Chapter Text
Rain was coming down hard when a figure in all black seemed to roll right out from the abyss. Thunder could be heard in the distance, but all Jinwoo could focus on was the complete emptiness of the area.
Not a single person’s breath could be heard, and his own came out in bursts of mists, the sudden temperature difference catching him off guard.
The monarch laid there for a moment, possibly multiple. Time felt foreign and he may’ve drifted in and out of consciousness, but honestly, he couldn’t tell. As a faint memory danced along the edges of his mind, he almost broke down.
“No,” he whispered before repeating it again. “No” he uttered, it was barely a word more than a gasp.
The rain was soaking through his clothes, but Jinwoo barely noticed. He didn’t remember much, he must’ve gotten hit on the head at some point during… whatever battle he’d been in this time.
But it was a big one, he knew that. Shirt in tatters, Korea’s strongest hunter– no, the world’s strongest hunter clutched at his hands, desperate for something to do with them.
It had been a huge battle… which he’d lost. But the war had been won. The ruler’s army had arrived in time, at least he thought so. Things were a bit blurry. But then, nothing. He’d arrived here, probably fallen into some pit or gate or shadow and just appeared here. Wherever ‘here’ was.
Oh no, he’d been out for a while, Jinah and Mum would be worried. Almost subconsciously, he reached out for his sister’s shadow, a quick exchange and he’d be there in moments.
But that didn’t happen. Now that he focused on it, the absence of his shadows was almost obvious, it wasn’t as though he felt empty or without them, just… slightly more hollow.
It was awfully disconcerting.
Taking a tentative but confident step forward, Sung Jinwoo quietly dodged a stray beam of moonlight that seeped in through the cracks in some towering buildings above him.
This place could be dangerous.
He tried not to focus on how shaky he was feeling.
Though it was a strangely serene place, the feeling was almost instantly shattered by the realisation that he was very possibly stuck within a gate.
Was this a ruined civilisation of sorts? No, it couldn’t be, the constant hum of a city was present in the atmosphere. It reminded him quite a bit of Seoul, but somehow different, unsettlingly so.
But not allowing himself to panic was a familiar process, he’d been in countless situations where the need had arisen, not many of which included his shadow’s own failure to do so.
Wandering away from the waves of the beach, he trekked up a hill, approaching the buildings he saw just a few dozen metres away.
There was a figure stumbling into an apartment building not far away, seemingly having gotten back from a night out, a convenience store was open and through the windows, he could faintly see a clerk slumped behind the counter, probably scrolling absently on their phone. Approaching them wouldn’t do him any good.
It seemed… normal, just different. Regardless, he wasn’t here to hunt, nor did he have time to sightsee.
After all, the world depended on Sung Jinwoo, he had to be there for them.
So, he entered the convenience store taking in the strangely superhero themed products in the display and scanning the store for clues towards his location.
The bright screen playing the news above the clerks head attracted his attention almost instantly.
“ENDEVOUR BRINGS DOWN THE HERO KILLER,” blares the screen in a foreign language, Jinwoo taking a moment to recognise it as Japanese. A large man in blue and red was plastered in the centre.
Another thing Sung Jinwoo did not fail to notice were the bright flames sparkling on the man, nor did he fail to take in the crowd of people in the background, one whom had horns.
Yes, horns, cute little things sticking out from either side of his head and curling inwards, those horns. Choosing to ignore that for a moment, Jinwoo noted the Japanese signage everywhere, noticing them promoting more and more heroes as he glanced around.
‘All Might’ seemed most prominent, and quite a few depicted the ‘hero’ named Endeavour. It was certainly strange but it didn’t seem to be the sort of thing within a gate, especially considering how he seemed to be in Japan, which wouldn’t be replicated.
It was a different looking Japan, but Japan nonetheless, especially since he could read and understand their language, making the man inexplicably grateful that he’d learnt the language in school.
Regardless of this, the great shadow monarch was starving, so he fished some won from his pocket and approached the boy at the counter. In rusty Japanese he began to speak.
“Hello, can I exchange money here?” he questioned shakily, internally flinching at the sentence, maybe he should’ve practiced speaking a bit more often back at home.
While he didn’t quite catch the boy’s answer, the recognisable word for ‘yes’ and a faint hand gesture allowed him to slide his money over the counter and hope for the best.
After some shuffling, the boy pulled out some Japanese yen and slid them towards Jinwoo along with the cup noodles he’d selected.
“Thank you,” he said before walking off toward the table with his newly acquired currency and cup of noodles, shaking some seasoning into it before filling it with hot water and taking a seat.
Waving his hand absently as he busied himself with his noodles, Jinwoo was slightly confused by the lack of screen in front of him, summoning the system once again only for it to barely sputter into existence.
A small warning panel popped up, a sharp contrast with the white wall in front of him, stating his lack of access to his skills.
*LOCATION UNKNOWN*
Skills requiring activation cannot be used, passive skills already in use are accessible.
Enter a registered area for access to all skills
*WARNING: DIFFICULTY REACHING PLAYER*
“Oh, that’s… strange,” Jinwoo murmured, his concern muted but present.
Slurping at his ramen, he tried to contact any of his shadows again, but nothing was there. Again trying to summon a shadow, he called for one of his most trusted.
“Igris. Arise,” he intoned, absently hoping that the clear command would make some difference.
It didn’t.
For access to Shadow Extraction, enter a registered area
Knowing it was futile to continue with his shadow summons, he opened the system again, grabbing a dagger from within. Almost surprisingly, the weapon came through easily, though some wary and nervous glances from the cashier had him hastily shoving the dagger back into storage.
Perhaps a store wasn’t the best place to experiment with his abilities.
He straightened as well as he could and strode toward the door, repeating a quiet thank you to the worker as he departed.
Fully intending to find an isolated park, the hunter almost froze as he noticed a slight glow reflecting from around the corner of an alleyway.
Jinwoo was just a few strides away from the store, but rather than reporting what was likely a gate around the corner, he ducked into the narrow space.
What he wasn’t expecting was to see yet another person with strange anatomical features, this time what looked like bunny ears sat innocently on the man's head. What he’d been expecting to an even lesser extent was to see another man cornering him into a wall.
“Uh, what’s going on here?” he spoke in Korean, taking moments before realising his error. His voice had been slightly raised so he could be heard, and the mugger turned towards him.
Jinwoo didn’t have much experience in fights outside of the gates.
A sneer on his face, the mugger had spun just enough so that a blade was now visible in his left-hand and the ragged bandana tied around his head was flapping in the wind.
“Are you another fake hero?” the man snarled, beginning to rush towards him. “Stain would’ve cleansed this world of scum like you!”
Jinwoo moved before he thought, his dagger already in the palm of his hand as the mugger took his first steps. Another step and his blade was against the perpetrator’s neck, faint wisps of shadow rising around it and keeping the man steadily against the blade.
The victim was scurrying backwards, an expression of fear painted on his face even as he repeatedly professed himself grateful for the help.
With a twitch of his fingers, Jinwoo summoned a pipe towards him, a slight delay in its response having it spiral slightly to its left and slamming into the mugger’s back rather than smoothly landing in Sung’s hand.
A side step had Jinwoo effortlessly dodging the body as it fell, and ducking beneath the hand that reached out to grab at him.
“Who said I was a hero?” he belatedly responded to the previous question, only to be met with silence.
The man was out cold, leaving Jinwoo standing over the unconscious body and a bunny-eared victim sitting silently nearby.
In tattered clothes, Jinwoo stood still for a moment, and after seeing that the only other conscious person at the scene looked unharmed, he zipped up his jacket and speedily rounded the corner, continuing on his way.
Now looking more like a mugger than the man he’d just met, the few people Jinwoo encountered subtly sped up, trying to get away from the strange man in all black.