Archive of Our Own ^beta

You never asked to awake as a hunter, an A-Rank hunter nonetheless. You were pretty athletic and quick witted, but you had always hated fighting.

Scouts from various guilds reached you after your evaluation, asking you to join them, but you politely declined all offers saying that you already had something in mind. They all probably thought that you were waiting for a specific guild to contact you, but the truth was that… 

“I want to be a teacher.” You told the chairman of Hunters Association, when he asked to have a meeting.

“Is that so?” The chairman, Go Gun-Hee, smiled understandingly at you.

“I…I know that people will judge me for my choice, but I have my reasons.”

“It’s okay, I won’t force you, Miss (L/n). I just want to let you know that there will always be a place for you here too, if you ever change your mind.”

This time you smiled.

“Thank you, but I don’t think that I will change my mind.”

You wanted to live a normal life, one where you were just a teacher for a bunch of high schoolers. So yes, a lot of people criticize you after finding out that you were a high ranked mage who decided against entering dungeons – against fighting for society.

“Don’t listen to them, (Y/n) Unnie!” Jin-Ah exclaimed once, when you told the young girl what had been happening around you. “You can do whatever you like! Who are these people to judge what you want, anyway?!”

“I mean…it’s just irritating…” You sighed. “Is it so wrong of me to want to be something that’s not a hunter?”

A hand patted your head, and you turned your head to look at your sweet boyfriend, who gave you an encouraging smile.

“No, you are not wrong.” Jin-Woo said, his voice calm and soft as always. “As long as this is the path that you decide for yourself, (Y/n).”

Your chest felt warm hearing those words, and you couldn’t hold back the small smile and the laugh that escaped your lips. 

“Thank you.” You muttered, before kissing his cheek.

“Woah! Big words from someone who always lands at the hospital, Mister E-rank hunter…” Jin-Ah interrupted, provoking her older brother, who just rolled his eyes.

But of course, that was a conversation before Jin-Woo reawakened anyway.

However, you are glad that you never gave a damn about people’s opinions about your life and didn’t change your mind, because now, facing this B, maybe A-rank monsters, you were sure that you made the right choice by not accepting the offers.

People were screaming, the sound of doors and windows being broken were echoing around the whole school. The walls and floor were painted red – red with blood, the blood of your precious students –, and you hated that you couldn’t help everyone.

It was definitely a dungeon break, and of all places, it had to happen inside the school, a building holding more than 300 students.

You knew that some of them escaped, it was lunch break and a lot of students were probably having lunch outside when the problem started, but still, there were a lot still inside the classrooms, cafeteria and halls…and now…most of them were probably…

The green monster – an orc, if you remembered correctly – swung the ax towards you, and you blocked it with the sword that you had inside your space magic inventory.

Mages usually were the ones supporting a party from behind, but once depleted of mana, they were just like any other normal human, unable to protect themselves. But you never liked the idea of being helpless, so twice a week you trained kumdo under the supervision of Song Chi-Yu, who also awakened as a mage, but never left behind the martial arts.

You jumped, leaving some distance between you and the orc, and when it charged in your direction, you deflected the ax, using it as a step stone, and swung your sword, cutting off the monster head.

“Go! Go inside the classroom!” You yelled at some of your students who were still in the hall. “Put the tables and chairs at the door and make a barricade! I'm gonna buy you as much time as I can!”

You knew that it was useless, it was only you – an A-rank hunter without experience – against a crowd of orcs. These monsters would go through any barricade in just a second, but right now, any second that you could buy for these kids was precious.

“(Y/n) unnie!” Jin-Ah yelled by the door, when another orc came in your direction.

This time you used magic, an ice shard appeared in your hands, and at the next second it was stuck in the head of the orc, who fell lifeless to the ground.

“I said: Go inside, Jin-Ah!” You yelled again, eyes never leaving the opposite side of the hall, where more monsters were coming from.

“BUT!”

“This is an order from your teacher ! Go inside!”

“Come on, Jin-Ah!” Song-Yi pulled her friend inside and closed the door, making you sighed relieved that someone was there for the girl who you saw as your own sister.

Now…

There were a lot of monsters coming, and fighting in such a narrow space was difficult enough against only one orc, if they cornered you, it was game over. You didn’t have other choice.

The air in the hall got cold, ice shards started to appear around you…

I need to reduce the number of monsters, no matter what.

…and then a shadow, a black and blue shadow in the form of a bear suddenly showed up.

“...Tank…?” You muttered, (e/c) eyes wide with surprise.

The bear was smaller than you remembered, but it probably adapted its size to fit in the hall.

“Hah…” You almost laughed.

Your boyfriend surely was the best.

“Let's go, Tank!”

…

You were panting – tired of averting attacks and almost out of mana –, your vision was starting to swirl, black dots appearing here and there, and to make things worse, you were probably suffering from blood loss from the cut on your back.

Tank was a great help, but everytime that it got destroyed, it took a few moments to come back, and that was a disadvantage for your side.

How many orcs did you and Tank kill anyway? You didn’t know anymore, and it’s not like you were counting, but didn’t it have an end? No matter how many you pierced with ice shards or cut with your sword, those damn monsters keep coming.

You just took your eyes from the monsters for a second, just a second, and then, you were being thrown through the door of the classroom that you were trying to block. Your students yelled your name, when you hit the floor coughing and trying to pull some air in your lungs at the same time.

Jin-Ah came in your direction and helped you up, and then you felt how her hands were trembling. There was no need to look behind you to know that not only Jin-Ah, but all students, were more than terrified right now.

You took a deep breath, trying to calm down your panicking heart. Nothing good would come if you lose to your own anxiety.

“Stay behind me.” You muttered, pushing the girl to the back of the classroom.

You were all surrounded, and you didn’t know how much longer you could hold against the orcs. How long has it been since this horror movie started? Where was the Hunter Association? Where was the cavalry?

Two monsters charged, and you cut an arm of one with your sword, while Tank bit the head of the other one, but you didn’t have time to block the punch that came from another orc that came inside the room.

It hurted like hell – and you were sure that you had a broken rib or two –, however you didn’t have the time to stop, those creatures were going for your students. 

“I’m right here, bastards!” You yelled, using your weapon to stand up, and sending ice shards immediately, piercing the monsters’ heads. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on my students!”

You crossed the classroom with an agility that you didn’t know you possessed – adrenaline , you thought – and cut the opponents as best as you could considering that your body was screaming in pain. 

Then the thing that scared you the most happened. One orc passed through you and Tank, and raised the weapon at Jin-Ah’s direction.

No! No! No!

“JIN-AH!”

Suddenly, a red arm shot up from the shadows, grabbing the orc’s arm.

For a second you thought that you would pass out of relief, because of course your boyfriend would leave a guard, ‘No, three guards.’ – you thought as other 2 red orcs appeared – for his baby sister.

“You could have shown up earlier!”

The red high orc looked at you with a confused expression before punching the enemy through the roof.

…

With Tank and the three high orcs' help, you thought that now you may have a chance to win and leave this situation, but then, a new figure came around the corner, bigger and more intimidating than the others.

You instinctively knew that he was the boss.

Great, just great.

It yelled and pointed the weapon that it was caring at you, and really, people didn’t have to understand monster language to know what it was saying.

He wanted you dead.

“Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.” You said sarcastically, as a few ice shards flew at the boss's direction.

But well, a boss was a boss at the end of the day.

The shards fell to the ground, small pieces of ice scattered all around the floor.

That’s bad.

Even if you were a newbie – no experience at all –, if you had to fight just the boss, you may have stood a chance. However, after who knows how long killing and almost being killed by its minions, you were exhausted and now completely out of mana, that attack was the last one you could conjure.

With hands trembling, you pointed the sword at the boss, but one of Jin-Woo high orcs pushed you to the side, shaking it head, as if telling you to take a break.

Before you could say a word of protest, Jin-Ah and Song-Yi grabbed your arms and pulled you at the back of the class.

“Stop (Y/n) unnie.” Jin-ah’s voice was weak, tears threatening to fall any moment as she checked your injuries. “Stay here, please…”

You didn’t dare to speak – you didn’t even know if you had the strength to – so you just patted the girl’s head and hugged her with your other arm, (e/c) eyes never leaving the dungeon boss, who was yelling something at the direction of Jin-Woo’s shadows.

The green orcs attacked together this time, slashing the shadow soldiers with fury, never giving them a chance to regenerate. And when you least expected, the boss approached you and your students while the shadows were occupied with its soldiers.

Pushing Jin-Ah to Song-Yi, you immediately blocked the boss sword with your own.

What a brutal attack!

The sword felt impossibly heavy – or maybe the boss was just too strong. Or both. There was no way to tell. Your arms and back screamed in pain as the floor cracked beneath your feet, buckling under the pressure of the attack.

The boss was yelling again, red eyes not even looking at you, but at Jin-Ah.

You gritted your teeth – anger consuming your being – and pushed with all your strength the enemy's weapon, making him take a step back.

“Where are you looking at, your piece of shit?!” The insult left your mouth so naturally that you almost felt proud. If Jin-Woo was here, he would probably be surprised, but would still laugh at your words. The situation was fitting after all. “Your opponent is me!”

The boss growled at you, an animalistic sound that made you and all your students flinch, before it charged at you again – this time, it was looking properly at you.

So now, I am considered an enemy.

You leap to the side, narrowly dodging the attack, and raise your sword to strike –but the boss catches it, halting your movements. Before you can react, he swings his weapon at you once more. You didn’t have time to think, you let go of your sword and threw yourself to the ground to avoid the blade that would have cut you in half – the monster grunted loudly, probably irritated that you avoided certain death and crushed your sword using just his bare hands.

The students gasped horrified at the demonstration of strength, if the boss could break an A-Rank weapon with bare hands, they (and also you), didn’t want to think about what could happen if he got his hands on any of you.

Conjuring a second (and last) weapon from your magic space inventory – a dagger of all things –, you stared at the monster, analyzing its movements and waiting for an opening.

You never saw Jin-Woo fighting, but you knew that his chosen weapon was a dagger, if not, you were sure that he was just punching monsters inside the dungeons, however, one thing that you learned from him when fighting with a dagger, was that everything was a matter of timing.

“It doesn't matter if the opponent is a monster or a human.” Jin-Woo said once, while the two of you were preparing dinner. “There’s always an opening, an opportunity to strike.”

“Andddd you are telling me this because…?” You joked, pushing him with your hips.

“Well, you never know when you will need the knowledge.” He answered with a shrug.

I’m glad that I listened to his battle’s advice.

You didn’t have another choice if not dodge the attacks for now, you couldn’t risk breaking your dagger trying to stop the sword. You were smaller and faster than the boss, you need to use it in your favour.

An opening, you just need an opening. One second was enough.

And as if your prayers were heard, the boss slammed the sword in the ground trying to beat you, resulting in the sword getting stuck on the floor.

That’s my chance!

You charged at the dungeon boss, his right side open for an attack, all you needed to do was strike it on the neck and things would be over.

But you were naive.

“Ah, but remember that the higher the rank, the more intelligent they are, be it people or monsters.” Your black haired boyfriend warned.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that not everyone plays fair.”

The monster smirked – Was that even possible? But it did look smug! – and when you realized what was happening, it was too late. You barely had the time to block the sword that surely wasn’t stuck at the floor at all.

You were sent flying, back at the hall, where you hit the already damaged walls. The air left your lungs, and for a second everything went black. Your body hit the floor, and the dagger that you were holding fell from your hands, you didn’t have the energy to hold it or to get up anymore. Something warm was running down your face, and the strong smell of iron invaded your nostrils. 

You were bleeding…

Hah…great…

…and probably had a concussion.

Double great.

You closed your eyes for a moment, trying to focus, trying to make the world stop spinning, trying to hold back the urge to vomit, trying to regain any leftover energy to stand up, because you could hear your students screaming your name at the top of their lungs.

They need you.

Jin-Ah needed you.

Tears of frustration started to form in your eyes, no matter how much you were forcing your body to get up, it wasn’t responding to your wants.

Another scream, Song-Yi was screaming Jin-Ah’s name.

Please, please, get up!

But your legs and arms weren’t moving.

Get up! Get up!

From where you were, you couldn’t see what was happening inside the classroom, so your stupid brain was painting the worst scenarios.

Silence.

Oh God…please, no…

Suddenly the boss yelled, and at the same time you felt a big source of magic power approaching.

The whole building trembled, pieces of the roof falling to the ground. There was smoke coming from inside the classroom, and among the sounds coming from there, you heard his voice.

“You’re safe now.”

You wanted to cry, he came. Jin-Woo really came. And he arrived, shutting up the damn monsters.

“It’s alright now.”

“Oppa!”

Jin-Ah’s voice made you release a breath that you didn’t even realize that you were holding.

She is okay. Jin-Ah is safe.

“I’m sorry, I’m late…”

No…you’re not. You thought, closing your eyes.

“Is everyone okay?” He asked, and you were glad to hear your students' voices. “Where is (Y/n)?”

“In the hall! (Y/n) unnie, s-she's in the hall! T-That monster, it attacked her!”

The magical power in the air seemed to disappear for a moment, and then it came back with almost the double of force, it was so intense that you could feel it almost crushing you.

“Igris…take care of Jin-Ah.” His voice was controlled, and you knew that he was barely holding back his anger. “Everyone else, take the students and head down first.”

And now you could finally let your body relax. Jin-Woo would take care of things from here. You didn’t need to worry anymore.

Maybe the relief was so big that you lost consciousness for a moment, because when you realized what was happening again, you could see your boyfriend pressing the stupid dungeon boss on the wall by the neck.

Hah…

“Serves…you right…” You muttered, a smirk on your lips as you saw the desperate look on the orc’s face. The face of someone who was facing death itself.

Jin-Woo immediately made eye contact with you, his beautiful gray eyes getting wide as soon as he accessed your wounds, at least the visible ones.

“Thanks for coming…” You tried to smile, but no smile would make your boyfriend less worried now. And it was your impression, or it was getting hard to breathe? Did a rib punctured your lungs?

“(Y/n)...” It was so good to hear your name, even if it sounded strangled.

“Hey babe…” You greeted, coughing blood as soon as the words left your lips. You saw Jin-Woo make a move to let go of the orc, but you glared at him, daring your boyfriend to abandon his duty as a S-Rank to help her. “Don’t you dare let go of this bastard.”

“I need to treat you now.” He said, voice serious, but still stayed where he was.

You grunted, you couldn’t move a finger, so yes, maybe you were in need of medical attention, but looking around and seeing the…blood trail that the orcs left behind, you couldn’t care less about your condition.

“If you let go of this piece of shit…I’m going to break up with you, got it?!” 

Who would have thought that mere words would make one of the strongest hunters in the world flinch?

“This is not the time to jok-”

“Because of this guy, my students are…they are…” You couldn’t say that word, and it made you more angry. “If you don’t want to be single by the next minute Sung Jin-Woo, do me a favor and give that…” You glared at the boss dungeon. “...hell.”

And with those words, you use all your energy. You heard your boyfriend call your name, but the world went black before you could mutter another word.

At least now, everything would be okay.

…

When you woke up, the white ceiling of a hospital room was staring back at you. The room was bright, the smell of antiseptic was pretty strong and you could hear the beeps of a heart monitor – your heart monitor, you were alive. There was also an IV drip on your arm – with (probably) a lot of pain killer –, and someone was holding your hand.

“Good morning.”

As you looked up, you were greeted by the expression of relief from your boyfriend.

“How are you feeling, (Y/n)?”

Like shit. You wanted to say, but you decided to entertain him.

“Like a truck just ran over me, and came back on reverse.” You answered. “Did you get the plate? I want to press charges.”

Jin-Woo arched an eyebrow, amused by your choice of words.

“Don’t worry, I already took care of it.”

You smiled and closed your eyes again, letting a relieved sigh escape your lips. It was really over.

“How is Jin-Ah? How are all the students?”

Jin-Woo seemed to stop to think for a moment, as if pondering what to say.

“And don’t lie.” You added.

“Jin-Ah is in this hospital as well, with a few bruises, but she is going to be okay, just like the other students that you saved.”

“Any other…survivors?” You asked, but Jin-Woo just closed his eyes and shook his head. “...Dammit…”

“You did what you could.” He interjected immediately, silencing the negative thoughts creeping into your mourning mind. “You’re not even a hunter, yet you stood your ground against A-Rank monsters alone. You should be proud, because without you, Jin-Ah and the others might not have made it out alive.”

There were a few tears ready to fall from your eyes, you were frustrated, angry and so sad, but somewhere in your brain, you knew that what your boyfriend was saying was also true. In the end you did what was possible in that situation, and you saved a few lives. So instead of using words, you just nodded, to let the man know that you understand what he was saying.

“But you really gave me a scare back there.” Jin-Woo said, his grip on your hand tightening. “Passing out after threatening to break up with me.”

You couldn’t hold back a snort. What kind of nonsense was this guy sputtering now? Drying the tears with the back of your other hand, you opened your eyes to take a look at the man beside your hospital bed.

“So, which one was scarier? Me passing out or the threat?”

“Both.” He deadpanned, but you knew that he was trying to light up the mood.

For a few moments you two didn’t say anything, but you knew that you needed to tell him a few things, for your and his well being.

“I…I’m sorry for scaring you.” You finally say, looking at his gray eyes. When he didn’t say a word, you decided to continue. “But back there, I was…I was so mad at that damn monster, at the whole situation, that I wanted you to end it before trying to come to me.”

“I know.” The man muttered, his thumb tracing circle patterns at the back of your hand.

“But next time, I promise to not threaten you.”

He frowned.

“There won’t be a next time.”

You smiled.

“I know, but even if it did happen, you would come again, I’m sure.”

“Of course.” He said, flicking your forehead. “Stupid.”

“Hey! What was that for?!” You exclaimed, with a hand massaging the place where you were hit.

“I’m glad that you are looking out for other people, but you should also take care of yourself!”

“It’s not like I didn’t try…” You muttered, because it was true. Who in their right mind would want to be at the brink of death?

“Try harder!”

“Says the guy who jumped inside gates as if going on a walk in the park before reawakening!”

This time Jin-Woo blushed embarrassed.

“T-this and that are different!”

“How so?!” You questioned, holding back a laugh. Your boyfriend was just too cute to mess with.

He sighed, before putting a hand on your face, caressing your cheek with his thumb. You leaned into the touch, closing your eyes, enjoying the quiet moment.

“Thank you for coming.” You muttered, happy with his strong and comforting presence beside you.

“You’re welcome.” Came the answer, way closer than you expected.

When you opened your eyes, you saw gray. They were staring at you intensely, trying to confirm if you were really there, if you were really okay, if you were really alive.

“I’m here.” You say.

“Yes, you are.” He answers.

And his lips met yours, as if confirming what his eyes were trying to tell him.

You were still here, by his side.

And he was there, by yours.