Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

A connection that was established the very moment two compatible beings came into existence.

Unbeknownst to one another, their two souls — entangled betwixt the other — forming an unbreakable bond that couldn’t be vanquished, even through death.

An indiscernible fragment from another being of unknown origins, forever embedded into the other, and intertwined as one.

This ambiguous phenomenon was known to be associated with the concept of a soulmate and how their connection came to be.

The very concept of soulmates was something that Han Yoojin had never paid much attention to but rather, it was something akin to a matter that he was only distantly aware of — resurfacing in his mind only when it became relevant. Otherwise, it wasn’t something he particularly had any strong feelings about.

If he could label only one emotion that resonated with him when it came to soulmates, then he would have some difficulty choosing between perplexity and bewilderment.

After all, when he’d first discovered the concept of soulmates, he was both perplexed and bewildered. Two strangers, perhaps even on opposite sides of the world, were unknowingly bound to the other — a permanent part of themselves, forever imprinted onto another; all this, solely because they were soulmates. Not to mention, there was no indication of who their soulmate even was.

One would imagine that the concept of soulmates was incredibly romantic, like two people, bound to each other by fate. However, Yoojin didn’t think so. He instinctively knew that these sorts of things always had some sort of repercussion in the fine print and it just so happened to be an extremely unpleasant one. As the so-called fate would have it, soulmates would experience the same injuries, albeit to an extent, as it seemed that this replication was bound by rules of the universe. As for what those rules were, Yoojin never bothered to look into it.

After all, he was too preoccupied with taking care of what he had left of his family. Han Yoohyun, his beloved little brother, just five years younger than him, was still in high school. He was youthful and gradually beginning to reach the later stages of puberty, while also being the best little sibling that anyone could’ve asked for.

However, as the world would have it, the universe spat in their faces and scorned that idyllic life, cursing their daily lives and damning it down to its very core. People awakened as Hunters, harnessing mythical powers that were reminiscent of those fantasy-like abilities which were told in tales that were as old as time. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it just so happened to be that Yoohyun had awakened into one of Korea’s few S-Rankers.

When Yoojin had welcomed him home and bore witness to how disheveled he was, he swore he would do everything in his power to protect him. It was a simple wish, but not one that could’ve been granted easily.

Suddenly, Yoohyun — legally, still a minor — was perceived as a grown man, fully capable of making his own decisions, with no need for a guardian to be present. All this, purely justified through the fact that he was a teenager and was practically on the verge of being an adult already.

It was no exaggeration to say that Yoojin was ready to curse the world and perhaps, life itself. This had only happened because Yoohyun had developed the power of fire and was made to embrace the vicious flames that came with it.

Flames, which dared to have the audacity to burn at a temperature so high that it could only scorn the heat of a thousand suns, and flames that burnt such a bitter, dark shade that it resembled the sky when the sun and moon overlapped.

Perhaps, in some part of a greater scheme, Yoojin was drafted to his mandatory military service. By the time he returned, there was no longer a place for him beside Yoohyun.

Everything from this to that — the very concept of awakened individuals and soulmates, and even the universe itself — he cursed it all.

This world, be damned.

It was a rational idea, or at least, that’s what Han Yoojin had thought anyway.

Yoojin had his own reasons for wanting to awaken, but he definitely acknowledged that it was primarily selfishness on his part.

His younger brother, Yoohyun — the one that he’d lovingly raised for years and years on end — had shamelessly repaid his filial debt by kicking him to the curb and carved out a place for himself in society as Haeyeon’s Guild Leader.

During the countless times that Yoojin had tried to reconnect with his younger brother, he had always been scorned that he was weak and would only get in the way. Yoohyun had also told him that he would only keep dragging him down. In his current state, he had no capability of being able to offer any sort of help, no matter how much he wished for it. 

That brought Yoojin to a predicament: what if he changed? What if he was no longer weak?

He could exercise, work out and attempt to build muscle, but those efforts were incomparable to the strength that one would attain after awakening. The simple act of awakening gave a person a stat boost, increasing their strength, agility and defence, amongst other factors, while a few individuals also had the ability to wield the elements through the use of mana.

To name a few, Yoohyun was one such individual, being known to wield the power of fire, while Sesung’s famous guild leader was equipped with electricity. There were a few others, like two professional athletes that had awakened on the field, but that wasn’t what he had been focusing on for now.

If, by some chance, he also awakened as an S-Class, he could also serve some purpose to Yoohyun. It was only natural that when someone was offered a lifeline, they would hold onto it with all the strength they could muster, so his goal became a wish to have an awakening.

It was said that one could awaken if their lives were endangered, but there were awakening brokers that could assist someone in gaining an optimised awakening. The price was steep, considering their line of work, but no matter which way you looked at it, it could’ve been perceived as either an investment or a gamble.

If one were to awaken as a high-ranking class, then that sum would’ve been nothing to them. However, if they were a low-class, it would’ve been all for naught and they would be saddled with debt.

With the faint hope of reuniting with his younger brother and also with a quiet desire to spite him that he wasn’t weak, Yoojin had scrapped together all of his life’s savings. He had sold off their family home, found an anonymous buyer that bought it for a generous price above its market value, and moved into a shabby place that was practically a glorified basement.

It was then that he made the decision to contact an awakening broker. After they’d learnt his identity and his relationship with the highly esteemed Han Yoohyun, they promised they would treat him well, and then, the fateful day came.

Although, instead of being alongside the brokers that promised him an awakening, Yoojin found himself being manhandled by members he recognised to be from Haeyeon while he had been on his way to the meet-up point, then he needed to reschedule it due to the interruption and offered an apology. It was awfully odd that hunters from Haeyeon would interfere with his actions, without good cause for doing so. As such, Yoojin had dialled Yoohyun’s number, only to reach Seok Shimyung, who had learnt of his plans to awaken via brokers, then simply told him they were scammers and ended the call.

Even so, Yoojin persevered, then came the day of the scheduled meet-up again. He left a little earlier than planned but his efforts were still interrupted once more, probably the moment he had stepped a single foot outside his house, and those people from Haeyeon had bombarded him with the idea that this was stupid and he was being reliant on scammers. If he hadn’t known any better, it was like his movements were being tracked and his phone was wiretapped, so that he could be intercepted by any means, but that presumption was ridiculous. There was no one that would do such a thing.

On the third time they had rescheduled, Yoojin had decided he would leave his house a few hours earlier than the scheduled appointment. It was only then that the circumstances had slightly changed and he was practically thrown into an empty guest room at Haeyeon. Shortly after, the guildleader himself had barged in and had coldly addressed him.

It was ironic. He dreamed of a reunion, but not like this.

Awakening was a rational course of action to him, but clearly, it was one that his little brother clearly didn’t condone.

“Hyung,” Yoohyun uttered coldly. That single word used to be laced with so much affection, so he couldn’t help but wonder how things had come to this. “How many times are you going to make me repeat myself? Awakening brokers are scammers.”

“Repeat yourself?” Yoojin parroted, then furrowed his brows as realisation dawned on him. “…So it was you?”

Yoohyun’s silence was as good as his confirmation.

“You must be kidding me,” Yoojin scoffed. “Listen to this: a little brat that I raised says he disowned me because he doesn’t want to be associated with a sloppy excuse of a human being, but he still has this hobby of meddling in my life.”

“…”

“Just what are you trying to do, Yoohyun?”

“…”

Yoohyun was quiet. In fact, he was irritatingly quiet. It was like he wasn’t even listening to a single word he’d been saying, and it made his blood boil. The insides of his palms hurt, with his short nails digging shallowly into his skin, and he gritted his teeth. He could feel words rising to his throat, but he forcibly pushed them back down and attempted to quell the feelings that raged deep within him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then began to take steps forward and towards the door. “If you don’t want to talk, I’m leaving.”

It was only then that Yoohyun had stepped sideways and became an obstacle in his path, and finally spoke again. “You don’t need to awaken. All you need to do is lay low and live a quiet life.” 

“Lay low and live a quiet life? You really think that’s possible for me?” Yoojin retorted. “You don’t know what it’s like for me. Even when we’re apart, I’m always in your shadow. I don’t know what it’s like to live a quiet life.”

“Even when we lost our parents and people said we were pitiful, you never budged, so what’s wrong with you now?”

“That’s because the person I was working so hard for abandoned me!” Yoojin yelled, then seized his little brother’s collar. “You kicked me aside, told me you didn’t need me anymore — that I was always dragging you down! I wanted to awaken and prove you wrong!”

Yoohyun shoved him with a force that would barely be considered a fraction of his power, then straightened his collar, with the volume of his voice gradually increasing. “You’re being ridiculous. You think that’s what’s going to make you strong?”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m grasping at broken branches to try and climb a tree; that’s my way of life, so get out of my way, Han Yoohyun!”

“You don’t need to awaken!” Yoohyun finally shouted. “You’re going to lose the rights you have as an unawakened person!”

“So what does it matter?! You think I’ll be treated any better than how I already am?!”

“Just stay as you are! I’ve told you before that those awakening brokers you’re trying so desperately to hold onto are scammers! You’re not going to awaken!”

Yoojin attempted to shove Yoohyun, even though he knew his efforts were futile. “It doesn’t matter! That chance is all I have left anyway!”

“Hyung, you’re being irrational! Think about this for a second—” Yoohyun paused momentarily to massage his temples, then heaved an exasperated sigh. “What do you want?”

Yoojin stared at him, albeit still with clenched fists — not quite understanding the question. “…What?”

“Money. When I said I was going to be a doctor, you said you always wanted to live in the countryside and relax. How much do you need?”

Yoojin’s anger was quickly replaced with utter shock at the audacity, his mouth agape. “…Are you kidding me? Han Yoohyun, are you really saying this right now?”

“You wanted to live comfortably, didn’t you?”

“That’s not what this is about! How could you even say something like that right now?!” Yoojin shrieked, then laughed shallowly and hung his head as the implication of it all had finally reached him. “So that’s what this is. You’re paying me out — to get out of your life and live somewhere else. I never realised the Haeyeon Guildmaster was so generous with his money. Is this a tax-deductible charity donation?”

“At the end of the day, you’re still my hyung.”

“Yeah, right. You only use that label when it’s convenient for you, isn’t it, Yoohyun-ah?”

At the term of endearment, Yoohyun’s face visibly contorted and a crease formed between his brows.

“Your handsome face isn’t going to look good if you keep an expression like that, you know,” Yoojin spat derisively. “Now, let me go. I have an appointment to make.”

“Hyung,” Yoohyun said firmly.

“Yoohyun. If you still consider me as your hyung, even just by a little bit, get out of my way.”

Yoohyun’s lips pressed into a sharp, thin line, with Yoojin narrowing his eyes at the slight motion and folding his arms across his chest.

“I… I—” Yoohyun began, then sighed once more and met Yoojin’s gaze. “No.”

“Wow. You really…” Yoojin chuckled dryly, then quietly muttered under his breath. “You’re just a brat.”

Yoojin stole a glance behind Yoohyun. The door was just a few metres away, but there was no hope of him beating an S-Class Hunter’s level of speed.

Despite it all, for better or worse, Han Yoojin was never good at giving up.

He immediately lunged forward and took what was about a single step to the door before he found himself being slammed against the wall, with his hands pinned over his head in Yoohyun’s tight grasp.

Ow, shit, my back… Yoojin thought, with a groan escaping his lips at the sudden impact. Not to mention, it had been followed by a thudding pain that swept across his whole body.

He kept his gaze downcast, accompanied by his futile struggle, yet he remained bound so he resigned himself to this fate. He decided to focus on the colour of his socks until this moment passed.

“Hyung,” Yoohyun repeated again, more sternly than the last time. “You don’t need to awaken. All you should be doing is laying low and living quietly.”

“Hyung, you say,” Yoojin sneered, then lifted his gaze. “Don’t call me that anymore. You made your stance clear already. And why don’t you want me to awaken anyway? Seriously, what’s it to you—”

His words fell short.

With the way he looked, Yoojin could’ve mistaken his expression for something else. His little brother’s face seemed to hold an emotion that he couldn’t quite discern. His brows were tightly knitted together, forming a slight crease, with his lips pressed into a thin, tight line, and shadows fell over his face, despite the light that bled into this room. More than anything else, at this proximity, in those dark irises that were so akin to his own, he saw his own reflection.

“What’s up with that…? Han Yoohyun, what’s up with you?” he muttered, then rose his voice as he felt unfamiliar emotions bursting forth from deep within him and screamed. “Don’t you dare look at me like that!” 

At those words, Yoohyun’s eyes had slightly widened, but it had gone as quickly as it came. He only released his hold on Yoojin, then turned his back on him.

“Haeyeon won’t be liable for any of the damages or providing any support for the consequences you might suffer if you awaken,” he pointed out coldly.

“It’s not like I was expecting you to anyway,” Yoojin responded, then massaged his wrists. “Even if you try and stop me, I’ll always find another way to do it.”

“…Hyung.”

“Since you lived with me all those years, you should know it better than anyone else. Giving up is just something I can’t give up.”

Yoohyun offered no further response to his words, with Yoojin finally grasping the freedom that was set before him. The door was right in front of him and no one was stopping him, yet there was something incredibly bittersweet about it too.

He took gradual steps forward, then let his hand linger on the door handle momentarily until he’d opened it, escorted himself out and stole a glance backward. Yoohyun was still turned away. It wasn’t like he expected anything, but every now and then, he wondered how things had come to this.

As the door closed shut behind him, he finally began to make his way to the scheduled appointment.

The appointment was anything but special.

Yoojin handed over a considerable sum of money, while a few strangers scanned over him. Someone that looked like the head honcho had promised they would take great care of him, with due consideration to the fact that he was the older brother of Haeyeon’s Guild Leader.

He had decided he wouldn’t mention that they had a fight, just moments prior, and had left the scene after they mentioned they would contact him back once they found a suitable dungeon for his awakening.

It had been a few days since then.

When Yoojin hadn’t heard back, with neither his messages or missed calls being responded to, he was filled with a sense of emptiness. There were always things that were too good to be true, but more than that, the fact that Yoohyun had been proved right — that they were, in fact, scammers — brought a wave of what felt like nothingness over him, yet simultaneously feeling like a bucket of cold water had splashed over him.

However, if there was anything that he was good at, then it was being spiteful. He was never one to accept the shorter end of the stick and would always manage to climb back onto solid ground, even after being thrown into the depths of hell once before. When his parents had passed away, he didn’t know what to do either, but Han Yoojin was still alive through his own sheer determination and effort.

Yoojin idled in his room, deciding he’d exact his plan of action tomorrow considering it was already late at night. He would drop by the place that he briefly visited during that time he had a fight with Yoohyun. There was a possibility there would be other victims there, but otherwise, there surely would’ve been a trace they’d left behind if they had moved quarters.

Suddenly, without any warning, his stomach let out a quiet complaint and grumbled hungrily.

Even though he only remained by himself, he felt somewhat embarrassed and headed to the cupboard. He had bought a stash of instant noodles. It was cheap, quick and easy, yet something he didn’t used to stock at his old family home. If Yoohyun had caught him eating something unhealthy, he might have ended up copying his mannerisms. It was always said to not drink cold water in front of kids, after all.

Snap out of it, Yoojin, he thought to himself. Yoohyun-ie probably has a dozen private chefs at Haeyeon cooking for him right now.

He set a packet of instant noodles onto the countertop, then miserably trudged over to the kitchen’s utensil drawer and reached for the scissors. In that moment, an unfamiliar pain struck him and a familiar crimson dribbled onto his clean utensils.

As the deep red cascaded down the edges of his hand, a searing agony spread itself throughout his wrist and he grimaced slightly, then pulled his hand back once he’d finally processed what had happened. There were blooms of scarlet on his skin; a steady flow of blood ebbing from the newfound cuts on his wrist. They were messy, haphazard yet deep wounds, and he could see another slash forming — only being able to watch on as he saw his own flesh splitting apart, like it was torn and sliced into, as if he were just a meaty lump being butchered. At the vision, he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his other hand against it, applying pressure and thinking that dinner would need to be postponed as he made his way over to the bathroom.

Unknown feelings, which were far too distant to be his own, began to infiltrate his mind and he was seized with an overwhelming hopelessness. An insurmountable sadness ripped into his very core and he momentarily felt like forfeiting his life, until the feelings dissipated, almost as quickly as they had come.

The only thing that lingered was the wounds on his wrist and his slightly blurred surroundings, albeit it was quickly refocused, but there remained a hot, liquidy sensation burning his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.

Yoojin heaved a breathy gasp, letting the much needed oxygen return back to his lungs, and then washed his wrists under water as he contemplated on what just happened.

This isn’t what he’d heard at all. This was nothing like what happened before.

At first, he found it odd. Yoojin met the concept of soulmates with perplexity and bewilderment, yet he never did venture far into it, but the fact that they shared the same wounds was almost haunting. It was like a cursed bond, rather than the sign of a fated romantic encounter.

In his younger years, he would notice strange wounds that felt unfamiliar to him but were still within reasonable doubt: scrapes and bruises on his skin, even though he hadn’t done anything that would cause them, and little wounds resembling paper cuts on his hands, even though he hadn’t handled any such material, and short bursts of pain from time to time.

After he had been fed up with it, he summoned the courage and confessed his woes to his colleagues, who had simply mentioned that he had a soulmate, and likely one that was prone to getting injured quite easily, followed by an explanation on the nature of soulmates itself.

Soulmates were said to only experience the physical wounds of the other. No one had ever mentioned anything like them sharing emotional volatility.

I… I already have enough on my plate, he lamented internally, then removed his wrist from beneath the running water and recalled the thoughts that had crashed into him just moments prior. But it looks like whoever this is also has it hard.

Yoojin sighed, then paced over towards his medical cabinet and pulled out an old bottle of disinfectant spray. He was pretty sure it wasn’t expired, so he sprayed it a couple of times and flinched when the alcohol burned his open wound.

Who knows if the burn affected the person on the other side? Even so, he quietly muttered to himself.

“Hang in there. I’m also doing my best too.”

With no bandages in sight, he stuck a couple of cheap plasters onto the wound and wondered if it would scar later, both for him and the other person. The likelihood of him ever finding out who that other person was had been slim. There was no guarantee that one’s soulmate lived in the same country and in a world that had billions of people, he wasn’t interested in spending any extra effort to look into who that person might’ve been.

Instead, this ominous connection would be the only thing that kept the two of them together. He glided his fingers over the covered wound, then slumped down onto the cold, hard floor of his home. His previous appetite had disappeared, with not a single trace of hunger left behind.

As he gazed at the plaster, he closed his eyes and let the darkness of the night take him. In his sleepy haze, he murmured the same words again, over and over, like they were the only words he knew of.

“Hang in there. I’m also doing my best too.” 

F-Rank to S-Rank.

The difference between them was stark: one was the lowest rung of the ladder, whereas the other was an open seat on a throne.

When Yoojin had found those so-called awakening brokers again, he pestered them to no end until they promised him a legitimate awakening this time. They’d taken him into a D-Rank dungeon, where he had been loaned temporary gear and was equipped with a spear that he didn’t quite know how to use.

Even so, he remained hopeful, only for him to be stunned when a monster of unknown origins had leapt onto someone he’d been accompanying and practically tore into them. Unlike him, they were a Hunter, yet they’d been felled so easily, so what chance did an unawakened individual have?

Even as the strong, pungent smell of iron surrounded him, his feet remained glued to the ground, with the monster rearing its ugly head towards him. He could feel his heart drumming rapidly against his chest; its quiet accompaniment as the adrenaline that was gradually beginning to course through his veins and his mouth began to feel dry, so he tightened his grasp on his spear and contemplated on whether the better choice was to run.

If he prioritised survival and began to run, there was a chance that the monster would take chase, especially if it was a predator of some kind and him attempting to escape would only make him look like easy prey. It charged towards him, sensing his malice, and then he let his feet carry him.

Yoojin leapt off the ground he’d been standing on just seconds ago and dove clumsily to the side, staggering as he ended up falling forward rather than maintaining a graceful balance and plummeted face-first into the dirt. The spear escaped his grasp in the process, clattering off to the side and he reached for it, only to find a grim shadow looming over him.

This was it.

He was going to die.

Even so, he used that brief moment to grab that spear and thrust it into the abdomen of the monster when it had least expected it. It let out a cry of agony, with green blood dripping from the new wound, then he scrambled to his feet and attempted to escape, only for him to still be in arm’s reach and have his ribcage violently struck.

He was practically flown to the side, then landed amongst a heap of shrubs and greenery, heaving dry breaths and gasping, then rolled onto his side as he choked out blood and saliva. His vision swam and pain throbbed through him, so he grimaced, squeezed his eyes shut and laid a gentle hand atop of it.

Something broke for sure. He may have not been an expert when it came to broken bones, but something was definitely broken in the one hit he’d sustained.

However, he didn’t have the luxury of relaxing. As soon as he’d re-opened his eyes, an unfamiliar blue textbox was in front of him, somewhat transparent and with a low opacity. In that small box, there were words that spoke of salvation.

『Han Yoojin, congratulations on your awakening!

S-Rank Titles Earned: Custodian』

At the sight of S-Rank, Yoojin sprang up immediately, only to feel the agony pulsing through his ribcage, then thought of the words he’d always seen on the other side of the television.

Open status window, he commanded.

The blue textbox before him was replaced with another instantaneously.

『Awakened Person Han Yoojin

Titles — Custodian (S)』

Stats… where are my stats? he thought hastily.

He pressed against the textbox with a finger, then watched as it expanded outward with a few options to select from: titles, skills, and then his stats. He tapped that part immediately, with somewhat constrained movements, and rolled on his side to ease some of the pain.

Once he’d done so, the window before him extended into a hexagonal shape, with the abbreviations ‘STR, STR, DEX, INT, MGK’ on each corner, along with his level positioned at the top.

『Level 1

STA: 6

STR: 4

DEX: 5

INT: 4

MGK: 2』

He wasn’t that familiar with the stats of an awakened individual, but even he knew this was abysmally low. The conclusion that he’d come to was F-Rank, but there was no official confirmation of it yet. He idly tapped around, seeking for the single letter that would either crush him and dash all his hopes along with it, or rescue him from his current predicament. There was a chance he might’ve been an E-Rank that just had a bit of a rough start, or at least, a support D-Rank that started off with low stats. As he tapped through the windows, he came across his skills.

『Skills

Strength Up (E): Increases the strength of a target under your custody by 5% (cannot be stacked and used in conjunction with similar skills); Duration: 30 minutes』

A support skill and one that he couldn’t even use on himself. It wasn’t much. He swiped it to the side, then landed on a new window that detailed the skills of his title. 

『Final Thanks (L)

Upon the death of someone that is under your custody, the target’s skills and abilities are transferred to you at double effectiveness. Duration: 1 hour』

As he read those words, a chill swept through him. An S-Rank title with an L-Rank skill would ordinarily seem rather promising, but the implications of it seemed rather ominous. Not to mention, this word ‘custody’ kept popping up every now and then. He supposed it would play a pretty large part in him being able to use his skills in the first place, then tapped around to find the homepage of whatever this interface was.

『Custodian (S)

Proof of a custodian that has raised a world-class powerhouse.

Keyword: Hang in there』

Yoojin stared at it blankly. Granted, he certainly wasn’t the brightest, but this description was incredibly vague. He safely interpreted it as him needing to use the keyword on someone to put them under their custody, but if there were developers of this system, he wanted to know where the feedback form was.

Even so, a world-class powerhouse…? he thought curiously. What does that even mean?

He turned the words over and over in his head. He received this title because it was the sheer proof of him raising a so-called powerhouse. Considering his youthful life, there was only person that he’d ever really raised: Han Yoohyun.

Could it be? he wondered.

Not to mention, his keyword phrase was something he was intimately familiar with. He repeated them, every now and then, like shallow words of comfort, whether to himself or to someone. The irony of it was akin to someone spitting on his face.

For now, he pushed that window sideways and finally stumbled across the validation he’d been looking for, and was immediately overcome with a sense of dread, in addition to the subconscious understanding that he was pathetic, always pale in comparison to his little brother.

『Han Yoojin: F-Rank』

He pressed a hand against his ribcage to cushion the impact, then rolled himself back onto his abdomen, and forced himself back upward with one arm. He didn’t have the strength to beat this dungeon, so he would need to wait for the other Hunters to clear it. Running back out into the fray would’ve been waving around a white flag of ‘I want to die! Please kill me!’, especially considering his current predicament. 

There likely wouldn’t be anyone that would come looking for him either. It was easier for them to dump him, who was akin to baggage, and just leave. They wouldn’t have known what he awakened as if they crossed paths again, but the general lack of strength he exuded would’ve been a fair indicator, or they’d assume he was still unawakened.

He cautiously scanned his surroundings, considering he’d just been thrown into this environment after taking a hit. The smell of grass was thick, like a freshly mowed lawn, and the terrain resembled forestry. His safest option was to just lay low, live quietly for now — exactly the way his brother always told him to, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth, yet even despite the very action lacking rationality, he pressed forward.

He returned back to the direction he’d originally come from and found that the monster he’d previously encountered was slain, with its corpse right next to the Hunter that had also fallen. His spear was still lodged in its stomach, so he pulled at it, with a grotesque sound in his ears once he’d managed to retrieve it, and continued forward.

Pain throbbed through his shattered ribcage, but he was determined to make it back out, even if it meant he would have to crawl on the floor in a sea of his own blood.

Yoojin stumbled as he traversed on, even despite the discomfort that only grew with each passing moment, then a cave entered his line of sight. In the air, the scent of something animalistic was pungent, like wet fur that was matted in dirt and fresh mud, alongside the petrifying smell of iron. His nose wrinkled at the smell, but he forced himself in that direction and tightened the grasp he had on his weapon.

As he entered the mouth of the cave, it was ominously empty and a blanket of darkness instantly fell over the surrounding vicinity. Although, on the cave floor, there were traces of dried blood and several fragmented parts of something. They glimmered quietly, even amidst the darkness, as if beckoning him closer, so he heeded its call and approached it with some caution.

He knelt down awkwardly, feeling the pain shoot through his ribcage at the movement, then gritted his teeth and picked up a small piece of what he had seen. He squinted as his eyesight began to adjust to the darkness, only to find that it was a blue object akin to the fragment of a rock. It was miniscule, with jagged edges, and a small amount of dust was littered onto his hand as he rolled it in his palm. It was comfortingly cool to the touch, radiating a faint mana trace that he could barely detect if he hadn’t concentrated on it so vividly.

Is this what I think it is? he mused internally. 

Sometime ago, he had heard of something called mana stones which could be found in dungeons, but it was certainly smaller than he anticipated. On the other hand, it was probable that this was a fragment broken off from the main piece. He could deduce that its insignificant size meant it must’ve been left behind and that it wasn’t worth wasting time on collecting. Even so, one man’s trash was another man’s treasure.

“Open inventory,” he demanded.

At his command, the space before him rippled, then tore into a hollow opening. Its sheer size was enough for him to fit the entirety of his arm in, so he didn’t dare try and figure out what would happen if he tried to fit his whole body in there, and instead began to pick up the fragments from the floor, easily tossing them into the gaping hole.

Yoojin collected as many as he could, despite not really knowing what to do with them yet. There was an open channel, where Hunters could sell their mana stones, but there was a fat chance someone would want something so tiny. Regardless, he set his spear aside and crawled onward, then reached for the last fragment that was a short distance away, only for him to be abandoned by the flooring that was just beneath him moments prior.

And so, he fell.

It was a rapid descent into the unending darkness, continually plunging downward into a field of nothingness. The panicked scream that had initially escaped him was drowned out by the surrounding quietness; its eternal silence consuming every decibel that left his lips, and an agonising feeling ripped through his throat, as if to steal his voicebox. In the midst of it all, something vivid floated across his vision.

It was a thin line, encased in a deep red that was akin to the colour of spider lilies. It drifted and swayed, making minuscule movements, like it was afloat of waves that rolled calmly over a shore, delicately wading over it.

It was odd.

Despite the circumstances, at this very moment, he was falling to what may have been his demise but he couldn’t help but wonder if he ever brought Yoohyun to the beach. He imagined he might’ve been able to see it during that one school trip of his. Although, there was a chance he hadn’t seen it as well, so he’d wished that he’d brought him at least once. Yoohyun would probably be a good swimmer and he could join him too, or at least, look after their belongings and wait for him on the shore.

Even if that ungrateful brat now scorned and detested him, he had thought that they were happy, even if only for the brief moment of their lives they had shared together. He wondered if this is what it felt like to die: to have the memories of his past run through his head and wonder if there was anything he could’ve done for those that he cared for.

That red, so vividly beautiful, was similar to the flames that were featured in the news when Yoohyun had first awakened. He found himself drawn to it, like how there was a fairytale, which had been told once upon a time, of a person that found themselves entranced by the spindle of a spinning wheel. In that same fashion, he found himself extending his hand out towards that red line.

As if in response to his call, the red line whipped forward and coiled around his pinky finger, immediately forming a secure knot around the base. Its texture was somewhat coarse, like a cord or a thread, but before he could look into any further, a deafening noise erupted in the midst of it all. It rang incessantly in his ears, echoing and continuously without pause, no matter even if he covered his ears. Simultaneously, the feeling of falling through a field of nothingness was soon replaced with windfall; the rushing air, being sharp gusts that struck his skin and his clothes, almost painfully so. The darkness, which seemed to stretch on endlessly, gave way to an opening, filled with light, and he fell through it without much resistance, then felt the impact of solid ground beneath him and the red line woven around his pinky was gone.

He had planted face-first into gravel, much to his chagrin, along with the shattering feeling of excruciating pain in his ribcage from the impact. An involuntary groan escaped him as he blinked his eyes open and attempted to gather his bearings. The insides of his ears throbbed and it felt wet, with the vague feeling of something leaking out and onto his lobes, accompanied by the aching familiarity of a bleeding nose. As if that wasn’t bad enough, his vision was hazy, blurry and highly unfocused, no matter what he did.

He could vaguely make out the feeling of something— or someone in front of him. There was a pair of two pointed black masses on the ground just before him and he had made the safe assumption it was a set of shoes.

A voice, colder than any snowstorm on a winter’s day, reverberated clearly within his ears.

“Hyung, you really want to die, don’t you?” that voice uttered.

Yoojin parted his lips, in an attempt to speak, only to let out a pathetic croak and felt the bile rising in his throat. He chewed his bottom lip, forcing it back down, only to hear the soft sound of something being uncorked, shortly followed by the feeling of liquid being violently splashed over his weakened state.

It soaked into his clothing and dampened his hair, with red droplets hanging from the ends of his hair, but as soon as it made impact, the pain that ebbed through him immediately subsided. His ribcage was no longer a hindrance, the wet feeling within his inner ears disappeared but traces of it lingered, the aches in his body vanished, while his vision immediately cleared, albeit focusing on Yoohyun’s furious expression.

Despite the sheer anger that his little brother exuded, Yoojin found that he couldn’t reciprocate those feelings. It may have been because of what had transpired, or how surreal it was to just see Yoohyun after all those old memories practically just passed him by.

Yoojin shifted, attempting to stand upright and staggered somewhat awkwardly under the force of gravity that had now felt so unfamiliar. With one hand, Yoohyun stabilised him, even despite the unnecessary addition of an exasperated sigh, but if Yoojin hadn’t been more aware of the circumstances that surrounded their rocky relationship, he would’ve made the grave mistake of thinking that touch was anything but forceful.

In Yoohyun’s other hand, an empty bottle was present, likely being a recovery potion, although its contents had clearly been emptied on him earlier.

“Yoohyun-ah,” he managed, a little more sincerely than the last time he’d spoken that name. “Dungeons are really dangerous, aren’t they?”

Yoohyun’s lips pressed into a thin line, then nodded solemnly.

“And you’ve been clearing those dungeons all this time. You’re really strong, aren’t you, Yoohyun-ah?” he murmured, then cast his gaze downward and refused to meet the gaze that burned into him. “Even if it’s wrong, even if the world scorns me for it, even if it’s just one-sided selfishness on my part… to me, you’ll always be my little brother.”

“…Hyung, I…”

It was almost like Yoohyun’s voice was trembling slightly, but there was no way that would’ve been the case. Although, despite that, the atmosphere seemed to have eased, albeit Yoojin’s head remained lowered, unable to meet the eyes of his dearly beloved little brother. He squeezed his own shut, letting his vision be consumed by temporary darkness, and it was at that moment when the memory of his awakening had flashed through his mind.

The unfamiliar title he received, bestowed with the class of an S-Rank, alongside a keyword he could use to cast it. In this sort of atmosphere, this might’ve been his only opportunity.

He lifted his gaze, which met Yoohyun’s own, and offered the best smile he could muster, given the current situation and spoke. “You really did your best, so I’ll also do my best to become strong and join you, so won’t you hang in there for a little longer and wait for me?”

As soon as he’d uttered that so-called keyword, a status window appeared before him.

『Han Yoohyun has responded to your keyword and is now under your custody!』

Yoojin couldn’t suppress the desire to pump his fist and did it behind his back, relishing in the satisfaction of applying his keyword for the first time. Yes! Easier than I thought.

Not to mention, it was official proof that he had become an awakened individual as well. Even as an F-Rank, he might’ve had room to grow. With that in mind, he returned his attention back to Yoohyun, who seemed to be staring at him blankly, only for him to press a finger to his temple and furrow his brows.

“Join me?” Yoohyun muttered, then shook his head in disbelief. “You really haven’t learnt anything, have you?”

“W-What…?” Yoojin stammered back.

The empty bottle, which was once in Yoohyun’s grasp, had been raised in a swift motion, then thrown just as quickly, right beside Yoojin’s feet. The glass shattered instantaneously, accompanied by the sound of a loud crash, akin to two cars colliding, rather than something fragile hitting the floor. The broken mess, littered with fragmented glass shards, had also left a sizeable indent in the gravel that was solid beneath him.

The anger that emanated from Yoohyun was palpable, with the comfort from just a few moments prior diminishing in an instant.

Yoojin, simply pretending that hadn’t just happened, returned his gaze back to Yoohyun. “Calm down. Let’s talk this out.”

“Talk it out?” Yoohyun repeated, as if for measure, then clenched his fists and spoke again. “We already did that. I told you not to awaken, to live a quiet life, but you went and entered a dungeon anyway.”

Yoojin shot him a defiant glare. “And I also told you, didn’t I? Even if you try to stop me, I’m going to keep fighting so that I find another way.”

“I know,” Yoohyun sighed. His irises, which were so similar to Yoojin’s own, seemed to flicker slightly. “I know. I remember everything you’ve told me.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, with his expression finally changing into one of complete nonchalance. “Hyung, I didn’t want to do this, but you left me no other choice.”

Before Yoojin could even respond to those words, a sword materialised before Yoohyun, along with sparks of blackfire adorning his fingertips, until they ripped into the open air and erupted into a flame that burned bright, yet its colour was deeper and darker than even the midnight sky. The flames lapped up the broken gravel beneath their feet, then encircled the two of them, while Yoohyun made gradual steps towards Yoojin and brandished the sword in his grasp.

“Yoohyun… you crazy bastard,” Yoojin breathed.

“…Call me whatever you want, hyung, but if you really want to die, I’ll make it painless for you.”

“I have no intention of dying!” he shouted, then glanced towards the blackfire flames.

His instincts told him to not venture forward into them and that he would never be able to walk through those unscathed, yet even so, those flames weren’t hot at all. Instead, it was like they beckoned him closer still, as if yearning for his very presence.

Against his better judgement, he squeezed his eyes shut and bolted into the blackfire flames that encircled them, like they were the only two in this world. Even as he rapidly closed the distance, there was no overwhelming feeling of heat encompassing him. In fact, the very moment his foot hit the uneven gravel and made impact against the surface where the flames lingered, those flames had been snuffed out, without even a trace left behind.

Yoojin may not have known much about the world of Hunters as of yet, but he did know that the Haeyeon Guild was rapidly climbing the ranking of South Korea’s strongest guilds, although the Sesung Guild was still crowned as the reigning champion.

If the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s flames were extinguished so easily, then there was no way Yoohyun would’ve been able to climb that ladder so quickly.

A simple thought drifted through his mind, accompanied by the faint reminiscence of past memories when times were still peaceful, yet he dismissed it, just as quickly as it had come. It was a selfish thought, akin to a faraway dream, but even if he wished to entertain that sort of idea, then any moment except now would’ve been perfect.

He only continued to run forward, even when he didn’t hear the sound of footsteps following after him, nor did he have the courage to look back, even as he felt that lingering gaze on his back.

Statistics were just numbers, but for some, they were part of one’s reality.

Since the day that Yoojin awakened, he hadn’t heard from Yoohyun ever again.

It wasn’t until he had seen the newsflash of the dungeon he had entered. It was simply numerical digits on a screen, yet it had left him speechless when he gazed upon the number of survivors. No one had made it out, aside from him, yet considering he was a last-minute addition, he hadn’t been noted on the list of those that were entering. As such, the number ‘0’ stared right back at him.

It was stated that after no one had emerged from the dungeon for 48 hours and the gate reappeared after its initial reset, the Haeyeon Guild had volunteered their S-Rank Leader to personally step forward to clear the D-Rank dungeon. There were murmurs of the public, wondering why he would waste his time on a low-ranked dungeon, especially when there was nothing of value for him, whereas other criticisms had emerged, commenting that he should follow the example of Sesung and devote his effort to higher-ranked dungeons.

What came shortly after that was an unpleasantly thick envelope in his mailbox. Its weight was almost as hefty as its value, considering it had been a wad of solid cash. He didn’t dare to count it, but it had been at least a couple million won. Perhaps, it would’ve just been a measly sum for Yoohyun considering his current status, but for Yoojin, it was an amount that he could’ve never hoped to earn himself.

Even if he had continued working as a labourer for the rest of his life, or had sold off those mana stone scraps that he’d obtained from the dungeon, he inherently knew that the income earned from that would never be on par with what remained in his hands. 

What was even heavier than the value itself was the weight upon his consciousness. It was money, earned through countless bloodshed. Rather than the monsters, it was Yoohyun that he’d been primarily concerned with. He would enter those dungeons solitarily, then emerge several days later after having cleared it, and would head into the next one shortly after. The bare amounts of free time that Yoohyun did have were likely spent on picking fights with his older brother that was utterly helpless.

“This sort of thing—” he muttered through gritted teeth, then raised the thick envelope into the air and tightened his grasp on it, aiming it at the wall. “—I don’t want it!”

Raspy, strangled breaths escaped from him as his grip on the envelope remained firm, not having the courage to match Yoohyun’s disrespect and hurl aside that hard-earned money.

Memories from a distant past began to bubble up, much like the endless waves of seafoam that would rise to the surface whenever the water ebbed over the shore.

Under its domineering weight, Yoojin could only crumple into a pitiful shape on the floor, with the envelope slipping from his hands as he lamented on what had become of him. It thudded onto the floor and landed on its flip side, only to reveal a single word in familiar handwriting: ‘Hyung’.

Han Yoojin, he chastised. Get it together.

As if on cue, Yoojin felt an impact strike both his cheeks. It wasn’t particularly painful, but even so, he pressed his hands comfortingly over his face and massaged his cheeks, then glanced towards the wrist he had bandaged a couple days ago. Somewhere, in the depths of the unknown, there was another person that was struggling.

“What can I do?” he murmured, then began to undress the wound. “Is there anything Han Yoojin can do?”

It was often said that F-Ranks ended up returning back to their daily lives due to their sheer inability to assist in dungeons. They were no different from the unawakened, in terms of physique, strength, mentality and speed, amongst other attributes. Not to mention, any buffs they could provide paled far in comparison to any other rank.

Yoojin gazed upon the unblemished skin of his wrist, then traced over it carefully. It had healed perfectly and didn’t leave behind a single scar. Last time he had checked, it was a horrid scab and he couldn’t help but wonder if a vein had been slit in the initial cut. There was a slim chance of it healing perfectly, yet it did.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment for his thoughts to simmer. If he were to throw himself into dungeons, against all rational thinking, he would be subjected to wounds that were far worse than a slit on the wrist. He could potentially be struck with a permanent injury, lose his life or experience a fate worse than death. 

It was an act of suicide.

“But even so…” he muttered quietly. “I can’t just give up.”

It may have been act of suicide, but this was also Yoojin’s act of selfishness and self-righteousness.

Was it really so selfish — to earnestly long to be by the side of his only family once again? Perhaps, especially if the other side hadn’t reciprocated the same feelings.

Even if it was wrong and even if the world scorned him for it, he made a resolution on this day.

Since that day, time had steadily passed by.

Han Yoojin did certainly make a name for himself in the world of Hunters, albeit it certainly wasn’t in a positive light.

Surrounded by rumours, which spoke of haunted omens, and with death as his accompaniment, many were visibly reluctant to associate with him.

There were regular occasions of him entering dungeons and escaping them as the sole survivor, with rising suspicion when the dungeons he’d left were in a cleared state. At first, it had been chalked up to him receiving help from Haeyeon considering his biological relationship with the Guild Leader, but they had released a public statement that they played no part in Han Yoojin’s affairs. Despite that, a few continued to vehemently believe that it was just a cover and they were providing support from behind-the-scenes, with a fraction of those people having the brevity to confront Yoojin in an attempt to gain some of that power.

In addition to that, it was said he was ballsy enough to attend the funerals for those that had passed in the dungeon raid he’d been a part of, only ever being able to offer his condolences, rather than anything of actual value.

To make matters worse, every circumstance that he’d been subjected to was a publicly known fact, beginning from his past of being the only guardian to his little brother after his parents passed away and being a high-school dropout. Furthermore, he had been publicly known as a victim of scams, with his first strike being the awakening brokers shortly after the dungeon breaks had emerged. While it was known that he disliked media attention, he had accepted being on a television broadcast to raise awareness of the ongoing scams within the Hunter community, so he had been accused of being starved for attention, although purposely hadn’t presented himself that way.

Against his better judgement, there was a time Yoojin had intentionally used Haeyeon’s name, despite his strained relationship with Yoohyun, and mentioned that he did have their support. This was also publicised, with the guild also receiving flak for his reckless actions, and their poor relationship making another debut in the weekly newspaper. 

The accumulation of all these events is what led Yoojin to his current miserable life.

Unlike the past, his contact with Yoohyun was minimal. A man named Seok Shimyung, who had also been assumed the position of Yoohyun’s secretary, had intercepted all his attempts to try and reach back out to his little brother, even when he visited the guild in-person to return the wads of money that were continuously sent over to him. At some point, the handwritten ‘Hyung’ had changed to the printed text of ‘Han Yoojin’, until it finally became a blank envelope filled with cash, losing all its original sentiment.

Yoojin’s life had only started going downhill from there. It was often said that when one hit rock bottom, then the only place they could go was up. However, it seemed like he’d been steadily chipping away at that bedrock, wondering just how much further he could descend into it.

Each day was a struggle to live in.

It felt like he was just barely managing to scrape by, almost as if he were someone that was waiting for death to claim him, but that was far from the truth. As pitiful as his reality may have been, he was the type that even if death were to give chase, he would be determined to make sure he’d outrun it and would triumphantly stick out his middle finger towards it once he’d accomplished such a feat. The thought of dying had never once crossed his mind, nor did he ever want it to.

Despite his harsh circumstances, that was Han Yoojin’s innate character.

He wasn’t particularly a stranger to life’s struggles anyway, considering the early stages of his life.

It was with that same determination that he managed to find work as an F-Rank Hunter. Guilds often shunned him, refusing to accept a low-class Hunter and especially one that had been associated with such a terrible reputation, so Yoojin was often subjected to going on solo dungeon raids.

At most, he could clear a D-Rank dungeon with his experience, limited combat prowess and the C-Rank gear that he had recently bought, which took a pretty chunk out of his earnings. Although, this way, he’d clear dungeons a little faster and have a better form of protection if anything went wrong.

As Yoojin stood before the dungeon gate that was before him, he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his lips into a thin line. In the event that anything went wrong, he always made sure to give himself the ease that he’d made preparations to the best of his ability.

If his damned brother found it in his heart to care about him and look for him if he went missing, his last will and testament was buried somewhere in the cheap, ratty apartment that he resided in. He didn’t have the money for a lawyer, so he’d scratched out an online template and signed the bottom of it.

In hindsight, it wasn’t something that was necessary for him to do. He barely had anything to his name and reeked of poverty. His debtors would likely take claim to everything he owned and wouldn’t even leave a single won to his little brother, not that he’d needed it since Yoohyun enjoyed the abundance of wealth that Haeyeon possessed.

Only making himself more frustrated, Yoojin stepped forward and entered the dungeon gate. It would close after an hour.

As he entered the dungeon, he forced down the urge to gag. The atmosphere had changed almost instantaneously, becoming intensely humid, with his feet landing into soft, sticky clumps of ground, accompanied by an awful squelching sound.

There was only one downside to Yoojin tackling dungeons by himself.

Since guilds and other raiding groups got priority on which dungeons they could tackle, free Hunters like him ended up needing to settle for the ones that people often avoided. Naturally, the dungeon that many weren’t keen on was a dungeon filled with slime and tentacle monsters. They regenerated quickly and were mostly resistant to bullets and stab wounds, in addition to also causing abnormal status debuffs, so they were a pain for anyone to deal with, regardless of rank.

With a deep sigh, he lifted his weapon.

This was hell, but this was the only life that Han Yoojin was capable of living.

A few days later, Yoojin had finally managed to return home and counted through the mana stones that he’d looted from his successful dungeon raid. A few pieces were larger than others, whereas some were fragmented and wouldn’t be of much value. It was rare to get a mana stone, free from any damage, especially when they were obtained from monsters that needed to be engaged in combat.

If he didn’t go through the Hunter market and went through more unsavoury methods, he’d only earn about ₩500,000 with what he had after subtracting the handling and proxy fees. It was certainly easier to do this himself but the thought of his identity being uncovered brought back unpleasant memories. It had happened once before, where he had been dragged back to Haeyeon Guild and was chided by Seok Shimyung for bringing down their reputation, simply because of his association. Yoojin, unable to muster any sort of comeback, bore the brunt of those words, almost thankful that Yoohyun wasn’t present at the time. If he were, that bastard likely would’ve told him to stay quiet and live a low life, while looking down at him, in the exact same way he always did.

Only being irritated as he recalled those memories, he swiftly dismissed them and took his phone to contact the sellers he was familiar with, despite their exorbitant fees. He pressed the dial button seamlessly, having adapted to this sort of routinely lifestyle, and waited for the call to connect. A soft click resounded, followed by an unfamiliar man’s voice shortly after.

“Who’s this?”

Yoojin paused. This contact was consistently the same person, rather than an organisation, so there shouldn’t have been anyone else picking up the phone unless they’d taken over.

“That’s what I should be asking,” Yoojin responded calmly. “Who are you?”

If they were a new merchant with lower fees, then he wouldn’t have minded, but otherwise, he’d just turn elsewhere and choose a different contact.

“Kim Yongjin. You?”

Kim Yongjin, Yoojin thought. He turned the name over in his head. It was somewhat familiar, with revelation just out of his grasp and lingering on the tip of his tongue instead.

“You’re not going to answer the question?” Yongjin prompted.

“Yoojin,” he replied flatly.

“…Yoojin? Like that Han Yoojin?” he uttered.

He frowned. “I’m hanging up.”

“Wait, wait— I’ve got an offer you won’t be able to refuse!” Yongjin blurted out. “I’m the Guild Leader of Gosan. I’ve heard you’ve been doing solo dungeon raids lately but we’d love to have you on board. What do you say?”

Putting aside the suspicion of Yongjin picking up the phone, instead of his usual broker, the offer wasn’t too bad. The words, which were once on the tip of his tongue, had finally solidified into the thoughts that were forming in the back of his mind. While the Gosan Guild was filled with C-Rank and D-Rank Hunters, they were famous for allowing lower-ranked Hunters to join them on their raids, including E-Ranks and F-Ranks. Although, the burning question still lingered.

“That sounds great!” he agreed enthusiastically, purposely ramping up the energy in his voice. “I’d love to join you!”

“Great! How about I send you the details later?”

“Sure! I’ll look forward to it!” Yoojin beamed, then cleared his throat and continued more calmly. “Just out of curiosity, what happened to the usual broker that has this phone?”

“Oh? That guy? Haha, you don’t need to worry about him. He’s with us.”

…Right, Yoojin commented internally.

Although, the words he’d vocalised were worlds apart from what he’d been thinking. “Is that so? It’s pretty amazing that Gosan has connections everywhere.”

“Yes, yes,” Yongjin dismissed. “I’ll see you later, Yoojin. I’ve got some business to take care of.”

With that, the call ended abruptly.

Yoojin lowered his phone and stared at the blank interface in contemplation, wondering if he’d made the right decision as he was making gradual steps towards the heart of a tiger’s den. He set his phone onto the floor and picked himself upward in order to get ready, pacing towards the bathroom, with the sound of a notification being heard amidst his preparations.

As he gazed at his reflection in the mirror, he needed to make sure that the portrayal of the F-Rank Hunter, Han Yoojin, was seamlessly perfect. Even despite the damning allegations against him, he was weak, amicable, and always ready to lend a hand, with a large part of his personality being his estranged relationship with Haeyeon’s Guild Leader, Han Yoohyun.

Wordlessly, Yoojin peeled the bandages that he had stuck to his face, a few days prior, following the various injuries he had gotten during his previous dungeon run. With each one he removed, he winced slightly, tearing them off his skin quickly so that the pain would be swift. There were traces of the adhesive lingering on his skin, but it was something that he could easily scratch off.

Once he had prepared the essentials and packed them into his backpack, then triple-checked, he began to set-off towards the D-Rank dungeon building by Wonhyo Bridge in Seoul. The dungeon hadn’t broken yet, but it was routine clean-up that was a necessary procedure in order to avoid that potential dungeon break.

As Yoojin neared the site, he double-checked the coordinates and turned towards the alleyway that his navigator had led him towards, then pocketed his phone and massaged his cheeks as he paced forward. He needed to make sure his facial muscles were in perfect condition if he intended to maintain this friendliness and apply his keyword.

When he had reached the end of the alleyway, he was met with seven different people, with a black-haired man raising a hand in greeting.

“Hi, Yoojin,” he said familiarly, with Yoojin recognising it to be the voice from the other side of the phone. “You got here quickly.”

“Of course,” Yoojin replied politely and bowed his head in greeting. “I was really looking forward to it after all. It’s an honour that you’d bring me along.”

“You’re very polite,” another man commented crudely. “You must have a good head on your shoulders.”

“Thank you,” he responded shyly, then awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “I’m doing my best and I’m sure it must be difficult for all of you to hang in there, especially when you’re ranked higher than I am.”

At those words, nothing had appeared in Yoojin’s peripheral vision.

Not yet, huh? he thought. They must have their guard up.

“Han Yoojin, was it?” one man queried, then offered him a courteous smile. “Ah, where are my manners? I’m Lee Dongwan. My curiosity just got the better of me, but… perchance, are you related to Han Yoohyun? You share the same surname.”

“Is it that everyone who shares the same last name is biologically related to each other?” Yoojin chuckled, albeit he did nod with some reluctance. “But that guy… yeah, he’s my little brother. We’re not on speaking terms anymore though.”

“That must be difficult,” Dongwan sympathised. “I heard you raised him all by yourself.”

“That’s right!” Yoojin readily agreed. “Once he awakened, he didn’t need me anymore, so I got discarded like yesterday’s dinner.”

Although, Yoojin wasn’t the type to throw away leftover food. It would have been such a dreadful waste.

“You’re quite pitiful, aren’t you, Han Yoojin?” one person mused.

“I wouldn’t use that word to describe myself though,” Yoojin bantered back, then gestured towards himself. “What about trying to use the word ‘handsome’ or something like that?”

“Rather than ‘handsome’, isn’t it more…” Dongwan commented idly, although he had trailed off before he had finished his sentence, then checked the time on his watch. “We should head in now.”

But I haven’t applied the keyword yet, he thought hastily.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Dongwan,” Yongjin scowled. “I’m the leader and I make the calls. We head in on my command.”

“Yongjin-ssi looks a little temperamental sometimes,” Yoojin whispered to Dongwan. “Is he usually like this?”

“Yes, well… it comes with the line of work,” Dongwan admitted.

“You did a good job, hanging in there,” Yoojin remarked in passing.

『Lee Dongwan has responded to your keyword and is now under your custody!』

“It’s nice to have someone acknowledge my hard work, but to think it would be you, Han Yoojin,” he muttered, although it was clearly audible to his ears. “What a pity.”

A pity… he repeated internally. That was never a good sign.

He temporarily dismissed the unease that was beginning to rear its ugly form within his core, then attempted to search his memory on whether there had been any sort of public stories from the F-Ranks and E-Ranks that had accompanied Gosan on their dungeon raids.

None. There were none.

Yoojin was the type to keep track of the affairs of the Hunter world, so the fact that there had been nothing was almost impressive. It was either that there weren’t any survivors left to tell a story, or they chose to hide themselves away from the limelight. If that were the case, then he couldn’t fault them. He wasn’t particularly fond of media attention himself.

However, right now, he wished there was something to go off, rather than entering a lair that was filled with unpredictability. He knew he had been waltzing into the tiger’s den when he had first agreed to join them, but what if that den was far deadlier than he had originally anticipated, with a tiger being the least of his concerns?

“Let’s go,” Yongjin demanded, then beckoned Yoojin over towards him. “You can come with me.”

“Yes, Guild Leader-nim,” Yoojin said obediently, even if it left a sour taste in his mouth, then made his way over towards Yongjin.

With that, they entered the dungeon together and had immediately been transported to a valley. They were at the foot of the mountain, while the few support Hunters and Dongwan had followed suit shortly after. They were surrounded by various piles of rubble, with rocks being in suspiciously large formations. It was likely a hiding spot for a monster that was currently laying dormant.

“Let me carry your bags for you since I can’t do much else right now,” Yoojin offered, then extended his arms outward. “It’s the least I can do since you’re all letting me tag along.”

“Aren’t you a good guy, Yoojin?” one man said rhetorically.

Everyone in the party had immediately foisted their bags onto him once he had offered, and he kept his complaints to himself. They were somewhat heavy, but he could hear the faint sound of a glass bottle clinking against another; a telltale sign that there were likely potions in one of these bags. As for which one it may have been, that was to be determined.

He trailed after the group, and just as he initially suspected, those rocky formations had burst, with a monster lurching outward and attempting to strike one of the Hunters. Immediately, a man had leapt forward with a shield and struck the monster, deflecting the incoming attack and allowing a window of opportunity for a combat Hunter to promptly defeat it. That Hunter wielded a spear, with the sharp edge easily skewering right through the monster, and Yoojin made the safe assessment that it was likely a piece of equipment, rather than some ordinary weapon.

That continued for what had felt like an hour and Yoojin noticed that they had a fairly solid foundation. The only thing they presently lacked was a healer, considering that their wounds weren’t being patched up by anyone. Although, once that time had lapsed, the sense of unease returned back to Yoojin.

Approximately, one hour after entering a dungeon, the gate would close and it would only re-open once the dungeon had been cleared, if everyone within had died, or after enough time had passed and the dungeon would perform its mandatory reset.

With a sense of heightened caution, Yoojin’s gaze swept across all the party members, only to see Dongwan staring at his watch in silence, and Yoojin narrowed his eyes.

Hunters typically didn’t wear any form of accessories within dungeons, considering how easily they would be broken, yet he could vaguely make out that he was pretty sure the watch had been some sort of luxury brand. Not to mention, Dongwan hadn’t engaged in combat at all this entire time.

“It’s really a pity,” Dongwan reiterated and idly tapped away his watch face. “It’s time, isn’t it?”

Yoojin stole a glance towards the direction they had originally come from, only to see that there was no trace of the dungeon gate, but that brief moment of him taking his attention away from the group had been enough for him to expose his moment of vulnerability, no matter how brief.

Dongwan clenched his fist, then drove it straight into Yoojin’s abdomen without mercy. The blow had completely knocked all the air out of his lungs, and he staggered backwards, with the weight of the bags slung over his arms sending him crashing into the floor.

With no chance to regain his breath, he observed the spearman brandishing his weapon for what might’ve been his next blow, then released the bags and clumsily picked himself back up, with heaving breaths.

“You should’ve gotten him in the face,” Yongjin muttered. “It would’ve been easier.”

“You’re not going to get me that easily,” Yoojin grimaced, then retrieved two shortswords from his inventory.

“Didn’t you always say you wanted a bit of a challenge?” Dongwan hummed.

“Well, I’m pretty good at hanging in there, so if it’s a challenge you want, I’ll give it to you.”

『Kim Yongjin has responded to your keyword and is now under your custody!』

Piece of shit, Yoojin scowled. He had no idea what triggered his application of the keyword. Is he really getting off of me about to give him a hard time?

Regardless of that, at least he’d finally managed to apply it to the two main characters and the rest of the mobs.

“How long do you think he’ll last?” one said. “I’ll bet ₩100,000 on thirty minutes.”

“₩500,000 on an hour. He must have gear from his brother since he’s managed to survive for so long.”

“₩300,000 on two hours.”

Two C-Ranks and five D-Ranks, against one F-Rank, Yoojin assessed. I might’ve bitten off more than I can chew.

No matter what, he would lose in a test of physical capabilities, until he managed to finish off at least one of them, so he needed to be on the defensive and strike when he had the opportunity.

Without further ado, they rushed towards Yoojin.

Dongwan swung his fist at Yoojin, and he quickly side-stepped to narrowly avoid the blow, only for him to be struck overhead with the shield support Hunter slamming the metal frame against his temple. He saw red, with his vision swimming as he staggered, attempting to stabilise himself, and leapt forward towards the bags he’d previously discarded, sheathing the shortswords into his waist belt, and seized the handle of the heaviest bag with both of his hands, pocketing a few rocks and clump of dirt into his pocket. The bag was hardly suited for proper combat, but it was perfectly hefty and more than capable of being a distraction.

With that, he rushed forward and used the added weight on his body to slam right into the unguarded Dongwan, and sent them both crashing onto the ground. Almost immediately, Dongwan performed an undercut, with his fist smoothly colliding into Yoojin’s face. The impact of it made blood dribble from his nose, but it was a prime moment for Yoojin to grab some of the dirt he had shoved into his pocket and sprayed Dongwan with a generous mound.

“You piece of—” he grunted as he made a pathetic attempt to wrestle Yoojin off him, despite his lack of vision, but this was his moment.

Now that he’d been blinded, Yoojin withdrew one of the shortswords and drove its sharpened edge right into the centre neck with both his hands. Blood sprayed out from the attack, splattering against the corner of his face and dyeing his clothing with splotches that were a hideous crimson, causing the others to grimace.

『[Custodian] Title Effect in Place

Bonus Skill [Final Thanks] Activated! The skills and stats of the target under custody will be transferred at double effectiveness!』

With the doubled stats of a D-Rank, he was essentially B-Rank now. His head was still throbbing for the earlier impact, but now, it was officially time to stop holding back.

“He’s just an F-Rank!” Yongjin shouted at the others. “Get him! Just a little more and we can—”

“And then, you can what?” Yoojin uttered.

Yoojin unsheathed the shortswords and rushed forward to strike his next target, Yongjin, considering he had been the one to invite him into this hell of a situation, only for his blow to make impact against an iron shield and have his attempted strike deflected by the shield-bearer that had rushed in to protect his leader. The collision sent him reeling backward slightly, stumbling with pain ebbing in his hands from the impact, but without sparing even a single moment in between, the spearman charged and thrusted his weapon violently towards Yoojin.

He pivoted with some struggle and fell to the ground purposely, extending his arms outward for his landing, only to hoist his lower body upward and drive his foot into the solar plexus of the spearman. While he’d grunted from the pain and stumbled slightly, his grasp remained firm on the spear.

Yoojin set his feet back onto the ground and drove his shortsword forward, with the sharp edge colliding against the barrel of the spear. With the spearman completely on the defensive, he brandished the shortsword in his other hand and took aim to the vein that had protruded from the other man’s neck, then swung down.

Although, his strike had never drawn blood. He had frozen in the midst of it, with the feeling of numbness gradually beginning to spread throughout the entirety of his left leg. There was a slight tingle, reminiscent of pain, but it hadn’t been that noticeable with the adrenaline that coursed through him. His gaze dropped to find that a short throwing dagger had been lodged into the calf of his leg, with that shieldbearing bastard being in the sort of pose, where his arm had been extended outward.

That son of a… he thought.

Having noticed that his attention turned elsewhere, the spearman applied a greater amount of pressure to force Yoojin’s hand, which had sent him back a moderate distance, with his feet skidding against the uneven dirt, until his left leg had eventually buckled and he had collapsed to the ground, with his back hitting the surface. He sheathed his shortswords instantaneously and balled his fists in frustration, then attempted to flip himself back onto his stomach, only for his abdomen to be violently kicked, with the impact of it making him roll in the dirt.

“You’re just a lowly F-Rank,” one D-Rank spat as he kept Yoojin’s head lowered to the ground.

“Yeah, and that lowly F-Rank killed one of you, so what does that make you? G-Rank?” Yoojin shot back, then spat at the shoes of the man that had been forcing him down.

He was violently punched at that retort, with Yoojin barely managing to grit his teeth to make sure he hadn’t lost any from the blow. At the feeling of a fist colliding against his face, he could hear the soft crunch of what may have been his nose breaking, with blood beginning to stream from both his nostrils and dribbling onto his upper lip. The taste of iron in his mouth was unpleasant — not that there was any way out of it in his current predicament. Clearly not having been satisfied, the brute punched him again, then again, and again, and again.

It wasn’t too bad since his stats were B-Rank, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt as a result of those relentless punches. He struggled with clenched teeth, propping his hands on the ground and attempting to force himself up, but Yongjin planted his foot on the small of his back and sent him crashing back down onto the floor.

“That’s enough,” he muttered. “This should be plenty.”

With that, Yoojin had finally known release, with his body being rolled over so that he laid on his back and Yongjin atop of him, albeit with the foot now positioned on his abdomen.

“You low-life bastard,” Yoojin choked out and glared at him.

“Talk as much as you want, while you can,” Yongjin replied, meeting his gaze of absolute defiance.

Yoojin narrowed his eyes, only for an unfamiliar pain to ring through the back of his mind once they had locked eyes. It was swift, but he felt like he had seen Yongjin’s irises glimmer a faint red. His dark eyes, which were once deeper and darker than the depths of oblivion, now seemed more akin to a bloodied scarlet. Across his line of sight, it felt like he had seen red strings floating across his vision, with their movement being controlled by Yongjin’s whims and maneuvering around Yoojin himself.

“Yoojin-ah,” he breathed quietly, reaching out and cupping Yoojin’s face with both of his hands. “You’re a good, hardworking person, with a bright future ahead of you, especially since you have the Haeyeon Guild Leader as your younger brother. You’re luckier than most, don’t you think?”

Yongjin’s words, which once seemed like they had been dripping with slime, had now sounded far more captivating, even to the extent that Yoojin had somehow found himself agreeing with him.

“That’s true…” he muttered.

“Is it true that you’re not on speaking terms with him anymore?”

“Yes…” Yoojin uttered, as if in a trance. “We got into a fight.”

“Honestly, I couldn’t care less about your family feud,” Yongjin scoffed, then ran his hand through Yoojin’s hair, matted with dirt and clenched a fistful of it. “Go back to your little brother, Haeyeon’s Guild Leader, and get him back on your good side. It doesn’t matter what it takes, even if you have to grovel or lick his shoes clean. Do you understand?”

Shit, Yoojin grimaced internally and attempted to close his eyes, but his vision remained fixed on Yongjin, only blinking very briefly when he physically needed to do so. Shit, shit, shit.

Against his will, he could feel his lips part, in an attempt to answer Yongjin, only being able to draw a response from the hazy thoughts that filled his mind. Instead of crawling back to Yoohyun and begging for his forgiveness, he would rather be subjected to a few more rough kicks from these miserable slobs, especially considering all the fights they had gotten into. While it was true that there were many claims where family would get along well no matter what, they could only spout that sort of nonsense because they hadn’t seen what their brotherly relationship was like.

“I…” Yoojin replied instinctively, only for him to bite down on his tongue and draw blood. As the taste of iron filled his mouth, he gagged on a clump of his own blood and spat it to the side. “I’m not going to, no matter what. You’re all just sick pieces of shit who can only find your own self-value through others.” 

Yongjin’s lips pressed into a thin line and he pressed his foot down further into Yoojin’s abdomen, applying a considerable amount of pressure, until a familiar pain spread throughout his ribcage. He had felt this before when he had first awakened, but that didn’t make it any better.

“Yoojin,” he said. “Listen to me. You can apologise to your brother, make up, and get along well. When you get along well, you can share anything and everything, no matter what.”

“Yoohyun’s grown enough that he isn’t interested in playing house anymore,” Yoojin scowled.

“...Normally, people would cave in by now,” he hummed thoughtfully. “Do you have some sort of skill for mental resistance?”

“I don’t, so it means your skill is just that weak.”

The stat boost he had received from ‘Final Thanks’ was about to end, which would make things a lot worse for him right now, so he needed to end this quickly. He wrapped both of his arms around Yongjin’s ankle and attempted to pry him off, only for the man to lift his foot instead and slam his heel into Yoojin’s kneecap.

“You’re durable,” Yongjin said. “But it’s still not good enough.”

The shape of a metal bat gradually began to materialise within his hands, having been retrieved from his inventory, and he swung it right into the calf of his numbed left leg, only to be followed by another strike, with Yoojin grimacing as he attempted to escape, until a dreadful status window appeared before him. The title effect ‘Final Thanks’ had now been lost, reverting every aspect of his body back to F-Rank.

The numbness in his leg intensified almost instantaneously, with the pain in every part of his body seeming even more prominent and unbearably so. As his body attempted to adapt to the new pain, Yongjin swung the bat right into his leg once more, and a grotesque crunch could be heard, accompanied by an agonised scream that ripped out from Yoojin’s lungs.

“That must’ve hurt, huh, Yoojin?” Yongjin commented idly, as if he hadn’t been the one to inflict such a grievous wound, and retrieved a health potion from his inventory, pinning Yoojin back down with his foot. “We can patch it up for you.”

“I’ll kill you… I’ll seriously kill you,” Yoojin muttered through clenched teeth as he made a vain attempt to escape from Yongjin.

He kicked at his ankle with his functional foot, but an F-Rank could hardly do anything to a D-Rank. Without any regard for his ongoing struggle, Yongjin uncorked the health bottle and emptied its contents all over Yoojin’s battered leg.

This was it.

It was common knowledge that if a low-level potion was used to heal a wound out of its capabilities, then it would heal the wrong way. He would never be able to restore it back to its original condition, unless he had a high-grade potion, but the starting price for one of those had already been billions of won.

He squeezed his eyes shut, wondering if there was any way he could possibly get himself out of this situation. Just as he had originally anticipated, he had definitely bitten off more than he could chew, but with a leg that was now crippled and the stats of an F-Rank, his chances of victory were slim. In fact, it had been thinning by the second.

Han Yoojin, he thought steadily, in some vain attempt to convince himself. Hang in there. Push through.

“If you couldn’t care less about my family feud, then stay out of my damn business,” Yoojin sneered.

He grasped at the ankle of Yongjin with one hand, and then, he drove the sharp edge of his shortsword right into his calf, having given him the exact same treatment that he had recently been subjected to. 

Yongjin lifted his other foot and kicked him incessantly, attempting to pry him off of him, but if there was anything that Yoojin had in spades, then it was his capability of being extremely stubborn. He propped the shortsword against the ground and forced himself upward, then swung it at Yoojin.

Yongjin evaded his blows swiftly, especially since they were clumsy in nature, considering his new injury, but when in doubt, it was time to revert back to the basics. In a similar manner to how he had defeated Dongwan, he shoved his body weight into Yongjin and sent them both colliding into the ground and slit his throat.

Once he had practically reached the stats of a B-Rank again, cleaning up the rest of the trash was comparably easier, but it was still difficult, along with clearing the rest of the dungeon.

Even so, he managed and finally managed to escape the dungeon.

Instead of relief, there was a seed of doubt forming in him. It was odd. He hadn’t been nervous, he’d been crawling and mining in dungeons for what felt like ages but he couldn’t shake the odd feeling that something was about to go incredibly wrong.

He swore he was fine up until a few moments ago, save for his recent injuries.

Cold sweat beaded upon the nape of his neck, with a few short strands of his hair sticking to his skin, and his chest was tight. It was hard to breathe, like something had seized his throat and was in the midst of cutting off his airways, leaving him as nothing but a grappling, whimpering, helpless F-Ranker, unable to do anything except to finally surrender himself to a merciful death.

Distantly, he felt like he could hear a voice calling out his name but when he lifted his gaze, there was nothing but a blur and that voice fell on his deaf ears, only as muffled, inaudible noise. His lips parted, in an attempt to speak, yet nothing came.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then re-opened them and took a deep breath, allowing himself to refocus — bringing everything back to position, and himself, back to reality.

Oxygen, gradually returning back to his system, and circulating through his body, and his vision coming back to him, until that moment.

Without any warning, the wind was knocked out of his sails, with its accompaniment following shortly after and damning him with an excruciating, agonising feeling that tore through his abdomen and threatened his very core. 

It was almost as if someone had been stabbing him incessantly, multiple times, across different regions of his body, and there was nothing he could do about it. His vision was nothing but an amalgamation of red and black in varying shades. His shirt, thin and without much absorbency, stuck to him — matted in dirt and what felt like his own blood.

Unbidden and desperate to force himself to focus elsewhere, he clawed at the only surface that was beside him, with old soil between his fingernails and staining the pallid skin on his fingertips.

Distantly, he could hear someone’s incoherent screaming. There were no words, but only madly devastating cries of anguish that resonated deep within him. It wasn’t until his throat began to grow hoarse that he realised that fading voice was his own. As if on cue, he could feel something bubbling up within his throat and sputtered.  

Something heavy set itself in the pit of his stomach and so that it could keep its place, he felt like he was trying to heave out his own organs.

He was cold. So, so cold.

His head rang. It hurt.

His vision swam. It was so painful.

The pain numbed him and he gradually felt that all the strength he had left was escaping him.

He wanted it to end. 

In that amalgamation of naught but black and red, he was its only witness. Within his blurry, fading vision, there was only one thing that was distinctly clear.

A string that was so vividly red that even the deepest shades of crimson couldn’t hold a candle to its brilliant hue. It stretched endlessly, undefeated by the very concept of space itself. The string appeared to be thick, like a cord, and subconsciously, he knew it was something that couldn’t have been severed easily.

Beyond that string, there was a silhouette — a little taller than he was but their face, hidden beneath the fading shadows of black and red.

They raised their arm and placed it gently atop the red string, with enough tenderness that was so reminiscent of one trying to soothe their pained lover.

There was a strange feeling of loss, like his reason for living had been spirited away. Without even realising it, tears began to spill from his eyes.

And then, the red string snapped.

That vision disappeared, seemingly like a distant dream that disappeared in its wake, with his surrounding landscape returning back to what it once was. The pain was gradually beginning to fade, yet it had been replaced with insurmountable feelings of grief and loss, so much so that it felt like he’d lost a part of himself and that something within his very essence had been stripped away from him without his knowledge.

He felt his body shift, like someone or something had picked him up, and he closed his eyes.

His consciousness, wading like the ocean’s waves betwixt the sand, had now faded to black.

Yoojin couldn’t help but wonder where everything had gone wrong.

Since that day, there was an overwhelming sense of emptiness deep within him, like he had experienced the loss of someone incredibly dear to him.

The days had steadily passed by, and he followed the same routine as always. He would be dungeon crawling and would sell anything that might have been of value, then would return back home to his ratty place.

Even though it was the same as always, the world seemed so bleak, like it had lost all of its colour.

Despite those circumstances, he continued to push through and keep living, with his sole motivation being the hope that the world would change. It was a slim possibility but when the dungeons had first broken, his life had changed drastically and the idyllic life that he treasured so fondly had also disappeared, now being such a distant memory that it was akin to a faraway dream.

If the world changed for the better, then there was a chance he might have made up with his little brother again, so it only left him in deep confusion when his only reason left to live was now laying lifelessly in his arms.

Rather than any sort of lifeline, there was a wish stone before him, which whispered words of bittersweet salvation, and it offered the impossible: a chance to turn back time.

Even if it was wrong, even if he came to regret it, and even if the world scorned him for this decision, he reached out for that light.