When he awoke, his body ached.

  Youngho shivered as his body slowly recognized the sub zero temperature of his environment. But it was more than that, almost as if the cold had invaded his body.

  Slowly, he rolled onto his chest and tried to push himself up only to tumble back down again. It took a second for him to realize the reason. His left arm was gone.

  The memory of what just happened played like a broken record, skipping frames and leaving him confused. But one thing was clear, he had attacked Jinyoung. The stranger had interfered. And then…

  If not for the pain, the shame would’ve been enough to defeat him then and there. But the pain was a reminder that he wasn’t alone. And arm or no arm, his children needed him.

  Getting up on his feet was a delicate process. He took for granted just how much he used both arms, if not actively for the strength they provided then for balance.

  Youngho took a deep breath and felt his shoulder. The cut was clean and… cauterized?

  But there was no sign of a burn. In fact, the skin was deathly cold and only starting to warm up from his own body heat.

  “Shut up!” A voice shouted. The voice was undeniably Hana’s.

  His head swiveled to look for the source of the cry. The lab was in shambles, worse than he remembered. The stranger was fighting… something. But instead of engaging, Hana and Jinyoung stood apart from the battle. He couldn’t make out all the words, but he could guess. Youngho had expected this for some time. He just hoped it would take place somewhere calmer.

  Beyond the siblings, the armored stranger he himself had fought against was struggling against a new opponent.

  Slowly, he walked up to Willow who stood in disbelief.

  “I need you to head back to the control and look for a way to disable the gate, Willow.”

  “But sunbae and-”

  Youngho waved a hand. “The control room needs looking at, I’ll take care of these two.”

  “Jinyoung, you wouldn’t understand. He is my husband. And you’ve never cared about any of us enough to come close to knowing how I feel.”

  He winced. Hearing his daughter speak those words hurt almost as if they were directed at him.

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  In response, he saw Jinyoung’s face go still.

  But Youngho knew better. He’d seen that expression when the boy was still a child. He saw it less as he grew older, but only because Jinyoung had grown better at hiding his emotions. Seeing it on him now broke the old man’s heart.

  Hana’s sword was level with her brother’s neck.

  Her hand didn’t shake from the weight, she was too experienced for that. Too well taught and too well trained.

  “Oh, darling,” he whispered. “This isn’t what you want to do.”

  He tried to make his voice as reassuring as possible.

  Slowly, he moved between the two of them until the sword was level with his own neck as well as Jinyoung’s. For his benefit, the boy made no move to leave or disarm Hana. And he didn’t speak.

  “Darling, this isn’t the way.”

  Gently, he placed his hand on the blade and slowly pushed it down until it was safely at her side. Then, he took Hana’s sword in his own hand and, without looking, handed it back towards Jinyoung.

  ***

  He looked at the sword Youngho held out to him. Then he looked up into his sister’s eyes.

  In that moment he realized what they were asking of him.

  Jinyoung took the sword with two hands and cast a final glance at the two of them before turning around and [dashing] into the fight.

  Even as he moved to close the distance, he saw the armored stranger take two direct hits in succession. One swipe from Seunghyo’s inhuman claws across the chest and a follow-up kick that knocked her back.

  Jinyoung didn’t hesitate. He [charged] and moved in close before swinging his Hana’s sword with all his might.

  But he misjudged. Hana used a short sword unlike his own bastard sword. The length was considerably shorter, enough so that Seunghyo leaned back and let the sword pass harmlessly by.

  With his arms swung wide, Jinyoung had left himself completely open. He tried his best to bring the sword back to center to present some semblance of defense, but it was too late. Seunghyo brought his head forward into a wicked headbutt that caught Jinyoung in his head. The pain was intense, so much so that he didn’t even feel the kick that landed on his chest and sent him hurtling backwards.

  For a moment, Jinyoung thought he had been blinded before he realized that he had just received a head wound that was bleeding profusely. Before Seunghyo could follow-up with a deadly finish, the armored stranger pressed him back with a swing of her spear giving Jinyoung a short respite.

  “A headbutt,” he muttered to himself.

  That wasn’t normal. For monsters or for Seunghyo.

  [Details]

  Monster: SIN S3u&ghy0

  Recommended level: -7

  Attributes: SIN, FR-$TBITE (immune)

  Weaknesses: FIRE

  “Monster,” he read aloud. The [scan] had changed again.

  Whether Seunghyo was in there or not, there wasn’t anything they could do to save him. The best they could do now was close the gate and get out of here.

  With Willow out of the fight, there was nothing they could do to exploit his weakness. That meant they’d need to fight Seunghyo head-on and defeat him. But with Youngho severely injured and Hana in her current state, that left Jinyoung and the stranger alone to deal with him.

  Jinyoung pushed himself to his feet and shifted his grip on Hana’s sword.

  For a brief moment, he remembered the last time he had taken Hana’s weapon.

  “Let’s hope things work out better than they did then,” he said to himself.