Chapter 54: Avatars
Dan Woo sat in the hotel suite he had just booked for himself and his sister, gazing at his system and appreciating the new tab that had appeared as the third point.
He now had three tabs.
The first was the Character Tab, which currently contained three characters. Well... could Bai Chen and Bai Qian really be counted as two separate characters when they had come as a set?
No.
They should probably be counted as one character.
So, technically, the Character Tab contained three characters.
The second was the Incarnation Tab. It currently had one entry: the Sanctifier and Redeemer. Yet it seemed that another incarnation was slowly taking shape as well, because the familiar question mark had already begun to form.
And finally, there was the newly unlocked Avatar Tab.
The Avatar Tab had two entries, but there was something new Dan Woo had learned about it.
At least one of the avatars required him to be Cha Hwa Rim in order to unlock it.
Following Cha Hwa Rim’s path led him to her only avatar—the one connected to Kim Jin Ha, marked as 1/1.
The other avatar was connected to Kim Soo Won.
It was the avatar tied to her True Name, the very thing that had allowed him to locate her in China.
That avatar had two slots.
And both of them were already occupied.
2/2.
Dan Woo still wasn’t sure why.
What puzzled him even more was that he needed to equip either Bai Chen or Bai Qian in order to actually use those avatars.
He didn’t understand why.
He didn’t understand how.
But, for now, he could only be grateful.
Through this strange method, he could sustain his sister even beneath the light of the sun. More importantly, it gave Kim Soo Won an anchor to the physical world.
An anchor that wasn’t simply Bai Qian.
Dan Woo was grateful for Park Hyun Bin’s help. If it hadn’t been for him, he wouldn’t have had any concrete information that could help him anchor his sister’s name or establish a connection through an avatar.
He let out a quiet sigh and turned away from the system.
It was time to make dinner.
He didn’t want to rely too much on the hotel’s food choices. For one, he preferred Korean meals to Chinese ones. But there was another reason.
He wanted to give Kim Soo Woo another anchor.
Something that could help her break away from the character of Bai Qian—the identity she seemed to believe, especially during the day, was who she truly was.
He wanted to help the character of Kim Soo Won, his actual sister, break through all that accumulated loss of meaning.
So Dan Woo went into the kitchen and began preparing dinner.
Not long afterward, Kim Soo Woo slowly walked out of her room in the family suite after washing up. She made her way to the table and quietly sat down across from her brother.
Dan Woo looked at her.
For a brief moment, a faint light sparkled within his eyes.
She was lucid.
Even if only for a moment.
His sister had returned.
"So you said we are here on a vacation?" Kim Soo Won asked as she approached the busy Dan Woo, ready to assist.
"Yeah. Just a couple of siblings. There are some great sights here in Hubei. We can go visit them tomorrow." Dan Woo said with a cheerful face that really didn’t reach his heart, as he was once again reminded that when the sun rose tomorrow, there wouldn’t be Kim Soo Won in front of him, but Bai Qian, a Golden Core cultivator from the Canglan Continent who was a fish out of water in the modern world.
He really couldn’t understand why this was happening.
"Great. Maybe I can come up with a piece. I heard there are some great pieces of attractions. Maybe I can write a score to express the—"
"No... No work, please. We will just be enjoying ourselves."
Dan Woo couldn’t help but cut in.
From what he had gotten from the little information about Kim Soo Won’s situation, whenever she sat down and composed music, she was somehow channeling her Meaning into it, draining her memories, health, and even physicality.
She had gained the amazing ability to compose the greatest pieces ever to be conceived through the authority of Creativity and Imagination. Yet there was a catch.
She was only a human who had no way to work with concepts like Ascendants or Anomalies could. This was leading to her being devoured by the concept she was channeling.
He wasn’t sure who or why this was happening, and why his sister could only exist under the Red Moon, but he had a hunch as he remembered the conversation he had with that person in that painted world.
Was this what they meant by choosing which sister was to be saved?
His mind immediately went to Cha Ha Rin.
Was she also slowly being consumed by the same authority of Creativity and Imagination?
No.
Dan Woo convinced himself otherwise.
After all, Cha Ha Rin wasn’t a regular human. She was a shaman, so she wouldn’t be consumed, would she?
He could only hope she wouldn’t be too bad.
He was now regretting giving her own space, as he wasn’t sure what consequences they would be dealing with when suddenly—
A guttural scream broke his train of thought as a slap met his face, making him lose his composure.
The sight of shock, horror, and disgust climbed upon Kim Soo Won’s face.
Dan Woo could only sigh as he slowly picked himself up, ready to coax Kim Soo Won, ready to remind her that he was her brother.
"Calm down, unnie," he began. "It’s me. Kim Jun Han."
But she wasn’t hearing any of it.
She had already become defensive as she headed over to the kitchenette, taking up a knife and readying herself to defend herself.
Dan Woo could only sigh.
Before he began channeling his Meaning into a new authority he had found out he had recently gotten.
Though, for some reason, he had to become Cha Hwa Rim for it to work.
So he wore her mask, tuned into the authority of Dreams, and used it.
The flabbergasted Kim Soo Won could only stare as she watched a man suddenly turn into a woman before her eyes.
And then—
She was knocked to sleep.
Dan Woo soon enough removed the mask of Cha Hwa Rim and just sat there, looking at the unconscious Kim Soo Won before once more turning to his system panel and looking towards the evaluation.
[Character Name(s): Bai Chen and Bai Qian]
[Portrayal: Very Good]
{Performance Tension: B+}
[Character Essence: A+]
[Presence Consistency: B-]
[Line Delivery and Authenticity: A-]
[Physical Embodiment: B+]
[Evaluation: B+]
[Reward: Pending]
[Domain Projection Available. Domain Integration Available. Would you like to project and integrate this domain?]
[Y/N]
As usual, he needed to get in contact with his domain to get any reward.
He could only hope that the reward would help his situation, but he was unsure if he should accept this. Usually, it was Domain Expansion Available. Today, however, it was Domain Projection and Integration.
What did that mean?
And why was it so different?
Was it because he was in China and not in Korea?
Or was it because he had played characters that weren’t from Earth, like his previous characters? Did that mean something else?
And what did that mean overall?
Would a vast domain be projected?
He felt hesitant, but then he remembered his sister’s situation.
Maybe he should just accept the domain and deal with the aftermath afterward.
The reward provided might give him a solution that went beyond supplementing Kim Soo Won’s Meaning with his own.
He was ready to click the Y button when suddenly, a thought came to him.
What if this allowed the mysterious person a backdoor to find his sister again?
He wasn’t sure, but he felt like the mysterious offender was someone who was very familiar with his domain and abilities.
At first, he thought it might be the Butterfly or someone close to it, but now his head was heading in a different direction.
No.
He couldn’t take the chance.
Dan Woo looked towards his unconscious sister, walked over to her, carried her to her room, tucked her in, and closed the door.
He then went back to the dining area to have dinner as he contemplated what he could do.
When suddenly—
A message flickered to life on his screen.
It was a message from Park Hyun Bin, his costar from My Eternal Knight.
"Hey man, did you find your sister?"
Dan Woo read the text as his mind churned through all the experiences he had undergone—from forming his shadow at that sea of thoughts, to tracing through all she could before finding a link to her, before physically having to travel to China, to the point that he was able to find his sister, half-dead in a coma-like state.
Thinking about all he had to do, he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with sadness and grief.
But he had to calm himself.
"Why was she doing this?" he could only mutter before turning back to the message.
"Yeah, I found her. She is doing okay."
He then sent the message.
Immediately, there was a reply from the other side.
"That’s good to hear. Hope you both are alright."
"Yeah, we are. Thanks for asking."
"Good."
Dan Woo stared at the screen for a moment before typing again.
"Hey man, can I ask you a quick question?"
"Sure man, what do you need?"
Dan Woo hesitated for a moment before finally typing.
"Well, there is this guy I know who has an ex going after his sisters. I don’t know for what reason or why, but I would like to get some input on it. What do you think he should do?"
The other side went silent for a second before he began typing.
"First of all... ’asking for a friend’? Classic. 😅"
"Look, if this ’guy’ is dealing with an ex who’s going after his sisters, it isn’t about the sisters. It’s about him. Someone targeting family is usually looking for leverage, or trying to strip away what grounds you so you’re easier to control. They’re picking at your foundation."
"If it were me? I’d tell him to do three things: first, cut off whatever link there is with this ex, whatever it might be. Then inform the sisters of the situation so that they are aware, so the ex can’t rewrite their narrative. Then force them into a position where they have to face you directly instead of reaching through collateral. You can’t just keep playing defense."
"By the way... if this ’ex’ ever shows up, make sure to let me or any other of your—I mean, their—friends know. We can help with that."
Dan Woo could only read the words and chuckle.
He didn’t know how, but he had suddenly become close with Park Hyun Bin.
He saw that there seemed to be at least a bit of merit in his words, so he turned to his system and clicked Yes.
It didn’t matter what he did.
He needed to face Baek Hari—or whatever form she took on next—head-on, just to understand what her endgame was. That was the only way to protect everyone.