Calm [56]
So, a hop and a skip away, the three Hunters walked through a Gate that emerged in a nearby alleyway. Despite being opposed to it beforehand, Jin-Woo put all of Jino's gifts into his Inventory, keeping them out of the way.
They'd appeared in an alleyway for two reasons. One, they didn't want to instantly be attacked by a vastly superior opponent, and two, they couldn't open one inside the association even if they wanted to.
As the description of Yama's Gate noted, creating a Gate where other mana interferes is incredibly difficult. Within the Korean Hunter's Association, where Miyoung, Jin-Chul, and several other Hunters resided, it was difficult — pointless, really — to try and make a Gate. It was more efficient to just do it in an alleyway with far invasive mana and just walk the rest of the way.
As they stood in the dark, dreary alleyway, Fanzer was the first one to speak. Ichigo had most of a mind to just enjoy the scenery, even though there wasn't much to look at.
"Um, why are we here?" The Devil's Gambler drawled. "I mean, there's an obvious reason, but I don't really get how that's gonna connect with our problem."
Jin-Woo hummed. "Then what's that obvious reason?"
"For one, we could hurry up and show off our amazingness. We were the ones who killed Yogumunt, after all. However, that doesn't make a difference when we need a place to stay — ohh."
"Yep."
Ichigo craned her head back. She stopped looking through a nearby trashcan and her confused eyes flickered between the Thief and Necromancer. "What?"
Fanzer just stared at Jin-Woo for a second, his mouth hanging. A disbelieving smile started to tug at his mouth. "No way."
Ichigo blinked. "What, what is it?"
Fanzer sighed, a large, contrasting smile rising to his face, "This insane zombitch is the worst. He's really about to get us the best seats in the city."
Jin-Woo smiled with similar vigor, "This insane zombitch is, indeed, the worst."
The two burst into laughter, Ichigo staring at them both in disarray.
After they eventually wound down, Ichigo gave her load of presents to Yama, and the Summon returned to Jin-Woo's shadow. With their hands freed, the trio entered the Korean Hunter's Association.
The Association was a 24-hour establishment, but because it was so late, only two workers remained near the entrance. There was a janitor who bobbed her head as she swept up underneath the common's sitting area, and there was a receptionist who was tiredly trying to look alive behind the front desk. On the receptionist's desk, a bowl of candy sat.
Jin-Woo gave the janitor a swift nod and approached the receptionist. The receptionist tried to put on his best professional smile. All it took was telling the employee why he was there and showing him his Hunter's License to get past.
Apparently Miyoung had informed the receptionist of Jin-Woo's presence, and as such he had an easy time past the entrance. However, Ichigo and Fanzer didn't have the same permissions.
"Don't — hup, oh, this is comfortable — worry about us. Some nice air conditioning is just what we needed," Fanzer yawned, sitting on one of the chairs that has already been swept under.
Ichigo nodded to Jin-Woo once, eyes twinkling as she made eye contact with the receptionist. The receptionist gave her a small smile, nodding. She dug her hand through the bowl, getting several bright colored candies. She quickly peeled off a few and shoved them into her mouth.
All the while, Jin-Woo was staring at her. She gave him a small laugh before speaking.
"Yeah, we'll be fine! Just go!"
Jin-Woo held his hands up in submittance, walking past the front desk. He took a right, went up a flight of stairs, took a left, and knocked on the last door on the right.
He only had a wait a second before a voice said, "Come in."
Jin-Woo opened the door at the voice's words, strolling in with a small nod. He gently closed the door behind him, turning to meet Miyoung's eye with a small smile.
She silently gestured for him to take a seat. As he sat down and adjusted his chair, he checked above her head, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. Her title was the same, as was her name. It was, indeed, her.
He eased a bit at that realization, his tensed body relaxing. He hadn't noticed it, but he'd suddenly fallen into the habit of checking if people were who they said they were, all because of Pandora's way of taking control of Julie's body.
Pestilence's possession of Julie's body was terrifying.
Julie was an A-Rank Healer before she met Pestilence.
And most Healers were not known to be very strong Hunters. They gained a reputation as one of the weakest yet most important members of raids. Ichigo was a very extreme exception to this rule.
Pestilence gave Julie an absolutely unprecedented boost in power.
The highest documented magical improvement was an E-Rank Hunter turning into an S-Rank after a single raid. That Hunter was Alnair.
Jin-Woo had no doubts that Julie's shift from A-Rank to extremely strong S-Rank was a much further improvement. Even if it wasn't as easy to see, Julie's growth in combat scenarios was scary.
Even scarier was the thought of that boost being given to an S-Rank, or even scarier, one of the Divine Five.
With such an immense power boost, Jin-Woo genuinely doubted if such a person could be defeated without extremely devastating consequences on the surroundings.
They would be defeated eventually, certainly. Su-Ho wasn't just the Sovereign of Hunters because of his pretty face, he was also the most competent fighter, tactician, and overall Hunter the world had ever seen.
However, this was moving on the assumption that Pestilence wasn't the only monster with this possession ability.
Jin-Woo had no proof that his thoughts were right. It was all simply conjecture. But Fanzer's words stuck with him.
Fanser mentioned the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Jin-Woo just had a feeling that old story held a lick of truth to it. And if it did, there'd be more major threats on the level of Pestilence. He didn't know how many, but the possibility of them existing at all was the issue.
He was strong, he knew that now more than ever. With a variety of Shadows, abilities, and allies all on his side, he didn't believe he'd be dying again — and he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he'd died at all — but he also knew that the world was bigger than he'd seen.
The Sovereigns, Pandora, the Rulers, Antares, even more. He didn't think he'd be able to stand up against several things if he played stupid.
So, he played smart.
He asked himself who he could trust and who he couldn't. His friends, of course, he knew he could trust. Fanzer and Ichigo were safe, he was positive. But what about everyone else?
How could he tell?
Well, from day one, the System informed him of people's names and titles. Even Yogumunt had a name and title from day one. While Pandora broke the rules a bit, Jin-Woo still put his faith into his ability. If he needed to verify someone's identity, he trusted that he'd be able to do it.
With that, he was willing to relax. Miyoung was Miyoung, and so far, she'd done nothing to prove she was anything but trustworthy, at least at a distance.
She'd saved his life for no cost, made sure his sister was personally protected, and Lolikiano trusted her.
While Lolikiano taught him what she could, she told Jin-Woo to confide in Miyoung if he needed to. He didn't originally believe Lolikiano's words, but now he felt a bit stupid. If he'd trusted her enough to inform her about Yogumunt properly, she may've helped out to kill him.
And if she'd done that, the agonizing few hours he'd spent in Yogumunt's territory would've been far easier. Although, admittedly, he pondered if she would've lost her life against Pandora.
At his former thought, Jin-Woo bitterly smiled.
'A few hours? Was it really only that long?'
Jin-Woo almost couldn't fathom it. So much had changed in such a low amount of time.
He knew where Gates came from, what Yogumunt had been doing and why, and he'd grown exponentially.
And, on the topic of Gates, he'd realized something after Yogumunt's death. Before, he'd told himself that he wanted to learn about Gates, but he never thought about a world without them.
It was odd. He'd lived without Gates for six years of his childhood, but now, it was hard to imagine a life without them.
He wasn't horribly talented, and he never thought about any professions beyond being a Hunter. Even when he was younger, he didn't know what he wanted to do.
'Well, it's a bit early to think about what I'll do after beating all these impending, ominous enemies. I'll have time to think about it,' Jin-Woo met Miyoung's eyes, focusing up. After a second passed, he spoke.
"Yogumunt's dead."
Miyoung was quiet for a moment, and her expression only changed minutely. However, Jin-Woo noticed the shift. Her interest was piqued.
Jin-Woo met her gaze steadily. "His death will stop the influx of Red Gates. However, I don't have any place to stay for the night, since Yogumunt destroyed my home."
Miyoung put the pieces together, "You'll need a place to stay. Jino will too."
Jin-Woo nodded. "Yeah."
Miyoung glanced down, opening a drawer on her desk. She reached in and rummaged around, stopping after a few seconds. She pulled out a small, key card, looking at it for a moment. She extended it towards Jin-Woo.
He looked at it for a moment before meeting Miyoung's eyes.
"This is the key card to my room. It's on the 102nd floor. There should be food, television, and everything you all should need for the next day. I won't be using it because I'll be down here, working."
Jin-Woo grabbed the card but didn't pull it from Miyoung's fingers. He just sat there for a moment.
He didn't know what to say. He wanted to ask her about taking a break, or maybe even mentioning that her hard work was appreciated. However, he thought of something else.
"Actually, Chairwoman —"
She interrupted, "Call me Miyoung."
"— Miyoung, never mind," Jin-Woo pushed the key card back, causing the woman to tilt her head slightly. "I just got a better idea. The lounge is downstairs, right?"
Miyoung opened her mouth slightly, but just nodded, saying, "First door to the right."
Jin-Woo smiled, rose from his spot, and opened the door to the room. He stepped out, but before closing it, he turned to her. "Don't get too wrapped up in your work."
Before she could say anything, he closed the door behind him. She sat and stared at it for a moment, perplexed. However, the moment passed, and then she returned to her work.
Then, the door creaked open, Jin-Woo popping his head inside.
He smiled awkwardly, "Ah, could you clear Fanzer and Ichigo, so they can come in?"
The corners of Miyoung's mouth curled upwards ever-so-slightly. She nodded once.