Archive of Our Own

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

Really. It was.

It had been an off-handed thing that Jin-Woo had said. A curious question and a funny answer. Jin-Chul had not planned on taking it any further than that. Just be amazed at the new information and then forget about it.

Except he couldn't, and it became more than a one-time thing. Sometimes, by accident, other times, it was deliberate. Only because he could not stand seeing his shadow slowly shrink in on itself when he had refused.

Money spent because as strong of an A-rank he was (and he's really strong at that, just below an S-rank) his resolve crumbles when he feels like he hears a soft whine coming from his shadow.

Somehow, Jin-Woo still hadn't found out about what he was doing, and he didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. And he's not interested in finding out either. God knows how the S-rank might react.

As reasonable and level-headed as Hunter Sung was (for an S-rank, especially), Jin-Chul was not sure if he would be fond of the reaction.

The only reason he even knew of said information was because of a question he had asked when he had to accompany Hunter Sung on Ahjin guilds raid with only the summons instead of actual people.

Woo Jin-Chul had been asked by the chairman to witness how Sung Jin-Woo is on raids in dungeons. And of course, as the loyal and trustworthy subordinate he was, he agreed. The absolute mistake of his life.

What he saw in that dungeon was no raid but a massacre. Hunter Sung hadn't even lifted his finger (except his leg) until it was the boss fight. But even then, the S-rank didn't even break a sweat from the fight (if you could call it a fight).

The shadow summons had diligently killed, mined, and collected all the mana stones and magic beast corpses. Basically, it was a one-man army. Except the one man just had a lot of summons who happened to be revivable shadow soldiers.

It was at that point when Jin-Chul had been stunned with shock that he saw Hunter Sung absolutely boot the ant soldier with his leg. Said Ant was launched into the wall of rocks after attempting to have a quick snack while doing his work. A quick snack was actually munching on the monster corpse that was lying on the side.

Said ant had also been the nightmare during the Jeju Island raid. It had killed more than five of the Japanese S-ranks and one their own S-rank healer before Sung Jin-Woo had interfered. Successfully, defeating it and reducing it to… whatever it was now.

Somehow, it became much weaker, but Jin-Chul was not one to complain. He was at least under the impression that the ant would be manageable now. After having to stay at the office for almost a week, taking all-nighters to get rid of all the documents on his desk, he's very grateful that the ant attacking again would not happen any time soon.

“Oi, don't eat that. Do you know how much monster corpses are worth?” Hunter Sung had stated after punting the ant.

Watching around him, Jin-Chul’s fingers trembled the least bit before he steeled himself, when suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. Hastily, he turned around, expecting the worst, although he was met with a face full of crystals and a huge shadow soldier.

Jin-Chul stared at the crystals, then at the shadow soldiers, then back to the crystals. The soldier had no face but instead a helmet covering his face with a singular horizontal line for where the eyes would see through when it was probably alive.

The soldier moves his hand full of crystals towards Jin-Chul, and instinctively, he backs away by half a step. He gets that they're not harmful, but instincts are still instincts.

A cold air escaped from the soldier, making the area around chilly. Something in Jin-Chul screamed at him to turn around and run, but he was not just going to quit right then and there. Even then, Jin-Chul calmed his heart and faced the soldier again. It was almost like it was offering the crystals to Jin-Chul.

That confused him a little. He was by no means on this raid for crystals or corpses, so the action caught him off guard. The soldier, on the other hand, didn't know this and continued to offer the crystals.

“Don't worry about that, Chief Woo isn't here for the crystals or anything.” He turned to his side to see Hunter Sung with a poker face addressing the shadow soldier.

If Jin-Chul wasn't in a perturbed state, he would have found the way the soldier slumped and looked sad, almost cute. Instead, he offered it a kind smile as he watched it walk back to its work.

“Sorry about that, they normally mine the crystals, then give half to Jin-Ho. They probably thought that they had to do the same for you,” the S-rank explained while walking towards the boss part of the dungeon.

“I-i see. I was quite confused when it offered me the crystals.” Jin-Chul followed a few steps behind Jin-Woo.

“And a bit scared.” Jin-Chul flushed at that but tried his best to hide it.

“I- yeah, I'm not really used to seeing so many summons at once. Especially ones this powerful.” Jin-Woo glanced back to see Jin-Chul hide his face by looking at the soldiers who were mining.

“Don't worry about them. As long as you're in their good books, they'll like you.”

“And how do I get into these good books?”

“Uhh, probably don't get mad at me and feed them, I guess.” Jin-Woo pretended to think.

“What do shadows even eat? Except for monster corpses.” It was a genuine question that Jin-Chul had asked. The answer was not as he had expected.

“Hmm. Sweet stuff like rice cakes and pastries, I think.” Jin-Woo turned to see an incredulous look on Jin-Chul's face. The man was flabbergasted.

“You're kidding, right? How do they even eat solid foods if they're shadows?” Jin-Chul only grew more curious about the summons.

“I have no idea. Although, once I dropped a mochi on the floor, I turned around to pick it up, and it was just gone. Into the abyss.” Jin-chul found himself mentally chuckling at the image of Jin-Woo looking baffled at the missing piece of eatery.

Unknowingly, a tiny smile had graced itself on his face while he was thinking. This made Jin-Woo have a smile of his own as he continued walking. Soon, they stumbled upon the boss, a slithery snake/fish monster named Naga.

Jin-Woo's eyes glowed a light blue for a split second as he ordered, “Those of you still working can stay. Everyone else, return.”

Again, feeling confused, Jin-Chul questioned as to why he did that. In return, the S-rank summoned a black dagger and glanced over his shoulder, and offered a simple response.

“Relying too much on my shadows makes me lose my touch.”

And the boss was dead before Jin-Chul could even blink.

—-

Jin-chul in no way whatsoever considered himself to be stupid. He was quite sure that nobody else did either. For crying out loud, he was the chief of the Monitoring Department for the Korean Hunters Association. Even more, he's the trusty right-hand man for said associations chairman.

You don't get that type of position by just sitting around and looking pretty, much to other hunters' dismay. He has to deal with whatever bullshit that S-ranks come up with on the daily while also juggling with the obnoxious lower ranked hunters who think they can take on the world.

Just yesterday, Choi Jong-In and Baek Yoon-Ho had almost demolished another meeting room if it wasn't for his quick thinking. After that, another mis-ranked dungeon was causing havoc for the team in said dungeon.

Yet somehow, he dealt with all of the problems, reaching his house at 10 in the night. It was earlier than he thought, considering how his day usually ends at the office, slumped over his desk, surrounded by mountains of paperwork.

So yea. Nobody would consider Woo Jin-Chul to be stupid. What he actually was is careful, loyal, and observant. Small details weren't something that he would miss, and it helped him quite a lot. He was an observant man and was quite good at the skill itself.

So when he thinks that he sees his shadow move a bit differently than normal, he gets paranoid. Shadows don't move differently. At least they're not supposed to.

Instead, he blames it on his sleep deprived, coffee stimulated brain and pretends as if he doesn't notice that tiny detail and stashes it away into the far corner of his mind. Choosing instead to have a warm shower, changing into comfy clothes, and getting the sleep he very well deserves.

—-

They say, ‘one is luck. Two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern.’

Well, then he wonders what the hell five is supposed to mean.

It's only during a meeting with the S-ranks and the chairman that he realises - and accepts - fully that there is something definitely very wrong with their shadows. Choi Jong-In's shadow is stretching far longer than it should, and Baek Yoon-Ho’s has a bump where it shouldn't.

The chairman's shadow is liquid-like and moving too fast for someone who is sitting on a chair. While Cha Hae-In’s is moving left to right. His own shadow seems to have splotchy movements, and when all the shadows converge, it almost looks like they're playing… ‘rock, paper, scissors.’

…Yeah he definitely acknowledges it after that incident. He didn't report it, of course. He didn't want to cause an uproar among them until he had a good idea of why their shadows were like that.

Shadows don't move weirdly, and they sure as hell don't play ‘rock, paper, scissors.’ And honestly, Jin-Chul can feel another headache coming on and the desperate need for a caffeinated drink.

—-

The worst part is that he only realises why the shadows were like that when he's in his kitchen on a Friday night. It was completely unexpected, yet he didn't mind it.

It was finally pay-day, which meant that if they were insanely lucky, everyone in the Monitoring division could go home half an hour early. Yeah. Insane. And maybe the goddess of fortune was smiling down upon them because for the first time since he's joined the Monitoring division, he got to go home early.

This meant that he could watch basically anything he wanted while eating the chicken he had got for takeaway. And even better was that he had desserts for after while laying in bed and lazing around.

Unfortunately, before all of that, he had to sort out his laundry, wash the dishes, and have a shower. Good fortune can only last so long, he guesses.

While cleaning the plates, his hand hit against a container, which held a bunch of frosted doughnuts, causing it to fall. He had got them as a treat for the next day, but he guessed not anymore. However, before the whole box could land on the floor, spoiling his doughnuts, he caught it by the edge.

This was an awkward position as he had a plate in one hand and pinched the edge of the container with the other. And if he didn't move his hands quickly, the frosted doughnuts would be gone.

Without skipping a beat, he placed the plate down and reached for the container, in time for only one doughnut to slip out and land on the floor. The rest were safe.

Sighing in relief, he placed the container back on the countertop, this time away from the edge and much more securely against the wall. Jin-Chul went to pick up the doughnut still on the floor, only to find that it was gone.

There were no remnants of the frosting or crumbs on the floor. For a second, Jin-Chul was almost convinced that he was dreaming, but after a quick pinch, he was quite sure that he wasn't.

‘What the fuck? Where's the doughnut?’ He thought for a second before an idea came to his mind.

Slowly, he grabbed the container full of doughnuts, picked one out, and - as much as it hurt his heart to do it - he dropped it on the floor and watched.

For many seconds, nothing happened. Almost a minute passed, and still nothing had happened. He really was going crazy. It turns out that staying around S-ranks makes you go crazy.

Exasperatedly, he runs his hands through his hair and down his face. And yet, when he goes to pick up the doughnut, it's gone. Same as last time. No crumbs or frosting left behind.

So he wasn't going crazy. There just so happened to be a doughnut eating… monster(??) in his house and he couldn't locate it.

Jin-Chul carefully placed the container back and returned to cleaning the plates. Trying to make sense out of it all.

‘OK. So. Creatures?? Monster?? Something! Inside the house, eating doughnuts, not when I look. What??!’
He could feel himself losing brain cells.

‘If it's a creature then it must be hiding somewhere, so probably in the dark? But it would crawl out in time to eat and doughnut clean? And leave?? And why doughnuts?? Maybe it likes sweet things.’
He was really trying it to make sense out of nothing.

‘Something that hides in the dark but likes sweet things?? What could it-!’ Jin-Chul could finally see the dots in his head join together.

“Hmm. Sweet stuff like rice cakes and pastries, I think.” He recalls the small piece of information he had received from Hunter Sung himself about the shadow soldiers, and immediately, everything makes so much more sense.

His shadow that night, the shadows during the meeting, and how right now, somehow a shadow is eating the food he dropped on the ground.

Absently, he stares at the floor and comments, “Even if Hunter Sung put one of the shadow soldiers on me, I don't see how that works.”

He's only met with silence, of course. Almost all of the shadow soldiers can't currently speak. The only exception is the ant, and now he knows it is named Beru after many conversations with Hunter Sung.

(And to be honest, he has utterly no idea as to how the hunter got his contact details, but he really can not be asked to investigate Hunter Sung's hacking skills. The man had only texted to inform him of any problems that may have risen up that he had already gotten rid of (e.g., Gates or hunters) and pointless chatter.

Jin-Chul had gotten used to opening his phone and finding some stupid message or a photo of something interesting that the S-rank had found. He would almost look forward to the messages at the end of a long day. It would always leave a smile on his face.)

Speaking of, should he tell Sung Jin-Woo about this, or should he just leave it. Looking between his shadow and the container, pondering quietly before throwing in another doughnut, this time, he can see it disappear through shadows, and he decides that he'll just let this be a one time thing.

—-

It was, in fact, not a one-time thing.

It was more than a one-time thing. And by the time Jin-Chul was fully aware that it was not a one-time thing anymore, a shadow soldier with red blur flowing from the top of its head until the floor had emerged from the shadow, standing at its full height.

A few weeks had passed ever since the ‘kitchen doughnut’ incident and Jin-Chul had been ‘accidentally’ dropping food right where his shadow would be, blissfully ignoring how it would dissolve through with no trace.

It had gotten to the point where he would see the shadow peeking at him with small eyes and hesitantly wave. Sometimes, he would wave back. Other times, he would give it a tired smile.

The soldier wouldn't get out of his shadow, though, not when he was looking anyway. If he would be exhausted after a long day of work to the point that he couldn't even change out of his clothes and just drop himself on the bed, in the morning when he'd wake up, all the dishes in the house would be clean and laundry would be dried and ready for him to use.

At first, it had spooked him but at the end of the day, he wrote a little ‘thank you’ note, left it on the table and went to sleep. The next day, he had woken up to see that it wasn't there anymore, and he smiled to himself.

On the off chance that he would have no food to give to the shadow, he would frown and slowly whisper to it, “Sorry I haven't gotten any food today.”

And the way that the shadow would shrink in on itself would make Jin-Chul's heart clench, and the next time he was out, he would almost certainly take a trip to the shop, buying as much as he could.

And if his shadow would stretch itself more than usual, then that was between him and the shadow.

Except, when he was standing in his kitchen, at 10 o'clock, cooking dinner after one tiring day filled with bothersome hunters and more.

Jin-Chul had felt the cool before he saw it. The shadow stood at its full height, towering over Jin-Chul and still bending a bit to not hit the ceiling. Igris, as he remembers the soldier's name, was the strongest shadow when he was overseeing the Ahjin guilds raid.

Igris didn't do much. He just stood there for a while before letting himself pull a chair out and sit on it. Jin-Chul was yet to get out of his stupor when he felt that the shadow let out a sigh(??)

Jin-Chul observed its movements, Igris wasn't harmful, quite the opposite, actually. He sat on the chair with his hands on the table in a proper manner, and if anything, he looked quite exhausted.

Now sue Jin-Chul for guessing, but he wasn't exactly fluent in shadow body language. All he could feel was a tired vibe coming from the other as if the shadow had been babysitting about 50 infants at once and somehow survived (the chief guessed that he probably had).

Maybe Jin-Chul wasn't great in shadow language, but he was experienced in the notion of being worn out after a day's work. Fully fluent and every bone in his body was familiar with the feeling. And something told him that Igris had not just shown up to him just because Jin-Woo put him there to protect him.

Especially since the shadow dared to come out of his shadow and show himself. Without speaking, Jin-Chul removed two mugs and turned on the kettle while turning his dinner for one into a dinner for two.

He emptied the coffee sachet contents into each mug and poured the hot water into them. Registering the fact that shadows like sweeter stuff, he put two spoons of sugar into one mug and stirred both mugs.

Putting the stove on low heat, he picked up the two mugs and placed one in front of Igris. Sitting down opposite the shadow, he placed his own mug down in front of him. The shadow soldier looked up at him and then at the mug. It was skeptical, of course, even though his own soldiers would eat without question.

To disperse the shadows' doubt, Jin-Chul blew on the coffee and took a sip, almost burning his tongue at the heat. Only then did Igris carefully pick up the mug and bring it to his mouth(??). He really couldn't see because it's quite literally pitch black.

Clearly, Igris was better at handling hot drinks since he didn't recoil from the coffee. He placed the mug back on the table and sighed again.

Jin-Chul isn't an invasive man, but he was there to listen to people if they needed help of any kind, and Igris definitely looked like he needed it.

“Is something wrong?” He stilled when he felt the shadows undivided attention on him, feeling its eyes bore into him through the helmet. “It-it's just that you looked a bit stressed. If you want, I can lend an ear,” He cautiously continued.

Igris let out an exasperated sigh before placing his head on the table. The shadow soldier didn't say anything, not that he was able to anyway. Instead, Jin-Chul chose to sit in silence. Perhaps Igris could use some peace and quiet before he had to go back. His breathing became white noise in the background.

After some time passed, Jin-Chul slowly got up and attended to the stove, making sure that the food wasn't burnt. He turned off the fire and carefully arranged the food on two plates. Although he hadn't turned around to check, he was almost sure that Igris was still sitting at the table, face down.

He picked up both the plates and set them on the table, the shadow peeking at the food from the corner of his eyes. Jin-Chul was hungry, and frankly, he was about to become entirely ravenous. The man picked up his chopsticks and instantly started eating, not bothering to wait for the shadow.

Even if he was terrified of the shadow, he was not about to mark his grave on an empty stomach. He would much rather have a satisfied stomach before dying. Thank you very much.

Although, following soon after him, the shadow picked up its own chopsticks and began to eat. Jin-Chul couldn't hear it chew, but he really hoped that it wasn't swallowing the meat whole. He was not in the right state of mind to heimlich a shadow or call Sung Jin-Woo in the ass crack of night.

They both continued to eat in silence until Jin-Chul was finished, as he got up to place his plate in the sink and turned on the tap to let it clean away the noticeable stains. He felt Igris next to him, placing his own plate down next to the sink.

He turned to face the soldier and had to crane his neck to be able to see Igris’ face. And even though he couldn't actually see it, he could feel that Igris had a grateful smile on his face before he vanished into the shadows.

Leaving Jin-Chul to face the reality of what had just happened in the past half an hour. A wave of relief, realisation, and gladness crashed into him all at once, making him feel a variety of emotions.

Looks like it wasn't a one-time thing anymore.

Defeatedly sighing, he got back to cleaning the plates. He had a shadow army to feed, and he couldn't do it with dirty dishes in the sink.

—-

It's only after many, many weeks later does Hunter Sung finds out about his little encounters with said man's summons. By then, Jin-Chul was quite sure that he had met and interacted with at least half of the S-ranks army of shadows. Of course, he already knew Igris, but the others just couldn't stay away (especially since he fed them).

He had met Iron after a particularly difficult day, and even though Iron had a few loose screws, Jin-Chul had almost laughed at the shadows' stupidity and its craving for attention. Iron had been followed by the magic unit, three mages who were quite close to Iron, happily joining in on his idiotic shenanigans.

After them came Tusk, the giant red mage. At first, Jin-Chul was very confused as to how the shadow actually fit into his tiny apartment. He certainly remembered the soldier being way bigger, but of course, he didn't think much of it. It's better to accept than question when it comes to Hunter Sung and his summons.

Tusk had been fairly domestic like Igris. He only stayed around a few times for a cup of coffee and snacks. Nothing more, nothing less. Although he did help by setting some confidential files on fire. They were supposed to be disposed of anyway, Jin-Chul just hadn't figured out how, and the solution came from the shadows. Quite literally.

And finally, there was Beru. The ant had shown up much later than the others, choosing to take his own time rather than hurrying. To be completely honest, Jin-Chul had been scared out of his wits the day Beru had emerged from the shadows. All the blood in his body had run cold, his hands trembling at the overwhelming sensation of mana around him.

The chief could sense no murderous intent emitted from the ant, and yet for the first time in ages, Jin-Chul was tempted to call Jin-Woo for help. Except he steeled himself and walked past the haunched figure, entering the kitchen.

Soon, however, Jin-Chul would come to find out that Beru had the sweetest tooth of them all and a hilarious knack for Korean dramas. The ant had just sat on the couch next to him, his utter focus on the TV while sipping on his milkshake (that Jin-Chul had specially learned how to make milkshake just for the shadows, he deserved a pay rise)

When Beru finally decided to speak, Jin-Chul was amused yet also curious. It ended with them having a comfortable conversation about the show before the ant had to leave. And it was only the start of the many conversations the two were going to have.

They both had gotten comfortable enough to even have a heated discussion about one of the dramas. Jin-Chul wasn't even fully interested in the show, yet conversing with Beru was its own genre of chatter. Some days, when the chief would get home, he would be greeted with self-invited Beru, who would have the show ready to go and food on the coffee table.

Jin-Chul found himself growing fond of the little silent time he'd have with Igris, the laughs he'd share with Iron and the mages, Tusk trying his best to help out with chores and the louder chit-chat with Beru.

It was when they were in the United States, Jin-Woo had just defeated Thomas Andre with the least amount of damage inflicted on himself. Jin-Chul had been both impressed and petrified by Jin-Woo's strength. He didn't have long to dwell on it, though.

Hunter Sung had already taken off, taking Yoo Jin-Ho with him. And instead of chasing after, Jin-Chul stayed back to deal with the aftermath, hurrying back to his hotel room straight after sorting everything out.

Thankfully, Thomas Andre had taken the defeat with a pinch of salt and didn't take it further to anything. Jin-Chul had never been that grateful to an S-rank. Let alone a national level for handling the situation well.

Currently, he was standing by the table in his room, making himself a cup of coffee while dropping some cubes of sugar into his shadow. Hearing the little munching noises and satisfied hums.

He noticed a packet of cookies on the table, too. It was unopened and frankly too tempting. Slowly, he picked up the packet and tore it open, removing a piece with the chocolate chips .

Jin-Chul bit into one and melted into the sweetness of it. He carefully removed one from the packet and dropped into his shadow, watching it disappear in the dark. Sensing no distaste, he threw another into the shadow and got another piece.

He quietly sipped on his coffee, taking a bite from the cookie while dropping one in when…

“Ow! What the fuck?”

Jin-Chul considered himself to be an alert man at all times and that nothing scares him easily but the screech he let out when he heard the voice was very unlike him.

Quite quickly, he turned around to find Hunter Sung emerging from the shadow while rubbing his head with one hand and holding the cookei with the other. The S-rank stared at the cookie before diverting his attention to the chief with questioning eyes.

They both stared at each other for a while before Jin-Chul hesitantly cleared his throat and spoke, “Is something wrong, Hunter Sung?”

“Yea- I mean no, uhh. I had come to check up on you when this hit my head,” He answered with a hint of confusion. “Is there a reason why you happen to throw a cookie on the floor the second I come up??”

Jin-Chul grew flustered at the question, ignoring the fact that the hunter had come to check on him, “Well- I have a reason, I just hadn't expected you to come up… how did you do that anyways?”

“It's one of my abilities, I can switch places with one of my shadows,” The S-rank replied while placing the cookie on the table and focusing his attention on Jin-Chul.

“Ohh, no wonder you came out of nowhere.” The chief took a gulp from his coffee, trying to gloss over the previous question.

“Yea… you still haven't explained your reason, though.”

“Umm.. it's a bit embarrassing.”

“Try me.” Jin-Woo was definitely persistent.

“...it was for the shadow,” Jin-Chul muttered under his breath, hoping the other wouldn't hear but of course he did.

A pause.

“What?” Looking up, he found Jin-Woo's confused expression adorable. “Wh-What does that mean??”

“Remember that day when I observed your raid?”

“Yea.”

“And you mentioned how to get into your soldiers' good books?”

“Mhm.”

“Well.. I think I succeeded.”

There was a long minute of excruciating silence before Jin-Woo's eyes crinkled while laughing. Jin-Chul, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. He had thought that the other would feel not mad, but not happy either. Instead, he was hunched over laughing, and Jin-Chul doesn't think that he's ever seen the other laugh this hard.

It took a few minutes for Jin-Woo to calm down and compose himself. A smile still rests on his features when he notices the chief's hesitant/confused look. He suppresses another laugh before speaking.

“You should've seen your face then. As if you thought that I was going to kill you.” Jin-Chul might as well have. S-ranks aren't very predictable people even with habits.

“I just thought you'd react… differently?”

“Really?”

“Yea.”

“Well, what you said does answer a lot of my questions.”

“Seriously?” Jin-Chul had a sceptical look.

“Oh yea! I had been wondering why the shadow soldiers had been disappearing and reappearing but looking much better and happier. Especially Igris, who nevers leaves his post, and Beru.

“At least now I know where they ended up. And in safe hands at that. Thanks for taking care of them.” Jin-Woo gave the chief a lazy smirk, which made the other hurriedly take another sip of his coffee to hide his face, resulting in a chuckle from Jin-Woo.

“I- maybe if you took care of them then they wouldn't be disappearing. I should be getting paid extra for this.” Jin-Chul huffed while placing his empty cup back on the table before motioning to walk away when his wrist got caught and pulled.

“What-”

“I could put in a good word to the chairman if you'd like?”

“Oh goodness no,” He chief scoffed. “He's got other things to worry about as it is. I don't think he would expect it from me. I'll be sending him to a somewhat early grave.”

“The man's like 80 plus.”

“Don't remind him of that!” They both laughed at the comment.

“I could pay you in other ways for babysitting them.” A few words left unsaid but Jin-Chul can put two and two together to figure out what he meant.

“Don't make me babysit them, take responsibility for your own kids.” He joked instead, he doubted Jin-Woo would ever take care of them and that they would always come back.

“I've already got a sister and mother to take care of at home!”

“Shouldn't have adopted so many then, idiot.” And Jin-Chul held his breath as he got another chuckle.

“Fair enough. How about this, let's make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“How about we both take responsibility?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I can keep them at my house and you can feed them. I'll pay for the cost of food, of course, and anything else.”

“Now you're just talking like we're a divorced couple and that your shadow soldiers are our children.”

“I mean, that's kind of what it is right now, are you against that?”

And Jin-Chul found himself unable to say anything to that because no. He was not against that, not at all. In fact, the idea seemed kind of weirdly domestic to him. The idea of Jin-Woo having to make the shadows fight in dungeons then appear at his doorstep to be fed and taken care of.

He really wasn't against it.

“And it's not like we have to be divorced for this to work,” Jin-Woo continued. However, he doesn't deny the getting married part and they both know it.

“Ok fine. But!” He stopped Jin-Woo from celebrating too quickly. “This doesn't mean that you just dump them on my doorstep once you're done. You also have to help me when I'm taking care of them. And! I want 150,000 won every month.”

“150,000??! Every month?!?”

“Well they're your soldiers, and they have a big appetite, so unless you wanna go budget shopping and drop the snacks with me. That's the amount I want, I don't earn nearly enough, unlike you, who would get a lot from dungeons and countries.” Jin-Chul crossed his arms over his chest.

“This isn't very fair on me since we're both deciding to take care of them.”

“Ah too bad. Also, it's less ‘we both taking care of them’ and more ‘you dumping them on me’.”

“I didn't think that the chief could be so demanding.”

“Should've thought twice before judging. I can be quite the demanding person.” Finally, it was Jin-Chul’s turn to smirk while Jin-Woo rubbed the back of his neck.

“I don't mind that, even if you become demanding of something else.” And Jin-Chul was a goner.

“Shut up and go to your room. It's getting late.” Jin-Chul tried to get away again only to be pulled back (again, for God's sake, S-ranks should not be allowed to be this powerful).

This time, though, he was pulled against Jin-Woo's chest from the back, arms snaking around his waist and the other's face buried into his neck.

“What now?”

“I don't want to.. it's boring and cold in my room. Here it is much better.”

“Stop being a baby. You're acting like your shadow soldiers now.”

“I mean, they are my shadow soldiers.”

“Yea yea. You know I learnt like ten different recipes for them. I better get that money, I deserve it.” And Jin-Woo just chuckles while Jin-Chul scoffs, trying to get out of the back hug to no avail (strong ass motherfucker).

“...I just realised something.” The S-rank started.

“What?”

“Technically… since you referred to the shadows as our kids and since we both have equal responsibility for them, we're technically married.”

“...”

“Soooo… how are you doin’, wifey??”

“Get out of my room!” Jin-Chul's face was beyond the colour red while Jin-Woo cackled.

—-

Much later, in the shadow realm, Iron, the three mages, and Tank were playing with the cards Jin-Chul had handed to them once to keep them occupied while he cooked dinner.

They had no idea how it worked at first but eventually figured it out successfully without setting it on fire. The five had been playing for quite some time while Igris attended to the other soldiers. Helping them with training or teaching them new fighting techniques.

Suddenly, Beru ran towards them, making them all stop and pay attention to the fairly childish ant. Beru halted in front of them and started panting, trying to catch his breath.

“Something wrong, Beru?” Igris asked while walking over.

“No! Quite the opposite!! I have such good news you wouldn't believe it!!!” Beru excitedly chirped, making everyone turn their attention towards him.

“What happened?”

“I think- I think we might be getting a queen!”

It was silent before everybody erupted in questions, speaking over one another, their speech becoming incoherent.

“What?!”

“Is the king in love?!”

“Who is it?”

“I hope it's that man who feeds us!”

“His name is Jin-Chul!!”

Igris cleared his throat to shut everyone up, and it was quiet again but with silent murmurs.

“Care to explain exactly what happened, Beru?”

“Ok, so I was minding my business, protecting the chief of that monitoring department when his Majesty came to check up on him. I was about to leave to have a break but I heard something interesting.

“His Majesty found out that we leave our posts to leave and have food with him and struck a deal with him that if his Majesty keeps us for battles, the chief will feed and take care of us and that his Majesty would pay him for it.”

“Then?”

“Well, the chief wasn't against it at first but protested that his Majesty was talking as if they were a divorced couple and that we were their children. But he agreed to the plan and insisted that his Majesty help him.

“He also said that his Majesty should pay him a certain amount for it and they had a little back and forth about that when the chief tried to walk away and - here's the big thing - his Majesty pulled him in for a back hug!!!!”

Now you'd think that since these shadows were very old and battle-hardened that the squeals that erupted were not from them, but they were.

“And then? And then?”

“The chief told him to go to his room but his Majesty denied saying that his room was cold and that he preferred the chief's instead. Then, the chief complained that his Majesty was acting like a baby and how we would act and that he learned a lot of recipes for us.

“His Majesty laughed and said that since the chief had referred to us as their kids that they both were technically married and he said these exact words: 'how are you doin’, wifey??’ to the chief!!! I think my Liege is in love, and we're definitely going to get a queen soon!!”

The shadows burst into cheers, starting to dance and cheer at the great news. Some even started to prepare the things needed for their wedding, finding new jewels to make it as luxurious as possible.

Others had gone as far as to make preparations for the heir that was very much yet to be born. They started to make designs for jewellery and statues.

Igris, on the other hand, stood off to the side, watching the chaos go down. He had a small smile on his face with the intention to ask for about a hundred coffees once he got back up.