Solo Leveling: Sung-Jin-Woo x Cha-Hae-In

Family

Cha Hae-in cracked her neck and sighed softly: she was tired.

She had spent her day off at Master Song Chi-yul's gym, as she normally did, but had trained harder than usual. She had felt Song Chi-yul's worried eyes on her, when he noticed her going on for hours and defeating every opponent before her.

He had tried to talk to his pupil, but Cha Hae-in had stopped his every effort, assuring him that she was fine.

But in truth, she wasn't fine at all: it was that time of the year again and monsters were becoming more vicious than ever and the only person who seemed to make her feel safe was away, she didn't know where, fighting against them.

Hae-in leaned back against the headrest, her fingers tapping nervously on the wheel, waiting for the traffic light to turn green so she could just run home and have a good cry: it wasn't something she usually did, but she felt really out of control at the moment. Moreover, since she wasn't in a right state of mind, she had taken the wrong way from the gym and she had not only lenghtened her travel back home, but was also in a neighbourhood of Seoul that she didn't know very well.

The S-rank hunter turned her head and smiled when she saw two women, presumably mother and daughter, walking and talking to each other while holding groceries bags: she missed those normal days, without gates, without monsters hunting and killing humans, without risking her life every day. The daughter, a pretty teen with long hair, was gesturing animatedly and the older woman was laughing politely: they seemed truly happy and Cha Hae-in was enveloped by a strong feeling of nostalgia.

She was starting to turn her attention back to the road, when a sudden movement caught her attention: the mother and daughter had stopped, four young men in front of them.

The young woman couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear from the body language that the two females were scared and that the men were trying to intimidate them. 'A robbery?' she thought.

Hae-in wasted no time in parking the car on the side of the road, speed-dialing the Hunter Association call center.

"This is S-rank Cha Hae-in." she said as soon at the call was answered. "Locate my cellphone and call the police, I'm going to stop a robbery now." she left the cellphone in the passenger seat of her car without listening to the panicked voice of the operator and without closing the call.

Grabbing her sword from the backseat, Hae-in moved quickly out of the car: one the men had now grabbed the girl's wrist and was waving a knife around, yelling to the frightened mother. "Give me all of your money NOW! Or I will hurt your pretty daughter!"

In an instant, Cha Hae-in was in front of him, gripping the wrist which was holding the girl's: she squeezed, hard, and the man yelped in pain, letting the girl go.

"What do you think you are you doing, bitch!?" He growled. His companions backed him up, surprised by the sudden apparition and the obvious strenght she had shown.

"Stopping you, of course." Hae-in said coldly, positioning herself in front of the two women and raising her sword. She quickly assessed her opponents: they were all civilians but for the man who held the knife, who was a Hunter, probably a low grade from the smell of his mana.

The ruffians laughed loudly at her answer. "Hey guys, guess what, we may get some company tonight." one of them leered, while another one shouted "Hey missy, you better beg for mercy, leader is a strong D-rank Hunter, you can't beat him." A third one guffawed "She'll beg on her knees in front of us!"

Disgusted by the vulgar insinuations, that she was weak since she was a woman and what they planned to do with her, Cha Hae-in let her mana envelope her and her eyes flashed golden.