Rise of the Shadow Sovereign

Chapter 3

Naofumi frowned, clicked his tongue, and glared at Jin-woo. "Why did you save me? Haven't you heard what I did?!"

Jin-Woo sighed. "You don't look like a rapist, you're more like a naive boy whose just learned about the harsh reality, the hard way." 

Naofumi's eye twitched. 

Jin-woo chuckled. "Something similar happened to my friend and me years ago. You see in my world there were gates where hunters had to fight monsters. Every gate was ranked from E to S. With S being the most dangerous ones. And I was one of Korea's Ten S-Rank Hunters. Sometimes a gate could change from E to S Rank without anyone noticing until it's too late. And that's where when I was young, my friend and our hunting group nearly all died. That's right. The gate turned to S-Rank."

Naofumi's eyes widened. 

"My friend and I barely made it out alive from that Gate." Jin-woo smiled bitterly and looked at Naofumi. "Sometimes, bad things make you stronger." He placed his hand on Naofumi's shoulder. "Trust me, kid. What happened to you now is but a small thing compared to what I went through. It was far more dangerous than a few royals and idiotic people. It was as if going against Gods. Now, why don't you go to town and find something useful to defend yourself with. Perhaps something to protect yourself? I'll have a look around while you get your stuff." Jin-Woo smirked before leaving.

Naofumi sighed and walked towards the town. At least Jin-Woo believes me. It's more than enough. And he must be from a different Korea as well since in our world we didn't have gates and hunters. Suddenly he was snatched in an alleyway and held against a wall by a tall bald man.

"Hey, kid with the shield. I heard what you did to that girl. You deserve a punch to the face!"

"You too?" Naofumi said, annoyed.

The bald man's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Naofumi's pained eyes. "You-" He said as he backed off a little.

"What? Weren't you going to punch me?"

"I changed my mind."

"Good. You were about to lose your life there." Naofumi said as he started to walk away.

"Wait a second," Erhard said, making Naofumi stop in his track and look at him. Erhard gave a green cloak to Naofumi. "You'll never make it dressed like that. Consider this a parting gift."

Naofumi looked at the cloak. "How much?"

Erhard shook his head. "Doesn't matter. But let's call it a clearance sale and say, five coppers."

"Gotcha. I promise to come pay you someday." Naofumi said as he took the cloak from Erhard.

"Don't die, kid."

"Don't worry, he'll be alive as long as I'm with him." A voice said behind them.

Naofumi's eyes widened. When did he get here? I didn't even notice him. He gulped nervously.

They turned around towards the voice and saw Jin-Woo leaning on a wall. "Hi, my name is Sung Jin-Woo."

"Ah, so you're the Mage Hero, eh?" Erhard said.

Jin-woo nodded. "Yes. Thanks for looking out for the kid. It's good to know there are a few people with actual brains." He smirked.

"Haha. Thanks, I guess."

"Let's go, Naofumi," Jin-Woo said.

.

"How dare these pests dare bother my king!" A certain Ant marshall exclaimed in rage. "My king let me exterminate their race for their insolence!"

Jin-Woo sweatdropped as he killed another orange balloon with his daggers. "Beru. There's no need for that."

"But my King!"

Jin-woo sighed as he could feel the others in his army, agreeing with the ant marshall. He looked at Naofumi's arm, where an orange balloon was biting him and sweatdropped when Naofumi punched the balloon away.

"At least throw all them towards that human, my king! Don't you think he's too weak to be your servant, my king?!" Beru asked.

Jin-woo's eye twitched. "He's not my servant, Beru. He's my friend."

"FRIEND?!" Beru said scandalised.

Jin-woo sighed. "Yes. Now enough of that Beru."

"But my king~!"

Jin-woo ignored his whinings and killed another orange balloon.

.

Next-Day...

"Well, for these things...How does 1 copper for a pair sound?" The shop keeper said.

"Sure." A man said. "I'll take that. Thanks."

"Come again."

"Welcome." the Shop Keeper said as he looked at the two new figure er and one lion.

"Buy these," Naofumi said flatly as he looked at the shop keeper.

"Oh? Orange balloons, huh? Twenty in all." The shop keeper said. "How does 1 copper sound?"

Jin-woo narrowed his eyes at the shop keeper. "Didn't you offer that guy 1 copper for two?"

"Did I, now?" the shop keeper said, playing dumb. "You must understand, I have a business to run."

"That so?" Naofumi said coldly and then raised his cloak showing orange balloons that were biting him. "Will these things fetch a better price, then? They're pretty lively."

"Gah!" The shop keeper shouted. "S-Stop it!"

"I'm not trying to rip you off here. All I want is a fair market price. Or wait, do you hate us for some reason, maybe?"

"F-Fine! I get it! I understand, so get these things off me! We have a deal." The shop keeper said nervously.

"Instead of trying to fleece me, if you buy from me regularly, I'm willing to give you a small discount.

"C-Consider it done! As much as I'd like to refuse, the goods and money are without sin."

Jin-woo sweatdropped.

"Also, feel free to tell people all about me. Tell them that any trader that messes with me will end up with bite marks all over."

"No need to ask me. I was about to do just that." The shop keeper said nervously.

"To a long business relationship." Naofumi said as he and Jin-woo walked away.