Rows upon rows of glass windows, ten, twenty, forty floors down, a long way to fall before he would reach the cement below. It was a good thing that Hajoon wasn't scared of heights, because he could enjoy the view for what it was, busy and suffocating, but dazzling all the same.
The sea was dyed with the red of the setting sun, its waning light filtering through the city skyline to prove its namesake Redtide as it framed the largest of the spires in a snapshot of red and gold. It was the Hunter's tower, one of the many headquarters under the Hunters Association; but this particular one was the biggest and most grand in Hwanryeo. The Jeokjo branch worked closely with the Fort Military, having strong ties to both the western alliance of USUN and the former empire and current member of the Eastern Fort, Ashihara.
But unfortunately for fans of the celebrity status Hunters, storming the building would only yield clerks and police officers. It doubled as the Jeokjo police department after all.
"Hey, Hajoon-ssi?"
"What?"
"Ah–I mean, do you need something Hyejin-ssi?" Hajoon switched to formality as he glanced over at his coworker who sat on a bench further from the ledge, the smoke from her cigarette swirling with the wind to leave the break area to reek of tobacco.
It stung his lungs, and would blacken them over time, but it was too late to say anything now.
"Don't try jumping, it's no fun without a rope to catch you." Lee Hyejin's bland delivery of the dark words caught him off guard.
"...Do you mean bungee jumping?" He laughed a bit awkwardly, taking a step back from the safety railing to meet her cold gaze. "Have you...gone bungee jumping before?"
Lee Hyejin laughed, her cheery self falling back into place as she snuffed her cigarette on an ashtray built into the bench. "I have, actually! The one in Inje was amazing to say the least, a whole adrenaline mine! Did you know it was the highest in the country before the calamity period carved the Veincliff gorge?"
Of course I know. Let's not mention mines and Veincliff in front of me, thanks. It's not good for my blood pressure.
"Inje...huh, you went that far north?" Hajoon asked, crossing his arms against the icy wind that blasted his face.
For a moment, Lee Hyejin looked annoyed by Hajoon's lack of enthusiasm, but simply chuckled, deciding to keep decorum. "It's not as dangerous up there as they say– the fear mongering is just to scare off unprepared tourists."
What are you then? He couldn't help a scoff, even if he did manage to smother it down to a short exhale.
"They...you mean the Hunters Association? Is it false to say the north is dangerous? They're right aren't they? And Inje? It's too close to the border for you to just waltz in–" He stopped himself from getting worked up, inhaling the smoke-ridden air before coughing into his fist.
It was best not to question Hyejin. However she spent her free time and money was none of his business, even if her activities bordered from reckless to insanity.
Let her go to high tension regions if she wants to, who cares if she gets caught in a border skirmish? Not me, that's who.
"The…Seol dungeon is still there." He shifted the topic away from what made her eyes squint at him, simply because it was uncomfortable.
"Well…yes? What's your point?"
"It's…dangerous. What other point could there be?" His teeth grit, and he tried his best not to wrinkle his nose at the tobacco stench that stepped closer along with Hyejin.
"The hunters handle it fine. I didn't know you were the type to fall for fear mongering, Hajoon-ssi."
Handling? What? Hiding the death tolls? Fabricating evidence and blaming it on insurgents? Or is that all still conspiracy theories to you, miss two-face?
"Haha…it's…not like that." He breathed in through his mouth, schooling his expression.
"You know that they never managed to destroy it, the dungeon. They don't know how to, even after a century. If they did, the news of clearing an S rank historic dungeon would be all you'd hear about on the news–" Hajoon's jaw clamped shut, finding that his words had drawn unwanted attention to their corner of the break area.
He glanced away from the disapproving stares of the managerial crowd, a group of rich men and women who sat in the sheltered seating area with a large glass window separating them from him. Mr. Wright was in there, and being the desperate bootlicker he was, quickly drew the attention back to himself and shooed Hajoon away with a jerked motion of his wrist.
For a moment Hajoon contemplated flipping him off, but alas, this wasn't the time or place for that. The result was him just standing there, until a woman with greying hair and a gaudy butterfly hairpin reached over to close the blinds.
For a moment, he was left staring at his own reflection in the glass. The furrowed brows he saw, and the wrinkles they produced, were forced to smoothen under his fingertips.
"Personally, I think it's not a question of whether they can destroy it, but if they should!"
Haaa…Here comes the fanboy...
Hajoon tried to hold back an exasperated sigh as an idiot inserted himself into the conversation, looking rather ridiculous in the large blue scarf he'd wrapped around himself to stave off the cold winds.
"Obviously, even just Hojo-sama can obliterate that old dungeon..! He's the strongest S rank around!! They were just...being stingy with the new ranking you know...no way he lost to western Hunters…" He continued, muttering somewhat spitefully.
Ando Natsuki was a die hard fan of the Hunter Tower's Director, and got too worked up over pointless things. If he could just channel that same energy into his work, Hajoon wouldn't have to pick up his slack so often.
"Haha...don't take the articles seriously, they must have gotten some gifts from the western branch." Hajoon laughed to lighten the mood, watching as Ando took the bait almost immediately.
"Yeah..! Maybe I shouldn't curse them yet haha..."
"Haha...curse, huh? Just a verbal one wouldn't have worked on them anyway, they're used to those. Maybe look into some ritual curses? There's easy ones that can give them all bad luck for a month or two. Or, you know, make them go bald."
"Bald..? Pftt–"
It was obvious enough that Ando liked that idea, having that squinted look in his eyes that meant he was thinking for once in his life.
"Haha..! Yeah, next time they're on TV, the cameras will go blind from their shiny heads." Hajoon added, glancing back at the blinds and the man he would personally curse with baldness.
Ando laughed at that, slapping Hajoon on the back in a move that made him regret ever talking to the guy.
"You're seriously so funny, man..! I needed that, thanks Jun!"
"Haha…sure. But if you really want to give it a try, I can give you some notes and recommendations?" Hajoon patted Ando's arm off of him and stepped back to a respectable distance.
"Wait...seriously..? You were serious? Whoa...well if you're saying it then i guess…I'll try it! So this stuff's not just lies scammers make up after all?" Ando's eyes seemed to grow larger for a moment, but it was hard to tell which part was the iris and which wasn't.
You know what they say, you stare into the void, and the void stares back.
Is that even a saying? Oh well, it fits this unsettling feeling?
"Haha...you just need to have the eye to tell the scams from the real deal!" Hajoon smiled at the gullible man, before leaning back against the railing to stare out at the horizon where metal behemoths were docked at port. From here, the other side of the river was visible, away from the city's brilliance, where the slums of Nagwon clung to the river bed for dear life.
He had grown up in the easternmost edge of the Riotbanks, the last viable pieces of land before the cliffs of the Busan dungeon began. After his father had left them, it was the closest to Jeokjo that his mother could afford to move to. The move south was for safety and opportunity, she had said, but it wasn't much better than his hometown.
He would have preferred to stay, if only it still existed.
Why he wanted that? He couldn't pinpoint a reason, because he didn't remember much about the place.
All he knew was that it was dry, dusty, and a breadth away from being an unlivable desert; just like the ruins of Seoul city, and the dungeon that had drowned it and its inhabitants underneath towering sand dunes.
At least the north wasn't shrouded in constant rain and fog. He could appreciate that much.
Ah? Fog? Why does it look…odd?
Hajoon's eyes followed the fog as it rolled over the tops of buildings, then over the congested roads, seeming to writhe and materialize where it wasn't previously.
The more he looked for it, the more he saw of it.
It was strange.
He simply laughed along with Ando's mosquito-like droning as he watched the fog roll across Nagwon, smothering the claustrophobic slums, then Mulgwi Wharf, where his apartment was.
Something about it made his heart sting, a sudden squeeze as it struggled to beat. To regain his breath, his eyes were forced to look away.
"Why is it so foggy..? Are we getting another typhoon?" Hajoon muttered, getting a quizzical glance from Ando.
"Eh? What fog?"
"It's…uh, down there…"
"Is it..? Sorry I can't find it haha..!" Ando laughed apologetically after staring intently at what Hajoon seemed to be looking at.
…What? Huh...?
Ugh, this is giving me a headache.
"Haha..don't worry about it then." Hajoon shifted on his feet as he noticed Lee Hyejin's gaze. She watched as the two men laughed it off, silently, her eyes twitching between two personalities she didn't seem to want to pick between.
She was waiting for Ando to get back to the point, so she could insert herself back into the conversation; but he never did. It was idiotic to think he would.
"So...Mr. Ando? You said something about the Hunter's leaving the Seoul Dungeon unresolved on...purpose?" She interjected, her lead in being in aenglic to give herself credibility, as was the custom of office etiquette.
It was a necessity, a technique for office survival, if you will. Members of upper management were often native speakers of the language after all.
"Oh..! That..? Ah...haha, you make it sound like a bad thing Ms. Lee!"
"You know I didn't mean it like that!" Hyejin smiled at Ando, one hand holding her skirt steady as a stingingly cold wind swept through the rooftop.
Ando was less graceful, clutching at the scarf that threatened to get swept away.
"The Hunters are heroes, who would bad mouth them?" She glanced at Hajoon pointedly as she said this, unbothered as her long dark hair was swept like a flag in the wind.
She stared at the silent man for a moment longer, then looked back at Ando. Though it was odd that Hajoon was covering his nose with his sleeve, it wasn't as if he would appreciate it if she showed concern.
"Right...so I was just saying how useful the mineral mining is in the dungeons. The Seoul Dungeon is basically an endless power source, you know what I mean? Every normal mine ran out years ago, right, so I think it's fine to keep Veincliff mines running! Besides, It's always a treat to see Hojo-sama slay the monsters in there haha!" Ando laughed as he tried to explain his stance while fighting against the winds for custody of his scarf.
Hyejin wanted to laugh at him at that moment, but schooled her expression. She didn't know if he'd take it as the friendly jab it was, or not, and she wasn't keen on taking the risk of offending him.
"Well…Mr. Ando, I think you're right! That's a practical stance!" She clasped her hands together and complimented him instead, because she found that stoking a man's ego was always the easy way out.
"It is..? I mean– yeah!" Ando seemed to blush, although it was hard to tell if it was due to the wind or her.
"We would be hard pressed to power even basic necessities without the mines…although there are safety concerns like Mr. Park said, I think the hunters have no problem handling it." Hyejin smiled, her rosy lips curving upwards, making it hard for Ando not to smile as well.
"Exactly! The gain is much bigger than the cost. Besides, there haven't been casualties in years because of the patrol program Hojo-sama leads..! They're actually holding a live broadcast event soon! They promised to show every detail of the next dungeon sweep..!" Ando continued on, forgetting his nerves at the slight approval from Hyejin.
"And get this– they said it'll be sooner than we think..!! Isn't that like, the biggest hint?? Fan service, I swear..! Gahh..! I really wish they would schedule it on a weekend, or else I'll have to take the day or even the week off work…! Geh, I mean–" He shut his mouth, realizing he'd been talking like a train with broken breaks.
Unlike Hajoon who gave a free pass to everything, Hyejin could easily get him in trouble for admitting to skipping work; so he was surprised to see her smiling at him.
"Don't worry..! Your secrets are safe with me!" She squinted her eyes at Ando, watching the flustered man shake as the winds picked up. "Hojo Tatsuya is a very competent leader, really, and he's the strongest we have! I understand wanting to see him in action!"
"Oh…er..right..! Our Thunder Dragon is the strongest– " His awkward laugh was cut short as he noticed a droplet of red hit the ground next to his shoe. Both Ando and Lee Hyejin paused, staring at that blotch of red as it grew in diameter, then looked back up at the source as their smiles fell.
"Sorry..." Hajoon muttered, his voice muffled as his sleeve became soaked in blood.
"Are you okay..? Is it the anemia?" Ando asked, stepping beside Hajoon to grip his shoulder in support.
"Haha, I don't have anemia...who told you that?" Hajoon laughed, wincing before he shrugged Ando off and walked off without ceremony. He only stopped by the door to give a slight bow, following simple etiquette before the pain made him forget to maintain his image in the eyes of his coworkers.
Fuck. It hurts to breathe.
Stumbling into a washroom and watching the sink below him tint red, Hajoon found it exceptionally hard to focus. It was painful, every breath feeling like claws were squeezing his heart and lungs into submission.
It was painful. Living was always painful for a bastard like him.
His glasses lay discarded on the counter as he gripped the edge of the sink, rivulets of blood flooded from his nose while every cough spat more red into the tainted porcelain. He was sickly, sure, but this was too much.
Hajoon's eyes glared at the blurry reflection of his face in the mirror, the blob of features flickering into focus as the lights above him did the same. A sharp stab of pain erupted through his chest as the lights finally cut, and he could suddenly see the silver speckled brown eyes that stared back at him.
They belonged to his face, those cursed eyes that functioned like a monster's eyes rather than a human's. A human couldn't see in pitch darkness, but he could.
He could see at night, and in the day, not so much.
Monster blood was like that. For every benefit, there was a crippling drawback.
He wished that he remained blind, he wished for the lights to turn back on. He wished that he couldn't see it, the twisted grin on his face. A grin that revealed unnatural fangs blended into his human teeth. A grin that he had no control over.
[The game begins anew, you saw it, didn't you?] That grin spoke, dragging Hajoon's breath from his lungs to feed its growling voice. It wasn't a voice he heard with his ears, but he heard it nonetheless.
Silent moments passed in the darkness, staring into the mirror that slowly fogged with his own breath.
I've lost it. I've lost my mind. Wow, haha! I knew it would happen eventually, but isn't it too soon to go crazy from overworking?
[No, fool, I am real. You know this, I have always been here, right here.] The voice used Hajoon's hand to poke at his chest, underneath which his heart was struggling to keep beating.
Hahaha...ha! I always knew I'd have to check myself into an asylum one day...hahaha..!
[No! Listen-]
No.
[...What. Was. That?]
I said-
"No, bastard." He managed to rasp out before his voice broke and gave out again.
You deaf? I'm not in the mood to talk to myself in a damn-
"Bloody washroom..!"
[ You– I am not deaf. I can hear you just fine, in fact, it's all I can do, day in and day out. You are the one who is deaf.]
Hah, look who has an attitude.
Hey, I'm the-
"Real one here–!"
He coughed, his vision swimming.
You're "fake." A "hallucination". A figment of my stress and mental burden. There, I acknowledged it like those self help books said. So–
"Piss off now would ya?"
The response was a sudden surge of pain, pulsing through every vein in his body, his hands clutching at the sink to keep from himself crumpling to the floor like a stomped soda can. His vision flashed red as claws racked into his heart, scraping the muscle and squeezing the air pipes dry.
Ah.
I'm dying.
Haha…dying in the toilet…
That's…ow…funny?
Omma…mum, I'm sorry for being a burden…
…
Hajoon coughed, followed by the vile feeling of blood gushing up a pipe where it shouldn't be.
You hate me anyway…isn't it better this way?
I should just die and drop the debt back on her shoulders…
Why should I suffer alone?
[ My…this is a pathetic display.]
Who are you to say that to me?
What do you know?
You don't know it's like being something like me..!
A laugh sounded in Hajoon's mind, a growling, grating thing that dug into his thoughts and wrangled them into submission. Eventually, it echoed within the washroom walls, a sound that came from his own lips against his will.
"Do I not? How audacious." His lips moved, speaking for him.
"I know betrayal. I know pain."
"And what I know best, is revenge."
Hajoon's efforts to keep his heart beating and his legs standing halted as he watched letters be drawn onto the fogged mirror with his own shaking finger. When his hand fell, only two words remained in an ancient script that he couldn't read.
"Vengance…it's overdue. A festering, rotting wound needs more than apologies…don't you think?