Trash

So they knew when Yáo and Illyukina died. They knew.

“Is this the right way?”

The only emotion he doesn't lose is the love for his family?

Or is that a lie?

Is he hyperfocusing on keeping his family safe to say that he still feels love?

In which, Jin-woo loses all emotions, but he still cares. Or at least, he wants to.

When he comes home late at night, he doesn't expect Jin-ah’s worried figure pacing the halls. He doesn't expect when she comes up to punch his shoulder, only to reel back with a, “Ugh, you stupid Hunters!”

“Did I do something wrong?” his head tilts as he takes in the view of their cleaned apartment. Nothing was amiss.

She looks at him, stunned. “Its 4 in the morning. You left two days ago.”

The fridge was stocked before he left. Nothing was set to expire, he double checked. He told her he would be leaving for a while. None of his soldiers indicated that something happened.

So what was the problem?

“You really don't understand, do you? Or are you just fucking with me?”

“Don’t swear…” he finds himself saying. Mother wouldn't want her to swear. “Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“Today?” she scoffs, “Yes. I do have school. And you need to start texting me more.”

He texts her often. More often than anyone else. “I’m a bit confused. Why are you so upset with me?”

Jin-ah gives him a strange look. Her eyes are glistening with tears. Was she about to cry? What did do?

“You can't just… leave like that for so long. Especially with no contact. I thought- I thought,” she takes in a stuttering breath, refusing to let tears fall, “I didn't know if you were coming back. I didn’t know if you up and died somewhere or if you… left.”

Oh. So like father. “Jin-ah, I would never do that. I just got sidetracked was all.”

“That’s it? That’s your apology?”

What was there to apologize for? Ugh. This is why he prefers fighting. At least then-

At least then he wouldn't have to deal with emotions. The thing he is currently not feeling.

Oh.

Oh he hadn't expected the system to affect him so deeply. It was supposed to just be a way to get stronger. A way to protect himself. A way to get money for food, rent, and Jin-ah’s college.

It wasn't supposed to change him.

“Jin-ah,” he starts.

“No,” she interrupts him, “I’m going to bed. Goodnight,” she trods off into her room.

“…Goodnight,” he says after her door has been slammed shut.

She never slammed doors.

And he never did this.

He cringed. He would text her more often. But about what?

He retreats into his room. The only thing that could beat him was his own sister, after all. The house feels colder somehow. Maybe she forgot to turn the heat on? For some reason, he doesn’t think that's quite right.

He shuts his door gingerly. His phone feels heavy in his pocket.

Really, really bad.

“You named… you named the giants you resurrected during the Japanese dungeon break… you named them 1-10?” Jin-ho stares at him like he’s grown a second pair of eyes.

Well he has two hearts. He lifts a hand to subtly tossle his hair. No new eyes. “Yes? What else was I supposed to name them?”

“Okay so you know you're bound to resurrect many monsters.”

Jin-woo nods, still very, very confused as to why they were having this conversation in the first place.

“So why don't you- I don't know- make a list?”

“A list of what?”

“Names!”

…..

Jin-woo stares at the empty note in his phone app. The document is titled [NAMES] but it is completely empty.

Jin-ah is seated next to him, scrolling through some video app. He can't remember the name of it.

Maybe she’d be better with names?

….

Jin-woo stares at the massive, massive dragon before him. The dragon’s name was well-known across the globe, but Jin-ah had begged him to name his next soldier….

[NAME: ???]

“Fried Chicken.”

….

It turned out Jin-ah was just as bad with names, but she always had food on the mind.

….

“Kamish! The dragon that nearly wiped out the Americas- you named- you named him- Fried Chicken?”

“You said no more numbers.”

After living so long paycheck to paycheck and making sure Jin-ah got at least 2 meals everyday from home (breakfast and dinner because thank god they have free lunch at school), Jin-woo’s sudden spike in income also means more ingredients.

Suddenly, he has more to work with than rice and instant noodles.

After a full day of raiding Gates, Jin-woo still has antsy energy he needs to get out. His mother loves to cook dinner for them, so Jin-woo doesn't cook for them- well he always brings any leftovers for Jin-ah and his mother. Just something big enough to be a lunch for them on weekends.

But rather cooking for his family, he spends most of the night preparing several day’s worth of meals for the hunter’s association. He does the cooking while his summons package everything in neat to-go containers.

And they always go to the lower-ranked Gates.

They're free of charge and handed out when you get a coffee.

People LOVE the meals. When they first started randomly appearing every now and then, people didn't think much of them. It was free food handed out with shitty coffee, of course nobody but the desperate will eat it. And of course it would taste heavenly to someone who can barely afford to eat.

Most days, the crew outside a Gate are tense. Nobody knows who’ll make it back. Anything can happen in a Gate. But the few days when they're given food? Its practically a celebration. Those days are looked forward to. It raises morale.

And for the life of the association, they can't figure out who is making these donations.

The neatly packaged food just appears in the foodtruck scheduled to be used for a raid. And the person manning the food truck just assumed it was a new thing the association was doing every now and then.

It only became an issue about a month in when people started writing thank-you emails and questioning who the sponsor was.

They launched an investigation but they can't get any info. There's no fingerprints on the meals, nobody brings the meals- they just appear in the morning, and there is no schedule of when or why the meals are being brought.

And more confusing is the care and quality put into these meals.

….

The meals have been appearing for a few months at this point, and still no new clues.

Until.

“Hunter Jin-ho,” Woo Jin-Chul had seen the case of the donated meals, but he was never truly apart of the investigation. However, he can't help but notice that the meal Jin-ho has is the same one that appeared in the foodtruck this morning.

“Ah- Chief Woo, a pleasure to see you. Jin-woo just entered the Gate, so he won’t be available for a while.”

While yes, Jin-Chul had come to talk to hunter Sung, he can wait. “May I ask where you got your lunch?” He expected to hear the name of some restaurant… not…

“Oh? Jin-woo brought it for me. He usually cooks either before or after raid days.” Jin-Chul’s trained years of a poker face is the only thing that saves him as Jin-ho keeps talking. “You didn't hear this from me, but I think he gets restless and cooking helps him calm down.”

The first thing I noticed was the similarities between the symbols on Clive’s knee and shoulder pads and Ifrit’s knee and shoulder pads. It also seems to match with Clive’s earring.

Any place that Clive does not have armor, neither does Ifrit. You can clearly see the muscle structure.

Ifrit’s armor matches perfectly with that of Clive’e