Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Hello to all those reading. Hope you enjoy this story idea I have. Not sure how great it's gonna be compared to other stories, but I think it's a neat idea. Let me know what you think when you're done reading and I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible. 

Cha Hae-In wasn't sure how she ended up where she was. 

One minute, she had been enjoying her day off the best she could by having a relaxing walk around town. Now, she was in an area of it she never intended to be in. That was mostly due to the incident earlier, when she had stopped a pair of thieves on a bike from stealing a woman's purse. 

She hadn't broken a sweat stopping them, but had when the people around her realised who she was. 

Hae-In hated being an S Rank hunter. When she had awakened, everything had changed for her. She had only gotten assessed out of curiosity and the next thing she knew, she was on the news as Korea's ninth S Rank. 

She would have been fine as an A, B or C Rank hunter. But instead, she had become a world famous S and now everyone who saw her wanted her to sign an autograph or take a picture with her. Something she wasn't comfortable with. So when the people around her started doing just that, her fight or flight response had kicked in. 

Since she couldn't hurt anyone, she was forced to flee. And that had caused her to take to the rooftops and run until she found an empty street she could jump down into without attracting any attention. But now she was in an area of the city she barely ever went to. And she had no idea what she should do now. 

She sighed and simply walked down the street, heading in the direction that would get her home fastest. The last thing she needed was to get swarmed again. Especially if other hunters were in the mix. 

As she walked, she reached into her pocket for her handkerchief. She would need it, in case she ran into an awakened. 

That was the thing she hated most about being an S Rank. As soon as she awakened, it was like the world around her had been bathed in garbage. She had always had a sensitive nose, but awakening had turned it up to eleven. Whenever she was around or in an area of mana, it took all her will power not to throw up. Of course, this made hunting a difficult task. Being around Hunters and magic beasts was a nightmare for her. 

However, Hae-In refused to let that stop her. She was an S Rank and refused to let that power go to waste. Even if she hated it, she knew she had a duty to use her powers to help those in need. 

That was why, when she suddenly picked up on a horrible smell, she didn't stop and go the other way. "A Gate?" She frowned, the smell lingering in the air. "Doesn't smell that bad. Must be E Rank." Despite there being no real danger, she couldn't just leave. E Rank or not, a Gate was still a Gate. If even one monster got out, it could do a lot of damage. 

As such, she slowly made her way towards it. But when she did, she sensed something. 

It wasn't a smell like she normally used to figure out a situation. Instead, it was a gut feeling. Something inside her, told the young woman that something very bad was happening. And this made her move a little faster than she normally would. And when she finally arrived on the scene, she was able to see what was happening. 

The first thing she spotted was the Gate. A large blue swirling light, which led to some other dimension. It had appeared inside a construction yard, surrounded by piles and scaffolding. But that wasn't what made her worry. 

What made her worry were the individuals currently outside the Gate, looking terrified. Three men and two women, one of which was unconscious on the floor. Another was on the phone and when she got closer, she heard him say something about the Association. No doubt, the Hunters Association. Which meant this was something big. 

Then, she noticed another of the hunters currently on the ground. One whose left arm was gone, likely taken in a fight against a magic beast. One who she actually knew. "Master Song!" She cried, catching the attention of everyone there. 

"Hunter Cha?" The one armed man asked, as she raced over to him. Song Chi-Yul was a C Rank hunter and master swordsman, who had taught Hae-In everything she knew about fighting with a blade. Alas, he was actually a Mage Hunter and all those sword skills were pretty much useless against the magic beast. "What are you doing here?" 

"I was nearby and I sensed the Gate. I was just coming to see what was happening when I saw you all." She looked around, seeing the haunted expressions on everyone's faces. Something horrible had happened here and she knew it wasn't just a bad run in with a magic beast. "What's going on?" She looked down at the unconscious woman, "is she okay?" 

"She's fine," Chi-Yul replied. "I had to knock her out to get her out of there." He then looked at her seriously. "Hae-In, please. You have to help Jin-Woo." 

"Jin-Woo?" 

"He's still in the dungeon," Chi-Yul explained. "He...he stayed behind so we could all escape. But...he can't get out of there alone. Please." 

"Are you insane?" One of the other hunters cried, "you saw those things in there. Hunter Cha's strong, but I don't even think she would be able to take them all down. Besides, there's no way Jin-Woo's still alive. He's..." He held his tongue, obviously not wanting to say anything else. Hae-In was curious about what he was going to say next. 

"We're alive right now because of him," Chi-Yul exclaimed. "He figured out the riddles and gave us the opening to leave. We can't just leave him alone in there." 

"I know that," a hunter in a blue leather jacket stated. "But the Hunters Association is already on its way. The White Tiger Guild is also close. They'll be here...soon." 

"But not soon enough," Chi-Yul growled. But then he sighed, "but you're right. I can't ask Hae-In to go in alone." 

"No," Hae-In got up, "I'll go. I can't just sit around waiting for the others to arrive." She noticed a sword on the ground and picked it up, "I'm borrowing this." Chi-Yul nodded, as she turned towards the Gate. 

Chi-Yul was about to say something, but she shot forward before he could. It wasn't until she was inside that she realised he was likely about to tell her what to expect, but she didn't have time to let him fill her in. She had to try and save this hunter before it was too late. 

"This is an E Rank Dungeon. So what could possibly be in here, that might make them think I'd be in danger?" She frowned, fearing she might have just stepped into a world of trouble. However, she had to act fast. 

She moved as fast as her legs could carry her, the S Rank's speed being one of her greatest advantages. She made her way through the dungeon until she found the area where the boss was likely meant to be. And there, she found another hole in the wall. 

The room had been made out of bricks, but a section of the wall had broken apart. Doing so revealed the entrance to another tunnel. One which seemed a lot less well made. Instead of looking like a natural cave system, this tunnel looked like something had dug into it. 

Hae-In quickly pulled a hair tie out of her pocket and pushed her hair up out of the way, knowing she would need to be able to see in order to fight. Once done, she charged forward into the tunnel. Her sword was ready for anything and her eyes were constantly scanning the area. 

But the issue was light. The cave was so dark, she could barely see a thing. Luckily, her perception was high enough that she could tell when a wall was coming or not. Soon, she found the passageway began to move downwards. She didn't know what to expect, but she could sense she was getting close. 

And after another minute of running, she finally reached what appeared to be a dead end. 

It looked like whatever had dug this tunnel, just stopped and gave up. The place was dimly lit and barely large enough for a person to stand in. But there was someone there. A male hunter that looked like he had been through hell. 

"Are you okay?" She cried, rushing over to him. But when she got in close, something happened that took her completely by surprise. "He...he doesn't stink?" True enough, the young man didn't smell. The horrible stench that all hunters produced, wasn't coming from this individual. In that, it was quite the opposite. "He actually smells...nice..." 

She kept staring at him for a moment, her attention on his young and immature face.

He couldn't have been more than twenty years old at the most, a teenager if anything. Staring at him, Hae-In couldn't believe her sensei had left such a young boy to defend himself. 

She took another sniff, letting the nice scent flow into her nose, causing a calming sense to wash over her. "Is it because his Rank is so low?" She shook her head, knowing that couldn't be it. She might not have been around a lot of E Ranks, but she had smelled them before. And they had all smelt just as terrible, though not to the same extent that S Ranks and other high levels smell. 

She sighed, wishing she could stay in that moment forever. "Wait!" Her eyes widened, her face going red. "What am I doing? We're in the middle of a dungeon and I'm just sitting here!" She looked down at him again, remembering the state he was supposed to be in. "Is he alive?" She moved closer and saw his chest moving up and down, so he was still breathing. 

She then checked him over for any signs of injury, but he seemed perfectly fine. His clothes were a wreck and covered in blood, but he didn't have a scratch on him. "What's going on?" She checked the whole in his jacket and shirt, showing his bare abdomen. If she didn't know any better, it looked like he had been impaled. But someone seemed to have healed him. 

"How? Did one of the others heal him before they left? No. Even if they did, he must have gotten hurt again after they left. Why else would he be unconscious. But...how can he not have a scratch on him?" 

This whole situation was making Hae-In's head spin. This boy was left in a dungeon, which apparently still had monsters in it, with no weapons that she could see and no way to escape. His clothes gave the impression he had suffered serious injury, but he wasn't even bruised. And then there was his scent. No matter what, a hunter was supposed to radiate mana. And she couldn't stand that smell. Yes, this boy seemed perfectly fine. 

"What is going on?" She wanted answers, but she couldn't get them there. She would need to talk to one of the other survivors and to do that, she needed to get this boy out of there. Even if he wasn't injured, he was still unconscious and that could be serious. 

As such, she quickly shifted him around. It wasn't easy, but she eventually managed to hoist him up onto her back. With his light weight frame and her S Rank strength, carrying him was no issue. So she quickly had him lifted up and began to carry him back towards the Gate, Chi-Yul's sword still in her hand in case anything unexpected happened. 

But as she walked back up the tunnel, she glanced back at the hunter she had found. "Jin-Woo. Who are you?" 

Chapter Text

You all asked for it, so here it is. Please don't expect the other chapters to be released this fast, but I hope this will be enough to hold you all over until I can get the next one finished. Enjoy

It had been over a week since the incident in that low level dungeon and in that time, Hae-In hadn't been able to get that hunter out of her head.

When the S Rank had reached the Gate, a bunch of White Tiger hunters had run into it looking ready for a fight. Amongst them was the Guild Master, Baek Yoonho. He had been surprised to see her and when she told them what she had found, he and his guild had gone to inspect everything themselves.

They hadn't gotten to do too thorough of an investigation, since they had been worried about the Gate closing with them inside. They were forced to do a quick once over, but couldn't find anything. Once everyone was outside, the Association began to question Hae-In about what she had found.

The other hunters had already been taken to the hospital and would give their statements when they were cleared, so Hae-In had been the best source of info they had. Alas, she hadn't been able to tell them much either. Once she finished explaining what she saw, they had taken Jin-Woo to the hospital and that had been that.

So once again, Hae-In was walking through the town as the guild didn't have anything to do on that day.

Actually, that wasn't true. Hae-In should have been preparing for the next raid, especially since she had been asked by her Guild Master to act as an instructor. But whilst Hae-In had agreed, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to instruct anyone. She had never taught and found it difficult to be in the spotlight, so the thought of being the centre of attention didn't sit too great with her. And there was another issue.

Ever since he had been taken away, Hae-In had been unable to get her mind off the boy she had saved.

Whenever she had a moment to think, her mind drifted back to that boy. At first, it had been his unusually nice smell that had confused her. But as she continued to wonder about him, her curiosity grew.

She had contacted the Hunter Guild's information office, who handled all the info the Guild would need to work properly. They had been confused about why she was interested in an E Rank, but they had given her all the info that was available to the public.

The first shocking thing she had learned about Jin-Woo, had been his age. "He's two years older than me, but he looks like a teenager," she sighed at this. "Must girls would kill for something like that. Lucky guy." Age aside, the Association hadn't had much info on him. All they knew about him was his age and the number of times he had been injured during the four years he had been working as a hunter. And that had surprised her as well.

When she had learned about how often he got sent to the hospital, she believed that a hunter's life wasn't the life for him. However, someone else had told her differently.

The day after the incident

Hae-In had gone to the hospital in order to visit her sensei, wanting to make sure he had been okay. She had hoped his arm might have been restored. But when she got there, she had been upset to see the stump bandaged up and scarred for life.

"Master," she frowned when she sat down next to his bed. "Are you going to be okay?"

Chi-Yul sighed, as he placed his hand on the remains of his left arm. "This is the life we hunters lead. Every time we step into a dungeon, we need to accept that something like this can happen."

Hae-In nodded, having seen many other hunters take the same kind of injuries. Though when they did, a powerful healer had always been there to fix it. "You're right. But still..."

"I know. I'll have to learn to get by with just one arm. No doubt my sword skills will diminish."

"Don't say that. You're an amazing hunter, one arm or two. I'm sure you'll still be difficult to beat, even for me." Chi-Yul laughed at his, thanking her for the compliment.

"Also. Thank you for saving Jin-Woo. I hear he's going to be alright, so long as he doesn't overdo it."

At the thought of the hunter in question, Hae-In frowned. "Master. What do you know about him?" Chi-Yul looked confused by this. "Jin-Woo. Do you know why he's a hunter, even though he's..."

"Weak?" Chi-Yul asked, making her blush. "Don't fret about it. It's true. Jin-Woo is weak. In fact, he has his own nickname. The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind." Hae-In was shocked by this statement, unable to believe anyone would dare give out such a name. "Jin-Woo. That boy is proof that the world is unfair."

"What do you mean?"

"You've met a lot of powerful hunters, haven't you?" Hae-In nodded. "Tell me. How many of the really powerful ones, would you consider to be jerks or just plain rotten?"

Hae-In frowned, since that number was very high. Even members of her own Guild could act like total jerks on occasion. A lot of high ranking hunters, loved to flaunt their power over others. Heck, even lower levels still liked to make things hard for E Ranks. Then there were the hunters who used their awakened powers to commit crimes. And they could get off with a lighter sentence, just because they were needed to clear dungeons.

"Exactly," Chi-Yul nodded. "So many people, undeserving of the power they wield. Whilst those truly worthy of that kind of power, get lumped with barely anything. Honestly, if there's one person I think deserves to be an S Rank, it would be Jin-Woo."

"You really think he's that good?" Hae-In asked, with Chi-Yul nodding.

"That boy is the definition of pure of heart. Do you know why he became a hunter?"

"For money?" That was why most hunters went into dungeons. Despite the danger, the treasures inside even an E rank dungeon were worth more than working forty hours a week at some corporate jobs.

"Technically, yes. But it's more than that. His mother has the eternal slumber disease." Hae-In's eyes widened in shock. "She's been in a coma for over four years now, leaving Jin-Woo to care for his younger sister all on his own."

"That's horrible." Hae-In wasn't an expert, but she knew enough about the eternal slumber disease. There was no cure and the only way to keep the afflicted alive, was life support. And that couldn't be cheap. "Aren't there other ways he could make the money?"

"Maybe. But Jin-Woo never got more than a high school education. His father disappeared years ago and they couldn't afford to send him to a fancy university. All he could do was get a few fast food jobs. And when his mother started to get sick, he had to take as many jobs as he could to afford treatment, rent and everything else his family needed. And even if they were just scraping by, Jin-Woo couldn't afford to send his sister to college. Apparently, she is a very bright young lady. Wants to become a doctor."

"I see," Hae-In was starting to understand more about his situation now. No doubt, becoming a hunter must have been his only option. Even if he was a weak E Rank, he could have still made a decent living to help his sister and mother. "But he kept getting hurt."

"Yes. But he never gave up. No matter what happened. No matter how much he was injured, he never stopped. He kept getting back up. He have to admit, that kind of resilience is impressive."

Hae-In didn't want to agree. She wanted to call him a reckless fool and to say he should still quit the life of a hunter. But she couldn't, because she was impressed. Not just by his seemingly unstoppable will, but by his desire to protect his family.

"We'd be dead right now, if it wasn't for him." Hae-In frowned, wondering what he was talking about. So, Chi-Yul told her about the incident in the double dungeon. How they had found a large chamber and discovered a secret temple, where a bunch of insane statues tried to kill them whenever they broke a rule.

How it was Jin-Woo who had figured out the riddles and helped them all survive. And in the end, when he had gotten them to the point of being able to escape, they had simply abandoned him there.

"I know he's okay," Chi-Yul sighed. "But I'm still angry at myself. It should have been me that stayed behind. But Joo-Hee was hysterical and I was forced to knock her out. Jin-Woo had lost his leg and couldn't escape with her. I could only carry one and in the end, Jin-Woo made me take her and leave."

Hae-In nodded, understanding the difficult choice he had made. "What do you think happened, after you left? When I arrived, this temple and the statues were gone. He was just laying on the ground."

"I don't know. I guess the only one who knows is Jin-Woo, if he ever wakes up."

Hae-In had been curious about the boy ever since then. She had wanted to know what had happened after the others left and wanted to know how he had been healed, since he had apparently lost and regained his left. But more than anything, she wanted to know why he smelled so good.

"Come on!" She cried, "get his smell out of your mind. There are way more important questions to answer." But then she remembered how nice he had smelt, which made her face turn red. "I'm so pathetic. Getting all hung up on a guy, just because he smells nice."

It was at that moment, she realised where she had ended up. During her walk, she had somehow made it all the way to the hospital.

She hadn't intended to go there, but her mind must have been on autopilot. Thinking about that person, causing her to head to where he was. "Should I go in? Maybe he's awake." She hummed, unsure what she would even say.

It wasn't like she didn't have a reason to go see him. She was the one that pulled him out of the dungeon. Lots of firefighters and police went to visit those they saved, so why would this be any different? Even so, it would still be embarrassing. And not just for her.

Being S Rank, she would catch a lot of attention. If she went to visit him and someone caught them on camera, it would be all over the internet in a matter of hours. The last thing he needed, was to be thrust into the spotlight more than he already was. Even so...

"I want to see him," she whispered. She sighed, crossing her arms as she tried to think of a way to see him without it becoming such a big deal.

However, in that moment, the wind seemed to shift. And when it blew into her face, it also carried a scent. One that made her gasp and look up. And sure enough, there he was.

Jin-Woo, dressed almost exactly the same way he had been in the dungeon. His clothes weren't messed up this time and he had a small knife on his belt. If Hae-In had to guess, he looked like he was about to head to a dungeon. But that couldn't be possible. Not with his injuries.

Except, something seemed different about him. Now that he was actually awake, she could tell there was some kind of aura coming off him. But what kind of aura, she didn't know.

She kept watching him and before she realised what she was doing, she was crossing the road and following close behind him. Not so close that he would notice her following him, but close enough not to lose sight of him.

The pair made their way through the city, Jin-Woo appearing to be heading somewhere with some kind of goal in mind. She checked her phone's Gate app and saw that there was only one Gate in the vicinity. A D Rank Gate, which the association hadn't been able to deal with yet. Could he be heading there?

She frowned, as they seemed to be heading in the direction of the gate in question. She was about to rush him and stop him, embarrassment be damned. But before she could, he turned and headed in a different direction to where the gate was heading.

"Where are you going?" She frowned, getting more and more confused about his actions by the second.

They eventually arrived at what she assumed was his intended destination. Hapjeong Station. The entrance to the subway stood before him, as Hae-In hid behind a lamppost. She wondered if he was maybe going to take a train somewhere else, but then saw him doing a double check. His backpack and knife were both secure, meaning he was ready for whatever he planned on doing.

Then, he pulled something out of his pocket. "A key?" She frowned, watching him hold it towards the entrance of the subway. And after a moment or two, Jin-Woo flinched as if a bright light was hitting him.

He looked down, appearing to see something she couldn't quite make out. And when he pressed the key into whatever he saw, the end disappeared.

"What?" The key slotted into something she couldn't see and before she could catch up to the situation, Jin-Woo turned the key and the whole thing disappeared.

He flinched again and Hae-In had had enough, jumping out from behind the lamppost and rushing towards him. He, in turn, stepped forward. And as he stepped into the subway, he started to disappear.

A gasp escaped her lips and she suddenly activated her S Rank abilities, shooting forward and reaching out. "Wait!" She cried, catching Jin-Woo's attention. But before he could turn, she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away from whatever was making him vanish.

But instead, something else happened. It was as if a powerful jolt of energy flowed through her and before she could react, she felt herself being drawn in.

A light caught her eye and she soon realised the entrance to the subway was filling with it. The entire entryway had turned into a Gate and before she could comprehend this, she was being pulled in and both she and the person she had been trying to save were sucked into the other side.

I'm sure that was a surprise for you all. So how will things play from here? Stay tuned to find out. Like I said before, I don't know how often I'll be able to update this. I'll try as often as I can, but I have other things I also have to focus on. So please be patient. Until next time. 

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This may end up being my last daily posting. With the chapters getting longer, writing them will take longer. Glad I was able to get this one done before then. Hope you enjoy

Chapter Text

Thanks for your patience waiting for this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.  

The first thing Hae-In heard that morning was her alarm clock, which roused her from her sleep as she lay spread out on her large bed.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she suddenly found a now familiar screen appear above her face. The system had sent her a notification. The same notification it had sent her every morning since she had accepted to become a Pseudo-Player.

The first morning after Hae-In's experience in the Instance Dungeon, she had woken up and wondered if it was all a dream. But when the screen suddenly appeared, she realised it wasn't. She was now part of some strange video game, which connected her to Jin-Woo in a rather interesting way.

As she let out a yawn, she mentally opened the window's notifications and saw what it was asking her to do. Her daily quests.

Like Jin-Woo, Hae-In had been getting daily quests every single day. But hers seemed to be a bit different. First of, there was no penalty. At least, none that the system stated. She hadn't failed to complete the daily quests yet, so she didn't know what happened if the clock struck midnight.

The next difference was the quest itself. Instead of training her muscles, like Jin-Woo, the system seemed to want her to focus on flexibility. Instead of push ups and squats, she was tasked with doing certain stretches. She had to spend a certain amount of time in each pose, allowing her body to be bent in interesting ways. Hae-In had always been interested in yoga, so this was a good excuse for her to try it.

The only exercise she and Jin-Woo shared was the running, which she had been happy to complete each day. And a small part of her hoped that when he was finally free of the hospital, maybe she and Jin-Woo could run together.

As Hae-In got out of bed, she did her own set of stretches to prepare for the actual stretches. And as she went into the bathroom, she checked the rest of the system stuff she had access to. This included the store, which hadn't really changed much since she had gained access to it. The only differences were the soft drinks, which were different each day.

After buying her Mask of Defence, Hae-In's points had been lowered to fifteen. However, that number had been slowly raising each day. Whenever Hae-In completed her daily quests, she got three Battle Points. And whilst this had helped restore her points, it would be over a month before she could afford to buy anything worth buying.

"Luckily, I'll have a chance to get some more later." Finishing up in the bathroom, she headed back into her room and started doing her stretches.

As she did, a counter appearing to tell her how long she had to hold a pose, she thought about everything that had happened that night after the Instance Dungeon. After Jin-Woo had helped destroy the golem, the pair of them had headed off to avoid anyone seeing them. And that was when they had had an important conversation.

"Jin-Woo. We need to talk." The hunter stopped and turned to her, the pair currently under a tree on a rather empty street. Hae-In had a frown on her lips, as she clearly had something troubling on her mind. "It's about what you said in the dungeon."

"What did I say in the dungeon?"

"About your kindness. How it never saved you." Jin-Woo frowned, clearly remembering his rant during the fight. "I...I just want to make sure you don't let yourself lose that kindness. Because it's one of the best parts of you. Mr. Song said that and I think he's right."

"Being kind has never helped me before," Jin-Woo frowned.

"Maybe. But you shouldn't let yourself lose it. No matter how strong you get, you can't let yourself forget what truly makes you special. Your kind heart. There are enough strong heartless hunters in the world. If you become one of them, even if you end up becoming S Rank, you'll find yourself becoming weaker than when you were even an E Rank." Jin-Woo didn't seem to believe that. "Just think about your family. Do you think your mother would want you to become some angry brute?"

"I guess not," Jin-Woo sighed. "I don't want to lose kindness. But this world isn't kind to the kind. I had to learn that the hard way."

Hae-In nodded. "I get that. But just because being mean is easier, doesn't mean you should be mean. So please, don't let yourself forget who you truly are. If you promise to stay kind, I promise I'll always believe in you." Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at this. "During the fight. You said no one ever believed in you, because you were weak. And you were right. During that whole battle, I was thinking you couldn't beat that monster."

Jin-Woo slumped, "well that's kind of a bummer."

Hae-In suddenly felt very embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just...didn't want you to get hurt." Her face grew bright red. "But...I'm done with that. When I saw what you did during the fight, I realised how wrong I was. You were able to do it, because you didn't give up. So I've decided. From this point on, no matter what obstacles you face, I'm going to believe in you."

Jin-Woo smiled, "thanks. That...that feels good to hear."

Hae-In smiled back. "So we're in agreement. From now on, I'll never doubt you. Though that probably won't stop me from worrying you might be in over your head."

Jin-Woo nodded. "And I promise. I won't let my kindness fade, no matter how strong I get." He held a hand out and Hae-In happily shook it, the pair's deal forged at that moment. But as it was, Hae-In's expression grew serious.

"Alright, now let's talk about your strength."

Jin-Woo hummed, clearly knowing what she was talking about. "In your opinion. What rank would you say I am right now?" Hae-In thought about it, her high perception skill allowing her to tell just how powerful he was.

"Maybe...mid to high C Rank. You'd have to get re-evaluated to be sure."

Jin-Woo nodded. "If I did get re-evaluated, I'd be allowed to compete in higher ranking raids. And I'd be able to level up some more." Hae-In nodded, also thinking about the possibility of him joining the Hunters Guild.

She suddenly found herself imagining a situation, where she and Jin-Woo fought against a monster side by side. The image was making her shake with anticipation. But before she could suggest it, Jin-Woo spoke up.

"No. That might be a bad idea."

"What?" Hae-In frowned, "what are you talking about. At your strength, letting people think you're still an E-Rank would be ridiculous. What if you get mistaken for a false ranker? You could end up getting arrested."

"I get that," Jin-Woo nodded. "But think about it. You said I was C-Rank right now. But I'm not gonna stay that way. What if I get re-evaluated and given C-Rank status, but then my level goes up. One reawakening is news worthy. Two is just asking for me to get questions thrown my way."

Hae-In frowned, as she realised he was right. If Jin-Woo did get re-evaluated and made into a C-Rank, level rose his strength to B, A or even S, that was bound to draw more attention than they wanted. "You're right. You should wait. At least until you reach S-Rank. Although considering that's around Level Sixty, that could take a while."

Jin-Woo nodded. "I'll just have to be careful how much strength I show in a raid. On the bright side, I won't have to worry about almost dying the next time I enter an E or D Rank Dungeon."

Hae-In nodded, though she doubted he would get a lot of experience in those kinds of dungeons. Fighting goblins and other weak beasts would likely take him weeks to get another level up. "You might end up getting another dungeon key," she told him. "But the next one might be a lot harder than the one you completed earlier."

Jin-Woo agreed, as a nervous look appeared on his face. "Well, if I do get another key...do you maybe wanna join me? Maybe the system will let you fight this time."

Hae-In smiled, "I'd like that. It would be nice to get to actually do something in one of those dungeons. And I get help you level up, whilst getting myself some more battle points. A win win for us both." Jin-Woo nodded, as another thought came to Hae-In. "Um...when you finally get to S Rank, what'll you do about it?"

Jin-Woo didn't seem to have an answer. "I guess I'd get re-evaluated, then...I don't know. Maybe I could get recruited by a guild."

Hae-In was thinking the same thing. "Well..." She placed her hands behind her back, "maybe you could join my guild."

Jin-Woo seemed surprised by this statement, clearly amazed that he could possibly join the best guild in all of Korea. "Would I be allowed in?"

"Are you kidding? Master Choi's always looking for new members. If you make it to S Rank, he'd be desperate to get you to join. You might even be made the third highest ranking member." Jin-Woo seemed to like that idea. "But we should probably leave that idea until you're actually S Rank."

"Right. Got a long way to go before then." The two smiled at each other, both looking excited at the prospect of being in the same guild.

As Hae-In finished her last stretch, she pushed herself up and checked. All she had left to do was the running, which she could complete later. Right now, she had to focus on her work for the day. It was an important day after all.

She headed down to the main room of her apartment, quickly starting to make a breakfast that would fuel her for the day. And as she did, the system window opened up and showed the image of an envelope with a one on it. The sight made her smile, realising Jin-Woo had sent her a message.

The messaging part of the system, had allowed the two to remain in contact with one another easily. After they had figured out how to message each other, the pair had spent much of the last few days simply communicating in such a way. When the two weren't doing their daily quests, they kept sending messages back and forth to talk about whatever was on their minds. It had helped them get even closer, allowing Hae-In to learn more about Jin-Woo's life whilst he learned more about her.

She had never been this open with anyone before. Jin-Woo now knew things about her, that not even the guildmates she had risked her life to protect knew.

Opening the message, she smiled when she saw it.

Jin-Woo: Good luck today. I know you'll do great.

Hae-In: Thanks, but I'm still really nervous. What if I mess up?

Jin-Woo: Just remember to relax and keep your cool. You'll do great, so long as you remember your guildmates are high ranking hunters. I'm sure they can handle whatever the dungeon has waiting for them. Just watch how they fight and see if you can find any issues that are stopping them from being their best. That's what you did with me in the dungeon.

Hae-In smiled, happy that Jin-Woo had such confidence in her. She wasn't so sure about how well she was going to do today. But if Jin-Woo believed in her, maybe she could do that.

They kept messaging one another, as Hae-In finished making her breakfast and started to chow down. As she ate, Jin-Woo mentioned he was going to be getting out of the hospital soon. That meant he could finally put his new strength to use, clearing dungeons and earning the money he needed to make rent, pay for his mother's bills and hopefully save some up for his sister.

Hae-In had to read that three times, feeling bad that he had to work so hard for so little. As she took a sip of her coffee, she looked around at the apartment she lived in. Big and spacious, but also slightly empty since she didn't have many items. It was rather spartan, something that Hae-In had always naturally had. Considering she really only used her apartment to sleep and eat, it had never really needed to be anything other than functional. And she could afford it easily, thanks to her high paying rank in the Hunters Guild.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo had spent years struggling to keep a roof over his sister's head and keep his mother alive. And he had almost been killed a hundred times doing it.

She sighed and finished her breakfast, swearing to help Jin-Woo get strong enough to join a real Guild. Once he was strong enough, he would never have to worry about making rent again.

After breakfast, she took a quick shower and got dressed. Her inventory might not have been big, allowing her to store around twenty items or so, but it was incredibly useful. Inside, her sword and armor were safely packed away. As such, she could easily move around whilst fully armed. As such, she was able to head out of her apartment and make her way through the building without anyone noticing her dressed up for battle.

She managed to get to the parking lot and reach her car without getting stopped and asked a few hundred questions about hunting, from the other residents of the complex.

As she got into her car, she had an idea and sent Jin-Woo a quick message.

Hae-In: When you get discharged, do you want to maybe meet up?

She started up her car and began to drive, being careful to not accidentally crash if the message popped up in front of her. Luckily, the system seemed to know not to distract her whilst driving. The message appeared to her side, waiting for her to come to a stop at a light before she opened it.

Jin-Woo: Sure, if you're not busy. We could talk about your raid today in person.

Hae-In smiled, as the light turned green. She felt a bit of excitement appear in her chest, as she drove off and felt a strong sense of determination flow through her. She was gonna make sure that when she and Jin-Woo met, she was gonna have good news to share with him.

When she finally arrived at the area the Gate was located, she pulled up outside the cornered off area and opened up the system. Whilst she could remove her armor and weapons the way Jin-Woo had removed the sword, there was another useful device the system granted her.

She opened her inventory and highlighted her battle armor, the system asking if it wanted her to swap it with the clothes she was wearing right now. Hitting yes, her body was engulfed in light. And when it faded, she was wearing her battle suit and her normal clothes were inside her storage.

Now changed, she got out of her car and headed towards the cornered off area. The crew in charge of keeping people away spotted her and stood to attention, something she preferred they wouldn't do since they weren't exactly soldiers.

"Vice-Guild Master," one announced. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course," she nodded as she stepped past the area they had tapped off. "Is everyone else here?"

"Yes, ma'am. They're all waiting outside the gate for you." She nodded, heading towards it. Along the way, she spotted the mining and extraction team that would do the work after they had cleared out the dungeon. As an A Rank Dungeon, it was bound to have a lot of high value materials. A great source of revenue for the Guild.

She spotted the lead miner, Yoon-Suk Bae, who smiled when he saw her. She smiled back and it was only now, she realised something. She didn't smell anything.

Usually, she would need to cover her mouth with a handkerchief. But as she took a deep breath, she couldn't smell anything. There were the usual smells associated with the city, but now foul stench she usually had to endure when surrounded by hunters or near a Gate.

"It's working," she smiled. "The Mask of Defence is protecting me from the smell." It was at that moment she knew, agreeing to the system was the best decision she had ever made. Now she could be around hunters without needing to fight back a gag reflex.

She spotted the Gate along with the B team members of their guild. "Vice-Guild Master." The Tank of the group, Kihoon Son, stood to attention when he saw her. The others did the same, Hae-In nodding.

"Hello, everyone. Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's no trouble at all," Semi Han told her. "We only got here a little while ago as well. We were just making sure we were ready for the raid."

Hae-In nodded. Whilst these hunters had been allocated to the B team, they were by no means weak. In most other guilds, they would likely be the main strike team. "Alright, everyone. This is my first time doing a raid in an instructor capacity. So apologises in advance if I mess up." The hunters clearly didn't think she was gonna mess up, likely thinking she couldn't mess up. "So here's what's going to happen. Kihoon will take the lead and you will all clear the dungeon the same way you would if I wasn't here. I'll be watching you and seeing which areas you access in and where you should focus on improving."

"Understood," they all nodded.

"Then let's get going." They nodded and once everyone was ready, they turned towards the Gate and headed inside.

Hae-In took a deep breath, as she watched her guildmates step through the Gate. Had she not met Jin-Woo, she likely would have been the first to step through and attack everything before her guildmates even realised there were monsters. But Jin-Woo was right. They were strong hunters and she didn't need to be there. She would only act if it was absolutely necessary.

She stepped through the Gate and on the other side, she found herself in a cave-like Dungeon.

She nodded, smiling as she looked around. So far, there didn't appear to be any monsters at all. Which meant they were likely hiding deeper in. She then turned her attention to her guildmates and saw them taking up position, the tanks and fighters gathering around the mages. It was a good strategy, since mages were usually frail and couldn't take a lot of punishment.

She brought up the rear, her hand on her weapon ready to draw it if needed.

Five minutes into exploring the dungeon, they heard movement and looked ahead. And out of the darkness, a bunch of green humanoids lumbered out. They were a little bigger than humans, carrying clubs and having pig noses, bat-wing ears and red hair.

"Lesser Ogres!" Bora Lee announced, clutching her staff.

Everyone jumped into action, not needing any instruction as they got into the optimal position. Kihoon raised his shield, as the mages started casting. "Let's do this!" He announced, rushing forward with his sword ready to cut the beasts down.

The ogre at the front raised his club and swung it down, but Kihoon raised his shield and blocked the impact before pushing it back. This knocked the creature off balance, giving him the opening he needed to slash at the ogre.

He struck it in the stomach and carved a large gash into its belly, the beast roaring as it fell to its knees.

At the same time, the other tanks and fighters attacked as well. The hand to hand fighter, Jiwoo, quickly used her mana enhanced strength to leap for and launch her fist into the beast's gut. This caused a hole to be blown through the creature, which fell to the ground whilst Jiwoo smirked a satisfied smirk. But that caused her to almost get her head caved in, as another ogre swung its club at her.

She ducked undo it and spun around, attempting to kick the creature only for it to attack with its club. Their attacks collided and whilst the club was damage, Jiwoo flinched as she felt her foot break.

She fell back, as the ogre growled. But in that moment, a bunch of steel bands appeared and wrapped around the creature. Bora smiled, as her magic grabbed several monsters and held them in place. This allowed Gina to finish casting her spell, a circle of flames appearing around her before exploding outwards. The humans all ducked down, letting the flames fly over them and hit the beasts.

The fire burned them up, but not enough to make the remains completely useless. It did distract them enough for Kihoon and the others close quarters fighters to finish them off, the beasts all succumbing to the injuries and falling to the ground dead.

Monsters bested, the team sighed as they turned towards Hae-In. She had been paying close attention to them, watching how they all acted. And she was happy with how things had been happening. But she did see a few issues that could do with trying to fix.

"Not bad," she told them all. "Kihoon, excellent work with taking the lead. However, you should have let the ogre take the first attack instead of going on the offensive yourself. You had no idea what kind of strength those creatures had. They were quite large, so they could have been hiding a sneaky spell caster or something behind them. As a tank, your best option is to hold your ground and let them come to you."

"I understand," he nodded.

Hae-In then turned to Jiwoo, who was getting healed by Semi. "Can you tell me what you did wrong?"

"I tried to kick a club?"

"Yes, but why did you kick a club?" She didn't answer. "You let your guard down. It was only for a moment, but it was enough to put you on the offensive. When you killed that first ogre, you stopped to admire your handy work. If you had saved that for when the battle was over, you would have been able to counter the second ogre's attack and strike it before it could raise its club."

Jiwoo sighed, but nodded as she understood he issue.

"Semi." The healer jumped and turned to her. "Can I ask, what are you focusing on during the battle?"

"Oh. I'm keeping my eyes on everyone as best I can. To make sure they're all okay and to be ready to act, in case someone gets hurt."

"I see. So you're focusing on them and not the monsters?" She nodded, "I want you to try something during the next fight. Instead of focusing on everyone else, focus on the monsters." This seemed to confuse the healer. "Healing is an important job, but there's a saying in another country. Prevention is keeper than the cure. Do you know what that means?"

She shook her head. "It means preventing an injury is much easier than fixing the injury. I've found that having a good spotter is an excellent way to keep the party from being overwhelmed."

"A spotter?"

"Someone whose job is to keep an eye on how the fight is shaping out. In the heat of battle, it's easy for the fighters to get tunnel vision. Jiwoo was so focused on her opponent, she didn't notice the new ogre stepping up. If someone had called out to her, she might have been able to more easily avoid the attack and not been hurt."

Semi nodded, appearing to understand this. Hae-In told everyone else where they needed slight improvements, in either weapon usage or simply how they positioned themselves in battle. They all took the criticism in their stride, clearly happy an S Rank was trying to help them.

Once the teaching moment passed, they headed deeper into the mine. And soon, they came across an area full of minotaurs. The hulking man cow hybrids seemed to be nothing but stronger versions of the ogres, the lot carrying axes and roaring as they saw them.

The hunters seemed to take Hae-In's advice to heart, as Kihoon raised his shield and stood ready to defend himself.

The minotaur at the front charged forward and raised its axe, swinging it down to strike at Kihoon's shield. The impact made the hunter groan, almost getting knocked off his feet. But he was able to withstand it and push back, knocking the creature back and making it stagger.

He quickly slashed at the arm holding the axe, cutting it off as the beast screamed in pain.

The other minotaur all attacked as well, but the rest of the tanks and fighters stood ready. Each one remembered what Hae-In had told them and fought back, being sure to focus on the aspects she had highlighted.

Hae-In watched, as Jiwoo quickly took down one cow man and didn't stop to enjoy it. Instead, she remained on guard and it was a good thing she did. "Jiwoo, to your left!" She glanced around and saw a minotaur swiping at her, the warning giving her the chance she needed to shift around.

She managed to duck under the blade and get closer, dealing several powerful punches to the beast's abdomen before leaping up and kicking its head off.

The minotaur fell to the ground and she instantly went on the attack again, striking at another minotaur as Bora finished casting her binding spell.

This trapped the monsters that remained, allowing Gina to unleash a blast of fire that burned them all to a crisp.

Hae-In smiled, amazed her guildmates were working to correct their mistakes. They weren't completely over the issues from before, a few accidentally falling into the habit again after avoiding it the first time, but they were clearly working to improve. "Jin-Woo was right. I just needed to trust in them."

Everyone smiled, as Hae-In congratulated them all. She held off on more criticism, deciding to give them more time to work on fixing the flaws they had. As such, they kept making their way through the dungeon. Every time they came across a monster or monsters, her guildmates worked to defeat them whilst keeping their issues in check.

She was very much impressed with how well they were doing. Each battle, the flaws she had originally seen were becoming less and less noticeable. The most improved was Semi, who had taken to the spotter roll perfectly. She kept her attention on the monsters and only pulled away when she heard someone cry out, injured and staggering back. Whenever that happened, she broke away from watching and focused on healing. But as soon as the treatment was finished, she focused back on the battle.

"Kihoon. Push it backwards!" The tank was fighting against another ogre and was having trouble, his shield up blocking the club that was being pushed down onto it.

The tanker heard this and used all his strength to push the creature backwards. And sure enough, it went staggering back and tripped over the leg of an already dead ogre. This caused it to trip over, allowing Kihoon to stab it.

Hae-In smiled, happy to see Semi's work as the spotter was going so well. With her keeping focus on everything not battle related, the team would have no trouble dealing with the rest of the dungeon.

Not that there was much of the dungeon left, as Hae-In had a feeling they had almost cleared everything but the dungeon boss. Once they had confirmed everything except that monster was dealt with, the mining and extraction crew could come in and start doing their work.

"Alright, everyone." Kihoon turned to them, "we all good?" Semi was healing Bora, who had tripped during the battle and sprained her ankle. Once she was alright, everyone nodded ready to move on.

Hae-In watched them, but stopped when she felt something, A presence.

She turned to look down one of the dark tunnels of the dungeon, where the presence was coming from. And as Bora tested her previously injured ankle, she stopped and turned towards it. "Something's down there!" She pointed at it, "something big."

Kihoon rushed towards the entrance of the tunnel, but it was too dark to see anything. As such, he turned to one of their mages. "Can you send a summons down there?"

The mage nodded and held up a lantern, casting a spell that caused the flames to fly out of it. Hae-In smiled at this, having always been interested in summoning magic. She remembered stories from her childhood, of heroes who could summons vast armies of monsters to do their bidding. Who could merge them together, or use them to create weapons in order to battle with. If Hae-In had had a choice about what kind of hunter she could have been, she would have chosen to be a summoner.

Alas, summoning wasn't so great in the real world. Whilst it was a powerful skill, most summoners could only create one or two of them. There were rumours of a summoner in England that could summon five beasts at once, but that was considered impossible.

The flaming humanoid flew down the corridor, everyone watching as the tunnel was illuminated. Then, just for a second, something appeared in the darkness. Something big.

Before they could figure out what it was, the summon was destroyed by something. Hae-In frowned, wishing she had had a better luck and placing her hand on her sword.

But she didn't have to wonder for long, as heavy footprints could be heard getting closer. And as everyone prepared themselves, the beast finally appeared out of the tunnel. A massive green beast, looking like a larger more ugly version of the ogres from before.

Said creature was carrying a larger club and roared. As it did, the name of the creature appeared above the beast's head in white.

Raging Ogre General

Hae-In sighed. Of all the bonuses the system had given her, the identification one hadn't been the most useful. Considering her current level, every monster she saw was white. Even in an A Rank Gate.

"Mages!" Kihoon cried, "get your strongest attacks ready!" They nodded and began to chant, as the fighters and tanks prepared themselves. The ogre raised its club and swung it down, but one of the tanks used a skill that allowed them to create an impenetrable force field.

The club slammed into it and shattered, amazing them since the skill could usually block two or three hits before vanishing. And since it took a minute to cool down, he couldn't use it again as the beast raised its club.

"Attack!" Kihoon cried, as he and Jiwoo rushed in to strike.

They focused on the giant's legs, slashing at them hoping to destroy its sense of balance. But his sword didn't even scratch it, whilst Jiwoo punched it with similar results. "No way," she cried. Before she could attack again, the ogre kicked her and she was thrown into a nearby wall. This made her gasp, blood flying from her mouth.

Semi gasped and ran to help her, as the ogre raised its club again and attacked.

Everyone ran and barely managed to avoid getting hit, the impact causing the ground to shatter and send rocks flying everywhere.

The mages tried to blast the creature, Bora attempting to bind the beast but her bands could only wrap around its leg. And whilst this held it in place for a moment, it soon ripped them out of the ground and kicked them off.

The spells from the other mages exploded against it, but did little to no damage. And as it swung its club around, several members of the group were knocked flying. Semi barely finished healing Jiwoo when this happened, making her gasp as the creature turned its attention to her.

Kihoon rushed around and tried to get its attention, but it seemed laser focused on taking out the healer.

However, as it raised its arm to attack her, a flash of golden light suddenly blinded everyone. When the light faded, everyone blinked as they realised someone was now standing behind the creature with her sword drawn.

And as Hae-In stood up, the ogre fell to the ground dead and covered in slashes. "No way," she heard Kihoon whispered. "I couldn't even see that."

Hae-In stood up and sheaved her sword before turning to them all. "I apologise. I had hoped you would be able to handle it, but I couldn't risk it hurting our healer."

Gina rushed forward, "that was amazing. Ms. Cha, you're so strong. You might even be stronger than the Guild Master."

Hae-In blushed at this. "That's nice of you to say, but I'm not that strong." That was a lie, but she kept to the statement as a window suddenly opened up in front of her. She did her best not to be surprised by it, as it told her she had heard five battle points.

Semi quickly healed everyone else, as Hae-In assured everyone they had done well in that fight. Many of them didn't seem to think that, clearly believing they were nothing compared to her after seeing that display.

"It's official, Ms. Cha." Bora smiled, "you have to be the strongest hunter in Korea."

Hae-In smiled. "Tell me that again after you meet the president of the Hunters Association. I assure you, compared to him I'm nothing special." She turned away, her face barely able to keep from turning red. "Now come along, everyone. We still need to make sure this place is monster free so the other teams can get to work." Everyone nodded and began to march through the dungeon.

As they did, Hae-In thought about what they had said. Go Gunhee was the strongest hunter in Korea, but he was also old. Though she would never wish it, she knew he would possibly pass on in the next few years or so. If that happened, she really would become the strongest hunter in Korea. Which was something she didn't want.

However, there was another who could become S Rank and likely grow stronger than anyone else. And only she knew he could get that strong. The question was, how long would it take him to get to that level?

I know you were all expecting more interactions between Jin-Woo and Hae-In, but they can't be attached at the hip all the time. Hope you enjoyed this all the same. I'm also open to ideas on how Hae-In can meet and interact with the other people in Jin-Woo's life, like his sister. If anyone has an idea that can gel with my plans for the story, I'll be more than willing to use them. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your support and I hope you enjoy what happens in this chapter.

Worry coursed through every cell in Hae-In's body, as she made her way towards the place she had agreed to meet Jin-Woo.

She had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about, refusing to explain in a message saying it was something he had to tell her in person. A small part of her, wondered if Jin-Woo was going to confess his feelings. But she knew that wasn't the case. It had something to do with the system.

Hae-In had been so concerned about what Jin-Woo had to say, she had barely been able to focus for the rest of the raid. Luckily, she hadn't had to fight since the mining and extraction had run long. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened, since A Rank Gates tended to take a while to completely mine. By the time they had finished, it was already getting late.

Jong-In had decided to hold off on slaying the boss until the next day, the strike team agreeing to return then and deal with the creature. The B Squad would also be completing another Raid in another part of the city, so the boss' remains would be left behind. They would grab the essence stone and get out after killing it, the mana stones, remains and sand giving them more than three times what they had paid for the Gate.

Hae-In arrived in the area she was going to meet up with Jin-Woo and after finding a parking space, she started looking around for him. "Now, where is he?" She sighed, unable to spot the tall individual anywhere. "Someone with his mana, you'd think he'd stand out a bit more. Wish I had a way to find him easier." In that moment, something happened that took her by surprise.

Suddenly, a system window opened up and showed a map of the street she was on along with the surrounding area. This surprised her, as she saw a red dot in the middle she realised must have been her. And not too far away, a blue dot could be seen.

"No way." She followed the dot, wondering if she was getting punked. But when the dots grew closer together, she looked up and saw him sitting on a bench around a tree.

Jin-Woo was staring down at the ground, clearly upset about something as he seemed to be having trouble paying attention to his surroundings.

The window closed as she approached, Jin-Woo appearing to not notice her. "Hey." He jumped, looking like he was about to summon a weapon as she turned to see her. When he did, he relaxed and looked back down. "You okay?" She sat beside him, "your message sounded pretty urgent. Did something bad happen?"

"Yeah," Jin-Woo replied. "Something really bad."

"You said it was about the system. That it might not be as safe as we thought it was." She gave him a worried look, "what happened. Tell me, please."

Jin-Woo sighed, looking around to make sure nobody was nearby. Whatever this was, he was clearly worried someone would overhead. He then took a deep breath before looking Hae-In in the eye, the woman seeing something in his eyes that weren't there before. Something that made her worried he might have done something that would break him forever.

"I killed someone."

Of all the possible words she thought he could have said, those three were not the ones she had ever expected to hear. "Wha...what?"

"I killed someone. And not just one. I killed six people." Hae-In's heart seemed to stop, as a cold chill ran down her spine. This info was something she couldn't comprehend. The idea of him taking a life was completely impossible. And taking six was just...no.

"That's not possible," she told him. "You can't have killed anyone. Especially six people."

"It's true," Jin-Woo sighed. "But I didn't have a choice. That's why I needed to talk to you." Slowly, Hae-In let his words sink in and realised what he meant by that.

"Are you saying...the system made you kill those people?" He nodded. "How? What happened? Tell me and don't leave out any detail."

Jin-Woo took another deep breath and seemed to be collecting his thoughts, as he explained. "They were lizards." That word made Hae-In begin to understand.

Whenever humanity changed in some way, crime found a way to change with it. Roads lead to highway men. Ocean and air travel led to piracy and hijacking. Heck, space travel would likely get some kind of crime connected to it once it became something anyone could do. And Gates also had its fair share of legal issues.

The fact was, it was easy to get away with a crime in a dungeon. With no recording equipment able to work in there, the only way to figure out how something went down was to hear someone's tale. And that meant crime was easy to do in a dungeon.

Lizards were hunters that committed such crimes, usually being a group that would let other hunters help clear a dungeon before killing them and taking their share. And with the bodies left behind, claimed to have been eaten by the monsters, there was little to no proof any crime was committed.

"I understand," Hae-In told him. "They tried to kill you?"

"Pretty much. I joined them as a hauler, because they needed someone to fill out the numbers. There were six of them, so it was me and another guy named Jinho. Everything seemed to be going normally. We were working our way through the dungeon and everyone was working pretty well together. But then we got to the boss room and found the place was full of more mana crystals than you usually saw in an A Rank dungeon."

"Really?" She asked, amazed that a C Rank would have that many.

"Yeah. The boss was a massive spider and they claimed they forgot the mining gear back at the entrance. So they left to get it, only to blow up the entrance and seal Jinho and me inside."

Hae-In sighed. "That certainly sounds like something a lizard would do. I'm guessing the blast woke up the boss."

"Yeah. Jinho was no match for it, since he was only D Rank. I had to step in and fight it."

Hae-In gasped. "So he saw what you could do?"

Jin-Woo nodded. "Didn't have much choice. We couldn't escape, so I had to fight it." Hae-In groaned, placing her head in her hand.

"He probably thinks you're a false ranker or something." Jin-Woo seemed to think about this for a moment.

"Huh. That explains why he suddenly acted so differently." Hae-In rolled her eyes at this. "Well, after I beat the boss the group returned. They were surprised, but though Jinho killed it. So they decided to make him part of their crime, by telling him to kill me."

Hae-In worried this Jinho guy was dead, fearing Jin-Woo had killed him.

"But he refused and they decided to kill us both. That's when it happened." She sighed hearing of Jinho's refusal, but thought about what he had said. "The system gave me an urgent quest."

"Kill them?" She asked, Jin-Woo nodding. "I can't believe the system would do that. And that you actually did it."

"I didn't have a choice," Jin-Woo exclaimed. "The system was going to kill me. If I hadn't done it, my heart would have stopped. It was either kill them or die myself."

Hae-In sighed, realising why Jin-Woo had been so worried about her. "I get it. You're worried I might get one of those quests, right?"

Jin-Woo nodded. "As far as I can tell, it happened because they were going to kill me. The system must have known I couldn't talk my way out of it, so made it so I wouldn't even bother. It was either kill or be killed."

Hae-In frowned, not liking this new development about the system. "I doubt I'll get anything like that. The system must have detected them as an actual threat. A group of D and C ranks. Working together, they could have killed you. But since I'm S Rank, something like that won't happen. Not unless another S tries to kill me."

"Yeah. But you still needed to know. I didn't want to risk you getting blind sided by it."

Hae-In nodded and actually smiled, but the smile quickly faded when she saw the look on his face. "Jin-Woo. Are you okay?" She moved a little closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You did nothing wrong. It was self defence and the system wasn't giving you a choice."

"I know that," he nodded. "But...I'm worried."

"What? That that Jinho guy will tell people what happened?"

"No. I'm sure he'll keep his mouth shut. I'm worried because...I'm not upset by it." Hae-In was shocked by this. "When I did it, it was so easy. I didn't even have to really try and they were dead."

Hae-In began to grow worried at this. She had heard of individuals that developed a taste for taking life. Not just magic beasts, but humans as well. Some stories say that lizards kill other hunters, simply because they enjoy it more than they enjoy killing monsters. And if Jin-Woo was becoming one of those people...

"What if...I suddenly start wanting to kill others?" Jin-Woo looked over at her and she saw the worry in his eyes.

"Jin-Woo." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. I have no idea what you're feeling right now, but I know one thing. You are a good person. It's like you said, you didn't have a choice when you killed those people. It was kill or be killed."

"But what if I want to do it again?"

"Then I'll find a way to stop you," Hae-In promised. "If you ever get the urge to kill someone, then tell me. And if one of those quests forces you to do it, tell me as well."

Jin-Woo sighed, nodding in response. "Thank you. I don't know what this system is doing to me?"

"It's making you stronger," she reminded him. "But you're right, it might also be trying to make you into something else. Trying to make you lose your humanity, bit by bit." Fear became etched on Jin-Woo's face, but Hae-In then had a thought. "Or maybe it wants to keep you alive, but also keep you as human as possible. Maybe that's why I was given the system."

Jin-Woo gave her a curious look, as Hae-In thought about it. "If I didn't have the system. If I didn't even know about it or any of this, do you think you'd tell me?"

"Well...I guess not."

"Then maybe that's why the system offered to make me a player. I mean, it's just a guess. Maybe I'm supposed to keep you from crossing a line."

"Maybe," Jin-Woo nodded. "I'm glad you're here. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have you to talk about this with." Hae-In smiled at this, promising herself that she wouldn't let Jin-Woo change from the person he was. He might get stronger, but his greatest attribute was his kindness. And she refused to let him lose that.

"Just promise to return the favour, alright. It's possible I could get one of those quests and have to..."

"I get it," he nodded. "If that happens, you can call me. We'll get through it together." Hae-In's heart skipped a beat when he said that, as their eyes met and they just stared at one another for a moment. But eventually, Jin-Woo looked away and stood. "Well, I should probably be getting back. Jin-Ah's probably worried I got landed in the hospital again."

Hae-In laughed at this, as she got up as well. "Yeah. I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry."

Jin-Woo nodded, as a thought seemed to appear in his mind. "Um...Hae-In?"

"Yeah?"

Jin-Woo seemed to be unsure about what to say, as he stood there and considered his words carefully. And eventually, he spoke. "Do you...wanna come over to my place?" Hae-In's eyes went wide, as she thought about what he meant by that.

"You...you want me to come over. To your house? Where you live? Right now?"

"Um, yeah." Jin-Woo looked down at her, seeing the blush on her face. And this made him blush back. "It's not what you think!" He waved his hands around. "It's just that, I happened to mention you to my sister. She got really curious about you and was hoping I might bring you over to meet her."

"Oh," Hae-In understood now. From what Jin-Woo had said, his sister was a caring person who loved her brother a great deal. "But why me? Has she ever asked you to bring anyone over before?"

"Well..." Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head, "no. But then again, I've never had a friend before." Hae-In frowned, wondering if that was really true.

She wanted to mention Mr. Song, but decided not to. Instead, she thought about his offer. And slowly, she decided she wanted to see where Jin-Woo lived. To meet his sister. "Alright. Let's go."

Jin-Woo smiled at this, "thanks. And as my treat, how do you fancy some fried chicken for dinner." That made Hae-In smile, as she stood up and nodded.

"Well, you certainly know how to treat a girl." She laughed at this, then pointed towards where she had parked. "Need a ride?"

"Wouldn't say no." She smiled at this and the pair headed over to her car.

After stopping off to buy the promised fried chicken, along with a six pack, Jin-Woo directed Hae-In on how to get to his apartment. The complex had its own parking lot and once there, Hae-In parked in one of two spots designated to Jin-Woo's apartment.

The other spot had a dark red SUV in it, Hae-In amazed when she realised Jin-Woo must have had his own car. "That's yours?"

"Kinda," Jin-Woo replied. "It was my dad's, but I don't drive it often. No point wasting the gas, when I can get anywhere else in the city on foot or train at pretty much the same time." Hae-In nodded, as he led her up into the apartment building.

As they headed up, Hae-In got more and more nervous. Mostly about meeting Jin-Woo's sister, since she wanted the girl to like her. What would happen if Jin-Ah didn't like her? Would it sour her relationship with Jin-Woo?

They finally arrived and Jin-Woo took a moment to glance back at her, giving the woman a reassuring look before opening the door. "I'm home." They stepped inside and Hae-In looked around, getting an oddly nostalgic feeling as she took in the sights of the apartment.

She had never lived in a family apartment, as her parents and aunt had lived in actual houses. Her apartment didn't have the same atmosphere as the one she was in now. Her own apartment was clean and in pristine condition, looking like it was brand new. And whilst she enjoyed living there, especially with the night time view, it had an almost soulless feel to it.

But Jin-Woo's apartment was the complete opposite. The walls had cracks in them and clearly needed to be repainted, whilst the floors had broken tiles and the floorboards looked like they would creak with every step. But despite that, it had a life to it. Every crack and chip was a memory. The memory made by the family that lived there. It was a home.

Hae-In smiled, as the door opened and someone was standing there. "Hey, welcome-" The girl stopped when she saw who was with her brother, making her gasp and smile. "Is this who I think it is?"

Hae-In smiled and gave a curt bow. "Hello there. I'm Cha Hae-In."

Jin-Ah smiled back, "it's nice to meet you. I'm-" Then she stopped, as if she was looking at something. "Wait, have we met somewhere before?"

Hae-In looked confused, "I don't think so?" Jin-Ah hummed again, her head sway back and forth as it she was trying to shake the memory loose. Then, she let out a gasp.

"Wait, no way!" She rushed into the living room, Jin-Woo picking himself up after removing his shoes. When she came back, she was carrying a magazine and started looking between her and the cover.

Hae-In sighed, knowing what was likely on the cover. And sure enough, Jin-Ah turned it around to show her face along with the guild masters of the Hunters and White Tiger Guilds. "You're Cha Hae-In? S Rank Hunter, Cha Hae-In? The Dancer?"

Hae-In pouted, as Jin-Woo chuckled. "She'd prefer it if you didn't call her that." Jin-Ah turned to glare at her brother.

"What the heck? You said you had a friend, but you never mentioned they were an S Rank Hunter. What the actual heck?"

"Does it matter?" Jin-Woo asked. "She might be an S Rank, but she's also our guest so behave." He raised the box he was carrying, "or you can have a sandwich and we'll eat all this."

Jin-Ah saw the box and gasped, "is that fried chicken?" Her mouth watered, "what's the occasion? Is it because you're friend is over, or did something good happen?"

"Er...could be good. Could be bad. Not really sure yet. Let's just say I've got our bills covered for now, including mom's." Jin-Ah gave him a smirk.

"Yeah, that's not weird at all. Especially coming from a cheapskate like you." She looked down at the box and licked her lips, trying to grab it only for Jin-Woo to lift it out of her reach. "Hey, gimme!"

"Only if you behave," Jin-Woo told her. Jin-Ah made a childish whine and tried to reach it, but his new height made him able to keep it safely out of her grasp.

Hae-In watched the two's interaction and couldn't help but laugh, making them both look over at her. "I'm sorry. It's just...I never get to see something so wholesome." The siblings clearly didn't understand what she meant by that, but both smiled as Jin-Woo handed Jin-Ah the box.

As the three headed into the living room, Jin-Ah put the box down before heading into the kitchen. Hae-In looked around and saw more pictures and over knickknacks that one would usually find in a family home.

One picture caught Hae-In's attention, the woman seeing it was a younger Jin-Woo and Jin-Ah alongside two older individuals she assumed were her parents. Finally getting a good look at the two, she smiled seeing how happy they both were.

"That was taken shortly before he disappeared," Jin-Woo explained. "My dad had just come back from a big raid and apparently, he was able to kill the boss. A lot of people looked up to him."

Hae-In nodded, "I'm sure he'd be proud of everything you've done since he left."

"I hope so," Jin-Woo sat down. "Sometimes I just wonder, what might have happened if he was still here."

"You'd probably not be a hunter," Jin-Ah stated as she approached with plates. "Or he'd probably put you on his guild's cleaning staff."

"Haha," Jin-Woo told her. "Very funny."

Hae-In looked confused, as she moved over to sit next to Jin-Woo. "What do you mean, his guild?"

Jin-Ah smiled, as she passed the plates and sat on the floor. "Mom used to say that dad's strength was like no other."

"He disappeared before they figured out how the rating systems worked," Jin-Woo explained. "But mom was sure he was a super high ranked hunter. Who knows, if he was still here, maybe you'd have been the tenth official S Rank Hunter."

"You really think he was that strong?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Ah started dishing out the chicken.

"I don't know," Jin-Woo shrugged. "Mom said he was strong, but that might have been her trying to make us think our dad was amazing. Although, she didn't really need to do that."

Jin-Ah nodded, "our dad was a firefighter before he became a hunter. He saved hundreds of lives before he ever went into a Gate."

Hae-In nodded. "I understand. Having a father like that sounds amazing." The pair nodded, as Hae-In began to enjoy the chicken she had been offered.

"So," Jin-Ah smirked, "you gotta tell me how you two met. I mean, as S Rank hunter becoming friends with an E Rank. How does something like that happen?"

Hae-In sighed, wondering how to explain the situation to her.

"It's like I told you," Jin-Woo stated. "We met in the hospital. She went to visit someone there and we met."

"That's right," Hae-in quickly caught on. "I went to visit Mr. Song. I don't know if you know him?"

"I think Jin-Woo mentioned him," Jin-Ah nodded. "Isn't he the one that lost his arm?"

"Yes," she sighed. "But he survived, which is the important part. He's actually the one who taught me how to fight." Jin-Ah, as they chowed down.

Jin-Woo opened the box of beer and took out a can, offering it to Hae-In only for her to shake her head. She had to drive home and whilst the system could remove hangovers, it didn't seem to stop her from getting drunk.

"Oh yeah," Jin-Ah smiled. "I've been meaning to ask how that thing went?" Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow. "Your raid. Clearly, it paid well enough. But, you didn't end up in the hospital this time. So your party was super strong, right?" Jin-Woo just froze at this, Hae-In frowning since she could tell he was remembering what had happened.

"Yeah. Guess so."

Jin-Ah smiled, "I bet you beat the bad guys easily." Hae-In really wanted to tell her to shut up, but had to keep her mouth shut since it would be rude and might force them to explain what had happened.

Jin-Woo opened the can and despite the overflow, he took a swig of it. As he did, Jin-Ah noticed the look on his face.

"Jin-Woo?" This pulled him out of his thoughts, "is everything alright with you over there?"

"Ey...yeah. Thought I might have forgotten to grab the change, but I was wrong." Hae-In played along, rolling her eyes as Jin-Ah sighed.

"Man, are you serious? Is that all?" She bit the chicken and Hae-In finished hers, whilst Jin-Woo smiled and drank some more. But as he did, a window suddenly popped open. Hae-In was careful not to make reading it too obvious, so Jin-Ah wouldn't wonder what she was doing.

A harmful substance has been detected.
Debuff: Health and Longevity

A countdown followed and when it hit zero, Jin-Woo glowed for a second. Hae-In looked over at Jin-Ah and she didn't seem to notice, whilst Jin-Woo glanced at the can in his hand.

He took another deep sip and the window appeared again, the light soon following as Hae-In raised an eyebrow at this. "Alright," Jin-Woo then said. "I'm finished." He got up and grabbed the rest of the beer, turning to Hae-In as he did. "Sorry. I asked you to come over, but I gotta check a few things online."

"Of course," Hae-In nodded. "It'll give me and your sister time to get to know each other."

"Yeah, girl talk. Definitely something I want to avoid listening to." Hae-In chuckled at that, as Jin-Ah grabbed another piece of chicken out of the box.

"Is it okay if we finish the rest of this?" She asked, Jin-Woo smirking.

"Sure. Just don't cry to me when you put on weight." Both girls pouted at this. "Hae-In will probably burn it all off by the end of her next raid, but sitting at a desk won't help." Hae-In laughed at this, whilst Jin-Ah continued to glare at him. Jin-Woo chuckled and headed to his room, as Jin-Ah took a huge bite of her chicken.

"What a jerk," she stated once he was gone. "I don't know what you see in him."

Hae-In almost choked on the chicken she had been given, making her cough and grab the soda Jin-Ah had gotten her. "Wha...what?" Jin-Ah gave her a knowing smirk, looking like a predator who had just found its pray.

"Come on. I can tell. You like my brother, don't you?"

Hae-In felt herself beginning to blush, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't need to be embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with liking a guy. Even if that guy is a total bum like Jin-Woo."

Hae-In sighed, "you really shouldn't talk that way about your brother." Jin-Ah smiled.

"He knows I'm only kidding. Probably said worse things about me."

"No. He's only ever been polite when he talks about you." The look on Jin-Ah's face told Hae-In she didn't believe that for a second. "Okay, maybe he's said a few things that are better left unsaid."

"Exactly. I'm guessing you don't have any brothers or sisters, do you?"

"No. I do not. I have a cousin...but it's not the same."

"Yeah. It never is. I love my brother, but he's kind of lame. He's gotten taller and buffer, but he's pretty weak." If only Jin-Ah knew the truth. "So seriously, what do you see in him?"

Hae-In hummed, wanting to make sure Jin-Woo didn't hear what they were saying. "I don't know. He's nice and he makes me laugh. And despite how weak he is, he keeps getting back up and keeps fighting for his family. You've gotta admit that."

"I guess," Jin-Ah nodded. "So are you gonna ask him out?" Hae-In blushed again. "Come on. You like him and he must like you. Why else would he ask you to come here?"

"He asked because you wanted to meet me."

"Yeah, I'm not buying that as an excuse. He wanted to spend more time with you and used me to give him a reason to ask." Hae-In hummed, wondering if that was true.

"I'm not going to ask him out," she stated. "If he wants to be with me, he'll have to ask me on a date. If he doesn't..." She frowned, unable to say that staying friends was fine with her. She wanted him to ask her out. To be swept up off her feet and kissed, like in the trashy romance novels and movies her cousin always made her watch and read.

"I get it," Jin-Ah nodded. "Well I think you two would look great together. Although, don't know how Jin-Woo would handle all the attention. Dating an S Rank will probably throw him in the limelight."

"Yes it will," Hae-In nodded. Although, she had a feeling Jin-Woo would be in the spotlight whether they dated or not. When he finally revealed his reawakened status, there was no telling how the media would react.

The two kept talking for a little bit, Hae-In coming to enjoy the younger girl's enthusiasm. Whilst Jin-Woo remained in his room, likely checking something on the system, the girls laughed and finished off the rest of the fried chicken.

"I'm stuffed," Jin-Ah moaned. "Geez, that stuff is filling. Jin-Woo's right, I'm gonna need to burn that off somehow." Hae-In smiled, also feeling full. She prayed the chicken would be fully digested before her fight the next day. The last thing she needed was to over exert herself and puck on whatever she would be slaying.

"Um, can I ask you something?" Hae-In nodded, as Jin-Ah took out her phone. "Would it be okay if we got a selfie? I have a friend whose just awakened and she would if she saw I met an S Rank hunter." Hae-In smiled and nodded, the two sitting side by side as Jin-Ah took said pictured.

This was when Jin-Woo decided to come out of the bedroom. She noticed he wasn't carrying any more beers, the hunter sitting down as she tried to see if she could smell in on him.

Jin-Ah took the plates and box to the kitchen, as Hae-In leaned in. "So, what happened?"

"I drank six cans of beer and I'm not even buzzed. I think it's because I have something called Health and Longevity. It's a skill that nullifies debuffs. And it seems being drunk is one such debuff."

"So you can't get drunk?" She asked, Jin-Woo nodding. "Well, I'm not sure if I'm jealous of that or not. I mean, not having to worry about getting drunk is good. But where's the fun in drinking if you can't get a little tipsy." Jin-Woo smirked, as they kept talking about random stuff until Jin-Ah came back.

After that, Jin-Ah asked Hae-In if she ever played any video games. And whilst Hae-In hadn't done so in a while, she agreed to play and even Jin-Woo decided to accept. As such, Jin-Ah put on a racing game that they could all play. And whilst Jin-Ah had the advantage of experience with the game, she and Jin-Woo had hunter reflexes and could think on their feet.

As such, they were pretty even and each managed to win their fair share of races. In the end, Jin-Ah had won. But ti was a pretty close call.

As Jin-Ah received the trophy, Hae-In noticed the time. "Well," she sighed. "This has been fun. But I need to be up early tomorrow. So I'd better get going." The Siblings nodded and Jin-Woo got up to go with her, as Jin-Ah put away the gaming console.

"I hope you come again," the younger woman told her. "This was fun and you look like you don't get a lot of chances to just relax and have fun."

Hae-In sighed, "that's true. And yes. I'd love to come back sometime. But only when we're all free." Jin-As smiled and nodded, as Jin-Woo showed her out and the pair headed down to the parking lot.

"She's right," Jin-Woo nodded. "This was fun. More fun then I've gotten to have in a while."

Hae-In smiled, "same. I wasn't lying when I said I'd love to come again, when we all have the free time. It's just a matter of getting that time." Jin-Woo agreed, as they eventually arrived at her car. She then turned to Jin-Woo, giving him a serious look. "Remember. If you get another quest like the one from today..."

"I'll contact you," he nodded. Same with you, if anything happens with your quests." She nodded, the two saying their goodbyes before she got into the car. As she did, she heard Jin-Woo's phone ring.

He answered it as she drove off, the young woman noticing him talking to whoever was on the phone as she looked in the mirror. She could also see a sense of calm on his face. Considering how he had been before, that was good. She could only hope he wouldn't have to go through anything like that ever again.

This was a fun one. Hae-In finally gets to meet Jin-Ah and they seem to hit it off. How will this effect the future plot? Only time will tell

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Finally time to see how Hae-In stacks against a monster on her power level. Let me know what you think. Also, just a heads up. I'm changing how the chapters are laid out, deciding against the space between each paragraph. It's just easier for me. I might go back and change the others to be like this, so don't be surprised if they change to be like that. Anyway, let's get to it. 

Jin-Woo and

Hae-In stood back to back, Hae-In staring down the large snake that was most likely as strong as the dragon that torched the US several years ago.

She took a moment to let herself calm down. She knew that like Gates, all monsters had a scale they could fall into. One S Rank monster could be much weaker than another. It all depended on the powers and magical abilities it had. For all she knew, this creature could be the very weakest an S Rank could be without being A Rank.

Hae-In raised her sword, as Jin-Woo held his dagger. She couldn't fight both Cerberus and Apythis, so she would need to trust Jin-Woo to hold the weaker beast off until she could defeat the snake and deal with it.

However, Jin-Woo's words told her he had no intention of simply holding it off. He intended to kill it. "I refuse to die in a place like this." He began to run forward, his Dash skill activating. Hae-In took a moment to watch him before turning back to Apythis.

As she did, she remembered something. Something she had said in the instance dungeon. "I swore I would always believe in you. Guess I haven't been living up to that promise." She charged, "so I'll believe in you know. Take that monster down and I'll handy this one!"

"You got it!" Jin-Woo cried. That was the last thing she heard him say before he went on the attack and she focused on Apythis.

The snake hissed and did nothing, as if it was waiting for her to attack. And whilst Hae-In was a little suspicious of her, she couldn't let this chance to kill it quickly pass. As such, she leapt forward and flew towards the snake's head. And when she got close, she slashed at it only for the monster to suddenly shift out of the way.

'It dodged that?' She spun towards it, only to see the snake moving quickly. In the blink of an eye, its body whipped around and the tail smashed into her before she could react. "GYAH!" She was thrown backwards and smashed into part of a destroyed building, the impact shattering the concrete as she gasped.

She fell to the ground and the snake coiled around, glaring her down whilst she groaned and pushed herself up. As she did, her HP appeared on a screen and showed she had lost almost a quarter of her health.

The beast let out a hiss and charged, its mouth wide as it tried to swallow Hae-In whole. But she dodged it at the last moment, rolling along the ground before stopping and going on the attack. However, before she could reach it, the snake's centre moved upwards and she flew under it.

"It dodged again?" She skidded to a stop and turned back to the beast, but it had already moved out of range as she glared at it. "How is it doing that?" She had fought fast monsters before, but never this fast. She had always been able to outspeed them before. And from what she could tell, this thing wasn't faster.

Instead of going on the attack again, she took a moment to look around and get a clear understanding of her surroundings. And once that was done, she moved at her top speed.

For the snake, it was like the creature blinked and Hae-In suddenly vanished. The hunter started running around, moving faster and faster around the creature. She didn't attack yet, instead letting it get confused. If someone had been watching, they would have seen a yellow flash of light shooting around the snake as a blur.

Then, after almost a minute of this, she finally went on the attack. "RAAAAAAH!" She shot towards the snake's neck and tried to cut through it, but the snake moved out of the way at the last moment. "NO!" She tried to stop, but her momentum made that almost impossible to do quickly. And by the time she skidded to a stop, the snake spun around and smashed its tail into her. "AUGH!" She was thrown backwards again, this time smashing through a wall before crashing into another building.

She moaned and fell to the ground, her HP dropping to almost half. And as the snake went on the attack, she rushed forward and roared in annoyance.

The battle went almost the exact same way for several minutes, Hae-In attempting to hit it but missing almost every time. On the times she was able to hit the creature, the wounds were barely anything more than scratches. And when she did hit it, the snake used those openings to get in close and slam her about.

She barely managed to use her sword to block the tail strike, which knocked her flying back whilst she spun around and managed to land without issue. She stabbed her sword into the ground, stopping her from skidding backwards too far. All the while, she glared at the beast.

"It's letting the lesser injuries through to bait me. But any attack that would do it serious harm, it avoids. But how does it know which injuries will hurt it and which ones it can withstand? And how does it know how I'm going to attack in the first place?"

Before she could come up with an answer, the creature pulled back as Hae-In noticed something. The sun emblem on its throat was beginning to glow red hot.

"Now what?" She watched as it seemed to take a deep breath and whilst she wanted to use that opening to attack, she knew better than to leap blindly into an attack when she didn't know what was about to happen. But she got her answer, when the snake opened its mouth and something shot out of it.

It was a fireball, which flew towards her and made her gasp as she leapt to the side. The fireball struck the spot she had just been standing and set the area on fire...more on fire, as Hae-In did several flips to avoid the heat. But as she did, the fire suddenly changed.

Instead of spreading out, the flames grew taller before they started spinning around. Soon, the fire transformed into a long chord-shaped form and took a familiar pose. Eventually, the end of it changed into a snake head and looked down at Hae-In whilst Apythis slithered up next to it.

As the snakes stood side by side, a fire snake gained a name in white.

Pyro Viper

"Great," she sighed. "At least it's not as strong." The two snakes attacked her at the same time, Hae-In charging at Apythis and attempting strike it down. "Sword of Light!" Her blade changed into a beam and she spun it around at high speed, only for the serpent to dodge almost every strike. And again, the hits that did land were the weaker ones. Almost.

Suddenly, one of Hae-In's strikes struck part of the snake's body and cut it deep. The beast hissed in agony and Hae-In smiled, glad she had managed to get the creature hurt.

However, before she could capitalise on the opening, the Pyro Viper attacked. The fire snake attempted to bite her and whilst Hae-In was able to avoid it, part of her clothing got singed and she gasped.

She leapt away and slapped her flaming shirt, putting it out only for the Pyro Viper and Apythis to attack at the same time.

Hae-In was forced on the defensive, constantly deflecting attacks from the pair at once. And whenever she tried to counter and strike Apythis, it was able to dodge the threatening attacks. The Pyro Viper then attacked and she dodged, the back of her shirt catching alight and making her flinch.

"That's enough!" She cried, moving at super speed to shoot past the fire snake. When she got behind it, the wind from her movements extinguished the fire on her back. At the same time, the Pyro Viper's head was cut free of the body and the whole thing extinguished.

She sighed, looking back and seeing Apythis glaring at her. But before she attacked, a window popped up and told her she had received a single battle point. And when she saw it, her eyes went wide as she realised she had a chance.

"One more point. That's all I need." She smiled, as she realised she could turn the tables on this creature.

Said creature attacked, slithering forward as she attacked as well. The creature then began to dance around, wiggling its body all over the place to avoid each and every attack she threw at it. But she was fine with that, since she was waiting for the right moment.

"Come on, you overgrown handbag. Give me what I'm after!" She performed several thrusting attacks, but each one was dodged as the snake somehow leapt backwards and landed a good distance away.

Its sun emblem then glowed and the snake began to take a deep breath. And now that Hae-In knew what was coming, she charged forward and attempted to use this opening to deal some more damage. However, the snake was once again able to dodge her attacks by flicking its serpentine body around. Each movement allowed it to just dodge a swipe of her sword, as Hae-In moved past her.

She then leapt into the air, dodging its tail attack and doing several spins through the air.

When she landed, she focused on the snake. However, she suddenly heard a loud cry echo through the air. "Jin-Woo?" She looked over at the distance and saw a blast of dust and debris float into the air, making her realise Jin-Woo had likely taken a serious hit.

Hae-In glared back at the snake, as it launched a fireball right at her.

"RAAAAH!" She rushed forward and stabbed the tip of her sword into the fireball, the speed creating a wind bullet that pushed the flames away from her.

This turned the fireball into a fire ring, which she leapt through as she attempted to attack the beast again. And sure enough, she was able to get in close and slashed the side of its neck. Apythis hissed in pain, as its scales were broken and its neck took some damage. But not enough to kill it, the snake quickly slithered away whilst Hae-In landed.

As she did, the fire ring transformed. Her attack hadn't been enough to destroy it, so the Pyro Viper quickly formed and went on the attack. "Bring it!" She cried, as Apythis attacked as well. The two attempted to tag team her, forcing Hae-In to dance around in order to avoid each and every strike.

Apythis tried to bite her and she narrowly avoided getting a fang in her back, only for the Pyro Viper to fly past and burn part of her arm.

She gasped, but endured it and leapt straight up.

Hae-In spun around and landed a ways away again, whilst the two snakes spun around and attacked again. But Hae-In was ready and began her high speed dash technique. Once again, the flash of light flew around the two creatures and made it impossible for them to follow.

And whilst Apythis didn't seem to have an issue, the Pyro Viper was completely confused. And eventually, Hae-In used its distraction to attack.

She appeared with her feet up against the wall of a nearby building, which she kicked off of with all her strength. She shot towards the Pyro Viper and with a roar, she slashed at it. And whilst Apythis seemed to see this coming and tried to stop her, it wasn't fast enough.

Its tail swung around and tried to hit her, but she was able to get to the viper first and cut its head off.

She smiled, but the tail kept coming and she barely managed to raise her sword in time. The tail smashed into her and as the Pyro Viper's body extinguished, she was thrown backwards and smashed through another wall with a scream of pain.

"Augh!" Hae-In crashed into the ground after she hit it, blood covering her body from several injuries she had received throughout the entire body. Her HP also dropped into the red, Hae-In panting as she lay there and felt her mouth filling with blood.

Apythis raised itself up and stared over the rubble she had been smashed through, as she slowly began to move and push herself up onto her feet. Her legs were unsteady, as she almost staggered off her feet.

Hae-In's heart was racing, as she looked up at the creature and spat the blood out of her mouth. For the first time since she had discovered how powerful she was, she felt actual fear for herself. That she might actually die in that moment. However, she refused to let that fear control her.

A roar of pain came from behind her, as she realised Jin-Woo must have injured Cerberus. And if he could do that, Hae-In knew she could beat this thing. "I'm not going to let you kill me!" The snake shot forward, attempting to swallow her whole. But Hae-In leapt to the side, jumping up onto the top of a building as the snake tried to slither around. But she was able to get behind a wall before it could see her and caught her breath. "Shop!"

The window opened and when she saw her battle points, she smiled seeing she had the amount she needed.

She quickly scrolled down to the boots she had been after and when it asked if she wanted to buy them, she quickly said yes. And in the blink of an eye, all her hard earned BP disappeared and her inventory gained a new item.

She smirked, but suddenly felt the ground beneath her shake. Following her instincts, she leapt into the air moments before the wall exploded. The snake smashed through it, having attempted to take her by surprise. Hae-In's jump carried her over to the top of another fallen building, as she quickly opened her inventory.

Apythis took a deep breath and unleashed another fireball, which shot right towards her. However, she finally managed to equip the Heaven's Steps. The winged boots appeared on her legs for a moment, protecting them and he knees, only to vanish as she leapt up.

The fireball struck the building and exploded, whilst she flew up high.

But instead of falling, Hae-In fought for a moment and the air below her seemed to solidify. It was like she was floating, keeping her at a safe distance above the snake and the fireball. But she knew she couldn't stay there long, so started running above Apythis as the fire transformed into a Pyro Viper.

She then cut the power of the boots and fell, her sword still in hand as she dove towards the snake

The creature opened its mouth, but she was ready and kicked the air beside her. This allowed her to shoot to the side, away from the mouth, Hae-In quickly spinning in the air and kicking off again.

The next thing Apythis knew, the hunter shot past it at high speed and slashed at its body. She cut right through its scales and flesh, making it hissed out in pain as it slithered back. But Hae-In managed to stop herself midair and ran back towards it through the air.

The Pyro Viper went on the attack as well, as Hae-In moved faster and faster.

Thanks to the boots' Agility buff, she was reaching speeds she had never felt possible before. It was like the world around her had slowed down and as she reached the snake, she managed to stab it several times until it got out of reach.

Instead of following it, she turned her attention towards the Pyro Viper. The fire snake leapt at her, but she jumped up and over it before stopping right above it. She pushed against the solidified air and shot down before the beast could react, cutting through its neck and killing it in the blink of an eye.

She smiled and looked up at Apythis, who had recovered and went on the attack. But she went super speed, shooting around so fast that she was practically invisible.

Apythis stayed still and waited for several moments, until it finally moved and tried to dodge her attack. But Hae-In reappeared and slashed its eye. The creature screamed and fell back, its left eye completely destroyed as Hae-In jumped back several feet.

She smiled, realising what was going on. "You're somehow able to predict my moves. But that doesn't matter, if the attacks are coming too fast for you to react." She turned into a blur again and went on a rampage, allowing her to move at super speed and slash at the snake too fast for it to react.

It kept crying out, as it was struck over and over again. But Hae-In knew she still had to be careful, since her HP was incredibly low. She didn't know what would happen if it hit zero, but she was sure she didn't want to find out.

As such, when the snake swung its tail around, she leapt straight up and over it before zigzagging through the air and launching herself towards its neck. She then slammed her foot into the creature's throat, causing the beast's breath to be pushed out of its mouth, before spinning around and slashing her sword into the bottom of its mouth.

Apythis had pulled back at the last minute, getting a serious cut on the bottom of its jaw aside from losing it entirely.

Hae-In fell to the ground and landed, as the snake tried to get its breath back. Smoke came out of its mouth, likely an attempt to summon another Pyro Viper, but it couldn't as Hae-In leapt into the air. She ran above it, picking up speed but not giving it time to recover.

And as the beast tried to take a breath, she jumped down and let out a roar as her momentum and gravity worked together in order to get in close. "TAKE THIS!" With the blink of an eye, she flew past and slashed the back of its neck.

Blood gushed everywhere, the snake screaming once again. As it did, Hae-In noticed something in the distance. A loud scream, coming from something not too far away. Jin-Woo's fight had moved closer to her and as it did, she remember what she could do as a Pseudo-Player.

So, as the snake continued to bleed, she leapt away and moved towards the cry. "Follow me if you can!"

Apythis hissed and charged after her, slithering behind and smashing through anything that got in its way. And as they got closer, she noticed something. The flames in an area in front of her had been extinguished.

The reason for this was something was raining down, Hae-In wondering what it was but focusing on the creature behind her. She sped up and as she reached the area where the flames had gone out, she saw that blood was covering every surface.

She skidded to a stop in the air, as she spotted the bloody remains of Cerberus laying on the ground. And nearby, Jin-Woo was also laying there. "NO!" She cried, leaping down and seeing he was in a puddle of blood with holes in his clothing.

However, before she could panic, Jin-Woo started moving and rolled onto his back. It was then she remembered what happened whenever he levelled up, which must have happened after defeating the stronger gate keeper.

"You okay?" She asked, as Jin-Woo gave her a thumbs up. However, before she could celebrate, Apythis broke through another pile of rubble and stared up at them. Hae-In turned back to it, wanting to help give Jin-Woo some more power.

So as the creature attacked, she shot up and turned into a blur once more.

A blur that flew around the creature multiple times, as it tried to dodge the incoming attacks. But each and every one was much too fast. And soon, its other eye was slashed and destroyed.

As the creature screamed in pain, she appeared right above its head and stood on the air with her sword held high. "It's time to end this fight." With that, she back-flipped before kicking the air above her and flying downwards. "SWORD OF LIGHT!"

Before the snake could counter, she reached it whilst her blade turned into a laser. One she thrust straight into the creature's head, sticking it in the spot right between its destroyed eyes.

Apythis gave out one final hiss of agony, as Hae-In began to run down its head and slide her sword down its back. And when she finally pulled it away from the creature, it fell to the ground and smashed into it hard enough to create a small earthquake.

Hae-In fell to the ground, landing as her legs almost gave out. For the first time in her hunting career, she was actually tired after a battle. She had always seen other hunters looking exhausted after a hard fight and wondered what it felt like, and now she knew.

The window opened up, telling her she had defeated the monster and gotten rewards. But she was more focused on Jin-Woo right now, running over to him.

Once she was there, she fell to her knees and saw the state he was in. Covered in blood, his clothing damaged and clear exhaustion on his face. But before she could say anything, another window popped open. Several, actually.

Jin-Woo pushed himself up to a sitting position and read the first one. "I got four more levels?"

Hae-In smiled, "that's why I brought the snake over to you. I wanted to make sure you got some EXP, even if it's only half the amount you would have gotten normally." Jin-Woo smiled, thanking her as he closed that window and found the rewards for defeating the monsters.

"Let's see what it dropped." They checked and Hae-In giggled, seeing one of the items. "Figures."

"I don't know," she gave him a smirked. "I think you'd look good wearing a collar."

"Funny," he rolled his eyes and turned back to the screens. "This system loves keys. I bet it was for the gate they were guarding." She nodded, as another window popped open. "What the?" She raised an eyebrow, looking at the window and seeing it was covered in question marks.

He then held up his hand and a scroll of some kind appeared in it, having a strange mark on it that looked like a shield with a branch on it. "What is it?" She got her answer, when a new window popped up with an explanation of what it was.

Formula: Elixir of Life
Acquisition Difficulty: S
Learn how to craft [Item: Elixir of Life]

"It's for the elixir," Jin-Woo gasped. "No way." The window then closed and another one opened up, revealing what items were needed to craft it. From what Hae-In could see, they would need three items in order to craft it.

"Jin-Woo," she frowned. "How close were you to almost dying?"

"Too close," Jin-Woo sighed. "If I hadn't had the store, I'd be dead right now." Hae-In felt her heart clench at this, whilst her own body ached with pain. Jin-Woo then turned towards the burning tower that held the items they sought. "You were right. If I go in there now, I'd definitely die. Even with you with me." His body shook in frustration, as he took several deep breaths to calm himself. "I'll get stronger and come back. Count on it."

Hae-In sighed, glad he was going to be smart about this. "I'll help you as well. Once you're strong enough, we'll tackle it together."

Jin-Woo nodded, as he looked her over and noticed the damage done to her clothing. "You gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Hae-In assured him. "Though I kinda wish I had a change of clothing in my inventory." She sighed, mentally smacking herself for not changing into her raid gear. That would have been damaged, but at least she could have changed back. "Jin-Ah's gonna throw a fit when she sees your clothes." Jin-Woo nodded, thinking the same thing. They needed to find a way to change clothes.

They took a few more moments to rest before thinking of leaving, the two still exhausted from the fight. But as they sat there, Jin-Woo seemed to think of something and turned to Hae-In. "Did you get anything?"

"Oh." She had almost forgotten her own rewards, the hunter opening her window again and her eyes going wide. "Geez. That's almost half the battle points I spent on my boots back." She wasn't against that, opening her own shop and finding a health potion. Spending a small chunk of her points on it, she quickly drank the potion down once it appeared.

it tasted horrible, but the instant pain release she felt made it more than worth it.

Once the potion was empty, she sighed dropping the bottle and could finally relax. "Alright, what else did I get." She expected it to be another monster piece, maybe even something that was reforgable, whatever that meant. But when she checked, her eyes went wide. "No way."

"What is it?" Jin-Woo watched, as a flash of light signalled the appearance of something in Hae-In's hand. An egg-shaped black stone with some kind of rune carved into it. And when he took a closer look, a window opened up to give its name.

Rune Stone: Prophetic Gaze

Hae-In could barely believe it. An actual Rune Stone. She had only ever heard stories about them. They were said to be dropped one in a thousand times when a monster was destroyed. With it, she could acquire the skill of the monster she had just slain. But which skill was it?

"Prophetic Gaze?" Jin-Woo asked, "what's that?"

"I'm not sure," Hae-In frowned. She stared at the first word, then remembered Apythis' full title. "Prophetic Sun Eater. Prophetic Gaze. Don't tell me." Suddenly, everything made sense. "Will this...let me see the future?" Jin-Woo looked surprised by this, the two realising how broken an ability like that was.

"Seriously? If you can, try and get me some lotto numbers." Hae-In rolled her eyes, as she kept looking at the stone. "What's up. Aren't you gonna use it?"

"I...I don't know. Is it a good idea?"

"Why not. You beat the creature. Who earned it. I say go for it. We both know that being able to see the future will be a serious help in everything we do." She nodded, and after a moment, she crushed the room in her hand.

As soon as she did, a light escaped the rock and spread around her body. She gasped, feeling a new power was over her. She felt the light enter her and take root in her very soul, completing the transfer as the light faded away.

When it did, a new window popped open.

Active Skill
Prophetic Gaze Lv1
MP: 0
Allows the user to look up to one minute into the future. Cool down is the same amount of time that the user saw.

"It only lets me see one minute into the future," she sighed. "And then I have to wait the same amount of time to do it again. Still, one minute can be pretty useful. And it doesn't cost any MP."

"Let's give it a try," Jin-Woo suggested. She nodded, taking a moment to focus. And soon, she felt a buzz going on in her mind and her eyes gave off a soft glow. "Alright," Jin-Woo shifted towards her, "dishwasher." Hae-In raised an eyebrow, "apple. Robot monkey butler." She laughed at this, those words being the most unexpected things he could ever say.

She stopped the ability, the buzzing and eye glow fading as she suddenly found the world blinking. It was like she had just skipped backwards whilst watching an internet video.

Jin-Woo had shifted positions a bit, back to what he had been in previously. "Alright." He shifted towards her. But when he spoke, she spoke in unison. "Dishwasher." Jin-Woo pulled back in surprise and smirked. "Apple," they said together. "Robot monkey butler." Both of them smirked, realising the power really worked. "That is awesome."

Hae-In nodded. "And maybe with practise, I'll be able to look further ahead. Two minutes, then three. Maybe one day I'll be able to look over an hour into the future."

"That would be awesome." Jin-Woo finally got up and offered a hand, "let's get going. I'm exhausted." Hae-In nodded, being just as tired as she took his hand. He lifted her up and Hae-In blushed, as she almost tripped up and fell onto Jin-Woo's chest.

Managing to straighten herself up, she took a breath and moved away whilst hiding her face. The pair began to head back towards the exit, as Hae-In looked Jin-Woo over. His wounds might have healed, but his destroyed clothes were a serious issue.

She thought back to the Instance Dungeon along with the day she first met him. After that, his clothes had also been destroyed. And since he was using his father's clothing, the number of outfits he had likely weren't many. If he was going to level up, he would need to face off against strong opponents. And that meant he was likely going to get more of his clothing ruined.

"You really need to look into getting your own kind of battle gear," she told him. "Something a little more durable, which won't rip apart when you fight something."

"Yeah, I get that. But isn't gear like that supposed to be insanely expensive?"

"True. But don't you have thirty million coming your way." Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at this, but then realised what she was saying.

"You want me to do those raids with Jinho?" He thought about it and nodded, "you're right. Those C Rank Gates would help me level up." He smiled, but then frowned. "But working on a strike squad could be tricky. People will notice I'm getting stronger."

Hae-In realised he had a point. The C Rank Gates would help him, but it would also put him at risk of being discovered. And if that happened, there was no telling what the results would be. "We'll think of something." They arrived at the exit, both taking one final look at their clothing and trying to come up with something.

"Here." Jin-Woo reached into his inventory and took out a pair of large fur coats. "Put this on as soon as we get out. Should help us not catch too much attention." Hae-In smiled and accepted the coat, but still planned to add extra clothing to her inventory. Hopefully, she could get home and changed without anyone noticing an S Rank hunter was wearing a hot coat despite it being rather warm out.

They stepped out of the dungeons and quickly put the coats on, covering up their destroyed outfits as Hae-In looked around. "I'm glad my apartment's not too far from here."

"Lucky," Jin-Woo sighed. "It's gonna take me over an hour to get home. And that's if the train arrives at the station the moment I do."

Hae-In nodded, seeing Jin-Woo was clearly tired. And so was she.

A part of her wanted to suggest he simply crash at her place, with an emphasis on him sleeping on the couch. However, she couldn't bring herself to do it. For one thing, someone was bound to notice him.

If word got out that she had a guy stay at her place, even if it's just to sleep, every magazine would start spreading rumours all over the place. Another thing that sucked about being an S Rank Hunter.

The second issue was the fact Hae-In just couldn't do it. The idea of them both sleeping in the same apartment, even if it was platonic, was just too much for her. She couldn't do it. "Well," she sighed, "the sooner we leave the sooner we get home." Jin-Woo nodded, Hae-In promising to return the coat the next time they saw one another.

They walked together for as long as they could before going their separate ways, the two disappearing into the night as they thought about what came next. Jin-Woo needed to get stronger and she needed to master her new skills and gear. The stronger they became, the better chance they had when facing the Demon Castle.

"We're going to get that elixir. No matter what."

Geez, that was an intense battle. Hope you all enjoyed it and what do you think of the new skill Hae-In gained. Yes, I stole it from Nicholas Cage's Next. If I could pick a superpower, it would so be that.

So, how will things change from here? And will Jin-Woo end up getting the new clothes Hae-In suggested? Keep reading to find out. 

Chapter Text

Sorry this is coming out later than usual. Been a hectic week. Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your suggestions in the last chapter. I've read them through and have an idea of how I'm gonna handle the Iron situation. Might be a while until we get to that part, but I hope you'll like it when we get there. Until then, enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.

Darkness was all Hae-In could see, as she felt herself in a dark area completely void of life.

She didn't know where she was, but she knew she was in the midst of battle. Her instincts told her she needed to be ready, along with the battle suit she didn't recognise currently adorning her body. She stood ready for battle, and she wasn't alone.

Two other figures stood beside her. One appeared to be some kind of magic beast, though Hae-In almost mistook it for a human since the only difference between them were her pointed ears. She had purple hair and red marks under her eyes, whilst she wore a red and bronze set of armor along with carrying a double-bladed sword in her hand.

And on Hae-In's other side, was another humanoid that looked like nothing she had ever seen. Her body appeared to be made out of some kind of whitish blue energy, whilst her clothes looked like they were made out of the darkness that surrounded them. Said clothing was an eccentric dress that left little to the imagination, along with an unusual headdress that resembled horns. And hanging on her shoulders was a wolf, made entirely out of white and blue ice.

Both figures were staring ahead, Hae-In turning towards that direction and seeing something in the distance. And as it got closer, she was able to make out what it was.

It was some kind of giant red worm, with a giant monstrous face. It slithered forward and as it got closer, she noticed that someone was riding atop it.

She was a tall and slender woman, with black hair that writhed around as if it were alive. She wore a long black dress with green trim and metal armoring around the legs and arm, whilst her hands were inside black metal gloves with clawed fingers. Everything about her screamed seductress.

As the worm stopped, the woman stared down at them and did not look happy. "Get out of my way. I am going to crush the Shadow Monarch. Once he's been fully subdued, he will be mine." She looked like she had just taken a bite of the best dessert in the world. "Oh...the offspring we will make. They will be the greatest threat this world has ever seen."

Hae-In felt a surge of anger at this, as something happened.

The shadows around her feet began to flare up and float towards her hand. "You want to have his offspring. Get in line, sister." The shadows suddenly took shape in her hand and formed a weapon of some kind.

Her hand was inside what looked like the head of a horse, which appeared to be acting like the crossguard of a sword. And the blade of that sword was sticking out the forehead of the horse, being a long pointed yellow horn with a sharp spiralling blade swirling around it.

Hae-In swung the weapon around, as the other two also got into a battle stance. "Let's go, girls." The women beside her cheered before she and the armored one launched themselves forward. At the same time, the other one raised her hands as if to cast a spell. And as Hae-In got closer, she let out a battle cry and thrust the weapon forward.

Hae-In gasped, as she felt herself waking up in her bed.

As she laid there, the images she had just seen became nothing more than fuzzy memories. "What was that?" She asked, "a dream?" She got up, as her daily quests came in. She frowned, unsure if she was even in the mood to do them. However, she refused to let whatever that was knock her for a loop.

She got out of bed and began to do her stretches, but still felt herself thinking back on the dream she had just had.

It hadn't felt like a dream, feeling more like a memory. However, she was certain she had never been in a situation like that before. "What was all that?" She asked herself. "Who were those women? What was that thing I was fighting? Didn't feel like a human." She wanted to think more about it, but she couldn't. The memories of the dream were growing fainter and fainter. She tried to remember what had been said, but it was all a blur.

She groaned, feeling defeated by her own brain. Instead, she focused on doing her daily quests. She needed to be ready for today. Her guildmates needed her to be at the top of her game. So for now, she would need to put those thoughts out of her head.

"Still, I wish I knew what that was I saw."

As Jin-Woo made his way through the city, heading towards a D Rank Gate, he thought about what his sister had said earlier.

"So when's Hae-In coming over again?" She had asked before he headed out of the house.

"She was hanging out with us the other day," Jin-Woo pointed out.

"Yeah. And it was fun. You two clearly enjoy spending time with one another. Why else would you spend so much time with her?"

"I do enjoy spending time with her. But we're not attached at the hip. We don't have to see each other every day. Besides, Hae-In's a busy woman. She has a Gate she needs to close today."

"Fine," Jin-Ah sighed. "But still, I hope she comes over again. She's super cool. Still don't know why she's wasting her time with you, but I don't mind if it means I get to hang out with her." Jin-Woo rolled his eyes at this, as Jin-Ah giggled. "Maybe if you two started dating-OW! OW! OW! OW!" She thrashed about, as Jin-Woo pulled on her cheek.

"Would you cut it out. I'm pretty sure Hae-In has better things to do then date me. Like you said, she's wasting her time with me." He finally let go of her cheek and Jin-Ah rubbed it, whilst giving him a look.

"I know I give you flack, but you are kind of a catch."

"Really?" He asked.

"Sure. You're a hard worker and care about your family. What more would a girl want from a guy. Plus, all that training and growth spurts really made you look more appealing. Just do something with that hair and you could have a bunch of girls pining after you."

"Sure sis." He left before Jin-Ah could say anything else.

The whole time he had been making his way to the Gate, he had been thinking about what Jin-Ah had said. He wasn't sure if she had been telling the truth of just making fun of him, but he was curious if his levelling up had helped him become more appealing to the women folk.

He took a moment to glance at himself in a store window, allowing him to see himself in the reflection. And as he did, he realised he really had changed a lot. Hae-In had mentioned he was taller and that was true, his father's clothing having replaced his own thanks to them no longer fitting. And his voice was apparently different, not that he could tell.

He had changed a lot, but would he actually be able to get a girlfriend if he tried.

Considering he had never been able to even get a girl's number, nurses wanting to make sure he was okay not withstanding, how was he supposed to get any girl to like him? Even if he looked more attractive, his natural awkwardness made asking a girl out impossible.

"Forget about it," Jin-Woo shook his head. "You've got more important things to worry about. Focus on levelling up. Once mom's awake, then you can focus on getting a girlfriend."

He kept walking and as he crossed the road, he heard someone call out to him. "Jin-Woo?" He stopped and glanced around, spotting someone he hadn't seen in a while.

"Mr. Song?" The leader from the Double Dungeon incident smiled, as he marched towards him whilst his left sleeve blew in the window.

"So it is you. Wow, I hardly recognise you."

Jin-Woo smiled, "it has been a while, huh?"

"What are the odds we'd just meet on the street?" He looked him over, appearing somewhat surprised. "I gotta say, though. What happened to the gentle Jin-Woo I used to know? It's only been a few short weeks, but you're like a new man." Jin-Woo smiled with a slight chuckle. "Especially since...I recall you losing your right leg?"

Jin-Woo suddenly felt very self-conscious, unsure how to answer that question. "I did. But when I woke up in the hospital, it was still there."

"Well I heard the White Tiger rushed onto the scene after I was taken to the hospital. Bet you anything there was a high ranked healer among them. Guess we can both thank Hunter Cha for getting you to them quick enough."

"Cha?" Jin-Woo asked. "You mean Cha Hae-In?" He knew that Hae-In and Chi-Yul were acquaintances, Hae-In having told him about how she had been trained by him, but he wasn't sure if Hae-In wanted others in the Hunters world to know about them being friends. Not yet anyway.

"Yes. She's the one who pulled you out of..."

"The Double Dungeon," Jin-Woo nodded. "Yes. I was already told about that. But the way you're talking about her, it's almost like you know one another."

"We do. When she first awakened as a hunter, I'm the one who taught her everything she knows with the sword. She's my best student and even after I taught her everything I knew, she continued to come and train at my Dojo."

Jin-Woo nodded, as his gaze shifted towards the empty sleeve on Chi-Yul's left side.

Chi-Yul noticed this and sighed. "Maybe if I had gotten to a decent healer in time. But, I've accepted it now." He began to walk past him. "Anyway, chance meeting or not, I'm really glad I got to see you again. I've been wanting to ever since I heard you lived."

"Oh," Jin-Woo nodded.

"Yes. By the way, Ms. Cha was actually quite curious about you. She came to see me at the hospital and was asking all kinds of questions about you?"

"She was?" Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at this, since he was pretty sure that took place before she and him were properly acquainted. "So what did you tell her?"

"Nothing much," he replied. "She was curious why you were a hunter despite your...um..."

"Clear lack of strength?" Jin-Woo smiled, "it's fine. Anyone would be curious why I hunt despite how weak I am." Chi-Yul sighed, "so what did you tell her?"

"I didn't give her many details. Didn't know many of the details. I just told her your mother was in the hospital and you needed the money for her and your sister. Sorry if that was crossing the line."

"Don't worry about it." Jin-Woo would need to have a talk with Hae-In about what she and Chi-Yul had talked about. But right now, he had other things to focus on. "So what brought you to this part of town?"

"The association messaged me. Said it's urgent."

"I got the message too," Jin-Woo nodded. As he did, they arrived at the area where the Gate was. And once Jin-Woo raised the tape to let Chi-Yul through, the man chuckled.

"Now how's that for a coincidence." Jin-Woo wondered what he meant, until he followed his gaze and his eyes fell on three other individuals. "This is quite the little reunion." Jin-Woo said nothing, as he stared at the three in question. Lee Joohee, Kim Sangshik and Kang Jeongho. Three other survivors of the Double Dungeon.

As soon as Joohee saw him, her eyes widened. "You're really here."

"Joohee, hey." Jin-Woo didn't know how he felt about this situation, as he saw the other two weren't even able to look him in the eye. Not surprising, given what had happened. "Look at that. The gang's all here."

Joohee slowly moved towards him, clearly taking in his new appearance. Jin-Woo noticed her face turning red, the hunter worrying she might be coming down with something. "My gosh. This is surreal. You are Jin-Woo, aren't you?"

Jin-Woo smiled, "I am. I swear."

"Your leg looks like it was never severed and you're so tall. I guess you were okay, the day I came to visit."

"Er...you came to visit?" Before Jin-Woo could ask more, they all heard a car pull up behind them. Looking around, they saw a people carrier which quickly opened. When it did, someone stepped out wearing a prison jumpsuit and chains.

As soon as he saw Joohee, he chuckled. "We got a fine little lady in this group, fellas." Jin-Woo stood protectively in front of Joohee, his instincts telling him whoever this was was a dangerous person. No matter what, he would protect Joohee. Though he prayed he wouldn't need to.

The sounds of waves filled the air, as Hae-In looked around the area they had found themselves in.

She didn't know what the chances of two non-cave dungeons being on her hit list one after the other was, but she was sure it was high. But here she was, once again stepping out into what appeared to be the open ocean.

She and the rest of the raid team were all standing on a large rock, sticking out of the ocean. Said rock was a round lump of bumpy stone, roughly fifteen meters from one side to the other. The Gate was in the centre and as they looked around, they spotted another, smaller, rock in front of them with a ten foot gap between them.

That rock had another rock on the far side, then another and another. "So that's how it works."

"What do you mean, Vice Guildmaster?" Bora asked, clearly confused by their situation.

Hae-In could have explained, but she also wanted to test Kihoon's understanding of the situation. As such, she turned to him. "Can you tell her what I mean?" He looked towards the rock next to theirs and frowned, then seemed to figure it out.

"This is just like how a normal Dungeon is laid out." Bora and the others still didn't understand. "Think about it. Usually, Dungeons are single paths we have to follow. They eventually split off into multiple directions, but most of them lead to a dead-end. This place is likely designed the same way." He pointed towards the lines of islands. "Unless we're willing to swim, our only option is to head that way."

"Exactly," Hae-In smiled. "In time, we'll find the boss room on what's probably an extra large island. But until then, we'll need to jump from one island to the next. This isn't gonna be easy." She looked down at the water, "I'm willing to bet the monsters are all sea-dwelling beasts."

"This is nuts," Gina sighed. "How are we supposed to fight creatures hidden underwater."

"I doubt they're gonna stay under there for long," the tank stated. "My bet is the moment one of us tries to jump to the next island, it'll shoot out and try to grab us." The others agreed, Hae-In thinking the same thing.

"So what's your plan?" Hae-In asked Kihoon, wondering how he would act in this unusual situation.

He thought about it for a moment and nodded, turning to the most athletic member of the group after Hae-In. "Jiwoo. You mind testing it out. We'll be ready to assist if something happens, but you're the only one who can move in midair and avoid the attack."

Jiwoo smirked. "Leave it to me." She moved over to the edge of the island and once the others were in place, she leapt into the air over the water.

They all focused on said water, waiting to see if anything appeared. But it didn't and Jiwoo landed on the next island. "What does that mean?" Their summoner asked, Kihoon thinking.

"Either they're not there, or Jiwoo's jump told them there's prey here. I'll go next. Be ready to act if anything happens." They nodded and after he took a few steps back, he ran forward and leapt over the ten foot gap. To a normal person, that kind of jump would be impossible whilst wearing heavy armor and carrying a sword and shield. But he made it look easy and landed next to Jiwoo.

Again, there was no sea-beast attack and everyone was sure the monsters weren't there. As such, they all made the leap.

Gina and Semi found themselves tripping when they landed, the uneven surface making it difficult not to do so because the rock was so bumpy. Kihoon and Bora had caught the two and kept them from accidentally breaking something, whilst Hae-In leapt over the gap.

Instead of taking her chances with the uneven surface, she used her new boots to hover above the rocks. It was only an inch, so nobody noticed when she dropped down again without issue. But as she did, Jiwoo moved over to the other side of the island and leapt over to the other one.

They did this for several islands, finding essence stones on some of those islands.

Then, as they reached the seventh island, Jiwoo leapt to the eighth only for something to happen. The water below her suddenly exploded, as a long creature leapt out and tried to grab her.

It was some kind of eel, which Hae-In assumed was the length of a double-decker bus. It was blue with a yellow scaly underbelly, with large fins sticking out the sides of its neck right behind its head. It had a mouth so large, it didn't seem to have had room for its eyes as it was clearly blind. And on the top of its head was a frilly dorsal fin.

The creature tried to bite Jiwoo, who saw it and was quick to react.

She spun around and slammed her foot into the side of the creature, causing it to roar as it was sent crashing towards the island the rest of the Hunters were on. And as it fell, Kihoon jumped forward to the spot where it would land.

He then thrust his sword upwards and it soon stabbed into the beast's head, making it cry out and pull away. But the damage was done, as Bora used her magic to launch bindings from the rock that wrapped around the beast and kept it from escaping into the water.

Gina launched a fireball, whilst their summoner unleashed one of his fire creatures to help burn the beast alive.

As it was roasted, Kihoon stepped forward and sank his sword right into the beast's chest and cut upwards. Eventually, the thing stopped moving and died. "Alright," he replied, "no we know what kind of creatures we're up against."

"Just be careful," Hae-In told him. "In this kind of environment, I wouldn't be surprised if a variety of beasts lived here." They nodded and once again leapt to the next island, as splashing sounds caught their attention.

"That came from up ahead," Semi pointed out. "Two islands away." Hae-In smiled, happy to see Semi was taking her new role as the observer to heart. Hae-In looked ahead and when she did, she spotted something climbing out of the water onto the island.

They were humanoid fish. Creatures that had the basic body shape of a human, but they were only half their size and their bodies were covered in green scales. Their heads were that of a fist and had fish fins in place of ears and a dorsal fin sticking out of their heads.

"Gillmen," Hae-In stated. "Goblins of the sea."

"Goblins?" Their Tank asked, "does that mean they're as weak as them as well."

"Don't underestimate them," Hae-In exclaimed. "These creatures might not be strong on their own, but on mass they could overwhelm even me." They all nodded, as the gillmen charged forward and leapt onto the next island.

As they approached, Gina stepped forward and summoned a bunch of fire. "Flame Impact!" She said the fireballs shooting towards the creatures, the impact causing and explosion that sent the beast flying.

But more gillmen began to pull themselves out of the water, more than before and looking just as deadly.

Their summoner tried to summon a pair of fire humanoids, but only managed one. He sent them on the attack, whilst Kihoon and Jiwoo charged as well. They all attacked, cutting, burning and smashing their way through the creatures. Hae-In watched them go at it and decided to make sure nothing caught them by surprise.

Her eyes glowed for a moment and nobody noticed, though this only lasted a second and quickly faded. When it did, Hae-In looked worried and happened to move around the island until she was next to Semi.

Forty seconds later, something shot out of the water and flew towards their healer at high speed.

It was a piranha, only the top section of its head was covered in a white bone-like armor that had a horn sticking out of it. It was moving so fast, Semi would have likely been dead in the blink of an eye if Hae-In hadn't been there.

The S Rank flashed her blade and the creature's body split apart, falling to the ground in two pieces. Semi gasped at this, whilst the others looked worried. "What?"

"Be careful everyone," Hae-In told them. "Some of these creatures don't seem to care that a single attack will leave them stuck on dry land. Kamicazi monsters are always an issue." They all nodded and kept an eye on the water, as the warrior kept fighting their way through the gillmen that climbed up onto the rocks.

Hae-In looked into the future again the moment the cool down finished, letting her know everything that was going to happen. This time, she didn't have to worry since the others were ready. When another piranha leapt out to attack, Gina used her telekinesis to stop it in its tracks. This allowed their assassin to cut the creature in half, whilst Kihoon shield bashed another gillman backwards until it crashed into another.

That gave the fire summons the chance to slam its hand into their faces, burning them until they died.

Jiwoo took out the last gillman, then ducked under a piranha attack. The fish hit the rock and flopped around, unable to get back in the water. Kihoon then stabbed it, everyone nodding as they kept going.

They continued to make their way through the dungeon, which was just how Kihoon and Hae-In had explained. Multiple Islands in a line, many of them having essence stones within them. There were also sea-stacks with even more of the crystals, making Hae-In wonder how exactly the mining team would get them out, along with many different sea-creatures that attacked them.

There were multiple eels, gillmen and piranha, but also strange creatures like a literal sea-lion, being a lion mermaid that jumped onto the island to attack.

Eventually, the island paths became numerous. They split into several routes, leaving them to decide the best way to go.

Hae-In had used her prophetic gaze to look ahead, watching as she used her boots to leap into the air. Everyone had been shocked by this, as she ran through the air and found one line of islands led to a dead end with nothing at the end of the path.

When she blinked back to the past, she suggested they try the other way first and everyone agreed. And sure enough, after several more fights, they came to another split and Hae-In did the same thing. With this, they managed to navigate through the dungeon and kill everything that came across them.

All the while, Hae-In kept a close eye on Kihoon and watched him lead the group with great skill. But still, she had yet to see how he could handle a situation that was completely out of left field. The unusual Dungeon hadn't thrown him off, but that wasn't enough for her to see how well he did in an unexpected situation.

After a while and several more fights, the attacks seemed to drop as something came into view. A large island, with a massive rock sticking out of it. "You think that's the boss room?" Their tank asked.

"Looks like it," Kihoon stated. "But the question is, are all the magic beasts dead?"

"We haven't been attacked by anything in a while," Gina pointed out. "But there could be more waiting underwater. Maybe it's waiting for less dangerous prey to show up in order to attack."

Semi didn't seem so sure about that. "Only way to really find out is to dive under the water. But who would be stupid enough to do that?"

Hae-In smirked, as her eyes glowed for a moment. In her vision, she jumped into the water and dove down much to everyone's cry of shock. She used her Sword of Light skill to illuminate the area, as the rock she had just been standing on went all the way down into the dark abyss. And after a few seconds of swimming, she reached the bottom and couldn't find anything that was going to attack them. The waters were empty.

After a full minute of swimming around, she determined that the waters were monster free.

That was when she warped back to the previous minute, smiling as she turned to the rest of the team. "I think the Dungeon is clear. We can head back and let the Mining and Extraction Teams do their thing." They nodded and all headed back the way they came, Hae-In deciding to stay behind and continue to patrol in case she was wrong about the monsters all being slain.

As soon as they were gone, Hae-In turned her focus towards the island in the distance.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she leapt into the air and used her Heaven's Steps to fly forward and get there in no time. When she arrived, she landed down on the sand of the island and looked up at the large doors.

She stared up at them, about to use her Prophetic Gaze to open the door and look inside. But before she could, she felt the send begin to shake beneath her feet. "What?" She leapt straight up, taking position above the beach as the sand suddenly shot up and transformed into a tornado.

She gasped, jumping away and continuing to stand on the air as she watched the sand cyclone swirl around multiple times. And eventually, the reason for this became apparent when something began to burrow out of the sand.

It was a large shell. One which had a spiral design that was separated into four distinct sections. The top three sections were spiked and actually spun, each section spinning in the opposite direction to the one above it.

As the shell spun, it dug itself out until the larger fourth bottom section completely freed itself from the sand. When it did, Hae-In saw it had a large hole in the front of it. And as the upper sections stopped spinning, something began to pull itself out of that hole.

It was a large mass of pink flesh, which she quickly realised was some kind of head. It almost looked like the head of a T-rex, only looking like it was made out of nothing but muscle and had a mop of green seaweed on its head. And when the head was completely pulled free, a pair of large pink arms also appeared out the side and was used to hold its body up.

The creature let out a roar, as a white name appeared above it.

Drill Mollusc

Hae-In frowned and raised her sword, as the creature suddenly turned its attention towards her. She was about to go on the attack, only for it to lower its head and point its seaweed hair at her. And before she could wonder why, a burst of water exploded out of that seaweed and shot towards her.

"WOW!" She screamed, getting blasted by the water before she could try and dodge it. She rolled through the air and crashed into the water behind her, sinking down into the depths.

Luckily, everything that had just happened was nothing but a vision she had seen with her Prophetic Gaze. As such, when she flashed back to the present, she knew why the creature lowered its head and jumped to the side moments before it launched a blast of water from its head.

The water flew past her and she quickly used this chance to get in close, the hunter running through the air until she was right above the beast.

However, before she could go in for the kill, the shell began to spin again and created a tornado that exploded upwards and sucked the sand up. Since Hae-In's future sight was on cool down, she didn't see this coming and was truck by the sand spiral.

"Augh!" She closed her eyes and mouth to keep herself from being blinded and choked, the wind blowing her around until she was behind the creature.

She fell out of the sand tornado and crashed down onto the beach, as more sand covered her and she let out a grunt. And as the mollusc's shell stopped spinning, it pulled itself around whilst she stood up.

As it turned around, it pointed its head towards her and unleashed the blast of water. But she was ready and countered with her sword, cutting through the water stream whilst using one of her legs to create a barrier being her so she didn't get blown back. The water split on either side of her and once the blast ended, she kicked off the solidified air and flew forward.

The creature began to spin its shell again, creating another tornado, but Hae-In used all her strength to keep herself from being pulled in. And as she did, she swung her sword up and managed to cut off one of the creature's arms.

The beast screamed in agony, causing its shell to stop spinning. It looked ready to retract back into the shell, but she was ready for that and leapt into the air again. "BLADE OF LIGHT!" Her sword transformed into a laser and with a swift swipe, it cut into the shell and broke through the section above the bottom.

Fragments of the blue material flew everywhere, as she leapt around above it and slashed at another section. More of the shell broke off and she kept on the attack, slashing at the protective weapon over and over again. She even got up close to the top part and cut the whole thing off.

The Drill Mollusc screamed in pain, as it tried to pull itself back into the safety of the water. But Hae-In rushed over to block it before slashing at its throat.

Blood poured everywhere, as the creature let out one final cry of pain and fell towards the ground. Hae-In leapt over to the rock next to the island and landed, watching as the creature lay there unmoving. And soon enough, her system window popped up and told her she had slain the creature and received battle points.

She had also received an item from it. "Drill shell fragment," she read before opening the store. And when she tried to sell it, she got the same message as before. "Reforgable. Would you please tell me what the heck that even means!" She sighed, closing the window and looking around the rest of the beach. But there didn't appear to be any sign of other monsters there.

She still checked, jumping over to the beach and looking around it more.

Nothing else attacked her and she determined this creature had been the boss' only guard. As such, she headed back towards the Gate whilst trying to get the sand off of her clothes. But that was easier said than done.

By the time she arrived back at the gate, she found the Mining and Extraction Teams hard at work.

They were having trouble moving around, someone wishing they had brought a row boat or something to help get around. But they managed to make it work whilst the Raid Team spotted her and raised an eyebrow.

"Vice Guildmaster?" Bora asked, "are you okay? You're covered in sand."

"I'm fine," she assured them. "I just proved that even S Ranks can make a mistake." This confused them, as she explained what had happened. "I assumed that since the rest of the magic beasts were attacking from the water, I wouldn't have any issues from the beach. That was obviously my mistake."

"I guess you're right about S Ranks making mistakes," Kihoon nodded. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yes," she nodded. "It took me by surprise and I almost got blasted with a water attack, but I managed to defeat it without any issue. And I made absolutely sure this time. There are no more magic beasts." The B Team nodded, as the Mining and Extraction teams got to work. It wasn't a quick process, since the teams had to move from island to island extracting each essence stone and removing the remains of the creatures.

The sea stacks had been difficult for them to extract, since there weren't any islands close to them. Hae-In actually had to carry the minors over to them and help them attach themselves to it the way a mountain climber would.

Hours passed and slowly, more and more of the dungeon was harvested for its materials. Eventually, the last of the essence stones were extracted and almost all the monsters were removed from the dungeon. The only thing that wasn't yet, was the Drill Mollusc Hae-In had killed.

The beast was so large that there was no way to carry it out of the Gate in one piece. They had hoped that the creature's carcass might float, allowing them to pull it through the water. But by the time they got it into the water, they watched the shell begin to pull it under.

Instead, they were forced to cut it to pieces. The actual body did float, so Hae-In cut it away from the shell and half the extraction team pulled it and the severed arm towards the Gate.

Hae-In had then used her Blade of Light skill to cut through the shell, breaking it into smaller chunks that the remaining Extraction Team Members were able to carry towards the Gate. And eventually, the last of the creature was removed from the Gate.

"That's that," the leader of the Extraction Team announced. "We'll head out and let you do what you do best." Hae-In nodded, as the B Team stepped towards the Boss' room. They waited another five minutes before finally opening the door, Hae-In watching as the team stepped inside whilst she brought up the rear. And when they did, they found the inside of the rock was almost three times bigger than the outside.

Said inside was a large reef cave. A dome of a room, full of pools that Hae-In guessed were all connected under the surface.

As they stepped inside, they looked around but couldn't see the boss. Hae-In took this moment to look into the future and what she saw made her frown. "Jiwoo, move!" The fighter didn't need telling twice, leaping away from a pool moments before a blast of water exploded out of it and flew past where she had been standing.

The water hit part of the wall and broke it, as the hunters turned towards the pool and watched whatever it was rose from the depths.

It was some kind of monstrous slug. Its body was pink and white, with blue patterns on the pink sections. It didn't have any antenna, or any eyes at all, instead having a set of large yellow horns on its head. It also had a large mouth, full of razor sharp fangs that it opened as it let out a roar.

The hunters all prepared for battle, as the white name appeared above the creature.

King Mollusc

Kihoon turned to the other tanks and nodded, the lot of them stepping forward as the creature let out a snarl and prepared to attack. Hae-In took a moment to look into the future and smiled, seeing that her guildmates wouldn't have any issues.

However, as Kihoon ordered them to attack, the system told her she had a message from Jin-Woo. This worried her, knowing her wouldn't message her like this unless it was serious. And as she took a moment to open the message, her eyes widened seeing the words printed there.

"Not again."

Another interesting adventure for Hae-In, who gets to use her new abilities in fun and interesting ways. But how will things turn out after, as we all know what that message was. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments. Can't wait to see what you think of this chapter.

Hae-In ran as fast as she could, as she made her way towards the area where Jin-Woo said he would be waiting.

Her heart was beating a mile a minute, as she thought about what had happened. Jin-Woo had been vague on the details, but clear on the message. He had had to take another life to save his and the lives of those around him. This apparently included Chi-Yul, Hae-In fearing her teacher had been badly injured again.

After she had received the message, the raid had turned into agonising torture. It took everything she had to not simply kill the beast herself, knowing that she couldn't let what was happening with Jin-Woo affect her job. She had been forced to watch as the B Team fought against the King Mollusc, which had been a rather difficult opponent to face.

Not only could it shoot high pressure water from its mouth, but its body had been covered in a thin coat of slime-like liquid that had made hitting it difficult. Thanks to its jelly-like body, any attack that struck it sank into the flesh before the slime made the attack slide and bounce back.

Jiwoo's physical attacks had slipped off, along with the sword strikes they had used. And whenever Gina or the others had tried to blast it with fire, the creature had simply dove into the water and made it almost impossible for them to know where it was going to attack from next.

Hae-In had almost taken charge and given out orders, but Kihoon figured out a way to stop it. He had ordered all the mages to launch their strongest fire spells into the pool, resulting in the water being boiled. The heat was so intense, steam filled the cavern and made everyone sweat. But the Mollusc had had it worse, as the creature was overwhelmed by the heat and leapt out of the pools before it died.

Bora had then used her binding spell to lock it in place. And despite some of the group getting injured in a counter attack, forcing Semi to lead them, the B Team had been able to finally finish the creature off by burning it alive.

Once it was dead, they quickly extracted the essence stone before leading out.

Hae-In had wanted to leave as soon as the Gate closed, but she had needed to return to the guild in order to make a proper report. She had been tempted to let Kihoon do the report, since he had been the one to make most of the leadership decisions. But Jong-In had wanted her to report on his skills as a leader. She might have been in a hurry, but she refused to do a subpar job.

As such, she had had to write up a report, read it through three times to make sure it didn't have any spelling errors, then submit it to the Guildmaster to read.

By the time she was finished, night had fallen and she all but ran out of the building.

She would have taken her car, but the traffic in that part of the city was terrible at that time of night. So, she had run. This let her get to the park quicker, whilst also giving her the distance she needed to complete her daily quests.

She eventually reached the park and was about to send a message to Jin-Woo, asking where he was in the park. But she noticed movement through some trees thanks to her high perception and looked over to see two figures walking together through the park.

When she got closer, she heard one of them talk and her ears pricked up when a name was spoken.

"Jin-Woo. You know you've changed, a lot." Hae-In realised Jin-Woo had to be the other person, she headed over to them whilst using her Heaven's Step to air walk a few inches off the ground. This kept her from making any noise, allowing her to get close without being detected. And eventually, she was close enough to see who was talking to him. "And then there's me, who hasn't really changed at all."

Hae-In saw that the other person was a woman. A pretty looking woman, dressed in nice clothes and having her pretty red hair up in a ponytail. Jin-Woo was walking behind her, his hood up to try and hide his face whilst his hands were in his pockets. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hide the aura he had.

"Yeah, well. Everyone's different. I changed a lot because...a lot's happened."

The woman nodded, as Hae-In stealthily followed them from the secrecy of the bushes and trees. She quickly moved from one trunk to another, hiding behind it as she listened in. "There is one thing I can finally admit, though. I'm too timid for this job."

Hae-In heard this and frowned, knowing what she had meant.

When the blonde first became a hunter, she had been terrified despite being a super powerful warrior. Anyone would be terrified, facing magic beasts for the first time. She had managed to overcome it, but other hunters had fallen by the wayside.

Hae-In remembered an A Rank that Jong-In had personally recruited onto the time. He had been excited to fight and had had incredibly powerful lightning magic. But the first time he went up against a monster, he had panicked and shot lightning everywhere. The monster had been destroyed, but Hae-In had had to block one of his lightning bolts from hitting another hunter.

The young man had run out of the Gate after that and he had quit that very same day. Unfortunately, that was something that was remarkably common in the world of hunting. Even if you were super strong, fear was a power that even the strongest hunters couldn't overcome.

"I should have been signing up for A and B Rank Dungeons. Or if not those, then maybe at least some C Rank Dungeons. I knew that, but I purposefully stuck with the D and E Ranks." Hae-In listened intently, wondering where this conversation was going.

But then, the woman turned towards Jin-Woo. When she did, Hae-In saw the same look on her face that Semi had when she was looking at Kihoon. The look of a woman who had feelings for a guy.

"Those low rank raids were how I met you, though. And how I found myself healing you over and over again." They both chuckled at this and Hae-In suddenly found a horrible feeling running through her stomach. It was like someone had poured boiling water into her gut, making her frown as the two smiled at one another.

"At first, I was a little annoyed by how often you got hurt. Yet somehow, you always survived. You got back up and kept fighting. That passionate fire in your eyes never flickered out." She smiled a dream-like smile, the images clearly something special to her. "In fact, it's burned into my mind."

Hae-In suddenly felt like she was about to witness a love confession. And that thought made the red hot feeling in her stomach grow. As she watched and listened, her hand had been holding onto the trunk of the tree. And without realising it, she had gripped it hard enough to splinter the wood.

Luckily, the two hadn't heard this as she took something out of her pocket. "We promised that we would go out to eat somewhere. But...you should have this back." Hae-In saw it was an essence stone, the woman frowning at why she was just carrying it around with her.

"Can I ask why?"

"Because I'm leaving. I'm retiring as a hunter." Jin-Woo seemed shocked by this. "Yeah, I'm moving back home. So give me a heads up if you're ever in the area and I'll show you around. For old times." Hae-In saw how Jin-Woo looked and could tell he was both shocked and a little sad. She didn't know what this meant, but she felt the burning in her stomach disappear.

Then, Jin-Woo smiled and took the essence stone. "Fair enough. When that happens, I'll cash in our rain check."

"Sure," she smiled before turning to leave. Jin-Woo watched her walk away and Hae-In sighed, glad she wasn't going to confess to Jin-Woo.

However, her relief was short-lived when Jin-Woo spoke up. "You can come out now." Panic overwhelmed her, as Jin-Woo turned towards where she was standing.

"Ah...I...um..." Hae-In was very flustered, her face turning red as she jumped out from behind the tree. "How long have you known I was here?"

"Since you arrived," Jin-Woo replied. "Hard to miss an aura like that."

Hae-In moaned, looking down in embarrassment. 'He's going to think I'm some insane stalker that spies on people. No. No. No!' "I'm sorry!" She cried, bowing for forgiveness. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just saw you and wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened."

Jin-Woo smiled, "it's fine. I know you're not the type to do something like that on purpose." Hae-In nodded, as the two got serious.

"Alright. Now tell me what happened. Your message wasn't exactly clear." Jin-Woo sighed, nodding as he looked over at a bench that was next to the fountain in the centre of the park. Hae-In nodded and the two sat down, Jin-Woo beginning to recite his experience.

When Jin-Woo had gone to take on the D Rank Gate, he had met up with the hunters he used to go raiding with. They had all been survivors of the Double Dungeon, who had run away and left Jin-Woo for dead.

This made Hae-In frown, though she knew Chi-Yul had only left Jin-Woo at his request in order to save Joohee. 'That must have been the girl he was talking to.'

After that, a member of the Association had arrived called Kang Taeshik. He had apparently brought convicts with him, who would be helping with the raid in order to reduce their sentence. However, those three convicts had all been arrested due to assaulting a young girl. One that had committed suicide afterwards, sending her parents into despair.

It was the father that had paid Kang to kill them in the dungeon, so that they would never get to see the light of day again. And Kang had accepted.

However, it wasn't the money that had made the Association hunter accept. It turned out, Kang loved killing and preferred humans over magic beasts. So he had happily killed the criminals as soon as he was alone with them, only to find out he wasn't alone.

Kim Sangshik and Kang Jeongho had stumbled upon him in the middle of his kill, causing them to become his next unwitting victims. When Jin-Woo and his group arrived, the pair were already beyond what Joohee could possibly heal. Chi-Yul had tried to fight against Kang, Joohee giving him a boost, but the Mage hunter was no match for the Assassin class.

"So you stepped in," Hae-In realised. Jin-Woo nodded. "I see. You had to kill Kang in order to save Mr. Song and Joohee. You didn't have a choice."

"I know," Jin-Woo nodded. "I get that. I don't feel guilty about it. I couldn't let him hurt anyone else." He sighed. "Even if he abandoned me. Even if he used to make fun of me, Mr. Kim was a good man and didn't deserve what happened to him. And I couldn't let Kang do that to Joohee and Mr. Song."

"Exactly," Hae-In nodded.

Jin-Woo sighed. "I was hoping to simply incapacitate him, but he was too good. Too dangerous. The system got involved and gave me an urgent quest to kill him."

"So you really didn't have a choice," Hae-In told him. "You're right not to feel guilty. You didn't do anything wrong." She was about to reach out and take his hand, but then noticed a look in his eye. Something that told him there was more to this story than he had mentioned so far. "Jin-Woo. What else happened?"

Jin-Woo frowned,

As soon as Kang was dead, Jin-Woo pulled his hood up as if wanting to hide from the world.

'He's right. The strength I have now is incomparable to my old self. But for some reason, the stronger I get, the more I feel something inside of me falling apart.' But as soon as that thought entered is mind, he suddenly found the face of someone appearing on the forefront of his mind. The blonde woman that had stood by him through all of this. He wanted to see her again. So that the darkness he felt in his heart, could be pushed away by her light.

"Thank you." He blinked and turned to Joohee and Chi-Yul, the two both with thankful expressions on their faces. "You saved us again."

Chi-Yul smiled. "I'm just so blown away. Survived another near death experience, thanks to you."

Jin-Woo turned away from them, not wanting his friends to see the look of dread washing over him. "Yeah...well, go on ahead and start making your way out of here." He turned towards the passageway leading to the boss room. "I'll handle the boss."

"What?" Chi-Yul asked, "all by yourself?" But then he stopped, clearly realising that wouldn't be an issue for someone as strong as him. "On second thoughts, you do that." Chi-Yul grabbed Joohee and carried her towards the Gate, sighing as he did so. "It's a shame we can't give Sangshik and Jeongho proper burials though."

"We'll wait for you outside," Joohee told him. With that, they were both gone and left Jin-Woo to face the boss alone.

However, instead of going in, Jin-Woo turned to look down at something. A figure who was staying completely still, but he could sense was alive. "I know you're still alive," he told the convict. Obviously, Kang hadn't finished the job before he had been interrupted.

The criminal grunted, moaning as he tried to push himself up. When he did, Jin-Woo saw the gash on his throat that made him amazed he was still alive. "Kang Taeshik was brutal. And shrewd enough to cut your vocal chords." Joo-Hee could easily heal him if he got him to her in time.

But as he thought that, he remembered what Kang had said about how the three had assaulted a girl and pushed her to suicide. And because they were relatively strong hunter, they could work off their sentence hunting and be allowed out sooner than they should be.

Staring at the man, Jin-Woo was suddenly reminded of his sister and thought about what would happen if this guy was ever allowed to walk the streets again. She wouldn't be safe if he chose to return to his ways. And that image caused something to flare up in Jin-Woo's mind.

He moved over to the man and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the boss room. The crook tried to say something, but couldn't with his throat sliced like it was. All he could do was make some noises, which were obviously questions about what he was doing.

Jin-Woo said nothing and kept pulling him towards the door, pushing it open and dragging him inside. Once there, he threw the man forward before slamming the doors shut behind him.

The man screamed, as he pushed himself up and saw an entire horde of goblins. There were the standard ones, but also an extra large purple one covered in armor that was clearly the dungeon boss. So many monsters, even weak ones like these, were too much for a single hunter to defeat. If he didn't leave soon, he was a dead man.

"You're even more of a scumbag than Kang Taeshik," Jin-Woo stated as he leaned against the door. "You're not leaving this dungeon alive." The criminal shook in horror before turning back to the monsters, as they got closer and closer. And before he even knew what was happening, they had jumped him and he screamed in agony.

Hae-In could hardly believe what she had just heard.

"Jin-Woo..." She didn't know what to say. Honestly, she didn't blame him for doing such a thing. People like that were monsters and deserved to be punished. But to have Jin-Woo exact that punishment, made Hae-In worry.

"After it was over, I realised I went too far. Kang was one thing, but I let that man die. I know it was wrong, but I just couldn't bring myself to let him live. Not if there was a chance he could do something like what he did again. Even so, I had no right to decide his punishment."

Hae-In just sat there, letting what Jin-Woo said sink in. She agreed that the criminal couldn't be allowed to live. Had she been given the right to decide how to punish him, she might have considered having him castrated. But letting him be eaten alive...

Jin-Woo sighed, looking away from her. "I understand. You're disgusted with me." He got up, "I'd be too if-"

"No!" Hae-In grabbed his hand and kept him from moving away, holding it tight so he couldn't get away. "I'm not disgusted. I'm worried, yes. But I understand why you did it." She looked up, straight into his eyes. "You shouldn't feel guilty about what you did. I'm just worried what this could lead you to."

"What it could lead me to?" Jin-Woo asked.

"Letting their criminal die like that can be justified. No doubt, he would eventually be let free and be allowed to hurt other people. But about next time."

"Next time?" Jin-Woo frowned. "There won't be a next time."

"Let's not be naive. You being part of two situations like this so close together, is enough proof to tell me something like this is going to happen again. I don't know if it's the system getting you into these situations or just fate, but I can tell there's going to be another time you have to take a life. I'm just worried about when and why that happens."

Jin-Woo sat down, letting Hae-In think about what she was trying to tell him. "I don't want to kill anyone else."

"Even if that someone hurts someone close to you?" Hae-In asked. "That's what I'm worried about. What will force you to take a life again? Threatening your friends and family is obvious. But what if someone gets in your way?"

"Why would they get in my way?"

"If someone got in the way of you...completing the elixir? Would you kill them?"

"Of course not."

"Even if their death was the only way to get the elixir?" Jin-Woo didn't answer, clearly needing to process that question. "I'm not saying you would. I'm just worried. You said the system made you feel braver. Feel like nothing can stop you. That it's changing you. So far, those changes have all been good. I just...don't want you to wake up one day and find you're a completely different person. Someone willing to kill someone, just for them looking at you the wrong way."

"Do you really think I would do that?"

"Not this you, no. But that's what I'm worried about."

Jin-Woo sighed. "You're right. Honestly, I'm worried about that too. Worried that every time I level up, I'm destroying a part of who I used to be." His hands began to shake, Hae-In placing her on top of his. "But I can't stop. And not just because of mom's cure."

Hae-In frowned, fearing something else had happened. "What do you mean?"

"After we escaped the Dungeon, someone from the Association showed up." Hae-In nodded, already having guessed something like that had happened. When one of their own goes rogue, it only made sense a high up official would come and talk to them. "You know a guy named Woo Jinchul."

Hae-in frowned, "he's the second in command."

Jin-Woo nodded. "He told me that one of the lizards I killed was...Hwang Dongsoo's older brother." Hae-In's eyes widen in horror, as she let what Jin-Woo had just said sink in.

Hwang Dongsoo was a former S Rank of Korea, who had been snatched up by the USA. He had once been loved by the country, but now everyone considered him a traitor who left his country weak just because he wanted money and prestige. One thing everyone knew about Dongsoo, was that he was a serious bully. Just because he was an S Rank, he thought the rules didn't apply to him. She had heard some nasty rumours about him and had a feeling they were all true.

"You killed his older brother?"

"And according to Mr. Woo, that's painted a target on my back. Dongsoo's gonna come looking for me eventually."

"But he can't know you killed his brother. It was labelled an accident."

"Apparently, that won't matter to Dongsoo. His brother is dead and I'm alive, so I must be responsible." He leaned back on the bench. "I'm around B Rank right now. Close to A, but not strong enough to face someone like Dongsoo Hwang. If he comes after me, it won't matter what I do. I'll be dead in the blink of an eye."

"You need to get stronger," Hae-In nodded. "You need to become S Rank as soon as possible."

"Exactly. So even if the system changes me, I don't have a choice. I have to get stronger. Not just for me, but for my family as well. If I let him kill me, Jin-Ah will be all alone and mom will never wake up." He frowned, "and Dongsoo might not even come after me. He might try to even the score by destroying my family."

"You really think he'd do that?" Hae-In asked, but she already knew the answer. "No, that does sound like something he'd do. If he finds your sister alone, I'm sure he'd hurt her." Anger flared through her at the thought of that wonderful girl getting hurt for something that wasn't her fault.

"I've got to get strong enough to keep them all safe," Jin-Woo stated. "I just...I don't want to become someone completely different."

Hae-In frowned, as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I won't let you. If you start to change, I'll slap some sense into you. You're not S Rank yet, so I think I can beat you back into line." Jin-Woo chuckled at this. "Besides, you need to keep your promise to me."

"Promise?" Jin-Woo asked, only to remember what she was talking about. "To stay kind and caring?"

"Yes. And I'll always believe in you, so I believe you can get stronger and not let it change you any more. And if you do end up needing to kill someone else..."

"I'll tell you right away." He smiled, "I promise. No matter what happens, I won't keep anything from you." He then gave her a smirk, "so long as you don't keep anything from me." Hae-In raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Song told me that you were apparently asking questions about me when you went to visit him."

Hae-In's face began to grow bright red, embarrassment setting it and she looked away from him. "What, I don't know what you mean?"

"Really?" He gave her a knowing look, as he crossed his arms and was clearly waiting for her to give a proper answer.

"Okay, I might have asked a few questions about you. I was curious. You were the first hunter I'd ever met that didn't smell bad. Plus, I did just pull you out of a dungeon. It's only natural that I would be curious."

"Right. And you just happened to be walking past the hospital when I left for the instance dungeon. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd been stalking me the whole time." Hae-In gave him a look of annoyance, which made him laugh as the woman pushed him. He almost fell off the bench, but managed to catch himself and stand up as he burst out laughing.

"Jerk!" She cried, getting up to chase him and playfully bang her hands on his shoulder. "Remember, I'm still a higher level than you. I don't mind hiring a healer to come fix you after I've beaten some manners into you." Jin-Woo laughed again, Hae-In unable to keep herself from laughing as well.

"Alright. Alright. Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

Hae-In smiled, glad they had been able to get over the sullen topic. As she thought about everything Jin-Woo had said, a thought occurred to her. "So Mr. Song and this...Joohee girl saw you defeat Kang?" Jin-Woo nodded, "those were two people who knew you before you levelled up. Which means they must have realised you're not an E Rank anymore."

"Yeah. Kang figured it out and blabbed. He thought I reawakened and told everyone there. but there's not much else I can do about it."

Hae-In frowned, worried that word would spread about Jin-Woo's increase in strength. However, he also knew those two were his friends. So they wouldn't do anything that would purposefully hurt Jin-Woo. "Do you think they'll tell anyone about you?"

"No. Mr. Song promised to keep my reawakening a secret. He even took the wrap for killing Kang. I don't think that Association guy believed his story, but he didn't have any proof for what really happened. If he hadn't done that, I might have had to come out as stronger than I used to be."

"Good thing he did that," Hae-In nodded as they two started making their way through the park. No doubt, Woo Jinchul would have tried to retest him again. If Jin-Woo was ranked B, then later showed even greater strength, things would have gotten complicated for them. "I guess everything turned out okay. Except for the hunters who lost their lives." She gave him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry."

Jin-Woo nodded. "I couldn't save them. Another reason to get stronger."

Hae-In agreed, as he thought about how Jin-Woo could level up faster. "Those C Rank Gates will help with that. And once you're strong enough, we'll tackle the Demon's castle. I'm sure after getting through that, your level will skyrocket."

"Hopefully," Jin-Woo agreed. "I actually thought about another way I might be able to level up, but I'm not sure if it'll work." Hae-In raised an eyebrow at this. "Remember what I told you about the penalty zone?"

"The massive desert with the giant centipedes?" Hae-In's eyes widened, "you want to see if you level up whilst beating them?"

"Yeah. Though I'm not sure if I can, since it's a penalty. And I don't even know if I could defeat them at my current level. Since they're meant to be a punishment, I doubt they would be easy to defeat. Even for me as I am now. Heck, you might not even be able to kill them."

"That a challenge?" Hae-In asked, making the two chuckle as Jin-Woo reached into his pocket and took something out. Something Hae-In recognised. "Is that a Rune Stone?"

Jin-Woo nodded. "I got it after killing Kang. He had the stealth skill and this thing is for that." Hae-In was impressed by this, since the stealth skill was something every assassin hunter wanted in their arsenal.

"You gonna use it?" She asked, but Jin-Woo seemed hesitant about it. "I get it. You're not sure if you want something you got from a psycho murderer." Jin-Woo nodded. "It might not have been great to get, but that kind of ability can come in seriously handy. Being able to hide yourself from anything and anyone perfect for an assassin like you."

"I guess," Jin-Woo nodded before crushing the rock in his hand. Hae-In watched the light fly out of it and flow into him, allowing him to absorb it and gain the ability hidden within it.

The light was soon sucked into his body completely and he was back to normal, as the screen appeared in front of him. Hae-In nodded, then realised something. "Wait. Can you even use something like that? You've ignored putting any points into your intellect stat, so your mana must be pretty low. How much mana does it gonna cost you to use?"

Jin-Woo sighed, "two hundred to activate. Then one mana for every second it's in use." He opened his stats screen and the pair checked his reserves, both frowning at the amount he had right now. "I'm not gonna be able to use it much."

"Well that's your own fault," Hae-In told him. "You focused so much on strength that you neglected your smarts. You should remember that brains and brawn are both important in a fight. Why do you think I'm so strong."

"Sure, muscle-girl." Hae-In giggled at this, both she and Jin-Woo sharing a look for a moment before turning away from each other. "Well hopefully, I can boost my intellect stat enough to use it properly." Hae-In agreed, as Jin-Woo looked around and smirked.

The next thing Hae-In knew, he suddenly vanished and her eyes went wide. "Jin-Woo?" She looked around, but couldn't see him anywhere. She then smirked, since she could still smell him. "Oh, playing hide and seek, are we?" She spotted something and smirked, as she reached down and picked it up.

As she did, she focused all her perception skills and looked around. And after a few moments, she smirked before standing up. "Wow. That skill is impressive. I don't even know if you're still here. You better not have ditched me." At that moment, she spun around and threw the rock she had picked up.

If it moved any faster, it would have made a sonic boom. It shot through the air and smashed into a tree, smashing apart and blasting the bark on it apart.

A few moments after that, Jin-Woo appeared in front of the tree in a crouched pose and with a terrified look on his face. It was clear he had only just ducked under the rock, "are you trying to kill me!?"

Hae-In laughed, "if I wanted to kill you I could have. Just be thankful I aimed for your head. Let this be a lesson to you. You can't hide from me, so stay on my good side."

Jin-Woo moaned, but also smirked. The day might have been a crazy one and things had been difficult, but at least it ended on a high note. Jin-Woo needed to get stronger, but he was glad he had her with him for support. With her beside him, the dark feeling he had didn't seem so bad.

No matter what happened in the future, he knew he could handle it with her by his side.

Might not have been as action filled as the last one, but I hope you still enjoyed it. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and support. You guys make this all worth while.

Hae-In and Jin-Ah watched TV together, as they waited for Jin-Woo to get back.

Hae-In had arrived a while ago, she and Jin-Ah enjoying dinner together whilst Hae-In continued to think about what she was going to tell the siblings. She had actually been half expecting Jin-Ah to already know, expecting at least one of her friends to have maybe seen the picture. But so far, nothing as far as she could tell.

As the show came to an end, the door opened and Jin-Woo's voice called out. "I'm home." Jin-Ah smiled, whilst Hae-In turned the TV off. A few moments later, Jin-Woo stepped into the room and saw them both. "Hey."

"Hey," Hae-In smiled.

"There's some left overs if you're hungry," Jin-Ah told him. "You should try it. Hae-In's a great cook." Hae-In blushed at this, as Jin-Woo smiled.

"Definitely." He moved over to sit on the couch, as Jin-Ah went into the kitchen to reheat the food. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into someone who wanted to talk about something."

"Talk about what?" Hae-In asked, wondering who he had met.

"About me joining their Guild." Hae-In's eyes went wide, "they were from the White Tigers. Seems he figured out I might have reawakened and wanted to offer me a job."

"I see," Hae-In didn't like the sound of this. "What did you tell him?"

"I said I wasn't interested. And I made sure he understood that telling anyone about me was a bad idea."

"Jin-Woo?" Hae-In gave him a look, "what did you do?"

Jin-Woo smiled, "nothing to worry about. I just gave him a little scare. Probably gave him a small heart attack, but nothing a hunter can't bounce back from. Had to make him understand that getting in my business wasn't smart. So a little scare and a con should help him understand that."

"A con?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Ah arrived with his food and a drink.

"Apparently, our strike squad has been monopolising the C Rank Gates in the area. The White Tigers need them for training, so I was able to sell off three of them since we were going to have to put them on hold anyway. I'm sure six hundred million is a small price for them to pay for that."

"Six hundred million?" Hae-In couldn't believe the White Tiger was willing to pay that much for three Gates. "You aren't going to be doing any raid for a few days, so they'll be able to snatch up a bunch of new C Ranks without issue." She realised what Jin-Woo had done and couldn't help but laugh, confusing Jin-Ah whilst Jin-Woo happily chowed down on the food they had made for him.

"I don't get what's going on," Jin-Ah stated before turning to Jin-Woo, "are you really not doing any raids for a few days?"

"Yeah," Jin-Woo nodded. "I remembered I have something I need to do tomorrow, so I'll be gone for most of the day. Probably won't get back until late."

Jin-Ah frowned at this. "You better not have forgotten about my parent teacher conference." Jin-Woo stopped eating, his fork halfway to his mouth when he remembered.

"Oh."

"Jin-Woo," Jin-Ah cried, "what the heck. How could you forget about that?"

"I'm sorry," Jin-Woo told her. "I promise, I won't miss it. I doubt the...what I need to do will keep me that long. I'll be back late, but I promise I'll be there." Jin-Ah pouted, clearly worrying he wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

"You better."

Jin-Woo rolled his eyes before turning to Hae-In. "You said earlier that you needed to talk to us about something. What's up?" Hae-In sighed, a look of dread on her face as she took out her phone and showed them the picture.

The siblings stared at it and frowned, clearly confused. "I picture of us at the mall?" Jin-Ah asked, "so what? Wait, who took this?"

"I don't know," she put the phone away. "Apparently, it showed up online and it's been circulating around. People in my Guild have seen it and were curious about who you were. I wanted to tell you both, so it wouldn't come as a surprise."

"Why would anyone take a picture of us?" Jin-Ah asked. "I mean, I know why they'd take one of you. But why would they want to take one of me?"

"It's because we were together," Hae-In sighed. "I'm a pretty private person. Ever since I became an S Rank, going out in public is a rare thing I do. And going out in public with someone else has never been seen before."

"Really?" Jin-Ah asked, looking sorry for Hae-In. "That sounds...kind of sad."

Hae-In sighed again, "it is sad. But when you get swarmed by anyone who recognises you, what other choice do you have. Anyway, like I said. It's not because I'm in the photo that everyone is asking about things. It's because of you."

"Why me?" Jin-Ah asked, "I'm nobody special."

"it's because you're ordinary that this is un-ordinary," Jin-Woo explained. "You're a normal person and unless you're related to them, high ranking hunters aren't usually seen with other people. They usually keep to themselves. And since Hae-In hasn't been seen spending time with people before, her suddenly showing up with some random girl nobody knows is just strange."

"Exactly," Hae-In nodded. "Sorry, Jin-Ah. This photo's probably gonna get around real quick. Eventually, people you know will see it and start asking what the heck is going on. You're gonna end up being very popular, for all the wrong reasons."

"Right," Jin-Ah put her chin on her hand. "So a lot of people are gonna start asking how I know you?" Hae-In nodded. "Whatever. Just because they asked, doesn't mean I have to tell them. I'll just say we met at nunya."

"What's nunya?" Jin-Woo asked.

"None ya'h business." They all laughed at this, Hae-In happy that Jin-Ah wasn't upset about this. But still, her social life could end up drastically changing because of this photo. "Besides, it's not like my friends don't know that I know you. I already told them we knew each other. Song-Yi even asked if she could meet you."

Hae-In wasn't surprised by that. Any young woman would want to meet her, since she was seen as an icon to a lot of women in this day and age. "I wouldn't mind meeting her, so long as it's just her and she doesn't go all super fan on me."

"I'll be sure to let her know..." Jin-Ah frowned, "if she ever shows up to school again. She's been ditching class to go on Raids. Even though she's E Rank." Hae-In frowned, hating the sound of a young girl throwing her education away like that. "Maybe you can convince her to stop."

"Maybe. But a lot of E Ranks can be pretty stubborn. Just look at your brother." The girls laughed at this, whilst Jin-Woo rolled his eyes. "How are you feeling about all this?" She asked him, the hunter having finished off his meal and put his plate down. "I hope you're not mad about all this?"

"Mad, no. I'm upset someone took my sister's picture without her permission, but that's not your fault."

Hae-In nodded, but stayed serious. "Even so, this could cause an issue. If people look into Jin-Ah, they'll learn that you're a hunter and that could cause more issues. They'll likely realise we're friends and that'll open up a whole new wave of questions."

"Why?" Jin-Ah asked. "You're both hunters, so why would anyone question why you know each other?"

"I'm E Rank," Jin-Woo stated. "Someone as weak as me shouldn't have even been anywhere near an S like Hae-In. It's a miracle we ever met at all. When people learn about me, they'll wonder why Hae-In's hanging around me."

Hae-In nodded. "But they can think what they like. There's no rule saying E and S Ranks aren't allowed to be friends. If they don't like it, that's too bad for them." The siblings nodded at this, agreeing with her opinion. "And if they get really curious and keep asking me, I'll just say I'm trying to scout you for my guild."

"Why would a super strong guild want an E Rank?" Jin-Ah asked, "no offence."

"None taken," Jin-Woo sighed. "And honestly, Rank isn't everything. With the right skill, even an E Rank would be able to catch a guild's attention. I heard a rumour about an E Rank in America, who gained a special skill that lets him phase through anything. A guild hired him to be their porter and he makes a butt ton of money."

Hae-In had never heard that rumour, but wondered if something like that would happen with their guild. Being a porter was a dangerous job, since they were usually took weighed down with tools to be able to carry a weapon. Protecting the porter was an important job. But if the porter could ghost through any attack, it would make the work much easier.

"Maybe your brother could get himself a rune stone," Hae-In suggested. "Never know what kind of ability you might get, though. They're kind of a lottery when they show up."

"Yeah. No chance I'd ever get my hands on one," Jin-Woo chuckled. "The chances of finding one in a dungeon is one in a thousand. And that's in the highest ranked dungeons. And only the strongest monsters drop them. No way I'd ever find one."

"Too bad," Jin-Ah said. "It would be like having your very own super power." They chuckled and nodded. "So if the media decide to look into Jin-Woo, what do you think will happen? Will they think you're dating or something?" Jin-Woo, who had been taking a sip of his drink, almost choked on it whilst Hae-In went red faced.

"It's...a possibility. That's certainly what my guildmates thought, when they learned the friend you were the sibling of was a man. But I'm sure even if that happens, they'll brush it off. I doubt anyone will think that an S Rank would ever date an E Rank. No offence."

"None taken. You're right. The only people that would date an E Rank like me, are other E Ranks and non-awakened." Hae-In and Jin-Ah frowned, clearly upset that he thought so little of him. His years as the weakest hunter of all time had certainly done a number on his self-confidence. And it seemed the system hadn't done anything to help with that part of his psyche.

"I don't know. You seemed to have at least one high ranking hunter after you." She felt a little jealous in saying this, but hopefully it would help Jin-Woo realise what a catch he was.

"He does?" Jin-Ah asked, looking confused since she clearly didn't understand what Hae-In was saying.

"Yup. Her name was Joohee and she was clearly crushing on your brother."

"Joohee?" Jin-Woo asked, "it wasn't like that. We were just friends."

"I saw the way she was looking at you," Hae-In told him. "She was definitely into you. You really never noticed?" Jin-Woo clearly had no idea she had been interested in him, which made the girl sigh. Jin-Woo was a smart guy, especially when it came to battle. But he was clearly an idiot when it came to matters of the heart."

"Huh," Jin-Woo seemed to be letting something dawn on him. "Maybe I should give her a call sometime." Hae-In's eyes widened in horror. She had just wanted to give him a confidence boost, not give him any ideas."

"Didn't she move away?" Hae-In asked, "would that be smart?"

"Don't know. But it could be worth at least calling." Hae-In squirmed in her seat, Jin-Ah noticing this and smirking.

"Well if she just moved away, she's probably really busy getting settled. You should wait a little bit before deciding to upend her life." Jin-Woo hummed at this, Jin-Ah smiling at Hae-In and seeing a relieved expression on her face.

"Anyway," Jin-Woo stated. "Let's just go about our lives like the photo doesn't exist. If anyone asks about it, we'll just say it's none of their business and threaten to call the police if they get too demanding about it. Agreed." They all agreed, hoping that it didn't come to them needing said police.

After that, the three hung out for a while before Hae-In had to go home. Jin-Ah had offered to let her stay in her room, but Hae-In politely declined since she wanted to be able to get to the guild quickly if they called the next day.

And so, Jin-Woo escorted Hae-In to her car as the pair talked. "Any idea where you're gonna go for this quest?" She asked, as Jin-Woo frowned.

"Somewhere as remote as I can find," he stated. "Not sure exactly where, but I'll look online and find an area nobody goes to." Hae-In nodded. "What about you? You said earlier that you had an important mission tomorrow. That we were both going to be stepping into the unknown."

Hae-In sighed. "I'm going to Jeju Island." This got Jin-Woo to stop moving, a look of worry appearing on his face.

"Jeju. The ant colony?"

Hae-In nodded. "Jong-In's preparing to start another raid. He wants to finally put an end to that outbreak and reclaim the island. But to do that, we have to know what we're up against. So we'll be going on a recon mission tomorrow. Hopefully, the ants have grown complacent and won't expect a sudden attack out of nowhere."

"Just be careful, okay." Hae-In smiled as they reached his car, Hae-In turning to him and noticing he had actually grown taller again. Since she had seen him so often during his level ups, she hadn't noticed it until now. He was almost a head taller now.

"I will. I promise. But I want you to promise me that you'll be careful as well. Jin-Ah can't lose you." 'I can't lose you.'

Jin-Woo nodded back, as Hae-In suddenly acted before she knew what was happening. She moved closer and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly as she hugged him. Jin-Woo seemed surprised by this before hugging her back, his strong arms making her feel a comfort like she had never felt before. She wished she could stay there forever, but she needed to be getting home.

As such, she pulled away and turned her face so Jin-Woo didn't see her being as red as a tomato. "Message me before you start the Job Change Quest. And as soon as you finish it. I wanna hear all about what happened."

"Right," Jin-Woo also looked away so she wouldn't see his face. "Promise. I'll see you when I see you." Hae-In nodded and got into her car, her face practically producing steam as she drove off.

The entire time she was driving, her body felt like it was going to explode. And when she finally got home, she jumped on her bed and let out a scream into the pillow. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT!" She kicked her legs into the bed, as she kept replaying the thought in her mind over and over. "What was I thinking? Hugging him like that. He's gonna think I'm a weirdo!"

After a few moments, she rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. She tried to get what had happened out of her head and instead closed her eyes, but not before reaching over and unplugging her alarm. She intended to sleep in tomorrow, since she likely wouldn't be getting any sleep tomorrow night.

When she opened her eyes, she didn't know where she was.

Looking around, she realised she was in some kind of cave system. A large stone chamber, which seemed dimly lit as she glanced around. And when she did, she realised she was standing in front of a large white body. It was unmoving and after a few moments, she realised it was the remains of a giant ant.

She then spotted several individuals around her, who she recognised as the other S Ranks of Korea. They were all there and all looked like they had just come out of an intense battle.

She then felt a presence beside her and looked to her left, her eyes going wide when she saw Jin-Woo beside her. But then he wasn't. His image kept flickering in and out of existence, her eyes hurting as he did.

Before she could ask what was going on, she suddenly heard movement and looked towards the entrance of the cave. And there, she saw a large dark shadow moving towards them. One that was radiating more aura than anything she had ever felt before.

"What the hell is that thing?" Baek cried, as Hae-In suddenly felt a disgusting smell strike her nose. One so powerful, she felt like she would vomit.

"It's aura is getting through my mask?" She asked, covering her mouth trying to keep herself from puking. "This is no ordinary ant." Another of the S Ranks moved forward, looking ready to attack it. But the creature just moved past him and walked towards the dead remains of the larger magic beast.

After a few moments, they heard what sounded like eating. They all turned towards the creature and saw it was devouring part of the bigger beast's head. Burrowing into it and spraying green blood everywhere. The sight was as sickening as the smell.

It ate and ate for almost a full minute before finally stopping. Then, it let out a cry of rage before turning back to them. The last thing Hae-In saw were a bunch of blood red eyes before the creature just vanished. Then, she felt a horrible presence behind her before her body exploded with pain.

Hae-In gasped, as she awoke and shot up in bed.

She panted, her bed drenched with sweat as she sat there in shock. "What was that?" She took a few moments to catch her breath again before laying back on the bed, as she let what she just saw flow through her mind. "That dream. Was it just a dream? It felt so real."

She remembered a while back, when she had had the odd dream that she could barely remember. That had also felt incredibly real, but this one felt even more so. Like it wasn't just a dream, but a warning telling her she needed to be careful.

"That ant," she whispered. "If it's an ant, it must have been about Jeju Island. But what was that thing? It felt so powerful." She kept thinking for a few moments, trying to remember every detail. This dream was a lot easier to remember than the last one, so she could remember that all the S Rank Hunters had been there with her.

Even Jin-Woo had been there, but he had been flicking as if his existence was in a state of flux.

"What are these dreams? And why did this one give me such an uneasy feeling?" But in her heart, she had known why. Because unlike the last one, this one didn't seem to have a good outcome for her. If the pain she had felt was any indication, she had taken a serious hit. One she might not be able to get up from.

She let out a sigh and rolled onto her front, trying to get her mind off the dream since it wasn't helping her.

After a few minutes, she managed to get herself to relax and tried to go back to sleep. But that was proving difficult, since her eternal body clock was telling her it was time to get up. "Great," she sighed. "If I don't get any more sleep, I'm going to be exhausted by the time the recon starts." She looked over at the bedside clock and saw the time. It was later than she would usually wake up, but still pretty early. "I wonder if Jin-Woo's left yet."

Thinking about Jin-Woo did help her get her mind off the dream she had had, but it also reminded her of what she had done the previous day. Once again, she started blushing and let out a moan as she tried to figure out what the heck she was supposed to do the next time she saw him.

But then she realised something. "Jin-Woo's getting way stronger. And if this Job Change Quest is going to make him even stronger, will be become strong enough to start climbing the Demon's Castle?" She had a feeling that Jin-Woo would want to start heading up as soon as he was strong enough. And with her there, that strength was likely close.

Hae-In frowned, since she would need to ask about taking some time off of work to go with him. She doubted they could gather the ingredients they needed in a single day, so they would need several to complete the elixir.

"I haven't taken a vacation in two years," she told herself. "Suddenly asking for time off is gonna make Jong-In suspicious." She sighed, "I'm gonna need to come up with a good cover for why I want time off." As she said that, she also decided she needed to make sure she was ready for whatever was waiting for her in the Demon's Castle as well.

As such, she opened her store and looked at the battle points she had. After many dungeon raids, she had accumulated a lot of points and could buy many things. However, none of the gear in the store was calling out to her.

But then she actually opened the store and when she flicked down it, she spotted something that made her stop. "Is that new?"

Item: Mystic Talisman
A-Rank Neck Accessory
MP +150
Mana Amplifier: Halves amount of mana required to activate skills

Hae-In blinked, as she stared at the image next to the object she had seen. It was a necklace made of golden plates, with gems embedded into the centre of it. A larger than normal red gem was in the front, which seemed to glow with a faint magical energy.

"Another hundred and fifty points to my mana and it halves the amount of mana required for skills?" She smiled, as she realised how useful that would be. With it, she could double the amount of times she could use her Sword of Light and other skills. It would make fights way easier.

Alas, as she checked the price, she found she was five Battle Points off.

"Daily Quests only net me three, so I can't buy it until tomorrow at the earliest. Unless I happen to run across a monster or two the slay." She decided to do her daily quests, hoping that the run would wear her out enough to get her to go back to sleep for another few hours.

She got up and started working on her stretches, whilst seeing if there was anything else new in the store. But the more she checked, the less impressed she was. There was new stuff, but none of it was anything she wanted.

"Ignore any mask or boot armor, unless there's something there that's actually an upgrade on what I have." She hummed at that, wondering if there was a way to improve the power of the equipment she had already acquired.

She remembered the dream again and how she had almost puked when she smelled the ant. Her dream self had said the mana could get through her mask, despite said mask working fine when she was around a S Rank hunter and several A and B ranks. That just left her with one terrified thought. Whatever that creature was, it was something more powerful than any S Rank.

"That's a terrifying thought," she stated. "If what I saw was real, does that mean I'm going to die when I go to Jeju Island?" This question made her shudder, as she thought about that possibility. As a hunter, she had accepted a long time ago that she could meet her end within a dungeon. But being S Rank, she had never really faced a problem like that.

The only time she had ever had any serious difficulty had been in the Demon's Castle and she had still come out of that relatively unscathed. But Jeju Island was an S Rank dungeon outbreak. A place that had taken the lives of multiple hunters. And now, she would be going there and risking her life.

"I have to find a way to get stronger. Even if I can't level up, there must be some way I can grow more powerful. Even if it's only a little bit. As far as she could tell, she had three ways of getting stronger. Acquiring the right gear, obtaining new skills through rune stones and getting the right title.

Her Exterminator Title was supposed to help her against insect types and sure enough, the last time she had faced insects after acquiring it she had felt even stronger than usual. But if she had had that in the dream and still got one-shot, the beast she was fighting must have been even more powerful than she was whilst boosted.

She finished her stretch and sighed, looking through her stat screen and staring at the one part of it that wasn't full. The job section. "Jin-Woo had to get to level forty to get this Job Change Quest. I'm almost double that, so why haven't I been given a Job Change Quest." She frowned, "is it because I'm a Pseudo-Player?" She didn't know why she hadn't been allowed to accept a quest, but she hoped she could figure it out. Her life might depend on it.

At the same time, Jin-Woo was busy preparing for his trip.

As he made sure he had everything he needed, his phone was on the table on speaker. "Boss, I confirmed the transfer. The six hundred mill is really there. How'd you sell those Gates so high. And right before we cancelled them too. Who bought them from you?"

Jin-Woo smiled, as he stood up and grabbed his phone. "Let's call it a trade secret."

"Alright. So when do you want me to schedule the next raid? Tomorrow sound good?"

"Sorry, can't. I almost forgot about my sister's parent teacher conference. But the day after tomorrow. I'll be ready then, promise."

"Got it. I'll make the arrangements. Good luck with whatever you need to do today. And good luck with your sisters conference. Hope things go well." Jin-Woo smiled, as Jinho hung up and he took a moment to check the Gate website.

Typing in the area, he almost laughed when he saw how many C Rank Gates had popped up around the White Tiger area. "That should teach him not to meddle in my affairs." He smirked at the number had had gotten from the guy last night and decided to let him know that he was in the clear when it came to his spying.

Once he sent the text, he headed out after locking up and making his way down to the family car.

As he got in and started it up, he thought about what had happened the last time he had been in the parking lot. The memory of Hae-In hugging him made him remember how unexpected it had been. But not unpleasant.

He smiled, her face appearing on the forefront of his mind and making him feel a warm sense in his chest. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't hate it. Hae-In was the best thing to come into his life in a long time. Even better than the system, as he thought about all the time they had spent together.

Then he thought about what she had said last night Jeju Island was a dangerous place, even if sh was only going to see what was happening over there. He could only hope the system would do whatever it took to keep her safe, like it had when it had given him the quests he had needed to survive.

"Stay safe," he begged her. "And I'll do whatever I need to come back alive."

The Job Change Quest will soon begin, whilst Hae-In's recon will soon be underway. How will things go when it comes to those two events. Only time will tell.

Also, for those wondering what the heck I was talking about during the scene where they talk about a phasing skill, it's actually an idea I had for another possible story. One where E Rank Jin-Woo has or gains that kind of skill when he awakens and uses it to get into an actual guild. I'd love to hear what you think of that. 

Chapter Text

You've been patiently waiting for it and now, the moment has arrived. Enjoy.

"Do you wanna come to my party next week?" Jin-Ah sighed, having been expecting this when she had arrived at school that morning.

She was thankful that Hae-In had talked to her about the photo. Because just as the older woman had guessed, someone in her school had seen it and recognised her. Soon, the photo had been spread throughout the entire school and everyone now knew she was friends with an S Rank hunter. And that had caused a bunch of issues.

As soon as Jin-Ah arrived at school, everyone wanted to talk to her. Some were friends slash acquaintances that wanted to hear how she somehow knew an S Rank, whilst others were people that had never even looked at her before that day. Those were the ones that were the most annoying, as they were suddenly acting like they had been friends for years.

Jin-Ah knew they only cared about her because she was friends with Hae-In. Obviously, they were hoping that she would somehow get Hae-In to appear so they could meet her.

She sighed, wishing Song-Yi was there. The tough tomboy would easily scare these guys away. But since she was skipping again, Jin-Ah was on her own.

"It would be a ton of fun if you came," the party girl offered. "My brother's even gonna smuggle us some drinks in." Jin-Ah rolled her eyes, wondering why these idiots would want to burn away the few brain-cells they had.

"I'll think about it," she answered hoping that wouldn't sound like the rejection she was planning for it to be.

"Cool. And if you do decide to show..." Here it came, "do you think you could get Cha Hae-In to come. Can you imagine if an S Rank Hunter showed up at my party? It would be amazing." The others all agreed, making Jin-Ah sigh.

"Hae-In's pretty busy. She'll probably be doing a dungeon raid or something. Besides, I doubt she would be interested in coming to a high school party. She doesn't even like adult parties."

"She'd like this one," another girl stated. "We'd make sure she'd have a blast." Jin-Ah groaned again, wishing she could just fast forward through the whole day until she got to the part she actually wanted to be at.

Fast-forward to the bit you actually came for.

Hae-In had arrived at the Hunter's Guild, ready to begin the recon mission to Jeju Island. The young hunter parked in her usual spot and gathered all her equipment out of her inventory, as she looked over at the setting sun.

She had no idea where Jin-Woo had gone, but he had yet to send her a message saying he was going to start the quest.

"If he forgot to message me and has already started it, he's so dead." She sighed, her body feeling strangely well rested despite it being the early evening. She had managed to get some sleep after completing her daily quests, with the run being at almost her full speed in a hope of tiring herself out.

Luckily, her dreams after that hadn't had any bizarre sense of foreboding.

Instead, she had dreamt a strange dream where she had been dancing in the sky with a mysterious figure. This dream hadn't felt real like the other one and as she dreamt it, she felt herself gazing into the gray eyes of someone she felt a great connection with. She didn't know who it was, but she had enjoyed the dream.

Now she was at the Hunter's Association, stepping into the building rested and ready to begin.

As such, she headed into the woman's changing room and found several members of the B Team there getting kitted out. Gina, Bora and Semi smiled at her, Hae-In smiling back but also remembering the teasing they had given her the previous day.

She quickly shook that thought off and started to get changed. But as she did, a system window popped up and she sighed seeing it was a message from Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo: Just arrived at the place where I'm doing my Job Change Quest. Heading in right now.

Hae-In nodded, though had been hoping Jin-Woo would have already finished his quest before she left for the island. Now she would need to complete her mission whilst also worrying about what he was doing.

Hae-In: Okay. Just remember to be careful. You have no idea what's waiting for you in there.

Jin-Woo: Will do, promise. And good look with Jeju. I know you'll do great.

Hae-In couldn't help but smile at the praise he was giving her. Knowing he believed in her, even if it was just because she was an S Rank, made her feel more confident. She wouldn't let him be wrong about this. She didn't know what was waiting for her on the island, but she would do whatever she needed to do in order to make sure this mission was a success.

She quickly changed into her battle gear and headed out of the changing rooms, the rest of the guild's B Team also being there ready for the mission.

Despite them being on the B Team, they were still some of the best hunters in the guild. The only reason they were on the B Team, was because their strength and abilities allowed them to match the power of an S Rank like her of Jong-In. With them on the B Team, said team could complete anything that wasn't high A Rank.

"Vice Guildmaster," Kihoon nodded as he stood there. "We'll be following yours and the Guildmaster's lead on this mission."

"Good," she nodded as they began to head towards the elevator. "Just remember, this is a recon mission. We're only going to gauge the strength of the ants and what they're capable of. If they prove to be too much, even for me and Hunter Choi, we'll retreat and come up with a new plan."

"Of course," Kihoon nodded. The others agreed, as they stepped into the elevator and began to climb the tower.

Jin-Woo carefully made his way through the dungeon, keeping an eye out for anything that might become a problem.

Taking in the environment around him, he realised he was in a castle of some kind. He had never been in a dungeon like this before and Hae-In hadn't mentioned ever being in something like it either. That meant he had no idea what was waiting for him inside of it.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he told himself. The Dungeon might look like a completely different place, but Jin-Woo didn't notice anything that told him he was in for the fight of his life. The Demon Castle had had more of a threat vibe to it.

However, as he continued to walk forward, a few windows popped up and told him the rules of his quest.

"I can't use potions or full recovery in this place?" He frowned, since that would make this a whole lot harder. "I also can't leave until I finish the quest." He moaned. "Great. I promise Hae-In I'd be okay, but this could complicate matters. I'm gonna need to be extra careful." As he said that, a sound filled the air. One that made him look down the hall, as footsteps began to approach.

Jin-Woo summoned his dagger, as his first opponent appeared from out of the shadows.

"An Armor Type Beast," he exclaimed at the sight of the suit of armor approaching him. He stared the creature down, as it got into a fighting stance. One that Jin-Woo was quite familiar with, since Hae-In had used it and several other styles during their many sparring sessions together.

And as the armor charged forward, Jin-Woo used all his strength to propel himself forward.

In the blink of an eye, he was behind the suit of armor after dealing several slashes to it. But when he looked back, he saw the creature slowly stand to full height before turning towards him. "Not a scratch?" He frowned, as the armor charged forward.

This time, it was moving at a much faster speed and Jin-Woo barely had time to dodge it. If he wasn't so used to training with a sword wielder, he would have had issues countering. So once the knight missed a slash attack, he stopped and activated his Fatal Striker Dagger Skill before charging.

Once again, he got close to the knight in the blink of an eye. There, he thrust the weapon forward and struck with all his might. But again, he wasn't able to get through it and the blade just bounced off it.

"You're durable," Jin-Woo growled. The armor slashed at him again, Jin-Woo dodging each and every attack as he frowned. "Tough to break that kind of armor." It was then he remembered the last time he had fought something with almost impenetrable defences. "But..." He leapt behind the creature and grabbed parts of it, "I've done it before!" Using all his strength, he ripped the beast's helmet off and the whole thing died.

Dropping the armor onto the floor, he watched as a strange black ooze began to leak out of it. Whatever was inside the creature, it was dead now.

Jin-Woo sighed, the system telling him he had destroyed the creature. "I wasted a fatal strike on that beast." He scratched the back of his head. "Can't recover my mana either, so that's great." As he said that, he heard more footsteps and looked around. "But, it isn't like you tin cans care...is it?"

Hae-In frowned, as she waited in the break room for their departure.

They should have already left by now, but a shift in the weather had kept them from being able to take off. They needed to wait for the wind over the ocean to change, or they wouldn't be allowed to fly to Jeju. As such, all they could do was wait and hope they hadn't stayed up late for nothing.

Hae-In hated this, since it meant she could do nothing but sit and worry about Jin-Woo. 'What's he doing right now? The Quest must be pushing him, so he's got to be having some trouble.' She suddenly imagined Jin-Woo fighting something like a twenty meter tall golem, or a dragon the size of Kamish. No doubt, he was having a hard time and she could do nothing except sit there and wait.

"V-G?" She looked around and saw Gina, she and the rest of the B Team all sitting around a table that had something she hadn't expected on it. A trivia board game. "You look a little bored. Wanna play to pass the time?"

"A trivia game?"

"It's the only game we could find in the break room," the team's assassin stated. "Guess the guildmaster didn't think we needed to sit around and pass the time much."

Hae-In didn't seem too sure about this. Her friend was likely facing death and she was about to go into an equally dangerous place. Sitting around playing a board game didn't sound like a good idea."

"Come on," Semi told her. "It'll help you take your mind off of it."

"Off of what?"

"Whatever's making you frown," Gina stated. "You look like someone's gone into an S Rank Gate alone." If only she knew. "Playing sure beats sitting around worrying."

Hae-In sighed, knowing she was right. "Alright." She moved over to sit at the table, the players all grabbing their pieces and putting them on the start line. "Just don't complain when I absolutely destroy you all."

"Oh," their tank laughed. "Thems fighting words." The others laughed, clearly not knowing who they were facing off against. After all, a trivia game was child's play for someone who could see the future.

"Science question," Bora announced when Hae-In landed on the square of that colour. "Now, what is the smaller unit of matter?" Everyone shared a look, unsure since most of them weren't the best when it came to subjects like this.

Bora already knew before reading the answer, but the others weren't sure if it was an atom or a molecule."

Hae-In was also unsure, but wasn't worried since she could just look ahead. And sure enough, her guess was wrong. "Atom," she announced correctly this time. Bora nodded and gave her the segment, the others looking impressed as they kept playing.

Most of them were able to get the film or book questions right, but stuff like history, geography and the less well known stuff kept stumping them. But not Hae-In.

She did her best to answer the questions truthfully, but used her prophetic gaze when she was stumped on a question. And thankfully, playing the game did help her take her mind off of everything. She soon had all the pieces she needed and was making her way towards the victory goal. She just needed to roll the exact number she needed.

"Come on," Kihoon groaned. "How am I having such bad luck with these rolls. It keeps landing me on the questions I can't do, or the ones I've already answered." They all chuckled before Hae-In took the dice and rolled.

She smiled, seeing the exact number she needed. And as she moved her piece into the space, Bora took the card and nodded. "Alright. For the win. A history question. Who was the mother of King Edward of the sixth of England?"

Hae-In frowned, since British History was not something they learned about in school. As such, she glanced into the future and smiled. "Jane Seymour." Bora was amazed by this and nodded.

"Correct." Everyone cheered at this, the girls looking amazed by Hae-In's incredible knowledge.

Hae-In knew she should feel bad, but there was no actual rule about looking into the future to learn the answers. "Thanks," she told them all. "This was fun. And it helped me take my mind off things."

"No problem," Gina told her. "And if you start worrying again, you can tell us what the problem is. We're always happy to help." They all nodded, Hae-In smiling as he phone buzzed.

She checked and nodded. "The winds over the ocean are beginning to change. Time for us to get ready to head out." They nodded and did just that, leaving Hae-In to think back to Jin-Woo and hope that he was okay.

Back in the dungeon, Jin-Woo had made his way through the castle and was exhausted.

He had been fighting for ages and his fatigue stat had gotten dangerously high. And the enemies we had fought were all powered, with them all being stand-ins for enemies he had already killed. Heavily armored warriors, archers, mages, rogues with stealth. It was like he was reliving every important battle from his past.

Luckily, he had found a few water spots that allowed him to rehydrate and rest. He had also gotten some nice loot, including gear that he decided to use. "Hae-In puts hers to good use, so I should start giving it a try." Like with Hae-In, his gear didn't appear when he wore it. It was invisible and intangible, only appearing when its effects were needed.

With that, he had continued down the corridor until he arrived at a large set of doors. Ones that gave off an ominous aura, which made him feel a little nervous.

"Well, my next challenge is waiting behind this door. Whatever it is, I have a bad feeling about it." He took a step forward, placing his hands upon them. "But if the only way out is through, I'll just have to press on." With that, he pushed them open. The stone door was heavy, but Jin-Woo was able to get it open. And when he did, a powerful gust of wind suddenly shot out of the room.

Jin-Woo froze, feeling himself becoming filled with goosebumps at the sudden aura coming out of it.

"That's not a good sign." But he didn't let that stop him, as he walked forward and glared at the dark room. And as soon as he stepped through the doors, he heard them moving before they slammed shut and he was trapped in the darkness.

Light soon filled the room, as torches above his head and on the walls began to light. When they did, he saw that the place was a giant throne room. It was huge, with large pillars keeping up the ceiling. At the back of the room, an empty throne sat waiting for the rightful person to sit in it.

As Jin-Woo slowly made his way into the centre of the room, he heard footsteps that made him frown.

From behind one of the pillars, another armored individual stepped out. But this one wasn't like the ones he had fought before, as their armor was sleeker and blood red in colour. It carried a large sword and had a red cape, flicking down its back. And sticking out the top of its helmet was a flowing red tail of hair.

Jin-Woo gulped and summoned his dagger, as he stared the foe down. "It's different. But...my body remembers this. It's the same pressure I felt...in the double dungeon." He took a breath, "all this intensity is coming from...him." Moments later, the name appeared in bright red letters.

Knight Commander, Igris the Bloodred

As Jin-Woo stared the knight down, he realised this was a foe that was going to be like nothing he had ever fought before. It was obviously more powerful than Jin-Woo, likely on the same level as the snake that Hae-In had killed in the Demon's Castle. And now, he would need to defeat it in order to move on.

"A knight who defends an empty throne." Jin-Woo watched the knight raise his sword before pointing it at him, fear coursing through Jin-Woo as he did. But he refused to be stopped. He had promised Hae-In that he would survive. That he would come back. And Jin-Woo would keep that promise. "Let's go!"

In that moment, Igris went on the attack. It raced forward at high speed, reaching Jin-Woo in the time it took him to blink.

The knight slashed at him, Jin-Woo barely being able to dodge. The sword instead struck the pillar that had been next to him, cutting through it and shattering the rock like it had been nothing. Jin-Woo's eyes widened in horror, as he realised just what kind of foe he was facing.

Hae-In stood atop the Hunters Guild's Helipad, waiting for the final checks to be made.

It was the middle of the night and Jin-Woo had yet to message her back, making her worry since it had been a while since he had first entered the dungeon. Whatever foe he was facing, it was clearly one that would take a lot of time to overcome. Hopefully, he would have some way to rest between fights. At this point, fatigue would be Jin-Woo's greatest enemy.

She looked over at the guildmaster, who was on the phone talking to someone before they headed out.

As he spoke, the pilot of the helicopter stepped out and walked over to her. "Hunter Cha. All the checks are complete. We're ready to head out whenever you are." Hae-In nodded, the pilot returning to the copter as Jong-In finished his conversation.

Hanging up, he turned towards them and smiled. Hae-In nodded, indicating that they were ready to set off. "Alright. Let's get this done." He moved forward, the others nodding as they got on the helicopter and buckled up.

Once they were ready, Jong-In called out to the pilot and the copter's blades began to spin.

This wasn't the first time Hae-In had ever been in a helicopter, but it was the first time when she didn't have to dread it. Thanks to her mask, the giant metal box didn't smell like it was full of rotting flesh. Another bonus to her life after meeting Jin-Woo. Wasn't the best bonus, but certainly had its perks.

Everyone sat in silence, as the copter moved through the city and headed towards the ocean. It would take some time, so they simply sat there conserving their energy.

Despite having taken the nap earlier, Hae-In still felt like she could have used more rest for this night mission. If she could, she would have tried to sleep right then and there. But being the Vice-Guildmaster, she couldn't let her fellow hunters see her in such a position. Especially since she was apparently known to talk in her sleep, from what her cousin had said once.

So all she could do was sit there, doing her best to rest without actually falling asleep. But once again, with nothing to do, her thoughts fell back to Jin-Woo.

The Player panted, as he sat in front of the remains of his fallen foe.

Igris had been strong and likely would have killed him, if Jin-Woo had been just a little weaker. "Death was one screw up away. Gotta thank Hae-In for those extra levels she got me," he sighed before a bunch of windows popped up. "Huh? I got four rewards?"

Those rewards turned out to be a pouch with a bunch of gold in it, alongside a helmet that was S Rank and gave some serious stat buffs. He also got another Rune Stone, which apparently granted him the Ruler's Hand Skill.

"Which skill is that?" He asked, trying to remember everything the knight had done during the fight. But everything had happened so fast, he couldn't remember every detail. "I guess I'll figure it out later." He pushed himself up, as he focused on his final reward. "And lastly. The Teleportation Stone." He frowned, wondering something about this reward. "It won't...go in my inventory. Shouldn't this have dropped before I beat the boss?" But as he said that, a horrifying realisation sank in. "Unless. No...don't tell me. This isn't over yet."

It was then that Jin-Woo heard a sparking sound, making him spin around and see a portal open up in a far corner of the room.

That portal was followed by several more, as a window appeared above Jin-Woo. "So the quest begins now? What the hell? What's this all about?" The window only replied with two words. "Good luck, huh?" He turned back to the portals, "yeah. Thanks." The window then changed to show something else. "A timer?" The clock started at zero and started counting up. "Is this infinite?"

As this was happening, something marched out of the portals. Knights, like the ones he had fought before. Over and over again, suits of armor stepped out of the portals. Within moments, Jin-Woo had an entire army of them as his opponents.

"If they were as strong as this one, here. I would be overwhelmed in seconds. But I can handle guys like these easily enough." He got into a fighting stance. "Though...there are quite a few." With that, he charged forward and let out a roar.

Back at the Sung home, Jin-Ah had been asleep but had woken up due to a strange dream.

Throat feeling a bit dry, she had gone out to the kitchen to grab something to drink. "That was a weird dream," she moaned as she made her way towards the sink. But as she did, she noticed a wrapped up sandwich she had made for her brother still on the table completely untouched. "Jin-Woo isn't back yet?" She looked over at the clock and frowned, remembering what Jin-Woo had said the previous day. "What the heck is he doing that has him out so late?"

She got a drink and once her throat was un-parched, she returned to her room as an idea. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he had a girl." She smirked, as she thought of who that girl could be. "Hae-In better not wear him out too much. I need to make sure he's at my guardian teacher conference." With that, she felt herself beginning to drift off back to sleep.

Hae-In continued to sit in the helicopter, conserving her strength as they waited to arrive at their destination.

As she sat there, the pilot called out to them. "Guildmaster. We'll arrive at Jeju Island soon." Jong-In nodded, clearly glad that they would soon be there. He then turned to Hae-In, the woman noticing how he was examining her.

"Are you sure you're alright? I would have thought being in a confined space like this would be an issue for you."

Hae-In smiled, "thank you for your concern. But I'm fine."

Jong-In nodded. "I've noticed you've been having less issues with smell recently. I can't even remember the last time you held a handkerchief to your nose. Were you able to find a way to negate the effects of your incredible sense of smell?"

Hae-In smiled, "in a way. It's a new meditation technique my sensei taught me. He wasn't sure it would work, but it's done wonders for me. Allowing me to block out smells I don't want to smell." Jong-In nodded, clearly buying it. She didn't like lying to him, but it was for the best. "And even if I was smelling the mana in here, I would endure it. I wasn't a hunter during the third raid. But I can empathise with how you must be feeling. That's why I'm glad to help. I really am."

"I appreciate you saying that," Jong-In nodded.

"Mana's been found," the pilot suddenly announced. "Several sources in the water beneath us." This put everyone on edge, since they hadn't heard of monsters being in the ocean. Since ocean dungeons were rare, nobody had ever heard of an aquatic dungeon break. And nobody had ever discovered a Gate underwater. "Bringing up the feed."

Everyone turned towards a screen on the wall, which showed a hazy image of the water. And in the middle of the screen, something was floating in the water.

"What the?" Jong-In asked, as the feed zoomed in on it. They all took a closer look, but the image was just too fuzzy to make out.

"What's the plan?" Kihoon asked, as Jong-In frowned and thought about it.

Hae-In considered going out and checking. With her boots, she could easily jump down close to the water and take a look with it. But she would then have to explain how she was able to do such a thing, which she wasn't ready to do yet.

"Drop a net," Jong-In told the pilot. "Try and fish it out of the water." The pilot agreed and quickly lowered the chopper, dropping the net connected to the bottom of the vessel.

Everyone watched the screen, as the net fell into the water. After that, the pilot carefully moved the helicopter forward and dragged the neck behind it. It flowed through the water and eventually managed to scoop up whatever the heck it was, the pilot then raising the copter again.

As the net was pulled out of the water, they were able to get a better look at what it was. And it shocked them.

"That's an ant, isn't it?" Bora asked, as Jong-In frowned.

"We're three miles away from the island?" Their tank cried, "how the heck did it get this far away from the there?"

"Ocean currents, maybe?" Their summoner guessed. "If it got into the water when the tide was coming out, the currents could have pulled it out this far."

"I don't think so," Hae-In stated. She wasn't an expert on tides and currents, but she was sure this wasn't the work of that.

They could do nothing but wait, as the helicopter got closer and closer to the island. Said island eventually came into view and Hae-In frowned, ready for whatever was waiting for them there. "There's a smaller island just off the coast of the island," Jong-In stated. "There shouldn't be any ants there, so we'll touch down and take a closer look at what we caught."

Everyone nodded, as the pilot began to fly in that direction.

It didn't take them long to reach the small island, which was still rather large all things considered. The copter first lowered the net onto the ground and released it before flying a few feet away and touching down itself.

As much as Hae-In wanted to go check out whatever was in the net, she knew she had to make sure that the island they were on was secure. If the ants had found a way onto this island, they would be in serious trouble if they attacked out of nowhere.

So, the S Rank rushed out of the copter and began to rush around the island. It was still dark, so Hae-In had to be careful. She used her Prophetic Gaze to make sure she wasn't taken by surprise, as she searched the island at her top speed.

She did this for a while and eventually, as the sun's light began to break over the horizon, she confirmed that the island was ant-free. "Good. Now to see what was in that net." But as she ran back to the helicopter, a message suddenly popped up in front of her.

Jin-Woo: Sorry if I worried you. I finished the Job Change Quest and I'm heading home.

Seeing this caused Hae-In to release a breath she didn't know she was holding, the woman putting her hands over her heart and sighing in relief.

Hae-In: I'm glad you're okay. What job did you end up getting?

She waited and after almost a minute, he replied.

Jin-Woo: It's...complicated. It'll be easier to show you then tell you. I'll tell you the next time we see each other.

Hae-In hummed, wondering what the heck was going on. She replied back that that was okay and she would see him when she could. And as soon as the message was sent, a system message appeared in front of her. However, before she could read it, she heard Semi call out to her.

"Vice-Guildmaster!" She looked up and saw the woman in front of the helicopter. "You've gotta see this." Hae-In closed the window without looking and rushed towards them, Semi getting into the copter first as the S Rank followed.

She saw the others surrounding a table that had been set up within the copter, which had something on it. And as Hae-In got a closer look, her eyes widened. "Guildmaster. What is this?"

"I don't know," Jong-In finally said. "To my knowledge, this hasn't ever happened before." Hae-In looked down at the ant corpse, taking in very detail on the red creature. But it wasn't like how the reports described. This creature appeared to be semi-bipedal, having an almost gorilla style build. And on its back were something she never expected to see. Wings. "Somehow, it would seem...they're evolving."

Everyone was completely still, as their tank called out to them. "Since when do Magic Beasts evolve?"

"This is the first I've heard of it," Semi stated. "Although, no dungeon break has ever lasted this long. It's possible this is what happens, if you don't kill the monsters fast enough." Hae-In nodded, thinking the same thing. But this meant they had a serious problem.

"If these creatures really are evolving, what could that mean for the future?"

"I wish I knew," Jong-In frowned. "This creature obviously tried to fly away from the island. Its wings are broken, so it must have hit its limits and fallen in. But even if that's as far as it can go, that's still a great distance."

"Um...should we be here?" Bora asked, confusing everyone. "I mean, what if this isn't the only one? What if there are most just like this one?"

"There are no ants on this island," Hae-In assured her. "But you're right. If these things can fly, they'll be able to come here without issue. And if there's a lot of them, we could be overwhelmed in no time."

"She's right," Jong-In nodded. "We've already gained a significant amount of info from this corpse. We'll return to guild and show the association what we've found. Hopefully, they'll be able to figure out if this form of the ant in all that'll come of this evolutionary leap. If not, we may have an entirely new set of issues forming."

They all nodded, as the pilot prepared to take off.

The hunters couldn't believe they were leaving already. They had expected to at least get some kind of fight, but they knew they couldn't risk the ants attacking. The fact that these creatures were strong enough to kill A Ranks meant that they had powerful attacks. Powerful enough to do serious damage tot he helicopter.

Not wanting to be stranded on the island of death, they headed back to the mainland.

Hae-In's focus began to shift between the ant and Jong-In. Clearly, he was unsettled by this discovery. The ants had been tough enough to fight before. But now...

She shook her head, not wanting to worry herself too much. So, she decided to focus on something else. Anything else.

It was at that moment she remembered, she had gotten a message from the system that she hadn't read because of the ant. And with the ride back being a good while, she decided she might as well check it so long as she was careful.

One mental command later, the message opened and her eyes widened in shock. 'This is it.'

All registered Players have completed the Job Change Quest.
All Pseudo-Players are now able to take on the Job Change Quest.

Hae-In couldn't believe it. So the only thing keeping her from doing this quest, was Jin-Woo not having completed it. But now that he had, she could do it and get her own job. The only question was, when could she? And what would be waiting for her when she accepted it.

Well, Jin-Woo's Job Change Quest is now complete. And now Hae-In will get the chance to do the same. But when will she and what will she think when she learns about Jin-Woo's job? Hopefully, she'll take it well.

Also, does anyone know what the heck some of the Hunters in the B Team are called. I've looked, but I've only been able to find Kihoon and the women's names online. I'm sick of just calling them the tank or the summoner. If anyone knows their names, let me know.

Chapter Text

Once again, thanks for all your support with my story. Hope you enjoy this one as well

Hae-In sighed, as she waited for him in the spot they had agreed to meet up in.

After getting back from Jeju Island, Jong-In had contacted the Association to talk about what they had discovered. At the same time, Hae-In had tried to message Jin-Woo about the system announcement she had gotten. But he had been so exhausted after his Job Change Quest, he had apparently fallen asleep as soon as he got home. Understandable, but she had wanted to still talk to him.

She herself had locked herself in her office as soon as she was back there and crashed on the couch. Thanks to her not really doing anything and partially resting on the helicopter, she had only needed an hour or two of sleep to be fully rested.

Jin-Woo had apparently needed more, having slept to almost half two before being awakened by his sister reminding him of the meeting he was scheduled to attend.

It had been at that point Hae-In had managed to get in contact with him, the two agreeing to meet after the conference. But it was where Jin-Woo wanted to meet that had her confused.

So here she was, standing atop a building she had never even stepped foot in.

Jin-Woo had messaged her a little while ago, asking her to meet him there instead of at his place. Apparently, he had business in the area and didn't want them to be seen by anyone. As such, the pair had agreed to meet on the tallest building of that area.

So as Hae-In paced around the rooftop, she opened the Job Change announcement and read everything about it again.

It was basically the same as what Jin-Woo had gotten, telling her she could start the quest whenever she wanted. She kept reading it, expecting it to suddenly acquire more information about what she would need to do. But so far, nothing.

Movement behind her caught the hunter's attention, as she heard Jin-Woo land on the rooftop the same way she had jumped up earlier. "About time." She spun around and was about to speak, but her words died in her throat the moment her gaze landed on Jin-Woo.

He was...different. Not bad, the opposite in fact, but the difference had been a surprise to the young woman. The term cleaned up nice, definitely applied to this situation. Jin-Woo had gotten his hair cut, turning the shaggy mop he had previously had into a more respectable style. He was also dressed in the nicest clothes he had ever seen him wear, which definitely helped improve his overall appearance.

Jin-Woo smiled, as he got closer. "Sorry I took so long. Didn't mean to make you wait." As he got closer, Hae-In's nose was suddenly struck by an incredible smell.

It was similar to how he had smelt before, but it felt even better. The scent caused Hae-In's heart to beat faster, it coupled with Jin-Woo's new look making her face go red.

"It's no big deal," she looked away to try and hide her blush. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Same," he nodded as he moved over to stand beside her. "Sorry about asking you to come here."

"It's fine. Though I am curious about why you wanted to meet here. You said you have business here, but what business?" Jin-Woo pointed at a building further down the street.

"A friend of Jin-Ah's lives there. Apparently, she's an awakened who's given up school and has started as a hunter." Hae-In nodded, but then remembered something.

"Wait. Song-Yi?" Jin-Woo looked shocked by this, "Jin-Ah told us about her. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," Jin-Woo nodded. "I forgot about that. But yeah, she's been ditching to go on raids and..." Hae-In raised an eyebrow at this, "she's on my strike team."

"Wait. You're the reason she ditched school?"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who hired her. But yeah. Her teacher's worried and since it's my fault she thinks she can make it as a hunter, I need to help her understand what it means to be one. Especially for an E Rank."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Remember that guy from the White Tiger Guild? The one I...convinced, to not tell anyone about me?" Hae-In nodded. "I got in contact with him and he agreed to let us go into a C Rank Gate. I'm gonna show her what it means to face a magic beast. If she still wants to be a hunter after that, I've no right to stop her."

"You sure that's a good idea? What if he gets hurt?"

"It's only C Rank," Jin-Woo told her. "Compared to what I just went through, keeping her safe in there should be easy enough. And even if I'm not, the White Tigers going in are supposed to be pretty strong."

Hae-In nodded. "What did you go through. And what job did you end up getting." Jin-Woo stayed quiet for a moment, clearly trying to think of the best way to explain what had happened. Hae-In frowned, worrying something bad was going on.

But in that moment, Jin-Woo's shadow seemed to extend behind him. "This is why I wanted to meet you up here." Hae-In gasped, as she saw something begin to raise out of his shadow.

It was a knight, made entirely out of shadows. It had a long flowing cape on its back and a red ponytail coming out the back of its head. It stood there, not doing anything as Jin-Woo remained staring down at the street below.

"Jin-Woo. What the heck is that thing?" She was about to summon her sword and attack, But Jin-Woo finally turned to look at the knight.

"Say hello to Igris. My Shadow Soldier."

"Shadow Soldier?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Woo moved closer to the knight. "What kind of job did you get?"

Jin-Woo smirked at her, "I'm a necromancer." Those words caused Hae-In's eyes to widen in shocked, as that was the last job she would ever think to assign Jin-Woo. "Yeah, I had that reaction when I saw it too."

"You...are a necromancer?" He nodded. "How the heck did that happen? What did you have to do during the quest, to make the system think you would make a good necromancer? Doesn't summoning creatures take a ton of mana? Your intellect is the lowest stat you have."

"Yeah. About that. I don't think I had a choice in which job I was getting."

"Come again?"

"The way the job was set out, seemed to be designed to make me become a necromancer. It was showing me what I had waiting for me if I agreed to become one." Hae-In was still confused, as Jin-Woo smiled at Igris and told him to return to his shadow.

As the knight disappeared into the darkness, Jin-Woo sat down against the side of the roof barrier. Hae-In sat next to him and listened, as he began to explain everything that had happened. Hae-In had been worried when she learned he couldn't use the store, potions or Full Recovery. She was scared when Jin-Woo mentioned fighting Igris and barely winning. And she was downright horrified, when he told her about the actual Job Change Quest.

"Jin-Woo," she whispered once he finished telling her everything. "That was way too close a call."

"I know," Jin-Woo sighed. "If I hadn't left my Daily Quests undone, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now." Hae-In frowned, as a distant look appeared on his face. Something else must have happened. Something that disturbed Jin-Woo.

She wanted to ask if there was anything else, but she decided to let Jin-Woo tell her when he was ready. "So you needed to kill the mages to stop the foot-soldiers?"

"Pretty much," Jin-Woo nodded. "The whole quest was showing me how powerful summoning magic can be." Hae-In frowned, since she had always found summoning magic incredible. She wished she could do something like that, so seeing Jin-Woo being able to do it made her feel a little jealous.

"It can be," Hae-In nodded. "But Seokjin can only summon two of his own and that takes a ton of energy from him. Igris did look strong, but the two of you together will have your limits." Jin-Woo chuckled at this, making Hae-In frown. "What's so funny?" She got her answer when Jin-Woo's shadow extended again. This time, Igris appeared alongside multiple other shadow soldiers.

Her eyes widened in shocked, as she tried to count how many were standing atop the roof with them. But even if she counted them, she had a feeling this was just the amount Jin-Woo could fit on the roof.

"Yeah. I guess I have a few."

"A few?" Hae-In turned to him and looked like he had just grown a second head, as the soldiers all melted back into his shoulder. She then gave him a serious look. "Jin-Woo. Whatever happens. You cannot let anyone see this."

"Huh?"

"I'm serious. You cannot let anyone know you can summon this many familiars."

"Why?" Hae-In fought back a cry of frustration, shocked that Jin-Woo could be so smart but so dumb at the same time.

"What did I just tell you. Most summoners can only handle one or two creatures at most. You just summoned a small army and it doesn't even seem to have winded you. If people saw this, they'd know you weren't E Rank." She gave him a serious look, "you haven't reached S Rank yet. Actually, what Level are you right now?"

Jin-Woo hummed and opened his stats screen, Hae-In seeing he was at level fifty-three.

"Seven Levels. You're seven levels from being at S Rank. Once you hit sixty, you'll be able to get reevaluated and confirmed to be S Rank."

"Right," Jin-Woo nodded. "Once I'm confirmed to be S Rank, I won't have to worry about people catching onto my increasing strength. So until then, you want me to keep my shadow soldiers a secret?"

"Yes," Hae-In nodded. "I get that they're useful, but you'll only be going into C Rank Dungeons. You shouldn't need them any time soon." Jin-Woo nodded in agreement, as he recalled his soldiers back into his shadow. "But seriously. How the heck did you get to have a summoning skill. And to be able to summon so many. The systems really playing favourites with you right now."

"Well that wasn't all the tricks I got," Jin-Woo smirked. Hae-In raised an eyebrow at this, as he looked around and spotted a small rock on the other side of the roof. He raised his hand and Hae-In looked confused, thinking he was pointing at something only to spot movement.

The rock floated into the air and moved towards her, Hae-In gasping as she realised Jin-Woo was moving it with magic. "Seriously? Telekinesis as well?"

Jin-Woo chuckled, as the rock landed in his hand. "It's the Ruler's Hand skill. I got it after defeating Igris. Right now, it lets me lift anything that's a little under my own weight. But I'm sure as I use it more, it'll level up and I'll be able to lift more. And the best part is, it doesn't use any mana."

"Seriously? Gina's telekinesis takes a load of mana. This coupled with summoning, the ability to heal and your strength. You're starting to turn into the Hunter's B Team wrapped into one."

Jin-Woo smirked. "All these new abilities were sure worth almost dying for. I think I might be ready to take on the Demon's Castle."

Hae-In frowned, having almost forgotten about why he was trying to level up. "Are you sure. We still have no idea what's in there."

"I can't stay scared of it forever. With my Shadow Soldiers, my increased level and you at my side, I think we can do this." Hae-In smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Alright. But wait until I've finished my Job Change Quest first." That shocked Jin-Woo, who looked at her like she had just said she was going to the moon. "Oh, did I forget to mention that?"

"Yes. Yes you did. Since when have you had a Job Change Quest?"

"It happened right after you finished yours," she explained. "It seems us Pseudo-Players had to wait until the actual Players finished theirs. Now I can hopefully get my own job and gain some new skills as well." She saw a concerned look on Jin-Woo's face. "Hey, relax. You were able to make it out alive."

"Barely. If I had messed up even once, I would have lost and be dead right now." He sighed. "I guess I shouldn't worry too much. You're a much higher level than me. But will the Job Change Quest be the same?"

"Who knows," Hae-In frowned. "There's only one way to know for sure. And that's to do it. Any hints you wanna give me?"

"Yeah. Be ready for anything. And don't expect you've won until the quest window tells you you've completed it. I was in for a shock when I beat Igris. I thought I'd done it, only to learn that wasn't even the Job Change Quest."

"Okay," Hae-In nodded. "I'll remember that."

"Yeah. And who knows. You might get an upgrade like I did."

"What?"

"Yeah. I was a necromancer for all of five seconds before it got upgraded into something else. Probably because I lasted over four hours fighting against those things."

"You lasted ten minutes. The rest of that was because of the penalty."

"Apparently, it counted."

"Well if you're not a necromancer anymore, what the heck is your job?" Jin-Woo smirked and showed her his stats window, Hae-In reading it and going wide eyed. "Shadow Monarch?"

"Yup. Don't know if that's why I have shadows instead of a bunch of zombies, but I think it sounds pretty awesome. Imagine it. Me standing against an entire horde of magic beasts. Outnumbered a hundred to one, only to suddenly have my own army right behind me. My loyal subjects, fighting to defend their king."

"Really? You've had that job all of five minutes and you're already going mad with power?" Jin-Woo shrugged, Hae-In rolling her eyes before getting up. "Well...I better go get ready."

"Wait. You're going to do it now?"

"Yes," she nodded. "No time like the present. And this might be my only chance, since I have tomorrow off. I can do it now and whatever happens, I'll at least have the next day to recover."

"Alright," Jin-Woo nodded. "Just...please be careful." Hae-In smiled at him, his concern making her heart soar just a little. She nodded, as Jin-Woo got up as well.

"Well, you'd better get going. You have to go pick up Song-Yi. Just remember to keep her safe."

"I will," he nodded. "Don't worry. It's just a C Rank Gate. What could go wrong." Hae-In's stomach twisted at that statement, her gut telling her Jin-Woo had just jinxed himself. She didn't say this and the pair used down off the building, Hae-In using her boots to lower the gap whilst Jin-Woo's assassin skills let him parkour down without issue.

Once they were on the street, they nodded before heading off in different directions.

As they did, Hae-In thought about everything Jin-Woo had said had happened. She also thought about his new abilities and couldn't believe it. "Jin-Woo, a summoner. That's insane." Mages like summoners weren't supposed to get up close to their opponents. But Jin-Woo's fighting style required just that. However, despite now being technically a mage, he still had strength and speed.

The greatest weaknesses of mages were their frailty. But Jin-Woo was more than strong enough to dodge or endure any hit. So long as he had Mana, he would be able to constantly revive his soldiers without issue. Taking him down would be the only way to make the shadow soldiers remain down. But with his strength, that was almost an impossibility.

"The stronger he gets, the more dangerous his shadow army will become." Suddenly, a terrifying thought appeared in her mind. "Does his ability only work on magic beasts. Or...could it work on people?" She shuddered, imagining what would happen if a person fell in front of him. Would their soul pass on, only to get ripped back to the living world and forced to become his loyal servant. Or would the creature created even be the one who died?

She frowned, imagining what life would be like if the first option was the one that Jin-Woo's power did. She shuddered, not wanting to know what it would be like if that happened to someone she knew.

"Jin-Woo wouldn't do that to someone. Right?" She had her doubts, but her heart told her he wouldn't. Not without an extraordinarily good reason. Even if he did do that to a person because he had to, she was sure he wouldn't keep them like that. Once whatever threat forced him to revive the person was dealt with, he would release them. "I'm sure he would." But a part of her had doubts.

She kept making her way through the city and managed to get back to her apartment, nodding to the doorman before she headed up.

As soon as she was in the apartment, she let out a sigh and felt herself relax. She then headed into the kitchen and grabbed a ready meal, putting it into the oven and setting it to go whilst she headed into her bathroom.

She wanted a bath, but knew that probably wasn't a good idea. She wanted to relax, but didn't want to make herself too relaxed since she could become too tired to do the quest she had been sent. Instead, she took a shower which washed away all her worries.

Once that was done, she headed back out right as the timer on the oven went off. She got the meal out and despite being a simple packaged product, she enjoyed the taste and felt it fill her up properly. "Can't complete a quest on an empty stomach."

She munched on the meal and suddenly found herself imagining Jin-Woo with his new look. The smell of the food was nothing compared to what she had smelt from him.

"Why did he smell even better than before?" She thought about it and realised it had to be because of the system. "It's making his mana smell different, but why? What's it doing to him? She considered how Jin-Woo was different from how he was before and which of those changes could have affected his smell.

One theory was that he smelled nicer, because his level was higher. Considering she had only ever known Jin-Woo whilst he had the system, she had no idea what he smelled like before becoming a Player. When she had first met him, he had been at level one. Now he was at fifty-three. If the smell was related to his level, it would make sense he would smell even better now that his level was so high.

"But then why hasn't his smell changed before?" She asked. "Unless the change hit when he reached Level fifty." She groaned, having so many questions about why Jin-Woo smelled better.

She then thought about what the other reason behind his scent's improvement could be. His job.

"Shadow Monarch," she whispered. "Is that what's making him smell so good?" Jin-Woo had said that the quest had seemed geared towards him receiving that job. So did whatever the system was give Jin-Woo a small taste of that power before? "What the heck is the system?" She still wanted to know, but that question seemed destined to remain a mystery.

She let out a sigh, finishing off her food and putting her dish in the sink to soak. Whatever the system was, she would only discover the truth by using it. Which meant completing this quest.

"Manager Ahn. Mr. Hyun. Good to see you." The White Tiger employees turned to them and smiled, as Jin-Woo and Song-Yi stepped up to them.

"It's been a while," Manage Ahn stated. "I'll admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from you. What a pleasant surprise." It was at that moment that Song-Yi spoke up, catching their attention. "Oh, you're that girl from the other day."

"She's with me," Jin-Woo explained. "I'm sorry to impose."

"No," Ahn shook his head. "If you're the one asking, then it's never imposing Hunter Sung.

"Yeah," Mr. Hyun nodded. "Now I see why you wanted to sit in on some training. It's for her."

"It is," Jin-Woo nodded.

"Well your timing couldn't be better," Ahn stated. "This area's designated as a high frequency Gate Zone. And, as luck would have it, a C Rank Gate opened up just this morning." They nodded, only for another voice to speak up.

"Shut your mouths and let's move!" Everyone turned to see a guy in bulky armor, "we're not here on a field trip."

"Right," Ahn nodded. "We're almost finished."

"Who's that guy?" Jin-Woo asked.

"A Rank Hunter Chul Kim. And as you can see, he's a Tank."

"A Rank, huh?" Jin-Woo looked him over, seeing the scar over his lip and wondering how he got it.

"He's new. Higher Rank aside, a rookie is still a rookie and we train ours up. And because every time needs a leader, Chul Kim was picked for this one."

Hyun nodded, "we let him know you'd be tagging along. Been in a crap mood ever-"

"Quiet!" Ahn cried, making the guy shut up whilst Jin-Woo looked back at Kim.

"What are they thinking?" The guy told himself, Jin-Woo's strong ears picking it up. "Forcing me to babysit a couple of E Ranks. Unbelievable."

Ahn turned to the rest of the team. "Instead of our leader, the rest will considers of five B Ranks and two Cs. Which makes eight hunters in total. The addition of you two brings the count up to a nice safe ten."

Jin-Woo glanced down at Song-Yi, trying to judge her reaction. He had hoped that seeing a real raid would make her change her mind, but he frowned since this stacked line up would make clearing the C Rank Gate easy. Even if they were bogged down by the two of them, there shouldn't be any issue.

"Hunter Sung." He turned to Hyun, who had moved closer to whisper something to him. "So, the goal's for our rookies to learn in there. Just sit back and watch if you could, please."

"Right," he nodded. "You got it."

Ahn smiled and turned back to the gate. "Well, let the training begin." With that, Kim placed a horned helmet on his head before picking up his large shield and approaching the gate.

"Don't have to tell me twice." They all headed in, Jin-Woo an Song-Yi the last ones.

However, as soon as they did, Jin-Woo got a real bad feeling. And that bad feeling was soon proven right, as in that moment the Gate began to transform. Outside, Ahn and Hyun were shocked to see the Gate's colour begin to change.

"What the heck's going on?" Hyun asked, as Jin-Woo's head suddenly appeared out of it.

"Hunter Sung!"

"Manager Ahn!" The Player cried, "contact your primary Strike Squad! Do it no-" He didn't get to finish, as in that moment he was sucked back into the gate and the whole thing became locked. The energy practically crystallised into a solid structure, disconnecting the two White Tiger employees from those now trapped inside.

Back at Hae-In's apartment, she was once again dressed in her battle gear.

She considered heading somewhere to complete the task, but Jin-Woo had said the portal had disappeared behind him after he stepped inside. So she could step through the Gate and not have to worry about any of the monsters appearing in her apartment.

"It's just like the Instance Dungeon and Demon's Castle." She took a deep breath, psyching herself up as the system window opened up in front of her.

Would you like to accept the Job Change Quest?
Yes/No

"Accept," Hae-In stated. And soon enough, the window vanished before a spark of energy appeared in front of her. She took a few steps back, as the portal suddenly opened in the middle of her living room.

She took a moment to check and nodded, seeing that the portal wasn't doing any damage to her place. That was good.

"Let's do this thing." She opened her inventory and pulled out her sword before stepping forward, straight into the portal. But as soon as she did so, she suddenly felt the sword be pulled from her hand and she gasped. And the next thing she knew, she was being pulled through the portal and thrown out the other side. "WOW!" She cried, as she found herself staggering out the other side.

She ended up tripping and fell onto what she quickly realised was grass, the young woman moaning as she lay there.

"What the heck?" She pushed herself up and looked down, seeing she really was on some kind of grass. And when he looked back, she saw the Gate she had stepped through vanish. She was now trapped in the area she had come out in, as she looked around and took in her surroundings. But there wasn't much to take in. "A hedge maze?"

On either side of the grass she was on, three large walls of leaves and branches could be seen. She was at a maze dead-end, with only one path leading ahead of her. Looking up, she realised the hedges were around ten meters in height.

She stood up and brushed herself off, the situation becoming obvious to her. "Looks like I'm not doing the same kind of guest Jin-Woo got." She sighed, as she tried to look over the hedge and see if there was anything there. And too her left, she swore she saw some kind of structure.

It looked like the pointed tower of an old castle, like the ones she had seen in history books. But it was so far away, she couldn't tell if there was anything else to the structure since the rest was hidden behind the wall.

She then smirked, as she realised she had an easy way to figure out what was on the other side of the maze. "I might be cheating a bit, but nobody said I couldn't take a peak." She jumped up, using her boots to air-walk higher and higher.

However, before she could reach the top of the maze, she suddenly found said top beginning to grow. The walls on all sides grew taller and taller, Hae-In gasping as she realised they weren't going to let her cheat so easily.

She tried to outpace the hedge, but it just grew too fast. Even she couldn't get past it, leading to her eventually giving up. "Fine." She began to jump downwards, air-walking her way down until she was back on the ground.

The hedges began to shrink again, but she knew they were ready to grow again the moment she tried to jump up.

Instead, she sat on the grass and took in what she knew. She wasn't being attacked yet, so the monsters must have been deeper in the maze. A maze she would need to navigate, all the while being completely helpless.

"Please let my sword be in my inventory." The screen appeared in front of her and when her inventory opened, her eyes widened in shock. "What? What's all this?"

Each item box had a weapon in it. The first three boxes had copies of her sword, whilst the three after that had short swords. Then there were three spears, three sets of twin bladed daggers, three maces, three axes, a single bow with the number sixty-four next to it, halberds, shields, what looked like a large metal fist, three staffs with trident blades on each end and even a trio of scythes.

Hae-In stared at the item in her inventory, wondering why the heck she had more weapons in it then she knew what to do with. "They all look pretty well designed. But I won't know until I check them out." She tapped the sword and in a flash of light, the copy of her sword appeared and she quickly grabbed it.

But as soon as she did, something else appeared. Another window, with a timer on it.

She gasped, seeing that the timer was set to five minutes and already counting down. "What? Why do I only have five minutes? Is that how long I have to complete the quest?" No, that couldn't be it. There was no way she could find her way through this maze, even at her top speed, in only five minutes. "It appeared when I summoned this. So..." She dropped the sword and just like when Jin-Woo released his weapons, the sword vanished and the timer vanished.

She opened the inventory and it was right back where she had gotten it. And when she pulled it out again, the timer started again and was still the time it had been when she dropped the sword.

Dropping it again, she grabbed one of the shorts swords and a new timer of five minutes began counting down. And as she returned the item to her inventory, she realised what this quest was doing.

"Each of these weapons has a time limit. Likely five minutes each. Which means I have fifteen minutes for all three." She started pacing. "I've trained with most of these weapons, but I've never even seen some of these before. Do they really expect me to fight my way through who knows what, using weapons I've never even used before?"

She stayed there for another minute, as she realised she didn't have much of a choice.

"Alright." She began to walk forward. "I need to save my best weapons for the end. So I'll have to use these newer ones at the start of the fight." She closed the inventory and began to head down the only path open to her. She didn't know where she was heading or what was waiting for her in the maze, but she wouldn't let that stop her. She would keep going, no matter what she had to face off again.

Snow could be seen in every direction, with it covering every tree in the forest.

But that snow was currently covered in blood, sprayed out from the remains of the Ice Bears that had made the unfortunate mistake of trying to kill a party with Jin-Woo in it. For now, they all laid upon the snowy ground completely broken.

Song-Yi Han, Heejin Park and Kijoong Yoon stared at the final bear to be slain, completely slack-jawed after having seen the man leading them destroy their enemies without even breaking a sweat.

Jin-Woo sat upon the bear, staring at the window only he could see as it told him he had levelled up. "Well, guess that tracks. A Red Gate Beast gives a lot more exp." Heejin moved towards him, clearly shocked by his power.

"So...you are...what...exactly?"

Jin-Woo sighed, seeing his own breath escape his mouth. He smirked at them, deciding to leave them to ponder what he was whilst looking around. "You guys ever watch any survival shows?" That question threw them for a loop.

"Why?" Kijoong asked.

"Because...we're about to take a leap out of Bear Grylls' book and grill some bears." He laughed, though the three had no idea what he was talking about.

In another part of the forest, a large number of Ice Elves were taking refuge within a cave.

Sitting on a throne made of wood and the bones of Ice Bears, the boss of the dungeon sat there with a smile as his scouts arrived. "What news?" He asked, as the scouts knelt before him.

"Nine humans have entered the Gate. We were able to dispatch one of them, but the others remain." The boss frowned.

"And why did you not eliminate them all?"

"There was...something else there. It looked human, but the voice did not compel us to attack when we looked at it. And when I tried to shoot another of their weak down, it managed to catch my arrow without any effort. I can tell that it is stronger."

"I see," the boss nodded. "Interesting. So you believe that if you tried to engage the humans, this other thing would kill you?"

"I don't know. I believe I may be able to take the other thing down if I fought it alone, but with the humans there, we could have had issues." The boss nodding. "What do we do?"

"You say you can take this other thing. Then we will give you the chance to face him alone. The rest of the humans shouldn't be much of an issue." The scouts nodded, as the boss got up and they all headed out of the cave.

But as soon as they stepped out of it, something happened.

A flash of light caught their attention, making them look over and see what looked like a Gate beginning to open. The Ice Elves all looked confused, as the portal formed and something began to float out of it.

That something was a humanoid being, whose skin was as white as snow. They also wore a dress that was a mix of white and gray, with blue adornments on the waist and head that looked like ice. Said head was wearing some kind of headpiece, with horns and the ice adornments previously mentioned.

As the woman floated out of the portal, something appeared beside her. Some kind of wolf creature, made entirely out of ice. And once they were both out of the light of the ice, the Gate closed behind them.

The Ice Elves were in shock at the new arrival, whilst she seemed very confused. "Where am I," she stated. "Answer or be slain."

The Job Change has begun and Jin-Woo's stuck in the Red Gate. How will things play out in this situation? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Sorry for the wait. Hope this makes it all worth it. 

As Hae-In drifted off into unconsciousness, she couldn't believe she had found herself in this situation.

She was an S Rank Hunter. One of the strongest in all of Korea. But here she was, about to be killed with her opponent having barely taken any damage. This had to be the most pathetic thing in the world.

But when she felt herself succumbed, she suddenly found her mind clearing and she opened her eyes. But she wasn't in the orchard anymore. Instead, she was somewhere else. A Dungeon.

It was the normal cave-like Dungeon, the mana crystals lining the walls. And as she stood there, she suddenly heard the sound of battle coming from further down. Monsters were screaming and hunters were yelling, which made her run in its direction.

It wasn't long before she found the place where the battle was and sure enough, there were a bunch of goblins fighting against some hunters.

Just by looking at them, she could tell they were all D and E Rank hunters. They sliced their way through the beasts and the goblins were dropping like flies.

However, she then heard a cry and looked around to see a hunter getting clawed by one of the goblins. He staggered back and fell to the ground, clutching his arm in pain as the goblin went in for an attack. But before it could land, another hunter struck it down.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry." The voice made Hae-In gasp. She knew that voice.

"Whatever. Just remember, the only ones who get paid are the ones who put in the work." The hunter turned to leave with the others, the lot of them clearly unhappy. "What were they thinking? Sending an E Rank?"

Hae-In moved closer and realised she was looking down at Jin-Woo. Or at least, the old Jin-Woo. The him from before he had the system.

Jin-Woo moaned and pushed himself up, clutching his arm and seeing the damage done to it. But he wasn't giving up, instead charging after the other hunters ready to go on. And as he did, the world around Hae-In seemed to shift and changed into another Dungeon.

It was the same as the previous one, with other monsters within it. This one had a bunch of hunters inside, fighting some wolf beasts that were clearly dangerous. Most of them were pretty weak, so the D Ranks were able to handle them. But one found himself getting pounced on. Jin-Woo.

"Ahhhhh!" He screamed, the beasts claws digging into him until a blast of fire knocked the wolf off him.

"Jin-Woo." Hae-In realised it was Mr. Song, who had just rushed to his aid. "Are you okay?"

Jin-Woo moaned, pushing himself up and clutching his chest. "I'm fine." He stood up and staggered, but stayed on his feet and went in to attack again.

"Don't push yourself!" Mr. Song cried, as Jin-Woo tried to stab a beast through the back but failed. As he did, the scene shifted again. This time, it showed Jin-Woo laying against the wall with his side and other parts bleeding.

Joohee was there, healing him as others were busy dealing with the remains of a raid. Joohee scolded him, asking why he didn't just quit. But Jin-Woo told her he couldn't. Hae-In saw the look of defeat on his face, as he held a single essence stone in his hand.

Hae-In frowned, only to hear someone call out and tell everyone there to come and take a look at something. It was then that she recognised the Dungeon she was in. The same Dungeon she had first met Jin-Woo in. The Double Dungeon.

And sure enough, the world around her suddenly shifted. And the next thing she knew, she was inside what looked like a large temple.

Hae-In gasped, having only heard about the temple but never getting to actually see it. As she looked around, the statues all stared back at them and gave them the creeps. And then there was the statue at the back of the temple, sitting on a massive throne.

Hae-In watched, as the scene played out before her that she had always dreaded actually learning the details of. The giant statue unleashed its laser eyes and killed several individuals, until Jin-Woo figured out what it wanted. It then got up and tried to crush them, as they rushed to find a safe place to stand in front of the statues with the instruments.

Horror gripped her, as she saw Jin-Woo accidentally fall in front of a shield carrying statue. He tried to escape, but the statue slammed its shield down on him and cut off one of his legs. But even then, he kept moving and didn't give up. And eventually, he got to the statue that saved him and the final trial began.

She could only watch, as Jin-Woo and the others stepped over to the altar in the middle. And one by one, the others abandoned him. Until only Jin-Woo was left, as he took up the dropped sword and tried to fight against the statues.

Every scream he let out, as he was knocked back and his arm cut off, was like a knife through Hae-In's heart. But even then, he didn't give up and kept fighting. Until finally, he became the player and the scene went dark.

Hae-In stood there, in the darkness, thinking about what she had just seen. Jin-Woo, the world's weakest hunter, had continued to fight against insurmountable odds. No matter what foe he faced or how outclassed her was, he kept fighting with everything he had. Even when his body should have given out.

"Maybe it's no wonder he became a necromancer," Hae-In sighed. "He's faced death more than anyone else in the world."

It was then that images appeared around her. More scenes of Jin-Woo's fights. Every time he had been knocked down and overpowered. Kasaka, the Lizards, Cerberus, Igris. Scenes Hae-In hadn't seen, but knew had each been instances of Jin-Woo giving a fight everything he had and almost dying every time. But he had kept fighting, even when victory seemed impossible.

And as those scenes continued playing over and over again, she realised why she was seeing them. To remind her of what it truly meant to be strong.

Hae-In might have been an S Rank, but her strength paled in comparison to Jin-Woo's. He had gotten up multiple times, even when he was just an E Rank. And here she was, letting herself be beaten and giving up so easily.

"No," she told herself, "I won't give up. Jin-Woo never gave up." She clenched her fist. "I want to be strong. Strong like him. Even after his level surpasses mine, I want to get as strong as him. Strong enough to face any opponent, even if they're so much stronger than me. Until I've gained that strength, I won't quit!" As soon as she said that, the darkness around her began to crack apart. And eventually, it completely shattered.

The Lumicorn stared her down, as its horn began to charge up. And soon, it unleashed a powerful blast of light straight towards her.

The laser flew at Hae-In and threatened to wipe her out upon contact. But before it could land, her eyes shot open and she summoned something from her inventory. And seconds before the laser struck, she raised her twin daggers and crossed them to defend herself.

The laser pushed against the blade, Hae-In moaning as she sat there and felt the heat of the beam. If it got any hotter, she might not have been able to endure it. But she refused to give up, so started pushing back.

She slowly managed to shift her body, so that she could get to her knees. Then, she got up onto one knee before forcing herself back to her feet. And as she stood there, she panted whilst the laser kept firing. And as she stood there, she summoned all her strength before swinging her blades apart.

"RAAAAAAAH!" She screamed, as the laser exploded away from her and she was back in the fight.

Despite this, her HP was still really low. One more hit and she was done for.

The Lumicorn neighed and suddenly vanished into the sphere around its neck, appearing out of the other one in an attempt to sneak attack her. But Hae-In was already on the move.

Using all her strength and speed, she shot towards the nearest orb of light. And with a cry, she slashed at it and the orb exploded. Then, she rushed over to the next closest orb and slashed that one as well.

She kept this up, racing through the orchard and cutting through each and every light orb she could find.

The Lumicorn neighed at this, seeing its greatest weapons were being destroyed. As such, it sent all the orbs flying towards Hae-In. But she quickly looked into the future and saw which ones would hit her first.

With all her speed, she swung around and struck that one first. She then struck the next one and the next and the next.

The energy spheres were all wiped out in a matter of moments, as Hae-In leapt back to avoid the last one. And seeing she only had about thirty seconds left on her daggers, she dispelled them and summoned her bow. She then fired one of her six remaining arrows and struck the spheres, destroying them both as Hae-In landed.

But no sooner had she, Hae-In sensed danger and ducked to avoid another laser.

The Lumicorn neighed angrily, seeing its best weapons had all been dealt with. Hae-In didn't know if it could summon more. But if it could, she had to deal with it before it did so. As such, she started firing the remaining arrows.

All five of them shot towards the horse and threatened to do some serious damage, but the beast managed to dodge them all whilst charging towards her. And as it did, Hae-In dropped her bow and summoned her sword.

"Quake of Provocation!" She stabbed the sword down and unleashed a shockwave, ripping apart the ground as it flew towards the beast. But like before, it leapt over the shockwave and looked ready to slam its hooves into her.

However, she leapt straight up and used her boots to propel herself at the beast. As she did, her blade glowed.

"SWORD DANCE!" She turned into a blur, which flew around the beast and dealt several slashes to it. The horse neighed in pain, as its armor broke apart and fell away from it.

But as she stopped and landed in front of the Lumicorn, skidding to a stop, the beast unleashed another laser that slammed into her sword. The impact knocked her backwards, but she managed to regain her footing and hold the blast off. However, she soon heard cracking and looked down at the sword.

The blade was beginning to break apart and would likely shatter any moment, leaving her with only her daggers. She had to do something.

The laser's power began to ebb and as soon as it did, Hae-In charged forward and pushed the laser back towards the beast. "RAAAAAAAAAAH!" She got closer and closer to the Lumicorn, as the laser finally stopped.

She got in close and swung the blade at it, but the horse leapt onto its back hooves and the sword swept under its front ones. It then thrust its hooves towards her and she was forced to use her blade to block them, but the impact shattered the sword and sent pieces flying everywhere.

Hae-In barely managed to avoid the shards hitting her face, whilst several dug into the Lumicorn's chest and made it cry out in pain.

It staggered back and started charging up another blast, but Hae-In went on the attack and leapt straight up. Using all her speed and strength, she managed to get behind the horse before air-walking to shoot towards it.

The next thing the beast knew, Hae-In landed on its back and wrapped her arms around its neck. It neighed in shock and started bunching, attempting to throw her off. But Hae-In managed to hold on and summoned one of her twin daggers, as her other hand reached up and grabbed its horn.

The Lumicorn cried out again and whilst it kept bucking, it began to channel magic. The light spiralled up the horn, threatening to burn her hand when it reached the tip.

But before it could, Hae-In used all her strength and slammed the dagger into the horn. At the same time, she pushes on the horn in the opposite direction. And this was enough to break the horn at the base, snapping it off and causing the light to flow into it to explode out.

Hae-In also found herself getting thrown off the horse, but she used her boots to stagger down to the ground and land okay. She then threw the horn away and summoned the other dagger before charging, whilst the Lumicorn tried to blast her.

The light exploded out of the spot where the horn had once been, only this time it flew out in a wave instead of a focused beam. One which knocked Hae-In back and blinded her. As she did, the horse charged and she barely managed to leap out of the way in time to avoid it.

She quickly slashed at its side, doing as much damage as she could as it flew past her.

The Lumicorn flinched, but kept fighting as it got behind Hae-In and tried to slam its back hooves into her. But she had spun around and blocked them with her daggers. This knocked backwards, as she cried out but managed to stay on her feet.

But it was at this moment her daggers finally hit their limit, the pair turning to dust in her hand and leaving her with nothing but a bow she couldn't shoot with. This caused panic to set in, as she tried to think of a way to finish this battle. And at the Lumicorn turned towards her, she noticed something that gave her an opening.

The horse went on the attack, charging at full speed whilst Hae-In ran at it as well. And as they got close, it launched another wave of light from its horn stump. However, Hae-In leapt straight and over the beast and wave. She then shot forward and hit the ground rolling, whilst the Lumicorn skidded around and turned to charge at her again.

It neighed, moving at full speed right towards her. But as it did, she spun around and launched herself at it with her weapon in hand.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" She thrust the horn she had cut off into the beast's chest, causing it to scream as it tried to attack. But she pulled the horn out and stabbed it again. Then again and again and again. Every stab came with a scream, as she forced the horn into it over and over again. And even as the Lumicorn tried to kick her, she dodged and kept stabbing.

And eventually, one final strike hit the beast right in the heart.

With that, the Lumicorn let out one final neigh before the lights left its eyes and it fell to the ground.

Hae-In leapt back, avoiding the body crushing her as the last of her strength gave out. She hadn't been paying attention to her fatigue counter, since it very rarely went past twenty-five percent. But this time, she was at ninety-seven. However, she didn't care.

"I did it," she told herself. She couldn't help but laugh, as she thought about how close she had come to losing. She was moments from death, but she had never felt so alive. "Is this how Jin-Woo feels every time he fights?"

She lay there, getting her breath back whilst her body screamed at her. She was absolutely exhausted, as a window popped open and she barely managed to read it.

You have defeated the boss.
Finish the Job Change Quest.

She smiled, happy she didn't have to face an entire horde of monsters like Jin-Woo had.

Analysing battle data and determining best Job.

She kept staring at the screen, as it was constantly replaced by a screen saying 'analysing' and a timer over and over. As she did, she finally set up and got a new message. One that told her she had received rewards for completing the quest.

She smiled when she saw what it was, including a Full Recovery option like what Jin-Woo had access to. She quickly used it and felt her body begin to recover. She sighed, the pain she had felt fading away. She was thankful for that, since Jin-Woo had warned her that potions didn't work if her health was too low.

Once the recovery was complete, she checked the second reward and found it was a ton of Battle Points. Enough to almost double the amount she already had. "Oh, I am so getting that talisman." She smiled, then looked down at the last reward. And her eyes went wide when she read it.

Rune Stone: Lumino Drone

Hae-In couldn't believe she had gotten a rune stone from this, though quickly remembered Jin-Woo had also received one after beating Igris.

Not wasting a second, she crushed the stone as she had a feeling she knew what skill she would be receiving. And soon, the light exploded out of the stone and flowed into Hae-In. She sighed, feeling its power wash over her as she smirked. And soon, a new window popped up telling her she had learned it before showing her the skill's effects.

Active Skill
Lumino Drone Lv1
MP: 150 + Uses 10 per warp
Creates a number of small light spheres that the user can control at will. User can teleport between locations where light spheres are. Will disappear if Light Spheres leave a certain radius of the user.

Hae-In remembered the orbs that she had had such a hard time dealing with. And now, they were hers to use as she pleased.

"Let's give this a try." She focused and after a moment, an orb of light appeared in her hand. And with a little more concentration, the orb floated into the air and moved around at her mental command. She then launched it towards one of the fallen trees and smashed right through the wood before flying up, Hae-In imagining the orb from before that had split apart.

And much to her joy, the orb also split apart. But this one only split into three, with that appearing to be the limit for it at the moment.

"When it levels up, I should be able to make more of them." She summoned one of them over to her and decided to try and warping skill, looking over at the orb a good distance away. And after a little more focus, she suddenly felt her body buzz before she was blinded.

She then felt like someone had put a hook through her bellybutton and pulled, yanking her through what felt like a very tight tunnel. And as soon as it began, it stopped and Hae-In felt herself return to normal and her feet touched the ground.

"Wow!" It took her a moment to regain her balance, but she managed to stay on her feet whilst moaning. Looking around, she saw she had moved to the other orb's location. "That's gonna take some getting used to."

It was at that moment that the window popped up, telling her the analysis was complete. She gulped, as she saw the new window pop open and begin to describe the job she had been given.

The brightest of lights, will cast the darkest of shadows.
The master of both elements will stand beside the king, protecting him from threats too great for him to handle alone. The guardian of his heart and savior of his spirit. To be his council and walk beside him through the darkness, as the light that helps illuminate his path.
The Player who seeks to stand alone, requires a strong partner to keep up and fight as their sword and shield.

"I...I don't understand." Hae-In was completely lost about what this description was supposed to mean. But then, the window was replaced by a new one, announcing her job title, and her eyes went wide.

Your job is [Shadow Cohort].

"Shadow...Cohort?" Hae-In let this info sink in, as she tried to figure out what it was saying. "Shadow? Stand beside the king? His council?" Her eyes widened in shock. "Jin-Woo. This Job is specifically connected to Jin-Woo's Shadow Monarch job." She started pacing, as she realised what this meant. "From the way it's phrased, I'm supposed to act as Jin-Woo's adviser and protector. As someone who can help him in whatever quest he undertakes." She smiled, "I'm kind of okay with that."

She knew Jin-Woo could handle himself, even if he was still weaker than her. But she still wanted to be able to stand beside him and fight, no matter what he had to face as a Player. And if this job granted her the ability to do that, she would happily accept it.

"Light and shadow, united in one person. Sounds kind of broken, but I think I can handle it." The window appeared, asking if she wanted to accept the job. "Accept." Suddenly, the window closed before something happened.

From below her, a bunch of black clouds appeared and swirled around her. She gasped, as she felt the tornado form around her and almost blind her. But then, the clouds flew towards her and sank into her skin. A cold sensation washed over her, as she felt the power of the shadows become part of her. But she also felt the light within her, keeping her from becoming too cold.

Eventually, the shadows were completely absorbed into her and she felt new strength flow through her. And soon, a window popped open and announced she had received the job. It also told her several other things. She had acquired ten abilities points, which would allow her to increase any state she desired. She also gained a larger inventory. But it was the last one that caught her attention.

"All Pseudo-Players with the Shadow Cohorts Job, grants seventy-five percent of EXP to any Shadow Monarch Player within range." She smiled, as she realised the amount of EXP she could get Jin-Woo had gone up. And maybe, she could one day find a way to make it one hundred percent. "I'm liking this." Then, another appeared stating she had acquired two new skills. "Shadow Forging? And Shadow Storage?"

The second one she remembered from what Jin-Woo had told her, allowing her to store shadows and travel around with them. But the first one she hadn't heard of before.

She brought up the Shadow Forging skill and began to read it. "User can reforge the shadows of defeated enemies into weapons and gear. The Rank of the item is dependent on the original strength of the enemy and time after death. Huh." She slowly let that sink in and realised what it was telling her. "So I can turn the enemies I defeat, into weapons that'll let me fight?"

Suddenly, everything was starting to make sense. The Job Change's parameters had forced her to use a multitude of weapons. Not just the one she was most comfortable with. If she would be getting multiple different weapons, she would need to be able to adapt to using them without issue.

"Just like Jin-Woo. My Job Change Quest was helping me learn what I'll need to know once I have these abilities. Should have seen this coming." It was then that the Shadow Forging window changed, asking her to input a command word.

She hummed, trying to think of the best word to use. At first, she considered using the same word Jin-Woo had chosen. But decided against it, since she wasn't raising the dead. She was using them to equip her with new weapons.

"That's it," she smiled. "Equip." The word appeared within the box and was accepted. And as soon as it did, Hae-In suddenly sensed something. A presence, which hadn't been there before. And as she looked around, she also heard the ghostly neigh of a creature.

Her eyes then fell on the remains of the Lumicorn, which she realised was now surrounded in a shadowy black aura. One that made her realise what she was hearing. The ghost of the dead, left behind and waiting to be awakened.

"If I can turn any foe into a weapon or gear..." She smiled and approached, standing in front of the beast with its horn still in its chest. "You who were once my enemy. Now rise and become my new strength. Let us fight as one, our powers united." She took a deep breath and dug deep before speaking the word. "Equip."

Suddenly, the shadowy aura exploded and completely surrounded the body. Then, it flew off and began to take shape.

In only a few seconds, the shadow form of the horned equine appeared looking exactly as it had when they fought. Its horn was back in place and as it stood there, it neighed before its shadow body began to transform.

Soon, it swirled around and took a smaller form before shooting towards Hae-In.

The woman held her hand out and she grabbed the shadow on instinct, feeling it solidify in her hand. And with a swing, the shadow was blown off of it and revealed a new weapon. A sword with the horse's head acting as the guard whilst the yellow horn was the blade, the sharp edge swirling around it until it reached the point.

Hae-In held the weapon in amazement, feeling incredible strength coming from it. She knew this weapon was far superior to the sword she normally used.

In that moment, a screen popped up asking for something. "A name?" She realised something like this needed a name, as she considered what to call it. And eventually, she nodded as an idea form in her head. "Horn Calibur." The words appeared in the box and was accepted, the name becoming locked in as the weapon's stats window opened.

Item: Horn Calibur
A-Rank Sword Weapon
STR +100/AGI +50
Lumino Thrust: Cost 50 Mana. 25% Piercing Damage

"Amazing," she smiled. "With this Shadow Forging ability, I could become a one woman armoury." But as she said that, something clicked in her head. "Forging...forge...reforgable." Her eyes widened, as she realised something. "Don't tell me."

She managed to figure out her Shadow Storage Ability, placing her new weapon back in its place before opening her inventory.

First, she noticed the fruit she had gathered earlier. Tapping it, a screen popped up telling her the analysis was still ongoing. "I'll focus on that later." Instead, she went to her other items and brought them all out.

The scorpion armor, mollusc shell and golem piece appeared in front of her. And when she looked them over, her eyes widened as the same dark aura began to come out of them. It was just as she had hoped. These pieces could all be used to create new weapons for her.

"I'm so glad I didn't sell them." She held her hand up, focusing on each one before stating the word. "Equip!" Each weapon began to transform, the dark shadows engulfing them and flying off to form the shadow forms of each monster. Then, the beasts flew towards her and transformed into a different weapon.

The first was a large round shield, big enough for her entire upper body and head to lay on it. But it didn't weigh a thing, allowing Hae-In to move it around without issue as it seemed magnetically attached to her arm. And with a single thought, the shield split in half and opened to allow a stinger of some kind to shoot out for a second before returning to the shield as it closed up.

Item: Sting Guard
B-Rank Arm Shield
VIT +70
Poison Strike: Cost 50 Mana: 50% chance of causing (Drain; HP -1/1sec)

The next was some kind of drill weapon, which surrounded her entire leg from below the knee. It was designed around a seashell and was divided into three sections, which spun in the opposite direction to the section above it.

Item: Shell Spiral
B-Rank Leg Armament
STR +50
Spiral Impact: Cost 50 Mana. 75% Piercing Damage

The last was something that almost resembled a missile made of rock, with the face of the rocket golem on the tip. Hae-In's right hand was inside of the missile and with a single thought, the rock thrusters on the back ignited and Hae-In was almost sent flying by the force of it. She quickly realised if anything was struck by this, it could be turned to dust in no time at all.

Item: Rocket Fist
C-Rank Fist Armament
VIT +30
Rocket Strike: Cost 30 Mana. Propels wielder forward at high speed

Hae-In quickly got her new weapons under control, playing around with them for a few moments and testing them out. Pulling them in and out of the Shadow Storage wasn't an issue, so she could quickly swap between them all to do whatever she needed.

As she did, she suddenly felt the action of the night begin to get the better of her.

Despite having used a full recovery, she was mentally exhausted. "I need to get back to my apartment and rest." She wanted to show Jin-Woo her new abilities, but she needed to be wide awake when she did.

In that moment, another window suddenly opened up.

Two Shadow Players have been confirmed. 
Access to the Shadow Chamber now granted.

"Shadow Chamber?" She frowned, "what's that?" Hae-In thought for a few moments, wondering if she should try it out. And whilst she was still tired after everything that had happened, she decided to take a quick peak. "How do I open this-" Suddenly, a flash of light made her look over and see a portal open up. One which seemed to have a door of some kind within it.

She took a few moments to study it, wondering if she might accidentally be entering another dungeon. But she took a step forward and grabbed the handle, opening it up and looking inside. And what she saw amazed her.

"Wow." She stepped through and the door closed behind her, the portal vanishing completely as Hae-In left the maze.

The biting chill of the cold environment was all but forgotten, as Kim's chest was filled with a burning rage.

After his team had been completely wiped out, he had run for his life hoping to maybe find the others and come up with some kind of plan. The least he could do was warn the lesser hunters, giving them time to prepare for death. However, when he finally found them, he had been shocked by what he saw.

'What the hell? How are they even alive?' Three of the four members of the B Team were all sitting around a campfire, looking warm in brown coats they hadn't had before. They were inside a makeshift tent, with a bunch of meat hanging from a rack near the flames. 'With winter coats, blankets, a tent and...and food.' Slowly, he realised what must have happened. 'Oh. I get it now.'

"HEY!" He charged forward, catching the attention of those that had been enjoying themselves not three seconds before.

"Captain?" Heejin asked, clearly noticing the anger on his face.

"My team was wiped out because we didn't have the right gear or supplies! WHILST YOU'RE OUT HERE ENJOYING YOUR DAMN COOK OUT!"

"Hey, calm down-" Kijoong tried to start, but Kim was having none of it.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU IS THE HOARDER!?" The E Rank girl gasped, hugging Heejin in fear. "WHO IS KEEPING ALL THIS A SECRET! YOU GOT MY TEAMMATES KILLED!" Whilst the girl was clearly terrified, the adults were doing their best to keep themselves calm. 'Heejin Park.' He glared at her, remembering how she had opted to go with the weaklings instead of sticking with him. 'You knew. From the get go. That's why you went with them.'

"I'm scared," Song-Yi cried.

"I'LL CONSIDER EVERYONE GUILTY IF YOU DON'T ANSWER!" He drew his sword, "SO SOMEBODY BETTER TALK BY THE COUNT OF THREE!" The adults got up, Heejin raising her staff to try and defend them whilst Kijoong looked terrified. "ONE...TWO..." 'Whether they confess it or not. I KNOW IT WAS SUNG!' "THREE!" He charged, ready to cut them down for stabbing him in the back.

"Four." That was the last thing he remembered hearing before pain erupted through his body and everything went black.

And that's Hae-In's job change quest completed. Hope you enjoyed the fight and tell me what you think of her new abilities. A few of you figured it out, but I hope the rest of you like it. 

Chapter Text

Hey everyone. Sorry this took so long, but I'm dividing my time between two stories now. Still, hope this chapter's worth it. Let me know what you think.

The three hunters stared at the lump of metal and flesh, that had been sent flying down the hill and left unconscious by the impact.

They then turned to the one who had come to their rescue, Jin-Woo staring at the crumpled form of Hunter Kim with an unhappy look on his face. "Your blaming your comrades' deaths on who, exactly." The others called out to him, thanking him for his quick arrival. "I also see you've brought unwanted guests." Everyone looked confused, as he turned in the direction Kim had arrived from. "Drop the stealth. You can't completely mask auras that strong anyway."

They all shared a confused look, wondering what he meant until it happened. A large battalion of elves just appeared out of nowhere, all armed and ready for battle.

"The ice elves?" Heejin asked, horrified by the number of them.

"Yeah," Kijoong nodded. "It's a whole platoon of them."

"Along with the boss," Jin-Woo focused his attention on the elf riding a horse in armor and robing. The one named Baruka smirked, as he took a step forward and looked Jin-Woo over.

"This is quite the surprise indeed," he stated. "It seems even scum can be competent."

Over in the trees, the Ice Witch known as Beste watched as Baruka and his tribe found their prey.

"Good," she nodded. "Once they've dealt with those fools, we can find a way out of here." She watched, as the two groups' leaders conversed. But as they did, she couldn't help but notice the strange aura coming off him. It was nothing like the other humans, nor any other creature she had ever seen before. This one had an air about it. One that would have made her confused, were she able to feel anything.

Baruka gestured to a member of his team, saying something she didn't bother to listen to as she was too focused on the human.

But then, she blinked and the human seemed to suddenly vanish. Moments later, the elf Baruka had gestured to fell to the ground lacking a rather important body part. Baruka smirked at this and turned towards the human, who had decapitated the elf in a micro second.

"You amuse me," the boss of the dungeon announced before the human went on the attack. But Baruka managed to block his attack and the human leapt back to where he had been standing before, whilst Baruka leapt off his horse seconds before it fell to the ground dead.

She turned back to the human and saw he understood the situation. His strength wasn't the same as Baruka's, the boss landing and chuckling.

"This keeps getting better," he sheaved his blade. "I have to ask, though. Why mingle with humans and pretend to be one when you're obviously not?"

"What?" The human asked, Beste also wondering what he meant by that.

Baruka chuckled. "Considering your reaction, I assume you aren't aware." He pointed at his temple, "we can hear a voice inside our heads. Always saying kill humans. But...there's no such instruction when it comes to you."

Beste raised an eyebrow at this, since she heard no voice. She already intended to kill anything that got in her way, but she didn't feel a voice inside her head. But then again, she had randomly stepped out of a portal into an icy landscape that wasn't the one she had called home.

"Interesting. Is my frozen hard shielding me from this...voice? Or is it something I was never given?"

"In truth, we are-" Suddenly, Baruka seemed to freeze and glitched. Beste saw this and tilted her head, as he seemed to jump back to a previous stance. "Give us the humans that are cowering behind you. Once you do, we'll leave you be and depart." Beste noticed the confused look on the human's face, as he glanced back at the others. "Well? Whats say you to our offer? Do we have an agreement or no?"

The human smirked. "No, we don't." Baruka frowned.

"You honestly intend to make enemies of us instead? We clearly outnumber you, if you haven't noticed." The human didn't look the least bit worried, his smirk growing bolder as he spoke up.

"Sure about that?" Suddenly, something happened that would have shocked Beste to her core if she had emotions. The human's shadow suddenly grew a hundred fold and from out of it, a bunch of humanoid knights and giant bears appeared. But they were all made of the same dark stuff as his shadow, with blue energy flowing through them.

"Shadow soldiers?" She had heard stories of such beings, but she never expected to actually meet them. "If he can use them, is he connected to the fallen one?"

Jin-Woo stared the elves down, as his shadow army appeared in full force behind him.

He heard his fellow hunters cry out in shock, whilst also remembering what Hae-In had told him days ago. That summoning this many being should be next to impossible, so no doubt they would have questions about how the heck he was doing this.

"Sorry, Hae-In. Couldn't keep this a secret without risking them."

Baruka stared him down and despite the smile on his face, he spoke in annoyance. "What an outrageous waste of time."

"Oh, you think so?" Jin-Woo asked. "Stick around and find out." Baruka growled before gesturing forward, the rest of the ice elves rushing towards them. "Go!" Jin-Woo's soldiers charged off as well, running at full speed with the bears unleashing roars whilst the knights had their swords at the ready. The only ones that stayed back were the mages, the three ready to cast whatever spells were needed.

The soldiers met and began to clash swords, fighting with everything they had in order to slay the elves. And it was starting to work, as the knights cut down the ice slayers before getting dispelled by arrows and other range attacks. But no sooner were they destroyed, they returned once again ready for battle.

As this was happening, Song-Yi and the White Tigers began to run away. They had to find somewhere safe in order to not get in the way, but the elves spotted them and several arches took aim.

But as soon as the first one fired, it suddenly found its arrow being jabbed into its side. This was followed by several super fast strikes to it and its comrades, cutting them to pieces as Jin-Woo seemed to simply appear in front of where they had been standing.

The Player looked around, analysing the battle and nodding. "I can see why he was so confident. Though my summons are immortal, they can't re-spawn without mana." He checked his MP gauge and saw it beginning to dwindle down. "I have a lot, but...it's bound to run out. Then, there's the boss." Baruka zipped between Jin-Woo's soldiers, moving at speed equal to the Player and cutting the shadows down without a second's thought. "I can tell he's stronger than me."

Soon enough, Baruka leapt up and off a tree before flying towards Jin-Woo.

The hunter used his daggers to block Baruka's, but the impact was enough to knock him backwards down a hill as the elf chuckled.

When Baruka finally pulled away, he leapt into the air and did several flips before landing a good distance away from him. "I can tell this'll be a challenge, even with Igris. My regular soldiers won't cut it. I need something more powerful."

"I am called Baruka?" The elf pointed his dagger at him, "might I have your name as well?"

Jin-Woo's reply was to summon his Kasaka Blade and stand in a battle ready position. "I'm Jin-Woo Sung." Baruka laughed before he charged, Jin-Woo rushing forward as well. The two then met and began their clash, their weapons colliding with Baruka able to hold him off despite having fewer blades.

At one point, he managed to pin Jin-Woo's Knight Slayer beneath his foot. But before he could use this to his advantage, Jin-Woo released the blade and it simply disappeared. Baruka was shocked by this and saw Jin-Woo summon the weapon back to him before attacking, but Baruka managed to dodge as the pair appeared to dance around one another.

But this didn't last long as soon, Baruka managed to smash his foot into his gut and send him flying backwards. Jin-Woo could only grunt, as he flew through the air and barely managed to land on his feet.

He slid to a stop, as Baruka smirked at him and raised his blade. "It's been ages since I've enjoyed a fight this much." Jin-Woo got up and said nothing, Baruka smiling only for a new light to suddenly glow down on the pair of them from above.

When he looked up, he saw a massive fireball falling towards him. He had just enough time to notice the shadow mages, casting the fireball which now crashed down upon him and exploded in a massive blast.

Beste watched the explosion occur and frowned with disapproval.

She knew Baruka would survive that, but it was still a serious attack and his foe was clearly far from done. She had moved down the hill to watch and so far, things had seemed pretty even between the two. Baruka would likely still win, but one wrong move could easily spell his doom.

She wanted to leave this place and that couldn't happen unless they slayed these humans. And what was worse, was that she hadn't eaten anything in ages.

Her stomach was empty and if she didn't eat anything soon, she was going to have issues. She needed a source of food and despite not wanting to step on Baruka's toes, she needed to eat and there was only one food source around.

As such, she started waving her hands around and caused a bunch of ice to form. Ice that took the shape of a staff with some kind of C shape on the end of it. And once it was formed, ice began to form between the C that were so thin they could almost be mistaken for hair.

She finished constructing the harp staff and after a few practise strums, the harp actually making noise, she stepped outside.

Back with Jin-Woo, he watched as the fireballs burned away. But he had a feeling that wouldn't be enough.

And sure enough, Baruka suddenly leapt out of the flames and raced towards him. "You're in trouble if that's the best your soldiers can do!" Jin-Woo frowned and prepared to attack, only for another voice to suddenly call out to him.

"Jin-Woo Sung!" He spun around and found that Chul Kim had recovered from his earlier hit and was now charging sword in hand ready to attack. "YOU DIE!" Jin-Woo frowned, realising Kim clearly wasn't kidding. He actually wanted to kill Jin-Woo.

"Even the humans want you dead!" Baruka cried, whilst Jin-Woo tried to think of what to do.

As Kim got closer, a sudden thought popped into Jin-Woo's head. To kill him and use him as a shadow, who would no doubt help him defeat Baruka. However, that thought was quickly snuffed out.

He might have been willing to kill people when he had a choice, but the system wasn't giving him an instruction to do so. And even if it did, could Jin-Woo really turn a living human into a shadow. If he did, he would become a monster and Hae-In would be disgusted when she found out.

"Damn it," he growled. "Igris. Stop him from getting closer!" His shadow soldier appeared behind him and raised his sword, swinging it around and sending a bunch of snow into the air.

This blinded both Kim and Baruka, the two rushing into the snow cloud and attempting to kill Jin-Woo. But Kim suddenly felt the flat of a giant blade slamming into his side, knocking him flying backwards as Igris stepped out of the snow cloud. "What?" He asked, shocked by what he was seeing.

Jin-Woo fought against Baruka some more, as Igris went on the attack. "Whatever you do, don't kill him."

Kim's vision shifted between Jin-Woo and Igris, who started attacking him as he raised his sword to defend. "What the hell is this? Summoning magic?" He blocked Igris' attacks multiple times, but each strike knocked him backwards as he tried to keep his balance. "How the hell can an E Rank summon things?" He then glanced over and saw Jin-Woo, as he and the boss kept fighting.

The way he moved and deflected Baruka's attacks told him something obvious. Jin-Woo wasn't an E Rank. He couldn't be.

"False ranker!" He growled, "so that's how he did it?" He knew he had to kill Jin-Woo. It was the only way to survive. "I'm going to kill you!" He then turned to Igris, "after I cut this freak down the size!" He charged and slashed at the knight, who was clearly more skilled.

The knight blocked each and every attack he threw at it, Kim roaring as he attempted to strike multiple areas. But none of his attacks connected and eventually, Igris got behind him and spun around to deal a kick straight to his back.

"GYAH!" Had his rank been any lower, the impact might have broken his back. He screamed, as he was sent flying forwards and crashed into the snow before skidding to an eventual stop. He moaned, whilst Jin-Woo glanced over at him and flinched.

"I know I just said not to kill him, but injuries like that were also what I was hoping to avoid." He dodged another of Baruka's strikes whilst Igris rushed over to slash at the elf, who managed to avoid the blade and spin around to slash at Igris. And unlike Kim's attacks, these ones landed and Igris was knocked back.

Kim moaned and pushed himself up, looking over and seeing that Jin-Woo and Igris were battling the boss and completely forgot about him. And this pissed him off. "You're dead!" But as he pushed himself up, a sound suddenly hit his ears. A sound that seemed to make all his rage disappear.

Jin-woo and the other fighters also heard the music, Baruka shaking his head and growling. "What is she doing? I don't need her help."

Jin-Woo leapt back and turned to the source of the music, which sounded like a harp that was being played perfectly. And when he saw the cause, he was surprised when he saw an humanoid being that didn't look like she was apart of the ice elves.

The woman floated out of the trees and kept playing the heart, as her name appeared in orange above her. "Ice Witch Beste?" Jin-Woo frowned, wondering what she was doing there and why she chose now to appear.

But before he could think to ask, he noticed movement and looked over to see Chul Kim moving towards her. But he wasn't attempting to attack her.

He was staggering forward, as if in a trance. And slowly, Jin-Woo realised that was exactly what was happening. The music was entrancing him, along with Baruka. The only difference was, Baruka seemed able to fight it off whilst Kim couldn't. And as he got closer, Beste smiled at him.

"Oh no." Jin-Woo realised what was likely about to happen and turned to Igris, as Baruka attempted to cut him down. "Igris!" The knight charged towards Kim, who was very close to Beste now. But before he could reach them, Beste acted and waved her free hand around.

Suddenly, a massive burst of bright light filled the air. It blinded both Jin-Woo and Baruka, as a scream filled the air that Jin-Woo realised was Kim. And when the light faded, Jin-Woo looked back around and saw that the area around Beste had been turned completely to ice.

The giant spikes of frozen water were sticking out of the ground, one having almost impaled Igris. Kim hadn't been so lucky, as Jin-Woo saw he was completely frozen solid.

He was trapped within an ice spike, his face one of absolute horror whilst only his chest was left uncovered. And Jin-Woo soon learned why, as Beste soon raised one of her metal tipped hands and thrust it into Kim's chest.

Using some kind of magic, she had somehow phased through the armor and pulled her hand out moments later. And when she did, she was holding the man's still beating heart.

Jin-Woo almost threw up in his mouth, as Baruka tried to use his distraction to slice his face open. But Jin-Woo leapt away and glanced back at Beste, only to see her moving the heart close to her mouth. He didn't look anymore and focused more of Baruka, fighting against him whilst Igris rushed over to attack as well. And as the two fought him side by side, Beste finished what she had been doing before floating upwards.

The ice witch once again started playing her enchanting tune, but Jin-Woo wasn't affected by it at all. Baruka was, though he was fighting it off, but Jin-Woo and his shadow soldier were completely unphased.

"How is this possible? The shadow I can understand. But how can this human not be swayed by my melody of enchantment?" She thought about it, as she remembered the only other being that had ever been able to fight off her hypnotic music. "Impossible? He can't be the same as him, could he?"

Jin-Woo blocked the dagger and kicked Baruka away, the ice elf flying back right towards where Igris was waiting. But as the knight slashed at him, he somehow leapt up and over his sword before spinning and kicking Igris away.

Jin-Woo flinched at that and prepared to attack, but suddenly sensed another attack coming at him and spun around to see a barrage of ice spikes shooting down towards him. Beste was the one who had done it, the ice witch now going on the offensive against them.

She flew forward and frowned, "why isn't my music working on you?" She launched several more ice spikes towards them, Jin-Woo and Igris deflecting them as they leapt around.

"Don't know what to tell you. Guess your music just isn't my thing." Beste glared at him and suddenly, the ice wolf on her shoulders leapt off as she struck it with magic. And this caused more ice to form around it, creating a larger ice wolf that was soon the size of an elephant. "Uh oh."

The wolf howled and went on the attack, slashing at them both whilst Baruka also tried to strike them down.

Jin-Woo and Igris did their best to avoid the attacks, combined with the ice blasts Beste sent their way. But they were just too strong and too many in number. Igris managed to do some damage to the ice wolf, but the beast simply refroze the section that had been cut off before it spun around and slammed its tail into him.

The knight was sent flying and managed to land on its feet, whilst Baruka stabbed at Jin-Woo only for him to back-flip away.

He then spun around and threw his Knight Slayer towards Beste, who simply dodged it whilst Baruka laughed. "Throwing away your weapon. How foolish!" But when he tried to cut Jin-Woo down, Jin-Woo leapt away and used his Ruler's Hand to swing the dagger around and shoot it back towards Beste.

However, without he even looking, she created an ice spike out of the ground behind her that the blade bounced off.

"What?" Jin-Woo asked, as the Knight Slayer returned to his inventory. Beste smiled, her eyes glancing over to her wolf. And as Jin-Woo looked over, he realised the wolf had been looking right at her. "Does that thing let her see through its eyes?" He didn't get to think about it, as Baruka attacked again. The intense slash attacks were pushing Jin-Woo to the brink, as he felt his fatigue slowly beginning to build. If he kept this up much longer, he would slow down and be hit hard.

He then glanced over at where Igris was, the knight once again charging forward and aiming at the wolf. The beast turned to growl at him and attacked back, Igris hacking away at the beast with little success. Its body just kept repairing itself.

"Damn it. Beste's magic is keeping it in one piece. I'm never gonna win this, if I don't take her out first." He was forced to dodge another barrage of icicles, but one of them hit his shoulder and he flinched. "Damn it!"

Baruka laughed and leapt forward again, trying to take advantage of the injury and slashing at him multiple times. Jin-Woo did his best to dodge them all, whilst Igris cut the head off the ice wolf. But the giant predator was still able to move and slammed its paw into Igris, knocking it back whilst Beste restored its head.

Then, she created an ice block right behind Jin-Woo. One that he accidentally tripped over when he leapt back, causing him to crash into the snow below him. "Gaaah!" He looked up and saw Baruka leap into the air, blade in hand ready to strike him down.

Jin-Woo barely managed to leap out of the way in time, rolling along the ground before leaping to his feet. But as he slid through the snow, Beste fired a blast of ice towards the ground.

Suddenly, the ground exploded and a large round ended ice spike flew out and sailed over the snow before smashing into Jin-Woo's stomach. "AUGH!" He was thrown backwards, screaming as he flew through the air and crashed into the ground rolling.

Igris saw this and tried to rush to his aid, but the ice wolf attacked and almost pinned him to the ground.

Jin-Woo finally stopped rolling and moaned, as he noticed how low his HP now was. If he didn't do something fast, he wasn't going to live. "Got to...find a way to...even the odds." And as he pushed himself up, he caught sight of something that made his eyes widen.

He had fallen next to the frozen remains of Chul Kim. The man's expression was still one of absolute horror, as everything except his chest was trapped in a block of ice. And as he stared at the dead man, he realised this was his only hope of winning the fight.

"I'm sorry." He saw the words appear in front of him. 'Shadow Extraction Possible.' And as Baruka charged at him, Jin-Woo placed a hand on his chest. "Arise."

Baruka saw him doing something and suddenly, a blast of shadow exploded out of the figure. It surrounded Jin-Woo, whilst Igris rushed over to get between him and Baruka. But the boss laughed and with a quick flash of movement, he knocked down Igris as Jin-Woo began to step out of the shadows. "You think you can stop me, with just one pathetic soldier?"

"Of course not," Jin-Woo stated as the shadows behind him began to disappear. And from it, a figure emerged. "Allow me to introduce...Iron." It was Kim, only now he had been transformed into a shadow that was twice the size he had been when he was human.

Despite having somehow lost most of his armor before this whole event, Iron was now decked out in that armor and was even wearing a horned helmet. He was holding a large axe and a shield, as he roared whilst letting out a shockwave that swept across the entire battlefield.

Baruka, Beste and even the ice wolf seemed to turn all their attention towards Iron, the elf boss laughing at him. "Another jester in your deck?" Baruka's eyes glowed red, "let me make the first cut!" He charged forward and Jin-Woo leapt away, allowing Iron to raise his shield and intercept the attack.

Baruka quickly slashed at him before leaping up to avoid Iron's axe.

Igris then went on the attack, slashing at Baruka as he dodged the blade before Iron rammed his shield into him and he was knocked flying.

He landed and growled, as Beste sent the wolf to attack and the beast charged forward. But Jin-Woo suddenly appeared out of nowhere, having used his stealth skill to sneak off and attack from its blind spot. The beast howled, as it was thrown to the side and he turned Beste.

He expected her to glare or something, but her expression remained stoic and she launched several ice shards towards him. But he was able to rush forward and cut them out of the air, as he got close and leapt up at her, only to spin in midair to avoid the ice spikes that exploded out of the ground around her.

She then launched the spikes outward, more spikes appearing between them to keep the circle closed as the wave approached the Shadow Soldiers.

Igris and Baruka leapt up and over the spikes, whilst Iron's axe transformed into a hammer that he swung with a roar. The ice spikes in front of him shattered and he charged again towards Baruka, he dodged his hammer attack only for Igris to hit him in the back. "Gaaaah!"

At the same time, the ice wolf pushed itself up and was about to attack Jin-Woo. But Iron used his taunt skill again and the three monsters turned their attention towards him. Baruka and the wolf attacked him, but Beste seemed mostly unaffected by the skill.

Instead, she kept her focus on Jin-Woo and launched another barrage of ice shards towards him. But he deflected each and every one, as he got in close and leapt straight into the air.

His speed was so great, Beste didn't have a chance to counter as he spun around and dealt a kick to her chest. All she could do was gasp, as the impact knocked her towards the ground and she fell into the snow. "Ahhh!" She pushed herself up, as Jin-Woo landed and went on the attack.

But as he did, she slammed her hand into the snow and caused the ground to erupt. And from it, a bunch of icy roots shot out covered in thorns.

They tried to ensnare Jin-Woo, but he dodged each and every one of them whilst cutting several to ice cubes. All the while, his glare pierced Beste and she gasped. "What is this feeling?" She actually felt something. Something she had not felt in such a long time. Emotion. "Am I...afraid?"

Jin-Woo threw his Knight Slayer at her and controlled it with his Ruler's Hand, turning it into a buzzsaw that flew at her.

She quickly leapt up and used her ice magic to create a shield, blocking the dagger every time he tried to use it against her. But she knew she was just one mistake away from getting cut. "I haven't felt like this in a long time. I haven't felt...anything in a long time. But this...thing is awakening my emotions. How?"

Jin-Woo summoned his dagger back to her and leapt into the air, as she tried to blast him with more ice. But he simply spun around, dodging the shards before falling towards her.

Beste created another shield, but Jin-Woo forced his fist down into the ice and shattered it. She gasped and the next thing she knew, he suddenly had his dagger digging into her. "GYAH!" She screamed, Kasaka's Fang digging into her shoulder and forcing her to unleash a wild flurry of ice that slammed into Jin-Woo's chest.

He flinched and was thrown backwards, releasing his dagger as he fell to the ground.

Beste pulled the dagger out of her, but the weapon disappeared the moment it left her body. At the same time, the veins around her wound were starting to turn purple. "Poison?" She suddenly heard the howl of her wolf and looked over, seeing Iron smash his hammer into her beast and send it flying backwards as it shattered.

The wolf fell to the ground, crumbling completely instead of repairing itself.

She let out another gasp and tried to repair it, but her shoulder suddenly exploded with pain as she fell to the ground. She screamed and couldn't focus, as the poison began to spread across her body.

Jin-Woo watched this and turned away, walking towards Igris and Baruka as the pair fought. Iron was standing there, staring at Beste as she withered in pain. "She's all yours." Iron smiled and moved towards her, his hammer turning into an axe as he began to charge forward.

Beste saw the shadow of the man she had killed, charging forward ready to get revenge for his death. Once again, fear flooded her frozen body and her instincts took over. She raised her hands and unleashed a blast of snow, but Iron raised his shield and blocked the attack.

He then got closer and started swinging his axe at her, the witch screaming as she did her best to avoid the strikes. But the spreading poison was causing her brain to throb, making it impossible for her to focus. So when she tried to summon her ice wolf again, the surge of pain from her wound caused the creature to shatter.

"No," she whispered, "I have to get away." She turned to fly off, hoping to find a way to stop the poison. But Iron wasn't going to let her get away so easily.

He threw his shield at her and it slammed into her back, making her scream as she fell to the ground. And as she fell into the snow, Iron leapt up and began to fall down towards her. The shadow let out a loud roar, as Beste rolled onto her back and saw him coming.

"No," she cried before trying to unleash an ice attack. But the wound in her shoulder stopped her and she could do nothing but lay there. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" The last thing she saw before everything went black, was Iron's axe swinging towards her head.

Her screams had caught Baruka's attention, making him look over and see Beste's death. This shocked him, but he quickly smirked as he turned back towards Jin-Woo. "Truly, you are a most amusing one." He laughed, excitement burning his blood as he charged forward. "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!"

"Bring it," Jin-Woo smirked as he and Igris went on the attack. Baruka's incredible speed allowed him to defend against them both, his attention bouncing between the two as they attacked him one after another. Their movements were so fast, they wouldn't normally be seen by the naked eye.

However, Jin-Woo had one advantage Baruka didn't have. Iron's defeat of Beste had just given him an extra level. Which meant his health, mana and fatigue were all reset. He was back to full fighting form, whilst Baruka was beginning to tire.

Despite this, he was still able to fight them off and even perform a split kick to knock both Jin-Woo and Igris backwards. But as he did, Iron let out a loud roar that activated his taunt skill. One that made Baruka look back at him with a glare.

"Alright." He leapt into the air, "YOU DIE FIRST!" He shot down and thrust his dagger towards Iron, but the Tank Shadow blocked with his shield as Igris leapt up and tried to slash at Baruka.

The ice elf leapt away, laughing as Igris flew past him. However, he soon sensed another threat and shifted his body.

This caused the dagger thrust into his back to not hit anything too important, as Jin-Woo glared at him. 'He dodged a fatal blow after all that?' Baruka managed to leap away, the blade ripping out of his back as the two turned to one another and glared each other down.

"Persistent as ever, but I suggest you quit taking me lightly."

Jin-Woo nodded. "You're definitely strong, I admit." He then smiled. "But hey. At least your strength in numbers is gone." These words made Baruka's eyes go wide, as he looked back up the hill. And there, he found that all of Jin-Woo's Shadow Soldiers were staring them down and not fighting.

They didn't need to, as they had already slayed all the ice elves and Beste was also dead. Baruka was all alone. "Very well." He charged, "LET'S SEE WHAT YOUR RABBLE AMOUNTS TO WITHOUT YOU!" Jin-Woo wasn't scared and threw his Knight Killer, Baruka dodging it as the blade flew past him. "What a fool?" But then he remembered what had happened the last time he had called Jin-Woo a fool. And why.

Sure enough, Jin-Woo used his Ruler's Hand Skill to control his dagger and send it flying towards him. Baruka spun and barley managed to block, but the impact caused his dagger to shatter into a million pieces.

He was knocked back, grunting as his weapon was destroyed. "IRON!" He then heard Jin-Woo cry, "NOW!" Before the boss could react, the new Shadow Soldiers appeared right behind him.

The next thing he knew, his arms were pinned as the dark soldiers wrapped his around him and lifted the boss into the air. Baruka roared, his legs kicking out wildly as he tried to free himself. But the injuries he had sustained coupled with his fatigue had made that impossible, as a bright red light made him look over and see the three mages from earlier.

They had been unable to help before, as some of Baruka's tribe had kept them at bay. But now they were free to blast him with all their magical power, which was exactly what they did.

The magic exploded out of their hands and shot towards the pair, Baruka thrashing around but still unable to escape. And soon, the fireball smashed into him and exploded. "RAAAAAAAH!" He roared, the ground shaking and blowing away the snow whilst Jin-Woo watched.

The smoke and fire faded, revealing Iron kneeling there with cracked armor. However, soon a bunch of lights washed over him and Iron's body was ripped to shreds.

Baruka appeared, his clothing destroyed and his fingers bloodied after he had torn Iron apart with his bare hands. "HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT ME THIS WAY!" He screamed, his enjoyment completely vanishing and replaced with utter rage. "I AM GONNA SLAUGHTER ALL OF YOU!" But in that moment, a horrible pair struck his side.

He looked down and saw that he had been stabbed by something he couldn't see, but that something soon appeared as Jin-Woo dropped his stealth.

The blade he had stabbed him with began to spread its poison through him, causing pain to race across his body. "Looks like it's over." Baruka glared at him, as he reached down to grab his dagger.

"Don't give me that!" Rage completely blinded him, "IT'S OVER WHEN I SAY!" But in that moment, the shadows flew out of Jin-Woo and took shape behind him. Baruka looked back and saw Iron, carrying a massive war hammer that he lifted above his head.

The distraction allowed Jin-Woo to pull away and vanish, as Baruka panted in fear. And as the hammer came crashing down, his poisoned body was unable to move away in time. All he could do was scream, as the attack slammed into him and everything went black.

The impact from the attack sent rock and debris flying everywhere, whilst Baruka became pinned to the ground with his entire centre made completely flat.

Jin-Woo reappeared. "I said...it's over." As he said that, he got a window confirming he had defeated the Dungeon Boss. Plus, he gained two levels. A sigh escaped his lips. "He was tough, but...I did it." A smile appeared on his lips, only for it to vanish when he heard a loud crashing sound.

He spun around and saw that Iron was hammering his weapon down onto the boss over and over again, obviously trying to kill the already dead monster.

"Oh, my god. IRON! I just said it's over!" He rushed over to him, as the Shadow stopped smashing the body. "Show some restraint." Iron moaned, as Flash sighed and looked him over. "Thanks for the help. We might not have survived if you hadn't been there to even the odds. I'm sorry I did this to you, but I had to make sure everyone else got back alive." He reached out to him, "you can rest now. Terminate-" He didn't get to finish, as Iron leapt away from him and shook his head with several grunts.

This shocked Jin-Woo, who looked over at Igris as if asking if this was actually happening.

Igris did and said nothing, as Jin-Woo looked back at him. "Are you saying...you don't want to be freed?" Iron nodded, "why?" Iron got into a boxers pose and threw several jabs, obviously trying to explain his desire. "You...want to keep fighting?" Iron nodded, as Jin-Woo sighed.

He didn't know if this was Kim's own will, or the system stopping him from trying to release a valuable weapon. And what was he gonna tell Hae-In. He knew she was likely already going to be disturbed by him reviving a human. Actually keeping him was a different issue altogether. But if Iron really wanted to stay...

"Alright," he nodded. "I guess...welcome to the team." He walked away, "don't make me regret it." He walked back to the hill, as he heard Iron roaring and glanced back to see him and the mages cheering.

"We're safe now, aren't we?" Jin-Woo turned back to the hill and saw that the other hunters had climbed down the hill to him. Of the ten that came into this dungeon, only the four of them survived.

"Yeah," Jin-Woo assured them. They all sighed in relief, as Jin-Woo smiled. "We should get going." This caught them by surprise, only for Jin-Woo to point behind him. "Our Gate's waiting." Sure enough, a bolt of lightning signalled the arrival of the portal out of the hellish snowscape.

The other three all began to cheer, Kijoong crying out loud enough to cause an avalanche. "YEAH! We're really leaving this place and going home!"

"I was holding my breath!" Song-Yi cried, as Heejin hugged her.

Jin-Woo kept smiling, then turned towards the remains of the monsters he and his shadows had slain. They were powerful and held a variety of skills. Skills that could serve Jin-Woo well. "Before I go." He moved back over to Baruka, staring him down and summoning his dark power. "Arise."

Well, there we have it. Jin-Woo defeats both Baruka and Beste, along with still getting Iron despite not having killed him. So, will Jin-Woo's resurrection work on the boss? Only time will tell. 

Chapter Text

Sorry for the wait. Now we get to see how things played out after Jin-Woo's fight. Hope you enjoy it. 

Outside the Red Gate, the members of the White Tigers had been waiting for over seven hours for new information.

Mr. Ahn and Mr. Hyun had called their main strike squad as soon as the Red Gate had appeared. Yoonho Baek had rushed over as soon as they had, but even an S Rank couldn't do anything to break through the Red Gate. As such, they had been forced to sit and wait.

Mr. Ahn turned to Mr. Baek, saying what the S Rank had already been worried about. "At this rate, I'd estimate that over a week has passed inside the Gate." Beak sighed, already at his limit after his run in with Dongsoo Hwang a few hours back. "President. Why don't you go home and rest? Kichul and I can wait here."

Yoonho shook his head. "With our guild members trapped inside, I'll stay right where I am." Ahn sighed, "at least till morning breaks." But as he said that, the red glow coming off the Gate suddenly vanished.

They all gasped, as they looked up to see the portal turning back to the normal blue. And as it did, several individuals stepped out of the portal. "Look!" Ahn stated, "they're coming out!"

Yoonho smiled, 'nice job Kim. If anyone could pull through, of course it'd be you.' But then he saw the first people out of the Gate weren't Kim, but Heejin and Kijoong.

"President Baek's here!" Heejin cheered as Kijoong smiled.

Yoonho was surprised, having expected Kim to be the first one out. "Hunter Park. Hunter Yoon. I'm glad to see you're alive and well." He looked back at the portal, "what about the others?" A few moments later, two more individuals arrived. Two that Yoonho didn't recognise.

One was a young girl, whilst the other was a man that seemed rather displeased about something.

"Hunter Sung's back!" Ahn gasped in excitement, whilst Yoonho kept his focus on the portal. But then, as soon as the two cleared it, the Gate began to close. In a flash, it was gone and the Hunters were shocked.

"It closed," Yoonho gasped. "That's all? No one else? Not even Kim?" Nobody answered, as Yoonho tried to figure out what the heck had happened. "Except for Park, you're all lower ranks." 'So what went on in there?'

"Let's go," Jin-Woo told Song-Yi. "I'll drive you home."

"Oh, um...cool." Song-Yi followed, as Jin-Woo walked towards Baek and stepped right past him. But as he did, the S Rank reached back and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hang on a second. I have questions and you're going to answer them for me."

"No thank you," Jin-Woo told him. "Save them for someone from your guild." He shoved the hand off his shoulder, "I'm tired."

Yoonho growled, as Jin-Woo walked away. 'I wasn't making a suggestion. I was giving an order.' He chased after him and this time, he grabbed his shoulder with a clawed hand whilst his eyes glowed. "Perhaps you're not aware. But I led this guild and six of our members are now gone. As their president, it falls on me to find out what happened." He didn't like threatening lower ranks, but he needed to know what had gone on in that Gate.

However, despite only being E Rank, Jin-Woo didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the overwhelming aura he was giving off.

"Well that might be true, I'm the reason your surviving tigers even lived." He glared back at Yoonho and the S Rank saw an overwhelming power hidden behind them, barely restrained so that it wouldn't run wild and terrify everyone there into fainting. "As their president, shouldn't you show me the proper gratitude?"

Yoonho kept glaring at him for several moments, until he finally let his power die down and he released Jin-Woo's shoulder. "Please excuse me. You're absolutely right." He bowed, "I'm sorry for getting carried away."

Jin-Woo nodded and turned to leave, heading towards his car and telling Song-Yi to come. The girl nodded and after saying goodbye to the other two survivors, Heejin reminding her she had her number, the girl ran off and they got in the man's car.

Yoonho watched him drive off and knew he was more than just some E Rank hunter. Then, he remembered what Ahn had said about him possibly reawakening. "But to what?" He knew that whatever Rank he was, he was still below him in strength. "Hunter Park."

"Yes sir?"

"Who in the world was that? Doesn't seem like he's looking to make any friends."

"Guess not," Heejin nodded. "After he beat the boss, his mood turned sour all of a sudden."

"Well, yeah." Ahn nodded. "Who isn't crabby when they're dog tired. Doesn't make him a bad guy." Yoonho let this information sink in and decided he couldn't let that man be left alone.

"Get to work, Ahn." His employee blinked, "you have got to recruit him. I want that hunter in our guild, whatever it takes."

"Oh, sure." Ahn nodded, as Yoonho began to leave. The White Tigers had been through one hell of an event and they had Jin-Woo to thank. But they were still confused about what the heck had happened in there. Even those who had been in there with him were still confused.

Having dropped Song-Yi back home, Jin-Woo was driving back to his place whilst thinking about what had happened in the Gate.

As he drove, he glanced over at the clock and saw it had just gone half three in the morning. "I forgot. Only a few hours passed here in our world." He sighed, as he summoned something out of his inventory. The blade that Baruka had wielded, despite having shattered, was now his. "I didn't walk away completely empty handed. Even so..."

Within the Gate.

"Arise." Jin-Woo watched as the shadows surrounded the corpses and tried to revive him. But alas, they exploded off and Baruka remained dead. This made Jin-Woo frown, since that had been his last attempt. "Damn it!" He growled, realising he had lost the chance to get an extremely powerful Shadow for his army.

He was about to leave, but stopped as he suddenly heard something. "Monarch." He turned in the direction he heard the voice and realised it was coming from the other powerful monster he and his minions had slain.

Beste lay upon the ground, bloody and barely recognisable after Iron's handiwork.

Jin-Woo stepped forward and looked her over, as he continued to hear the voice call out to him. And unlike with Baruka, Jin-Woo knew this would work. A part of him said that this one was...waiting for him. "Arise." A shadow surrounded the body and flew upwards, taking shape and forming a feminine figure that looked just like what the body used to look like.

Beste floated there, allowing Jin-Woo to take in her features. Her previously snow white skin, now had a blue tint to it. And her clothing was now black, as she instantly cast a spell and created her ice wolf to fly up and land on her shoulder.

Jin-Woo nodded, as the window opened to show he could name this shadow. And deciding to be lazy, he simply gave her the name he had seen before. "Beste." The name was entered and accepted, as she floated down to the ground and bowed to her new king. "Welcome to the team." He then looked over at the remains of the elves, making him hum.

If he couldn't add Baruka to his team, maybe he could make up for it with them.

Back in the car.

He had managed to revive several ice elves and added them to his ranks. But that hadn't made losing Baruka any less annoying. Having him would have been a serious boost for Jin-Woo's forces. "Well, not like complaining about it will get me anywhere. I just have to work on raising my level, so I'll never fail again."

He kept driving and eventually made his way home, carefully sneaking back inside so Jin-Ah wouldn't wake up.

Once inside, he made his way into the bathroom to finally change out of his week old clothing. He had never been so happy to take a hot shower in his life and it quickly washed away all of the stress he had felt.

He had managed to get his team back, but hadn't been able to save Kim and the others. Even with Kim now being part of his shadow army, he had failed to keep him from dying. True, the guy had tried to kill him, but that didn't change the fact that Jin-Woo should have tried harder to save him.

"At least this time, it wasn't my hands that took his life." He got out of the shower and changed into his sleep wear. However, as he headed to his bedroom, he suddenly got a system message.

Two Shadow Players have been confirmed.
Access to the Shadow Chamber now granted.

"Shadow Chamber?" He frowned, wondering what the heck that was about. "Wait...two Shadow Players?" He only knew of two Players, which could only mean one thing. "Hae-In's Job Change quest." With everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten about that. "Could she..." He hummed, trying to decide whether or not checking out this Shadow Chamber whilst he was so tired was a good idea.

After a few moments thought, his curiosity got the better of him. "Alright. But how do I open this-" Suddenly, a flash of light made him look over and see a portal open up. One which seemed to have a door of some kind within it. "Okay then." He stepped forward and as soon as he touched the knob, he felt a surge of shadowy energy coming from within.

He opened it up and stepped through, his eyes going wide when he saw what was waiting for him on the other side.

It was a room roughly the size of his entire apartment. It was a dome-like room, with the walls being covered in wooden panels that were hexagonal in shape. Some of these hexagons had bulbs sticking out of them, which glowed with a faint light. The bottom of the walls didn't have the hexagons, with seven feet of wooden rectangles circling the walls with the door replacing one of them.

Jin-Woo was amazed by the design of the chamber, as the door slammed shut behind him. He then noticed the floor was covered in a red carpet, that was soft to his bare feet. "Wow." He kept looking around and when he did, he noticed something in one section of the room. A bed, with someone in it. "Hae-In?" He rushed over to the bed and was sure it was her, a blue appearing when he saw she was dressed in a loose fitting T-shirt and loose shorts.

He tried to look away, but couldn't. And it wasn't just the way she was dressed that had Jin-Woo unable to pull his gaze off of her.

As she slept, her face was one of calm serenity. Jin-Woo had never seen her like this, with her either being in battle mode or keeping a level head around her coworkers or out in public. She occasionally relaxed around him and Jin-Ah, sometime looking flustered, but this was the first he had ever seen her completely defenceless.

He couldn't help but smile at her gorgeous face, as her reached down and pushed the hair out from in front of her face.

This seemed to trigger her awakening, Jin-Woo pulling away as her eyes began to flicker open. When she finally came around, she noticed him and a smile appeared on her lips. But then, she realised he had just seen her sleeping and her face went red.

"Jin-Woo!" She sat up and looked down at her clothing, gasping as she opened her inventory. "You're back!" She changed into her normal clothing, "what time is it?"

"Around twenty past four in the morning." He looked around, "so any idea what this place is?"

Hae-In nodded, as she climbed off the bed. "From what I can tell, it's a location that only wielders of shadow powers can access. I think it's designed for us to meet up and discuss things, even if we're far away. Unless you were in my apartment before you came here, we must be able to access it from aware we want."

"Makes sense." He turned to her, "so you really do have shadow powers." Hae-In smirked, as her shadow suddenly grew larger.

Jin-Woo expected to see a monster appear out of it. But instead, a shadow flew out and took the shape of a sword styled after the head of a unicorn with a long horn. "What do you think?" She asked, taking the sword in hand and swinging it around. "I am the Shadow Cohort. And whilst you can generate shadow soldiers, I can turn my fallen foes into shadow weapons."

Jin-Woo blinked, as he let this new info sink in. "So...you can create any weapon you want?"

"Well, it seems to depend on what kind of creature I'm using it on. Since all of the weapons I have came from animalistic creatures, I don't know what goblins or other humanoids would become." She swung her blade around, "but I actually quite like these new abilities. Gives me more options to fight with."

Jin-Woo nodded. "So your job is...what did you call it? Shadow..."

"Cohort. Basically, I'm your bodyguard. Not that you need one, but you get the picture. It's my job to keep you from doing anything stupid. I keep the monsters away, give you advice when and if you need it. And, I'm hoping, give you a swift kick up the backside whenever you do something you shouldn't."

"Huh," Jin-Woo blinked for a second, "fair enough. I guess that makes sense. You've already been doing all that anyway. Now you just get some extra powers out of it." Hae-In nodded and dispelled her sword, as she turned back to the bed.

Jin-Woo followed her gaze, as the furniture suddenly exploded into black smoke and started swirling around until it shrank and took shape. When it faded, it had transformed into a couch. "How'd you do that?"

"When I first got here, a window popped up and gave me the low down on this place." She sat down and Jin-Woo followed. "Basically, this place will create anything you can imagine. Any furniture, any piece of equipment. Anything you could need to be comfortable. The only thing it can't seem to make is food."

"I'm pretty sure I read about a room like that in a book once."

Hae-In nodded. "There's something else, as well. From what the window said, this room has some kind of temporal effect."

"Temporal effect? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It said that whilst all registered users are inside, time in here is revved up to super speed. One minute out there is sixty in here."

"Seriously? So we could spend a whole day in here and it wouldn't even be half an hour outside?" Hae-In nodded, as Jin-Woo thought about it. "Well then I'm taking advantage of this. How do you make a bed?"

"Just imagine it and-" Jin-Woo was already doing it and out of nowhere, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of them and a bed like the one he had in his room appeared. "Are you really that tired?"

"I haven't had a proper night's sleep in over a week." Jin-Woo got up and moved over to the bed, falling face first into it whilst Hae-In looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, as Jin-Woo moaned and rolled onto his back.

"That Gate and took Song-Yi to. It turned red." Hae-In's eyes widened in horror, as she jumped up off of the couch.

"What do you mean it turned red?" She rushed over to him, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But most of the strike squad didn't make it. Just me, Song-Yi and two of the White Tigers." Hae-In frowned, as she sat on the edge of the bed. "And...something happened in there. Something you're probably not going to like."

"What?" Hae-In saw the worried look on his face. A look that told her he was scared about whatever her reaction was. "Start from the beginning. What happened after the Gate Turned red?"

Jin-Woo started explaining, starting with the first attack by the Ice Elves. Hae-In did not like hearing about how Kim had abandoned them, which resulted in Jin-Woo needing to keep the weaker members safe from a bunch of ice bears. Jin-Woo explained how the days passed and they barely managed to keep themselves from succumbing to the cold and dread.

After that, he explained how Kim had returned after the death of his team and went on a rampage, trying to kill them for apparently hogging the supplies before Jin-Woo intervened. Then, he got to the part where he met the boss.

"You could understand them?" Hae-In asked, wondering how such a thing was possible. "How?"

"The system must have done the translating. Though according to the others, I was speaking a different language despite sounding like I was talking normally. But that's not the weirdest thing. The Ice Boss. He said something weird."

"What was it?"

"He said that they could hear a voice inside their heads. Instructions constantly ringing in their ears, telling them to kill humans. Apparently, the voice is too strong to fight. So they attack without mercy."

"A voice." Hae-In thought about this. "Do you think there are other monsters out there that hear a voice?"

"I mean, it's possible. It might just affect ice elves and other humanoid monsters, size goblins and other beasts likely don't need instructions to do it. But there might be something that's keeping them from killing one another, instead focusing on us. But that's not the strangest part."

"How could it get any stranger?"

"I tried to ask him why he was attacking humans and where they came from. The boss tried to answer, but something happened. It was like a glitch on a video. He somehow rewound himself to a previous point in the conversation, as if I never asked him the question."

Hae-In frowned, "you think it's the system's doing?"

"Maybe. But that's when the fighting started. My forces were pretty even with the elves and since they could regenerate, we started getting the upper-hand. But then the boss jumped into the fight and I had to deal with him. He was strong. Even with Igris, I wasn't sure I could beat him. I thought I was gonna lose. Then Kim showed up."

"What happened?" Hae-In asked. "Was he trying to help you?"

"He was trying to kill me." He frowned. "And a small part of me considered killing him."

"Jin-Woo!"

"I said it was a small part of me," he sighed. "One that would probably be bigger by now, if I didn't have you helping me stay in check." Hae-In sighed, glad to hear that. "Not that it mattered. Something else got to him before me."

"What?" Jin-Woo chose this moment to sit up on the bed and let his shadow spread outwards, flying off the side of the bed and forming a puddle on the floor.

From out of it, a figure appeared and Hae-In's eyes widened. "Meet Beste." The shadow soldier bowed, "I'm not sure where she came from. She wasn't part of the boss' team and the boss seemed to know her, but told her to stay out of the fight for some reason. But she didn't."

Hae-In took a closer look at her and thought she seemed amazing. Something about her just said she was a powerful alley to have on their side. "So what happened?"

"She killed Kim. Then she turned on me and Igris. Against her, the boss and the giant ice wolf she unleashed, it's a miracle we survived this long."

"How did you defeat them?" Hae-In asked. "Did the rest of your soldiers finish off the rest and come help?" Jin-Woo shook his head. "So what did you do?"

Jin-Woo sighed before his shadow formed another puddle. And from it, a second shadow appeared from out of it. One that she quickly realised the origin of. "Meet...Iron."

"Oh my god," Hae-In gasped at the humanoid form. "Jin-Woo, you didn't."

"I had to," Jin-Woo stood up and sighed. "It's not like I wanted to, but I didn't have a choice. If I hadn't revived him, I would have died. Then Song-Yi and the others would be dead right now."

Hae-In sighed, "I get that. But...why do you still have him like this? You won the fight, so free him already. Or can you not release a shadow once you've created it?"

"I can and I tried. But...he doesn't want to be set free. When I tried, he jumped away and begged me not to do it." This shocked Hae-In even more, as she turned back to the giant shadow soldier.

Iron smirked and raised his sword and shield up, roaring a battle cry that made Best flinch and cover her ears. She glared at Iron, whilst he smirked and Hae-In stared at him. "He really doesn't want to be released."

"He wants to keep fighting. Don't know if that's something he had a large desire for when he was human, but he's got a serious battle hunter now." Jin-Woo frowned, seeing how uncomfortable Hae-In was. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like it, but his strength is something else."

Hae-In sighed, "it's fine. You didn't kill him and you had no choice but to revive him, so I guess I can't complain. Just...promise me this will be the only human you'll revive. I don't want you to do this to anyone else. Even if you think they really deserve it."

Jin-Woo nodded. "I will. I promise."

Hae-In nodded, as she sat back down on the bed with Jin-Woo doing the same. He dispelled the shadows and he sighed, laying back on the bed. Hae-In then turned to him. "So what happened after you revived him?"

"Nothing much to say. He managed to kill Beste and together, we took down the boss. I tried to summon him, but I couldn't. Did manage to get six ice elves, so they should come in handy."

"And you have the ice bears, right?"

"Yup. They're pretty tough. Bound to come in handy." Hae-In nodded, realising Jin-Woo's shadow army was growing stronger with each battle. "What about you?" She raised an eyebrow. "What happened during your job change quest? You gained shadow powers, so was it anything like mine?"

"Not exactly," she replied. She then explained everything that had happened during her quest and Jin-Woo had been surprised by the rules of it, which only made sense since he knew which job she had been working to achieve. "After that, I used my new skills to create shadow weapons of all the drop items I acquired."

"So you're a one woman arsenal," Jin-Woo realised. "Talk about having some major power hidden away. You were already super strong. But your new skills, gear and weapons could end up pushing you to the same level as a National Hunter."

"True," Hae-In nodded before frowning, "but I won't be able to show them off to anyone." Jin-Woo tilted his head at this, clearly confused. "Most people don't just randomly acquire new skills out of nowhere. If I got to raid showing off I can summon shadow weapons and create energy spheres I can teleport to, people are going to ask a lot of question."

"Right," Jin-Woo nodded. "You'll have to hide your new abilities and only use them if you really need them." Hae-In nodded in agreement. "But you'll have to show them off eventually. Guess you could say you found a Rune Stone for it."

"Maybe," Hae-In sighed. "But Rune Stones only grant you one ability. How am I supposed to explain getting multiple new abilities from one Rune Stone. And people are gonna be suspicious if I say I got multiple Rune Stones."

Jin-Woo sighed, "we'll need to think of a cover story. Maybe we could make fake Rune Stones." She looked at him curiously. "We just make some out of hardened powder or something. Then you keep them in your inventory and the next time you go into a Gate, you can pretend to find it. The Rune Stones usually belong to whichever hunter finds it, right?"

"That's how it goes," Hae-In nodded. "And the hunter gets to decide what to do with it. So nobody will think twice at me activating one right away. But me finding multiple in successive Gates. That'll be suspicious."

"Just space them out a bit." Hae-In wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. However, she couldn't think of anything better. "By the way. You said you found some weird fruit trees. What happened to the fruit you picked?" Hae-In's eyes widened in shock, as she hadn't thought about them since picking them.

She opened her inventory and there they were. So, he quickly summoned one and looked it over.

As she stared at it, she got a window that popped up and told her some of what it was. "Mana Fruit?" Jin-Woo sat up and checked, reading the window as well.

Item: Mana Fruit
SSS-Rank Consumable Item
A fruit teaming with mana. May have an effect when eaten. Further analysis required in order to determine safety of consuming.

"So this thing is full of mana?" Jin-Woo asked, "maybe it works like a mana potion."

"I don't think so," Hae-In frowned. "If that were the case, it wouldn't need further analysis." She put the fruit back into the inventory and got up. "You must be exhausted after everything that happened." Jin-Woo nodded, laying down as Hae-In looked around.

"You want to leave?" He asked, but Hae-In shook her head.

"If I leave, time will restart and you won't get the sleep you need. I'll think of a way to pass the time." Jin-Woo nodded before a fought appeared in his head.

"This place changes to suit our needs, right?" Hae-In nodded, as he closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then, a bunch of shadows appeared out of the ground and formed a cube around Jin-Woo and the bed. And when they faded, a second room could be seen around him with an open door. "Sound proof. With this, I can sleep whilst you guys make as much noise as possible."

"Us guys?" She wondered what he meant by that, until more shadows appeared out of Jin-Woo's and flew out of the tiny room. They then stopped before, one by one, forming humanoid shapes that rose from the ground. Soon, Igris and several shadow soldiers were standing in front of her.

Other shadows then appeared out of them. A couple of bears and several ice elves, all looking ready for a battle.

"Figured you might wanna test out some of your new toys," Jin-Woo explained. "These guys should be enough to put up a good fight for you." Hae-In smiled at him.

"Thanks." Jin-Woo nodded before he slammed the door closed, leaving Hae-In to turn back to them as she summoned her Horn Calibur and Sting Guard. "Alright, boys. Show me what you've got." Several shadow soldiers rushed forward and went on the attack, slashing at her with their swords, hammers and axes.

Hae-In easily blocked these attacks with her sword and shield, knocking the ones that hit her shield back before going on the attack. She thrust her sword into several of them and they were dispelled without a chance to counter, only for a bunch of arrows to shoot towards her.

She spun around and with what seemed to be a single slash of her horn blade, which was actually several, they all fell to the ground as a bunch of ice cubes. The ice elves frowned, as the bears rushed forward and tried to slash at her.

But she dodged their claws and thrust her shield forward, the weapon opening up and allowing the stinger to shoot out and stab one in the chest. And as the bear fell back, the stinger retracted and Hae-In leapt up to avoid several more's attacks.

The shadow mages then launched bursts of fire from their hands, but Hae-In used her boots to leap away before summoning her new light orbs. Two of which, she sent flying towards the mages in order for smash into them.

The elves tried to save their comrades with arrows, but the spheres were too fast. They struck the mages and sent them back, as Hae-In landed and went on the attack. She slashed at a few more soldiers and cut down a pair, destroying it as she chose to give her other weapons a try.

As such, she summoned her rocket fist and the missile propelled her forward. She moved at such a speed, that she was able to smash right through an ice bear without issue. She then flew up to avoid the mages, two of which having been dispelled by the energy orbs.

The last one attempted to blow her out of the sky. But before it could, Hae-In was suddenly sucked into the light orb that had been flying around her.

The next thing the soldiers knew, she was appearing out of one behind the back and she smashed the rocket fist right into it. The mage disappeared, leaving only Hae-In, a few elves, two soldiers, an ice bear and Igris.

The knight had been watching this and seemed intrigued, as Hae-In rushed forward and used her fist to dodge several arrows before shooting towards the final bear. It tried to slash at her, but she flew straight up as the shell drill appeared around her leg.

She then re-positioned herself and dove down at high speed, as she thrust her drill foot forward.

The bear tried to cut her down, but she was fast and smashed her drill into the beast with the rocket pushing her forward and through it. The creature roared as it exploded into shadows, whilst she kept flying downwards and hit the ground.

She spun around several times until she dispelled the drill, the S Rank staggering around as the world kept spinning. "Need to practise more with that." She then summoned her shield and blocked the ice arrows, as she launched herself forward and sliced the remaining elves with her summoned Horn Calibur.

The shadow soldiers attacked and she easily disarmed them, literally, before stabbing them with her sword and shield stinger.

With them dispelled, she turned towards Igris and smiled. "Just you and me now, big guy." Igris raised his sword and she did the same, dispelling her shield as she and the shadow stared one another down. Then, they propelled herself at one another and began their clash.

Their sword sparked, as she fought him with all her might. Despite still being tired, she wanted to prove she was stronger than all of Jin-Woo's soldiers. If she was to be his cohort and protector, she needed to stand above everyone else in his forces.

The two moved around the room with incredible speed, their blades blurs around them as they clashed. It looked like neither side was giving an inch, with both of them even in speed and skill. However, Hae-In had been holding back.

She was using this bout to gauge the shadow soldier's skill and figure out what its weaknesses were. And eventually, she found an opening and managed to deflect his blade upwards and leave his chest open. "Lumino Thrust!" She cried, as he blade glowed and she launched it at the shadow's chest.

Igris leapt back, trying to avoid the sword. And whilst he wasn't stabbed, the light exploded out of the horn and impaled him.

Had he been able to, he would have screamed in pain.

Hae-In then used this opening to get in close and cut through Igris' arm, causing him to stagger back before Hae-In spun around and slammed her foot into his chest. Using all her strength, she sent him flying backwards until he crashed into the wall.

The impact damaged the wood and sent dust into the air, Hae-In smiling as she slowly approached the shadow soldier. And as the dust settled, Igris was down in a similar position he had been in when he lost to Jin-Woo. And as he sat there, Hae-In pointed her blade at him. "Had enough?"

Igris remained in place for several more moments before reaching up with his remaining arm and pushing himself up. He leaned against the wall for a moment before pushing off and moving towards her, Hae-In preparing for another attack. But it didn't come.

Instead, Igris knelt in front of her with his head bowed.

She smiled at this, as she dispelled her sword and reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "You're a strong fighter. I'm glad Jin-Woo had you by his side during that whole incident." Igris looked up at her, as she gave him a reassuring smile. "Let's work together and make sure that idiot doesn't get himself killed." Igris nodded before standing up, as Hae-In pulled back and yawned. Despite having slept a bit, she was still tired after everything that had happened during the job change quest.

Igris bowed again before disappearing into the shadows, returning to Jin-Woo as Hae-In summoned another bed and changed into her sleep clothing again. As she did, she noticed the soundproof room around Jin-Woo vanishing.

He lay on the bed, fast asleep and looking rather innocent despite everything he had been through.

Hae-In sat on her bed and watched him sleep for a minute or two, the sight making her blush as she imagined getting into the bed beside him. But she couldn't bring herself to do that, instead getting under the blanket of her bed and letting herself drift off.

She sighed, feeling really comfortable as she lay there. Sleeping in the same room as Jin-Woo was surprisingly nice. And as she succumbed to her slumber, she wondered if she could do it more in the future.

Well, that's the Red Gate/Job Change Quest arcs over. Sorry for those that wanted Baruka on Jin-Woo's team. I didn't really see the point of it. At least he got Beste. Let me know what you think of the Shadow Chamber. You think it'll come in handy? Until next time. 

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and so everyone knows, I assumed the word Cohort could work for one person and not just a group. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Jinho stared at the sight before him in absolute shock, since what he was seeing shouldn't have been possible.

Roars of battle filled the air, as the monsters in the dungeon were slaughtered by a bunch of shadow soldiers. Jinho had expected this to be like all the other raids, but it wasn't. Jin-Woo wasn't doing anything, instead letting the warriors attack and slay the beast. But how could this be possible.

"Um...boss." He couldn't take his eyes off the scene in front of him, even to look at the guy sitting on the ground right next to him. "Wanna...introduce us?"

"Oh, right." Jin-Woo nodded, as he saw Beste launch a barrage of icicles into an ogre's skull. "I guess you've never seen them before, huh. They're part of one of my skills."

"I didn't know that was even possible," Jinho finally looked down at him. "So they're like...your minions?"

Jin-Woo smiled, as he stood up. "It's kinda hard to explain. But...yeah, something like that." The last monster was slain and Iron let out a roar, deafening Beste again and causing her to freeze his mouth closed for a second. He ripped the ice off and growled at her, only for Jin-Woo to snap his fingers and catch all their attention. They quickly started heading down the corridor, whilst Jinho still looked absolutely bewildered.

The strike squad made short work of the remaining monsters in the dungeon and once that was done, the weaker members of Jin-Woo's army got to work collecting the mana crystals and essence stones.

Jinho could only watch in shock, as the one thing he had been doing during the raids was outsourced.

He fell to his knees and moaned in defeat, feeling utterly useless right now. "Please, boss." Jin-Woo turned to him, "let me collect some essence stones. Otherwise, I'm useless here." But as she said that, a shadow soldier appeared and held out all the stones it had collected. "For me?" He asked, taking them as he started crying. "Thank you so much."

Jin-Woo smiled, as Iron walked past carrying mana crystals and looking confused.

He looked around at the cave they were in and was glad that it was the last one they needed to complete. The twentieth raid, which meant Jinho would be eligible to take the guild-masters exam. Once he passed that, he could work on convincing his father to let him take over the guild he was going to start.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo would be free to focus on his next goal. He was now over level sixty and was sure he had what it took to handle the Demon's Castle. It was just a matter of getting his partner free to go with him.

The previous night.

After the pair had rested and recovered from their insane battles, Jin-Woo and Hae-In had discussed their plans whilst sitting at a table they had conjured. "I wanna take on the Demon's Castle," he told her. "I'm sure I'm strong enough to handle it now. And with you coming with me, we'll get the elixir of life no doubt."

Hae-In nodded, thinking the same thing. With their new abilities and Jin-Woo's shadow soldiers as backup. Getting through the Demon's Castle would be a breeze.

"Right," Hae-In nodded. "There's just one small issue. I can't just disappear for long periods of time without telling anyone. You might be able to get away with that, but I'm not that free."

"Right," Jin-Woo nodded. "You need to get time off from the guild."

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Hae-In nodded. "I have some vacation time saved up. And I doubt we'll be doing anything about the Jeju Island situation until they've determined what's going on with the ants. I'll tell Mr. Choi that some family issues popped up and I need to take some time off."

"That could work. But how long would you think you'd be able to get off? I don't know what's waiting for us inside the castle, but I get the feeling it'll take more than a few days to complete."

Hae-In thought about it and nodded. "I think I can get about a week off. So long as nothing insane happens, like an S Rank Gate appearing right on our doorsteps, I should be able to get that much time off. Do you think that'll be enough time?"

"I wanna say yes, but there's no telling what we need to do in order to get the ingredients we need for the elixir. A week should be plenty of time, so long as we're smart and don't fall for whatever's waiting for us in there."

Hae-In agreed, as she remembered the monsters that they had had to fight to simply gain access to the castle. If all the magic beasts inside the castle were as strong as those ones, they were going to have a tricky time conquering the dungeon. Although, it shouldn't be as difficult as the entry. Now that Hae-In had her shadow weapons, she would be able to handle anything they came across.

Jin-Woo nodded, as the last of the mana crystals were dug up.

The shadows were all preparing to carry them to the entrance of the Gate, with the plan being to leave them there until the boss was dealt with. Then, they could simply collect it before the Gate closed. "These guys are pretty handy," Jinho stated. "But where did they come from?"

"It's...complicated," Jin-Woo replied. "Just know that they're completely under my command. So long as I don't lose focus, they'll do exactly as I command. And the best part is, they can't be stopped. So long as I have mana to fuel them, they'll keep popping up no matter how much damage they receive."

Jinho nodded, having seen the soldiers getting beaten by a few ogres but re-spawning moments later. They really seemed to be unstoppable. "What happens if you get knocked out?" He asked, making Jin-Woo raise an eyebrow. "I've heard stories of summoners who were knocked out whilst having their creatures out. Some of them just disappeared and others remained, but couldn't do anything with orders. And some I heard even went nuts and attacked people."

Jin-Woo hummed, letting that info sink it. He hadn't thought about it, but he did need to find out what happened if he was accidentally knocked out whilst his shadows were out. "I'm not sure what'll happen. I'll have to figure it out."

Jinho nodded, as the shadows carried everything towards the Gate. With all that done, Jin-Woo turned towards the tunnel leading to the boss room.

"Alright. Time for me to have some fun."

"You're going to fight it?" He asked, "not your shadows?"

"Can't let them have all the fun. I'll use them if I need them, but I doubt that'll happen unless this boss has some minions in there with it." He headed towards the boss room, ready to put this final raid behind him.

At the Hunter's Guild, Hae-In stood in front of Jong-In as he looked rather perplexed.

"Well, this is a first. I don't remember you ever asking for time off. This family situation must be important." Hae-In nodded, having constructed a simple story about her aunt throwing out her back whilst her cousin was in another country. She didn't like lying to Jong-In, but she couldn't tell him the truth. "Well, I have no reason to deny you the time off. Jeju was supposed to be a more difficult situation than it turned out to be, so I was expecting you to need a while to recover."

"Thank you."

"How long will you need to be away for?" Hae-In frowned, trying to figure that part out. She didn't want to take advantage of Jong-In's generosity, but she needed to get as much free time as possible in case the Demon's Castle was trickier than they thought.

"Maybe a week or so."

Jong-In nodded and got to work, looking on his computer to see if they had anything they needed doing during the time she was requesting off. "Yes, I think I can manage that. We don't appear to have any big raids coming up. The B Team should be able to handle it without any issue if I require additional support. Go, look after your aunt. And tell her I hope she feels better soon."

"Thank you," Hae-In nodded. "And I will." She wouldn't, but she would keep that to herself.

"Before you go," Jong-In told her. "I hope you haven't told anyone about what we discovered on Jeju Island." Hae-In gulped. Normally, she wasn't a liar. But for some reason, she could do so when it came to Jin-Woo.

"No, sir. I haven't told anyone about it. I assume there's going to be an announcement about it soon." Jong-In frowned, as he sat back in his chair and turned away. "Sir?"

"There isn't going to be an announcement. And we're not to tell anyone about what we've learned about Jeju. Not to anyone outside the guild, nor any of the guild members who weren't there on Jeju." Hae-In frowned, since this didn't make any sense to her.

"I don't get it," she stated. "Why would we keep the reports of the flying ants confidential? People deserve the truth."

Jong-In turned back to her, "it's on association orders. They say it would cause a panic if we made the info public at this stage."

"But sir..."

"It'll be fine," he assured her. "For the time being, let's focus on gaining strength. As the largest domestic guild, doing so will help us execute our duties and expand." Hae-In sighed, not liking this but not wanting to go against association orders.

"Alright," she nodded. "I don't like this, but I'll keep it under-wrap."

"Good," Jong-In nodded. "Well, you should probably head out and get ready for your trip. And if you happen to find anyone who's awakened in the area you're heading to, see if you can gauge their strength and see if they're worthy of joining us here."

Hae-In nodded, as she thought about the person she knew was more than worthy of being in the guild. 'Won't be long before we can fight raids together, side by side.' She headed out of the office and began to make her way towards her own. Even if she had just gotten herself some time off, she had paperwork that would need to be done before she could leave.

As she arrived, she sent a message over the system to tell Jin-Woo the days she had gotten off. Once she was finished with her work, she would need to gather the provisions she would need to last a week in whatever was waiting for them in the Demon's Castle.

Despite her many thoughts about what was happening in her life at the moment, she still managed to focus on her work and get it all completed to an acceptable standard.

As she did, he phone suddenly buzzed and she checked to see what it was. A smile appeared on his lips, as she saw that it was telling her a package she had ordered had arrived. It had been left with her doorman, so she could be sure it wouldn't be peaked at. "Perfect. Jin-Woo's gonna love this."

She looked over at the window, seeing the sun was beginning to set. She needed to finish her work quickly, so she wasn't shopping for supplies in the middle of the night.

Jin-Woo also sent a message, confirming he would be ready and have everything he needed when he met up with her at the designated location. She smiled, then frowned when she saw what else he had written. Specifically, where he was at that moment.

"I'm hard at work and he's out enjoying barbecue. So not fair."

The next morning

Within the Sung family residence, Jin-Woo had a bag of provisions by his side as he put on his shoes. It was early and Jin-Ah had only just awakened, the teen being shocked by what her brother had stated when she found him getting ready to leave.

"I'll be gone for about a week," he explained. Jin-Ah frowned, humming as she thought about their recent situation.

"First it's work and now, you're off travelling? Well someone's been busy lately."

"Ah, just a lot to do. That's all." Jin-Woo grabbed his bag and got up, only for Jin-Ah to get a wicked smile on her face.

"You wouldn't happen to be travelling with someone, by any chance?" Jin-Woo looked back and gave her a look. "Someone with nice blonde hair and a kick butt attitude."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he stated.

"Right. So if I called her and asked her to come over, she'd come over, right?" Jin-Woo said nothing and headed for the door, "right?" With that, Jin-Woo was out the door as Jin-Ah laughed. He let out a sigh and kept walking, but couldn't help but smile. Jin-Ah hadn't exactly gotten it wrong. He was going to be travelling with a kick butt blond. If only she knew where they would be travelling.

Deciding not to take his car, Jin-Woo instead headed for the nearest subway station. Hae-In had an easier time, since she would be within walking distance of their location.

Several stops later and he was standing outside the Daesung Tower.

He looked up at the structure, remembering what it had looked like the last time he had entered the dungeon. Hopefully, the inside of the place wouldn't be as insane as the outside. Although, he doubted that very much.

As he stood there, he sent Hae-In a message asking if she had arrived. And sure enough, she had and was currently hiding nearby. He opened the map, which shows a black dot surrounded by a layout of the surrounding area. And off to the left, a dark red dot was hiding behind two buildings.

Said dot began to moved, coming out of the building and approaching him. And when he looked in that direction, she smiled seeing the blonde woman approaching.

She didn't appear to be dressed for battle, instead wearing her standard white shirt, blue jeans and pink hat. She also had a large rucksack on her back, looking large enough to carry a weeks worth of provisions. "Hey," he smiled at her.

"Hey," she smiled back. "You ready to do this?" Jin-Woo nodded, as they both turned towards the tower. Jin-Woo then raised the key and the portal reappeared, the people around them completely oblivious to what was happening. And once it was open, the pair headed inside.

As soon as they stepped through the portal, they were hit with a rush of heat and the world suddenly turned into a hellish flame-scape.

They looked around, half expecting the guards from before to return. But they didn't and the two were clear to head inside. "Alright, let's go."

"Hold on," Hae-In told him. "If we're doing this, you need some real armor." Jin-Woo gave her a confused look, as she pulled something out of her storage. A box that looked like it had one been sealed shut, but had been ripped open. "Here. I made sure this was your size. It should help you against whatever the heck we find in there."

Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow, but took the box and opened it up to check inside. And his eyes widened when he saw the black leather overcoat and metal armoring. When he took it out of the box, he was amazed by the quality of it and the stats it had.

"Where did you get this?"

"Bought it online," she explained. Jin-Woo gave her a look, clearly wanting to know how much it cost. "Don't worry about it." Jin-Woo kept staring at her, making her sigh and announce how much it was. "You're using it. I don't wanna hear anything about you returning it."

Jin-Woo sighed, clearly seeing her wasn't going to be winning this battle. "Fine. But I'm paying you back for it."

Hae-In smiled, "you can treat me to dinner in return." She then realised what she had said and blushed, Jin-Woo also appearing a little flustered at the statement. "Put it on and let's get in there." He nodded and quickly replaced the jacket he had been wearing with the one Hae-In had bought, then attached the shoulder and arm protection. "How's it feel?"

Jin-Woo checked it out, finding it was the perfect fit for him. "Good. I can definitely fight in this." Hae-In nodded before they turned back to the tower, the pair heading towards it as Jin-Woo spoke allowed. "I was just over level twenty when I fought the cerberus. Since then, I've gotten a lot stronger."

"We've gotten a lot stronger," Hae-In pointed out as they reached the front door.

Jin-Woo took out the key. "You're right. Together, we should be able to handle whatever's behind this door." She nodded, as he slotted the key into the door and unlocked it in a burst of purple lightning. The door than swung open, the pair looking inside and seeing the place wasn't on fire.

"Good start," she stated before they headed inside.

"Not sure what we're working with, here." Jin-Woo got a message, stating they had entered the Demon's Castle. And as soon as the door slammed shut behind them, something else popped up that surprised Jin-Woo. "What? A quest, now?" Hae-In frowned, as Jin-Woo read the quest allowed. "The castle is swarming with demons. You will receive a special reward for defeating them and collecting their souls."

"Demons?" Hae-In had rarely fought demonic looking demons, but knew they could be tricky.

Jin-Woo nodded and kept reaching. "In order to clear the quest we need to collect-" His eyes widened, "twelve thousand souls?" He asked, Hae-In's eyes widening as well. "There's that many in here?" They reached the end of the corridor, a smirk appearing on Jin-Woo's lips as he pushed the door open.

When he did, they were once again struck with an intense wave of heat.

Both flinched, as they looked out at the dungeon they had to clear. And they were truly shocked by what was waiting for them on the other side. "A Field Type Dungeon?" Hae-In asked, as she stared out at the vast burning environment that was the ruined city.

It was just like the outside of the dungeon, which made them wonder why they had to bother with going into the tower in the first place. "Is this place...a replica of Seoul?" They kept walking, as the large doors slammed shut behind them. And as they did, they both sensed a bunch of presences.

Multiple creatures began to appear from the buildings around them. Monsters of multiple different shapes, body types and natural weaponry. But they were all clearly demonic in origin.

"Twelve thousand demon souls," Jin-Woo frowned. "I don't think we're gonna be able to finish this quest in a week. Even with you by my side." Hae-In was thinking the same thing. Even if they were both S Rank at this point, killing that many in seven days was going to be impossible.

"Let's just focus on the situation right in front of us," Hae-In told him. "We'll wipe out any demons we come across." Jin-Woo nodded and summoned his new dagger, a bonus from killing Baruka, whilst Hae-In opened her inventory.

She stored her bag within it, then quick changed into her battle suit.

The demons began to attack and Hae-In summoned her Horn-Calibur, the two looking over at each other and smiling as they realised something. This would be their first battle together. The first time they would be side by side, as they worked to conquer a dungeon.

"Let's go!" Jin-Woo announced, Hae-In nodding before they both charged forward.

The demonic beasts attacked and Hae-In was the first to reach it, thrusting her sword forward and stabbing into the monsters that tried to claw at them. As soon as she did, it dropped dead and she quickly went on to the next demon.

Jin-Woo didn't let himself be slowed down, as he cut through a pair of demons' necks to kill them. As he did, a window popped open.

[You defeated 3 low level demons.]
[You received 100 X3 exp.]
[You received X3 demon souls.]

[Experience required until next level up: 60,350.]

"There's an experience indicator now?" He ducked and slashed at another demon's neck, "How convenient" He watched, as he acquired another hundred exp. And when Hae-In slayed her own demon, he got seventy-five Exp.

The pair kept fighting together, slicing through the demons and smiling at one another whenever they locked eyes. Jin-Woo knew he would get more exp if he slayed the beasts on his own, but he was actually happy that he wasn't alone. This was the first time he got to fight with another hunter on his level. And it was actually pretty fun.

Jin-Woo sliced his way through multiple beasts, aiming for their throats and almost turning into a tornado that slashed his way through them all.

When he took down another one, he looked up and saw Hae-In running through the air. She used her Sting Guard to block a flying demon's claws before cutting it down, then dodged another one's attack before summoning her Lumino Drones.

One said drone flew forward and smashed into the head of the beast, whilst another blinded one so that Hae-In could get in close and stab her. The sight amazed Jin-Woo, as he took a moment to watch her dance around in the air and battle her way through the bat-winged beasts.

"Amazing." Jin-Woo dodged another creature's attack and stabbed it in the head, not taking his eyes off of Hae-In as she spun through the air and sliced apart several more demons before landing.

A little while later, all the demons in the area were dead.

Hae-In jumped down and smiled, the pair high fiving as Jin-Woo turned towards the dead creatures. "These could come in handy." But when he tried to use Shadow Extraction, it didn't work. "Huh?"

"Equip." Hae-In tried to use Shadow Forging, but it also didn't work. Both of them got messages, telling them that the demons' souls were corrupted and unable to be used. "Seriously?"

"What the heck could be in here that corrupts a soul?" Jin-Woo asked, Hae-In shrugging unsure as they moved towards another area of the city. And when they got there, they found a bunch of larger demons that were almost as large as an elephant.

"I got these ones," Hae-In announced as she summoned her rocket fist.

It ignited and she shot into the air, Jin-Woo laughing as he watched her fly up and slam the fist into one of the demons. This knocked it off its feet and she summoned her shell spiral to perform a rocket powered drill kick.

She shot down at high speed and smashed into the demon's stomach, cutting through it and leaving it dead whilst Jin-Woo began to fight the demons on the ground. With each one slayed, Jin-Woo's experience counter slowly counted down.

But each demon barely put a dent in the counter. "As my level increases, the amount of exp needed to level up also increases." He frowned, dodging another demon and using stealth to hide and take it by surprise. "Getting my level higher will get more and more difficult with every fight. But I need to get as strong as possible. There's no telling what's waiting for us higher up."

The pair of them kept fighting, cutting their way through the hordes of demons that they came across.

Jin-Woo continued to focus on the ones on the ground, whilst Hae-In dealt with the larger and flying ones. This seemed to work well for them, as they were able to defeat the beasts with relative ease. But they really enjoyed when they fought together.

The pair charged towards a larger demon, who tried to smash its giant fist into them. But Hae-In summoned her shield and raised it up to block the punch, allowing Jin-Woo to jump up onto its arm and race up towards the creature's head.

He shot at its neck, his dagger in hand as he slashed the demon's gullet open. Hae-In also used this opening to summon her sword and deal several high speed strikes to the creature's chest. In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo and Hae-In stood side by side behind the demon whilst it fell to the ground dead.

They smiled and kept fighting, slicing through demon after demon throughout the city. Jin-Woo's experience gauge slowly lowered, but it was slow and barely seemed to make a difference.

And as they fought their way through the demons, not one of them could be used to create shadow soldiers or weapons. Every time, they were told the soul was too corrupted. "An army of demons and we can't extract a single one of them." Jin-Woo sighed, as he stood atop a large pile of dead beasts. "What a waste."

"Not like we can do anything about it," Hae-In pointed out as she jumped down from above.

Jin-Woo nodded before a window popped open, telling him that he had gained an entry permit. He raised his hand and in a flash, said permit appeared just like the one to allow them to enter the city. "Looks like it's time to head up to the second floor." Hae-In nodded, as a light made them turn to see a glowing shaft appear about two miles away.

"I'm assuming that's how we're getting there," Hae-In assumed as Jin-Woo moved over to her.

"This dungeon's surprisingly big," he stated. "Who knew there'd be a whole city inside of a dungeon." Hae-In nodded, but frowned as she lifted one of her feet to try and take the pressure off it. Jin-Woo had no idea how she thought in high-heels, but decided he needed to help her feet recover, "All this walking is getting pretty annoying."

"Well what other choice do we-" Hae-In stopped, when she saw Jin-Woo summon one of his shadow bears. The largest bear, covered in scares with a large X when its right eye used to be.

The beast let out a roar before getting down on all fours, Jin-Woo smiling as he patted the beast's leg. "You're about to save us a lot of time and effort." He leapt straight up, landing on his back. "You're a big boy." He turned to Hae-In and offered his hand, the woman realising what he was offering and blushing slightly.

She didn't let this chance go to waste, quickly taking Jin-Woo's hand and letting him pull her up.

She had hoped that he would pull her up in front and wrap his hands around her waist, holding her so that she felt incredibly safe. But instead, he pulled her behind him so he could focus on what was in front. And as soon as Hae-In sat behind him, the bear rushed forward and she grabbed his hips to hold on.

They ran down the street towards the shaft of light. But as they did, several more demons appeared.

These ones were larger than the rest, being even larger than the bear. More and more of them quickly showed up and blocked their way, making Jin-Woo sigh. "What a pain." Hae-In was about to get off and deal with them, but stopped when the bear growled angrily.

And before Jin-Woo could say anything, it rushed forward at high speed. The pair cried out in shock, as they moved faster and faster towards the creatures. And soon, the bear rammed into them and sent several flying away. The others were crushed under its paws, as it smashed its way through the horde of monsters without even slowing down.

When they reached the other side, Jin-Woo chuckled. "Nice one." He patted the beast on the head, Hae-In smiling as it looked like a boy having a nice moment with his dog. "I think I'll call you Tank. Sound good?" She giggled, Jin-Woo's naming conventions leaving much to be desired.

They soon reached the pillar of light and once there, Jin-Woo patted the bear on the head before dispelling him. Multiple demons were surrounding them, but the pair leapt into the light before they were blinded.

They felt themselves being pulled upwards, moving super fast as they flew through the tunnel of light. But after a few moments, they felt themselves slowing down before coming to a complete stop and feeling the solid ground beneath their feet again.

The light faded and they looked around, where they saw they were in the exact same spot they had been before.

The pillar of light had vanished and when they looked around, they spotted multiple demons all over the place. It was like someone had just restocked the demonic line up, Hae-In summoning her sword and drones as Jin-Woo thought about their situation.

"I think I get it now," he explained as Hae-In kept an eye on the beasts around them. "Each floor of the Demon's Castle is like a separate dimension. On each floor, beasts with entry permits appear at random. Only by using the permit, can you activate the divination circle and gain entry to the next floor." He thought about the beasts they had fought before. "The demons on the lower floors aren't all that tough, so...it shouldn't take too long to work our way through them."

"Maybe," Hae-In nodded. "But if we don't rest and eat, we'll never make it. Death by a thousand paper cuts."

Jin-Woo smiled. "Luckily, we're not the only ones who have to fight these creatures." As the demons began to approach them, Jin-Woo's shadow extended before Igris, Iron and Beste appeared out of it. The three stood in a battle ready position, as the demons stared them down and charged forward. "Let's go!" With that, the three shadow soldiers charged as Jin-Woo and Hae-In prepared to deal with whatever managed to get past them.

Their mission through the Demon's Castle had only just begun. One hundred floors. Twelve thousand souls to collect. This was gonna be one heck of a week.

Our heroes have entered the Demon's Castle together. How will things change now that Hae-In and several knew shadows are there with him? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments. Now on with the story.

Hae-In let out a roar, as she slashed her way through a more beastly looking demon.

The creature screamed, as it fell to the ground dead. But still, just like all the others. She, Jin-Woo and his shadow soldier had been battling on the second floor for a while, but had yet to find the entry permit. Jin-Woo was gaining more exp, but had yet to level up again.

"This is gonna take a-"

"Found it!" Jin-Woo's voice announced, making her jump and turn towards him as he held up the piece of paper that had appeared in hand. "We're good to go." As he said that, the light pillar appeared and she nodded before moving over to him.

She then heard the three shadows making noise, though it was mostly Iron, the three appearing to have some kind of conversation that they didn't understand. Beste smirked, as she stroked her ice wolf whilst floating above the ground. Iron grunted at her, whilst Igris stood there.

"What are you guys doing?" Jin-Woo asked, them, appearing exasperated by whatever it was. Iron roared, and Jin-Woo frowned. "What's this about?" He tapped his foot, as he looked around at all the monsters surrounding them. "Are you guys...competing or something? Like, whoever kills the most wins?"

The shadows didn't answer, but the looks on their faces showed that was clearly what they were doing.

Jin-Woo sighed, shaking his head as he spoke. "I mean, you're free to do it however you want. You guys can make it a competition, or...you have time to take a break if you work together. It doesn't matter to me." He turned to head towards the light pillar. "Just don't cause trouble."

Hae-In followed, as she watched the three highest ranking shadows stare at one another before following. "You sure letting them compete is a good idea. Jong-In let some of our guildmates do that once and it ended up with six of them needing medical attention." Jin-Woo needed to make sure the shadows were all able to work together. There was no telling what was waiting for them on the higher floors. If they couldn't work together, they would all be in serious trouble.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Jin-Woo told her. But then he stopped, as it a thought was occurring to him.

"Jin-Woo?"

"I've been so preoccupied with levelling up, that I didn't take time to take care of these guys." Hae-In nodded, as she looked back at the shadows. If they were mindless beasts, that would be one thing. But these things seemed to have some level of emotion and individuality. "They're basically soldiers under my command. Have I been too distant?"

Hae-In thought about it, but wasn't sure how to answer. It wasn't that Jin-Woo was distant. He just hadn't exactly had the time to properly bond with his shadows. With everything that had happened since getting these abilities, he was still learning to have them as part of his every day.

"What are you gonna do?" She asked, as Jin-Woo thought about it.

"Everyone," he called out to them, "return." He then focused on one shadow in particular. "Igris, you stay." Iron and Beste reverted back to their shadow forms and flew towards him, merging back into his shadow as they headed towards the light pillar.

Igris remained, Hae-In wondering if he was confused or it was just her.

When they reached the light pillar, Jin-Woo turned to him and smirked. "We haven't had a rematch for the day we met. Shall we? The first one to the entry permit wins." Hae-In rolled her eyes, muttering 'boys' under her breath. Igris nodded and Jin-Woo smiled, "alright. Let's do it."

They stepped into the pillar of light and they were all transported up to the third floor, where even more demons were waiting for them. "So what am I supposed to do during all this?" She asked, as Jin-Woo thought for a moment.

"I could let you compete with one of my other shadows. Maybe one of you two could find the entry permit."

Hae-In rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but I've got better things to do than compete."

"Weren't you originally aiming to become a professional athlete? Wouldn't competing be all you'd do if that had happened?" Hae-In pouted, as Jin-Woo chuckled and moved to take on the demons currently approaching.

"You can give me some of your shadows if you want. I've been wondering if my storage can hold your shadows." Jin-Woo smirked at this before summoning Beste and his ice elves, the group heading over to her as a window popped open.

Would you like to accept these shadows into your storage?
Yes/No

"Yes," she answered as the shadows flew into her and merged into her shadow. "Perfect. I'll call you when I find the entry permit." With that, she leapt into the air and ran off towards another area.

Jin-Woo smiled at that before turning towards the demons, as he summoned his daggers and Igris raised his sword. "Alright, big buy. Let's do this thing." With that, the pair rushed forward at high speed and started cutting through the demons.

Jin-Woo's speed had become equal to that of Igris back when they thought, allowing him to outspeed the knight as he started slicing them apart and managing to get several before Igris could even get one. But when the knight reached his group, he was able to cut them all down with just a single slash.

Clearly, he was just as powerful as when he was guarding the empty throne. Jin-Woo smiled and kept fighting, slashing at the creatures over and over. Whenever he came across a flying one, he would throw his dagger and use the Ruler's Hand skill to control it.

The dagger spun through the air and cut through the creature's wings, causing them to crash into the ground whilst Igris blocked one's claws before thrusting his fist right through its guts and killing it.

As Jin-Woo finished off the grounded demons, he and Igris glanced at one another before he smirked and they rushed off to take down more demons.

In another part of the city, Hae-In spotted a large group of demons on one of the streets and leapt down.

As she landed, her shadow extended behind her. "Let's do this, guys." Beste and the ice elves appeared behind her, the elves all armed with bows whilst Beste's shadow wolf leapt off her shoulder. "I know I'm not Jin-Woo, but I hope you'll be willing to fight with me."

Beste nodded, as the elves leapt up onto the tops of nearby buildings. Hae-In then summoned her sword and charged forward, the Horn-Calibur glowing as she got closer to the beasts. The ice wolf also charged, howling as it moved as fast as the Hunter.

It then leapt at one of the demons and started cutting through the demon's throat, whilst Hae-In started cutting them down.

The ones in the air tried to dive bomb them, but a bunch of ice arrows suddenly impaled their wings and caused them to crash into the ground. And the larger ones suddenly found a bunch of ice roots growing out of the ground, stabbing into them with their thrones as they were held immobile.

They roared, as they were all destroyed by the ice attacks. And those that weren't, were soon felled by the sword of the Dancer.

Hae-In lived up to her nickname, turning into a stream of light that flew through the battlefield. Every time it passed one of the demons, the creatures seemed to fall with only a single injury covering their bodies. They roared out in pain, with one of the larger ones stomping forward trying to crush Hae-In beneath its feet.

But the light flew towards it and began to spiral around the beast, moving from its foot up its body and off of its head.

When it shot off the top and landed on a nearby building, a spiralling line of blood appeared around the creature's body and it fell to the ground. Hae-In smirked at this and with a flick of her wrist, the sword was cleaned of the blood and she moved towards the edge of the roof.

Looking down, she watched as a couple of demons moved towards Beste in an attempt to attack her. But the ice witch wasn't the least bit worried, snapping her fingers as the demons leapt towards her. And in the blink of an eye, those creatures had all been turned to ice sculptures that shattered upon the ground.

She smiled and leapt down, using her boots to slow her fall until she reached the ground. "Nice one," she told the ice witch. "Way to make them chill." Beste turned to her, clearly confused by what that meant. Hae-In didn't know much about this shadow. But she had a feeling it used to be a very reclusive being before dying.

Hae-In could understand that, since she had also spent much of her life avoiding people. Compared to the life she had now, since meeting Jin-Woo, she knew what a lonely existence that could be.

"Come on," she told Beste whilst patting her wolf on the head. "Let's go find the entry permit before the boys have all the fun." Beste nodded and floated next to her, whilst the ice elves scouted a head in search of more defenceless demons to slaughter.

Back with Jin-Woo, he rushed forwards and cut down several more demons.

But when he looked over at Igris, he saw the knight launch his sword. It stabbed through several demons before embedding itself into an extra large one's stomach, not killing it but causing a lot of pain. He then rushed forward and high speed and leapt into the air, spinning around to slam his foot into the sword's base and launching it through the rest of the demon.

As the sword exploded out the back, Jin-Woo whistled as Igris landed and the demon fell to the ground.

"Look at him go. He's really amazing. His movements are so clean." Igris retrieved his sword before turning back to Jin-Woo. The shadow stared at him, Jin-Woo raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Something you want to ask?" Igris shook his head, as Jin-Woo remembered he couldn't actually talk. At least, that's what he assumed. "Igris. Are you really unable to talk?" Igris gave a gesture that Jin-Woo assumed meant 'sort of.' "Do I need to do something. Is there some kind of condition for us to speak?" Igris didn't answer, likely not knowing the answer. "Forget it. I'm more than satisfied with the things I've figured out If I day comes where you're able to talk, then you can tell me everything."

Igris nodded and turned away, as more demons approached.

Jin-Woo was about to attack, but the knight charged forward first and sliced their heads off in what felt like a single swipe. As he did, something appeared above the demon. A floor entry permit. "Of course." The pillar of light appeared as soon as Jin-Woo touched the permit, the man smirking and sending a message to tell Hae-In that he would wait at the divination circle.

Of course, as soon as he said that he realised how Hae-In would take it. That he was saying he was faster than her.

That, of course, meant she would try and rush towards the circle before him. As such, Jin-Woo and Igris broke into a run towards the light and moved with as much speed as possible. And a minute or so later, they were on the street where the light pillar was located.

But as they run, Jin-Woo spotted Hae-In racing up from behind and catching up to them. She smirked, as she began to pull ahead. Jin-Woo tried to catch up, but she was still a higher level and her speed state was also higher. Which meant he had no chance against her.

"I win!" She laughed, as she got up to the pillar first.

Jin-Woo caught up and was actually panting, as Igris and Beste stepped up behind him. "What happened to having better things to do than competing?"

"Competing against the shadows proves nothing. Competing against you..." She smirked, as Jin-Woo rolled his eyes. "You won at getting the permit. But I'll get the next one." With that, she leapt through the portal with her shadow soldiers in her storage.

"Hey!" He rushed after her, flying through the light and coming out the other side in the exact same place.

Hae-In had already started slicing her way through demons, trying to get the next entry permit whilst Jin-Woo smirked and shook his head.

This time, Jin-Woo summoned Iron to see if he could get an entry permit faster than Igris. The two of them fought their way through a large group of demons, doing everything they could to cut as many down as fast as possible.

However, fifteen minutes later, another pillar of light appeared and Jin-Woo sighed. Moments later, a message popped up with Hae-In claiming she had won this match and rushed off towards the light.

That was how it went for a while, with Jin-Woo and Hae-In heading up floor after floor. Each time they did, they split up and fought as many demons as possible. Hae-In kept using the ice shadows, whilst Jin-Woo had Igris, Iron and Tank all compete against him whilst trying to get the entry permit in the fastest time.

Igris currently had the fastest time, though Hae-In was close behind him.

Jin-Woo eventually managed to level up, but only once despite the now hundreds of demons he had slain in order to find the entry permit. The beasts refused to give him more than a hundred exp, meaning level up was a slow grind.

By the twelve floor, Jin-Woo and Hae-In were both tired and hungry. As such, they decided to let the shadows do the work whilst they sat atop a building and had some lunch.

"So what's the plan?" Hae-In asked, as she enjoyed some instant ramen and Jin-Woo snaked on a packed lunch he had brought with him. "You still wanna compete floor to floor. Or have you lost to me enough times?"

"Funny," Jin-Woo mock laughed as he enjoyed a small rice ball. "Can I remind you that Igris has found more entry permits than you."

"Yes, but I've still found more than you." He rolled his eyes at that, has he took a drink from one of the many water bottles he had packed into his inventory. He also took a mana potion, to keep himself from running out whilst a demon suddenly flew up to attack them.

But an ice arrow flew down and pierced it in the chest, causing it to fall to the ground as the two turned to an ice elf acting as their guard whilst they rested.

"Thanks," Hae-In told them before she got a message that an entry permit was now theirs. "Looks like that demon had the permit. Guess that's another win for me."

"That doesn't count," Jin-Woo told her. "The elf's the one who found it."

"Yes. But he's currently under my command, so I get it." Jin-Woo huffed, as the pillar of light appeared. The shadows all knew to head towards it, so the pair rushed off as soon as they finished the last of their food.

As they made their way towards it, the soldiers caught up with them and merged back into their shadows. Only one was still out and when they got to the pillar, Iron lumbered towards them. "Good," Jin-Woo told him. "Come on. Let's get going." Jin-Woo stepped through the pillar, Hae-In right beside him with Iron rushed in before the pillar of light disappeared.

They got to the thirteenth floor and Jin-Woo hummed. "I want to speed things up a bit." He had let the shadows compete for the entry permits long enough. "I should bring out everyone else. There's no point in lingering here." But as he said that, they heard Iron begin to grunt and the two turned to him.

"What's up with him?" Hae-In asked, Jin-Woo wondering the same thing.

"You're saying you can do it?" Jin-Woo asked, Iron nodding. "What, alone?" He nodded again. "Let's see. Igris still holds the record for finding the floor entry permit." Iron roared louder, pumping his arms into the air to show how serious he was at that moment. "Alright, stop. Calm down. You think you can go faster, right?" Iron nodded with a grunt. "Then do it. It's already been three seconds."

Iron's eyes widened, as he realised the clock was already ticking. As such, he turned towards a bunch of demons with blades sticking out of their arms before letting our a roar and charging forward.

The two watched him summon his axe and shield, swinging them both wildly and destroying them all with a single swing. "Nice," Hae-In nodded. She still wasn't completely comfortable with a former human being part of the army, but Iron was certainly proving his worth.

"Now he's fired up," Jin-Woo stated whilst rubbing his wrist. "But we'll have to make sure he doesn't get carried away and destroy the floor entry permit."

Iron smashed his way through the demons, cutting them in half or crushing them between his shield and whatever he could smash it against. He even went so far as to ram the horns on his helmet into the demon's chest. "Ouch," Hae-In hissed.

He pulled his horns out of the dead demon before turning to look at one that was still alive, grabbing it and pulling it towards them. Iron then dropped it at their feet, making them both raise an eyebrow as he raised his axe and smashed it down into the beast's head.

Blood splattered everywhere, causing Jin-Woo and Hae-In to step back in order to avoid getting drenched in it.

They glared up at Iron, who gave them a happy smirk as if expecting to be praised. "Um...very nice," Jin-Woo nodded. "But this one obviously doesn't have an entry permit." Iron huffed and ran off to find some more, as they followed and kept an eye out in case Iron missed some demons.

But he didn't. Iron kept smashing through demon after demon, though none of them seemed to have the entry permit.

However, every time he was almost finished with a group, he grabbed the one that seemed to be the strongest and dragged it over to them. He then threw it at their feet, the pair seeing it was still alive before he smashed or cleaved its head.

"Again?" Jin-Woo asked after the fifth time. "Why do you keep dragging it in front of me before finishing it off?" Iron didn't say anything and instead, just grunted as Jin-Woo crossed his arms. "So, where's the floor entry permit?" Iron smiled before holding up his hand, revealing said permit. "You managed not to forget." Iron nodded. "You did well finding it. But, you ran out of time. Igris found it a lot faster." Iron slumped forward, Hae-In feeling bad for him.

"Give him another chance," she suggested. "He's probably just getting warmed up."

Jin-Woo nodded. "Alright. Go for it. You can do better next time, right?" Iron smirked and nodded, turning towards the pillar as it appeared and running towards it. "So simple-minded."

Hae-In laughed at this, as they headed towards the light pillar themselves. As they did, they talked the entire time about their plans for when they finished within the castle. Random conversations filled the time until they reached the pillar, as Jin-Woo checked the system's clock.

They had been fighting their way through the castle for hours now and the pair had barely had any time to really rest. Even when they were eating their food, they couldn't relax because they could be attacked at any moment.

So, when they finally reached the next level, Jin-Woo suggested to Hae-In that they take turn resting whilst Iron tried to beat Igris' record.

Hae-In didn't want to agree, but she was feeling exhausted. As such, they headed into one of the buildings that wasn't on fire after the ice elves scouted it out and made sure that it didn't have any hiding demons. Once they were sure it was clear, Jin-Woo let Hae-In take a rest whilst he stood guard.

She seemed rather uncomfortable laying on the floor, Jin-Woo feeling bad since she was only in this place to help him.

As such, once she was asleep, he carefully moved over to her and lifted her up to rest against him. The sight of her sleeping made Jin-Woo smile, as he began to brush his hand through her hair.

Watching her sleep, he couldn't help but wonder what his journey would have been like had she not been there with him. If she hadn't come to the station and fell into the Instance Dungeon with him, how different would things have turned out?

A part of him feared how he would have been changed, if Hae-In hadn't been there to help him maintain his humanity through it all. Would he even be considered human at this point, if he hadn't had her with him?

His smile brightened, as he constantly thanked whatever deity had let them meet like they did. Without her in his life, lighting his way, he knew his world would be nothing but a shadow. Jin-Ah wouldn't have had such an amazing role model and friend. He wouldn't have had someone to help talk through all the craziness of his situation and he would have been alone at that moment, since his shadows weren't exactly great company.

Staring at her resting face, he couldn't help but feel his heart beating harder.

He remembered watching her fight earlier and that had been a truly amazing sight. He didn't know if it was the system that had turned him into such a battle junkie, but he knew that watching her cut down a bunch of monsters was one of the hottest things he had ever seen.

As Jin-Woo kept staring at her, he couldn't stop himself from feeling these insane emotions. Hae-In was the best thing that had happened to his life in a long time, even better than the system, and he wanted nothing more than to just be with her.

A part of him actually felt horrible at that, as he suddenly asked himself which he would pick if he was given a choice between being with Hae-In or saving his mother. He prayed he would never be given that choice, for he wasn't sure which one he would be able to pick.

A roar caught his attention a little while later, making him look around and see Iron approaching with the entry permit.

He got up and carefully placed Hae-In back on the ground, watching her sleep for a few more moments before gently shaking her. "Hey. Time to wake up."

Hae-In moaned, as she opened her eyes and looked up at Jin-Woo. He smiled down at her, only to blush a look away. "Is it your turn to sleep?"

"Looks like that'll have to wait," Jin-Woo explained. "Iron has the entry permit. We'll head up to the next floor and I can get some rest there."

"So long as you make sure you do," she told him. "I don't wanna hear excuses about you not sleeping just because something interesting is happening." Jin-Woo nodded, as they moved over to Iron and the shadow handed him to permit.

As soon as he did, the pillar of light appeared in the distance.

The two headed over there as soon as Iron was sucked back into Jin-Woo's storage, both making their way through the light and coming out the other side with the city once again looking exactly like all the other floors.

Jin-Woo looked around, searching for a place they could rest without issue. And after a minute, he found a building that wasn't on fire. As such, he sent the ice elves in to search for any hidden demons within it. And after a few minutes, they came back out along with the heads of multiple beasts.

"Charming," Jin-Woo sighed as he stepped inside.

Hae-In went in with him, planning to watch over him the same way he looked after her. And once they found a comfortable room, he sat down whilst the sounds of his shadows slaying the demons outside could be heard.

As soon as he started relaxing, he felt himself growing tired and slowly drifted off to sleep. It wasn't a complete sleep, since he was still aware of what was happening around him. But his body was resting and his mind entered a state where it wasn't processing any info.

He dreamed, but not the kind of dream one would normally have when asleep. As he heard the sounds of roars and battle around him, his mind began to play out what he assumed was happening.

He imagined Iron, slicing his way through a bunch of demons. Of Igris, cutting the beasts down at high speed. Of Beste, using her ice magic to freeze the demons and shatter them in a single action. The shadows were fighting with everything they had, as they fought their way through the hordes of beasts.

Then, he heard something. A humming sound. Some kind of tune, being hummed in a calm and comforting way.

Jin-Woo was almost reminded of his mother, remembering how she used to hum to herself when she did housework or was tucking them in for bed. The sound was so beautiful that Jin-Woo just wanted to listen to it for as long as possible.

The humming seemed to drown out the sounds of battle, causing Jin-Woo's dreams to slowly change.

Instead of being dreams of battle and anger, Jin-Woo imagined being back in the real world. He found himself standing in front of a large house that looked really cosy despite its size. The garden was also large and full of flowers, making it look really peaceful. It was the perfect home, which Jin-Woo stepped into.

After removing his shoes and looking around, he found himself in the kitchen and spotted the humming figure standing in front of the stove.

As he moved into the room, the figure became more clearer. She seemed to be a slim and beautiful woman, with long blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail. And when he stepped into the room, the figure turned and his gaze locked with the most beautiful pair of violet eyes he had ever seen.

Her smile made his heart beat faster and as she stood before him, he knew this was the person he was meant to be with. No matter what.

Before the dream could continue, Jin-Woo found himself waking up when a large crashing sound could be heard. He opened his eyes and sat up, as the humming sound ended. He then noticed Hae-In getting up from where she had been sitting.

Jin-Woo suddenly realised she must have been the one that had been humming, which she had stopped due to him waking up. Most likely, she didn't want him to know she had such a beautiful...humming voice.

She rushed over to the window and looked out of it. "What's going on?" He asked, about to get up only for Hae-In to raise her hand. "You keep resting. It's nothing you need to worry about. Just a giant demon crashing through a nearby building." Jin-Woo knew his life had taken a crazy turn somewhere, when a giant demon crashing through a building wasn't something he needed to worry about. "I'll take care of it. You keep resting."

Jin-Woo wanted to argue, but she had already leapt out the window and was air-walking towards the demon with her shadow weapons in hand.

Jin-Woo sighed and sat back down, continuing to rest but not being able to sleep. He was too focused on what he had felt during that dream. He was sure that the figure he had seen in that vision had been Hae-In. An older version of her, but definitely her.

That thought made Jin-Woo feel strange. "That house must have been mine. Maybe one I hope to live in one day. But, why would she be there? She didn't look like she was visiting." He slowly let the idea of why she was there sink in. And soon, he came to the startling realisation. There was only one reason Hae-In would be in his house, alone, making something to eat. She lived there. And there was only one reason she would be living there.

Jin-Woo gulped, unable to let that thought solidify in his brain.

"Finished." He looked over and spotted Hae-In, as she stepped back through the window and sighed whilst sitting upon it. As she did, the glow of the fire behind her illuminated the young woman.

Jin-Woo could only stare at her in amazement, as he felt his heart beginning to beat.

Hae-In glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. "What's up? Shouldn't you still be resting?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "That rest was more than enough." He got up and stretched, putting his jacket back on whilst she seemed to be judging whether or not he was actually fit to keep going. "Honestly, I'm starting to get antsy." He jumped up and down, as they heard more movement outside the building.

They both looked outside and saw another demon, as it roared and looked ready to attack.

Jin-Woo smirked, as he summoned his daggers and turned to Hae-In. "Ready to get back in the fight?"

"I was just in the fight," she told him. Jin-Woo chuckled at that before leaping out the window, Hae-In following and staying in the air as they spotted the demonic beast. It let out a roar, being as large as the last one.

Both hunters prepared for battle. But before Hae-In went on the attack, Jin-Woo spoke up. "By the way. Really liked the tune you were humming earlier." That statement made Hae-In freeze, her eyes going wide as Jin-Woo smiled at her. "Hope I get to hear it again."

"You...you were supposed to be asleep."

"I was. But my perception stat is high enough to hear everything around me, even when I'm fast asleep." Before she could say anything, he charged forward to battle the demon. All the while, Hae-In stood there red faced. She stood for so long, that her air walk timed out and she almost fell.

That snapped her out of it and she charged forward, roaring as she tried to get over her embarrassment by slaying the beast. But she couldn't look Jin-Woo in the eye for the next three floors.

Things are getting interesting between them both. Can't wait to see how things turn out from here on out. Let me know what you think of their castle trek so far. 

Chapter Text

Again, thanks for all the support. You guys make this series worth doing.

Hae-In couldn't be sure, but she felt like the heat within the demon's castle was growing stronger with every floor they climbed.

She hadn't noticed it before, since the heat increase had likely only been one degree every floor. But now that they were multiple floors up, she could definitely notice it. It felt like she was inside an oven and the heat was starting to get to her.

She wasn't going to tell Jin-Woo this, since he might tell her to go back whilst he carried on. So no, she wouldn't be telling him. But she would have Beste blast her with ice whenever she could.

A roar caught her attention and made her look ahead, to see Tank and the other ice bears smash their way through a bunch of demons without even breaking a sweat. Tank was doing most of the heavy lifting, knocking several of them down with a single swipe of his giant paws.

Jin-Woo chuckled, as he crossed his arms and nodded. "Turning the Ice Bears into shadow soldiers was a wise choice." As he said that, Tank let out a powerful roar that blew several demons back. "Even if it hadn't been a Red Gate, Ice Bears generally only appear in high ranking Dungeons. So they're always powerful."

Hae-In nodded, as Tank forced a demons to the ground and started smashing his front paws into it over and over again. "Would be nice if he wasn't so brutal, though."

Jin-Woo agreed. "I wonder if Ice Bears are always this bloodthirsty. Or maybe it's just because they're from a Red Gate." Hae-In shrugged. She had faced many Magical Beasts in her two years as a Hunter, but had never faced off against Ice Bears. "I think it's best if you guys stretch your legs for now." They all turned to him, "get it out of your system."

Tank turned to him and let out a roar, as if waiting for him to say or do something. For some reason, Hae-In felt like it reminded her of something. But she couldn't figure out what.

"Ah," Jin-Woo spoke up, "it's like walking dogs." That made it click in Hae-In's head, as she realised he was right. It really was like walking dogs. "Just a boy and his, uh...Shadow Army." This made Hae-In laugh, as she watched the bears gather around the remains of a demon. And when one reached down to take a bite, Jin-Woo called out to it. "Hey, don't eat that!" He rushed over to them, "spit it out!" The bear roared, as it ripped a large chunk of flesh off the body whilst Jin-Woo sighed. "Alright. Do whatever you want. Don't blame me when your tummy hurts."

"Do they even have stomachs?" Hae-In asked, as the bears ripped into the demon whilst the others ran off to take down another group of demons. "They're made entirely of shadow. How could they have stomachs?"

Jin-Woo bent down to look under the bears, "well they're putting it somewhere. The meat isn't falling out the bottom."

Hae-In suddenly got a very disturbing thought. "If you can, you might want to check your shadow storage. They might have left you a present in there if they've eaten anything before."

Jin-Woo moaned. "Thanks for the mental image." She giggled, as the eating bears rushed off to join the others.

The pair followed behind, taking down a few demons that happened to come across them before the bears. Jin-Woo had managed to level up a few times now, Hae-In realising the demons were getting stronger the higher they went.

The bears kept battling it out, working in a pretty strong unit against the hordes of demons currently trying to attack their masters. Tank's powerful roar was able to knock a great many of them out of the sky, causing them to crash into the ground where the rest of the bears were waiting to tear them a new one.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In were also getting to enjoy some of the action, cutting down the demons that the bears missed and working together in almost perfect harmony.

Every time one of them glanced over and watched the other attack, they couldn't help but smile at how amazing their partner was. "Raaaah!" Hae-Inn warped behind one of the demons and stabbed it in the back, causing it to roar in pain whilst Jin-Woo took that chance to cut its head off.

As the demon collapsed, dead, they both smiled at one another. Only for Hae-In to suddenly summon her String Guard and use it to block a super fast demon that had just tried to sneak attack them. She then spun around and stabbed it through the head, as a window popped open.

"Hey, my Prophetic Gaze Skill just levelled up." She smiled, "now I can look two minutes into the future."

"Great," Jin-Woo smiled. "The further you can look, the less surprised we'll be." Hae-In nodded, whilst Jin-Woo turned towards a larger demon that the bears were having trouble dealing with.

He smiled and raised his hand, causing the demon to suddenly freeze before it was pushed down into the ground unable to move. The beast roared in anger, as the bears slashed away at it.

Hae-In hummed, turning to Jin-Woo with a suspicious look. "Did your Ruler's Hand Skill Level up as well?"

"Maybe," he smirked. "I can't lift anything too big. About three times my own body weight." Hae-In nodded, as the bears finished the beast off.

They kept fighting their way through the floor, cutting down a large number of demons with this one proving rather difficult to clear. But the number of demon souls they were collecting, proves to be quite a large amount. At the rate they were going, they would have the twelve thousand souls needed long before they reached the top floor.

They eventually came to a stop, as Tank finished off another demon and turned to the others to roar some instructions. "They work better as a team than I thought they would," Jin-Woo stated before smiling. "Tank's a natural leader."

Hae-In smiled. "Maybe high ranking shadows have a better understanding of how you want things done. Or maybe it's just natural instincts."

Jin-Woo nodded. "It makes sense. They did live together on the snowy mountain. It seems that experience was passed on to some extent." Tank roared at the others again, the others letting out low level growls as they nodded their heads. "This was my first time recruiting beast-type shadows. But Tank is doing great, so I don't think I need to worry about it."

"I doubt they would do anything that would make you upset."

"You're right," Jin-Woo nodded. "Even if they look different, they're all shadow soldiers in the end. They're a part of me. Just like the others." She nodded, as another demon approached and the bears managed to take it down without any issue. When they did, something appeared above the demon. An entry permit, which Tank grabbed in its mouth before stomping over to them.

The beast stopped right in front of them, the permit stuck between his teeth. "Ew," Hae-In frowned whilst Jin-Woo took the permit from him. It was covered in slobber, but still worked as the pillar of light appeared in the distance.

"Alright, boy. Take us to the portal." The other bears were absorbed into his shadow and he leapt up onto the beast's back, offering his hand to Hae-In once again.

This time, instead of being pulled up behind him, Hae-In found herself getting lifted in front of Jin-Woo. She wondered why, only to feel his hands wrap around her waist and clutch the beast's fur. She blushed at this, but did not say anything as Jin-Woo had Tank charge.

She enjoyed the ride and carefully leaned into Jin-Woo's chest, hoping he didn't notice. But then she felt his tighten his arms around her, making her shiver but smile. She didn't know if Jin-Woo was doing this on purpose, but she was glad he was either way.

They rode up to the tower and leapt right through it, leaping through and being teleported up to the next level. And when they came out the other side, they were once again greeted to the sight of multiple demons.

Tank roared, but Jin-Woo patted his back. "Take a rest, big guy. "You've earned it." The bear roared again and disappeared, Hae-In leaping up into the air whilst Jin-Woo landed on the ground.

Both summoned their weapons and got to work, cutting their way through the beasts over and over again. Hae-In used a combo of her sword and rocket fist to propel herself around and cut through the creatures. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo used his stealth to take the creatures by surprise and cut through them without them even knowing he was there.

After cutting through the hordes of beasts, the pair landed back to back and smiled at one another. Jin-Woo had to admit, this was the most fun he had ever had fighting in the dungeon. Ever since his re-awakening, every fight had been with those at a lower level. Everyone close to his strength level was always someone he had to fight.

Battling alongside someone, with them being on his level, was a nice change of pace. "Let's do this!" Hae-In nodded in agreement before the two ran side by side, Hae-In sending out her drones and sending them flying towards several demons.

The balls of light smashed through their chests, killing many of them dead. But the ones that managed to dodge the drones, getting light injuries on their sides, were quickly dealt with by the two hunters themselves.

Jin-Woo sliced them apart at breakneck speed, whilst Hae-In pieces them through the heart or head. The creatures cried out in pain and tried to fight back, some even launching blasts of fire into their faces. But Jin-Woo easily dodged and Hae-In used her shield to block before countering, adding more souls to their counter.

Said souls counter was already pretty high, having passed eight thousand already. Only four thousand souls were left before they completed the question, with still more than half the dungeon to get it from. And soon, Jin-Woo's level increased again as the demons on the upper floors were getting stronger and giving away more exp.

Hae-In dodged a demon's attack, having seen it coming thanks to the future sight. She then did several back-flips and cartwheels before leaping towards an extra large demon and summoning her leg drill.

She slammed it straight into the beast and she bore right through it, killing the creature easily before landing.

Jin-Woo cut down the last demon in the area and as he did, they glanced over and smiled at one another. This was something they were truly enjoying. Fighting before had always been a task, even though the rush of almost dying do excite them sometimes, but fighting like this was something they actually enjoyed.

After the last demon was dead, the pair decided to take a break.

They found a building to take shelter in and grabbed some of their slowly dwindling food supply. Hae-In's watch told them that they had been in the tower for a little over four days. Which meant they had three days left to clear the entire tower. But considering they weren't even at the fiftieth floor yet, and the tower's demons were getting stronger as they climbed up, it was looking unlikely that that would happen.

Hae-In worried about this, since she knew Jin-Woo wouldn't want to wait very long to complete the tower. But she doubted she could get more time off after this, meaning she would likely have to leave Jin-Woo to return on his own if they didn't finish it by the end of the week.

"Jin-Woo," she asked as he slurped up a cup of ramen. "What level are you at?" Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow and checked, seeing his level and nodding.

"I'm not too far off from hitting level seventy. What's your level again?"

Hae-In checked. "Seventy-four." She sighed. "Guess soon, you'll overtake me and become the stronger hunter."

"My level might get past yours, but that doesn't mean I'll be stronger than you." He started drinking down the source of his instant ramen. "You're clearly the more skilled fighter. If we fought when we were at the same level, without using skills, you'd probably trounce me in a minute because you're the more skilled combatant."

Hae-In smiled at this, happy he was giving her such praise. But then she remembered why she asked. "We need to get your level as high as we can. Because it's becoming clear that we're not going to get to the top of the tower before this week's up."

Jin-Woo seemed to catch on. "We need to get as high as we can before the week's up. Because once it is, you won't be able to climb any higher with me." She nodded, Jin-Woo frowning. "Then let's not waste any more time." His shadow spread out and soon, every single shadow soldier appeared from out of the ground.

Iron let out a roar and Beste's ice wolf leapt off her shoulder to grow larger. They didn't need instruction, as Jin-Woo pointed forwards and they all charged into the city. He and Hae-In remained together and headed in a location the shadows didn't go, the lot of them intending to find the permit as soon as possible.

The two spent the next twenty minutes, fighting any and all demons that they came across. They fought so well together that anyone who might be watching, would have assumed they had years of experience fighting side by side.

Hae-In summoned her shield and used it as a springboard, Jin-Woo jumping upon it before she launched him towards the head of a ten meter tall demon. He cut his neck apart before digging his dagger into his body and using it to slow his descent, tearing the beast's front before pulling his weapon free.

Another demon tried to attack him from behind, but a light drone slammed into it and cut through the beast without even having to break a sweat.

Hae-In smiled, but then frowned and had to lean against part of the destroyed street. Jin-Woo noticed this and frowned, watching as Hae-In opened her inventory. Though she couldn't acquire exp from this fight, she was still getting BP. The only problem was, most of it seemed to be going to mana potions.

She drank the disgusting juice down and moaned, throwing the bottle away as soon as she finished it. Her mana was restored and she got back up, but Jin-Woo could tell she was still whining from her mana getting so low.

He couldn't help but feel bad for her, since her magical reserves would always be what they were. Whilst she could equip items to help lessen the amount of mana needed to use her skills, she was still limited whilst his continued to grow. And unlike Jin-Woo, she couldn't level up to instantly replenish her reserves.

"You okay?" He asked, as she pushed herself up and nodded.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Just need a minute to catch my breath." She sighed and pulled the collar of her suit, Jin-Woo realising she must have been feeling the heat of the place.

He was starting to feel the heat as well, which he swore was getting worse. "Let's stick close to Beste," he told her. "She should be able to cool us down a little." Hae-In nodded and suddenly, a large pillar of ice appeared from behind some buildings that had a giant demon impaled on it. "Guess we won't need to look too hard to find her."

Hae-In nodded again and the two headed back that way, finding Best surrounded by a bunch of already melting demon ice sculptures. "Nice work," Jin-Woo told her. Beste said nothing and just nodded, a smile on her face. "I must say. You're a lot more expressive than before you joined the army."

Hae-In looked her over. "You said she wasn't a part of the ice elves when they first showed up, right? She came into the battle later."

"Yeah," Jin-Woo started rubbing his wrist as she used her ice magic to cool them both down. "And Baruka seemed surprised that she showed up. She was also able to charm Kim into some kind of trace."

"Really?" Hae-In tried to imagine that, as Beste stopped blasting them with the cooling blast of wind. As she did, several more demons appeared. But before the humans could attack, she turned towards them before summoning a harp made of ice.

She started strumming the harp, unleashing beautiful music that filled the blazing environment.

Hae-In listened and as she did, she suddenly found herself feeling very calm. And before she realised what was going on, she felt herself being shaken. "Hae-In!" She blinked and looked around, seeing Jin-Woo holding her. She also noticed that a bunch more ice sculptures were surrounding them.

"What happened?" She asked, spotting Beste looking upset as she threw her arm into a nearby fire.

"It seems you're not immune to Beste's magic. You went into a trance along with the other demons. You looked like you were sleepwalking towards her. If I hadn't stopped you, you might have gotten in range of her ice blast."

Hae-In turned back to Beste, who bowed her head looking ashamed. "It's alright," she told her. "You didn't know that would happen." She turned to Jin-Woo, who was still holding her arms. "Why weren't you affected by it?"

"No idea," he shrugged. "I wasn't entrance when I met her the first time either. Maybe one of my skills protects me from it." He opened his skills window and looked through them, but couldn't find anything that would allow him to endure her musical enrapturement. "Huh. Wonder what's keeping me safe?"

Hae-In turned to Beste, who tilted her head as she waited for a command. "Do you have any idea what's allowing Jin-Woo to resist you?" Beste seemed confused, but also thoughtful as she seemed to be trying to figure out how to answer her question. "Right. You couldn't answer, even if you wanted to." Beste kept thinking and started casting her spell.

Hae-In and Jin-Woo watched, as something began to form in front of them. Some kind of sculpture, made of ice.

They watched and waited, wondering what she was making. But slowly, it took shape and they were greeted to the sight of some kind of ice chair. "A throne?" Hae-In asked, as Beste nodded. "Is this you trying to tell us how Jin-Woo was able to resist you?" She nodded again.

"Throne," Jin-Woo crossed his arms and thought about it. "A throne. A king. A...monarch." Jin-Woo blinked, as he slowly caught on. "You're trying to tell me that being the Shadow Monarch is what protected me from your abilities?" Beste nodded, but also shrugged as if saying she wasn't sure. "So you think being the Shadow Monarch is what protected me, but you can't be sure." She nodded again.

"I guess there's more to that job than you realised," Hae-In stated. "You must have more abilities thanks to it, than you realise."

"I guess," Jin-Woo nodded as he thought about it. "Is this just a theory, or do you have something to base your idea on?" Beste thought for a moment before casting another spell, creating another object out of ice. A large block of the stuff, right next to the throne.

Hae-In frowned, since she had never been good at charades.

Jin-Woo scratched his head, as Beste pointed at him, then at herself before pointing at the throne. "I have no idea what you're trying to say." Beste slumped, as Hae-In decided to use her newly upgraded Prophetic Gaze ability to try and cut down the time.

After watching two minutes of Jin-Woo trying and failing to figure it out, she got the clues she needed. "Right. Jin-Woo is Jin-Woo. The throne means monarch and you are a shadow, right?" Beste nodded, pointing at Jin-Woo, then herself before gesturing to the throne. "Jin-Woo's the Shadow Monarch." Beste nodded.

"I already knew that," he stated before Beste rolled her eyes and pointed to the block of ice. She then pointed at the throne, Hae-In thinking for a moment.

"Block of ice. Monarch. Ice Monarch?" Beste nodded, as Hae-In and Jin-Woo shared a shocked look. "Are you trying to say that there are other monarchs out there, other than Jin-Woo?" She nodded again. "Right. So you've met a monarch before and tried to enchant them with your music. But it didn't work?" Beste nodded, as the two hunters let this information sink it. "I don't know how to feel about any of this."

"So there are other monarchs," Jin-Woo hummed. "Is it possible there are other people with their own systems, who used them to level up and acquire monarch powers?"

Hae-In tried to think, going through the list of high ranking hunters. "I'm not sure. If there is another person in the world like you, they must be concealing their powers from the public. As far as I know, there aren't any S or A Rank hunters that use ice magic. It's not a very common type of magic."

Jin-Woo nodded, as he turned to Beste whilst the ice sculptures were melting. She seemed to be feeling the feat of the environment as well. "Guess even as a shadow, you aren't good in this heat." Beste frowned, but nodded as her ice wolf returned to her. It had also melted, now being the size of a puppy. In its mouth was a particular slab of paper. "Huh, looks like you get the win for this floor."

Beste smiled, as Jin-Woo took the entry permit and the pillar of light appeared. The two looked over at it, as Beste melted into his shadow and the others were likely heading towards the pillar as well.

"Let's go," Hae-In told him. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the next floor won't be on fire."

"What do you think the chances of that are?" He asked, giving her a smirk since he already knew the answer.

"Slim to none, but a girl can dream." They both chuckled and headed towards the light pillar, collecting every shadow and taking down a bunch more demons along the way.

Ahn Sangmin and Heejin Park, stepped out of the car and looked up at the apartment building they had managed to find an address for.

The White Tigers made their way towards the building, as Sangmin nodded double checking the file they had gotten. "This is definitely the place." He stared up at the building. "Hunter Sung's apartment should be on one of the higher levels."

"Doesn't look all that spectacular," Heejin stated. "Place looks like it's a few strips of duct tape away from falling apart."

"What did you expect?" Sangmin stated as they made their way towards the building. "The family apparently lived there since the children were born and with the parents gone, it's not like Hunter Sung could afford to find another place to live."

"You'd think he'd be willing to join us," Heejin replied. "If he's so desperate for cash, joining the White Tigers would have been a dream come true for him."

"Normally, yes. But Yoojin Construction gave him an outrageous offer. We'd have to sell our entire HQ just to match it." Heejin's eyes widened in surprise, as they found the elevator and headed up to the floor where Hunter Sung lived. "Once he gets paid, he'll likely move out of here into somewhere a little more respectable."

"I hope so," she stated. "For his sister's sake." She remembered her time in the Red Gate, talking with Song-Yi. She had asked about Jin-Woo, but the girl had had little info on him. Just that she was friends with his sister.

"Let's just hope he's in and he doesn't mind us coming over." Sangmin shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time he had upset Jin-Woo. "The last thing we need is for him to get angry at us. Considering what you told me about his abilities, there's no way we could survive if he decided to attack."

"He wouldn't do that," Heejin stated. "He might be a little bit moody sometimes, but he seemed relatively nice all things considered. He wouldn't just kill us." Sangmin gave her a look as they stepped out of the elevator, which basically said 'do you wanna take that chance.' "But...maybe you should talk to him. You've known him longer."

"You spent a week with him in a Red Gate. I had one or two conversations with him. I think you have a better report with him than me." They kept debating who should talk to him until they reached the front door, neither convincing the other to do the talking.

"How do you wanna do this?"

"Choose you for it?" She suggested, Sangmin rolling her eyes but agreeing. "Odds." They brought up their hands and shook them three times before holding out their fingers, Heejin holding up two and Sangmin holding up three. "Odds, I win." Sangmin groaned as she took several steps back, as he turned towards the door and took a breath before knocking on it.

Moments later, the door opened and a young woman in a school uniform appeared. "Oh?" She looked between them and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Sangmin nodded. "We're from the White Tiger Guild and we were hoping to speak with your brother about an important matter."

"Really?" Jin-Ah seemed suspicious, glancing between them both. "Why would members of a top ranking guild wanna talk to an E Rank like my brother?"

"There was a situation a few days back that your brother was involved in. We need to speak with him about some of the details revolving around it." Jin-Ah stared at them, likely trying to decide whether or not she could trust what they were saying.

"Well I'm sorry, but my brother's not here at the moment. He's actually away. Said he was travelling."

"Really?" Heejin asked. "Did he say where he was going and when he'd be back?"

"No and no. Sorry, I've gotta get to school." She closed her door and locked it up. But as she did, Heejin hummed.

"Have we met somewhere before?" Jin-Ah looked at her in confusion. "I'm sorry if that sounded rude, but I feel like I might have seen your face somewhere before." They both noticed a look of panic appear on her face, Jin-Ah taking a deep breath after checking to see if the door was properly locked.

"I don't think so." She began to walk away. "Sorry, can't stop. Gotta get going or I'll be late." They watched her leave and both sighed, realising that getting Jin-Woo to join their guild was going to be a lot harder than they had originally thought.

"Come on," Sangmin told her. "Let's head back." Heejin nodded, as they began to make their way back to the elevator.

Sangmin had already expected the answer they had gotten, mostly, thanks to his own intelligence network. Apparently, the Association had been keeping close tabs on him. However, they had lost his trail in the middle of the city a few days back and there hadn't been any sign of him. They knew he was still in the country, but Korea was a pretty big place. There was no telling where he was or what he was doing.

"That's it!" Heejin gasped, making Sangmin jump as they got out of the elevator. "I remember where I saw her before."

"Does that really matter?" He asked, as Heejin took out her phone and started scrolling.

"I think it does. If I'm right, recruiting Jin-Woo Sung might be even more difficult than we realised." She found what she was looking for and took a close look. "I knew it." She showed him the phone. "See that?" Sangmin took a closer look and saw a photo of the girl they had just met, who appeared to be clothes shopping in a mall. It was definitely Jin-Woo's sister.

However, it was the other woman that caused Sangmin's eyes to widen in shock. "No way. That can't be her."

"It is," Heejin nodded. "And if those two know each other and are close enough to go to the mall together..." Sangmin sighed, as he took out his own phone and made a call.

Within his office, Yooho Baek was working on his guild's budget when his office phone rang. "Hello?"

"This is Sangmin Ahn," the voice on the other side announced. "President Baek, we may have hit a snag on the Hunter Sung situation." Yooho didn't like the sound of that, as he suddenly got a message on his cell phone. "Hunter Park just sent you an image that should help explain it. One of the people in the photo is Hunter Sung's sister."

Yooho opened the message and saw the photo, his eyes going wide when he recognised the other woman in the photo. "Hunter Cha?" He suddenly remembered seeing this photo before and at the time, figured the young woman had found someone she was willing to put her guard down around. "And you're saying that girl is Hunter Sung's sister?"

"Yes sir. It appears so. If those two are close, it's likely Hunter Sung and Hunter Cha are close as well." Yooho couldn't believe this. Hae-In Cha was a known recluse, mostly due to her smell issue. Being around a non-hunter was something he could buy, but a hunter as strong as Sung.

"You think he might end up joining the Hunter's Guild?"

"It's a possibility." Yooho growled, hating the idea of Jong-In getting another potential S Rank.

"Keep monitoring the area. If Sung shows up again, I wanna be able to talk to him as soon as possible." Sangmin agreed before ending the call, leaving the S Rank Guildmaster to sit back in his chair and sigh. "Hunter Sung. Just who are you? What's your relationship with Hae-In and what are you up to right now?" He had heard about Sung disappearing from the Association's surveillance, making him curious what he was up to. If only he knew.

Things are getting interesting. How will their castle climb continue from here? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Thanks for all the comments and feedback. Always run to hear your thoughts and suggestions. 

The heat of the Demon's Castle was almost unbearable, as Hae-In and Jin-Woo stepped out onto the fiftieth floor.

They looked around and found the place was no different from all the other floors, though a little hotter than the rest. And sure enough, it was filled with demons waiting for them to kill. "Halfway there," Jin-Woo announced as they made their way through it.

"Hopefully," Hae-In agreed as several demons appeared on the street and attacked. But Jin-Woo summoned his ice elves to bow them down before the rest of his army appeared behind him. He smiled, as he gave the simple command for them to attack.

And they did, cutting, rearing and stabbing their way through the horde of beasts whilst Jin-Woo and Hae-In rushed forward to start fighting as well.

As Hae-In fought against one, she leapt into the air and launched her drones at the creature to smash through its head. Then, as she air-walked higher, she happened to see between a few buildings and saw something in the distance that was different from what she had seen before.

"Jin-Woo!" She pointed at it, "there's something over there. Something that wasn't on the other floors."

Jin-Woo frowned at this, as he dodged a demon before spinning to stab it in the back. "Can you go check it out?" Hae-In nodded and rushed off, air-walking through the sky until she reached a building that gave her the perfect vantage point of the area she was looking at.

Having lived in that part of the city her entire life, she knew it like the back of her hand. And given that she had spent the last few days travelling around the city, slaying monsters and seeing it from every angle, she knew what the place was supposed to look like from on high. And she was looking at something not normal for the city.

A large collection of buildings had vanished, with the ones around that area all having been reduced to absolute rubble. And in that area, a bunch of spikes were sticking out of the ground. They all curved and were located in a way that made them resemble a wall from a distance, though Hae-In could tell there were gaps between them.

She thought about what it could be, as a flying demon charged towards her. With a single swish of her Horn-Calibur, it was dead and Hae-In hummed. "Looks like some kind of enemy encampment." She smiled. "If this is the halfway point of the dungeon, it makes sense it would have a special floor boss."

She jumped off the side of the building and air-walked back over to where Jin-Woo and the shadows were fighting, the lot of them making quick work of the hordes in the area.

As Iron crushed the last one under his hammer, she landed and moved over to them. "Jin-Woo, we might be in for a harder battle." Jin-Woo seemed genuinely excited about that statement, which Hae-In wasn't sure how to process. She told him about what she saw and Jin-Woo nodded.

"That sounds like the place we'll find an entry permit." Hae-In agreed, as they turned towards that direction. Despite knowing where to find the permit, they still had to get there. And they had a lot of demons left to slaughter before that happened.

At the same time, Jin-Woo checked the demon soul calculator. And currently, it was sitting at one thousand eight hundred and ten. A little over a thousand demons stood between them and completing the quest.

"Move out," Jin-Woo announced as they moved forward. Hae-In smiled, as she and Jin-Woo led the army through the city.

Hae-In was reminded of all the time she and Jong-In had led their guild through Dungeons, with this feeling just like then. Those times, she had always focused on getting through the maze as quickly as possible. But now, she actually enjoyed walking side by side with her squadron of undead minions.

Several demons appeared and attacked, with Beste and the other ranged fighters shooting at them before they got close. With every demon slain, the counter rose more and more. Jin-Woo's exp also rose. His level had finally passed seventy and he was only one or two away from being as strong as her. And Hae-In was excited about that.

Eventually, they came to the street where the structure was located. And there, they saw a the spikes sticking out of the ground.

They reminded Jin-Woo of a rib-cage, making them realise they were likely meant to be bones. The bones of what, they didn't know. But they were sure that it had been slain by whatever was waiting for them within the walls of spikes.

They stepped past the first few bones and looked around, seeing they were roughly five meters apart from one another. And as they looked forward, they saw a group of humanoid demons standing at the very end of the bone corridor. And behind them, sitting on a large throne of bones, was a larger demon that looked like it might have eaten whatever the bones belonged to.

They got closer and the hunters took in more details, seeing the demon's fat body had a small little head on top. One which had a couple of sharp looking horns and three beady little eyes in the centre of its forehead. in its hand was a large club, which the pair assumed wasn't just for intimidation purposes.

His minions were heavily armored, looking like demonic knights who carried sharp spears in their hands.

"A red one," Jin-Woo stated as he stared the giant beast at the back down. He wasn't talking about its body colour, but the name of the demon. Floating above its head was a name in all red.

Lord of the Lower Floors, AVARICIOUS VULCAN

Jin-Woo smiled, Hae-In seeing that he was excited to fight something that was actually a challenge. And Hae-In was to. "You wanna fight that thing together?" He asked, making her smile.

"You certainly know how to offer a girl a good time." She regretted saying that the second it left her lips, a blush appearing on her face with Jin-Woo growing red as well. "Let's do this."

"Right," Jin-Woo nodded. "We'll take the big one," he told the shadows. "You guys know what to do." They all charged as soon as he said that, the demons rushing forward as well. Beste, the arches and other mages all launched their range attacks, the fireballs exploding whilst spikes of ice shot up and impaled them along with the arrows.

Iron used his shield to block an attack and knock the demon away before cutting it down, whilst Igris sailed past another and sliced it in half. The weakest soldiers were all doing okay, able to hold the demons at a standstill with relative ease whilst Tank and bears smashed them down.

Jin-Woo smiled, seeing his army doing pretty well. "I've got a good chunk of points in my intellect, now. I can summon more soldiers and have more magical power to maintain them. That makes fighting easier, but..." They both turned their attention back to Vulcan, who was just sitting there watching as Hae-In spoke up.

"Is it even a fight, if the other guys just sits around on his a-" Jin-Woo blinked and suddenly, Vulcan vanished.

"Wha-" His enhanced perception let him look up and see the giant sack of blubber was above them now. It had somehow cleared the distance in next to no time, raising its massive club as he did so. And with a roar, it swung the club down and crushed a large group of shadow soldiers and demons.

The impact also unleashed a cloud of dust and wind, which flew outwards and took down several more shadows and demons.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In were both hit by the dust cloud and consumed, as the beast crashed into the ground. It seemed to be expecting them to have been blown away. But as the smoke settled, Hae-In was standing there with her Sting Guard protecting both her and Jin-Woo.

"I saw that coming," she told it before Jin-Woo leapt into the air. Hae-In held her ground and he used her shield like a springboard, propelling himself forward with his fist raised.

"Take this!" He thrust his punch and hit the demon with everything he had, the impact launching the beast backwards so it could smash straight through the bones and into the side of a building.

Hae-In watched as Vulcan was blown through the building and smashed into one behind it, then another and another. When the smoke cleared, there were large holes running through the multiple buildings that had somehow not collapsed. Hae-In new Jin-Woo was strong, but she hadn't realised his strength state had gotten so ridiculously high.

"I did that with a single punch?" Jin-Woo asked, looking down at his muscular arm. If he had been wearing his normal clothing, he likely would have destroyed his sleeve with that much strength. Luckily, the coat she had gotten him was able to take the attack. "My strength stat's pretty broken." Hae-In nodded, feeling an odd mix of worry and excitement about that.

She suddenly imagined him hugging Jin-Ah with all that strength and accidentally turning her into a paste, making her gulp as she then envisioned the poor girl he could end up marrying one day. Against strength like that, nothing short of an S Rank Hunter would survive being with him. "Huh..."

They suddenly heard movement and looked around to see Vulcan pull itself out of the rubble. As it did, the beast stood tall and let out a powerful roar that echoed through the city.

A glow appeared around it, as Jin-Woo got a system warning. "This happened with the Cerberus too." As he said that, Vulcan charged forward and started picking up speed.

Hae-In rushed forward with her shield, but she wasn't sure it would be strong enough.

"IRON!" Jin-Woo roared, as his shadow soldier threw his own shield towards them. Jin-Woo caught it and placed it in front of Hae-In's shield, the two locking into place together as Vulcan reached them and swung its club at them. The impact was intense, but their two shields were able to absorb the impact with ease. However, Vulcan swung its club again and again, smashing the shields with incredible speed.

"Damn it!" Hae-In cried, "it's not gonna quit!"

Jin-Woo groaned, as they both held the shield. "How is something that big so fast?" Hae-In took a moment to look into the future and saw what was going to happen.

"Thirty seconds!" She cried, Jin-Woo understanding as he held on. Hae-In then summoned two of her drones and made one float up and above the beast. Then, at the exact second she stated, Vulcan pulled the club back to try and smash them with all its strength.

"No!" Jin-Woo cried, as Hae-In dispelled her shield and teleported up above Vulcan. Jin-Woo swung his shield around and threw it at the beast's head. The creature leapt back, only for Hae-In to come shooting down using her rocket fist.

"Raaaaaaah!" She swung the fist into his face and knocked it back, her surprise attack took sudden for it to counter. And as it staggered around, Jin-Woo went on the offensive and charged. He leapt straight up and dove down, trying to thrust his dagger into its face. But the demon had predicted this and spun around.

The next thing Jin-Woo knew, the club was flying towards him and threatened to smash him out of the sky. But Hae-In had seen this with her future sight and had seen how Jin-Woo got out of it.

Instead, she flew down with her Horn Calibur in hand. As Jin-Woo used his Ruler's Hand Skill to save himself, she stabbed her horn sword into the creature's leg. This made the beast roar, as she jumped to a safe distance.

She and Jin-Woo glanced at one another, Jin-Woo smiling at the leg injury she had given it. They both nodded, thinking the same thing. It had speed and strength, emphasis on had after Hae-In's leg injury, but its tiny little eyes were clearly its weak points. With a clear visual discrepancy, there was no way it could keep up with their movements.

Vulcan tried to attack, but its injured leg made moving difficult. It raised its club and tried to crush him, but Jin-Woo rushed forward and got behind it with ease.

Hae-In ran in as well, sending her drones up to fly around its head. The light was causing its tiny eyes to be blinded, destroying its already limited visual prowess. Jin-Woo smirked and used that opening to attack its other leg, slashing at it with his dagger as Hae-In air-walked up to its head.

She summoned her rocket fist and ignited it, the attack propelling her forward until she smashed right into its blinded face.

The impact knocked it staggering backwards, as it let out a roar and swung its club wildly. Jin-Woo ducked under it as it fell to the ground, as Hae-In flew away and watched him jump up before flying downwards. He stabbed his blade into its chest, but the creature's body was so fat the only thing he ended up cutting into was the blubber.

"Geez, you have got to lay off the super sizes, big boy." Vulcan roared and tried to hit him, but Jin-Woo leapt up by using its stomach like a trampoline and bouncing away. As he did, Hae-In was up above him and summoned her leg drill.

Her rocket fist propelled her forward and she thrust the drill down, clearly aiming straight for his stomach. "I've got you!" She cried, but Vulcan managed to actually roll out of the way at the last moment. "Oh no!" She gasped, missing Vulcan and hitting the ground instead.

She almost started spinning instead of her drill, but dispelled it and flew back up as Vulcan swung its club at her.

She gasped and barely managed to suck herself into her drone, seconds before the club actually hit the ball of light. She came out a ways away, as Vulcan tried to push itself up and attack again. But before it could, the buzzsaw dagger of Jin-Woo's spun around and cut into its arm.

The blade did some serious damage and cut the tendons, forcing it to drop the club as Hae-In air-walked forward at high speed.

As the club's top hit the ground, she actually grabbed the other end and used all her strength to spin it around and smash it into Vulcan's head. The beast roared in pain, Hae-In its larger fangs flying out of its mouth as it was knocked away. And as it did, Jin-Woo leapt straight up above the creature.

Hae-In sent one of her drones up and the hunter actually used it as a foot rest to kick off of. That allowed him to shoot downwards, as he summed his longest dagger. And with a roar, he shot past Vulcan's neck and cut into it.

The demon roared, as the danger cut clean through the beast. It started at its neck and went down its chest until it reached its stomach. That was when Jin-Woo pulled his dagger out and kicked away from Vulcan. When he looked back, he saw a massive gash in the beast that split open to allow a bunch of blood to shoot out of it.

The creature roared and fell to the ground, as Hae-In landed beside him. They watched the creature go still, as a window popped open to reveal that they had slain the beast.

The two turned to one another and actually laughed, amazed at how well they had worked together in order to beat a stronger foe. And randomly, Jin-Woo raised his fist and Hae-In quickly did the same. "Pound it," they said together as the system window opened up to show Jin-Woo had levelled up twice over.

Another window then opened to reveal that they had gotten several rewards. "Just as I thought," Jin-Woo crossed his arms as he looked through the list of items. "Got some amazing rewards for taking down the boss." But one item in particular was what he was most happy about.

[Material Item: Word Tree Fragment]
Item: Material
This fragment of the world tree contains powerful mana and can be used to craft high quality items.

"Wood that can be used to craft high quality items?" Jin-Woo hummed, crossing his arms and he decided to take a look. And when he pulled it out of his storage, it found it was a massive chunk of wood even taller than him. "Geez."

Hae-In chuckled. "Bet you could make a killer surfboard out of that." Jin-Woo rolled his eyes, as she thought about it. "Do you think this might be one of the ingredients needed to craft the elixir of life?"

"Maybe," Jin-Woo nodded. "I'll keep it in storage to make sure it stays safe." He put it away in a flash and opened another window, which showed another item he had earned. "An earring?" It was an accessory that increased the user's strength and vitality. "This item has a set effect." He summoned it and put it on, the item vanishing the moment he did. "Wonder if we'll find the rest of the set items if we continue to hunt demons here?"

"Maybe," Hae-In wondered what the other two items were. She also wondered if Jin-Woo would let her borrow them, if they were items she didn't already have something equipped for.

"And lastly," he summoned some into his hand. A red sphere, that seemed to be made out of glass and had a slight glow to it. And when the window explaining it opened, his eyes widened. "Holy crap!" Hae-In's eyes widened, as she rushed over to take a look herself.

[Item: Orb of Avarice]
Type: Magic Item
An orb that amplifies the user's magic abilities and increases damage inflicted on an opponent.
Effect "Desire to Destroy": Magic damage is increased twofold.

"A one hundred percent power boost?" Hae-In asked, as she tried to imagine what Jong-In would pay for an item like this.

"It's so powerful," Jin-Woo stated. "If I had any spellcasting skills, I'd use this myself." Hae-In could just feel the energy coming off it, as she wondered what kind of devastation could be brought with such an item.

But before they could say anything, a bunch of demon heads were suddenly thrown at the pair's feet.

They looked around and saw Igris, who was kneeling next to them as his waiting for some kind of praise from the pair. "Can you not do that?" Jin-Woo asked, as Hae-In pocked one of the heads away with her sword to keep from getting blood on her. "Thanks to you..." He glanced over at Iron, who had picked up Vulcan by the head and was dragging it towards them. "Iron started doing the same thing."

Hae-In remembered Iron doing the same thing earlier. Now she was wondering if Igris had put him up to it.

"Not to mention, we're the ones who killed that thing." Iron frowned at this, as he dropped the head on the ground. "Okay. Since you lent me your shield, we'll say you helped." But as he said that, he seemed to realise something. "Shield."

Hae-In gave him a curious look. "What's up?"

"Iron was able to give me his shield. If he can lend me something to work with, maybe my shadows can use items I have access to." Hae-In hummed, realising he had a point.

"Possibly," she agreed. "Maybe I could give Igris my sword and see how well he uses it."

"I was thinking of something else," Jin-Woo replied before noticing the mages he had were staring at Iron as he showed off his ''kill.'' "Magic unit. Stop paying attention to weird things and come over here." They didn't argue and rushed over to him, Jin-Woo holding out the orb he had just gotten. "Here," one of the mages took it before he pointed at one of the buildings currently still standing. "Fire."

The mage turned to the building and began to channel the orb like it was second nature, causing its magical power to increase. And then, it created a fireball larger than any the three mages had created by working together.

It thrust its hand forward and the fireball shot towards the building, moving at high speed towards it. Hae-In summoned her shield and got in front of Jin-Woo before it struck. And when it did, the building exploded in a massive column of fire.

The explosion was so powerful, that it created a dust cloud that swept across the hellscape. Hae-In felt the cloud slam into the shield and almost pushed her over, Jin-Woo grabbing the back of the shield and helping her brace.

When the flames died down, everyone looked towards the building and saw that it had been completely destroyed. There wasn't even any rubble left. Just an empty black spot where the building once stood." Okay." Jin-Woo took the orb back and smirked. "This thing is definitely gonna come in handy."

"I'll say," Hae-In smirked. "If your weaker mage can do something like that, imagine what Beste could do with it." Jin-Woo nodded, thinking the same thing.

He then opened his item box and brought out the last object he had gotten after the fight. An entry permit, which activated the moment Jin-Woo summoned it. And in a flash of light, the column leading up to the next level appeared.

Jin-Woo summoned his shadows back to him and the pair began to make their way towards it, as they smiled at one another whilst remembering the fight they had just had. One that had been way easier than it would have been had the pair fought Vulcan alone.

As Jin-Woo thought about the fight, he realised just how well Hae-In understood his fighting style. She had been able to predict what he wanted to do and found ways to help him accomplish it. As Jin-Woo opened his stats screen, he realised his Level had finally risen above Hae-In. He was now stronger than her, though he knew that mattered little. In his opinion, they were still equals.

The pair soon arrived at the light pillar and stepped inside, the pair being warped upwards until they reached the next level.

Strangely enough, when they arrived at that level they found the place wasn't on fire. In fact, the terrain was slightly different. "Sand?" Hae-In knelt down and scooped up some of the sand on the ground, as Jin-Woo saw that the city had been completely buried.

The buildings were half sunk in the sand, with the clouds that had blocked the sun before now being gone so that it could beam down on them intensely. "I guess the castle designer finally decided to switch things up." Jin-Woo sighed. "It's still hot, but in a different way."

Hae-In agreed, as she got up and they started making their way down the street. As she did, she wondered what other environments would be waiting for them on the next floor.

Before she got a chance to answer, the sand in front of them suddenly exploded and a large arm reached out to try and grab them. The pair were able to dodge and summoned their weapons, Jin-Woo slicing at the arm whilst Hae-In leapt into the air waiting for the rest of the beast to appear.

And it did appear, the demon breaking out of the sand and roaring as it pulled itself free. And it wasn't the only one, as more demons began to bust their way out of the sand. None of them seemed at all bothered by the fact they had previously been buried, as they pulled themselves free and let out several roars in an attempt to scare the hunters.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In dodged another attack from the large demon, as Jin-Woo tried to cut into the creature. And whilst the daggers were going into the beast, it was proving more difficult than it had with previous demons.

Jin-Woo had been noticing that the demons on the lower floors had been getting stronger. But this sudden spike took him almost by surprise, as he dodged the giant hand and cut the fingers off with a flurry of slashes.

The beast roared and Hae-In flew forward, thrusting her sword into the demon's neck and finally killing it. But as the creature fell to the ground, a sand covered demon flew at her with its claws ready to cut her to pieces. However, Hae-In teleported away and took another demon by surprise. She sliced the beast apart before spinning through the air and summoning her leg drill in order to stab another one in the chest.

The creature fell to the ground, dead, whilst Jin-Woo did several flips in the sand in order to avoid other demon attacks.

He then launched his weapons at them, making them buzzsaws that flew through the air and sliced at the necks of the demons unable to avoid them. The demons that were able to dodge, attacked only for Jin-Woo to summon his knives again and stab them into the creatures.

Several more demons were pulling themselves out of the sand, Jin-Woo sighing as he had hoped to give his soldiers more time to rest. But seeing as they could be attacked from anywhere, Jin-Woo knew he had to add to his numbers.

"Come forth!" The shadow spread and from out of it, his entire shadow army appeared and charged forward. The higher ranked shadows took the lead, Beste flying up and creating a bunch of icicles that she launched at the creatures.

Several stabbed through the beasts, but others managed to endure them and they were ones that Igris, Iron and Tank faced off against whilst the others followed suit. Jin-Woo also began to fight against, whilst Hae-In ran overhead to take out the flying ones.

"Jin-Woo, below you!" Hae-In's warning gave Jin-Woo the chance he needed to jump away, dodging the attack coming from underground as another arm brother out and almost grabbed his leg.

Jin-Woo threw his dagger and sliced through the arm, returning it to him as he stabbed into the demon's head as soon as it popped out of the ground. The others were slowly dealing with the rest of the shadows, the lower ranked soldiers getting killed and regenerating whilst Igris beheaded several and Iron swung his axe right through others.

Tank ripped one apart with his mouth whilst Beste sent her wolf down to tear several more apart. They were all making steady work of the creatures and Hae-In acted as a general by warning them of sneak attacks from underground.

As Igris beheaded the last one, Jin-Woo rubbed his wrist whilst Hae-In jumped down. No other demons appeared, so they had cleared out the area. But there was still a lot more sandy ground to cover. "It's going pretty smoothly," Jin-Woo announced. "Hopefully, we've cleared out half the castle. But we're progressing slower than I expected."

Hae-In nodded. "I don't think we're gonna make it all the way to the hundredth floor. Even if we didn't have limited time, our food and water will run out way before we can get all the way to the top. Unless one of the floors has a convenience store inside of it."

Jin-Woo agreed. "The biggest issue is the demons getting stronger. The higher we go, the more powerful they become. They're not as strong as Vulcan, but on mass they're just as difficult."

Hae-In sighed, knowing he was right. "We need a more effective strategy, if we want to get as high as we can before the week is up."

"Yeah." Jin-Woo opened his item box and took out a familiar looking red orb. "Let's use this." But as he held up the orb of avarice, he heard a roar and looked over at Iron. "Why are you butting in?" He asked, seeing Iron staring at the orb. "You don't even know how to use magic." Iron roared again, clearly wanting to prove he could use the orb. Jin-Woo was about to tell him no, but stopped as another idea popped into his head. "You know what. How about we have a little competition?"

"Another one?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Woo smiled.

"The prize will be the orb of avarice," he explained. "The one who kills the most monsters with this will be the winner." All the shadows heard this and seemed eager to try and get their hands on the orb. Hae-In had to admit, this was actually a smart idea. The best way to determine who the orb was best suited for, was to make the shadows all do their absolute best to have it. And nothing brought out ones best like competition. "Step forward if you wish to participate."

One by one, each of the shadows wishing to try and earn the orb approached. Each of the shadow mages stepped forward, along with Beste. Then Iron approached, much to Jin-Woo annoyance. But it was the last one that truly surprised him.

"Tank?" He asked the giant bear, who seemed eager to compete despite also not having any magic casting abilities. "Why?" The bear roared, as Jin-Woo turned towards one of his shadow mages. "Alright. Let's get this done." He threw the mage the orb, then brought up the demon soul counter that was still a ways off from being completed. "Alright. Memorise the number and have him be the only one to battle. We'll set a time limit and see how many he gets."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Hae-In asked. "We're on a time crunch and you wanna waste more of it letting one shadow battle at a time?"

"I know it's not a great idea," he agreed. "But we've already confirmed we're not gonna make it to the top before the week's up. This way, I'll know who to trust the orb with once we come back." Hae-In sighed, but understood his logic. "Alright, Shadow Mage. Go get'em." The magician nodded, as they made their way into another part of the desert. And as more demons pulled themselves out of the sand, the mage went on the magical attack.

That was fun. Hope you enjoyed reading. So, who will end up getting the orb in the end? Only time will tell. Though, I'm pretty sure you've all figured it out already. Until next time.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

The demons roared, as they were burned alive by the shadow mage's blazing attack.

The flames spread across the sandy ground and burned anything it touched, roasting the beasts into ash as they fell to the ground. Even the sand was being burned up and turned to glass, trapping some of the demons as they were halfway done pulling themselves out.

Several demons dove down toward the shadow mage, who swung his hands around and conjured a wall of fire that they flew through. When they reached the other side, they screamed in pain before falling to the ground.

As this was happening, Jin-Woo and Hae-In watched with Jin-Woo keeping an eye on the demon soul counter. And whilst the number of demons the mage had slain was impressive, they both had a feeling the others would likely do better.

"And...time," Jin-Woo announced after the timer hit zero. The shadow mage had managed to burn another wave of demons before the timer ran out. "Alright," he nodded as he did the math in his head. He had memorised the previous number and now it was just a matter of subtracting it from the new score. "Shadow Mage One's battle result it..." They all leaned closer, wondering what it was. "I'll just keep it to myself."

The shadows all tilted their heads, Hae-In raising her eyebrows but seeing his point. The first shadow mage didn't get to know how many points it needed to win, so the others shouldn't be allowed either.

"Shadow Mage Two, you're next. Get ready." The mage nodded, as the first mage passed the orb over to him. They began to make their way through the desert until they found another ground of demons.

Jin-Woo announced the time's start and the spellcaster leapt into the air, channelling the magical energy of the orb and using it to create a stream of fire from its hand. Instead of unleashing a large burst of fire, this mage had chosen to use more refined power.

It didn't shoot wildly and instead, moved the fire stream around whenever it struck a demon. An long coil of fire flew through the air, burning the beasts it flew past without losing any stream.

The fire reminded Hae-In of the fire snakes she had fought at the entrance of the dungeon, only much longer and lacking a head. By the looks of things, the second mage had more control. Since each shadow had its own personal stat value, it was likely this one had less mana so had to make up for it with better control.

After destroying the third wave of demons to pull themselves out of the sand, the shadow mage found the entry permit and Jin-Woo smiled. But he told the mage to keep going, giving it the time it had been promised to destroy as many demons as possible.

At one point, it created a ball of fire that it launched towards a large group of flying demons. But as it did, the fireball transformed into the Japanese kanji for fire that burned its way through the beasts and utterly incinerated them all.

When the last of the time elapsed, Jin-Woo told him to stop and the mage did so. Jin-Woo began to count up the number of demons slayed, whilst Hae-In took the entry permit. "Well, you'll be happy to know that you defeated Shadow Mage One's score." The mage pumped its arms happily, whilst the first shadow mage slouched in defeat.

Jin-Woo retrieved the orb and passed it onto Shadow Mage Three, telling it to wait until they were on the next level to use it.

The mage nodded and the shadows all returned to Jin-Woo's storage, as he and Hae-In made their way towards the light pillar that had formed. As they did, Jin-Woo found he was close to another level up. He smirked, watching his level grow higher and higher. As he did, he felt like he would acquire something incredible soon.

'I was allowed to take the job change quest at level forty. So maybe I'll get something good once I'm double that level.'

"Jin-Woo?" He turned to Hae-In, seeing that they had reached the light pillar. "You okay? You seemed to be off in your own little world."

"I'm fine," he assured her. "Just thinking about what might be waiting for me when I reach the next threshold of my level. My gut's telling me there's something big coming up. Just wonder what it might be."

Hae-In smiled, as she reached out and took his hand. "Whatever it is, good or bad, we'll handle it together. There's nothing we can't do if we work together."

Jin-Woo smiled, then blushed a little at the feel of her soft hand in his. Hae-In didn't seem the least bit embarrassed, as she instead pulled him into the light pillar. The pair were sucked up into it and when they came out the other side, they once again felt the familiar presence of the intense heat washing over them.

The flames that surrounded them burned even hotter, as they realised they were back in the burning same layout as the previous floors. "Great," Jin-Woo sighed, "I really missed this sight." Hae-In laughed, as the Shadow Mage with the orb appeared. "Go for it. I've got the numbers memorised. They're all yours."

The mage nodded and began to rush off, the pair watching him go as a bunch of demons appeared from between the buildings.

This time, the mage raised the Orb of Avarice and channelled its power. A massive fireball appeared above their heads and from out of it, a bunch of smaller fireballs started shooting out of the bigger one and struck the demons. Jin-Woo was amazed at how powerful it was, along with how much control it had.

Hae-In was also amazed. "Usually, control and power are exact opposites with one another." Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at her statement. "When you have a lot of power, you have a harder time controlling it. Smaller amounts of power are easier to wield, so most individuals with little amounts are able to perfect their skills and even keep them if they manage to gain more power later on."

"Right," Jin-Woo nodded. "Like using a water pistol compared to a fire engine. You need to focus in order to get the most use out of your limited resource."

"Um...sure. Anyway. Like I was saying. Power and control are usually opposites of one another. So the fact this guys has a ton of power and incredible amounts of control is amazing." Jin-Woo agreed, watching as the mage blasted more and more demons and only demons.

Every single fireball it launched hit the demons instead of the surrounding area. The fact he was able to do that was truly an impressive sight.

One demon managed to sneak around and attack the mage from behind, but the giant fireball unleashed a burst of flames that created a cage of flames that connected at the top. And slowly, the cage shrank before burning the beast within alive.

The hunters watched with wide eyes, amazed that the mage would do such a thing. Both thought about the mage's likely sadistic streak, making sure to remember not to annoy him for any reason. Not that they expected him to ever try and do anything to either of them.

When the fireball began to grow small, the mage summoned the flames back into his hand. He then swung his hand around, the flames flying off and creating a whip that he cracked towards a demon's head.

It struck the beast's noggin and burned it up, making the creature roaring as it fell to the ground.

The mage then swung it around and the whip coiled around another, burning it alive before the mage swung it around and slammed the demon into several more. They all caught fire and when the Jin-Woo warned him of his last thirty seconds, the mage sent it flying towards another group of demons. It then released the whip and the fire went flying with the demon, hitting them and exploding into a massive blast of heat and power.

Jin-Woo whistled, as the timer ran out and he started doing the calculations. And as the mage approached, he nodded. "Not bad. You're in first place." The mage nodded and bowed before returning the orb. It then melted back into this shoulder, as another shadow solider emerged from it.

Beste appeared, bowing as she waited to be given the orb of avarice. "Good luck," Hae-In told her as Jin-Woo handed it over.

She nodded, taking the orb as they began to search for an area with more demons in it. And when they found them, Jin-Woo started the timer. "Go for it." As soon as he said that, Beste cast her magic. The wolf on her shoulder leapt up and was enlarged to be the size of an elephant, which began to charge forward with a howl.

Beste flew through the air and once she channelled the orb of avarice's power, she created a single sphere of ice that she held in her hand.

Several large demons appeared from behind some of the buildings and went on the attack, only for the wolf to ram into one and push it down. It then bit into its neck and killed it instantly, as the other raised a fist to try and punch the wolf. But before it could, a massive sphere of ice shot towards it and stabbed into the beast's chest.

The demon roared, as it fell to the ground dead. And as the wolf returned to Beste, she raised the small ice ball before throwing it with all her strength.

It flew towards the crowd of demons and as soon as it hit the ground, it shattered and something incredible happened. The ice exploded out of it and flew out in all directions, freezing every demon that got caught in the crossfire and turning them into demon-cicles in a matter of moments.

Beste then created several more ice orbs and launched them in multiple directions, shooting them towards ares of the city where a bunch of demons were still hiding.

Hae-In leapt into the air and air-walked until she was high enough to see where the ice was flying. And to her shock, massive sections of the city had gone from hellish to frosty in a matter of moments. The demons she froze all died instantly, Jin-Woo watching the number of demons she killed raising more and more with each passing second.

She passed the number of demons the third mage killed in no time and the numbers just kept climbing, Jin-Woo doing the math in his head and realising she had killed over three hundred demons like it was practically nothing.

His level continued to rise, as more and more of the demons were killed. And eventually, the entry permit was located. But Beste just kept going, until she turned the entire city into a recreation of the environment he had first met her in.

"Holy crap," Jin-Woo stated as he saw his soul counter become dangerously close to the max. If Beste did this again on the next floor, he would complete the quest in no time at all. "Alright. You're definitely in the lead." She smirked and handed him the orb, not even bothering to wait until she ran out of time. It was clear she was the winner in this situation.

Hae-In jumped down, wondering if there was even any point in letting the other shadows compete. Beste was clearly the best choice for the orb. However, Jin-Woo was a fair master. He wasn't going to deny the others the chance to earn it, even if it was impossible.

That was who Jin-Woo was. The guy who liked to root for the underdog, likely because he had spent so long as the underdog.

He accepted the entry permit and the pillar of light appeared nearby. The pair then headed towards it, Beste morphing into his shadow as they did. Meanwhile, Hae-In was beginning to wonder something about the next shadow they would be letting use the orb.

They stepped into the pillar of light and when they flew up, they found another floor that was completely different from the previous ones. This one looked like the city had been overtaken by a large jungle, as massive trees were now growing out of the ground.

Moss and vines were covering every single structure, whilst several buildings had been lifted into the air by large trees.

"Alright," Jin-Woo nodded as the next shadow appeared. "Next is...Tank?" He stared at the giant ice bear, who growled excitedly. "How...are you going to hold it?" The beast roared and kept its mouth open, Jin-Woo chuckling as he stepped forward. "You're going to fight with it in your mouth? I don't know why you want it. You can't even use magic. But alright. Go for it." He placed the orb inside his mouth. "Just...don't break it."

Hae-In watched as Tank turned to run through the overgrown city, roaring as it smashed its way through trees whilst hunting for demons.

"Well this is going to be interesting," Hae-In stated. "What are you gonna do if he accidentally swallows it?" Jin-Woo said nothing and followed him, as he started battling. When they reached him, they found the bear fighting against a lamia demon that had snakes for hair.

It hissed and slithered around, its snakey body allowing it to wrap around the trunks and branches of large trees to move all over the place. Tank countered by slashing his claws through the trees, causing them to collapse as the beast watched the lamia fall.

Once it was on the ground, its tail pinned by the fallen wood, Tank made short work of it by crushing its head under-paw.

As this was happening, more jungle dwelling demons appeared. All of them were a bright green colour and were able to blend into the foliage of the trees, allowing them to attack from multiple angles. But Tank's powerful sense of smell allowed him to track their positions, as they flew down in an attempt to attack.

A green bat winged demon slashed at him, but Tank was able to dodge it and ram his head into it so that it was sent flying through a tree. Another demon was covered in vines that it launched at him. These wrapped around the bear, but Tank used his incredible strength to pull it towards him before crushing it under his paw.

The hunters watched and realised that whilst he was doing okay, he was still having issues. Mainly that one of his best weapons had been taken out of commission. His powerful jaws, which he couldn't use since the orb was stuck inside his mouth.

Instead, he made up for it by charging forward at high speed. He smashed his way through several trees, crushing them and the demons hiding within them. Several lamias were ripped apart and a bunch of vines demons were crushed. But the amount of beasts getting destroyed were nothing compared to the incredible show that Beste had put on.

"Maybe this wasn't the best floor to have Tank test his skills," Hae-In stated. "All these trees are getting in his way. If he had been in one of the normal floors, he'd probably be doing a lot better." Tank ripped through one of the trees and used his back legs to smash it towards one of the larger demons, knocking it over and crushing it under the rood.

"I don't think so," Jin-Woo stated. "Tank's strong. The fact he's able to kill this many without using the orb is impressive. But compared to what Beste was able to do. That orb's power is just wasted on him."

Hae-In agreed, as Tank ripped another one apart. He was clearly going all out and was using every trick he knew, despite likely having the least amount of intersect as an animalistic magic beast.

When the timer finally ran out, Jin-Woo saw that Tank's numbers were around the same amount as the second mage's. Good, though nowhere near enough for him to win the contest. "I don't know either, Tank. What was even the point of that?" Tank roared again, almost dropping the orb from its mouth. "Anyway. You gave it your best shot. You're satisfied now, right? Give it back."

Tank looked dejected, as he moved over to hand it to Jin-Woo. But before he could, another shadow soldier appeared and reached out to take the orb.

Iron roared, holding the item up as Jin-Woo sighed. "Alright, be quiet. I know it's your turn now." Iron slumped, still holding the orb in hand as Jin-Woo crossed his arms. "I have no idea what you're trying to do, but...go for it." Iron smirked and nodded, then turned to run off in search of demons.

They followed and when Iron finally found some demons, Jin-Woo started the timer. And as soon as he did, he realised what Iron was going to do.

"No, wait!" Iron smashed the demon's head in, using the orb the way a caveman would use a rock as a hammer. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Hae-In flinched, watching the shadow use such a valuable artefact as a skull crusher making her gulp. "Maybe you should stop it before he does any serious damage." If he cracked the orb, then this whole exercise would have been a waste.

Jin-Woo looked like he agreed, as Iron moved over to another demon and leapt up to smash its head in as well. "Iron!" He told him, as the shadow soldier turned to do the same to another demon. "You break that orb and you'll be in real trouble." He groaned, whilst Jin-Woo sighed.

It wasn't like they could actually punish Iron. It wasn't like they could send him to bed without supper, or threaten to cancel his shadow extraction. As much of an idiot as Iron was, he was still useful.

Iron kept smashing at the demons, searching for the biggest ones he could find. And as they ran through the city, they came across a one-eyed demon that was the largest one yet. Roughly fifteen meters tall, it was a giant furry demon with a gorilla stance. Its head was surrounded by a crown of horns and the backs of its hands had spikes, Jin-Woo and Hae-In watching as Iron let out a roar to get its attention.

"Do you think Iron can handle that?" Jin-Woo hummed, clearly not having an answer. Hae-In wanted to help, but the heat of the jungle was seriously getting to her. What was worse was that she had been wearing her battle gear for several days now.

She looked over at Jin-Woo, wondering if he could smell how bad she stank at the moment. She could smell it, but that was her enhanced sense of smell at work.

Iron let out another roar and charged forward, orb still in hand as the giant demon raised its colossal fist before swinging it down. However, Iron summoned his shield and lifted it up.

The fist slammed into the shield and almost smashed Iron into the ground, the pavement below him breaking apart and forming a small crater. But Iron as able to endure it and used all his strength to push the demon back, knocking it staggering as Iron charged forwards.

As he did, he swapped his shield for his axe and swung it around. But since he was holding the orb, he had to do this one handed and the strength behind the swing was halved. The shadow weapon cut into the creature's leg and did some damage, as Iron ripped it away and made the beast roar in pain.

Then, as the demon looked down at him, Iron dispelled his axe before pulling the orb in his other hand back.

"What's he doing?" Hae-In asked, as Iron took the same position a baseball pitcher usually took. "Oh no."

"Iron, DON'T!" Jin-Woo's words came too late, as Iron launched the orb straight at the demon. It moved incredible fast and smashed right into the demon's large singular eyes, hitting with enough force to smash right through it.

The demon roared and clutched its eye, which was no bleeding as Iron summoned his axe again. He then ran forward and used all his strength to leap up into the air and raise the weapon above his head. And with a roar, he swung the axe down and slammed right into his chest.

The axe went completely in and only the shaft was sticking out, Iron keeping a strong grip on said shaft as his own body weight began to drag him down with the axe.

Blood gushed everywhere, as the shadow soldier tore the giant beast front open. And when he reached the bottom of its stomach, Iron thrust his feet into its flesh and kicked away from the creature. As he landed, more blood flew out and the demon finally lost all control.

It fell forward and crashed into the ground, its head landing right next to Iron as he smirked at the hunters.

Both Jin-Woo and Hae-In crossed their arms, clearly not happy. "That thing better be intact," Jin-Woo stated as he pointed at the demon's bleeding eye. Iron huffed and moved over to the creature and started digging into its eye with his axe, Hae-In needing to look away as Jin-Woo tapped his foot.

Eventually, Iron found the orb and pulled it free. Jin-Woo looked it over and saw that it was undamaged. "Geez. Don't know what that thing's made of, but it's pretty strong." Iron smirked, as Jin-Woo gave him a disapproving look. "Don't ever do that again. And you'd better get back to work. Digging out the orb ate into a bunch of your time and right now, you're in last place." Iron's eyes widened, as he pointed to the giant. "That still only counts as one."

Hae-In giggled at the way Jin-Woo said that, as Iron rushed off to go find some more demons to smash.

The shadow kept smashing his way through every demon he came across, constantly hitting them with the orb of avarice. He focused mainly on the larger demons, even though this took a lot longer and he was attempting to use the orb despite how much harder that was.

As soon as the timer ran out, Jin-Woo called out to Iron. He stopped mid head smash, slumping as he saw the demon was still alive so summoned his hammer and smashed its head in anyway. This caused the entry permit to appear, Iron picking it up whilst Jin-Woo tallied his total.

At the same time, Beste appeared with a raised eyebrow at Iron.

Hae-In looked Jin-Woo over, seeing a nervous look on his expression. Clearly, he was nervous about the results. If Iron had somehow killed more demons than Beste, then Jin-Woo would have no choice but to give him the orb. But that would just waste it.

"Alright," Jin-Woo finished the math and turned to the pair. "And the one who killed the most monsters is...Beste." Beste smirked a superior smirk, whilst Iron growled in annoyance. "No pouting, iron. I made it clear that I would rate you guys on the number of enemies killed. Even if you killed a bigger monster, it doesn't change the fact that it's just one monster."

Hae-In watched as Iron slumped in defeat before handing the orb over to Beste, who accepted it without delay and smirked. Iron still looked defeated and Hae-In felt rather bad for him. But this was for the best.

"Don't be disappointed," Jin-Woo told him. "Next time, when I get equipment like a shield, I give it to you." Iron looked up at him and seemed to be considering if this was acceptable, the shadow eventually nodding in agreement. Jin-Woo smiled back and turned to Beste, who was clutching the orb in hand like it was a gift from good. "Congratulations, Beste. Now, to celebrate, I'll give you the chance to use the Orb of Avarice to your heart's content." Beste nodded, looking excited as Jin-Woo focused on the entry permit in Iron's hand. "Let's go."

Iron held the permit up and Jin-Woo took it, causing the pillar of light to appear in the distance.

The shadow soldiers returned to his storage before the pair of them made their way towards it. Hae-In was wondering if the next floor would be a jungle or desert, but she got her answer when they flew up and found themselves back in the burning city.

This time, Jin-Woo summoned his entire army and sent them off to find the permit. The two of them fought together again, making quick work of the demons and cutting their way through the monsters that attempted to get in their way.

Every swing of her sword and slash of his daggers, lead to the pair feeling closer and closer. Whilst Jin-Woo was the only one levelling up, Hae-In felt her own strength growing as well. Even though she still felt disgusting, being so sweaty, she could tell Jin-Woo's eyes were on her as she fought.

At one point, she couldn't help but show off a little by leaping up and stabbing her sword down into a demon's head. She bent over, right in front of Jin-Woo, giving him the perfect view of her backside as she remained bent over. Then, she slowly pulled her sword out and stood up properly.

When she glanced back, she caught Jin-Woo staring at her before he instantly looked away. She smiled, but also blushed as she turned her attention back to the demons.

Jin-Woo also focused on them and the pair started cutting their way through them, until they eventually cleared out all the demons in the area. They chose that moment to take a break, both summoning some more food to fill their stomachs with. And as they did, Jin-Woo looked up.

The climb's been smooth, but I can feel the difficulty increasing as we climb higher." He checked his MP and saw that it was slowly going down, likely from his shadows being cut down and needing to reform. "The number of shadows needing to regenerate is increasing as well."

"Then there's the heat," Hae-In sighed as she pulled on the collar of her battle suit. "It's getting so hot in here. Even on the floors that aren't on fire, the heat is insane. It's doing a serious number on our stamina."

Jin-Woo agreed, as he thought about the situation ahead of them. "Maybe we should leave and I can come back once I've got something to resist against fire magic." Hae-In didn't like that idea. She already knew he would need to come back on his own. The more floors they left unconquered before then would make her more uneasy.

"Let's keep going," she told him. "We'll go until we run out of time, food or the heat gets too intense."

Jin-Woo nodded, as he brought up the demon soul counter. "On the bright side. We've almost hit the twelve thousand soul mark." Hae-In smiled, glad at least that was almost over.

Just then, they heard a roar and looked over to see Iron approaching. He was carrying a large demon husk over his shoulder, trudging forward with a smirk on his lips as he got closer and closer.

"What's this, Iron?" The shadow soldier dropped the corpse onto the ground at his feet. "Again?" Jin-Woo took a closer look at the demon, as a window popped up stating that its soul was corrupted and unable to be used for shadow extraction. "I told you: All you need to do is bring the one item I asked for, not your new favourite corpse. I can't even turn it into a shadow soldier."

Iron tilted his head, looking confused whilst Hae-In smiled at his cluelessness. "Does he even understand you?"

Jin-Woo crossed his arms. "Come to think of it. Why can't I turn demons into shadows?" He rubbed his chin. "Isn't the Demon's Castle a System Dungeon, like the Job Change Dungeon?" He kept thinking before nodding. "Iron, I take it back. If there's a demon that catches your eye, could you bring it to me? Um, after killing it." Iron roared inn agreement, as Hae-In raised an eyebrow.

"What are you up to?"

"You never know," Jin-Woo told her. "There might be one in a hundred demons that can be extracted." Hae-In nodded, as they began to make their way through the city.

They once again cut their way through the demons they found, which were still stronger than the lower floors. But they were still no match for them and Jin-Woo's shadow army, allowing Jin-Woo to raise his exp gauge higher and higher.

He was drawing closer to level eighty and couldn't wait to see what happened when he did, Beste continued to use her new toy to power up her ice blasts enough to create massive frost pillars that were filled with demons.

Igris cut his way through the demons, whilst Tank smashed his way through others. The mages united their power to blow a bunch of the beasts up, whilst Iron smashed his way through them with his hammer axe.

The lower ranking soldiers, that being the knights and elves, worked in teams to take down the demons. And after almost an hour, one of the elves hit a demon in the head that was holding the entry permit. The elf quickly returned to Jin-Woo and handed the entry permit to him.

"Thanks," Jin-Woo smiled as Hae-In nodded. "Great work." The elf nodded and disappeared into his shadow along with the others, as the pillar of light appeared in the distance once again.

Hae-In thought about what the next floor held. "Knowing our luck. It's gonna be full of lava." Jin-Woo chuckled, as they got closer to the pillar of light and stepped into it. As they shot up, Hae-In braced herself to become even hotter. But she was in for a rather large surprise.

When they arrived on the next floor, they were suddenly bombarded by a powerful blast of freezing cold wind. "Augh!" Hae-In hugged her body, as she felt herself shiver whilst looking around. The entire city was covered in snow, the buildings being half buried the same way they had back in the desert.

The two hunters flinched, as snow got in their eyes and they were forced to look away. Jin-Woo turned to Hae-In. "Well, at least it's not too hot."

"This isn't much better!" The pair began to head through the frozen city, as Jin-Woo pulled a pair of coats out of his inventory. Hae-In gladly accepted them, as a bunch of white furred demons appeared.

"Come forth!" Tank, Beste and their troops appeared, not looking the least bit upset by having to be in the snow. In fact, they seemed thrilled to be back in their element, Beste taking the lead and using her orbs power to manipulate the snow and transform it into a large block of ice that froze the demons into place. Her comrades hadn't sunk into the snow, so they were able to charge across the ice whilst Jin-Woo and Hae-In watched and warmed up.

They started fighting to warm themselves up, Jin-Woo having gotten used to this after his week in the Red Gate.

Hae-In, however, was not having an easy time. The fact she still felt sweaty after all the hot floors in the past, was only made worse since she could feel the stuff drenching her clothing and causing it to slide around between her skin and her coat.

She moaned, as she stabbed her sword through a beast's chest and killed it. She sighed and wished she could take a bath. A shower would even work, even if it was only a minute long one.

However, as she air-walked into the air to kill a few more demons, she noticed something off in the distance. Smoke.

But when she looked closer, she realised it was something else. Steam. "No way. Don't tell me." She rushed off towards the area the steam was coming from and when she got closer, she realized it was exactly what she thought it was. "A hot-spring!"

Said hot-spring was a pool of water the size of her apartment, being fuelled by a small waterfall and letting out a bunch of steam.

She pulled off her glove and checked the water, finding it was just hot enough to not be painful. And after using her prophetic vision to dive in, she found she wasn't being attacked by demons. It seemed to be a genuine hot-spring and not a trap. "Yes!" She laughed, looking ready to pull off her clothes and jump in.

But then, she remembered where she was and who she was also with. Eating and sleeping in a Dungeon was one thing, but bathing in one was another story.

However, the heat from the pool was just too much for her to resist. As such, she opened a message to Jin-Woo. "Send Beste and the bears to my location. And don't come near this area until I contact you again." She sent the message and waited, as a yeti demon appeared.

She easily dispatched it, as Jin-Woo sent another message.

Jin-Woo: Why?

"I found a hot-spring and I'm going to take a bath. But I need someone to watch my back. So send Beste and the bears over to me."

Jin-Woo: Alright. They're on their way. I'll make sure the rest of the soldiers don't go near there. But don't expect to hog that spring all to yourself. I could use a bath as well.

Hae-In agreed and waited, killing another demon as the shadow soldiers finally arrived. "Thank you," she told them. "Tank. You and your boys surround the pool and make sure nothing gets near me. Beste, you be my last line of defence." The shadows nodded, as Hae-In began to undress.

She still felt the biting chill of the surrounding cold, but quickly got into the pool and sighed as she felt the warm water relax her body. She intended to stay there for a good while, even using the hot water to wash her clothes before using her drones to dry them. By the time she got out of the water and dried herself, again with the help of the drones, she felt clean and refreshed.

They still had a long way to go before the castle was clear and without getting to dip in the hot water, Hae-In might have gone crazy. But now she was relaxed and ready to keep fighting, whilst Jin-Woo would get to have his own bath and wash his clothes.

All the while, the two had wondered what the other had looked like whilst bathing.

Yeah, the winner was kind of obvious. Still, seeing how she won was fun. Higher and higher they climb and it was be long before they reach the next boss. What'll happen when they do? Stay tuned to find out.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments. Can't wait to see what you say after reading this one. Well, enjoy.

Having enjoyed the hot-spring's amazing cleansing properties, Hae-In and Jin-Woo returned to the battle feeling refreshed and ready for anything.

The two slashed their way through demon after demon, the Shadow Army helping do the same. No longer being dragged down by their own sweaty states, they were like a well oiled machine that took down anything and anyone that got in their way.

As Jin-Woo cut the head off another yeti demon, he kept an eye on his EXP and demon soul counter. The two were growing more and more with every fight. And if he didn't know any better, he would have thought he would hit both his goal and the level up at the same time.

Hae-In stabbed a demon through the chest with her sting guard, then spun around to cut another's head off, whilst Jin-Woo launched his daggers at some more. She smiled at him, happy to be clean and able to show off without worrying about making Jin-Woo throw up.

Demon after demon was slain and as Jin-Woo cut off the head of the last one, it finally happened.

The screen told him he had levelled up, Jin-Woo smiling at that. But then, he was told that he had acquired the twelve thousand souls needed to complete his task. "Finally." He put his daggers away, as he got the rewards window. "Hmm. Well would you look at that."

Hae-In moved over to him and saw that he had earned himself another loot box. One that she recognised the name of. "The cursed loot box?" Jin-Woo nodded, wondering if he should open the box now and see what was inside.

But before he could, Iron let out a roar and they looked around to see him dragging a large dead demon towards them. He was also carrying something else. The entry permit, which pulled Jin-Woo out of his thoughts about the loot box. He would focus on that later, once they were done with the castle.

"Thanks, bud." He took the entry permit, the pillar of light appearing in the distance. He then turned towards the demon and found it wasn't suitable for shadow extraction. "This one's a new go either." Iron slumped at that, kicking the demon as Jin-Woo chuckled. "Good idea, though. I'm guessing this guy had the entry permit." Iron nodded. "Would make sense it would be special. But it's still useless for us."

Hae-In sighed. "I'm honestly not looking forward to the next level. I'm guessing we'll be back in the super hot part of the dungeon. And I just cleaned the sweat off my clothes."

Jin-Woo shrugged. "Maybe the level after that will be a tropical beach." Hae-In smirked, but doubted that as they summoned the shadows back to them and headed to the light. Once through it, they were warped back into the flaming hellscape with the pair removing their winter coats.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find the next entry permit and they were able to warp up to the next level. This one was a giant swamp, with murky water and even more heat than the previous levels. They didn't enjoy battling through this area, with the pair once again sweating up a storm as they tried to find the entry permit.

Higher and higher they climbed, the floors constantly swapping between the fiery city and a random environment. Their supplies soon began to grow low, including their water which they found themselves needing more and more every floor.

The heat from the place grew more and more intense. And as they finished off the last of their rations, Jin-Woo knew he couldn't go on for more than one floor. He considered leaving, but realised what number the next floor was. "Floor Seventy-Five," he stated. "I can't be sure, but it might be possible we'll run into a floor boss on that level."

"Then let's check it out," Hae-in stated. Jin-Woo nodded, as Igris managed to find the entry permit required to get up to the next level.

When the pair arrived, they found this level was like nothing they had seen so far. It was still the blazing city, the heat being even greater than before. But this version of the city was surrounded by a dark cloud filling the sky. And as they walked forward, the found that the flames didn't give off the normal amount of light that they usually did.

As they stepped forward, they noticed a mist-like smoke filling the air that made visibility much more difficult. And after taking a few steps, they spotted something else. A gravestone.

"Well," Jin-Woo frowned. "That's not the least bit freaky." Hae-In frowned, as they continued down the street. As they made their way through it, more gravestones appeared. The city had been merged with a flaming burial ground, which made the pair frown as they kept going.

"Sense anything?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Woo tried to locate the demons they needed to fight. But at the moment, he couldn't find anything.

"No. It's like the place is deserted." He passed another gravestone, trying to read the name on it but finding it difficult to do so. It as like the words were written in another language. "There's gotta be something here. Just keep a sharp eye out."

Hae-In kept looking into the future and found nothing happening to them. But finally, she saw something and gasped. "Get away from the graves!" Jin-Woo didn't argue and leapt away, but there were so many graves that it was impossible to get away from them.

Soon, the ground next to the gravestones exploded and a bunch of rotting arms flew out of them. Some were zombie like, whilst others were entirely skeletons. And soon, they pulled the rest of the bodies out of the ground.

Jin-Woo was shocked to see the decomposed carcasses of already dead demons pulling themselves out of the ground. Hae-In took to the air and summoned her drones, whilst Jin-Woo summoned his shadow soldiers. "Take them down!"

The soldiers charged and started cutting their way through the demons, ripping many of the corpses apart. But this was proving more and more difficult depending on the state of the demon. Since they were already dead, simply stabbing the beasts didn't work.

Hae-In's drones smashed through one's heart and it didn't even slow down, forcing the drones to smash into it multiple times until it was entirely ripped apart. This proved to be the only way to destroy these things, with the skeletons getting crushed to powder whilst others needed to be cut to bits before they finally stopped.

"Aim for the heads!" Jin-Woo cried, as he leapt up and stabbed one straight in the forehead. But contrary to what he had seen in media, the zombie didn't instantly die. "Oh, TV so can not be trusted." He used his mutilation skill to rip it apart.

Hae-In swung her sword around and cut through the zombies at high speed, slicing off their heads, arms, legs and anything else that kept moving after decapitation. "I thought this was supposed to be the demon castle?"

"They are demons," Jin-Woo stated. "Zombie demons." He kept slicing through demon after demon, his shadows also needing to completely dismantle them to stop the horde. And eventually, they destroyed them all and were able to take a break.

"So hot," Hae-In groaned. "I thought graveyards were supposed to put a cold chill down your spine?"

Jin-Woo looked around, trying to figure out if there was a clue to tell them where to go. But the place was now deserted. "You mind taking a look upwards?"

"Yeah. But you really need to get yourself something with wings." He leapt into the air and air-walked, Jin-Woo watching and unable to take his eyes off her from below.

She leapt higher until she was above all the surrounding buildings, allowing her to look around as she marched through the air. And eventually, she spotted something off in the distance. A larger collection of gravestones, along with large wooden poles sticking out of the ground. She couldn't tell what those poles were for, but she doubted it was for anything good.

Then, beyond that, she saw something else. A throne. One that was almost as large as a building. And there was something sitting upon it, though she couldn't quite tell what?"

"See anything?" Jin-Woo asked as she jumped down and pointed in the direction she saw the throne in.

"That way. There's something there. Something just like Vulcan. Only this one seems to be bigger." Jin-Woo smirked, as he was clearly excited to face another strong opponent. "But to get through it, we're gonna have to fight our way through an entire army of undead."

"You saw them?"

"No. But I saw a bunch of gravestones. More than the ones here. And if we have to kill them the same way we killed these ones, that's gonna take a while." Jin-Woo hummed, as he spotted a lump of dirt that had once belonged to a now burned up tree.

He moved over to it and Hae-In looked confused, moving over to it with him. "Can you draw me a design of the terrain?"

Hae-In nodded and used her sword to start etching the area she had seen. She drew the crown, which was representing the throne, then etched all the gravestones and the poles. "That's pretty much it."

"Huh," Jin-Woo looked it over and smirked. "So the back of the throne isn't as well guarded as the front."

Hae-In looked and realised he was right. "Yeah. Guess whoever designed it, expects us to attack from the front." They both smiled, remembering something they had had to learn on the job as hunters. "Work smarter, not harder?"

"You know it." Jin-Woo stood up and turned to his shadows, which were all waiting for his instruction. "Igris." The knight stood to attention. "Give us ten minutes and then head in that direction." He pointed towards the area Hae-In had pointed. "You're in charge. Cut down anything that gets in your way." Igris nodded, as Jin-Woo and Hae-In rushed off in another direction.

They ran as fast as they could, Hae-In occasionally heading straight up to make sure they were going in the right direction. And eventually, they managed to get to the area of the city that was at the side of the mass graveyard.

The pair climbed up to the stop of a building, using it to take a closer look. And there, they were able to get a good look at the creature sitting on the throne. Some kind of skeleton creature, wearing robes and having horns sticking out its head. It was carrying a scythe and had some strange looking creatures floating next to it. As Jin-Woo focused, he managed to see the name above its head that was orange.

Soul Sheppard, Metus

"Huh," Jin-Woo hummed, "kind of a bummer. I was hoping for something stronger."

"It's probably stronger than Vulcan was," Hae-In told him. "You've just levelled up enough to be a match of it." Jin-Woo nodded, as he heard movement coming from the front of the mass graveyard.

Looking around, he saw his shadow army beginning to attack. Igris was leading the army forward, Beste blasting the undead demons whilst the archers shot several down. This did little against the horde, the arrows sticking out of their chests as they continued to fight.

The foot-soldiers charged and began to attack the demons, cutting at them though getting smashed into smoke as they attempted to destroy them. Luckily, Jin-Woo had plenty of mana to respawn them. Second by second, the demon were cut down.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In watched this take place and both smiled, nodding as they leapt down the building. Jin-Woo had a plan and told it to Hae-In, who nodded as they reached the bottom. She summoned her drones and sent all but one of them off, Jin-Woo going with them whilst she stuck back.

He and the drones reached the edge of the graveyard and Jin-Woo began to make his way through it, passing a bunch of poles that all had skeletons chained to them. He couldn't help but wonder if they were the remains of previous players, who had all met their head against this army of demons. If so, he couldn't let himself join them. And he definitely would not let Hae-In join them.

Roars filled the air, as Jin-Woo began to sneak through the graveyard. He had activated his stealth skill, allowing him to move undetected through it. A smashing sound, likely Iron, echoed through the city, whilst a large pillar of ice exploded out of the ground full of several demons. Jin-Woo knew his army was cruising through the demons without a problem. And it wouldn't be long before they had finished off all the undead.

Jin-Woo even got a level up as he got closer and closer to the throne. And luckily, his mana was high enough to keep him invisible until he reached it.

He and the drones remained hidden, as he heard the sounds of battle continue. As his stealth skill deactivated, he heard a crashing sound followed by a roar he recognised as Tanks. One of the wooden posts in the distance was broken and it collapsed to the ground, likely crushing several more zombies and possibly a few shadow soldiers.

He kept checking his mana and found none of them were respawning anymore. The sounds of battles continued, but the demons' cries were getting less and less. Soon, there were no cries at all.

Jin-Woo had reached the throne and found a few demon zombies guarding it from the front. And as he and the drones got closer, he got a better look at Metus and saw just how big he and his throne were. But not big enough to scare him.

He heard movement and looked around to see his shadow army approaching, the demons guarding Metus roaring as they prepared to attack. And as they did, Jin-Woo leapt up and landed on a section of the throne above Metus. The skeleton beast didn't even notice him, too focused on Jin-Woo's soldiers as they started cutting down his last remaining guards.

Jin-Woo sat and watched for a few moments, then smiled before cutting his stealth. And as he did, a flash of light signalled Hae-In warping in. She also sat on part of the throne, the light catching the zombie's attention.

"Come on," Jin-Woo chuckled. "It's almost too easy." Metus slowly turned towards them and spotted Jin-Woo and Hae-In, both sitting on the top of his throne. Hae-In had one leg cross over the other with her chin in her hand, smiling down at him whilst Jin-Woo stood up. "Sorry. But did our boys give you trouble?" Hae-In wanted to remind him he had a girl in his group, but decided not to spoil the moment. "Weren't expecting it to go this way, huh?"

Hae-In spotted the two creatures floating next to Metus, which looked ready to start attacking. But before they could, her drones shot forward and started smashing through the creature. Within seconds, they were reduced to almost nothing.

Metus' face became one of absolute terror, as Jin-Woo chuckled. "I'd wonder if the undead feel fear, but...who cares." With that, the two leapt into action and flew down towards the skeletal fiend.

In the blink of an eye, they were both of the ground with their weapons drawn. Metus remained still for a moment, only for its head to suddenly slide away and drop off its head. Seconds later, the top of the throne was also sliding away from the main section.

The poor creature hadn't even been able to put up a fight, as the hunters and their shadow soldiers turned to his remains. They saw Metus' head break apart, as a window popped open showing they had slain the beast and Jin-Woo had gotten another two levels. "Almost felt too easy despite getting two levels out of it."

The humans smirked at one another and chose this moment to sit down, as Jin-Woo got a message telling him how many rewards he had gotten. The first, obviously, was the entry permit to the next level. He also got a few other prizes, as he ate a power bar.

"That's the last of our rations," Jin-Woo stated. "Guess this is as far as we go."

Hae-In nodded, as she finished off her own power bar. "I don't think we'd be able to go any higher either. Not with how hot it's getting. Another few degrees and we might start losing health." Jin-Woo agreed.

"We'll need to look into new equipment for when we come back." Hae-In nodded, as Jin-Woo looked through his rewards for beating Metus. "A necklace that's part of the set connected to the earring from before." He brought it up and equipped it, the necklace a red skull in the middle with bones on either side of it.

As the necklace vanished, Jin-Woo suddenly remembered something and brought up the demon's castle quest window. He had completely forgotten about the prize for that and smiled seeing the loot box being offered, Jin-Woo finally bringing it out and fining it to be a black box with red ribbons holding it together.

"Alright," he smiled. "Time to finally see what's inside this thing."

"I've got a pretty good idea," Hae-In smiled as the ribbons disappeared and the box began to slowly open up. And when it did, the light within was released and took shape above Jin-Woo's hand. And soon, it disappeared to reveal a sinister looking black key.

Jin-Woo caught it and chuckled. "Oh, wow. Another key. I am so shocked." Hae-In giggled at this, as the window opened to tell Jin-Woo its information. However, all the info on it was nothing but question marks. "Really. You're not gonna tell me when and where to use it?"

"Maybe there's some kind of condition you have to meet," Hae-In guessed. "Which makes me all the more nervous."

Jin-Woo sighed, as he stood up. "Well, it's not like I was really after the key to begin with." He looked over at the pillar of light in the distance. They could easily head up to the next level, but they wouldn't last up there. Not without any supplies of the key that would protect them from the intense heat.

Jin-Woo then brought up a window that contained the crafting recipe for the elixir of life. And sure enough, two of the three ingredients had been filled out. First was the World Tree Fragment that they had gotten by defeating Vulcan. And then, there was the Echo Forest Spring-Water he had just acquired from Metus.

Hae-In stared at the empty slot, waiting for the last ingredient that would allow them to make the potion they were after. "One more," Jin-Woo whispered. "One more and I save mom."

Hae-In felt worried, fearing Jin-Woo might try and rush into the next level without the needed supplies. However, as much as he clearly wanted to get the elixir as fast as possible, he knew getting himself killed wouldn't help anyone.

As such, he turned to walk away. "When I come back, it's on."

Hae-In nodded, glad he was seeing sense. They just had to get the right equipment and Jin-Woo would be able to scale the rest of the castle. Alone.

She frowned, not liking that he was going to be doing the rest without her. She knew she didn't have to worry, since Jin-Woo was now over level eighty and stronger than her. But she still didn't like not being able to come back. She wasn't sure if she could get more time off and other than outright quitting the Hunters Guild, there was nothing else she could do.

She frowned, wishing there was something they could do to help Jin-Woo.

He needed more help when facing off against the upper floors. But even if he chose to try and add some more shadows into his army, he would only be able to get low level ones since he was still E Rank. Unless he snuck into a higher ranking gate or somehow got caught in another Red Gate, he wasn't going to be getting any high ranking shadows.

However, as Jin-Woo prepared for them to leave, Hae-In had an idea. There may have still been a way for him to get a new powerful shadow. One that she wished they had tried before entering the castle.

"Actually, Jin-Woo. Before we head back, can we go back down?" Jin-Woo seemed surprised by this.

"What for?"

"I had a thought. I know it's a long shot, but my intuition is telling me we won't regret it. We can fast travel to the bottom of the tower, so it shouldn't take too long." Jin-Woo was curious about what she was planning, but nodded and he recalled his shadows before they both opened the portal that allowed them to head down.

The two stepped through it and once again found themselves on the first floor. And there, they found the doorway that they had originally entered through.

Hae-In headed through it and Jin-Woo followed, the two making their way through the hallway until they reached the entryway. "What exactly are we looking for?" Hae-In smiled, as she pushed the door open.

"Did you forget what we had to do to get the key to enter this place?" Jin-Woo nodded. How could he forget?

"Wait?" Jin-Woo's eyes widened, as Hae-In made her way to where they had finished their battle when they first came here. "You want me to..."

"I know it's been a while since they died, so that might be an issue. But those two weren't demons, so maybe they're not corrupted like the creatures inside the tower." Jin-Woo smiled, as he realised she had a point.

Soon, they arrived at the spot where they had originally battled the guardians of the tower's entryway. A part of Jin-Woo had expected them not to be there, equating it to a video game boss vanishing once you left the area. But there they were.

Cerberus lay upon the ground, in the same state Jin-Woo had left it in. And the snake boss was a ways away.

The pair stepped up to the three-headed dog and looked it over, a smile appearing on both their lips when they saw the words appearing above it. 'Shadow Extraction Possible.' "Alright." Jin-Woo turned to Hae-In. "This was your idea. You want this one?"

Hae-In smiled, but shook her head. "Nah. I'll take the snake. You take him." Jin-Woo nodded and stepped forward, staring down at the body of the creature that had almost killed him. And after taking a deep breath, he spoke up.

"Arise." With that, the beast's body was consumed by a shadow. It swirled around the body for several seconds before exploding off it, the screen telling him the extraction had failed. "Dang it. Maybe it's been dead too long." He took a deep breath before trying again. "Arise!"

The shadow swirled around the body again. But this time, it didn't explode off it. Instead, it flew off and began to take shape. A smile appeared on Jin-Woo's lips, as the shadow formed the quadrupedal body of the three headed dog. All three heads let out a howl, as the beast was revealed to have shrunk compared to the original.

Jin-Woo wasn't sure if that was because of how long it had been dead, but he saw that it was now as big as one of his standard shadow bears.

He smiled, as he watched the dog stare at him. Its previous feral nature was gone and whilst it still looked like it could rip him apart if it wanted to, it had a lot more emotion behind its eyes aside from blind rage. "Hey there." He stepped forward and reached out to scratch the middle head on the chin.

The head let out a whine of joy, clearly happy with what Jin-Woo was doing. But the other two heads were looking jealous and moaned with a pleading look on their faces.

Jin-Woo wasn't sure what to do, since he only had one extra arm. Luckily, Hae-In stepped forward and started scratching the beast's left head. "Aren't you a good boy?" She smiled, as Jin-Woo scratched the right head. All three were happy about this and let the pair scratch them for a minute or two.

When they finally stopped and stepped away, Jin-Woo saw a naming window appear in front of it. "Hmm." He thought for a moment, considering simply naming it Cerberus. But he wasn't sure if cerberus was the creature's actual name, or species name. In the ancient myth, there was only one three headed dog. But in a lot of media, all dogs with three heads were classified as a cerberus. "Alright. This might be a cop out, but I think it should work." He looked the creature in all six eyes. "I shall name you...Cerbie."

The name was instantly typed in and accepted, whilst Hae-In almost tripped and fell over at how lame the name was. "Seriously? That's what you're naming him?"

"What's wrong with that?" Jin-Woo asked, as Hae-In sighed.

"I weep for your future children. What are you gonna name your firstborn son? Hugh-Min?" Jin-Woo hummed, as if he was actually accepting it. "I was joking!" She sighed, as Jin-Woo let out a chuckle. "Well, I guess Cerbie works. But maybe we should give each head a name. In case we need to give them each an instruction that it alone needs doing."

"Huh. Not a bad idea. But right now, I'm too tired to come up with anything good."

Hae-In nodded, then turned to her own potential gains. She moved over to the body of the snake, amazed it hadn't begun to rot yet. "Alright. Let's see what we can do with this." She held her hand out to it, seeing she could extract the shadow. "Equip!" The shadow burst out of the body and began to take shape, Hae-In seeing it was actually turning into something rather small.

She reached out and grabbed it, the shadows beginning to fade and reveal the weapon she had crafted.

It was a tube, roughly the size of her Horn Calibur's handle, looking like a very stumpy snake. The head of the snake was at the top and the mouth was open, whilst the other end had a pommel that she realised was meant to be the curled up tail of the snake.

As she held it, she wondered what it was supposed to do until she channelled some magic into it. And suddenly, fire exploded out of the snake's mouth.

The flames shot in a straight light, going roughly ten feet until they finally stopped. Then, the fire stream began to bend and fell to the ground. She didn't know how, but the fire was keeping shape and had become a long whip that she could swing around. "Cool."

"I'll say," Jin-Woo nodded. "What are you gonna call it?" Hae-In thought for a moment, flicking the whip around for a moment before getting an idea.

"Pyro Lash!" As soon as she said that, a window popped open to show the weapon's abilities.

Item: Pyro Lash
A-Rank Whip Weapon
STR +70/INT +50
Blaze Fang: Cost 30 Mana. Causes burn effect

She smiled and gave it one final whip before shutting off the flames and storing the weapon in her storage. She then turned to Jin-Woo, who was once again scratching the centre head of Cerbie before adding him into his storage. A storage that had grown quite large, thanks to all the levels he had gained during their trek up the tower.

"Well," Jin-Woo stated, "that was a good idea. But now it's time to head back." Hae-In agreed and opened her inventory, bringing up the clothes she had been wearing before they entered the dungeon. And in a flash, she was once again wearing said clothes along with her hat and backpack.

Jin-Woo did the same with the coat Hae-In had gotten him, which had been a big help during their journey upwards. The pair then opened a gate and stepped through it, glad to be leaving the place and no longer being baked alive by the heat.

On the other side of the planet, devastation had been unleashed upon a city of America.

Flames and smoke billowed into the sky, as the destroyed building lay in utter ruins. The members of the American Hunters Association stared in awe at what they had just seen, whilst the firefighters worked to quell the flames and rescue anyone who might be trapped under the rubble.

"I've heard that fights between S Ranks can affect entire landscapes," one of the agents stated. "Laying waste to everything around them." Another part of the building broke away, crashing down as the firefighters avoided it. "Damn! Maybe we were fortunate."

The other agent nodded. "Could have been much worse, I agree. But it was over so...fast." He stared at a large figure, who was laid out in the rubble looking like he had been beaten hard enough to break every bone in his body. "Before they could do any more damage, Mr Hwang lost. Almost instantly."

In another part of the city, a figure in an orange jumpsuit was walking away from the flaming area.

He stopped for a moment and looked back, anger still raging through his body about what the punk had said. "Jin-Woo." Tears began to break free. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to save you." All he could do now was complete his mission and make sure the rest of his family remained safe. "I have to find the Shadow Monarch. Find him and kill him." With that, he disappeared into the night. Off to complete his mission and hopefully, reunite with what was left of his family.

That was a fun chapter. And we got to see Jin-Woo add a new Shadow to his army at the end there. I'm kind of mad I didn't think to have them add Cerberus and the snake to their shadow armies at the start of this arc, but at least I managed to get them to do it in the end.

So, what do you think will happen now that they're out of the Demon's Castle? How will things play out for our two heroes? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Hopefully, I can use them all in some way to make this story better. Until then, enjoy. 

It was the dead of night in Songpa-gu, as a portal opened up in front of Daesung Tower.

From out of it, Jin-Woo and Hae-In both stepped out looking exhausted. As soon as they appeared, the cold night hair hit their skin and they sighed. They still felt hot from the heat of the dungeon, so the sudden change to the cold caused them both to shiver.

The portal closed and nobody was around to see them, as they stood there letting themselves adjust to the new temperature. Since they had faced a similar situation on one of the floors of the dungeon, they were used to the sudden shift and soon acclimated.

Once they did, Jin-Woo opened up the window showing the crafting instructions for the elixir of life. "Two of three ingredients down," Jin-Woo stated. "But since I'll be going back in alone, getting that final items probably gonna be the hardest."

Hae-In nodded. "Not only will you be alone, but I'm betting the monsters past floor seventy-five are gonna be even stronger. Maybe even on the same level as the Jeju Island monsters."

Jin-Woo agreed. "I need to try and get stronger, even if it's only a bit." He crossed his arms and thought about it. "The Demon's Castle helped me farm exp, but officially I'm still stuck at E Rank. So, how am I gonna participate in higher level raids?" Hae-In's eyes widened, as she realised what he was about to say. "Guess it's time to stop faking."

"Are you going to retake the hunter evaluation?" She asked, as Jin-Woo nodded.

"Not like I could hide the truth forever. And now that I'm S Rank, I won't draw as much attention with my power rising more than it already is." Hae-In nodded, smiling since this meant he could finally join her in the Hunters Guild. Considering how well they had fought together in the castle, fighting in the same guild would be perfect.

"Well you'll need to contact the Hunters Association and get yourself an appointment. Hopefully, you can get one that's for the next day or soon after."

"Right," Jin-Woo agreed. He let out a yawn, Hae-In realising he hadn't had a good nights sleep in over a week. They had had to constantly rest in abandoned buildings, and only for a little bit so they wouldn't be overwhelmed by monsters. Hae-In was feeling tired as well, though almost felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep much this night.

However, she was a little worried about Jin-Woo. He would need to take the subway to get home and there was a good chance he would drift off the sleep and miss his stop.

So, as Jin-Woo began to walk away, Hae-In spoke up before she could stop herself. "Jin-Woo." He stopped and glanced back at her. "Do you...wanna come to my place?" Jin-Woo's eyes widened in shock. "It's just...my place is closer. You can crash in my spare room and head home tomorrow."

Jin-Woo hummed. "You sure you're okay with that?"

"Of course," Hae-In nodded. "By the time you get home, you'll barely have enough time to really sleep. And what if you wake Jin-Ah up getting back in. She needs as much rest as possible to do well in school."

"Fair enough," Jin-Woo nodded. "Well, lead the way." Hae-In smiled and began to lead Jin-Woo through the city, which was still rather busy despite the light hour. Luckily, nobody noticed them as they headed through the town.

She kept her head down and her hat covering her face, whilst being glad she was back in her normal clothes. Her combat gear was fine to fight in, but it had become rather uncomfortable after wearing it for a week non-stop. She would need to give it a proper cleaning when she got back.

Forty minutes after leaving the dungeon, they arrived at Hae-In's apartment. There was just one small issue.

"How do we get in without anyone seeing you?" She asked, unsure if she wanted to answer any questions if Jin-Woo was seen entering the apartment with her.

Luckily, Jin-Woo already had a plan. Before she could suggest him scaling the outside of the apartment, Jin-Woo vanished and she realised he had used his Stealth skill.

A smile appeared on her lips, as she used her ID to enter the building with Jin-Woo rushing inside along with her.

"Ms. Cha," her doorman smiled. "You're back. I hope your trip was a fun one."

"It was," Hae-In wasn't technically lying. "A little tiring, but worth it. So, did anything happen whilst I was gone?"

"No. Everything was pretty much normal. I have your mail here." Hae-In smiled at him and happily took it, thanking the man before heading towards the elevator. She had to wait a while and was glad that Jin-Woo had so much MP, so he wouldn't accidentally time out his stealth before it arrived.

She gave the man a nod before heading into the elevator, Jin-Woo appearing beside her the moment the doors closed. "That was close," he stated. "Hopefully, nobody else will be coming in the elevator." Hae-In nodded and took the time to check her mail, finding it was just a few bills and a coupon for a free wax at a nearby salon.

Jin-Woo chose this time to take out his phone and check to see if there were any messages. And by the looks of things, there were.

She took out her phone and found she had a few missed calls from the entire week, making her frown when she saw one from her cousin, a few from her guildmates and two from Jin-Ah.

Hey. If you're not busy, you can come hang out at any time you want this week. it's kinda lonely here without Jin-Woo. Or maybe you're a little preoccupied with something this week. ;)

Hae-In sighed, as she checked the next message that had been sent earlier that day.

Jin-Woo's supposed to be coming home today or tomorrow. You wouldn't happen to be reappearing as well, will you?

Hae-In groaned, unsure how she was going to explain the whole thing to Jin-Ah. Jin-Woo looked over and spotted the texts, chuckling as he did. "It's not funny," Hae-In told him before the elevator reached her floor and opened. She looked into the corridor and found the place was empty, allowing them to step out into the hall and make their way towards her door.

She took her keys out and quickly unlocked her door, letting Jin-Woo in before anyone could show up.

Jin-Woo looked around, though could barely see due to the darkness that filled the room until Hae-In hit the light switch. That let Jin-Woo see the apartment in its entirety and smile as he nodded. "Nice." He was instantly drawn to the large window that made up the living room's far wall, allowing them to look out at the night skyline. The many lights in the distance, gave the city an almost galaxy-like appearance to them.

Hae-In removed her backpack and sighed as she dropped it onto her couch, then headed over to the kitchen and took out a pair of soft drinks she had kept in the fridge. Having survived entirely on water for the last week, she needed something zesty.

She handed the other to Jin-Woo and he happily took it, the pair drinking them down and sighing at the refreshing taste.

"Thanks," Jin-Woo nodded before looking back out at the city. "Man. What a sight."

Hae-In nodded. "That's why I chose to live here. Watching this view never gets old. It's the best way to unwind after a hard day of slaying monsters." Jin-Woo nodded, unable to deny how good the sight was. And watching it with Hae-In beside him made it even better.

They kept watch for a while and enjoyed their drinks, Hae-In turning to Jin-Woo. "You wanna take a shower?" He gave her a surprised look. "The hot-spring helped, but we both really need to clean ourselves up. I'm not letting you stick up my spare room and I intend to take a long rinse, so you'll need to go first."

Jin-Woo chuckled and nodded, as Hae-In led him through the apartment until they arrived at the hallway that led to three different rooms. One was her room, the other was the spare room and the third was the bathroom. And when she opened it up for Jin-Woo, he was amazed by the large tube and shower waiting for them to use.

"Towels on the side. Feel free to use any of the soap."

"Thanks," Jin-Woo nodded before Hae-In left and he started getting undressed.

It took all of Hae-In's willpower not to take a peak and see Jin-Woo in the state of undress, as she headed into her own room to find clothing that was more comfortable then the jeans and top she had been wearing. As much as she wouldn't normally let people see her in such a state of undress, the idea of letting Jin-Woo see her like that made her blush but also excited.

So, she found a loose fitting top that she would be able to relax in along with some comfy shorts. She quickly changed, whilst also wishing she had something she could give Jin-Woo to wear. But with him as he was now, nothing she had would fit him.

Once she was changed, she stepped back into the living room and grabbed her phone.

Since she had been out of the loop for a week, she needed to make sure nothing insane had happened whilst she was gone. So, she checked all the local news feeds to figure out if anything crazy had happened. And whilst there had been a few dungeon breaks over the last few days, none of them had been anywhere near her Guild's area.

She also checked the international news, praying she had missed a new S Rank Gate or something popping up. But again, there didn't appear to be anything she needed to worry about. Everything was perfectly normal.

She continued to search through the news headlines until she heard the bathroom door opening. The young woman glanced around and spotted Jin-Woo, as he stepped into the room still wiping his hair with a towel.

Hae-In had to do a double take, as she realised Jin-Woo had changed. He was now wearing a gray shirt and had a pair of black jogging bottoms with a white stripe on the sides. He removed the towel and looked over at her, noticing the look she was giving him. "What?"

"Did you have those clothes in your inventory?"

"Yeah. i figured I might need a change of clothes, in case what I wore in the dungeon got damaged." Hae-In nodded, understanding his logic. After their first fight in the Demon's Castle, it made sense to have a backup set of clothing.

"Alright. I'm gonna go take a shower. If you're hungry, help yourself to anything in the fridge." Jin-Woo nodded, as she headed for the bathroom. Once inside, she locked the door and began to undress. The room still had an air of heat to it, likely from the hot water Jin-Woo had showered with. And as she undressed, she also turned on the shower to let it heat back up.

She was soon stepping under the warm spray and sighed, feeling the sweat begin to wash off her body as she quickly grabbed the body wash and started rubbing herself down.

Whilst the hot-spring had been a great break for her to relax with, she was glad to finally have the chance to properly wash herself off. And as she cleaned her body off, she thought about Jin-Woo and the fact that he was actually in her apartment.

She never would have considered something like this before. But in the time that she had known Jin-Woo, they had grown close enough for her to trust him in any situation. She knew that even if Jin-Woo wanted to, he would peak on her in the shower. Though a part of her actually wished he would, maybe even join her.

She blushed at that thought, feeling like she was being driven crazy by all these urges she had been feeling. She remembered how she had tried to pose for him in the middle of a battle, along with imagining how their hot-springs time could have been spent together.

She slapped her cheeks several times, trying to get those thoughts out of her head. But it was proving more difficult than she realised. She had spent a week with him non-stop. Fought side by side with him, seen his more childish and playful side with his Shadows. And seen just how determined he was to save his mother. She had even watched him sleep, though in a semi-unconscious state. Seeing that had made Hae-In's emotions go completely out of control.

She wanted to take things to the next level with Jin-Woo. Though she loved having him as a friend, she wanted more.

When Hae-In finished bathing, she quickly got out and got dried off. She was glad she had a hairdryer in her bathroom, allowing her to stop her wet locks from curling as they tried. Once done, she got dressed and headed out.

Jin-Woo was still in the living room, likely looking at something on his phone as he waited for her. Hae-In wanted to sit beside him, but also felt like she needed something to take the edge off the situation. So, she headed into her kitchen and grabbed two glasses alongside a bottle of wine that she usually kept for when she needed to take the edge off after a stressful day.

She was hardly an experienced drinker, who always limited herself to one glass of wine so long as she didn't have a serious appointment the following day. She would only drink whenever she had a particularly rough raid, mostly if one of her raid partners were injured or worse.

She sat down and held a glass out to Jin-Woo, who seemed surprised as he took it. "You remember I can't get drunk, right?"

"Yes, but I'm sure you'll still enjoy the limited buzz you get." She poured the wine into his glass before half filling hers, Jin-Woo taking a large swig of his drink whilst she gave hers a gentle sip.

They would sit like this for a minute or so, looking out the nearby window at the many lights that made the city glisten. Hae-in glanced down at the slight gap between them on the couch, wishing she could fill it up and sit right beside her. She was wishing a lot of things right now and hoped the wine she had would help her fulfil at least one of them.

"So what's the plan?" Hae-In asked, taking a sip of her wine whilst Jin-Woo chugged his without needing to worry about getting drunk.

"Plan's simple," Jin-Woo told her. "Go to the association as soon as I get an appointment, get reassessed and get my licence updated. After that, I need to look into getting some better gear. If I'm going to take on the Demon's Castle, I'll need to make sure I have something to keep me from turning into a baked potato."

"Is there anything in the system shop that could help?" She asked, but Jin-Woo shook his head.

"Not that I'm aware of. Which means I'm gonna have to buy something from an actual item shop." He groaned, "that's gonna cost a bunch." Hae-In nodded, knowing more than anyone what high quality gear cost. "On the plus side. Once I have the updated licence, I'm gonna be eligible to buy higher ranked gear. That shouldn't be an issue."

"You're kidding, right?" Jin-Woo glanced at her. "You really think getting updated is going to go smoothly. Sorry, Jin-Woo, but you're not getting that updated licence for at least a couple of days."

"What do you mean?"

Hae-In smiled. "Do you want to know what happened when I got assessed?" Jin-Woo shook his head. "The machine couldn't register my power level. I tried three times and it came up with an error. That was when it was revealed that I was S Rank, since the machine couldn't measure anything higher than A Rank."

"Huh." Jin-Woo thought about it and realised Hae-In had a point. He was going to become an official S Rank. The first one in two years. That was going to put him in the spotlight, no doubt. "So what happened?"

"I had to go back several days later, when they had the permission to use a more powerful scanner. And before that, I ended up meeting with the association." This surprised Jin-Woo, as Hae-In took another sip of her drink. "Apparently, they were contacted as soon as I was confirmed an S Rank. Since none of the guilds are allowed to contact Hunters that haven't been registered, none of the scouts there were allowed to speak with me. But the association didn't have that restriction."

Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at this, wondering why that was so. But slowly, he put the pieces together. "Oh, I get it. They wanted the chance to recruit you before you signed up with any of the guilds."

"Exactly. I actually spoke with Gun-Hee Go himself. And he asked me to join the association."

"Why didn't you?" Jin-Woo asked, finishing off his drink and getting a system warning telling him the toxin had been neutralised.

"Because that's not what I wanted. I know joining the association would have been a smart move, but it didn't feel right. If I had joined them, it would have felt like a waste of my abilities."

"Right. Since the association only deals with low ranking Gates. If you joined the association, the chances of you fighting in high ranking Gates would have been low."

Hae-In nodded. "I had the ability to kill powerful monsters more easily than any other hunter. Getting stuck with weaker Gates would have been a waste of my powers. If someone died in a Gate because I wasn't there to help. I would have betrayed everything I became a hunter to uphold."

Jin-Woo nodded. He knew about her parents and how they had died. It made sense that their deaths would motivate her to protect those that couldn't protect themselves. "So you think the association are going to come looking for me?"

"I guarantee it," Hae-In nodded. "The only question is, what are you going to do when they show up?" Jin-Woo knew what she meant. Would he agree to join the association, or would he choose to join another guild.

He remembered back to when he and Hae-In had first met. That night, after they left the instant dungeon and Jin-Woo took down the golem. She had told him that once he was strong enough to get reassessed, he could join the Hunters Guild with her recommendation.

At the time, something like that had felt like a pipe dream. Even though he had gotten stronger by then, becoming a member of the Hunters had felt almost impossible. But now. Now it was simply a matter of asking to join. From what he had heard of the Hunter's Guildmaster, he would accept him in a heartbeat.

However, Jin-Woo wasn't sure if he wanted that. After all, Hae-In had told him countless times about how restrictive the Hunters Guild was. If you weren't going on a raid, you were training non-stop, doing a bunch of paperwork or doing TV interviews or endorsement deals. And whilst the money was obviously good, Hae-In's apartment clear proof of that, Jin-Woo preferred to do things his own way.

And that would also be a problem if he joined the association. Instead of levelling up, he'd be stuck at C Rank Gates and lower. That was the last thing he wanted.

"I don't think the association is really where I wanna be," Jin-Woo put his glass down. "Like you said. Having all this power and being stuck in lower-rank Gates would be a waste. And I wouldn't be able to level up as easily if I join the association." Hae-In smiled, clearly thinking Jin-Woo planned to join the Hunters Guild. But was that really what he wanted?

"Just make sure to let Chairmen Go down easily. You don't want him thinking you're only in it for the money." Jin-Woo nodded, as Hae-In finished off her drink as well. And whilst she wasn't one hundred percent drunk, she wasn't sober either. She was just a little buzzed. Enough to take the edge off of everything.

The two just sat there, letting the light of the city wash over them as they enjoyed one another's presence.

Jin-Woo glanced at Hae-In and the light really made her look amazing, causing Jin-Woo to feel his heart begin to beat faster and faster. Hae-In soon noticed him staring and glanced at him, Jin-Woo looking away and feeling his face heating up.

Hae-In stared at him for a few more moments, then looked back out at the city. As they did, Jin-Woo decided he wanted to say something to her. "Thank you." She glanced back in surprise.

"For what? Warning you about the association?"

"Yes, but also...everything else. Ever since I met you in the instance dungeon, I've felt like my life has gotten better. You being there for me, helping me through this whole thing. I don't know if I could have gotten this far without you. And if I did, I know I probably wouldn't have come out the same person I was. Everything I've been through. If I hadn't had you there with me, I know it would have changed me. Especially with what happened with the lizards. If you weren't in my life, I might not even be human any more. And without you, I wouldn't be as strong as I am. Not just with the Level stuff, but with everything else. I'm stronger now, thanks to you."

Hae-In blushed at this praise, as she brought her legs up and hugged her chest. "I'm glad you came into my life as well. Ever since I became a hunter, I've felt like I was alone. Non-hunters treated me like some super untouchable celebrity that they couldn't talk to, whilst I couldn't be around hunters for long because of their smell. But then I met you. Getting the system let me find a way to shield myself from my mana smell, which let me bond with the hunters in my guild. And then I got to meet Jin-Ah and become friends with her. You might think meeting me helped you, but meeting you helped me more."

Jin-Woo smiled back, the two staring at one another as Jin-Woo thought about what the future might hold for them. After he got the elixir and healed his mother, he wanted to make up for the lost time he and Jin-Ah had with her. And he wanted Hae-In to be a part of that.

He wanted to keep spending time with her, whether that was through fighting monsters or just being with her for times like that. He didn't know what the future had in store for him, but he wanted Hae-In to be a part of that future.

Hae-In finally moved, getting up off the couch. Jin-Woo realised she likely planned on going to bed and decided he should also get some sleep as well. So, he got up and the pair headed towards the bedrooms.

When they got there, the two glanced at one another and smiled. "Well, good night." Hae-In blushed at this, as Jin-Woo smiled back at her.

"Yeah. Good night." But despite that, they didn't go into their rooms. They just stood there, staring at one another and smiling. Neither wanted to leave the other. They just wanted to stay together, despite their beds calling them for a good night's sleep.

Jin-Woo found himself remembering that dream he had had, when he had returned home to find Hae-In there. That memory was one that made his heart beat faster, as he kept staring at Hae-In.

Meanwhile, she kept blushing whilst a look of indecision appeared on her face. And then, her gaze seemed to turn distant. It was only for a moment, but Jin-Woo caught it. And when her eyes returned to normal, her face turned even redder. "Did you just look into the future?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"What did you want to check?" Jin-Woo could tell she wanted to do something, but first wanted to see how doing it would turn out. And now she knew.

"I...I wanted to see what your reaction was."

"My reaction to what?" Jin-Woo didn't get to ask anything further, as Hae-In suddenly rushed forward. The next thing he knew, she was wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down until his head was level with hers. Then, her lips smashed into his.

Jin-Woo's eyes went wide, as he realised what Hae-In was doing. She was kissing him. She was actually kissing him. And not just a simple peck on the lips or cheek. She was kissing him full on.

His brain needed a moment to reboot. And when it did, he realised how much he had been wanting to do this for a while. He didn't know when this desire to kiss her had started, but he knew he had wanted to for a long time. And now that he was, he was going to take it for all it was worth.

Hae-In suddenly felt Jin-Woo wrap his arms around her waist and the next thing she knew, she was being pushed backwards until he back was against the wall. She moaned against his mouth, as she felt Jin-Woo beginning to kiss her back.

She had seen this exact same thing happen in her vision and she was glad she had seen this. She was done letting her nerves get the better of her around Jin-Woo. She wanted to push things to the next level of their relationship. And now she had.

They kissed like this for almost a full minute before Jin-Woo finally pulled back and stared down at her. The pair's eyes locked and they felt their hearts beginning to beat harder. And soon, they were both smiling before bursting out laughing.

They kissed again, more passionate as they continued to moan against the other. Jin-Woo's hands moved down and the next thing Hae-In knew, he was holding her ass and she shuddered. But she didn't stop and instead, used her S Rank strength to jump up.

Soon, she was at the same level as Jin-Woo's head and her used his hold on her to keep her from falling, whilst she wrapped her legs around her waist. Jin-Woo pushed her into the wall again and they kept making out, their moans filling the room as they felt their bodies press against one another and their hearts beating a mill a minute.

Eventually, Jin-Woo pulled his lips away despite Hae-In's protests. They both panted, as their foreheads connected and they stared at one another.

They stayed like this for almost a minute, wanting to just feel one another and stare into the other's eyes. But Jin-Woo had to speak. "You...you want this, right?"

"Yes," Hae-In nodded. "More than anything." Her fingers began to trail through his hair, as she thought about Jin-Woo and everything they had been through up to that point. "When I first met you in the dungeon, it was curiosity that caused me to keep thinking about you. I wanted to know why you smelled so good, despite being a hunter. Then, we really met and I got to know you." Jin-Woo smiled. "You're an amazing person. The way you care about your friends and family. The determination that kept you fighting, even when you were so much weaker. The way you seem able to stay calm, no matter the situation you're in. And even when you got stronger, you never let it turn you into a jerk like so many high ranking hunters. Being with you has been the best thing to ever happen to me. And I don't want that to end. I don't want to hold back with you. I can't any more."

"Hae-In." Jin-Woo could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"What...what about you? Do you...do you want this?"

Jin-Woo smiled. "Yes. I don't know when I started feeling this way, but I can't stop thinking about how amazing you are." Hae-In blushed. "When we first met, I thought you just felt pity for me. I didn't even consider that you might like me. Never thought any girl would like me, considering how scrawny I was."

Hae-In smiled, remembering Joohee and how she had obviously liked him.

"But, with everything we've been through together. The time we spent, either training, fighting or just hanging out. The more I realised how much I loved having you in my life. And now that I know you feel the same way, I..." He couldn't find the words, as Hae-In smiled and pulled his head towards hers again.

They kissed for another few minutes, until Hae-In reached down and opened the door to her bedroom.

Jin-Woo didn't need any more instruction, as he pulled her away from the wall and headed into the bedroom. He carried her towards it and once at the edge of the bed, Jin-Woo found himself falling onto it with Hae-In beneath him.

They both grunted, as they bounced for a moment and their lips pulled away from one another. They took a moment to stare into each other's eyes and smiled, as Hae-In kissed Jin-Woo once again.

After a few moments, they began to roll around on the bed. Their hands started roaming around one another's bodies, as they grew more and more overwhelmed by their passion. And eventually, Hae-In grabbed the bottom of Jin-Woo's shirt as he rolled on top.

He finally pulled away and allowed her to lift his top up, revealing the well toned muscles her had created thanks to his daily quests and all the times he had levelled up. The sight of his washboard abs made Hae-In almost drool, as her hands traced over them.

Jin-Woo smiled down at her before moving down to kiss her again. Hae-In kissed back before rolling around until she was saddling his waist.

They pulled their lips apart and Hae-In sat there, knowing what was now expected of her. And as much as she wanted to show him, she was a little nervous. However, she refused to let that stop her and she reached down before slowly and sensually pulling her top up.

Jin-Woo gulped, as he watched her remove the top and sports bra. And with one final tug, they came off and Jin-Woo was greeted to an amazing sight.

Hae-In threw the clothing away and saw Jin-Woo staring, which made her blush as she tried to cover herself with her arms. "Please stop staring like that." She felt torn. She wanted Jin-Woo to stare at her, but she felt so self-conscious about it.

But eventually, Jin-Woo sat up and was soon face to face with her. "You don't have to be embarrassed. You're amazing."

"You...you think so?" Jin-Woo nodded.

"Most guys might think this, but I believe it with all my heart. You're the most beautiful woman in the world. And the fact you're here with me, makes me feel like the luckiest guy in the world." Hae-In's blush grew three shades darker and before Jin-Woo could say anything else, she pushed him back down to the bed and kissed him.

Jin-Woo happily kissed back and the pair continued their fun. Soon, the rest of their sleepwear was thrown to the ground. The pair somehow got under the covers and were soon joined in the most intimate way possible. It would be a night neither of them would ever forget. And one that would reshape the world as they knew it.

Well, bet you weren't expecting that. Yay, they've finally gotten together. Hope it wasn't too sudden, but I think there's been enough build up. Time to enjoy what we've all come to see. Now, how will this change effect the rest of the story? Only time will tell. 

Chapter Text

Thanks for the heaps of comments from last time. Glad to see what happened get such a positive response. Now, let's keep this train rolling

As the sun began to rise above the horizon of the city, the light began to stream into all the open windows that happened to be facing that direction.

This included the window of Hae-In's bedroom, filling the room with light and hitting the face of the young woman in order to awaken her from her slumber. However, she didn't want to awaken at the moment. With how late she had fallen asleep the previous night and what she had done, she wasn't ready to wake up quite yet.

She moaned, as she pushed her face into her pillow in order to try and block out the light. But she quickly realised that said pillow, wasn't a pillow at all.

Begrudgingly opening her eyes, she looked down and saw her head was resting on a solid piece of flesh. The bare chest of the man she had given herself to the previous night, now lay below her as she rested upon it. She was half laid on the bed, with her upper body pressed against Jin-Woo's body.

He had an arm wrapped around her, holding her close to him as they lay under the blanket.

Hae-In felt her face beginning to heat up, as she remembered everything they had done the previous night. And whilst she didn't regret any of it, the lack of booze in her system was making her feel much more embarrassed. Every second the night replayed in her mind and she was shocked she had actually done something like that.

As they laid there together, Hae-In felt Jin-Woo's heartbeat and heard his breathing. When she looked up at him, she was finally shown something she had never seen before.

She had seen Jin-Woo sleep during their time in the Demon's Castle. But those times he had been only half asleep, being ready to jump up away at any moment if they were attacked. But now, he was one hundred percent asleep. His face was calm and didn't have any of the serious pressure she usually saw him wear when awake. The last time she had seen him so relaxed, was when she had first found him in the Double Dungeon. And that was back when he was much younger looking. This was her first time seeing a relaxed form of this more mature face. And she liked it.

She continued to stare at him for several minutes, as the room filled with more and more light. Though she wished she had closed the curtains the previous night, she was glad the room was becoming bright enough for her to see Jin-Woo like this.

If she could, she would have stayed like that all day. But she knew Jin-Woo would be waking up soon and the last thing she wanted, was for him to see her staring at him like some kind of weirdo stalker. So, despite not wanting to, she carefully removed herself from Jin-Woo's hold before rolling off the bed.

When she did, she suddenly felt very sore. Their activities the previous night had been amazing, but Hae-In's body had certainly taken a serious beating from it. Jin-Woo had been gentle at first, but the pair had soon gotten lost in their own pleasure and they both found themselves going all out.

She was amazed her bed had been able to take the strain of two S Ranks, along with the floor. She would likely have to steer clear of her downstairs neighbours for a while.

As she grabbed her clothes off the floor, she realised she was going to need another shower to clean off the sweat. And then, she realised something else. Something she hadn't considered in the heat of the moment. The possible consequences of their actions last night.

As much as Hae-In would want a child with Jin-Woo, she definitely didn't want one right now.

Panic washed over her, as she rushed out of her room and tried to think of what to do. Could she go to a store and by something? That would be the smartest move, but if someone recognised her... "It'll be all over the internet in hours." She did not need to world to find out she had gotten laid last night. "Oh, what am I gonna do?"

Suddenly, something happened that shocked Hae-In. A System Window popped up and she jump back, having not expected this to appear.

System now analysing data and constructing new skill. Analysing. Analysing. Analysing.

"What?"

Constructing. Constructing. Constructing. System analysing and skill construction complete. Skill: Contraception, has been acquired.
Would you like to activate this skill? Yes/No

Hae-In could only stare at the screen in absolute shock. The system had just created and installed a brand new skill for her. A skill that, if she was assuming correctly, would keep her from getting pregnant.

"What the heck?" She could hardly believe it. She had assumed the skill had some mental connection to her, but she hadn't expected it to be able to read her mind and worries and actually create a new skill for her. But if it was willing to do that, who was she to argue. "Yes. Activate Contraception skill." The Yes option flashed for a moment before the screen disappeared and Hae-In glowed.

She smiled, feeling her worries disappear as she headed into the bathroom. As she did, she thought about what this new skill would mean for her and Jin-Woo. Now they could do it as much as they wanted without worry.

Hae-In blushed at that thought, since she didn't want their relationship to become all about sex. She was actually a little worried, fearing they might have rushed into the physical part of the relationship. Hae-In didn't even know what they were to one another. Was Jin-Woo her boyfriend now, or did he simply see her as a girl he could have fun with minus a connection?

She didn't think Jin-Woo would ever see her like that, but she couldn't be sure. They would need to discuss this, even though she knew that was going to be one heck of an awkward conversation.

She washed herself up and dried off, dressing back into her clothes before heading out into the living room. And when she did, she heard movement and realised Jin-Woo must be up and about. That meant she was running out of time to figure out what she was going to say to him, which caused her to panic as she headed into the living room.

She heard her kettle boiling and realised Jin-Woo was making coffee, which Hae-In seriously needed a cup of. Tea would likely be better for her nerves, but she was still feeling tired after last night and would need something to calm herself down with.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the main living space and glanced over to her kitchen.

Sure enough, Jin-Woo was there and making coffee for them both. When he looked up, he saw her and smiled. She also smiled, but also blushed as she remembered what they had done last night. "Two sugars, right?" She nodded and sat at the kitchen table, Jin-Woo putting the sugar in before pouring the water and milk in.

Since he preferred his coffee black, he put the milk away before pouring his own. He then sat opposite them and the two sat in silence, enjoying their morning coffee as they gauged the situation.

They could both feel the slight awkwardness in the air, but didn't let it get the better of them. They continued to sit there and properly waking up, the coffee being a big hand in there. "So," Jin-Woo finally broke the silence, "last night was..." He could seem to find the words.

"An event," Hae-In replied. "You don't regret it, do you?"

"No way," Jin-Woo shook his head. "That was the best night of my life." Hae-In smiled. "You don't-"

"No!" Hae-In shook her head as well. "You're right. It was the best night ever. Although, I am worried we might have jumped into bed a little too quickly. I hope you don't think I'm-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Jin-Woo gave her a serious look. "What we did was something we both wanted. it's not like we just met one another last night. A lot of people probably do it the first night they're together. At least, people who already had a relationship."

Hae-In smiled and nodded, as she took another sip of her coffee. "You're right. Just, don't expect to be getting a repeat performance of last night without some effort to earn it."

Jin-Woo nodded. "Alright. I'll take you out for a nice dinner and even pay a guy to play violin for you, if you want." Hae-In laughed, Jin-Woo smirking as they just sat there.

"But, what does this make us?" Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at that, as Hae-In stared at him. "I know we're in a relationship. But what is that relationship right now. Are you my boyfriend? Or have we not gotten to that stage yet?"

Jin-Woo hummed, sitting back as he took another ship of his drink. "Honestly, no idea. It's not exactly like this is something I have experience with. Last night was the first time I ever even kissed a girl, let alone all the other stuff. What do you want us to be?"

"I don't know," Hae-In sighed as she finished her coffee and got up. "I've liked you for a really long time and I love being with you. But I have no idea what we're supposed to do next. This is usually so much easier on TV and in films. They just kiss and it's happily ever after."

Jin-Woo got up and followed her into the living room, as Hae-In kept having a minor mental breakdown about the situation they were in. He wanted to help her, but he didn't know what they were. He couldn't help but feel confused as well about their status. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, but were they ready for that.

Hae-In turned to him and the pair just stared at one another, both waiting for the other to say something and figure out what their situation was.

But just then, something happened that neither of them were expecting. A system window popped up in front of them both, giving them an urgent quest.

Pseudo-Player can now acquire the title of Player. 
In order to achieve that title, Pseudo-Player must eliminate Player. Doing so will allow Pseudo-Player to acquire title and gain all stats, skills and items currently held by the Player. Failure to do so will result in penalties. 
Penalties include system uninstall. System uninstall will also revert Pseudo-Player to un-awakened status.

Hae-In's eyes widened as she saw this. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. The system was telling her to kill Jin-Woo, or she would lose both the system and her S Rank Status.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was staring at his own window and couldn't believe it.

Threat Detected
Urgent Quest: Eliminate Threat. Failure to accomplish this task will result in penalties.
Penalties include system uninstall. System uninstall will also revert Player to un-awakened status.

He looked from the window to Hae-In, who seemed to be sweating bullets. "What...what does your window say?"

"It's...It's telling me I can become a Player. But...I have to kill you to do it." Jin-Woo's eyes widened, as he realised why his window was telling him the threat had appeared. "And if I don't do it, I'll lose both the system and my S Rank status. I'll turn back into a normal person."

Jin-Woo's body shook, as he re-read his window and realised he was in the same boat. "It's telling me the same thing. If I don't kill you, I'll lose the system and become a normal person again."

Hae-In seemed to have already guessed this, but the confirmation made her look ready to start crying. "I don't understand. Why is it doing this to us?" She turned to the system window. "Is this some kind of sick joke to you?" The system window responded by showing a pair of timers, which were counting down from five minutes. If it hit zero and neither of them attacked the other, they would fail their mission.

Jin-Woo shook, rage flowing through him. The system had made him kill before, but those had been evil people he didn't care about. Now, it was trying to make him kill the women he had grown so incredibly close to.

"Jin-Woo." He looked up and saw the upset Hae-In staring at him. "Do it. Kill me." Jin-Woo's eyes widened. "You need to. You have to save your mother and with the system, you'll be able to become the most powerful hunter in the world. You could have everything you've ever wanted. So just...kill me."

Jin-Woo stood there, staring at her in absolute shock. Then, he turned to the window and the timer that was slowly going down. "No." Hae-In's eyes widened. "I won't do it. I can't."

She frowned, "it's okay-"

"I won't do it!" Jin-Woo almost yelled. "I don't care what it costs me, I won't kill you. And I won't let you kill yourself," he could tell she was considering that. "I want to save my mom. I want to be able to live with her and Jin-Ah again. But if I have to trade the life of someone I care about. Someone I..." Hae-In didn't need to guess what he was almost about to say. "If I have to trade your life for this power. Then it's not a power worth having. I don't care if I turn back into an E Rank. I don't care if I become weaker than even a non-awakened human. I won't choose this power over you."

"Jin-Woo." Hae-In could hardly believe it. Even after having so much power. Being able to slay any monster he came across, he was willing to give it all up for her. "But your mother. The elixir."

"Mom wouldn't want me to sacrifice another life for hers. Even if I never told her, she would figure it out. And she wouldn't be able to live with herself, knowing her life had come at the cost of such an amazing person losing theirs." Hae-In smiled, as Jin-Woo turned to the window. "I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but I'm not playing it. I don't care if you turn me back into a normal person. I'll find a way to get back into that demon's castle and get that last ingredient. And if I ever meet you, I'll make you pay for putting me through this."

Hae-In nodded. "That's right. We're not your pet, which you can make do tricks with rewards and threats. If you want one of us to kill the other, you shouldn't have let us spend so much time together." She moved over to Jin-Woo and grabbed his hand. "After everything we've been through together. After all the challenges we've overcome. if you think we would just turn on one another for more power, then you haven't been paying attention to us at all."

Jin-Woo smiled at her, squeezing her hand as the timer kept counting down. "I don't care if we turn back into normal people. It might take some explaining, but we'll find a way to survive." He pulled her closer, Hae-In pressing her body against his as he wrapped his arms around her. "Hae-In. I know we've just started this. But I know how I feel about it. Even if I can't say it right now, I want you to know that you are the most important person in my life."

Hae-in pressed herself into his chest. "I feel the same way." She looked up at him, their eyes locking.

This wasn't like last night, when it had just been their passion taking over. Now, she felt a genuine connection between them. And even if they weren't ready to use that word yet, they both knew that was how they felt about one another.

So, as the timer kept counting down, she moved onto her tippy toes and her lips attached to Jin-Woo's once he bent down. They kissed, loving every moment of it, as the timer suddenly went into overdrive and instantly counted down to zero in a single second. It seemed the system realised they weren't going to kill one another, so didn't bother wasting time.

A buzzer sounded and they looked around to see the zeroed out timer. So, they held one another as they waited to lose their awakened powers. And soon, they started glowing.

However, they didn't feel like they were getting weaker.

In fact, Hae-In felt like a weight of some kind had been lifted off her body. New strength began to flow through her, as she looked herself over and saw the light growing brighter and brighter. "What's happening?"

Suddenly, a new window popped open.

Urgent Quest Success.
The bond between Players has grown stronger. Pseudo-Player can now evolve into Player.

"What?" Hae-In asked, shocked that she could actually become a true player. "What's going on? Why is it offering to make me a player?"

Jin-Woo thought about it and slowly, realisation struck him. "Oh, it was a test." Hae-In raised an eyebrow, whilst Jin-Woo kept thinking about it. "Remember what I said. How power acquired through sacrificing the one you care about most, is a power that's not worth having?" She nodded. "Well maybe the system was thinking the same thing. That someone willing to sacrifice the one they care about most, just for more power, isn't worthy of having that power."

"So it was testing us?" She frowned. "That's horrible. What if one of us had tried to kill the other?"

"No idea. Maybe it would have tried to stop us. Or maybe whoever killed the other, would lose the system and actually get their awakened powers stripped like it was threatening us with."

Hae-In sighed. "Whoever designed this system has a serious screw loose." Jin-Woo nodded in agreement. "Well, I guess it was also helping us in a way." She hugged him again, Jin-Woo hugging her back. "I don't care if it's too soon to call us it. After what we just went through, I want us to have those titles. You're my boyfriend."

Jin-Woo smirked. "And you're my beautiful girlfriend." Hae-In blushed at the beautiful part, then looked up at him and kissed him again. After that, they turned their attention to the system window. "So what are you gonna do? It's offering you the chance to become a Player. You realise what that means, right?"

Hae-In nodded. "It means I'll be able to level up myself. All the restrictions I had will be gone." The system window asked if she wanted to upgrade to full Player status. She and Jin-Woo smiled at one another and she nodded. "Yes." The word flashed before the window disappeared, right before a bright flash appeared around Hae-In.

She gasped, as she felt her strength surge even more. The weight she felt had been lifted before, was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. Jin-Woo had to step away and shield his eyes, but he kept watching as Hae-In's body was surrounded by the light.

Eventually, the light faded and Hae-In returned to normal. She gasped, feeling more powerful than ever before. And soon, a window popped up.

Congratulations Player.
Your status has been undated. All Battle Points will now be converted to gold.
You have been awarded 2000 gold
You have been awarded fifteen status points.

"So I won't be getting any more Battle Points," Hae-In realised. "Makes sense. I'm guessing my daily quests will give me status points now." Jin-Woo nodded, thinking the same thing. He was also curious about what other changes Hae-In's updated system would give her.

Just then, the window changed again.

Your Job will now be updated.

Hae-In's eyes widened, wondering why her job was suddenly getting upgraded. But before she could say anything, her body was surrounded by shadows. "Wow!" Jin-Woo cried, as he staggered back and watched the shadows swirl around her.

After a few moments, they were absorbed into her body and Hae-In gasped. She almost fell over, Jin-Woo catching her and asking if she was okay. "I'm fine," she nodded. "Head rush." She shook her head, as the window popped open.

Your job has now been updated.
The one who stands beside the king of shadows. A bond of trust, forged in battle, now blooms into feelings that will grant them both more power. You watch his back and warm his bed. Giving him something worth fighting for.
Shadow Cohort > Shadow Consort

"Shadow...Consort?" Hae-In could barely believe it. Was she getting this upgrade, simply because she had become Jin-Woo's girlfriend. "I'm not sure how I feel about this."

Jin-Woo smirked. "I kind of like it." Hae-In gave him a look. "What? This way, we'll be equals. Instead of you being my general, or whatever a cohort counts as, you'll be on the same level as me." He gave her a smirk, "every king needs his queen." Hae-In blushed at the thought of being a queen to Jin-Woo.

She tried to remember history class and what the word consort actually meant. Usually, consorts were simply the spouses of reigning monarchs. However, there were instances of mistresses being granted that title. Was that what she was considered now? A mistress? And if so, what would happen if the two of them ever got married. Would she get a full on upgrade to Shadow Queen or Shadow Empress?

"I guess I can live with the job title." The window popped up, telling her that her shadow storage had increased. Though it still wasn't as large as Jin-Woo's, she would still be able to hold a variety of shadow soldiers and shadow weapons within it. "Nice." She sighed. The threat of nearly killing or being killed aside, this morning had been amazing.

She had woken up next to the man she had fallen for, confirmed their feelings together, gotten upgraded to a full on Player and gained a new job. Even though she had only been a cohort for a little over a week, she much preferred this new job over it. And now, she could begin to level herself up. Jin-Woo might have been able to get ahead of her in levels, but now she could catch up thanks to him still being stuck doing lower levelled Gates until his licence was updated.

She sighed, sitting down on the couch as she let herself finally relax.

Jin-Woo smiled, only to suddenly hear her stomach grumbling. This made her eyes shoot open, whilst Jin-Woo chuckled. "Hungry?"

She blushed, "I've been eating nothing but boxed lunches and power bars for the last week. And after last night, it's a miracle I wasn't starving when I woke up." Jin-Woo laughed, as she got up and headed into the kitchen.

Luckily, she had some cereal that would be perfect to fill her stomach. Unfortunately, the milk she had in the fridge wasn't enough to fill the bowl. She was amazed it hadn't gone off, though she could tell it was a day or so from doing so.

She also didn't have any bread or anything really breakfast worthy, meaning she was going to need to get something to eat from somewhere else. "Guess I do need to head into the office," she sighed whilst Jin-Woo stepped up to her.

"And I need to head home and make sure Jin-Ah hasn't burnt the place down." Hae-In nodded, as she turned towards her room. "Mind if I get another shower before heading out?"

"Sure. I need to find something presentable to wear for the office anyway. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat before we have to go our separate ways." Jin-Woo frowned at that last statement, feeling upset that he would have to say goodbye to her. Even though he knew it wouldn't be for long, especially after they had spent a week together, being apart felt wrong to him now.

He didn't say anything and headed for the bathroom, whilst Hae-In moved into her room. The place still smelled of their nighttime activities and she quickly opened a window to air the place out before taking a moment to make the bed. Once that was done, she headed over to her closet and searched for something she could wear to the guild.

Finding something, she began to get undressed and looked herself over in a nearby mirror.

When she did, she flinched spotting a few bruises on her body. Hickeys, courtesy of their late night fun. They didn't hurt, but she was glad there weren't any that would be seen with the clothes she would be wearing. The last thing she needed was people asking questions.

She quickly dressed, ignoring her grumbling stomach before heading back out into the main room. Jin-Woo was still in the shower and she would need to wait for him to finish.

She sat on the couch and grabbed the remote for her TV, turning it on and flicking through a few channels. But there was nothing that caught her attention, mostly due to her not being a big TV person. However, something soon occurred that caught her attention.

A system window popped open, making her worried some other insanity was about to happen.

Analysis of unknown item complete.

"Unknown item?" Hae-In tried to remember what it was talking about, then gasped as she flashed back to her job change question. The strange fruit that had appeared in the maze had completely slipped her mind, given everything that had happened. Now it seemed that the analysis of it had finally finished. "Is it because I'm a player now? Is a Player system able to analyse something faster?" She brought up the item and was shown a window of the item's info. And her eyes widened when she saw it.

Item: Mana Fruit
S-Rank Consumable
Greatly increases the mana capacity of anyone who eats it.
Warning: Not safe to be consumed by anyone who is B Rank or higher.

Hae-in let this info sink in and could hardly believe it. If what she was reading was correct, this fruit had the potential to cause a second awakening. If given to somebody that was Rank C or below, they could rise up to become a more powerful hunter. "How the heck is something like this possible?"

"Something like what?" Hae-In jumped, having been too focused on the fruit to realise Jin-Woo had finished showing. He was now wearing the clothes he had had on the previous day, as he looked her over and saw the shock on her face. "You okay?"

Hae-In didn't answer and, instead, spun the window around and pushed it towards him.

Jin-Woo read it and his eyes widened, "no way. A fruit that causes a second awakening. How the heck can that exist?"

"I have no idea," Hae-In stated. "But it's not like they're of any use to use. It says it's only safe for those that are Rank B or below." She tried to figure out why that would be the case. "Maybe the power boost is too much for someone whose power is too much. Even S Ranks like us have limits...normally." She wasn't sure if Players like them counted as normal S Ranks. "Give a person too much power and their body might not be able to handle it. If an S Rank ate this, I can only imagine what would happen if all that mana flowed into them."

"Like putting too much air in a balloon," Jin-Woo agreed. "Even so, can you imagine if someone that was Rank C ate this? Maybe it would boost them all the way up to S Rank." Hae-In nodded. "What are you gonna do with it?"

Hae-In sighed, not having an answer to that question. "There are a few C Rank members in the guild. if I gave this to them, they could become as strong as me or Jong-In, potentially. But...randomly showing up with something like this could raise a lot of questions. They'll want to know where the heck I got it from."

"True," Jin-Woo nodded. "Not like you can tell people you've been secretly diving into special dungeons on your own. You could always say you found it in the next Gate you head into. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll have a forest biome."

"I doubt it would be that simple," Hae-In sighed. "Jong-In would want to ask where the tree was that I got them from. And I probably wouldn't be able to keep them. Something like this would likely have the association sniffing around for them." The pair sighed, wondering what the heck they were going to do with something like this.

Their thoughts were once again interrupted by Hae-In's stomach, grumbling as it demanded food. They both laughed at this, deciding it was time to leave and get some breakfast.

They headed out, Jin-Woo using his Stealth skill to hide once again until they were in the building's parking lot. Hae-In's care was waiting and they quickly got in without anyone noticing them, Hae-In pulling out and making a beeline for a coffee shop that did great breakfast bagels.

Jin-Woo offered to head in and get them for her, making her smile as they considered what the future held for them.

They would need to split up and Hae-In had a feeling she was going to be busy over the next few days. Which meant they wouldn't really have any chance to be together. But then, Jin-Woo reminded her of something. "We have the Shadow Chamber."

This made her smile. "Right. We can both pop in there whenever we want to see each other." With time working differently within the chamber, they could spend hours together and it would only be a few minutes for the outside world.

The pair chuckled, as they headed into the city towards the store. Once they had the food and drink, they parked up and enjoyed one final meal together. As they did, Hae-In chuckled as she realised this was the closest thing they had had to a date. Since they were alone and not in a dungeon where they had to be on edge.

They had been out to a few places together on their own, but those had been outings as friends rather than lovers. Now, everything they did together would be as lovers.

Jin-Woo chuckled at this statement, promising to take her out on a real date as soon as they had the free time. Hae-In looked forward to that, as they finished their breakfast and Hae-In drove him over to the train station.

There, they had enjoyed one last kiss before Jin-Woo got out and Hae-In headed off to the guild. As she did, she couldn't stop smiling. She was finally with the man that had captured her heart. And even after the stress of the morning's insanity, she was the happiest she had been in years. She didn't know what the future held for their relationship, but she knew that she would be able to handle anything so long as Jin-Woo was there.

For better or worse, they would overcome anything together.

Oh yeah. Hae-In has finally acquired the title this story was aiming for, along with becoming a true Player. Now she and Jin-Woo are pretty much equals. Can't wait to see what that leads to. Hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you next time. 

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

As soon as Hae-In walked into the guild's headquarters, all eyes were upon her.

It made sense, considering she had been gone for over a week. Seeing her back out of the blue would have been a surprise, but she paid the stares no mind. She was used to them by now, even if they could be a little annoying at times. She just made her way towards the elevator and focused on what she would say if Jong-In asked about her week off.

"Vice-Guildmaster!" She looked around and spotted Bora and Gina running towards the elevator, looking like they had just arrived as well. "You're back," Bora smiled. "We were wondering where you'd gone off to."

"Oh, sorry for worrying you." The elevator arrived and they all stepped inside. "I was away on some...family business."

"Is everything okay?" Gina asked, Hae-In nodding.

"Yes," she smiled, "everything's perfect." The two seemed surprised by that smile, as Gina let out a suspicious hum.

"Okay," she nodded. "Gotta say, V-G. You're looking a little...different."

"Different?" She looked confused, "different how?"

"I don't know. Just something about you seems...different. Not in a bad way. Just...you don't seem like the woman you were the last time I saw you." Hae-In frowned, wondering if Gina had been able to sense her new status as a full on Player. "You almost seem to have a...glow about you."

Bora gasped, as Hae-In looked at them and noticed a smirk on Gina's lips. She wondered what that meant. "Gina!" Bora slapped the girls arm, "you can't say that to the Vice-Guildmaster." She looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Ms. Cha. That was crass of her."

"What?" Gina asked, "I have a sixth sense about these things. It's not like it's something to be ashamed of."

"What are you two talking about?" Hae-In asked, as Gina gave her a knowing smirk.

"So who was it? What's his name?" Bora hid her face behind her hands, whilst Gina kept smiling. Hae-In frowned, wondering what she meant by 'him.' Then, she slowly put the pieces together and realised what Gina had been talking about. And that caused her to blush.

"No...none of your business." Gina smiled, since that confirmed what she had only been guessing. Bora seemed to look at her in surprise, clearly shocked that Hae-In had actually confirmed their suspicions and was acting embarrassed about it.

Gina looked ready to ask more questions about it, but the elevator finally reached the floor Hae-In was aiming for and she rushed out before either of them could say anything. The pair kept staring at her before Gina spoke up. "It wouldn't happen to be that guy we were talking about a while back, would it? The brother of that girl you got photoed with?" Hae-In's face grew even redder, making her glad it was pointed away from them, as she felt steam coming out of her ears.

She sped up, almost running away from the two as she heard them both giggling.

She took several breaths to try and calm herself down, as she reached Jong-In's office and tried to fan herself with her hands. Once she was sure she was no longer red faced, she knocked and Jong-In replied that she could come in.

"Ah, Hunter Cha." He smiled seeing her approach. "Finally back from your little sabbatical. I hope you were able to get everything under control."

"Not as much as I'd have liked, but I understand I have responsibilities here. I'll just have to hope the rest gets sorted without me." Jong-In nodded. "Did anything happen whilst I was away? I checked online, but there didn't appear to be anything serious whilst I was gone. But that's just what the public knows."

"Indeed, the public aren't always clued into the situation. To answer your question, no. You picked an ideal time to take your little trip. Nothing happened here that we have to worry about. Actually, I was hoping to hear from the associations about the winged ants we recovered. But so far, nothing."

"I see," Hae-In nodded. "If that's the case, I'm glad nothing happened. And I'm ready to take on any Gates we have booked."

"Are you sure?" Jong-In asked. "You just got back from your trip. Don't you want to take a little break and get yourself back in fighting condition?"

"Don't worry," Hae-In assured him. "I managed to get some training in during the little spare time I had, so I'm in full fighting form."

"Good," Jong-In nodded. "Well we have a few Gates coming up in the next few days. Until then, we're stuck doing paperwork. I hope that's alright with you." Hae-In nodded. Despite what she had just said, she was actually happy to not be jumping into battle right away.

Whilst she wanted to jump in and start levelling up, since she needed to catch up with Jin-Woo again, she had just had a serious battle not even twenty-four hours ago. That coupled with her...nightly activities, had left her body a little wary.

"I'll go get started on it right away. I hope not too much work piled up whilst I was gone."

"Nothing I couldn't handle," he assured her. "There should be a few documents I had left on your desk for you to look over. But you should be able to get them finished in about an hour or so." Hae-In nodded before heading out. "Oh, by the way." Hae-In stopped and turned to him. "You wouldn't happen to have heard anything about a Red Gate incident from the previous week, by chance?"

"Red Gate incident?" She tried to sound confused, but was seriously panicking. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about.

"Yes. It happened to the White Tigers. Apparently, almost their entire strike squad was wiped out. And some outsider who had gone to observe, ended up clearing the entire thing."

"I...I think I remember hearing something like that. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Jong-In stated. "A single person clearing a gate, a red one of all things, is quite a spectacle. I'm hoping to get some more info about them when I meet with the association. Can you imagine what would happen if that person joined our guild. I'm sure it would be quite the boost to our reputation. Also, it would give me something to hold over Yoonho's head." He chuckled, as Hae-In sighed.

Despite what he had just said, she knew the Guildmasters of the White Tiger and Hunters Guild were friends. Even if the pair would never admit it, they trusted one another more than anyone else in the world.

"Well, if I ever find out who it was, I'll be sure to let you know. And I'll be sure to try and convince them to join our guild." She hated lying to him about the first part, but at least she wasn't lying about the second part. She still hoped that Jin-Woo intended to join their guild, but would understand if he chose against it. With his kind of power, he could start his own guild and never have to worry about being someone's subordinate.

"Yes. I'm sure they'll be happy to join our ranks. Depending on their rank, they might make a good addition to the B Team. Speaking of which, I've decided Kihoon is ready to take on the leadership role of that squad. He did excellent during a raid whilst you were gone. The entire team has been taking your advice to heart."

"Good," Hae-In nodded. "I'm glad he's getting the chance he deserves. I look forward to hearing about how it went." Jong-In nodded, as Hae-In headed out planning to go to her office.

She wondered if Jong-In would end up running into Jin-Woo at the association. Knowing her new boyfriend's luck, he would end up scheduling his reevaluation on the same day Jong-In went there. If they met, she was sure her boss would be able to sense just how powerful Jin-Woo was. No doubt, he would offer Jin-Woo a job right on the spot.

"I just hope he does say anything rude," Hae-In sighed as she thought about how Jin-Woo would act around the Guildmaster. Considering how he had acted around the White Tiger Guildmaster, he clearly didn't care much about authority. "It's fine. It's not like he'll just ignore him and walk away...right?"

Jin-Woo sighed, as he say on the couch letting himself rest.

By the time he had gotten home, he had been completely exhausted. He had almost fallen asleep right then and there, but he had had to schedule himself in for an evaluation. He wasn't sure, since it was so long ago, but it had felt like this time the registration had taken even longer over the phone.

"I'm worried if I go to bed, I'll sleep for a week and miss my evaluation." He sighed, instead grabbing his remote and seeing what was on TV. The news was as boring as ever, but there was an interesting article that caught his attention.

"-causing huge amounts of destruction to the entire city block. The cause of this devastation has yet to be determined, but sources have confirmed that Dongsoo Hwang was taken to the hospital and is undergoing serious medical treatment. And whilst his S Rank status will allow for a much faster recovery time, it will still take a few months before he is able to return to the world of hunting."

Jin-Woo stared at the screen with the terrifying man on the screen. The brother of the lizard he had killed, who Jin-Woo had been warned to watch out for. When he had heard about Dongsoo potentially coming after him, he had been worried. But now that Jin-Woo's powers were past the Level Eighty point, he doubted he had much to worry about. Even if Dongsoo was still stronger than him, Jin-Woo also had his shadows and even Hae-In to look out for him. He would be fine, so long as he was careful.

Though it didn't look like Jin-Woo would need to worry much about the guy, given what he had just heard on the news. "What the heck could cause an S Rank Hunter to be injured in such a way?" He thought about the only instances when an S Rank had been severely injured or killed and they had all had one thing in common. "S Rank power." If something had hurt Dongsoo, its strength had to be equal or greater than his.

These thoughts flowed through Jin-Woo's head, as he kept watching the news and wondered about who could have caused that much devastation.

When the news finally came to an end, Jin-Woo finally let his exhaustion get the better of him.

He made his way over to his room and crashed down on his bed as soon as he got there, whilst feeling completely sorry for Hae-In. Whilst he was able to crash and recover completely, she was likely hard at work. If she was as tired as he felt, she must have been falling asleep at her desk. Hopefully, she was able to get some rest when she could. The last thing she needed, was her subordinates seeing her asleep on the job.

Hae-In yawned, as she finished up the last document that had been left on her desk.

She laid back and had to fight to keep herself from drifting off, all the while trying to figure out how much sleep she had actually gotten the previous night. It couldn't have been more than a few hours, given it was likely past midnight by the time they got to her apartment.

Then there was what she and Jin-Woo had actually done, which hadn't exactly been over and done with in just a few minutes. Considering they had spent a week before that, fighting monsters in blinding heat and not getting a proper night's sleep, the fact that they had only slept a few hours was already starting to catch up with her.

She sighed and sat back, trying to think of a way to keep herself from falling asleep. She was tempted to send a system message to Jin-Woo and ask him to enter the Shadow Chamber with her, since that would give them hours of rest with no need to worry about the world around them

Instead, she opened up her system since she remembered that it was now a full Player system. She already knew about her increased shadow storage, but she had yet to see what else she could use that had previously not been available to her.

Her daily quest logs popped up and she sighed, realising she needed to do those. And this time, she really needed to do them. Since she was now a player, she was likely at risk of being sent to the penalty zone if she didn't complete them. And whilst she wasn't worried about killing those centipedes, since Jin-Woo could deal with a ton of them at a lower level, she really didn't want to spend four hours fighting in another hot place.

She sighed, wondering when the heck she could even do them. Unlike Jin-Woo, who didn't have any fixed work hours, she couldn't exactly go running or do her stretches anywhere. She had had a hard enough time fitting it in when she wasn't obligated to do the daily quests. Now she had to make sure she did them every single day.

"Great. Maybe the system will make a time travel skill and let me warp back to an earlier point in the day to do them." But as she said that, she realised what she could do and slapped her head. "Oh, stupid. Jin-Woo and I can just use the Shadow Chamber." But as she said that, she wondered if she was even allowed to use the Shadow Chamber to do their daily quests. "I'll have to ask Jin-Woo if we can test it out later."

She closed her daily quest and started flicking through the rest of the system, seeing that she had been given some stat points to add to herself.

This got her attention, as she looked through her current stats and thought about where she wanted to put them. Since the stats she used in battle were already pretty high, she decided against pumping them up. Instead, she focused her attention on her lowest stat. And that was her intellect, which made her feel a little insulted.

She usually only had enough mana to use her big moves two times at most. That was normally enough to finish a fight, but with her other new skills she found herself burning through mana a lot faster than she used to.

As such, she placed all her ability points into her intellect. As she did, she noticed her MP rising with it and smiled. This coupled with a few level ups would seriously boost the number of times she could use her special attacks. And considering Jeju Island might be in her immediate future, she as going to need all the help she could get to fight back.

Once that was done, she opened up her shop window. "Let's see if there's anything here that might be useful." She hadn't had the chance to look through the store during their week in the castle. As such, she had no idea if there was anything in there that was even good. Plus, now she was a full on Player. That meant access to the store was no longer restricted.

She started flicking through the store, seeing how much gold she had in place of battle points. She would need to be careful about how much she spent, since she wouldn't be able to replenish her gold as well as she could replenish her battle points.

She quickly found a few health and mana potions, which she decided to buy just in case she needed them. Though she intended to boost her intellect as much as possible, it would still take a while for her to have enough to blast off attacks and skills willy nilly. Until then, she would stock up on potions in case she needed them.

She looked through the weapons available and whilst she did like the look of a few, they were all inferior compared to the weapons she could create using her Shadow Forging skill. "Can't wait to get into the dungeons again and add a few new toys to my box. Jin-Woo might have an army backing him up, but I like to think I'm my own army." She smiled, closing the system window right as she heard a knock at the door. "Come in."

The door opened and Semi stepped through, smiling when she saw her vice-guildmaster. "Hunter Cha. You're back. It's good to see you."

"And you," she smiled. "Did you need something, Semi? Or is this just a social visit."

"Kind of. I came to see if you required any help with the documents that had been left for you."

"I see. Don't worry about that. I managed to get them all done a short time ago. Do you think you could take them to the Guild-Master?"

"Of course," Semi moved over to take the documents. "I was also wondering if you wanted to come out with us tonight. We're going to a really good sushi place after work. We figured, maybe you would like to come with us. We can help you catch up on everything that happened whilst you were gone."

Hae-In hummed, thinking about it. Then, she remembered what had happened earlier that day. "Is Gina going to be there?" She really didn't want to get teased more than she already had been.

Semi looked confused, but nodded. "Yes. It was Gina who suggested inviting you. Why? Did something happen between you two?"

"No," Hae-In sighed. "Just...I think I'll skip going out tonight. I'm probably just going to go home and rest." That was true. She needed as much sleep as possible, especially if she would be going on a dungeon run in the next few days. "Thank you for the invite, but I'm fine. Next time, definitely."

Semi nodded. "Sure. I'll leave you to your duties." She picked up the documents and headed out, as Hae-In sighed and sat back in her chair.

Hae-In really didn't want to be teased about what she and Jin-Woo were doing together, even though she had no shame for what they had done. Despite that, she wanted to hopefully keep their relationship on the down-low until she could come to understand what it was they were building together. Once their relationship was stable, then she would talk about it with others.

By that time, Jin-Woo might have chosen to join the Hunters Guild...which she was now realising could be an issue. From what she had seen, workplace romances barely ever worked out. "We'll just have to deal with that problem when it comes up." She turned her attention back to her office, as she tried to figure out if there was anything she could work on now so it wouldn't become such an issue in the future. But she couldn't find anything, making her frown as she sat back in her chair.

Jin-Woo kept snoring, as he slept and enjoyed the rest. However, something didn't feel right.

Despite his bed feeling perfectly fine, though being the same one from when he was a kid meant it was lump as heck, Jin-Woo couldn't seem to get comfortable. Sleep there made Jin-Woo feel like he shouldn't be there. Or that something was missing to help him get a good rest.

So, he had remained in a state of almost sleep. Able to snore and dream but still being aware of everything around him. He didn't know how long he had been asleep but as his dream self was riding a hoverboard over a stampede of angry llamas, he suddenly heard the apartment door opening before slamming shut. His sister was home.

"Jin-Woo?" She called out to him, causing the man to get up out of bed and head for the door.

When he opened it up, he spotted his sister in her school uniform. "Hey, Jin-Ah. Glad to see you didn't burn the place down whilst I was gone."

Jin-Ah huffed at him. "Where did you even go all week? I figured you were at least gonna call and check up on me. What the heck were you and Hae-In doing that stopped you from answering your texts?" Jin-Woo frowned, wondering how she actually knew he had been with Hae-In. "And don't try and deny you were with her. Neither of you were answering your phones. Why would you both not answer if you weren't doing the same thing?"

Jin-Woo tried to come up with an excuse, but couldn't. Or, at least, couldn't come up with one she would have believed. "Doesn't matter what we were doing. We're back now and that's what matters." He rubbed his eyes and realised he was thirsty. So after checking the time and seeing it was close to dinner, he headed towards the kitchen. "I'd suggest we get takeout, but I have a feeling you've been surviving on nothing but that whilst I was gone."

"I have not," Jin-Ah frowned. "I'll have you know, I had a nice home cooked meal five of the seven days you were gone."

"And the other two?"

"I had one burger," she stated. "And the other day I was at Song-Yi's place."

"Huh," Jin-Woo nodded. "How is your friend, by the way?" Jin-Ah raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm guessing she didn't tell you."

"Tell me what? Wait, how the heck do you know her?" Jin-Woo smiled, as he took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"She and I've done a few dungeon raids together." Jin-Ah's eyes widened in shock. "Yeah, I figured she was keeping that a secret. She signed up to be on the same strike squad I was on. She never actually entered the Gate. We just needed her to add to the head count, so she waited outside whilst the rest of us headed in. She still got paid for it, though."

"So that's where she was all those days," Jin-Ah frowned. "And why she's been coming to school. She wouldn't say why she decided to come back, but she's been acting different this last week. Whenever she's not doing anything, she's staring into space and she looks upset about something."

Jin-Woo frowned, remembering what had happened to Song-Yi in the Red Gate. Even though she hadn't been hurt, she had still seen things that a girl her age would have issues with. "She and I went into a Gate with another group of hunters." Jin-Ah's shock returned. "Your teacher asked me to talk to her about her decision to be a hunter, so I decided to show her what it was like to fight in a Gate. Things got a little out of hand."

Jin-Ah frowned. "What happened."

"I think it might be better if she told you. But do me a favour and don't go asking about it. If she wants to tell you, she will."

"Was it bad?"

"It wasn't...great. Honestly, it's something that either makes her or breaks her."

"Makes her or breaks her?"

"Yup." He guzzled down a few mouthfuls of water, as he tried to figure out what the heck he had just said even meant. "Either the experience helps her grow stronger and makes her into the person she wants to be, or it scars her for life and she'll need serious therapy. Right now, there's no telling which of those two it'll be. You said she was just staring into space. Did she look scared or like she was going to puke?"

"No. She just looked like she was daydreaming. Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was thinking about a boy. But there's no way that could be it."

"Well then I think she'll be fine. If she's really thinking about what happened and not freaking out, she's just letting what happened play through her head. And that'll help her decide if she wants to stay as a hunter or not."

"Okay," Jin-Ah frowned. "If you say so. But I'm gonna be keeping an eye on her."

Jin-Woo smiled. "That's what makes you a good friend." She smiled, as Jin-Woo started looking through the fridge to see what they had to eat.

"Let me," she told him. "I already had plans on what to make if you didn't show up tonight. There's more than enough to make some for both of us." Jin-Woo nodded and sat at the table, whilst Jin-Ah started taking stuff out of the fridge. "So you're really not gonna tell me what you and Hae-In did all weak?"

"Yup," he replied with a pop at the P. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."

"Maybe," Jin-Ah smiled. "But you realise that allows me to make up what happened in my head. If you won't tell me, I'll just decide what happened and tell anyone who asks that story."

"And who's gonna ask?" Jin-Woo inquired, calling Jin-Ah's bluff. The girl huffed, as she started chopping vegetables.

"By the way, a bunch of people showed up during the week asking about you." Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow at this, clearly confused but also suspicious. People asking about him was never a good sign. "They said they were from the White Tiger Guild. What's going on?"

Jin-Woo sighed, as he sat back. "Those guys again. Guess they wanted the lowdown on what happened."

"Does this have anything to do with the thing you and Song-Yi did?" Jin-Woo didn't answer, giving her the explanation. "Okay, now I really wanna know what happened. Why the heck would a big shot Guild wanna talk to you? I could see the Hunters wanting to speak with you, since you and their V-G are so close, but why would the White Tigers be interested in you?"

"It's...complicated. Look, if the White Tigers show up again, just let me know and I'll deal with it." Jin-Ah huffed, but didn't argue and turned her attention back to the meal she was preparing.

All the while, Jin-Woo sat at the table thinking about what she had just said. Having the White Tigers come to his home was a serious deal. Obviously, Mr. Ahn had told the Guildmaster about Jin-Woo's reawakening. Not that Jin-Woo could blame him, after what had happened. And the other hunters had likely told Baek about what had happened in the Red Gate.

Beak likely suspected Jin-Woo was S Rank and given his level when they met, he assumed Jin-Woo was still weaker than him. And whilst that was true, it didn't remain that way. At Jin-Woo's current level, he was likely the most powerful Hunter in the country. He couldn't be sure, but it was likely only Go Gunhee was above him in power.

The question was, what would Jin-Woo do when he eventually came face to face with Beak. Thinking back to their previous interaction, he now realised he had been a little cold. But he had been exhausted as well as angry because he couldn't get the shadow he wanted.

The next time he met, Jin-Woo would need to try and stay calm and collected. The last thing he needed, was more S Ranks hating his guts. But given what had already happened, it was likely Beak already hated his guts. Though if he was sending employees to try and recruit him, which was his best guess since he couldn't see any other reason why he would do that, it was likely he was willing to put their past behind them and start again.

The question was, did Jin-Woo want that?

As Hae-In stepped into her apartment, she sighed as she carried the groceries to her kitchen.

She quickly filled the fridge, glad to finally have stuff to eat instead of relying on coffee shops and take out. The only thing she left out was a microwave dinner she would be eating, which wasn't anything fancy but perfect for a girl who was tired and needed something easy to make.

She quickly placed the meal into the microwave and started it up before opening her messaging log. She still needed to do her daily quests and she was seriously dreading it, especially if she couldn't do them whilst in the Shadow Chamber.

Hae-In: Just got home from worm. You done your daily quests yet?

The microwave beeped and she took the meal out, the heat of the plastic doing nothing against her S Class skin. She quickly ate, as Jin-Woo's reply came back.

Jin-Woo: Crap. I forgot about those. Ah, man. Jin-Ah's gonna wonder where the heck I went if I go out jogging now.

Hae-In: I thought about that. What if we do them in the Shadow Chamber? Will it count if we try it in there?

Jin-Woo: Huh. Hadn't thought of that. Wanna give it a try?

Hae-In: Give me a little while to finish my dinner and get changed. I'll send you a message for when I'm about to go in.

Jin-Woo replied back with agreement as she ate, then threw the container away before heading into her room and finding some clothes she could move in. Once she was changed and sprayed herself with anti-sweat, that was the last thing she needed to do around her lover, she sent Jin-Woo a message before opening the chamber.

As soon as she stepped inside, she found the room shape to her will. Eventually, it was as big as the track she usually ran at. And as it finished forming, Jin-Woo stepped through the other door and smiled at her.

She smiled back and the pair stepped forward, kissing one another for a minute before pulling away. "That felt good," he told her. "I've missed doing that."

"We did it this morning," Hae-In told him. "You're not that hard up, are you?" Jin-Woo smirked and the pair kissed again, but stopped before they went too far. "Come on. Let's see if we can do our daily quests." Jin-Woo nodded and brought up the quest log.

He then got down and did a push-up, smiling when he saw the zero turn to a one. "Looks like we can." Hae-In smirked and got down, doing her yoga exercises whilst Jin-Woo did the physical activities.

As they did, they talked about their day and Hae-In frowned at Jin-Woo's freedom to sleep whilst she had been hard at work.

They continued to talk the whole time they were doing their exercises, both enjoying their conversation with Jin-Woo chuckling at the teasing Hae-In had gotten. It was then that the pair started to run together, as Hae-In told him about Jong-In's interest in the Red Gate.

"Just try and be polite if you meet him," Hae-In told him. "The last thing I need is a beef between my boss and my boyfriend."

Jin-Woo chuckled and promised to be on his best behaviour. Hae-In didn't feel so confident about that, but focused on the running. Though she was tired, she still had S Rank stamina. So she was able to keep running, despite the exhaustion.

When they had finally finished their run, they had collapsed on a conjured couch and took the time to look through their rewards. Hae-In placed her status points into intellect, saved her Full Recovery and summoned her random loot box. And whilst Jin-Woo got a couple packets of sugar, she got a lollipop in her favourite flavour.

She chuckled, as she popped the sweet treat in her mouth and lay on Jin-Woo's lap. The day had been tiring, but she was glad she got to spend some time with her lover. And thanks to the Shadow Chamber, she could do it whenever and wherever she wanted.

But she was gonna need to be serious starting tomorrow. After all, it was very likely she was going into the dungeons again starting tomorrow. And she was ready.

Bit of a slower chapter, but you can forgive me for taking it easy this time. Let me know what you think and what you hope to see coming up.

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Before we begin, I just wanna clarify Hae-In's level. From what I read up, Level 60 is when Jin-Woo became S-Rank. So I based her level around that. I figured 60 was S rank and around 85 or 90 was going into National Level. I probably should have made her level higher, but I decided her being in the seventies was fine. Sorry if you think it should be higher, but that's the level I went with and that's the level I'll be sticking with. Hope you guys understand. 

Anyway. Let's get to reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

"Raaaaah!" Kihoon cried, as he sliced through the dungeon jackal.

Hae-In smiled, nodding when she saw how well he had positioned the formation. He and the red tank then blocked the claw attack of another dungeon jackal, pushing them back and allowing the mages to blast them with their long range attacks. At the same time, Semi continued to keep her eyes open for any surprises.

When their assassin finished off the last of the beasts, Hae-In nodded and turned to them. "Excellent work, everyone. It's clear you've all been working hard whilst I was away."

"Of course," Gina smirked. "Can't let your words of wisdom go to waste."

Hae-In smiled, glad that Gina was taking things seriously and not trying to tease her about what they had discussed the previous day. She went over a few more suggestions, though only minor ones about how to improve form or skill, then had them continue through the dungeon.

Hae-In found herself enjoying a relatively easy dungeon crawl, compared to the Demon's Castle. The cool air in the cave system was pleasant, compared to the intense heat of the castle. Her only issue was trying not to summon a shadow weapon, any time a monster tried to attack her.

They continued to make their way through the cave, mapping out certain areas that were rich in mana stones. And soon, they found themselves coming across a large open area. And as they stepped into it, they heard moaning and looked around to see a lumbering ape monster appear from one of the tunnels.

It was twice the size of their red tank, covered in silver fur and having large fists that looked like they could crush a car with a single punch. And as the team prepared to attack it, they heard more groans and looked around to see another three stumble in.

Hae-In drew her sword, smirking as she saw this as an excuse to level herself up a little bit. "I'll take the first one. You guys think you can handle the rest?" The others nodded and turned towards the still approaching apes, whilst Hae-In charged forward and leapt into the air.

The ape swung its large meaty hands towards her, but she had foreseen this and used air walk to zigzag around it.

The beast was taken by surprise, as the Shadow Consort flew forward and sliced at its throat. Its eyes widened and it fell back, as Hae-In air-walked into a back-flip and landed at the creature's feet whilst it crashed into the ground. She then flicked her sword around to remove the blood before checking the system window.

She was a couple thousand exp away from finally levelling up for the first time, but saw that she had only gained about a hundred. "Jin-Woo makes levelling up look easy." She quickly turned to the others, seeing that they were having mixed success against the beast.

The summoner mage summoned a shield, which blocked the beast's punch and caused its fist to bounce off. This allowed Jiwoo to rush forward and deal a super powered bunch right to its chest.

The impact would have blown a whole in a monster higher rank than that, but this creature's chest managed to only get dented. Its eyes filled with blood as it fell backwards, Jiwoo nodding before turning to the others and seeing Bora use her binding spell.

This allowed Gina to hit the ape with her magic, allowing the assassin to run up and stab the beast in the neck.

As the creature fell, the red tank blocked the last one's fist and cried out as he was almost crushed unto the impact. But that allowed Kihoon to get in close and stab his sword into its stomach.

The ape roared and tried to smash its fists down into him, but Kihoon managed to swing his blade around and slice through the beast's stomach before leaping back. And as its guts spilled free, the beast let out a whimper and fell to the ground dead.

Hae-In nodded, telling everyone they had done well. They all smiled back, as Hae-In turned to Kihoon. "You're doing excellent. After this, I'm pretty sure we can trust you to lead our B Squad without supervision." Kihoon smiled. "Just be careful getting too close to such powerful monsters. If you had been a second slower, that thing would have crushed you under his fist.

"I understand. Thank you." Hae-In nodded and looked aground, staring at the many different tunnels that could lead anywhere.

She used her foresight to look ahead and realise that most of the tunnels lead to dead ends or looped back to this area. And since they were all monsterless, she focused on the one pathway that led forwards. "Let's go that way. I get the feeling the others are all duds."

"How do you do that?" The summoner asked. "You always seem to know which way to go."

Hae-In smiled, "woman's intuition. No need to be jealous." The others chuckled, as they all headed down that tunnel. As they did, Hae-In wondered how things were going with Jin-Woo. Since he was getting his reevaluation today, things would start to change for him very soon.

"Uh, with our current detector, Hunter Sung's magic power is currently unreadable."

Jin-Woo nodded, as he listened to the association worker explain why he couldn't get his Hunter Rank reassessed. Jin-Woo had already expected this, given Hae-In's warning about it. Had she not told him, he would have expected to have his licence updated by the end of the day. But now, he knew he was gonna have to wait.

"I need to get permission from the higher-ups to use a more precise detector. Can you visit again after three days?"

"Sure," Jin-Woo nodded. "That won't be a problem." He did have a problem with the man saying this whilst they were out in the hallway, as everyone still waiting to be evaluated had just heard this. And they all knew what that meant.

"Postponing his evaluation?" One guy asked.

"He definitely just said immeasurable."

"Does that mean the guy is S Rank?"

"The tenth S Rank?"

"He's someone who can't be approached by a small guild."

Jin-Woo could hear many people from different guilds, discussing whether or not they could afford to hire an S Rank. He smirked, remembering four years ago when people from the very same guild all turned their nose up at him. Oh, how the tables had turned.

"Hey, isn't that..." Multiple gasps filled the air, as Jin-Woo glanced around. And there, he spotted someone he had only ever seen on TV and in magazines.

Jong-In Choi. S Rank Mage Hunter, leader of the Hunters Guild and the boss of his beautiful girlfriend. He was dressed in a nice looking suit and walked with the grace and dignity of a king, which he could basically be considered given how much influence he had as an S Rank hunter.

"Why is a man called the Ultimate Solider here?" One guy asked, as Jin-Woo frowned.

As he stared at the man in question, he thought back to his E Rank days. Back then, his nickname had been made to be the exact opposite of him. So looking at him now, Jin-Woo couldn't help but remember all those time he had been laughed at and made a laughing stock.

Jin-Woo quickly turned his attention away from the man in question and spotted Hunter Woo, who was staring at him quizzically. Obviously, he had put the pieces together and realised Jin-Woo was S Rank now.

"Hello there," he looked back at Jong-In. "My name is Jong-In Choi. A representative of the Hunter's Guild. Excuse my bluntness, but it looks like you've just had your evaluation. Do you already have a Guild in mind. If not, I would like to take some of your time to discuss that matter with you."

Jin-Woo could just imagine what Hae-In would do if she was there right now. She would have told him to do it and be nice. Jin-Woo wanted to be polite, but he also had plans for the day. He hadn't been expecting to run into his girlfriend's boss.

"I'm sorry," he told him. "Normally, I would happily accept your offer. But I'm afraid you've caught me at a really bad time. I have another appointment I need to attend and I can't be late." That was kind of a lie. It wasn't like his mother was going to be waiting for him. But he really didn't want to talk to him about this right now.

"I understand," Jong-In pushed his glasses up. "I should expect you to simply drop everything and talk because I asked." He reached into his jacket pocket and took something out. "Here. If you're still interested in the talk. Let my assistant know when you're available and she can set a meeting between us." Jin-Woo took the card, seeing it was pretty well designed. "Might I ask your name, Hunter..."

"Sung," Jin-Woo replied. "Jin-Woo Sung. E Rank." He knew that was likely the last chance he would ever say that, so he kept his face stoic as Jong-In looked shocked. "I'll be in touch." He pocketed the card and headed off, as the people around him continued to murmur at the guy who told the ultimate weapon that he had to reschedule an appointment of a lifetime.

Jong-In kept blinking, having sensed how powerful the young man had been. "E Rank? With that kind of power?"

"He wasn't technically lying," Woo told him. "Until his licence gets updated, he's classed as an E Rank despite the incredible power he has."

"I see," Jong-In nodded as he looked back at where the young man had disappeared from. "You know him?"

"In passing," Woo replied. "I've had a few run-ins with him. He's a rather interesting individual." Jong-In nodded, thinking about the man and how silently he had moved.

'Must be an assassin build. If he were to join the Hunters, it wouldn't just cement our position as the country's top guild. With three S-Ranks, we would be on the same level as some of the highest ranked Guilds in all the world.' As he thought that, he noticed someone running into the building. Someone he knew all too well. "Huh? What's he doing here?"

"Guild Master Baek!" The leader of the White Tigers turned to his subordinate, only to then notice Jong-In before a look appeared on his lips. The look of a man that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I see," Jong-In smiled. "The White Tiger Guild is relatively close by. Yet he ran here fast enough to be out of breath." His smile turned to a smirk. "That incident with the White Tiger's training. The outsider that cleared the gate. Looks like I found him."

He walked forward, as Baek's subordinate explained that the young man would be back in three days. And as they passed, Baek growled. "Should have known you'd be here with your new golden boy." That made Jong-In stop.

"Excuse me?"

"Jin-Woo Sung," Baek replied. "I had hoped my people were wrong, but it seems you really have gotten your claws into another high ranking Hunter." Jong-In looked confused, which quickly spread to the White Tiger. "Wait. You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Jong-In asked, "that was the first time I met that man. Yet you seem to think we have some kind of connection."

Baek smirked, "maybe my people were wrong. However, their research was pretty thorough. Let's just say, you might want to ask your vice about her connection to that young man." He turned to walk away, leaving Jong-In very confused.

"Ms. Cha?" He asked out loud, wondering what the heck Baek was talking about. What could Hae-In have to do with that young man?

Hae-In stared up at the boss room door, sensing the creature on the other side of it.

She and her team had just taken down the last monster and the B Squad had left to inform the mining and extraction teams. This left Hae-In to make sure everything was good, as she turned to start patrolling the area to make sure they hadn't missed anything. But before that, she had something else to do.

She ran down the corridor until she arrived at the area where they had slain the giant apes. Whilst she hadn't been able to extract the shadows with the others around her, she could now that she was all on her own.

As such, she got down and placed a hand on the beast she had slain. "Equip." A shadow cloud formed around the creature and began to flicker, as she got up and pulled her hand away. And when she did, the shadow moved with her. She gripped what turned out to be a round shaft and when the shadows faded, she found herself carrying a large warhammer as larger as she was.

The hammer's top had the head of the ape with the shaft coming out the bottom. And on either side of it were its closed fists, acting as the hammer's striking point.

She lifted the hammer up and gave it a few good swings. It was heavy and even with her S Rank strength, it took some effort to use. Once she had a name for it, the system showed her its stats.

Item: Ape Smasher
B-Rank Bludgeoning Weapon
STR +50/VIT +20
Hammer Fist: Cost 30 Mana. Reduces targets VIT 20%

"Could be useful to break through a tough shell or armor," she stated before dispelling the shadow weapon and continuing through the Gate towards the entrance. She had to be quick, since the teams would soon be heading inside. And eventually, she found the dungeon jackals they had fought earlier. And though she hadn't killed any of them, she decided the others wouldn't mind her extracting a shadow. "Equip."

The shadow flew out of the jackal and formed a weapon in her hand before fading. This revealed a short sword, which was more like a dagger with its length, that had the head of a wolf as the crossguard below a black handle. Coming out of the wolf's head was a blade, designed to resemble the tail of a dog, which had a wavey shape to it.

Item: Razor Hunter
B-Rank Dagger Weapon
STR +20/AGI +50
Full Moon Cleave: Cost 30 Mana. Increases AGI 10% for 30 seconds.

Hae-In smirked and swung the blade around, think Jin-Woo might enjoy using it. If he could. "Actually, that's a good point. Jin-Woo can give his Shadow Soldiers to me. I wonder if that means I can give my shadow weapons to him?" She hummed, realising that was going to be something they would need to test out the next time they were free.

She arrived at the Gate, right as the mining and extraction teams arrived.

Yoon-Suk Bae stepped through the Gate and smiled at her. "Ah, VIce-Guildmaster. Good to see you again. How was your vacation? I'm assuming that's what it was."

"Not exactly," she replied. "But it was good. I've checked and the dungeon's clear. Your teams have free range to mine to their hearts content. Just make sure to stay clear of the boss room. There aren't any monsters or mana crystals around it, so you won't need to go near it."

"Okay," he nodded. "We'll be sure to steer clear. Thanks for the heads up." She nodded and turned to head back to the boss room, planning to use that time to practise with her new toys. She wanted to be sure she could probably handle them instead of waiting for an actual fight to test them out. The last thing she needed was to be fighting a monster, only to wind up crashing into the ground because she couldn't properly swing her new hammer.

When she arrived at the boss room, she summoned the hammer and swung it around. It was proving difficult, even with her strength. Whilst she doubted she could use this weapon often, she considered how well it would work if she air dropped herself.

Dispelling it for a moment, she leapt into the air and used air walk to get as high as she could. She then leapt down and summoned her hammer above her head, swinging it down with incredible force that had coming from gravity and all the strength she didn't lose due to not having to lift the hammer up.

Hae-In looked into the future for a moment and gasped, seeing the impact would rip apart the ground around her and cause the entire cave to shake. No way would she be able to explain that to the other teams.

As soon as she returned to the present, she cancelled her shadow weapon. The hammer disappeared back into storage, the shadows that made it up hitting the ground and fading away. She sighed in relief, glad she hadn't accidentally created an earthquake.

Instead, she summoned her new short sword and started slashing it through the air. Small weapons had never really been her thing, which made her wonder why Jin-Woo was so comfortable with them, but this could come in handy.

She imagined dual wielding this and her Horn Calibur, using the short sword to block attacks and slash the opponents before stabbing her sword into the energy. She nodded, thinking that would work brilliantly. She took a few more moments to practise with the weapon, then put it away before turning towards the door leading to the boss room.

As she stared at it, she felt a sudden urge to head inside and finish off whatever was waiting behind the doors. She could only imagine how much exp she would get from killing it, but she knew better than to let the boss out whilst the mining and extraction teams were still working.

However, curiosity got the better of her.

Slowly, she approached the door and reached out to touch it. And as soon as she did, it opened up and allowed her to see inside the room. And there, waiting in a large chamber, was another primate magical beast.

This one was an almost caveman like ape, having brown fur and wearing an orange loincloth with vines around its chest that were holding up a large basket full of objects on its back. Its arms were almost as long as it was tall, which big meaty hands that looked big enough to fit its head inside.

Hidden behind two of the chamber's pillars were two more apes, just like the ones that Hae-In and her team had killed before.

They all roared and went on the attack, the apes trying to crush her with their firsts whilst she leapt into the air to avoid their attacks. Meanwhile, the boss reached into its basket and pulled out a large rock. A rock it squeezed tightly, until it broke into a bunch of smaller rocks. And as Hae-In used her air walk to stay out of the other's grasp, she watched the beast pull its arm back before swinging it around.

The rocks it was carrying shot out of its clutches and shot straight towards her, turning into a barrage of stones that threatened to rip her apart. But before any of them could hit her, she gasped and returned back to the present.

She blinked, as she let what she had just seen sink in and frowned. The apes were just a distraction, wanting to make you worry about them whilst the boss launched its surprise attack at you. If she had actually gone in instead of looking into the future, she likely would have been able to deflect or dodge the rocks without much issue. But if the others had been with her, she didn't to imagine what would have happened if they had been taken by surprise.

"I need to warn the others about the boss. But how? It's not like I can tell them I looked into the future and saw what the boss can do. I need to make sure I don't give too much away." She hummed, moving back and forth as she tried to come up with an idea.

For the next several minutes, she hummed to herself and slowly began to form a plan of attack for her team.

She also took out the lunch she had packed in her inventory earlier and began to eat it, the system store popping up at her command as she tried to see if there was anything available to her that might come in handy. "Kind of wish I had Jin-Woo's Wolf Assassin title." That would have come in handy whilst fighting this thing. "Well the system gave me a whole new skill when I asked for it. Maybe it'll let me get that title after I kill this thing.

She finished off her lunch before heading towards the area where she could hear mining and other cries of effort. She quickly found that all the corps had been removed from the cave, which only left the mana crystals.

Yoon-Suk was directing everyone on where to focus their attention, whilst also helping out whenever he could. He sighed, spotting Hae-In and smiling. "Ah, Hunter Cha. Sorry if we're taking longer than normal. This cave has so many mana crystals that it's taking a while to get them all out."

"Don't worry about it," she assured him. "But it looks like you're in need of more hands."

Yoon-Suk sighed, "you have no idea. The Guildmaster sent out a bunch of job openings, but the number of people interested in this line of work isn't exactly in the triple digits. It's barely in the double. Hopefully, we'll get some young blood willing to help out at the next site. I heard tomorrow's gate's gonna be a really big one."

"I wouldn't know. I'm more focused on getting everyone out of this gate alive. When that's done, I'll focus on the next gate." Yoon-Suk chuckled and agreed, as he got back to work. She looked over at a nearby pickaxe, having often wondered how useful it would be in a fight. It was a silly thought, but one she couldn't help but wonder. If someone was stupid enough to use one to fight with, how well would it help them?

Night had fallen, as Jin-Woo sat by his mother's side.

He hadn't seen her in a while, so had wanted to come visit her as soon as he was able. And whilst it had mostly been an excuse to get away from Jong-In, he had used this time to tell his mother everything. He didn't know if she could hear him, but he wanted to talk to her about it.

"There's someone in my life now. You might not have met her, but she's been here to visit you. Hae-In." He smiled at her. "I know you'd love her mom. And I love her too, even if I don't have the guts to say it to her face right now. She's the best thing to ever happen to me. And I hope you'll get to meet her soon."

He kept staring at her face, half expecting her to suddenly sit up and ask a million questions about his new lover. But Jin-Woo knew that wasn't going to happen. As far as he knew, there was only one possible way he was going to wake his mother up. And to do that, he needed to get the final ingredient.

"I will save you," he told her. "Just wait for me until then." He sighed, thinking about what was waiting for him back at the castle. 'I need to get stronger.' He had managed to defeat the seventy-fifth floor boss with relative ease. But next time, he was going to be going in alone.

He got up and headed for the door, the moonlight still radiating into it as he stepped out into the corridor.

But as soon as he closed the door, a familiar voice spoke up. "That day." Jin-Woo didn't jump, his gaze shifting towards the man speaking. "You were the one who defeated the monsters from the double dungeon." Manager Woo looked at him from over his glasses. "Thanks to you, I was able to learn that my viewpoint wasn't accurate."

Jin-Woo smirked. "We meet again, Mr. Chief."

"The monitoring division's primary goal is to deal with humans instead of monsters. In other words, we must monitor and punish lawbreaking hunters."

Jin-Woo turned away. "If possible, I would like to not get involved with the monitoring division."

"Well our existence is the only shackle on hunters." Woo removed his glasses. "However, it's meaningless to an S-Rank such as yourself." Jin-Woo stopped and glanced back at him, as Woo put his glasses into his pocket. "There's someone who wishes to meet you. Can you spare some time?" He gestured down the hallway. "Hunter Association's Chairman, Gun-Hee Go. He's waiting for you down there."

Jin-Woo had been expecting this, of course. Hae-In's prediction was coming true. So, he nodded and allowed Woo to lead him down the hallway until they reached an open common area of the hospital. And there, an older yet rather muscular individual was waiting for him. Despite his gray hair and many scars, Jin-Woo could feel the power radiating off of him.

The man smiled and held out his hand. "Hunter Jin-Woo Sung. Nice to meet you. I'm Gun-Hee Go." Jin-Woo said nothing and shook his hand. "Please, have a seat." He did, all the while feeling the incredible aura coming off the man.

'He's not normal.'

"I would first like to congratulate you on becoming an S-Rank hunter."

"But there's still another re-examination left?"

"To tell you the truth, the re-examination is meaningless. A precise detector is to help use segment the results. It's not a tool to help us measure outside the scoping range. Even if it was possible for us to measure past the current range, it would still be impossible to distinguish between S-Rank, SS-Rank or SSS-Rank."

"They why..."

"Are you asking about the existence of the re-examination procedure?" Jin-Woo nodded, as Gun-Hee raised a finger. "It's to buy us time."

"Buy time?" Jin-Woo had to be careful what he said, since he didn't want to give away that he already knew all this.

"It's to buy us time to meet with S-Rank Hunters and such as yourself before anyone else can. As you may already know, the hunters association doesn't have many talented hunters such as Jin-Chul Woo. Who would want to join the association, when top ranking guilds can guarantee hunters great fame and large salaries."

"There are people out there who can name every core member of the top guild's raid teams. But there aren't many who can name our chief Woo. Despite him being top class amongst A-Ranks. That's why we have created a little trick, for us to meet talented Hunters."

"I see," Jin-Woo nodded.

"I'll get straight to the point," Gun-Hee went on. "Since we're not an enterprise, we can't promise you a lot of money. But, we can help you go down a different path."

"What are you talking about?" Jin-Woo asked, as the man smiled.

"We can help, Jin-Woo Sung flourish down a different path."

At the Hunter's Guild HQ, Hae-In was in Jong-In's office looking rather confused.

After the raid had ended, her team having managed to blast the boss as soon as they got into the room so he couldn't surprise them with a rock blast, Jong-In had sent her a message asking her to come see him. When she got there, she had found him looking through several documents until he noticed her arrival.

"Sir?" She asked, stepping over to his desk. "Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Jong-In replied. "I just wanted to know why you didn't tell me about your new friend."

"New friend?" Hae-In asked, as Jong-In gave her a knowing smirk.

"Jin-Woo Sung." Hae-In's eyes widened. "I met him today and it turns out, he's an S-Rank hunter. But I assume you already knew that." Hae-In sighed and nodded. "Well after he left, I had a run in with Yoon-Ho Baek. He was hoping to recruit him, but saw me and assumed we had already recruited him. When I asked why he thought that, he said to ask you."

"Me?" Hae-In asked, "why would he say that?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me." Hae-In felt herself beginning to sweat. "Ms. Cha. Please don't think I'm mad. I'm not. Just...disappointed." Why did that sound even worse. "If you were trying to recruit a new member to the guild, I would have liked to have helped."

"I wasn't...I wasn't trying to recruit him."

"Oh?" Jong-In raised an eyebrow.

"Jin-Woo and I met before we realised he reawakened. We kept bumping into each other and I found I enjoyed his company, so we spent more time together. It wasn't until later that I realised Jin-Woo's strength was much higher than it should have been for his rank. And one day, we had a sparring and he was able to hold me off. That's when I realised he was S-Rank."

"I see," Jong-In nodded. "So you're...just friends?" He noticed her blush, even when she tried to hide it, which made him smile. "Well, this is a surprise. I never thought you would end up in a relationship. You always seemed so focused on your work. I'm glad to see you've found someone you can be with."

"Thank you," Hae-In blushed. "It's a rather recent development."

Jong-In nodded. "You said we weren't trying to recruit him when you first met. But what about after? When you realised he was S-Rank, did you suggest him joining our guild?"

"I suggested it," Hae-In replied. "But he hasn't told me whether or not he wants to join us."

"I see. You realise if he does join our ranks, I won't be able to have you two working together. Nothing against your relationship, but I find relationships between co-workers can be messy. If he joins, I'll likely have him work with the B Team. Kihoon won't be pleased with that, since he'll feel Mr. Sung will be taking away his hard earned leadership role."

Hae-In frowned, crossing her arms. "I wanna say he has nothing to worry about. Jin-Woo's not the kind of guy to go after a leadership role. But...he has a tendency to wind up in that role whenever things get tough."

"Yes. I realised he's the one who conquered the Red Gate." Hae-In nodded. "What do you know about him? What abilities does he have?" Hae-In panicked, unsure how to answer that.

"it's...complicated. You have to see it to believe it. But, you'll certainly be amazed by them when you see them."

"Very well. I look forward to meeting with him. He did say he was going to make an appointment with me. Hopefully, we can convince him to join our ranks."

Hae-In sighed. "I'll try and talk to him about joining. But I won't use our relationship to try and gaslight him into joining. I do want him in the guild, but I don't want him to only join because I'm in it. If he'd rather join another guild or start his own, I'll support that decision."

"I see," Jong-In nodded. "Then I won't badger you into helping me convince him. Hopefully, I'll be able to get him to join us on my own." Hae-In nodded. "Well, you best be off. I'm sure you're exhausted after a hard day's work. And I'm sure Mr. Sung is anxious to tell you all about what happened today. You still up for the raid tomorrow?"

"I'll be there," she assured him before leaving. As she did, she sighed and wondered how Jin-Woo would react to their relationship being discovered. She knew Jong-In wouldn't blab to anybody, but she still felt uneasy about people knowing they were together before they went public. She sighed, wondering if she should message Jin-Woo.

However, she decided against it. After all, Jin-Woo had likely been approached by the association by now. Which meant he was being offered the job of a lifetime. The question was, would he accept it?

Will Jin-Woo accept the offer this time, or will Hae-In convince him to join the Hunters? Find out next time. 

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

It was approaching midnight in the Sung household and as Jin-Woo sat at his computer, he couldn't help but think back to the meeting he had had earlier.

At the hospital.

"We can help, Jin-Woo Sung flourish down a different path." Gun-Hee's words echoed in Jin-Woo's head, as he stared at the older man and wondered what the heck he was talking about. "This country is currently not being run by the government, but rather the hunters who protect the citizens from monsters. And the ones above them are the hunter's association." Chairman Go held out a hand. "We'll help you stand shoulder to shoulder with us."

Jin-Woo stared at the man, letting what he said sink in. "Why are you offering this to me?"

"Are you aware of the top five guilds?" He asked, making Jin-Woo raise an eyebrow. "The balance of this country is currently barely being held together by those five dragons. If you were to join any of those guilds, the balance would topple and the country would be thrown into chaos. The law and the system. Normal government authority isn't powerful enough to keep the hunters in check. That's why the hunters association is needed."

'Monsters aren't the only monsters in this world. The hunters who fight them are just as dangerous, if not more so.' He thought about people like Hwang Dongsoo, who was apparently after his head. And if Jin-Woo wasn't S-Rank, he would likely be a dead man walking and Dongsoo wouldn't really suffer any consequences. It wasn't like a prison could hold him.

"So," Gun-Hee asked, "what is your decision?"

Even though Jin-Woo had been warned about this, he didn't know what he wanted to do. 'It's not a bad proposal,' he thought to himself. 'Anyone with the backing of Gun-Hee Go will be on the road to success. The national assembly, the government, the association and the media. It's hard to find a place where he doesn't have influence.'

He stared at the man, his enhanced perception allowing him to sense just how much power the older man had. It was like nothing Jin-Woo had ever felt and he had a feeling that in his prime, not even Jin-Woo, Hae-In and his shadow army would have stood a chance against him.

'Gun-Hee Go. You truly are amazing.' But despite that, Jin-Woo knew this was a man with very limited time. Jin-Woo was sure that if the two fought, Jin-Woo would take a lot of injury but still come out ahead. But only because the man would likely have a heart attack if they fought. 'That must be why he wants me to join. The association is the only thing keeping the guilds in check. But without someone to match the S-Rank strength of the other guilds' elites, the association couldn't stand a chance.'

Gun-Hee continued to stare at him, clearly hoping Jin-Woo would be his successor. However... "I'm sorry." Chairman Go's eyes widened, then became downcast in disappointment. "I want to fight."

The man's eyes raised once again. "Does that mean, you want to fight with the monsters?"

"That's right," Jin-Woo nodded. 'Dungeons the association deal with are leftover E and D Gates that other guilds don't want. If I join the association, I can't Level Up anymore. I can keep growing stronger as long as I don't stop.' "I believe the place I need to be is inside the dungeon." Jin-Woo watched, as Gun-Hee's expression became one of absolute shock. He could see Jin-Woo was telling the truth.

The man clutched his chest, sighing as he nodded. "Very well. Then I look forward to seeing what you manage to accomplish in the future."

"Thank you," Jin-Woo nodded as he stood up. "My sister's home alone, so I need to get going." Gun-Hee nodded and Jin-Woo headed for the exit, spotting Manager Woo and deciding to throw him a bone. "Your intuition wasn't wrong," he told the man. "I wasn't the one who took care of the monsters in the Double Dungeon." Jin-Woo left the two bewildered individuals, whilst Gun-Hee's words echoed in his mind.

Now.

As Jin-Woo stared at his computer screen, he thought about what Gun-Hee had said and frowned. "If I do join the bigger Guilds, I'll throw the country into chaos. I doubt that would actually happen, but it might be best not to take the chance." He sighed, thinking of how Hae-In had wanted him in her guild. "She's not gonna be happy, but this might be for the best.

He thought about what Hae-In had told him about her role as an S-Rank in the guild. She was mostly there to deal with the few threats the A and B Ranks couldn't handle. If Jin-Woo joined, he would be made to do the same thing. And that meant his about to grind exp would be limited. Unless the Hunters were willing to let him fight on his own, joining them wouldn't benefit him at all.

"Same with if I join any of the other guilds." It would also cause him to become more restrictive. Hae-In had needed permission to get time off, which didn't sit well with Jin-Woo. If he joined a guild, he would likely be expected to work for several weeks before he could get some time off. That didn't sit well with him. Even if it would help him get more levels, he would still be trapped and have to wait to go back into the Demon's Castle.

Speaking of the demon's castle, that was what he needed to focus on right now.

He returned his attention to the computer, staring at the items that were up for auction. Weapons and artefacts, which hunters could purchase to help battle monsters with. However, because of how dangerous it is to get the materials used to craft them, even the weakest piece of equipment can cost almost a million to buy.

"Why's it gotta be so expensive?" He asked, sighing as he flicked through the many items currently on sale. "I want my gear to be flawless when I go back to the castle. Something that'll help me against the intense heat of the place would be useful. Can't ask Beste to keep cooling me down. And nothing in the system shop seems right." He sat back in his chair and stared at his savings, which weren't nearly enough to pay for it. And he didn't want to use the money Jin-Ho had given him. "Guess there's no choice but to sell the Sphere of Avarice. At least I can sell it."

He double checked everything and nodded seeing that the best items could only grant a boost of twenty to thirty percent.

"Since the orb can double the users power, it'll sell for a tremendous amount." However, as he sat back in his chair, he sighed thinking of an issue. "There's no way they're gonna believe an E-rank Hunters has something like this. It's bound to raise some suspicions. I'd have to wait until I get my S-Rank licence and even then, they're still gonna wonder where the heck it came from. If only I had an A-Rank Gate on my Hunters Record."

He clicked away at the Raid site, looking for hunters wanting to get some money. However, they were all for E, D and the occasional C Rank Gate. All the higher ranked Gates had been nabbed by the bigger guilds.

But just then, an ad popped up. Jin-Woo was about to click off it, but stopped when he saw what it was for. "Hello? He smiled, realising he had an opening. But then he saw which Guild he would be working for. "Okay, that could be an issue. Do I tell her?" He was about to, but stopped when he realised what time it was. Most likely, Hae-In would be asleep.

He sat back and thought about it for a moment. But seeing there were only a limited number of spaces left, he quickly got to work applying.

Hae-In yawned, as she got out of bed and got down to do her morning stretches.

She had wanted to talk to Jin-Woo the previous night, to know how his meeting with Gun-Hee Go likely went. But she had been so tired the previous night, she had fallen asleep as soon as she had eaten something and changed. She hadn't wanted to disturb Jin-Woo whilst he talked with the chairmen, but had fallen asleep curious how things had gone.

Now, as she did her yoga possess, she remembered what Jong-In had told her about meeting Jin-Woo and finding out about their relationship. According to Jong-In, Guildmaster Baek had been the one to tell him. And if that was true, it meant that Baek and the White Tigers knew they had some kind of relationship. The only question was, how?

Worry once again washed over her, as she feared that their relationship was going to become public before they had a chance to tell the people they wanted to tell. First of all, there was Jin-Ah. She deserved to know first before anyone else. And whilst she wasn't particularly close to her family, she did still want to tell them before it was splashed all over the tabloids.

She sighed, knowing she would need to talk to Jin-Woo as soon as possible. So, as soon as she was done with her stretches, she got up and opened up the messaging system. "Jin-Woo," she spoke as the words appeared on the screen, "sorry if I woke you up. Just wanted to ask how things went with Gun-Hee yesterday. And I need to talk to you about something."

She headed into the shower and sent the message, quickly washing herself up as she waited for a reply. The fact she didn't get one in the first few minutes clearly showed that Jin-Woo had been asleep and didn't hear her message.

She got out and began to make breakfast, knowing she was gonna need all her strength for the day. Since the Gate she was going into was a high ranking one, she needed to be at her best. She also checked her phone to see if there was any news about her, something she didn't normally like to do.

She wanted to be sure her relationship with Jin-Woo wasn't about to be revealed. But as she flipped through several pages, she didn't see anything made her think they had been found out. "At least the White Tigers didn't blab." She sighed in relief and as she finished her breakfast, she finally got a message.

Jin-Woo: I'm a little busy right now, but can we talk later? Unless what you need to tell me something really important.

Hae-In thought about it and whilst she did think this situation was important, her internet search seemed to say that it could wait at least a little bit. "Alright. I'll talk to you later. I've got a pretty big raid today, so I won't be able to talk until late in the afternoon."

Jin-Woo: That's fine. I'll see you then. Or maybe sooner, depending on how the day goes.

Hae-In raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what the heck he was talking about. But she quickly shook her head and focused on getting changed, as she double checked where the raid was taking place. She quickly found the gate was in a wooded area, which meant she would need to park a ways away and trek towards it.

"Great," she sighed before putting her phone away and beginning to get changed. On the plus side, the Gate's strength meant that she could hopefully get some decent exp.

The previous day's gate had gotten her two thirds of the way to her next level, which had been rather annoying. She understood she was already high level, but she had hoped she would get at least one level out of that gate.

"Maybe Jong-In will let me take point today," she sighed. "If not, maybe I can help the B Squad and just do the entire dungeon myself." She chuckled, thinking how she would have done that in the old days before she had dealt with her smell issue.

She finished changing and once she had everything she needed in her inventory, she headed out whilst wondering if the monsters in this dungeon would grant her any good Shadow Weapons. Not that it seemed to matter, since she couldn't use them without raising suspicion around her fellow Hunters.

She needed to figure out a way to make her new abilities believable. But how?

"You're an E-Rank Hunter?"

"Yes, sir." Jin-Woo nodded, as he looked around at all the workers currently kitted out in the same equipment Jin-Woo was wearing. White shirt, overalls and a hard hat. Everything one needed to work on a high-ranking guild's mining team.

"Are you experienced in this line of work?" The man asked, as Jin-Woo thought about it.

"No, sir."

"Then...what's your combat type?"

"I'm a physical combatant."

"That's a relief," the miner smiled. "There aren't many like you here. Just don't get nervous and work diligently. You'll be on standby and working with us later. Just don't forget your equipment."

"Yes, sir." He looked around at the many people just sitting around, waiting outside the gate. There were a few hunters there, guarding the gate in case a Dungeon Break occurred. But most of the people there were those that were assigned to the mine and retrieval teams.

He smiled, as he looked over at the Gate that housed monsters far more powerful than the ones Jin-Woo had ever faced outside of the Double Dungeon and Demon's Castle. And inside, she was likely hard at work.

Jong-In smiled, as he stared at the giants staring them down.

"The Dungeon this time is quite deep." He took a drag of his cigarette, as he watched the monsters getting closer and closer. "It's already past the designated time. Since people have plans, it'll cause an inconvenience to the other teams if we take any more time." He flicked his cigarette away before his hands became covered in flames.

He swung his arm around and the flames flew off and formed a wall between them and the monsters in front. They tried to push through, but the heat was just too much for them. And as they pulled their hands back, the mage thrust his hand forward and caused the wall to shoot forward and burn the beasts.

The monsters all screamed, as they were cocked alive and the flames began to swirl around them. "Tanks, get into position!" He watched as the flames grew smaller and smaller, but the power remained. "There's a storm coming."

The tanks rushed forward and slammed their shields into the ground, as the flames exploded and unleashed a wave of energy that would have blown them all flying without the shields. The tanks also used their skills to create an extra powerful defensive line, which the explosion didn't even phase.

When the blast finally faded away, that section of the dungeon had been completely destroyed. The walls had been blown apart and the beasts had all been cooked, their extra crispy bodies falling to the ground.

"I used moderation, since we can't collect the corpses if they're roasted too well." He smiled back at the other members of the guild. "We're not sure how deep the dungeon is, but all the nearby should be burnt to a crisp." The Hunters Guild Members were all astounded by what they were seeing. Despite having seen this multiple times, it still amazed them just how powerful their guildmaster was. "I'll safely guide you all. And sorry for the burning smell. I know one of you has a sensitive nose."

Hae-In smirked, as she took a sniff and found the smell was even getting through her helmet. She could only imagine what it would have smelled like without it.

They continued to make their way through the dungeon, searching it from top to bottom. But it was just as Jong-In had mentioned. The monsters within had all been burned alive. Those that weren't had been blown into the walls hard enough to break almost every bone in their bodies. There wasn't a single creature left within it. Not one that was alive, at least.

"Excellent," Jong-In smiled. "Time to let the others do their job. Everyone, head back to the entrance and take a break. We'll need it for the boss. I can tell this one's gonna be big." They all nodded and headed back, Hae-In once again taking the rear to make sure nobody was left behind.

As she did, she let her mind drift back to Jin-Woo. She kept wondering what he was doing today out of the blue.

'Maybe he's going to go see that Jin-Ho guy? Or is he checking up on that girl from the Red Gate?' She sighed, knowing she should simply stop worrying about it. But she couldn't.

She was so focused on what Jin-Woo might be doing, she barely noticed she was at the Gate until she stepped through the portal. She heard the sounds of the miners and recovery people giving out orders and preparing to head in, the Vice-Guildmaster making sure to look as stoic as she possibly could.

However, as she followed her guildmates, she sensed something that made her stop. "What?" She glanced over towards the miners, who smiled back at her whilst she focused on them. And as she did, she could feel a presence she had come to know intimately. "No way. He couldn't have."

She quickly realised the miners were giving her curious looks, so she turned away and walked off. But as she did, she opened up the system window and went to the map. And there, not too far away from her own dot, was the other one signifying the location of her fellow player.

"Oh, he is so dead."

As soon as Jin-Woo stepped through the Gate, he felt it.

"Wind, in a gate?" It did feel like wind. He had never felt this in a closed structure gate before. Usually, the only times wind was felt within a gate was when it led to a forest, desert or other area that appeared to exist outside. He had never sensed wind within a cave dungeon. "No, that's not wind. It's magic energy waves." The fact that he could feel them like this, just went to show how much power was in this gate.

Jin-Woo felt almost overwhelmed. Whilst he had been in a higher gate, remembering that the Demon's Castle was S-Rank, it had never unleashed this kind of power before. It was like nothing he had ever felt before.

"Have you guys heard?" Jin-Woo highly sensitive ears caught the whispers of some of the other miners. "That new recruit is an E-Rank."

"What?" Another asked, "they recruited an E-Rank?"

"That's right."

"What on earth was the team leader thinking?"

"Can an E-Rank hunter even control their strength properly?"

"That's what I'm talking about."

"I'm not sure we can finish today's work on time."

Jin-Woo inwardly sighed, having not missed this kind of thing since his days as the weakest hunter of all mankind. However, he wouldn't be staying long. And this wasn't like back then. "Hey! Let's pick up the pace!" Jin-Woo looked up and saw a large bulky guy walking towards him, looking like the kind of guy that would shoulder check him just for the heck of it. "Don't just stand there when the path is so-" He didn't get to finish, as Jin-Woo stared up at him whilst unleashing a small fraction of his aura. Enough to give the guy a nice fright, making him gulp. "N...never...never mind. It happens from time to time."

Jin-Woo didn't say anything and just walked off, deciding to show these guys what he could do.

But as he did, he noticed the recovery team were already beginning to get the monsters properly tied up in order to move. The skill they used to get them all set up was impressive and the mining leader smirked. "You must be stunned, since this is your first time in an A-Rank Dungeon."

"Yes. The monsters are bigger than I expected. All the monsters have been eliminated, but the boss was left alone. Right?"

"Correct. We can't kill the boss since the gate will close. It won't be eliminated until the mining and collection teams are finished."

"What happens if the boss leaves its nest?"

The man chuckled, as he looked around at all the workers. "Those kinds of situations are rare, but.." Jin-Woo looked at the workers as well. "Everyone in here will die." Jin-Woo stared at all the people, whose Ranks weren't higher than C-Rank. If an A-Rank monster attacked, none of them would survive long.

"Aren't you scared of the horrifying monster that's looming behind your back?"

"Not at all. I've worked for the Hunter's guild for three years and there's never been an accident."

'Ignorance is bliss, sometimes. Even though the boss is dormant, it's releasing enough energy to make one's body shudder. The boss' level is above Vulcan and Metus. The strike squad is impressive for handling this kind of dungeon, but the miners and collectors are just as impressive for working in such a place. It's not just strength and manpower. It's the skill and expertise acquired through experience.'

He nodded before moving over to grab the nearest pickaxe, hearing the moving squad heaving the remains of a monster out of the dungeon whilst he headed toward a group of mana crystals.

He had to be careful how much of his strength he used. Too little and the pickaxe would just bounce off the crystal. Too much and the crystal or axe would shatter. So, he raised the tool and used it to slam into the crystals, cutting through it.

What would usually take the others ten hits to do, he did in one and the crystal went flying out of the wall before hitting the ground in one piece. He then slammed the axe into another crystal and ripped it out of the wall, then another and another. Soon, the ground around him was littered with the gems.

The other miners stared in shock, as they watched Jin-Woo moving like a man possessed. "Um, boss?" He heard a miner ask, "you sure he's E-Rank?"

"That's what the file said." Jin-Woo smirked, everyone who had been badmouthing him earlier now trying to pick their jaws up off the floor. He didn't say anything and just kept working, soon clearing an entire section of the dungeon before the others were able to do one tenth of it.

Once the stones were all gathered and placed in the carts, they moved onto another section and did the same. Then another section and another. What should have taken the entire day, was completed before lunch. As long as they kept up this pace, they would get to finish early.

But before that, the miners all needed to eat. "Alright, lunch time." The miners all cheered, as they began to push the cart towards the gate. The head miner than turned to Jin-Woo. "You coming as well, Mr. Sung?"

"I'm fine," Jin-Woo told him. "I already ate."

"Okay, then you can do as you please." Jin-Woo nodded and watched them all leave, as he cut away a few more crystals.

As soon as he was alone, Jin-Woo smirked before dropping the pickaxe and rushing deeper into the dungeon. "I can't miss an opportunity like this!" He stated, smirking as he ran full speed whilst holding up his helmet. "I have one hour of free time. I'll just take a quick peak and come back."

He ran faster and faster, moving through the dungeon like lightning until he came to his destination. The large doors, leading into the boss room.

Jin-Woo stared it down, smiling as he remembered what he had seen before. "All the other monsters in this place were giants. So this one must be a giant as well." He smirked, as he felt how much power was coming from that room. "Man, that thing's even stronger than Metus." Slowly, sparks formed around his hand that materialised into his ice blade dagger. "My current strength is enough. But..." He thought about Hae-In and how pissed she would be, if he killed the monster her guild had paid good money for.

His whole body shook, as excitement raced through his very being. Once he opened the door, the boss would be free to wander around the rest of the dungeon. The Hunters Guild would suffer a huge loss.

"But...a little peak can't hurt, right." He was about to take a step forward. But before he could.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jin-Woo's whole body froze and he put his dagger away, as he realised who he had been caught by. "I asked you a question..." Jin-Woo slowly turned towards the owner's voice, Hae-In standing there with her arms crossed and an upset look on her face. "It shouldn't be too hard to answer."

"Um...hey." Jin-Woo had been scared before. But for some reason, the look she was giving him made him more terrified than he had ever felt before. "I...um...got lost."

"Got lost, huh?" Hae-In raised an eyebrow, as she started moving closer to him. "Because it looked like you were about to open up the boss room, even though there are low ranking hunters still in the Dungeon whilst the higher ones are outside."

"What? No, I would never-YOWL!" Jin-Woo hissed, as Hae-In grabbed his ear and pulled him down to her level. "Ow, ow, ow. Okay. I might have been considering it. But I'm not going to." Hae-In groaned, pouting at him as she pulled his ear harder. "OW! Stop that. You're gonna give me an urgent quest to eliminate a threat."

Hae-In sighed, but let him go. "You still haven't fully answered my question. What do you think you're doing? Coming here of all places."

"I have my reasons," Jin-Woo stated. "I need to sell the Sphere of Avarice, to pay for the gear I'll need to conquer the Demon's Castle. But nobody's gonna believe I'll have such a powerful item. I figured that if I had an A Rank Dungeon in my record, people might be less suspicious."

"Really," she crossed her arms, "that was the best plan you could come up with?" Jin-Woo shrugged. "Why didn't you just give me the sphere to sell and I could have gotten the equipment for you. It would make more sense for me to have it than you and nobody would ask any questions."

Jin-Woo chuckled. "Hae-In, Hae-In. That...is a very good idea and I wish I had thought of it last night." Hae-In sighed, shaking her head.

"What am I gonna do with you."

"Sorry," he scratched the back of his head. "I know this is out of nowhere. I saw the ad for the job last night and thought it was the best plan. Sorry I didn't tell you. Thought it might be a nice surprise."

"It is, even if I had to stop you from unleashing an A-Rank monster on the rest of the weaker hunters. I actually thought you might have come to see how the Hunters Guild did things, because you decided to join us."

"Right," Jin-Woo replied slowly. An awkward look appeared on his face, as Hae-In raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to join the Hunters, are you?" Jin-Woo glanced away, a slight look of shame on his face. "I get it. Joining the association is a smart decision, financially. I'm sure your sister will appreciate you not having to do such dangerous work to pay for-"

"I'm not joining the association," Jin-Woo told her. "If I joined, there's no way I could level up any more than I already have."

Hae-In frowned. "You're not joining the association, but you're also not gonna join the Hunters? Why?"

"Gun-Hee told me what would happen if the Hunters got a third S-Rank. I don't wanna be the one who completely destabilises the country. Besides, if we both joined the same guild, we'll be competing against one another to get the best exp." Hae-In was about to say they wouldn't be in the same raids, but decided not to both since he had chosen not to join. "It's better this way."

"I get it," she nodded. "Plus, I guess you would have to wait to return to the Demon's Castle if you joined either group." Jin-Woo nodded. "So you're not joining the association or the Hunters, what are you going to do?"

Jin-Woo was about to tell her, but stopped before he could. And Hae-In knew why, as the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. A new form of magic energy had just appeared within the dungeon. One that made them both turn towards it.

"You feel that?" Jin-Woo asked, Hae-In nodding as she rushed forward. Jin-Woo followed and the pair made their way through the maze of tunnels. Since it was lunch time, everyone was likely still outside the Gate. That meant they were safe, so long as whatever this was didn't cause the boss to go on a rampage.

Jin-Woo summoned his daggers and Hae-In her Horn Calibur and Sting Guard, as the energy got stronger the closer they got to it.

"Beste!" Jin-Woo cried, as his ice witch and several archers appeared. "Transfer into Hae-In's shadow, just in case. Better to have Shadow Soldiers deploy from two locations instead of one." They all nodded and merged into Hae-In's shadow, as they all turned a corner and found what was causing the energy waves. "No way."

Hae-In could hardly believe what she was seeing. It was like there was a tear within the surface of the universe. A rip like what you would see in clothing, only this one was floating in the air and glowing a bright white colour. She had never seen anything like this.

"What do you wanna do?" Jin-Woo would usually just go in for the attack, but this wasn't his dungeon. So, he waited to see what Hae-In wanted to do.

The woman decided to look into the future and see what would happen if she interacted with the tear. But as soon as he future self touched it, the crack exploded and the light somehow knocked her back into her present day self. "Augh!" She staggered backwards, Jin-Woo rushing to catch her before she hit the ground.

"You okay? What happened?"

"I don't know," she frowned. "But whatever this is, it's not good. We have to stop it before anyone else shows up." She wanted to send Jin-Woo back and have him get the other members of the assault squad. But she knew he wouldn't leave her, even if he left his entire shadow army behind to help her. "We have to attack this thing together. You ready?"

"Let's do this," he nodded. She smiled and the two turned to the crack, both charging forward and striking at it with their weapons. And as soon as they did, the light exploded out like it had done in her vision.

They were both blinded by the attack and groaned, covering their eyes as they prepared for whatever was waiting for them on the other side. And as the light slowly grew dimmer, she felt her feet land on something that shifted beneath her. The air turned humid and before she knew what was happening, water sloshed against her boots.

She opened her eyes and to her surprise, she found she was in some kind of swamp biome. The entire floor was covered in water, which she was saved from sinking into due to the giant lily-pad she had found herself standing on.

She frowned, wondering what the heck was happening. But then, she realised something else. She was the only person in here. "Jin-Woo?" She called out, but Jin-Woo didn't answer. She was all alone in this place, fear gripping her heart as she began to worry about where he might be.

But before she could think of what to do, something shot out of the swamp. A blast of water, which flew up and almost hit her. She only just managed to keep from getting hit, her shield protecting her as she leapt to safety. And moments later, more water blasts shot out and ripped the lily-pad she had been standing on to pieces.

There were other pads scattered around, but she chose to stay in their air and used her air-walk to stay up. And as she looked around, she spotted something floating out of the water. The head of a monster she had seen before. "A gillman?" She gasped, realising she was in the home turf of the fish-man hybrid monsters.

These beasts could fire water from their mouths at high speed. Something that would make battling them difficult, especially if they could attack from underwater. She had to be careful. One wrong move and she could end up fish food. But as she tried to come up with a plan, she couldn't help but wonder where Jin-Woo had gone.

This was a fun one, mostly for the parts between them at the end. Bet you weren't expecting things to take a sudden turn, huh? Will Hae-In defeat these monsters and what happened to Jin-Woo? Stay turned to find out.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and support. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

When Jin-Woo opened his eyes, he found himself in what appeared to be a small stone cave.

It was no larger than his apartment, with the ceiling being roughly five meters up. Said ceiling was covered in a growing green moss, that illuminated the room with a soft glow. And over in the corner, a single tunnel seemed to be leading out of the chamber.

Jin-Woo frowned, as he realised he was all alone. "Hae-In?" He called out, but his girlfriend was nowhere to be found. This worried him, as he began to make his way towards the tunnel. He then opened the system and tried to send a message to her, but the system was unable to connect. "What's going on now?"

Before he could think of anything else, he sensed a presence approaching from the tunnel and he leapt back. Igris appeared out of his shadow and was ready to fight as well, as Jin-Woo clutched his daggers.

Something was floating towards them, which looked round with short clawed hands and feet. And as it got closer, the light from the moss illuminated the chamber and showed him what he was looking at. "What the?"

He had never seen a creature like this before, as it was a floating ball of brown hair with green limbs, yellow claws and a pair of purple eyes. The creature looked pretty weak, Jin-Woo feeling that his E-Rank self could have slain it easily. And when the name appeared, it was in white.

"Kuriboh?" He frowned, wondering what kind of name that was. "Well, this was anti-climatic. Igris. Deal with it and let's get out of here." Igris nodded and moved towards the creature, who just floated there and let out a rather interesting sound as it watched the knight raise its sword.

But as soon as Igris swung it down and cut the creature in half, something happened.

The moment the sword touched the beast, its entire body suddenly exploded with the force of a dynamite stick. The blast was so strong, it dispelled Igris whilst Jin-Woo found himself getting blown off his feet. "Augh!" He landed on his back, moaning at the blast whilst the smoke faded to show the creature was destroyed. "What the heck was that?" He pushed himself up, moaning as he glared at the tunnel where it had come from.

Igris reformed and seemed just as annoyed, as Jin-Woo headed towards the tunnel.

"Well, it's gone now. Let's just hope this leads us to wherever Hae-In is." He began to march down the tunnel with his shadow solider behind him, the two still reeling from the explosion. But as they did, they heard the noise that creature had just made. "What the? Didn't we just-" From around a corner, four more Kuriboh appeared. They all floated toward them. looking like they were using their arms and legs to paddle through the air like they were swimming.

Jin-Woo frowned and quickly threw one of his daggers at the furball, hitting it between the eyes only for it to explode. Jin-Woo had been ready this time and braced himself, Igris doing the same and shielding himself with his giant sword.

But as the smoke from the explosion faded, the other furballs were revealed to be unharmed by the explosion and kept moving towards them. "Seriously?" Jin-Woo asked, as they got closer and closer. "Dang it. Alright, fine!" One of the ice elves that didn't go with Hae-In materialised, drawing its bow and notching two arrows before letting go.

The weapons hit the pair in the face and they also exploded, the double blast blowing Jin-Woo back a few feet. Though the explosions weren't much on their own, the fact they were happening in a confined space caused them to be stronger than they should have been.

"This is gonna be my whole day, isn't it?" He kept moving forward, praying he would be able to find Hae-In or an exit before he ran into any more of these weird creatures.

Hae-In frowned, as she stared down at the boggy water that was currently hosting the monsters attempting to kill her.

The gillmen were under there and ready to attack the second she gave them the chance, so she leapt from side to side in the air to keep herself from looking like a target. This seemed to stop the monsters, for the most part. As a few moments later, a blast of water exploded out of the pond and almost hit her.

She growled, as she dodged the attack. If the beasts weren't hiding in the water, she would have been able to end this fight in ten seconds. But since she couldn't see where they were, she had no idea where to strike.

She tried using her future sight ability to figure out where they were, but every time she did they kept appearing in different areas of the lake. They were swilling about and wouldn't stay still, not even as they tried to shoot her.

All she could do was keep running around, dodging their attacks as she tried to come up with an idea. And she soon had one. "Beste!" Moments later, the ice witch flew out of her shadow. "Freeze the water. Lock those things into place." She nodded and began casting magic, launching a blast of ice down towards the lake.

As soon as it struck the water, the entire pond began to freeze up. Within seconds, the whole thing was frozen over.

However, before it froze, a gillman shot out of the water and landed on a lily-pad. It let out a cry and fired several water bullets from its mouth. Luckily, Beste and Hae-In were able to dodge these attacks before Hae-In dove down. And with a swipe of her Horn Calibur, she cut the beast's head off and it fell to the ground dead.

She landed on the ice and managed to keep from slipping, whilst Beste flew down with her. She looked down at all the frozen gillmen currently in the lake, clearly dead from either freezing or lack of oxygen.

She frowns, as she looks around for any sign of a way out. But she can't find a thing. Either Beste can't find anything, as she flies around the swampy cavern. Hae-In sighed, as she tried to figure out a way to escape. If this was like a Red Gate, it meant she couldn't leave until she had defeated the boss. But if the gillmen were all dead and the gate wasn't reappearing, that could only mean one thing.

"The boss isn't dead yet." She soon got her answer, when part of the ice suddenly shattered and something appeared from out of it.

That something was a giant, made entirely out of vines and mud. Its main body was mud, with the vines covering it like a giant yeti. The beast lumbered out the previously frozen water, having somehow melted that section of the ice. When it stood upon the remains of the ice, it let out an unintelligent roar before raising its arms. And when it did, Hae-In looked into the future and saw what was coming.

"Move!" She told Beste, leaping away whilst the shadow flew up. But as she did, a bunch of thorn-like projectiles shot out of the palm of the monster.

They flew through the air at high speed and Hae-In barely managed to avoid them in time. Beste wasn't so lucky and got hit several times, crying out as her shadow form dispelled. Hae-In could only gasp at this sight, since Beste wouldn't be able to reform from her shadow. Not unless Jin-Woo sent mana to her specifically.

the swamp giant roared again and swung its arms around, the mud that made up its body expanding and sending the limb flying towards her. She managed to dodge it and as she did, she summoned her light drones and sent them flying towards the beast.

They struck the monster and smashed right through it, leaving a trio of large holes in its body. But it didn't die and the holes soon closed up, as it launched more thorns at her.

She summoned her shield and used it to block the attacks, then swapped her sword out for her Razor Hunter. With the shorter blade, she was able to move it around much quicker and start slashing the thorns out of the way of her as she began to charge towards the giant.

The vines on its body came to life and it launched them towards her, causing her to rapidly slash at them to keep from getting caught. She then leapt straight up and used her Air-Walk to propel herself downwards, as she tried to stab the dagger into its head. But the blade hit nothing but mud and vines, doing no real damage to it as she leapt away to safety.

She flicked the dagger around to get the mud off, as the giant healed up the damage and turned back to her.

He launched several more thorns at her and she managed to deflect most of them, only for a single one to scratch her cheek. it was barely a scratch, but Hae-In was still annoyed by it. She leapt away before it could shoot any more, as she tried to think of a way to stop this thing.

Back in the other cave, Jin-Woo, Igris and the ice elf soldier were continuing through the tunnel.

Whenever they spotted more of those bombastic furballs, Jin-Woo had the ice elf shoot them. The explosions were constantly getting annoying, as there seemed to be no end to them. But Jin-Woo soon realised something that made him think of an answer to why there were so many.

"I'm not getting any exp," he stated. Even if his shadow soldiers were the ones killing these things, Jin-Woo should have still been getting some exp. But his counter hadn't moved a single digit since he entered this cave. "If these things aren't giving me any exp, that can only mean one thing. They're not real."

He remembered back to the Job Change quest and how those knights hadn't given him any exp either. That was because they had been summoned beasts, with no will of their own. If that was the case, these creatures were also getting summoned from somewhere. And Jin-Woo intended to find out where.

"Let's go," he told the other two. They nodded and the pair kept making their way through the tunnels, destroying every Kuriboh that got in their way and tried to blow them up.

Eventually, Jin-Woo found another cave at the end of the tunnel.

The passageways hadn't been as well lit, with only a little moss on the ceilings illuminating it. And as he and his shadows got closer, the light grew brighter and they prepared to attack whatever was summoning these Kuriboh monsters. "Let's go!" He stated before stepping into the chamber.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped inside, was the rush of flowing water. He looked around and found the chamber he was in was twice the size of the first one. He then spotted a spring of some kind, flowing out of the wall into a small bowl-shaped hole in the floor. When the water looked like it was about to overflow, it trickled into a short canal that flowed towards another hole in the wall that the water disappeared into.

A bunch of rocks could be seen all over the place, creating a bunch of hiding spots for the summoner to use.

"Come on out!" Jin-Woo cried, "I know you're in here. Quit hiding and show yourself!" Then, the familiar sound made him look around and see another of the floating fuzz monsters appear. Jin-Woo glared at it, looking at the rock it had just appeared out of. "IRON!"

The Shadow Soldier appeared and with a roar, he tossed his axe towards the rock and it shattered. But the summoner was nowhere in sight.

"What the heck?" He looked up at the creature, as it stared down at him. "Then where the heck did you come from?" Kuriboh stared at him, looking confused. "Unless...are you the one who summoned those copies of you?" The little creature suddenly closed its eyes and started shaking, Jin-Woo feeling bad when he thought it was trying to poop.

He wasn't actually wrong, as something did end up coming out of it. Another Kuriboh

The two Kuriboh floated side by side, both looking perfectly identical. And as the new one floated towards Jin-Woo, the first repeated the process and created another one out of its body. Jin-Woo quickly realised what was happening here.

"Dang it. That thing can replicate itself and they self-destruct the minute they're touched." With each passing second, more and more of the furry bombs filled the chamber. The original was soon lost in a sea of its clones, which created a wall that threatened to blow the entire chamber to smithereens. "Alright, guys. Cut those things down!" Igris and Iron charged, the pair beginning to cut through the horde of Kuriboh and trying to endure the explosions that followed. The ice elf was also shooting several arrows at them, destroying even more whilst Jin-Woo went on the attack.

He tried to rush through the crowd, hoping to get to the original and take it down. But even though he was able to dodge the first couple, one suicide bombed him and the explosion blew him backwards.

He flinched and fell backwards, as more and more Kuriboh appeared out of the original. Every time a new one was made, it let out the same cute yet annoying sound and looked happy to be alive.

Iron spun his shield like a frisbee, cutting through several of them and making more explosions. And when Igris slashed the blade through the air, the wind it created struck even more and blasted them. But every time one of those things blew up, two more were popped out to take its place.

Jin-Woo pushed himself up and growled, getting annoyed by these things. But he was also intrigued. As annoying as it was, it could also be useful.

Hae-In kept running around, avoiding the thorns and vines being sent in her direction.

She leapt into the air and did several flips before landing upon the ice, sliding to a stop with her dagger whilst the giant continued to approach her. As it did, her drones flew down and kept smashing into it. But each time it did damage, it just repaired it.

"Monsters don't have healing capabilities," Hae-In told herself. "There's gotta be more to this creature." As she said that, the ice elves formed out of her shadow and all took up their stealth skill.

They rushed forward, several shooting arrows whilst the others attempted to kill the beast with knives and swords. But no matter how many times they slashed at the monster, it didn't take any lasting damage.

Hae-In groaned, as several elves were grabbed by the vines and crushed in their grasp. "Think. Why can't I hurt that thing? Well, because it's made of mud. I've never fought a mud monster before. Come on, what's its weakness." She watched the arrows fly towards the monster and hit it in several places. But it didn't care, simply letting the projectiles sink into its body.

But one arrows, it actively moved for. Not to dodge, but to just let it hit a different area of its body. Hae-In hummed at that, as she sent her drone over to it and attacked that spot. And it moved again, causing the drone to hit its side instead.

"A weak point?" She asked, as the drone flew around and attempted to hit that spot again. However, it didn't dodge it this time and the drone slammed into it. But another area, close to the first spot, was protected instead. "A moving weak spot." Her eyes widened, as she remembered once reading a report about a group of US hunters entering a desert dungeon.

That place had had a golem as its boss, that was made entirely out of sand. The golem's only weak spot had been a small orb, which it kept moving around within its body. If this thing was a golem with the same kind of core, then the only way to defeat it was to hit it.

She tried to think of which weapon she had that could do that kind of damage. But nothing was coming to mind. She didn't have anything for that. Even her drones couldn't do that much damage.

However, as some more elves were dispelled, her gaze fell on the gillman she had killed earlier. And as she remembered what it could do, an idea formed in her head. "Worth a shot!" She moved over to it and as some more elves were beaten, she placed her hand on the body. "Equip!" The the shadow formed around the monster before it started taking shape in her hand, as she pulled the shadow off of it.

Once the shadow was ripped from the body, the form solidified and Hae-In smirked at the sight of it.

It was a green, black and yellow gun of some kind, with scales covering the green sections. The middle of the barrel had a section that spun, allowing the end of the barrel to also spin around. The end of said barrel had three holes in it, which formed a triangle shape. And connected to the spinning centre of the barrel were three fish fins, which formed a triangle and spun with the rest of the barrel.

Its name instantly appeared in her mind and she smirked, as the window filled with the name before she turned towards the creature and she got the info page.

Item: Gill Magnum
B-Rank Gun Weapon
INT +50
Hydro Gatling: Cost 50 Mana

She aimed the weapon at the golem and pulled the trigger, as a blast of water exploded out of the top hole of the gun. The powerful jet of water struck the monster and cut through the mud like a power washer, the golem roaring as part of its body was ripped away.

Hae-in smirked at this before she used her thump to pull down the switch on the back of the gun, causing the gun barrel to start spinning. Once it was up to speed, she aimed and fired.

Bullets of water exploded out of the gun, shooting forward at high speed but all slightly shifting locations midair.

Soon, they crashed into the monster and hit it in several areas of its body. With each shot, a chunk of its body was ripped off and it found itself staggering around. Hae-In was loving this new weapon, but had to stop when the golem raised one of its arms and fired a barrage of thorns towards her.

She leapt to the side and the thorns missed, whilst she summoned her Pyro Lash. And as the monster spun its arm around to grab her, she unleashed the flaming coil before snapping it towards the beast.

The fire whip struck the creature's arm and wrapped around it, the flames burning away the water in its arm and causing it to harden.

It roared in pain and tried to pull, but Hae-In pressed a button on the whip and the snake mouth snapped shut and bit through the flames. The fire chord was snapped and the golem found itself staggering away, as Hae-In rushed forward and fired several more times.

The water bullets blew away more of the monster and it roared in pain, whilst Hae-In snapped her whip around and grabbed the other monster's arm. The beast roared and its second limb was dried up and turned to rock, Hae-In this time pulling on the whip and causing it to yank the arm towards her. And just as expected, the arm was ripped off and the beast was without a means to fire its thorns.

Hae-In leapt away and aimed her gun at its legs, switching to the jet form and firing.

The blast of water shot forward and cut through the leg, causing it to collapse and crash to the ground. As it did, Hae-In noticed something pop out of the back of its body for a second. A red gem of some kind.

Thinking fast, she fired several water bullets towards that area and blasted away the mud. The bullet then hit something else and blew it out of the mud. The orb shot straight up and fell back down, about to land back on top of the now melting mud pile.

Hae-In saw this coming and dispelled her gun, instead flicking the fire whip up and wrapping it around the orb before pulling it back towards her.

As it flew at her, she summoned her new Ape Smasher and swung it downward. And with a roar, she felt it hit the orb and force it down to the icy ground. As soon as it hit, the orb was sandwiched between the two hard objects and shattered.

Hae-In noticed a bright flash of light, as the orb was destroyed and she got a message stating she had earned a level up.

She smiled, as the orb turned to dust whilst the ice broke as well. She then put the weapons away and looked around, wondering what would happen next. However, she got her answer when a flash of light appeared in front of her.

It was the same tear that she had fallen through before and she prayed that Jin-Woo would be on the other side of it.

Back in the other cave, Jin-Woo and his shadows were being blown across the chamber over and over again.

Jin-Woo had summoned a bunch more shadow soldiers, hoping that more of them would be able to cut through the horde of Kuriboh faster than they could regenerate. And it seemed to be working, for the most part.

A group of soldiers charged forward and each struck one with their weapons, causing the furry beasts to blow up and dispel the shadows. And whilst this did take out a large chunk of the furry army, the destroyed numbers were slowly being replaced. It only took two or three seconds for the original to create a new one, whilst the shadows needed just as much time to reform.

Jin-Woo panted, checking his MP and seeing his reserves had been depleted by a quarter. If he didn't find a way to end this fight, he was going to eventually tap his mana and be left defenceless.

"There's gotta be some way to get to that real thing." He was starting to regret lending Beste to Hae-In, though he hoped she was helping his girlfriend, since she could simply freeze these things in a single blast. "Gotta think smart. No defence is perfect. There's gotta be a chink in that armor. I just gotta find it." He focused and tried to cum up with a plan of attack.

More and more of the furry little monsters kept showing up, making it impossible to tell which one was the real one. The shadows kept up their attacks and kept getting blown up, the weaker shadows needing to constantly reform whilst Igris, Iron and the newly summoned Cerbie were able to endure most of the attacks.

However, as Jin-Woo tried to think, he closed his eyes and could hear the cries of the beasts over and over and again. Sometimes, they were drowned out by the explosions. But Jin-Woo kept hearing. Until he didn't.

He looked up and stared at the creatures, which kept exploding as they were struck. But Jin-Woo saw that the numbers weren't being restored, until they were. The beasts kept reappearing, each one letting out a cry whenever it was created. But then they stopped again and Jin-Woo waited for them to start spawning.

Several explosions later and Jin-Woo heard it again, as more and more appeared. And then he realised what was happening. "I get it. You can't make an infinite amount. I'm betting it costs a lot of power to make so many so fast. You're running low and need to take breaks to catch your breath." He was sure the original was panicking, as Jin-Woo laughed. "Alright then. Let's see who has more stamina. Me or you."

She started throwing his daggers around, using his Ruler's Hand skill to send them flying like buzzsaws.

They flew through the air and cut the beasts apart, causing more and more explosions as he controlled their flight path. The Shadow Soldiers followed their leader's tactics and kept slicing away and the beasts, blowing them up over and over again. And as they did, more and more kept getting made to replace them.

But over time, the number of clones made every few seconds got lower and lower. Eventually, more clones were being blown up then they were being made.

Jin-Woo stared through the crowd of furballs and spotted the real one, which was trying to send out more copies with little success. Its fur looked damp, like it was sweating. And Jin-Woo realised it was reaching its limit. However, he didn't want to risk it somehow getting its second wind.

"Cerbie!" Jin-Woo cried, knowing the three headed hound would be able to do what he needed it to. And it did, as all three mouths filled with flames before they exploded outwards and struck the Kuriboh in front of him. And soon, Jin-Woo was rushing into the explosion they caused.

The shockwave had passed over him, as he rushed forward at max speed to get to where the real one was. And soon, he came out of the smoke and leapt straight into the air. And there it was.

The original was trying to create a clone when he appeared in front of it, a look of terror clear on its face as it braced itself. Jin-Woo almost felt bad for doing this, but he couldn't risk it creating any more floating bombs. So, with a single thrust of his dagger, he impaled it between the eyes and forced it down to the ground.

The creature didn't make any noise and had been killed instantly, causing the clones to stop moving and simply float that. Jin-Woo looked around and saw them remain completely still, though he expected them to all explode eventually.

His exp gauge showed up and whilst he didn't level up, he did finally get some experience. "Good," he nodded before taking the dagger out of the body and picking the thing up. With all his strength, he leapt into the air and flew over the hordes of floating bombs before landing on the other side. Once these, Cerbie and the archer fired at the creatures and blew them all up.

He moved over to the others and nodded at them, thanking them all for their hard work. He then put the little guy down and thought for a moment before nodding. He had a feeling this little guy could come in handy. "Alright. You wanna come with me?" The body soon had writing above it. Shadow Extraction Possible. "Then welcome to the team. Arise."

Hae-In was making her way down the tunnel she had arrived in after walking through the tear.

She had appeared there and found the place was completely empty, so she had followed the tunnel and been on guard the whole time. But when she heard the explosions, she had booked it and ran as fast as she could whilst summoning her shadow weapons to attack.

When she finally reached the larger chamber, she spotted a bunch of shadow soldiers and smiled. "Jin-Woo!" she called out, spotting him in the middle of the back. And he was looking at something she had never seen before.

It was a floating ball of light blue fur, which had black hands and feet with light blue claws. Its eyes were pure white and it had to be the cutest shadow she had ever seen before. "Hey," Jin-Woo smiled. "I'm glad you're okay. Did anything happen?"

"I...thought a bunch of gillmen, followed by a mud golem." She summoned her gun, "got a new weapon out of it." She focused on the floating furball. "I see you've made a new friend as well. What are you going to call this one. Hairball?"

"Hey," Jin-Woo frowned. "I'll have you know, I've thought long and hard about his name. I would have called him what the system called him, but that was apparently his species name. So I came up with a name all his own."

"Really?" She crossed her arms, "so who is this little guy?" Jin-Woo smirked, as he gestured to the creature.

"Let me introduce you to Dajutan." Hae-In raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out where he got that word from. "Pretty good name, huh. He seems to like it." Dajutan let out a happy cry, his eyes closed in a way that made her think he was smiling.

"Okay, Dajutan. Nice to meet you." She turned to Jin-Woo, "he must have impressed you in order for you to make him a shadow." She looked around, "was he the only monster in here?"

"He's all there needed to be," Jin-Woo smirked. "A whole squad of B-Rank or lower hunters would have been wiped out by this little guy." He turned to the furball, as the rest of his shadows were sucked into his shadow. "Show her what you can do."

Dajutan agreed and floated away. And in the blink of an eye, he multiplied several times until the chamber was filled with him. "Wow," Hae-In's eyes widened. "He can copy himself?"

"Yup. And he can do it a lot faster than he could when he was alive. And all the clones explode the second you touch them." Hae-In looked terrified, as she moved away from the creature that would likely explode at any second. Luckily, Dajutan dispelled his fakes without blowing them up before flying back down to him. "Nice work. That's bound to come in handy. Welcome to the team."

Dajutan let out several happy cries before rubbing his body into Jin-Woo's face.

Hae-In giggled at this, as Jin-Woo tried to keep from sneezing. He then sent him back into his shadow, whilst the other shadow soldiers returned to him in order to recharge. Now it was just the two of them, both of which had zero clue how to get out of this place.

Luckily, the universe chose to be nice and a tear appeared in front of them. "You think this'll send us back?" Jin-Woo asked, Hae-In unsure. All they could do was jump through and hope for the best, which is exactly what they did.

They flew through it and landed on the other side, finding themselves back in the Dungeon they had been in before the whole situation. The tear that closed itself back up, leaving the pear alone and very confused. "What the heck even was that?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Woo wondered the same thing.

"Maybe the system did that," Jin-Woo suggested.

"You think it can create a random new dungeon inside of another?"

"Maybe," Jin-Woo frowned. "That was how I got the system in the first place. In a Double Dungeon. Maybe this one was to give us some new shadows to work with. I mean, I could have made the gillmen my shadows. But I doubt you could have made a weapon out of Dajutan. Must have sent us to the places we could get the most use out."

Hae-In hummed, as she thought about what Jin-Woo had said. "Maybe. Or maybe this is something else." She opened up the system and her eyes widened. "Lunch break's gonna be over pretty soon. We should get back."

Jin-Woo nodded, as they both headed back to where the miners had been working. Hae-In chose to stay back and make sure the boss hadn't been aggravated by whatever the heck had happened. She and Jin-Woo shared one final smile before separating.

Hae-In returned to the boss room and Jin-Woo started mining for a few minutes before the other workers arrived. It wasn't until he was surrounded that Hae-In remembered what she had wanted to talk to Jin-Woo about. With everything that had happened, she had almost completely forgotten about it. Now she would have to wait until they were alone before she could say anything.

Hopefully, Jin-Woo wouldn't be too upset about Jong-In knowing about them.

I know this seemed completely out of left field, but I really wanted to give them those shadows and couldn't think of another place to put their acquisition that didn't completely upend the plot. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this and tell me what you thought of the new shadows they got. I'm also curious to see if you know where the name Dajutan comes from. Until next time.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your support and comments. It really helps fuel the creative juices.

Those those of you still wondering about Dajutan's name, let me explain. I'll admit, I used Google Translate, so this might not properly translate. But the first part comes from dajung pogbal, which is Korean for Multiple Explosions. And the last part is basically to make it sound better. Hope that explains it. Anyway, onto the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

"You got lost and met Hunter Cha?" The lead miner asked, as Jin-Woo shrugged. "Aren't you a lucky guy. It's rare to even get to talk to her once."

"I don't know," another miner replied. "She's been a lot more interactive over the last few months. Almost like she's gotten over how badly we smell." Jin-Woo chuckled, remembering how Hae-In had used to complain about how badly hunters had spent before getting the special helmet.

"She's always patrolling the area," the head miner explained. "Worried that the boss will go on a rampage or something." Jin-Woo nodded. "Gotta tell you, feels way safer working whilst she's on guard. You know nothing's gonna go wrong with her around." Jin-Woo barely noticed what he said, too focused on what the other guy had said about Hae-In's smell.

He also remembered something Hae-In had said before, about how he was the only hunter she had met that ever smelled nice to her. And considering they had only met after Jin-Woo became a player, he had to think that that was what prevented him from smelling bad to her.

He remembered back to the Red Gate Incident, when he and Baruka had spoken. Back then, the boss had told him that they heard a voice that ordered them to kill humans. However, that voice never appeared when looking at Jin-Woo. And again, the only reason that would happen would be because he was a player.

'An existence to receive the system's benefits.' He sighed, as he and the other miners got back to work. 'What is the player?'

"Great work today," the head miner smiled as he handed Jin-Woo his paycheck.

Jin-Woo nodded, as the other miners all crowded around him and looked happy as can be. "You were pretty good," one guy stated. "I thought you brought an excavator or something after watching you mine mana crystals like that."

"Thank you, sir." He looked over at the gate, which was currently being closed by the main strike force. He was worried Hae-In might be too tired to deal with the boss. But she had told him she had levelled up, so that should have restored her energy.

The head miner smirked. "Thanks to you, we were able to finish two hours ahead of schedule. I didn't think we would have finished before the collection team. I've met a lot of people working this job and this is the first time I've seen someone like you. You're a talented miner."

'Uh oh.' Jin-Woo had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"I don't usually say things like this. But do you wanna come work for me by any chance? I'll take good care of you." Jin-Woo blinked, unsure how to answer that.

"I'm thankful for your kind words, but I already have another job lined up."

"Oh, that's a shame. Then, how about tomorrow? Can you come to work tomorrow as well?" Jin-Woo frowned, as he crossed his arms and thought about it. His re-evaluation was in two days and he had seen everything he needed to see about the dungeon clearing process. There was no point in working as a miner again. Plus, Hae-In might have an aneurysm if she found out he was working with her guild once again.

'Wait? Tomorrow as well?' "The Hunter's Guild is going on another raid tomorrow?"

"Of course. But it'll be our B-Team." He smirked, whilst Jin-Woo remembered what Hae-In had already told him in the past. "That's one of the strengths of the Hunter's Guild. We're probably the only guild in the country, that can field two different teams in order to clear dungeons. That way, the hunters who worked today and yesterday are able to rest and the Guild still gets to make money. Pretty cool, huh?"

Jin-Woo nodded, remembering what Hae-In had said about her times working with the B-Team. Even if he didn't get to see them fight, he was interested in seeing what the B-Team were capable of. "What time do you want me to show up tomorrow?"

The miner laughed, "good choice. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get paid double the normal amount for this."

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"Don't worry about it. It's the least we can do, considering how fast you work." Jin-Woo smiled, nodding as he accepted the added pay.

It wasn't long before the strike squad came out of the dungeon, not even looking tired as the gate closed behind them. Hae-In was the last one out and as they passed, she and Jin-Woo locked eyes with one another. Jin-Woo remembered that she still wanted to talk, so they were likely going to meet up later.

Jong-In told everyone they did an amazing job and soon, everyone was clearing up. Jin-Woo was told he could head out, since he had already been paid for the day. Jin-Woo wanted to stay and help, but could tell Hae-In was eager to talk to him as soon as possible.

As such, he said his goodbyes and began to head off. Along the way, he got a message from Hae-In.

Hae-In: Did you drive or walk here?

Jin-Woo: Ran here from the train station. What's up?

Hae-In: Wanna lift? We could head to your place and have dinner with Jin-Ah. Haven't gotten to see her in a while.

Jin-Woo blinked, shocked by the offer. He figured Hae-In wanted to talk to him about whatever was on her mind, whilst they drove back to his place.

Jin-Woo: Sure. But you realise Jin-Ah's gonna have about a million questions for you. She's sure we spent the week together.

Hae-In: That's fine. Actually, maybe we should just come out and tell her we're together. At least that way, we won't have to sneak around behind her back.

Jin-Woo hadn't been expecting that, but he didn't see any issue with it. He did intend to tell his sister about them, but only when Hae-In was comfortable with her knowing.

Jin-Woo: I'm good with that if you are. Where'd you wanna meet up?

"I'm home," Jin-Woo announced as he and Hae-In stepped into his apartment. "And I brought a surprise."

Jin-Ah stepped out of the kitchen and gasped, "Hae-In!" She rushed over to her and hugged the older woman. "It's so good to see you." Hae-In smiled and hugged her back, Jin-Ah eventually pulling back before noticing that Jin-Woo was carrying something. A box with a familiar bakery logo on it. "Is that my favourite cake?"

Jin-Woo chuckled and nodded, handing it over. "We thought you might like it." Jin-Ah jumped up and down, as she took the box and ran back into the kitchen.

"Give me a few minutes. I just need to add a few things to dinner and there'll be enough for all of us." The could smiled at her and headed into the living room. As they did, Jin-Woo wondered when Hae-In would finally talk about what she needed to discuss with him.

When he had gotten into her car, he asked if she wanted to talk about it. But she decided to wait until they were back at his apartment. Now, as they waited for Jin-Ah to finish dinner, they smiled at one another and Jin-Woo expected her to say something.

But at that moment, his phone rang. "Huh?" He took it out and smirked when he saw who it was. "Jinho?" He glanced at Hae-In and she nodded, telling him he could answer it. "Hey, it's been a while."

"Boss!" Jinho cried on the other line. "You told me that you'd be gone for a bit, but what have you been up to?" If only Jin-Woo could tell him the truth.

"Isn't it obvious? I've been running dungeons." Not a complete lie. "How about the talk with your father. Did it go smoothly?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I come over tomorrow, if you're free?"

"Tomorrow?" Jin-Woo thought for a moment. "I'll be available in the evening."

"Yes. Okay. Thanks, bro. I'll see you then." Jin-Woo nodded and hung up, putting his phone away as Hae-In looked intrigued.

"Jinho wants to talk to me. Probably gonna explain how his test went. Maybe is dad let him take over."

"Or maybe his father knows about you," Hae-In told him. "From what you've told me, Jinho's not the kind of blab. But his father's been known as a cunning individual. He probably figured out you were the true muscle behind all those gate clears. If that's the case, he'll want you as the Guild Leader for his new Guild."

"Huh," Jin-Woo hadn't thought of that.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea. With Yoojin Construction backing you, the Guild could go far with you as its leader."

"Maybe. But I'd have to follow the old guy's orders. I'd rather have the freedom to do things my own way." As he said that, Jin-Ah announced that dinner was ready and the pair got up to head to the table. And sure enough, Jin-Ah had made a practical feast for the eyes.

They smirked and sat to eat, Jin-Ah staring at the pair of them as they sat side by side. "So," Jin-Ah smiled between bites. "I get the feeling this is more than just a social visit." The two blushed at this, barely able to look one another in the eye whilst Jin-Ah laughed. "I thought so. Come on. Admit it."

Jin-Woo sighed. "Fine. Yes, Hae-In and I are together." She nodded and Jin-Ah let out an excited cry.

"I knew it! That's where you two were last week, wasn't it. What, did you go on a romantic getaway?"

"Not exactly," Hae-In told her before turning to Jin-Woo. "Maybe you should tell her the other development." Jin-Woo looked shocked. "She's gonna find out eventually and this will affect her as much as it affects you. She deserves to know."

"Deserves to know what?" Jin-Ah asked, "Jin-Woo? What did you do?"

Jin-Woo sighed and took a few more bites of his food before explaining. "I've reawakened." Jin-Ah's eyes widened, as she obviously understood what that meant.

"No way. Seriously? Since when?"

"It happened after that incident that landed Jin-Woo in the hospital," Hae-In explained. "You must have noticed Jin-Woo's change not long after that, right?" Jin-Ah nodded. "That was a result of his reawakening. His body changed to adapt to his new power." Jin-Woo hadn't thought of saying that, but it sounded plausible and Jin-Ah looks liked she was believing it.

"That makes sense. So do you know what rank you are? Maybe B and even A-Rank." Jin-Woo gave her a smirk, which she could tell meant she had guessed too low. And that meant only one thing. "No way. You...you're..."

"The country's tenth S," Jin-Woo nodded. "Yes. Yes, I am." He stared at his sister, who didn't even blink as she just sat there completely still. "Jin-Ah?" She didn't answer her. "Great. We broke her." Hae-In held a hand in front of her face and waved it, eventually snapping her fingers and causing Jin-Ah to finally act.

"You're an S!?" She cried, standing up and throwing her face inches away from Jin-Woo's.

"Yup," Jin-Woo nodded. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"How the heck did that happen? You were an E-Rank. How did you go from an E to an S?"

"Nobody really knows how re-awakenings work," Hae-In explained. "Though I get why you're shocked. Jin-Woo's the first person to ever re-awaken as an S-Rank. And him being an E before hand certainly makes it more unbelievable. But it's true. Jin-Woo and I spent that entire week together, training to properly figure out the exact limits of his abilities."

Jin-Ah sat back down. "So that's where you were last week? Training?"

"You got it," Jin-Woo took another bite of his meal. "We had to be sure that I was S-Rank. And since I was able to keep up with Hae-In throughout the week, it was almost certain that I was on her level."

"So what happened?" Jin-Ah looked super confused. "You spent a week training, but that somehow ended up with you two as an item? How did you go from training to making out...or whatever you two did to consummate your relationship." The pair both blushed at her use of that word.

"It's complicated," Hae-In told her. "We spent the week training together, eating together, sleeping relatively close together." Jin-Woo couldn't even look at Jin-Ah as this was said. "Eventually, it just kind of happened. We knew we liked one another and we just...kissed."

Jin-Ah smirked at this, "I bet kissing's not all you did." She laughed, Hae-In blushing whilst Jin-Woo frowned at her.

"Any more jokes and the cake goes in the bin." Jin-Ah's eyes widened and she instantly shut up. "Anyway, I went to get re-evaluated the other day. Their machines couldn't measure me, which means I'm too strong for the standard equipment. And that means I'm S-Rank."

Jin-Ah smiled, "I can't believe you're an S-Rank. Does that mean you're going to join some super strong guild. Ow, you and Hae-In can work at the Hunter's Guild together."

"I'm afraid not," Hae-In explained. "Your brother's decided not to join my guild. Or any guild, apparently." Jin-Ah raised an eyebrow, giving her brother a curious look.

"Why not. You two would be awesome together."

Jin-Woo took a moment to sip his drink and take a bite of his meal. "I'll tell you what I told Hae-In. If I join a guild that already has an S-Rank, let alone two, it'll cause the balance of power in the country to shift. I don't wanna be responsible for everything getting shaken up."

Jin-Ah raised an eyebrow. "You really think you joining a guild with another S-Rank will do that?"

"The chairman of the Hunter's Association came to see me and pretty much begged me not to join the Hunters or any other S-Rank guild." Jin-Ah looked shocked once again, as Hae-In giggled. "Anyway, I think I'd prefer not to work for a guild anyway. I like working to my own drum. If I joined a guild or the association, I'd have to take orders and do what other people say."

"So you're not joining because you want to be anti-social?" Jin-Ah asked, making Hae-In laugh. "Okay. So what's the plan. You must have some idea about what you wanna do, now that you're an S-Rank. You can't expect to keep doing what you've been doing. Although, you going into E and D-Rank Dungeons as an S would pretty much guarantee you'd never be in any real danger. That would take a load off my mind."

Jin-Woo smirked. "Yeah, not doing that. If I can help it, I'm never stepping foot in an E-Rank Dungeon again. No, I have an idea what I'm gonna do instead."

Hae-In already knew what he was thinking, "you're going to start your own Guild." Jin-Ah's shock value went through the roof at this.

"Yup," Jin-Woo nodded. "That's the best option I can think of. If I make my own Guild, I'll be able to do things my way."

"Really?" Jin-Ah asked, "you wanna start your own Guild? So you would be the boss and start ordering a bunch of people around?"

"Not a bunch of people. Just those that work for me."

Hae-In smirked, "any ideas what you're gonna call your new guild?" Jin-Woo thought about it and couldn't really think of anything, though Hae-In was sure it was going to be a really insane name.

"Maybe...Solo-Plays Guild. That could work." Jin-Ah almost spat her drink out, whilst Hae-In shook her head. "What? What's wrong with it?"

"It makes no sense," Hae-In replied. "Your abilities are in no way solo. With what you can do, calling your Guild that would just be stupid. Though, I guess I should have expected as much from you trying to come up with a name." Jin-Woo rolled his eyes, whilst Jin-Ah looked confused.

"What abilities does Jin-Woo have?"

Hae-In turned to Jin-Woo. "Why don't you introduce her to your newest friend?" Jin-Woo smirked before his shade grew larger.

"Dajutan." From out of it, the little ball of shadow fur appeared and Jin-Ah gasped. "Jin-Ah, meet Dajutan. One of my summons." The little guy floated over to her and Jin-Ah just stared at him in shock, taking a moment to examine him before reaching out and pocking him. When she did, she saw he was solid and the little guy let out an adorable sound.

"Oh," she cried, "he's so cute!" She patted him and Dajutan cheered happily. "And you can summon more of him?"

"He's the only one of him I have. But I got some other summons that are more battle ready. They fight for me, so I basically have my own strike squad whilst still being on my own."

"You're still not solo, though." Hae-In smirked, "so Solo-Plays doesn't make any sense." Jin-Ah agreed, as Jin-Woo rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'll come up with something else."

"Oow," Jin-Ah smirked. "I have a name. What about, the Ahjin Guild." The pair blinked at her. "Ah means I, whilst Jin means to go forward."

Jin-Woo hummed, crossing his arms as he thought about it. "Ahjin, huh?"

"It's my name backwards," Jin-Ah smirked. "How about it? Isn't it nice?" Jin-Woo glanced over at Hae-In, as if asking what she thought about it. And she soon smirked and nodded, clearly liking the idea.

"Yeah, it sounds good." Jin-Ah smirked, proud of herself as they kept eating and talking.

Once they'd finished their meal, the couple headed into the living room whilst Jin-Ah grabbed the cake. Once there, Jin-Woo turned to Hae-In. "So, you finally gonna tell me what you wanted to discuss this morning?"

Hae-In sighed, having been dreading this whole thing. "Well, I guess there's no sugarcoating it. Jong-In knows we're dating." Jin-Woo looked shocked, as Hae-In stepped into the room with the cake and heard her.

"Jong-In? He's your boss, right. How does he know you guys are dating?"

"It's complicated," Hae-In sighed. "Apparently, Hunter Baek from the White Tigers mentioned it." Now Jin-Woo was really confused. "I'm not sure on all the details, but somehow the White Tigers figured out we're connected somehow. And then when you met him at the Hunter's Association, Baek arrived a few minutes later and saw Jong-In. He apparently assumed you had already joined us and mentioned some kind of connection between us. Jong-In figured out the rest."

Jin-Woo frowned, trying to figure out how the White Tigers had figured it out. But as Jin-Ah handed them all the cake, she seemed to figure something out. "Oooh."

"What?" Jin-Woo asked. "What's oooh?"

"Remember when those White Tigers showed up here?" She asked, Jin-Woo remembering her mentioning that. "Well one of them asked if we'd met before. She seemed to recognise me. I thought she just made a mistake, but what if she was one of the people that saw the picture of me and Hae-In together?"

The hunters both sighed, realising Jin-Ah could be right. It made sense. "She saw our picture and recognised you," Hae-In stated. "Then told Chief Baek, who assumed you were part of the Hunters already and talked to Jong-In about it."

"And he figured out we were together," Jin-Woo caught on. "That all makes sense. Not that it really matters. I mean, it's not like we were gonna keep our relationship a secret. So what if other people figured us out a little early."

"I guess that's true," Hae-In nodded. "Now for the ultimate question. How do we go about letting our relationship known to the public. If Baek and Jong-In know, it won't be long before it spreads and everyone knows about us."

"Does it really matter?" Jin-Ah asked. "So you two are in a relationship together. Why should anyone care about that stuff?"

"I wish they didn't," Hae-In groaned. "But they do. If someone becomes famous, people want to know every little thing about them. Where they grew up, what their favourite colour is, how many fillings they have in their teeth and yes, who they're dating. It sucks, but it's how the world works."

"Right," Jin-Ah nodded. "I get it. So what are you gonna do? Jin-Woo's gonna become famous pretty soon, so you guys dating is gonna seriously stir things up."

Jin-Woo sighed, as he turned to his lover. "I'm more worried about your rep than anything else." Hae-In raised an eyebrow. "Baek seems to assume you seduced me into joining the Hunters Guild. How many other people are gonna think the same thing? That you're dating me, just to try and get me to join your guild. I can see a bunch of rumours spreading around, talking about how you'll dump me once they learn I've chosen not to join your guild."

Hae-In frowned, thinking of those kinds of rumours and realising he had a point. The public could be fickle, going from absolute admiration of their seemingly perfect hero to cold hostility, the moment they saw something that made her look bad.

"That'll pass," she explained. "Eventually. It's probably best we stay off social media and avoid the news for a while. We'll be all anyone's talking about during that time." Jin-Woo nodded, as the three finished their cake and just kept talking.

They spent the next hour or so, discussing everything that came to mind. Jin-Ah had a bunch of questions for them, including what their plans for a first date were and what other kinds of shadows Jin-Woo could summon. Learning her brother was S-Rank had completely thrown Jin-Ah's world upside down. But as much as she was shocked, she was also glad her brother would finally get to have the respect she felt he deserved.

Eventually, they ran out of things to talk about and Hae-In saw the time. She frowned, knowing it would take her a while to get back to her apartment.

"I should probably get going," she sighed. "Though I'm really not in the mood to drive through traffic after today."

Jin-Ah smirked, "why not just stay here?" The pair froze and looked at her. "What, I'm sure you've already shared a bed once. What would be the harm in doing it here?" The pair blinked and glanced at one another, remembering what had happened the last time they had shared a bed and blushing at the memory. "Just, do me a favour and hold off on having too much fun. The walls are thin."

"JIN-AH!" They both cried, as she laughed and the pair glared at her.

"Hae-In will need to get up early tomorrow," Jin-Woo pointed out. "Our apartment is miles away from her Guild, so getting there on time will be next to impossible for her."

"Actually," Hae-In chuckled. "I've got the day off tomorrow. I wouldn't need to get up early." Jin-Woo remembered what the miner had said before, about the B-Team being the ones to take on the two Dungeons that were being tackled that day. He had assumed Hae-In would be doing so paperwork or something, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Great," Jin-Ah clapped. "Then there's no reason for you not to stay." She got up. "I'll get you some clothes you can wear to bed." She rushed out of the room before they could say anything, the pair sighing in defeat at her antiques.

"Well," Jin-Woo told Hae-In, "you can stay if you want. I can always sleep on the couch, if you're not comfortable-" Hae-In placed a hand on his lips.

"I'm fine sharing a bed. But that's all we'll be doing. Sleeping." Jin-Woo nodded, as Hae-In stood up and asked if she could grab a shower. Jin-Woo nodded and she headed to the bathroom, Jin-Ah coming out with some loose fitting clothing. They were about the same size, so Jin-Ah's clothing would work well enough for her. "Thanks."

"No problem," she smiled. "I'm glad you two are finally together. I was worried you'd keep dancing around the subject and never take that step." Hae-In smiled back, realising that could have happened if she hadn't taken that one leap. Now, she could truly be with the one she cared about."

Jin-Ah left and Hae-In stepped into the bathroom, getting undressed and quickly running the shower to let it heat up as she prepared herself. She checked all the different cleaning products the family had and saw that they only had some simple soaps and shampoos. She normally preferred my high-end products, but she understood the family had more important things to spend their money on then bathroom stuff.

As such, she stepped into the now red hot shower and sighed. The heat on her body was incredible and she was glad that she could relax like this, even if it was only for a few minutes.

She knew she would likely be getting sweaty again very soon, but cleaning off the old grime was better than letting it mix with the new stuff when she was finished. And as she washed herself up, she thought about what she was going to be doing tonight.

Sharing a bed with her boyfriend, whilst his sister was in the very next room. The idea made her blush like heck, but she wasn't against it. She just hoped she didn't do something embarrassing. Nobody had ever told her she snored, but she had never slept with anyone before and she wasn't sure if that was something she did.

Nerves filled her heart, as she finished off her shower and changed into the pyjamas Jin-Ah had left her.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she heard the siblings talking about something she couldn't make out in the kitchen. The TV was on in the background and when she made her way there, she found the two there with hot mugs of something in their hands.

"Hey," Jin-Ah smiled, "want some coco? I just finished making it."

"Sure," Hae-In nodded. "But, Jin-Woo, can I talk to you for a moment." Jin-Woo nodded and followed her towards his bedroom, the pair stepping into it as Jin-Ah raised an eyebrow.

As soon as Jin-Woo closed the door, Hae-In summoned the door to the shadow chamber. She then stepped inside and Jin-Woo followed, locking time outside the chamber to a complete crawl. "What's up?" He asked, as Hae-In used her inventory to swap herself out into her training gear.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the full ten K run in despite everything that happened. I need to finish off the last two and a half kilometres for my daily quest."

"Right," he nodded. "Bet you wish you had done this before taking a shower, huh?"

"Yes. But two and a half kilometres shouldn't build up too much of a sweat for me." She began to stretch, as Jin-Woo did the same. He needed to finish his running as well, as he needed even more kilos.

Once the pair were ready, they started running as the counter appeared in front of them. Hae-In gave it a light jog, whilst Jin-Woo ran faster to burn off more distance. Hae-In sighed, as she let herself relax whilst she ran around the room at a brisk but gentle pace.

After a little while, Jin-Woo managed to catch up to her count and slowed down when he reached her, the two smiling as they ran side by side. They didn't feel like racing, so just moved forward at high speed and watched the count grow larger and larger. With each step, they felt themselves growing more and more tired. The day had been difficult and running wasn't the best way to get their strength back.

"Listen," he told her, "about me doing the mining work. Sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's fine," she assured him. "I'm still a little annoyed you didn't tell me, but you didn't do anything bad so there's no reason for me to be made. And now you've gotten to see what a high ranking guild can do."

"Yeah."

"So do you wanna go out somewhere tomorrow?" She asked, as they reached the ninth K point. "You said you were meeting up with Jinho tomorrow evening, but we can spend the day together and maybe go out to eat."

"Oh," Jin-Woo looked very nervous, "yeah...about that." Hae-In shot him a look.

"What did you do?"

"Well...I...they seemed really desperate for the help."

"What...did...you...do?"

"I agreed to do another day of mining," he finally admitted. "They looked like they could really use the help and they said one of them would be A-Rank, so I thought I'd get to see more types of A-Rank dungeon. Plus, I'd also get to see how your B-Team worked. With how you've been training them, I thought it would be interesting to see how strong they've become."

Hae-In moaned, "Jin-Woo. Seriously, what am I gonna do with you." Jin-Woo gave her a sheepish look, as Hae-In let out a sigh. "Fine. But you'd better keep that bloodlust in check. If I find out you killed the boss yourself, I am not gonna be happy. In fact, I'll have you temporarily join the guild and take down a few A-Rank gate yourself. And you won't get paid for them."

"Ouch," Jin-Woo hissed. "Harsh...but I guess that's fair. I promise, I won't do anything. I'll be on my best behaviour." Hae-In believed them, as they finally hit the ten K point and were able to slow down. Hae-In wasn't sweating much, but Jin-Woo really stank.

They took a few minutes to calm down and not look like they had just run several miles. Once that was done, they headed out of the shadow chamber and stayed in Jin-Woo's room for a few minutes to make sure it looked like they had actually had a conversation. But they sensed a presence behind the door and opened, causing Jin-Ah to tumble to the ground.

"Oh...hey. What's up?"

"What were you doing?" Jin-Woo asked. "You know it's not good to eavesdrop." Jin-Ah looked sheepish.

"I was just curious about what you were talking about." The pair rolled their eyes before they both stepped over the girl, Jin-Woo heading to the shower whilst Hae-In headed into the kitchen. Her hot coco was waiting for her, having cooled just enough to still be nice but not boiling. She added a few marshmallows and moaned when she took a sip, whilst Jin-Ah asked what they were talking about.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with. Your brother and I are allowed to have our own secrets." Jin-Ah pouted, but nodded as she sipped her own drink. The two talked about other things, such as how school had been since Hae-In had last seen her.

By the time they had finished talking, Jin-Woo stepped out of the bathroom wearing his own pyjamas. His hair was still wet, as a towel hung around his neck. "Well," he told them, "I need to be up early tomorrow."

Hae-In nodded, as she was also feeling a little tired. Jin-Ah smiled and wished them good night, promising not to make too much noise when she went to bed herself. The two nodded and rolled their eyes at the smirk she was giving them, the pair entering Jin-Woo's room and making sure to lock the door behind them.

"She's enjoying this way too much," Jin-Woo announced as they sat on the bed.

"She's just happy for us," Hae-In smiled. "She said she was worried you'd never get a girlfriend. Have you really never dated before?"

"You saw me before I got the system. Is that baby face someone you would have wanted to date?" Hae-In thought back to what he used to look like. Whilst he had been cute in her opinion, the fact he was shorter than her would have likely been a turn off of her. She hated to admit it, but she did have a type. Tall, dark and brooding seemed to be something she really liked.

"Maybe," she told him. "If we had met before I'd awakened, we might have gotten together." Jin-Woo chuckled and lay down, pulling the cover away and letting her get in beside him. She snuggled up close, as Jin-Woo began to hug her body close to him.

The pair smiled, as Hae-In placed her head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat was a comforting one, which made her slowly begin to drift off after the long day she had had. Jin-Woo also fell asleep as well. She knew he would need to get up early tomorrow, so she would enjoy this as long as she could.

She didn't know how much time they would get to enjoy moments like this. Once Jin-Woo came out as an S, things were going to get insane. So for now, she would enjoy the quiet calm moments as best she could.

Another simple chapter, but one I hope you all enjoyed. Next time, things get exciting.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

As Jin-Woo made his way towards the Gate, he felt an odd sensation wash over him.

Waking up that morning, Hae-In clinging to his chest, he had been so comfortable that he hadn't wanted to leave. But he had managed to slip out of bed and escape the bedroom without Hae-In waking up. He had then made a quick breakfast for himself, made a pot of coffee for her and wrote a note that he left with one of their spare keys. The note first told Jin-Ah not to wake Hae-In up and to let her sleep in if she wanted. The first part told Hae-In to use the key to lock up if she decided to leave after Jin-Ah and to slip it through the mailbox afterwards.

Once that was all done, he had headed out to the area he had been informed about the previous day. And now, he was walking through a rocky area that was illuminated by the light of the gate.

As he approached, he felt himself reliving a moment from his past. "You're here," Mr. Song smiled whilst Joohee smiled.

"Hey, kid." Mr. Park smirked. "You eat yet?"

"Try not to hurt yourself today. Okay, Jin-Woo." Joohee's smile brightened the area around her. But then, Jin-Woo blinked and the image disappeared.

"Oh, you're here." The head miner smirked, along with his fellow employee.

"Let's do our best today," the guy told him. This made Jin-Woo smile, as the leader offered him to sit with them for lunch. "Don't tell me you already ate."

Jin-Woo smiled, as this reminded him so much of simpler times. And despite how hard things had been back then, he had actually missed those days. Before the system, levelling up and even Hae-In. And whilst he wouldn't trade away any of those things, especially the last one, this moment didn't feel half bad. "Sure," he nodded, "I made sure not to eat too much today." They nodded and turned their attention towards the Gate.

They still needed to wait until the B-Team finished their first run. But with them being so strong, a C-Rank Gate like this was a cake walk.

Back within the Sung Residence, Hae-In was in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes.

Jin-Woo and Jin-Ah had both left their breakfast plates behind, obviously planning to wash up when they got home. And with nothing else to do, Hae-In had chosen to do the cleaning. She also noticed the rest of the place was a little messy as well.

Despite it being her day off, she found herself doing housework and cleaning up. She was dusting, vacuuming and even cleaned out some of the cupboards to make sure there was nothing in there that should have been thrown away a long time ago.

She couldn't really blame the siblings for letting the place get messy like this. With their father missing and mother in hospital, some things obviously fell to the wayside since they were focusing on more important matters. Jin-Woo had had to work non-stop to pay the bills, especially before he got the system and ended up in the hospital all the time. And Jin-Ah was studying to be a doctor, so she didn't have time to pick up a sponge.

Hae-In could only sigh, feeling sorry for their mother. When Jin-Woo eventually managed to get the last ingredient he needed to cure her, the last thing she deserved was coming home to a filthy apartment. Hae-In might have never really met her, but she knew their mother would need to rest. And the worst thing for getting rest, was finding your home was a complete mess.

Hae-In hummed to herself, actually finding herself relaxing as she rubbed the grime off one of the bookcases. She had never had a thing against cleaning and actually enjoyed it, since it was such a normal thing to do.

Hae-In sighed, as she thought about something that someone had once said to her in school. Back before she awakened, a girl had told her she would likely end up someone's housewife. The girl had laughed about how when she eventually retired, the only job she would be able to get was as a guy's glorified maid, cook and babysitter.

At the time, she had rightly refused such a future for herself. But after everything she had been through, the life of a housewife didn't sound so bad. Especially now that she knew whose housewife she might be.

She blushed, imagining her and Jin-Woo living together and starting a family of her own. "No, no, no no, no!" She slapped her cheeks, trying to get the blush away. "Get a grip, woman. Something like that's a long, long way off. I mean, how many years will it be before I can retire from this job?"

She had only been a hunter for two years, so getting out of her contract wouldn't happen for a long while yet. And even when that happened, she couldn't just stop being a hunter. As much as she wanted to retire, she couldn't leave when things were getting so hard. With Jeju Island not yet returned and who knows how many more S-Rank Gates waiting to open, she couldn't just leave the other hunters to pick up the slack if she left. Even if Jin-Woo was an S-Rank, he couldn't do it all on his own.

Hae-In sighed, as she put the vacuum away. As much as she would love to be a simple housewife, she doubted a destiny like that was waiting for her. She would either spend the next twenty or so years fighting Gates before eventually retiring, by which point she would likely be too old to start a family. And that was assuming she didn't get herself killed by some super powerful monster.

"Jin-Woo and I are together, but what will our future hold if we're constantly facing danger together?" As she walked past a bookshelf, she spotted a picture on it that made her stop and take a second look.

The picture showed Jin-Woo and his family together. He couldn't quite make out what the four of them were doing, but they were together and happy. This was obviously before Jin-Woo's father had disappeared within a Gate, that made Hae-In sigh.

Even if she and Jin-Woo managed to have a family one day, they probably wouldn't stop being hunters. With their power, they couldn't ignore the plait of those in need. And if they stayed hunters, they ran the risk of losing their lives and living their children orphaned. Could she really do to her children, what Jin-Woo's father had unintentionally done to him.

"I wish the Gates would just disappear," she sighed whilst putting the picture down and returning to cleaning. "But that's never going to happen."

Back at the C-Rank Gate, the Mining team had just finished their work.

Around seventy percent of that work was done by Jin-Woo, who had managed to dislodge more crystals than anyone else. Thanks to him, the mining team had finished way ahead of schedule. That meant they got to enjoy an even longer lunch break, whilst the collection team finished hauling out the last of the monster carcasses.

"Man, you are a complete machine," the head miner told him as they ate their packed lunches. "Are you sure I can't convince you to come work for us full time?" He smirked, holding out his hand, "five times the pay." Jin-Woo laughed, but shook his head as the last of the collection team left the Gate.

Most of the Raid Team headed inside, leaving only Kihoon behind as he headed over to the miners.

"Excuse me. I was wondering if I could ask a question of you about the next Gate. After we've closed this one, we'll be heading over to the A-Rank Gate. But our porter hasn't shown up for it."

"Porter?" A miner frowned, "didn't he go in with you earlier?"

"He had to leave after with took down everything except the boss. Had a dentist appointment. His replacement was supposed to be here, but he hasn't shown up. So I'm asking if any of you would be willing to fill the role."

"You want to draft someone from the mining team?" A miner asked.

"There are strong guys from the collection team," another pointed out. "They can carry anything heavy, so why are you asking us?"

The head of the collecting team spoke up. "We just spent three hours hauling these beasts out of the dungeon. And we had to skip lunch. If we don't get a break and food soon, we'll be useless for anything. Including being a porter. You guys got to rest for ages, so you should be fit and raring to go. Sorry, man. But my team just doesn't have the manpower."

Kihoon spoke up again. "Is there anyone who wants to come with the attack force? We'll compensate you for the risk when the raid is over." However, nobody answered. Clearly, they weren't interested in risking their lives for a few extra bucks. They were all low ranking awakened, so going into an A-Rank dungeon was seriously dangerous.

"I'm sorry," the head miner told him. "We would hesitate, even if it were a B-Rank Dungeon. Acting as a porter for an A-Rank Dungeon is asking too much. It's no place for low-rank hunters. Even though the volunteer would only be carrying your equipment, compared to mining the risk is just too high. Most of us are D-Rank and there are even a few Es. A small scratch from an A-Rank Dungeon monster could kill us. Do you really expect us to risk our lives for a little extra cash?"

Kihoon frowned, looking almost desperate as he glanced around. "Is that...no one..."

"I'll do it." Everyone froze, as they looked around at Jin-Woo Sung. He had said it like he had just been asked to go make them all coffee, as he clearly hadn't been paying attention.

The miners all blinked for a moment before looking horrified. "WHAT!?" They rushed towards him, Jin-Woo taking their cries with surprise. "An E-Rank wants to go into an A-Rank Dungeon."

"Mr. Sung. What are you thinking?"

"There are powerful monsters in there. If one of them so much as touches you, you're a dead man. You really wanna risk all that, just for a little extra money?"

Jin-Woo gave them a reassuring look. "Don't worry about me. I'm a lot tougher than I look." He glanced at Kihoon, thinking about what this job would mean. Even if it was just carrying equipment, it would still be a good learning experience.

Another worker rushed over to Kihoon. "That man just started working with us yesterday. He must have raised his hand without knowing the dangers."

Kihoon hummed, as he stared at the man. "What's his Rank?"

"He's an E-Rank. Even more reason to look for someone else." However, Kihoon smirked.

"No. We'll take him." He stepped forward and held out a hand, "thank you for joining us. I'm Kihoon Son, the leader of today's raid."

"Jin-Woo Sung. Nice to meet you." Kihoon raised an eyebrow, as if Jin-Woo's name had sparked something in his head. Of course, it was likely Hae-In had spoken about him before. He doubted she mentioned anything much, but it's likely his name came up in passing. He would need to keep his cards close to his chest.

After that, Kihoon headed into the Gate to meet the rest of his teammates. Meanwhile, the miners kept trying to convince Jin-Woo it wasn't safe to do this. But Jin-Woo assured them he would be fine and thirty minutes later, the team returned and the Gate closed behind them. They didn't even seem to be tired, as they began to make their way over to the vehicles that would be used to transport them over to the next dungeon.

Kihoon had wanted Jin-Woo in the minivan with the strike team, but there hadn't been enough room. As such, Jin-Woo had ridden with the miners and the group had spent the entire journey crying about how they would attend his funeral and say nothing but good words.

This made Jin-Woo feel a little awkward, making him wish he could be anywhere except there.

Along the way, Jin-Woo decided he should probably let Hae-In know about his little change. So, during a time nobody was talking to him, he opened the PM System and wrote a quick message to explain what was happening to her. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too upset with him.

When they finally arrived at the designated parking area for the raid, Jin-Woo could already feel the power coming off the Gate. Getting out of the minivan, he spotted the glow in the distance and smiled. Compared to the previous day, the energy coming off it was lacklustre.

He followed the miners towards it, spotting the raid team there preparing to head in. Kihoon had a large backpack at his feet, waiting for Jin-Woo to pick up. "Here you go," he told the 'E-Rank' as he handed the pack over to him. "How's that feel. Not too heavy, I hope."

Jin-Woo slung it over his back and clipped it into place, nodding as he felt how light it was. "Yup. This is fine." Kihoon nodded, as Jin-Woo looked up at the Gate. It was definitely weaker than the previous day, despite the Gate being twice the size. "It's enormous."

Kihoon smiled. "Yesterday was your first time mining, right?" Jin-Woo nodded. "This must only be your second time in an A-Rank Gate. Well, despite the size, it's actually on the low end of A-Ranks. Almost B. So you don't have to be too worried. If it was too dangerous, the B-Team wouldn't have been assigned to it."

Jin-Woo let that info sink in and turned to look at the members of the B-Team, seeing that they were all pretty powerful. A collection of A and B-Ranked hunters. Comparing them to the A-Team, there was no real difference if you took the S-Ranks out of the equation. In fact, they might be the stronger team if you looked at it from that point of view.

"Alright, everyone. Let's do this." Kihoon led the team into the dungeon, Jin-Woo at the very back with the seventeen hunters acting as a shield to protect him. If only they knew he was the one who should have been protecting them.

As they approached the Gate, something began to fill Jin-Woo's gut. A sense of dread, making him shudder as he felt like he should be on guard. He couldn't figure out why, but he felt like he did during the Red Gate Incident. Something bad was just waiting to happen and Jin-Woo didn't know why. All he could do was brace himself and prepare for whatever awaited them within the Gate.

Hae-In frowned, as she stared at the message Jin-Woo had just sent her.

She had finally finished cleaning and had been about to leave and head home. But then Jin-Woo had let her know what he was doing, which had made her frown. "Really? He's going to be a porter." She moaned, shaking her head as she made sure everything was tidied up before heading to the door. "Is he purposefully going out of his way to make her stressed?"

The worst part was he was with the B-Team, who she had actually mentioned him too. She doubted they would recognise him right away, but if they kept saying his name...

"I need to get over there," she stated as she locked the door and slotted the key through the mail-slot. Why an apartment building had a mail-slot, she didn't know. But she was glad it did. "I swear, if I show up and find him soloing the dungeon by himself..." She shook her head, praying that he didn't do anything that would lead to him getting outed. "Relax. You've only mentioned his name once or twice. There's no way they'll remember it."

"Jin-Woo? Jin-Woo?" Gina hummed, as they walked through the cave. "Why do I know that name?"

Jin-Woo shrugged, as Gina stared back at him from the front of the battle party. "I'm pretty sure a lot of guys have that name. No need for you to pull your hair out about it." Gina didn't look convinced, but turned back to the tunnel in front of them as they marched through it.

Jin-Woo sighed, glad she hadn't figured out who he was. But he was still nervous, though not due to them possibly figuring him out. For some reason, he felt like something bad was going to happen and he couldn't shake it.

"There's no need to be nervous." He looked around and saw a woman he assumed was Semi Han, based on what Hae-In had told him before. "Kihoon-" She stopped for a moment. "I mean...the leader and everyone else here, are outstanding hunters." Kihoon started giving out orders, as Jin-Woo glanced at Semi.

'She's an A-Rank Healer. If Joohee had been B-Rank and if not for the trauma she suffered, she would have likely fit in right her.' He used his heightened perception to get a good handle on everyone's power. And they were no light weights. 'Even the B-Ranks are super high level, almost being on the crutch of A. If Hae-In and her boss were with these guys, they could probably clear even an S-Rank Gate...maybe.'

Semi smiled at him. "There's a saying that goes like this. If the mage gets attacked, the tankers are responsible. If the healer gets attacked, the attack force is responsible. And if the porter gets attacked, the guild's responsible. That's how you won't end up the target of a monster attack. So long as the attack force doesn't fail."

'Porters getting attacked. That only happens when the entire attack force is wiped out' "Guess I've got nothing to worry about, then." They kept walking through the cave for a little while, until a sound from up ahead caused everyone to go still before jumping into a battle ready position. 'Preparing for battle without any instruction. Now this is an A-Rank Attack Force.'

They watched and waited, as the beasts came out of the darkness and revealed themselves. "What?" Kihoon asked, "those are Dungeon Jackals!" The red wolves charged forward, howling as they prepared to attack with their sharp claws and teeth.

The front-line fights charged, those with shields blocking the dogs' attacks before knocking them back and letting the faster fights strike. "Get down!" Gina cried, having charged up her magic. The front liners leapt away and allowed her to shoot, the fireballs flying forwards and smashing into the beasts.

Jin-Woo smirked, amazed by how powerful she was. "Wonder how she and Beste would do against one another?"

"You say something?" Semi asked, Jin-Woo shaking his head.

"Nothing. Just...they're incredible. You sure they're not S-Rank?" He was doing his best to sound like a total know-nothing E-Rank, but he could tell their abilities were nothing compared to Hae-In or him. But he could tell that if he had thought them when his level was equal to theirs, he would have lost no doubt."

Semi laughed, nodding as the last of the jackals were dealt with. "I'm sure."

"What's going on?" Kihoon asked. "Why are these Dungeon Jackals in an A-Rank Dungeon?"

Jin-Woo frowned, actually confused this time. "Is it rare for Dungeon Jackals to appear in A-Rank Dungeon?" Semi hummed, as she looked the creatures over.

"No, but...Dungeon Jackals are C-Rank monsters. An A-Rank food chain should have wiped them out already. Dungeon Jackals shouldn't have been able to hunt down any of the monsters here. Even if they attack in packs. Dungeons are survival of the fittest and unless every monster in it are weak, the lower levelled monsters shouldn't be able to survive."

Jin-Woo nodded and took a moment to investigate a Dungeon Jackal. He wondered if he could turn the pack into his shadows without anyone noticing. But before he could think of how to do that, he noticed something that made him frown. 'A trace of a leash?' He stared at the red collar around the beast's neck, almost blending into its red fur to hide it. "These are no ordinary jackals. Someone's been raising these things."

The others saw the collars and frowned. "That must mean...someone kept them alive on purpose, to act as hunting dogs."

Jin-Woo frowned. 'Monsters smart enough to unleash these jackals on us, in order to either weaken us or gauge our strength. Regardless of their species, intelligent monsters are hard to deal with.' He stood up and turned towards the dark tunnel that the jackals had appeared from. "Perhaps, my premonition my come true."

Just then, footsteps could be heard coming from the tunnel. The rest of the strike team turned towards it and when they saw what were coming, everyone began to grow scared.

"No way," Kihoon looked terrified. And for good reason, as the beasts that appeared were a bunch of large red humanoid beasts. Jin-Woo was reminded of some of the demons from the Demon's Castle, as these creatures looked very similar. But they were wearing barbarian-like clothing and had warpaint on their bodies, giving them the looks of trained warriors.

"High Orcs?" The tank in the red armor cried, as an assassin gasped.

"Why High Orcs?"

Jin-Woo frowned, as he took note of every orc currently staring them down. Each one had some kind of armor and weaponry, which would make fighting them difficult. And considering how scared everyone was, it was clear they knew they were outclassed in this situation.

One orc raised a spear and with a roar, it slung it forward at high speed. Any faster and it would have likely created a sonic boom, as it flew straight towards Kihoon.

The leader gasped and barely managed to raise his shield in time, as the attack collided with it and sent him staggering back. "Augh!" He almost fell back, but managed to regain his footing and glare the beast down. He then checked his shield and saw a large crack running down it. "This power..."

Before he could regain his footing, an orc charged at him and raised its axe. He stood his ground, whilst the other tanks used their taunt skills. But as the orcs at the front of the pack reached them, the other orcs leapt over. "Taunts aren't working!" The orc landed behind the tanks and ran forward. "They're going after the mages. Look out!"

"Don't worry!" One of the mages with a lantern cried, "we won't be defeated so easily!" The flames from the lantern exploded out of it and shot towards the orc, slamming straight into it and exploding. And whilst this caused the beast to stagger backwards, it regained its balance and rushed forward again. "It didn't work! Its magic resistance is too great!"

The orc kept rushing forward, only for Bora to slam her staff into the ground and create a bunch of magical binds. They wrapped around the creature and held it in place, but the orc was struggling against it. "Hurry. I can't hold it for long!"

"Right!" The lantern wielder cried, as he began to chant. And soon, the flames flew out and formed two humanoid figures. "Attack!" They charged forward and struck the orc, actually doing damage whilst the mage panted. He could feel his mana beginning to hit its limit, as the orc was slowly being burned up.

At another area of the battle, a tank was struck by an orc's axe and got cut almost entirely in half. He screamed in pain, as Jiwoo rushed forward and slammed her fist into it. One of the healers rushed over to the injured tank, crying out as he did. "What are you guys doing. Protect the back-line!"

"We're trying!" A tank yelled, "but taunts aren't working and our skills are getting bounced back!" An orc suddenly reached out and grabbed his head, lifting him up as he screamed before Gina blasted the orc with flames.

Kihoon growled. "We're inferior in number. We can't get surrounded. Group up! Break into three man groups." Moments later, an orc got in close and started attacking. He was barely able to avoid getting knocked off his feet.

The other hunters were being overwhelmed, especially those that were up close and personal with the beasts. One tank had his left arm completely severed, causing him to scream as he fell back. Bora was able to restrain the beast, allowing Semi to rush over and begin healing him.

Regenerating a lost limb was difficult, even for an A-Rank hunter. She couldn't rush this or he would be crippled for life.

But just as she finished repairing the arm, the orc ripped itself free of Bora's restraints and glared down at her. Semi gasped, looking over at it and seeing the bloodlust in its eyes. It liked its lips, clearly intending to bite her head and whatever else it could fit in its mouth off.

Fear coursed through her, as the beast reached out to grab her.

Semi flinched, bracing herself for the end. But it never came. Instead, she heard the orc let out a strangled cry and opened her eyes. And to her amazement, the beast was clutching its neck as it seemed to be lifted off the ground by something. "What?" Eventually, the head of the orc was ripped off the body. It was sent flying and the body collapsed, leaving a very confused Semi next to it. "What...just happened?"

Back with Kihoon, he was fighting against an orc that had the upper hand. Then, out of nowhere, the creature started staggering around. It winced in pain, even though Kihoon hadn't injured it. But this was enough for the man to get a strike in, slashing the monster down the middle and killing it.

"How...the fight just got easier."

All over the place, the orcs suddenly seemed to be moving a lot slower. They flinched in pain, even though they weren't being hurt from what the hunters could tell. It was like someone had just placed a debuff spell on them, even though none of the mages had that kind of ability.

The hunters were so focused on the orcs, they hadn't noticed someone was missing. Nor did they notice the bag that was laying on the ground, as the one who had been carrying it did his thing.

Jin-Woo raced around, completely invisible as he wielded Kasaka Fang dagger. All it needed was a little cut to poison the target and whilst these creatures were a higher rank than the weapon, the poison it inflicted was still enough to cause them issues.

'I'll weaken them just enough to slow them down, without making it too obvious something's going on. Hopefully, nobody will realise it's me doing this.' He raced around, like a leaf on the wind, slicing at the orcs and doing enough damage to make it easier for the other hunters to finish them off.

Slowly, the twenty orcs were defeated. A couple began to realise something was making them slower and with a sniff, one of them seemed to figure out where it was. But in that moment, Jin-Woo appeared in front of the orc and stabbed it in the chin, making it gasp as it was unable to do anything.

Jin-Woo let out a shushing sound, as Kihoon sliced it from behind and killed it before it could die of the head wound. Jin-Woo pulled back and leapt to a safe distance, as Jiwoo smashed her fist through another.

This sent blood splattering all over and Jin-Woo missed avoiding a few specs, his hands and dagger getting covered in it. He frowned at the sight, as the last of the orcs were taken care of.

This caused Jin-Woo to level up, which surprised him since this was the first time he had done so without him, Hae-In or a shadow soldier killing the monster. 'So supporting the party gets me exp as well. That would have been nice to know a while back.' He knew the amount was probably less than if he did the deed himself, but this wasn't his Gate. He had promised Hae-In he would behave and he was going to honour that promise. So long as things didn't get too dangerous, he wouldn't interfere.

Eventually, the final orc was slain and it fell to the ground dead. "D-did we win?" An assassin asked, as the red tank groaned.

"Is it over?"

Kihoon looked around. "Is anyone hurt? So long as you're still breathing, our A-Rank Healers should be able to treat you." He then gasped and looked around, trying to find the E-Rank they had brought. When he couldn't see him, he feared one of the orcs might have gotten him. But then, Jin-Woo came into view looking perfectly fine and carrying the back pack.

"I can't believe there were a gang of high orcs in here," a hunter groaned.

"It's a miracle nobody was killed," another agreed.

One member of the party, Bora, glanced over at Jin-Woo and frowned. Whilst most individuals hadn't noticed his little trick, she had. But for now, she would keep it a secret unless she absolutely had to reveal it. So as the others were discussing what had happened at the end, she spoke up. "Gina's right. If someone did do this, it had to have been an outsider."

"I'm just glad whatever happened happened," their summoner sighed. "If I had to summon another beast, I would have passed out from mana depletion."

The assassin turned to Kihoon, "so what's the plan? Are we gonna keep forging ahead?" The others turned to him, hoping he would answer the way they wanted him to answer. The tank that had lost his arm gulped.

"Isn't it too dangerous?"

Another nodded. "We aren't too far from the entrance and we already encountered a gang of High Orcs. There could be something more dangerous up ahead." The others all agreed, as the red tank moved over to Kihoon.

"Now that we know there are High Orcs in this dungeon, it's too dangerous to continue on without or guildmaster or the V-G." Kihoon turned to him, "why don't we retreat for now? We'll need at least two more healers and at least three mages, skilled in powerful AOE magic to continue."

The guy frowned, clearly conflicted about what to do.

Jin-Woo could see the anxiety in his expression. 'It can't be easy for him. In his situation, anyone would be tempted to continue and clear the dungeon. He wants to prove himself a good leader. But if he's really a good leader, he'll know when to put his team's safety above all else.'

"Then...let's retreat for now." Everyone sighed in relief, one of them stating he was worried Kihoon would have them press on. "I'm not that foolish." The others agreed, as they began to make their way through the cave back towards the exit. But they would soon learn, getting to safety wouldn't be the easiest of tasks. And what was waiting for them in this dungeon, was something none of them would ever forget.

A bit of action mixed with some simple slice of life stuff. Hope you enjoyed it. And we all know what's coming next, so I hope you come back to read it.

Chapter Text

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions. Always love to see them.

Hae-In had been driving towards the Gate location, sighing when she found herself stuck in traffic.

All she could do was sit there and wait for the light to turn green, as she listened to the radio. She had hoped to listen to music, but all the stations were either doing adverts or had the presenters talking about pointless stuff. "Why can't there be a station that just plays one song after another? How difficult could that be?"

Suddenly, her attention was pulled out of her thoughts by a message from Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo: You need to get to the Gate, quick. Your team just had a serious run in with monsters way too strong for what the Gate's power level said it was. They barely made it out alive and I'm sorry, but I had to intervene. I used my stealth skill to weaken the orcs, so they didn't notice me. Kihoon's ordered us to retreat, but I get the feeling something bad is going to happen. You need to get here, quick.

Hae-In frowned, worry washing over her at Jin-Woo's words. "Orcs?" She frowned, knowing that was a very dangerous monster. If there were orcs in that Gate, it meant it really was more powerful than they had been told. "What's going on? First the portal from yesterday, now this? Everywhere Jin-Woo goes, crazy stuff keeps happening." She heard a horn and gasped, realising the light had turned green.

She quickly drove forward, now more determined to get there before something bad happened. She could only hope Jin-Woo and her guildmates would be safe until she got there. Hopefully, they would have already escaped the Gate before she arrived.

Jin-Woo frowned, as the others stared at the Gate in utter shock.

"What the hell!?" Kihoon asked, as the Gate's current state stared back at them. The whole thing was surrounded by some kind of energy field, which was glowing a rainbow of collars that made them all frown. The field looked solid, despite appearing to be made of energy. And if they tried to touch it, they knew they wouldn't be able to get through it.

"A barrier?" One of them asked, as Bora stepped forward to study it.

"Created with a spell of high level." This worried everyone, who began to ask why it was there since it hadn't been present when they showed up. Kihoon stepped closer to Bora.

"Can you get rid of it?"

"Possibly. If you can give me some time." She stepped forward and raised her staff, beginning to charge up a spell and connect to the barrier. And as she did, she gasped as she realised the energy within the barrier exploded outwards.

Everyone gasped, feeling the power of the magic flowing forwards and hitting them. They moaned, as they almost fell over. "What was that?" One of them asked, as the other mages approached.

"It's the power of the one casting this spell," Kihoon groaned. "It has to be the boss. God, I hope it's the boss. If something this strong is just a minion, there's no way we could kill the boss."

"We have to hurry!" Bora told the other mages, who nodded as they all worked to dispel the barrier. As they did, the energy of the barrier kept flowing out. Jin-Woo noticed how it was affecting everyone and frowned.

'Why couldn't we sense it before? Something this strong, there's no way we wouldn't have detected it before now. Unless...someone used another kind of magic in order to mask its energy. But if that's the case...' Jin-Woo's eyes widened, "maybe they used it to shield the Gate's true power from the scanners." Those around him wondered what the heck he was talking about, only for a scream to catch their attention and make them look back to the mages.

All of them were shaking, as their bodies sparked with energy and they started spitting up blood. "Curse magic?" Kihoon asked, seeing them fall to their knees. "It's targeting our mages." He rushed over to check on them, "Semi!" But she didn't answer. "Semi, you need to heal them. What are you-" He looked over at the healer, only to stop when he saw she was staring deep into the cave.

The others followed her gaze and slowly, they saw what had made her freeze in place.

"Damn," Kihoon shook, "that can't be." The orcs from before had been about twenty or so in number and they had barely managed to stop that, with their party at full health. But this time, they were staring at fifty or so orcs. The beasts were standing in a line, coming out of every corridor that surrounded the Gate.

They were all armed and with the mages down, the chances of beating them were next to nothing. At least, that's what they thought since they didn't know about Jin-Woo's true power.

Kihoon moved to the front of the group, getting in front of Semi and telling her to heal the others. She nodded and rushed back, whilst an orc moved closer. Everyone prepared for the others to approach and start attacking, but they didn't. Instead, the one orc reached them and stared Kihoon down.

The attack force leader gulped, as the orc slowly lowered its head to be on his level. "Kihoon!" One of his guildmates cried, but he raised a hand to keep him from doing anything dumb.

'If only Master Choi or Vice-Master Cha were here.' If either of them had been around, they would have had a chance. but against this many High Orcs, a bunch of A and B-Rank Hunters didn't stand a chance.

The orc snarled before beginning to talk, speaking in a language that Kihoon didn't recognise. The beast kept talking, but nobody understood him. Not even Jin-Woo, who assumed he would get an automatic translation after what happened in the Red Gate.

It kept yapping away, its words sounding like complete gibberish, as Kihoon got a face full of slobber.

But then, it stopped as something happened. Its head became surrounded with some kind of red mist, whilst its eyes began dazed for a moment. Kihoon frowned, wondering what was happening, only for the orc to slowly move back down to his level. And this time, it spoke his language.

"Human." Everyone's eyes widened, as it moved its mouth and spoke slowly. "Humans. I am...Kargalgan. I wish to meet with you, humans."

"Please tell me I'm going crazy," the red tank stated. "That orc did not just talk our language, right?"

Bora, who was being healed, groaned as she thought about it. "It's just a puppet. Something else is speaking through it."

"A monster wants to talk to us?" Another hunter asked. "Captain Son. You're not really listening to this lunacy, are you? It's a trap. A dog's death or not, let's just fight them here!"

Kihoon remained silent for a moment, as if contemplating all his options. Then, he spoke. "Kargalgan. Are you the one who set up this barrier?"

"Yes," the orc replied. "I am the prideful orc's great sorcerer. My magic...can't be dispelled...by you humans."

"Is there someone even more powerful than you in this cave?"

"Who would...dare to...go against me? Now choose. Die by my men, or follow my men."

Kihoon's face became hard, as he glared at the orcs. "We'll follow you." The others called out to him, asking what the heck he was thinking. But Jin-Woo realised what the guy was planning.

'He must be hoping to negotiate with the boss. And if that fails, he's hoping to surprise attack and kill it.'

"Follow," the orc stated before they began to walk away. The hunters remained there, knowing the orcs would likely attack if they didn't go after them.

"Mr. Sung." Kihoon turned to Jin-Woo.

"Yes?"

"We're going to surprise attack the boss when we get there. Whether it's successful or not, the boss shouldn't be able to maintain their magic. When we get their attention, you should make a run for it and call the main attack force when you're outside."

Jin-Woo frowned. Even if Hae-In was already heading their way, the group would likely be dead before she arrived. And the main attack force would take even longer. "By the time the main attack force arrives...it'll be over for you guys." He looked around. "Are you planning on dying along with the boss?"

Kihoon sighed. "Our objective is to close the Gate, at any cost. This is why people pay us those huge amounts. We knew this was a possibility when we became Hunters." The others nodded, all clearly in agreement with the situation.

Semi stepped forward. "Can I ask another favour of you?" She held up some kind of notebook. "It's not much, but it's my will. Please deliver it to my family if you escape." Jin-Woo took the notebook, frowning at how accepting they were of death. The complete opposite of him, when he had been facing death back in the Double Dungeon. "We're doing what we were taught, but this isn't your fight. I hope you can escape."

Jin-Woo nodded, placing the book in his pocket. "I'll hold onto it for now. But there won't be need for me to deliver it." Semi smiled and soon, the whole group began to head down the corridor the orcs had gone down. As they did, Jin-Woo prepared another message and sent it to Hae-In. If she didn't get here soon, he would need to take things into his own hands.

Outside the Gate, Hae-In had finally arrived at the area where the guild's vehicles were parked.

She parked up and ran towards the Gate, moving as fast as she could without kicking up dirt and dust. When she finally arrived, she found the place was full of the miners and removal crew. They seemed to be waiting for the B-Team, which made her frown since they should have left already given what Jin-Woo's message had said.

"Where are they?"

"Hunter Cha?" She turned to see the head miner approaching, "what are you doing here? Isn't today your day off?"

"It is," she nodded. "But...has the B-Team returned?"

"Well, no. But they only just went inside. It'll be a while before they're ready to come back. A-Rank Gates can be pretty big. You should know that more than anyone." Hae-In turned to the Gate and was really worried now. If they hadn't come back yet, something must have happened.

"I'm going into the Gate," she explained. "I can't explain why, but something's off about this." Those that heard her began to murmur, as the miner frowned.

"Is there some kind of problem? Should we call the guild for reinforcements?" Hae-In wanted to tell him yes, but couldn't come up with a way to explain any of this without telling anyone about her ability to contact Jin-Woo over a long distance.

But just then, Hae-In got another message over the system.

Jin-Woo: Hae-In, you need to get here now. There's a barrier over the Gate that's keeping us from leaving. And a bunch of orcs appeared. One of them actually spoke. I think the boss is able to cast a bunch of spells. It's forcing us to go to it. Your guildmates are talking about taking it down, even if that leads to them dying. You gotta get here, quick. If not, I'm gonna have to fight to save your friends.

Hae-In's mind was made up. To heck with Jong-In's questions, she wasn't about to let her guildmates die. "Call the guild and tell them this Gate is more powerful than the original estimation. I'm heading in."

Everyone blinked at her statement, wondering what the heck was going on. Meanwhile, the head minder stepped forward. "Wait, Hunter Cha. You don't have a weapon!"

"I'll be fine." She rushed forward before anyone could say anything. She leapt into the portal and as soon as she did, she flinched feeling an intense amount of energy in front of it. When she reached the other side, she looked around and saw the barrier Jin-Woo had mentioned.

She quickly realised the power coming off was insane. Even if she used all her strength, she couldn't break through it without taking some serious damage from the backlash. It was a one way barrier, allowing people in but not out. And now, Jin-Woo and her guildmates were in danger.

"Hang on," she reached into her inventor and drew her sword. "I'm coming to save you guys." With that, she started running. There was only one issue. She had zero clue which tunnel would lead her to the boss room. "Damn it, Jin-Woo. You couldn't have left me an arrow or something." She randomly picked one and ran down it, praying it was the one she needed.

Jin-Woo and the B-Team had been moving through the tunnel and eventually, they had arrived at the spot with the boss room doors.

For the first time in every single one of their careers, they saw a dungeon monster push the boss room door open. They gulped at this and as the doors swung open, they heard multiple voices yelling out cries they couldn't quite make out. "Don't tell me," Kihoon gulped before they were forced to head inside.

And to their horror, their fears were confirmed.

A countless number of orcs were filling the giant throne room. Enough to equal every single hunter in all of Korea, possibly. They were all standing on either side of the room, leaving just enough space for the attack force to walk through it. And at the very end of the room, a raised section of it housed a throne in the centre.

A pair of orcs stood on either side of the throne, these ones being dressed in armor and carrying more elaborate weapons. And sitting in the throne itself, was an orc that was taller than the others. One dressed in fine looking robes, with a mask of some kind covering its hooded face. And as they got closer, the orc in the throne raised its head and spoke in the bizarre language. Then, it spoke again.

"Humans...welcome."

The hunters shook in terror, as they looked around the room. "So many orcs," Gina whispered.

"If this many escaped," the assassin stated. "They would wipe out the surrounding ten or so miles before they were finally defeated." They all agreed, realising this could be a Jeju Island-level threat if it wasn't stopped.

Kihoon was thinking the same thing, as he focused his attention to the one on the throne. "If nothing else, we have to take out the boss. Then the Gate will close and lock these things in here." But then he glanced at the four orcs standing on either side of him. He could tell they were no pushovers. If he didn't find a way to beat them, it would be the end of them before they even got a chance to fight the boss.

The hunters got ready. Once he gave the signal, they would charge and attack.

However, before Kihoon could give the signal, the orc king reached up and grabbed the mask covering his face. "Do you fear me?" He removed the mask, revealing an ugly face covered in blue markings. "Humans?" In that moment, he unleashed a burst of magical power.

The aura washed through the place like a tidal-wave, slamming into them all and revealing just how powerful he truly was. The magic was so intense, getting hit by it felt like being sliced apart. Everyone gasped, minus Jin-Woo, as the power overwhelmed them. They all felt the same level of power they felt around Hae-In or Jong-In, only much less restrained.

"My god!" Gina gasped, almost falling over. "How can he have such tremendous magical power?" The other mages were thinking the same thing, comparing their own abilities and realising they weren't even in the same ball park.

"Why?" Kihoon shook, "why...why...why...why did you bring us here?" He looked around at all the orcs, with only a fraction of their number being needed to wipe them out. "Your warriors would have been enough to annihilate us. So why..."

"Entertainment." Kihoon could only blink in shock, as he tried to process what the orc king had just told him.

"What?"

The orc smiled. "During our remaining time here, we'll kill you one by one for my men's entertainment." The orcs around them all cheered, clearly excited for this. "However..." The orc's eyes narrowed, "there seems to be something odd amongst you humans." His vision zeroed in on Jin-Woo, who stared back at him without a single ounce of worry on his face.

Jin-Woo had a feeling the orc had the same question Baruka had had, wondering why he couldn't hear the voice telling him to kill the hunter. Jin-Woo then glanced around and saw that the other hunters had all lost the will to fight. They knew they couldn't win, or slay the boss.

However, one of them still had some strength left. "NOW!" Kihoon drew his sword, "EVERYONE CHARGE!" He rushed forward, but the others remained still. They had completely given up on even injuring the boss. But Kihoon kept going, leaping up and roaring as he raised his sword. But then...

"Hymn of Protection!" A shield made of a strange blue energy appeared in front of Kihoon, blocking his sword strike. The impact knocked the man back and he crashed into the ground, grunting in pain whilst the orc snarled. "Foolish human. Gravitation Magic!"

Kihoon gasped, as he suddenly found himself being lifted into the air. It was like all his body weight had been removed.

"Gravity Acceleration!" Then it all changed, as he felt like his armor was a hundred times heavier. And in the blink of an eye, he was crashing into the ground hard enough to leave a giant crater beneath him. "Gravitation!" He was lifted up again and sent shooting upwards, crashing into the ceiling before his weight was once again increased and he smashed down to the ground.

"Kihoon!" One of the hunters cried, as they watched him being smashed into the ceiling and floor over and over again. But none of them could do anything. They were too scared.

Finally, Kihoon was sent plummeting towards the ground and was about to smash into it hard enough to kill him. But in that moment, something flew past and grabbed him. All that was left of him was his cape, as the blur landed near the entrance of the boss room.

"What the?" Gina asked, as Bora suddenly noticed the porter pack was on the ground. When they looked closer, they realised it was Jin-Woo that had saved their captain.

Jin-Woo stared down at Kihoon, as the others rushed over to him. "This dungeon is Hunters Guild property," he told the bloodied and beaten man. "I can't just interfere. But this attack force is about to be wiped out." As he said that, the orc king ordered one of his generals to attack. "So let me just as one thing." As the orc raised its axe, Jin-Woo held a hand out and the orc's body froze. "Can I kill all the monsters present in this room."

Everyone watched in shock, as the orc was lifted into the air and sent flying. Eventually, it crashed right into the ceiling hard enough to make half its body become indented into it.

"No way," Gina gasped. "Telekinesis, without line of sight?"

Kihoon was just as shocked, as Jin-Woo spoke again. "I'll ask you one last time. All the monsters here...can I kill them?"

Kihoon coughed, blood escaping his lips as he nodded. "Please...please help us." Jin-Woo nodded and stood up, the others moving aside to let him march through. Meanwhile the orc king stared him down.

"You have quite an amazing talent for a mere human." He unleashed another wave of magical power, "but how long will that last against us?" Everyone else shuddered at the power he unleashed, whilst Jin-Woo simply stood there and smirked.

"I have to admit. You have more magic power than anyone I've ever faced." As he said that, shadows began to swirl around his feet.

"Hmm. Isn't that obvious?"

Jin-Woo smiled, as the shadows began to form behind him. "Unfortunately, this is just a terrible match-up." Slowly, dark shadowy figures began to rise out of the shadows. Knights, bears, elves and a three-headed dog. Even a little ball of shadowy fur appeared out of it. "And when I say that...I mean for you." The way Jin-Woo said that sent more chills down the hunter's spines, than anything the orcs had said or done.

The B-Team could only stare in shock, at the semi-large army currently staring the orcs down.

The shadow monsters stood ready for battle, whilst Jin-Woo turned to the furball and gestured back to them. As such, the little guy flew over and floated above them. "What's going on here?" One of the hunters asked, but nobody had an answer.

The orc king stared at the opposing forces as well before chuckling. "Trying to pick a fight with my warriors with only that many soldiers? We'll rip you apart."

Jin-Woo smiled. "Don't look down on my guys. It upsets me." Just then, the bottom of Jin-Woo's feet began to glow. "Monarch's Domain." The glow spread around and hit every single shadow in the area, even the one floating above the B-Team. And as its power flowed through them, the blue lights coming off their bodies turned a pinkish purple. Whether it was the cracks in their armor, some of the extra fur coming off their bodies, or just their skin itself. They all changed to the more menacing colour.

Jin-Woo smiled, feeling the power of his new skill flowing through his team. He had attained it after hitting level seventy, but hadn't had a chance to properly use it until now. With it, all his soldiers had been boosted a rank in power.

"What just happened?" Bora asked, as their summoner blinked.

"I can't believe it. I can only summon two creatures and that's on a good day."

Bora blinked, as she stared at the man in front of them. She had been suspicious of him before, but now... "How can such ominous power come from a human?"

"What are you all doing?" The orc king growled. "Destroy them already!" The orcs roared and all began to charged forward, raising their weapons and readying themselves to strike the foes down.

In that moment, Iron let out a roar in order to activate his taunt skill. However, the stats of the orcs were too high. As such, the taunt failed and they began to attack all the shadows. However, Iron, Beste and Igris were all ready to attack.

iron summoned his hammer axe and swung it around, slicing the blade through multiple orcs and cutting them in half. Beste fired a barrage of icicles that stabbed into their heads, whilst Igris stood perfectly still. And as the orcs got close, he moved faster than the eye could follow and the orcs all got shredded into multiple parts.

Tank, Cerbie and the bears all began to run around, wearing the orcs up as best they could whilst the foot-soldiers and archers battled them one on three. The room was quickly turning into a bloodbath, as the orcs were slain one after another.

The shadows soldiers weren't unbeatable, as they were getting dispelled more than the orcs were getting killed. But every time they were destroyed, they reformed a few moments later.

Jin-Woo knew this was happening and started fighting against them, weakening the orcs the same way he had when the B-Team had fought them. But he also took the liberty of simply killing them the same way, moving like a blur through the crowds as they all cried out in pain.

"That's..." The red tank gasped.

Semi nodded. "It's just like when the vice-guildmaster fights." The others nodded and all wondered the same thing. "Why did he agree to work as a porter. He could carry an assault squad." Suddenly, a few orcs turned to them and charged. They gasped, having hoped the monsters would focus on Jin-Woo. But it seemed that was a false hope.

However, before the orcs could reach them, Dajutan let out a cry as his body suddenly multiplied several times. Soon, the hunters were surrounded by a dome of the fuzzy little monsters.

The first layer then charged forward, letting out a cry as they slammed into the orcs. And soon, they exploded and blew the orcs backwards. It wasn't enough to do any serious damage, but it knocked them off their feet and allowed some nearby knights to finish them off.

"Wow," an assassin laughed. "That's cool."

"And kind of cut," Semi smiled as she glanced up at the original Dajutan. The way it closed its eyes and tilted its body, made her think it was smiling.

Jin-Woo leapt out of the now dead horde of orcs and took note of everything that was happening. He saw his three top generals were having absolutely no trouble, with Beste sending her ice wolf out to attack whilst Iron bashed his shield into several more. Igris blocked an axe with his sword before leaping up and kicking an orc in the head, knocking it to the ground before stabbing it.

But then he saw the others were having trouble. Cerbie and the bears were on equal footing, more or less, but the knights and elves kept getting destroyed every few moments.

As he tried to decide which orc group to take down next, he suddenly heard the orc king yell out. "Hymn of Dragon Fire!" Behind him, a massive explosion rocked the area and almost knocked Jin-Woo off his feet. He spun around and saw many of his shadow soldiers, including Beste's ice wolf, getting incinerated alongside a couple of orcs.

When the smoke faded, the orc king sat in his throne with a dragon head sticking out of a portal above him. The beast's mouth smoked, as Jin-Woo glared and watched Beste reforge her ice wolf.

"Why are you acting so arrogant with useless scarecrows like those."

"Don't think you're one to talk about arrogance," Jin-Woo stated as his shadow soldiers reformed. "Because my scarecrows aren't done yet." They finished forming, the orc let out a roar as the crystal shield from before appeared above Jin-Woo.

Gravity magic sent it flying down towards him, but Jin-Woo managed to dodge it. "Gravity Acceleration!" Jin-Woo barely managed to avoid the spell, which covered the area he was standing on. He had to jump from side to side in order to avoid them, "Anti-Gravity!" Jin-Woo looked up and saw a bunch of debris floating above him. "Acceleration!" The rocks then went shooting down towards him.

"Wow!" Jin-Woo was about to leap out of the way, only for a bunch of ice slides to appear around him and catch the fast moving rocks.

They slid away from Jin-Woo and were catapulted around the room, hitting several orcs and a couple of quickly recovering soldiers. Jin-Woo looked around and smiled at Beste, who smiled back before the orc king spoke.

"You have limits. So I'll kill your puppets as many times as it takes." The soldiers reformed around Jin-Woo. "Until your magic is spent!" A magic circle began to form in front of him, along with several on the ground. "SONG OF FIRE!"

Large pillars of flames exploded out of the ground, hitting multiple soldiers and a few of the bears.

The flames shot towards the Dajutan dome and threatened to fry the hunters within it. But Cerbie leapt in front and unleashed a blast of fire from each head. This blocked it, as Dajutan had the hunters move to a safer position.

Jin-Woo was struck by the flames from all sides, but he managed to dispel them with a swing of his blades. 'He's got a wellspring of mana to fuel his ranged multi-target spells. I can't get close.'

The orc king chuckled. "I'm curious. How long until you crumble." Jin-Woo frowned, as he brought up his mana gauge and saw how much he was losing. "It's only a matter of time before your magic power is gone."

Jin-Woo, however, smiled as he opened his inventory. As he did, Beste flew in and unleashed a barrage of ice spikes in all directions. She and the orc glared at each other, the two mages clearly wanting to know which was the better magic user.

The orc launched a bunch of fireballs at her, but Beste unleashed a wave of ice cold air that extinguished them. She then shot several icicles, but the orc created a shield. The two appeared evenly matched, as Jin-Woo chugged the mana potion be had just summoned.

"You really shouldn't make assumptions," Jin-Woo told him before holding out his hand. "Ever hear of necromancers?" His eyes glowed. "Well, how about I show you one in action." He gestured to several of the slain orcs. "Arise."

The orcs were suddenly covered in shadows, which flew off and began to swirl around and take shape. Soon, a bunch of red orcs covered in black markings appeared. They looked just like the still living orcs, only their skin was a brighter red and their eyes glowed purple. And as they stood there, they just gave off an air of the undead.

"Turning my soldiers into yours?" He asked, then turned to Beste. "Don't tell me. I thought you looked familiar. You, of the ice tribe. Don't tell me he killed and revived you?"

Jin-Woo was curious about that, but shrugged and turned to smile at the orcs. Many of them looked terrified, as Jin-Woo stood there. "You'll all become my shadows soon enough." Their terrified looks increased, as Jin-Woo summoned his dagger and pointed it towards the king. "And, of course, so will you."

The orc stared at him in utter shock, as he seemed to be putting the pieces together. "How can this be?" He asked, as his body began to glitch. "He must be the..." He glitched again, as pain flowed through his head. "Augh!" He felt like something inside of him was breaking. 'But then why? Why am I here? What purpose do I serve? When my eyes first opened in this place, there was but a single thought. Burned into my head, over and over again. Hunt the humans.'

The shadow orcs charged, roaring as they began to do battle with their former comrades. The two forces collided and it became a bloodbath, as the orc kept thinking.

'The reason makes no difference. I need to only hear the command.' He stood, Jin-Woo frowning. "You're turn," he told his generals. "Slaughter the intruders. And offer their carcasses as a tribute to me!" The orc generals raised their weapons and charged, Igris, Iron and Beste seeing them and choosing to take them on.

The battle was only just beginning, the three each smashing their way through the hordes of orcs before reaching a general. This left Jin-Woo to focus on the orc king, the two powerful magic users ready to end the other. As the other hunters from the Hunters Guild watched in amazement, Jin-Woo and the orc king prepared their next attacks. Once which would bewilder them for their entire lives.

You've all been waiting for it and I hope this first part was exciting enough to hold you over until next time. What else will change about this event? Only time will tell

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Hope you enjoy.

Hae-In ran as fast as she could, having sensed a powerful surge of energy flow through the cave system.

She had her hair up in a ponytail and gripped her sword as tight as she could, as she made her way towards the course of the power. She was sure that that outburst would no doubt draw the attention of those outside, as she prayed the miners had already alerted the main office.

The sounds of battle filled her ears. She was sure she was getting close and as she turned a corner, she found the open doors to the boss room waiting for her. And when she looked through them, she saw Jin-Woo's shadow soldiers fighting against the orc army Jin-Woo had warned her about.

She stepped through the doors and watched, as more and more orcs were cut down. She was surprised to see several orcs fighting each other, but quickly realised Jin-Woo must have revived some to increase his numbers. And that worried her, since it meant he had either revealed his powers to her guildmates...or her guildmates weren't around to see it.

"Vice-Guildmaster!" She turned to see her friends over in the corner, protected by an army of furry protectors.

She ran over and saw Kihoon on the ground, Semi doing her best to heal him. "How's the captain?" She asked, Semi nodding.

"He'll live, so long as he doesn't receive any other injuries." Suddenly, another orc charged at them and Hae-In was about to attack. But Dajutan sent a bunch of clones to slam into it and explode. The beast was blown backwards and Cerbie caught it in its mouth, the middle head shaking about before the other two grabbed an arm or leg and pulled.

"Ahh," Hae-In looked away and noticed the original Dajutan fly down and smile at her. "Yes, very good." She patted its head and the little guy cheered, whilst the B-Team blinked at the interaction.

"V-G," Gina frowned. "Do you...know these creatures?" Hae-In suddenly froze, unsure how to answer that statement. But then, Gina blinked. "Wait, Jin-Woo. I knew I'd heard that name before. That's the guy you were talking about before. The guy you spend the week with." Everyone blinked and looked over at Hae-In, who was blushing red and trying to think of an excuse.

"Um...well..."

Suddenly, a roar caught their attention and they turned to see Iron slice the armored orc general in half. Igris blocked the blade of another and cut its arm off before spinning around and kicking the third, sending it flying towards Beste as the ice elf sent her wolf down and it morphed into a spear that impaled the poor thing. Igris then killed the armless one, as Jin-Woo chuckled.

"Looks like my generals have the upper-hand here."

The orc king growled, "that's not possible."

Hae-In sighed, chuckling at how nonchalant Jin-Woo was being with everything. "I knew it," Gina smiled. "That is him. You two know each other. He's your boyfriend."

Hae-In puffed up her cheeks, "now really isn't the time to talk about this." The others couldn't argue with that, but they were so going to talk about this later.

"Shouldn't you help him?" An assassin asked, as Hae-In turned back to the fight. "He's fighting an army all on his own."

"And does he look like he needs any help?" Hae-In asked, sticking her sword into the ground and crossing her arms. The others watched, seeing Jin-Woo fight without appearing to even break a sweat. "That orc is clearly hoping to take Jin-Woo down and from what I've seen, it can do some pretty insane magic."

"She's right," Bora nodded. "If those curses it covered the barrier in are any indication, it could defeat us in a matter of seconds. If we take even one step to try and fight, it could do the same to us." As she said that, the orc king stepped down off the stage.

"I've had just about enough of your insolence." He glared Jin-Woo down, as magic circles appeared around him. "Song of Sleep! Song of impediment! Song of Blindness!" The same magic circles appeared around Jin-Woo, who didn't look the least bit concerned about it. And for good reason as in that moment, the magic circle shattered and Jin-Woo wasn't even phased. "What?"

"Nice try," Jin-Woo brushed his shirt off. "But I'm resistant to curses and poisons." Beste flew down and the other shadow mages appeared before him. She launched a blast of ice towards the ground and created a path of ice, which flew towards the orc and was ready to freeze him.

"Song of Guardian!" He roared, creating the large crystal shield in front of him. As he did, a spear of ice shot out of the ice path and struck it. Despite the spell being boosted by the Orb of Avarice, the ice shattered and Beste looked insulted.

Jin-Woo was also annoyed. "Alright, man. I'm gonna break that annoying shield of yours!" The mages pooled their power and created a large fireball, which they sent flying towards the shield. And when it struck, the explosion super-heated the crystal but not enough to damage it.

However, before it could cool, Beste launched a super cold blast of air towards it. The icy wind struck the shield and instantly cooled it, causing it to begin cracking before the ice wolf leapt off her shoulders.

It charged forward and let out a howl before leaping at the shield and suddenly morphing into a giant spear of ice. One that struck the weakened shield with enough force and smashed right through it. The ice spear shattered as well, but the wolf flew out from within and flew towards the orc.

The next thing the large figure knew, the wolf smashed it in the face and shattered its mask. It roared in pain, as the mages launched another combined fireball that flew forwards and struck him.

The room shook from the explosion, Hae-In flinching at the sudden windswept that got into her eyes. "So strong," Bora whispered. "There's no way he's E-Rank. What the heck, Vice-Guildmaster?" The others looked up at her, as Hae-In sighed.

"Well, it's going to come out sooner or later anyway. Jin-Woo was E-Rank, but then he reawakened." This shocked everyone, as only one question appeared in their heads.

"What's his rank now?" The summoner asked, but they didn't need an answer. It was obvious just how powerful he was.

"HOW DARE YOU!" The orc king's voice thundered through the room. "SONG OF RAGE! SONG OF STRENGTH! SONG OF GIANTS!!!!" From out of the smoke, a massive version of the orc king appeared. "BE CRUSHED BENEATH MY FEET, LIKE AN INSIGNIFICANT WORM!" He raised his foot and tried to stomp down on Jin-Woo, but the Shadow Monarch leapt away at the last moment.

"Gotta say," he told the boss. "I'm not too fond of giants." Memories of the Double Dungeon flashed through his mind. "That move kind of pisses me off."

"SONG OF DRAGON FIRE!" He roared, unleashing a flamethrower down towards Jin-Woo. But he didn't even move as it shot past him, causing the ground beside him to explode.

A magic circle appeared behind him that the dragon head appeared out of, only for a bunch of purple veins to start growing out of the circle and filling the air surrounding Jin-Woo. The veins split like the branches of a tree and each branch ended in a magic circle, all pointing in multiple different directions.

Suddenly, the circles each launched a stream of fire. Ones that struck the ground and walls, burning into them before the veins curved and made them move around to draw a bunch of lines. Jin-Woo was consumed by the smoke, whilst the shadow soldiers and orcs were all wiped out.

Hae-In stood defensively in front of the others, getting ready to summon her Guard Stringer if she needed it. But the flames missed them completely and Dajutan was the only shadow left.

"DO YOU STILL THINK I, THE GREAT KARGALGAN, AM NO MATCH FOR YOU!"

"Eyup," a voice to his side stated before Jin-Woo leapt out of the smoke cloud. He swung his dagger into reverse grip and let himself fall towards the giant, reaching its face and stabbing it straight in the eye.

The beast roared in pain, as blood gushed everywhere. And as he reached up to cover his eye, Jin-Woo leapt away and grabbed one of the chains that had been hanging from one end of the room to the other.

"The bigger the target, the easier it is to hit." The orc roared and tried to smashed his hand into him, but Jin-Woo leapt away and landed in front of him. "You're a mage! Yet you thought you could fend off an assassin's attack without your shield."

The orc's entire body shook, rage clearly washing over him as he let out a roar. "SONG OF FIRE!!!!!" The magic circle appeared behind him before the ground beneath Jin-Woo's feet, began to heat up and eventually exploded into a column of fire.

Jin-Woo dodged this, only for the spot he landed on to explode as well. He also dodged that, then the next fire pillar, then the next and the next. Soon, the entire ground had been turned into a pit of molten rock. Hae-In's group was the only spot safe, as Beste reformed and unleashed a blast of ice to cool the area down.

Jin-Woo grabbed onto the chain and swung around, the heat from the room making this painful but not unbearable. And as he swung towards the orb, the ground beneath him exploded and sent rocks upwards.

He landed on one rock and leapt away, as he summoned a pair of daggers and threw them towards the beast.

A magic circle had just formed in front of him, but the weapons shattered it and struck him. They tore through his clothes, but weren't able to even scratch his skin. And as Beste super-cooled the ground for Jin-Woo to land on, he took stock of the situation.

"If daggers aren't enough..." He reached back and used his Ruler's Hand to grab one of the chains on the wall. "Let's try this!" He pulled the chain off and swung it at the orc, wrapping the end of it around the beast's arms. The orc roared and pulled on the chain, yanking it towards him as Jin-Woo grabbed the end.

Everyone watched, as Jin-Woo was whipped into the air and used the momentum to swing around the orc. This caused the chain to coil around the giant, trapping his arms to his side as Jin-Woo swung around and around.

By the time the momentum finally died down, the boss was trapped and couldn't move his arms. Jin-Woo landed behind the beast and as he did, he gripped the chain with all his strength. "RAAAAAAAAAAH!" He roared, pulling on the chain as hard as he could and pulling the orc backwards off its feet. And as the monster crashed into the ground, Hae-In sensed a presence entering the room and looked around.

There, she saw Manager Woo of the Hunters Association along with two other agents.

"Manager Woo?" She called out to him, heading towards him alongside the rest of the B-Team.

"Hunter Cha," he spoke up. "You're all safe. We sensed a rather alarming aura, so we rushed to help as soon as we could." He glanced back at the fight, as the orc began to shrink down in order to escape the chains. "But it seems Hunter Sung had it under control."

Hae-In sighed, as she looked back and saw Jin-Woo approach the orc. She knew Jin-Woo had the Association's attention, but the surveillance team being here must have meant they knew more than she had originally thought.

Just then, Jin-Woo turned to a trio of orcs and used his Shadow Extraction on them. Woo looked surprised by this, as the three appeared behind him.

"You seem oddly calm about all this," Manager Woo announced. "Almost like you've seen these abilities before." He gave her a questioned look, as Hae-In frowned. "For the record, we looked into Hunter Sung's background and learned about his sister. The one that I happen to remember seeing in a picture with you at one point." Hae-In was really starting to hate whoever took that photo.

"We're...close," she replied. "And yes, I already knew about his abilities. I can't explain how, exactly, but they are like nothing you've ever seen." They watched, as the orc king tried to push himself back to his feet.

"The second your bodyguards became mine...you were as good as dead." Jin-Woo's voice was filled with darkness, as the orc looked up and glared at him.

He then saw the three generals that stood behind the human, now his loyal servants. And this angered him even more. "Do you know who I am?" He snarled, his magic pulsing. "My body can't possibly be destroyed!" He stood tall and the magic exploded off of him. "I'M INVINCIBLE!" His former generals charged at him, the orc absorbing the magic and trying to fight in hand to hand. But whilst he was able to fight off the other two, the third leapt at him and performed a twin footed flying kick right to his chest.

He was knocked off his feet and smashed into the ground, roaring as he lay in the large crater. His vision became blurry, as he looked up and saw the fuzzy images of his three generals standing over him. And soon, one of them was raising its weapon and that was the last thing it saw before everything went black.

You have defeated the [Master of the Dungeon].

Jin-Woo smirked, especially when he got a double level up. "I won't touch their loot, even if I did solo the boss. But..." He moved over to the remains of the orc and placed a hand on it. "I doubt they'll mind me extracting his shadow. Arise."

Everyone watched, as the shadows flew out of the corpse with a burst of power. It flew into the air and swirled into a familiar shape before the darkness exploded away from the new figure, revealing the orc with a new brighter red skin and a dark cloak over its body. The shockwave he unleashed, almost knocked everyone off their feet.

Jin-Woo smiled, as he watched the orc kneel before him. "Glad to see becoming a shadow chilled you out." The screen appeared in front of him, showing the shadow's rank whilst asking for a name. "Right, a name. What was it again. Kar...gargle...something." He sighed, "sorry man." He tried to think of something else and after spotting the orc's large lower fangs, he smiled. "How about...Tusk?" He nodded. "Yeah, I like it. Tusk." The words were locked in and the shadow's new name appeared. Jin-Woo then turned his attention to the rank. "Elite-Knight Rank? That's a new one. Makes sense for an A Rank Dungeon Boss, though." He then turned to the orcs that had all reformed after the battle, which knelt down as he smirked. "These high orc guys are pretty epic too. Welcome to the team."

But as the shadows faded, he heard a voice that made him freeze. "I know this was a dangerous situation," he slowly turned his attention towards his approaching girlfriend. "But can't you keep any cards close to your chest?"

Jin-Woo chuckled, as he scratched the back of his head. But then, he noticed who else was there and gulped. 'Manager Woo? I was too focused collecting shadows to notice either of them.'

"Hello, Hunter Sung."

"My man!" The red tank cried, as the B-Team approached as well.

"What was all that?" Semi asked, "how the heck are you able to summon so many?" Jin-Woo hummed, as Hae-In stepped forward.

"They already know you're real Rank," she explained. "They figured out how we're connected as well." Jin-Woo slumped, as Manager Woo stepped forward.

"All matters regarding Hunter Sung have been classified as top secret. It's our job to enforce that. Which is why I need everyone to keep what happened today confidential." The Hunters frowned, but nodded as one of the agents turned to Jin-Woo.

"We'll be escorting you out."

"It's really the best way to avoid having any more attention on you." Jin-Woo nodded, as Woo kept talking.

"I won't downplay the fact that he has S-Rank abilities. You all saw that with your own eyes. But it's my hope you'll make his exit quiet in gratitude for your rescue." Woo began to lead Jin-Woo and the agents out, Jin-Woo glancing at Hae-In as if to tell her he'd talk to her later.

She nodded, as Kihoon suddenly spoke up. "Just a minute, please." They all stopped, as the weakened hunter continued to speak. "I'm sure you have your reason for concealing your real strength. And of course, we have no right to make you explain. I'm not even gonna ask, what made you take the carrier job." He looked Jin-Woo straight in the eye. "Point is, a lot of lives could have been lost. But instead, we're all walking out of here. And that's because of you." The others nodded. "As captain of this team, you have my thanks." He bowed and the others did the same, Hae-In smiling at him whilst Jin-Woo felt awkward.

He smiled, only to then remember something. "Oh, that's right." He took something out of his pocket and moved over to Semi. "You want this back, yeah?" Semi looked surprised, then smiled as she took the notebook back.

"If you're finished," Manager Woo stated. "Let's get going." Jin-Woo nodded and they all left, leaving the Hunters behind with Hae-In watching. Once they were gone, Gina turned to her.

"So, that's your boyfriend." Hae-In groaned, "I can totally see why you'd be into him."

"Gina," Bora frowned. "Stop teasing her." She bowed to the Vice-Guildmaster, "sorry. You know how she is. I'm happy you have someone like that in your life." The others all nodded, "though I am curious how you got together. Weren't you just friends before?"

"It's a long story," Hae-In replied. "And this isn't the place for it. You should all head out. The lot of you are gonna need to get yourselves checked out after everything that's happened. Kihoon especially. I'm gonna stay back for a bit and make sure nothing will end up smashing free of the Dungeon before the Gate closes." They nodded and all headed out, leaving Hae-In alone in the boss room.

She frowned, as she moved over to Tusk's former body. Even dead and shadow-less, she could feel the intense power coming off of it. This creature had been seriously powerful. Powerful enough to even mask how powerful it was.

"This is bad," she whispered. "If other bosses are able to do the same thing, unsuspecting raid parties could find themselves fighting monsters way about their level." She had to figure out if this was an ability unique to this Gate, or if other bosses could start doing it.

In that moment, something suddenly came crashing down from the ceiling and she jumped.

She raised her sword and was ready to attack, as she turned to the back of the room. And there, she saw something had slammed down from the ceiling. "What is that?" She carefully moved closer, being ready in case whatever it was attacked. But when the dust cleared, it showed the body of an orc that had had its face smashed in.

Hae-In looked up and saw a large hole in the ceiling, which the orc had clearly fallen out of. She knew Jin-Woo had to have been the one to throw it up there, but she couldn't help but wonder how exactly it had ended up happening.

When she looked back down, she saw the orc was definitely dead. And then, she saw a screen appear in front of it. 'Shadow Extraction Possible'.

"Huh. Jin-Woo must have missed this one." She smiled, since that meant it was up for grabs. "Well, can't let it go to waste." She raised her hand and reached out to it. "Equip." The shadow appeared around the orc before flying off and shooting towards her, forcing a shape in her hand.

Soon, a staff-like object filled her grasp and Hae-In held it tightly. The top then grew larger and she had a feeling she knew what kind of weapon it was, so swung it around and let the shadow fly off to reveal it. And sure enough, she was holding a large single-bladed battleaxe. The shaft was black and was the length of her arm, leading up the top which had the red head of an orc on it. When she took a closer look, she realised the now metal head looked like it had been stabbed into the shaft due to the pointed tip sticking out of its skull.

Coming out of the back of the orc's head was a metal axe-blade, which was a crescent moon-shape with three rods holding it to the back of the head.

Item: Berserker Slice
A-Rank Axe Weapon
STR +50
Heavy Swing: Cost 50 Mana

Hae-In gave the weapon a few good swings, the weight just right for her to move whilst not being slowed down. She swung it at the weapon's former body and cut right through it, amazed at how sharp it was. And the spear tip on the end would also help with stabbing if she needed it.

She dispelled the axe and turned to leave, doing what she had told her teammates she'd be doing and searching the area to make sure there wasn't anything out of the ordinary left behind. They didn't need any more surprises.

As she searched, she thought about everything Jin-Woo had ended up showing to the others. She had known Jin-Woo's abilities wouldn't remain a secret forever, but now multiple people knew about them. And whilst they had all promised to keep it a secret, she knew that soon the public would learn what he could do.

She thought about her own shadow abilities and how she needed to keep them a secret. However, what if something like this happened again. If she and her guild found themselves in danger, would she keep her abilities a secret and just fight with her normal weapon?

"No," she sighed, "I wouldn't. Which means everyone's going to have questions." She frowned, imagining what would happen if anyone saw her powers. They would, of course, notice that they bore a striking resemblance to Jin-Woo's abilities. They were no denying such a thing.

She made her way through the Dungeon and eventually arrived back at the Gate, stepping out of it with the miners and extraction team all looking worried. And since Hae-In was the last one out, the Gate closed behind her. "Hunter Cha," the extraction team leader cried. "What happened? The B-Team came out and told us we couldn't go into the Dungeon. What's going on?"

"Complications," Hae-In replied. "We had to dispatch the boss before we could extract anything. I'm sorry, but you all came out here for nothing." She sighed, since the guild was going to take a heavy loss after this Gate. But at least they didn't lose any lives.

"What about Mr. Sung?" A miner asked. "The Association showed up asking about him. Then they escorted him out and didn't even let us talk to him. What's the deal?"

"That's...classified," Hae-In told them. "I'm sorry, but you'll understand soon enough. I need to get going, so please excuse me." She headed off and everyone wondered what the heck was going on.

As she reached the parking area, she spotted a car she recognised approaching.

It pulled up to the parking area and Jong-In stepped out, only to find the place being cleared. "What happened?" He asked, spotting Hae-In walking towards him. "Hunter Cha? What's going on? We got word that something bad was happening." Hae-In sighed, as she looked up at the orange sky. The sun was beginning to set and despite not having done any fighting, she was feeling exhausted.

"Everything's fine, Guildmaster. The B-Team is safe and the Gate's been cleared. I'm sorry to say, the boss had to be slain before we could get any resources from the Dungeon. We're going to be taking a loss from this raid...if you could even call it a raid."

Jong-In frowned. "I see. Well, so long as everyone's safe. But I still want to know what happened. And why were you even here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well," Hae-In scratched the back of her head. "Jin-Woo was here." Jong-In's eyes widened. "He was working as a miner and ended up doing the porter job. Captain Son can explain everything once he's been healed up. I only showed up and saw the end of the fight."

"You're saying Hunter Sung was the one who completed the raid?" Hae-In nodded. "I see. Well this is a curiosity. But it's late and I have a feeling things are going to be getting interesting tomorrow. Please be at the office early tomorrow. I'll get in contact with Hunter Son and ask if he'll be up for a debrief tomorrow, before I head to the association."

Hae-In nodded and headed over to her car, sighing as she got in and began to drive off. She thought about what Jong-In had said and knew that tomorrow would likely be the best time to tell him about her abilities. He would likely want to know how she acquired them, but she would think up an excuse for why should couldn't. So long as he was made aware of them, that was what mattered.

He considered going back to Jin-Woo's place, but decided against it. She needed to check her mail and clean her uniform, so she headed back to her apartment.

When she got home, she found she had several pieces of mail to shift through.

Nothing seemed to be urgent, so she decided to leave it until later. Instead, she put her uniform in the wash and sighed as she grabbed something to eat out of the fridge. When she did, she suddenly got a message from Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo: Did you clean up the apartment?

She giggled. "Sure did. You and your sister clearly didn't have a talent for it, so I decided to do you a favour. Don't expect me to do it again, though. So you'd better keep the place clean. Imagine if your mother woke up and saw the place." She sent the message and started eating, waiting for a reply that came a little while later.

Jin-Woo: Haha. We'll keep it clean, promise. And thanks. Also, sorry about today. I know you wanted me to keep things quiet, but I didn't have a choice.

"It's fine," she replied. "Though it would have been helpful if you had left me a clue on how to find you. I wasted a bunch of time looking for the boss room. I might have gotten there sooner, if you had left behind a shadow to show me the way." She finished eating and sighed, only for Jin-Woo to send back a confused looking message.

Jin-Woo: Why didn't you just use the map function? It probably would have shown you the entire Dungeon layout and showed you where I was.

Hae-In blinked several times, as she realised Jin-Woo was right. How could she be such an idiot?

Jin-Woo: You forgot about the map function, didn't you?

"I'm going to bed now," she told him before getting up and heading to her room. She got a message a few moments later, showing a bunch of laughing emoticons. She moaned at that and changed into her pyjamas before leaping into her bed and screaming into her pillow. She sighed and continued to lay there for several minutes

She rolled onto her back and sighed, the bed feeling a lot more empty with just here in it. She wanted so much to be sleeping beside Jin-Woo, but knew she couldn't let herself become addicted to that feeling. With how busy they were bound to be in the coming days, Hae-In doubted she would get to sleep beside him much.

So she lay there and let herself think about what tomorrow would bring. Jin-Woo would be getting his official re-evaluation, which meant the world would soon learn the truth. And she could only wonder what that would lead to. What would the future hold?

Those thoughts plagued her mind and slowly, she found herself slowly drifting off. And as she did, she dreamed.

She was standing in the remains of a destroyed street, decked out in unfamiliar battle armor. Her Horn Calibur and Gill Magnum were in her hands and she wasn't alone, as three other individuals were beside her

One was Jin-woo, wearing the jacket she had given him, whilst the other two were wearing clothing that blocked their faces from view. One was wearing armor and a helmet, carrying a sword and shield, whilst the other was wearing mage clothing and carrying a staff of some kind.

She then heard movement and looked ahead, seeing a dark shadow approaching. "Get ready," Jin-Woo stated. Moments later, his shadow army materialised. There were the shadows she knew, but also ones that she didn't and couldn't make out the features of.

Iron and Tank stood side by side and as they did, the one with the staff raised it. "Let's go! Shadow Fusion!" Suddenly, shadows flew out of her staff and flew towards the pair. They wrapped around them both before the two cocoons joined together. And when it exploded off of him, there was only one Shadow.

It looked like Iron, only his armor had transformed to look like it was made of ice. His helmet was shaped like the the head of a bear with his eyes looking out the mouth, whilst his shield had changed to look like a large paw.

Others shadows were soon consumed by the cocoons that merged into one, creating strange hybrids of Jin-Woo's army. And as this completed, the opponent appeared on the scene. "Let's do this!" Jin-Woo cried before charging forward. Hae-In and the other two did the same, with the shadows following suit.

It was a long drawn out battle and Hae-In could barely remember the details. But she knew the fight was intense and the opponent powerful. And as Jin-Woo dealt the final blow, Hae-In suddenly found herself waking up with a start.

Sorry those that wanted Hae-In to jump in and help, but she knew Jin-Woo didn't need it. Well, now her guild knows she's dating a fellow S-Rank. How will that turn out? And what's with that dream at the end? Keep reading to find out. 

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Hope you enjoy this chapter. 

It was nine AM when Hae-In got into the office. The Hunters had all heard about what had happened the previous day and Hae-In had a feeling a few of them had also heard about Hae-In's connection to their savior.

Kihoon had been cleared, Semi's healing abilities having saved him from what should have been crippling injuries. Now, he was dressed in a suit and stood on the other side of Jong-In's desk. Hae-In was sitting on one of the couches behind him, listening to Kihoon give the report on what happened.

Jong-In nodded, as his tale came to an end. "It's a relief that everyone made it out safely in the end." Jong-In hummed, as he sat with his hands laced in front of him. "How odd. Hunter Sung was there for the White Tigers in their Red Gate. And then he came to our rescue as well." He looked around him at Hae-In. "And you knew he was going to be there today?"

Hae-In blushed a little. "I didn't know he was there yesterday, when we did that other A Rank Gate. It wasn't until I spotted him mining, that I realised he was working with us. Apparently, he wanted to see how a high ranking guild did things. I spoke with him and he promised not to cause any issues. Then he told me he was going to be working at the Gates we had today. I had no idea he was working as a porter until I got there."

"I see," Jong-In nodded before turning back to Kihoon. "His speed is comparable to an assassin type, he can raise the dead at will and add them to his vast army of summons. It's a little hard to believe." If only he knew the truth. "In your honest, unbiased opinion, how does Hunter Sung compare to me? Or Ms. Cha?"

Kihoon sounded surprised, whilst Hae-In was curious about what he had to say. And after a few moments, he answered. "Hunters of different types work together in raids. Pooling their strengths to compensate for individual weaknesses. It's standard operating procedure." Hae-In nodded, as Kihoon turned to look at them both. "Do either of you think you could clear a higher end A-Rank Dungeon by yourself?" Interesting question. "No tanks. No healers. Just you?"

They both thought about it, Hae-In remembering everything Tusk could do during the fight. She considered herself now and back before she met Jin-Woo. Before, she would have struggled against that many orcs and the boss' magic. She probably could have defeated them all, but one wrong move would have likely resulted in her death. But now, with all her abilities, she was sure she could handle that place without issue."

"No," Jong-In stated. "I couldn't." He stood up, moving around the desk. "Which, frankly, is quite embarrassing considering all the talk about me being the ultimate weapon. He headed towards the door, as Kihoon turned to him.

"Guildmaster."

"I know," Jong-In stated.

"We need him." Jong-In was about to answer, but Hae-In spoke first.

"It's not going to happen." They both turned to her, confused. "Jin-Woo's already stated he's going to start his own guild." That surprised the pair. "I'm sorry, but it's true. The association chairman gave him a bit of a scare."

"A scare?" Jong-In asked.

"He told Jin-Woo that if he were to join another Guild, especially the Hunters, it would surely upset the delicate balance of power our country has. Jin-Woo doesn't want that, so he's not going to join any existing guilds. He's going to start his own."

"I see," Jong-In sighed. "And he's absolutely adamant about that. You don't think there's any way I could sway him to join us."

"Jin-Woo's a pretty independent guy," Hae-In replied. "It's not just the balance that has him worried. If he joined an existing guild, he would have to work under somebody. He wants to be free to do his own thing. Go where he wants, when he wants. That's just how he is. I doubt he's gonna even consider joining, no matter what you offer to sway him."

Jong-In sighed. "Well, I still wish to see just how powerful he is. His assessment should allow me to get a proper grasp on his abilities."

"Actually, before you leave, there's something I need to talk to you about." Jong-In looked curious about that, Kihoon as well as Hae-In turned to the A-Rank. "Can we have the room, please. I'd like to talk to Jong-In about this before anyone else." Kihoon nodded and headed off, whilst Jong-In looked curious now.

Once the A-Rank was gone and the door was closed, Jong-In raised an eyebrow as Hae-In stood up. "Whilst I doubt it, this isn't about you potentially joining Mr. Sung's new guild, is it?"

"No, sir. I already told you, Jin-Woo and I decided that being in the same guild would be a big mistake. This is about something else. Kihoon mentioned how he was able to awaken the dead and use them as his summons."

"Yes. Quite a terrifying ability. Is there something else about it that you need to tell me?"

"Yes. The ability...isn't something Jin-Woo acquired during his reawakening." That surprised Jong-In, since there was only one other known way of acquiring skills and magic.

"He got a rune stone that allowed him to use that ability?"

"Y...es," Hae-In felt like the way she said that wasn't convincing to the man. "He did. And he wasn't the only one who got shadow abilities like that." Now, Jong-In was surprised as he looked her up and down.

"Ms. Cha. Are you telling me that you can summon creatures like Hunter Sung?"

"Not exactly," she replied before the shadows swirled around her feet. Jong-In stepped back in surprise, as Hae-In held out her hand and the shadows flew up into it. And soon, her Horn Calibur appeared.

"That's...a shadow weapon?"

"Yes. And it's not the only one I have. My ability is called Shadow Forging. It lets me create weapons and armor out of monsters I've slain. Swords, shields, hammers, the lot." She put the sword away and summoned her Gill Magnum, which really surprised Jong-In.

"You even have a gun?"

"A water gun," she replied. "But it hits enough force to match a gun." Jong-In took a step forward, examining the weapon as Hae-In held it in her hand. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away. I wasn't really sure how to explain it. But now that Jin-Woo's abilities have been revealed, I decided I couldn't keep mine hidden. After what happened yesterday, I can't let myself become handicapped and risk the lives of my guildmates."

"Yes. I understand your worries. And this ability of yours is impressive. Though it may cause a lot of questions, I see no reason why you shouldn't use it. We'll have a meeting with the two attack forces and have them see what you can do. Better that then you just randomly pulling these abilities out of nowhere in the middle of a raid."

"Agreed," Hae-In nodded. "Also, this ability has two aspects."

"Two?" Jong-In nodded, "which are?"

"Well, this is Shadow Forge," She showed him the weapons. "And the other is Shadow Storage. It's the same ability Jin-Woo has."

"I thought you said you didn't have his abilities?"

"I can't create shadow soldiers. But I can store them in my storage. If Jin-Woo allows it, I can place his shadows into my storage and summon them. Though I don't have the mana to summon an endless army like he can."

"I see. Understood. If he lets you borrow any of his shadows, let me know. They could come in handy if we end up in a high ranking gate." Hae-In nodded, as Jong-In finally headed out. This left her in the office alone, the hunter stepping out a minute or so later after Jong-In was gone.

She made her way through the guild HQ and eventually, arrived at the break room where members of the A and B Teams were gathered. And as soon as she stepped inside, she noticed all eyes were on her. She could tell they were eager to ask a bunch of questions, as Hae-In made herself a cup of coffee.

Once the brew was piping hot and ready to be poured, she turned to them and focused on the B Team. "Shouldn't you be all at home, resting. Kihoon had to come in and give a report, but the rest of you should be relaxing after what happened yesterday."

"We came in to see if the Guildmaster would be trying to recruit Hunter Sung," Semi replied. "But apparently, he's planning on making his own guild."

"That's right," Hae-In nodded. "And I'm pretty sure it's going to become one of the strongest in the country. Even if it'll only have three members, most of you have seen what he can do." They nodded, as Gina gave her a slightly worried look.

"So, you're not going to leave us for him, are you?" Hae-In sighed, as the others looked worried.

"No, I'm staying here. No need to worry. You ain't getting rid of me that easily. I'm staying here, but you never know what'll happen. Maybe Jin-Woo's guild will work with ours."

"That would be cool," Kihoon nodded. "So what did you need to talk to the guildmaster about. If it wasn't you leaving..."

"You'll find out soon," Hae-In replied. "It's nothing major, I promise. Just a little something that needs to be discussed...delicately." That confused everyone, as Hae-In took a sip of her drink. And finally, Gina couldn't take anymore.

"Alright, spill. How the heck did you and he get together? Come on, I need details. You said you were friends, but how did you go from that to this. Come on." Hae-In couldn't help but laugh, seeing how desperate Gina was for the gossip.

"There's nothing much to really say. We met and realised we enjoyed spending time together, so we hung out. And the more we hung out, the more we realised how much we liked each other. Then it just kind of...happened. There's not really much more to tell you." Technically, there was. But that would require her telling them about the system and everything.

Gina moaned, clearly hoping for some juicy details. The other giggled, whilst Semi smiled at Hae-In. "Well, as long as he makes you happy." Hae-In nodded before taking another sip of her coffee. "But why is he hiding how strong he really is. if he reawakened, shouldn't he be getting his rank re-evaluated?"

"That's where he is right now," Hae-In replied. "And that's where Jong-In is going. He should be officially dubbed as S-Rank sometime later today."

"Wait, he's getting evaluated today?" Bora asked, Hae-In nodding as the girl frowned. "Please tell me it's some time in the afternoon." Hae-In tried to think, remembering that Jin-Woo said he had his evaluation in the morning.

"I think he said it's at about half past ten." Bora moaned at this, shaking her head. "What?"

"His evaluation is going to happen before Minsung Lee's. That's not gonna be good." Hae-In frowned, wondering who she was talking about.

"You don't know him?" Kihoon asked, Hae-In shaking her head. "He's a famous actor. Apparently, he recently awakened as a hunter and has already signed with the Reaper Guild. He's supposed to be getting his official evaluation today and he's holding a life stream of the event. If Hunter Sung's evaluation is before his..."

"Oh," Hae-In moaned as she caught on. "People are instantly going to turn their attention to him and he'll overshadow this Lee guy's moment. That could be a problem."

"It's fine," Gina told her. "So long as he doesn't make a spectacle of it, he should be able to slip away without much issue." Hae-In thought about it. Jin-Woo didn't like to make a spectacle, but he also had a bad habit of stepping into the spotlight by accident. If Jin-Woo happened to get seen by the reporters after his registration was made public, he would end up getting a bunch of pictures taken of him.

"Oh geez," she sighed before finishing off her drink and turning to leave. "I need to go make a phone call." She rushed out of the room, as the B-Team made a few jokes about her making personal calls at work. She rushed towards her office and as soon as she was alone, she opened up the system window and sent a message to Jin-Woo.

Hae-In: Don't head out the front of the building after your evaluation. There'll be a bunch of reporters there ready to take your picture. Try and sneak out the back or something.

Jin-Woo: Really? Great. What the heck are reporters doing in front of the association?

Hae-In: Apparently, some big shot is going to get his evaluation after you and he's having a press conference. Unless he turns out to be an S-Rank as well, your new ranking is going to outshine him. Best to lay low once you've got everything finished up. Need me to pick you up?

Jin-Woo: I'll be fine. Though if you wanna meet up at the artefact store, I wouldn't say no to some help picking out the gear I need for the Demon's Castle.

Hae-In smiled and agreed to meet him there later. She was technically free that day, so she wasn't restricted to being in the office all day. "Sure," she replied as the message added that in. "But you're buying me dinner afterwards."

Jin-Woo: It's a date.

Hae-In's smile widened, only for her face to suddenly turn red. "Date? Oh god! I'm going on a date with him!" She knew she shouldn't be so nervous about it. They had been out together before. Except now, they were a couple and this was definitely a date. She was going to be going on her first official date. "Okay, relax. It's fine. Just don't freak out and everything will be fine."

She took several deep breaths and let out a sigh before moving over to her desk. Since she was there, she would work on some paperwork that would be waiting for her the next time she was in the office. So she got to work, reading through several reports and writing her thoughts on the situations. She was expecting on report from Kihoon to be an interesting read, as she skimmed through several more looking for anything that might be of importance.

She would continue this for a little while until she was satisfied with everything she needed to focus on. After that, she would head out in order to meet up with Jin-Woo whilst avoiding her guildmates as best she could. The last thing she needed, was them teasing her about going out with her boyfriend.

Jin-Woo stood in front of the counter, as the worker put the finishing touches on his new ID.

It had been just as Hae-In mentioned and when he arrived at the Association, the place had been crawling with reporters. Jin-Woo had thought about finding a back door to go through, but had a feeling such a thing wouldn't have been considered smart. And so, Jin-Woo had had to go through the main entrance but had found himself blocked by someone he wasn't sure either worked for the Association, or the guard getting his assessment.

Luckily, Chairmen Go had been there to help him and he could begin his re-assessment. Jong-In Choi and Yoonho Baek had been there as well, wanting to see his abilities with their own eyes. And based on the shocked expressions they wore, they were more than amazed by the sight they had seen.

"Thank you for your patience," the Association Worker announced. "Your re-assessment is now complete." The man placed something on the counter. "And here is your updated hunter ID." Jin-Woo smiled, taking the card and reading it.

It felt weird, seeing him being classed as a mage when he was a close-quarters combat type. But considering he could summon and control a bunch of monsters, it made sense that they would make him that. 'Now I can sell the Sphere of Avarice with no problems. Then I can afford the gear I need to clear the demon's castle.'

"It's official," Jin-Woo looked up and saw Chairmen Go smiling at him. "I like to congratulate you on becoming an S-Rank hunter. I'm looking forward to seeing what you decide to do with that strength."

"I've already decided, sir." Jin-Woo may as well let him know now. "I'm going to start my own guild. The Ahjin Guild. I hope that's alright with you."

"Of course," Chairmen Go announced. "I had been expecting that much. Though I was also expecting you to maybe be recruited by the Yoojin Construction Company. They've been looking into getting into the Raiding business and you seem to have a close relation with the chairmen's son."

"Jinho did offer the job to me, but I turned him down. I'm actually hoping he'll be willing to join my guild." Jin-Woo remembered meeting up with Jinho the previous evening and how he had been offered the job. Jin-Woo had declined, but Jinho had apparently expected as much.

"Well, I'm happy to help in any way you need. As an S-Rank, you'll be exempt from taking the guildmaster's test. So once you've figured out all the details, let me know and I'll iron them out for you. But you remember that you need three members in order to start a guild. If Hunter Yoo will be joining you, that makes two? Who will you have as your third?"

"Haven't figured that much out yet," Jin-Woo replied. "But I'll let you know once we find someone. Anyway, I need to be off." Go nodded and Jin-Woo headed towards the exit, letting what the chairmen had told him swirl around in his head.

He needed a third member, but who could that be? It wasn't like he needed any actual help to go into a Gate. Yoo could go in and do the mining and his shadows could easily carry the monsters out of the Gate. So who else would he have?

"It's an honour to welcome the newest S-Rank," Jong-In told him. "Perhaps you would allow me to thank you for your assistance. Our guild is in your debt."

"And ours too," Baek agreed as Jin-Woo approached the pair. "If you have some time to chat, I would love to discuss something important with you." Jin-Woo put his badge away and simply strode past them, not in the mood to have a conversation he already knew the conclusion too.

"Sorry, guys. But I, er...got some errands to run." He headed for the door, feeling like there was something he had forgotten.

"Wait," Jong-In told him, "not there." Jin-Woo wondered what he meant, until the door slid open and he remembered what Hae-In had told him.

"Oh crap!" He cried, but it was too late. The doors had opened and a bunch of flashes were already occurring, as his pictures were being taken faster than he could blink.

Hae-In had left the guild and was making his way down the street, keeping a low profile as she headed for the weapon shop.

She had chosen to walk, not wanting to get there too quickly since it would likely still be a while before Jin-Woo showed up. But as she made her way down a street, she heard a voice from above her and that caught her attention. "Hunter Sung has been officially recognised as S-Rank."

Hae-In looked up and saw a large TV on the side of a building, which showed Jin-Woo's bewildered face staring at the camera as he stood in a rather awkward pose.

Her eye twitched, as she realised Jin-Woo had clearly ignored or forgotten about her warning to him. "Great," she sighed before continuing down the street. "This is gonna make things even more difficult." She had hoped his S-Rank status wouldn't become widely known until the evening news, but now everyone would know. Which meant them being seen together would cause a lot of gossip. "Whatever. It's not like we were planning on hiding it forever. So long as he keep a low profile, nobody will notice us for a little bit."

She looked around and as the news kept showing footage of Jin-Woo, she pulled her cap down before continuing her walk through the town.

She eventually arrived at the weapon store and when she arrived, she opened up the system and zoomed the map out to see where Jin-Woo was. She spotted his dot a few blocks over and kept to the shadows, waiting until he stepped onto the street.

He was carrying a dufflebag he would be putting his new gear in, which also had the Sphere of Avarice that he would be selling.

Hae-In felt bad for Beste, since losing that orb would be a serious downgrade to her magic. She was already strong, but the orb had been the only reason she had been able to stand up to Tusk's power. Now she was going to have to make do without it.

"Hey," he smiled when he spotted her, "sorry. I guess you saw the news coverage." She nodded, "I got distracted and forgot your warning."

"It's not me you need to worry about. It's the fans of that guy you upstaged. They're probably already flaming you online because of it."

"Whatever," Jin-Woo shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me what people think. The really important people won't care what I did." They stepped towards the weapon shop. "Chairmen Go has already given me his support in starting my own guild."

"That's good," Hae-In nodded as they made their way inside. "Is that Jinho guy going to join as well."

"I offered him the job. Don't know if he'll accept. And even if he does, I'll need to find someone else to fill the third slot." Hae-In nodded, as she thought about who that third could be.

As she thought about it, she suddenly found herself remembering something. The dream from last night. The two figures that had been with them. She barely remembered most of it, but she remembered that part.

"Ah, Hunter Sung." She looked ahead and saw the auction head making his way towards them, "we've been expecting you. And...Hunter Cha?" He was shocked to see her approaching and it made sense, since she rarely came to the auction house. The last time had been when her old sword had finally broken and she had had to replace it. "Well this is certainly a surprise. I didn't realise you were both acquainted."

"I'm just helping him out," Hae-In replied. "Jin-Woo might have been a hunter longer than me, but he hasn't spent as much time around high quality artefacts. I know your store only sells the best, but I want to be sure he doesn't get something that isn't up to the standards he needs."

"Of course," the auction manager nodded. "I understand wanting to be cautious. And don't worry. I'm sure you'll find exactly what you need here. We have everything you might possibly need. You're in the need for flame resistant type artefacts, yes?" Jin-Woo nodded. "May I inquire about the specifics."

"I, er, need protection in a dungeon that gets pretty hot."

"Oh, I don't blame you." The man led them over to a case. "Well, if that's the case, these might be just what you're looking for. A cape that you can wear on top of your clothes. And a ring that's easy to equip." The two took a closer look and were both impressed by it. The artefacts looked good and as Hae-In turned to Jin-Woo, she nodded that she thought they would work.

"Nice," Jin-Woo smiled. "Just what I need." The man then took out a calculator and started tapping away at it, calculating their combined cost before showing it to Jin-Woo.

"And they should be well within your budget at these prices." When Jin-Woo saw the price, his eyes widened in horror. He looked like someone had just gut punched him, a nervous look appearing as he turned to the manager.

"Could I...maybe, get a discount?" Hae-In giggled, as she saw the amount he would need to pay. And though it was steep, it was still cheaper than the amount she had had to pay for her sword.

The manager also laughed and put the calculator away. "My apologies, but the listed prices are the only ones our establishment offers. That said, you wouldn't have to pay us any money whatsoever, if you're able to shatter this glass." They both looked surprised by this, "everything in the case would be yours."

"Huh?" Jin-Woo asked, as the man was about to start explaining. But Hae-In spoke up first.

"He's joking, Jin-Woo. He doesn't expect you to be able to do it." Jin-Woo nodded, as Hae-In smiled at the manager. "Please don't joke around like that. Jin-Woo would have likely tried to do it and I can assure you, even your magically enhanced glass wouldn't be able to stand up to his strength. I've seen what he can do."

"Yes, yes." The man nodded, looking a little sheepish. "My apologises. Now I see it was in poor taste."

"It's fine," Jin-Woo also looked sheepish since he probably would have tried to break it. "I'm shopping for some other stuff, too. Like...new daggers."

"Excellent, sir." They turned to see another store worker behind them, the man bowing to them as he spoke. "If it's weaponry that you're after, allow me to assist." Jin-Woo nodded and followed him, as the store manage sighed in relief.

He then turned to Hae-In, who just stood there for a moment unsure what to do. "Hunter Cha. If there's anything here that you might be interested in, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"I will," Hae-In nodded before she started looking around. She knew she didn't need anything, since she could simply buy it in the store. But it was still worth looking around.

As she searched the man cases, nothing in any of them struck her fancy. She was more than happy with the equipment she had, though she did feel like her normal battle gear was beginning to show its age. She had worn the same thing for every raid since becoming a hunter and after two years, even high quality gear like that would begin to wear out.

She thought about the Jeju Island situation and how she would likely be joining whatever plan they came up with, for deal with the crazed next of ants. She was gonna need to be at her best if she wanted to fight there.

"Maybe I should look into some new clothing for it." She thought about the gear she currently had. Her helmet and necklace having been very useful with her mana smell and mana usage. And her Air-Walk Boots had more than made up for the BP she had lost. She only wished she didn't need to hide her abilities with them, since running through the air would have been useful during several previous raids.

"Wait," she whispered as she looked down at her feet. She was currently wearing the boots, but didn't feel or see them due to that little quirk. But a thought now occurred to her. "Can I make them visible?" She asked herself, looking around to see if anyone was staring. Once she was sure nobody was, she opened up her system screen and went to her equipment.

Focusing on the boots, she highlighted them before taking a closer look. And under the un-equip button, she found a settings option. One that she opened and found she could change many things about them.

Most appeared to be aesthetic changes, which she didn't understand since the system never seemed to care about style. But at the very bottom, she saw something high-lighted. Cloak.

She blinked for a moment and after double-checking the place, she turned off the cloak function. The next thing she knew, her feet glowed and she looked down to see her shoes vanish before being replaced with the winged boots she had purchased what felt like a lifetime ago.

She could hardly believe it, as she jumped up and found herself standing on an invisible surface inches off the ground.

She smiled and quickly reactivated the cloak, her boots being replaced by her shoes as she fell back to the ground. "Great. I can just say I found them here and bought them. Perfect." She closed the window and spotted Jin-Woo, being led to an area she remembered was the bathroom.

Hae-In: Did you sell the orb?

Jin-Woo: Don't need to. I just realised my system weapons go for way more than I paid for. If I can sell them, I won't need to sell the orb.

Hae-In: Really? How much are we talking?

Jin-Woo: I bought my Knight Slayer for three million gold. But the guy I showed it to said it's worth a hundred million.

If Hae-In had been drinking something, she would have likely spit it out reading that. Hearing the amount go up by so much was insane. Although, it was possible three million gold was the same as a hundred million won. She felt like she was going to get a headache, trying to figure out what one gold actually cost.

Hae-In: That's insane. You really think you can sell a bunch of system weapons to buy the stuff you need?

Jin-Woo: There are some weapons that can be transferred to other people. I'll just buy a bunch of them, see how much they go for and sell them until I have enough for everything. Too bad the weapons in this store aren't much better than my weakest weapons.

Hae-In frowned, wondering just how strong Jin-Woo's gear really was. She knew the system shop had some seriously powerful gear, but if even the cheapest and weakest weapons were worth more than what she had had to pay for her gear then it made her wonder who the heck made it all.

It also made her once again wonder who the heck even created the system. Who could be able to not only create a system that allowed a hunter to level up and grow stronger, but also forge weapons and gear that no human crafter could even hope to mirror.

She couldn't help but feel like sometimes, the system was leading them down a road they might not like the final destination of. But at the same time, she couldn't exactly refuse to use it. The system had been too useful and Jin-Woo certainly wasn't going to give it up, not when he was so close to saving his mother. And as long as he used the system, so would she. But if she ever had a chance to figure out who the mysterious architect of the system was, she was going to get some answers out of them. Even if she had to beat them out of the guy.

Well, now Jin-Woo's an official S-Rank. Not much seems to have changed with that, but will some situations alter a little down the road? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Hope you guys enjoys this chapter. 

Hae-In and Jin-Woo smiled as they sat opposite one another in the establishment that they had chosen to have lunch at.

The pair had gone someplace Hae-In had often visited on many occasions, as the owner was a guy who knew to keep who he served on the down-low. Whilst he knew Hae-In going there would be a serious boost to his business people knew about it, he also knew telling people would make her stop coming. And he preferred to keep one of his best regulars around.

The pair ate their lunch together and spoke about what they had planned, as Jin-Woo intended to head back to the Demon's Castle now that he had the gear he needed and a more powerful shadow army. Meanwhile, Hae-In would be continuing her raids with the hunters Guild.

"You told Jong-In about your shadow abilities?" Shadow asked, shocked that Hae-In would do such a thing.

"I had to. I couldn't keep my new abilities a secret any more. Especially after what happened. I told Jong-In that we both got these powers through a Rune Stone and that's not a total lie. So if someone asks, just say that's how you have your shadow abilities."

Jin-Woo sighed, "Alright. I guess I don't have a right to say whether or not you can hide your abilities. Just be careful, alright. We don't want too many people getting suspicious of where the powers come from."

Hae-In giggled, as she swallowed and wiped her mouth. "You're warning me to be careful. So far, I've done a better job at hiding my abilities than you have. Though I guess that's mostly due to you constantly getting into trouble wherever you go. At least since you're going to be gone for a few days, I won't have to worry about anything insane happening."

"True," Jin-Woo nodded. "Although you haven't been a full on player for very long. You might find yourself getting into just as much trouble as me. And I won't be there to blame this time." Hae-In giggled at this, as Jin-Woo took a sip of his drink. "By the way, can I ask a favour?"

Hae-In smirked, "sure. Though asking for a favour also counts as a favour, so you'll owe me double." Jin-Woo shook his head, as she giggled again.

"Sometime this week, can you go to my place and check up on Jin-Ah? With everything that's happened, I wanna be sure she's okay. And I wanna make sure she's not going to trash the apartment before I bring mom home."

"She better not trash the place after I spent so long cleaning it." Jin-Woo chuckled this time, as Hae-In smiled. "Sure, I don't mind looking in on her. I'm sure she'll be fine, though she might find a bunch of reporters constantly crowding outside the apartment."

"Seriously?" Jin-Woo asked, groaning as he imaged a mob of the press trying to get into his home.

"Why'd you think I moved into an apartment with a security guard. When I first awakened, I was living in a small studio apartment. But the place was overrun with reporters the same day my S-Rank status was announced. I couldn't go back there without getting swamped. I had to ask the association to go there and gather my things after I moved into my new place."

Jin-Woo groaned again, slamming his head onto the table. "Maybe getting re-evaluated was a mistake. In the end, I didn't need the updated ID to sell the gear I pawned off. I could have stayed an E-Rank and kept a low profile."

"You realise there's no way you would have been able to keep the secret forever," Hae-In told him. "You were going to get found out eventually. Especially after what happened in the last dungeon." Jin-Woo nodded, but still felt annoyed. "Don't worry. Just tell Jin-Ah to call me if anything happens. If the reporters get too pushy, I'll have the association do something about them."

Jin-Woo smiled and nodded, glad he had Hae-In by his side in all this. "So, any idea what might happen whilst I'm in the castle?"

"Not really. It's possible we might get more developments on the Jeju Island situation. I can't imagine the ant we found has so many secrets that it takes them forever to finish examining it. I bet we'll have more info on them soon enough. And once they're sure of everything, they're gonna begin to design a plan of attack for the island."

"And you'll be going?" Jin-Woo asked, giving her a worried look.

Hae-In smiled and reached out, grabbing his hand. "I'll be fine. I'm not weak, you know."

"I know. But other S-Rank hunters have died trying to stop that thing. I can't help but worry about what might happen if you go. If those ants are evolving, there's no telling how strong they might get. I know you're strong, but we're not unbeatable. All it'll take is one lucky hit for one of those ants to kill you."

"It's the same for you going to the Demon's Castle. We don't know anything about what's on the upper floors of the castle. You're going up there alone and you might face monsters more powerful than what's on Jeju island. We can't worry about something we have no control over. All we can do is stay focused and be ready for whatever surprises await us."

Jin-Woo nodded, but he still didn't like the idea of Hae-In going there.

The pair chose to change the subject and spoke about whatever else came to mind outside of their hunters duties. They spoke about who might end up being the third member of the Ahjin guild, with Hae-In asking if any of his assault squad members might have been interested in joining.

Jin-Woo wasn't sure if any of the guys wanted to join, since it could put them in the limelight. But he agreed they were probably the best bet for getting the guild off the ground. "You do remember that the guild will still be subject to the same rules as normal assault squads. You're gonna need more than three people in order to enter a gate. So what exactly is the plan for that?"

"Huh," Jin-Woo frowned, "I hadn't considered that..." He tapped his fork on the table, trying to come up with a plan. "How hard do you think it would be to get them to consider summons as members of an assault squad."

"Downright impossible," Hae-In stated. "Even if the Chairman was down for it, there's no way he could convince all the other members of the regulation committee to agree to it." Jin-Woo moaned as Hae-In shook her head. "I think you'll just have to face it. You're gonna need to get more people in your guild. Unless you're happy partnering up with another guild."

Jin-Woo was not big on that idea, which meant he was gonna need to come up with another plan. But he really wasn't interested in having more than three people in his guild. There had to be some way around that rule.

The pair eventually finished eating and thanked the restaurant owner before heading out, Hae-In keeping her hat down whilst Jin-Woo pulled his hood up. They made their way through the street and kept talking, only for Hae-In to spot a nearby TV screen and chuckling. "Seriously? Could you have taken an even less dignified picture?" Jin-Woo followed her gaze and saw himself on the TV screen.

The image of his shocked expression was plastered all over the screen, making Jin-Woo moan in embarrassment. Hae-In patted his shoulder before placing her hand in his and pulling him away.

They kept heading down the road, towards Jin-Woo car so he could give her a lift back to her guild HQ and get her car. They had hoped to stay unnoticed until they got there. However, one woman happened to notice them and shook her husband's arm to gesture to the pair.

That led to him gasping, which caught another guy's attention. And soon, a cascade of people began to notice the pair together and took out their phones. "Crap," Jin-Woo groaned before looking up at a building. "Quick, up here." He ran forward and leapt into the air, landing on a street-light before leaping up and landing atop the building.

Hae-In followed suit and the pair were soon on the rooftop, but hadn't been able to escape several pictures of the two together from being taken. "Great," Hae-In sighed as they ran along the rooftop. "Those pictures are gonna be on every piece of social media before nightfall."

"Yeah," Jin-Woo groaned, "we probably should have seen that coming." He kept running and eventually stopped, two buildings away from where Jin-Woo was parked. There, they sat down and considered what they should do.

Neither of them had much experience when it came to this kind of thing. Jin-Woo had even less because at least Hae-In was used to being famous. "Well, there's no point hiding anything. We either try to stay hidden, or just let the media have their fun and keep going on with our lives. It's not like us being together is going to be major news. Right?" Jin-Woo gave her a look that told her she needed to stop kidding herself. "You're right."

Jin-Woo groaned. "It's bad enough that we're just dating if you were the only famous person in the relationship. But now that I'm an official S-Rank, us being together is going to be major news. Especially with it being discovered the same day I got announced."

Hae-In nodded before getting up. "Let's just head home. You're going to need to be there when Jin-Ah gets home or she could end up swamped by the press." Jin-Woo nodded and the pair jumped down, making a beeline for his car and getting in before anyone noticed them.

Once they were in, Hae-In tuned the radio to a new station and waited to see if there was anything on the pictures. She didn't dare look online, fearing what she would find as Jin-Woo drove towards the Hunters HQ. "This just in," the radio DJ announced a few minutes later. "Images are spreading online of the new S-Rank hunter, Jin-Woo Sung, appearing to be on a date with his fellow S-Rank, Hae-In Cha."

"Here we go," Jin-Woo sighed.

"The images are blurry, but many individuals have confirmed seeing the two hunters together. One even claims to have seen the pair holding hands. It appears our country not only has a new S-Rank hunter, but also has a new power couple. Things are certain to get interesting, as we attempt to confirm the pair's relationship status."

After that, it went on to talk about how Jin-Woo would likely be joining the Hunter's Guild and suggestions that Hae-In might be trying to seduce him on Jong-In's orders. That didn't sit well with the pair, so Hae-In changed the channel to a classical music channel. But that eventually led to the same discussion by a completely new group. "Oh come on." Hae-In turned the radio off and Jin-Woo actually chuckled. "It's not funny. They're making me out to be a scarlet woman."

"That would imply you've tried seducing other guys to join your guild." Hae-In pouted and Jin-Woo decided to shut up, as they arrived right outside of the guild HQ. "Sure you don't want to come to my place."

"And become the centre of your little media circus?" She asked, getting out of the car. "No thanks. I've already been through this. Now, it's your turn. But I'll see you later, in the Shadow Chamber."

"I'll be there," Jin-Woo nodded. "I need to test something out."

"Test what out?"

"You'll see." Jin-Woo let her step away from the car before he drove off, leaving her to head to the guild's parking area and collect her own car. She also looked around and was relieved to see the place was free of people. Nobody had spotted her getting out of Jin-Woo's car.

She quickly made her way towards the car park, getting into her own car and deciding to skip the radio.

When Jin-Woo arrived at the apartment, he frowned when he saw the group of supporters had already arrived.

He had hoped that they wouldn't have figured out where he lived, since most hunters didn't have their addresses made public. Even S-Ranks didn't have that info available to just anyone, but he could only guess that they all had informants inside the association that were willing to let that info loose for a price.

Jin-Woo let out a sigh, as he saw the people were gathered at every entrance to the complex. He would need to figure out how to get past them without letting anyone see him.

He quickly looked around and spotted the apartment building right next to his own. Said buildings only half a twenty meter gap between them. A simple leap for someone with his strength. So, making sure he wasn't spotted, he headed over to that building and was glad to see nobody there.

He quickly made his way up onto the roof and leapt over, clearing the gap with plenty of feet to spare. He then headed back down and arrived back at his apartment, as he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. He flipped through a few channels and eventually found a news outlet, showing blurry images of himself and Hae-In together. It was tricky to tell, but was just clear enough to confirm that it was the two of them.

He let out a high and turned off the TV, as he thought about doing his daily quest run. But he really didn't want to go outside to do it and wasn't in the mood to head into the shadow chamber yet. So, instead, he simply sat there and took out his phone.

He had had it on silent before and when it turned it on, he found that his messages had blown up with calls from his sister and Jinho.

He opened Jin-Ah's messages first, having told her he was going in to be properly re-evaluated. However, he had not told her he was gonna end up on TV. That had been a surprise for her and her school friends, who all started crowding around her asking how her brother became S-Rank.

Jin-Woo sighed, scrolling through the multiple messages scolding him for the goofy expression he had had. Once he was finished with the last one, he read Jinho's messages and found they were congratulations about his S-Rank and also warning about not going online. Apparently, Hae-In had been right about what would happen if he upstaged the guy whose press conference he had accidentally turned into his S-Rank coming out party.

He was already getting flamed by multiple fans of the guy, many of them saying he deliberately did it knowing there would be a press conference. Jin-Woo sighed decided to finally see what people were saying about him, though he didn't really care what it was.

He googled his name and already, there were over a thousand different results that he could look through. He scrolled down and found a few that didn't seem to paint him in the best light, clicking on it and finding himself staring at the many complaints about him.

There were already several people who were arguing back, claiming he was cute and clearly had strength. Jin-Woo was a little flustered by this and kept scrolling, seeing the many comments about him. And then he noticed his girlfriend's name.

I can't believe he's dating Hunter Cha. So not fair. Why do all the hot guys get taken off the market?

I bet she's dating him to get him to join her guild. Once he's signed up, she'll probably dump him.

They do look cute together. I wonder how they got together?

Jin-Woo kept scrolling and saw many threads discussing the couple, the Shadow Monarch eventually getting bored of it and clicking off whilst putting his phone away.

He then took out the Orb of Avarice, staring at it and taking it in as he considered how close he had come to losing its power. Now that it was all his for keeps, he wondered what effects it would have on those that used it. Since Jin-Woo was now considered a Mage Type hunter, he wondered how well his magic would do if he used it.

"If I have trouble extracting a shadow, would this make it more easy?" He hummed for a moment, as he wondered about what kind of monster he would have issue extracting the shadow of. Since Tusk had been the boss of an almost S-Rank dungeon, he was obviously ultra powerful. And Jin-Woo had been able to extract his shadow without any issue. "Maybe I'm strong enough to extract any shadow now."

A little while later, Jin-Ah finally returned home to find Jin-Woo making them something to eat in the kitchen. "There you are," she cried as she rushed forward. "Did you see how many reporters were out there. It took forever for me to get past them because they were asking me a ton of questions."

"Did they know you were my sister?"

"No. But they still wanted to know if we knew each other. It was a nightmare. And what about you," she poked him in the chest. "You could have told me you were gonna be on TV like that."

"For the record, I had no idea that was gonna happen. I didn't think those reporters would learn I was S-Rank before I even left the building."

"Seriously?" Jin-Ah sighed. "I knew you being S-Rank was gonna throw everything into chaos around here, but I didn't think it would happen this fast." She moved over to the window and pulled it open, allowing her to stare down at the large group of reporters trying to get a shot of Jin-Woo. "They are going to make getting to school impossible."

"Don't worry about it," Jin-Woo assured her. "If they do anything out of line, I'll contact the association. That should get rid of them." Jin-Ah hoped he was right, as she closed the curtain and turned back to him.

"And what the heck's going on with that photo of you and Hae-In. I didn't think you guys would let your relationship become public so quickly."

Jin-Woo shrugged. "We weren't planning on it, but we also didn't want to hide it. It's not like it's anything to be ashamed of. Someone just happened to recognise us at the wrong time."

Jin-Ah sighed, feeling sorry for Hae-In as Jin-Woo started putting the finishing touches to their meal. It was nothing fancy, but they would at least enjoy it. "You know, my friends were asking me if you two have been dating as long as that picture of us was a thing. When everyone saw the new photo of you, they had like a bazillion questions."

Jin-Woo smiled. "So what did you tell them?"

"That you guys were friends who only recently decided to take things to the next level. They didn't seem to believe me, though." Jin-Woo shrugged, as he put the food down and they started eating.

Jin-Woo thought about what Jin-Ah had said earlier, about the reporters outside making things difficult for her and others in the apartment. The last thing she wanted, was to have his neighbour be bombarded with issues because of him. Their part of the city was already riddled with crime and other problems. He didn't need to be responsible for more of them. He needed to do something and thankfully, he had a new trick that would help with it.

The pair ate and discussed things, Jin-Woo deciding to hold off on telling Hae-In his intentions to leave for the Demon's Castle until he had a plan sorted out.

Once they had finished, Jin-Woo cleaned up whilst sending a message to Hae-In. Once she confirmed she was free and he finished cleaning, he headed into his room and summoned the door to the Shadow Chamber.

As soon as Jin-Woo was in the room, he heard a door open and looked over to see Hae-In step inside. "Hey," she smiled, "so what were you wanting to check out?" Jin-Woo summoned his two shadow mages. Tusk and Beste appeared on either side of him, Jin-Woo taking a few steps back as the pair stared one another down. "Jin-Woo? What are you doing?"

"Figuring out who the strongest mage is," he stated as he took out the Orb of Avarice. "Alright, you two. Winner gets the orb. Sorry for the loser but I promise, if I get another magic booster then I'll let you have it."

"Seriously?" Hae-In asked, as the two mages summoned their magical power. Beste leapt into the air and began forming icicles around her, whilst Tusk began to create multiple magic circles around him. "Are you really going to have them compete for the orb? You realise Beste's at a huge disadvantage. She's strong, but her rank is lower. She'll be crushed."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jin-Woo told her before the fight started. They watched, as Beste launched her icicles towards Tusk in an attempt to impale him. But Tusk used his shield spell to block all the icicles before summoning the now dark shadowy dragon head.

It unleashed a burst of fire, whilst Beste tried to block using her one shield of ice. And whilst it did stop the flames, it also began to melt as Beste flew up above the battlefield. She frowned and sent her ice wolf down towards him, the beast growing larger and even letting out a howl as it tried to bite him.

Tusk didn't look the least bit worried and raised his hand, causing the beast to stop midair before shooting upwards. It slammed into the ceiling and the hunters missed, as they saw parts of the creature break off. Tusk then thrust his hand downwards, causing the wolf to shoot down at high speed and smash into the ground hard enough to shatter into dust.

But this allowed Beste to fly in close and unleash a barrage of icicle spears. Tusk didn't have enough time to dodge or put up his barrier, allowing the spears to hit him and cause the orc to roar as he staggered back.

"Beste got the first hit?" Hae-In asked, as the sorceress landed and created a blast of ice from her feet towards Tusk.

Jin-Woo nodded. "Tusk has more versatile magic, but Beste can fly and move a lot faster than him. It doesn't matter how powerful your magic is, if you can't hit the target." The ice struck Tusk and began to freeze parts of his body to the ground. He groaned, as he tried to pull himself free. But Beste simply kept forming more ice to increase the amount trapping him.

Tusk growled. But instead of continuing to struggle, he created another magic circle that the dragon head appeared out of.

It roared and unleashed another blast of fire, which flew above Tusk towards Beste. She gasped and leapt into the air, dodging the flames whilst melted the ice around Tusk and allowed him to get up. As he did, the veins grew out of the magic circle and filled the room, creating a dome of them that more magic circles appeared out of.

Fireballs exploded out of them and shot towards Beste, who gasped and started flying around madly trying to dodge. She created several ice barriers, which blocked the flames but also melted with every attack. And soon, one of the fireballs hit her before she could repair her shield and she was blown backwards.

She screamed and fell to the ground, where a magic circle appeared and increased the gravity tenfold.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In watched, unsure if Beste would be able to get out of this one. She tried to push herself up, but her arms gave out before she was successful. She gasped, as her body smashed into the ground again. "Come on," Hae-In told her. "You can do it."

Beste didn't hear her, but she refused to give up. And soon, she slammed her hand onto the ground in order to unleash bursts of ice.

The ice in the circle shattered, but it kept growing to form long vines of vine that were covered in thorns. They headed straight towards Tusk and threatened to stab him, forcing him to undo the gravity spell and create a circle of fire around him. This allowed Beste to get up and fly into the air. where she created a large icicle.

However, before she could fire it, light pulsed within the fire circle before it disappeared to reveal a giant version of Tusk.

He glared at her and reached out to swat her away, Beste flying out of his grasp before shooting the icicle towards him. But he dodged it, as the magic circle summoned the dragon head and it unleashed a blast of fire.

Beste then thrust her hands forward and fired a blast of ice, which struck the fire stream and began to push against it. The two groaned, trying to keep their attacks going as long as they could. They forced the other one back more and more, the room becoming filled with steam from the mix of hot and cold.

Jin-Woo and Hae-In watched the pair at a deadlock, neither side appearing to have the advantage over the other. However, one of them had a significantly greater mana pool than the other and her reserves were beginning to run low. As such, the ice blast began to weaken and the flames pushed closer and closer to the witch.

Hae-In gasped and wanted to tell Jin-Woo to stop this, but she saw Beste was still giving it her all. She clearly didn't want to be upstaged by Jin-Woo's new mage, as she kept pushing as hard as she could. Even when the flames were right in front of her.

She staggered back, the flames beginning to lick her arms and face. She flinched and moaned, but refused to give up. And with one final roar of effort, she unleashed an extra powerful blast of ice. One that managed to blow the flames away.

The two magics cancelled one another out, the icy shockwave pushing the giant Tusk back. Beste smiled, but felt her magic was at its limit. And as Tusk regained his balance, a new magic circle appeared below her feet. The next thing she knew, the ground exploded and she was consumed by a pillar of flames. She let out a scream and after a few moments, she completely disappeared.

Jin-Woo sighed, sensing Beste's defeat. He snapped his fingers and Tusk cancelled his spell, the fire pillar dispersing as Beste was nowhere to be seen. "That's it. Tusk is the winner." Tusk smirked, as his body was consumed by shadows that shrank down and returned him to his true size.

Beste soon reformed, frowning as she realised she had lost. And as Tusk moved over, Jin-Woo held out the Orb of Avarice for him to take.

Hae-In stepped over and knelt beside the shadow, patting her on the shoulder. "It's okay. You still did amazingly." Beste smiled at the praise, as she got up and saw Jin-Woo turn to her.

"Sorry, Beste. I promise, if I get another magic boosting item, you can have it for keeps." Beste nodded, then turned to Tusk. The two mages stared one another down, then nodded as a new level of understanding came between them. Tusk then returned to the shadow, but Jin-Woo kept Beste out for a moment.

"Something wrong?" Hae-In asked, as Jin-Woo summoned his ice elves.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hold onto Beste and the elves for a little bit," Jin-Woo asked. Hae-In was surprised by this, whilst the shadows looked shocked as well. "I'll be gone for a week the day after tomorrow. At least I hope it's a week. With all the insane things happening recently, I figured you could use all the help you can get in the Dungeons."

"So you want me to take some of your shadows?" Hae-In asked, Jin-Woo nodded.

"You seem to work well with these guys, so it shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully, you won't need them. But it's better to have them and not need them, then need them and not have them." Hae-In hummed, considering it. "If you don't want them, I won't force you to-"

"No, no. It's fine. I'm happy to have them, if they're happy to have me." They turned to the shadows and saw them bow to Hae-In, who smiled as she accepted them into her service. "Welcome to the team." The Shadows melted and flew into her shadow, filling up her Shadow Storage but not enough to make her worried. "But are you sure about this. What if you need Beste?"

"I'll figure it out," Jin-Woo assured her. "I'm actually planning on leaving a few more shadows behind when I leave for the Dungeon."

"What?" Hae-In frowned, "what do you mean, you're leaving some shadows behind?"

"It's a little something I got after beating Tusk. My soldiers no longer need to return to my shadow. They can stay out for a super extended period of time and then melt into other shadows when they need to regenerate. That includes people's shadows. I'm planning on adding one to Jin-Ah."

"You're going to put a shadow soldier in your sister's shadow?" Hae-In wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"It's for protective purposes. What if a Dungeon Break happens near her school, or whilst she's on her way home. I'm not risking it."

"Fair enough," Hae-In nodded. "But you're not planning on putting shadows on anyone else, are you?" Jin-Woo didn't look her in the eye for that question. "Jin-Woo..."

"Hey, why don't we go for a run. I still need to finish my daily quest." The room instantly reshaped into the running track and Jin-Woo started running around it, Hae-In following behind him and still trying to get some answers out of him.

He eventually promised not to stick a shadow to anyone who didn't absolutely need one, which Hae-In accepted.

When they finished their runs, they created a sofa to rest on and Hae-In found herself cuddling up next to Jin-Woo. He held her for a while, the pair taking as much time as they could since this would likely be their last free moment before their busy schedules took over for them.

This led to the pair kissing, which evolved into a make-out session that went a little further. When Jin-Woo left the chamber, Jin-Ah was very confused about why his hair suddenly looked like he had just had a fight with a polar bear.

Well that was interesting. Tusk and Beste's fight was fun to write and sorry, Beste fans, but Tusk takes this round. Now, time to prepare for the Demon's Castle. 

Chapter Text

Thanks for all your support and suggestions. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

As soon as Hae-In arrived at the guild that morning, a lot of people were staring at her.

She could only assume that it was due to the picture that had shown up yesterday, but she didn't care about that. Let them stare, since she knew they were all just jealous it wasn't them in her or Jin-Woo's shoes.

She made her way towards one of the training areas and when she arrived, she found Jong-In along with both the A and B squads. "Ahh," the fire mage smiled. "The woman of the hour. Thank you for coming in, Ms. Cha." Hae-In nodded and looked around, seeing the hunters all staring at her with the girls of the B-Team smiling. "Now, you're probably wondering why you were all called in like this. Especially the B-Team, who are meant to be resting after their little incident."

"We were a little curious about that," Kihoon nodded. "Is there something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Jong-In explained. "I've called you all here, due to a development with our Guild." Everyone seemed to have a theory about what that was, Hae-In sighing since she assumed they thought it was about Jin-Woo. "And no, Hunter Sung will not be joining our Guild." That made everyone frown, several glancing over at her and seeing her shrug. "The fact is, Ms. Cha has been hiding a little something from us and has decided to come clean about it."

"We kind of already know," a Tank from the A-Team called out.

"It's not that," Hae-In explained. "I have some new abilities that you all need to be made aware of." That surprised everyone, as Hae-In glanced over at Jong-In and he nodded. "Those in the B-Team are aware of Hunter Sung's abilities. He's a summoning mage, who uses shadow monsters that he can command to fight alongside him."

"Right," Kihoon nodded. "We remember that. The amount he can summon is insane."

"Yes," Hae-In nodded. "Well, those abilities weren't ones he acquired upon his reawakening. And he's not the only one with those styles of power." Everyone looked confused, but the B-Team seemed to understand what Hae-In was saying.

"Wait," Gina stated, "you're saying you have the same abilities as Hunter Sung."

"In a way," Hae-In replied before her shadow suddenly grew larger and she summoned her Horn Calibur. Everyone stared in shock, as they watched her summon the weapon and give it a few practise swings.

"No way," Kihoon gasped. "Is that a weapon made of a monster?"

"That's right," Hae-In nodded. "Whenever I come across a dead monster, I can create a weapon from them." She dispelled the sword and summoned her shield and axe. "Their abilities and effects are all based on the monsters I made them out of. How I fight changes based on what I'm fighting and what I'm using to fight it. Based on the energy, I might end up fighting completely differently to how you've seen me fight in the past."

"That's amazing," Bora whispered. "Can you give those weapons to other people?" Hae-In blinked, as she took a moment to think about it. The others looked just as intrigued by this question, since being able to use her shadow weapons could be a game changer.

"I...I don't know. I've never tried." She summoned her Garuru Saber and asked Kihoon to come over to her. He did and she handed the weapon to him, Kihoon grabbing the blade and holding it up. But as soon as Hae-In released it, the blade disappeared and they all sighed. "I guess I can't. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Kihoon told her. "It was worth a shot, anyway." The others agreed, as Hae-In's shadow returned to normal.

Jong-In then spoke up, catching everyone's attention once again. "I want to make it clear that even though Ms. Cha has these new powers, that doesn't mean she's expected to do most of the fighting. Whilst her abilities will no doubt be an asset to the Guild, I don't want you to think it means you can get lax in your training. Whilst our ranks cannot change, our strength can still grow with refined technique and greater experience. So I want to see you all working hard, once the B-Team has finished their recovery period."

"We understand," Kihoon stated with the others agreeing.

With that done, the hunters all began to disperse. Those that would be working that day, all began training whilst Kihoon and his team left to go about their normal business. Though they all looked perfectly fine, Hae-In could tell they were still processing the insanity of what they had been through in the Dungeon. They had all expected to die and that wasn't something you could simply walk off and return to work from.

As the groups spread out, Hae-In sighed and turned to Jong-In. "Thank you, for setting this up. I didn't want to randomly pull out my shadow weapons in the middle of a fight and surprise them."

"No problem," Jong-In told her. "Now that they know what you can do, they should be able to naturally adapt to your powers and fight in sync with you." Hae-In nodded, as Jong-In adjusted his tie. "So, how is Mr. Sung settling in as the newest S-Rank. I can only assume a massive crowd of reporters have been hanging outside his home for a while.

"Yup," Hae-In nodded. "Apparently, he opted to climb up onto the roof of the building next door before jumping across in order to get inside." Jong-In laughed, "they should get bored eventually and leave him alone."

"I doubt that," Jong-In stated. "The simple fact is, Hunter Sung is the person everyone wants to know about. He was a complete unknown before and now, he suddenly appears as an S-Rank. Re-awakenings are rare, but this is the first one to ever push a person to the S-Rank status. They're not going to stop until one of them gets the full story. He'd be better off letting at least one reporter interview him. You have experience in these matters, so maybe you can help him pick someone to interview him."

"I'd rather not," Hae-In smirked. "Having to deal with the press is part and parcel of being an S-Rank. He needs to learn to handle them himself. Right of passage and all that." Jong-In nodded, as Hae-In stepped over to one of the training dummies that were in the Guild's training room.

Now that she was able to use her shadow weapons freely, she summoned her Ape Smasher and swung it around. The other members of the Guild saw this and were surprised, as she swung her weapon around and around. She smirked at this before leaping up and raising it above her head. And as she began to fall, she swung it down and smashed it right into the dummy.

The impact completely obliterated the poor thing, sending plastic and metal flying everywhere. Luckily, all the high ranking Hunters were able to dodge this and leapt to the side. Jong-In used a wall of fire to protect himself, as his eyes went wide.