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Jinwoo climbs the stairs to their apartment, steps dragging. He’s exhausted from fighting Baruka, frustrated that he wasn’t able to extract the ice slayer’s shadow, and pissed off at his interaction with Baek Yoonho after they exited the red gate. To top all of that off, he has to be awake in just a few hours to got pick up Jinho for more gate raids. Honestly, sometimes he—
There’s a hunter on his floor.
Jinwoo freezes on the stairwell, fingertips resting lightly on the hilt of one of his daggers. It’s not a familiar hunter; not the C-rank ahjusshi from floor 10, or the D-rank college student from floor 3. Someone new. Someone strong.
Jinwoo ghosts up the last few stairs, tamping down on his own mana in case the other hunter is especially sensitive.
They’re not in the hallway.
That means they must be in one of the apartments. A relative, visiting one of his neighbors? Doubtful. Someone this strong, they’re at least A-rank, and if any of his neighbors had an A-rank relative, they’d have bragged about it for a year.
Not in that apartment. Not over there. Jinwoo’s nerves wind tighter and tighter as the ominous feeling in his chest rises.
They’re in my apartment!
Jinwoo flashes to the front door, typing in his door code with speed-blurred fingers and barely waiting for the cheerful tone and the deadbolt to draw back before he yanks open the door. He slams into the apartment, scanning, every muscle drawn tight, but there’s no one there—
“Oppa!” Jinah appears in the doorway to her room, smiling tentatively, proudly. “Guess what!” She makes little jazz hands. “Surprise!”
Jinwoo stares at her. “Oh fuck no,” he says flatly.
—
The fight they have that night is the worst one they’ve ever had.
“But why,” Jinah yells, face red, tears filling her eyes, fists clenched. “You’re such a hypocrite, oppa! You’ve been fighting for years as an E-rank hunter, and I definitely feel stronger than that! So only you’re allowed to do dangerous things, and not me?”
“Yes,” Jinwoo grits out, trying to keep a grasp on his roiling mana and shadows. He doesn’t want to wake the whole building with the mana of two angry hunters. As it is, their whole apartment is way darker than it should be with all the lights turned on. “Jinah, you’re a high school student. You want to become a doctor. You are not going to become a hunter and that’s final.”
“But I can help! I know how difficult it’s been for you! Don’t lie to me, oppa, we’ve been struggling for years! I can help you in dungeons—”
“You cannot,” Jinwoo snarls, flashes of Jinah in a dungeon appearing in his mind like his worst nightmares. What if she comes across something like the double dungeon? Or the Red Gate that he’d just come out of? The thought is enough to make him feel physically sick. “You’re not allowed to become a hunter, Jinah, and that’s final.”
Jinah goes quiet, wiping her eyes. “I want to help our family,” she says, voice wobbling. “I want to help mom. I’m not going to drop out of school, oppa. But I can register with the Hunter’s Association without guardian consent. And if I’m strong, like I think I am, I can go on raids without you. I want to go with you, oppa, but I want to help this family more, so if I have to go without you, I will.”
Jinwoo feels himself sway in place, as if her words have the power of one of Baek Yoonho’s punches. The only thing worse than imagining Jinah in a dungeon, he realizes, ill, is imagining her going into dungeons without him to protect her.
“You are not allowed to disappear into a gate!” he shouts, voice raw. Not Jinah. Not his little sister. Their dad had disappeared into a gate, just never come back, no answer, no closure, no idea what happened to him, if he’d died quickly or if he’d suffered—if he’d been killed by a human or a monster—and their mom was as good as dead, lying in a hospital bed, no cure—and he’d had to raise Jinah, had to fight and struggle and kill, and the only reason he’s still alive is because he’d had a good healer, and still he had died, he’d lain on that stone altar watching a stone giant plunge an axe down on him, and known he was leaving Jinah all alone—
The apartment rings with silence. Jinah sniffles and wipes the back of her hand under her nose, wet eyes blinking at him. Jinwoo takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
“Look,” he says, very carefully modulating his voice. “We’re tired. It’s late. I’ve had—a long day. Let’s talk about this tomorrow. You have school in the morning. Go to bed and we’ll discuss this later.”
Jinah gulps wetly, wiping her tears off of her cheeks. “Fine,” she says. “Since I have school tomorrow.” She stalks back into her bedroom, closing the door just below a slam.
Slowly, Jinwoo moves through the apartment, making sure the door is deadbolted, turning off all the lights that Jinah must have turned on in anticipation of his return home. His shadows flicker around him, filling up all of the corners, spreading across the floor as the apartment becomes darker.
He’s covered in grime and melted snow from a week in the Red Gate. He shuffles to the bathroom, stripping himself of his clothes, and turns on the shower. He doesn’t remember actually showering; the next time he blinks, he’s standing in front of the sink, blow-drying his hair. He shuffles to his room and tugs on pajamas with hands that would feel clumsy, if his agility stat didn’t physically prevent that from ever being possible again. He lies down in bed. Igris pours himself into the shadow under his bed; Iron and Tank settle down in the shadows at the edge of his room.
Jinwoo stares at the ceiling, and doesn’t sleep a wink.
—
He makes sure he’s up before Jinah the next morning—easy, because he doesn’t think he’d even once gotten close to sleep. He makes some instant coffee for himself and some toast for Jinah, frying an egg and a couple of sausages for her to eat with it.
Jinah plods into the room in full uniform, sitting down at the table and dropping her school bag next to her chair. Jinwoo silently puts her plate in front of her, and her mouth purses but she picks up her fork. She’s still pissed at him, and he can see, too, that she’s dug in—she’s not going to let this go. Just as he had thought.
At least now he has a bit of a plan. It’s not a great one, but it’s something at least. He really doesn’t think Jinah is going to see the reality of being a hunter and want to stay, so he just…has to show her all of the worst bits of it.
He leans against the counter and takes a sip of his coffee. Jinah is doing an excellent job of pretending he isn’t even in the room.
“Fine,” he says, breaking the silence. “I’ll take you to the Hunter’s Association after school gets out today. If you’re strong—” but she is, he knows she is, she has enough mana to compare to that dumbass A-rank Kim Chul, “—then we can talk about what we’re going to do next.”
Jinah looks at him, slowly relaxing her shoulders, hands coming unclenched from around her fork. “Really?” she asks suspiciously. “You’ll really take me to get evaluated this afternoon?”
Jinwoo is clenching his teeth so hard, he can feel a dull headache starting to throb in the back of his skull. “Yes,” he says shortly.
—
He’s distracted all throughout the raids that morning. He and Jinho pick up Han Songyi at her apartment on their way to the first gate, and he barely notices that she’s changed her address for him from ‘ahjusshi’ to ‘oppa’. Jinho meets his shadows for the first time, which is diverting, but only for a moment; Jinwoo quickly sinks back into brooding over Jinah and what he’s going to do about her awakening as a hunter.
“Everything all right, hyung-nim?” Jinho finally asks, about halfway through their raids. “You seem kind of preoccupied.”
“Yeah,” Jinwoo says absently. “Just…family stuff.” If Jinah really does insist on coming on raids with him, they’d probably meet eventually, but Jinwoo doesn’t want to get into the details with Jinho just yet. He’s still hoping he can convince Jinah otherwise.
“What’s wrong, oppa?” Songyi asks on their way home. They’d already dropped Jinho off despite his protestations that he should be driving hyung-nim home, and now they were on their way to pick up Jinah from school.
“Do you have time now, Songyi-yah?” Jinwoo asks, navigating central Seoul traffic carefully. His hands drum absently on the steering wheel.
“Yeah,” Songyi says slowly. “Why?”
Jinwoo sighs. “Jinah has awakened. I’m wondering if you can talk to her about the Red Gate.”
“Oh.” Songyi is silent for a minute. “Jinah’s awakened? Holy shit. What rank?”
“We don’t know yet. I’m taking her to the Hunter’s Association this afternoon to get tested.”
In the rear-view mirror, Jinwoo can see Songyi perk up. “You’re going to the testing center? Can I come?”
Jinwoo shrugs. “Sure.”
Songyi falls quiet again, biting her lip. “Is…is it okay if I invite someone else?” she asks tentatively. “She’s awakened, but she hasn’t tested yet. She’s scared to go alone.”
“One of your classmates?” Jinwoo asks. “Sure, why not. Jinah might feel more comfortable with another classmate getting tested too.”
Songyi winces in the rear-view mirror. “She won’t feel more comfortable with this classmate,” she mutters under her breath.
Jinwoo raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t ask. That comment clearly hadn’t been meant for him to overhear. “Text your friend and tell her to meet us at the school gate,” he says instead.
Songyi pulls out her phone and does just that. “Hey, oppa,” she says suddenly, “What’s your rank?”
Jinwoo doesn’t even blink. “E,” he replies flatly.
Songyi scoffs, slumping down in her seat. “You’re such a liar, oppa.”
“That’s what it says on my license,” Jinwoo says mildly.
“Well, if an E-rank can do what you did in that Red Gate, then there’s no reason for me to stop being a hunter!” Songyi taunts. Jinwoo sighs. “Guess I should find a guild to join. I’ll be their top hunter in no time!” She drops the facetiousness and leans forward. “Seriously, oppa, you haven’t gotten re-evaluated? You don’t want to know how strong you are now?”
“I know how strong I am,” Jinwoo replies, flipping his blinker on to turn onto a side street.
“Whatever,” Songyi sighs. Her phone beeps, and she checks it. “My friend will meet us at the front gate. Heejin-unnie said that what you did in the Red Gate should have been impossible for anyone except an S-rank. Also, that no one’s ever seen anything like your shadow soldiers before.”
“Hm,” Jinwoo hums.
“Ugh,” Songyi groans. “Fine, keep your secrets.”
—
When they pull up to the school gate, Jinwoo spots Jinah almost immediately. She’s standing off to the side, out of the way of the stream of other high schoolers leaving the school, talking to another student. No, not talking, Jinwoo realizes—arguing.
“Oh, great,” Songyi grumbles.
“Where’s your friend?” Jinwoo asks, glancing through the crowd for another student who looks like they’re waiting. “I don’t want to hang around too long.”
“She’s right there,” Songyi sighs, pointing at Jinah. “With Jinah.”
Oh, Jinwoo realizes. Now Songyi’s earlier trepidation makes sense.
Jinwoo pulls over and gets out of the van, leaning on the hood. “Jinah-yah!” he calls, and his sister turns, along with a lot of the other students, who begin whispering excitedly to each other. Jinwoo ignores them.
“Oppa!” Jinah trots over to the car, the other girl following her. Songyi slides open the side door. “Oppa, Kim Seoyun says that she’s coming with us to the testing center!”
“Yeah, I invited her,” Songyi says. “She hasn’t gotten tested yet. Be nice, Jinah.”
“Nice?” Jinah repeats, outraged. “To this snake? She’s the one who has a problem with me—”
“Oh my god, let’s just go,” the other girl—Kim Seoyun, apparently—says, exasperated. She bows politely to Jinwoo. “Hi, Jinah’s oppa,” she says, smiling sweetly. She has big glasses that cover much of her face, and her hair is cut into a chin-length bob with bangs that brush against the top of her glasses. She looks like she’s the studious and driven type. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for taking me to the testing center.”
“Sure thing,” Jinwoo replies. “Everybody load up, let’s get going.”
Jinah sniffs and jumps into the front passenger seat, and Seoyun climbs into the back with Songyi. Jinwoo gets back into the driver’s seat and carefully pulls back onto the road.
“What’s the testing like, oppa?” Jinah asks. She’s looking out the window, hands clasped around her seatbelt strap. She’s getting excited again, Jinwoo can tell.
“You touch a huge mana ball, and it registers your mana levels,” Jinwoo says, spinning the wheel as they turn a corner. “Depending on how high your levels are, you get placed in a rank.”
“It’s super easy,” Songyi adds. “You literally just touch it and it does all the work. What rank do you think you’ll be, Jinah-yah?”
“No idea,” Jinah says, bouncing a little. “But I feel strong! It was so obvious when I awakened, I felt so different afterwards. And you have a type, right? Like what kind of hunter you are? I don’t think I’m a mage type. Or at least, I hope not.”
“Most hunters are fighter-types,” Jinwoo says, trying not to say you aren’t any type, you aren’t a hunter. “Sword-fighters, or assassins, or archers. If you’re a high rank, you can get into specific types, like tanks, or summoners, or warlocks, healers, et cetera. But that doesn’t matter for most hunters. Songyi-yah is a fighter type, right?”
“Yeah,” Songyi says. “Oppa’s a mage, right?”
“No, oppa’s a fighter,” Jinah corrects.
“Eh,” Jinwoo says, shrugging. “It’s complicated.”
He can feel three pairs of teenage eyes laser in on him. Damn, he shouldn’t have said that. Now he’s just piqued their curiosity.
“Why is it complicated, oppa?” Jinah asks, leaning in. “I thought you were one type or another. Why aren’t you just a fighter?”
“That makes sense though,” Songyi interjects, leaning in from the back. “In the gate, oppa was an incredible fighter—I think mostly like an assassin?—but he did magic too, a lot of it.”
“In the gate?” Seoyun gasps, and all of a sudden Jinwoo has two little faces crowding in from the back seats, Jinah staring him down from the front. “You went into a gate with Jinah’s oppa, Songyi-yah? When? Why?”
Jinwoo glances at Songyi through the rear-view mirror. He hadn’t planned on telling Jinah about the Red Gate beyond how dangerous it had been, but if Songyi wants to talk about it he’d let her take the lead. It doesn’t look like she wants to go into any more detail, though, so he continues. “Songyi wants to become a hunter. I agreed to take her into a gate yesterday, to show her what it’s really like, and we had to do a lot of fighting.” No way was he going to explain a Red Gate to these kids. “Songyi almost died multiple times. It’s not a place for low-ranked hunters.”
“Hmph,” Jinah mutters, sitting back and crossing her arms. “You’ve been going into gates for years, oppa, and you’re an E-rank just like Songyi.”
“Yeah, well,” Jinwoo says tiredly. He puts his blinker on and pulls into the Hunter’s Association parking lot. “We’re here.”
—
It’s a weird picture, Jinwoo’s sure—one guy trailing three high school students like ducklings as they head inside to register at the front desk. He has Jinah and Seoyun register for the test and then follows them down the hall to the benches in front of the testing room, slumping down on an empty bench. At least it’s not too crowded right now; they’d probably get called in half an hour or so.
“Get comfortable,” he says, glancing around absently as he takes a habitual read on all the other hunters in his sensing range—which, by the feel of it, is just about the whole building. He doesn’t bother stretching further than that. “It’ll take a while before they call your names.” It doesn’t seem like there are any S-ranks in the building; Go Gunhee must be elsewhere today. Good. It doesn’t seem like there are many high-ranking hunters in the building at all, even down to B- and C-ranks. Even that powerful A-rank, Woo Jinchul, doesn’t seem to be present. Even better.
They wait, the girls whispering to each other—or, whispering to Songyi, who sits in the middle of the three of them with a long-suffering expression on her face—until the Association employee escorts out the last person who’d arrived before them and calls, “Sung Jinah-sshi?”
“You’re up,” Jinwoo says, patting his sister on the back. Jinah takes a deep breath, and Jinwoo watches her hands clench and unclench before she walks forward determinedly. Stomach twisting, Jinwoo watches her disappear behind the doors. Crossing his arms, he leans back and waits. He already knows what the result will be, but he can hope otherwise, right?
It only takes a few minutes before the doors open again and Jinah bounces out, positively beaming. The Association employee bows to her, also smiling, before calling, “Kim Seoyun-sshi?”
“Off you go,” Jinwoo says, and Seoyun stands and passes Jinah as she comes to stand in front of her brother. Jinwoo stares up at her, arms still crossed. Looks like what he’d feared has come true. “Well?” he asks.
Jinah holds up a victory sign. “I’m A-rank, oppa!” she says.
—
“So here’s what’s going to happen next,” Jinwoo says.
They’re at a fried chicken restaurant, the girls insisting on it “to celebrate!” Jinwoo isn’t celebrating anything, but, well. He can treat the girls to a good meal.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he repeats, stripping a drumstick of its meat and dropping the bone into the discard bowl. “Jinah, I will take you into three—three!—dungeons. You can test out what it’s like to be a hunter and what the dungeons are really like. If you don’t want to be a hunter after that, that’s totally fine. You will not drop out of school, or stop doing your homework, or let your grades drop in any way. Are we clear?”
“Yes, oppa,” Jinah replies, ponytail bobbing as she nods enthusiastically. Her fingers are sticky with sauce, and her mouth is shiny and red from the spicy chicken. She looks so young.
“What about me?” Songyi asks, leaning forward, looking tentative. “Can I come?”
Jinwoo eyes her. It might be good, he thinks, for Jinah to see what it’s like for an E-rank in a dungeon. He wouldn’t let either of them get into real trouble, after all. “Sure,” he says. “Seoyun-sshi, what about you? Do you want to come too?” Might as well make it a party, he thinks wryly.
Seoyun looks hesitant. “Um, maybe,” she mumbles, crunching down on a piece of pickled radish. “Can I let you know later?”
“Sure,” Jinwoo says. It really doesn’t matter to him if she comes or not. He’s not planning on this being a long-term thing; the first time they have to kill a goblin, they’ll all put aside thoughts of becoming hunters.
They finish up their chicken and Jinwoo drives them all home. When they get back to their own apartment, Jinah turns to face him, clasping her hands behind her back. “Thanks for taking me to the testing center, oppa. I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to. I want to help out the family too.”
Jinwoo slings the car keys into their little bowl by the front door and shuffles past Jinah, flopping down on the couch. It’s sometimes very obvious, he thinks dryly, that Jinah’s the youngest child. Telling him to not worry about her is like telling the tides to not come in. “I’m gonna worry about you no matter what,” he tells her, leaning his head back against the back of the couch, “but I said I’d take you into three dungeons, so I will. As long as you keep on top of your homework and don’t skip class,” he adds warningly.
Jinah nods furiously. “Of course!” she chirps, and smacks a kiss to his forehead before bouncing off to her room. “I’m gonna go study right now!”
Jinwoo lets out a huge sigh, staring up at the ceiling. His mouth twists wryly. Well, now it looks like he’s going to have to find some D-rank gates to take some teenagers into. Joy.
There is no way, he tells himself silently, that he’s letting Jinah become a hunter.