SL-brain-rot

While this is happening, Jin-Woo is reported missing after disappearing for 3 days. However, due to the high number of deaths and disappearances caused by the advent of gates, his disappearance is labelled as another tragedy caused by the gates.

Il-Hwan and Kyung-Hye are persistent and consistently search for Jin-Woo. They print posters, organise search parties, but no one is able to pin point where Jin-Woo went. 

This causes stress on the Sung family. As Il-Hwan begins to obsess over finding Jin-Woo. Throwing himself completely into his working during the day and scouring the streets during the night.

One Dungeon raid, however, ends in tragedy. Due to Il-Hwan’s lack of sleep and overexertion of his body, he fumbles and ends up struggling to defeat the Dungeon boss. When he eventually does, his party is either dead or half dead.

While carrying their bodies out of the dungeon. The exhaustion, stress, grief and pain, catch up to him and his body gives out. He doesn’t have enough strength to get him to the end. 

He gives up.

Days later he awakens in a hospital bed with his wife and daughter gathered around him. Shocked, Il-Hwan asks how they got out. Who saved them? But his party members say that he saved them. He carried them out of the dungeon.

He tries investigating more into it. But no one saw who did it. They shower him with praise but it only fills him with unease.

He loses more sleep. And one night, Jin-ah confronts him. She asks about Jin-Woo, about the dungeons, and the world that is changing around her. Il-Hwan quickly realises that in his pursuit of Jin-Woo, he has neglected his daughter. 

Things settle. Il-Hwan is released from the hospital. Kyung-Hye asks him to stop hunting and he does.

months pass. A hunters association is formed along with a fancy new measuring system. Hunters are called to renew their licenses but Il-Hwan doesn’t bother. A special hunter appears. Some kind of S-rank? Il-Hwan doesn’t bother remembering his name. He keeps his head down and gets a job as a construction worker. He earns less than he did as a hunter but it’s safer and Kyung-Hye makes do. There’s less people to feed anyway.

The television is full of people talking about a gate. In America? Il-Hwan avoids the news but before long the newspapers are full of clippings aswell. It spreads; initially tucked in a small corner before spreading to take over the whole page.

”S-RANK GATE IN AMERICA” “THE FINAL ARMAGEDDON” “IS THIS THE FINAL WAVE?”

He hides them from Jin-ah.

A hurricane of disaster comes to him one day in the form of an old man: Go Gun-Hee. He approaches him while Il-Hwan’s on break asking for a talk. Il-Hwan tries to avoid the man by saying he’s on the clock, but his manager snaps like a pretzel under the weight of Go Gun-Hee’s influence.

Go Gun-Hee’s eyes are knowing when he stares at him. He asks about his refusal to renew his hunter license. Il-Hwan tells the truth (he doesn’t want to be a hunter anymore) but Go Gun-Hee stares at him as though he’s lying. 

Go Gun-Hee hands him his business card; tells him to check to news sometime. And leaves.

Il-Hwan wants to throw it out. But he keeps it in spite of him self. Kyung-Hye catches him staring at it and eyes him warily.

At night, when he knows that Jin-ah and Kyung-Hye are asleep, he switches on the news.

Immediately, he is inundated with report after report. It’s all the same. Regardless of the channel. He turns it off in disgust and then turns it on again. 

They talk of an end of all ends. The devastation. The fear. It switches to a video interviewing a young mother and her child. Il-Hwan switches it off. 

The next day Il-Hwan follows the address on the card to an office building in the main city. Il-Hwan stares at it and thinks about what was there before it. Before the gates- he can’t remember.

Go Gun-Hee greets him at the front when he flashes his business card. It takes less than a minute for him to appear, eyes knowing and smile a genuine curve. 

He asks if he would like to renew his license. Il-Hwan says yes and he’s guided to a seperate room where a large full body scanner is waiting for him. 

They tell him to strip to his underwear. Il-Hwan flashes  Go Gun-Hee a wary glance but does so anyway. He follows their orders and steps onto the scanner. 

Go Gun-Hee and the managers vacate the room. A minute passes and Il-Hwan feels tingles across his skin as scanner pans over him. A second passes and then another. The machine makes a noise and abruptly explodes. 

The room is wrecked but Il-Hwan is unharmed. He wonders how much he would have to pay them back for the machine. Go Gun-Hee appears at the doorway, smiling despite the wreck. 

Il-Hwan is pronounced as a S-Rank. Koreas second (or technically the first). He leaves with a shiny new license and a request from Go Gun-Hee. 

When he returns, Kyung-Hye is there waiting for him. She stares at him as though already aware so he tells her the truth. He tells her that he’s thinking of going to America. 

She’s quiet. She tells him to stay. But she knows who he is. Who she married. Il-Hwan thinks of the gate. He thinks of the future. He thinks of Jin-ah and his family. He thinks of Jin-Woo.

He’s on the phone with Go Gun-Hee the next morning and boarding the ship to America not a month later. Kyung-Hye is quiet and Jin-ah refuses to speak to him in protest. Go Gun-Hee promises to keep them safe. 

Korea makes a show of his departure. They drape him in silk and gold. Parade him around as a warrior hero. A family man, they describe him. A hero who pulled his half dead teammates out of a gate. 

America is different from anywhere he’s been. There’s hunters everywhere from all over the world. They scoff at each other heads held high with pride. Il-Hwan keeps to himself until the day of the raid. 

Kamish is a blur. Many die. It was a catastrophe that Il-Hwan never saw coming. A dragon, bathed in a bloody red had pierced the sky and brought about an end of times. Except the world didn’t end. Somehow they had defeated it, though Il-Hwan would always forget how exactly they had done it.

At the end of the expedition. Of the 100 S-Rank hunters, 6 had remained. Il-Hwan was the oldest. There was a large American and a smaller American whose names he had forgotten. The indian hunter was a soft-spoken man who spoke politely and the Chinese hunter was a boisterous young man. Though most seemed dull after the raid. Il-Hwan just wanted to go home. 

Il-Hwan was very busy after the raid. He made it back to Korea a week later and returned to a country that worshipped him like a God. Upon his return, they held a celebration in the streets. He was asked to appear in interviews, conferences, and reality TV shows. But Il-Hwan politely declined all of the invitations. He returned to his family and told Go Gun-Hee he wanted to be left alone. 

And he was. Korea still talked about him. But the invitations stopped and many seemed to realise that he was devoting himself to his family. On occasion he would glance at TV channels and online forums about himself and find polarising views about his decision. But he didn’t care. 

Time passed like that. He didn’t work but the money paid by the American government was more than enough for any living expenses. They lived mostly the same. They never moved out of their dingy apartment. Just in case. Jin-ah grew up. Il-Hwan asked Go Gun-Hee about Jin-Woo but nothing came of the investigation. 

Rumours spread about his runaway son and his reason for his early retirement. While many expressed sympathy for his lost son many also called him abusive or neglectful. Siting his inability as a father that led to Jin-Woo’s disappearance.

Korea changed. As did the world. His fellow national-ranked hunters grew and evolved. Some tried inviting him to their guilds and others tried fighting him. But most left him to his own devices. One year he was asked to appear at a world conference for hunters, the Korean government had begged him to represent them and Il-Hwan had only conceded when Go Gun-Hee said he could bring his family.

The big American was the first to greet him- Thomas Andre was his name. His voice was loud and happy, he gave him a handshake with abit too much pressure. Il-Hwan didn’t budge and Thomas only smiled wider. The American was very opportunistic, he draped an arm around Il-Hwan and promised him the world if he joined America, he tried baiting him with his family but Il-Hwan shut him up quick with a glare.

The conference was boring. Hunters avoided him. They stared at him with a mix of awe and fear. The ones that did approach would stutter and freeze up. His fellow national ranked hunters kept their distance as well, staying within their guild parties.

The one outlier was the Chinese hunter, Liu Zhigang. He had approached him, head held high in provocation. The translator with him had stuttered and paled as she translated his words. He wanted to fight him. 

Il-Hwan had known about the Chinese hunters bloodlust, apparently he had went on a month long trip across the world to fight all of the national-Ranked hunters and was stopped due to geopolitical turmoil caused from it. But when Il-Hwan stared at the boisterous young man he couldn’t help but wonder about Jin-Woo. Unwilling to entertain the idea of fighting him, Il-Hwan had scared him off by flexing his powers abit. He wasn’t sure how well it worked because the one to break them up was actually Thomas Andre.

Il-Hwan returned to Korea exhausted and promising himself that he would never go to another conference again. 

More S-Ranks appeared. First was a sleezy looking man. After that a large burly man. A young man with transformation powers who froze up whenever he spoke to him. A healer. And an assassin. 

Il-Hwan kept his distance. Most of the hunters left him alone. There was one, though. A young man with a rebellious personality named Hwang Dong-Su who tried to stir trouble with him. When Il-Hwan looked at him, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain. Jin-Woo would’ve been the same age. He left for America later that year.

Disaster struck again in the form of another S-Rank raid. The media wasn’t worried, after all they had 5 S-Rankers but Go Gun-Hee came to him one day and spoke to him in a hushed tone. It was much more dire than they were making it seem. 

Il-Hwan listened and he thought for a long time. Jin-ah was in middle-school now, a nice private one. His life was good, calm. But when he thought about the disaster caused by the Kamish raid, he couldn’t help but falter.

When Il-Hwan told Kyung-Hye this. She had stared at him for a long time before saying that he should do it, much to his surprised. She told him that she trusted him to do the right thing. 

Il-Hwan participates in the raid. There’s media coverage from all over the world. The gate is full of mutated ant monsters. It’s weird fighting alongside people after all this time but the group settles into an easy rhythm with his leadership. The dungeon boss is a queen ant which Il-Hwan easily kills. It’s nothing like Kamish. He leaves relieved.

When he returns Kyung-Hye is in the hospital. Jin-ah is crying. There’s a grim look on Go Gun-Hee’s face when he approaches him. 

Kyung-Hye has fallen into an eternal slumber.

Il-Hwan tries everything. He travels across the world, speaks to the best doctors, physicians, healers. Nothing works. People look at him with pity, and in some forums people say it was the extended exposure to his mana that caused it. Some days Il-Hwan believes them.

He moves Jin-ah into a boarding school in America.

Thomas Andre takes one look at him and offers to introduce him to woman. Some kind of fortune teller. Il-Hwan distantly wonders how a fortune teller will bring his wife back. He goes anyway.

Norma Selener is unusually calm. She doesn’t seem particularly star-struck by him. But when she takes his hand, she jerks back as if she’s been burned. There’s something watching over him, she says. Something terrible.

Il-Hwan leaves frustrated. Just another looney.

Time passes. A new S-Ranker appears. A young woman. The first female S-Ranker. 

She’s young and naive, her eyes still shine with admiration when she looks at him and her back straightens slightly as though to look taller. Il-Hwan can’t help but think of Jin-ah, alone in America. Safe from him. 

He pats her on the head. And vows to look out for this young girl whose hair seems brown under just the right lighting. Jin-Woo would be her age. He wonders if they would’ve been friends.

Il-Hwan spends most of his time looking for cures for Kyung-Hye. He basically lives in the hospital. After the first few times, the starstruck eyes of the doctors and nurses quickly soften with pity. 

When Il-Hwan does go home. He sleeps alone. The apartment is empty. Sometimes he wakes up in a cold sweat, haunted by nightmares of red dragons and a small cold body in his arms, and the only thing that can calm him down is curling up in the cold empty sheets of Jin-Woo’s old bedroom. 

Il-Hwan leaves it the same even after 10 years. 

Thomas Andre has wanted Il-Hwan since the moment he met him during the Kamish raid. He admires him. More than he has ever admired someone. It’s more than physical admiration, it’s mental and spiritual. Laura says it’s he has daddy issues. But Thomas doesn’t care.

He’ll do anything. When Il-Hwan’s daughter is sent to America, he tries everything to get her to like him. But she only stares at him with the same despondent eyes as her father. As though fatigued by the very act of living.

The only daughter of Korea’s National Hunter is a bit of a superstar in America. None of the other National rank hunters have children, so she’s treated as some kind of rare extinct animal. After all, it’s much easier to get to the father by getting the approval of the daughter. But even more than that there’s…

Yes, there’s also the son. Il-Hwan’s oldest. The whole world knows him, even more so after Go Gun-Hee’s nation wide manhunt. Even Thomas has tried to look for the boy in hopes of gaining Il-Hwan’s favour, he’s not the only one with the same idea either, everyone has tried it atleast once. Finding the missing son of Il-Hwan would be better than winning the lottery. 

But it seems that it’s also way harder than winning the lottery. Thomas remembers reading posts of theorising whether this ‘Jin-Woo’ even exists. It’s like he completely fell of the side of the earth, he’s a complete non person. In recent years he’s become somewhat of a criptid; perhaps he turned into a dungeon monster, maybe Il-Hwan actually killed him and Go Gun-Hee covered it up, or maybe, he got sucked into a dungeon portal.

That one seems the most plausible.

It’s late when Thomas gets the call, Hwang Dong-Su is in the hospital. That in and of itself is startling, but it’s made worse by the recounts of what happened. 

A young man had come out of the dungeon speaking Korean. He had dark black hair and eyes that shone a piercing gold.

This pairing was mostly based on vibes tbh. I think they look cute together and have similar personalities (being more on the energetic side). 

Beru x hellokitty

This one is kind of obvious. They are both the mascot characters of their groups, not only that they have surprisingly similar personalities. Hello kitty is hard working and enjoys making new friends, and I feel that is pretty similar to how Beru is (in a way more twisted degree). Not only that they look cute together, like, I can imagine them baking together or something. In universe I feel that the pairing makes a bit of sense as well, since, Beru probably appears the most and has the most history in the public’s eyes, it would make sense that Sanrio would pair him with their mascot character.( I was also inspired by the jjk x Sanrio collab that paired hello kitty with Sukuna. Which I thought was pretty funny)

Kaisel x cinnamoroll

This is another one based on vibes. The give off the same kind of personality (being shy but very friendly). I also read that cinnamoroll can fly with his ears so i thought it would be funny to pair them together. 

Igris x badtz-maru

I had a hard time with Igris. I didn’t want to choose something too obvious like badtz-maru but in the end I figured that they looked the best together out of all the pairings. Furthermore they give off similar vibes (being the most competent members of their respective groups.)

Tusk x Hangyodon 

I’m actually quite confident with this one. Hangyodon is said to not show a lot of emotion, but is actually an aspiring comedian and romantic, I feel that matches the kind of vibe Tusk gives off especially in the later chapters. They also look kind of similar.

Greed x tuxedosam

I like this pairing cus I’m secretly a Greed Stan. I think tuxedosam and Greed are pretty similar. Tuxedosam studies abroad away from his two brothers, like Greed, and is fashionable but makes clumsy decisions, also like Greed. I also like this pairing cus I think Greed needs a friend.

Jima x kerropi 

The connection is obvious. But aside from them being both aquatic I think they have the same kind of unsettling cute vibe that makes them a cute pair. Also I’m biased cus I love kerropi.

Iron x pompompurin 

I think it’s funny. They have surprisingly similar personalities and vibes. Not only that I think together they would be a really silly pair. In pompompurins description it says his dream is to get even bigger which I feel matches the vibe Iron gives off. 

Bellion x Kuromi 

S!Rank Jin-Woo is notorious for being mysterious and antisocial. He has a cult-like fanbase of fans but due to his apathetic persona many people find him difficult and unsettling.

Hwang Dong-Su stayed with Korea due to S!Jin-Woo. When he first awakened he challenged S!Jin-Woo but was beaten very easily. Despite this Hwang Dong-Su found himself admiring S!Jin-Woo’s strength and uncaring personality. He secretly runs many S!Jin-Woo fan sites and groups but when with Jin-Woo in person he act obtuse and arrogant- he’s a tsundere. When he meets E! Jin-Woo he acts the same but E! Jin-Woo takes note in the change of country.

Go Gun-Hee understands S! Jin-Woo intimately like a father. Due to overseeing him during his youth he feels responsible for him and pity for his lost childhood. He coodles E! Jin-Woo

Liu Zhigang likes Jin-Woo. During the Kamish raid they found themselves unconsciously pairing together due to them both being the youngest and having similar personalities. He views S!Jin-Woo as an anti-Social little brother and often teases him or tries to spar with him. He takes advantage of E!Jin-Woo’s obliviousness and convinces him that S! Jin-Woo called him big brother. He is the first overseas hunter to come check on Jin-Woo

E! Jin-Woo is shocked that Liu Zhigang is so friendly with him as he admired him for his personality and strength in his og universe.

Thomas Andre is very soft on Jin-Woo. He didn’t like the inclusion of him during the Kamish raid due to his young age. After S! Jin-Woo survived he acknowledged his strength and attempted to get S!Jin-Woo to join his guild. Despite being rejected he still pampers him, viewing S!Jin-Woo as ‘one of his’ and someone apart of his ‘family’ due to his young age. S! Jin-Woo exploits this to get weapon and items out of him which Thomas easily gives up. E! Jin-Woo is scared of Thomas and can’t look him in the eyes. Thomas tries buying him expensive things to get him to like him.

S! Jin-Woo actually has an estranged relationship with his family. Due to his job he could not hang out with Jin-ah often and she was mainly raised by his summons and expensive tutors he hired. She goes to an expensive private school and her identity is hidden from the public. She acts cold and awkward towards E! Jin-Woo when he tries talking to her.

“…”

Nowadays, Jin-Woo rarely questions the path his life is going down. Becoming a god, killing a god, and restarting the universe had desensitised him to all impossibilities.

But this…

This seemed a bit unbelievable even for him.

“What the hell are you saying…?”

The Brightest fragment of light tilted its head towards him condescendingly. “That vessel, it shows remnants of your life force.”

“How is that possible? I'd never-!”

The words died quickly in his throat, “Regardless, It's impossible. When would I even have the time to have a child?”

The rulers seemed to cackle at some kind of hidden joke- exchanging glances(?) like a group of giggling schoolgirls. When The Brightest Fragment of light spoke up, its voice seemed tinged with amusement.

“That vessel may meet your kinds requirements for offspring, but that doesn't mean it was made through conventional reproductive methods.”, It levelled a casual yet piercing finger towards the bundle in Jin-Woo’s arms, “That vessel shows the craftmanship of Kandiaru.”

‘Kandiaru? That’s the name the Architect used…’

Jin-Woo felt his grip on the cloth tighten, “But the Architect- Kandriaru shouldn't be capable of creating living beings? How did he create something like this then?!”

Jin-Woo gestured towards the bundle in his arms pulling away the cloth to properly present the ‘vessel’.

Anyone with eyes could see that it was a human child. Even humanoid monsters at least had colourful skin or pointy ears. The child in his arms had nothing of that; with its perfectly round ears, dull black hair, and pale skin. It could pass as a typical human child any day.

It blinked up at the armoured hand of the ruler with large slitted eyes that sickened Jin-Woo.

“Hmm, yes, he did do quite a good job with this one. “but the Greatest Fragment of Light just ignored him, “I see the resemblance.”

He felt what little was left of his patience begin to chip away, “Don't patronise me.”

His foreboding tone must've killed whatever joking mood the rulers had because they quickly straightened up.

“From the way I see it, Antares must have commissioned this vessel from Kandriaru.” The brightest fragment of light was speculative when it began speaking again, “As for how it retains its life-force, it most likely has you to thank for that.”

Instantly, Jin-Woo felt his body go cold. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re right when you say that Kandriaru can't produce living beings. Such a subpar being like himself could never hope to recreate the abilities of the Absolute Being.”, The ruler paused, appearing almost melancholic” However, it’s certainly possible that a vessel created by him could be maintained if a strong enough life force was imbued into it.”

Jin-Woo felt a wave of disgust roll over him.

“Furthermore, if the materials used in its creation were fairly organic and filled with enough potent magic, then it would be a simple task for Kandriaru to create a living vessel.”

As the realisation of what the ruler was suggesting pieced itself together in Jin-Woo’s mind, he felt his composure giving way to overwhelming disgust and alarm.

“What benefit would Antares get from creating a vessel with both our life forces?”

The sentence was difficult to say, it burned his throat with a vile aftertaste.

The Brightest Fragment of light perked up slightly, “Superior beings often utilise storage methods as a way to cultivate power.” It spoke with a calm kind of condescension reminiscent of teachers, “Because we cannot grow more through conventional methods, Imbuing power into a vessel can serve as a power reserve in times of weakness. Another form of this is the consumption of offspring to nurture power without the risk of death.”

It continued, but the words seemed to blur together, “Creating offspring with a strong being is an easy way to harvest power, children can act as lucrative vessels to grow power, furthermore-”

“What am I meant to do with it then?”

Eventually, the disgusting words became too much, and Jin-Woo interrupted.

The Brightest Fragment of light paused as if affronted by the interruption before continuing undaunted. “Well assuming that Antares created the vessel in hopes of harvesting its power, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do the same.”

“…You want me to eat this child?”

Jin-Woo couldn't believe what was being suggested. Even with his exponentially low expectations, for some reason he expected something else. Perhaps the glamour and gold had impacted his critical thinking skill, or the years of isolation had tricked him into forming some kind of twisted attachment to his only allies.

“Are you insane…?”

Obviously not wanting to eat his-kind of but not really- son, Jin-Woo is forced to take the baby with him to earth. Because of this, everyone thinks that in the 2 years Jin-Woo ran away for he was actually with a girl who he accidentally got pregnant. And Jin-Woo is too tired to explain that: no. Actually this child was made by an insane dragon Demigod and an Eldrich statue creature who used his torn of rib to grow a humunculus baby.