Monarch of Luminescence || Solo-Leveling

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟽

A man with a black suit and ruffled lilac hair walked towards them in a composed manner as he began to introduce himself.

"I'm Kang Tae-shik from the monitoring department. You heard the explanation, yes? I'll be keeping a close eye on them, so don't worry too much. Who will lead the raid today?"

Song Chiyul stepped up and answered. "I'll do it."

"Then I'll leave it to you." Kang stepped away and continued to watch the criminals, who had their handcuffs released.

"Are you guys okay with me being the leader?" Song turned around and looked at the duo, Sung Jinwoo and Hwan Chang-min.

"Of course..." The two nod in agreement.

Saying his deep gratitude, he lowered into a 90° bow.

"Mister-?" Jinwoo had panicked a little at his reaction.

Chiyul kept his head down as he explained his actions. "If it was my fault that 11 people died, then it was thanks to you that 7 people survived. My responsibility was the greatest when it came to not being able to protect everyone. When I bow, I'm thanking the two of you in place of all the hunters."

"If you say it like that, then I'm also at fault that 11 people died. Please, raise your head. We have no resentment from that incident. We can't turn back time nor change our actions, so let's not linger on the past for long. What matters is that we improve ourselves from our mistakes, right?" Hwan reached out a hand and managed to leave a smile on the mister in front of him.

"You're right. Thank you both, really."

"You should be a motivational speaker," Sung whispered in Hwan's ear causing him to flinch.

It was his time to elbow Jinwoo as he cupped his red-tinted ear, still sensitive from experiencing Jinwoo's breath dance across it.

"Kim, you have no complaints, right? Even if I lead this raid." He double-checked his leadership with the one who doubted it before, and he turned after contemplating. 

"Do what you want."

After they entered the cave-like dungeon, the 3 criminals that were brought along had a scythe, a lance, and bronze knuckles that went feral, killing every monster swiftly on sight. Others did not slack off either, with the magic users Song Chiyul and Hwan Chang-min set monsters ablaze, Jinwoo was slashing with his dagger.

"It seems Sung has improved a lot. Where did you such a good dagger? It's strange seeing the barehanded Sung suddenly use a dagger." Chiyul mentioned.

"Haha, is that so?" 

"That's right, I didn't even need to heal you at all. Are you sure you didn't train in martial arts while you were gone?"

Jinwoo politely smiled at Joohee, "I just do some exercise every day." 

"We follow the Saitama training regimen," Hwan mumbled, amused by the idea. The others couldn't quite catch what he said, though.

"Ahem, besides, how could I get hurt with such a brilliant supporter beside me?" Jinwoo patted the said person's back, pushing him forwards.

"Now that you say it, Hwan has gotten much more proficient in handling magic. But weren't you a healer?" Chiyul perked up at the mention.

"Well, yes, and I still am... I just can use all kinds of spells. Offense, defense, buffs, and healing." He explained numbering his uses with his fingers. "I'm the whole package, basically."

"Oh? Isnt that extremely rare? You never told us. Everyone else had the misunderstanding that you were only able to heal, haha!"

Hwan smiled. "My apologies."