Sunny was down in the dumps—figuratively and literally. He had spent the last of his credits hiring an investigator to look for his sister, and now he was digging through trash, hoping to find something—half-eaten food, loose change, maybe even a scrap of cloth.
Well, at least he knew his sister is leading a better life, unlike her pathetic excuse for a brother scraping at the bottom of existence.
He got up from his hunched position with a groan, nothing here either, maybe he would find something near the trash at that fancy restaurant that just opened, although its closer to the nicer districts he decided that he would rather get scolded or beat than to starve.
He made his way through the alleys, carefully avoiding any people and sticking to the shadows as avoiding people was for the best, if you offend the wrong person and die, nobody will care.
He snuck his way to the nicer area; he looked at envy at the citizens enjoying lavish meals, wine glasses clicking in the artificial lights of NQSC, would he be able to enjoy such food someday?
'Don't be ridiculous, just get the scraps and leave you numbskull'
He slowly made his way to the dumpsters, careful to avoid any eyes and began rummaging, before he could find even a piece of bread to bless him he heard a door open behind him.
creeek-
Sunny froze and whipped around to find a large man looking down at him, sunny saw veins popping out of the mans head.
"You damn rats! go! out!" He shouted, the man picked up a rock and threw it at sunny "This is why customers are always leaving!"
The rock left a nasty cut on Sunny's arm, he scrambled out of the man way and bolted blindly away from the man, he ran into the light and-
WHAM
He fell over with a grunt and looked up, it felt as if he ran into a brick wall, there he saw the most two beautiful women he had ever seen, Standing tall and elegant, one had raven‑black hair, obsidian-dark eyes, and alabaster skin—her beauty was chilling and oppressive, the other had fair skin and long hair like silk that flowed down her body.
'a-an awakened...' Sunny thought, true he had never seen an awakened in his life before but even an idiot could tell at a glance the difference between mundane and awakened.
Well in Sunny's case, a full-on collision.
'Crap...' Sunny cursed his luck, he would have much rather bumped into an outskirts gang, he thought about running but dismissed the idea, if the webtoons were at all accurate awakened could simply kill him with a flick of their hand.
"Well well.. look at this adorable little thing, to think this would happen when I finally convinced Revel to step out of the cave and enjoy time with me," the fair skinned one said, she studied him and looked back towards the alley and saw the man looking at the scene with wide eyes.
The pale one, presumably called revel also studied him for a moment and asked, "What were you doing in that alley?"
Sunny was speechless, he didn't know what to do so he just answered "i-im just looking for food"
The pale woman's sharp eyes softened for a moment. "Just looking for food," she echoed quietly, as if tasting the weight of his word
Her companion studied her for a moment, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "You always have a soft spot for the lost ones, don't you, Revel?"
"Shut up Bin," Revel muttered, she turned back to him, ethereal sparks appearing near her hand forming into something resembling a clay bottle, she poured some of the liquid on his wound.
Sunny felt relief and when he looked down, he saw the wound was gone, seemingly satisfied she whispered something to the one called Bin.
Sunny was utterly at a loss for words. "Why are you helping me? I'm just an outskirts rat," he whispered hoarsely, his voice barely carrying in the quiet night air.
Revel glanced at him, her cold and unreadable. There was a long pause as she studied him, the weight of her gaze making Sunny feel both exposed" Because sometimes even rats deserve a chance," she finally said, her tone low and steady.
"You reek of despair and yet you push through, why?" Bin asked, curiosity threading through her words, she wanted to understand what kept him moving forward despite everything.
Sunny pondered the question for a moment, his mind swirling with bitter memories and hard truths. Then, a small smile started to creep across his face, "To spite the world," he answered simply.
The women exchanged a glance, surprise flickering in their eyes at his unexpected resolve. Bin's smirk deepened, a flicker of respect shining through her amusement. "To spite the world, huh? That's… admirable, coming from someone barely hanging on."
Sunny found it hard not to ogle at the two women standing before him—their beauty, their presence—so far removed from the harshness he knew. So, he looked down at the ground instead, slowly nodding, feeling a strange mixture of shame and hope.
"You need a lot more than spite to survive," Revel chuckled softly, her voice like a quiet breeze. "I find your will admirable." She took a step closer, her gaze locking onto his with an intensity that sent a shiver down his spine. "You remind me of myself."
"Say..." she paused, a playful yet serious glint in her eye. "Have you heard of clan song?"