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Han Yoojin woke up at 3 A.M. to a pounding noise on his door. Well, perhaps his nightmare was what began to wake him up, but the knocks were also quite alerting. He was startled awake, flopping off of the couch he fell asleep on just barely half an hour ago when he returned to his lousy home and his lousy fridge and his lousy company, being that he was alone and couldn’t stand looking in his reflection.
It made sense why his brother left. He was awful. He didn't know shit about anything. Even with all of his research and lengthy hours spent trying to decipher Korea’s laws concerning the Awakened, he wouldn’t have been able to help his dongsaeng. He wasn’t even Awakened, paparazzi flocked after him like vultures to get news about his ‘estranged’ brother, and every workplace he secured a job at was only part-time. He didn’t have health insurance or any money to his name that wouldn’t disappear to pay bills.
The pounding knocks on the door also explained another part of why Yoohyun deserved to leave. Yoojin lived in a bad part of Seoul. The rent was cheap, and the landlord put up with the paparazzi who occasionally sniffed him out. The crowds had made his last apartment kick him out. He was thankful that this apartment building was smaller and the woman who ran it was a little kinder, even offering him blackout curtains that he wouldn’t have been able to afford.
Yoojin stumbled through the darkened house. The knocks had gotten softer and yet they still seemed desperate. Yoojin grabbed a rebar that he picked up from one of his old construction jobs. Then, carefully with hesitance, he pulled back the curtain to take a peek outside. He gaped at the image of Han Yoohyun’s lost expression tapping against the door to his hyung’s shitty apartment.
Yoohyun hadn’t spoken to him for 3 months. And now he just showed up?
Yoojin had never unlocked his door so fast before. It had three locks on it; two deadbolts and one that it came with originally. The sound made the knocks cease. The door creaked open and Yoojin turned on the light into the house. It flickered for a few moments before becoming solid.
“Yoohyun-ah…?”
Yoohyun’s hair was wet. Yoojin was reminded that it was raining outside— he had to borrow an umbrella from his boss with the promise to return it on his next shift. Yoohyun’s eyes were also cloudy with what looked like grief, and yet there was also relief there.
“Yoohyun-ah? Are you— are you okay?” Yoojin stepped forward warily, reaching out his hand.
In mid-air, his hand was caught. Yoojin let out a gasp of surprise that probably sounded a little pained. Yoohyun’s grip was strong but Yoojin didn’t say anything. He simply gaped at the wave of emotion that wafted through Yoohyun’s eyes. His brother’s lips twitched into an open look of awe as Yoohyun’s fingers remained on Yoojin’s wrist.
“Yoohyun—”
“Hyung.”
It was one word but it sent a million emotions through Yoojin. Yoohyun didn’t let go but his grip lessened. Yoohyun’s fingers rubbed over Yoojin’s pulse on his wrist. Yoojin didn’t know what to do. Something was wrong. He didn’t know what it was, but it made his dongsaeng rush over.
“I…” Yoohyun let go of Yoojin’s hand. The curly-haired man stood there awkwardly before asking, “May I come in?”
Yoojin stepped to the side quickly. “Come in, Yoohyun-ah. You’re— you’re always welcomed.” He cradled his wrist in his hand, rubbing over the same spot that Yoohyun did. It felt warmer than it was before.
Yoohyun stepped inside looking like a pathetic but adorable puppy. Yoojin imagined handing him a towel to dry up in but Yoohyun’s aura seemed to heat up. Right. Powers. His little brother had powers. Yoojin didn’t need to get him a towel.
They stood there for a few moments, neither saying a word. Yoojin didn’t lock the door, which led to Yoohyun to lock the middle one. Yoojin wasn’t sure what to say. He was incredibly confused.
“... Yoohyun-ah?”
“Hyung, I…”
“What’s wrong?”
Yoohyun shuffled in place. His eyes watched over the room, skipping from the horrid couch and table, to the bare kitchen, and the open door to a bedroom that Yoojin rarely used. There wasn’t much to see. If anything, he had a few boxes from their childhood boxed up. He would have some of the photos out, but a crazed Haeyeon Guild fan broke into his last apartment and stole some of the mementos.
“I’m sorry,” was all that his dongsaeng said.
Yoojin felt like the entire world just glitched. “What?” His heart pounded against his ribs. Could this be…?
“I was trying to protect you but I—” He looked away, his teeth grinding as his fists shook by his side. “I was wrong. I can’t protect you from anything if I’m not here.”
“I’m— Sorry for not understanding, but I don’t…” Yoojin felt lost as he looked into Yoohyun’s eyes. “I thought you didn’t want to be family anymore. You… you publicly renounced us. Everyone thought that you were happy, finally able to escape your overbearing family and I—”
He stopped himself from saying anything he’d regret. Yoohyun was home. Home. Yoojin didn’t know why but he wasn’t going to get angry when there was a new chance presented in front of him.
It was silent in between them. Yoojin couldn’t help but notice everything wrong with his house now that Yoohyun was in it. The table was a mess, the kitchen was empty and not suitable to provide a meal, and one of the ceiling lights was completely out but Yoojin didn’t even think about replacing it because it was only one light out of five.
Then Yoohyun said, “I pushed you away because of how the Hunters are.”
Yoojin blinked in surprise. “The Hunters? Other S-classes like you?”
Yoohyun nodded once. “Not just them… but yes. Haeyeon Guild needed to be strong. If I had ties to my family, then they would be in danger. The Hunter world is dangerous, hyung. I thought I was doing the best thing but I know that I was wrong now. Pushing you away won’t keep you safe. So I want to apologize for trying to separate us. I thought you’d be safer out of the Hunters and Awakened and dungeon world, but that’s not possible.”
He wasn’t sure how to feel. Yoojin was only able to ask, “So you don’t hate me?”
Instead of answering, Yoohyun asked, “Can I have a hug?”
“A hug?”
Yoohyun nodded shortly.
Yoojin wondered if he was dreaming. Maybe he was still asleep on the couch. Was he lonely enough to imagine this scene? Yeah. He missed having somebody to take care of. He missed making dinner for more than one person and being able to smile to another person while watching the television or—
“Han Yoohyun, my dongsaeng,” he said slowly, pronouncing every syllable precisely as he reached out to wrap his arms around Yoohyun’s tall frame, “I love you. I always have and always will.”
The hug was nice. It was warm and strong arms hugged him back, practically picking him off of the floor with ease. Yoojin smiled into his brother’s neck. When did this kid get so tall? Yoojin shook his head. He still remembered when Yoohyun came home happy from school to announce his height after a physical exam. It was only one centimeter taller than Yoojin, but Yoohyun wasn’t even 17-years-old while Yoojin had long ago passed his growth spurts.
Breaking apart was partially awkward, but Yoojin was distracted by the presence of Yoohyun, yes, but also by a weird box appearing in front of him.
[Congratulations on Awakening, Han Yoojin!]
[The Legendary title ‘Perfect Caregiver’ has been granted!]
“Uh…”
Yoohyun stepped forward, his brow furrowing. “Hyung? What’s wrong?”
“I…” Yoojin blinked at it, then over to Yoohyun. “I think… I think I just Awakened.”
Yoohyun’s tone was slightly panicky and high-pitched, “What?”
“I don’t know.” The pop-up windows had disappeared. Yoojin waved his hand in the air but nothing happened. Yoojin asked, “How do you work this thing?”
Yoohyun was silent for a moment before he said, “You can either think or say ‘Status Window.’ That should make it easier to view your powers and titles.” He looked a bit broody, to be honest.
Yoojin softly whispered in case it was a fluke, “Status Window.”
It stunned him when he was met with multiple screens. He reached out hesitantly and Yoohyun leaned in closely in an attempt to see something that wasn’t visible to others. Yoojin clicked on the first one, then the next. The screens provided a strange description but they seemed like good skills.
[Perfect Caregiver(Legendary): proof of a caregiver who has nurtured a strong world-class power.]
[My Brat’s the Best(L): Duration is 3 days. Skill can be used without keywords on targets that are already Attuned. Cannot be duplicated on the same target. Cooldown is 30 days on the same target. {Keywords: I love you.}
Note: not applicable if the target recognizes the effect of the keyword.
Final Gratitude(L): When the target of the Keyword Attunement is killed, the skills and abilities of the target can be transferred with twice the efficiency. {Duration: 168 Hours(7 days).}
Promising Sprout(S): Ability to predict the Awakening Class of an Unawakened person. Awakening can be optimized for targets already Attuned to the keywords. {Cooldown for Optimized Awakening: 30 Days.}
My Child is So Good(SS): Cheer for the target in front of more than 5 intelligent people who can understand the Keywords. Boosts target’s stats and skill effect by the percentage value based on the number of intelligent people present(10 people = 10% boost). Maximum percentage is 100%. {Duration: 30 Minutes. Cooldown Time: 240 Hours(10 days).}
Note: not applicable if the target recognizes the effect of the keyword.]
But really, who wrote these? Why did it sound like he was becoming a father so quickly?
“What did you get?” asked Yoohyun. His foot tapped on the floor, clearly anxious.
“A [Caregiver] title,” he revealed in slight awe. As Yoojin reread the descriptions, he murmured, “I can help you, I think.”
Yoohyun nodded slightly. “So you’re not a combat Awakened…?”
Yoojin frowned. “I don’t think so.” He tapped along his Status Window. Then he saw it. He really was terrible at this thing. He would drag his dongsaeng down until the end, huh? “I’m an F-stat.”
Yoohyun let out a long sigh. It sounded like he was relieved yet sad at the same time. Yoojin narrowed his eyes. Brat. Yoojin had great skills even with his low rank. Why was Yoohyun being so weird about it? Yoojin would tell Yoohyun what he had, but since the keywords couldn’t be known, Yoojin would keep his mouth shut. He needed these skills to work on Yoohyun, after all.
But then he saw something strange. “It says I have another title.”
Yoohyun perked up but seemed wary. “Click on it,” he suggested. Yoojin did so with befuddlement.
[Dragon Slayer(Legendary): proof of a warrior who hunted a Tier 1 dragon(Lauchitas) on their own.]
“I don’t think this is right, Yoohyun-ah. It says I slayed a dragon. Can these things glitch?” Yoojin looked for a restart button but found nothing like that.
Yoohyun’s hand trembled across Yoojin’s shoulder. Yoojin looked away from his screen to turn to his brother. “What’s wrong?” Yoohyun shook his head. “Yoohyun-ah? Is everything okay?”
“Just— click on it. Tell me what skills you got from it. Maybe there are answers there.”
Yoojin nodded numbly. His dongsaeng was acting quite strange but the idea of repairing their relationship left him happy and thrumming in excitement. Did this mean that Yoohyun would come over for dinner? Would they watch movies together or binge-watch a television show? Would Yoohyun help him out to make dessert and would they go on a picnic as a way to relax and get away from an empty house?
[Poison Resistance(L): Completely immune to poisons of Legendary level and below.
Curse Resistance(L): Completely immune to curses of Legendary level and below.
Fear Resistance(L): Completely immune to pressures of Legendary level and below.
Lauchitas’ Natural Enemy(SS): Doubles the effectiveness of all skills against Lauchitas or similar species.]
“Eh?” Yoojin wondered if he was misreading it. “Poison resistance, curse resistance, and fear resistance?”
Yoohyun cleared his throat. Yoojin turned to his brother. Right. How could he forget about his precious Yoohyun-ie? Yoojin tapped his brother’s hand on his shoulder, then said, “I think it’s a glitch, but it gave me some helpful skills, I think.”
Yoohyun nodded stiffly. “Poison, curse, and fear resistance.” Yoojin hummed noncommittally. “That’s good to have. Hunters are dangerous to hang around. This way, there should be no poison incidents.”
“Poison incidents?”
Yoohyun turned his head. “I told you that it was dangerous. Things… things happen. I mostly make my own food now.”
“But you’re—” He blinked up at his dongsaeng. “You shouldn’t have to do that.” Anger quelled in his gut. “You’re a hero, helping all of these people with the dungeons, and they repay you by trying to poison you…? What the hell is that?”
Yoohyun smiled bitterly. He patted Yoojin’s shoulder as a way to comfort him, but Yoojin smacked the hand away. He wanted revenge on the people that harmed or attempted to harm his brother. Yoohyun was a good kid. Why would they try to do something so horrible!?
Yoojin demanded, “Tell me where they are.”
Yoohyun’s eyes softened after the initial blink of surprise. “It’s been dealt with, hyung.”
Yoojin looked away, to the broken lightbulb in his ceiling. He hated it. Hated this feeling of being useless. Even when Awakened, Yoohyun was still throwing surprises at him. And now Yoojin was officially an F-class, meaning that he wouldn’t be able to help Yoohyun out in dungeons much.
“Hyung?”
Yoojin blinked. The hand on his shoulder shook gently, making Yoojin realize that he had drifted slightly. He rubbed his eyes, then admitted, “Sorry. I just got off of work. I’m fairly tired.” He waved Yoohyun’s concerned gaze off. “I’ll start a pot of coffee. Do you still like milk—”
“Hyung.”
Yoojin turned to see that Yoohyun had a soft, gentle smile on his face. “Go to sleep. Call me when you wake up.”
“Call you…? I don’t have your number.”
“My number?” Yoohyun quickly procured his phone with shaking hands. “I— I forgot that I changed it. Sorry, hyung.”
They quickly exchanged contact info. Yoojin couldn’t believe that he was able to call Yoohyun again. He was a bit put-off, though, because he was the one to block Yoohyun’s number first. Why was Yoohyun acting like he was the bad guy in this situation? Although the numbers were different, guilt edged and clawed at Yoojin’s gut for blocking it in the first place.
He could have talked to Haeyeon Guild after Yoohyun changed numbers as well, but they were always very quick to end their discussions or would say that Yoohyun wasn’t around or was too busy. It left Yoojin feeling empty and yet Yoohyun seemed so willing to share information.
“It should be safe for now,” mumbled Yoohyun, mostly to himself. “No one knows I’ve reconnected with my brother. Now I just need to prepare everything.”
“Yoohyun-ah?”
Yoohyun looked up, a little startled. He then showed a calm smile. He suggested casually, “You should get some rest, hyung. I’ll come by later. Maybe lunch?”
Yoojin quickly agreed with a smile. “Lunch! We can— we can cook it together if you want.”
Yoohyun paused, a flurry of emotions crossing his face, then he said, “I’d like that.”
When Yoohyun left the apartment, it didn’t feel like goodbye. Yoojin fell asleep for the first time without a care about if Yoohyun hated him or not. He finally had an answer to the question he desperately needed.
What Yoojin didn’t know was this:
“Yoohyun-ah,” he whispered like a prayer into his dongsaeng’s neck. “I love you so much. Be a good kid and live a happy life now, you got it?”
Yoohyun tightly squeezed Yoojin back, but his face was full of confusion. “I don’t… Hyung, what’s going on?”
Yoojin leaned back to face Yoohyun. Yoojin simply smiled in relief. He would die but now his brother could focus on his career instead of him. “Always remember that hyung loves you. Even when you’re being an asshole on the outside, I never hated you. Not for a minute.”
“Hyung…!”
Yoohyun watched as his older brother fell down in a heap, completely collapsing to the ground of the dungeon. He realized what had occurred quickly. The dragon’s corpse lay not far from where he was sitting. Yoojin slayed the beast, somehow woke Yoohyun up, and now he was dying from the poison, curses, or large wounds that were inflicted by the dragon.
“Hyung,” he whispered, lost.
None of this mattered if Yoojin wasn’t safe. What was the point of creating a barrier between them if Yoojin was going to die in a dungeon after everything? His hands wracked through the loose clothing on his brother’s form. This death was all because of him. His hyung had no idea how much Yoohyun loved him.
You were supposed to be safe… As Yoohyun cursed at himself for being so selfish and dumb for his past actions, he noticed a strange screen in front of him.
[Wish Stone(Myth) has granted one wish for the user Han Yoojin.]
“What is a [Wish Stone] doing here?” he uttered, baffled. He had never heard of such a thing.
The pieces connected slowly. A dragon with three heads had never been conquered before. The reward for such a legendary thing… His brother’s last wish was for him to be alive. Yoohyun growled in the back of his throat, realizing just how worthless of a dongsaeng he was.
[Are you happy?]
“What? Of course not! My brother’s dead!” Yoohyun wiped at the hair hanging down on his brother’s forehead. “Yoojin is… Yoojin’s dead. And it’s all my fault. He didn’t even know that I— he didn’t know that I…” He couldn’t say the words out loud.
[The wish Han Yoojin asked for has not been fully realized.]
[What will make you happy?]
“Happy?”
Yoohyun looked down at his brother numbly, then to his own hands. If he was stronger in the past, none of this would have happened. If he could have climbed the ranks earlier, then they would be able to live together without fear. If Yoohyun had better security and was more ruthless, he could have protected Yoojin without fear of him coming in harm’s way. If he didn’t accept that stupid contract…
“Nothing can make me happy. Without hyung—” He cut himself off. “Hyung’s dead but he would hate me if he woke up. Even if he says he didn’t, he was hurt by my actions. I hurt him too much to make up for the past. Nothing could ever make me happy as it is now.”
[The past…]
He blinked at the screen. “Can you take me to the past? Can I… can I time travel or do something similar?”
[If you’re unhappy, turning back time is possible.]
“I want to turn back time, then.” Yoohyun looked at the screen with newfound hope. “I want to turn it back…”
How many years? When did their relationship get so bad that there was no way of repairing it? The incident with his crushed legs? Before that? The interviews that misconstruct Yoojin’s words? The Awakening Broker? What time was the best?
Hesitantly, he said, “6 months. 6 months before my brother originally Awakened. I would be, what, 19? That’s over 5 years from now. With 5 years, I can repair our relationship and be… be happy.” Before everything ended.
[Fulfilling Han Yoojin’s wish parameters.]
[Do you wish to turn back time?]
“Yes,” he said, more confident in this answer than the previous ones.
When Han Yoohyun found himself standing in his private room at the Haeyeon Guild dorms, it was disorienting. Moments ago, he was in a dungeon surrounded by two corpses. The air had cleared into something cleaner, the view of a flimsy bed that he refused to call home stood before him pitifully. Yoohyun had to leave his bedroom in order to look out a window to see that it was dark out with the moon shining above as if illuminating Yoohyun’s thoughts.
He didn’t waste much time after that. He grabbed his phone, checked his calendar, then assessed the situation. 5 and a half years from where he was a few minutes ago in the future meant that his brother was younger than him now. Yoohyun blinked down at his phone screen in mute horror as realization set in that he was older than his brother now, yet his first thought was to ask his brother what to do next.
He went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. When he looked up and saw his reflection, only one thing went through his mind.
“Hyung,” he thought desperately, “what should I do with this new chance?”
What Yoohyun didn’t know was this:
The nightmare that Yoojin had before being woken up ended with a single phrase: “Hyung, I’m sorry. Just please don’t go into the dungeon.”