Chapter Text
Every gate Jinwoo stepped into could be his last. He knew that each time he picked up the phone and accepted an Association raid.
He also had very little choice in the matter if he wanted to take care of his family. And no gear. Really, it was a miracle Jinwoo wasn’t dead a hundred times over. Three hundred times over, more like. He didn’t like to think about how many E and D ranked dungeons he’d entered over the last four years. It made him sick with nerves, and he needed his wits about him right now.
Right now, he was running like hell down a tunnel away from one of the worst kind of monsters one could encounter in a dungeon: a hunter that wanted him dead. Jung Gihun was a damage dealer who was, thankfully, not especially fast. This was useful since Jinwoo was also not especially fast. He wasn’t especially anything, except that right now he was running for his life and Jung was just running to end someone else’s, so he had that minor advantage over him.
He rounded one more corner and found the majority of their party having just wrapped up a battle. Jinwoo hurried over to them, skirting the leader and the other two C ranks to duck around and crowd in behind one of the mages, seeking safety in numbers.
Jung Gihun appeared at the end of the tunnel a second later, red in the face and furious looking.
“I think the boss is down that way,” Jinwoo said helpfully from behind his barrier of ten other hunters who (hopefully) didn’t actually want him dead. He wasn’t sure how things would go if he accused Jung inside the dungeon, and he frankly didn’t want to find out. He didn’t know enough hunters here well enough, and the only hope he had to work with was that he was pretty sure they didn’t know each other very well, either. “I just wanted to let Song Chiyul know so we could all go together.”
“Oh, you and Hunter Jung found the boss, Hunter Sung?” Song asked, smiling in his general direction. “Excellent job.”
“I don’t think we did,” Jung said, still glaring. “That’s what I was telling you, Hunter Sung. I was thinking we shoulda looked closer before jumping to conclusions. But if he’s gonna be a coward about it, I’ll take someone else with me to check.” He flicked his gaze carelessly through the group of hunters and said, “Hunter Sook, let’s go.”
Hunter Sook was a D rank and used a sword, but she was still much weaker than Jung. Jinwoo tried to catch her eye as she shrugged and started to walk toward him, but she ignored him, like most hunters did.
“A-actually, I’ll come with you both,” Jinwoo said. He couldn’t let Jung kill her instead. And he’d felt the bloodlust a minute ago. It’d been nearly overwhelming. There was no question of Jung’s plan. As he passed Song, he caught his sleeve and yanked, flicking a short, pleading glance at him. “Maybe we should just all go check it out.”
“We had a promising lead down this way,” said another hunter. Song Chiyul frowned at Jinwoo as he walked slowly back toward Jung, praying that their leader would take the hint.
“Well,” Song said after a moment, watching Jinwoo stop well out of reach of Jung to hover nervously. “Let’s split up. Jung, you take hunters Joo and Kwon as well.” A close combat and a tank. Both reasonably strong. It was the best Jinwoo could ask for without explaining himself. Hunter Song had always been reliable and perceptive. Jinwoo was grateful.
“Hunter Jung must have thought his odds were still pretty good, since he was the only C rank in our group,” Hunter Sook Yujin explained to the Association investigator who was taking her statement, a few hours later. “He attacked me first, and if Hunter Joo hadn’t stopped him, I’d be dead for sure. We all fought. He got one of my daggers away from me at one point. That’s what happened to Hunter Sung. I hope he’s okay.”
“It’s not life threatening,” the investigator said, gesturing dismissively with his notebook. “He’ll be treated at the hospital after we’re finished taking his statement. Please continue, Hunter Sook.”
“Right– uh, well. If he hadn’t pointed out to me on the walk that Hunter Jung was acting sketchy, I would’ve been completely off guard for attacks from that direction,” she said, shifting slightly to try to get a better look at Jinwoo, where he was nodding along to something Hunter Song was saying as he held bandages firmly against the slash of a wound on his side. “And actually, he threw a rock at Jung and hit him in the face with it while we were fighting with him. It gave me the opening I needed to stab him. Hunter Sung was really helpful, for being Korea’s weakest hunter.”
She paused and frowned to herself.
“I guess that’s not a very nice nickname. I should probably not call him that anymore, since he’s part of the reason I’m still alive, huh?”
“I couldn’t say,” the investigator said dryly. “Your statement?”
She straightened. “Right! So Joo and Kwon and I all fought Jung together and managed to take him down. Then I came out to call you guys and let you know what happened, and then I went back in to help deal with the boss…”
“Chief Woo, your 2 o’clock is here.”
Jinchul didn’t bother to glance up from his computer screen as he nodded and said, “Send him in.”
His assistant left the door open, and Jinchul finished the last couple sentences of this section of a report on a recent dungeon break, not wanting to lose his train of thought. Hunter Sung Jinwoo came tentatively into the room, and Jinchul could feel without even looking at him that he was incredibly anxious. Understandable. He pulled his mana in close to attempt to cut a slightly less intimidating figure to the E rank and turned off his computer monitor.
“Good afternoon, Hunter Sung Jinwoo,” he said, taking a quick look at the man. He kept his face carefully blank as he shifted a few pieces of paperwork around until he found his file.
He looked young . Too young to be raiding, possibly, but his file did say that he was 24.
Another more careful glance up at his face revealed that initial impression to be misleading. He was an adult man, just one with a bit of a baby face and a youthful hair style. Casual clothing on a slim frame. A cute guy, really, with almost no aura to speak of.
He’d registered 12 mana at his Assessment. ‘Korea’s Weakest Hunter’ might not be an exaggeration. Jinchul could certainly check, but he wouldn’t. It felt inappropriate.
But it was part of why Jinchul had called him here in the first place.
“Good afternoon, Chief Inspector Woo, sir,” Hunter Sung said, hands knitted together tightly in his lap. There was a bandage poking out from under his shirt, at the collarbone. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Not at all,” Jinchul said. He glanced at the bandage again, then back at Sung’s file, flipping through a few pages. “The last raid you were on– or– no, the one before that–” He flicked a glance back up at Hunter Sung, slightly incredulous. He must have gone on the raid that gave him that shoulder wound the same day he got out of the hospital for the chest wound.
“I know which one you mean,” Sung said, frowning. “Did you have more questions?”
“I do,” Jinchul said. He paused a moment to read through the relevant part of the report one more time, then said, “If Hunter Jung targeted you first, how did you escape him to be able to warn the others?”
“He– tried to get me alone,” Sung said, keeping his eyes fixed on his knees. “I got… bad vibes?” He glanced up at Jinchul and shrugged, then looked away again. “So when he got distracted killing a couple goblins I ran. I thought he was going to throw me at them at first.”
“Hmm,” Jinchul said. “And the formation of two groups?”
“That was Hunter Song Chiyul,” Sung said immediately.
“But he says that was you.” Sung frowned and shrugged again.
“I don’t make calls like that,” he said. “I’m not in charge of anything. I just helped him notice something was off and he made the right choice. He’s a good leader.”
“Why didn’t you tell the others about him immediately?”
Sung wrinkled his nose and then seemed to force his expression to go neutral again. “The only person I knew well enough in there was Hunter Song Chiyul. I didn’t know how they’d all react to finding out Jung wanted to split the take fourteen ways instead of fifteen. I made sure Sook and Joo knew something was up when I could. I couldn’t warn Kwon.”
Jinchul nodded. Sung clearly understood the realities of dungeons. And he should, with this many under his belt. He set the file down and looked at Sung directly. “I think at least a few of these hunters have you to thank for their lives.”
“Wh– no they don’t,” Sung said, wide eyed. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You didn’t fight anyone,” Jinchul corrected. “Although that rock you threw was very timely, I’ve been told. For the record, Hunters Sook and Song agree with my assessment.”
Sung’s cheeks had flushed pink now and he was fully failing to look anywhere near Jinchul again. Jinchul watched him process that news with interest.
“So… what exactly is this meeting about?” Sung asked. Fair. The Chief of the Monitoring Division wouldn’t call a random hunter in nearly a week and a half later just to tell them they’d done a good job. He didn’t have time for that kind of nonsense.
“We’re hiring,” Jinchul said bluntly. “I have strong hunters. I have powerful hunters. What I would like more is to have some hunters in my employ who have their wits about them, and who can accomplish their goals without resorting to property damage. One of my current staff who meets those requirements took notice of you and thinks you do as well. For you to have survived upward of three hundred raids at your level, I can only imagine that you must be incredibly perceptive and resourceful. The testimony of your fellow hunters backs that up.”
“What?” Sung said, visibly startled. He was actually looking at Jinchul directly now, for nearly the first time in this entire meeting. He seemed like he might tip right over if a light breeze hit him.
“I am offering you a job in the Monitoring Division, Hunter Sung,” Jinchul said. He shuffled some more paperwork around and pulled a thin manila folder out from beneath a stack. “You don’t have to decide right now. I understand it would be a bit of a departure from what you’re used to. You can look over the role and benefits and get back to me soon with any questions you might have.”
“Benefits,” Sung said weakly, taking the manilla folder, still staring at him. “What– would I be doing? Not that I’m– I’m not saying I’m–”
“Of course,” Jinchul said, smoothing over the fumbling words and gesturing at the folder. “The job description will offer more detail, but ultimately you would be managing raids and maintaining dossiers on your specific hunter cohort. A group of E and D ranks would be assigned to you. Your job would be to keep track of their relevant activities and report anything notable for the Handlers to manage. Reading between the lines is important in a role like this, do you understand?”
Sung had opened the folder, but didn’t seem to actually be reading it. He nodded slowly. “I… get what you mean. Would I– still go into dungeons?”
“Very occasionally,” Jinchul allowed. “Since you’d sometimes be in charge of rounding up hunters for gates, you would only go when you were unable to reach the quota through other means. We have a lot of avenues to find hunters before we start pulling from our own staff.”
“Right,” Sung agreed. He had flipped through some pages and paused to actually read what looked like the salary section, a furrow forming on his brow. “But if I did go, would I be paid in the same way as usual for it?”
Jinchul frowned too. Was he going to keep throwing himself into dungeons even with the promise of a stable income? He was aware that Sung’s mother suffered from Eternal Slumber, but the KHA already covered those costs. What else could he need the extra funds for? He’d have to look at Sung’s file more closely once he left.
“You would,” he said anyway. “And you would be provided armor and weaponry appropriate for your class, courtesy of the Association. Although again, we discourage our staff from attending dungeons without good reason.”
“Okay,” Sung said. He closed the folder and nodded to himself. “I’ll… think about this and get back to you soon, like you said.”
Jinchul nodded. “Excellent. My business card is in there as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.”
Sung stood up and bowed low, clutching the folder to his chest. “I will. Thank you very much for this opportunity.”
Jinwoo went home in a daze. He would never have guessed that a meeting like that might actually something closer to a job interview. It was probably fortunate that he hadn’t realized, or he would have been so nervous that he botched it.
Not that he’d decided to take the job or anything. It was practically on par with what he was able to make on average doing dungeons in a month. They’d still be barely scraping by.
But if he could still do dungeons from time to time, that could help to supplement things, and maybe he could start saving for Jinah’s college fund. Chief Woo had said they’d even provide gear. Weapons. Jinwoo had never had the luxury of that kind of safety in a dungeon. It might be worth it for that alone.
When he walked in the front door, Jinah was already there. It was easy to tell, since her coat, bag, and shoes were in a pile on the floor by the door. “Jin ah ,” he called, the manila folder still held carefully between both hands as he toed off his shoes and lined them up neatly where they belonged.
“Don’t be so fussy , oppa,” she called back from her bedroom. “Who cares if my shoes aren’t perfect?”
“If you know what I’m complaining about, why don’t you just fix it in the first place?” he called back with half-hearted annoyance. To her credit, she appeared a second later and neatened up the entryway, although she stuck her tongue out on her way past.
“How else would I know when you get home?” she asked, eyes dropping to the folder instantly as she joined him on the couch. “What’s that?”
Jinwoo looked back down at it, anxious all over again. He wasn’t sure he should even tell Jinah about it until he’d made up his mind, but she was unlikely to let it go now. “Job offer,” he said. She narrowed her eyes at it like she might set it on fire if she glared hard enough.
“Some kind of private raiding group?”
“No,” he said. “No raiding at all. The Monitoring Division of the Hunters Association.”
“Oooh, what?” she exclaimed, brightening immediately. She leaned forward and snatched the whole folder out of his hands, and he let her. They spent the next few hours poring over the details, and Jinah even went and got an old class notebook to write down questions he should ask the Chief when they met again. ‘When’, not ‘if’, because Jinah was determined that he should take it.
“This is so much safer than what you’re doing right now,” she said, practically bouncing with excitement. “And they’ll still cover mom’s bills and there’ll never be a question of if we can pay rent and you won’t be in the hospital all the time anymore–”
She was near tears, Jinwoo realized, swamped with a sudden, hideous guilt. Just the offer had her nearly crying with relief, and when he really thought it through, he knew he felt the same way. Going into dungeons all the time and not knowing if today was the day he was going to die bloody and leave her alone once and for all was terrifying. Really, he could have told Chief Woo his answer right there in that meeting if he hadn’t been so caught off guard.
He decided not to mention how he might potentially still go into gates sometimes. He thought she was unlikely to appreciate hearing about it, especially if she knew it was to raise money for her tuition. Instead, he let Jinah throw her arms around him and hug him tight, and then they celebrated by having bulgogi for dinner. Jinah wanted fried chicken, but he didn’t have the job yet.
He called Chief Woo the next day, his list of questions in hand. It was a little easier talking to him over the phone, when he couldn’t feel the man’s dense mana altering the air pressure in the room. It was clear that he hadn’t been throwing it around like some hunters did, but the Chief was very powerful and it wasn’t something you could just tuck away in a pocket where no one would notice.
He was also very handsome. Jinah claimed that being high ranking made a person more physically attractive, but Jinwoo thought she was probably just falling for the star power. Chief Woo was an example that proved the rule, unfortunately, so part of him hoped that Jinah never got to see what he looked like.
The point was, he was a little intimidating even without mentioning the aura, but they got things settled on the phone easily enough. Now Jinwoo had an appointment to meet with HR at the Association building later that afternoon to fill out paperwork. He was going to start at the beginning of next week.
His phone rang the next morning. It was the Association. Usually he’d be filled with trepidation about the gate raid they were surely asking him to join, but today, well. It might just be about his new job.
It wasn’t. And since he answered, he couldn’t say no. They didn’t actually have enough for rent this month yet, and his paychecks from the KHA wouldn’t kick in immediately. They needed the money.
So it was that Jinwoo arrived at his first day on the job with a split lip, a yellowing bruise on his jaw, and a new scar on his throat from where a claw had raked through it, inches from his jugular. Jinah had been furious. He’d had to check himself out of the hospital a little early to get to his first day of work on time, which had made her more furious.
It was not an auspicious start, in other words.
He got his photo taken for his new badge anyway, dressed in his nicest shirt and pants. He didn’t own a suit like Chief Woo’s and had to hope that wasn’t the dress code for everyone. It might be. They were going to have to be patient and give him a paycheck before he could fall into line, if that was the case.
His trainer, Su Taehee, took him on a tour of the various buildings and pointed out people he might need to work with in the future. The other Monitors, the Handlers, Enforcement, Testing and Evaluations, the international team, the regional groups… The Hunters Association was much larger than he realized.
“Hunter Sung?”
Jinwoo straightened slightly as they reached the break room in the Monitoring Department, only to discover Chief Woo fixing himself a coffee. He was frowning. Had Jinwoo already done something wrong?
Chief Woo looked like he was choosing his words carefully. “I do hope that you will take a break from dungeons for a while to focus on your training here. You should avoid missing work during your probationary period.”
“Oh, yes sir,” he agreed immediately. Jinah had already shouted him down about that. She’d kill him if he went into another dungeon any time soon. “I won’t be attending any more dungeons for a while.”
“I see,” Chief Woo said. He gave Jinwoo a cordial smile, and added, “Good luck on your first day, then. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish.”
Jinwoo went a little pink and bowed. “Thank you, sir!”