the shadow in the light
chapter sixteen; jeju island preparation
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"i saw home in your eyes, and I found love in your smile"
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"what?! a patient with eternal slumber has woken up?! this is unprecedented!"
"the patient's guardian is requesting for immediate discharge from the hospital...what do we do?"
"no, not a chance! not only is she unstable, but she's also been asleep for four years! she wouldn't even be able to walk!"
"well...the state of the patient is all perfectly normal. it's as if the patient wasn't asleep for four years. there's no problem with her current health and she can even walk on her own."
"are you saying that she's in good shape despite being asleep for four years?"
"maybe it's because of the life support machine?"
"hmm, even so, getting discharged this early is a separate issue. we must let the world know about this case."
"i said the same exact thing to the guardian but it didn't work. he's no ordinary man."
"the guardian?"
"have you heard of hunter sung jin-woo, he recently became korea's eleventh s-rank hunter. hunter y/n was with him too."
"hunter y/n?! ah...we can't hold onto healthy patients against their will. we should let her get discharged..."
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
y/n watched with a smile as jin-woo's little sister, jin-ah, reunited with her mother.
"my daughter is all grown up," kyung-hye whispered while jin-ah looked at her with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"mom...!" jin-ah embraced her mother tightly, letting her emotions take control.
my efforts were not in vain. it feels like all my troubles until now were leading up to reward me with this moment. jin-woo thought to himself.
but while working as a hunter, i wonder if i distanced myself too much. uneasiness is taking over me.
just then, jin-woo felt a hand intertwining with his. he gently smiled before looking at y/n and giving a light squeeze to her hand.
y/n looked up at him and gave him a smile. jin-woo felt warmth spread throughout his chest as he looked at the hunter he eventually learned to like.
though there is uneasiness, i know y/n will always make it go away with just a simple smile. she'll bring me back from the edge that i grow dangerously close to.
eventually, jin-woo and y/n left the room to allow jin-ah and her mother to reunite with each other more.
he sat down on the bench, dragging y/n down to sit next to him with a smile. jin-woo checked his phone and immediately he was greeted by a scary amount of missed calls and messages.
he scrolled through all of them before closing the window. he instead accessed the internet browser and clicked on the online news.
"monster spotted over the sky of seoul!"
jin-woo sighed as he read all the titles in the news. just then, he received a call and immediately answered it.
"hello?"
"hunter sung jin-woo? this is the association's president, go gun-hee."
"chairman? is there a problem?"
"i'm sure you've heard the news."
"what kind of news are you talking about?"
"have you not seen the news yet?"
"i'm sorry about that. i'll be more careful in the future."
"huh?"
"wait, what's the matter? i just came back from a place where there was no service."
"did y/n not tell you?"
at those words, jin-woo looked over at y/n who was fiddling around with the hem of her shirt. he could see the distress on her face and held her hand, catching the female hunter off guard.
"i'm afraid not chairman."
"i see, it seems she didn't want to tell you yet. nonetheless, is it okay for me to come visit you and explain the situation in person? i would have gotten y/n to do this but she's uncomfortable with the topic at hand."
"no, i'll come to you instead."
݄⿴݃*₊↷TIMESKIP。
✧∘* ೃ ⋆｡˚.
jin-woo and y/n separated the moment the two arrived at the association. gun-hee needed to explain the situation to jin-woo while y/n had to be with the hunters.
once gun-hee had shown jin-woo the gruesome footage, he had explained the overview of the situation at hand.
"the raid will begin in four days. we'll go to jeju island and eliminate those ants once and for all," gun-hee said with determination.
"so this was why y/n didn't tell me," jin-woo muttered.
gun-hee nodded his head as he sat down. "she's lost both her parents instantly to those ants. now, it's her turn to stop those ants to save everyone. for her, and for us to do that, we need your help, hunter sung jin-woo."
jin-woo looked down as he clenched his hands into a fist. gun-hee continued, "all the citizens wish for the recapture of jeju island. could you join us in this operation?"
normally, i would've agreed without hesitation since it's crawling with highly ranked monsters... jin-woo's mind wondered back to the image of his mom and sister, hugging each other as they happily reunited.
"i...-"
jin-woo's eyes widened with he felt a huge amount of magical energy. his body froze at the scary amount.
"is there something wrong?" gun-hee asked.
"oh, it's nothing... there seems to be hunters fighting somewhere nearby."
gun-hee chuckled as he nodded his head, "it seems you do have good senses after all for you to detect them from this distance."
jin-woo looked at the president with curious eyes. "s-rank hunters are currently warming up in the gym. are you perhaps talking about that?"
"s-rank hunters?"
"yes since there are only four days till the raid. ryuji goto and his japanese s-rank hunters are currently there as well."
"by goto ryuji, do you mean...?"
gun-hee chuckled, "i'm sure even a normal citizen has heard the name of japan's strongest at least once. do you wish to check it out?"
݄⿴݃*₊↷TIMESKIP。
✧∘* ೃ ⋆｡˚.
in the middle of the gymnasium, baek yoon-ho and a hulking middle-aged man were sparring together.
yoon-ho slapped away the hand of the quickly approaching man, spun his lower half and sent out a powerful low kick. he frowned, however, when his opponent utilised a body reinforcement-type skill to defend his legs.
"master baek! a young person like you should be able to use more strength!"
"i'm no master, master ma," yoon-ho replied as he got back onto his feet.
the giant man pounced forward and yoon-ho immediately countered, unleashing his magic as they both had joyous expressions.
"it's all uncommon for all the s-rank hunters to gather in one place. the magical energy you sensed earlier was probably from them."
"hunter baek yoon-ho is getting slightly pushed back," jin-woo noted.
"but if baek yoon-ho were to give his all, ma dong-wook wouldn't stand a chance."
jin-woo and gun-hee turned as they met gazes with choi jong-in. "it's been a while, hunter sung jin-woo. the man wearing the dobok is the fame guild's ma dong-wook."
"you said hunter baek yoon-ho isn't giving his all, but why is he hiding his strength when ma dong-wook is an opponent he cannot slack with?" jin-woo questioned.
"it's hard for one to use all their strength when there are a lot of eyes around. especially since president baek turns into a real monster when he fights," jong-in answered.
so the rumours of his transformation ability are true.
"and the people gathered over there is..." jong-in trailed off as all three of them looked at japan's s-rank hunters. "ryuji goto and japanese s-rank hunters."
a sudden crash was heard throughout the gym. everyone turned to look at the source and saw y/n panting as she held her sword.
she wiped the sweat off her forehead as she turned to look at everyone else with a smirk. behind her stood, well laid, twenty dummies and a wall with a huge crack in it.
"did you just create a crack in the wall?" yoon-ho questioned with an amusing look.
"i may or may not have gotten a little out of hand with just one strike," she replied before looking up.
jin-woo chuckled as he smiled at y/n, waving his hand at her. y/n happily smiled back, waving back at him which caused everyone to look at him now.
"hm? who's that?" akari shimizu asked.
"ah, he's a hunter named sung jin-woo who recently became s-rank," hanegawa replied.
"he must be a pretty talented assassin," goto ryuji said.
"what? that person is a mage-type hunter."
"mage-type? there's no way..."
"it's officially confirmed information," hanegawa countered.
everyone began to discuss of jin-woo's appearance but the said hunter only had his eyes on y/n.
gun-hee, obviously noticing this, smiled as he chuckled at him. "you like her don't you hunter sung jin-woo?"
jin-woo quickly turned to look at gun-hee, his eyes wide as he stumbled on his words, "w-what? that's a little, uhm, too sudden isn't it chairman?"
gun-hee laughed and patted jin-woo's back, "it's alright hunter sung jin-woo. i know your abilities and i trust that you can take care of her well."
jin-woo nodded his head before looking away, his cheeks red as he blushed for the first time. well, in front of people that is.
"apparently this is korea's best, there's no need to see more."
"is that so?"
"i've seen how goto-san raids over you shoulder. it's possible you're not even classified as s-rank anymore."
"that's not always the case. there seems to be two useful hunters. was it cha hae-in and kim y/n?"
y/n watched as a fight between the translator and an a-rank hunter began. she grabbed her water bottle and gulped down huge amounts of water.
"y/n," hae-in called as she approached the older hunter.
"hm?"
"hunter jin-woo's been staring."
y/n immediately looked up and met gazes with jin-woo. he smiled and waved at her, shamelessly proving that he indeed was staring at her.
y/n returned the gesture as she smiled at him briefly. hae-in nudged her and teased, "look at you being so giddy over him."
hae-in was happy, exhilarated even, when she knew that y/n had feelings for jin-woo. it was clear that the s-rank hunters in japan weren't in relationship, or at least known to her. finally, she had someone to tease about and it just had to be y/n, the hunter she thought of as a sister.
gun-hee and jin-woo walked down to the first level of the gymnasium as goto ryuji announced something with the help of the translator.
"to deepen our trust with each other, i have something i'd like to offer. with the same rules as just now, how about duelling with us?"
"alright," gun-hee said. "only if mages and non-combatant type hunters that are hard to distinguish victories are included."
"let's add some more rules too," yoon-ho suggested. "other than the wrist, touching the back is a win, knocking the opponent over is also a win."
"the match won't be a one versus one, but it'll be a group match."
"so, does the opponent agree with this?"
"sounds good," goto replied. "let's do it like that."
"for the korea's side, baek yoon-ho, ma dong-wook, cha hae-in, lim tae-gyu and kim y/n will fight. these are our five representatives," gun-hee announced. "what about japan's side?"
"tanaka kenjo, hoshino minoru, kumamoto atsushi, tawata kanae and kei."
jin-woo silently approached y/n, sliding his hand into y/n's. he whispered into her ear as he looked around, "be careful. use your skills to protect yourself. i'll be here if you need it."
y/n nodded her head, "i'll be fine. the system will help me as it did for you, trust me."
jin-woo smiled before pressing his lips onto y/n's forhead briefly. luckily, no one had noticed them chatting which gave jin-woo the perfect opportunity to do so.
y/n blushed and gave him her sword. "take care of it for me will you?"
jin-woo chuckled and held onto the sword for her. she smiled and walked towards the other hunters.
"hae-in, that kei guy keeps looking at you," y/n whispered to her.
hae-in looked at the said hunter and he quickly looked away. y/n grinned at hae-in who merely nudged her elbow in return.
"let's get started!"
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