Chapter Text
Jin-Woo has a problem. And it is all Jin-Ah’s fault.
After his mother fell into eternal sleep, he had to take care of his younger sister. Cooking, doing the laundry, paying the bills, cleaning the house, helping her with homework, he had a lot to do. Though sometimes she had strange requests. His mother used to do her hair all the time, so Jin-Ah would ask him to do it for her. However, she stopped asking once she entered high school.
“Oppa, I can do it myself now. I’m old enough.” she had told him.
Jin-Woo was a little sad that his sister didn’t need him as much anymore, but understood.
However, this led to his issue. He didn’t know anybody that would let him brush their hair. As an E-rank, he was weak and had nobody to ask. It would be weird to ask any of his fellow hunters since they weren’t friends.
Later, he becomes an S-rank and meets more people. However, he doesn’t feel close enough to them to ask that of them either. His only friend Jin-Ho, doesn’t have enough hair to warrant that awkward conversation. Though he thinks Jin-Ho wouldn’t mind, he stays silent.
After the International Guild Conference, he can’t take in anymore. So many different hunters with unique hair types, colors and lengths. His sister takes notice and is the one to suggest the idea.
“Oppa, if you don’t feel comfortable asking someone, then just get them to owe you a favor. Then, they won’t be able to refuse.”
Jin-Woo still feels like he would be intruding on them, but if they owe him, he won’t feel so bad, and it’s been too long, he can’t hold in the urge anymore.
That’s how 3 S-rank hunters ended up on the top floor of a certain hotel in South Korea. When Jin-Woo proposed the bet, they couldn't refuse. They get to choose the game and if they win, they get to ask anything of Jin-Woo? Who would say no to that?
Liu Zhigang had chosen a duel. He was fairly certain he would lose but wanted to spar with Jin-Woo and now was as good a time as any. So he gave it his all and obviously lost. The other 2 S-ranks had told him, but he didn’t listen.
Goto Ryuji tired a different approach - chess. Since Jin-Woo was so strong, he must not be very good at strategy games right? Little did he know that Jin-Ah was into chess and forced her brother to play. He had to learn all sorts of strategies to keep up with her, but he enjoyed spending time with her, so he didn’t mind it as much as he claimed. Needless to say, Goto lost.
After watching the other 2 lose, Thomas Andre decided to leave it up to lady luck. He chose the card game War. The game lasted 4 days, 15 hours, 17 minutes and 58 seconds - Laura counted. They both crashed onto the table after Jin-Woo’s win, falling asleep.
After a 12 hour nap, Jin-Woo walks into the room where the 3 S-ranks are waiting for him. They are slightly nervous but also curious. Jin-Woo’s request could be anything. They are fairly certain it wouldn't be anything too bad since Jin-Woo is a pretty nice person when he wants to be, but anything is a big word.
Jin-Woo looks at each of the hunters in the eyes. Then he takes a deep breath. Jin-Woo is very good at hiding his emotions, but they all think that he lookes nervous as well.
‘Why does he look like that?’ think the 3 S-ranks.
Their unspoken question gets answered by Jin-Woo himself.
“For my favor, I get to do whatever I want to your hair.” he says.
The three S-ranks are speechless. That’s the last thing they thought he would say.
“Oh, and you must drink what I feed you.” Jin-Woo continues. “And you’re not allowed to leave until I say you can.”
The S-ranks blink and look at each other. Relief apparent on all their faces.
“Is that all?” Liu speaks first.
“Yep!” said Jin-Woo smiling.
“Ok. As long as nothing you do is permanent, than I don’t mind.” he says. Liu doesn’t usually let other people touch his precious hair, but how bad could Jin-Woo make it? He can always just brush it if it gets too tangled after he’s finished.
“Sound like fun.” says Andre next, with a huge grin plastered on his face.
The three turn to Goto.
“Fine, a deal is a deal.” he says. He’s not the type to go back on his word.
“Great! Who wants to go first?” asked Jin-Woo. He’s ecstatic. They all agreed, not that they could refuse. Now he can finally appease his urge.
“I’ll go first. My hair is thicker. It might take the longest.” says Andre.
“Then I’m next.” says Goto. ‘The sooner it’s over the better.’ he thinks. Jin-Woo might let him leave once he is done with him. He wanted to go first but Andre beat him to it.
“I guess I’m last. Doesn’t matter to me.” says Liu.
“Good. Now that the orders are decide, drink what I give you.” says Jin-Woo.
He walks up to Andre and puts a vial of glowing pink liquid to his lips. Andre looks at the liquid suspiciously but opens his mouth regardless. When Jin-Woo tilts the vial, he swallows. It tastes like cotton candy. Jin-Woo proceeds to walk to Goto.
“What is that? Why did you just drink it?” he asks Jin-Woo and Andre.
Jin-Woo says nothing.
“We agreed and I don’t think Sung would give us poison. It tastes good too. Like cotton candy.” replies Andre.
“Fine.” says Goto and lets Jin-Woo pour the liquid into his mouth. It’s too sweet for his tastes, but at least it’s not too bad.
Liu watched Jin-Woo’s interaction with other two so he just wordlessly drinks the sweet liquid poured into his mouth. Then a thought occurs him. As Jin-Woo is walking away he asks “Why couldn't we have just drunk it ourselves?”
Jin-Woo answers him without turning back. “Then it wouldn't have worked.” He sits down on the sofa.
“What wouldn't have work?” asks Goto. What did they just drink?
“You'll find out later.” says Jin-Woo, not really caring about their fears in what they just swallowed. “Come sit on the floor in front of me Andre. The rest can return to your rooms and do whatever you want while you wait for your turn.”
Liu and Goto leave for their rooms.
Andre goes and sits in front Jin-Woo, making sure to take a pillow to sit on.
“Don’t pull to hard or I might accidentally punch you.” says Andre.
“I’ll be careful. Here is the remote if you want to watch something.” says Jin-Woo.
Andre takes the remote and starts browsing through the stations.
Jin-Woo starts by pulling out a hairbrush, a comb, hair elastics, and a very large hair clip from his inventory. He proceeds to brush Andre’s fluffy hair with the brush. It takes him a while to get through it all. Andre’s hair is fluffy and is long enough to get to the middle of his back. It is full of tangles. Just having the wind blow through it must lead to lots of them. It must take forever to get it perfect every morning. Jin-Woo is happy he doesn’t have Andre’s thick hair.
Jin-Woo continues brushing, savoring the feeling of soft hair through his fingers. When he is certain there are no more tangles, he puts most of the hair into the hair clip at top of his head, leaving a small section hanging down in the back.
Jin-Woo takes out some green ribbons and a vial containing clear liquid out of his inventory. The ribbons have felted flowers sewn onto them so they stick out of the ribbons. Jin-Woo takes a section of Andre’s hair, and divides it into 3. The strands are about the size of one of his fingers. He attaches one of the ribbons to one of the 3 strands with the special liquid. It's a sort of hair glue. He doesn't want the ribbons to fall out. He proceeds to weave the hair over and under into a braid. Whenever he gets to a flower, he makes sure it sticks out of the braid. Once he reaches the end, he ties the braid with the end of the ribbon and adds an elastic with another flower attached.
He nods, satisfied at the braid. He unclips Andre’s hair, then separates the next amount he needs and reclips it. He splits the hair into 3 again, grabs a ribbon, and starts braiding then new section of hair. He continues braiding until there is no hair left unbraided on Andre’s head.
Once he is finished, he stops to admire his work. The thick braids adorned with flowers of all colors fall on Andre’s shoulders and back. The ribbons look like vines in his hair. He takes a picture.
“Are you finished yet? You stopped and my butt hurts. This pillow isn’t very comfortable.” says Andre.
“Almost. Come sit up here on the couch and look at me.” says Jin-Woo.
Andre gets up, sits next to Jin-Woo, and turns towards him. Jin-Woo grabs his comb and starts brushing his goatee. He parts it into 3 and braids it. This time he leaves out the ribbon. Once he gets down to the end, he ties it off with an elastic that had another flower attached to it.
“Perfect! I knew the flowers would match your Hawaiian shirt. You can go look in the mirror now. Don’t try to take it out though and go call Goto over for me.” says Jin-Woo, snapping another photo of Andre’s face this time.
Andre gets up and walks to the mirror. With his hair like this, it looks like he’s vacation or lives in the forest.
“Beautiful.” he says. “I was a little worried, but if you always do such a great job, you can do my hair anytime you like.”
“Really?!” exclaims Jin-Woo. “You better be telling the truth.”
“I wouldn't lie to you.” replies Andre, as he walks out of the room grinning.
Goto comes in with a scowl on his face.
“I am getting flowers in my hair too?” asks Goto shutting the door.
“No.” Jin-Woo replies. “Now come sit in front of me. You might want to get more pillows though.”
Goto takes another cushion off the couch and sits in front of Jin-Woo. Then he grabs the remote and changes the channel.
Jin-Woo starts brushing Goto’s hair with a different hair brush. From the top to the bottom Goto’s hair doesn’t even reach his shoulders, but it should be enough for what Jin-Woo wants to do with it. His hair is rougher that Andre’s. He probably doesn't wash or brush it as often since it is shorter. Once he straightens out Goto’s hair, he takes out another vial from his inventory. This one has a red liquid inside it. He pours the thick red liquid into his hands and starts massaging Goto’s head. The red liquid dyes Goto’s hair red. Goto doesn’t even notice his hair is changing color.
After the liquid dries a few minutes later, Jin-Woo picks up the comb. He drags the back of the comb down the middle of Goto’s head, parting the hair into 2. He takes the brush and fits as much hair he can into a ponytail on one side of his head. He does the same thing with the other side. For the smaller hairs that won’t fit, he uses the same clear liquid that he used in Andre’s hair to keep them from falling down. The 2 ponytails sit just above Goto’s ears pointing in opposite directions. The 2 elastics Jin-Woo used to tie the ponytails each have black wooden dragons attached to them.
“Ok. I’m done. Turn around and look at me.” says Jin-Woo.
Goto spins around. Jin-Woo nods and takes a picture before Goto can protest.
“Mirror is over there. You must leave it in until I say you can leave.” says Jin-Woo.
“That wasn’t so bad.” says Goto walking to the mirror. “At least it won’t take as long to take out like-” his words are cut off when he sees his hair. “What did you do?! My hair is RED!”
“But doesn't it look nice? There are even some dragons. You like those.” says Jin-Woo, trying not to smile.
Goto scowls. “You better be able to turn it back to normal before I need to leave.” That’s all he can say since it does look great and he does really like the dragons. He might put an elastic on his sword and the other on his key chain once he gets back to Japan.
“I might do that later. Now go get Liu.” says Jin-Woo.
Goto practically runs away slamming the door behind him.
Minutes later, Liu enters the room.
“I don’t want get my hair dyed.” says Liu. “But just seeing what you did to Goto, allows me to see you skills.”
“Thanks. I’ve had lots of practice. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be dyeing your hair. I’ve got other plans. Come sit in front of me. The remote is here if you want to change the channel.” says Jin-Woo, giving the remote to Liu.
Once Liu is seated on the cushions, Jin-Woo takes out a new hairbrush from his inventory and takes the elastic out from Liu’s hair, letting it fall down. He hands the elastic to Liu. Liu puts it around his wrist as not to lose it.
Jin-Woo starts by just brushing all of his hair. Liu’s might not be as thick as Andre’s, but it is longer, going past his hips. It is silky and is surprisingly almost all tangle free. Liu must take great care of it.
Jin-Woo takes his time, enjoying the fact that he doesn't need to untangle it very much. Once he is satisfied, he divides the hair into 5 parts: 2 parts almost under Liu’s ears each on one side of his head, 2 parts over his ears but more forwards towards his face, and 1 part right in the middle of his forehead, all held in place with elastics.
Jin-Woo takes some of the top ponytail and splits it into 3. He weaves the hair over and under, making sure to add in the hair he left out at the beginning into the braid along the way. When he reaches the middle of Liu’s head, he stops and reties it. A perfect French braid.
“Tilt your head to the left for me.” says Jin-Woo.
Liu moves his head and uses his left arm to hold up his head.
“The TV looks funny now.” says Liu.
“Too bad. It won’t take long.” says Jin-Woo.
He takes the top right ponytail and creates another French braid. When he reaches the middle, he combines the first part with the one in his hand and ties them with the elastic, putting the unused one into his inventory.
“Turn to the right.” says Jin-Woo.
Liu does it wordlessly this time. After Jin-Woo completes the left top French braid and ties it to the middle, he gets up.
“All done?” asks Liu about to get up.
“No. Stay seated and keep your head like that.” says Jin-Woo.
Jin-Woo stand on the left side of Liu and bends down to make the French braid on the bottom right, adding it to the middle. When he is done, he takes Liu’s head in his hands and tilts it to the left. He gets no resistance. He goes to stand on Liu right and finishes the last French braid with ease. Now Liu just had a ponytail in the middle of his head unbraided.
Jin-Woo sits back down on the couch. He switches the elastic out for a gold one with a golden wooden star attached to it. He was going to braid the rest together, but he changes his mind. Liu has to much hair. He won’t be able to take a good picture. So, he takes some scissors out of his inventory and chops Liu’s hair. The scissors make no noise so Liu doesn’t realize what he did. He puts the excess hair in his inventory.
‘Souvenir.’ thinks Jin-Woo.
Now all that’s left is a very short ponytail, practically nothing. Now Jin-Woo can see the design. The French braids make a very nice star shape in Liu’s hair. As a finishing touch he sprinkles sparkles over it. It looks like stars in the night sky. He snaps a photo.
“I’m all done.” says Jin-Woo.
Before he can say more, Liu gets up and goes straight to the mirror. Then he screams. “AHHHH!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR?!?!”
“It’s great right?” says Jin-Woo grinning.
“NO IT’S NOT! WHERE DID MY HAIR GO?” yells Liu.
“Oh, that. I cut it.” replies Jin-Woo still smiling.
“YOU WHAT?!?!” screams Liu.
The door bursts open. Andre, Laura, Goto, and Woo Jin-Chul enter.
“What’s going on?” asks Chief Woo. He was present in the hotel to make sure nothing went wrong with S-ranks' visit. Too bad for him, something had happened.
“He cut my hair. I’ve been growing it for years. My precious.” cries Liu.
“I thought you said it wouldn't be permanent.” says Andre.
“Yeah.” says Jin-Woo. “His hair will grow back eventually.”
“What about mine? My hair is RED! You said you would turn it back.” says Goto.
“I said might. Just dye it back or something.” says Jin-Woo laughing.
That makes Liu and Goto’s control finally snap. Their mana cuts through the air. They look ready to kill Jin-Woo, not that they could thought.
“Haha.” laughs Andre. “At least all I have to do is take out the braids.”
“Oh. I forgot to tell you. I glued the ribbons to your hair. It might be sticky when you take it out.” says Jin-Woo.
“WHAT?!?!” growls Andre letting his mana flare out alongside the other 2.
“Uh, Hunter Sung, you’re going to fix this right.” says Chief Woo, walking over to Jin-Woo. He doesn't need more paperwork over this stupid and ridiculous yet deadly matter.
Once Chief Woo is close enough to him, Jin-Woo runs his fingers through his hair, messing it up in the process. Chief Woo stills worried.
“Why should I?” asks Jin-Woo looking innocent as he takes 2 barrettes out of his inventory. “You all look beautiful.”
“You do look nice sirs.” says Laura, talking for the first time since they entered the room.
“Quiet. That’s not helping.” says Andre. “I take back what I said. I will never allow you to touch my hair again.”
Jin-Woo clips the barrettes into Chief Woo messy hair. One on the left and one on the right. The one on Chief Woo’s right reads ‘Jin’ and the one on his left reads ‘Chul’. Once he is done he turns around.
“Aw. But I’m just joking. The potion you drank earlier will revert your hair back to normal after a good night’s rest. If you want to keep the accessories, take them out before you go to sleep or they will disappear.” says Jin-Woo.
He didn’t expect to find 'create your own hair accessories', sparkles, hair dyes, hair glue and a strange special potion that return hair back to normal in the system shop, but they were a big help. He hit the jackpot. The system shop is the best!
“What??” the 3 S-ranks say at the same time.
Jin-Woo snaps a picture of Chief Woo.
“That goes for you as well Chief Woo. Thanks for letting me play with your hair. I hope you will all let me do it again sometime. Oh, and you’re all allowed to leave now. Bye!” Jin-Woo says waving his hand.
Before anybody can stop him, Jin-Woo disappears into the shadows, leaving behind 5 confused individuals and the shadow bear Tank, who has a barrette on his head that reads ‘Beary Cute’.