The Lost Hunter

Detective Jin-Chul snatched the drawing from the young man's hand. He must have gone completely insane by now: the murder of a criminal, shadowy ant-like monsters, and Sung Jin-Woo in the middle of this whole mess. Did he really expect the high schooler to explain any of this to him? Maybe I didn't become crazy, I'm just plain tired and haven't had my second morning coffee yet. He thought as he walked down the stairs towards the building's exit.

“Goodbye, old friend,” he heard the boy say goodbye to him. He managed to get down to the mezzanine by the window, when it suddenly hit him. It was as if he had been swept away by a tidal wave, or suddenly found himself in the middle of a hurricane. He gasped in surprise and dropped to his knees. The whole life of his past self flashed before his eyes.

“Chairman!” shouted Jin-Woo, but Jin-Chul wasn't able to respond to the call. He felt, how Sung run up to him and look into the mysterious blue of the boy's eyes. Boy? No, the person in front of him could hardly be called a boy.

“Hunter Sung,” he croaked and the other man gave him a sad smile before helping him back to his feet.

“You remembered,” it wasn't a question but a statement, still Jin-Chul nodded. There was a long and actually awkward silence between them, during which they walked together to the front gate of the school.

“I'm sure you still have a lot of questions, Detective. How about we discuss this over dinner?” offered the strongest hunter in the world.

“That's probably a reasonable suggestion,” Woo agreed with him.

“How about tomorrow at 7:30, I'll send you the location of the restaurant to your mobile,” Jin-Woo suggested and Jin-Chul handed him his business card. With that, they said goodbye, but the same day he received an SMS on his phone with the address of the meeting place.

He didn't sleep at night, and this time it wasn't the overtime and a lot of paperwork that was to blame, but his mind and emotions agitated by the upcoming dinner. Absorbing all the memories from the alternate reality wasn't easy in itself, but meeting living proof that all the experiences and horrors you remembered, had actually happened, was just one more drop in an already overflowing cup. On the other hand, he couldn't say that he didn't want to see Hunter Sung, or that he didn't want any further explanation of what had happened.

On the second day flowed slowly. In addition to the fact that the department was still dealing with the case of a dead murderer, there was a file on his desk with one robbery and he had also written a report with a woman who had been raped. Normally he would be disgusted by what some people are capable of, but with his newly acquired memories this hardly surprised him.

The restaurant, where the planned meeting was to take place, was only a few blocks from the police station. It was obviously an intention on Jin-Woo's part; it just pointing out how well knew him. The detective welcomed it; it gave him the opportunity to solve everything he needed at work. Then when he arrived at the place, Sung was already sitting at the table and greeted him with a teasing vampire smile.

Jin-Chul settled down and ordered the haemultang while his companion preferred the saengchi mandu. They ate, drank tea, and Jin-Woo began to explain how the fight with the Monarchs ended and why they were now living in a new reality.

“So now that you've defeated all the otherworldly monsters, you've decided to go after the human monsters?” Jin-Chul didn't hold back the question as the strongest hunter finished his narration.

Sung blinked in surprise and then took a sip from the teacup. “Do you want to arrest me, detective?” he asked, raising one of his black eyebrows with a smirk.

The former Chairman of the Korean Hunters Association sighed. “I should. You killed a man and it wasn't in self-defense.” All amusement vanished from the hunter's face and the room suddenly cooled a few degrees. “Don't get me wrong. I am incredibly grateful for everything you have done for us. You've saved this world time and time again, but that doesn't automatically erase anything bad you do. It may be appealing to take justice into your own hands, but that is not the right way to fight criminals. Victims' families need resolution in the form of a perpetrator being caught and a trial, and no matter what atrocities this or that sinner has committed, it's still people, lives.” Jin-Chul swallowed hard, feeling beads of sweat run down his back and forehead. It was clear to him that he had overdone it. Such talk would annoy any hunter. However, Jin-Woo looked at him rather confused and later sadly.

“Do you know my strength?” Sung asked him, his tone unreadable.

Woo swallowed. “Yes. I doubt any jail or bars could stop you, which is actually why the association didn't enforce the law on any S, but you've always seemed pretty reasonable to me. More than others.”

“I didn't mean it as an allusion to the fact that no one could arrest me, but I wanted to point out the essence of it. I am the Monarch of Shadows, the necromancer. From the grave I bring the dead back into my army to be with me for the rest of eternity. I have so much mana that if this entire world were destroyed, I could simply summon everyone to me. To me, no one is quite alive or dead. From my point of view, that border is already quite unclear, and thus it is difficult to remember how important life itself is,” Sung admitted. Jin-Chul exhaled heavily. He knew that the hunter had incredible abilities, but it was difficult to understand to what extent it went. The man was actually something like personified Death. “I have to thank you for being honest with me. But I'm afraid that also means I'll need your help.”

“My help?” repeated the detective dully.

“Yes, you're the only one who remembers, and it's also your job to take care of and guard the unmanageable hunters. As you can see, I need someone by my side to remind me from time to time what humanity is, what I'm fighting for and what's really important,” Jin-Woo asked him and the former Chairman nodded. What else could he do, than agree? In the end, whatever Sung was any supernatural being, he was mainly a lost hunter in need of a guide. He was far from the first. Fighting monsters takes its toll, and since the hunter had asked for it himself, there was still hope that the god wouldn't turn into a terrifying demon. But will it be enough?

It will, it must!