Seo Jihye

My hand pressed tightly against my mouth—fisted—as I violently coughed. The coughs were constant, not stopping. A burning sensation constricted my chest, as a sharp sensation of pain enveloped near my sternum as I coughed again and felt wetness over my hand.

I pushed my hand forward and lifted it to see, my entire hand covered with blood—my blood.

I panicked, seeing the amount of blood I had coughed, as I coughed yet again. My head felt like it could spilt open under the stinging. I felt like my body could collapse under its own weight as I tried to keep my head straight, and breathing even.

With another round of dry and bloody coughs, I placed my hand over the faucet and soon enough cold water came gushing out.

I cleared the blood off my hand, as I took water in my palms, conjoined, and splashed a good amount of water over my face.

The cold touch of the water made me relax for a moment, but the pain and the burning sensation in my body kept of growing. It was becoming unbearable. My brows furrowed as I kept splashing water over my face.

‘I think I should take the day off today,’ I inwardly voiced as I looked at myself in the mirror. My skin looked a little paler than usual, as I saw dark circles underneath my eyes. Then a series of shivers began to running wildly around my body as I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped my hands and lips.

My breathing became labours for a quick moment, but the pain and burning resided just as quickly as it had came.

“I’ll go to the hospital right after the meeting is over.”

I placed my hand over my cheeks and gave myself a determined and vigorous nod looking into the mirror.

I turned on my heel and stepped out of the washroom, as I walked through the clean wide corridors of my workplace.

As I walked past, I saw a few people from the third division team also making their way toward the meeting room, where we were called out a few minutes ago. They nodded looking at me, and I nodded back with a friendly smile.

“Oh, if it isn’t our genius rookie,” I heard a masculine voice come from behind me as I slightly turned my head to my right and looked above my shoulder.

“Calling me a genius would be a little too farfetched, don’t you think so?”

There I saw Mr. Jeong Lee-Yeon walking closer to me. The man looked supposedly no older than twenty-five years of age, with his sharp features. His dark brown hair were perfectly styled to the side, as he wore an elegant black suit which looked expensive just from one look.

His azure eyes bore into mine for a moment as I held his gaze.

“So, Miss Seo, are you also making your way to the meeting room?” He asked as he slowed down, matching my pace.

Jeong Lee-Yeon was the team leader of the fifth division—specialising in the hunters dungeon clear rates and other necessities—, and he was an earnest type of guy. He looked after his teammates and always helped them whenever they needed his help. Regarding work or social life advice, he helped them in both ways. And he was famous and well-liked among both male and female employees, as he maintained a friendly relationship with everyone.

But he was more famous among the female employees. Just recently I heard that he was confessed again by a girl from the seventh division.

But he always turned down all of those confessions he received.

“So how about it Miss Seo, would you like to go grab a bite to eat once we are finished with the meeting?” He asked, as he looked at me with awaiting eyes.

I awkwardly looked at him as I tried to answer. Jeong Lee-Yeon had invited me on several occasions. But I think turning him down all the time would be considered rude. Because he had invited me on several occasions, but I always turned him down.

But just as I was about to answer, I heard a little stuttered groan from beside me.

“Oy Yeon, how many times have I told you to not put my Jihye in a tough spot?” I heard YooSung’s voice coming from behind me, as Lee-Yeon stumbled a step or two due to YooSung having kicked him from behind.

“Can you please stop with your barbaric methods? That’s the reason why you still haven’t find a boyfriend yet, YooSung!” He said as he straightened. “And what gives you the right to call her yours?”

Both began to glare daggers at each other, as I saw a visible spark between their gaze as their eyes met.

“Because protecting Jihye from a playboy like you whose got a pretty face—and a flirt—is a part of my job and reason for existence.” YooSung muttered. “And is that so! Then you wouldn’t mind people knowing how you confessed to me back when we were still in middle school and I turned you down?” YooSung crossed her arms as he began to look down upon Lee-Yeon.

Technically YooSung was shorter in height but her demeanour looked to be as if she was looking down on him.

“I admit, I was still immature back then, and I didn’t know the difference between a gorilla and a real girl,” Lee-Yeon scoffed with a wide grin plastered over his sharp face.

“What did you say?” YooSung shot back, as a vein over her head clearly bulged in annoyance. But with a coy smile over her face, she retorted. “Says the bed-wetter!”

I chuckled lightly looking at the two of them bicker like children. “Now, now, we should get going, or we are going to get late.” I said, as they both turned to look at me.

But as their petty battle of insulating one another went on, we had slowly made our way to the meeting lounge.

“Oh right, Jihye?” YooSung asked as she looked above her shoulder. “How’s Jiwoo doing? Haven’t heard back from him since a few days ago?” YooSung asked as she pushed the door open to the lounge.

“I think he might be busy with his tour, but he said he was having a blast there,” I said with a bright smile, stepping through the door as YooSung followed suit. “Miss Seo I heard your brother was a talented stude—!” But just as Lee-Yeon was about to enter YooSung flanged the door shut for him. Seriously, YooSung could be really childish and petty sometimes.

I almost sighed exchanging glances between YooSung and Lee-Yeon who was entering the meeting lounge, with an almost tomato red face which looked a mixture of embarrassment and frowning, as he walked past both of us, as YooSung mischievously grinned, following him from behind to pester him again.

But in that moment, a cold shiver ran down my spine, as I stopped and felt my breathing harden. My eyes began to blur, as I felt a wet sensation run down my nose.

“Jihye abou—!” YooSung stopped mid sentence as she turned around and looked back at me with wide concerned eyes.

A mouthful of blood gushed out of my mouth like a stream, which tainted my clothes as well the floor below me in a bright crimson. My vision entirely blurred and darkened as I stumbled on to the marble floor, as an unbearable scorching heat enveloped my entire body, and my insides began to seethe, my eyes tightly shut closed, as my conscious drifted away from me.

“Jiwoo....” a whisper.

***

Seo Jiwoo

As my senses somewhat returned to me, my eyes fluttered open, as I found myself floating inside a milky white void, which stretched on infinitely in all directions where my eyes drifted to—or could.

I tried to feel for my body, and it was still there, I was in control of it but at the same time I felt like nothing and everything. Floating in this sea of white, the absence of nothing real and tangible was simultaneously a source of comfort and anxiety for me.

I had lost the perception of time as I tried to turn my body around, but I panicked as fear began to shroud my being.

But what was I so afraid of? I asked myself. But in this sea of white I began to reminisce about all the time I had spent with the people I cared about. Be it the past or present.

Master, Fujimoto, Koji, Han and...Rachael. What if I had never met them in my past life?

If I hadn’t met any of them, would I have been able to become the person I was today. The countless scars left behind in my heart still ached with a deep sore and felt fresh, whenever the deaths of those I cared for reminisced in my mind, the lives that I had failed. They were painful memories indeed, reminders of the decisions I had taken and the regrets I held in my heart. But...now had become an undeniable reason for me to move forward and live for.

They were the only reason why I was still willing to live. I needed to repay them for what I owned them.

And its my life. My everything!

I was desperate, be it this life or the past one. I didn’t even knew my own birth mother’s name neither did I remember her face. But when Master had taken me in, I felt desperate to prove myself, to be loved, to be cared for. Because...I didn’t wanted to be abandoned again. Even the thought of that made me writhe in fear.

I felt if I didn’t do anything to prove myself, then I wouldn’t be loved by anyone, that desperation to prove myself to someone was one of my reasons to live in the past.

But if I was given a chance or change, I would have liked to try living a normal life. If there was a world where there were no monsters, no hunters and no supernatural powers like mana and demonic energy, no Demon King, then in such a fantasy like world, would I have been able to live a normal life? Would I have been able to be born into a normal family, showered by the love and warmth of my mother, the protection and care of my father, having started a family of my own, learned some kind of trade and died a happy but plane and simple life like a nobody?

I asked myself. My thoughts stretching into the infinity of this void.

A weak smile pulled up my lips, as I thought of Master’s smiling face. That image in my mind filled me with such warmth, with pride, he was the only person who cared for me like the father which I never had—the only person whom I had ever called father—, loving me unconditionally without asking for anything in return, but caused a knot to form in my stomach, as the image of his death repeatedly kept haunting me.

I felt scared, what if even in this life I wasn’t able to protect anyone? What if I didn’t acquire enough power in time before the second cataclysm came—before the demon king came—to protect my loved ones? What if I couldn’t protect my sister—Jihye?

“No,” a soft but deep voice said, which felt more of an energy than a voice.

My heart began to ache as I heard that voice. But felt oddly at peace as I heard it. The worries in my mind were pushed to the back of my head as that voice echoed in my mind.

I rotated my body in this void, in the direction of that voice. I saw in the distance, a bright star burning with a bright sheen of golden

That voice was so familiar, so comforting, so warm.

I willed myself closer to the source of that light. It radiated a golden warmth which made me feel confident and soothed and protective and happy and filled me with pride all at once, and these feelings grew only more potent as I inched closer.

Just as I reached that nimbus, the golden glow which it emanated began to swirl around me, embracing me in its warmth.

I felt oddly at peace, as the light swirled around me. But in that moment, I felt the nimbus comforting me. As if it possessed thoughts and emotions. Those thoughts and emotions bled into me and I vividly felt them.

As if that nimbus of light was comforting me, soothing me, with its emotions and thoughts, telling me that everything was going to be alright.

But I turned my head slightly over to my left and saw a bright light of amethyst emanating brilliantly beside me. The golden nimbus pulled away from me, as the amethyst light swirled close to me and coalesced in the middle of the palm of my right hand.

My right hand erupted with a bright aetheric light, as a scorching heat began to envelop the base of my palm.

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“I will be waiting,” that voice whispered into one of my ears lightly, like the passing breeze, as I felt a knot stuck inside my throat. That voice was of someone whom I knew, someone that was dear to me, but also foreign to me at the same time.

Just whose voice was it that made me feel like this? I wanted to ask. But felt that it wasn’t appropriate, like asking this question wasn’t meant for now, like I would receive my answers eventually. So I didn’t say anything.

But all I did was smile back, my lips curved into a bright smile, to assure that golden light brimming with warmth for whatever it meant. The light burned even more brightly as if it understood my gesture, as the softness in my eyes increased.

I wanted to stay here in this place, with this nimbus of light just a little bit more, as if the bond we shared was something deep rooted, something almost ancient, but I needed to return now.

I needed to wake up now!

My eyes slowly opened, as I found myself laid on a hard bed—which was the very comfortable cobblestone floor. I was laying with my back facing the floor.

I inhaled a deep and long breath as I felt each part of body ache in unbearable pain. Every muscle felt sore and everything hurt. My uniform was left in a state similar to rags, with many cuts and tears.

The wounds on my body were healing, but very slowly.

I slowly pushed my body upright, as I reinforced my legs to not make me roll over the hard floor. My legs trembled like tofu as I pushed up to my feet and took a moment to relax.

Besides me, a few meters away was laid my old sword. But my eyes drifted across the entire room as I saw the destroyed statues littering the entire floor. As well as the severed corpses of the students that had deceased.

After the door had closed, I was left here alone to fight against these knight golems. And if I had take an approximate guess, there were at least more than three hundred statues here. I think.

‘Well, I lost count right after I destroyed a hundred of them.’ I inwardly voiced, as I brought my gaze back at the doors which stood a few meters away from me, as I twirled around.

But, in that moment, my focus went to the object which I held in my palm. I was clenching something in the palm of my right hand.

I opened my palm and peered at what I was holding in it. There was laid a pentagonal keystone which was smooth and cool to the touch, which had a dark amethyst colour, in the middle of my palm.

But there was a complex rune engraved over the surface of the keystone, which brightly shined with a brilliant lavender shade which burned with essence and some information. It looked undecipherable and alien-like to me.

But my mind went back to that strange dream, and that white void which I had been floating inside just moments ago. ‘Then it wasn’t just a dream?’ I thought clenching the keystone inside my palm tightly. And that voice...

But right as I clenched the keystone, a bright glow of amethyst enveloped my entire right hand, as the keystone turned to dust, leaving only a bright astral sheen. Then like a gust of wind, with a will of its own, the purple glow swirled around my entire body, as a moment later it resided.

I checked my body out for any changes, but apparently there weren’t any, my body was the same—felt the same. But I snapped my head backward, as I heard the thudding sound of stone moving and rattling.

I saw a statue reconstruct itself as slowly the mana around it coalesced and formed it into a complete knight again.

“Ahaa, didn’t I destroy them all!” I said with an irritated tired groan.

I tried to cycle the mana inside my body to prepare to destroy it, but my body rejected whatever command I was giving it. With a series of dry coughs, I stumbled a step, as I went to one knee. My body gave out a painful squeak as every corner of it as well as my mana channels creaked with a deep fatigue. I searched for the mana which housed itself inside me, and I didn’t have any left to fight with.

I must have exhausted all of it during my battle with these goddamn statues. I was in a state of backlash, for over-exerting my use of my mana channels.

Damn it. What should I do now? If I don’t do any thing then I am just a sitting duck as of this moment.

Another statue reconstructed in front of my eyes, as both of them lunged in my direction with unpredictable speed.

But in that moment, I felt a strange alien-like presence envelop my spine, as it arched upwards and soon enveloped my entire body. I felt like my body was on fire.

I felt some kind of unshackled power brim from every corner of my body, as I said something underneath my breath almost in a whisper.

“Ruler’s Authority!”

I levelled my footing and shot on to both feet. But as if time had came to a stand still—became inverted—like when I used acausality, I saw both of the statues' movements become slower and slower.

I took in a deep breath as I closed my eyes and a moment later opened them. The speed of the statues came to what it used to be, but something within me had changed.

I felt...absolute! All of my worries had disappeared, as the single emotion of absoluteness shrouded my mind.

As if everything was beneath me as of this moment onward. My eyes nonchalantly peered at the statues as the alien-like presence completely shrouded my mind, and I waved my hand in a downwards notion, without even thinking.

I didn’t feel to be in control of my own body as of this moment. As if someone or thing was making it move. I felt unbound ecstasy emerge from within me, as I looked down at those statues.

Just as my hand waved downward, both of the statues lifelessly crashed on to the floor. With what little mana I could have gathered, I willed for the activation of Mind’s Eye and my skill heeded my call and activated.

There I saw the earth mana which sustained the body’s of the statues crumble and being snuffed out of them, as it dissipated into the atmosphere. And the way the mana had reacted to that single gesture seemed, as if it was heeding the call of a higher being, bending to however I willed it to. My connection with the mana felt unlike anything which I had sensed before, as if I was in full control of it. It was moving and bended according to my will. Making change as I wished.

I turned around, as I walked closer to the doors this time. My body was moving on its own, as if someone else was making it move for me even now.

My hand extended and just as a finger touched one of the metallic door's surface, they were pushed back, as they rustled and clanked open without having to ingest any mana to unlock the locks this time.

***

Amelia Watson

I had wrapped my hands around my legs, as I rested my head over my knees. I felt tired. So much, that I never would have been before. The fatigue was more of spirit than any physical pain or lethargy, I had ever experienced.

But, I looked beside me—to my right—as I saw Jiyoung cuddled up in a corner of this hall like room. It's been a few hours since the doors closed and we had escaped, leaving Jiwoo...

I couldn't come to say those words. I came past a lump stuck in my throat as I remembered the horrifying seen which only happened a while ago.

I turned my gaze and looked at the metallic doors mounted at one end of this room. Every time I gazed at them, I would subconsciously grit my teeth. We had left Jiwoo behind in that room all alone beyond those doors.

I felt a wave of anger boil from within me, as I remembered his self sacrifice. I had came to thing of Jiwoo as a friend. His cheerful personality, his jokes, his actions to fool around from time to time and...the maturity with which he held himself, brightening the atmosphere around all of us.

Always composed even in the face of such a hopeless situation.

I had come to respect Jiwoo. He was a real friend. But he was gone now. We had left him behind. The guilt within me was twisting hard at my insides. Even if it was Jiwoo he wouldn’t be able to defeat all of those statues.

I felt melancholy emerge from within me as I remembered him pushing and holding the wave of those statues back all alone. He was always hiding his strength from us, but didn’t fear or regret to reveal it in the face of danger. Or to protect his friends.

Even in that hopeless situation, he helped everyone, not caring for himself. He shined just like a bright star in the dark night. All alone in the sky, making his shine to fall on the others, assuring them.

But now...he was gone.

After the doors had shut closed, Jiyoung and Ryuya went to a brawl with each other. That was the first time I had seen Jiyoung being so mad and expressive of her emotions. Her frustration and anger was palpable over her face as she lashed out at Ryuya. And Ryuya had only listened to her, quietly.

Ryuya hadn’t said one word back to her.

Even Jiyoung knew, that Ryuya felt the most guilty out of all of us here, for leaving Jiwoo behind. He was the closest to Jiwoo in his way. And as the top ranker of lock, his guilt must be killing him from the inside—that he couldn’t even save one friend.

But he was perfectly trying his best to hide it.

I directed my gaze at Ryuya who was by Han Shu-hui’s side, tending to the youth’s wounds. But Han Shu-hui had lost an arm during that wave. His right arm was gone up to his bicep, leaving only a stump.

The colour of his skin had gotten more pale as his breathing looked even more shallow and thin now. He was barely holding on.

“Just what is going on?” I muttered in a frustrated voice. We were happily enjoying our tour only a few hours ago and now we are stuck inside this shit hole, waiting for our deaths.

I felt like crying.

But in that moment, I heard the loud clanking of metal grind against the floor, as the doors opened with a sharp thud. Everyone rushed to the other end of the room—other pair of doors—, as fear, despair, horror and a mixture of many other emotions plastered over the students faces.

Ryuya lifted Han in his hands and rushed together with us to the other end. The youth was barely holding on.

But I saw the silhouette of a youth enter through the gap in the doors, as I focused on him, and saw he had glossy black hair which reminded me of someone, someone familiar.

I saw Jiyoung rush in his direction as she stumbled a step, we all followed her from behind. But I stopped in my tracks, as I felt the hair at the back of my neck stand. The doors shut closed behind Jiwoo as I took a step back, hesitant, of whether I should step forward or backward?

I focused at Jiwoo’s eyes, and all I wanted do right of this moment, was run!

I felt more afraid of him than those mana beasts or knight statues from before.

Fear! Desperation! Hopelessness! And death!

These emotions loomed above my head and pressed hard against my throat like the sharpest of daggers.

That’s all that came to mind as Jiwoo’s figure become visible inside the room. His pupils had changed colour and had taken a shade of dark lavender, unlike his usual dark obsidian eyes. But a single glance from his eyes were causing my knees to buckle, as the will to even run disappeared. All that was left was...Fear! As if he wasn’t Jiwoo, but was at the same time.

There was an eerie atmosphere around him, as if only a single sharp glance from him was making me feel inferior, as if Jiwoo was some kind of higher being standing in front of us, looking down upon us. Judging us.

Jiyoung stopped a few steps away from him, as she observed the youth. Jiwoo inhaled a quick breath, which looked to be a very long one, as the eerie atmosphere around him disappeared and the purple sheen surrounding his pupils returned to his usual obsidian black.

“Hey guys!” He weakly raised a hand at us with the edges of his lips curved into a thin weary smile.

Jiyoung rushed to him in that exact moment, and embraced Jiwoo into a tight hug. She buried her face into his chest as Jiwoo groaned in pain.

Jiyoung pulled away from him, as she studied Jiwoo with a deep concern in her eyes. Her expression nothing like her usual expressionless face. Her eyes drifted across his body, and at the wounds which covered him from head to toe—but they were healing, slowly—and his uniform which looked like rags, tattered and ripped from multiple places.

“Jiwoo are you alright?” She quickly asked.

“Y-Yeah, I am fine, just a little tired, that’s all,” he replied back reassuring her.

“But..." Jiyoung retorted, but Jiwoo cut her off.

“I am seriously fine, just a little too low on mana,” he said with his voice coming out soft.

“Where’s Han?” He quickly asked, as his face displayed a deep worry. “Don’t tell me he...” Jiwoo didn’t end his sentence, already expecting the worse.

Jiyoung slowly twirled around and pointed at Ryuya who was supporting Han Shu-hui and helping him lean against one of the pillars.

Jiwoo took a quick step forward, but his legs trembled and wobbled like tofu, as he almost stumbled on to the floor. But Jiyoung caught his tumbling body and took his arm and wrapped it around her neck as she supported the youth in his stride to where Han Shu-hui was.

***

Seo Jiwoo

My senses and control returned to me, as the alien-like presence left my body. I strode closer to my old friend, as my eyes drifted on to the passers-by gazes of the students, who were looking at me with disbelief, fear, envy and a mixture of many emotions.

How could he still be alive? Just who his he? A monster!!!

Their thoughts were perfectly written all over their pale faces.

Among them, I saw Claire, who looked at me with her gaze soft and lips twitched into a weak smile. I returned are gaze and then turned my head at Derek who was standing right beside Ryuya and Han.

I smiled at him and he returned it with an awkward smile of his own.

“I am fine now Jiyoung,” I said, reassuring her with a bright smile, holding back the impulse to groan again. Even with the pain resistance skill active, I was still feeling a lot of pain. I needed to recover some of my mana as quickly as possible, I didn’t know what might happen at any point in time now.

She looked at me for a fleeting moment, as she released me from her grasp and I kneeled down right in front of Han.

His bleeding had stopped, but the colour of his skin was pale, a sickly pale which caused my heart to be constricted just by watching my old friend in such a state.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked me into my eyes. “So you’re still alive, huh? But, I am really glad you aren’t dead.”

With a weak smile which made the guilt for letting Han die in my past life began to pinch hard at my heart and insides.

“I won't let you die! Okay!” I said, determined.

But despite all that I didn’t know what to do in this hopeless situation. If only I had some kind of remedy to heal—

My mind returned back to my time in the inhabitant dungeon, more so on the rewards for clearing the quest.

I quickly commanded the system and pulled the bottle of red liquid out of the inventory.

The potion of instant healing.

I pulled the cap of the flask and brought it close to Han’s mouth.

But he held my hand back with his good hand.

“Don’t waste your potion on me. I have already drank enough to stabilise my condition. Save them for yourself for later use, don’t waste them on me please.”

But I waved his hand away, as I grabbed Han’s chin and forced open in mouth and poured the potion inside his mouth.

Han chocked on the red liquid as he coughed a few times. Then he leaned his head back into the pillar as I waited.

And the effects were almost instant. A bright glow erupted and enveloped Han’s entire body as soon enough the wounds over his body slowly healed.

The colour of his skin returned to his usual whiteness, but...his hand wasn’t regenerating.

Wasn’t the potion suppose to...

But just as I was about to point out, Han’s arm began to regrow. First the bone, over it the muscles and veins, then the skin.

It was almost magical to the gazes of the students looking, as if what was happening was something divine. Something which only a god or a deity could perform.

Han inhaled a deep breath, as he clenched and unclenched his new regenerated hand, and turned to look at me with wide eyes and a surprised expression.

“Jiwoo...thanks, thanks a bunch,” that’s all my old friend said in returned. He bowed his head deeply in gratitude, as I firmly held him by his shoulders and looked him straight into his crimson eyes.

“I am just glad I wasn’t too late this time,” I said. ‘I really am.’

“This time?” Han asked, confused.

But I simply returned him a smile.

“Rest for now.”

I got up and turned back to look at all the flabbergasted faces, but I didn’t give them any mind, then turned my head toward Jiyoung and spoke.

“Jiyoung...you are about to breakthrough, aren’t you?” I asked.

Jiyoung didn’t seem that surprised as I pointed out. As if she already knew, that I aware of her being on the borderline of the rank and ready to breakthrough to the rank.

“Yes...But it will be a while until I am successfully able to do so,” She placidly said, her expression returning to its usual expressionlessness, but her bright hazel eyes still displaying concern in them. “But I was thinking of forcing my breakthrough. We need to get out of here and—"

“Give me some time to recover some of my mana, then...” I said, cutting Jiyoung off and taking a seat beside Han. “I will help you in your breakthrough. I have a method of allowing you to breakthrough without making you experiencing too much of the backlash in the process.”

Well, it wasn’t the best idea to make her force breakthrough, but she was really close and the situation we were in, time wasn’t on our side. But the method I knew of would be a sure fire way of making her breakthrough without worrying about any of the lasting effects of the backlash.

She firmly nodded back at me as if she completely trusted every word I said. Then I began to utilise the breathing form taught to me by Han as the mana began to coalesce around me.

I coughed a few times, as my body cranked with a deep fatigue, but these things needed my out most attention right now.