Night had already fallen for about an hour. At the Sung's, mother and daughter had already gone to bed a moment ago. But Jin-Woo wasn't sleeping. Several reasons kept his eyes from closing; or rather, he found severals to justify his insomnia. The truth was, President Go Gun-Hee's death haunted him, and he couldn't get to close his eyes.
So he was out on the roof of the building and was immersing himself in managing his shadows — after all, he was the monarch.
He decided to check with [Sensorial Perception] the people he assigned a soldier to. He felt tense, with a dull fear creeping in, as if one of them was about to be attacked like the president had been. The president died, and none of these people he wanted to know safe had the president's strength — except maybe Hunter Cha.
Thousands of stars were shining in the firmament. A cold nocturnal wind raged against his coat, and the coat who couldn't care less supported the attack without flinching. Fully focused on his task, Jin-Woo payed no mind to it.
As expected, his mother and his sister were sleeping peacefully. He changed target. Baek Yun-Ho from the White Tiger guild was sorting files in his office. Choi Jong-In, from the Hunter guild, was on the phone, visibly agitated. Jin-Ho was sleeping.
The soldier assigned to Cha Hae-In seemed to be in great confusion when he connected to him. He didn't know very well if should report to the monarch before being asked.
Jin-Woo was intrigued, but... he remembered with embarrassment the last time he peeked at her. After all, thinking about it, what he intended to do was nothing less than spying a young woman at night. And who could know what was disturbing the soldier! He knew better than anyone how off the mark his shadows could be...
He'd better take a few precautions.
He ordered the soldier in the hunter's shadow to close his eyes, and only then did he use [Sensorial Perception]. No water noise, nor anything more... embarrassing, fortunately. He could hear a vague hubbub, as if she was in a crowded place.
'Not in her bed, at such an hour?' Jin-Woo wondered.
He opened his eyes. The S-rank hunter was staggering, a large glass filled with an amber drink — presumably alcohol — in her left hand and her sword in the other. Her cheeks were ember-colored. She was apparently in a bar. Jin-Woo remembered he promised himself to invite her someday as an apology...
'But why does she have her weapon?'
As if to answer his question, she raised her sword, and brought it down violently on some poor flipper who had done nothing to deserve such a treatment.
'Okay, that's a problem.'
[Shadow Exchange]
Hunter Cha sheeted her sword and with a sigh, and sat back down at her table, all alone. She heard the death rattle of the agonizing flipper.
'I wonder what was that monster doing here. Fortunately he wasn't really strong.'
She buried her head in her elbows, half asleep. She heard a noise in front of her, and the table creaked, as if someone had just sat down. She lifted her head a little. Everything was a bit blurry. In front of her was a dark, silky hair she would recognize among thousands of others...
"Miss Cha?"
She straightened completely and blinked, and stood frozen for a moment like undecided, with her hand lifted. Jin-Woo wondered what could be going through her mind. She moved her hand forward... and began to stroke his hair.
'Bug system, bug system...'
"Ji!" The young woman merrily shouted. "My kit catty! I knew you hadn't died! 'You doing well lill' kitten?"
'Okay. Until I still had a doubt, but now I'm sure. SHE'S COMPLETELY DRUNK, DAMN IT! What the heck am I supposed to do now!"
"Ji," she continued, "I don't think Im doing very well right now. So many things happened... President Go Gun-Hee died, he who always was so nice..."
'Now that's enough,' decided Jin-Woo, about to get up. 'I have to take her home, or else I don't know, because...'
"Sung Jin-Woo."
He stilled at hearing his name.
"Do ya know S-rank hunter Sung Jin-Woo, Ji? He's someone amazing..." she whispered dreamily. "He fascinates me. The first time I saw him, he was pretending to be a miner in a raid for my guild. Did I tell ya I was an S-rank hunter and Hunter guild's vice-master? I didn't? Well it's such a hassle... Sung Jin-Woo... was in the mining team, I said. I have never understood what was his aim, by the way. I met him as he was hanging out by the boss room. And this is where something about him that was weeeird: you see, Ji, he smelled nice!
'Whaaat...'
"Ya know Ji, my nose is very sensitive. And all hunters have an unpleasant odor. And the higher ranked, the worse it is! I thought it was because he was an E rank, but... two days later it was announced on the news that he was Korea's tenth S-rank hunter. Inexplicable, isn't it?"
'That's probably because of the system. Monsters don't consider me as human being either,' remembered the concerned.
"And then, he saved team B. My guild has two attack forces, I'm part of the first one. And Sung Jin-Woo accompanied the second one in a donjon, as a E rank carrier. But the donjon was muuuuch too hard and they were all about to get killed! I, I entered the donjon, 'cuz something was off, and when I reached the boss room, Hunter Sung was slaughtering the last monsters, after having defeated the boss all by himself! I looked really stupid, with a pickaxe in hand!"
She let go of Jin-Woo's head for a second to cover her face with her hands.
"I'm soooo ashamed," she sighed. "Moreover, he made fun of me. I'm sure it's the reason, you agree with me, Ji?"
She put her hand back in Jin-Woo's hair. The S rank, or rather Nation rank hunter, was, despite his best efforts, unable to dodge her grasp. The young woman's hand tensed.
"That must be the reason," she repeated while sniffling, before swallowing a large swig of alcohol.
'Bad.'
"Isn't it, Ji? Why else? Why did he prefer that bitch Yoo Su-Hyun, there? That's sooooooo not nice from him... An S-rank is better than a A-rank, right? Th- then why did he refuse, huh? To choose that bitch right after... who make sure to brag about it on social media right after... I'm sad... Hey, one more time!
A waiter zoomed to bring her a bottle. He cast a flurried glance on the demolished flipper behind her, then looked at Sung Jin-Woo, in a silent plea.
"And- and a second glass f- for J- Ji!"
The waiter ran rapidly, without taking his eyes off Jin-Woo. But he understood quickly enough seeing his face that he was totally overwhelmed. His shoulders slumped and he looked down, sinking in despair. Who could prevent this bar from destruction now?
At the same moment, Jin-Woo realized two thing. First, the people around had to know who he was (given how many time his face had passed on TV) and the same went for Hunter Cha. Second, the latter still had her hand in his hair while ranting aloud.
'Yep. I'm definitely screwed.'
The young woman filled Jin-Woo's glass and hers, than emptied hers in a few seconds. 'Well, after all, Alcohol has no effect on me,' Jin-Woo thought, and he swallowed his drink. 'Holly shit, this is strong! She completely crazy!'
Hae-In was beginning to feel a little dizzy; her sight was getting blurrier and blurrier. But the dizziness lightened the weight on her heart.
"T- tell me, Ji? I only wanted to get a little closer to him... I haven't done anything wrong, right? It hurts, my heart hurts... the president is dead, he was nice ever... Min Byeong-Gu, beheaded... I'm afraid of the ant. But no, I'm not afraid! I do not have the right to! And he killed it! But I can't even defeat its shadow... It's because I'm weak that he forbade me to join his guild, ya think? But the bitch she...'
She buried her face in her arms, letting go of the cat. Uncontrollable sobs shook her.
"I can't take the hunters anymore! Nightmares, always... The sun is beautiful, Ji... But... if... What? Look at the sky... Fighting, again and always... that's wonderful... that's frightening... why me? Everything is black... Blue eyes... I love him... the madness... I'm afraid. I'm alone. Ji died because of my awakening...
Her speech became more and more incoherent. She drank her umpteenth glass of alcohol.
'Maybe I should take her home,'Jin-Woo thought.
Unfortunately, it was11 p.m.
And impossible for it to be 11 p.m. in a bar without little scums showing up to fuck up some shit. The problem was, they started to make a lot of noise. Cha Hae-In covered her ears while grimacing.
"My heeeead..."
The problem was, one of them had the (genius) idea to take an interest to the demolished flipper. Cha Hae-In raised her head, alert.
The problem was, the scum in question was a low rank hunter. Cha Hae-In squinted and fronted. At the point she was at, nothing made sense anymore. She couldn't recognize an ogre from a donkey. But the smell was so acre...
She got up abruptly, her chair fell on the floor; she stepped forward; the world was dancing around her. The scum turned to her, Jin-Woo saw the massacre coming.
"What's up, blondie?"
He detailed her from head to toe (he himself looked drunk enough already).
"You're a hotie," he whistled.
Without knowing why, Jin-Woo felt suddenly a huge desire to smash his filthy drunken face on the wall... But the tipsy fair-haired hunter didn't give him time. She had grabbed her sword from the table... suddenly, she brandished it high and brought it down right in front on her. The already demolished flipper was cut in half on the spot. Fortunately for the jerk, Jin-Woo had caught him by his hood and pulled him back in extremis.
"Are you crazy?" The man yelled in the manliest voice, before meeting Sung Jin-Woo's sparkling blue eyes.
He got silent. Looking at the blond woman, he noticed her sword. And then he felt her aura...
"The... the..."he stammered. "S-rank hunter Cha Hae-In..."
"Get lost," Jin-Woo advised simply.
The guy didn't wait and took off, his buddis following soon enough. Hae-In rocked on one foot, on the other... Everything was spinning... She collapsed.
However, she never reached the ground, because Jin-Woo had caught her.
He left a bill on the table.
"Keep the change," he told the waiter. "I'll take her home myself."
Once out, he summoned Kaisel. So, no, it wasn't the most discreet in the middle of the street, but carrying her bridal style all the way was far from better... The dragon flew above the city, waiting for his master to order him a direction. That was the moment when the shadow monarch realized he had no idea about the location of Hunter Cha's home.
He had no choice: he made his way to his own apartment. He dismissed Kaisel and texted his sister:
A little annoyed to be dragged put of bed at such an hour, Jin-Ah came to open the door. She widened her eyes seeing a beautiful sleeping blonde woman in the arms of one of her brother's shadow soldiers. A knowing smile split her face.
Somewhat disappointed, Jin-Ah opened the door to the shadow.
"You, keep mum," she whispered. "My mom is sleeping."
She led him to her brother's bedroom, and he delicately laid his burden on the bed, before slipping into her shadow.
"Wow," Jin-Ah commented. "Creepy."
The woman stirred a little in her sleep. Jin-Ah covered her with a blanket, and just before closing the door, she heard her mumbling something.
"Hunter Sung Jin-Woo..."
Jin-Ha smiled. 'Tomorrow will be a lot of fun."
Note: I find ";" the perfect punctuation for drunk action writing, it got that 'swaying on my feet, dunno if take one more step or take a nap' vibe.