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Yoo Jin-Ho has been involved in many accidents in his life.
It was an accident, he thought, to join a suspicious raid team who needed him as a last minute addition to fill the party head count despite being a team who raided together all the time.
At first, he’d thought it was a splendid idea; his first raid and he didn’t even have to work hard at all to secure it, already one step closer to making his father proud of him and becoming Yoo-Jin Construction’s very own Guild Master. Jin-Ho saw it as a good omen.
That is, until he made the mistake of speaking up for a Sunbae who had been over looked in the division of mana crystals. Sung Jin-Woo, who Jin-Ho had promised to protect upon entering the dungeon despite it being his first raid and the Sunbae being someone who’d been raiding for years already, had nodded when Jin-Ho asked to see the contract he’d signed, feeling it necessary to help him in this instance. And then it led to their raid party blocking them in the boss room with nowhere to run.
Yes, Jin-Ho had thought, maybe this was a mistake too. But he promised his Sunbae he would protect him, and though he didn’t know the man well at all and he didn’t speak much, simply nodding along as he let Jin-Ho babble on to shake off his nerves,Jin-Ho had kept his word and told the Sunbae to stand behind him while he took care of the boss.
Another mistake, it would seem, though not one nearly as fatal as his last two that led him there, as it seemed his Sunbae-nim had been a false ranker who could handle the boss on his own. When given the chance to leave his Sunbae-nim and join the raid party permanently, leaving Sung Jin-Woo for dead, he’d made his first correct decision by deciding to stand up for him.
Sung Jin-Woo, who Jin-Ho now knows as Hyung-nim, had quickly taken him under his wing. Jin-Ho made a lot of mistakes in his life - sometimes his biological Hyung would tell him that his first mistake was being born if he was feeling gracious enough to even speak to him - but Jin-Ho did good by staying by his Hyung-nim’s side.
When Hyung-nim invites Jin-Ho to a family dinner to meet both his family and his soulmate for the first time, Jin-Ho is so happy that he cries. Jin-Woo Hyung-nim tells him to cut the waterworks, but he gives him a small smile a ruffles his hair anyways and Jin-Ho feels like he belongs with Hyung-nim.
His soulmate is nice enough. He’s not nearly as talkative as anyone else at the table, but he smiles and nods along to the conversation, talking where necessary, and Jin-Ho thinks he’s a good match for his Hyung-nim.
When they’re sat at the table to eat, Jin-Ho sits on the opposite side of Jin-Woo Hyung-nim and his soulmate, Woo Jin-Chul. This places him beside Sung Jin-Ah, who he realizes he met once, if only briefly, before Hyung-nim slammed the door in his face and left him stranded after Jin-Ho’s father kicked him out… It’s okay though, Jin-Ho know’s that Jin-Woo Hyung-nim was only protecting his little sister from the reporters and interviewers who had been camped outside of his house all day, and Jin-Ho’s mother had managed to get a hold of him and set him up in a hotel for the night.
Jin-Ah, Jin-Ho realizes as he glances to the girl beside him, is quite beautiful. It makes sense that’s she’s Hyung-nim’s sister!
In his head, he vows to protect her with his life if it ever comes to that. It likely won’t, as Jin-Woo Hyung-nim takes great care of his loved ones, but Jin-Ho feels he needs to do his best to protect her too. Because she’s Hyung-nim’s sister, of course.
Jin-Ah glances his way, and Jin-Ho realizes he’s been staring, his cheeks flushing as he turns to congratulate Jin-Woo Hyung-nim and Woo Jin-Chul on finding each other and completing their soulmate bond.
Soulmate bonds are rare, even in their world. You can never know if your soulmate is someone you already know, someone near you, in your town or country, or somewhere all the way across the globe.
Most people don’t find their soulmates, Jin-Ho knows, his parents and elder brother perfect examples of that, but now that Jin-Ho sees the way Jin-Woo Hyung-nim and Woo Jin-Chul smile when their eyes catch, the soft grazes of skin that seem unintentional and effortless in nature, the way they seem to gravitate around each other so perfectly, he wishes he could meet his soulmate.
The Sung-Park family is very special and lucky, two of three pairs of soulmates already having been found. Jin-Ho feels a bit sad when he thinks about how Park Kyung-Hye must feel about losing her soulmate and the father of her children, Sung Il-Hwan, but she looks nothing but proud as she watches her son converse with his soulmate.
Jin-Ho wishes to find his soulmate someday, and he hopes that they will let him hold them close forever.
He looks at Sung Jin-Ah again, watching her smile and giggle at a joke her older brother makes, and Jin-Ho finds himself thinking he wants a soulmate like her. Someone beautiful and kind, someone who laughs at his jokes but also rolls her eyes and gives him deadpan looks when he’s being silly. Someone who talks just as much as he does, and knows how to handle his Hyung-nim.
Of course, he can’t have Sung Jin-Ah. The girl is too young, only just having turned eighteen, and she’s his Hyung-nim’s little sister! Hyung-him would kill him! But someone just like her, he thinks. That would be nice.
Jin-Ah turns and gives him a warm smile that makes his cheek and ears burn pink and his stomach grow warm. She really is gorgeous, Jin-Ho thinks. He’s never met a girl more pretty, and he’s met many of Soo-Hyun Noona’s model friends.
“Ah-“ Jin-Ho finds himself saying. He’s been staring too long — he doesn’t want to scare off the girl, to make her think he’s weird. “So, how’s school? Jin-Woo Hyung-nim told me you’re at the top of the class and want to go into the doctoral field.”
He stutters over his words like a little boy talking to a girl for the first time, but can you blame him? She’s just so pretty!
Jin-Ah’s smile widens, nodding as she side glances and glares at her brother. “Yeah, school’s going great and I graduate very soon! I mostly wanted to become a doctor to take care of his sorry ass for always getting hurt in dungeons and ending up in the hospitals.” She says, earning a disapproving head shake from her mother for her language and a flick to the forehead from Jin-Woo Hyung-nim.
“Watch it.” He scolds, and Jin-Ah sticks out her tongue at him, rubbing the spot on her forehead below her bangs.
They look good on her, the bangs, Jin-Ho thinks.
“But yeah,” Jin-Ah continues, turning a bit more in her seat to face Jin-Ho better. It’s the first time he realizes her eyes, big and bright and a beautiful shade of grey that seems to glint a soft purple in the light, and he loses himself in them. “I think I’m still going to become a doctor, even though Jin-Woo Oppa’s a big shot now and doesn’t need me anymore.” She pouts, Jin-Woo Hyung-nim rolls his eyes at her, but Jin-Ho thinks she looks very cute. “I got pretty close with the staff at most of the hospitals around town, and it just seems like a place I would enjoy. I like helping people.”
“That, and she likes the money.” Jin-Woo Hyung-nim adds, ducking behind Woo Jin-Chul when Jin-Ah throws a piece of food from her plate at him.
“Are they always like this?” Woo Jin-Chul asks Park Kyung-Hye, and he gets a tired but fond nod and smile in response. “My condolences.” Woo Jin-Chul gets a flick to the forehead from Jin-Woo Hyung-nim too, but it seems significantly softer than the one he sent Jin-Ah’s way, followed by a quick peck to sooth the spot.
Jin-Woo Hyung-nim might tease Jin-Ah about her intentions with her choice in future profession, but he knows just how proud he is of his sister. It’s a good line of work, too.
“That sounds lovely.” Jin-Ho admits, maybe a little softer than he should have, but Jin-Ah turns back to him and blinks, a warm grin tugging on her face.
“You think so?”
Jin-Ho nods. “Even with how our world has changed in the past ten years with fast healing hunters and mage type healers, doctors are still a very necessary profession. It’s really cool that you want to help people.”
Jin-Ah’s eyes grow wider before a flush spreads across her cheeks, and she ducks her head and nods. “Thank you.” She says, her voice soft and sweet. Jin-Ho thinks he likes the sound of her voice too.
He blushes too, then, embarrassed to be thinking such things about his Hyung-nim’s most prized person, his little sister who he took care of for four years after their mother fell ill with the internal sleep. He should not be looking at her or thinking so fondly of her.
Jin-Ho clears his throat, suddenly parched. “Uh- do you want a drink?” He asks, reaching towards the middle of the table where a jug of juice sits before the girl can even answer, and as he goes to fill their cups, he makes yet another mistake.
It’s always accident after accident with Yoo Jin-Ho, and now he finds himself spilling juice on the most beautiful girl in the world; a girl that he can’t possibly think that way about.
“Oh- oh my god!” Jin-Ho sputters, shoving the jug back down onto the table. “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to spill on you!”
Jin-Ah laughs, and Jin-Ho’s not sure if it’s at him for acting so ridiculous or just became the situation is a bit funny, but god her laugh is so precious. Jin-Ho wants to record it and set it as his alarm so he can wake up to it every morning.
No- no! That is weird and totally not okay! This is his Hyung-nim’s sister! He has to keep reminding himself, no matter how perfect she may be, she is off limits to him.
“It’s okay, you’re fine.” Jin-Ah says through her giggles, but she doesn’t protest when Jin-Ho begins wiping her hand off with the rag Park Kyung-Hye kindly hands him with a smile.
Gosh, he’s embarrassing himself in front of their mother!
Jin-Ah watches him, a curiousness to the look in her eyes and the tilt of her head, and though her flush from earlier has died down some, her cheeks are still a rosy pink. It compliments the brown, almost purple-mauve hair that cascades down her shoulders nicely. Her hair had been up in an elastic when he first arrived, but at some point m over the night she’s taken it down, and Jin-Ho finds she looks quite beautiful both ways.
His thumbs graze the side of the dorsal side of her hand, and he feels a bit breathless; her skin soft and smooth under the pads of his thumbs, her gaze boring into his. He clears his throat again, wiping over her hand one last time before pulling the rag away to clean any spots he might have gotten on the table.
There is no spill on the table, he comes to realize, but he can’t look at her right now. Not when she looks so pretty, her long eyelashes fluttering up at him, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth. He wipes aimlessly at the table, seeing Jin-Ah pull her hand into her lap and sigh pleasantly in the corner of his eye.
“Oppa?” Jin-Ah calls, and Jin-Ho gulps. Yes, she is Sung Jin-Woo, strongest S-rank huhter in the world and Jin-Ho’s Hyung-nim’s little sister. He keeps his eyes on his plate, though he doesn’t really feel hungry right now.
“Hm?” Jin-Woo Hyung-nim hums, but his eyes are on Jin-Ho, a dangerous cerulean blue glint to them as he watches him curiously. And then Woo Jin-Chul seems to lean into him, and Jin-Woo Hyung-nim’s eyes return to their normal soft, steely grey, and Jin-Ho huffs a relieved sigh.
“Have you heard of SuckJinBoo on TikTok?”
That catches Jin-Ho’s attention. “Ah, the account that keeps posting defaming information about Hyung-nim!?”
“Yes!” Jin-Ah says, her eyes growing wide as she turns to meet his gaze again. “I’m surprised you know about them, Oppa never seems to know about these types of accounts!”
Jin-Ho nods quickly. “Yeah, he doesn’t really care about that kind of stuff, but I’ve been trying to get that account blocked for a couple of days now.” He admits. “Usually it’s a lot easier, I’ve gotten plenty of Jin-Woo Hyung-nim hater accounts taken down on multiple sites before, but this account is persistent!”
Jin-Ah groans, nodding along, and Jin-Ho finds it quite easy to talk to her. He likes talking to her. This is his Hyung-nim’s little sister, so it’s good that they can get along well, he tells himself. It’s nothing more.
“I’ve actually spam reported them on multiple accounts and succeeded in getting them banned once.” She says, and Jin-Ho’s eyebrows raise, impressed with her dedication. “Their original name was SungJinBoo, but after I got them banned on that account they came back with a new name.”
Jin-Ho shakes his head. “I’ll have to track their IP address and get them permanently banned.”
Jin-Ah’s eyes widen, and Jin-Ho thinks that maybe he’s gone too far. Jin-Woo Hyung-nim has mentioned he does a bit much for him some times, but he can’t help it! He loves his Hyung-nim like his own family, and he would do anything to protect him and the ones he holds dear.
He allows himself the pretend that that’s the reason he would do the same thing if he ever came across a hate account for Sung Jin-Ah.
“You know how to do that?” Jin-Ah asks, leaning closer to him.
Jin-Ho feels a bit embarrassed, and he can’t even tell if it’s because maybe he shouldn’t be willing to go that far for his Hyung-nim or the fact that a gorgeous girl is leaning in close enough to breath the same air as him. “Yeah.” He says weakly.
Jin-Ah beams, fascinated. “Teach me!”
All Jin-Ho can do is smile and nod.
The dinner ends soon after, Jin-Ho thanking Park Kyung-Hye for having him and for the delicious food. She hugs him at the door, and Jin-Ho tears up because he feels like he belongs here more than he does at his own home.
Jin-Ah waves at Jin-Ho from behind Jin-Woo Hyung-nim, who trips the girl and lets her fall onto the couch when she tries to get closer to say a proper goodbye, laughing maliciously at her as she whines. Woo Jin-Chul watches his soulmate fondly, shaking his head with a smile and shoving the man to see Jin-Ho out.
They’re very cute together.
“I’m glad you found your special someone.” Jin-Ho says as his Hyung-nim walks him to his car. He told him he didn’t need to, but Jin-Woo Hyung-nim had insisted.
Jin-Woo Hyung-nim hums, tilts his head and scratches the back of his neck. “Are you looking for your soulmate?” He asks, and for some reason it makes Jin-Ho think about the pretty girl whining on the couch as the door closed behind them, and he blushes.
“Ah- well.. not exactly, - not actively, at least - but I do think it would be very nice to have one.” Jin-Ho says, looking up to the starry night sky above. “Were you looking for yours when you found Woo Jin-Chul Hyung-nim?”
If he is with Jin-Woo Hyung-nim, he supposes that will make him his brother in law someday. Jin-Chul Hyung-nim.. it doesn’t sound half bad.
He looks back to find his Hyung-nim is grinning, and not that sick grin he wears when he’s in the middle of a good fight. He’s happy with him, and Jin-Ho couldn’t ask for anything more. “No, but I think that’s part of the magic.”
Jin-Ho nods. He wonders if he’ll find his soulmate someday — if she’ll make him feel as good as Sung Jin-Ah did in just one night. It’s just a little crush, he decides, something fleeting like a middle school playground relationship. He’ll get over it, eventually… he hopes.
Jin-Woo Hyung-nim clasps his hand over Jin-Ho’s shoulder, leaning down to look him in his eyes. He looks sincere, more sincere than Jin-Ho has ever seen him look, and he grips him a little tighter. “I trust you.” He says, and Jin-Ho’s mind blanks.
He blinks up at his Hyung-nim, baffled and confused. “What?” He asks, but his Hyung-nim just straightens back up and taps his shoulder, turning to continue walking to where Jin-Ho had parked. “Hyung-nim, what do you mean?”
Jin-Woo Hyung-nim smiles to himself, self satisfied and unrelenting. “Well I can’t just tell you, can I? You have to figure it out on your own.” He laughs softly, and Jin-Ho doesn’t know whether to sigh in relief or shake in fear.
Jin-Woo Hyung-nim smiles softly, almost reassuringly, as Jin-Ho puts his car into reverse and drives out of the lot, and somehow, even though he still has no clue what’s going on, it manages to put his mind at ease.
When a few days later an unknown number calls him and whispers “Jin-Ho?” into the receiver, he’s a little embarrassed at how fast he recognizes the voice as Jin-Ah’s.
He sits up, immediately on guard, but the girl merely asks him to get coffee with her after her graduation ceremony in a few days. He doesn’t know what it’s about, but it sounds serious, so Jin-Ho agrees without any hesitation.
When they meet at a cafe and Jin-Ah asks if she can touch him, to check something, Yoo Jin-Ho already knows what’s happening. His heart swells in his chest and his hands grow clammy, his tongue falling limp and useless in his mouth.
Yes, he nods, and Jin-Ah gives him the softest touch he’s ever received in his life. He watches her face as she does it, her eyes watering and glinting purple in the light as she looks back up at him, a wobbly smile spreading across her lips.
Jin-Ho looks down to see a soft pink, almost puce mark blooming on his upper-inner wrist, distinctly Jin-Ah in shape. She covers his hand in hers, and there he can see a heart like cardioid mark on the side of her hand. Where he’d touched her that one day a couple weeks prior.
They share stories of their pasts there, getting to know each other as they both end up ordering white hot chocolate instead of coffee because they find it tastes better, Jin-Ho insisting on buying Jin-Ah whatever snacks she wants.
They don’t date; Jin-Ho can’t bring himself to date Jin-Woo Hyung-nim’s little sister, especially not right after she graduated, but he does hold her near and dear to his heart, a friend who was made for him. His soulmate; he found her! He’s so happy, and if he never wears sleeves long enough to go past his forearms ever again, that’s for them to know.
Jin-Ho has had many accidents and has made plenty of mistakes in his life, and he used to think that if he could, he would would go back and fix them all; would do better — but now, if he ever got the chance to redo his life, he would make every mistake over and over and over again, because it leads him to the best thing in this world.
It leads him to his soulmate. It leads him to Sung Jin-Ah.