Chapter Text
Before even opening the door to their flat, Jin-Woo could already hear Jinah’s complaints about the obnoxious reporters lingering outside the building. She stood near the curtains, peeking through the narrow gap with a deep frown on her face.
"Why are there so many of them? They’ve been here all afternoon," she whispered, as if the reporters might hear her through the walls.
Jin-woo slipped off his shoes, too exhausted from their previous attack to even respond.
She turned to him fully now, her eyes wide with equal parts worry and curiosity. "They won’t come up here, right?"
"No", he said calmly. "They can’t."
She studied his face for a moment longer, searching for cracks in his confidence, before finally sighing.
Before he could think of something to say to reassure his sister, loud footsteps rushed down the hallway outside, followed by a familiar, desperate voice.
"Hyung-niiiim!! Hyung-niiiim!!"
Thud, thud–!!
Yu Jin-Ho’s fists pounded against the door with enough force to make Jin-ah flinch. Her eyes widened.
"Is that… your friend?"
Jin-woo exhaled quietly. Gently, he placed a hand on Jin-ah’s head and guided her back toward her room.
"It’s nothing. Go rest."
"But–"
"I’ll handle it."
She hesitated, then nodded reluctantly, trusting him as she always did. Once her door closed, Jin-woo turned toward the entrance. Jin-Ho’s muffled cries continued, filled with relief, excitement, and exhaustion.
It took several minutes before he managed to calm Jin-Ho down and send him home.
When the apartment finally grew quiet again, the weight of the day settled fully on his shoulders. The reporters outside, the reassessment, the artifact, the constant attention: it all came down on him at once.
He opened his eyes slowly in the quiet of his room, feeling more rested than he had in days. Sleep had been a rare occurrence lately. Between the A-rank gate, his sudden rise to S-rank, and the eyes of the entire country turning toward him, true rest had become something distant and fragile.
He quietly stepped out of his room, moving with slow, careful steps. Keeping away from the windows, he made his way to the kitchen to prepare dinner. A dimple in the couch, the size and shape of Jinah, stood out. She usually lounged there when he cooked, but today she had hidden from the cameras, which made him mad.
“Perhaps I should have my shadows break a few cameras, after all” he muttered.
Cooler heads prevailed, and he discarded the idea. Still, he felt a need to act, to somehow resist his current circumstances. How did he become a hostage in his own home, even after gaining so much power?!
So, after cooking dinner and a plate for his sister, he decided to take an evening stroll. He wanted to move freely, without giving any paparazzi the satisfaction of capturing him.
The dry crack of leaves beneath his feet filled the otherwise quiet forest road. Surrounded by nothing but trees, Jin-Woo allowed himself to relax. He wandered aimlessly, reveling on the silence.
Then he heard it: rapid steps, light but closer than he expected.
His instincts snapped to attention.
His eyes glowed blue as he turned, ready to activate Stealth and disappear.
But before he could vanish, he saw a flash of a distinctive yellow hue out of the corner of his eye, followed by a split‑second tingle along his spine and an almost-imperceptible warmth blooming around his chest.
"This aura…" he thought.
Cha Hae-In had decided to do a light 10 km jog that evening. She had been occupied the entire day with reports on the A-rank gate that almost killed the entire secondary raid team. The work was boring, but she was infinitely grateful to be filing documents instead of visiting the homes of their guild members alongside Choi Jong-In to tell their families that their loved ones had perished at the hands of magic beasts.
The Vice-Guildmaster trotted along the path, her breath even and rhythmic. She was trying to empty her thoughts: no reports, no Gate horrors, no paperwork. Her mind clung to that discipline she honed long ago as an athlete, focusing only on the motions of running until everything else faded into nothing. But even as she chased that peace, her senses remained alert. And then, just as her thoughts had almost slipped away, something cut through the stillness. Her nose caught onto a smell she had stored within a special place in her mind and made her pause mid‑step.
Her heart sped up.
She looked around. The trees swayed gently in the breeze, filling the silence with a soft, steady rustle. It was as if she were the only soul in the park. However, she noticed a slight movement near one particularly thick tree.
There he was, getting up from tying his shoelace, looking as if he was about to leave. He was dressed in a low-key dark sweater with the hoodie on, black tracksuit pants, and gray running sneakers. His face was unrecognizable at that distance and in the darkness, but his height and his magic aura gave him away immediately.
Without realizing when she had started moving, Cha Hae-In stepped off the path. By the time she came to her senses, she was already standing in front of Jin-Woo, with no idea what to say or how to act.
"... Hunter Cha"
He did not leave.
Cha Hae-In froze. She was trying to come up with something to say, but hunter Sung's smell was so good it distracted her.
“Hunter Sung… good evening.” said the female hunter after a brief pause.
Her voice was steady, but her fingers curled slightly at her side.
Jin-Woo observed her quietly. His glowing eyes faded back to normal.
"…You’re out late."
She nodded.
"I could say the same to you."
A brief silence settled between them, as Cha Hae-In studied the man in front of her, whose overwhelming presence and calm demeanor gave him an air of dependability that she did not expect of someone who had only recently acquired such vast power.
She took a small breath.
"Do you have a moment?"
The two hunters walked in silence. The path they had chosen was narrow and unlit, hidden beneath a canopy of dark branches that bent inward over the walkway, as if ready to pounce on the pair of awakened beings.
Jin-Woo didn’t ask where they were going. Cha Hae-In didn’t seem to have a destination in mind.
After a while, she spoke.
"... I saw the broadcast."
Her voice was calm. She understood the feeling of being tossed in the spotlight.
"The results of the reevaluation."
Jin-Woo glanced at her briefly, then looked forward again.
"I See."
She hesitated.
"... It explains a lot."
He didn’t respond immediately.
"... It’s troublesome", he said at last.
She looked at him.
"The attention. I preferred it when no one cared."
Then his eyes shifted toward her. He asked,
"You’ve lived with it longer. How did you deal with it?"
A faint breath, almost resembling a laugh, escaped Cha Hae-In. She had been caught slightly off guard by the question. She briefly lowered her gaze.
"... Not well. I tried to avoid it."
She nudged a small stone off the path with the tip of her shoe. Even though she had access to her information be restricted by the Hunters Association, reporters and paparazzi still found a way to make her life hard.
"I still do", she added
That, he could understand. Jin-Woo was already sick of the spotlight after a single day.
"Although back when I first awakened, the cameras were not my biggest problem"
Jin-Woo looked at her, Hunter Cha's gaze looking to the ground, as if remembering
"Controlling my strength was... difficult. I had to learn how to move again, how to touch things without breaking them... How to be near people without hurting them."
Jin-Woo listened silently.
She paused for a moment before asking,
"You were already a hunter. Was it different for you?"
Jin-Woo’s gaze drifted forward, into the darkness between the trees.
"No."
Cha Hae-In's eyes shifted toward Jin-Woo, almost scanning him.
"I was the weakest." His voice remained calm, without bitterness.
"So it wasn’t much different."
That was a lie, but he was not yet ready to admit that he organically adapted to his strength as it grew gradually.
Cha Hae-In eyebrows lifted.
"But your demeanor inside the dungeon is that of someone with plenty of combat experience. Surely you must have been at the upper range of E rank"
Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she spoke without thinking. She suppressed the urge to rapid-fire more questions at him.
However, Jin-Woo offered her a sincere, if brief, smile.
"I do have plenty of experience...", he said, "...mainly in hospitals."
He took another step before noticing that his interlocutor was staring at him. Not with pity, but with understanding.
She was aware this was the reality for some lower-rank hunters, and she knew better than anyone how dangerous gates were. She also knew that she did not need to feel protective over- or pity the powerful hunter before her. Nevertheless, it was surprising to learn Hunter Sung was once weak. If anything, she found it admirable that such a person would endeavour inside a gate.
"... Anyways. I also noticed that my hearing improved beyond that of normal humans", said Jin-Woo in an attempt to steer the conversation away from his past injuries. That was not a topic he felt like discussing. Strangely, he also did not feel like cutting short his conversation with Hunter Cha.
She stopped in her tracks. Her eyes sharpened.
Just as suddenly, she closed the distance between them in two deliberate steps that brought her closer than before, enough that he could clearly see the intensity in her gaze.
"Your senses changed too?" Her voice was focused now. "How far can you hear?"
Another small step, almost unconscious. "Does mana in the air affect it?"
The questions came quicker now. Precise and analytical. Her brows drew together as she studied him, searching for details he might not willingly offer. Only after the last question left her lips did she seem to realize how close she had moved.
Silence settled between them.
Color slowly rose to her cheeks.
She straightened a fraction, but didn’t retreat.
Jin-Woo blinked once. Then, a chuckle escaped him
"... You’re very observant, Hunter Cha."
Jin-Woo considered her question.
"... Far away enough," he said at last. "It hasn’t been much of a problem."
Her eyes remained fixed on him.
"It isn’t… overwhelming?"
"No." he responded, while glancing ahead, "... Though sometimes I hear things I’d rather not."
Cha’s brows drew together slightly.
"Like what?"
For a moment, he didn’t answer.
"... Hunters, complaining about being assigned to raids with me."
A dry leaf crunched beneath his step. The air around Cha changed. Her eyes hardened.
"That’s–" She stopped herself and her jaw tightened, 2they had no right. Every hunter brings something to the party."
Her fist clenched without her noticing.
"If they were good enough hunters, they would know that. They misjudged you."
Jin-Woo looked at her, slightly surprised by the heat and honesty in her tone. She wasn't trying to make him feel better. Rather, it was something she wholeheartedly believed.
"It doesn't matter", he offered her a sincere smile, "I misjudged myself too."
She now seemed pensive.
After a few steps, he spoke again. "I heard about your sense of smell."
She stilled.
"... You did?"
He nodded once.
"That it’s sensitive."
A faint, humorless smile touched her lips. "That’s one way to describe it."
She hesitated, then continued.
"For most hunters... their scent is overwhelming."
Her fingers curled slightly at her sides. As if instinctively looking for her handkerchief.
"So it's easier to keep distance."
A small pause.
Understanding flickered across his expression.
"So that’s why..."
She gave a slight nod.
"If I reacted honestly every time, it would be... rude."
The faintest hint of embarrassment colored her tone.
"I am aware that people describe me as stoic and always composed...", she said.
"... and it is not inaccurate. I am naturally introverted, but I have also had to learn how to keep a straight face at all times, even when the stench becomes difficult to endure."
Jin-Woo absorbed the information quietly.
"Does it get worse," he asked, "around stronger hunters?"
"Yes.”
Her answer came without hesitation. Then, after the briefest pause
"Except for you. You don't smell bad."
The bluntness of the statement seemed to surprise even her.
"That’s why I decided to interrupt you and ask so many questions."
She lowered her voice slightly.
"If this is intrusive... I apologize."
Jin-Woo shook his head.
"…It’s not."
He hesitated, just slightly.
"I enjoy talking with you", he said.
"... The feeling is mutual", she admitted.
Another quiet step forward.
"Do you have any idea as to why? Is your mana somewhat different since you are a rather unique summoner?"
He looked at her, eyes steady.
"... I might have a hypothesis."
Cha Hae-In searched his face. She could not decipher his Hunter Sung's gaze.
"Wha–"
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted past her shoulder.
"Shh"
Jin-Woo had suddenly raised his index finger in front of his mouth, signaling Hunter Cha to be silent. His sharp eyes let her know that they weren't alone anymore.
"Is it really her?"
"Who is she with?"
A young couple whispered nearby.
Both hunters had been too entranced by their conversation. They had inadvertently walked close to a better-lit area frequented by couples.
No words were needed. The pair turned around and ran.
Cha Hae-In had not met anybody who could keep up with her speed. That is, until that moment. The more she learned about Hunter Sung, the more questions she had.
"We lost them."
They were safe again. A smile formed on Cha Hae-In's lips.
"It seems that a pair of cell phone cameras scares us more than magic beasts"
Jin-Woo could only chuckle in response.
"I have to gather my thoughts on the matter of my mana", he said
Hunter Cha had briefly forgotten about it.
"We should continue this over dinner sometime", Jin-woo said. He realized it was much later than he had anticipated staying out
"Yes." Cha Hae-In responded decisively, so fast that she caught herself by surprise.
"We can resume our conversation then" added Sung Jin-Woo.
"Also"
Cha Hae-In looked at him, inquisitive.
"You don’t have to be so formal. Jin-Woo is fine"
She pauses
"... okay"
The two hunters exchanged numbers and headed in opposite directions.
Jin-Woo’s mood had greatly improved. The tension in his chest now relieved, he headed home. Within his shadow, something stirred faintly. His soldiers had noticed their liege's improved mood.
Cha Hae-In, suddenly feeling energized, decided to jog back home.