𝖲𝖠𝖬𝖲𝖠𝖱𝖠 : 𝖆 𝖘𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖉 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 [𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝟏𝟕

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

"Hello. Is this L/N Seok-Chul's daughter? I regret to inform you but, your father has passed away of... gastric causes."

Y/N's phone slid out of her hand and plopped to the floor.

"Wait, plopped? Isn't it supposed to make a 'thud' or something? Is your floor... water? Instead of traditional wood—"

"Way to ruin the moment, Y/N. And... yes, it's water. Water is cheaper than wood. We had to pay the bills somehow. I made the water solid enough."

[𝖦𝖨𝖱𝖫, 𝖸𝖮𝖴𝖱 𝖣𝖠𝖣 𝖩𝖴𝖲𝖳 𝖣𝖨𝖤𝖣 𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖸𝖮𝖴'𝖱𝖤 𝖠𝖲𝖪𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖠𝖡𝖮𝖴𝖳 𝖧𝖨𝖲 𝖥𝖫𝖮𝖮𝖱?]

[...𝖡𝖴𝖳 𝖸𝖤𝖲, 𝖨 𝖠𝖦𝖱𝖤𝖤. 𝖶𝖧𝖠𝖳 𝖠 𝖶𝖤𝖨𝖱𝖣 𝖢𝖧𝖮𝖨𝖢𝖤 𝖥𝖮𝖱 𝖥𝖫𝖮𝖮𝖱𝖲, 𝖨 𝖪𝖭𝖤𝖶 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖶𝖤𝖱𝖤 𝖫𝖨𝖪𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖮𝖲𝖤 𝖢𝖧𝖤𝖠𝖯 𝖬𝖮𝖬𝖲 𝖶𝖤 𝖲𝖤𝖤 𝖮𝖭 𝖠𝖬𝖤𝖱𝖨𝖢𝖠𝖭 𝖳𝖵]

[𝘊𝘶𝘵.]

[𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦?]

♬·¯·♪·¯·♫¸¸¸¸♫·¯·♪¸♩·¯·♬¸¸¸¸♫·¯·♪¸♩·¯·♬

SHE DID NOT KNOW HOW TO
process this... whatever this was. News? Probably. It didn't exactly stick to her mind. Or any part of her that her father who had apparently lied to her about the fact that he 'birthed' her with his blood, sweat and tears---was actually dead. What kind of shitty plot line is this shit?

And what the fuck was up with the not-so discreet confusion about the fact that he shat himself to death?! How rude, honestly.

"Would you... like to come see him for one last time? We're still trying to determine the real cause of death. It's either that his stomach or intestines ruptured from the inside. We'll try our best to send the autopsy report soon, ma'am."  The voice in the call could barely be heard at this point---obviously from how far the phone was from the ear.

Y/N snapped out of her little trance and crouched down to pick up the phone. She was still staring into nothing, thinking of nothing---but somehow managed to get an automated response of: "Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sure. You can send me the bill. Thank you for your service. I'll uh, head over right now." She cut the call.

[𝖳𝖧𝖠𝖳'𝖲... 𝖡𝖠𝖣]

Y/N didn't respond. Her mind was completely empty. Unlike the block from the 'Architect', this seemed to be the real deal somehow. No cranky, sassy responses yet.

"...I'll come with you." Jin-Woo says, grabbing her wrist and snapping her out of the little disassociation episode she was going through.

"Hm? Oh, you don't need to. It's fine. I'll see things through, don't worry about it." She replies, smiling---but it didn't seem quite right. Ignis' shadow-effects were flickering in worry as he fiddled with his armor. The Shadow could feel Y/N's heartbeat was abnormally slow, blood barely travelling anywhere. 

"No, I insist. He also raised us, you know. For me and Jin-Ah, he's... been the father-figure we've missed out on for so long. He's supported us for as long as I can remember," he says, his grip firm yet gentle on her wrist. "and there is absolutely no way I'm leaving you to deal with it alone. Got that?"