"Is this where I'll be staying?" Jin-Woo propped his head up by the chin with an open palm, staring at the apartment complex that was provided to him for temporary residence.
"It is," Ch'en confirmed by the driver's seat, bags prominent underneath her eyelids, her index and thumb finger massaging them. "I'll be in the room next door to watch over you."
"Ok." He wasn't sure about her claims, considering she looked like she would flop over into the clutches of sleep should her body remotely be close to a bed.
"For now..." She hissed when it looked like a migraine hit her. One probably did. "...I need some sleep. I'll call Hoshi to watch over you in my place..." she droned out her voice as she reached for a radio. "You can go in, here are the keys."
Jin-Woo leisurely grabbed something in the air as the Superintendent tossed him a bronze-colored key.
"Don't try anything funny... but I'm sure you've already got the point ages ago."
"I did," he said, looking at the small trinket in his hands for a moment's observation. "I'll see you at 8:30 P.M. then."
"...Hey, aren't you the least bit tired?" she couldn't help but ask, raising a brow with sauntering eyes.
"No." Jin-Woo shook his head, opening the car door and taking one step out. "It's because I drank. Want one?" He materialized another bulbous bottle with red liquid in it, a Health Potion.
"The hell? No way," Ch'en vehemently denied. "I'm not going to drink before going to sleep."
"That's unfortunate," Jin-Woo responded once more in his broken Victorian, returning the bottle back into his Inventory. "Well, hope you get good sleep. Will meet at... 8:30."
The two departed to their own separate rooms in the apartment complex.
On his journey, Jin-Woo noticed that there were some people who had grown completely used to the presence of the S-Rank Gate, not bothering to even look up at it.
People still have 9-to-5 jobs to get to, huh? he humored in his mind. And bills to pay.
He didn't have a phone to access the news, but he had heard from Swire whilst she was discussing with Wei Yenwu that there were many people protesting for the Lungmen nomadic city to move out of the way of what they designated the 'strange phenomenon'.
It was good to know that these resident's survival instincts took precedence and weren't lacking, unlike some people back on Earth when Gates had become widespread and common.
Doesn't this world have... something called a Catastrophe?
That word had been thrown about at least once or twice when he was with Ch'en or negotiating with Wei Yenwu. From what he could tell, it was a natural disaster different from the hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes he was used to.
The specific details were lost on him, and he didn't think it mattered much.
Right now, Jin-Woo sat on his bed as he contemplated everything that had happened so far in the past day. The most prominent point being that there were about four people who likely knew he was from another world.
He wouldn't know completely, since they didn't press their questions any further.
Whether or not they think I'm from another world doesn't matter anymore.
He guessed it was the only logical expression that could have been provided, especially with those strange—strange for them—never-before-seen Gates emerging out of nowhere. Luckily, they should be inclined to keep his existence a secret.
He was useful, after all. They wouldn't compromise him without good reason just yet.
Now... Originium... The word fascinated him. Originium is their only source of power.
Jin-Woo rested his back on the bed, making himself comfortable on the material.
It's also highly infectious if not handled properly.
His brows creased, remembering the rather sensitive topic being brought up. Ch'en Hui-chieh especially looked fragmented when the word 'Oripathy' was mentioned, something he delegated to be due to the sort of work she would have to be exposed to in the L.G.D.
Leading to guaranteed fatality to those who contract Oripathy...
Could he catch Oripathy?
A glance at the System's passive, 'Longevity', told him enough.
And the entire world is reliant on Originium for power.
...It had only come to him now, but Jin-Woo was starting to become more and more disturbed at this world's culture.
He had only seen a small part of this world, being their near endless wastelands outside of civilization. It stretched so far that he had a difficult time navigating where he was going, and it was only by the System's waypoint marker leading to Lungmen's first Gate did he find a city.
I'll reserve my judgement for later.
There was still a lot the newly-annointed S-Rank Hunter did not know about the world of Terra.
I only hope there's time dilation in this world like there is in Red Gates or the Demon Castle.
Everything would come out fine, just like the Double Dungeon, the Demon Castle, or Jeju Island.
Hopefully.
...
...Damn it, I'm going to be no different from dad at this rate.
Jin-Woo's troubled thoughts carried him throughout the morning as he trapped himself within his own deliberations.
***
Now that I think about it...
Jin-Woo checked his Shadow Exchange once more whilst laying down on his bed. The reason for doing so was due to the artifact he was fiddling with in his right hand, the Demon Castle Key. A deluge of memories flooded his psyche as he recalled the many adventures and misadventures he experienced inside the Instanced Dungeon provided to him by the System.
Am I forgetting something?
He remembered the many Demons he felled, ranging from an avaricious overlord to a guide of departed souls, and then the Demon King himself. It was like a metronome clicking in his mind at certain intervals the more he cycled through his memories, until a certain figure made themself clear.
Ah, her. Her name was Esil Radish, from the Radish Clan.
A Demon with purple hair and who seemed socially inept at times. Or maybe it was wrong to call her socially inept, but she definitely exuded the energy of somebody who easily became embarrassed; in spite of the visage she bore when donning armor.
I promised to return, didn't I?
Jin-Woo sat up from his bed, tossing the Demon Castle Key in the air, and then catching it. A small clasping sound was heard as he yawned, deciding to also get some work done in the Demon Castle, a dimension which was removed from any other.
That should be how it works.
He slotted the item into the air, ruminating over how exactly the System created these Instanced Dungeons. A kind of glitchy gap in reality's mainframe—the best descriptor he could have for it—formed.
Flames started to flood around him, the landscape changing.
Coming to a decision, Jin-Woo decided to test his Shadow Army's capabilities against one another in a more suitable environment.
***
Esil Radiru wondered if she was developing some manner of madness.
In lieu of recent times, she had been attempting to drown herself in books or by playing the piano; utilizing whatever activities there were in order to peel her mind off distracting ruminations.
However, those activities bore no fruit in keeping herself occupied. Whenever she turned the pages of a hardcover book, she saw a certain face that had been plaguing her memories. Whenever she flipped the sheet music for her piano, she would yet again, hallucinate that aforementioned 'certain' face as the notes.
Mr. Sung...
Esil placed both hands over her face, releasing a squeal as she rolled over her bed.
I'm developing some manner of madness, aren't I?
It had been quite some time ever since the Demon King, Baran, had been felled, and Sung Jin-Woo's departure from the Demon Castle.
Even then, his visage carried itself in her psyche only by her own follies, something Esil had been attempting to understand exactly... why.
Her current conclusion?
Yes, I am most certainly developing some manner of madness.
Esil's gaze turned to the two stuffed dolls by her bedside.
They were exact replicas of Sung Jin-Woo but in miniaturized forms, with adorable—adorable for herself—round eyes befitting the smaller physique they bore from the actual man.
Her hands moved to grab one of them, of which she brought above into the air where her line of sight was directed. She shook it up and down lightly, mind droning.
I read in a book... that this feeling is called 'longing'.
In the doll's place, she remembered his countenance, his smile, and, and...
I am longing for Mr. Sung...
The swirling heat in her chest intensified as she turned around and stuffed her face in her pillow, a mad blush finding itself upon her physiognomy.
The plushie was dropped back onto the bed when her arms looped underneath the pillow.
In the period she recounted everything that had led up to this moment for the umpteenth time, Esil had finally decided to embark from her place of residency and revisit the place she had last seen Jin-Woo.
It was a short process, changing from her black dress into her decorated armor that was provided by her status as a Demon Princess.
There was no reason she needed to provide for the guards or her father in regards to her departure, considering she had vacated the castle multiple times in order to visit the higher floors. With all other clans practically eviscerated, there lurked no dangers that could compete with her status.
From where the Demon King was slain, Esil recalled the Shadow Jin-Woo had left behind before he left.
She had visited that Shadow and talked to it many times, so much to the point where she had lost count. Unfortunately, it couldn't respond back, so she was fundamentally left talking to herself.
Not that she minded. It was quite relieving to express her thoughts as if venting.
It just didn't help when her hallucinations of Jin-Woo's face plastered itself on the Shadow Soldier's helmet, furthermore reminding herself of that profane longing.
By the time her steps had carried herself to where the Shadow Soldier was at, Esil stopped walking and glanced upward. She expected to see the blue and black-flamed knight as usual, a guard stationed steadfastly at their post, but...
"Huh?" Esil blinked once, and then twice.
It wasn't there.
"E-eh?" She began to panic.
Her mind blurred as she paced around the vicinity, from the broken ruins around the cragged landscape, to the elevated hills. Even when she scanned everywhere, from east to west, and north to south; she still caught no sight of any shadowy plumes.
"It can't be..." Esil whispered.
She found herself back at where the supposed Shadow Soldier should have been, posterior hitting the ground with a slump.
"Did he...?" The mere notion petrified her.
The world felt emptier by the second, her knees pulling themselves closer to her chest, body curling into a ball.
Tears welled up in her eyes, the realization becoming clearer than the most pristine crystals.
"I hoped it wouldn't end like this..."
A sobering realization seeped from the creviced cracks of denial, that she would never meet him again.
"Mr. Sung..."
Droplets fell from her face, shadows lengthening in front of her.
"I miss—"
Her words couldn't be completed, as something interrupted her.
"I didn't think you'd be here," a voice said, a deeply mellow one. "I was actually on my way to see you."
It struck a chord within Esil, provoking an emotion once inundated by a previous swamp of despair. Her head turned upward, eyes widening, as...
...The Demon Castle's glowing celestial body, its sun, broke dawn from beyond the horizon, all-encompassing with its reach. Just in front of it, an impeccable figure stood as its darkened contrast, accentuated by its caressing rays.
"How's the Radish Clan doing these days?" the black-haired man asked, coat fluttering in the squall of nature's serene breath, shadows bleeding from his form as if mended with his clothes.
"M-Mr. Sung!" Esil called out, as if even the sun's radiance could not match his own. Immediately, she jolted upward, recounting the numerous propositions she had in preparation for his return. "P-Please! Let me feed you this time! I won't let you leave before you witness our hospitality!"
"...Huh?"