Lol I thought today was Saturday. I got my dates mixed up. Enjoy the early chapter

Cameras were almost everywhere, as a few flashes shone brighter than the lights. Everyone focuses on the group standing behind the podium, mainly zeroing in on the one taking all the questions after the speech. A few hands went up from the reporters, each waiting their turn to ask questions. Once a man, standing tall with a dark brown suit, was finally picked, he opened his mouth and asked, “Why didn’t you do more when the Lycan first appeared from the Gate?” 

It was silent as a few more flashes filled the area. Sa Changmin, the hunter taking all the questions, stared for a few seconds, thinking of a quick response. After a moment, he finally spoke. 

Blood paused the screen on his cracked phone as he walked into the slums. The slums were destroyed zones from dungeon breaks that were never fully fixed. People, more specifically, the government focused on high-cost areas, leaving the low-cost ones to remain destroyed. They have built apartments and small homes over the years, but even then, they barely amount to anything. 

Fortunately, Gates started to die out in the slums. Researchers believe that Gates are attracted to high mana areas, and since only civilians and F-rank hunters live in the slums, the mana in the area was too low to attract a Gate. No one has proven this to be true, as no one can say how Gates came to be, but the possibility was high. However, it did not mean that the slums were safe. They were far from it. 

Blood walked through the slums, pocketing his phone as he passed by the starving people. A few thugs were surveying their territory, but no one paid him any mind. One glance at him had others moving far away. He walked without a care before slipping into an empty alley. He pulled out a cylinder-shaped bottle holding a dark red liquid; glowing particles surrounded the liquid. He shook the bottle, seeing how thick the liquid was; it barely moved, almost looking like paste. 

The Queen Bee had said that the bottle contained highly concentrated A-Class mana. Blood doesn’t know nor understand how someone can get mana in a bottle and how it could be classed in this way. But he did not want to find out. Anything the Queen Bee comes up with most likely came from an unethical experiment. 

He opened the bottle and poured out the contents. Blood silently watched as the liquid seeped into the cracked ground, disappearing into the earth underneath. After a second, he pulled out a few more bottles and did the same with the others. Once he poured out everything he had, he stood there, waiting. 

20 minutes. That is how long it took for the area to grow unbearably hot. The air started to warp and reshape itself a few times in front of Blood as a Gate began to form. He watched as it slowly formed before he felt the eyes of another. He turned his head and saw two kids, dressed in rags, peeking into the alley. When they met Blood’s eyes, they started to tremble in fear, but did not move from their spots. They were most likely frozen—too scared to even think about running away. 

Blood walked towards them, causing the two kids to tremble more. They tightly held onto each other, watching the bandaged and covered man. He stopped in front of the kids, crouching. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two cherry candies and handed them to the kids. They stared for a few moments, too scared to move, but their eyes shone in temptation. Growing up in the slums, they had never tasted candy before. The younger quickly grabbed them, handing one of the candies to the older one. 

Blood watched as they slowly, but meticulously, opened the wrappers before stuffing the candy in their mouth. The candy was sweet and delicious, causing the kids to smile as they savored it. “Thank you, mister!” They simultaneously thanked. 

The kids did not question Blood’s appearance nor what he was doing in the alley. Even though they were nosy, living in the slums taught them never to question anything. So, they held back. 

“Stay in a safe place.” He told them. “This area will be busy soon.” 

The two kids nodded and quickly ran off without saying another word. Blood stayed squatting on the ground, watching the kids until he couldn’t see them anymore. He reached back in his pocket and pulled out another piece of candy. He looked down at it. 

“Hyung, look, the lady was nice enough to give me candy!” A little boy with chubby cheeks and small hands showed his gift with a bright smile that shone brighter than the sun in the sky. 

“Doyun.” Blood whispered before disappearing from his spot. 

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

The conference ended. Doyun clicked his tongue, tapping his notebook. “I want the names of all the reporters; a few of them I want to ban from coming to any of our conferences.” His team nodded and got to work. Doyun glanced at his notes and thought for a bit. The conference wasn’t a failure, but he wouldn’t call it a success. The disobedient newbie never showed up, and most of the reporters there asked “banned” questions. Changmin's answers were great, even if most of them he had to think of quickly. But the newbies, who barely had any media training, were lackluster. If the newbies were to stay on, Doyun would have to plan a media training for them. As for the one who didn’t show, he couldn’t do more since it is not his jurisdiction to say who can stay or go. He sighed, let me check through the comments and see what the people had to say. 

If the conference ended up messing things up, they could always have the main hunters of the guild hold a sexy photoshoot to distract the public. It wouldn’t be the first time Doyun had to do something like this. 

Doyun returned to his desk, getting ready to surf through the comments when Youngsoo peeked over. Even though he had bags under his eyes, he still looked lively and cheerful. “Are you going to hold onto that empty cup?” He asked as he glanced at the empty cup on Doyun’s desk. Earlier, he saw Doyun holding onto it when they gathered around the TV, and now he still held onto it. 

Doyun looked at the cup. He could throw it away, but then again, Yongsun had drunk from it. He did not want to throw away what Yongsun touched. It sounds crazy, he knows, but whoever said that Doyun was sane? 

“No. I might get some more coffee later.” Doyun shrugged, forever keeping the real reason to himself. 

“Okay. I got a message from Comfi Stride. They want to do a photoshoot, showcasing their new shoes, with Hunter Hwa.” 

“Did they remember who Hunter Hwa was?” 

“Yeah. They believe he is perfect.” Youngsoo shrugged. 

Before Doyun could respond, his and everyone’s cellphones went off. Everyone glanced at their phone, seeing that a Level Four Gate appeared in the slums. “Damn, how long has it been since a high-level Gate appeared in the slums?” Youngsoo exclaimed. 

“A while,” Doyun responded before putting his phone away. The others said nothing else about the message and went back to work because if they had seen it, the hunters would have too. They couldn’t do anything, but the hunters can. 

Hmm, maybe I should tell Changmin to head over to the Gate for some more brownie points with the public. After Doyun had that thought, he grabbed his phone once more to message Changmin. 

Changmin replied with an annoyed thumbs-up. How cute. Doyun laughed; he almost wanted to end with ‘hyung’, but held himself back. He would admit that sometimes he does call Changmin ‘hyung’ for the fun of it because he finds his reactions cute. It reminded him of when he used to ask his older brother for nails when he was little (there is a whole backstory about why his brother hated it). 

After teasing Changmin, Doyun finally put away his phone and returned to work. 

*

Doyun worked for the rest of the day, almost forgetting to eat when Changmin came to his floor in the afternoon (after he finished closing the Gate with other hunters) and forced him to eat before leaving. 

Everyone had already left or began to leave as Doyun stayed behind once more. He tended to stay behind until midnight before leaving work. Walking to the lounge, Doyun got a new cup, keeping his old one at his desk as he got more fuel. This was probably his fourth cup of coffee already. 

While he was waiting for his coffee to finish, someone walked in and caged him in from behind. Doyun didn’t tense, trusting his defense skill fully if someone wanted to hurt him. Seeing he had enough space to turn around, he did, facing the one who caged him in. Im Jin-Sang. Doyun surprisingly thought when he saw who it was. He slightly tilted his head, feeling that Jin-Sang seemed different; he couldn’t tell if it was because his aura seemed off or that he was wearing his gold glasses. 

Jin-Sang didn’t say anything as he grabbed the ends of Doyun’s hair, bringing the long green parts towards his lips as he took a whiff. “Hmm, you do smell like a garden.” 

“What?” Doyun blushed from the proximity. He barely registered Jin-Sang’s words. 

Jin-Sang released the ends of his hair and stared at Doyun with deep, intense eyes. He slipped a finger under his chin, lifting it, “Do you want to play, Lil’Vine?” 

“Play what?” Doyun questioned, his breath slightly hitched. 

Before Jin-Sang could speak, Yongsun jogged into the room, seeing the scene. He laughed, “So this is where you ran off to, darling.” He walked near them, leaning against the edge of the counter while he watched. 

Doyun glanced over, looking at Yongsun, who had arrived. Yongsun leaned closer and whispered, “Don’t pay attention to me, my darling hates being ignored when he is in this mood.” 

What mood?  Doyun wanted to ask, but didn’t. 

Jin-Sang’s grip tightened, pulling Doyun’s attention back to him, “Do you want to play?” He didn’t give Doyun the chance to answer as his lips rubbed against Doyun’s before slowly moving down his cheek to his neck. Doyun’s pulse quickened as his body shivered in pleasure from the slight touches. Jin-Sang licked his neck before harshly biting down. 

Doyun gasped with a moan, his body trembling as he shakily grabbed Jin-Sang’s arm. He looked towards Yongsun once more, who held a lustful smirk on his face. He leaned close to Doyun again and whispered, “Do you want to play, Lil’Vine?” 

He finally understood what they wanted. 

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

A few hours ago - Inside the Level Four Gate 

Jin-Sang burned through the A-Level spiders that surrounded him. He internally curled his lip in disgust as he stepped over the dead, burnt spiders. Yongsun laughed, crushing a spider under his foot as he jogged towards his husband. “Don’t use your fire too much, darling.” 

“I hate spiders.” Jin-Sang ignored Yongsun’s warning as he walked off, ready to leave this dungeon. He started running towards the Boss's room. The quicker they killed it, the quicker they could leave. He swiftly sped past other hunters, who some cursed, saying he was trying to take all the rewards. Yongsun shrugged and went to find Changmin, who had separated from them. 

If Jin-Sang ended up wearing his glasses, Yongsun knew how to deal with the change. It was the same way Jin-Sang helped him when his personality would become unhinged. I wonder if we could taste Lil’Vine again? He thought as he grabbed another spider trying to sneak above him, crushing it with his hand.