Chapter Text
———
As Yoojin looks out at the giant mountain toad with a huge hole through the back of its neck and the new-found S-class shielder awakening to his potential,
"Ugh.. Is everyone––"
he got hit by a painful amount of exhaustion.
"Ah, I'm exhausted... hey I'm gonna take a quick nap... try not to fight while I'm...."
As Yoojin collapsed unconscious, Hyunjae caught him by the arm, both keeping Yoojin from hitting the ground, as well as keeping contact with Yoojin to not lose the still-present buff.
The first S-class team successfully cleared a dungeon, beating an SS-class creature. As the victory and lasting effect of the Stern Mother Hen Drill Sergeant led to brief, for the most part, celebration amid the S-classes, the energy of the victory eventually moved on, and they all went to find Yoojin and leave.
The new shielder Kim Sunghan was the first to find Hyunjae with a passed out Yoojin. Before he could really say much, Yoohyun reached Hyunjae and asked for his brothers well being. As Yoohyun asked for his brother back, Hyunjae, with Yoojin propped up onto his shoulder, made the most ridiculous proposal Yoohyun had ever heard.
"How about you let me keep him? I'll feed him three square meals a day and make sure he receives the best care possible."
As Hyunjae stands, carrying Yoojin, his chains moves around, ready to strike at any moment when, or before, a move is made against him.
"I'm taking this with me."
All the S-classes got ready to fight, Yoohyun glowering from the moment Hyunjae picked up Yoojin over his shoulder.
"With all due respect Guildmaster Sung... that crap ain't funny. Just give him back to us quietly, okay? The man obviously just needs a nap." Yerim speaks up, as she lands having just caught up to where Hyunjae and the rest are.
As Yoohyun now demands his brother be given back, everyone prepares to fight. Then Hyuna steps up.
"That's enough. These Haeyeon folks might pull their punches in case Yoojin gets hurt, but I'm not like that. If you make any funny moves, I'll take out my breeding partner myself."
"What?!" Yerim exclaims, clearly not ready for Yoojin to be in any danger, even if he is about to be kidnapped.
"So quite hogging him like he's your favorite toy or someone might just break him.. kapeesh?"
In a brief bit of tense silence, Hyunjae considers the potential consequences, and then acquiesces and surrenders Yoojin to the group.
"Oh, well... it seems I've been outvoted here."
As he expected, the moment he handed Yoojin back safe and sound, the very angry brother attacked immediately.
"Now that I've handed him back to you safe and sound... you choose to ambush me when I didn't have on my fire resistance gear? No wonder your brother was ogling my coat so much. Let's see what you've got then."
As the two clash, a third party, Yerim, steps in to be the sense of logic and stops them from fighting any further, reminding them that Yoojin was still in an unsafe dungeon, and they should focus on getting him to safety first and foremost.
Hyuna speaks up aswell, "And grow up already, Hyunjae! The kids half your age! That goes for you too, pretty boy. Take your brother back before I just drop him somewhere!" She yells as she tosses Hyunjaes coat back to him after taking it off of Yoojin.
As they listen, Yoohyun and Hyunjae can't refrain from making some passing comments to irritate and threaten each other as they both move away from their little spazz.
As if Yoojin could tell (he really has a knack for that, doesn't he?) that they were, in fact, not listening to his final waking words, his teeth ground together and his brows furrowed as he mumbled about them not fighting whilst still deep asleep.
With that, Hyuna spoke up one last time, "Okay, then. That's a wrap! Let's get out of here!" and they all moved through the gate, Yoohyun carrying his brother, with Peace and Yerim going through the last.
Once Yoohyun opened his eyes once more from going through the gate, he found himself in a completely unexpected and new place. From behind Yoohyun, from a seemingly see-through version of the gate, out walked Yerim, Hyunjae and Sunghan. As he turned around once more to check where in the world they might have ended up, he saw others that he recognized appear before him, straight from thin air. He even spotted an unknown, new face, aswell.
Strangely, the room they found themselves in didn't look all that different from the gate, or more so, it looked like it was themed from the gate they had just used to exit– enter. The room, as far as Yerim could tell, was an indigo in color, starting from the floor and ceiling, with a bit of lilac-to-white pattern seeping down until the white from the floor and ceiling met in around the center. Though not exactly in a line through the center, as the walls coloration had the same fractured look as the gate they had just gone through.
As the group entering from the gate looked around the room, Noah and Myungwoo both sat down, along with the other stranger, wearing a strange mask.
The group who entered observed that the room had three blank walls, and one wall, to the direct front of where they were facing when coming in, had a large TV hanging in the center of the wall. Centered in the room, were two couches, one more to the left and the one more to the right, where the three who had appeared were now seated.
Once the group was apparently no longer panicking, as there wasn't any obvious danger, the screen turned on, all static-y, before forming words on it.
[ (KR: Take A Seat To Begin) ]
Yerim dragged Yoohyun to go sit down, while glaring at Hyunjae and speaking up, telling Hyunjae to go sit as far from Yoojin as possible, Yoohyun nodding at that sentiment.
Upon settling, the screen flashed, then displayed different text.
[ (KR: It Has Been Noticed. Focus Is Unwell. Will Begin When The Focus Has Recovered.) ]
The screen turned off after about five minutes of those words, and the group ended up beginning to chat. Yerim and Yoohyun got Yoojin laid down as comfortably as they could onto the couch, making sure he could rest peacefully, or as peacefully as possible with Hyunjae within his vicinity.
Once Yoojin was settled, Yerim said she was going to take a well-deserved nap aswell. Yoohyun disagreed that it was well-deserved, but let her rest while she could. He kept his eyes mostly on Hyunjae, though Yoohyun kept himself aware of everything else that was happening in the room as best he could just in case something came out from nowhere.
On the right-side couch, Noah and Myungwoo talked with the masked stranger, Noah finding out that he was named Yoon Yoon. Yoon Yoon took a quick liking to the new person as Noah frightened pretty easily without jumping to being aggressive in his fear. Yoon Yoon was only really sure of that from his expression when they had all first found themselves in the room, along with hiw Myungwoo quietly reassured Noah that, though he likes to scare people, he won't try to harm him for fun.
Sunghan, also a bit tired, though mostly from emotions more so than his new awakening, decided to rest his eyes a bit, though keeping his ears open in case Yoohyun or Hyunjae start to act out and brawl.
Whilst the three on the right couch chatted, Hyunjae was trying to step towards Yoojins direction, pausing as Yoohyun's already white knuckles whitened even more. After a brief sigh, Hyunjae settled for sitting on the right couch, though as close to the left-side couch as he could be. Poor Myungwoo had to move over slightly to avoid being sat on at all.
Myungwoo, being engaged in a conversation, luckily missed Yoohyun glaring a slightly bit harder in Hyunjaes direction as he was allowed to sit so close by the Haeyeon guild member.
After about an hour and a half, the TV once again turned on, this time with a bit of an alarm sound, though a mild one that someone may use for their bedside alarm to get up in the morning.
[ (KR: Introduce Yourselves. The Story Will Begin Soon) ]
At the screen blatantly ignoring the fact that people didn't actually–
Yoojin sat up, rubbing his eyes, as Yerim awoke beside him, sitting up from her forward slouching position.
Yoohyuns attention quickly turned from the screen to his brother as he began to fuss around and check Yoojin for any injuries. Yoojin decidedly ignored Yoohyun as best he could, and asked where they were.
"No clue, but we've been pretty safe here so far. Don't worry!" Yerim chipped in as an answer. Of course, Yoojin was worried.
The screen made a *ding* sound, and Yoojin looked at it, reading it fully, then glanced around at who was all in the room. Recognizing everyone, he frowned, but decided not to wait around longer and spoke up. Before he could get a word out, the screen dinged again, and changed.
[ (KR: Full Name For The Focus) ]
Yoojin blinked, "eh?"
"Ohhh, yah. You're probably the focus here, since it told us all to rest cause the focus needed a break or something when we first entered this room!" Yerim once again chimed in. Yoohyun frowned at the fact his brother would be the focus, assuming that it meant something negative, while there were others like Hyunjae and the stranger both in the room, but nodded at what Yerim said.
"Ah, alright. As pointless as this feels, I'm Han Yoojin."
The screen, seemingly satisfied with that, changed back to the previous words it had up.
[ (KR: Introduce Yourselves. The Story Will Begin Soon) ]
Yerim speaks up and introduces herself next. She remembered that she didn't have to give her full name, so just stuck with Yerim. Myungwoo and then Sunghan and Hyunjae also introduced themselves, with Noah speaking up after they were done to introduce himself. Yoon Yoon had stopped talking when others started to introduce themselves, and when it got to him, he decided to introduce himself as The Terrifyingly Scary Dokkaebi, Yoon Yoon! To which Yoojin just sighed at.
Yoohyun just got it over with as fast as he could after a little bit of pushing from Yoojin.
As soon as they were all finished, the screen changed once more.
The screen showed a close up of Yoojin, dramatic tears and glittering background and all, and then it began to play, like a full on edited story-tale version of a real-life video.
[ (KR: Yoojin, "Oh.... Please snap out of it, Liette! Don't do this! We're all such good friends remember?!") ]
The scene in the video flipped, showing Liette with Noah as a dragon biting her arm, both stopping whatever it was they were doing to just stare at Yoojin. The video continued on from a more outward view, showing Yoojin holding Liette around the waist as he was acting, once it had finished the brief pause showing Noah and Liettes expressions, along with a brief show of some other random group of people showing dead expressions aswell.
[ (KR: Liette, "What are you talking about..?")
(KR: Yoojin, "Don't you remember all the good times we shared together?! And take a moment to behold that expanse of crystal-clear blue above us! Doesn't it just inspire you to live a more meaningful life?!")
(KR: Liette, "Enough with this nonsense.")
(KR: Yoojin, Come on! Do your magic random set of skills! Resist poison? Double skill effect? Anything! Just do whatever it takes to undo this skill on her!) ]
During the tense bit of silence as the scene continued, Yoojin and some others wondered what situation he found (will find) himself in, while others wondered at his skills and how he got them.
[ (KR: Liette, "Merci, mon petit chou! My head feels all cleared up thanks to you!")
(KR: Yoojin, "Liette! Are you back?!")
(KR: Liette, "Yes, and it's all thanks to you, sweetie!")
(KR: Yoojin, "Liette...! I'm so glad you're back!")
(KR: Noah, That... actually worked?) ]
The TV flickered a moment, then continued.
[ (KR: Liette, "Of course not, my darling! However...how could I pass up such a deliciously fun opportunity?)
(KR: Yoojin, "Huh?")
(KR: Liette, "You know what I've always wanted to become ever since I was a itty-bitty-five-year-old girl? I wanted to become one of those evil dragons in fairy tales... and kidnap the princess!")
(KR: Yoojin, "I thought you guys were twins! Why do you look so much scarier?!") ]
The screen stops playing audio, and seems to speed up the video a bit. Liette, as a dragon, takes Yoojin and flies to a castle, that is there for some reason, then the screen shows the group and, Hyunjae, also there for some reason, and it resumes the sound, without any loud background noises like the wind from Liette taking flight.
[ (KR: Hyunjae, "I should've brought popcorn.")
(KR: Liette, "That's your cue to scream for your prince charming to come save you, babe!")
(KR: Liette, "The princess is mine!" Come find me at the top of the tower if you wish to save them!")
(KR: Hyunjae, "Haha... you know what? This actually does feel like a typical fairytale.") ]
The video paused, and the screen changed to show words instead.
[ (KR: Continue Observing This Example Scene?) ]
Hyunjae was the first to give an answer in the affirmative, and asked a question aswell upon answering.
"Can I have popcorn for the rest of it?"
To which, a table materialized with a bowl of popcorn. The bowl had a tag on it, with Hyunjaes name on it, and he got up to get it.
Yoon Yoon answered Yes, because they still needed to watch the rescue scene! And Yerim also joined in with a Yes, cause why not? And it was nice to have a break that Yoohyun wouldn't be able to stop.
Yoojin said No, because embarrassment, with Sunghan also saying No, as it seemed like a waste of time. Noah pitched in with a Yes, just to make sure that his sister wouldn't hurt the princess she kidnapped, and upon hearing his reasoning Yoohyun joined in with a Yes.
Before Myungwoo could answer, the screen updated.
[ (KR: Continue Observing This Example Scene?)
( ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ ■ ■ ) (Answer (majority) : Yes) ]
Myungwoo shot a apologetic glance at Yoojin, but gave his vote for No even though he knew it was going to continue regardless.
Upon taking in the final vote, the screen made a *DING* sound, and then continued on, this time starting from inside the tower, where Liette and Yoojin were both sitting on a somehow-still-stable destroyed looking bed.
[ (KR: Yoojin, "In the meantime... Why don't you tell me how you got here? Did you make a deal with ●●●●-●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●● or whatever as well?")
(KR: Liette, "What deal? I didn't make any deals.")
(KR: Yoojin, "Huh? But what was that you were saying about having to obey..?")
(KR: Liette, "That's what I'm wondering as well... because I'm pretty sure I turned down the deal. In my early days of awakening, this creepy critter came up to me... and offered to give me a tip on items and dungeons or what not ... but I shot them down. I mean, where's the fun in that? The least they could do is fight me and then submit as my lackey!")
(KR: Yoojin, "Yeah, I guess that sounds like something you'd do...")
(KR: Liette, "Anyway, when I kept refusing, they tried to mess with my brother too.")
(KR: Yoojin, "Did they want to take him hostage...? Because he's weaker than you?")
(KR: Liette, "I guess? Anyway, they were quiet for a while after I shut them out at every turn... but they recently appeared again and started telling me what to do again as... the firstborn of Dio Valthesis. And before I knew it I found mtself following their orders.")
(KR: Yoojin, "That's sounds like it's title effect... maybe that guy has the ability to tame venomous curse dragons?")
(KR: Liette, "Maybe. Or maybe they're a venomous curse dragon themselves. I sensed something similar I felt from you... like the vibes of a more powerful venomous curse dragon.")
(KR: Yoojin, That explains how Liette was able to break free from the mind control. If the mind control over Liette was from a venomous curse dragons command or curse... my resist curse skill would have been twice as effective.") ]
The rest of the scene plays out mostly in silence, with the occasional role play like sentences coming out from the screen as Hyunjae jumps in to save the princess from the evil dragon. As Yoojin is falling out the building and Noah catches him, the screen ends the scene on the view of the entire castle collapsing from Hyunjae and Liette fighting.
Hyunjae had just started eating his popcorn when he showed up, and was barely half-way through the bowl by the time the scene ended, to which he was very disappointed, but consoled himself with the thought that he'll get to experience the scene in person eventually, though without popcorn he notes. 'Perhaps I can have popcorn ready and at hand when that happens? It looked like it might be when...'
Once the scene was fully over, the screen changed once again.
[ (KR: Please Continue On To Meet The Others Once You Are Ready. Feel Free To Prepare Before Hand.) ]
At that message from the TV, a sound like a portal from those portal guns opening up sounded from behind them, and when they looked towards the back wall, saw a gate like the one they went through, though with a color theme perfectly matching the details on the walls.
Yoohyun looked at his somehow-no-longer exhausted brother and frowned.
"Hyung... you should rest more."
"Ah?" Yoojin looked away from the gate and towards his brother to his right. "I somehow feel really rested right now, actually."
At Yoohyuns frown, Yoojins just smiled and patted his head, "Hey now, you don't have to worry about me, I'm fine now!"
Yoojin gets up to go, and Yoohyun follows close behind with a deep frown on his face. The rest get up and follow, Hyunjae moving to follow right behind Yoojin, but having Yerim, Noah and Sunghan all block him from getting any closer, with Myungwoo and Yoon Yoon at the back, engaging once more in a quiet conversation about ways to tell if someone if scared.
Yoojin goes to exit first, but gets stopped by Yoohyun and after a quick stare off, come to the consensus that they would exit together, at least Yoojin came to that understanding. Yoohyun on the other hand just moved forward once Yoojin had paused, passing through to...