the shadow in the light
chapter two; meeting him
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"we don't meet people by accident. they are meant to cross our path for a reason."
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"sung jin-woo..." y/n muttered, looking at the file. "is hwang dong-su really going to go after him? did sung jin-woo really kill hwang dong-suk?"
she looked at the picture of sung jin-woo. his long hair covered his ears and he looked very young.
"...he looks so cute." she smiled at his picture.
she got out of her bed, stretching her body as she looked out of her window. it stretched from the ceiling to the floor and took up the entire left side of her room. with this, y/n was able to look down at the city with a nice view.
"hmm, today i'll be meeting mister jin-woo. i should probably make a first good impression." the hunter thought to herself as she entered her walk-in closet.
"i shall dress up like i'm an important person!" she exclaimed.
but you are an important person y/n...
y/n pursed her lips as her thoughts countered her back. "i guess i am an important person...probably..."
y/n quickly showered and changed into the outfit she selected beforehand.
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outfit for the day:
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y/n checked herself out in the mirror and smiled to herself, "dang, i look good. i'm jealous of myself."
she became quiet before suddenly laughing out. "god, what's wrong with me? talking to myself? that's for kids."
"miss y/n, it's time to meet president baek!" baek-hyun shouted from outside.
"alright, give me a sec!" she shouted back. y/n exited the closet and grabbed her belongings before meeting with baek-hyun at the entrance.
baek-hyun opened the passenger seat door and allowed y/n to sit down before doing the same at the driver seat.
baek-hyun began the drive to white tigers guild, where baek yoon-ho would be waiting for them.
"hey baek-hyun, tell me what you think of this guy." y/n said and showed him the picture of sung jin-woo.
"he looks young. who's that?" baek-hyun asked.
"hunter sung jin-woo," she answered.
"hah?! he looks so young! are you sure he's capable of murder?!" he shouted.
"that's exactly what i said. well, we'll see it for ourselves when we meet him."
soon after, the two arrived at the white tigers guild. baek-hyun and y/n entered the building where they were met with the guild master.
"mister yoon-ho!" y/n greeted with a smile as she waved at him.
"ah y/n and baek-hyun, welcome back to korea." baek yoon-hon said, laughing a little as the younger s-rank hunter hugged him.
"we're glad to be back mister yoon-ho. we apologise for wanting to meet you at such a last time." baek-hyun said, feeling bad that baek yoon-ho was only able to meet them at around seven pm.
"it's alright baek-hyun. i needed to work overtime anyways, had some major issues that needed to be solved. i'm sure you've already heard of the hwang dong-su and sung jin-woo incident by now?"
y/n nodded her head as yoon-ho led the way to his office where they were able to talk more comfortably.
"are you really sure sung jin-woo killed hwang dong-suk? i mean, he looks so innocent and incapable of murder." y/n said and took a seat.
"i'm not sure myself. chief ahn has been overlooking that part." yoon-ho answered. "i haven't met him myself. so the three of us will be meeting him for the first time."
"i see. so where is this chief ahn?" y/n asked.
"he's at a c-rank gate right now. he's overlooking the recruits' training," yoon-ho said.
y/n nodded her head and fiddled around with her fingers, "when will mister jin-woo make an appearance?"
just as yoon-ho was about to answer, his phone started ringing. he grabbed his phone and answered his phone.
"hello? chief ahn?" yoon-ho called, wondering why chief ahn was calling him at the moment." what about the c-rank gate?"
moments went by before his face changed as if he was completely shocked.
"it's a 'red gate'?! how does a red gate appear from a c-rank gate?! if that's true, i'll have to come check it out myself."
baek-hyun leaned forward, whispering to y/n. "i believe your meeting with mister jin-woo has to wait."
a pout formed on y/n's face before she stood up, "mister yoon-ho! i would like to tag along!"
yoon-ho nodded his head, grabbing his coat and wore it. "thank you y/n. do follow my car closely."
y/n smiled as the three of them left for the red gate. yoon-ho drove off and baek-hyun followed closely.
"a red gate out of a sudden. say, baek-hyun, what are the chances of mister jin-woo being in that gate?" y/n asked.
"i'm not sure but there is a chance he is in there since it was being overlooked by chief ahn," baek-hyun mentioned.
five minutes after, yoon-ho stopped his car and got out. y/n and baek-hyun did the same and followed him. from where they stood, they were able to see the red gate.
y/n and baek-hyun walked behind yoon-ho as he led them towards chief ahn.
"miss y/n and mister baek-hyun! this is certainly a surprise!" chief ahn exclaimed as he bowed to them.
y/n nodded her head and stepped closer to the red gate. she placed her hand against it but the gate repelled her hand.
"it's shut off tight." y/n observed. she had been in a red gate once and it was absolute luck that she survived.
"this is troubling. wasn't this a c-rank gate?" yoon-ho asked.
"you're correct, sir." chief ahn replied.
"did you call the korean hunters guild?"
"yes, but...they're playing dumb and claiming it was definitely a c-rank gate."
"those bastards!" yoon-ho shouted in anger.
y/n pursed her lips at the mention of choi jong-in's guild. they were not that close, unlike the vice-guild master of the guild, cha hae-in.
y/n got to learn of cha hae-in's existence when hae-in went to get her powers tested. hae-in's power could not be measured, just like y/n.
y/n was the first female hunter in korea to had her power to be unmeasurable. as hae-in was second, gun hee informed y/n of the news. hae-in and y/n are the only females among the s-ranks in korea.
she observed hae-in from afar and decided to befriend her. hae-in was happy that she'd gotten a new friend and was shocked to see that y/n did not have the smell that other hunters had.
the two female hunters also had similar powers, both having the aspect of light. hae-in looked up to y/n as a big sister. y/n taught hae-in how to properly use her powers. it was then that she knew y/n was easily the second strongest s-rank hunter, just after go gun hee.
"should we measure the gate with our own magical energy sensor?" chief ahn suggested.
"no, that will be useless." y/n interjected. "magical energy will stop flowing out after the gate has turned red, so it'll be pointless. at this current state, there's no way to figure out the ranking."
"how many of our members entered?" yoon-ho questioned.
"twelve people, sir."
"and how many of them are highly ranked hunters? there's an a-rank hunter, kim-chul designated as the captain and seven b-rank hunters."
"will the recruits be fine?" hyun gee-chul, an assistant, asked.
"if it's a b-rank, it'll require at least three a-rank hunters. but if it's an a-rank, it'll at least require one s-rank or ten a-rank hunters." yoon-ho explained. "therefore, if the gate's an a-rank, we should consider all of them as good as dead. if they're lucky, maybe two or three a or b-rank hunters will return alive."
"i-in fact, there are two other people inside that are not part of our guild." chief ahn added.
"and who are they?"
"one's a hunter that i've laid my eyes on recently." chief ahn said.
"a hunter that piqued chief ahn's eyes?"
"that's right."
"and the ranking of that hunter? a? or is it b?"
chief ahn shook his head at the options. yoon-ho continued to question him, "then there's an s-rank hunter inside?"
"no. he's an e-rank hunter." chief ahn answered.
"wait." y/n interrupted, moving to stand in front of chief ahn. "is that hunter sung jin-woo?"
"yes, it is." chief ahn said.
"yes!" the s-rank hunter shouted. everyone looked at her questionably and she apologised out of embarrassment.
"to gain hunter sung jin-woo's trust, i kept this a secret, but i'm sure he's someone who has reawakened." chief ahn stated.
"are you sure? it's not just speculation?" yoon-ho interrogated.
"well, it is but..."
"then, the only person i can put my faith in is kim-chul," yoon-ho said.
"kim-chul shouldn't have any problems," joo sung-chan assured. "hunter kim-chul's training results are very impressive. he won't fall behind with white tigers guild main attack force in a contest of strength."
"thank goodness," yoon-ho replied.
"from the rumours that were whispered...an e-rank hunter with a possibility of being reawakened? that's what you were saying, right? our kim-chul is far superior compared to such a hunter with no foundation," sung-chan said to chief ahn.
suddenly, a car drove into the area, alerting everyone. y/n looked at the gate, already knowing who it was from the mana they were emitting. the door of the rear seat opened and a man stood out.
"huh, what happened here? i definitely heard it was a c-rank gate...did it turn out to be an a-rank gate? why is the precious master of the white tigers guild here?" the man known as hwang dong-su asked. just behind him was woo jin-chul, much to both y/n and baek-hyun's surprise.
"hwang dong-su?!" yoon-ho exclaimed in surprise.
"that person is...?!"
"hwang dong-su! scavengers guild hwang dong-su!"
"long time no see, baek yoon-ho. and to think i'd see y/n so soon after she left america two days ago." hwang dong-su said. a frown was visible on y/n's face as she looked at him.
"not like i wanted to even see you again."
"why are you in korea?" yoon-ho asked.
"i stopped by to manage some business, but i didn't expect to see you here. korea sure is small," dong-su said, smirking at the two s-rank hunters.
"just answer the question," yoon-ho gritted out, his hair starting to glow white as anger began to fill him. "why is a man that should be in united states back in korea and doing a business in the white tiger guild's area?"
"white tiger guild's area? i'd like to ask something as well. did that lousy hunter enter your white tiger guild? what were you thinking by recruiting him? i'm talking about that e-rank kid."
"e-rank?" yoon-ho repeatted in confusion. "who are you talking about?"
"sung jin-woo, who has entered the gate," dong-su replied.
hwang dong-su stepped closer when he finally realised about the gate, "what, this is...is it a red gate?"
"no shit." y/n answered with a blank face.
"i've come all the way over here and he's stuck in a red gate. it sure is hard to even take a single glimpse at sung jin-woo's face."
"what kind of business do you have with hunter sung jin-woo to come all the way to a dungeon entrance?" yoon-ho questioned, despite knowing the answer.
"none of your business. it's just entertainment."
"whatever your objective may be, since this is a red gate, there's nothing else we can do. past that red gate, instead of a dungeon, it could be a desert over 60 degree celcius, a jungle filled with poisonous vipers and snakes, or an extremely cold snow area that could give you severe frostbite. they have a higher chance of dying than returning back alive." y/n informed.
"i would also like to see what's beyond here. i get to see something so rare while just passing by. but this is quite troublesome...i can't wait here until the dungeon opens."
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