Chapitre 13: Awakened

"So, you have awakened, I keep liking you more and more!" Chaewon would tease him, as she could feel the enormous power overflowing within him but she did not feel threatened due to his body's current state. It was in no condition to fight as the downpour of water droplets became even more intense.

"You should have laid there quietly. You definitely cannot hope to defeat me in such a state..." She warned, sounding almost arrogant as she looked back to establish visuals on the boy but to her utmost surprised, his gouged-out eye socket was gleaming with what looked like fluorescent energy seeping from that hollow hole. Growling like a beast that had just awakened from its slumber.

Slowly, she watched his bones painfully snap back into place as if undergoing some sort of transformation with his hole-riddled body closing up but Chaewon observed the eye she had gouged out did not make another appearance. She, who had yet to take this entire fight seriously, would say.

"I see, so you can somehow heal yourself, but you cannot restore lost organs, nor parts."

She said, now turning her entire body to face him but what if this very sight was an illusion?

There was only one way to find out, and that was to engage in combat with the person before her, as illusions do not have mass and by snapping her fingers, the body of Jinwoo would experience spontaneous combustion. Bursting into an insatiable flame that could be compared to the one in hell, that turned his body to mere ashes in a matter of seconds.

"I see, so that was your real body. That was easy!" Chaewon would say with a satisfying smirk.

"You are right, much easier than I expected..." A voice said behind her but before Chaewon could even comprehend what was going on, a punch connected to the back of her skull. This was exponentially stronger than the first punch.

This didn't just leave a shallow imprint but she burst right through the wall, into a shallow compartment within the building. Only coming to a halt upon hitting the wall that stopped her momentum. The three-story building stood firm.

"W-What the hell is going on!?" Chaewon would think out loud, as she pushed aside the debris scattered across her body. Out of the just created hole, emerged Jinwoo but something was wrong, something so malevolent and Chaewon could feel it.

This was bad, he was much stronger than she thought but he seemed to be in a trance.

"G-Go on, B-Byung. I w-will h-hold her here." He would mutter to himself but this soon became gibberish as the light in his emptied eye socket slowly but gradually took on the color of black.

"T-This is bad!" Chaewon thought, as her Archetype is revealed to be the ability to manipulate chemicals, this was how she was able to induce a hypnosis like effect on Byung and create spontaneous fire combustion.

Suddenly, she did not see Jinwoo anymore, not in the conventional form she was used to. This being was not human, he had 2 horns and a deformed grotesque figure that made a blobfish look beautiful, towering over 9ft with a hunched back to fit in the building without bringing the second floor down.

"This is not real! It cannot be but that punch….." Chaewon said, she doubted her perception of reality. The beast closed the distance between them, raising it's right arm up to prepare a downward swing. Chaewon regained her composure and knew she had to launch a counter-attack and this was possible due to the big motion the grotesque figure had taken, it left an opening. But for a fleeting moment, she doubted herself.

"Flames of Purgatory!" Chaewon screamed and instantly, the beast would be consumed by an even more powerful flame. melting the very pillars of the building. It turned that room into a burning furnace with the beast as the focal point, burning at 1,538 °. A cry of agony would echo within these walls.

"Is it working?" She thought and a voice responded to her thoughts.

"Just kidding." It said with a sinister chuckle following this. It consumed the very flames that tried to kill it, evolving even further as it morphed into a fiery fire beast. It proceeded with its earlier strike, cutting her stomach open, this spilled her guts on the floor. She tried to hold it in with her hands, the excruciating pain she experienced was conveyed through her scream. The arrogant Chaewon had finally broken and all it took was this much. Raising it's sharpened claws up, it was getting ready for yet another swing. The burning effect sensation Chaewon experienced was even worse than the actual wound.

"Your doubts, this has become reality. Your lies have become truths. Chaewon, you shall fade in this world alongside me." This was the voice of Jinwoo, much different from that of the beast. Chaewon was helpless, she had all but been defeated. What remained, was to finish her off.

The creature's hand would descend swiftly and should this land, was more than enough to finish off Chaewon but a voice would ring out.

"What do you think you are doing, Chaewon?" This hoarse voice, it was Jin-Hyuk, snapping her back into reality. Chaewon had not moved an inch in the real world, standing in the same position as when she noticed his gouged-out eye's socket gleaming with that energy.

"I see, so that's when he did it..." She would mutter, losing her balance soon after, stumbling to the ground. The psychological trauma could not be negated, and it took its toll on her.

Jin-Hyuk caught her with his single arm, wondering just what the hell occurred here but looking at the ground, he could see a trail of blood that did not belong to Chaewon leading away from the area. This hinted that a battle had occurred but the rain had washed away most of the blood, making tracking said trail all but impossible.

"I see, we both had a number done on us. We should return to base." Jin-Hyuk would say.

Byung and Gyeong were seen walking on the road but then an odd thought struck him. Just where was he taking Gyeong, he could not take her back to his home, not with Kwan and Cho there. Inappropriate jokes would fly around like unguided missiles.

"Hey, kid. Just where is your guild?" He asked, slowing his walking pace, in which Gyeong followed suit.

"I want to see big sis!" Gyeong said, drawing a raised eyebrow from Byung but a scene soon replayed in his mind. This was of the scene of A-Yeong referring to herself as a big sister.

"I see… You too, huh?" He muttered with a freaked out facial expression. Gyeong would hold his hand, dragging it forcefully, and lead him to where A-Yeong was located.

Geun and Dohyun would arrive at a house that stood on a slight rise just on the edge of a mountain. It stood on its own and looked over a broad spread of Myeongdong from the outermost region of the city. Not a remarkable house by any means - it was about sixty years old, squattish, squarish, made of muddy colored brick, and had four windows set in the front of a size and proportion which was not so pleasing to the eye. But it had an additional unique feature that hid the building from plain sight.

"C'mon, undo the seal, O Great Mountain," Geun said sarcastically, clearly pissed from the conversation they had minutes ago but Dohyun would smile, he let out his bratty side every now and then. He was a kid despite his rare Archetype in the end.

Dohyun would proceed to chant an incantation in Latin that drew a childlike admiration from Geun's eyes. He had always wanted to learn another language but simply, could not. This was the key to bring the building to light, all guild members had access to it but Geun was no good in Latin.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them would rumble, the earth in which they stood would rise like a pillar, reaching an impressive height of 1,500 feet. This functioned much like a makeshift elevator.

"I do not know why the Master didn't just get an elevator that anyone can use." Geun would mutter, just loud enough for Dohyun to hear.

"Emphasis on anyone, kid." Dohyun would respond with Geun's lower lip protruded in to form a sulky pout with Dohyun chuckling. Finally, the rising pillar came to a halt and they disembarked the platform and made their way into the shabby looking house but once that door was opened, the inside was completely different. It was much, much larger than what the exterior implied.

"This Archetype intrigues me every time I see it. What did he call it again?" Dohyun asked the still pouting Geun, as his pursed lips parted to let out a single word.

"F-F-Flip." Geun muttered, despite pouting, he could not stay mad at Dohyun. He had a charisma that was contagious among the Guild's members. The Flip is an Archetype that allows the user to make things appear wider or bigger on the inside than it appears to be on the outside.

The interior was similar to a large lunch hall and mainly consisted of wood, possessing Emperador marble floor, and a mezzanine floor held up by brown wooden beams. This was an intermediate that served as a platform to the next floor which was not accessible to anyone but the Master. Several long benches and the tables placed in front of them stretched across its length with a bar at the end. The board that seemed to be responsible for job requests was beside the bar. A small entertainment center was located at the opposite side in which the boy responsible for this feat, because of his Archetype, would come into view. He was sprawled rather provocatively on the sofa, as he gamed viciously with a headset on, barking commands to in-game players. He is a bespectacled boy with dark eyes and black chin-length hair. He had one a grey sport pant, with a white short-sleeved shirt that had a yellow smiley emoji in the middle and was quite overweight. He was exceptionally short, measuring a shocking height of 4"3. He was in his mid-teens and seemed to always be in the building. He had no friends and did not feel the need to make any.

"No! I am dead! Someone quick! Revive me! My dog tag! Arrrrrrggghhhhh! You're all stupid! How dare you do this to the Great Kim Joon-Gu!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Not even noticing the two that had just entered.

"Sometimes, I worry about the safety of this Guild," Dohyun said would with a poker face with Geun nodding his head in agreement with visible disbelief, as they headed to go see the Master and brief him on the happenings of that day, heading up the second floor.