Part VIII

A few hours later

The Korean Hunters Auction, the largest and most important market for anything related to Hunters and Dungeons in South Korea, was apparently like a thrift store to Emiya's haute-couture Unlimited Blade Works Store.

"This has a good aesthetic, but the quality is bad," Emiya scoffed at the 30-million-Won dagger in Jin-Woo's hands. "It won't last a minute against a C-Rank monster."

Jin-Woo agreed. The blade's stats were barely comparable to Rasaka's Fang. Yet the salesman had claimed that it was a B-rank item, crafted by one of their best blacksmiths.

The salesman frowned, before taking out another dagger. "What about this one? An A-rank, forged by Blacksmith Muk Kyung-Sam with an A-rank magic core and high quality mana crystals."

"You call this an A-rank?" Emiya looked affronted.

"What about this dagger?" Jin-Woo said before Emiya could scold the salesman, and took out his Knight Killer. "I...found this in a dungeon."

The salesman took it, casted an identify spell and gasped. "Wow. I can sense detailed craftsmanship on this one. It'll go for a hundred million Won, at least."

"A hundred million?!" Jin-Woo gaped. A dagger that he purchased for 2.8 million Gold from the Store went that much? The Hunters Auction sure had a pretty low standard for expensive Hunter equipment. If he could sell Store-bought equipment for that much, he wouldn't even have to sell the Orb of Avarice for the money he needed. "Or should I just buy everything from the Store?"

"I think you should."

"Huh?" Jin-Woo blinked and turned to Emiya, before shaking his head. "Nah, not from [UBW]. Those are too expensive."

"Well, of course. Those are Noble Phantasms, not some regular equipment," Emiya said. "I mean from the regular Store."

"Store? Is there a new Hunter Auction store, sir?" the salesman, whom both had forgotten about, enquired.

"No, it's nothing. Can I see the jewelleries, please? I need one with Fire-resistance," Jin-Woo said, changing the subject. The salesman nodded and went to get the items.

"Just buy one from the Store," Emiya said after the salesman had left hearing range.

"Why do you keep insisting?" Jin-Woo looked at him, puzzled. "I know the Store has good quality items, but they are expensive."

"It's not like you're using your Gold for anything else, right? I know you've done quite a number of Quests."

"Yeah, but I want to save up for [UBW] equipment."

"...Fair enough," Emiya relented. Then, he nodded towards Knight Killer, which was still lying on the counter. "By the way, don't sell that here. Sell it back to me."

"Sell it back to you?"

"Yes. Other Players might need it. Anti-Knight trait is very sought after."

Jin-Woo's eyes widened as it dawned on him. "Wait, other Players? And the regular Store is also yours?!"

"Didn't I tell you? I'm a collector as well as a blacksmith. I made all of the items sold there," Emiya revealed simply. "That's where my extra income comes from. So help me a bit, will you? Don't just buy from this Hunter Auction."

Jin-Woo thought he heard Emiya mumble, "'Cause I need to save up for retirement, for real," and decided that he totally didn't need to ask.

"What do you mean by 'other Players'?" Jin-Woo asked instead. He had thought he was the only one in the world. It seemed like he'd overestimated his strange status.

"I mean exactly that," Emiya shrugged as he eyed the salesman who came back with magical items in his hands. "You do know that other universes exist, right? My Store is connected to several worlds, each with their own Player. I think there are some Players who would benefit from Knight Killer here."

Jin-Woo stared at Emiya in a daze as the apparently-Store owner lectured the poor salesman about bad-quality artefacts.

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An hour later

"Y-You wish to make your own Guild?!"

At Hyung-nim's determined nod, Yoo Jin-Ho slumped in his chair with a groan. "How am I going to tell Father about this…"

"You can just join my Guild, Jin-Ho," Hyung-nim said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not that simple," Jin-Ho hummed in thought, arms crossed. Father had wanted an elite Hunter or more to join Yoojin Construction's Guild, and there was one in front of him who was already very close to him. But it wasn't like he could force Hyung-nim to join his father's Guild. Jin-Ho respected his seonbae and he didn't want to become a splatter on the wall yet. "Nevermind, I'll figure it out later. But we'll need a minimum of three members to be acknowledged as a Guild. A Guild Master, a Guild Vice-Master and an employee."

Hyung-nim blinked, before nodding to the third person. "We have him."

"Hm?"

Jin-Ho choked when he saw Emiya-hyung lowered his cup of latte, leaving milk foam on his mouth. He looked so innocent here that Jin-Ho struggled to connect this hyung with the rampaging monster in Jeju Island.

"You're staying here for some time, right?" Hyung-nim asked the white-haired man casually. "Might as well be a member of our Guild."

Emiya-hyung dabbed his mouth with tissue. "I'm not a Hunter. Won't that be a problem?"

The two S-Ranks turned to him. Jin-Ho couldn't help but flinch. "I-It should be fine. Not all members of a Guild have to be Hunters, though there are normally enough Hunters to form at least one Attack Team."

"There you go," Hyung-nim said with a nod. "You can probably join us into the Dungeons to mine or something. It'll be easier to monitor you that way."

"I don't want to be a Miner."

"Make yourself useful, at least."

"You were the one who forced me to join your Guild, Sung Jin-Woo."

"Remind me again what had happened yesterday?"

"Fine, fine! Jeez, you sure hold your grudges."

"You literally blew up a quarter of Jeju! I had to do a lot of damage control because of you."

"And I've said I'm sorry already! I even gave the Quest rewards early!"

"You haven't even given me the daggers you promised!"

"What? You want now, huh? In a public place full of people?! Think a bit-!

"Why, you-!"

'Omma…,' In-between the two squabbling S-Ranks, the poor D-Rank Yoo Jin-Ho could only shudder helplessly. 'I'm so scared they might blow up Seoul…'

(In the end, E/S-Rank Awakened Emiya officially became their third Guild member.)

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Midnight

"You should spend more time with your sister, Sung Jin-Woo."

Jin-Woo glanced at the Counter Guardian, before fixing the blanket on his sleeping sister. Three High Orc Guardians emerged with tendrils of darkness, their bulky figure filling up Jin-Ah's tiny bedroom. With a command to protect her, they disappeared, blending into her shadow.

"I want to, but I'm busy," Jin-Woo sighed as he closed Jin-Ah's bedroom door. "I have to keep going into Dungeons to make ends meet and she also has school to worry about."

Emiya's brows furrowed at his answer. "You're now an S-Rank Hunter. Yoo Jin-Ho also told me about your contract with him. There's no need to rush anymore."

'But Mum needs me,' Jin-Woo reasoned to himself as he summoned the Demon Castle key. "There's something important in this Dungeon. After I get it, I'll spend more time with her."

Emiya stared at him for a moment, before sighing in resignation. "Your sister is still here, you know? Even if your parents no longer are."

"..."

"You may be strong now, but she doesn't know that. Even after all those news on TV about your Re-Awakening, she'd still think of you as a weak Hunter."

Jin-Woo scowled at him, displeased. "How do you even know that? You're not our family."

Jin-Woo tensed when Emiya went to the kitchen and picked up an old kitchen knife. He spun it in his hand before passing it to the confused Hunter, handle first.

"I can read the history of any blade, including this knife," Emiya said softly. "Your mother cooked with this knife, and so did your sister once. Even though Jin-Ah-ssi isn't that talented."

"I know," Jin-Woo snorted as he took the knife. "I thought she got Awakened and received a poison-related skill, with how her cooking had turned out."

Emiya shrugged as if saying, See? "Jin-Ah-ssi can't cook to save her life, but she did for you anyway. Though I have to admit that she didn't have to put that much ginseng in your soup."

Jin-Woo let out a rueful laugh. "It tasted so bad…"

"I bet it was," Emiya snorted. "I'll teach her how to cook, so you should spend more time with her. At least always be around during meal times."

"Yes, mum."

"Brat," Emiya cuffed Jin-Woo's head.

"Why do you care, anyway?" Jin-Woo asked, rubbing his head. "You're practically a stranger to us."

Emiya was silent for a few moments, staring down at his feet with unseeing eyes.

"I was alone for countless years," he finally said. "And before that, at least a decade or two away from the people I cherished. I cared about them, even until now. But I was so focused on being an Ally of Justice that I couldn't even remember their faces properly before my death."

"...Are you saying that I'll forget Jin-Ah's face because I'm busy?"

"I'm saying that you might lose your precious ones along the way," Emiya said, turning to look at the array of photographs on the wall. Jin-Woo followed suit. "Death is not the only way you lose someone. When you push them away, you'll grow distant. They will live their lives without you, and you without them. And then, they'll start to become a blur in your periphery, the people you have sworn to protect but know nothing about. This is when you'll realise you have lost them."

"..."

Jin-Woo reached out to take their only family picture, one when his father was still around and his mother was still as healthy as ever. Now, his father was already gone for a decade long, and his mother was hospitalised for years. Jin-Woo could still see his mother in the hospital, but it was often too difficult to replace the gaunt, pale and unmoving face of their sick mother in his head with the youthful and smiling one from these photographs.

And Jin-Woo had already forgotten his mother's voice, let alone his father's. If not for this single photograph, he would've forgotten how he had looked like.

Would Jin-Ah forget about him? Jin-Woo scanned the photographs and with a jolt, realised that his baby sister in these pictures looked different than the Jin-Ah he had just seen in her bedroom.

Jin-Ah had grown up - while he was busy hunting in the Dungeons.

And that sent chills down his spine.

"...Have I already lost her?"

"No," Emiya shook his head. "She's still here. You just had dinner with her two hours ago. She told you about how her Awakened friend is now back to school."

"Right," Jin-Woo sighed, feeling tired all of sudden. "I'll...I'll make sure to spend more time with her later. After tomorrow's Dungeon."

"She's worried about you."

"...I know."

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Emiya owns a haute-couture.

A/N:

1. Jin-Woo's meeting with Jin-Ho in canon was actually supposed to happen right after the High Orc Dungeon incident. But because Jin-Woo had to rush to Jeju, they didn't get to talk. So they (including Emiya) talked the next day in this chapter.

2. Omma - Mommy.

3. The last few chapters of Solo Leveling manhwa actually talked about Jin-Ah's trauma after the Dungeon Break incident in her school. It was quite a striking scene to see her slumped on the bed/sofa, face gaunt and overall horrible, while Jin-Woo left to fight more monsters. He only left Beru with her, who cared jackshit about the female human and just watched historical dramas. It makes me wonder why Jin-Ah is not seeing any counsellor, or why Jin-Woo didn't show more compassion towards her, despite being depicted as a older brother who clearly treasures his family members.

Thanks for reading!