Youngho mumbled when he was deep in thought.
A direct result of having no inner monologue, he assumed. His mind reeled with the revelations of what his children had just told him. Hidden quests were one thing, but Jinyoung’s current predicament troubled him more.
Initially, after his disappearance, Youngho spent weeks searching the dungeon where he disappeared looking for him. It became his obsession.
He entered alone, manually mapping every inch of the corridors and the location of each Incursion. After a month, it had been Youngho who had reached the gate at the end of the dungeon, going so far as to defeat the boss itself. Alone. But he stopped short of clearing the dungeon completely and closing the gate.
He continued to enter the dungeon, looking for any sign of the boy.
Others from the Academy set to the task of studying the Black Shrine itself, looking for any clue as to how it worked or where it had taken Jinyoung. Translations and tests went nowhere save a small snippet about the “Onion Knight” which offered no clues to his whereabouts.
In the end, he had given up the search not because he had lost hope, but because he could see the effect it was having on Hana and the others. The longer Youngho searched, the more the others felt emboldened to do so. To keep hope alive.
And though it broke his heart to do so, he stopped. Slowly, after months (or years in some cases), the others began to accept the truth that whether Jinyoung was alive, there was nothing they could do to find him.
When Hana’s message reached him, the shock nearly laid him out cold.
Youngho had never given up hope and the wave of relief at knowing Jinyoung was alive was overwhelming. But it was quickly replaced with a more powerful feeling: guilt.
And now, this.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/120133983/1b405c447ce740cfa44278038dc8fe13/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.jpg?token-time=1739145600&token-hash=126Hxmm6PmGsSjCk5NAn4eGMfjl2PMdbETELqxIWzBE%3D]
“Dad?” Hana said, startling him. “I asked you if you’ve ever seen anything like this?”
Youngho shook his head to clear his thoughts. Better to focus on the here and now.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The marker, as they called it, was a fixed point in space. It was visible through walls and even in dark stretches when the emergency lights dimmed.
For young players like Jinyoung or even Hana, the unknown was to be expected. New dungeons presented new challenges and new monsters. But for a man like Youngho, who had built his livelihood on pressing the borders and living on the edge of the known… coming across something completely new was wholly unnerving.
“No, that’s new to me.”
Jinyoung’s eyebrow twitched.
“What do you mean by that?” Jinyoung countered.
He recognized the tone in the boy’s voice, but instead of responding in kind, he swallowed the embers of his anger.
“They’re called ‘unique classes’,” Youngho said with as much calm as he could muster. When neither Hana nor Jinyoung responded, he continued. “They were discovered in another region not long after the Break. Unlike regular classes, only one person can occupy a unique class.”
“Dad, does that mean what I think it means?”
“Yes. If Jinyoung is an ‘Onion Knight,’ then he’s the only one.”
Jinyoung stopped walking and turned to face Youngho.
“Wait, you said that they were discovered in another region. So someone else told you about this?”
Youngho nodded, but didn’t speak.
“Who?” Jinyoung pressed.
After a moment’s silence, Yooungho answered.
“Your father.”
***
The screens flashed while machinery clicked and rumbled in the background. Beyond the windows, the ‘cradle’ sparked ominously while the gate hovered just above it. The cradle looked just like that, but instead of rocking back and forth it stood on four steel legs. Above the cradle was the gate, a tear in time and space that manifested as an inky blackness surrounded by light.
Henry enjoyed the sight of the cradle and, if he had his way, he would sit and watch the scenery for a while longer. But he could already hear Seunghyo’s friends making their way down the hall towards the control room.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” he said to no one in particular. “People talk and talk, as if no one’s listening. But I’m listening.”
He tried to listen closely, to make out the subject of conversation but the whirr and buzz of the computers and machinery drowned out the voices. He could hear bits and pieces, but it wasn’t worth the effort of putting it all together.
“They’ll all be dead soon enough.”
A low screech reminded him he wasn’t alone. Henry stepped in the shadows just as the wraiths passed by the windows. They had returned half an hour earlier and were patrolling the gate. They looked anxious, but of what, Henry couldn’t be certain.
If not for the wraiths, Henry would have left long before Seunghyo’s friends had arrived. But he learned earlier that while the wraiths couldn’t see him when he disappeared into the shadows, they could sense his presence. Enough to swing wildly hoping to cut him into ribbons.
Henry reached out and tapped a few keys, sending more power to the gate. The cradle shook violently, but the gate held firm.
The wraiths reacted immediately, moving back and forth beyond the windows.
Something was on the other side of the gate, Henry reasoned. And whatever it was, it made the wraiths nervous.
Under normal circumstances, Henry would leave. He had the research and a sample of purified sin. But he would have company soon enough, and he wanted to make sure they had a warm welcome.