Chapter Text
It was a normal Tuesday, Sung Hyunjae felt a subtle shift in air. He didn’t know what it was for. As if something had changed, something was supposed to happen but didn’t happen, something was gone forever. His brows drew closer as he thought about it. It frustrated him to no end. Felt like losing someone, but he doesn’t even know whom.
He has no relative or someone to call a friend, so why does he feel like this?
He couldn’t focus on work. He went home but it felt vastly empty. Why so? His house was vast, and he has been living here alone for quite a long time, it had never felt empty before.
He couldn’t feel peace in house, so he took his car and drove around empty roads at mid-night. Driving recklessly and roughly in highway, he got far from Sheol. He didn’t feel like going back. He stayed in a hotel somewhere and was back the next day telling himself that it was ok, nothing had happened, everything would go back to normal.
But it didn’t.
The feeling only grew. Each day it got more and more intense. He went inside an a-rank dungeon, he would’ve normally left for other guild members to take care. He went cause he felt like it. And something again felt incredibly wrong. He felt like he was alone. Though his team members were with him, he felt like other people were with him last time…
No, he hadn't come inside this dungeon before.
His brows furrowed.
But it felt like he had. And there were other people with him back then., not his teammates. And among those others, something was missing, someone was missing, missing from existence.
He felt wronged and wiped every beast out in the dungeon. The gate appeared. But he didn’t feel like going out. It felt like something more was supposed to happen. Something more dangerous and more fun. So, he told others to go out and waited alone with furrowed brows.
Nothing happened. He had to come out frustrated. Director Song Taewon paid him a visit, he seemed to be worried about Hyunjae. His guild members looked incredibly worried as well. He was advised to take a break. It annoyed Hyunjae a little. Did they think he was unstable? He’s completely fine.
However, that was a lie.
He wasn’t fine at all. What he hated was his mood showing in his work. So, he took other’s advice and went on a little vacation.
He sat idly on the couch in his seaside rest house. He watched over the waves as they crashed on the shore. The sad yet beautiful melody of the sea played with the strings of his heart. It was the first time. He had heard the sea’s melody numerous times before, it never- never felt anything like this. As if the sea was also mourning for someone.
Hyunjae paused his thoughts. He wasn’t mourning for someone. He has no one to mourn over, but he was. He took another glass of wine and drank. He was an s-class so he couldn’t get drunk no matter how much he drank. It never felt bothersome before.
He wished he could get drunk and lose sense of himself, so he doesn’t have to deal with all these frustrating feelings. He fetched another empty glass from the kitchen and poured drink on both. He didn’t know for whom the other glass was. He clicked his glass with the other and drank.
A bitter laugh left him. Was he finally going mad? Pouring drink for no one and toasting?
He laughed for a long time. Then it was clear, he probably had gone mad. Hyunjae put down his drink and stared at the night sky. “Where are you? No, who are you, ha?" he muttered.
Hyunjae closed his eyes and felt the wet and salty wind of sea against his face. And an alert notification popped on his phone screen.
Seol was burning. It wasn’t a dungeon break, but it was far worse. He knew those flames. Those black flames of Han Yoohyun.
Han Yoohyun..
Han Yoo...
Another name familiar to him almost came to Hyunjae. But he could not remember properly.
Han... Han.... Han what? There was another Han, wasn’t there?
It was weird cause Han Yoohyun had no family members either. He was an only child and his parents had died early. So, which Han was he thinking about right now?
Hyunjae stared at the screen of his phone, he felt no urgency to go and help to stop the young s class on rampage. It didn’t matter anymore, did it?
“He’s gone” he murmured, not knowing who this ‘he’ was.
...
Yerim had awakened months before, as a cold s-class, the youngest in the category. She was free from her uncle’s gasp with the tremendous power in her disposal. She was free, she need not wear torn, small shoes or hold onto a broken umbrella. She was independent, she need not starve anymore, she need not suffer anymore, she need not grief anymore…. Or so did she think.
Another ordinary Tuesday it was, she was on a dungeon raid when she felt it. Something that started but didn’t happen. A small shift, a small crack in space and time.
A grief of losing someone took over her. She didn't understand who. She had noone. Right, noone was ever there for her….
“Leave it to the adults, Yerim-ie”
Who said this? A voice played inside her head.
“Adjussi will take care of it.”
Who?
“You should go to school! Just because you're a n s ranker doesn't mean you don't need education!”
Noone said this to her. It felt weird. She felt like crying. So she cleared up the dungeon fast, froze everything, her teammates couldn’t keep up, so she finished the boss herself as well.
She ran to her apartment after getting out. There was noone there.
Of course…
Who would be here?
It felt like someone was supposed to be there. Someone… who?
“Who are you?” Yerim whispered in the silence of her house. She whispered cause she felt like something here would break if she talked out loud.
For the first time she was afraid to raise her voice. She whispered to the emptiness again, “Are you there?”
The house stayed silent. There was something terribly wrong going on here. Yerim was living alone since her awakening. It gave her a sense of freedom, but today, for the first time, it scared her- the emptiness of her house.
The silence rang too loud in her heart that she felt like rushing out of here, to…
To where?
To home obviously. A voice in her head replied.
But I'm in my house. Yerim muttered back. She was in her home, no, she couldn’t call it a home. It felt like there was another house, which truly was home. She has no idea where, but there was supposed to be, yeah, right. And a warm ‘Welcome home' with sunnyside eggs.
Her legs felt weak, she fell on her knees, her mouth twisted, and tears fell from her eyes. What was wrong with her?
Where are you, Adjussi?
Where- just where are you?
Come now, take me home-
“I want to go home”, Yerim cried out loud, “Take me home, adjussi, take me home…” her voice broke, she didn't know who she was screaming to. She cried and cried. She wanted someone- a someone to take her home. But she knew better than anyone else that out there in this cold night in Sheol, there was no ‘welcome home’ for her.
...
A regular Tuesday suddenly became heavy for no reason. Taewon isn't sure how to describe it, something was clearly off. Then within hours, the youngest s ranker comes rushing out of the dungeon raid which was supposed to end 3 days later. Then, days later Sung Hyunjae, the eldest of s-classes (and the mist problematic one) started acting weirdly. Taewon was worried so he paid the man a visit, Hyunjae looked older than his age. Was aging finally catching up to the s-class?
Han Yoohyun had also started acting weirdly. What a headache. Why was all the s-classes getting unsteady?
Taewon wanted to complain. But who would he complain to? He never complained about his job to anyone…
Or did he?
He frowned. To whom?
No, there clearly wasn't anyone like that.
And suddenly he felt like wanting to get beer and fried chicken. Not just want, it felt like carving. So he got beer and fried chicken after office and went home to eat in peace.
But there was no peace. It felt like he wasn't supposed to be eating alone, although as far as he remembers he always ate dinner alone. So where was the problem?
Also, there was no peace…
What peace is he thinking of?
He stared at the night sky out of his apartment window. The beautifully glowing moon felt lonely, hanging alone in the darkness.
Alone.
Yes, alone.
Taewon felt like something had gone missing from his life, something valuable, very valuable. Something thar he cherished, a time that was gone-
Taewon's thoughts got cut as an alert siren rang in a distance and at the same time notification popped on his phone's window.
Sheol was burning.
Not because of dungeon break, but worse. Han Yoohyun, an s-class was on rampage.
Taewon quickly turned up at the site. It took not just him, but also Hyuna Moon, Noah Luire, Kim Sunghan and 10-20 more a -rankers to finally capture the rampaging s-ranker.
Han Yoohyun was put to sleep and taken to his guild with extra precaution in case he wakes up and starts burning everything again. Taewon stared at the mess left behind by the battle.
Look at the mess your brother has created, a line almost left his throat. Who is he even saying this to?
He tiredly just stared at the ruins. Its going to be a real pain covering this up.
Hyuna Moon approached him and handed him a bottle of water.
“Good work, Chief” she said, in a tone unlike her usual.
“Thank you for helping out” Taewon replied, accepting the bottle. His own tone was different.
Their eyes met, noone spoke a word but there was a silent understanding of what the other’s mind.
“Do you want to grab some drink?” Hyuna offered.
Surprising himself, Taewon nodded, “I could really go for beer and fried chicken.”
Hyuna Moon smiled, “Beer and fried chicken? Doesn't sound bad. I'll treat you, let's go!”
...
On a Tuesday morning, Hyuna Moon felt a little odd. As if something started but didn't quite happen. There was this feeling of worry, as if something terrible had happened to someone close to her. As if she had just lost a friend. So she called her family, then her friends and colleagues. Noone was harmed. Everyone replied to her as always. All was fine. But the feeling of a friends in need only intensified. Bak Yerim was not looking good, she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was unkept. Hyuna Moon was worried over her as well.
Days later Han Yoohyun went on a rampage, she went to help at association's call. He was nullified. She offered a drink to Chief Song Taewon as she had a feeling Taewon was also feeling the lose of someone. But she didn't really expect the officer to agree. Surprisingly, Taewon did. Hyuna Moon and Song Taewon then would often grab a drink together and talked about various things. Though the topics of their talk were limited at first it eventually broadened. They bonded over their mutual feeling of losing someone. They would sometimes complain to each other of their problems, comment on how both the Sudam guild leader had died and MKC guild leader vanished, talk shit about Sung Hyunjae (which was mainly done by Hyuna and Taewon agreed silently) or just talk about something randomly. The feeling that someone was missing in between them remained unchanged.
Someone was needed to complete the circle. Not just a random someone, but a certain someone, whom neither of them knows. Talking shit about Hyunjae felt seriously lacking without him. The situation with Han Yoohyun would’ve been easier Sung Hyunjae had turned up. But he was in vacation. That bastard could still show up, but he didn't. In contrary, he never turned up again. Sung Hyunjae had vanished into thin air.
Han Yoohyun was put to sleep as everytime they tried to talk to him when he woke up, he would just ask of his brother. They tried to convince him he had no brother but he wouldn't listen. He was declared to be mentally unstable and now is sleeping in the deep walls of hunter association.
For a fleeting second, Hyuna Moon had this terrible thought, what if somebody did exist? What if Han Yoohyun's brother did exist? And- and-
She doesn’t know why; her brain dismissed the possibility the next moment. There's no way one could vanish from existence.
...
S-ranker Noah Luire had been in Korea for quite some time. He came here on Sung Hyunjae’s notice but in the end, his ability to turn into a dragon got leaked and Sung Hyunjae stated he was of no use anymore. He would’ve gone back to France, but something kept him. He felt like he was to meet someone. He had an urge to go home, but there was no place for him to call home. Back in France, there is his sister, Riette, from whom he had final gotten some free time. He did not want to face her again. Well, he did go to France just to check, but his house back there didn’t satisfy him. It wasn’t the home he was carving.
So, he came back to Korea. Korea felt more comfortable than France. He had dismissed his guild and told his bastard sister off. He could be brave, he told himself and started free-lancing as a hunter in Korea.
With the absence of Sesong guild leader, madness of Hayeon’s guild leader along with MKC’s guild leader vanishing and death of Sudam’s guild leader, Korea was having a crisis with s-class dungeons. So, Noah’s presence was more than welcome. He had various offers coming, but he kept himself unattached to any guild. He felt like he had to keep himself for one, one who would need him at the right time. He often played with Breaker’s tamed magical beast, Blue. He was welcomed at Breaker, the guild leader, Hyuna Moon, gave him a free pass as Blue seemed to be very fond of him. Hayeon left their magical beast with him for they had been having problem with it since their guild leader went mad and for some reason the fire lion seemed to tolerate no one except for him. He also had picked up a fur ball looking white little bird, which is probably a dungeon beast, well ‘beast' doesn't fits its description, so maybe a dungeon bird? It has been shallowing up high class magic stones, keeping it was expensive. But he felt like it was something important, to someone important to him. So, he held onto it.
The young a-ranker of Sesong, Kang Soyoung kept asking him out and he kept on rejecting. Her counts went over like 50 or so, she was sure persistent.
...
There was another, not an s-class, who also felt a disturbance. Not disturbance exactly, but an emptiness, of a person.
It was Yoo Myeongwoo.
He had gotten a big offer from overseas and he felt the need to share it with his dear friend. But he had to think twice. His dear friend?
Among those he could call a friend… Yerim-yang was a good customer, and she also complimented his cooking. Song Taewon was a government officer, a good man who looks over awakened people. Hyuna Moon would be a good company, but none of them quite fit as a ‘dear friend'. Only Noah.. no Noah wouldn't quite fit either. But among all those he knew, he was closer to Noah than the rest. After some moments of hesitation, he ended up calling the french hunter. Noah congratulated him wholeheartedly on getting such a big project. He also asked about the magical beasts under Noah's care. Beside Noah, those beasts were friendly with Myeongwoo. They talked about some other things before hanging up. Myeongwoo looked over the buildings of Sheol from his apartment and sighed. Noah wasn't the one after all.
Everything went in its usual way. The s-classes soon learned to live on with the unsettling feeling buried deep in their heart. Kim Sunghan, another s-class and vice guild leader of Hayeon was given the role of guild leader in Han Yoohyun’s absence. Sesong’s hunters and dungeons were being managed by association. Meanwhile the search for Sung Hyunjae continued.