Lee Ju-Hee was a young woman, although she would often be more associated with the young part more than the woman part. She enjoyed doing childish things like watching cartoons, getting spoiled by her brother or taken care of by her older coworkers, (healers or not) and liked to dream big, astronomically big. She would also be someone who easily gets scared watching scary movies, jumping at the slightest of occurrences like loud noises or shouts.
The only thing that didn't scare her, despite all others she met being horrified by such things, were blood and corpses.
Her brother was especially terrified of those, both of them were just always like two opposites of the Yin and Yang, or so she liked to say.
But the moment she had known about this particularity of hers, she didn't mind enlisting in one of the best medical highschools South Korea had to offer and just at the young age of thirteen no less. I told you she liked to dream big.
Anyways, as much as she was naively sad that the school of her dreams can't place her as a student (because she hadn't even finished high school), her brother told her to study as much as she could for the time being. So Ju-Hee did, learning every equation, then forgetting it the next day after exams but passing with as many outstanding grades as she could.
She would often spend her days at school studying until his brother had to bring her a home blanket to sleep in, and her morning would other times consist of her friends making sure she had enough proteins to survive until the midterms. But no matter how hard it was, Ju-Hee was determined to become a doctor, a surgeon even. She wanted to help people, Just like that hunter had done a long time ago! She used to repeat that phrase to her best friends, and then they would ask with who?
Ju-Hee would then repeat the story of a brave man who sacrificed his life in order to protect the people inside the gate, and though he was trapped there, he managed to save everyone. Now said place has a theme park which she always used to visit with her brother. There is a little stand out there that sells her favorite foods, and her brother liked to give her as much of them as he could. She and him would eat the famous Ddeokbokki whenever Ju-Hee passed with yet another high grade.
But you are not a hunter.
Who says you need to be a hunter to save people?
Ju-Hee was always too tired to become a policewoman or a firewoman, she didn't have such an attitude to be as professional as a lawyer, and also didn't like to be stuck doing a lot of paperwork. She didn't have the capabilities to fight for her country or give meaningful words to inspire others. Politics never suited her either, but all she wanted was some sort of way to care for those around her. And knowing she didn't have any fear within hospitals (instead, there was some sort of motivation to help another who was injured, or so her brother had always seen that in her.) Ju-Hee decided this was the only way she could feel happy, she could feel completed.
"I'm Sorry Miss Lee, your grades are the best we could have hoped for but, it is stated that you seemed to have awakened, and legally we cannot accept recently awakened hunters who haven't had experience in the dungeons."
"Have a good day."
A law established a year after the gates appeared. Many governments took this law in order to separate the recently awakened hunters from the normal people, especially higher ranked hunters like B, A and S. it was the same as a forced military service that all students had to do so in South Korea, and most could skip this kind of job now if they worked as hunters instead. However, another reason for this law was because they didn't want the common people to lose their jobs, especially when there were now people that existed with the strength of a thousand men, those who had reflexes faster than a bullet or even those who could heal someone from the brink of death.
They didn't need to work hard for years to have that strength, or take 7 or so years in medical school to achieve reviving a person back from the dead. They just needed to be blessed. Of course it would make people who've worked their entire lives jealous. So of course the Hunters Association and the government agreed to place them here.
And those who worked hard but were suddenly awakened were left out of the picture due to being a minority.
But, what healer would want to still become a doctor when they had all the power to do so inside gates?
Healers who were scared of dungeons, scared of monsters, scared of even the tiniest of movements at night, much more of those fast movements of beasts coming to tear away your life in seconds.
People like her.
Just go for the lower ranked dungeons instead then.
And she did.
And now she hates taking that decision more than ever.
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"Who was it?"
Ju-Hee can't help but flinch at the sudden door being slammed open and those words coming out of her brother's throat with such a strong tone behind it. His words, his gaze, his attitude, and stance, Ju-Hee wanted to hug her brother the moment he had come to get her to the hospital yet... Those eyes... they aren't him.
The man comes close to her bed, pushing the nurses that calls out to him to "unhand her" and takes a seat on the big sofa next to her. Those red eyes, yes just like their father but never as red to this extent, keep glaring back at her, and also at something behind her. She can't tell if he is mad towards her or towards something else, but it's scaring her.
"O..oppa-ya..." her voice cracks and she feels a wave of mana suddenly freeze inside the room before the atmosphere goes back to its usual coldness of a hospital instead of the messy warmth that surrounded it before. She didn't even think about just how hot it had become in here due to being woken up by said temperature, but... could it be? No, her brother was never awakened.
"You." Now that's definitely her brothers voice, she takes a deep gasp and cries out again for him, enveloping in a hug and tearing up over all the things that happened to her while he backs away a bit but is cornered by the sofa and has to deal with her cries until she can fully process a word to him.
As night falls she quickly forgets why he had come here in the first place and only goes back to sleep in his arms, too exhausted to get up and be placed back in bed after crying so much.
Lee Ju-Hee, rusting through the memories of the past self, he finds out who this weakling in his arms is and gets the answer much quicker than he had expected.
This insolent girl who ruined my clothes and dared to touch me is the younger sibling of the body' s host? Familiar or not I should murder her right now for such an impudent attitude towards me! Not even the Ancient Grade Dragons would be safe from a punishment worthy of death!
[Please be mindful Your highness that a low profile must be kept until the vessel has reached its full potential.]
[Murdering is one of the cases that could bring attention to the Rulers and your location exposed.]
The man growled back at the screen, veins popping from the youthful expression.
[It is for the sake of the plan.]
If it weren't for the fact that you found a suitable vessel for me, I would have burned you and this entire hospital in an instant.
One could almost feel the relief behind whoever ran that screen.
With another grunt and a face full of murder, he scooped the girl in his arms and quickly set her down to the bed, covering her as the memories of the human used to do.
[Side Quest "Brotherly Duties" has been completed!]
[The Player has earned 6000 coins!]
His eyes narrowed. "Just that? It should be more considering the disgrace that woman has left on me!" his fingers were about to grow longer nails (claws) when another notification suddenly popped up.
[At first the Player starts with only a small amount of money.]
[Your highness the system is acting within the codification in order to get the best performance out of this body.]
[If the host cannot adapt to such a vessel then the outcome of the war between the Rulers and Monarchs will end up in the favor of the Rulers.]
"If I find out that you have lied to me then I'll make sure your body becomes a chew toy for the dragonewts."
[This system only ensures to make the best available options possible for Your Most Highness.]
Antares closed off the screen and went back to look at the girl. Some memories resurfaced within the back of his mind, it was likely that the soul of the man he had taken the body off was still around there, in the subconsciousness. That tiny specter would likely die out in a few days but for the time being it stayed crying and trying to reach out to his sister, as well as himself.
Don't hurt her.
Protect her.
She is everything I have.
The only thing I hold dear.
The dragon emperor settled his head on the top of the sofa and closed his eyes, finding more about what that could mean.
10 years ago their parents had died due to a tragic accident. However they didn't die off quickly, instead the father died from blood loss while their mother slowly succumbed to the pain a few days later. Both kids were only 17 and 10 at the time of their deaths. Ju-Hee felt the most awful about the situation because she had been the one who was getting protected, the one who was still able to move while her parents weren't, the one who could call an ambulance but wasn't able to cover their wounds on time. On the other hand Kang-Dae, or his new name is, was sitting in his classroom when he heard his cell phone ring and his sister cry out loud to help him since she still didn't know the number for emergency services.
A week after their funeral they moved back to Busan and lived there with their grandparents, both kids being raised by the kindest elderly woman out there and a grandpa that would often tell them stories of how he and granny used to go out and have fun back in those days. Lee Ju-Hee took her studies seriously, and Kang-Dae became a dropout from his university at 19. Instead he chose to focus on getting enough money to support his sister's college career.
And then Ju-Hee managed to become a Healer at 19. Already living in Seoul, she managed to obtain much more money than he could afford to give her in a lifetime, and in just a few months could save up for the college she wished to enter after serving a year and a half as a huntress.
Yet that much money wasn't worth it in the end for all that she had to go through. She would call up on him every night after their shifts. He would listen to her witnessing people getting sliced off and hurt in ways she didn't even know were possible. She especially called out one young man that would somehow never die, but the wounds that she described, it would be... it was a miracle he was still working in that association, and it was a blessing his sister was always there to heal him from the brink of death each passing day.
His detection skills weren't... the most sharp right now due to the system blocking off a lot of his powers, but he can still perceive the smell of Death and his Shadows from a mile away.
Just as I thought. It only took a moment to find the boy sleeping in the room, still unconscious, and two other people beside him.
He opened the system again.
"That kid. I can smell his power inside him."
[Your highness is as perceptive as always.]
[The Lord of Shadows has commanded me to also find a suitable vessel for him.]
"Ha." Antares chuckled "To think after this many tries, Him and I would be able to find suitable vessels." Once that man wakes up he will ask him to find all the other Monarchs and then assemble the army before the Rulers.
But in the meantime, this weak body of his craved to go to sleep. Still having the smallest of control over his powers, Antares walked out of the room and headed back to Busan, running a distance of 162 km in less than a minute with no problems.
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Authors note:
for Lee Kang-Dae's appearance I gave him the same calm features as Ju-Hee, same ginger hair face structure but with more agrresive eyes, of course its mostly due to Antares being... well Antares that he also had deep red eyes like weve seen in the manwha, and as the story goes on he will let his hair grow longer (It already is into a small ponytail, but only up to his neck, although I didnt say it here, only focused more on the eyes.) and have more of a darker tone of red since Antares genes are going to affect him on some level.
Right now Kang-Dae is also built fearly the same built Antares had in the manwha so over a few centimeters taller than Jin-Woo (wait right now it would be even taller than that!?!) but with a more youthful appearance and no beard wait i think there was a photo like that on reddit hmmm

there it is! well its the closest to what i could picture it right now.
Kudos to u/One_Ask8399 on reddit for the clear imaged! I have no idea why but its not letting me post the link to reddit but anyways check them out!
ah right forgot to add.
Ju-Hee is 20: 162cm
Kang-Dae is 27: 190cm
currently Jin-Woo is 24: 168 cm (his canonical height after the system was 183cm)