CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT!
────ah-jin guild debut.

❝OUR SKILLS WOULD BECOME RUSTY.❞

THE AFTERMATH OF THE dungeon break inside the school was nothing less than devastating.

lives were lost to the hands of monsters, an event that could have been prevented.

an abundant amount of gates have begun appearing more frequently around the world but coincidentally, more and more people have requested to be tested for their hunter rank.

it's as if the world was trying to keep the balance from falling apart.

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"UNNIE, DO YOU have to go..." jin-ah mumbles from under the blankets of her bed.

jin-ah's school has told her to rest for a long while, it seemed classes were canceled for the time being until everything can calm down.

the female crouches next to her with a sad expression. "yes i do jinnie. it's our debut as a guild, i'm one of the founding members i have to be there." [y/n] explains, cupping the girl's cheek.

the young girl looks at her pleadingly and she shakes her head with a soft giggle.

"then, how about this? i go today and for this upcoming week, i'll stay with you. we can do whatever you want, just say the word." she suggests with a warm smile.

her mood brightens at her big sister's suggestion and nods excitedly. "you promise unnie?" she quietly asks with big eyes.

"i promise."

the [h/c] haired hunter then kisses her forehead. "i'll see you soon, i won't be gone for long." she whispers and jin-ah could only mumble a thank you.

she stands up from her crouching position and leaves the room, she takes one last look at the girl before closing the door to her bedroom.

[y/n] leans on the door with a dejected sigh, seeing jin-ah in such a state reminded her of herself.

trauma isn't something that can be fixed with just a few days, it takes time and patient. more so the willingness to want to heal, that's always the hard part.

but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

it may seem so, but if you take the necessary steps you'll be able to recover.

it may take longer than others, but don't see that as if your healing is invalid. one's healing goes at the pace they think is comfortable and that's how one can truly recover.

healing is a process that's different for everyone, as long it's a healthy one.

it's a lesson the female player learned when she herself tried to recover from her own traumatic experiences.

compared to before, her mental health is in a much better state. moving to south korea proved to be the best decision she's ever made.

it let herself let go of the ties of the past and the new environment meant she could make new warm memories.

HER HEALING PROCESS HAD A SLOW START BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT IN THE END.

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THE THREE FOUNDING members of the ah-jin guild looked up at the gigantic gate.

today was the day of their first raid as a guild, it was exciting to say the least.

"hyung-nim... miss [y/n]... i've never seen anything like this before! i have to really look high up just to see the whole gate...!" jin-ho exclaims, his eyes wide as pie plates

[y/n] giggles at his expression. "he should have seen the one in busan. i wonder how he would reacted?" she wonders as she hugs jin-woo arm.

"i think he'd faint." he retorts causing her to laugh.

as they were ready to go inside, reporters shouted questions at them. hoping to get at least a quote from the s-rank couple.

"hunter sung jin-woo! hunter [y/n] [l/n]! please look this way!"

"please tell us! how do you two feel as ah-jin guild faces their first raid?!"

"why did you decide on 'ah-jin' your guild name?!"

"hunter sung jin-woo! what is your relationship with hunter [y/n] [l/n]?! are you two perhaps a couple!?"

"hunter [y/n] [l/n] are you wearing designer clothes? if so who are you wearing?!"

the couple sweat drops at their questions, more so the female hunter. it seems like the media is already trying to get info about their relationship.

'what the hell are they talking about? i got these clothes at the mall? jin-ah chose them for me.' she thinks looking down at her outfit.

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'i think my jacket was on sale? i don't remember...' [y/n] ponders with a deadpan.

before she could continue he thought process, jin-chul had approached the couple.

the female player's face brightens and waves at him. "hey! it's good to see you again chief jin-chul!" she greets with a grin.

he returns the smile and faces jin-woo as they exchanged their greetings.

the male player was a bit annoyed that the hunter's association couldn't conceal the location of the gate but there was not much they could do.

"hyung-nim, will it be really okay to not hire any retrieval or mining teams? i don't think i can do it alone." jin-ho expresses, a bit worried that it's just the three of them.

the dark-haired player summons some of his soldiers. "nah, it'll be fine, these guys will carry out those tasks." jin-woo assures his friend.

jin-chul walks up to the summons with a magic detector, scanning on what rank they would be and the result is shocking.

'oh my god... all of his summons are b-rankers or higher. i don't doubt that miss [l/n]'s summons are the same. he easily exceeds the requirements for earning a raid permit for gates like these. those people arguing over preferential treatment issues are simply idiots.' he concludes, handing the magic detector to an association employee.

"i'm finished with the confirmation," he announces and he removes the sunglasses from his face.

"however..."

this catches the attention of the founding members, watching as he takes off his jacket and puts on his armor.

"oooh~"

"oho?!"

"eh?"

jin-chul faces them with a stern look. "the association chairmen ordered me to find out if it's really safe during hunter sung and hunter [l/n]'s raids." he reveals, clicking on his last piece of armor. "will it be a problem if i accompanied you two on the raid?"

"i wouldn't mind! the more the merrier!" [y/n] claps excitedly, obviously liking the idea.

jin-woo only raised a brow. "chief jin-chul, are you sure about this?"

the a-rank hunter was a bit confused on his questions, wondering why would he say something like that.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

JIN-CHUL NOW KNOWS why he asked.

he watches the knights and shadows take care of a-rank nagas, monsters that veteran hunters would have a hard time dealing with.

"the enemy is losing because the shadow and sun army is constantly regenerating..." he mumbles, his face pale.

his eyes trial over to two specific summons.

ICAURS AND IGRIS.

he watches the two work in perfect harmony, using the demon king and queen's electric swords to their advantage on taking out the nagas.

'a-ranks? no, they've already surpassed an a-rank. would i win if i fought with either one of them, one on one?'

jin-chul was suddenly taken out of his thoughts he hears a crunching noise, he turns to look at a shadow and sun ant eating a monster corpse.

"oi! don't eat that. do you know how much monster corpuses are worth?" jin-woo scolds his summon and kicks it to the wall as a punishment.

"hey, hey!" [y/n] coaxes her summon. "how many times have i warned you guys that can't eat these! we need them in perfect condition!" she scolds in a mother-like manner, grabbing the monster head away from her summon.

the a-rank hunter sweatdrops at how vastly different the two are in terms of personality.

the male player turns to the mining team. "hey, you guys! don't slack off on mining the magic crystals!" he warns as the team begins to work faster.

"would it kill you to be at least nice to them, woo?" the female player teases with a giggle.

"if i do that, they'll slack off." he retorts making her laugh as he lets her hug his arm.

jin-chul observes the scene in front of him. 'the two of them are capable of clearing an a-rank dungeon, retrieving monster corpses, and mining magic crystals all by themselves. they are not a simple two-person raid team, not by a long shot.'

he now understands why the chairman asked him to watch the two raid in person.

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A LITTLE LATER...

the three are faced with the boss of the dungeon, a huge naga holding twin tritons as weapons.

"cancel summoning for everyone except the ones working." the two players say in unison.

immediately, whips of black and white mana return to the player's bodies.

confused, jin-chul speaks up. "why did you two cancel your remaining summons? they're strong enough to defeat the boss."

"if we rely too much on our summons..." [y/n] starts, as her daggers appear in her hands.

jin-woo does the same and turns to look at the a-rank hunter with a smirk. "our skills would become rusty."

the two hunters charge the large naga, jin-woo runs up its body from the front and [y/n] from the back.

simultaneously, they jump up and cut through its skin killing the monster easily.

their glowing eyes meet while they backflip in mid-air, the female player gives her lover a dazzling smile that makes his heart stop.

his own smile forms on his lips, letting himself be swayed by her sunny demeanor.

jin-chul could only watch in amazement at how well they work together. the two didn't even speak to one another and a plan was executed perfectly.

the two players land gracefully on the ground as the monster drops dead.

[YOU HAVE KILLED THE BOSS OF THE DUNGEON.]

before they could continue, they were met with a barrage of system notifications, so they take the time to review them.

[PLAYER 2 HAS RISEN BY 1 LEVEL.]

[PLAYER 2 HAS REACHED LEVEL 101.]

[PLAYER 2'S JOB-SPECIFIC SKILLS HAVE LEVELED UP.]

[SKILL: 'LIGHT EXTRACTION' HAS LEVELED UP.]
[SKILL: 'SAVE LIGHT' HAS LEVELED UP.]
[SKILL: 'DOMAIN OF THE MONARCH' HAS LEVELED UP.]
[SKILL: 'LIGHT TRAVEL' HAS LEVELED UP.]

this catches [y/n]'s attention and she checks her job-specific skills with a grin.

'all of them leveled up! the distance i can use my light travel skill has increased, i can travel to the edge of south korea now!' she notes checking the distance.

she looks down with a smile. 'if i keep leveling up, no matter where i am in the world... i can make sure jin-ah and mom are safe!'

she closes the windows and claps excitedly, ready to tell jin-woo of her discovery. she jumps over to him happily as he stares at the naga corpse.

"woo! woo! all my job-specific skills leveled up!" she whispers with a giddy grin.

he chuckles at her excitement, finding it absolutely adorable and kisses her forehead. "oho? that's my girl!" he replies making her heart burst as they both now stare at the dead monster.

they take a glance at each other and back to the naga boss. it was obvious they both wanted the boss as their summon.

"rock, paper, scissors. best outta of three gets to have him."

"don't cry when you lose again sunshine."

the two turn to each other and start playing to see who can have the monster as their summon.

[y/n] loudly cheers, jumping in the air while jin-woo groans in annoyance.

"FUCK YEAH LET'S GO!" the [h/c] haired player shouts, doing a small victory dance while the dark haired player could only watch it amusement.

she gives him a cheeky smile. "this is pay back for last time~" she sings and he rolls his grey eyes.

"what payback? i won tusk fair and square." jin-woo retorts with snicker as [y/n]'s face falls at the memory.

she gives him a stoic look and crosses her arms. "you wanna play like that? no cuddles tonight."

he freezes at her statement and turns to look at her horrified.

"wait, baby, i was just teasing."

she ignores him as she walks over to the naga boss, her eyes glowing.

"AWAKEN."

this catches jin-chul's attention, he watches in amazement at the white wispy figure rising from the monster.

[y/n] couldn't contain her joy as she looks at the rank of her new summon.

[NAME: ??? LV. 13]
RANK: ELITE KNIGHT

now back to her happy demeanor, she goes to hug the averagely sized summon. she recognizes that it had similar magic energy to tusk.

[PLEASE ASSIGN THE KNIGHT A NAME.]

the [h/c] haired hunter then taps her chin. "i'm gonna call you..." she trails and looks to the weapons he's holding and what kind of monster he is.

"i got it! your name will be perseus! named after the greek hero!" she giggles, her eyes full of stars.

[WILL YOU NAME THE KNIGHT 'PERSEUS'?]

"yes!"

suddenly, the dungeon started crumbling. notifying that it was time to leave.

"hyung-nim, miss [y/n]! it's time for us to leave the gate!" jin-ho states and they nod in response.

jin-woo wraps his arms around [y/n]'s waist from behind her.

"please forgive me sunshine..." he mumbles, hugging her figure a bit tighter.

she sighs and her [e/c] eyes soften. "you big baby. i can never stay mad at you." she replies, relishing in his warmth.

"my love, can tusk carry it?"

"of course sunshine."

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TUSK WALKS OUT of the gate carrying the large naga corpse on his shoulder.

most people who were there to watch were scared thinking it was dungeon break but they realized it was only jin-woo's summon.

flashing cameras were pointing at tsuk as they wanted to take a picture to which he smiles bashfully.

"hyung-nim, there are more reporters than before." jin-ho points out to his senior.

"seems so." he hums, looking at the crowd before them. then is attention is diverted by [y/n] playing with his fingers absentmindedly.

"there is a lot of a reaction to our guild's first raid. there is no need for this much attention though."

"it's because it is our first raid and because we're s-ranks that we're getting so much attention woo."

chief jin-chul on the other hand looked like he was about to faint. his mind couldn't keep up with what he just witnessed.

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MEANWHILE IN JAPAN...

at the time everything and everyone on the road came to halt.

in the silence, what appeared in front of their eyes,

WAS A GATE SO HUGE THAT THE WORD 'GIGANTIC' DIDN'T DO IT JUSTICE.

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BACK IN THE SUNG family apartment.

it was late when jin-woo arrived home, as he had some business to attend to back at the guild office.

when he suddenly received an unexpected guest who had a message not for him, but for [y/n].

a kind of message that can't be told over text.

hae-in relayed the message to the dark-haired hunter to tell the [h/c] haired hunter.

the contents of the message had to do with her powers to be careful with it, with this it only made jin-woo curious at the origin of their powers.

he opens the door to his room and his grey steel eyes land on the figure laying on his bed.

instinctively, he smiles to find his lover waiting for him, something he doesn't think he'll ever get used to.

he softly closes the door as he enters as to not wake [y/n] up. he quickly changes out of his clothes and into pjs and joins her in bed.

the female player feels the bed sink and becomes slightly awake. "woo...?" she mumbles in a sleepy voice.

"go back to sleep sunshine, pretend i wasn't even here."

"...that's dumb?"

the [h/c] haired hunter giggles and feels strong arms wrapped around her waist and pull her close.

she doesn't mean to but her keen senses go off and she furrows her eyebrows.

'what... why is he... why is he worried?'

now fully awake and without thinking, she moves to basically sit on his waist.

[y/n] holds her boyfriend's face in her hands, studying every inch of it to confirm her suspicions.

"what's got you so worried?" she points out, letting go of his face with a frown.

jin-woo.exe has stopped working.

it took a minute to process the sight before him. he became suddenly aware of the feeling of her hands on his chest and how she was sitting on him.

the outfit she was wearing wasn't helping either, the white tank top she wore fit her a bit too well and her shorts were well, short.

the female player tilts her head, confused. she was a bit oblivious to what she's doing.

oblivious to the kind of effect she had on him.

"uh, h-how did you know?" jin-woo clears his throat as he tries to gather his thoughts.

"i could tell. tell me, what's got you so worried my love?" [y/n] states, her voice more alluring than she meant to be.

'fuck.'

pray for this man cause he ain't gonna make it.

after a minute or two, he relies upon the message that was sent by hae-in, without much of a struggle.

she lets the message settle in her mind. 'this could also apply to woo as well. in any case, we need to find out the true source of our powers soon.'

she's taken out of her thoughts when she feels a hand go up her arm, it was jin-woo.

he delicately drags his fingers across her [s/c] skin and then goes to hold her face in his hand.

immediately she leans into his touch, closing her [e/c] eyes as to relish in it.

"you have no idea what you do to me..." he mumbles, staring at her face.

she giggles at his statement. "good to know that your love runs deep."

"of course it does."

they sit in a comfortable silence, their presence was all that was needed.

jin-woo wraps his other arm around [y/n]'s waist, guiding her to fully lay down on him.

she follows his guidance and lays her head against his chest, hearing his steady heartbeat. she hums in satisfaction feeling his strong arms hugging her to keep her close.

"i won't be joining you in the raids in this upcoming week, i promise jin-ah i would be with her." she reveals, fluttering her eyes close.

he smiles at this. "spend as much time as you like sunshine, it'll be fine with just me and jin-ho."

he lets out a chuckle when hears her softly cheer. then, it falls into a peaceful atmosphere.

the dark haired player looks down at his sleeping lover, his eyes filled adoration.

'she's so cute...'

he lightly kisses her forehead and lets sleep take over him.

NOTHING COULD EVER BE MORE PERFECT THAN THIS.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT! END!
────ah-jin guild debut.