Author's Preface
Inside the office, the atmosphere was laden with grief and disbelief. The guild had lost a man. Four others were still downstairs, barely holding on. What should have been a routine promotion raid had turned into something else entirely, and everyone in the room felt it. No one spoke. Aaron stood near his desk, his posture steady, but there was a tension behind it now that hadn’t been there before. His eyes finally settled on Blue.
“You did what you could,” he said. “And you brought back who you could.” A brief pause. “Your clothes are in your locker. Get dressed and go home. Get some rest. Take the time you need to recover.”
Blue did as the Guildmaster requested. He stood, looked at Eve and the 4 other mysterious people and Aaron. "Yes, sir."
Blue returned home. He walked past Mary and David and headed straight for his room. Mary gasped as she watched him. “Is it really safe for him to be doing these things?” she asked David. “It’s his choice. We can’t dictate what he’s chosen to do.”
“Go and order some pizza, maybe that will cheer him up. I’m not sure what else to do for him.” Mary was visibly shaken, and rightly so, her only child had just walked in covered in bruises after not coming home last night.
Blue paced back and forth in his room. “They questioned me and let me go home. I am just a number here. But... that gate was clearly above the level for Tim and his team.” He shook his head. “Whatever bullshit caused them to be assigned that gate, I want no part of it.” He gripped Yoryeon’s pendant tighter as he continued pacing. “I need to find the last piece. Train others in qi. I don’t have time for this bullshit.”
At that moment, Eve walked through his bedroom door. “Pendant? Train others in qi? What are you talking about?”
“Ahhh...shit…" Blues palm covered his face. "...How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough,” Eve said. “Why don’t you have time, Blue? What aren’t you telling me?” She watched him closely. “You know, there are times since you’ve been home when you’re yourself… and others where you’re someone else completely.”
Blue let out a slow sigh. Seori’s words surfaced. "This god, Hatred… he has followers on Earth too, Blue. There’s no way he doesn’t. All of this is connected. Make friends. Allies. Don’t carry it all on your own. Tell that Eve girl you speak all the time the truth. When people truly care, the little things don’t matter, Hyung."
Blue sighed and looked at Eve. “Want to go grab a slice of pizza?”
Eve didn’t look convinced. “Sure,” she said, “as long as you’re not using pizza to brush this off.”
Blue didn’t answer that. He just moved past her. They walked downstairs together. “We’re going out for a slice of pizza,” Blue said. “We’ll be back in a bit.”
Mary stood up. “But we already ordered-” The front door closed before she could finish. Mary looked back at David. “Next time, just order Eve.” David smiled and gave a small shrug.
Blue and Eve sat in a park, pizza slices in hand. They watched in kids playing on a jungle gym, hunters played basketball, using their powers to do crazy tricks and dunks. Birds chirped away just above them. Eve stared at her pizza, she hadn't taken a bite, finally she looked at Blue and spoke. “Blue… you scared me when you came out of that gate,” Eve said. “And when you told us what happened in Aaron’s office… I’ve always known you were different. Stronger. But you act like death doesn’t affect you.”
Blue looked down for a moment, then nodded slightly. “You’re right. I am… different.” He hesitated, then looked at her. “You promise not to freak out or get mad if I tell you something?”
Eve didn’t even pause. “I waited at your house everyday, I looked for you when you disappeared. I got the guild involved in searching for you for a year. So yeah… I’m not going to freak out, Blue. Just don’t hide anything from me.” Blue leaned back, his eyes drifting up to the sky, clear, bright, endless. Nothing like Murim.
"Fuck, okay but... this is going to sound crazy, honestly though, I don't want to keep this secret from you anymore." Blue exhaled.
“I’m not really from Earth,” he said. “I died in Murim over like 17 years ago… and I was reincarnated into this body. I’ve been living as Blue this entire time.” He exhaled slowly. “I’ve had qi since I was a kid. That’s why I’ve always been stronger. Even as a porter.” Eve didn’t interrupt. “That Golden gate didn’t open by chance,” he continued. “It opened because I’m… their champion. The golden gods.” He shook his head slightly. “I don’t fully understand what that means yet.”
He kept going, telling her everything. Crimson Veil Corps dying to Mal’kareth, the pendant, his siblings, Silent Edge, the Murim Alliance, the people he trained with, the battles he fought, the life he had lived before ever dying the first time. Eve didn’t say a word. She just listened.
“I didn’t want to tell you,” Blue said finally. “Or David and Mary. I don’t want you all looking at me differently… or thinking I took someone else’s life.” Eve’s expression softened, but she still didn’t interrupt. “The last piece of the pendant is here on Earth, and I need to find it. Then I need to train someone in qi… and try to send them through the gate to Murim. If it works, I train more. Prepare for what’s coming.”
Eve was quiet for a moment. “So you’re planning to go back,” she said. “For how long? Not forever… right?”
“Just long enough to make sure Murim is free of the monsters from the gates,” Blue said. “And the one controlling the alliance.”
“Okay. I’ll help you.”
Blue’s head snapped toward her. “What?”
“I’ll help you,” she repeated.
“You just heard everything I said,” Blue replied. “And you’re okay with that?”
Eve gave a small shrug. “You’re still Blue to me. That doesn’t change.” She took another bite of her pizza before continuing. “If you had told me this before the gates appeared here, I would’ve thought you were crazy. All this talk about gods, Hatred, golden gods… it’s a lot. And you talk about it so casually. Talk about trauma dump."
She looked at him and smiled. “But what reason do you have to lie?” Blue didn’t answer. “So I’ll help,” she said again.
Blue frowned slightly. “And how do you plan on doing that? Aaron keeps you busy enough as it is.” Eve smiled faintly. “Easy. You’re the only one who can go through that golden gate. So become a ranker, open your own guild, and petition the Association for control over it.”
She leaned back slightly, thinking it through as she spoke. “We’d need awakeners in the guild so it doesn’t draw attention. But there are plenty of unawakened people you could teach qi to.”
Blue shook his head. “We? Eve, no. I can’t ask you to give up what you have for me.”
Eve looked at him, steady. “You don’t have to ask.” A brief pause. “I joined the Buckeye Guild for their resources… and to use their influence to help find you. I’ve found you now.” She glanced off to the side for a moment. “I do like the guild. And Aaron’s a great guildmaster.” Then she looked back at him. “But this is what I want. To be with you." She paused for a moment. "I mean to be in the same guild with you." She waved her hands around frantically. She finally stopped and exhaled loudly. "And honestly, I’m pretty sure my team will come with me too.”
Blue and Eve sat in the park for some time, discussing how to go about starting a guild. Blue looked at Eve. “So how do we even start something like that? A guild?”
Eve let out a small breath. “You don’t. Not yet.” Blue frowned slightly. “The first thing we need is for you to become a ranker. That’s what allows you to even apply to form your own guild.” Blue leaned back slightly, listening. “Which means you’re going to be busy from now on, gates, assignments, making yourself visible to the Association.”
Blue’s expression didn’t change. “So I just clear gates until they notice me?”
“That’s part of it,” Eve said. “But ranking up isn’t just about clearing gates. If you’re not on good terms with the Association, the people actually making those decisions, it’s going to take a lot longer.”
Blue nodded once. “So how do I fix that?”
"By being useful,” she said simply. “Take on Association requests. Be available when they call. Help when they need it. You build favor that way.” Blue sat with that for a moment, then nodded again. “Then that’s the first step,” she said. “Everything else depends on that.”
He leaned forward slightly, thinking. “The second piece of the pendant was in a gate,” Blue said. “So the last one could be in a gate here on Earth. Maybe one tied to one of Hatred’s generals… or it could be somewhere random. Buried. Forgotten.”
Eve exhaled softly. “Too many unknowns,” she said. “We can’t chase something like that blindly.” Blue didn’t argue. “For now, we focus on what we can control.” She looked at him. “Your own guild.” Blue nodded once. “That’s something we can build towards, step by step." Eve added.
Blue sat back slightly, the weight of everything settling, but this time, it wasn’t directionless. “…Alright,” he said. “Then that’s where we start.” They sat there a moment longer before Eve stood. “I’ve still got things to handle at the guild,” she said.
Blue nodded. “Yeah. Thank you Eve.”
Eve gave him a small look, something between reassurance and resolve, before turning and heading off. Blue watched her go for a moment before looking back down at the pendant in his hand. Now he had a plan. And someone he could trust to help him carry it out.
Inside the Assocation, Aaron Kade had ignored his father's recommendation about confronting the Association leader in regards to Tim's promotion raid. He made his way to the Association Leaders office. The secretary noticed the look on Aaron's face and decided to not try and stop him from entering. Aaron slammed the Association leader’s door open... no invitation, no scheduled meeting. “Titus!”
Titus looked up from behind his desk and stood. “Aaron,” he said calmly. “What can I do ya for? What’s got you so worked up?”
“So you don’t even know what happened?” Aaron shot back.
Titus exhaled lightly. “Aaron, I have thousands of people working under me. Countless awakeners. Of course I don’t know every little detail.” He gestured toward the chair across from him. “Have a seat. Would you like a drink? I’ve still got that sixty-year-old whiskey.”
“No,” Aaron said. “What I need is to know who authorized one of my teams to enter a B-rank gate for a C-rank promotion raid.” His voice hardened. “One of my guild members is dead. Four are barely holding on. And the last one made it out by sheer luck.”
Titus didn’t react immediately. He leaned forward slightly, resting his hands beneath his chin. “…Did they clear it?” he asked.
Aaron’s jaw tightened. “They did. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss.” A brief pause. “I want whoever authorized it... I want their head on a platter delivered to my guild.”
Titus shook his head slowly. “Now, now, Aaron. I won’t be offering up anyone’s head. It could have been a simple mistake.” His tone remained even. “I’ll make sure the Association compensates your guild, as well as the family of the man you lost. I’ll also have some elixirs from Nytherra sent your way.”
“Forget the elixirs,” Aaron said sharply. “Find out who authorized that raid… and deal with them.” He stepped back toward the door. “Before I do.”
Aaron didn’t wait for a response. He turned and stormed out. The door shut behind him. Silence settled over the room. Titus leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. “…He actually made it out.” A faint pause. “That changes things.”