“Let me guess, it was only a facade?” Jinchul whispered, almost fearful of his words.

“That’s right. Ashborn got betrayed once again. This time, he had an army and he fought the Monarchs, even killing the Demon Monarch in the war. After this, the Rulers descended in front of Ashborn to apologize for everything. Ashborn was losing his will to live – for lack of better words. Monarchs can’t die, their memories and core are transferred to a new vessel when time comes. He faded away after the war and accepting the apology, for millions of years. I think you can guess what happened next.”

“You are the new vessel of this Monarch,” Jinchul said with finality. “If I can theorize, I think you became aware when the incident of the double dungeon occurred, nearly three months ago. You grew in your powers since then.”

“Good guess, but not entirely accurate. I was able to… level up… after the double dungeon. It was a slow process, but I can say that I was low S-rank by the time I entered the red gate with the White Tiger Guild.”

Jinchul chocked on the sip of water he was taking.

“But if what you say is true, how did you pin Hwang Dongsoo to the ground? Are your shadows stronger than you?”

“I am stronger than my shadows, even the one who protected you in our last dungeon,” Jinwoo revealed.

“I don’t quite follow you on this… But what if…”

Jinchul, who had his head low because he was thinking, jerked his head up to look at the man.

“I have a theory. I seemed so crazy that I dismissed it, but it could explain so many things about you.”

“A theory?” Jinwoo asked, curious.

“I came up with it while talking with Esil as you fought the Demon Monarch. She said it was confusing that she already witnessed the death of her previous Monarch. But she is not old enough to have witnessed the war, as you described it. And it was you who defeated the Demon Monarch a second time, not Ashborn.”

Jinwoo was impressed by the deep thoughts the chief gave to this theory in this small amount of time.

“You would have been a fabulous detective, Chief Woo. You have a knack for finding holes in stories. So, what theory did you come up with?” Jinwoo asked with both elbows on the table, plate forgotten.

Jinchul hesitated under the pinning eyes, fidgeting while looking around. He finally got closer, hovering over the table, right before Jinwoo’s face.

“You’re from the future," Jincuhl whispered.

Jinwoo only smiled, pleased. He nodded formally before leaning back.

“I come from nine-to-ten months from today,” Jinwoo offered to the man.

Eyes lit up with satisfaction as Jinwoo confirmed Jinchul’s theory. But soon, the light dimmed.

“It must have gone so wrong in the future for you to be here.”

“Do you want to know? It didn’t happen yet so it will be irrelevant. I want to change the future.”

Jinwoo was weighting every words. Having someone – other than the chairman – knowing so much would do him good. But he won’t say a thing if the man was not ready to hear it. It could destroy lives.

“I won’t back down,” the chief retorted. “I want to know just how much of a trouble magnet you will be.”

Jinwoo was surprised by the last heated sentence. And from the look on the person in front of him, it was not something he said consciously. Jinwoo didn’t let the man get embarrassed or mortified by his speech. He threw his head back and let a booming laugh out. Some customers turned to him in confusion but he didn’t pay them attention. When his laugh was under control, he faced Jinchul.

“I’d rather you call me Jinwoo, but that works too. Am I saved in your contacts by this name?”

Jinwoo admired with pleasure the blush creeping on Woo Jinchul’s cheeks.

“Then please call me Jinchul.”

“I will. To answer you, yes it did go wrong. I will ask again, are you sure you want to know?”

Jinchul’s face became once more blank. He nodded and finished his glass of water.

“In six months, the Monarchs would make a move on Earth. It started by taking out the National level hunters one after another because they were hosting a fragment of light of the Rulers. It’s what gives some people their power, and more than once it’s an S-rank hunter who has it. I did kill most of the Monarchs in two months but at the end, it was an all-out war against the Monarch of Destruction, the strongest Monarch who controls dragons like Kamish.”

Mentioning the calamity monster that destroyed half of America until the five current National levels defeated them – earning themselves the highest title ever – made Jinchul shiver. If dragons were only part of an army, who knew how destructive this Monarch could be?

“You probably already guessed it. We won the war, but we lost too many people in it. Civilians, hunters… Earth was devastated.”

Hearing confirmation didn’t reassure Jinchul who played with his glass, for lack of liquid to down.

“The Rulers descended on Earth to talk to me, apologizing for taking the war to Earth,” Jinwoo snorted with derision. “They offered me a favor, and I chose to turn back time ten years, before the dungeons appear. Then I would kill the Monarchs so there would be no need for gates to open on Earth. It was a great deal, I promised Thomas to save humanity.”

“Thomas? As in Thomas Andre?” Jinchul choked.

“Yes, he was a friend. Well, I did beat him black and blue on our first meeting. But we didn’t hate each other, we were protecting our guilds.”

“You… beat Thomas Andre… I think I will need something stronger…”

Jinwoo ordered alcohol and poured the man a glass. It was empty in less than a second.

“Shit, I’m not a drinker, I will not be able to work.”

Jinchul didn’t register the swear, but Jinwoo did and smirked.

“I have sobering remedies in my pocket, don’t worry about it.”

He got a glare from Jinchul. “That defeats the point of being drunk, Jinwoo.”

“Sure,” Jinwoo chortled. “But I think you will thank me when you need to return in you office.”

“So can I drink to forget you just said that you were the strongest hunter and then be fresh to work in an hour? Where do I sign?”

Having a drunk Jinchul was entertaining. Well, he was not drunk, but alcohol loosened his tongue. It was different from the always-proper, by-the-book inspector. It was a welcoming change, in Jinwoo’s mind.

“What happens after? Did the… time travel not work like intended?”

Jinwoo sighed. “No, it did not. The original means to travel back in time was legit, but the Rulers poisoned me. I still don’t know why it happened, but Ashborn’s will manifested. He dismantled the poison and as a result, lost the strength to take me back far enough. I got back the moment the gate turned red two weeks ago.”

Jinwoo finished his story by pouring himself and Jinchul a glass of soju. The glasses were soon empty.

“Does the chairman know?” Jinchul asked.

“He does, I made him remember during our first meeting.”

“Was that the time I thought you attacked him?”

“It was,” Jinwoo chuckled.

Jinchul stayed silent, eyes on the table. Jinwoo looked at him expectantly. It was the time either the man starts getting mad or he accepts everything. Jinwoo was leaning toward the latter.

“So, if I summarize. You are a Monarch who’s trying to keep the other Monarchs and the Rulers at bay, right?”

“You can say that. It’s more complicated for the Rulers, but I need to see them myself to understand.”

“Last question, what about the voice who tells the monsters to kill humans?”

Jinwoo jumped a little. “You remember that?”

“I nearly died because of that voice, so yes.”

“The voice was implanted by the Rulers over the years. They are abducting monsters and placing them in dungeons. The voice is the result of a crystal implantation that works like brainwashing.”

“I… won’t ask how you know so much, but okay. Do you think you can make me remember?” Jinchul asked suddenly.

Jinwoo blinked. It was not what he was expecting.

“Do you really want to?”

“Yes,” the resolved tone in Jinchul’s voice surprised him.

“Okay, but I can’t guarantee that it will work like the chairman.”

Jinwoo lifted his hand and flickered the forehead of Jinchul. A wave of mana entered the man’s body like it did with the chairman. Jinchul clenched his fists and pressed his lips together to avoid making sounds. But Jinwoo instantly knew the result.

“It didn’t work,” the Monarch frowned.

Jinchul looked away for a moment. Then he took his glass and finished the alcohol.

“Okay, I’ll just accept this as it is. And for the record, you are still on top of my trouble magnet list.”

Jinwoo laughed. “Okay, I will live to the expectation.”

“That was not what I was implying, Jinwoo!”

Jinwoo evaded the mock punch of the chief before offering him the sobering potion. The difference between Jinchul’s character when drunk and not was as clear as night and day. The man put his glasses on in embarrassment.

“Let’s go, I’ll walk you to the Hunter’s Association’s buildings.”

“Oh, I think I exceeded my break time. I need to go fast.”

“You can say that I kidnapped you. Do you want to get there the faster way?”

“At this point, yes please.”

Jinwoo payed quickly for the meal before leading Jinchul to a shadowed part of the streets.

“Please don’t break contact,” Jinwoo warned before facing the man, resting his hand on Jinchul’s back. Not knowing what would happen, the chief gripped the younger hunter’s shirt. Jinchul studied the shadows creeping at their legs but didn’t move. In the blink of an eye, they were fully covered by them, and then they faced an empty corridor.

“Are we in the building?” Jinchul asked while the shadows retracted.

“Yes, surveillance team building, second floor. I will leave you here.”

“Thank you for the… ride?”

“Whenever. We will see each other later for my guild appointment.”

“See you later.”

And Jinwoo opened the window to jump away.

Jinah was pacing in the living room. Jinwoo left an hour ago and her mother was still in her room. Sighing, she sat on the floor. Soon, a blanket covered her legs. Lifting he head, she was met with the familiar view of Tank’s paw covering her lower body.

She curled up to the shadow, trying to forget about the argument that ripped their family. If Jinwoo and her mother kept being stubborn, their family would truly break.

“Jinah!” An alarmed voice rang from the corridor.

“Mom! Don’t worry. This is Tank. Brother lend him to me for my protection. He’s like a giant teddy bear.”

Tank waved his other paw to salute their mother. Jinah thought it was adorable. She pressed he body against the fur, wanting to merge with the softness.

“Mom,” she resumed as she faced again her mother. “I will continue to support Jinwoo. You have not seen him after your coma. He was doing his best to support us both and pay for your medication. He was miserable, making trips to the hospital too many times. But it changed. Two weeks ago, he became more open, he was happy again. I think he found something to help. You’ve always encourage us to pursue happiness, to live as we wanted. I think Jinwoo found his happiness while hunting. Please let him explain it to you.”

Park Kyung-Hye didn’t respond to her tirade. Instead, she walked to the kitchen, intending to prepare lunch.

Jinah didn’t know what to do next to mend their relationship.

Chapter Text

Two days. It took Jinwoo two days to be able to speak to his mother. Not that he avoided her, but rather that she was not letting him talk about anything. As soon as the first evening, he learned that Jinah took his side in the argument. He wanted them to rely on each other so he forbade Jinah to openly show him support.

It was twisted, the whole situation was worse than what Jinwoo was expecting.

And to aggravate the situation, he got information of a dungeon break near Busan. There was no other high-rank hunter in the area and Jinwoo was the fastest to be able to go there. A B-ranked team was already dispatched but they were not holding up. The dungeon was a wild one – for lack of better words – having not been reported due to the remote area he was in.

That’s why Jinwoo was now near the White Tiger Guild’s building. He was not going alone in there, another S-rank wanted to go rescue the people. And as they were somewhat on speaking terms, Jinwoo had to go with the man.

Fortunately, the man was already on the depart.

“Hunter Sung! Or is it Guild master Sung, now? I’ve heard of your guild, congratulations!”

In these two days, Jinho demonstrated his talent for negotiation as he wrote the contract tying them to the Hunter’s Association. They were now an official guild.

“We can talk about it later, let’s go.”

“How are we going?”

“On Kaisel’s back.”

The wyvern shot in the sky and Jinwoo jumped on his back, quickly followed by the beast hunter.

“Man, this summon sure is convenient,” he praised as they flew in the direction of Busan. “Any chance you lend it to me sometimes?”

Jinwoo caught the joke and only laughed.

They arrived in an hour to the gate. The high blue swindle was hidden by vegetation so the only thing that suggested that there was a gate there was the destruction, the fire, and the colossal monster that was rampaging.

The monster was an insect. A sort of centipede, for lack of better description.

“Holy shit, it gives me Jeju vibe,” Yoonho muttered.

“We will fly above it. Do you want to land before?”

Yoonho answered by acts, jumping of Kaisel while partially transforming into a beast. He landed on the ground and started sprinting towards the strike team.

Jinwoo, understanding the maneuver, had Kaisel flying high. The wyvern was extatic and she even looped in the sky.

“Okay, girl, please focus for now.” Jinwoo laughed at her antics.

They preyed upon the monster like a bird on its target. When he was perfectly aligned above it, Jinwoo jumped from Kaisel’s back and landed on the monster, daggers out and ready to strike.

The centipede miraculously evaded the fatal blow Jinwoo wanted to deliver. Its agility made the monster slippery despite its span.

“It looks like we will need a bit more than a simple strike to defeat it,” Yoonho pointed out to the other S-rank. “It’s at least B-rank.”

The half-beast was standing in front of the strike team who looked like they had a rough time.

“I can take care of it, what about the civilians?”

The question was addressed more to the strike team than the guild master and one of them stepped forward.

“A passing healer helped us evacuate the civilians as we lead the monster here. A few were injured. Apparently, some are still in the area but we didn’t have time to send a search party.”

“Are you sure you can take care of the monster by yourself, hunter Sung?”

“I will be alright. Please recover the last civilians.”

Everyone settled in their role. In the short laps when they had their talk, the monster was searching for them. It found Jinwoo alone but it didn’t have time to search for the others because Jinwoo attacked.

As the Shadow Monarch fought the centipede, he learned about its high intelligence. The myriapod was devoid of speech but it didn’t mean it couldn’t think. Having already learned from the first attack, the centipede made a point of being slippery whenever Jinwoo approached him.

It would have destabilized any other hunter, but Jinwoo already had a perfect plan to counter it.

“GET OUT.”

Igris was the first to rise from the shadows, followed by Iron, Tusk and Baruka. Three of them were used to fight together and Baruka was highly intelligent so they quickly went on the attack.

Iron used his taunt skill to attract the centipede. When the giant monster marched to him, Baruka shot out from his hiding spot to severe the centipede’s legs – Jinwoo was glad he gave him back his dagger. From the other side, Igris severed some other legs. Now the monster was half immobilized.

To top it all, Tusk used his gravitation technique to make it unable to move. From there, Jinwoo took his daggers to severe the head of the monster.

It didn’t kill the monster. The body was still moving even after the removal of the head. Jinwoo prepared to strike another time when Igris got ahead of him and minced the monster properly.

Jinwoo let a half-nervous laugh out. Igris was becoming more and more daring as time flies. Also, the body was now too damaged to even try to extract its shadow. Igris apologized profusely when it came to his mind that he robbed his master from a new soldier.

The man turned around to search for the gate. The centipede was probably the boss but it didn’t mean that the gate would close immediately after its death. Others insects could come out and attack whoever was passing by.

On his search, he met the other hunters and a small group of civilians.

“Sung, is the monster dead?” Yoonho called from afar.

“It is. I’m searching for the gate to make sure nothing comes out.”

“The gate was located about two minutes in this direction. We passed it when searching for civilians,” the leader of the strike team said.

Jinwoo made his way to the location, only to find the gate disappearing. Now the incident was officially closed. Taking his phone out, he dialed the chairman of the Association.

“Sung? I didn’t think I would hear from you so soon.” Go Gunhee’s voice sounded surprised.

“The boss is dead. I finished scouting the area and the gate closed just now.”

“Is everything fine? What about the hunters and the civilians?”

“Guild master Baek is with them. They have apparently not suffered from severe injuries and a healer is with the injured civilians. I don’t know if there are any causalities for now.”

The chairman let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Thank you for the report, Sung. Please let us know of the injured and the eventual dead.”

“I will.”

Jinwoo hang up the phone and returned to the hunters whom he sensed at the outskirt of the forest.

When he arrived, he was stunned by the makeshift camp. The civilians were looking healthy and they were already celebrating the closure of the dungeon.

“Oh, here comes the star of the day!” Baek Yoonho called.

As soon as the heads turn to look at him, Jinwoo was surrounded by reporters.

“Hunter Sung, I heard you fought the monster on you own, how did you do it?”

“Hunter Sung, what are your thoughts on being the tenth S-rank of Korea?”

“Hunter Sung, could you explain why your class is “unspecified”?”

Jinwoo heard more questions but he couldn’t make sense of them. In the past, he also hated reporters. He did need to grow accustomed to them, especially when he was warning the population against the Monarchs.

Jinwoo regretted not having his favorite hoodie with him, he could have put the hood on and leave quietly. But now, he was stuck. There was no place to hide in this small makeshift camp.

The sky seemed to take pity on him because Jinwoo’s eyes finally landed on a spot further away, apparently empty. He used his speed to disappear from his spot, taking the reporters aback. He quickly enter the small tent and let out a sigh.

It turned out the tent was not empty. Jinwoo startled when a low chuckle came from a corner.

“You don’t like reporters, I guess.”

Jinwoo studied the man. He was sitting so Jinwoo couldn’t estimate his size, black hair, black eyes, an amused smile on his face. Jinwoo was sure he knew the man from somewhere but couldn’t remember.

“You will probably have to get used to if you continue hunting,” the man said as he took out a glass and served Jinwoo water.

“Do we know each other?” Jinwoo finally asked.

The man laughed. “I don’t know more than you being our tenth S-rank. We never met. I’m Min Byung-Gyu, nice to meet you.”

Oh, the S-rank healer who stopped hunting. Jinwoo remembered now. He unfortunately never met the man when alive, and when he saw his corpse, the man was missing his head.

“Sung Jinwoo, but I’m sure everyone knows it now.”

“Quite right. I never knew what you looked like, but the newspaper will feature your face tomorrow.”

“Just what I wanted,” Jinwoo sneered.

Should he isolate his mother from the news? Even if she knew he was a hunter, she still didn’t know he was an S-rank. But doing this while he tried to mend his relationship with her would destroy her trust in him. Jinwoo didn’t want his mother to distance herself and Jinah from him, they were the reason he agreed to turn back time. Humanity was still his goal, but it also meant his family would live a life devoid of hassle.

“There you are!” The booming voice of Baek Yoonho echoed as the man gripped his shoulders.

Having sensed the man, Jinwoo didn’t react, he didn’t even move when the beast tried to drag him into the crowd. The reporters were miraculously gone.

“Oh come on! You need to celebrate with us.”

“You never change, Yoonho!” The healer laughed.

Baek Yoonho paused. He turned to the man and, with an exaggerated surprise, widened his eyes.

“Byung-Gyu! Fancy seeing you there. What are you doing in Busan?”

“I was on a trip. The dungeon break took me by surprise.”

“Oh, so the healer the strike team mentioned before was you?”

“Huh? No, I came after. You probably mean the woman who took care of everything here. Lee Joohee, I think her name was.”

Jinwoo jumped at the name. Lee Joohee was a name he didn’t think he would hear again. Last time they talked, she said she would return to her family on the countryside. She talked about dropping of the hunters. Jinwoo supported her back then, and he still think the woman was not meant to go in dungeons.

He exited the tent as the two other S-rank hunters talked about the past. Neither registered that he left.

Taking a stroll on the camp, he was met with people who didn’t hesitate to voice their thanks. Jinwoo took the time to talk with some of them before finally getting out of the camp.

The sun was already down but the sky was still a mix of orange and blue. Soon, it will be completely dark.

“Jinwoo,” a voice came from his left side.

Turning his head, the man was met by a woman he knew well.

“Hey, Joohee.”

The B-rank healer looked the same. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail and she had her dungeon gear on. She came to him with a smile.

“When I heard of a new S-rank hunter getting a new rank after a second awakening, I was sure it was you, Jinwoo. How are you?”

“I’m okay. And you?”

“I’m fine. Pulling out of the hunters is my best decision so far. I am closer to my family, I am studying to become a civil agent.”

“It’s nice to hear about you.”

Jinwoo didn’t know what to say more. So much was separating them now.

“I did promise you to take you to diner if I ever was in the area, didn’t I?” Jinwoo finally said.

He will keep his promise. Joohee turned her eyes to the sky, admiring the stars.

“I… I don’t think it would be a good idea,” she hesitated.

Jinwoo raised his eyebrows. That surprised him.

“I was blind. Well, not really, but delusional,” she explained. “Back when we were raiding dungeons together, I was always the one to berate you about unconsidered risks. You always needed healing, and when I was not there, you would often end in the hospital.”

Jinwoo was following the story without understanding where she was getting at.

“You were an E-rank who showed resilience for four years, even when nearly dying. I admired you for this... still admire you. But the double dungeon was my breaking point. I didn’t know at the time that it would fracture our friendship, but it did. I was afraid of every sound, every sudden movement. I couldn’t even take a walk without panicking. But you overcame this, like you always do. You never give up. In the past, I thought you would be able to be the constant I needed…”

Joohee finally faced fully Jinwoo, her eyes in his’.

“I think I was in love with the stability you represented.”

Jinwoo couldn’t respond, he didn’t even know how to proceed what he heard. Since when Joohee was attracted to him? He didn’t even know she had feelings for him.

“I don’t need you to answer my declaration. I am ashamed of myself. That’s why I think it would be best for me if we don’t meet again. I’m sorry, Jinwoo.”

Joohee turned around, fully intending of leaving. But Jinwoo held her by the arm.

“Wait, just a minute. I can’t stay silent. I think you already know, but I never knew of your feelings.”

Joohee smiled at this and if Jinwoo hadn’t control himself more, he would have blushed.

“I just wanted to say… I wish you will be happy.”

“Thank you, Jinwoo!” Joohee beamed.

Then she definitively left, disappearing towards the city of Busan.

When Jinwoo came back, it was late in the night. He left the guild master Baek – who insisted they dropped honorifics – in front of his guild and walked home, lit by the streetlight and the moon.

He entered the apartment silently and didn’t need to light the corridor to go to his room.

It was not because he was fully capable of seeing in the dark, but rather because the living room was still lighted.

His mother was sitting on the couch, obviously waiting for him.

“I hope you had a pleasant time out,” she started. And Jinwoo already braced himself for the confrontation.

“I went to Busan to help with a dungeon break.”

Park Kyung-Hye glared at him.

“You realize you went without telling us? What if something happened?”

Jinwoo stayed silent, internally frowning. He did text Jinah he would need to go to Busan, why didn’t she tell their mother? And Jinah knew that even if he was out of reach, Tank would be proof he was fine. Also, if she was worried for him, why didn’t she call?

“Everyone is fine. I went with an S-rank. We took care of the monsters quickly.”

“Don’t talk about the dungeons!” She whispered-yelled, trying not to wake Jinah.

Jinwoo didn’t know what to do. Before, he did what he wanted, always focused on leveling up. He did care about his mother and sister, but they were relegated to the background as long as they were well. Back then, he was selfish. He ended up neglecting them without noticing. Only when war broke did he realize how much he missed their bond.

But by doing things differently now, he ended up making it worse. And he didn’t know how to diffuse the situation.

“All I want is for you to be healthy and happy.”

“Mom, I am healthy and fine.”

Jinwoo tried to close the distance between him and his mother. Surprisingly, she let him sit on the stool across her. He didn’t think he would have a deep conversation this late at night.

“Could you please let me explain?” He asked.

When she nodded, Jinwoo took a deep breath.

“Eternal Slumber is a condition that comes when exposed too frequently to mana, often because a member of the family is a hunter. When you fell into a coma, long after dad’s… well, I decided to get assessed. I was a hunter, an E-rank hunter, one of the weakest. It was my nickname, the weakest hunter of all mankind. And after this, life was hard. I fully became a hunter to support the family, your medication and Jinah’s tuition. I ended often in the hospital… Please don’t say a thing, mom,” Jinwoo interrupted when his mother opened her mouth. “Three months ago, there was a dungeon no one expected. Half of the party died, and I nearly died to. But I survived… To be frank, I didn’t know how I was alive because my injuries were severe. But I overcame this. I… I reawakened with new powers.” Technically, it was not a lie. “I’m way stronger now. I stayed low for a while because I didn’t know what was happening to me. I am an S-rank hunter, mom, one of the strongest out here. And I want to help people, this is what makes me happy. I want to help, and my powers can help people. I don’t want to stop…”

Jinwoo didn’t know what to add to his plea. Because that’s what it was, a plea. Jinwoo heard his sister in the corridor mid-explanation. She decided to stay hidden and Jinwoo let her do as she wanted.

His mother looked at him with pinched lips, like she was in internal conflict. Then she sighed.

“You take after your father, Jinwoo. I can’t and won’t change that. I am still not pleased with you being a hunter. But please give me time to understand what you are doing. Your father… he left too soon, I didn’t understand the role of the hunters back then. And I still don’t.”

“You can take all the time you want, mom,” Jinwoo reassured with a small smile.

“Just know… I love you, Jinwoo.”

It was only when his mother hugged him that Jinwoo noticed he was crying. He let the tears flow down, wetting his mother’s shirt.

“Love you too, mom.”

They stayed there a long time, welcoming silently Jinah when she came closer.

Everything was still not right, but they made progress.

Chapter Text

Jinwoo left the apartment with a renewed sense of joy. After their emotional moment two nights ago, Jinwoo took a good part of the next day to mend his relationship with his mother. She was still uncomfortable when Jinwoo talked about the role of the hunters, but she made the effort of asking questions when she didn’t understand. She was still having trouble with his own role in this, but the press article detailing how he killed the centipede and how he was the new S-rank hunter – even hailed by another S-rank hunter – made his mom slightly proud.

Today was the official first day of the guild. At this occasion, they would hold a press conference.

Jinah expressed her willingness to attend to the conference. She was shut down by both her mother and brother, arguing that she had school to attend.

Jinwoo arrived at the premises of his guild an hour before the conference.

“Boss, you are late!” The voice of Yoo Soohyun echoed through the hall.

“I’m on time, we said we would meet at 8.”

“It’s 8:05!”

“Huh, it is?”

The clock indeed showed said time.

“What do we need to do before the conference? We already talked about it. We even agreed on a list of questions, what to answer them and what to say when faced with unwanted questions.”

“We need to get you ready, bro.”

Jinho popped from behind a door. He was elegant in his brown tuxedo.

“What do you mean, get me ready. I’m as ready as possible.”

Soohyun threw him a nasty look, judging him from head to toe.

“Not to be rude, but you have no sense of fashion.”

Jinwoo blinked. He knew this but he did take care of his appearance before coming. He even wore a neat white shirt for the occasion, along with black pants.

He was still dragged in a room where Soohyun gave him a dark gray dress shirt and a pair of black tight pants.

“I am not wearing these,” Jinwoo denied when seeing the pants.

“Try it at least,” Soohyun negotiated.

Jinwoo sighed and obeyed. Contrary to his first impression, the pants were comfortable and not too tight. The gray shirt definitely was a better choice than his previous one, Jinwoo could concede it.

“Whoa! Bro, you look stunning!”

Jinho’s voice made Soohyun turn to him. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.

“You look great. Here, keep the pants and try this one,” she gave him the same dress shirt, but in black.

Jinwoo didn’t even try to voice his discontent and tried the black shirt. It suited him, he acknowledged.

“Here.”

Both his guild vice-master and his media assistant were speechless as he walked in the hall.

“Boss, this is definitely giving you an aura. You look like a shadow!”

And Soohyun didn’t even exaggerate when she said that, his shadows were already approving from their realm. He even sensed Ruth – his demon emissary – giving him the thumbs up.

It was the day before, when they reviewed what they would say today, that Jinwoo revealed to Soohyun his shadows. She was ecstatic, beaming at him and already muttering about new merch to develop – Jinwoo probably misheard, but she was talking about stuffed animals. At any rate, he forbade her to make comments on his powers in the conference.

“Okay, don’t change. We have about 30 minutes until the conference. Need to review what we will say?”

“We have it all, Soohyun, stop stressing out.”

“I am not stressing out!” She replied to her cousin.

The conference did go smoothly at first. They were able to explain how they would operate – both when taking high-ranked dungeons and when raiding low-ranked dungeons for the Association. The end of it was more chaotic. The conference ended earlier than expected due to Jinwoo not coping with unwanted questions about his private life. As the reporters were not showing remorse when pressing the matter, even after several refusals to answer, Jinwoo used Tusk’s shield abilities to remove them from the building. The orc didn’t even have to exit his shadow to use his powers and Jinwoo was happy about it.

Now, he was holding a list of the dungeons he will complete today. For this, he was working with a small team of the Association, from the reconnaissance team. They were the first one on site when a dungeon appeared. They were in charge of evaluating the gates and regulate circulation when said gates appeared in the middle of the road.

He had six team of 20 of his shadows, either lead by Igris, Tusk, Baruka, Greed, Jima or Iron, inside each Association’s member. They were to go on site and the shadows would be able to do there work. Jinwoo explained to them at length that his shadows were not able to speak with them, but that the will understand them.

Today, he had to clean sixteen dungeons, all in the suburbs. Jinwoo and Jinho lead their own team – but he did had Ruth follow the younger man to make sure nothing happened to him – and each would close two gates.

They were done in less than two hours. It was lunch time when they met again at the Hunter’s Association.

“Sung, you are definitely going to be an asset. Are you sure you will have enough dungeons to raid?” Go Gunhee’s voice was joyful.

“I’m only doing it for half a week, I’m sure it will be okay, sir.”

Jinho did rethink the contract so they would have time to do high-ranked dungeons. They were working for the organization three days, and they were doing more dungeons than only the one on their last day before break to compensate.

“Sung, please come with me,” the chairman invited him.

Even if the request was made with a light tone, Jinwoo knew that what the chairman wanted to talk about was far from easy. His face was closed, brows furrowed in a concerned way.

They went into the chairman’s office and as they took place, Go Gunhee gave Jinwoo a folder. The Monarch took it and jumped a little at the title.

“The Jeju raid?” He asked to be sure.

“It’s a complicated case. The fourth raid was long-planned, as soon as we got words of the ants’ development. All S-ranks want to be part of this raid, some left with grief last time. It’s only fair for them to be allowed to go.”

Jinwoo already know what the chairman wanted to ask. He was not naive, both remember how the raid went last time.

“To complicate it all, we have already reached out to Japan for help. Negotiation have already begun and they won’t back down…”

“… because Jeju was planned to be Goto’s stage to reach National level,” Jinwoo finished.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were aware of this.”

“I’m not well-versed in politics, but Thomas did make a comment on this, once.”

The chairman nodded in understanding.

“I guess I can go with them. I don’t want to intervene if I don’t have to. Can I be the cameraman?” Jinwoo suggested on a whim.

Gunhee laughed so hard he had to hold on to his desk to keep his balance.

“Sure, Sung, you can be the cameraman. I’m glad I didn’t have to convince you further. And if everything goes as planned, we could even go early to Jeju.”

And fight them when the ant king is still in the egg, Jinwoo thought. It would be the best scenario.

“But this is not why I wanted to see you,” the chairman revealed with a frown.

Jinwoo sat straight immediately. What would worried the man more than this?

“Thomas Andre expressed his desire to come to Korea.”

Jinwoo understood immediately. Having a National level hunter visiting a country without being recruited was highly unusual. And considering what Jinwoo did to a member of the Scavenger guild, it was no wonder he wanted to meet him.

“Last time, he also came but we were able to say that we didn’t know where you were. I don’t think we could do it a second time, with you gaining popularity with your guild.”

Jinwoo understood. By creating his guild early, he painted a target on his back for his enemies. But fortunately, no one on Earth was strong enough to beat him.

“When he lands, I will collect him at the airport,” Jinwoo offered.

Thomas was not one to engage when unprovoked. And he had enough self-awareness to not fight in the middle of the crowd. Jinwoo would be able to determine how to proceed more easily, should it degenerate.

“Thank you, hunter Sung.”

When Jinwoo left the office, he made a small detour to Jinchul’s office to give him his accustomed coffee.

It didn’t take more than three days for Thomas Andre to decide to visit Korea.

As the sun set, Jinwoo stood in the landing area, both enthusiastic and dreading the meeting.

The Thomas Andre he will meet in the next minutes was not his friend, the one he fought side by side with, the one he fought against, the one to whom he promised to save humanity.

It hurt Jinwoo to not have the connection, but he made his choice when taking the Cup of Reincarnation. There was no use to dwell on the past.

Thomas Andre was a tall and corpulent man. Not that he was overweight, but he had too much muscle to be considered of regular corpulence. The man was sighted from far. It also did help that everyone moved away from the man, recognizing him on the spot.

Somehow, Jinwoo felt his heart break. He did prepare mentally to meet the man, but nothing could have prepared him enough for the massive emotions taking over his body. He was not crying, but he felt like he could if he let go of his restraint. The meeting would be more tedious than what he expected.

Jinwoo closed his eyes to regain his composure and let his mana flare only for the man. It didn’t fail to make him react. The golden eyes of the man zeroed on him. But contrarily to what Jinwoo was expecting, Thomas beamed.

“Jinwoo, my friend, how are you?!” The man slid a hand over Jinwoo’s shoulders in a friendly side hug.

Jinwoo was at loss. What was happening? He didn’t understand.

“Hey, little guy, cat got your tongue?” The man was still expressing himself in English but Jinwoo was able to understand him thanks to Greed’s knowledge.

“What the fuck is happening?” It was Jinwoo’s only question.

The man snorted and dragged him outside of the airport.

“I remember, if it’s what you’re asking. Only an idiot would throw himself on someone stronger than himself,” the man joked.

Jinwoo shot him a glance that told everything he thought about the American’s idiocy. Deciding to deal with this like always did before, Jinwoo nudged him in the stomach.

“Hey! That hurt!”

“Then don’t make me poke at you every time you’re acting like an idiot,” Jinwoo shot back in a perfect English.

Their playful fight drew the attention of the crowd so Jinwoo hurried him in the car. He drove them to the town.

“How do you remember?” Jinwoo asked.

“It’s… complicated. I’d rather we talk about it over a drink,” Thomas said.

Jinwoo adjusted his course to go to a bar. He did make a call to the chairman to informed him about Thomas memories.

They arrived in a bar in a remote area. Not wasting time, they rented a private room and bought several drinks. They both finished their first beer before talking.

“So, how did you remember?”

“I swear it was a journey! It began two weeks ago when I had those damn dreams. At the time, I didn’t know, but I dreamed of the war. Then Hwang Dongsoo was dropped by a fucking dragon in front of the guild. Just how fucked up was that, Jinwoo?! I had nightmares of Kamish for days after this!”

Jinwoo snorted at the mock indignation and took a sip of his second beer. Thomas downed his in one go. But they didn’t spoke further, Thomas was clearly reminiscing the day.

Flashback

Thomas Andre was having a busy day. It was only mid-afternoon but he already had to mediate between two of his guild member, two meetings with the politicians and a lecture from his secretary because he was overworking himself…

That woman was terrifying, and she wasn’t even a hunter. She had the ability to keep all the members in check, so Thomas surrendered and took a nap… only to wake up twenty minutes later because of a horrifying nightmare. He didn’t quite remember what happened, but there was a man covered in shadows beating him like no one ever did. Thomas put a hand on his stomach – that very same spot he took the hit waking him up – and rubbed aggressively. Forget the nap, he had to work if he wanted to erase the nightmarish vision.

He took a piece of paper of the stack on his desk to be productive.

He tore the paper apart without even finishing reading.

Hwang Dongsoo. Just the name made him pop a vein on his forehead. The S-rank was one of the strongest guild member he had, but definitively not the brightest. Although, the man was cunning, that was what drove Thomas to recruit him. But now, he went too far. How could that little shit go behind his back and fly to Korea without even getting approved?! And he was already there, not just on the plane.

“Laura!”

The secretary entered, face blank.

“Mr Andre?”

“Who approved Hwang’s trip to Korea?”

She blinked.

“You did, Mr Andre. Your signature is at the bottom of the document.”

Thomas blinked in return. What did she mean, he approved it? He couldn’t recall even talking to the man about a possible fly to Korea, even when he was informed of Hwang’s brother’s death.

“Please look at this,” Laura said, giving him her tablet where a copy of the document was sitting.

He read it again, carefully. And he found his signature at the bottom… a fake signature.

“That piece of shit! He forged it.”

Thomas took his phone, determined to call the man to give him a piece of his mind.

But he couldn’t do anything as the alarm went on.

“What is it this time!” he shouted in rage.

Thomas, furious, left his office to go to the reception hall. His phone rang in the meantime.

“What?!” He picked up rashly.

“Mr Andre, we are facing a National emergency,” some politician said on the other side. “There is a large black creature flying across the USA and by the path it takes, we are thinking it is converging to out capital.”

A flying black creature, did the politician hit his head? There was no new S-rank gates for now, and they would have talked about it before if a powerful dungeon was about to break. Still angry at all this stupidity, Thomas left the building.

He will find this creature, give him one fucking devastating hit, and then call that fucker who left America without telling him. And for his absolute pleasure, he sighted a black silhouette in the sky.

…

…

…

Oh fucking shit it was bad.

That was not an unidentified creature. That was a Kamish lookalike.

He was not prepared to have to fight a fucking dragon! Last time, he had four other S-ranks to support him. And as the monster closed in, he heard growing cries from people. They were panicking and Thomas couldn’t fault them, that creature was terrifying.

The dragon slowed down, making Thomas gulp. But he couldn’t show weaknesses now, he had to lead the battle that will unfold at any second now. Activating his skills, golden mana swirled around him, making him bigger, stronger… ready to take on the dragon. Behind him, he could sense all the hunters of his guild, ready to strike at his command.

The dragon was imposing, and made with some sort of shadow. The sight was somewhat familiar, and Thomas’s mind went to Kamish instantly. He couldn’t move as the dragon landed delicately on a nearby building.

Did he really see that? No destruction, just a giant fucking dragon perched on an entire building like a pigeon on a windowsill.

A blurred thing shot from the back of the dragon to land at 3 feet from him. The silhouette, as shadowy as the dragon, was some sort of humanoid with a skull mask. The shadow looked at him in the eye and Thomas had to lift a hand to stop one of his hunter form attacking. His fear didn’t blurred his senses and he knew the shadow was at S-rank level – high S-rank level.

The monster was not hostile, he couldn’t sense any murderous intent. The monster only took a package of his arms and let it fall on the ground. Thomas didn’t follow the movement, he couldn’t detached his eyes from the silhouette.

Then the monster made a fucking military salute and hopped on the dragon’s back again. The two of them left like this, without fighting. The popped, and then depopped like it was a delivery service.

“What the fuck.”

“Ouch.” A voice came from bellow.

Dropping his glance on the ground, Thomas blinked as he saw a slightly injured Hwang Dongsoo.

“What the fuck.”

Flashback

“Thomas, you with me?” Jinwoo called after five minutes of silence.

The American hunter lifted his head. “Ah, where did we left?”

“Kamish nightmares.”

“Ah yes,” he glared at Jinwoo. “After this, the dreams were recurring for a whole week and I didn’t know if I was turning mad or not. But then, Chris dropped by, white as a sheet.”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow at the mention of Christopher Reed, the other American National level.

“He came to me, with a strange story of him dying and beings stronger than us. That’s when all the memories hit me. Everything that happened was now clear.” Thomas paused to start drinking a new beer. “I had trouble to explain because I couldn’t make sense of what happened. I did tell him that you were the one turning back time and that you would be the one having the answers. But Chris was not able to leave for Korea without a reason, he didn’t want to attract attention on this, fearing that the Monarchs would come after him again. I offered to come because the fiasco with Hwang Dongsoo was the best excuse I had. But I couldn’t come until I was sure you came back in time to. I had the idea you came back because Dongsoo didn’t pop up like that last time. When the news of your guild reached my ears, I knew for sure.”

Jinwoo hummed in agreement and downed his own beer.

“What happened? For how long are you back?” Thomas asked.

Jinwoo understood him. It was not supposed to happen.

“I came back two weeks ago, same time as your dreams. The Rulers poisoned me. They tried to end me for real. I fought the poison but the Cup couldn’t take me back ten years. When I landed back, I was in a red gate. By the time I cleaned it, Hwang Dongsoo was in front of the gate. It apparently happened last time too, but I was still in the dungeon when he left, hence the difference in his return in America.”

Jinwoo took the last beer on the table and ordered more of them. They would need it.

“After this, I made small changes. Some were good, some were bad. But I stick to the timeline for now. I need to think of what to do with the Rulers.”

“Can’t you kill them?”

“It’s complicated. Monarchs and Rulers are preparing for war, and they chose Earth for their battlefield. Neither intend to let humanity survive, that’s what I’m thinking. I could go to them to search for answers, but if I do, I fear I might run in a trap.”

“It’s quite the dilemma,” Thomas noticed. “So what are you going to do in the next days?”

“The Jeju raid is planned, I do intend to let this pass before thinking of fighting the Monarchs or Rulers.”

“Could you not just march there and decimate all the ants?”

“I offered it to the chairman, but he refused. Some S-ranks have griefs to settle there. Also, Japan is helping.”

Thomas snorted. “Goto? Does he still want to become a National level?”

“He doesn’t have his memories. I’m still trying to figure out how you and Reed could have them.”

“Couldn’t it be because we are hosting a part of the Rulers?”

Jinwoo blinked, agape.

“Why did I not think about that?!” He exclaimed. “It would make sense!”

Of course, the Rulers and Monarchs remembered him altering the timeline, so why wouldn’t the humans hosting fragments of the light remember too! The fragment in Go Gunhee was frail so he had to help him remember, but if that was all, it was plausible. And it would explain why he couldn’t make Jinchul remember.

“Glad to be of service, Jinwoo. Now let’s get drunk to celebrate our friendship and our goal to protect humanity!” The man offered him another beer.

Jinwoo snorted and took it.

“I can’t get drunk, Thomas.”

“Party pooper,” the tall man sulked.

Jinwoo laughed. He was glad to have his friend back.

They downed several beer before Thomas jerked his head up.

“Oh, your father!” Thomas said.

Jinwoo almost spat his beer out.

“What about my father?”

“He was in our cells when you came back. I was not there but Dongsoo still enraged him. He ended in the hospital like the first time. Your father is currently missing. I did put words to not kill him on the spot, that he was a human like he said he was, but I don’t know if it will be enough.”

A fond smile made its way on Jinwoo’s face.

“Thank you, Thomas. And my father holds a fragment of light. He probably remembers. But even if he doesn’t I’m not anxious. He did disappear the first time, we will find him again.”

Silence met his declaration and Thomas pointed him as he snorted.

“I missed your ability to always be optimistic.”

“You’re probably the only one who think of me as an optimistic,” Jinwoo retorted.

“Sure, like you’re the one who say I’m an idiot.”

“That’s because you are. Or if you don’t like the word, I can call you a masochist.”

“Hey! Where does that come from?!”

“From the way you always want to fight me, even when you know you will lose.”

“That’s only my way to be happy, Jinwoo! Don’t twist it!”

“Happiness from being beaten and hurting, that’s the definition of a masochist.”

They threw mock hateful words at each other for the rest of the night, ending only when the sun was starting to shine again.

“So, I will see your chairman before departing again.”

“I’m driving you there. But before, let’s go to my place to take a shower. You reek of alcohol.”

When Jinwoo showed him his apartment, his mother and sister were miraculously out shopping. Jinwoo did warn them yesterday that he would probably not come back home the night. His mother still left him diner in the fridge. He smiled and as Thomas took a shower, he ate his plate and made a sandwich for his friend.

It didn’t take them twenty minutes before they left again. The ride to the Association’s building was short and Jinwoo made a small detour to take coffee and pastries for Jinchul again.

They went through the door of the Hunter’s Association with agitation. Jinwoo did inform the chairman that Thomas was coming, but he was a bit put off by the unprofessional attitude of the receptionists.

“Everyone back at their tasks,” a voice rand across the hall. “Mr. Andre, Mr. Sung, please follow me, the chairman is waiting for you.

“Hey there Jinchul,” Jinwoo smiled as he gave him the coffee and pastries like usually.

The man’s stern gaze softened. “Good morning, Jinwoo.”

They were guided through the corridors until they reached Go Gunhee’s office. When entering, the chairman expressed his wish for Jinchul to be present.

“As I heard yesterday, you also remember the future?” The chairman opened the conversation.

“I do. And you being aware makes my request easier,” Thomas replied.

Jinchul did jump at the mention of the future but stayed silent. On the other hand, Jinwoo jumped at the said request. Thomas didn’t talk about it. Was it related to Hwang Dongsoo?

“I’m listening.”

Thomas nonchalantly pointed Jinwoo who got confused.

“I will talk about it with the four others, but I intend to officially make Jinwoo the sixth National level hunter. So please formally request for him to be acknowledged as such.”

Everyone was surprised at the request, even Jinwoo.

“Wait a minute, Thomas, what are you talking about?”

The man snorted. “Last time, you were considered one after you beat me black and blue. We could always fight again, I won’t say no to a mock battle, but I figured you would rather not fight me again.”

“If we fight, we would destroy a country, Thomas. I ain’t fighting you again,” Jinwoo snorted.

Thomas laughed.

“Then the matter is settled! You will hear from me after I contact them all.”

The chairman let out a laugh. “I’ll be submitting this by the end of the day, Mr. Andre.”

The National level beamed at the man before grabbing Jinwoo by the collar and dragging him back in the car. Jinwoo, still flabbergasted by what happened, let Thomas manhandle him until they were finally on the way back at the airport.

Chapter Text

Time flew and, before Jinwoo knew, it was time for the fourth raid on Jeju island.

To the chairman’s joy, the raid was taking place earlier than the last time, securing better conditions because the black ant would still be in its egg.

Jinwoo was invited to the training session of the other Korean S-rank hunters while waiting for the Japaneses. It also was his first time meeting the others, including Cha Hae-In.

“Yo, Sung! Come here and meet everyone!” Baek Yoonho shouted when he finally noticed the man, two minutes after his entrance.

“Oh, you are already here, Guild master Sung,” Choi Jong-In noticed. “Like at your reassessment, I didn’t sense your mana.”

The fire mage was subtly fishing for more information, even if he attended his reassessment.

“Oh, our new S-rank hunter is here. Kid, you launched a bomb in Korea with your hunter class!” Jinwoo recognized the booming voice of Ma Dongwook.

Jinwoo went to join their small crowd where they were all standing. By doing so, he brushed against Cha Hae-In who stopped him by the sleeve. Turning around to face her, Jinwoo was met with an agape expression.

“Ms Cha?” Jinwoo tried.

He did not really remember their first interaction in the previous timeline. His memories where playing that time she tried to be part of his guild, but he couldn’t recall more.

Only when she approached her head to sniff him did he remember their first meeting. And her move surprised him last time, like it surprised all the people in the room now.

“Hunter Cha?!” Her guild master choked.

The only woman in the room blushed heavily after coming back to her senses. She apologized profusely.

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened to me!”

Jinwoo had a hard time calming her down by telling her it was okay.

“Miss Cha, what was that?” The voice of Lim Tae-Gyu came from behind the tall martial artist.

“I… don’t know. I was surprised guild master Sung didn’t smell…”

“Huh?” That was Jinwoo, fighting to remember what happened after his first encounter with the woman. She was known for her sharp sense of smell and for the fact that she couldn’t stand the smell of other hunters.

“I see everyone is already here,” another voice came from the door. It was Go Gunhee, always tailed by his right-hand man, Woo Jinchul.

Everyone bowed to the man in respect.

“Sung, lets have a fight!” Baek Yoonho said after the chairman retreated on the higher platform.

“I will be the cameraman during the fight. I won’t have to fight. There’s no use for me to train with you. Beside, it wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

“Oh come on! You say that like you think I will lose.”

Jinwoo didn’t respond, and everyone understood what he was trying to convey with that silent statement. But rather than be upset, the White Tiger guild master snorted.

“Yes, I would lose fast against you. But I still want us to spar!”

The other S-rank looked at each other, confused.

“Baek, are you not overreacting?” Ma Dongwook asked.

“Nah, the kid is too strong. He took a punch from chairman Go at full power and didn’t even move. And he pinned Hwang Dongsoo to the ground like the guy was an E-rank.”

Jinwoo was not sure of how high the former Korean hunter ranked on the power scale, but it did impress the others. Lim Tae-Gyu, the guild master of the Fiend Guild, even let out a low whistle.

“Why are we even going to Jeju if a strong fighter like you is coming with us? It’s seems like a waist of resources.”

“As I understand this, some of you have griefs to settle on the island. The chairman’s words, not mine,” Jinwoo answered. “And I’m only a back up fighter. Not counting the fact that the Japanese hunters didn’t back down after my reassessment.”

“Let’s not think about it now,” Master Ma said. “Baek, if you want, I can take on your offer to fight.”

“Okay! I won’t restrain myself too much!”

“Eh, you think you can beat me without using your full force?”

Playful glares were exchanged before they took over the center of the training room. Jinwoo, not comfortable around everyone who wanted to fight after the current fight, decided to join the chairman on the raised platform.

“Are you getting along with the other S-rank hunters, Sung?” The chairman asked after they exchanged polite greetings.

“Everyone is eager to do this raid.”

“It’s more than we want to finally close this S-rank gate. By doing so, we would gain power in the international business,” Choi Jong-In, whom joined them, explained.

“Not counting the fact that we lost Eunseok in our last raid,” the chairman added. “And with the ants evolving at an alarming rate, it would be better for us to close it quickly.”

Jinwoo nodded as he got distracted by the fight. It was a good training for both the men bellow. Master Ma had a clear advantage of strength, but Baek Yoonho was confronting each punch and attacks with his own, transforming partially to match the strength.

“They are both holding back,” Choi Jong-In said to him.

Jinwoo didn’t need this explanation, he already knew from the shifts of mana emanating from them. But the fire mage was very talkative and he fought against the urge to shut him up – preferably by knocking him out.

Sensing another wave of mana from the entrance of the building, Jinwoo deduced that the Japanese were on their way to meet them. He quickly reigned his mana in, making him look like a perfectly normal civilian. It draw the attention of the three hunters beside him.

“Jinwoo?” Woo Jinchul was the first to ask for an explanation.

“I don’t want them to bother me,” Jinwoo only shrugged.

“Your sensing skills are on top, Sung. It seems like our guests arrived.”

And as the chairman finished his announcement, the doors opened to reveal eleven hunters approaching. The ten Japanese S-rank hunters as well as their interpreter.

“Is this the level of the Korean S-ranks?” Jinwoo heard the interpreter ask in Japanese. “They are pretty weak.”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow at the fact that he could understand them. It didn’t happen last time. He did have the same thoughts when speaking with Thomas. His English seemed to have improve from what he remembered. He did input it to Greed who already knew English, but it didn’t explain Japanese.

As Jinwoo pondered on the question internally, the system chose this moment to make an apparition. The virtual box was one he already knew of, it showed up every time he used a skill. But the skill displayed on the screen was one he didn’t know he had.

[Demonic power: Mimic speech activate.]

So, a power he gained after absorbing the demonic heart of Baran. It was what Esil used to talk Korean. It made things clearer.

“You think so?” Goto replied to the petite woman.

“Mr. Goto. I’ve been watching your raids from the sidelines for quite some time now. Perhaps this is the reason why I’m no longer impressed by S-ranks.”

From the corner of his eye, Jinwoo saw the muscles of the chairman contracting slightly. Just as he sensed a discreet flare of mana coming from Jinchul, but he attributed it to him being more attuned to his mana because of the time they spend together. Either way, both were apparently understanding Japanese.

“I can’t agree with you,” the one with the mask said. “I see one notable hunter among them.” He was looking at the only female hunter, waiting on the sidelines of the ongoing fight. “But seeing as she only need a handkerchief to cover her sense of smell, she must be weaker than me.”

Jinwoo observed as the hunters from the Knights guild – mainly the guild master – got worked up at the derogatory comments. He didn’t remember the direction of that talk but soon, both A rank – the guild master and the Japanese interpreter – fought. It was the Korean’s victory.

As he were busy looking at the fight he missed last time, the two other Korean hunters finished their fight, with Master Ma being the winner.

Then, Goto talked to his interpreter. It went as Jinwoo recalled.

“In the interest of building trust between out two countries, I have a proposal for you,” he said, while the woman translated to all Korean. “We can have our S-rank spar one another. Rules would be that the first one to get touch on the back or gripped by the wrist loses.”

Jinwoo didn’t listen to the answer. It was the chairman who said it would be a good idea. He was more focused on evaluating Goto.

Last time, they had a fight – something Jinwoo was adamant not to remake. The older man was strong, he easily surpassed every Korean S-rank in term of pure mana. And from what he remembered, his techniques were up to his reputation. There were talks about him becoming a National level hunter, but it will fail.

It was not because of what happen last time. Without the ant king, Goto’s rank would have probably be elevated to National level. This time, it was because the other National levels will oppose.

The reason? He was already the unofficial sixth National level.

Thomas didn’t lie when he said he would be in touch with the others as soon as possible. It turned out Liu Zhigang and Siddharth Bachchan also remembered. Jonas was in the same state as Thomas, having dreams of his death before getting in touch with another National level hunter. From then, he recovered all his memories.

All five agreed on Jinwoo joining their rank. It was still unofficial because he didn’t display his monstrous powers worldwide. He would need to wait after the Jeju raid to be officially recorded as one of them.

Reconnecting with reality, Jinwoo watched as a group fight between the Koreans and Japaneses.

The fight did happen like last time, Ma Dongwook getting beaten by the Japanese fighter with ginger hair, The blond with spiky hair pinning Lim Tae-Gyu to the wall, the two of them teaming up with the guy with long hair against Baek Yoonho as Cha Hae-In fought the girl with the cap – Jinwoo really should try to learn their name. After all, they will not die in this raid.

He was prepared to intervene. Last time, Cha Hae-In was endangered by fighting the man with long hair. He didn’t want to show off his abilities, but he didn’t want the woman hurt either.

A small sacrifice for world peace, he thought as Cha Hae-In won against her opponent.

It all happened fast, just like it did before. The huntress went to help the beast hunter and was surprised by the guy. He went berserk when she injured him on the face and was now losing footing while fighting him. Like he did last time, he shot from his place to block the attack on the Korean hunter already on the floor.

“Sorry to intrude, but that was rather dangerous for a sparring session,” he said...

… but not to be listened to. So he pinned the man to the ground, raising curiosity from the Japanese hunters on the side.

“Hanekawa,” he heard Goto, “who is this guy? Isn’t he a member of their Association?”

“I think it is the hunter Sung Jinwoo, their newest S-rank. He is registered as an “unspecified” class.”

“Heh, interesting.”

Jinwoo was internally sighing. “Cha Hae-In, do you acknowledge you loss?”

She nodded, still shocked at his sudden interference. When he was sure the man was peaceful again, he let him go. In the meantime, Baek Yoonho got defeated.

Each side of the fight regrouped with their own people, Jinwoo getting thanked by everyone for his quick reaction.

“Mr. Sung Jinwoo? Our guild master wants to have a word with you,” the interpreter came to them, followed by the man himself.

Jinwoo held back a sigh and turn to the man instead of the woman.

“What is it?” He asked in a perfect Japanese.

If his interlocutor was surprised, he didn’t show, contrary to the petite woman who took a step back.

“That’s easier. I’d like to have a one-on-one fight with you. What do you say?”

“Why do you want to? I am merely the cameraman for the raid. I won’t fight. There is no need to gauge me.”

“You have no record for you to speak. How could we let our lives in the hands of someone we don’t know of?”

The man was trying to rile him up. And if it would have worked last time, Jinwoo didn’t react. He didn’t have to compare his own strength to Goto, he already knew who would win. But the man ignored it.

Jinwoo was debating it. Either he refused and strain the relationship between them before the raid – something dangerous – or he fight him and have him humiliated in front of his guild members and the other nation. Both had advantages and disadvantages.

The younger one sighed, having made his decision. And it would probably stir trouble. At least, he would live up to the nickname Jinchul gave him.

“Okay, under the rules of the last fight.”

Goto let a smile play on his lips, visibly excited. Jinwoo was almost regretting the humiliation he will make him suffer.

The Korean quickly explained to his companions what was happening before they got the whole stage for themselves.

As they stretched their limbs for the incoming fight, he heard several small talks on the outskirt of the room. Jinchul, Choi Jong-In and Go Gunhee one one side, the other Korean S-ranks on the other.

“Do you think it’s okay to let them fight?” He heard Jong-In. “I know he bested you in his reassessment, but it’s Goto Ryuji he’s facing.”

“I think we can be at ease. Sung will not lose.”

“But it could be tedious.”

“Guild master Choi, trust me, it will be no more difficult for him than breathing,” Jinchul said.

On the other side, the S-ranks were cultivating their trouble.

“Are we sure it’s a good idea?” Lim Tae-Gyu asked.

“I don’t know, it could be dangerous,” Ma Dongwook replied.

“Goto Ryuji is more powerful than Atsushi Kumamoto whom I just fought. Even if he was able to defeat him, it will be a tough fight,” Cha Hae-In frowned.

“I’m more curious than anxious, right now,” Baek Yoonho reassured them. “Sung is a powerful guy. I’m curious to know how it will unfold.”

Jinwoo finished his stretch and faced Goto Ryuji who was cracking his neck.

“Okay, let’s get start...”

The fight ended before Jinwoo could finish his sentence. Literally.

Just like last time, Goto didn’t wait for him to finish speaking, throwing his fist at him hoping to take him by surprise. Jinwoo grabbed his wrist and put him in an arm lock on the floor.

“… ed”

Fight end.

Jinwoo observed his opponent’s face reddening furiously by anger. He did try to get away, but Jinwoo was stronger and he didn’t move until Goto seemed to abandon.

“Sung, could you please release Mr. Goto?” Go Gunhee asked with a laugh barely restrained.

“Yes, sir.”

Both stood up, Jinwoo leaving the stage before Goto could catch his balance. He joined the old man and his right-hand man who looked jaded.

“Jinwoo, I’m starting to think that all your fights will end just as fast.”

“It would save you paperwork, wouldn’t it,” Jinwoo joked.

Jinchul let an amused sigh out as he shook his head softly.

On the other side of the room, Goto was meeting his guild members who were just as stunned as him.

“Mr. Goto! What was that?”

“Did you see the guy move? Because I couldn’t!”

“Just how strong can I be?”

Jinwoo didn’t listen to more of their questions, he was surrounded by equally stunned Korean S-rank hunters.

“What in the hell?!” It was Lim Tae-Gyu’s only line, repeating over and over.

“I knew you were powerful, Sung, but that far exceeded my expectations!”

Jinwoo blushed slightly at all the praises. He evaded the questions on his powers and how he was able to win so easily, all while feeling the hateful glare of Goto Ryuji on his back.

Jinwoo woke up with ease this morning. It was the day of the raid.

When taking his phone, he was met with several messages on the new app Thomas forced him to install. It was one of the message app where the National level hunters had a group chat. They did spam the chat when he was sleeping, despite the time difference.

Chris: ‘It’s finally your day, kiddo! Show the world what you’re capable of!’

Siddharth: ‘We’ll be rooting for you, Sung’

Jonas: ‘Good luck, not that you need it.’

Liu Zhigang: ‘Don’t be a prat and let me fight the ants that flew toward China. I’m bored’

Thomas: ‘You’re always bored. Jinwoo, let’s fight after this!’

Jinwoo chuckled at the messages. He was very surprised when they first started to spam him about how grateful they were that he rewound time. Jinwoo had little time to answer to them all but he did took the time to at least write to them all once. The group chat was new, and probably the worst thing to happen – the best, if he listens to Thomas – because they were always picking on each other. For them to not do so today made him smile.

Jinwoo: ‘Thank you all. And no, I won’t fight you Thomas.’

Jinwoo: ‘Also, Zhigang, no promises’

Thomas: ‘You’re no fun, you brat’

Jinwoo: ‘Ain’t debating with a masochist today’

Jonas: ‘OMG! Thomas as a masochist, I can see it!’

Chris: ‘Can confirm it. Weird that I didn’t think about it earlier.’

Liu Zhigang: ‘I’m definitely saving Thomas under that name in my phone! It’s better that the last one’

Thomas: ‘Didn’t you save me under the name As***le?’

Thomas: ‘As***le’

Thomas: ‘Why can’t I say the word?!’

Liu Zhigang: ‘Insults moderator’

Thomas: ‘F**k you!’

Siddharth didn’t reply, it was the middle of the night in India. But it didn’t matter, they all ganged on Thomas about his tendencies, making the man shout through text at Jinwoo that he will not let this slide.

Jinwoo let them argue and prepared for the raid. It was only 7, but both his mother and sister were up.

“Jinwoo, are you sure you will be safe?” Jinah asked.

“I will, don’t worry. I’m only the cameraman for this raid, the others will do all the work,” he reassured her as he ruffled her hair.

“Hey! Stop messing them! It’s a hassle to comb them again!”

Their mother, preparing breakfast, chuckled at the mock fight the siblings were having.

“Let’s eat.”

She put the dishes on the table and they ate silently. It was only when Park Kyung-Hye put down her chopsticks than she spoke.

“Are you sure you want to go there?”

“Mom, I’m an S-rank hunter. I’m ready to go…”

“I know, it just… I’d prefer you didn’t go. Please, stay safe, at all cost.”

Jinwoo blinked, stunned by her speech. He thought he would need to argue with her more for her to accept to let him go. He smiled at her with gratitude.

“You will be able to see the raid on live. It’ll be broadcast on the TV. And don’t forget, as long as Tank is here, you know I’m fine.”

Tank let a leg out of Jinah’s shadow to salute before retracting. It was a small victory when their mother didn’t react at the shadow bear.

“I’ll be going.”

“Take care!” Both women smiled.

Jinwoo was standing before the helicopter with the other Korean S-rank hunters. Everyone was there, including a new addition.

“Byung-Gyu!” Yoonho shouted with a smile.

“Yo! I couldn’t let you go there without me to guard your back. I felt like you’d be the first one to die without my heals,” the retired S-rank joked. “Especially since you pounce every time you see a beast.”

“Ha?! Pounce?! Who, me?!” The beast screamed in indignation.

It made all the others at least smile, making them relax from their stiff position.

“Yo, kid. Nice seeing you here!”

“Mr. Min,” Jinwoo saluted.

“Drop the formalities, I’m only in my 30s!”

Cha Hae-In chuckled at them, blushing when they eyed her.

“Let’s depart!” Choi Jong-In, their leader for the raid, shouted.

Chapter Text

The weather was nice, the sun was shining and the temperature was pleasant. It would be a nice day to go to the beach and enjoy the peace.

But they couldn’t. No one in Korea could enjoy this. Because all citizens had their eyes glued to a screen. The live of the raid on Jeju island was about to begin.

Up in the helicopter, the Koreans were silent. Jinwoo didn’t want to disturb them, so he focused on the camera a member of the TV channel which will broadcast the raid gave him. The CEO of the channel was a bit irritated that no one from his reporter team was chosen to record the raid. Jinwoo was given a small device to stay in contact with the channel at all instant.

Jinwoo looked at the island they were approaching, feeling excited at the prospect of a fight, even if he wouldn’t participate much.

The Japanese hunters were already on site, ready to launch the distraction, allowing them to go after the queen.

“It is your first raid on Jeju, Hunter Cha, Mr Sung” Choi Jong-In broke the silence. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m a bit nervous. It’s my first time taking part in such a big raid," Cha Hae-In whispered with discomfort. 

“I’m fine,” Jinwoo said in a lazy voice.

“You don’t have to worry, Ms. Cha. I’ll be there to support you all,” Min Byung-Gyu reassured her with a smile.

“Looks like it’s time to get down to business,” Master Ma intervened, eyeing the island.

“The Japanese hunters will soon launch their attack…”

Baek Yoonho didn’t finish his sentence, five explosions shook the island. As soon as the detonations were registered by the ants, they left the center of the island. There were millions of them, swarming in the sky. Some even flew in there direction.

“I’ll take care of this,” Choi Jong-In confidently said as he walked to the end of the helicopter.

His flames soon decimated all the ants, but he had to fire his attack two times.

“I’m going first to gauge how strong they are,” he smiled before jumping form the helicopter.

“Hey, Choi Jong-In!” Ma Dongwook screamed from the helicopter. “Do you think he will be okay?”

“He should be fine,” Cha Hae-In offered. “Especially since his fire magic specializes in fighting multiple opponents.”

And she was right, they all witnessed the man decimating the ants on the ground. He then lifted his head up to them and gave them a cocky smile.

“You can come down.”

Sweat dropped from Jinwoo’s face as he watched the nonchalance of the man. All of them jumped from the helicopter, but Min Byung-Gyu and Jinwoo. The Shadow Monarch eyed the healer who was white as a sheet.

“I swear, this is not for me…”

“Here, let me help,” Jinwoo said, lifting the man on his shoulder.

“Eh, Sung? What are you doing?”

Jinwoo didn’t answer and jumped from the helicopter who had still about 30 feet to go before landing.

All the hunters looked up as the healer screamed in fear when Jinwoo jumped from the helicopter. They landed smoothly without making a sound. Jinwoo then put Min Byung-Gyu down.

“What the fuck! Please warn me before being reckless!”

“Sorry, it was the fastest way to go.”

“Sung, be careful of my heart!”

Baek Yoonho snorted at their healer’s dramatics.

“We need to go inside the tunnels,” Choi pressed them.

“There will not be any retreat route once we are there. Good luck to everyone,” Ma Dongwook said to give them courage.

Jinwoo turned the camera on and fixed it on a pocket on his jacket. Like this he would have his hands free if anything should happen.

They progressed in the tunnels uneventfully. Some ants that were guarding the nest made an apparition, only to be killed by the team. The fire mage made some fire balls to light the tunnels as they marched toward the center. Jinwoo watched them with indifference, also spying on the progress on the Japanese team.

While fighting Goto, he was able to place a shadow in his, as well as in some S-ranks. He did not have an eye on all of them, but it was the best he could do. Not that the shadows would be of help, should they be in danger, but Jinwoo could easily exchange places with them.

But as the ant king did not hatched, it would probably be unnecessary.

“You look bored, Sung,” the healer said from his left.

“They are working effectively, they will probably not need my help. We will see when we reach the queen.”

“Look, it’s a spawning ground!” Choi Jong-In notified them as he directed the fire balls high to light the whole cave.

“There are millions eggs,” Lim Tae-Gyu whispered. “What if they all hatch!”

“For now, let’s march toward the queen. We can kill the ants in the eggs when we are done.”

“Look!” Cha Hae-In pointed a pile of eggs in the corner of the room.

They all turned their head to face a rather strange egg.

“This one already hatched. Do you see how big it is?! What could he have contained?” Ma Dongwook trembled.

Jinwoo’s blood ran cold. The egg was probably the ant king’s. Did that mean it was already on the island?

If it happen like last time, the Japaneses are in danger, he thought.

Extending his mana discreetly to sense its mana signature, Jinwoo was unable to locate the king, only sensing the queen further in the cave.

‘Baruka, take your elves and tail the hunters outside. Protect them.’

‘Yes, my king.’

Their conversation were entirely telepathic, so it didn’t alert his comrades of his uneasiness.

“I can sense the queen down there,” Baek pointed his finger at a tunnel.

“Let’s go,” Choi Jong-In commanded.

They marched in a strategic procession. Tanks first, front and long distance fighter in second, mage, healer and cameraman last.

Jinwoo was still spying on the Japanese, but nothing was alarming. He kept an eye on them as they finally faced the queen.

Jinwoo remembered the fight, and it did go just like before.

“Oi, Mr. Sung, please go forward so we can have a better angle!” The voice of the director of the TV channel shouted in his ear.

“I won’t, it will hinder their fight,” he replied.

Jinwoo sensed one elf dying. He quickly shared his vision with another to see that three Japanese S-rank hunters died by the ant king’s attacks.

Jinwoo muttered swears and prepared to exchange place with his nearer shadow to fight. But he couldn’t. The queen just died and let out a loud cry in her death. The ant king was now coming inside the nest.

“Finally!” Ma Dongwook let a laugh come out of his mouth.

“We did it!” Cha Hae-In smiled.

Everyone was happy about their victory.

“Don’t let you guard down!” Jinwoo intervened. “There’s a mana signature coming to us. It’s even stronger than the queen.”

Just as he warned them, Choi Jong-In jolted up.

“Something just destroyed my flaming net.”

“What?”

The dreading mana of the ant king filled the cave. Everyone stilled in fear, eyeing the dark silhouette coming from the shadows. Jinwoo was ready to strike, as soon as the ant made the first move.

But the black ant only passed them like they were not worth his time. He went to the corpse of the queen. During this time, Jinwoo slowly passed the camera to Min Byung-Gyu, but the man didn’t even register the movement.

Finally, the murderous intent of the ant made him move against the hunters. That’s when Jinwoo struck.

Jinwoo was tempted to end the fight as quick as possible, but Christopher Reed’s text “Show the world what you’re capable of” was still looping in his mind. To have a legal claim on the National level, he would need to demonstrate his abilities.

So Jinwoo was ready to reveal to the world a small part of what he was capable of.

Summoning Tusk, he gave him the mission to protect the others while he faced the ant.

Jinwoo didn’t know why, but the ant was not able to talk this time. He engaged with the monster in an outstanding fight.

From the sidelines, the Korean hunters were left flabbergasted.

“I’m sorry, what the fuck am I witnessing,” Lim Tae-Gyu said loud enough for the others to hear.

“Was Sung always this strong?” Ma Dongwook wondered.

“Is that a summon?” Cha Hae-In pointed. “But he looks like a front fighter!”

“I think that’s why he was marked down as “unspecified” for his class,” Jong-In said. “The man has too many sets of skills to fit in one category.”

Goto Ryuji was frowning. He had no news on Charlie team. He was currently going to their last known position when a murderous aura filled the entire island.

“What was that?!” One of his team member asked.

“Did you feel that?” The voice of the delta team filled his earphone.

“Delta, Bravo, keep killing the ants. Team Alpha, we’re meeting Charlie and search for the source of the aura.”

“Roger,” Both teams replied.

“Goto, be careful. Our radar is ineffective,” the voice of Reiji Sugimoto who supervised the operation from a battleship at large rang, worried.

“It will be okay. Remember why we are doing this.”

“Yes. When everything is finished, you will be considered a National level hunter.”

Goto and his team arrived at the scene where the Charlie team was last registered on the Japanese’s radar. What they were met with was not something they could have imagined.

“Oh my god, they’re dead!” One said, eyeing two decapitated bodies.

“Where’s Fujishima?” Izawa asked.

They search for the last member of the team, only to find his dismembered corpse a few feet away.

“Oi, Sugimoto. What do you say? We have three fatalities now,” Goto said to his guild’s vice-master.

“Just a moment, I’m calling chairman Matsumoto.”

“Put me in touch with him.”

“Mr. Goto. After helping as much as we could, the S-rank hunters from Japan will regroup and wait for the second assault. We wish luck on the Korean hunters. What do you say?”

The man smirked. He was not really sad for their dead, they were only his stepping stone to a glorious title.

“Alpha, Bravo, Delta, you heard him. Retreat.”

“Roger.”

Goto frowned when both his team members lifted their fallen comrades from the ground. They did not have time to be sentimental, but Goto let them do nonetheless, for their peace of mind.

But until they all retreated, he couldn’t shake the idea that they were spied on.*

Jinwoo finished the ant king in a beautiful finale. He tired the ant enough in flashy moves, using only physical strength. He decapitated the ant with his skill [Mutilate] for his last strike.

While fighting, he received Baruka’s report, distracting him enough to sustain a small injury on his arm.

Injury that got healed instantly by Min Byung-Gyu once he regrouped with them. There, he was acclaimed like a king.

“Ants are coming this way, we should go,” Jinwoo said to cut short the praises.

“Already? The hour is not done. What are the Japanese hunters doing?” Ma Dongwook asked.

“They retreated after the death of three of their people. They are waiting for Korea to launch the second assault.”

“How could you know that?” Baek Yoonho questioned.

“Oh, I had some of my summons assist them in case it was too dangerous. They are giving me regular reports.”

“I’m not even asking how we didn’t saw them, I don’t want to know”, Lim Tea-Gyu snorted.

“Now, what’s the plan?” Min Byung-Gyu asked.

Choi Jong-In smiled.

“Our beast’s favorite part. We just rush in!”

Baek Yoonho didn’t even comment on the joke, already focusing on the ants coming their way.

“I can take care of them and have us quickly out.”

“You can do that?” Cha Hae-In choked.

“Hum. GET OUT.”

Summons by hundreds rose from his shadow. Igris was the first to launch the attack, quickly followed by Iron, Greed and Tusk. The four of them made a path to the exit. They were near the helicopter when they finally register how many ants were still flying around.

“Hunter Sung, do you need help?” Ma Dongwook asked.

“I will be okay. If I am not back before you, please tell the Korean Association that we won’t need to launch the second assault.”

“Wait, Sung, what are you talking about?” Baek Yoonho screamed at him when he was in the helicopter.

Jinwoo didn’t reply. He summoned shadows he couldn’t summon earlier.

Beru.

The shadow ant stood tall and proud before him, then bowed deeply. As did dozens of ants he arose last time.

“My liege. What are your orders,” the shadow asked.

Jinwoo didn’t care about the choked sound behind him.

“Kill the ants.”

“At your command.”

And the ant disappeared in the sky, leaving a trail of destructed ants behind him.

“I’m sorry, what the fuck is that?!” Lim Tae-Gyu’s swear echoed from the flying cabin.

“I will be alright, you go ahead.”

And the helicopter departed. Just before they were out of reach, Jinwoo remembered something.

“Mr. Min! You can turn off the camera hanging on you front pocket!”

Jinwoo didn’t hear what the man shouted back at him. It was unnecessary. Jinwoo watched for a while the macabre dance of Beru and Igris. The knight even called Kaisel at him to be able to kill the flying ants.

Jinwoo felt he was leaving Jeju in good hands. He shortly shared his sight with the shadow tailing Jinchul and, seeing as the man was in Go Gunhee’s office, exchanged place with him.

“What?!” The A-rank jumped when Jinwoo entered the office.

“Sung, what are you doing here?” The chairman politely asked, even if ruffled by his sudden apparition.

“It was the quickest way to come back. Is everything okay?”

The chairman only pointed the screen where Jinwoo had the pleasure to watch himself in front of the helicopter, it was about 10 minutes before coming in the office.

“The live is broadcast with a 10 minutes delay, to cut any part that would be too shocking for the population.”

“Ah, then you might want to call off the second assault, everything is taken care of.”

The chairman burst out laughing, throwing his head back. It confused Jinwoo, who glanced at a just as much confused Jinchul. But the A-rank hunter got over the sight and made calls according to Jinwoo’s speech. In the meantime, the live finished with what Min Byung-Gyu shouted at Jinwoo – what he couldn’t catch.

“How in the bloody hell did I get the camera?! Jinwoo, you better explain!”

And then the live ended.

Finally closing the dungeon gate on Jeju Island didn’t mean they were able to relax.

Jinwoo only had time to make a quick call to explain to his mother and sister that he would not be able to come back right away, before getting stuck in exhausting events.

First, all the S-ranks had to go through a tedious interview where reporters shouted questions. It pissed Jinwoo but Baek Yoonho was able to defuse the situation with diplomacy. It earned him Jinwoo’s eternal gratitude.

After this, both Hunter’s Associations had a meeting. Jinwoo wanted to attend because of what he witnessed them doing during the raid. When making his report, the chairman had a terrifying expression, making even Jinwoo sweat.

That’s why they were in a conference room, Go Gunhee, Woo Jinchul and Sung Jinwoo on one side, Goto Ryuji, Sugimoto Reiji and Hanekawa – the translator – on the other. On the screen, Matsumoto Shigeo, the chairman of the Japanese Hunter’s Association, was seated at his desk. Jinwoo has made an effort to remember their name, but he was sure that as soon as the meeting was over, he would forgot at least three names.

“Before we start the meeting, I wish for Ms. Hanekawa to leave. We won’t need a translator,” Go Gunhee said in a perfect Japanese, surprising the foreign country.

The woman bowed slightly after being ordered to wait by her boss.

“Your Japanese is impressive, Chairman Go,” Sugimoto smiled. “But will it be okay for your subordinates?”

Jinwoo didn’t react to the mocking tone addressed to them, only flashing his smile.

“I already demonstrated my fluency in you language, do not worry for me.”

“I will be able to follow our meeting just fine,” Woo Jinchul replied to the Japaneses.

The chairman didn’t waste time to talk about the contribution of the Japanese hunters, flaunting and flattering Goto’s judgments on the island and hinting at his future nomination as a National level hunter.

The Koreans let the man talk, only subtly frowning when the man insisted on how useful Goto was on the island.

“There is something I have to say, Mr. Matsumoto,” Go Gunhee intervened. “Sung Jinwoo, our S-rank hunter here, was equally impressive during this raid. That black ant who was responsible for the death of three of your hunters was a rightful menace. Mr. Goto didn’t face such enemy during his fight. So I can’t really understand where you are coming at with your monologue.”

Red crept on his face, but it was Sugimoto who answered.

“It is right to say that Mr. Sung was a major asset during the raid. It was also his first public and worldwide apparition. Congratulations, Mr. Sung, you are now a true S-rank.”

Jinwoo didn’t let the insult slide. He would have in the previous timeline, not caring about what people were thinking, but now, he wanted to make Earth a peaceful planet. And for that to happen, he would need to appear publicly, do things and defend his views.

“Please do not feel offended by what I will say, but I can’t accept congratulations from people who planned to let the Korean S-ranks die.”

Silence felt in the room, even behind the camera.

“I fear I don’t understand what you are saying, Mr. Sung,” Sugimoto’s smile was forced, skin turning sweaty.

“Please, Mr. Sugimoto, you are too intelligent not to understand what Mr. Sung just said,” the Korean chairman replied with a sharp smile.

“Slander! Go Gunhee, what are you talking about?!” The opposite chairman screamed.

“Would you understand it more if I said: After helping as much as we could, the S-rank hunters from Japan will regroup and wait for the second assault. We wish luck on the Korean hunters,” Jinwoo quoted the words of the man during the raid. It was useful to have elves with sharp hearing.

On the other side of the room, they all turned white.

“How?!” Goto chocked, speechless.

“After our very short spar,” Jinwoo explained with irony - he was tottaly goint to lie, “I feared the Japanese hunters were in danger by themselves on Jeju island. So I decided to have some of my summons accompanying them, just in case. I wouldn’t have imagined such a story to unfold during a raid that could have endanger all East-Asia.” He looked purposefully hesitant for a short while before continuing. “Baruka.”

The summoned Elf exited Goto’s shadow. He flashed the pale man a toothy smile before crossing the room and entering Jinwoo’s shadow.

After losing their pride, the meeting went smoothly, the Koreans having the advantage in negotiations. To Jinwoo’s joy, the Japanese delegation left the room with haste.

“That was satisfying,” the chairman said, collapsing in the chair.

“Did you not chew them out in the past?” Jinwoo asked.

“Last time, we had causalities before you came in. Also, there were less Japanese hunters alive back then.”

Jinwoo nodded in understanding.

“If I may ask, what happened during the last timeline?” Jinchul asked.

Jinwoo faced him.

“Min Byung-Gyu died at the ant king’s hand. That beast killed seven Japanese S-ranks before I came to the island, along with Goto.”

“You didn’t participate last time?” Jinchul was stunned.

“No, I didn’t. My mother just woke up from the Eternal Slumber disease, she needed me more and I thought that there were enough S-rank. I was weaker, back then.”

“Sung, you don’t need to feel guilty about the raid. It didn’t happen here, and it was not your fault last time,” the chairman said slowly.

Jinwoo nodded in silence.

“Now, let’s go to the best part of the day!” Go Gunhee suddenly stood up with renewed energy.

“The best part?” Jinwoo asked, confused.

“All the Korean S-ranks are celebrating the end of the Jeju raid. You are invited too, Jinwoo,” Jinchul explained with a small smile. “Please follow me.”

Jinchul left the conference room first, followed by Jinwoo and finally Go Gunhee who only chuckled.

Chapter Text

Jinchul was tired.

Technically, he didn’t do anything more than any other day. He supervised his team, made reports, monitored a heated debate between two hotheads in the assessment hall… and he assisted with the Jeju raid.

Jinchul was always careful not to let anything show on his face, always displaying a professional neutral face, even when tired. People often called him boring, and that was what he was aiming for.

He awakened as a hunter ten years ago, when the first dungeons appeared. But before becoming a full-time employee at the Association, he was very active in raids, thrilled by his new-found power. But soon, the true horror of the gates were revealed. Gates getting wrongly assessed, often having weak hunters entering high-ranked dungeons. Hunters were scarce back in the days, and gates appearance only increased. It took him nearly dying from a severe blow on the chest to realize he was better off in a background job. That’s when S-ranks were talked off for the first time, hunters capable of destroying cities on a whim, hunters that were way more powerful than the others.

Go Gunhee was never one to lose himself in power. When awakening, he was already a retired businessman. He did come back to fight and establish an organization to manage the gates and hunters. It was the very beginning of the guilds. He was the one to save him, getting him out of a dungeon when the boss was defeated, because his companions left him for dead.

Since then, Jinchul dedicated his life to the man who saved him – despite that same man not wanting him to be in his debt. Jinchul forged his mind in the nine years he was now part of the Association. He has taken care of monitoring the hunters so diligently that he got promoted to chief, then right-hand man of the chairman, unofficially.

To reach such high position, he had to wear a mask, a neutral mask which seemed to make him look as efficient as boring. To manage to keep in touch with every S-rank hunter in Korea, one needed to be proof against condescension – it was the first thing he had to learn after desperately wanting to punch Choi Jong-In the first time he met him – and against insults – that was when he met Hwang Dongsoo for the first time.

Only to say, Jinchul was sure he could put a neutral face on and work diligently, even when mentally tired like he was now. But he wasn’t fair, comparing his tiredness to what the S-ranks were probably experiencing after such a tough raid.

The other S-ranks were able to at least have two or three hours of sleep, right after coming back. Sung Jinwoo, who he guided through corridors, was not that lucky.

The man only had about an hour until he was pulled in interviews – and he made a detailed report to the chairman during this time, declining the offer of rest until it was time to talk to the reporters. His own interview lasted even longer than the other S-ranks, because Sung Jinwoo was a man no one new about, and whose powers were only revealed during this raid. The man answered as much as possible, in Jinchul’s opinion, but keeping some parts vague. Then Jinwoo attended to the meeting with Japan, only ending now, four hours after the raid.

Jinchul was nearly pitying the man who must be even more tired than him, but also admiring the fact that his face never betrayed a hint of fatigue.

“We’re there,” Jinchul automatically made the comment when facing the room where the other Korean hunters were reunited.

The party was calmer than what Jinwoo expected, and it was missing the tension because the Japanese S-ranks prefered to retreat in their hotel - they were totally fleeing after the massive humiliation Jinwoo gave them.

Not counting Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-In who tried to best each other all the time, Jinwoo was able to talk to everyone with ease. They all agreed on calling him kid, to his dismay. Only Cha Hae-In took him in pity and tried to defend him. They did not listen.

Jinwoo was unbothered by how they address him – the National level hunters already did call him that – so he accepted the name without a fight.

“Hey, kid, how did you give me the camera, back on the island?” Min Byung-Gyu asked him after pulling him in a corner of the room.

“Oh, it was when the black ant appeared. You were too frightened to react.”

“I think only you could be not bothered by the literal monster you fought,” the healer snorted, downing his glass of alcohol in one go.

Jinwoo didn’t reply, only taking small sips of his drink. He also ignored the next question about his powers. He was eyeing the entire room, bored. The others insisted he attends and stays until the end, but he would rather go find his family.

From the corner of the eye, he saw Jinchul getting pulled by a very inebriated Baek Yoonho to a table where others were seated. He watched as the man made small talk with all of them, always knowing how to flatter their ego. As he talked, he was offered a drink. At first refusing to drink, they insisted and he had no other choice than bowing in defeat and lifting his glass.

Jinwoo looked as Master Ma refilled his glass as soon as it was empty. And the scene repeated again. And again. And again. It drew the chairman’s attention – the man stayed to converse with Lim Tae-Gyu with who he had a seemingly pleasant talk. The look in Go Gunhee’s eyes when he set his gaze on his subordinate was one of concern.

And he was probably right to worry, because Jinwoo already knew what Jinchul was like after only one drink. He couldn’t imagine what it would do to the man to have five.

Jinwoo excused himself and passed by Cha Hae-In who approached him. She didn’t say a thing, shifting slightly, like she was embarrassed. Jinwoo didn't stop to talk to her, even if she was clearly dying to say something to him. It was weird how in the previous timeline, he was interested in the girl. Now, he was only feeling fond of her, like looking back at a pleasant experience. Maybe he was getting too old for this.

The Shadow Monarch came closer to the table Jinchul was seated at and placed a hand on the chief’s shoulder, taking the glass off his hand.

“I think that will be enough for tonight.”

“Oi, kid, stop spoiling the fun,” Baek Yoonho whined.

The man was also drunk, like everyone at the table. Jinwoo had no problem ignoring the man to turn to Jinchul.

The A-rank’s face was flushed, his eyes shining with hope. Clearly the man was searching for a way to escape this situation.

“Jinchul, I will drive you home,” JInwoo offered.

“It’ll be okay, Jinwoo. I can manage myself.”

“I know, but I'll insist anyway.”

Jinwoo looked at the chairman who flashed him a smile and threw him a set of keys.

“You can take one of the Association’s car. Thank you for taking care of Chief Woo.”

Jinwoo nodded and helped Jinchul standing up. While sitting, the man only appeared slightly drunk because of his red cheeks and his eyes that shone more than usual. But as he was standing up, he tripped on his feet and wobbled for a second to keep his balance.

They made their way out of the room in too much time for Jinwoo’s sake.

“Thank you for getting me out of this,” Jinchul slurred.

“My pleasure. I also wanted to quit this.”

“Your family is waiting for you, right?”

“They are waiting, even if it’s already way past their sleep time. Jinah is currently cuddling one of my shadow and my mother is pacing in the living room.”

Jinchul looked at Jinwoo with a confused expression. How could the man know exactly what his family was doing? He probably said that out loud or his question was clear on his face because the dark haired man scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. He then tapped the corner of his eye.

Oh, Jinchul thought, the spying through his shadows’ eyes. He did mention one of them being with his sister.

They walked in silence until reaching the parking where Jinwoo quickly guided him to the car matching the key Go Gunhee gave him.

“Jinwoo, I can drive myself home. Thank you for accompanying me.”

He went to grab the keys, only to be left dumbstruck as Jinwoo lifted his arm to put them out of reach. Jinchul pouted as he tried again. But it was no use, Jinwoo was half a head taller than him, and Jinchul was tipsy and lost his balance.

He thought he would land on the cold concrete of the parking, earning him a small bruise he would regret tomorrow. But the impact never came. Jinwoo’s arms encircled him to keep him standing.

“No way I’m letting you drive, Jinchul. I promised the chairman I would look after you.”

“I’m fine.”

“You can’t even stand up straight. Sit down here.”

Before he knew it, Jinchul was seated on the passenger seat. He didn’t understand how he could have gone from one side of the car to the other, from Jinwoo’s arms to the seat. It was probably for the best that he was not driving.

When the car started, the gentle pace of the drive lulled Jinchul to sleep.

Jinwoo was keeping his drive tranquil to not wake Jinchul. The man got easily convinced to be driven home.

Jinwoo admired the man, the fact that he didn’t show any fatigue in his form and face until the moment he was out of sight. Jinwoo didn’t count himself, he reduces his presence at its lowest at all time – not because he didn’t want to stand out, but because his nature as the Shadow Monarch demands it. If Jinwoo had any more presence, he was sure the Association employee wouldn’t be asleep next to him.

Jinchul was one of the people he remembers the best of the previous timeline. At first, he thought it was because the man was always efficient in his work, always providing help when he needed.

But recently, his view of the man changed. Having told the man of the past made Jinwoo realize that Jinchul was human. It was silly, to think that – because Jinchul was obviously human. But it was more of the panel of expressions the man displayed when they were sharing a meal. Before, he always thought that it would take a national crisis to faze the man, but he discovered that he was able to crack a joke, to lose his words in embarrassment, to choke on details, to drive himself to exhaustion because of work… It was fascinating to see.

Oh, I care about him, Jinwoo realized suddenly.

And looking back on his actions, it should have been crystal clear to Jinwoo. It began with a coffee for an apology, than it continued on when he noticed the man not taking care of himself. Offers of food and drinks, until they really had a meal together.

Jinwoo was grateful to have a friend like the man. Jinchul probably didn’t know of that, but Jinchul’s very own presence made Jinwoo more aware of what a normal life looked like.

The Monarch couldn’t take his thoughts further because he arrived at the A-rank’s apartment. He didn’t want to move, eyeing the man gentle breath as he slept. But the car was not comfortable to sleep in.

Should he just grab the keys and carry the man inside? It would probably be for the best. Heaven knew the man needed a well-deserved full night of sleep.

Jinwoo got out of the car and went to open the door on the passenger seat. The move made Jinchul shift. The man opened his eyes, blinking at the light coming from the streetlights.

“Are we already there?” He asked, holding a yawn back.

“We are,” Jinwoo confirmed. “Are you okay to walk?”

Jinchul nodded slowly and got out of the car. Jinwoo supported the man when they walked to the door of Jinchul’s home. Keys in hand, Jinchul opened the door and entered, followed by Jinwoo.

“Thank you for taking me back, Jinwoo. I’ll be fine now.” The man hesitated for a moment, troubling Jinwoo.

“Will you be okay?” Jinwoo didn’t understand the sudden stillness in Jinchul.

“I’m drunk, I think.” And the man fainted.

Had Jinwoo not be that fast, he wouldn’t have been able to catch the falling man.

“Jinchul?”

To his relief, the man was softly snoring. Jinwoo chuckled silently and carried the man in the apartment. Not familiar with the lay-out, he had to open two doors before finding the bedroom.

Jinwoo put the man in the bed, pausing for a second before going with what he was about to do.

The man out to be uncomfortable, sleeping in a suit. Jinwoo carefully stripped the man from his glasses and jacket. Not wanting to overstep the boundaries, Jinwoo only undid the two first buttons of the shirt before removing the shoes. He then pulled the sheets to cover Jinchul’s body.

Leaving the room, Jinwoo directed himself at the front door. He still had to lock the apartment, and then he could exchange place with a shadow to get back home. When passing near the kitchen, Jinwoo stopped with an impulsive idea.

Making sure the door was locked, he went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was nearly empty. Jinwoo sweat-dropped at the obvious proof of Jinchul’s bad health-habits and decided to change it, if only for a morning.

He took the vegetables and the small piece of meat still in there – as long with the little rice that was in the cupboard – with the intent of making a breakfast the man only would have to reheat when he wake up.

It was done in twenty minutes, prepping the ingredients, cooking and washing the dishes – all in complete silence. Jinwoo left a note on the still hot plate and finally left the apartment.

Jinah was cuddling Tank all evening and a good part of the night. She was not. In fact, she was cuddling the bear since the beginning of Jeju raid. She had watched the premises of the raid, how Choi Jong-In burned the ants coming at them, how the team progressed in the tunnels, how they faced the ant queen. From the movement of the camera, she knew Jinwoo was calm. He was always calm since the last time he was hospitalized, since he apparently reawakened. Jinah didn’t know if it was because he was strong that he didn’t react to danger, but she was inclined to think so.

She and her mother were seated on the couch, watching the raid. Her mother even let herself pet Tank for a few minutes – a major win in Jinah’s head!

They both rejoiced when the boss died. The ant queen was a nightmare, and she saw that it was a tough fight, even if she had no notion of battle herself. They were truly happy and celebrated the monster’s death.

But terror crept as Jinwoo – whom she hadn’t hear during the entire raid – started to shout not to let their guard down. She watched as the camera shifted, probably adjusted to another hunter, as the S-ranks all went to their knees because of some pressure that wasn’t perceptible on screen. Watching all of the seasoned hunter panicking was something Jinah would probably never forget. What creature would be able to terrify them all?

Then she saw a black ant closing in. And, to her absolute horror, she saw Jinwoo moving forward.

The fight was brutal, and Jinah was finally able to understand why her brother always seemed so detached from reality. He was powerful, more powerful than any other in the country. Would he be able to stand next to National levels hunters? Jinah didn’t know, but she was sure his powers were not far from theirs.

When the ant got defeated, both her and her mother let out a relived sigh. They were reassured that everything would be okay now. They watched the end of the raid, the hunters getting back to the helicopter, the swarming ants trying to attack them without being able… and the shadow ant that Jinwoo summoned.

Jinah was not stupid. She was always observant. It was a skill she needed to have when growing with a firefighter and a reckless brother. She was able to tell when it was okay to joke, when it was fine to lash out, and when it was not the time to be anything else but serious.

She already knew that these soldiers couldn’t come from nowhere. And she was quick to theorize that they were all monsters her brother had to fight and won against.

Seeing that ant, the perfect copy of the monster Jinwoo defeated, comforted her in her assumption.

The shadow ant was too quick to be caught on camera, but she saw the devastation it brought to the other ants trying to leave Jeju.

Then the live stopped.

Not knowing what to do next, her mother and her stayed seated on the couch for a couple minutes, jolting up when Jinah’s phone rang.

It was Jinwoo. “I won’t be able to come home right now,” he said. “I don’t know how long it will take. I have interviews and a meeting after this.” They stayed on the phone for ten minutes, and he answered most of their questions about his well-being, before he needed to go again.

Habits died hard so when it was time, Park Kyung-Hye cooked dinner, making sure to leave an extra portion to Jinwoo.

And they waited for his return. Jinah was cuddling Tank on the couch the entire evening, scrolling on social media and chuckling at the comments about his brother after the interview. It was funny to see people debating whether her brother was supporting one or another political party depending on his answer to the reporters – Jinah knew for a fact that his brother was not even one bit interested in politics.

She also choked on her drink when she spotted a new topic on the social medias, as to whether her brother was single or not.

She yawned several times, declining each attempt of her mother to make her go to bed. She wanted to see Jinwoo as soon as he was home, and if pulling an all-nighter was the only choice she had, then so mote it be!

Defeated, her mother took place on the other side of the couch, placing her head on Tank’s back to wait with her. And if she heard her mother snoring, she would deny it until the end.

It was way past one in the morning when something changed in the apartment. Not knowing what exactly, Jinah sat closer to Tank.

Another bear appeared in the living room, only to get replaced by her brother.

“Jinwoo!” She exclaimed.

She was immediately silenced by the hand of the man she waited for so long. Putting a finger in front of his mouth, he glanced at their mother, still asleep.

Then, he smiled and took his sister in a crushing embrace.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

Jinah wanted to reply with sarcasm, like she always did. But she couldn’t, and it was only because her face was pressed against Jinwoo’s torso, not because she was relieved to see him in the flesh. Don’t get her wrong!

When Jinah was finally able to leave his brother’s arms, she was nudged to her bedroom. She didn’t fight him. Right before closing the door behind her, Jinah saw her brother carrying their mother to her own chamber.

She finally went to sleep, appeased.

When Jinwoo woke up the next day, it was already 9. His mother hugged him tight when he entered the kitchen, and he let her for a good minute without moving.

The sun was shining, announcing a great day. Jinwoo had work to do, a guild to manage and a spamming group of National level hunters to text.

When pulling out his phone, he already knew their would be lots of messages from them.

He smiled fondly when spotting the “Thank you” Jinchul texted him.

It was indeed a great day.

Chapter Text

A whole month passed as Jinwoo carefully balanced his professional and private life. There were multiple raids he completed for the Ahjin guild, and about the double for the Association. He also made an official apparition for the TV now that Thomas Andre publicly declared him the sixth National level hunter instead of Goto.

Jinwoo chuckled as he remembered the sour expression on the Japanese’s face at the grand announcement. The man was in an interview with medias of his country, claiming that it wouldn’t be long until they released a communique declaring him a National level hunter. Jinwoo had the pleasure to see the replay of that very live emission when he learned his candidacy was rejected. Peak comedy. They dissed the man in the group chat for weeks after this.

When not being a hunter, Jinwoo had meetings with the chairman to set a course of action for the near future.

But he was just as much home with his family than he was out working. Jinwoo made a point to always come back home at 6 in the evening, saving also the Sundays for his family. At first it was only them hanging around the apartment, talking, joking, playing games. And soon, when Park Kyung-Hye was more at ease in the new society, they went out. They visited museum, they went to the restaurant, they even went to the cinema to watch a romance movie. Jinwoo appreciated these moments, it took him back to his high school days, when the three of them were not bothered to follow the dungeon activities.

“Jinwoo, what do you think of this?”

“Mom, I love it!” Jinah shouted.

They were now shopping together and their mother just exited the cabin to show them a dress.

“You look beautiful in this, mom,” Jinwoo smiled.

They left the shop with three bags of clothes, one for each of them – Jinah insisted Jinwoo needed to renew his wardrobe. They continued to stroll in the center of Seoul with joy.

They finally settled in an ice cream shop, enjoying dessert.

“Jinwoo, thank you for coming with us today.”

“You don’t need to thank me, mom. I like spending time with you.”

“So I’m the third wheel, right?” Jinah snorted.

Jinwoo sighed before pinching his sister’s cheek.

“Ouch! Jinwoo, stop that!”

Jinah looked at her mother in a silent cry for help, but she only chuckled with fondness.

“You are good siblings. I am glad you got closer.”

Jinah and Jinwoo stayed silent, both thinking alike. They didn’t have the choice but to grow closer. Four years ago, Jinah entered her teenager age and rebelled, and Jinwoo just got fired from his job as a workman for a construction company. It didn’t help that their mother drifted to coma at the time. They had their fair share of fights, and neither wanted to be in the wrong.

It took Jinwoo nearly dying in a dungeon for them to realize they only had each other now. Jinwoo went hunting in dungeons, because he wanted his sister to succeed. And Jinah offered an olive branch as she took over the household chores – minus the cooking until she was fifteen, and she only wanted to make fried chicken.

“Jinwoo is the best brother ever,” Jinah genuinely smiled and lay her head on Jinwoo’s shoulder.

“And you’re the best sister,” Jinwoo replied, patting gently her head.

Park Kyung-Hye smiled at the scene.

They spend the rest of the day with each other.

Jinwoo eyed his phone suspiciously.

He was currently at the guild, preparing a press release with Soohyun about his powers. The reporters took the hint and let him rest after the Jeju raid, but the population was curious about him. Their were talks of him being the rumored sixth National level hunter – because Thomas Andre released a testament of denying the rank to Goto Ryuji. The reporters had a series of questions they sent them and they were now deciding how to answer each of them.

However, his phone was ringing. Not the standard of the guild, his personal one. And none of his contacts were supposed to call at this time. The number was one Jinwoo didn’t recognized.

“Yes?”

“Sung, this is Go,” the voice of the chairman echoed in the phone.

“Sir?”

“Pardon me, I called with my private phone because I am not in my office.”

“No problem, what is it?” Jinwoo frowned. It was highly irregular for the man to do so.

“We are in a problematic situation, Sung. I’ll be concise. One of the D-rank hunters team reported a double dungeon.”

“And?” Jinwoo was confused. A double dungeon was not uncommon, even if it only concerned about 5% of the low-level dungeons. The probability of the double dungeon being higher than B-rank was unlikely.

“We reached for a stronger team, but they were not able to progress in the dungeon. We also reached for the White Tiger Guild, but even Baek Yoonho was unable to open the door of the dungeon.”

That made Jinwoo jump on his feet. He knew of something similar. “I’m coming right away.”

He ended the call after being given the location. The man walked to the door and took his coat.

“Boss? What about the press release?” Soohyun asked from her seat.

“Please make a draft for each question. If you don’t know how to answer one, write a general direction of what answer would be acceptable. I don’t know for how long I will be out. If I’m not back by lunch, you can go home.”

“Okay!”

Jinwoo took his car and drove to the abandoned construction site where the double dungeon was reported. Avoiding the traffic jams on the highway, it still took Jinwoo half an hour to arrive.

“Sung!” The chairman spotted him as soon as he entered the site.

Jinwoo had time to think when driving. A double dungeon closed to all was something he remembered from his old timeline. And if he was right, then this dungeon was the very same he entered to meet the Architect – Kandi-something, he didn’t remember his name.

It was a twisted joke, for the dungeon being on a construction site, mirroring the very first time he did raid this dungeon with a D-rank team.

“How high is this dungeon ranked?” Jinwoo asked as he saw an Association employee with the tool to measure the mana.

“It still register as a D-rank dungeon, Mr. Sung,” one employee answered.

Just as he was about to enter himself, Baek Yoonho left the gate, looking irritated. They were standing face to face and the scowl on the beast master face deepened.

“So they called you, kid. These doors are so resistant that I got bruised by punching them. They didn’t even move!”

“I will go there and see for myself.”

“Yeah, but don’t be too surprised if you can’t even scratch them.”

Jinwoo didn’t react to the man’s sour mood and entered the gate alone. He was met with a cave-like dungeon, a typical setting in lower dungeons. He walked in the tunnels, only stopping when facing the doors.

They were the same, the exact same doors. He saw these two times already, he wouldn’t misremember them. That was the Architect’s lair.

Putting a hand on the doors, Jinwoo flared his mana. The doors opened immediately, like on a spring. He entered.

It didn’t change one bit from his memories. Jinwoo eyed the god-like statue seated on its throne and passed it like nothing to face the statue holding the Carthenon commandments.

Hurried footsteps echoed in the tunnels and Jinwoo faced the three people entering the room. Go Gunhee, Woo Jinchul, and Baek Yoonho. All three were agape at the sight of him in this room.

“How did you do that?” Yoonho asked.

“So this is the statues of the double dungeon,” Jinchul muttered, looking at his surroundings.

“Is this the final boss?” Go Gunhee presumed as he looked at the tallest statue.

Jinwoo returned his gaze to the hooded statue.

“Hey there, Architect.”

The statue moved. “Hello, Ashborn’s successor. No, Sung Jinwoo.”

Jinwoo didn’t pay attention to the surprise of the humans, only focusing on the statue.

“It’s our third encounter now, Sung Jinwoo. Albeit, it’s the first one where you are in full possession of your powers.”

“Why did you call me here?” Jinwoo asked.

And it was a wonder. The key was not in his inventory, he shouldn’t be able to be here. And the dungeon was under the Architect authority. From his speech, the being was remembering the previous timeline. He should have no reason to come back on Earth.

“You are commendable, Sung Jinwoo. No one else would have achieve what you did. You even turned back time to have a chance to shut the dungeons down before they started to appear on Earth…”

Jinwoo had a hard time not focusing on the choke of Baek Yoonho behind him. He could only pray for the three of them to be the only one listening to this conversation.

“But you got betrayed. They didn’t let you come back as far as you wanted.”

“What are the Rulers’ motive, Architect. Why did they do that?”

“Ah, demanding answers, that’s a trait of a king. You live up to expectations, Sung Jinwoo.”

“Answer me.” And if Jinwoo let mana into his tone, he couldn’t be held accountable.

“Should I test your resolve, Sung Jinwoo?” The amused voice of the being pierced his ears. “You want to save humanity as a whole. But are you able to do so?”

Without a sign of the creator of the system, the statues moved. The god-like one stood up and marched towards the three humans. As they tried to leave the room, the doors shut down before them.

“Tsk,” Jinwoo said while getting ready to strike.

But he couldn’t move, his feet glued to the ground.

“Oh no, Sung Jinwoo, you will not destroy my statue right now. Let him have his fun,” the Architect’s voice singsonged.

Jinwoo watched as Jinchul’s face paled and he decided he couldn’t let it be. If he couldn’t go, then his summons would do the work.

Last time, the system prevented him from summoning his army. But Jinwoo took control of the system, and he shut it down. There was nothing the Architect could pull to prevent him from using them.

“Bellion,” Jinwoo commanded.

“I will take care of this, Your Majesty.”

The Grand Marshal of his army rose for the first time in this timeline. He was magnificent, standing taller than the statue itself. Bellion unsheathed his sword and stroke down.

A single strike pierced the statue and severed its head. The second one made sure to reduce the enemy to dust. The third and last one, wider in range, took care of all the minor statues of the room.

It all happened in less than five seconds. From terrorized, the three humans grew confused, then admiring.

“What the… Sung, what was that?”

“Jinwoo, who is that shadow?”

Jinwoo, who miraculously was now able to move, went to Jinchul’s side.

“This is Bellion,” he introduced him. “He is my strongest shadow.”

“Wait, you have stronger shadows than that red knight?” Baek Yoonho asked, incredulous.

“Jinchul, are you okay?”

The A-rank trembled as he lifted his gaze toward him. He smiled a little but it didn’t reassure Jinwoo.

“Absolutely fabulous,” the being whispered but his voice echoed in the room. “To think you would be strong enough to pull out of my grasp.”

“I already did before,” Jinwoo commented as he returned to the Architect. “Now answer my question before I repeat what happened last time.”

“You’re an impatient one, Shadow Monarch… No, you are not the Shadow Monarch, you are different,” the being frowned. “What have you done in this new timeline?”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow. Was he talking about the fact that he had the demon heart of Baran? And did he want to answer it?

“You reeks of Baran, Sung Jinwoo. Why does the Demon Monarch’s mana merge with yours?”

Looks like cat’s out of the bag regardless, Jinwoo thought. Kandi-something could probably explain why I had to fight Baran a second time.

“I defeated Baran.”

“I know this, you did so to complete the Tower,” the angel statue dismissed his answer.

“No, I defeated him a second time.”

“How? The Tower of Demons is unreachable. I took the key from you.”

“I was hoping you had the answer. He appeared in another double dungeon.”

“This is highly irregular, Sung Jinwoo.”

“Now answer me, Architect. Why did you call me here?”

The being stayed silent and Jinwoo was thinking he had to punch the statue again to have him answer, but he was cut short by the angel leaving his rock envelop to appear in his original form.

“The Rulers are agitated”, the being started in an eerie voice. “I was supposed to prepare you for welcoming Ashborn’s memories. But you transcended the vessel and you took all power for yourself. Then you reversed the timeline. I was not sure what happened, but I had the idea that you used the Cup of Reincarnation. After this, I went to the Rulers.”

Jinwoo didn’t say a word, even when the being – who looked closer to a Ruler than a basic angel – paused to think.

“They are talking about meeting you, to explain what went wrong.”

“So I am supposed to walk down straight to this trap? They betrayed me, at the end.”

“They did not, that I am sure of. I wouldn’t push you to meet them if I wasn’t sure of that. I hold too much respect and loyalty towards Ashborn to make his successor walk into a trap.”

“And where should I find them? Aren’t they supposed to use humans as vessels right now?”

“You’ve seen them before, Sung Jinwoo,” his interlocutor tutted. “The fragment of light inside the seven humans are only that, a mindless fragment of their power. They are waiting for you in the dimension rift.”

Jinwoo resisted the urge to rub his forehead. It was way more complicated that what he anticipated. But it did make things easier to bear. He didn’t know how he would do if he had to kill the holders of the fragments, they were all somewhat his friends for now.

“And when are they expecting me?” Jinwoo asked, thinking that the Architect was now reduced to the glorified secretary of the Rulers.

“Time flows differently in the dimension rift, Sung Jinwoo. If you want to truly compare, you could say they are already waiting for decades for you to come.”

Jinwoo was thrown off by the number. It was too big to even wrap his head around. Compared to this, only a month and a half passed since his reincarnation.

“I’ll go soon,” Jinwoo said.

And then, Jinwoo witnessed the being making a genuine smile. How come?

“Thank you, Sung Jinwoo. Your dedication to Earth is praiseworthy. I am sure the Rulers will listen to your plea for this planet.”

Oh, the being got him wrong.

“Who said it was a plea?” His mana bursts to respond to his anger, engulfing the room in a breathless atmosphere. The angel shivered.

“You tell the Rulers to be ready for me, because if they try to pull another stun like before, I will end them one by one.”

And the being fled. Jinwoo took deep breaths to calm down, and only then he heard the chokes of the three people standing behind him.

“Shit.”

The Monarch faced them, cursing again when he saw them on their knees, shaking at the pressure. In front of them bowed Bellion, shielding them from his inconsiderable power. They at least endured only half of his mana.

“Sorry, I lost my temper. How are you feeling?”

The chairman was the first to get his composure back. He nodded to the man before looking at the two others, still on the ground.

“We need to get out of the dungeon,” Go Gunhee said with a brittle voice.

Jinwoo called Bellion back in his shadow and carried Jinchul in his arms. After a second, he turned to the beast to see the chairman hopping him on his right shoulder. Both made their way back quickly, as the dungeon already started to shut down.

Outside of the gates, they were met with flashes. Reporters from left to right were restrained by the Hunter’s Association’s employees.

“Sir! Mr. Sung!” A few called upon seeing them.

They were silently directed to a remote area devoid of paparazzi. Jinwoo let Jinchul down and the man was finally able to stand straight. He had a faint blush on his face from the embarrassment of getting carried in someone’s arms. Baek Yoonho also was standing, his face still white as a sheet.

“Sung, thank you for today,” the chairman said. “Should I expect you to take a small vacation to go on your journey?”

“I still don’t know when I will go, sir. But I’ll be sure to inform you of my departure.”

“Please be careful, Jinwoo. From what you’ve told me, they are not to be taken lightly.”

“Could we please talk like I’m not the only one out of the loop?” Baek Yoonho chose this moment to intervene.

Jinwoo sighed and faced the man.

“Everything you witnessed falls under discretion, Guild master Baek.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt it. I’m not dumb, kid, but I can’t grasp what the boss was saying. What was that, reversing time? Are you a time traveler?”

“That is for me to know, and for you to wonder. I’ll now take my leave.”

As Jinwoo was leaving, he stopped at the beast hunter words.

“I don’t know what happened to the world for you to take such drastic measures, but thank you.”

Jinwoo left with a smile.

Going back to the guild, Jinwoo wrapped things quickly. It was already the middle of the afternoon so he was alone in the premises. Jinwoo took the draft Soohyun left him and approved or changed some parts. He was done in an hour.

Going home was something Jinwoo had trouble with today. His mind was already planning his leave, and he didn’t know for how long he would be out of reach. Doing this to his mother and sister was cruel, but necessary for peace in this world.

“Jinwoo, you are back early,” his mother smiled from her seat.

Park Kyung-Hye was reading the newspaper, the page was open at a hunter-related article. It surprised Jinwoo, the woman never wanted to hear about dungeons before.

“What are you reading, mom?”

“Oh, this is a report on Thomas Andre. He is the strongest hunter on Earth, after all. I was just staying on the loop, like Jinah would say.”

Jinwoo debated as to whether tell his mom that it was outdated, but stayed silent. There was no need to draw attention on him now, not when he had to tell her later that he would be out of reach for some time.

“Oh, Jinwoo, you’re back!” Jinah shouted from the front door.

“Hello, Jinwoo,” a familiar voice greeted him. “Madam Park.”

“Oh, hello there Song-Yi,” the woman greeted with a joyful smile. “How are you?”

Jinwoo turn his head to face the two girls. It was not Jinah’s first time bringing a friend home, but it was quite some time since he’s seen that friend of hers.

“Song-Yi,” he said with a short nod.

“Fancy seeing you again! Jinho always complain about you not always saying where you leave!”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow. He didn’t know that Jinho and Song-Yi were still hanging out.

“Didn’t you say you pulled out of being a hunter?”

“Oh, I’m not entering dungeons anymore,” Song-Yi said. “But Jinho’s still a friend! We totally should grab a drink sometimes!”

“You’re underage,” Jinwoo smiled.

“Then it’s settled! I’ll text you the time and place!” She singsonged without listening to him.

Jinwoo had the disturbing idea that she did willingly. He watched as the two teenagers went to Jinah’s room to study.

Jinwoo couldn’t announce to his family that he was leaving Earth this night. It took him almost a week to disclose it. But he couldn’t save time anymore, because the Monarchs would soon start to target the National levels – even if these events only happened several months from now. During the week, he stayed in constant alert for any distress call from one of the National levels. He knew that last time, Christopher was the first one targeted, but they could change their plans.

Sighing loudly, Jinwoo draw the attention of Jinchul who was guiding him through the Association building.

“Is something wrong, Jinwoo?”

“I have yet to tell my family that I’m leaving…”

“Are you struggling on how to formulate it?”

“Yes, I know mom is not gonna like it. Neither will Jinah.”

“Do you… I’m probably overstepping, but do you want someone from the Association to cover for you?”

I can cover for you, Jinwoo understood, and it made him smile.

“No, but thank you for offering. You are already overworked, please make sure you don’t collapse while I’m away.”

Jinchul snorted, making three members of the surveillance team stare in disbelief. It was probably the first time they saw the man display some emotion at work.

“I survived until now, it will be fine.”

“Please don’t be offended if I don’t take your word for it.”

They lightly joked until they reached the chairman’s office. It was Jinwoo’s last appointment before leaving for the dimension rift. During the meeting, they talked about the preparations Jinwoo made for his leave, along with what would change since he couldn’t be here – dungeon breaks were vastly spoken of. At last, Jinwoo was able to leave the building feeling at ease. Everything would be taken care of.

Now, onto the worst part of the day.

Jinah knew instantly when she came back that something was wrong. It was not the relaxed posture of her mother that made her worry, but rather her jumpy brother sitting on the couch.

After four years observing her brother dive into dangerous dungeons, she picked on his habits. Jumping his left leg was a clear sign of his nervousness.

And that meant neither her nor her mother would like what he did or was about to do.

It took the whole dinner for Jinwoo to open his mouth – another sign of his tension, because Jinwoo was never this silent.

“I’m going somewhere tomorrow,” he started.

Jinah frowned. “It’s Saturday, tomorrow.”

Implied, it was their family day, when they spend time with each other. None of them deviated from the rule since their mother woke up.

“Where are you going?” The older woman asked.

And Jinah understood that their mother was genuinely curious, not picking on the oddity of his announcement.

“I’m… it’s difficult to say.”

“A dungeon?” She pressed.

Jinah was stunned at her mother. She hadn’t hear her talk about dungeons, ever. But the even reaction of Jinwoo at the question indicated that it was not the first time she talked about them.

“No, it’s… worse in a sense.”

Jinah stayed silent, as did her mother. They both looked at Jinwoo who avoided their eyes.

“Jinwoo,” Jinah started, “is it some sort of S-rank mission?”

The man closed his eyes.

“It has something to do with the hunters and the dungeons, but I’m not raiding tomorrow.”

“Okay, so how long will it take? Could you bring fried chicken for the evening?”

It was not the first time Jinwoo would disappear for the day. One time, he even disappeared for two days. And Jinah would be damned if she didn't make a profit from their deal. But every though about the “fried chicken deal” left her mind when she heard the answer.

“I don’t know when I will be back.”

“But, Jinwoo,” their mother tried in a slow voice, “it wouldn’t take more than a few days, right?”

“I… it could be days, weeks, months… I don’t know…”

Years, Jinah heard. It could take years for him to come back.

She had enough. Standing up, Jinah left the kitchen. She didn’t make a sound and also silently closed the door of her bedroom.

After this, she couldn’t remember how she ended on her bed, in her pajama, but she was now clenching at her pillow.

How could Jinwoo do this? How could he say he will leave? She knew, objectively, that he would one day move out of the apartment, because he was a grown 24 years old man. But for him to announce that he would leave the next day, it was cruel. On top of it, it would be for something dangerous. For him to be this careful when he told them it will be even more dangerous than the Jeju raid.

Jinah felt the paw of Tank patting her back, but she evaded the touch. Right now, she was angry at her brother, and she didn’t want his shadow soldier to comfort her.

She heard gentle knocks at her door.

“Leave me alone!” She screamed at Jinwoo – because he was the one always coming to her.

“Jinah, please let me in,” the pleading voice of her brother was nearly quiet.

The teenager stayed in bed, rolling as to face away from the door. She would not open her door, and her brother was respectful of her personal space.

“Jinah, please.”

Another minute passed without her moving. She was not a hunter, she didn’t have any abilities, but she almost could sense Jinwoo behind the door.

It irritated her, so she left her bed and opened her door in a powerful swing. To her dismay, Jinwoo didn’t stumble, even if his body posture indicated that he was previously leaning against said door.

“What?” Her voice came out annoyed – perfect to convey all her resentment.

Resentment that melted like ice under the sun when two strong arms pulled her in a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m sorry to only tell you now. I wanted to talk about it for a week. I’m sorry.”

Jinah was still angry at her brother, she was. But she also detected the tremble of his arms around her. And again, she could decrypt his behavior.

More than nervous, he was terrified. She could tell, because it was the very same habit from when he was about to raid a dungeon, months before.

“Will you be okay?” She softly asked.

Oh, she was not angry anymore.

“I will be, but it’s gonna be dangerous, more than any other dungeon I ever did. But always remember that as long as Tank is with you, that means that I’m well.”

“Will you remember me, when you are going?”

“Always.” And his voice didn’t falter, it even hold a strong resolve in it.

“Fried chicken when you come back?” She asked.

Jinwoo laughed, his laugh muffled by Jinah’s body.

“Double portion for you.”

Jinah closed her eyes. She was not reassured, but she won’t let worry eat her out.

“I’ll be waiting for you with a pink sign to welcome you back.”

“Sure. You can even add glitter,” Jinwoo chuckled.

By a combination of the warm body, the gentles shakes of Jinwoo’s shoulders, and his comforting body odor, Jinah was lulled to sleep.

Chapter Text

Jinwoo checked on his belongings one last time. The sun had yet to rise, but it would not matter for him. He had a last call to make before going, and the man he wanted to talk to was very much awake at this time.

Dialing a familiar number, Jinwoo gazed around the living room.

Last night started awfully, but it ended peacefully. Jinwoo was thankful for his mother taking things well. It could have gone wrong way too many times the day before. On the other hand, his sister’s reaction was one he didn’t anticipate.

She was always taking things lightly before, not worrying when he disappeared, sometimes for a week. He couldn’t understand where this sudden behavior came from. Unfortunately, he couldn’t investigate more. She did see reason late at night, but he knew she will have a difficult time. So before leaving, he renewed Tank’s order to protect and support her. As long as the bear was there, they would know he was alright – Jinwoo tried really hard not to think about what they would think if Tank suddenly disappear.

“Hey there, Jinwoo. Tired of Korea? Do you want to come here?” The familiar voice came from the phone.

“Hey there Thomas.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” The man instantly ask. “You always threaten me somehow.”

“I have a favor to ask, Thomas.”

“A favor? Jinwoo, what are you planning?”

“I’m… going to the Rulers.”

Silence. Jinwoo waited for Thomas to react.

“Okay, what do you want me to do?”

“Can you… I mean, I’m going to the Rulers to know what happened with the Cup of Reincarnation. I’m ready to fight them, but I don’t think it will leads to that…”

“Jinwoo, you’re stalling. Stop being nervous and tell me.”

Jinwoo smiled. Thomas was not one to lose time over things, whether they are important or trivial.

“I want you to protect Korea while I’m not there.”

“Heh, you sure are something!”

“Please.”

“Don’t fret, kid. I’m down. You are literally going in the dimension rift to save humanity, I can endure protecting your cherished country. But I won’t work for free.”

“Sure, ask me what you want.”

“We’ll see that later, it will depend on how much I have to work. When do you plan to leave?”

“In an hour.”

Jinwoo heard Thomas’ whistle through the phone.

“You sure don’t waste time. And for how long?”

“That’s the catch, I don’t know.”

“Not cool, what will I say to the others? Chris is gonna piss himself if he know you’re not here to protect him from his bad jokes.”

“Nah, Jonas will take the role.”

“Sure, he will be the first to lead a rebellion against me.”

“You managed before I played referee, you will be fine without me.”

“Sure. But, Jinwoo, please be careful.”

Jinwoo felt his heart clench at this. Thomas was a good friend.

“I will do all I can to come back.”

Jinwoo then ended the call. It was time to go.

The dimension rift was all Jinwoo expected, just as it was all he didn’t expect. It was a strange feeling. His body and mind were understanding where he set foot, but his reason couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching… It was so confusing it gave him a headache.

The dimension rift didn’t have any sort of shape Jinwoo recognized, even if his inherited memories guided him on an invisible path. Jinwoo didn’t even know if the cold he was feeling was due to an external factor or if it was his own feeling.

He drifted in there for what appeared to be days, but is perception was wrong, he just knew.

“You are here, Sung Jinwoo,” a voice echoed.

Jinwoo felt the dimension spin – and what an uneasy feeling that was – until he finally sensed a hard floor under his feet.

Lifting his head, the Shadow Monarch’s gaze was met by another. It was a glowing gold pair of eyes, in which power coiled. Jinwoo knew to whom it belonged.

“Rulers,” he greeted the beings with a cold voice.

Six of them were standing before him. It felt wrong, because they were supposed to be seven in total. He assumed a wary posture before them.

And he nearly lost his stance when the Rulers did something he couldn’t even dream of.

They bowed.

More than that, they kowtowed before him.

“We are humbly demanding your pardon, Sung Jinwoo,” the one at the front said.

Jinwoo stayed silent, still processing what was happening. There seemed to be more than what he was aware of.

“Why?” He only asked.

“We have failed you, Sung Jinwoo. We have failed you so bad. We failed to see there was a traitor within our rank. It led to your suffering…”

Jinwoo automatically raised a hand to stop the being’s speech. It was reflex from when Jinho started to ramble. But instead of being outraged, the Ruler obediently shut up. Looking back, it was unnerving to have such prideful creature obeying him. He should probably try to be less commanding for now, because he was not ready to fight in a battle before having some sort of answer.

“I’m here for answers, not half-arsed apologies.”

The Rulers slowly stood up. They were just like Jinwoo remembered them. Tall, angelic-shaped warrior, a mask to cover their face and long ethereal veil to cover their bodies. And if Jinwoo was not aware that they had only a mana-based body, he could have mistake it for an organic form.

“You are angry at us, it is understandable. But would you be agreeable letting us explain what happened?”

Jinwoo nodded. Sensing it would probably be a long and tedious story, he coiled his mana around himself and made a chair for him to sit. Albeit, the chair looked more like a throne than a regular kitchen chair. The Rulers did the same.

“First of all, you have to trust us when we say that we genuinely wanted to let you use the Cup as you intended…”

“You are demanding my trust?” Jinwoo sneered. “The only thing that prevent me from tearing you apart is my desire for answers.”

One of the Rulers jumped from his seat, only to get stopped by another one.

“Brother, let’s calm down”, one of the Ruler said to the jittery one. “His anger is legitimate.”

“It doesn’t give him the right to treat us like this,” he seethed.

After a whisper from one to another, he calmed down and sat back, apparently sulking. Jinwoo didn’t stop to think about these powerful beings displaying emotions. It was different from what he or Ashborn remembered.

“We are hoping for you to trust us,” their leader said. “We never planned to poison you.”

“So what happened, then?”

“One of us was… different. If you can access Ashborn’s memories, you should know that the absent Ruler is our youngest after you.”

The fact that the Ruler pointed the exact disturbing feeling of Jinwoo made him jumpy. On the outside, he didn’t let anything show, but his internal turmoil raised high.

“Where is he?” Jinwoo asked in an even voice.

“He is dead. We killed him.”

The ease of the revelation made Jinwoo frowned. The Rulers were inconsistent with their show of emotions. That was a behavior Ashborn was familiar with, but it was still unnerving when they previously displayed something akin to human empathy.

“We understood that something went wrong the moment you mana flared after drinking the Cup. That, and the hateful glare you threw us made us realize that we were deceived. But we couldn’t immediately probe because reality shifted. We went back, all with our memories. And our youngest confessed.”

There was a pause in the story, but Jinwoo didn’t let him the time to gather more, his glare – which he was sure was glowing with mana – urged the being to resume his explanation.

“I don’t know what went in his head. He started laughing like a madman, as you would say on Earth. He confessed having put poison in the Cup. He said it was to protect us all. He was confusing, and we think power corrupted him.”

“You were all alive during all this time. How could you say you haven’t notice this shift in his behavior?” Jinwoo frowned.

“We were alive, but you were not, Sung Jinwoo,” their leader said. “Nothing but the Monarchs were threatening peace. Your awakening shattered the balance of the war.”

“But if Ashborn was the one returning, he would have sided with you,” Jinwoo notified. “You were aware of the Monarchs’ betrayal.”

“We were, but I think we also knew Ashborn would not come back. He made it clear, in our last encounter, that he will do nothing for us after being reborn.”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow. This was a part of the memories he couldn’t recover. He knew that there was more of the last war than what he could remember, but he hadn’t been able to recover the memories of this. And it was likely he wouldn’t be able to recover them at all.

“Then, that Ruler was afraid that, after I came back at full power, I would come to kill you. Is that what you are trying to say?”

“It is.”

Silence, again. It didn’t bother either of them. Jinwoo was still eyeing them with caution, but he was tempted to trust them, if only on this.

“We are glad that you didn’t die, Sung Jinwoo. Even if the Cup was not fully effective, you already righted some wrongs on your planet,” another Ruler said.

“What are you planning now?” Jinwoo asked. “I won’t let you use Earth to house the war.”

“We are aware, Sung Jinwoo. We have been thinking of relocating our war in another dimension…”

“And you will cause more problem for them, “Jinwoo frowned. “Relocating the war only means bringing misery to other dimensions.”

“But it will preserve Earth, Sung Jinwoo. Isn’t that what you wanted in the first place?”

Jinwoo was stuck. On one hand, he was pleased to hear that Earth would not house the war, but on the other, he couldn’t picture it. The rational part of his mind was pleased to know Earth would not suffer from the war – at least from the Ruler’s side – but another part of him didn’t like that they would make another dimension suffer from a war they didn’t ask for.

It was a new feeling. Well, he could probably link it to empathy, but it was something Jinwoo didn’t feel – at least not for strangers. Since that first time ever in the Carthenon Temple, Jinwoo changed his mindset. He focused on facts rather than personal affect. Even when he decided to work with Jinho, it was a decision made purely on how useful it would be… Jinwoo slowly became more and more detached from his emotions… until he came back in time. Since coming back, he was looking at life differently. He was doing things that wouldn’t even cross his mind in the fist timeline. He didn’t know what changed, but it made his life easier…

He should probably think of this at a later time, because the Rulers were still looking at him expectantly. He choose to drift from the topic of war for now.

“What about the vessels of the fragments of light on Earth? What would happen to them?”

“Fragments were already given, Sung Jinwoo. We can’t take them back, they are not ours anymore. We are linked to the humans hosting our powers, but we are not able to control them.”

“And the fragment of the traitor? Is the human able to survive you?”

Jinwoo knew each of the seven vessel of the fragment of light, he wanted to protect them just like he wanted to protect humanity. But the deep sigh of the Rulers made his blood run cold.

“The fragment can’t survive for long without us. In your timeline, it could stay alive for three months, but he would die after this. He should have been able to sense the change, so he knows he is dying.”

“Which… What’s the name of the human hosting it?” Jinwoo swallowed with difficulty.

“We can’t tell you, Sung Jinwoo. Upon your return, you would be able to sense the similarities with each of our mana signature, and you will be able to know who is hosting its power. But we are bound by our own rules, we can’t disclose this information.”

Jinwoo already listed the people who hosted the fragments. As far as he remember, he only met two vessels in this timeline, Go Gunhee and Thomas Andre. Neither of them hosted the fragment of the betrayer. It eased his mind, if only a little.

“Sung Jinwoo,” one of them started. “We want to address something we were trying to avoid…”

The being was hushed by panicked whispers. The little commotion digressed in a hissed argument, two parties were fighting regarding whether asking him something or not. Jinwoo flared his mana in annoyance. He also nearly laughed at their stillness after his fit.

“What is this about?”

“Your mana feel different,” one said, the same one who tried to ask the first time.

“How so?” Jinwoo pried.

Seeing as he was not angry at the question, but rather curious, they dared ask further.

“You give off the same mana as always, it is your identity as the Shadow Monarch. But… it seems to merge with another mana, one we can’t recognize… Well, it feels familiar, but also foreign. Would you mind telling us what that is?”

Jinwoo internally debated on whether revealing this or not. It could either alleviate them or freak them out – Jinwoo thought it would be the latter.

“It is no wonder, you haven’t sensed this mana since the last battle. This is the mana of Baran.”

“The Demon Monarch?” One of the Rulers chocked.

“Yes. When I talked to the Architect, he said he didn’t know why I was able to absorb the source of his power. Do you know of something related to this?”

It was more of an order than a request for information.

“We don’t know, Sung Jinwoo. But this power you have could be of help,” their leader said.

“Explain,” the hard voice of Jinwoo echoed.

“Even if we relocate the war, the Monarchs will come to Earth to kill our vessels. They wouldn’t stop just because we assured they couldn’t host our consciousness.”

Jinwoo was thinking alike. And he also picked on the subtlety of their request.

“You want to use me to kill all Monarchs before they can wreak havoc on Earth.”

Silence of the Rulers, it worked like an agreement. One, the jumpy one from before, broke the silence.

“You stated before using the Cup that you wanted to end their life before the apparition of the gates. We don’t think that being back at the wrong time changed your plans.”

“You being able to absorb the other Monarch source of power could guarantee us the victory in this never ending war,” their leader summarized. “It also gives you a huge advantage on them.”

The meeting felt like hours long, it tired Jinwoo. But he was also level-headed and he already knew what he would do next.

“I will fight the Monarchs in the dimension rift or on their territory. With my ability to absorb their power, I will completely destroy them. But I will grow more and more powerful as time pass. Are you going to be okay with this, or should I prepare myself for your betrayal?”

“We only want peace, Sung Jinwoo. We don’t want to start a war against you,” the leader of the Rulers assured.

Jinwoo had enough of talking for now, he stood up and invoked a gate to his own shadow realm. He had plans to make. In his shadow, he could already sense Bellion and Igris make preparations. Some of his soldiers were also calling for blood.

“We thank you for your devotion, Sung Jinwoo. We are glad you can find it in you to trust us,” their leader bid him farewell.

Oh, Jinwoo almost snorted. It felt like a pattern, having beings misinterpreting his actions. He couldn’t let this slide.

“I don’t trust you fully,” Jinwoo said, flaring his mana without restrictions. He watched as the Rulers all fumbled at the massive power he displayed. “Be true to your words and stay out of Earth business. If you don’t, I will make sure to end you, one after another.”

He didn’t stay to witness their agreement, he made his point clear.

After entering the shadow realm, he was met with all his elites bowing to him.

“We are ready for war, Your Majesty,” Bellion said.

“Great, we will go into battle as soon as we have a plan.”

Jinwoo internally addressed a word of apology to his friends and family. It seems like his journey would be even longer that what he first thought. He was glad he didn’t say anything about when he was expecting to return.

Chapter Text

Jinchul went through a quiet day. And it rattled him.

A quiet day was not ordinary for him. The last time he had a true normal day was when he was attending college, 10 years ago. After becoming a hunter – and above all a high-ranked hunter like him – no one could say a day was quiet.

It began with a coffee and some pastries. Jinchul let his mind wander. Gone were the noises of the city, gone were the cloudy sky, all he was seeing and hearing was Jinwoo, giving him his accustomed breakfast.

Jinchul had no shame admitting that he missed the man. Not only for the breakfast routine, but also for their conversations, their jokes, their laughs…

Oh, I like him a lot, he realized.

And it’s a wonder how he didn’t realize this sooner. It was, after all, already two weeks since he disappeared from Earth.

Jinchul was still thinking of the man when he entered his office. He couldn’t say he wasn’t anxious, because he hadn’t heard of a shadow wandering to comfort him for a week now.

But regardless, everything he was thinking about their tenth S-rank disappeared when he faced the amount of work he had to go through.

His office hours were as quiet as they could be. No drama at the monitoring center, no hunter dying in one of the dungeons, no S-rank pulling stunts to irritate him… if every day of work could be this peaceful, Jinchul might sign himself for a paranoia diagnosis.

Because a quiet day like this was always the premises of a catastrophe. Jinchul only had to relive last week to understand that if a day was quiet, its evening would host as much chaos as it can, nearly driving him to insanity.

Contrary to his habits, Jinchul left his office as soon as he could. He was never one to be reluctant to work overtime, but not today. If something chaotic would unfold this evening, he might as well prepare for it by napping for a short time.

Entering his apartment, Jinchul went straight to the shower. After half an hour under the hot steam without being able to relax, he exited the cabin to put on comfortable clothes. Today, he opted for white pants and a light purple sweatshirt. If his subordinates could see him, they would probably be speechless. But Jinchul didn’t care. He was at home, in comfortable clothes, walking barefoot on his cozy rug in the living room.

And that’s when the bell rang in the apartment.

Jinchul froze mid-step. At first he thought it was the neighbor’s bell, because he cleared his schedule for the day. And people he hanged on with didn’t show up unannounced.

The second time the bell rang made him move. It was indeed his bell. Jinchul was annoyed at this, because he didn’t want to be disturbed this evening. He was already jittery because of his quiet day, he was not in any disposition to help someone now.

Moving closer to the door, Jinchul frowned. An unpalatable feeling settling in his body. What if this was the drop of the day, that event that would shake his world? He did feel like something would happen today...

Shaking his head, Jinchul got rid of his ridiculous feeling. Nothing would shake his world today, that was his new resolution. Nothing.

And as he opened the door, his new resolution shattered.

In front of him was a man. Well, the eyes only told him it was a man Jinchul knew. Because the last time he saw the man, he didn’t have this appearance. Jinchul studied for a moment the long black hair cascading on the man’s body, stopping stomach-level. What stuck him was also the beard, almost making the face unrecognizable. And Jinchul could fairly say that if the man didn’t have his eyes open, he wouldn’t have recognize him at all. But his gray eyes were wide open, bearing on him an indecipherable look.

“Jinwoo, is that you?”

“Hey there, Jinchul. Mind if I come in?”

Stunned, Jinchul only opened the door wider, letting the man enter. He was still trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

And it hit him like a bullet-train. After two weeks, Sung Jinwoo was finally back from his journey.

“Sorry, I haven’t make a stop to bring you coffee. I hope you don’t mind,” the man said in a raspy voice.

“It’s alright, it’s too late to get coffee. How are you?”

“I’m… tired. I went straight from the dimension rift to here. I didn’t want my family to witness… this.”

Jinwoo pointed his body when talking, and Jinchul understood. Even if Jinwoo was buffed – and how could he be even taller than last time? – he showed signs of neglect. But whether he did this to himself of someone did this to him was not something Jinchul knew. And he didn’t want to imagine someone strong enough to inflict this on the man.

“You can stay here. I won’t tell anyone of your return until you are ready.”

Jinwoo let a smile on his face – it was more a grimace than a smile, but Jinchul understood.

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to take a shower? I can make dinner, you can take the bed…” Jinchul started ranting, afraid the man would leave his sight.

“Jinchul, calm down, I’m not going anywhere… But yes, I think a shower could do me good. No need for dinner, I’ll go sleep right after.”

And Jinwoo did that. He took a shower in less that ten minutes – Jinchul offered help to dry his hair – and went to bed. He did argue about taking the sole bed of the apartment, but Jinchul insisted enough. Jinchul noticed that Jinwoo was more tired than he showed, because he would have argue more if he was more energized.

It took still an hour after this for Jinchul to fully understand what happened.

Jinwoo came back from meeting the Rulers. And even if he didn’t know what happened, he could guess that it was a harsh journey.

Jinchul dozed off the entire night on his couch, sometime eyeing the door of the bedroom and the shoes in the entry hall to make sure he didn’t imagine things.

When Jinchul woke up fully, the sun was rising. It was Friday, 7 in the morning. He had time to prepare for his work day. He rose from the couch with concern. Was he that tired that he fell asleep on the couch? He didn’t remember drifting to sleep.

All the memories of yesterday evening came back to him. Sung Jinwoo came back. A glance at the shoes in front of the door confirmed it.

As the man probably still asleep, Jinchul made as little noise as possible to prepare. He did take more time, because moving without making a sound was something he didn’t practice since his active hunter days.

But he made it to his office in time. There, he was constantly distracted from his work. It worried the chairman who asked three times if he was alright. Not wanting to let out the secret, Jinchul made sure not to let anything show for the entire afternoon.

But it only led to his subordinates whispering in the corridor, asking themselves why he looked so austere today. Jinchul didn’t do anything about this, because he didn’t know what to say to even start to explain why he was acting that way. He knew he was a decent liar and could have told them something to stop the rumors, but he also knew that he had some sharp subordinates who wouldn’t buy the lie. He decided to lock himself in his office until the end of the day.

And like the day before, Jinchul didn’t stay late. It earned him a compliment from the chairman who thought he was taking better care of his health.

It was nothing of sort. He was only in a hurry to go home and verify that Sung Jinwoo was still there. His heart was beating fast as he opened the door, eyes instantly looking at the floor where unfamiliar shoes were lying.

Jinwoo was here, still sleeping soundly. Jinchul made dinner and made sure he had an extra portion for Jinwoo, should he wake up from his slumber.

He didn’t. Jinchul fall asleep on the couch for a second time in a row. Right before doing so, he had the intrusive thoughts that it would not do good to his back should Jinwoo still sleep for days. Maybe he should invest in a second bed.

Jinchul opened his eyes to the sun already up. It was Saturday, meaning he didn’t have to go work. Saturday work was not mandatory, not until they had a meeting with a foreign nation – or if some idiots S-rank hunters were being difficult. But not this week-end he should hope, so he could laze around.

On a normal day, he would have gone to work. He would have open the door of his office and sighed as he saw the stack of papers laying on his desk. He would have argue with the chairman that the man was aging as well and that he should stay home and relax – comment that would be thrown back at him like he was not able to take care of himself… okay, he could probably agree on this one.

But not today.

Jinchul rose from the couch, intending to begin his morning like always, with a strong coffee.

When he entered the kitchen, he was met with a long-haired stranger making breakfast. Jinchul almost took a step back until he remembered the appearance of his guest.

“Hello, Jinwoo.”

“Hello, Jinchul. Sorry that you had to spend two nights on the couch.”

“Nonsense. I’m glad you are feeling better.”

It was clear as day. The man Jinchul opened his door two days before was behaving differently from the one in front of him. He was more alive, in a sense.

“Here, breakfast is ready,” Jinwoo said, placing dishes on the table.

“You didn’t have to.”

“Even coffee?” Jinwoo smiled.

Jinchul blinked at the giant pot of hot coffee Jinwoo put on the table. It was a large container Jinchul rarely used, because he hadn’t enjoy coffee at home for a long time.

“Thank you.”

They both sat down and pecked in their plates. Jinchul was someone who didn’t eat much when he woke up, but the dishes were delicious so he indulged a little more than what he was used to. On the other side of the table, Jinwoo was more toying with the food than eating it.

“Are you alright?” Jinchul couldn’t stop the question.

“Oh?” Jinwoo lifted his head to face him and understood. “My body is no longer accustomed to food. I was sustaining on my mana most of the time.”

Jinchul didn’t say a thing. Sustaining on mana was not something he has ever heard of. If hunters could do so, it would have been a revolution.

“For how long were you… in the dimension rift?”

There’s no way it was only two weeks for him, he thought.

“52 years,” Jinwoo whispered.

At first, Jinchul thought he misheard, that Jinwoo said days. But no, he did say years. And he didn’t know what to say.

“I… I don’t really want to talk about what happened in the dimension rift. I can give you a quick summary, if you want.”

“It’s if you are willing to, Jinwoo. I won’t pry if you don’t want me to.”

Jinwoo seemed to thank him with a look.

“It’s okay, that much I can say. I went to the Rulers. Turns out they didn’t betray me, only one of them did, and he is dead.”

Jinchul only nodded when he saw Jinwoo drifting away, caught up in memories. Then, light returned in his eyes.

“I went after the Monarchs, all of them. I… I killed them all.”

Jinchul hold his breath, dishes forgotten on the table.

“You defeated them all?”

“I did. It took me time, but they all died at the end. All by my hand.”

The Monarch was facing away, like he wanted to become invisible. And Jinchul was now strongly reminded that, even with a beard and long hair, Jinwoo was still legally 24 years old. He also was 24 when he left for the dimension rift. If Jinchul was ten years younger, would he have make the same choice, would he have fought for Earth without anyone knowing?

Not controlling himself, Jinchul stood up and went at Jinwoo’s side. He forced the man up – he didn’t even resist – and pulled him in a tight hug.

Jinwoo stilled in his arms and Jinchul finally realized what he did. Mortified at his unexpected move, he almost pulled off. But arms raised and gripped his back. Jinwoo’s head rested on his shoulder in silence.

They stayed like this for long minutes. Jinchul could hear his own heart beat faster, and he was sure Jinwoo was hearing it too. But the loud beat in his ears made him unable to listen to Jinwoo’s own heart beating. Minutes stirred before Jinchul heard the man mumble.

“I missed you,” Jinwoo said through the fabric.

“I missed you too,” Jinchul replied in a soft voice.

Jinwoo finally pulled back, face blank but eyes caring.

“Sorry, it was too long since I felt… human…”

Jinwoo’s voice cracked at the end. Jinchul didn’t comment. Jinwoo was clearly trying to formulate something and he didn’t want to press him.

“I… I was alone. Well, not really, I had my summons and the demons, but it’s not the same. I missed human contact. The warmth of a body, the liveliness of the city, everything that made me… human, in a sense. It’s a feeling hard to describe.”

But Jinchul understood. Well, he could try to understand by linking it to some of his own experiences. Living 52 years without feeling human, it felt unreal. He probably said the last sentence out loud because Jinwoo chuckled, and the sound was distorted, like he didn’t know how to make human sounds anymore.

“I’ve had moments when I felt human. And it was in these moments that I missed you the most. Fighting Monarchs one after another, it was hard. I didn’t lost sight of my goals – saving humanity, that it is – but motivation was hard to maintain.”

Jinchul could hear all the distress in Jinwoo’s voice when he said that. He needed to make Jinwoo think of something else.

“Thank you for your devotion to Earth, Jinwoo,” Jinchul could only say. “And thank you for returning home… even if you didn’t bring me a coffee straight away,” he added with humor.

Jinchul was taken aback by the booming laugh of Jinwoo. The rasp of his voice made it crack, but he didn’t stop laughing.

“You really know what to say, Jinchul. Promise, next time I will triple the drink.”

“Too much caffeine would do me bad, Jinwoo.”

“I’ve just seen you drink two whole liters of coffee this morning, I’m sure you will be okay.”

Jinchul chuckled. It was good to have Jinwoo back.

“Could you help me?” The younger man asked.

“Sure, what do you need?”

Jinwoo pointed his tangled hair roughly pulled back in a low ponytail. Jinchul blinked as he saw the rubber band used for this hairstyle move like it had its own will. It was made of shadow. Just how diverse were his powers?

Now was not the time to ask this, he needed to answer Jinwoo’s silent question.

“I am not the best at cutting hair, but I can try.”

“Thank you. I can’t go to a hairdresser for now. And Jinah would probably throw furniture before recognizing me.”

“From what you said of her before, I take your word for it.”

Cutting hair was something Jinchul often did to his dorm mates back in college. It brought him back ten years earlier, when some of them would request one particular haircut. At one point, he was an expert at cutting hair this way. So he did the same to Jinwoo, reflexes coming back naturally.

When he was done, Jinwoo looked more like a regular citizen – only having to shave the imposing beard now. His hair was now short on the sides, while the top of his head still had longer hair. It was not like a professional cut, but Jinchul felt proud of the result.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me now. Do you also want to shave your beard?”

“Yes, but I feel like I will need to cut the long parts before trying to shave it.”

Jinchul agreed. The beard was at least 8 inches long, no way his razor would survive shaving in these conditions. He left the bathroom while letting Jinwoo with the scissors and the razor.

Jinwoo left the bathroom ten minutes later, and Jinchul was met with the face he knew well. The man didn’t seem to age during his journey.

“I feel more like myself, now,” Jinwoo said.

“I think you look great no matter how you look,” Jinchul reassured him.

Jinwoo smiled. He then went to the kitchen where the traces of their breakfast where still lying. It made Jinchul blush. He hadn’t thought of cleaning, he never used his kitchen unless it is for quick meals. And even that was a luxury when he was overworked – to say, everyday.

“Do you know how I didn’t lose myself when I was away?” Jinwoo suddenly asked, not turning away from the kitchen sink.

“I don’t.”

“I was thinking of you,” Jinwoo revealed – and Jinchul almost let the dishes fall of his hands at the reply. “I wanted to save humanity, yes, that’s true. But I soon understood that I was saving humanity because making Earth a better place to live would mean that you and my family would also live a better life.”

Jinchul hold his breath. Jinwoo didn’t seem to understand how deep this declaration was for him. He placed him at he same level as his family without even thinking twice. Jinwoo was not the first one who cared about him, but he definitely was the first to make such a bold declaration. It made Jinchul’s stomach flutter.

Shit, I need to calm down, he thought.

Because Jinwoo said this in total innocence. He didn’t batted an eye when saying things like this. He didn’t feel what Jinchul was feeling for him.

“Be careful, I might take that for a love declaration,” he chose to joke.

It was for the best, he needed to draw a line, he couldn’t involve himself more.

“Love?” Jinwoo parroted. He then let the dishes in the sink to face him, harboring a serious expression. “I don’t know of the feeling, I’ve never fallen in love. What I do know is that you are one of the people who mean the most to me in this world. And if the emotions I’m feeling right now are love, then I would happily drown in them.”

And there went Jinchul’s resolution. Truly, Jinwoo had a knack for taking him by surprise.

“Do you truly think that?” Jinchul almost stuttered. He had to make sure it was not some sort of elaborated joke – even if he knew that Jinwoo was not cruel.

“It’s a confusing state of mind, I can’t clearly name the feelings I have for you. I care about you, not really like a family member, and not quite like a friend either. It’s not something I ever experienced.”

Jinwoo was frowning while trying to explain, so Jinchul threw restraints away.

“I share similar feelings. I have already dated people, but it’s the first time I have such strong emotions towards someone.”

Jinchul let out a shaky breath after this declaration. He finally said this, after days weeks of denial. He had fallen for him.

“What do we do now?” Jinwoo asked, and right now, he was acting like his age.

Jinchul approached him slowly. It was like his body moved by itself, not relying on the brain.

“Would you let me try something?” He asked when he was close enough, not quite invading his personal space, but close enough to see every eyelash.

When Jinwoo nodded, Jinchul closed in and stood on tiptoe to get to Jinwoo’s head level. It didn’t work, because Jinwoo was a good head and a half taller than him. But the man did understand what he was trying to do because he tilted his head forward.

Their lips met, and Jinchul had never experienced this feeling. It was a comfortable feeling, not a heated one, just a feeling of gentle warmth, like coming home.

Their kiss was slow, Jinchul being the only one moving his lips at first, then Jinwoo followed his move and it sent Jinchul in a fuzzy state.

Jinwoo was the first to pull back, and Jinchul realized that the man was now holding him gently.

“How was it?” Jinchul asked.

“It was… weird at first,” Jinwoo said. “Then it felt warm, like entering a cozy state of mind.”

It echoed Jinchul’s feelings without the Monarch being aware. He hold back a smile and slowly broke away from the embrace.

“What do you want to do, now?” Jinchul asked. “Do you want us to enter a relationship? Or to stay friends?”

He was met with a frown that froze him on the spot. Did he say something wrong?

“Please consider your feelings too, Jinchul. Don’t follow me on everything just because I said it. What do you want to do?”

Jinchul felt a wave of fondness. Of course Jinwoo would say that, he always prioritized his well-being.

“For once, Jinwoo, please be selfish. Tell me first what you want to do. I promise you that if what I want is different, I will tell you. Regardless, this conversation won’t affect our friendship.”

Jinwoo stayed silent for a moment, then he extended his hand to take Jinchul’s hand. A small shiver ran through his body as soft eyes looked at him.

“Jinchul, would you go out with me?” He then asked with a shy voice and a blushing face.

The blond man smiled. He grab the hand tighter and made small circular motions on the top of Jinwoo's hand, not breaking the eye contact.

“Yes, Jinwoo, it would be my pleasure.”

He didn’t know for how long they stayed like this, only appreciating their closeness and their new status. They had things to talk about, because a relationship couldn’t work if they didn’t communicate on what they expected from this, but it could wait a day or two.

“Jinchul, I don’t want to leave now. But…”

Jinchul understood immediately.

“You want to see your family, I know. Don’t worry for me, we can hang out later.”

“I don’t know how a relationship work, but I’m sure I need to invite you on a date someday.”

“I’m counting on you!” Jinchul laughed.

The man didn’t wince at the loss of warmth when Jinwoo retracted his hand. He watched as Jinwoo left the kitchen for the front door. Only when he was almost done putting his shoes on did something came to Jinchul’s mind.

“Jinwoo, wait!” He called hastily.

The man turned around with a puzzled look.

“Yes?”

“I… I need to tell you something before you go.”

It would be for the best if Jinwoo knew of what happened last week before he heard it from his family. This way, his powers would not explode in the middle of a room with civilians.

So with a professional voice, he made a report on the disaster that happened in Seoul while he was away.

Chapter Text

One week earlier.

Jinchul had a peaceful morning at work, it didn’t sit right with him. He was fully expecting a disaster to come the afternoon.

And fate didn’t disappoint.

“Chief! We have a dungeon break in the middle of the city!”

Jinchul frowned. None of the dungeons in the center where scheduled to break today, he made sure of that. So how?

“Has the dungeon been registered,” he asked as he left his office to go to the scene.

“No, it didn’t. But worse, it happened in a high-school!” The employee reported.

Jinchul was quick to act, even when his blood was running cold.

“The monsters?”

“Orcs, from what the dispatch center said.”

C-rank cannibal monsters that were guided by smell. And these were out at school. It was the worst combination since long. Jinchul gave orders left and right, accelerating his pace. He made the second strike team of the Association follow him. He wanted the first strike team, but they were out on another dungeon break in the outskirts of the city.

When driving, Jinchul didn’t pay attention to limitation, focusing on arriving as soon as possible.

When they arrived at the high-school, he was met with loads of panicked students, equally panicked teachers, and terrified passers-by. They drew a security perimeter quickly while Jinchul assessed the situation by collecting testimonies.

The orcs were first seen on the third floor, they killed people. Some students were still stuck inside. He was able to see a crowed of students behind windows on the third floor.

Testimonies couldn’t tell him how many orcs there was, so Jinchul had his team ready to face full force the orcs.

All theses preparations only took him thirty seconds, but in this short time, several students probably lost their lives.

Jinchul entered the building first. Hurried footsteps indicated that the team followed him. They cleared the first floor with ease. No orc infested this floor, and no student was in there. They moved to the second floor. They were met with a different atmosphere.

Orcs were roaming the floor, and the walls were hosting traces of blood, sometimes it was even a puddle on the blue tiles of the floor. Jinchul didn’t think of the causalities for now, he closed his mind to everything that was not killing the orcs and rescuing the students.

The team split up, one part staying to clear the second floor and saving eventual students still alive here, the other led by Jinchul going up to rescue the students they've seen from the window.

Blood was reeking from the third floor, it colored the stairs. Jinchul killed the orc that was about to go down. One strong punch was enough to do the job. Jinchul didn't look at the dead monster after he defeated him, he didn't acknowledge the quisiness inside him as his fist dripped from monster's blood. He rushed in the corridor.

His enhanced hearing allowed him to spot the students. Some were still alive, and they were vocal. Jinchul and his team progressed quickly too the origin of the sound.

And that was when roars made them still for a second. Orcs don't roars like this.

The roars were powerful, it was clearly from a high-ranked beast, if the mana leaking was anything to say.

And it was a bad sign, because this couldn’t belong to a C-rank orc. There was an even stronger creature lurking in these walls.

Jinchul made his way to the room, but he couldn’t enter. An orc flew from the room to crash on the opposite wall. It was dead, mutilated by another beast.

Dreading – because the students were now silent – Jinchul approached enough to watch discretely the room. He nearly let out a relieved sigh at the scene.

There was six orcs plus one that was probably the boss in the room, but the students were all still alive. Between these two crowds stood shadow beasts – and Jinchul was sure they were Ice Bears.

The four bears were protecting the students, each preying on one orc. But they were outnumbered, and even if the larger one could take two orcs in one go, it was still not enough.

Rushing in, Jinchul punched one of the orcs. The hit was not enough to kill it, but the next punches did the work and reduced the beast to a bloody pulp.

“Behind you!” A teenage girl shouted at him.

Jinchul could only turn around to see an orc raising his bat to strike him down. And Jinchul couldn’t move fast enough to avoid it. He did block the mace with his arm, but the pain exploded right after. His body flew from his spot to crash in the wall, close to the frightened students.

Shit, it broke my arm, Jinchul thought, standing again in a defensive stance in front of the students.

It’s been a long time since he was badly injured, and he blinked fast to try to divert his mind from the pain. The orc raised his club again, and Jinchul couldn’t move to evade the hit, because it would put the children in danger. Fortunately, one of the bears went to the rescue. It saved Jinchul from a concussion - or death.

The battle ended with the giant bear tearing the orc boss down, projecting blood everywhere. When he was finished, it turned around to pass by Jinchul and join a trembling girl. The girl didn’t seem frightened by the shadow like some of the students were. On contrary, she hugged the bear and pressed her face against its fur.

“Thank you, Tank.”

Jinchul watched as the bear patted the head on her back. It then turned his gaze on Jinchul who approached the crowd. His arm was throbbing and he was glad that his armor at least covered the damages. He was sure that he had an open fracture.

He raised his voice so he could have all the students’ attention.

“The Hunter’s Association is cleaning the floors of every orcs. Please follow us, we will guide you out.”

The bear nodded at him and retracted in the girl’s shadow. But as soon as she had no support, she went down on her knees.

“Jinah!” Another girl shouted in worry.

Jinchul came closer and offered his valid hand to Jinwoo’s sister. It was not a hard guess, because Jinwoo would surely put soldiers in his family’s shadow to protect them.

“Here, let me help you.”

Jinchul made sure the girl was steady on her feet and took her arm to guide her gently towards the exit. From the corner of his eye, the chief saw his team doing the same for the other students, some carrying the ones that couldn’t move. They all left the building in silence. Outside, the students’ crowd had thinned out, probably taken to hospital of home, depending on how injured they were.

“Jinah!” Someone cried from the side.

Jinchul recognized the name of Jinwoo’s sister and turned to face the voice. It was Yoo Jinho, Jinwoo’s vice-master.

“Mr. Yoo,” he greeted.

“Jinho,” the girl said in a frail voice.

“Are you alright, did you get hurt? Was Tank able to help you?”

“I’m okay, Tank and the other bears protected me. And this guy came to our rescue,” she pointed Jinchul with her last words.

Jinho smiled at him. “Chief Woo, thank you for helping her.”

“I’ve only done my job, Mr. Yoo.”

“I’ll take her from here,” he said and Jinah went limp in the D-rank hunter’s arms.

“Thank you again, Chief Woo.”

They left the scene and if Jinchul didn’t follow them with his eyes, he would have missed the bear’s leg rising from the shadow to wave at him.

Now, all he had to do was going to the hospital to heal – hoping that a healer was there so he can regain the use of his arm in a few days.

Present day

When Jinchul finished to tell the story, he was fully expecting Jinwoo to burst. He didn't talk about the thirty-eight students losing their life, he didn't want to. Jinwoo would freak out enough. And an S-rank freaking out meant losing control of their mana.

And he did. It was mild, compared to other S-ranks bursts, but it still made Jinchul choke for air. The mana was dense, but the pressure soon disappeared for the benefit of a warm hand on his neck.

“Breathe, Jinchul. I’m sorry I lost control.”

“Jinwoo… don’t apologize. I was prepared. And I thought you wanted to rather lose control with me than with your family.”

“Thank you for telling me, Jinchul,” Jinwoo said in a soft voice.

Jinwoo stayed like this, not letting go of him. He pressed a hand on the man’s arms.

“I’m okay, Jinwoo,” he reassured him. “I’ve met a healer who was able to repair my arm. The injury adsorbed entirely after three days.”

The younger still didn’t talk, but Jinchul saw his relaxing.

“Okay, I trust you. But if you need anything at all, please call me at anytime… I’ll go now. I need to see Jinah for myself. Unless there is more to the story that I should know.”

“There is more,” Jinchul confirmed. “But it’s not threatening. Also, you will probably notice when you go back to your home.”

Jinwoo was curious at Jinchul’s last words, but he knew the man wouldn’t say more. And from his tone, it was not life-threatening or trauma-inducing, so it should be fine.

Impatient to see for himself, he searched for his link to the bears protecting Jinah. They were at home, so he exchanged place with one of them.

When he landed on the living room, he was in Jinah’s back. She couldn’t see him.

“Hey,” he greeted.

She turned around so quickly that Jinwoo feared she'd snapped her neck. But he was only met with a beam.

“JINWOO!” She yelled in joy.

Then he was trapped in a tight hug. He smiled and hugged back. He saw his mother leaving the kitchen in a hurry and she joined their hug.

They stood there, in the corner of the living room. Jinwoo comforted them and dried their tears with careful hands. That was until an unexpected person left the kitchen. Jinwoo blinked at the buffed man, not comprehending what he was doing here.

They stayed like this, Jinwoo blinking stupidly and the man smirking, until the older woman pulled apart.

“I’m glad you are back, Jinwoo.”

“I’m glad to be home,” he said, still not leaving his eyes from the man.

It was Jinah that broke his stare by pulling him by the sleeve.

“Jinwoo, I have something to tell you…”

“If it is about the dungeon, I know. And I’m sorry Jinah, I should have been there for you,” he kissed her forehead after saying this.

“Oh.” She then returned to the hug and Jinwoo could return to his staring. The man was still standing there, his smirk clearly saying that Jinwoo was an idiot.

“You didn’t think that I would let your family down after that dungeon, did you? I promised to protect them, remember?” The man said in English.

“Thomas, what are you specifically doing at my place,” he sighed.

“Jinwoo, You know him already?” His mother asked.

“Yes mom, this is Thomas Andre, another National level hunter. We are friends.”

Thomas’s smirk widened and Jinwoo was suddenly aching to severe his limbs.

“Don’t look at me like that, Jinwoo. I did agree to protect them, as per your request.”

“This conversation happened quite some times ago, but I’m pretty sure I said Korea, not my family specifically.”

“Yup, but I was feeling they would need more help after the dungeon break, so I offered my service… wait, you know of the dungeon break from last week, right?” he suddenly asked, panicked.

Jinwoo frowned. Didn’t he talk about the dungeon thirty seconds ago? Didn’t Thomas heard him?

Ah, no he couldn’t. Jinwoo talked Korean with his family, and English with Thomas, so even if his friend had some notions of Korean, he couldn’t understand a fast conversation, even less when it was muffled by the fabric.

“Yes, I know. But the dungeon break happened last week. How are you still here?”

“Oh, USA don’t need me right now, and they have Chris to bother if anything happens. So I took a vacation.” Thomas still didn’t part ways with the infuriated smirk.

A vacation, he took a vacation. Jinwoo didn’t even want to know what he said to the leaders of his country. He almost didn’t want to know what he told Korea when he came. He probably caused people – and most importantly, Jinchul – quite a few headaches.

“Jinwoo?” His mother asked, not understanding what they were talking about.

“It’s okay, mom. I was just asking him why he was still here.”

“Oh, that’s probably because I asked him to,” she dismissed his questioning. “He was really lovely during his time here. And he agreed to stay a couple days longer.”

Jinwoo was left speechless. Thomas was a National level hunter, the strongest one right after Jinwoo. A civilian’s request should have only made him angry, especially if it was to control his schedule. His mother couldn’t understand, because she didn’t know what hunters were made of, and what consequences could unfold at their rage. She has never taken an interest before, only slowly asking now that she knew he was a hunter.

Regardless, her asking shouldn’t have been successful.

“What are you up to, Thomas?” Jinwoo threw his friend a suspicious look.

It made Thomas lift his hands to clear himself.

“No suspicious intents from me! I can swear on it.”

Jinwoo was still suspicious of his reasons, but he let it drop for now. Still patting his sister head, Jinwoo pulled out of the hug.

“We made dinner,” Park Kyung-Hye said. “Let’s eat.”

We? Jinwoo parroted internally. Following them in the kitchen, he eyed the flashy apron casually laying on a chair. The size of the fabric indicated that it belonged to Thomas.

Jinwoo stayed silent as they sat. During the meal, he gave short answers to satisfy Jinah’s curiosity. His mother only listened, but she was equally invested in the questions. Thomas, the only one out of the loop, was busy eating gigantic plates of food. But he did throw him side glaces of worry that Jinwoo knew concerned how little he was eating.

He couldn’t force himself to eat more, his body was already full from the breakfast. So he only pecked small bites, leaving most of his plate untouched. His mother noticed but didn’t say a thing, only throwing him the same look of worry.

When they left the table, Jinah and Kyung-Hye said they would do the dishes, letting Thomas and Jinwoo talk.

So they sat down in the living room. Jinwoo served the man the same story than Jinchul, nothing more. He did say that he would participate in the conference to tell the world about what would happen now that the Monarchs were dead and the Rulers were leaving Earth alone.

“Jinwoo, thank you for what you did,” Thomas smiled genuinely at him.

“Enough of me, what about the others?”

“Oh, Zhigang is having the time of his life teasing Siddharth. Our Indian hunter lost a drinking contest. That makes me think, we totally should do that.”

“It wouldn’t be fair, I can’t get drunk at all.”

“At all? You’re not just having high tolerance?”

“Nah, I’m detoxifying poison faster that I can drink. And alcohol stand in this category. But I can still enjoy a drink.”

“Okay, let’s just go for that. I don’t think that we will be able to do that before the international conference, so let’s just schedule it at the time.”

Jinwoo smiled. He would need to text the group to inform them of his return. He then lost his smile. One of them was hosting the fragment of light that would disappear soon. They only had about a month to live now.

Shaking his head to clear it, Jinwoo tried to enjoy his talk with Thomas.

Jinwoo left the apartment at night, when his mother and sister were asleep. He needed to think.

Strolling around, he came across a park and decided to walk around.

He was thinking of so many things. The Rulers, the war, his return… the kiss.

Jinwoo blushed at the memory. He had still to find words to describe the feelings he had, but it did feel right. Jinwoo remembered Jinchul’s faint blush when he admitted sharing his feelings, the shy approach he made to kiss him. The adorable posture he took when standing on tiptoe to level his face, only to fail because Jinwoo was much taller. And then their kiss. It was a warm kiss, a feeling he never experienced before. It was also all he didn’t expect. Instead of heat and lust, he only felt warmth and comfort, like coming home.

Jinwoo stopped his track when he arrived at a small fountain in the middle of the park. He was almost regretting the streetlights at each corner of the small place. Jinwoo pent so much time in darkness that he was thrown off by something as small as a flicker of light. He did hide it well when he was not alone, but now, it was harder to not just use his mana to break the lights. But even when the light were on, this place felt peaceful. He could maybe bring Jinchul here...

He heard footsteps behind him, from someone he couldn’t sense.

Jinwoo turned around quickly, daggers in hand and shadow soldiers ready to strike at his command from.

He faced a man. Untidy long hair, small beard, glowing eyes. Jinwoo quickly noticed that he was almost a copy of himself when he left the dimension rift.

Lowering his daggers and calming his riled shadows, Jinwoo sighed.

“You could have warned me first, dad.”

Sung Ilhwan was standing before him, in flesh. It was a sight Jinwoo was not prepared to, but he also didn’t feel surprised.

“I’m proud of you, son,” the man said.

Jinwoo smiled. Last time, he didn’t have time to speak with him, because the man was fading away after protecting him against the Monarchs.

“Are you coming back home?” Jinwoo asked.

“Jinwoo… I think you know the answer to this question,” the man said in a defeated voice.

And Jinwoo knew. He had known since he sensed his mana behind him. Because it was not a trick that he couldn’t sense the mana of the person behind him, he just didn’t want to believe it.

“You are…” … the vessel of the traitor, he finished in his mind.

His father had a sad smile on his lips. He didn’t broke the eye contact as he came closer. Lifting his hand, Ilhwan took his son in a bone-crushing embrace.

And it was not just a figure of speech, Jinwoo clearly heard and felt his ribs crack. But he didn’t care.

Forgotten the National level hunter, forgotten the guild master of the Ahjin guild, forgotten the strongest being in existence, forgotten the man of 24 years old, he was now a small child dwelling in his father’s hug.

And his father let him cry. He let him express all his sadness, all his despair. Jinwoo clenched his father’s back, ripping a part of the shirt by doing so, but neither cared about it.

“Hey, look at me, Jinwoo.” he continued as the younger one lifted his head. “You managed fine, you cared about our family while I was away. You did your best, and it’s what matters. For years before, you thought me dead. I know you hoped that I would come back this time, but fate decided otherwise. I won’t change a thing for me and for the family. I will always be proud of each of you.”

The deconstructed tirad of his father made Jinwoo smile. He inherited this from his father, the ability to not express himself well.

“You suck at expressing yourself,” he couldn’t stop himself from joking.

Ilhwan laughed. “Glad that didn’t change! Now, what I wanted to say… Be happy, live you life fully. And make sure Kyung-Hye and Jinah do the same.”

“Do you… are you going to visit before you leave?”

“I can’t, Jinwoo. I really want to, but it would not be fair to them. They think I am dead, and it’s better that they continue to think so. And I think your mother is finally starting to live her life, so I can’t come and ruin it.”

“What do you mean?” Jinwoo was confused.

“Ah, youngster, how clueless can you be… Have you not wondered why that American stayed?”

Jinwoo frowned, Thomas had not clearly answer his questions, but his mother said…

“No, I can’t believe this. No, no, no, no, no, this is not happening…”

He throw a hoping glance at his father, expecting him to deny everything… but no, the man was only nodding with a small smile.

“This is a nightmare,” Jinwoo muttered.

He finally pulled out of the hug.

“I have to go, Jinwoo. I extended my time enough.”

“Wait, dad…”

“Don’t mourn me too long, Jinwoo. Please live your life fully.”

And just like last time, his father left. He drifted away as glowing gold particles rose to the sky. Jinwoo stayed there, face up to follow the trail. He stood there for a long time, until the sunrise.

When he made his way home, he dried his tears.

A few hours later, Jinwoo was standing in front of a grave. It was not really a grave, more like a memorial nameplate, because there was no body buried there.

By his side, Thomas was standing. He wanted to accompany him, probably aware of his sour mood.

“Any reason why you are visiting this memorial?” Thomas asked.

“Oh, just an itch.”

Thomas didn’t press him, not that Jinwoo would answer. After a few minutes, he turned around and left the memorial.

“Oh, Thomas, just to tell you, I’m going to severe your limbs.”

The man had the gall to laugh at the threat.

Chapter Text

Jinwoo opened the door of the car, and used his speed to open the passenger seat.

“If you would,” he smirked.

“Thank you, gentleman,” a voice echoed with laugh.

Jinwoo looked as the man elegantly got up and closed the door. They were outside of a restaurant. Not a fancy one, but one famous for its conviviality and a favorite of the Monarch. He had racked his brain to find a perfect place for a first date, and this was a place he wanted to introduce Jinchul to.

The blond man – his boyfriend, Jinwoo’s mind supplied – was now standing next to him, eyeing the restaurant with curiosity.

“I didn’t know of this restaurant,” he said.

“It’s one of my favorite.”

They entered.

“Oh, Jinwoo! Nice seeing you young man!” The middle-aged waitress called with a smile.

“Hello, Aunt Hyeon, how are you?”

“I’m fine. How about you? I heard of the news, you’re famous now! Oh but I’m taking too much of your time, let me take you and your friend to your table!”

Jinchul and Jinwoo were seated in a corner, the table was even half hidden behind a hedge of plants. Jinwoo made sure to have this seat, he didn’t want them to stand out and get disturbed by others.

“Here, please call me when you have made your choice!”

And the woman left. Jinchul looked at Jinwoo with a puzzled look.

“Your aunt?” He asked.

Jinwoo smiled. “No, she was my neighbor when I was a teenager. When mom fall into a coma, she helped us a lot.”

After this, they stayed silent for a while. And they were globally silent for most of the meal. Well, Jinchul complimented the cooking and made small talks, Jinchul telling Jinwoo things he knew about some dishes he tried. Jinwoo had trouble following the conversation, only humming when he thought it was necessary to guarantee Jinchul he was listening. It was not things he was interested in, but still appreciate Jinchul’s way of speech. He caught himself more than once looking insistently at the man’s Adam apple – how he was not caught by the blond was still a mystery, because he sure was not discreet.

They left with a full stomach, Jinchul sighing with contentment when the door closed.

“It’s definitely one of the best meal I’ve had,” he smiled. “Would you like to go on a walk?”

“I’m glad you liked it. And yes, let’s go.”

They strolled on the sidewalk for minutes, until coming across a small park.

“Oh, I never knew there was a park here,” Jinwoo said.

And it was no wonder, he never really walked in this part of the city. But Jinchul led him on unfamiliar paths during their walk. The man was accustomed to this district.

“Then let me introduce you to one of the best place I know,” Jinchul chuckled.

The blond man took Jinwoo’s hand and pulled him through the paved path. The serpentine road was surrounded by small bushes and thin trees. It was like any other park, except for the lanterns emitting a diffuse red light. Little insects were flying around, attracted by the light, only to circle the source of brightness and sometimes hitting passers-by.

Jinwoo was admiring the scenery, so different that what he was used to. He was also extremely aware of his hand still in Jinchul’s, and he was delight that the man hadn’t pulled back.

The grip tightens a bit before Jinchul start to talk again.

“Thank you for this evening. It’s been so long since I had fried Mandu. It’s my favorite dish. And you, what are you’re favorites?”

Jinwoo was taken aback at the question and needed a moment to gather his thoughts and answer.

“I don’t really have a favorite. But I think I like Nangmyeon the best. But it’s been a while since I’ve had it”

Jinchul smiled at him.

“I’m sorry,” Jinwoo said.

It stopped their track.

“Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong.” Jinchul was confused.

“I’m… I’m not the best at talking…”

“Don’t think that,” Jinchul frowned.

The grip on his hand tightened again, like pressing him to accept what Jinchul said. Jinwoo blushed and looked away.

“It’s just that… You’re the only one who talked during this whole evening… I don’t want you to force yourself…”

Jinchul turned around and went to face him. Then the smaller man took Jinwoo’s cheeks in his hands to fix the Monarch in the eyes. They were inches apart and Jinwoo couldn’t stop his gaze from traveling to the pinched lips of the man. But Jinchul didn’t seem to be annoyed at him. Looking back in his eyes, Jinwoo was sure there was a flicker of care in his gaze.

“Jinwoo, listen carefully to what I am about to say,” Jinchul started, talking slowly. “I fell for your, with all those little things that make you yourself. The way you behave, the way you express yourself through actions rather than words. With how little you talk, almost secretive… I don’t want you to force yourself into being someone you are not. I am happy to be here, to date you, don’t doubt this. I like to spend time with you, even if we don’t talk.”

Jinwoo blinked at the passionate monologue. He was not sure how to respond, and Jinchul picked on that.

“You don’t have to answer now,” he said as he pulled back. “Just remember this.”

Jinwoo admired the smile the man had on his lips. Whatever Jinchul said, he needed to say something to.

“You’re more talkative now than at work.” Jinwoo wanted to slap himself. Seriously, that’s all his brain found to say?

‘Master, you suck at communication,’ Baruka intruded telepathically.

‘Shut it.’

Seriously, the Elf was the rudest member of his army. Loyal, but definitely not munching his words in front of him.

As he tried to think of something else to say, Jinchul let out a low chuckle.

“I am wearing a mask at work, it helps with dealing with all the bullshit you S-ranks are putting me through.”

As Jinchul was laughing, Jinwoo decided to continue on the topic.

“You’re also more inclined to swear…”

“Is it a problem?” Jinchul stopped smiling.

Jinwoo frowned for an instant before giving his boyfriend a reassuring smile.

“That would be unfair of me, you literally gave me a lecture on being myself. Also,” he added as he stole a kiss, “I’d love to see the face of the other S-ranks if you call them idiots to their faces.”

“Don’t give me ideas,” Jinchul joked as he elbowed Jinwoo. “I could use you to protect me while doing so.”

“I’d be happy to do so.”

And their first date ever ended as they threw jokes at each other.

Jinwoo sat down on a chair, elbows on the table to maintain the balance as he leaned closer. He was currently looking at the most intriguing scene he ever witnessed.

“Would you please stop looking at me like this?” Jinchul said.

“No, you really are fascinating.”

“It is just me offering to cook. I don’t know how that counts as fascinating,” he even rolled his eyes at the dramatics of Jinwoo.

The Shadow Monarch snorted.

“Jinchul, you never cook.”

“I do!” The chief of the monitoring division replied, outraged.

“Yes, quick food that can’t even be bestowed of the name meal. We are dating for three months now, and it is the first time you offered to cook. And by that I mean a full-course meal.”

Jinchul let an amused sigh pass his lips, not denying what Jinwoo said. The blond man return to his preps, cutting ingredients Jinwoo couldn’t see.

Three months passed since Jinwoo came back from the dimension rift. During this time, he got in touch with the National level hunters, explaining through texts what happened during his journey – still not explaining things entirely. He also met with Jinho who hugged him long enough to cut the workday by an hour.

He unfortunately didn’t severe Thomas limbs. During his stay, Jinwoo had to see the man following his mother like a puppy. It was disturbing at first, but when Jinah explained that it happened from day one – and after a stern conversation with the man about his intents – Jinwoo now find it amusing. Thomas couldn’t extend his stay longer than two days after Jinwoo’s return, because some S-ranks in his guild made a mess.

Also, during these three months, Jinwoo spent time with his boyfriend – the first time he had used the word, he’d blushed. Jinchul was always considerate of him, sometime it did impinge on his well-being, so Jinwoo had to remind the man to rest.

They had a long conversation on what they expected of this relationship, albeit it happened one week after being a couple. Jinwoo didn’t really know at first what it meant to be in a relationship, so he learned – still learns – by seeking advice on the internet.

When Jinchul heard of this, he didn’t mock him. He took time to explain that he was expecting Jinwoo to act like his normal self. He didn’t want his private life to encroach on his professional life – a feeling Jinwoo shared. But it didn’t mean they had to act like strangers.

Jinwoo soon found that he was enjoying the secret side of their relationship. And they were both more daring as time passed. It began when Jinchul kissed him in the shadow of the stairs, leaving him in front of the chairman’s office like nothing happened. Jinwoo did take revenge on this, kissing him right before leaving the building.

Their game was always discreet, but it didn’t take more than three weeks for the chairman to notice their odd behavior. He didn’t say a thing, but his looks when they were meeting betrayed his thoughts.

Now, three months into their relationship, nothing really changed. They went on dates, multiple time. Jinwoo took him to the park, Jinchul took him to a cat cafe in the outskirt of the city, they dined a couple of evenings in restaurants… To be fair, they were living their life like they always did, only with some extras. More often than not, Jinwoo had to remind the man to stop working after ungodly hours, that’s when they instated a regularity in Jinwoo’s stay in the evenings – Jinwoo insisted obviously.

It made Jinwoo comfortable. He was not one to express himself much, but Jinchul always knew what to do and what to say to make him react. Jokes were flying around, along with mock threats.

What Jinwoo loved the most in their dynamic was the evenings. When he was at Jinchul’s place – twice or thrice a week – they always shared the best meals. Jinwoo might say that because he was the one cooking, but sharing a homemade meal with Jinchul tasted like the feeling of belonging, of a place to call home. It was strange to think so, but he quickly discovered that Jinchul was feeling the same.

But today was different. Jinchul didn’t let Jinwoo touch the ingredients and even tried to push him out of the room. Jinwoo found it cute how the man could push him all he wanted and Jinwoo wouldn’t even move an inch. He abandoned with a dramatic sigh and started to prepare. That was what Jinwoo was currently looking at.

Jinchul was graceful in his moves, something Jinwoo was incapable of. It said a lot about his habit, but cooking was not something he did regularly, his moves were more hesitant sometimes. The observed man let the pepper fall out of his hands. But before the small container could crash on the floor, Jinchul’s shadow moved. A creature’s leg shot from the floor to catch the device and give it back to Jinchul.

“Thank you Jima,” Jinchul said.

And the shadow went back. During this, Jinwoo was reminded of how Jima found himself in Jinchul’s shadow.

Flashback – Two months ago

Jinwoo and Jinchul just went home from their date – Jinchul insisted it was only a small stop at the grocery store so that he could restock on his food for the week, but Jinwoo was fully convinced it counted as a date. The Monarch watched the older put away the groceries, his eyebrows furrowed.

When Jinchul turned around to after finishing, he looked confused.

“Is something wrong, Jinwoo?”

“You need more shadows,” Jinwoo only said.

It was Jinchul’s turn to frown.

“How so? Your soldier is enough to make the connection at work. And with me having your number, it’s unnecessary.”

“Not for work, Jinchul.”

Jinchul stayed silent for a few seconds before pointing one of the chairs. He sat on another, making clear he wanted Jinwoo to sit down with him. It was not the first time they sat to talk about things – more like they were defining what they wanted from this relationship, and when they set boundaries. But it unnerved him to see such a serious expression on Jinchul’s face.

“Jinwoo, why do you want to increase my amount of shadows?”

Jinwoo blinked. Was that not obvious?

“Because you are weaker than the S-ranks.”

Jinchul sighed heavily and Jinwoo had the unpleasant feeling that he said the wrong thing.

“I refuse,” the blond said.

“But why?”

“Jinwoo, you seem to have the wrong idea about me… I managed just fine until today, and my daily life at work have not changed from the moment we started dating.”

“But…”

“Let me finish,” Jinchul interrupted. “I may not be as powerful as S-ranks, but that doesn’t mean that I am powerless. I don’t need you to overprotect me.”

Jinwoo stayed silent. He still didn’t get it. He could agree that Jinchul managed until now, but if one S-rank was set on tormenting him, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. Jinwoo was well aware that Hwang Dongsoo used his status and power to pressure Jinchul to give his location the last time he was in Korea. He didn’t want another to get the idea that it was okay to do so with his boyfriend.

“I… I don’t understand why you don’t want to. It’s not like I would spy on you, we agreed that I wouldn’t do it unless it is for work.”

“Jinwoo, I don’t think you can understand, and I don’t blame you for that. You are powerful, and you are used to getting what you want without putting a fight…”

“Is that how you are seeing our relationship?” Jinwoo immediately asked.

Uneasiness spiked in his body. Did he ask too much from him? Was he pushing for what he wanted without noticing? Looking back, it might have been the case. How many time in this last month did he come here uninvited, whether to take Jinchul on a date – mostly a walk around a park – or staying until late. Jinchul never said a thing about his behavior, but did it weight on him and he didn’t notice? Did he…

Warm hands pressed against his cheeks and his head was gently tilted upward. He faced Jinchul who stood up and went to his side of the table.

“No, never. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to imply that you were not caring. You are probably the gentler boyfriend ever” Jinchul said.

Jinwoo raised his hands and encircled Jinchul’s waist. He buried his face in the soft fabric of Jinchul’s sweatshirt.

“I’m worried about you,” Jinwoo said but it wasn’t understandable because of his face still pressed against the cloth. He repeated that to Jinchul when he pulled away from the hug.

“What are you worried about?”

“I don’t want other hunters to give you a hard time. I know that if you were even in danger, my soldier could warn me, but I could be miles away, or even not able to change place with my shadow for a while. If anything of this sort happen, my shadow would need to protect you from people you can’t win against. I’m not saying you are weak, but you can’t win a fight against an S-rank…”

“I get that, but isn’t you soldier able to regenerate?”

“Yes, but it takes time. And you would be vulnerable… That’s why I want you to have more shadows.”

Jinchul stayed silent, still standing before Jinwoo. Mechanically, he let his hand play with Jinwoo’s hair.

“How about a compromise?” He suddenly said. “You can replace my shadow with a stronger one. But I don’t want to have more, I won’t feel comfortable with more than one…”

Jinwoo stayed silent, thinking of the proposition. It was not what he wanted, but he could understand Jinchul’s point of view – or at least he could try to – and his idea was probably the best he would have for now. He would surely press for more another time, but not now.

“Okay. IGRIS.”

The knight rose from Jinwoo’s shadow and knelt in front of the couple.

“Jinwoo, I am not depriving you of one of our strongest shadow.”

“You agreed on a stronger one. And Igris is fully capable of taking down an S-rank.”

“He might be, but it’s too much. Please, Jinwoo.”

And Jinwoo soon learned that he was weak to Jinchul’s pleas. He dismissed Igris and started to think of which shadow he could give him. Bellion and Beru were out, they were too powerful for Jinchul to accept, Tusk was out for the same reason, the shadow mage did have a great power up during the war against the Monarchs. Iron was not suited to take a solo mission, and he would die before letting Greed do this. He might think of the shadow and his alive counterpart as different beings, but they were too much alike for Jinchul to feel comfortable. The only one he could think of was…

“JIMA.”

The Naga boss from an average dungeon came out of his shadow. Jima was powerful, but not too much as to scare Jinchul. And he made sure to summon him at a smaller size, so Jinchul wouldn’t freak out because the monster could very well take the entire space of the living room.

“Okay, I can work with this one,” Jinchul said with a smile.

Jinwoo returned the smile and changed the shadows. Now, he was not entirely appeased, but Jima would be able to protect Jinchul fine.

Igris went back to the shadow realm with a gloomy look – as gloomy as a faceless knight shadow could look like. It was the second time someone rejected him for the bodyguard task. First his master’s sister, and now his master’s lover.

Upon his return, he was greeted by Beru who probably heard everything, like the eavesdropper he was.

The ant marshal was currently giggling, but he had the delicacy to hide it. Unsuccessfully.

“I’m not laughing at you, I promise,” the ant said.

Igris didn’t believe him, and his glare – even masked – proved it.

“Poor Igris, do you want a hug?”

Igris did not care about Beru’s taunt. He did not ware about what the ant was thinking. He has lived for millennia, he was mature enough to let it slide…

...

He totally destroyed a part of the realm trying to pin the Beru to the ground by his wings. Bellion was not impressed and made them kneel inthe corner of a room like children.

Flashback

Present day

“Hey, are you in there?” Jinchul asked Jinwoo.

The Monarch came back to reality. Right, he was in his boyfriend’s kitchen, watching him cook. Well, he only witnessed him putting noodles in the water for now.

“Are you sure you know how to cook?” Jinwoo asked with a smirk.

Jinchul didn’t respond. Well, he did throw a spatula at Jinwoo, but the Monarch evaded the attack with ease, catching the utensil and standing up, approaching the man at the counter.

And that’s where he was held at bay by another utensil.

“Don’t come here, it’s a surprise.”

Jinwoo put down the spatula on the counter and sat back down.

“No, seriously. Are you sure you know how to cook? I’m not trying to dismiss your skills, but… that’s the freezer you opened,” Jinwoo pointed as he joked.

“Thank you Jinwoo, I know what I’m doing,” Jinchul laughed.

The man kept the container a secret from his sight and Jinwoo could only wonder what he was going to eat, because he didn’t have a good sense of smell and so couldn’t make a good guess.

“And finished!” Jinchul said as he pulled the noodles out of the water to place them in the bowls.

Jinwoo was not one to be easily surprised, but the bowls on the table made his eyes widen.

“Is that… naengmyeon? You made naengmyon?”

“Yes. You said once that it was your favorite, so I wanted to try making them…” Jinchul blushed as Jinwoo stared at him.

The Monarch stood up and hugged Jinchul, pressing a kiss on his lips.

“Thank you.”

Jinchul only pulled away, embarrassed. They sat down and enjoyed the cold noodle soup. For Jinwoo, it might have been the best meal he ever had.

They ended on the couch after dinner. It was their routine. Eating dinner – usually prepared by Jinwoo –, doing the dishes together, and then sitting don on the couch, talking about everything they wanted – deep or trivial topics – with the TV on in the background.

This time, Jinchul was clearly sleepy. Jinwoo noticed the man yawn several time when he thought he was discreet. Also, the rim of his eyes were reddened due to his tiredness. Jinchul never said anything, he never complained about work, but the last week probably took a toll on his health.

“Jinwoo, what are you doing?” Jinchul asked as he was led on the couch by an insistent pull as soon as the dishes were washed up.

“You need to lie down and sleep. Or do you want to go to bed now?”

“I’m good… No, okay, I’m tired,” Jinchul corrected himself after seeing the disbelief in Jinwoo’s eyes. “But I can stay awake a little longer. I don’t need to work tomorrow.”

“Oh? Not working on a Saturday morning? Have you finally been enlightened by an awareness of your health?”

“Stop trying to sound pompous,” Jinchul chuckled. “The chairman made me take a day off.”

“Oh. Then I guess I can offer him some flowers to express my gratitude.”

Jinchul only elbowed him gently, not that it would do anything to the taller man. Jinwoo guided him on the couch. But instead of sitting next to each other, the Monarch made Jinchul lie down, the head on his lap.

“Comfortable?” Jinwoo asked with a genuine smile.

Only a grumble came out of Jinchul’s throat. The man was already closing his eyes and curling to get closer to the heat emanating from Jinwoo. They stayed silent for a few minutes, enjoying the calm. Jinwoo gently massaged Jinchul’s scalp with his fingers, and it wasn’t until a light snore came from the man that he understood that sleep won against his boyfriend’s stubbornness.

Debating quickly as to what to do, Jinwoo finally stood up with the intent of caring Jinchul to his room. But he paused as he rose up. Jinchul woke up and held him back by the bottom of his T-shirt.

“Stay,” he audibly mumbled.

“I’m only carrying you to your bed.”

Jinwoo lifted the man and pressed the sleeping body against his to keep him from falling. The arms of Jinchul hung in the void as Jinwoo walked in the apartment. When he finally set him down, he couldn’t move. Jinchul’s arms acted and hugged him tight by his neck.

“Stay,” the sleepy voice of Jinchul whispered.

Jinwoo blinked. That was new. Until today, he never stayed for an entire night. He always went back after Jinchul fell asleep. He never asked to stay, and neither did Jinchul until now.

“Are you sure?” Jinwoo said.

Jinchul opened his eyes a little. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

“You’re warm,” Jinchul explained before closing his eyes again.

Jinwoo smiled. Then he would stay. Detaching the arms keeping him bend over the bed, he took off his sweatshirt and his socks. He did the same to Jinchul for better comfort. Now that they were both in tracking pants and T-shirts, Jinwoo slipped under the sheets. Immediately, he was met with Jinchul’s hug that could rival an octopus. His body was warm, and Jinwoo closed his eyes, the warmth lulling his to sleep as well.