CHAPTER FOUR!
────red gate (3).

❝WE'RE FRIENDS, RIGHT?❞

THE SOUND OF METAL clashing rings through the air, as [y/n] tries to get a hit on the boss. only for him to block with his own dagger.

she jumps back to join up with jin-woo again who already has his own dagger in hand.

her [e/c] eyes glare at boss who was in the process of mounting off his horse. 'he's not willing to give up his life so easily.' she notes.

"i have proposal. it won't be detrimental to you two." the boss states twirl his dagger in his hand.

"but first let me ask you two a question." he says finally off his horse, the two players stay silent letting him speak.

"DESPITE YOU TWO NOT BEING HUMANS, WHY ARE YOU AMONG THE HUMANS?"

he grins and this greatly confuses the two hunters.

"what the hell are you talking about?" jin-woo retorts with a glare.

the boss laughs at his statement. "haha! are you two not aware of it?" he points to his head. "in our heads, there's a constant voice speaking to us. to kill humans. but i cannot hear the voice in your presence."

the two stay calm but thoughts run in their minds at what the elf meant by that.

'a voice telling them to kill humans...?' [y/n] ponders with furrowed eyebrows.

'it is similar to the system's orders? if the voice doesn't apply to me and [y/n], it must be due to becoming a 'player' through the system.' jin-woo guesses.

the elf boss raises his hands in casual manner. "there's no need for us to fight. we do not want unnecessary casualties in our end."

"HAND OVER THE HUMANS BEHIND YOU."

this ticks off the two players, immensely as the boss continues talking.

"THEN I'LL SPARE YOUR LIVES.
HOW ABOUT IT?"

he suggest with a grin as the two stare him down.

jin-woo then speaks up. "let me ask you a question as well. who are you guys?" he asks and [y/n] stays silent, letting him do the taking.

"where did you come from and why are you trying to kill humans?" he questions.

as the boss elf was about to answer it seemed like he glitch out for a moment. then he repeats his statement from before.

"okay, what the fuck?" [y/n] mutters with a face a disbelief as jin-woo looked equally confused.

"HOW ABOUT IT? DO YOU ACCEPT OUR PROPOSAL?"

he asks again as his soldiers gather up behind him with a smirk. the two hunters look at each with a knowing looks and back to the them.

"WE REFUSE."

they state in unison a the boss almost cackles. "do you plan on fighting me and my soldiers? do you two think you can withstand our numbers by yourselves?"

"numbers?" [y/n] asks, raising an eyebrow.

"what numbers?" jin-woo follows.

behind them, their soldiers started forming as their small group begins to freak out.

hee-jin's jaw was on the floor staring at soldiers. 'black and white soldiers and black and white ice bears!' she thinks looking around at them.

"what a cheap trick." the elf boss scoffs with a grin.

[y/n] tilts her head in mocking confusion. "is it a cheap trick?" she questions with a 'innocent' smile.

SOON ENOUGH A MINI WAR BROKE OUT.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

AS THEIR SOLDIERS attacked the ice eleves, a bit a worry fills with [y/n]

'calling it a cheap trick wasn't a bluff. but despite the advantages in numbers, i don't think me and jin-woo can maintain our army for long.' she notes with furrowed eyebrows.

'they should be fine since we leveled them up...' [y/n]'s eyes trial to the boss elf who destroy one of each of their soldiers.

'HE'S THE PROBLEM. JUST AT A GLANCE, I KNOW HE'S JUST AS STRONG AS IGRIS AND ICARUS COMBINED.'

she thinks narrowing her eyes at him. she's taken out of her thoughts by jin-woo. he gives her a look gesturing to a certain someone and she nods.

"you can have him. i got scar, you deserve another strong solider on your side." she mumbles and he nods as thank you.

the ice elf boss approaches the two with evil like grin. "my name is baruka. what are yours?" he asks as the two give him a calm but deadly look.

"SUNG JIN-WOO."

"[Y/N] [L/N]."

they reply and [y/n] wastes no time in attacking first. she runs and jumps into the air gaining some leverage. she swings her right hand that held her dagger barely missing him.

he steps on her dagger's blade but with an electrical blue spark the blade of the dagger disappears surprising him a bit. [y/n] takes this chance to quickly attack him with that same dagger but he easily blocks it with his own.

she goes to swing the other in dagger in her left hand but he also blocks that with another dagger. the ice elf boss takes the chance to sent a powerful knee to her side sending her flying.

[y/n] lets a grunt of pain, feeling the impact. even so, she lands gracefully with a huff.

the boss smiles excitedly at her as straightens her posture preparing to attack again. "it's been awhile since i had this much this excitement!" he states until something bright catches his eye.

he looks up to see a wave of fire falling towards him causing a huge explosion caused by her own magician.

the female player smirks. "you better have that plan ready woo! or else i'm taking your solider!" she taunts her friend, letting a nickname slip.

she could hear him let out a laugh. "you wish [n/n]! thanks to you and your magician, you've gained me some time." he replies, also giving her nickname.

she approaches from behind her as they watch the fire roar violently. [y/n] narrows her [e/c] eyes at it.

"there's no way he died from that. stop wasting time and come out." she orders with a scoff.

the ice elf jumps from the fire, dispelling it. he looks at the two players with a wide grin.

"IS THIS THE LIMIT OF YOUR SOLDIERS!?" he shouts, charging at the two, daggers in hand.

at the same time, kim-chul charges at jin-woo from behind with a sword with the full intent to kill the man.

"kim-chul... just as i predicted." jin-woo says as his friend smirked.

the ice elf skids go halt, a bit confused at the his words when calls out a name.

"IGRIS."

said knight materializes behind the two, drawing his sword to protect his masters from kim-chul. the shadow stabs the man right in the middle and lifts him the air as the two players stood side by side, their eyes glowing.

the female player turns to her friend with a smirk doing a mock bow. "he's all yours." she says making him chuckle as he utters his command:

"ARISE."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE SHADOW KNIGHT hides his masters with his body. the ice elf jumps up and going to attack the knight who undoubtedly attacked back, giving his masters some time for  what they need to do.

"did he get taller?" [y/n] asks as they stare at the shadow extracted from kim-chul who was bowing.

[PLEASE CHOOSE A NAME FOR THE SOLDIER.]

jin-woo lets out a small hum, thinking of a name to give the shadow.

he feels a tug on his coat and looks to meet with bright [e/c] eyes. "name him iron, cause doesn't chul mean iron?" she suggests, the response she got was a pat on the head and small smile from him.

the dark haired player looks back at his new shadow. "you're now iron." he announces as the system saved his shadow.

[IRON LV. 1]
RANK: KNIGHT

"stop getting distracted!" the boss elf calls making the two players turn and face him.

he cuts down igris with menacing eyes. "do you think this lone soldier is enough to stop me?"

jin-woo and [y/n] glance at each other and back to iron. "of course not." they say together.

iron lets out a powerful cry shaking the air, it was was his special skill.

[IRON HAS USED 'SKILL: TAUNTING CRY']
[DUNGEON BOSS HAS BEEN TAUNTED.]

the two players stifle their laughter not expecting the taunt to work on a boss like him.

the boss goes to attack iron but he promptly blocks it. iron then swings his weapon but elf dodges by jumping behind the shadow.

"THIS SLOW SOLIDER IS NOT MATCH FOR ME!" he retorts with a wide grin.

that was until icarus, jin-woo and [y/n] all appear around the big solider with weapons in hand

the female player's eyes glow a dark blue with a small smirk gracing her lips.

"IF YOUR SO CONFIDENT, THEN HOW ABOUT ALL FOUR OF US?"

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

ICARUS ATTACKS WITH his sword and the elf barely dodges it in the process of cutting some of his clothes.

his eyes widen in fear when he feels a presence behind him. jin-woo stabbed the him through his shoulder, adding an effect.

[EFFECT: PARALYSIS HAS ACTIVATED.]
[EFFECT: BLEED HAS ACTIVATED.]

it was his intention to give him a fatal strike but the boss was able to dodge in time before he could.

jin-woo jumps back creating some distance between them with [y/n] no where to be found.

"you trash are quite persistent." the boss elf grunts as blood spill from his shoulder and the effect jin-woo inflicted was dissipate due the boss's resistance.

the male player stares him down. "you're not in the position to say such a thing. how about you look around?" he mocks and the elf does.

his army were being wiped out by either jin-woo's soldiers or [y/n]'s.

the boss growls turning to look back at the dark haired man with a scowl. "you bastard...! those soldiers will all vanish when i get rid of you and that girl!"

jin-woo almost laughs. 'she's not the type to be taken down so easily, that i know.' he comments as the elf runs towards him.

he throws his dagger expertly in the air making the monster think he had given up. that was until he raises his hand activating a important skill.

[SKILL: DOMINATOR'S TOUCH LV.1]

he makes the dagger accelerate at a speed the elf can't block well with his dagger causing it to shatter his dagger.

suddenly gets grabbed from behind and lifted up in the air by iron. then [y/n]'s magicians casted a fire spell on to the boss causing an explosion.

without a second to waste, the elf escape iron's hold and shirtless cause the fire burned his clothes. with look that could kill, he lets out a powerful wave of magic.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

he roars but before he could take a another step towards both sides of his stomach bleed from wound.

[y/n]'s figure materializes in front of the boss, her two daggers digging into the elf's sides without a second thought.

"looks like this is the end." she taunts, her eyes glowing a dark blue.

the boss grabs her right wrist with a snarl. "who do you think your facing...?!"

he was about to attack her when he feels an intimidating presence behind him. iron raised his weapon and strikes the elf dead to the snowy ground.

joining back with jin-woo, [y/n] stands next to him with a smile staring at the dead boss.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU. THIS IS THE END."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE TWO PLAYERS let a sigh of relief when they see the notification pop up saying they defeated the boss.

[y/n] nudges jin-woo pointing at the level up notification. "i think we share exp now!" she states with a smile.

he doesn't hesitate to smile back at her and ruffle her [h/t] [h/c] hair making her laugh and playful push his hands away.

they were interrupted by a loud banging noise and snap their heads to iron who kept swinging his weapon hitting the boss, whose already dead.

"OI! OI! IRON?!" [y/n] shouts, attempting to stop him.

"HEY, HEY!" jin-woo orders, running over to him. the shadow stops and looks at his master with a puzzled face.

the male player sweatdrops a bit. 'despite becoming a shadow, he's still a dunce.'

"take it easy." he warns, turning to walk away. "i worry about the future..." he mumbles causing his friend to snort.

iron turns to look igris and icarus, who only stared back. igris sighs adverting his gaze and walks away, with icarus following close behind and this confuses iron a bit.

the big bulky shadow turns to see one solider from each player. after a moment, they raise their arms as iron lets out a cheerful cry.

"lets head back!" [y/n] announces with a smile, confusing the small group.

right after, a blue gate appears nearby and she points to it with her thumb.

"outside the gate!" she states and the group jumps in joy, relived that they can finally go back home.

the two players divert their gazes to the ground where the boss laid with a plan in mind.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

"IT'S ALREADY THREE in the morning. it must've been a week inside the gate," chief ahn nots, looking at his watch. "how about master head home first while we keep watch?" 

"how could i rest at home when my members are stuck in there? i'll wait until morning." a man with messy light orange hair replies, also known as baek yoon-ho, guild master of the white tiger guild.

a sudden noise caught their attention. immediately everyone snapped their heads to look at the red gate as it began glowing.

"huh? the red gate! it's opening!" chief ahn exclaims. "the dungeon has been cleared! people are coming out!" 

a employee calls out their name in relief, happy that some of their guild members survived. 

"hunter sung jin-woo! hunter [y/n] [l/n]!" chief ahn shouts as said hunters came out last, with song-i between them, once they fully stepped out the gate disappears behind them.

"kim-chul! what happened to kim-chul?!"

"no way... these are all the survivors?" 

"yes, it's just us," park hee-jin muttered to her guild master who looked devastated.

the man runs a hand through his hair. "only the low-rank hunters survived? no a-rank and only single b-rank?" yoon-ho questions in disbelief.

"let's get you home kid." [y/n] states with a motherly smile, patting the young girl's head.

yoon-ho looks over to see hunter that was obviously wasn't from korea. he walks over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder narrowing his eyes at her. "hold it. let's talk for a bit." he interjects.

the [h/c] haired hunter doesn't look at him. "i'm dead tired. if you got questions, go ask your guild members." she states and removes yoon-ho's hand from her shoulder.

THIS ISNT A REQUEST.

the man blinks, surprised at her sudden boldness and puts a hand on her shoulder again, only this time with a tighter grip. "i am baek yoon-ho, the guild master of the white tiger guild."

ITS AN ORDER.

he speaks again. "we have lost nine guild members from this incident. as the master, shouldn't i be allowed to ask some questions?"

she scoffs at his questions. "okay and? as if i give two shits who you are." [y/n] retorts, surprising herself with her own confidence but not letting it show.

she turns to look at him a glare, her [e/c] eyes glowing a dangerous dark blue. "we saved the remaining three people. if you're the guild master, shouldn't you have the decency to thank us first?"

the two hunters stare at each other with looks that could kill but baek yoon-ho soon realized that he needed to back down.

jin-woo who watched on the sidelines smirked a bit. 'and to think she doubts her own power. there isn't a lot of people who can stand up to an s-rank.'

yoon-ho looks away, releasing his grip on her shoulder. "i was being too difficult. you're right, i apologise." he admits as the [h/c] haired hunter walks past him, joining her friend.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

JIN-WOO HUMMED IN annoyance, driving with one hand on the steering wheel.

[y/n] sits in the passenger seat, running a hand through her hair as her friend let the windows down while song-i rests peacefully in the back.

she takes a glance at him and silently snickers noticing he was still irritated from before.

"you still mad?"

"furious actually."

the female player lets out a wheeze while the male player only rolls his grey eyes in slight amusement.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

ABOUT THRITY MINUTES earlier...

the two players stood in front of the dead elf boss. having one more goal in mind before they leave.

"ten bucks that you can't get his shadow." [y/n] suddenly declares with a smile.

jin-woo scoffs at her challenge, deciding to play along. "20 that i do get his shadow." he retorts and his friend tsked at him.

he ignores her and calls out his command. "arise." he orders confidently.

[SHADOW EXTRACTION FAILED]
(2 ATTEMPTS LEFT)

"BAHAHAHAH!" [y/n] blurts out, pointing at the system notification.

jin-woo deadpans ignoring her laughing as she catches her breath. "go on! you were so confident before!" she taunts in between giggles, gesturing to the boss elf.

a tick mark appears on his head. "arise." he firmly calls again.

[SHADOW EXTRACTION FAILED]
(1 ATTEMPT LEFT)

another round of laughter is heard from the female player, she slaps her knee, wheezing.

the male player twitches his eyebrows in annoyance. if he didn't look like a fool before he did now.

"ARISE."

[YOU HAVE FAILED ALL 3 ATTEMPTS. SHADOW EXTRACTION IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE.]

by now [y/n] was on her knees as she holds her sides. stray tears falling from her eyes.

she sniffles trying to speak. "oh.. my god—" she couldn't even finish as another fit of giggles attacks her body.

jin-woo could only sulk and he kicks the a pile of snow in irritation. as if he were child who didn't get what he wanted.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

"DON'T BE SUCH a big baby! we got some really good drops." [y/n] teases, flicking her wrist and in flash of dark blue sparks, a sliver dagger appears in her hand.

[ITEM: BARUKA'S DAGGER]
ITEM CLASS: A
TYPE: DAGGER

A DAGGER WIELDED BY THE GREAT WARRIOR, 'BARUKA'. THE LIGHTWEIGHT MAGIC ENCHANTMENT WILL MAKE THE WIELDER MORE AGILE
ATTACK +110
AGILTY +10

jin-woo's eyes soften and glances at her. "take it, that's my 20 dollar payment." he replies and he smiles a bit when she mutters a soft cheer.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

SOON THEY ARRIVE at song-i's apartment complex. she stepped out of the van and closes the door, bowing to the two afterwards.

jin-woo leans on the steering wheel and looks at her. "you did well." he praises with [y/n] humming in agreement.

"get home safely." she replies with a bashful smile.

the two thank her and as jin-woo was about to leave, song-i calls for them.

"hey, oppa and unnie?"

'oppa?!' jin-woo thinks, a bit confused.

'unnie?!' [y/n] exclaims, raising an eyebrow.

"thank you for today." she thanked with blush tinting her cheeks. "tomorrow, no... i'll see you later." 

'later?' the female player wonders as they watched her run back inside to her home.

jin-woo turns the car to leave as they head back home and the silence falls between them.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THEY STILL HAD ways to go before they return back to jin-woo's apartment.

by then, [y/n] had a lot on her mind.

'today was really fun, if i'm being honest.' she thinks with a small smile. 'i don't think i've clicked with someone that fast as i did with jin-woo. he doesn't brush me off like everyone else did back home. he's fun to be around and we work really well together.'

she gazes outside the car window, watching the building pass by.

'but is he only keeping me around cause i'm player and doesn't see me as a friend?' she ponders. 'i understand if that was his intention.'

"[n/n]." jin-woo calls making her look at him. "tomorrow, i'm doing a raid with a friend of mind. do you wanna join me?"

she blinks owlishly at him. "w-wait, you wanna keep me around?" [y/n] suddenly asks him, pointing at herself.

the black haired man raises eyebrow. "what's with that question? of course i am." he replies with certainty.

"oh..." she mumbles, letting the information set in.

the male player gazes at her, reading her like a book. it was only then he knew how lonely she must of felt before they meet.

he understood her feeling of loneliness. it was that same loneliness back when he was left stranded in the double dungeon. though it wasn't to the same extent of what she felt, he understood it.

"i'm gonna make this clear." he starts, taking a glance at her and back to the road as she listens intently. "i consider you my friend now. even if the fact that we're both players is gone, i would still consider you my friend."

he doesn't know what his words meant to [y/n]. her heart felt full hearing his words. for so long, she's fought her enemies herself with nothing but her own strength and will to live.

but now, she's has someone by her side. someone who can help get her back on her feet and say: "you aren't alone."

in turn, she will put ever ounce of strength she has into him. helping him when he needs it. she'll help him get back on his feet and say: "you aren't alone."

she hates one sided things. she knows there's nothing to gain if everything is one sided. in her nature, she wants to give that same kindness and friendship back to him.

"thank you, jin-woo. you don't understand how much those words mean to me. so, just thank you." [y/n] replies with a grateful smile and tears pricking her eyes.

he chuckles a bit, glancing at her. "there's no need to thank me. we're friends aren't we?"

"YEAH, WE'RE FRIENDS."

CHAPTER FOUR! END!
────red gate (3).