Jin-Woo watched the elevator doors unseal themselves and open. The upper floors revealed themselves as he stepped out along with Ch'en, noticing the change in lighting going from fluorescent ones to more luminescent, bathing orange lights. The same could be said for the atmosphere, where a warmer tangerine hue suffused the air rather than a yellow one.
The flooring and tanned wooden walls were in a traditional style, with Eastern dragons plastered upon them. It looked to him to be some style of chinoiserie, but he hadn't been to other parts of Asia or learned many things relating to different cultures to fully grasp what they were.
Their footsteps echoed very softly against the interior, resonating a rather calm tone. Well, for himself it was relaxing, though he wasn't wholly sure about the L.G.D. Superintendent who always looked like she had something on her mind.
Then, from the corner of his eye, Jin-Woo spotted somebody who sported a flashy outfit. She had her hair in dual tornado braids, tiger-like ears atop her head, a tiger tail, a cap atop her head angled in a way that one ear was covered whilst the other was shown, jacket hung over her shoulders, a one-piece business pencil skirt with a white blouse underneath, and a pair of transparent black stockings.
...That was not counting the many other intricate decorations that completed her outfit's ensemble.
The animal characteristics no longer surprised him. If anything, he had already come to expect it from this planet's people. In a way, they were like humanoid Magic Beasts.
Or... Should he even say that? Was that a form of dehumanization he had unintentionally used?
I should watch myself.
Ch'en's surveillance instantaneously turned toward the tiger lady with an acerbic scowl. Practically the same expression was reciprocated back to her, the two approaching each other with an antagonistic ambience following them in their wake.
Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow when Ch'en and the blonde-haired woman stood in front of each other and started conversing—correction: arguing from what he could tell—in Lungmen's native language. He didn't understand a word, but just by hearing their tone of voice and tangible passive aggressiveness, the black-haired man concluded that...
They must really hate each other.
Whatever the specifics of the drama they possessed against one another, he honestly could not care much about. There was still the looming presence of 20 S-Rank Gates dangling a metaphorical noose over his head, and overall, it was not his place to butt into whatever business they were involved in.
The two continued to bicker for a short while, before the blonde-haired woman seemed to have noticed his presence.
She pointed to him, Jin-Woo assuming she was asking who he was.
Ch'en responded in Victorian, "Sung Jin-Woo. He can't speak Lungmenese."
Something seemed to click in the blonde-haired woman's mind. "Ah! He's the one I sent Mei to translate for you, right? That fellow who got put all over the news?"
"That's me," Jin-Woo said in 'Victorian'.
"I wouldn't have expected to get released with who you've got handling you." Swire half-motioned to Ch'en. "The details regarding you weren't quite bright, to say the least."
"I know. I'm here to explain the Gate." He decided to keep it short and concise. That's all she needed to know.
"Gate? What's he talking about?" The blonde-haired woman asked, pivoting a certain person's way.
"The current phenomenon covering nearly two entire Districts, idiot." Ch'en elbowed her. "Can't you catch a clue?"
"Oh, so-rry!" she exaggeratedly said. "I didn't know we had a designation for that thing now. Would have been nice if you informed the panicking channels right now." She tapped her communications device, a hand-held radio attached by her waist.
"Ugh, just forget it. We have a meeting." Ch'en placed a hand up in front of her. "Sung, this is Beatrix Schwire, if you didn't know already. She goes by Swire." She spoke with a miffed demeanor, the other now-named woman—Swire—crossing her arms with an indignant huff.
"I could have done introductions myself." It was like the tiger lady just had to have something to say in response.
Jin-Woo didn't have much to say other than, "Greetings. It's nice to meet you."
Swire sighed. "Talk about a heavy accent, but I don't mind. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sung." She reached a hand out, shaking his own. "Hope Little-Miss-Conceited dragon over here wasn't too rough."
Ch'en flinched. "You—!'
"She wasn't," Jin-Woo responded quickly before Ch'en could escalate in retaliation to Swire's comment. "She was very nice." It was a lie through and through, no matter how one would spin it. He just didn't want to deal with any more hazards.
Swire chuckled. "Sure. You're a pretty humorous guy."
"Thank you," he replied with his South Korean accent-laden Victorian.
They broke hand contact, Ch'en providing no comment.
"Now... I think we should go to the meeting?" Jin-Woo suggested afterward.
Ch'en nodded, saying, "Took the words straight out of my mouth. Thankfully, we're not too late."
"Yeah, thankfully," Swire agreed, even if there was a bit of sarcasm ingrained within her tone.
The group of three began walking, with Ch'en begrudgingly filling in the details about Sung Jin-Woo to Swire, and vice versa; providing small details about who Beatrix Schwire was to Sung Jin-Woo.
From what he understood, the blonde-haired tiger lady was a polished rich lady, being the daughter of an exceedingly wealthy conglomerate that had ties within Lungmen and Victoria, along with a myriad of other places. Why she was in the L.G.D., a law enforcement occupation, escaped Jin-Woo's understanding, but he wouldn't question it.
Based on her personality, and ignoring the variable that was Ch'en Hui-chieh, Swire was an amiable person. Definitively, she was generally much friendlier than the former, even though she knew that he was the person who got caught on 4K media cameras for trespassing in police-regulated areas.
"You're quite a looker, you know?" Swire suddenly said.
"...Thanks?" Jin-Woo responded. "But it's nothing much. I didn't come for compliments." For South Korea's beauty standards, somebody like him would be somewhat ordinary in the heavily saturated beauty market.
"Eh? There's no need to be so humble, take some pride in your appearance." She tapped her knuckle gently against his back.
"Quit flirting with him." Ch'en pursed her lips.
"Come on, I was just giving some praise. Is it that serious?" Swire exasperatedly said. "Maybe that's why nobody wants to hit it off with you."
Jin-Woo zoned them out, thinking back to the beauty standards of not just South Korea, but Earth in general. Awakened individuals, to put it lightly, on standard more beautiful or handsome compared to those who weren't. The notion rang truer when the subject came to A-Rank and S-Rank Hunters, with some exceptions being Yuri Orloff of Russia, but he was only a minority of the majority; being a raging alcoholic.
Biological theories suggested that Awakened people were reaching the possible 'peak' of what their bodies would be like. That meant strength, speed, durability, reaction time, memorization, and of course, appearances. There were also psychological theories which suggested that Awakened people were molded by what they personally credited to be a high beauty standard.
There was also a popular joke that beautiful people had a higher chance to become a strong high-ranked Hunter upon Awakening, causing many... meems? Menes? He forgot the term, but it sounded like 'gene' but with an 'm,' being circulated across the internet.
Jin-Woo scratched his head, just realizing how behind he had been in regards to social media platforms which had been surfacing in recent years. His sister would probably know a whole lot more than he did.
In due course, they reached a door matching the same embellishments as the walls around them, a horned woman wearing a Japanese-styled dress stood waiting at it. She looked to possess more animal characteristics than anybody else Jin-Woo had seen, with fur covering her skin rather than just having ears and tails.
His thoughts?
She feels like royalty.
Once again, they transitioned back to Lungemite, the black-haired man completely losing the flow of their conversation. All he could tell was that Swire and Ch'en had immediately straightened up, acting with a far more courteous etiquette.
The turnaround almost begot a raised brow from Jin-Woo as he could have sworn he saw Ch'en smile and chuckle at a comment Swire made in front of this new
What...?
Their affability to one another was neither candid or sincere in any proportion. Even he could tell, in spite of his status as a foreigner, that they were acting hilariously fake with one another. It was then he realized that they were only acting like they liked each other because of the woman in front of them.
From the looks of it, Ch'en and Swire have good relations with that Japanese... Who is she? No, that doesn't matter.
He shoved those thoughts to the side.
They're almost intimate with her, to the point where they'd put past their grudges. The notion rang especially valid for Ch'en, speaking more softly than he could have ever expected from the Superintendent. Just who is she? A relative?
The enigmatic woman eventually turned his way, with Swire and Ch'en stepping to the side. She approached, and then shocked him when she spoke.
"Hello, you must be Sung Jin-Woo, correct? My name is Fumizuki," she spoke Korean.
"You can speak Kore—Danese?" Jin-Woo replied back in his native language, eyes seldom widening.
"Why yes, it is a part of my repertoire. Though, I don't believe I can say I am wholly fluent in your mother tongue," Fumizuki respectfully said.
Not fluent? The woman was obviously downplaying herself to a considerable degree, but Jin-Woo didn't care, he finally had somebody he could coherently speak with!
Jin-Woo cleared his throat. "No, it's completely fine. And, ah—to answer your first question, yes, I'm Sung Jin-Woo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fumizuki-nim."
She smiled and bowed. "The pleasure is all mine, Sung-ssi." Before exiting from her bow. "I hear from Hui-chieh that you have an explanation for the recent strange occurrences in Lungmen?"
"I do." He nodded.
"I must thank you, your help would be much appreciated in these turmitious times."
"It's just my job."
"An intriguing way of putting it," Fumizuki voiced. "Then, let's not let this moment pass us. Come on along, now."
Fumizuki stepped and reached for the door handle, turning it whilst Jin-Woo, Swire, and Ch'en stepped out of the way. The latter two had looked upon the two's conversation with piqued interest, but he knew that they didn't understand a single word exchanged between him and Fumizuki.
The three then entered the room, Jin-Woo being the last to pass the border between the outside and inside.
The interior was no different from the hallways leading up to it, but the decorated plasters looked a lot more complex in comparison, with a far more lustrous sheen he could see shining off their surface.
Ch'en and Swire stepped to the side after a small greeting who Jin-Woo knew to be Wei Yenwu, Fumizuki guiding them. Ch'en explained something to the aforementioned man, a literal anthropomorphic dragon who bore the same beastial quantity as Fumizuki.
In turn, his gaze turned his way, and Jin-Woo discerned his features.
He has a formidable presence.
A pipe was held in the Chief Executive of Lungmen's hand, steaming from what he assumed to be opium given the historical implications that would have carried onto this world; given the 'alternate universe' aspect of this world.
Of all worlds he could have been sent into, he was at least glad it wasn't a completely alien realm.
"Sung Jin-Woo," Wei said in 'Danese'. "I have heard from Superintendent Ch'en that you have to your knowledge the particulars of Lungmen's recent phenomenon? After all, you've entered one, haven't you?"
"You've seen me on the news?" Jin-Woo replied, taking note of the connotative aspects brought on by his last statement.
"I have," Wei stated matter-of-factly.
"Then you should know I've entered hundreds of them, not just a single one," Jin-Woo stated matter-of-factly himself. "If you want to know everything about that Gate..."
The two stared at each other, Jin-Woo placing his hands in his coat's pocket, his low-dim eyes shining an argent glow laced with a light cerulean.
"...Then I'll make the explanation quick."
All gazes were turned on him, and it only reminded of how much he hated being in predicaments such as these.