CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE!
────just as you are.

❝ONE CAN'T CO-EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER.❞

THE HUNTERS SAFELY WALK out of the ant cave and are met with pouring rain.

jin-woo quickly shrugged off his jacket and puts it over [y/n]'s shoulders. he pulls the hood on her head to protect her face from the rain.

she looks up at him with a worried look. "but you'll get cold too..." she mumbles and he only smiles at her.

he gently pushes the back of her head and leans in to kiss her on the forehead. "better me than you." he states, causing her cheeks to heat up.

a helicopter arrives to retrieve the hunters and take them back home. one by one they enter it, sitting down.

yoon-ho turns to the two players, noticing that they didn't enter the vehicle.

"we're going to hang back. there's something we need to take care of." jin-woo explains as [y/n] adjusts the jacket, swallowing her figure.

the s-rank nods in understanding as the three look to the sky, swarming with ants.

"it's still not completely over just yet."

the female player turns to the guild master. "we'll clear a path for you, so all of you can get back home safely." she states with a kind smile.

he looks at her grateful as masses of black and white magic surround their bodies, calling out a name.

"HELIOS."

"KAISEL."

their wyverns formed beneath their feet, standing on top of them, securely.

yoon-ho looks up in shock as the two summons tower over him and stare with interest.

[y/n] waves at the hunter down below with a smile. "until we meet again later!"

"we'll see each other soon." jin-woo states, shoving his hands in his pockets

not a second later, the wyverns shot up to the sky. their wings killing the ants that flew near them.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

BACK IN THE cave, shadows and knights destroy the leftover ants. while their magicians destroy the eggs left behind.

[y/n] snuggles into jin-woo's jacket as they watch their soldiers do the work they were assigned to do

"looks like we gain experience even from the ants that haven't hatched yet." the male player mentions, opening his inventory.

he mutters something about organizing
and it gets his friend to do the same.

her eyes scan through it and they brighten realizing she almost forgot about an important item.

it materializes in her hand with purple electric sparks, the sword that once belonged to the demon queen was now hers.

she wolf whistles and inspects it. "i can feel its powerful radiating from it!" she awes, turning to her friend.

they both look at the swords in their hands and back to the eggs.

"you thinking what i'm thinking?"

"oh hell yeah!"

the two expertly twirl the swords in their hands and swing it in the direction of the unhatched eggs.

crackles of blue and purple lightning emitted from the swords, striking down on the dozens of eggs in the area.

[y/n] lets out a gasp of delight seeing the damage the sword could do.

"oho, these are too good to let them rot in storage." jin-woo chimes as his friend agrees.

she jumps excitedly as she faces him. "we should clean up the rest of the eggs with these!"

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

AFTER CLEARING DOZENS of more ants, the players hear the usual ding when level up.

[NAME: SUNG JIN-WOO]
[LEVEL: 100]

[NAME: Y/N L/N]
[LEVEL: 100]

"FUCK YEAH! WE REACHED LEVEL 100!" [y/n] cheers, jumping in the air after putting the sword back into her inventory.

jin-woo does the same and chuckles at her happy mood, he ruffles her hair affectionately. she laughs as she swats his hand away with her sweater paws.

after their little play fight, the two walk over to the main attraction of jeju island.

as the female player steps closer to it a notification pops up in front of her.

WARNING!
THIS ENEMY HAS MANA THAT CAN'T CONTAIN LIGHT.
PERFORMING EXTRACTION IS IMPOSSIBLE.
STEP AWAY!

she blinks as she reads the warning and takes the step back from the body. "the system really doesn't like it when i get near things that seem tainted." [y/n] mumbles, instinctively hiding behind jin-woo.

"it seems like it wants to keep you or your mana pure." he guesses, slightly cringing at the aura the ant gave off.

he raises his hand over the body as his eyes glow and utters his command.

"ARISE."

at that moment, jin-woo's surroundings were covered in pitch darkness and he no longer felt [y/n] at his side. he looks around, clearly alarmed.

"what's this darkness? i can't feel anything." he mumbles with a raised eyebrow. "is this from the shadow extraction skill i used on it? seems like [n/n]'s system was right, it can't contain light..."

his surroundings became normal again and he looks down to see his friend.

"dude, are you okay? you like glitched out for a second." she states with a bit of worry.

he sighs and pats her head. "i'm fine, i just thought the extraction failed."

"well, i wouldn't be so sure."

she states and points behind him. he slowly turns around to see the giant ant bowing to him. the two look at his stats and the female player wanted to cry

[?? LEVEL: 1]
[RANK: GENERAL]

"you have another summon with a rank we haven't seen before?! shoot it me, it would HURT LESS?!" she whines sarcastically, sulking.

the male player snickers and pays her head again. "it can't be helped, the system wouldn't let you get near it." he reminds her.

she pouts which causes him to laugh as the two head over to see if they can extract the queen.

"my king... my queen..." the ant calls, stoping them. "please, give me a name."

[y/n] blinks owlishly as the ant's words slowly register in her brain. her [e/c] eyes widen and hides behind jin-woo.

"OH FUCK THAT! NAH YOU CAN HAVE HIM WOO!" she exclaims, extremely creeped out that shadow can speak.

he ignores her exaggerated reaction and faces the ant. "how can you talk to us?" he questions.

"i was... able to..."

now, this confused the two players, they've extracted from beings who can speak. but the only difference was in ranking.

"does that mean if our soldiers reach this rank, they'll be able to speak?" [y/n] whispers with furrowed eyebrows as she steps out from hiding behind her friend.

jin-woo doesn't respond meaning he was thinking the same thing, his eyes glow as he inspects the ant.

he grabs his friend by the waist pulling her to his side. "we're the ones that killed you. can you still be obedient and follow me? including respecting her orders?" he asks, gesturing to himself and her.

"i... am not dead. but reborn by my liege's power. i have... happiness overflowing... inside me. i will always... follow you my king and queen." the ant informs as he bows. "my liege... please give me a name..."

the male player hums, grabbing his chin in thought. "bug or ant won't be right, will it?" he ponders.

"name him that and i will kick your ass." the female player threatens with a deadpan and a twitchy eyebrow.

jin-woo closes his eyes and he continues thinking of a good name for the summon as to not get his ass kicked by [y/n].

then a name pops into his mind.

"BERU."

he states and looks to his friend for approval. she nods and gives him a thumbs up.

he smirks and faces the ant again.

"YOUR NAME WILL BE BERU."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

ONCE THEY EXTRACTED the ant queen, suddenly the connection between the ants and the players became severely weaker. then, beru explains why it did.

"so you're telling me the queen ant doesn't fight?" jin-woo asks the summon with a raised eyebrow.

[y/n] snorts into laughter. "you didn't know? they teach this stuff in kindergarten." she teases and he rolls his eyes.

he stares at the ant queen and he cancels the shadow extraction. "there's can only be two rulers in this organization." he states plainly, wrapping an arm around his friend.

the female player then notices their soldiers collecting the magic crystals and she gasps.

"wait! no don't collect those! those will be used to rebuild jeju island! we shouldn't put our hands on such things!" she warns and they immediately drop the crystals, one shadow even raises their hands in the air as not to touch them.

she runs over to them and lightly scolds as the male player watched with an amused smile.

"my liege... my queen's aura... it is very warm." beru suddenly states and this catches jin-woo's attention.

he'd always known that his shadows have become quite comfortable to her sunny personality.

who wouldn't? she was the sun incarnated, a pleasing presence that one can comfortably stand by. her touches were warm, her eyes kind, her voice soothing, and her smile shining.

she was intoxicating.

his glowing eyes narrow at his new summon. though he was quite fine with his other summons relishing in her aura.

he was doubtful of beru.

he knows that he can't stop her from giving affection to his shadows. it won't be long before she'll give the ant a head pat.

so, he gives him a slight warning.

"be grateful you get to feel such a thing. because that aura belongs to me." jin-woo declares and beru only nods his head. completely understanding the true meaning of his king's words.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

KNOWING THAT THE ants aren't all dead, the two players try to see if they have enough numbers to kill them all.

"there were 8,700 ants before the raid today. the number of survivors are... a total of 4,000 ants, my queen." beru informs [y/n].

she smiles at him gratefully and pats his head. "ah! thank you for telling me beru!"

"i thought there were quite a lot that were exterminated... i would have never guessed there would be that many left." jin-woo sighs, a bit annoyed that there was still work left to do.

he was hoping to check something off on the list today...

his blue glowing eyes gaze over to beru. "if it's you, do you think you can exterminate all of them?" he suggests as the ant bows to his king.

"IF YOU GIVE ME AN ORDER."

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

AFTER THE MALE player orders beru to kill all the ants that are left. the two decide to leave jeju island on their wyverns, [y/n] being the first to leave.

as she's gotten addicted to the idea of being in the sky.

it was only in her nature. she was the sun incarnated it was only natural for her to be one in the sky.

AS IT IS HER DOMAIN.

───── ⋆⋅ ☽ ⋅⋆ ─────

THE FEMALE PLAYER closes her eyes and tilts her head to the sky, humming in satisfaction. letting the wind and raindrops hit her face.

she felt free.

confessing her past to jin-woo hours before lifted a weight off her shoulders that she never knew she held.

it finally felt like she could properly move on from her past and leave it behind. though the sky was dark and cloudy, her future was bright.

she could spend that future with the person she loves the most.

"for someone who embodies the sun, you seem to enjoy the rain." a familiar voice calls out to her.

she opens her eyes and smiles when she sees jin-woo flying on kaisel next to her, his hair blowing with the wind.

she chuckles and stares at the sky again. "without the sun, there wouldn't be rain." she states.

"much like darkness and light, one can't co-exist without the other." he adds, almost knowingly.

she hums in agreement, now turning her head to face her best friend.

"JUST LIKE US."

in their eyes, they look just as beautiful as the day before. no matter what the day looked like.

they looked ethereal.

words caught in their throats now was the time. because their courage could only last a day.

they never know when they could get another chance like this. though it was in the rain, it was the perfect metaphor for them. cause without the light, darkness can not exist. and without darkness, the light can not thrive.

without each other's existence, neither one of them can thrive.

"i love you."

the two stare at each other with smiles on their faces. there was no need for complicated words or fancy meanings.

three words were enough.

[y/n] jumps from helios to join jin-woo. the summon disappears into her soul the moment she's in the air.

he catches the woman he loves into his arms. holding her tight as if she would slip from his hands.

he cups her face in his hands, looking at every inch of it. she has never looked more beautiful.

his eyes dart from her eyes to her lips. without realizing it, he leaned closer.

she knew it would be different this time. that the love she felt was truly real and genuine, she knew that her heart was safe with him.

time stops when his lips meet hers. her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. she could only focus on how soft his lips felt against her mouth, how addictively he invaded all her senses.

the emotion put into it felt so raw and pure.

[y/n] fingers grasped his shirt. jin-woo sneaked a guilty peek at her every time they part for air. making sure this moment wasn't just an illusion.

the warm feeling of her breath invited him for a bit more. he wanted the feeling of her lips against his, again, again and again.

she meets his lips halfway as her hands reached the base of his dark hair. her fingers curl into it and tug.

immediately, he tilted her head a bit deepening the kiss.

oh, he was addicted to the way she made him feel.

the two part as they start to lose air, their breaths were heavy as they lay their foreheads against each other.

the two stare into each other's eyes. every emotion was left open, but yet it wasn't complicated or confusing.

"i love you, just as you are." he whispers, kissing her forehead, lingering a bit before pulling away.

she smiles softly at him and pecks his cheek. "i love you, just as you are." she repeats in his ear.

jin-woo's steel-grey eyes looked at [y/n], almost pleading something.

she giggles as she brings him into a hug, standing on her tippy toes, and snuggles her face into his neck.

"say it. tell me." she suggests as he feels his arms wrap around her body and lay his head on her shoulder.

"STAY WITH ME, PLEASE. LET ME LOVE YOU FOR ETERNITY. AS MY QUEEN, AS MY SUN."

"YOU NEVER HAD TO ASK ME. OF COURSE I WILL, MY KING."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE! END!
────just as you are.