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After Jin-Woo’s S-Rank exam, he had ignored Baek Yoon-Ho and Choi Jong-In’s frantic scrambling to stop him walking away. And then it had been far too late when he realised why they had tried to discourage him from using that exit. As he stepped through the Associations’ front door, he only had time to feel a pang of grief for his quiet life as a forest of hungry, gleaming eyes turned towards him and his world exploded in a blinding wall of bright flashes that ended as quickly as it had begun.
Then the crowd of reporters visibly dropped him from their crosshairs with frustrated grumbles. In the background, someone even yelled, “Get the hell out of the way kid, you’re going to block our shots of our newest S-Rank Hunter!”
Jin-Woo had never been so confused as he moved away from the entrance, and he had recently woken up with a life-changing, fully-fledged video game style System in his head. At least the angry swarm of reporters seemed to be appeased by his quick departure and they only glared at his retreating back instead of shouting at him again.
The last he had heard from the Hunters Association since his ranking test a few minutes ago, was that he was South Korea’s newest S-Rank. The Association President Go Gun-Hee had personally congratulated him for his advancement and he was still gripping his newly minted Hunter’s licence.
Unless something had changed while he walked out of the building, the reporters should have all flocked over to greet him. Yet they had shooed him away without a second look, as if he was an annoying fly. They had already returned to staring at the front door like a pack of hyenas salivating over a potential meal.
There was even a field presenter giving live updates in front of the Association building.
“Sorry for the false alarm folks! We were expecting our newest S-Rank to come striding out of these doors right now but it looks like an intern just wandered out. Haha, that definitely broke the tension out here, but it shouldn’t be long before our S-Rank Sung Jin-Woo arrives.”
Ah.
…
Did he just get rejected from being himself?
It was easy for Jin-Woo to figure out what had happened. Through the combination of the Hunters Association locking down his personal details and his own non-existent online presence, there weren’t actually any details about him circulating the internet.
The reporters had known that there was a new S-Rank appearing today, but nothing beyond that. He was a complete mystery, and one that people were desperate to solve.
Jin-Woo couldn’t quite quash the bubble of amusement in his throat that escaped as a chuckle. Surely this was just too ridiculous? He had never thought that he wouldn’t be cool enough to be the main character in his own life, but here he was, relegated to a side character.
He stood off to the side, surveying the crowd of reporters with a bemused air. It was a shame that this status quo couldn’t last long. Sooner rather than later, someone would figure it out and that would be the end of his peaceful media free days. He could already hear Jin-Ah nagging him to be nicer to the reporters chasing after him.
In the depths of his mind Igris stirred, a featherlight touch to his consciousness teasing out a wisp of a plan into existence. It was impossible to say who the thrum of mirth originated from, but it echoed back and forth as the two of them started planning in earnest.
“Hello Association President, it’s Jin-Woo calling.”
“Hunter-nim, I was just about to call you myself. My Monitoring Division informed me about what happened with the media, and I offer my deepest apologies for the insult. Please rest assured that the Hunters Association will do our utmost to rectify the situation—"
“Well actually…”
Nobody had thought that Jin-Woo was the 10th S-Rank because they had been expecting someone considerably more imposing and infinitely more terrifying. Perhaps someone with shadows and fire curling around their sides, dressed in full plate armour with foxfire blue eyes glinting out from under a helm of infernal darkness.
And then that person appeared before them.
Igris walked out of the Hunters Association with Association President Go Gun-Hee at his side. The chattering of the crowd suddenly stopped; their restless energy silenced by the weight of the auras from the two formidable S-Ranks standing there. In an uncharacteristic show of respect, Go Gun-Hee inclined his head slightly at the other, who returned the gesture before sinking into his own shadow and vanishing.
“Association President! Sir! Was that Hunter Sung Jin-Woo?”
“Please tell us what you thought of our newest S-Rank Hunter!”
“What do you know about his abilities?”
“Does he always look like that? Have you seen him without the shadows and the armour?”
In the immediate aftermath of the Jeju Island chaos, Jin-Woo had been mostly resigned about his secret identity being revealed. The situation had been precarious enough that he couldn’t afford to hold back against the ants, and it had been obvious what would follow once he openly started fighting in sight of the media helicopters.
At the start, he had been consumed with irritation about the thought of dealing with the publicity of being known as South Korea’s 10th S-Rank Hunter, but now he would endure the ordeal of being perceived. He had no other choice. The cost of holding back was not something he could afford.
Flicking bloody splatters off his daggers and pulling out his phone in one sinuous motion, Jin-Woo had been surrounded by piles of still warm ant carcasses when he called Jin-Ho. That kid had grown to be pretty reliable, and he wanted a quick status update.
“How bad is the media circus right now?” Jin-Woo asked with a pained grimace.
“Hyung-nim, you’re not going to believe this but, well. Nobody knows it’s you,” Jin-Ho’s tinny voice rang out from the phone.
“What do you mean? I was caught on camera earlier,” Jin-Woo said. It was impossible to have missed the news helicopters flying overhead, and he knew what that meant for his secret.
“You were moving too quickly for the cameramen to see, and they were too focused on Igris and your other shadow soldiers anyway to pay attention. Everyone still thinks that Igris is you and they’ve been praising him for killing the Ant King.” Jin-Ho had been watching things unfurl on the news, so he had a clear picture of the situation.
‘…’
“Oh, there’s a live press conference starting now, I’ll send you the link so you can stream it too,” Jin-Ho exclaimed excitedly before hanging up.
Jin-Woo’s first thought when he opened the link was what the hell , because how exactly had a group of reporters managed to corral Igris into an impromptu press conference? Igris couldn’t even speak in the human tongue, and yet he stood surrounded by a loose ring of eager reporters.
One of the reporters opened up the conference with a question about the raid. “Sung Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, I think I speak on behalf of all of South Korea when I thank you for your actions today. Did this raid go according to your expectations?”
Igris tilted his head to the side, lost in apparent thought, before nodding once slowly and falling motionless again.
The live chat that was open at the bottom of the screen had already been moving at a fast pace, but positively exploded at that point.
Sung Jin-Woo is truly a mysterious and silent type!!! Too cool!!!
He’s the type to have deep thoughts with a heart of gold!
We should all learn to be like Hunter-nim, to think first before we speak <3
Speak with your actions not your words! I agree with his approach to life!
I want to be like him when I grow up
I love you Sung Jin-WOOOOO
Jin-Woo had no words for this. Igris literally couldn’t speak. He thought that reporters were meant to be skilled at ferreting out the truth. How had no one figured out his real identity?
Within the span of days, the excitement that the reporters felt over Hunter Sung Jin-Woo quickly morphed into frustration at the members of his guild.
They had expected so much from the girl, Yoo Soo-Hyun. She was a famous celebrity and strong A-Rank Hunter. Just the thought of the potential love story blossoming up between the pair made the reporters want to cry tears of joy. They were such a perfect couple and there would be enough drama to fuel the news cycles for months! Yet she never showed her face after that first social media picture she had posted. How were they supposed to stir up the rumour mills if she wasn’t even there?
Then there was Yoo Jin-Ho. He had originally been worshipped by all reporterkind for being such a perfect gold mine of scandalous gossip. His father was the Yoo Myung-Han, who set up his own guild, but his son had abandoned his filial duty to work for a rival. They could positively taste the fat paychecks they would be making off Jin-Ho. But this delicious drama did not materialise! Yoo Myung-Han didn’t seem to react, and Jin-Ho seemed to settle well into his role as Ah-Jin’s Vice-Guild Master. How annoyingly boring.
But neither of these disappointments could compare to that other guy who was always lurking around. He followed Hunter Sung Jin-Woo everywhere and the underlying assumption was that he was an intern they had picked up somewhere, which Jin-Ho had offhandedly confirmed in a press conference.
What made the reporters want to tear all their hair off and scream into their pillows was that this intern somehow got into Every. Single. Picture of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo.
A cool shot of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo storming out of a Red Gate dungeon, flanked by his shadow soldiers carrying the corpses of the dungeon monsters? Ruined by the intern walking in front of them.
An amazing shot of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo leaping off his dragon in mid-air, the red plumage of his helmet streaming dramatically behind him? Ruined because he made that jump carrying the intern, who completely blocked his face with flailing arms.
A once in a lifetime shot of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo appearing through a gash in the fabric of the universe, wreathed in tongues of black flame and with shadows twisting at his armoured side? Ruined by the intern stumbling around next to him and falling over.
Each and every time there was a semi-decent photo opportunity, they all immediately brought up their cameras, lighting up the sky in a thousand flashing lights. But each and every time without fail, they would have to smother frustrated screams of rage at their ruined shots before they deleted them all to avoid clogging up their device memory.
“Hyung-nim, are you doing this on purpose?”
“Jin-Ah thinks that everyone’s meltdowns about the ruined pictures of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo is funny, so I decided to indulge her a bit.”
Since the truth had been beyond reach for the general populace and most of the Hunters in his own country, Jin-Woo should have known that the American Hunter Association would be no better. He had talked them into taking him to Kamish as the representative of Hunter Sung Jin-Woo, since he had been too lazy to summon Igris to play the role. They had reacted to his attempted summoning of Kamish’s shadow with a shocked “Hunter Sung can even teach his abilities to others!” before they ran away, plotting furiously.
Jin-Woo had higher expectations for Thomas Andre. He had never felt so alive as when they fought, and something powerful burned in his chest. There was anger, of course. How could he feel otherwise when he had cradled Jin-Ho’s broken body in his arms and Jin-Ho’s blood still stained his hands? But there was something else there, and it burned bright as electricity crackled between them when their eyes met. Jin-Woo thought it might be hope. Hope that he had found his equal, that he had found someone who understood him and that they would recognise that Igris wasn’t him damnit.
He confided as much to Jin-Ho afterwards, once the other had been discharged from hospital, and Jin-Ho nodded with sympathy for his plight but couldn’t quite wipe the mirth off his face. He obviously found the whole thing absolutely hilarious even if he didn’t say it aloud. Jin-Woo simply rolled his own eyes in response to that and chivvied the kid off to get dressed so they wouldn’t be late for the banquet.
The gathering had started with Jin-Ho mingling with the other businessmen while Jin-Woo lurked like a sulking storm cloud at his back. They had been followed by endless whispers of “That guy is the Ah-Jin Guild’s Vice-Leader and the one behind him is his intern,” which had only served to worsen Jin-Woo’s mood.
Halfway through the night, Thomas Andre had crawled out of hospital to appear at the party. He had limped into the room and looked around before approaching Jin-Woo, who felt his heartbeat rise in anticipation as one predator recognised another.
Someone had finally figured out his secret then.
“Hey kid, you’re part of Hunter Sung’s entourage, yeah? I hit my head hard during that fight and my memory’s a bit fuzzy, but I know that for me to still be alive means he pulled his last blow. I wanted to thank him for not killing me but nobody in this damn city knows where he is.”
Nope. He was surrounded by idiots.
Jin-Woo was already mourning the loss of what could have been, but there was nothing he could do about it now, although he was tempted to hit the Goliath again in the hopes that it would shock his memory back into functioning. His common sense rebooted in time though and reminded him what a bad idea that would be. Besides, knowing his luck, he’d end up resetting Thomas Andre’s memory from the start, and he’d have to deal with a feral asshole intent on protecting his even more asshole subordinate.
When the fate of the world hung in the balance and Thomas Andre came to Korea to gift Jin-Woo with a lethal pair of matching daggers, there had been one final glimmer of hope. Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho had been discussing business in the Ah-Jin guild lobby when they saw the Goliath stalking towards them with a single-minded focus, scattering guild employees along the way.
“Looks like he finally figured it out then,” muttered Jin-Woo.
“As expected of a National Rank Hunter, Hyung-nim. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he figured out what happened,” Jin-Ho nodded sagely as he whispered back to Jin-Woo.
“You two look familiar. Were you at the Hunters Conference? Anyway, is your boss in? I have an apology gift for him.”
After
“Hyung-nim, maybe this world is screwed.”
“I’ve lost all faith in humanity.”