𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘔𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦
Choi Jong-In x (Gn)Reader
Contents: Angst to fluff, and sort of hurt/comfort.
Got inspired by: this post
CW/Notes: Multiple POVs, enemies/rivals to lovers, kinda slow burn, power imbalance, over shadowing, slight inferiority complex, and characters don’t know how to deal with their feelings for one another.
⋅°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
You were a talented S-rank hunter and Choi was practically throwing offers and signing bonuses your way when you had awakened, and working with the most powerful mage type hunter in the country seemed like a good idea at first so you accepted and joined the Hunters Guild. But that would soon turn out to be a big mistake.
Present
You were having a normal day sitting at your desk when an assistant had come up to your desk
“Here is your gate schedule for the next month [Last name]”
They handed you the file in which your schedule lied.
“Thank you.”
Was all you needed to say with a small smile and the other person walked away with other schedule to hand out probably.
You got an uneasy feeling when you looked at the files in your hand and saw that it was a lot thinner than normal. Usually it would be a couple pages long with many detailed reports of the gates that you would be asked to attend. But it was the end of the day and you just wanted to go home so you slipped the report into your leather book bag and went on your marry way. ‘I’ll take a look at it when I get home’
“What.”
You stared wide eyed at the files in your hands as you were sat on your sofa at home.
“This must be some kind of mistake.”
You glared at the papers as you flipped through them.
“Where are all of the gates?”
In your hands your gate schedule was sparse. Only three gates requested your attendance for the whole month and they were all B-rank or lower. You let out a very deep sigh and looked at the paper with great worry.
“I’ll just have to confirm- or fix this in the morning”
You made a mental note to yourself as you got up from the sofa and went to get ready for bed.
The next morning
You stepped into the building and first headed to your office to set down your stuff, then headed straight to the man who was in charge of printing out the gate raid schedules. You had gotten to know him rather well over time as office works tends to be a bit more tolerable when you actually get to know the people you work with.
"Hey Su-Bin!"
"Oh, hey [Name]! how are you this morning?" Su-Bin waved to you as you entered the room he was currently working in.
"Oh, I'm just fine, how are you?" You replied all sunshine and rainbows despite not being able to sleep very well last night because of a couple of certain paper currently clutched in your hands.
"I'm good! So, what brings you down here this early?"
"Straight to the point I see ha-ha," you lightly laugh as your friend refuses to beat around the bush, and he returns your laugh with one of his own "well I was wondering about my raid schedule for the month..."
"What seems to be the problem with it?" Su-Bin asks while offering his hand for you to place the document in.
"Well, it just seems quite a bit sparse, don't you think?"
You stand there and wait for Su-Bin to say something as he flips through the papers you have given him.
"Hmm, you're right this schedule doesn't seem fit for an S-rank like yourself..."
"Mhm"
"Let me check that I printed you out the right one real quick."
"Alright" you nod as the other man spins around in his chair and powers on his computer.
After a moment of scrolling through files Su-Bin turns back to you with the file, "Sorry but it looks like this is the file matching the one I've got in the data base."
"Oh, really?" you ask sounding rather disappointed.
"You might want to double check with Guild Mast Choi, since he is the one who is usually in charge of higher ranked hunter's schedules."
"Yeah, I think I'll do that. Thanks anyway Su-Bin" You smile wearily at your friend as you turn to leave
"No problem [Name]"
You now make your way up to Choi Jong-In’s office and clench your jaw as you think about what you’re going to say to him.
Sure when you first joined the guild he seemed like a cool and respectable person but the impression quickly turned sour as he started to be very harsh with his feedback after raid, always telling you that you should have done ‘this’ instead of ‘that’ and how you should follow his lead instead of taking on dungeon beats on your own. Basically he wanted you to do exactly what he said exactly the way he wanted, but you were having none of that. Your colleagues just told you that: “he’s like that all the time” or that “it’s because he’s such a perfectionist” which you believed at first but then you would overhear him talking to hunter Cha after raids and you would hear him only ever saying nice things to her or offering constructive criticism instead of the scathings that he gave you. Overall it made no sense to you, you were just as good of a hunter as Cha maybe even better -in certain aspects of course- so why was Choi so much harsher with you than her?
Over time your distain for the man grew more and more but you could always keep it tampered down when you were in his presence. He obviously had some kind of vendetta against you but you weren’t about to storm into his office and start accusing him of it. No, you were much more civil than that. So you plaster a small smile onto your face and knock at his door.
“Come in!”
You open the door and greet Choi,
“Good morning Guild Master Choi” you still have that same small smile on your face that you wear whenever you are around him.
Choi isn’t stupid though, he knows that-that smile you always have on is as fake as people trying to sell designer brands on eBay.
“Good morning [Last name] what can I do for you?” He offers you an equal smile as you close the door behind yourself and make your way over to his desk.
“I was just wondering about my raid schedule for the month” you set down the file on his desk facing him and slide it towards him.
“What seems to be the matter with it?” Choi asks as he picks up the papers and starts to flip through them. More like pretending to flip through them, he made the thing after all, so he should know what’s on it.
“Well they seem to be awfully sparse, are there no higher ranked gates than those available this month or something?” You ask with a tilt to your head as you study his face for his reaction. “I already checked with Su-Bin -the printer guy- but he said that was all he had for me so I figured that since you are the one in charge of higher ranked hunters schedules, that I should run it by you next.”
“Hmm” Choi hummed in consideration as he flipped through the files-or lack there of.
“Everything looks right here to me.” He handed the file back to you and you looked at him rather confused.
“Really now? Because two B-ranked gates and lower don’t really seem up my alley, don’t you think?” You bit back the scowl that desperately wanted to replace the smile on your face as you questioned Choi’s words.
“Ah yes, well [Last name] I chose those gates for you because I believe that those are the best fit for you right now.” He leaned forward in his chair placing his elbows on his desk with his hands wrapped together.
Fighting the irk mark that wanted to appear on your forehead you asked “what is that supposed to mean sir?”
“Well [Last name] I’ve noticed recently that you’ve gotten rather sloppy in raids and that you aren’t putting in as much effort into your team work as the Guild would like.” He stared you right in the eyes with that stupid grin on his face as he told you- ‘complete and utter bull sh*t’ you thought to yourself
‘I’m sloppy? I’m not working enough as a team member? What a sick joke.’
“He-he” you laugh very faintly-mostly to yourself
“What’s so funny?” Choi questioned you with a tilt to his head.
“Is that some kind of joke?” You looked back up at him and asked with a slightly wider smile which now reached your eyes.
Choi’s eyes widened slightly upon seeing you so close to cracking.
“No, it’s not. You currently leave much to be desired [Last name] so I’ve put you in lower ranked dungeons to hopefully fix that. You should be able to start doing higher ranked dungeons again once you prove that you can handle them.” Choi just had that same business smile on his face as he rearranged a few things on his desk while waiting for your response.
“I leave much to be desired huh? And I can’t handle high rank gates?” You hung your head low while clutching the papers in your hands.
“What was that?” Choi asked as he focused back on you, not being able to hear your mumbling.
“Why don’t you just tell me what you really think of me.” You looked back up at the man in front of you, but this time you had no smile on your face, instead your eyes lacked any semblance of warmth and that smile had been wiped clean off your face-like it was never there to begin with.
“Pardon?” Choi had never seen this expression from you and was rather surprised.
“You’ve clearly had some kind of vendetta against me ever since I joined this guild, so why don’t you just tell me what it is about me you have such a problem with.” It was more of a demand than a request really. “Because we both know that I haven’t been slacking in gates and I am a strong team leader, so how about you stop beating around the bush and tell me what you really think of me.”
“I’m not quite sure I follow…” Choi could only pretend he didn’t hear you as he tensed up slightly while trying to meet your cold stare.
“Oh please, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Mm not really” Choi just shook his head lightly as he braved your negative reaction.
“You’re really just going to pretend like you don’t hate me or something? Like how after every gate I’ve been through with you, you always have some kind of remark to make about my abilities and skills. Meanwhile all you can seem to do is sing praises for people like Hunter Cha.”
‘So they noticed?’ Choi thought to himself before you continued
“I am just as strong and skilled of a hunter as she is so you must have some kind of ill-will towards me to be showing her such gratitude meanwhile I’m left in the dust.”
“If I heard you correctly, it sounds to me like you’re jealous of Hunter Cha.” Choi leaned back in his chair with an evident smirk on his face as he teased you.
Your eyes widened slightly at the audacity the man in front of you had to make such a remark. Meanwhile the rest of your face stayed in that same neutral expression. But just as quickly as your eyes widened with anger they softened. Choi watched cautiously as your shoulders tensed and your expression became one of depression rather than anger.
“Maybe this guild isn’t the right place for me after all. My skills clearly aren’t appreciated here and neither am I.” Your hands ran cold and dry as the papers in your hands started to wither away and fell to the ground.
“Now-“ the red haired man tried to speak up but you were done with this conversation.
“Goodbye Guild Master Choi.” You turned around and left before he could get another word out and if it wasn’t clear that you were upset you slammed his office door behind you as you left which rattled the whole wall.
Choi just sat there shocked, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape as he tried to process what had just transpired.
Back home
‘Man, I’m thirsty’
You made your way to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard but as you clutched the glass in your hand you could see your reflection in the glass and your throat started to burn as you glared at yourself. In a fit of rage you were about to slam the cup down onto the counter top but it quickly withered away just like the old papers from before which only made you think even more about the earlier events of the day.
“Ugh!” You grunted to yourself and gripped the counter top to brace yourself.
You always seemed to loose control of your hunter abilities whenever you got deeply upset, before ever losing control of your emotions, which in it’s own way is a blessing and a curse.
But your throat still felt like it was burning so you just opted to drink straight from the faucet. After taking a couple gulps of water and calming the fire in your throat you headed to your room and crashed on your bed.
‘I’m so tired’
All you could think about was how tired you were as you felt sleep take over your body and conscious.
The next morning you got up and got ready for the day just as usually but instead you got up a few hours earlier and headed straight to the guild building.
Being an S-rank and such a trusted employee you had your own key to the main doors, in case you needed to arrive early or lock up after staying late. And you’d be lying if you said you never thought that you’d be using it for this… You quickly unlocked the main doors and made your way inside, there was practically nobody there yet except for one or two janitors it looked like. Still, you headed straight for your office once you were inside.
After arriving at your desk you packed up all your personal belongings and were about ready to leave but something on the wall caught your eye. It was a painting, a rather expensive one that Choi had given you as a welcome gift when he heard that you had a taste for impressionist-style paintings. Just looking at it made you angry so you opted to look at the other wall instead. That wall was filled with framed photos and papers, most of them relating to you in some way. One was your graduation certificate from a prestigious hunters university, a newspaper clipping from when your S-rank awakening was announced to the public, and some family photos along with ones with your friends. You took them all down and packed them up, but then your eyes landed on one last framed paper which read ‘congrats!’ at the top of the page. It was the acceptance letter you got from the Hunters Guild.
You remember vividly just how happy your parents were when you told them the news, you had gotten a good job as a hunter at one of the most powerful guilds in Korea and you couldn’t be happier. You were especially excited to be working alongside Korea’s “most powerful weapon” Choi Jong-In, to anybody else it would have seemed like a pipe dream come true. But you know better than anyone just how hard you worked to get to that point.
That familiar sting in your throat snapped you out of your reminiscence which was accompanied by the sting of tears pricking at your eyes. You quickly gulped down the burn and blinked away the possible tears as you ripped the frame off the wall and walked over to the small trash can sitting next your desk. You raised the framed paper slightly in the air and threw it in the trash. The sound of the glass protecting the paper shattering was all you heard as you walked out your office and out of the building and headed back home.
(Not sure what POV this is… but POV switches)
Choi Jong-In took a while to get the office that day. He had a couple of meetings that dragged on for quite some time, so it was rather late in the day when he finally made it back to the guild office. When he walked in he was greeted like normal but the air in the building felt a lot more tense than usual, even with him around.
“Good evening receptionist” he greeted the receptionist like normal
“Oh- uh, good evening Guild Master Choi…” the receptionist spoke nervously and it wasn’t because Choi was there, no it couldn’t be. They had been working at the guild for over a year now so they have no reason to be nervous around Choi. So what was the problem?
Choi was about to ask if something was the matter when Hunter Cha approached him from the hallway.
“Guild Master Choi.” Cha spoke with a serious tone
“Ah, good evening Ms. Cha! How are things?”
Cha looked at her boss rather nervously, but not the scared kind, more like the paranoid kind. “Good evening to you too Mr. Choi, honestly I have been better.”
“Hm? What seems to be the problem?” Choi asked her, as she wasn’t usually one to voice her feelings, nonetheless in front of others.
“Can you come with me please?”
Choi nodded in agreement and followed the blonde woman towards the elevators. Choi was about to ask her what was wrong again but she answered that before he got to ask.
“Have you seen Hunter [Last name] sir?”
Choi’s chest tightened a slight bit at hearing her question, “Not today, no. Are they not in the building?”
“No sir.”
“Have they called out sick?”
“No sir.”
“Well have you checked their office? Maybe you just missed them.”
“Not there sir, I’ve checked the entire building already.”
“What about calling them?”
“…”
The woman seemed to go silent at the last question but still continued
“They won’t pick up his phone either sir… it keeps on going to voice mail, and I believe they are hanging up the phone since it goes rather quickly.” Cha spoke that last part rather quietly.
Choi hesitated before speaking again, “Alright then, I’ll give them a call.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed your number and held the phone up to his ear.
*Beep*
“You have reached [Name] [Last name] please leave a message at the tone.”
Straight to voicemail… way faster than it would have taken for the call to ring out.
“Well that’s certainly strange…” Choi put his phone back in his pocket and put his hand on his chin as he pondered what could possibly be going on.
Maybe you just slept in and your phone was dead, or maybe you were on your way right now and your phone was dead, or you forgot your phone at home.
Choi listed reason after reason in his head as he furrowed his brows in thought.
“Guild Master Choi!” A voice called out from next to him as one of the elevators came down to the floor and opened up revealing a woman panting like she had just ran a marathon.
“What is it?” He asked the woman as he took notice of the piece of paper clutched in her hand.
“This.” She handed said paper to him while still heaving for breath.
Choi’s eyes widened in shock and honestly a little bit of fear as he looked down at the contents of the paper he had been handed.
It was a resignation letter… from you.
Cha took a peek at the paper and her eyes also went alight with shock.
Choi didn’t even think as he ran straight to your office, even going as far as to take the stairs seeing as the elevator would only slow him down. But alas when he got there and slammed open the door he was met with a completely barren office. The only things in there were the desk, an office chair, trash can, and the painting he had gifted you. Choi’s heart sank even further as he took in the emptiness of the room around him.
Hunter Cha ran up behind him and seemed to also take notice of the lack of anything in the room despite already having checked it multiple times throughout the day.
“This is their office right?” Choi asked
“Mhm” was all Cha could manage to reply with.
“Everything is gone.” He said again to no one in particular, anyone could see that the room was more empty than it should have been. As he said that his eyes landed on a glimmer of something in the trash can next to your desk. He slowly stalked forward and looked down in the trash, there was a broken frame in there but he couldn’t see the contents of it as the back was facing upwards. He reached in and pick up the broken thing, making sure to not touch any of the sharp edges. After turning it over his heart sank to the bottom of his chest as he looked at the paper that had been framed behind the broken glass.
It was your letter of acceptance into the guild.
Just then the only thought that filled his mind was of the smile on your face the first day he had welcomed you to the guild.
“I’m so excited to be working here!” He recalled you saying as you shook his hand.
But as quickly as that memory came it left as he was met with the brutal realization that this was his doing. As he remembered the argument that the two of you had the other day, if you could even call it an argument, that is. He slowly took the letter out of the frame and gripped it between both of his hands.
“Oh god what have I done.” Choi whispered to himself as he heard Cha come up behind him again.
“Sir-“ Cha tried to speak
“I need to go!” Choi rushed out of your office and through the hallway to the elevator.
“Sir where are you going?!” The blonde called out to him as he furiously pressed the button for the elevator. But he realized again that it was too slow and opted for the stairs again.
“I need to fix a mistake I made!” Choi ran down the stairwell and didn’t look back.
Later, that night
*Sigh*
You let out a heavy sigh that had been sitting in your throat for the whole day.
"Alright so, what's the matter with you?"
You were at your usual bar with your usual bar buddy; Baek Yoonho who was sitting right next to you.
"It's... been a long day." You say as you take a sip of the drink in your hand.
"Well, are you gonna tell me what happened that made it such a long day or not?"
"Mmm"
You swirled the glass in your hand for a moment while thinking about your response. Watching the amber liquid swirl around the glass in a circular motion creating a dip in the center, looking as if it was going to swallow you whole.
"I quit the Hunters Guild."
"You what?!"
You were lucky that Yoonho had just swallowed his drink or you are sure that it would have ended up sprayed across your face. He did still manage to get some spit on you though.
"I quit the guild." You repeated yourself while wiping your cheek off.
"Why? Are you retiring?" Yoonho feverishly questioned you while looking like he had just seen a ghost.
"What? No. I'm not retiring."
"Oh, thank goodness-" Yoonho let out a huge sigh of relief upon hearing that you weren't retiring from hunting. Another one of his friends, an S rank, had recently retired from the battlefield which meant that Korea was down another S rank and he wasn't sure his heart could take another friend retiring.
You continued, "I just realized that the Hunters Guild wasn't the right place for me is all"
Yoonho looked at you skeptically as you stared down into your glass like you wanted it to swallow you whole.
"Really?"
"Really, resignation letter and everything."
"Hmm"
Yoonho took a swig of his own drink before continuing.
"I guess I assumed that you were doing well over there, what with all the bragging Choi does."
"Bragging about the Guild's performance doesn't have really anything to do with me..."
You took another sip of your drink as you stared at the bar top with an unmoving expression on your face.
"No, he wasn't talking about the Guild's performance- well I mean he is always talking his stupid Guild's performance- but I'm talking specifically about your performance"
*Cough!* *cough!*
You nearly choked on your drink at hearing your friend's absurd words.
"Woah! are you okay?"
Yoonho asked while patting your back, and after your little coughing fit you asked again,
"I'm okay... but you must have mistaken his praise for Hunter Cha's, he only ever has good things to say about her, not me."
There was no way that Choi had ever said anything good about you, maybe he flaunted the fact that his guild had three S ranked hunters including himself, but even if hell had frozen over, you believed that you would never hear Choi utter a positive word about you.
You tried to go back to staring at the bar top, but Yoonho wasn't having it, maybe he has a problem with being wrong or something, you couldn't understand why he wouldn't just drop the topic.
"Nope, he was definitely bragging about you. He's always saying stuff like "Hunter [Last Name] is so awesome", "[Last Name] really pulled through with that last dungeon", "[Last Name] just has such great fire power behind all their attacks", "They make the quickest work of dungeon beasts ever,"
Yoonho had to take breath while mimicking what he heard Choi say in an overly sweet/adoring tone,
"Like I know you're a great hunter, I've seen it with my own eyes after all, but even sometimes I felt like he was exaggerating your talents."
Yoonho might seem like he's all muscle and rough edges, but he almost always knows just the right things to say and is always honest. But you still couldn't believe a word that he said.
"No way, Choi hates me!"
You argued back like you were personally offended by the idea of Choi Jong-In saying something nice about you.
"Huh, what would make you say that?"
Yoonho wasn't fazed in the slightest by your slightly defensive voice, no matter how out of character that may be for you, he was more stunned by the fact that you thought Choi hated you.
"Well, for starters, he never says anything nice to me except for the occasional "keep it up", he is constantly critiquing my skills even after flawless raids meanwhile he compliments other's skills,"
Yoonho propped his chin up on his hand while he listened to you ramble on about all the reasons why you were convinced that Choi hated you.
"For instance, one time a raid member got a nasty cut from a dungeon beast and once we came out of the gate Choi practically scolded me saying that it was my fault that the guy got hurt and that I should have been looking out more for my team, even though that was the only injury during that raid and it's not like I have multiple sets of eyes. I can only watch after so many people at once, but nooo I need to be a better team leader."
You let out a large sigh once you finished your story and waited for Yoonho to speak up.
"Huh..."
'Huh?' was that really all he had to say?
"Are you sure we're talking about the same Choi? Because whoever you're talking about sounds nothing like the Choi who I get my headaches from."
"Short red-pink-ish hair, glasses, reaches your chin in terms of height, gold rings, think he's got the best style out of all the S rank hunters?"
You listed off a bunch of things that both you and Yoonho knew would fit the description of the Hunter Choi that you both knew, while gesturing wildly at every detail.
"Yeah, that's Choi alright..."
Yoonho pondered your words while taping his chin in thought. He could hardly believe that you were both talking about the same Choi Jong-In, the way you talked about him seemed neglectful meanwhile Yoonho's description made him seem like a parent whose child just made the honor roll.
"I told you"
Was all you had to say as you took that last sip of your drink. You were about ready to order another one when Yoonho downed the rest of his glass and stood up.
"Well, if you are really sure that the Hunter's Guild isn't your place anymore then the White Tiger would be happy to have you, but you should really think hard about it. I know for a fact that Choi would be sad to lose you, and not just because you're an S rank."
Your friend's word honestly kind of stunned you but you quickly snapped back into reality as he headed towards the door.
"Good night [Name]"
"Yeah, good night to you too Yoonho"
You let out a frustrated huff once he left the bar as you stared at the ice left in your cup.
'Guess I should head home too'
You thought to yourself as you reached for your wallet and fished out the money for your drinks, setting it down on the bar top before leaving.
Even later that night
It was about 9:00pm when you looked down to check the watch on your wrist. You were currently walking through the empty garden behind your apartment since you couldn't seem to fall asleep despite the earlier drinks. The slightly warm breeze did feel really nice against your skin though.
Now the garden was empty of people not plants. Wouldn't be much of a garden without some anyway. Of all the flowers in the garden one bunch caught your eye first. A Starlette Lily or another name for it would be a Forever Susan. It's a lovely flower with six petals, the majority of each of the petals are a charcoal like color whereas the tips and edges of the petals are a fiery orange. In a way the flower reminded you of the power that Choi possessed. You leaned down and gently cupped the base of the flower in your hand as you leaned down further to take a whiff of the flower. As you did so you could hear the sound of rapid footsteps nearing,
'It's probably just someone out for a late-night jog'
You thought to yourself but as the steps got closer to you, they suddenly stopped. You stood up and turned to look in the direction of the sound. Even though it was late and you were finally starting to get a little tired all that walking you did was for not as your eyes blew wide upon seeing Choi standing across from you, panting with his hands braced on his knees like he had just ran a marathon.
You would have thought that he really was out for a late-night jog, but you knew that he didn't live nearby and he was still in his work clothes; a pair of maroon dress pants and white button up shirt along with a vest that matched his pants, and his jacket clutched in one of his hands.
*Huff* *Huff*
He was seriously panting as if he was fighting for breath,
'Where in the world did he run here from?' you thought.
Sure, Choi wasn't the most athletic since he was a mage type hunter, so he didn't have to move around all that much, but he wasn't out of shape either.
"Master Choi, what are you doing here?"
You finally asked, it wasn't that late at night, but it was certainly night and there was no way it was just a coincidence that Choi came running up to you in the garden behind your apartment, not when the parking lot was on either side of the building, not behind it.
"[L-] *huff* [Last Name] please *huff huff* don't leave the guild."
Choi managed to choke out those few words while he finally caught his breath as he was still hunched over.
Of course that's what this was about. He was here to try and convince you to come back to the guild. Hard to believe that he would go this far out of his way to try and get you to come back though. You thought he'd at least wait until morning to see if everything would just blow over smoothly. But he also didn't like taking chances and the chance of losing an S rank hunter from his guild must have made him anxious.
At least that's what you thought as you spoke up again.
"I already turned in my letter of resignation Choi. I'm done with the Hunters Guild."
Your tone gave no room for argument as Choi stood up straight from his hunched over position. The resignation letter was one thing, and so was seeing your empty office, but hearing you say that you were done with the guild... that solidified it more than anything, and it stung.
"[Last Name] I-"
You huffed out a small laugh as you cut him off and crossed your arms over your chest. In truth you were really sad to leave the Hunters Guild. The people there were nice and you were excited to work there, but enough was enough.
"I know that having an S rank leave your guild must not look very good and all, but don't you think that even this is a little much? I mean this could have been an email or at least waited until the sun rose."
You might have been chuckling a second ago, but your face lacked any semblance of hilarity.
"That doesn't matter right now!"
"Huh?"
Choi-raising his voice? Now that's new... Your stone-cold expression slightly faltered upon hearing Choi's outburst.
"I don't care that you're an S rank hunter," Choi swallowed audibly before walking up to you, to finally stand face to face with you. The determined but hurt look he had on his face made you uncross your arms and curl your fists, like it would help you not back away.
"Listen to me please. I know I've been a terrible Guild Leader when it comes to you. I ignore your skills and critique them when they don't need critiquing all while praising other hunters, I assigned you teams that I knew you wouldn't work well with and assigned you to gates that I knew were beneath you, I scolded you for getting injured instead of trying to help you, I underestimate you while expecting the impossible from you at the same time, I put others above you when you should be at the top," Choi's eyes were swelling with tears, his lips were trembling, and his voice was starting to crack but he continued to pull out a piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket that he had draped over one of his arms, "and worst of all, that smile you had on your face on your first day at the guild *hic* I haven’t seen it since... and it’s all because of me."
Tears had started to make their way down Choi's face at this point as he handed the slightly crumpled piece of paper to you,
It was your acceptance letter to join the guild.
The one you had framed and threw in the trash just a few hours ago.
You looked down at the paper. Your stone-cold expression had cracked quite some time ago and it had been replaced with one of confusion. You looked back up from the paper.
"[Name]... I am so sorry."
Your eyes softened into sorrow upon hearing the raw and choked out tone of Choi's voice as he gave you the apology you had been due.
"I know that an apology which was long overdue won't make you forgive me, and I know that I don't deserve to be your guild leader but please... don't leave without saying goodbye."
Everything had happened so fast, and all of his words had hit you like a truck. So, when you needed to speak again; your eyes started to sting, and your throat started to burn.
"Why... why now after all this time? Why did it take me quitting for you to realize my worth? And if none of this is about my worth than what is it about? I don't understand..."
Words were getting more and more difficult by the second, for both of you. Choi hung his head as he spoke.
"[Name] when I saw your empty office I didn't know what to make of it. I had received your resignation letter but seeing your office without any of your decorations or any of the trinkets and gifts you frequently got from your fans, it was too painful to bare. Not just the fact that you were gone but what I had done as well."
Now he had looked up at you and met your eyes once again.
"I always knew your worth, you're worth so much more than you could probably imagine, you're worth so much more to me."
"What do you mean?" you inclined your head ever so slightly to the side when hearing Choi's confusing words.
Choi lifted his hands and as they shook with so much hesitation, he ever so lightly grasped your forearms as he looked you straight in the eyes.
"I was scared. I was scared by how much you shined and how amazing you were, not because I was jealous but because I couldn't stop thinking about you. During your first raid with the guild, you moved so fiercely and elegantly at the same time, you had such passion in your attacks, I was so hypnotized by it that I couldn't stop thinking about it for days and nights. Haha… I even started dreaming about you. But the fact that I couldn't seem to ever get you out of my head scared me. So, I decided to take a harsh and illogical approach. I thought that if I didn't treat you fairly and I made you hate me, then the longing would go away, and my heart would stop aching every time I saw you."
Your face only seemed to twist into further confusion upon hearing the information he had disclosed.
When Choi took in your expression and was met with only a confused stare he continued.
"What I mean to say is that... I love you [Name]"
Your eyes blew wide in bewilderment as those words fell from his lips. You tried to search Choi's eyes for any sign of falsehood or discrepancy, any sign that he was lying to you, and that this was all a sick joke. But there was none.
He really did mean the words that he said.
"But I thought that you hated me?"
Choi's heart broke even more at your words, sure his intentions were for you to hate him, but he didn't actually want for you to think that he hated you.
Choi removed his glasses and placed them in his pocket and wiped his eyes before placing his hands back on your biceps and squeezing them as he let out a choked sob.
"Oh, [Name] I'm so sorry, I never hated you, and I never meant to hurt you like this… I hate myself so much, for hurting you like this."
It was now your turn to let the building tears stream down your face. And as soon as they did Choi buried his face in your shoulder as he clutched your arms even tighter.
"No [Name]…” Choi took in a large breath,
“I love you"
You stuffed the paper into your pocket and wrapped your arms around the man clutching onto you. Years of pent-up emotions being released in one night. For so long you were conflicted between hate and desire. You were unsure if you craved his downfall or just him more. He was a beautiful man and watching him fight in raids had made your heart skip a beat on multiple occasions, but you always told yourself that it was just admiration and that there was no way in hell that you would ever develop any kinds of feelings for that man. But here you are.
"Jong-In?"
"Yes, [Name]?"
You let out a sigh before speaking. The man you had hated and admired for so long had just confessed his feelings for you and it seemed like forming comprehendible words were the hardest thing in the world right now. But he had confessed his true feelings for you, and you felt the need to do the same.
"I can't say that I love you, but..."
Choi's grip on your arms tightened impossibly more as he waited for your words.
"But I can't pretend that I don't have feelings for you as well. I always thought that it was just admiration for you being such a great mage, but it I can't ignore my feelings for you, not anymore."
Choi finally lifted his head from your shoulder and his puffy eyes met yours,
"Are you saying that, you'd give me a chance?"
"Mhm."
You could only mutter out a small agreement and nod as there were no more words you could say to portray your feelings.
Choi's lips lifted into a soft smile as he accepted your response. Your lips did the same upon seeing his eyes soften and that sad expression be replaced by one of hope.
"[Name]?"
"Yes Jong-in?"
You tilted your head as he called your name and a hint of blush spread across his cheeks.
"This may be way out of line, but... may I kiss you?"
Your eyes widened slightly at hearing his sudden request but quickly returned to normal as you gave him your answer,
"Sure, why not."
Choi's lips slowly met yours in a light but warm and tender kiss as you both closed your eyes and his hands rested upon your shoulders and your hands traveled up to rest on his forearms.
Another day
You were now working at the White Tiger's Guild as you had taken Yoonho up on his offer, and with your relationship developing with Choi Jong-In you thought it best to not continue working at the Hunters Guild as neither of you would wish for your relationship and work to intertwine or interfere with one another. But you were happy this way, and the Hunters Guild had enough S ranked hunters anyway. Plus, Yoonho was super happy that his guild now had two S ranks and so Choi couldn't brag about having three whole S ranks including himself anymore.
⋅°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
