YOU'RE A HERO IN HELL, 皇流星 。
NAME; huang liuxing ( 皇流星 )
NICKNAMES;
sable — it's the name he gained after being revealed to be the man who created the monster that terrorized seoul. in a sense, it's his alias.
xing ( sing ) — a shortened versions of his name, albeit everyone pronouced it as 'sing' rather than 'xing' but he didn't mind it.
weirdo ( and other variants, specifically the insulting sort ) — this came from the people who had shunned and bullied him prior to the sable incident. he easily could ignore the insults, though and learned to not give a single damn about it.
AGE; 25
D.O.B; 25/09/2243
ETHNICITY; korean
RESIDENCE;
current — seoul, south korea
past — hunan, china
LANGUAGES SPOKEN;
chinese ; native — born and raised in china , it's not a surprise that he was fluent in the language.
korean; fluent — due to living in korea for a long time, he had to learn the language so he could communicate with the people around him. he did maintain a slight chinese accent, though.
FACE CLAIM; kim myungsoo ( l ) ; infinite
HEIGHT 180 cm
WEIGHT 60 kg
HAIRSTYLE
slightly wavy black hair which bangs reached right below his eyebrows and the back becoming shorter as it reached the nape of his neck.
OUTFIT
he preferred comfortable but practical outfits. even in his timeline, he would mainly wear comfortable t-shirts that weren't too baggy, flexible and comfy pants which had subtle knee pads, and a long-lasting shoe that guaranteed no slipping would occur. usually, his color scheme was of the full and dark kind ( beige, gray and black ).
NOTABLE FEATURES
multiple scars all over him from wounds from the battles as he never managed to properly heal himself until he managed to gain a seal for it ( but even then it didn't perfectly heal anything, only just enough to survive ). his body also had several tattoos of his seals for enhancement ( specifically his back side ).
PERIOD OF TIME; 2243 - 2268 ( future )
THE SECOND GOLDEN AGE THE DOWNFALL
they called it the 'second golden age', when technological breakthroughs and new inventions occurred every day, scientists and the like became more important and as famous as celebrities, and traditions were fading away. it's a time when the gaps between the poor and rich get larger, the newest contraption was a must to have or else you weren't going to be cared about, and people slowly started to care less of taking care of everything by themselves as devices were made to make everything in life more convenient. historical buildings that their ancestors have fought for would even be torn down for factories, animal species grew less and less as the world shifted and humans used them to advance. it hasn't completely transformed, though. there were activists fighting to maintain the traditions, nature and more, historians and archeologists who refused to lose their jobs, and the poor revolting against the rich. on the news, it's frequent to see topics about the fights between the two sides—which ranged from passive yet aggressive debates to full on violence. it may have been known as the 'second golden age' and taught to students as such, but it had also been known as 'the downfall'—a utopia and dystopia in the making.
LIKES
– ink ( art, calligraphy, ink itself really ), history ( he enjoyed anything that came from the past to his timeline more so than present or future ), his creatures ( they were more like his family than anything else now ), nature ( it was so fresh and clean, which made him more scornful of the scientists of his time wanting to eliminate it ), peaches ( a fruit that his mother managed to keep on growing even at their timeline. he loved eating peaches and would not be afraid to snatch it when he had the time ).
DISLIKES
– humanity ( he hated himself greatly, along with the people who he knew were scums like him. and he felt sad for the poor, good souls that do exist because they'd suffer from the cruel humans that do exist ), running out of books ( he had to store his creature and seals somewhere, running out of it was simply so tedious ), rain ( rain screwed his powers over and it would be much too diffcult for him to survive in such environments ), the ink titan ( in a way, it was a representation of his vile side. it was also the cause of a massacre and he was terrified of it ), food blocks ( created in the future where eating had become more 'practical'. he had many of it, as it was portable, lasted very long, tasted exactly like what it's supposed to be ( e.g chocolate or spaghetti flavor ), and so on and so forth. but frankly, he was sick of it and would rather the imperfect homemade meals and the joy of actually eating meals )
HOBBIES
– art ( for very obvious reasons, but more specifically ink art is his most favorite ), surviving ( well, that's more of a forced situation than anything )
HABITS
– taking down notes ( he kept note of all his creatures and even demons so that he could remember exactly what they were and what their capabilities were ), flickering eyes ( he's always observing his environments just in case ), pushing back locks of hair to properly focus on things ( as his hair can get in the way of his vision at times )
TRIVIA
– he got his tattoos not too long after he became a hell's heroes member since he always wanted to get one as he found it much more convenient than to constantly draw seals on him.
– he named all his creatures and remembered all of them and which it belonged to. he also named the demons ( he liked to name them after human names like Bob because honestly, humans weren't that different from demons in his eyes ).
– would protect his book more than he would protect you. it's more precious to him unless you somehow wriggled your way into his heart which was a very difficult task.
– probably had the best handwriting in hell's heroes and was often the one taking down notes ( or the only one really ).
– was abandoned by his original family who was poor and couldn't afford to survive with him. this was why he was adopted by a chinese couple instead.
– unknown to him, he and his mother were distant relatives that had the same abilities. she noticed he had the same abilities because she actually had another ability called aura reading that allowed her to find out the person's natures, abilities, and the sort. she saw that he had the same ability and that's why she insisted on adopting him.
mature, strategic, creative, practical, perceptive
N E G A T I V E
apathetic, cynical, escapist, self-loathing, paranoid
he was a mature man—always so open-minded, understanding and reliable. he didn't discriminate and would always hear all sides of the stories before making any sort of assumptions. plus, he's a reliable person to go to when in need of assistance. especially when you needed that extra speed or the sort. he's just the sort that you know you could trust to get you out of something horrible.
he's also strategic, planning his moves and trying his best to quickly end fights. as the man who mainly supported rather than attacked head front, he tends to have the vantage point of the view and would note down the different kinds of demons in his mind and set plans for any future battle with them. he's always thinking about the steps ahead and would attempt to prevent the worse from happening.
creativity was his fuel for his abilities, without it he wouldn't be able to create such a variety of useful creatures. he's always got ideas roaming in his head of all sorts of beings and would also incorporate his creativity into his strategies to throw off the enemy with his unique scheme ( he would be the guy that would grab a snake by its throat and end of its tail and proceed to use it as a weapon ).
he tends to be practical, though. he thought of what was best for the team without taking consideration of feelings or the sort. he would be the person who understood it's better to save one hundred million people over a hundred. he knew dealing with bullies would cause more trouble so he ignored them no matter how much they bothered. he knew what was the least troublesome route, but not everyone could agree with him as their emotions interfered with their logic ( kid you not, he would teach his enemies to use their abilities for if they didn't know how to, he knew that it would cause more chaos that way—he wouldn't want a demon that's essentially a nuclear bomb to go off just because they didn't know how to use their powers. ).
he's perceptive, always having this sort of hunch that tends to be right. he's usually the kind of guy that would feel something's off with you without you indicating anything in actuality, but all he would say if you questioned him about knowing that would be that he just had a gut feeling. he didn't really point out what his instincts told him, though, as he found it rather troublesome when people kept on pestering him on how he knew because they wouldn't accept intuition as a proper answer.
apathy had become a part of him ever since the brief joyous moment of his life during the beginning had been ripped away from him. he started to care less for everything other than his ink blotches for friends and the art—everything else had just become too dull in his opinion. he didn't really have any sort of motivation until he had come across hell's heroes and gained one. despite that, he was still quite uncaring and cold. it allowed him to have a level-head in combat, but sometimes his decisions or opinions may sound a bit too cruel, especially since he would bring out the cold, harsh facts to point out that the worst ways tend to be the best one.
the cynic inside of him would always prevent him in fully trusting people or anyone and anything really. after seeing his own father being driven by selfish reasons, he ended up having lost his faith and beliefs in a person who truly was good. everyone had their own objectives and sometimes he wondered if it's really worth the time to help out hell's heroes in their battle against drekavac. he may have been the first to join haneul, but he had his own reasons for joining the guy and it did not relate to drekavac at all.
admittedly, he knew he was an escapist. the reason he was even a part of the gang had been because he wanted to get away from his timeline. not only that but his method of coping had been to rely on imaginary friends he made by using his ink creations. it's not that rare to see him talk to his book and actually smile and be kind towards it more so than anyone else. it's simply because actual people had never been kind to him and he would bluntly say that he really loathed people.
the reason he loathed himself greatly was because he knew that even he was not a good person. the monster he created was evidence that he was no saint and what he had done because of it definitely made him trash. there's not a day where he didn't consider eliminating that colossal ink beast, but he was terrified of it and couldn't help but feel it would haunt him if he even dared to do such a thing. knowing that it was a representation of the dark side of him, he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself.
finally, he was paranoid. it's what happened when you ended up in a life bullied by many others, your father wanting to use you, and having demons and people after you to end your life. it's why he's such a light sleeper now and would always be on the lookout for anything suspicious. once he felt even the slightest bit off about anything, even if it wasn't without definitive proof such as intuition, he would become more cautious and wary of his surroundings.
a baby adopted by a strange couple who belonged to different ends of the spectrum. a warm and soft lady of elegance and tradition, known to be one of the few people who still did calligraphy and having antiques of all kind in her storage room—ready to be used and always tended for. a rather eccentric man who was a scientist and having his own lab in the house along with frequently using the newest technology he could get his hands on. both had been scorned by their peers to an extent due to marrying to each other, but both had told them that they truly loved each other and dreamt of the world to reach an understanding of the beauties to both sides of the story like them.
he could remember their b innocence along with his, a difference from the harsh world they lived in now. and he would softly smile as he reminisced those moments of father goofily showing off his inventions and letting him help the man in creating the odd devices. or when his mother would let him draw with her, making him entranced by the beauty of her art.
she had also shown him how the inked paintings would move inside the canvas with her command, presenting a performance that could not be done by the world's technology. and he could still perfectly remember the words she whispered to him when no one, including his father, wasn't around in their domain.
"my sweet lotus, do not ever let anyone know—for they would take us away to a horrible place. we're not safe here, not even around your father would protect us."
第 二 .
innocence could never last long in the world, it's just never meant to live that long. he could attest to this with his parents as proof.
they would have eventually clashed, as the devious whispers from those they called friends and family would dig its teeth in them and inject a lethal poison that would break them up. he wasn't subjected to scenes of listening to them scream, or of objects breaking—it had been of tense atmosphere and sharp words to slice at each other.
it had been a severely uncomfortable moment for him, and most time he would prefer a time alone to draw inked creatures that he would talk to in whispers and watch them move in response to his liking. it had been how he coped with the silence and the lack of joy. he's not that broken, just...sad. as he looked at them and recalled memories that were now bittersweet,
it wasn't a noisy affair, and it had been calm. but then again, it has been the calm prior to the raging storm which would what make the separation painful.
第 三 .
the government's corrupted, the law was not how it was supposed to be, and even his father was a man with dirty hands. that was what he learned on that day.
to sum it up, his father had used his superior connections to allow him to gain the right to keep him, and even to the point that his mother would not be allowed to meet him anymore. but he had noticed from the way his father's hands were so white and dripping lightly with red from clenching too tightly, the voice which was tinted with anger, and the sorrowful eyes, that this wasn't exactly what the man wanted either ( well, not to this extent at least ).
it's perhaps the first he ever heard his mother raise her voice, and he could still remember accusing his father that he would never understand him the way she would. his father would have snapped, but he had simmered and grounded out a snappy comeback. there would have been points made about this part of the scenario, where they would call his mother delusional and that she was 'obviously' in need to treat her 'anger' through anger management sessions.
there's a vile taste in his mouth as he watched the grotesque battle, which had eventually been won by his father. he was not blind, and that was why he could see the poorly attempted smiles of disgusting people as they whisked his mother away from him.
the last message she had managed to convey to him through mouthing to him words had been to never show anyone what they had been capable of. it would also be the last time he ever saw her as he and his father would watch the news of her death. it had been ruled as a suicide by the police, but he and his father were sure that it wasn't.
huh, he realized that he had just lost his faith in humanity.
第 四 .
his father tried to fill in the void that was left by his mother. the man attempted to make him feel better with what the majority did—meaning technology, trendy devices, and the sort. but such items were just so dull in his opinion. it was just like a boring, mainstream tool that didn't do anything all that magical. it's common. it's normal. it's just so, so, mundane.
which was why his eyes tend to stray to the antique shops filled with old items that were such a rarity these days. or the fact that he leaned towards the side of historians and archeologists more so than he did with scientists. he would find himself still doing calligraphy and he knew his father could not bear to stop him.
he felt a bit guilty due to the disappointment and acceptance in his father's eyes when the man watched him side with his mother who wasn't even around anymore. and there's no doubt that there was this gap that occurred between them after the whole ordeal during the divorce, but he did not regret what he did.
the ink, talents, and abilities had been the only things which he could keep that was his mother's after all.
第 五 .
he's not surprised that no one really liked him in school. during elementary school, it had been quite fine, albeit many were weirded out by his lack of care towards the newest invention made. sure, he had access to it but he could really care less about it.
in middle school, people had stronger opinions and were more forceful and the sort. what's more was that for the younger generation, the scientists were who they sided with. obviously, that made him an oddity to the rest and during that age, oddity was not that acceptable.
people talked behind his back and insulted him. they called him a dog, treated him more like a dimwitted animal actually. but he learned to ignore them, to survive the day despite the other's verbal cruelty. it's at this moment of his life where he would make more creatures and made them his friends— in secret, of course.
but when he and his father moved to korea due to a business opportunity that his father managed to catch, everything had managed to get even worse.
第 六 .
life in korea had been hell. he wasn't only verbally assaulted, but the others had been even rather violent too. they shunned him, and he would suffer because of those people ( some too cowardly to oppose and others who truly meant their actions ).
of course, he ended up relying on art to cope with the situation yet again. but this time, the imaginary ink friends could only do so much. which was why he drew a monster born from his loathing, his despair, his negativity. it was large, dark and grotesque. it had muscles that bulged abnormally, hands with mouths to eat whatever it grabbed, eyes that covered its head allowing it to see everywhere, three spiked tails and wailing faces all over the other parts of its body. it's a beast that developed greatly during the time he was in korea, with him continuously adding more features to it as he felt more depressed.
he never told his father about the bullying, as their relationship had started to grew apart with each passing day. instead, he lied to the man and hid his wounds.
until one day, his attempt in maintaining some sort of peace had been thwarted. why? simple, he was the reason behind the chaos to ensue.
第 七 .
during the time of the second year of university ( which was still as bad as high school—somehow, people grew less mature as they aged ) the bullies took it too far. they had thrown his inkstone around until it smashed into pieces, along with smashing the brush used for calligraphy. these two items had been ones which his mother had used, the items which considered to be an heirloom—the final gift from his mother.
what transpired next had been brought by his emotional state and something he would want to honestly say that it wasn't intentional. but that's a lie, and he knew that.
in his hands was the book which held all his creatures. this was the book that had the monstrous being which was born from all the negativity which festered in him. and that exact vile beast had come to life.
that day, the world would witness the terrifying even they would call the first of the sable's 'inked beasts'. the black creature which terrorized korea and killed many, yet mysteriously disappears after ten minutes of its appearance. but those ten minutes had been enough to strike fear into the hearts of many and cause a huge shift to the whole world. what was that creature? how did it appear? why did it appear? unanswered questions piled up, conspiracy theorists along with scientists had given out their opinions, debates had been made, a cult called it their god, the news went crazy about it for more than weeks, and no one still could find an answer.
( but one person had the answers. he had remembered that moment clearly. a time when the inked monster had unleashed itself from the confines of his book and protected him as it decimated everything around it. it had one goal, to ruin the world in order to protect its creator. and ten minutes later, said creator would it back into his book and escape from the scene of the crime and try to forget the horrible and grotesque scenes of his creations crushing, eating and destroying humanity.
and pretend that all was fine the next day. )
第 八 .
after the event of the 'inked titan', many had considered it and whoever behind it in a negative light. this was what led to him to try his best to pretend that he wasn't there at all. pieces of evidence such as cctv or the sort had been wrecked by the monster so he thought he was safe.
but that was not the case. eventually, police managed to link him to the scene of the crime and interrogated him. and when his book was revealed and showed the same, exact monster that terrorized the city, he had become the main suspect.
that wasn't where it ended, though. as soon as news of him being the cause of the monstrosity, scientists after scientists lined up to demand answers and how he made the creature. they greedily clawed at the panel between him and them like starving hyenas finding a corpse. he's aware, though, that they wanted to use him for their 'breakthroughs'.
he denied all of their offers, though. no matter how high the amount of money they tried to give, no matter and deals they made, no matter if they could get him out—he denied all sorts of bribery.
the worst moment, though, had been when his father was one of those revolting scientists. and looking at the man at that time, he realized a bit too late on how far his father had gone down. it hurts to see a ghost of the great man his father used to be, and so he would not back down to the stranger that used to be his father.
第 九 .
his escape had caused the media to go crazy yet again. in all honesty, he did not mean to escape. seriously, a demon had come out of nowhere and assaulted him, but due to it scratching him and causing him to bleed—he managed to create one of the seals his mother managed to teach him before she died in order to increase his strength and speed and escape, breaking the seemingly impenetrable iron doors with super strength.
he also simultaneously and accidentally allowed jailers to go free when he got into the wrong room and fought with the officers inside it and also unintentionally press the 'open all doors' ( seriously, who thought of that part of the machine? ) button. this led to the demon to retreat and for him to search for his book.
luck was also on his side that day, it seemed. as he managed to come across one of the members of a cult that worshipped him. as soon as the woman saw him bleeding, she had brought him to the headquarters to be healed. he had a nice meeting with the others and he had never been praised and treated so kindly. despite the fact that they were, well, a cult, they had been the people who let him think that maybe people hadn't gotten to the deep end of absolutely loathsome yet.
第 十 .
the last year in his time had been spent on running away, living alone, fighting demons and gaining fame through not the best means ever. he's suddenly known as sable, a figure who was debated on whether to be a hero or villain. the former because he's been fighting against demons and protected many because of that, whilst the former due to the notorious 'inked titan' incident. overall, it was hectic and he wished he didn't create that monster for without it, he would have been living a rather peaceful life now.
during one of his misadventures of fighting against a demon, he managed to swoop in and save a white-haired boy. and just as he was about to escape, the other had grabbed him and transported them to an unknown area.
to be honest, he had been miffed and slightly surprised, but then again he dealt with a lot of crazy things in the past year so he shouldn't be all that shocked to see someone else with abilities. so he raised an eyebrow at the stranger and nodded his head to let the other explain why he brought him there.
"i'm ji haneul and i've heard about you and the feats you accomplished. i need your assistance to eliminate drekavac." the teen stated seriously, looking at him in the eye. he could respect the guts the boy had, but he felt that such a request required a proper deal.taking a closer look at his surroundings, though, he realized that where they were in was eerily familiar with where they had initially been. what's more, it looked...older? more, traditional? it made him wonder and he could not help but ask the white haired male about their location.
"it's not where sable. it's when." was the answer he gained, and connecting the two dots he realized that the boy in front of him could time travel.
he could possibly escape his time to a time where he had yet to exist.
he could perhaps even return to the time when everything had gone wrong and fixed everything ( albeit, this had been an idea he eliminated after thinking about it more. he would rather stick to the timeline where he knew what occurred and existed ).
so he made a deal.
"i'll join you, as long as you won't drop me off at the time i belonged in. with that, i'll join this quest of your's to eliminate drekavac." he smiled a business-like smile, eyes calculative and mind considering the next moves which would be useful for him.
his father had not been the only one to change after all.
in the case of living art, he's already prepared a book for making creatures which varied greatly. from a large bird useful for transportation to a vicious lion, and so on and so forth. albeit, all the creatures are formed out of ink and wouldn't be able to breathe out fire or any other magical sort of attacks, this was because they're beings made out of ink and not a proper body ( this allowed them to essentially be unharmed, unless on a rainy day was to occur you can bet that it will disperse back into ink or if hit by an attack that would engulf its whole form ).
on the other hand, seals were more for support and to enhance the stats of him and his allies. the way to activate a seal is to 'turn it on' by putting his energy to an existing seal ( this did not need direct contact, he just need to see it once on the target ). he could also 'turn it off', meaning there's no set time limit to seals. all that's needed is for him to have a high amount of energy. in this case, he already had the seals meant for enhancement tattooed on his body so he could be much faster, stronger or even smarter than he originally was. he could also apply the seals on others but he highly recommended to tattoo it on them since the risk of the seals getting messed up in battle is high and would become useless if smudged. there's also the fact that two seals of the same kind could be used on a single person. that means that he could, for example, put two strength seals on someone to double the enhancement. however, this wasn't the only way he could use his seals. he could also weaken, seal and more.
in terms of weakening, it's basically the opposite of enhancement and used on his enemies. of course, this was more difficult since drawing seals on enemies who didn't want it would cause problems as they would move around in order to prevent him from creating the proper seal. sealing, on the other hand, was when he puts objects inside a seal which would basically put items into a sort of pocket dimension. with this, he could lessen the weight on him and the team by putting all their items inside the seal. not only that, he could also seal other's powers in it—but unlike items which he could all stuff in one seal, he could only put one ability inside the seal. for example, if he was against someone capable of using two elements, he could only seal on of the element in a single seal.
water was also the bane of his abilities. his ink creatures would drip into nothing ( unless he solidified it, that would let it survive longer but solidifying his creatures halved the time limit of allowing it to be sentient ). it also easily damaged the inked seals, unless the ink was waterproof. also, a slight smudge or mistake to the seals would make it unusable. there's also the fact that his seals were strongest when he used ink over any other medium. using his own blood would actually be the strongest method but he would rather not unless needed to.
another thing to keep note of his seals is that the seals were not made by him. seals had already been made since long ago and had a set seal for certain actions. so, if he wanted a seal for enhancing strength—he needed to figure out what would the seal for it would look like. many seals had already been made and he had to research endlessly to form the right exact seal. fortunately, these seals weren't too complicated in design ( unless it was sealing of abilities ).
also, once his ink creatures disappeared due to an attack that managed to do so, it's permanently gone. this was why he had to frequently draw during battle, which would end up in creating weaker creatures as he had quickly made them ( creatures that were well developed and drawn were much more stronger ). he's also rather wary of creating horrendous creatures after the last incident he had with one of it. unfortunately for him, those sort of monsters that were greatly fueled by his emotions were the strongest kinds.
finally, without his seals or ink creations, he's practically useless. he's not naturally gifted in combat, but his seals made up for what he lacked.
one thing that he could develop on would be his seals. sealing has endless capabilities and even now he had a seal for healing ( albeit, it only seals scratches and deep cuts and the like ). he could gain seals that could burn, poison or to make the target heavier or lighter. it's just that his seals only allowed him to affect the target ( so if he puts a burn seal on a person, they would feel a burning sensation but not burst into flames—on the other hand, if he puts a burn seal on paper it would burst into flames since it's easily flammable ).moreover, he's going to focus a lot on healing seals as well once he realized that there's not even a healer in their team. as he's capable of doing many things with his seals, and have used healing seals before ( albeit htey only could handle minor wounds as of now ), he figured that he might as well figure out more of such seals so they have a better chance of survival.
also, once he grew to master his ink manipulation more ( so that he wouldn't only be limited to his creatures ), he could perhaps form the seal on air by manipulating the ink to the form of it and basically launch it at his target rather than getting on them and attempting to draw it on their moving forms ( still difficult against those that moved, but better than to draw on them ).
he saw her lack of courage and worries as a double-edged sword. as a man filled with suspicions, he considered her constant fear and worrying as a way for her to understand her position and not to do something incredibly idiotic in battle. but at the same time, cowardice could make her do the opposite. he wished for her to reach the right amount of it but knew that may be a bit too much to ask for. her loquacious nature was always responded with short replies for him as he's always putting all that he wished to convey in the shortest way possible. he's one of the only ones who could deal with her comebacks as he's not one to be phased by such things. during battle, as a support type person, he probably always made sure he had the seals on her so her horrible stats could be raised into a better state (hooryeong could at least take care of herself due to her spirits but yoonyoung only got precognition that would be helpful in strategising—possibly for offense, defense and the like too if she didn't lack so much physically in that department ).
another bright soul in the group, but also the one that truly motivated him to join in hell's heroes. after all, to be able to get out of his timeline was honestly a blessing to him. but haneul himself was quite the opposite to him. the other was goofy and carefree, whilst he was serious and paranoid. sometimes they had clashing opinions, especially since he was ready to drop the others if it meant a better chance of survival whilst the other would rather have everyone survive as long as possible. he found haneul foolish, but he tried to get along well enough. he needed haneul after all.
sehun may be great at lying but all words were to be doubted in his opinion ( truths can be lies as lies can be truths, it simply depended on the true, full story ). plus, his instincts told him to keep a closer eye on sehun and nova. afterconstant observations, and the fact that he was from the future too ( albeit one that wasn't as advanced yet ), he managed to piece the puzzle together. he was suspicious of them and found nova's rebellious and reckless attitude troublesome ( they had one already, so why did they have to get another? ) but after the realization he was a tad bit more nicer to the girl. perhaps it was because she wasn't fully human, but what's more important to him was that if her discovery of the truth would cause problems or not ( who was he kidding? it was definitely the former ).
jeongwoo was too affectionate and rowdy for his tastes, as he was a more solitary and introverted person. the constant defiance of order the kitsune tend to do had also caused him to be a tad bit irritated, more so when it occurred in a serious situation ( never angry, though, but if he ever did get furious he'd call him by 'jeongwoo' rather than 'jace' ). the others morbid nature didn't go unnoticed by him too and he suspected that under those bright smiles and enthusiasm was a monster ( just like him, no one was pure—everyone had monsters, it just depended on how grotesque it was ). he did point out a few times that he knew but never bothered to delve in deeper since he didn't feel it was worth it enough. on a more positive ( ? ) note, he considered jeongwoo one of the best among the hell's heroes to interrogate enemies.
demetri was someone he didn't mind ( but that didn't make him stop being skeptical as per usual ). he admits that he was a man that would take advantage of people when the situation called for it but as he didn't have an exact goal except to get haneul to transport him to a time prior to his, he didn't really need to take advantage of her. so he saw her as alright. if he managed to get closer to her, he'd be slightly unsure how to return the sincerity and kindness of her's, probably through helping her out when she needed it but still—he's so unused to the good parts of people and would still regard her as someone to be suspicious of ( the good-hearted reminded him too much of his parents—one who eventually died and the other who eventually succumbed to the vileness of the world ).
if there was anyone who could most likely figure out what kyungwon's thinking, it might be him. sometimes he just noticed the telltale signs of a certain emotion, other times he just had a feeling due to his intuition. he had been caught off guard by the other's shameless attitude at first— but the second time it happened he had gotten used to it. and as a fellow apathetic person, he wasn't bothered by the other's blunt remarks. he did find kyungwon's pride troublesome in certain situations, though. also, he's rather exasperated by the gas manipulator's constant need to adopt strays. kyungwon was also rather fond of his ink creatures as they did closely resemble animals, something he saw as a liking towards his art at least.
like yoonyoung, seongjin was someone he provided a lot of his seals too. he's also sort of a cheat code in need for seongjin in case the other would come into a case of overloading ( by putting weakening seals on his senses ) and in terms of fighting ( better agility, strength and the sort ). he understood that seongjin would rather put effort to improve than to totally rely on his seals, though ( especially considering that having too many seals going on would exhaust him ). and he frequently found himself and seongjin gathering information on the demons and other important facts that may be valuable for future operations. plus, seongjin was intellectual and calm, something he could appreciate to have around as an ally.
he remembered when he first met her. she had been one of the latest additions to hell's heroes, and by far she was the brightest and kindest among them. demetri was a kind soul, but fueled by vengeance. yoonyoung lived quite the normal life too, but not as naive as her. in all honesty, seeing her reminded him painfully of his mother. it ripped open an untreated scar on his heart, and he just knew the world was ready to break her. after all, she got involved in this.
the demons had attacked the girl due to the fact she did have powers, and whilst the others focused on tackling the demons he dove in and took her into his arms whilst he was on his ink bird creations so he could bring her further away from the creatures. initally all that mattered to him was to keep her safe but taking more glances at her reminded him of his mother.
after the battle, there came the problem of whether she should stay or go with them. there was nothing they could do really, whether she stayed behind in her time, her world or came with them to demundo to defeat drekavac—she got involved with demons, gruesome murders, and more vile things. he vouched for her to go with them actually, for he noticed that she wasn't skilled enough to do anything as of now, however with them they could help let her powers grow and she could become a valuable asset of the team.
surprisingly, he didn't note the admiring gaze of her's. or how she seemed to be having an obvious crush on him, but how could he even think someone like her—or anyone really—would have a crush on him? he's simply trash. but after more moments where he really started to take notice of her behavior, he came to a slow realization that she may have feelings for him. it honestly made the frigid man pause and confused, because how was he to handle this? she was sweet, pure, and bright like sunshine. a summer of warmth and light, a kindness and goodness that's bound to suffer during this event. whilst he was a vile scum, nothing but trash. a cold, dead winter that was tarnished by the world over and over again, a kindness and goodness that was already shattered to pieces even before this situation.
yet, even if a part of him wished to not deal with her (
and if the time comes, well, there's too much broken souls—they could do with one less but they can't do without losing another kind soul ( he vowed that this time, he'll die protecting someone rather than take lives or be incapable of saving them ).
(
"maybe." that spoke a lot, it meant that he would but at the same time, he probably wouldn't. it showed that no matter if he was in hell's heroes for quite the long time already, he didn't think of it that worthy enough to immediately sacrifice himself for it. he didn't have that close of a connection to them and he would only sacrifice himself in the case that he had a surefire way to seal drekavac away—which he did not. but he did not say such things as he knew how troublesome it would be to deal with the rest if they disagreed with his ideas.
in an instant, he remembered his mother. then he would recall the moments when his family had been peaceful and joyous. but the practical side of him coldly pointed out how if none of that happened, he wouldn't exist anymore. well, this kind of him at least. "no. it's not worth it to face the consequences. perhaps, it would have been better if so and so happened but you never know...things could end up worse instead."
happy or sad, that was the question. in a way, he'd be happy because it was over. no more demons stalking him and he could live a peaceful life, plus he could get haneul to send him to a timeline previous to his original one. but would he be sad? he's not exactly sure, in all honesty. there were just too many elements to the question. he didn't think it'd be possible to get attached to his fellow members to be sad over them seperating, but rather the fact that even if he's away from his timeline everything would be over. he would have nothing else to do and it's just be him back to a solitary life. and he's very sure he'd still remain paranoid even if it was all over.
so happy or sad? he's not really sure. so all he could answer was "not sure, but i'll tell you when it's over." nonchalant, short, and most definitely not a promise. this was what he decided to say in the end.
"that depends." he answered before giving out his explanation. "but first, if they betrayed us to side with the demons, then we could get intel from them. this meant we need to interrogate them in order to gain information that might end up vital for us. maybe we could send them back in to work as our rat and if they're lying to us or backstabbing us we could easily kill them. but if you want to make them suffer i say cut off their tongue, it's more excruciatingly painful than death."
a happy ending, huh? he remembered that to the childish him of the past, it would be what he heard from fairy tales. but, now, what was his happy ending? well, that's easy to answer. after all, there was only one thing he was after this time. and that was freedom from a time that he knew that he could not survive long enough when the whol world wanted to take him and tear him up to unfixable pieces. so he kept it short and truthful, yet leaving ot the details and reasoning. "to get away from my timeline for good."
– him suggesting they all get tattooed with the seals so all he had to do is 'turn on' the seals.
– one time he had to unleash ( or maybe he accidentally unleashed it again ) the inked titan and he had never panicked so much before. it's probably the most scared any of them had seen him too. they'll find out a bit of his past through this.
– the reason haneul knew him was because the tale of sable managed to live that long and that's why he went to his time period to find him.
– despite how dark this story is, i'd just like to see a brief moment when all is peaceful and you could see them all relaxing a bit. just a short break.
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