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Origin

Summary:

And then, entering the scene with a picture perfect, ki enhanced dropkick straight into the guy’s jaw, a guy in a hoodie and a blank, rounded mask and a borderline infuriatingly familiar presence had decided to steal the whole damn show, coming to stand between Chunwoo and the self-proclaimed avenger.

Now, don’t get him wrong, Chunwoo was grateful and all that the guy had interfered before he would’ve presumably been gifted a very shattered arm. But consider this:

Whomst the fuck.

There's a new unknown roaming the streets of Seoul and with the Murim's many eyes on the return of Goomoonryong, they certainly won't know what hit 'em, let alone catch the lisence plate.
Shiwoon may or may not be perfectly fine with this.

Notes:

i regret everything
hello dead fandom

Chapter 1: Guardian Angel

Chapter Text

There had been a shift in the air.

Even in the instinct-driven, near bestial mindstate they’d both attained as the battle dragged on, he could feel it. In-between letting Goomoonryong’s flexed claws graze his neck and moving to drive a heel into his ribs in retaliation, he’d suddenly become aware of something building within the translucent  chaotic merging of their overwhelming auras. Building up and up, bigger and bigger until it was about to burst while two beasts that had long since surpassed humanity went at each other with single-minded violence.

And then it burst.

The sheer disorientation that followed had snapped him out of the wild, bloodthirsty mindset of Black Origin Threshold, and his last thought right before everything went black was confusedly wondering where his sunsengnim had disappeared off to.

.

“Uuuuugh,” Shiwoon groaned, holding his throbbing side as he leaned against the wall, out of breath.

He couldn’t stay here for long, he’d already gotten lucky having found an opening to bolt mid-beating, but he’d never had much luck to begin with and he hadn’t gotten very far. The longer he rested, the easier it’d be for Changho and his goons to find him.

With another, more prolonged groan, the boy went to move from the wall and keep walking, but a sound behind him froze him in his tracks. He felt like a deer disturbed from its grazing, panically listening to its surroundings for the slightest hint of a threat.

There, some dull scuffing and…. fighting sounds? The voices were familiar, but the panicked shrieks were new. If he were in a more vindictive mood they might have even been amusing, but right now he was just tired and afraid and in pain as he waited until the sounds around the corner went silent.

Well that, and he was also a teenage boy. Historically, these creatures have been known for being too curious for their own damn good, a fact that Shiwoon proved right as he carefully approached the corner he had just run past not five minutes ago.

There on the floor lay three familiar boys, very much out cold. He couldn’t really see much in terms of blood or bruises, but if it weren’t for their breathing, he’d certainly think them dead. He looked around some more, but there was no one else. What the hell.

Shiwoon sighed and then winced as his ribs protested, before turning to walk home. He was not going to stick around here, no matter how curious he was, that would just be tempting fate.

From a low roof, a frowning figure watched him go.

.

It had been weird the first time, but he’d just about forgotten the whole ordeal by the next beating.

It was beyond bizarre the fourth time he found his personal tormentors passed out in a heap on the ground on their way to find him. When they did get their hands on him these days, they seemed to add just a little bit more enthusiastic aggression, as if to make up for lost time, but Shiwoon almost thought it was worth it just to catch a glimpse of a butt sticking up in the air on his way back home or Changho’s frazzled expression as he and his “friends” entered the classroom two minutes after the bell, occasionally clutching at his bruising temple.

“Mom,” he asked at dinner, on one of the rare occasions she actually was home to enjoy a meal together, “do you believe in guardian angels?”

Yi Kyungsoon had in fact been waiting for him to speak up, since her son didn’t usually make a habit of staring in contemplative silence at the side dishes while he ate, but the question still seemed to come out of left field. She blinked, tried not to cough out the rice she’d been trying to swallow and cleared her throat.

“Shiwoon? What brought this on? Has uncle Dae been calling about church again? You know you can try it out if you want.”

It was her son’s turn to experience near-death via rice asphyxiation, “W-what? No! It- it was just a thought. Uncle Dae hasn’t called.”

Uncle Dae was neither her nor her son’s actual uncle, just a kind man that could get somewhat pushy about his preaching and seemed to have the phone number of everyone in the neighborhood. He did however bake excellent cookies so he was easily tolerated.

She hummed in thought, “Well, I’ve never really thought about it. Why? Do you think you have one?”

“Um,” the boy looked at the bowl in his hand, seemingly deep in thought, “I mean, lately-”

He was interrupted by the loud ringing of her phone as she fumbled to pull it out, “Sorry, dear, give me a sec-”

Shiwoon’s eyes dimmed slightly but he nodded, going back to silently eating while she walked out of the room to talk undisturbed.

By the time the call was over, Shiwoon had finished eating and left only a couple of dishes on the table for her to pick from and clean up later, everything else had already been washed. Thinking nothing of it and having completely forgotten their previous conversation, Kyungsoon thanked him with a smile which he barely reciprocated and sat down to finish her own meal.

.

Guardian angel or not, it was apparently picky as to when it decided to intervene. Unfortunately for him, today was not one of those days. Even with the occasional reprieve, Shiwoon felt like he was reaching some sort of edge, teetering on the brink of something very delicate.

He was hungry, but any money he’d had had been long since taken; his bruises from yesterday ached and his darkening cheek throbbed in time with his erratic heartbeat.

Saehee had seen him at his lowest… maybe if she could actually do something, he wouldn’t have minded it this much, but both her and his mother were existences he wanted to separate as much as possible from this disgraceful side of him.

‘If I do have a guardian angel, ’ he contemplated darkly, gripping the rusted rooftop fence a little tighter, ‘Maybe it’ll catch me on the way down.’

Even if it didn’t, he probably wouldn’t be in pain for too long. Saehee wouldn’t have to worry anymore, his mother could concentrate on her career, and he could finally have some peace and quiet.

Just as he was raising a leg over the fence, his world seemed to tilt with a sudden yell. The last hysterical thought he had before giving in entirely to panic was,

‘If it’s not my bullies but my English teacher murdering me, maybe it won’t come and catch me after all.’

His disappointment was quickly forgotten in the face of his miraculous survival.

.

He’d had some suspicions but they’d been thoroughly stomped into the ground.

This sunsengnim was too much of an uncaring asshole to be anyone’s guardian angel, no matter how undeniably strong he was. Still, he did have a point in regards to courage, so maybe he had other things to teach.

Shiwoon wanted to be strong. He wanted to protect himself and everything that mattered to him, no matter the cost. Even if he had to suffer even more for it, that was fine, he wasn’t a stranger to pain.

And maybe it was the little delusional voice at the back of his mind whispering promises of safety that urged him on, but when this man of overwhelming strength told him to jump of a bridge in a tone so condescending it could be nothing but jest, he only hesitated for a moment.

Han Chunwoo may have been an ass, but he wasn’t a bad person. Shiwoon believed that he would save him.

(And if he’d had a tentative, hopeful plan B just in case, well, sunsengnim didn’t need to know that.

He wanted to have someone to trust, but he couldn’t say that he was better off dying otherwise anymore.Really, if someone was looking out for him, his life must be worth something after all.)

.

There was something odd about that Yi Shiwoon kid.

And it wasn’t just the fact that he could barely face his school bullies but had zero problems blackmailing a wholeass martial artist into teaching him things he was way in over his head for.

Or the fact that he was apparently so hardheaded, no amount of denials would get him to budge, to the point he’d almost died of either drowning or dehydration in the span of twelve hours.

Or the fact that he kept meeting the damn brat like the universe was trying to push them together-

Ok, so there were a lot of weird things about Yi Shiwoon.

None of them explained why, half the time he was around the kid he could feel the barest hint of an observer. Oh, they were good , but he wasn’t the Goomoonryong for nothing.

Although he may as well have been, seeing as for the life of him, he couldn’t actually locate said observer. More often than not, the feeling would disappear the moment he took note of it.

He couldn’t fathom why someone would be watching a civilian wimp of a teenage boy, especially one with a ki deficiency as common as a Third Yin body type (and hadn’t that been a disappointment to find out from Shiho, not that he’d ever admit it). Although having survived an Ilwolshindan of all things, even with his own immense help, was remarkable in and of itself. Where did Shiho even get that thing?

...actually, no. He didn’t want to know.

But maaaaan, it’d been a while since he’d last felt this beat. That wonder drug was no joke.

Abruptly, Chunwoo felt a familiar flitting gaze settle on him once again, although this time it didn’t immediately vanish. Before he could investigate, however, he was approached by a couple of pipe-wielding dumbasses.

“Ah man,” he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath as they tried and utterly failed to loom menacingly, “you guys sure have some timing.”

“Haaaa?!” The apparent leader sneered, “We finally meet again and you can’t even muster up a proper greeting? Huh?!”

Chunwoo was tired, irritated, kinda hungry, and supremely unimpressed by the 20+ civilian mooks that had chosen tonight of all times to schedule a spontaneous facial rearrangement, and he attempted to convey all of this in as few words as possible.

“...who are you?”

He rolled his eyes at the sputtering outrage that followed, settling in for a light warmup. Even with no ki this shouldn’t take more than two minutes. Maybe he could chase after the mystery watcher right after.

.

‘Or,’ he thought incredulously, ‘ We could skip the chase outright. Sure. Why not.’

Chunwoo liked to think there were few things left in the world that could surprise him. Apparently, being saved from a literal ticking time-bomb and a vengeful lunatic by his little mystery watcher still managed to achieve that honor. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

It had gone like this:

Some random murim-in whose master he’d apparently killed recently had guided him into an abandoned building to settle the score; which, his current state notwithstanding, was something Chunwoo could get behind. Perfectly understandable.

Then, like a fucking cartoon villain, he’d reavealed his whole actual, literal, not-metaphorical-at-all ticking time bomb schtick, and the whole thing had become significantly less understandable. H’de proceeded to make his opinion clear, with prejudice .

And then , entering the scene with a picture perfect, ki enhanced dropkick straight into the guy’s jaw, a guy in a hoodie and a blank, rounded mask and a borderline infuriatingly familiar presence had decided to steal the whole damn show, coming to stand between Chunwoo and the self-proclaimed avenger.

Now, don’t get him wrong, Chunwoo was grateful and all that the guy had interfered before he would’ve presumably been gifted a very shattered arm due to a moment of inattention. But consider this: whomst the fuck.

“Who the fuck are you?! Don’t interfere!” The instigator of this whole fucking situation snarled, unknowingly echoing his opponents questions.

The observer, who had apparently ceased observing, said nothing, settling into a stance that tickled something in the back of his memory…

Ah.

What the hell did the Sunwoo clan want with him?

Except no, he considered in mild bewilderment as the other two decided to throw down without him, that next move was definitely Heavenly Way’s. And that one-

He tensed.

That stomp was very familiar.

He continued to observe as they fought, now even more attentive. Where Chunwoo had begun to struggle before the timely interruption, running on the barest wisps of ki he could dredge up, the masked guy had no such issues holding him back. The fight took less than four minutes, and although Chunwoo had more than enough pent up aggression to join in, he was also exhausted and grateful for a chance to catch his breath. Besides, it didn't look like his stand-in needed any help whatsoever. 

He would've loved to stay and chat with the guy once the fight was wrapped up, but there was still the matter of the actual fucking bombs scattered around the building, so he made his way to the stairs instead, carefully keeping an eye out. Just because the newcomer had fought in his stead, it didn't mean they were on the same side. 

What he did not see coming was the guy supporting his unconscious opponent's weight as he dragged him in Chunwoo's direction, towards the stairs. 

"What the hell, just leave him here." he couldn't help but blurt out in his bafflement. 

The masked guy froze at his words, and for the first time Chunwoo noticed how slight and slender he was in comparison to the man he was half carrying, a man who was definitely taller than him judging by the way his feet dragged limply behind them. Then the moment seemed to pass as he continued walking past the Goomoonryong, ignoring the comment eintirely. 

Chunwoo sighed and followed, wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible, "Not much of a talker, are you?" 

He was met with pointed silence. 

He clicked his tongue, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it as they speedwalked down the stairs, his companion seemingly unbothered by the much bigger man he carried. 

"So how long have you been watching the kid?" he blurted out accusingly, just to be an ass. Had he not been watching for it, he wouldn't have noticed the slight stutter in the other person's steps as they finally made it to the ground floor and across the dilapidated lobby. 

They made it all the way across the street before the guy lowered his burden onto the ground and turned to face the building, mask slightly angled towards Chunwoo. 

"... I'm not an enemy." 

His voice was… soft, gentle in a way that belied vulnerability, but somehow unyielding. Higher than expected, even considering his comparatively small stature. 

Chunwoo took a drag from his cigarette, somehow getting the impression that his companion was staring disapprovingly.

"For your sake," he drawled out, "you better not be." 

It was at that moment that the bomb went off with an earth-shattering rumble, and he couldn't help but watch -- from much, much closer than any safety expert would advise -- as the building collapsed in on itself, not a single soul inside. 

When he turned back to his left, the only person he saw was the crumpled heap of a man at his feet. So no one important then. 

He took another drag, deeper this time, and walked off towards his apartment. Tomorrow was a school day, after all, and he was beyond done with today. This was all a problem for future Chunwoo.