Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No one wants to experience a moment where everything they ever loved and cared for is gone from this world.

Your family, your friends, maybe a career or an achievement.

Watching it die out leaves a person empty just for that split second before it is filled with something else. Something like anger, sadness, or maybe even denial.

Han Yoojin lost his whole world in that moment, holding onto an unmoving Han Yoohyun.

Although Han Yoohyun’s body was meant to be nothing but the empty shell left behind, it was Han Yoojin who felt like nothing.

He was nothing, for he has failed in what he always strived for.

His little brother, the one who he took care of all of his life, fed him, bathed him, watched him grow and eat, go to school only to come back either happy or annoyed. That little brother that Han Yoojin always laughed with or soothed after a nightmare.

All the images running in his mind of a happy little boy, for he was still a little boy in his mind, just on the cusp of adulthood.

Han Yoojin wasn’t there when Han Yoohyun grew up, wasn’t there to take him to his first drink, didn’t see him off to military service. He didn’t send him to school like he originally planned to do with all that money he previously collected, didn’t see him graduate.

And he never will.

Because who Han Yoojin was holding was not his Han Yoohyun. His Yoohyun-a is gone.

He stayed there for a while.

The dungeon will close soon, that he is sure of.

But he didn’t have the energy to move.

There is a ball of light that said will give him a wish.

But it couldn’t bring his brother back.

It was, essentially, useless.

What was the point of a wish if what you wanted will never be achieved?

He tries to pull his brother out, tries being a keyword. His limp was hindering him, it was painful despite the power boost, and he wanted to cry at his inability to do such a simple thing.

“Is it possible to … take my life force and give it to my brother?”

That was considered to be the same as wishing someone back to life. It wasn’t possible.

Han Yoojin hits the ground with strained fists.

What is the point?

He cannot go on.

He cannot live.

What if he gets whatever else he desired when it was a second choice? How will he ever be happy?

His brother is gone.

His brother, all the others awakened.

In those small moments, Han Yoojin also left this world, for he is nothing without his family.

And something crawls inside him, clawing him back into existence. Painfully and forcefully. It bit at his inner soul to wake him up and remind him of his reality. Han Yoojin tears up, not knowing what more he could do in this situation. He felt pain blossoming inside him.

He wished he could go back, go back to when he could fix things, back to when his brother was alive.

He just needs to know he was okay.

And maybe … maybe afterward …

The ball of energy reacts, and it blinds him for a moment.

0o0o0

When he opened his eyes, he was not in the dungeon anymore.

Confused, he squints at the sky above, not as red and cruel as the dungeon, but a soft blue tinged with white clouds.

His head was spinning. The change of the atmosphere left him reeling.

He is somewhere else, and he is alive.

He takes a moment to realize what is happening. The wish that he unconsciously thought of during his grief, forgetting about the rewards and thinking that it was his last moments on earth. He couldn’t believe his luck, that it wasn’t a hallucination.

Pulling out his phone to check the date and news reassured him of the truth.

He was in the past, and his brother is very much alive.

And what of him?

He has no idea.

Something dark coils around his heart. For a moment, he did not want to exist. What was once an ambition to be the best he could possibly be is now gone, knowing how futile his attempts were.

There were e-mails, unopened e-mails.

He remembers this time period … or rather, there was a period when he used to use this e-mail. It was before he went to the awakening broker. Closing his bank account made it so he didn’t need that e-mail anymore, not after he gets awakened.

He thought of it as a new beginning.

His data was compromised, and he had many attacks on him online, not all as malicious as hacking, but there were some close calls.

He does not click on any e-mail, knowing full well how the content would go. They would mostly consist of insults, name callings, accusations of falsehoods, and maybe some truths mixed in. He has only been holding his brother back from becoming the man that he could be. He has been bringing down his reputation and the reputation of the guild.

His actions only confirmed what everyone thought of him.

He is nothing.

And Han Yoojin believes every word of it.

He decides it’s time to move.

His leg was not injured, yet he limps.

He stares at it, reminded of a future past that will never come, for he will never follow in his old footsteps. Han Yoojin bites his lips and forces himself to continue walking, the imaginary pain does not exist, he insists. It is not real.

Yet it feels real. The pain is there.

Taking the step was agonizing, and when he decided to stop somewhere to check if his leg really did have a limp or not, he frowned at the perfectly normal-looking leg.

The pain was in his mind.

Han Yoojin grimaced as he unfolded his pants.

Was it really? How can anyone deny this pain?

He forced himself to think of other things. He will not be able to numb it any time soon, not when the injury is non-existent, so any pain relief would be useless. A doctor would not be able to help.

Even if Han Yoojin did go to one, past experiences told him exactly how it would end. He didn’t want his name to end up on a tabloid at some point, so much for patient confidentiality.

Entering his apartment left him confused for a moment, confused on the fact that this wasn’t his apartment. His body moved on its own, trying to reach for the place where it’s used to get its comfort. But Han Yoojin has left this apartment a long time ago.

He takes a slow deep breath and moves to the kitchen, taking out a tray of ice cubes and breaking it apart before heading to his room and grabbing a towel. In the end, he wraps the cubes with a towel and sits on the couch trying to ebb the inflaming sensations seizing his limb.

Taking his phone out again, he opens the phone’s browser and starts typing a very familiar name.

Han Yoohyun.

Lips trembled at the latest news, there were some video suggestions from a recent conference that he vaguely remembers, and clicks on it to watch the spectacle.

He doesn’t exactly remember what Yoohyun-a said, but he was just happy to see him alive, moving, talking, and even frowning at the majority of the cameras.

He never smiled at one, it took a lot out of him to make him smile for a picture.

Closing his phone, he drops it on the ground and covered his eyes with his arms.

He was alive.

Chapter Text

In a world where you lost all your purpose, what is one meant to do?

Han Yoojin faced a difficult question, and it is something he must answer.

What is one meant to do in this situation?

It would be six years till that fated awful day, one year until he pulled out everything he owned to start an awakening, two years since it all began.

In this time of life, Han Yoojin has faced many difficulties trying to raise himself up to be someone worthy of being called Han Yoohyun’s brother, the youngest S-class and youngest guild leader in the country.

No matter what he tried to do, it was all practically useless.

Now, knowing full well that the best course of action was to disappear made him feel listless.

Is that it?

Disappear?

To live a quiet insignificant life away from anyone's eyes?

That sounds simple and mundane, but very hard to do knowing full well how he had been watched throughout the years, the last whispers of his brother’s memories lingering in his mind.

His brother tried his best to keep him safe, and it turns out that the best way to do so was to simply … deny relations.

Han Yoojin and Han Yoohyun do not have a good relationship. Thus, it will be useless to try and threaten the guild leader by kidnapping or hurting his older brother.

He admits that it makes sense.

But couldn’t his brother talk to him first, to at least explain himself?

He felt useless, like a rock that dragged a boat down. If he was simply told … Han Yoojin might have tried to stop him, true, but at least he will know.

He remembered how his brother acted viciously after his awakening, remembered his subordinates' contempt raining down on him as he looked up at them, how Han Yoohyun kneeled next to him, accused him of trying to cling to his feet like a leech.

To Han Yoohyun, Han Yoojin was not the nurturer that the system deemed him to be.

He forgoes that thought as he readies three shoes by the door. One of them was his shoes, battered to the point of non-repair, and the other two were a pair of Han Yoohyun's when he was much younger and had been going through a growth spurt.

There are three bowls set.

Han Yoojin does not have a body to bury, not one to cremate. He does not think he would have had one either if he had stayed in a world where he did not wish for a second chance.

If he had left that portal, he knew he’d be mobbed. What would the world think if he left a portal hanging onto his little brother’s body? He would be questioned, accused, beaten to death most likely. Some would say he was jealous.

He can imagine it now.

A spectacle, with officers coming in to arrest him. His interrogation would be nothing but a sham. After all, how can an S-rank get killed by a measly F-rank? Not unless the S-rank has some sort of familiarity with his weak older brother, the same wicked brother who decided to get his revenge at that moment.

Was it far-fetched?

He was accused of worse.

So many worse things.

He wouldn’t doubt the possibility of it happening.

He’d be thrown into jail.

Or worse …

By then, the funeral would have already been done without him.

Because, to the rest of the world, Han Yoojin was never Han Yoohyun's brother.

0o0o0

He had stayed awake for three nights.

It had been relatively easy.

He didn’t have anything to do. He only sat in his living room. A simple arrangement of flowers he bought from a nearby store was placed on the table, and he only rested next to it for that duration.

No thoughts were plaguing his mind, nor any worry or any pressed need for anything. The passage of time had been questionable, not quite sure if it has been a minute or an hour since he last checked the clock.

He didn’t remember if he had a job or not. He wouldn’t be surprised if the business owner had been looking for a reason to fire him by then.

He wasn’t even sure if he had changed his clothes. Once he looks down, he realized he was wearing his old suit from back when his parents died. It still surprisingly fit him, and he wondered if he had grown at all in the last decade, or if he had stunted his own growth as responsibility and work overtook him?

He spent his time contemplating, mind wandering to silly things then jumping to rather serious and heavy thoughts. It would circle back to his current situation, and he would question if any of this had meant anything at all.

Did it matter?

Han Yoohyun is very much alive, though far away.

But then the images snaps back into his mind, his memories betraying him, showing him a blank-eyed Yoohyun-a between his arms, staring at him deeply with no sparks of life behind them.

The image of it still haunts him. He would be damned if anyone told him it’s ridiculous to do this. His little brother was …

Gone.

His little brother died.

And he deserved a funeral.

Han Yoojin couldn’t do a decent one, but he could at least do his best.

Yoohyun-a didn’t deserve that death, not that way, not in a dungeon with someone as useless as him. He deserved a funeral then, and this is the best Han Yoojin could provide.

His shoulder touches the floor, and he pulls his leg to himself. There was warmth somewhere, but Han Yoojin could hardly feel it as his eyes stung with little prickles of tears. The thoughts of a future Yoohyun-a lost in a dungeon, never to return, never to be buried, slowly strangled him.

If that world still existed and didn’t get erased, Han Yoojin has failed his brother one more time in the most terrible way possible.

He couldn’t help the sob that escaped him.

He was a horrible man.

Something inside him coils, it tightened so much that it hurt. He was close to bursting from all the emotions that he was experiencing.

It was pain, he was sure of it.

And with that pain, endurance. 

He tightened his hold over his legs, ignoring the sudden flare of pain shooting through it, and burying his face into his knees. He wanted to cry while trying to shrink and become smaller, small enough that anyone would ignore the pitiful speck of dust that he became.

For the first time in this insignificant life, he wanted someone to lean on.

He had been the strong one before. He had always been the strong one. Can’t he just be the weak one for the first time and let someone else take care of him? Can’t he at least cry without worry?

Han Yoojin held his tears for so long that he forgot how to let them go. Now, now he cannot even start recalling how to. His emotions were so close to bursting but refusing based on principle and habit.

He couldn’t even shed a tear for his brother.

Han Yoojin was truly a terrible human being.

Chapter Text

When he sits in a cafe, drinking overpriced coffee while glancing outside the window, he realized then that everything was meaningless.

There was a time in his life when he wouldn’t have had the freedom to walk out as much as he wanted. Unlike then, his name might have been known, but his face is still relatively obscured from the media. He is not the most resented man to exist in the current social age, but simply a resentful and easily resented one.

The freedom to walk among people without care has been lost on him, expecting a yell or an attack from anyone in the crowd has left him feeling vulnerable.

Remembering those times made him feel ... useless. People thought they could simply grab onto him as they screamed at his face for things out of his control.

Han Yoojin never had the energy to fight back.

They only spoke of the truth after all. Every time he entered a dungeon ... or most of the time, someone dies, always protecting him in some way.

Those people ... never truly liked him, they were only influenced by his skills.

Those memories engulfed all of his thoughts, and he needed to sit down to let them pass.

Later on, it took another shape. Grinning menacing as it slowly stretched its arms around his shoulder, encircling his neck, holding onto him tightly.

He wonders if those were the spirits of all the people he disappointed.

He found himself running from the cafe to a place where he is isn’t sure is safe, but at least it was less crowded, where there aren’t as many pairs of eyes following him, latching on his back like a sticky morsel, hungry mouths waiting for gossip to drip from his sweat.

He is a danger to everything he cared about, he should make himself scarce.

Han Yoojin bumps into someone.

He does a slight turn, and gives muted apology as he left, never stopping to see who it was he has bumped onto.

The victim stood there, surprised but silent at the sudden event, not having experienced such a random thing for a long time now.

0o0o0

Han Yoojin decides on finishing his GED.

His scores weren’t high, not like Han Yoohyun’s grades when he used to go to school, but it would be enough to get him into a university if he worked hard.

Pride didn’t come to him, not when he thought about how he should have gotten this degree ages ago, back when he was actually 18 years old. Graduating high school as a 24-year-old left him ashamed, embarrassed to even exist by this point.

But after thinking about it, the only sort of job he would like is something that involves children - most likely in education - or kindergarten, or even a nursery.

To get a job in that field, he would need to get a degree in a normal university, not a trade school.

To go to university, he needs a high school diploma.

Han Yoojim decides that studying online was the best option to avoid problems for himself and his brother. It has to be a school that’s from out of this country so that no more issues would come up with his name.

As he studies, he continues with his part-time job. People didn’t know him as that Han Yoojin yet, so they didn't react to his nametag, and the bookstore owner was relatively nice enough. Han Yoojin didn’t cause any issues recently, and he’s always on time and sort of awake after a night up trying to keep up with school overseas.

Moving on was an important course of action that he needs to take for everyone’s sake and sanity. Han Yoojin wasn’t sure if it was for his brother's good as he originally intended, or for his own sake now.

But … he is doing enough. He has to believe that he is doing enough. If not, then what is the point?

Sometimes, he can feel people whispering, saying that what he is doing will never be enough to atone for what he has done, for all the mischief, trouble, and agony he has caused.

Many people were brought under his influence, and many people died while still under his influence. And he reaped the gains, taking what little ability they had for his own survival.

His boss, all those team members that genuinely cared for him, the people he forced to care for him.

Will he ever be clean of their demise?

He was an exploitive bastard, and no other name fits him.

0o0o0

The self-imposed isolation ends with a knock on the door.

It was strong, sharp, and short. Having never previously had any nice visitors, Han Yoojin warily looks at the door, biting his lips at the thought of answering.

Did they find his address?

Will the harassment start now?

He closes the stove, readying himself for what is to come both mentally and physically. He was never an intimidating figure, nor did he have enough muscle to actually make a difference in a serious fight, but years of dungeon hunting taught him how to evade direct danger with the least amount of pain received possible.

A painful lesson that he is still learning to this day, with the pain flaring in his leg, telling him that no matter how much he learned and practiced, a mistake will always be possible.

Slow and steady, he unlocks the door and peeks outside from the little crack that he allowed.

Behind the door stood someone he hasn’t expected to visit.

It was like a slap to the face, seeing a man that he resigned to never see again, living and breathing directly out of his door.

Something must have shown on his face because Han Yoohyun’s expression turns from frowning to worry.

“Hyung?”

All he could do was gulp, the voice suddenly jolting him back into reality.

Han Yoojin is back in the past.

“Yoohyun-a?”

It was awkward, opening the door for him and trying to avoid looking into his eyes. This is his little brother. He shouldn’t feel as bad as he is right now. Yet, whenever his eyes fell onto him, he couldn’t help but remember flashes of a time that doesn’t exist, of a lifeless body between his arms with barely any heat left.

Han Yoojin remembers crying, begging, wishing for him to return to life, wishing for the flames to burst into a blaze of inferno. For one warm breath.

How could the brightest and hottest flame in the world dim so suddenly?

He tries to open his mouth, tries to say something, anything.

It was all useless.

Instead, he starts the stove, very glad that the oil has previously been heated as he adds more rice than he previously intended. What would have been leftover for the week is now going to be eaten today, and he adds more than just one egg.

Once that was done, he puts the plate down in front of his little brother and looks down at his plate.

The silence was engulfing, his brother not saying anything as he continues to watch him, and Han Yoojin was unable to face him at all, or the nightmares would threaten to spill back.

 “Hyung, I’m-”

“Eat, please,” he mumbled as he picked up his chopsticks and started eating himself.

Han Yoojin, you avoidant little piece of-

“Please,” the worry was overbearing now. Even without looking, he can tell how concerned Han Yoohyun is, but he continued to eat.

Han Yoohyun will get what he wants in the end, patient or not, S-classes always do.

Once done, Han Yoojin picks up the plate and washes them before returning back to the table.

“Why did you come?”

“I wanted to check on you.”

“You usually don’t bother,” Han Yoojin bites back, but winced when he realized how it sounded. Han Yoohyun didn’t say anything in reply to that, and they only sat in silence.

“I was told you had a limp,” Han Yoohyun finally started. “There weren’t any incidents recently that could have caused it, are there?” He asks.

Han Yoohjin frowns, confused as to why he was asking. He would have been the first to know. Instead, he comes directly to him for an answer. If he trusted his information source or surveillance as much as he did in their other life, he would have known that nothing happened to him.

This is precisely the problem, as Han Yoojin has come to realize.

Nothing happened to him from their perspective. Yet, he suddenly acquired a limp, and maybe even more concerning characteristics have popped up, things that Han Yoojin has developed throughout the years naturally but appeared in one night for everyone else.

He reached for his cup, grasping it tightly.

“A simple accident.”

“You’ve been limping for a while. Maybe you should go to a hospital-”

“I don’t- I don’t trust hospitals.”

The silence was choking him.

“It’s all in my head. The pain. It suddenly came up,” true, concerning the events of this time. “It wasn’t injured, it just hurts.”

“Still, a doctor-”

“Will call me crazy and attention-seeking. I don’t want to bother.”

The atmosphere suddenly dropped. His breathing has become even more difficult.

“Did someone tell you this before?” Han Yoohyun sounded cold, angry. A sharp memory of a vicious face crossed his thoughts.

‘A healer, you think I’d do that for you?’

He never deserved help. He only caused trouble for everyone, why should anyone help him anymore?

“Y-Yes,” Han Yoojin mumbled before shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters, Hyung! How can anyone-”

 “It doesn’t matter!” Han Yoojin yells.

The cup breaks.

The tea splatters him and the table. It slowly drips down his fingers, and he watches with sudden clarity as his fingers starts to bleed from the sudden cuts, with skin blistering from heat.

His breath hitches.

It burned.

Chapter Text

The hospital said that the burns will heal, especially since Han Yoohyun forced him to drink the potion on the spot before moving him into a car, driven by one of the guild members that he can vaguely remember.

They wrapped it up, the ointment soothing his irritated skin and the bandages protecting it from further infection.

The cuts themselves were healed from the potion, which probably made his healing process much easier.

The leg, on the other hand, has caused some issues.

Han Yoohyun insisted on meeting a doctor for it since they were already in the hospital.

Knowing full well how he won’t be able to escape now that he was where his brother wanted him to be, he simply resigned himself to being prodded by people.

He hisses when his leg is touched, the pressure was unnecessary and quite painful. Sometimes he’d glare when the doctor even thinks of trying to move a finger in his direction. Han Yoohyun seems to agree with his sentiment of staying touch and prod free as he glowers at whoever caused him extra pain.

During the whole process, he would give short curt answers. If he could, he would go about without giving them any. How does one explain the fact that he injured and broke his leg so badly that not even surgery could help heal it back to normal?

He walked around for ages with a broken leg, for years. No healer would help him, no potion was strong enough to fix him up. Most hospitals gave him subpar treatments.

There wouldn’t be any signs of it. None of the tears or splits or abuse that his leg faced.

Yet, the pain is exactly as it was back then.

Agonizing, burning, and flaring with every step like hot coal pouring inside his very nerves.

All his feelings are real.

Yet, it never did happen, did it? And no one ever saw it happen.

His pain shouldn’t be real. It isn’t real.

After long hours spent in the hospital, with test after test being done on the behest of his brother’s demand, he was finally released to the sight of Kim Sunghan waiting by a car. Finding him there, looking as if he has better things to do than wait in front of the hospital. He takes one glance at his younger brother before sighing.

“I’ll go home,” he mumbled, only to be stopped by a clamp on his shoulders, freezing him in place. Looking at the hand, and then slowly following it to look at the owner, he couldn’t help but grimace. “Don’t worry, I won’t cause any problems for you.”

“That’s not what I … Hyung, please tell me if something happened. You’re not acting like yourself.”

Like myself?

“I am acting exactly as I am. Nothing changed.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Language,” Han Yoojin snapped at him, pushing his brother’s hands away before physically turning around to face him. “I did not raise you for more than a decade for you to end up using curses like a delinquent.”

Han Yoohyun bared his teeth for a second before forcefully closing them, but not fast enough to hide the fact that he was grinding them out of frustration.

“Two years away doesn’t mean you can throw all of that away …” But it was enough, wasn’t it? He threw his relationship, his familiarity. Manners, teachings, habits … what are they in comparison? Why should Han Yoohyun emulate his older brother in such ways when he can be something better.

Han Yoojin takes a short shallow breath.

“Hyung-”

“I’ve- I’ve raised you to be better, Han Yoohyun, at least show it.”

“I’m sorry,” Han Yoohyun said at the end, not understanding what he has done but knowing well that he was the cause without even being told. He used to apologize like this when they were younger, thinking that he would feel better afterwards.

It was such an old childish habit that it almost hurt looking back at it.

Han Yoojin shook his head, not able to accept an apology like that.

“Forget it. I’ll be back home. I didn’t do anything lately for you to worry about, and your reputation is intact. Don’t bother following up on me.”

“How did you know?”

“That something’s been interfering with my life whenever I try to do something? That you know exactly where I’ll be whenever trouble comes?”

Han Yoohyun doesn’t say anything, and this time, it was he who was avoiding his gaze.

“If you’re wondering why I haven’t been doing anything lately, as the most likely reason why you even visited in the first place, I’m finishing my schooling online.”

“Schooling?”

“I never finished school. I’m trying to get my GED. Are you satisfied?”

“Your leg.”

“I got hurt. End of story.”

Han Yoojin hides his hands inside his pockets and tries to bury himself deeper into his jacket’s lapels. Huffing, he turns around and leaves the man alone in front of the hospital, never looking back.

This is for Han Yoohyun’s sake.

0o0o0

Two hospital visits later in the span of a month, Han Yoojin was given a diagnosis.

“Psychosomatic disorder?”

“Physical issues and pain manifested from psychological issues. Usually, stress. However, from what I understand is that it was originally injured, and you retained the memory of the injury. Have you used a potion, Mr. Han Yoojin?”

After a moment, he slowly nods.

Yes, let’s go with that excuse.

The doctor sighs.

“The potion seems to have healed your injury efficiently to the point of making it difficult to see it in the scans. If that is the case, I would have been inclined to call it CRPS. A form of pain that intensifies far more than what it should have been like naturally.”

His leg was in great pain not because of a syndrome, but because it never healed. Broken bones that were never set properly tend to pinch a few nerves.

The fact that his mind retained the memory of it all …

Working on the hunch that it was a psychosomatic disorder than regional pain rather, or a weird mix of both following the circumstances, the doctor offered him a treatment that would be effective for both.

Therapy.

Anti-depressants work for both, but Han Yoojin didn’t want to take medication, he didn’t even want to go to therapy. He’d concede to going to physical therapy, but not actual therapy.

It would be a waste of money.

He was fitted with a crutch to help him walk without adding much weight onto his leg, as it ‘seems’ that adding weight to it will cause it more pain.

He was given forearm crutches, not underarm crutches. He stares monotonously at it as he wondered why. When he turns to ask the doctor, the man answers him excitedly.

“Underarm crutches are usually used by people with short-term injuries. Forearm ones are used for people who have a long treatment plan projection. In the long run, if your leg does not get any better, we will discuss changing the crutches to a cane. However, let us hope for the best. Most cases that follow their treatment plans end up with either less pain or none at all.”

He tries the crutches for a moment, trying to gauge the difference between them and his last crutches. It was harder to balance on, that was for sure.

Han Yoojin couldn’t help but think as he continues to try and balance himself … did those past doctors intentionally give him underarm crutches? Could they even get away with the maltreatment of patients?

There was no doubt back then that he would need a long extensive treatment plan, and they still gave him ill-fitting tools. Maybe … maybe they were underfunded. That could be possible.

To be fair, Han Yoojin went to cheap clinics to avoid high costs and easy recognition. They were less professional.

Right?

What if not.

What if it was intentional?

Such a tiny little detail wouldn’t be noticed and isn’t generally known by the public, so he wouldn’t be able to voice out his displeasure because he didn’t know any better. And he knew that he wouldn’t be taken seriously …

He …

Was he just disposable trash to these people to even take what little comfort he had and rip it away?

“Han Yoojin-ssi,” the nurse called. He shook his head and looks up at her. “If it’s painful we can re-adjust it to make you feel more comfortable,” she sounded worried.

Did he make a bad expression?

“It’s fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Han Yoojin-ssi,” the doctor appeared, smiling at him.

This doctor is … optimistic. A stark contrast to the ones he interacted with before.

He wondered if this was all a ruse. This smiling façade could be hiding their true feelings on the issue. Han Yoojin was sure that no one really believed him about getting injured and healed previously, which is fair, he wasn’t healed. But he had a little small sprinkling of doubt wondering if the doctors were simply … humoring him.

When it came to paying, he had forced himself not to show his confusion when the doctor said that his treatment is already paid for. But after some thought, he’d realize that he wouldn’t be treated as well as he had been in his last few visits if Han Yoohyun didn’t insert himself in the equation.

He mumbles his thanks to the doctor and half-heartedly promised to follow his therapy sessions before leaving him alone.

Chapter Text

“The working theory is that he was caught up in a situation and wasn’t able to get help on time, he then ingested potions to heal himself,” a man said as his eyes glided over the file. His glasses glinted under the harsh office lights before raising his head to look at his leader. “The potion used would be of high grade for it to erase any signs of injury.”

In conclusion, Han Yoojin wasn’t caught in a simple situation.

In reality, it was quite possible for him to have gotten caught by one of Haeyeon’s enemies and was hurt before being given treatment. A potion with that degree of efficiency would have been far too expensive for any person on the streets to have acquired.

And it all happened without their knowledge.

Hyung wouldn’t have closed himself off all of a sudden unless there was a reason, Han Yoohyun was sure of this. Hyung had been relentless in his quest to reach him up until a few months ago. It was painful, trying to ignore him all the time and working at discouraging their interactions. He hoped that the plan would work slowly.

But the sudden change of attitude and behavior left him worried and anxious about what actually happened to him.

It only proved that his plan has failed. That no matter what he did, his brother was still hurt in the end.

If true …

If true, he couldn’t imagine the sort of pain Hyung could have been dealt with. He was seeing it now, with how Hyung was having difficulty walking for so long. Yet, he bit his lips and stayed silent … what could have happened for him to not even bother seeking help? What other things could have happened?

Hyung wasn’t like him, he was smaller, weaker. For fuck’s sake, he isn’t even an awakened!

If it was enemies, they had any possible torture arrangement on hand. Just simply using your strength and forcing potions on the victim constantly could be torturous.

And to imagine his older brother in that sort of situation, constantly getting hurt by punches or kicks too powerful for him to handle, and then forced to drink potions-

His older brother, who’s always been strong in front of him, taking care of him ever since he could remember, and was the only person to truly genuinely smile for him …

He felt his blood boil.  

“The other theory?” He has to hold his anger in.

“That it really is a psychosomatic disorder. I have consulted a psychologist on the issue, and …” the man stops, now seeming hesitant to say more.

“Suk Simyeon-ssi, please continue.”

“Psychosomatic disorders don’t have any specific causes, but studies show a strong correlation between multiple mental illnesses and environmental situations. Stress, neglect, abuse, mood disorders such as depression or anxiety, or substance abuse. There aren’t any concrete reasons and the studies are few when it concerns this particular issue. Most, however, agree that it is mental and that it gets better with improved mental health and lifestyle choices.”

Suk Simyeon was saying something else between those lines, something that Han Yoohyun couldn’t help but feel directed at him.

Environmental situations?

They … they did grow up poor. But the neighborhood was relatively safe. Hyung never moved, so the air was fresh and not polluted, the environment was clean, and the neighbors were nice from what he remembered as a child and his past interactions.

It has been safe. It was a safe place to grow up in.

But that wasn’t the problem, the problem was that many words somehow match Hyung’s situation, many that were concerning and with terrible implications.

He crossed his arms as his eyes roamed along with the paper Suk Simyeon has brought. He had been very thorough in this issue and has even consulted multiple psychologists. So far, he has summed it perfectly. He even had a fake casefile study that described Hyung’s situation to give out to the doctors without leaking any personal information, and there has been a concerning number of comments given by them.

Neglect?

Did he … neglect his older brother?

Suk Simyeong bows before leaving him alone with his thoughts. Han Yoohyun raised his hand in a waving gesture before running his fingers across the paper.

He couldn’t neglect his brother. He wasn’t a pet to be neglected. Nor a child. Han Yoojin has always been the adult in his life, the responsible person he always went to with his issues even when their parents were alive. If any neglect has happened, it would have been from their parents-

Is that it? Neglect from their parents?

No. Hyung was far stronger than that, their parent's lack of care hasn’t affected him in the past, why would it affect him now?

What if … what if Hyung simply bottled up his emotions?

Han Yoohyun refused to believe in that.

When Hyung smiled back then, it was always open, full and true, with no negative thoughts or emotions attached … but there were times when his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He first noticed that smile during their parent’s funeral, with his brother wearing a suit and a white band around his arms.

When he looked tired.

People had been whispering back then, their voices were too loud. Han Yoohyun hated the pity sent their way, but his brother simply smiled as he held him within his reach, hugging him tightly.

But … but their parents never cared for them, why would he even feel neglected by them.

Could it really have been him?

Yoohyun shook his head.

If not neglect, then … Substance abuse?

Han Yoohyun shook his head again. There was no possible way. From what he observed of his brother, he was a light drinker, and he didn’t seem to have any drinks around him. There wasn’t any lingering alcohol scent in the kitchen when he visited. There had been no reports of him visiting bars or clubs either.

Plus, Hyung would sooner whack him than even think of suggesting that he was taking drugs.

But he could be a smoker.

Yet, the apartment smelled like incense rather than cigarettes.

Stressed? It would make sense that he’s stressed if he’s using incense.

He is studying to get his GED, he did mention that. But, Han Yoohyun doubted that it was the reason that caused him to develop psychometric pain. Hyung went through a worse struggle than studying. And despite how people tended to think, Hyung was smarter than average. He did help him study when he faced some difficulties.

What about … Abandonment?

He hasn’t truly abandoned him. Han Yoohyun has always watched over his brother, even from afar. Despite his want to come back and apologize for his actions, he couldn’t. He had to be firm in his act, or the consequences could have been dire.

He had to believe that what he was doing had positive effects, not negatives.

Han Yoohyun wouldn’t know what to do if it had been him who caused all of this.

What if Han Yoohyun has caused this by abandoning his Hyung.

He refused to believe that.

He cannot let that thought continue.

Certainly, Hyung wouldn’t … wouldn’t be hurt by him like this … would he?

Han Yoohun squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deeper breath than usual before letting go.

What if Han Yoohyun’s original plan had been a failure? What if he did cause this-

Had to breathe in again, there was smoke rising from his palm and it wouldn’t take much for a fire to catch on. He lets his breath out.

There were other reasons, he just needed to think logically.

His eyes drop onto the paper to search for anything else as he ignores the niggling guilt slowly weighing him down.

And his eyes landed on one word.

Depression.

The smell of smoke now filled the whole room, and Han Yoohyun had to snap himself out of his thoughts as he realized that the papers had caught fire. It seemed that it was halfway into eating the top layers of his desk, and he had to move to save any parts of it to salvage anything.

Whatever the reason could be, he will make sure that Hyung will get better.

He has to.

0o0o0

Han Yoojin struggles to move. The pain was all-encompassing as it slowly ate every part of his body. The heat was slowly burning him away.

He does not own this power.

He should have never been able to use it.

But he has to persist, he has to reach the gate, he has to- he has to-

An icy cold hand grabs onto his wrist, stopping him from continuing further. Yoojin looks down, only to be met with cold dead eyes.

“Stop struggling, it’s useless,” the voice said, sharp and harsh. He flinched, accidentally letting go of the corpse, and it hits the floor with a loud thud as Han Yoojin falls to the ground. “You already failed me, what more can you do?”

Han Yoojin’s eyes snapped open as he breathed harshly, his hand slowly going to his chest to calm himself. He cringed when he saw his arm, expecting a cold limb to appear, attached to his wrist.

He slowly forced himself to sit upright, checking where he is before slowly dropping his head into his palms, trembling a bit as he recalled the dream.

He raised his head and takes a long calming breath before pushing himself off the bed, he has work to do.

He doubts he will get better.

In fact, he doubts he will ever get anywhere.

The crutches helped him move.

The shop owner had given him a small nod when he saw them the first time he came in with them. The owner still insisted on him sitting by the cash register, rarely ever letting him help with organizing the books.

He has come to realize that the man probably didn’t trust him with the task and gave Han Yoojin the much easier jobs.

Before the crutches, he had a reason not to look at people directly. Those blissful days where he slouched a bit in a futile act to keep weight off his leg. Even sitting down couldn’t help him with looking at others. No eye contact ever happened if he didn’t want to initiate one.

Now, he didn’t have a choice.

The previous underarm crutches helped him hide, the forearm crutches forced his posture to stay straight, for his head to keep upright. He has to look at the world clearly, and there was no room for slouching to hide away from people’s gazes.

He was thankful that the owner at least let him have this little safe haven where he could avoid people’s gazes for the day.

He grabs the books or stationery and scans them. He’d take the money and return the change.

It was monotonous, normal, and almost peaceful.

Despite his inability to heal properly, because he was sure he is incapable of doing anything properly, at least he can do this job right.

Chapter Text

Having no vehicle to use for traveling, and doubting the fact that he could drive a vehicle at all with a limp, public transport was the best alternative for a person on disability with no other aid.

Before, he had the freedom of using a bicycle, where he would ride with the winds against his face. If someone were to see him, he’d disappear the next second because of his paddling speed. It felt refreshing and let him avoid most traffic without issues.

After the accident, however, he couldn’t even paddle once without his leg giving up on him.

He remembers the first time he tried, spinning the paddle once erupted a surprising piercing pain in him. He knew beforehand that he had to give up many things because of the injury, but biking wasn’t something he expected to give up, even if he should have realized it sooner.

Han Yoojin just thought …

just one thing, he just thought that he could keep one thing normal. Like before. He had already taken off the cast then and expected to have some mobility back into his life.

Unfortunately, it has only made it worse. What was once dull pain became sharp afterward. He was unable to go back into the hospital because of … difficulties.

He had to start taking public transport, and with it came the risk of recognition.

Han Yoojin has learned to wear his hats, cover his face with masks, and sometimes even use bandages to cover a whole swath of his face to avoid having some semblance of himself. He would try to disappear into the crowd, but accidents happen, and someone will notice him.

Someone always will.

During those days, he learned discretion. He learned how to make himself smaller, how to make his presence negligible, and how to stay out of one’s sight. Not to voice out his thoughts in raids, make everyone forget he was there, and make them feel like he was just another teammate. It didn’t always work, the moment someone recognized him, all his efforts would dwindle into nothing and he would be the focus of many irritated people.

He grasped the handle of his crutch tightly.

And he learned how to take the insults and threats. They were small at first, but spiteful nonetheless. As time went on, however, those comments became more. Direct. Vindictive.

Hurtful.

He learned how to take the insults.

The threats became nothing in the end. Something would kill him soon anyway, he always secretly thought.

Part-timing in multiple places at once while coming back to take care of a pre-teen, making sure said pre-teen grew up and had everything he needed.

A monster in a dungeon that managed to escape the attacking line, sometimes not by accident.

Or even his teammates if he wasn’t careful about influencing them.

He always thought of it as unfair before this, but now … now he wonders if they were truly deserved? After all, he really was a failure of a man, and he ended up …

All those teammates that died in his stead …

The image of Han Yoohyun flashed in his mind, unmoving and still.

Han Yoojin silently cried over his body as he held onto it. Alone in a dungeon with no one else left alive as he lost all his energy to do anything.

Already killing the dragon, already getting revenge, but there was nothing left anymore.

Willingly deciding to simply stay put afterward.

He didn’t want to live anymore. Living was useless.

Then …

A bright light.

Overwhelming energy floating in front of him.

A silver of hope started to shine.

Then-

The bus stops at the intended destination. Han Yoojin blinked and let loose of the handle for a second, ignoring the sudden cramps in his hand.

He tried to get off but someone bumped him and he couldn’t find the time to re-position himself.

“I’m sorry!” It could have been an accident, the person sounded surprised, but he doubted it.

It had never been an accident before.

Any second, he’d hear the laughter as if the aggressor heard a joke, and he closed his eyes tightly to get ready.

“Hey, are you alright?” He heard footsteps instead, and he opened his eyes to see feet in front of him, he couldn’t see anything else. “Do you need help getting up?”

“N-No,” Han Yoojin mumbled as he starts picking himself up, feeling a little bit surprised.

“You bumped him, be a decent person and help him up,” someone scolds.

“Huh? And what about you, you could have run up to him and helped him yourself?!”

There was an unknown hand wrapping itself around his shoulders as it helped him up. The other two who were making a ruckus were now almost face to face and didn’t notice that someone else interfered. When he looked up, it was the face of someone he has never met before.

The other man had fluffy brown hair and nervous eyes that slowly avoided his own.

Han Yoojin gulped.

His behavior was painfully familiar.

“Thank you …”

“Yoo Myeongwoo. No need to thank me. Here- um, your crutches,” the man was very soft-spoken. “Sorry about those two, they’re known to be careless around campus, but they’re not complete jerks.”

“That’s … fine, I’m used to it.”

Yoo Myeongwoo frowns but gives him a tired smile.

“Do you need help around here? You seem new, I don’t remember … err- I don’t remember seeing you around here.”

Because people would remember someone with crutches, especially when it seemed that the crutches weren’t for a temporary injury that is signified by a cast.

Yoo Myeongwoo was far stronger than his lean figure suggested as he supported him and moved to a nearby bench.

“I was going to enroll.”

“Huh? Did you change colleges?”

“… as a freshman,” he mumbled.

His grades, as predicted, weren’t high. But it was a passing grade. It wouldn’t let him join a top university, but a so-so university was fine enough. He already has money saved up for Han Yoohyun’s college funds so he wouldn’t have trouble paying for it, but something inside of him growled with dissatisfaction at the thought.

Online classes aren’t as expensive, he figured. He would only need to come to campus for testing. He can use his normal money for college. He should keep Yoohyun-a’s college fund intact.

Even if his little brother never continued his studies.

“That’s cool, continuing studies!” Yoo Myeongwoo suddenly blurted out loudly before slapping his mouth with his hands, eyes widening at his action. “I- I mean. It must have been difficult joining at all when you had a serious injury, but it’s nice you decided to continue despite it! I’ll be rooting for you!”

Han Yoojin blinked before raising his head and looking straight at Yoo Myeongwoo.

Where did such a happy ray of sunshine suddenly come from?

“It’s not … that didn’t …”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to share. I’ll help! This is actually my final year of college myself and I’ve been thinking of dropping out, but seeing you working hard made me feel embarrassed for thinking that,” the man continued, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at the ground, check tinting red.

You’ve got it all wrong.

“Thank- thank you.”

Yoo Myeongwoo gives him another blinding smile.

“F-Fighting!”

Han Yoojin could possibly die from such a bright image.

0o0o0

Yoo Myeongwoo wasn’t popular, but he wasn’t someone that people paid attention to in the beginning. It was as if he had a spell for people to ignore him, and Han Yoojin marveled at the freedom of walking around without anyone turning their heads at him for more than a minute.

He takes a glimpse and wonders, how? Didn’t anyone see this bubble of sunshine walking around?

Han Yoojin looks back on the ground, eyes wide at how ignorant this world is, trying to calculate the possibility of everyone here being idiots.

Yoo Myeongwoo waved goodbye once they reached the administration building as he had to leave for his classes. Han Yoojin’s hold on the strap of his bag tightened.

Were there ever people as nice as Yoo Myeongwoo in this world?

He sighs in disappointment. As nice as he was … He doubted that attitude would stay for long once he realized who he is. It rarely did.

Only people who knew him from before the dungeon breaks acted nice, and he has never met this man in his life in either lifetime.

The administration process was far more difficult than it should be. His previous online registration to another college somehow got rejected and inquiring about it didn’t tell him much of the reason for it.

Some of the administrators avoided looking him in the eye, others just frowned before complaining about certain things and leaving him without actually being honest about what he was missing in his applications.

No one was forthcoming, and he felt like he wouldn’t get anywhere like this.

Hours later, he stood in front of the building holding onto his rejected application.

This whole trip has been useless.

They could have at least given him the decency of saying that there weren’t any seats left.

Maybe he should have applied for online courses overseas, much like what he did for his GED.

It would be difficult. It’s well known that some colleges refused admission to some potential Korean students simply because they didn’t have a failing grade in the education system.

But Han Yoojin realized that his certificate is based on international standards, not national ones. He can join an overseas college without getting scrutinized for where he graduated from.

The only difficulty he will have would be maintaining a sleep schedule.

Still, it stung knowing he wouldn’t be able to apply to one here. After two attempts, he doubted the third one would be the charm.

He … felt disappointed.

He would have liked joining a college with someone like Yoo Myeongwoo around, he was nice enough, and friendly despite how awkward he came off as.

Han Yoojin hissed when his strap became too hot to hold onto. He looks at it with confusion.

Was the weather so hot that touching some leather would cause a sting?

Maybe he should move to a shade, or a bus, he wouldn’t want to stay out on a hot day like this, even with his hat on.

He will think about the college issue later.

Chapter Text

He opens his apartment door to find grocery bags on the floor.

Confused, he leans outside as best he could to look in the hallway, wincing a bit from the pain, trying to find anyone who might have accidentally dropped it here.

With no one in sight, he goes up to his neighbor’s door and knocks to ask. Said neighbor shook her head, still holding onto her newborn as she tries to rock him into sleep or to at least stop him from crying.

Han Yoojin makes a face at the baby, who decided to slow down his crying as he stared at him.

“Ah! Han Yoojin, you always know how to handle children,” she told him as she laughs. “I remember when you used to babysit.”

Han Yoojin gave her a small smile before nodding his thanks and leaving her be. He had to ask his other neighbors on the floor, but none of them ordered groceries online.

And he’d be damned to go climb the stairs to ask his direct below or above neighbor about it.

When he gets back to the bag, he ruffles through it and couldn’t help but realize that they had essentials and some things that Han Yoojin personally enjoys flavor-wise.

The only person who could have known about his taste would only be his brother.

He sighs and picks up a bag to move it in.

Why would he suddenly …?

Han Yoojin refuses to think for the duration of the morning. The groceries did come at a suspiciously good time when most of his things are running low.

He enjoyed fried kimchi rice for lunch, and he’s glaring at his plate with how suspiciously well-spiced it is, his favorite level of spice.

That child …

0o0o0

Physical therapy has been hell today.

He wasn’t quite sure why. Today has been the same as any other day, the routine was just like the last time, and he was with the same staff as before, yet it felt off.

Undecisive.

He felt Restless.

He stops by a vending machine on the way home to get tea and when he continues walking, he couldn’t help but feel the strangeness of today overwhelming him.

Does he continue his routing of going back home and simply sit for hours on end?

He didn’t have any shift today in the bookstore, nor did he have classes or tests and projects to get ready for.

He looks up to the skies and thought of how it will rain soon.

In the morning, he didn’t think much of it, only grabbing the umbrella by the door as he left the apartment. The sky was gloomy and the winds were fast. It was during his physical therapy, however, that he realized something was amiss.

How can someone who needs both hands for his crutches use an umbrella?

It was particularly useless.

Back then, he only bothered to wear a windbreaker or a raincoat.

He didn’t own any at the moment, never having had a reason to buy one when a perfectly normal umbrella could do the trick. He never bought Han Yoohyun one either, as he was never a rambunctious child, meaning that he never ran during the rain to jump or play. There was the occasional skipping and childish chattering.

Han Yoohyun was such an adorable child, it hurt his heart remembering how docile and calm he was back then, always acting mature like a mini adult.

He sighs loudly, urging himself to instead look for a bench with some shade or a bus stop before the rain would start.

Fortune smiles upon him for the first time in a long time, finding a stop to hide in as it starts pouring.

Maybe this was the infamous odd feeling most old people felt whenever it rains, just sitting outside to watch it fall, enjoying the pitter-patters. What else could entrance them so?

And to think about it, wasn’t Han Yoojin already 30?

But he wasn’t. He is currently 24.

This is highly confusing. His body certainly feels 30 right about now.

The door to the enclosed bus station opens, and a middle schooler runs inside, snapping the door close behind her. She seemed to have been drenched to the bones, and her annoyance showed on her face much like how a stray cat would grumble at any perceived threat as it hides in a corner.

Han Yoojin blinks, wondering why he thought of such an image.

The girl has dropped herself on the seat furthest away from him, and with it, a torn plastic bag that has been used to cover herself up from the rain.

Oh.

Poor girl, she must have forgotten her umbrella.

When a bus arrived at the stop, opening its door to let them in, Han Yoojin only waved his hand to say he didn’t need it. The house isn’t that far away from here and he can walk the way till there once the rain stops.

If it doesn’t, he’ll have to decide on riding a bus later.

To his surprise, the girl also shook her head without looking at the bus driver. The driver himself scoffed at them, looking irritated as he closed the door and starts moving ahead.

After a while, he noticed that the rain started to pick up. Another bus came by and he refused to go on board, the girl also did the same.

This time, Han Yoojin looks at the girl with worry.

“Aren’t you going to ride a bus? The rain doesn’t seem to lit up.”

“Mind your own self, old man,” the girl snapped, refusing to look at him.

Blinking, he decides to look away.

Old man?

“Either way, you were avoiding the bus yourself. What? Are you waiting for me to ride one so you can follow me? You perverted stalker!”

Oh.

He couldn’t fault a person for thinking like that, but he wasn’t even thinking of anything similar at all and felt wronged.

Well … feeling safe is a priority, he can’t begrudge a child that.

After all, he’s the stranger in the stranger danger metaphor.

“I was waiting for the rain to stop to walk back home,” Han Yoojin explained calmly, crying inside. Despite trying to convince himself otherwise, he still felt wronged. How vicious. Were his mask and hat disguise too intimidating for her?

Did he really look like a pervert?

“You have an umbrella. Just go already.”

Huh?

Why did he suddenly hear resentment?

Looking back at the girl, noticing how tightly she clenched her hands as she refused to look up, then following down to look at the plastic bag thrown in front of her tattered shoes, he couldn’t help but scold himself for his insensitivity.

She must have been from a poor family, to not even have the ability to afford an umbrella.

He frowns, looking back at his own useless ones.

Did Yoohyun-a ever feel this sort of resentment as a child? Unable to afford things others must have shown off at some point by accident?

The coiling feeling became worse as he thought on it further, painfully reminding him of his shortcomings as an older brother.

He picks up the umbrella and offers it in the girl’s direction, grabbing her attention.

The girl was taken aback, watching his outstretched hands.

“What …?”

“It’s useless for me. I’ll fall before I can even hold onto it. Rather, I’ll wait for the rain to stop. I live nearby after all, between bus stops,” he smiles, trying to reassure her.

The apartment wasn’t between bus stops.

She still looked at him suspiciously, and he slowly pulled out the crutches that were hidden on his side.

But he shouldn’t worry her further.

Her eyes widened with realization, and she hesitated for a moment too long. He shakes the umbrella a bit, as if to say to hurry up and decide already. The girl reaches out with slightly trembling hands, accepting the thing.

She hugs it to herself.

“Ahjussi, are you- are you sure you can make it home?”

“I’ve been through worse things than rain. You, on the other hand, should go home where it’s safe and warm.”

The girl’s eyes darkened for a second before shaking her head.

“How- how can I repay for the-”

“It doesn’t matter. I need a raincoat anyway. Like I said, how can I even hold it?” He laughs.

After a long silent moment, the girl stood up and went to the door, not before stopping in front of him and bowing.

“Th- Thank you, ahjussi!”

She leaves the bus stop, opens the umbrella in one swift motion, and starts running against the winds.

He couldn’t help but feel like she will have a bright future, especially with her determined face even against such a difficult situation.

He looks back down on his leg.

If … if a child could have such determination, shouldn’t he feel ashamed thinking that it was better to give up?

Chapter Text

Today, there has been an article.

‘S-Rank Catalogue: Haeyeong’s Leader, Han Yoohyun’

It was a series detailing the accomplishments of famous S-ranks back when not much was known about them.

If only it just detailed that.

It talked more about things unrelated to their current life and their previous lives before awakening, such as their achievements and accomplishments. They did it to make an interesting comparison from then to now. It sometimes ventures into other things, relationships, styles, and parties they’re planning to attend.

Moon Hyeona, for example, was a famous tennis player who liked wearing suits and dying her hair red. She dislikes classy parties if it meant she would need to socialize with many people, and she rejected many would-be suitors even during her athlete days.

It’s to the point where one could safely call it a gossip rag, only churning out articles for clicks, views, and ad revenues.

Unfortunately, Han Yoohyun was a senior high schooler when he awakened. He didn’t even have time to apply for his ID back then, too busy studying for his finals. Not many details can be written about him from his past to compare it to now. Not to mention, Han Yoohyun barely spoke of anything regarding his current life as it is.

The PR team was surely skilled, making it seem that his little brother has an interesting life.

So, what would others think of his situation?

A senior high schooler who left home the moment he could, saying nothing of how he lived previously, changing topics as fast as he could.

People were curious. Like sharks, they could smell blood in the water.

They dug out information on their own.

Then, they will have their own made-up conclusions from what little they gathered.

Han Yoojin had to calm down.

He had to take a deep breath.

He went through this already.

People remarkably knew little despite having big mouths.

This is nothing, he has the experience now, he can evade people, and he can ignore them.

If he couldn’t, he can persevere, like he always did.

Han Yoojin can take the criticism again.

He wore his clothes and took out his phone. Yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to even re-open it. He has seen the article title and realized that his life will go to hell from this moment onwards.

That peaceful somewhat montunos lifestyle he had been enjoying up until now? It’ll be gone.

He starts tying his shoelaces.

Han Yoojin should be grateful he even had some reprieve before his downfall. A chance to somewhat re-establish his life before people started attacking him again.

It was slightly cruel …

If anyone knew of his thoughts, they would think he was spoiled, that he deserved even less.

Walking down the streets wasn’t as nice as it was yesterday. He didn’t think he could do it again tomorrow. It felt as if eyes were trailing behind him, with whispers slowly nipping at the soles of his feet.

What was Han Yoojin thinking of? Did he really think he can have a nice walk outside? It was the doctor’s advice-

He said it’ll be good for his health-

What if- what if his doctor wanted him to expose himself outside?

He- he did, didn’t he? That was the point of the exercise. It’s for his legs.

How sure can he be? Hospitals were never nice to him-

Han Yoojin felt like his breath constricting.

It’s coming in and out fast, it was shallow. His head was light.

It was too hot, too warm, his head is spinning from the sunlight.

Home.

He needs to get back home.

He needs to-

Breath-

0o0o0

Han Yoohyun ran.

There was nothing more terrifying than picking his phone up and hearing someone tell him “Your brother was in the hospital.”

How could this be?

He ignored the meeting he was in, ignored everything as he ran reached the elevator, and couldn’t even wait for it to reach his floor before deciding that the stairway was much faster-

Only to jump all the way down, gravity not affecting him the way it would a normal person.

He wasn’t sure if the landing did something to the stairwell, and it will be a hazard if any emergency came up and people would need to escape the building. But hearing Suk Simyeong calling out for him from above left him feeling relief because he knew he’ll take care of it.

In the hospital, the nurse was surprised to find him. She told him the way and he started walking in that direction. Once he arrived, he found many people warily standing in a circle, seeming to be afraid to get any closer to the center.

And right there, Yoohyun finally found him.

He couldn’t exactly see the reason for the staff’s hesitation. Hyung has never intentionally hurt anyone before in his life and seeing people so warry of him was bizarre.

“Hyung,” Yoohyun called, voice low so as not to frighten his already shocked brother. He stepped closer to him. “Hyung, it’s me, Yoohyun. Please don’t be frightened,” he warned as he held onto his hands.

He couldn’t help the sharp breath that emanated from him as he noticed his bandaged hands.

“What happened to him?” He demands, turning to the staff. “Why wasn’t this healed already?”

Did someone get to him again?

Again?

This was the second time.

Yoohyun had to stomp down on his rage. He had to quill it so he would not frighten his brother. S-rank’s always left others uneasy, and he couldn’t do that to him. Hyung needed him now, he was hurt, and he will get whoever did it later, but now-

When Yoohyun looks back, he couldn’t help but flinch at the blank gaze Hyung has sent his way.

Never in his life has Yoohyun faced such immense oppressive pressure. Hyung’s gaze seemed dark enough to swallow up the room, taking him along. It was empty, and it wanted to eat something to stop it from growling in hunger.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t shake away his grip on Hyung’s hands. It was as if-

As if he was faced down by the gaze of a dangerous predator.

“Yoo … hyun .. a?”

The voice was small.

Tired.

Scared.

“Yoo- hyun-a? Don- g- saeng?”

“It’s- it’s me,” he had to choke just to answer, the fear slowly creeping up his body.

This was Hyung. He sounded confused. What was happening?

“Yoohyun-a, you’re- you’re alive?” Hyung said, the confusion showing up on his face. The pressure slowly dissipated as tears starts to form in the corners of his eyes. “You’re alive? I thought- You were dead. Yoohyun-a, I thought I would never see you again. You weren’t moving.”

“Hyung?” What is happening? Hyung’s words were alarming. Before he could ask for more, Hyung threw his arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

“Yoohyun-a, don’t ever die on me again, please don’t do it again. I love you! I can’t see you die!”

Something cracks.

Han Yoohyun wasn’t sure what it was, but something cracks around them. Hyung’s cries were loud, revibrating as they mixed with his sobs, his tears now slowly falling on his shoulders.

He raised his arms, wrapping them around his brother’s head and back, and watches listlessly as Hyung continues to cry to the point that his whole body was wracking in tremors. He starts running his hand across his back, trying to soothe him, but it didn’t work.

“I’m alright, Hyung. Please don’t cry, there’s nothing to cry about,” he mumbled as he hopelessly looked up.

The staff themselves looked lost as if they recently woke up from a haze.

Useless.

He wanted to scream at them.

Is this the outstanding service they were providing?!

For a split second, he wanted to pick up his brother and run away again, bring him somewhere he knew is safe, where nothing could harm him again.

Hyung’s body trembles as a cough erupt, and Yoohyun recoiled when he felt pain suddenly hit him in the chest. He instinctively let go, only realizing his mistake the moment he saw Hyung’s blotchy face. His nose was red and his eyes puffy from the tears.

He then noticed where the pain came from, and had to stop himself from gasping loudly at the burned patch of his shirt.

“How on …”

Hyung coughs again, but this time his hands went up to cover his face, flames that were dark as the void itself escaping his mouth.

The flames were so similar to his own, that for a second he thought he lost control of his own powers, fearing that he might have hit his brother. The only thing stopping him was the fact that it came out of Hyung’s mouth.

Hyung slowly lets go of his face to look down at his palms with newly formed blisters, the already wrapped bandages now fell on the ground, untied by the intense heat.

Despite the intensity of the flames that were in front of him a second ago, Yoohyun felt a chill run down his back.

Chapter Text

There was a screen.

It was blue, and floating, and is on the side of his head that he refused to look at it.

This specific screen should have not appeared, not this early, not to him of all people.

In another timeline, Han Yoojin has lost all his money to an awakening broker. That timeline didn’t happen yet, he needed a few months before that event transpired, and Yoojin was adamant about making sure it didn’t this time around.

He takes in a shaky breath. Remembering the last skill he ever used made him nauseous, stopping him from taking another step as he tries to settle the feeling before continuing.

Yoohyun must have noticed that no one was walking beside him anymore. He looked panicked for a second before landing his eyes on him. The panic subsides, and he slowly approaches him, carefully putting an arm over his shoulders.

“Hyung, please tell me if you feel anything unusual, alright?” Yoohyun said as he supported him.

It was a long way to his apartment.

He nods, trying to keep his voice from coming out in hopes that Yoohyun wouldn’t ask, wouldn’t pry.

There was a floating screen. The last time he activated a skill was to help him influence an individual, the last skills he actually used were borrowed – stolen – from his brother.

Powers he wouldn’t have received if he hasn’t-

There was a hand over his own, trying to slowly pry it open, his palm in pain from how tight he had been holding onto his crutch. Yoojin blinked and noticed the tears that were about to fall. When he looks up, his little brother seemed …

Anxious.

Something he hasn’t shown previously.

“You can relax now, Hyung. You’re safe,” Yoohyun said, now shifting his expression to look more reassuring. But his little brother never did master smiling when he didn’t feel happiness, and it came out a little awkward.

Yet, he felt something inside of him lift, and the heavyweight lightens.

He shouldn’t feel this reassured, Yoohyun-a was still in danger, especially from him.

He tries to say something but ultimately shuts up once he noticed that screen, ominously floating beside his brother. He sags, and gives up from even trying further, allowing his brother to move him.

“Are you sure this is necessary?”

Yoohyun didn’t answer, only reacting by tightening his grip on his shoulders for a second before huffing and opening his door.

“You had a difficult day, Hyung. The doctors said the stress was too much, coupled with your awakening …”

An unexplainable awakening that happened outside of combat. Though not rare, was still surprisingly uncommon, a phenomenon that is on the rise now. Typically, people awakening outside of combat or emergencies had skills that didn’t suit fighting.

Which has caused him even further issues.

Han Yoojin awakened, but his skills were a mess. It wasn’t his normal skills that he remembers. He never spat out flames from his mouth. Flames that are very similar to his brother’s.

“Are you sure you’re an F-rank, Hyung? Maybe you couldn’t see well earlier …”

“Are you mocking me!” Yoojin yelled, feeling suddenly pressured.

He didn’t quite remember what happened earlier, but he knew well enough how much he cried from how … terrible he felt now.

“No! Hyung. It’s just worrisome,” Yoohyun’s eyes shifts to the side. “You’ve burned yourself multiple times from your own flames, and you can’t control them. What if you never get fire resistance? Will you end up hurting yourself every time you use your skills?”

There wasn’t much he could say against that.

“And Hyung is sick. You’ve been stressing yourself out for a long time now. You need to start relaxing.”

“I’m not sick. Just because I have trouble walking doesn’t mean …” Yoojin frowns before the implications of what Yoohyun said have settled in. Oh, he wasn’t sick physically.

That …

That felt insulting.

“I’m not sick,” he repeats, adamant. “Don’t treat me like an invalid.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Yoohyun looked upset. After a few tense moments, Yoojin sighs as he nods in understanding.

“Hyung, do you need help getting upstairs?”

“What did I just say a minute ago!”

The nerve of this man.

Yoohyun had shadowed him when he could. Yoojin found it surprising how easily he fell back to his old habits of letting his little brother do that. When they were much younger, Yoojin would do some of the chores while delegating some to Yoohyun slowly, teaching him how to take care of himself the more he grew up.

It was a bit odd, finding a shadow covering him up entirely after so long, but remembering those times made him feel a little bit lighthearted, bringing a little smile to his face.

He did, however, think it was a bit irritating whenever Yoohyun continues to try and snatch the chore from his hand, telling him to rest instead.

“Yoohyun-a,” Han Yoojin was very close to snapping. “Sit down in the living room.”

“But-”

“Please sit down!”

He felt a sudden heat rise and he had to stop himself, letting a crutch dangle on his side as he reached to his chest, rubbing it to try and stop the discomfort.

Fuck.

“Hyung, are you feeling any pain?”

“No! No! If you want to feel useful, go sit down and let me do things in peace!”

Abruptly, he stops, realizing what he just said to his brother. Yoohyun had a pained expression before smoothening his face and nodding, walking out to sit quietly in the room.

Han Yoojin suddenly felt guilty.

After a while, he comes back to find that his brother has cooked dinner, but Yoohyun didn’t dare to look up at him in the eye once it was abundantly clear that Yoojin has just wanted his brother to not do anything.

Sighing, and mostly giving up, he sits down with some difficulty and reached out for the food. It was noodles with kimchi, and he was surprised that it tasted good. He looks at Yoohyun with some small bits of pride as he continues to eat it.

“I thought you ended up hiring a cook, I never really taught you how to do it.”

“It was better to cook on my own,” Yoohyun answered. “Sometimes, people would try underhanded tricks and try to poison me through food. I was lucky the first time it happened because I had an anti-poison.”

Han Yoojin suddenly felt sick, and he slowly puts down his chopsticks as he looks worriedly at him. Yoohyun must have noticed and panicked as he shakes his head and tries to reassure him.

“Security became better, and it rarely happens nowadays! But … but it’s one of the reasons I didn’t invite you …”

He clenched his fists, feeling slightly angry at the treatment Yoohyun must have faced.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” he says. His eyes glazed a bit as he turned back to the menu on the side, showing his new skills.

[Poison Immunity – Legendary]

He gulps and looks away, suddenly feeling terrible. “Not at all.”

“But your safety-”

“Yoohyun, I’m not an idiot to accept anything from strangers. I won’t accidentally consume poison. And it would be elaborate to plant someone as a random street vendor and make them poison my orders as well.”

Yoohyun looked like he was just chastised.

“I didn’t mean to insult your intelligence, Hyung …”

“Ha,” Han Yoojin suddenly laughed, grabbing Yoohyun’s attention, and forcing him to look at him with a confused expression. “You can’t do it anymore either, I’m the one in college and you’re not.”

After a slow moment, Yoohyun also cracked a smile.

“I’m glad that you’re finally moving on with your life.”

“What else can I do? I’m lucky enough that I can get a relatively easy job. This limp made job hunting harder.”

Yoohyun frowns.

“You don’t have to work anymore, Hyung. I can send in money-”

“While I appreciate the offer, I will feel more like a leech for taking your money.”

“But you’re not!”

“That’s not how people will think,” he says, frowning at his bowl. He was startled when a loud cluttering was suddenly heard as Yoohyun dropped his bowl and chopstick, hands flat on the table.

“Who told you that you’re a leech?!” He demands.

“N-No one.”

“Someone must have said something if you’re thinking it.”

“No one-”

“Was it the media?”

Yoojin’s throat suddenly clogged up, his voice dying as the air inside of him stopped. Something dark entered Yoohyun’s expression, and he couldn’t help but try to avoid the glare.

“Hyung …”

“It’s true, isn’t it? I am a leech.”

“You’re not-”

“How many times did you stop me from walking into a complete disaster without my knowledge? How much money did you spend on protecting me? I’m draining your funds. I am a leech.”

“No!”

“And really, what is the point of me getting anyone’s attention by now? I’m the useless older brother that was abandoned by his little brother. I must have done something terrible for you to ignore me like this, Yoohyun-a. You didn’t even bother talking to me about your worries. Did I really leave the impression that you couldn’t trust me-”

Han Yoojin stops as arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a deep tight hug.

Startled, confused, and slightly worried at his brother who suddenly moved far too fast for his mind to register, he starts patting his little brother’s trembling back.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. It’s my fault you’re like this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“None of this is your fault. It’s me. I’ve done things terribly and it’s you who’s paying for it. I was too arrogant.”

“Yoohyun-a, stop crying. It doesn’t matter if you cried for me anyway. And what would people think when they see you like this?”

“I don’t care about them. I care about you! About your health, about how you feel!”

Yoojin paused, thinking bitterly and questioning if that was true. If he really did care about his feelings, he would have never done any of this.

But he ultimately shreds those thoughts away.

Yoohyun was young. He was exceptionally young and had too much pressure with the position he found himself in. Even Yoojin would find difficulty balancing everything. He had difficulty balancing things even before all of this dungeon crap came about.

After some time, long enough that dinner had definitely gotten cold, Yoohyun finally stopped crying. He slowly pushed himself away, and gave him a hard searching look.

“Live with me.”

“What?”

Chapter Text

“I have to ensure your safety!”

“I refuse! I am already living a comfortable life here, and barely anyone knows our exact relationship to even bother coming and check on me.”

Yoohyun suddenly ducks his head down as if embarrassed to say something. Yoojin narrows his eyes for a second before crossing his arms, waiting for him to figure out a new excuse.

“I ran out of a meeting when the hospital called.”

Han Yoojin gaped at him before raising his hand right in front of Yoohyun’s face and flicking his forehead.

“Take your job seriously!”

Yoohyun gives him a teary-eyed look as he rubs his forehead. He started to pout, honest to God pout. He hesitates, bringing his hand to himself as he thought deeply on the matter.

Would it be bad to go live with your little brother?

Yes.

You’re cursed Yoojin.

A moment later, another hand clasps around his, pulling at him a bit. Yoojin had to shake himself out of his thoughts as he looked at his brother’s determined expression.

“Please … for your safety, and my sanity.”

He clenched his fists before sighing, losing all powers in his arms.

He will never be able to deny his brother anything.

Never.

After all, who knows when he will lose that ability in the future? When either Yoohyun or himself disappear from each other’s lives. Becoming strangers … or worse, corpses ...

“How long will I stay there?” He asked, which ended up with Yoohyun’s face splitting into a smile.

“Until I know you’re safe.”

“That really depends on your definition of safe,” Yoojin says, frowning. “And really, isn’t this whole situation because you’re an S-class? You won’t stop being an S-class. So … I won’t ever be safe.”

Yoohyun’s smile slowly dimmed.

“It doesn’t matter. I can still keep you safe at my place.”

“I won’t be some princess stuck in a tower, Yoohyun! There has to be a better solution. I’m still fine as I am now-”

“No!”

“What?”

“No! You’re not fine! Hyung, y-your limp,” Yoohyun started, and Yoojin had to bite the inside of his mouth not to scream at his brother for always bringing it up. “And what happened recently, and your awakening is abnormal and needs to be stabilized somewhere safely. My guild has scientists and experts on the matter.”

“Dungeons has only been open for 2 … err, three years now, how are there any experts?”

“People get obsessed over new things,” Yoohyun says with a blank face.

Yoojin squints at him, staring at him for a long time, so much so that he starts fidgeting just a tiny smidge.

“Are you … are you saying people started speed running on dungeon issues?”

“I mean …”

“Forget it,” Yoojin growls, shaking his brother as he forced his way to the couch. Pain be damned. His thoughts are getting jumbled and his anger is getting the better of him.

“If you don’t come, then I’ll post guards around you.”

Yoojin’s mind had gone through a groundbreaking split-second calculation of costs, availability, and possibility. It only led to one thing.

“You don’t have enough men to post around me! You need every member to go in dungeons!”

“We can still spare-”

“Yoohyun! Take your job as a leader seriously!” Yoojin finally yells. “People depend on you for a living, and our country depends on your guild and the rest of the guilds to keep the country safe. You can’t- you just can’t compromise that for me. What am I even worth compared to other people’s lives?”

“Hyung, I … I don’t know why you keep putting yourself down. But you taught me not to be a hypocrite,” Yoohyun growls, his voice turning a tad bit rougher. “And right now, you’re acting like one!”

Yoojin scowls.

“What do you-”

“You say people’s lives are precious, and so is yours! To me, you’re the most precious life, because you’re my Hyung, and I refuse to let you get hurt any further. Either come and live with me or I will post some guards-”

“Are you even listening to yourself?!”

“I’ll have to keep you safe even if you don’t want that to happen. Because, right now, you are incapable of taking care of yourself and making sound decisions, so I have to make them for you.”

“Get out.”

Incapable of-

Incapable of taking care of himself!

“Hyung-”

The fucking brat-

“Get out! I told you to get out! Leave me alone! Just fucking leave!” Without thinking, Yoojin grabs the closest object to himself and throws it at his brother.

Yoohyun dodged, not even taking a second to think of where to step aside, ignoring the sudden attack. But the loud crash that followed attracted both of their attention as they turned back to find-

Yoojin’s crutch was speared into the wall, spider web cracks forming around the point where it entered.

And suddenly, Yoojin felt the ground disappear underneath him.

The crutch could have-

He could have-

Yoojin stood up, looking wildly between the broken wall and his little brother, he hesitated on getting closer before throwing caution to the wind and stepping up to his brother, who was still facing the wall. Yoohyun looked surprised when he pulled him around, checking on him if he received any injury.

There was one thin bloody line on his brother’s face.

He forgot how to breathe.

“I- I- I hurt you,” Yoojin stuttered. Yoohyun touched his face to look at his newly bloodstained fingers in bewilderment. “I almost- I almost impaled you. You could have- you could have gotten hurt. I almost hurt you. I’m so sorry, I- I-”

“It’s … It’s alright, Hyung. Just breath. You didn’t hurt me.”

“I threw my crutch at you, I was- I was so angry, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t realize- I don’t want to hurt you, Yoohyun-a, I’d kill myself if you ever got hurt again.”

“Don’t-” Yoohyun almost snapped, almost, but he stooped himself as he sighed deeply. “Don’t say scary things like that. It was an accident. S-class have difficulty controlling their strength a day or two after awakening.”

“I’m not an s-rank …”

“But your skills could be, right? There’s no other explanation for why you're so strong, and you’re having difficulty controlling it. Just listen to me for today, alright? Come with me, just for this week at least. Learn how to control your strength. You don’t want,” Yoohyun bit his lips, his eyes looked conflicted for a second. “You don’t want to hurt me, right?”

Yoojin takes a wobbly breath before shaking his head.

“Then come with me. I won’t feel hurt.”

0o0o0

“Sir, are you sure about this?” Kim Sunghan asked as he got into the car. They had called for a repair company that they were acquainted with and usually brought around when they needed to fix something in the guild, and many things did indeed need fixing in the guild. Kim Sunghan had been on the other side of the apartment wall, listening to the screaming match before things went downhill.

He almost ran in if it weren’t for the sudden fear that emanated from the apartment.

So strong was the pressure that it almost pressed down on him and forced him to the floor.

Han Yoohyun sighs, rubbing his forehead where Hyung hit him earlier and grimacing. He turned his eyes in worry to see Hyung’s sleeping form next to him, having fallen into exhaustion after everything that happened today.

Kim Sunghan starts driving.

Yoohyun felt gross. He felt as if he manipulated his brother into something that he didn’t want, which is technically true. But it was for his own good.

If people knew that his brother suddenly awakened, he won’t be under the protection of the regular law. If they also knew how powerful his abilities are, so powerful that it could even make Kim Sunghan himself stop from his presence alone, while also having no way of controlling such abilities …

He felt even more ill at the idea.

He couldn’t quite understand the underlying pressure he felt, but it wasn’t fear as Kim Sunghan claimed, his brother was never terrifying.

His brother was always, and will always, be kind. Even if he was angry …

Anyone could have taken advantage of him, especially when he was unstable and emotionally vulnerable as he currently is.

He had to admit, for a moment, he did feel as if he were going to get hurt when the crutch came at him.

But afterward…

“I- I- I hurt you,” Hyung’s voice was terrified. “I almost- I almost impaled you. You could have- you could have gotten hurt. I almost hurt you. I’m so sorry, I- I-”

Yoohyun lets go of his forehead and slide his hand across his face, feeling as if all his energy has been sapped.

He never wants to see Hyung’s face like that ever again.

Like his whole world has just fallen apart.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Yoohyun-a, I’d kill myself if you ever got hurt again.”

He lets go of his face, feeling sudden determination overflowing.

Well, he has to make sure not to get hurt.

His eyes slowly looked back at Hyung’s unconscious form … And he has to make sure his brother doesn’t even think of saying those words ever again, not while he’s still alive, and not ever after.

Chapter Text

Han Yoojin has opened his eyes momentarily, taking his time to use what little energy he has to blink before closing them.

Time blurred by as he tries to grasp it.

One moment, he is sleeping in a bed somewhere he has never seen. Yoohyun-a would show up from time to time, and he’d feel just a little bit better before forgetting what he was originally doing. It’s very difficult trying to grasp or control what little he could during those moments. His little brother was used as an anchor to plant him in a specific place and time. Yoohyun was a busy man, he knew, but his heart would feel an ache whenever he appeared by his side as he worked with faceless men he has never met previously, all trying to see what he can do, always asking questions, trying to get closer in his space.

In another moment, when he was more aware, his hands would flicker with heat, and a burst would appear. It wasn’t as fascinating as when Yoohyun would do the same by his side, a little proud smile flickering on his face as he watched how utterly beautiful his brother’s flames were.

It was so bright against everything despite the dark color, and he would try to reach for it, just for a second-

Only for his brother to grasp his hand, the flames snuffed out, and dread would fill his stomach as he tries to find the warmth.

“You need fire resistance items first,” Yoohyun told him, and he’d start to feel silly.

He doesn’t quite remember much else. He knew he felt terrible right afterward, and the more he tried to see the flames between his palms, he can’t help but remember ...

Remembering how the powers came to him and how he should have never gotten it in the first place.

He still couldn’t look at his menu, the proof of all of his actions plastered on illuminating windows.

But one thing is for sure.

“I’m an F rank.”

Yoohyun frowned at the declaration, and the others that were present that day couldn’t quite believe him. The only thing that convinced others that he wasn’t an S rank was the burns and his low stamina and strength.

The burns on his hands healed nicely, but they still hurt. Yoojin would feel faint whenever he used his powers from mana exhaustion, always close to losing consciousness before someone yelled to stop the test. His strength, while terrifying in some moments, was negligible in others. He didn’t show any other skills, and Yoojin refused to see if he even has any other skills, unless he wants to find out if he got any of Yoohyun’s other abilities.

If he did, he’d rather stab himself than continue on.

These powers were simple reminders of a time gone by, a time he should never forget.

About his failures.

[Final Gratitude]

A skill he both despised and couldn’t help but begrudgingly be appreciative of.

An ability where he temporarily receives double the abilities and skills of the people he influenced. But the conditions of activation are-

Blank eyes, unable to move yet stared at him with judgement. Accusing him.

Yoojin takes a deep breath.

Cold limbs, unmoving, with no chest movement. A dead flame that has been snuffed from the world.

He slowly breathes out.

When he focuses back on reality, he found that Yoohyun had a terrifying expression on his face. He had been staring at the washing machine before turning his attention back at him, then back at the washing machine.

“Before you came here, how did you do your laundry?” He asked, and Yoojin felt as if he was sweating for some reason.

“Normally.”

“So, you stood over the washing machine, put in clothes, then carried the heavy load out, and then you used the dryer?”

Yoojin hit his brother’s head lightly.

“When did we ever own a dryer?! Those are expensive and use too much electricity,” he reminded him. His brother’s face turned darker. “I just hung it outside.”

“But … isn’t that too tiresome for you?”

“I washed your dirty laundry since you were a child,” he said, making his brother blush.

“No! I meant- never mind. What about ironing?”

“With an ironing board. Yoohyun, it’s only been two years,” he sighs, rubbing his temples. “Don’t tell me you don’t iron your clothes? Do you have a butler or something?” He wouldn’t put it past him by this point.

“Doesn’t it … doesn’t your leg hurt?”

Oh.

Oh.

“You get used to it.”

Yoohyun’s face turned even darker, and if he wasn’t mistaken, glummer than it originally was.

“Do you want a dryer?” Yoohyun suddenly asked. Yoojin suddenly felt a twinge appear on his forehead.

“And where do you think I can put it?” He asked.

If he wasn’t imagining things, Yoohyun was … slumping?

“Stand straight. You don’t want your back to look like a banana when you grow older.”

“Banana?” Yoohyun mumbled. “Then why don’t you take it to a launderette-”

“Are my ears deceiving me? Did my brother say to take my dirty clothes to someone else when I can do it myself?”

“But-”

“When did Yoohyun become so lazy?”

“It’s not laziness,” he grumbled.

“Really? Do you do your own laundry?”

“I have both a washer and a dryer!”

Yoojin stared at him for a second before breaking character and chuckling. After a few seconds, Yoohyun’s expression turned to disbelief.

“You- You- I was answering honestly to everything!”

“Yoohyun-a is always so uptight, I’m glad that hasn’t changed,” he laughed.

0o0o0

Yoohyun opened the door to a darkened room, worriedly locking his sight on the bed.

So far, nothing bad has happened in the past few days, it was as if his Hyung didn’t have any issues whatsoever. But …

He quietly closes the door behind him.

The smile on his brother was not genuine.

It was close, as close to a genuine smile as it could possibly get, but Hyung wasn’t exactly happy. It felt as if he were drained somehow. Yoohyun had to engage with him for his brother to interact with others, and sometimes he would simply stand where he was staring listlessly at nothing.

It rang many alarm bells, remembering the case reports that Suk Simyeong brought him a few months ago. He has taken time from his schedule to study every symptom and possible diagnosis that his brother was suffering from. Unfortunately, the best way to heal has been therapy.

And Hyung doesn’t want to go to one.

It’s not that he specifically doesn’t want to go to a therapist, he doesn’t like going to the doctors at all. He noticed early on since he brought him here how uncomfortable he always looked among the doctors and scientists he brought to help him.

It has gotten to the point where he contemplated taking him to the original doctor that gave them the diagnosis. Hyung seemed to be relaxed with him if he believed the reports.

He wants to help him. At the same time, he wants him to feel comfortable here.

Yoohyun picks up a chair to sit right next to his brother, he then crossed his arms and legs in contemplation.

The test results have been all over the place.

It’s undoubtful that he is an F-rank. All of his stats are that of a stronger-than-average unawakened person. But the issue came with his skills.

Which Hyung refused to look at.

So far, they concluded that they shared the same flame-based basic skills. However, it was much stronger than his own.

It wasn’t that his brother didn’t have flame resistance as they have come to learn, but it was time-limited to when he is using his abilities. The moment he stops using fire, the resistance disappears, but the after-effects don’t disappear, the heat is still around them, and that is why he is getting hurt.

He covers his face with a palm as a headache starts to sprout.

“Yoohyun-a, nightmare?” A sleepy voice was heard, and Yoohyun immediately turns around to see his older brother’s drowsy face. Hyung tries to get up, and he wiped the drool with his sleeve as he usually tends to do when he wakes up.

He used all his strength to hold back his laughter.

He’s still the same old Hyung.

“No, I had a headache, that’s all.”

“Mm hmm, ginger tea would do, let Hyung make some,” he said as he tries to get out of bed, eyes still shut and hands fumbling with his blankets.

“It’s alright, I was just … checking.”

“Chicken? I don’t know if we have chicken, but I’ll go to the convenience store so we can have it for dinner. Fried chicken is the best,” he mumbled. It didn’t escape him that his voice was getting lower, and his movements were slowing. “Yoohyun-a is 19 now, I should take you out for your first drink. Stronger … than tea …”

Not a second later, Hyung fell back to sleep, this time with blankets only covering one leg while the other touched the ground.

“Pfft.”

“I’m happy,” Hyung mumbled. Yoohyun’s attention completely eclipsed as he heard those words. “Yoohyun knows how to laugh now.”

“I’m sorry …” Yoohyun said.

He felt immense guilt pressing down on him suddenly, the shadow ever-present as it covered his whole being and path ahead.

‘I’m happy,’ It has been a long time since he has heard those words from Hyung.

“I’m … sorry …”

He didn’t know what he was apologizing for, but somehow, he knew he was at fault.

Chapter Text

There were many people in his past and would-be future that whom Yoojin didn’t enjoy interacting with. But there was a certain person that he dreaded the idea of even meeting.

Suk Simyeong was a terrifying man. Terrifyingly strong, terrifyingly efficient, and most importantly, terrifyingly loyal.

He was one of the people who awakened early during the first dungeon break in Korea.

Originally a businessman, legend has it that he had been in a meeting room when a monster attacked and almost bit off a chunk of the floor he was in before he attacked it himself.

Despite all the rumors, he was also one of the few hunters that voluntarily didn’t go on dungeon raids. Instead, he worked in with his little brother as the head of human resources.

But if Yoojin’s memories can be counted on, he was plenty sure that Suk Simyeong did more than just human resources.

Meeting him here, sitting across each other while the man gave him a close-eyed smile, left Yoojin feeling that he was in danger.

Somehow, he didn’t feel the fear he usually felt around the man, just an all-encompassing and accepting dread that he will not survive this encounter.

“As rumors have started spreading about your current tenancy, I’ve spoken with the leader on how to rectify the issue. I have come to understand that Han Yoohyun-ssi’s issue with you hasn’t been out of malice, but simply to avoid attention.”

Yoojin nods, avoiding looking him straight in the eye. Look at his forehead, just look at his forehead.

Oh god Yoojin, this man is a shark who can smell fear and weaknesses-

“As you know, your reputation hasn’t been stellar. So, the PR team has been trying to fix it up and try to find a legitimate reason for your previous attitudes towards each other.”

“We had a difference, that is all,” Yoojin said before grabbing his cup of tea and taking a small sip. He holds it between his hands to look at the cup’s content.

… he wondered if Yoohyun drank tea anymore?

“A public disagreement could make both of your reputations fall-”

“Then put all the blame on me.”

“I’m sorry to say this, while it is admirable that you care for the leader’s reputation, but I’ll be killed off if any more harm comes to you,” Suk Simyeong said seriously as his face turned stoic for a split second before returning to its normal smiling self.

Yoojin blinked.

He didn’t imagine that dead resigned face … did he?

“Then what can we do?”

After a long moment of silence, Suk Simyeong’s mouth opens, and Yoojin was reminded of how terrifyingly good this man is at his job.

After all, no one has as sharp of a mind and tongue as this man.

“Let’s go with your fallout idea, but make it complicated so that neither of you can be blamed for the stances you took. Leader Han Yoohyun wanted to go out and raid, while Han Yoojin-ssi only wanted him to stay back where he knew he is safe.”

Slowly, Yoojun raised his head, eyes averted from the tea to look at the man who now held a pen, writing single words instead of sentences on paper just to catch up with what he is saying.

“Han Yoojin-ssi has been attacked previously during the dungeon break, it left him with a mental scar that made him scared of dungeons. Because of this, Leader Han didn’t want it to happen to any other person like how it happened to his older brother.”

It was true, but not in the correct chronical order.

“This was the main reason Yoojin-ssi refused to visit his younger brother, the guild is just a painful reminder of the first break, and his inability to protect Leader Han left him feeling guilty. At the same time, Leader Han didn’t want to make his older brother uncomfortable, and your reaction to most things related to dungeons and monsters made his decision firm.”

Yoojin takes a deep breath before looking down at his cup.

The tea was bubbling.

He takes another breath, trying to calm himself down, and slowly watched as the bubbles receded.

The only trace of scorching heat left was the steam and fruity aroma of the drink.

Suk Simyeong tilted his head, a sharp glint rested in his eyes … it’s just as hungry as it always was.

At least Yoojin wasn’t the target this time around.

“I’m not scared when it comes to dungeons …”

“Forgive me for what I’m about to say, Yoojin-ssi. Unlike your brother, I don’t refuse reality and can tell that you need serious help when it comes to trauma. For everyone’s sake, and yours especially, I hope you reconsider visiting a psychiatrist,” with that, Suk Simyeong closes his files and gives him a slightly softer smile. “I understand your concern for your family’s safety. I was also in the center of the break with my sister and niece.”

That’s … new.

He looks up, wondering if the man will say more.

But the man only kept smiling.

“Can we keep the story less dramatic?”

“It’ll be between the lines for anyone interested enough to dig in more, and that is likely for most people. There isn’t going to be an official story or such, but we will use social media to hint at your mending relationship.”

“Oh …” Well, of course. If an article suddenly came out with all that detail people would think it was fake.

Here, Suk Simyeong sighs deeply.

“I do dislike using sites prominent with younger people, it’s very hard to convince the newer generation about anything. Everyone’s much smarter nowadays compared to when only TV stations and newspapers were the main source of information. At least Leader Han is young and handsome enough to gain a reputation similar to an idol.”

Yoojin frowns.

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

The fuck?

Yoohyun doesn’t even sing.

0o0o0

It was scary how close Suk Simyeong got to the truth.

But trauma?

“Han Yoojin-ssi has been attacked previously during the dungeon break,” old boss and boss lady almost getting crushed by a monster. The awakening broker leaving his group to die in the dungeon, the screams of the people that haven’t survived that day. That one time he almost got fully crushed, leaving him permanently disabled.

He still continued on.

Every failed raid he was a part of, every person he ever influenced, every person he brainwashed into protecting him. Then adding insult to injury, stealing away their abilities after they die for one hour.

He needed to survive.

Every death in the palm of his hand, every person who smiled at him, none of them were genuine. They would have left him alone as bait if he didn’t influence them, they would have thrown him out in front of the monsters as a distraction if they had their own thoughts.

He survived.

It was a safety net, it turned into a habit. Pick out the raid leader, and influence their decision into keeping his safety in mind as he should have in the first place. After all, a raid leader should care for all of his raiding team members equally.

He was just leveling his importance with everyone else.

“… It left him with a mental scar that made him scared of dungeons.”

Han Yoojin was fighting for his life.

There was no time to care about his pitiful emotions, no one would give him the time to care. Every single day was a struggle as it is.

Emotions only dragged someone down.

“… the guild is just a painful reminder of the first break and his inability to protect Leader Han left him feeling guilty …”

A three-headed dragon roaring at a crimson-tinted sky.

A cooling fresh corpse between his arms.

The blood seeped between his fingers.

Accusing eyes staring at him.

“… his inability to protect Leader Han …”

Suk Simyeong was terrifyingly good at his job.

Chapter Text

“I want to go home.”

And that was that.

Yoohyun had a constipated look on his face. He was trying his best not to scream or let his anger lash out.

“It’s been two weeks; the apartment must be dusty.”

“… guards?”

“No. I refuse.”

“Please, it’s for your safety.”

“Yoohyun-a, for some reason, since that day people are too scared of me,” Yoojin said. He had noticed the slight apprehension. It became worse whenever he felt angry, it was then that the people would show a measure of fear.

Yoojin had already learned how to bottle up his frustration and most other emotions. He didn’t think anger would be any more difficult to bottle up.

“But I can’t leave you alone like that.”

“Then visit me, once a week at the least. Won’t that be better?”

“That only means I’ll know you’ll be safe once a week and not all the time.”

What a stubborn bastard, Yoojin thought to himself, but he couldn’t help but smile.

They both heard a phone notification play, and Yoohyun pulls out his phone before sighing with irritation. He pinches the bridge of his nose before standing up.

“I understand, Hyung, I’ll ask Kim Sunghan to drive you back,” he said, now forcing himself to wear a smile.

Yoojin frowns.

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened,” the smiler becomes wider.

“Yoohyun-a, you’re a bad liar.”

“What makes you say that?”

He never told his little brother, but Yoohyun always gives a fake smile when he’s lying. It’s so mind-blowingly obvious, but it always helped him figure out that something was up when they were younger. He just usually let him get away with whatever it is he was doing because Yoohyun was a sensible child.

He didn’t turn up to be much of a sensible adult though, he has come to realize.

“It has only been two years, how did you turn out like this?” Yoojin sighs as he reached for his crutches and stood up.

Yoohyun looked confused for a moment.

“Anyway, take care with whatever is happening. Stay safe, and visit me on the weekend, like you just agreed,” he reminds him. His little brother’s smile crumpled a little, but he gives him an earnest nod.

Kim Sunghan was already standing by the door. Strict and serious as usual.

“Please take him straight to his house. Don’t let anyone interrupt,” Yoohyun said. Kim Sunghan nods.

He was eying his brother suspiciously before following Kim Sunghan.

Just when he thought he’d get on the elevator and leave, he was attacked from behind. He felt tense for a second before relaxing as he realized what was happening.

“Be safe, Hyung,” Yoohyun mumbled as he slowly let go of him.

He couldn’t help but give him a smile.

Even as they left the elevator, his smile couldn’t leave his face. He felt happy.

And for a glimpse of a second, someone had their eyes on Han Yoojin, curiosity shining behind them.

0o0o0

There was one thing left to do.

It was to go to get himself registered.

Yoohyun had mentioned it at some point, and it all went down hell from there. He didn’t exactly know why he didn’t want to go to the registration building, but the idea made his skin crawl. After a long silent argument about the issue, it was …

Yoojin sighs.

It was Suk Simyeong who planned for the perfect time for him to go get himself registered so that nothing clashes with his plans to ‘polish his image’ as the man started to say.

The issue was … who was going to look at him and think of him as an awakened?

He balanced himself on one crutch, using his healthy leg to move a bit before deciding to do the most idiotic trick he can think of, which was a flying kick with the crutch supporting his jump.

He hits the ground with a loud thud, and he groans.

There was no way anyone would see him as an awakened hunter.

Not even as a porter.

Yoojin huffed, letting the air move his fringes away from his eyes.

And he needs to get a haircut. This was something Suk Simyeong insisted on. His only saving grace in life is his straight hair that didn’t need combing while he only styled Yoohyun’s just a little bit when he was younger.

He has heard many horror stories of people with curlier hair unable to find the perfect brush for them in Korea, and that they had to order online for better ones.

Getting up, he decided to go to a barber shop to get his hair done. What he didn’t expect to find, however, was a familiar face standing in front of the barbershop looking hesitant to even step in.

“Yoo Myeongwoo-ssi?”

“Ah!” The man jumps, turning around in terror before sighing in relief as he realized who he was.

“Umm, Kim Yoojin-ssi?”

Yoojin laughs.

“I’m Han Yoojin. What are you doing here?”

Yoo Myeongwoo’s face starts to turn red as he looks down, realizing his mistake. Yoojin didn’t care much, but Yoo Myeongwoo seemed closer to melting on the ground.

“Someone told me I-I- I’d look better with my hair cut.”

“You do look like you’re hiding behind them,” he comments, and Yoo Myeongwoo slumps, looking sadly at his feet. “But I think I like how you look.”

“Y-You do?”

“I mean, it’s … you? Yeah! It’s you!”

“But I’m not that good looking though …” Yoo Myeongwoo mumbled.

Han Yoojin opens his mouth before closing it, his brow nearly touching in a frown.

“Do you want to get ice cream?”

“Ice cream?”

“I’ll pay.”

It took a while, but the man nods.

0o0o0

“That’s why you wanted a haircut?”

Yoo Myeongwoo nods, staring down at his ice cream cone with slight apprehension. Yoojin can already see it melting.

“My sisters always said my hair is messy … so … I always get my hair cut when I need to get pictures. Honestly, I don’t like it when it’s short. See,” the man then grabbed his wallet to show him his ID, and truth be told, Yoo Myeongwoo looks much younger with short hair. But who was Yoojin to tell him to cut his hair if he liked it long. “It just feels wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yeah, sometimes the air touches the back of my neck and it makes me feel icky.”

“Oh! Umm … haven’t you thought of wearing a scarf?”

“I used to do it a lot in high school, but I couldn’t wear it during summer. It was terrible cause I’d get a slip from my homeroom teachers if I let my hair grow,” Yoo Myeongwoo looked close to crying.

Yoojin didn’t know how to help people with sensitivity issues, he hasn’t met many like that.

“Then don’t cut your hair. I bet most awakened people just didn’t bother. Plus, people will probably question if you’re the same person on the ID if you cut your hair and then let it grow.”

“R-Really? That can happen?”

“Well, I always looked like myself, I don’t really know. But probably? Life always throws a curveball at you.”

“Oh …” Yoo Myeongwoo stayed silent for a moment before sighing deeply and then started licking the melted parts of his ice cream.

“We can go together. I haven’t registered as well.”

“Wait- You’re awakened too!”

“Yeah, I awakened about two weeks ago, give or take. It’s just … some issues happened when it did, I guess. My brother refused to let me wander off afterward cause I ended up in the hospital.”

Yoo Myeongwoo looked frightened all of a sudden.

“Was it a dungeon break?”

“No, not really. I’m one of those people who just awakened randomly,” Yoojin said before turning around and blinking when he saw a slightly hopeful expression on Yoo Myeongwoo’s face.

“So, I’m not the only weird one?”

“Weird one- who said that to you?”

“I mean, I just awakened when I was working on a Gundam model,” the man wilts. “Who even heard about that? My sisters didn’t believe me. I … I just thought I was weird.”

“You’re not. It’s not that rare, more people are awakening like that recently.”

“How do you know that?”

“Ah, well, how do I say this,” Yoojin scratched his cheek with a finger, looking away from Yoo Myeongwoo. “Well, my brother’s high up in a guild,” technically true. “And he also thought I was attacked,” Yoojin wasn’t sure, but why else would he react so badly? “So, I was dragged off to his guild and got their scientists working on me-”

He hears a splatting sound.

Yoojin turns around and finds a terrified look on Yoo Myeongwoo’s face, mouth opened, with the ice cream sadly resting on the ground.

Then the tears started to fall.

“I don’t want to be experimented on!”

“They’re not going to experiment on you!”

Chapter Text

“You should have said that earlier,” Yoojin said, giving his new friend a disappointed look. “Do you think that would be enough? What about later? You can’t re-register and get that million won again!? Tell me you’re at least E-rank?”

Yoo Myeongwoo’s eyes start tearing up, and Yoojin sighs in defeat.

“What can I do then? That million won will only be enough for one month’s rent.”

“Why did you get a monthly rental apartment instead of a yearly one?!”

“I … couldn’t afford to pay for a full year!”

“Yoo Myeongwoo … urgh,” Yoojin yelled as he looked above him. “Fine! You can come to my apartment and live there with me until you can get back on your feet.”

“W-What? But- but- we just met?”

Yoojin looks down at his feet, avoiding Yoo Myeongwoo’s eyes.

They really did just meet.

But …

This was the friendliest conversation he had that wasn’t with his brother or his subordinates. Yoo Myeongwoo was the nicest person he met in … seven years?

Myeongwoo was the friendliest person he has talked to in over a decade, future included. And, for once in his life, he didn’t feel apprehensive about what was about to happen next. He actually liked talking to him and felt somewhat close to him and his situation.

After all, he did give up his childhood home because he couldn’t afford it anymore.

Was that enough to open his home to him?

“You’re nice,” he mumbled, now feeling slightly foolish for his train of thought.

After a long moment of silence, Yoojin felt something body slam him.

“Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

“Urgh!”

“I’m sorry! Oh my god, I didn’t mean to,” Myeongwoo’s wobbly voice was heard as he held him straight. Yoojin felt his life flash before his eyes at that moment, thankfully, he was saved from a gruesome death.

“Stop crying, I said until you get back on your feet!”

“Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me,” Myeongwoo sniffs.

Oh god, don’t cry again. Please be that happy sunshine sunflower he met at college, not this crying mess.

“I get it, so don’t cry anymore, okay. Let’s just get you registered and get your million won then I’ll show you my place. After that, you can go back to yours and start moving. Err- I don’t think I can help with that,” he apologized while wobbling his pained leg.

Myeongwoo sniffs again but gives him a nod along with a shaky smile.

Fuck- he forgot how bright that was.

“I feel sort of pathetic for intruding on you like this, on- on our first day talking properly as well …”

“Don’t mention it.”

“But-”

“Don’t mention it.”

Myeongwoo hugs his bag pack and tried to hide a tiny smile.

0o0o0

Myeongwoo’s mood was even worse once they got back to his apartment. Yoojin had to move him around by slightly tugging him so that he can be led to the couch.

“I don’t have any good starting skills.”

“Most F-ranks don’t.”

“I’m useless.”

“Don’t say that, I’m sure you’ll get one at level 10, or … 20 … or 30 …”

Now that he thought about it, except for the starting ones, he never got a skill either.

The sunflower continues to wilt on the couch.

“Did you get a skill?”

“Yes.”

Ah, the sunflower needs a source of light if there was any hope for it to continue to live. Yoojin walks up to the window and opens the curtain. His action was ineffective in providing any help for the sun was coming down.

“I’m unlucky with my skills, apparently it’s too powerful for my body to handle.”

“What?” Myeongwoo sits straight. “What do you mean by that?”

“I burn myself every time I use them. And … I hate the other skill I saw. It’s …”

[FINAL GRATITUDE]

He shivers.

“It’s cursed.”

“That’s not possible, how can a skill be cursed?”

“Please don’t ask about it Myeongwoo. It’s cursed.”

“Th-Then, do you have anything else? Did you get to level 10 and get a skill?”

He was level 12. The time he spent within his brother’s guild had to be used for something. He wasn’t quite sure how or when he reached said levels, but his brother told him it was because the original room that was used by the newly awakened got destroyed when he was there.

He still didn’t get a new skill, not that he checked well.

“No, I … I do have other skills, but after seeing the first two I … was afraid of looking at the rest.”

Yoo Myeongwoo seemed to have many things to say about that. Instead, he gives him a worried frown before nodding.

Yoojin breathes out in relief, not realizing how scared he was of Myeongwoo’s reaction to him not even bothering to look at his own skills when he himself only got one.

Somehow, he felt that he was ungrateful. Not every F-ranker gets a good skill, he was lucky that he got the ones he had.

“Yoojin, thank you again. I don’t know how I could ever repay you,” Myeongwoo says as he puts down his backpack. Yoojin raised his head and gives him a grin.

“Just so you know, I only know how to make Kimchi dishes.”

“That’s better than me, I just know how to make instant noodles.”

“… No wonder you’re so skinny.”

“What!”

0o0o0

He was grateful.

It’s something he has come to appreciate, to be grateful of people who helped, because those people rarely exist. Others always expect things from you, and never help in return.

Why do people take and never give back?

This is why he still felt dazed.

It had been a week since he moved in, and like promised, he kept searching for a job and ways so he can get a stable life back, unwilling to freeload so much on someone like Han Yoojin, who obviously has some troubles himself yet decided to help someone like him despite it all.

The moment he mentioned that one of the guilds was offering him a contract, Yoojin immediately put that down to rest, explaining to him exactly how those people use F-ranks like scrap metal.

Myeongwoo felt disgusted all the same, and his stomach didn’t settle for two days. It’s still not settled now that he thought about it.

Yoojin of course looked apologetic, saying he didn’t mean to crush his hopes up.

But Myeongwoo would rather have someone be honest and blunt if it’s for his sake instead of silent and pitying without any help or advice.

“I’ll ask my brother to look into these sketchy businesses, I don’t like how they just exist without repercussion. Bad things usually happen to F-ranks like us in those dungeons and no one would be any the wiser.”

Myeongwoo had been looking at his contract, now obviously a decoy fake after Yoojin’s lecture. When he looks away from the cursed contract, he rests his eyes on Yoojin, noticing the silent pain he was holding inside of him.

Was Yoojin a victim of one of these businesses?

He felt like vomiting when he first thought about it, and he still felt like hurling days later.

Was that how he got his injury?

If only he could find a way to level up, maybe he’d get a chance of gaining a skill that’s helpful for combat and go to normal raids.

He has a slight feeling that he wouldn’t get a combat skill at all, he was never a fighter, why become a fighter now?

But anything would have been good, especially with how he awakened. Didn’t he deserve better than crumbs-

Myeongwoo shook his head, shutting his eyes tightly. He tries to forget. The Gundam looked great, nothing else happened.

He got another sketchy flyer, and he can’t help but feel dismayed. The job office really didn’t care about filtering jobs for the low ranking awakened, did they? He previously thought they were so good too …

Maybe he should just try to find a normal job not related to hunters, his GPA may not have been that good, but he still has a bachelor's.

But it won’t help with his debt or his current living situation. Hunter jobs get you money the fastest, and he felt pressed now that he owes someone else money as well.

Not that he thinks Yoojin would care, but he wants to at least help him pay off some of the rent.

“What do you mean, you’ll be out of here in two months or so, don’t worry about it. And like I said before, I pay yearly, not monthly.”

Myeongwoo crumpled the flyer into a tiny ball, sighing in defeat.

All he got from his stupid awakening was slightly elevated strength and higher than normal dexterity, higher than even a C-rank. But what was the point of all the dexterity if it isn’t balanced with anything else?

As he passed by a grocery store, he couldn’t help but notice the sale they had on Kimbap.

Ah.

He should learn to cook. He feels guilty about making Han Yoojin cook everything. The man didn’t use the crutches when he’s in the kitchen, and he felt worse every time he sees him cook without them.

His leg was always in pain, even more so when he’s standing with no support.

But he doesn’t say anything.

The guilt is getting worse.

He takes a step into the grocery store and noticed an odd figure on the reflection entering behind him.

Ignore them.

Ignore them.

He’s just getting paranoid ever since those sketchy people came by to pick him up for work but he refused them then, he was lucky enough to have been close to a police station.

Not everyone’s out to get you Myeongwoo, don’t kid yourself.

He steps in and picks a basket before pulling out his phone, ready to look up everyday food ingredients. His hands already took two kimbap jars – the sale is only two jars for each person – and some sauces in case Yoojin was one of those people who dipped random food for no reason.

Rice! Soft lovely rice. Ah! Maybe he should also fix up the rice cooker, that thing looked close to breaking.

Soybean stew! That’s probably easy to make! He can start learning that, and maybe kimchi stew too since Yoojin liked those …

He stops in the middle of the store. He was taller than average, and could usually look over the racks of most convenience stores because of that. He had a suspicion that this is why people didn’t bother him much either. So, he was able to spot the figure that was checking the same brand of rice he had picked not a few minutes ago.

Myeongwoo takes a deep breath.

That man did not look like those goons that tried to make you sign that contract.

Not everyone is out to get you, Myeongwoo.

He shook his head.

Why was he getting so paranoid nowadays?

Did Yoojin like kimchi that was spicier or tasted more pickled?

Eh … maybe he’ll do kimchi stew later, and either way, he knew how much they have back in the apartment.

Beef … err, beef is so expensive though. Can he skip that? Tofu is enough.

And he doesn’t think they have scallion in the fridge-

The man was now moving from the beef stand and is checking the tofu brand he picked up.

Fuck.

Fuck.

He goes to the cashier, fumbles with his wallet for a second, and bolts out once he paid

Where was the nearest police station?

He needs to go there, he doesn’t want to lead the stalker back to the apartment.

Did he do something wrong lately? Offended someone? He doesn’t think he offended someone lately, he-

He suddenly bumps into someone, or two.

“Oh come on!”

Familiar voices.

“C-Choi Jiyoo! Choi Jiwoo!” He felt like tearing up.

The ridiculous twins that were always careless but were now in the soccer team and just got scouted recently.

“Eh? Yoo Myeongwoom, right? Get up already and pick his grocery, how many times do you trip people?!”

“What about you? Huh?!”

“C-Can you g-guys help me, I-I- I think someone’s following me,” he begged, and the two fell silent before glaring at the street behind him. He doesn’t really know if they were glaring at someone or not, because Myeongwoo didn’t mention any specific people, but he was so glad that they were willing to help.

“Let’s pick up your stuff and walk you home or something. Fucking hell, there are so many creeps everywhere,” Jiyoo, probably, growled as he kneeled down and starts picking up his stuff.

Myeongwoo felt like crying in relief.

Chapter Text

Something must have happened because Myeongwoo was less enthusiastic about going out than usual. He sighs in pity, knowing full well what it’s like getting hit by the realization of small job prospects early on in his life, but his new friend looked more down than usual.

“Do you remember those two that bumped you when you came to my college last time?”

“Yeah, kinda,” he nods.

“They invited me to come to a celebration party because they made it to the national football team.”

“Oh! Congrats!” Yoojin hasn’t been interested in sports for a while. The last time he’d been watching was when Choi Seokwon was still unawakened, and that had been relatively about ten years for himself.

Maybe he should have been more into sports so he could bet on the scores now with his could have been future knowledge.

But really, who would have thought that you could time travel? All those regression manhwas failed in being realistic and gave you too high of an expectation.

“I asked if you could come and they said sure. It’s going to be in that barbecue place, umm … I forgot the name.”

“How did you forget the name of the place you got invited to?”

“They said they’ll text us the place on the same day! So, I thought I wouldn’t need to remember it well …” Yoo Myeongwoo pouts.

“Pfft.”

“Don’t laugh at me!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” But he still laughed. His friend’s pout looked, if possible, betrayed.

“When is it going to be?”

“Umm … Saturday night.”

“That’s good, I can still go to my brother’s place then, it’s going to be on Friday.”

Myeongwoo’s complexion paled for a second.

“U-Uh, do you want me to walk you there? It’s not safe being alone and all.”

“That’s alright. He usually sends someone to pick me up when he himself can’t come and visit,” Yoojin said, smiling a bit.

Even if it’s just little by little, at least they’re fixing up their relationship to something mildly warm. He didn’t know how he used to live so far away from him.

That was a lie, he knew exactly how it felt, and it was too painful to remember.

“Do you think they’re okay with normal gifts? Can I get them a book instead? I don’t think I can get them anything expensive.”

“Aren’t books expensive?” Myeongwoo points out.

Fine.

“Employee discount.”

“Lucky! I would have abused that to buy collectibles.”

“It’s not that type of bookstore Myeongwoo,” he said. He watched the man deflate.

“Maybe I should stop building stuff. They’re a drain on money and aren’t even helpful.”

“Don’t be like that, maybe you should start a channel online with you making model videos.”

The sunflower sighs.

“I’m not handsome enough for that.”

“Err, some people just like watching hands.”

After a few silent seconds, Myeongwoo slowly sat upright and gave him the most horrified and disgusted look he could muster.

“What?!”

“I mean, what’s so weird about that? People enjoy watching other people’s faces, listening to their voices, or even looking at their feet. There are people who like looking at hands. Hand models are a thing you know.”

“No! Stop! Now I don’t want to do videos at all,” he cried.

 Yoojin gives him a pitying look, before giving him an evil grin.

“Monster fuc-”

“La la la la! No, I am selectively deaf right now!” Myeongwoo says loudly, covering his ears.

“Ability fanatics.”

“Urgh,” the sunflower deflates yet again. Yoojin winced, feeling guilty for suddenly reminding him about his terrible starting skills.

“I wish I could help you with that, this must be frustrating,” he said as he took a seat next to him-

Only to blink as light suddenly assaulted his entire vision.

[Promising Sprout (S)] activated.

- Awakened: Yoo Myeongwoo
- Rank: F
- Possible Awakening Stats: F
- Optimized Awakening Starting Skill: Master of the Golden Forge Smithy (SS)

“Whoa,” so much information just appeared out of nowhere. Did he … did he get one of those identification skills a lot of protagonists get in manhwas!

Yoojin reached out to Yoo Myeongwoo’s face and forced him to look at him directly, Myeongwoo made a noise of discontentment but stopped when he noticed something as well.

“Yoojin! Your eyes, there’s like this glowing ring! I didn’t notice that before.”

“I just found out I have a skill identification ability,” Yoojin said as he let go of his friend’s face, gaping at him. “You have an SS skill!”

“What? That’s not possible-”

“No! No that makes so much sense! That’s why you didn’t get any good skills at the start, and I don’t think you’ll easily get it at level ten either, there’s no way it would be that easy …”

An SS skill, and it sounds like a smithing skill.

Myeongwoo looked surprised and absolutely confused.

“That’s not possible …”

“I mean, it can’t be just that, right? Hey, why aren’t you telling me more,” Yoojin complained as he hits the screen-

And blinked when more information came out from his new identification skill.

Myeongwoo was watching him intently, and he must have noticed his growing disbelief because he asked what’s the issue.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Yoojin turns back to him and gives him a pitying look.

“I’m sorry Myeongwoo, I’m really sorry.”

“What? Don’t just sound so ominous. Tell me,” but he sounded just as scared as Yoojin felt.

“To get a skill, you need to reach level 10,” he said.

“Oh, then that’s fine, I’ll try to find a good raiding team like you advised-”

“And sharpen 10,000 edged tools … I think. It said tloos. I’m pretty sure it’s a typo, but …”

And just like that, the sunflower … wilts again!

“Don’t give up! Fighting!”

0o0o0

“You can’t go.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“There’re too many people. I’ve scheduled most of our high-ranking guild members to join an S-rank guild, I can’t spare to send some to guard you.”

“Then send the lower ranks for all I care!”

“That was what I was going to do. I thought you were going to stay at home for the duration, and they could have stood guard at your apartment …”

Yoojin makes a frustrated noise.

“Yoohyun, I am not a child. I have never been invited to a party before and I’d like to go to one. That is final.”

Yoohyun’s face was suddenly struck with something. Yoojin wasn’t sure what it was, but he decided to look away.

“I’ll take you to the next party scheduled for me.”

“I … Yoohyun-a,” he sighs, shaking his head. “That will ruin your image.”

“No, it will not-”

“You can’t suddenly show up with your crippled brother that you stopped visiting for a long time. Do you know the sort of uproar that would cause?”

“I agree with Yoojin-nim,” a familiar voice said, making Yoojin’s skin crawl at the sudden interruption. Suk Simyeong comes into Yoohyun’s apartment unannounced, and it suddenly bristled something inside of Yoojin thinking someone has free access to his brother like that.

“Suk Simyeon-nim,” Yoojin greets, knowing full well that he can’t really do anything about it. Suk Simyeong has always been loyal to Yoohun-a and has always strived to make the guild and his reputation better. There was no safer person to keep his brother with.

“This is last minute, but is it possible to register today?”

“Why?”

“Guild leader will be away by then. All the attention regarding him will be directed at the dungeon subjugation, making it easy for you to slip by the agency without notice. Don’t worry Guild Leader, I’ll personally be there since everyone else will go to the dungeon.”

Suddenly, Yoojin felt the heat dissipate in the room, and he was shocked to realize that he didn’t even feel it rise in the first place, nor did he see Suk Simyeong react at all.

“I’ll leave Kim Sunghan here to protect Hyung.”

“Han Yoohyun!”

“Your safety-”

“Not only have you insulted both Suk Simyeong’s abilities and me, but you are also jeopardizing your raid team’s safety!” Yoojin snaps.

It’s only then did he realize Yoohyun’s hands trembling over his chopstick.

Frowning, he took one discrete glance at Suk Simyeong and felt dread pool in his stomach as he realized how badly he was holding up now.

He takes a deep breath, then puts his hands over the table and pushed himself up to stand.

“I’m sorry, I-I need to cool off for a second.”

“I’m sorry for insulting you, Hyung.”

“Not just me.”

“Apologies to Suk Simyeong-ssi as well, it wasn’t what I meant.”

“No, it’s understandable guild leader,” Suk Simyeong, to his credit, looked like he was collecting himself fast enough into a presentable state. The terror-filled look was not something that suited him at all …

And Yoojin hated that he was the one who caused it.

He walked out to the balcony, just staring far ahead as he leans onto the rails.

Closing his eyes, he couldn’t help but relax as he felt the wind pass by. The air is better above than it is on the streets. The sounds, despite still being loud, echoed in a way that makes him feel far away from the chaos of everyday life.

Life somehow goes on, despite everything that’s happening.

He didn’t know how long the impromptu business meeting took, but it must have ended now since someone decided to join him.

“Thank you for your consideration, Yoojin-nim,” the man said, and Yoojin sighs.

“Just call me Yoojin, it feels weird being called that.”

“But you deserve respect.”

“What respect did I deserve? I haven’t earned anything.”

“You are quite patient. That deserves respect.”

Yoojin snorts.

“Thanks, I guess.”

After a while, Yoojin finally felt himself clear-headed enough to have whatever conversation the HR head wanted. He pushed himself off the rail and turned around to him.

The man offers him something, and Yoojin accepts, frowning at the sudden gift.

It was a plastic card.

But not any plastic card.

Suddenly, he was holding an impossible treasure.

“Leader Han wanted to apologize further and said to use the card on anything. It will be under his tab.”

Yoojin closed his eyes in deep contemplation.

He can already tell that Yoohyun left the building.

“What is wrong with that child? Forget it, let’s get the registration over with.”

Chapter Text

“The detection skill might be problematic,” the man said. Yoojin shrugged, having given him a watered-down version of his detection skills. “The fire ability, while not exactly like guild leader’s skill, is also problematic.”

“Problematic how?”

“Guild leader’s fire comes from his blood that can be shaped however he pleases,” Suk Simyeong said, and Yoojin grimaced as he was reminded of his brother’s lovely skills. “While you make fire inside you. I personally think you’re also using blood without actually having the ability to pull it out of your body. But who knows? Either way, they both look too similar. It will be difficult to keep you safer if people would compare you both and decide you two have the same skill set.”

“Just tell everyone I don’t have flame resistance so I can’t use my powers.”

“That is a weakness.”

Yoojin sighs.

“Mention that it’s only while I’m angry.”

“Ah, a perfect deterrent then. Yet, the rest of your skills are wildly different.”

“Hmm … I don’t know what to say, it’s part of a title-”

The car breaks and Yoojin almost gets thrown out of his seat.

“A title? I haven’t heard about you accomplishing anything yet,” Suk Simyeong seemed surprised.

Yoojin took a moment to consider how he never noticed people watching him in his previous lifetime if they had him so close under a magnifying lens.

After a moment of thought, Suk Simyeong nods and leans back on his chair, luckily there wasn’t a car nearby to get affected by their sudden stop. “Some accomplishments in the past get turned into titles. I seem to have forgotten that.”

“You seem knowledgeable.”

Suk Simyeong only grins, as if reminded of an inside joke.

Yoojin glances back at his status bar as he connects the promising sprout skill connected to his evolved old title, Perfect Caregiver (L).

This also led to Yoojin discovering why he awakened this time around despite not going through a dungeon broker, grimacing at the My kid is so great (SS) skill.

With the fucking keyword being ‘I Love You’.

He wants to die.

And he awakened in the hospital!

Did he say I love you to Yoohyun in front of other people?

AHHHH-

He waves the window away.

“My title is Perfect Caregiver. It means I raised an S-class successfully.”

“… ah,” Suk Simyeong nods. “I’m surprised this isn’t a known title then. I know there is a Caregiver title, but not a Perfect Caregiver one.”

“… I don’t think many people have successfully raised an S-class person.”

“… that is a worrying amount of powerful people that were probably neglected or abused,” the HR manager mumbled to himself.

Yoojin snorts again.

At least you can depend on this man for his dry humor.

“Is the dungeon Yoohyun going into the slime dungeon?”

“Slime dungeon?”

“You know, the one that just opened … uh … I thought you …”

Well, there Yoojin goes with his stupid fat mouth.

“You know of a slime dungeon? How?”

“It’s … I have a theory about dungeon formations,” Yoojin, shut the fuck up. You know none of it. “I just- I just think one of those dungeons that …” It’s still not sold yet, wasn’t it? Since Suk Simyeong has no idea what he’s talking about. “The- The auction for the one in the in the Gyeonggi province. Icheon?”

“How sure are you of it?”

“Well …”

After a moment of silence, something flashed in Suk Simyeong’s eyes.

“Is this one of your abilities?”

“No! Not at all. It’s … it’s really just a theory now.” Really, it isn’t even in the theory stage. “I just noticed a pattern, but that’s all. I thought people already noticed.”

He really did.

Yoojin, get your head out of the clouds! You’re not in the future-

Suk Simyeong only hums before smiling at him.

“In Icheon, I think I know which one you’re talking about. If Han Yoojin-ssi is sure, it must be true. I’ll check it out.”

Yoojin decidedly ignored what the man said. What does that even mean? ‘I’ll check it out’ based on a few words from someone you previously hated-

There was a silent breathless hush.

All the energy he felt till now suddenly evaporates.

Suk Simyeong never really hated him, did he? He was just doing his job, and whatever Yoohyun ordered him to do. Either that or he was a psychopath who knows how to act around people. But he was sure that he was only doing his job in the previous timeline.

The excitement that he felt since he left Yoohyun’s apartment to go visit the agency and go use his card for shopping wasn’t there anymore.

This feeling was … disappointingly familiar.

Only now did he realize that this was normal.

It was abnormal to laugh and enjoy life for a few days before returning to his normal – abnormal? – state of being.

Since this is normal … then this is fine. He shouldn’t worry. Feeling empty is familiar, and somehow, safe.

Very safe.

0o0o0

Before he could step outside, Suk Simyeong passed a cane to him.

“Use this instead of crutches. In case someone recognizes you and takes a picture. You should show a strong image instead of a weak one.”

“Ah, as impeccable as ever,” he comments. The man only gives him a closed-eyed smile as he shuts down the car before stepping outside.

“I haven’t realized I worked long enough by your side for Yoojin-ssi to pick up my personality. But it’s nice to know that you have good interpersonal skills, unlike Leader Han.”

Shit.

It’s like he’s playing mine bombs with this man in every second they exist within each other’s space.

“Yoohyun-a was a precious child, I’m a bit ashamed that I didn’t have the money to put him in a better school. He was still great, always got the top grades and marks, but I would have liked it if he went in a place that could help him develop better.”

“A shame. Still, it’s impressive that despite all odds he became a fine young man.”

Yoojin snorts.

“I hear sarcasm.”

“It’s difficult to work with him sometimes, but otherwise, he’s the best guild leader one could ask. I’ve heard horror stories about the other guilds,” the smile was still in place. It was brutally honest.

Some people turned around when they entered, most likely interested in the cane. Otherwise, they didn’t care much. Yoojin wondered what would have happened had Kim Sunghan come with him instead, as Yoohyun suggested, and grimaced.

Registration was fast, the member didn’t care much after saying he was F-ranked, but he did notice the condescending gaze when he saw the cane.

Yoojin grinds his teeth but doesn’t react.

As Suk Simyeong took his papers, saying he would need to have a talk with someone, Yoojin decided not to think much about it. The man was most probably planning on sealing his records or something if that was an option, or make it harder for anyone else to find it. Instead, he eyes the way to the twin building where he knew the shops were, and lets a smile slide onto his face.

The jewels were garish, none of them were discrete enough to be worn anywhere.

If only he could find something that could reinforce his stats just a little bit to get Yoohyun off his back to not continually talk about his safety. He was slowly losing his mind over this issue. Safety this, safety that, your safety is important-

You can’t take care of yourself-

You need someone to watch you-

What a … brat.

Wasn’t Yoojin the one who took care of him when they were children? Doesn’t he remember how well he can take care of himself? He’s done it for years now. He will keep doing it for years.

So, what if someone wanted to kill him?

He always managed to get rid of them before. All those times in the dungeons weren’t completely spent on gathering. He can do it again-

“Sh-Shopper-nim, if- if that gets destroyed, you’ll have to p-pay for it,” the shop assistant stuttered. Yoojin blinked, and noticed the little flame that sprouted from the gem attached to the ring he held.

He lets go, and it drops, but he can’t help but notice how the band is slightly bent.

He waves his hand for a moment to get rid of the fire.

Yoojin wasn’t sure if Suk Simyeong’s theory about his skills was correct, not when everything catches on fire around him whenever he gets angry. That doesn’t sound like flames coming from inside him at all.

“Sh-Shopper-nim, instead of looking at these, why not try your hands on flame-resistant jewelry instead? It’s pricier, but it can last longer with fire users like yourself! We also have a stylish leather glove that’s flame resistant and can raise a bit of your stats,” What a commendable employee, facing danger head-on and still doing her job.

“Sorry, I was in deep thought, can you show me those?”

“The flame-resistant ones?”

“That, and the stat-raising ones.”

The slight hesitance in her eyes slowly disappeared, and she gave him a nod along with a smile before she led him away.

As he followed her footsteps, her voice slowly turning to static in his ear, his eyes caught onto one section that was filled with poisons.

Chapter Text

“Yoo Myeongwoo!” Two voices said at once, mixing harmoniously despite being loud and somewhat annoying. Yoojin couldn’t help but smile brightly as the two twins that he vaguely remembered came running at a hassled-looking Myeongwoo.

“Come on, we got three tables for everyone!” One of the twins said.

“E-Everyone,” Myeongwoo whispers.

“Ah!” The other twin noticed him before bowing. “I’m sorry for bumping into you that time! Please accept my apology,” one of them said.

“It’s fine. Congratulations on getting accepted to your team,” he said as he gave him the gift.

“You shouldn’t have! Thank you!”

What a lively bunch.

Like the twins said, there were three long tables reserved for the party. He was surprised, expecting more people to be around with how nice and excitable the two were, he would have thought that they were more popular.

“Yoo Myeongwoo, right? You were in my art class,” someone said as they sat down. Myeongwoo simply nods with a nervous smile. “I really liked that Viking ship you made first year.”

“Th-thank you!”

For some reason, Myeongwoo scoots closer to him, and Yoojin sends him a look before frowning at his nervous expression.

Half an hour later, Yoojin’s expectations were proven right. The two really were popular and more people came in.

It was getting crowded.

At some point, someone pushed a drink in his hand. Yoojin didn’t attempt to drink it at first, and consciously kept it away. He watched the party getting a little out of hand for a supposed small gathering, and by the time he took a break from observing, he noticed that he drank at least three glasses without noticing.

Huh.

He looks up at his friend, wondering if they’ve mixed up their glasses together, and he sees Myeongwoo crying over something the Viking girl was showing him on her phone. It wasn’t a normal amount of crying, but from the way he kept meowing, he was starting to think that maybe Myeongwoo just had a bit more to drink than he could handle.

That had been one of the tame interactions happening around him.

He wonders if this is normal. He wasn’t quite sure. He was never invited to a gathering previously and only drank in his apartment as it was the safest place for him to do so. If this is normal, he finds it a bit fascinating, but also very draining.

Maybe if he was actually 25, he would have liked this.

But he wasn’t.

He hasn’t been 25 in a while, and he feels much older than his actual age sometimes. They say people age with experience, and his experience certainly did. He knew too much about how people act, knew too much about how negative they can be.

Yet, here he is, learning about a new way people can act.

It was slowly becoming too much.

The people, the cheering, the commotion, and the loud laughter.

With all the ruckus inside the restaurant, Yoojin decides to look outside instead.

And blinked as he saw a very familiar figure run out of a shop, an old man yelling at said familiar figure.

Yoojin stood up without warning as he watched the old man throw something at the runner, startling Myeongwoo with the sudden movement and making him accidentally spill his drink.

“Yoojin-ssi?”

“I need to go check on something,” he muttered as he started walking out.

It was surprisingly hard to find a child in a crowd of many, many, barbecue shops, but that messy hairstyle, and that umbrella …

“Yoojin! Wait, please don’t go out like this alone!” Myeongwoo yelled, but Yoojin couldn’t stop now, he needed to find-

A hand fell on his shoulder, and a heaving Myeongwoo who seemed to be closer to losing all of his HP was struggling to stand up straight while holding onto him.

“Please don’t run out again! You need-” He cried.

“If you fucking tell me that I can’t take care of myself and need bodyguards too, I’ll burn everything in this place!” He yelled as he shoved the hand off his shoulders.

It felt as if he were in a bubble, a bubble filled with silence as the sound of the crowd slowly diminished. Myeongwoo, the usually bright and cheery though timid man, gave him a confused and hurt look.

Only after a few seconds of confusion, feeling like he was taking heavy breaths and harshly taking as much air as he could, did he realize what he just said.

“Oh god, fuck- fuck. Sorry, I’m so sorry, I …” What was wrong with him?

He immediately snatched Myeongwoo’s hand, and he sighed in relief when he didn’t find a burn that usually accompanied his anger.

After a while, the noise started coming back, but Myeongwoo was still looking at him with a hurt expression.

“I thought … I thought I saw my little brother … I … you didn’t deserve that.”

“No,” Myeongwoo said. The man stood straight, showing off his full height, and grabbed his hands, slowly prying them away from his own, and gently let go. “I didn’t deserve that, but I should have realized that you were stressed as well. You never seemed like a people person, and I should have asked if you were okay coming. I just sprung all of this on you.”

“No! No. I snapped at you with no reason, and I shouldn’t- you were just concerned. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize that much,” Myeongwoo said. “Now, tell me again, what was so important that you had to run out without your crutches?”

“Crutches? Huh?”

Oh.

Oh.

That was why he came out.

He feels like a big fucking asshole now.

“I’m sorry …”

“Yoojin, please, I told you to stop. Here, grab the handles now, and let’s walk back. I heard they’re taking out the premium beef now.”

“But my little bro … ther …”

“Brother?” Myeongwoo asked.

Brother?

What was wrong with him?

Yoohyun was in a dungeon.

He was an adult.

Why the fuck did he think he saw him just now getting chased out by a man.

He grabs his head and shakes it, it’s like he's in a fog.

“Or maybe we should go back home? You don’t look so good,” Myeongwoo said with a worried tone.

“Umm … y-yeah. Yeah, that sounds good,” he looks back.

Was he … hallucinating?

It felt like he just lost his little brother in a crowd. Yoohyun is an adult, one who can take care of himself.

Get it together Yoojin.

He slaps both of his cheeks at the same time.

“Eh- Yoojin?”

“Let’s get the beef first, maybe we can get them as takeaway?”

0o0o0

He can’t sleep.

He keeps thinking about the child that was running away from the shop.

Yoojin ran a hand through his hair before turning around with a huff, frowning at the digital clock that was irritating his eyes with how bright it was. He turns around again to try and get some semblance of sleep.

When that didn’t work, he flips his pillow to rest his face on the cool side.

Two hours later, he opens his laptop to start his class, the bags under his eyes heavy and pronounced. He doesn’t remember what exactly happened during the lesson today, but he doesn’t think it would be that difficult since he can still read his absentminded notes and understood at least 70% of it.

“Alright! Ten minutes break everyone!” The teacher says brightly, Yoojin sends him a stink eye behind his camera, doubtful that the man could see him in the sea of other faces. He stood up, now wanting to drink water to at least get rid of the fog clouding his thoughts.

When he stumbles into the kitchen, his hand using the wall as support, he spots a silver glint in the shadows, followed by a sharp sound of metal sliding over each other.

That woke him up completely, realizing that he was going to get attacked in his own home by some intruder.

There wasn’t any fear in his heart. This isn’t the first time he was attacked unaware, but there was an immense worry knowing full well that Myeongwoo would be defenseless in his bed. He doesn’t hesitate in grabbing a chair, ready to throw it.

“If you think you can attack me in my own home, you better think twice?!” He yells-

And hears a very familiar voice scream.

“Myeongwoo? What? Urgh, it’s like 2 AM.”

“I-I-I- I’m sorry! I was sharpening the kitchen knives!”

Yoojin blinks.

“Oh …” he mumbled as he reached for the light switch, Myeongwoo was on the floor, blinking at the light for a second, the two knives right next to him where they fell along with him.

“Y-Yeah. I don’t think it’s enough. So far, I’ve done 9, I don’t think I can find more … how can I get to 10,000 like this?”

“We only have 2 knives, where did you get the other seven?”

“I asked our neighbors.”

Yoojin pinches the bridge of his nose.

“They probably think we’re serial killers now …”

“O-Oh … I’m sorry- I just wanted to g-get my skills. I didn’t really think. Plus, I was kinda worried because maybe we’re looking at it wrong, maybe it isn’t tools, maybe there really is something out there called tloos that needs sharpening-”

Yoojing cuts him off.

“I’ll just- I’ll just grab a glass of water and go back to class. Let me think about the knife issue, don’t worry.”

“Oh yeah, you study online,” Myeongwoo said, the nervousness now seeping away from him.

He now has a good idea of what to spend Yoohyun's cards on.

Chapter Text

“All of them?”

“Yes, and I’ll replace them with new ones.”

“Ha …” was the astonished reply.

It had been a week since the party night, and he’d been running around to rundown old restaurants and butcher shops offering to replace their old knives with new ones as long as they gave him the old ones.

Myeongwoo has been overwhelmed when they started. Sometimes, he’d look suspiciously around them, as if worried someone would follow them.

“Don’t worry so much.”

“But …”

“We’re safe,” he tells him. Yoojin was sure that the guards were still around and he could spot them from time to time. Lower-level awakened are harder to spot for some reason.

This doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone, but because of this, he always knew where the guild members were if they came too close.

“And even if we’re not, we’re both awakened, we can fight them,” he grins. Myeongwoo squints at him for a second before punching his shoulder. “Oof.”

“We’re F-ranks.”

“My determined rank is higher,” he brags.

“Determined ranks are for people with no combat skills,” Myeongwoo shoots him down.

“Not all the time! Sometimes your skills are higher than your rank. My strength is at least E-rank!”

“So?”

“You really know how to bring someone down.”

“Someone has to keep you grounded if you keep bragging like that,” Myeongwoo huffs before chuckling a bit. “But I guess, even if we get attacked, I have enough sharpened knives to throw at them.”

Yoojin gasps at him.

“Bloodthirsty!”

“Han ‘I’ll burn everything down with me’ Yoojin-ssi is calling me bloodthirsty?”

“That wasn’t-” he felt his face heating up from both embarrassment and shame. “I don’t know what came over me that night.”

“I’ll just think that the Choi twins’ party is a success and end it with that,” Myeongwoo chuckles as they reach another restaurant. “Should we rent a storage? There’re too many knives to keep in the apartment now.”

“I think we can re-sell them. They’re good quality.”

“Re-selling knives? Is that even legal? I thought we needed to go through the hunter stores to sell weapons.”

“They’re kitchen knives.”

“Grinded and sometimes reinforced by an awakened.”

“That’s a selling point if anything,” Yoojin says. Myeongwoo pouts.

“I don’t know anything about business, I’ll just leave that to you.”

“I don’t know anything either,” Yoojin said. “I’m just a shrimp trying to float.”

“If you’re a shrimp then I’m a sea urchin.”

“… I guess we’re stuck together. You poked me and I can’t let go now,” he laughs.

Entering the store this time came with an interesting result. It seemed that news of someone trying to buy old knives spread around, and this guy must have realized who they were and tried to sell them other kitchenware as well.

The both of them shared a look and nodded, they needed to change their hunting ground.

“I still doubt about my skills. I mean … tloos? I tried looking it up, all it mentioned is an ancient Greek city.”

“Hmm,” he replies, not sure what to say.

“Yoojin-ssi?” Myeongwoo calls, the nerve eating him up. His voice now sounded slightly far away.

Maybe he’s hungry, they’ve been at this all day.

“I said don’t worry about that. I’m low leveled, so it could have messed up the spelling with that.”

“You’re level 12!”

“Oh yeah … anyways-”

“You can’t just brush it off!”

“But I’ve seen the numbers rise after you sharpened a knife, so it really is tools!”

Myeongwoo still wore a frown on his face.

“Do you think we’ll get arrested? We’re carrying knives?”

“Myeongwoo, it’s not illegal to carry knives around.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Yoojin sighs, now feeling extra tired. He doesn’t think anything will calm his friend’s nerves, knowing how anxious he can get.

“Did you know there are people who sharpen tailors’ scissors for a living?”

“… Maybe we should have started with that instead of knives.”

0o0o0

When he saw the skies again through the windows, he was reminded of his new raincoat.

Subsequently, he was reminded of his old umbrella.

Realization struck him then.

He hurries around the apartment, grabbing his coat and crutches before trying to get to the door. His roommate’s door is tightly shut as he continues to grind his knives.

When he opened the door, he was met with the surprising sight of Kim Sunghan.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in a dungeon?”

“We finished.”

There was no other reply. He frowns before sighing and getting out of the apartment in a way he wouldn’t accidentally touch the A-rank.

“Guild leader ordered to keep you safe.”

“Cool, I’ll just go out and-”

“You always seem to attract trouble outside. We’ll start to employ preventative tactics now and keep you in.”

“That’s a hostage situation,” Yoojin tells him bluntly. “I’ll call the cops on you.”

“And what do you think they’ll do against me,” Kim Sunghan challenged.

“Tch, smug basta- I mean-”

“Please stay inside, Han Yoojin-ssi,” Kim Sunghan sighs loudly, sounding very, very, tired. That wasn’t fair, they just met for today.

“Keeping a soul safe is also just as important, so please allow me to walk around under the sun to keep it lively.”

“Han Yoojin-ssi,” if it was possible, he sounded even more tired. “It’s going to be sundown. And it will rain soon.”

“It’s important.”

“I’ll drive you there,” the man said, seeming to have given up.

“Thank you, Kim Sunghan-ssi!” He says, but the man makes a face. “What?”

“I’m a subordinate of your brother, please don’t use honorifics with me.”

“I won’t if you won’t use any with me,” he counters back before grinning and walking towards the staircase, expecting the car to be down.

As he settled in the passenger’s seat and told Kim Sunghan where he wanted to go, he couldn’t help but smile as he looked outside. After a while, with no music getting played, he couldn’t help but feel just a little bit drowsy.

“How did the dungeon subjugation go?”

“We did not receive any losses.”

“That’s good. Did Yoohyun-ie get hurt?”

“No,” he heard after a moment of silence.

“That’s also good.”

“Please excuse me for intruding, but shouldn’t it be better for you to ask him directly?”

“That will not be good,” Yoojin says without much thought. “Yoohyun doesn’t like talking about dungeons with me, I don’t like dungeons or think about them either.”

The last time he stepped into a dungeon will firmly be the last. This is why he is studying hard for his degree.

Once he is done, he will work an honest and stable job.

He refuses to work as a hunter ever again.

It’s far too tiring to protect yourself there 24/7.

All those nights spent inside one, separated from the world, with no way to communicate to the outside for any sort of help.

No one to have your back in case you get betrayed.

Surviving nights on little food and water.

Fighting for every scrap of valuables to sell and live another day.

Suk Simyeong wasn’t that far off with his story, huh?

He really dislikes dungeons.

“All they do is bring misery. But I know Yoohyun-a can survive most of them, so I’ll just ask if it went well and that’s that.”

“Most of them?”

“Mmhm, you can’t win against a dragon, can you?”

“…”

0o0o0

“This is the place?”

“Yes, I want to find a little girl- hey, it’s not like that,” Yoojin said once he noticed Kim Sunghan’s disgusted face. “I just wanted to check on her. Again- not like that!”

“Why do you want to check on her.”

“I think … I think I saw her get kicked out of her house last week.”

“What?!”

“I’m not sure, I thought I was imagining things at first. But I realized today that maybe I wasn’t imagining things completely.”

Kim Sunghan frowns, brows nearly touching, yet he says nothing.

Asking around didn’t yield much help, especially since his description wasn’t particularly unique either. Curly and wavy hair might have been rarer in the past, but it became stylish in the recent decade or so. Having a short-haired child let their hair be permed was apparently normal now.

At the end, he sits down with a corndog, chewing at it angrily.

He saw her. That girl with the umbrella he gave away. He remembered that old man throwing something at her-

He gnashes at the stick. The bites are getting colder the more he stews in thought.

He takes a deep breath.

Yoojin looks down at the ground. He was lucky enough to have managed to get Kim Sunghan to leave him alone here for a while by promising to not move at all. Still, it left him feeling useless, unable to go around as much as he wanted to help in the search. His leg ached though, and he couldn’t help but begrudgingly admit that he needed this.

“Ahjussi?” Someone asked, and he raised his head in surprise as the object of his search appeared right in from of him. “Ahjussi, you shouldn’t be out late like this. A healthy sleeping schedule helps with injuries,” the girl said before grabbing the ends of her jacket sleeves, and playing with hems as she looked down.

“Thank you for worrying,” he couldn’t help but feel a smile overtake his face.

“And I read that rain makes injuries worse. Hurry up and go home Ahjussi.”

The smile grows further.

“What about you? It’s so late.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m late. I work nearby anyways.”

“Work? You’re 12.”

“I’m 14,” the girl growls, raising her head as she glares at him.

“You’re far too short, have you been eating well?” The girl doesn’t answer, her eyes dropping again. After a long moment of silence, Yoojin decides on what to do. “Come on, I’ll pay for your food.”

Her head springs up.

The look of wonder in her eyes made him feel disgusted with her guardian.

Chapter Text

“This is the best!”

Growing children eat a lot, he knew that well. He couldn’t help but cry as he imagined if he would have paid for all the food with his own money. He wants to kiss Yoohyun’s card that was in his pocket, it deserves to be called a legendary grade artifact.

He needs to work harder at the library from now on.

“Eat as much as you want.”

“No, Ahjussi should eat the better parts to recover,” she said as she picked up a larger cut of the beef and put it on his plate.

“This is embarrassing, I should be putting stuff on your plate.”

“Your health is more important,” she insisted before picking up another piece and layering it with green chili.

He witnessed murder the moment she bit into it.

“Don’t worry about me that much, worry about your health. I … saw you last week. I thought I was imagining things, but then realized I might not have.”

The girl’s chopstick was hung up mid-air, her mouth was initially opened to take another bite, but now it was left open in surprise at his admission.

“Now, I found out that you’re working there. That’s illegal.”

“It’s my uncle’s shop,” she answers. The happiness she had been expressing the entire time they were eating is now gone.

“I’m starting to dislike your uncle.”

“You and me both,” she growls as she continues to mash her face with more food. Yoojin frowns, concerned for her wellbeing as he eyes the state of her clothes and hair. The shoes were two sizes too big, and it looked like it had been fished from a pond that it swam in for years.

And now that he has a better look at her, the curliness didn’t come naturally, but rather from lack of care.

He doesn’t doubt that it’s naturally curly, Yoohyun’s hair was just like hers, but it was like she didn’t have a comb to brush with.

“The shop didn’t look like it was that badly off.”

“The food is terrible. Don’t ever go there, okay? Here’s much better.”

“You’re worrying me more. If it’s a family business-”

“Tch. Family business. More like business made out of my inheritance,” she said with such a low volume, that Yoojin could barely hear it.

He felt even angrier at her situation.

Yet, there wasn’t an easy way to take her out of it. Plus, if he did pull her out of this situation, her reputation would be ruined until she has the chance to possibly jump cities for college.

That wasn’t something he’d want for her.

He sighs.

“The only way I can think of getting you away from your uncle is if you were wakened.”

“Awakened?”

“Yes. 14-year-olds awakened are treated just like adults. The only stipulation is that they have a guardian.”

The girl sighs.

“What’s the point if they want to get away from their guardian?”

“Their guardians have to be awakened as well.”

“Either way, I’m not awakened, so it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Oh- wait, I forgot-” Yoojin slaps himself in the face, making a loud noise. The girl looks at him with confusion as he slides his hand across his face. “I am an idiot. Listen, I have an evaluation skill and awakening skill.”

“Wait … ahjussi, you’re awakened?”

“Yup.”

“But …” her eyes slipped down for a second before realizing her mistake as she looked up again.

Yoojin couldn’t help the bitter feeling that came to him.

She’s just a child, children don’t usually control their thoughts and expressions.

“Dungeon accident.”

“Oh …”

“I didn’t get a healer. It never healed properly. But that’s not important. What’s important is that my skill can tell what your rank will be and I can awaken you with your best optimal stats.”

“R-Really?”

“Yup. As for the guardian issue … I’ll ask someone from my brother’s guild to help-”

“No!”

“Huh?”

“I-I mean, I want ahjussi to be my guardian!”

“What? No, no, that’s not ideal at all, I don’t even own a house.”

“So? I don’t own a house either.”

“You’re 14. How can a 14-year-old kid own a house?”

“I don’t care! You’re nicer than any other adult who always gave me this stupid pitying expression and then looked away. You at least offered help! And you’re an awakened too!”

“Listen … uh, I never got your name?”

“Bak Yerim,” she says with confidence.

And Yoojin’s mind short circuits.

“Bak Yerim?”

“Yes! Now’s your turn.”

Bak Yerim, the Ice Witch?

A-rank awakened with ice abilities and a tragic past. She awakens when she turns 18, which is four years from now. Her story made headlines with how far her skills are ahead even compared to other A-rankers and her tragic past.

How … how could this energetic child be the same cold-faced ice queen?

That’s when Yoojin realizes something important.

Bak Yerim’s uncle is scum.

“Han Yoojin, F-rank,” he answers.

“F-rank?” She frowns. “F-ranks are normal people but with weak skills.”

A vein twitches on the side of his head.

“Do you want to write a contract then?”

“A contract?”

“Yes. You can’t just suddenly demand stuff without negotiations. Maybe someone can’t help if they have nothing to gain. This will also guarantee my words to you since you apparently don’t believe in my skills. You get your optimal awakening, I get some peace of mind.”

It will also give him time to get Yoohyun involved. There must be another A-ranker who can take care of Bak Yerim. Yoojin doesn’t have the resources to take care of a superpowered child. 

“Alright. A contract! But you should keep your promise. You’re my new guardian, ahjussi-”

“Bak Yerim?!” Someone screams out, barreling in the restaurant. “I heard you came to this restaurant.”

Bak Yerim flinches. She immediately stood up, as if ready to run away. It was too late by then as the offender grabbed onto her wrist.

Her thin wrest, Yoojin has come to realize.

“Hey, you can’t just grab a child like that!” He also stood up, ignoring the sudden flare of pain shooting up in his leg.

“Who the hell are you? Huh? Are you in a relationship with this bitch?”

If it was possible, his opinion of this man has reached below the critical low.

Hold off your anger, awakened people can’t touch normal people. Murder is also wrong.

Pah-

He grabbed onto the man’s arm and squeezed it just a tiny bit.

“Ack-” the man let go of Bak Yerim, she took her chance to get away from her. Yoojin took a glimpse of her and noticed how she was hugging herself looking close to crying.

“Hey you, do you think it’s acceptable to hurt someone like that? Nonetheless a child!?”

“Let go of me!”

“Bak Yerim, did this piece of shit ever hit you?” He asked her, and her lips trembled.

He was about to let go of the issue and deal with the man when she spoke.

“I learned how to run faster. He can’t hit me anymore, not like when mom and dad died.” He can hear whispers from everyone around them in the restaurant. His attention, however, was fully on Bak Yerim. Her trembling slowly stopped as a snarl pulled itself over her lips before she looked up with a glare. “When Mom and Dad died, he stole all of my inheritance to buy that stupid shop of his! He didn’t leave a single cent to me, not for clothes, not for notebooks, not even for an umbrella! When a storm came by and broke the plastic one they gave me, they told me to scram off and I had to use a plastic bag from the convenience store to stay dry!”

That day at the bus stop, when she ran in with nothing but a plastic bag to cover her-

“I hate him!”

“How dare you embarrass me,” Bak Yerim’s uncle growls and shoves Yoojin away-

Like lightning, a sharp pain suddenly overwhelms him.

“Fuck.”

“Ahjussi!”

“Fuck. FUCK. UGH,” he couldn’t help the pained yell tearing out of his throat as he grabbed onto his leg.

It was burning.

Exactly like that day-

The cave was falling-

Han Yoojin called for help-

He couldn’t move-

He couldn’t breathe-

He couldn’t-

No one was coming for him-

No one would ever come for Han Yoojin-

“I didn’t push him that hard!?”

“You monster!” Bak Yerim yells. With great pain, Yoojin had to pry his eyes open, and he saw the same moment when she pushed her uncle by hitting him with her closed fists. “He’s disabled! He needs crutches to walk!”

“What’s going on- Han Yoojin-ssi?! What happened?” 

“Isn’t that Kim Sunghan?”

“What is he doing here?”

“Han Yoojin-ssi?! Shit,” someone kneels next to him, it took a moment to recognize him.

Always a tower. Always standing in front of that door, separating him from Han Yoohyun. Always glaring at him-

Kim Sunghan raises his hand at him-

“P-Please don’t hurt me,” he begged, closing his eyes tightly. He knew what came next, the pain of rejection. Although he isn’t afraid of it anymore, the pain will always be the same. It claws at his heart to leave an open gash, one he can’t bother to stitch back anymore.

“I’m not-” Something shifted in his eyes. "Han Yoojin-ssi, we’ll take you to the hospital, let me help you up.”

Yoojin shook his head.

“No. They don’t help. Take Bak Yerim to safety first.”

“Bak Yerim?” Kim Sunghan asked.

“Ahjussi …”

“P-Please, she already suffered enough. Take her somewhere safe.”

“… Understood,” Yoojin felt an arm under his leg, and he flinched as more pain suddenly flowed in from the pressure. He tries his best to stifle the noise and grabs onto whatever is close to him to hide his face in it. “Bak Yerim, please follow us,” Kim Singhan said.

He pulled out his phone and started texting into it.

“You can’t just take her-”

“Expect a letter from the Haeyeon guild.”

“You’re kidnapping her?!”

“Bak Yerim, come closer,” Yoojin whispered, but it was audible despite the yells. He managed to let go of whatever he was holding – Kim Sunghan’s jacket – and reached for the girl.

Bak Yerim had been watching the fight between Kim Sunghan and her uncle, wide-eyed and completely lost on what to do, before snapping her sights to him when he called her.

She stepped closer, still hugging her hand, and Yoojin reached out to her.

A blinding light emerged between them, reminiscent of that one time he made a wish. The glow in the girl’s eyes turned from worry to innocent wonder as power suddenly surged from within her, slowly wafting her hair despite standing indoors.

[Promising Sprout (S)]

 Optimized Awakening.

- Awakened: Bak Yerim

 - Rank: S-rank

 - Optimized Awakening Starting Skills: Shadowless Day (SS), Hermes' Sandals (S), White Corpse (S), Freezing Sigh (S)

The pain was too much by this point, it took all his energy to awaken her, and the only thing he thought of before losing focus was, ‘Wasn’t she an A-rank?’

Chapter Text

If there’s one thing Yoo Myeongwoo learned from living with Han Yoojin for so long, it’s that ‘bluffing till you make it’ is a shockingly great and effective method.

It wasn’t that people were gullible. It’s that the way Yoojin sometimes acted made them doubt if they were in the wrong or not, or wonder if what he says is the truth. He’d seen it happen so many times when he talked to the store owners, making up excuses as to why they needed the knives when they could buy new ones.

At the end, Myeongwoo realized something very important.

Yes, people were not gullible, but they were fucking stupid.

Especially when he comes at them from out of left field.

When he left his room to make dinner—something he has taken to do after watching how much difficulty Yoojin had navigating his kitchen, he decided to at least cook for him to return his kindness—he noticed the untouched lunch on the table.

Frowning, he shrugged and puts everything in a pot expecting his roommate to eat it later as leftover, then started making food for himself this time.

Midnight came, the pot is untouched, and Yoojin wasn’t home.

He didn’t leave any messages.

When he sat in the kitchen, staring at the pot, he was reminded of a long time ago when his older sister made them food. He had been ungrateful back then, hasn’t he? If any of them had noticed something was up with her, maybe …

Shaking his head, he slapped his face with both hands, trying to shock the memory away. Yoojin wasn’t Noona, even if their resemblance was uncanny. He’s an open book and is very straightforward, unlike Noona. He always says what’s in his mind, especially when something’s bothering him. And the one thing that never bothered him is food.

So, untouched pot meant he didn’t come back home. His library shift doesn’t take this long, and he doubts sales in one would make the employees stay up at night because of the overflow.

Right?

Sales aren’t that bad, right?

He’d leave a message saying he’ll be late.

Right?

Then where could he be?

Myeongwoo’s face was still stinging, even with his hands covering his cheeks. Myeongwoo tries to squish his face even more, doubt now starting to appear in his thoughts.

Well … There were times when Yoojin doesn’t really speak out his mind … especially when …

Myeongwoo slaps himself for the second time within the hour. He shook his head furiously.

He slowly looks outside, eyes falling on a new permanent fixture of the neighborhood. The cars that didn’t exactly belong to anyone. He went around asking his neighbors at some point; he realized that none of them had any clue who could own the non-descriptive vehicles.

He had been going through scenario after scenario wondering before deciding on what to do next.

“I’m not going to repeat again. Where did you take Yoojin,” he says, glaring at their stalker for the last few weeks, the knife pointed directly above their neck.

“Sir, please, this could be grounds for an arrest-”

“Who will believe that I stabbed someone when you guys were the one stalking us? Do you think I didn’t notice you people? I already got videos on you and have it ready to get posted later if I didn’t cancel the scheduled post in three hours. Where. Is. Yoojin.”

He owns a low-quality phone with a small SD card that only holds phone numbers.

And he forgot his channel’s password after posting one video.

The stalkers-could-be-kidnappers didn’t need to know that. At least there was one good thing that came from the channel.

0o0o0

What was this feeling?

Yoojin was angry.

That was something he was sure of.

Why was he angry?

Ah, Bak Yerim was scared.

But he awakened her. She should be fine. She shouldn’t be afraid anymore.

Then what is the issue?

Why did he feel like the world was falling underneath his feet?

When he looks down, there is something that was burnt into crisps. Much like a dragon he had beheaded long ago. It screeches in agony, trying to escape the flames.

It writhes, crawling on the ground like a bug before it decides to fight back. It was an animal backed into a corner. The many slimy limbs flail. His flames climb up its appendages, it has become a deadly combination as a result.

Yoojin remembers a head that breathed fire, it was much more terrifying than this. Rather, he didn’t feel the same fear, but the anger was still there.

Simmering.

Eternal.

It was a monster.

But when did it come? Why did it come here? Why-

Was there ever a monster break at this time?

He wasn’t sure.

It’s very hard to remember things now. So many things just seem to lose itself within the flow. It’s harder to focus on them.

The screeching is louder.

Yoojin huffs, walking straight ahead, holding an item that can take care of the problem.

Because Yoojin needs to take care of it.

Or else … or else he’ll never be able to protect what was his. His little brother, his brother’s guild members, his now best friend Yoo Myeongwoo, Bak Yerim, who is now under his care until he gets her somewhere safe.

He has to make sure they’re fine.

Because if they’re not-

They won’t be alive anymore-

They’ll be under his feet-

A beheaded monster head can be seen faraway, but he wasn’t good enough to stop it. It was too big, too fast, too strong, and he lost everything-

If making sure whatever this thing burns so hot that nothing is left of its body will make them safe.

HE WILL BURN IT

HE WILL BURN IT ALL

NOTHINGWILLEVERHURTTHEMAGAIN-

Ṉ̸̓̂̐͝͝O̴̧̧͕̻͍̣̝͂͌̏̒̀̒̓T̷̰̯̗̯͇̺͍̏̃̋H̸̪̮̖̤̼̫̟̽̀͆̈́͊I̵̤̓̌̊̇͌̂̚N̶͖̜͈͎̿̃̈́͗G̵̣̝̳̠͙̖̝͐͛-̵̦̬̞̓̉̑̓͜

“-lease, calm down!” He hears.

It was a desperate voice.

It was familiar.

It was his brother.

His little brother.

The wasteland slowly disappeared from view. Like a vignette made of light instead of age. The view of reality comes in.

He wasn’t there anymore-

This was- Near the station- barbecue place-

There was an arm wrapped tightly around him, constricting him from moving. There was a hand that enveloped him, pulling him into an embrace.

The air was hot, but that was the fire’s fault. In reality, the wind was cool as it touched his face, giving him a slight salvation, a sharp contrast against a memory of an arid world with darkened bloody skies.

These arms were familiar, blessedly so. They were warm, the good kind of warm, and he found himself slowly raising his arm to hold on to them. It wasn’t cold; it was alive.

“Yoohyun-a?” He dared to ask.

“Yes, it’s me, it’s me. Please, you’ve killed it. Please calm down so we can stop the fire from spreading.”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t find the energy to speak against the block in his throat. After a few moments of silence, someone slowly descends in front of them, and it was the girl.

Her eyes were wide with awe.

“Ahjussi, that was so cool! When the monster came out, and then boulder guy wanted me to run away with you so he can fight it off. But I couldn’t carry you cause I could have crushed you, so I stayed in place instead. But then we almost got hurt, and you just suddenly started screaming and there was fire everywhere! I thought you were an F-rank! But that was not an F-rank move! And you told me to get away, but I couldn’t let you-”

“Who the hell are you?” Yoohyun asked, unimpressed. Bak Yerim turns and glares at him.

“And who the hell are you?! You can’t just hug Ahjussi like that! Are you a pervert? Get away from him!?”

“Wha- How dare you-”

“Wait a sec,” Bak Yerim said before flying closer to them, her nose almost touching Yoohyun’s from how close she was, squinting at him. “You’re Han Yoohyun! Leader of the Haeyeon guild!”

“Yes. Now that you know, please-”

“I thought you were cool, but now I know you’re a jerk and a pervert.”

“YOU-”

“Stop it! The both of you!” Yoojin yells, head spinning from the argument. “What the hell?! Han Yoohyun, that’s not how you’re supposed to treat your new sibling.”

“WHAT?!” They both yelled.

And Yoojinn blinked.

Where did that come from?

“I’m adopting you.”

“But- Hyung?! No! You can’t just adopt random kids-”

“She awakened because of my skill. I should take responsibility. And to be frank, her uncle is terrible.”

“No-”

“She’s also an S-rank, so you should be glad about this.”

“Hyung, please listen to me, I refuse.”

“Who wants to be your sibling anyway!” Bak Yerim yells, stomping her feet and cracking the ground in a spiderweb pattern. “You’re terrible! I want Ahjussi to be my guardian, but I don’t want you to be related to me.”

“There had been many cases where lower ranked guardians were assaulted by their high ranked children. How can I be sure you won’t hurt my Hyung?”

“I’m a good girl! I’m not going to hurt Ahjussi! I’ll protect him from people like that!”

“He’s my older brother. I’ll do the protecting.”

“AGAIN! STOP IT! The both of you are acting childish!” Yoojin yells trying to stop this ridiculous situation.

“But,” they both said, and he sends them a glare.

“Yoohyun, you are a guild leader. Go do your duty of cleaning this mess up and actually think about the future of your company and some human decency!” He then turns to Bak Yerim, and after looking at her for a long time, he sighs before giving up and offering her a hug as well. After a few seconds of hesitance, she let go of the pole she was using earlier to fight and run up to him, wrapping her arms around his stomach and burying her head into his chest as gently as she could manage.

“I’m glad you’re okay now, Ahjussi,” she mumbled.

He couldn’t help but pat her head.

He also couldn’t help but notice the cold rage in Yoohyun’s face that was directed at her.

Chapter Text

“We don’t even have enough space in the apartment for ourselves,” Myeongwoo mentioned as he took a bite of the food he brought along. Unfortunately, for Yoojin, he wasn’t allowed to eat food from the outside, not until the doctors said he could.

So, with his rotten luck, he ends up watching everyone eat the delicious lunchbox.

He was internally crying, dammit.

Yoohyun was glaring at Bak Yerim. Yerim, in turn, was watching Kim Sunghan play a bit with the knife that Myeongwoo brought while eating more of the kimbap. Myeongwoo was sitting happily next to Suk Simyeong who was inspecting the contract that both himself and Yerim agreed on not a few hours ago.

Oh, and Myeongwoo somehow intimidated a bunch of C and B ranks into showing him where he was two days ago. It was impressive, but also concerning.

“Are you sure about this decision?” Suk Simyeong asked as he gave the contract back to him.

Are you sure you can care for a child who is most definitely stronger than you and could crush you if she got angry at any point in time?

Yes.

Was he crazy to even think of doing any of this without much care for his own safety?

He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t care either.

Did looking at Yerim that night, looking close to tears as she talked about her uncle, tug a string in his heart? Budged something he had hidden long ago and decided not to open it again? Re-awoken his empathy?

Yes.

By god, yes.

Was this a poorly hidden attempt to replace Yoohyun-

No, never that.

Yoohyun was irreplaceable, much like how Myeongwoo became irreplaceable, and much like how Yerim slowly carved a place in his heart and became just as irreplaceable. They were each their own people and a part of him now, not something to be swapped.

“Of course. We signed a contract, didn’t we?”

Yerim didn’t say anything, but the way her smile lit up her face as she took another bite of her food, trying to hide behind her hair as if embarrassed that anyone would see her reaction, gave him all the answers he needed.

“I’ll just rent a bigger apartment if everyone’s worried about space.”

“You pay yearly rent,” Myeongwoo points out, frowning a bit. “You nagged me about it multiple times.”

“It’s better to pay off yearly than monthly! What if you lost money and your job halfway through the year? You’ll at least have the rest of the year left before you’re homeless or get a new job.”

“Hyung, you could accept my offer,” Yoohyun says in what could be considered a meek voice. It’s something Yoojin has learned to pick up because his brother isn’t quite as expressive as others, but he has his little tells.

“I can’t keep mooching off my little brother. I can afford my own things.”

“It’s not mooching off when your safety is considered,” Yoohyun refutes.

In the corner of his eyes, he can see Suk Simyeong and Kim Sunghan sharing a look. Those two were always nearby, always. They were the right and left hands of his little brother. This also led to the unfortunate situation in which they’ve witnessed all their arguments.

He feels slightly guilty for putting those two between them.

They might not have been very cordial with him, but they were nice enough this time around, much nicer than they’ve ever been. It didn’t take much to convince them that he wasn’t here to ruin Yoohyun’s career and life in general, and they were pretty sensible people all things considered.

Unlike the paparazzi.

“I took care of a dungeon outbreak,” he says.

His brother’s face turns sour.

“And look where you are now! We were lucky we had a healer come by just in time so you wouldn’t scar anywhere!”

“I can’t help it! I was already wearing A-grade flame-resistance gloves. They just … burned off.”

“That means your fire attack is higher than A!” Bak Yerim interrupts, she looks to be in awe. “That’s so cool, Ahjussi! How come you said you’re an F-rank?”

And the mood plummets even further.

Aside from Myeongwoo and Bak Yerim, everyone grimaced.

Yoojin himself felt slightly ashamed, not for any reason the others would think.

Yes, he was an F-rank.

Yes, he shouldn’t have such a high leveled attack.

He got it in … in-

Of course, it wouldn’t suit his body at all. He wasn’t quite sure why he had the attack and not the resistance itself. Shouldn’t [Final Gratitude] give him double the stats of the people who di-

Who-

Who were influenced by him?

All the other times he gained their stats attested to that.

So, he wonders.

Why does he still have his brother’s powers but not the flame resistance?

It has been a year, more than a year since the future past. Previously, the powers he gained would stay for less than a day.

He still refused to look at his skill.

The memory was too painful.

“It’s my rank,” Yoojin finally says after noticing Bak Yerim’s face as it slowly falls in concern. “Physically speaking, I’m no stronger than a human … that is until I get angry. Then, I have the same skill as my brother’s.”

“Are you sure you want to say more to these two?” Suk Simyeong interrupts, most likely concerned about safety and secrecy.

“Yoo Myeongwoo’s a friend, and Bak Yerim’s under my care. It’s fine,” he told him.

Yoohyun growled under his breath but didn’t say anything else, and Suk Simyeong hid a cough behind his fist before nodding.

“In that case, I’ll have to rectify. Han Yoojin-ssi doesn’t have the same skills as our leader. They’re very similar, but-”

“What?” Yoojin cuts off. Because that was wrong. He does have the same skills as his brother.

Suk Simyeong raises a brow.

“You might have forgotten that we spoke of this before registration. Your skills, along with the leader’s, are very similar. It’s not uncommon for siblings to have a similar skill or two. But our Han Yoohyun-nim’s fires use his blood on the outside, while you use yours on the inside. This might be the reason you can make flames but can’t withstand it on your skin.”

That … That doesn’t really make much sense. It made sense for people looking at him, but to him, it doesn’t. Not at all. Everything around him turns hot. His blood boils from the anger, but so does the air around him.

“Hyung, you breathe fire from your mouth … like a dragon’s …” Yoohyun says.

And in that moment, a tight gripping fear wraps itself around his throat as the realization hits.

Like a dragon’s-

He takes a deep breath.

The fear dissipates instantly.

This was a coincidence.

There is no need to think about it anymore.

Complete coincidence.

“Either way, I have fire skills,” and if anyone heard the stutter in his voice, no one makes a mention of it. “But not the flame resistance. All my other skills are support-based. You two already know one of them,” he tells them.

“Your rank detection skill,” Yoo Myeongwoo says.

“And your awakening skill too! I wouldn’t have awakened if you didn’t use it on me!” Bak Yerim declares.

After a moment of silence, Yoojin could imagine a snap being heard in the room, even if none of them had moved.

“Han Yoojin-ssi,” a voice rang out, and Yoojin slowly turned to the owner. A fake smile plastered over Suk Simyeong’s face, instantly ringing alarm bills in his head that he couldn’t quite tell what to do with. “When were you going to tell us about your awakening skill?”

“Err- I mean- It’s customary to hide some skills, and imagine being hounded by people to get a perfect awakening? I’ll never rest a day,” Yoojin tries, but Suk Simyeong’s smile did not budge. He turns around to look at his brother, only to notice a dark looming cloud slowly invading his space, making him cringe.

“If I met you before, you could have awoken me with my full skillset?” Myeongwoo asked. There was something in his expression that made Yoojin feel concern.

“Yeah. It’s the same.”

“Oh,” Myeongwoo doesn’t say anything else, he looks slightly dejected but he shook his head before slapping his cheeks with both hands. “That’s … that’s fine. I would have liked another skill, but this is fine, I’m grateful for anything by this point.”

Myeongwoo doesn’t seem to like his potential skill, despite it being an SS grade one. It had been such an odd contradictory thing to realize about his friend.

He couldn’t confront him about it. Not in front of people Myeongwoo didn’t know, and especially not after threatening their subordinates.

Where did his sunflower friend go? He thought dejectedly.

“What’s your skill, Yoo Myeongwoo-oppa?”

“Why is he oppa and I’m ahjussi?” He cuts in, feeling slightly insulted.

“He’s nice. He makes good food,” she says, showing off the last egg roll she had in her lunchbox. “It’s so good!”

Myeongwoo’s face was now beet red, hidden behind his hands as he tries to hide from everyone’s attention on him.

“My skill is called [Wheatstone],” he finally answers, slowly letting go of his face. He doesn’t look particularly happy with the skill. “It makes any weapon I sharpen sharper by 2%, it’s not that good. I have a specific knife sharpening skill as well that I got recently, it sharpens knives by 50%. I thought it was weird because you’re supposed to be level 10 to get any new skills, but …” he shrugs.

“Oh, when did that happen?”

“I think yesterday night? I was very frustrated and kept sharpening more knives …”

After Yoojin was first admitted to the hospital.

Oh … Myeongwoo …

He feels guilty now.

“Is that the skill Hyung told you about?” Yoohyun asks, seemingly oblivious to the awkward atmosphere.

But it did snap Myeongwoo out of his thoughts, and he shook his head.

“Umm … I … I don’t know how to explain this. Umm …Yoojin said I was supposed to get it the moment I awakened but I didn’t, so I’ll probably get it when I reach level 10 if I filled the other requirement.”

“And that requirement is?” Suk Simyeong asked.

“Sharpening 10,000 knives,” Myeongwoo mumbled.

The silence was heavy.

“WHAT?!” Bak Yerim yelled.

“That’s too high for any skill,” Kim Sunghan comments.

“I mean, I was supposed to have it earlier, but I failed because … well …”

“Your awakening wasn’t ideal for your skillset?”

“I was- I was building a Gundam model when I awakened!” Myeongwoo yelled, eyes shutting tightly. “It was plenty ideal,” his voice wavered.

Suk Simyeong’s eyes narrowed.

Yoojin frowned in confusion as he watched. He trusted Suk Simyeong’s interpersonal skills, he’s very perceptive. Myeongwoo shrunk a bit in his place, now hugging his lunchbox.

“I think- I think that I didn’t get my skill because I wasn’t in a battle.”

“Right.”

“Myeongwoo’s skill is a forging skill, at least that’s what I can tell from the name. It’s a high-grade one,” Yoojin says, now seeing how much tinier Myeongwoo was turning from all the scrutiny that was sent his way.

“How high?” Bak Yerim asked.

After some hesitation, Myeongwoo opened his mouth, then closed it as he looked down on his lap. “It’s SS grade.”

It didn’t take long before the whole room exploded with yelling.

0o0o0

Bak Yerim wrangled the hem of her new shirt.

Everything is new. She’d never worn such nice and soft clothes before, or maybe she did, but it had been so long ago that she could barely remember it anymore.

She moved her fringes away from her eyes, but that had been a habit from when it was too long. She had gotten a haircut to, as the stylist said, give a cool and youthful image. She’s now the youngest S-Class hunter in the world, not just Korea, and they wanted her to look as presentable as possible.

But none of that really mattered to her, not when Ahjussi couldn’t even attend the day of her registration.

“Ah,” someone said as they left Suk Simyeong-ssi’s office. When she looked up, it was Yoo Myeongwoo-oppa!

“Why’re you here?” She asked.

“I was … negotiating,” he said, mumbled really. “Suk Simyeong wanted to recruit me for the guild, but I wasn’t interested.”

“Why not? Isn’t this your best friend’s younger brother’s guild?”

Something in Myeongwoo-oppa’s face shifts.

“That’s precisely why I didn’t join. It’s not because of nepotism either. I just … I …” Myeongwoo-oppa stuttered. The papers he had been holding crumpled. “I think we already mentioned this in the hospital, but I threatened their guild members.”

“Suk Simyeong didn’t look like he cared,” she said.

“That’s … It’s very hard to explain to you, Bak Yerim. It’s not my story entirely. But I’ve lived with Yoojin for a while, and he lived in a depleted two-bedroom apartment. The only reason he probably stayed there is because he renewed a legacy contract that gave him cheaper rent than other apartments. I kept thinking, why would Yoojin live somewhere like that? When his brother is the leader of Haeyeong guild?”

Bak Yerim didn’t know how to answer that.

She knew that the Haeyeong leader cared for Ahjussi, so it wasn’t because he didn’t want to pay for him to get moved into a better apartment.

“Not only that, but the guards? The stalkerish behavior? Yoojin never mentioned who his little brother was, I had to find out at the hospital when the man almost chewed my head off. Something is off here. I don’t … I don’t know what to do here ...”

Maybe … Maybe Yerim should have never signed off for the guild either …

“A-Ah! But that doesn’t matter to you! The only person who can hurt you is the guild leader, and Yoojin wouldn’t let that happen if it gets to it.”

“You’re right …” she still felt a bit uneasy. “But no one would hurt you once you get your skill, right? So it doesn’t matter,” she said.

Yoo Myeongwoo’s face shifts again, the expression this time seemed sadder.

“Maybe …”

The door opened, and Suk Simyeong appeared from behind.

“Yoo Myeongwoo-ssi,” he nods at him before turning back to Yerim. “Bak Yerim-ssi,” he starts.

She makes a face.

Why was he so polite to her?

“Goodbye, Myeongwoo-oppa!” She waved at him as she entered.

“It’s very sudden to have an appointment request by someone so young,” the man said as they sat down. “But to be fair, you’re the first minor hunter we recruited. Has there been any issues since our last meeting?”

“Well,” Yerim takes a deep breath. “Remember when I said I didn’t want to do anything with my uncle …”

“You were very adamant. However, the man had attacked Han Yoojin-ssi, so we are going to take legal action, even if we don’t add anything concerning your issues.”

“I want to sue him,” Suk Simyeong seemed surprised.

But the smile that followed was like a shark’s.

Chapter Text

Because of Bak Yerim’s existence-

Suk Simyeong’s still very annoyed that he didn’t share the fact that he can awaken people.

… Yoo Myeongwoo’s apparent future skill-

Suk Simyeong was also annoyed that he didn’t mention that part of his detection skill was figuring out how to acquire skills and not just their current grades.

… plus Yoojin’s own control, Yoohyun insisted on taking him back to his guild-

Suk Simyeong was not impressed with how his guild leader casually forgot to mention the other two’s existence at the beginning.

He only used the other two as a reason to agree, and Yoojin begrudgingly accepted. His brother truly knew how to tug on him to get what he wanted, and he knew well enough that if Yoojin cared about someone, he’d do what he could to help them.

Right now, Bak Yerim needed to have her skills cultivated in a safe space, and Yoo Myeongwoo needed a way to get his skill which Suk Simyeong was very happy to help.

Not that his fake smile said so. Just remembering that made Yoojin shiver.

He knew well enough that Suk Simyeong was a shark, you don’t become the head of HR by being kind. You had to have an iron heart to get there, especially when some part of your job is to fire people and try your best to keep as much money in the company as possible from the potential firings.

He knew that Haeyeong guild was having a field day over Bak Yerim’s case with her uncle. He remembered that she didn’t want to go with it when they talked at the hospital. Since her awakening, she’d insisted on not interacting with her family at all, that she wanted to forget about them.

However, something had changed, and neither of them gave him a direct answer.

“If Ahjussi can’t afford a house, I’ll take the money from my uncle and buy you a new one,” Bak Yerim said to him, non-pulsed. “I don’t like that he can hurt people without consequences.”

That child … how could she turn so vicious at the drop of a hat?

He sighs, shaking his head.

There was also the fact that they also needed to level up to level 10.

He sighed in despair.

Yoohyun was now turning into a menace, using that as an excuse. It wasn’t that he was ungrateful, the two really did need to level up to 10, but with how insistent his little brother was with getting Yoojin to live in his penthouse instead of the dorms with the other two, it was slowly irritating him.

“Yoohyun-a, I can’t just abandon them there.”

“You’re not abandoning them. You’ll just be apart by a few levels.”

“They’ll need special keys to enter your apartment,” Yoojin said. “The same ones you’re refusing to give them. You have the right not to, but I want to be with them in a place where they can access easily when they need me. Bak Yerim’s my ward now, what do you think it’ll look like to people if they see that I don’t take care of her.”

“She’s 14, she can take care of herself,” Yoohyun insisted.

“She’s 14, she can take care of herself for a few days in an emergency, but not all the time! She’s still a child! I took care of you until you turned 17, do you think you would have been fine before that alone?”

Yoohyun doesn’t say anything, he begrudgingly looks down at his feet.

“You’re not even 20!”

“I am!”

“Not in all your three ages! You’re 20 for this year, but we didn’t reach your birthday yet!”

“I’m still legally twenty for this year,” Yoohyun says. “I’m legal to drink.”

“Barely!”

“People won’t care if a Hunter, much less an S Rank, can drink or not.”

It takes a moment for Yoojin to comprehend what his brother just said.

“So, you’re going to break international laws because you can?! I did not raise a criminal!” He said angrily as he tried to hit his brother for such a lawless way of thinking. It didn’t do much, his brother didn’t seem hurt, didn’t seem to have felt the hit at all!

“Yoohyun is sorry,” his brother said, trying to be apologetic.

“Are you just saying that in front of me? Can you at least try to learn from your errors?” Yoojin said, exasperated before stepping away from his brother, taking a deep breath.

This wasn’t a good time to get angry.

He takes another breath.

“Hyung?”

“Please, Yoohyun-a, just give me some space,” he said.

Yoohyun’s face crumpled at that moment, and Yoojin felt sudden immense guilt for making his brother sad.

But he wasn’t ready to let his ridiculous messed up skills activate and end up with him scarring his hand because the healers were too far away.

What- why was Yoohyun’s face looking guiltier?

“I’ll try to find a way to resolve your fire resistance issue,” he said, voice adamant.

Yoojin sighs.

“Don’t act like it's your fault, it’s my fault,” he said as he finally got his anger under control. At least they’re all very sure of his trigger now. “Just let me breathe, Yoohyun. No one likes to be stuck in one place. It feels like I’m choking.”

“Will … Will seeing Bak Yerim and Yoo Myeongwoo make you feel better?”

“Yes.”

“… fine, if it makes Hyung feel better, I’ll let you see them.”

Yoojin sends him a baleful look.

“It wasn’t your choice to stop me in the first place, Yoohyun,” he tells him. “Also, remember to give me a room next to them.” His brother acts as if he hasn’t heard. He backs away, and the further he walks, the brighter the atmosphere of the room becomes, as if Yoohyun had been sporting some clouds above his head.

Yoojin felt a smile tug at his lips from such familiar behavior.

0o0o0

“Yoojin!” Myeongwoo’s face was filled with tears the moment he met up with them. The two were still wearing trainee jumpsuits, and Myeongwoo looked like he was slowly falling apart while Bak Yerim looked very sheepish as she scratched her cheek with one finger, trying to avoid looking at his eyes.

Myeongwoo falls on top of him, his long limbs now wasting away as they try to hug him while he slowly turns into a shrimp, trying to hide from whatever is haunting him.

“What happened?” He demands. While he knew his old roommate was dramatic, this was much more than usual.

“I may have let a badger monster attack him,” Bak Yerim said apologetically. “But he needs to level up too! He can’t reach level 10 by depending on me!” She continued, sounding very sure of her words.

Yoojin has to admit, what she said is true.

But not at the cost of their sunflower’s sanity.

He can feel his shoulders getting soaked.

“But Ahjussi, you should really use Myeongwoo-oppa’s knives, they're very sharp! We found out he can do it on daggers now so we tested it in training.”

Myeongwoo let out a louder cry, and Yoojin found himself patting his back.

“Bak Yerim, you should remember that F ranks are just slightly stronger than the average unawakened. You should look out for Myeongwoo more since his skills aren’t battle-oriented at all.”

Bak Yerim sighs, now scuffing her shoes on the ground.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s alright. You guys only need to do this until you reach level 10,” he tells them.

“Yoo- Yoojin, why aren’t you joining us?” Myeongwoo sniffs as he tries to get himself together, pulling away from him while rubbing his eyes.

Yoojin blinks, then rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, leaning on his crutch.

“This is slightly embarrassing to say, but …”

“But?” Bak Yerim seemed interested in finding out.

“I’ve already done my training, but I don’t remember any of it.”

“What?” They both asked at the same time.

“When I awakened, it wasn’t ideal. Uh … Bak Yerim, you remember how they took you in a room to use your skills and get used to your strength?” He asked. Yerim gives him a slight nod, remembering the night she awakened. “I had it worse, I couldn’t control it for close to a week. At least, that’s what the scientists here said.”

“S-Scientists?” Myeongwoo asked, sounding horrified.

“It was a terrible awakening. I wasn’t even in combat, so I don’t know why it was that bad. But they took me to the room and I’ve destroyed everything in it, the only thing they could have let me do was take me to a dungeon. But …”

Yoojin bit his lips.

He didn’t like what happened next.

“Ahjjusi?” Bak Yerim called, sounding worried. After a moment, Yoojin shook his head.

“Sorry, I really don’t remember. I’ve gotten to level 12 already, but I don’t have a new skill for it.”

“You’re already so powerful though, you don’t need any new skills,” Yerim said, sounding very proud.

Yoojin smiled at her, but couldn’t help but bitterly think about a fire resistance skill that could have made his life easier.

“Thanks, Yerim-a,” he told her, ruffling her hair. When he looked up, he found that Myeongwoo was still worriedly looking at him.

“But hey, at least we’re having classes together!” He tries to cheer them up.

0o0o0

Dr. White, Suk Hayan, turned out to be Suk Simyeong’s niece.

The very same niece Suk Simyeong mentioned from that time he awakened. It’s interesting to find out that he awakened while Suk Hayan hasn’t. However, she wouldn’t need to awaken when someone else is there to protect her, would she?

So, wouldn’t that make the theory she’s giving them redundant?

When she noticed him not paying attention to the lesson and asked what was on his mind, he couldn’t help but want to ask her real opinion.

Surely she doesn’t believe in it herself, not since she was there in the original outbreak.

But he holds himself.

If Yoohyun had done the same thing, Yoojin would have scolded him for not having any tact.

Instead, he tells her about how he doesn’t think that being in danger was the real key behind their skills, and hopes nothing more would come from the situation.

Yet … she could also be right. Some skills came from danger.

Wasn’t he proof enough?

“When did you get your skills, Han Yoojin-ssi?”

“I …” When did he get it? He wasn’t quite sure anymore. Was it with the awakening broker? Was it in this lifetime? “I was having a panic attack when I awakened.”

This definitely made the mood worsen, if the looks he was receiving from everyone were to be an indicator.

“I don’t remember what happened next.”

“I should have realized,” was Suk Hayan biting her lips. “I’m sorry for asking, I already have some of your files …”

“I was awakened during battle,” Bak Yerim blurts out. Yoojin looked at her, and she seemed to be flustered. He couldn’t help but smile at how kind she was, as it seemed that she was trying to move any attention away from him. Even if what she said wasn’t technically true. “So, I guess I follow the trend of awakening during battle. What about you Myeongwoo-oppa?”

“Huh?” Myeongwoo blinks, as if waking from a daze. Yoojin would have been more worried if it weren’t for the fact that they had that training earlier today. Myeongwoo must still be thinking about the badger mole monster that Yerim let out.

He should really talk to her about that.

“I … was building a Gundam model,” Myeongwoo said, now looking down. “I w-wasn’t in a battle. So, I’m not technically part of the t-trends-”

Myeongwoo stops, looking even worse than before.

“Technically?” Yerim asked, sounding confused.

“Y-Yup! The Gundam could have fallen on me, so I was still in danger! Y—Yeah!”

That … didn’t sound reassuring at all, Myeongwoo.

Not at all.

Chapter Text

He had been worried. He’d known Myeongwoo for close to a month, which wasn’t a long time, but the man was an open book by this point … except for those strange little moments when he gets a little bit dazed.

He kept thinking about it as he walked, not reaching any conclusion.

“Yoohyun-a,” Yoojin called as he entered his brother’s apartment, taking off his shoes with the convenient shoe remover stick that his brother got recently. He should really ask him to get another for his own future apartment. “Yoohuon-a!”

“MREOW?!”

A loud screeching was heard from the living room, accompanied by a loud crash.

“What?” Yoojin steps inside, forgoing removing the second shoe while holding onto the shoe remover as a weapon.

“MEOW!!”

“You will listen to what I say you little-”

More crashing followed, and Yoojin got in there just in time to find a streak of red jumping from above the stairs on top of-

“Oof-”

“Yoohyun-a!” Yoojin screams, not knowing whatever that thing is that attacked his brother, but raising his makeshift weapon in order to protect him. “Throw it at me, I’ll hit it like a baseball bat!”

“Hyung!” Yoohyun yells, and stood up from-

Is that glass on the floor?!

Yoojin looks up to find the staircases’ glass railway was now destroyed.

And Yoohyun looked like he had multiple scratches on his face.

Between his hands were-

“Is that a cat?” He couldn’t help but dumbly ask.

“It’s a … it’s a-” Yoohyun was so close to squeezing the poor thing.

“Don’t do that! Don’t you know how to handle a cat?” Yoojin said as he let go of the temporary bat, hopping closer to them. The cat hisses at him, swiping its hand before Yoojin could even reach it, but he couldn’t help but look at it in awe.

A singular horn on its head. Red fur with yellow paws and tail tip akin to that of a fox

And the fangs!

“A sub-unicorn horned fire lion!” Yoojin couldn’t help but gush.

In the future, this creature was only seen once during a dungeon break in Europe. It needed a couple of S-ranks to subjugate it, and in the end, it died after injuring two of the S-rank hunters. It had been such big news at that time because S-rank dungeon outbreaks were a terrifying scenario that no one wanted to happen.

To have one happen would mean that every major news network had their eyes on it, there wasn’t an establishment that didn’t have it live on their TV.

Of course, doomsday cultists were enthusiastic online. Yoojin didn’t read much of it, having sworn off social media after being constantly attacked online by anonymous users. What he did use his small access to the internet for was to see the fight.

The horned fire lion that he saw online was enormous, its face snarling and expression ready to kill.

But to find one in front of him right now, and such a tiny one!

“It’s your new support animal,” Yoohyun yelled, and all the awe he’d been feeling for the past few seconds dissipated instantly. Yoohyun stretched his arms out, and the horned fire lion was none too happy by the sudden jolt, swiping at his brother’s palms in anger.

“Support animal?” Yoojin asked, feeling his voice weakening.

“It’s for your psychosomatic disorder.”

Yoojin couldn’t help but stare at his brother. Yoohyun was avoiding his eyes. When he looked back down at the angry creature, he felt even more tired than usual.

“Emotional support animals are used for people with mental health issues,” Yoojin said blandly as a reply, but reached for the creature and picked it up. Said creature raised a claw, ready to attack him.

“Originally,” Yoohyun said. “I wanted to harvest its fur and make a jacket of sorts for you because of its flame resistance, but I’ve talked with a psychologist about the benefits of a support animal."

“Ha …” Yoojin sighs loudly.

The claw hesitates.

It shakes for a moment before resting on top of the infant lion’s chest, seeming to bend in a way to make itself look less threatening.

Vulnerable.

Cute.

“I didn’t know you went to therapy, Yoohyun.”

“It was for research. I wanted to help …” his brother said, before slowly looking up. Whatever he saw must have scared him as his voice slowly dies out. “I wanted … I wanted to help.”

“Yoohyun-a,” Yoojin says, slowly pulling the horned lion to himself, hugging it as if it were a normal cat. “I always wanted a pet, thanks.” He smiled, but he didn’t quite feel happy. “It’s very cute, I love it.”

“R-Really?” Yoohyun asked, his voice strained. “If you don’t like it, we can get rid of it.”

“Get rid of it?” Yoojin asked, his thoughts now starting to turn muddy. He wasn’t very happy with that thought. “No. No, how could you get rid of such a cute thing?”

“It’s an S-rank monster,” Yoohyun said.

“But it’s so cute, and see how obedient it is? What were you exactly doing for it to cause so much trouble, you must have scared it. Huh, Peace? Did Yoohyun-a scare you?”

“Peace?”

“It’s a nice name, isn’t it? Peace of mind,” he says. It felt rather degrading, however, if he followed that thought. But was it truly? Peace of mind is a good thing to be named after. “We all need a little bit of peace in our life, right baby?” He says as he raises the little creature and smiles at it.

“Did … did I do wrong?” Yoojin heard, and he looked back to his little brother, who was now looking down at the ground in shame. “I was only trying to help.”

“I know, Yoohyun-a. I know you’re trying to help,” he said as he stepped closer and wrapped his brother in a one-armed hug. He couldn’t fault his brother for wanting to do so, but somehow, it really felt degrading. Why didn’t he discuss this with him before? What if he didn’t want a pet? What if he didn’t feel ready for one? He had good intentions, but terrible execution. “Don’t look so down, I really like this kid.”

“Meow …”

“What’s the matter Peace? Are you hungry? Let’s get you food.”

“I’ll bring the food, Hyung. You just sit and relax,” Yoohyun said before fleeing to the kitchen.

Yoojin’s smile slowly turned confused as he watched his brother power walk away, and then he looked down at the little creature, now so much more reminiscent of a cat.

“You’re so cute, I love you already,” he said, kissing Peace’s forehead.

Peace blinked, before making a purring sound, burying its head into his chest. Yoojin couldn’t help the little squeal he made at such actions.

So cute!

0o0o0

“He’s so cute!” Bak Yerim said as she swoons over Peace.

Myeongwoo tilts his head at the cat, face filled with concern. He had been silent as he watched the monster dozing off on Yoojin’s lap.

“Myeongwoo, you don’t need to cook. Aren’t you already tired of working in the forge today?”

Bak Yerim had officially joined his Haeyeon.

It had been major news. Yoojin had still been in the hospital when she registered, but only were they able to legally announce it without seeming to have stalked her or his brother's guild. Of course, he had hated the fact that he couldn’t be there for her, but had been happy with the fact that he finally fulfilled his part of the deal by taking her somewhere safe.

The only saving grace had been the fact that she consulted him on her registration before doing so, completely ignoring Suk Simyeong.

Yoo Myeongwoo had been another story.

Probably as a result of his job-hunting experience for the last month, he’d been wary of the contract for Haeyeon, scrutinizing it completely. Yoojin had been impressed when he heard about the negotiation that happened between him and the HR rep.

Myeongwoo would lend his service to the Haeyeon guild and give them exclusive orders after getting his future skill for about two years, if they help him now.

When Yoojin asked, Myeongwoo bashfully admitted that he wasn’t comfortable joining after what he did, threatening some of the hunters to find out where Yoojin was.

“I honestly thought they were stalkers and that they kidnapped you. It’s awkward enough taking their weapons and sharpen it. I don’t want to be stuck here if I’m going to keep seeing them,” he rubbed the back of his neck, back slumped as he used his hair to cover his face in shame. “Also, I-I- I wanted to join whatever guild you would join, Yoojin.”

“What? I don’t want to join a guild?!”

“Then I won’t join one. You … you’re the only nice person I know, you know? You’re honest, and you looked out for me so far … I trust your judgment.”

“Myeongwoo, I don’t trust my own judgement!”

They’ve been arguing about it since, and Myeongwoo stubbornly still didn’t join Haeyeon and had been quieter since.

Yoojin honestly felt ashamed of himself for trying to argue with his friend about this issue. After what happened when those people tried to force Myeongwoo into signing a cursed contract, he should have realized that his friend might be hesitant to join anything.

But because of the deal he made, he can work at the guild’s forge as long as he wants in order to get to the pre-requisite needed for his SS skill, and without the need to formally join.

Maybe this was a trial run for him to feel the place out before joining completely.

So, his friend works in the forge all day without rest.

“I don’t mind, I found out that I like cooking,” he says happily as he brings a dish to the living room. “At least, once I have enough money to buy any ingredients to cook,” he mumbled, forgetting entirely that everyone else in the room could hear him with their heightened sense.

“Myeongwoo-oppa’s food is amazing! I wouldn’t have known you only started cooking recently,” Bak Yerim says as she starts digging into her food.

“Thanks,” Myeongwoo mumbles.

“Yoohyun, come here to eat,” Yoojin yells. His brother had been holing himself up in his room for the entire day.

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here?” Myeongwoo asked.

“Whatever, that jerk should have come and greeted us instead of making Ahjussi do all the work,” Bak Yerim grumbled as she picks a chicken leg and bites harshly at it.

“I had to compromise with him. I know it sounds slightly paranoid-”

“Slightly?” Bak Yerim asks sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “We couldn’t even see you until today. He’s been holding you here hostage!”

“He isn’t doing that.”

“I don’t know what he’s so scared of, Ahjussi’s much stronger than him! You should have seen him fight Myeongwoo-oppa, his flames are more powerful than that jerk!”

“Please don’t exaggerate,” Yoojin begged.

After hearing that, Myeongwoo’s knuckles turned slightly white before he released his breath and relaxed his grip. His frown now deepening.

“Y-Yeah, it’s amazing.”

“He took care of the monster in an instant!”

“Bak Yerim, please stop,” Myeongwoo said, putting his fork down. “Yoojin doesn’t like his skills. Please don’t mention it.”

Yoojin’s eyes snapped immediately to his friend.

“What? But he’s more powerful than an S-rank! He could be an SS-rank!”

“Bak Yerim, I said stop.”

“But-”

“P-Please stop arguing you two,” Yoojin asked, and they all fell into awkward silence as they continued to eat.

After a while, and about half of the dishes getting chowed down, Yerim must have lost any patience she had left before speaking. “How come that jerk gave you a monster pet?”

“Well, I’d like to think this is his way of apologizing. He must have thought I felt lonely or something.”

His brother thought he was weak enough to need an animal to help him. He didn’t know how to feel about it. It hurt thinking about it. He didn’t need help. He just wanted to live his life in peace and away from all the drama. But having a dungeon monster as a pet, as an emotional support pet-

He didn’t want anyone else to know, the thought made him feel infuriated and self-conscious all the same.

Yoojin pets Peace, he is very fluffy and cute, very much like a cat. It hurt to receive him like this, but he still fell in love with the creature all the same.

The purring intensifies.

Yerim scoffs.

“He’s the reason you’re lonely.”

“That’s … uh …”

“Everyone’s talking about it, about how he left you alone after the dungeon outbreak.”

“What?” Yoojin asked, confused by what Yerim is saying.

“What do you mean what? Don’t you check social media?” She asked.

“She has a point, Yoojin. There are some wild conspiracies online. I don’t really put much stock in them and skip their videos, but seeing how your brother acts is starting to make me think …” Myeongwoo mumbled.

“What?! But people don’t usually care about me at all! Why would they care about me being left alone?” He asked, feeling absolutely confused.

Myeongwoo’s mouth opens for a moment before he shuts it. What could have been a pout was seen on his face before shaking his head.

“I care about you,” he simply said.

Yoojin blinked.

“I care about you too, Ahjussi!” Yerim adds, giving him a wide grin. “Whoever told you otherwise is going to get it!”

Chapter Text

“You shouldn’t be concerned about this, Han Yoojin-ssi.”

“What do you mean I shouldn’t be concerned?! People are bad-mouthing my brother because of me,” he couldn’t help but cry out. He didn’t want people to scrutinize his brother. Especially not online. People are cruel with their comments, their words are as precise as an arrow when they try to hit a target.

Having lived years, years, under so much criticism made him hate the idea of someone having any reason to talk about him.

He didn’t want his little brother to go through this.

Suk Simyeong gives him a look before sighing.

“There will always be people that have negative things to say. The key here is to ignore it when the accusations they make have no grounds. Media nowadays likes to follow the next big news, and your relationship with your brother wouldn’t be tested against that.”

“How would you know that,” Suk Simyeong never lived under such scrutiny, he wouldn’t know.

The head of HR pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing loudly.

“Han Yoojin-ssi, these are merely conspiracy theorists. I’ve planned for some of them to exist. Their eligibility is questionable and not a lot of people would believe them. Yes, they have their fans, everyone has a diehard fan, but they are a minority,” he said frowning to the side at a … a thermometer? Was that here before? “A loud minority, I will admit. Trust me when I say I can handle this.”

“You planned for this?”

“You hope for the best but prepare for the worst in this job.”

Yoojin still didn’t feel happy about this. It must have shown on his face as the man stood up and went to the beverage tray, they were stashed by the side of the room away from people who didn’t know about it. He picks up an electric kettle and an assortment of tea before coming to his seat and offering some to Yoojin.

“I see the guild master has gone against my advice and gave you the monster,” he notes, changing the direction of their talk. Yoojin looks down at Peace, who had been having a hell of a time swatting at Yoojin’s shoelaces. “I will admit, I didn’t expect the monster to be so docile even with the owner’s token.”

“Owner’s token?”

“Yes?” Suk Simyeong was smiling, but it was slowly falling off as he realized that Yoojin had no idea what he was talking about. “Guildmaster Han has given you the owner’s token, correct? Please tell me yes.”

“I’m sorry …” Yoojin looks away.

“How are you controlling the monster without one?”

“I don’t know, Peace is just a distinguished little gentleman. Aren’t you, baby?” Yoojin said as picked Peace off the floor and hugged the creature to himself.

“Kyaa!” Peace sounds, giving him a really adorable smile.

“Very reasonable, much intelligent, a good baby. Do you know how much I love you, little guy?”

“Nyaa!”

Suk Simyeong has been watching them silently, resting his elbows on his table and his chin on his hands. His expression changed for a second before he wore his smile again.

“I see,” the man said. “If only Leader Han would allow me to post some pictures of you, this would have been good publicity.”

“What?” Yoojin asked.

“Yes, not many people can control beasts at all. It’s notorious how hard you can tame one. Having you here holding one without an owner’s token, as if it were a common house pet, will be great publicity. However, there are some drawbacks to the idea, it would put too much spotlight on you.” Yoojin huffs. Of course, the man would care about his brother’s fame over his own, but he couldn’t honestly argue against that. “This would mean we’d raise more security around you.”

“… what do you mean?”

“Yoojin-ssi, people will think you have a beast-taming ability. Have you ever heard of other people with such a skill?”

“But I don’t have one?”

“Are you sure?” Suk Simyeong asks, voice sharp. “You haven’t checked your skills.”

A lump suddenly grew in his throat.

“Well …” he tries to say, but his voice grew weak. “I can see Peace’s stats …”

“Yes, the skills that we do know about, the ability to see a person’s full stat and skill set, and how to get to it. Yoo Myeongwoo’s ability is valuable, even at its weakest. Not many can boast about having a permanently enhanced weapon, but one enhanced by 2%? On top of that 50% for knives and daggers? I am very excited to see his full skills.”

“Y-Yeah, he’ll be very impressive. I just hope he gets some confidence along the way.”

“I hope so too, but we’re not here talking about Yoo Myeongwoo, we’re here talking about your potential beast skill.”

Yoojin looks down on Peace, and slowly, ever so slowly, an idea starts to sprout in the back of his head.

“I can give you good publicity easily,” Yoojin said, hesitant at first. Would the infamous Suk Simyeong allow it?

“Please share, I’d like to hear your opinions.”

“Yoohyun gave me Peace as a … as a companion, I suppose. He can’t argue with me if I bring Peace with me to next week’s dungeon raid, right?”

“The one with Bak Yerim and Yoo Myeongwoo? You do realize that you don’t need to enter, right? He can argue against that.”

“What do you mean I can’t enter? Yerim is 14 and is my ward, and Myeongwoo is my friend who has anxiety problems and never stepped into a dungeon before in his life. I can’t let either of them do this alone.”

“Leader Han will accompany them,” Suk Simyeong said, raising a brow.

“Good, it’ll be a brotherly bonding time.”

The man snorts loudly, honest-to-God snorts. He covered his mouth and nose, looking mortified at what he just did before coughing into his fist.

“Yes, that would do it, thank you for proposing your plan to help us raise our image, Yoojin-ssi.”

0o0o0

“What?”

“You don’t like it?” Myeongwoo asked, looking downtrodden.

Myeongwoo was wearing a button-up shirt, a dark red jacket, and normal jeans. It was similar to the one he’d seen him wear during the Choi twin’s party. Yoojin went with his usual black pants and sweater. It didn’t look too old to not be worn outside.

Kim Sunghan was also with them, but he was wearing what the man must have considered to be a casual look instead of his usual suits … if you consider a grey cameo jacket and pants as a casual outgoing look.

“I asked the twins for a good hangout spot. I had to ask Kim Sunghan-ssi to help as well though.”

“I asked some of the guild members around your ages to confirm if this is a ‘good’ place,” he said, doing the quotation marks with his hands. “I’ve also checked safety parameters with them,” Kim Sunghan said.

Yoojin gives a slow blink before looking back at the bar.

“Oh, I’m twenty-five now,” he said loudly, ignoring the look the other two shared with each other.

They had an awkward interaction with the staff before getting seated. Myeongwoo was now having a small crisis as he looked through the menu, if he knew his friend well enough, he was probably agonizing over the prices.

Kim Sunghan simply asks for what he previously ordered, an order he made before they even came here. Myeongwoo’s jaw dropped at this before putting down the menu. He must have felt betrayed by his actions.

“Did you really want to drink so badly?” Yoojin asked once their food came, Myeongwoo bit his lip before taking a cup and drinking it in one shot.

“No, you looked very stressed with everything, and after that talk with Bak Yerim, you’ve been out of it for a while. I also wanted to formally apologize to Kim Sunghan-ssi,” Myeongwoo admits. “I didn’t mean to scare your men that badly.”

“It doesn’t matter. If a B and C-rank were afraid of an F-rank, then they frankly deserved that fright.” After a moment of silence following his declaration, the man coughs. “Although I don’t think all F-ranks are weak, you two are the prime example.”

‘Awkward!’ Both Yoojin and Myeongwoo thought at once.

“I also wanted to apologize to both of you,” Kim Sunghan said. “At how I previously treated you, Han Yoojin-ssi, and how we made you feel stalked, Myeongwoo-ssi. They were trained to be better than that.”

“I don’t think that was the point,” Yoojin said.

“It was terrible!” Myeongwoo yelled, now grabbing another glass. His eyes started to tear up but nothing fell yet. “Do you know how many times I looked over my shoulder? I knew someone’s following, they touched all the food I touched while shopping. I think our neighbors started to freak out as well once they noticed you guys.”

“You must understand that Han Yoojin-ssi was never observed to have a friend before. It had been suspicious to see one move in suddenly.”

“Am I … Am I your first friend?” Myeongwoo said, lips trembling. He made a small wailing sound as he wrapped his arms around Yoojin. “You’re my first friend in a long time too!” He cries.

“I think Myeongwoo is a crier when he’s drunk,” Yoojin couldn’t help but chuckle, patting his friend was now slowly wetting his sweater. He remembered him crying over cat videos at the Choi twin’s party.

“He’s emotional,” Kim Sunghan noted.

“To be honest, I’m very much like him when I’m drunk, it’s very embarrassing.”

“You shouldn’t worry then, you’re very good at handling your drinks,” Kim Sunghan comments.

Yoojin blinks slowly, then looks down at the table.

He didn’t realize he’d been drinking so much. He didn’t feel like he’d been drinking at all.

He … didn’t know what to think. He loved drinking, it helped him forget. It was the only thing he had left back when nobody was with him. Every drink he sipped tasted disgusting, but they were cheap, and they were plenty, and it made his mind fuzz in the right way to just forget that he existed in this world.

Now, he can’t even depend on that.

Was it his skill? Nothing about [FINAL GRATITUDE] said it can do this-

[POISON RESISTANCE (L)]

Ah.

He looked to the side, able to see Myeongwoo stand up from their table to go do something inane.

He turns the skill off.

Chapter Text

Peace had been snuggling with him when he woke up.

He should have been in his cage.

Yoohyun didn’t trust the beast enough not to hurt him, and he’d been kicking himself for forgetting to give him the owner’s token so he’d been extra protective.

Yet, Peace was here, snuggling with him in his bed.

Yoojin tries to understand what happened, but he can’t quite figure it out.

After what could have been hours, he decided to get up, picking Peace up with him.

It took a moment for his vision to settle, but he found a bunch of things next to his nightstand. When he picks one of them, he finds that one is a pack of ginseng powder, on the pack, it says that it’s good for one’s health.

“Ah! Yoojin! You slept for a while. Kim Sunghan was worried about you,” someone said. He looks up to find Myeongwoo by the door. He looks like he came back from the guild’s forge. “Honestly, we’ve all been worried about you. Your brother’s very terrifying,” Myeongwoo adds.

“Brother?”

“He came to visit today, but you were still asleep. He got very angry at Kim Sunghan, and I had to step in to take some of the blame. The man looked guilty enough as it is. We didn’t realize how much we drank yesterday. Oh! Let me make you hangover soup!”

“You don’t need to …” Yoojin said as Myeongwoo left the doorway to go to the kitchen. “Really, you don’t. I’ll just drink the ginseng.”

“Kim Sunghang brought that! He said something about how his grandfather always took it after a night of drinking.”

“I’ll have to apologize to him later,” Yoojin said as he stood up, stretching his free arm to get rid of the notes of sleeping for …

He looks at the clock.

It is midnight.

“I slept all day?!”

“Y-Yeah,” Myeongwoo sounded nervous. “A healer came to check on you.”

“What?!”

“Your brother insisted. He also brought Peace.”

Yoojin sighed.

“I need to see Yoohyun too, but I don’t think he’s awake now.”

“Just send him a text. We all know you’re an old man at heart who doesn’t like technology, but you should really start using a texting app,” Myeongwoo joked as something clattered in the kitchen.

Yoojin blindly reached for the side of the bed and managed to grab his crutch before leaving.

He only realized halfway through eating the soup that Myeongwoo made that it wasn’t his crutch that he grabbed, but the cane that Suk Simyeong got him. Why was it out and next to him?

“I thought I was embarrassing when I drink, turns out you were worse.”

“What happened yesterday? I don’t remember anything,” Yoojin mumbled.

“You said you loved me!”

Yoojin chokes. He puts down his bowl and had to put his arm between it and Peace to stop the cat from drinking it. The little guy still managed to stretch itself over his arm to sniff at the bowl, and Yoojin shoved him lightly.

“And you said you loved Kim Sunghan! And then you wouldn’t stop saying it to the guild leader when he came.”

“Shit.”

“It was very cute, but I’d stop drinking in your place, honestly.”

“You cried when you were drunk!”

“At least I don’t say I love you to strangers.”

Yoojin ends up covering his face with his hands in shame, completely giving up on protecting his soup from the little beast.

0o0o0

He watches the city pass by, content in admiring the world as it is. Intact and whole.

So far, it has been a game of counting how long it’ll be before they pass a new portal. There were some countries that could have two in the same kilometer range, but South Korea hasn’t been unlucky in that.

A lot of people in the future thought that this could be the reason for the low number of S-ranks that exist here.

Yoojin didn’t see how it correlated, there were countries that existed without any S-ranks at all, yet still had a lot of portals.

“Ahjussi, how much do you bet I’ll get more kills than this guy?” Yerim asked, and Yoojin turns around in time to see her use her thumb to point at Yoohun.

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Enough for you to level up at least once.”

“That’s boring,” she huffed.

“S-ranks need more experience to level up compared to other ranks. You should be grateful that Hyung thought about your progress,” Yoohyun cuts in, looking very pissed off.

“It’s alright, Yoohyun, she’s just young and starting to learn.”

“It didn’t take you long to learn all of this,” Yoohyun points out. Yoojin only gives them a strained smile. He didn’t crack a book this time because he’s already lived through dungeons, he didn’t need to relearn it.

“I still studied.”

“Umm …” Myeongwoo had been silent until this very moment, very much uncomfortable sitting next to two S-ranks that are nearly ready to fight each other. Yoojin took a second before picking up Peace and putting it on his friend’s lap. Peace was about to chomp on Myeongwoo’s hand, but Yoojin gave it a look, stopping the little guy from even thinking about it.

His friend started to slowly relax, petting Peace.

“Why did you even come with us?” Yoojin said, completely ignoring Suk Simyeong’s words from earlier that week about how his brother would follow him.

“I came to make sure you’re safe.”

“Hey?! I’m here, I can keep Ahjussi safe! Plus, we have Peace with us, he can protect him.”

Yoojin pretends not to notice the glare Yoohyun initiated with both Yerim and Peace.

“You know nothing about dungeons despite having gone through the theory class, and Peace is just a C class, not old enough to protect Hyung.”

Myeongwoo was now petting Peace faster, he looked nervous.

“I have to move to learn, so I’ll get the hang of it in the dungeon, and even if Peace is C rank, he’s still strong! Apologize to him!”

“He’s just a monster, he doesn’t understand anything-”

“Stop it, the both of you,” Yoojin orders, voice sharp and slightly getting closer to annoyed as he puts a hand on Peace, who was now slightly simmering on top of his head as he glared at the two. “Peace is a smart child, don’t say things like that.”

“But …”

“Yerim, you need to control your anger. I don’t want you to be so reactive to every bit of criticism. I know,” Yoojin takes a deep breath. “I know what it’s like to be criticized all the time, and I know it's hard, but the best thing to do is to not react and give people the satisfaction of seeing how affected you were.”

Yerim’s lips wobbled a bit, she looks away from Yoohyun and wrapped her arms across her chest, making a humph sound.

Yoohyun now looked guilty, giving Yoojin an expression that begged for forgiveness.

“UMMM …” Myeongwoo’s body became rigid, and the petting is now even faster. Now that Yoojin took note of his friend’s figure, he noticed the hallowed cheek. Was he eating enough? He looked like he gained muscles though.

He shook his head and looked back at Yoohyun.

“Yoohyun, you came to make sure we’re okay, right?”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“I’m happy. I’ll be happier if everything went smoothly and nothing bad happened today.” Later on, he’ll think of these words as the Cursed Words, he should have never spoken them. “I want this to end quickly, I … don’t like dungeons.”

The silence was heavy, and he picks up Peace again, hugging the baby to himself while pretending not to notice everyone sharing a look with each other.

0o0o0

The flashes are loud.

He hadn’t stepped out yet, Yoohyun and Yerim already did, and Myeongwoo was giving him a concerned look, waiting for him to step outside. He holds Peace tightly, feeling something heavy coil around his heart.

He didn’t like cameras.

“You don’t need to come with us, Yoojin,” Myeongwoo said, distracting him for a moment. “I know you just came to make sure we’re fine, but I don’t want that at the cost of your wellbeing.”

“I …” he didn’t know how to reply, especially to Myeongwoo who’s always been considerate to him. “I … I want to.”

His friend bit his lips before nodding. He gives him a short pat on the shoulder before stepping out. The flashes weren’t as loud, but some could be heard. The people were far more excited for the S-ranks than them, especially Yerim, who’s the youngest S-class in the world.

That’s when he sees a hand reaching out to him, and he accepts it, letting it pull him out.

The flashes are louder.

Yoojin felt himself freeze on the spot.

Yoohyun had noticed and tried his best to block him from view.

“Hyung, do you want me to get rid of them?”

“Get rid of- Why do you sound like a punk?!” Yoojin asked, and his brother’s eyes shifts away. “They’re just curious, about Yerim … and you …” and him.

After all, why would the infamous detested brother of Haeyeon guild leader be here?

Squeezing his eyes shut, he lets Peace rub his hand, calming him, before nodding to himself and standing straight.

Time to face the music.

Chapter Text

On TV, one can see the infamous Han Yoojin’s face, also known as the Haeyeon’s Guild leader’s older brother. The one who’d always been rumored to be trash and scum, especially towards his younger brother Han Yoohyun, for why else would the man denounce his relationship and ignore his brother as a teenager and continued to do so for the past few years?

Only, that isn’t quite true, is it?

Today had been the first dungeon excursion for the youngest S class in the world. Like little vultures waiting for the small morsels of meat, the reporters are flocking to the scene for a picture and an interesting story.

According to witness reports, Bak Yerim’s first appearance had been in a dungeon break. She was seen using her ice as she floated above the sky. When she had been hit, however, an ominous pressure that was much heavier than anything anyone had ever felt in their lives engulfed the whole area, not just the surrounding streets, but the entire block.

He had been curious, Haeyeon’s aura had always been strong, but not as strong as it had been stated in the reports.

Thus, he researched. Sent out scouts, and looked for any clues of what exactly was going on with the new S class.

That’s when it was noted that someone else close to Haeyeon's guild leader had also registered recently.

Now, how did anyone miss Han Yoojin’s awakening?

Was it connected? It could be, but it would have been a large coincidence if it did.

So, he watched the live broadcast.

Bak Yerim steps out, the persona of an excitable youth playing out for the masses, behind her is the guild leader, who will obviously accompany her on her first excursion. A publicity stunt if he’d ever seen one, no true S rank would stand the site of another one so close to their own hunting ground.

Despite knowing that S ranks are far more powerful than any other awakened, she was still 14 years old, and they needed to give away a front to avoid criticism.

A rather tall man stepped outside, except for his height and rather skinny frame, he wasn’t as interesting as the first two. It became apparent when most of the attention went to the others.

He steps away from the door, and he felt his eyes widen as the leader came back to the car and helped out the next person to step out.

Not only the fact that Han Yoohyun, known to be cold when politeness is unnecessary, went to help whoever was inside left him slightly surprised, but who stepped out of it made him feel more so.

A while ago, he escaped a sudden attack from his contractor. He had been wandering, thinking on how they found out about his plans to betray them. He couldn’t step into a dungeon for a while just to make sure all the animosity disappeared. Because of that, he had time to wander about.

And he bumped into someone running away from a little cozy café in one of these wanderings.

A small frame, an impressive speed despite the limp that he noted, and dark hair contrasting heavily with the pale skin seen on the nape of the escapee’s neck.

That day had stuck with him.

It wasn’t normal for anyone to bump him. It rarely happened before his awakening, and it never did afterward. The fact that someone got close enough despite his aura had caught him off guard.

When he saw him again, in Haeyeon’s guild lobby, accompanied by A rank Kim Sunghan, he felt amused. Who would have expected to see Han Yoojin walk freely in the guild?

Here he was again, half a head shorter than the guild leader yet he stood tall, looking much more of a leader than the actual one. Between his arms was a beast creature, acting coyly as if it were a house cat.

He was already holding a spear, looking to be ready for the dungeon.

When he focused more on his face, he couldn’t help but smile when he noted the ferocity there and something much darker lurking behind his eyes.

He couldn’t stop the little chuckle escaping him.

This explained much about Haeyeon’s leader’s personality, didn’t it? Of course, he’d act like a rabid wild animal all the time if the one caring for him was a monster who’d kill anyone that hurt its child.

0o0o0

“His name is Peace. I’m hoping to raise him to become a formidable mount for my brother,” Yoojin said, giving a smile to the interviewer who was brave enough to get closer to him. “Currently, he’s a C-rank, but once he’s grown, he’ll be an S-rank.”

“How can you tell, and how will you be able to raise it without it turning against you?”

“It’s my skill,” Yoojin lies through his teeth. “I can raise monsters from infancy to adulthood. It was a surprise to all of us since I didn’t get a skill when I reached level 10, but once I held Peace, it all made sense. I needed to accomplish a prerequisite.”

“Meow,” Peace makes an annoyed sound, swatting at the reporter’s mic that got too close to him.

“No, Peace, we don’t scratch people’s things,” he admonished. Peace turns and gives him an innocent look. He couldn’t help but cave in. “I’ll get you a scratching post at home!”

More flashes were heard as Peace made a cute meow at his declaration.

“Sir, can you please elaborate as to why you’re coming to today’s dungeon excursion if you already did your mandatory guild training?”

“I’m not part of Haeyeon,” he says, causing a ripple of confusion. “Bak Yerim is my ward, and Myeongwoo is a friend, I wanted to help out on their first dungeon. I wanted to test out Peace’s skills as well. Don’t you want to show off?” He asked Peace, who made a noise of approval.

“B-But your B-Brother is here?” One of the reporters said.

“Hmm, oh yes! Yoohyun-a became such a formidable man, it’s a shame that I couldn’t help him when he started his guild. But I’m here now.”

There was a slight shock that could be felt, and Yoojin couldn’t quite blame them for such a reaction. Pretend you don’t know what they’re thinking, pretend like everything is fine, nothing is out of place.

He’s good at pretending.

It saved his life sometimes.

His leg aches.

“Th-Then how come you’re helping now?”

What would be a good answer to this?

A better question, what would Suk Simyeong say in his place?

He has no clue.

“Like I said, both my ward and friend are joining this raid, so I’d like to see that they do it well. Not everyone’s built for dungeons, you know, but having someone you know with you makes everything easier.”

He manages to finally get away from them.

Peace jumps from his arms and sits over his shoulders, nuzzling his neck. He makes a slightly concerned noise which made him pet him.

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.”

“Krrr,” Peace growls, but he giggled as he felt the little vibrations coming from him.

He helps both Yerim and Myeongwoo in choosing what to carry over to the inside, then watched from afar as Yoohyun talked with the reporters in his impromptu interview. After a while, his brother moved to look to the side, and a smile sprouts on his face.

Yoojin couldn’t help but smile back, waving at him.

There were now more louder flashes.

“Ahjussi,” Yerim calls and Yoojin looks away to see Yerim was slightly pouting.

“What’s the matter?”

“Myeongwoo-oppa told me about what happened during your night out. You shouldn’t be drinking!” She said, now starting to berate him. Now where did she learn such a habit? “Drunk people always smell bad, at least the ones in my uncle’s place are.”

Yoojin will murder her uncle sometime soon, he was sure.

“I’m sorry for making you worry.”

“Hmph,” Yerim crossed her arms, looking away with a pout. “Do you like Myeongwoo-oppa?”

“He’s my friend, maybe even my best friend.”

“No, not like that! You said you loved him,” she said.

Oh.

Oh.

“Yerim, are you jealous?”

“N-No. Not like you’re my guardian or anything, and I never heard you say anything like that. I’m old enough to not need to hear stuff like that.”

Yoojin raised a brow.

He couldn’t help himself from reaching out and ruffling her hair.

He can see her cheeks starting to turn red.

She may be old enough, but how young was she when her parents died? When was the last time she heard someone say that to her? He bet all of his money that her uncle and aunt didn’t.

“Even if we aren’t blood-related, I care for you,” he tells her. She was still looking away stubbornly, but he could see a tiny glimpse of a smile on her lips.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Really really?”

Yoojin laughs.

“Bak Yerim, I’m not replacing your real parents, but I love you as if you were my own. Technically, you are my kid,” he tells her, letting go of her head.

Yerim turns around, and like sunlight reflecting on a frosted mirror, her smile shines just as brightly.

Chapter Text

Myeongwoo was screaming.

It would have been funny if they were in any other situation, but right now he was running away from a flying winged bull.

“You need to stab it! In the head!” He yells, but Myeongwoo continues to cry even louder when one got too close.

“Myeongwoo-oppa, let me help!” Yerim yells as she-

Does a superhero landing on the back of said bull.

Yoojin slaps himself on the face.

Peace was laughing, somehow.

“Yerim, you’re a long-ranged fighter, use your skills instead of getting close!” He yells.

“But that’s so boring,” she complained. “Ahjussi, come and join us!”

“No,” came the sharp rejection from further away. It left no room for argument, and Yoohyun appeared from behind a wall of flames that he’d created earlier. “He will not be fighting. He’s only here to watch over you, don’t put him in danger.”

Yerim growls at him.

Myeongwoo, who was by the winged bull and tapping it with his leg, took one sweeping look at everyone before landing his eyes on Yoojin.

“It’s like I’m not here.”

Yoojin winced.

Yeah, those two really are acting like he wasn’t around.

He whispers ‘I’m sorry’ from afar, and Myeongwoo only shrugs before stabbing the bull.

“Oh! I got to level ten!”

“Did you get a skill?” Yerim asked, flying next to him.

“No,” Myeongwoo sighs sadly, dropping all his weight on his spear. “I didn’t sharpen enough weapons yet. I think I’m around 6,000 tools?”

Yoojin got closer. Somehow, he managed to activate his skill without calling it. He can see Myeongwoo already did 7,089 tools.

Or Tloos.

“You have about 3000 left,” he tells him, making his friend smile in excitement.

“What about me, Ahjussi?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at my skills and tell me something interesting,” Yerim asked. “Can you at least tell me if I can get an AoE attack?”

“You have one, you haven’t unlocked it yet.”

“You didn’t even look at me!”

Given that Yoojin has already seen the future Ice Witch use her signature attack [PALE RAIN (S)], he didn’t need to see her skills again. However, he can feel the petulant aura coming from his charge, and he sighs as he turns around to look at her skills just to indulge her.

“Ahjussi’s eyes are pretty when he does that,” she comments.

“Huh?”

“What? What? Is it something interesting?”

Aside from the fact that it says that Yerim is influenced by him, which he has no idea when it happened, he noticed that he can choose her next unlocked skills.

“You’ll get an AoE attack.”

“Yes!”

“Why didn’t you believe me at first?”

“Just wanted to make sure,” she says cheekily, hiding her hands behind her back and trying to act cute and innocent.

Yoojin narrows his eyes at her.

When he turns around, he can see Yoohyun looking murderously at her.

Ah.

“You two should be working together, aren’t you in the same guild?” He admonished them immediately. They both look guilty for getting caught. “Honestly, you two. I know you have opposite elements, but it doesn’t mean you have to act like it.”

“Sorry, Hyung …”

“Sorry, Ahjussi …”

“Now, Yoohyun, make sure Yerim gets to level 10. I’ll help Myeongwoo.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Both S-ranks left him alone, when he heard Myeongwoo step closer, he looks at him and noticed the unimpressed look he wore.

“I already reached level ten,” he said. “I just said it. You used me as an excuse.”

“I’m sorry!” Yoojin said, wincing at the accusatory tone.

“I understand, it must be a handful taking care of those two.”

“Well …” He wasn’t wrong. “Do you want to gather some magical stones? Maybe it’ll help with your skill later.”

“How?”

“Your skill will obviously be a forging skill, wouldn’t you need some high-grade materials for that?”

After some thought, Myeongwoo shrugged and they went towards the already dead corpses to search.

The two S-ranks continued to drop off some nearly dead monsters by their legs, and both Myeongwoo and Yoojin shared a look every time they did it.

It was free experience, they thought as they stabbed it continuously.

From time to time, he lets Peace take a swipe at the monster, unable to resist how cute it looks despite its bloody actions. He noticed that sometimes, Peace was eating the meat before whining.

“This must be a snack to you, Peace. You usually eat C-rank magic stones, not D-rank monsters.”

Peace still makes noises of annoyance.

“I reached level 14!” Myeongwoo shouts excitedly, a testament to how many monsters had been slain. Yoojin checks his own status.

“I’m level 17-”

The screen shorts out.

[I found you!]

“Huh?”

“What?” Myeongwoo asked. “Every time you say that in that tone, something life-shattering happens.”

“My status window just-”

Just what? Talked to me?

[Ah, I’m sorry!]

“I’m sorry?”

The wind screamed.

Yoojin’s breath caught itself in his throat before he turned in time to see a monster that shouldn’t be here flying towards them. Both Yerim and Yoohyun were right there in an instant, trying to grab him.

The howling screams of the monster turned into a searing heat wave, as flames nearly licked his side, only dodged by a few centimeters as the fire scorched the earth behind him.

He blinked and realized that Yerim stood at the front, using her ice to nullify the attack.

“Are you alright?” Yoohyun yells, checking over him. All Yoojin could do was stare at the monster that suddenly appeared-

l̶i̵k̵e̵ ̴t̵h̵a̷t̵ ̷d̷a̷y̸

“It’s a boss monster,” Yerim yells, still blocking the incoming fire attack.

“But- But wasn’t the boss that giant bull?” Myeongwoo asked.

“A D-rank dungeon boss shouldn’t have an attack this strong,” Yoojin mumbled.

l̵̦̀ḭ̴̦͐ķ̷̋̉͘͜e̶̞̎̒ ̵̗͈̕t̶̡̺̉̀h̵̹͓͕̎͛̂ä̸̯t̵̙̺̩̿͝ ̴̢̞̟̓͆ḑ̷̿́à̵̺͓y̵̖̱͚͋͘

“There wasn’t an escape gate even after the bull was killed. That bird must have taken its place as the boss. That means …” Yoohyun’s voice trailed off.

Yoojin takes a deep breath.

They have to kill it to escape.

L̵̡͓̪̮͙̟̾̓́̽͐͜i̶̡̢͍̳͖̠͙͕̺̗͖̜̤̺͖͓̫̙͓͔̱̪͕̿̊̂͐̄́͛͗̓̋̿̊̅͑̇̈͊̋̎͋̕͝k̶̡̡̧̮͍̺̗̜̫̰̩͓̳̮̥͍͕̗̖̂̑̈́̾͊̉͌̈́̂̎̎̄́̈́̎͠͝ę̴̠̝̣͓̗̟̺͎̜̪̋̏́̂́̽̓̾̌̏̓̇́͘̚͝ͅ ̶̧̨̪͕̞̦̞̮͚̹̱͇̞̙̦͉̝̱̗̂̔͒͌͊́͂̚͠T̸̨̰̭͈̥͖̺̐͒́̆̇̃ẖ̷̨̨̛̲̺̪̖͖̲̦̞̫̎̃̐̔̽̄̑̀̃̍͑̈́͑̄̅̾̏̀̂̆̀̕͘̚͝͠ả̴̢̢̡̨͇̜̦̲̠̱͇͕͔̖̫̐̈́̎̅̏̾͐̀͊͝ͅt̷͈̱̑͝ ̷̛͙̘͑͝D̸̡̢̛̲̤̬̫̪͉̣͉̳̘̗͎͙͕͇̺̮̻̣̯̙̲͍̩̙̙͍̏̇̓̽̈́̇͗͐̋͆̉̾̊̂̐̋̊̀̒̐̑̌͊̐͌̏̂͌̚͜͝a̸̹͌͊͌̎́́̉̓̓͋̊̓͌́͌̅̉̏͘͠͠y̴̤̰̹͕͔̣͍̳̻̤̗͓̱̣͖̘̙̬̦̳͎̞̜̬̱̲̙̬͑̈͛̋̈́͛̃̽͛̀̒̃̾̎̑̅̒̎͌̌̕̕͘͜͠͝-̵̮͔̃͒̒̎̈́̓̇̐

“I’ve never seen this monster before, and I don’t know how strong it is. If it gets too dangerous, Hyung,” Yoohyun said, calling him. Yoojin turns around to see a familiar item, one he never wanted to see ever again. “Please use this, it’s an item that lets you escape a dungeon.”

No.

No.

NO.

He felt Peace jump over his shoulder, purring loudly against his neck.

Yoojin pushed the stone away.

[FEAR RESISTANCE ACTIVATED] 

“Hyung, no! Your body can’t handle-”

He felt the heat, he felt the world burning, and he wanted to-

He grasps his spear tightly. His arm moved-

“Yoojin,” he felt someone else grab onto him. He turns around to find Myeongwoo.

Suddenly, the skies weren’t red.

He wasn’t alone.

Yoohyun was there, standing.

Alive.

He let go of the spear.

“Use your skills, tell us what you see?” Myeongwoo told him. He looked scared, but he was doing his best to stay calm despite the situation.

“Skill?”

“How strong is that monster?”

Skill.

His skill, the one to see other skills.

“It’s-” Yoojin turns back to look at the monster’s stat screen. “Rank 2 monster bird race. Golden Beak Maiya. It’s an A-rank boss monster with a fire attribute. The Beak is its main weapon and its weakness is its skull. It has a spare pair of wings hidden away.”

“Attack the head, got it,” Yoohyun says as he jumps. Yoojin flinched, ready to grab onto his little brother, but Myeongwoo’s hold on him was much stronger.

“It’s alright Yoojin, your brother’s an S-rank, he’ll win.”

“My baby brother … I can’t- Myeongwoo, let me go, I need to keep him safe.”

“We can’t keep him safe! We’re too weak for that-”

“I don’t care if I’m weak?!” Yoojin yells. “I don’t want to see him die again, I can’t let that happen. Let go of me- I- I have to protect him, he can’t die- I can’t-”

“You’re having a panic attack,” Myeongwoo said. “Please, I know it’s scary Yoojin, but take a deep breath. Your brother’s going to be fine. He’s not going to die, see!” Myeongwoo points out, and he sees Yoohyun throwing flames at the monster that couldn’t get close to him from the heat. “He’s fine!”

“He’s- He’s fine …”

“He’ll be okay!”

“He’ll be okay …”

He takes a breath, and then another, and another.

He could feel his eyes sting, and the next thing he knew, Peace was licking his cheeks, trying to take his tears away.

“Okay. Okay- I- I’m sorry, I- Yerim, please create a wall with [FREEZING SIGH].”

“Alright,” she said as she activated her skills.

Myeongwoo let out a sigh of relief. The hold he had over his arm changed to over his stomach instead, with him slipping down to the ground, almost near tears.

“That was so scary,” he muttered. “I’m not built for this. I’m not a fighter.”

“I’m sorry, because of me, you had to act strong,” Yoojin told him, feeling guilty.

“It’s fine, I get panic attacks sometimes.”

“I don’t have-”

Well, maybe he does have them. Fuck.

“AAHHH,” this snapped their attention back to Yerim. They were faced with the monster charging its attack as it aimed at them. Myeongwoo screamed even louder at the sight as he squeezed his midsection. “Will [FREEZING SIGH] block that?!”

“Yerim, put down your walls for a second.”

“What?!”

“Just do it!”

Yerim did as was told, and he used whatever strength he had to throw the spear directly at the monster’s mouth-

Only for it to dodge.

“[BLUE WILLOW LEAVES]” they heard Yoohyun yell, and leaves sprouted from out of nowhere, forcing the monster to move away.

They all yelled as it seemed that they failed to take it out.

“We almost got him, you idiot?!” She yelled and took that moment to rebuild the wall. Myeongwoo’s cries got even louder.

That’s when Yoojin noticed something peculiar.

Yoohyun was still grounded.

Didn’t he …

No … no way-

“Yoohyun, step on your leaves!”

Yoohyun turns to him for one second before taking a step on the leaves, a look of awe now engulfing his face.

He didn’t know he could do that!

Didn’t he do that in the future? He knew he could. He’d seen him use it when they fought-

Deep breath, Yoojin, deep breath. It hasn’t happened yet. It won’t happen ever again.

Deep breath. Yoohyun is safe.

Deep breath. He won’t die like then.

“Hyung, you’re the best!” He woke back up to see Yoohyun right in front of him, his smile lit up even with a slightly scorched coat. “I never knew I could use my willow leaves like that, it’s like getting a new skill.”

“That’s great, Yoohyun-a,” he said, his mind still muddled.

0o0o0

Yoohyun’s smile fell.

“What’s the matter?”

“Hmm,” his Hyung hummed.

He felt like choking right then.

“You’re … it’s happening again,” he realized, feeling his stomach drop at the sight. “Hyung, please focus on me, we’ll get out of here now that the boss is dead, please don’t lose focus,” he asked. Begged. He didn’t want to see his older brother like this ever again, not when the last time it happened he was stuck like that for weeks.

He remembered the last time it happened, when Hyung didn’t even respond to normal conversations. He doesn’t think Hyung even knew what was happening around him. It was like his mind wasn’t there at all.

Like a blank slate.

“Did this happen before?” Bak Yerim asked, sounding worried.

“When he first awakened. He became absent-minded and didn’t react to anything.”

“It’s dissociation,” he hears, and he turns to see that man that Hyung befriended not long ago. “My older sister had it, it’s sometimes a symptom of depression, which she also had,” Yoo Myeongwoo clarified when he realized that neither of them knew what it meant. He sounded like he was choking on his own words the moment he mentioned his sister.

“Ahjussi’s depressed?”

“I said sometimes. It could be a dissociation disorder. It could be a symptom of something else. I just sit around when Yoojin or Noona were having an episode.”

Yoohyun was near screaming by that point.

“You didn’t take him to a hospital when you first noticed?!”

Yoo Myeongwoo frowned.

“It wasn’t as bad as it is now. When it happened, he could still reply to me, and I’d ask if he needed help or anything. He always said it’s fine. I just took over the chores and made sure he didn’t need to do anything so he wouldn’t hurt himself. He usually watches TV when it happens. But he’s not responding now ...”

Peace was now licking Hyung’s face and meowing loudly, trying to wake him up.

“What do you do when your Noona gets like this?” Bak Yerim asked.

“I … we … we didn’t- I did the same. No one helped us back then, so we did what we could. Right now, all we can do is take Yoojin somewhere safe and just let him … go through it.”

“That’s not a solution!” He yells at him.

“It’s the best I can do! I’m not a doctor or a therapist!” Myeongwoo yells back, eyes squeezing shut out of frustration more than fear. It was a surprise, seeing as it was rare for anyone to face an S-rank who was angry and exuding pressure. But he shouldn’t be surprised that much. Hyung doesn’t feel it, and although it’s because he has high skills that are definitely stronger than his, he was still an F-rank.

So, Hyung finding someone else like him and befriending them wasn’t a surprise.

“Stop it, both of you!” Bak Yerim yells. “Ahjussi’s hurt and you guys are fighting like children, and I’m the 14-year-old here. Let go of Ahjussi, you’ll hurt him,” she demands as she shoves him, grabbing onto Hyung’s hands. “We’ll go out. We’ll take Ahjussi home. When he becomes better, we can talk to him like adults.”

“You’re 14,” Yoohyun growls out.

“I’m better than you, apparently.”

He couldn’t stop growling.

But she was right in this instance. They needed to take Hyung somewhere safe and away from dungeons, right now.

The moment they stepped out, everyone started crowding them. He wanted to growl at them, warn them off to stay away from his Hyung. That’s when he spots a worried look on Kim Sunghan and he gestures for him to get closer.

“Take him to my apartment. Stop for no one.”

“I’ll come,” Yoo Myeongwoo said, putting both his arms on Yoojin’s shoulder. “It’s like people don’t notice me when I’m around, they’ll ignore us,” he sounds proud, but that isn’t something people should take pride in.

Kim Sunghan nods and whisks his brother away.

Han Yoohyun and Bak Yerim stood at the center, between all the reporters as they tried to get answers about the portal’s sudden fluctuation.

But all Yoohyun could think about was what Myeongwoo said.

“It’s dissociation. My older sister had it, it’s sometimes a symptom of depression, which she had.”

Chapter Text

Myeongwoo-oppa said that Ahjussi is here, he’s just having a hard time saying that he’s here. Sometimes, people like him are too deep in their heads to realize that they’re here at all, and we should wait on them until they come back to themselves.

Myeongwoo-oppa also said that it helped to just sit with them. So, whenever Oppa wasn’t around, she made sure she was there, that someone was there. Kim Sunghan is there.

But that Jerk isn’t always there.

It turned out that the jerk went out to bring a doctor in, a psychiatrist. Apparently, there was a mental health emergency service, she never knew that. But it made her feel terrible all the same realizing how bad Ahjussi must feel right now.

The doctor said the same thing as Oppa.

Stay there. Make sure they’re not alone. Make sure they know you’re here.

And most importantly, talk to them.

Myeongwoo-oppa looked shocked as if he was surprised that he was doing the right thing the whole time.

To Yerim, it didn’t feel enough, not at all. She can’t watch Ahjussi be like that, so still and unmoving and like his head isn’t here anymore. He’s naturally quiet, but not like this. He’s naturally calm, but not like this.

She wanted to punch whoever did this to Ahjussi.

But she’s starting to learn that not everything can be solved with punching.

Jiyeon-seonbae told her so after her second trip to the dungeon.

“Not everything can be solved with punching. You’re a ranged fighter, you should use your skills,” he said, echoing what Ahjussi told her on their first trip. Back then, she had felt annoyed that the A-rank awakened would say that to her. Never mind that she knew he was right because of what Ahjussi said earlier. Even with her skills, she was far stronger than other hunters, she didn’t need to always use her skills.

In this case, though, she needed to. Because punching isn’t the right skill.

But what skills did Yerim have that would help Ahjussi?

She helped around in the apartment. She played with Peace. She sat and read some manhwa next to him, even criticizing every weird panel she saw or pointing out the same two girls she sees in every other otome isekai manhwa who were always gossiping in the back together.

She thinks that Ahjussi’s lips quirks sometimes at her complaints.

Maybe she’s doing right, somehow, in some way. She’s trying her best to do as everyone says, because … she’s a good girl. She always listens to her elders.

So, why isn’t listening to them this time working?

“Bak Yerim, I’m not replacing your real parents, but I love you as if you were my own.”

And he wasn’t her real father, not her brother by blood either. She’s adopted. But Ahjussi is still her family, and she doesn’t want her family hurt like this.

“Am I doing wrong?” She asked Myeongwoo-oppa when he came back from the facility center.

“Why are you saying that?”

“I just feel like nothing I do is right.”

Myeongwoo-oppa’s face crumpled a bit, but he tried to hide it with a sincere smile. He sat her down and checked on the bedroom where Ahjussi was sleeping before turning back to her.

“Sometimes, all people need is time to heal. You’re doing your best, Yerim-a,” Myeongwoo-oppa says. “You’re doing much better than others. The fact that you’re wondering at all means you’re doing good. Just be there.”

But she doesn’t want to just be there.

She wants to do something.

He must have noticed because he offered her a hug and she jumped straight at him.

“I used to wonder too, if we’re doing right. But the doctor said we are,” he tells her, looking lost in memory. “All that’s left is on Yoojin. He’s a strong guy, don’t let how he looks or his rank fool you, he’s tough. I’ve seen him get in this mood before and he always came back.”

“But …” He looks like he could crumble anytime.

How could Myeongwoo-oppa handle this?

He said this isn’t the first time Ahjussi was like this, it must have been terrible then, just knowing that you can’t do anything.

0o0o0

The first time she saw him, he was waiting in a bus stop waiting for the rain to stop just so he could walk home. He was alone. That jerk wasn’t around, she was sure. If he was, he would have sent a car to pick Ahjussi up instead of letting him in the rain or walk outside at all.

“Ahjussi, are you- are you sure you can make it home?” She asked him.

“I’ve been through worse things than rain. You, on the other hand, should go home where it’s safe and warm,” he answered back.

And he looked like it. He looked like he’d suffered for years.

He’d been through worse things than rain, she believed him.

But, what could he have been through, she wondered. If even the most obsessed and controlling brother in the world couldn’t stop it, could she? Could she go and stop whatever hurt Ahjussi?

“I’ve been through worse things than rain.”

Yet he gave her his umbrella.

Shouldn’t hurt people try their best to avoid feeling pain again?

But … does that matter for people who are always hurt? Ahjussi can’t walk. He didn’t get better. How long ago did she see him at the bus stop? Yet, he still didn’t heal. So, he must still be in pain.

Was Ahjussi always living in pain?

Another problem Yerim can’t punch away.

Like the Ahjussi from next door when her parents were alive. A sickly body was an issue she couldn’t punch away.

She woke up to get ready for school, trying to shake the sadness of remembering her old neighbor. She ran up to his apartment, it was right next to hers, right next to Myeongwoo-oppa, who decided to bunk in with Ahjussi. “Just in case,” Myeongwoo-oppa said.

Already, she could smell breakfast, and her stomach growled.

“Han Yoohyun will come later, he managed to clear his schedule for today.”

“Later as in when you go to the facility?” Since he only leaves after she goes to school.

Myeongwoo-oppas made that unhappy face again.

“Later.”

She slams her bowl down on the table.

“What do you mean later?!”

That jerk face!

He’s avoiding Ahjussi again!

At least he’s a problem she can punch right away, and she’ll do it the moment she sees him!

“He’s sending Kim Sunghan instead until he can come.”

“How is that clearing his schedule?!”

“Yerim, not everyone can make time. It’s a miracle he even managed to get some at all.”

“That doesn’t matter!”

She was so annoyed!

Jerk face always made her blood boil.

The door opened, and they both fell silent as they watched Ahjussi stand at his bedroom door. His eyes are still unfocused, but it was a surprise that he even stood up by himself at all.

He was holding Peace in his arms.

Peace had been vigilant, she noticed, looking sad and heartbroken that his favorite person wasn’t responding to him. She saw him purring on Ahjussi’s lap whenever he sat down. She also saw him do some really cute poses as well. Yerim wanted to take videos and post them online, but knowing how bad Ahjussi is whenever someone says something related to him is out for people to see, she didn’t.

After staring at them for a long time, he walked slowly to the table and dropped all his weight on the chair without much care.

Peace meows.

“Ahjussi, what do you want to eat?” Yerim asked immediately.

After a long moment of silence, Ahjussi blinked at her, as if surprised that she talked to him at all. He then turns to a specific dish, face changing, as if wondering what he wanted.

Peace jumps from his lap and goes to the bowl. Yerim was about to stop him, but once she noticed Peace started to push the dish toward Ahjussi, she smiled.

Not only was Peace such a cutie pie, but he was a smart cookie too!

Ahjussi thankfully takes the dish and starts eating.

Once they’re done, she gets up and walks slowly to him.

“Ahjussi, can I hug you?” She asked. He looks at her, his face confused. It’s like he’s wondering why anyone wanted to hug him at all.

She wanted to cry right then.

But he slowly lefts his hands up, and she jumps right into it, giving him a tight hug, or as tight as she could for anyone who’s F-rank and below.

“I’m going to school. I’ll do my best today. So, you should do your best too, alright?” She tells him, like every morning.

It took a shorter moment than usual for Ahjussi to nod.

“Great, let’s do our best!”

“I’ll make everyone tripe,” Myeongwoo-oppa says, smiling at them. “Since that’s apparently everyone’s favorite."

“Tripe is so good! Spicy tripe!”

Specially in hotpot, they were the best!

0o0o0

It was recess, it was a time when she would have spent on the rooftop after getting the cheapest vending machine snack she could. That was in the past, though. Now that she can actually afford it, she can go and get all the food she wants.

But Myeongwoo-oppa’s food is the best!

She had been salivating at the thought of eating it, even before the teacher could step out of the class. His food will hold her over till dinner, because tripe! Nothing can beat that.

When someone called her, stopping her daydream filled with food, she couldn’t help but feel surprised.

Bak Yerim rarely talked to her classmates, even if given the chance.

She wasn’t that good at studying, so her teachers didn’t care for her. She didn’t have the money to buy clothes so everyone turned their nose up whenever their eyes met. She was known as the orphan kid, so a lot of her classmates made fun of her.

They knew no one would care for her, so she was always a target.

It wasn’t fun.

She hated school as much as she hated her uncle’s house for being chosen as the excluded one.

The new school she got into was different, but it didn’t feel better. She didn’t bother to even try and talk to people.

She could, and she did, but she didn’t try when it was unnecessary.

It felt like every other person in school just wanted to be her friend because she was famous, and that was it.

So, when someone called her name, she was ready to have a really boring talk about whatever popular trend this person liked for the next 10 minutes before she ran out to the rooftop.

“I know this is sudden,” the girl said, biting her lips.

She was very pretty, so pretty that you wouldn’t be surprised to see her on k-dramas. Long black straight hair nearly touching her thighs, perfect face proportions, a perfect elegant poise. She was the prettiest girl in the whole school, if Yerim had to choose.

Two of her other friends were next to her, whispering to each other before looking back at her. “But is it true?”

“What’s true?” Why did she ask like she knew what the question was, she can’t read minds!

“Show her the post,” one of her friends said. The girl – she really needs to start remembering their names – pulls out her phone and starts tapping on it. Yerim couldn’t help but stare at the phone charm.

It looked cute.

She wants a charm for her phone too.

A Peace charm.

The girl shows her the screen, and it’s a post showing Ahjussi before they enter the dungeon and afterward, where someone took pictures of Ahjussi, Myeongwoo-oppa, and Kim Sunghan-ssi.

“You’re Han Yoojin’s sister, right?” Adopted. “He hasn’t been seen anywhere since the dungeon. There’s a lot of rumors going around because of that. They’re saying he was shocked and got hurt.”

“That’s …” she felt her throat dry up. “Sort of true.”

But Ahjussi rarely leaves the house anyway, so it shouldn’t be that alarming that no one sees him out.

“And he still went in!” One of her friends exclaimed, eyes wide at the thought.

He only came to the dungeon for her and Myeongwoo-oppa.

The guilt continues to drip from the back of her neck. It felt like she was standing outside in the rain. She looks at the window and at the rolling and slightly darkening clouds.

“He wasn’t scared, it’s just that the dungeon boss suddenly changed into an A-rank one. So, everyone was slightly off-kilter.”

“That must still be scary. You’re so brave, Bak Yerim!”

“Is he okay though?” The first girl asked, looking worriedly at her phone. The charm swings a bit as she brought it closer to herself. “He looks very … how can I say this nicely,” the girl frowns. “Sick.”

“Eunae! You can’t say that about people,” one of her friends hissed.

Eunae! That was her name!

“It’s worrying. Even before entering the dungeon, he looks like he’d die if he stood in the sun for too long.”

“That’s you!” Her other friend berates her. “You got heat stroke because you forgot the time. Don’t just project yourself on others,” her friend huffed before looking back at Yerim. “Sorry, Bak Yerim, Eunae doesn’t watch what she says sometimes.”

“More like never,” the other girl rolls her eyes.

But Eunae still looked at the phone, not even a wrinkle could be seen on her frowning face, yet the worry was still there.

“Bak Yerim, is it true that Haeyeon is going to start selling trained magical beasts now?”

“Bak Yerim, can you show us one of your skills?” The other asked, and Yerim huffed before looking away from Eunae. There it goes again, the dam for the questions opened.

The teacher berates her later, a lot. She had to clean the classroom by herself, but that wasn’t hard at all.

When she gets back home, she finds Ahjussi looking none too pleased by the news. Yerim only stood in shock at the sight of Ahjussi standing there with any expression at all but that horrible blankness.

She couldn’t muster any guilt at all as he started scolding her for her behavior at school.

Chapter Text

“You got a flame resistance skill? That’s not fair, I want one,” Yoojin cries as he flops on the couch, hugging Peace.

“I want one too,” Yerim muttered as she chomped on one of the side dishes.

“I got it when the Golden Beak Maiya attacked us. I didn’t notice at that time, it was so terrifying,” Myeongwoo’s voice started to wobble.

“It’s alright Myeongwoo-oppa, nothing bad happened. You were so cool and courageous,” Yerim said. But Yoojin still heard a sniff. “What grade is it anyway?”

“It’s A class.”

After a silent moment, Yoojin gets off the couch while Yerim jumps from her spot.

“A-class?!”

“How can you get an A-class flame resistance when you’re F-rank?” Yerim asked.

“Hey- Yoojin has fire breath that’s at least an A class.”

“It’s SS class.”

“See-”

A moment of silence followed before both Myeongwoo and Yerim turned to him.

“SS class?!”

“What are you, a dragon?”

He couldn’t control his reaction fast enough, evident by Yerim’s concerned look.

“Do you hate dragons?” Yerim asked, and after some time, Yoojin slumps down in defeat.

“I think my skills are … inspired by a dragon,” he tentatively says. It’s the closest he’d ever come to admit to it, both to himself and anyone else. There really wasn’t any other explanation for his skills without him conforming it with his own eyes by checking his status window. He didn’t want to think further.

“But I thought you and the guild leader have the same skills!”

“You just spit it out instead of bleeding it out,” Myeongwoo agreed with her. “Both ways, it’s very disgusting.”

Wow, Myeongwoo sure knows how to hit someone’s ego.

“Hey! At least Ahjussi has a skill, what about you?”

“You try sharpening 10,000 tools!”

“Tloos,” Yoojin says absent-mindedly.

“Urgh,” this time, it was Myeongwoo who flopped to his sides. “Are we sure your skills are correct? Tloos? What if it’s fake and I’m sharpening it all for nothing?”

“Yerim got her [PALE RAIN] skill, didn’t she?”

“I can finally show something interesting! But my teacher gave me detention after I showed it off to the class.”

“Why were you showing it off in class? You’re not supposed to use your skills for no reason,” Yoojin admonished.

Yerim huffs.

“I wanted to make friends.”

“Friends like you for who you are, Yerim-a,” Yoojin said. “If they only like you for your skills, they’re not friends.”

“But how else am I supposed to get friends? All they ask about is my skills, what dungeons are like, what it’s like to be in Haeyeon or being taken in by you and the guild leader, or even pictures of Peace. No one ever asks me anything about me.”

Yoojin and Myeongwoo share a look with each other.

It was becoming apparently more useless for them to try and help her. Yoojin never finished high school, at least, not with his own age group. He did have friends, but he couldn’t keep up with them while taking care of Yoohyun at the same time. Something tells him that Myeongwoo faced the same issue in the past but for different reasons.

“Have you thought of hanging out with other hunters? Doesn’t your new school have some? Suk Simyeong-ssi especially chose it for you to continue your dungeon raiding.”

Yerim puts her chopsticks down. She groaned loudly as she stretched her arms and flopped on the ground.

“It’s not specifically for hunters! It was originally for idol trainees. That’s why I can leave whenever I need to. The school gives the trainees or fully recognized idols and celebrities the freedom to stay out of classes as much as possible for their careers, they’ll get to graduate at the end. Suk Simyeong-Ahjussi said that he struck a deal like that for me.”

“Hey … I’m not as old as Suk Simyeong, why are we both Ahjussis? Do I look old?” He asked Myeongwoo, his friend shrugs.

“I’m older than you.”

“By a few months,” he turns to Yerim. “Why is Myeongwoo an Oppa?”

“Can we get back to my problem?” Yerim grumbled, pushing herself off the ground. “There’s one other hunter, but she’s not in my class and she’s a rank D, and she gets scared whenever I talk to her. That jerk,” no doubt referring to Yoohyun. “Told me to go look for other hunters to match my skillsets and form a team, but I can’t.”

She crossed her arms.

Myeongwoo gives her a sympathetic look. Even Peace looked like he was pitying her-

PEACE!

“I can raise animals to be your dungeon companions. We just have to find some,” he offers her.

“Really?” Yerim’s eyes started shining with excitement.

Myeongwoo coughs.

“I think you’re missing the point, Yoojin. She needs human friends.”

“Oh, right,” Yoojin taps his lips with his chopsticks. “Are you sure you couldn’t make any friends in your class? What about hunters from other guilds?”

“There’s this one girl,” Yerim bit her lips. “But she’s too busy, she’s like a rising movie star or something. Plus, Ahjussi, I can’t be friends with people from other guilds, they’re in another guild.”

“There’re always partnerships going around. Sometimes they’re for show, and some of them are created to get rid of a slightly more difficult than usual dungeons. But you’re right … I don’t think it’s good mixing up with other guilds without establishing yourself first. You only went in one dungeon so far.”

Yerim frowned.

“I’ll go into my third one tomorrow.”

“I know you’ll do great, Yerim-a. You’re very strong.”

The frown on Yerim’s face turns into a shy smile.

Wait.

“Third?”

“Of course, I’m strong! Did you see me use my skills when the boss monster attacked?”

When did she go into her second dungeon? Did she sneak out?

“Very strong indeed,” Myeongwoo gives her an indulgent smile. He must be remembering one of his sisters. He always had that fond smile when he thought of them. “No sudden monster upgrade will scare you in the future, we can all rest knowing our Yerim can defeat it.”

Yoojin’s fond smile fell in that instant.

He looks away and watched the city through the window, watching the grey clouds roll by, feeling a sudden sensation in his heart.

Monsters with levels higher than the original dungeons shouldn’t be a common thing now, it only started in the future.

He starts biting onto his chopstick, any harder and it’ll get dented.

“Someone’s at the door,” Myeongwoo said, getting up. Yoojin blinked, realizing that he missed the knocking entirely.

Were the two talking earlier? Did he miss the conversation?

“Yoojin, your brother is here,” Myeongwoo said as he came in, looking slightly mortified. Yoohyun steps into the living room, looking a bit out of place.

But the moment he sees him, he moves. One blink and Yoohyun was right in front of him, looking him over, as if worriedly checking for injury.

“Yoohyun-a,” he says fondly. He’s always overprotective, isn’t he? “Do you want to try some food?”

“I’m not interested.”

“I cooked kimchi fried rice. Myeongwoo did all the side dishes, and there’s tripe!”

After a silent moment, Yoohyun shuffled a bit and sat right next to him. Peace started to growl at him, but the look Yoohyun gave it silenced him.

“Please don’t fight in front of the food,” Yoojin left no chance for anyone to ruin the flavor. He likes his food to be eaten while feeling happy, thank you very much.

“I originally came to refill Peace’s food supply,” Yoohyun says.

“Jerk face is a lying liar who lies,” Yerim whispered into her plate of food.

“I also wanted to …” Yoohyun continues but trails off.

“To?” Yoojin prompted.

“Check on you, Hyung. You were very tired yesterday.”

“Ah … I’m sorry, I was a bit out of it.”

Everyone on the table shared a look before nodding.

“It happens to the best of us, Ahjussi. Don’t worry.”

“You should take more care of yourself, Yoojin. Maybe you can skip a class or two, you’ve been very diligent.”

Yoohyun looked troubled, but he didn’t say anything as he played with his food. He opens his mouth but decides to say nothing after noticing the other two in the room.

“Guild leader, we were talking about Myeongwoo-oppa’s new flame resistance!” Yerim says, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, we were talking about your friend's problem.”

“I don’t need human friends anymore, Ahjussi promised to train animals for me to go to dungeons with. They can be my friends.”

“S-ranks have a harder time talking with others as it has been observed that everyone else cannot handle the pressure we exude. You can only stand around A-ranks and B-ranks without much issue,” Yoohyun informs her. “Even then, you’ll be their leader. You can’t overwork Hyung for your selfish desires.”

“I’m not overworking him! He offered! Plus, weren’t you all planning on using his skills anyway?”

“Never.”

“What?” Yoojin asked, surprised by the news.

“People have been clamoring the guild’s communication team to get their hands on tamed beasts,” Yerim informs him.

Yoohyun looked to be grinding his teeth now.

“Why haven’t you told me?”

“You are not part of the guild, Hyung. Plus, it would be too physically demanding for you to take care of monsters. I only brought Peace to skin him once he’s grown up to get you flame-resistant materials to wear,” the collective horrified faces of everyone in the room, including Peace, were visible. “But it turns out you can somewhat tame Animals … and he’s much better used to help you than to be killed.”

“Yoohyun! Don’t say things like that in front of Peace! He can understand us!” Yoojin yells, now covering Peace’s face, which is now obviously tearing up.

“Better for it to know its place now than to expect anything later.”

“Yoohyun?!”

“Wow, sometimes I don’t believe Ahjussi raised you. If I never met him, I’d think whoever took care of you was a useless good for nothing.”

Lightning strikes at that moment. The room illuminates brightly against the sudden light, contrasting everything in their sight and turning the shadows even bolder, as if trying to claim their existence in that moment.

A hush followed.

Then thunder announced itself.

Yoohyun opens his mouth for a second before turning to him.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. Because of me, everyone thinks you’re a good for nothing.”

“… I can’t really deny that,” Yoojin said, looking away from him.

Another lightning follows.

The accompanying thunder is even louder than before.

Yoohyun seemed to close in on himself.

“Let’s- Let’s just go back to the taming business. Yoohyun, you should have told me! I would have helped if you asked.”

“I wanted you to be worry-free.”

“How can I be worry-free if you’re not working hard for your guild?”

“I …”

“I would have been happy to do it, you know. Even if it’s a tiny part, making sure you and your team are safer, I’d gladly do it.”

Yoohyun’s mouth clamps closed.

“Ahjussi …”

“It’s easier for me to raise monsters and give them away to people who can go into dungeons, isn’t it? Do you guys remember how big the dungeon we entered is? That was only D-rank, I heard A and S-rank dungeons are much larger.”

The slight nod Yoohyun gave him confirmed it.

“It would be easier to navigate the dungeon when you have a beast mount with you. I would have done it for all of the Haeyeon guild members … but I’d rather- I’d rather everyone have it so we can clear the portals faster.”

So he knows that at least there’s one extra thing to keep Yoohyun safe.

“Yoojin,” Meyongwoo said. Yoojin looked up at his friend, and he found the man was now near crying, eyes filled with unshed tears. “Your heart is too big! This world is too cruel!” He cries as he wraps his arms around him, the tears now completely free.

The sunflower wilts again!

Sun, come back please, stop the thunderstorm from draining his friend further!

“I can’t stay still and laze around if Ahjussi is this adamant. I need to do my part too!” Yerim yells, raising a fisted arm in determination.

“Hyung … I’m sorry,” Yoohyun said meekly.

That old habit of apologizing without even understanding!

“Everyone, please stop acting like this.”

What is wrong with everyone today?

Chapter Text

The screen showed a rather docile-looking man sitting on a chair.

“Would you like to start now, Han Yoojin-nim?”

“What do you want me to show first? I’ve had Peace for so long that I got used to everything he does. What do you think is interesting?”

“Anything, Yoojin-nim.”

The man stops for a moment, as if in thought before looking down at the beast.

“Peace, would you like to show off? Do you want to kill something?” The man asked, showing no ill will. Yet, whoever hears him would feel a slight shiver run through their backs. “Our Peace is very strong! I don’t think any monster can ever beat him.”

Peace, of course, makes a cute noise as if it was agreeing.

“Let’s bring in a monster,” Yoojin said, smiling at the cameraman.

“Are you sure?”

“What are we afraid of? Peace eats them as snacks.”

“Krooo!”

“Alright, Yoojin-nim.”

A monster was released from its cage.

It doesn’t take a second for it to jump at the seated man.

In the flash of an eye, too fast for the camera to properly capture, Peace was seen on top of the monster, gnashing its teeth on it, and ripping its throat.

Once the monster took its last breath, Peace got off, licking the blood off its paws. He then brushed the top of its head, right behind its horns.

After a few seconds of grooming, Peace nabs at the monster with his teeth and pulls it to Han Yoojin’s feet, as if offering him the monster.

The camera catches the bright smile now adorning Han Yoojin’s face as he opens his arms.

The bloody beast jumps onto his lap, making happy noises as Yoojin hugs it. Peace takes the chance to rest its head by the nook of Han Yoojin’s neck, now purring loudly.

“I’m not hungry, Peace, that food is for you.” He turns to the camera, looking excited. “See, our Peace is very strong and smart. I only helped in training him to get to his full potential, and he will become stronger in the future.”

Yoojin’s eyes nearly closed from how wide his smile was.

Ignore the blood coating his hands where he touched the beast. It is only an afterthought.

0o0o0

He visits the guild forge, trying to ignore the whispers following him. He hasn’t been seen around Haeyeon and he knew by Yerim’s gossiping that most of the guild members had been curious about him.

He didn’t want to be seen by them.

The issue stemmed from the fact that he didn’t look impressive enough to be seen at all. Not with his limp, not with his posture, not with his clothes, height, looks, strength-

Nothing about him would scream ‘Han Yoohyun’s older brother’ to others, and he didn’t want to embarrass him.

Yet, he hadn’t seen Yoo Myeongwoo’s place, and he’d been curious. He just trusted that Suk Simyeong took care of him.

The equipment facility was hot, the temperatures reaching a boiling point.

Someone had eyed him as he entered. He was about to yell at him, Yoojin knew, it was an expression he was all too accustomed to.

“I’m here for Yoo Myeongwoo,” he immediately says.

The man huffs. Seemingly annoyed if slightly fond.

“He’s at the back. What are you here for, you don’t look like a hunter.”

How insulting, was it the crutch?

“He’s a friend.”

“Only hunters can enter here.”

“I’m a hunter.”

“Err…”

“Haven’t your parents taught you it’s rude to stare?” He replies snidely before the man sends him an indignant look.

When he stepped into an enclosed space, Myeongwoo was focused on his grinding wheel. The expression on his face was one he only ever saw him wear when he was working on the knives back in their old apartment. However, seeing his hair tied up was a new one, even for him. 

There was a woman with hair dyed blue at the tips, she stood close enough to his friend that it could be mistaken for hovering. Her face had been one brimmed with excitement as she watched Myeongwoo work on the knife.

They’ve been so focused on the job that they didn’t even notice him enter.

Once it was done, Myeongwoo offered her the knife. She bowed to him, thanking him while saying something else, before running out without even looking at him.

“Why are you in a small place like this?” Yoojin asked, worried now that no one was around to distract him.

Was Myeongwoo getting bullied?

“Yoojin! I didn’t know you were coming! At first, I thought they were hazing me? They couldn’t really do anything when the head of HR himself introduced me,” Myeongwoo gave a self-deprecating laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Later on, someone asked me if I wanted to use the electric grinder, but … I felt like it didn’t work!”

“What?” Can Myeongwoo actually feel that?

Wow, he didn’t even need him to check with his skill.

How attuned was Myeongwoo with his skill set?

That’s so amazing!

“Yeah. It was off.  Like I didn’t accomplish anything. After I finished, we compared the sword with another one that I worked on with the manual grinder. It was bad! I needed to touch it with my own hands for it to work. It’s such a shame because if I did it with the electric grinder, I would have been done ages ago.” He then slaps the manual grinder, pride beaming on his face. “But this little girl didn’t fail me yet! It’s so dependable.”

Yoojin turns to look at the manual grinder …

“What?” He couldn’t help but say out loud, horrified.

“What?”

“N-Nothing,” Yoojin stuttered. Myeongwoo narrowed his eyes.

“No. Every time you do that, something happens.”

“No, not at all. Continue on, you’re doing fantastic! I can tell from the guy outside that he really likes you.”

“You mean the head of the facility? Don’t let his exterior fool you, he’s a softie on the inside,” Myeongwoo said, now showing a shy smile. “He helped me out a bit when he noticed how everyone was treating me. He even let me use stat raising gear when someone brings in a claymore for me to fix up.”

“Damn, I should apologize to him then,” Yoojin mumbled.

“What?”

“N-Nothing! And the lady just now?”

“She’s Kim Minyui! Do you remember her? Kim Sunghan-ssi mentioned her a while ago. She’s the one who recommended the bar,” oh, she’s the one with similar ages to them. “Her specialty are daggers. It’s why she kept visiting. My skills are compatible with hers and she likes throwing daggers ... she also collects them.”

“What a scary skill,” and hobby.

“I know, right?” Myeongwoo should not be so happy while asking that. “At first, I was too scared to interact with her, but she was nice. I guess she liked having her weapons 50% sharper. She was originally excited when it was only 2% sharper, so I’m not really surprised by that.”

Don’t be down on yourself, Myeongwoo.

Yoojin felt happy that someone else could see Myeongwoo’s worth, even when he was at his lowest.

“So … what did you see earlier?” Myeongwoo asked.

“The grind wheel has a spirit in it.”

… Damn, he should have not said that.

“Oh, that’s cool,” after a slight moment of silence, Myeongwoo gives him a slow blink. Yoojin just gave him a normal one, frozen in place, feeling terrified as he realized what he just said.

Myeongwoo’s turns a shade paler.

“A-Ah, that’s very cool. The manual grind wheel is doing its best,” Myeongwoo’s laugh became stilted.

“I’m sorry …” Yoojin said.

“It’s working hard. Thank you for all the hard work,” Myeongwoo said as he turned to the grinding wheel and gave it a slight pat.

Yoojin winced.

“Yoojin … what do you mean there’s a spirit?!” Meyongwoo shouts.

“I don’t know!” Yoojin shouts back.

“How on earth is that even possible?! Use your skill detection, make it give you more info,” Myeongwoo begged him, now dropping to his knees and grabbing his shirt. “Please,” he cries. “I was sure everything was normal-”

There it is, the stream of tears from his friend’s face.

Yoojin glares at the status screen, as if daring it from withholding further info.

The screen changes after a few moments.

Well, he didn’t know that worked.

But also, what the fuck?! Give him all the info if you already have it?! How stingy!

“It says: Out of the love and care of the owner for his job, the Grinding Wheel’s spirit was born after weeks of earnest work. Using the wheel will make any sharpened objects more balanced.”

“What?!”

“That’s really all it said!”

“So, it’s a baby?” Myeongwoo whispered. Yoojin paused for a moment to realize, yeah, it was just a baby. A baby who, after slight calculation, might be a few weeks old.

“I guess?”

“… I’m a father?”

“… Congratulations?”

Chapter Text

The news of Myeongwoo manifesting a spirit out of sheer will didn’t exactly go well. Yoohyun, Bak Yerim, and Kim Sunghan had to accompany them as they checked every item Myeongwoo had used within the equipment facility.

Once they heard what happened, most of the workers joked about it, saying things along the lines of, “Of course, it was Yoo Myeongwoo who’s blessed by spirits.”

The man had been mortified as he kept pointing at things while Yoojin checked on them with his skill.

So far, it had only been the Grinding Wheel that was possessed, but apparently, the other items that Myeongwoo did use had also been blessed just a tad tiny bit by him. The electric grinder has a 2% better efficiency than the others. The Hammer he consistently used raised the success of hammering by 10%, and so on.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a very hushed voice, unable to look at the facility head’s direction and hiding behind his hair.

“It’s a blessing. It’s an odd way to get it, but no one can really complain, can they?” The man says. “Our Myeongwoo is truly blessed by spirits.”

“Please stop,” Myeongwoo slinks deeper, any further and he will permanently turn into a shrimp.

“So far, only the grinding wheel. What do you propose we should do, guild leader?” The facility head asked Yoohyun.

After some slight contemplation, his brother opened his mouth and said, “Get rid of it.”

“WHAT?!” Myeongwoo and Yerim yelled at the same time. Slightly deafening him.

“You can’t do that! Ahjussi says it’s a baby spirit, it’s only a few weeks old,” Yerim yells.

“She’s a baby spirit!” Myeongwoo also yells. The look Yoojin and Kim Sunghan shared at that moment has gone unnoticed by the rest. “What if she was your child,” Myeongwoo pleaded.

“What if that thing turned hostile and attacked the rest of the facility members? Or the rest of the guild? Will you take responsibility for that?”

“She won’t attack them!” Myeongwoo yells, closing his eyes shut as if he used all his strength to say those words.

“Myeongwoo … how do you know it’s a she?” Yoojin asked.

“She feels like a she,” Myeongwoo replies.

Yoojin pinched the bridge of his nose.

Sure, why not.

“As far as I can see, Grinding wheel spirit is only helping. If she’s not hurting anyone, we should keep her around,” he said.

After some slight hesitation, his brother nods.

With that, little grinding wheel spirit became part of the equipment facility.

0o0o0

Yoojin had been lying on the training room floor. They’ve done Peace’s training for today. Yerim was at a dungeon training and most likely spawning all her skills to raise her levels. Yoojin doesn’t have anything to look up to for the rest of the week. He doesn’t have many outside excursions anymore, not after Yoohyun hired a physical therapist who can visit them in the guild.

Who can also enter discreetly, from the underground parking lot, but it was much better than seeing them enter from the front lobby.

Myeongwoo’s … issue with spirits aside, there isn’t much he’s looking forward to.

“Kyaa!” Peace squeals, jumping over the monkey bars. Yoojin couldn’t think of anything higher to train his jumping with. It’s honestly terrifying how high he can jump when he’s still a baby.

He couldn’t help but smile fondly at Peace before looking back at the ceiling, contemplating his life so far.

Is he content?

With no worries to plague him, or issues to hound him, there wasn’t any stress that followed him.

He felt his arms getting tired, the fatigue slowly overtaking him.

Not a moment later, he can feel Peace slumping right next to him, making concerned noises.

“They say that animals can always feel when their owners are hurt or sad,” Yoojin said, now turning to his side and pulling into a hug. “Is it true? Can you tell if I’m hurt?”

“Krooo …” Peace sounded sad and nuzzled him under his chin.

He laughed.

“There isn’t anything to be sad about, and this is my usual amount of pain. I’m used to it. So, you shouldn’t be worried.”

Peace makes an indignant mewl.

Yoojin closed his eyes and pressed just a tad bit harder on his hug.

“Sometimes … not feeling anything is easier than having emotions …”

He closed his eyes.

His arms grew heavier.

Yeah … not feeling anything is better than sadness. He doesn’t have any reason to cry anymore, no more struggle … just watch everyone you love grow, and then …

And then?

And then … He can just … disappear into the background …

Because … Who will notice if he’s not there to help anymore?

They all can take care of themselves now; he’d like to think. So, everything is … good.

Everything … is good.

0o0o0

“-lease wake up,” Yoojin groans as he swats the arm shaking him.

“It’s the weekend, Yoohyun-ie, let me sleep in.”

The training mats were comfy.

“Hyung, there’s a slight issue,” Yoohyun admits.

Yoojin’s eyes snapped open, now concerned.

Yoohyun doesn’t do slight issue. It’s either no issues, everything is fine, or the world is about to implode. He was always a sweet, responsible, and dependable child. So, whenever he did come to him for trouble, something bad happened.

“What? What is it?”

“We’ve sent out the video you made recently to the other guilds, and their guild leaders decided to come and meet you.”

“That’s … understandable. When is it going to be?”

“In an hour.”

Yoojin gives him a very, very, slow blink.

“Have they never heard of appointments?” He asked his little brother, before shaking his head, reminding himself that he’s dealing with S-ranks. Those people probably thought they could step on him as if he were a floor tile.

Next thing he knew, he was escorted to Yoohyun’s apartment, and his brother gave him toiletries before pushing him into his bathroom. If Yoojin had been more awake, he would have taken offense for being indirectly called smelly. However, he’d been in the training room with Peace, so he shouldn’t be that surprised by his state of cleanliness.

He didn’t know what perfume he used. It’s a brand he was very sure that he skipped during shopping because of how large the number attached to it is. It smelled of sandalwood and mild vanilla.

He steps out to find multiple outfits picked out.

With a stranger standing and checking over them.

“Umm …” Yoojin couldn’t help but say nervously.

Who is this person?

“Oh, hello! We haven’t met yet, but my name is Lee Bongseong. I’m the guild leader’s and Bak Yerim’s personal stylist! I’m very honored to meet you, Han Yoojin-nim.”

“Please treat me casually,” Yoojin mumbled. “Where’s my brother?”

“He asked me to help you pick out an outfit. Usually, guild leader Han wouldn’t allow me to give him any variety of colors. Bak Yerim has been easier, what girl doesn’t like exploring their style, right? But I wanted to work on a man for quite some time,” the stylist’s eyes shone for a second.

Yoojin gulps.

After a few spins, a small tiny tornado forming behind a room divider, and probably a storm alarm blaring somewhere nearby, he was now wearing an indigo button-up with a white undershirt and black slacks, getting his hair combed.

“Thank you for your patience, Han Yoojin-nim! I should have known you’d have a winter palette,” Lee Bongseong said as she opened the door to leave him alone with the hairdresser. Yoojin had no idea what she meant by that, and by this point, he was too afraid to ask.

With a yelp coming from the stylist, Yoojin watched as Peace ran in and jumped on his lap.

The hairdresser froze for a second, but with how Peace looked, it only took a short while before the man fell for the little guy.

The finished product was Yoojin with his usual hairstyle, only less messy.

He didn’t know what to expect.

“Hello, Han Yoojin-nim! I brought back some of the accessories that the guild leader advised me to give you.”

Yoojin froze at Lee Bongseong’s voice, before giving her an awkward smile.

“I don’t need those.”

“Oh no, Han Yoohyun-nim insisted. They’re all flame-resistant accessories.”

Yoojin covers his face with a palm.

“Is he planning to start a fight and that’s why he’s handing these out, that child,” Yoojin muttered before picking his usual gloves and his favorite piercings. Those were the only ones that gave stat raises.

When he got to the living room, he found Yoohyun waiting while looking angrily at the floor.

Beside him was his rarely used cane.

“I can walk without those,” Yoojin said as he got closer.

“Won’t you feel pain?”

“Yes, but I can still-”

“No. I don’t care about our image. Your comfort is more important to me than that, we can go with your crutches if you want,” Yoohyun said before standing up and offering the cane to him. “You can also refuse to meet them at all,” he adds, there’s a slight tint of hope in his voice.

“No, we can’t have that. Wouldn’t people say things about the guild if we refused them?”

“They didn’t schedule an appointment.”

“Using my own words against me?” Yoojin couldn’t help but grin.

“Hyung, if at any point you felt uncomfortable, please tell me. I will get rid of them.”

“Yoohyun-ie, seriously. You should care more about the future of your guild than about me. I’m already comfortable.”

Yoohyun grinds his teeth. He didn’t seem to like what he heard, but Yoojin didn’t see any reason for him to throw away any good opportunities coming his way.

After a moment of silence, Yoojin leans a bit on him.

“I’m not going to get hurt, despite what you think.”

“I know- I know you don’t feel fear. Your resistance is working. But how far will that go? What if it stopped you from noticing any dangerous signs?”

“I can still tell what is dangerous,” Yoojin reassures him. “My skills doesn’t make me stupid. Plus, I don’t always depend on my fear resistance. It only activated once since I discovered it.”

“What?”

“During the sudden monster boss attack, that was the only time. I don’t feel scared easily.”

“That’s impossible …”

“Why would I be scared of S-ranks? My precious little brother is one,” he said, chuckling a bit before letting go. Hugging Peace in a way that allows him to climb over his shoulder when he wants to. “Yerim-a is one, Peace will be one. Why would I fear my family?” He takes a step back. “Now, should we join the meeting?”

Chapter Text

The company was lacking.

To reiterate, it was lacking in brains, personality, interest, and power.

He felt the boredom creep in.

Watching Moon Hyuna and Choi Seokwon argue had been entertaining for a short while. Park Mingyu took the diplomatic approach of pretending he wasn’t listening to any of the nonsense happening in front of him and sat next to the association president.

Said association president is one of the rare few unawakened who can’t feel the pressure against high-ranked hunters.

The running theory and bet so far is that he’s too far up his narcissistic ass to realize how abysmal he is compared to anyone else and to feel the pressure they exuded.

Many people wondered how Song Taewon could even handle working under his command instead of taking over.

But that is another mystery for another day.

They hear voices coming from behind the door. Of course, Haeyeong’s guild leader being as paranoid as he is, made sure to put them in a room with the highest grade of soundproofing that exists in the market. Even he couldn’t hear what was happening outside well enough.

Not that a sneak attack will ever catch him unaware.

That’s when the door opens.

The loud conversation ceases to exist.

Sung Hyunjae, who had been leaning on the table while crossing his fingers together to hide any emotion he might have felt behind his hands, let go of the posture and leaned back to watch the man of the hour.

It’s shockingly dissonant, the image that the Han siblings present.

While young master Han Yoohyun has always been known to be prideful and full of animosity, one cannot say the same when they land their sights on his older brother.

Han Yoohyun had been handling his brother carefully. Keeping the door open, keeping one hand on his brother’s shoulder, his tone and way of speaking, and how mild it is compared to every other instance anyone could have spent with him. It was as if he was handling a treasure that he was afraid of breaking just by standing next to it.

Since his first introduction, they had never seen the young man act in such a gentle way.

The slight glare he gave the people in the room told them all they needed to know about his mood.

“This is Hunter Han Yoojin,” Han Yoohyun introduced. A begrudging tone can be heard underneath his delivery. Protectively encasing his brother’s shoulder now that the tamed monster fell into Han Yoojin’s arm.

Looking upwards, and away from the animal, he felt something light within himself.

He wanted to smile.

0o0o0

His frankly unstimulated reality became even duller, and boredom found itself within the crevices of his typical everyday life.

Sung Hyunjae is a patient man. He has lived his whole life in utter boredom. When everything around him was lacking in everything he found interesting, he learned how to lower his standards and expectations.

Nothing will ever reach anything close to impressive in his eyes, and it was okay because reality was often disappointing.

When the first dungeon outbreak occurred, he tasted a small lick of what could have been excitement.

What could have been, his mind told him, because he never felt such a rush of emotions before.

Or rather, he felt it as a faraway memory.

These new feelings were at first overwhelming. However, as fast as it came, it left.

And he wanted more.

But, as he has come to learn, reality will always find a way to be disappointing. He will have to wait for another outbreak, or fight for the rights of another dungeon. Tedious bureaucracy.

The deal with those creatures, he had thought, would be interesting.

Not for long. Nothing really held his interest for too long. They found out about his plans to betray him and tried to kill him. He, of course, escaped.

They were weak, he learned. They couldn’t do what they wished to do in this world. This is why they needed people like him to do their bidding.

Sung Hyunjae’s opinion of the other worlders, originally low, now became lower than 6 feet under.

It was rather pathetic, depending on others without keeping a guarantee that they wouldn’t betray you. No foresight, no planning, not even preparing for the possibility of someone not doing their job right. The way they reacted to him was as if someone only figured out the betrayal at that moment.

So, he escapes, and he waits until time cools off their tempers for him to step back in again. While there aren’t many on his side of reality to battle him, he could wait until it’s time to go back, for he was a patient man, and the backdrop of his life from childhood had been nothing but a waiting game.

So, he passes the time.

And as time continues, like little increments made from sands falling one particle at a time, his boredom grows eternal. It grows to a point where it grows feet, a brain, and hands to wave and show off its height. Its feet multiply so much that a spider would run away from it. It would run around him so fast that its afterimage creates an opaque wall.

If Sung Hyunjae could stop time from growing further by eating a shoe, he would salt and pepper it before dining on the most expensive plat set.

This is his reality.

The exhaustion of contentment turns him slightly weary.

It would have been fine. Yet, yet, the dungeon outbreak and monster fighting were familiar in the correct way, a Déjà vu, a habit he had cultivated to perfection.

He, quite frankly, hates it. The temptation, the want for a fight.

He had never been weak before, yet here he was, falling for what could be described as barely animalistic needs.

His fellow awakeners could never understand. He can see it in their eyes. His simple suggestions would entice the same reaction he always dealt with as he grew up.

The little scoffs, the eye twitches, the indulgent humming that would turn forgetful.

Sung Hyunjae’s feet take to wandering when that outlet dries out of entertainment.

Anything to elevate the dullness of this world, he would always think.

Anything to-

And someone bumps him.

His world slightly tilts.

What was a thick sheet of condensed dim fog ruffled to let a bit of light through.

What was the thick smell of rotten wood in swampy waters aired out just a tad bit.

The world somehow, in some way, felt different.

Something is different.

He turns to see the sight of a small man running away from him. It wasn’t out of fear, at least not of him.

The further the man ran, the heavier reality felt. The tips of his fingers weigh down as he tries to move through the dense murky sheet of existence and reach out.

There was something wrong with the person. Why would the world itself feel like it was crumbling around him? How can someone manage to do something like that?

And as his view of such reality slightly rights itself into the correct angle, the fog folds itself back to cover his senses, and normalcy engulfs him again, he realizes something important.

There was someone out there that made life interesting.

0o0o0

And it was him, he concludes.

A man he couldn’t forget despite how innocuous the interaction had been. The air around him was still wrong, it felt like an injury that was slowly scabbing over.

It felt as if the world itself bent down to his whims somehow, and tore itself to do so.

That had been a feeling he could never forget nor find in anyone else.

He changed his focus to his physical appearance.

Much like his younger brother, Yoojin was pale. No, he could even be paler, edging to sickness. His eyebags were obvious, though not so much that a person would worry over him, but it was obvious the man had problems sleeping-wise.

The wrist attached to the hand holding the monster was as thin as a twig.

Sung Hyunjae remembers the image of blood-coated fingers vividly in place of the gloves.

He remembers the smile.

He remembers the faraway stare.

The other hand held onto a cane. An upgrade from their impromptu first meeting. If his eyes didn’t deceive him yet, he could tell that it was made from dungeon materials.

It was official, no one can deny how much Haeyeon’s guild leader adores his older brother.

He will have fun getting between that.

“Excuse me,” the appraiser the association president brought asked. “May I borrow your hand for a moment?”

Han Yoojin’s eyes lit up, a ring playing around his iris as he stared at the man.

Interesting.

“No, sorry.”

“Sir, we’d like to appraise your skills first-”

Han Yoojin gave the man an imploring look.

“Which hand do you want to take, the one that is holding a monster,” said monster’s fur started to rise, its face turning vicious. “Or the one I use to stand up?”

The appraiser gulps, retracting his own hands.

“Would- would you please take a seat in order to proceed sir?”

They can all see by now how much the appraiser is in dread, sweating now that he is receiving the full brunt of Han Yoohyun’s anger.

“My brother said no,” he then turns to the rest. “Who thought it’s alright to bring someone here who hasn’t been vetted,” Han Yoohyun demands. He can see Choi Seokwon already rolling his eyes.

“Egotistical brat.”

“We only need to confirm the skills-”

“None of you would have bothered to come if you weren’t sure,” Han Yoojin said, stopping what could have been an ensuing argument instantly. There was something ominous that could be heard hiding underneath his voice.

It was strong.

It was terrifying.

It was deadly.

How … interesting.

He couldn’t stop his smile now.

It was him.

The mood turned somber, but they could see the monster growling. There was the unmistakable ting of an animal hissing as well, all directed at the appraiser. There was no denying the fact that the monster was reacting to his owner’s emotions. No more evidence is needed to confirm his skills.

“What’s the matter, Peace? It’s alright,” Han Yoojin says as he walks to an empty chair and takes a seat. “This isn’t the type of face we should be showing, is it?”

With that small amount of talking, Peace reverts from anger to acting cute. It climbs up his shoulder to sit around his neck, acting like a scarf.

The purring was an adorable bonus.

“Especially not to our dear lovely customers,” Han Yoojin adds before turning a bright smile at them.

Moon Hyunah took the opportunity to introduce herself to him. Yoojin’s eyes flickered with that circle for one split second before they returned to normal.

“I heard many rumors about Haeyeong’s guild leader’s older brother, but to find out that the real deal is more precious than the exaggerated stories is something.”

“I don’t use social media, so you’ll have to inform me what’s the most ridiculous story you heard?” He says without much trouble. “From what I inferred; they were greatly exaggerated.”

Ha.

Another weak person with no sense of fear in them.

“You’re hidden away in a vault because of your brother,” Moon Hyunah indulged in his request.

“He did try very hard,” was the reply. It was both shocking and unsurprising at the same time. “I threw my cane at him so hard it broke the wall. I’ve been told I almost took out Kim Sunghan who was standing on the other side.”

“Eh, aren’t you an F-rank?”

“I am.”

 What a blatant lie.

However, they do test that during registration. He takes a glimpse at the association president, who seems to be running scenarios in his head, maybe thinking that one of those people he put in place didn’t do their job correctly.

“You don’t look like you work out.”

The conversation continues. He watches Han Yoojin as the others speak. The man took it upon himself to play with the beast rather than focus on the negotiation, but the way he tilted his head whenever something important was mentioned made him suspect that he was attentive despite not looking so.

When it came to trading, he enjoyed watching Choi Seokwon slowly lose his mind before he slammed his fist on the table.

Not a crack.

Impressive.

What was more impressive was how Han Yoojin didn’t react when Choi Seokwon pointed a finger at him, accusing him of being affiliated with Haeyeon in all but name. Not even a slight flinch.

But something is wrong here, he noticed.

Han Yoojin doesn’t seem to be completely focused on his words, only humming before smiling at him.

He narrowed his eyes.

Something is most definitely wrong.

Did he miss something during the conversation?

“If I was affiliated with Haeyeon only, I would have only raised monsters for the guild. I wouldn’t have bothered coming here. It’s only my wish to see dungeon subjugations get better in the future that I agreed to come. To do that, I’ll have to train beast for every guild instead of just one.”

Ah.

So, part of the rumors is true.

Han Yoojin really is traumatized by the dungeon outbreaks.

At first, many thought that Han Yoohyun despised his older brother. It could have been one of the reasons he never spoke of him. Rarely, did anyone ever get a reaction out of him concerning his sibling.

Only, that wasn’t quite true, from what he’d seen and gathered.

Moon Hyunah seemed to reach the same conclusion.

One glance to the back showed Young Master Han Yoohyun’s very tight white-knuckle grip on his papers, and Park Mingyu’s interest.

“Seeing that part of the deal means that all the guilds in Korea will have premium access, despite my limited space and ability to raise multiple monsters at once, isn’t this considered preferential treatment already?”

“Tsk,” Choi Seakwon.

“I wonder how Choi Jiyoo and Jiwoo would react if I told them their uncle isn’t as polite or nice as they thought. They spoke of you so much, it was as if they had put you on a pedestal.”

Choi Seakwon pales instantly.

What a sneaky attack.

“What?! How do you know my nephews?!”

“It was a coincidence, the same coincidence that led me to meet Yerim-a. When they got into the national football team, the same one you captained years ago, they invited my friend and I came as a plus one. I hadn’t realized until now that they were related to you, Choi Seakwon-ssi. They’re good people.”

Choi Seakwon was now gritting his teeth.

“I understand what that’s like, having to stay away from family now that you’ve got so many eyes on you. But at least act in a way that can make them proud of you,” Han Yoojin admonished.

Silence followed.

They all sent a discreet look towards the Haeyeon’s guild leader.

It seems that the young master had been hiding how impolite he acts when he was away from his brother.

“Ha,” Moon Hyunah grins, breaking the tension. “You got guts. I like you. You should join my guild, Hyung-nim. At least we respect people there,” she offers.

“I’m not interested in joining any guilds. You can’t buy me.”

“Not even if I paid you high enough?”

“No.”

“Not even for your little brother?”

Oh dear, Sung Hyunjae can now feel the temperature rise. He should have brought his coat, but doing so would mean that he’s admitting to being too afraid to come here without protection.

“I’ll join my little brother’s guild if he gets to become the best in the country,” Han Yoojin says happily.

“Best in the country?” He couldn’t help but interfere.

And finally, he manages to get Han Yoojin’s eyes directly on him and no one else. He couldn’t help but feel the fascination all over again. Those eyes, there really was something wrong with him, but they were interesting. The way it glowed for one split second, pretending as if he didn’t bother to know who he was, and the realization that there was a person who didn’t know him instantly.

“Does that mean you’ll join Seseong since it’s currently the best?”

He could feel everyone’s attention on him, and he couldn’t help but share a smile with them.

Now why would they look so annoyed, he wonders?

Han Yoojin hasn’t spoken. He kept staring at him with surprise. His mouth open, his words stuck in his throat.

He can’t help but feel that such imagery was enticing.

What is it, Han Yoojin? What do you want to say?

“That offer’s only limited to my little brother. For everyone else, you’ll have to be the best in the world.”

“Is that a challenge, Han Yoojin-gun?” He hid his slight disappointment.

“Yes,” the word falls easily from his mouth, and the smile that followed was as sweet as honey.

His lips curved, his own eyes nearly shut, feeling excited at the prospect.

He wanted to taste it.

Chapter Text

There was the matter of his security.

People still saw him as a weak F-rank. Technically, they were correct, if you ignored everything else about his skill set. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him anymore, and he found that he didn’t care to find out either.

For once, he was surprised that his brother shared the same opinion with him when it came to his safety.

“Haeyeon can take care of Hyung’s security. No other guild is needed for this.”

This, of course, was met with a lot of criticism from the guild leaders, and even the association manager had to step in.

To Yoojin, he simply didn’t want so many eyes on him.

He was fine with Haeyeon being his security detail, he’s used to it. He knew the people who always watched over him, and they knew exactly how not to interfere with his life while doing their job. They always kept their distance, but were nearby whenever he needed help.

They were good.

Scary good.

But the bodyguards from the other guilds?

He doesn’t know them.

They don’t know him either.

They’d assume things of him.

Where Haeyeon members would just think “Han Yoojin-ssi is doing something weird again, let’s let him be.” These new people would think “This is good material to report back to my superiors.”

He hates it.

He really hates it.

He does still feel happy, however, now that he somehow managed to get a building in the middle of Seol. Never in his wildest dream did he think that he would own a house. He knows that it’s mostly going to get taken by the animal caring facility, but it is still a building he owned and one he can finally live in without Yoohyun going frantically wild about security measures.

His mind slowly turns to think about both Myeongwoo and Dr. Suk Hayan.

He knows that Dr. Hayan would be leaving for America soon because of the lack of funding and support from the association here. However, her future research will bear astronomical results for the hunter community as a whole.

The ability to predict which type of gate is inside.

There was also Myeongwoo, and while he knew that the head of the equipment facility was looking after him, he still couldn’t help but feel a tad overprotective over his friend there. Look at where they put him!

He even admitted that they were hazing him at first!

He felt the familiar coil around his heart, choking ever so slightly.

He didn’t like that at all.

He remembers getting hazed at the army. He went through it as the person Han Yoohyun hated, thus the rest of Korea also hated him. The hazing was just an excuse to mess around with him, as if being cruel needed excuses to be done.

The coiling feeling starts to choke him.

Everyone else had been walking towards the door already, feeling great after finishing a long meeting in a stuffy room with other S ranks they’d rather fight than discuss civilly with them.

Petting Peace wasn’t helping.

The voices faded, but the steps became louder somehow.

He needs to make sure that his friend is going to be in a safe place as well.

He then noticed a pair of legs standing in front of him, separate from the leaving pack. Raising his head, his eyes locked onto Seseong’s guild leader, Sung Hyunjae.

The man was weird, he was just annoying to deal with, and his smarminess added to it.

But the way he kept his eyes on him for the whole meeting may have made him feel slightly nervous.

“Han Yoojin-gun, did you know that we’ve met last year?”

They did?

Sung Hyunjae’s smile stretches, there was something akin to a twinkle in his eyes.

“You left quite an impression. I have wanted to do this the moment you’ve entered the room,” he says before …

What?

Why is he on his knees?

Hey, stop-

Sung Hyunjae holds his free hand, acting as a knight.

“What on earth are you-”

“Han Yoojin-gun, would you like to meet up for coffee this weekend?” He said, pulling his hand closer to-

Yoojin felt his face almost melt off from the embarrassment.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH HYUNG!?”

“My fun is ruined,” Sung Hyunjae said but still grinned before kissing his knuckles and letting go.

“You bastard?!”

“I am simply asking him out on a date.”

“Coffee! He asked for coffee!” Yoojin covered his face.

What the hell was that?

He can still feel the man’s stare on him.

His fingers were burning.

“Hey, you can’t cheat your way into getting a mount by dating him. If that’s the case, I want to go out on a date with him too!” Moon Hyunah yells by the door, now getting closer.

The embarrassment fell right then.

Oh.

Okay.

“No one is dating my Hyung! He doesn’t need rowdy irresponsible people in his life?!”

“Then pick yourself up and throw yourself out of the window,” someone said with a blunt tone.

“No one is throwing themselves out of the window! Joking has limits!” Yoojin shouts. He lets go of his face, glaring at everyone before turning back to Sung Hyunjae. “If you only asked me out for a better deal on magical tamed beasts, then please see yourself out,” he tells him calmly.

“I am hurt that you would think so badly of me. I simply wanted to take us back to the place we met before.”

“I don’t even remember that day,” Yoojin mumbled.

“You ran away from me.”

“WHAT?!” Yoohyun yells.

0o0o0

After making sure Kim Sunghan escorted his brother away from the premises, he turned around to look at the offending party.

“What,” Yoohyun starts. He digs his nails deep into his palm, letting the blood flow. “The hell do you think you’re doing with Hyung,” he demands as his blood starts to heat.

Moon Hyunah whistles. Choi Seakwon scoffs as he walks out of the meeting room, uninterested in what’s happening. Park Mingyu, watching the drama, decides to follow Choi Seakwon’s lead and leaves the room, not without ushering the association manager out.

Sung Hyunjae’s bored expression slowly turned smug.

“I only asked for a formal meeting with Hyung-nim. Is that not allowed? I did not know he was part of Haeyeon for you to be able to stop him from attending.”

“Listen here, you infernal piece of shit-” Yoohyun almost threw his fire, but Moon Hyunah stepped in between them.

“Now, now, let’s all be reasonable here.”

“Funny, since it’s coming from Moon Hyunah-Yang,” Sung Hyunjae said, a smirk almost taking over his face.

“I am trying to be considerate of Yoojin-ssi here,” she said, now sounding irritated. A surprising thing, really, especially when she’s known to be always positive.

Except for those first few months after the initial dungeon break, however, she had never been that positive in her interaction with him.

“I’m not a person who likes to assume, but so far, I can see you both like him. If a brawl between S-ranks starts here, what do you think will happen to everyone else nearby? Especially someone as frail as Han Yoojin-ssi?”

Yoohyun starts growling, unable to refute her.

She was correct. If a fight did start, the pressure could be overwhelming, even for his unusually resistant brother. He didn’t want to risk the possibility of him getting caught up in the fight either.

It irked him that it was Moon Hyunah of all people to be the reasonable one between them.

Sung Hyunjae doesn’t seem as interested in fighting anymore either, he sighs in disappointment.

“No, we can’t do that, not when Master Han Yoohyun failed to keep him safe already, now can we?”

“What are you insinuating?”

“We were all thinking it,” Sung Hyunjae says, his voice flat and uninterested. “Every one of us in the room thought of it. Something terrible must have happened to Han Yoojin, that’s why the stubborn Han Yoohyun, with the unshakable will, who stayed away from him for the past few years suddenly flocked back to him. Don’t you think so, Moon Hyunah-Yang?”

When Yoohyun looks at her, Moon Hyunah shifts her gaze away.

“I’ve heard he got hospitalized,” was all she said.

“That’s none of your concern. Hyung will still be able to raise the beast mounts that you require,” Yoohun replies, ignoring the oppressing feeling in the back of his head. It’s a feeling that he felt every time he saw his Hyung nowadays, and it felt awful.

He hated it.

He did not want to associate his Hyung with such a terrible emotion, but it kept jumping back every single time he laid his eyes on him or even thought of him.

“On the contrary, we should be concerned. What if Han Yoojin-gun’s health deteriorates further?”

“It will not, Hyung is receiving the care that he needs.”

“So, something really did happen,” Sung Hyunjae says.

Yoohyun’s teeth start to ache from how much he grits his jaws, trying his best not to snap at him.

Hyung is nearby. He needs to stay calm for his safety.

“Well, I wouldn’t say he’s that terribly off. He can stand up against us without much issue. Is he like the association president?” Moon Hyunah says.

“I don’t think he’s narcissistic, nonetheless narcissistic enough to ignore everyone else’s aura.”

“He’s definitely off in the mental department,” she said.

“Ah, you noticed him blanking out as well?”

A loud crack was heard.

The two turned around, but all Yoohyun could do was stare at the ground where his spelled blood has created a hole from the force of its explosion.

“Psychosomatic disorders don’t have any specific causes, but studies show a strong correlation between multiple mental illnesses and environmental situations,” Suk Simyeong said long ago. “Stress, neglect, abuse, mood disorders such as depression or anxiety, or substance abuse.”

All the papers from the psychiatrist he had contacted since then littered his office. There is now a shelf specified just for this.

“It’s dissociation,” Yoo Myeongwoo said not that long. “My older sisters had it, it’s sometimes a symptom of depression, which she had.” Anguish can be heard in her memory. He remembers looking into his background after that dungeon.

Hyung wasn’t Yoo Myeonja, a person who has given up and left her family behind. He stayed despite everything. Tried to reach out for him despite Yoohyun cruelly pushing him away. He tried and tried and never gave up.

“Most, however, agree that it is mental and that it gets better with improved mental health and lifestyle choices.” Suk Simyeong continues.

But Hyung never got better.

He got worse.

The limp. The lack of fire resistance. His blackouts.

He keeps losing a part of his brother every single day despite trying his best to keep him safe. No amount of work he’d done was making him happy.

The first time he’d seen a smile on his older brother’s face since forever was when he talked about raising animals.

He cannot ruin this opportunity for him.

He wants his brother to laugh and smile like he always did when they were younger.

He has to make sure nothing ruins this opportunity.

“Nothing,” Yoohyun starts. He looks away from the floor and lets his aura fill his voice. “Is wrong with my brother.”

Moon Hyunah’s brows narrowed.

“No, not at all. Han Yoojin-gun is lovely, wonderful, even perfect in spite of everything,” the nuisance says. “He will stay perfectly fine, I assure you, Young Master Han Yoohyun,” Sung Hyunjae says before shifting his expression back to his default bored one. “Between all of the guilds here in Korea, no one will risk going after him. He will be perfectly safe.”

“What he says,” Moon Hyunah mutters, eying Sung Hyunjae. “Nothing’s wrong with Hyung-nim, nothing wrong will happen to him either.”

Moon Hyunah leaves. Sung Hyunjae was the only one left in the room with him. The man smiles at him as if he heard a joke.

“I don’t think he needs protecting at all,” Sung Hyunjae said. The amusement shines in his eyes for a second. “Not if how he reacted when Hunter Bak Yerim got injured was anything to go by. Funny, I always wondered who managed to raise a monster like you,” he says before he starts stepping away from him.

The echoes of his steps were the only thing that could be heard as Yoohyun held his anger in.

Despite him not spelling his thoughts, the implications were loud.

“He is not,” he finally whispered once there was no one around to hear him. “Hyung is not a monster.”

Chapter Text

Yoo Myeongwoo had been excited about the idea of joining him at the animal-rearing facility. More than ecstatic really.

“It isn’t that I don’t like this place, I like everyone here, but sometimes … I’d really like to have my own place, you know?”

There was one issue though.

“What about the baby?”

The baby, a nickname everyone started giving the spirit grinding wheel. It isn’t like it’s going to get affected if she was left here, but she was Myeongwoo’s daughter, spiritually speaking. He wonders if his friend has already named her.

Resolving this would be difficult.

Technically, the grinding wheel is owned by the Haeyeon guild. They can’t just take it.

But … they can’t leave her either.

He sighed.

It looks like it's time … for the power of nepotism!

“It doesn’t matter,” Suk Simyeong replies once he asked, he didn’t even look away from his papers.

Yoojin felt ice crack under his feet.

“Ah …”

“We have enough money to cover 10,000 grinding wheels for the next few years. It’s all thanks to your suggestion for that slime dungeon acquisition.”

“Oh … Oh! You got it?”

“Yes, we did. It has taken a lot of strain away from us. So, thank you, Han Yoojin-ssi. As for the grinding wheel,” the man sighs, showing a rare moment of discontent as he covered his face. “That could easily be turned into a hostage situation if we kept it from Yoo Myeongwoo-ssi.”

“She,” Yoojin corrects but then shakes his head. “What?”

“It might sound ridiculous, but ever since the dungeon outbreaks, many laws had to be changed to accommodate our new lives. Take your case, for example. Right now, you might not need a license, but if more beast tamers appear in the future, the government might require you to get one. By that point, you’ll be established enough to not require testing and receive your license immediately, but for others, they’ll need to follow the law.”

“Okay, I don’t follow …”

“Like how many laws had been amended for technology, the same will happen for dungeon-related issues. If the court knows that the grinding wheel has a spirit in it birthed by Yoo Myeongwoo-ssi …”

While the wording he used is strange, he understands now.

Wow, it must be tough working as the HR director. Thinking ahead of all the legal consequences.

“We better avoid all of it by letting Yoo Myeongwoo take his child with him.”

“We’re not even sure that she’s his child.”

“Your skill described her as such. But if you’re worried, I can bring another person to asses her.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Thank you, Suk Simyeong-ssi. You’ve been very helpful.”

The man smiled at him as he left.

With that out of the way, he directed his attention at someone else, someone he wanted to stay in Korea but previously did not have a way to prevent her from leaving.

Only, he didn’t quite expect his conversation with her to turn to somewhere unexpected.

“Buckwheat jelly?”

“And rice wine! At the end of the lunar month,” she said, preparing said meal and putting it on her window sill.

“And this is for the …”

“Dokkaebi!”

It speaks volumes on how much nonsense he sees every day that this is not on top of his list.

He looks at the window, at the comically enormous jelly, and then at the crescent moon shinning between the clouds.

Dokkaebi, an unknown hunter rumored to have a teleportation skill. They’re always seen during outbreaks or natural disasters, helping people and saving them. Always wearing the dokkaebi outfit, which earned them their nickname.

At first, it had caused some international outrage, a person crossing borders wherever they want. They couldn’t even tell who the Dokkaebi is, not their gender, age, face.

But once the world realized that the Dokkaebi’s only actions was to help people, they let him be. Yoojin thought that it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts though, they just never had the resources to track or find the Dokkaebi.

Thus, a legend grew …

“So, I thought, he might know all about dungeons!”

Really, no matter how smart people can be, they can always be silly. But he can admire her dedication to her research.

“Why not ask Haeyeon guild to-”

The lights shut off.

“Huh?” She said. “Is there a blackout? Do you think something serious happened?”

“I don’t hear any outbreak sirens, don’t worry,” he immediately said, noticing the slight quiver under her voice, and remembering Suk Simyeong’s story of how he awakened.

“You’re right,” she sounded relieved. “You’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t let my imagination turn wild,” she said as she opened her phone’s flashlight.”

Then she stopped, staring at him with a look of slight uncomprehending terror. It grows as she raises her fingers to point at him.

No.

Not at him.

At something behind him.

Suk Hayan starts screeching, dropping her phone as she fell on the ground, screaming her lungs out and covering her head.

Without much thought or a second to process what was going on, he turns and throws his cane at the offending culprit. His instincts shouting at him, ready to pierce whatever decided to attack Suk Hayan at her place-

Then he sees the flash of light, it was trying to run away, he knew deep within that the prey was escaping.

And he jumps, slamming onto the wall behind him, pinning down the offending party-

He can feel his hand heating up-

“Wait! Wait! I’m sorry!” Someone screamed, sounding desperate. “P-Please don’t hurt me! I was trying to play a joke- I didn’t mean to make her faint!”

He blinks.

Han Yoojin suddenly let go of the other, not realizing how fast he moved. He stood up, stumbled, then fell on the floor, still staring at his hands.

Wh-What-

What was that?

He was ready to-

“Suk Hayan,” he remembered. Turning around to find her unconscious on the floor. He took another moment before he crawled to her, picking her off the ground and trying to shake her awake.

Was he supposed to shake her?

What was he supposed to do with unconscious people?

Shit-

What would he tell Suk Simyeong if he finds out about what happened to his niece? The man awakened because of his family, he loves them enough to start fighting when it isn’t in him to do so. He also knew well enough from what little interaction he had with Suk Hayan that she was scared of dungeons.

Why else would she be so insistent to study them? Why else would she work so hard to make sure the unknown isn’t unknown anymore? You can’t fear what you know well-

“I’m- I’m sorry,” someone said, floating nearby.

Yoojin turned around to meet with the person who thought that this was all a funny joke, but he was met with a red mask, framed with silvery white strands of hair.

Despite the mask, you could still tell the worry on the owner was feeling.

“A prank should be funny for everyone,” Yoojin said, his eyes glowing, picking every information possible off of the person.

Yoon Yoon.

[Guess Who? (S)]

[Cloud Steps (B)]

“Guess who?”

“Who? Me? Can you guess?” The … man? Woman? Person said, now floating closer to him.

Cloud steps.

“Don’t throw this conversation off! You scared Suk Hayan so much she fainted! What would you do if she hit her head wrong and she died?”

“That can happen?” Yoon Yoon asked, looking confused and slightly surprised. “But I don’t get hurt when I hit the ground.”

“That’s because you’re a B-rank hunter! She isn’t even awakened! She’s delicate!”

“But I didn’t mean to hurt her, honest!”

“How can I trust your honesty when you come in like that?”

“But I didn’t mean to…” Yoon Yoon’s floating starts to decrease, he was getting closer to the ground, looking like he’ll slump and clamp up. “I really didn’t mean to. She wanted to meet me, that’s why she made me jelly, right? I thought she’d like some fun.”

“Jelly?”

Jelly …

“Dokkaebi?”

“That’s me!” Yoon Yoon replies, looking happy for a second before flinching when he realizes that he is still angry-

Shit-

No wonder the guy’s so timid when all he heard about him was about how bold he is.

Guy? Was Dokkaebi even a guy? His screen didn’t specify either-

He takes in a deep breath.

Slow, deep, breath.

And let it out.

Over, and over, and over again.

“You look like you’re breathing heavily,” Yoon Yoon whispered, his voice much closer than before. If it weren’t for his fear resistance, he would have jumped right then.

“Don’t get into people’s personal space like that!”

“But I do it all the time, people never complained,” Yoon Yoon said.

Yoojin gives him a look.

“So, I might have kicked them in the face before they could complain. But they deserve it! They’re bad people!”

“How do you know they’re bad people?”

“Well, my team tells me they’re bad. They show me what they did, and they’re actually really bad. I hang around them for a while to confirm, and then I attack. But you two don’t seem that bad.”

“What do you mean by that bad?”

“You’re a dragon protecting his people, so I shouldn’t be surprised that you were angry. It’s my fault for doing that.”

Dragon?

He takes a gulp.

“I’m not a dragon,” he tells Yoon Yoon before relaxing a bit.

Don’t get angry, Han Yoojin.

“And after this, when Suk Hayan wakes up, you should apologize to her.”

“What? No, it doesn’t matter, I can leave and-”

“Are you scared?”

Yoon Yoon clamps up.

“I’m not scared! I scare people!”

“You didn’t scare me, though,” he said.

“That’s- I can scare you!”

“Do you want to bet?”

“A bet?”

“Or are you too scared to lose? Like how you’re too scared to apologize to Suk Hayan?”

“No! I can both win and apologize! But a bet is boring without any consequences …”

“You want consequences?” An idea lit up in Yoojin’s head.

Chapter Text

He’ll admit, that was the easiest gamble he ever won.

He didn’t plan for it with someone else falling unconscious though. The newest Dokkaebi victim was none other than Myeongwoo, who was lucky that the knife he had been grinding at that time didn’t fall on him as he fainted.

Yoon Yoon had cried so much because of his failure, his ears were starting to split.

“Stop crying, are you a child?”

“I’m a hundred years old!”

Why does it feel like he’s younger than Yerim then?

“Stop joking!”

“It’s true! I’m 100! I’m a Dokkaebi!”

“Dokkaebi’s don’t exist.”

“Dungeons and awakened people exist,” Yoon Yoon points out.

Well … that is true.

“You still act like a child,” he tells him straight, the Dokkaebi’s mask from his last attempt to scare him fell with a loud clack.

Yoon Yoon pouts.

“I’m simultaneously over a hundred years old, and three years old,” he finally admits.

Three?

Three years ago …

And something clicks in his head.

“Were you born along with the system?”

“Bingo!” Yoon Yoon yells, now floating and doing a tiny spin in the air. It looked to be a habit of his, a little tell of his excitement. “I was sleeping for a long time. Every few decades, a new owner came, and the last and longest one was a grandma who took care of me! Then, one day, the world changed, and I felt myself wake up!”

What … sort of nonsense …

But … it does make sense, somehow?

The system is still mysterious, there wasn’t much advancement in understanding what it was from his time. Otherwise, anything is possible with it.

“It’s like Yoo Yeongja,” he heard. His head instantly snapped back to his friend who seemed to have woken up for just now, though he still seemed tired as he tried to rub the fatigue from his eyes.

“Yoo Yeongja?”

“That’s … that’s what I decided to name the baby,” Myeongwoo admits, his face turning a shade dark.

“Oh …” the grinding wheel with the spirit. “Oh!”

“Yeong for flourishing, ja is … for my older sister. When Dokkaebi said an old lady took care of him, then he woke up, I realized …”

“Like how you took care of the grinding wheel!”

Wow.

The baby was a Dokkaebi.

Fuck.

They had a baby Dokkaebi, and-

“There’s another Dokkaebi?” Yoon Yoon asked, looking very interested.

Another actual real Dokkaebi.

“She’s not born yet. I think the term that you used was sleeping? She’s still sleeping,” Myeongwoo said.

“Aww, I wanted to meet her,” Yoon Yoon spins again, floating away, pretending to sleep on an imaginary hammock. “Another Yoon Yoon!”

“Yeongja,” first character for flourishing, second for child.

He looks at Yoon Yoon.

“The old lady’s name must have had Yoon as a surname … and your second Yoon is a watermill.”

That’s why he was spinning so much!

“How’d you know?” Dokkaebi asked, looking surprised. “You’re so smart!”

Endure it Yoojin, he’s an actual literal child. 3 years old. With an adult body, yes, but still a child.

And he has a terrifying transportation skill.

“I wish I had teleportation skills,” he said.

“You wish to be like me?” Yoon Yoon asked, looking very prideful as he spun back to him.

“Yes. It would be the dream, wouldn’t it? To run away and never care about the world anymore,” he said, smiling at the thought. “No one can hurt you if they can’t find you.”

It would have been great. So many things could have been avoided, and he could have just disappeared from his previous life.

Just to take one step and leave it all behind … wasn’t that ideal?

“Yoojin …” Myeongwoo said, his voice was weak. “Don’t say stuff like that. I’d miss you, and so would everyone else.”

“Ah- Sorry! I didn’t realize,” he couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. It felt hollow, somehow.

“Mister,” Dokkaebi says, suddenly closer than ever before. “Did someone hurt you?”

“Wh-What?”

“You said you wanted teleportation so no one can hurt you. Is that why you wanted me to sign the contract? To have access to teleportation?” Dokkaebi seemed to blink behind his mask, they were quite expressive despite that barrier. “I would have helped anyway. Because, I’m a Dokkaebi who helps people! You only needed to ask.”

“It’s- It’s fine. No one’s out to hurt me,” he hopes. “I wanted your teleportation skills to help Huk Sayan-ssi.”

“Oh! The one I could have hurt,” Yoon Yoon realized, he looked discontent by the fact that he almost hurt her. “Okay. I’ll help. What do I need to do?”

0o0o0

“Han Yoojin-ssi,” someone calls out for him. He turns around to find Suk Hayan running towards him, wearing her usual white lab coat while holding some papers close to her chest. She was huffing very hard when she stopped in front of him, but her eyes were lit up once she breathed enough air and looked at him.

She was smiling.

“I talked to my uncle, and he told me about the Slime Dungeon prediction you made. That was amazing! How ever did you theorize-”

Mentally, Yoojin blanks out.

Because, shit. He doesn’t know how to answer that.

“It’s a one-off prediction,” he cuts out halfway through her talk. She looked confused, but he shook his head. “I noticed a small pattern and went on a hunch, but I entirely forgot about it until Suk Simyeong-ssi said that they got it.”

“You can’t retrace your theory?” She looked crushed.

“I didn’t think it would yield any results, so I never bothered,” he winced.

He’s very good at this now, the lying thing.

“But the fact that I was onto something means there really is a pattern!” He immediately saves the conversation. “But I can’t think thoroughly about it anymore. I have the beast-taming business now.”

Suk Hayan’s mouth turns round, as if to say ‘Oh’.

But she does look on the positive side.

“You’re right. The fact that a small prediction was correct meant that there really was a method. It’s a shame that you have trouble recalling things easily.”

“Huh?”

“But that’s fine. I can work with that. All I need is space and some funding-”

“You can join me,” Yoojin blurts out, finally finding the opportunity to give her the offer. He finally feels like the light is shining upon him with this golden opportunity, the angels are singing, the clouds are splitting, and the rivers are now bountiful. “At the beast-taming facility. I already segregated space for Yoo Myeongwoo for his forging space. I can segregate more for your research.”

“But that would be intruding …” she muttered.

“No! If it’s for the wellbeing of the future and safety for all,” and most importantly, the safety of Yoohyun!

“That’s … thank you, Han Yoojin-ssi! You’re very generous,” she looked like she was very appreciative, and dare he say it, admiring. “That only leaves me with funding,” she sighs. “I can’t get more grants, especially after I tried so hard for the last few months. And the royalties from my previous research won’t be enough,” she looked like she was starting to worry again.  “You’ve already offered your information broker’s data, so that’s a load off of my shoulder.”

“I know a good solution for that,” Yoojin said.

It’s … the power of Nepotism!

“Ah, Han Yoojin-ssi, I was actually going to meet you now,” Suk Simyeong says. Nowadays, he likes to go through him first before bringing stuff up to Yoohyun. He finally understands the balancing effect the man has on his little brother. “I sent a message request to you earlier, but I only just remembered that you never check your phone.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that,” he huffed.

Suk Simyeong raised a brow.

“You didn’t have a smartphone when you first got here, only a brick one.”

“Err …”

“You don’t have any social accounts.”

“Ah …”

“You don’t even have a texting app,” Suk Simyeong says. “I inferred that you rarely check your e-mails either. I arranged for a company mail so that you wouldn’t need to create one for your own and it would be easier to arrange meetings that way. But much like the guild leader, you rarely check your schedule.”

It was like he was bonked with a hammer in an arcade game.

Bullseye.

“I’ll try to do better,” he couldn’t help but meekly say. The man huffs, but looks fondly at him.

“I’m used to this.”

Yoohyun … how are you treating your subordinates?

“Anyway, I wanted to discuss something important with you, so it’s great that you’re here. Look at this,” the man then pulls an invite. An official-looking invite inside an envelope, one Yoojin had seen before in a future-past.

Yoojin slowly took the envelope into his hand and pulled out a letter from inside to read it.

After going through the letter, he gapes at it, giving it back to the man.

“Can I refuse?”

“I expected as much,” the man muttered.

He was just invited into an interview on national television.

And he wasn’t interested.

He didn’t have any good experiences with media before, he doesn’t think he’ll have a good one in this lifetime either.

“The interview doesn’t necessarily have to be focused on you,” Suk Simyeong says. “We can change the direction of the conversation towards Peace rather than to you. I know that they want to also interview you but they haven’t specified, and it will be more beneficial for the world to know about Peace and your ‘Beast taming’ skills than about your personal life.”

The way Suk Simyeong did the air quotation mark was exactly like Kim Sunghan.

“Who …” Yoojin stops, feeling himself gulp. “Who are the reporters?”

“Are there specific ones you want to interview you? Or ones who you do not want to see?”

“I …” He doesn’t to see them again. Those two who always talked about him non-stop, always saying bad things about him. He didn’t think that there was a possibility that he’d ever see them again. “I …”

“Han Yoojin-ssi?” Suk Simyeong looks at the thermometer again. “Do you need time? You do not have to agree to this if you do not want to.”

“Can- Can you bring someone who already did a segment about animals before?” He finally asked.

After a moment of silence, the man slowly nods.

“That is easy enough.”

“Thank you. I’ll …” he stood up, blinking slowly as he forgot what he was originally here for. “I’ll take my leave.”