Solo Leveling Ch.101-200

Chapter 101
Jin-Woo quickly arrived near where Tank’s group was.
In the not too far distance, he spotted the Shadow Beast

Soldier squad half made up of black bears with black steam
rising up from their bodies, and High Orcs covered in armour
from head to toe.
Right in front of the pack, Tank was walking slowly but

steadily forward.
‘I’m pretty sure the next target will be this group.’
Tank was originally the pack leader of the Ice Bears. When it
was still alive, he was strong enough to easily overwhelm
the Shadow Soldiers. Even as a shadow, not many soldiers
could defeat him in terms of sheer physical strength.
Unfortunately, the comparison didn’t favour him this time.
First of all, the captains of the other groups, Iron, Igrit, and
Fangs were different ‘grades’ to begin with. Even though
Tank’s level was high, at the end of the day, he was still an
elite soldier grade.
But, both Igrit and Iron were knight grades, while Fangs
enjoyed the prefix of ‘elite’ tacked onto his knight grade,
too. Meaning, there was no comparison here.
Since the enemy seemed to possess enough intelligence to

detect weaker opponents, as well as to identify the
movements of the soldiers, their next target had to be here.
‘Let’s observe for a little while.’
Jin-Woo hid his presence to the best of his abilities and,

while maintaining a fixed distance, he followed after his
Shadow Beast Soldiers. His own soldiers didn’t even realise
that he was following them.
And so, just how much time passed them by?
Even after a long period of waiting, no enemies showed

themselves, and Jin-Woo began tilting his head.
‘Was I wrong about this whole thing?’
He began suspecting that, rather than powerful enemies,

there just so happened to be a big concentration of enemies
in the location of his soldiers getting annihilated – but,
then….
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘…..Here they come.’
Maybe the enemies were also concealing their presence

until the soldiers got closer to them, Jin-Woo had discovered
them a bit later than usual. He closed his eyes and focused
his Perception.
His shockingly enhanced Perception began sweeping over

all the presences found within the vicinity like a radar.
‘Four presences approaching. My soldiers, 20. Demons

hiding underground, five.’
Jin-Woo opened his eyes. He decided to get rid of the five

demons playing possum underground a bit later, and then….
‘Stealth.’
Shururuk….
Jin-Woo activated the Stealth skill to become invisible and

approached his soldiers. And soon enough, he got to confirm
the enemies’ appearance with his own eyes.
‘….They are riding on horseback??’
Rumble, rumble….
‘Not only that, they are armed, too?’
Not just the riders, but even the horses they were riding on
were armoured.
When the enemies came close enough, their names became

visible.
He was thinking that these guys were way too different from
the regular demons that walked around ‘naked’, whether
they be low or high demons, and now he could even see that
their names were different from the rest, as well.
‘….A Demon Aristocrat, and three Demon Knights?’
The names he saw for the first time were written in black
and very clear to see. He sensed strong hostility from all four
of them.
‘It must be those four that attacked my boys.’
They all possessed powerful auras and strong hostility. Jin-

Woo decided to maintain ‘Stealth’ and observe the situation
for a little while longer.
‘Let’s see what happens next.’

Since these monsters were new, he wanted to check out
their skills and battle styles with his own eyes first.
‘Monsters capable of massacring Shadow Soldiers, is it….’
He was also feeling a bit expectant, too.
Jin-Woo stopped at a suitable position where he wouldn’t get

in the way of the battle between the Shadow Beast Soldiers
and the new types of demons that was about to get
underway.
Growl?
Tank finally discovered the demons.
Once the demons got close enough, they dismounted from

the horses.
‘Huh. So, those rides were simply a means of transportation.’
Jin-Woo continued to stare at the demons with a great deal

of interest.
Soon afterwards, the Beast Soldiers became excited by the

entrance of enemies, roared out, and attacked first,
signalling the beginning of the bitter, violent battle between
these two groups.
Rooooaaaar!!
Tank took to the front.
He shot forward with every ounce of power provided with his

four limbs, and when he arrived in front of the enemies, he
reared up on his hind legs.
A regular person would’ve fainted from the enormous
pressure alone. However, the four demons remained
steadfast. Even when Tank swung his massive front leg like a
baseball bat, they didn’t even blink.
Whooooosh!
Tank’s front paw scythed the air. It was an agile attack that
belied his massive frame.
However….
Tank’s target, the Demon Aristocrat, easily jumped over the

swung front paw with a light but quick movement.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up.
That wasn’t the end of the surprising spectacle, either. The

Demon Aristocrat then spun in the air and thrust forward the
spear held in its hand at Tank’s chest.
Kaboom-!!
The fierce attack containing magic energy put a

watermelon-sized hole in Tank’s torso.
From that small-ish frame, an explosive aura could be felt

rather clearly. And on top of that, it also possessed
beautifully simple and clean movements, too. Jin-Woo grew
even more interested by then.
‘Yup, not a regular monster, alright.’
It wasn’t just the Demon Aristocrat either, but the three

Demon Knights were also eye-wideningly strong, as well.
The battle was one-sided. In short, the Beast Soldiers were
no match for the demons.
Quite unlike the Superior Demons, which were only big in

size but rather easy to hunt, these so-called Demon
‘Aristocrats’ or whatever and their humanoid appearances
simply toyed around with the Beast Soldiers.
‘This was why the rate of regeneration couldn’t keep up.’
Jin-Woo’s expression gradually hardened.
“Roar!!”
“Keuahahk!”
Even before the Beast Soldiers could regenerate, they were

cut and sliced apart and stabbed through by spears and
swords.
By then, Jin-Woo was carrying a crumpled expression. He

knew very well that, as long as his MP supply held up, his
Beast Soldiers were practically immortals. Even if his MP did
run out, they would simply return to him as shadows.
“Kuwaak!!”
However, he sure as hell didn’t feel pleased watching his

own boys getting pummelled like that. Was this how an
older brother would feel when his younger sibling came
home all beaten up black and blue?
‘That is enough.’
Jin-Woo couldn’t stand it anymore and recalled his Beast

Soldiers. They reverted back to their shadow forms and
quickly moved below his feet, and absorbed back into his
own shadow.
As soon as the Beast Soldiers disappeared after seemingly

failing to endure the attacks, the demons gazed at each
other and nodded their heads.
It was as if they were celebrating their third victory on the

trot.
However, it happened then.
Shururuk.
Jin-Woo undid his Stealth in the midst of the demons.
Flinch!!
The demons were greatly taken by surprise, but as expected

of ‘pros’, they immediately sensed Jin-Woo’s hostility and
attacked him right away.
Slam!! Kwang!!
Jin-Woo punched down bare-fisted on the two knights beside

him, and then, grabbed the last one rushing at him and
slammed the sucker down hard on the ground.
CRACK!
The spiderweb-like cracks formed on the ground and a

message popped up in his view.
[You killed a Demon Knight.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
The exact same messages repeated three times.

Each of his attacks killed one of his enemies. In less than
one second, he cut short the lives of three monsters.
‘These guys were side distractions, anyway. The real deal is

that guy.’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Demon Aristocrat. After

their eyes met, the Aristocrat flinched rather grandly and
pointed at him with its spear.
‘I always wondered whether monsters could feel fear or

not….’
But now, he was pretty certain of it.
Different from back when the Demon Aristocrat was pointing

the spear at the Beast Soldier group, the tip of the weapon
was trembling ever so slightly. Well, being able to sense the
opponent’s strength was also a part of one’s skills, after all.
‘I ain’t going to go easy on you because of that, though.’
Jin-Woo dashed forward. At the same time, the Demon

Aristocrat thrust the spear forward.
Jin-Woo evaded the attack by tilting his head out of the way.
Surprisingly, though – the spear changed directions multiple

times and continued to harass him slightly.
First, it was his face, Next, his neck. And right after that, his
heart. As if this wasn’t something learned overnight, the
demon’s movement was smooth like flowing water.
However, the spear was constantly blocked by Jin-Woo’s

weapon, ‘Baruka’s Dagger’.
And when the final attack aiming for his heart was parried
off, ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ sliced the spear’s shaft in two.
“….!!”
The Demon Aristocrat froze up after seeing its broken spear.
With that, this battle was over.
‘Well, not even three, or four, rank A Hunters would be able

to win against you, but….’
Jin-Woo rated the demon’s abilities pretty highly. Too bad,

today’s match-up was all wrong for the monster.
Jin-Woo reached out and grabbed the enemy’s helmet with

his left hand.
“Keuk!”
The shocked enemy immediately went into panic mode. It

tried to pull its head back, but couldn’t do anything from Jin-
Woo’s powerful grip. He was thinking of yanking the helmet
loose and cut the head off, so he strengthened his left hand
some more.
As expected, the helmet came off rather easily. And, Jin-Woo

raised the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ high up.
“I surrender!! I will surrender!!”
Jin-Woo frowned and stopped moving.
“….A female?”
The face underneath the helmet definitely belonged to a

female.
Actually, Jin-Woo didn’t really care whether a monster was a
male or female. But the thing was, the monster quickly lifted
its hands high up in the air and declared its intentions to
surrender, making him realise that he could initiate
conversation with it. And right after that, ‘she’ even fell to
the ground in a kowtow, too.
‘……’
So, naturally, he felt a bit put off by the idea of stabbing

‘her’ with his dagger for the time being.
“P-p-please accept my apologies! We were in the wrong! P-p-

please spare my life!”
Not only had she changed her stance in the blink of an eye,
but she was also now even begging for her life?
A monster was doing what now???
“Hah…..??”
With a disbelieving expression etched on his face, Jin-Woo

stared at the petite back of the ‘monster’ still prostrating
before his feet.
Since intelligent monsters could be found in regular

dungeons, it wasn’t so strange for intelligent monsters to
appear in these instant dungeons, as well.
Even then, this creature… was a strange one.
‘…….’
Left feeling a bit speechless, Jin-Woo pondered what he

should say here for a while, and eventually, he opened his
mouth with some difficulty.
“You attacked my soldiers, yet you want my forgiveness?”
“W-we have committed a grave sin.”
The Demon Aristocrat planted her forehead on the ground

and continued on.
“However, as our clan is tasked with protecting this place,

we couldn’t simply let some basta…. Heok! I, I mean, we
couldn’t let any great beings go on a demon hunting spree
without doing anything. I’d be eternally grateful if you
forgive us.”
Oh, well.
From the demons’ perspective, it was reasonable for them to

think of this whole thing as a bit unfair. After all, it was he
who just barged in here totally unannounced to hunt and
massacre demons one-sidedly, right?
So, Jin-Woo changed his question slightly.
“Is it alright for you to beg for your life from someone who
killed your own soldiers?”
“The main role of the knights are to protect their lord. As

long as I’m safe, they should be happy with the results.”
Jin-Woo scratched his temple for a little. He was even more

speechless now.
‘I can’t tell whether she’s thick-skinned, or just way too

optimistic.’
The Demon Aristocrat slightly raised her head and tried to

read Jin-Woo’s reactions.
‘Heok!!’
She couldn’t help but feel that the situation was getting
gradually worse for her. She kowtowed even harder than
before and spoke in an urgent voice.
“If you spare my measly life, I shall give you anything you
want.”
Jin-Woo placed his hands on his waist.
This Demon Aristocrat was a powerful monster, yes, but

what with her armament now stripped from her, killing her
was now easier than drinking cold soup for Jin-Woo.
‘So, what should I do with this one, then?’
Jin-Woo was in a dilemma.
And that wasn’t to do with letting her go or not – no, he was

simply trying to think of something more valuable than the
experience points and possible loot he could get his hands
on after killing her.
‘….Ah.’
There indeed was one such item.
“I want the Entry Permit.”
“Excuse me??”
Swish.
The Demon Aristocrat raised her head and stared at him with
a surprised expression. Her face was shaped completely like
a human’s, excluding a pair of sharp incisors he saw when
she opened her mouth just now, of course.
Jin-Woo disinterestedly asked her.
“Can you get it for me?”
“…”
When her gaze met Jin-Woo’s, her complexion paled even

more and she planted her forehead back on the ground.
‘Oh well. I should’ve known that monsters weren’t aware of

what items are.’
The negotiation was over with that.
Jin-Woo recalled ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ back from his Inventory.
He didn’t know why monsters possessed intelligence, and

were able to use that intelligence to beg for her life like this,
but he had not one thought of giving up on the potential
experience points.
‘A Demon Knight gave three thousand points, so how much

will she give me?’
Who knows, the Entry Permit might appear after killing her,
too.
However….
“I, I shall give it to you.”
“Give me what, exactly?”
“The… the Entry Permit.”
The ‘monster’ raised her head and immediately began

shedding cold sweat drops after spotting the deadly-looking
dagger in Jin-Woo’s hand.
“You can give me the Entry Permit? Really?”
The Demon Aristocrat hurriedly nodded her head.
“It’s in safekeeping by our clan. If you allow me to safely

return, I shall hand over the permit.”
Demons were guarding the entry permit?
Jin-Woo slowly scratched his chin.
For sure, it had been a long time since he arrived on the

80th floor. And not to forget, lots of demons were hunted
down so far, too. Yet, there hadn’t been a peep about the
news of the entry permit.
‘I thought the drop rate had worsened because I’m in the

upper floors, or that a mid-boss was carrying it around, but
now….’
If she was telling the truth about monsters hiding the

permit, then, well, the current situation made a bit more
sense.
Seeing that Jin-Woo was silently pondering his options, the

Demon Aristocrat felt even more desperate than ever before
and quickly added some more ‘encouragement’.
“I also know where you can locate the Entry Permits on the
upper floors as well. If you guarantee my, and my clan’s,
safety, then I shall safely escort you to where they are.”
The light shining in Jin-Woo’s eyes changed a little bit. Now

that offer was a bit more enticing.
To Jin-Woo’s ears, who wanted to get to the top floor as soon

as possible, her suggestion of guiding him to where each
floor’s Entry Permit sounded rather attractive.
However….
‘The question is, can I really trust her?’
Jin-Woo reached down and lifted the demon’s chin. She was
clearly panicking, but he didn’t lessen his strength. He then
looked straight into her eyes.
‘Intimidation.’
[You have activated ‘Skill: Intimidation’.]
Swwwoooosh….
A chill-inducing aura emanated from Jin-Woo’s eyes. The

Demon Aristocrat was so terrified that her lips were
trembling involuntarily.
“Can I trust you?”
“I, I, I am not l-l-lying.”
He made a pledge to himself back when he received the

power of the System.
‘Give and take.’
Even if his opponent was a monster, his principals wouldn’t

change. If a monster kept her side of the bargain, so would
he.
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo withdrew the ‘Intimidation’.
“You hand over the Entry Permit, and I’ll quietly leave.”
“T-truthfully?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
It was a bit of a waste to give up on the potential experience

points gained from this demon, as well as those monsters
supposedly guarding the Entry Permit. But then again, he
found it even more of a waste to spend time searching for
the permit himself.
He had been delayed for much longer than expected on this

80th floor already.
Besides, if this female demon was thinking of tricking him,

well, he wouldn’t be too unhappy about that, either.
Because, if she did, then he’d get to go all out in the
monsters’ main camp, now wouldn’t he?
“Thank you very much!!”
The complexion of the Demon Aristocrat brightened so much

that he couldn’t help but notice it.
Was she just honest with her emotions, or was she just a
simpleton?
Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue, but still, didn’t forget to

ask her something he was curious about for a while.
“Before all that, though…. Just what are you?”

Chapter 102
“I am Esil, the first-born daughter of House Radiru. And my

clan is…”
“No, not that.”
Jin-Woo cut Esil off.
He didn’t really care about the finer details of a monster

family’s history. What he wanted to know was the reason
why monsters and instant dungeons existed.
How should he go about asking this question, so he’d get

himself a satisfying enough answer?
No, he would still be okay if there was no concrete answer.

He’d be happy enough to get a single clue, a lead of some
kind.
He tried asking the same thing to monsters in the regular

dungeons, but the only thing he got to learn was that they
could only hear the order of ‘Kill the humans’ inside their
heads.
‘In that case, do these guys receive the exact same order,
too?’
In order to help him compare the current situation with the

monsters of the regular dungeons, he simplified the
question a bit.
“Hey, do you also hear a voice telling you to kill humans?”
“Pardon me?”
Esil looked at him with a pair of confused eyes.
Because she was still kowtowing on the ground, he had to

continue staring down at her if he wanted to talk to her face
to face, and he kinda felt a bit uncomfortable about this
arrangement.
‘Tsk.’
Jin-Woo lightly clicked his tongue, and as if Esil was a little

kid, picked her up and made her stand straight. And then,
he stared at her face again.
Maybe she got scared of the unannounced physical contact,

he heard her heart rate quicken noticeably. Not minding
that, Jin-Woo asked her again.
“I’m asking you if you hear a whisper of someone busy

telling you to kill humans.”
“Oh….”
Esil hesitated and pondered for a moment, before opening

her mouth.
“No. But, we do hear a different voice all the time.”
“Okay. What does it say?”
“It tells us to… protect the space we’re residing in.”
Esil spoke cautiously while being extra mindful of Jin-Woo’s

reactions.
‘The purpose of the instant dungeon’s monsters is different
from monsters of the regular dungeons?’
The sole purpose of the monsters from the regular dungeons

was to kill humans, while the monsters of the instant
dungeons were to guard where they were. The nature of the
two camps’ aim was quite different from each other.
‘Wait a minute….’
Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Jin-Woo a monster-like

existence to these monsters of the instant dungeons??
Esil’s complexion was still quite pale after bearing the full
brunt of his skill, ‘Intimidation’, and he couldn’t help but feel
a wee bit of pity for her.
Just a tiny bit, though.
“How long have you been hearing that voice?”
“It’s right after we opened our eyes in this place.”
‘After opening their eyes in this place, is it?’
Didn’t that imply that she and others were living in another
location before this? Whether that was a genuine or a fake
memory, that’s what was left imprinted in her brain.
Jin-Woo continued on with his questioning.
“Okay. Then, where have you been before waking up in this

place?”
“We were in the Demon World. We just woke up one day and
found ourselves stuck here.”
“And what were you doing back in the Demon World before
that?”
“We were…. getting ready for war.”
“War, you say?”
“Yes.”
Did she recall the memories of back then? Esil’s expression

no longer had any traces of fear when she was begging for
her life, now only filled with grave determination.
“We were in the situation of preparing for war against a

horrifyingly powerful foe that necessitated every demon
scattered around in the Demon World to unite….”
….And that’s where Esil’s words were cut off.
“…”
No, accurately speaking, Esil was still talking. Her lips were
clearly moving up and down even now. However, Jin-Woo
couldn’t hear her voice at all. Instead, he was blessed with
the monotone mechanical voice spat out by the System.
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold,

therefore this conversation has been blocked.]
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold,

therefore this conversation has been blocked.]
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold….]
Right until Esil’s explanations came to an end, that exact

same message played over and over again.
Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed suspiciously.

‘Had you left it alone, I wouldn’t have suspected anything,
actually.’
Indeed, he might have thought Esil’s explanations as a

backstory for the monsters of this place cooked up by the
System or some such. Levelling up, instant dungeons,
quests, quest rewards, penalties, and even the process of
getting his Class…..
He was faced with one situation after another that

resembled video games, so if monsters had a game-like
backstory as well, it’d not come across as strange at all.
However, the moment the System forcibly intervened, Jin-

Woo became sure of one thing.
‘Talking to her might give me a clue to solving everything, in

other words.’
The System made a clear and definite mistake here, just

now.
“Did…. Did I make a mistake somewhere?”
When Jin-Woo’s expression became graver, even Esil’s own

expression darkened.
‘What does the System want to hide? This unknown foe the
demons were supposed to fight? Or the reason for the war?
Maybe the end result?’
In order to figure this out, he narrowed down the scope of his

next question.
“What was the identity of those horrifyingly powerful foes?”
However, at that moment….

Like a toy with a dead battery, Esil froze up on the spot. But,
that lasted only for a little while. She suddenly lost
consciousness and powerlessly collapsed to the floor.
Jin-Woo quickly snatched her, and carefully laid her down on

the ground. Seeing that her breathing was steady, it didn’t
look like she was in any danger.
However, there was a frown on her face; perhaps she felt a

bit uncomfortable somewhere. She seemed to be having a
bit of trouble breathing properly, too.
In order to help her rest more easily, Jin-Woo began ripping

her armours off.
Riiiip.
Her armours came off rather easily. He also tore the mantle

on the back of the armour, rolled it up and placed it under
her head like a pillow. It sure was a lot of work for a monster,
but he didn’t think this was him being too nice at all.
Because she ended up in this state, he got himself yet

another clue, that’s why.
‘The foes demons fought….’
The System reacted way too sensitively towards the identity

of this unknown foe, or foes.
‘Could those beings be related?’
What if those beings possessed some kind of incredible

transcendental powers, and for some reason, exerted their
influence on Earth and more specifically, him….?
Jin-Woo summoned the Store interface.

He tried to wake Esil up with a potion, but it didn’t seem to
work.
‘I guess I don’t have a choice but to wait it out.’
Plop.
Jin-Woo sat down next to Esil.
And until she woke up, he systematically pieced together

each tidbit of info she supplied him with.
“….Uh?”
Esil quickly raised her upper body.
Sensing another presence nearby, she looked to her side

and found the totally-wordless Jin-Woo sitting there. Her
shoulders flinched a little, just then.
‘S-so, I wasn’t dreaming….’
Slowly getting to terms with her new reality, Esil took a look
around her. And there were huge piles of dead Superior
Demons found nearly everywhere. Her brows shot up
immediately.
Demons with little intelligence didn’t treat other demons

with intelligence as their kin. So, an unconscious demon like
her would’ve been seen as a tasty meal.
However…..
The only reason why she was unscathed like this, was….
“Were you protecting me all this time?”

Rather than answering her, Jin-Woo raised his body up and
then, extended his hand out to Esil.
Esil looked as if she was profoundly moved and, after

holding onto his hand, cautiously stood up from the spot.
“Thank you.”
“How long will we take to get to where the Entry Permit is?”
“It’s not too far from here. I’ll take you there.”
Esil then presented Jin-Woo with both of her wrists.
“…..?”
“…??”
Jin-Woo and Esil stared at each other in confusion. Feeling a

bit frustrated, Esil opened her mouth first.
“I’m your hostage, so aren’t you supposed to bind my hands

first before moving out?”
“Don’t wanna.”
He was confident of stopping her from resisting or escaping

even without the aid of restraints. Besides, way too much
time had been wasted already for him to waste even more
on something useless like that.
Jin-Woo spun Esil around and pushed her slightly on her

back.
Maybe she was still scared of him, he sensed her heartbeat

getting faster, but Jin-Woo didn’t mention it. Instead, his
gaze shifted over to the horses the demons rode on.
“What about them?”
“I’ll take them along.”
With a slightly flushed face, Esil took the reins of the horses
and took the lead. Jin-Woo quietly followed her from behind.
Just as Esil said, they didn’t have to travel far before arriving
at a location where the Entry Permit was likely to be present.
And it just so happened to be a large castle.
‘A demon’s castle inside the Demon’s Castle, is it….?’
The Demon’s Castle was only a ‘castle’ in name and was

actually a tower, but the one in front of his eyes seemed to
have taken quite a lot of inspirations from the ancient
castles of the medieval times.
The soldiers guarding the castle gates became tense

instantly after seeing Jin-Woo, but….
“He’s a guest.”
Esil spoke disinterestedly and pointed with her chin, causing

the guards to quickly open the castle gates. Soon, a group of
knights came out from the inside of the castle to greet her.
“Lady Esil. We were waiting for your return.”
“Where is my father?”
“The lord is waiting in the audience chamber.”
“Understood.”
One of the knights glanced at Jin-Woo and asked.

“Lady Esil…. This gentleman is…?”
“He’s an important guest, so do not forget to mind your

manners.”
After hearing Esil’s solemn tone of voice, knights quickly

parted ways and lowered their heads.
Jin-Woo wordlessly followed after her and entered the deeper

part of the castle. After a long walk down a wide corridor, he
found himself entering a very large chamber that looked like
a boss room in a dungeon.
‘So, this is the audience chamber?’
Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings.
Other than tall stone pillars reaching up to the ceiling

situated at a regular interval to either sides of the chamber,
it was pretty much wide open and empty. It was as if this
whole place had been prepared for potential battles that
could break out.
‘If I were to fight my way here, then I guess I was supposed

to face the boss in this chamber, huh.’
Which meant, the male Demon Aristocrat sitting on a huge

throne atop a rostrum located on the other side of the
audience chamber was the boss of this place.
Esil and Jin-Woo stopped before the ‘boss’.
The boss was the first to break the ice.
“Esil.”
“Father, this person is….”

Even before listening to Esil’s explanation, the boss met the
gaze of Jin-Woo, and its brows shot up high. The irises of the
boss were quaking visibly now.
“Y-you!! Just who did you bring before me?!”
“F-Father, this man is a guest….”
Esil desperately tried to explain, but the boss’s agitation

didn’t want to lessen at all.
“A guest?! Just what kind of a guest invades the home of the

inviter with an army?!”
“Pardon me?!”
Esil quickly shifted her gaze over to Jin-Woo. Just where was
this army her father was speaking of here?
The boss, meanwhile, kept his eyes firmly fixed on Jin-Woo

and spoke with a trembling voice.
“Esil, do you not see it with your own eyes? Can you not see
the countless soldiers hidden in that man’s darkness?” (TL
note at the end)
Jin-Woo’s glare sharpened up a notch.
Flinching from the sudden change in the atmosphere, Esil

quickly took a step back. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was somewhat
surprised by this development.
‘I guess he’s got pretty good senses.’
It seemed that the boss was able to ‘see’ the soldiers hidden
inside Jin-Woo’s shadow.
‘Not sure whether I can call this a good thing or not, though.’
He had recalled all of his Shadow Soldiers and stored them
back in his shadow to prepare for battles, just in case, before
arriving here.
“How dare you bring soldiers into my house?!”
As soon as the boss roared out, many knights rushed inside

the audience chamber.
“Father!”
Esil cried out to her father in a loud voice of her own.
The boss was now standing up from his throne, glaring down
with anger-filled eyes. Staring silently at the developing
situation until then, Jin-Woo finally opened his mouth.
“We made a promise.”
Failing to sense any form of tension whatsoever from Jin-

Woo, the boss’s brows quivered greatly.
“What kind of a promise did you make?”
“The Entry Permit.”
Jin-Woo took a step forward.
“As long as you hand over the floor entry permit, I’ll quietly
leave this floor.”
The boss swallowed his saliva nervously.
‘The man who hunted down demons at a frightening pace

while climbing up the floors must be him.’
The boss recalled how despondent he felt when the news of

the much-trusted Vulcan and Metus falling reached his ears.
Even though the Radiru clan was nominally aristocrats, they
were actually ranked 20th, the very last spot on the list of
the demon’s hierarchy. Meaning, they were the weakest
among the aristocratic clans.
If they were to face off against an enemy that took care of

Vulcan and Metus quite easily, the boss knew that he’d have
to sacrifice quite a lot of their own. However, such a
terrifying enemy was saying that he’d leave on his own
volition.
‘Should I believe him….?’
The boss asked, feeling not entirely convinced.
“Is that the only thing you want from us?”
As if he was waiting for that, Jin-Woo spoke up.
“And also….”
‘But, of course….’
The boss’s forehead creased up in a frown as the situation

unfolded as he expected. The demands of the strong were
always unfair and constant.
Even before hearing the ridiculousness of the demands that

would insult the clan’s honour, and ridicule his proud
soldiers, the boss could feel his chest tighten in frustration
already.
Sure enough….
The man placed his hand on the shoulder of the boss’s

daughter and spoke.
“I wish to borrow this kid from you, too.”

“….What did you say??”
The boss and the knights all cried out in astonishment

simultaneously. Jin-Woo scanned his vicinity, feeling
genuinely puzzled now.
‘Mm?’
Esil told him that she knew where the Entry Permits were at
in the higher floors. He only asked to ‘borrow’ her for a little
bit so she could guide him to where the permits were, but
this was…..
‘Did I say something wrong?’
Jin-Woo could only tilt his head this way and that as he
alternated his gaze between the heavily-trembling boss, the
knights who couldn’t hide their astonishment, as well as Esil
and her deeply-blushing face.
Chapter 103
“My daughter, as a guide??”
Esil’s explanation and Jin-Woo saying the exact same thing

finally managed to calm down the boss’s agitation. He
settled back down on his throne to think.
‘The floor entry permit, and a guide? Are they truly

everything he wants from us?’
From the moment the demons found themselves locked up

in here, they had to constantly hear the order to protect this
land in their heads.
The order itself was not what one would call forceful.
However, just like one would follow their instincts to eat
when they were hungry and sleep when they were tired, the
demons all thought that they had to carry this order out.
That was why the boss felt his heart fall to the pit of his
stomach when he heard the news of black-armoured soldiers
suddenly invading this land and hunting down lesser
demons. He knew that the thing they were supposed to
protect this place from had finally arrived.
The boss gave it a lot of thought, before ordering the

subjugation force to move out. And surprisingly, the
platoons made up of black soldiers proved easier than
expected to defeat.
However, according to the reports made by the advanced
scouts, there were enemies on a completely different scale
compared to those easy-to-defeat black soldiers present as
well.
They said that against platoons led by the robe-wearing

giant ‘knight’ that could spit out flames, or a knight with
something lengthy attached to its helm, there was no
guarantee of victory at all.
And that was why the entirety of the Radiru Clan was
getting ready to sortie in order to subjugate those two
forces.
Unfortunately, those reports failed to mention the man in

front of the boss’s eyes. Not even once. Meaning, the
enemies’ true combat force was someone else entirely
different.
‘If I knew this monster-like human was the leader of those

soldiers, I wouldn’t even have started fighting in the first
place.’
The boss could see it.
He rejoiced after hearing the news of those black soldiers

suddenly vanishing. But, they were now gathered right in
front of his eyes. They were hiding within the man’s
darkness, waiting for an order to attack.
Even now, the boss felt a chill from the countless soldiers
inside the shadow shooting him cold glares filled with thick,
bone-chilling murderous intent.
‘Negotiating with a mere human hurts my pride, but….’

A certain scroll named ‘Entry Permit’ could also be found in
the list of things the demons were supposed to protect.
However, wasn’t the cost of protecting that single scroll far
too high?
No, even if the boss was prepared to sacrifice every single

one of his clansmen, he couldn’t be sure of winning against
this human and his soldiers.
Not only that, this man….
‘….Is hiding his true abilities.’
It was uncertain what he was aiming for, but there was little
doubt that he was hiding almost all of his powers like an
iceberg floating on the quiet water’s surface. Fighting
against an enemy no one could truly comprehend was a
terrifying prospect, indeed.
The boss asked again with a nervous expression.
“Truly… is that all you want?”
If the boss could protect everyone simply by handing out

that Entry permit, then there was no reason not to. Also,
since he’d be doing that in order to protect this land, he
wasn’t exactly going against that order from the unknown
source, either.
“You will not bring harm upon my daughter?”
Suddenly, Jin-Woo felt Esil’s glance.
‘A monster worrying about his daughter, is it…..’

Jin-Woo was inwardly surprised but didn’t forget to nod his
head regardless.
The boss pondered for a short while, before a smile formed

on his face.
“We’ll do that, then.”
The moment he agreed to hand it over, the boss felt as if a

persistently-annoying aching tooth had finally come loose or
some such.
If the event of stopping the prophetised advent of calamity

by handing over a scrap of paper didn’t qualify as a matter
to rejoice, then what else would?
“No, if you could do that, we’d be very grateful.”
Jin-Woo had been getting ready for the eventuality where

things go the other way, but after seeing the boss’s bright
smile, he too smirked and let go of all the built-up tension in
his body.
‘I guess Esil got her personality from her old man.’
Was this how the System’s setting was like for this place, or
what she said was really…..
Jin-Woo quickly shook off the distracting thoughts and gave

his assurance to the eagerly-waiting boss.
“I keep my promises.”
“Very good.”
The boss snapped his fingers, and a soldier hurriedly

brought a large scroll from somewhere to present it before
Jin-Woo. He then unfurled the scroll.
‘It is really the Entry permit.’
Confirming the contents of the scroll, a thick smile formed

on Jin-Woo’s lips.
[Item: Entry Permit]
Rarity: ??
Type: ??
A permit allowing you to enter the 81st floor of the Demon’s

Castle. Can only be used on the 80th floor’s floor-transfer
magic circle.
He was suspicious of whether he could get an item from

monsters through nothing more than just dialogue, but this
was really the Entry Permit he was looking for.
If there was one difference from the permits found on the

lower floors, then it’d be the red emblem of the Radiru Clan
stamped on the bottom of the permit itself.
‘So, does this mean I’m supposed to take the permits away
from different clans from this floor onwards?’
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
He preferred this arrangement a lot more than hunting

monsters endlessly and waiting forever for the permit to
randomly drop without notice.
Jin-Woo rolled the scroll back up and sent it to his Inventory.
“Hey, is it fine if we get going now?”
Jin-Woo urged Esil and turned towards the exit, but then, the
waiting knights suddenly blocked the doorway.
‘……?’
Jin-Woo looked back feeling puzzled, only to find Esil

grinning brightly back at him.
So, what was going on now?
The boss quickly walked over and stood before Jin-Woo.
“We’d never let an important guest of the Radiru Clan go

like this.”
A certain overbearing aura came off from the boss’s large

frame. However, seeing that there was a smile of a friendly
neighbourhood uncle etched on his face, it didn’t look like
he was trying to intimidate the other party.
The boss spoke with a pleading tone of voice.
“As a celebration of the successful negotiation, would you

mind having a feast with us? We also need to prepare my
daughter for the long voyage ahead.”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Esil.
She was cautiously waiting for his answer, although he could

easily see that she also wanted this.
Well, she did keep her side of the bargain. So, wouldn’t it be
only right that he too behave in a gentlemanly manner, too?
Besides, he also needed to eat anyway, and he had grown

sick and tired of the stale bread and jerky strip combo being
sold in the Store by now.
“….Okay, I will.”
Jin-Woo finally consented after a short bout of hesitation,
prompting the boss to break out in a big grin.
“Thank you!”
The complexions of Esil and the knights also brightened

considerably. Soon, the boss was yelling at his subordinates.
“What are you all doing? Prepared for a grand feast!”
Since he had spent way too much time on the 80th floor, he
wasn’t planning on wasting any more on other floors.
He was worried about whether Esil, coming with him as a

guide, could use the floor-transfer magic circles or not, but
that worry was put to rest pretty quickly.
[A Demon Aristocrat has requested to accompany you.]
[Will you allow it?]
[Once allowed, the companion will be able to use the magic

circles, and depending on the rate of contribution,
experience points earned will be shared as well.]
‘….Wait, I’ll be sharing my experience points with my

companion??’
The thing about sharing experience points got on his nerves

slightly, but thankfully, there was the clause about ‘rate of
contribution’. Which meant that, as long as he didn’t give
his companion a chance to fight, the experience points
wouldn’t be divided at all.
So, Jin-Woo made sure to drill this point into Esil.

“Even if battles break out, you must not interfere. I shall
take care of everything. Understood?”
“…..Y-yes.”
Esil replied rather shyly.
‘….??’
In any case, Jin-Woo agreed to her accompanying him and

hurried with his steps. A few steps behind him, Esil did her
best to chase after Jin-Woo while carrying luggage several
times the size of her actual body.
The luggage itself wasn’t heavy, but keeping up with Jin-

Woo’s walking speed was proving to be somewhat
challenging to her. Jin-Woo had no choice but to stop and
wait now and then so she could catch up to him.
“We can see it now over there.”
After arriving on the 81st floor, Esil began checking out the
map of this very floor, and then, pointed at the faint outline
of a castle far away from them. Jin-Woo nodded his head,
having already thought as much.
“Please wait.”
Esil put down the large luggage, and began rummaging

through it. Soon, a ceramic liquor bottle rested in her hands.
Jin-Woo had to ask her about that.
“What are you planning to do with that now?”
“This is a bottle of the finest liquor that the Clan Head of the
Garuche Clan enjoys. If we go and speak to him with it, the
negotiation will be…..”
“Negotiation?”
Jin-Woo smirked and summoned his Shadow Soldiers out.
‘Come out.’
As soon as he called, the soldiers instantly revealed

themselves.
Shururu….
‘How can this be….?!’
Esil doubted her own sight, then.
There were three ‘soldiers’ with similar levels to that of an

upper Demon Aristocrat. And then, two deadly-looking
daggers suddenly appeared out of nowhere to rest in the
hands of the very person who summoned these soldiers.
After being subjected to an aura that was sharp enough to

almost slice her flesh simply by standing near him, Esil had
to do a double take to make sure that the man in front of her
eyes was the same person she had been conversing with
until just now.
“Y-you’re not going to negotiate with them??”
Rather than an answer, Jin-Woo asked back, instead.
“By any chance, is your clan friendly with this Garuche or

whatever clan?”
“N-no, not at all. We the aristocrats always competed bitterly

against each other for a place in the Demon World’s nobility
ranking, so…. Still, they are a group we can hold civilised
meetings with.”
Hearing that, Jin-Woo simply grinned.
“In that case, it’s fine.”
Making one exception was enough. Just as important as

finding the Entry Permit, he needed to raise his level, too.
“You, wait here.”
Jin-Woo told her as so, and while leading his soldiers forward,
headed towards the distant castle.
“P-please, wait!!”
Esil stood there in stunned silence for a moment, before she

belatedly stared in the direction of Jin-Woo’s travel.
“Heok!!”
In that short amount of time, the castle belonging to the

Garuche Clan was burning in flames.
Rumble…..
A monster as tall as a giant spat out a pillar of flames, and

the castle’s gate and walls melted down without offering any
resistance whatsoever. Garuche knights rushing out in
confusion were cut down by the black soldiers one by one.
“Oh, my dear lord….’
Esil was so shocked that she spat out something that could
either be a gasp or a moan.
“Kuwaahhhk!!”
“Uwaaah!!”
The castle of Garuche that looked several times more
impregnable than Radiru Clan’s own castle, was powerlessly
crumbling down. Esil could only swallow down her nervous
saliva.
‘If father didn’t hand over the permit willingly, then…..’
The Radiru castle might have been burning down to cinders

just like the Garuche castle right about now.
Just imagining it made her dizzy. At the same time, she

thought that her clan got a really lucky break after their
negotiation went down so well.
Kaboom!!!
Another tower beyond the castle walls crumbled back down

to earth with a loud explosion.
‘How can anyone fight against a monster like him….?’
Esil wiped the sweat drops trickling down to her chin, and
breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her clan had
managed to skirt past a calamity.
The higher-ups of the Japanese Hunter Association and the

ministerial members of the Japanese government had
gathered today for an urgent meeting.
As the heavy, gloomy atmosphere descended on the

conference chamber, the Association President quietly
opened his mouth.
“I hear that recently, the mood in South Korea is boisterous

due to the entrance of their tenth rank S Hunter.”
The high ranking officials present smirked slightly.
There were already more than twenty rank S Hunters in

Japan. Yet, the Koreans were celebrating their tenth rank S?
Well, that did make some sense considering that, after

excluding the two they lost to an accident as well as to
emigration, there were only eight rank S Hunters found in
Korea, to begin with.
Whatever the case may be, today’s meeting wasn’t held to

ridicule South Korea. If that were the case, then the
atmosphere of this place wouldn’t be this grave.
Sitting in his chair with a deep frown on his face, the ‘Boei
Daijin’ of Japan – the Minister of Defense – testily opened his
mouth.
“What does that have to do with today’s meeting?”
His voice accurately conveyed how deeply troubled he was.
The island at the southern end of the Korean peninsula, Jeju

Island, had been completely overrun by monsters after the
Koreans failed to clear a dungeon there.
On top of that, these weren’t any other regular monsters,

but ant-types that boasted a rigid hierarchy system as well
as an incredibly rapid reproduction rate.
If that was all, the Japanese government would simply

ridicule their Korean counterpart and laugh at their
misfortune, but now, the Japanese mainland was bearing the
cost of that mishap as well.
Only yesterday, an ant they suspected to have flown in from

the Jeju Island completely wiped a small village off the
Japanese map.
They could no longer ignore the fallout from that event

anymore. Most of all, their urgent priority had to be with
calming down the irate Prime Minister and his orders of
finding a speedy resolution to this crisis.
Which meant, the job security of several important people

gathered here was hanging in the balance, yet to start such
an important meeting off with some useless banter?
It was only natural that the Defense Minister would frown

unhappily.
However, the Association President carried on regardless.
“People are more prone to making mistakes when they are in

an agitated state.”
The snow-white hair and wrinkles filling up the entirety of

his face spoke of how old he was already.
“And I believe this is the best chance for us.”
His declaration managed to gather the eyes of everyone

present within this noisy conference chamber. Unlike just
now, when he raised his voice in unhappiness, the Minister
of Defense was speaking with a lot more nervousness.
“Do…. you have a good plan in mind?”
“Rather than calling it ‘good’, I’d say ‘appropriate’ is a more

suitable description, instead.”
Everyone present, including the Minister of Defense, as well

as various ministers and Association’s own upper
management, all focused their attention on the Association
President’s words.
As if he was taking his time for precisely this moment, the

President opened his mouth.
“If you insist that a piece of land is yours when you don’t
even have enough strength to defend it, will anyone
acknowledge you as the owner?”
“…..”
A bout of silence fell on the conference room.
Just what was the Association President trying to say here?
Considering the relationship between South Korea and

Japan, that declaration would never be glossed over as a
senile old man’s ramblings if the general public got wind of
that.
Not to forget, this old man was none other than the current
President of the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
“…So, what is it that you wish to say?”
Minister of State cautiously asked.
The Association President scanned the men sitting to his left

and right side, before confidently declaring out loudly.
“We shall get rid of the monsters in the Jeju island.”
Noisy, noisy….
“And then….”
The chamber had gotten noisy for a brief moment, but it was
silenced immediately by the Association President’s voice.
He carried on.
“….We will take Jeju island from them.”

Chapter 104
Taking Jeju Island away?
The higher-ups of the Japanese Hunter’s Association

remained calm as if they had heard the story from the
Association President prior to the meeting. However, the
same couldn’t be said about the government officials.
“What on earth are you even talking about?!”
“Are you suggesting that we should wage a war with the

Koreans?”
“They have been getting ready for war for the last 60 years!”
“Say something that makes sense, will you?!”
The voices of the government representatives quickly got

heated up.
Right now, the proverbial flames from the ant monster

incident that fell on their feet were in the process of
spreading to their ankles. If they failed to present an
acceptable solution to the Prime Minister and to the mass
media, just who knows how many sitting here today would
lose their posts?
That was why they had summoned the Association President

for this meeting, so he could suggest a tangible solution, yet
what was he saying now?
The Jeju Island this and that?!
How could they not be incensed when the Association

President was yapping on about sheer nonsense in front of
these busy people?
If it weren’t for the Hunters guarding the sides of the

Association President Matsumoto Shigeo, the government
officials would’ve already started their expletive-laden
tirades.
‘How can my expectation be on the money this

wonderfully?’
Matsumoto Shigeo looked at the barrage of ugly criticism

flying in his way and smirked inwardly. Their furious
reactions were well within his calculations.
‘Tsk, tsk.’
Matsumoto tutted lightly in his mind, before opening his

mouth he’d been keeping close until then.
“Obviously, I’m not suggesting that we should wage war

with the Koreans. And I’m also not suggesting that we take
the land away by force, either.”
“What was that?”
“Then, just what is it that you’re trying to say?”
“Can’t you stop beating around the bush?”
A corner of Matsumoto Shigeo’s lips arched up.
“We simply make the Korean give us the land on their own
volition.”
The riled up mood of the conference chamber rapidly cooled
down from the cold attitude of Matsumoto Shigeo. Judging
from the strength of the tone of his voice, or from his
attitude when saying these words, anyone hearing him
could tell that the Association President was being dead
serious.
‘……’
The Vice Prime Minister was famed for his ice-cold

demeanour, yet he chose to break his silence precisely at
that moment.
“Association President Matsumoto.”
He was the closest aide to the current Prime Minister, not to

mention his spokesperson on this occasion.
He was attending this meeting as the proxy of Japan’s

current leader, so what he said in this place carried as much
weight as the Prime Minister’s own words.
“What you said just now…. How will you achieve that?”
A man who could realistically be called the second most

powerful figure in the Japanese government was showing his
interest in the Association President Matsumoto Shigeo’s
plan.
Was it because someone had finally paid attention?
Matsumoto Shigeo became sombre as he proceeded with his

explanations.
“The Koreans currently lack the strength to deal with a rank

S Gate. That was the situation four years ago when the ants
first appeared, and it’s still the same story even now.”
The Vice Prime Minister nodded his head.
Jeju Island was a large island that equalled around 2% of

South Korea’s total land mass. They had lost that much land
to the monsters, yet were utterly unable to do anything
about it, so was there any further explanation necessary?
After the third subjugation effort ended in failure, the Korean

government unofficially gave up on Jeju Island.
That was the unofficial story everyone accepted as of now.
“Under the current circumstances, how would they react

when we make a suggestion of the Japanese rank S Hunters
aiding with the subjugation of the ants?”
The news of the portion of the mutated ants capable of flight

should have reached Korea by now. Meaning, they should’ve
also realised that it was only a matter of time before the
Korean mainland would be attacked.
Unless the decision makers of the Korean government were

mad, there was no way they would reject external help if
provided.
However….
“Even if we do lend some aid, do you believe the Koreans

would hand over Jeju Island like that?”
Just as the Vice Minister alluded to just now, there were

certainly a few holes in the Association President’s words.
From here and there, several officials began smirking openly
as well. Unlike them, though, the Vice Prime Minister carried
on in a calm voice, sounding neither ridiculing nor angry.
“Just as you said, Mister Association President, the ants
might be taken care of if we lend aid to the Koreans.”
Out of everyone present today, the person most

knowledgable regarding the combined strengths of the
Korean and Japanese Hunters was the Association President
Matsumoto Shigeo. And he was certain of the total defeat of
the ants.
There was no disagreement over that.
“However, even if that happened, what is there for us to

gain?”
Even though the Japanese citizens had suffered somewhat,

ultimately, the ants of Jeju Island were the Koreans’ problem
to solve. There was no way they would sacrifice their own
Hunters to help out the Koreans.
‘What a nonsensical notion that is.’
The Vice Prime Minister had always been wise to the

potential benefits to be gained. And he was inwardly
snorting in derision right now. If you concede on something,
you were supposed to gain something back in return. That
was one of the basics in politics.
If they were to lend out their Hunters, then they had to get
something suitable back as compensation.
‘Receiving Jeju Island would be barely on the acceptable

level of compensation.’
The Vice Prime Minister showed some interest because his

thoughts had aligned with that of the Association President.
However, the reply he got instead sounded like an attempt
at catching the floating clouds.
Naturally, the interest of the Vice Prime Minister had cooled
down faster than anyone else’s.
It was then, the Association President formed a mysterious

smile.
“When did I say we’d be helping the Koreans?”
The Vice Prime Minister frowned deeply.
‘Is he trying sophistry with me?’
Just as he was about to reprimand the Association President

in a dignified way with the words of “Stop wasting our
time”….
‘Wait….’
The eyes of the Vice Minister widened.
The Association President said he’d ‘suggest’ lending an aid,

but not about actually lending it.
“You, perhaps…..?”
“It is as you suspect.”
The Association President willingly acknowledged it. As soon

as he discovered the utterly shocked expression of the Vice
Prime Minister, the Association President knew that man had
arrived at the same conclusion as well.
“You’re planning to….. shove the Korean Hunters inside that

ant hole, aren’t you?”
As expected of a seasoned politician.

‘So, there was a reason why he’s rumoured to be a rather
‘smart’ man.’
The Association President sent a satisfied smile to the Vice

Prime Minister and his rather quick-witted way of thinking.
“When Korea’s top Hunters enter the ant tunnel to kill the
ant queen while placing their faith in our supposed ‘aid’,
we’ll simply withdraw our Hunters.”
The Koreans had suffered three failures already. If that losing

streak extended to fourth, who’d suspect the betrayal of the
Japanese Hunters had anything to do with it? No, it was fine
to be suspect. By then, everything would be finished
already, anyway.
The voice of the Vice Prime Minister quaked noticeably.
“Are you… Are you planning to annihilate the top Hunters of

South Korea?”
“The moment a Gate they couldn’t handle opened up in Jeju

Island, their fate has been sealed already.”
The Association President once more voiced his own

fatalistic world view.
“No, they only managed to sustain their pathetic lives

somehow, until now.”
“But, that is…”
“Once their top Hunters disappear in that manner, the

Koreans will definitely not feel secure anymore.”
What would happen when mutated ants capable of flight

begin appearing in South Korea one by one, with all of their
rank S Hunters dead?
Would the Koreans continue playing dumb when that

happens?
If it were one or two ants, their Guilds might be able to kill

the invading monsters somehow. However, just as the
statistics showed, the number of mutated ants would only
increase exponentially, and eventually, the entirety of South
Korea would be shaken up sooner or later.
‘When that happens, surely they would request aid from

other country’s Hunters.’
However, who would be willing to help the Koreans out by

then?
China or Russia, with their great number of Hunters, but also

with massive land mass they needed to cover, too?
Or, the Americans, who refused to help when the rank S

Gate opened up back then?
Or, the North Koreans, who might invade Seoul by bringing

over their own rank S Hunters, instead?
‘No, it’d be only us, the Japanese.’
Because, Japan would also be in trouble when the number of

mutated ants increases. The Koreans would have no choice
but to cling onto Japan, and when that happened, Japan
would be able to demand anything from them in return.
‘Koreans might really be willing to hand over Jeju Island by

then….’
It’d be as exactly as the Association President had said.

Suddenly, the Vice Minister felt a chill run down his spine. To
think, that man was willing to drive another country’s top
Hunters to death just to make his ambition into reality….
Wouldn’t a country fall to ruin because of this man if others

weren’t being careful?
‘He’s a truly terrifying man, this Association President

Matsumoto Shigeo.’
The Vice Minister shuddered from the horrifying scheme of

the Association President. However, that wasn’t the end.
The Association President carried on.
“Jeju Island will just be the beginning.”
One by one….
Whenever the Koreans needed the power of rank S Hunters,

they would have no choice but to slowly come under Japan’s
influence. It was truly possible to swallow up South Korea
without firing a single shot.
“…..And those are my thoughts.”
Only after the Association President ended his lengthy

explanation did the various cabinet members take their
deeply held-up breaths. Those who previously dismissed the
Association President as a crazy fool were now listening
closely, strands of cold sweat trickling down their faces.
The Association President quietly inquired.
“What is your decision, Mister Vice Prime Minister?”
The gazes of everyone present focused on the Vice Prime

Minister.
“……”
The Vice Prime Minister swallowed his saliva.
Currently, he was speaking for the Prime Minister here. Of

course, as long as the Prime Minister trusted him, the
decision made in this chamber would not be overturned at a
later date.
So, carefully, and even more cautiously than before….
‘……’
After lengthy deliberation, the Vice Prime Minister raised his

head.
“How should the government aid you in this venture?”
[You killed a Demon Aristocrat.]
Each time the Shadow Soldiers killed a demon found inside

the castle, Jin-Woo was inundated with the experience points
messages without rest.
Preparing for the final showdown on the top floor, Jin-Woo

continued to raise his levels diligently.
When there were good rewards on offer, the accompanying
risk would also be high, as well.
‘The Divine Water of Life, bonus Stat points, top-ranked

Rune Stones, etc….’
When he thought about the rewards he would get after

defeating the king of demons, there was just no way he’d
slack off on levelling up himself.
[Level up!]
As it so happened, almost all the demons in the vicinity had

been taken care of, so Jin-Woo summoned his Status Window
to confirm his current level.
[Level: 87]
Before he entered the Demon’s Castle for the second time,

his level was 80, but it had already reached 87. Seeing the
increased Stats, a smile automatically formed on his face.
‘Nice.’
Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fist.
In the meantime, his Shadow Soldiers killed off the

remaining demons. It was a complete victory.
With the battle now over, the soldiers gathered before Jin-
Woo as usual. Among them, Iron was the fastest to arrive at
his side. As if he was expecting to be praised, Iron puffed out
his chest and stood at attention.
Jin-Woo chuckled slightly while looking at the mountainous
physique blocking his view.
“You finish with everything?”
Iron nodded his head.
“Are you sure?”
Iron nodded his head even more energetically than before.

Jin-Woo smirked and extended out his senses. And then, as
he spun around, he also threw the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ behind
him.
‘Dagger Throw!’
His dagger flew towards a certain empty wall in the blink of

an eye. But, then….
“Keo-heok!!”
The dagger didn’t hit the wall, but instead stabbed deeply
into the chest of a demon hiding there quietly while using
invisibility. It had been quietly waiting for Jin-Woo to be
separated from his soldiers to mount a sneak attack.
“Euh-euhk….”
The demon could only freak out inwardly at the dagger

piercing its left chest.
‘How did he find out?!’
If the demon was a human, that’s where the heart would

have been. Meaning, that human male had completely seen
through the invisibility magic from a high-ranked demon
aristocrat.
‘How could a measly human….?’
When the demon raised its shocked gaze away from his
wound, Jin-Woo was already standing beside his target. The
demon’s eyes quaked violently.
“But, how….?”
Jin-Woo pulled out the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ and activated his

only close-quarter combat skill.
‘Vital Point Targetting!’
Stab!
The demon that barely managed to hold on from the

damage inflicted by the Dagger Throw, ended up dying in
one hit from the maxed-out ‘Vital Point Targetting’ skill.
Jin-Woo returned the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ back to his

Inventory, and stood before Iron again.
“So, how will you explain this?”
‘……’
As if he was feeling sheepish, Iron lowered his gaze and

scratched the back of his head. Well, rather than the head, it
was the back of his helmet, though. Soon, Igrit also made his
return, having killed all the demons hiding in the deeper
parts of the castle.
Ng?’
However, Jin-Woo sensed something was different about

Igrit.
‘What’s this?’
Jin-Woo observed the approaching Igrit and tilted his head.
Igrit quickly approached Jin-Woo and knelt down, before

lowering his head. Up until here, it wasn’t such a strange
scene. But, quite unlike from before, Jin-Woo heard the
mechanical beep of ‘tti-ring’ going off suddenly in his head.
‘There’s a System message?’
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.

Chapter 105
[Knight ‘Igrit’ is requesting your permission to advance his

grade.]
[Will you permit the advancement?]
‘Permission to advance?’
Surprised by the never-before-seen System message, Jin-

Woo quickly confirmed Igrit’s information to make sure.
[Igrit Lv. Max]
Knight grade.
It’s now possible to advance the grade after the level

requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade
when the Sovereign gives his permission.
‘Igrit’s level…..??’
The level that previously hovered around the 30 mark had

changed to ‘Max’ before he had noticed it. It must’ve been
the case that, once the Shadow Soldier’s level cap had been
met, he’d be given an opportunity to advance to the next
grade.
‘Is the requirement level for advancement somewhere

between the late thirties and early forties?’
When taking into account the potential level-ups happening
during a single battle, he suspected that the required level
had to be around there somewhere.
Considering that the average level of the Shadow Soldiers

was still around the early twenties, it sure as heck felt like a
cumbersome requirement.
‘Besides all that, it also needs my consent, too.’
That must’ve been the reason why Jin-Woo thought there

were hints of unknown but earnest yearning in Igrit’s eyes as
he ran over here.
‘……’
Igrit didn’t raise his lowered head at all.
Jin-Woo could even sense a nervous determination

emanating from Igrit as he waited for his lord’s decision
without budging an inch from his kneeling position.
Jin-Woo was even tempted to pat the dude on the shoulder

and praise him for the job well done.
‘This guy….’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted back to the System message.
The message was blinking slowly as if to urge him for an

answer.
Igrit was one of the very first to become his Shadow Soldiers,
not to mention one who fought the hardest until now, as
well. Was there a reason not to allow the grade
advancement here?
Without a shred of hesitation, Jin-Woo replied to the
System’s message.
“I allow it.”
[Please designate the command phrase.]
‘I need a command phrase for something like this, too?’
Jin-Woo frowned briefly, but changed his mind just as quick.
‘Oh, well.’
Quite a few became Shadow Soldiers at the same time. For

today, it was only Igrit, but if more than a few soldiers
requested him for the advancement permission at the same
time in the near future, then it might become rather tedious
and time consuming to answer their call one by one.
Especially so, if it happened during the middle of a fight.
The command phrase would prove to be useful on those

occasions, that’s for sure. After a short deliberation, Jin-Woo
spoke up.
“Permitted.”
He went with the ‘Simple is best’ mantra.
As soon as the command phrase was set, changes rapidly

took place. It began from beneath Igrit’s feet.
Wuuuaaahhh-!!
Accompanied by screams coming from a distant place,

countless black hands emerged from Igrit’s shadow and they
grabbed onto every part of him.
Jin-Woo observed in great interest the unfolding process of
the advancement. At first, he thought that those black
hands would drag Igrit back into the shadow, but in reality,
the opposite happened, instead.
The hands holding onto Igrit turned into black smoke and
spun around him quite ferociously, before getting absorbed
by him. It was as if Igrit was absorbing the black smoke
voluntarily.
Psuuuuuaaahhk!
Igrit emerged from the dissipating black smoke while

emitting a far greater aura than ever before.
Tti-ring.
The System message informed Jin-Woo of the results.
[The current grade of Knight ‘Igrit’ has advanced from

‘Knight grade’ to ‘Elite Knight grade’.]
‘Niiice!’
Jin-Woo did his best to calm his trembling heart and

rechecked Igrit’s information window.
[Igrit Lv.1]
Elite Knight grade
‘His level has been reset, but his current grade is the same
as Fangs now.’
Before joining Jin-Woo’s army of the Shadow Soldiers

recently, Fangs used to be the boss monster of a rank A
dungeon. Now that Igrit was on the same grade as a creature
that powerful, it could only mean that his abilities had grown
by that great a deal now.
Ba-dump…
Jin-Woo’s heart beat faster. The theory he came up with back

when he became the Shadow Sovereign turned out to be
correct.
‘It wasn’t just me who can get stronger.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze swept over each of his Shadow Soldiers.
‘All these guys are growing stronger alongside me, too.’
After Igrit changed so noticeably through the grade

advancement, he was reminded once more of his soldiers’
capability for growth. He was now beset with the desire to
urgently raise the levels of other soldiers and have them
advance to the next grade as soon as possible.
‘Looks like one more thing has been added to my to-do list,
huh?’
And so, as he stood there checking out his soldiers while

feeling rather satisfied with himself….
From afar, he spotted Tank quickly approaching closer with a

dead body of a demon that escaped a little while ago in his
jaw.
‘Uh?’
However, the light shining in Tank’s eyes as he hurriedly ran

closer also seemed rather suspicious, too. Those eyes, that
aura….
Jin-Woo quietly stared, before asking aloud with a
disbelieving expression on his face.
“Even you?!”
Tank finally stopped right in front of Jin-Woo’s nose and

quickly discarded the corpse he worked so hard to bring
here. He then began prostrating as well, with his front legs
gathered together before his head.
“Wuuong.”
And sure enough, another message popped up in Jin-Woo’s

view.
Tti-ring.
[Elite ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’ is requesting for permission to

advance his grade.]
‘….Holy cow.’
Jin-Woo facepalmed in surprise. A quick confirmation of

Tank’s information revealed that his level had also reached
the cap as well.
[Shadow Beast Soldier Lv. Max]
Elite grade
It’s now possible to advance the grade after the level

requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade
when the Sovereign gives his permission.
Jin-Woo found this rather odd.
Unlike the tireless battle machine named Igrit, who started

off as a level 7 and maintained his sky-high level until now,
Tank was still a far away from meeting the level cap that Jin-
Woo suspected to be the advancement requirement.
Yet, both Igrit and Tank were about to advance around the
same time?
The difference in these two guys’ levels wasn’t something

that could be bridged by this one battle alone.
‘Could it be…. the required level is different for each grade?’
If so, then it made sense.
He thought that since Tank was an ‘Elite’ rank, his level cap
would be lower which meant his advancement would be
faster; on the other hand, Igrit and his ‘Knight’ grade
needed more time to advance.
If that was the case, then indeed it was possible for the
timing of their advancements to match so coincidentally like
this.
When Jin-Woo’s thoughts reached this point, a certain

possibility suddenly entered his mind.
‘Wait, if I reach the right level, could I advance in grade,

too?’
It was just that the required level was so high that he hadn’t
reached it yet.
‘….Eiii, there’s no way.’

Jin-Woo smirked to himself. At the same time, he allowed the
advancement to commence.
“Permitted.”
As soon as his permission left his lips, the same type of

process as Igrit took place with Tank as well. Hands emerged
from the shadow, changed to smoke, and got absorbed into
Tank.
Shuuaahhak….
And just like Igrit, Tank also became a realm stronger than
before.
[The current grade of Elite ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’ has

advanced from ‘Elite grade’ to ‘Knight grade’.]
However, there were some differences, too.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
The mechanical beep went off continuously and System

messages popped up one after another.
[You can bestow a name to a soldier with Knight grade or

above.]
[The bestowed name will be maintained until the Shadow

Soldier is dismissed.]
[Please assign the soldier’s name.]
Tank was a temporary name Jin-Woo came up with on a

whim.
Since a name couldn’t be assigned unless a soldier was a

Knight grade, Tank’s official moniker had been stuck as a
‘Shadow Beast Soldier’. If it weren’t for his twice-as-huge
frame compared to other bears, there was no way to
differentiate Tank from the others.
But now, Jin-Woo could freely assign a name now.
A deep smile formed on his face.
“Tank.”
[Will you assign it as ‘Tank’?]
“I will.”
When Jin-Woo confirmed it, the information on the ‘Shadow

Beast Soldier’ changed.
[Tank Lv.1]
Knight grade.
Perhaps he knew that the advancement process had ended,

Tank raised his body up. Standing on his hind legs, he was
as tall as a regular two-story house now. Jin-Woo
wholeheartedly praised him.
“You finally have a name now, Tank.”
Feeling pleased, Tank raised its head up high and roared out
loudly.
“You guys all did well.”
So, time to take a well-deserved break until the next floor.
Jin-Woo recalled his soldiers back into his shadow, and while
doing that, he couldn’t help but spot Iron and his drooping
shoulders. The poor guy was the only one out of the ‘old’
members to not get an advancement today.
Shururu….
After his soldiers disappeared as shadows, Jin-Woo left the

castle. Esil was waiting for him outside with a rather haggard
face.
“E-excuse me, Sir Jin-Woo?”
“I told you, stop calling me a Sir.”
“Y-yes.”
Esil hesitated somewhat after Jin-Woo curtly replied to her,

but eventually, she spoke again.
“Excuse me…. Uhm, Jin-Woo… sir.”
The demons were a lot more ‘sensitive’ towards one’s

seniority than expected, it seemed.
“….Fine. What now?”
“Do you know…. how many clans have ceased to exist by

your hands?”
Currently, they were on the 89th floor.
Esil’s clan was on the 80th, so that would make nine clans?
What with her witnessing a clan being killed off every time

they climbed up a floor, Esil had finally grown too anxious to
remain silent.
“Clans of superior aristocrats are managing the floors 90 and

above. They are on another level compared to the upper
aristocrats you’ve encountered so far.”
Jin-Woo didn’t slow down his steps, but still asked her
anyway.
“Okay, so what?”
“How about resolving the matters with dialogue from now

on? If you talk to them nicely, they might hand over the
Entry Permit like my cla….”
Jin-Woo cut her off there.
“If I was weaker than your clan, you think your people
would’ve tried talking to me at all?”
Esil quickly shut her mouth up. A measly little human dared
to show up uninvited to a castle full of demons, and not only
that, proceeded to demand something from said castle, too?
That human wouldn’t have been able to return home alive.
“That’s how it is.”
Jin-Woo smirked deeply.
Whether it was a monster from a regular dungeon, or a

monster from instant dungeons, the relationship with
humans would go only as far.
‘The strong will devour the weak.’
Jin-Woo agreed with that concept. Besides, he was urgently

pressed for both the Entry Permits and the level-ups, so he
wasn’t planning to give up on either of those.
‘……’
Jin-Woo glanced at Esil to his side.
He found her continued silence and the expression of

dejection strange and asked her about it.
“I thought it’d be a good thing for your people if other clans

were destroyed?”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you say that demon clans are bitterly contesting

with one another on the hierarchy or whatever?”
“Ah, that…. That is true. However….”
From here onwards, they were stepping into the territories of

the superior aristocrats.
If Jin-Woo failed in his conquest for some reason, then the

fury of those superior aristocrats would be directed in full
towards her and her own clan. Esil was worried about that.
Regardless of her worries, Jin-Woo spoke up confidently.
“I’ll make your Radish Clan as the number one on the

pecking order.”
‘….But, our clan is Radiru, you know.’
Esil could only complain meekly in her mind.
Soon, they would be stepping into the upper floor. Could a

lone man manage to destroy the superior aristocrats and
their clans with nothing but his own powers?
‘…..Eiii, I don’t care anymore.’

She had taken on the task of being his guide, so all she had
to do was to do her job properly. Esil decided to give up on
sweating over it.
‘Ah, I almost forgot….’
Still, there was this one thing she just had to ask.
“Excuse me, Jin-Woo…. sir”
“Yeah?”
Jin-Woo looked back at her.
Having witnessed Jin-Woo continuously destroy other demon

clans so easily, she found it pretty scary to meet his eyes
anymore, so Esil quickly lowered her gaze to her feet and
asked.
“Why did you spare my clan?”
Without a doubt, the Radiru Clan would never be able to

oppose this man’s quest. She knew her clan’s military might
the best, and now that she had witnessed Jin-Woo’s true
power, she was sure of this fact.
Even then, her Radiru clan emerged relatively unscathed

from this merciless man’s onslaught. Why was that? She was
really curious.
Jin-Woo entered the floor-transfer magic circle and turned

around to face Esil.
“Cuz I find you likeable.”
Even though she was a monster, she knew when to

surrender, she knew when to negotiate, and most
importantly, offered up quite a bit of useful information, too.
“P-p-pardon me?!”
Esil flinched grandly in surprise, and her neck rapidly dyed

in a crimson colour. She stood on the spot hesitating as she
fidgeted with her fingers in a clear fluster. Their schedule
had been affected by her being rooted to the spot like that,
so Jin-Woo asked her to get a move on.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Then, he glanced at the System message asking him which

floor he’d like to go.
“If you don’t get in now, we’ll go back to the 80th floor,
okay?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Her face still blushing deeply in red, Esil hurriedly entered

the magic circle.
‘……’
However, she couldn’t raise her head again even after

arriving on the next floor.
The Incheon International Airport.
The representatives from the Japanese Hunter Association

arrived in South Korea to discuss the matters of Jeju Island’s
ant problem. They already had set up a conference with the
Korean counterparts.
Along with the Japanese Hunter Association’s President

Matsumoto Shigeo, Japan’s number one Hunter, the rank S
Goto Ryuji stepped into the airport. (TL note at the end)
The atmosphere within the airport seemed a bit chaotic, so
Matsumoto Shigeo took a look around to see what was what.
“What’s happening here?”
“…..There is a very powerful presence nearby.”
“Stronger than you?”
Goto Ryuji smirked derisively.
Seeing the fully-confident face of Goto Ryuji, Matsumoto

Shigeo didn’t bother to ask anymore.
‘There’s no way South Korea can produce someone like that.’
Not too long after that, an employee from the Korean

Hunters Association hurriedly ran forward to greet and
received them.
“I’m terribly sorry. I was delayed by all the chaos unfolding

inside the airport at the moment.”
The employee hurriedly lowered his head in apology.

Matsumoto Shigeo hid his dissatisfaction expertly and
formed a magnanimous smile.
“It’s fine. However, is there something going on at the

airport?”
“Ah, that…. It’s nothing serious, sir. It’s just that a Hunter
from the United States has arrived just now.”
“What brings an American Hunter to South Korea?”
“I hear that it’s a personal matter, sir. I’m sure that there’s
nothing to worry about.”
The employee thought the Association President Matsumoto
Shigeo was worried about a possible dungeon break and did
his best to assuage the Japanese group’s fears.
Unfortunately, Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression remained

dark.
‘A Hunter from America, is it…. I hope this person won’t

interfere with our business here.’
Goto Ryuji’s gaze was fixed in the direction of the noisy

crowd of people over yonder. Most likely, that’s where the
American Hunter was.
Meanwhile, Matsumoto Shigeo confirmed the time.
If he were to make it to the conference on time, he needed

to get going now.
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 106
Two Association Presidents, Goh Gun-Hui and Matsumoto

Shigeo, sat down while facing each other.
On either side of the two men, representatives from the

Japanese Hunter’s Association and their Korean
counterparts, as well as higher-ups from various government
departments sat in a row.
With the subject matter being what it was, the conference

was moving at a brisk pace.
“How do you feel about forming a united assault team

comprising of top-ranked Japanese and Korean Hunters?”
This explosive suggestion from Matsumoto Shigeo caused

the Koreans present to show much surprise on their faces.
They were all under the impression that today’s conference

would be to discuss the reparation Japanese would demand
for the damage they had suffered.
But then, the Japanese were saying they would voluntarily

help with taking care of this headache?
What kind of jackpot was this?
The surprised state of the Korean politicians didn’t last long,

though, as it was soon replaced by the brightened
complexions, instead. With the sole exception of one man,
that was.
Only Goh Gun-Hui maintained a sharp glare as he observed
Matsumoto Shigeo.
“Are you saying that you wish to attack the nest of the ants
by forming an alliance?”
“That is correct.”
“We’re aware that Japan enjoys an abundance of top-ranked

Hunters. However, it is still far too dangerous to invade Jeju
Island.”
Goh Gun-Hui also added that there were several times more
of the monsters to be found on the island compared to two
years ago, when the last subjugation effort failed.
It was here that Matsumoto Shigeo formed a rather

suspicious smile.
“It’d prove to be dangerous indeed if we rushed into the

enemy’s main camp without a proper plan.”
One of the Korean politicians, utterly hooked by the

suggestion from the Japanese that they would help, asked in
an expectant manner.
“Do you have a good plan in mind?”
“Yes.”
Matsumoto Shigeo gathered everyone’s attention to himself

with a quick answer, but then, continued on only after
taking a bit of time for himself.
“Of course, we have one.”
With a single command from him, the prepared files

matching the exact number of Korean representatives were
placed in front of them.
“These are all the data compiled from our observation of the
ants.”
While the Koreans attendees of the conference were

perusing through the file, Matsumoto Shigeo began his in-
depth explanation.
“Each ant may be strong enough to rival a high-rank Hunter,

but it also possesses a fatal weakness. And that’s their short
lifespan.”
Ants could only live for around one year at most.
“Which means, if the ant queen is removed from the

equation, every ant found on Jeju Island will eventually die
out in around one year.”
“Indeed….”
The Korean attendees nodded their heads as they read the

well-researched data.
Only the queen needed to be eliminated.
That sounded a whole lot more achievable than killing

thousands of unrankable monsters that came out of a rank S
Gate. However, Goh Gun-Hui’s glare remained icy cold.
‘What a nonsensical notion that is….’
He knew the truth already.
He knew that the act of killing one queen was no different

than actually trying to kill every single one of the thousands
of those monsters.
“Are you making this suggestion because you don’t know of
ants’ instincts to sacrifice themselves in order to protect
their queen?”
When Goh Gun-Hui pointed this fact out, Matsumoto Shigeo

simply smiled and lightly rebutted him.
“Of course I know. If we were to kill the queen, we’d most

likely have to break through the defensive wall of thousands
of ants.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s suspicions grew only larger and larger after

he saw how relaxed Matsumoto Shigeo’s demeanour was.
‘Just what are they thinking?’
The corner of Matsumoto Shigeo’s lips arched up.
“However, what if all of the ants abandon the ant tunnel for
some reason?”
The ant queen lived in the deepest part of the ant tunnel.
Why would the ants leave the ant tunnel unguarded, when
they were supposed to protect the queen as well as the eggs
at all cost?
When questioning expressions formed on the faces of all the

Korean representatives, Matsumoto Shigeo opened his
mouth to answer their confusion.
“There have been. A total of three times.”
Three times?
There had been three times where such an event occurred?
But, besides all that – how did Japan know so intimately

about such things in the first place?
The answer to this question arrived right away.
“The ants emptied out of their tunnel to fight, when the

Korean Hunters landed on Jeju Island for the subjugation
operations three times in the past.”
“Keu-euhk.”
Goh Gun-Hui tightly clenched his fists resting on his knees.
While the Hunters of South Korea risked their lives and

fought, the Japanese were covertly spying on them. No one
here criticised Japan for not helping South Korea out back
then.
But regardless, how could they use the misfortune of the

neighbouring nation as their research material, and then
proudly reveal the results to said neighbour like this?
A rank S lost his life during the third failed attempt. And
besides him, countless others also died. The Association
President Goh Gun-Hui had to watch them die from a very
close vantage point back then.
His clenched fists were trembling hard now.
‘Mm…?’
Sensing that the complexion of Goh Gun-Hui was getting

rather suspicious, Japan’s best Hunter, Goto Ryuji unleashed
his own magical energy.
It was a warning – if the other side tried to do something

untoward, then this side would also make a move.
Attending the conference as Goh Gun-Hui’s bodyguard, Woo

Jin-Cheol quickly approached the Association President’s
side.
“….Sir?”
“….I’m okay now.”
Goh Gun-Hui dismissed Woo Jin-Cheol, and the latter quietly

stepped back.
Regardless of what the Japanese’s attitude was like, this

presented a golden opportunity to deal with the ants once
and for all if their research data proved to be reliable.
‘I can’t afford to let slip such an opportunity because of my

personal feelings.’
Goh Gun-Hui could only calm his boiling anger inwardly.
Once the threatening tension of the conference room

dissipated, Matsumoto Shigeo finally got to the main point.
“The Japanese Hunters will take on that role.”
Japan’s rank S Hunters would split into several teams and

attack Jeju Island from different directions. Ants would rush
out to face the intruders, and just like before, the tunnel
with ant queen hiding in it would be emptied out.
“We wish to ask Korea’s top Hunters with the killing of the
queen.”
South Korea’s rank S Hunters would sneak into the island

using a helicopter, and once they kill off the queen, they
escape via a helicopter again.
Noisy, noisy…..
The plan put forward by the Japanese was rather detailed
and sounded quite doable, so the Korean representatives
began to get heated up from excitement.
“If we follow the Japanese plan, do we get to recover Jeju

Island?”
“These Japanese b*stards, they have finally showed their

hands now that they too have become victims.”
“This is a great chance.”
“Let’s seize this opportunity and use the Japanese Hunters

to reclaim Jeju Island.”
Goh Gun-Hui didn’t participate in the heated discussion of

the Korean representatives, choosing to quietly mull over
Matsumoto Shigeo’s suggested plan, instead.
‘Without a doubt, there is a good chance.’
There were 21 rank S Hunters in Japan.
In comparison, there were only eight in South Korea.
But, by excluding himself who couldn’t move due to health

reasons, or the other Hunter who had to retire early, then
realistically speaking, there were only six that could
participate.
‘It’ll be impossible to draw and scatter the attention of

thousands of ants with that number.’
In order to do so, they needed Japan and her twenty or so

top-ranked Hunters. Even if they were to be split into groups
of five, you’d still get four groups, and that would be enough
to buy the Koreans time to do their job.
But the real problem was, would South Korea’s top Hunters
actually be able to kill the boss of a rank S dungeon, the ant
queen?
‘Is it even possible?’
It was then, Goh Gun-Hui suddenly remembered the name of

Seong Jin-Woo.
Seong Jin-Woo was strong enough to solo kill the boss of a

rank A dungeon, so what if he worked together with other
rank S Hunters?
Ba-dump, ba-dump….
Goh Gun-Hui’s heart began racing now.
‘We can’t delay this any longer.’
Currently, ant monsters were evolving at a rapid pace. No

one could predict precisely when the entirety of the ant
army would become flight-capable. It could be ten years,
five, or even, right next year.
Before something like that happened, the Koreans had to kill

off the dastardly ants, and if they had to resort to borrowing
another country’s strength, then so be it.
But, before that….
“What does Japan want as compensation from this

cooperation?”
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui didn’t let this

important matter slip through.
Matsumoto Shigeo did his best to form the most

magnanimous smile he could physically perform.
“When the rest of ants die in a year, we evenly split the
magic crystals left behind on the island.”
Only that much?
Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head, unconvinced.
“Will you really be happy with only that?”
Goh Gun-Hui’s question caused the Korean government

officials and politicians near him to frown rather deeply.
‘If they are willing to do it for a small asking price, he should

just gladly accept it, so why is he questioning them like
this?’
‘What will he do if the Japanese decide to change their mind

all of a sudden…?’
‘Association President Goh Gun-Hui, you’re still too

distrusting, what with your background being a man who
used to run a corporation.’
Their hot dagger-like glares stabbed deeply into Goh Gun-

Hui. He had no choice but to shut his mouth.
A short discussion took place between the Korean attendees,

but no one raised a voice of objection.
In the end, the Japanese’s proposal was approved

unanimously.
After the conference successfully came to an end,

Matsumoto Shigeo approached Goh Gun-Hui with a beaming
smile and offered his right hand.
“The future of our two nations depends on this cooperation.

Let us combine our resources together and do our best.”
After returning to his hotel room, Matsumoto Shigeo placed a
cigarette in between his lips. Goto Ryuji to his side lit it up
for him.
“You worked hard today, sir.”
“Mister Goto, it’s you who worked hard today.”
“You’re praising me too much, sir.”
“I’m not. Didn’t you see Goh Gun-Hui’s face back then?”
Matsumoto Shigeo smirked deeply.
The fleeting emotion that flickered in and out momentarily

on Goh Gun-Hui’s face back then – it was definitely rage.
The reason why Matsumoto Shigeo was able to display so
much leisure in front of a rank S Hunter who reputedly
possessed the greatest strength in South Korea, was simple –
because, he had a powerful ally standing behind him.
And that was Goto Ryuji, Japan’s number one melee-type

Hunter. And also, the trustworthy right-hand man of the
President of the Japanese Hunter Association, Matsumoto
Shigeo.
Recalling Goh Gun-Hui’s expression, Matsumoto formed a

mocking smile.
“Borrowing the power of someone whom you don’t even

want to talk to. Now that would be quite intolerable from the
perspective of the weak.”
Goto Ryuji also smirked as well.

In the end, the Koreans agreed to work with the Japanese,
just as Matsumoto Shigeo had predicted. Everything was
moving according to plan.
“South Korea is merely the beginning.”
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke up.
“Hunters are the new power, the new political influence.

With this power given to Japan, I shall create a new empire.”
His gaze then shifted over to Goto Ryuji.
“And you shall become its next emperor.”
If Matsumoto Shigeo was to be considered the first ruler of

the empire founded on his crafty schemes, then Goto Ryuji
would be the second by relying on his powers alone. And
this was the reason why Goto Ryuji treated Matsumoto
Shigeo as his superior all this time.
It was then.
“I almost forgot.”
Matsumoto Shigeo recalled something and asked Goto Ryuji

while killing the cigarette.
“Do we still not have any information on South Korea’s

newest rank S Hunter?”
“Even the South Koreans don’t seem to know much about

that man, sir.”
“…Is that so.”
They already knew everything there was to know regarding

all of South Korea’s top Hunters. Except for one person.
They didn’t have a single reliable piece of information on the
Hunter who was registered as a rank S recently. The
unknown factor could cause deviations to their plan. Now
that his ambition had been revealed in full with the
commencement of this operation, Matsumoto Shigeo
couldn’t afford any form of deviation whatsoever to his plan.
‘Although it is questionable what a single person could

achieve on his own, but, still….’
There were five such people in the entire world.
They were referred to as Hunters on the rank of ‘Special

Authority’, which meant that each one of them possessed
power equalling that of a country’s military.
They all shared one common point; each one of them had
cleared at least one rank S Gate in the past. A Hunter with
that kind of ability could easily disrupt his plan.
‘However, the odds of that are extremely low.’
Taking into account that there were seven billion people on

Earth, the odds would be less than a billion to one. If
someone of that calibre appeared, then there was no way
the South Koreans would keep quiet about him. But judging
from the current atmosphere, there didn’t seem to be any
cause for concern on that front.
‘I can’t ruin everything by being too cautious here.’
Matsumoto Shigeo picked up his phone.
Then, he gave his command to the higher-ups of his own

Association, who were all anxiously waiting for his call back
home.
“The Koreans have agreed to work with us, so summon all
the rank S Hunters as planned.”
Goh Gun-Hui was also calling the Korean Hunters at that

moment.
The first priority was to explain the seriousness of the

current situation. He was planning to fine-tune the
Association’s schedule accordingly, but….
“What did you say??”
A completely unexpected piece of news flew out of nowhere

and punched him in the face.
“You can’t get in touch with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo at all???”
For some reason, only Seong Jin-Woo was out of reach.
“His phone’s been switched off for several days as well, sir.

We can’t even figure out where he could be.”
“….”
Goh Gun-Hui shut his mouth tightly then, before opening his
mouth. He sounded exasperated at that moment.
“In that case, summon the other Hunters excluding him as

soon as possible.”
“Understood, sir.”
The agent of the Association bowed and quickly ran out of

the President’s office. Goh Gun-Hui’s expression hardened as
he fell into deep contemplation.
‘Where could he possibly be?’

After hearing the report of Seong Jin-Woo going missing, Goh
Gun-Hui suddenly had a foreboding premonition of the
future.
Chapter 107
Just as Esil had alluded to earlier, the difficulty of the quest

rose up steeply from the 90th floor upwards. The levels and
the number of monsters guarding each floor’s castle were so
much incomparably higher compared to the lower floors.
It got so tough that he no longer could enjoy the fruit of his

current sky-high Intelligence Stat – his MP used to hover
near the max almost all the time, but now, it fluctuated
greatly every time there was a battle.
That showed just how many of his Shadow Soldiers were

destroyed and had to be revived over and over again.
It wasn’t some fluke that Jin-Woo managed to clear the 90th

floor, however.
Just like a hammer shaping the raw iron that had been
heated for a long, long time, he had been constantly
polishing his skills as he climbed up from the lowest floor to
get to where he was now.
The clear evidence of that was his current level, which had
reached 90 already.
The fiercer the resistance of the superior Demon Aristocrats

became, the stronger the attacks of Jin-Woo and his Shadow
Soldiers got in order to break past their defences.
[Level up!]
As Jin-Woo exited from the castle carrying the 97th floor’s
Entry Permit, haze-like gas was rising up from his body. That
steam was from his sweat evaporating in the heat, caused
by the friction of him moving beyond the physical limits.
That was a clear indication of how much of a life-or-death

struggle this battle had been. And accordingly, Jin-Woo’s
face was filled with the satisfaction from the victory well
earned.
Esil had been hiding until then, and when she saw him,
quickly ran up to his side.
She could see a castle was roaring in flames behind Jin-Woo,

and the Entry permit held firmly in his hand.
‘Fifth-ranked Ricardo Clan, and now, even the fourth-ranked

Faetos Clan, too….’
Esil no longer had any reserve energy to be shocked

anymore. If every other intruder boasted strength on this
scale, then rather than protecting her land, it’d be difficult to
even survive from the initial assault, instead.
“Are all the other Humans as powerful as you?”
Esil anxiously asked.
Jin-Woo combed through his memory for a bit, before making

a suitable reply.
“Maybe, there are two more, I think.”
Goh Gun-Hui and Cha Hae-In were those two. Jin-Woo had no
doubt that they were much stronger than other rank S
Hunters he came in contact with so far.
As for the rest, which were Baek Yun-Ho, Choi Jong-In and Im
Tae-Gyu, he didn’t feel that they were that particularly
strong.
Especially for Choi Jong-In – he seemed to be highly rated by

everyone, but to Jin-Woo’s eyes, that seemed to be the case
solely due to him being in charge of South Korea’s top-
ranked Guild, the ‘Hunters’, rather than because his own
skills were impressive.
‘If I were to judge from their auras alone, Cha Hae-In is

several times stronger than Choi Jong-In.’
Without a doubt, one could still find differences in power

even among the ranks of ‘S’ Hunters.
No, maybe the differences found within this rank would be

far greater than any other ranks precisely because those
who couldn’t be measured by regular means were all lumped
in together here.
Jin-Woo formed a subtle smirk.
‘How would I perceive others after I get out of here?’
Just like how the feelings he got from Baek Yun-Ho differed
from their first meeting to the second, would there be a
change in how he perceived the Association President Goh
Gun-Hui?
Jin-Woo’s heart raced faster when he thought about

checking out how much he had changed.
‘But, before I can do that….’
He had to clear this Demon’s Castle instant dungeon first.

There were only four more floors remaining. He’d get to clear
this dungeon soon enough. Jin-Woo turned to speak to Esil.
“You should go back to your people now.”
She had been utterly dejected after hearing that there were
two more people like Jin-Woo out there, but then, she was
jolted out of her morose state and raised her head.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll find my own paths on the floors above this one.”
Thanks to Esil guiding the way, he got to quickly locate the

Demon Aristocrats and their castles. However, he no longer
needed her help from now on.
‘Well, my Perception Stat has risen up pretty high so that’s

one of the reasons, but also….’
The auras emanating from the superior aristocrats were so

strong that he could easily locate them from afar now. She
didn’t do much besides showing him the way, so he didn’t
want to walk around with one more luggage anymore if he
could help it.
When he finished explaining himself like that….
“A-am I no longer useful to you?”
Esil’s complexion had paled completely.
‘She’s a funny one until the end, huh.’
Jin-Woo suppressed his laughter as he saw Esil’s reaction

that always managed to exceed his expectations. He then
walked right up to her nose.
‘Heok!’
Esil’s eyes opened wider as he got progressively closer and
closer.
‘A-am I being eliminated, as well?’
Her pounding heartbeat sounded like thunderclaps to her

ears.
She then spotted Jin-Woo raising his hand. Seeing the tip of
his hand slowly approach her face, Esil could only squeeze
her eyes shut in terror.
However….
‘….Uh?’
His hand lightly rested on her shoulder, instead. The warmth

spreading from her shoulder prompted her to open her eyes
just a little. Jin-Woo’s face was oh-so close to hers. As if he
was waiting for her to open her eyes, he began smiling
brightly right away.
“You really worked hard until now. Thank you.”
With that, it was done.
Jin-Woo thought that he made a good-enough goodbye just

then, and he took large strides to enter the floor-transfer
magic circle.
Tti-ring.
[Floors 1 to 96 have been opened.]
[Which floor would you like to transfer to?]

He turned around to look at Esil’s face, and he saw the
emotions of surprise and wistful longing forming the perfect
two halves of her expression.
Terror, anxiety, shock, wistfulness….
Those were the range of emotions the monsters with

intelligence had shown him.
Were they truly residents of another world, just as Esil said,

or were they simply figments of the System’s imagination,
brought to reality for this dungeon?
‘I can’t tell that yet, but….’
If he continued to gather more clues in this manner,

eventually he’d get to understand the true identity of the
System as well as what it wanted from him.
Meanwhile, the hesitant Esil finally mustered up some

courage to call out to Jin-Woo.
“Uhm, excuse me….”
But, almost at the same time, Jin-Woo raised his head and
replied to the System message.
“97th floor.”
97, 98, 99….
Jin-Woo finally acquired the ‘key’ to enter the abode of the

Demon King.
[Item: Entry Permit]
Rarity: ??
Type: ??
A permit allowing you to enter the 100th floor of the

Demon’s Castle. Can only be used on the 99th floor’s floor-
transfer magic circle.
Just how much hardship did he have to go through for this

thing? Before entering the 100th floor where the Demon
King was waiting for his arrival, Jin-Woo checked out his
Status first.
[Level: 93]
His level was already knocking on 100’s doorway. He could

sense his increased Stats throughout his entire body.
Strength flowed in every corner of his body, and his senses
were so much sharper than before. His condition was at its
peak.
‘Very good.’
Jin-Woo summoned the Store. He topped up his HP and MP

with potions bought from there. He even bought some
bandages as well. Just like before, he wrapped it around the
right hand holding the dagger. It had been a long time since
he felt this nervous.
Once he was done, he slowly moved his body this way and
that.
Swish….
Slice….
‘Hmm, it’s not too bad, I guess?’

His movement gradually picked up speed, his limbs moving
accurately according to his commands.
Faster! Even faster!
Jin-Woo left behind countless after-images in the air but

quite suddenly, he stopped moving altogether. Hot steam
rose up like a fog from his shoulders.
Should he say this was sufficient for a warm-up?
Whatever the case might have been, he was finished with

his preparations now.
“Fuu….”
Jin-Woo inhaled and exhaled a big chunk of air, before

stepping onto the floor-transfer magic circle. Just like before,
the magic circle asked for his destination, and Jin-Woo
confidently replied.
“100th floor.”
By the time he blinked, the surroundings had already

changed. Jin-Woo surveyed his new surroundings.
‘There are no flames here?’
The horrifying flames that seemingly burned for all eternity

on the lower floors were all gone, and he could only see the
burnt-out remains. He raised head and spotted snowflakes
falling from the sky.
‘….Snow?’
The colour seemed a little off for real snowflakes, so he

extended his hand out. The flakes falling on his hand didn’t
melt down, weirdly enough. When he took a closer look, he
realised that it was actually ash.
Ash was falling from the sky like snow.
It was then.
Tti-ring.
He heard the familiar mechanical beep. Jin-Woo’s sharpened

glare was directed to the distant skies above.
‘So, it’s above me….’
Soon, the System alerted him to the entrance of the enemy

via its trusty messages.
[The Demon King Baran has discovered the intruder!]
A black dot that wandered in the sky….
That black dot gradually got closer to the ground, before

settling down on a spot pretty far away. It was a winged
lizard-like creature.
After successfully landing on the ground, the lizard flapped

its large wings and screeched out aloud.
Kiiiiieeeehhhk!!
Just above the head of the lizard, Jin-Woo saw a face of a

demon, with a certain blue aura oozing out from it. A male
creature kitted out in a flashy set of armour that only royalty
might wear, while riding on the back of the large winged
lizard….
The four words could clearly be seen above the male

demon’s head.
[The Demon King, Baran]
This boss was emitting an extraordinary aura.
Cold sweat formed on Jin-Woo’s forehead. As befitting the

boss protecting the top floor of a dungeon this massive, the
creature was full of magnificent splendour.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted to the side of the boss, however.
‘Mm?’
The lizard this boss was riding on also possessed a name of

its own.
[The Sky Dragon Kaisellin]
‘….Sky Dragon?’
Judging from its name and its appearance, it didn’t look like
a demon at all.
‘Wait a minute…. If it’s not a demon, then could I….?’
Even if he worked his butt off to kill demons, he couldn’t

extract their shadows. So, he had already given up on
acquiring a useful shadow in this place. But, what if it was a
non-demon monster that could also fly?
‘…….I want it.’
If he could extract its shadow, then definitely he would.
This would be the first time he ran into a shadow he so

dearly wanted to extract since encountering the leader of
the White Phantoms, Baruka. Jin-Woo swallowed his dry
saliva.
It was then, Baran raised its hand towards the sky.
Tti-ring.
[The Demon King Baran has activated ‘Skill: The Army of

Hell’.]
‘….The Army of Hell??’
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
Several warning bells rang one after the other in Jin-Woo’s

ears.
[Demon Soldiers have been summoned!]
[Demon Knights have been summoned!]
[Demon Generals have been summoned!]
Along with the messages filling up his view, an army entirely

consisting of demons appeared around the Demon King.
Even at a casual glance, there must’ve been over a
thousand of them.
‘So, this must be the beginning.’
Jin-Woo also released all of his hidden magic energy.
When Baran arrogantly lowered the hand pointing at the sky

in the direction of Jin-Woo, the demonic army rushed at him
like a black tide.
Rumble-!!
The ground vibrated from the forceful march of the demons.

Jin-Woo stared at the Demon King’s army as the corner of his
lips arched up.
‘I also have soldiers too, you know.’
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“My shadows….”
In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo’s shadow spread out to all the

surrounding areas. He had activated the skill, ‘Sovereign’s
Territory’. When the Demon King’s army set foot within the
darkened land, Jin-Woo finally summoned his Shadow
Soldiers.
“….Show yourselves.”
His shadows stood up all at once to answer his call.
‘….!!!’
Jin-Woo could acutely feel the confusion and panic among

the enemies’ ranks.
Wuuoooohhh!!
Kkkrrroar!!
Immediately seizing upon this opening, the two ‘physical’

type Knight grade soldiers, Iron and Tank, ran forward with
everything they had and crashed into the enemy.
Kaboom!!
“Kuwaahk!!”
“Kehgehk!!”
Dozens of demons screamed and were flung away from the
absurd strengths of the two Shadow Soldiers. Right behind
them, over one hundred soldiers rushed forward like a black
tidal wave.
And the highlight of this opening salvo obviously belonged

to Igrit!
He jumped lightly over the head of Iron and landed gently

on the ground, before using the swords he held in each hand
to cut and slice apart every demon he could find.
“Kiieeehhk!!”
“Keuhark!!”
It was a performance befitting the grade of ‘Elite Knight’.
‘By the way, Igrit isn’t the only Elite Knight in my army, you
know.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to his side.
Fangs had finished gigantifying himself by then, and walked

forward with large, heavy thuds as if to emphasize that it
was his turn to fight. Jin-Woo formed a content expression as
he watched Fangs’ large back.
Fuu-wuu-wuheup.
Fangs took a deep, deep breath. His chest puffed up

noticeably. Jin-Woo quickly recalled all the Shadow Soldiers
found in front of Fangs, so his giant soldier could attack
without holding anything back. The soldiers reverted to
shadows, and shifted to the new location Jin-Woo pointed
with his finger.
And then…..
Kuwuuuuuuu….
Massive, ferocious pillar of flames spewing out from Fangs’

mouth completely vaporised the demons on the ground. The
flames didn’t stop there, though.
Kuwuuuuuu…..
Fangs moved his head left to right, and utterly incinerated

all demons trapped with the arc of the attack. All those poor
demons swallowed up by the flames couldn’t even leak out a
scream.
A few Shadow Soldiers were sucked into the attack in the

process as well, but as long as they were under the influence
of their Sovereign, it was possible to infinitely revive them.
‘Very good!’
Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly.
One hundred-plus Shadow Soldiers were overwhelming the

army over ten times their numbers. The demonic soldiers
and their ranks crumbled in no time at all.
But, it was then.
Baran stopped standing back passively, and finally made his

move. Countless arcs of blue sparks buzzed and crackled
within the wide-open mouth of the boss creature.
Gahaaaaahark!
Along with that hair-raising yell, a chill-inducing beam of

blue light enveloped the Shadow Soldiers.
Kwa-bzzzzzzzzzz!!
‘….Lightning?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened from sheer surprise.
Soldiers getting swept up in the blue electrical storm

disintegrated in an instant, while those that managed to
avoid instant death stood still in their spots as if they were
frozen solid.
‘….It’s not regular lightning.’
Lightning bolts containing horrifying destructive power, as

well as side-effects of stunning their targets, fell all over the
place. And of course, one of these blue-coloured electrical
storms also headed for Jin-Woo as well.
Cra-ckle!!
Quite unlike his Shadow Soldiers, he didn’t receive a single

lick of damage, however.
All burn-related damage was absorbed by the ‘Wind Robe’

he currently had on, and….
[You have resisted abnormal status with the effects of ‘Buff:

Immunity’.]

Immunity’.]

Immunity’.]
….As for the lightning’s stun effect, his abnormal status

immunity buff dealt with it.
Jin-Woo dashed towards Baran right away. If he didn’t stop
the boss’s AOE magic right now, there was a good chance
that the flow of battle would shift away from his favour.
Baran’s glare landed on Jin-Woo.
Gahaaaaahk!!
Another ear-screeching yell exploded out from the boss’s

wide open mouth, and blue streaks of lightning rained all
around Jin-Woo.
Crackle, crack, crackle!!
However, Baran flinched grandly upon realising that the

concentrated lightning attacks had no effect on Jin-Woo.
‘…..!!’
He sensed the boss’s agitation quite clearly.
Utilising the skill ‘Dash’ that had reached the maximum

achievable level, Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of
an eye and jumped up high in the air. Baran also
unsheathed its sword.
Jin-Woo’s reverse-gripped ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ and the Demon

King’s blade, infused with bluish flames, clashed face to
face.
BOOM!!
A huge explosion of noise spread out; Baran was shoved off

the Sky Dragon, while Jin-Woo was flung away by the
rebound as well.
Jin-Woo stopped rolling on the ground and got up at the

same time as Baran. They glared at each other only for a
brief moment.
Both of them dashed towards each other with everything

they had almost out of pure instinct.
Gaaaaaahk!!
Baran spat out more blue sparks from his mouth.
Craaaackle!! Crack!!
Countless blue-coloured rays of light crashed down on him.

Jin-Woo continued to run forward while believing in the
defensive properties of the robe, but then, he sensed
something was off.
‘….It’s getting hotter?’
When he glanced back, he realised that the end of the robe

was on fire. He quickly threw off the robe.
‘I guess that’s as far as the robe can protect me.’
In the end, it was an artefact crafted by humans. It had

already performed its job quite admirably up to this point, so
he felt no regret. From here onwards, Jin-Woo had to take
care of things on his own.
He swallowed his saliva.
Gaaahhhhak!!
As if it had sensed that an opportunity had arrived, the

intensity of the blue sparks crackling within Baran’s mouth
increased by a notch. Jin-Woo heightened his senses as
much as he could to get ready.
‘I can do this.’
No, he simply had to do this.
With time slowing down substantially in his perspective, Jin-

Woo calmly evaded each and every single one of the blue
arcs of lightning flying right at him.
‘….Why is this happening?’
Craaackle!
As Baran’s figure got closer and closer, Jin-Woo began

recalling his memories of the Demon’s Castle one by one.
Even during that, he still managed to evade the blue
lightnings.
Craaaackle!!
His heart was beating quite gently right now.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….
Jin-Woo dodged all of Baran’s attacks by a truly paper-thin

margin, and eventually, stood before the Demon King.
‘….Ah.’
Only then did he finally realise why he was reminiscing

about the events of the Demon’s Castle like this. Because,
he was feeling grateful.
‘Thanks.’
To grant him this great power to fight evenly against an

absurdly strong monster like this….
As he climbed up each floor, he was moulded and refined

further and further. It was as if he was being trained
precisely for this moment.
So, how could he not feel grateful right now?
Swish-!
Baran slashed down diagonally with his sword, and Jin-Woo

raised ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ in his right hand to block it, before
using the ‘Knight Killer’ to stab the Demon King’s shoulder.
Crack!!
The weapon designed specifically to tear through the

enemy’s armour dug deeply into Baran’s shoulder.
‘……!!’
Jin-Woo momentarily thought that he could hear Baran’s

soundless scream just then. He yanked the ‘Knight Killer’
out. Flames of rage erupted within Baran’s eyes. The Demon
King began panting out rather laboriously.
Finally, the boss made his move.
Jin-Woo’s two daggers and Baran’s sword swished and swung

and clashed against each other countless times, leaving
behind several wounds on their bodies.
Clang!! Claaaank!! Clang, clunk!!
Every time their blades collided, the ground around the two
caved in by the shock waves emanating from the collision of
the magic energy.
A deep frown formed on Jin-Woo’s forehead.
‘Even with such a deep wound on his shoulder….’
As befitting the title of the Demon King, Baran’s powers were

nothing to scoff at. Jin-Woo felt aching coming from his
wrists. He realised that he’d be in a disadvantageous
position if things continued on in this fashion.
‘I need to break this deadlock.’
Jin-Woo and Baran both had two hands. However, Jin-Woo

also possessed a hidden third hand.
‘Ruler’s Reach!’
Out of the blue, a powerful impact force pushed Baran down

on one knee.
Thud!
‘….??’
Even before Baran could recover from his confusion, Jin-

Woo’s fist slammed hard into the Demon King’s face.
Ka-boom!!
Baran’s uncontrollable tumbling only came to an end after it

rolled on the ground for dozens of metres. However, it
couldn’t get up. Because, Jin-Woo was already straddling the
torso of the Demon King by then.
Baran quickly opened its mouth wide towards him.
Gah-ark!
Too bad, Baran couldn’t fire off another lightning. Jin-Woo’s

left fist shoved deep into the Demon King’s mouth ensured
that the ‘spell’ would remain sealed.
‘…..!!’
Baran’s eyes shook hard.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo raised his fist up high, choosing not to
use the dagger wrapped around his hand.
Slam!!
Boom!!
Slam!!
Kaboom!!
The terrifying physical power from the Strength Stat that

had exceeded 200 rapidly shaved away the boss monster’s
HP.
And finally….
Jin-Woo placed almost all of his strength into the raised right
fist.
Fuu-huup!
In an instant, his shoulder and arm muscles expanded

greatly, and the air around him became so heavy that it
actually sank lower. An enormous amount of magic energy
pooling around his right arm forced all sounds away, and
instantly, the surroundings became eerily quiet.
‘……..’
Within this brief respite of silence, Jin-Woo looked down at

the boss below him and murmured.
“Thanks for everything.”
Of course, there was no reply. The Demon King only glared at

Jin-Woo with hatred deeply burning in its eyes.
‘I’m sure you’ll never understand what I’m trying to say
here.’
Even then, he wanted to convey this emotion welling up

inside his chest.
After he gave his honest thanks…
Jin-Woo landed the final hit against the ‘owner’ of this

Demon’s Castle.
KABOOM!!
And then, he was greeted by the sound of ‘Tti-ring!’ as well

as several messages that made him feel even better.
[You killed the Demon King, Baran.]
[You have acquired Baran’s Soul.]
[You have completed ‘Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons!

(2)’.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Chapter 108
“Fuu…”
Jin-Woo spat out a short sigh of relief.
This was the moment his long march that started from the
very first floor of the Demon’s Castle dungeon was drawing
to a close here on this 100th floor.
He closed his eyes for a moment in order to get a grip on his

turbulent emotions, only for the image of his mom’s face to
pop up.
‘…’
When he reopened his eyes, the System messages that

hadn’t gone away yet entered his view again. Four alerts of
him levelling up floated up there.
‘I rose up four levels in one go?’
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened up considerably. Thinking

back to how his levelling speed had slowed down to a crawl
after he broke past level 90, he couldn’t help but revel in
happiness.
He quickly checked his Status Window.
[Level: 97]
Indeed, his level had jumped up by four.

‘Niiice!!’
Jin-Woo fist-pumped.
A dizzying sense of achievement was quickly added on top

of the relief he felt from finally clearing this dungeon.
However, he quickly put aside this joy to the back of his
mind.
He still had something far more important than levelling up

right now.
‘The Purified Blood of the Demon King.’
That was the final puzzle piece to craft the item, ‘Divine
Water of Life’. Jin-Woo quickly unwrapped the bandage off
his hand and reached out towards the blinking lights on the
corpse of the Demon King, Baran.
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon Sovereign’s Ring’. Will

you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Longsword’. Will

you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Shortsword’. Will

you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Shortsword’. Will

you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Baran’s Two Horns’. Will you

take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Ingredient Item: Purified Blood of the

Demon King’. Will you take it?]
Rather than feeling elated, Jin-Woo felt anxious instead from
the list of ‘item discovered’ messages that continued to pop
up. Because, he couldn’t spot the item he was looking for.
However, he cried out in excitement as soon as he spotted
the very last item, ‘Purified Blood of the Demon King’.
‘It’s here!’
Jin-Woo quickly acquired all the items and lifted up the item
that must’ve been the Purified Blood of the Demon King.
[Ingredient Item: Purified Blood of the Demon King]
Rarity: ??
Type: Ingredient
This is the liquid created from purifying the blood of Baran,

the Sovereign of the demons.
Possesses immense magical energy, but even after going

through the purifying process, the blood still retains strong
toxins. In order to use the blood as a medical ingredient,
both the ‘Fragment of the World Tree’ and ‘Spring Water
from the Forest of Echoes’ are needed to neutralize the
toxin.
The red liquid sloshed inside a clear glass bottle according

to the angle it was held.
‘This is the blood of the Demon King….’
He already possessed the other two ingredients, ‘Fragment

of the World Tree’ and the ‘Spring Water from the Forest of
Echoes’. So, what was there to hesitate about?
Jin-Woo promptly summoned the Crafting Skill Window.

[Crafting Skills]
Consumable: Divine Water of Life (3/3)
Different from the past, the words ‘Divine Water of Life’ was
now blinking constantly. When he checked the details, the
words ‘Crafting possible’ immediately caught his attention.
[Divine Water of Life]
Crafting possible
Ingredients:
1. Purified Blood of the Demon King (1/1)

2. Fragment of the World Tree (1/1)
3. Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes (1/1)
[Will you start crafting ‘Item: Divine Water of Life’?]
Jin-Woo was in a hurry to see the finished article, so he

didn’t waste any more time and chose to start the crafting
process.
“Start.”
[Crafting process for ‘Item: Divine Water of Life’ has

commenced.]
[10, 9, 8….]
Jin-Woo waited for the result with bated breath.
[7, 6, 5….]
[The ‘percentage of Crafting success’ and ‘number of

finished items’ will depend on Crafter’s Intelligence Stat.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.

‘Are you telling me only now that the odds of success, as
well as the number of completed items, will depend on the
Intelligence Stat?!’
If you were stupid, then you couldn’t even craft anything?
….It did sound somewhat logical, so Jin-Woo could only nod

his head.
In the meantime, the countdown steadily ticked on.
[4, 3, 2….]
Why did the words ‘percentage of Crafting success’ get on

his nerves so much? The only solace he could take away
right now was the fact that he had at least woke up to the
importance of the Intelligence Stat quickly enough to invest
a lot of extra Stat points there.
[….1, 0.]
[Crating process has been completed!]
[Crafting is a success!]
[You have acquired ‘Item: Divine Water of Life x6’.]
“That’s what I’m talking about!!”
Jin-Woo had been waiting anxiously until then, but as soon

as the ‘Success!’ message popped up, he raised his hands
high up into the sky.
‘….Huh?’
However, he quickly discovered something a bit odd. The

bottle containing the blood of the Demon King still remained
in his right hand.
‘Well, uh, the amount of blood has decreased by a little,
but….’
Jin-Woo tilted his head, before summoning the ‘Fragment of

the World Tree’ and the ‘Spring Water from the Forest of
Echoes’ from his Inventory.
The only thing that appeared on the ground was the slightly-
shaved-on-the-edge Fragment of the World Tree, though. He
accessed his Inventory and searched, but couldn’t find the
Spring Water anywhere.
‘Could it be….?’
Feeling a bit suspicious, he confirmed the Crafting Skill

Window, and his suspicion was soon answered in full.
-Ingredients:
1. Purified Blood of the Demon King (1/1)

2. Fragment of the World Tree (1/1)
3. Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes (0/1)
Out of the three ingredients, only the Spring Water showed

‘0’.
‘So, it’s something like, not all the ingredients will be used
up, but only the necessary amount – is that it?’
The Crafting process must’ve come to a stop because the

Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes had run out, unlike
with other two ingredients.
From the get-go, he got this feeling that the Crafting process
wouldn’t have required a lot of the Demon King’s blood. As
for the Fragment of the World Tree, it was a gigantic piece of
lumber when he had initially acquired it, to begin with.
It was rather obvious that the Spring Water contained within
a small bottle would be the first one to run out.
Jin-Woo grinned widely in satisfaction.
‘Well, it’s not a bad result for me regardless.’
Because, as long as he could find more of that ‘Spring Water

from the Forest of Echoes’ in the future, he’d get to craft
more of this Divine Water of Life.
‘Hold on, there’s another problem to consider, isn’t there?’
Jin-Woo was desperate for a bottle of this Divine Water, yet

now, there were six wooden bottles waiting for him on the
ground, so it was rather difficult for him to calm his wildly
beating heart.
[Item: Divine Water of Life]
Rarity: S
Type: Consumable
A mysterious liquid medicine that cures any and all illnesses

through powerful magic contained within. The effect will
only manifest after one whole bottle has been consumed.
Would this item truly cure his mother’s illness?
‘….I guess I’ll find out later today.’
His heart palpitated faster.
Jin-Woo carefully stored away all six bottles in his Inventory,

as well as the remaining ingredients. Even then, he still had
lots of other items to go through.
‘One ring, one longsword, two shortswords and two japtems.’
Because Baran was the boss of a rank S dungeon, it sure

coughed up a lot of loot. This proverbial pile of treasure was
a sight for sore eyes, but there was no reason to go through
all of them right now.
Indeed, his priority lay with getting out of here to see his
mother.
Jin-Woo simply dumped all the items acquired from the

corpse of the Demon King in his trusty Inventory. And then,
while lightly dusting his hands, took a look around him.
‘I’ve got a pressing matter to attend to, but….’
….But, he shouldn’t miss out on other things because of

that, no?
Wasn’t there an old saying about ‘the more of a hurry you

are in, you should take the longer of the routes available’ or
some such?
Jin-Woo looked behind him, and found his Shadow Soldiers

standing at attention in rows, having massacred an army ten
times their number. Behind his boys, dead demons were
strewn about everywhere.
‘What about the Sky Dragon?’
Jin-Woo’s wandering gaze hurriedly searched for the monster

that the Demon King rode around in. Worryingly enough, all
he could spot were the corpses of demons piled up on high,
with not a hint of the Sky Dragon anywhere.
‘Wait, it couldn’t have flown away during the fight, right?’

Thankfully though, his worries didn’t last for long. Iron was
dragging a limp corpse behind him. It was none other than
the Sky Dragon, Kaisellin.
“Iron, nicely done.”
Maybe Iron felt embarrassed by Jin-Woo’s praise, which was

a first in a while, because he began scratching the back of
his head. Of course, it was still the back of his helmet,
though.
Jin-Woo lightly patted the shoulder of Iron and stood before

the Sky Dragon’s body.
‘It’s as I thought.’
Just as he suspected it from the monster’s name and its

appearance, he could see the black smoke slowly rising up
from the corpse of the Sky Dragon. Which meant, it was
possible to extract its shadow.
Jin-Woo extended his hand out.
“Rise up.”
The Shadow Extraction worked without any problems

whatsoever, perhaps due to his much higher level.
Kiyaaaahhhk-!
Accompanied by the death throes of a beast, a creature

covered in some type of black gas crawled out of the Sky
Dragon’s shadow. The dead Dragon’s shadow immediately
recognised his new owner and lowered his head in front of
Jin-Woo.
[Please assign the name of the Shadow Soldier.]

‘Oh.’
Jin-Woo formed a surprised expression.
Since he didn’t get to witness the creature fighting, he only

assumed it to be a mount and not much else, but it must’ve
been pretty handy in battles, because the Sky Dragon’s
shadow started right away as a Knight grade.
If he considered the fact that the ace of the Shadow Army,

Igrit, was also a Knight grade not too long ago, this was a
surprising development. But, then again, it made some
sense. There was no way a boss referred to as the ‘Demon
King’ would ride on a weak, pathetic monster, now was
there?
Jin-Woo was genuinely satisfied with the grade of his new

soldier, and replied to the System message.
“Kaisellin…. No, wait.”
Inexplicably, he thought that name was a bit too long.
“…Kaisel.”
The Sky Dragon, now bestowed with a brand new name,

raised his head up high into the sky and spat out a lengthy
roar.
Kiiieeeehhk!!
“Everyone, you all worked hard.”
With those words, Jin-Woo stored all of his Shadow Soldiers,

including the new addition of Kaisel, back into his shadow. It
was almost time to make his exit from the Demon’s Castle.
There was one more thing still remaining, however.
Jin-Woo opened the inbox, where the quest completion
messages were still waiting for him.
[You have completed ‘Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of

Demons! (2).]
[Completion rewards are now available.]
[Will you confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)
‘Yes, obviously.’
As soon as he answered, the list of rewards popped up in his

view.
Tti-ring.
[Following rewards are made available.]
1. One highest grade Rune Stone

2. Bonus Stat points +30
3. Unknown reward
[Will you take them all?]
The so-called ‘Shadow Exchange’ skill. Just what could it be?
As he had been curious about this ‘highest-grade’ Rune

Stone ever since the beginning of the quest, Jin-Woo chose
to take that one first.
‘Okay, I choose the first reward for the time being.’
Tti-ring.
[‘Highest grade Rune Stone: Shadow Exchange’ has been

delivered.]
After that message came and gone, he felt a small rock
residing within his palm. When he brought the hand closer
to his nose and opened it, he found a jet-black Rune Stone
resting there. Its colour was completely different from the
‘regular’ Rune Stones.
Also, its hue came across as so much more mysterious

compared to the average black colour.
Crumble.
Unlike in the past, when he physically had to break the

Stone, the item crumbled all on its own the moment he
thought about squeezing his hand.
The pitch-black aura rising up from the shattered Rune

Stone slowly enveloped Jin-Woo, before getting absorbed
into his body.
He hurriedly checked his Skill Window.
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv.1]
Class-specific skill.
Mana required to activate: None.
The summoner can switch locations with the designated

Shadow Soldier.
Once activated, you must wait three hours of ‘cool down’

period before being able to use the skill again. The ‘cool
down’ period will change according to the Skill’s level.]
‘Heok!!!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened as he read the skill’s description.

Sure, it might be handicapped by the limitation of the cool
down period, but…. No, instead, it was an incredible skill
that perhaps necessitated that cool down period to make it
fair.
‘Doesn’t this mean it’s possible to switch locations

regardless of where my Shadow Soldier is?’
Depending on how he used it, this was almost on the level of

teleportation.
Jin-Woo was about to summon a Shadow Soldier and test

this new skill out right away, but quickly changed his mind.
‘If I’m to test it out, I might as well try it with a soldier that’s
really far away.’
Thankfully, he did leave behind a handful of soldiers outside

the Demon’s Castle. He hid three of them in his sister’s
shadow, while five were patrolling the district as of this
moment.
‘There’s nothing to think about, is it?’
He didn’t know what kind of an after-effect the skill might

have, and also, he couldn’t just haphazardly pop out near
his sister’s location, either. And that was after setting aside
the possibility of his sister freaking out, too.
So, he sought out the ‘signal’ emitted from one of the five
Shadow Soldiers patrolling around his district and zeroed in
on it.
“….Shadow Exchange.”
As soon as Jin-Woo opened his mouth…

“….Uh? Eh?”
As if gravity was powerfully pulling him down, he was

rapidly sucked into his own shadow.
Chapter 109
Just before Jin-Woo was completely swallowed up by his

shadow, he heard another message issued by the System.
[The dungeon’s interior will revert back to original

appearance with the death of….]
The sensation of him falling didn’t last long. Suddenly, the

gravity’s direction reversed, and he was now being lifted
back up at the same speed as he was being sucked in.
His darkened vision reverted back to the original state in no

time at all.
‘Isn’t this place….?’
Jin-Woo took a quick look around.
Tick, tick….
A street light that continued to flicker as if it was broken; a

hand-pulled wooden cart leaning precariously against a wall;
an electrical pole with a half-torn flier stiller stuck to it.
He found himself in a deserted alleyway he often had to

walk past when heading back home.
‘….Hey, this is the suburb I live in, isn’t it?!’
Somewhat coincidentally, it was also the exact same spot

where he issued the five shadows to start patrolling the
district, as well.
‘My location really changed.’
Jin-Woo did feel deeply stunned at the moment, but still, he

somehow managed to remain calm as he checked the
shadow beneath his feet. Just like when he summoned his
Shadow Soldiers, he too rose up from the shadow. He
cautiously poked his shadow with the tip of his foot.
‘……’
Back when he activated the skill, the shadow caved in as if

he was stepping on the surface of water, but it was just a
regular shadow now. Feeling genuinely impressed, Jin-Woo
re-checked the Skill Window.
Just as the Skill description had stated, the ‘cool down’

period of three hours was in effect.
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv. 1]
Class-specific Skill…
….Can be used again in [02:59:57].
‘….I’ve struck gold.’
Having witnessed the awesomeness of this skill, Jin-Woo’s

heart pounded faster and faster.
‘And it was so fast, too….’
He had been maintaining the peak state of concentration

the moment he was sucked into the shadow. Considering the
fact that the perceived time would greatly slow down when
he was concentrating fully, the transfer to this location did
really happen in the blink of an eye.
His saliva nosily slid down his throat.
This skill called Shadow Exchange – it possessed limitless

application, depending on how he used it.
‘Ah, right. This isn’t the right time.’
Jin-Woo calmed his excitement down and withdrew his magic

energy. He had finally managed to get his hands on a
medicine that could potentially cure his mother, so he
shouldn’t be wasting time here like this.
Feeling a lot more urgent now, Jin-Woo switched his Hunter-

issue mobile phone and confirmed the current time.
‘It’s already this late….?’
Jin-Woo’s forehead creased up big time.
The touchscreen display showed ten in the evening.

Although the visitation hours had long passed now, Jin-Woo
didn’t hesitate once as he summoned the shadow of the Sky
Dragon.
‘Kaisel.’
Kiiieeehhk-!
Answering the call of his owner, Kaisel yelled out in joy and
pushed his head out of the ground. And soon, a huge lizard-
like creature the size of a truck with no arms but huge wings
revealed itself.
When Kaisel spread open its vast wings, the already-narrow

alleyway seemed to get filled to the brim in an instant. It
was a small mercy that there were no other people nearby,
otherwise…..
Jin-Woo walked closer, and Kaisel lowered his body to allow
ease of mounting. Jin-Woo duly did so.
Even though this was his first time, he already felt a sense of
familiarity as if he had been riding on Kaisel for a long time.
He figured that flying in the air wouldn’t pose any problems
since he felt this way.
‘It doesn’t matter if someone tries to stop me.’
He wasn’t talking about the hospital staff – even if cops or

the military tried to block him, he knew he had the power to
break past them. And, at least for this moment, he didn’t
want anyone to obstruct his path.
‘Let’s go.’
Jin-Woo formed a serious expression and issued a command.

Kaisel began beating his huge wings.
Kiieeehhhkk!!
Kaisel rose up in the air right away and quickly flew in the
direction Jin-Woo pointed at.
A meeting was still taking place within the walls of the

Hunters Association, even though the hours were getting
late.
The Korea-Japan cooperative raid was already around the

proverbial corner, and the Association was doing everything
in their power to ensure the successful subjugation of Jeju
Island’s ant monsters.
“Here is the data sent by the Japanese.”

The agent of the Association pressed a button on the
remote. Soon, the giant screen was filled with the footage of
the ant monsters, captured by the magic-power sensing
camera attached to a Japanese satellite.
These were the records taken during the first, second and
the third subjugation attempts. Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes
narrowed to a slit.
‘Indeed, excluding the ant queen and its guards, every

single ant did leave the ant tunnel.’
The ant monsters moved just as the Japanese said they

would.
Although the existence of the guardian ants was a

worrisome variable in the equation, it was also normal to
find a few guardian-type monsters protecting their bosses
within higher ranked dungeons, as well.
Still, it was hard to claim that there was no risk. The top man
in the Korean side of the operation, Goh Gun-Hui, quickly
thought of one of the worst case situations.
“What are the odds of the ants turning around quicker than
anticipated after realising their queen is in danger?”
The Japanese had already thought about that too, however.
“They have said they would use ‘interference radio wave’

signal.”
“Radio wave signal?”
“According to their research, they discovered that the ant

monsters use specific radio waves to communicate among
themselves.”
Indeed, if one wanted to order an army of several thousands
as one unit, then a method to send out commands should
exist. Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
“And they can interrupt the communication of ants with

radio waves?”
“That’s what they said, sir.”
“So, they want us to fully concentrate on killing the ant

queen, is it….”
The subjugation plan itself was quite simple.
Even though it was simple, there was a higher chance of

succeeding when compared to other plans, as well.
Yet, why did Goh Gun-Hui feel so anxious like this?
He rested his chin on his hands.
‘Could it be that I’m worried about…’
It was then.
Goh Gun-Hui spun his head towards the outside of the

window, his brows shooting up high. Everyone inside the
meeting room flinched at the sudden movement of the
Association President.
Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol, here to guard his boss from the
side, rapidly walked in closer.
“Did something happen, sir?”
“Just now…..”
Goh Gun-Hui shifted his gaze over to Woo Jin-Cheol. The
latter’s expression remained the same as usual.
“Haven’t you felt that?”
“Sir? I don’t understand what you mean….”
“….”
Just now, an astonishing wave of magic power flooded in

from a faraway place beyond the windows.
Although it only lasted for a brief moment and quickly

disappeared from Goh Gun-Hui’s perception, he still had felt
the full brunt of that.
‘……..’
As their Association President continued to stare into the

distance outside the window, the agents had to stop the
meeting and cautiously ask their boss.
“Sir….?”
Only then did Goh Gun-Hui shift his gaze away, his head still
tilting side to side.
He wondered about the possible origin of that powerful burst

of magic energy, but for the time being, he had to
concentrate on the current meeting. Goh Gun-Hui fell into
deep thought, before throwing a question at one of the
agents in charge.
“Have you succeeded in getting in contact with Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo?”
Baek Yun-Ho asked, his head still looking over his shoulder.
“Did you sense that?”
Min Byung-Gu replied testily.
“I may be retired now, but my rank hasn’t dropped, you

know.”
These two men had been sharing a bottle of cheap liquor for
the first time in a long while inside a certain ‘pojangmacha’
until then, but now, only the heavy silence flowed between
them. (TL note at the end)
Baek Yun-Ho eventually shifted his gaze back to his front.
“What was that just now?”
“Maybe Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In started fighting over

the shares of the Hunters Guild. Who knows.”
Min Byung-Gu had been frozen on the spot with a shot glass
in his hand, but suddenly broke out in a fit of giggles before
emptying the soju down his throat. Baek Yun-Ho formed a
dumbfounded expression.
“Don’t tell me you were trying to make me laugh with that.”
“But, wasn’t it funny, hyung?”
“….Never mind. Forget it.”
But, then again – including his sense of humour, Min Byung-

Gu could be considered a bit strange in the head. No doubt
about that.
‘I mean, he’s supposed to be the first rank S Hunter in the

world to retire when he’s still all healthy and the like, isn’t
he?’
Not only the first in the world, but he was also the only one
so far, too.
Just how many people out there would willingly give up on

the ridiculous amount of wealth a rank S Hunter could earn,
simply because he wasn’t interested anymore?
Min Byung-Gu wasn’t even from a wealthy stock, to begin

with.
Sensing Baek Yun-Ho’s questioning gaze, Min Byung-Gu

asked back.
“Hyung. Are you really going to participate?”
“….Yeah.”
“But, you saw how Eun-Seok hyung died.”
“That’s why I must go back.”
Min Byung-Gu looked at his drinking partner with a bit of

confusion on his face. Baek Yun-Ho emptied his shot glass
and continued on.
“If we leave the ants alone, the entirety of South Korea

would end up like that place.”
“Since when did you become this patriotic….?”
“Well, we’re supposed to do it sooner rather than later, so

might as well come up with a nice-sounding excuse while
I’m at it. Don’t you agree?”
The Guilds could not decline the Association’s summons.

The Association would accommodate the needs of the
various Guilds, and the Guilds themselves simply had to
answer the Association’s call in return.
If one didn’t want to, then there was the option of
emigrating to somewhere else. How unfortunate, then, that
there was no sane-minded nation willing to accept a Hunter
running away from a high-difficulty raid.
Even if a country did accept such a person, could anyone

actually be sure of that said Hunter not pulling the exact
same stunt again in the future?
‘I don’t want to run away, anyways.’
Baek Yun-Ho smirked to himself. Meanwhile, Min Byung-Gu

bluntly replied.
“I won’t be participating. I will never go back there. If you

asked to see me, hoping to change my mind, you might as
well give…..”
“That’s not it.”
Baek Yun-Ho put the cash down for the alcohol and stood up.
The bottle was empty by then.
“I came to say goodbye, just in case. I don’t know if we’ll get

to sit down for a drink again, after all.”
“Hyung…..”
Min Byung-Gu gave up on changing Baek Yun-Ho’s mind, as

he watched the latter wave his hand while walking away.
Baek Yun-Ho already knew full well the dangers of the

subjugation plan, perhaps better than anyone else.
‘Even then, he’s still going…..’
Baek Yun-Ho’s expression wasn’t of someone being dragged

away despite feeling deeply scared. No, rather, he carried
the face of someone getting ready to step on and kill as
many ants as he could with this opportunity, instead.
Indeed, he seemed to be eagerly waiting for the day of the
subjugation.
Min Byung-Gu could only chew on the snacks with a helpless

expression on his face, only for his chopsticks to stop
moving shortly thereafter.
‘Wait a minute….. I can’t think of that many Hunters who

don’t like fighting against monsters, now can I?’
There were a few like that among the Healers, but on the flip
side, those folks simply loved to heal others, instead.
Min Byung-Gu dazedly stared at the bowl of oden soup,

before roughly scratching the side of his head.
‘Could it be that only those who like fighting become

Awakened?’
Eii, there was no way that could be true.
Min Byung-Gu found something to be rather funny, and

laughed all by himself while finishing the oden.
Jin-Woo quickly arrived in the hospital.
‘Let’s see…. It was room number 305, right?’
He wasn’t planning to enter the hospital through the front

door, to begin with. While still riding on Kaisel, he searched
for the windows of his mother’s hospital room.
‘Ruler’s Reach.’
The curtains covering the windows silently parted sideways.
He saw the quietly-sleeping sight of his mother on the bed.
She looked exactly the same as the last time he came to
visit.
Jin-Woo used ‘Ruler’s Reach’ one more time to open the

window and silently stepped into the hospital room. Kaisel
had disappeared into his shadow by then.
He soon stood by the side of the bed. His heart was

pounding madly now that the time he had been waiting for
so long was here.
‘If something goes wrong, I won’t be able to do anything.’
His mother had been unconscious for a very long time. There
was a chance that she might not even be able to swallow the
Divine Water of Life, and even if she did, there was no
guarantee that she’d be okay afterwards.
‘However…’
Jin-Woo got to witness plenty of miracles the System caused

so far.
If it happened to someone else, he’d never have believed a

word of it. One didn’t even have to look far for tangible
evidence, either. Wasn’t he the walking proof of those
miracles?
‘I was a rank E, yet now look at me standing here.’
All of his achievements, they were due to the System’s

powers. Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at his two hands, before
raising his head.
His mother lay right in front of his eyes, looking as if she’d
wake up at any moment if he called out to her. He
summoned the ‘Divine Water of Life’ from the Inventory.
Shururu….
On top of his hand, a wooden bottle materialised out of the

blue. He read the item information over and over again, just
in case he might have missed something important.
And so, by the time he had thoroughly memorised every

word in the item information by repeatedly reading it over
and over again, he managed to build up enough courage to
pull the cork off of the wooden bottle.
Pop.
His hands that stayed steady during the life-or-death battle

against the Demon King were trembling greatly now. Jin-Woo
took a deep, deep breath to calm his mind.
‘If I make a mistake here, my mother will bear the cost,

instead.’
The moment he told himself there could not be any mistake

whatsoever, he was able to regain the usual calmness right
away. Even his hands stopped shaking.
‘….I’m fine now.’
Jin-Woo cautiously supported the back of his mother’s, Park

Gyung-Hye’s, neck with his left hand. He then brought the
mouth of the wooden bottle closer to her lips.
Soon, the ‘Divine Water of Life’ slowly trickled into her

slightly parted lips. Jin-Woo didn’t rush it and made sure to
let only a tiny strand enter her mouth.
‘This wound….’
He then noticed the burn marks on the side of his mom’s

neck. The burns continued down the back of her neck, too.
Although he couldn’t see it from this angle, Jin-Woo knew

only too well that the burn mark extended from the entirety
of the back of her neck and her shoulders to some part of
her head.
‘She got that because of me, after all.’
Back then, he only wanted to wash his mother’s hair, inside

the public bathhouse. He wanted to emulate what his
mother did, when she washed the hair of very young Jin-Ah.
However, the young Jin-Woo, who never had much of an

opportunity to visit public bathhouses before, lacked the
ability to tell apart the temperature of the water.
Splash, splash….
The very hot water, hot enough to bubble up, filled up the
plastic wash basin. The young Jin-Woo did his very best not
to spill any of the hot water and cautiously walked to the
back of his mom.
And then….
Splash!
He poured the water out of the plastic basin.
Mom flinched a little, but didn’t move from the spot even
when her flesh was visibly cooked red. All because, she
feared that the hot water might end up on Jin-Ah’s face. She
simply held her daughter tight in her embrace.
She didn’t make any noise.
The belated screams came from not his mother, but from the
mouths of the aunties nearby.
“Oh, my god!! Someone, help!”
“Jin-Woo’s mom!”
Only then did Jin-Woo realise he did something bad. But, all
he wanted to do was to help his mother.
Jin-Woo dropped the plastic basin and began crying, but his
mom tightly grasped his shoulders. And then, asked him.
“Jin-Woo? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The young Jin-Woo thought that he’d be scolded for sure. He

could never forget the events of that day and those words
his mother said to him. Not even now.
‘And here I am, thinking that I don’t owe anyone

anything….’
After their father went missing, it was mom alone who raised
the siblings Jin-Woo and Jin-Ah.
He hated owing someone, or someone owing him, so he

made sure that such a thing never happened, but still….
He owed his mother a debt that he could never possibly

repay.
It was then.
The very last drop entered his mother’s mouth.

Jin-Woo put the bottle down and carefully laid her on the
bed again. He stood quietly to the side as if he was praying
to someone while waiting for the result.
Thump, thump, thump!!
His heart pounded so much that his chest actually ached.

Nervous saliva travelled down his throat, too.
‘…….’
However, there was no visible change.
Just as a drop of blood from Jin-Woo’s tightly clenched fist

was about to fall….
“Heo-heok!!”
Her eyes still closed, mom sucked in a deep breath like a

person getting rescued from drowning.
‘…..!!!’
A little bit of colour was returning to mom’s once-slightly

pale face. Like colour spreading on the black and white TV
screen, a healthy complexion was spreading over his
mother’s skin.
Every passing second felt like an hour to him.
How much time did pass like that?
Jin-Woo’s mother slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze

wandered around for a moment or two, before stopping at
Jin-Woo.
“Who…. No, wait, could you be… Jin-Woo?”
Jin-Woo’s heart nearly fell just then, but he managed to nod

his head a little.
It was obvious that she didn’t recognise him right away. Four
years had passed by already, and he had grown by a lot
since then, too.
Jin-Woo didn’t rush things and quietly waited.
Like water slowly filling up an empty bowl, blurry memories

of the past filled up the empty hole of the last four years in
Jin-Woo’s mother, Park Gyung-Hye’s mind bit by bit.
It didn’t take her a long time to realise why she was lying on
the hospital bed like this.
“How long have I been lying here, son?”
“It’s been four years, mom.”
He could’ve also added that it was four years and a few

days, but he didn’t. His mother currently needed as much
calmness, a sense of stability, so he did his best to sound
and look normal.
But, mom was still taken back by the revelation of four

years, and she hurriedly asked him.
“What about Jin-Ah?? Is your sister alright??”
It was then, Jin-Woo felt something powerful welling up from

deep within his heart.
She had been teetering on the edge of life and death for the
last four years, yet the first thing she asked after waking up
was the well-being of her daughter…..
If he hadn’t bitten down on his lower lip, he might have
broken down right there and then.
‘It’s no time to worry about that girl, you know.’
He wanted to say that out loud. But, he suppressed his

emotions and formed a thin smile, instead.
“Yes, mom. She’s doing okay.”
His mother sighed, her expression one of genuine relief.
Jin-Woo was inwardly concerned, hoping that his mother

would start worrying about herself soon, but at the same
time, he began to relax somewhat as his mother seemingly
hadn’t changed at all.
‘Things will go back to how it’s been, soon.’
Finally recognising that mom’s illness had been cured, his

heart palpitated again. But then, he was jolted out of his
thoughts. Mom was holding his left hand even before he had
noticed it.
“Mom?”
“Thank you, son. You kept your promise.”
Promise?
‘…Ah, I forgot.’
Then again, he had always thought it was the most obvious

thing in the world, so it was possible that he didn’t
consciously see it as a promise.
The so-called ‘Eternal Sleep’ disorder, where you’d fall

deeper and deeper into slumber, until you’d never wake up
again….
It became harder for mom to carry on with her daily life as

drowsiness frequently assaulted her without warning with
every passing day. Out of the blue, though, she asked Jin-
Woo for a favour.
“If mom can’t wake up one day, will you promise me to

take good care of your little sister?”
She carried a smile of a mother asking her child for a simple

errand back then.
That was why he had been enduring until now. He didn’t

resent her at all. Because all he did was to take over the
burden his mother had been carrying until then.
However, mom tightly squeezed his hand as if she knew

everything.
“My son…. It must’ve been hard for you.”
Jin-Woo tried to smile like he had done before to assuage his

mother’s worries. As if nothing of note had happened until
then.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.
All the tears he held back until then travelled down his face,
and his lips parted all on their own.
“Yeah.”
Chapter 110
“What was that??”
The director of Seoul-Ilsin Hospital, Doctor Lee Seong-Chul

got to hear a rather stunning piece of news. A patient
suffering from ‘Eternal Sleep’ disorder had woken up from
the terminal stage of the illness.
“Are you telling me the truth??”
“Yes, Director. I’ve confirmed it personally.”
As a doctor, his ears would perk up greatly if such an event

occurred in someone else’s hospital, yet the patient in
question was actually in his own??
‘Who knew such a jackpot would come knocking at my

door?’
The exceptional brain of Director Lee Seong-Chul began

punching some numbers in his mental calculator.
“Isn’t this an unprecedented event in the whole world?”
“You’re correct, Director.”
The doctor in charge nodded his head.
Lee Seong-Chul’s smile was so wide that it actually broke

past his ears and threatened to rip his face in half.
“Nicely done!! Doctor Choi!!”
“I beg your pardon? D-director, I haven’t done….”
“Ehheii, my man, don’t be like that now!”
Lee Seong-Chul sent a meaningful gaze at the doctor in

charge.
“It doesn’t matter ‘how’ it happened, we can always cook

something up later. But, it’s only right and proper that the
doctor in charge is praised for the work well done when a
patient gets better! Am I wrong?”
Not to mention, the hospital that the doctor was working in

would be praised, too!
“Ah, y-yes…. T-thank you very much, director.”
The doctor in charge gave in and bowed his head slightly to

the director.
Even though the doctor’s response was rather lukewarm, the

wide smile on Lee Seong-Chul’s face didn’t want to leave
him, knowing that he had been blessed with an unexpected
boon.
‘If we play our cards right, the world’s attention might

gather on my Ilsin Hospital!!’
Being constantly talked about by other people because of a

good piece of news was, in a word, free publicity. There was
nothing to lose here, and everything to gain.
If this news got out, reporters from all over the world would
descend upon this hospital and absolutely lose their minds
trying to uncover any related info, however small or
insignificant it was.
This was a great opportunity to advertise the hospital’s

name without spending a dime.
‘What those reporters want to know would be the treatment

method, but….’
Well, all he had to do was to keep the patient nearby and

find out what happened a step at a time. Indeed, nothing
could go wrong here. That’s what Lee Seong-Chul thought.
The doctor in charge acted as if something was troubling

him and cautiously spoke up.
“The patient’s legal guardian requested for immediate

discharge.”
“What was that?!”
No, that definitely could not be allowed!
Reporters would only come to the hospital if the patient was

still here! No, never mind the reporters, he needed to keep
the patient here in order to figure out how the disorder had
been cured, to begin with!
Lee Seong-Chul’s brows quivered.
“What was the status of the patient?”
“Everything was normal, director.”
“The patient’s been asleep, completely immobile, for the

past four years, yet you are telling me that her body was
completely fine??”
“Couldn’t it be because of the life support machines?”
“H-mm…..”
Indeed, the performance of the machines being too good

could also be a factor here.
“Delay the discharge for as long as possible with an excuse

that… we need to observe the patient for a while longer to
make sure she’s fine.”
“I said the exact same thing to the guardian, but it didn’t

work, Director.”
‘We can’t keep a patient here without a valid reason if she

wishes to leave, can we…..’
If that was the case, then he had only one option remaining
– and that would be to let the world know before the patient
left the hospital.
“Let’s alert the press while they are still in the premise.”
The doctor in charge shook his head.
“That will be…. difficult, Director.”
“How come?”
“We can’t expose the identity of the patient. If we handle

this poorly, something really bad will happen, Director.”
Hearing those unexpected words, Lee Seong-Chul could only

form a flustered expression. Seeing the doctor’s own
troubled expression, he didn’t seem to be exaggerating
things, either.
Lee Seong-Chul’s attitude became a lot more serious.

“Is the patient such an important person?”
“It’s not the patient herself, but the guardian, well…. The
protection of the private information has been requested by
the guardian himself, actually.”
Now that Lee Seong-Chul thought about it, Doctor Choi was
being super respectful whenever he mentioned the legal
guardian.
“Just who is this guardian supposed to be that you’re acting

like this?”
What kind of a person was the guardian that the hospital

had to honour the request for the protection of the patient’s
information, as well as Doctor Choi being this polite?
“Have you heard about Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“Seong Jin-Woo?”
Was he a powerful politician? Or, a CEO of some massive

corporation?
Lee Seong-Chul thought that he had heard of the name

somewhere, but couldn’t quite recall the face, and helplessly
tilted his head. As if he expected this to happen, the doctor
in charge quickly offered up an explanation.
“He’s the Hunter who was evaluated as a rank S recently.”
“A rank S!!”
Here was the reason why Doctor Choi was being so cautious.
Who would have guessed that the patient’s guardian
happened to be a rank S Hunter?
‘This… It’ll be the end for us if we make a rash move and
things go sideways as a result.’
The influence a rank S Hunter had over society was

extensive, to begin with, but more importantly, if such a
Hunter lost his cool and decided to rampage around, then….
Lee Seong-Chul nervously swallowed dry saliva when a

rather unexpected name was brought up.
‘That sure was too close for comfort….’
His hardened expression suddenly softened into a cheery

smile.
“Begin the discharge procedure right away.”
“Indeed, we should do that.”
“Yes, we must.”
A smile of a good-natured person remained on Lee Seong-

Chul’s lips.
They should definitely release the patient now. What were

they hoping to gain by getting on the bad side of a rank S
Hunter? He quickly came with a logical-sounding excuse
that contained the rough meaning of what both of them
were thinking about.
“We surely can’t force a perfectly healthy person to remain

cooped up in a hospital, now can we?”
“Indeed, Director.”
The doctor in charge quickly stood up from his seat.
And after he left….

“Whew….”
Lee Seong-Chul stared at the now-closed door to the

director’s office and spat out a sigh of relief.
As soon as she got the call, Jin-Ah dropped everything and

rushed to the hospital.
Jin-Woo had been sitting on a chair next to mom’s bed, and

when he sensed his fast-approaching sister, quickly stood
up. Right then, the door to his mom’s hospital room was
flung open.
“Mom?? Mom!!”
She hadn’t even crossed the doorway yet, but Jin-Ah’s face
was already a messy mixture of streaming tears and snot
falling from her nose.
“Oh, my gosh. My little girl, you’ve grown up so much.”
The last time their mom, Park Gyung-Hye, saw her daughter
was when she was still in middle school. She gazed at her
grown-up daughter with a surprised expression, but shortly
afterwards, opened her arms wide to welcome Jin-Ah with a
warm smile on her face.
When that happened….
“Mom!!”
Jin-Ah tightly embraced her mother.
Jin-Woo hesitated slightly. That wasn’t something she should

have done to a patient who regained her consciousness after
four years of being in a coma. But, seeing his sister crying
her eyes out like that while locked in their mother’s
embrace, he couldn’t bring himself to stop her.
“Mom, Mom…..”
She always acted all grown-up, but in the end, Jin-Ah was
still a kid inside. The energetic and brave everyday
appearance of Jin-Ah overlapped with the current sobbing
one, and that stung Jin-Woo’s nostrils a bit.
“That is eno….”
Jin-Woo eventually moved in to separate Jin-Ah, but Park

Gyung-Hye placed her index finger on her lips and slowly
shook her head, her other hand still gently patting her
daughter’s back.
Jin-Woo sighed softly and took a step back.
As he looked on at his sister in his mom’s embrace, as well

as his mom’s gentle and warm expression, a satisfied smile
automatically formed on his lips.
‘My effort wasn’t in vain.’
It felt like he was being fully rewarded for all the hard work
he had put in right at this moment. Also, he felt as if
something hard and stubborn stuck in the corner of his heart
had finally melted down and was now flowing away, out of
him.
In that case, should he leave the two of them alone for a

while? At least, until his little sister found a way to get a
hold of her overflowing emotions.
Since she was one smart girl, she’d know not to

unnecessarily stress out mom. Only that, she needed a bit
more time here.
Jin-Woo grinned a little and shifted his gaze outside the

hospital window. As if to congratulate the reunion of his
family, the weather outside was brilliantly sunny today.
Feeling a bit awkward from standing there and staring at the

weather without saying anything, he decided to pull out his
phone.
‘……..’
There was a scary amount of missed calls and text messages

left on his phone that he couldn’t even dare to attempt
replying to a select few, never mind all of them. Jin-Woo
scrolled the list of the missed calls and texts, before giving
up and closing the window altogether.
‘Well, if it’s something urgent, I’m sure they’ll contact me

again.’
He quickly gave up on replying and instead, accessed the

internet browser.
But then….
‘…Heok!!’
He clicked on the online news portal without thinking too

much, only to perform a grand facepalm.
[A flying monster spotted over the skies of Seoul?]
[The potential destination of the flying monster?]
[Hunters Association fails to respond. What about the safety

of citizens?]
Photos of Kaisel were plastered all over the various internet
news sites.
From the vicinity of his house all the way to this hospital, the
distance between the two points was rather considerable,
but he figured nothing serious would happen because he
was travelling at such a high speed. But this….
‘….It was only a short flight, but we got photographed a lot,

didn’t we?’
The only fortunate thing here was that the photos didn’t
show him riding on the back of Kaisel.
He made up his mind to not care about what others thought

of him when he summoned Kaisel near his house, but now
that he was dominating the headlines, he sure felt conflicted
now.
‘Oh, well.’
Anyone would have their hearts in their mouths, seeing a

monster flying in the sky like that. Jin-Woo scanned the news
articles filled with a great deal of anxiety and told himself to
be more careful in the future.
‘There’s no need to go out of my way to scare the public,

anyway.’
Indeed, didn’t he feel a certain aversion towards the Class of

Necromancer because he was worried about failing to
handle all the pointed stares of the public?
‘However, if the frenzy over a winged lizard is this huge,

then, uh, the responses to the gigantic Fangs would really be
something else, no?’
While he was thinking of this and that….
Vrrr…. Vrrr….
His phone began vibrating.
‘Who’s this?’
He didn’t recognise the number; after exiting the hospital

room, he answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
A baritone yet still bright voice of an old man came out. Jin-
Woo immediately recalled the owner of that voice.
“Association President?”
“Yes, this is the Association President Goh Gun-Hui

speaking.”
‘Why is he giving me a call?’
What prompted the one-and-only Association President to

give him a call like this? Jin-Woo noticed that there were
several people walking to and fro within the hospital’s
corridor, so he quickly walked towards a more secluded area.
He continued to speak in the meantime.
“What’s the matter, sir?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the news by now.”
‘…What news?’
Jin-Woo tilted his head a bit, before realising that this
wouldn’t do and asked again.
“I’m not sure what news you’re talking about….?”
“Wait, could it be… You haven’t seen the news lately?”
‘Wow. I guess the speed of news getting around these days

is nothing to scoff at.’
Jin-Woo readily admitted to his wrongdoing.
“I’m sorry about that. But I’ll make sure to be more careful
next time.”
“….Excuse me?”
Only after hearing the confused voice of Goh Gun-Hui did

Jin-Woo realise that he was deeply mistaken about
something here.
‘Wait, wasn’t he calling me about Kaisel?’
If not, what else could the news outlets be talking about,

instead?
The dual dungeon, the Red Gate, clearing the rank A

dungeons, the ‘Bead of Avarice’, etc….
Now that he thought about, there were quite a few potential

topics of contention, instead.
“…..Can you clarify what happened?”
“Looks like you really haven’t heard anything yet.”
“I’ve been spending some time in a location recently where

contacting outside was difficult, actually.”
He wasn’t lying about that, technically speaking.
Goh Gun-Hui’s voice betrayed how surprised he was, but

then, it became even graver than before.
“Hunter-nim.”
According to Jin-Woo’s experience, this could only mean that

the reason for this call should be brought up now.
“I’d like to come and discuss something with you face-

to-face. Will that be okay with you?”
Jin-Woo’s suspicion grew even larger compared to when he

first answered the phone.
‘Calling me on the phone isn’t enough, so the Association

President wishes to come here and see me personally?’
Just how much of an important matter was this to make

someone as busy as him personally move?
Even then….
Jin-Woo glanced in the direction of mom’s hospital room.
‘I can’t ask the Association President to come here.’
He might have to come up with bullsh*t stories related to his

mother if that happened.
“No, I’ll go over there, instead.”
“Will you do that for us, then?”
“Yes, I will.”
That was far more simpler for him.

Quickly making the arrangement over the phone, and after
telling his mom and sister that he had an errand to run and
he’d be back a little later, Jin-Woo left the hospital.
Having spent way too long inside the Demon’s Castle where
there was no sunlight, his eyes were feeling a bit itchy as
the warm rays fell on him. Jin-Woo furrowed his brows.
‘Man, this is so cumbersome. Should I just summon Kaisel?’
He deliberated for a moment or two, before smirking to

himself and walked towards a waiting taxi.
Chapter 111
The footage shown was quite a shocking one.
Shot from a CCTV camera placed high up on a stretch of

road, the viewer could see how deserted this unknown street
was; it was so quiet that, even after the footage had been
greatly sped up, only a handful of cars drove by.
One might even end up suspecting that the road was

located in the sparsely-populated outskirts of a city or even
in a rural area.
The sped-up footage was slowed down greatly. And then, it

happened.
A saloon appeared on the edge of the screen. It was moving

fast enough that even when the footage had been slowed
down, one could still sense its high speed.
But then, in the blink of an eye….
A black thing suddenly appeared before the speeding car. It

was a dark lifeform, standing on two feet like a person. The
car couldn’t slow down sufficiently with this sudden
development. However, no such thing as the car and the
unknown lifeform colliding ever occurred.
Just before the collision happened, the car suddenly flew up

in the air.
The dark lifeform easily flipped the mid-sized saloon
speeding towards it with one hand, and then, dragged the
unconscious driver out from the wreckage to devour the
poor guy from the head.
Chomp, chomp….
That surely would’ve been the noise most likely to be

captured by a mic, had the CCTV camera been equipped
with one.
The footage came to an end there.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away from the giant TV screen

filling up an entire wall of the Association President’s office,
and to Goh Gun-Hui sitting on the other side of the table.
The older man slowly put the remote down.
“Three hundred people.”
Unlike some others, he didn’t speak about the neighbouring

nation’s misfortune with an easy-going attitude.
“That one ant managed to kill that many people.”
“Were the Japanese too slow to respond?”
“That’s not correct.”
Goh Gun-Hui shook his head.
“From what I hear, the Japanese Hunters only took 30

minutes to get to the location. But, in that short period of
time, a small village was wiped off the map.”
Japan boasted one of the most advanced Hunter systems in

all of Asia. And a country like that had to experience such a
level of devastation, so what would happen if an ant entered
the South Korean border?
Goh Gun-Hui had viewed that footage multiple times

already, but he still was overcome with a chilling
premonition of an impending crisis every time he did.
‘Before it’s too late, we need to destroy the ants once and for
all.’
The subjugation operation would get underway in four days’

time. The Japanese had been demanding the release of the
final list of all Korean Hunters participating in the operation
for a few days now.
However, using his authority as the leader of the Korean

side, Goh Gun-Hui delayed the announcement of the final
list. The reason for that was simple.
Because no one could get in touch with Jin-Woo until now.
And so, after a long wait, the moment of the list being
finalised had arrived. Goh Gun-Hui continued on with a
trembling heart.
“We’ll go to Jeju Island and get rid of the ants found there.”
He formed a pleading expression next.
“And that is why we need your help, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-

nim.”
Next up, Goh Gun-Hui’s expression shifted to one of anxiety.
If Jin-Woo refused to participate, then there was nothing

anyone could do. He was no longer affiliated with the
Association, and he was not duty-bound to carry out the
demands of the Association, either. In other words, the final
decision rested solely on his whim.
After lengthy deliberation, he opened his mouth.
“I…..”
After ending the meeting with the Association President, Jin-

Woo stood up from the seat to leave, only to sense
something and shifted his head in that direction.
‘What was that just now?’
In a place not too far from here, he sensed clashes of

magical energy.
‘Could it be a dungeon break?’
Initially, he suspected a dungeon break happening nearby,

but he soon realised that wasn’t the case. He couldn’t sense
any presence of monsters, only the magic energy coming
from various Hunters, instead.
“Did something happen?”
Goh Gun-Hui had stood up from his seat first and walked
over to the doorway to bid Jin-Woo goodbye, only to turn
around and question him when the youth failed to move
from the spot.
“Well, I don’t think it’s anything serious, but…. It seems that

Hunters are fighting each other nearby.”
“But, that can’t be.”
Goh Gun-Hui chuckled loudly.

Which foolhardy Hunters would dare to fight each other near
the Association’s HQ? There was no way such a thing would
happen.
‘No, wait…. The direction of Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is

looking at….?’
A possibility formed in Goh Gun-Hui’s mind.
“I believe that rank S Hunters are doing some light exercises

in the gymnasium. Maybe you’re talking about that?”
‘…Light exercises, is it?’
If that was the case, then for sure, the continuous yet
restrained clashes of magical energy made sense. Jin-Woo
nodded his head.
“I see.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes looking at the youth were filled with

undisguised surprise.
‘He can sense something like that from this distance?’
The Association’s gymnasium was designed to greatly

minimise the amount of magic energy leaking outside. In
actual reality, even Goh Gun-Hui himself couldn’t sense
anything.
But then, not only had Jin-Woo sensed the minuscule

amount leaking out from there, he even correctly guessed
that different magic energies were clashing with one
another, too.
‘Just how highly attuned are his senses?’
It was simply impossible to even take a wild guess.

“….Ah, right! Would you like to take a look if you’re
interested?”
Goh Gun-Hui made a quick suggestion. It was a rare event to

find all of the rank S Hunters in South Korea gathered in one
place. Personally witnessing the abilities of other rank S
Hunters from the sideline would do a world of good to Seong
Jin-Woo, who had become a rank S himself only recently.
“I believe that Mister Goto Ryuji is also present there.”
Jin-Woo was thinking of taking a look-see with an open mind,

only to stop in his tracks.
“If you say Goto Ryuji, do you mean….?”
“Yes, it is him.”
If you were a Hunter – no, even if you weren’t a Hunter –

you’d have at least heard of that name once, the name that
belonged to one of the most powerful Hunters in existence.
“It is indeed that Goto Ryuji. He’s currently staying in the

country to aid in building a good repertoire and a sense of
camaraderie in both the Korean and Japanese participants.
Since he’s planning to leave tomorrow, if you don’t meet him
today, you might not get another opportunity in the future.”
Not only were Korea’s best Hunters gathered in one place,

but even Japan’s best was also here too?
‘Obviously, I can’t miss this chance.’
Jin-Woo accepted Goh Gun-Hui’s suggestion with a deeply

interested expression.
At the same time, Goto Ryuji was doing his very best to stifle
a yawn.
‘This is supposed to be the abilities of Korea’s best?’
How laughable.
No, they were actually pitiful.
The assessment of ‘laughable’ was made from an objective

point of view, while the ‘pitiful’ bit came from him adding a
bit of sympathy to that initial assessment.
‘Rather than leaving the safety of the country to these

people’s hands, wouldn’t it be far better to be under the
protection of us, the Japanese, instead?’
Goto Ryuji formed a leery smile and surveyed the Korean

rank S Hunters. Out of all the rank S Hunters he met in Korea
so far, only one seemed to be somewhat ‘useful’ to his eyes.
‘Her name’s supposed to be Cha Hae-In, right?’
Even then, her abilities were only around the level of Japan’s
upper-rank Hunters. She fell way, way short when compared
to the best Hunters Japan could offer.
‘But, there’s no helping it, is there?’
South Korea was a small nation, and its population wasn’t

that vast, either. Also, the person who had Awakened the
greatest ability within the populace just so happened to be
an old man who didn’t have that many days to live and
couldn’t even fight properly.
‘If it’s Goh Gun-Hui, then he might be able to contend with

some of our best on a similar level, but…..’
He could say that the Koreans had drawn a short straw on
this one.
In any case, he was done with assessing the capabilities of

the Korean Hunters. He had completed the real reason for his
extended stay in Korea.
‘They wouldn’t even survive for five minutes if we withdraw

during the subjugation.’
Thinking that there was no more reason to stick around,

Goto Ryuji turned around to leave, but then, he spotted
someone unfamiliar walking closer from the entrance of the
gymnasium.
‘Mm….?’
Goto Ryuji’s brows quivered greatly.
He hadn’t realised the approach of this unknown man even

though they were in close proximity already. He was looking
at the man with his own eyes, yet he still couldn’t sense the
other person’s presence at all.
‘Is he an Assassin-type Hunter?’
Goto Ryuji asked the Association employee tasked with

translation next to him.
“Who is that man?”
The employee fidgeted with his glasses and stared for a long
time, before finally recalling who the unknown man was and
formed a smile.
“Ah. He’s the newly registered rank S Hunter.”
“Aha….”
So, that man was that Re-Awakened with no known reliable
information available?
Goto Ryuji was thinking of spending the remaining time in

Korea to unearth more about this man, but he now thought
that this was actually better for him. He formed a bright
smile and asked the Association employee again.
“Seems like he’s a pretty excellent Assassin?”
“Pardon?”
When the employee stared back with a strange expression,

Goto Ryuji realised something was off.
“Did I make a mistake?”
“Oh, no. That’s not it. But, well…”
The employee pointed at Jin-Woo and spoke.
“He’s actually a Mage-type Hunter. Mister Goto.”
‘No freaking way?!’
Carrying a disbelieving expression, Goto Ryuji quickly

accessed the Korean Hunters Association website and went
through the list of rank S Hunters there.
The automated translation app allowed him to read the

information on the Korean rank S Hunters right away.
[Seong Jin-Woo, rank S, Mage-type]
There it was. The profile image and the person’s face were a
perfect match.
‘He’s really a Mage-type??’

Goto Ryuji got inwardly stunned by this and hurriedly raised
his shocked face. By then, that man was already standing
nearby.
‘So, this guy is Goto Ryuji, huh.’
Jin-Woo only needed one glance to recognise Japan’s most

powerful Hunter.
He was a tall man with a sharp sense of fashion. His beard

was trimmed neatly, too. At a casual glance, one might
mistakenly think that he was a famous Japanese actor.
‘But, why does he keep looking at me like that?’
Just as Jin-Woo was beginning to feel a bit unhappy at the

continued gaze, the Japanese man performed a simple
greeting with his eyes first.
Did he stare like that because they had never met before
until now?
Jin-Woo didn’t think too much about it and reciprocated the

light greeting, and took a look around.
In the middle of the gymnasium, the shirtless Baek Yun-Ho

and a hulking middle-aged man with a huge frame were
having a sparring session. Excluding Goto Ryuji, everyone
else present was looking on at that with deeply interested
expressions.
Swish-!!
Baek Yun-Ho slapped away the hand of the quickly-

approaching man, spun his lower half, and sent out a
powerful low kick.
Pah!
Contrary to expectations, though, the one to frown was Baek

Yun-Ho.
‘Oho.’
Jin-Woo could tell why. In that briefest of moments, the giant

man utilised a body reinforcement-type skill to defend his
legs.
Judging from that huge body and the skill he used just now,
he seemed to be a Tanker type, but his Agility Stat must’ve
been rather out of the norm, as well. Should Jin-Woo chalk
that one up to that man being a rank S?
The giant middle-aged man smirked.
“Instructor Baek! It won’t do for a young man like you to be

this powerless.”
“I’m not an instructor, Mah Instructor-nim.”
The giant man referred to as Mah Instructor-nim chuckled

genially and grabbed the belt of his dobok. Maybe because
a guy with a physique of a Sumo wrestler was wearing a
dobok, it kind of felt a bit out of place to Jin-Woo’s eyes.
“Well, in that case.”
The giant man fixed his attire for a moment before pouncing
forward again, and Baek Yun-Ho unleashed his magic power
to counter-attack. Both of them were carrying joyous
expressions.
As Instructor Mah pushed forward, and as Baek Yun-Ho was

pushed back, they both looked to be enjoying themselves.
It seemed that they were relishing this rare opportunity to
unleash some of their powers that had to be restrained most
of the time in this gathering of rank S Awakened.
“Even then, if Mister Baek Yun-Ho were to fight seriously,

Mister Mah Dong-Wook wouldn’t be able to endure it.”
Choi Jong-In walked in closer to Jin-Woo and spoke up. The

latter turned his head to look, prompting the former to nod
his head in a greeting.
Jin-Woo reciprocated the greeting, and their conversation

continued on from there.
“That person wearing dobok is the Shining Star’s Mah Dong-

Wook.”
‘Ah.’
Jin-Woo was thinking to himself that he had heard of that

name before, and it turned out that man was the Master of
the Shining Star. He nodded his head and threw a question.
“It’s not like he needs to go easy on his opponent, so why is

Master Baek hiding most of his powers?”
“He finds it a bit troublesome to reveal his powers in front of

too many eyes…. Chairman Baek transforms into a real
monster when he fights seriously, you see.”
Back in front of the Red Gate, Baek Yun-Ho did reveal a pair
of beast-like eyes to Jin-Woo.
‘So, it’s not just his eyes that can transform, eh.’
Just like Baek Yun-Ho’s ability to transform, one would hear

about top Hunters possessing rather unique abilities every
now and then.
In a way, they were the possessors of monster-like powers.

From other people’s perspective, Jin-Woo thought that he’d
be seen like that, too.
‘A guy who can morph into a monster, and a guy who can
summon monsters….’
When he thought about others finding him mystifying, just

like how he thought of Baek Yun-Ho’s powers being weird,
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but smirk softly to himself.
But, that was all.
He only found Baek Yun-Ho’s ability to transform strange

and nothing else. There was nothing interesting to look at in
regards to the sparring between Baek Yun-Ho and Mah Dong-
Wook.
‘So slow.’
Jin-Woo didn’t even need to concentrate, yet he could

clearly read the attacks and counters of both men.
It was then.
“…Uh?”
Sensing something was off, Baek Yun-Ho stopped moving.

Mah Dong-Wook also stopped at the same time, as well. And
their gazes shifted to Jin-Woo simultaneously as if they had
made a prior arrangement.
Maybe it was because Jin-Woo’s boredom was too easy to

see?
‘……?’
But then again, too many people were looking at Jin-Woo the
same way for him to think that was the case. However, he
got to figure out the reason soon enough.
‘It’s not me, but behind me….’
When he looked back, Goto Ryuji was standing there. The

light glinting in his eyes was rather suspicious.
The interpreter next to the Japanese man spoke on behalf of

Goto Ryuji.
“Hunter-nim? Mister Goto wishes to speak to you for a

moment.”
Jin-Woo knew that Goto Ryuji was standing nearby, but

because he hadn’t expected to be addressed at all, he could
only form a confused expression.
‘This guy, I sensed that he didn’t seem right since a while

ago, but now….’
Did Jin-Woo’s unhappiness get transmitted? Because Goto

Ryuji quietly threw out a rather unexpected question.
“Will you have a sparring match with me?”

Chapter 112
There wasn’t any deeper meaning behind his actions. Goto

Ryuji came to South Korea to personally confirm the
capabilities of the top Korean Hunters with his own eyes.
And now, he had developed a bit of curiosity after
discovering someone a bit unique out of the lot. That was
all.
‘I’ll soon find out whether he’s really a Mage or not.’
Goto Ryuji refused to accept that the man standing right in

front of his eyes wasn’t a melee-type Hunter.
He needed more ‘data’. In order to eliminate any and all

form of unexpected variations, he simply had to acquire
more data on Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Well, half of it is for fun, though….’
Goto Ryuji smirked to himself.
The interpreter heard what the Japanese Hunter had to say,

jumped up in surprise, before hurriedly asking a question.
“M-mister Goto, are you sure about this?”
“Please translate what I said to this man ad verbatim.”
“B-but, even then….”
“Will there be a problem?”

Goto Ryuji asked back in a teasing tone. His voice seemed to
ask why shouldn’t he participate in the proceedings, when
the Korean Hunters were already doing some ‘light
exercises’?
The interpreter continued to sweat buckets, before giving up

in the end and replied to him.
“I… I understand.”
He turned his head and met Jin-Woo’s questioning gaze. The

interpreter hesitated before opening his mouth.
“Mister Goto is asking… If you don’t mind ‘training’ with

him…..”
There was no need for an extra explanation on what that

training was supposed to be.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to Goto Ryuji. The Japanese man

was waiting for an answer with an unreadable smile on his
face.
‘You want to find out more about my skill level, is that it?’
There was no way that the world-famous Goto Ryuji would

do something so eye-catching just to show off his abilities. If
that was indeed his aim, he’d have asked either Choi Jong-In
or Baek Yun-Ho, the leaders of the number one and two
South Korean Guilds respectively, instead.
‘I don’t know what you’re planning here, but….’
Judging from the undisguised stare from earlier on, it was

more than likely that Goto Ryuji’s interest was on Jin-Woo.
Even then, he didn’t feel displeased by the Japanese
Hunter’s abrupt suggestion. No, rather than that, he was
genuinely intrigued by the prospect of the fight itself.
He wanted to test out the strength he got to raise inside the

Demon’s Castle, and he was also curious about the abilities
of Japan’s top Hunter, too. Indeed, it wasn’t only Goto Ryuji
who was curious about his opponent’s strength.
‘…..Mm?’
Goto Ryuji stopped smiling as a thin frown formed on his

forehead.
‘He’s smiling?’
He expected Jin-Woo to become flustered and then

eventually try to back out, but then, the Korean Hunter
simply displayed a certain relaxed vibe, instead.
Was there something he felt confident of? Or, was he smiling

wryly after finding the current situation troublesome to
handle?
The answer was revealed soon enough. Jin-Woo told

something to the interpreter, and the latter jumped up
pretty high in shock right away.
Next up, the interpreter looked as if he was doing his best to

dissuade the youth, while Jin-Woo was all smiles as he tried
to calm the former, instead. Since they were talking in
Korean, Goto Ryuji couldn’t understand a word being spoken
and as a result, a frown grew progressively deeper on his
face.
‘What are they even talking about…?’

It should’ve only been either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Why was the interpreter sweating buckets like that over a

question with only two exceedingly simple available
answers?
Just as Goto Ryuji’s patience was about to run out, the

interpreter spoke up while continuously sneaking glances at
Jin-Woo.
“Uhm, excuse me, Mister Goto….”
If only there were no eyes watching right now, Goto Ryuji

would’ve shouted at the man to stop wasting time and hurry
up with it. Forcibly maintaining his smile meant that Goto
Ryuji’s brows were quivering greatly, as he waited for the
interpreter’s next words.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim agreed to your proposal.

However….”
“However?”
“He says he has a condition.”
‘A condition?’
Not only had the opponent failed to lower his tail and cower,
but he also accepted the challenge straight away, and even
put up an extra condition, as well. It was Goto Ryuji’s turn to
feel somewhat flustered now.
“And what is this condition?”
“Well, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim said that…..”
The interpreter took one last look at Jin-Woo, and the latter
nodded his head.
“….He’ll agree only on the condition that Mister Goto gives
his all.”
Goto Ryuji’s stare immediately shifted to Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Is he being serious??’
Seeing the expression on Jin-Woo’s face, one could tell that

he wasn’t kidding around. Goto Ryuji tilted his head.
‘Wait… Maybe he doesn’t know who I am?’
But, that couldn’t be. Even if he didn’t know before, the

interpreter should’ve provided an explanation just now.
Even then, for him to not cower and back off – was this the
case of arrogance or a mistaken belief in himself?
‘….This might be fun.’
The smile was already wiped clean from Goto Ryuji’s mug.
He was thinking of matching the opponent’s pace and

ending things after checking out Seong Jin-Woo’s skill, but
now, his thoughts had changed. Thankfully, with a rank S
Healer nearby, there shouldn’t be any big ‘accidents’ either.
“Alright, I accept.”
“Heok!”
The interpreter’s face paled immediately.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had just advanced to rank ‘S’, so he

might not be able to contain his overflowing passion, but
why was Mister Goto, who had experienced all sorts of trials
and tribulations, behaving like this?
Unfortunately, the atmosphere had already gone past the
point of no return.
“Who’s that guy next to the Japanese Hunter?”
“Isn’t he… Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
“What’s this? Are they going to spar or something?”
Soon, the rank S Hunters and Association employees within

the gymnasium all gathered around the two men glaring at
each other. As everyone was immersed in the developing
situation, half of them looking on with worry while the other
half in anticipation, Cha Hae-In also stood next to the
Hunters and looked on at the duo.
‘Will he be fine…?’
Jin-Woo’s opponent was a man who managed to stand at the

top of Japan, a country with over 20 rank S Hunters.
As for Jin-Woo himself, if one excluded the years he spent as

a rank E, then he should be considered as a newbie who had
been a rank S for only a few days now.
It’d be the right thing to stop Hunter Seong Jin-Woo from

continuing on any further.
From Cha Hae-In’s perspective as someone affiliated with the

Hunters Guild, Seong Jin-Woo was a benefactor who saved
the lives of an entire team consisting of her Guild’s elite men
and women.
She wasn’t some honour-less woman who’d do nothing and

watch a benefactor get hurt from the sidelines.
However, she kept recalling the events of that day whenever
she thought about dissuading him.
….The look Jin-Woo gave her, telling her not to interfere

even when he was facing off against over one hundred High
Orcs and a boss of a rank A dungeon.
When recalling that powerful, determined stare, she felt her

chest palpitate, and unexplainable anticipation bubbled up
in her heart. That was why she couldn’t readily step forward,
only to bite down on her lower lip in nervousness.
It was then.
“Are you feeling okay today with other Hunters around you?”
Before she had time to notice it, Baek Yun-Ho was already
next to her to ask that question. They had gone on several
raids together, so he knew very well of her strange physical
condition.
“Well, it’s not like I’ll be able to continue blocking my nose

in Jeju Island, so…”
Hearing her answer, Baek Yun-Ho nodded his head. It was

her turn to ask next.
“You said before that you’re an acquaintance with Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo, yes?”
“Yes.”
Cha Hae-In remembered that the White Tiger Guild also

received Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s help in the past, just like
her own Guild did.
“In that case, shouldn’t you try to stop Mister Seong Jin-
Woo?”
“I guess that’s the normal way of thinking.”
After all, the opponent today was none other than Goto
Ryuji. Cha Hae-In tilted her head.
“If so, then why….?”
Baek Yun-Ho shifted his gaze and met her eyes before
replying to her.
“It’s the same reason as yours, Cha Hunter-nim.”
Flinch.
Cha Hae-In felt as if her inner secrets had been exposed by

Baek Yun-Ho just now. Her always-taciturn expression
displayed just a hint of change.
“I don’t…..”
“Don’t you feel this strange anticipation in the air?”
….She couldn’t deny that.
Even now, her heart was racing with a singular thought of ‘If
it’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, then he might….’ filling up her
head.
“It’s the same story for me.”
Baek Yun-Ho replied with a grin and looked back in Jin-Woo

and Goto Ryuji’s direction. His expression was filled with
barely-checked anticipation.
‘If Hunter Seong is really an Awakened who can grow
stronger as per my expectation, then….’
This could be the chance to confirm that theory.
Goto Ryuji raised his fist first.
The interpreter standing nearby hurriedly left their side. Two

rank S Hunters were about to have a smackdown. Not only
that, one of them happened to be referred to as Japan’s best,
as well. A normal person would die simply from being too
close in this situation.
Making sure that the interpreter had run off to a safe-

enough distance, Jin-Woo belatedly put his dukes up as well.
No, that’s what he tried to do.
But then…
Swish!
Without a moment’s delay, Goto Ryuji’s fist flew past where

Jin-Woo’s head had been a blink ago.
The Japanese man’s eyes grew wide.
‘I missed?’
The attack was meant to floor Jin-Woo in one go and help

Goto recover his damaged pride, but now, it was all for
nothing. Jin-Woo evaded the punch by tilting his head out of
the way, and then, he easily created some distance between
them.
His reaction speed was surprisingly fast.
‘And you still claim to be a Mage after that??’

What a bloody laughable notion that was.
Indeed, Goto Ryuji’s eyes weren’t mistaken. He didn’t know

the reason for the Korean Association hiding that man’s true
abilities, but without a doubt, Seong Jin-Woo was a melee-
type Hunter. Not only that, definitely an Assassin, too. His
agile movements and his silent steps were all the proof
needed.
‘You may be able to fool the others, but you can’t hide the
truth from me.’
The corner of Goto Ryuji’s lips arched up.
‘Allow me to peel off another layer of yours.’
….Right until everything you possess is brought up to the

surface!
For the first time in a long, long while, Goto Ryuji was feeling
genuinely pumped up.
After taking some distance away from the aggressive

Japanese Hunter, Jin-Woo stood still and listened to his
heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump….
Indeed, his heart was beating faster. He could sense power

on another level compared to other Hunters from Goto Ryuji.
However, the emotion filling up Jin-Woo’s heart whenever

Goto Ryuji’s unbelievable aura touched his skin was this
strong sense of belief in himself.
‘So, that guy is the best in Japan….’

Only now could he truly recognise how much he had
changed while raising his level to 97. His strong confidence
was clearly visible on his face now. On the other hand, Goto
Ryuji’s expression was hardening.
‘He’s smiling again?’
How dare he, in front of me??
Goto Ryuji spat out a heavy breath.
The scarcely-believable amount of magical energy he

emitted began to heavily press down the surrounding air.
Hunters watching on were jolted by a nasty surprise.
‘Shouldn’t we stop them before something happens here?’
‘Goto Ryuji, maybe he’s thinking of really going for it now?’
However, there was a thin smile on Jin-Woo’s face. This was

what he wanted, anyways.
Goto Ryuji saw that Jin-Woo showed no signs of cowering

even after he had unleashed his fearsome level of magic
power, and felt something welling up from deep within.
His eyes gleamed dangerously just then!
Even before other Hunters had the chance to step forward

and stop this bout, Goto Ryuji pounced like an angry
predator.
The distance closed up in an instant; Goto Ryuji reached out

with his hand; Jin-Woo leaned back in the nick of time and
evaded the attack.
‘….!!’
Goto Ryuji’s eyes trembled imperceptibly.
‘He dodged?!’
Was that also a coincidence, or….?
Even though many thoughts fleeted in and out of his head,

he didn’t stay his hands and continued to rain down his
attacks. Too bad, not one of them could connect to his
target; Jin-Woo always managed to dodge by a hair’s
breadth or repelled the incoming hits away.
‘How could this be…??’
Cold sweat drops formed on Goto Ryuji’s forehead.
Goto Ryuji and his brilliantly flashy attacks, and Jin-Woo who
managed to dodge everything by the smallest margins
imaginable. Other Hunters watched the duo and expressed
their genuine admiration.
“That’s some fierce attacks, alright.”
“Hard to follow those movements with my naked eyes.”
“Look, even Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is enduring pretty well,

no?”
“Right, it’s already pretty remarkable that he can evade the

attacks from Japan’s best to that extent.”
Cha Hae-In shook her head multiple times inwardly.
‘No, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo isn’t enduring anything right

now.’
Others could only see that Jin-Woo was being endlessly led
around by Goto Ryuji’s continuous stream of attacks, but in
reality, it was completely the opposite. Cha Hae-In
swallowed her saliva, feeling rather astonished at the
moment.
‘He’s actually leading Goto in such a way that Goto has no

choice but to keep attacking!’
If she was not wrong about this, then… Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo had matched his own pace to the opponent’s, so he
could figure out more about who he was facing here.
Such a thing was only possible if his own level of abilities

was several times greater than that of his opponent’s.
‘How can that even make any sense….??’
But, that nonsensical event was actually unfolding right

before her eyes. And now, she couldn’t help but think that
the real reason to stop this sparring wasn’t that Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo might find himself in danger, but the other
way around….
Just as Cha Hae-In’s thoughts arrived at this point, she

discovered Baek Yun-Ho next to her shuddering non-stop.
“C-Chairman Baek…??”
She called out to him in a soft voice, but he didn’t respond.

His eyes were glued to Jin-Woo and nothing else. She tried to
read his expression, only to get stunned by what she saw.
‘His eyes….?’
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes were gleaming in yellow colour like that

of a wild beast. His vertical-slit eyes were trembling softly in
shock.
She looked on with a worried expression on her face, but he
didn’t even notice that someone was looking at him right
now. Baek Yun-Ho was seeing everything clearly with his
‘Eyes of the Beast’.
‘I…. I was right!’
Jin-Woo’s current level of power was incomparably greater

than back when they last met in front of the Association
building.
‘….A Hunter who can grow stronger!!’
Baek Yun-Ho’s entire body shook from the unbridled shock.
It was then.
“…Ah!”
Baek Yun-Ho had been paying his utmost attention to Jin-

Woo all this time, and when ‘it’ happened, he unconsciously
spat out a frightened gasp. Cha Hae-In next to her also
sensed this deeply chilling aura and hurriedly shifted her
gaze.
“Ah!!”
A few seconds ago….
Goto Ryuji knew better than anyone else here that he had
been suckered into Jin-Woo’s pace.
He had been always referred to as the ‘Strongest’ back

home, so it felt like his pride had been shoved down the
gutter in its entirety by this development.
‘How dare he do this to me….?!’

The attack that he meticulously aimed at the opening also
missed its mark, as Jin-Woo narrowly avoided it at the last
possible second. Goto Ryuji grew enraged, and murderous
intent began filling up his eyes.
‘I’ll kill him!!’
Jin-Woo’s own eyes grew wider. He could acutely sense Goto

Ryuji’s killing intent pricking his skin.
‘Murderous intent?!’
Jin-Woo’s heart nearly fell to the pit of his stomach, then.
If someone formed a murderous intent towards him, the

System would float up a message and issue an emergency
quest right afterwards. What if he got a quest telling him to
kill Goto Ryuji here…??
Tti-ring!
A mechanical beep resounded out right at that moment, and

Jin-Woo quickly looked up.
[Warning! Discovered a subject with murderous intent

nearby!]
Thankfully, it was still a warning message; there was no

emergency quest, like back then with Hwang Dong-Seok or
Kahng Tae-Sik.
However….
Swish-!!
Goto Ryuji’s outstretched hand, aimed at Jin-Woo’s eye,

narrowly missed and ended up slicing his cheek just a little.
If his reflexes that had reached the absolute limit, didn’t
react in time and tilt his head out of the way, he might have
really lost his eye just now.
It was an attack that clearly carried the intent to kill, and it

was clearly aimed at a vital spot of the human anatomy.
Such a thing would never be accepted during a training
match like this.
Grit.
In the blink of an eye, the atmosphere changed.
“Ah.”
Baek Yun-Ho unconsciously spat out a frightened gasp.
The first person to sense the abrupt shift in the atmosphere

was actually Goto Ryuji, however. Unfortunately for him,
although his body understood the change, his head could
not.
The chilly air roused sleeping goosebumps to break out all

over his body, and all the hair on the back of his neck stood
up. He had never, ever felt like this before.
‘This, what is this….?’
Even before his brain had the time to process anything, Jin-
Woo grabbed his wrist, hard. Goto Ryuji tried to yank his arm
out with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge.
‘What kind of strength is this….?!’
His gaze briefly lingered on his wrist, before moving on to

Jin-Woo’s face. And he found an icy cold glare.
But what caught Goto Ryuji’s attention even more than Jin-
Woo’s cold eyes were his right shoulder and his raised right
arm. Jin-Woo’s arm was cocked back by a lot; a tightly-
clenched fist at the end of that arm was taking an aim at
Goto Ryuji’s unguarded face.
The air sinking lower all around Goto Ryuji pressed down on
his shoulders. He suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore.
Why?
Why did he inexplicably think of the word ‘death’ right at

this moment?
But, then….
“S-stop!”
Baek Yun-Ho and Cha Hae-In jumped into the fray purely out
of instinct and grabbed hold onto Jin-Woo’s right arm.
The former was tightly hugging Jin-Woo’s shoulder as if he

was trying to pull it down, while the latter was grabbing onto
his wrist with everything she had.
When Jin-Woo looked back, Baek Yun-Ho hurriedly shook his

head. Even Cha Hae-In was looking at him with anxious
eyes, fear clearly visible on her face.
‘…….’
The desperate dissuasion of these two that didn’t even care

about their own safety helped Jin-Woo to cool his agitation
down somehow.
“Fuu.”
Jin-Woo let off a short sigh and released Goto Ryuji’s wrist.

The Japanese man rubbed his now-freed wrist and retreated
quickly. Meanwhile, the interpreter hurriedly arrived near his
side. Baek Yun-Ho quickly spoke to him.
“Let’s stop the sparring session here, since the mood seems
to have turned for the worse. Please tell the Japanese for us.”
The interpreter nodded his head.
When Baek Yun-Ho’s words were relayed to him, Goto Ryuji

proceeded to glare at Jin-Woo for a long time, before
spinning on his heels to exit from the gymnasium without
saying single a word.
“M-mister Goto!!”
The voice of the interpreter as he ran after Goto Ryuji

sounded so pitiful. Baek Yun-Ho finally spat out a sigh of
relief and lowered his head at Jin-Woo.
“Forgive us for butting in.”
“…”
“That man is supposed to lead the Japanese team in the

operation a few days from now. I couldn’t just stand by and
watch, even though there was a chance that something
might go horribly wrong for us.”
Baek Yun-Ho cautiously studied Jin-Woo’s expression and

asked.
“Did I do something unnecessary?”
“No, not at all.”
Jin-Woo readily admitted to it.

Baek Yun-Ho was right. If something happened to Goto Ryuji
and that led to an unnecessary snag in the operation, then
both countries might end up suffering severe consequences
afterwards.
So, he never thought of assigning any blame on Baek Yun-

Ho or Cha Hae-In after they interfered in the timely fashion.
“Wow….”
Now that the situation seemed to have calmed down, people

absorbed in spectating on the sparring session between
Goto Ryuji and Jin-Woo quickly approached him. The way
they looked at him went through a noticeable change.
The first one to make his approach was the Master of the
Shining Star Guild, the massive-framed Mah Dong-Wook.
“Huhuh!!”
Mah Dong-Wook laughed genially.
“To be able to walk away with only a small scratch on your

cheek after having a bout with the one and only Goto, you’re
truly something else, young man!”
Regretfully, no one else seemed to have figured out what

happened here besides Cha Hae-In and Baek Yun-Ho.
“Ooh!! You have really firm muscles! What an outstanding

physique!”
Mah Dong-Wook touched Jin-Woo’s shoulders and arms while

expressing his genuine admiration.
“My Guild is full of Mage-type Hunters, so we’re severely

lacking in melee-types at the moment. Instructor Seong, if
you haven’t thought of a Guild to join, how about joining
mine?”
“Excuse me, Mah Instructor-nim?”
Having been quietly observing the situation from behind

until then, Choi Jong-In stepped forward and raised his voice.
“Yes?”
When Mah Dong-Wook turned his head, Choi Jong-In spoke

up as if he was waiting for this moment.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is actually a Mage-type Hunter.”
A massive earthquake erupted within Mah Dong-Wook’s

eyes.
On the other hand….
Goto Ryuji escaped from the confines of the gymnasium and,

after quickly distancing himself from the interpreter, he
checked his wrist.
‘……’
His wrist was bruised black and blue all over. Even though
the weather wasn’t all that hot, there were cold sweat drops
visible on his forehead. He pulled out his phone and dialled
a familiar number. After a couple of rings, he could hear the
sound of the phone’s receiver being picked up.
Click.
It’s Matsumoto speaking.
“Association President.”
“Is it you, Goto? What’s the matter with your voice?”
Goto Ryuji did his best to calm his trembling voice.
“In South Korea…. There’s an incredible Hunter in South

Korea.”
“More than you?”
“More than likely, sir.”
“…..”
“I think there’s a need to modify our plan a little bit, sir.”
Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t immediately say anything, but

rummaged through something for a while instead, before
finally asking a question.
“The name of that Hunter is?”
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo. He’s a Re-Awakened, evaluated as a

rank S recently.”
“This is strange. Such a name doesn’t exist.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Such a name didn’t exist?!
Did that mean the Hunter Goto Ryuji met just now was a
phantom, an illusion? Well, he did kind of feel that he had
been bewitched just now, though. However, didn’t he also
personally enter the Korean Association’s website to confirm
that that man was supposed to be a Mage??
“What do you mean, sir? How can Seong Jin-Woo not exist?”
“Actually, we have received the final list of the Korean

Hunters participating in the operation not too long
ago.”
“Are you saying Seong Jin-Woo isn’t on the list?”
But, how could that be?
Unless Goh Gun-Hui had gone truly senile, there was just no
way that he’d form a raiding party without the strongest
member available.
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke in a calm manner from across the

phone line.
“Choi Jong-In, Mah Dong-Wook, Baek Yun-Ho, Cha Hae-

In, Im Tae-Gyu, and Min Byung-Gu.”
As if to signify that there was no need to modify their plan at

all, Matsumoto Shigeo spoke in a voice filled with conviction.
“These six are the members of the Korean team that will
leave for the raid in four days’ time.”
Baek Yun-Ho took a deep breath.
Even after the two men who turned the inside of the
gymnasium chaotic had left, his heartbeat didn’t want to
slow down at all.
‘Was such a thing even possible?’

Having witnessed something that he’d been hypothesizing
in his head for real, Baek Yun-Ho had difficulty trying to hide
his astonishment.
‘An Awakened that can really grow stronger….’
Just what would be that man’s true value? He couldn’t even

dare to imagine it.
This was his reason for standing back and watching on from
the distance at the efforts of Choi Jong-In, Mah Dong-Wook,
and Im Tae-Gyu as they tried to scout Jin-Woo. He
remembered Choi Jong-In’s confused stare directed at him,
as he didn’t even bother to sweet-talk the youth.
‘If it was me, I’d probably never even think about joining a
Guild with an ability like that.’
Indeed.
All the attempts to scout Hunter Seong Jin-Woo were a waste

of time. However, there were all sorts of ways to form a good
relationship with a brilliant Hunter that didn’t involve
scouting him.
Time to activate the ‘Plan B’, then.
It was then.
Vrrr….
His mobile phone suddenly began vibrating. Seeing that the

vibration didn’t last for long, it must’ve been a text
message. Without thinking too much, he pulled his phone
out and took a look.
It was an alert sent out by the Association. And it was the
final list of the participants for the ant subjugation raid
taking place four days from now.
Baek Yun-Ho skipped past the lengthy list of the Japanese

Hunters and scanned the list of the Koreans, only for his
eyes to widen in surprise.
He shot up from his spot in the wooden bench.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo isn’t on the list?!”

Chapter 113
The mass media was whipped into a frenzy.
To eradicate the monsters that turned the island of Jeju

into a barren wasteland, the nations of South Korea and
Japan form a united raid team!
Where would you find another story that could stimulate the
interests of the country’s citizens even more than this news?
TV channels ran news segments related to this upcoming

raid all day long, while every front page of newspapers was
completely dominated by the topics of the united raid team.
However, it was only Korea’s media that kept talking about

this matter. Even though the number of Japanese Hunters
participating in this operation exceeded the Koreans by
three folds, no one thought it was strange that the Japanese
media kept quiet over the upcoming event.
And when a handful of articles did appear online, the

comments that followed said articles were negative in
nature, to say the least.
└ What did you expect when the Koreans are too weak to
close a Gate by themselves?
└ Why are you cleaning up the sh*t left behind by the

Koreans?
└ Are they going to compensate us for the damages those
ants caused here or not?
└ Useless Japanese Hunter’s Association, and irresponsible

Korean Hunters, why dontcha all kick the bucket together on
Jeju Island? LOL
‘Dong-sahng-yi-mong’. (TL note at the end)
While two parties thought of two different things regarding

the same upcoming event, time continued to tick down
towards the date of the operation.
In the meantime, these past few days proved to be the

happiest Jin-Woo had been since his mother was admitted to
the hospital.
Many things went through a change. First thing first – the

Seong family returned to their home with their mom as soon
as she was discharged from the hospital.
Clank….
When he opened the front entrance, the first thing saw was
the messy living room of the apartment, all thanks to Jin-Ah
being alone while he was kept busy inside the Demon’s
Castle.
“….”
Jin-Woo began pinching his sister’s cheeks, and with gentle

laughter, Mom tried to stop him.
The very first thing their mother had to do after returning

home from four years of coma, was to clean the house. Jin-
Woo tried to dissuade her, but in the end, he couldn’t win
against her insistence. Eventually, the whole family rolled
their sleeves up to clean up their home.
Once the house was spotless, the complexions of all three

brightened up considerably as well. The apartment that had
always felt empty and lonely after Mom’s admittance to the
hospital now seemed so full of life.
For the first time in a long while, Jin-Woo got to stretch his
legs and go to bed without any worries in his mind. And on
the next morning, when he got to the living room….
He got to truly appreciate the fact that his mother had

returned when he saw the breakfast neatly arranged on the
dining table. Park Gyung-Hye stopped cutting the spring
onions, turned her head towards Jin-Woo, and asked.
“Did you sleep well, son?”
With still-sleepy eyes, he replied as a smile bloomed on his

face.
“….Yes, Mom.”
The so-called expert continued to speak on the TV screen.
“The rate of evolution these ant monsters have shown is

truly surprising to behold.”
A guest sitting next to the expert formed an exaggerated

expression of surprise and asked.
“Monsters are evolving?! Wasn’t the ant found in Japan, a

lone mutated creature?”
“You’re correct. When the mutated specimen increase in
number and gain control of the whole horde, then we call
that evolution.”
After that, the prepared video footage began playing. Ants,

as they appeared during the first and second subjugation
attempts, were displayed on the screen.
At first, they were no different from regular ants as they

crawled on the ground. Just from their external appearances
alone, they looked exactly like oversized super-massive ants.
But then, a short while later….
“This is the footage taken during the third subjugation

attempt.”
The ant monsters were now walking on two legs like

humans. The once-giant heads had shrunken down in size
by a great deal, they were able to move around much more
nimbly, and the four limbs acted like arms.
Its appearance looked as if half an ant and half a person had

been mashed together to form a new creature. In only two
years, the distinct characteristics of the ant species had
been completely transformed into something else.
“And this footage of the ant monster was taken recently as it

wreaked havoc in Japan.”
“Wow…”
The audience members in the studio all gasped out in shock

at the footage being played. To their horror, the ant was now
even closer in appearance to a human, and not only that, it
even sported huge wings on its back.
The comedian appearing in this show as a guest flinched in
great surprise and raised his voice higher.
“That thing can now fly?!”
“That’s correct. And that would be the decisive factor in the

formation of the Korea-Japan united raid team.”
‘The Korea-Japan united raid team.’
When that term came out of the TV’s speakers, Jin-Woo

wordlessly switched the TV off. In all honesty, he also didn’t
want to miss out on this operation. His heart began racing so
fast after he thought of all the experience points he’d get to
earn when Association President Goh Gun-Hui requested for
his participation in the raid.
However, his excitement cooled down in no time at all. And

he was able to objectively and coldly analyse the situation.
‘It hadn’t even been one day since Mom woke up.’
More than that, his mom didn’t know that her son was a
Hunter yet. He also recalled the sight of his mother staying
up all night for several months after she heard the news of
his father going missing inside the Gate all those years ago,
too.
He couldn’t bring himself to tell mom that he was going to

Jeju Island when she was already carrying around such a
painful memory, to begin with.
His lips didn’t want to part and provide an answer. He

wanted to spend some time with his family for a few days, at
the least. And he definitely didn’t want to delay the moment
he’d been fighting for so long for some other matter.
“….I will….”
Jin-Woo barely made up his mind and spoke with great

difficulty.
“….Not take part in the operation.”
The one thing far more precious than experience points, the
reason why he gritted his teeth and endured everything in
order to become stronger. He did not regret making this
choice.
Except that, now….
└ BTW, why is Seong Jin-Woo not on the Korean list?
└ Your disposition won’t change just because you’ve become

a rank S, you know. Once a rank E, forever a rank E, dude.
Prolly ran off to hide, nearly wetting his pants in the process.
Kek.
└ 21 Jap rank S Hunters + even the retired Hunter is gonna

represent for Korea, yet…. where is Seong Jin-Woo?
└ Why does he want to do that when he’s a rank S? It’s so

embarrassing;;
Except that, all these anonymous pointing fingers who

didn’t even know of his situation were really getting on his
nerves now. Or, to be more specific, it was his sister’s stress
level that got on his nerves, actually.
‘I don’t really give a d*mn about what others think of me,

and mom doesn’t really go online, so it’s fine on that front,
but….’
….But, Jin-Ah liked to search for stuff like this in her spare
time.
‘Tsk’.
Jin-Woo clicked his tongue and put his phone down. There
was no helping it, what with the poor timing and all.
Mom had retired early for the day, and it was also still too
early for Jin-Ah to come back from her studies. He was
thinking of taking a stroll to get some fresh air and change
his spoiled mood, but like a devil, his phone began ringing
just then.
Jin-Woo checked the caller ID and a grin formed on his face.
Click.
“Hyung-nim!! It’s me, Yu Jin-Ho!”
“Hey, Jin-Ho.”
Now that Jin-Woo thought about it, was this kid still staying
in that local motel even now?
“Where are you staying now? Is it the same motel?”
“Oh, no, hyung-nim. I started renting a room not too

long ago. Thankfully, my mom came to my rescue….”
Hearing his giggling voice, Jin-Woo felt happy inwardly as

well.
Yu Jin-Ho briefly updated Jin-Woo regarding the status of his

life, before hurriedly continuing on after remembering the
reason for the call in the first place.
“Ah, right! Hyung-nim, I found some office space for us,
so would you like to come over and take a look?”
What office space was he even talking about?
“What office?”
When Jin-Woo asked with a confused voice, Yu Jin-Ho

confidently declared.
“Of course, it’s the office space for our Guild, hyung-
nim! If you want to establish a Guild, then you’ll need
an office, at the very least.”
‘Yu Jin-Ho, this kid…..’
It seemed more than likely that this kid was under the grand
delusion of developing the Guild he’d preside over as its
Vice Master, and make it as big as the Hunters or the White
Tiger in the near future. Jin-Woo slowly scratched his chin.
‘If I tell him that the raid team will consist of only me and no
one else, he might flip out in shock here….’
He only invited the kid to join him in passing, but now that it
was time to explain to Yu Jin-Ho the future of the Guild, Jin-
Woo didn’t even know how he should go about it.
“What do you think, hyung-nim?”
Now that he was here, Jin-Woo could understand why Yu Jin-

Ho sounded so confident on the phone. He scanned the
empty office space and nodded his head.
Its location was pretty good.

“I specifically chose a place not too far from your place,
hyung-nim.”
It was also tidy, too.
“I deliberately went for the newly-developed office spaces. I

believe that the old saying goes something like ‘put new
wine in a new bottle’. Don’t you agree, hyung-nim?”
Perhaps most importantly, the place was freaking huge.
‘…….’
“I’ll do my best to grow this Guild so it’ll surpass the five

large Guilds someday, hyung-nim!”
Yu Jin-Ho was burning with unbridled passion, figuratively

speaking.
‘It’s fine for you to burn with passion like that, but please,
leave me out of it….’
Jin-Woo pondered seriously about this quandary: Should he

tell Yu Jin-Ho to just go back to Yujin Guild now, before it’s
too late?
Well, he had this gut feeling that the Yujin’s Chairman, a guy
who even froze his own son’s bank account, wouldn’t be so
keen on taking his son back at this point in time. Seeing that
Jin-Woo was in deep contemplation, Yu Jin-Ho formed an
expression that cried out “Heok!”
“Hyung-nim…. You don’t like this place?”
“…..No, that’s not it.”
“Then, should I sign the lease contract, hyung-nim?”

“….Sure, why not.”
Judging from the size of the place, the monthly rental

must’ve been crazy steep, but when comparing to the
potential revenue stream of a Guild, it’d be a chump change
at the end of the day.
‘I guess it’ll be fine to let him dream a little bit longer.’
For now, Jin-Woo couldn’t tell the kid that it’d be only the
two of them sharing this huge office space.
“Ah!”
Yu Jin-Ho suddenly clapped his hands.
“By the way, hyung-nim. Who do you have in mind for the
remaining spot?”
“….The remaining spot?”
Did he make a promise to open up a spot for someone?
Since Jin-Woo wasn’t the type to forget his promises, he

could only look at Yu Jin-Ho with a confused expression,
prompting the latter to excitedly explain the situation.
“You need at least three people when creating a Guild,

hyung-nim.”
The Master, the Vice-Master, and an employee.
Indeed, that was the minimum required composition of a

Guild’s founding members. The rule of the minimum number
for a team raiding the least dangerous Gate out there, a rank
E, being three people seemed to be related to this,
somehow.
‘Well, you will never find a Guild wanting to clear a rank E
Gate, though….’
The founding members, was it?
Several familiar faces fleeted in and out of Jin-Woo’s head as

he considered who could fill up the remaining vacant spot.
The only condition being, they had to be Hunters, too. If it
was at all possible, someone who didn’t want to work as a
Hunter ever again, and only there to make up the numbers.
‘Why do I keep picturing women’s faces….?’
He recalled the faces of the high school girl who decided to

give up being a Hunter, as well as a certain female Healer
who went back to her family home in the city of Busan, but
they disappeared from his thoughts quickly enough. It was
then.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
Yu Jin-Ho abruptly opened his mouth. Jin-Woo quickly asked

him.
“Did you suddenly remember someone suitable for the spot,

then?”
“No, it’s not that, hyung-nim. Actually, there was someone

looking for you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but get curious. Seeing that this

unknown person had indirectly contacted him through Yu
Jin-Ho, he or she must’ve done their thorough research.
‘Yu Jin-Ho and I aren’t known as associates publicly, after all.’
Indeed, if anything, others should see their relationship

simply as one being the previous raid leader while the other
being the member of that raid team.
‘Even then, calling me through Yu Jin-Ho, is it?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit just a little.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know, hyung-nim. That person was definitely an

English-speaking foreigner. Hold on.”
Yu Jin-Ho rummaged through his pockets, pulled out his

wallet and extracted a piece of a memo from there.
“This person said that he’d be staying in Korea until the

17th, so he’d very much appreciate it if you give him a call,
hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo took the memo and found a number for a mobile

phone as well as a hotel room number. He took a look at the
back of the memo, but nothing was written there.
’17th… that’s three days from now.’
An English-speaking foreigner – just who could it be? He

couldn’t think of anyone he knew or fit the bill.
However, quite suddenly…
“….Looks like I’ll have to go home first.”
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened.
“Pardon? You’re going home already, hyung-nim?”

Yu Jin-Ho had been thinking of treating his hyung-nim to a
delicious meal since it had been a long time they ate
together. But now, he looked like a person who had lost his
country. Perhaps a bit too callously, though, Jin-Woo didn’t
even try to understand his dongsaeng’s feelings at all.
“I’m going ahead first.”
Yu Jin-Ho quickly hid his disappointed expression and

quickly bent down in a polite bow, as usual.
“Okay, have a safe trip, hyung…. nim?”
When he raised his head, Jin-Woo was already long gone.
It was now that time in the day when the inky-black

darkness dwelt on the hidden alleyways.
A female college student named Eun Ji-Min was on her way

back home; her heart was pounding like crazy at the
moment, however.
‘There’s no way, right….?’
Because, there was a man busy following her.
She hoped that they were simply walking in the same

direction, and that had to be the reason why his footsteps
were continuing right behind her like that.
‘I saw something like this on a message board.’
In a situation like this one, it wasn’t only the woman, but the
man would be feeling rather troubled, as well. A man’s
walking speed should be faster or similar to that of a
woman; if he tried to walk past her, she’d freak out, but if he
tried to simply stay behind her, then he’d come across even
more suspicious, instead.
On top of that, by going around the corner up ahead, she’d

find herself in a secluded street with a broken street lamp,
which could potentially make things even more awkward for
the parties involved.
Eun Ji-Min took a glance behind her.
A man with a baseball cap pulled down low and his face
staring at the ground was quietly walking on the street.
Although it was suspicious, it was not a crime to wear
baseball caps like that in public.
‘Instead of letting this awkward walk-together thing carry

on, maybe I should….’
Eun Ji-Min stopped walking as if she needed to tie her

shoelaces, and eventually, the man walked right past her.
“Whew….”
After confirming that the man was gone from her sight, Eun
Ji-Min spat out a sigh of relief. She then gathered her hands
in mock prayer and closed her eyes.
‘I’m really sorry about that, mister unknown uncle.’
She looked around her vicinity for a bit longer before tidying
up her clothes. With a smile on her face, Eun Ji-Min
energetically began walking again.
She had a mountain of assignments to get through! If she

were to prepare for the end-of-term exams, running back
home now would still leave her with not enough time.
‘How wide was the scope again?’
Thinking about how she’d have to spend the whole night

studying, her shoulders slumped dejectedly. But, as Eun Ji-
Min went around the corner, her eyes widened.
“You make a noise, I’ll kill you.”
The man who walked right by her seconds ago was standing
in the street corner with a kitchen knife and an insidious
smile on his face.
“You know that…. a few people had died here already,

right?”
“Ah…..”
Eun Ji-Min couldn’t even scream. With a pale complexion,

she stood there completely frozen.
The man lowered the white surgical mask on his face and
grinned.
“Follow me.”
Tick, tick…
There was no one around them; only the broken street light
flickered listlessly.
Chapter 114
“Ah…. S-someone, s-save me…”
Eun Ji-Min somehow managed to squeeze out her dried-up

voice and took a couple of steps back.
No, that’s what she tried to.
However, her feet didn’t want to move. It was as if heavy

iron ingots were attached to her ankles. She could only
stand there frozen as her tears began streaming down her
face.
Meanwhile, the man scanned his surroundings.
Since the girl didn’t look like she’d be able to move, he was
thinking of offing her here, right now. How fortunate that
there was nobody around. Also, there wouldn’t be a CCTV
camera of the Big Brother installed in a secluded alleyway
like this one, as well.
‘That’s why I love this neighbourhood, you know.’
The man formed an evil grin and thrust the knife at Eun Ji-
Min’s midriff.
But then, a hand shot out from the darkness and grabbed
the knife.
“Uh??”
The man raised his head, only to find a strange youth
standing there. Because of his hood, only the punk’s chin
was visible. But he possessed a pretty d*mn outstanding
physique.
‘Is he… wearing a glove or something?’
Not a drop of blood dripped down from the hand grasping

the blade.
“Who the hell are you?!”
The serial killer tried to yank the knife out several times, but
after realising that it wouldn’t budge an inch, he quickly let
go of the knife’s grip and turned around. He rapidly escaped
from the spot.
“What a strange son of a b*tch….”
The serial killer took a look behind several times and found
that strange youth was following along, constantly scanning
the surroundings while he was at it.
‘What the hell is up with this b*stard…?’
The serial killer changed his direction and led the youth to a
deserted vacant lot, the place he originally wanted to drag
that woman to. If that punk was protecting his hand with
something, then it’d be fine to attack him elsewhere.
When he arrived at the destination, the serial killer slowed

down, and gradually shortened his distance to the strange
punk that had been keeping pace with him until then. Once
their gap closed to around a couple of feet or so….
“Hey punk, who the hell do you think you are?”

The serial killer spun around and stabbed the youth in the
chest with an awl he’d been hiding under his jacket.
“Do I look like an easy mark to you?! Huh?”
Stab!
The hand pushing the awl into the youth’s chest shook,
hard.
‘….What the hell could be this hard?!’
A stab-proof vest? Or something else underneath his shirt??
The serial killer quickly threw out a question.
“What the f*ck?! You wearing something under your clothes

or something?”
If this guy was able to sense magical energy, then he

wouldn’t have asked such a stupid question. Too bad, the
serial killer somehow failed to think of the word ‘Hunter’
even though his opponent didn’t try to retaliate after that
second sneak attack. Instead, a quiet voice leaked out from
under the hood.
“I’m curious about something.”
The voice naturally belonged to Jin-Woo. He discarded the

kitchen knife of the serial killer to the ground.
“Why are you doing this?”
“What’s the matter? You wish to reform me or something?”
“Nope. Just curious if you have a reason or not. That’s all.”

The serial killer snorted derisively. He thought that, what
with this punk jumping out of nowhere to save that woman,
and following him all the way out here, he was looking at
some weirdo masquerading as an ally of justice or
something. But now…
‘This kid’s just a bloody idiot, isn’t he?’
Or maybe, this punk was the same type of madman as he

was?
The serial killer thought that maybe he could get away from
here unscathed if he used his gift of gab, so he readily
humoured the youth.
“A reason, is it? Well, if I were to really think of one…

because it’s fun?”
“Fun?”
“For some reason, whenever I see someone weaker than me,

I just wanna torment that…..”
….Person.
The serial killer didn’t get to finish what he wanted to say.

Instead….
“Uwaaaahk?! Uwahk!!”
Instead, he fell to the ground clutching his left ankle where

his tendon had been sliced apart. When he raised his head,
he realised that Jin-Woo was holding the kitchen knife even
before he had the time to notice it.
‘But, didn’t he throw that away? Just when….?’
It was right then, Jin-Woo’s shape grew blurry again.

“Uwaaahk?!”
This time, it was his right ankle. The serial killer rolled
around the ground in pain. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo leisurely
rummaged through the serial killer’s pockets now that the
murdering b*stard wasn’t going anywhere with his tendons
cut in half. He soon found the killer’s mobile phone and the
wallet.
“You, you!! Who the hell are you, you son of a b*tch?!”
Jin-Woo ignored the venom-spewing serial killer and calmly

dialled 119 to call for an ambulance. He then pulled out the
ID card from the wallet to take a look.
Next, he placed the phone and the wallet back in the hands
of the shivering serial killer and murmured quietly.
“Hand yourself over to the police before midnight tomorrow.”
“What?!”
“….If you wish to keep breathing, that is.”
He said all he wanted to say.
Jin-Woo got up from the spot and inserted one of his Shadow
Soldiers inside the serial killer’s shadow, before leaving a
similar sounding order to that soldier.
‘Although, I don’t know how patient a High Orc’s shadow can

be, but….’
That soldier might not be good with patiently waiting around

until the designated time, but well, carrying out the next
part of the order should be the speciality of High Orcs.
“I’d prefer it if you keep living on.”

The killer had to be alive if he were to repent for his sins for
the rest of his life.
“J-just… what the hell are you?”
Jin-Woo left the serial killer shivering from pain and fear
behind in the vacant lot. He could hear the sirens of an
ambulance coming from afar.
He walked to a far enough location, and after confirming

that there was no one nearby, he pulled his hood back.
“….Whew.”
Thanks to the signal sent by the Shadow Soldier after

discovering the serial killer, Jin-Woo was able to arrive just in
time.
The ‘Shadow Exchange’.
This skill was proving to be exceptionally convenient the

more he used it.
‘It’s not the highest-ranked Rune Stone for nothing, is it?’
Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile now that he got to

experience the greatness of the Shadow Exchange once
more in the last couple of days. He couldn’t even begin to
imagine just how much more useful this skill would get, once
the skill level rose up high enough to sufficiently decrease
the cooldown time.
And so, as he continued to walk back home…
‘Mm?’
He abruptly raised his head to see that the moon was now in
the middle of the night sky.
‘Now that I think about it… it’s already tomorrow.’
The Korea-Japan united assault team’s raid. It was already

here.
He wasn’t even on the team, yet his heart was pounding this
much in anticipation. So, what would the participating
members be feeling right now?
Jin-Woo recalled the faces of the raid members he was

acquainted with, and prayed for their safety as well as their
success in the mission.
Late at night.
Goto Ryuji was still in the dojo inside the Japanese Hunter’s
Association.
In front of him, two men, and at his back, one other. He was
surrounded by rank S Hunters, ostensibly the same rank as
he was. Goto Ryuji took a deep breath, and just as his eyes
flew open….
“Ta-ha-aht!!”
The Hunters biding their time powerfully pounced on him all

at the same time. However….
Slam!
The ones to fall down were the three attacking Hunters.
“That was great!”
“As expected of Goto-san!”
“No one can measure up to your skills, sir.”

The three Hunters lying on the wooden floor of the dojo
dusted themselves off and stood back up. This was only
possible because Goto Ryuji had held back his power.
Without saying anything, he lowered his head slightly to
imply that they all did a good job.
‘As expected, there’s no problem with my physical

condition.’
No, if he were to frankly assess himself, then he was at peak

condition right now. Just from imagining how he’d swallow
up South Korea, it felt like his condition was getting better
and better all by itself.
So, how come….?
Goto Ryuji continued to stare at the dojo, now empty that

the three Hunters had left, as the memories of that day still
lingered on in his mind.
Seong Jin-Woo.
Just what was he?
‘……’
The more he thought back to that day, the more bitter he

felt. Soon, though, Goto Ryuji shook his head.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now.’
Regardless of all else, that man Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t taking

part in this raid. And the Association President’s plan would
unfold without any mishaps.
Once South Korea loses almost all of her rank S Hunters, its
leadership would naturally fall into Japanese hands. By then,
the complaints of the Japanese citizens demanding for the
appropriate reparations from the Koreans would have been
transformed into rousing cheers of fanfare, instead.
When that happened….
‘What can Seong Jin-Woo do all by himself?’
Didn’t matter whether Seong Jin-Woo was a genuinely

powerful Hunter or he simply came across that way through
Goto Ryuji’s momentary delusion, the fact remained that,
him not participating in tomorrow’s raid was for the greater
benefit of Japan.
There was nothing to bother him now. The decisive moment

would come tomorrow.
Inside this still dojo bathed in the cold moonlight, Goto Ryuji
formed a quiet smile to himself.
“We’ll be in your care!”
The managing director of a certain TV station deeply bowed

his head to the lone cameraman. Such a thing was
completely unheard of. However, the cameraman standing
in front of the director was no ordinary man; he was an
active Hunter and a proud holder of a rank A licence.
“The future of my station depends on this raid.”
In order to win the exclusive broadcasting rights, the

director had to spend over half of the station’s total annual
budget. There had been simply too many competing bids,
and that’s why he had to go all in.
But, then again, there was a compelling reason why he
simply had to make such a brave business decision.
Not many rank S Gates opened up around the world. Even

when one did open, it was still impossible to take the
recording equipment inside to capture the footage of what
happened in there.
In other words, this would be the one and only opportunity

for regular citizens to witness an actual rank S raid in
progress. As long as there wasn’t another unfortunate event
of a rank S Gate opening up somewhere else, that was.
On top of this, this broadcast wouldn’t be a recording, but

shown live. Sure, there would be a ten-minute delay to the
live feed, but still.
Just how high would the audience rating reach?
70 percent? 80?
When the managing director thought back to all the

potential profit margin to be had from selling the footage to
the TV networks in other countries, he no longer felt regret
in investing half of the station’s budget in this venture.
‘….As long as the raid doesn’t end in failure!’
Indeed, no sane-minded viewer out there would ever want to

watch the top-ranked Hunters get devoured by the monsters
during the raid. No, even if there were, he couldn’t let such
footage be broadcast to the public, to begin with.
So, the director had staked everything he had on the

success of the fourth subjugation operation.
Considering that, bowing his head several times to the
cameraman tasked with capturing the all-too-important
footage was indeed, nothing.
Heck, if the cameraman wished for it, the director was

prepared to prostrate on the floor, even.
“Please don’t worry too much, director.”
The cameraman did his best to calm the shivering managing

director down from his high anxiety level.
Even before he became a Hunter, he made his living as a

cameraman. And after agreeing to take on this job, he made
sure to study and polish his skills of wielding the camera
even further.
Obviously, he didn’t want to spoil the broadcast that the

entire nation would be watching through some stupid
mistake on his part. Of course, he’d get paid quite a big
reward in return, too.
‘He’s going to give me a portion of the profit earned from the

broadcast, after all.’
The cameraman had already earned plenty from being a

rank A Hunter, but the offered amount was so high that it
really excited him to no end.
If the operation ends in success, then he’d be able to earn

an enormous amount of money and fame, perhaps as much
as the rank S Hunters actually participating in the raid.
Wouldn’t he become quite possibly the most famous rank A

Hunter in South Korea?
A smile formed on the cameraman’s face as all sorts of
wonderful thoughts of the future bloomed in his head.
“By the way, I’m surprised that the Association President

Goh Gun-Hui actually gave his permission to film this raid. I
mean, that hard-headed man wouldn’t have allowed it
simply for the sake of money, so….”
The station’s director nodded his head at the cameraman’s

puzzled question.
“He said that the fee we paid will be split equally among all
the Hunters participating today, actually.”
“Oh? In that case, why….?”
Why did he permit the filming of the raid?
The director cautiously voiced his educated guess.
“I think….. I think, perhaps he wishes to console the hearts

of the citizens.”
The Korean Hunter’s Association had to swallow the bitter

pill of defeat three times at the hands of the ant monsters.
Because of the continuous failure, the Association had to
suffer great losses, which in turn also led to the loss of the
public’s trust. Meanwhile, the citizens felt increasingly
powerless as the thought of these ant monsters being
invincible took root in their hearts.
As the atmosphere of the nation festered like that, a chance

to reverse this whole thing had suddenly landed on their
laps.
‘You can tell how the public is responding by taking a quick

look at the internet forums.’
The Association President wanted to take a step further than
that. He wanted to capture the moment of victory and
broadcast it live to the citizens.
His grim and perhaps desperate resolution to not fail could

be gleamed from this decision.
The cameraman nodded his head after hearing the

managing director’s explanation. He took a look at his
wristwatch before standing up with a determined expression
on his face.
“It’s time already. I’ll be on my way now, sir.”
The managing director once more bowed deeply to the

cameraman.
“We leave everything to you, Hunter-nim!!”
Hunters began boarding the helicopter, as the spinning

rotors issued deafening noises above their heads.
“…”
“…”
The constantly-smiling Mah Dong-Wook, the always-

confident Choi Jong-In, and even Baek Yun-Ho famed for his
positive personality, were all wearing sombre expressions.
The cameraman checked his recording equipment for the

last time. The camera itself was designed to be fitted around
the head so it should not impinge on his movement by
much.
‘I wouldn’t have agreed to come if the camera was bulky and
made it impossible to move.’
The place their helicopter was heading off to was perhaps

the most dangerous place in the whole of South Korea – no,
maybe, even the world. Thinking about their destination, the
cameraman could only swallow his saliva down in
nervousness.
No matter how hard he tried to stay calm, there was nothing

he could do about the nervous tension slowly mushrooming
in his heart. It was the same story for the rank S Hunters, as
well.
In order to dispel the tension in the air, Baek Yun-Ho started

talking to his ‘dongsaeng’, the one he was closest to.
“Hey, Byung-Gu. I really didn’t expect you to show up here

today.”
Min Byung-Gu grinned in response.
“I thought that, without me healing you, hyung would be the

first one to get killed today. I mean, you always jump on a
monster whenever you see one, you know.”
“What the hell. Why do you have talk like that? Since when
did I ever ‘jump’ on monsters??”
Other Hunters began giggling after hearing the two men

chat.
Min Byung-Gu was the sole rank S Healer in South Korea. All
members of the raid team were greatly relieved and happy
to hear that he was coming out of retirement especially to
participate in this operation.
There was a big difference in whether there was a Healer or
not in a raid. After all, one would be able to fight harder
without worrying about getting hurt when there was one.
As the tense atmosphere frozen stiff in nervousness

gradually relaxed through Baek Yun-Ho and Min Byung-Gu’s
conversation, Cha Hae-In sitting next to the former quietly
asked a question.
“Chairman Baek. By any chance, have you spoken to Mister

Seong Jin-Woo before coming here today?”
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“Yes.”
Baek Yun-Ho shook his head.
“No, I haven’t. But, why do you ask?”
“Ah…. It’s nothing important, actually. I guess I’ve made a

mistake.”
It was then.
Mah Dong-Wook broke out in genial laughter.
“Huhuh. Looks like it’s finally starting.”
The gazes of the Hunters present followed the direction he

was pointing at. Through the window of the helicopter, they
could see the darkened island that had become the land of
monsters.
Chapter 115
The mutated ants discovered the helicopter’s presence in

the air and began flying up one by one.
Vuuonng….
Vuuonnng…..
Maybe the number of specimens that could fly was low,

because the Hunters could only see seven flying up to meet
them.
“Let me take care of them.”
The sole Mage-type Hunter among the team, Choi Jong-In,

stepped forward. His skill, ‘Flame Spear’, was called into
action.
As soon as he was done casting his magic, seven bodies of

floating flames drew long lines in the air to resemble
burning spears and slammed accurately into the airborne
ants.
Kwa-kwa-boom!!
It was difficult to kill a single ant monster with scattered

firepower, but it was more than enough to burn away their
wings.
Kiiieeehk-!!
Kyaahhk-!
With their wings burnt off, the ants fell freely back to the
earth. Choi Jung-In tightly clenched his fist while witnessing
the result of his hard work. However, now wasn’t the time to
bask in the glow of his victory.
Choi Jong-In turned around and asked Mah Dong-Wook.
“What’s happening with the Japanese side?”
The ants had noticed their approach and began moving now.
Meaning, there was no more time for them to take it easy.
Crackle-!
Mah Dong-Wook paid attention to the radio receiver stuck in

his ear. As a Tanker, he was named as the leader of the
Korean side of the raid team.
“They say they have landed on the island now….”
Ka-boom!!
Just as he was done speaking up, there was a loud explosion

from afar.
Boom!!
Kaboom!!!
As if that was the signal, several more explosion began

ringing up from all parts of the island as thick, choking
smoke plumes rose up. The fourth subjugation operation was
now officially underway.
The Master the Reapers Guild, Im Tae-Gyu, looked out of the

helicopter’s window, and at the ground far below, a deep
frown forming on his forehead.
Thousands of ants were pouring out of the ant tunnel, before

splitting up into four smaller swarms to rush towards the
four cardinal directions.
“That’s some creepy and disgusting thing to look at.

Seriously, man.”
“Doesn’t it look like most of them have left the tunnel now?”
“….It does, doesn’t it?”
The once-lengthy lines of ants soon came to an end, leaving

behind a massive gaping hole in the ground. That was the
entrance to the ant tunnel.
The scale of the ant tunnel must’ve been rather incredible,

because the entrance itself was as big as the mouth of a
tunnel one would see commonly on the national highway.
And in the deepest past of the ant tunnel, the ant queen was
waiting for their arrival.
This raid team only had one goal – to eliminate the ant
queen.
“Everyone.”
Before they set off to invade the ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook

gestured and gathered the raid team members around him.
He even gestured towards the hesitant cameraman, too.
Everyone participating in this operation pressed their heads

together.
“During hundreds of simulation runs, Japanese were only

able to buy us one hour, tops. Which means, we need to kill
the ant queen within that hour, no matter what.”
He didn’t bother to speak about the possibility of ‘if we fail’.

Unlike the first three subjugation raids, there was no escape
path this time around for them. They would be utterly cut off
inside the ant tunnel.
Mah Dong-Wook studied the faces of each raid members,

and they returned a nod, a look of grim determination
clearly etched on each one.
‘These are the best individual team members imaginable.’
Unless there was another tragedy similar to Jeju Island

happening in the future, one would never come across an
opportunity to hunt together with members this capable
ever again.
Mah Dong-Wook was deeply honoured to be the leader of

this team.
They soon finished reconfirming their resolve, and then…
“Let’s go.”
From the helicopter, seven people, the six members of the

raid team and the lone cameraman, jumped out.
“How long has it been since the Koreans went inside?”
Goto Ryuji threw out a question.
“Hold on.”
Now originally, it was Goto Ryuji’s job to communicate with

the mission control centre. But, as he didn’t enjoy carrying
around bothersome things, another Hunter was tasked with
doing so. It was precisely this person that provided the
answer.
“They say it has been less than 10 minutes.”
“Ten minutes, is it….”
Time to start the escape procedure, then.
Before they started withdrawing from Jeju Island, though,

Goto Ryuji briefly scanned his vicinity. The corpses of the
massacred ants were piled up on high.
The role of the Japanese in this raid, on the surface, of

course, was to attract the attention of the ants. They didn’t
even focus on killing the ants and concentrated on
retreating in order to buy as much time as possible, yet they
still managed to achieve such a feat.
‘The Koreans might find these ants as tough opponents, but

they are nothing to us, the Japanese.’
The unbridled confidence caused the corner of Goto Ryuji’s

lips to arc up. He kicked away an ant corpse hampering his
steps to a far away distance and immediately issued the
order to withdraw.
Finally, it was time for them to start moving towards the true
goal of the Japanese team.
However….
“Excuse me, Goto-san.”
“Mm?”
The Hunter in charge of the communication formed a

worried expression.
“I can’t get in touch with Team 3 from a while ago.”
‘Is it equipment malfunction…?’
The instances of equipment, that had gone through multiple

meticulous checks, malfunctioning right before an important
part of the mission, or during the important part itself, did
happen occasionally.
The landing point of Team 3 was in the southern part of the

island. Goto Ryuji’s Team 1 landed on the western part and
they had been constantly moving south, so their distance
shouldn’t be that great.
“What is the estimated distance between our current

position and the last known position of Team 3 before the
communication failure?”
“With our current speed, we should be able to get there

within ten minutes.”
As expected, it wasn’t far. At this rate, Team 3 would never

get to hear the order to withdraw and get left behind in the
island, eventually meeting a very bad end for themselves.
‘……’
When he thought about the next subjugation operation that

would take place involving only the Japanese personnel, he
simply couldn’t afford to have five rank S Hunters as KIAs.
Also, because Team 3 was planned to be deployed on the

southern part of the island, which was the closest to the ant
tunnel, the whole team was made up of the best of the best
among Japan’s elite.
Losing them here meant that Japan would greatly suffer as
well.
‘Well, I’m sure nothing bad has happened over there….’
Indeed, it must’ve been a minor error. Nothing to worry

about.
After a short deliberation, Goto Ryuji decided on the next

course of action.
“We shall head over there and take a look.”
The moment Jin-Woo stopped his usual daily run, the

familiar mechanical beep rang out in his ear.
Tti-ring.
[Total distance ran: 10 km.]
[You’ve completed Running, 10 km.]
Completely the opposite to when he started doing the Daily

Quests, Jin-Woo wasn’t even out of breath. He had repeated
these Daily Quests for so long, it simply felt like the part of
his daily routine now.
Soon, along with the completion message, his rewards

figuratively landed on his lap.
‘Stats.’
Out of the three Stat bonus points he gained as a reward,

Jin-Woo spent two on his Agility, while the remaining point
was spent on his Strength.
[Stats]
Strength: 219
Endurance: 200
Agility: 230
Intelligence: 250
Perception: 200
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in the physical damage: 46%
Seeing that almost all of his Stats were now ending with a
‘0’, a satisfied smile crept up on his face.
‘If only I had one more point….’
Although it was regretful, he couldn’t manufacture a point

out of thin air, so there was no helping it. Still, looking at his
Stat value that had risen up evenly like this, a smile
automatically bloomed on his lips.
‘Nice.’
After he raised Intelligence Stat to 250, he began

maintaining a balance of sorts and made sure that not one
Stat was left behind.
‘All five Stats are indispensable to me.’
That was his final assessment after levelling up and raising

his Stats for a long time. Regardless of which Stat it was,
with their numerical values continuing to soar higher, he
hadn’t been disappointed once so far by their usefulness.
‘That’s why….’
He was planning to continue with this Stat balancing act for
the foreseeable future – as long as there weren’t any
unexpected circumstances forcing him to change, of course.
Jin-Woo dismissed the Stat Window with a satisfied grin still

etched on his face. He then took a look around him. His
neighbourhood had always been on the quieter side, but
today, he failed to spot a single soul so far. He could easily
guess the reason why, though.
Jin-Woo pulled his phone out and confirmed the current

time.
‘I knew it.’
The Korea-Japan united team’s raid would be in full swing by

now. And pretty much every single citizen should be glued
to their TV screens, too.
Jin-Woo turned around. His Daily Quest was already over, but
the steps leading him back home were far more urgent than
usual.
The operation was unfolding smoothly so far.
Just as the Japanese had predicted, Mah Dong-Wook’s team

didn’t encounter any obstructions as they entered the
deeper parts of the ant tunnel.
The inside of the tunnel resembled the cave-type dungeons

in its layout. However, if there was one clear difference to
note, then that would be the lack of illuminating stones. The
Hunters had to provide light themselves to see where they
were going.
‘……..’
Gulp.
The cameraman thought that he had plenty of experience

exploring dungeons before, but today, he just had to
nervously swallow his saliva.
His current position was right at the back of the group. The
team maintained a formation of Choi Jong-In standing right
at the front to light their way using magic, while the other
Hunters were sticking very close to him.
The cameraman also had a flashlight attached to his

headgear for the purpose of filming.
Unfortunately, this darkness was infused with a heavy

amount of magical energy. The flashlight didn’t provide as
much help as the magic from a rank S Mage, and it could
just barely illuminate a bit of space in front of his eyes.
“It’s really quiet in here.”
Choi Jong-In voiced his opinion without giving it too much

thought, and Mah Dong-Wook next to him nodded his head
to express his agreement.
“Mm.”
As a leader and a Tanker, he was duty-bound to protect the

Mage, Choi Jong-In, who should originally be stationed at the
far back.
Was that the reason why? Mah Dong-Wook continued to

glare at the surroundings with a pair of sharp, focused eyes.
His usual, out-going demeanour was nowhere to be seen
now.
It was the same story with Baek Yun-Ho, as well. He
activated the ‘Eyes of the Beast’ even before entering the
ant tunnel. He hadn’t spoken a single word and did his
absolute hardest to latch on to any slight movement or
deviation in the flow of the magic energy.
Both Min Byung-Gu and the cameraman also carried deeply

tense expressions.
Only Cha Hae-In maintained that expressionless face of hers,

silently walking forward while her hand rested on the hilt of
her sword.
It was then.
“Look, over there….”
He must’ve found something in the distance, because Choi

Jong-In raised his voice.
“…Huh.”
“Mm….”
The Hunters all gasped out in nasty shock.
Countless ant eggs were attached to the walls and the

ceiling of this huge chamber with nary an empty space
between them.
They could see dark-coloured larva wiggling inside the semi-

transparent shell of each egg. There could only ever be one
emotion they felt when facing this nursery area filled with
gloomy, dreary atmosphere and a seriously terrible stench.
That would be ‘sheer disgust’.
“Don’t you think we should just burn all these away?”

Choi Jong-In spoke, his expression crumpling greatly.
For the first time since he entered this ant tunnel, Mah
Dong-Wook formed a smile.
“I’d like nothing more than to do exactly that, but since we

don’t have much time, let us not.”
Even if all of these creatures hatched, they would only live

for no more than one year, at most. As long as they could kill
the mother, they didn’t have to worry about these critters
anymore.
“….Here they come.”
Baek Yun-Ho pointed towards the distant darkness and

warned the rest of the team. Even before he made his
warning, though, Cha Hae-In had unsheathed her sword
already.
Mah Dong-Wook pulled the shield as large as his body right

up to his chin and glared at his front.
Shashashasha….
A group of around ten ants appeared at the same time. As if

they were born on Jeju Island and had gone through some
sort of a mutation, all of them didn’t have eyes.
“Are they the queen’s guards?” Asked Mah Dong-Wook.
Choi Jong-In shook his head.
“No, they are not. Looks like they are here to guard the
nursery area.”
“In that case, this shouldn’t be difficult.”

If they were regular monsters, not the guards of the boss
creature, then there was just no way these critters could
withstand the combined firepower of a raid team consisting
entirely of rank S Hunters!
Knowing better than anyone else that there wasn’t a lot of

time, Mah Dong-Wook jumped into the fray first.
“Let’s go!”
Hunters followed after him. Right behind them, flames flared

out brightly from Choi Jong-In’s hands, and arrows fired by
Im Tae-Gyu sliced up the air as they flew to their targets.
Just as Mah Dong-Woo predicted, the battle was concluded

pretty quickly.
Kiiehhk!
The head of the last ant fell to the ground. Cha Hae-In
wordlessly shook off the bodily fluids clinging onto her
sword. Meanwhile, Mah Dong-Wook spoke up.
“Since the nursery area is right here, that means….”
Choi Jong-In provided the follow-up.
“….The queen’s lair is nearby.”
As the Hunters began checking their equipment before they

rushed into the decisive showdown against the ant queen,
the cameraman began looking here and there to capture
more footage. But then, he gasped out in pure shock.
“Heok!!”
The gazes of the Hunters were immediately focused on him.

“I-I’m really sorry.”
Momentarily forgetting that the camera attached to his head

was actually broadcasting to the rest of the nation, the
cameraman hurriedly bowed towards the Hunters. Sensing
something was afoot, Baek Yun-Ho approached the
cameraman.
“Did you find something?”
“Ah, well, it’s just that…. Over there.”
The cameraman sheepishly smiled and pointed to the corner

of the chamber.
“There’s a pile of empty eggshells over there, but like, one of

them happens to be really, really big, you see.”
‘.…!!’
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes grew larger.
It was as the cameraman said. Most of the eggs containing

regular ants were only about the size of a bicycle wheel, yet
the one pointed out was as big as a grown man….
‘No, wait.’
The lengthy and ovoid shape of the egg was large enough to
say that a fully-grown ant specimen must’ve emerged from
it.
‘That’s also an ant egg??’
“….Just what the hell came out of that egg?”
Min Byung-Gu had walked closer before anyone had noticed

it; there was a look of huge shock on his face as well. Baek
Yun-Ho’s expression was stiff for a brief moment, but he
quickly changed it to a grin as he lightly slapped Min Byung-
Gu’s back.
“We’re here to kill the queen. Let’s not worry about anything
else.”
“…..Right.”
Min Myung-Gu carried an uneasy expression as he turned

around to walk over to where the rest of the Hunters were.
Before he joined the others, Baek Yun-Ho took one last look
at that egg.
‘That’s just crazy….’
‘This is just crazy….’
Goto Ryuji had to doubt whether his own eyes were working
properly or not.
“Heok!!”
“Mm…..!!”
Other Japanese Hunters either convulsed in shock or

muttered lowly under their breaths.
Goto Ryuji frowned deeply as he scanned his surroundings.

The Hunters of Team 3 were found in the exact location
where their communication had been cut off. All five of them
were here, but without their heads.
The sight of their headless colleagues lying on the ground as

corpses left a shocking mental imprint on the other Hunters.
‘……’
Goto Ryuji wordlessly massaged his temples, before
approaching the bodies to check out their wounds.
‘This wasn’t done by a blade.’
The necks of the dead Hunters were all roughly bitten off.
‘Just how much of a biting force was it for their necks to end
up like this?’
While Goto Ryuji was stewing in his astonishment, one of his

fellow Hunters walked in closer and angrily spat out.
“How dare these d*mn ants….!!”
Goto quickly shook his head.
“It’s not ‘ants’.”
“Pardon?”
“Whether this was the handiwork of an ant or not, there was

only one enemy.”
“B-but, how can that be?!”
Goto Ryuji swallowed his saliva.
No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t see any hint of

a battle taking place here. If ants pushed on with sheer
numbers to annihilate Team 3, then he should’ve found
corpses of dead ants or some other traces around this area.
However, he couldn’t find anything.
Also, the wounds on the dead Hunters – judging from the

location of the attack, it was more than likely that they were
killed by a single assailant.
‘How could a team of the best Hunters from Japan fall to a
single monster….?’
If his guess was correct, then only a rank S dungeon’s boss

could do something like this.
Goto Ryuji quickly snatched the communication device from

the Hunter next to him and spoke up.
“It’s Goto.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“Where is the ant queen? Did it come out of the tunnel?”
“Let me confirm.”
The magic energy detection camera mounted on the spy

satellite. Only America, Japan and China possessed such
technology in the entire world.
In reality, China had to hack the Americans to copy the

camera system, so one could argue that only the USA and
Japan truly possessed this technology.
The location of the ant queen, as monitored by the

technology Japan so proudly boasted to the rest of the world,
soon came out of the receiver.
“No, Goto-san. The queen is still inside its chamber. Ah,

the Korean Hunters are entering the queen’s chamber
as we speak.”
Goto Ryuji stood right up.
He felt his heart nearly leap out of his mouth just then.
‘The queen didn’t do this?!’
His breathing quickened. He realised that something was

going terribly wrong here. Goto Ryuji hurriedly issued a new
order.
“Issue the withdrawal…. Tell every single Japanese Hunter to

escape from this island immediately.”
“Yes, sir. Understood.”

Chapter 116
Goto Ryuji ended the communication there, his expression

remaining quite grim.
‘Did we miss something?’
In order to successfully achieve what they were aiming for,

the Japanese considered all types of possibilities and
variables.
However, the event of a team featuring five of the very best

Japanese Hunters getting annihilated in one go like this –
such a thing simply exceeded all their expectations.
Something popped into his memory just then. There was an

odd occurrence about four months ago.
The ant queen, being observed for 24 hours straight every

single day, suddenly showed a massive decline in its
magical energy emission. It was less than half of the usual
amount!
The research team interpreted that as the lifespan of the

queen coming to an end, and submitted several hopelessly
optimistic reports. That was only until the ant queen began
slowly recovering her magic energy, of course.
‘It took about a month, didn’t it?’

It didn’t take too long for the queen to regain its original
magic energy output. All those researchers that spoke up
about the lifespan or rather had to shut their mouths as this
result obviously went against their expectations.
“Goto-san.”
The voice of one of the team members woke Goto Ryuji up

from his reminiscence.
“….Mm.”
He had been kneeling on one knee in order to check the

bodies of Team 3’s dead Hunters. He slowly stood back up.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about anything else.
‘Did we come in far too deep inland…?’
Shashashashak….
Hundreds of ants had appeared behind him by then, and

these monsters raised their heads up as if they were
smacking their lips in anticipation of a tasty meal.
On the other hand….
The Korean team had entered the boss room, also known as
‘the queen’s chamber’. It took them 15 minutes to get here.
‘If we consider the fact that we’ll need roughly the same
amount of time to get out of here….’
They still had around 30 minutes of wiggle room. Assuming

that they should be able to shorten their return trip because
they were already familiar with the path now, the remaining
time was on the ‘more than enough’ side.
‘Very good.’
Having confirmed the time with his wristwatch, Mah Dong-

Wook raised his head. Everything was going according to
plan. What remained now was how should they go about
bookending this operation.
Baek Yun-Ho used his ‘Eyes of the Beast’ to see through the
darkness and accurately assessed the number of enemies
present.
“The queen is at the rearmost location. There are eight

guards in front of the target.”
The queen’s guards were incomparably stronger than the

regular ants. It’d be too tough for one Tanker to take on the
attacks of the queen and its guard monsters. From here
onwards, Mah Dong-Wook needed another person to act as a
secondary Tanker. He looked to his side.
“Hunter Cha.”
“Yes.”
“Can you take on the guard duty while I tend to the queen?”
“Leave it to me.”
Cha Hae-In’s reply was short and simple.
She served as the main Tanker during the raids of her Guild,
the Hunters. So, performing the role of a sub-Tanker was
easier than drinking cold soup for her.
Mah Dong-Wook shifted his gaze to the rest of the team.

Every single member present here was a top specialist in
hunting down monsters. Going through detailed
explanations was a waste of time for them.
“Let’s go.”
As soon as Mah Dong-Wook turned towards the ants, Choi

Jong-In created a massive ball of light and floated it up to
the highest point in the boss room. That brightly illuminated
the entirety of the chamber.
“Heok.”
The cameraman spat out a quiet gasp at the sheer size of

the light sphere. He quickly began whispering towards a
small mic located near his lips.
“As a rank A Hunter, I’ve participated in quite a few raids

before, but it’s my first time seeing such a huge ‘Light’
magic like that. As expected of Korea’s best Mage-type
Hunter!”
His voice entered the mic and got transmitted to the viewers
throughout the entire country.
Not too long ago, he heard that the live broadcast he was
filming had shot past the audience rating of 80%.
Feeling overly motivated now, the cameraman tried to step

forward in order to capture even better footage, but then,
Min Byung-Gu standing next to him at the back of the group
hurriedly yanked him back by his shoulder.
“Keok?!”
At this absolute strength, the cameraman couldn’t offer any

resistance and spun around to face Min Byung-Gu. His
shoulder hurt so much that his mouth bobbed up and down
all by itself.
‘How can a Healer be this strong….??’
There was no time to get shocked, though. The cameraman

was now facing Min Byung-Gu who carried a completely
different expression to when he was busy cracking jokes
during the ride in the helicopter.
“This here is a boss room of a rank S dungeon. No one here

is responsible for your life, except yourself.”
Hearing Min Byung-Gu’s anger-infused voice, the

cameraman could only continue to nod his head, unable to
form an intelligible reply.
“If you understand, then stay at the back. The real thing is
about to get started.”
The overflowing energy of a rank S Hunter – even a Healer,

who was supposed to be the physically weakest out of all the
Hunter types, still could display an aura that easily
overwhelmed a rank A Hunter. That was the difference
between a rank S and a rank A.
Such monstrous beings were uniting together to start an

intense battle, so what could a measly little rank A
cameraman even achieve here? The cameraman felt his own
powerlessness for the first time since becoming a Hunter,
and hurriedly stood behind Min Byung-Gu. Sure enough….
“Here they come.”
A super-giant ant discovered the Hunters’ presence and

shifted its six legs to slowly approach where they were.
“So, that’s the queen….”
Baek Yun-Ho nervously swallowed his saliva.
The taut, nervous tension was also writ large on the faces of
other Hunters.
The absolutely commanding presence of the ant queen!
These men and woman had become the very first humans to
witness the outer appearance of the ant queen, having
sneaked past the wall of hundreds, thousands of ants to get
here.
‘Today, we shall end the lifeline of these d*mnable ants for

good.’
Baek Yun-Ho’s heart trembled as he thought about bringing

that massive creature down. But, if they were to do that,
then first of all….
Baek Yun-Ho’s glare that had been fixed on the ant queen
now shifted lower to the ground.
‘We need to….’
Eight ants walking in front of the ant queen – they had to

get rid of the guards first.
“Ha-ahp!”
As if he had read the minds of his fellow raid members, the

main Tanker of the team, Mah Dong-Wook, rushed forward to
the frontline. A thick vein protruded out of his neck as he
shouted out.
“You d*mn ants, come and get some!”

His impressive roar!
The ants’ sights had degenerated now, but in return, their

sense of hearing had become even more developed, so they
immediately bared their fangs and claws before pouncing on
Mah Dong-Wook’s position.
He quickly looked behind him.
“Hunter Cha! Now!”
Cha Hae-In had been running behind Mah Dong-Wook while

maintaining a certain distance, and when she heard his call,
quickly unsheathed her longsword. Grabbing the hilt in a
reverse grip with both hands, she powerfully stabbed the
ground.
Skill, ‘Tremor of Provocation’ – activated!
Khwack!!
With the sword stabbing the ground serving as the

epicentre, magic energy radiated out in circular waves. The
ant guards aiming at Mah Dong-Wook suddenly all changed
their directions and jumped at Cha Hae-In instead, as if they
had been entranced by something powerful.
‘There you go!’
Mah Dong-Wook inwardly fist-pumped the air as the

monsters ran past him and towards Cha Hae-In. She was
successful in attracting the aggro of the ant guards.
Next up, it was his turn.
Mah Dong-Wook quickly stepped in between Cha Hae-In and

the giant ant queen trying to shuffle towards her.
“You’re mine.”
The ant queen must’ve been displeased by an enemy

blocking its way, because it began bellowing out a high-
pitched scream.
Kiiiieeeehhhk!!
Any old Tanker would have been suppressed by the sheer

pressure and cover their ears from that horrifying screech,
but such a trick wouldn’t work against Korea’s best Tanker,
Mah Dong-Wook.
“Hap-!!”
He instead activated his skill, ‘Battle Cry of Provocation’.
Unlike Cha Hae-In, who activated an AOE aggro skill, Mah

Dong-Wook activated one that only worked against a single
target.
The ant queen stopped screeching out and glared at Mah

Dong-Wook now. He had successfully attracted its aggro.
‘Yes!!’
And now, his role was to endure the boss’s attacks until his
colleagues managed to kill off the ant guards and come to
his aid. And that would be the role he felt most confident of
performing in this world.
Mah Dong-Wook lifted up that heavy, large shield right up

below his chin, the light of grim determination burning in his
eyes. As he always had done, he began praying deep in his
heart.
‘Please grant me the power to protect myself and my
colleagues today.’
Kwa-ka-boom!!
Just then, a huge explosion resounded out from behind him,

signalling the beginning of the raid of the ant queen, where
countless lives were at stake.
“Grandpa, aren’t you going to watch? Hunters are supposed

to show up on screen today.”
“Grandma, I don’t care.”
“Don’t be like that now…..The folks in TV said just now that

they can really smash apart those ants today this time, so
let’s watch together.”
“Argh. They all say the exact same thing all the bloody time.
I told you, I don’t care.”
An old grandpa turned away on his chair and concentrated

on the newspaper, instead. But then, a sound of him clicking
his tongue came out from his slightly hunched back.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Even this newspaper is talking about those

d*mn Hunters and nothing else. How boring.”
The old grandma cautiously closed shut the door to their

bedroom as the grouchy voice of her husband continued to
enter her ears.
“Uh-whew….”
Only until two years ago, her husband used to hold so much
interest towards all the news related to Jeju Island. He was
also a big supporter of Hunters, too.
Their one and only child was taken from them by the ants of
Jeju Island, after all.
The despair that felt like their world was collapsing on them
soon became deep hatred towards the ant monsters. Her
husband donated a sizeable amount of money to the
Hunters Association whenever there was a subjugation
operation taking place to cheer on the participating Hunters.
He failed to fall asleep because of nervousness on the nights

leading up to the operation dates, too.
However, the bigger the one’s expectation, the greater the

one’s disappointment would be.
When the third subjugation attempt, where the Hunters

promised to spare no effort to succeed, also ended up in
failure with heavy losses incurred, her husband couldn’t
regain his wits for several days, looking all dazed and the
like.
After that, her husband stopped talking about Hunters

altogether. He stopped expecting, and stopped hoping for a
miracle from them.
“Whew….”
The grandma sighed out once more and picked up the

remote of the TV in the living room. When it was switched
on, the host of the broadcast was in the middle of making
his emotional speech.
Our proud Hunters of South Korea have taken their very

first step towards the ant queen raid!
The Hunters were getting ready to engage in combat just as
she turned the TV on. The grandma gathered her hands in
front of her chest and continued to watch on, her heart
beating faster and faster in anxiety.
When the Hunters were injured, she averted her gaze while
feeling sorry for them. When the attacks of the Hunters
landed successfully, she clapped her hands in delight.
“Aigo! Aigoo!!”
Ah, ah!! finally! They have brought down a monster!
That was the beginning. The terrifying-looking ant monsters

began falling one by one from the fierce attacks of the
Hunters. And whenever that happened, the roars and cheers
of people shook and reverberated throughout the apartment
building the grandma lived in.
“Aigoo! Aigoo!!”
Only four! There are only four more left!! They have
managed to defeat half of their numbers!
Hearing that announcement, tears suddenly formed in the

grandma’s eyes.
First of all, she was thankful towards these Hunters who were
risking their lives to protect other people.
Secondly, she recalled the face of her son as the boy

celebrated him getting hired by a large corporation located
in Jeju Island.
Only two more guards remain! As long as they can

defeat these two, they can start concentrating on the
ant queen! It’s not too long now from the successful
completion of this raid!
It was then.
Slam!
The bedroom’s door flew open and the grandpa hurriedly ran
out, his face burning with emotions.
“Dear….”
Even though grandma called out to him, grandpa didn’t say

anything, his reddened eyes glued to the TV screen and
nowhere else. His tightly-clenched fists were trembling hard
now.
The host held his breath and continued to observe the

situation for a while, before….
They have defeated all of those powerful ant guards!

The only remaining ant is the queen itself! As soon as
they kill the queen, it’ll be the same as the ants being
completely decimated!! Our proud Hunters, they are
not wasting any time and have begun attacking their
final target!
The TV screen now displayed the stirring image of five

Hunters rushing in at the same time from behind Mah Dong-
Wook, who had endured commendably well against the ant
queen’s attacks.
Thick tears streamed down grandpa’s face as he

energetically punched the air almost out of instinct.
“Uwaaahhh-!!”
Inside the TV station.
As the phone calls of encouragements and support

inundated the station’s phone line, the station’s director
yelled out in pure, unadulterated joy.
“Sir, the audience rating has gone past 85% just now!!”
“We did it!!”
The director tightly clenched both of his fists.
The audience rating of 85%!!
Now that was a record that would never be beaten, even if

the South Korean football team reached the final of the
World Cup. And when he thought about all the profit coming
from overseas, as well as the potential future revenue…..
‘A jackpot!!’
He plopped down on his chair and rubbed his face. All the
other employees within the station’s ‘situation room’ all
breathed sighs of relief after seeing the happy face of their
boss.
On the main screen showing the transmitted footage from

the island, the Korean Hunters were busy making mincemeat
out of the ant queen.
The USA, China, Russia, and France!! This is the

moment that South Korea will join the list of countries
that have successfully cleared a rank S Gate!
The station’s director took out his handkerchief to pat down

his sweat-soaked slick forehead.
‘Yes, very good! Very good!!’

The queen was on the brink of death now; all these Hunters
had to do now was to finish off the ant monster and safely
escape from the ant tunnel.
However….
Kyahhhhhhhh-!!!
“What the hell?!”
The director was jolted out of his senses and he quickly took
a look behind him. One of the producers hurriedly lowered
the volume. The director tilted his head this way and that,
before walking closer to where this producer was.
“Producer Nah? What was that noise just now?”
“Ah, that was…. This is the real-time live feed coming from
Jeju Island, actually. That screech came from the ant queen.”
“The ant queen made that noise?”
There was a slight delay between the broadcast being shown

to the public and that of the real-time live feed coming in
from the island. Since no one knew what would happen
during the raid itself, it was decided that the real-time
footage couldn’t be shown to the public directly.
The station’s director stared at the feed, before issuing an

order with a smile on his face.
“Well, I think it won’t do for a monster’s terrible screech to

come out when we’re about to witness a historic victory. How
about you edit that part out, or decrease the audio volume?”
“Will do, sir.”

This producer named ‘Nah’ nodded his head, and the
director squeezed his right shoulder as a gesture of
encouragement. It was then.
One of the station’s employee hurriedly ran up to him with a

hardened expression.
“Director, Producer Nah!!”
The director quickly turned his head around.
According to his personal experience, not once did the

reports made by his subordinates carrying such expressions
turn out to be a good one.
Even before the director heard the report, he was beset with
this rather ominous hunch. Praying that he was wrong, at
least for today, the director cautiously asked the employee.
“….What happened?”
Unfortunately, one’s ominous hunches had a way of coming

true. The employee spoke in a disconcerted voice.
“Sir, I just found out that Japanese Hunters are withdrawing

from the island right now!”
Mah Dong-Wook spurred his teammates on.
“We’re almost there!! Let us just push a little bit harder,

everyone!”
Just as his words implied, the ant queen was truly on its last
legs. All they needed was a little more push, and that would
be it.
There were hundreds of arrows stuck tightly together on the
head of the queen fired by Im Tae-Gyu, and the creature
resembled a hedgehog as a result.
Pi-ooong!
Kwa-jeeck!
Yet another arrow flew and struck the queen in the face. The
creature screeched out as if it was in great pain and shook
its head.
Kieeehhk!!
The queen quickly recovered its bearings and began

spewing out poisonous acidic liquid throughout the boss
room.
Splash-!!
It was such a wide-scale attack that several Hunters failed to

escape in time. Their skins began burning up into black
charcoal, but their wounds were restored in full by Min
Byung-Gu’s healing magic.
Kiieeehk!!
The queen was further enraged by the fact that its acid
attack wasn’t effective, and bit down on Mah Dong-Woo in
front of the group with its large, saw-like fangs.
Kwack!!!
However, Mah Dong-Wook activated the ‘Advanced

Fortification’ skill to defend his entire body and managed to
endure the queen’s attack.
One side of the ant’s jaw was blocked off by the shield, while
the other side, with his left hand. While Mah Dong-Wook was
buying more time in this fashion, a huge pillar of flames
exploded out from the side of the ant queen.
Kwa-ka-ka-boom!!
It was Choi Jong-In’s magic doing its thing.
Kiiehk!!
The queen staggered and failed to balance itself. Baek Yun-

Ho in his beast-type monster form, meanwhile, seized upon
this chance and jumped up very quickly to rip out the
queen’s left fang with his bare hand/paw.
Kwajeeck!!
Deftly landing back on the ground, Baek Yun-Ho breathed

heavily as certainty grew larger in his heart.
‘The queen’s finished.’
His extensive hunting experience told him so. This would be

the moment when they finally kill the leader of an army of
monsters that dyed this land black with the blood of their
victims.
Just a little bit more, and it’d be done. When he thought like
that, a certain powerful emotion welled up from deep inside
his heart.
but then, the queen suddenly raised its head high up in the
air. And….
Kyaaaaaaaaahhh-!!
A screech that was so loud that it almost ruptured the
Hunters’ eardrums reverberated throughout the entire ant
tunnel. Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes shook hard.
‘What was that?! A roar of anger? Its death throes?’
No, it felt different from those. That screech sounded like a

pleading call towards someone, something, which was still
far away.
‘It’s calling for something?!’
When his thought process reached there, he felt an

unexplainable chill run down his spine.
“We need to stop that thing!!”
Before Baek Yun-Ho could take another step forward, Cha

Hae-In jumped up rather gracefully and swung down the
sword she held firmly with both hands.
Slice!
The queen’s head fell down to the ground first before she
could land back on her feet.
Thud!!
The cameraman had been holding his breath as he bore

witness to this battle of the rank S creatures. And finally, he
was able to raise both of his arms up high in elation as tears
formed in his eyes.
This was the moment when the curtains closed on the

horrifying battle that lasted for 4 years.
“Pant, pant….”
The heavily-panting Mah Dong-Wook raised his thumb up
towards his teammates.
Cha Hae-In also sighed out in relief. Choi Jong-In grinned as

he adjusted his glasses, while Im Tae-Gyu punched the air.
Everyone was expressing their delight over the victory in
their own way.
Only Baek Yun-Ho among them was shuddering from this

ominous and unexplainable chill taking root within the
corner of his heart.
“Hyung, we just became the seventh raid team in the entire

world to successfully clear a rank S Gate, so why do you look
like….”
“Hold on.”
It was then. Mah Dong-Wook, who had been in

communication with the command centre, suddenly formed
an enraged expression.
There was no time for them to relax like this. He quickly

called out to his teammates taking a short break nearby.
“The Japanese have withdrawn already, and the remaining

ants are heading this way! We need to escape from here,
right now!”
“What?!”
“But, don’t we still have some time left?!”
“20 rank S Hunters couldn’t even hold out for 30 minutes,

never mind one hour?!”
When his teammates grew visibly flustered, Mah Dong-Wook
spoke in a complicated voice.
“I don’t know the details, but…. The Association is trying to

find out what’s going on, but the Japanese have one-sidedly
cut off the communication.”
“Those stinking sons of b*tches…!”
Choi Jong-In spat out some choice words in disgust.
If it were the Japanese Hunters down here and not the

Koreans, would they have given up this early and withdraw?
No matter what, though – one had to be alive first in order to
get angry later.
To prevent unrest from breaking out among his teammates,

Mah Dong-Wook did his best to suppress his own feelings.
With a calm face, he hurried with their escape from this
place.
“Everyone, hurry!”
The members of the Korean raid team hurriedly ran towards

the exit of the queen’s chamber.
However, the one running in the lead, Baek Yun-Ho, stopped

in his tracks first.
“Ah…..”
“Hyung?”
Min Byung-Gun running right behind had to stop there, and

as a chain reaction, everyone else came to a stop as well.
Wordlessly rooted to the spot, Baek Yun-Ho’s gaze was fixed
in one direction as his entire body began trembling
noticeably.
“This, this can’t be….”
This couldn’t be happening.
No, such a thing shouldn’t even happen in the first place.
As he watched a shadow approach them, he recalled the tall,

humanoid-shaped eggshell back in the nursery area.
‘This… you’re telling me that this is the power possessed by

a single monster??’
Baek Yun-Ho’s complexion paled instantly.
Other Hunters feeling puzzled finally sensed something was

wrong and quickly took a step back from the exit.
“What’s this?”
“Did the ants return here already??”
As the Hunters began falling into a confused state….
From the far side of the ant tunnel draped in darkness, a

single winged ant was slowly walking towards the Korean
Hunters.
Chapter 117
Cha Hae-In immediately felt something was very wrong as

soon as she saw the ant monster leisurely entering the
queen’s chamber.
‘There’s… no presence?’
It was almost impossible to locate the creature without

keeping her eyes locked on it constantly; that’s how difficult
it was to sense its presence.
There were only two beings out of all the Hunters and the
monsters she met until now, that had this sort of effect on
Cha Hae-In. One of them was this ant monster right in front
of her eyes, and the other one was….
‘….Mister Seong Jin-Woo.’
She inexplicably recalled Seong Jin-Woo, who had finally

bared his hidden fangs at Japan’s most powerful Hunter a
couple of days ago.
What if that man stood in front of her as her enemy?
Shudder.
She couldn’t breathe anymore as a crippling chill ran down

her spine.
‘…..’
Just imagining it alone caused her expression to harden
considerably. The entrance of this unknown ant monster was
definitely not good news for the Korean Hunters, who were
still deeply fatigued from fighting the ant queen.
“That thing….”
“Something’s wrong with that monster.”
“It feels really creepy.”
It wasn’t to the extent of Baek Yun-Ho or Cha Hae-In, but

other Hunters also felt a certain sense of incongruence here.
Gulp.
It was just a single monster, yet the atmosphere was shifting

rather rapidly.
‘What should we do?’
Mah Dong-Wook was inwardly worried. When faced with an

unexpected situation, a leader had to make a quick decision.
Especially so, when they were pressed for time like this.
‘It’s a monster, so we should just kill it, but….’
But.
Just why was he feeling this enormous sense of unease right

now?
While they stood there pondering and hesitating, the ant

monster narrowed the distance between them quite quickly.
Its movements were so eerily quiet that goosebumps
automatically rose up on their skins.
‘We don’t have the time to hesitate like this.’

By the time Mah Dong-Wook finally managed to suppress
the warning bells rung by his instincts and made the next
logical decision….
….The monster suddenly disappeared from his view.
“Where?!”
Mah Dong-Wook’s eyes opened super-wide as he hurriedly

scanned his vicinity. The reactions of other Hunters weren’t
all that different, either.
“Behind….”
The cameraman anxiously looking around belatedly located

the monster and shouted out.
“It’s behind us!!”
The Hunters were startled by this and quickly turned

around. With the speed none of them could see, the ant
monster had slipped past the Hunters to stand before the
dead corpse of the ant queen.
‘It went past us?!’
‘But, how….??’
Just like that, the Hunters of the Korean raid team finally got
to see what Baek Yun-Ho saw earlier with his ‘Eyes of the
Beast’.
Thump, thump, thump!
Their heart rate rapidly picked up and their breathing

quickened in no time.
‘….That’s no ordinary monster.’

Cold sweat drops dribbled down Mah Dong-Wook’s forehead.
The ant monster quietly stared at the dead queen, not even
showing a hint of interest towards the Hunters. But then, it
raised its head and….
Kiiiiieeeeeeehhhhh…..!!!
It began screeching out a beastly howl so terrifying and loud

that the entire ant tunnel began shaking from the
reverberation.
Plop!
The cameraman was the first to lose all his strength in his
legs.
Plop!
Plop!
The other Hunters couldn’t withstand the sheer pressure as

well, and they began kneeling on the ground one by one.
Mah Dong-Wook too carried a look of pure disbelief as he
tried to support himself off the ground.
‘I… I’m kneeling because of a howl?’
Eeeehhhhhkkk…!!!
By the time the seemingly-never-ending howl came to an

end, the only one standing still was Cha Hae-In and no one
else. However, her two legs were wobbling noticeably too, as
if standing upright was all she could do at the moment.
Obviously, fighting back was out of the question here.
Only then did the ant monster display some interest towards
the Hunters. With a clear hostile intent, to boot.
‘….!!’
Cha Hae-In’s eyes grew wider.
The creature’s face was hideously twisted as it turned

around to face the Hunters, as if it was expressing its anger
at the death of the queen.
She did her best to calmly move her hand towards the hilt of
her sword. However, the ant monster was a step faster than
the speed of Cha Hae-In drawing her sword from her waist.
Piishuk-!
The ant monster literally blinked and reappeared right in

front of her nose. Cha Hae-In’s eyes shook hard. She didn’t
even have enough time to think about defending herself.
SLAM-!!
“Ahk!”
Being struck in the side of her head, Cha Hae-In flew away in
a straight line and slammed into a far wall, before
powerlessly falling to the ground.
Tumble….
Just one hit, and Cha Hae-In was rendered unconscious. All
of her teammates couldn’t hide their astonishment after
seeing that horrible spectacle. Because… their strongest
member had been knocked down in one hit, that was why.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any time to stay shocked

like that.
They had confirmed the ridiculous power level of their new

enemy. Through their experiences, these Hunters knew very
well that their odds of survival would decline further the
longer they remained hesitant as they were now.
As the main Tanker, Mah Dong-Wook took a step forward

first.
“Hup-!!”
Mah Dong-Wook powerfully bear-hugged the ant monster

from behind and strengthened both his arms.
With the strength that could easily uproot a full-grown tree,

he squeezed hard at the ant monster’s body. Thick veins
popped up all over his arms and his neck. Unfortunately…
“Uwaaaahk-!!”
When the ant monster increased its strength for a bit, both
of Mah Dong-Wook’s arms fell off, just like that. He fell down
to his knees.
“No!!”
Baek Yun-Ho pounced forward.
If he failed to draw that thing’s attention away now, then

Mah Dong-Wook would be killed off in an instant now that he
lacked the means to defend himself.
Baek Yun-Ho gritted his teeth. White fur began sprouting up

all over his body; his claws extended and he transformed
into a ferocious beast, before pouncing on the monster.
Piishuk-!!
The monster disappeared from the spot again.
‘Where…?!’
Even Baek Yun-Ho’s ‘Eyes of the Beast’ failed to follow the
monster’s movements.
The scream came from his behind.
“Uwaaahkk!!”
This time, it was Choi Jong-In, who was getting ready to cast
his magic. The ant monster’s long claw left a lengthy,
diagonal cut wound on his upper torso, and he fell to the
ground with a pained moan.
About five paces from where he was, Im Tae-Gyu had been

waiting for an opening while hiding his presence. He
immediately fired an arrow containing his magic energy.
‘I’ll never miss in this distance!!’
His strong self-belief was contained within that shot.
Swish-!!
Too bad for him,
Grab.
A powerful tremor rocked Im Tae-Gyu’s eyes.
‘Heok?!’
The ant monster snatched the flying arrow and easily

snapped it in half.
Crack!
Im Tae-Gyu hurriedly tried to nock his next arrow, but by the

time he did so and raised his bow, the monster was already
standing in front of him.
“….F*ck.”
POW!
Im Tae-Gyu was struck in the face and flew away.
Baek Yun-Ho attacked when the ant monster’s back was

turned away from him, but the back of his head was grabbed
by the monster instead, as the creature spun around in an
instant. He was planted violently into the ground next.
Boom!!
Baek Yun-Ho’s body quivered from the impact.
Just as the ant monster was getting ready to slam Baek Yun-
Ho to the ground again, Mah Dong-Wook dashed forward
and shoulder charged the creature away.
Kwahng!!!
The ant monster rolled on the ground for a little while,

before standing back up. Mah Dong-Wook’s arms had been
severed for sure only a moment ago, yet he was attacking
the creature with all his limbs completely intact.
The ant monster defeated Mah Dong-Wook again, and then,

proceeded to defeat other Hunters again, too. Yet, the
humans that should’ve stayed down with crippling injuries
were attacking again, all fully healed in the blink of an eye.
Only then did the ant monster begin to recognise the

existence of a Healer. The monster scanned the vicinity to
find this annoying human.
However, Min Byung-Gu stayed calm under the pressure.
His lone self-defence skill, ‘Camouflage’.

He was able to completely hide himself with this skill that
was quite similar to the ‘Stealth’ skill, but there was a
drawback to it: He couldn’t move from the spot. Even then,
that was more than enough for a Healer like him.
He simply had to stand still in one spot and continue to heal

his teammates, that was all.
When the healing skill continued to fly in from an unknown

place, the ant monster changed its tactic. It selected Mah
Dong-Wook who looked the sturdiest among the Hunters,
grabbed his leg, and dangled him upside down in the air.
‘What is that thing trying to do now??’
Min Byung-Gu was taken aback with great surprise.
The ant monster then proceeded to slowly destroy Mah

Dong-Wook. Min Byun-Gu carried on healing him as that
happened.
He had no choice there. The moment he stopped healing

Mah Dong-Wook, that man would be dead in less than a
blink, after all. Sweat poured out in buckets as Min Byung-
Gu continued on with the healing magic.
The ant monster traced the continuously-firing healing

magic’s origin, and then, its head swivelled in Min Byung-
Gu’s direction.
‘It can’t be?!’
His heart skipped a beat; he blinked, and the ant monster

was gone from the spot.
‘What the hell?’

Where did it disappear to this time?
“Byung-Gu!!”
Baek Yun-Ho loudly yelled out.
It happened, then.
Stab!
“Keok!”
Blood sprayed out of Min Byung-Gu.
The pain of being burnt alive came from below, and he took
a look down to see a huge hole in his stomach. And the ant
monster’s black arm emerging out of that hole.
He raised his head in disbelief and met Baek Yun-Ho’s gaze.
Min Byung-Gu spoke in a faltering voice.
“Hyung…. Run.”
“B-Byung-Gu!!”
Baek Yun-Ho tried to get up, but he couldn’t put any

strength to his wounded leg.
Kwajeeck!
The ant monster tore into Min Byung-Gu’s head.
Kwajeeck! Kwajeeck!!!
“Uwaaaaahh!!”
Baek Yun-Ho staggered unsteadily and ran forward. The ant
monster discarded the now-headless body of Min Byung-Gu
and grabbed Baek Yun-Ho by his neck.
He struggled with all his might, but it was still insufficient to

escape from the creature’s incredible grip.
Suddenly, the ant monster opened its mouth.
“Hyung…. Run…. Hyung…. Run…..”
“…..??”
Baek Yun-Ho was freaked out of his skull, his brows shooting
up real high in shock and terror.
The ant monster was perfectly mimicking the speech pattern

of Min Byung-Gu. If one subtracted the off-putting crack in
its voice, one might even mistake it as Min Byung-Gu’s,
even.
“Run…. Hyung.”
The ant monster repeated the same words for a long time,
before looking straight into Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes.
“You are all….. weak.”
From the mouth of the ant monster, a familiar language

flowed out. It sounded inarticulate, but for sure, it was still
undeniably Korean.
“What the….?!”
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes widened even further.
“This side… Queen, dead….. Killing soldiers….. Not enough

payment… your king, who?”
“….King?”
The ant monster strengthened its grip on Baek Yun-Ho’s

neck.
“Keok.”
“Your king… where?”
Baek Yun-Ho’s brain kicked into gear.
With the strongest person in the Korean team, Cha Hae-In,

still unconscious, he needed to find someone who could buy
him and the rest of the group a little bit of time.
And he immediately thought of the Japanese team that had

abandoned the Koreans. More specifically, the strongest
among the Japanese, Goto Ryuji.
“Out… Outside….”
“Outside….”
The ant monster raised its head up. It seemed to be

searching for something, before speaking again in a satisfied
tone of voice.
“…There….. A strong one.”
And then, it discarded Baek Yun-Ho as if he was not even

worth wasting time on, and disappeared from his sight in a
scarcely believable speed.
“Keok, keok.”
Baek Yun-Ho lay on the ground and panted out heavily. He

quickly took a look around him.
This wasn’t the time for this. Before that thing comes back,
they needed to get out of here.
However…
Shashashasha…..
While they were engaged in the battle against that

ridiculously overpowered monster, the swarm of ants had
returned to the ant tunnel and were slowly encroaching
upon the queen’s chamber now.
“Hmm….”
Goto Ryuji sheathed his sword back in the scabbard. Corpses

of ants were piled up like small hills all around him. At a
quick glance, there must’ve been over a hundred of these
creatures.
It was a perfect demonstration of the abilities possessed by

Japan’s strongest.
“Looks like we’ve taken care of most of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
His teammates nodded their heads while admiring the sight

of the always-trustworthy Goto Ryuji. They thought that, as
long as they stuck by his side, they at least would avoid the
fate of getting killed off.
“Sir, I’ve been told that we’ll be the last to withdraw.”
The Hunter receiving the transmission from the operations

centre relayed the message. Goto Ryuji nodded his head and
turned in the direction of the coast.
“This way….”
Goto Ryuji didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Swish-!!
Because an ant monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere

and was now standing before his group, that’s why.
‘…….”
With a single glance, Goto Ryuji figured out the capabilities

of the new enemy.
‘That isn’t a normal ant at all.’
“Goto-san!”
His colleagues tried to step forward to help him, but he held

them back.
“I’ll handle this.”
Against an opponent this strong, his colleagues would only

prove to be a hindrance, instead. Going at it solo would be
simpler for him.
Trusting his judgement, the teammates heeded his order

and retreated to a distance while leaving everything on his
shoulders. Goto Ryuji unsheathed his sword with a
circumspect look on his face.
“An ant…. You seem to possess a pretty strong aura.”
Perhaps the ant monster had also sensed his power, because
it wasn’t budging an inch from the spot.
But, that was to be expected – if that creature displayed
even a hint of movement, Goto Ryuji was planning to slice it
up into hundreds of fine little pieces.
It was then, the ant monster opened its mouth.
“You are… the king?”
“King?”
Goto’s eyes opened wider.
An ant just spoke a human language!
However, it was already a well-known fact that intelligent

monsters conversed in their own languages. So, it wouldn’t
be a stretch of his imagination to think that a monster would
succeed in imitating human’s languages.
A smirk formed on Goto Ryuji’s face.
‘A king, is it….?’
When Association President Matsumoto Shigeo finishes

building his empire of Hunters, then indeed, he was the one
and only viable candidate to assume the throne, wasn’t he?
“That’s right. I’m the king.”
Kekek.
As soon as the desired answer came out of his mouth, the

ant monster fully unleashed its magic energy.
Hwa-ahck!
Like failing to realise how big an iceberg was from seeing

only its tip, Goto Ryuji misjudged the true power of the
enemy from the small portion of its magic energy that
leaked out. His eyes imperceptibly trembled.
‘This, what is this….?!’
The bone-chilling cold air woke goosebumps up on his skin,

and all the hair on the back of his neck stood right up. He
had experienced a sensation like this only once before.
‘……..Seong Jin-Woo??’
Slice.
Almost at the same time as the ant monster made its move,
Goto Ryuji’s head fell to the ground.
“Uwaaahh!!”
The Korean team was currently surrounded by the swarm of

ants.
Mah Dong-Wook fought; Im Tae-Gyu fought; Choi Jong-In

also fought, and even the cameraman had to kill the ants.
However, there was seemingly no end to the waves upon
waves of ants.
“Pant, pant, pant…..”
All sounds had stopped and all Baek Yun-Ho could hear was
his own heavy breathing.
‘Is this the end?’
He quickly wiped the blood trickling down below his

eyebrow with the back of his hand. With their lone Healer-
type Hunter gone, they had no avenue to deal with these
many monsters now.
This resistance was a futile one, indeed.
Even then, he couldn’t bring himself to give up – because,

two of his most precious friends had lost their lives in this
d*mn place. He definitely didn’t want to dig his grave where
they were buried, too.
“Uwaaaah-!!”
He destroyed the head of yet another ant. However,

countless more replaced the dead one and tried to pounce
on him.
Kiieechk!
Kiiehck!!
Baek Yun-Ho powerfully shook off the ants and stood with his
back against a wall. Like this, he at least wouldn’t get
surrounded from all sides now.
He raised his head and searched for other Hunters. His

colleagues, who had been fighting alongside him only a
moment ago, could no longer be seen, their figures
completely buried within the swarm of ants.
No way. He wanted to believe that it wasn’t possible….
He bit his lower lip, but then, was jolted out of his senses
with a sudden presence appearing behind his back.
He spun around rapidly and threw a punch, but stopped

before he reached his target. Because… the one standing
behind him wasn’t an ant.
‘What…. Who is this?’

It was, in fact, a ‘soldier’ decked out in black full-body
armour.
This was his first time seeing one, but then again, he heard
plenty of times before about this ‘thing’ from Park Hui-Jin
who had been involved with the Red Gate incident.
‘Isn’t this….??’
Baek Yun-Ho cried out in surprise.
“Why is this thing here?”
It was then.
From the soldier, a familiar voice came out.
“Exchange.”
Chapter 118
One year before the Korea-Japan united raid team came

knocking on the island….
The ant queen began thinking.
‘We must leave this island.’
Other lifeforms that should’ve served as their food source

had all disappeared from the island, and the incidents of its
children devouring each other occurred frequently now.
There was no source of food on this island to sustain the
citizens of the queendom now that its population had
swelled up to several thousand strong.
‘This can not continue.’
Abandon the existing nation and seek out a fertile land

overflowing with other lifeforms to establish a new one – if
the domination of the island was the queen’s first task, then
this problem would be its second one.
However, the queen remembered. It remembered all the

powerful invaders that stepped on the island several times
before.
The queen’s forces managed to repel them, but the nation

had to suffer great losses as well. Far too many of the
queen’s children had to be sacrificed. Would its children be
able to defeat those beings if they went to another land?
‘Need stronger soldiers.’
It needed a single most powerful soldier to lead the citizens

of the nation. And so, the queen decided upon the direction
of their evolution.
Half a year later.
By gathering the magic power it already possessed, as well

as all the nutrients it had amply absorbed before, the queen
gave birth to a brand new life. It was the greatest combat
weapon imaginable, born solely for the sake of dealing with
the strong humans.
The queen’s determination to create the most powerful

soldier there was, combined with the original order of killing
all humans it heard in its head, created a horrifying monster
that simply exceeded all common sense.
The monster was born with the skill, ‘Gluttony’.
By consuming its opponents, this new monster could turn

their magic energy as well as a portion of their knowledge
into its own.
‘I want to become stronger.’
The monster realised what its powers were early on and

began devouring its own kin, but the queen left it alone.
What this monster wanted was the same as the queen’s
desire, after all.
The queen was greatly happy as ‘he’ grew stronger and

stronger day by day.
It was happy because ‘he’ had already exceeded the power

of ‘his’ mother now. And without encountering a single hitch,
the army ‘he’ would lead was getting closer to completion as
well. That was why.
‘Just a little more time….’
In the midst of that….
The human invaders entered this land once more. Their

numbers were lower this time, but they were far stronger
than before. However, the queen laughed at them.
In preparation of the ants waging war against humanity in

another land, this should serve as a great opportunity to test
out the powers of ‘him’.
The queen, as usual, sent out all of the soldiers guarding its
castle along with ‘him’.
Just as the queen desired so, ‘he’ went out and completed
the first mission ‘he’ was given. But when ‘he’ returned, the
queen was already dead.
‘He’ was enraged.
And thankfully, there were enough strong humans left on

this island that would serve as the outlet for ‘his’ rage.
First of all, the king of the humans was killed. And then, it
systematically annihilated all the subordinates next to the
dead king. One of the subordinates cried out before he got
killed off.
He asked just what the hell ‘he’ was.
After devouring humans through the skill ‘Gluttony’, ‘he’

now possessed the ability to reason. ‘He’ then began
thinking to itself.
‘What… am I?’
Up until that point, ‘he’ was a soldier of the queen.
But now, with the queen’s death at the hands of the

humans, what should ‘he’ call itself now?
A sole existence that must lead the remaining soldiers of the

queendom. ‘He’ only knew one word to denote such an
existence.
‘….King.’
‘He’ had killed off the enemy king already, so ‘he’ had

definitely satisfied the requirement to become one now.
Grab.
The ant king bit onto the head of the remaining human. But,
then….
Suddenly, the ant king’s head swivelled in the direction of

the ant castle. There was an enormous aura rushing out like
a fierce storm from where the queen used to live.
That level of power couldn’t have come from a common foot

soldier.
‘…..A king?’
Immediately sensing that an enemy that could threaten

itself had appeared, the ant king slowly rose up towards the
ant castle.
Just what kind of a calamity was this?

The TV station’s situation room used to be enveloped in the
celebratory mood, but now, everything felt sombre and
dreary like a funeral.
The ‘live’ broadcast showing up on the viewers’ TVs

suddenly got cut off with the entrance of a strange, winged
ant monster. Understandably, they began flooding the
station with phone calls of angry complaints and urgent
inquiries.
Ringgg…!
Ringgg….!!
One of the employees walked over to the station’s director

and cautiously made his report.
“Sir, our communication network is about to collapse from

all the calls made by the irate viewers.”
The station’s director raised his head.
“So what? Are you suggesting that we should broadcast live

the scenes of our Hunters getting ripped to shreds by a
single ant monster??”
“N-no, sir.”
The broadcast got cut off just as the Hunters were getting

one-sidedly beaten up by that mysterious ant monster. It
was understandable that the curiosity of the viewers would
skyrocket.
However, that didn’t mean they could broadcast the scenes

of Hunter Mah Dong-Wook getting tortured, nor the moment
that Hunter Min Byung-Gu got devoured.
The director buried his face in his hands and let out a
helpless moan.
“It’s over…. It’s all over.”
The once-in-a-lifetime gamble where the fate of his station

rode on, was now going down the drain because of one d*mn
ant monster.
“It’s over…..”
Heavy, grim silence filled up the situation room. No one

person was brave or dumb enough to open their mouths
now. Except for one, that was.
“Huh??”
The producer staring at the real-time feed with an ashen

complexion suddenly opened his mouth.
“D-Director!!”
“….What now?”
“Someone just appeared in the location out of nowhere!”
The director didn’t bother to raise his head up and grimly

replied.
“Unless it’s Jesus himself, don’t report to me every little

thing that happens over there. Got that?”
“However…!!”
“….It’s all over.”
Realising that talking wouldn’t get him anywhere, the

producer increased the previously-lowered volume up way
higher.
Kiieeehck-!!
Kiieehck!!
The situation room was immediately filled up with the

screams of the ant monsters.
The director quickly raised his head up out of sheer shock. It

wasn’t just him, either. Everyone present within the situation
room all rushed to the live feed monitor. And soon, sounds of
“Oh, oh!” came out amongst those watching the screen.
“…”
The director sitting there in a daze finally managed to lift his

butt off the chair. When he came in closer, the employees
stepped aside to let him through.
The screen of the live-feed monitor was reflected in the

director’s eyes.
“Oh, dear lord….. Jesus holy Christ.”
The director suddenly began calling out to Jesus, which he

didn’t even believe in, to begin with, and hurriedly shouted
out to the rest of the employees.
“What the hell are you all doing here? Why aren’t getting
ready to start broadcasting this?! Are you going to take
responsibility if we lose out on the current audience
rating?!”
The producer hurriedly tried to dissuade his director who

didn’t even bother to hide his boiling excitement.
“But, sir! If we start broadcasting again, we’ll be showing the
live feed, instead! There won’t be any delay in the
transmission, and everything will be shown in real time, sir!
We won’t be able to do anything if another emergency
situation breaks out!”
The delayed transmission time of ten minutes between the

feed and the broadcast had run out by now. Which left the
director with the decision of going with either the real-time
feed, or end the broadcast altogether right here.
“….It’s all or nothing.”
“Pardon me?”
“We’ve already stopped broadcasting midway, anyway.

Things won’t get any worse than it already has.”
“Well…. I, I guess so…?”
A Hunter’s sudden appearance was caught on the camera.

No one could tell whether he was a Korean or a Japanese.
Heck, it was unknown if he was a Hunter at all, but with his
appearance, the director’s gamble that seemed to be over
for good suddenly gained one last shot at the glory.
The director issued a new order with a determined

expression firmly etched on his face.
“Switch it on. Switch it on, now.”
He then pulled a chair closer to the producer and settled

down there.
“Our station’s fate rides on that man, you got that?”

“Euhhhk!”
Even though he was being pushed into the figurative cliff,

the cameraman didn’t regret anything. Anyone would’ve
dreamed at least once of doing something like this when
they were young.
…To become a hero.
If that was impossible, then at least, to become a support to

the true hero.
During the time he did menial jobs for the TV station and
earned his experience that way, he never imagined that
he’d be blessed with an opportunity to do so in his lifetime.
But then, he Awakened into a rank A Hunter, and by earning

experience fitting for his rank, he was able to get to this
point in his life. Thanks to that, he got to clearly capture the
scene of Hunters proudly representing South Korea
successfully raid the boss of a rank S Gate.
‘I’m the one who caught that on film. Yes, me.’
And with the footage he captured, many people would come

to know the valiant sacrifices these rank S Hunters made for
the purpose of the extermination of the ant monsters. That
was more than enough for him.
He felt like that all of his efforts spent in studying filming

techniques and working as a Hunter was finally being paid
off here. But, if there was one thing he was a bit regretful
about, then that would be….
‘Dad…’
His father, who looked after the cameraman all alone after
they lost his mother to cancer. Thinking that he’d not get to
see his father again, he felt a deep pain in his heart.
Kwajeeck!!
His shoulder was bitten, yet he couldn’t feel a thing. His arm
had stopped moving a long time ago.
He was originally a Tanker, so he was able to endure

somehow, but this really was his limit.
Plop.
He knelt down on the ground. Even then, his head was filled
with the thoughts of his father.
‘Why did my last conversation with dad have to be me

asking him if he had his breakfast?!’
If he knew this would happen, he might have talked for a lot

longer.
‘On that day, when dad came for a visit to Seoul, I should’ve
cleared up all of my schedule….’
However, time was a ruthless, unrelenting b*stard and regret

always arrived one step too late.
The cameraman raised his head. The horrifying fangs of the

ant monster were nearing his head.
He no longer had any magic energy left to activate the

‘Fortification’ skill, so he wouldn’t be able to defend against
the monster’s attacks now.
Tears formed on the edges of his eyes.

‘Dad, I’m sorry.’
It was then.
Kwajeeck!!
Accompanying the noise of the outer shell being crushed,

the bodily fluid of an ant got splashed on the cameraman’s
face.
“….Huh?!”
A blade emitting a cold, silvery gleam had cleanly stabbed

through the ant’s head.
The cameraman raised his head and followed the blade, only
to find another ‘ant’ with a long red-coloured ‘plumage’
stuck to the top of its head standing there.
‘Why is an ant attacking another ant?!’
No, that thing wasn’t an ant!
The cameraman was mistaken because both were of the

same black colour. What he saw was an unknown ‘soldier’
decked out in black armour from head to toe pulling his
sword out from the head of the dead ant.
Plop.
The ant monster with a hole in its head powerlessly sagged

to the ground.
“Just what on earth is…..?!”
When the black ‘soldier’ stepped aside, a youthful man with

a somewhat familiar face approached the cameraman and
shouted at him.
“Open your mouth.”
“Pardon me?”
This man didn’t even give the confused cameraman a

chance to start a conversation; he simply grabbed the
injured man’s chin and poured down an unknown liquid
down the throat.
“Keok?! Keok!!”
The cameraman nearly coughed his lungs out, but he still

managed to swallow all of the liquid. He covered his mouth
and asked.
“Who, who the hell are you?!”
However, the youthful man didn’t even bother to respond

and simply turned around to face the ants.
‘W-what the heck?!’
The cameraman was flustered greatly, but still, he stood

back up.
‘….Wait a d*mn second here.’
His legs were moving again. But, was that all?
He belatedly realised it, but his arm was also fine after
drinking that strange liquid.
‘What happened here? What’s going on??’
Did that man do something to him just now?
He couldn’t come up with any other logical explanation

besides that one.
It was then.
Quite out of the blue, the cameraman finally remembered

where he saw that youthful man’s face.
‘Could he be that guy?!’
Jin-Woo calmly scanned his surroundings.
‘……..’
Last time he got to meet the members of the Korean raid

team in the Association’s gymnasium, he had inserted one
of the Shadow Soldiers in Baek Yun-Ho’s shadow, just in
case. What a relief it was that he did that.
It seemed that what he’d been watching wasn’t a live

broadcast, as the situation here was far worse than the stuff
shown on the TV screen before it got cut off. He managed to
save the weakest of the lot, the cameraman, first, but the
other rank S Hunters were still surrounded by countless ant
monsters.
‘What should I do now?’
The quickest way to deal with this situation would be to

summon Fangs out and sweep these pesky ants away in one
go with his trademark pillar of flames. But, if Jin-Woo did
that, he couldn’t guarantee the safety of the rank S Hunters.
So, he needed another solution here.
Jin-Woo quickly made his decision and turned his head

towards Iron.
“Iron!!”
Iron tapped his chest in a manly manner as if to say, “Leave
it to me!”
He then strode forward, his large frame shaking to and fro,

before opening his shoulders wide to roar out at the top of
his lungs.
Woowuhhhhhh-!!!
Tti-ring.
[Iron has activated ‘Skill: Roar of Provocation’.]
The effect of that was rather amazing. The ants attacking

the Hunters all snapped their heads towards Iron’s direction
simultaneously. And soon, they all rushed over.
“Nice work.”
Jin-Woo lightly tapped Iron on his back and summoned the

two shortswords he got as rewards after killing the demon
king.
‘The Demon King’s Shortsword.’
The pair of shortswords with a blue tinge to their blades

gleamed threateningly under the light magic’s glare.
Kkiiiieeeehk!
Kiiechk!
When hundreds of ant monsters screeched out and pounced

at the same time, his entire view was dyed jet black in an
instant. Jin-Woo began gripping the hilts of the shortswords
even harder. And then, he vanished from view.
Kiiiechk!!
Soon, ants collided with the soldiers in a bloody battle to the
finish.
In the meantime, Baek Yun-Ho, whose status was still better

than everyone else, managed to move the injured Hunters to
a safe corner. Thankfully, they were all still alive. The
cameraman joined soon afterwards, and helped Baek Yun-Ho
out.
Because Jin-Woo, or more specifically, Jin-Woo’s summoned

creature, attracted the aggro of all the ants present here, he
was able to safely finish this task.
“Pant, pant, pant….’
Mah Dong-Wook was leaning against the wall, his breathing

rough and irregular. He then grabbed the arm of Baek Yun-
Ho, who brought him here, and asked.
“W-what’s going on? Who’s fighting?”
Mah Dong-Wook’s eyes were unfocused. His eyes were

injured and he couldn’t see properly.
Baek Yun-Ho placed his hand on Mah Dong-Wook’s hand.
“Instructor Mah. It’s fine now. Everything will be fine.”
“…..”
He then shifted his gaze over to Jin-Woo.
Other people may not have know it yet, but Baek Yun-Ho
had a rough idea already on how powerful Seong Jin-Woo
was in reality.
Baek Yun-Ho might have been greatly flustered when the

black soldier suddenly vanished, only to be replaced by the
youth, but he still ended up shouting out loud even before
he consciously realised it.
He said, ‘please, help us.’
And then, after seeing the youth move towards the ants
along with his summoned black soldiers, the sense of relief
washed over Baek Yun-Ho; so much so that he nearly
plopped down to the ground.
Sure enough…
Seong Jin-Woo proceeded to massacre and annihilate the

ants that gave him and his teammates so much trouble at a
frightening pace, as if those creatures were nothing but
broken toys to be played around with.
Kiieeehk!!
Screams of dying ants exploded out from everywhere and

nearly made Baek Yun-Ho dizzy in the head. But, he still
sighed out in relief.
‘It’ll be fine now.’
He wasn’t saying that to Mah Dong-Wook. No, he was telling

that to himself. The hope of survival was rekindled in his
heart. The aid from one Seong Jin-Woo was far more reliable
and trustworthy than the 20-plus rank S Japanese Hunters
combined.
‘….Looks like there’s no need for me to step up here.’
Baek Yun-Ho formed a smile and sat down next to Mah Dong-
Wook.
All he could do now was to sit down quietly like this and
watch Hunter Seong Jin-Woo do his thing. He then drew the
cameraman’s attention towards Jin-Woo.
“You should keep the camera pointing at him. Because

you’re going to witness something amazing pretty soon.”
The incident of the Red Gate, and the incident during the
raid of the Hunters Guild. This was Baek Yun-Ho’s chance to
personally witness the spectacle he had been hearing about
all this time.
“Y-yes!”
The cameraman did his best to maintain his distance so he

wouldn’t get in the way and tried to capture Jin-Woo’s
actions with his camera. The work of the raid team’s Hunters
may have been finished now, but his own work was far from
over.
Gulp.
The cameraman struggled to swallow his saliva.
Kiiiehk!
At the same time, an ant was split cleanly in half from top to
bottom by Jin-Woo’s hands. He then took a look around him.
The number of ants had decreased significantly, and there
were just over half of them remaining.
He killed so many ants that he had lost count now, but his
breathing remained even and unperturbed. In all honesty,
he found this place far easier to manage when compared to
the uppermost floors of the Demon’s Castle.
‘Should I increase my speed a bit more?’

Glance.
Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the floor, and he immediately

issued an order to the puffs of black smoke rising up from
the corpses of the countless ants.
“Rise up!!”
Chapter 119
The cameraman felt a creeping chill crawl all over his skin.
‘Wha-what’s the meaning of this?’
What was about to happen here?
He was deep inside a cave where breezes shouldn’t exist,

yet this eerily chilly air inexplicably brushed past his back.
‘Now that I think about it…’
Just as he began questioning whether the surroundings had

become too quiet or not….
Kiiiieeeehhhk-!!
Thick, heavy screams resounded out within the queen’s

chamber and countless black hands began shooting out
from the ground.
Tuck.
Tuck….
The hands grabbed the ground, and began pulling

themselves out.
“Heok!!”
The cameraman unwittingly gasped out in pure fright. His
eyes were opened wider, and his breathing grew rough and
heavy. He was a rank A Hunter yet he could scarcely believe
the things taking place, so what would the viewers at home
watching be feeling right now?
While the cameraman remained stewing in his own

astonishment, the owners of the black hands finally
emerged out of the ground.
‘Ant monsters?!’
At a casual glance, they looked like ant monsters, but then

again, endless streams of black smokes were rising from
their bodies. It was hard to tell whether these monsters were
physical beings or made out of gases.
Wouldn’t one potentially get that sort of appearance if one

carved out the statue of an ant monster using a block of
black-coloured dry ice? Several hundreds of such things rose
up from the ground.
The cameraman’s heart beat so fast and so loud that he

couldn’t even breath now.
Seeing that scene, Baek Yun-Ho too gasped out in shock as

well. He was comparatively calmer than the cameraman, but
that didn’t mean he could close his slack jaw.
‘All of those…. are his summons???’
Unlike the two speechless men, Jin-Woo was forming a

satisfied grin at the new additions to his shadow army.
‘Nice.’
Now, the number of his Shadow Soldiers easily overwhelmed
the surviving ant monsters.
‘With things like this, looks like I won’t have to personally

step out now.’
Jin-Woo stored the Demon King’s Shortswords back to his

Inventory. And then, issued the very first order to his new
soldiers.
‘Go. Don’t leave any one of them alive.’
Kiiieeehhk-!!
With the same intensity as back when the ant monsters

flooded into the queen’s chamber, Jin-Woo’s new soldiers
crashed into their enemies like a tsunami wave.
The once seemingly-endless swarm of ant monsters was now

being swept away by the black tide.
Woooahhhh!!!
A huge cheering roar broke out inside the TV station’s

situation room.
The director shot up from his seat and clapped his hands in
happiness.
“Yesss!! He’s doing it!!”
Seeing those disgusting ant monsters being swept away like

that, it felt like his tight chest was being pried open again. It
was as if the ten-year-old indigestion plaguing him had
finally been flushed away.
If only there were no other eyes watching here, he’d have
asked the producer to screen capture that moment and have
it sent over to him later – so he could relieve his
accumulated stress even if it was several months later. Nay,
several years later!
It was indeed very regretful to see the death of Hunter Min

Byung-Gu. When the director saw the scene of the team’s
lone Healer die at the hands of that d*mn monster, he
thought that the heavens were crashing down on him.
Even then, if the Korean Hunters get out of the ant tunnel
safely with the help from that unidentified Hunter?
‘That’s all I ask for!’
The Korean team had already achieved its goal by killing the
ant queen. With their only method of propagation gone,
there was no need to even repeat the simple fact that the
ants would eventually die out in the Jeju Island.
And then, what about the Japanese?
Indeed, what would happen to the Japanese team?
Since they abandoned the important mission right in the

middle of it all and escaped with their tail between their
legs, there was obviously no need to hand over the promised
share of the loot. And not only that, the Koreans could even
demand reparation from them, instead.
And of course, the footage of the raid selling like hot cakes
would be the tasty icing on the cake, too.
The complexion of the director brightened like a midday

sun.
‘Just where did this massive ball of fortune fall out from?!’
The director’s expression, as he continued to stare at the

face of Jin-Woo in the monitor’s screen, remained somewhat
confused. It was then.
Another employee hurriedly ran towards him.
“Sir!”
The director shot up from his seat, nearly freaking out of his
skull.
“What is it this time?!”
The director’s expression hardened in an instant.
His heart began quivering, thinking that maybe another

mishap occurred somewhere just as he was beginning to
soak himself in the sea of happiness.
What with the situation arriving at this point in time, the

director was quickly growing resentful of this dumb
employee. He even wanted to reach out to cover that
employee’s mouth and pretend that no bad news was afoot.
‘Looks like I’ve finally lost it….’
Completely unaware of what his boss was thinking of at that

moment, the employee spoke hurriedly with an excited face.
“We discovered that man’s identity!”
The director’s eyes opened up super-wide.

Inside the office of the Hunter Association’s President.
Kwajeek!!
Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly lifted his hand off the crushed

armrest. His private doctor sitting next to him turned to look
at him.
“…Association President.”
“….It seems that I got overexcited just now.”
He unconsciously gripped too tight, and this happened.

However, how could he not get excited by the scenes he was
seeing right now?
Indeed, watching Jin-Woo’s performance playing out on the

giant screen made his emotions well up without him even
realising it. If only his body permitted it, he’d have gone
there to fight alongside, too.
“Getting overexcited is not good for your body, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
There was only one reason why he, as the Association

President, wasn’t present in the mission control centre.
Didn’t matter whether this subjugation operation ended as a
success or a failure, there was a potential risk that he’d
strain his heart simply by being there.
Even watching the broadcast like this carried enough risk, so

the personal doctor had to set up a camp next to Goh Gun-
Hui.
‘Maybe, it would’ve been better to not let him watch the

broadcast.’
The personal doctor worried about his decision for a brief
moment, but after seeing the expression etched on the face
of the Association President, he soon shook his head.
Ever since the Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo appeared on

the scene, that wide smile didn’t want to leave Goh Gun-
Hui’s face.
[“Hey, that man, that’s Seong Jin-Woo!”]
In that critical moment, as the despair quickly transformed

into a loud cheer, the words Association President cried out
still rung inside the doctor’s ears.
Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui was beaming widely.
‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
He then cautiously placed his hand back on the sofa’s

armrest. Unless he was holding onto something, his entire
body would itch too much and he’d be unable to endure it.
‘But, how did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get there?’
Initially, he was greatly intrigued by this quandary. The

island must be overflowing with the ant monsters, so how
did he appear there without anyone else noticing it?
But, such a thing wasn’t important right now.
No, the truly important thing would be that Hunter Seong

Jin-Woo was there. And with that, the other Hunters had
hope. Those two were the important things.
It was then.
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes grew extra large after witnessing the

spectacle of Jin-Woo creating even more soldiers by
extracting shadows out from the dead ant monsters.
‘That friend, he lied to me, didn’t he?’
Who could’ve guessed that there were well more than “only
about a hundred” summons? Even at a casual glance, there
must’ve been over 300, easy. However, Goh Gun-Hui didn’t
look like someone who’d been lied to.
No, a smile of contentment was filling up his face, instead.
‘He said that he wanted to fight against the monsters, didn’t

he?’
Goh Gun-Hui could now understand a bit more of why the

youth said those words to him back then. After all, he
possessed such incredible power, so no monsters out there
should faze him.
For sure, Jin-Woo looked like he was enjoying himself as he

fought the monsters. It was to the extent that the viewers
watching felt a deep stirring within their hearts.
However….
Why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who so dearly wished to

battle monsters that badly, asked to be left out of the Korean
raid team?
‘He must’ve had an important reason behind that decision.’
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head. Without such a reason, there

was just no way that a man who formed an expression like
that during battle would willingly walk away from a raid
team.
When his thought arrived at that point, Goh Gun-Hui grew
very curious about what could possibly be Jin-Woo’s reason.
Tang, tang!
Jin-Ah was studying in her bedroom, but she heard those

loud noises and hurriedly came out to the living room.
“Mom??”
“I, I’m sorry. That was too loud, wasn’t it?”
Jin-Ah shook her head.
Mom had already lowered the volume of the TV until not

much could be heard so she’d not interrupt her daughter’s
studies. Jin-Ah didn’t feel like unduly burdening her any
more than that.
“Besides all that, what’s going on? Is the TV broken?”
“Not sure. It just stopped working all of a sudden.”
“Where’s oppa?”
“He’s right h….”
Mom turned around to look, only to gasp out in surprise.
“Oh, my?? Where did he go? But, he was here only about a
second ago??”
Jin-Ah tilted her head and opened Jin-Woo’s bedroom door.
“Oppa?”
He wasn’t even in the bathroom, either. Jin-Ah proceeded to
scour the entirety of the apartment before turning around
towards her mom.
“What were you watching together just now?”
“The Jeju Island raid.”
“…..”
Suddenly, Jin-Ah was overcome with a certain ominous

foreboding. Now that she thought about it, the entire
apartment building was bustling with loud noises ever since
a little while ago.
‘No way….?’
Jin-Ah hurriedly ran back inside her room and switched on

her phone. When she did…..
Just as the vigorous, loud cheers exploded out from the

floors above and below hers, Jin-Ah’s eyes opened wider as
she finally confirmed the scene playing out within her
phone’s screen.
“Oppa?!”
After utterly massacring every single ant monster found

inside the queen’s chamber, Jin-Woo stored his soldiers back
inside his shadow.
Even now, ants that had been spread out to the rest of the
island were scurrying back to the ant tunnel. He judged that
his priority should be placed on guiding the Hunters out of
here to somewhere safe before more ants showed up.
‘We have the injured here to worry about, too.’
Jin-Woo strode towards the Hunters. Beside Baek Yun-Ho and

the cameraman, the rest weren’t in a good shape. Cha Hae-
In was still unconscious, and the three others had suffered
some serious wounds, as well.
Jin-Woo asked while looking around.
“What about Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim?”
Baek Yun-Ho shook his head with a hardened expression.
“…”
Not saying anything else, Jin-Woo brought out the potions

and began treating the Hunters one by one. Since the
potions would become useless once they leave his hands, he
had to personally feed each of the Hunters.
“M-mm….”
After drinking the potions, Hunters began regaining their

consciousness.
Im Tae-Gyu quickly raised his upper torso up, touched all

over his body, and spat out a gasp of amazement.
“What the….?”
Both Choi Jong-In and Mah Dong-Wook recovered from the

numerous injuries on their bodies in no time.
“Hmm…”
“Cough, cough.”
Choi Jong-In had no clue on what had transpired here, so as
soon as he laid his eyes on Jin-Woo, he was taken aback
rather greatly.
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo? What are you doing here??”
“Let’s talk after getting out of this place first.”
“Oh….”
Choi Jong-In took a look around and nodded his head. They
were still stuck inside the deepest part of the ant tunnel.
This was no place to idly chat away, indeed.
“Instructor Seong!”
Having regained his eyesight, Mah Dong-Wook was able to

reach out and grab Jin-Woo’s hands.
“Were you the one fighting off those ants? Thank you. Thank
you so much!!”
Jin-Woo replied in the same manner to him as well.
“Let us get out of here first.”
“Got it.”
Finally, Cha Hae-In.
Standing before her, a frown formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘Something’s not right… her aura’s far too weak.’
While feeling a sense of foreboding, Jin-Woo raised her head

and cautiously poured the potion down her mouth.
Sure enough, a message quickly popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.
[When the remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to

recover HP with healing potions.]
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled.
When he slowly pulled out his hand supporting her head, it

was soaked in her blood.
‘……’
That ant b*stard.
That creature inflicted a fatal blow to the strongest person

among the Korean Hunters, Cha Hae-In, with nothing but a
single blow.
The sole reason why these Hunters were still alive wasn’t
that they were strong. On the contrary, that b*stard simply
toyed with them for a little while, that was all.
‘In any case, I gotta….’
Cha Hae-In’s injuries took priority. If her wounds couldn’t be

healed by the potions, then she needed to get out of this
island as soon as possible and get a Healer-type Hunter to
heal her, ASAP.
“Let’s hurry.”
Jin-Woo carefully picked her up and stood up to leave. Other

Hunters also stood up.
As they were preparing to leave the ant queen’s chamber,

Jin-Woo walking in front of the pack suddenly spat out a long
sigh.
‘……’
Baek Yun-Ho could guess the reason why.
Jin-Woo entrusted Cha Hae-In over to Baek Yun-Ho. Suddenly

dumped with the responsibility of carrying her around, Baek
Yun-Ho formed a flustered expression, and he hurriedly
raised his voice.
“I would like to help.”
Jin-Woo looked at the Hunters present, including Baek Yun-

Ho, and told them all in no uncertain terms.
“Do not ever step forward during the fight. It’ll be faster that
way.”
“But, Mister Seong Jin-Woo, that means….”
Choi Jung-Hoon was still oblivious to what had transpired

before, so he was about to speak up his opinion, but Mah
Dong-Wook stopped him and shook his head.
He may not have seen the situation unfold with his own
eyes, but through his perception, he was able to detect how
Jin-Woo annihilated the swarm of ants from the beginning
until the end.
Jin-Woo was right about this.
However, Baek Yun-Ho still butted in.
Jin-Woo turned his head to look at him.

“I understand full well that you’re strong. I can confidently
say that no one here knows that better than me.
However…..”
Baek Yun-Ho spoke with a serious expression on his face.
“However, you’ve already summoned far too many creatures

by now.”
But, why would that be a problem? When Jin-Woo stared at

him with a confused expression, Baek Yun-Ho got flustered
and quickly added more explanation.
“You must’ve had exhausted a lot of your magical energy by

now. What would happen if you completely spend them?”
‘Ahh… so that’s what he was talking about.’
Jin-Woo guessed from Baek Yun-Ho’s words that the other

Hunters utilising the summoning magic had to be using a lot
of magic energy to summon even a single creature.
‘I’m sure there aren’t any real reason to reveal that my

Shadow Soldiers don’t need any magic energy, right?’
Even without him saying anything, his soldiers wouldn’t look

like ordinary summons to these people’s eyes, anyway. So,
Jin-Woo decided to change the story ever so slightly.
“My summons don’t require as much magic energy as you

think. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Excuse me?”
Both Baek Yun-Ho and the cameraman exclaimed out at the

same time.
He controlled that many summoned creatures all at once,
yet he was saying that the magic energy usage wasn’t high?
Then, just what was his weak point, then?
‘……..’
Realising that explaining would take up too much time, he

simply turned towards the cave up ahead, instead. With
excellent timing, the waves of ant monsters were rushing
inside the chamber.
‘Wow, there are still so many of them.’
Their side had someone in a critical condition. So, he

couldn’t afford to waste time here.
Jin-Woo activated the Sovereign’s Territory for maximum

efficiency. The ground beneath his feet was immediately
dyed in black.
Just as he was done with preparations to call his soldiers

back out again, an ominous, creepy air blew in from the
other side of the cave.
‘……..?’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to where that eerie aura was
coming from. There was this one individual among the
masses of ants. It looked similar to the others, but it was a
completely different type of monster compared to the
others.
‘Ah, so that’s the one.’
Jin-Woo instantly recognised the ‘ant king’. And likewise, the

ant king recognised Jin-Woo as well.
Taking its time, the ant king slowly walked over to him.
“A human… you seem to possess a pretty strong aura.”
It even imitated Goto Ryuji’s speech pattern.
Hunters immediately recalled the nightmare of a few

moments ago and flinched grandly as soon as spotting that
ant monster. On the other hand, Jin-Woo showed no outward
ripples and simply stared at the creature without saying a
word.
Eventually, the ant king stood before Jin-Woo.
“Are you the king of humans?”
“…..Huh, an insect that knows how to speak. Well, I’ll be.”
When Jin-Woo replied with a less than impressed expression

on his face, the ant king’s own expression crumpled
unsightly.
The power the queen bestowed it with, and the power it

gathered through the ‘Gluttony’ skill – the moment the ant
king unleashed all of its magic energy, its body suddenly
ballooned up greatly in size. Its height, which used to be
around the same as Jin-Woo’s, grew by at least 1.5 times
taller.
The ant king then screeched out loudly right in front of Jin-
Woo’s nose.
Kiiiiiieeeeeehhhhhk-!!!
Jin-Woo didn’t even blink once, and instead, a smirk formed

on his lips.
“Yup, now you’re acting properly like an insect.”

And then, he himself unleashed his own magical energy.
Chapter 120
“All communications with Goto and his team have been cut
off?!”
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo’s complexion

became ashen. The Association employee next to him
presented a receiver and asked politely.
“Would you like to hear the last communication, sir?”
Matsumoto Shigeo snatched the receiver away from the

employee’s hand and put it on his head, before nodding
once.
Soon, the recorded sound clip began playing.
“An ant…. You seem to possess a pretty strong aura.”

“You are… the king?”
“That’s right. I’m the king.”
“Goto-san!!!”
“Uwaaahk?! Uwaaahk!!”
“Keok!!”
“Euh, euhhh….”
“You, you!! What, what the hell are youuu?!”
Beep.
“That’s where the communication ends, sir.”
Matsumoto’s face, as he took off the receiver, was as hard as

a rock. The creepy noises and the horrible screech the
monster made in between the chatter – he couldn’t picture
any other situation where those sounds would come out of.
‘An ant monster using a human language? And Goto Ryuji

was killed by that thing?!’
Such an eventuality was not within his calculations. He and

his compatriots had definitely planned everything out, and
made preparations for every eventuality, so why….
The ends of Matsumoto Shigeo’s fingers trembled almost

imperceptibly.
“….Sir?”
Only after he realised that the gazes of his employees were

focused on his trembling fingertips did Matsumoto Shigeo
carefully hide his hands. He quickly changed the topic.
“Where is the monster that…. No, where is the talking

monster, right now?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the words ‘the monster that

killed Goto Ryuji’.
“It’s disappeared, sir.”
“What do you mean, disappeared??”
It was a creature capable of killing Goto Ryuji. So, how could

the satellite equipped with the magic energy detection
camera keeping a close eye on Jeju Island not pick up on
such a powerful monster?
The employee seemed to have figured out what his boss was
about to say, and he pointed at the monitor once more.
“That spot of light is the magic energy emitted from the
monster at that moment.”
The magic energy detection camera displayed the emitted

magic energy as spots of lights. The bigger the spot of light
appearing on the monitor, the more powerful the existence
was.
Once spots of lights belonging to Goto Ryuji and the Hunters

around him disappeared, the larger, brighter light vanished
quickly, as well.
“Oh, my god….”
Matsumoto Shigeo spat out a shocked gasp. The unknown

enemy was in perfect control of its magical energy.
‘That was why…. Because it was such a monster, that….’
That was why the research team failed to notice the creature
before.
It was, without a doubt, a perfect failure. And as a

punishment, Japan just lost ten of her elite Hunters. Among
them, the best Hunter in the country. For a result of a single
oversight, it was very, very painful price to pay. Even worse,
the price most likely hadn’t been fully paid yet, either.
‘When that nonsensical monstrosity crosses the ocean and

enters the country….’
Even though Matsumoto Shigeo tried to shake them off, the

horrifying images continued to fill up his head. It was then.
“We found it! The b*stard has reappeared again!”
Matsumoto Shigeo’s eyes shot open wider.

“Where is the creature?”
“It’s inside the ant queen’s chamber, sir.”
“….”
Only the ants returning to the ant tunnel, as well as the

Korean Hunters facing off against them, remained in that
place. They must be fighting with everything they had, but
unfortunately, their opponent this time easily exceeded
everyone’s imaginations.
‘In the end, even the Koreans will be finished for good.’
That’s what he believed, but then, Matsumoto Shigeo’s

brows shot up instantly.
‘…..???’
There was another spot of light that suddenly appeared right

next to that horrifying monster.
“W-what’s the meaning of this?!”
Matsumoto Shigeo gasped out in sheer astonishment and

quickly looked at his employees. One of the employees,
affiliated with the research team, urgently shook his head.
“It, it’s also our first time seeing this, sir.”
That spot of light was as big and bright as the monster’s. No,
maybe it was even bigger than that.
What was even more astonishing was the fact that there
were hundreds of smaller light spots swirling around that
large one.
Even the head researcher of Japan’s research team, who had
been analysing the spy images for many years now, had
never seen such a phenomenon before.
‘Ah….!’
Seeing the mesmerising sight of the sea of lights repeatedly

separating into tiny pieces before gathering back together,
all those present couldn’t help but gasp out in admiration.
However, Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t have the time to

leisurely stew in his emotions right now.
“The Korean team! They must be broadcasting the raid even

now, aren’t they??”
If the Korean team was still strutting around like that, that
could also mean that the broadcast was still ongoing.
Matsumoto Shigeo was beset with curiosity and wanted
urgently to find out just what was going on here.
“The Korean team’s broadcast!! Bring that up to the main

monitor!!”
When he shouted out, the super-large screen in the middle

of the Japanese mission control centre was immediately
filled with the image of a certain young man having a stare-
down with an ant monster.
After seeing that man’s face, Matsumoto Shigeo nervously

swallowed his saliva. The lone strand of sweat trickled down
his temple and pooled on the bottom of his chin.
‘That man…. That man is the source of that massive light

spot??’
And then, the giant ant monster standing in front of that
man. That thing was at least over 1.5 times larger than
regular ant monsters. They were only looking at the thing
through the monitor, yet the sheer pressure emanating from
that thing managed to quicken their heartbeats.
‘…..’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression hardened even further.
It was then.
The ant monster made its move.
The ant king’s fist powerfully slammed into Jin-Woo’s face.
SLAM!!
Jin-Woo’s back nearly bent backwards, but he stomped down

and withstood the hit.
‘….!!’
The ant king had struck with all of its might behind that
punch, so it couldn’t help but get taken by surprise.
“You can… withstand my power?”
The ant king struck out with a simple plan to kill this puny
human in one hit, but instead of sending him flying away,
the whole thing simply ended with his head turning slightly
away.
Too bad, there was no time to remain surprised, because Jin-

Woo’s own fist flew in afterwards.
Swish-!!
SLAM!!
The ant king was smacked right in the middle of its face, and
it flew away to crash into the wall on the far side of the
cavern.
Kaboom!
As if a meteor had collided there, the wall caved in deeply.

Although it was only for a short while, the impact force was
powerful enough to shake the entire ant tunnel.
“What kind of an ant talks this much?”
When the ‘live’ broadcast got suddenly cut off, and the
static screen showing the message of about the station
encountering ‘technical difficulty’ appeared on their TV
screens, countless viewers were left devastated and stunned
by what they saw.
“The Hunters…. What’s happening to the Hunters??”
“What was up with that ant just now?!”
“What the hell! How can you cut the broadcast off right
there?!”
The scenes of an ant monster suddenly appearing without

warning, and then, it proceeding to systematically dismantle
the Hunters one by one….
The viewers celebrating after the death of the ant queen felt
like a bucket of cold water was poured down on them by that
horrifying scene. Not too long afterwards, the static screen
with the ‘technical difficulty’ message went away and the
emcee appeared there, instead.
“Ah…. everyone, this news just came in.”
With a sorrowful voice, he relayed the death of Hunter Min

Byung-Gu. And he also added that the safety of the Hunters
remaining in the ant tunnel couldn’t be guaranteed, either.
“God d*mn it!!”
“They got the ant queen, so why are they dying now?!”
“What about Japan?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be a united team or something? Where

are the d*mn Japanese?!”
Some people raged on, some people worried about their

safety, while some others grieved.
The news of the Hunters risking their lives potentially

meeting with a grisly fate spread out like an uncontrollable
wildfire. Weirdly enough, the audience rating actually rose
up higher than ever before, even though the raid broadcast
had been cut off for a while now.
“Ah!!”
The emcee’s expression brightened considerably after

receiving an urgent message.
“I just heard the news that an unknown Hunter has

appeared on the scene right at this moment! We will
immediately recommence with the broadcast right
away.”
Those words were more than enough to inject much-needed

vitality into the fatigued eyes of the viewers staying put in
front of their TV screens.
Soon, the live feed was restored, and….
“What the heck?”
“This…!!”
The viewers were greeted by the black soldiers filling up

their TV screens, and they all shot up from their seats.
They then saw those black soldiers fighting tooth-and-nail

against the waves upon waves of ants flooding into the ant
queen’s chamber. The camera moved around to take in the
unfolding events, before locking onto a single young man.
He was too far away and it was hard to see what he looked
like.
“The armoured soldiers are apparently the creatures

summoned by that Hunter on your screen. Also, I just
heard that most of the Hunters are alive and safe, as
well!”
The viewers watching on with nervous tension all cried out

in elation from that news. And then, they began cheering for
that unidentified Hunter.
“Yes!! Go and smash them all!!”
“You’re doing great!! Push them back!!”
“Let’s go!!!”
And finally….
When that unidentified Hunter summoned an even greater

number of soldiers to completely massacre the ants….
Woooooaahhhh!!!
People punched the sky with their fists and celebrated
wildly.
Those who had lost their families and friends to the ants and
sought revenge shed tears as the cathartic moment played
out in their screens. As if he was waiting for the perfect
timing, the emcee’s heightened voice came out from the
speakers just in the nick of time.
“Ah!! We finally identified the unknown Hunter!”
The eyes and ears of every single viewer out there were now
turned towards their screens.
Just who was that man?
Just what was the identity of a man capable of rescuing rank

S Hunters from a place crawling with rank S monsters?
“He’s the tenth rank S Hunter of South Korea, Seong Jin-

Woo!! He’s a Mage-type Hunter specialising in
summoning magic!!”
And so, the viewers grew even more cheerful from the fact
that a Hunter possessing such an incredible ability was not a
Japanese, but a Korean like them.
Countless ants were soon taken care of in no time at all.
Just as the Hunters were getting ready to escape from the

ant tunnel, yet another wave of ants appeared.
“Uh?! Uhhh??”
“Isn’t that…?”
The ant monster that appeared just before the broadcast got
cut off the first time was now leisurely walking forward while
pushing past the swarm of ants. Since there weren’t that
many ants with wings to begin with, and the shape of its
face was different from everything else, it wasn’t that hard
to tell that monster apart.
The viewers were instantly thrown into confusion.
“What the hell? I thought that b*stard was already dead?!”
“Why is that thing appearing again?!”
The winged ant monster stood before Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
Those viewers who understood a bit about the compatibility

of different abilities grew deeply anxious when the two stood
face to face.
“Aigoo! He’s going to get killed here!”
“Why would a Mage-type give up on the safety of distance

like that??”
“It’s not too late, so run away!”
That monster was strong enough to blow away Hunter Cha

Hae-In, a melee-type Hunter, with a single blow. They
thought that it was beyond obvious how things would turn
out now.
It was already distressing enough to see those two glare at

each other in close proximity, but then, the d*mn ant
monster suddenly grew larger and larger as well.
Every viewer watching their TV screens cried out in shock.
And then…
Pow!!
Those with weaker constitutions squeezed their eyes shut at
that moment. They thought that the moment the monster’s
punch found its target, the Hunter’s head would explode.
However, contrary to their expectations, the Hunter was fine.
‘Huh??’
‘A Mage withstood a punch strong enough to knock out the

Tanker Mah Dong-Wook in one hit?!’
The eyes of the viewers grew wider and wider.
And then….
SLAM!!
The ant monster got shoved deeply into the cave wall.
“…..”
“…….”
Most viewers required a little bit of time to process what just

transpired.
But when the camera zoomed in on the ant king half-buried

in the cave wall…..
Waaaahhhh!!!
Yet another round of loud cheering exploded out.
“Heok!!”
The cameraman’s jaw fell to the floor.

When Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was struck by the ant’s fist, he
flinched in surprise. Even Cha Hae-In lost her consciousness
from that hit.
But then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo blew away the ant monster,
instead. The very same monster, that toyed around with six
rank S Hunters as if it was nothing. No wonder he’d gasp out
a “Heok!”
‘Were the rank S Hunters that weak?’
No, of course not.
The Korean Hunters bravely fought and managed to defeat

the rank S boss, the ant queen.
So, the mutated ant monster that made an utter fool out of
those Hunters was the weird one. And Hunter Seong Jin-Woo,
who blew away that weird mutated ant, was an even weirder
one.
Gulp.
The cameraman suppressed his agitation and swallowed his

dry saliva.
The reactions of other Hunters weren’t all that different,

either.
While everyone was staring at Jin-Woo with excited eyes,

only Choi Jong-In began looking around in his vicinity. And
he could see mountains of ant corpses. He initially thought
that those were the result of the Hunters working together
while he was out cold. But now, having witnessed Jin-Woo’s
power, his thoughts had changed.
‘Can it… Could it be…. Mister Seong Jin-Woo alone was
responsible for….?’
After taking a rough count of the dead ants, Choi Jong-In’s

eyes began trembling non-stop.
Kiiieeehhhhk!!
A beastly screech exploding out without warning caused his

head to snap back.
The ant king extricated itself out of the wall and displayed
its rage. The air within the ant queen’s chamber was
quivering noticeably.
‘Ho-oh?’
Jin-Woo stared at the ant king with a genuine surprise. The

damage he dealt was far less than he thought.
‘Is it because… of the exoskeleton?’
The black, tough shell covering the entirety of that b*stard –

whatever that thing was, it had already exceeded being a
normal organic matter.
In that case, he’d use brute force to shatter that shell. The
thing that could break one’s armour wasn’t a sword or a
spear. No, it was a hammer.
Jin-Woo’s shoulder and arm muscles expanded, thick veins

bulging visibly on his skin. The air grew thicker and heavier
as it descended all around him.
The ant king stopped screeching and shifted its horrifyingly

crumpled expression towards Jin-Woo.
“You dare!!”
As the two of them walked closer, the distance between
them shortened faster and faster. Soon, Jin-Woo and the ant
king stood right before each other again. And then, without
a hint of hesitation or mercy, they began exchanging
countless attacks, each thumping hit carrying all their
might.
Slam!!
Kaboom!!
BOOM!!
The Hunters watching from the sideline were all stupefied

into silence.
The shock wave from the collision of magic energy whenever

Jin-Woo and the ant king exchanged blows rocked the ant
tunnel itself. It was so severe that these top-ranked Hunters,
renowned for their mastery over wielding their magic
energy, felt their innards tumble.
“Woo-wuoop…”
“Are you alright?”
“I, I’m fine.”
The cameraman was only a rank A, but he still tried his best
to suppress the contents of his stomach from rising up. He
was even experiencing vertigo, too.
‘Woo-wook….’
Even then – even as his complexion paled greatly, he could

still maintain his smile all because….
Slam! Slam!! Slam!!!

‘How can a lone Hunter do that against such a monster….?’
….Because, he saw a ray of hope.
Kwa-boooooom!!
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo might be getting wounded from that

exchange, but the outer shell of the ant king was definitely
being broken as well.
Chapter 121
The ant king quickly sensed the ‘changes’ taking place on

the body that it felt so proud of.
Crack.
Crack….
Its outer skin, most likely tougher and hardier than any
known metal on this planet, began developing cracks all
over the place. On the other hand, the enemy was easily
withstanding the ant king’s attacks.
‘It can’t be.’
An impossible hypothesis quickly entered the ant king’s

head.
‘I… I’m losing out on physical strength?!’
Not only that, to a human less than half its size?
But, right at that moment….
CRACK.
It realised that the fresh wound on its waist from that

powerful hit felt ‘wrong’. Even the sound coming from there
was not too good to hear.
The exoskeleton lacked pain receptors, so the ant king had
to divert its attention for the briefest of moments to confirm
the status of its shell down there.
Sneak.
The result was rather shocking to behold.
‘….It’s cracked open!’
The small crack that was no more than just a nick had
spread out to everywhere and was growing larger and larger.
It was the same thing as a warning sign, telling the creature
that there wasn’t a lot of time left.
The ant king quickly turned its head around. However, even
if it was only for a brief moment, Jin-Woo wasn’t some
amateur who’d miss this golden opportunity.
Ka-boom!!
The king’s face spun to its side.
‘…..??’
The ant king staggered unsteadily for a second or two from

the ridiculous impact force that ignored the ant king’s
forged steel-like shell on its face.
It managed to regain its balance before it took a step back,

but by then, the follow-up punch was already closing in from
below.
KWAHNG!!
The ant king’s chin shot upwards.
‘How dare a human, who’s inferior than a bug…!!’

While its head still pointing up at the ceiling, the ant king
shot a glare full of murderous rage down below.
The power this human possessed – it was indeed great.

However, unlike this human, who only had his physical
strength to fall back on, the ant king possessed a variety of
other powerful means at its disposal.
Such as….
The ant king’s head snapped back down, and at the same
time, it fired a poison needle out of its mouth. A tip coated in
deadly poison attached to the tongue-like tentacle shot out
like a bullet.
It was an unavoidable attack aimed at the enemy’s face in

this point-blank range.
Swish-!
The human deftly tilted his head out of the way to dodge the
needle, but a smile still crept up on the face of the ant king
as the result of its attack became clear. The needle still
managed to scratch the human’s cheek and left a small
wound there.
‘It’s done!’
That alone was more than enough.
Once, the ant king devoured a sea snail and somewhat

coincidentally, absorbed a skill called ‘Paralysis Poison’.
One of the most fatal poisons secreted by the known

lifeforms in this world had been transformed into an even
more deadly substance within the ant king’s body after it
became a concentrated mix that contained the magical
energy of the host creature.
It was indeed the worst poison imaginable, evolved forcibly

by the skill, ‘Gluttony’.
‘You’ve really given me so much trouble, you human

b*stard.’
Even the slightest scratch would result in complete paralysis

in one’s nervous system within seconds; the victims would
lose all sensations in their bodies and lose control of
themselves.
The only thing remaining would be to systematically destroy

the resistance-less enemy.
“….?”
As if the poison was doing its thing, the human formed a

flustered expression.
“This is the power of the true king!”
The ant king smiled widely and smacked the human’s face.
However….
Kwahng!!
The human raised his left hand and blocked it.
‘…..??’
The question of how he was still able to move lasted only for
a second.
Ka-booooom!!
The human’s right fist flew in from the other side and struck
the ant king so hard that the monster was shoved down to
the ground rather unceremoniously.
“Kiiiehk!!”
For the first time ever, a pained yelp shot out from the king’s
mouth.
Tti-ring.
Jin-Woo confirmed the System message popping up in his

view as that familiar mechanical beep rang out.
[Detoxification has been completed.]
‘I was wondering why it was celebrating all alone, but huh, is

this why?’
Maybe that was the case because, for some reason, he could
sense that the ant king showed much more panic when he
moved without a problem just now.
What a mystifying thing this was.
He wasn’t talking about the all-powerful Buff getting rid of

the poison, no, but the fact that he could actually sense the
insect-like monster’s emotions.
Before he had realised it, he could sense what other

monsters were feeling about.
‘Wait, was it from around the time I fought those High Orcs?’
Back then, he thought that he was able to decipher what

those creatures were feeling by looking at their facial
expressions and their gestures. However, that ant monster
wasn’t even what you’d classify as a humanoid creature.
Indeed, that thing had no other facial expressions other than

crumpling it in anger.
‘Is this because of my Perception?’
Just as his Stat values had all increased by so much lately,

his Perception Stat also had increased by a lot, too. It was
possible that some other unknown, hidden abilities to his
Stats were unlocked when they went past a certain
threshold.
However….
‘….Now isn’t the time to think about that, is it?’
Indeed, his priority lay with killing this thing and getting out
of this place. Jin-Woo sprinted towards the ant king trying to
push itself off from the ground.
‘…..!!’
He could definitely feel the ant king’s nervousness on his

skin now. His continued pounding resulted in the creature’s
exoskeleton almost being cracked open. Just a little bit more
now!
He thought like so and closed the distance in the blink of an

eye, before jumping up slightly in the air. And then, he
kicked down.
Kwa-boom!!
However, the ant king had already vanished from the spot.
Only the poor ground caved in from the impact.
“Where did it go?!”
“It disappeared??”
While the other Hunters hurriedly searched for the ant king,
Jin-Woo calmly looked above him. The monster was flying in
the air using its wings.
‘Well, I guess this is convenient.’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself.
What with him being able to sense the monster’s fluctuating

emotions, searching for its presence had become a step
easier now. The emotion of confusion felt had changed to
fear, before it changed once more to happiness.
The ant king had changed its strategy now.
‘If that human’s speciality is his strength, then there’s no

need to face him head-on.’
The ant king’s true weapon was its speed. Even that foolish
human who lied and said he was the king of humans,
couldn’t even react to the ant king’s movements and lost his
neck.
From the onset, the reason why the creature wanted to use
physical strength to suppress the human was a type of
desire to show off its kingly powers.
But, right now, the ant king had decided to throw away that
selfish reasoning and focus all of its being in this battle from
now on.
Shushushuk….
The enlarged body reverted back to its original size, while
the claws in its hands grew even longer and sharper, like
well-honed blades.
‘Its claws….’
Jin-Woo studied the changes taking place in the ant king

and realised that the creature would change how it attacked
from here onwards.
Shururuk….
Two shortswords he summoned from the Inventory landed in

Jin-Woo’s hands.
Swiiiish-!!
The airborne ant king shot down towards Jin-Woo. Its speed
was incomparable to only a minute ago.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo focused his senses.
Time slowed down, and every single movement the monster

made entered his vision. In all honesty, Jin-Woo felt most
confident when it came down to the contest of speed. He
easily deflected the ant king’s claw slashing down from
above with his shortsword.
The follow-up attacks from the ant king landing on the

ground, as well as from Jin-Woo spinning around, clashed
violently.
Clang!! Claaaang!! Clang!!
As they exchanged offence and defence countless times, the

ant king was now completely beset with unbridled shock.
‘How can this be?!’
The enemy was actually matching its speed. No, it wasn’t

only that – as the seconds ticked by, his movement speed
was actually picking up as if his muscles had finally
loosened up sufficiently enough.
‘How… How can such a….’
The ant king had been pushed back during the contest of
raw strength, and now it was also being gradually pushed
back in the contest of speed, too.
One step, another step….
As the number of retreating steps taken increased, so did

the wounds appearing on the exoskeleton. The greater the
monster’s retreating distance became, the more confident
Jin-Woo grew.
‘I can finish this.’
The mental shock this monster, this so-called ant king felt
right now, it was being transmitted in full to Jin-Woo. Right
now, that monster was greatly shaken up.
Compared to the Demon King Baran, this monster’s strength,

speed, and abilities fell some ways behind. No, maybe, it
was on the same level as the dead Demon King, or even
exceeded it in some regards.
Unfortunately, the current Jin-Woo wasn’t the same as the

Jin-Woo of back then.
Indeed, he had stepped up into a far higher realm with the

rewards he had received after completing the Demon’s
Castle dungeon.
‘Here’s the fruit of all my labours.’
Jin-Woo got to fully experience just how much his Stats had
grown through this particular opponent. Along with the
satisfaction derived from knowing that his Stats had been
greatly enhanced now, even more stirring emotions welled
up from deep inside his chest.
When the ant king took another step back, Jin-Woo took two
steps forward. And then…
‘Vital Spot Targetting!’
Jin-Woo’s skill stabbed straight into the ant king’s torso.
The ‘Vital Points Targetting’ was a skill that inflicted

additional damage if he had managed to stab the enemy’s
weak spots. With the monster’s exoskeleton broken in
several places, it was not an exaggeration to say that the
creature’s entire body was now the so-called weak spot.
Pa-ba-bak!!
Dozens of ‘Vital Points Targetting’ landed on the hapless

monster.
[‘Skill: Vital Points Targetting’ will now be upgraded to the

ultimate version, ‘Skill: Violent Slash’.]
‘….Violent Slash?’
Having unlocked a new skill, Jin-Woo promptly used it.
It was then, his shortswords immediately sought out all of

the ant king’s openings and, literally in the blink of an eye,
slashed out dozens of times.
Tadadadadada!!
“Kiiiieeeehhckkk?!”
The ant king screamed out.
As the creature writhed around in pain, Jin-Woo swung his

shortsword once more and sliced off its arm.
Slice.
The monster’s long, black-coloured arm fell to the ground

with a dull thud.
“Kiiehhk!”
By now, the ant king lost all semblance of pride or desire for
revenge, and hurriedly fled to the air. Its instinctive desire to
survive overruled everything. Unfortunately for it, Jin-Woo
didn’t allow for one moment of respite.
Sensing the approach of another being, the ant king took a

look behind.
‘A human… is flying?!’
Jin-Woo flung himself up using the ‘Ruler’s Reach’ skill and

proceeded to cut off one of the ant king’s wings.
Plop!
The ant king crash-landed in an unsightly manner. During

that short time of its fall, the ant king constantly thought
about a way to escape from this incredibly dangerous
predicament, even though confusion and fear threatened to
paralyse it.
‘I, I need to come up with something to overwhelm the

enemy!’
Physical strength, speed, and even its hidden trump card,
‘poison’ all failed to work. It couldn’t come up with anything.
Did it not possess anything that was better than what that
human possessed?
Just before the despair set in, the ant king finally arrived at
the right answer. It recalled the one thing that it held an
advantage in over the enemy.
And that would be…. the headcount.
There was only one enemy. But the ant king possessed
thousands of soldiers. Indeed, didn’t it have brave warriors
waiting for its orders by the entrance of the chamber right
this moment?
The ant king staggered back to its feet, before pointing at

Jin-Woo with its one remaining arm.
“Kiiiieeeehhhkk-!!”
As if they were waiting for that rage-filled screech, the

waves upon waves of ants began flooding into the chamber.
‘Take this, human!!’
“Kiiieeehhk!!”
The king continued to screech out. It was to restore its

crushed pride, and also to rouse the fighting spirit of its
countless soldiers, as well. And so, as it confidently glared at
the impudent human….
“…?”
From that side, a black ‘wave’ was rushing out now.

‘Go!’
Jin-Woo issued an order to his Shadow Soldiers.
The ‘Sovereign’s Territory’ he had activated prior to the

battle was still active. The Shadow Soldiers, enhanced a step
further by this skill, marched towards the ants at a
frightening speed.
Dududududu….!!
The loud footsteps reverberated throughout the ant tunnel.
‘And then…. You come out, too.’
Finally, Jin-Woo summoned Fangs out, as well.
As if it was feeling sheepish for being summoned all alone,

Fangs looked around himself and scratched the back of his
head. Jin-Woo handed over the Bead of Avarice and warned
him in no uncertain terms.
“Aim only at the ants. Only at them. If even a single lick of

flames land on the humans sitting over there, I will never
summon you out ever again.”
Fangs enthusiastically nodded his head as if he was

confident of doing exactly that.
Soon, Fangs grew super-large with the ‘Song of the Giant’

and spewed out that enormous pillar of flames.
Kuwaaaaaaahhhh-!!!
Although he had seen that plenty enough times by now, Jin-

Woo couldn’t help but feel impressed by the sight
regardless.
‘It’s kinda like his flame pillar is getting bigger every day,
isn’t it?’
Was it because his level was also rising up?
Only Jin-Woo could come up with such a reaction since he

had seen this spectacle before, but well, other people were
thinking of entirely different things.
The Hunters hiding in the far corner holding their breaths

while witnessing the battle between Jin-Woo and the ant
king could only gasp out in pure astonishment at the
emergence of this new ‘monster’.
A rather severe reaction also came out from their midst, too.
“T-that is his summoned creature?! What?! That’s a

summon?!”
Im Tae-Gyu pointed at Fangs and raised his voice.
As for the other Hunters, no one could respond to him as

their jaws were still resting on the ground at that moment.
However, everyone was thinking of roughly the same thing.
How could that thing be classified as a mere summon??
From the way it looked, or the powers it possessed, that

thing no longer looked like a simple summoned creature, but
a demon king that had descended to this earth.
Whatever the case may have been, that totally nonsensical

pillar of flames roasted the swarm of ants like there was no
tomorrow.
The ant king began shuddering once more.
‘These… These are that human’s soldiers….??’

Less than one minute later, hundreds of the ant king’s
soldiers were evaporated into ash and dust. It wasn’t some
metaphor, either. The ant monsters coming into contact with
that strange pillar of flames really did evaporate where they
stood.
For the first time ever….
The ant king felt true terror towards another being for the
first time in its life.
It also sensed an unscalable wall. The ant king finally

learned that there was an enemy that couldn’t be overcome,
regardless of what power it tried to use.
This was a complete defeat, in every sense of the word.
But, how could such a thing be…?
‘I was born to fight against the strong humans, so why….’
That was its sole calling. It hurried with its growth for that
purpose. It even absorbed human’s powers in order to
facilitate that goal.
But to think, it still couldn’t win against this one human….
The ant king began shivering and turned around to run. It

just had to run away far, far away from this human. At least
in this very moment, the thoughts of its glorious kingdom
and its soldiers had completely disappeared from the ant
king’s head.
Using the healing skill taken from one of the dead humans,
the ant king quickly regenerated its lost wing and took to
the air again.
‘Even if it’s only a little bit further away…..’
But, it happened then.
Khu-woong!
Out of the blue, a powerful force pushed it down and planted

the ant king flat on the ground.
“Kiiieeehk!!”
It spat out a mouthful of bodily fluid.
Having utilised the skill ‘Ruler’s Reach’ like a flyswatter, Jin-

Woo quickly walked over to where the downed ant king was.
‘I can’t let this guy escape, obviously.’
It was a strong monster. He wanted to turn it into his Shadow

Soldier no matter what. But, in order to do that….
‘Killing it comes first.’
After discovering Jin-Woo approaching it, the look of sheer

terror filled up on the face of the ant king, so much so that
the creature looked almost pitiful to the onlookers.
“Kii, kiieeehck!!”
In the end, the ant king began crawling on the ground to get
away from him. That arrogant, dignified appearance it
displayed back when it proceeded to toy around with the
Korean Hunters – it was now long, long gone.
“Now you look like a proper insect.”
Jin-Woo closed in quickly, took aim at the back of the ant

king, and activated his skill, ‘Vital Points Targetting’ – no,
‘Violent Slash’.
That brought up the message window.
Tti-ring!
[You have killed your enemy.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
‘Niiice!’
Jin-Woo clenched his fist. But his celebrations lasted only for
a short while.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
He quickly turned around after Baek Yun-Ho called out to

him, and found the latter’s complexion to be extremely poor.
Jin-Woo quickly ran over to him.
Other Hunters rejoicing at the defeat of the ant king stopped

and shifted their gazes over to Baek Yun-Ho, as well.
Meanwhile, Baek Yun-Ho continued to speak to Jin-Woo.
“Hunter Cha Hae-In is….”
Just as his unfinished sentence implied, Cha Hae-In’s vitality

had declined so much that it was hard to even sense it now.
The situation had deteriorated even further than before.
Jin-Woo’s expression quickly hardened.
Time had almost run out.

Even if he rode on Kaisel, just when would he arrive in his
destination and just how long would he take to find a Healer
to heal her?
‘I need another way….’
After some brief pondering, Jin-Woo came up with a method

to save Cha Hae-In.
He finished checking her complexion and stood back up. He

then turned towards the cameraman.
“Can you switch off the camera for a minute or two?”

Chapter 122
“Excuse me? The camera?”
“Yes.”
The cameraman looked at Jin-Woo with a flustered

expression. But, Jin-Woo’s face was solemn, deeply serious,
and unmoving.
“But, why the camera, all of a sudden…?”
Jin-Woo remained silent at the flustered cameraman’s

question.
“….”
The cameraman couldn’t come to a decision here. Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo was indeed his saviour. He’d gladly heed that
man’s request, especially when he was also saving the lives
of others here, too.
‘However, to ask me to switch the camera off….’
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every South

Korean citizen must be watching this broadcast, right now.
As a broadcaster, he found it hard to press the ‘off’ button
on his camera under the current situation.
When he began hesitating like that, Jin-Woo chose to not

waste any more time, and spoke up.
“If you don’t, I’ll just break it.”
Hearing Jin-Woo’s icy tone of voice, the cameraman flinched

grandly. If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo decided to break the
camera, then would the combined efforts of the Hunters
present here even be enough to stop him?
The ‘why’ no longer mattered as he was left with no choice

in the matter anymore.
“I-I understand. Hold on.”
The cameraman removed the head-mounted camera and

switched the device off. After confirming the ‘power’ light of
the camera was gone, Jin-Woo took Cha Hae-In back from
Baek Yun-Ho.
‘I didn’t want to scare the cameraman, but….’
It couldn’t be helped if he wanted to save Cha Hae-In.
While holding her, Jin-Woo quickly scanned his vicinity. He

then took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes.
‘What is he trying to do now?’
The attention of the Hunters were all gathered on him now.

Soon, he opened his eyes. Finding the location of what he
was searching for, Jin-Woo suddenly turned around and
headed deeper into the ant tunnel.
His steps were brisk, but he never broke into a full-blown

sprint in consideration of Cha Hae-In’s current condition.
Others dazedly stared at his back, before quickly recovering
their wits to run after him.
Finally, Jin-Woo came to a stop and cautiously put Cha Hae-
In down. He then began removing the pile of ant corpses
from around her.
“Heok!!”
Discovering something rather unexpected, the cameraman

was the first one to gasp out in surprise.
“Mm….”
Other Hunters also let a stunned gasp to leak out from their
mouths. Because, the cold, headless body of Min Byung-Gu
was there. It was a gruesome sight to behold, where there
was literally nothing above his neck area.
Only then did they venture to guess why Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo demanded for the camera to be cut off. No one out
there would want to witness that horrible scene, after all.
“Keuk.”
The closest person to Min Byung-Gu out of everyone present

here, Baek Yun-Ho, squeezed his eyes shut and turned his
head away. But then…
‘Wait a minute…’
He suddenly thought of something.
‘How did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo find where Byung-Gu was

among all these dead monsters?’
The answer arrived soon enough in his mind.
Without the aid of a special skill, such a thing wouldn’t have

been possible. The magic energy emission coming from
humans and monsters were minutely different, but Jin-Woo
was able to differentiate between the two and managed to
locate Min Byung-Gu’s corpse before the emission from him
completely dissipated.
If true, then that could only be described as an astonishing

sensory perception. Such a task would be impossible even
for Baek Yun-Ho’s ‘Eyes of the Beast’, which was supposed to
be a specialised trait meant for that kind of job.
After his thoughts reached up to this point, Baek Yun-Ho

shifted his head back in the direction of Jin-Woo. Even at the
risk of the final appearance of Byung-Gu being deeply
etched in his nightmares, Baek Yun-Ho wanted to witness
with his own two eyes just what would happen next.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…. Just what are you trying to do?’
Cold sweat drops formed on his forehead as he alternated

his gaze between Jin-Woo, Min Byung-Gu, and Cha Hae-In.
In the meantime, Jin-Woo took a closer look at the status of

Min Byung-Gu. The black smokes were rising up from the
corpse. Meaning, it was possible to perform the ‘Shadow
Extraction’ on it.
And, sure enough….
Tti-ring.
[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected

target.]
The familiar mechanical beep and the System’s message

informed him in such a ‘friendly’ way that what he wanted to
do was, well, doable.
Of course, Jin-Woo was cognisant of the fact that Hunter Min
Byung-Gu could be turned into a Shadow Soldier the
moment he heard of the latter meeting an unfortunate fate.
Only that he didn’t feel like doing it.
To turn a blameless guy into an undead and use him as a

soldier…. Even if the corpse belonged to a rank S Hunter,
he’d still reject the idea outright. That was not something a
human being should do. However…
Jin-Woo stared at Cha Hae-In’s gradually paling face.
‘….This is the best way.’
What if, in a situation where every second counted, he could

entrust the gravely injured to the best Healer in South
Korea? What was there to even think about here?
If the decision was left up to Min Byung-Gu himself, he’d

have made the same call 100 times out of 100. Jin-Woo
formed a solemn expression and issued an order to the
shadow.
“Rise up.”
However, the end result was different from what he

expected.
Tti-ring!
[The Shadow Extraction has failed.]
Confusion and anxiety began entering Jin-Woo’s expression.
Was this because the skill level was too low compared to the
target’s Stat values? Or, was it because he wasn’t really
feeling it with this particular Shadow Extraction?
Jin-Woo quickly shook off all distracting thoughts. And then,
spoke up once more, his voice now containing his will.
“Rise up.”
The desirable changes took place, then.
Uaaaaahhhh—!
A low, heavy sound that could be described as either a

victorious roar or a scream resounded out from the distant
somewhere, and an eerie wind suddenly swept past
everyone. The eyes of the Hunters were shot open in shock
as the creeping chill crawled down their spines.
“Oh, my god!!”
“That, isn’t that…?!”
From Min Byung-Gu’s shadow, a black hand rose up. As if it

didn’t want to go back inside the shadow again, the black
hand powerfully grabbed the ground. And then, it began
pulling itself out from the darkness.
‘How, how can this be?!’
Baek Yun-Ho felt as if his heart would explode from what he

was seeing right now. Other people might not see it, but his
eyes clearly captured everything.
Min Byung-Gu’s magic energy rising up from his shadow was

slowly solidifying into the shape of a person. More
specifically, a soldier decked out in jet-black armour.
And soon, the so-called ‘summoned’ creature finally

revealed itself.
“….”
The Hunters were rendered utterly speechless and dazedly
stared at the new summoned creature of Jin-Woo. And from
this creature, they could sense the kind of magical energy
that could only be felt from a top-ranked Hunter.
‘No, wait a minute…?’
The quick-witted Choi Jong-In flinched grandly in realisation

as his brows shot up.
As everyone watched with bated breaths, Jin-Woo’s calm

eyes were studying the shadow of Min Byung-Gu. When
their gazes met, the new Shadow Soldier nodded his head.
The moment a shadow was transformed into one of his

soldiers, it would immediately form a mental link with Jin-
Woo. They would know what their sovereign wanted from
them. Without needing any further orders, Min Byung-Gu’s
shadow knelt down and began casting healing magic on Cha
Hae-In.
Wuuoonngg…
As soon as the warm rays of light escaped from the Shadow

Soldier’s hands, Cha Hae-In’s pale complexion began
recovering gradually. This was the top level healing magic at
work.
‘I knew it!!’
Choi Jung-Hoon was properly freaking out now. He was

completely sure of his guesses, now that he had seen those
lights heal Cha Hae-In. The identity of that black ‘soldier’
was none other than Min Byung-Gu!
By then, other Hunters were also beginning to realise what

was going on here.
Mah Dong-Wook hadn’t been able to shut his slack jaw from
the moment that black hand rose up from Min Byung-Gu’s
shadow, but now, he was able to collect himself enough to
finally express his astonishment.
“Instructor Seong, you… weren’t an ordinary Summoner, I

see.”
Jin-Woo neither agreed or denied it.
However, just what kind of people were they, to begin with?

Every single one of them was an excellent Hunter who each
represented the largest Guilds in South Korea. They didn’t
need to hear a confirmation to understand the gist of it.
“By any chance… Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, you can utilise

the powers of the deceased?”
Choi Jong-In asked with a nervous tension writ large on his

face.
Jin-Woo simply nodded his head, once. Now that he found

himself here, there was no more reason to hide his powers,
nor did he want to mask it with lies, either.
‘Well, it’s not like these folks will fall for some random lies I
cook up on the spot, anyway.’
Actually, he felt as if a load was taken off his shoulders now

that he had revealed his powers to someone else.
Other people might fear it, but to Jin-Woo, he’d feel eternally
grateful towards this power for helping him get to where he
was. He was proud of the power of the Shadow Sovereign.
Seeing that confident look on Jin-Woo’s face, other Hunters

began to fear the extent of his powers.
‘He can summon creatures using the powers of the
deceased??’
‘Wouldn’t he become stronger and stronger as the battle

becomes fiercer? What a scary ability this is….’
‘I don’t even know what to say anymore.’
To these Hunters, having bore witness to Jin-Woo’s ability

today, this revelation left different types of impressions.
However, Baek Yun-Ho was privy to one more piece of secret

info that others didn’t know.
‘Not only can his own powers continue to grow stronger, but
he can also even control his vanquished enemies as his own
summoned creatures. Wouldn’t that mean…..’
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s current level of power had already

reached an unfathomable degree. But when Baek Yun-Ho
thought about the kind of strength the youth would possess
in the future, his entire body began shuddering
uncontrollably.
Suddenly, the cameraman spoke up as if he remembered

something just then.
“Ah! Then the reason why you requested the camera to be

turned off was because….”
This power was capable of making the nation’s top Hunters

scared. Anyone could’ve easily guessed the reason why Jin-
Woo didn’t want to reveal such a power to the rest of the
country.
It was around then that Min Byung-Gu’s shadow stood back

up. The treatment process must’ve been finished, because
there was a hint of crimson colour gently glowing on Hunter
Cha Hae-In’s face.
‘Whew-woo….’
After confirming her status, Jin-Woo sighed out in relief.

Although she was still unconscious, her breathing and her
heartbeat had returned to normal. As a matter of fact, her
wounds were completely healed now.
Jin-Woo patted the shoulder of Min Byung-Gu’s shadow. That

was the gesture of appreciation for the job well done.
‘……’
Jin-Woo guessed what kind of person Min Byung-Gu must’ve

been when he was still alive, from the gentle eyes of the
Shadow Soldier looking back at him.
Jin-Woo slowly took his hand away from the shoulder, and
then…
‘Extraction cancellation.’
With a slight smile on his lips, he let the shadow return to

the abyss.
No matter what, he didn’t possess the right to lord over this

man as one of his soldiers, when Min Byung-Gu even
sacrificed his life to fight against the monster threats.
Indeed, he thought that such an act was not fitting for a
fallen hero.
‘…Let’s get out of here.’
Putting aside the slight regret in his heart, Jin-Woo picked up

Cha Hae-In from the ground.
After losing their two leaders – the queen and the king – the
ant monsters scattered and fled to the ends of the island in
order to hide from the Shadow Soldiers. The ant tunnel, once
filled to the brim with ants, was now completely empty.
Jin-Woo took several steps forward before looking behind

him to speak to other Hunters.
“Let’s get going.”
Their bodies and physical fatigue might have been

recovered to some extent from the potions they ingested,
but their mental fatigue had almost reached a breaking
point by now. So, when they heard his suggestion, the
expressions of the Hunters brightened up considerably.
It was now finally over.
Their smile-filled faces perfectly expressed their current

emotions.
After they safely got out from the ant tunnel, they found a
helicopter hovering in the air, having arrived in their
location just now with an exquisite sense of timing.
“There they are! Hunters are coming out!”
“Yes!! Well done!”
The helicopter carefully descended and landed on the

ground after its occupants discovered the exact location of
the Hunters. The tired Hunters entered the vehicle one by
one until only two people remained.
They were Jin-Woo and Baek Yun-Ho.

Jin-Woo was standing closer to the helicopter. He carefully
handed Cha Hae-In over to Baek Yun-Ho.
“What are you doing, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“I still have some unfinished business to take care of on this

island.”
Hearing that, Baek Yun-Ho could only smirk softly.
There were still plenty of ant monsters that had escaped

death roaming around on the Jeju Island. If some other
people said that they wanted to remain here, then Baek Yun-
Ho would’ve questioned their sanity, but the man in front of
his eyes was definitely not included in that group.
To fight monsters, you needed a monster.
Baek Yun-Ho thought that he wouldn’t get surprised

anymore regardless of what Jin-Woo was planning to do on
this island.
“Excuse me.”
Before leaving the island, Baek Yun-Ho threw out one last
question.
“Byung-Gu…. No, wait. What will happen to the summoned

creature that came out from Byung-Gu? Will he… stay as
your soldier and continue to fight on?”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
“I’ve cancelled the summoning. It won’t be possible to see

him again.”
Baek Yun-Ho nodded his head and formed a content smile.

“That’s a relief.”
“Pardon?”
“That guy, he… really hated fighting, you know? I’m sure
that he’s thanking you right now, wherever he is.”
And so, the six warriors and one cameraman who had
bravely fought on finally left the island of Jeju.
Their fight was over. However, it was merely another

beginning for Jin-Woo.
‘I need only one more level up to hit 100.’
He’d get there no problem, considering the number of

remaining monsters on this island. And besides, there were
plenty of shadows waiting to be extracted back inside the
ant tunnel, as well.
So, then – should he get started now?
‘First of all, I should take care of the ants that had run
away….’
Jin-Woo formed a deep smile and summoned Kaisel out.
Inside the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo switched the

giant TV screen off, his expression one of deep sorrow and
defeat. A monster strong enough to instantly annihilate ten
of the best Hunters from Japan, was killed off by a single
Hunter from South Korea.
‘How come, why, what is….?’

Matsumoto Shigeo’s trembling hands began tearing at what
little hair remained on the side of his head.
A completely illogical event had unfolded in front of his eyes

just now.
Thanks to that, Japan’s total combat potential had declined

by over half, and even his position as the Association
President was under threat now. If the Koreans also failed,
then he might have tried to come up with some vague
excuses to gloss over this whole thing, and then ask the
international community for their help, but….
Not only had the Koreans managed to kill the ant queen,
they even escaped safely from the clutches of the thousands
of ant monsters as well as that mutated freak of an ant, too.
Seong Jin-Woo.
That one Hunter was responsible for smashing everything

apart.
‘Seong Jin-Woo… Seong Jin-Woo…..’
Inexplicably, the contents of the phone call he shared with

Goto Ryuji while the latter was still in Korea played back in
his mind.
[“In South Korea…. There’s an incredible Hunter in South

Korea.”]
[“More than you?”]
[“More than likely, sir.”]
[“…..”]
[“I think there’s a need to modify our plan a little bit, sir.”]
If only.
If only he paid attention to what Goto Ryuji was saying back

then.
Wasn’t he the most knowledgeable person when it came to

understanding the differences of strength in Hunters? For
the first time ever, such a man had assessed a Korean
Hunter as “incredible”, yet why did he…..
‘Why was I so arrogant….?’
If they had completely analysed the capabilities of Seong

Jin-Woo beforehand, they might have cooperated with the
Koreans in good faith, and resolved everything without a
single problem.
No, wait. Even if the Japanese didn’t do anything, the

Koreans might have stepped forward themselves to take
care of the problem, instead.
But then, he ended up digging his own grave just because

he resorted to underhanded schemes.
“A-Association President? Sir?”
Seeing how wane his face had become, the Association

employee next to him began asking in a worried voice.
However, Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t bother to raise his head
and simply waved his hand to dismiss the employee.
The employee bowed his head and left the office as if he was
running away.
Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression crumpled unsightly.
‘There can only be one way out of this for me.’

And that would be to raise the Japanese Association back on
its feet, and make it stronger than ever before. In order to do
so, he needed just one man.
‘Seong Jin-Woo….’
No matter what, he must reel that man in. With Goto Ryuji
dying in vain like that, there was only one way to revitalise
the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
The entirety of Korea’s citizens would have witnessed live

the grand feats of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo so it would not be
easy, but well, there was already precedence of a top Hunter
abandoning South Korea, which meant there was still hope.
‘What should I do to reel Hunter Seong Jin-Woo over to this

side?’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s brain, momentarily frozen from despair,

began spinning rapidly again.
The Eastern United States.
Ringgg…. Ringgg…. Ringgg….
The phone rang endlessly off the hook.
Unable to endure that racket any longer, David Brennan

angrily snatched at the receiver.
‘Which insane motherf*cker is calling me at this time of the

night?!’
He was the director of the most powerful organisation in the

States, the Hunter Bureau. Promising himself to find the son
of a b*tch regardless of the method or cost and throw him in
a jail cell if this turned out to be a prank call, he answered
the call in a testy voice.
Click.
“Who is this?”
“Director, it’s me.”
“Deputy….?”
David Brennan’s sleep flew away the moment he heard that

familiar voice and he raised his torso up.
“It’s already pretty late. What’s the matter?”
“There’s a video you must see. Right now.”
“A video…?”
When he checked his mobile phone, there were seven

missed calls as well as a video file. It seemed that he missed
them all because he had muted the phone before going to
bed.
“I understand. I’ll give you a call after watching the clip.”
“No need, director.”
“…..What do you mean by that?”
“I’m already in front of your house, sir.”
“What?”
David Brennan jumped up from the bed and took a look at

the alarm sitting on the bedside bureau. It said ’04:12 AM’.
He discarded the phone on the bed and ran towards the
bedroom window to take a look, and indeed, the deputy
director was waiting for him outside the front of the house
with his car parked right there. Once their gazes met, the
deputy director nodded his greeting.
David Brennan stared back somewhat dumbfounded, his

head tilting to the side, before turning around.
‘What’s going on?’
Sensing that something big must’ve happened, he picked

his phone up, the video clip still waiting to be played on the
device.
Chapter 123
The video clip finally finished playing on the phone.
“….”
The footage of a raid taking place in a small nation to the Far

East left a pretty hefty mental shock to David Brennan, the
director of America’s Hunter Bureau.
“What do you think?”
The deputy director cautiously asked his boss. And the

director was quick with his reply.
“Never mind what I think, aren’t you here in these early

hours because you already know what I’m about to say? Am
I right?”
That was indeed true.
It was already an uncommon occurrence for the director of

the mighty Hunter Bureau and his deputy to have a meeting
at four in the morning, but then, their meeting place also
happened to be the kitchen of the director’s private
residence, as well.
A heavy silence descended between two men sitting

opposite side of the dining table.
Puff, puff….
The director replayed the video one more time as he sucked
on his cigarette. He was still getting shocked by what he was
watching. Especially when he got to the part where the
Hunter summoned out black ‘soldiers’ to sweep away the
swarm of ants, the director’s entire body shuddered
noticeably.
‘…….’
What could anyone say after viewing this crazy video?
And so, as he continued sucking on another cigarette in

silence….
The director’s wife came down from the upstairs bedroom in

search of her missing husband, and called out his name after
spotting the light in the kitchen.
“Dave? Is everything alright?”
When the director wordlessly gestured with his hand, the

wife looked at him worriedly for a moment or two before
going back to the bedroom.
Exactly three cigarettes later, the director quietly opened his

mouth.
“What a waste of talent to be confined in a small country

like South Korea.”
“I agree.”
“What do we know about him?”
The deputy director readily brought out a file containing all

the pertinent information related to Seong Jin-Woo. The
director scanned the files and formed a satisfied smile.
“Very good.”
It had been less than an hour since the raid came to an end
on the island of Jeju in the country far, far east, yet the
related data was already in his hands. Not only that, the file
contained everything from that Hunter’s type as well as his
close associates and relatives, too.
Now, this was the power of the United States, the Hunter
‘superpower’ in the world.
On the other side of the table, the deputy was smiling

inwardly to himself.
‘We got lucky on this one.’
Sure, the swiftness of the American intelligence network was

one thing, but luck played a big part, as well. To be more
precise, the ‘Seong Il-Hwan’ incident.
An existence that could either be a human or a monster in

disguise exited from a dungeon and claimed that he was a
Korean Hunter. The data compiled back then still remained
in the database of the Hunter Bureau.
In the current situation where no other nation even knew

what his name was – with the exception of South Korea, of
course – the Americans were able to get two steps ahead of
everyone else.
‘God bless America.’
Indeed, if this wasn’t the heavens helping them out, then

what was?
However, it wouldn’t do to get all worked up over a minor

lucky coincidence like this one. No, it all depended on the
abilities of the individuals involved when it came to turning
a lucky coincidence into a genuine opportunity.
The deputy formed a pretty serious expression.
“His father went missing in a Gate, but he still hasn’t

received any proper compensation until now.”
“H-mm….”
“And also, before he went through a Re-Awakening process,

he risked death countless times to pay for his mother’s
hospital fees.”
“….What an inconceivable tale that is.”
How could they treat the wife and the son of a hero this
badly, when he lost his life fighting against monsters all for
the sake of his nation? Such a thing was completely
unimaginable in the US.
“And well, this isn’t confirmed information, but…”
The director lifted his gaze off from the files. The deputy
took his time to build suspense and finally murmured out.
“Apparently, he hasn’t signed up with any Guilds yet.”
“…..!!”
Now that piece of news managed to perk up the director’s

ears even more. He closed the file with a sombre expression
on his face.
“This is a different matter altogether from Hwang Dong-Su’s

case.”
When that familiar name was mentioned, the glint in the
deputy’s eyes changed.
“Taking away two rank S Hunters from a single country….

That’d be akin to declaring that we are turning our backs on
that particular nation.”
South Korea and America had been allied nations for a very
long time. What the director was implying here was that the
impact of this matter would mushroom into something
rather substantial in the near future.
However, the deputy replied with a confident tone of voice.
“Even still….. Don’t you think he’s a talent worth all that
trouble?”
“…”
Of course.
The director couldn’t deny that. So, he answered with a

question, instead.
“Can you do it?”
The deputy answered with the exact same words he used

back during the Hwang Dong-Su’s case.
“I’ll do my best.”
Because of those four words, the deputy was able to quickly

climb the career ladder to get to where he was now. As for
the man that the deputy director had locked his sights on…
The United States of America already boasted two of the

most powerful Hunters in the world, the so-called ‘Special
Authority-ranks’ in their roster, but even then, the director
David Brennan wanted to naturalise that youth as an
American citizen.
The director placed his fourth cigarette of the morning in his

lips and spoke in a grave tone of voice.
“Regardless of what conditions he puts forth, you will bring

him over to this side.”
Jin-Woo rode on the back of Kaisel to hunt down and kill

every single ant monster his Shadow Soldiers missed the
first time around.
Kiieeehhk!!
Yet another ant fell after getting struck by the skill, Dagger
Throw. Jin-Woo didn’t bother to step down from Kaisel and
simply used the skill, Ruler’s Reach, to easily retrieve his
shortsword.
‘I must be pretty close to levelling up now.’
There weren’t that many ants left to be found on the island.

Jin-Woo really preferred that he’d get to level up by killing
the remaining ants in this place.
First of all, just a single level up would take him to level 100.
For Jin-Woo, who loved to see numbers ending in the
multiples of five, 100 was such a fantastic level that he
simply had to get there as soon as possible.
Since he hadn’t booked any Gates, once he leaves Jeju

Island he wouldn’t have any other avenues to earn
experience points for a while. As long as he didn’t get lucky
and another key to an instant dungeon popped out of the
random boxes, or a dungeon break occurred near where he
lived, of course.
‘Wait, it’s not cool to think of a dungeon break as being

lucky, is it.’
If a dungeon break occurred, then that meant one or more

teams had failed in their raids. So, to him, it was far more
preferable to get to level 100 in this place.
And, if there was another reason for doing so, then….
He ended up recalling a painful memory while trying to

extract Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s shadow.
The leader of the White Phantoms, Baruka.
After failing three times to extract his shadow, Jin-Woo

couldn’t convert him into his Shadow Soldier.
When he failed in his first attempt earlier in the day, his

heart fell to the pit of his stomach, as the thoughts of ‘Am I
going to have another episode like that’ filled his head.
‘Well, I did manage somehow to succeed on my second try,

but still…’
Wasn’t this the case of ‘A burnt child fears fire’?
There was no guarantee that the same thing as Baruka

wouldn’t happen later when trying to extract the ant king’s
shadow. That guy’s Stat values were so high that comparing
Hunter Min Byung-Gu to that monster was a time-wasting
gesture.
Even if it was by a small margin, Jin-Woo wanted to increase

his odds of successfully extracting that guy’s shadow by
raising his level. He was sure that, although there was only
one level difference, it would definitely help out his cause.
‘….Uh?’
After discovering something on the ground, Jin-Woo ordered

Kaisel to land.
Kiiahhk!
Kaisel flapped its wings and lightly landed on the ground.

Jin-Woo climbed down from his back and scanned his
surroundings.
‘It was around here….’
He rummaged through the tall grasses, before discovering

the corpses lying there hidden. A deep frown immediately
formed on his face. He had discovered the bodies of the
Japanese Hunters, lying here and there. There were several
with their heads missing, but there was also one that got
mangled beyond recognition, as well.
Jin-Woo took a closer look at the bodies.
‘Pretty strong magic energy….’
Without a doubt, these people were strong. They didn’t look

like they would die in this place in such a manner. The fact
that they did die so gruesomely could only mean that an
extremely powerful ‘something’ had paid them a visit.
‘Probably the handiwork of that mutated ant….’
He was unconvinced that something else was responsible for

this massacre. Well, when he was struck for the first time by
the ant king, his jaw stung pretty sharply, didn’t it? If it were
any other Hunters, they wouldn’t have been able to endure
it even once.
Jin-Woo looked around the ground while feeling somewhat

bitter, before his steps came to a halt on a certain spot.
‘This aura….’
Jin-Woo crouched down and took a closer look at the ground.

The soil here was all muddy and sticky from a prodigious
amount of blood having soaked the earth. A faint trace of
magical energy emanated from the wet ground. He had
encountered this magic energy emission once before.
‘…..Goto Ryuji.’
Jin-Woo searched his vicinity again. Goto’s magic energy

could still be felt, but his remains were nowhere to be seen.
Most likely, he had been completely devoured by the
mutated ant monster.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Jin-Woo could only tut to himself at the ultimately

meaningless death of Japan’s strongest Hunter, before
standing back up again. With excellent timing, the Shadow
Soldiers he dispatched to the all corners of the island
reported back to him that the remnants of the ant monsters
had been completely exterminated.
‘….In the end, I killed them all, huh.’
Every Korean citizen would 100 times out of 100 cry out in
elation from that news, but Jin-Woo could only lick his lower
lip in disappointment. Because, his level didn’t go up in the
end.
Now that there were no more monsters remaining, he figured
that the only thing left to do would be to go back inside the
ant tunnel to extract the shadows of the mutated ant and
the queen. But then….
….His steps came to an abrupt halt.
‘Wait a second… there are still monsters remaining?’
His extended senses picked up the presences of monsters

from nearby. Not only that, there were so many, too!
A smile quickly bloomed on Jin-Woo’s face to replace the

look of disappointment. He lightly jumped back up on Kaisel.
“Let’s go!”
Just as expected….
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened greatly as soon as he

stepped inside the nursery area. There were countless eggs
lining up the floor, pillars, and even the ceiling.
Seeing that there were wiggling movements from

underneath the semi-transparent shells, these things were
definitely monsters, too.
‘Not sure how much experience points I will get here, but…’
But then again, with this many monsters here, he was sure
of making up for the lacking amount of experience points.
Jin-Woo summoned out the Shadow Soldiers specialised in
wide-range attacks.
“Gather around.”
Fangs and three Magic Soldiers stood in line, according to
their grades.
Jin-Woo handed over the Bead of Avarice over to Fangs, and

studied each of the four soldiers in turn.
“You all understand what you need to do, right?”
The Magic Soldiers all nodded their heads in unison. Jin-Woo

pointed at the eggs.
“Begin.”
Right away, Fangs grew to an incredible height and spat out

the horrifying flames at the eggs. The other Magic Soldiers
finished chanting their magic and began chucking large
balls of flames here and there as well.
Kuwaaahahhh-!
KWABOOM!!
Boom!!
Eggs had no means of resisting, and in no time at all, began

to burn up and explode one by one.
Kiieehhhk!
Jin-Woo took a closer look at one of the dead ant larvae

leaning against the corner of the broken egg. He discovered
the corpse of an ant, near adulthood, just below the melted-
down shell of the larva. As it turned out, every single one of
them he saw sported a pair of wings, without exceptions.
‘If these things reached maturity and crossed the ocean with
that mutated ant in the lead, then….’
Even though the queen was successfully subjugated, both
South Korea and Japan would’ve suffered tremendous losses.
What a relief that he was able to stop that from becoming

reality.
BLAM!!
Boom!!
Jin-Woo noticed that his boys were breaking out in buckets

of sweat, and summoned the Demon King’s Longsword out
from the Inventory.
‘Should I have a go with this one?’
Every time he moved this cool-looking blue-coloured

longsword, arcs of electricity crackled up from the blade
itself. He had stored it inside the Inventory after defeating
the Demon King Baran back in the Demon’s Castle. There
was a reason why he brought this longsword out instead of
his main weapons, the daggers/shortswords.
….Because of the added magic attribute of the longsword.
Swish-!
When Jin-Woo energetically swung the sword….
Bzzzzz-!!!
Lightning crackled boisterously all over the place and

caused the blue-coloured storm to kick up.
‘Ohhh!’
A wide smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face.

Although he couldn’t recreate the destructive might or the
added ‘Stun’ effect as displayed by the Demon King, it was
still more than enough to burn these ant eggs, that’s for
sure.
‘Isn’t it too wasteful to leave inside the Inventory?’
Because he was already far too familiar with the daggers, he

would probably never use this sword again in the near
future, but still, he felt that this weapon was too good to be
left forgotten inside his Inventory.
And so…. just how long did he spend wrestling with these
eggs?
Eventually, he got to hear the familiar and very welcoming

mechanical beep.
Tti-ring.
[Level up!]
‘Finally!’
Jin-Woo cried out in elation. Inwardly, of course.
He immediately returned the Demon King’s Longsword back

inside the Inventory and headed straight to the ant queen’s
chamber, leaving the mop-up operation to his Shadow
Soldiers.
He found the mutated ant monster still lying dead on the

same spot. Jin-Woo stood next to it.
His heart was already pounding hard from his intense desire
to turn this mutated ant into his Shadow Soldier.
However….
He had learned that the power of concentration was
critically important during his attempts to extract Hunter
Min Byung-Gu’s shadow.
‘I gotta calm down.’
Gradually, Jin-Woo’s gaze grew colder, and his breathing

regained its usual calmness as well.
‘…..Okay, good.’
His condition was now back to its peak.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted lower to the ground. Thicker and

greatly more ominous black smoke compared to other
monsters were oozing out of the mutated ant’s corpse.
Was this because the creature was so extraordinarily strong?

So strong that Jin-Woo didn’t even know who to compare it
to?
While thinking like that, he calmly extended his hands out

towards the rising black smoke.
“Rise up.”
Chapter 124
Right at that moment….
The light within the ant queen’s chamber suddenly dimmed

and brightened back up over and over again, as if it was
being illuminated by a dying fluorescent light bulb.
Jin-Woo raised his head. The large ball of light that Choi
Jong-In floated up on the ceiling to help with the ant queen
raid was flickering noticeably now.
‘Is the magic about to come undone?’
At first, he absentmindedly thought like that.
However, it hadn’t even an hour since the Korean Hunters

stepped foot inside this chamber. So, how could the spell be
dissipating already? Not only that, wasn’t it a spell cast by a
rank S Mage so he and his colleagues could safely carry out
this potentially deadly raid?
There was no way such a thing could be true. In that case….
‘…..Could it be?’
Could the Shadow Extraction he performed on the mutated

ant be the cause? Just as this thought entered his mind….
Paht-!
The surroundings became completely dark.

He’d still be able to see around him thanks to his Perception
Stat if there had been a sliver, a trace of light coming in
from somewhere. But this all-encompassing darkness didn’t
even permit that.
It must’ve been a second or two later.
The darkness lingered on only for a briefest of brief moments

before receding away – to reveal the mutated ant standing
right in front of his eyes.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo flinched grandly and took a step back.
If it weren’t for the System message saying “Shadow

Extraction was a success” appearing almost at the same
time, he might have lashed out while thinking that the ant
had come back to life or some such.
“Whew…. That surprised me.”
Jin-Woo spat out a sigh of relief.
Now that he calmly took another look at the creature from a

step away, it sure did look a bit different from when it was
still alive. From its body, streams of black smoke were
continuously rising up.
‘So, this is that ant monster’s shadow….’
He couldn’t tell just how much of its original Stats had

changed, but at least, the ominous aura it gave off seemed
to have gone up a few levels. Jin-Woo stood before the ant’s
shadow. He could clearly feel its enormous magic energy
reserve.
The mutated ant becoming his soldier finally felt real to him
now that he could stand right before the creature and sense
its magical energy like this.
‘Hmm….’
He wanted to remain calm, but the corners of his lips

continued to curl upwards.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!
His heart was pounding away madly like a child who got his
hands on a toy he so badly wished to own.
Soon, the shadow’s information popped up in his view. Jin-

Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit as he read the info floating
above the shadow’s head.
[?? Lv.1]
Commander grade
Jin-Woo began clenching his fists tightly after confirming its

grade. A new one just made its appearance. Which could
only mean this guy possessed the kind of power that was on
another realm compared to his other soldiers.
‘Well, that’s obvious when considering its original abilities

while it was still alive….’
Just the name of the new grade alone implied that this
soldier was not your average, common soldier. This was the
fruit of his labour for having worked so hard to own this
shadow. It was then.
Shu-wook.
The shadow knelt down after meeting his gaze with Jin-
Woo’s. Without a doubt, the ‘absolute loyalty’ that affected
all the other Shadow Soldiers also applied to this guy, as
well.
‘Nice.’
Next stop, the ant queen.
Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile and turned around. But,

then….
“Oh, my king….”
Jin-Woo’s steps came to an abrupt halt after he heard that

voice coming from behind him. He never thought that he’d
got scared that easily, but at least in this moment, he did
feel like his heart had taken a nasty tumble down to the pit
of his stomach.
….Could it have been auditory hallucination?
Jin-Woo looked behind him. Even without doing that, he

could tell with his acute senses that there was nothing there
besides the ant’s shadow. That shadow was still kneeling on
the ground, his head deeply bowed.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo studied the shadow as he slowly turned around.
“Was it you?”
The shadow opened its mouth as if he was waiting for this

moment.
“Please grant me… a name…..”

Although it sounded a little inarticulate, the ant’s shadow
was definitely speaking back to him.
***
The helicopter containing the Hunters headed straight back

to the city of Seoul.
Tatatatatata-!
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui had been anxiously

waiting for their arrival, so when the helicopter landed on
the landing pad located on the Hunters Association, he
quickly went over personally and opened the vehicle’s door.
“How is Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim’s condition?”
The gazes of the Hunters all shifted towards where Cha Hae-
In was. She still hadn’t recovered her consciousness yet, and
was lying on top of a blanket laid out on the helicopter’s
floor.
“Hurry! This way!”
Two rank A Healers, waiting just outside the landing pad,

hurriedly sprinted forward as soon as Goh Gun-Hui issued
his order. But, when they began checking out her condition,
“…??”
“…??”
They exchanged puzzled glances with each other.
“What’s going on?”
When Goh Gun-Hui asked them, they answered almost at

the same time, making it hard to tell who was the first to
open his mouth.
“She’s not injured anywhere.”
“She’s perfectly normal.”
“Are you saying that there’s no need to treat Hunter Cha

now?”
The Healers nodded their heads. They also explained

themselves a bit further.
“Not sure who did it, but truly incredible healing magic was
cast on her. Because of that, we don’t need to do anything
here, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui was feeling genuinely flustered now.
When he last confirmed Cha Hae-In’s condition through the

live broadcast, her injuries looked quite severe. And also
from a report he received, her condition was so bad that she
failed to regain her consciousness until now.
That was why he had urgently searched for and found a

couple of rank A Healers, and had them on standby here.
But now…
‘There’s no need to heal her?’
Goh Gun-Hui swept his gaze all over the unmoving Cha Hae-
In. For sure, her complexion didn’t look so bad. It was almost
as if she was fast asleep.
Just what transpired after the camera was turned off?
Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head in confusion.
‘They didn’t have a Healer over there, too….’

After all, their sole Healer, Min Byung-Gu, met with a grisly
fate, didn’t he?
Goh Gun-Hui asked the team leader, Mah Dong-Wook.
“Just what happened back there, Hunter Mah?”
“That is….”
As Mah Dong-Wook fell into a dilemma, wondering how he

should go about explain this situation, one of the Healers
hurriedly shouted out.
“She’s waking up!”
Everyone’s attention was focused on her in an instant. Goh

Gun-Hui carefully sat down near her head and asked her.
“Cha Hunter-nim, can you hear me?”
Cha Hae-In slowly opened her eyes.
“Where….?”
“You’re inside the helicopter. Currently, it’s landed on the

Hunters Association, and we are planning to escort you to
the hospital very soon.”
“A hospital….”
Cha Hae-In briefly looked around her, before taking a deep

breath. The scent of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had permeated
throughout her body. She stared at Goh Gun-Hui with
unfocused eyes.
“….Did Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim show up there?”

She was supposed to be unconscious all this time, so when
she mentioned Seong Jin-Woo’s name, other Hunters were all
inwardly taken by surprise. Instead of a verbal answer, Goh
Gun-Hui slowly nodded his head.
A thin smile formed on Cha Hae-In’s face.
‘I knew it… it wasn’t a dream.’
Cha Hae-In had briefly woken up, but she fell back into a
deep slumber again. After confirming that her breathing was
stable, Goh Gun-Hui ordered his subordinates to take her to
the hospital, so she could get some much-needed rest.
Only then did he notice that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t in

the helicopter. He shifted his gaze back to Mah Dong-Wook.
“By the way, where is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
Having heard that question from the side, Baek Yun-Ho

quickly butted in to provide an answer.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, he… chose to stay behind.”
“What do you mean, stay behind?”
Goh Gun-Hui formed an expression of someone who couldn’t

understand. As far as he knew, this helicopter fitted with the
magic energy engine flew non-stop from Jeju Island to get to
this place.
It didn’t make any pitstops in the middle of the trip, so

exactly where did that man chose to stay behind? Goh Gun-
Hui asked again.
“Where did he choose to stay behind?”

“He told me that he still had business to take care of on Jeju
Island.”
“….Are you saying that he didn’t even get on the helicopter

in the first place?”
While Goh Gun-Hui asked, sounding quite flustered, Baek

Yun-Ho smiled sheepishly and nodded his head.
“Yes.”
***
“How is it that you’re able to talk?”
“I just…. can.”
The ant’s shadow kept answering Jin-Woo’s questions, but

regretfully, none of them were much of a help.
The ant monster could talk as a shadow because it knew

how to talk when it was still alive – could that be it?
‘…No, wait.’
Before he was turned into the now-trustworthy knight ‘Iron’,

the former Hunter Kim Cheol not only knew how to speak,
but he was actually a human being in the first place. Even
then, having a conversation with Iron was still impossible.
It was the same story with Min Byung-Gu. He was unable to

say a single word before he returned to the void. And then,
Fangs also shut his mouth for good after becoming a Shadow
Soldier, even though he used to be such a chatty monster
while still alive.
So, how come…
How come only this guy could talk?
There was only one obvious difference between this guy and
those who couldn’t talk.
‘Grades….’
Unlike his other soldiers with grades of ‘Elite Knight’ or

simply ‘Knight’, this guy came with a new grade called
‘Commander’.
It was possible that one would be able to talk after reaching

a certain grade. As he didn’t have any solid proof yet, this
was the most plausible explanation he could think of.
‘That means, my boys will all start talking as soon as they

level up high enough….’
It seemed that yet another reason was added to the list of

‘why the levels of soldiers must be raised up higher’. Jin-Woo
thought for a little while, before throwing that one question
to the ant’s shadow, the one he always wanted to ask his
soldiers before.
“I’m the one who killed you.”
“…”
“Yet, you still wish to serve me?”
“I…..”
A completely unexpected reply came from the ant’s shadow.
“I didn’t die, but… through the power of my liege… I am

reborn.”
The shadow then raised his head. And while meeting Jin-
Woo’s gaze, it continued on.
“Within me… elation… overflows. I shall follow my liege… for

eternity.”
Ba-dump!
Why did it happen? Was it because he felt the shadow’s true

feelings?
Jin-Woo’s heart pounded powerfully right at that moment

when the ant’s shadow swore his eternal loyalty. He placed
his hand on his chest to somehow calm his wildly beating
heart. It quickly regained its usual calmness.
It was then, the ant’s shadow lowered his head again and
pleaded with Jin-Woo once more.
“Oh, my king….. Please, grant me… a name….”
The talk had reverted back to the beginning.
This sure came across as a rather different experience to Jin-

Woo, now that he was hearing the plea of the subject
directly from itself, rather than from some prompts of the
System.
A name, a name…..
From the get-go, he didn’t pay all that much attention to the
naming of his soldiers, but….
‘But even then, it’s a bit too much to call it ant this and ant
that, right?’
There were already hundreds of similar ants like him now in

Jin-Woo’s army, so it wouldn’t do for a Knight Commander to
be saddled with a name like ‘Ant’, now would it?
That was why…..
Jin-Woo pondered for a little while, before a smirk formed on

his face.
“….Beru.”
He recalled the name of an author who became famous

through the novel called ‘Ants’. (TL note at the end)
He readily made up his mind after only thinking about it for

a very short time.
“You name will now be Beru.”
After Jin-Woo granted him the new name, Beru lowered his
already lowered head even further to the ground as if he was
truly moved by the gesture.
“I am grateful… my liege.”
The information floating above Beru’s head had already

been amended by then.
[Beru Lv.1]
Commander grade
‘It’s done.’
Feeling genuinely pleased with his choice of the name, Jin-

Woo turned towards the queen’s corpse. Now, it really was
the turn of the queen to get her shadow extracted.
Maybe he got a confidence boost from successfully

transforming Beru into his Shadow Soldier – because, the
queen’s Shadow Extraction turned out to be a rather
painless affair.
“Rise up.”
Kiiaaahhhhk-!
Accompanied by the scream that sounded like the death

throes, the Beast Soldier resembling the ant queen emerged
out from the shadow.
“Nice!!”
Jin-Woo expressed his delight at the continuous successful

extractions, but then, began tilting his head after
discovering something rather odd.
His connections to the Shadow Soldiers who were originally

ant monsters suddenly grew fainter after the queen’s
shadow materialised. It almost felt as if a pale grey fog was
covering up the threads connecting them.
“Beru.”
Even before he finished calling it, Beru had already

approached Jin-Woo’s side.
Step.
If it weren’t for his Perception Stat that had climbed past the
200 mark, Jin-Woo would never have followed that
movement properly with his naked eyes alone. Such a
creature was one of his loyal soldiers now. Jin-Woo felt his
confidence soaring up even higher from that realisation.
“You know what’s going on here?”

Jin-Woo asked while pointing at the queen’s shadow with his
chin. Beru knew everything there was to know when it came
to the inner workings of the ant army so it made sense to
ask him.
He politely made his reply.
“The ruling of the ant army… it’s the queen’s innate ability.”
‘Aha.’
So, did that mean the authority to control the army of ant
shadows would automatically be handed over to the queen?
‘But, that is a bit….’
Even though the queen was subservient to him, he thought

that it wasn’t okay to entrust the control of all of his ant
soldiers. Because, he’d have to issue orders through the
queen every single time.
Jin-Woo scratched his chin for a bit, before asking Beru

again.
“Okay, what about the reason for the decrease in the

queen’s magic energy?”
“Most of the queen’s magic energy… is for propagation.

Propagation is impossible…. without a body, that is why…”
Jin-Woo cut him off there.
“That’s why it only has half of its original magic power?”
“That is correct… my liege.”
By piecing together what Beru had said, the queen didn’t

seem to have much of a use for Jin-Woo. After a short
deliberation later, he decided to cancel the summoning
altogether. He didn’t have any reason whatsoever to keep
around a subordinate who had no use but only continued to
drain his limited resources, now did he?
Kiiieeehhhk-!
The queen’s shadow instantly became smoke and scattered

in the air.
[Number of stored shadows: 570/570]
His shadow was now packed to the brim with soldiers, so….
‘….So, the only things remaining here are the magic

crystals.’
Jin-Woo took a look around him. Top grade magic crystals

only seen within rank S Gates were rolling on the floor like
common pebbles.
Since there was no one watching here, and he was the one
who killed the majority of them, he could have swept them
all up if he wanted to do so. However, Jin-Woo gave up on
that idea.
He heard that these crystals would be used to compensate

the victims, as well as to rebuild the Jeju Island to its former
glory. Jin-Woo wasn’t exactly hurting for cash, so he wouldn’t
covet after other people’s stuff.
‘Still, I’m sure no one will mind me taking this one.’
Jin-Woo took out the magic crystal from Beru’s original body.
It was a beautiful pitch-black magic crystal that resembled a
gemstone. After pocketing the magic crystal, Jin-Woo
summoned out Kaisel.
Kiiaaahjk!
Kaisel flapped its wings and finished getting ready to fly in

an instant. Jin-Woo lightly jumped on his back and took one
last look at the queen’s chamber.
The place once filled with unbridled chaos was now

enveloped in this eerie silence.
‘…….’
The Jeju Island expedition was now over.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted away from the interior of the chamber

and towards the exit.
“To home.”
And then, Kaisel powerfully flew up in the air.

Chapter 125
Kaisel landed in front of the Hunter’s Association building.
Kiiaaahk-!
Naturally, stunned folks of the Association all came running

outside when a massive monster suddenly descended in the
middle of Seoul – not only that, right on the front lawn of the
Hunter’s Association, no less.
Hunters of the Monitoring Division, normally tasked with

detecting the approach of all beings possessing magical
energy, also ran outside with various weapons in their
hands.
But, their complexions all lost colour after Jin-Woo hopped

off from the back of the creature.
‘Return.’
Kaisel heeded Jin-Woo’s order and immediately disappeared

into his shadow.
Meanwhile, people gathered here began recognising who he

was.
‘W-was that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summoned creature?’
‘He can even control a monster like that, too??’

All these people had seen Jin-Woo’s ability through their TV
screens. So, it didn’t come as much of a surprise that he
could control a monster.
Jin-Woo walked over to an Association employee he

recognised and addressed him. This person was a Hunter
working for the Monitoring Division and was often seen
accompanying the Association President.
“I’d like to speak to the Association President.”
You wouldn’t normally get to meet the President just

because you wanted to. Even a government minister had to
wait for a whole week for a meeting with Goh Gun-Hui.
However, who here was brave enough to tell that to the

young man in front of their eyes?
A Hunter, who wasn’t originally a member of the raid team,

suddenly appeared out of nowhere and easily disposed of
the ant monster – a monster so powerful that it toyed around
with several rank S Hunters.
So, wouldn’t the Association President be dying to speak to

this man more than anyone else right now?
The Association employee quickly replied.
“The Association President is in the hospital at the moment.”
“Is he feeling unwell?”
Jin-Woo asked while remembering that the Association

President’s health wasn’t so good, to begin with. It was
possible that he somehow worsened his condition because
he watched the raid broadcast.
“No, not at all. He went over to observe the situation with
Hunter Cha Hae-In.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head. Did that mean it’d be hard to meet
him today?
Just as he was preparing to leave, the employee continued

on.
“Let me call the President on the phone. If you will, please

wait for a little while at the reception room.”
“Got it.”
Jin-Woo felt relieved. There was something he wanted to tell

the President as soon as possible, actually.
Cha Hae-In was admitted to the largest Association-

designated Hunter hospital there was. Goh Gun-Hui quietly
waited for the examination results, and soon, his personal
doctor approached him with some news.
The Association President hurriedly asked.
“How does she look?”
“We haven’t performed an in-depth examination yet, but…

she seems to be 100% normal, at least outwardly speaking.
She’s resting comfortably at the moment.”
“I see….”
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head, thinking ‘I thought as much’

to himself.
The doctor was alongside Goh Gun-Hui when they watched

the raid together. Cha Hae-In’s current condition was as
much of a mystery even for him.
“Her complexion was really poor from the massive

haemorrhaging, so how did her condition improve in such a
short period of time?”
“…”
Goh Gun-Hui had already been debriefed by the Korean raid

team members, but he chose to keep his mouth shut here.
‘Would he even believe me if I tell him?’
….The fact that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo ‘borrowed’ the power

of the dead Hunter Min Byung-Gu to heal Cha Hae-In?
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wanted the camera turned off,

because he didn’t want to reveal his powers.
The Association President wasn’t stupid enough to reveal

that information so carelessly to other people. Other Hunters
were thinking along the same line as well.
“The rank A Healers I had on standby managed to save her.”
“She looked to be in such a precarious position…. Well, it’s a

relief that the treatment was carried out in time.”
Thankfully for Goh Gun-Hui, the doctor seemed to have

believed him.
“Ah!”
The personal doctor opened his mouth again after recalling

something just now.
“Sir, it’s regarding Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”

Goh Gun-Hui’s ears perked up after Seong Jin-Woo’s name
was brought up.
“What about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
The doctor was quick to continue, having seen the light

glinting in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes change like that.
“You know that his mother was a patient in our hospital,

yes?”
“The Eternal Sleep disorder, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Goh Gun-Hui did get to read up on Jin-Woo’s family back

when the investigation to the youth’s background was still
ongoing. He suddenly thought of the worst possible scenario
and asked, his expression hardening rapidly.
“It can’t be…. Did she pass on?”
The doctor shook his head.
“It’s the exact opposite, actually.”
“The exact opposite?”
“I heard that she actually woke up from the ‘final sleep’

stage and was discharged recently.”
“Are you telling me the truth?!”
“Those in the know are in a huge uproar over this whole

thing, sir. We may not have made any official
announcement, but well, it did happen in our hospital, so….”
The higher-ups of the hospital naturally saw today’s raid, as
well. And that meant they continued to talk about Seong Jin-
Woo’s matter, and eventually, even Goh Gun-Hui’s personal
doctor got to hear about it.
“But, Eternal Sleep was cured? Was that even possible?”
“I believe this is the first time ever in the world, sir.”
“When did she wake up?”
“Most likely….”
The doctor confirmed the date in his head.
“About five days ago.”
“…..”
Now it made sense.
The day he asked Jin-Woo to join the raid, and the day the
youth’s mother woke up, were almost the same.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s father went missing inside a Gate,

didn’t he?’
A wife who lost her husband to the Gate. Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo would’ve found it very hard to leave such a mother
behind all alone to participate in the Jeju Island raid. Not to
mention, to participate in the subjugation operation that
had failed three times in the past as well.
Goh Gun-Hui reflected on his carelessness for failing to

check upon his situation.
‘That’s why he couldn’t participate in this raid.’

Jin-Woo’s situation, and the feats he performed today,
combined to wash away the misunderstanding that almost
managed to block up his chest. Goh Gun-Hui’s heart began
racing once more.
He really liked this young man. Such a man was a rare

breed, indeed.
It was then, an Association employee approached him.
“Sir.”
“We couldn’t get in touch with Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s

family.”
“You mean… His mother?”
“Yes, sir.”
That was to be expected. She learnt of her son’s passing

through a d*mn TV. She then called the Association on the
phone, her voice trembling non-stop. The Association had no
choice but to be honest with her.
“I’ll go and see her personally.”
“Sir, you’re planning to go there personally?”
“A parent is about to hold a funeral for her child without his

body. You really think she’s in any state of mind to pick up a
phone?”
“B-but, sir.”
“I’ll go and speak to her personally and inform her of

everything that happened. And I’ll express my condolences
as well.”
“….Understood, sir.”
The employee turned around with a hardened face. But

then, his phone began ringing quite noisily and made him
stop.
He saw that the call came from the Association, so he got

permission from the President to answer it.
“Mm? There’s someone who wishes to speak to the

Association President? What?! It’s him?”
Goh Gun-Hui shook his head.
“Tell them I’m not meeting anyone today.”
The employee covered the phone with his hand and quickly
spoke up.
“Sir, the person who wishes to speak to you is… Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo.”
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
Goh Gun-Hui opened his eyes wide and retracted what he

said just now right away.
“Tell them I’ll be there shortly.”
Jin-Woo got to the Association President’s office under the

guidance of an employee. He was then asked rather
affectionately as soon as he settled down on the couch.
“Would you like something to drink?”

Jin-Woo was about to decline the offer, only to feel a bit of
thirst creeping up on him. Now that he thought about it for a
sec, he hadn’t taken a sip of water even though he had
fought such an intense battle.
“Water will be fine.”
“Thank you very much!”
“…?”
What was he so thankful about?
The employee’s face reddened after blurting his words out

from sheer nervousness. He placed the bottle of water in
front of Jin-Woo and deeply bowed his head.
“If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call me.”
“I will.”
Jin-Woo thought the employee’s attitude was far more

cautious and sincere than the last time he came here.
‘It’s probably because of the raid broadcast.’
He guessed that the attitude of many people, as well as the

way they looked at him, would change greatly from now on.
Not too long afterwards, Goh Gun-Hui entered the office.
Jin-Woo tried to get up, but the Association President Goh

Gun-Hui dissuaded the youth from doing so.
Jin-Woo just returned from Jeju Island. And he even fought a

mutated ant monster that almost annihilated a team of rank
S Hunters.
So, the current Jin-Woo was a VIP among all VIPs.
Goh Gun-Hui was definitely not planning to treat with

disrespect a person who saved the lives of South Korea’s
rank S Hunters.
Goh Gun-Hui settled down on the couch opposite to Jin-Woo,

rather than in his usual spot at the seat of the honour.
“I’ve heard what transpired inside the ant tunnel.”
“Ah, I see.”
In that case, this talk should proceed quite swimmingly,

then. Jin-Woo felt that this was for the better. Goh Gun-Hui
continued on.
“Also, I’ve been informed on how you got here, as well.”
Countless witnesses saw Kaisel flying now. There was no way

the President of the Hunter’s Association wouldn’t hear
about it.
“Did you get to Jeju Island while riding on the back of that
creature?”
Well, Jin-Woo used ‘Shadow Exchange’ to reach the island,

but was there a reason to reveal all of his cards here?
Jin-Woo was rather economical with his words.
“Something like that.”
This was the same thing as him making a confession that

the flying monster appearing in Seoul a few nights ago was
his doing. But, this would prove to be more convenient if he
were to continue riding on Kaisel from now on.
“So, that was the case.”
It was as expected. The Association President nodded his

head.
Jin-Woo was able to utilise the powers of dead monsters. So,

it’d not be such a strange thing for him to ride around on the
back of a creature if he managed to kill a flying monster
somewhere.
Goh Gun-Hui’s curiosity had been satisfied now. And it was

time to get to the main topic.
“You said you wanted to speak to me….?”
“Yes.”
“Is something the matter?”
“I’ve taken care of all the ants on the island.”
“Excuse me??”
Goh Gun-Hui jumped up from his seat.
“You managed to kill every single one of those ants?!”
“Yes.”
Jin-Woo confidently replied.
“You won’t encounter any problems when entering Jeju

Island.”
“But, how….”
No, Goh Gun-Hui could already guess the ‘how’ of it.

The TV camera caught the sight of hundreds of Jin-Woo’s
summons. If those things combed every inch of Jeju Island,
then it wouldn’t be a problem for him to annihilate every
single ant in such a short period of time.
The important point here was, of course, entry into Jeju

Island was possible now.
And it also signified that they would be able to retrieve

Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s remains resting deep within the ant
tunnel, too.
Goh Gun-Hui was greatly troubled by the fact that the

remains of Hunter Min Byung-Gu had to be left abandoned
there until the ant monsters were all gone, but now….
The ends of his eyes reddened up with emotions. He then

wholehearted thanked Jin-Woo.
“Thank you very much, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Inside a suite of South Korea’s top luxury hotel.
Although his presence had been buried under the huge

news of the Jeju Island raid recently, it was still an
undeniable fact that one of the world’s most powerful
Hunters had taken up a temporary residence there.
Thomas switched off the monitor still playing the video of

the raid. He had already seen that recorded video three
times by now.
Laura, who stood next to him, asked him. She accompanied

him to Korea as his sole subordinate.
“What do you think, sir?”

“Well… it’s as you can see.”
He leaned against the couch and placed his legs on the

coffee table.
Thomas had fair blonde hair and a high nose. A seemingly

never-ending happy smile was deeply etched on his
sunglasses-wearing face.
“So, are you sure that’s the Hunter Mister Hwang was
investigating?”
“Yes.”
“And he asked you what would happen if he killed someone

in Korea?”
“Yes.”
Thomas ordered the potential connection between Hwang

Dong-Su and Seong Jin-Woo to be secretly investigated as
soon as Laura made her report. And, as it turned out, there
was only one connection between the two.
That would be Hwang Dong-Su’s older brother, Hwang Dong-

Seok.
He and Seong Jin-Woo entered the same dungeon together,

but only the latter walked out alive, while the former went
missing.
No one would question what happened inside a dungeon.

That had become common sense throughout the world now.
“So, it’s revenge, is it?”
“Most likely.”
“And here I thought that he had no family. He hid it pretty
well.”
“I heard that Mister Hwang’s brother was meticulous in

hiding the family connection, sir.”
“Probably because he was involved in shady stuff, that’s

why.”
So shady, in fact, it’d greatly affect his own younger brother

if the word got out. Laura used her silence to indicate her
agreement.
And then… the Jeju Island raid happened.
“I guess it will become far harder to meet Seong Jin-Woo

now, what with an incident like that taking place.”
“I believe so.”
Laura replied confidently.
There was only one reason why the Master of Scavenger

Guild, as well as one of the most renowned Hunters in the
world, Thomas, gave himself some time off and came to this
small nation. And that was to meet Seong Jin-Woo.
More specifically, he wanted to find out what might happen

if Mister Hwang did get to have a go with Seong Jin-Woo for
real.
He told the management of the Guild that he was coming

here to scout yet another rank S South Korean Hunter.
“I really wanted to meet him, too. What a shame this is.”
Thomas’s voice was thick with the emotion of wistfulness.

Laura cautiously asked him from the side.
“As I thought… It’d be for the best to prevent Mister Hwang

from encountering Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, yes?”
“Well…..”
Thomas slowly scratched his chin, before replying to her

with a smirk.
“The South Korean government did save Mister Hwang’s life,

that’s for sure.”
The Korean government immediately blocked Hwang Dong-

Seok from entering the country. After all, he did abandon his
mother nation to emigrate to the States as soon as he was
evaluated to be a rank S, didn’t he?
The whole thing could’ve turned into an international

incident, but Thomas was able to utilise the time earned that
way to come and visit Korea first.
Too bad, Mister Hwang wasn’t someone who’d simply give up

just because he was refused entry to a country. Especially
so, if his purpose was revenge.
In all honesty, Thomas didn’t have a stuffy personality. He

had no thoughts of stopping Mister Hwang at the risk of
being on the end of his hostility when the latter wanted to
avenge the death of his family member.
But then, that man was an important asset to Scavenger

Guild. And that was precisely the reason why Thomas
thought of finding out the exact skill level of Seong Jin-Woo,
who was also ranked S.
Because, it’d prove to be troublesome if Mister Hwang ended
up kicking the bucket, instead.
However….
The impression Thomas got from seeing Seong Jin-Woo was

that, the American should be thanking the lucky stars right
about now.
“No matter what, never let Mister Hwang step a foot inside
South Korea. With that, hopefully, these two won’t run into
each other.”
“Understood. I’ll also withdraw the legal procedures.”
“I should be the one to talk to Mister Hwang. That friend’s

got a fiery personality, so I guess I’ll have to do my best on
this one.”
Laura studiously jotted down everything her Guild Master

said on a memo pad. But then, a question popped up in her
head.
“What if… even after we did all this, the two of them end up
fighting…. What will you do then, sir?”
“Laura. Don’t you know me?”
Thomas grinned deeply.
“Mister Hwang is Scavenger Guild’s asset. And Scavenger is

my property.”
His lips might be smiling, but the eyes hidden beneath the
sunglasses certainly weren’t. He always wore a pair of
sunglasses to hide his incredibly sharp eyes.
He sat back up straight and lowered his voice.

“I will never forgive anyone who dares to touch my property.
Even if that’s the American government itself.”
One person’s power equalled that of an entire country.
His name was Thomas Andre.
One of only five in the entire world. This was the confidence
that only a Special Authority-rank Hunter, an international
powerhouse, could possess.
Chapter 126
“Let us escort you back home, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly made that

offer as Jin-Woo stood up to leave.
“If you wait for a minute, one of our agents will bring a car
around. How about going home with that, instead?”
“….”
Jin-Woo had fully understood that the Hunter’s Association,

and especially its boss man, Goh Gun-Hui, were feeling
extremely grateful towards him.
However, that didn’t mean he wanted to be treated like

royalty even in something as minor as this.
It wasn’t as if his home was too far away and he needed to

borrow a car, either. If he wanted to save on time, he might
as well ride on Kaisel. Or run all the way back home, which
would actually be quicker, instead.
That’s why Jin-Woo declined the offer.
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”
However, Goh Gun-Hui shook his head and insisted on it.
“I believe that… it’ll be more convenient for you to get a ride

home.”
“What do you mean by that….?”
Goh Gun-Hui approached the window and spoke to him.
“Could you please come over this way?”
Jin-Woo also walked over to the window, and that’s when he

saw it.
….Outside the window.
Less than one hour ago, the front entrance of the Association
used to be sparsely populated. But now, a huge crowd of
people had gathered there and he couldn’t see any
openings at all.
“All these people came here to see you, Seong Jin-Woo

Hunter-nim. They have heard that you came for a visit in the
Association.”
Jin-Woo didn’t have to ask how these people knew.
‘Well, I did fly on Kaisel to get here, so….’
In this day and age, everyone walked around with a

minimum of one camera on their persons. The images of Jin-
Woo riding on Kaisel, and disembarking in front of the
Association, spread through the medium of SNS like wildfire.
And sure enough, online reporters were also among those
who heard of the news.
Just one headline was all that’s needed. The article itself
wasn’t even that long, either.
‘Who is the owner of the monster that landed in the

Association?’⸥
The article stated that the monster was definitely not what
one would call average, and that it was jet-black like a
shadow. Finally, the article went on to posit that it was most
likely one of Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures, as it looked
similar to what millions saw on their TV sets.
Those who heard the news and came here to confirm the
truth, and those who only wished to meet Jin-Woo in person,
combined to create this massive throng of people gathering
right on the front lawn of the Association building.
A flood of emotions welled up inside Jin-Woo as he stared at

all these people.
Goh Gun-Hui also stared at the crowd in silence for a while,

before he calmly opened his mouth.
“I’m sure that you’re aware of it by now… Our countrymen

had been thirsting for a victory.”
South Korea became the sole nation on Earth who lost a part
of their land to monsters after a catastrophic dungeon break
occurred on Jeju Island four years ago.
Many countries outwardly expressed their solidarity but

inwardly, they were mocking the Korean Hunters for their
uselessness. By the time the third subjugation operation
ended in failure, that sentiment reached its peak.
Two years of humiliation later….
People learned of the news that the fourth subjugation

attempt would be a joint operation with the Japanese. There
were some sceptical voices mocking the Koreans for their
inability to deal with the monsters without the aid of the
Japanese. Unfortunately, that was the actual hard truth.
But then….
The mighty Japanese and their twenty-plus rank S Hunters

turned tail and ran away from the raid. Yet, Jin-Woo suddenly
made his appearance along with his black soldiers. It was
understandable that people would go absolutely crazy about
him.
Exactly like how one would quench his thirst in an oasis, the
citizens witnessed Jin-Woo’s feats and threw away their
sense of powerlessness. Many viewers had to pour out onto
the streets, unable to contain their unbridled joy. And when
they heard of Jin-Woo’s whereabouts, they ended up running
over here.
“Of course, I’m sure you can also fly away using your
monster.”
Goh Gun-Hui gently chuckled from the side.
“However, I believe that you should go downstairs in

consideration of the crowd. Because, the people… need a
hero, you see.”
Jin-Woo pushed open the glass door and exited from the
Association building. All chaos suddenly died down right
away.
Everyone gathered here kept their mouths closed and

quietly stared at Jin-Woo.
“….”
“…..”
Many areas of Jin-Woo’s clothes still sported traces of battles
he fought.
There were blotches of ant monster’s bodily liquid, and some

part had been torn open at the hands of the mutated ant
monster, too. However, not one person here made fun of Jin-
Woo’s current appearance.
No, the citizens simply stared at him in silence while feeling

a certain boiling something well up from deep within their
chests.
Jin-Woo quietly stared back at them as well. Just as the

heavy silence descended between him and the citizens….
“Hunter-nim, please. This way.”
Woo Jin-Cheol was now tasked with guiding Jin-Woo, and he

faithfully carried out his duty.
The agents of the Monitoring Division went ahead and

created a path forward while asking the crowd for their
understanding; citizens moved aside without any
complaints whatsoever.
However, there was a sole exception.
A grandpa walked in front of Jin-Woo when there wasn’t that

much distance left to the waiting car.
“Hunter-nim….”
One of the Monitoring Division’s agents tried to stop the

grandpa, but he hesitated somewhat after seeing the tear-
soaked face of the old man, before he had to take a step
back. Because, Jin-Woo held the agent back, that’s why.
The grandpa was finally able to stand before Jin-Woo. Thick
tears streamed down his face and he called out to the young
Hunter in a choked-up voice.
“Hunter-nim…. Thanks to you… My son, he can close his

eyes and rest now.”
The grandpa faltered as strength left his legs. Jin-Woo

quickly supported him before he fell.
The grandpa held on to Jin-Woo’s hands and arms and kept

bowing his head over and over again.
“Thank you, Hunter-nim….. Truly, I…..”
“I only did what had to be done. Please, do try to stand up.”
Woo Jin-Cheol helped with assisting the grandpa, and then

entrusted the still-crying old man to his subordinate. He
leaned in closer and whispered to Jin-Woo.
“Hunter-nim. The crowd is getting larger. Perhaps we should

get going….”
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head. Woo Jin-Cheol opened the car’s

rear door and held it there.
Jin-Woo took one last look at the crowd before climbing into
the car.
It was unknown who started it first.
Someone within the crowd quickly lowered his head as soon

as meeting Jin-Woo’s gaze as a sign of a thank you, but then,
everyone followed suit and did the same. Greetings filled
with genuine appreciation came back to him wherever his
eyes swept by.
“…..Hunter-nim.”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s anxious voice woke Jin-Woo up and only

then did he fully climb into the car.
Woo Jin-Cheol entered the front passenger’s seat while his

subordinate settled into the driver’s. Eventually, the car
drove slowly away from the Association’s grounds.
Without saying a word, Jin-Woo gazed outside the window.
The crowd kept looking at the car right up until it could no

longer be seen.
He leaned back on the seat and placed his hand on his

pounding chest.
His heart was beating fast as the wonderful sense of

accomplishment filled him up.
He initially felt at a loss when the Association President

suggested that he should meet with the crowd. But now, he
was glad that he didn’t just walk past them.
It felt like every single gaze he met were his reward for a job
well done.
It was then….
“Ah!”
Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly looked behind him after Jin-Woo

inadvertently cried out.
“Did something happen, Hunter-nim??”
“….No, it’s nothing important.”
Jin-Woo remembered only now that he broke the TV without

an explanation, just so he could reduce the shock his mom
might feel. He helplessly massaged his forehead.
‘Just how am I supposed to explain all this?’
Sure enough….
He switched his phone back on to find 13 missed calls from

home.
It was pandemonium in online forums, too. But, that was to

be expected.
The Jeju Island subjugation raid was the very first time Jin-
Woo made his public appearance, ever since getting his
rank S licence. It was the same thing as him making his
public debut.
And during his first public appearance, he overwhelmed the

mutated monster ant that freaked out everyone, and then,
swept away thousands of ants blocking the escape route
with his summoned creatures.
Like the excited fans pouring out into the streets after a
match, those who witnessed the raid broadcast all logged
online to voice their opinions.
└ Wow…. I’m speechless….
└ But, I thought that you can’t call out that many summoned
creatures?
└ My ten-year-old tumour got cured from watching the
assault of Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s summoned creatures.
└ By the way, mister? That tumour must’ve been a minor

one since you had it for only ten years.
└ It was so cool. It was the best.
└ I lost my parents four years ago on Jeju Island. I know that

Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim won’t read this, but….
The operation managed to capture the interest of all South

Korean citizens. It was no wonder that various online forums
were overflowing with the stories related to the raid. And Jin-
Woo’s name always cropped up in those discussions.
Also, a hot debate regarding how high Jin-Woo’s skills should

be rated opened up among the netizens famed for their love
of comparisons.
└ With his powers, shouldn’t we say that our country now

also has a Special Authority-rank in our midst?
└ Eiii. With only that? You should limit your intake of Kimchi
soup per day. (TL: a Korean idiom, “drinking Kimchi soup”.
Means you’re putting the cart before the horse.)
└ But, why not? He almost solo cleared a rank S dungeon,

and the gap between him and other rank S Hunters is pretty
vast, you know?
└ Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s record isn’t extensive enough. If

his skills are for real, then people will acknowledge him
sooner or later.
└ In any case, man, he was so freaking awesome.

└ A rank E is only a bit better than a regular person, so how
can someone like that become so strong?
└ Is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo a Re-Awakened?
└ Lots of people don’t seem to know that Seong Jin-Woo is a

Re-Awakened. He applied to have his private information
protected right away, so…..
Of course, there were some people among many who felt

mighty uncomfortable about Jin-Woo, as well.
└ But, hold up…. If Seong Jin-Woo participated in the raid

from the get-go, Min Byung-Gu wouldn’t have died, right?
└ He wanted to be left out in the beginning, so why did he

show up in the middle?
└ Looks like guys above mine haven’t seen the article put up
by the Association explaining themselves yet.
└ What article? Links please.
The contents of the article went like this.
Even though he was ranked S, Jin-Woo lacked experience in

entering high-ranked dungeons. Therefore, the Association
chose to keep him in reserve nearby in case of an
emergency, instead of making him join the raid team from
the beginning. Once the situation became dire, they decided
to insert him right away.
It was a hastily-cooked up story, but it proved to be enough

to convince the masses.
‘This is the best I can do for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.’

Goh Gun-Hui’s quick response was able to stop the sharp
arrows of criticism from pointing at Jin-Woo, while also
managing to keep the latter’s private affairs out of public
limelight.
Thanks to that, some people denounced the inability of the

Association to properly gauge the capabilities of their own
Hunters, but no one pointed the fingers of blame in Jin-
Woo’s direction.
No, Jin-Woo’s acclaim only rose even further in the eyes of

the public.
The situation was at its worst point, with the Japanese team
tasked with buying time having withdrawn from the island
and the Korean team facing certain annihilation. Yet, he
didn’t complain once and jumped into the ant tunnel all
alone.
└ I wouldn’t have been able to go in there, even if someone

pushed me from the back, ‘cuz I’d get scared sh*tless. Other
rank S Hunters were getting massacred in there, so why
should I?
└ Agreed.
└ What did he think about when he entered there?
└ Shouldn’t Seong Jin-Woo be the true role model of all the

Hunters out there?
└ Shouldn’t those idiots slagging off Seong Jin-Woo for not

participating beg for his forgiveness right about now?
└ LOLOLOL That’s why you shouldn’t yap on like that when

you don’t know anything.
Jin-Woo was fast becoming the most famous Hunter in South
Korea, much to his fluster. Even though he had requested for
the protection of his private information early on, his fame
continued to soar higher.
Two days later.
Military personnel and Hunters landed on Jeju Island to

recover the remains of Hunter Min Byung-Gu.
They were from the Yeongnam District’s Guild, the ‘Knight

Order’. Although they were one of the five large Guilds
representing South Korea, they lacked a rank S Hunter in
their midst and therefore, couldn’t participate in the raid.
They sensed their reputation diminishing from this event,

and volunteered for this mission. Thanks to that, the matters
had progressed rather swiftly.
Hunters had to take the lead after seeing the specially-

trained soldiers hesitating somewhat.
“Oii, stop it and come on, already.”
“I’m telling you, there isn’t a single detectable magical

energy on this island. Argh, you guys are far too
distrusting.”
Hunters walking forward far up ahead waved at the soldiers.

The hesitant soldiers cautiously followed from behind, but
they still kept their guards up.
From the Hunters’ perspective, that sure was one frustrating

sight to see, but there was no helping it. Regular people
couldn’t sense magical energy, nor were they able to fight
against the monsters. So they could only be overly cautious
like that.
“Tsk, tsk.”
The Guild Master of the Knight Order tutted unhappily, and

placed his hands on his waist while scanning his
surroundings.
‘Huh….’
His jaw dropped all on its own.
The closer they got to the vicinity of the ant tunnel, the
greater the number of dead ants strewn about on the
ground.
Nay, they resembled small mountains now, instead.
The Vice Guild Master, a close friend and a fellow Hunter

who he fought alongside for a long time, helplessly shook
his head.
“Hyung-nim…. Can you believe this? You telling me that a

lone Hunter did all of this?”
“…..”
The Knight Order Guild also took part back during the third
subjugation operation along with countless other Hunters.
That’s why they knew better than anyone here how scary
these creatures could be.
“To think that those ants ended up in this sorry state….”
“Wow…. That kid, Seong Jin-Woo or whatever his name was,

he’s no ordinary man, that’s for sure.”
The Vice Guild Master continued to look around at his
surroundings and spoke while sounding a bit fed up.
“How did he even manage to wipe out every single ant on

this huge island??”
“I wonder about that myself.”
The elite members of the Knight Order, pretty well versed in

all things monster-related, could only gawk in astonishment
at the piles upon piles of dead monsters.
Eventually, though, their astonished steps brought them to

the entrance of the ant tunnel.
“Hyung-nim, I can see it.”
“Yup, me too.”
Hunters came to a stop in front of the ant tunnel so they

could enter it together with the soldiers. The latter group
was still a bit of distance away. Since there wasn’t much to
do during the wait, the Guild Master lit up a cigarette. The
Vice Guild Master also lit one up for himself.
But then….
The Guild Master furrowed his brows after seeing that lit
cigarette powerlessly fall from the Vice’s lips.
“Oii. What’s the matter?”
“H-hyung-nim!!”
The Vice Guild Master urgently slapped the Master’s

shoulder as he pointed to the front. The latter finally realised
that something was off and quickly turned his head to the
front.
“Heok!!”
A distinct shadow of a man appeared in the entrance of the

tunnel.
The wide-eyed Guild Master flinched in surprise, before

opening his mouth up to speak.
“Y-you, who… are you?”

Chapter 127
The Master of the Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su, had to

doubt his own eyes. Because, there was a good-looking
foreign man leisurely strolling out of the ant tunnel’s
entrance at that very moment.
But, that was just impossible.
‘The ants being completely wiped out should still be a top

secret, so how could this be??’
Everything found rolling around on the ground was literally

the top-grade magic crystals. So, the Association decided to
keep the annihilation of the ants a secret in order to prevent
those enterprising souls from taking their chances here, at
least until they could come up with a suitable solution to
this problem.
So, only a few select people knew that there were no

monsters left on this island.
‘It’s only to the extent of the Association entrusting the

mission to us, the military, and then….’
And then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
However, Park Jong-Su could confidently bet his entire life

savings that the man standing in front of the ant tunnel was
definitely not Seong Jin-Woo.
How could anyone forget that man’s face? Not only was he
the most talked-about Hunter in South Korea, but he also
occupied the top spot on the Knight Order’s must-scout list.
Park Jong-Su asked again.
“I asked you who you are! Why are you coming out from
there?”
It was unknown whether the foreigner didn’t understand a

single word coming out of his mouth or wasn’t planning to
answer in the first place. No, that man just stood there,
smiling brightly.
The Knight Order’s Vice Master, Jeong Yun-Tae, got right next
to Park Jong-Soo, his suspicious eyes firmly locked on the
foreigner.
“Hyung-nim. Is that guy even a human?”
“I…. I’m not sure, myself.”
They couldn’t sense any magic energy emission from the

mysterious man, so he couldn’t have been a Hunter nor a
monster…. But, for some reason, he was also emitting this
strange aura.
Jeong Yun-Tae always had been the ‘act first, talk later’ type
of a guy. But even he had to take a step back and cautiously
observe his surroundings after sensing the ominous aura.
Unfortunately, soldiers didn’t possess the Hunter-like

sensory perception. They belatedly discovered the
foreigner’s presence and hurriedly raised their firearms.
Park Jong-Su quickly dissuaded them, fearing that they

might end up inadvertently killing someone.
“Oii, oii! Don’t shoot! He’s not a monster!”
“Is he a human, then?”
“Well, that is…. Maybe?”
Park Jong-Su could only nod his head with a somewhat

unconvinced expression.
‘You can only be a human being if you’re not a monster.’
Park Jong-Su’s limited scope of knowledge meant that he

could only arrive at this faulty conclusion.
The military commander briefly nodded his head.
“Understood. From here onwards, we’ll handle the affairs of

that person.”
“Pardon me? I thought you guys came here to take Hunter

Min Byung-Gu’s remains back home?”
“Our orders were to secure the remains of Hunter Min Byung-

Gu, as well as to control the situation on the island itself.”
Park Jong-Su stepped back, having understood the gist of it.
If they weren’t dealing with monsters or other Hunters then

the Knight Order didn’t have to get involved here. Besides,
they wouldn’t get mired in unnecessary headaches this way,
too.
The commander shouted at the mystery man.
“You are currently inside a restricted area. Please follow my

orders to the letter or you’ll be fired upon.”
“…”
The mystery man continued to smile, not a single hint of
nervousness visible on his face.
Gulp.
Soldiers swallowed their saliva while thinking to themselves,

“Are we really going to open fire at him?”
This was an expected response from these soldiers who had

never pulled the trigger on another human being before.
Hunters were also carrying tense expressions now. They

began thinking that there was something strange going on
with this situation when that mysterious man continued to
smile like that.
It was then – the man slid his hands inside the trouser
pockets.
‘That man…. Is he really a human being?’
Could anyone stay so nonchalant when these many guns

were pointing at them?
Park Jong-Su’s expression gradually hardened. Meanwhile,

the nervousness of the soldiers reached their peak when
they could no longer see the mysterious man’s hands.
“Hold your fire!! Hold your fire! Not yet!”
A thick vein popped up on the commander’s neck as he

shouted at his soldiers.
But, then….
“Commander, look!”
The commander quickly turned his head towards the
mysterious man as soon as he heard that urgent call. That
man was slowly opening his mouth.
“…??”
He couldn’t understand the language being spoken here.
It wasn’t that he had never heard of it, but more like it didn’t
even originate from Earth, to begin with, judging from the
way that man sounded and how he enunciated the words.
“What?”
“What is he saying?”
While the soldiers were at a loss from this situation they had
never encountered before, Park Jong-Su’s lips were busy
flapping open all on their own.
“M-monster language??”
One could sometimes meet intelligent monsters in higher-

ranked dungeons. What that man said sounded almost like
the language spoken by those creatures.
“Which means, is that….”
Before the commander could finish his sentence with “….is

that a monster?” the mystery man pulled his hands out from
the pockets.
Blam-!
An ear-splitting boom reverberated throughout the land.
When that mysterious man behaved in a suspicious manner,

one of the well-trained special forces soldiers ended up
reflexively squeezing the trigger.
‘Heok!’
The commander’s stunned eyes quickly locked on to the

man.
The bullet, failing to dig into the man’s smooth forehead, fell
to the ground with a light thud. The smile on his face was
already gone.
“It, it’s a monster!”
“It’s not a human!”
Their cries lasted only for a brief moment because, as soon

as that man’s eyes changed colour to red, everyone here felt
an incredible pressure tightly squeezing down on their
hearts.
“Ah, ah-!!”
“Argh….”
But, then…
Snap!
Like puppets with their strings cut, the soldiers and Hunters
all collapsed to the ground along with the sound of a crisp
finger snap. That mysterious man wasn’t responsible for this
event.
He looked behind him and testily spoke up.
“What do you think you’re doing?”

There was a short-statured middle-aged man standing
behind him now.
“There’s no need to make a commotion here. I just put them

all to sleep.”
The middle-aged man also wasn’t speaking in the language

of humans.
“….Indeed.”
The mysterious man sounded rueful, but still agreed with his
new guest nonetheless. The middle-aged man shifted his
gaze towards the interior of the ant tunnel and asked.
“Did you confirm it?”
The mysterious man nodded his head.
“It’s definitely ‘his’ power.”
“How strange.”
The middle-aged man’s gaze now shifted over to the

collapsed Hunters.
“Why is ‘he’ helping out these humans?”
“Who knows what ‘he’ is thinking? If you’re curious, why

don’t you go ask ‘him’ personally?”
“….I’ll decline.”
The middle-aged man shook his head before continuing on.
“We commence with the hunt as planned. Nothing has

changed.”
“Got it.”
The middle-aged man lightly twirled his hand in the air. A

black Gate small enough to let a person through opened up
there.
“Oh, by the way.”
The middle-aged man stopped briefly and looked behind

him when the mysterious man called out to him.
“I think one of them is here.”
“You mean, here in South Korea?”
“Since we’re here, how about we take care of that guy,

first?”
The middle-aged man closed his eyes slightly. Soon, the

information the mysterious man was talking about flowed
into his head. However, the middle-aged man didn’t look
wholly convinced.
“If it’s around here…. Let’s leave it to his hands.”
“You don’t want to get involved, is that it?”
“It’s fine to think of it that way. It doesn’t matter.”
The middle-aged man and his trailing voice soon

disappeared along with the Gate itself.
After confirming that the black Gate was closed for good, the
mysterious man muttered to himself.
“What a coward….”
He took a look at all the unmoving humans lying on the
ground. They were only knocked out for a little while and
should regain their consciousness soon enough.
“Hmph.”
The man snorted derisively and extended his hand towards

the humans. However…
‘……’
He quietly withdrew it his hand.
“Well, there’s no need to raise a commotion.”
He also entered a small Gate and disappeared from the spot,

as well.
Late at night.
Jin-Woo was sitting on his bedroom floor, busy taking a

closer look at his shortsword. Currently, he was holding the
‘Demon King’s Shortsword’, a weapon that proved its worth
several times over during the battle against the mutated ant
monster.
[Item: Demon King’s Shortsword]
Rarity: S
Type: Shortsword
Attack: +220
A shortsword taken from the Demon King, Baran. Using two

‘Demon King’s Shortswords’ will activate a set effect.
Set effect ‘Two Becomes One’: Extra attack power equal to
the current Strength Stat will be added to each shortsword.
His eyes almost bulged out when he first saw that attack
power, as well as its additional attribute. In fact, he now
forgot how many times he re-read that information.
His reaction was justified, though. The ‘Baruka’s Dagger’, a

rarity A item, only boasted the attack power of 110, after all.
He searched through the Store just in case, but not many of
the rarity S daggers being sold there exceeded 200 in their
attack power.
‘Not only that….’
He really liked the fact that, when wielding both Demon

King’s Shortswords at once, his Strength Stat would be
converted and added to the weapons’ existing attack power.
His current Strength Stat had far exceeded the 200 mark,
and was fast closing in on 250. And now, such a high Stat
value would be added to the weapon’s attack power as well?
If he omitted the last digit and added up the numbers, then

he’d still get to a frightening four times the attack power of
what ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ possessed.
‘This is why it felt so good when I swung them around back

then.’
Other Hunters would froth in their mouths like madmen and

pounce on these shortswords, if they were able to see the
item’s information like he could.
What about the longsword’s specs, then?
[Item: Demon King’s Longsword]

Rarity: S
Type: Longsword
Attack: +350
A longsword containing the power of the Demon King, Baran.

Swinging the sword will activate the effect, ‘Tempest of
White Flames’.
Effect ‘Tempest of White Flames’: Summons a persistent

thunderstorm within the designated area.
A longsword had to be wielded with both of his hands, while

he could hold one shortsword each in his individual hands.
This meant that, quite obviously, the former would boast
better attack damage than the latter.
However, the additional effect the longsword had been

blessed with was not ‘obvious’ at all.
‘I can perform an AOE attack just by swinging this thing?’
It was a weapon that would no doubt prove its worth during

a fight against multiple opponents.
He still felt chills run down his spine whenever he thought

back to how Baran’s magic attacks rendered his Shadow
Soldiers into a bunch of helpless sitting ducks.
Of course, the sword’s effect wasn’t as good as Baran’s

magic, but it was still an excellent trump card to hold onto,
nonetheless.
‘If it weren’t for my dagger skills, I might even consider

using this longsword, instead….’
Jin-Woo was about to take a swing with the sword, only to
stop himself in time.
‘……’
The hours were getting late; but then, you’d still wake up
from your sleep in sheer fright when a lightning strikes in
the room next to yours, now wouldn’t you?
He didn’t want to shock his mother any more than he had

already. So, he cautiously put the sword down.
‘Well, what a relief it was, at least.’
Indeed, it was a relief that his mother didn’t object to his

decision.
That day, Jin-Woo explained everything that happened to

him to his mother, minus the stuff about the System, of
course.
He told her that, he coincidentally went through a Re-

Awakening and became a rank S Hunter, and that he’d like
to continue working as one in the future, too.
Mom was worried about him but eventually, decided to

support her son all the way.
Mom wants to see you do what you want with your life,
my son.
The sole condition his mom put forward was that he was
forbidden from pushing himself too far.
‘But, well, if I’m in a situation where I have to push myself to

that extent, then….’
Jin-Woo shook his head since his imagination was about to
take him to a pretty dark and horrifying place.
It was then, he abruptly remembered something else his

mom told him.
Was that why ‘he’ showed up? Because ‘he’ knew

something like this would happen?
Who’s ‘he’?
While I was asleep in the hospital, I heard your father’s
voice.
What did he say?
Well, he said…..
Mom added that she had never heard of someone else’s

voice before and after that day, as well.
‘I guess Mom still hasn’t gotten over Dad yet.’
Even then, his mother didn’t try to stop her only son from
being a Hunter. It was proof that she trusted him. Jin-Woo
didn’t plan on betraying that trust any time soon.
Survival.
That had always been his priority, his end goal.
He only got to this place precisely because he didn’t give up

and struggled right till the end during one of the most
dangerous moments in his life.
‘….Alright.’
Now that his biggest worry, his mom saying no, had been
addressed, there was nothing stopping him from entering
dungeons now. He’d establish his own Guild, monopolise
high-ranked dungeons and quickly raise his levels even
higher.
Jin-Woo’s heart began beating faster and faster.
‘Well, now I have a different reason to raise my levels, don’t

I?’
Shururuk….
Igrit revealed himself after Jin-Woo called him out.
This guy had been with him for the longest time out of all his
soldiers.
‘Not only that….’
He was also the lone Knight-grade soldier the System gifted

him with.
In other words, one could say that Igrit was the closest to the
System out of all his soldiers currently.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to talk once your grade goes up,
right?”
Jin-Woo had so many things he wanted to ask Igrit. Of

course, he couldn’t hear any answers from his trusty knight
yet.
“…”
Igrit replied with silence, as usual.
If silence could be seen as words, then wouldn’t this guy

qualify to be the most talkative soldier in the whole world?
Jin-Woo smirked to himself and scratched the side of his
head. He then carefully picked up the Demon King’s
weapons to store them back in his Inventory.
‘Inventory….?’
But then, Jin-Woo’s eyes caught a flash of light being

reflected off an object.
‘….What was that?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
An item was gleaming brightly inside his Inventory.

Chapter 128
The mystery item was a black key.
The key he found inside the ‘Cursed’ Random Box was

shining brightly as if to remind him of where it had been
hiding all along.
Jin-Woo stared somewhat dazedly at that arresting sight

before he cautiously put the weapons in his arms down on
the floor again. He then reached into the Inventory and
tightly grasped the black key.
‘…….’
And, when he opened his hand again….
[Item: Key to the Karutenon Temple]
Rarity: ??
Type: Key
‘You have met the required condition.’
A key allowing you entry into the Karutenon Temple. It can

be used at the designated Gate.
The location of the designated Gate will be revealed after

the predetermined time has been reached.
Remaining time: 417:06:52

The item information he couldn’t see before was now filling
up his view.
‘….Karutenon Temple?’
Jin-Woo began tilting his head in confusion.
What was going on here? He was pretty certain that he had

never heard of that name before. So how come it sounded so
familiar to him?
‘No, hold on. I…. have heard of it before.’
He carefully combed through the maze of his memories until

he finally recalled what he was searching for, and his brows
shot up in response.
‘The dual dungeon!!’
More specifically, that name was etched on a stone tablet

held by a statue, found in the ancient temple located right
at the end of the dual dungeon.
The memories of that fateful day were coming back to him

one by one.
‘Right, definitely….’
The voice of Song Chi-Yeol ahjussi, as he read the first line of

that stone tablet, suddenly rang so vividly around in his
ears.
[“The laws of the Karutenon Temple.”]
Indeed, that stone tablet’s texts indicated that the name of

the temple filled with those terrifying statues was none
other than ‘Karutenon’.
It couldn’t have been a simple coincidence that the name
carved into that stone tablet, and the name of the temple in
the key’s information, was exactly the same.
Which could mean…..
‘I can go back inside that place with this key?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider in stunned silence.
The memories of that day, indistinct and hard to recall as if

they were enveloped in a veil of fog, suddenly returned to
him in their full, gory detail.
No, this was no longer in the category of ‘Could it be’

anymore. The System was definitely summoning him –
summoning him back to the place where it all began.
The key that emitted the bright light all on its own, perhaps
fearing the distinct possibility of him never bothering to
read its information; and then, there was the name of the
location where this key was supposed to be used, written so
clearly that he’d never miss it.
No matter how he tried to slice it, there was little doubt that
the System was summoning him there.
Oddly enough, Jin-Woo was getting curious about something

else as well. Why was this happening now, of all times?
‘Is it somehow related to the quests I received from the

Demon’s Castle?’
This black key, and the ‘Cursed’ Random Box it came from,
was the ‘unknown reward’ he chose to receive at the end of
the ‘Collect the Souls of Demons! (1)’ quest.
Hoping that maybe there was a connection here, he quickly

checked the ‘unknown reward’ he got from the ‘Collect the
Souls of Demons! (2)’ quest.
‘Title.’
Along with the familiar “Tti-ring!” of the mechanical beep,

the information regarding his new Title, the one he got as
the reward, rose up to his view.
[Title: Demon Hunter]
‘You have not satisfied its conditions.’
He hoped that something might have changed, but well, too

bad; it was the exact same story as the first time he received
that Title.
‘Okay, so that one wasn’t it.’
Next up, he began reading the item descriptions of the

Demon Sovereign’s Accessory set, which he got to complete
after killing the Demon King, Baran.
[Item: Demon Sovereign’s Ring]
Rarity: S
Type: Accessory
Perception +20. Intelligence +20.
When worn together with ‘Demon Sovereign’s Earrings’ and

‘Demon Sovereign’s Necklace’, set bonuses will be unlocked.
Set bonus effect 1. All Stats +5

Set bonus effect 2. All Stats +10
He took a closer look at the information provided, wondering

if another, hidden, set effect had been unlocked, but that
wasn’t it, either.
‘In that case….’
There was only one other possibility remaining now, and Jin-
Woo shifted his gaze towards the information appearing
above his Title column, towards the final suspect.
[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]
[Level: 100]
[Class: Shadow Sovereign]
[Title:…..]
Out of all of those, his gaze stopped moving at his level.
There it was, his level ‘100’, the one he just barely got to
reach after massacring every single ant monster, as well as
every egg and larva found on the island of Jeju.
‘The condition this key’s been talking about has to be this.’
That was the most plausible explanation he could come up

with.
Because he could take out, or put back, any item inside

Inventory with nothing but his thoughts, he’d never really
paid much attention to what was inside his storage. Unless
he got a new toy he needed to put away, of course.
That was most likely why he only got to discover the

changes to this key a couple of days after he reached level
100.
Heck, if it wasn’t for him suddenly coming down with an

urge to spring clean his Inventory after he took out those
weapons from there earlier, he wouldn’t even have
discovered the key’s presence, at least not for a long while.
Good thing that he discovered it before it was far too late.
‘417 hours… that’s about 17 days from now. I still have over
two weeks left.’
The System hadn’t lied to him once until now. So, the Gate
in question would definitely open up in the location as noted
in the item’s information.
‘I gotta start preparing myself….’
Just as those thoughts raced past in his head, Jin-Woo

gasped out in surprise.
‘Hold on… was I really planning to walk in there again?’
“Ha, haha…”
A wry chuckle leaked out of his mouth without him realising

it.
Sure, they were lower ranked Hunters working for the

Association, but still, over half of the raid team got killed in
there. Not to forget, he himself nearly died several times,
too.
‘I even lost my leg towards the end, didn’t I?’
What a horrifying memory that was. He used to break out in

an uncontrollable shiver just from recalling the emptiness
below his knee he saw back then.
But now, fighting spirit began burning powerfully in his
eyes, instead.
‘I’m different now.’
He felt utterly confident of his chances now.
Heck, he even felt a certain expectation bubbling up inside

him, wondering if he’d be able to turn those stone statues,
or even the god statue itself, into his Shadow Soldiers.
There was also something else to consider – he might be hit

with an unknown penalty if he decided to ignore the
System’s summons.
Didn’t he already realise the fact that, depending on the

choices he makes, the System would either become his ally
or an enemy? Didn’t he learn his lesson back when he
ignored the first Daily Quest or when he was issued an
emergency quest?
When his thoughts reached up to that point, his hand

holding the key was suddenly became soaked in his sweat.
Gulp….
He was so tense that his dry saliva scratched his throat as it

slid down. Jin-Woo slowly shook his head and closed his
eyes.
‘….No, let’s not get too worked up over this.’
He needed to calm down.
His pounding heart gradually slowed down as he worked

hard to find stability in his emotions. After his chaotic
breathing had regained their normalcy, he ever so slightly
reopened his eyes.
“Alright.”
‘If the System has business with me, then it could very well
be another opportunity for me.’
Didn’t the ‘Cursed’ Random Box’s description say that it

would give him what he needed the most?
‘Still, it’d be prudent to make some preparations in

advance.’
Jin-Woo began thinking about the preparations he’d have to

make, just in case. That led him to remember something else
he’d been delaying for a little while now.
And that would be the establishment of his own Guild.
Having a Guild would certainly make it simpler to enter

various Gates, and it’d also make his, and his soldiers’
levelling-up process, that much easier, too.
He had left the very-motivated Yu Jin-Ho in charge of the

initial process of founding a Guild, at least for the time
being.
‘I wonder, how far along is he now?’
Jin-Woo decided to give Yu Jin-Ho a call, but after checking

the time, he sheepishly put the phone down. It was two in
the morning.
‘It’s already this late….’
Since he had stuff to do on the following day, he figured that

it’d be simpler to just go and pay a visit to Yu Jin-Ho at the
same time.
‘Yeah, I’ll stop by the office tomorrow.’
Yu Jin-Ho’s glares became a level sharper.
Like the eyes of a hawk locking onto a prey, his glare

scanning the computer monitor was filled to the brim with
unbridled sharpness. And then, proverbial flames erupted
out of his eyes next.
‘I shall never forgive those trying to obstruct the path of

hyung-nim!!’
Yu Jin-Ho quickly screen-captured the offending online forum

post in question, as well as the comments appearing below
it, and then, proceeded to write up a formal letter of
complaint with lightning speed. He moved so expertly and
quickly that he must’ve had more than enough experience
doing this thing.
And, in the blink of an eye, his work was done.
“Whew.”
His hand departing from the computer’s keyboard lightly

wiped away a single bead of sweat rolling down his
forehead.
He had done it again. Today, he was indeed successful in

rooting out an insidious group trying to slander his hyung-
nim.
Hyung-nim was the face of their fledgeling Guild, not to

mention its guiding light.
The b*stards that tried to speak ill of hyung-nim, or even
spread false rumours about him, were unforgivable sinners
that deserved to be put to death. Of course, he also needed
to be even more proactive in taking them down when he
thought about the future of the Guild.
After all, wasn’t this the Guild where he’d become its Vice
Master?
That’s why his personal feelings had nothing to do with what

he was doing right now. It was all a part of official business
he had to perform for the sake of their Guild.
Unfortunately, Yu Jin-Ho was reminded of the sad truth that

the Guild he’d be the Vice Master of still didn’t have an
official name yet. This was a serious problem requiring a
speedy resolution.
Hyung-nim hadn’t said a word about this problem until now,

so Yu Jin-Ho decided that it was his duty as the Guild’s Vice
Master to come up with a suitable name.
‘Hmm….’
How about putting the ‘Seong’ of Seong Jin-Woo and ‘Yu’ of

Yu Jin-Ho together to name the Guild ‘Seong-yu’?
He quickly shook his head, though.
‘It’s got a nice meaning, but uh, it sounds a bit…’
If he were to consider how it sounded, then it was indeed

better to flip the two words around to make ‘Yu-Seong’, but
then again, he’d never be able to accept the fact that his
own surname would come before his hyung-nim’s.
‘I must discuss this with hyung-nim when he stops by.’

It had been two whole days since they moved into this
office.
Hyung-nim had become the centre of the world’s attention

after his heroic feats during the Jeju Island raid got
broadcast live, while Yu Jin-Ho found himself manning this
big office all alone a lot more than he’d like to.
‘No, hang on a minute. What if I just take the last part of our
names and name the Guild Woo-Ho?’
It was then.
“Hey, what are you so deeply worried about?”
“Heok?!”
Yu Jin-Ho jumped up like a scalded cat. He quickly got up

from the chair and looked behind him, only to discover Jin-
Woo standing there.
“H-hyung-nim?!”
Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as if he

couldn’t understand why anyone would be that surprised.
Meanwhile, Yu Jin-Ho was busy patting his pounding chest
down.
‘Seriously, if he doesn’t want you to know that he’s here, you

wouldn’t even realise it….’
He wasn’t even paying attention to anything particular just

now, too. It sure felt like hyung-nim’s penchant for suddenly
appearing and then disappearing seemed to have gotten
worse with every passing day.
Embarrassed by his own over-the-top reaction, Yu Jin-Ho
sheepishly scratched the back of his head and asked Jin-
Woo.
“When did you arrive here, hyung-nim?”
“Just now.”
After making a simple reply, Jin-Woo leaned in and took a

look at the computer monitor that captured Yu Jin-Ho’s
attention until then, but before he got a proper look, the
latter quickly covered up the screen with his entire body.
“Hyung-nim, you don’t have to worry about b*stards like

them. I’ll take very good care of them, so you can rest easy,
hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo looked at that determined face of Yu Jin-Ho and an

expression of dumbfoundedness formed on his.
“….So, it was you.”
Jin-Woo heard that there was someone out there that

pounced on any negative comments or false articles about
him online like a wild beast and, while relying on the threat
of legal action, demanded them to be taken down
immediately.
But to think, that person was someone so close by!
Yu Jin-Ho’s complexion reddened from embarrassment now

that his secret activity had been inadvertently exposed to
the open.
“Eiii, hyung-nim… I’m supposed to do things like this for

you, you know.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes sparkled like an expectant kid waiting for a
praise, and Jin-Woo could only chuckle at that sight.
“Right. Thanks.”
Mistakenly thinking that the smile on Jin-Woo’s face was one

of satisfaction, Yu Jin-Ho secretly made up his mind to
become even more hands-on, all for the sake of his hyung-
nim.
But then….
“…Uh? Hyung-nim, are you going somewhere today?”
Yu Jin-Ho asked Jin-Woo after finally discovering a different

set of duds on the latter’s body.
Jin-Woo was nonplussed in his answer.
“I have some business to attend to today.”
“Aha….”
Yu Jin-Ho was feeling really amazed at that moment. He had

only seen Jin-Woo wear clothes that were easy to move
around in, so seeing his hyung-nim kitted out in a black
business suit from head to toe like this, he was struck by a
sense of unfamiliarity and amazement at the same time.
Too bad, Jin-Woo didn’t have enough free time to explain

himself. He took another quick look at his watch.
‘I’m running way too tight….’
Jin-Woo lifted his head away from the watch and asked Yu
Jin-Ho.
“Are there any other documents that I must bring with me
when getting the Guild Master licence?”
“Not at all! When you get to the Association, you’ll be asked

to take a simple test. Your licence will be issued right away
afterwards, hyung-nim.”
“Okay.”
So, his hyung-nim was headed off to the Association?
‘But, isn’t his attire a bit too much, considering he’s only
going to the Association….?’
Yu Jin-Ho incorrectly guessed Jin-Woo’s destination and

began tilting his head, but soon enough, he accepted it as a
fact.
‘Well, hyung-nim’s a celebrity now, so I guess he’ll have to

watch what he wears in public.’
There were good sides to being famous, but on the flip side,
there was also a tiresome aspect to it, as well.
Yu Jin-Ho thought about the stress and the burden carried

around by folks surrounding him from all sides – the famous
folks that every Korean citizen would immediately recognise
with their names alone – and briefly sympathised with their
plight.
Not really caring either way, Jin-Woo pointed to the car keys
placed on a desk a bit of distance away from him.
“I’m going to borrow the van for a while.”
“Use it as much as you want, hyung-nim.”

Yu Jin-Ho reached out to pick the keys up. However, he was
taken greatly by surprise as the keys slipped out of his reach
and flew into Jin-Woo’s hands.
“H-hyung-nim, what was….?”
Jin-Woo cut him off abruptly.
“It’s a skill.”
“…”
Yu Jin-Ho was rendered speechless yet again.
Even if hyung-nim declared that he could fly around using

another one of his skills, Yu Jin-Ho was confident of not
finding that strange at all.
‘Is there anything hyung-nim can’t do??’
Hyung-nim was like an onion that had so many layers still

left to peel. The more you knew about him, the more he’d
surprise you.
‘Wait, now isn’t the time for this.’
Yu Jin-Ho abruptly woke up from his daydream, remembering

that he still a few things to ask hyung-nim. Since he was in
the office, now was the perfect opportunity to do exactly
that
Jin-Woo stopped walking away after sensing that Yu Jin-Ho

had something else to say from the way the kid was looking
at him.
“Yeah?”
“Hyung-nim, it’s only been a day since we started
advertising on the online job marketplace. But we’ve been
swarmed by the applicants wanting to become our fellow
founding members, so I went ahead and compiled a list for
you to take a look.”
“Oh, that. Let’s talk about it after I come back.”
He was running short on time, to begin with.
Yu Jin-Ho felt his own urgency kick in, having seen how
badly Jin-Woo wanted to be on his way.
“Ah, hyung-nim! Have you decided on the name of the

Guild?”
Indeed, this was the most pressing issue of them all.
Because, you’d need a name of the Guild if you wanted to

place job postings on the bulletin boards, or even when
conducting other official businesses, now wouldn’t it?
‘Does he have something in mind for the name of the Guild?’
Yu Jin-Ho’s heart was pounding in anticipation for Jin-Woo’s

answer. He was fully prepared to suggest the names he had
thought up if hyung-nim was unable to come up with one.
‘Seong-Yu, Jin-Jin, Woo-Ho…. I hope he finds one of them to

his liking.’
Jin-Woo pondered for a bit while Yu Jin-Ho continued to gaze

at him with eyes glinting with the light of expectation. A
smirk found its way to Jin-Woo’s lips and he finally made his
reply.
“How about, Solo Play Guild?” (TL: In the raw, it’s “Sol-Ple.”
which is “Solo Play” but shortened.)
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho blinked his eyes several times.
Was he supposed to start laughing here? But, didn’t Jin-

Woo’s expression look like he wasn’t joking at all?
Jin-Woo didn’t expect to see a reaction anyway, so he

quickly turned towards the door to leave.
“See you later.”
Yu Jin-Ho fell into a train of thought while watching Jin-Woo

make his exit from the office.
‘….So, there WAS something hyung-nim couldn’t do, after

all.’
As expected, his hyung-nim was a human being, just like

everyone else.
Although he was afraid that the ‘Solo Play’ would get stuck
as the Guild’s name, Yu Jin-Ho also felt just a tiny bit more
reassured after being reminded of Jin-Woo being a human
like him.
The location of Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s funeral ceremony.
Originally, the plan was to hold a small private ceremony

with only the close relatives invited to attend the event.
However, there were far too many people who wished to pay
their respects and so, the funeral had to be changed to a
public one.
Countless people showed up to the funeral parlour to pay
their respects and remember Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s valiant
sacrifice. Jin-Woo was among them.
‘Uh, uh? Isn’t that….?’
‘Heok! Isn’t he Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?’
‘It’s really him!’
The funeral goers soon discovered Jin-Woo’s presence and

began whispering to each other as their excitement heated
up.
Chapter 129
Jin-Woo didn’t particularly mind the gazes of other people,

unless he was talking about some special circumstances. As
long as no one bothered him, it didn’t matter to him if he got
famous, either.
That’s why he didn’t really care when the mourners

discovered his presence and started whispering among
themselves.
However….
‘At the very least, you all should know that now isn’t the
time nor the place.’
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows unhappily.
Wasn’t this the place to remember and honour the valiant

sacrifice of Hunter Min Byung-Gu?
Jin-Woo didn’t want this solemn occasion to fall into some

noisy chaos because of him, so he briefly unleashed a
portion of his magic energy – no, not even that, but an
amount so tiny that it didn’t even qualify to be called a
portion.
‘…..!!’
The desired effect took place right away. The air suddenly
became incomparably heavier and oppressive silence
descended to the place. Even the breathing of the mourners
became incredibly cautious.
“….”
“….”
All those people noisily yapping to each other promptly shut

their mouths up at once.
‘Alright.’
Jin-Woo succeeded in creating an acceptable atmosphere

with nothing but a quiet display of power before he started
walking forward again. He didn’t get to walk for long,
though, as a middle-aged lady, who was too young to be
called a granny but too old to be called an auntie, stood
before him.
She was none other than Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s mother.
People began gasping softly as they looked on at the mother

and Jin-Woo standing in an apparent face-off like that.
‘Uh, uh?’
‘Wait, she isn’t going to scold him and chase him away,
right?’
Fortunately, the outcome people were worried about didn’t

come to pass. The why of it was simple enough.
“You’ve arrived. Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for inviting me, ma’am.”
It was actually Hunter Min-Byung-Gu’s mother who pleaded

with him to come by here today.
“There was something I’d like to speak to you in person and
that’s why I had to make that call. I hope I wasn’t troubling
you.”
“No, not at all, ma’am.”
“Hunter-nim, I heard you got rid of all the monsters in that

place so that my son could come home.”
Min Byung-Gu’s mother stopped there and gazed up at Jin-

Woo, perhaps wanting to confirm the story she was told
straight from the man himself.
‘……’
Jin-Woo had various personal reasons for hunting down the

ants of Jeju Island. However, it was also true that a part of
him didn’t want to see Hunter Min Byung-Gu rot away
forgotten somewhere in the darkness of that ant tunnel. So,
Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You helped my son so he won’t sleep in that dark, damp

place. I….”
Min Byung-Gu’s mother finally began shedding the tears

she’d been holding and continued on.
“I was to able to meet my son for the last time with your
help. Thank you very much, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
There were no words that could console a parent grieving for

her lost child. Jin-Woo could only remain silent with an
agonised look on his face. In the meantime, the relatives of
Min Byung-Gu’s mother came over and carefully escorted
her away deeper into the funeral venue.
Even then, even as she was getting further away from him,
she never stopped bowing to him to express her gratitude.
‘……’
For a moment there, the face of Min Byung-Gu’s mother

overlapped with that of his own mom’s from ten years ago in
Jin-Woo’s eyes, back when she heard the news of his father
going missing inside the Gate.
A thick lump formed in his throat.
‘But….’
Just like how his father sacrificed his life to save a countless
number of his colleagues, Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s sacrifice
wasn’t in vain.
Without his dedicated effort to heal his comrades, it’d have

been really difficult for the Korean Hunters to walk out of the
ant tunnel alive. Not only that, he used his powers to save
the life of one more Hunter even in death.
Min Byung-Gu’s shadow actually felt relieved after it

confirmed the colour of life gradually seep back into Hunter
Cha Hae-In’s complexion. From that alone, Jin-Woo could
sense how much the Healer cared for his comrades.
Coincidentally, Jin-Woo spotted Cha Hae-In in the distance

as he quietly approached the black-and-white portrait of the
deceased to lay down the flowers. But when their gazes met,
she suddenly flinched and fell into a panicked state.
‘Did they come together?’
The members of the Korean team around her sent him a

silent greeting with a slight nod of their heads, but Cha Hae-
In looked as if she had no clue which expression she was
supposed to make right now.
‘Huh, so that woman can make a face like that, too?’
He couldn’t recall any other times when she didn’t carry that
expressionless face of hers. Indeed, one should get to know
somebody for a longer time before passing judgement,
that’s for sure.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away and stood before the portrait.
Hunter Min Byung-Gu within the black photo frame was

smiling brightly without a care in the world. Jin-Woo placed
the flower in front of the portrait and closed his eyes for a
brief moment.
‘I hope you find yourself in a better place.’
Finishing up with the prayer for the departed, he turned

around to see a familiar figure approach him from the
distance.
The low, bassy voice naturally belonged to the Association

President, Goh Gun-Hui.
“Sir.”
“I was actually planning to give you a call later, but it’s good
that we have run into each other here.”
“You wanted to see me?”
It was pretty obvious why the Association would look for a

Hunter. Thinking that he might find himself with an
opportunity to raise his level, Jin-Woo gazed at Goh Gun-Hui
with anticipation, but regretfully, the Association President
gently laughed and shook his head.
“It’s not what you’re thinking about, Hunter-nim.”
“….Oh. I see.”
How deflating, that.
Jin-Woo could only ruefully smack his lips.
“In any case, I’d like to speak to you for a moment or two.
Will that be fine with you?”
Jin-Woo was planning to stop by the Association after

leaving here to resolve his Guild Master licence problem
anyway, so he said yes immediately.
“I have business in the Association, so why don’t we go and

speak there?”
“You have business in the Association….? May I inquire what

that is?”
“Oh, actually, I need a Guild Master licence, you see.”
“Pardon?”
A question mark floated up above Goh Gun-Hui’s head.
“Why do you need the Guild Master licence when you

already possess a rank S licence?”
“Wait, does that mean a rank S can establish a Guild without

a licence?”
“Of course.”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a good-natured smile and continued
on.
“If you wish to form your own Guild, all you have to do is to
give the Association a call. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“…..”
The rank ‘S’ was a realm he never expected to step into half
a year ago. So, it wasn’t surprising to see Jin-Woo greatly
underestimate all the cool benefits this rank came with.
He was inwardly flustered after learning of something he

didn’t know until now, but…
‘But, this is actually for the better, isn’t it. Let’s find out
more about all the benefits a rank S Hunter enjoys while I’m
at it.’
Also, seeing that he could directly get in touch with the

Association President Goh Gun-Hui, he might be able to
establish his Guild right away as long as he met the
minimum requirements.
Was this the reason why the old saying went on about
finding the right backer if you wanted to succeed in life?
Most people would never get to meet the President of the

Hunter’s Association in their lifetime, yet such a man had
already become a dependable backer for Jin-Woo.
Goh Gun-Hui continued on.
“What I’d like to speak to you about won’t take long, so we

don’t have to change the venue.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head, leading Goh Gun-Hui to quickly
ask him a question.
“By any chance, have you cast some kind of a barrier spell
over Jeju Island?”
“What do you mean?”
Where was this barrier magic thingy coming from, all of a

sudden?
Did something happen in Jeju Island after he killed every ant

there and left for home?
Goh Gun-Hui calmly explained what had happened.
“During the operation to retrieve Hunter Min-Byung-Gu’s

remains, there was an incident of the military personnel and
the accompanying Hunters losing their consciousness in the
same location. Hmm, rather than losing consciousness, it’d
be more appropriate to say that they had all fallen asleep,
instead.”
Everyone within the same location… all fell asleep? Jin-Woo

could only tilt his head slightly.
‘Sounds like an AOE abnormal status magic, doesn’t it?’
….It sounded similar to the thunder magic of the Demon

King Baran that inflicted ‘Stun’ effect to all the Shadow
Soldiers caught within the attack range.
However, the problem lay with the fact that the folks present
during that incident weren’t your average Hunters.
“I thought the elite members of the Knight Order were asked

to go to Jeju Island?”
Jin-Woo’s question elicited a nod from Goh Gun-Hui.
“They were either Hunters in the top of the rank A pile, or

rank Bs who are very close to rank A in terms of their
abilities.”
To be able to put not just one, but several dozens of such

people to sleep all at once – a regular rank S Mage wouldn’t
even dare to try performing a spell of that magnitude.
“That’s why I had to ask you about it, just in case. I was
hoping that maybe you cast a barrier there but forgot to tell
us about it.”
Here was the solid proof that both Hunter’s Association and
its boss, Goh Gun-Hui, rated Jin-Woo’s abilities incredibly
high.
Unfortunately for them, Jin-Woo’s speciality didn’t lay in

casting debuff or abnormal status magic. And, perhaps more
importantly, there was just no way that he’d forget about
activating such a magic spell in the first place.
Jin-Woo promptly shook his head.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t done that.”
“I see…. I guess so.”
Traces of worry slowly entered Goh Gun-Hui’s expression.

The most optimistic explanation he could think of turned out
to be wide off the mark in the end.
“What did the Hunters say, sir?”
“That is….”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a troubled face of a man finding it hard
to explain something, before continuing on his explanations
with some difficulty.
“Not only the soldiers, but even the Hunters can’t remember
anything that happened before they lost their
consciousness.”
His voice sounded even more dispirited next.
“Actually, we can’t even figure out whether they were

victims of a magic spell or not in the first place.”
“…”
If it were just the soldiers, who were simply regular people,

it’d be possible to knock them out with something like the
sleeping gas, but even the rank A Hunters and their
exceptional physical abilities fell victim as well. So, it
couldn’t have been a conventional weapon of some kind.
‘Could it have been a trap left behind by the ants?’
Jin-Woo was really tempted to summon out Beru right now

and ask him about it, but….
‘…..’
If he did that, this funeral venue might morph into a blood-

splattered battlefield in no time at all. The thing was, Jin-
Woo could see a few dozen high-ranked Hunters around here
just from a quick headcount.
Of course, he wasn’t worried about Beru at all. Nope, he was

only concerned about the Hunters rashly trying to pick a
fight with the former ant monster.
It was then.
A young man who must’ve been an Association employee

approached them in hurried steps and whispered something
to Goh Gun-Hui’s ear. The Association President formed a
rueful expression as he spoke to Jin-Woo.
“A guest has arrived sooner than expected, and

unfortunately, I must be on my way now. Thank you for your
time.”
“You too, sir.”
After sharing brief goodbyes, Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly left the

venue and disappeared from the view along with that
unnamed employee.
Now that he no longer had any reason to go to the

Association, Jin-Woo figured that he might as well go home,
instead. He too left the venue and began walking towards
the location of the parked van.
But, then….
He seemed to have picked up a somewhat puzzling ‘tail’

since from a short while ago. Jin-Woo tilted his head in
confusion.
‘Aren’t you supposed to do your best not to get discovered

when tailing someone?’
Not only that, any ol’ regular folks wouldn’t even dare to
dream about tailing a rank S Hunter, too.
Step, step….
Since he couldn’t hear the roll of a camera, the person
following him didn’t seem to be a reporter. Heck, this person
wasn’t even trying to mask his presence, either.
Getting curious about how long the tail would follow him, as
well as what would this person do after catching up to him,
Jin-Woo chose to keep walking over to the van without
saying a word.
And sure enough, the tail diligently followed after him.
‘Huh. Well, I’ll be….’
Jin-Woo was getting more and more dumbfounded here. He

even realised for the first time that he didn’t want to deal
seriously with someone who was this unprofessional at what
he was supposed to do.
However….
Just as Jin-Woo was about to grab the door handle of his van,
he heard a voice calling out to him from behind.
“Are you Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
Jin-Woo smirked slightly and turned around while thinking to

himself, ‘Well, you’ve finally revealed your true colours,
haven’t you.’
“Yes, I am.”
But then, Jin-Woo was momentarily taken aback after

confirming the face of his opponent.
‘He’s a foreigner?’
That man’s Korean was so perfect that Jin-Woo didn’t expect

him to be a Westerner at all. Meanwhile, the young
Westerner, sporting a business suit so slick that it bordered
on being a fashion statement, formed a smile as bright as his
golden hair colour.
“This is who I am.”
The man pulled out a business card and presented it to Jin-

Woo. His name, the organisation he worked for, as well as his
contact numbers, were all printed in large, legible letters on
the card.
[Senior Agent Adam White, Hunter Bureau, the United

States of America]
‘Hunter Bureau??’
What did an elite agent from the most powerful organisation

in the US want from him now?
‘No. There’s only one reason why the Hunter Bureau would
want to speak to a Hunter.’
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from the card and looked straight
at the agent, prompting the American to introduce himself
with a sunny smile.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Seong Jin-Woo

Hunter-nim. Please call me Adam from now on.”
Chapter 130
Jin-Woo locked his gaze on the young American man named

Adam White, who turned out to be an agent of the Hunter
Bureau.
‘…….’
Judging from the glint in that man’s eyes, he obviously had

no ill intentions towards Jin-Woo whatsoever.
The Americans spending an exorbitant sum of money to

bring in top Hunters from all over the globe was already a
well-known fact. So, Jin-Woo figured that the guy would start
extolling the virtues of coming to America soon after making
his introduction.
However, what Adam White said next went wildly against his
expectations.
“There is a piece of information we’d like to share with you,

Hunter-nim.”
“Information, is it….?”
“Yes. And you won’t ever hear about this information from
any other existing country or organisation in the world.
Except ours, of course.”
Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly. What would be their reason

for revealing such highly-classified information to a foreign
Hunter like him, a complete stranger?
“Why are you willing to share such information with me?”
Jin-Woo’s probing question only managed to elicit another

round of a refreshing smile from Adam White.
“We certainly will get something in return by revealing this

information to an exclusive group of a specially chosen few.”
“Specially chosen few”, he said.
Which meant that the Americans considered Jin-Woo to be

eligible to enter that category now. Sure enough, that
roused his curiosity rather greatly.
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“That is as far as I’m permitted to tell you, Hunter-nim. As for

the rest, you’ll have to hear it from our deputy director.”
The deputy director of the mighty Hunter Bureau? A man

who possessed more political clout than a minister of some
government actually was in South Korea, right now?
‘Sounds like it can’t be some run-of-the-mill info, then.’
Adam White must’ve thought that he was successful in

stoking the flames of Jin-Woo’s curiosity, because he finally
delved into the main topic at hand.
“We have a car ready nearby. How about accompanying me

to meet up with the deputy director?”
Unfortunately for him, though – it was Jin-Woo who had the

final say in the matter.
‘Information, is it….’
It could only be one of two things. Either it was info that
would benefit him in some way after learning of it, or a tip of
someone coming after his life. Funnily enough, he didn’t feel
all that compelled to get to the bottom of this matter at the
moment.
For the time being, he wanted to focus on the preparations

for the ‘black key’, even if this info proved to be beneficial to
him. If it was the latter and someone indeed wanted to take
him out, then he was pretty confident of emerging victorious
from that, too.
Also, most importantly….
‘It’s not like I can fully trust the information these guys will
furnish me with, in the first place….’
This whole thing about sharing information could be just a

ruse, too.
He wasn’t even sure of the opponent’s hands being useful to

him, or for that matter, if the opponent held any useful
hands at all. So, was there a reason for him to be lead
around by the nose here?
He quickly arrived at his decision.
“I’ll sleep on it, and give you a call later.”
“…!!”
Adam felt like someone had just punched him in the back of
his head as this unexpected turn of the conversation left him
reeling in shock.
‘What? The deputy director of the Hunter Bureau came all

this way to share information, yet he’s ignoring that and
wants to go on his way??’
Jin-Woo didn’t look like he was bluffing here, because he was

already opening the driver’s door of the van. Cold
perspiration immediately coated Adam White’s forehead.
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was allowed to slip through his

fingers now, then who knew when he’d get another chance
like this? No, there was even a distinct possibility that this
could be the very last time.
It was unknown whether the Korean intended for this

reaction or not, but without a doubt, the ones ruing the
missed opportunity would be them, not him.
“Well, have a nice day.”
Just as Jin-Woo was about to climb into the van, the restless
Adam White urgently cried out.
“P-please, hold on!”
Jin-Woo shifted his disinterested gaze over to Adam White.

Hoping to rouse Jin-Woo’s curiosity further, even if it was
only by a fraction, Adam White hurriedly continued on.
“Upgrader….”
“An Upgrader?”
Adam formed an expression of a defeated man and

explained the meaning behind the word he just spat out.
“Did you know that there is an Awakened who can enhance

the abilities of other Awakened?”
‘Yup, you should’ve started with that from the beginning.’

Right away, Jin-Woo realised that the stuff being shared by
Agent Adam White, no, the deputy director of the Hunter
Bureau, was actually of far greater importance than mere
‘information’.
‘An Awakened who can enhance other Awakened, is it…?’
Finally, Jin-Woo felt compelled enough now. He pulled the

half-entered leg out of the van and closed the door. Adam
could sigh a sigh of relief after seeing that.
“Whew…”
When he raised his head, though, Jin-Woo was already

standing a couple of inches away from him.
“Jesus H. Christ?!”
The startled Adam White took a step back in fright, but Jin-
Woo didn’t care about that and simply asked the man.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
Screech-
The black saloon carrying the two men came to a stop in

front of a famous luxury hotel.
“We’re here.”
Jin-Woo noted that the name of the hotel was the same as
the one from the memo Yu Jin-Ho handed over to him not too
long ago.
‘Wait, that English-speaking foreigner Yu Jin-Ho was talking

about, could it have been one of these guys?’
Jin-Woo followed after Adam White and climbed up to the
suite where the deputy director was waiting for him.
The deputy director of the Hunter Bureau, Michael Connor,

failed to disguise his excitement at the sight of a certain
Oriental man standing behind his subordinate.
‘Very good!’
One of the more difficult aspects of negotiation was bringing

the other party to the negotiating table. One could even
declare that half the battle was won already by doing so.
The deputy director smiled brightly and extended his hand

to Jin-Woo for a cordial handshake.
“My name is Michael Connor. I’m the deputy director of the

Hunter Bureau.”
His self-introduction was translated into fluent Korean with

the speed of lightning by Adam White. Jin-Woo took the
deputy director’s hand and lightly shook it.
“I’m Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Now that their brief introductions were over, they settled

down on the opposing sides of a table. Adam remained
standing next to his deputy director.
“Before we start, have anyone claiming to be from foreign

Hunter-related organisations tried to make contact with you
before us?”
The deputy director directly fired the opening salvo.
“No one, so far.”

Once that anticipated answer was given, the deputy director
formed a smile of pure satisfaction.
‘But, of course. There shouldn’t be anyone else on Earth

quicker than the United States of America.’
Only the striker a step ahead of everyone else could score

the winning goal, indeed.
The deputy director didn’t plan on wasting this golden

chance that no one else had the luxury to enjoy yet –
especially when his target was someone his superior officer
ordered to reel over to their side, no matter the cost or the
method.
He didn’t even try to beat around the bush and went

straight to the topic at hand.
“Allow me to be frank with you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.
With a solemn, determined face, the deputy director pushed

a rather sizeable mountain of files towards Jin-Woo and
continued on.
“We, at the United States of America, want you, Seong Jin-

Woo Hunter-nim.”
“These are….?”
“These are all the documents needed to emigrate to

America. Now normally, you’d need at least one or two years
for these papers to be processed. However, it’ll be a different
story for you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The deputy director then raised his index finger.
“Just a single second.”

He declared in a very confident voice.
“If you agree to immigrate, then you’ll become an American

citizen in one second. And not as a simple, regular citizen,
either – no, you become eligible to receive the equal
treatment as the nation’s existing top-ranked Hunters.”
“…”
Everything so far had been what Jin-Woo expected to hear

from this man. However, what he wanted to find out about
was the information related to this Awakened called
‘Upgrader’. He shifted his gaze over to Adam, causing the
American agent to flinch slightly and avert his eyes away.
Jin-Woo looked back at the deputy director.
“But, I only came here because Adam said something about

some ‘information’.”
The deputy director let out a burst of genial laughter when

he heard that.
“That isn’t entirely unrelated to what I was talking about.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hunter-nim. If you give us your word that you’ll become the

next American Hunter, then we will definitely enhance your
abilities to an even higher realm.”
The so-called ‘Upgrader’. It seemed that this Awakened

could really do what that moniker implied.
Still, Jin-Woo was not entirely convinced, even if the deputy

director said roughly the same thing as Agent Adam White.
‘Could there really be an Awakened possessing such a
power?’
That’s why he decided to make d*mn sure.
“To enhance one’s abilities – can such a thing be for real?”
Jin-Woo’s apparent interest caused the deputy director to

become even more excited.
“Actually…. she’s here with us, right now.”
Jin-Woo already knew that there was someone else within

the hotel’s suite. From a while ago, he had picked up on the
minute amount of magic power leaking out from the gap of
the closed door just over there.
Because the magic energy emitted didn’t seem all that

powerful, he was inwardly thinking that person was too weak
to be a bodyguard of someone as important as the Hunter
Bureau’s deputy director. And now, his suspicion proved to
be correct.
The deputy director quickly issued an order.
“Please bring Madam Selner here.”
Click.
Almost immediately, the door was opened and two agents

escorted a middle-aged African-American woman out from
the room beyond. Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed slightly after
picking up on a strange vibe coming off of her.
‘……’
Somehow, she gave off a different aura from other, regular

Awakened.
The African-American lady stood next to the table, and the
agent quickly pulled out a chair for her. She then elegantly
settled down on the end of the cushion.
She immediately recognised who Jin-Woo was and floated a

smile of genuine interest.
“So, you are that man from the video….”
She was already familiar with all the important information

on Jin-Woo and needed no introduction, so the deputy
director’s job became a bit easier.
“This is Madam Norma Selner. She is the lone Awakened, the

only one of her type in the entire world, who can enhance
the abilities of other Awakened to even greater heights.”
At the end of the introduction, Madam Selner did a simple

nod of her head as a greeting to Jin-Woo. He reciprocated the
greeting with the nod, as well.
“Madam Selner. Please, if you will, briefly explain what you

can do to Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
She formed a teasing smile while staring at the still-

unconvinced Jin-Woo’s face.
“Everyone has the same look as you, in the beginning,

Hunter-nim. However….”
She then leaned in closer to Jin-Woo and whispered softly to

him.
“Once they have a taste, they have no choice but to beg me

for more.”
“Madam, please….”
The deputy director furrowed his brows a little, prompting
her to laugh out and wave her hand about.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry, Director Connor. I know that

he’s a very important man.”
Still with an alluring smile, Madam Selner began with her

explanation.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. As you may know already, all

Awakened face a limit they can’t breach. No one can
overcome it.”
That was why the ranks of the Awakened would never

change, unless one was lucky enough to go through a Re-
Awakening process. This was common knowledge that all
living Hunters out there knew all too well.
“But, Madam. You can….?”
Even before Jin-Woo could finish his question, Madam Selner

formed an expression of a little kid picking up the final piece
of strawberry on top of a cake that she’d been saving up for
the very last.
“You’re correct.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew progressively wider.
“I can increase that limit even higher in three separate

stages. I don’t know whether to call it a forced Re-
Awakening, or simply waking up the latent potential
sleeping within the subject already, but yes, I can do it.”
What an incredible ability that was!

The things she said just now were explosive enough to shake
the very cores of every top-ranked Hunters found
throughout the world. Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to the
deputy director.
He nodded his head to reaffirm what she said.
“What she said are all true. It’s just that, once she uses her
powers once, she needs to take a lengthy break to recover
her energy. So, only around three to four lucky Awakened
get to enjoy this benefit in a single year.”
“….How effective is it?”
“It depends on individuals, but once one goes through all

three stages, they say that they grew stronger by a
minimum of 20 percent, and as much as 30 percent, over
their original powers.”
Twenty to thirty percent!
With the average of his Stat values nearing the 250 mark, if
Jin-Woo got that mystery enhancement, that average value
would shoot past the 300 mark, instead,
Without a doubt, that would be an enormous leap up.
….As long as these guys weren’t lying to him, of course.
‘Is she casting a buff that raises one’s powers? Or, is it more
like raising the fixed level cap?’
Regardless of what it was, the ability she possessed would

be like a precious treasure for all the Hunters out there.
Which also meant that there should be no shortages of
people aiming for her, too.
“If the knowledge of such an ability is made public, then….”
The deputy director nodded his head.
“That is why Madam Selner is with us.”
She too worried about the exact same thing as Jin-Woo had
thought of, and after lengthy deliberation, she joined the
Hunter Bureau who’d guarantee her safety while also letting
her use her powers as often as she wanted to.
“We ensure her absolute safety and reward her accordingly,

while she enhances the abilities of those Hunters we deem
worthy of joining us. We have been maintaining this
symbiotic relationship for a long time now.”
And so, that’s where the deputy director bookended the

explanation. Now, the time for the fireworks to begin.
“Madam Selner’s ability, that is precisely the gift we wish to

give to you, Hunter-nim.”
“A gift, is it….”
Indeed, could there be a gift even more valuable than this

one?
“If you become a Hunter of the United States of America,

you will be the first in line to receive this benefit. Also, we
will make sure that you get the best possible terms when
negotiating with any Guilds you wish to join.”
From the perspective of an ordinary Hunter, these were

simply too good of conditions to say no to.
Only now could Jin-Woo understand why Hwang Dong-Soo

didn’t even hesitate once and emigrated to the States when
everyone was criticising him for it. The enormous sum of
money the Americans reportedly paid him was most likely a
cover-up story to hide the real reason.
Regular Hunters would lose their collective sh*t if they ever

heard of such a tale. So, if you told a top Hunter that his or
her abilities could be enhanced even further? Who in their
right minds would say no to that?
However….
“Can you prove that she really possesses such a power?”
Everything they said so far were just words, and there had
been no proof to back them up yet.
It was her turn to butt in next.
“No need to rush. Today, I’m only here to undo the first
button, you know.”
Jin-Woo finally realised what she meant earlier.
‘One taste, and people beg her for more, was it?’
Just as she had alluded to, every Hunter seeing her powers
with their own eyes chose to head to America right away,
one hundred times out of one hundred. Her sky-high
confidence was based off on that.
The deputy director quietly asked a question to Jin-Woo.
“It is as she says. So, will you let us unlock your ‘first
stage’?”
“Without anything in return?”
“Think of it as a ‘service’ from us, Hunter-nim.”

Madam Selner lightly grasped Jin-Woo’s wrist. When he
turned to look at her, she formed a gentle smile and
gestured to him to get closer.
“Please, look into my eyes. Look deeply into them. That will
be your first step.”
Was she telling the truth?
To confirm if this Madam Selner really did possess the power

the Hunter Bureau was swearing by, Jin-Woo decided to
follow her instructions for the time being.
The deputy director leaned against the back of the chair and
crossed his arms.
‘It’s done! He’s ours now!’
The game was already over.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had been constantly maintaining that

cold, indifferent expression until now, but that was only
because he hadn’t yet experienced what this lady’s power
had to offer.
Once the first lifting of the natural limit was completed,

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would call them on his own volition
sooner rather than later. No, if he had an impulsive
personality, then he might sign the immigration documents
right here, right now.
The deputy director’s curiosity shifted on to something else

now.
‘Just how high will his limit be, I wonder?’

The deputy director uncrossed his arms and rubbed his chin,
his eyes of anticipation firmly locked on Jin-Woo. But, it was
then.
“Heok!!”
Madam Selner sucked in her breath, as her eyes began to

quake quite violently.
Chapter 131
Her name was Norma Selner.
An African-American woman of 46 years of age, and often

referred to as Madam Selner or Mrs Selner, the Hunter
Bureau offered her a higher degree of protection than the
President of the country.
Meaning, if both her and the President’s lives were under

threat, then the Hunter Bureau would prioritise in rescuing
her first and then worry about the President later.
But, how could such a thing even be possible?
When the previous director of the Hunter Bureau retired

from the office and handed over the responsibility to his
successor, he described her with the following words.
“Doesn’t matter who becomes our next President, our

position as the world’s greatest Hunter nation on Earth
will never change. But, if she’s no longer with us, then
America will start worrying about the Gates appearing
in smaller cities around the remote regions of our
country.”
That’s how it was.
Because she managed to attract the world’s elite rank S

Hunters here, the American citizens were able to rest easy
every night knowing that they didn’t need to worry about
high-ranking Gates opening up somewhere within this
massive country of theirs.
The top-ranked Hunters who changed their nationality

because of her was already 26.
This was already a number far exceeding other so-called

Hunter superpower nations and their roster of rank S
Hunters. The Hunter Bureau also carefully selected their
targets as well, so it went without saying that their Hunters
were of far superior quality, as well.
So, one could say that Madam Selner was the guardian
angel looking after America from behind the scenes.
Regardless of how high a rank S Hunter’s position was, or

the treatment he or she received, none of them were seen as
being as important as Madam Selner at the end of the day.
She was the top classified secret that not even the American
President could easily approach. Quite obviously, the rank S
Hunters allowed to meet her were selected via the most
strict, rigorous vetting process.
They were the specially chosen few, as coined by Agent

Adam White earlier.
[“We certainly will get something in return by revealing this

information to an exclusive group of a specially chosen
few.”]
At first, Jin-Woo had no clue what it meant to be included in

that exclusive group of the chosen few. Not just him, but
most of the rank S Hunters, too.
However, they would come to a realisation after Madam

Selner broke open their limits – the realisation of who chose
them, and what it meant to be chosen!
One of the Hunters was so moved by the overflowing power

coursing through his body, he even knelt down before her to
shed tears of gratitude. On the following day, his nationality
changed from Congo to America.
‘That always happened, didn’t it?’
And that was why the current serving deputy director of the
Hunter Bureau, Michael Conner, didn’t believe that anything
would go wrong.
He was sure that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would cry out in

alternating emotions of elation and shock, maybe even
search for his God, just as everyone else before him did.
Then, he’d beg for more.
Was there any other, more fitting description than that?
He confidently thought like that, not even a hint of suspicion

within his mind. But, then….
The cry of shock actually came out from someone else’s

mouth.
“Uaaahhk?!”
Madam Selner stared deep into Jin-Woo’s eyes for a long

time, before she screamed at the top of her lungs as if she
had seen something she shouldn’t have. She fell off the
chair on to the floor.
Almost right away, two agents here to guard her whipped

their pistols out and took aim at Jin-Woo.
“Stop!! Have you all lost your minds?!”

The deputy director witnessed the agents and their
recklessness, and cried out in alarm. Loud cussing exploded
out of his mouth as he jumped up from his sitting position to
push down the pointed pistols of the agents.
“Do you not know who this person is? How dare you point at
him with such a thing?!”
“But, sir, the Madam is….”
“You idiots! If you’re that worried about Madam Selner, then

check up on her first!!”
“M-my apologies.”
The agents quickly put their guns away and supported the
shivering Madam Selner off from the ground. Her
complexion had become so pale that she looked quite pitiful
right now.
Meanwhile, the deputy director bowed his back 90 degrees

to Jin-Woo.
“I’m truly sorry, Hunter-nim. My agents committed a grave

blunder.”
Judging from the previously-relaxed voice of the deputy

director tremble like that, he must’ve been frightened out of
his wits rather greatly just now.
‘They are trained to put the safety of the Madam above all
else, but to think, they’d be stupid enough to point a gun at
a rank S Hunter!’
If their opponent possessed a fiery temper, then never mind

the two foolish agents, even their boss’s neck wouldn’t have
remained in its original place.
He couldn’t even come up with an excuse to explain away
the agents shoving guns in the face of a top-ranked Hunter
in a country where carrying firearms was illegal.
The deputy director’s heart still loudly pounded in his chest,

unable to calm down from the fright he felt when Madam
Selner screamed and fell, and also, when the agents pulled
their guns out without any warning.
Funnily enough, though, Jin-Woo was also deeply flustered

by what transpired just now.
‘Just what the hell is up with this situation?’
That lady suddenly screamed out and fell down, the Hunter
Bureau’s agents pointed guns at him, and finally, their
deputy director jumped up and down in a huff before
apologising with a deep bow of his head.
At first, he was dumbfounded. Next up, he was speechless,

and finally….
“….It’s fine. No one got hurt, after all.”
He didn’t even feel like getting angry here.
He kinda figured that angrily threatening the other party

was a pretty disgraceful thing to do, especially when the
second most powerful man from another country’s top
organisation was quick to admit the mistakes of his
subordinates and apologised like this.
A part of him also didn’t feel much of anything when guns

were being pointed at him. Rather than weapons, they
looked more like children’s toys to him now. That was how
wide the gap between them and Jin-Woo was.
“Thank you for your understanding, Hunter-nim.”
Only after Jin-Woo let it go did the deputy director raise his
head back up again. He then sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo’s
face and confirmed that the Korean wasn’t being sarcastic or
anything. He felt that he had really dodged a bullet here.
‘If something like this happened in front of either Thomas

Andre or China’s Liu Zhigeng, then….’
The hearts of those two agents pulling out their guns would
have stopped beating long before he had the chance to
apologise. What a relief that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was such
an understanding gentleman.
‘Whew-.’
The deputy director sighed out in relief and wiped the

pooled sweat off his nose. He managed to put out the most
pressing flames first. Next, it was time to focus on the other
matter.
The deputy director bowed his head one more time and
then, urgently checked up on Madam Selner’s current
condition.
“Madam? What happened?”
“M-Michael….”
“Madam? You’re sweating so much… are you feeling unwell

somewhere?”
The deputy director may have shed a few cold sweat drops
over the volatile situation just now, but she was completely
soaked from head to toe at the moment.
‘What’s going on here?’
Worried about her condition, Jin-Woo got up from the chair

and cautiously made his approach, but she didn’t want to
look him in the eye and began shivering even harder. Seeing
her react like this, the deputy director could only chew on
his lower lip.
‘With her condition, we can’t….’
He had succeeded in bringing Hunter Seong Jin-Woo to the

table with much difficulty, but now, the most important
negotiating hand was no longer available to him. Madam
was in no condition whatsoever to use her ability.
The deputy director turned around and while carrying a

heavy, distressed expression, spoke to Jin-Woo.
“Madam Selner’s condition isn’t very good today. May I give

you a call at another time?”
***
Around the same time.
An important guest was waiting inside the President’s office

of the Korean Hunter’s Association. It was none other than
the President of the Japanese Association, Matsumoto
Shigeo.
Two Presidents of the respective organisations settled down

on the opposite sides, with no one else except their
interpreters accompanying them.
Goh Gun-Hui was the first to open his mouth.
“I’ve heard about what happened to Mister Goto.”

“It’s truly a lamentable thing.”
An expression of bitterness briefly flashed past Matsumoto

Shigeo, before his complexion recovered.
“However, I didn’t come here to discuss what happened in

the past, but to talk about the way forward.”
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head. There were a few matters

between these two men – no, between the nations of Korea
and Japan, that needed to be settled.
First of all, splitting up of the magic crystals. The original

plan was to divide the loot one year later, when all the ant
monsters would’ve have died out on the island. But Jin-Woo
had completely exterminated every single one of them
before that.
Japan did discover his utterly unbelievable actions through

their spy satellite and its high-tech camera, so they were
aware of this fact, too.
W-what is that man trying to do?

The ants…. The ants near Seong Jin-Woo are
disappearing one by one?!
The summons he controls have begun hunting down
the ant monsters!
His summons are spreading to all corners of the island.
Could he be…??
The old idiom said that uncertainty would kill a man.
In the proverbial blink of an eye, all traces of magic energy

disappeared from the island of Jeju.
With the sole exception of one, that was – the massive

bundle of magic energy suspected to be that of Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Incredible physical strength. Unpredictable movement

patterns. And the ruthless streak to hunt down every single
monster, even though it’s no longer necessary….’
Where would one find a Hunter more suited to a life in Japan

than that man in this wide world?
Matsumoto Shigeo smirked to himself after recalling the

atmosphere of the mission control room back then. He then
pushed forward several documents to Goh Gun-Hui.
“And these are?”
Goh Gun-Hui asked as he picked them up.
“This is the official declaration that Japan will give up on the

rights to our share of magic crystals from the Jeju Island.”
“…..?”
Feeling not entirely convinced, Goh Gun-Hui browsed

through the documents, and eventually, his brows gradually
rose up higher. Matsumoto Shigeo was telling the truth.
“But, why?”
Why was the Japanese Association, who had suffered heavy

losses themselves, willing to give up on such a massive
revenue source?
His answer arrived soon enough.
“In return, hand Mister Seong Jin-Woo over to us.”
“….Huhuh.”
Goh Gun-Hui guffawed out and leaned against the back of
the couch.
“Regretfully, he’s not affiliated with the Korean Hunter’s

Association.”
Of course, even if he was, Goh Gun-Hui never planned to

‘hand over’ such a Hunter to anyone, to begin with.
“We know.”
Matsumoto Shigeo replied as if he was waiting for this

moment.
“However, he has a very close relationship with the Korean

Association. And it’s currently impossible to get in contact
with him unless it’s through your Association.”
It was truly unfortunate, but the Japanese didn’t enjoy the

kind of information network the American Hunter Bureau
did. Which meant that, if Matsumoto Shigeo wanted to get
in touch with Jin-Woo, then he needed to get permission
from the Korean Association first.
“I didn’t mean to imply that you are being forced to do

something. No, just give me an opportunity to negotiate
with him, that’s all.”
“Are you throwing away this astronomical sum just for that
chance?”
Nod.
Matsumoto Shigeo readily admitted to it.
Japan lost ten of her top-ranked Hunters through this

incident.
In the current situation where Japan needed to import top-
ranked Hunters quite urgently, her Association was blessed
with ample cash reserve to pay out the compensation meant
for the victims of the raid.
Indeed, they had so much money that it was practically

rotting away in the bank right now. So, if Matsumoto could
get his hands on a Hunter of Seong Jin-Woo’s calibre, then
he didn’t give a rat’s a*s about those magic crystals
anymore.
Unfortunately….
“I refuse.”
The reply Matsumoto Shigeo got was different from what he

expected.
“What do you mean, you refuse?”
The Japanese man was stunned by that answer.
He was deeply confident of winning Hunter Seong Jin-Woo

over to Japan’s side, but just in case, he told Goh Gun-Hui
that he only wanted an opportunity to negotiate with that
young man.
But, to think, his counterpart would say no to the offer first.
“Are you turning down an opportunity like this because

you’re afraid of losing Hunter Seong Jin-Woo to Japan?”
“Not at all.”
Goh Gun-Hui slowly shook his head.
“No, I’m saying that, from the beginning, you people have
no right to claim even a single magic crystal from us.”
The Japanese interpreter quickly looked at Goh Gun-Hui
after he made that bombshell of a declaration packed full of
hidden implications.
“Sir, should I relay that in full?”
“Of course. Don’t miss out on a single word and translate

them in full.”
Matsumoto Shigeo’s complexion reddened considerably the

moment he heard the interpreter.
“President Goh Gun-Hui! What nonsense are you spewing

now?”
His voice naturally rose up higher. But then, Japanese

unhurriedly flowed out from Goh Gun-Hui’s mouth.
“I wish to speak to you without the presence of the

interpreters.”
Matsumoto flinched and gasped in surprise.
“You… know how to speak Japanese?”
“My father used to run a small company in Japan when I was

a young lad. It’s been a long time so it’d be difficult to hold a
conversation, but….”
The two interpreters left the office soon after Matsumoto

agreed to the suggestion. And he fired the opening shot
first.
“We lost over ten of our rank S Hunters for you people.”
Japan’s top Hunter, Goto Ryuji, was also included in that list.
“If you do not wish to accept my suggestion, then there’s
nothing we can do. Not only will we demand the agreed-
upon half of the magic crystal haul, but we will also claim
compensation from the Korean government, too.”
Goh Gun-Hui simply snorted in derision.
“President Matsumoto…. Looks like you still mistakenly

believe that you hold an upper hand here.”
“President Goh!”
Matsumoto shot up from his seat, his glare getting fiercer.
“Is that something you’re supposed to say to someone who

fought for your people?”
Unlike the agitated Matsumoto, though, Goh Gun-Hui

remained collected throughout.
“I couldn’t understand this one thing.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s calm demeanour managed to cool

Matsumoto’s own rage, and the latter slowly settled back
down on his couch. Waiting until he was completely seated.
Goh Gun-Hui carried on.
“And that would be – why did your people, who enjoyed

showing off in front of the world, decide to entrust us with
what was arguably the core part of this raid, the hunting of
the ant queen.”
“That’s obviously because the Koreans lacked the means to

buy the necessary time from the ant army….”
“If that’s what you were thinking of, then wouldn’t it have
been better for you to insert the Koreans as a part of the
distraction, like how you had split up yours into four
different groups? And then, hunt the ant queen with some of
your top elite Hunters, instead?”
‘He is as I expected…’
The light in Matsumoto’s eyes changed.
“…..So, what is it that you want to say to me, President Goh

Gun-Hui?”
For some reason, he was enunciating Goh Gun-Hui’s name

as clearly as he could.
“And the timing of your people withdrawing…. It looked as if

it was your plan all along, regardless of the mutated ant
monster or not.”
“You have gone crazy.”
“It’s you who have gone crazy. Just what were you planning
to do after driving the Korean Hunters to death?”
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
It was then, Matsumoto burst into a fit of loud cackles.
“Hahahaha!!”
He then pulled out a voice recorder from his pocket. He

slowly shook his head and continued on.
“Everything you said just now, it’s been captured in full.

Your sins of insulting the Japanese Hunters without proof,
and using that as an excuse to back out of the earlier
agreement, everything is here!”
An odious smile formed on Matsumoto’s lips.

“You shall be judged by the international community.”
Just this little sound file containing Goh Gun-Hui’s voice was
more than enough to cover up the fact the Japanese Hunters
withdrew in the middle of the operation. As for the public
opinion, that would come around soon enough.
This was clearly a slip-up on Goh Gun-Hui’s part, because he

doggedly pursued his conviction and nothing else. What if
he lost his cool completely and laid a hand on Matsumoto
right now?
Now that would be seen as even more irrefutable proof.
The sound file was already transmitted to the computers in

the Japanese situation room by now.
Too bad for him, though.
“Proof? Of course, I have it.”
Goh Gun-Hui pulled out a black-coloured object the size of a

stamp from his inner pocket and left it on the table.
“…?”
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo found it on the location.”
Sensing something ominous was about to go down,

Matsumoto’s attitude had softened a tad.
“What… is this?”
Goh Gun-Hui smirked at the sight of the puzzled Matsumoto

Shigeo.
“It’s a black box attached to your communication

equipment, the one Goto’s team was using.”
Right away, the colour of Matsumoto’s complexion changed
to ash. Not missing out on this opening, Goh Gun-Hui also
brought out an MP3 player and proceeded to play the sound
file extracted from this black box.
Click.
“How long has it been since the Koreans went inside?”

“Hold on. They say it has been less than 10 minutes.”
“Ten minutes, is it….”
“Time to start the withdrawal process.”
The voice of Goto Ryuji, one of the most famous Japanese in

the world, could be heard clearly from the recording.
Goh Gun-Hui switched the player off and continued on.
“Do you know why I didn’t reveal the existence of this file to
the rest of the world, President of Japanese Hunter
Association, Matsumoto Shigeo?”
Matsumoto slowly shook his head. The ashen complexion of

his was now getting paler than a sheet of white paper now.
“It’s simply because I didn’t want to dampen the joy of my

fellow countrymen basking in the glow of a hard-fought
victory with this bullsh*t you people managed to cook up.
Do you get it now? I’ve only delayed its release for the sake
of our people, not you.”
The recorder fell from Matsumoto’s hand with a thud.

Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui relentlessly pressed on.
“I’m sure that you get what I’m saying to you, President
Matsumoto.”
Goh Gun-Hui then crushed the player in his hand to pieces
with his physical strength of a rank S Hunter.
“Get the f*ck out of this office. Now.”
***
After Jin-Woo had left, the deputy director found himself

alone with Madam Selner in the hotel’s suite.
“Madam. What happened back there?”
They had worked with many Hunters before, and this wasn’t
Madam Selner’s first rodeo either. Meaning, this would be
the first time something like this happened.
She suppressed her pounding heart and managed to

squeeze out her trembling voice.
“He is a ‘king’. A very powerful ‘king’.”
The deputy director’s eyes grew wider and wider.
Those who knew how her power worked were the director of
the Hunter Bureau, the deputy, and of course, Madam Selner
herself. Only these three. And she confirmed that Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo was a ‘king’.
Ba-dump, ba-dump.
The deputy director sensed his heartbeat pick up pace.
“Which means…. he’s on the same level as the Special

Authority-rank Hunters?”
Shake, shake.
She shook her head.

“No, I don’t…. This was my first time experiencing such a
phenomenon, so I can’t be sure at all. He is definitely a
‘king’, but he’s also different from the other ‘kings’.”
“Excuse me? Please, explain it in simpler terms….”
“When I looked into him, ‘it’ too was looking back at me.”
“But, other Hunters also….”
“No!! Not Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, but the endless darkness

hiding within him was staring back at me!”
Madam Selner hysterically cried out. Her complexion paled

again and her body shuddered greatly. This was the display
of an instinctual fear all living organisms possessed: the fear
of death.
But, that wasn’t important at the moment. No, the truly

important thing was, even though her entire body continued
to shiver in terror, she still managed to recall one more
thing.
“And he….”
The deputy director focused on her words again.
Her lips parted with so much difficulty.
“He doesn’t have any limits.”

Chapter 132
Plop.
Matsumoto Shigeo fell down on his knees.
A boss of an organisation – not only that, a man representing

the opinions and positions of every Hunter in the country
called Japan, was kneeling in front of another person.
‘……’
Even in this brief moment, countless thoughts raced through

Matsumoto’s brain.
However, no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he

couldn’t come up with a way to get out of this predicament.
This was not the time to worry about his pride or honour. If
any of this got out, then its ensuing aftermath wouldn’t end
with him just losing his position.
“President Goh Gun-Hui…. Please, forgive me.”
Unfortunately for him, Goh Gun-Hui’s glare remained icy and

unmoving.
This man was shouting blue murder when there was no proof
of his wrongdoing, but as soon as the situation turned
disadvantageous, he obediently lowered his tail.
Who’d look at such a man with sympathetic eyes?

“Get up.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s icy voice advised his Japanese counterpart to

stop wasting time with this hollow apology, but Matsumoto
didn’t heed that and slammed his forehead on the office
floor repeatedly.
Thud! Thud!!
“Our nation, Japan, has lost half of her top-ranked Hunters

and we will soon have to beg the international community
for their aid.”
No matter how excellent the Hunter system in Japan was,

they would eventually see the gaps in their defences
opening up sooner or later with half of their rank S Hunters
dead.
Their remaining combat force would be enough to deal with

rank A Gates for the time being, but….
But, Japan would have to be on their toes the moment a rank

S Gate opens up somewhere in their territory. Even worse,
the repeat of the tragedy that occurred on Jeju Island could
happen in Japan, too.
“If that sound file gets out, then we’ll be completely isolated
from the world. I beg of you, President Goh Gun-Hui. Please,
think about the innocent Japanese citizens and forgive our
transgressions just this once….!”
“Think of it as your due punishment.”
Goh Gun-Hui ruthlessly cut Matsumoto’s words there.
“Think of it as the punishment for the sin you and your

Hunters tried to commit and gladly accept it.”
Carry around a bomb that might go off at any given
moment, and wait for the hour of reckoning – that’s what
Goh Gun-Hui was implying here.
However, Matsumoto didn’t show any sign of lifting his head

off the floor.
“President Goh Gun-Hui…. Until I appease your anger, I shall

not rise up again. I beg of you, please, please! Consider it
one more time!”
“You leave me with no choice.”
With a displeased expression firmly etched on his face, Goh

Gun-Hui pulled out his mobile phone.
“You have five minutes.”
What could he mean by that?
Unable to win against his curiosity, Matsumoto raised his

head and looked up at Goh Gun-Hui. The Korean man slowly
waved his phone around.
“If you don’t get out of here in the next five minutes, a
message will be sent to the numbers of every reporter saved
on this phone. It’ll be a message about the President of the
Japanese Association grovelling before me.”
If you cling onto me in fear of the bomb going off at any

second, then I’ll just let it go off, right now – he wasn’t
threatening anymore. No, it was a declaration.
“But, that…”
Matsumoto bit his lower lip.

Goh Gun-Hui’s determination wasn’t soft enough to be
shaken up by nothing but a pitiful plea for leniency.
Matsumoto belatedly realised this fact. And this was also the
moment his last-ditch attempt to save this situation at the
cost of his pride ending up in total failure.
Powerlessly, Matsumoto stood back up.
Goh Gun-Hui’s glare remained icy, his phone gradually

being lowered. He then spoke to the unsteady Japanese
man.
“You should thank Mister Seong Jin-Woo.”
The light of pure anger flickered dangerously within Goh

Gun-Hui’s beast-like eyes.
“Not at the hands of that mutated ant, no, but if my Hunters

got hurt from the schemes of your people, then you wouldn’t
have walked out of this room alive.”
Matsumoto’s trembling hands packed up his belongings and

without taking a single look back, he escaped from the
Korean Association’s building in a hurry. Not one lick of his
former pride and confidence he displayed during his last
visit here could be seen from his departing back now.
“Fuu….”
Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui was leaning against the back of

the couch. It felt like all of his pent-up stress was cleared
away in one shot. Of course, he wasn’t planning to end
things here.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he now held the

lifeline of the Japanese Hunter Association.
‘If you committed a crime, then you get punished for it.’
From early on in his life, Goh Gun-Hui was taught how to

treat his friends and enemies accordingly.
It was then, his mobile phone resting on the table suddenly

issued a loud racket.
‘Mm?’
He tapped on the ‘Answer’ icon, and an urgent voice came

out from the speaker. Goh Gun-Hui quietly listened to what
happened, and his eyes progressively grew wider and wider.
“What?! A Gate formed in the middle of a road??”
Not only that, it was rated to be a rank B Gate that no

regular raid team could do something about, too!
“Where is it located?”
The best course of action for this problem was to contact a

major Guild and have them send over a capable raid team.
But, then….
‘….Hold on.’
Having heard the report from the agent on site, Goh Gun-
Hui’s expression became a bit strange.
‘Didn’t Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get an office for his Guild

around there?’
The road suddenly became really clogged up.
Jin-Woo was in deep contemplation as he found himself

stuck in the middle of an unmoving sea of traffic.
‘That lady, she definitely saw something.’
That woman called Madam Norma Selner. She must’ve faced

countless powerful Hunters, yet she couldn’t even meet his
gaze because she felt a crippling fear of him.
Just what did she ‘see’ in him?
Was it the traces of his System?
The System would make a few ridiculous demands from him

every now and then, sure, but it was certainly not a scary
existence.
‘Instead of being scary, that thing’s my greatest ally.’
However, how would it look like in other people’s views?
The deputy director asked him back then if it was fine to get
in touch at a later time. The thing was, though, the woman
regaining some calm behind him suddenly got startled again
and began shuddering as soon as he asked that question.
Even if Jin-Woo wanted to see that woman again, she’d avoid

him of her own volition. Her entire body displayed her
unwillingness quite clearly. Jin-Woo then came to a
realisation.
Maybe, that woman’s power didn’t work on him. He was very

different from normal Hunters, after all.
‘Well, I guess there’s no need to waste more of my time with

those folks, then.’
That was why he already told the American deputy director

that there wouldn’t be a need and tactfully declined their
invite. The frozen-stiff expression of the deputy director was
particularly memorable, to say the least.
‘Besides all that, what is up with this traffic, man?’
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows at the road ahead utterly mired

in congestion as far as his eyes could see.
‘This is why taking the subway is so much more convenient.’
Just as he began wondering if there was an accident up

ahead or something….
Vrrrr….
His phone stuck in the car charger vibrated rather noisily.

Jin-Woo checked the ID of the caller.
‘…It’s the Association President?’
They saw each other in the funeral venue only a few hours
ago, so what business did he have in calling him so soon?
Jin-Woo tapped the ‘Answer’ icon.
“Hunter-nim. It’s Goh Gun-Hui speaking.”
The Association President explained the situation taking

place in the middle of Seoul in a calm voice.
“Excuse me? A Gate opened up in the middle of the road?”
He was beginning to think that this traffic jam was far too
heavy to be normal, but there was a good reason behind it,
as it turned out.
Hoping to turn the van around, Jin-Woo scanned around the

vehicle. Unfortunately, there were simply too many cars
tightly packed around him and it was not possible to move
an inch. He helplessly shook his head and returned his gaze
to the front of the road. It was then.
A welcoming piece of news capable of washing away the

wave of dissatisfaction rising up from the traffic jam jumped
out from his phone.
“Our agents have evaluated it as a rank B Gate. Would

you like to take care of it for us, Hunter-nim?”
‘Heot!’
Jin-Woo struggled to suppress the giggles of joy this truly

excellent news managed to awaken. As a matter of fact, he
shouldn’t be pleased about something that was greatly
inconveniencing so many citizens like this. Yes.
Jin-Woo managed to straighten his voice and cautiously

asked.
“I don’t have the raid permit, so can I just enter like that,
sir?”
“Huhuh. Hunter-nim, who issues the raid permits?”
“It’s issued by the Association.”
“And who am I?”
Jin-Woo suppressed his laughter again and replied seriously.
“You’re the President of the Hunter’s Association.”
“Huhuhuh. That’s why, don’t worry about anything and

please take care of it.”
“Well, in that case, thank you for the me…. No, I mean,
thank you for the opportunity.”
Jin-Woo clenched his fist.
He climbed out of the van and began walking after the trace
of the magic energy leaking out from the Gate. Because of
the cars packed tightly in all sides, he didn’t even need to
park the van somewhere else, too.
“….Yes. Everyone, the black hole in the air you see behind
me is the Gate that has appeared in the city today…..”
“….According to my sources, this Gate has been ranked at B,

a high-ranking Gate that requires the participation of a large
Guild….”
Reporters had already formed a cordon around the Gate by

the time he got there, and the Association employees, as
well as the members of the local police force, were
restricting the access.
‘Hmm…’
Jin-Woo brushed past the wall of the reporters and

approached the Gate, but then, a female Association
employee with a by-the-book demeanour abruptly blocked
his path.
“Please hold it! What do you think you’re doing?!”
She pushed at his chest and spoke loudly.
“You can’t just barge your way in here like this!”
Too bad, no matter how hard she pushed with her small
hands, Jin-Woo didn’t show any signs of budging from the
spot. Only then she belatedly realised that the guy standing
in front of her was a Hunter – and a pretty high-ranking
Hunter at that.
“Are you… a Hunter?”
Jin-Woo pulled out his licence and showed it to her.

Naturally, her eyes grew super large.
‘A r-r-rank S? Seong Jin-Woo???’
Wasn’t he the same guy who killed all those ant monsters on
Jeju Island….?
Finally learning of Jin-Woo’s identity, the female Association

employee raised her head to take another look.
Jin-Woo looked a lot different from when he appeared on TV,

so even though she was an Association employee, she
ended up failing to recognise a rank S Hunter.
However, it was also natural for people with discerning eyes

to exist within the large crowd gathered here.
“Uh??”
“Isn’t he…?”
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo!”
“I think Seong Jin-Woo came here to deal with the Gate

personally!”
People feeling fed up from being stuck here began

recognising Jin-Woo, and their complexions brightened
greatly. Some people among them with appointments to get
to even cried out in elation, too.
However, the female employee completely disregarded the

reactions of the citizens and showed no signs of backing
down. She hesitated slightly before asking him.
“What… What brings you here?”
What did she even mean, what brings him here?
There would be only one reason why a Hunter chose to stand

before a Gate, wouldn’t it?
Jin-Woo figured that there was no need to explain, so he

simply pointed at the Gate beyond her shoulders. She
looked behind her for a second or two, and then, formed an
expression of pure determination.
Many Hunters ended up losing their lives after placing too

much faith in their skills while disregarding the established
rules and regulations.
‘It should be the same story with a rank S Hunter, right…?’
The Association existed to prevent such accidents – this fact

had been drilled into her head over and over again. Hunters
and their safety were the top priority of the Association.
Especially when the person in question happened to be an

exceptional individual ranked ‘S’, her duty was to prevent
any mishaps from happening to him no matter what. That’s
what she thought, and so, she expressed her belief with a
plucky attitude.
“Even if you’re a rank S Hunter, sir, I will not tolerate any

behaviour that ignores proper procedures.”
“…”
Jin-Woo was lost for words and blankly stared at her face. He
didn’t expect her to come out like this at all.
She thought that she had succeeded in persuading a rank S
Hunter, and continued on with her next question.
“Did you obtain the raid permit?”
Jin-Woo shook his head, which led her to….
“No, wait. Even if you did obtain the permit, since you
haven’t met the minimum required number of team
members, you can’t be allowed in.”
The female employee was impressively unyielding.
Jin-Woo could tell from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t
doing this out of spite. No, she just seemed to be the type to
stick as close to the rule book as humanly possible.
Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head. Well, there’s no

helping it, then.
“Hold on for a sec.”
Jin-Woo immediately called somebody on the phone. After

the call connected to the other side, he pushed the phone to
her.
“Here.”
When the female employee looked at him puzzled, Jin-Woo

spoke to her in a clear voice.
“Please, take it. The call’s actually for you.”
She maintained her puzzled expression while asking him.
“W-who is it on the phone?”
“Someone else you may not ‘tolerate’ as well.”

She inadvertently took the phone from him, but when she
discovered the name of the call’s receiver appearing on the
screen, her brows shot up really high.
‘Goh, Goh Gun-Hui?!’
If the person on the line was really…
“H-hello….?”
The female employee’s nervous voice was greeted by a

deep, heavy voice from the phone’s speaker.
“This is the Association President speaking.”
Sure enough, it was him.
The female employee’s eyes trembled noticeably, before she

began nodding her head over and over again.
“Yes, yes. No, sir. Yes. Yes. I shall do as you say, sir.”
Click.
She returned the phone with a crestfallen expression on her

face. When Jin-Woo walked past her, he whispered to her in a
hushed tone.
“Thanks.”
“Pardon me?”
“For worrying about me.”
“Y-you, you knew….?!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly disappeared into the Gate.

‘Euh….!’
Greatly annoyed by his antics now, the female employee

shuddered from dissatisfaction and she threw… not a curse,
but more like an unhappy grumble at his departing back.
‘Father in heaven! Sprain that guy’s ankle or something

inside the dungeon, please!’
However….
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a man who walked away safely

from the Jeju Island that was completely overrun with rank S
monsters.
‘Such a guy won’t have much trouble inside a rank B

dungeon, probably?’
But then, it happened at that moment. Screams were rising

up from here and there.
“Uhhh? What’s going on here??”
“Why is it changing to red colour?!”
Right after Jin-Woo stepped past the Gate, the eerie colour of
blood slowly spread over its black surface. It was a Red
Gate!! A terrifying event was unfolding right now.
“Ah…..!”
The female employee felt utterly devastated after seeing the

Red Gate appear.
‘Was it because I prayed for him to get that sprained

ankle?!’
Of course, that wasn’t it. However, she couldn’t get rid of the
voices in her head telling her that it was her fault.
She was taught that the Red Gate, a portal to another world,
was one of the most dangerous places there was. She also
heard that even the high-ranked Hunters weren’t
guaranteed to get out of there alive.
‘It can’t be…..’
Suddenly, her head was filled with the images of the worst
case scenario, and her complexion paled instantly.
‘If, if that Hunter-nim gets injured for real, what then…..?’
Just how many minutes went by like this?
She continued to stew in self-guilt, but when she felt a

presence near her, the female employee tore her gaze away
from the asphalt below to look up. And found Jin-Woo
standing before her.
“M-mommy?!”
She got royally frightened out of her wits as if she saw a real
ghost just now. Jin-Woo simply threw a grin at her way and
walked right past her.
‘…….’
The face of this female employee was in a deeper shade of

red than when she was talking to the Association President
earlier.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo searched around for something, and

eventually, made his way over to a driver of a truck filled
with sacks of potatoes.
“Excuse me, ahjussi? Can I buy a sack from you?”
“Pardon? You wanna buy some potatoes?”
“No, just the sack.”
The Vice-Master of the tentatively-named ‘Solo Play’ Guild,

as well as its chief recruitment officer, its sole lawyer, and
even its accountant, Yu Jin-Ho smiled brightly as he saw Jin-
Woo entering the office.
“You came back, hyung-nim!”
“Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
“Yes, hyung-nim. However, an applicant wanting to become

a founding member is…..”
“Okay. Show me the list. Let me go through it as well.”
Seeing that Yu Jin-Ho was pressing him with the same stuff
they’d been talking about in the morning, the kid must’ve
been desperate to establish the Guild as soon as possible.
Thankfully, Jin-Woo was thinking the same thing.
They only needed one more person for the spot of the
founding member. The minimum of three people was needed
to satisfy the requirements to establish a Guild.
‘Even if we’re trying to fill in the headcount, it’s better to

pick someone hard-working and trustworthy, I think. It’s not
like we’ll be seeing each other only once, after all.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head, convinced by his own thoughts.
But now that he took a closer look, Yu Jin-Ho’s complexion
seemed a bit cloudy for some reason.
“The thing is…. Hyung-nim.”
“Yeah?”
“As you may well know, you need a lot of capital in order to
establish a Guild. The bidding prices for higher ranked Gates
all start at astronomical sums, we gotta pay the signing fees
to the newly-joining Hunters, and most importantly, the
person applying to become our founding mem….”
Jin-Woo cut him off there.
“Is this enough capital for now?”
Thud.
Jin-Woo placed the potato sack he carried into the office on

the floor.
Yu Jin-Ho’s puzzled gaze peered into the open gap of the

sack. And he found it packed full of expensive magic
crystals.
“H-hyung-nim….?! W-what are these?”
Jin-Woo was nonchalant in his reply.
“There was an open Gate on the way to the office, so I made

a pit stop.”
“…..”
He went out only a couple of hours ago, yet during such a

short period of time, he found a high-ranking dungeon,
cleared it completely, and brought out all the magic crystals
found within?
“As expected of you, you’re amazing, hyung-nim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho stopped thinking about this matter there. It was

ultimately a fruitless endeavour to pigeon-hole hyung-nim
with common sense.
Jin-Woo watched Yu Jin-Ho celebrating the acquisition of

their seed money with a content smile, before shifting his
gaze over to the conference suite.
“By the way, why is she here?”
“Pardon? Ahh. I was about to talk to you about her a minute

ago…. Well, someone applying to become a founding
member is waiting for you, hyung-nim.”
“An applicant?”
“Who is?”
“The person waiting for you in the conference suite, hyung-

nim.”
“That’s what she said?”
What on earth was this kid even talking about….?
Jin-Woo quickly strode over to the conference suite as soon

as Yu Jin-Ho was finished and opened the door wide open.
Clunk.
And then, inside this mostly-empty conference suite, he

found a woman sipping on a can of coffee all alone and in
silence turning her head to meet his gaze. Incidentally, Yu
Jin-Ho had to quickly dash outside to get that coffee because
they hadn’t even bought proper office equipment yet.
“What brings you here, Hunter-nim??”
Jin-Woo asked his guest with a dumbfounded expression on

his face.
Then, Cha Hae-In opened her own mouth, still looking up at

him from her sitting position.
“I came to…. join your Guild.”

Chapter 133
Did he hear that right? Jin-Woo ended up doubting his own

hearing, then.
Cha Hae-In was the Vice-Master of South Korea’s top Guild,

and her skills were ranked to be among the very best, but
she willingly walked into a Guild that hadn’t even taken its
first baby step yet?
Unless she was being threatened into coming here, how

could this situation make any sense? But then again….
‘Uh, well, just who’d be brave enough to threaten her?’
Jin-Woo decided to bring up the one person with enough

clout to potentially threaten her in South Korea.
“Did the Association President order you to do this?”
Cha Hae-In formed a confused expression, evidently not

understanding why Goh Gun-Hui was being brought up in
this discussion.
“Why would he….?”
It was Jin-Woo who couldn’t understand what was going on

here, so why was she making that face even though she was
the reason for all this confusion?
‘No, hang on. Let’s calm down.’

It was a situation where most people would’ve been left too
stunned or get overexcited, but Jin-Woo was able to stay
calm as he pulled out a chair to sit on Cha Hae-In’s opposite
side. He then wordlessly stared at her.
He only needed to focus for a short while. As the time visibly

slowed down in his perception, various bits of information
about her flowed into his brain, one at the time.
‘She’s restless.’
Her heartbeat, her breathing, even the glow within her eyes.
She was doing her best to look composed, but there was no
fooling Jin-Woo’s sky-high Perception.
So, the question was – why was she forcing herself to this
extent and trying to enter the tentatively-named ‘Solo Play’
Guild?
Jin-Woo had to ask her.
“Don’t you still have some time left in the duration of your
contract with the Hunters Guild?”
Now normally, the Guild would negotiate contracts with

Hunters in five-year terms. Cha Hae-In joined the Hunters
Guild two years ago when she was evaluated to be a rank S,
so at a bare minimum, she should still have three years left
in her contract.
“I have enough money to pay the penalty for breach of

contract.”
Cha Hae-In’s collected answer only elicited Jin-Woo’s head-

tilting.
Most of the time, such a penalty fee would be between two
to three times the original signing fee.
Thinking about the exorbitant sum the Hunters Guild

must’ve forked out in order to sign up a rank S Hunter like
her, one didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that the
breach of contract penalty fee would be absolutely
horrendous, as well.
Since he was about to speak to her about harsh reality, Jin-

Woo’s attitude became very business-like.
“Our ‘Solo Play’ Guild simply can’t afford to pay the kind of
signing fee your skill set warrants, Cha Hunter-nim.”
“T-the name of your Guild is ‘Solo Play’??”
“You have a problem with the name that the Vice-Master and
myself came up with?”
“…No, not really.”
Cha Hae-In let a soft sigh escape from her, and continued
on.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s fine if you don’t pay me the contract
signing fee.”
She didn’t mind signing a contract without any payment,

even though she’d have to pay an enormous breach of
contract fee to the Hunters Guild?
‘What is she scheming here?’
When their eyes stayed locked for a while, Cha Hae-In could
no longer endure the silent pressure and averted her gaze.
Her heart was beating a step faster than before, too.
Jin-Woo’s ears perked up. His acute sense of hearing didn’t

miss out on a single change taking place inside her.
‘Is she hiding something?’
At this point, he simply had to ask her or he’d die of

curiosity.
“Why are you willing to go through such a wringer just to

join our Guild?”
“….”
As expected, Cha Hae-In couldn’t easily answer him and

kept her mouth resolutely shut. And seeing her face redden
like that, it became oh-so-obvious that she was hiding
something from him, too.
‘Wait a minute…’
Now that he thought about it, he remembered sensing that

something was different about her even back in the funeral
venue. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking of, but she
could have been planning to do this for quite some time
already.
Jin-Woo quietly waited for Cha Hae-In’s answer. However, she

kept her head lowered and for a long while, didn’t say a
single word.
‘….But, how can I even explain myself to him?
….That I sensed your presence next to me even after I lost

my consciousness from the attack of that mutated ant
monster?
….That, I felt safe and warm after picking up on your scent
as I sank deeper into an empty and endless dark void?’
There was no word in this world adequate enough to

describe what she felt back then.
‘Even if I explain it, he’d only say that I’ve gone mad.’
Her heart began beating faster after she learned of Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo really being there. She felt so relieved,
knowing that she wasn’t imagining things.
And also….
‘What if….’
She discovered that she wanted Jin-Woo to be by her side in

the worst case scenario of her being unable to escape from
the cold blade of death.
‘….To think, it’d be like ‘please be right by my side until my

final moments’.’
How could she even attempt saying that, when just thinking
about it made her blush uncontrollably?
That was an impossible task for Cha Hae-In who didn’t know
anything about a normal girl’s sensibilities. That was why
she finally spoke up an answer she cooked up before coming
here.
“…To be more comfortable.”
She raised her head to meet Jin-Woo’s gaze and continue on

with the rest.
“I wish to be live more comfortably….”

Although it wasn’t exactly what she tried to say, it wasn’t a
complete lie, either.
She couldn’t even lift her head properly from all the
horrendous stink when high-ranked Hunters were standing
next to her. But, in contrast, she felt her mind getting
peaceful in the presence of Jin-Woo.
The meaning of Cha Hae-In’s ‘comfortable’ was precisely

that.
Jin-Woo didn’t interpret the meaning that way, but still, he

could understand where she was coming from. He slowly
nodded his head from her answer.
She apparently wanted to leave a big Guild like the Hunters,

and spend a more ‘comfortable’ time in a far smaller Guild
like his.
According to Jin-Woo’s knowledge, Cha Hae-In was either

twenty-two or twenty-three years old.
‘I’m sure the burden that a rank S must carry would be

pretty heavy for a woman in her early twenties.’
Especially more so, after she felt the threat of death during
the Jeju Island raid.
Jin-Woo could easily understand her feelings as he too felt

like abandoning everything and running away from it all
countless times, back when he still worked for the
Association.
Unfortunately for her….
‘Although her plight is pitiable, but…..’

But, he couldn’t just accept her like that.
Why would he have named the Guild ‘Solo Play’? That was
because he planned to book dungeons using the name of his
Guild and clear them all by himself.
If the minimum number of team members proved to be a

stumbling block, then he’d simply hire temps to fill the
headcount, just like how it was back when he cleared those
rank C Gates with Yu Jin-Ho. That was the smartest thing to
do in his quest to level up higher.
However, if Cha Hae-In entered the picture, things would

become rather complicated in many ways. Even if they
forget about her contract signing fee, wouldn’t she still need
money for her daily necessities?
By hiring a rank S Hunter with huge salaries, someone he

didn’t even need in the first place and wasn’t planning to
put to work either, he’d be committing a massive wastage
on a national scale.
However…
‘If I reject a rank S Hunter who’s willing to waive the contract

signing fee and join my Guild without a proper reason, it’s
going to look pretty suspicious.’
That was why Jin-Woo quickly came up with a plan.
“Actually, our Guild has an admittance test you need to go

through.”
“Pardon? But, the job posting didn’t specify anything li….”
Jin-Woo quickly cut off Cha Hae-In’s flustered words.

“This rule is pretty new, so it’s possible that the Vice-Master
may have made a small error.”
The glow in Cha Hae-In’s eyes became quite serious at the

mention of a test.
“What kind of a test is it?”
Jin-Woo was inwardly taken by surprise from her reaction.
‘This gal, she was really serious?’
Because of her professional pride, he expected her to quit

after being told about taking a test. However, Cha Hae-In
acted the exact opposite. No, she was actually burning up
even hotter with the desire to win.
He could sense her fervour hidden behind that

expressionless mask of hers.
‘Is she the type to face any fight coming her way head on?’
Or, was this the case of misplaced pride?
Whatever the case may have been, Jin-Woo couldn’t back off

now while staying it was all a misunderstanding.
“It’s to win against the summoned creature I pick.”
Crack.
He swore that he heard the physical sound of a crack

forming on her ego.
“….”
‘Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, is that how low your assessment

of me is?’
What a mysterious thing this was. He only looked into her
eyes briefly, yet it felt like her voice could be heard so
clearly inside his head.
However, Cha Hae-In didn’t display any of her thoughts and

asked in her usual collected manner.
“Which summon will you pick?”
“For you, Cha Hunter-nim, I’ll especially have to pick the

strongest one.”
“…..Alright.”
She wasn’t backing down here.
Most likely, she wouldn’t have dreamed it in her wildest

imaginations, regarding who became the latest addition to
Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures – no, his Shadow Army
collection.
Jin-Woo thought that, since her will to win was so strong,

she’d give up on her own after tasting defeat. He
immediately agreed to the bout.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“When will the test be?”
“Right now.”
Jin-Woo wanted to establish his Guild as soon as possible, so

he didn’t want to waste any more time on Cha Hae-In. Since
he came up with this idea, might as well do it now.
The location would be the gymnasium of the Hunter’s

Association.
A rank S Hunter could rent out the gymnasium whenever he
felt like it. It was one of the many special privileges afforded
to rank S Hunters.
“Got it.”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head. She too wanted to move

things along as quickly as possible. They both stood up at
the same time as if they made a promise to do that.
‘….Hold on.’
It was then, a certain thought flashed past his brain. He

quickly called out to Cha Hae-In as she was about to turn the
door handle.
“Cha Hunter-nim, please wait.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no need to go that way.”
“…?”
Cha Hae-In formed a confused expression.
There was only one door in the conference suite. He

obviously wasn’t suggesting that they should jump out of
the window, so….
Jin-Woo quickly walked over to her unmoving frame.
“I have a quicker way of getting there, actually.”
“Excuse me?”
“But, I must be touching you if I’m to use this method, so will

it be alright with you?”
“Oh…..”
Cha Hae-In recalled what Baek Yun-Ho told her about the
situation back then. He said that, as all the members of the
Korean assault team found themselves in a life-or-death
situation, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo suddenly popped up behind
him.
‘Is he trying to show me that skill?’
She quickly swallowed her dry saliva and looked up at Jin-

Woo’s face that was now much closer than her initial
expectations.
“Sorry about this.”
Jin-Woo lightly embraced her.
He thought that such a light hug wouldn’t mean anything to

her since he had carried her unconscious frame around
inside the ant tunnel, but Cha Hae-In’s face was rapidly
dyeing in a beet-red colour.
However, she didn’t struggle or try to get out of his

embrace.
‘….His nice scent.’
While her face was getting progressively redder and redder,

Jin-Woo cautiously held her to make sure they wouldn’t get
separated and finished getting ready.
‘Okay, all done.’
There was this thing he wanted to confirm. And he wouldn’t

find as good an opportunity as this one in the future.
“It might get a little dizzy.”

Well, he felt that the first time, so there.
Cha Hae-In only then wrapped her arms around Jin-Woo and
whispered her reply.
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo raised his head up to his front and issued a

command in his mind.
‘Shadow Exchange.’
Shururu…..
Two of them soundlessly got sucked into the shadow

beneath their feet.
It was right at that moment Yu Jin-Ho opened the door and

entered the conference suite. He ran out to the local
convenience store to buy some refreshments after thinking
that the talk might go on for a bit.
“Please, drink these while you two ch….”
A High Orc Shadow Soldier met Yu Jin-Ho’s gaze, and as if he

was feeling a bit sheepish over something, scratched the
back of his head.
“….”
Claaank!!
The tray in Yu Jin-Ho’s hand crashed to the floor, and cups of

liquid refreshment shattered from the impact.
“W-what the hell?!”

Yu Jin-Ho freaked out grandly and blinked his eyes, but the
High Orc soldier was gone without a trace.
‘B-b-but, I definitely….!!’
He rubbed his eyes hard and shook his head to regain his
composure. He took another look at his surroundings, but he
couldn’t spot a single trace of the monster anywhere.
‘….I guess I’ve been working too hard recently.’
Yup, that must be it, what with seeing a hallucination and

all.
Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head and scanned the conference suite

one more time, before turning around to find a mop to clean
up the mess on the floor. But then….
A thought entered his mind and stopped his feet from

moving again.
“Where did hyung-nim and Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim

disappear to?”
Chapter 134
The moment the ground disappeared and they got sucked

into the shadow, Jin-Woo looked at Cha Hae-In falling
together at the same time.
‘As I thought….’
His expectation was on the money.
He wondered if the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’ worked in this

manner while using it a few times in the past, and he was
right.
The identity of the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’ was actually a

‘Gate’. That theory was proven correct when Cha Hae-In
travelled alongside him through the shadow.
‘The entrance is generated below my feet, and the exit is

where the determined coordinates are.’
And those coordinates would be the location of a Shadow

Soldier.
Even though there was a limitation of the three-hour-long

cooldown time, he was still able to create a Gate with this
skill. If he wanted to, then wouldn’t it be possible for him to
move to the other side of the planet every three hours? Jin-
Woo unconsciously swallowed his saliva.
But, his stunned state lasted only for a brief while longer.
His view covered up by the inky darkness reverted back to
normal almost right away. And the two of them found
themselves inside the Association’s gymnasium.
The last time he came here, Jin-Woo left behind a shadow

just in case he found himself in an urgent need to visit the
Association.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
The overhead lighting system sensed the magic energy from

them and the bulbs came on one by one, brightly
illuminating the gymnasium’s interior. Cha Hae-In opened
her eyes after sensing the brightness through her closed
eyelids.
“But, how…..?!”
Her brows shot up as she failed to hide her astonishment.

They were already in a familiar place.
She sensed only about one second passing by, yet the
surroundings were completely different when she opened
her eyes.
‘How is this even possible?!’
She had never heard of such a skill existing in the world.

Cha Hae-In looked around in utter amazement before
shifting her gaze back to Jin-Woo.
“You…..”
She had so, so many things she wanted to ask, but in the
end, she couldn’t open her lips to voice any of them.
The first reason for that was because she didn’t even know
just where to start her questions, and secondly, their
distance was far, far too close for a spot of civilised
conversation.
“It’s safe now, so….”
Jin-Woo lightly grasped her wrists and unwrapped her arms

around his waist.
“….You don’t have to hold on to me anymore.”
Nod, nod.
Cha Hae-In lightly rubbed her wrists he had grasped and

wordlessly nodded her head.
“Okay. Let’s get started.”
Jin-Woo walked out of the corner the High Orc Shadow

Soldier was probably hiding in, and strode towards the
centre of the gymnasium.
“Alright.”
She too followed behind him only to remember that she left
her sword back in her car. Although a weapon was an
indispensable tool for her trade, it would be quite rude to
visit someone else’s office fully armed, now wouldn’t it?
Cha Hae-In quickly spoke to him.
“I left my weapon back in my car…..”
“Oh, you mean that pickaxe?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, the one you were carrying around back in the
rank A dungeon with High Orcs in it.”
Her face reddened as soon as she remembered a small detail

she’d been wanting to forget.
“N-no, my weapon is….”
She then spotted Jin-Woo giggling to himself, and belatedly

realised that he was teasing her just now.
“….”
Jin-Woo waved his hand after seeing Cha Hae-In’s reddened

complexion.
“I was just joking with you.”
Time to stop kidding around, however.
‘Seriously, though. What should I do?’
Even if it was Cha Hae-In, she wouldn’t be able to fight

against the soldier he was planning to summon out. Of
course, he wanted his soldier to win, but that didn’t mean he
wanted to see her get hurt, either.
“It’ll be fine.”
Cha Hae-In shifted her gaze towards the storage located

within the gymnasium.
“I’m sure there will be a weapon I can borrow in the storage.”
‘Oho.’
A light gleamed within Jin-Woo’s eyes after learning of

something new. She walked up to the storage and diagonally
swiped her Hunter licence on the electronic lock found on
the side of the door.
That prompted the storage door to automatically slide open.
Rows of not-too-shabby-looking spare weapons were

displayed inside the storage. Looking into the interior from a
bit of distance away, Jin-Woo was inwardly impressed by the
preparedness of the Hunter’s Association.
‘So, there was even stuff like this inside the Association….’
He wondered where all those high taxes Hunters had to fork

out over the years ended up, but it looked like they were
being put to good use. Cha Hae-In scanned the displayed
items before picking up a sword similar in length to the one
she’d been using and exited from the storage.
“I’m ready.”
“Will that be fine? It’s not a sword you’ve been using before,
so wouldn’t it feel off in your hands?”
Cha Hae-In shook her head.
“It doesn’t really matter what weapon it is. Monsters don’t

care about what weapons Hunters are wielding when they
fight us, after all.”
Those were some wise words.
Jin-Woo carried the same opinion as her, so he didn’t argue

with her there. At the very least, he found her
straightforwardness rather likeable.
‘So, calling out my soldier is next, right?’

As if to prove that she wasn’t joking about being ready, a
sharp, focused aura oozed out of her. Against someone like
her, any ol’ regular soldier would be sliced up into tiny
pieces in no time.
That’s why, Jin-Woo called for the best card he could bring
out under the current circumstances.
‘Come out.’
A small portion separated from Jin-Woo’s shadow and moved

away a couple of steps from him. Then a black knight rose
up from the unmoving shadow.
The jet-black armour and the helm; the red plumage

attached to the helm, extending all the way down to his
waist. The best sword-wielding Shadow Soldier in his army. It
was Igrit.
‘I told her that I’d be summoning the most powerful guy out,
but…’
But, he thought that calling out Beru was a bit too much.
Before he was turned into a Shadow Soldier, Beru was the
terrifying creature that nearly drowned the entirety of
Korean team members in the pit of pure terror. Hell, even
Cha Hae-In herself almost died from his attack, too.
Jin-Woo couldn’t bring Beru out when considering the

potential mental shock she could suffer after seeing him
again.
As for Fangs, he might end up destroying the gymnasium, so

he was excluded. That’s why he chose Igrit.
‘Yup, at the end of the day, it can only be you.’

Jin-Woo knew he made the right call when looking at the
wide, dependable back of Igrit. But then…..
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo.”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Cha Hae-In.
“What are the conditions for victory and defeat?”
When he heard her icy voice that was cold enough to

instantly freeze the listener’s heart, his belief began
wavering somewhat. Jin-Woo pondered a bit before making
his reply.
“Either my summon is destroyed, or Cha Hunter-nim admits

defeat first.”
Nod.
Cha Hae-In briefly nodded her head. Then, unsheathed the

sword she got from the storage.
She was only holding a simple, plain magic sword one could
buy pretty much anywhere, but even then, the aura oozing
out of her was still quite incredible to behold.
‘Yup, she’s definitely strong.’
Jin-Woo could sense it. Her surging aura, after she decided to
get serious, was definitely fitting for a woman whose skills
were rated as the best even among the rank S Hunters.
Igrit also unsheathed his sword. As a matter of fact, he was

now holding a longsword each in his hands. Even then, Jin-
Woo couldn’t help but think that Igrit would be defeated by
her at this rate.
But then…..
‘Wait a sec…. Didn’t she say that it doesn’t really matter
what weapon it was, right?’
Jin-Woo recalled what she said just now and a smile floated
up on his lips as he asked her for a small favour.
“Can you turn around for a second, please?”
“…..?”
Cha Hae-In tilted her head for a bit, but didn’t complain and
turned around as he asked. Using that gap, Jin-Woo
summoned the ‘Demon King’s Longsword’ out of his
Inventory and handed it over to Igrit.
‘Use this.’
By saying that she didn’t mind what weapon she used, it

could also be interpreted as she didn’t mind what weapon
her opponent was using.
Having been bestowed a sword straight from his sovereign,

Igrit tried to kneel down to express his profound gratitude,
but Jin-Woo quickly stopped him.
‘I’m telling you, you don’t have to stand on ceremony all the
time, you know?’
If only Iron could learn half of Igrit’s attitude….
In any case, the preparation was done, so Jin-Woo called out

to Cha Hae-In again.
“It’s fine now.”
She turned around and spotted Igit now holding a brand

new sword that crackled with blue arcs of electricity. Which
he clearly wasn’t holding a minute ago.
“……..”
“Will it be fine if we start now?”
Jin-Woo pretended to not notice anything and asked her if

she was good to go.
“….Yes.”
Cha Hae-In, having already agreed to do this, could only say

yes again with a begrudging expression.
“Okay then, begin.”
Soon after Jin-Woo signalled the beginning, Igrit swung the

‘Demon King’s Longsword’ to activate its passive ability as
his opening attack.
Crack!
A strand of lightning flew in a straight line at Cha Hae-In.

She flinched for the briefest of brief moments. But then, like
an agile cat, she bent her upper body back and evaded the
lightning.
Crackle!!
The wall of the gymnasium was scorched jet-black after

getting struck by the stray lightning.
Shudder.
Cha Hae-In righted her torso and sent her sharp glare in Jin-
Woo’s direction, but he averted his gaze to stare into the
distance, still pretending to not notice a thing.
‘……..’
Without saying anything, Cha Hae-In gripped the sword
tighter in her hands.
It was right then. Igrit rushed towards her at a frightening

pace from her front to heed his Sovereign’s order to bring
her down. However, she didn’t even blink once and also
flung herself forward towards her opponent.
The office of the Association President, located on the top

floor of the main building.
One could clearly see not just other Association buildings

but the surrounding scenery when sitting inside this office.
‘Mm?’
The Association President was in the middle of going

through a report, but then, his gaze abruptly shifted over to
the window. There should have been no one inside the
gymnasium, but the lights there came on just now.
Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head slightly, before picking up his

phone to speak to his PA.
“Yes, sir?”
“Did someone book out the gymnasium today?”
“….Sir, I confirmed and no one has booked it today.”
“Is that so?”
Goh Gun-Hui covered the phone’s receiver and organised his

thoughts for a bit, before speaking to his subordinate again.
“Can you send the CCTV feed from the gymnasium into my
office?”
“Yes, sir. Please hold on.”
Shortly thereafter, the live feed was displayed on the giant

TV occupying the entire wall of his office. And that’s when
he got to see Seong Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In hugging each
other inside the gymnasium.
“….Keu-hum.”
Stunned by what he saw, Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly coughed to

clear his throat. He looked over and over again, but it was
definitely those two. He then tilted his head again.
‘Did those two people have such a relationship?’
But then again, the very first person Hunter Cha Hae-In
searched for when she regained consciousness briefly inside
the helicopter was none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
‘It seems that I was very slow on the uptake, huh.’
A content smile spread on Goh Gun-Hui’s face as he gazed

at the two young people on the TV screen.
Both of them requested for their private information to be

protected as soon as they got their rank S licences. Even
then, there was not one person in this country who didn’t
know Cha Hae-In, or for that matter, Seong Jin-Woo.
So, if two such people wished to spend some quiet time

together, there would be no better place than the
Association’s gymnasium after the closing time.
To think, they’d chose a gymnasium as their date venue,

quite unlike the youths of today. What a wonderfully
wholesome date this was.
Goh Gun-Hui maintained a heartwarming smile and shook
his head wryly.
‘Yup, being young is indeed wonderful.’
He reached out to the resting phone’s receiver and picked it

up once more.
“I’m sorry about this, but I want you to switch off all the
CCTV feed coming from the gymnasium.”
“Sir? But….”
“Just say that today was the maintenance day in the

records.”
“I understand, sir.”
The giant TV screen in the President’s office showing the

CCTV feed switched off as soon as he ended the call. Goh
Gun-Hui took one last look at the gymnasium and returned
to perusing the report, a grin still etched on his lips.
But, it was then.
RUMBLE…
The surface of the water in his cup vibrated softly as he

sensed a minute tremor coming from the gymnasium’s
direction.
“Huhuh.”
Goh Gun-Hui didn’t bother to look at the gymnasium and

simply carried on smiling.
‘Indeed, being young is the best.’

‘This is…..’
Jin-Woo massaged his aching forehead.
It seemed that he had been greatly underestimating Cha

Hae-In’s actual skills up until now. Igrit’s strength had been
boosted overall by the ‘Demon King’s Longsword’, but in the
end, he couldn’t win against her skills.
Right after Igrit’s left arm flew away from being cut, Jin-Woo
ended this match.
“Stop!”
Even though they would regenerate back to full, he still

couldn’t stand the sight of his soldiers getting destroyed.
“Fuu-.”
Cha Hae-In reined in her rough breathing and let out a long
sigh. Her opponent must’ve been tougher than expected,
because she was soaked in sweat from head to toe. Her
slender, white fingers wiped the droplets of sweat forming
on her forehead.
Jin-Woo looked at that with a rueful expression, inwardly

accepting his loss today, and called Igrit back.
“It’s my loss.”
Shururuk….
Igrit returned back inside his shadow. However, Cha Hae-In

spoke directly to him, her hands not letting go of her sword.
“No. Please, this one doesn’t count.”
“…?”
What did she even mean by that, out of the blue? Didn’t
count?
Cha Hae-In explained herself.
“Didn’t you say that you’d bring out the most powerful
summon?”
Cha Hae-In walked closer and only stopped when she was
one step away from Jin-Woo.
“Was that black knight really your strongest summon?”
She wasn’t asking him here. No, it sounded as if she was just
trying to confirm what she knew already.
Jin-Woo quietly shook his head. As if she was waiting for

that, Cha Hae-In immediately carried on.
“Please call out your strongest summon. We agreed to do

from that get-go, didn’t we?”
“But, you may get injured.”
“It’s fine. I wanted to fight it at least one more time,

anyway.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened from her declaration.
“Wait, you knew?”
Nod, nod.
“I saw the video footage.”
Cha Hae-In had watched the raid video starring Jin-Woo

several times by now.
The giant monster that made its appearance during the clip
– she definitely remembered seeing that monster shooting
out the pillar of flames from somewhere.
“That summoned creature, that was the High Orc Shaman,

the boss of that rank A dungeon. Am I correct?”
If that was the case, then the mutated ant monster he

hunted down this time would also have become his
summoned creature, as well. From the word go, she chose to
go through the test while thinking of fighting that mutated
ant.
‘There is no meaning in a victory like this.’
She wanted to defeat the summoned creature that used the

powers of the mutated ant monster, and thereby get Jin-Woo
to acknowledge her true value.
He pondered for a little bit, before nodding his head.
‘Beru’.
Right away, a Shadow Soldier enshrouded in jet-black smoke

rose up behind Jin-Woo. Cha Hae-In instinctively jumped
back and created some distance as soon as she saw Beru’s
entrance.
Back then or now, that guy carried a truly horrendous aura.
Jin-Woo got genuinely worried when all colour drained out of

her face and quickly asked her.
“Will this really be fine?”
Even if Beru had gotten weaker compared to when he was

alive, this guy was originally a killing weapon born solely for
the purpose of eliminating Hunters.
Cha Hae-In’s lips were squeezed shut in a straight line, as

she weightily nodded her head.
Beru had been staring at her quietly for a while, before

lowering his head to whisper a question to Jin-Woo.
‘Oh my king. How should I deal with this female?’
Cha Hae-In must’ve been unable to hear what Beru was

saying, because she showed no particular reaction at all.
‘Defeat her without injuring her.’
‘It shall be done.’
The former king of the ants and the current Shadow Soldier
turned towards the deeply tense female warrior.
Gulp.
Cha Hae-In swallowed her dry saliva. She felt goosebumps

break out on her skin from the enormous amount of magic
energy emitted by her opponent.
‘Mister Seong Jin-Woo fought against a creature like this and

won??’
Her eyes that showed no signs of hesitation while fighting

against Igrit were now trembling greatly. Beru was done with
the necessary preparation to follow his sovereign’s order,
and suddenly, spat out a mighty screech.
Kiiiaaaahhk!!
Blade-like claws began extending out from the ends of

Beru’s fingers, so Jin-Woo standing behind him sent over an
unhappy glare.
‘….Retract the claws.’
The high-spirited Beru immediately retracted his claws. Jin-

Woo drilled one more instruction into his soldier’s head.
‘If you injure that woman, it won’t be nice for you, either. Got
that?’
‘I shall follow your will.’
Only after hearing that definite answer from Beru did Jin-
Woo declare the start of the second bout.
“Begin!”
Chapter 135
Beru was the first to make his move. His Sovereign had
given him only one order.
‘Defeat the enemy without harming her.’
Beru once stood at the peak of his species, and he knew

what the best method to perfectly fulfil that order was. And
that would be this: Make the opponent lose her will to fight
by imprinting the clear gap in power between them in her
mind.
Paht!
Beru disappeared from Cha Hae-In’s view the moment he

moved, before reappearing right in front of her nose even
before she had the chance to realise it.
“…!!”
Cha Hae-In’s animal-like instinct kicked in even as the

astonishment at Beru’s speed nearly overwhelmed her, and
she swung her sword at her opponent. She followed that up
with dozens more.
However, Beru stood in the spot and evaded all of her

attacks without taking a single step.
It was a precise movement that eliminated all necessary

motion. He was so bloody quick that afterimages were left
behind in his wake. This was the display of an unbridgeable
gap in their power levels.
‘This is impossible!’
Cha Hae-In’s eyes shook hard every time she missed.
‘It can dodge all my attacks at such a close distance without

moving its legs once?’
Just one more time!
She took aim at the neck of her opponent and took a swing,
but the creature lightly evaded it by leaning back slightly.
No matter where she attacked from, or how she changed her
attacks, her opponent easily dodged them all.
‘How can this be….?!’
This thing wasn’t even alive anymore. This thing was a

summon borrowing the powers of the dead monster, so how
could it still be this strong?
And also….
‘Mister Seong Jin-Woo, who can freely control such a

summon, just what…..’
Cha Hae-In’s movements became a tad dull from the vague

fear invading her, and Beru seized upon this opportunity to
smack her incoming sword away with the back of his hand.
And then, pressed his face closer to hers.
Cha Hae-In froze up on the spot as the stench of death blew

right into her face.
‘This is the end.’

She inadvertently gasped out the moment those huge
mandibles filled up her view.
“Ah!”
However, the creature didn’t crush her head by snapping

shut its maws but instead, chose to screech out loudly right
in front of her face.
“Kiiiieeeeehhhk!!”
She was knocked away ungainly from the screech containing

his magical energy.
“Kyahk!”
Jin-Woo grimaced while watching that. Indeed, there was no

way he’d start enjoying the sight of someone else getting
knocked around one-sidedly like this.
However, she stood back up again and fixed the grip on the
sword as if to show that she wasn’t giving up at all. Jin-Woo
tilted his head.
‘What is she trying to do?’
The Cha Hae-In he knew wasn’t a low-class Hunter who

didn’t want to accept the difference between her and her
opponent even after confirming the truth with her own eyes.
‘And she’s definitely not reckless enough to keep attacking

when she knows of the gap, too.’
In that case, could she still be in possession of one more

card up her sleeve?
‘Whatever it is, I hope she’s not making an incorrect call.’

Jin-Woo was mentally linked with Beru, so he could feel how
much his soldier was suppressing its killing intent at the
moment. On the other hand, Cha Ha-In’s will remained
unyielding, even though she found herself in an absolutely
disadvantageous position.
He was getting a bad premonition here. Jin-Woo’s expression

became even more serious as he watched the two of them.
‘…..?’
On the hand, Beru had failed to understand Cha Ha-In’s

decision.
He had displayed their overwhelming gap in power several

times by now. So, why hadn’t she stop her challenges yet?
The former king of ants, a being who lorded over others at

the apex of the food chain, was beginning to get displeased
by the human female’s stubbornness. The basis of his anger
stemmed from the past memory of him being a ruler.
‘How dare…..’
The moment Beru made up his mind, he arrived before Cha

Hae-In in the blink of an eye. He then pressed his face closer
to glare straight into her eyes.
Any lifeform still breathing would’ve immediately realised

who was the predator and the prey in this situation just from
their gazes meeting like this. It would be a warning from
one’s primal instinct.
Beru planned to awaken that instinct of his opponent and

make her lose her will to fight in that manner, but
unfortunately, his ploy wasn’t as effective as he thought.
Just as Jin-Woo had predicted, Cha Hae-In still held one last
trump card to fall back on.
The skill, ‘Sword Dance’, one she was most proficient in

wielding. Her movements sped up as if she was performing a
deadly dance, and the tip of her sword drew splendid arcs in
the air.
Paht! Paht! Paht!
Too bad….
Beru used his claws to easily defend against all those

smoothly flowing attacks that had no interruptions in
between. At the end of the barrage, his expression crumpled
unsightly.
‘No more playing around.’
Beru snatched the sword flying at him with his bare hand
and crushed it.
Kwajeeck!!
She only had half a sword left, but rather than falling into
despair, her glare became icy cold, instead.
‘I have only one last chance!’
Every single drop of magic energy in her was poured into

the broken sword to activate her skill, ‘Blade of Light’.
The magic energy expenditure for this skill was far too great
and she could only use it as the final hurrah. And for the first
time during this fight, she revealed it in its full glory.
The blade of light shone brilliantly.

Beru had lowered his guard for a moment after breaking her
sword, and she used that opening to jump into his front and
stabbed the blade of light forward.
‘Nooo!’
Of course, he wasn’t worried about Beru. Utterly

disregarding his worries, the blade glowing in golden light
pierced deeply into Beru’s tummy.
“Kiiieehhk-!!”
In that brief moment, Beru’s mind spun quickly.
‘This woman is an enemy.’
It’d not be a problem for him to die. However, if he fell here,

then this woman’s sword would point towards his Sovereign
next.
It was then.
An instinct buried deep within all Shadow Soldiers’ psyche,

one designed to activate in times of great distress and
override everything else, wiggled back into life.
“Protect the Sovereign!”
In that moment, inside of Beru’s head blanked out into a

‘reset’ state and the order Jin-Woo gave him, ‘defeat the
enemy without harming her’ was wiped away completely.
Beru transformed into a terrifying monster in order to

protect Jin-Woo. His body ballooned up to a giant
proportions. His mandibles split wide open as if he was
getting ready to chew on steel, and finally, his claws
extended out to resemble a group of sharp blades!
“Stop!!”
Beru finished getting ready to rip apart his owner’s enemy,

and swung all ten of his claws and their sharp edges at his
target.
Swish-!!
Just before all ten blades reached Cha Hae-In….
Grab!
Jin-Woo managed to make it just in time.
“….I told you to stop, didn’t I?”
Jin-Woo stopped both sets of Beru’s claws with his bare

hands and began glaring at his soldier. Beru met that
enraged glare and began shuddering. He quickly leapt back
and, while not even bothering to pull that sword of light
from his midriff, prostrated flat on the ground and begged
for forgiveness.
“Oh, oh my king. Mercy…..”
Jin-Woo knew what this guy was thinking of the moment he

was about to act. Hell, the singular thought of ‘Protect the
Sovereign’ was ringing really loud inside his head, too.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo glared at Beru for a little while, before shifting his

gaze away.
Plop.
Cha Hae-In was completely spent and, unable to stand any
longer, plopped down to the ground. She knew that she just
came face to face with death again during that brief
moment.
Jin-Woo walked closer. She was trying to push herself back

up, but gave up in the end and, while keeping her gaze
rooted to the floor, nodded her head.
“I am fine.”
‘Fine, my foot.’
Jin-Woo supported her up and asked.
“Why were you pushing yourself that hard? I mean, you

shouldn’t have any reasons to enter my Guild while putting
yourself through a wringer like this, right?”
“…..”
Indeed, this was supposed to be a simple test. More than

that, this was a ‘test’ he cooked up to reject her tactfully.
But, to think, she’d be this obsessed about winning, even to
the extent of using such a dangerous skill, too.
This couldn’t be chalked up to her desire to win at all costs.

That was why….
“Could it be…..”
….Jin-Woo cautiously asked her, so as to not damage her

ego.
“Are you perhaps interested in me?”

“Excuse me??”
Cha Hae-In got flustered and formed a dazed expression of

someone getting hit in the back of her head. Jin-Woo tilted
his head.
‘That wasn’t it, either?’
But then, Cha Hae-In carefully reorganised her thoughts and

corrected her answer.
“….Yes, I think so.”
Within the United States’ Hunter Bureau.
The director was feeling rather unhappy after receiving the

news of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s recruitment ending in
failure. Instead of getting a report, he summoned the deputy
director to the conference chamber.
The deputy director brought Madam Selner with him.
“Explain what happened back there.”
The director asked even before they had the chance to sit
down. This was the first time since the founding of the
Hunter Bureau that their scouting offer, accompanied by
Madam Selner no less, had been rejected by the subject.
The deputy stood up with a darkened expression and

lowered his head.
“I’m truly sorry, sir.”
“I didn’t call you here for your apologies, Michael.”

The director pressed a certain button, and all the glass walls
were covered up and the exit was locked tight. The interior
had become perfectly soundproof.
In order to prevent the leakage of information, all matters

pertaining to Madam Selner were never discussed over the
phone or through emails. That was why the director was still
unaware of what went down in South Korea until now.
“Now, please explain to me what happened.”
The deputy director glanced at Madam Selner for a moment

or two. She slowly nodded her head, and only then did the
deputy open his tightly-shut lips once more.
“Madam Selner was able to ‘observe’ Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
“What was the result?”
The director knew how her power operated, so the result of

her ‘observation’ was as important as the result of the
‘recruitment’ itself.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is….”
The deputy licked his dried-up lips from tension and

continued on.
“….Is apparently one of the ‘kings’.”
“What?!”
The director jumped up from his seat.
Of all the powerful Hunters she had met over the years, she
described only three people as ‘kings’. And all three of them
were powerful enough to shake the world by the scruff of its
neck, too.
Quite literally, they were the zenith of Hunters! And the man
named Seong Jin-Woo had to be included in that list now, as
well.
The director shifted his gaze over to Madam Selner and

asked her.
“Does that mean Hunter Seong Jin-Woo possesses the level

of power equal to other Special Authority-rank Hunters?”
Strangely enough, she promptly shook her head.
“Excuse me?”
Frowns formed on the director’s forehead.
The deputy could amply understand how his boss must be

feeling right about now. He, too, had displayed a similar
reaction back when he heard the exact same answer, after
all.
Madam Selner let out a long sigh.
“Looks like… I’ll have to explain myself a little.”
Her talk began from those words.
“First of all…. I’ll assume that both of you know just what
kind of an ability I possess.”
The director and his deputy both nodded their heads

simultaneously. The former spoke first.
“You said that the Awakened are people connected to the

powers of the ‘other side’.”
By staring into the eyes of the Awakened, Madam Selner

could sense the ‘passageway’ connecting said Awakened to
the other side.
However, she said that there were certain Awakened who

were receiving so much incredible power from the ‘other
side’ that it ends up resembling a blinding flood of light,
instead.
These were precisely the ‘kings’ she talked about.
“So, what is different about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, then?”
“He doesn’t have a passageway.”
Madam shivered in fear again.
“When I looked into his eyes, the darkness within him was
staring back at me. Oh, my god. He was the darkness itself.”
The deputy director refuted this immediately.
“But, he has helped out a lot of people during his tenure as a

Hunter, and I can’t see him as someone as evil as you
describe him to be….”
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was indeed a vicious, evil

individual, he’d have immediately killed the two agents who
pointed guns at him where they stood. However, he just let
that slide without caring too much about it.
Madam shook her head.
“I wasn’t talking about whether Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a

good or evil man, deputy director.”
The light shining in her eyes was determined.
“No, I’m talking about the origin of his power.”

The director had been listening to her with his hands
pressed below his chin until then, but he finally raised his
voice.
“There’s no mistaking that he’s a powerful Hunter, yes?”
Madam nodded her head.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, he’s not borrowing someone else’s

power. He only relies on the power residing within him, so
he’s not restricted by the passageway. Which means…..”
“There’s no limit to his power…..”
The deputy director muttered absently before breaking into

an abrupt shudder. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how
absurd the level of power gushing out without any limit
could potentially be.
The director fell into a deep thought after he heard both of

his guests. And a short while later, he nodded his head,
evidently having made his mind up over something.
“Madam, thank you for your hard work.”
After seeing Madam Selner off, the director headed down to

the underground floors of the Hunter Bureau with his deputy
in tow.
“Director, where are we going?”
“Ninth basement floor.”
“Isn’t that where we store old records?”
“We have something else secured there besides the

records.”
The director watched as the number on the elevator’s
display panel steadily decrease and continued on.
“If we can’t rely on Madam Selner’s power, then we should

use a different method to bring him in.”
That man was still so young. And he possessed

unfathomable power.
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo indeed possessed incredible power

just as Madam Selner had eluded to, then it no longer
mattered whether that was the power of light or the power of
darkness.
A knife you picked up to protect yourself would look like a

deadly weapon from someone else’s perspective. And the
director wanted to possess the knife called Seong Jin-Woo.
They arrived at their destination, and while unlocking a

series of electronic door locks, steadily walked deeper into
the ninth underground floor. A few Bureau agents greeted
them as they walked past, but the director didn’t even spare
a single glance.
“Do you still recall the very first rank S Gate ever to
appear?”
“Of course.”
How could anyone forget the worst dungeon break in history

that destroyed a portion of the Western United States?
The American government summoned in the world’s most

powerful Hunters with an unbelievably huge amount of
reward on offer, and eventually, they succeeded in killing
the boss-level monster that emerged from that rank S Gate.
However, only five survived that encounter. Meaning, just a
single monster managed to kill dozens of the best Hunters
out there. Without their sacrifice, the nation of the United
States of America might have ceased to exist altogether.
That was why the American government bestowed the five

remaining saviours the rights equalling that of the country
itself, and that’s where the term ‘Special Authority-rank’
originated from.
The director mouthed the name of the monster that brought

upon one of the worst tragedies in the history of mankind.
“Kamish the Dragon….”
Didn’t the Mage-type Hunters say that ‘Kamish’ meant an

undying flame?
They entered the deepest room on the floor, and the director
opened the safe found in there. And that’s when a single
Rune Stone, under a heavy guard and being monitored
constantly, revealed itself.
The deputy director flinched in surprise.
“In that case, could that thing be….?”
“Your guess is correct.”
The director placed his hand on top of the reinforced glass

shielding the Rune Stone and formed a smile.
“This Rune Stone came out from that Kamish’s corpse.”
Two of the Special Authority-rank Hunters settled down in

the US after the end of the Kamish raid. In a way, they were
the gifts that Kamish managed to deliver to the US.
To avoid another calamity like this, the Americans
established the Hunter Bureau and focused all their might
on improving the strengths of the Hunters. Around eight
years passed by since then.
Simply because no Mage-type Hunters were among the

surviving Special Authority-rank Hunters, Kamish’s Rune
Stone was tucked away in this cold underground storage
beneath the Hunter Bureau, waiting for a new owner to
come along.
The director formed a meaningful smile as he peered into

the glass case.
“Kamish will present us with yet another invaluable gift to

our beautiful country very soon.”
Chapter 136
“Hyung-nim, I heard that it might be difficult for us to get

the permit for the Gate that appeared yesterday.”
The first thing that the chairman of the Knight Order Guild,
Park Jong-Su, did after arriving for work was to harden his
expression.
The Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae hurriedly explained himself.
“The result from the Association folks measuring that thing

apparently came out higher than they expected.”
“What, it’s a rank S?!”
“No, not that. They say it’s a rank A, but right at the top of
the scale.”
“Gimme a freaking break, man. Really now.”
If it was a rank S Gate, then they could have given up on it

without hesitation. The Knight Order Guild didn’t have a
single rank S Hunter in their midst, so it wouldn’t make
much sense for them to attempt clearing a rank S Gate, after
all.
Just like back in the Jeju Island raid, the Association would
have to summon every rank S Hunters in the country just to
deal with such a Gate.
However, the story would change drastically if the magic
energy emission measurement came out to be rank ‘A’. The
Knight Order Guild would be ridiculed for being unable to
deal with a rank A Gate, even though they were supposed to
be one of the five major Guilds in South Korea.
Their already thinning presence could become even more

invisible at this rate.
“Hyung-nim, what will you do?”
“Not sure yet.”
“If we don’t get involved, then the folks from the Shining
Star would definitely show up….”
The Shining Star Guild from the district of Honam. Fine

blood vessels bulged within Park Jong-Su’s eyes when he
heard that name.
“You want to gift that big Gate hovering right in front of our
house to the hands of Mah Dong-Wook?!”
“No, I’m just saying, hyung-nim.”
“I won’t let that happen, even over my dead body.”
“Then, you wanna take it on, hyung-nim?”
The previously-agitated Park Jong-Su suddenly closed his

mouth shut.
His reaction was obvious, though. Just one word from him
would decide the fate of not just him, but the rest of the raid
team members, as well. Even if he was agitated, he
shouldn’t mutter whatever he felt like.
A migraine crept into Park Jong-Su’s head.

‘The rank A Hunters in my Guild can stand toe to toe with
the rank As from other large Guilds.’
No, if one were to consider the number or the overall quality

of the rank As in the Knight Order’s roster, then his outfit
easily equalled the best Guild in South Korea, the Hunters.
The only issue was to do with the lack of rank S Hunters.
Because they didn’t have any rank S Hunters in their roster,

the Knight Order was in real danger of being kicked out of
the so-called five major Guild of South Korea.
For the same reason, the elites of Knight Order were more
than good enough to deal with regular rank A Gates.
However, if it was a Gate measured to be at the top end of
the rank A spectrum, then as they didn’t have a rank S
Hunter, the Knight Order had to risk the lives of their raid
team members when attempting to clear it.
Even though it was rated nominally at rank A, the difficulty

of clearing such a dungeon would be a lot closer to a rank S
in reality. The Hunter’s Association also knew of the dangers,
and that was why they hadn’t decided on whether to issue
the raid permit or not to the Knight Order.
‘……..’
As Park Jong-Su’s silent deliberation grew lengthier, Jeong

Yun-Tae cautiously voiced his opinion to his boss.
“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then

we’ll all die for sure.”
“I’m sure we will.”

It was already tough trying to deal with the highest-rated
rank A Gate, but if it were to morph into a dang Red Gate?
Even thinking about that horrified him.
If lady luck was on their side, half of the team would survive.
If not, the whole of the raid team, including himself, would
perish inside the dungeon.
‘If I think about it objectively, then I should give up on this

one.’
But then again, he should consider the fate of the Knight

Order as good as finished if the story of them giving up on a
rank A Gate gets around. Just which newbie would want to
join a Guild that didn’t have a single rank S Hunter, and
couldn’t even deal with a rank A Gate?
“In that case, hyung-nim, how about forming an alliance

with another Guild?”
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
“Who’d wanna form an alliance with us when they already

know we can’t go at it alone and need help?”
Especially when they monopolise everything a rank A Gate

could offer if the Knight Order was removed from the picture
altogether? And, even if they formed an alliance, it’d prove
to be problematic, still.
‘It’s the same as us walking around advertising our

incompetence.’
Deep frowns of worry drew upon their faces. It was then.
“If allying with another Guild is a problem, then how about

working with a freelancer?”
The two men’s heads snapped in unison towards the
direction of the woman’s voice, coming from their side. It
was from the rank A Healer charged with mending the elite
raid team, Jeong Ye-Rim.
A Healer was given a lot of say in the matters of a raid. And

if that Healer just so happened to be a rank A possessing
various skills, then there was no need to even mention that.
However, as the fate of the Knight Order Guild was hanging

in the balance here, Park Jong-Su couldn’t easily hide his
troubled expression.
“We want to go inside the hardest rank A Gate, so how could

a single freelancer help…”
But then, Park Jong-Su stopped his words right there.
‘Ah!!’
Because, he just remembered a certain someone in the

middle of his own speech. A man capable of sweeping away
rank S monsters all alone, never mind rank As!
Unable to suppress his excitement anymore, Park Jong-Su

shot up from his seat.
‘If Mister Seong Jin-Woo joins us, then….!’
That man easily brushed off a monster that the combined

might of the Korean rank S Hunters couldn’t do anything
about. If he chose to participate, then the safety of the raid
team members was as good as 100% guaranteed. And, was
that all?
They could also avoid the ignominy of having to borrow

another Guild’s power to clear a rank A Gate, too.
‘On the contrary, the fame of the Knight Order would
increase, instead.’
Allying with the best Hunter in the country to complete a

raid would not negatively affect the Guild in any shape or
form.
The guaranteed safety of the team members, as well as a

boost to the honour of the Knight Order Guild itself – this
was a wonderful way to catch two birds with one stone.
Feeling really excited now, Park Jong-Su spoke with an eager

voice.
“What is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doing right now?”
Both Jeong Ye-Rim, who originally came up with the idea,

and Jeong Yun-Tae quietly listening from the side, shook
their heads.
“Since he cleared the Gate appearing in the middle of the

road not too long ago, he’s gone pretty quiet nowadays.”
Jeong Yun-Tae recalled seeing Seong Jin-Woo on one of the

TV news broadcasts recently, and pulled his phone out.
“Should I find out the contact number for Seong Jin-Woo

Hunter-nim, hyung-nim?”
“No, don’t bother. Put your phone down.”
“Eh?”
“Do you think you should try to solve something this

important over a phone call? No, we gotta meet up with him
and discuss it face to face.”
“Aha!”
Jeong Yun-Tae agreed with that opinion immediately, and
Park Jong-Su continued on with a smile.
“Let’s go up north.”
That evening.
Cha Hae-In was lying on her bed with sheets pulled right up
over her head. But she was writhing around in great distress
at the moment.
‘Why did I go and say, I think so?! Just why!!’
Wasn’t that the exact same thing as confessing?!
She wildly kicked the sheets away, and finally stopped

moving only after a thought popped up into her head out of
the blue.
‘Then…..’
How was she to decipher Mister Seong Jin-Woo’s reply, then?
[“In that case, isn’t there a better way than to join my

Guild?”]
She wanted to quickly escape from that situation and told

him that she’d think about it before leaving in a hurry, but
simply from recalling that moment caused such distress that
her thought process ground to a complete halt almost
immediately.
Blush.
Her face blushed from the memories she remembered yet

again.
Back when she looked into the maddened eyes of the
enlarged summoned creature, she predicted her
unavoidable death. She felt absolute terror. This was the fate
of the prey.
Cha Hae-In even squeezed her eyes shut as ten claws

descended upon her from both sides. But, then….
She felt the warmth coming from her back. At the same
time, a familiar scent gently wrapped all around her.
‘Ah….’
Cha Hae-In cautiously opened her eyes and looked behind

her. And she found Jin-Woo standing there, busy glaring with
angry eyes at the summoned creature while stopping the
claws with his bare hands.
It was true that her heart skipped a beat in that moment.
But then….
[“Are you perhaps interested in me?”]
Wasn’t it patently unfair to ask a question like that in that

sort of a situation?!
‘No, wait.’
Cha Hae-In shook her head hard as if to shake off all the

distracting thoughts. Even if he asked her like that, she
shouldn’t have answered him truthfully.
‘He might start seeing me as a strange person, after all.’
Even though she knew she shouldn’t, her lips parted on

their own.
Maybe because her mind felt more relaxed when she was
around Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, she ended up revealing a side
to him that she always kept hidden. It was as if she wasn’t
herself anymore.
‘….As if I wasn’t myself?’
Those words sounded rather familiar for some reason.
Where could it have been from? She could vaguely

remember hearing a similar expression from somewhere.
It was then – a piece of memory once erased from her mind

brushed past her brain.
….Please, pass it on.
Cha Hae-In quickly bolted upright.
‘…..!!’
She finally recalled that voice, a voice that seemed to slowly

fade away to the other side, just like a waking dream. Even
though it couldn’t have been that long ago.
….Please, pass this message on.
‘I, I….’
Cha Hae-In did her very best to remember the contents of

the voice as well as the owner of it. The full scope of the
memory, blurry and indistinct as if a thick veil of fog was
covering it, slowly regained its former glory.
….Please, pass on the message that he needs to be

wary.
‘….I met with Hunter Min Byung-Gu.’

Back when she lost her consciousness and was being
dragged into the endless void, Hunter Min Byung-Gu
appeared out of nowhere and pulled her back by her wrist.
She felt momentarily displeased from her peaceful rest
being interrupted back then.
She remembered being puzzled by the black armour

covering the entirety of Hunter Min Byung-Gu. Only his face
was visible outwardly.
Even that face seemed quite sad for some reason, which was
unlike his usual self.
As the memories of those moments slowly crept back into

her mind, Cha Hae-In felt a chill run down her spine.
Hunter Min Byung-Gu spoke to her, his expression barely

holding back his tears.
To Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….
‘To Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, what….?’
Please pass on the message that he needs to be wary of

the power he possesses.
After ending the shower, Jin-Woo stood before the bathroom

window.
‘Hmm….’
He sure looked okay from where he was standing, but….
But, to think that he was so good looking that a beauty like

Cha Hae-In felt enough interest to try switching Guilds!
‘Am I really that good looking?’

Jin-Woo peered deeper into the mirror. And a smirk leaked
out of his mouth. He wasn’t planning to drown in narcissism
even if no one told him to.
He was confident of only one thing about himself, and that

would be….
….That would be his taut muscles, getting progressively

firmer through repeated daily quest routines, as well as his
height that suddenly grew up much higher than before,
probably due to the influence of the System. That was about
it. Meaning, all he had was his body and not much else.
As for his face…. Well, minus his sharper than normal eyes,
wouldn’t it be on the level of an average man commonly
seen on the streets?
It was at this point that he noticed something.
‘Hold on.’
Jin-Woo’s expression became serious as he stared into the

mirror. He leaned his head slightly to the side, and took an
even closer look than before. The Jin-Woo of the mirror’s
reflection and the Jin-Woo of reality stared at each other for
a long while.
‘Uh?’
A strange light flickered in Jin-Woo’s eyes. His gaze swept all

over his face. And as he thought…
He really did change.
Those small scars, spots and nicks that couldn’t be seen

normally and needed to be looked at really close, had all
disappeared from his face even before he had time to notice
it.
‘Is this because of the ‘Will to Recover’ buff?’
One of the buff effects he got as the reward for becoming a

Player said that ‘all his damaged body parts would be
recovered back to their original state’.
This buff even managed to regenerate the leg that got cut
off by one of the stone statues, too. So, it wouldn’t be so
strange for those little skin damages to be healed
completely, as well. However, what really came across as
mystifying was….
‘….I think I’ve actually grown younger?’
He was originally in the middle of his twenties. But the him

in the mirror looked two, three years younger, in his early
twenties. Now that was a surprising thing.
The magical energy apparently could delay the ageing

process of the Awakened to a certain degree, so could this
be a similar effect to that?
‘Gimme a break….’
Jin-Woo thought that it was a funny notion for a grown man

to stare at himself in the mirror like this, so he decided to
leave the bathroom. With excellent timing, his younger
sister also emerged from her bedroom, and the siblings got
to have a brief reunion in the living room.
Jin-Woo grinned and called out to Jin-Ah.
“Hey, sis?”
“Ng?”
“How do I look to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, my appeal as a man.”
“Huh??”
Jin-Ah furrowed her brows.
“And where did you find your baseless confidence from?

Because, you’re still the same stay-at-home oppa in my
eyes, you know?”
“Alright, thanks for that.”
Jin-Woo grinned and pinched her cheek lightly, and she too
threw a rather sharp kick to his shin as a retaliation. Of
course, the one jumping around in pain was Jin-Ah.
“You forgot what kind of a person your oppa was? Can you
even study properly with that head of yours?”
Jin-Ah pouted and narrowed her eyes at him.
“I was ranked first place in the mock test in the entire

school, I’ll have you know.”
Jin-Woo really enjoyed his sister’s reaction and had a hard

time swallowing back his laughter.
One of the best things about having your family around was
that, even if you changed, they still treated you the same
with exactly the same attitude as before.
Jin-Woo used the towel to rub his wet hair and walked past
Jin-Ah.
“Work hard.”
“You too, oppa.”
Just before he slipped into his room, though, he remembered

something and looked behind him.
“Ah, right. I’m thinking of creating a Guild soon.”
“Ohhh!”
Jin-Ah’s expression brightly and her eyes sparkled brilliantly

as well.
“Oppa, are you going to be called a ‘chairman’ from now on,

too?”
“If it all works out.”
“What’s the name of the Guild?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear your opinion on.”
“Oh! What is it? What is it??”
Jin-Woo cautiously asked his little sister busy looking at him

with eyes full of expectations.
“What do you think of ‘Solo Play’ Guild?”

Chapter 137
“HUH?”
The answer sounded the same but its ‘nuance’ was rather a
lot different than the one that came before. If she was
kidding around just now, then she was dead serious this
time.
“What’s wrong? You think it’s weird?”
“…..Oppa, why are you naming your Guild like that?”
“Because I like moving around solo.”
“It does sound like you, but still, isn’t it a bit strange to
name your Guild like that?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t your ability summoning out those black-armoured

soldiers?”
“Yeah.”
“So, if you get technical about it, you aren’t fighting alone,
right?”
Now that he heard her opinion, that made some sense. Jin-
Woo nodded his head.
‘I may think of it as just another one of my skills but it won’t
look that way to other people, is that it?’
Indeed, she had a point there.
This Guild might end up accompanying him for the rest of

his life, so he wanted to give it a name that best represented
who he was. And that’s why he went with ‘Solo Play’, but
now….
‘If the true meaning doesn’t come across all that well, it’ll be
useless.’
What could be another term that could describe him the

best?
Jin-Woo asked his sister’s opinion again.
“How about ‘Ah-Jin’ Guild?”
“Ahjin?”
Jin-Ah mouthed the name for a bit, before asking him back
with a smile.
“I kinda like it, cuz it sounds like my name but flipped

around. But, what does it even mean?”
“Ah ( ) means ‘myself’ and Jin ( ) means ‘moving forward’.”
Meaning, only he could tread on this road. And it was a

name he wanted to give to the Guild that would grow
alongside him.
“Combine them together, and you get the meaning of ‘I shall

progress forward’. That’s Ah-Jin ( ).”
“Ohh…”
Jin-Ah came up with the best praise she could think of.
“You know, that doesn’t sound bad at all.”
***
Next day.
Jin-Woo went to the office armed with the new Guild name.
“Hey. It’s about the Guild’s name….”
Yu Jin-Ho had been in the office since early morning,

working. When he heard the new name from Jin-Woo, a
brilliant smile formed on his face.
“That is an excellent name, hyung-nim!!”
Didn’t they say that a swan floating elegantly on water was

kicking furiously under the surface? Yu Jin-Ho had been
feeling as desperate as that old saying.
‘Whatever it is, everything will be fine as long as it’s not

Solo Play.’
He imagined ‘it’ so, so many times already. And that would

be him introducing himself as ‘Hello, I’m Yu Jin-Ho, Vice-
Chairman of the Solo Play Guild’.
That seriously tormented him.
He couldn’t be sure of why, but a corner of his heart ached

every time he imagined himself saying those words.
However, how could he dare to rebel against a name that
hyung-nim had worked so hard to come up with?
He resigned himself to that fate but then, a heaven-sent

opportunity came knocking in his way!
“Hyung-nim, let’s go with that as our Guild’s name!”
Jin-Woo made his decision after receiving his partner’s

genuine consent this time.
“Okay, so we decided on the Guild’s name, finally.”
Yu Jin-Ho began crying out in elation inwardly after hearing

Jin-Woo make that declaration. Meanwhile, the latter rubbed
his chin and muttered out.
“The remaining issue is the last founding member slot, isn’t

it?”
“Oh, that. Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim yesterday?”
“I don’t think it’ll work out with Hunter Cha. She’s not
exactly who I’ve been looking for.”
‘Keok?!’
Yu Jin-Ho hastily swallowed a shocked gasp. He expected his

hyung-nim to hold a high standard, but to think that he’d
not be satisfied with a Hunter on Cha Hae-In’s level!
Hunter Cha Hae-In was a rank S, she was still very young,
her records were excellent, and to top them all off, she was
beautiful as well. No matter from which angle, she was
pretty much perfect. At least, from the perspective of an
‘average’ joe, that was.
However, would the word ‘average’ even apply to his hyung-

nim?
‘I mean, he almost swept away all the rank S monsters by
himself in the first public raid he participated in as a rank S,
after all.’
It’d be oh-so-obvious that ‘regular’ rank S Hunters wouldn’t

even be able to catch his attention. But, if that was the case
then just what kind of a Hunter would satisfy hyung-nim’s
strict judging criteria?
It felt as if the hundreds of applications this yet-to-be-named

Guild had received recently all due to the name of ‘Seong
Jin-Woo’ were about to be thrown into a trash heap now.
‘But, I don’t think anyone will be better than Hunter Cha

Hae-In among the rest of the applicants, though….’
Yu Jin-Ho was suddenly beset with worry that the Guild

might never get to open its door at this rate, and he
cautiously asked Jin-Woo.
“Excuse me, hyung-nim. What kind of a person are you

looking for, anyway?”
“Someone with a Hunter licence who doesn’t care much

about the Guild’s activity but we can still place our trust in.”
“Uh….?”
Yu Jin-Ho thought up of a person meeting that criteria

perfectly right away.
‘Isn’t that…..’
It was then.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office’s entrance.

“Who is it?”
Yu Jin-Ho stood up from his seat and opened the door. And
he found two unfamiliar men standing there looking
somewhat awkward and all.
They were none other than Chairman Park Jong-Su and his
deputy, Jeong Yun-Tae of the Knight Order Guild, who rushed
up to Seoul to have a chat with Jin-Woo.
Park Jong-Su recognised Jin-Woo first and formed a bright

smile.
“Oh! You’re here.”
Jin-Woo got up from his seat and asked them.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, where are my manners?”
Park Jong-Su hurriedly walked up closer and extended his

hand out for a gentlemanly handshake.
“I’m Park Jong-Su, the Master of the Knight Order.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head in acceptance. Indeed, he thought

he had seen this man’s face from somewhere before. Even if
he wasn’t all that interested, he’d still recognise a Master of
one of the five major Guilds in South Korea. Such a guy
would constantly pop up in news and in television shows,
after all.
However, the Knight Order was a major Guild based in the

city of Busan, so….
After that brief introduction, Jin-Woo could only tilt his head
in confusion.
“By the way, what brings the representatives from the
Knight Order to Seoul like this, if I may ask?”
“Ahh, the thing is….”
Park Jong-Su hesitated slightly before exchanging a couple

of glances with Jeong Yun-Tae. With some difficulty, he
opened his mouth.
“We got assigned a pretty big fish among the rank A Gates,
and….”
Hesitation disappeared from his eyes almost immediately as

he carried on.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, you won’t regret it from hearing

us out, that much I assure you. Would you mind taking some
time out of your day and listen to what I have to say?”
***
[Citizens cowering in fear at the super-large Gate appearing

before the Gwang-An-ri’s coastline….]
[The Hunter’s Association, still deliberating on the raid

permit.]
[Will the Knight Order Guild give up on the raid of Gwang-

An-ri’s Gate?]
[Will the nightmare of Jeju Island repeat itself?]
Park Jong-Su picked one out of the many online news articles
and then, played the video clip embedded in it.
Hey, look at that. Over there. Are you filming this?

Uh, uh.
Wow, how is that even possible? How can a Gate be
that huge?
The video footage, obviously taken by a civilian, contained

the crowd’s scared voices as its BGM. But, that was
understandable – the Gate in the video was just
nonsensically too large. It was taller than a ten-story
building, even.
This particular Gate was so big that it managed to terrify

even those citizens who were now pretty much numbed by
the smaller Gates popping up almost everywhere without
warning these days.
“The size of a Gate and its ranking don’t always line up,
but….”
Park Jong-Su ended the video playback and further

explained himself.
“As befitting its nonsensical size, it’s also apparently busy

dumping out a massive amount of magic energy as well.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes began gleaming from this rather interesting

piece of news.
“Is it a rank S?”
“We’ve been told that it hasn’t reached the rank of ‘unable

to measure’, but just below the threshold, apparently. It’s
supposed to be the largest Gate to ever appear in Busan.”
Meaning, although it was nominally a rank A, it was far

closer to being a rank S, instead.
‘If that’s the case, I can expect a fair bit of experience

points, can’t I?’
In contrary to Jin-Woo’s heart quietly gearing up to pump
even faster, Park Jong-Su’s voice sounded quite bitter as he
carried on.
“As you can see from those headlines, the Association

doesn’t want to issue us the raid permit.”
“Is it because it’ll be too dangerous?”
“Our Guild lacks a rank S Hunter, as you might have heard.

From the perspective of the Hunter’s Association, they can’t
trust us to get the job done.”
Park Jong-Su stopped talking there and sneaked a glance at

Jin-Woo.
“If you are still searching for a Guild to join, then how
about…..?”
Before Park Jong-Su had the chance to finish his sentence,

Jin-Woo pointed at the cover of a file lying on the top of the
conference table.
One could quite clearly see the title written on the upper
half of the cover.
[List of applicants for the Guild founding member spot]
Park Jong-Su embarrassedly scratched the back of his head

and nodded once.
“Aha….”
And with that, Park Jong-Su’s hope-against-hope attempt at

reeling Jin-Woo to the Knight Order Guild went down the
drain. In that case, it was time to get to the meat of the
story.
“The elite Hunters of our Knight Order are in no way inferior
compared to those from the Hunters Guild. It’s just that we
don’t have a rank S who can lead our rank As. That’s all.”
They had done well up until this point, but ‘anything’ could
happen during this particular raid. In case that worried
‘anything’ happens, they definitely needed the presence of
the top-ranked Hunter.
Just a single rank S Hunter would be enough to reverse any

situation.
Right now, there was no need to search for one from afar.
Because, he was sitting right here.
Just as the Hunters of the Korean team were facing complete

and utter annihilation, this young man appeared out of
nowhere and overturned the situation all by himself. Such a
man was sitting right in front of him.
More than that, now that he could see Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
up close…. Even though they were the same Hunters, this
man simply instilled trust and confidence in others.
‘An autograph…. If I ask him, will he give me one?’
Suddenly, Park Jong-Su could understand where the Healer

Jeong Ye-Rim was coming from, back when she asked him to
get at least an autograph even if Seong Jin-Woo said no to
the idea of cooperation.
“Is there something on my face?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
Park Jong-Su smiled and waved his hand about before

carrying on.
“Actually, I believe that we’ll get the raid permit for this Gate
if you decide to cooperate with our assault team, Hunter-
nim.”
Jin-Woo crossed his arms and leaned against the back of his
chair. Before his pondering could get any deeper, though,
Park Jong-Su hurriedly added on.
“Of course, we will definitely make sure not to treat you

poorly.”
With a smile still etched on his face, he pulled out the

prepared contract.
“We will hand over 20% of the revenue generated from this
dungeon.”
He was saying that one of the major Guilds was prepared to

submit two-tenths of the potential profit from a Gate to a
freelancer. Now that was an unimaginable offer for a regular
Hunter.
Now typically, a rank S Hunter would only commend around

ten percent of the overall revenue when a large Guild raided
a dungeon. But the Knight Order was offering up double of
that norm. As Park Jong-Su had said, this certainly wasn’t a
‘poor’ treatment by any stretch of the imagination.
Unfortunately, Jin-Woo’s thoughts were a bit different.
“Fifty-fifty split.”
Park Jong-Su’s hand flinched momentarily as it was about to

pull out a pen that was supposed to help Jin-Woo sign the
contract.
“If you agree to consider me not as a freelancer but as a
Guild, then I shall cooperate with you.”
Jin-Woo made sure that declaration was heard loud and

clear.
An earthquake erupted within Park Jong-Su’s eyes at the

suggestion of splitting the revenue in half.
‘Keu-heuk…!’
However, he didn’t have any means to come out as strongly

as Jin-Woo here. It was not an exaggeration to say that the
fate of his Knight Order Guild depended on this raid.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was inwardly clicking his tongue.
‘I mean, twenty percent is just not on, don’t you think so?’
He wasn’t trying to exploit the urgent situation the Knight

Order Guild found themselves in. But, when calculated from
all possible angles, the most sensible ratio of splitting the
loot was 50:50.
‘Even if they are the elites of the Knight Order, are they as
good as my Shadow Soldiers?’
Either in number or even in quality, they were incomparable.

Not only that, his side even included a rank S Hunter, too. If
the commission received for all that potential was measly
20%, then that was as good as working for free.
Was there a reason why he should give up on what was

rightfully his when both sides were making a straightforward
deal in the name of mutual benefit? Besides, Jin-Woo also
didn’t want to lower his own worth, as well.
“In that case, how about 40 to 60…..”
“Apologies, but I’m not trying to negotiate with the Knight

Order Guild here.”
“Does that mean you won’t accept anything less than 50:50
split?”
Instead of a verbal answer, Jin-Woo nodded once as his reply.
‘Groan….’
Park Jong-Su fell into deep thought.
‘I thought things would work out easily enough because he’s

still young and looks friendly, but I see now that he is no
pushover.’
But, that made sense. He was someone that not even the
combined might of South Korea’s rank S Hunters could
defeat.
Park Jong-Su was trying to add such a Hunter to his assault

team. He suddenly realised that this young man’s demand
might not be as outlandish as it sounded initially.
‘No, that’s not right.’
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
An outlandish demand?
If the other party decided to come out hard and unforgiving,

then forget about 50:50, he’d have demanded 80% of the
loot for himself, instead. Regardless of what, the one in the
bind was not Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in this situation.
The losses to the Knight Order after giving up on this raid
would be too enormous to even properly take a guess. But,
what would this young man lose in return?
Absolutely nothing at all.
Actually, this was the same thing as this young man

unwillingly being dragged into the negotiation table by the
other party. But then, he was only demanding half of the
share, so wasn’t he being quite considerate here?
‘Is that all?’
If this deal does go through, then the Knight Order would be

taking out the most trustworthy insurance policy in South
Korea, otherwise known as Seong Jin-Woo.
Inexplicably, Park Jong-Su recalled what Jeong Yun-Tae told

him yesterday.
[“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then

we’ll all die for sure.”]
However, what if Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was accompanying

them? This young man didn’t even bet an eyelid as he faced
off against thousands of rank S monsters.
And, didn’t Park Jong-Su personally confirm how the ants of

Jeju all ended up?
‘Right, that happened, didn’t it?’
Only now did he remember that the man responsible for

wiping all those ants out was sitting right in front of him.
Gulp.
Dry saliva painfully slid down Park Jong-Su’s throat.

He witnessed with his own two eyes the killing field filled
with massacred ants, but here he was, busy yapping on
about 20 to 80 split with the man responsible.
‘Yup, the rude one was actually me, wasn’t it?’
Park Jong-Su finally admitted to his oversight. And then, he

became deeply grateful for Jin-Woo’s gracious counteroffer.
However, being grateful would have to wait.
The offer from the other side meant that he’d be taking a
step back, so in return, he needed to take something away
as well if the fairness of the deal was to be reached.
So, then. What should he do now?
After a lengthy bout of deep deliberation, Park Jong-Su

cautiously raised his voice.
“Alright, we will accept. In return….”
“In return?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, can you take on the boss

monster by yourself?”
Chapter 138
Park Jong-Su’s expression became sombre as he resolved

himself to at least get this much out of the negotiation.
The boss-level monsters were responsible for the majority of

losses suffered in dungeons. And to minimise the potential
losses to his raid team, Park Jong-Su made an aggressive
move and asked Jin-Woo to deal with the boss monster,
instead.
‘With the strength Hunter Seong Jin-Woo displayed back

inside the ant tunnel, he should be able to deal with the
boss monster all by himself.’
Feeling nervous that this offer would be rejected, Park Jong-

Su kept his mouth shut and waited for Jin-Woo’s answer.
However, in a complete contrast to Park Jong-Su and his
gradually-stiffening face as time ticked by….
‘Keu-heuph….’
In order to hide a smirk trying to break out of his lips, Jin-

Woo lifted the hand previously supporting his chin right up
below his nose and covered the entirety of his mouth. Then,
formed an impressive frown.
He wanted to look as if he was giving it a very serious

consideration here. And it worked wonders.
Park Jong-Su forgot all about the passage of time and solely
concentrated on Jin-Woo’s decision, as his hands were
soaked in sweat.
After a long while, Jin-Woo let out a soft sigh, and then….
“Alright.”
….Continued on with what he wanted to say.
“We’ll do it that way.”
Park Jung-Ho’s two hands, hidden under the table, clenched

into tight fists.
‘Yes! It’s done!’
Just from hearing Jin-Woo’s consent, Park Jong-Su felt that all
his worries and burdens weighing down on his shoulders
were being washed away.
Why did he even waste his time worrying about this problem
until now? He should’ve done this from the very beginning.
For the first time since leaving Busan, the frozen-stiff face of
Park Jong-Su broke out into a bright smile.
The only remaining thing now was to contact the Association

and get the raid permit. What with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
agreeing to cooperate, there was no point in hesitating
anymore.
“It’s been some time since the Gate first appeared, so at the
latest, we need to start the raid tomorrow.”
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Ah.”
Park Jong-Su stopped packing his stuff and hurriedly made a
suggestion.
“Instead of that, how about we travel south together in our

car?”
Since they were going to meet again tomorrow anyway,

wouldn’t it be more efficient to move around together,
instead of making a promise like this? Park Jong-Su made his
suggestion with that in mind.
“We’ll guide you to the best hotel in the city, and we will
also pay for your lodging.”
However, there was no reason for Jin-Woo to travel a long

distance inside a cramped car. All he had to do was to insert
one of his Shadow Soldiers inside Park Jong-Su’s shadow,
and that’d be it.
With that, he’d never get lost and would never be late,
either.
He sneaked a glance at the circular-shaped shadow crawling

away on the floor and came up with a suitable excuse.
“I already made a prior arrangement for this evening, so it’ll

be difficult for me to go with you.”
“Aha!”
“But, don’t worry. I’ll definitely make it in time.”
There was no way a Master of a Guild like himself would be

late to a party, after all!
It was then.
Jeong Yun-Tae, the Vice-Chair of the Knight Order, had to
leave the conference suite briefly to take care of some
“personal business” earlier on. He was just about to walk
back inside, but he stopped and screamed at the top of his
lungs.
“H-hyung-nim!!”
Park Jong-Su panicked and jumped up to take a wild look

around him.
“What?! What now?!”
“The shadow! It just moved! From that side to this side!”
Park Jong-Su froze up for a second, before he stood straight

back up and glared at Jeong Yun-Tae.
“Hey, Yun-Tae…. Are you drunk right now?”
“….”
Sensing the atmosphere had suddenly gotten a bit chilly all

of a sudden, Jeong Yun-Tae forgot what he wanted to say and
rubbed below his nose with his index finger.
“I said, are you drunk right now?”
“Uhm, I had a couple of beer as an appetizer back in the

motorway service station, hyung-nim.”
“Didn’t I say that you gotta be more mindful when we’re

trying to conduct official business?”
“I’m sorry, hyung-nim.”
Jeong Yun-Tae bowed to Park Jong-Su, before bowing to Jin-

Woo as well.
“I’m sorry, Hunter-nim.”
Park Jong-Su proceeded to push the back of Jeong Yun-Tae’s

head further down and bowed himself as well.
“This guy here, he means well, but he also sometimes spews

out nonsense with a couple of drinks in him. I apologise if we
ended up making a fuss.”
“No, it’s fine. I mean, shadows can move around sometimes.”
And so, as the meeting was coming to an end in a friendly

atmosphere, Jin-Woo’s phone resting on the conference table
suddenly vibrated.
Vrrrrr….
‘Who’s this?’
He took a look at the caller, but he couldn’t recognise the

number.
“Excuse me. I’ll have to answer this call.”
“Ah, yes.”
Jin-Woo asked for his guests’ understanding like a

gentleman and made his exit from the conference suite.
Both Jeong Yun-Tae, responsible for making a bit of racket
just now, and Park Jong-Su with his nervous heart, spat out a
long, long sigh of relief.
Soon after that, though, Jeong Yun-Tae tilted his head and
softly muttered to himself.
“Argh, but the shadow really moved….”
“Imma just…. You!”

Jeong Yun-Tae finally shut his mouth up over this matter
after being subjected to Park Jong-Su’s fierce glare.
After a short silence….
Jeong Yun-Tae grew curious about the result of the

negotiation and opened his mouth again.
“Hyung-nim, so, like, what happened?”
“What do you mean, what happened? He agreed to

cooperate.”
“Now that’s great news!”
The previously-tense face of Jeong Yun-Tae brightened up

immediately. A wide grin still attached to his face, he asked
some more.
“By the way, did you ask him about joining our Guild?”
“Don’t even bring that up. He shows me this, saying that

he’s making a Guild for himself.”
Just like what Jin-Woo did earlier, Park Jong-Su picked up the
file [List of applicants for the Guild founding member spot]
and showed it to his companion.
Jeong Yun-Tae cackled to himself.
“The Guild situation in Korea has more or less been

stabilised by now, so how big would his Guild get by making
one at this stage? If he just joined up with ours, he’d be
treated like a king, yet he’s willing to go through so much
pain for nothing here.”
“Yeah, what a shame that is.”

Park Jong-Su licked his lips in regret over the missed
opportunity and tried to put the file back in its original
position, but then, an application form slipped out of there.
He got startled and quickly picked it back up only for his
expression to freeze up right there.
“Huh?”
A photo of a rather familiar-looking woman was attached to

the application form.
“Keok!”
Even Jeong Yun-Tae’s expression froze up as well.
“H-hyung-nim, isn’t she…..??”
Jeong Yun-Tae couldn’t believe it even though he saw it with

his own two eyes. Park Jong-Su nodded his head as a
confirmation.
“Uh, you’re right. That’s the Vice-Chair of the Hunters

Guild.”
Jeong Yun-Tae silently observed Cha Hae-In’s photo for a bit,

before sneakily checking out Park Jong-Su’s mood.
“Hyung-nim. Shouldn’t we also do stuff like mergers and

acquisitions?”
Right away, Park Jong-Su’s expression crumpled.
“You dang idiot….”
After making his way out of the conference suite, Jin-Woo

tapped on the ‘Answer’ icon. Then, a familiar voice came out
of the phone’s speaker.
“Son?”
After confirming who it was, Jin-Woo felt rather relieved but

at the same time, felt a bit rueful as well.
“Mom, did you buy a new phone?”
“Ng. I wanted to hear your voice as soon as I got it, so I

called you abruptly like this. I hope that I didn’t
interrupt you while you were doing something
important.”
Jin-Woo glanced at the conference suite with two people

from the Knight Order Guild still inside and smirked slightly.
“Nah, it’s fine, Mom.”
“That’s a relief. By the way, I don’t know if I bought the

right phone. I’m just not used to this sort of things.”
“Did you go to the store alone? Why didn’t you take Jin-Ah
along with you?”
“She’s busy with her studies, so I shouldn’t disturb her.”
It’d been nice if Mom thought of herself instead of her

children every once in a while. Jin-Woo ended the call with
his mom and sighed softly under his breath.
However, why did he feel a bit disappointed when he found

out that the call was from his mom?
‘What was I waiting for?’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself and pocketed the phone, before

raising his head up. Renewed vigour was gleaming brightly
in his eyes.
He was about to breathe in the dungeon air again tomorrow,
all thanks to the nice guys of the Knight Order coming to
visit him like this.
‘A rank A Gate that’s close to being a rank S, is it?’
It felt as if he hadn’t cut loose and went all out in a long

while now. Hadn’t it been a week already since the end of
the Jeju Island raid? Besides entering that rank B Gate, he
hadn’t done anything worthy of mention lately.
His heart began pounding away again after a long while of

nothing much happening, and Jin-Woo hyped himself up for
tomorrow’s raid.
The cream of the Knight Order’s crop had gathered in one

place. They were all in a buzz right now from anticipation
and excitement. It couldn’t be helped, though.
They would probably have had to take a big gamble with

their lives by going on this raid. And if it turned into a Red
Gate, then avoiding a complete annihilation would have
been impossible.
But then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo agreed to join them on such

a raid.
“Kyahhk!”
The one to come up with this idea, Jeong Ye-Rim, cried out in
happiness when she first heard the news of Seong Jin-Woo’s
participation. Other Hunters also rejoiced in their own ways
at the knowledge that a powerful safety net was about to
cast below them.
There was only one person among them feeling mighty
nervous at the moment. And that would be the Master of the
Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su. He couldn’t stay still and
paced up and down in nervousness as he waited for Jin-Woo
to show up.
‘Aww…. I should’ve just brought him along with us

yesterday.’
Park Jong-Su confirmed the time through his watch. It was

five minutes before eleven in the morning. According to
their schedule, the raid was supposed to get underway in
five minutes.
It was a little wonder that he was suffocating from anxiety,

since the promised person hadn’t shown up yet. Without
him, this raid couldn’t even get underway.
The Hunter’s Association immediately issued the raid permit

as soon as the Knight Order let them know of Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo’s participation. It was as if they were waiting for this
chance all along.
There was little doubt that Seong Jin-Woo’s name had

proven its worth there. But then, to start a raid without him
around?
‘Even if I put that aside…..’
Park Jong-Su took a look at the faces of the raid team

members. Would you look at those eyes filled with
anticipation? This raid might not get underway not because
of the Association, but because of his own Guild members,
instead!
‘There are three minutes remaining…’

Park Jong-Su pulled his phone out of sheer anxiousness, but
he pocketed it again after mustering up a superhuman-level
of patience. It’d be a bit rude to call someone who said he’d
be here shortly about ten minutes ago, now wouldn’t it?
However, he couldn’t sense anyone possessing great aura

approaching this location, nor did he receive the call from
Jin-Woo saying that he arrived at the vicinity.
Park Jong-Su looked for something else to chew on instead of

his innards, and eventually settled on a cigarette.
‘Just where are you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-niiiim….!’
Around the same time….
Jin-Woo was stepping outside his apartment. He was kitted

out in easy-to-move clothing and a pair of sneakers. He
looked at his watch, and it said one minute before eleven
AM. He raised his head up to see an overcast, gloomy sky.
‘I wonder, did Jin-Ah take an umbrella with her in the

morning?’
Such thoughts only lasted for a short while.
‘Okay, time to make my way there, then.’
Jin-Woo pulled up the hood to hide his face as a smile crept

up on his lips. First of all, he activated ‘Stealth’, and then….
‘Shadow Exchange.’
He immediately swapped his position with the soldier

currently in the shadow state.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Jin-Ah’s high school….
Three male students and their faces were currently full of

unhappiness at being asked to run an errand for their art
teacher.
“Isn’t this clearly exploitation of labour force?”
“Yeah, I wonder about that myself.”
“I mean, why are we doing something that guy was

supposed to do it himself in the first place?”
The male students continued to complain bitterly as they

unlatched the bulky lock of the second art classroom,
currently serving as their school’s storage unit.
“Argh, look at all this dust.”
“Bleurgh~.”
The thick coating of dust befitting a disused, forgotten

storage greeted the trio of students.
Several worn art supplies, pieces of paintings thrown away

by their original owners, and plaster statues once used for
sketch exercises lay discarded in this place.
“Hey, how many of these plaster statues were we supposed

to take with us?”
“There are six of them here, so it must be six.”
“Argh, come on…. That means we have to come back here

again.”
“Why don’t you carry four of them at the same time, then?”
The male students rolled their sleeves up in order to carry
the plaster figures away. But then, the student picking up
the dusty figure tucked away at the deepest corner ended
up discovering ‘something’ else.
“Uh?”
After hearing his surprised-sounding voice, his friends

quickly walked over to take a look.
“Uh? Isn’t this….?”
There was a large ‘hole’ in the wall. It was a Gate about the
size of an adult human. The biggest student among the trio
smirked after taking a look at the Gate.
“And here I was, wondering what was up.”
The male student pressed his hand on the surface of the

Gate and carried on.
“A closed Gate like this one is safe. Only Hunters can go

inside, and the things inside can’t come out, either.”
It was then.
Crack.
A crack suddenly formed on the surface of the Gate and at

the same time, a ‘hand’ shot out to grab the head of the
male student.
“Huh?”
The male student struggled fiercely to get out of the grip,

but the hand didn’t even budge an inch.
And then…
Kwajeeck-!!
Accompanying the sound of a hard surface of a fruit

shattering into pieces, blood splattered all over the dust-
filled storage.
“Euh, euwaaaahk?!”
“Joon-Seok-ah!!”
And, as the two blood-soaked male students screamed out,

the black ‘curtain’ covering up the entrance of the Gate
shattered like glass, and the monsters trapped inside began
pouring out.
Chapter 139
Orcs were natural-born hunters.
Their level of intelligence fell some way short of that of

humans, but they easily exceeded humanity when it came
to tracking and hunting prey weaker than they were.
And now, the doorway had been shattered. The ‘wall’

blocking the dungeon from the rest of the world was gone,
and these hunters began pouring out from the Gate.
“Kururuk.”
“Keuk.”
The Orcs shoved away the annoying corpses of the high

school boys and scanned their surroundings.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Kuruk.”
These hunters had been trapped inside the dark dungeon

for the whole week, quietly waiting for this day. It was rather
obvious that they would get excited from all the smell of
blood and flesh coming from their surroundings.
However, this group was merely advanced scouts. Even if

their blood was boiling, they weren’t supposed to act as they
pleased. Dozens of their brethren were waiting impatiently
for their reports just beyond the roundish doorway.
These Orcs looked around and spotted straight walls with
many doors and windows.
The Orc in charge of the advanced scouts immediately

realised that they were standing inside a complicated
artificial structure like a castle.
“Kururuk.”
Its nostrils twitched.
There were two choices here to make. One, leave this ‘castle’
and kill every prey they could find with utter impunity.
Or, kill every human found within this ‘castle’ and turn it
into a fortress – and then, commence with their hunting in
earnest. There was no need to even consider which one was
the safer choice.
The leader Orc ordered its underling.
“Summon our brothers.”
And then, it raised its head to glare at the ceiling above. The
monster’s ears twitched and caught onto the noises coming
down from upper floors.
Above, and then, more above that, still; this structure was
seemingly filled with prey.
Its head was currently ringing painfully with a voice that

kept telling the creature to kill every single one of those
prey.
“Good.”
The monster’s maw parted and its yellowing fangs were

revealed to the world.
“First, we cleanse this place completely.”
There was a sizeable crowd of people gathered in the

coastline of Gwang-An-ri. Even though the weather was
overcast and gloomy, there was this one thing that made
these people show up here in morbid fascination.
And that would be the gigantic Gate floating above the

beach.
The members of the local police force, whose assistance had

been requested, and the employees of the Hunter’s
Association, Busan branch, had cordoned off the area and
strictly prohibited civilians from approaching the location.
But, for some reason, the number of folks gathering around

hadn’t lessened at all.
“Senior?”
A newbie female employee, who enjoyed the misfortune of

being knocked around by the waves of people, formed a
tearful expression and asked her senior as she sought
shelter from the storm of curious humans.
“Do we have to repeat this same thing every time a Gate

appears?”
The senior employee was also feeling flustered over this

matter as well. This would be his first time seeing a
commotion of this level around a Gate.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped, since this Gate is the

biggest one ever to open up in Busan.”
He then sneaked a glance behind him. There it was, the
ginormous hole, silently floating in the air.
Just looking at it made him feel like he was being sucked

inside, so he was consciously trying to ignore its presence.
But, of course….
‘I know that thing can’t harm people unless there’s dungeon

break, but still…..’
Even then, he still disliked these Gates just like how some
people irrationally feared outer space or the depths of
oceans.
That was why he always prayed in his mind that Hunters

would quickly take care of the ominous hole every time he
was dispatched to a Gate’s location.
In a way, though, there was this thing that made him feel a
lot more reassured about this raid. The newbie must’ve
remembered the reason too, because she suddenly began
talking to him.
“Ahh! Senior, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“A rank S Hunter from Seoul is supposed to come today,

right?”
Was anyone here who didn’t know that already? Probably,

half out of everyone here came solely to see the rank S
Hunter with their own eyes while the other half, to spectate
on the Gate itself.
“You mean, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”

“Yes, him!”
“Why are you so happy? You personally know him or

something?”
“N-no, not really.”
The newbie quickly shook her hands around and began

writhing her body with a hyped-up expression on her face.
“Actually, it’ll be my first time seeing a rank S Hunter, so…..”
The senior employee formed a disappointed expression,

instead.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is a newbie, and you’re also a noob,

yet how come the two you could be this different??”
“S-senior?!”
“If you still have this much energy left to fool around, then
why don’t you go over that side and lend them some help?”
“But, I came here to take a short break, you know? I’ve been
standing around since the early morning and my legs are
killing me, you know!”
The senior agent tutted unhappily.
Seeing her narrow her eyes angrily like that, she must’ve felt
that he was being unfair to her, but he couldn’t quite trust
what she was trying to sell here.
Still, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand where she was

coming from, either.
“Well, yeah. I’m also a little bit curious, too. Everyone’s been
talking about him lately and all.”
“See? Even you too, senior.”
“I mean, he solo hunted a boss from the rank S Gate, didn’t

he?”
Originally, the true boss monster of the rank S Gate

appearing on Jeju Island was the queen ant. However, many
of those who watched the broadcast thought that the
mutated ant monster was the boss instead, all thanks to the
visceral visual impact that creature had left behind.
Killing the boss-level monster meant that the Gate itself

would close up soon. And that young man was a Hunter who
could close shut a rank S Gate.
It wasn’t for nothing that the noises of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo

being a potential ‘Special Authority-rank’ were gaining
momentum recently. It was only natural that the attention of
the public was focused on him.
“A rank S Hunter, of all people! I wonder, what will be like

seeing one for real?”
The senior employee looked at the sparkling eyes of his

junior and his thoughts became complicated in an instant.
‘This kid, maybe she applied for a job in the Association not
because she likes the work, but because she hankers after
Hunters or something??’
The newbie employee didn’t care how her senior was looking
at her. Her eyes continued to sparkle brightly and her voice
remained all giddy from anticipation.
“Senior, senior!”
“What now?”
“I hear that you can’t even look the really strong Hunters in
their eyes. Right, I hear you once saw a rank S Hunter in the
past? Is that true?”
The senior employee recalled his business trip to Gwang-Ju

last year.
“….Yeah, I have.”
“Wow-!”
Suddenly, the senior employee felt his shoulders

straightening up a bit after seeing his junior display her
admiration like that.
“So? What was it like, senior? Was it really scary?”
“Hey, hey. Don’t even mention it, okay? Last year, I had a
chance to meet Hunter Mah Dong-Wook of the Shining Star
Guild because of the work from the Association, and…..”
“….Excuse me, coming through.”
“Ah, sure.”
The two Association employees quickly stepped aside to

create a path for a young man, and came back together
again. But, then….
“….Uh?”
The senior agent looked behind him at the youth wearing a

hoodie.
“What’s wrong, senior?”
“No, well, I thought that guy kind of looked familiar.”

“Uh? Really? That’s so weird. I was thinking the exact same
thing.”
“Is he also a staff member from the Association?”
“H-mm….”
“Hold on, where was I with my story?”
“That was…. Ah, Hunter Mah Dong-Wook from the Shining

Star!”
“Ahh, right. I had a chance to meet Hunter Mah Dong-Wook

in person, and well, that guy was so huge that his shoulders
were thiiiis wide.”
“Wow-!”
These two senior and junior employees sure got along so

fabulously well, it seemed.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-niiiim!”
Park Jong-Su welcomed Jin-Woo with a tearful voice that

certainly didn’t suit his late-thirties age group. That just
went to show how much was riding on this particular raid.
Jin-Woo quietly confirmed the time even as he was subjected

to Park Jong-Su’s passionate reaction. The numbers as
indicated on the phone’s screen switched from 10:59 to
11:00.
‘Very good.’
Jin-Woo grinned brightly.

In order to avoid raising chaos, he remained in ‘Stealth’ and
got to somewhere a bit away, before walking back here, but
he still managed to make it in time nonetheless.
The raid was yet to start, but he was feeling good about it
already. And when he raised his head to look….
‘….Looking at it for real now, it kinda looks bigger, doesn’t

it?’
He could see the Gate right in front of his eyes that looked
way bigger than the one from the video clips. The amount of
magic energy leaking out of that thing was as serious as
what the Association had told the Knight Order Guild, too.
‘What kind of monsters will I find inside?’
A smile unconsciously bloomed on his lips.
Besides that nonsensically huge Gate, though – everything

else looked the same, more or less. Just like how it’d be with
raids being taken on by other Guilds, there were two groups
of low-ranked Hunters nearby.
‘That’s the retrieval team, and that’s the mining team.’
And the old saying said that you’d see as much as you knew.
He could easily tell apart their roles through the attire and
their equipment. This was indeed all thanks to
‘participating’ in the raids of the Hunters Guild in the past.
‘Annnd, back then or now, the Guild’s officials are running

around and keeping themselves busy, too.’
He felt more relaxed now compared to back then, when he

was still clueless and didn’t know which end was up. Indeed,
experience proved to be the best teacher there was.
“Huh??”
“He really came!”
“It’s Mister Seong Jin-Woo?!”
The elite Hunters began gathering around after hearing Park

Jong-Su’s call sign, and began forming bright expression
after they recognised Jin-Woo.
He shared simple greetings with them and observed each

and everyone present here.
30 high-ranked Hunters had gathered for today’s raid. Like

Park Jong-Su’s confident declaration, the numbers and
quality alone didn’t lose out to the Hunters Guild at all.
‘As expected….’
Should he say, as expected of a Guild representing this part

of the country?
And they were all kitted out in proper metal armours or

special defensive equipment imbued with magical effects,
so they certainly fit the bill of ‘Knight Order’ rather well.
To think, such a Guild would be underestimated solely

because they lacked a rank S Hunter. What a regretful thing
that was.
Jin-Woo could now understand a little bit of the mindset of

Park Jong-Su who asked him out of nowhere if he was
interested in joining the Knight Order.
While he was thinking of this and that, it didn’t take long for
the Hunters to gather all around him.
“Excuse me….”
“Hm.”
They sneaked glances at each other before engaging in a

competition to see who could start talking first.
“Hunter-nim! The Jeju Island raid was really amazing!”
“How do you summon those black soldiers? Wait a sec, are

they even summons?”
“Will you be taking the lead in today’s raid, Mister Seong Jin-
Woo??”
Just as Jin-Woo was feeling progressively lost from the

outpouring of all these questions….
“Argh, stop! Will you just stop?!”
Healer Jeong He-Rim, responsible for coming up with the

idea of bringing Jin-Woo in the first place, pushed aside
other Hunters and stepped up to the front.
“Why are you trying to trouble Seong Hunter-nim to this

degree?? You aren’t some country bumpkins either, so why?”
Her eyes glaring at her wayward colleagues were as sharp as

a pair of blades.
A high-ranked Healer was comparable to one’s own mother

in a way; because, she was responsible for the raid team’s
overall well-being. The team members had to swallow their
dissatisfaction and keep their mouths shut, as if they were
being scolded by their mother.
‘Fut.’
Jeong Ye-Rim formed a grin. She then airily spun around and
extended her hand to Jin-Woo for a handshake.
“I’m the main Healer of the Knight Order’s elite assault
team, Jeong. Ye. Rim. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She formed a soft smile with her eyes and continued on.
“I don’t know about others, but seeing that you’re about to

lead the team, and the fact that I’m the main Healer, we
should be at least on the same page before we start, yes?”
Jin-Woo avoided meeting her ulterior motive-filled eyes and

looked at Park Jong-Su, instead.
“You haven’t explained to them already?”
“Oh, that. Well…..”
Park Jong-Su scratched the back of his head as if he was

embarrassed about something.
“My schedule had been just too tight, you see. I was so busy
with going through all the formalities and summoning these
guys out here that I’ve ended up forgetting about it. Sorry
about that.”
He sheepishly smiled and swept his gaze over the Hunters.
Well, it was certainly nice that he didn’t have to repeat

himself over and over again, what with the members of the
assault team having gathered in one spot already.
“I, Park Jong-Su, will take the lead for today’s raid.”
Team members began murmuring to themselves after Park

Jong-Su declared himself to be the leader of this raid.
“Chairman, it’s you again?”
“But, we have Hunter Seong Jin-Woo here, so why….?”

“Is it okay to even do that?”
Park Jong-Su was a tanker at the very top of the rank A, so it

was definitely not a strange occurrence to have him lead a
team. Excluding those times that he couldn’t participate due
to his condition being less than ideal, the majority of the
raids happened under Park Jong-Su’s leadership.
However, didn’t they have a rank S Hunter among the team

now?
The strongest Hunter present taking up the lead – this was

one of the commonly-accepted rules in raiding a dungeon.
Park Jong-Su quickly offered up an explanation for the sake

of his confused teammates.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim will take up the role of guarding

our rear, and will ensure our safety during the raid itself.”
Watch the assault team from the back and take care of the
safety of the team members – this was Park Jong-Su’s
demand. This was for the safety of the team, of course, but
also for the sake of the Guild’s honour, as well.
It was true that the Hunters with high physical combat

abilities stood in the front of the team. The rear of the
formation would usually be taken up by the Hunters ill-
equipped to deal against ambushes, such as Mage-types,
Healers, or support-types.
Knight Order was finding it hard to recruit new blood to their

roster recently, so the survival of these Hunters was
essential to the fate of the Guild itself. And, by placing
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo there?
The assault team could commit to a speedy raid of the
dungeon without worrying about their rear being attacked.
No, hold on!
If enemies did show up from the rear, now that would be a

cause for celebration, instead.
Just who was this man standing there for them?
It was none other than Seong Jin-Woo, who forcibly broke

through thousands of rank S monsters without so much as
batting an eyelid once. If enemies kept appearing behind
the team all the time, then well, they could even aim to end
this raid early and go home.
That was Park Jong-Su’s first reason.
And, the much-more-important second reason was….
Gulp.
Park Jong-Su looked at the throng of reporters gathered just

beyond the police line and swallowed down his dry saliva
with some effort.
That was proof that a lot of people were interested in this

raid. If he wasn’t careful here, then all those people might
end up thinking that the Knight Order Guild was leeching off
on Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Well… that might be true, but….’
Whatever the case may be, he couldn’t allow others to see

the situation that way. To the Knight Order, the true aim of
this raid was to let the world know that the Guild was still
going strong, that it was still at its peak.
That was why Park Jong-Su desperately pleaded with Jin-
Woo.
And this was the result.
“I’ve already discussed the matter with Seong Hunter-nim

and agreed to do the raid this way, so if you have any
complaints, save it until we finish the raid.”
Park Jong-Su finally got to tell the rest of the team members
the result of the negotiation. However, this happened then.
“Yo, hold up. I really don’t get something here, so I gotta

ask.”
A rank A Hunter suddenly stepped forward. He was a rookie

who hadn’t been working for the Knight Order Guild for long.
“Since when did we become such weak Hunters that we

need protection from someone else?”
That one sentence caused the complexions of the senior

Hunters to go utterly pale.
‘Keok…..!!’
‘N-no, junior, don’t!’
The young Hunter, who looked to be around the same age as

Jin-Woo, formed an expression overflowing with confidence.
“Don’t you agree with me? Hyung-nim? Noo-nim?” (TL: Noo-

nim – a respectful way to call an older female)
Because… this rookie just so happened to receive the

second-most attention from the potential suitors after ‘Kim
Cheol’ in this year’s crop of new Hunters. Indeed, he had a
reason to be confident of himself.
Unfortunately, there was a problem, and that would be the
guy he was talking to.
“Do the elites of our Knight Order look that weak to your
eyes, Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
‘……’
Jin-Woo suppressed the rising fit of laughter to the best of

his abilities and silently stared at this newbie rank A Hunter.
It was the task of other Hunters to feel their blood all dry up,
not him, so it was fine.
‘What the hell, with what idiotic confidence is that kid trying
to….?’
‘No, wait. That punk… I knew that he’s a country bumpkin

from Busan, but could it be that he has never even seen a
rank S in action?’
‘Someone, please stop that guy!’
‘But, you can only stop someone who knows when to spew
nonsense in the right time and at right place….’
Seeing that his seniors were all rendered speechless, and

that Jin-Woo was maintaining his silence, the newbie
Hunter’s confidence swelled up even more.
“Besides that, Chairman, you went too far, you know!”
“What, me?”
‘Why is it me this time?!’
Park Jong-Su dumbfoundedly pointed to himself.

“Even if the name value of a rank S Hunter is high, how can
you agree that easily to the condition of a freelancer taking
away a Guild’s worth of the loot?”
“….”
A migraine had developed in Park Jong-Su’s head by now,

and he sent a quick glance to Jin-Woo.
‘Seong Hunter-nim… I leave our junior in your capable

hands.’
Jin-Woo nodded briefly.
“Whatever the case may be, I simply can’t understand this

nonsensical contra….”
It was then.
Right in front of the rookie making his passionate speech,

Igrit was summoned.
‘Heok!’
The rank A newbie flinched from the massive magical

energy emanating from the black knight and hastily took a
step back. However, he ran into something hard on his back
even before he could take a second step.
Stunned silly now, he quickly turned around only to find

another knight, several heads taller than the one before,
looking down on him. It was Iron, of course.
“Heok!!”
The gasp he tried to hide jumped out of his throat all on its
own.
And then, ‘it’ came from the side.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and the newbie

slowly turned his sweat-soaked face to find a figure draped
in black robes standing there this time.
“U-uwahhk?!”
The newbie lost all of his leg strength from the ominous
magic energy oozing out from Fangs, and plopped down on
to his butt.
‘He looks way too pitiful, so I shouldn’t summon out Beru,

no?’
Jin-Woo flicked his hand once and the three knight-grade

soldiers surrounding the newbie Hunter quickly returned to
their shadow state.
Jin-Woo walked over to the pale-faced newbie and reached

out with his hand.
“You still can’t understand anything yet?”
The rank A newbie took his hand and unsteadily stood back
up, before nodding at the speed of light.
Chapter 140
The handling of trivial matters was now over. Along with the
members of the Knight Order Guild, Jin-Woo moved to the
front of the Gate.
Before they were about to enter, though….
“Please wait.”
Chairman Park Jong-Su and his deputy, Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-

Tae, began going through their equipment as well as the
conditions of the team members for the last time.
Maybe because they were now standing before the entrance,

the noisy atmosphere from before was now long gone,
replaced by weighty silence.
‘……’
He wasn’t sure from when it started, but Jin-Woo began

liking this state of tension just before entering a dungeon. It
felt as if the inside of his head was settling down.
Such a thing would’ve been totally unimaginable back in

the past when he avoided answering phone calls out of the
fear he felt for the Hunter Association’s periodic call-ups.
“Hyung-nim, there are no problems.”
“Very good.”
Park Jong-Su nodded his head and walked over to Jin-Woo,
standing a step away from the rest of the raid team. The
latter shifted his gaze to the leader of this raid.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Yes?”
Jin-Woo uncrossed his arms and stared directly into Park

Jong-Su’s eyes, and the older man lowered his head right
away.
“We’ll be in your care from now on.”
Although short, those words contained many of Park Jong-

Su’s feelings and worries. Jin-Woo used similar words as his
reply.
“I’ll be in your care, as well.”
Park Jong-Su and Jeong Yun-Tae entered the Gate first, and
the rest of the Hunters entered one by one after them. And
after confirming that the Hunters had all gone inside, the
last person still standing outside, Jin-Woo, slowly walked into
the Gate as well.
***
[You have entered a dungeon.]
As usual, the System message no one else could see beside

him welcomed Jin-Woo before anything else could happen.
But then….
‘Mm?’
Jin-Woo tilted his head.

He was greeted by a dungeon with passageways large
enough to accommodate giants passing by.
He hadn’t entered a lot of high-ranked dungeons before, but

he was lucky enough to be inside one this huge. That was
why Jin-Woo wasn’t puzzled by the size of the dungeon. No,
it had to do with this strange feeling he got from the air of
the dungeon itself.
‘What’s this….?’
For some reason, he felt incomparably comfortable inside

here.
He felt ominous sensations being carried in the air of the

dungeons countless times, but this would be his first time
feeling like this.
However…
“It’s the Ogre!”
Somewhat different from Jin-Woo’s own premonition, the

assault team was greeted by huge trouble from the
entrance, instead.
“It’s the Twin-Head Ogre!!”
“Everyone, be careful!!”
A monster that would typically appear as a boss in other

high-ranked dungeons was standing in the entrance, its
bloodshot eyes glaring at the Hunters.
“Grooooaaaar!!!”
A Twin-Head Ogre was about twice the size of a regular Ogre.

But it was difficult to quantify how many times greater the
creature’s powers were.
If it were any other ‘regular’ assault team that had to face off

against a Twin-Head Ogre in a dungeon, they would have
been utterly frightened out of their senses and have tried to
escape right away, but….
“Let’s go!”
….It was a different story with the elites of the Knight Order.
Park Jong-Su the tanker raised his shield up and rushed

towards the Ogre.
Discovering the human approaching it, the monster raised

above its two heads a huge club that looked as if it was
made from a tree yanked straight out of the ground, roots
and all.
SLAM!!
The impact force actually shook the interior of the dungeon!
However, Park Jong-Su activated his skill in time to balloon

up his muscle mass and managed to endure against the
incredible physical strength of the Twin-Head Ogre without
being brought down to his knees.
“Hyung-nim!”
“I’m fine!”
“Then, I’m coming, too!”
The sub-tanker, Jeong Yun-Tae, stood next to Park Jong-Su.
Succeeding in his mission to get the Ogre’s attention locked

firmly onto himself, Park Jong-Su yelled out loudly, veins in
his neck standing up.
“Attack!!”
With that, the counteroffensive of the Knight Order

commenced. Arrows, magic spells, swords, and spears rained
down on the Twin-Head Ogre.
Krrroooaar!!
The Twin-Head Ogre became agitated and began rampaging

around. However, Park Jong-Su didn’t give the monster a
chance to divert its attention elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Jeong Yun-Tae quickly ran over and defended the

others whenever they were targetted by the Ogre.
THUD!!
Just now, Jeong Yun-Tae defended against the Ogre’s kick

and was shoved back greatly as two lines were gouged on
the ground by his feet. Thanks to him, though, other Hunters
suffered almost no damage at all.
“K-krooar, Kheu-uh-uhrk!”
The body of the Ogre was gradually shaved away due to the
combined attacks of the damage dealers. It was a
spectacular teamwork!
From this spectacle alone, Jin-Woo could now understand

why the Knight Order Guild managed to lock down on the
position of Yeong-Nam district’s number one for such a long
time.
“Gheo-uh-uhrk!”
Eventually, the Ogre fell backwards, bubbles foaming in its
mouths.
THUD!
It was the moment when a boss-level monster fell without

injuring a single person. A perfect victory, in other words.
“We did it!”
The leader of the team, Park Jong-Su, tightly clenched both

of his fists.
Was it because they had a guest today? Not just him, but
even the rest of his teammates were much more motivated
than usual.
How would they have looked in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s eyes

just now?
‘I’d be beyond ecstatic if he got moved by our teamwork and

suddenly decides to join our Guild….’
Sneak…
Park Jong-Su sneaked a glance and immediately

encountered Jin-Woo’s gaze.
Feeling as if his inner thoughts had been laid bare, Park

Jong-Su became a bit sheepish and began wondering what
he should do next, before deciding to approach Jin-Woo with
a warm smile.
“We’ll stay here for a bit longer to recheck our equipment

before advancing forward.”
“Ah, okay. Please do.”

While he only needed to drink potions to refill his magic

energy or stamina, other Hunters clearly suffered from a
physical limit to their magical energy reserve or fatigue. It
was a must to take a break, even if it was a short one, after
fighting against a powerful monster like that.
Park Jong-Su was now standing next to Jin-Woo. He stared at

the dead body of the Ogre and spoke with an awkward look
on his face.
“This is going to be big trouble.”
“…?”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Park Jong-Su. The latter

continued on.
“It seems likely that this raid won’t be easy, unfortunately. To

think, we’d end up running into a Twin-Head Ogre right from
the start.”
He rubbed his chin before turning to look at Jin-Woo with a

grin.
“Do you know what the nickname of a Twin-Head Ogre is, by

any chance?”
Jin-Woo shook his head, and the older man replied as if he

expected that answer.
“It’s the ‘grave keeper’.”
Did that nickname come about because it was such a

powerful monster that killed a lot of people? However, Park
Jong-Su’s explanation was far off Jin-Woo’s estimations.
“The thing is….”
The older man cast his gaze deeper into the cavern’s
interior. An ominous aura seemed to be oozing out from the
other side of the cavern still enshrouded in darkness, at
least in his eyes.
“….When you meet one as the boss of a dungeon, it’s fine,

but when you run into one right at the beginning, then well,
you’ll find that this dungeon…”
Park Jong-Su sounded worried as he finished his sentence.
“….This dungeon is full of undead monsters.”
***
An urgent call came through to the Hunter’s Association

emergency hotline. The caller’s voice belonged to a young
teenage girl.
– “Is, is this the Association?!”
The call centre employee heard the scared sobbing coming

from the other side of the line as soon as the call got
connected, and realised something was wrong.
“Yes, it is. Please speak.”
– “This, I’m in, sob, my school, but….. There are, sob, there
are monsters outside.”
“Outside? Where are you making this call from?”
– “I’m hiding, I was with, my f-friend, but my friend, I, sob,

I’m in the bathroom.”
Her sobbing meant that her words were constantly being cut
off and it was hard to carry on a conversation. However, the
call centre employee was experienced enough to piece
together those stuttering words and figured out what this
girl was trying to say.
Immediately, an urgent message was sent to the

Association’s main building.
[Monsters appeared in the local school, one confirmed

victim, the informant in hiding.]
Could it be that a dungeon break occurred inside a school?

The employee shuddered from the horrifying images taking
root in his head and focused all of his being in trying to keep
this female student alive.
“How many monsters are there? Are they any near you right
now?”
– “I don’t know, I really don’t know. Ah, ah! I hear screams.

Sob, sob. I can hear so many screams. I, am I, sob, am I
going to die?”
“Please calm down and listen to my voice.”
This employee knew very well from his extensive experience

about how weak-kneed humans could get when faced with
life-threatening situations. He knew he had to be calm and
collected in such situations while answering the call.
He had to calm the caller down sufficiently enough and

then, had to suggest some kind of a plan for the current
situation. That was his role.
“Right now, Hunters from the Association are headed your

way. These Hunters will not give up on you guys. That is why
you need to stay calm and rational, okay? Can you hear
me?”
– “Really? I-in that case, sob, can I, can I survive?”
The voice coming from the other side of the line was
gradually recovering from the panicked state. That was a
good sign.
The employee thought that he succeeded in calming the

female student down, and then asked the question that
could prove to be most important in saving the girl’s life.
“By any chance, those monsters… do you know what kind of

monsters those are?”
– “Yes, yes. I know. I know. I saw them. On TV.”
“Which monsters are they?”
If the monsters possessed weak senses and chased after

humans using their eyes, then hiding in a bathroom would
work as a suitable solution for the time being. The employee
prayed that such monsters had invaded the school, instead.
– “They… they have human bodies, but, sob, but they have
ugly faces. Ah, and their skin is green.”
‘Can it be?!’
The eyes of the employee grew wider and wider.
“Orcs… are they Orcs?”
– “Yes, I think it was what they were called. Orcs.”
‘N-no, this can’t be!!’

The employee shot up from his seat before he realised it and
cried out.
“You need to run away from there! Hurry! Orcs can…..”
It was then.
Despite the employee’s earnest prayer, he could hear the

sound of the bathroom door being destroyed, followed soon
by a sorrowful scream.
– “Kyyaaaahk!”
***
The Knight Order’s raid was trucking along quite smoothly.
As a matter of fact, things were working out so well that the

Hunters felt the whole thing was strangely too easy.
For instance, there encountered yet another monster, but….
“Kuwaaahk!”
A rotting creature the size of a house tried to escape from

the assault team, only to get ensnared by the restriction
magic spell cast by the Mage-type Hunter, and soon, it too
met with a grisly end.
And when the exact same thing repeated itself over and
over again, the Hunters were getting progressively more
puzzled.
“Isn’t this weird?”
“Why are these monsters running away when they see us?”
“Isn’t it like they were being chased away?”

Powerful undead creatures, such as Vampires, Lichs, Dread
Worms, Red Ghouls, etc., continued to pop up inside this
dungeon.
Undeads were difficult opponents to fight against.
Not only were they difficult to kill, but even after killing
them, Hunters couldn’t let their guards down. Because no
one knew when they would regenerate or get revived to
start attacking again.
However, these creatures couldn’t do much to display their

prowess for some reason, and continued to get powerlessly
massacred at the assault team’s hands.
‘It’s like they are too scared and can’t even think about
resisting us…..’
That was Park Jong-Su’s assessment after observing the

monsters and their strange behaviour. He even thought that
maybe there was no need to bring Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
along when things were this easy.
‘Seriously, man. You really can’t tell what’s going to happen

inside a dungeon.’
Who’d have imagined that they were clearing a highest-

difficult rank A dungeon this painlessly?
‘Even still….’
Being able to end a raid without a single person getting

injured was always a good thing. There might have been an
unnecessary loss of profit here, but result-wise, it sure was a
big relief.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was inwardly feeling quite
disappointed.
‘Here I was, really hyped up because this place was

supposed to be the hardest rank A dungeon there could
be….’
There was still that enormous magic energy leaking out from
the deeper part of the dungeon, but would he even be able
to earn any experience points if things continued on at this
rate?
Because of the spirited attacks by the members of the

Knight Order Guild, he didn’t even have a single chance to
step forward at all.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo inwardly sighed out. But then, he abruptly halted his

steps.
‘Uh?’
When Jin-Woo looked behind him, Healer Jeong Ye-Rim also

came to a stop as well.
“What’s the matter, Seong Hunter-nim? Is something

following us?”
Jin-Woo didn’t answer her. As a matter of fact, his heart was

beating so madly that he didn’t even have any leeway to
answer her questions.
‘Could it be…..?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes, as they stared towards the outside of this

dungeon, began quaking violently. Only then did Jeong Ye-
Rim also realise that something was wrong as well.
“Seong Hunter-nim??”
It was then.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened like stone.
***
“Uwaahhk!”
“Kyaahhk!”
Heartbreaking screams rose up from all corners of the

school.
Less than half of the students managed to escape from the

school alive. As for the rest, either they had all ended up as
corpses, or were busy running around inside the school’s
premise trying to evade the Orcs. Unfortunately, their futile
resistance could only buy them a brief respite.
The hunts of the Orcs that started from the lowest floor
continued on to higher floors and drove all victims caught in
their wake to gruesome deaths.
“Uwaaahk!”
The students who couldn’t run away in time and remained

trapped in their classrooms could only cover their ears as
more screams rose up from the lower floors.
The classrooms for the third year students were located on

the top floor of the school building. Jin-Ah was also among
those 3rd-year students who couldn’t run away in time. The
doorway shoddily blocked up with junk was the only thing
that could defend them against the marauding Orc horde.
“Ah….”
“….F*ck me.”
The male students grabbed onto chairs and mops or

whatever that could serve as weapons with their trembling
hands. But, none of them helped to instil a sense of
confidence in the scared students.
No, all they could do was to wait and pray fervently for the
Hunters to show up before those Orcs stepped foot inside
their classroom.
KWANG!
The bent classroom door was flung away.
“Uwaaahk!”
“Kyaaahk!”
As the screams of the frightened students resounded out,

two Orcs covered in the blood of the countless number of
people they had murdered stepped into the classroom.
“U-uwaaahk!”
A male student holding a mop near the door threw away his
make-shift weapon and ran to the back entrance, before
yanking it open.
However, another Orc was lying in wait there, and it

slammed an axe down on the forehead of this fleeing male
student.
Kwajeeck!
The male student fell powerlessly, the light of life leaving his
eyes.
“Kyaaaahk!”
“Uwak!”
Both entrances of the classroom were now blocked off by the

Orcs.
The remaining students screamed out loudly and crowded

against the windows, but they all knew that the results
would largely end up the same regardless of whether they
chose to jump out from a sixth-story window or get caught
by the Orcs.
‘Oppa, oppa!!’
Finding herself stuck in the middle of the students fleeing

towards the corners of the classroom as they tried to get
away from the Orcs, Jin-Ah squeezed her eyes shut and
called out to Jin-Woo.
Her oppa, the rank S Hunter. If she called out to him, it felt
as if he’d show up here right away. That was her only hope.
“Kurururuk.”
“Ku-euk?”
The Orcs stopped advancing after they surrounded the

students from all corners. They began conversing to each
other in their native tongue.
“Boss. There is a human with magic energy coming off.”
“Kill that one first.”

Unlike regular humans, those that knew how to wield magic
energy were dangerous opponents. Therefore, these Orcs
had to deal with a threat like that first.
The Orc, having received the boss’s order, began scanning

the students before eventually locking onto Jin-Ah’s location.
“Ah!”
The Orc grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the
middle of the classroom.
“Is this female the one?”
“It is, boss.”
The underling was right. Although faint, they could sense

magic energy coming from somewhere on this girl. Whether
that came from this female’s abilities or some sort of a
weapon she possessed, it didn’t change the fact that she
had to be eliminated first before everyone else.
The boss raised its axe up.
“Ah, ah….!”
Jin-Ah saw the axe rising up high above her head, and
eventually squeezed her eyes shut.
“Kuruk.”
The boss twitched its nose and swung the axe down with a
disinterested face.
Swiiiish-!
‘Oppa!’
But then, this happened.
Rumble-!
A veil of black smoke suddenly exploded out from Jin-Ah’s

shadow and took on a solid shape.
Grab.
The brows of the advanced scout’s boss shot up high in

surprise.
Because, it just realised that a High Orc wearing black

armour suddenly appeared out of nowhere to grab onto its
wrist, that was why.
“Kuruk?”
Before the puzzled Orc could say something….
The High Orc threw a simple punch and shattered the head
of the monster like an exploding watermelon.
Kwajeeck!!
Chapter 141
How should one go about deciphering this situation?
The jaws of the students watching this sight fell to the floor.
They were about to avert their gazes before the scene of

their classmate getting murdered played out, yet these
‘soldiers’ decked out in black armour suddenly appeared
without a single warning.
Soldiers?
No, hold on – was it even okay to call those things ‘soldiers’?
But, these monsters looked more Orc-ish than Orcs

themselves, and were at least double the size of an Orc and
featured red skin? Really?
When standing before the black-armoured Orc, that scary-

looking Orc now resembled a boy about to enter his teenage
years, instead. But, that was to be expected.
The Shadow Soldiers Jin-Woo had left behind in Jin-Ah’s

shadow were the High Orcs serving as the guards of the boss
monster ‘Fangs’ from the high-ranking dungeon. Not only
that, these guys were the cream of the warrior crop found
there.
Regular Orcs dared to have a go against High Orc warriors?

What a funny notion that was.
As if to demonstrate that clear gap in power, the High Orc
threw a powerful punch.
Kwajeeck!!
An Orc’s head shattered from the impact and the dead

monster crashed down to the classroom’s floor. Meanwhile,
the students were freaking out properly now.
‘Heok!!’
The terrifying monsters threatening their lives up until only

a few seconds ago were getting massacred by even more
monsterish monsters now.
Their current level of shock and fear had gone far past what
they could tolerate, and caused the inside of these students’
heads to completely blank out. Except for one person, that
was.
Only Jin-Ah knew the significance of those black armours

and began crying softly.
‘Oppa? Did oppa….?’
Jin-Ah could sense her oppa’s trace from these three High
Orcs surrounding her like a trio of bodyguards.
“Gururu….”
The two High Orcs standing behind her didn’t even need to
step forward. The High Orc in front, having destroyed the
head of the scout leader Orc, reached out to grasp the
scruffs of the two remaining Orcs trying to flee.
“Kururuk!!”
“Kheuwahahahk!”
Now raised up high in the air, two monsters kicked and
struggled desperately. But their struggles were ultimately in
vain as their heads were violently slammed into one another.
KWAHNG!
The dead monsters and their shattered foreheads fell in a

pair of heaps on the floor.
Plop.
Plop….
In the blink of an eye, the three Orcs invading the classroom

were taken care of. That was the end.
The High Orcs stopped moving again from their spots and
quietly guarded Jin-Ah’s sides.
Just how many seconds ticked by like this?
The students had regained some semblance of calmness by

then; while trying their best to suppress their still-pounding
hearts, they silently exchanged glances with one another.
‘W-what’s going on here?’
‘Did those monsters save us?’
‘Are we being protected?’
At the bare minimum, they felt sure of these black-armoured

Orcs weren’t going to harm them.
“W-where is oppa? Is he here?”
Jin-Ah tearfully asked for Jin-Woo, but the High Orc soldiers
didn’t reply back to her.
“Oppa?”
Instead, they lightly stopped her when she tried to go

somewhere else.
“…..?”
When Jin-Ah cautiously looked up at the High Orc, the

creature silently shook its head. The top priority for these
High Orcs was to secure Jin-Ah’s safety. They couldn’t let her
roam around the building when it was packed full of enemies
right now.
And, sure enough, footsteps climbing up the stairs could be

heard coming from outside the classroom.
Step, step, step!
Step, step, step.
High Orc soldiers began pulling out their weapons housed

on their backs and waists.
The students got tenser and tenser as those footsteps

approached closer, but at the same time, hope wormed its
way into their hearts as they watched these High Orcs
calmly get ready for battle.
The hope that they could get out of here alive, and the
sense of relief that there were powerful allies protecting
them.
Among them, though, there were still a few who cried from
the jumbled mixture of emotions – from fear, worry, anxiety,
sorrow, etc.
“Sob…. Hic….”
Students hugged tightly their sobbing friends and held their
breaths.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer.
Step, step, step.
And so – the Orcs spread around the school building all

heard the death throes of their brethren and began
gathering near the classroom of the third year seniors.
***
The signal was coming through loud and clear.
The High Orcs tasked with protecting his sister were sending
out powerful signals.
‘Did something happen near Jin-Ah’s vicinity?’
“Seong Hunter-nim?”
Jeong Ye-Rim called out to him again, still sounding anxious.
“…”
With his lips firmly shut, Jin-Woo walked past her.
She tilted her head in utter confusion.
‘What’s gotten into him?’
The attitude of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who was practically a

paragon of relaxation up until a few seconds ago, suddenly
did a complete 180. She could even say that he had to be
someone else just from looking at the expression on his face
now.
‘Hold on….’
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a rank S. Such a man was now

looking behind him with a grave expression etched on his
face. Could that mean he had discovered something on the
path they walked past earlier, something they all failed to
notice back then?
She suddenly felt her anxiety spiking up.
‘Ng?’
Jeong Yun-Tae looked behind after sensing the approach of a

person.
“Hyung-nim? Seong Hunter-nim is walking over here.”
“What?”
Park Jong-Su stopped his advancement, which meant that

the assault team’s advance also naturally came to a halt, as
well.
‘Why would Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….?’
He turned around to look, only to gasp out inadvertently

after locking gazes with the approaching Jin-Woo and his
eyes.
‘Heok!’
Jin-Woo’s atmosphere was completely different from only a

few moments ago.
In that brief moment, Park Jong-Su quickly combed through

his memories to see if he had done anything stupid to get on
Jin-Woo’s nerves. But, regardless of how hard he wracked his
brain, he couldn’t come up with an answer.
‘If that’s the case….’
If that was the case, then how was he to interpret that young
man’s hardened expression and that murderous glare?
Park Jong-Su nervously swallowed his saliva after finally

realising what it felt like to deal with a stronger being who
was clearly not having a good time at the moment.
This here was inside of a dungeon. Anything could happen

in here and that wouldn’t be seen as strange at all.
Park Jong-Su’s attitude became a level more cautious.
“Hunter-nim, is there something troubling you?”
Jin-Woo was feeling really pressed at the moment, so he

didn’t bother to beat around the bush.
“Something urgent came up and I must leave now.”
‘Heok!’
Park Jong-Su freaked out. This was a far worse situation than
his expectations.
The raid had been a relatively easy one so far. Indeed, it was
chugging along so painlessly that he even wondered if it
was a necessity to ask Jin-Woo to accompany them in the
first place.
However, Park Jong-Su was one of the very first Hunters to

appear when this whole started all those years ago.
Meaning, he wasn’t some naive rookie who might forget that
accidents always happened when one was being too
careless.
‘Nothing happened until now, so we need to be even more

cautious from here onwards.’
In a situation where no one could tell what kind of dangers

were hiding up ahead, losing the most powerful combat
potential would prove to be a big, painful blow.
Park Jong-Su’s complexion darkened.
“Without your presence, Seong Hunter-nim, we could find

ourselves in great danger. You know this too, don’t you?”
Park Jong-Su did his best to dissuade Jin-Woo in the most

roundabout way he could think of. He was acutely aware
that agitating Jin-Woo was far more dangerous than
attempting to clear this dungeon without the young rank S
Hunter’s help.
That was how badly contorted Jin-Woo’s current expression

was.
‘……..’
Park Jong-Su felt as if he was walking on a tightrope

suspended at a dizzying height, as he cautiously observed
Jin-Woo’s reaction.
As his lips dried up from the nervousness….
Jin-Woo finally raised his voice.
“Then, let me do this.”
“Ah, yes.”
Park Jong-Su ended up nodding his head even before
hearing what Jin-Woo had to say.
“Right now, let me call on a friend that you can place your
trust in, as much as you’d trust me. From here on, that friend
will take care of everything.”
Park Jong-Su’s ears perked up. Not just anyone, but another
Hunter whose ability was guaranteed by none other than
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo himself?
‘Who could it be? Choi Jong-In? Or is it Cha Hae-In?’
Now that Park Jong-Su thought about it, didn’t he see a

document containing Hunter Cha Hae-In’s profile in Jin-
Woo’s office yesterday?
‘If its Cha Hunter-nim, then yeah, she’ll be more than

enough.’
Although it was regretful that he couldn’t stop Jin-Woo from

leaving, but still, Park Jong-Su’s expression got brighter at
the prospect of the potential replacement. As long as it
wasn’t Mah Dong-Wook from the Shining Star, then he’d
welcome anyone.
“If you do that, then we will…..”
Park Jong-Su’s eyes sparkled brightly now. How powerful

would this Hunter be, that he was capable of subbing for
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?
Anticipation began filling up the void left behind when

anxiety receded in his mind. The rest of the team members
also eavesdropped on the conversation and began looking
at Jin-Woo with eyes half mixed with anticipation and
misgivings.
Jin-Woo didn’t waste time hesitating and summoned forth
the most powerful soldier in his shadow army.
‘Beru.’
The king of ants, its body shrouded in black mist, answered

its master’s call.
‘Oh, my king….’
Beru emerged from the shadow and politely knelt before Jin-
Woo, its head respectfully lowered.
“Uh?! Uh-uh!!”
“Uh?!”
Beru didn’t bother to mask its overwhelmingly evil magic

energy and that freaked the Hunters out so much that they
had to retreat far away immediately.
That absolutely horrendous amount of magic energy, and

the exact same outer appearance as ‘that’ thing.
“C-could that be….??”
“N-no, but how come?!”
These Hunters immediately recognised the identity of Beru.
Without a doubt, this was the very same mutated ant

monster that toyed around with the Korean rank S Hunters
back inside Jeju Island’s ant tunnel. Park Jong-Su quickly
asked, unable to hide his shock in his voice.
“H-Hunter-nim, isn’t that the mutated ant monster from

Jeju?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head. With these high-ranked Hunters
recognising Beru, it became more convenient for him now
since he didn’t need to explain himself any further.
The whole of the country witnessed Beru’s power, after all.
“From here onwards, this guy will sub for me.”
“EH??”
Park Jong-Su’s eyes grew extra wide. Jin-Woo knew what he

was about to say. But he simply didn’t have enough time to
answer all of their questions. He ignored the panicking Park
Jung-Su and gave a new order to Beru.
‘Protect these humans.’
‘I shall follow.’
Beru made a short reply and raised its head.
‘In that case, oh my king. What should I do about the

existences besides these humans…?’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the deepest part of the

dungeon for a second or two, before issuing one more order
to Beru.
‘Do whatever you wish.’
It was right then. Beru’s repressed desire to kill morphed

into an unbridled joy and spread all over its body.
Kiiiiieeeehk-!!
Beru stood back up and screeched out loudly, the entire

cavern reverberating from that horrifying sound.
Shiver.
Hunters began trembling from that screech, even though it

wasn’t even directed at them.
‘W-wait… we, we need to finish the raid with that, that

thing?!’
Cold perspiration trickled down Park Jong-Su’s back.
Jin-Woo didn’t even pay any mind to the reactions of the

Hunters and simply summoned twenty more ‘ant’ Shadow
Beast Soldiers to aid Beru’s cause.
Kiiiehhk-!
Kiiieehk!
Having breathed in the ‘fresh’ outside air for the first time in
a long while, the Beast Soldiers began screeching out loudly
as well. And quite obviously, every Hunter bearing witness
to this spectacle froze up where they stood.
“H-hold on!!”
Jeong Ye-Rim quickly turned around and called out to Jin-

Woo.
“A-are you going to leave just like that? After letting loose
this monsters here??”
“If you want, I’ll simply undo the summoning. But, when that
happens….”
Jeong Ye-Rim flinched when Jin-Woo’s cold glare landed on

her.
“….I’ll no longer care about what happens to the Knight
Order Guild.”
Jin-Woo made a promise. And that was, he’d protect the

members of the Knight Order Guild and ensure that they
wouldn’t get harmed.
However, if the other side declined his act of goodwill first,

then he didn’t see the need to stay responsible for these
people, either.
“….”
Jin-Woo’s unyielding declaration shut up the mouths of not

just Jeong Ye-Rim, but the rest of the Knight Order’s Hunters,
as well.
Jin-Woo spun around. And almost instantly, he could no

longer be seen by the Knight Order’s raid team members.
‘How long do I have left until the cooldown time ends?’
As his distance from the raid team grew, Jin-Woo summoned

up his Skills window to confirm.
Class specific…
…..[01:02:16] remaining before the skill can be used again.
‘D*mn it…..’
Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.
He needed to wait over an hour if he were to use the Shadow

Exchange skill. The signals from his soldiers were still
coming in, even right now.
He was getting a really bad premonition here.
‘I can’t wait for another hour.’
He needed to exit from this dungeon first. Making up his

mind thus, Jin-Woo took another step, but then….
Undead monsters that were supposed to be finished off after

the assault team went past here began raising their bodies
up again.
‘……’
Jin-Woo’s eyes burned brilliantly from rage. He was enraged

by these worthless monsters trying to block his path.
When that happened,
‘……..??’
Like a lie, the undead monsters all knelt down towards Jin-
Woo.
Plop.
Plop.
There was not one exception here. Every single revived

undead monster was prostrating before Jin-Woo now.
‘But, why?’
Jin-Woo tilted his head. Could the reason for every monster
encountered by the assault team being so terrified be all
because of him?
‘Is it because I possess a higher ranked Class than a

Necromancer capable of controlling the undead?’
The current situation was puzzling, but he didn’t have
enough time to think about this too deeply. He stored the
shortsword back in his Inventory and ran with all his might
to exit from the Gate.
The attention of the people waiting outside the Gate focused

on him in an instant.
Why did only Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get out of the Gate?
They sent their curiosity-filled gazes in his direction, but Jin-

Woo ignored them all.
‘Kaisel!’
Suddenly, a Sky Dragon covered in black mist revealed

itself.
Kiiiaaahhk-!!
The spectators immediately recognised the Sky Dragon,

which had appeared in the news a couple of times before,
and they began crying out while pointing to Jin-Woo.
“Waaaahh-!!”
“Look! That!!”
“That’s Seong Jin-Woo!!”
Jin-Woo quickly climbed above Kaisel’s back as the people

cheered on, and he issued a command to his mount.
‘To where my little sister is! At your fastest speed!’
If something tried to block his way, he’d smash past them

regardless of what they were.
Kaisel roared out in happiness, knowing that now it could
flap its wings without any restrictions whatsoever.
Kiiiaahk!
Right away, Kaisel unfurled its massive wings and took to

the sky.
Chapter 142
The last restriction was finally undone.
Finally gaining the freedom of movement, the ‘owner of the

dungeon’ left the boss chamber and strode outside the Gate.
It was the Chieftain of the Orcs, ‘Guroktaru’.
Its entire body was covered in black tattoos, seemingly not

leaving behind even a single patch of empty skin.
Tattoos signified victory to Orcs. These were proof of how

many battles this creature fought and how many enemies it
had slain so far.
“Guroktaru!”
“Guroktaru!!”
The Orcs waiting for the Chieftain in front of the Gate

chanted out its name and lowered their heads.
On the other hand, Guroktaru raised its head towards the

ceiling without saying anything.
‘……’
Because, it was getting rather noisy up there.
It had been some time since the advanced scouts took away
a few of the warriors while declaring that they would
conquer this castle of humans.
However, they still hadn’t ended their battle yet?
A sweating Orc received the furious glare of its Chieftain and

hurriedly explained the situation.
“High Orc warriors are aiding humans.”
“High Orcs?”
Indeed, High Orc warriors were strong. Regular Orc warriors

wouldn’t be able to fight against them. Meaning, it was now
time for the Chieftain to step up.
“How many?”
“Three.”
Even if their opponents were strong, what a shameful notion

it was for dozens of great Orc warriors to fail at subduing
only three High Orcs.
“Pathetic….”
Guroktaru’s expression crumpled.
The Orcs were scared stiff from the Chieftain’s anger and
began trembling like leaves. It was then, the Orc great
warriors that had been left behind by Guroktaru’s speed,
finally emerged out of the Gate one by one.
There were a total of five out-of-breath Orc great warriors.
Confirming that all of its guards had escaped from the Gate
now, Guroktaru gestured at the Orc making that report with
its chin.
“Lead the way.”

The Orc lowered its head and stood at the front. The
Chieftain and its guards strode right behind. Meanwhile,
lights of madness were burning furiously within Guroktaru’s
eyes.
‘Insolent b*stards….’
It was now time to demand appropriate compensation from

the High Orcs, who dare to interrupt the hunting of the Orc
warriors.
***
Suddenly finding himself left behind along with ant

monsters, Park Jong-Su was feeling rather dumbstruck at the
moment.
“Hyung-nim…..”
“Leave me for a bit, okay? I need time to think.”
Kiiieeehhk-
Keeck, keeck…
Ka-ahahak!
Being surrounded by over twenty of these monsters, no,

‘summons’, Park Jong-Su was getting this close to
abandoning this raid altogether.
Not only that….
Well, this guy over there. This one guy, with a far bigger
physique and with wings on its back. Wasn’t that guy the
same mutated ant monster that made an utter mockery out
of the rank S Hunters?
This guy’s horrifying level of magic energy was making Park
Jong-Su’s skin crawl just by being near the dang thing.
‘If I think about a creature like this turning on us…..’
He suddenly thought that the rank S Hunters willing to fight

against this thing were a rather amazing bunch of folks,
instead. And, at the same time…
‘Hold on a sec….’
…And, at the same time, a certain suspicion bloomed in his

head.
Just what was the identity of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo

controlling this mutated ant monster as his summoned
creature?
‘Didn’t Hunter Seong Jin-Woo solo this guy, too?’
When his thoughts reached that point, his heart began

pounding even harder.
‘No, wait. I’ve gotten sidetracked.’
Park Jong-Su shook his head to throw away all the

distracting thoughts.
Indeed, he needed to think about whether to continue on

with this raid along with these monsters or not, instead of
wasting time on nonsense like how strong Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo was or what his true identity could be.
‘Okay, so… let’s say that we give up on this raid.’
If so, then how should he explain the result of this raid to the
reporters waiting outside?
Could he say, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had to suddenly leave
the assault team and therefore they couldn’t afford to
advance forward anymore?
Or, they had to give up on the raid because they got too
scared of the new ‘friends’ Hunter Seong Jin-Woo summoned
here for them?
‘What kind of an embarrassment would that be…..?’
Didn’t matter which excuse was used, it’d become a source

of ridicule for them, probably for forever.
Park Jong-Su clenched his teeth.
‘Fine. We go forward.’
Did it really matter if they were scared of these summons? At

the end of the day, weren’t they Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s
slaves?
When Park Jong-Su thought about this, his mind calmed

down just a tad.
‘I mean, seriously. These guys are Seong Hunter-nim’s

summoned creatures, so they won’t do anything weird to us,
right?’
Park Jong-Su’s confidence filled eyes shifted over to Beru,

and the latter approached the Hunter after sensing his gaze.
‘Heok….’
The confidence of a few seconds ago evaporated real fast,

and Park Jong-Su could barely squeeze out a trembling
voice.
“L-let’s get going.”

Rather naturally, he began speaking in a super-polite tone.
However, Beru showed no reaction even after hearing Park
Jong-Su’s voice. No, ‘it’ just stood there and simply stared
back.
Wondering if his manner of speech was still not good

enough for this creature’s whims, Park Jong-Su became even
more polite in his tone.
“Should…. Should we get going now?”
Even then, Beru showed no sign of budging from the spot.
Park Jong-Su’s consciousness was gradually getting fainter

as he had to stare longer and longer into the powerful glare
of the creature in front of him.
It was then, Jeong Yun-Tae approached him from behind.
“Hyung-nim, will we be continuing with this raid alongside

these guys?”
Park Jong-Su was already feeling jittery, so when his deputy

began pressing him, he ended up blurting out in anger.
“Just keep quiet, will ya?!”
The words, ‘Or, why dontcha become the leader of this

assault team and tell these things we’re going to give up’,
almost jumped out of his throat but somehow, he managed
to swallow them all back down.
Park Jong-Su glared daggers at the poor Jeong Yun-Tae for a

bit before shifting his attention back to Beru.
Gulp.
His dry saliva went down the throat all by itself. Park Jong-Su
desperately wanted this awkwardness to go away as soon as
possible.
But, then suddenly a thought popped up in his head.
‘Could it be that this guy can’t understand what I’m saying

here and that’s why it’s not moving?’
When Park Jong-Su’s thoughts reached this point, he forced

his facial muscle to contort into an ungainly smile. And then,
he pointed towards the interior of the dungeon.
“In front. Forward.”
In that moment.
Pii-shook!
The mutated ant monster disappeared instantly, along with

the sound of a bullet leaving the silenced gun.
‘….Uh?’
Where did it go?
Even before Park Jong-Su could scan his vicinity with

puzzled eyes, Beru returned to his original position.
Taht.
Beru then pushed forward something held in his hand

towards Park Jong-Su’s face.
‘W-what the heck?’
When the flustered Hunter took a closer look, he realised

that the mystery object was actually the head of a monster.
Not only that, it was the helmet of one of the most powerful
undead monsters, Death Knight, with a rotting head still
trapped inside. It dangled oh-so innocuously in the hand of
the mutated ant monster.
“U-uwaaaahk?!”
Park Jong-Su freaked out and plopped down his butt, real
hard.
The other members of the assault team also were jolted into
stunned silence and hurriedly gathered around Park Jong-Su.
Beru disinterestedly scanned the Hunters now grouped

together in one spot, then tossed the Death Knight’s head
away somewhere. He loudly screeched out to the rest of the
ant monsters.
“Kiiiieeehk!!”
With that, the ant army began to march forward in perfect

order.
‘……’
Beru looked down at Park Jong-Su still on the ground for a

little while, before he slowly turned around and followed
after the marching ants. The Hunters hurriedly checked out
Park Jong-Su’s current condition.
“Hyung-nim!!”
“Chairman, are you alright?!”
“Are you okay?”
Park Jong-Su replied to them with a stupefied face.

“Uh, uh. I’m okay.”
His body was fine. But, for some reason, his heart ached,
instead. It felt as if he got ridiculed by a summoned
creature.
‘There’s no way that’s true, surely not….’
Indeed, a summoned creature couldn’t have possessed such

a level of intelligence. Whatever the case may be, though –
he couldn’t give up on this raid now that he even got
humiliated somewhat like this.
Park Jong-Su dusted off his butt and got back up.
“Let’s go, as well.”
The expressions of the Hunters stiffened up.
“Eh?”
“You want to follow after those things?”
“How can we go on a raid with monsters? I won’t do it.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Park Jong-Su spat out a groan as if he was feeling annoyed

now.
Was there a need for him to waste his breath convincing

these folks with words here? He quickly searched for the
head of the Death Knight discarded by the mutated ant
monster and picked it up.
“Heok!”
“H-hey, isn’t that the head of a Death Knight?”

“A Death Knight, you say??”
The experienced Hunters among the group recognised the

helmet of the Death Knight and gasped out in pure shock.
Park Jong-Su calmly explained it to them.
“You are all aware of how much Magic Crystals coming out of
high-ranked monsters sell for, yes?”
Gulp.
Hunters swallowed their greedy salivas.
“All we have to do is to follow them and simply pick those

Crystals up.”
The expressions of the Hunters, filled with dissatisfaction up

until a second ago, gradually brightened up. That was an
expected and perhaps, inevitable reaction in this situation.
Park Jong-Su used a question to end his speech.
“So, anyone still unwilling to continue?”
Hunters moved in an even more orderly fashion than the ant

army. Those who had already advanced far forward looked
back and called out to Park Jong-Su.
“Chairman? What are you doing at the far back?”
“Please hurry up! We might leave you behind, you know?”
“Hyung-nim, how long are you planning to stay there?”
Park Jong-Su bitterly smacked his lips.
“Well, I’ll be… these people. Seriously.”

And so, the momentarily-halted raid of the Knight Order
Guild recommenced from this point onwards.
***
Jin-Woo directed his gaze below him.
People, roads, cars, buildings, rivers, trees, mountains,

mountains, and even more mountains – the scenery kept
changing every time he blinked over and over again.
‘So fast.’
Kaisel’s unrestricted speed had reached a truly gobsmacking

level.
If he was a simple, regular powerless person and not a

highest-ranked Hunter out there, then he wouldn’t have
been able to withstand the air pressure his body was being
subjected to right now.
Even then….
Despite this amazing turn of speed….
Jin-Woo was getting more and more anxious.
The signals from his soldiers were still getting to him, but
they were gradually getting weaker.
Not only that…
‘Status window.’
[MP: 8,619/8,770]
From a short while ago, his MP began declining as well. That

definitely was not a good sign. Because it could only mean
that the High Orc Shadow Soldiers were repeatedly being
destroyed only to get revived again.
‘An enemy on the level of destroying my Shadow Soldiers

are aiming for Jin-Ah.’
Grit.
Even if not a single strand of his little sister’s hair was

harmed, he swore to never let this enemy get out of there
alive. Murderous rage filled up in Jin-Woo’s eyes.
‘Faster. Faster!’
Kyaaahhh-!
Kaisel heard Jin-Woo’s order and screeched out again, before

increasing its speed even further.
***
The High Orc warriors were indeed strong. Unfortunately,

they were still no match for the Orc Chieftain, Guroktaru.
The Orc’s leader left behind its guards in the corridor and
stepped forward to fight all by itself. And then, while easily
evading the attacks of the High Orcs, pulled out a scimitar
sheathed on its back.
“Is this all you have?!”
The interior of the classroom was filled with the corpses of

the Orcs. Even at a casual count, there were 50 of them
here.
Over 50 of its underlings were done in by these three High
Orcs.
“Make me enjoy this more, warriors of the High Orc race!”
The Chieftain’s rage was transferred directly into merciless

swings of its curved blade.
Guroktaru’s scimitar drew elaborate arcs in the air and

began shaving away the High Orcs, their armours and all.
“Ahh!!”
“Kyaaahk!”
The screams didn’t come from the High Orcs, naturally, but
from the mouths of the humans hiding behind them.
Guroktaru’s forehead creased up in displeasure.
‘Annoyingly noisy.’
After taking care of these High Orcs, those bugs would be

next.
Guroktaru sliced off an arm of a High Orc and chopped it up

in fine pieces until it got eventually bored of doing that, and
spun on its heels to cut off the opponent’s neck clean off.
Slice!
When that happened, other Orcs who had retreated outside

the classroom because of the High Orcs all began raising
loud cheers.
“Guroktaru!”
“Guroktaru-!!”
It was then, Guroktaru’s brows quivered.
The headless High Orc morphed to black smoke before

reverting back to how it was originally, right in front of its
eyes.
‘Is this shamanism?’
Even after the Orc Chieftain cut and sliced its enemies
several more times, the story remained the same.
“Kuwahk!”
Guroktaru eventually became really frustrated and roared

out. It had sliced and hacked these High Orcs numerous
times to death, yet they all reverted back to their original
shapes again and again.
‘It won’t be hard killing them hundreds, thousands times.’
However, there would be no end in sight if that happened.
Even right now, that d*mn voice in its head was repeatedly
ordering Guroktaru to kill humans. As a matter of fact, the
Orc was beginning to suffer from a migraine as the voice
continuously rang inside its head.
But that didn’t mean it could ignore these High Orcs and try
to kill the humans, either.
‘….Time to finish this.’
Guroktaru rolled its brain into gear.
If these High Orcs were creations from some kind of sorcery,

then without a doubt, there must be a shaman controlling
them somewhere. Guroktaru had fought against many
different kinds of sorcery in the past battles, and therefore, it
subsequently knew how to end this dirty trick once and for
all, as well.
‘That female!’
That human female, standing far behind these High Orcs

and holding her breath! Although faint, she was somehow
connected to these High Orcs.
Guroktaru’s eyes gleamed dangerously.
‘So, is it you?’
The monster’s target for its murderous rage was redirected

to her. The moment Jin-Ah met Guroktaru’s gaze, her entire
body shuddered uncontrollably.
That human female definitely knew something – Guroktaru

decided as so, and pointed at Jin-Ah while glancing behind
itself.
“Kill that human female!”
Even before its words were finished, the guards observing

the fight from the back rushed forward to carry out
Guroktaru’s order.
Then, the High Orcs ignored Guroktaru in front of them to

desperately block against the advancing guards.
‘I thought as much.’
Indeed, the Orc Chieftain’s guess was correct.
By seizing the opening created from the High Orcs being

held up, Guroktaru stood before Jin-Ah.
“So, it was you.”

The Orc used the hand not holding the scimitar and grabbed
Jin-Ah’s neck, before lifting her up.
“Ah….”
The female, with her airways squeezed tight, couldn’t even

scream properly. This caused Guroktaru to tilt its head.
It was such a weak, slender neck that it’d get broken just
from the monster squeezing a little harder than usual. But,
how could such a weak human manage to complete a high-
class sorcery that changed warriors into immortals?
There was a simple way to find out.
‘Kill her and I’ll see.’
And, just as Guroktaru began squeezing the female’s neck

to snap it in half….
Kiiiaaahhk-!
From afar, the cry of a Sky Dragon resounded out.

Chapter 143
Right away, Guroktaru felt every hair on its body stand up.
‘What is this?’
As time slowed down from the extreme tension it felt, the

Orc Chieftain’s instincts of a warrior, trained to their very
limit, sent out countless warning bells. It said that a truly
‘terrifying’ being was headed this way.
Badump!!
The sound of the Orc’s heartbeat rang around painfully in its

eardrums, like a series of thunderclaps.
If it didn’t get out of here right now, it’d be killed.
The sharp instincts of a warrior, honed like a fine blade,

would sometimes display powers close to that of the gift of
foresight. Just like right now!
‘…….!!’
Guroktaru quickly discarded the human female and with the

movements akin to a wild animal, fled to the door of the
classroom.
BOOM!!
A mighty, ear-splitting explosion occurred next, the shards

of glass flying out like shrapnel. Meanwhile, Orcs manning
the doorways began hastily retreating away after the back of
their Chieftain suddenly appeared in front of their eyes.
‘……’
Guroktaru wordlessly glared forward, its breathing now

becoming extremely cautious.
It was picking up on an unusual and eerie vibe. It could see

a human male it hadn’t seen before standing on the spot
where the human female was just now.
Guroktaru shifted its gaze ever so slightly to the side.
Its opposite corner was where the windows were. Nothing

remained of the entirety of that wall as if it had been struck
by a powerful siege weapon.
‘Did the human enter by breaking through the windows?’
Even with its excellent dynamic visual acuity, the Orc

Chieftain still failed to follow that man’s movements.
‘…….’
Guroktaru could only swallow its saliva at the sudden

entrance of a powerful opponent. A strand of cold sweat
trickled down its temple.
Kiiiaaahhk-!!
Guroktaru’s head snapped upwards after it heard that

screech.
Past the ceiling, beyond the roof – yet another powerful

enemy was circling around above the Orc’s head like a hawk
waiting for prey to emerge.
‘This might become a difficult fight.’
Guroktaru’s eyes were now dyed in the colour of

nervousness, something that didn’t exist only a few
moments ago.
The new enemy completely ignored the presence of the Orc

Chieftain and its underlings, and simply proceeded to
confirm the human female’s condition.
Guroktaru spoke to its enemy.
“I am Guroktaru, from the proud tribe of Red Blade!”
That was the warrior’s introduction only granted to an

opponent capable of reaping away the Orc’s life. Having
completed its introduction, Guroktaru asked the human
male.
“And who are you?”
Jin-Woo raised his head and quietly spoke.
“Shut your mouth and quietly wait for your turn over there.”
A human just used the language of the Orcs?
The Orc’s surprise lasted only for a moment.
Perhaps it was because of the power carried in that man’s

voice, none of the Orcs, which included Guroktaru itself,
could even dare to budge an inch from the spot.
***
“Cough, cough.”
Jin-Woo gently patted Jin-Ah’s back as she continued to
cough and wheeze while he carefully checked to see if she
had sustained any injuries. Thankfully, he couldn’t see any.
….With the sole exception of the handprint clearly visible on

her neck, that was. Jin-Woo asked, his expression hard and
unforgiving.
“Oppa!!”
Jin-Ah finally stopped coughing and jumped into his

embrace, tears streaming from her eyes.
Jin-Woo gently stroked her hair as if he was soothing a

scared child.
‘…Oppa?’
‘Jin-Ah’s Oppa… that means….?’
‘Ah!’
The students finally realised who the man in front of their

eyes was. He was Seong Jin-Woo, a Hunter ranked S!
‘We’re saved!!’
The students confirmed Jin-Woo’s face and began sobbing

again. These tears weren’t of despair and fear like the ones
from before, but were formed from the mixture of joy and
relief they felt.
“Sob, sob…”
“It’s fine now. I’m here, so everything will be okay.”

Jin-Woo gently soothed his sobbing sister, while extending
his sensory perception to the rest of the school. And, within
this large school building, the only presence of humans he
could pick up on was…. 17.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo’s hardened complexion was now dyed in the

darkness of rage.
He very cautiously separated his sister from him as she tried

hard not to leave his side. He then called out his Shadow
Soldiers matching the exact number of the surviving
students.
“Everyone, follow my summons out of the building.”
The students nodded their heads, and the soldiers

proceeded to pick up them up in an embrace. As for Jin-Ah,
he entrusted her especially to Igrit.
“Please wait for me downstairs, okay? I’m going to join you

very soon after dealing with this.”
Normally, Jin-Ah would try to stop her oppa, telling him that
they should go together regardless of whether he was a rank
S Hunter or not. No, she’d still say that even if he was
something greater.
But now…. She couldn’t do that.
Because, Jin-Woo’s current expression was far, far too scary

for her to say those words. So, Jin-Ah could only nod her
head.
Jin-Woo gave out his signal, and the soldiers carrying the
students jumped outside of the destroyed wall one by one.
Orcs in the corridor flinched slightly at the sight of the
almost-caught prey making their escape. When that
happened, Jin-Woo glared at them with his ice-cold eyes.
“I told you not to move.”
Like some kind of a lie, all Orcs stopped moving altogether.

None of them could go against his glare.
One of the Orcs, its complexion utterly pale, sneaked its

gaze around and cautiously whispered to Guroktaru.
“C-chief….”
“Shush.”
Guroktaru was in agreement with that Orc, though.
It was true that right now wasn’t the time to care about
those weak prey escaping. No, they should be minding the
‘hunter’ right in front of their eyes. A fight between hunters
would commence very soon, where who eats who would be
determined.
‘Even then…. We can’t let them get away that easily.’
Guroktaru sent out a sneaky little signal, and two of its

guards moved without making any sounds.
After confirming that all of the students had left the

classroom safely, Jin-Woo turned around to face the Orcs. He
didn’t let them leave because he was worried about them
getting injured.
‘These measly Orcs….’
He was confident of killing them all in the blink of an eye.

He simply didn’t want to show his little sister or other kids
what was about to happen in here, that was all.
And now, there were no more eyes watching. Meaning, there

was nothing to restrict his actions now.
‘……’
Jin-Woo’s gaze briefly drifted towards the stairs outside the

classroom. He sensed two Orcs going downstairs while
hiding their presence to the best of their abilities. It seemed
that they were going after the kids, but… it didn’t matter.
He had sent Igrit there, and Kaisel was circling around in the
air, too.
‘So, the remaining task is to deal with these lot, then.’
Jin-Woo exhaled softly. The exiting air contained a heavy,

dense amount of magic energy.
Guroktaru asked him again.
“Who are you? How can you speak our tongue?”
Jin-Woo ignored the Orc’s words and slowly made his way
over to them. Realising that the human male had no
intentions to answer back, Guroktaru bared its fangs and
shouted out.
“Attack!”
The brave Orc warriors pounced on Jin-Woo all at once after

hearing the Chieftain’s order.
“Kurururuk!”
“Kurarak!”
When they did… the time froze.
Within this freeze-frame of a moment, Jin-Woo leisurely

walked in between the Orcs that were moving agonisingly
slowly, and proceeded to destroy them one by one.
He didn’t even need to take his weapons out. He only

needed to use his finger. Every time Jin-Woo’s finger brushed
by an Orc, heads, shoulders, wrists, waists and midriffs of
the monsters exploded into bits. And after utterly destroying
over twenty Orcs in one blink of an eye….
Jin-Woo stood before Guroktaru.
The Orc Chieftain could only barely keep up with Jin-Woo’s

afterimage with its eyes. Its trembling lips parted with much
difficulty.
“W-what….?”
It didn’t even have a chance to swing its scimitar. Jin-Woo’s

left hand grabbed Guroktaru’s mouth and jaw, and the Orc
could only whimper pathetically.
“Keok!”
Jin-Woo walked forward just like that and slammed the Orc’s
head against the corridor’s wall.
SLAM!!
The empty corridor reverberated with the thunderous boom.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted towards either end of the corridor. It

was filled with the remains of the students. It was truly a
hard-to-look gruesome sight to behold.
However, Jin-Woo didn’t avert his gaze and imprinted the
sight of every single one of these kids in his mind, just so he
could demand reparations from the guilty one responsible.
Jin-Woo shifted his eyes to Guroktaru.
“Why?”
His voice was incomparably icy.
“Why does your kind want to kill humans to this extreme

level?”
Guroktaru had long lost its desire to resist and could only
tremble in fear as it replied.
“In, in our heads, telling us…. to kill humans….”
Jin-Woo became momentarily confused.
‘Kill humans?’
He had heard of the exact same thing before. But, back

then, he interpreted the word ‘humans’ as another term for
‘Hunters’.
But it seemed that the word ‘human’ really did mean all
humans, now that he got to hear this monster’s reply.
“Then? What about me?”
Jin-Woo asked the Orc again.
“Do you not hear the voice telling you to kill me?”
He brought his face closer.

It was inevitable that Guroktaru would look into Jin-Woo’s
eyes. The Orc began shaking its head and shivered hard as if
it had discovered something in there.
“F, f-forgive…. Forgive, me….”
Something impossible happened. The brave and mighty

great warrior of the Orc race began shedding tears like a
little child. Jin-Woo felt the inside of his head suddenly cool
off as he watched the terrified monster cowering before him.
‘So, that’s how it is….’
He was not being seen as a human even in this guy’s head,

was that it?
‘….Well, it doesn’t really matter.’
Jin-Woo wasn’t all that interested in how monsters viewed

him. No, he simply killed them because they were out to
harm humans.
Guroktaru shivered and continued sob as the fear it couldn’t

overcome completely enveloped it.
“Please…. forgive…..”
Jin-Woo replied.
“I’ll forgive you.”
And then, he summoned the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
“However, do not think that the process will be a painless

one for you.”
***
The Knight Order Guild’s assault team could only gasp out in
astonishment while spectating on the battles of the
monsters.
“Heok!”
“H-how could it be….”
How could anyone call this a raid now? Because, the ants
very easily subdued the undead monsters and then, began
greedily devouring them.
Crunch, crunch….
The eyes of the Hunters opened wider and wider from this
horrifying spectacle.
“B-but, if they eat up everything like that, nothing will be

left behind, you know?”
“Right. Even the Magic Crystals….”
The Hunters could only anxiously look on as the top-class

Magic Crystals all ended up in the stomachs of these
monsters, no, summoned creatures.
Unable to watch from the sidelines any longer, Jeong Ye-Rim

hastily ran out.
“Don’t you know how expensive that is?!”
She tried to wrestle away the corpse of a Vampire, but that

only managed to annoy the ant, and the creature swung its
arm at her direction.
“Ahk!”
She cried out and tumbled backwards after the ant’s claw
cut into her forearm.
Plop.
“O-ouch.”
Just as she tried to get up while rubbing her butt….
“Kururuk-!”
By the time she regained her wits, the ant monster that
swung its arm was standing before her. The creature had its
gigantic maw and its horrifying mandibles wide open as if to
swallow her head whole.
Jeong Ye-Rim’s expression froze stiff at that moment.
“Ah…. Ah….”
It was then. Beru had come swooping in and turned that ant
around. He opened his own maw wide just like how this ant
did a moment ago, and then….
“Kiiiieeeeehhhk-!!!”
…And then, he screeched out incredibly loudly.
Being subjected to the rage of an existence on another level,

the ant creature couldn’t even meet Beru’s gaze and simply
shivered in fear.
“K-keeiick….”
Beru let go of the ant’s shoulder, causing the creature to

hurriedly scurry away from there. Jeong Ye-Rim watched this
scene play out in a total daze, but Beru approached her and
extended his hand out.
‘Uh…..?’
Still stupefied over everything, she grabbed the offered

hand and was able to finally stand back up.
“I, uh… T-tha….”
She was about to say something, only for her lips to stop.
Because, she saw the gentle blue light circulating around
Beru’s fingertips, that was why.
“….Healing magic?!”
Jeong Ye-Rim’s brows shot up real high in surprise.
The wound in her arm healed up immediately the moment

that blue light touched her. After confirming that her wound
was completely cured, Beru turned towards the ants and
shouted out.
“Khe-ehck!”
That caused the ants to end their mealtime and began

moving deeper into the dungeon’s interior.
Jeong Ye-Rim watched the back of Beru and murmured to

herself.
“How can…. a summon cast better healing magic than

me??”
***
The Hunters finally arrived in the school.
They followed the direction the needle of the magic compass

was pointing to and climbed up the stairs. An incredible
magic energy reaction was coming from the sixth floor’s
corridor.
The man in charge of the Hunters looked behind at his group

and spoke.
“Be careful.”
The Hunters nodded their heads.
And when they eventually arrived on the sixth floor, they

got to discover two things.
“Heok!!”
One, an Orc sliced up into so many pieces that it was

impossible to count; two, a lone man covered in blood
standing still with a shortsword in his hand.
‘And that person is….?’
The leader of the assault team met Jin-Woo’s icy cold eyes
and his breath nearly came to a sudden stop. But he
recovered somehow and picked up the walkie talkie.
“Yes, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is here.”
The leader took a look around and made another report.
“The situation has been resolved.”

Chapter 144
Because of the nature of the incident itself, a massive crowd

of people had rushed towards the school’s perimeters.
“My son goes to this school!!”
“Get out of the way!”
“I need to confirm what happened with my own eyes!!”
“Aigo, aigo!!”
If it weren’t for the desperate crowd control efforts by the

police and the Association’s employees, the scene of the
incident would’ve descended into pure pandemonium from
the maddened crowd.
The reporters had also rushed here as soon as word got out
and were now busy snapping away with their cameras.
“Uh? It’s Seong Jin-Woo!”
“Take his pictures!!”
Jin-Woo evaded their gazes and wordlessly walked over to

someone that seemed to be a staff member of the Hunter’s
Association. This staff member immediately froze up in
nervousness after seeing Jin-Woo’s face. That was how scary
the Hunter’s complexion looked at that moment.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….”

“Where’s my sister?”
“Miss Seong Jin-Ah and other students have been transferred

to the Seoul Il-Sin hospital.”
“…..”
Jin-Woo nodded his head, his expression still remaining

grave, and turned around to walk away. The staff member
unconsciously swallowed dry saliva while watching his back
get further away.
Gulp.
The first thing those arriving here did was to confirm the
status of the student named Seong Jin-Ah, as per the
instruction from the Association. Thankfully, she was unhurt.
With the exception of abrasions suffered around her neck
and wrists, there were no other injuries on her.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was the one who had rescued her, so
he should know that fact better than anyone, yet….
‘Even then, for him to be that p*ssed off….’
It was a good thing that he arrived on time, otherwise, how

would he have reacted if something happened to his sister?
The staff member shuddered from the terrifying dizziness he
suddenly felt just then.
It indeed was a huge relief.
Contrary to the relief of the staff member, though, Jin-Woo

was feeling quite gloomy at the moment as he pulled out his
phone.
‘I’m sure Mom’s about to get the news.’

Too many students lost their lives at the hands of the
monsters. Rather obviously, his mother would feel like her
world was about to crumble after receiving the news.
‘Before that happens, I need to tell her that Jin-Ah’s okay.’
He thought as such and was about to tap the “Call” icon, but
then, he heard an unexpected voice coming from behind
him and stopped.
“I’ve already sent some of the Association’s agents over to

speak to your mother, Seong Hunter-nim. They should be on
their way to the hospital as we speak.”
Jin-Woo looked behind him.
“Mister Association President.”
Goh Gun-Hui stood there, his complexion as dark as Jin-

Woo’s.
Even though the President himself was not at fault here, as

the person representing South Korea’s Hunter’s Association,
he was feeling the burden of responsibility for failing to
prevent this tragedy. Jin-Woo could only express his
gratitude for Goh Gun-Hui looking out for his family even
under the current circumstances.
That prompted Goh Gun-Hui to shake his head.
“No, it’s us that should be thanking you.”
Seventeen students survived.
It was only because of Jin-Woo’s arrival that those students

among the trapped in the school building were able to get
out of there alive.
“We are constantly in your debt, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo could only smile bitterly at that.
He could have saved a lot more students if he were able to

use the Shadow Exchange and get here right away. Such
regret seeped clearly into his expression.
Goh Gun-Hui could faintly sense what Jin-Woo was feeling

right now from his expression. But the older man shook his
head.
‘Now isn’t the time to wallow in our emotions.’
Indeed, didn’t he have something important to say to this

young man? Goh Gun-Hui raised his head.
“Will you be heading to the hospital now?”
Jin-Woo thought back to the Gate in Gwang-An-ri, but

quickly stopped worrying about it.
His MP remained the same as before. Meaning, Beru and his

ants were conquering the dungeon without encountering
any problem at the moment.
‘Well…. It’s not just any soldier but Beru, so it’ll be fine.’
There was no need to worry about the progress of the raid

right now.
“Yes, I am.”
“Please, let me give you a ride there.”
“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Please, allow me. There is something else I wish to talk to
you about on the way, as well.”
Jin-Woo initially declined thinking that the offer was made

out of courtesy, but he nodded his head after seeing the
earnest attitude of the Association President.
“Alright, I will.”
Jin-Woo followed Goh Gun-Hui’s guidance and they both

climbed into the back seat of the waiting car.
Even though it was a full-size saloon, the back seat felt

cramped after Goh Gun-Hui’s huge frame and Jin-Woo’s wide
shoulders climbed aboard. Woo Jin-Cheol was sitting in the
driver’s seat, and nodded his greeting through the rear-view
mirror.
Jin-Woo also nodded slightly as his greeting.
The car slowly set forward and only then did the Association
President stop hesitating and speak up.
“…In a way, you could say that today’s tragedy has been
foretold in advance.”
His expression was hard.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was feeling confused.
‘Does that mean the Association didn’t do anything about an

incident they could have prevented in advance?’
Before his confusion had the chance to transform into anger,

the Association President pulled out his phone and showed
Jin-Woo its display. It showed a graphical chart.
“This shows the increase in the Gate activity around the city
of Seoul for the last six months.”
The dots drew a gentle curvature but when it got nearer to

present, it suddenly spiked up steeply.
“And this side shows the stats from around the world.”
If the Association President didn’t make that clear, Jin-Woo

might have mistaken them for two of the exact same thing.
That was how similar-looking the inclines in those two
graphs were.
“The numbers of Gates appearing has spiked up noticeably

throughout the world.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s complexion got darker and darker.
“However, that isn’t the only strange thing.”
He returned the phone back into his inner jacket pocket and
carried on.
“People wanting to confirm their Awakened rankings are

practically lining up in a long queue outside the Association
every day now.”
The number of Gates where monsters come out was

increasing, and at the same time, the number of Hunters
who were supposed to block the Gates was also increasing?
As if to maintain a balance?
Seeing Jin-Woo’s interested expression, the Association

President spoke in a complicated tone of voice.
“We think that…..”

Goh Gun-Hui ended his lengthy explanation while implying
that it was only his personal hypothesis.
“….Something is changing.”
This was indeed interesting information. Anyone could tell

something big was afoot from that data. Unfortunately, that
didn’t mean Jin-Woo could do anything about them right
now. It was the same story for Goh Gun-Hui, as well.
Also, a simple phone call would have sufficed if it was about

sharing of information and a hypothesis. Jin-Woo thought
that Association President wouldn’t have taken time out of
his packed schedule to simply have this conversation.
“In that case, what you wish to talk to me about was…..?”
As if he was waiting for that, Goh Gun-Hui picked up a

briefcase resting by the footwell and pulled out various
documents from there.
“Japan, the States, China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany,

and even from the Middle East….”
All the nations with some international clout were brought

up abruptly.
“These are all the official documents sent in from those

nations that wish to make contact with you, Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim. I’m fairly certain that some of them even have
made unofficial contacts with you already.”
Jin-Woo briefly recalled the incident involving the American

Hunter Bureau’s people, but decided not to mention it.
“In all honesty, we at the Hunter’s Association simply don’t
have any rights to stop these people. No, we can only
protect your personal information according to your
request.”
Jin-Woo silently listened to the older man’s story.
“I know that everything depends on your decision, Seong

Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, but…. But, I fear that our country will
not be able to adapt to the incoming changes if you decide
to leave us.”
Rather than a concrete answer, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze out

of the car’s window. As he fell deeper into a myriad of
distracting thoughts, one of the biggest hospitals in the
country entered his view.
It was the very hospital where Jin-Ah had been admitted to.
“We will provide you with every convenience we can

possibly provide.”
Goh Gun-Hui stuffed the documents back inside the

briefcase and asked Jin-Woo with a tense expression.
“So, would you please remain in South Korea?”
***
The Knight Order’s assault team chased after the ants and
arrived at the boss chamber’s entrance.
Jeong Yun-Tae’s eyes grew extra large after he spotted the

ants that began entering the boss chamber.
“Hyung-nim, shouldn’t we try to stop them??”
“….I don’t think I can.”

Indeed, Park Jong-Su was not confident at all of persuading
the summoned creatures that they needed to stop the raid
for the moment, so they could start retrieving the remains of
the dead monsters and the Magic Crystals.
He could only spit out a resigned sigh.
‘Yup, let’s just forget about it.’
His thoughts just went and did a 180.
They entered this Gate in order to let the world know that
the Knight Order Guild was still going strong, didn’t they?
It’d be perfectly acceptable to show the world that they
could still clear a rank A dungeon, the highest rated one at
that, without a single casualty or someone getting injured
badly during the raid itself.
‘Not only that, without Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s presence,

too!’
Wasn’t it the case of no one would know of what happened

inside a dungeon?
Even if those ants managed to defeat the boss, the folks

outside would only remember the name of the Knight Order
Guild, not the creatures Hunter Seong Jin-Woo summoned
out before leaving in a hurry.
Better still, once the boss died and the Gate closed, there
would be no way to confirm the truth. Judging from Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s personality, he wasn’t the type to go around
blabbing his mouth, either.
Park Jong-Su’s thought process arrived at that point and a

smile floated up on his lips.
‘Well, isn’t this a fortune among misfortunes?’
It was then. The Hunters at the back of the pack suddenly

became rather noisy.
“Chairman? There are a lot of things coming from our rear!”
“Yeah, I can hear them coming, too.”
“….Mm?”
Park Jong-Su tilted his head and walked to the rear of the
team. And for sure, he could hear lots of footsteps as well.
‘Wait, did the retrieval team enter the Gate already?’
But, the highly-trained retrieval team of the Knight Order

Guild wouldn’t have entered a dungeon without receiving an
order first, so how could this be?
Just as such thoughts entered his head….
“….Heok?!”
Park Jong-Su’s brows shot up high. Because, the undead

monsters, those the ants didn’t snack on, were busy rushing
to where the assault team was, all of them fully revived back
to how they were.
‘C-could it be….??’
Did the ants chow up the undead because they knew this
might happen?
Such a thought only lasted for a moment in his head. Park

Jong-Su realised that his team wouldn’t be able to deal with
that many monsters, and hurriedly shouted out to his
teammates.
“Everyone, enter the boss room, now!”
Their sole hope for survival was the summoned creatures left
behind by Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. The assault team didn’t
even have a chance to confirm what was waiting for them
inside the boss chamber and hurriedly jumped in.
After confirming that every last Hunter had entered, Park

Jong-Su shouted out, veins popping up in his throat.
“Block the exit!!”
Jeong Ye-Rim activated her skill, ‘Holy Wall’, and blocked up

the entryway connecting the boss room and the passageway
before it.
Slam-!
Boom-!!
The Death Knight standing in front of the rushing horde

noisily pounded on the invisible barrier. Her forehead soaked
in cold sweat now, Jeong Ye-Rim turned her head towards
Park Jong-Su.
“Chairman! I won’t be able to hold this for more than five

minutes, tops!”
“I know!”
Not only Park Jong-Su, but the rest of the assault team
members had finished preparing for a battle in case the wall
was breached.
But, when they took a good look at the undead monsters

pressing forward like a horde of insects on the other side of
the wall, they began doubting whether they had any
chances of winning here.
“All we can do here now is to pray that the summons kill the
boss quickly and open up the path for us.”
Park Jong-Su looked back at the ants that should be facing

off against the boss with a pair of desperate eyes. He prayed
that the boss was an easy monster to fight.
‘….Oh, my dear lord.’
His eyes opened even wider than before.
The boss monster currently standing in a face-off against the

ants was something even Park Jong-Su knew of, after
hearing about it many times in the past.
A pale-faced ‘Mage’ wearing a tattered robe – the Arch Lich.
It was the strongest undead-type monster, thought to be the

creature at the top of the undead food chain.
‘Why did it have to be a d*mn Arch Lich?!’
Park Jong-Su’s complexion darkened considerably.
He prayed for the summoned creatures to quickly kill the

boss and help them out, but then, the opponent turned out
to be a d*mn Arch Lich. It’d be more realistic for the Hunters
to get rid of the scores of undead first and help the
summoned creatures out next.
It was then.
Beru took a step forward towards the Arch Lich.

The Arch Lich then immediately summoned over a dozen
Death Knights around the ants and surrounded them.
“Kiiiieeehhhk-!!”
Beru bared his fangs and extended its claws out.
‘…..?’
The Arch Lich recognised the black smoke continuously

rising up from Beru’s entire body. It was almost as if the
completely-empty eye sockets had widened for a second
there.
“The Shadow Army??”
The language of the monsters came out from the Arch Lich’s
mouth. Beru retracted his claws after hearing the boss’s
words.
The Arch Lich swept its gaze around the ants behind Beru
and asked in a puzzled voice.
“Why is the king’s personal army attacking us?”
Kekeke.
Beru leaked out a sound that sounded like a cackle of

ridicule, before pointing to himself.
“We have been chosen by the king.”
And then, he pointed at the Arch Lich.
“And you… weren’t.”
The Arch Lich couldn’t believe it, its voice now containing a
trace of anger.
“That can’t be! I shall personally report to the king, and…..!”
Unfortunately, even before the Arch Lich could finish its

sentence, Beru appeared right before its stunned eyes.
‘….!!’
The shoulders of the Arch Lich quivered momentarily.
Beru was a high-class monster that the owner of a rank S

dungeon sacrificed its own lifeforce to create. Even if its
overall Stats had fallen a little ever since becoming a
Shadow Soldier, there was just no way that an owner of a
measly rank A dungeon, an Arch Lich, could fight against
Beru.
The former ant king simply thrust its hand into the shocked
boss’s chest without hesitation.
Stab!!
The hand pierced through the chest, along with a pendant

hanging on the Arch Lich’s neck.
“Keok!!”
Beru’s hand exiting from the back of the Arch Lich was
grasping the pendant now. That piece of jewellery was
basically the heart of the Arch Lich.
It wasn’t all that difficult for Beru, once a top monster

himself, to detect what was supplying the lifeforce to his
enemy. The Arch Lich desperately shook its head.
“No…. This can’t be….!”
However, Beru didn’t pay any attention to the pleading of

his enemy and simply crushed the pendant in his hand.
Crack.
“You talk too much for someone about to die.”
Along with Beru’s words, the body of the Arch Lich crumbled
to dust.
Chapter 145
Park Jong-Su’s jaw dropped to the floor. He was so shocked

that he needed some time to process the event his own two
eyes had witnessed just now.
‘How could it kill the Arch Lich in one hit?!’
There was an event that catapulted the Arch Lich as a pretty

infamous creature among the boss-level monsters. And that
would be the incident of the Gold Dragon Guild’s
annihilation.
An entire Guild was completely destroyed by a single Arch

Lich. Not just any Guild either, but one that was supposed to
be quite powerful even within China, no less. But then
again, that might have been an obvious result.
The Arch Lich could continuously summon out ‘Death

Knights’ any time it wanted to. And one Death Knight was a
very powerful undead-type monster that required the bitter
struggle of multiple rank A Hunters to defeat.
If you underestimated the boss monster simply because it

didn’t have any guards around it initially, then you’d not be
able to escape the fate of total destruction.
In the end, a dungeon break occurred from the Gate the

Gold Dragon Guild failed to close. China’s own Special
Authority-rank Hunter Liu Zhigeng arrived in the nick of
time so the incident didn’t turn into a catastrophe, but still,
many Hunters got to know the terror an Arch Lich posed
through this incident.
‘But now…..’
That mutated ant summon killed the Arch Lich in one hit.
What an astonishing event that was.
Maybe it wasn’t only Park Jong-Su who thought like this,

because Jeong Yun-Tae standing next to him also couldn’t
seem to close his slack jaw at all.
“Oh, my god…..”
As if he couldn’t believe his own eyes, he asked Park Jong-Su

for another confirmation.
“Hyung-nim, wasn’t that an Arch Lich?”
“Yeah, it was. The thing that came out of the Gate during
that Gold Dragon Guild incident.”
“If that’s true, then that ant just one-shotted an Arch

Lich….?”
Jeong Yun-Tae now formed a completely disbelieving

expression. Other Hunters also heard the conversation
taking place between Park Jong-Su and Jeong Yun-Tae, and
failed to hide their extreme shock as well.
“An Arch Lich?!”
“That thing was an Arch Lich??”
“And the ant took it down in one hit??”
“Whoa.”
Just as the entirety of the Knight Order Guild’s assault team
was being astonished by Jin-Woo’s ‘summon’ that could kill
the boss of a rank A dungeon in the blink of an eye….
The multi-talented healer Jeong Ye-Rim, currently sweating

profusely while trying to hold back the tide of the undead
monsters, was dying of curiosity regarding what happened
behind her back.
“What was that? What happened??”
However, her curiosity couldn’t be maintained for long.

Something quite surprising started happening right in front
of her eyes, that was why.
“Uh??”
All those undead monsters, rampaging around as if they

were only a moment away from breaking past the ‘Holy
Wall’, suddenly collapsed on the ground like puppets with
their strings cut.
Plop.
Plop.
And then, they didn’t stand back up again.
“C-Chairman??”
Jeong Ye-Rim was startled by this sudden turn of event and

hurriedly looked behind her. Park Jong-Su was nodding his
head.
‘The Arch Lich must’ve had something to do with the

defeated undead monsters reviving in full.’
He really did feel utterly dazed and lost at the sight of the
crazed horde of the monsters rushing in like a black tidal
wave, wondering what would happen to him and his group,
but now…
It felt like he could breathe easy again.
“Fuu….”
Behind Park Jong-Su busy sighing out in relief, the Hunters

standing there failed to hide their elated expressions. They
were all excited at the idea of exiting from this dungeon safe
and sound.
“Hyung-nim, you worked hard.”
“What do you mean, I worked hard….. It’s those guys that

worked hard, not me.”
Park Jong-Su used his chin to point and Jeong Yun-Tae looked
behind him. The summons were all standing still unmoving
and staring at the human Hunters as if to ask ‘Where are we
going next?’
‘Well, uh, them standing around like that and not budging
makes them look a wee bit cuter…..’
However, one of the ants must’ve felt bored, because, for no

apparent reason, it loudly screeched towards the ceiling.
“Kkkkiieeeehhhk-!!”
Just like that, Jeong Yun-Tae’s expression that contained a

hint of favourable impression towards the creatures flew
away in an instant.
Swish.
Jeong Yun-Tae swivelled his head back and asked his boss.
“Hyung-nim. Isn’t this the same as Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-

nim solo clearing this dungeon?”
“Yup, more or less.”
Park Jong-Su also agreed with that assessment. In the

deeper parts of the dungeon, where the difficulty was at its
highest, the Knight Order Guild’s assault team did nothing
but just followed around the ant monsters.
And those ants were Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summoned

creatures. In the end, it was the same thing as Jin-Woo
clearing the dungeon all by himself, just as Jeong Yun-Tae
had alluded to.
‘What a scary power….’
They had seen the extent of his power in Jeju Island, but
having witnessed it for real, they had to concede the fact
that he possessed an incredible ability.
The fact that the summoned creatures were capable of

displaying levels of combat prowess easily exceeding their
imagination, and the fact that Seong Hunter was able to
freely control these summons, left a deep mental shock in
the Knight Order’s Hunters.
“Which means, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doesn’t even need

to enter a Gate and still gets to clear it by just sending these
guys in, no?”
Jeong Yun-Tae spoke without thinking too much about what

he was saying. However, Park Jong-Su felt goosebumps
break out all over his skin after he thought about what his
deputy just mentioned in passing.
‘Hold up….’
The number of summons Hunter Seong brought out back in

Jeju Island was at least over two hundred. That was only
from those that got caught on camera. So, it was difficult to
even estimate how many more he could actually summon
out at once.
What if he didn’t even need to make a single move, but

simply send out his summons to clear out dungeons….?
‘There must be some exhaustion of magic energy when

summoning out and controlling these creatures, so he might
not be able to use them all at the same time, but….’
Just half of his summons.
No, even if that guy could only utilise half of that half, his
method would be so much more efficient than what other
large Guilds could even come up with.
‘Urgh.’
Park Jong-Su suddenly realised that he’d have invested his

entire life savings if Hunter Seong’s Guild was a publicly-
traded company.
“Hyung-nim, let’s not waste more time and push ahead with
merging our Guild with Seong Hunter-nim’s Guild.”
“This guy, really now…..”
Park Jong-Su glared scarily at Jeong Yun-Tae, before his

expression became a lot more serious.
“Refer to it as ‘M&A’, okay? M&A. The new Guild created by

the best Hunter, and one of the five major Guilds in the
country, the Knight Order, pushing forward for the M&A.
How nice sounding is that?” (TL: M&A = mergers and
acquisitions)
“Keok??”
Jeong Yun-Tae flinched grandly.
“You really wanna try your luck with that, hyung-nim?!”
“Think about it. Combine Seong Hunter-nim’s abilities with

our Guild’s know-how – even the likes of the Hunters Guild
should be terrified by our potential, man!”
Would Vice-Chairwoman Cha Hae-In leave the Hunters Guild

and join hands with Hunter Seong for no reason? Of course
not.
Elation bubbled up in Jeong Yun-Tae’s face as he nodded, but

then, he began rubbing his chin and tilted his head.
“But then, hyung-nim. You honestly believe that Seong

Hunter-nim needs us?”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Park Jong-Su tutted and explained in detail.
“Do you really think that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim will be

able to disregard the law if he wants to work?”
“Excuse me?”
“Even if it’s possible for his summons to clear dungeons, he

still needs to fill up the minimum headcount for the raid
team, no?”
“Ohh….”
Hearing that plausible explanation, Jeong Yun-Tae’s
expression brightened up once more.
“You’re right, hyung-nim.”
As the two men stared at each other with happy smiles on

their faces, the ground beneath their feet trembled ever so
softly.
Rumble….
“Aigoo.”
Park Jong-Su stopped wasting time. With the death of the

boss-level monster, the Gate was starting to close up.
“Well, let’s carry on our discussion after we get out of here

first.”
Park Jong-Su loudly called out to the rest of the assault team
still waiting for his orders.
“Everyone, let’s all get out of this place before the Gate
closes down!”
“You’ll provide all the convenience you can?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Jin-Woo’s question was met with Association President Goh

Gun-Hui’s assured answer.
Officially, there were ten rank S Hunters recorded in the

Korean Hunter’s Association’s database. But, they had lost
three now. Two died at the hands of monsters, while one
abandoned Korea for America.
From the perspective of the Hunter’s Association, they could

not afford to be hands-off in this matter anymore.
They wanted to do everything they could – this wasn’t just

the opinion of Association President Goh Gun-Hui, but the
rest of the Association as well.
‘Unless it’s the other rank S Hunters…..’
They definitely could not afford to let Hunter Seong Jin-Woo

slip away.
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes gleamed with the light of determination.

As the representative of the Hunter’s Association, he had
met countless Hunters over the years. Several of them were
those whom you’d qualify as some of the strongest in the
world, as well.
However, Seong Jin-Woo was the first Hunter ever to make

his heart race this madly. Not just as the Association
President, but as the citizen of this nation, he definitely
wanted Jin-Woo to remain in South Korea.
[“We will provide you with every convenience we can

possibly provide.”]
Those words expressed the Association President Goh Gun-

Hui’s strong will to keep Jin-Woo in the country. They also
contained how highly the older man thought of the young
Hunter, as well.
“If that’s the case….”
Jin-Woo thought for a little while, before opening his mouth.

“Will you let me enter high-ranking Gates all by myself in
the future?”
“Pardon me?”
When he was faced with a completely unexpected demand,

Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes opened up wide.
“Are you asking me to exclude you from the minimum

headcount rule?”
“Huh-uh….”
The regulation regarding the number of raid team members

was the minimum safety net in place for the Hunters. It was
a policy to prevent the incidents of Hunters entering a
dungeon without sufficient preparation and losing their
lives.
However….
Did Hunter Seong require such a safety net when his

summons could beat down countless rank S monsters?
Abruptly recalling a certain scene from the ant tunnel raid,
Goh Gun-Hui asked as his expression tensed up.
“By any chance…. The raid permits your Guild will be issued
with, are you planning to clear those Gates all by yourself?”
“Yes.”
Goh Gun-Hui became speechless from Jin-Woo’s

straightforward reply. There was not one trace of worry in his
voice.
‘Could it be that he made the Guild just for this…..?’

Did he do that so he could solo-clear high-ranking
dungeons?
There were many powerful Hunters throughout the world,

but none of them planned their raids in this manner.
But, when the images of this Jin-Woo confidently chatting

away, and the Jin-Woo back in the ant tunnel summoning
countless soldiers to sweep away the ant monsters,
overlapped in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes, the older man suddenly
began shivering almost uncontrollably.
‘A one-man army….’
For Goh Gun-Hui, who had been constantly worried about

the unchecked growth of the major Guilds, that proved to be
one hell of an attractive concept.
Ba-dump, ba-dump!!!
His heart began racing again.
Goh Gun-Hui placed his hand on the chest that began to

hurt a little, and formed a bitter smile after comparing
himself to the virile and healthy-looking Jin-Woo.
“Will it be difficult?”
Jin-Woo asked, but Goh Gun-Hui immediately shook his

head.
“It’s not going to be impossible.”
Indeed, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it’d be quite difficult,

nonetheless. That was what Goh Gun-Hui thought.
But, just what kind of man was he? He was the President of
the Hunter’s Association, a rank S Hunter, and the member
of the National Assembly.
This was a request from not just anyone, but Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo. Even if it was a tough request, there would be
nothing holding Goh Gun-Hui back from fulfilling it.
And if that was enough to keep Hunter Seong in South

Korea, then all the better for it.
“Leave it to me.”
Jin-Woo grinned brightly after hearing Goh Gun-Hui’s

confident reply.
‘Nice.’
One of the things that could’ve proved to be a source of

headache got resolved just now.
“Thank you.”
Jin-Woo smiled and expressed his gratitude, and Goh Gun-

Hui replied with a smile of his own.
“I always bring this up, but well, it should be us thanking

you, Hunter-nim.”
Screech.
The large saloon carrying the two stopped at a bit of

distance away from the hospital’s entrance.
“Let us speak again soon, Seong Hunter-nim.”
“Of course.”
After sharing simple goodbyes, Jin-Woo climbed out of the

car.
The news of the victims being transferred to this hospital
must’ve gotten around, because there were a lot of reporters
camping by the entrance already.
The car stopping a fair distance away from the entrance was
all due to Woo Jin-Cheol’s consideration. There was little
doubt that another commotion would’ve broken out if the
car carrying the Association President came to a stop in front
of the hospital and Jin-Woo climbed out from there.
‘It’s times like this that being famous can get really
annoying.’
Jin-Woo shook his head and used ‘Stealth’ to conceal

himself.
Inside the office of the Yujin Construction’s chairman.
Chairman Yu Myung-Han, who had been taking a nap on the

impossibly-wide desk, slowly raised his slouched torso up.
Sunlight entered at an angle through the windows.
He felt his eyelids getting impossibly heavier, and it seemed

that he eventually had fallen into a bit of slumber.
On the couch located in front of the desk, the right-hand

man of Yu Myung-Han, Secretary Kim, was sitting upright
and looking back at his boss.
Yu Myung-Han rubbed his face to chase away the remaining

sleepiness and spoke up.
“Looks like I have napped for a little while. How long was I
asleep for?”
Secretary Kim looked at his wristwatch and then raised his
head back up again.
“Sir, you’ve been asleep for 23 hours and 46 minutes.”
‘…….’
Yu Myung-Han’s hand rubbing his face came to a sudden

stop.
“I’ve been waiting here in order to carry out your order of

escorting you to the hospital if you don’t wake up after 24
hours have elapsed, sir.”
Was it that illness striking again?
Yu Myung-Han’s face, his hand no longer covering it, was

frozen stiff.
He would sometimes fall into a state of deep sleep without

any warning signs, and once asleep, it became harder and
harder to wake up.
The ‘Eternal Sleep’ disorder.
Although the process was slow, this disease definitely

dragged all of its victims to death’s doorway.
Secretary Kim strode quickly forward and stood before Yu

Myung-Han.
“Sir, there are two things I need to inform you about.”
“What are they?”
As befitting his nickname of ‘Pokerface’, Yu Myung-Han had

already wiped off all traces of worry from his face and
reverted back to his regular stoic expression.
Secretary Kim picked up the newspaper resting at the corner
of the large desk and politely placed it before Yu Myung-
Han.
‘….?’
Somewhat puzzled, Yu Myung-Han quickly picked the paper

up and browsed through it. The article dominating the front
page was about the event of a Gate opening up in a school
somewhere in Seoul, causing the devastating losses of
hundreds of high school students.
“Tsk, tsk….”
Yu Myung-Han grimaced after seeing that terrible news.
“What a terrible incident this is. Make sure our company

donates something to the school and to the victims.”
“Yes, sir. But, Chairman, that’s not it.”
Yu Myung-Han put the paper down. Secretary Kim bowed

slightly and carefully flipped the page of the newspaper, so
the next page could be seen. There was a large photo
dominating this page.
“This is the photograph I wanted to show to you, sir.”
The tip of Secretary Kim’s finger stopped by at a certain lady

within that photo.
“This woman…. Do you recall who she is, sir?”
The photo was of a hospital where the survivors of that

horrible incident had been admitted to. Secretary Kim had
singled out a certain woman among the many pictured. She
was hurriedly running into the hospital’s entrance.
Quite coincidentally, she was someone Chairman Yu Myung-
Han still remembered quite clearly.
“But, how…..??”
Yu Myung-Han never forgot a person’s face. And he

definitely had seen that woman’s photograph before.
She was none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s mother.
“But, I thought Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s mother suffered from

the Eternal Sleep, too?”
He had studied Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s profile several times

in great detail.
A person who, according to Yu Myung-Han’s knowledge,

should be confined to a bed and unable to move while
completely dependent on the life support machines, was
walking around looking completely healthy.
The thing Secretary Kim wanted to talk to him about –

Chairman Yu Myung-Han finally realised what that was. His
hand gripping the newspaper began trembling.
“Can you find out for me what happened in detail?”
“…..Thank you.”
As his response to Yu Myung-Han’s praise, Secretary Kim

bowed again for a brief moment, before raising his head
again. After putting the newspaper back down again, Yu
Myung-Han quietly opened his mouth.
“You said there are two things I need to know about.”

“Yes, sir.”
“What is the second matter, then?”
Yu Myung-Han raised his head and met Secretary Kim’s

gaze. And the light in the latter’s eyes wasn’t so good. This
was one of Kim’s old habits. He always brought up the good
news first, then spoke the bad news the last.
Secretary Kim displayed some hints of hesitation, before

speaking up as if he decided to give up.
“The Young Miss has returned home yesterday.”
As if waiting for that declaration…
Clung!
The door to the Chairman’s office was flung wide open and
an intellectual-type beauty rushed inside.
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s daugther, Yu Jin-Hui, saw how thin

her father had become and tears began wetting her eyes.
“How long have you been like this, Father?”

Chapter 146
Camera flashes went off every few seconds as a slim woman

with natural black hair assumed several different poses.
“Good, that’s good.”
A wide grin didn’t want to leave the face of the

photographer as he snapped away with his camera.
Click!
The final click of the shutter rang out and the photographer
raised his head.
“This is great. Nicely done.”
Cousin/older sister of Yu Jin-Ho, as well as his best friend, Yu

Soo-Hyun, smiled brightly and bowed her head to the
director.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“You too, Miss Soo-Hyun.”
All thanks to Yu Soo-Hyun’s rather affable personality, the

photo shoots she participated in were always filled with
jovial laughter.
It was to such an extent that, even those photographers

previously unwilling to work with her because of her image
as the daughter of a chaebol family, would actively seek her
out for more photo shoots after working with her just once.
“Thank you.”
“Thanks for your work today.”
With a bright expression, Yu Soo-Hyun thanked the

photographer and other staff members of the shoot, before
trotting over to her coordinator who also happened to be her
manager as well.
“Unni, did Jin-Hui call me back?” (TL: Unni = honorific to

denote older female by another female, usually younger)
The coordinator shook her head, her expression one of worry.
Yu Soo-Hyun had tried to call her cousin four times already.

She could only pout unhappily at the fact that her diligence
hadn’t been rewarded with a reply so far.
‘She’s supposed to be back in the country since yesterday,

so how come I can’t get in touch with her?’
Yu Soo-Hyun heard the news of her cousin, studying abroad,

briefly making a trip home around yesterday morning.
She had been involved in a photo shoot that lasted the

whole night and was fast asleep when her cousin’s call came
through. Who’d have thought that missing one phone call
would lead to such a hassle?
There was utterly not a peep from her cousin since then.
‘Did something happen to her?’
No, that couldn’t be. Yu Soo-Hyun shook her head.

That girl was none other than Yu Jin-Hui, the eldest daughter
of Yu Myung-Han – the owner of the biggest corporation in
South Korea. The odds of something bad happening to her
was about the same as a rank S Hunter entering a dungeon
only to meet with a grisly end.
“Unni, gimme my phone back for a sec, please.”
Yu Soo-Hyun took the phone back, thinking that she’d try

her luck again. But then, her phone suddenly began
vibrating and a bright expression immediately formed on
her face.
‘Is this from Jin-Hui?’
However, she began pouting again after confirming who the

caller was.
– Idiot
‘……..’
Yu Soo-Hyun tapped on the ‘Answer’ icon and spoke in an

annoyed voice.
“Hello?”
– “Noona!” (TL: honorific to denote older female by a

younger male)
It was from Yu Jin-Ho, regrettably.
Yu Soo-Hyun was well aware of the fact that this kid would
only call her ‘noona’ if he wanted something from her. She
spat out a grand sigh in her heart and asked him.
“Do you know by any chance where Jin-Hui is right now?”

– “Noona? What about my noona? Wait, is she in Korea??”
“…..”
Now that she thought about it for a sec, didn’t this kid get
chased out of his own home after rejecting his father’s order
of becoming the Yujin Guild’s Master? Indeed, this cousin of
hers proved to be of no help whatsoever, even now.
“No, never mind. Okay, so what did you call me for?”
Surely, he wouldn’t be calling her for another drinking binge

like the last time. It was then, Yu Jin-Ho’s rather exhilarated
voice came out of the phone.
– “Noona, don’t you want to join our Guild?”
What on earth was he on about, out of the blue?
A thin frown formed for a second there on Yu Soo-Hyun’s

fine, smooth forehead.
“Your Guild?”
She was so dumbfounded that she simply had to ask again.
– “Instead of getting dragged to my father’s Guild and

acting like its public relations mouthpiece, don’t you think
it’ll be a lot better for you to leave your name on our Guild’s
employee list and do whatever you want?”
….And this was the rather remarkable reply she got in

return.
Yu Soo-Hyun’s voice became quite low as she got more and

more suspicious.
“And why do you need my name in the first place?”

– “We’re still short of one last Guild founding member, you
see.”
“Wait, are you telling me to join a Guild that’s not even a

real thing yet??”
– “Yeah!”
Yu Jin-Ho answered back oh-so-innocently.
Yu Soo-Hyun felt her head slowly develop a pulsing migraine

simply from wondering just what this kid believed in to
become such an optimistic human being.
‘No, besides all that…. Just who could be the other person,
then?’
Rather than the ‘idiot’ asking her to put her name down as
one of the Guild’s founding members, she was getting a lot
more suspicious of the other person’s reasoning for wanting
to make a Guild with this ‘idiot’, instead.
“You, you aren’t acting like this ‘cuz some shady character
sweet-talked you into it, right?”
Who’d want to create a Guild with a rank D Hunter

possessing a negligible amount of hunting experience other
than swindlers? However, Yu Jin-Ho’s response was rather
different from her expectations.
– “Fut.”
From the other side of the phone line, the sound of a chuckle
formed when the corner of one’s lips arched up came out,
followed soon after by a relaxed voice.
– “You’ll be shocked if you find out who that ‘shady
character’ is, you know?”
“Okay, who is it?”
– “Fut.”
“I’m hanging up.”
– “Ah! Hold on, waiiiit!”
Her hand moving towards the ‘End Call’ icon stopped as that
desperately pleading voice came out of the speaker. Yu Soo-
Hyun smirked and placed the phone back against her ear.
“I’m giving you three seconds to tell me. Three, two….”
– “Seong Jin-Woo!!”
‘….Seong Jin-Woo?’
Yu Soo-Hyun’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after

hearing that rather unexpected name.
“You mean, that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
– “Fut.”
“You mean, that rank S Hunter who single-handedly

smashed apart Rhee Min-Seong’s press conference before
suddenly disappearing from everyone’s view?”
– “…..I think you’re being surprised by the wrong thing here,

though?”
“Are you really telling me that it’s him?”

Regardless of what Yu Jin-Ho’s retort was like, Seong Jin-Woo
would forever be the rank S Hunter who stepped on the
pride of that arrogant jerk-off Rhee Min-Seong in Yu Soo-
Hyun’s eyes.
Just how refreshed did she feel back then? A lot.
– “Fufufu!”
If what Yu Jin-Ho said was true, then it was not that difficult
to understand that bottomless, sky-high confidence of his.
‘Well, Jin-Ho might like to put on airs sometimes, but he’s

not the type to lie, so…’
Yu Soo-Hyun pondered for a second or two, before asking her

cousin again.
“Can we meet up and talk?”
– “Of course! Why don’t you come to our office? Hyung-nim

said he’d be stopping by later, too.”
“What’s the address?”
Yu Soo-Hyun took a post-it note from nearby and quickly

jotted down the address. She did her best to calm her
bubbling excitement down and made her reply.
“I’m on my way right now.”
– “See you later, noona!”
Click.
That’s where the conversation came to its end. The

coordinator, ‘accidentally’ overhearing the contents of the
call, sent out a probing question.
“Do you need to go somewhere? Are you even planning to
drop out of the afterparty?”
Nod, nod.
Yu Soo-Hyun rapidly swapped out of her modelling clothes

and packed her belongings as if she didn’t even have the
time to explain herself.
“There’s someone I wanted to meet, you see.”
“Who….?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Yu Soo-Hyun tried to brush it aside and was about to leave

the shoot location, but the coordinator hurriedly called out
and stopped her.
“Please tell me who it is! I need to know who it is so I can

report back to the Chairman!”
Yu Soo-Hyun’s father was the Chairman of the XX

Pharmaceuticals. When his daughter told him that she
wanted to work in the entertainment industry, he came up
with a single condition. And that would be her being
accompanied around by a chaperone all the time.
Naturally, the coordinator was hired by Yu Soo-Hyun’s father.

Meaning, she was Yu Soo-Hyun’s coordinator, her manager,
as well as her monitor.
Yu Soo-Hyun belatedly remembered that her coordinator

unni would get scolded by her father if she left without
saying a single word like this. So, she turned around and
grinned refreshingly before making her reply.
“It’s Mister Seong Jin-Woo!”
Yu Soo-Hyun quickly ran off after that. The coordinator’s

expression was slowly filling up with worry as she watched
the distancing back of her charge.
“The Chairman will throw a fit when he learns of his

daughter meeting a man without permission….”
The coordinator tutted for a little while, before she began

recalling what Yu Soo-Hyun had said.
‘Wait….. Who did she say she was meeting again?’
Didn’t the coordinator hear that person’s name before

somewhere?
She carefully combed through her memories only for her

brows to shoot up in surprise. She quickly swivelled her
head towards the exit Yu Soo-Hyun used only a moment ago.
“Who did you say it was again?!”
***
‘It’s not here… not here, either….’
Yu Jin-Ho stared daggers at the computer screen while

chewing on his fingernails.
‘Not here…. It’s not here, too…..’
From a certain point in time, all thread forums and posts

slagging his dear hyung-nim off had vanished from the view.
But, then again, such a thing wasn’t that hard to understand
why.
His hyung-nim rescued rank S Hunters from Jeju Island. He
then closed a rank B Gate in double time and cleared up the
heavy traffic. And yesterday, he saved the lives of a whole
bunch of high school students as well.
So, it’d be far stranger to find someone trying to badmouth

hyung-nim now.
Those persistently annoying anti-hyung-nim idiots had been

mostly driven away into oblivion, all due to Yu Jin-Ho’s own
concerted efforts as well as everything hyung-nim had done
so far.
Even those rarer-than-rare negative comments that cropped

up on articles concerning hyung-nim couldn’t endure
against the concentrated cross-fire of other commenters,
and would eventually get deleted.
This was excellent news. Indeed, it was a great

development.
‘But, why am I….?’
Why was he feeling so empty right now?
It felt like the things he could do was decreasing one by one,

what with things going like this.
Click, click….
Yu Jin-Ho formed a saddened expression and operated his

mouse. In the meantime, the office’s door quietly opened up.
Jin-Woo was entering the premise.
Yu Jin-Ho’s complexion brightened up after confirming Jin-

Woo’s face, and he quickly stood up to bow his head.
“You came, hyung-nim?”
“Yeah.”
Jin-Woo looked quite fatigued. But, that was rather

understandable, really. He had been staying next to Jin-Ah’s
side from last night till this morning. He briefly stopped by
his home to get a quick wash-up before showing up here.
In case a rank A Gate suddenly popped up in the hospital,

he even left Beru in her shadow to deal with all the threats
coming from there.
Yu Jin-Ho asked in an anxious voice.
“Hyung-nim, is your sister doing okay?”
“Fortunately, yeah.”
Jin-Woo kept his answer short. He was trying hard to show

that everything was fine, but then, he was still her older
brother and couldn’t stop worrying about her.
Even the doctor in charge recommended that she needed to

be in close observation for the time being, as the mental
shock she suffered would have been quite serious.
‘I hope she can quickly overcome this….’
After all, she was a bright, energetic kid to begin with. All
Jin-Woo could do now was to cheer her on in his heart.
It was then.
“Oh my gosh!! You were telling the truth!”
The surprised voice of a woman came from Jin-Woo’s side. He

turned around to find Yu Soo-Hyun exiting from the
conference suite with a pair of very large eyes staring back
at him.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Yu Jin-Ho and silently asked

him.
‘And she is?’
Yu Jin-Ho replied with a pair of tense eyes.
‘It’s her, hyung-nim.’
Before arriving here, Jin-Woo had already heard the gist of

the situation from Yu Jin-Ho.
[“There is this one person that perfectly fits your criteria,

hyung-nim! How about meeting her, at least once?”]
Someone who carried around a Hunter licence but couldn’t

be bothered about the matters of the Guild, yet worthy of
their trust.
‘And, she’s even a rank A Hunter, too….’
Her rank wasn’t all that important, though.
In any case, the first impression she gave off was not bad at
all, perhaps owing to her clear eyes and her bright smile.
They shared quick and simple introductions.
“Excuse me.”
Before they could sign the contract, Jin-Woo decided to ask

her about something he was curious about.
“If you do this, your relationship with your uncle might get a
lot more tricky. Will that be fine with you?”
“That’s still better than getting mixed up with Yu Jin-Seong,
you know.”
“Yu Jin-Seong?”
Jin-Woo looked back to Yu Jin-Ho, and the latter

embarrassedly scratched the back of his head.
“He’s my older brother, hyung-nim.”
‘Ahh, that bad-personality older brother he talked about.

Right, Yu Jin-Seong was supposed to take over the Guild if Yu
Jin-Ho failed to cut the mustard, wasn’t it?’
Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head.
This wouldn’t have happened if Yu Jin-Ho did as he was told

and took over the Yujin Guild. In a way, Yu Soo-Hyun was
another victim of the choice Yu Jin-Ho made.
‘Because of this kid, many people are being greatly

inconvenienced, aren’t they….?’
Jin-Woo shifted his slightly narrowed eyes over to Yu Jin-Ho.

The latter formed a happy smile, not knowing what was in
the former’s mind.
‘……..’
While Jin-Woo was groaning inwardly, Yu Soo-Hyun

cautiously walked up to him.
“Uhm, excuse me….”
“Yes?”
She was blushing just a little bit. It seemed like she had
something important to say to him, judging from how her
eyes were quietly trembling like that. Jin-Woo also formed a
serious expression.
“Is there something you’d like to ask me?”
Yu Soo-Hyun hesitated slightly but after hearing his words,

she worked up enough courage to ask him. Her eyes even
began sparkling.
“Can we take a selfie together? I wish to upload it to my SNS

profile.”
***
The Chairman’s office of the XX Pharmaceuticals.
The younger brother of Yu Myung-Han, Yu Seok-Ho’s

expression was far more grave and serious than ever before.
“Are you telling me the truth?”
“Yes, sir.”
The coordinator nodded her head. She looked quite scared

at the moment.
“My little girl is meeting up with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
“That’s correct, Mister Chairman.”
“Can it be another man with the same name?”
“I was also feeling unsure about that, but this….”
The coordinator rummaged through her pockets and

cautiously pulled out her phone. Yu Soo-Hyun’s SNS profile
was displayed on the phone’s screen.
Yu Seok-Ho’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after
he saw the last uploaded image. Wasn’t that really the face
of the Hunter that kept showing up in the news lately?!
‘This, this is…..!’
Yu Seok-Ho glared daggers until he could almost bore a hole

through the photo, but eventually, he began massaging his
forehead and spat out a soft groan.
“…Huh.”
“A-are you alright, sir?”
“….Please leave me alone for a while.”
“P-pardon me?”
“Uh-huh! Didn’t I say to leave me alone?”
Yu Seok-Ho returned the phone back to the coordinator and

almost literally chased her out of his office. And then, having
made sure she was gone for good, he quickly switched on
his computer to read every article concerning Jin-Woo
online.
⸢[Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, what could be his true worth?]⸥
⸢[Propositions flooding in from every country in the world!

What will Hunter Seong Jin-Woo choose to do next?]
⸢[Chairman Park Jong-Su of the Knight Order Guild: “Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo’s abilities are impossible to evaluate.”]⸥
⸢[Hunter Seong Jin-Woo: Did the Americans contact him in

secret already?]⸥
⸢[Experts describe Hunter Seong Jin-Woo as the walking,
talking large corporation….]⸥
Public’s interest in that Hunter had gone through the roof

ever since the raid on Jeju Island. The clear indication of that
was all these articles found online.
As Chairman Yu Seok-Ho continued to read the articles one

at the time, the look of admiration formed on his face.
“Huh-uh, huh-uh….!”
Two hours passed by like that.
He leaned back against his chair as his fatigued eyes ached

rhythmically. He had been concentrating so hard that his
forehead was soaked completely in sweat.
He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief and put a

cigarette between his lips. But, before he could light it up,
he remembered something. He put the cigarette down and
picked up his phone instead.
Ring…. Ring…..
Click.
– “Is it you, dear?”
A voice of a middle-aged woman came from the phone.
– “It’s rare for you to call me at this time of the day. What’s
the matter?”
“Huhuh, dear. Do you happen to know who our little girl is

getting acquainted with lately?”
– “Excuse me?”
“I’m telling you, my dear. I sure have raised our girl properly,
haven’t I?”
– “What are you even talking about all of a sudden?”
Chairman Yu Seok-Ho was utterly sure of it.
Just who was his little girl, Soo-Hyun? Wasn’t she his
daughter who did not lack for anything when it came to her
looks, her background, and even her academic
achievements?
Even if he supposed that these two young people were

nothing more than just acquaintances now, it was only a
matter of time before they developed a far more intimate
relationship.
– “What’s gotten into you, dear?”
The voice of his wife coming out of the phone’s speaker

sounded puzzled now.
– “You hated the idea of a boy sitting next to our Soo-Hyun,

so didn’t you go and speak to her school’s administrators
every single year until her graduation to make sure she’d be
paired up with only girls….?”
“Huhuhuh. Did I really do that?”
– “Just who is she seeing that you’re behaving this way?

Stop building up the suspense and please tell me already.”
Yu Seok-Ho suddenly guffawed loudly enough to almost

shake the chairman’s office.
“You’d be just as surprised as me when you find out,

ahahahahaha!”
Chapter 147
“You will acknowledge summoned creatures as members of a

raid team?! Do you think such a thing even makes sense?”
Nam Joon-Wook yelled out at the top of his lungs.
Formerly a prosecutor, he now served as a member of the

National Assembly. No one in this country came remotely
close to this man’s ability to sniff out and latch onto a
person’s wrongdoings.
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui maintained his

silence as he sat on the opposite side of such a man.
Nam Joon-Wook was actually smiling inside as he was

staring at his current verbal sparring partner.
‘Indeed, even if you had ten mouths, you’d not have

anything to say.’
The victor had been decided already. No matter who it was,

they would say this was Association President Goh Gun-Hui
going too far. He must’ve known this too, because he
showed absolutely no signs of counterattacking yet.
‘However….’
Nam Joon-Wook was not thinking of easing up here.
His style was to keep up the pressure when the enemy was
on the back foot. He’d push his opponents hard until they
were driven to the edge of a cliff.
Veins bulged in his neck as he raised his voice high, not at

Goh Gun-Hui, but at the entirety of the third conference hall,
currently filled to the brim with the interested parties and a
cordon of reporters.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has barely finished creating his

Guild, yet you already wish to pass this nonsensical
regulation? If this isn’t the case of preferential treatment,
then what is?”
The Hunter’s Association, a supposedly-neutral organisation,

was actively getting behind Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. There
was such a rumour doing the rounds already, yet the so-
called new regulation was this nonsensical? It was no
wonder serious questions were being raised regarding this
matter.
Today’s hearing was convened in order to hear the

reasonings, but for some reason, Association President Goh
Gun-Hui was resolutely keeping his mouth shut.
‘Very good.’
Nam Joon-Wook sensed his impending victory.
Goh Gun-Hui’s fame had skyrocketed recently due to him

pulling off the Jeju Island raid so brilliantly. But now, Nam
Joon-Wook got to deal two powerful blows to that man, with
the recent high school dungeon break incident, and the
controversy surrounding the preferential treatment Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo had received.
Basically, politics was a turf war of sorts.

If he got to bring down Goh Gun-Hui, a man standing at the
opposite end of the political battlefield, then Nam Joon-Wook
would get to enjoy his share of the benefits sooner rather
than later.
He imagined himself dominating the front pages of

tomorrow’s newspapers and glared at Goh Gun-Hui with an
arrogant expression etched on his face.
“Please say something, Association President Goh Gun-Hui!”
Wuuong.
For the first time today, Goh Gun-Hui’s mic was turned on.
Tap, tap.
Goh Gun-Hui lightly tapped on the end of the mic to confirm

that it was working properly, and brought his lips closer to it.
“Just what is it that you wish to hear from me?”
Nam Joon-Wook’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘What a thick-faced geezer….’
He expected Goh Gun-Hui to start by offering up an apology.

But, could it be that the old man still had some things to
say?
Nam Joon-Wook raised his voice even higher.
“The new regulation you put into place! Is this a preferential

treatment for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo or not??”
‘So, now – how will you dodge this one?’

Nam Joon-Wook was waiting for a cowardly excuse but then,
Goh Gun-Hui went and threw a wet blanket on his parade.
“Yes, it is preferential treatment.”
His answer was short, but the impact it carried was

enormous.
Noisy, noisy….
Not just the spectators in the gallery, but also the reporters
and politicians were busy exchanging knowing or shocked
glances with people sitting next to them, which only served
to further add fuel to the chaos.
Of course, the one most surprised among them was Nam

Joon-Wook.
‘Did this geezer finally go senile??’
Goh Gun-Hui was supposed to deny everything till the end,

or start grovelling for mercy when things went sideways, yet
he came out and straightforwardly admitted to his
wrongdoing. However, his eyes were far too calm for
someone making a confession.
Such a calm and audacious demeanour only managed to

bring up a sense of an inexplicable nervousness in Nam
Joon-Wook.
Gulp.
Dry saliva painfully slid down his throat.
And sure enough, Goh Gun-Hui began speaking again.
“There is one thing I’d like to ask everyone that has

gathered here today.”
He possessed an overwhelming presence. As if everyone had
made a prior agreement, they all shut their mouths at once
when Goh Gun-Hui spoke up.
“An assault team comprising of 20 rank A Hunters, or an

assault team comprising of just one person, Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo.”
Goh Gun-Hui slowly stood up and swept his gaze over the
faces of every attendee present as he continued on with his
speech.
“If you were to accompany either one of those teams during

a dungeon break, which one will you choose?”
No one could offer up an answer.
Because, it was pretty much the same thing as the answer

already being set in stone. There was no reason to answer
back at all.
“…..”
“…..”
Everyone tried to avoid meeting Goh Gun-Hui’s gaze, and

soon, the Association President’s head stopped moving in
the direction of Nam Joon-Wook.
“….”
Even Nam Joon-Wook himself couldn’t utter a single thing.
Perhaps thinking that he got a satisfying enough reaction

from the crowd, a smile floated up on Goh Gun-Hui’s lips.
“Do you still believe the preferential treatment given to

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is unfair?”
A Hunter who could ably execute the role of an elite raid
team from a large Guild all by himself – Goh Gun-Hui was
now asking the crowd if they should hold back such an
individual with a regulation that didn’t even apply to him
anymore.
Nam Joon-Wook was about to say something. But before he

could, Goh Gun-Hui was a step faster and continued on.
“A total of 21 countries, including the United States, Japan,

China, etc., have demanded more information on Hunter
Seong.”
Goh Gun-Hui waved around thick official documents for all

to see.
“Every single one of them is hell-bent on stealing away

Hunter Seong to their countries.”
Goh Gun-Hui took some time to look at the cordon of

reporters, before shifting his gaze back over to the member
of National Assembly, Nam Joon-Wook.
“Our current situation is like this, yet are you really telling
me that you want Hunter Seong to remain in our country
even though you are not willing to do a favour this small for
him?”
“…..”
Nam Joon-Wook’s complexion was getting darker and darker.

He could definitely sense that the tide had turned against
him now. Unfortunately, Goh Gun-Hui wasn’t thinking of
letting his opponent go this easily. He kept his gaze firmly
locked on Nam Joon-Wook before throwing another question.
“Let me ask you this – do you wish to see a repeat of the
incident of Hwang Dong-Su abandoning us for America?”
‘Euhk.’
Nam Joon-Wook bit his lower lip.
As Goh Gun-Hui put the documents down, he was now

overflowing with a certain relaxed air, something he had
kept hidden until then.
Nam Joon-Wook knew what that look signified. That was the
look of the victor he used to make often, just as he was
closing in on yet another political victory for himself in
situations similar to this one.
Nam Joon-Wook gritted his teeth and tried to raise his

objection.
“However, you still need fairness in…..”
“This is why I’m raising this point right now.”
Goh Gun-Hui cut Nam Joon-Wook’s words right off.
“Honourable member Nam Joon-Wook, didn’t you move

house recently to a brand new apartment building located
near the Hunters Guild?”
Nam Joon-Wook’s face reddened so much that even a casual

glance could detect the change.
“What was your reason for changing your residence to a

location where the cost of the real estate is several times
more expensive than the surrounding area?”
“….”
If only his opponent wasn’t a rank S Hunter – Nam Joon-
Wook’s would’ve run over there and punched the old man in
the face. His own face was now in the alternating shades of
red and blue as seconds ticked on.
Too bad, Goh Gun-Hui also knew how to deal with an

opponent that was on his back foot, perhaps even better
than Nam Joon-Wook himself.
“I’d like to urge you to think about this carefully. If and when
another rank S Gate appears in our land, just who will step
up to protect your life?”
And with these following words, Goh Gun-Hui finished the

proceedings off.
“You will not be able to buy back your life even if you are
willing to pay hundreds of times, no, make that thousands of
times the price you paid for your new residence.”
***
Standing before a rank A Gate for the first time ever in his
life, Yu Jin-Ho’s bulging eyes were trying to look up at the
top of this enormously tall Gate.
“Heok…”
He needed to look really high up just to barely spot it.
Seeing how Yu Jin-Ho couldn’t close his mouth for the last 20
minutes or so, Jin-Woo began thinking that his own reaction
of seeing the rank A Gate back then was perhaps too
reserved for a first timer.
“Hey, Jin-Ho? Your jaw will come loose if you keep doing
that.”
“Sorry? Ah, yes. My bad, hyung-nim. It’s just that, I’ve never
seen a Gate this big before.”
How would he even react if he saw the Gwang-an-ri Gate,

then? Jin-Woo smirked softly to himself.
Yu Jin-Ho scratched his head as if he felt embarrassed for

being so shocked by the Gate’s size.
“Hyung-nim, will it be really okay to not hire any retrieval

teams or mining teams?”
“Nah, it’ll be fine.”
Jin-Woo summoned 30 of the elite grade Shadow Soldiers

that had been with him the longest.
“These guys will carry out those jobs.”
Yu Jin-Ho flinched just a little after all those Shadow Soldiers

suddenly appeared behind Jin-Woo, but eventually, he
began nodding his head.
“Aha!!”
These guys with black armours and their black eyes. They
always seemed to be overflowing with dense pressure
whenever Yu Jin-Ho looked at them.
With excellent timing, the employees dispatched from the

Association approached them from afar. One of them
happened to be a rather familiar face, as well.
“Good day, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
“Hello, Section Chief Woo.”

The Chief of the Monitoring Division, Woo Jin-Cheol received
the portable magic energy measuring device shaped like a
speed gun from one of his subordinates.
“Will it be okay if I go ahead and measure them?”
“Please do.”
Jin-Woo moved aside and the Shadow Soldiers all uniformly

took a step forward. Woo Jin-Cheol began measuring the
magic energy emission of each of the soldiers.
‘Oh my god….’
His eyes were opening wider and wider as he checked every

each one of these so-called soldiers. He thanked his lucky
stars that no one got to see the look of sheer shock on his
face due to the sunglasses he was currently wearing.
‘All of his summons are either rank As or rank Bs.’
Indeed, Jin-Woo had easily exceeded the criteria for earning

the raid permit for a rank A Gate such as this one. But then,
these weren’t all the summons Hunter Seong Jin-Woo could
call out, were they?
If the remaining summons all possessed similar levels of

magic energy, then…
The corners of Woo Jin-Cheol’s lips arched up.
‘All those people arguing over the preferential treatment or

not are simply idiots.’
He smiled and lightly shook his head, before turning around

to face Jin-Woo.
“I’m finished with the confirmation. There are no issues.”

Nod.
Jin-Woo nodded his head with a smile, as well. And now,

there should be nothing else that would get in his way of
starting this raid. That’s what he thought, but then….
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!! Please look this way!”
“Please tell us how you feel regarding the very first raid of
your Guild, Ah-Jin!”
“Was there a special reason for naming your Guild as Ah-

Jin?”
“What is your relationship with the fellow founding member,

Miss Yu Soo-Hyun?”
From just beyond the police line, the proverbial torrent of

questions from countless reporters were barrelling down on
Jin-Woo.
This was the first raid Jin-Woo’s Guild was about to embark
on. So, countless reporters camped out here since early
morning to capture this historic moment with their cameras,
and inevitably, there was no more space to even stand
around near the Gate’s vicinity.
If there was one thing different from other Guilds and their
raids, then that would be the employees from the
Association holding the reporters back, instead of a Guild’s
own personnel doing that job.
Jin-Woo pointed to the reporters with his chin.
“I thought you were protecting my information?”

“Yes, we are indeed protecting your private information, but
regretfully, there’s not much we can do about the locations
of Gates, Seong Hunter-nim.”
Woo Jin-Cheol grinned and made his reply.
“We will hold the reporters back, so you can ignore them
and simply focus on the raid, Hunter-nim.”
“….”
Watching the Association employees giving their all to fight

off the frenzied reporters, Jin-Woo thought that he could
momentarily feel the considerate hands of the Association
President patting him on the back.
“Please, express my gratitude to the President.”
“Yes, I will definitely do so.”
Woo Jin-Cheol bowed deeply and turned around to leave.

And soon, all those uninvolved had left and the only people
remaining in front of the Gate were Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho.
The former asked the latter.
“Are you really sure about this?”
Yu Jin-Ho gritted his teeth and replied.
“Even if it’s the ends of hell itself, I shall follow you wherever
you go, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho sounded so gravely determined that Jin-Woo

couldn’t help but let a smirk escape from his lips.
“Alright.”
Yu Jin-Ho was only a rank D Hunter. It was the same thing as
committing suicide for a rank D to step inside a rank A
dungeon.
Jin-Woo tried very hard to change Yu Jin-Ho’s mind, but the

kid insisted that he’d stay as his hyung-nim’s porter. In the
end, it was Jin-Woo who gave up first.
‘Well, I can definitely protect this one guy, so it’s not a

problem.’
He was thinking that the kid would give up on his own

volition after having a taste of a rank A dungeon. And also,
he figured that it wouldn’t be so bad to have someone to
talk to inside the dungeon as well.
“Okay, so. Shall we get going, then?”
“Indeed, let’s get going.”
The heads of Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho simultaneously swivelled

back after hearing that voice coming from behind them. And
that’s where they spotted Woo Jin-Cheol, his usual black
business suit now replaced by various armours covering
from head to toe.
“I thought you already left?”
Jin-Woo asked, puzzled.
“The Association President ordered me to find out if it is

really safe during Seong Hunter-nim’s raid.”
Goh Gun-Hui was planning to use Woo Jin-Cheol as a witness

if the issue with Jin-Woo going on solo raids was raised up
again in the future.
“Is that why you want to come with us??”
Woo Jin-Cheol replied as his face reddened slightly. It was

unknown whether that was due to him not being used to the
armour or he was embarrassed by the current situation.
“….Will it be a problem for me to accompany you?”
Well, the guy was just doing his job, so was there reason not
to let him tag along?
“It’ll be fine as long as you don’t try to hunt monsters.”
“My department isn’t called the Monitoring Division for

nothing, Hunter-nim. I’ll only monitor the situation quietly
from the back.”
“That’ll be fine.”
Jin-Woo easily agreed to it and Woo Jin-Cheol bowed his

head again.
“Thank you very much, Hunter-nim.”
“Well, in that case… let’s get going.”
Along with that declaration, Yu Jin-Ho and Woo Jin-Cheol

stepped inside the Gate, Jin-Woo following closely behind
them.
When he did, the System message welcomed him again

along with the familiar mechanical beep.
Tti-ring.

Chapter 148
‘The raid must’ve started by now.’
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui looked at his

wristwatch and smiled softly to himself. The raid in question
was, of course, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s.
If it was at all possible, he wanted to see for himself, but….

due to the nature of his job, it was simply not feasible, so all
he could do was to send in an Association employee he
trusted greatly as a proxy, instead.
He was getting all worked up already, thinking about what

Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol’s report would entail.
‘Ah, right. I shouldn’t be doing this right now.’
Goh Gun-Hui shook his head lightly to get rid of the

distracting thoughts. There were mountains of documents
sitting on top of his desk right now. They were practically
forming the towers of documents at this point.
Ever since the dungeon break inside the high school

happened, this pile of documents didn’t want to decrease no
matter how hard he worked every single day. No, they
seemed to get even taller, instead. That was how insanely
busy he was, yet his interest in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo didn’t
wane one bit.
If only his body was healthy – wouldn’t he have cleared

some dungeons together with Hunter Seong, too?
‘Huh, I’m also being hopeless, aren’t I?’
Goh Gun-Hui shook his head one more time and returned to
his work with a smile on his face.
And so, just how long did he concentrate on the documents?
Knock, knock.
He raised his head after hearing the knock on the door, and
realised that three hours had flown by.
“It’s Woo Jin-Cheol, sir.”
The news he was waiting for had finally arrived. Without a

single hint of fatigue visible on his countenance, Goh Gun-
Hui welcomed Woo Jin-Cheol into the office.
“Please, come in.”
Creak.
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after

he saw Woo Jin-Cheol’s face as the latter cautiously entered
the office.
He expected there to be no problems, yet Wool Jin-Cheol

looked as if he got dragged through a wringer, instead.
‘It’s not just anybody but Hunter Seong Jin-Woo we are

talking about here, so how come Chief Woo looks like
that….??’
His confusion only lasted for a short while, though.
“May I sit down for a little while, sir?”

Woo Jin-Cheol sounded desperate, so Goh Gun-Hui quickly
pointed to the couch.
“Of course, it’s fine. Do take a seat.”
He then got up from the President’s chair behind the desk to

settle down in the opposite side to Woo Jin-Cheol.
Plop.
Woo Jin-Cheol powerlessly sunk deep into the couch. He

rubbed his face with his hands, showing how tired he was.
Just what happened inside the dungeon?
Even before Woo Jin-Cheol could start explaining himself,

Goh Gun-Hui couldn’t win against his curiosity and started
first.
“What happened to you? Why does your face look like….?”
“Pardon? Is there something on my face, sir?”
“You look incredibly tired right now. As if you couldn’t sleep

a wink for the past few days.”
“Ah…..”
Nod, nod.
Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly nodded his head a few times as if

he could understand everything now.
“It’s probably because I’m just too shocked, that’s all. Sir.”
“Shocked….? Please, tell me more in detail. My friend, didn’t

you accompany Hunter Seong Jin-Woo to observe his raid?”
Woo Jin-Cheol lowered his gaze and slowly shook his head.
“That, sir, that wasn’t a raid. It was…..”
“….It was?”
Woo Jin-Cheol raised his head, shock and fear still writ large
in his trembling eyes.
“Sir, it was the scene of a massacre.”
The charismatic leader of the Monitoring Division, Woo Jin-

Cheol, often thought to be possessing an inborn heart of
steel, was speaking with a voice that trembled ever so softly.
“A massacre, is it…..?”
Goh Gun-Hui swallowed his saliva.
Woo Jin-Cheol replied without hesitation, evidently not even

thinking of changing or denying his description.
“Yes, sir.”
Was there any other description that fit what happened in

there? It was as the word suggested, a total massacre. Woo
Jin-Cheol didn’t hold back on anything and confessed to
everything he saw at the behest of the Association
President.
“The dungeon was a nest of Nagas, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui narrowed his eyes as he combed through his

knowledge of various monsters.
‘If it’s a Naga….’

Creatures that resembled a hybrid of a human and a sea
snake, preferred to live in damp areas, and experts of both
melee and magic attacks, capable of giving many
experienced Hunters a hard time – those points were the
Nagas in a nutshell.
They were also known as really tough opponents to contend

with as they moved around in large groups, even though
they were high-ranked monsters.
However….
‘But, someone of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s level shouldn’t be

having a hard time against a handful of Nagas going around
in groups?’
As if he had read Goh Gun-Hui’s inner thoughts, Woo Jin-

Cheol clarified himself.
“….I even felt sorry for the Nagas at some point, sir.”
“…..!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the scenes back then. When a group

of 30-strong Nagas suddenly made their appearance, he
even momentarily forgot who was next to him and tensed up
greatly. Nagas were dangerous enough existences to warrant
such a reaction from him.
But then….
“….The surrounding areas suddenly became ‘dark’, sir.”
Or, more specifically, he should have said that a massive

black shadow suddenly extended out from beneath Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s feet.
All the hair on Woo Jin-Cheol’s body stood up after he
realised that something big was about to happen. And
precisely at that moment, soldiers emerged above ground
one by one from the extended shadow.
And the battle – no, a massacre, commenced.
– Kiiiaahk!
– Kiihhaaak!
– Kiiaaahhh-!!
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures pounced

forward and proceeded to mercilessly rip the Nagas apart
into many bloody pieces.
“At least, those summons wearing black armours, like the

humanoid types and the High Orcs types, were a bit more
humane. But then…..”
The summons resembling bears and ants were far too feral
even for his tolerance level.
“Some of the ants even began eating the corpse of the

monsters. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo became so incensed that he
even physically kicked them.”
Woo Jin-Cheol began shuddering after remembering this one

ant that tried to sneak a dead Naga’s head into its mouth,
only to get discovered by irate Hunter Seong. It got
splendidly buried deep into a wall from a powerful kick.
Although, he still couldn’t tell whether he was shuddering

from the horrifying summons, or from Jin-Woo who could
unhesitatingly kick a summon like that into a wall.
Seeing the tense look on Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes, even Goh
Gun-Hui became extra tense as well, dry saliva gliding down
his throat.
“Were his summons strong?”
“They were really strong, sir.”
There was no need to even mention it. Soldiers resembling

humans, Orc-type soldiers, bears and ant type soldiers; not
one of them could be called weak by any stretch of the
imagination. But, the biggest highlight of them all was….
“There was this one summon with a red mane attached to its
black helmet.”
Woo Jin-Cheol raised his dipped head again and stared

straight into Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes.
“Would you believe me when I told you that particular

summon could shoot lightning out of its sword every time it
took a swing, sir?”
“Oh my god…..”
Goh Gun-Hui was feeling completely astonished now. The

lightning magic contained the destructive power of fire-
based magic as well as the speedy nature of the light-based
magic.
Because of that, only a handful of very high-class Mage-type

Hunters could cast such magic spells. Even then, firing them
consecutively was out of the question.
But then, a summon could shoot such magic all the time by
swinging its sword around?
Goh Gun-Hui could only shake his head in helplessness. He
definitely wouldn’t have believed it if it weren’t coming from
the subordinate he deeply believed in. But then, the
unbelievable story continued on even further.
“In my opinion, that particular summon should be above

rank A in terms of power, sir.”
“Are you serious??”
Goh Gun-Hui’s voice rose up higher.
How could a single summon possess powers almost at the

level of a rank S?!
Unfortunately, Woo Jin-Cheol guaranteed it. And he was

right at the peak of rank A Hunters too, ability-wise, so he
knew what he was talking about.
“If I were to fight that summon one on one…. Honestly, I’m

not confident of winning, sir.”
Indeed, if such an evaluation came out from Woo Jin-Cheol’s

mouth, someone with strong self-confidence, then it would
be no problem to evaluate that summon as a rank S.
“Huh-uh…”
Goh Gun-Hui leaned against the couch’s back.
He already had a good idea how capable Hunter Seong Jin-

Woo was, but to think, each and every one of his summons
would possess such a high level of power, too.
What a regretful thing it was, not being there to personally

confirm it with his own two eyes.
Goh Gun-Hui was getting shocked just from hearing it
second-hand, so how would Woo Jin-Cheol have felt as he
was actually there? Suddenly, it became rather easier to
understand the worn-down appearance of Woo Jin-Cheol. He
must’ve been slapped in the face constantly with one
surprise after another.
“However, sir, there was an even more shocking spectacle,

sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol carried on as if that was not even the end of

the tale.
“The ants…. they began ‘working’, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes trembled again as he recalled those

scenes.
Ants received pickaxes from the bag carried by Ah-Jin

Guild’s Vice-Master. And then, they proceeded to mine out
the Mana Stones from the dungeon walls.
Ants were also in charge of carrying away the mined Mana

Stones as well as the remains of the dead monsters. Woo Jin-
Cheol simply couldn’t tear his eyes away from the perfectly-
organised ants and their unbelievably fast working speed.
They were basically the incarnations of efficient ‘operation’.
Woo Jin-Cheol was deeply astonished back then, and he was

feeling admiration now.
“What I saw, sir, it wasn’t something as simple as a one-man

raid team. Not at all.”
No, this one man was capable of clearing a dungeon,

retrieving the remains, and also mining out the minerals,
too.
Woo Jin-Cheol was definitely sure of it. And that would be –
calling Hunter Seong a one-man raid team was actually
insulting the man.
“No, sir. That man, he’s actually an entire Guild rolled into
one.”
He was not a one-man raid team, but a one-man Guild,

instead. Technically speaking, there was that not-that-
helpful Vice Master too, but nothing would’ve changed even
if he wasn’t present, so Woo Jin-Cheol’s assertion wasn’t
wrong at all.
Goh Gun-Hui slapped his knee.
‘I knew it. My eyes weren’t wrong!’
A broad smile didn’t want to leave his face now.
Like how he had been anticipating it since the beginning,

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would definitely go on to become the
brand-new ballast that keeps the balance neutral in the
Korean Hunter community. But now, he began to think that
the youth might even go on to change the map of the
Hunters worldwide, too.
“And then…. we finally arrived at the boss chamber, sir.”
The story hadn’t ended yet??
Goh Gun-Hui quickly refocused on the tale once more. Woo

Jin-Cheol carried on.
Normal Nagas would be around two, three times larger than

regular human beings. But, he said that the boss Naga found
within the boss room was easily four-times larger, and the
pressure it emitted was incredible as well.
“Did Seong Hunter use his summons to quickly finish off the
boss-level monsters?”
Woo Jin-Cheol slowly shook his head.
“No, sir. He actually cancelled the summoning altogether,

except for those ants busy with retrieval and mining
operations.”
“What? But, why would he??”
Goh Gun-Hui gasped out in surprise, and Woo Jin-Cheol

could only reply with a stiff face.
“I was also curious as to why, so I asked him. I questioned

him why he would cancel the summoning when he was
about to fight the boss.”
Goh Gun-Hui was so invested in the tale that, unbeknownst

to him, he had begun leaning forward.
“And what did he say?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim told me this….”
Woo Jin-Cheol took his time a little as if to drag out his

unwilling memories to the surface, and cautiously opened
his mouth.
“If he relied too much on his summons, then his…..”
***
“….My instincts would become softer, you see.”
Jin-Woo spoke up and took a step forward as the pair of

‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ was grasped in his hands.
He didn’t even need to call out his soldiers. There was only
one boss-level monster and four others guarding said boss
creature, after all.
Jin-Woo kicked the ground and dashed forward.
‘Quicksilver!’
Even before any of the guardian monsters could react, he

slipped past them and closed the distance with the giant
Naga at the back.
‘Violent Slash!!’
Dozens upon dozens of silvery light flickered and descended

on the lower body of the boss monster.
Slice-slice-slice-slice!!
“Keuhaaaakk!!”
The boss writhed and screamed, and in the meantime, the

guardians tried to pounce on Jin-Woo. But he simply used
the head of one of the guards to jump straight upwards.
Taht!
And when his eyes drew level with the boss’s way up above
in the air, he swung his shortsword sideways.
SWISH-!!
“Kiiiahk!!”
The boss’s head was sliced off clean and it flew away. At the
same time, a new System message popped into his view.
Tti-ring.
[You have killed the owner of this dungeon.]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened at once from that wonderful

message.
‘Ohh!!’
He landed softly back on the ground and spun around once.

That caused all of the guard monsters trying to rush at him
to collapse to the ground at the same time.
Strangely enough, the System messages didn’t end there.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring….!!
Suddenly, he was inundated with a constant barrage of

mechanical beeps.
‘What’s this?!’
His fluster could only last for a short while, though.
[You have reached level 101.]
[Levels of all your Class-specific skills have risen.]
[Skill: ‘Shadow Extraction’ has levelled up.]
[Skill: ‘Shadow Storage’ has levelled up.]
[Skill: ‘Sovereign’s Territory’ has levelled up.]
[Skill: ‘Shadow Exchange’ has levelled up.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the

rising wall of messages.
Chapter 149
‘Huh…!’
He had been using his Class-specific skills constantly, but

they showed no signs of budging until now. But then, their
levels all went up in one go?!
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Jin-Woo’s heart began pounding really hard for the first time
in a while.
Currently, there were only two other people inside the boss
chamber, and that would be Yu Jin-Ho and Woo Jin-Cheol.
Since both of them weren’t the type to needlessly complain
about small matters, he decided to not to mind their
presence and summoned out his Status Window.
‘Stat Window.’
Tti-ring.
Along with the familiar mechanical bleep, all the information

about him, starting from his level to every item he was
wearing, and even his current physical status, appeared to
fill up his view.
Jin-Woo’s gaze stopped at the ‘Class-specific Skills’ list.
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skills
– Shadow Extraction Lv. 2
– Shadow Storage Lv. 2
– Sovereign’s Territory Lv. 2
– Shadow Exchange Lv. 2
‘It’s for real.’
Hearing about the truth and actually seeing it were two

different things. Jin-Woo clenched his fist tighter, especially
from the fact that the level for ‘Shadow Exchange’ had gone
up.
‘Nice!’
The Shadow Exchange skill possessed such an endless

potential but he was feeling frustrated by the limitation
posed by its lengthy cooldown time.
‘The description said that cooldown will change according to

the skill level, right?’
With this, his frustration should go down a little.
This was today’s biggest gain for him. He was far more
pleased about the skill Shadow Exchange being enhanced
rather than his stalled level rising up again.
‘Should I see how much of it has changed now?’
Feeling like a kid pulling the wrapping off his new present,

Jin-Woo accessed the information on the skill Shadow
Exchange.
Tti-ring.
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv. 2]
Class-specific….
….Once activated, you must wait two hours of ‘cooldown’

period before being able to use the skill again.
The ‘cooldown’ period will change according to the Skill’s

level.
‘…..!!’
Reduction of one hour!!
Just by going up one level, the cooldown time had decreased

by one-third. Jin-Woo could barely hide his excitement now.
‘One hour’s gone after going up one level.’
A simple calculation told him that there was a high

possibility of yet another hour being chopped off from the
cooldown time with the next level up of the skill. And, what
if he raised the level of this skill one more time after that?
‘It means, regardless of where I am, mom and Jin-Ah will

never find themselves in trouble….’
Just thinking about that made his entire body shiver. That
was the most important thing for Jin-Woo, after all. Maybe
his excitement showed up on his face, Yu Jin-Ho asked him a
question with a jovial smile.
“Hyung-nim? Did something good happen?”
“Mm?”
Only then did Jin-Woo realise that Yu Jin-Ho had come closer
to him.
‘I was too focused on the Status Window, wasn’t I….?’
He also could see Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol walking

towards this way behind Yu Jin-Ho as well. Jin-Woo grinned
and closed the Status Window. Even if these two men
weren’t the types to raise a fuss over every single thing,
there was no reason for him to look like a madman to their
eyes, either.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“That’s cool, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s wits had become a lot quicker after following Jin-

Woo around for a while, so he didn’t try to dig in anymore.
Instead, his attention shifted to the sight right next to them.
“Wowsers.”
This would be Yu Jin-Ho’s first time ever seeing an actual

rank A dungeon’s boss. This monster’s upper torso looked
human-ish, but the lower part looked like a sea snake.
It looked so nonsensically huge from afar, but now that he

got to take a look up close, it seemed even bigger and really
disgusting to behold, as well.
It was only natural that he couldn’t close his slack jaw after
seeing such a humongous monster.
‘I know that hyung-nim has entered several other high-

ranking dungeons prior to this one, so does that mean….’
Did that mean he killed creatures like this one every time he
entered such a Gate?
Gulp.
Yu Jin-Ho swallowed some dry saliva. For some reason, his

hyung-nim looked even more imposing and cool to his eyes
today. And he felt incredibly proud of himself, as it was him
and not someone else standing beside such an incredible
man.
“Hyung-nim!!”
“Mm?”
“I respect you.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
‘Silly kid.’
Jin-Woo stared wordlessly at Yu Jin-Ho, and the latter averted

his gaze after realising how embarrassed he was feeling
right now. Meanwhile, Woo Jin-Cheol next to them was also
stewing in a bottomless shock at the moment.
‘I knew Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s skills were amazing, but

this….’
To think, he’d be able to easily take care of a boss-level Naga

like this.
Other raid teams would begin tearing their hair out after
seeing this spectacle. Especially when they would need the
full participation of tankers, damage dealers, and Healers
just to barely bring down a monster of this magnitude.
‘……..’
Woo Jin-Cheol walked up close to the remains of the boss-

level Naga and lightly tapped on the monster’s scales. He
could definitely sense the steel-like hardness through his
fingertips.
Scales of Naga boasted amazing hardness and they were

often used in the manufacturing of all sorts of defensive
items, such as various armours and shields.
‘But, such scales were….’
Some part of the scales on the lower torso of the monster

were crushed and torn into pieces as if they were made out
of paper. That was the aftermath left behind by Jin-Woo’s
skill, ‘Violent Slash’.
‘Being able to produce such devastating destructive power,

while using nothing more than a couple of shortswords.’
Cold sweat formed on Woo Jin-Cheol’s forehead as he

observed the monster’s corpse. What a great relief that the
youth was their ally and not an enemy.
It was then, Jin-Woo’s voice came from behind him.
“….Can you step aside for a bit, please?”
Woo Jin-Cheol was too deep in his thoughts and couldn’t

properly hear that, so he quickly looked behind him in a
fluster.
“Y-yes?”
“I’m trying to create another summoned creature, but Chief

Woo, you are too close, you see.”
“Ah.”
Yu Jin-Ho had already moved to a far enough location and

was busy gesturing at Woo Jin-Cheol to come over there.
“M-my apologies.”
Woo Jin-Cheol offered an appropriate-sounding apology and

quickly stepped aside. He kept staring with great
anticipation, though. He had seen how the summoned
creatures were created during his trip here, but this would
be the first time seeing a boss-level monster become a
summon.
‘Could this huge thing become a summoned creature as how

it looks?’
Even Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes were sparkling as he waited for the

result. Even though he was subjected to two men’s boiling
anticipation, Jin-Woo was utterly relaxed as he activated
Shadow Extraction.
‘Rise up.’
The shadow of the boss-level monster answered the call of

its new owner.
Kiiiaahhh-!!
A hand emerged out from the shadow and grabbed hold of

the ground, before dragging its body out from the darkness.
However, the newly summoned creature was way smaller in
size than what the audience was expecting to see.
As a matter of fact, it was only about the same size as the

summoned creatures created out of regular Nagas. Maybe, it
was slightly larger, but that was about it.
‘Haha….’
Woo Jin-Cheol was so tense that his palms were soaked in

sweat, but now, he could let off a wry chuckle. This result
was perhaps an inevitable one.
How could a summon created from borrowing the dead

monster’s powers be similar to the actual thing? That would
be just about the right size, whether that criteria being its
actual power or the physical size.
Woo Jin-Cheol felt relieved for some reason after seeing the
summon and its comparatively miniaturised size.
‘Maybe, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s powers have a defined and

clear ceiling?’
Even if that was the case, Hunter Seong’s own combat

abilities easily exceeded one’s imaginations, so one could
never see him as an easy opponent at all.
Quite different from Woo Jin-Cheol’s thoughts, though, Jin-

Woo was shouting out in elation at the unexpected jackpot
he just stumbled onto.
[The Sovereign’s voice has roused the fighting spirit of the

deceased.]
[You have succeeded in strengthening the shadow!]
[The shadow’s level will start from 13.]
‘Nice!!’
Was this because of the Shadow Extraction had levelled up?

For the first time since Igrit’s case, the message regarding
the strengthening of a shadow popped out. Jin-Woo quickly
checked the new soldier’s information.
[?? Lv. 13]
Elite Knight grade
It wasn’t that surprising to see the grade ‘Elite Knight’ pop

up like Fangs before since this guy used to be the boss of
the rank A dungeon. However, its starting level was 13!!
Jin-Woo confirmed that level and could barely keep his

happy chuckles in check.
‘Is it because its level is so high? Its power is not all that
different from the original.’
Unlike the soldiers he had extracted so far, he couldn’t

sense many discrepancies between this guy’s stats and
those of the dead original. He picked up on the massive
magic energy hidden deep within its smaller body.
He was actually puzzled by its different size, but he could

make one hypothesis here.
‘Maybe, this is how it looked originally?’
That made sense, seeing that they were all Nagas, to begin
with. So, how could the boss be that much bigger than the
others? If it used magic like Fangs to balloon up its size, then
that made perfect sense.
His hypothesis was supported by the fact that this new guy
was ably controlling its own magic energy just like how
Fangs did, and also from its great reserve of magic energy as
well. That reserve wasn’t as huge as Fangs, though.
It was then.
[Please assign the soldier’s name.]
Just like before, the message urging him to name this new
soldier popped up to his view. Jin-Woo didn’t give it much
thought and named it ‘Jima’.
[Will you name the soldier ‘Jima’?]
‘That’s right.’
And so, a powerful new mage had been added to his Shadow
Army, as well as to his new Naga troops, as well. With the
extraction process now over, Jin-Woo absorbed Jima back
into his shadow.
Right on cue, the dungeon began sending out warning

signals now that it no longer had an owner.
Rumble…..
A faint tremor rose up from the ground. It was the signal that
the Gate would close in one hour. Yu Jin-Ho stopped staying
back and quickly ran over to his hyung-nim’s side.
“It’s time for us to leave this place, hyung-nim.”
“Right.”
Yu Jin-Ho took one last sweeping look around him and

smacked his lips as if he was feeling regretful over
something.
“But, hyung-nim. This is a bit of a waste.”
His gaze was now fixed on the corpse of the boss-level

monster.
“That thing would’ve fetched a handsome amount on the
market, you know?”
A Gate would close soon after the dungeon’s boss was killed
off. Meaning, one would have to take on a huge risk to bring
out the body of the boss monster outside the dungeon.
If you made one mistake and got trapped in here, then you’d
literally become ‘missing in dungeon’ forever, so to speak.
Perhaps that was why it was rare to see the corpses of boss
monsters outside of the Gates. The first problem being,
because they were so much bigger, transporting them itself
posed a significant challenge.
Of course, their rarity ensured that the price they fetched

was quite substantial, as well. Strangely enough, Jin-Woo
replied nonchalantly to Yu Jin-Ho and his wistful longing.
“What’s the problem? We’ll just take it with us.”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes opened up wider as he hastily asked a

question.
“Hyung-nim, isn’t that too big to take with us?”
Jin-Woo smirked softly.
“It’s fine.”
He didn’t know how strong his guy was physically, but well,
didn’t he have someone on his side who was way bigger
than that corpse?
‘Come out.’
When Jin-Woo issued his order, a former High Orc Shaman
Shadow Soldier decked out in a black robe made a
soundless appearance.
Shururuk….
Fangs lowered his head as his greetings, and Jin-Woo

pointed at the corpse with his chin.
‘Go ahead.’
In the blink of an eye, Fangs grew back into a giant. He then

began dragging out the boss-level Naga, which wasn’t even
half his size, out of the boss chamber.
“Heok!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes shook hard after witnessing such a

shocking spectacle.
‘Wasn’t that thing…..??’
Without a doubt, that was the High Orc Shaman from the
Hunters Guild raid not too long ago that Jin-Woo killed in
one hit. He clearly witnessed it back then.
But now, that thing was at least twice the size than when it
was still alive. And it wasn’t just its size that had grown
bigger, too. The emitted waves of magic energy coming from
its body when it grew to that size was far, far scarier
compared to back then as well.
Woo Jin-Cheol was genuinely astonished by this new

development.
‘What is this?! Didn’t the monster’s power drop when

turning into a summon??’
If that was the case, then how should he go about explaining
that summon created out from the High Orc Shaman?
Jin-Woo could create summons out of the boss monsters from

rank A dungeons, and he could even strengthen them, too?
‘How can this make any sort of logical sense…..??’
Jin-Woo asked a nonplussed question to Woo Jin-Cheol and

his slack jaw.
“Chief Woo? Aren’t you coming as well?”
“Ah….”
If one were to lose some of their lifespan through mental

shocks, then Woo Jin-Cheol must’ve lost half of his life here
today.
He had a mountain of questions he’d like to ask. But then,

he was actually afraid of the kind of answers he might get,
so he felt disinclined to ask them, as well.
Woo Jin-Cheol hesitated, but in the end, could only reply

with a tired look on his face.
“…..Yes, let’s get going.”
***
Reporters were thinking of leaving for early lunch but then,

their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets after Jin-Woo
leisurely walked out of the Gate.
“What the heck? Has he finished already?!”
“No way??”
He cleared a rank A dungeon in less than three hours?!
A big lightbulb got switched on inside the heads of the

gathered reporters.
‘This is a huge scoop! A jackpot!’
The reporters gripping their cameras tightly began flooding

towards the Gate, fearing that they might miss Jin-Woo if
they didn’t hurry up. Too bad, the Hunters from the
Monitoring Division waiting there quickly blocked their
progress.
“Argh, let me go! We aren’t going to interview him, you

know??”
“I just want to snap a photo! What the heck, will you take
responsibility if I get fired for failing to take a single picture
today??”
“It’s just one photo, so why are you all behaving like this??”
And just as the desperate scuffle between the reporters and

the Monitoring Division’s agents intensified….
THUD.
The sound of something heavy stepping on the ground

resounded out.
“Uh…”
One of the reporters dropped his camera in an utter daze.
Crack.
He didn’t even realise that his fallen camera was stepped on

by other reporters. No, he could only point towards the Gate
and stutter out in pure shock.
“L-look over there…”
Or, more specifically, he was pointing at the massive,

hulking giant of a monster stepping outside the Gate.
“R-run away!! No, no wait! Take its pictures first! Hurry!”
“Are you filming this??”
“Ah, yes!!”
The reporters quickly forgot about the physical

confrontation of a second ago and hurriedly began snapping
away with their raised cameras.
They were inwardly fearful of the monster suddenly

attacking them, but at the same time, their fingers
continued to move at a blinding pace as if they had been
bewitched by something.
Clickclickclickclickclickclick-!!!
Fangs was diligently dragging the boss-level Naga’s corpse

outside the Gate, but when he felt quite a lot of stares
landing on his back, he slowly turned around to look.
‘…..??’
And he found that, not just the reporters, but the police,
Association employees, and even the passersby on the
street stopped in their treks to look up at him.
Fangs was now suddenly overcome with embarrassment and

sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
Chapter 150
A certain man was sneaking into a large hospital.
There was only one reason why he was making d*mn sure
that no one saw him. And that would be because of the jerry
can full of petrol he was carrying at the moment.
In the past, one couldn’t find any sort of desire or drive

within this man’s eyes. But now, they were burning with
vigour.
‘So, you dare to look down on me, huh?’
He was already resolved to die today.
This man wandered about silently for a long while, before

finally choosing a suitable location. His steps came to a halt
in one of the hospital’s many corridors, although this
particular one didn’t seem to enjoy all that much foot traffic.
He began cautiously pouring the petrol on the floor.
‘You think I’ll die all alone?’
It happened one week ago.
He got p*ss drunk and wandered around the streets, before

picking a fight with some random passerby. And as a result,
he got beaten up black and blue. So, he ended up in this
hospital.
He regained his consciousness a bit later and declared to the
doctor busy treating him. He said, ‘I don’t have enough
money for the hospital fees, so might as well stop what
you’re doing and let me go’.
It happened then.
He saw it.
He saw the doctor’s eyes, looking down on him as if he was a

pathetic fool.
That d*mn doctor b*stard. This man couldn’t quite

remember the face of that doctor, but even after all this
time, he could never forget those eyes.
That’s why he made up his mind.
‘I’ll get my revenge on you.’
And that was his reason for seeking out the very hospital he
once visited as its guest.
He wasn’t planning to live any longer, anyway. So, he poured

the petrol all over this corner of the hospital, and then,
dumped what little remained on himself.
“We’ll all go together.”
His voice was thickly laden with spiteful rage.
Of course, this hospital was pretty d*mn huge, so something

like this wouldn’t even be able to burn it down completely.
However, he should still be able to take a few with him. It’d
be very good if a handful of doctors were included in that
‘few’, but if not, there’s not much he could do about that.
He already ruined his life through gambling anyway. But, he
wasn’t planning to quietly disappear like everyone else.
He threw away the empty jerry can, and after rummaging

through his pockets for a while, pulled out a lighter. The
moment his thumb spins that flint, this f*cked-up life of his
would come to an end.
“….”
He became expressionless and was about to press down with

his thumb, but then, an eerie breeze suddenly brushed him
by.
‘….There’s a breeze?’
The man felt something was off and scanned his vicinity.

This corridor didn’t even have any windows, so where could
have that breeze come from?
‘What was that?’
He tilted his head while looking around himself, only to

abruptly realise that something felt rather empty down
there. He lowered his gaze to his hand.
The lighter he held in his hand was gone.
‘….!!’
What an incredibly puzzling thing that was.
He wondered if he dropped the lighter while he was

preoccupied, so he carefully combed over the floor, but that
turned out to be a waste of time.
‘Just where did it disappear to….?’

Feeling utterly puzzled now, he raised his head and then
spotted a large, black something standing right in front of
his eyes.
It was an ‘insect’ with hands and legs.
The man was greatly taken by surprise, his eyes bulging out
until they were almost popping out. Before he could scream,
though, the ‘insect’ reached out and grabbed his mouth.
“Euph!!”
“Kiikiik.”
The ‘insect’ raised the index finger of its free hand and
pressed it against its mouth.
“Shush.”
This human shouldn’t raise a commotion like this. The

human female his king told him to protect was sleeping in a
room nearby, after all.
The man struggled bitterly, but he couldn’t even budge a

single finger of the monster off his face.
“Euph, eupphhh!!”
The man’s eyes now saw the ‘insect’ – no, Beru’s open
mouth slowly growing closer towards him.
***
Why did ‘it’ happen on level 101?
As Jin-Woo drove back, he thought back to how his skills

abruptly went up a level earlier in the day. Even though his
mind was occupied with something else, his hands holding
the steering wheel remained steady and controlled.
‘It’s not even level 100, too.’
He thought that, if something about him were to change

because of the level ups, then that should happen on level
100. However, his expectation was a bit off the mark.
His Class-specific skills all got an upgrade after he reached

level 101.
A few guesses fleeted in and out of his head, but currently,

only two of them held the strongest possibilities of being
right.
The first one was about what the number ‘1’ signified. ‘1’
meant a new beginning.
Could it be that, when his level reached 101, all restrictions

on his Class-specific skills were removed and he was now
free to upgrade them at will?
‘If that’s not it….’
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened when he thought about the

second theory. Personally, he’d have much preferred for this
one to be wrong, though.
‘Could it be because I got my Class at level 51…..?’
There was a possibility that the Skill levels rose up because

he was exactly 50 levels higher than when he got his Class.
Which also kind of implied that he needed to reach level 151
if he wanted to upgrade his Skills again.
‘…..I don’t want that.’

If he thought about his levelling up speed lately, then
indeed, he could only dearly pray that this remained nothing
more than his hypothesis.
Soon, the building with his Guild office came into his view.
Jin-Woo drove the van into the underground parking lot. He
was the only passenger riding on the trusty steed of the Ah-
Jin Guild, ‘Bonggo’. Yu Jin-Ho chose to stay back in the
Gate’s location, saying that he’d wrap up the proceedings
before going back to the office.
The raid might have ended, but there was still one more step
of handing over the recovered loot to the brokers to think
about. Since it was Yu Jin-Ho who had contacted these
brokers, it seemed that he wanted to personally take charge
of handling this matter.
[“Please, leave everything to me, hyung-nim!”]
Jin-Woo thought that he could still hear Yu Jin-Ho’s voice

filled with confidence even now.
‘I wonder, will he be okay?’
It was all good and well for a Vice-Chair of the Guild to be

full of drive and energy, but wouldn’t it be better still to hire
dedicated staff members for matters like this? Jin-Woo told
himself to search for more employees and walked out of the
underground parking lot.
But then….
‘Mm?’
He spotted a familiar figure walking towards the Guild

building from afar. And that familiar person also discovered
Jin-Woo staring back at her.
“Ah….”
Her steps came to an abrupt halt right then and there.
Cha Hae-In formed a shocked expression and began to

backtrack one step at a time before she turned around
completely, and began running away.
‘…HUH??’
Jin-Woo was utterly dumbstruck by what just happened.
The thing was, though – he could gloss over the reason why
she suddenly started running away after seeing his face, but
he simply couldn’t….
‘….You think you can escape from me because you started

running?’
Just who did she think she was dealing with here?
Jin-Woo was suddenly overcome with a streak of

stubbornness and pounced forward with everything he had
after activating his ‘Quicksilver’ skill.
Time slowed down to a crawl, and only the background

images seemed to move at a blinding pace. The distance
between him and Cha Hae-In decreased quickly enough, and
then he began thinking to himself.
‘If I grab her from the back or try to touch her, she might get
hurt, so….’
Jin-Woo lightly jumped up in the air, spun around once, and

landed in front of Cha Hae-In’s escaping figure.
‘….!!’
Her eyes grew super wide in an instant.
Her escape route had been cut off, and before she could do
anything else, her shoulders were caught by Jin-Woo’s
hands.
“Kyahk!”
And so, the foot chase between two rank S Hunters came to
a very anti-climatic end. Now that she was caught by him,
she couldn’t even bring herself to look into his eyes.
Jin-Woo continued to stare at her with deeply puzzled eyes,

before calmly asking her the important question.
“Why did you run away after seeing me?”
“…”
Well, he could concede a bit here and say that it was

possible for her to bolt like that. Fine.
“If you were going to run, then why did you even bother to
come to my office?”
If she wanted to avoid him that much, then she shouldn’t

even come anywhere near him, no? Jin-Woo’s pointed
question elicited Cha Hae-In to reply in a voice that was
smaller than a buzzing mosquito.
“My car is… still in your parking lot….”
‘Ah. Right. There was an unfamiliar car parked in the lot for
the last couple of days, wasn’t there?’
That day, when Cha Hae-In came to the office, saying that
she wanted to join his Guild….
After they ‘teleported’ directly to the Association’s
gymnasium from the Guild office, she forgot to take her car
back and left it in the underground parking lot until now.
‘Looks like she came sneaking back in to get her car back
because our Guild was supposed to be on a raid today.’
Too bad for her, she couldn’t have imagined that he’d only
need a little over two hours to complete the raid of a rank A
Gate. As a result, these two young people got to meet each
other again. She quickly tried to get away from him, but in
the end, was apprehended by him instead.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo’s wordless stare continued, and Cha Hae-In’s head

drooped lower and lower. He let out a helpless sigh and
slowly let her shoulders go.
“There’s no need to run away from me, you know.”
Jin-Woo spoke as he formed an amiable smile.
“A person’s mind can change all the time, am I right?”
Indeed, wouldn’t people lose their interest, or suddenly gain

interest when there was none, to begin with? Wasn’t that
how a person’s heart operated? There was no reason for
them to go out of their way to avoid each other like this.
“…..”
However, Cha Hae-In didn’t even try to refute him, her head
still remaining lowered.
‘Maybe, she doesn’t even feel like talking to me?’

It was possible that she was unhappy about suddenly being
grabbed like that.
“Well, then.”
Jin-Woo turned around to leave with a little nod as his

goodbye. No, he was going to turn around. But before he
could, Cha Hae-In hurriedly held on to his sleeve.
“Excuse me…..”
“….?”
By the time four, five question marks floated over Jin-Woo’s

head, she finally stopped hesitating and opened her lips to
speak.
“Can you free up some time so we can talk for a little while?”
Only a minute ago she was fleeing for her dear life, but now,
she wanted to speak to him?
Perhaps she sensed Jin-Woo’s flustered confusion, Cha Hae-

In quickly explained herself.
“Actually, Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim wanted me to pass on a

message to you.”
Jin-Woo’s expression changed once he heard that

unexpected name come out of her mouth.
“A message for me?”
Nod, nod.
Cha Hae-In’s head bobbed up and down.

“He said, there was something he wanted to say about your
powers, Seong Hunter-nim.”
But, how could that be? Jin-Woo didn’t have any point of
contact, private or otherwise, with Hunter Min Byung-Gu.
And their one and only meeting came around when Jin-Woo
revived Min Byung-Gu into a Shadow Soldier for a short
while back then.
The deceased Hunter carried out his job perfectly and

thanks to that, Cha Hae-In was able to survive. It was all due
to that man’s efforts that these two young people could talk
to each other like this.
But then, just when did he have the time to leave a message
behind?
Jin-Woo didn’t display his power until the Jeju raid, and when
he did, Min Byung-Gu was already long dead.
Something like that couldn’t have happened.
Jin-Woo stared at her with a disbelieving expression. Cha

Hae-In cautiously continued on.
“Your power, Seong Hunter-nim….”
But, when her words reached there, Jin-Woo quickly cut her
off.
“Hold on, please.”
Didn’t matter if what she wanted to say was true or not, this
topic didn’t seem well suited to be discussed in the middle
of the street.
Jin-Woo scanned his vicinity once, and then continued to
speak to her.
“Let’s continue our discussion somewhere more private,

shall we?”
***
Chairman Yu Myung-Han received the files containing

certain information from his Secretary Kim.
“These are?”
“They are information gathered from Seoul Il-Sin hospital,

sir.”
Il-Sin hospital was where Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s mother had

been staying until recently. Yu Myung-Han’s eyes sharpened
instantly. Without saying anything else, he began reading
the documents.
‘The nurse entered in the morning and she was already wide
awake? And Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was found right next to
his mother?’
There was another strange thing mentioned in the file.
The hospital staff recommended an in-depth analysis of the

patient’s conditions to be carried out as they were
concerned about her health, but Hunter Seong strongly
demanded for her release, instead.
Chairman Yu Myung-Han unconsciously shook his head.
‘That doesn’t sound like him….’
That man possessed such a strong filial love that he risked

his life and limb by entering dangerous raids in order to earn
enough money for her hospital fees. However, such a man
one-sidedly demanded his mother’s release, when he
couldn’t have been sure of her physical condition?
‘No, it’s the exact opposite.’
This could only mean that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had already
confirmed his mother’s status by then.
But, how did he do that?
The longer Yu Myung-Han read the data sent in from the

hospital, the deeper the frowns on his forehead became.
Everything about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was shrouded in

mystery.
‘The dual dungeon incident, his sudden Re-Awakening, his

mother’s abrupt recovery, and even his mysterious ability to
create countless summoned creatures…..’
Wouldn’t a series of serendipities eventually become

inevitability?
There was definitely something here. There was absolutely

no doubt about that. Yu Myung-Han’s sharply-honed senses
were telling him such. His resolution became even firmer
than before.
“Looks like I’ll have to talk to him face to face.”
“I shall send over someone before the end of today, sir.”
“No need for that.”
Secretary Kim was taken aback from that reply.
“Sir, are you planning to go see him personally?”

“Secretary Kim. Who do you think the man I’m trying to
meet is?”
“….”
That was enough to shut Secretary Kim’s mouth.
It was then.
Vrrrr….
Secretary Kim’s phone suddenly began vibrating. Chairman

Yu Myung-Han returned his gaze back to the files and gave
his permission.
“It’s fine to answer it.”
Secretary Kim bowed his head slightly and quickly checked

his phone. It was a text message carrying urgent breaking
news.
“Chairman, sir.”
Yu Myung-Han raised his head again.
“There’s breaking news coming from Japan as we speak.

Would you like to see it, sir?”
Secretary Kim wasn’t someone to get easily agitated over a

simple matter. If he was asking you about whether you
wanted to see something or not, then that was the same
thing as you needing to see that something immediately.
Nod.
Yu Myung-Han nodded his head, and as if he was waiting for

that, Secretary Kim quickly switched on the giant TV
hanging on the wall.
– Yes, this is foreign correspondent Park Seong-Woo
reporting. As you can see behind me…..
The real-time live broadcast of Japan’s most bustling

downtown area filled up the TV screen as the device
flickered into life.
***
Shinjuku, located in Tokyo, Japan.
A gloomy shadow was being cast on the busiest, liveliest

avenue in Tokyo, the one often referred to as the beating
heart of Japan. That wasn’t a simple figure of speech,
though.
Every single car, bicycle, and person – didn’t matter who or

what, they were all standing still beneath this massive shade
cast over them.
People began climbing out from their stopped vehicles one

by one. The road was becoming uncontrollably clogged up,
but not one honked their horns or yelled out in irritation.
It was as if everyone here had been bewitched by an unseen

force.
Every single gaze was directed to one particular spot.
“Oh, my god…”
“Dear Lord….”
There was a Gate so huge that it blocked out the sky to cast
an enormous shade onto the ground below.
The people below saw this common-sense-shattering Gate

that easily matched a regular skyscraper in sheer size, and
fell deep into the state of indescribable shock.
“….”
“…..”
The avenue once bustling with overflowing people was now

being gripped tighter and tighter by a silence so wretched
that it almost induced some of the witnesses to start
vomiting.
***
The atmosphere in the Japanese Prime Minister’s official

residence was rather poor, as well.
Slam!
The Prime Minister couldn’t hold back his rising tide of anger
and threw the remote control hard at the TV busy showing
the breaking news.
“P-Prime Minister!”
His adjutants hurriedly got up, but they shut their mouths
and sat back down once the Prime Minister’s dagger-like
eyes landed on them.
“Why isn’t the Hunter’s Association saying anything?”
The President of the Japanese Hunter’s Association,

Matsumoto Shigeo, weakly lowered his head. He had
become a lot more haggard ever since returning from his trip
to South Korea.
The Prime Minister’s expression hardened.
“God d*mn it….”

Something that horrifying had appeared in the middle of
Tokyo, yet the Association who should be in charge of such
things, were keeping their mouths shut?!
“A rank S Gate has appeared right in the heart of Tokyo! But,

do you think it makes any sort of sense for the Association to
not have a single countermeasure in place? How??”
The Prime Minister cried out in anguish.
Unfortunately for him, everyone present kept their mouths

shut as if they had agreed to do so beforehand. The Prime
Minister’s expression crumpled unsightly, like a man
carrying the weight of all the suffering found in this world,
before he collapsed down onto his chair.
“Be honest with me, Association President.”
He then pointed at the cracked TV screen.
“What will happen if that thing opens up on us?”
“…..It’ll be the end, sir.”
As he thought – the Prime Minister hugged his head and

muttered out helplessly.
“So, that’s how it is….. Just one Gate, and the city of Tokyo is
finished, is that it?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Prime Minister.”
“….?”
The Prime Minister raised his head to look, and Association

President Matsumoto Shigeo continued on with an
emotionless voice.
“I meant to say that the entirety of Japan will be finished,
sir.”
Chapter 151
“Somewhere…. private??”
Embarrassment began dyeing Cha Hae-In’s expression beet

red as she took a look around where they were. Jin-Woo’s
own expression hardened as well.
‘How come all the buildings around here are so….’
Indeed, they were now in a location where everything

around them was ill-suited for a pair of young people to
casually walk in.
Before this awkward situation could get any worse, Jin-Woo

quickly came up with a solution.
“You need to get your car anyway, so why don’t we go back

to our Guild office?”
“Ah, yes.”
Nod, nod.
He briefly thought that her nodding like that with a

reddened face was rather adorable to look at. But still, he
quickly turned around in the direction of the office.
“Shall we?”
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo began retracing the path he and Cha Hae-In took
and was reminded of the fact that she was indeed a rank S
Hunter like him.
‘Wow, we really did run far, didn’t we?’
Although it felt like only a brief moment for him, they

needed ten minutes of regular walking just get back to his
office.
The Guild office was located on the third floor. Jin-Woo

placed his thumb on the electronic lock, and the door
clicked open to allow them inside.
He was about to head straight into the conference room, but

then, he had to stop in his treks and take a look behind him,
at Cha Hae-In still standing by the doorway.
“…..?”
Jin-Woo stared at her with eyes asking “Aren’t you coming

in?” which prompted her to ask back at him, instead.
“Isn’t it too dark inside?”
“….Ah.”
Only then did Jin-Woo realise that the interior of the office
was pitch-black.
His vision wasn’t hindered by regular levels of darkness, so

stuff like this would happen every once in a while. As for
Hunter Cha, maybe she wasn’t as good with darkness as he
was.
Click.
He flipped the switch and the interior was brightly lit up.
She took a look inside the illuminated interior and
cautiously asked him again.
“There is no one in the office?”
“The Vice-Chair wanted to remain behind in the Gate’s

location, you see.”
“Could there be only two people in this Gui…”
Cha Hae-In stopped her words there and quickly shook her
head when she saw Jin-Woo and his expression that said,
“So, what’s the problem with that?”
“…..No, it’s nothing.”
Cha Hae-In was very quickly coming to an understanding

that the common sense of the world didn’t seem to apply to
the man in front of her eyes.
‘Hold on.’
Her steps taking her into the Guild office suddenly came to
an abrupt halt.
‘Doesn’t that mean there are only me and Mister Seong Jin-
Woo inside this Guild building??’
The light of tension quickly filled up Cha Hae-In’s eyes. At

the same time, she also realised that it’d been a while since
she felt this tense as well.
‘Maybe, it’s my first time since becoming an Awakened….’
How many men out there in this world were capable of

making her feel this tense? Especially when she was
acknowledged to be one of the highest levelled among the
ranked S Hunters, at that?
For some reason, the words of ‘somewhere private’ kept

repeating in her head and she became even more conscious
of herself because of that. Her heart was palpitating faster
and faster.
She began giggling then, suddenly thinking that she was no

longer acting like a rank S Hunter, but like a regular girl now.
“Keuk, keuk.”
Jin-Woo gazed at Cha Hae-In trying hard to suppress her

giggles and tilted his head.
‘Is it that funny to have only two employees in a Guild?’
But, then again, she was a part of the top Guild in South
Korea, so from her perspective, this arrangement must’ve
come across as totally inconceivable.
So, Jin-Woo stopped paying any mind to that and entered

the conference suite. He made her sit close by and settled
down on the opposing chair.
He started talking only after the air in the conference suite

felt a bit more familiar to both of them.
“Please tell me. What happened?”
Just those simple words were enough to change the

atmosphere within the suite completely.
“How is it possible for Hunter Min Byung-Gu to leave you

with messages for me?”
Jin-Woo’s expression was serious. He didn’t know her all that
well, but still, he got the impression that she wasn’t a type
to start spewing baseless lies just to get some attention.
That was why he became so much more serious now.
“…”
Either she needed some time to recall her sleeping

memories, or didn’t know where to begin her tale, because
she needed a bit of time before she was ready to open lips.
“That day…..”
Cha Hae-In finally raised her head and looked deeply into his
eyes. Her gentle eyes were now filled to the brim with tears.
When Jin-Woo saw her expression, he thought he could more
or less tell where she’d start her story.
She quietly spoke.
“I heard his voice.”
***
Cha Hae-In was getting sucked deeper into the unending

darkness, but it was none other than the hand of Min Byung-
Gu reaching down to stop her falling.
“Min Byung-Gu…. Hunter-nim?”
Min Byung-Gu slowly nodded his head.
Cha Hae-In had to confirm that it was him multiple times

because he was currently decked out in unfamiliar black
armour. If it weren’t for his uncovered face, she’d never have
figured out that it was him.
Cha Hae-In asked him in confusion.
“Where…. Where are we?”
“I don’t know myself, but I do know what will happen if I let

go of the hand holding you.”
Cha Hae-In was about to take a look below her, but Min
Byung-Gu hurriedly stopped her.
“Don’t look!!”
“Excuse me??”
Cha Hae-In got startled and she quickly looked up at him.

Min Byung-Gu explained to her with a sombre look on his
face.
“If you look down there, you might not be able to come back
up again.”
As he said those words, she got to read a certain emotion

that almost felt like a longing of some kind within his eyes.
‘No, it can’t be….’
She began recalling the scene taking place seconds before

she lost consciousness.
The Jeju Island raid.
The ant queen.
And then, the sudden appearance of a truly terrifying

mutated ant monster.
She sensed a scary something approaching her, and then,

the darkness came over her.
“Did I… Am I dead?”
Min Byung-Gu shook his head.
“No, not yet.”
“But then, what about you, Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim?”
He didn’t reply. Instead, Min Byung-Gu stopped her line of

questioning there.
“We don’t have much time left, so allow me to get to the

point.”
This was likely his one and only chance. If he missed it, then
he’d never be able to get this message across. Min Byung-
Gu’s expression became urgent, pleading even, as he spoke
to her.
“Please pass this message to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
‘Seong Jin-Woo….?’
Cha Hae-In could only briefly stew in her confusion arising

from that name unexpectedly being mentioned here. Min
Byung-Gu carried on.
“You must tell him that he needs to be careful with the

power he possesses.”
“What, what do you mean by that?”
“You must’ve noticed it by now, but I’ve already died once. I

fell to the bottom of this place, but someone pulled me back
up. He pulled me back out of this endless darkness.”
“Could it be that man is….?”

“Yes, it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Cha Hae-In’s eyes began quaking powerfully now. Even if

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was ridiculously overpowered, was he
really powerful enough to revive a dead person??
However, Min Byung-Gu continued to recount the

experience he had gone through without holding anything
back.
“Truth is, even though it was indeed I that got revived, that
wasn’t really me, either. I possessed my will and my
consciousness, but I was also prepared to do anything for
him…. It felt like I have become an unquestioning,
unconditional slave only existing to serve him and nothing
else.”
There was no reason for Cha Hae-In to ask who this ‘he’ was
in Min Byung-Gu’s explanations. She swallowed her nervous
saliva.
“I was scared as well, because the mere idea of serving him

made me feel so happy.”
Min Byung-Gu formed a bitter expression.
“You must let Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim know this.”
His expression then hardened into a sombre one.
“His powers are absolute, and it was incredibly scary. He

needs to know this, as well.”
However, what was even more horrifying than that was…
His expression now shifted to the one of sheer terror as he

recalled the memories of only a few moments ago.
As he stood up from the ground after becoming the new
Shadow Soldier through Hunter Seong’s command, he got to
see the welcoming cheers of the countless black-armoured
soldiers lining up behind Jin-Woo.
Their numbers were in the tens of thousands. No, millions.
As if they were faithfully waiting for the commands of their

Sovereign, the innumerable number of soldiers were ‘hiding’
quietly behind Jin-Woo.
And when Min Byung-Gu’s gaze met the eyes of their

general standing before them, he lost all his sense of self
and Cha Hae-In’s lying body filled up his view, instead. He
already knew what he needed to do by then.
Not only that, he also understood that there was something

else he had to do on top of saving her. And that would be
letting Hunter Seong Jin-Woo know of how terrifying the
power sleeping within him was.
In that brief moment when his mind was connected to Jin-

Woo’s, Min Byung-Gu got to see the true identity of that
power – as well as the extent of his true army.
He sensed that his time was rapidly running out and

shouted at her.
“You must remember!! The real army of Hunter Seong is…..”
It was then.
A blinding light came from somewhere above and enveloped

Cha Hae-In. Min Byung-Gu’s expression stiffened.
“His real army is….!!”

Unfortunately, his voice was buried within the empty
echoes, and it flickered dimmer and dimmer, eventually
sinking deep into the void below.
***
“….”
That was as far as Cha Hae-In could remember. Her

memories had become faint and indistinct like a fading
dream, but they somehow managed to return to her not too
long ago.
Jin-Woo’s expression was understandably heavy after

hearing her tale.
‘Her consciousness seconds before dying met with that of

Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s, who actually did die and became a
Shadow Soldier??’
It was a truly hard-to-believe story.
Was it possible that her subconscious mind created a false

memory with the stuff she picked up from the surroundings,
all because she received a heavy mental trauma after facing
the imminent threat of death?
Jin-Woo raised this point with her, and she replied with these
following words.
“Yes, I also thought that could be a possibility.”
Why wouldn’t Cha Hae-In consider such a possibility? That

was why she found herself in a deep dilemma over the last
few days, before she finally worked up enough courage to
tell him about the message.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in understanding. He then pushed
forward his phone towards her.
“Let me give you my number. In case you remember

anything else, please, can you give me a call right away?”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head.
“Yes. If I do, I’ll contact you immediately.”
Her complexion seemed to have brightened just a tad now.
***
Japan immediately sent out requests for help to the

international community.
As they had lost over half of their combat force ranked S,

this somewhat rapid decision had an air of inevitability to it.
Unfortunately, the international community’s attitude was

rather icy, to say the least.
Japan wilfully ignored the dangerous situation developing in

the neighbouring nation of Korea. But then, the Japanese got
all worked up about putting out the fire only after the flames
landed on their feet.
The international community hadn’t forgotten that.
The Japanese were left baffled and lost after the United
States, already well known for never, ever letting their rank
S Hunters work overseas, as well as the most powerful
Hunter nation in Asia, China, abandoned them to their
devices.
[The USA abandons Japan.]

[Will China do nothing and let the destruction of Japan
happen?]
[The Tokyo Gate: two days since its appearance. The

remaining time is….]
[What will Korea choose to do?]
The world’s attention began focusing on Japan; sensational

articles were being published every single day.
It was at precisely at this point that a lone Hunter extended

his hands of salvation towards the Japanese public being
overwhelmed by despair and terror.
His name was Yuri Orlov, a rank S Hunter of Russian

nationality.
In order to negotiate the terms with the Japanese

government, he invited over the related representatives to
his place. The Japanese Hunter’s Association President
Matsumoto Shigeo jumped aboard a plane taking him to the
Russian Federation at the first chance he got.
Yuri Orlov didn’t even bother to greet the Japanese

representatives at the airport and instead, received them in
the living room of his palace-like mansion.
“My name is Matsumoto Shigeo.”
A middle-aged blonde Caucasian man arrogantly greeted

back.
“I’m Yuri Orlov. You should probably know this by now, but
I’m called the best Support-type Hunter in the world.”
After that brief introduction, the two men settled down on
the opposite side.
Yuri Orlov had asked for all the related data concerning the
Tokyo Gate before this meeting. After getting his hands on
those files, he began to leisurely browse them.
And so, how much time passed by like this?
He kept nodding his head as he calculated the cost, and

eventually opened his mouth to name his price.
“Ten million US Dollars per day. You pay me the money

properly on time, and I will block the Gate for you for as long
as you want.” (TL note at the end)
Ten million per day??
The Japanese representatives almost flew into rage from that

outrageous price, but Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t. He raised
his hands and gestured them to calm down, prompting the
flinching Japanese Hunters to settle back down in their
seats.
“Looks like I can hold a civilised conversation with you.”
Yuri Orlov grinned, his gold-plated teeth now on full display.
“3.6 billion in a year. That money will save your nation. It’s
not even 36 billion, either. So, how about it? Will you save
your country with 10 million per day, or will you give up on
your country because you think that’s a waste of money?”
Officially, the wealth of the richest man alive was supposed

to be just over 100 billion US Dollars. So, 3.6 billion per year
was definitely not a small sum by any stretch of the
imagination.
‘But, when compared to the nation of Japan, it truly is a
negligible amount.’
Matsumoto Shigeo had come to a decision and opened his

mouth.
“We are willing to pay you that amount.”
“Very good. Then, let’s sign the contract right now, and my
signing fee….”
“But before we do that,”
Yuri Orlov was busy ordering his underling to bring along the
contract, but he stopped and took a long hard look at
Matsumoto Shigeo.
“….?”
Even though he was being subjected to that blatantly

criticising glare, Matsumoto Shigeo remained collected as he
carried on.
“Please, can you demonstrate your abilities to us, at least

once.”
Yuri Orlov heard the translation from the interpreter and

began guffawing out right away.
“Euhahahahahahat!!”
He laughed his head off until tears came out of his eyes. He

eventually collected himself enough to speak up.
“You think you’re in any position to get picky here? When

licking my boots and pleading on your knees might not even
be enough?”
It was then – two Japanese rank S Hunters tasked with
guarding Matsumoto Shigeo during this trip to Russia could
no longer endure this insult and shot up from their seats.
“Stop, you two!!”
Matsumoto hurriedly shouted out, but it was too late; the

eyes of the two rank S Hunters were burning in rage and
they weren’t backing down.
However….
Thud!
Thud, thud!!
The rank S Hunters did try to make their moves but, as if

they were stuck behind invisible walls, couldn’t even budge
an inch from the spot. They were like rats trapped inside a
glass bottle, only being able to exchange shocked glances
with each other.
Yuri Orlov cackled again while looking at the two men.
“Free yourselves if you can, alright? But then, you won’t be

able to move a single foot without my permission.”
Yuri Orlov was the ‘master’ of placing barriers. Not just the
two trapped rank S Hunters, but even Matsumoto Shigeo
couldn’t hide their shock from this development. The corners
of Yuri Orlov’s lips arched up as he made his offer again.
“For the price of ten million per day, I’ll block the Gate for
you, plus I shall add the lives of these two morons on top, as
well. So, how about it? Isn’t this enough to satisfy you now?”
His teeth reflected the living room’s light and glittered in
gold.
He had just demonstrated the power of his restrictions that

could tie up two rank S Hunters as if they were nothing
much at all.
‘Is trusting this man the best option we have at this

point….?’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s head slowly bobbed up and down.
“May I use the phone for a little while?”
“But, of course.”
And on the following day.
The name of Yuri Orlov filled up the news broadcasts from all
over the world.
Chapter 152
The first thing Jin-Woo did after he got home was to bring up
his Status Window.
‘Stat Window.’
What he wanted to check out was the newly updated info on

his Skills. His gaze scrolled past his current level, his Class
and Title, and eventually arrived at the Skill Window.
[Skills]
Passive Skills
– (Unknown) Lv. MAX
– Tenacity Lv. 1
– Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX
Active Skills
– Quicksilver Lv. MAX
– Intimidation Lv. 2
– Violent Slash Lv. MAX
– Dagger Rush Lv. MAX
– Stealth Lv. 2
– Ruler’s Reach Lv. MAX
Almost all of his bountiful skills displayed in the Skill

Window had reached their level limit and evolved into their
ultimate forms, or were about to evolve into one.
The level cap for a skill was 3. And when a skill reached the
level cap, the number would change to ‘MAX’ and stopped
rising any further than that. However, if he continued to
increase his proficiency with the skills, they would
eventually evolve into their ultimate versions. The gap
between the skill’s effectiveness before and after its
evolution was noticeably huge.
The skill ‘Dash’ had evolved into ‘Quicksilver’.
The skill ‘Vital Points Targetting’ had evolved into ‘Violent

Slash’.
And ‘Dagger Throw’ had morphed into ‘Dagger Rush’.
Even the passive skill that aided with handling daggers and
shortswords, ‘High-Grade Dagger Technique’, had evolved
into ‘Master of Shortsword’.
The result of that last evolution was something like this. Jin-
Woo summoned ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ out and began
manipulating it this way and that on his hand.
He spun the weapon seamlessly around his index finger

before letting it glide up to the palm of his hand. It then
smoothly slithered around to the back of his hand.
The near-acrobatic silky movements continued on for a little

while, before he lightly tossed the weapon over his head and
snatched it back in his grip. Jin-Woo slowly smacked his lips
afterwards.
‘What a pity that there is no one here to appreciate this.’
The shortsword felt like an extension of his own limb, and

that was all due to the passive skill, ‘Master of Shortsword’.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Skill Window while

repeatedly tossing the shortsword up and down.
‘So, ‘Intimidation’ and ‘Stealth’ are the only two with

realistic chances of getting stronger, huh.’
Regretfully, there didn’t seem to be much room for the

‘Tenacity’ skill to improve beyond level 1, where it had been
stuck ever since he got the skill. But, that was inevitable,
really.
[Skill: Tenacity Lv.1]
Passive Skill.
You possess untiring tenacity. When your stamina drops

below 30%, this skill will automatically activate and reduce
all damage received by 50%.
….Because, ‘Tenacity’ was a skill that only activated when

his stamina dropped below 30%. Obviously, he wouldn’t
endanger his own life just to level up one of his skills, now
would he?
Also, Jin-Woo had experienced a fair number of close shaves

after that passive skill became part of his arsenal. Even
then, it hadn’t changed from being level 1, so that could
only mean he’d need to go through an extraordinary
situation just for a chance to upgrade this skill.
Besides, Jin-Woo becoming far too strong also played a
factor here. Just how many enemies out there could
realistically drive him to a desperate corner now?
All things considered, he had no choice but to forget about

upgrading ‘Tenacity’ altogether.
He then decided to increase his proficiency with both

‘Stealth’ and ‘Intimidation’, the latter of which he hadn’t had
a lot of chances to utilise until now and was stuck at level 2
as a result.
Unlike ‘Intimidation’, which was rather difficult to activate

willy-nilly anywhere as he pleased, he could activate
‘Stealth’ even when he was going through his daily routines.
But, right now, Jin-Woo’s gaze was fixed to a spot up above

those skills.
‘Just what could this guy be?’
He was looking at the skill simply labelled as ‘Unknown’

found within the passive skill list.
This skill had been with him ever since he became the
‘Player’. But up until now, not even its basic information had
been revealed to him.
‘I thought it’d eventually disclose its secrets after a while,

but….’
Did this skill also require him to meet some kind of a

condition to be unlocked as well? Because it was labelled
‘MAX’ from the very beginning, he was really looking forward
to finding out just what kind of skill it was, but this….
A lot of time had passed since those days, but his curiosity
only managed to grow larger and larger in the meantime.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo continued to stare at the ‘Unknown’ skill until he

almost bore a hole right through it, but in the end, he shook
his head in defeat. Besides, what he really wanted to confirm
couldn’t be found within the regular Skill Window, anyway.
No, they were right below it.
Indeed, he wanted to check his Class-specific skills that had

all gone up a level earlier in the day.
Active Skill
‘So, what changed, and by how much?’
Jin-Woo took a closer look at the information on the skills,

excluding ‘Shadow Exchange’, which he had already taken a
gander before.
[Skill: Shadow Extraction]
Required Mana to activate: None

Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the
recently deceased lifeform.
The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on

the target’s original Stat values, as well as the length of time
since its death.
Number of shadows that can be extracted: 590/1,300
Level 2 effect ‘Boost’: Increases the odds of enhancing the

Stats of the extracted shadow.
Perhaps as a reward for such a tough levelling up process,

the number of shadows he could extract had shot up to a
shocking degree.
‘The maximum number of shadows is now 1,300?!’
As long as his surroundings were filled with targets for

Shadow Extraction, he’d be able to increase the number of
his allies by well over double the current size. Not only that,
there was the special added effect to consider as well, which
raised the odds of the extracted shadows starting off at
higher levels.
‘So, that’s what it was….’
The reason for the boss-level Naga ‘Jima’ to start from level
13 was most likely due to this ‘Boost’ effect. It wasn’t a
coincidence at all.
‘What would’ve happened if I possessed this Boost effect

before I made Beru into a Shadow Soldier?’
Without a doubt, he might have gotten his hands on an even

more terrifying monster.
‘Heh, and the wise old ‘they’ say that a man’s greed knows
no bounds, didn’t they?’
Jin-Woo smirked softly to himself and confirmed the details

of his other Class-specific skills one by one. The other two
skills had also received a lot of enhancements, and a new,
never-before-seen effect was added to each of them, as well.
A wide grin settled on Jin-Woo’s lips as he read the

explanations of his upgraded skills, ‘Shadow Storage’ and
‘Sovereign’s Territory’.
‘This is great.’
He closed the Skill Windows with a satisfied grin on his face.
There was no doubt that his growth had slowed down

recently. Even then, he still managed to keep moving
forward, and when he thought about the fact that there was
still more room for him to grow, his heart began pounding
even harder.
He wanted to climb even higher and higher.
‘I don’t know where the summit is, but….’
Every time he managed to reach and exceed his goals, his

heart was filled with this indescribable happiness, a
powerful bliss.
Jin-Woo returned the shortsword back to Inventory and

placed his hand quietly on his chest.
Ba-thump, ba-thump.
His heart issued pleasant noises as it continued to beat
steadily.
It was then, he abruptly remembered something else that

happened earlier in the day.
‘…..She said it was a scary power, didn’t she?’
He recalled the tale he heard from Cha Hae-In a few hours

ago.
Min Byung-Gu left a warning for him. He said that Jin-Woo

was in possession of a scary power, and he needed to be
circumspect about it.
‘Was he talking about the System?’
Jin-Woo also was scared of the things happening to him

initially as well. He felt fearful towards the System capable
of creating all these unexplainable phenomena around him.
However, his fears didn’t last for long.
He adapted to the ways of the System in no time at all. And

the System quickly became the single greatest tool he
possessed.
Sure, there were still far too many mysteries left

unanswered, but that was about it, really.
‘…..’
Jin-Woo’s gaze drifted towards the empty air in front of him.
“Just what are you?”
Of course, he didn’t get an answer in return.

“I mean, isn’t it okay to tell me what’s going on already?”
He quietly stared into the empty air as if he was expecting

an answer to arrive, but rather obviously, nothing came.
‘Inventory.’
Jin-Woo opened his storage to extract the black key.
[Item: Key to the Karutenon temple]
Rarity….
….has been reached.
Here it was, the invitation sent out by the System.
A week’s worth of time had flown by already, and only

around 250 hours remained.
‘What kind of answers will I find in that place?’
Half of him was filled with expectations. And the other half,
deep curiosity. His heart rate that quietened down for a bit
began beating faster again. Jin-Woo lifted his hand off his
chest.
His thoughts of doing everything he could during the

remaining time hadn’t changed at all. He picked his phone
up and quickly made a call.
– “What can I do for you, hyung-nim?”
Yu Jin-Ho replied in a cheerful voice over the phone. Jin-Woo

wasted no time and got straight into the main topic.
“Hey, Jin-Ho?”
– “Yes, hyung-nim?”
“You think we’ll be able to book every single high-ranking

Gate opening up in our area from tomorrow onwards?”
– “Just like back when we were booking all those rank C

Gates, hyung-nim?”
“Yeah, like that.”
Yu Jin-Ho thought for a little while, before replying back with

a bright-sounding voice.
– “Got it, hyung-nim!”
***
A huge crowd had gathered in the Japanese airport where

the Russian rank S Hunter, Yuri Orlov, made his landing, and
there was hardly any space left to even set a foot inside.
The corners of Yuri Orlov’s lips arched up as he took in the

sight of the massive throng of Japanese people coming to
see him.
On the other hand, the high-ranking members of the

Japanese Hunter’s Association bringing the Russian home
walked around with their heads lowered as if they were
criminals going on a trial.
‘The country lacking enough talented Hunters to stop a

calamity by themselves, so they must borrow the strength of
Hunters from another nation.’
Those words were what Japan used to ridicule South Korea

only a few weeks ago. Yet, the exact same situation was
playing itself out within the Japanese border now.
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo, as well as the

Association’s representatives, recalled their own past
indiscretion and couldn’t even dare to lift their heads up
again.
‘If only we didn’t lose our Hunters on Jeju Island….’
Matsumoto Shigeo bit his lower lip.
“It’s Yuri Orlov!!”
“It’s him, Yuri!”
The reporters from all corners of the world discovered Yuri

Orlov’s triumphant figure and began madly snapping away
with their cameras.
Click, click, click, click, click, click-!!
The Russian Hunter stood before them and formed a wide

grin as if to proudly advertise his gold teeth.
His entry procedure was taken care of in a flash. The first

request Yuri Orlov received from the Japanese government
was to assuage the fears of the country’s citizens. And he
agreed to do the request easily enough.
His nickname was the ‘Saviour’. This moniker came about

because he had blocked up countless Gates on the brink of
entering the dungeon break stage up until now.
As for Yuri Orlov himself, he definitely didn’t shy away from

this nickname which held the potential to earn him all the
wealth and fame in the world.
“Are you ready, Mister Yuri Orlov?”

“Of course.”
That evening, he was moved to a certain TV station for a live

interview. It was quite obvious that the attention of the
entire nation of Japan was focused on this broadcast.
Once the proceedings got underway, the interviewer asked

the Russian.
“How will you block the Gate, Mister Yuri?”
“In the same way that I’ve been doing until now, obviously.”
Yuri Orlov’s expression was overflowing with relaxed,

assured confidence. He raised both of his hands in the air
and drew a large circle.
“I’ll be creating a huge magic circle. Like so, around the

Gate itself.”
The screen changed for a brief moment to show the Gate in

Shinjuku. And then, the 3D diagram of the magic circle was
superimposed with the image of that massive Gate.
“And then, everything will be finished after I pour my magic

energy into it. Whatever is inside that Gate, they won’t be
able to come out ever again.”
Unfortunately, such a simple explanation wasn’t enough to

calm the fears of the Japanese people. The interviewer tilted
his head, looking unconvinced.
“Pardon me, but… is that even possible?”
Yuri Orlov’s brows twitched slightly.
“What is?”
The interviewer cautiously studied the Russian’s mood as he
asked again.
“Well, the claim of one rank S Hunter being able to block up

an entire rank S Gate is…. Shall I say that, it’s a bit hard to
believe?”
Suddenly, Yuri Orlov began smirking derisively.
The Russian Hunter was famed for his short fuse. So, the
interviewer felt quite relieved inside when Yuri Orlov
chuckled instead of flying directly into an enraged state. But
at the same time, the Japanese interviewer became even
more unnerved then before, wondering if he had
inadvertently touched that man’s reverse scale.
Fortunately enough, Yuri Orlov kept his smile.
“If I were to continue spending my magic energy to maintain

that barrier, then sure, even I wouldn’t be able to pull that
off.”
He wouldn’t be able to do it?
Gulp.
The interviewer swallowed his dry saliva.
With the Japanese rank S Hunters having effectively

announced their intentions to give up on the raid, if Yuri
Orlov himself also decided to forget about the Gate, then
there were no other solutions left for the Japanese people.
The Russian took his time and enjoyed the sight of the stiff
face of the interviewer before continuing on with his words.
“However, the thing with my ability is…. The barrier magic
circle I use absorbs magic energy from its surroundings to
maintain itself.”
“….!!!”
In an instant, the interviewer’s expression changed.
“If that’s the case, then what did you mean when you said
your own magic energy was needed….?”
“It’s the same principal as switching on the ignition of a car.

Once my barrier gets going, it will start absorbing the magic
energy and become an even sturdier and bigger fortress
wall.”
A certain ray of light descended on the faces of the

interviewer as well as the filming crew after they heard that
explanation.
Yuri Orlov’s leisurely voice was filled to the brim with

undeniable self-confidence. And as if that confidence had
begun spreading around like an infection, the Japanese TV
crew felt their fears slowly melt away.
According to his explanation, wouldn’t his barrier grow

tougher and stronger when there was a great amount of
magic energy present in the surroundings?
There was no need to even mention the simple fact that the
magic energy being emitted by a rank S Gate was absolutely
enormous. So, what would happen when such a barrier was
to wrap around a Gate of that magnitude?
It’d get all tied up by its own power, that’s what. Where
would anyone find a situation that better fit the idea of one
falling into the trap it made itself?
At this rate, the hardness of that barrier would become the
greatest in the recorded history of mankind.
Yuri Orlov pointed to the camera. He was probably pointing

at the unspecified number of viewers at home with his
finger. Thick veins bulged in his neck as he shouted out.
“I will save all of you! So, all you have to do is to remember

who is saving you!”
***
Beep.
The giant TV was switched off.
The President of Korean Hunter’s Association, Goh Gun-Hui,

put the TV remote down, but his expression wasn’t very
good at all. Woo Jin-Cheol standing next to him asked.
“What do you think, sir?”
“I can’t be sure.”
Goh Gun-Hui leaned against the couch, his expression now

full of worry. He was different from his Japanese counterpart;
he definitely wasn’t some low-rent villain who’d deride the
misfortune of his neighbouring nation.
Although, that didn’t mean he was willing to help them out

while taking on the harsh cost his own nation might have to
bear. He deliberated for a short while, before opening his
mouth again.
“I don’t know whether Yuri Orlov will be successful in

blocking up that rank S Gate or not, but….”
The eyes of the Association President Goh Gun-Hui became
a lot sharper.
“….But, I am well aware of what will happen if he fails in his

task.”
“…..It’s such a relief, sir.”
“…..?”
Goh Gun-Hui looked up at Woo Jin-Cheol with a surprised

face. Only then did the latter realise that his boss had
misunderstood his words. Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly waved
around his hands.
“I wasn’t referring to the situation in Japan, sir. But….”
Woo Jin-Cheol stopped for a second or two before finishing

up his explanation.
“Unlike how it is with the Japanese, I’m relieved by the fact

that we have a Hunter we can wholly place our trust in.
That’s what I meant, sir.”
Nod, nod.
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head greatly. There was no need for
him to specifically ask who that Hunter was, either. That
Hunter’s presence alone imparted such a sense of security in
him.
“Oh, by the way. How goes it with Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim

nowadays?”
Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly pushed forward a piece of printed

document to his boss.
On it, one could find the listed locations of all the high-
ranking Gates that had appeared recently around the city of
Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi province.
“Why are you giving me this, all of a sudden….?”
“Sir, can you see how many of the locations have been
circled in red?”
“Looks like it’s about half of all the dungeons.”
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly wiped the cold sweat streaking down

his forehead and replied.
“Ah-Jin Guild wants the raid permits of all of the highlighted

Gates, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“These…. All of them?!”
“Yes, sir. That’s correct.”

Chapter 153
Woo Jin-Cheol was among the very best within the Hunters
ranked A, and could be considered the core fighting force of
the Monitoring Division.
There was no one within the Association, save for Goh Gun-
Hui, who could win against him in a fight. He was that
strong.
However, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was capable of controlling

not just one or two summoned creatures, but several
hundreds of them at the same time, each one of them strong
enough to shock someone of Woo Jin-Cheol’s calibre. In that
case, a schedule like this one shouldn’t be seen as strange
at all.
However, why was he in such a hurry like this?
‘H-mm.’
Deep frowns formed on Goh Gun-Hui’s forehead.
If it were someone else, a different Hunter, then he’d pack

his lunch and follow them around to dissuade them. He was
even prepared to whip them until they changed their minds,
but now….
‘But, I can’t imagine Hunter Seong Jin-Woo getting hurt

inside measly rank A and B Gates at all.’
If he were to borrow Woo Jin-Cheol’s description from earlier,
than wouldn’t it be ‘pitying the monsters’, instead? Goh
Gun-Hui smirked softly and nodded his head.
“If there isn’t any serious problem, do as he wishes, please.”
From the perspective of the Association President, he was

thankful for the fact that there was a Hunter taking lead in
subjugating monsters all on his own. Especially when that
person was a powerful being who’d not get injured during
the process, too.
However, Woo Jin-Cheol apparently didn’t agree.
“Sir, I believe it could lead to problems.”
“You mean, his activity will overlap with the jurisdictions of

other large Guilds, is that it?”
“Yes, sir.”
There were three major Guilds operating within the Seoul

Capital Area: the White Tiger, the Hunters, and the Reapers.
These three Guilds took care of high-ranking Gates that

appeared within the districts they were in charge of.
But, if Ah-Jin suddenly butted their heads in among them

without notice and start expanding rapidly like this, then the
three Guilds would obviously grow unhappy rather quickly.
It’d be basically the same thing as old nails being driven out
by a new one.
‘They might end up in a conflict.’
That was Woo Jin-Cheol’s opinion and Goh Gun-Hui certainly

agreed with that. Still, a smile floated up on the Association
President’s lips.
‘I thought President was on Seong Hunter-nim’s side?’
Woo Jin-Cheol formed a puzzled expression as he asked.
“…..Did you come up with a good idea, sir?”
“No, not that. It’s just that, I can’t stop smiling when I think
about how a newly established Guild with only three
members and one combatant on their roster, have managed
to exceed the major Guilds and are already coveting their
territories like this.”
“Ah…..”
Only then did Woo Jin-Cheol understand.
“I agree, sir.”
It was Goh Gun-Hui’s turn to ask, that smile still etched on

his lips.
“Did Ah-Jin provide an explanation on why they want to do

this?”
“They said that they have a personal reason and wants us to

entrust them with the Gates nearby only for the next week
or so, sir.”
“A week, is it….”
During the Jeju Island raid, the Masters of the three major
Guilds ended up owing their lives to Hunter Seong. It’d not
be hard to get their understandings if it were only for a
week.
‘If there’s one thing that I’m still puzzled about, then it’d
be….’
That would have to be ‘why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was

willing to put himself under such a strenuous schedule’ – or,
at least, when viewed from someone else’s perspective.
‘It can’t be… about money.’
If he wanted wealth, then there were other ways. If he

negotiated with either the United States or China, he’d have
gotten his hands on astronomical sums of wealth.
However, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo decided to remain in South

Korea, and he didn’t even bother to bargain with any of the
Guilds, either.
‘Then, just why….?’
Goh Gun-Hui’s gaze was soon directed to Woo Jin-Cheol

guarding his side. The former asked as if it was in passing.
“In your opinion, why do you think Hunter Seong is trying to

clear this many Gates in such a short time?”
Woo Jin-Cheol thought about it for a moment, before

answering his boss.
“There is one thing I can think of, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui expected an answer along the lines of “I don’t

know” or “Can’t be sure”, so he couldn’t help but pay more
attention to this somewhat surprising reply.
“What would that be?”
“I remember seeing how delighted he was during the

process of hunting down the monsters.”
“He was ‘happy’ hunting down monsters?”
“Yes, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol dragged out the memories of the recent past

to the fore.
Even back when Jin-Woo was helping out the Hunters Guild
by fighting the High Orcs, he was carrying an expression of
delight as he cheerfully moved around.
“And he was especially elated when taking down the boss-

level monster, sir.”
“He feels delight at hunting down powerful monsters, is

it….”
Goh Gun-Hui remembered listening to Jin-Woo saying

something similar in the past.
[“I wish to fight against the monsters.”]
And ever since he made that declaration, he had been

diligently keeping his promise.
‘What an interesting fellow he is.’
That man was certainly a lot exceptional than being merely

interesting, too.
It was then, the office of the Association President was

suddenly filled with the noisy ring of the telephone.
– “President, sir.”
It was a call from one of his adjutants.
“What’s going on?”

– “There’s a call from the American Hunter Bureau waiting
for you, sir.”
“From America?”
Not only that, from the Hunter Bureau, too? Goh Gun-Hui
tilted his head slightly.
‘Why would the Hunter Bureau contact me, the President of

the Korean Hunter’s Association?’
A country like the United States wouldn’t request South

Korea for cooperation, so what could this possibly be about?
“Connect me through.”
The call was connected right away. It didn’t even take one,
maybe two seconds for the voice coming out from the
phone’s receiver to change.
– “Hello, this is Adam White from the Hunter Bureau

speaking.”
“Hello. This is Goh Gun-Hui from the Korean Hunter’s

Association.”
The basic language for any aspiring businessman was

English. And unsurprisingly, fluent English flowed out from
Goh Gun-Hui’s mouth. He was far more confident of this
language then he was with Japanese, the latter of which he
only dabbled with when he was much younger.
“What business does America’s Hunter Bureau have with

us?”
Adam White didn’t tarry and got right to the point.

– “We’re planning to hold an event early next month and
wish to invite some of the most prominent Hunters from
throughout the world, Mister Goh.”
“…..Okay, so?”
– “And we’d like to have Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim as

Korea’s representative.”
***
Before he got going properly with his raids, Jin-Woo searched

for the appropriate Guild first. He needed a Guild that could
painlessly handle the disposal of various loot he’d get from
the high ranking dungeons.
‘I mean, it’s not like I’m planning to clear a raid once every
few days here, is it….?’
It’d be quite tough for a newbie Vice-Chair to get through

the tightly-packed raid schedule all alone, after all. Besides,
he thought that it’d be far more advantageous to form a
partnership with another Guild and work together with
them, rather than letting the middlemen deal with the loot
every single time.
‘The question is, who should I go with?’
He initially thought of the White Tiger, which he had

interacted with often in the past, or with the Hunters Guild
where Cha Hae-In was a member, but in the end, he settled
on the Knight Order, instead.
He only had one reason for doing so. And that would be
because they had worked together recently.
Also, some part of his decision was influenced by the fact
that one was located in Seoul while the other one was in
Busan, and therefore their activities wouldn’t overlap with
each other.
Jin-Woo made his call during the early evening that day.
Chairman of the Knight Order Guild Park Jong-Su was lying

on the couch in his living room, busy giggling away while
watching the TV.
Vrrr…. Vrrr…..
He picked up his vibrating phone resting on the couch’s

armrest without giving too much thought.
‘Mm??’
[Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim]
But then, he confirmed who the caller was and his eyes
rapidly grew wider. He shot up from his lying-down position
and quickly answered his phone.
“Hunter-nim? Is that you?”
– “Hello, this is Seong Jin-Woo from Ah-Jin speaking.”
“Ah, yes. It’s Park Jong-Su from the Knight Order.”
– “Do you have time to discuss something important?”
“Of course.”
Park Jong-Su’s complexion gradually brightened as he heard

Jin-Woo’s explanation.
To be honest, Park Jin-Su had been feeling dejected lately,
after his plans of building a very close relationship with Jin-
Woo went down the crapper after the regulation had
changed overnight.
Combining the know-how of the Knight Order Guild and the

strength of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo – what a dang waste of
time….
Even his trusted Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae looked severely

disappointed when the whole thing went sideways pretty
quickly.
But then, what kind of jackpot was this? A phone call he

didn’t even expect came his way all on its own volition?
Forming a tie with a strong Guild, nay, a Hunter, was

probably one of the most important acts for any Guild out
there.
“Yes, yes! There will be no problem at all.”
A bright smile didn’t want to leave Park Jong-Su’s face as he

continued to chat away on the phone.
“Leave everything to us.”
The matter of processing various loot from a dungeon was

not that hard for the Knight Order Guild and their extensive
prior experience.
Normally, the Guild’s processing team would be doing

nothing but sucking on their thumbs when there was no raid
in sight. So, how good would it be to utilise them in this
situation?
The smile grew with wider as Park Jong-Su spoke up.

“We’ll see you tomorrow!”
***
The lunch box Mom packed was indeed quite delicious. Even
if the location for their meal turned out to be in the middle
of a dungeon overflowing with monsters.
Yu Jin-Ho raised his head and spoke, his mouth still full of
chow.
“With us being like this, I can’t help but think back to how
we were clearing all those rank C dungeons, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo smirked and replied back.
“Hey, finish chewing your food first before talking, alright?”
“Ah, my bad, hyung-nim.”
It wasn’t as if Jin-Woo couldn’t understand what Yu Jin-Ho

was talking about, though.
In the past few days, they kept themselves real busy by

raiding every single Gate they could book, one after the
other, with barely any rest in between. The only thing that
had changed since then would be that, rather than rank C
dungeons, they were raiding rank B or higher dungeons this
time.
And, if he were to think of yet another difference, then that

would be….
‘…….’
Igrit met Jin-Woo’s gaze and bowed slightly in a dignified

manner.
‘Well, I now have a lookout during the meal times? Is that
about it?’
It didn’t matter if he had one or not, though. Because of his

Perception Stat, he didn’t have to concentrate hard to sense
all the movements within the interior of the dungeons.
Meaning, he could deal with any monster daring to approach
him, even with his eyes closed.
It was just that, he didn’t want to be disturbed during his

mealtime, and also, wanted to decrease Yu Jin-Ho’s fears a
bit so he had a lookout like this.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the other side.
‘……’
Iron also met his owner’s gaze and powerfully pounded on

his chest as if to say “Leave everything to me!”
Thud, thud.
Metallic thuds filled the interior of the cavern. Jin-Woo wryly

shook his head.
‘It’s a problem that this guy’s enthusiasm still gets the

better of him.’
Yu Jin-Ho looked in the direction of the noise, before asking

Jin-Woo a question out of the blue.
“Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“Can’t your summons act on their own?”
“Well, yeah. More or less.”

Hunter Min Byung-Gu did say that, didn’t he? He said that
each of the Shadow Soldiers possessed their own ‘ego’.
‘Not sure how much of that story I can believe, though.’
Whatever the case may be – Yu Jin-Ho continued on with his

question.
“Doesn’t that mean it’s fine to let the summons clear the
raids by themselves during when we are having a meal, or
otherwise can’t move around for some reason, hyung-nim?”
“Nope, that I can’t do.”
The amount of experience points he’d earn decreased when

the distance between himself and the soldiers increased. He
couldn’t really explain what the experience points were and
all that to Yu Jin-Ho, though, so Jin-Woo simply formed a
sombre, serious expression and replied.
“These guys, who knows what they will do when I’m not
looking?”
“Hiiiick?!”
Jin-Woo thought that he could hear the noise of Yu Jin-Ho’s

falling appetite in real time. That’s how far he was prepared
to take that joke, however.
‘Okay, should I try ‘that’ one more time?’
Jin-Woo finished his meal and quietly put the spoon down.
[Skill: Shadow Storage Lv. 2]

Stores the shadow soldiers inside the summoner’s shadow.
The stored soldiers can be summoned back into the open or

absorbed back at any time the summoner chooses to.
Number of stored shadow soldiers: 840/840
Level 2 effect ‘Sensory Sharing’: You can share your sensory

perception with a single designated Shadow Soldier from
your storage.
The newly added effect to the skill ‘Shadow Storage’ was

called ‘Sensory Sharing’. It was a rather unique ability that
let the summoner, him, feel what a Shadow Soldier was
sensing.
Since it was possible to choose a Shadow Soldier far away

from him and see what was going on around there, he ended
up using it rather often in the last couple of days. Such as
now.
Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes.
‘Sensory Sharing.’
He picked up on the signal sent out by the Shadow Soldiers

spread all over outside the dungeon, within the nation of
South Korea.
‘I sure have spread around quite a few, haven’t I?’
Without worrying about it too much, he selected one of them

to see. Quite coincidentally, it just so happened to be a
soldier hidden with Hunter Cha’s shadow. And when he
connected with that soldier…
Splash…..
….He heard the sounds of water falling on the floor.
‘It shouldn’t be raining today, so what’s up with all the water

noi…..?!’
His confusion lasted only for a brief second.
Jin-Woo’s eyelids shot up open in haste as soon as he saw

the pale nude figure enshrouded in the rising steam.
Yu Jin-Ho was taken by surprise alongside him.
“Hyung-nim?? What happened? Were you taking a nap just

now?”
“….No, it’s nothing.”
He inwardly told himself to buy Hunter Cha a hearty meal as

soon as possible as a gesture of apology.
“Oh, right. Hyung-nim, have you heard the news?”
“Which one?”
“About that massive rank S Gate in Japan’s Shinjuku, hyung-

nim. I heard that the dungeon break should be happening
sometime around tomorrow.”
Did the time move along that much already? Jin-Woo slowly
nodded his head.
‘That means, it’s already been six days since we began

clearing these high-ranking Gates.’
During these past six days, Jin-Woo hadn’t been static at all.
Although moving at a snail’s pace, his experience points
were steadily going up. The result of that being his level
having moved to 103 from 101.
That was his reward for focusing on levelling up while

forgetting about everything else.
Jin-Woo summoned the black key stored within his Inventory.
Shururuk…
The black key materialised on his palm.
Rarity…..
….has been reached.
‘One more day left.’
Jin-Woo wordlessly grasped the key tightly. His heart began

beating faster every time he looked at this thing.
“….Hey, don’t make a move.”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho had been sneaking glances at both Iron and Igrit

more and more while barely managing to eat his meal, after
Jin-Woo cracked that joke. However, he nearly jolted
upwards after Jin-Woo suddenly issued that order.
“I wasn’t talking to you, though.”
Actually, Jin-Woo was giving an order to his soldiers. The

Shadow Soldiers were about to make a move, but when they
heard Jin-Woo’s order, they all stopped at the same time.
“Kururururu….”
“Kururuk.”
From the other side of the cavern, beasts baring their fangs
walked out into the view while carrying weapons like sickles
and longswords. Jin-Woo slowly stood up from his spot as he
kept his gaze locked on these monsters.
There was still one more day to go.
‘Right, I still have one more day to kill.’
He summoned the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ from his

Inventory and smiled as he gripped the weapon tightly.
***
The evening before the dungeon break.
A massive magic circle was drawn within Tokyo’s Shinjuku

district, according to Yuri Orlov’s instructions. Its scale was
truly enormous; completely unprecedented in history.
All the residents within the area had been evacuated by

now. Yuri Orlov remained in the location to inspect the
barrier’s formation right up until the end.
The Japanese representatives quietly watched him, not even

daring to swallow their saliva. Every single word the Russian
said, every little action he took, all of them were under close
scrutiny.
Yuri Orlov frowned and rubbed his chin over and over again,
before finally opening his mouth.
“…..This is so weird, you know?”
The interpreter’s eyes opened wider.
“I beg your pardon? Is there some kind of a problem with the

formation?”
“No, it’s not that.”
The magic circle drawn was perfect. Without a doubt, he was

confident of having laid down the greatest masterpiece of
his life down here.
No, the barrier formation wasn’t the weird one here.
“It’s like, there’s someone nearby, watching us.”
“Ehh?”
If that weren’t the case, why would Yuri Orlov’s heart

tremble non-stop like this? The Russian opened his eyes
wider and scanned his vicinity, before angrily shouting out
at the top of his voice.
“Who the hell are you? Where are you??”
Too bad, no one replied back to him. No, only the echoes of
his voice reverberating within the deserted streets came
back to haunt him.
“…..”
One of the Japanese representatives wiped the cold sweat

off his forehead and forced out a smile.
“Mister Orlov, the dungeon break is happening tomorrow so

there shouldn’t be any foolhardy person waiting around
here. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Yuri Orlov snorted out derisively.
“When did I say it was a person?”
“Pardon??”
Yuri Orlov looked at the Japanese representative getting

paler by the second with disproving eyes, before tilting his
head again.
“Was I mistaken….?”
Unfortunately for him, there indeed was the figure of a

person staring at him from the roof of a tall building far
away.
‘He’s got a pretty good perception.’
But, then again – when considering where Yuri Orlov drew

his powers from, that wouldn’t be such a strange thing.
‘More importantly…..’
The mysterious man’s gaze shifted over to the rank S Gate.

The silence was so eerie that it induced a certain disgust in
all who looked as it circulated around that giant Gate.
‘……’
The man slowly pulled back the hood covering his face. It
revealed the face of an Oriental man in his late thirties. The
unkempt and bushy beard covering most of his face told the
man’s identity rather clearly.
He was none other than Seong Il-Hwan.
He continued to gaze at the massive Gate with a regretful

expression, before pulling the hood back up.
‘Finally… it’s starting.’
Everything was moving according to the schedule.

Chapter 154
The reporters from all over the world descended on Japan.
If there was one thing in particular about that, then it was

that most of those reporters were war correspondents used
to covering various conflicts happening across the globe.
This was as good a proof as any that the event about to

unfold here was as dangerous as an actual war.
The security cordon built around the Gate was incredibly

heavy. Reporters raised their cameras and pointed towards
the building-sized Gate and the barrier formation drawn
around it, as well as the army of men and women
surrounding them both.
The whole location was chock-full with palpable tension only

seen just before the outbreak of war.
The assistant reporter swallowed his nervous saliva and

asked his boss, the famed English war correspondent
William Bell.
“Modern firearms don’t work against monsters, so why are

the army present here?”
William Bell replied, while he continued to capture each and

every determined face of the soldiers present today with his
camera.
“To buy us more time.”

“Excuse me?!”
“Their job is to draw the attention of the monsters so the

Hunters can get ready for their counteroffensive. Also, to act
as baits, so those higher-ups spectating from over there will
find enough time to evacuate from this place, too”
Click.
The next person’s face to be captured in William Bell’s lens

was the President of the Japanese Hunter’s Association
Matsumoto Shigeo, currently standing close to the barrier.
He was conversing with several staff members, his
expression hard and sombre.
‘Sure, this is no time for him to crack a smile, isn’t it.’
Click.
“Which means….”
The assistant reporter, who wasn’t as experienced as William

Bell was, spoke with a tense gleam in his eyes.
“They are… cannon fodder.”
“Look, man. You’re putting me in a spot here if you think

that’s someone else’s fate.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, if something were about to happen to me, it’s your

job to stand before me, right?”
“Ehhhh?!”
The young assistant reporter got startled and quickly looked

back, prompting William Bell to lightly rib the kid with his
elbow.
“If you remain tense like that, you won’t even get a chance
to run away before you are dead, okay? What I’m trying to
say here is, loosen up a little.”
The assistant reporter realised that it was just a joke from

that knowing wink William Bell threw his way and patted his
trembling chest down.
‘Mister Bell…. He can still crack a joke in a situation like

this.’
The relaxed air thickly laden with the seasoned reporter’s

commanding presence seeped into the younger reporter and
that helped to soften the tension he felt.
However, the assistant was acutely aware of the truth.

Whenever William Bell began smiling like that, that was
when you should be most nervous as well.
The assistant shifted his gaze back to the Gate standing tall
into the sky.
“Just what kind of monstrosity would come out from there, I

wonder?”
William Bell stopped snapping pictures and looked up at the

same spot as his assistant.
That thing sure as hell was huge. So huge, in fact, one could
easily get overwhelmed just from its sheer size.
After Gates began appearing in the world, the second

battlefield these war correspondents went to had become
the locations of various Gates. Meaning, William Bell had
come across his fair share of terrifying Gates before.
Hell, he even had the misfortune of reporting from the actual
location of a dungeon break, too….
But then, the Gate floating before his eyes was on another
realm altogether. Just looking up at that d*mn thing made
him break out in cold sweat.
‘This was probably why no advanced scout party got

dispatched.’
Not one high-ranked Hunter volunteered to enter the Gate

to see what was inside, so currently, no one knew what
might jump out of that thing once it breaks open wide.
William Bell’s lips, closed shut in a straight line until then,

slowly parted ways.
“Not sure what’ll come out of there, but….”
A bitter smile formed on his lips next.
“But, whatever comes out, let’s just pray that Yuri Orlov’s
barrier is strong enough to hold them back.”
The last place his camera headed to was Yuri Orlov’s

direction, busy inspecting the barrier’s formation for one last
time. The Russian Hunter was beaming from ear to ear at the
moment.
“It’s perfect. Very good.”
Yuri Orlov was deeply confident of the resulting barrier now.
Because, well… his barriers had always been exceptional.

Besides, that wasn’t the only thing motivating him, either.
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo was worried

about the Japanese citizens strongly rebuking them for the
deal, so he kept everything hush-hush, on the down low. As
a result, the Japanese public was under the assumption that
the Russian came here out of the goodness of his heart, and
began showering him with lots of donations.
And so, he got to earn an even greater amount of wealth

that way. Besides that, there was even more! Countless
reporters had braved the dangers to come and snap his
pictures.
Wealth and fame. The two things Yuri Orlov went crazy for
had fallen into his lap in one fell swoop.
He emphasized himself one last time to the crowd.
“It’s perfect!!”
After today, he’d go down in history books as the first man

ever to block a rank S Gate all by himself.
‘I’d much prefer to be remembered as a man clearing a rank

S Gate all alone, though….’
Too bad, he couldn’t get too greedy here, since another

Hunter better suited for that title had appeared already.
What could he do about that, realistically speaking? That
guy was a melee-type Hunter, while he was a support-type,
after all.
One only had to become the best in their chosen fields.

That’s all there was to it.
‘Right, right!’
Slightly carried away by his own thoughts, Yuri Orlov pulled

out a flask the size of his palm from his inner pocket. When
he opened the lid, the pungent smell of vodka wafted out.
“M-Mister Yuri!! Alcohol…?!”
The Association employee in charge of minding the Russian

freaked out and tried to stop him, but Yuri Orlov angrily
glared at the hapless Japanese, instead.
“This is a celebratory toast, get it? A toast! So, let go of your

tension, okay? Because I’m going to put on the greatest
show on earth very soon.”
“E-even then….”
“Hey, you want a sip? I’m telling you, your worries and
tension just fly away in one shot.”
Yuri Orlov wrapped his arm around the employee’s shoulders

and began offering up the vodka. The Association President
Matsumoto Shigeo frowned deeply as he stared at that
spectacle from afar.
‘To think, the fate of Japan depends on such a man….’
He silently clicked his tongue and asked one of his

entourage next to him.
“How many rank S Hunters are on standby?”
“It’s a total of three, sir.”
“Three, is it….”
Out of the ten still surviving rank S Hunters, only three

responded to the summons of the Association. The frowns on
Matsumoto Shigeo’s face deepened by another level.
After the Jeju Island raid landed a calamitous blow to the

community of Hunters in Japan, his influence had waned
greatly until it hit rock bottom.
Some quarters were now loudly claiming that it was
Matsumoto Shigeo who drove rank S Hunters to their deaths,
having been blinded by his own greed. And, the majority of
the remaining rank S Hunters had turned their backs on him.
They even left an ultimatum saying that, as long as he

remained the Association President, they would not heed the
orders of the Association again.
‘If only Goto-kun was still here with me….’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s clenched fists trembled hard. Goto

Ryuji’s death was far too painful a loss for the Japanese
Association President, who used him as his right-hand man.
‘But, that is why….’
….That was why today was doubly important for him.
If the concerted efforts of the Association resulted in the

rank S Gate being blocked off, then he’d use that to aim
towards the top once more.
‘Goh Gun-Hui… and then, Seong Jin-Woo.’
Along the way, he might find a chance to pay back all the
humiliation, with interest, to those men who had ruined his
future.
‘I shall, definitely…..’
Definitely, this had to work.
The Association President Matsumoto glared at the Gate

again, his expression becoming even graver than before.
One of his attendants looked at his watch and whispered to
him.
“Sir, it’s three minutes before the dungeon break.”
“I see.”
Matsumoto Shigeo nodded his head. Countless thoughts

swirled within his gaze now taking in the sight of the
massive Gate.
Two minutes, one minute, 59 seconds, 58…..
Time, filled with taut tension, ticked down seemingly at the

rate of knots. And soon enough, the black ‘wall’ covering the
giant Gate’s surface began to get blurry.
The reporters all cried out in unison.
“Uh, uh?!”
“Hey, the Gate’s opening up!!”
“They… they are coming out!”
***
“Son?”
Jin-Woo was about to sneakily get up, but sat back down
quietly again when his mom called out to him.
“Yes, Mom?”
Mom took her eyes off the TV and looked at Jin-Woo. The TV

news had been constantly showing the special broadcast
related to the rank S Gate in Japan for a while now.
The story currently on was something about the dungeon

break that would happen in a few minutes or so.
“You weren’t trying to… go somewhere, were you?”
His mother’s sixth sense could sometimes be even sharper

than that of a high-ranking Hunter’s, Jin-Woo mused
inwardly. He flinched just a little, but replied as if nothing
was amiss.
“I have a promise to keep, you see.”
“A promise? On a day like this?”
“I made that promise a while ago, Mom. I thought that, since

that Gate is opening in Japan anyway and it won’t affect us, I
didn’t cancel it.”
Mom was still staring at him with unconvinced eyes, though.

However, he wasn’t lying here, technically speaking.
‘In a way, this is a promise I made with the System, isn’t it?’
Mom continued to stare at Jin-Woo for a little while longer,

before asking her son again.
“I don’t have to worry about you, right?”
Jin-Woo replied confidently.
“Of course, Mom.”
He worked hard to achieve this strength precisely for that

purpose. Mom formed a gentle smile only after looking
deeply into Jin-Woo’s eyes overflowing with palpable
confidence.
“Be careful on your way out, Son.”
Jin-Woo smiled refreshingly as well.

“I’ll be back soon, Mom.”
Jin-Woo got up and left the house pretty soon afterwards.
His family’s apartment was located on the ninth floor and,

for the first time ever, he got to learn today how slow the
elevator taking him to the ground floor was.
He felt anxiety creeping in as his expectation ballooned,

wondering just what kind of a dungeon this black key of his
would unlock.
Ting.
The elevator door to the ground floor slid open. An ahjussi

he’d never seen before raised his head without thinking too
much, and their gazes locked for a brief while.
He must’ve been one of the very few people who didn’t

know that a rank S Hunter was living in this building,
because as soon as he recognised Jin-Woo’s face, his eyes
nearly popped out of their sockets.
“HUH???”
Jin-Woo quickly brushed past him and pulled up the hoodie

attached to his top. His steps were quick, perhaps owing to
the fact that his mind was also racing really fast, too.
Jin-Woo was able to leave the apartment complex in no time

at all and while standing on the street, looked all around
him.
‘….Is this because of the Gate in Japan?’
For some reason, the streets were oddly deserted. But,

thanks to that, Jin-Woo didn’t have to mind the stares of the
surroundings as he leisurely confirmed the information on
the black key.
Rarity: ??
Type: Key
‘You have met the required conditions.’
A key allowing you entry into the Karutenon Temple. It can

be used in the designated Gate.
The location of the designated Gate will be revealed after

the predetermined time has been reached.
Only one minute remained now.
‘….It’s almost here.’
His heart, calmly submerged deep below the cold surface,

began to quietly pick up its pace now.
Jin-Woo stood still and focused his hearing on the pulsing

beat of his heart while waiting out the remaining minute. He
didn’t even need his watch, either. The biological clock
within him, honed to the extreme, was more accurate than
any time measuring device known to man in this world.
‘….3, 2, 1.’
Exactly one minute later, Jin-Woo opened his closed eyes.

Click.
[Remaining time: 00:00:00]
[The location where the key can be used will now be made
available.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened greatly.
‘Isn’t this place….?’
The location of the Gate appearing within the System’s

message wasn’t too far from here. As a matter of fact, he was
rather familiar with that place.
Jin-Woo quickly used one of the features his Hunter-only

phone possessed to log onto the website of the Hunter’s
Association, and checked the information on the Gate in
question.
Sure enough, its location was exactly where the

Association’s warning notice, issued some time ago, said it’d
be.
He didn’t expect the location this key was supposed to

‘unlock’ would be there. As if someone had smacked him in
the back of his head, Jin-Woo felt somewhat dizzy.
‘I made a mistake.’
In reality, the key’s description wasn’t lying to him. The

System said that the information on the Gate would be
made available, but said nothing about a Gate appearing
somewhere.
He got blindsided just now.

Jin-Woo’s hands manipulating his phone became a lot busier.
He checked the info on the Gate some more, and found out
that there was a Guild already busy with clearing it right
now. The rank of the Gate in question was ‘C’.
‘It’s not a high rank, but….’
The real problem was with not really knowing what was
hidden inside.
‘It’s a small relief that the location isn’t far.’
It was about ten minutes away with a car. If he ran with

everything he had, he’d get there in less than 60 seconds.
Jin-Woo hid with ‘Stealth’ and began running at full tilt. He
even activated the skill ‘Quicksilver’ for good measure, too.
His new destination was actually the athletics field of Jin-

Ah’s former high school. The school remained closed ever
since the Orc incident, so there was no danger of unaware
civilians getting hurt just in case, but….
‘…But, it’s the raid team clearing the dungeon in danger,

instead.’
Jin-Woo recalled the moments he was visiting that

underground temple.
He recalled all those close shaves. He clearly remembered

several moments he almost got killed on that day.
But, what was the reason for this? Without a doubt, those
were startlingly terrifying memories in his life, but when he
looked back, his heart began racing quicker in excitement.
Even now.
It probably had something to do with the fact that, inside
that temple, Jin-Woo got to feel for the first time what it felt
to be alive. Back then, he wasn’t some useless, powerless
rank E Hunter, but a challenger going up against impossible
odds.
In the blink of an eye, he rounded up several streets and the

sight of the familiar school was caught in his eyes. He really
only needed a few dozens of seconds to arrive at the school.
He stepped through the front gate and spotted the Gate

floating in the air just above the athletics field to the side. A
handful of Association employees and staff members from
the Guild doing the raid were standing around the Gate as if
to guard its surroundings.
They were all carrying on in a quiet atmosphere, perhaps

because they hadn’t heard any news of something major
happening inside yet. But that quietness was shattered
immediately by Jin-Woo’s sudden entrance. Because… he
chose to undo his Stealth near the Gate.
“Uh, uh??”
One of the Guild’s staff members belatedly discovered Jin-

Woo’s presence and tried to cut him off.
“You’re not allowed in here.”
Jin-Woo pulled back his hoodie and revealed himself. And

that elicited a loud “Heok!!” from the side.
“It’s you!!”
The Association employee immediately recognised Jin-Woo

and cried out in surprise. It was the same bespectacled
female employee he ran into back when he took care of the
rank B Gate that popped up in the middle of the road.
Jin-Woo figured that it’d be quicker to talk to her instead of

this Guild staff blocking his way, so he ignored the guy
altogether and spoke directly to her.
“You need to stop this raid right now.”
“Pardon me??”
She got flustered as she tried to make her reply.
“B-but, the measurement result came out as only C….”
Jin-Woo shook his head and told her in no uncertain terms.
“If you don’t stop the raid now, they will all die.”
“…..!!”
Jin-Woo raised his head and glared at the Gate.
Couldn’t these people pick up on that?
An eerie aura so sickening that it gave him goosebumps,

was slowly oozing out from the Gate.
Chapter 155
“How long has it been since they went inside?”
Jin-Woo urgently asked the female Association employee.

The longer it had been the deeper these Hunters would’ve
gone inside, and that significantly decreased their odds of
returning safely.
The female Association employee answered in her

bewilderment.
“It’s been about two hours.”
Two hours, she said. It was one of those in-between time that
could neither be called short nor too long. It was then.
“Who the hell are you? You from the Association??”
The Guild staff member grabbed Jin-Woo by his shoulder and

tried to turn him around. It seemed that this guy wasn’t
happy with this newcomer’s attitude. After all, this unknown
youngster proceeded to not only ignore him, but he even
went on to spew out some pretty abhorrent bullsh*t on top
as well.
The strength gripping his shoulder was nothing to write

home about, but Jin-Woo still turned around to face the
Guild member, regardless.
He figured that, rather than starting a lengthy explanation

of containing hundreds of words, simply showing his face
once would be far more effective in a situation like this.
“You should answer back when people are ta….”
The Guild staff member’s words came to an abrupt halt as

soon as he locked gazes with Jin-Woo’s eyes.
‘Hold up. Haven’t I seen this guy’s face before, like, a lot?’
But, from where?
The staff member combed through his memories before

finally recalling a certain name. He gasped out in disbelief
and stuttered out a question.
“H-Hunter S-Seong Jin-Woo?!”
Who’d have thunk that he’d run into a rank S Hunter in front
of rank C Gate? Not only that, but he also rudely grabbed
the shoulder and glared at such a guy, too??
The Guild staff member was frightened out of his skull and
reflexively took his hand away before taking two, three
quick steps back.
“I-I’m truly sorry.”
“….”
Even now, time continued to tick down. There was no time to

waste on this Guild Staff; Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to
the female Association employee.
“I’m going inside to bring those people back.”
The flustered female employee found herself in a bind now.

This very man walked out with a face full of smiles even
when the rank B Gate he entered changed into a Red Gate.
But such a person was now telling her in an urgent manner
that people inside that seemingly-normal rank C Gate were
in great danger.
“Just what is going on here that makes you say that? If you
could just explain what….”
“There is no time.”
Jin-Woo cut her off.
In all honesty, he could’ve just maintained ‘Stealth’ and

strode right inside the Gate. In fact, there were many ways
to distract these people and walk inside the Gate unnoticed.
The sole reason why he didn’t do so was because he had no

idea what might happen in there. He chose to cover his
bases to some degree so he could avoid getting swept up in
annoying problems later down the line.
The female employee’s lips bobbed up and down several

times. She was in a genuine dilemma now.
Would it be fine to let a Hunter waltz right into a Gate

without any clear evidence, when another Guild had
officially been sanctioned to raid it in the first place?
Originally, something like that would have been
unimaginable.
However, seeing the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes, she couldn’t

bring herself to say no.
“….Please, go in.”
“I’ll see you later.”

Jin-Woo nodded once to her and ran inside the Gate right
away.
He quickly located various corpses of monsters with their

magic crystals removed, discarded here and there on the
dungeon’s floor.
The thing was, there wasn’t that much loot to find in lower
ranked dungeons. Which was quite different from higher
ranked ones, where the remains of the monsters alone would
fetch quite a sum of money.
The only real source of income found within low ranked

dungeons was the magic crystals. And this scene was a
rather familiar sight to him.
Jin-Woo closed his eyes and concentrated. For some reason,

he couldn’t sense the presence of the raid team.
‘Could they already have been….?’
Jin-Woo quickly shook his head. Even if he was too late,

magic energy still leaked out from the bodies of the freshly
deceased. But he couldn’t even pick up on that magic
energy.
Jin-Woo quietly studied the interior of the dungeon, before a

certain sense of deja vu hit him. Indeed, this place seemed
familiar for some reason.
He had seen a dungeon like this one before.
‘….Ah.’
If his memories served him right, then this dungeon was
roughly the same in layout as the dual dungeon he got his
powers from.
‘If that’s that case….’
Jin-Woo quickly made his way over to where the entrance of

the dual dungeon was last time. And sure enough, there was
another ‘entrance’ within the dungeon.
‘It’s the same as before.’
Only then did he realise why he couldn’t sense the presence

of the raid team’s Hunters.
‘This dungeon… it was nonsensically huge, wasn’t it?’
That was the case back then. Sure, it was the walking speed
of low-ranked Hunters, but still, they needed almost one
hour to get to that strange doorway.
If this dungeon’s structure was similar to the one he knew,

then it’d not be all that surprising for the Hunters to be
really far away now. And, it was also almost impossible to
sense the presence of the Hunters who possessed only a
negligible amount of magic energy individually.
Jin-Woo looked deeper into the cavern.
There was only one path. And, just like back then, it was
enshrouded in total darkness.
But he wasn’t worried. His Perception Stat he pushed to the

extremes, showed him the path within that inky blackness.
Jin-Woo’s eyes glowed in a pale, cold hue like those animals
of the night caught on camera.
‘I can see it.’
His eyes rapidly got used to the lack of light and he could
see one object after the other hidden within the darkness.
‘Fuu-woo….’
Jin-Woo took a short but deep breath before shooting

forward like a bullet. The background images fell back in an
instant, over and over again.
It was indeed one long passageway. Even then, his speed

was fast and he didn’t need a lot of time to get to his
destination.
‘And we had to walk for one hour in this place back then…..’
What dramatic progress he made when compared to the first

time he walked on this road.
Soon enough, he could sense the presence of people up

ahead. They were the Hunters of the raiding party. They
were also standing around in one spot.
Jin-Woo initially thought that they were involved in a battle

or were all dead, but thankfully that wasn’t it. When he got
close enough, he could hear their voices.
“You wanna go back when we came this far??”
Taht.
When Jin-Woo stopped not too far from them, he heard some
words that sounded oddly familiar and let a wry chuckle leak
out of his mouth.
What a relief it was, though. It seemed that these people

hadn’t stepped foot inside yet. If they did, then they
wouldn’t even have enough time to waste their breaths on
useless banter like this.
He heard a woman’s voice next.
“So, what do you want to do, then? The door didn’t budge
even when we poured magic on it.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go back outside and get the

cooperation of a larger Guild?”
“Yeah, I think that might be for the better.”
These people were busy arguing back and forth in front of

the door that would not open regardless of their efforts.
Jin-Woo could understand where they were coming from.

After discovering that this was actually a dual dungeon, they
must’ve been dreaming of getting their hands on an untold
amount of wealth. Meaning, they would never choose to go
back empty-handed after walking non-stop for nearly one
hour.
However, here was the surviving witness from that time. Jin-
Woo could confidently say the truth out aloud without any
reservation.
“This is a trap, everyone.”
Hunters hadn’t picked up on Jin-Woo’s presence well until he

was near their position. Understandably, they were jolted
back to their senses from a sudden voice coming out from
the darkness behind them.
“Oh my gosh!! That surprised me!”
“W-what the heck? Who are you?”

Jin-Woo pointed at the steel door he had seen before with his
chin and replied.
“I’m a survivor of a dual dungeon incident.”
A survivor of a dual dungeon incident?
Hunters exchanged glances and whispered softly among

themselves. Because it was so dark inside, they needed a
little bit of time to recognise Jin-Woo’s face.
“…Uh?”
“What?”
“Isn’t he Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
The attention of the raid team members descended upon

the Hunter who identified Jin-Woo. And the next direction
their gazes shifted to was, naturally, Jin-Woo’s face.
“N-now that you mention it…”
“It’s really him??”
“But, but, why would a rank S Hunter even come here?”
Jin-Woo strode closer towards the doorway. Hunters

surrounding the unknown door parted ways to make room
for him. He lightly placed his palm on the door and spoke to
the Hunters.
“I know what’s behind this door.”
Jin-Woo was overcome with a reminiscence of the past as he

finally got to stand before this very doorway after what felt
like a genuinely long, long time.
This place was the location the System had invited him to.
For the sake of these Hunters, as well as for himself, he

couldn’t have any uninvited guest loitering around. Jin-Woo
turned around and looked at each of the Hunters present,
before speaking up with a heavy voice.
“This place is incredibly dangerous. I’ll take care of things

from now on, so please, you must return outside.”
Noisy, noisy….
The surroundings became rather chaotic.
If it weren’t for the fact that Jin-Woo was a super-famous

rank S Hunter, these people might have exploded in
dissatisfaction right away, as the looks on their faces
attested to that.
Out of all of them, the man who earlier stated that he

couldn’t go back empty-handed, just had to step forward to
say something.
“Excuse me, Seong Hunter-nim.”
He just so happened to be the Master of this small-to-

medium Guild who had been pushing forward with this raid.
“We at the Bravery Guild bought the permit to raid this

dungeon fair and square. You simply don’t have any right to
tell us to leave.”
“T-that’s right! Being a rank S isn’t everything, you know!”
Jin-Woo closed his mouth in a straight line as his reply to the

opposition coming from these Hunters.
‘…….’
They were behaving this way, even though he was doing

them a favour and was trying to help them. However, that
didn’t mean he was planning to explain the situation to
them one by one, either.
‘I don’t have the obligation to do that, anyway.’
He had done what he could do for these people. So, Jin-Woo

decided to leave it for them to choose for themselves.
If he were honest, he wasn’t so keen on that idea either,

because he still remembered the terrible cost he and his
fellow bottom-dwelling Association Hunters had to pay when
they made the same decision as these people were about to
make.
Jin-Woo wordlessly faced the door and tried to turn the

doorknob.
Thunk!
Jin-Woo pushed down, but even with his Strength Stat, it

didn’t want to budge.
‘Does it have some kind of restrictive magic?’
Without that, measly steel door like this would’ve moved

already by now.
It was then – along with that familiar ‘Tti-ring!’, a new

System message appeared before his eyes.
[The door to the Karutenon temple is currently locked.]
[Please use the key provided.]

‘Ah, so that’s why I needed the key.’
Jin-Woo took out the black key. Simply by him slotting it in

the keyhole, the door slid open all on its own volition.
Clunk.
The raid team members of the Bravery Guild had already

confirmed how tightly locked the door was before he got
here. So, when such a stubbornly-locked door opened easily
like that, their collective brows shot up in shock.
‘Heok?!’
‘What the heck? How did he open it?’
Jin-Woo ignored their whisperings and spoke to them in a

cold voice.
“I won’t try to stop you. If you want to follow me inside, then

go ahead.”
Of course, he didn’t forget to warn them, too.
“However, you must remember that it’ll be hard for you to

come back out alive if you decide to do so.”
That one sentence managed to freeze these Hunters to their

spots. This was advice given by a rank S Hunter. Who’d scoff
at that and ignore it?
However, the Master of the Bravery Guild still stepped

forward as if he was trying to act according to the name of
his organisation.
“I’ll go in.”
“….”
Jin-Woo didn’t reply to that.
It was up to them to make the choice. He was going to let

them bear the cost of their decision, as well.
The Guild Master looked back to his raid team members

while walking towards the doorway, but none of them
followed after him, only choosing to sheepishly look at each
other’s reactions. The Guild Master glared at his so-called
comrades with disproving eyes and eventually stopped
before the door.
In order to make it easier for him to enter, Jin-Woo opened

the door slightly wider.
Rumble-!
The heavy-looking door moved without too much trouble.
There was a look of determination writ large on the Guild

Master’s face when Jin-Woo briefly met his gaze. His
hesitation lasted only for a few moments; after mustering up
enough courage, he took a step inside.
It was then.
Several messages cascaded up in front of Jin-Woo’s view.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring!!
[An individual not holding the key has entered the temple.]
[This entry has been disapproved.]
[Failure to comply will result in the immediate retaliation

from the gatekeepers.]
Several dangerous-sounding, important messages popped
up, but as these Hunters were not a ‘Player’, their eyes and
ears failed to see or hear the warnings. Only Jin-Woo could
hear the warnings of the System.
The completely-unaware Guild Master took yet another step

forward, and then….
SWISH-!!
….A large hammer fell on top of his head.
Crash!!
The hammer smashed down to the ground and shattered the

stone slab into pieces.
“Keok!!”
If it weren’t for Jin-Woo hurriedly yanking at the scruff of the

Guild Master’s shirt and pulling him out, his head would’ve
ended up in that state, instead.
“Uwa, uwaaahk?!”
The Guild Master freaked out as the gatekeepers reached

out to him. Jin-Woo grabbed the hapless Hunter and tossed
him outside the door before closing it quickly.
“Things found inside are all like that.”
Jin-Woo turned around to face the other Hunters.
“So, you still want to go inside?”
The Guild Master on the ground shook his head like a

madman. His fellow Guild members quickly helped him up
and they escaped from there, double time.
Only after confirming that the Hunters had left for good, Jin-
Woo made his way back inside.
Tti-ring.
[The holder of the key has entered.]
Slam.
The door closed shut behind him with a loud thud.
The massive scale of this chamber; stone statues filling up

the walls; and then, the huge statue of a ‘god’ located in the
deepest recess of this chamber.
Everything matched his memories.
‘I’ve… returned.’
His heart began pounding really fast.
However, there was also a clear difference from back then,

as well. That would be none other than himself. The current
Jin-Woo, different from his past self, could easily decipher
the truth of these stone statues now.
‘These statues are not monsters, nor are they lifeforms to

begin with.’
No, they were just puppets tied to strings, connected to

something else.
There was only one creature emitting magic energy within

this chamber. Even then, it was concealing its magic energy
so expertly that, even Jin-Woo found it impossible to directly
sense it. He could only trace the ominous and eerie aura,
instead.
Jin-Woo slowly walked over to that b*stard in question.
“So, you were the real one, huh.”
Jin-Woo tried to engage it in conversation, but the creature

didn’t display any reactions whatsoever.
“Oh, so you want to play it like that now, huh?”
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
He suddenly raised his speed greatly and stabbed the

shortsword into the chest of the ‘creature’.
But then….
Crack!
His attack was stopped by the stone tablet the creature was
holding.
The blade of the shortsword deeply stabbed into the tablet.
There was only one stone statue among many in here that
held a stone tablet.
“….Finally.”
The stone statue with six wings on its back looked at Jin-Woo
over the stone tablet with a grin etched on its face and
spoke.
“You’ve arrived.”
***
Tokyo, Shinjuku.
Monsters began walking out one by one from the Gate, as
tall as the high-rise skyscrapers.
Thud.
Thud.
“Heok….”
“W-what the hell are those?”
These monsters were Giants. Monsters often serving as

bosses in many of the highest-difficulty rank A Gates were
pouring out like common creatures now.
“Giants!!”
“It’s the Giants!!”
While every observer watching this spectacle was freaking

out and was taking hasty steps back, only Yuri Orlov
remained calm as he took another swig from his flask.
‘There’s no problem if it’s only this much.’
These monsters were scary enough to bring a chill down

anyone’s spine. However, Yuri Orlov was deeply confident of
the barrier he had created.
“Come at me!”
And, his prediction proved to be right on the money.
Boom!
Bang!!
Giants began pounding on the invisible ‘wall’ surrounding
the vicinity of the Gate, but it stood firm and didn’t even
budge an inch at all.
Boom!! Bang!!
They pushed with their shoulders, and even threw their

entire bodies against the wall, but Yuri Orlov’s barrier
formation proved to be as perfect as he claimed earlier.
“Euhahahahaha!!”
Yuri Orlov exploded in a fit of laughter while ridiculing the

Giants trapped behind the barrier. About 30 minutes passed
by like that.
The Giants must’ve been tired out after going on a rampage

to break the barrier, because they suddenly began walking
back into the Gate. People witnessing that scene all cried
out in pure shock.
“Oh, my god!!”
“Monsters coming out of the dungeon break are going back

inside the Gate?!”
Such a thing was completely inconceivable. Not one person

present here ever heard of anything like this before. These
reporters with their countless years of experience were now
operating their cameras non-stop, as if they were left feeling
truly exhilarated by the unfolding spectacle.
And when the last Giant walked back inside the Gate, the
Association President Matsumoto Shigeo stood up from his
seat and hurriedly clapped his hands.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!

Not too long after that, the lone clapping sounds became
many, and it morphed into excited cries, and eventually,
transformed into loud cheers of joy.
Waaaaaah-!!!
Receiving the passionate adulations and cheers of everyone

present, Yuri Orlov turned around to face the throng of the
reporters.
“Only I can do this! I am the one blocking a rank S Gate!”
Thick veins bulged on his neck as he made his declaration.
“That guy who hunted down a couple of those measly ants,

and this great me who shoved those giants back inside the
Gate!! You don’t need me to tell you who’s even more
amazing, right?”
He didn’t even bother to hide his face now getting even

redder from the influence of booze, and toothily grinned at
the reporters, his gold-plated teeth fully on display for all to
see.
But then, this happened.
THUD!
The ground rumbled hard quite suddenly.
THUD!!!
Even the tanks on standby bounced up and down.
‘……??’
Only then did Yuri Orlov realise that the reporters were no
longer looking at him. No, their gazes were unilaterally
focused on the Gate. The Russian also slowly looked behind
him.
And then…. the flask he held in his hand slipped out of his
grasp.
‘Oh, oh my god…..”
Yuri Orlov’s eyes grew wider and wider.
A truly humongous Giant that made the previous Giants

small by comparison, stepped out of the Gate and stood
straight up.
Indeed, it was standing upright after exiting from the huge

rank S Gate.
Yuri Orlov blinked his eyes several times, unable to tell

whether this scene playing out was real or not.
‘How…. How could there be a monster so big that it needs to

crouch to pass through such a humongous Gate???’
No one needed to explain anything, but everyone intuitively

knew that they were now looking at the boss monster.
The Giant monster finished standing upright and took a long

sweeping look around its surroundings, before slamming
into the barrier’s walls.
BOOM-!!
Far, far heavier noise than before resounded out and the
earth itself began quaking rather precariously.
BOOM-!! BOOM!! BOOM-!!

Yuri Orlov’s eyes could clearly see everything. And that
would be the sight of the magic barrier only he could see,
gaining spiderweb-like cracks.
‘How can this be…..’
His legs began shaking uncontrollably.
The Giant monster pushed hard at the wall with its shoulder,
before taking several steps back as if it realised that was
enough. It sprinted at full tilt and threw its entire body at
the barrier.
It was then!
KA-BOOM-!!!
The sound of an explosion filled up the air as the motes of

light illuminating the magic circle on the ground dissipated
away.
“Uwa-uwaaaahhk?!?!”
Yuri Orlov started screaming around at the same time.
The Giant monster, as soon as it destroyed the invisible wall,

reached down and picked up the Russian still trying to send
in his magic energy to the barrier.
Now caught within the Giant’s hand, Yuri Orlov screamed out
as bone-breaking pain wrecked his entire body. He
desperately thrashed around.
“Uwaaaah!! Uwaaahahhk!!”
Gulp.
However, his screams could no longer be heard when the
Giant monster opened its mouth again.
And then….
Behind the Giant monster that swallowed Yuri Orlov in one

go, all those Giants that returned back to the Gate were
pouring out again.
Chapter 156
Creak, creak!
The stone statue began moving as weird creaking noises

came out from its various joints. Jin-Woo glared at this
‘creature’.
There were several differences between this guy and the

other stone statues, but the biggest one had to be the wings
attached to its back, which made it look somewhat like an
angel.
Indeed, this guy was the only one among the statues
designed to resemble an angel. Not just any angel either,
but one with six wings on its back, too.
The angel statue slowly stood up from its sitting position and
straightened its bent back. As it turned out, it was over three
metres tall.
Paht!
Jin-Woo quickly retreated and summoned the second

shortsword into his other hand, before lowering his stance to
get ready.
When he made up his mind to fight against that thing, every

single strand of sensory receptors on his body awakened in
full; every part of himself, from his mind to all corners of his
body, had become fully optimised for the upcoming battle.
‘…..’
However, the angel statue showed no signs of wiping that

smile off its face, even though it must’ve clearly sensed Jin-
Woo’s desire to fight. That smile was so disgusting and
unnatural that it sent a shiver down his spine.
The angel statue took a look at the stone tablet damaged by

the shortsword and simply tossed it away, as if it meant
nothing to the ‘creature’.
….As if, it was doing the most obvious thing in the world.
Crack!
The stone tablet clattered on the floor and shattered into

countless pieces. The angel statue stiffly laughed as it took
in the sight of the now-useless tablet.
“….Hahaha.”
Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.
‘So, from the very beginning…..’
Just then, he realised that there was no meaning behind

them from the very beginning. That stone tablet, and the so-
called laws written on it, none of them meant anything.
‘If not, there’s no way that thing would’ve treated it so

recklessly.’
In that case, just what exactly was this place? And what did
this thing want from him?
‘And….’
All those quests, levelling up, instant dungeon keys, etc. All
those strange events that took place after he left this temple
– what did they even signify?
Finally, an opportunity to get the answers for all of his

burning questions had come. When he thought like that…
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!
His heart began madly pounding away in his chest. Usually,

it beat in a regular rhythmic pulse most of the time. But
now, right at this moment, it shook and rumbled and revved
harder than a race car’s engine.
‘This thing knows everything.’
Jin-Woo didn’t lower his vigilance and threw out a question

in a low voice.
“Were you the one calling me here?”
Jin-Woo was asking about what the statue’s relationship with

his System was through that question.
The angel statue moved its individual fingers before

carrying on.
“You have done well to get here.”
Next up, its neck. The ‘creature’ rotated its head from side to
side.
Creeeak.
Creak.
The d*mn thing was busy loosening itself. It didn’t take a
genius to tell why it was loosening up like that.
Now normally, Jin-Woo wouldn’t hesitate to get the first

strike in when finding himself in a situation like this one.
However, he was making an exception this time.
He had far too many questions to ask this angel statue and
didn’t want to end the little conversation that he got going
here.
Jin-Woo threw out another question.
“Are you a monster?”
The waves of magic energy being emitted from the angel

statue were certainly different from the ones emitted by the
regular monsters.
However, meaning behind the term ‘monster’ was simply

created by humans for their own convenience. If that term
was used to denote a true monster, then yes, that statue
was without a doubt, a real ‘monster’.
A stone statue that could speak and move around – where

would anyone even hope to find a monster more monster-ish
than that?
So, what Jin-Woo wanted to find out here was whether this
thing was in cahoots with the regular monsters or not.
Craaack.
Creak.
The angel statue bent down to loosen up its back before

standing straight up again.
“That’s the wrong question to ask.”
“…..?”
“Rather than asking what I am, you should be asking what

you are, instead.”
Jin-Woo was frozen for a brief moment there, but he couldn’t

stay flustered for long.
Clap!
The sound of the angel statue clapping its hands wiped all
distracting thoughts out of his head.
“Well, then. This will be your final test.”
The smile was long gone from the angel statue’s face as it
finally finished loosening up.
“If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the
test, then everything you wished to know will be revealed to
you. That….”
The angel statue snapped its fingers, and almost

immediately, a red glow appeared within the eyes of the
countless stone statues within the temple.
“….Will be my reward to you.”
It was then.
Every single head of the stone statues densely packed into

this chamber all snapped in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Thud.
And they all uniformly stepped off their pedestals.

Clack!
All the statues raised the weapons in their grasp.
Jin-Woo swept his gaze around the stone statues. Even if

they were puppets, they still seemed quite tough opponents
to deal with. He actually almost died several times because
of them in the past, too, didn’t he?
Jin-Woo remained calm as he summoned out his Shadow

Soldiers.
‘Come out.’
But, then….
Tti-ring!
[For the duration of the final test, all of your Class-specific

skills have been sealed.]
[Usage of various potions and the Store’s functions have

been prohibited, and status recovery effects from levelling
up and quest completion bonuses will be inapplicable
during the duration of the test.]
[You can not exist this chamber until the end of the final
test.]
‘What??’
Jin-Woo’s forehead creased up as mechanical beeps

continued to go ‘Tti-ring, tti-ring’ in his ears, but even those
lasted for only a short while. Because the stone statues had
begun sprinting towards him right then.
Their movements were eerily silent, yet also incredibly fast

as well. This was on a whole new level compared to back
when he faced down hundreds of ‘knights’ during the Class
Advancement test.
‘Oh, so you want to play it like this, is that it?’
All the hidden cards he had come prepared with, just in case
– various potions, quest rewards, etc. – had become useless
in one fell swoop. The System had been with Jin-Woo ever
since the beginning, and knew how he operated the best.
‘In that case, I shall overcome this with nothing but my own
power!’
Jin-Woo firmed up his resolve and gripped his shortswords

even tighter.
The easiest way to get out of this dangerous situation was to

eliminate the main body enabling the stone statues to
move. And that would be the angel statue. However, he’d
not be able to get what he wanted if the angel statue was
killed off. So, that would have to be consigned as the final
resort for now.
For the time being, he decided to go along with this ‘test’

thing the statue talked about.
‘And that is why, I….’
….That was why he never stopped getting stronger right up

until now.
He never once stopped polishing his skill levels, just so he

could achieve everything he aimed for regardless of what
sort of situations tried to hinder him.
Fuu-whoop-!
Jin-Woo spat out white-hot air from his nostrils and mouth.
The things he initially couldn’t see, the stuff he had missed

when he first set foot in this place began entering his field of
vision. His naked eyes could chase the movements of the
stone statues that looked like instant teleportation to him
back then.
‘From my left.’
His shortsword blocked the spear of the stone statue

stabbing forward from his left.
CLANG!!
‘Left, again.’
Another stone statue launched itself in the air by stepping

on the shoulders of the statue with the spear, and slammed
down with a war axe.
It was inefficient to defend against an attack falling from

above head-on, so Jin-Woo tilted his body halfway to the side
and let the axe simply brush past him.
Kwa-boom!!
Broken bits of rock spat up from the floor, now shattered by

the force of the axe. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo powerfully kicked
the face of the axe-wielding stone statue.
Ka-boom!!
The moment its head came in contact with his foot, it got
crushed into fine powder. However….
Swish-!
Jin-Woo bent backwards and dodged an arrow. It flew
straight past him and got embedded in the wall on the far
side.
He didn’t even have time to feel happy about eliminating

one enemy – the proper assault was only just beginning now.
‘Right.’
This time, it was a sword.
Swish-!
Clang!
Jin-Woo used his physical strength to shove away the

blocked sword of the statue and at the same time, drew a
diagonal line in the air with the shortsword held in his other
hand.
Tuk!
The stone statue, now missing an arm, fell away while

writhing around as if it could feel crippling pain.
From his left, right, right, left, front, front, right, and left.
The more he concentrated on the battle, the slower the

movements of the stone statues became. On the other hand,
his own movements got progressively faster and faster.
It was then – he sensed a chill right behind his neck.
‘Behind me!’
Jin-Woo jumped up above the head of the stone statue
trying to ambush him from behind and while still in the air,
easily sliced its head off.
Slice!
He let his Perception Stat cover him from the enemies that
tried to attack him in his blindspots.
Ha-ah!
His exhaled breath exploded out.
His body, trained to the absolute limit, and every cell within
his flesh, were reacting to the movements of these stone
statues. Light burned fiercely within his eyes.
He began gradually thinning out the horde of the statues

while blocking, slapping away or shaking off their persistent,
annoying attacks.
‘As if, for this very moment….’
It felt as if the ‘Demon King’s Shortswords’ were solely

created for this moment. He held them tightly in his hands
and easily sliced up the limbs and body parts of the statues
made out of solid stone.
Jin-Woo sensed his body, his mind, his cells and even his
shortswords become a single entity. He endlessly moved,
fleeted in and out, and continued to slither around without
rest.
The angel statue, silently observing Jin-Woo’s remarkable

movements with a great deal of interest, began to shudder
greatly.
‘How could he move like that with the physique of a mere
human…..?’
The smile that was gone momentarily on the angel statue’s

face was back in full force now. It knew it had made the right
choice.
However – it was still far, far too early to end the test.
The angel statue looked behind itself. With that, the eyes of
the humongous statue of the god sitting on the throne and
silently waiting for its turn, began glowing an eerie crimson
hue.
It gripped the armrests of the throne tightly and slowly lifted

up its unimaginably huge frame.
Kuuuggguuuuuugung!!!!
Because it was so gigantic, simply seeing it stand up sent

shivers down one’s spine.
THUD.
The god statue took its first step, and the vast interior of the
temple shook hard from the resulting noise.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
The god statue’s strides were so enormous that it didn’t

need to walk for long before arriving where Jin-Woo was. The
rubble of the fallen stone statues was forming small
mountains all around him by then.
The god statue stopped walking in front of him and raised its
right arm.
It was also around this time that Jin-Woo, in the midst of a
maddened melee among the stone statues, felt something
change around him.
He realised that the surroundings had become dark for some

reason and raised his head.
‘…….?’
A giant descending palm was rapidly filling up his entire

vision. The god statue slapped down on the ground as if it
couldn’t care any less about the well-being of the stone
statues surrounding Jin-Woo.
RUMBLE-!!
He hurriedly flung himself away to get out of the range of

that gigantic palm strike. He rolled on the ground several
times, before shooting right back up on his two feet. His
expression hardened as he glared at the god statue.
‘Right, there was that guy, too.’
This was definitely the case of one headache after another.
Jin-Woo lowered his gaze to see around a hundred or so still-

surviving stone statues busy sprinting towards him right this
very moment. These tireless enemies arrived in front of his
nose in no time at all.
He lightly tipped away the iron mace flying his way at a

frightening speed with the end of his shortsword; he then
slid forward as if he was skating on ice and sliced off the
head of the mace-wielding statue.
Thud.
As if the head of the statue crashing to the ground was the
signal, the rest of the statues following right behind
pounced on Jin-Woo like a pack of wild, but well-organised,
animals. However, the truly dangerous opponent wasn’t one
of these statues.
It felt as if every hair on his body was standing up straight.

Jin-Woo flinched in nasty shock and hurriedly raised his
head.
‘….!!’
Sure enough, the bone-chilling red light was coagulating in

the two eyes of the god statue.
‘Dodging it…. it’s too late for that.’
His brain quickly calculated that his escape routes would be

blocked off by the stone statues if he were to make a wrong
move now. The odds of him getting melted down to nothing
by that laser beam or whatever would be too high for his
liking if that happened.
‘In that case….’
Jin-Woo quickly put the shortsword down and immediately

extended his now-empty left hand at the stone statues
pouncing on him.
‘Ruler’s Reach!!’
Five of the stone statues got caught in the skill ‘Ruler’s

Reach’ and were stacked up together in the air.
Tti-ring!!
[Skill: ‘Ruler’s Reach’ has been upgraded to its ultimate
version, Skill: ‘Ruler’s Authority’.]
‘Nice!’
Too bad, he still didn’t have a single second of leeway to

bask in the happiness of his skill getting an upgrade right
now. Jin-Woo quickly moved the make-shift shield made from
the stone statues into the trajectory of the god statue’s
glare.
Buzzzzing-!!
Just as he expected, red laser beams shot out from the eyes
of the god statue.
Chiiiiii-jick!
It didn’t even take one second for the shield made out of the
stone statues to melt away, but Jin-Woo successfully used
that brief respite to safely get out of the attack range of that
beam.
He withdrew the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’, and the

smouldering remnants of the statues dropped to the floor.
Tumble-!
Jin-Woo rapidly revised his battle plan as he confirmed the

power of the god statue capable of completely evaporating
these stone statues.
‘As I thought, getting rid of the god statue should be my

priority.’
His next goal had been set now. Before the god statue could
fire the second laser beam attack, Jin-Woo kicked the ground
hard and dashed forward.
‘Quicksilver!’
Tadadadadadaht-!!!
Jin-Woo’s movement was already fast, but with that skill

activated, his speed immediately shot past what the god
statue could actually follow with its perception.
Jin-Woo arrived at the foot of the god statue in the proverbial

blink of an eye and tensed up his leg muscles to the
extreme. An unbelievable amount of energy, reserved solely
for jumping up, condensed within his crouched position.
He had only one shot.
Without a doubt, it’d become much harder to dodge the red

laser beams flying in at a terrifying speed once he was
airborne. It was impossible to move freely in the air, after all.
But then again, hadn’t he learned that valuable lesson

already?
If he weren’t willing to take on some risks, then he’d not be

able to find himself with any opportunities.
‘That is why….’
Jin-Woo’s lips shut tight in a straight line as he powerfully

leapt up from the ground.
His entire frame flew up like a fired rocket.
‘….Just get destroyed already!’

Chapter 157
Jin-Woo arrived at the god statue’s eye level instantly.
This was at the highest point of the jump before one’s body
would begin its descent due to gravity. It felt as if everything
around him had come to a stand-still.
The drops of sweat flying off of his body as he jumped

sparkled under the light. Although slow, they were definitely
getting further away from him.
He was in the state of peak concentration right now. The

undeniable threat of losing his life from the smallest mistake
pushed all of Jin-Woo’s abilities to their absolute limits.
‘This is the true power of the Agility Stat….’
His heart pounded hard and fast as the realisation dawned

on him that this was what the peak state of the Agility Stat
could produce when pushed to the extreme. However, he
obviously did not have the leeway to revel in the fruit of his
labour.
Even now, the eyes of the god statue were moving towards
him, albeit at a crawling speed. Seeing up close the crimson
light coagulating within the d*m thing’s eyes sent shivers all
over his body.
Just getting brushed by that thing would mean his end.

Sensing the dizziness of the danger, his mind re-focused on
the task at hand.
‘Stay calm…..’
He reached out with his left hand, still not holding any
weapon.
‘Ruler’s Authority!’
The upgraded skill based on ‘Ruler’s Reach’ began pulling at

the shoulder of the god statue. He was thinking of reeling
himself in, rather than actually dragging the god statue and
its incalculable body weight towards him.
Wuuoong-!!
However, his expectation was somewhat shaken up as the

upper body of the god statue actually did creep forward just
a little.
‘…..!!!’
What an incredible force of attraction that was!
The power of the skill must have gone up several notches

when it evolved from ‘Ruler’s Reach’ to ‘Ruler’s Authority’.
And all thanks to that, Jin-Woo got to land on the god

statue’s shoulder far easier than he anticipated. He quickly
raised his head to look behind him.
Buzzzzing-!
The scarlet-red laser beam exploding out accurately pierced

past the location in the air he was floating in, only a moment
ago.
‘Nice.’
For the next few seconds, he was safe from the god statue’s
laser beam attacks.
Feeling unburdened now, Jin-Woo sprinted on top of the

statue’s shoulder with all his might and arrived near its
neck. His right hand gripped the hilt of the ‘Demon King’s
Shortsword’ tightly.
Several silver streaks of blade light rained down on the

target like the shells of a shotgun.
Dududududududu-!!
Dozens upon dozens of slashes landed on the statue’s neck.

However, there was barely any visible damage.
Not one slash managed to inflict a heavy enough wound;

they all stopped at simply causing negligible, superficial
nicks on the skin.
‘So, the shortsword doesn’t work, is that it?’
It was that moment that the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’,

previously capable of slicing up the steel-like scales of the
boss-level Naga into ragged bits, came across as an
insignificant and shabby toy.
It was then.
Jin-Woo discovered a giant hand busy flying in his general

direction. Before it could grasp him, though, he ran on the
back of the statue’s neck and changed his position to the
other shoulder.
He took a quick look down as he ran and saw how dizzyingly
high he was right now.
He raised his head up and glared at the side of the god

statue’s face. This god statue wouldn’t be the first enemy
that his blades failed to inflict any damage. As a matter of
fact, he had dealt with a countless number of them so far.
‘If I can’t stab it, then I’ll just pummel it!’
He didn’t invest all those Stat points in his Strength Stat just
for fun. Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed brightly with determination.
He lightly jumped up and thrust his left hand at the temple
of the god statue’s face.
Crack!!
All five fingers of his left hand dug deep under the surface.
‘It’s done!’
Jin-Woo clenched his left hand into a fist. With that, he was
firmly secured onto the god statue’s face like a rock climber
hanging onto the surface of a cliff with one hand. All this
was simply him getting ready.
The real thing was starting now.
Jin-Woo’s right back, his right shoulder, and then his right
arm all began to balloon up to an unnatural size. That was
the result of an incredible amount of magic energy
enveloping his right arm.
As a test, he threw a single punch first.
Ka-boom!!!
The god statue’s head, that didn’t even budge from the
shortsword’s attacks, suddenly and visibly trembled.
‘…..!!’
The angel statue observing the unfolding situation was

shocked beyond words from that.
The enormous amount of magic energy spreading out from

high up above managed to shake the air within the entire
underground temple. The angel statue continued to look up
while not even bothering to hide its extremely excited state
at all.
To think, that a human would deal with its masterpiece in

such a manner.
An even greater level of anticipation bubbled up within the

gleaming light of the angel statue’s eyes.
Ka-bboooom!!
Jin-Woo’s fist punched the god statue’s face for the second
time.
Stagger.
For a brief moment there, the god statue lost its balance.
The attacks were definitely working.
However, the god statue wasn’t planning to stand still and

not do anything while getting punched to death by him.
Vuwoong-!!
As if it was trying to catch a mosquito, the god statue

slapped its own face with that giant hand.
BOOM-!!
Jin-Woo dodged that giant palm strike and safely landed

back on the god statue’s shoulder, a mocking grin etched on
his face now. That was no different from this thing busily
slapping itself.
He didn’t wait and sprinted back towards the god statue’s

face as soon as its hand went away. And then….
Boom!! Ka-boom!! Kwang! Kwang!! Kwa-boom!!!
Terrifying, deafening booms reverberated continuously

throughout the large dome-shaped temple.
Crack, craaack….
Cracks formed on the face of the god statue and spread all
over the surface like a spider’s web. The tottering god statue
tried its best to maintain its balance before it began running
towards one of the walls in this massive, open space.
Thud, thud, thud!!
The ‘creature’s huge legs viciously stomped on the ground.

It was trying to crush Jin-Woo still sticking to its face by
ramming into the wall.
‘But, before that happens….’
….He’d finish this fight!
Jin-Woo’s fist began pounding faster, harder, and with even

less mercy onto the face of the god statue.
Kwang!! Kwang!! Kwang!! Kwaaahng!!
Thud! Thud! Thud!

The god statue increased its running speed and the gap to
the wall was reduced in seconds.
Sneak.
Jin-Woo confirmed the remaining distance with his eyes and,

for the purpose of landing the final blow, sent all of his
power to his right arm.
Thick veins bulged on his ballooning arm muscles as a

horrifying amount of magic energy filled his limb up.
‘….Very good.’
The physical strength of a level 103. Jin-Woo poured all of

that into this single fist of his. Just before he was about to
collide against the wall….
KWA-BOOM!!
CRACK!!!
Along with the loud noise of a ripened watermelon

shattering into pieces, half of the god statue’s face was
blown away. It eventually faltered and fell down on its knees.
RUMBLE-!!
The entirety of the empty dome-shaped arena rumbled

spectacularly. And then, the gigantic body of the god statue
powerlessly tilted over to the ground.
RUUUMBLE-!!
A thick, choking cloud of dust kicked up into the air as the

massive figure collapsed, hard, to the dry ground. Jin-Woo
walked out from there while waving away the dust covering
up the room like a thick fog.
“Fuu-woo.”
Jin-Woo let out a soft sigh under his breath.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump….
Even now, the sound of his wildly beating heart noisily rang
around in his ear canals. The god statue that nearly made
him wet his pants the first time he stood before it, had fallen
face down on the ground, unmoving.
No one else did that. He was responsible for this spectacle.
‘I can definitely do this.’
….Regardless of what that was.
He recalled the Hunters who lost their lives inside here and a
powerful emotion welled up from deep within his heart.
Unfortunately, the remaining stone statues continued to
move quickly, as if they didn’t want him to have this quiet
moment to himself.
They surrounded him in a circle and closed the distance. Just

before they were about to pounce on him, though….
Jin-Woo stopped looking at his two hands… and raised his

head.
“Ruler’s Authority.”
BOOM-!!
Every single stone statue slammed their heads down on the

floor and stopped moving altogether. This was the power of
the invisible hand, also known as the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’.
Jin-Woo returned his gaze back to his hands.

‘I’ve become even stronger through today’s battle.’
He clenched his fists and unfurled them, before repeating

his actions again.
An incredible power was overflowing out of his fists, no, from

his entire body. He could clearly sense this flow of power
now.
At the same time, his heart showed no signs of slowing down

at all. It felt as if something sleeping deep within him had
awakened through this life-or-death struggle.
It was then.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.
He heard slow handclaps. Jin-Woo raised his head in the

direction of that clapping noise. The angel statue was
clapping its hands in an exaggerated manner, that repulsive
smile still etched on its face.
“Truly excellent.”
Quite unlike the words leaving its mouth, though, the light
oozing out of its eyes were of rather nefarious origins. Jin-
Woo calmly spoke to the statue.
“Don’t you have an agreement to uphold, first?”
The d*mn thing clearly announced that, as long as Jin-Woo

managed to stand on his two feet after the end of this final
test, all the answers he wanted to know would be provided
to him.
So, he wanted to hear them right now.

Unfortunately, a stiff smile formed on the angel statue as if it
had no intentions of letting him know that easily.
“Hah, hah.”
It took a step closer to him.
“Your test isn’t finished yet.”
Then, another step closer.
“In here….”
Yet another step.
The angel statue closed the distance with several large

strides and eventually stood before Jin-Woo’s nose.
“….I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Dududuk, dudududuk!!!
The lengthy wings on the back of the angel statue suddenly

twisted and writhed around before transforming into arms.
Two arms coming out of its shoulders, and six more sprouting
from its back – eight hands in total began clenching into
tight fists.
“I am your final test.”
Jin-Woo frowned deeply. Before he could say anything,

though – the angel statue cut him off.
“There is no need to worry about my ‘life’.”
Flinch.
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened in surprise. This thing knew what he
wanted to say in advance. He was about to raise his voice in
irritation, telling the creature that its death would result in
him not getting any answers in the end.
“Are you surprised?”
The angel statue raised one of its hands and pointed at its
own head.
“All of your information is in here.’
‘….Could it be?’
Cold sweat drops rapidly formed on Jin-Woo’s forehead.
“As expected of a quick-witted human. Hah, hah.”
The angel statue issued out more of that stiff, mechanical

laughter. And then, carried on with what it wanted to say.
“If you try to control your power to prevent me from dying,

that will make it difficult to properly measure your true
strength. So, to prevent that…”
Right in that moment – the angel statue’s lips moved at a

quick pace.
However, the voice of the angel statue didn’t come out from
there. It came out from somewhere else.
[An ‘Emergency Quest’ has been issued.]
[If you fail to defeat the enemy within the designated time
limit, your heart will stop operating altogether.]
[Remaining time: 10:00]

Just as the quest message finished saying its piece, one
second ticked down from the remaining time.
Tick.
Jin-Woo’s eyes began trembling hard as he stared at the

angel statue.
“That’s right.”
[That’s right.]
Whenever the angel statue spoke, he also heard the

System’s voice at the same time as well.
Jin-Woo’s heart that seemed to have recovered some

calmness just now began madly pounding away again. His
breathing quickened and his fingertips trembled.
The angel statue studied Jin-Woo’s reaction before

answering one of the very first questions he asked earlier –
“What are you?”
“I am the architect of the System.”
[I am the architect of the System.]
***
“Mister Kim, you’re a reporter. There’s a dungeon break

happening in Japan right now, so is it okay for you to be
camping out here like this?”
Woo Jin-Cheol threw that question out as if he was feeling

greatly annoyed by something at the moment.
The reporter named Kim yawned grandly while scratching
the area around his sideburns.
“That place is already packed full of other reporters. Nothing

will change even if I show up there, wouldn’t you agree? It’ll
be better for me to stick with the folks of the Monitoring
Division and get myself a scoop or two.”
“…”
Woo Jin-Cheol was tempted to advise this reporter that he

should either stick to yawning or scratching his face, but
gave up and sighed inwardly.
This was because Kim was one of a very few reporters that
wrote favourable articles regarding the Association when
everyone else seemed to be hell-bent on ‘uncovering’
wrongdoings of the organisation or coming up with
provocative gossip pieces on the private lives of various
Hunters.
‘No need to turn an ally into an enemy, now is there….?’
That was why Woo Jin-Cheol was keeping this reporter

named Kim company as the latter paid a visit to the
Monitoring Division’s offices.
Kim finally finished his lengthy yawn and threw a question

back.
“Besides that, Chief Woo. Our whole country is going

through a bit of upheaval right now, so is it fine for you to be
sitting here and doing nothing in the office like this?”
Woo Jin-Cheol closed the cover on the file he was working on

and spoke in a soft voice that sounded almost like a gentle
sigh.
“Someone has to stay behind to guard his assigned station,
you see.”
“Ohhh.”
Reporter Kim’s eyes opened up wider in understanding and

replied while quickly pulling out a palm-sized memo pad
and a pen.
“You know, that’s a cool soundbite. I want to make sure not

to miss out on a single word, so can you repeat them for me,
please?”
“Mister Kim, you really….”
Woo Jin-Cheol was about to raise his voice higher but with
excellent timing, his smartphone went off.
‘…Mm?’
It was a call coming from the report centre. If it was a call not
coming through the hotline of the Monitoring Division but to
his personal phone, then that could only mean the matter at
hand wasn’t simple in nature.
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly answered the call.
“This is Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol speaking, Monitoring

Division.”
– “Chief, we just received a report, sir. Looks like your

presence is required on this one.”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
“What happened?”
– “Do you remember the high school where those Orcs came
out?”
“Did something happen in that place again….?”
– “It doesn’t seem like anything major had gone down there
yet, but a Gate appearing in that school’s athletic field a few
days ago turned out to be a dual dungeon, sir.”
‘A dual dungeon?’
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes grew wider.
– “But, the thing is….”
It seemed that the employee charged with receiving the

reports still had something else to say. Woo Jin-Cheol’s voice
became more urgent.
“Okay, so what else is there?”
– “I heard that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has entered the Gate,

sir.”
Chapter 158
He didn’t even have enough time to get surprised.
The angel statue suddenly began its attack. A large, tightly-

clenched fist came flying at him like a flash of light.
The attack was coming from too close a distance and its
speed was also too fast to evade cleanly – that’s what his
brain, trained to near-perfection through countless battles,
had told him.
Jin-Woo urgently raised his arms to block the attack. It was

not an incorrect decision to make, but that didn’t mean it
was the correct one, either.
SLAM-!!
The power behind that punch was so incredulous that both

his legs momentarily became airborne as he flew to the wall
on the far side before ungainly crashing into it.
Crack-!!
The debris from the broken wall tumbled down to the floor.
‘…Keu-heuk.’
Jin-Woo swallowed back the pained moan. From that

unexpected attack, he ended up receiving an unexpectedly
large amount of damage. Unfortunately, the angel statue
had already arrived in front of Jin-Woo’s nose, evidently not
keen on giving him any time to reorganise himself.
Boom!!
Jin-Woo tilted his head to the side and evaded the fist of the
angel statue. It left a massive hole on the wall behind him,
instead.
That was just the beginning.
Jin-Woo’s back was up against the wall. The angel statue

blocked off his route of retreat and then, its eight fists
ruthlessly rained down on him.
Attacks poured down without a single break in between,

each punch powerful enough to kill a high-ranking Hunter in
a single hit.
Tudududududududu-!!
As time wore on, though – the eyes of the angel statue were
growing wider and wider, instead.
‘He’s… blocking my punches?’
The bombardment of attacks from eight separate arms was

being blocked, deflected, or was redirected by just two arms.
His movements were so fast that he simply looked like a
collection of afterimages now.
The angel statue was inwardly impressed by this display.
From the very beginning, the end result of this battle was
already set in stone. No, this was just one of the formalities
to go through. And that would be the statue performing a
once-over of Jin-Woo for the last time whether he agreed to it
or not. Normally, this process itself should have been a
rather boring one to go through. But now….
‘Isn’t this amusing.’
To think, it’d start enjoying a fight against a human like this.

The angel statue had never once thought that a mere
human could ever be an even match in its long, long life.
The moment its thoughts reached there, a light suddenly

flashed in its vision. No, it wasn’t actually light.
It was a punch the human threw at the statue.
Boom-!!
Jin-Woo jumped up and threw a punch. It hit the face of the

angel statue, resulting in it being unceremoniously
deposited on to the ground and rolling away in the dirt. It
still stood right back up again, though.
There were minute cracks developing on its still-smiling

face.
[Hahah.]
How long had it been since it felt this joyous?
The angel statue was so excited that it began to shudder in

regret from the shortness of the remaining time.
“Fuu-woo….”
Jin-Woo managed to land a good-looking hit on the angel

statue, but he didn’t bother to celebrate his feat. He instead
spat out heavy, laboured breaths.
‘It’s strong.’
Indeed, his opponent was way stronger than any enemy he
had faced so far.
This ‘thing’ introduced itself as the architect of the System.
The questions of why it created the System, why he was

chosen as a Player, and just what was going on with this
world – the questions he wanted to ask so badly were
already forming a small mountain in his head.
‘If I want to ask them….’
He needed to prioritise bringing that thing down first. Jin-

Woo clenched his fists tightly. It was then.
He felt a warm, sticky liquid sliding down his face. It was his
blood.
It was trickling out from a tear on his forehead.
‘I guess I didn’t dodge everything, huh.’
He thought that he perfectly countered all those attacks, but

it seemed that one or two did get through to him. What bad
luck it was, his blood seeping into his eye and interfering
with his vision.
On the other hand, the enemy was completely fine. It’d be

very hard to describe this situation as a good one for him,
even if he were to exaggerate somewhat.
‘Fighting up close puts me in a disadvantage.’
That was a rather obvious assessment to make. The enemy’s

physique was several times larger than his, and it also
enjoyed the benefit of having six more arms, too.
Realistically speaking, it was nigh impossible to evade or
defend against speedy attacks coming in from all sorts of
angles. The wound on his forehead attested to that fact.
‘In that case.’
It was time to change the look of this battle just a tiny bit.
The moment he made up his mind as thus, the angel statue

flew in like an arrow and swung its big fist at him.
Ka-ka-boom!!
The punch sliced open the air and crashed into the wall. It
collapsed into countless pieces of rubble. The angel statue
tilted its head to the side.
Jin-Woo had taken some distance away from his enemy even
before the statue had the chance to consciously realise it.
‘I certainly am a match for it in terms of speed.’
So, if he maintained this distance and damaged it from

afar….
Jin-Woo immediately activated ‘Ruler’s Authority’ towards

the angel statue as it turned around to face him.
Pow!!
The powerful attack pressing down from the sky to the

ground!
The technique used to swat the king of the ants, Beru, off

the air swooped down on the angel statue’s head.
However….
‘….?’
Jin-Woo did a quick double take.
The skill that managed to tilt the torso of the massive god
statue only managed to tilt the head of the angel ever so
slightly. He couldn’t be sure, but the opponent seemed to
have activated a skill of its own to defend itself. There was
no other explanation he could think of other than that one.
‘What could it be?’
His confused state couldn’t be maintained for long.
[How amusing. So very amusing.]
From some time ago, the angel statue’s low voice and the
System’s mechanical female-like voice were overlapping in
his ears. That unnatural combination was really getting on
his nerves a bit.
[This is so very amusing.]
The angel extended all of its eight arms out, and the
weapons previously held by the stone statues began
vibrating on the ground.
‘Isn’t that….?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened greatly.
The weapons of the stone statues soon rose up in the air and
flew towards the angel. Eight different weapons were now
tightly grasped in the angel’s eight hands all at once.
‘That’s Ruler’s Reach.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the angel statue also knew how to

use the skill ‘Ruler’s Reach’. Its power seemed to be below
Jin-Woo’s own skill, but whatever the case may have been,
he now knew what the angel used to counter the attack
earlier on.
Indeed, this thing was not an ordinary opponent at all.
Tick.
Abruptly, Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted up.
And now, he only had roughly six minutes left.
‘I need to finish this quickly.’
He learned that long distance attacks weren’t going to work.

Jin-Woo revised his plan once more and summoned the
‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ again. The other one that he
tossed away in a hurry was currently nowhere to be seen.
‘Fighting against eight weapons with a single shortsword, is

it?’
The more he was pushed to the corner in a fight, the faster

his heart beat.
Taht.
The angel statue jumped up high as if it wanted to touch the

ceiling, before landing back down in front of Jin-Woo.
Craaack!!
The stone tiles on the floor couldn’t endure against the

falling statue’s momentum and spat out bits of debris as it
shattered into countless pieces.
Jin-Woo pointed forward with his shortsword as he felt the
small pebbles pelting him on his ankles.
He definitely could do this. Jin-Woo stared into the angel

statue’s eyes and calmly drew his breaths in. Immediately,
he felt a chill brush run down his back. Sure enough, eight
disparate weapons, such as a sword, a spear, a blade, an
axe, a war hammer, etc., flew at his way as if they all
possessed individual wills.
Fuu….
Jin-Woo spat out heavy, white-hot breaths, his brows

shooting up high.
Under the glare of the interior that was neither too bright
nor too dark, the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes left behind long
shimmering trails that chased after his movements.
Kwagagwahk-!! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-gwa-gwahk!!
Would blocking countless flying bullets with bullets fired

from an opposing gun create a cacophony of noise similar to
this?
The deafening roars continued on unabated as Jin-Woo and

the angel statue exchanged innumerable attacks and
counterattacks in an instant.
Within the world slowed down to a crawl, only these two

writhed and struggled mightily as if to rebel against the flow
of time itself.
There was no one superior or inferior; just an evenly-

matched battle of blades where only one would emerge as
the victor. Even then….
‘I can feel it.’
Jin-Woo’s shoulder moved ever so slightly. The sword wielded

by the angel statue brushed past his shoulder with a gap
that couldn’t be detected by the naked eyes.
He stopped caring about his other eye that couldn’t be used

anymore. His sensory perception that had exceeded the
extreme limits and stepped into a whole new realm helped
him to read the trajectories of every weapon his enemy held.
He began dodging every attack the angel statue threw at

him by truly paper-thin margins and accurately landed his
counters one by one.
More and more wounds appeared on the statue. The angel’s

speed remained constant, yet Jin-Woo was getting faster and
faster.
Naturally, the angel statue was deeply astonished by this.
“…..!!”
If it was only for the purpose of a test, there was no reason to

go this far. However, this human had managed to draw out
the angel’s full power.
Indeed, just as the term implied – it had to fight with

everything it had.
But then, a human was able to fight evenly against the

angel statue going at full tilt?
The angel’s puzzled, suspicious eyes began peering deeper

into Jin-Woo now. And then, it realised the reason for this.
‘It’s only by a little, but… it’s mixed in there.’
Flinch.
The shoulders of the angel statue trembled in shock. Was

that the reason why he could freely wield the immense
power so naturally like this?
However, that was also another thing this ‘creature’ wished

for from the beginning, anyway.
Just as the look of elation formed on the angel statue’s face,

a cleanly sliced off arm flew up into the air. The statue’s
head was raised up to look at it.
The arm let go of a weapon as it flew away…. it was the

angel’s right arm.
[Kuuuwaaahhk!!]
Even if this statue was not its real body, the pain still got
transmitted in full. The angel statue tottered unsteadily and
retreated after losing its arm in the blink of an eye.
[How dare a measly human!]
The colour of the angel statue’s eyes reddened in an instant.

Its true nature woke up and it forgot its true purpose, its
duty, for being here.
[You dare!!]
It cried out in anger, and the fallen, destroyed stone statues

all stood right back up.
BOOM!
Even the god statue and its partially-destroyed head began
pushing off the ground as well.
Jin-Woo could sense all the enemies being reanimated, but

he didn’t fall into a panic and simply pounced on the angel
statue again.
Clang!!
The four arms of the angel were used to block a single

shortsword, yet it was shoved far, far back from the impact
force.
Agility, Perception, Strength, and even Stamina – all of Jin-

Woo’s Stats had far exceeded the expectation of the angel
statue.
[Kuwahk!!]
The angel statue roared out like a wild beast, and the
reanimated stone statues pounced on Jin-Woo. And so, the
fight between every single thing within this temple and the
lone human commenced.
Tick.
[03:02]
Even in the midst of all this chaos, the timer was still
resolutely ticking down to zero.
Jin-Woo’s shortsword sliced away yet another of the angel

statue’s arms. This time, it was one of the six created out of
its wings.
[Kuwaaahhk!!]
Unfortunately, the resistance of the reanimated stone
statues was nothing to scoff at.
There were far too many of them surrounding him now and it
became too much of a task to dodge every single attack
coming his way. He focused on attacking the angel statue
and dodged only those attacks that might critically injure
him while ignoring the rest.
His HP and Stamina were cut down in double time.
Stab!
A stone statue slammed down with its shield on his left

shoulder.
‘Keuk!’
Jin-Woo diverted his attention towards this particular statue.
It was preparing to strike for the second time with its shield.
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled into something unsightly. He
didn’t really care about others, but he simply couldn’t
forgive this b*stard.
Only then did Jin-Woo move slightly away from the angel
statue; using the elbow of his left arm not holding a weapon,
he stomped the head of the offending statue.
CRACK!
The elbow drop containing magic energy ensured that the

statue’s head exploded into tiny bits and pieces.
In the meantime, other statues quickly surrounded him and

tried to jump on top of him. However, Jin-Woo simply
activated his skill and pushed them all away.
BOOM!!
A group of stone statues were flung away as if they were

thrown off from the centre of an explosion.
Unfortunately, even before Jin-Woo had time to catch his

breath, the god statue threw its massive fist down on his
head. He lightly leapt to his side and avoided it.
Vuuwuong-!!
The gigantic fist only managed to sweep away dozens of

stone statues from Jin-Woo’s vicinity. He ran in a wide arc to
lose the stone statues mindlessly trying to jump on him and
approached the angel statue again.
And the angel greeted him with a deeply crumpled

expression. That was the expression of pure rage.
For the second time today, Jin-Woo, the angel statue, and
the stone statues all fell into a frenzied melee. His blood and
sweat danced in the air and flew everywhere. But, all of that
lasted only for a brief moment.
Soon, blood and sweat evaporated from the sheer heat

generated and red mist rose up from Jin-Woo’s shoulders.
The stone statues were forced back, the god statue slammed
its fist down, and the arms of the angel statue busily moved
about. And in the middle of it all stood Jin-Woo.
[Kuwaaahhk!!]
Another one of the angel’s arms flew off, and Jin-Woo’s
shortsword found itself pressed tightly against the angel
statue’s neck. Way above both of them, the god statue was
about to pound down with its two hands locked together.
Jin-Woo calmly strengthened the arm pressing the blade to

the angel statue’s neck to cut it off in one go.
At that moment, the angel statue announced its surrender.
[I lost.]
Simultaneously, the god statue and the rest of the stone

statues all froze up and stopped moving.
[Your test has ended.]
Tick.
Like a lie, the timer ceaselessly ticking down also froze up

along with the angel’s words announcing the end of
everything.
Red hot steam was rising up in a fine mist from Jin-Woo’s

entire body.
Only after confirming that the timer had stopped for real, he
lowered his head. His glare was locked onto the angel
statue.
“I have a question.”
[You can ask anything. I shall answer if it’s within my

knowledge.]
Rather unexpectedly, the now-expressionless angel statue
agreed to his demand without offering any resistance.
‘…..’
Jin-Woo didn’t say anything and thought to himself.
When he asked the angel statue ‘What are you’, the thing
mocked him for asking the wrong question.
However, his confusion got more confounded after he heard

the identity of this ‘thing’ from its own mouth, and now, he
had more questions than ever before burning a hole in his
head.
That was why Jin-Woo decided to heed the advice the angel
gave him earlier on and ask the right question.
“Who am I?”
Chapter 159
The Hunters of the Monitoring Division arrived on site. There

were a total of seven high-ranked Hunters. Woo Jin-Cheol
had scrounged up the top elites of the Association that could
be mobilised on such short notice.
However, he knew the truth. He knew that this little fighting

power would not be of any help to Hunter Seong.
‘Even still, for the worst case scenario….’
These Hunters from the Monitoring Division would buy

enough time so Hunter Seong would be able to escape from
the dangers. They came to this location with such a resolve
in their hearts.
“Is that the one, Chief?”
“Looks that way.”
Hunters from the Monitoring Division stepped out of the

minivan and entered the school’s athletics field.
They found the Hunters from the Bravery Guild who had
made the report earlier waiting for their arrival. Their
expressions brightened once they saw the members of the
Monitoring Division.
“Over here, mister agents!”

The Master of the Guild came running and greeted the
Hunters of the Monitoring Division. However, Woo Jin-Cheol’s
gaze remained fixed on that Gate in question.
He could pick up on an ominous aura coming out of it

already. Woo Jin-Cheol looked at his subordinates and issued
an order.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Yes, sir.”
Their steps became hurried and they crossed the field to

arrive before the Gate in a proverbial heartbeat.
But then, Woo Jin-Cheol’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
“Chief?”
“Senior?”
The subordinates behind him naturally came to a stop, as

well. Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously took off his sunglasses. His
hand holding the accessory was trembling imperceptibly.
‘This… what the hell is this….?’
He picked up on the utterly horrifying maelstrom of magical

energy all around the Gate. As a matter of fact, the magical
energy leaking out was so savage and brutal that the space
around the portal looked as if it was being distorted to his
naked eyes.
He was startled by what he saw and quickly took a step

back.
Was this simply an optical illusion, or the sign of an

impending ill omen?
He thought that, all of a sudden, a dark veil seemed to be
enveloping this Gate from above. He had seen this
somewhere before. It was the looming shadow of death.
All the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Woo Jin-Cheol instinctively knew it.
He knew that the fight taking place inside was not

something he or his boys could possibly butt in on.
The subordinates saw his complexion getting paler and

gasped out in surprise. They hurriedly asked him.
“Section Chief?? Are you alright?”
“….”
Rather than an answer, Woo Jin-Cheol threw out a question,

instead.
“Is there a… major Guild with a team ready for a raid

nearby?”
One of his subordinates checked the Association’s database

and quickly made his reply.
“Yes, sir. The Hunters Guild is getting ready for a raid at the
moment.”
“What about their two rank S Hunters?”
“According to the data, both Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In

Hunter-nims are scheduled to partake in the raid, sir.”
Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In. If it were those two, then they
might be able to do something.
Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze back to the Gate. That
imperceptible trembling that started from his hand had
slowly but steadily spread out to the rest of his body.
Gulp.
Dry saliva slid down his throat all on its own.
Woo Jin-Cheol barely managed to rein his trembling voice

and spoke to his subordinate.
“Send… the emergency cooperation request to the Hunters

Guild.”
***
He finally asked it.
Just as the angel statue had recommended it, he changed

his question from “What are you?” to “Who am I?”
In that short moment, Jin-Woo’s heavy and laboured panting

relaxed to his usual rhythmic breathing. The sound of his
breaths was so measured and calm that it was hard to
believe he was involved in a fierce life-or-death battle just
now.
Even his panting shoulders had stopped quivering

completely.
[….]
The answer from the angel statue seemed to be getting

delayed for some reason, and Jin-Woo pressed the
shortsword deeper against its skin as a reminder. The blade
dug into the neck of the stone statue.
If this thing was a human, its skin would’ve been cut open
and began bleeding by now. Since it was seemingly made
out of stone, it didn’t bleed, but he knew there was no
problem with cutting its head off like this.
Perhaps the angel statue also knew this truth? It belatedly

opened its mouth.
[Finally.]
Hearing it from such close proximity, this thing’s voice

sounded even more freakish than before.
[You have asked a proper question.]
It then formed a smile next. There was not one hint of fear
on its face even though several of its arms were sliced off
and there was a blade pressed just below its chin.
‘Maybe, its real body is somewhere else?’
Jin-Woo’s exceptional sensory perception scanned his

surroundings but he couldn’t pick up any other aura. If the
real body was indeed somewhere else, then the current him
couldn’t even begin to imagine just how incredible the
technique being employed here was to conceal the
connection this perfectly.
The angel statue carried on with what it wanted to say while

that smile remained etched on its stony face.
[The answer is within you.]
‘…In me?’
Jin-Woo had been glaring at his query until now, worried that
this thing would try another petty trick on him. But when he
heard that, his eyes became even sharper than ever before.
He spent four years of his life as a lowest-ranked Hunter and

had to fight against countless enemies that were stronger
than himself and could have killed him instantly.
Even though he was classified as a rank E Hunter, and not

only that, as the lowest even among the rank Es, Jin-Woo
still managed to survive in those four years as he bravely
roamed around in various dungeons. That was no mean feat,
indeed.
It was only possible because of his sixth sense, honed

through experiencing several life-or-death moments, helped
him to pick the best possible option available during the
worst of all the worst situations.
And his ultra-sharp sixth sense was warning him of a certain

shift in the atmosphere. Sure enough…
Tti-ring!
The mechanical beep abruptly rang out in his head,

accompanied by the usual voice of the System. It was
definitely not the angel statue’s voice – he only heard that of
a mechanical-sounding female.
[Recalling the stored data in the System’s memory.]
[Will you consent to its playback?] (Y/N)
It wasn’t just the voice this time, but even the actual
message window also popped up, as well. It was asking him
‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
The alphabets ‘Y’ and ‘N’ lazily blinked in front of his eyes as
if they were patiently waiting for his answer.
‘Just what on earth is this….?’
Just what was this d*mn thing trying to pull this time?
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted away from the message and landed

on the angel statue. The smile was long gone from the
statue’s face. It spoke to him with a completely emotionless
face.
“The decision is up to you.”
Unlike before, its voice was now separated from the System.
The machine-like, stiff male voice grated against his
eardrums. Jin-Woo shut his mouth tight after seeing that
face.
‘Data saved in the System’s memory, is it….’
Just like how it was with various video games, did the
System also possess a save file or something similar to that?
And, he could view what that save file contained, right now?
‘…..’
In this short span of time, all kinds of thoughts raced in and

out of his brain. Of course, his answer had already been
decided.
He finally earned what could be his one and only chance to

confirm the truth for himself, so why should he back out of it
now?
If the System wanted to trick him into a trap, then well, it

didn’t have to go through such an elaborate process, either.
After all, the System possessed the power to decide when
his heart would stop beating, didn’t it?
‘Just as the angel said, if all these were just the processes of
a test, then…. Then, I have earned the right to view this
data.’
He suddenly recalled what the angel statue told him before

the battle commenced.
[“If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the
test, then everything you wished to know will be revealed to
you. That will be my reward to you.”]
Most likely, the reward the angel talked about meant his
right to view the data. He finally arrived at this conclusion.
Jin-Woo made his decision and slowly opened his mouth.
“….Yes.”
When he did, darkness immediately enveloped him.
Tti-ring.
The familiar mechanical beep hit him in the eardrums, and

the voice of the System followed right after.
[The saved data has been successfully uploaded.]
***
It felt like he crossed an endless tunnel at a speed very close

to that of infinity.
He flew past the space filled with nothing but darkness; the
light seeping into this space from such a long distance away
slammed into him in an instant.
After the blinding by the light dissipated away….

Jin-Woo was greeted by the immense spectacle laid out
before his eyes – no, below him – and spat out a shocked
gasp in his mind.
‘Oh, my god….’
An army consisting solely of innumerable monsters

stretched far beyond the scope of vision below him.
From where he was, all the way to beyond the horizon.

Countless monsters completely covered up the ground until
there was no uncovered patch left.
In all honesty, that was one hell of a terrifying sight to

behold. If this many monsters jumped out of a Gate all at
once, humanity wouldn’t have a chance in hell at winning
against them.
Just from seeing this, he felt his innards tighten as if he was

having indigestion.
‘Hold on… Where is this place, anyway?’
It couldn’t have been Earth. He could see thin, tall, and

bizarre looking rocky outcroppings jutting out from here and
there on this reddish-brown, dried up plains where not even
a single blade of grass grew.
This was a completely foreign landscape that he had never

seen before.
His eyes could catch the sight of the reddish-brown ground,

those strange rock formations, and then, the great army of
monsters standing on top of said ground.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to these monsters.

He spotted weaklings commonly seen in low ranked
dungeons, all the way to the powerful monsters that could
only be seen in much higher-ranked dungeons, such as High
Orcs, White Phantoms, and even Giants.
This disparate gathering of monsters that ignored their

ranks and species were busy looking up and waiting for
something to happen.
‘What are they all looking at?’
Jin-Woo followed after their gazes and raised his head to the
sky above. And then… he discovered it.
‘…..!!’
He saw a jet-black lake, quietly floating high up in the sky.
No, it was actually not a lake. He mistook it for a lake

because of its sheer size. But, it was a Gate so big that he
couldn’t even begin to guess its size. And it was silently
looking down on the ground.
This black ‘hole’ was blocking up the purple sky beyond it.
‘Purple sky, is it…..?’
Seeing the colour of the sky that should not exist, he

became doubly sure that this was not Earth anymore.
In a world that was clearly not Earth, something major was

about to happen between the monsters and that Gate.
He unconsciously swallowed his saliva. Trapped within this

eerie silence, his nervousness also increased as the time
wore on.
Gowooooh….
Just what would come out from that Gate?
Jin-Woo began wondering if he’d get to see the weapons of

humanity or the armies of humans stepping out of that huge
Gate, just like how monsters would step onto Earth through
those portals.
However….
CRACK!
What came out of the cracked-open Gate’s mouth was

soldiers decked out in silver armour, with wings attached to
their backs.
These silver-armoured soldiers poured out of the Gate like

agitated bees rushing out of the disturbed beehive.
While monsters covered up the entirety of the ground, these

soldiers in turn utterly blotted out the sky.
It was truly a spectacular sight. Jin-Woo couldn’t stop

admiring this incredible view.
However, the monsters must’ve thought rather differently.

They began howling at the top of their lungs upon seeing
the silver-armoured soldiers covering the sky and began
bucking around in agitation.
He didn’t even have to be a genius to figure out what would

happen next.
It was war.
Swahhh-!!
The flying soldiers became silver drops of light and

descended to the ground below. As it turned out, there was
more than one Gate in the sky. There were several of them,
and silver soldiers poured out of them one after the other.
Monsters on the ground versus the soldiers of the sky!!
Two groups, clearly burning with hostile intentions against

each other, soon collided just above the ground. And a
battle of an indescribable scale and proportion unfolded
next.
ROOOAAAR-!!
The beastly roars of the monsters shook the land below,

and….
Vuuoooo–!!
….And, horns being blown by the silver-armoured soldiers

thunderously resounded out.
Weapons collided with other weapons; the sounds of

armours shattering noisily rang out. The beastly roars soon
morphed into screams and pained groans. The ground below
was steadily being dyed the colour of blood.
The superiority in this battle was established very quickly.
The silver-armoured soldiers were very powerful. These guys

easily sliced off the necks of the monsters that were strong
enough to rip high-ranked Hunters apart with their bare
hands.
Such powerful beings had formed a massive invading group,

so perhaps it was only inevitable that the monsters were
being swept away.
The balance was tilting noticeably now to their favour. Even
then, silver-armoured soldiers continued to pour out from
the Gates non-stop.
The waves upon waves of the silver soldiers crashing forward

like the incoming tide erased all traces of living monsters off
the dried plains in no time at all.
Kuwaaahk!
Kiiiehhk!
The war began as a fierce clash between two forces, but

now, it descended into a blood-soaked massacre, instead.
Just like how Jin-Woo was with his foes, the swords and
spears of the silver soldiers knew no mercy. Because of that,
the number of monsters decreased quite rapidly.
Jin-Woo watched this scene of the horrifying monsters being

killed off with little to no resistance and was overcome with
a puzzling mixture of emotions.
‘Am I mourning all those people who lost their lives to these
b*stards, or am I feeling rueful for humans not being able to
possess powers like that….?’
Such trivial thoughts remained in his head for only a short

while. The truly extraordinary event only happened
afterwards, that was why.
With the complete annihilation of the monsters mere

moments away…
The silver soldiers of the sky that violently pushed their

enemies back suddenly stopped moving one at the time.
Could they possibly have developed a sense of pity for these

things now, of all times? But, there was just no way. If they
did, then they shouldn’t be gripping their weapons even
tighter like that.
They were gripping their weapons so hard, in fact, their

hands were beginning to tremble noticeably, too. On top of
that, the emotions filling up the faces of these silver soldiers
were as far from the ones of compassion as you could get.
No, they were definitely filled with terror.
Their collective gazes were focused in a certain direction.

And that was somewhere behind him.
Jin-Woo suddenly had a hunch. He felt that something

extraordinary was about to happen behind him, one
amazing enough to overturn this situation on its head.
However, his gaze didn’t immediately look behind him, but

instead, to the ground below.
On top of this reddish-brown land, a black shadow was

spreading out. This shadow rapidly spread beyond the blood
dyeing the land red, as well as the mountains of corpses.
And when this darkness sped past underneath these
corpses, mysterious screams could be heard.
Screams that no one could tell where they were coming

from.
Jin-Woo knew of a skill that was eerily similar to this – no,

make that pretty much identical.
‘Sovereign’s Territory….’
A powerful chill ran down his spine immediately.
He slowly, agonisingly slowly, turned his head around to

take a look.
And there he found an impressive knight covered in jet-

black armour from his head right down to his toes. From this
knight, and the horse he was riding on, black aura-like
strands of energy continuously rose up.
Why did this happen? No one told him, yet Jin-Woo could
think of only one title when looking at that black knight.
‘….The Shadow Sovereign.’
Just by being in front of this being subjected him to an

incredible pressure that was heavy enough to strangle him.
Whether it was the silver-armoured soldiers from the sky,

monsters with intelligence, or even those without it, they all
forgot to breathe and simply stared at this Shadow
Sovereign.
Every single gaze within this battlefield was now looking at

only this black knight.
[…..]
The Sovereign glared at the soldiers of the sky, before

extending his hand out as if he wanted to grasp something.
Flinch.
Jin-Woo now could see the sight of the silver-armoured

soldiers flinch and start to back away in fear. The intolerable
stillness that stifled one’s breaths pressed down on the
shoulders of every single being under the heavens.
And soon….
The Sovereign’s solemn voice shattered that stillness.
[Rise up.]
Chapter 160
Ba-thump.
His heart beat louder just then.
‘Rise up.’
The ripple generated from those two words spread out at a

frightening speed and roused up the shadows. The
battlefield dyed in the colours of monsters’ blood roiled and
tumbled in black waves.
Uwaaaahhh-!!
The Shadow Soldiers leaping out of the ground roared out in

what could have been either loud cheers or screams of
horror. They then shifted their blackened eyes towards their
enemies.
Those eyes carried not one trace of fear towards their

enemies now.
For the silver soldiers of the skies supposed to deal with this
new army, the scene before them was worthy of sending
cold shivers down their spines. Too bad for them, the
Sovereign’s powers didn’t stop there.
[Wuoooohhhhh-!!]
The Sovereign bellowed heavily towards the skies. That

powerful roar didn’t attack the eardrums of the listeners, but
directly shook their hearts, instead.
Hearts, legs, and even the ground shook from his roar.
The land began crying as its response.
Jin-Woo didn’t need a lot of time to figure out what that roar
was meant for. Because… the Shadow Soldiers raised their
weapons up high and roared alongside as well.
WUUUOOOOHHH-!!
Just that single roar alone, and the Shadow Soldiers all
transformed into completely different beings in an instant.
From this corner of the land, all the way to the other side –
the dead monsters were instantly reorganised into Shadow
Soldiers.
Jin-Woo had been quietly observing this process while

holding his breath. A powerful shudder ran through his
entire body from the combined roars of the Shadow Soldiers.
Ba-thump!!
His heart loudly beat again.
If this scene was supposed to demonstrate the true pinnacle

of the Shadow Sovereign Class, then it certainly succeeded
in letting him know just how much further he still had to
walk to get there.
Eventually, the soldiers of the sky stopped hesitating and

began moving again. They gathered into one large mass,
and like a gigantic swarm of bees, descended on the black
soldiers below.
However, the monsters that were reborn as Shadow Soldiers
didn’t fall as easily as before.
Weapons clashed against weapons.
Soldiers collided against soldiers.
The silver army and the black army got tangled up on top of
this expansive land.
Explosions rang out constantly, and the ground quaked over

and over again. The battle that should have ended as a one-
sided massacre reverted back to full-on warfare.
Just the entrance of a single individual had changed

everything. Now that was the display of truly shocking
power. Jin-Woo didn’t know why this scene was being shown
to him, but nevertheless, he found himself unable to tear his
eyes away from it.
The violent, fierce clash continued on.
A desperate and bloody engagement, incomparably fiercer

and more violent than the first battle that took place,
unfolded before his eyes.
Monsters were unable to contend with a single soldier of the

sky while they were still alive, but after becoming Shadow
Soldiers, they were now able to stand their ground and not
get pushed back.
But, well, the truly terrifying thing about these Shadow

Soldiers weren’t their fighting spirit or their combat
potentials.
The soldiers of the sky drove the Shadow Soldiers back with
their powerful attacks and excellent martial prowess. The
ferocity of the Shadow Soldiers that rebelled against death
itself wasn’t enough to bridge the gap of strength.
The balance of the battle seemed to tilt in favour of the

soldiers of the sky once more. However, the Shadow Soldiers
regained their original appearances almost right after they
were destroyed.
Kuwaaahhk!
A Shadow Soldier writhed and screamed out as a spear

belonging to a soldier of the sky pierced through it.
The silver soldier sensed that its victory was near. It let go of
its spear and unsheathed the sword on its hips to slice off
the head of its enemy, the Shadow Soldier.
Slice!
However, right after the head flew off….
‘….!!’
The head of the Shadow Soldier falling to the ground and

the headless body all transformed into black smoke, before
combining back to one form a couple of steps away.
As the soldier of the sky flinched, the Shadow Soldier used

the sword it held to stab the chest of its silver-clad enemy.
Crack!!
The blade broke through the chest armour, dug into the
internals, broke through the back skin and emerged out in
the open again.
The silver soldier of the sky powerlessly fell to the ground.

Plop.
As the light of life within the fallen silver soldier’s eyes faded
away, someone’s dignified voice entered its ears and woke it
back up.
[Rise up.]
In an unknown instant….
The soldier of the sky discovered the black spear being held
by its hands. What came to visit this soldier wasn’t death,
but a new beginning.
Its now-blackened eyes shifted towards other soldiers of the

sky who used to be its comrades only a few breaths ago.
Flinch.
When their gazes met, it saw the trembling shoulders of its

former comrades. Even then, the reborn soldier knew what it
had to do.
“Wuuoooouhhh!!”
It joyously accepted the brand new fate bestowed upon it.
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from these soldiers and took an
overview of the entire battlefield and its situation.
The battle taking place between the soldiers of the sky

endlessly pouring out from the Gates in the air, and the
Shadow Soldiers reborn through the orders of the Shadow
Sovereign, was incredibly even.
Many poured out of the Gate to match the number of the

dead, and just as many stood up from the shadows to match
the dead, too.
If war broke out in hell, would it resemble something like
this?
Horrifying warfare that a human’s intuition couldn’t even

properly tell what would happen next breathlessly continued
on in this vast land.
However, the balance between these two opposing sides

broke in a single instant.
The flow of the war shifted very quickly when the Shadow
Sovereign stopped issuing commands to his troops from far
back and personally stepped forward to enter the fray.
The black horse carrying the Sovereign dashed into the

battlefield.
Whenever he swung his sword, thousands of enemy troops

fell to create a pathway. And the dead enemies, without an
exception, became Shadow Soldiers and stood back up.
Just one flick of the Sovereign’s hand and all those enemy
soldiers flying away to safety had their wings broken and
they all crashed back down to earth.
‘Ruler’s Authority…..’
The areas the Sovereign dashed through got utterly swept

away as if a storm rampaged past there. For the first time
ever since the two opposing camps started clashing their
weapons – the soldiers of the sky were being forced back.
Hundreds of thousands, no, millions of silver-clad soldiers

couldn’t deal with a single enemy and were constantly
pushed back.
Jin-Woo could only gasp out in admiration at this sheer
marvellous spectacle. He thought that the war would come
to an end like this.
However…
Just as the Shadow Soldiers began pushing back the tides of

the silver soldiers of the sky, an ominous, eerie wind that
was hard to describe in words blew in from somewhere
behind him.
Auras powerful enough to send a shudder down his spine

rushed in.
The Sovereign temporarily disregarded the enemies to his

front and looked behind him. Two ginormous Gates had been
generated in some place far behind the Shadow army. Their
sizes didn’t lose out to the ones floating up in the air.
And from these two Gates, two disparate groups of monsters

poured out in droves. On one side, beast-type creatures
being led by a wolf the size of a mountain.
And from the other one, knights and soldiers rushed out with
countless banners proudly announcing their clans being
waved about in their midst.
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider and wider.
‘Huh….??’
The clan crests embroidered on those banners were all

familiar to him. From Ricardo’s, Faestos’s, Rokan’s,
Ingreyace’s, and even Radiru’s.
‘….Esil.’
Those crests belonged to the aristocratic clans of demons he
ran into as he was climbing up to the top floor of the
Demon’s Castle.
His confusion regarding why those demons appeared here

could only last for a short while. The beasts and the demons
began attacking the shadow soldiers together as if they had
a prior agreement.
The back line of the Shadow Soldiers was immediately torn

up into shreds from the combined assault of the two monster
armies.
That wasn’t the end, however.
Their front was occupied by the soldiers of the sky, still alive
and ready to battle. These silver-clad beings changed their
strategy and began striking back once more.
The soldiers of the sky to the front and the armies of

monsters at the back surrounded the Shadow Soldiers in a
pincer attack and closed in on them. The flow of the battle
had changed once more.
Ba-thump.
Jin-Woo grasped his chest tightly.
His heart was aching now.
His gaze slowly shifted towards the Sovereign standing next

to him.
Why was this? Why could he sense the Sovereign’s emotions

so clearly like this?
Just like when he was reading the thoughts of his Shadow
Soldiers, the Sovereign’s emotions were vividly transmitted
to him. The emotion welling up thickly from the deepest
depths of his heart was none other than indignation.
No, it had already exceeded past the level of indignation

and into the territory of pure wrath.
Now that they were surrounded by enemies from all sides,

the Shadow Soldiers had to endlessly repeat the cycle of
destruction and regeneration. Although they seemed to
have possessed a never-ending power of recovery, Jin-Woo
too possessed the same ability and he knew its fatal
weakness very well.
‘It can hold up as long as there’s MP….’
When MP ran out, the Soldiers would not be revived again.

Meaning, the Sovereign wouldn’t be able to use his army
again. He sensed the Sovereign’s magical energy that felt
bottomless and vast in the beginning, slowly reaching its
limit.
The Sovereign changed the direction of his mount away from

the army of the sky and towards his rear. His black horse
kicked the ground and rushed forward.
The ensuing battle was truly intense.
Corpses formed mountains. Blood formed oceans.
This conflagration called ‘war’ created by countless soldiers

swallowed up every single lifeform still standing on this land
and continued on its horrific path of destruction.
But, even then – this stubbornly persistent battle that didn’t

seem to end was slowly marching towards its inevitable
conclusion.
Not too many remained standing on the battlefield now.
The Sovereign lost his mount during the battle. He wasn’t

hindered in the least, however. He cut down two demon
knights blocking his path and stood before a certain demon
breathlessly panting away as it leaned against a bizarre rock
formation.
The demon’s face was hidden behind its helm, but the
Sovereign seemed to know its identity as he glared down at
his feeble prey.
[We could have ended the war with them today.]
“…”
[But, why did you betray me?]
The demon weakly faltered its head, but it forced himself to

look up. It had already suffered grievous wounds and it
seemed unlikely it’d be able to survive its injuries.
The voice coming out from beneath the helm sounded

precariously close to being cut off.
“So…. regrettable. We could have ended you for good today,

but….”
The Sovereign’s voice became even icier as he asked again.
[I said, why did you betray me?]
“Keuk, keuk.”
The demon’s shoulders trembled as it painfully cackled,

before it raised its head up again. And then, it replied.
“#$%#^#%#%@$.”
For some reason, Jin-Woo couldn’t properly hear that answer.

Did he lose his concentration and miss it somehow?
No, that wasn’t it.
“@$^$##.”
The demon said something else, but he still couldn’t

understand a single word of it.
However, it must’ve sounded different to the Sovereign’s

ears, because as soon as he heard the reply, he extended his
hand out and sucked the demon in. The creature spat out a
pained moan as its neck was tightly grasped by the Shadow
Sovereign.
“Keo-heok.”
Crumble!
The piece of armour protecting the neck crumpled up. Even

in the middle of this, the demon continued to say the things
it wanted to say.
“….%^&*$@%^&.”
Stab.
The Sovereign’s thumb plunged into the throat of the

demon.
Cough!
The demon spat out a mouthful of blood. And that was

precisely the moment when his gaze met with the demon’s
eyes staring back from within that helm.
But, how could this be?!
Jin-Woo freaked out and let go of the dying demon’s neck.
Plop.
Its life had ended by then and its body limply crumpled to
the ground.
‘But, that doesn’t make any sense.’
Those eyes in hidden in the helm – he had seen those eyes

before. But, such a thing could not have happened.
Ba-thump!
His heart began pounding madly now.
Jin-Woo shook his head hard and cautiously approached the

dead demon to take its helm off. Even in death, the creature
was maintaining the same glare it shot him back when it was
still alive.
How could he ever forget that glare?
The removed helm fell out of Jin-Woo’s hands and clattered

to the ground.
Clang.
The wide-open eyes of the demon were still filled with the
light of pure rage. It was the exact same light he saw back
on the top floor of the Demon’s Castle.
‘The Demon King… Baran?!’
The moment he realised this fact, he also discovered one

more strange thing.
He saw his hands decked out in black armour. He then saw
his feet, his legs, and his own chest. From a certain point in
time, he had been using the Shadow Sovereign’s body as his
own.
The pounding beats of his heart grew even heavier and

louder, assaulting his eardrums. Jin-Woo placed his hand
where his heart was.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
His eyes grew wider and wider.
‘How… How come I haven’t noticed it until now?!’
He had grown more conscious of his own heartbeat after

surviving the events of the underground temple. Even then,
he had failed to notice it until now.
Jin-Woo’s trembling hand moved to the right side of his

chest. He sensed the tremor there. One coming from the left,
and then another coming from his right.
Ba-thump!
Two hearts were issuing exact same sounds.
His shock-filled eyes were lowered immediately, but then, he

discovered four shadows on the ground, slowly growing
larger. Some things were approaching him from above. His
head hurriedly rose up to the skies.
And, right above his head…
Four angels with six wings each were slowly descending

towards him.
The ‘memory’ lasted only up until then.
Tti-ring.
Along with that mechanical beep, darkness blinded him

again.
He heard the clear, concise voice of the System as his

consciousness grew further away.
[Playback of the saved data has concluded.]

Chapter 161
Telling the Master of a Guild that best represented the

Republic of Korea to show up before a rank C Gate?
When he got the call from Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol, Choi
Jong-In initially wasn’t feeling too pleased by its contents.
He even thought about not bothering to go there personally
and simply send out an assault team consisting of just a
handful of higher ranked Hunters.
However, he heard the detailed explanation next, and he

had no choice but to personally make the move.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had entered the dual dungeon by

himself?’
The dual dungeon alone was enough to draw his attention,

but now, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was in there, too? How many
Guild Masters, no, Hunters out there would remain aloof and
unimpressed after hearing those revelations?
At Chief Woo Jin-Cheol’s urgent request that emphasized

time was of the essence, Choi Jong-In immediately delayed
the raid they were preparing to go on and summoned the
elite Hunters.
“We received a request for assistance from the Association.

Looks like we will have to get involved on this one.”
Hunters began whispering to each other because these

people knew very well through experience, that this sort of
summons only happened in extraordinary circumstances.
And the fact that the Hunters Guild had to be summoned,

who were just about to raid a rank A Gate – was there a need
to even mention the seriousness of the occasion?
On top of this, these Hunters also had to hear about the

breaking news coming out from Japan not too long ago, so
the commotion within them could only grow larger.
The woman who possessed the second highest authority

behind Choi Jong-In as the Vice-Chair of the Guild, asked her
boss for clarification. He looked back at Cha Hae-In and
replied.
“A dual dungeon was found within a rank C Gate.”
‘A dual dungeon?’
Cha Hae-In tilted her head in confusion.
Of course, it was not everyday one gets to hear about a dual

dungeon. A dungeon found within another one – there was
no way such a thing could happen all the time.
However, the Hunters Guild was being summoned because

there was another dungeon attached to a measly rank C
Gate? It was hard to understand from a common-sense point
of view.
Choi Jong-In still got ready to move out regardless of her

puzzled stare but still spoke to her to dispel her confusion.
“It sounds like Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is fighting something

inside all by himself. Since it’s none other than that Chief
Woo Jin-Cheol from the Association requesting us for
assistance, and he sounded rather frightened out of his wits
too, so… Hunter Cha? What’s the matter?”
Choi Jong-In asked her after spotting the abrupt change

within her eyes.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“…..Well, yeah. It’s Hunter Seong we’re talking about, so

nothing serious would happen to him, but still, let’s go take
a look anyway.”
Nod.
Cha Hae-In nodded her head, and other Hunters listening in

on their conversation also quickly packed their gear and got
ready. Their gear consisted entirely of weapons they were to
use within the raid, but that didn’t mean they could be
lackadaisical with their preparations.
“Uh? Why is there one person mis…”
A Hunter was taking the headcount, but someone lightly

tapped on his shoulder. He looked behind to see who it was,
and his colleague was pointing at a certain corner with his
chin. A man with a devastated face was on his knees there.
“…Suzuki?”
“Leave him be.”
“Ah…..”
That Hunter immediately understood it.
Suzuki was a Hunter who got scouted recently and left Japan
for a life here in South Korea. It was only obvious that he
couldn’t tear his eyes away from his smartphone that kept
issuing breaking news one after the other regarding the
dungeon break taking place in his home country.
“We gotta do what we gotta do. Let’s get going.”
“Ah, yes.”
Two Hunters let Suzuki be and climbed aboard the Hunters

Guild’s private van.
And so, vehicles carrying the elites of the Hunters Guild

quickly travelled towards their new destinations.
***
“Argh, hot, hot!!”
A reporter named Kim freaked out and hurriedly discarded

the cigarette butt. The ground beneath was sand, but still,
his foot stomping on the butt to kill it carried all of his bared
emotions.
That lasted only for a little while, though. This was no time
to waste his attention on some stupid cigarette butt.
Reporter Kim’s gaze returned to the parked vans again. He

thought that every single person climbing out of those
vehicles looked familiar, but when he took a second look,
weren’t they the top elites from the Hunters Guild??
He didn’t even notice that his fingers were getting burnt off

while he was searching for all the famous aces in that Guild.
‘Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In? Yun Jeong-Ho too? Uh, uh??
Even Sohn Ki-Hoon’s here?’
With these folks here, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say
that the top faces of the Hunters had all shown up. He
chased after Woo Jin-Cheol without a plan to speak of, but to
think, he’d stumble into a location filled with such bigshots
like this?
And, the Gate in question was only a rank C.
Reporter Kim swallowed his nervous saliva. He couldn’t even

begin to imagine just what was going on inside there right
now.
Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol would normally let the cat out of
the bag pretty easily, but even he shut his mouth tightly
while saying that it was top secret. So, Kim didn’t have much
of a choice but to suck on one cigarette after another to
soothe his anxious mind.
Indeed, butts he discarded since a while ago formed a small

mound near his feet.
Woo Jin-Cheol paid no heed to Reporter Kim’s longing

expression and hurriedly approached Choi Jong-In. The latter
couldn’t tear his eyes away from that Gate, just like how the
former had reacted earlier.
“What the f*ck…?! D*mn it…! What the hell is that thing??”
Cusses jumped out all on their own from Choi Jong-In’s

mouth. That was how ominous the aura emitted from the
Gate was.
Unlike Woo Jin-Cheol, who possessed exceptionally good

senses for a melee-type Hunter, Choi Jong-In was South
Korea’s most powerful Mage.
After Baek Yun-Ho and his ‘Eyes of the Beast’, as well as
Seong Jin-Woo and his otherworldly level of sensory
perception, one could confidently say that Choi Jong-In was
the best in the country when it came to sensing the flow of
magical energy.
“Can you do it?”
That’s how Woo Jin-Cheol framed his question. Choi Jong-In

didn’t miss the subtext of ‘It was impossible with just us’ in
that question.
He replied with a bitter expression.
“You said that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is inside, yes?”
“Yes, that’s been confirmed.”
Nod, nod.
Choi Jong-In nodded his head gravely.
But, of course. If it wasn’t him, who’d be capable enough to

participate in a fight of this scale? No, who else besides him
was capable of defending against an opponent that emitted
this much magical energy?
“Is he trying to save this planet all by himself or

something?”
He meant to say that in his head but his words still came out
of his mouth in the end.
Rather than asking for the clarification, though, Woo Jin-

Cheol simply nodded his head with a heavy expression. To
him, that sounded quite plausible.
“Whether we can do it or not, we still need to go inside
anyway. We owe a debt to Hunter Seong, after all.”
If the monsters inside were something that couldn’t be

stopped by the combined might of Hunter Seong and the
Hunters Guild, then no one else in South Korea could stop
them. Meaning, there would be no second opportunity if
they couldn’t kill the monsters by aiding Hunter Seong
today.
‘What was that? Hunter Seong??’
Reporter Kim was standing a little further away and was

doing his best to eavesdrop, but after hearing something
incredible, his eyes rapidly transformed into a pair of round
dots resembling those of a rabbit’s.
‘Hunter Seong is inside that Gate??’
Kim’s shocked gaze quickly shifted towards the Gate, before

scanning the vicinity around it.
There were two rank S Hunters here, and as for the number
of rank As, he had already lost count. But then, Seong Jin-
Woo Hunter was inside that Gate, too??
‘My, my…. my memo. Where’s my d*mn memo pad?!’
Reporter Kim’s nose picked up on the trail of a huge scoop

and hurriedly sought out his memo pad.
From this point onwards, he could not afford to miss a single

word muttered nor a single event happening before him. He
found himself with a god-sent opportunity to report on a
massive scoop involving three rank S Hunters as well as the
Association itself when everyone else was too busy with the
events taking place in Japan.
‘That’s why Chief Woo kept his mouth shut, wasn’t it?’
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s private information was a closely-

guarded secret, not to mention he was a super VIP under the
special supervision of the Hunter’s Association.
Kim now could understand the reason why Woo Jin-Cheol

was not willing to talk about what was going on here.
While Woo Jin-Cheol and Choi Jong-In were sharing a brief

conversation, the elite assault team had finished getting
ready. The Tankers picked up their defensive armaments,
damage dealers picked up their weapons, and Healers held
on to magic tools filled with magical energy.
As befitting the top Guild in the country, their preparation

was quite fast.
Choi Jong-In briefly exchanged glances with Cha Hae-In and

nodded his head. Cha Hae-In swept her gaze over the rest of
the team once and nodded her head as well. That meant
that the preparation and inspection were finished now.
The elites of the Monitoring Division had already finished

their preparations a while ago. Woo Jin-Cheol received
confirmation from his subordinate and turned around to face
the others with a heavy expression.
“Let’s get going.”
***
The passage before them was incredibly long.
They moved at the fastest speed they could afford, but they
didn’t break into a full-bore running. Even if they were all
nominally high-ranked Hunters, their individual running
speeds were vastly different, that was why. Among them,
Cha Hae-In was especially fast.
She was about to run ahead, but Choi Jong-In next to her
grasped her wrist in a hurry.
“Hunter Cha. What do you think you’ll achieve by going

there alone?”
“…”
He understood that she wanted to go and save Seong Jin-

Woo from danger, but if she went ahead, the whole team
might end up falling into grave danger, instead.
“If we try to keep up with your speed, there’s a good chance

that the entire team might become disorganised, instead.”
Cha Hae-In’s expression hardened as she stood still, but

eventually, she returned to the rear of the team. Woo Jin-
Cheol watched her make her way back and whispered softly
to himself.
“I guess the rumour was true.”
“Pardon?”
Woo Jin-Cheol mumbled some excuses out when Choi Jong-In

questioned him.
“Ah… No, it’s nothing important.”
Choi Jong-In tilted his head slightly but shifted his gaze back
to his front anyway. The ominous magic energy that caused
goosebumps to break out on his skin was still flooding out
from the deepest part of this dungeon.
He had to keep his wits about him here.

He also thought that it’d be the same story for Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo who had entered in here ahead of everyone else.
‘I pray we aren’t too late….’
For the time being, there was nothing he could do to help

other than pray for Hunter Seong’s safety – while moving as
quickly as they could without lowering their vigilance, of
course.
However, it was also true that too much tension would in

turn dull one’s body, as well. In order to dispel some of this
tension, he engaged Woo Jin-Cheol in a conversation.
“How did Hunter Seong come across this place, anyway?”
“I also don’t know the details. But, by piecing together what

the people making the reports said, it seems that Seong Jin-
Woo Hunter-nim knew that this Gate was a dual dungeon
even before entering it.”
“H-mm.”
Choi Jong-In’s expression became circumspect. This time, it

was Woo Jin-Cheol who asked the question.
“By any chance, can you think of something suspicious?”
“No, it’s not that, but….. Just that, this feels quite strange,
doesn’t it?”
“Strange as in how?”
“I did some research on Seong Hunter-nim in the past, you

see.”
Choi Jong-In was a Master of a huge Guild. It was his duty to

build a Guild with highly capable individuals, so it was only
obvious that he’d hold an extreme amount of interest
towards Jin-Woo.
“There was an event similar to this, wasn’t there?”
Woo Jin-Cheol did personally investigate the event Choi

Jong-In was talking about so, he indeed knew a lot about
that incident. He quickly figured out what the Master of
Hunters Guild was trying to say here.
Less than half a year ago, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo experienced

going into a dual dungeon. And now, after all this time, he
sought after another one and entered it.
Those who knew this truth would not see today’s event as a
mere coincidence. Just like how Woo Jin-Cheol had predicted,
Choi Jong-In’s next words were about that.
“Experiencing dual dungeons twice by himself, when it’d be

near impossible for anyone to see it once in their lifetime…
Not just that, he willingly walked into the second one on his
own volition? Don’t you find that strange?”
Woo Jin-Cheol didn’t immediately make his reply.
Just as Choi Jong-In had alluded to, many things about

Hunter Seong were shrouded in a veil of mystery. The dual
dungeon. The Re-Awakened. And possessing a unique
ability.
However, there was one indisputable fact, and that would be

Seong Jin-Woo being utterly indispensable to the
Association, no, the entire nation of South Korea.
And that was why Woo Jin-Cheol requested the Hunters

Guild for their assistance without waiting for the clearance
from the higher-ups when he found out that Hunter Seong
had walked right into this Gate.
No matter what, they had to secure Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s

safety. It’d not be too late to ask him the necessary
questions afterwards.
Woo Jin-Cheol swam inside his thoughts, before raising his

head.
‘So, over there…..’
The distance that would have taken nearly one hour for
regular Hunters to cross was bridged in less than ten
minutes by the rapid marching of these high-ranked
Hunters. They could finally see the end of this cave in the far
off distance.
“Looks like we’re here.”
“Yes, I can sense it.”
Indeed, they could sense something horrifyingly massive in

there. Choi Jong-In’s face stiffened hard as he replied. The
colour of blood was slowing draining out of his complexion
right now.
The only consolation he could think of right now was the fact
that he could also sense Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s presence.
‘As long as Hunter Seong is fine, it’s okay.’
Combining his abilities with the support from these elite

Hunters, they’d win regardless of what the monsters within
this dungeon were like. Choi Jong-In assured himself with
that line of thought and called out to the rest of the team.
“Let’s hurry!”
The elite Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the Association
rushed past the massive doorway reminiscent of an ancient
castle.
And then….
The sight waiting for them beyond was a spectacle none of

them had ever seen before during their lengthy and
illustrious careers as Hunters.
“This… What on earth is this….?”
“What the hell is this place?!”
First, they found innumerable destroyed stone statues

strewn about the floor. Their debris was piling up into small
hills all over the place.
“Look, look!!!”
One of the Hunters raised his finger high up.
And in the direction his finger was pointing at, everyone

could see a truly gigantic statue of an unknown god
standing frozen still, its hands interlocked in the gesture of
slamming down. Its head, with half of its face blown away,
especially caught their attention.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s heart began racing like crazy as he

remembered the testimonies of the survivors from the
previous dual dungeon incident.
‘It was all real… the god statue and the stone statues were
all real…!!’
The survivors all said the same thing – that this place was
filled with a monstrous god statue that could melt down a
rank C Hunter with nothing but a glare from its eyes, as well
as countless stone statues whose movements couldn’t be
picked up by the naked eye.
This whole open area was pockmarked with clear signs of

desperate battle having taken place recently.
‘Wait a minute. Where is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?’
It looked as if all the enemies had been eliminated already.

Their priority was to confirm the status of Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo.
Choi Jong-In shifted his head this way and that to locate Jin-
Woo’s presence, and eventually found him.
“He’s over there.”
Jin-Woo was quietly lying on his back just below the god
statue as if he was asleep.
“Seong Hunter-nim!!”
Hunters were about to run to his side, but this time, it was
Cha Hae-In’s turn to raise both of her arms to stop them in
their treks. Feeling urgent now, Woo Jin-Cheol turned to look
at her.
Her rather shapely facial features were soaked completely

from cold sweat right now.
“Cha….. Hunter-nim??”
She bit her lower lip and spoke up.
“Over there… there’s something over there.”

It was then. A certain stone statue kneeling next to Jin-Woo
slowly stood up. The wings on its back were all torn up, and
it only had one remaining arm.
“I don’t remember inviting you humans in here.”
The angel statue stood up completely and swept its gaze

over at the Hunters intruding into the temple. The corner of
its lips suddenly arched up.
Chapter 162
“Ah…..”
They all became utterly speechless. There could not have

been a more fitting description than that.
Choi Jung-Hoon forgot what he wanted to say. But, he was

certain of something. The origin of that ominous energy he
sensed before entering this Gate was that living sculpture.
The magic energy leaking out of that thing was so great that
the space surrounding the d*mn creature seemed to twist
around in his view.
He was simply staring at it from far away, yet goosebumps

were breaking out on his entire body.
Glance.
His gaze was redirected towards Jin-Woo.
It made some sense to see someone as strong as Hunter

Seong lying unconscious if he had been in a battle against a
‘thing’ like that.
No, hold on.
Fighting against such a ‘thing’ while also finding enough

leeway to destroy all these other enemies – the stone
statues – was only possible precisely because it was Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo and not someone else.
He felt nothing but admiration in his heart. However….
‘It’s our turn to fight against such an opponent now.’
A thick drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and
stopped on his chin.
The strength of this one monster easily exceeded that of the

mutated ant that appeared on Jeju Island. No, it was
unknown whether this enemy was really a monster or not, to
begin with.
Gulp.
His dry saliva painfully slid down his throat.
Choi Jong-In glanced to his side and found that the

complexions of Cha Hae-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were utterly
pale from fright as well. These two had also figured out the
depths of the enemy’s power and were in the middle of
inwardly freaking out.
On the other hand, the Hunters behind them were getting

surprised by something else entirely.
“That thing… did that thing just speak??”
“Wait, I didn’t hear incorrectly just now, did I?”
“A monster can speak our language?”
Hunters exchanged glances with one another, their faces

filled with incredulity. Something like this seemed
impossible.
It was already public knowledge that the monsters with

intelligence spoke the language of their own.
Back when these Gates began appearing for the first time,
some tried to learn the language of the monsters. Of course,
their attempts all ended in failure.
The sole reason for that was the violent tendencies of the
monsters. Monsters captured alive through great difficulties
couldn’t seem to endure being around humans the longer
they remained in contact.
Even if their entire bodies were restrained, they tried to

rampage around trying to attack humans – even when under
the intense pain of their flesh being ripped apart and their
bones snapping in half. In the end, either they were killed off
by their human captors, or died naturally after being unable
to win against the tides of their rage.
– It is impossible for monsters and humans to coexist. It is

also impossible to communicate with them.
This was the unanimous conclusion reached by the scientists

researching monsters from all over the globe, one they were
completely certain of.
However, the monster in front of their eyes was speaking in

Korean as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
A monster that could be seen as the find of the century had

made its entrance, but for some reason, these Hunters all
felt this inexplicable sense of dread in their hearts.
That was the warning bell rung by the primal instinct only
detectable by the first-class Hunters such as these people.
Flinch.
The angel statue took one step forward, causing the

trembling Hunters to hurriedly back away. The creature
slowly shifted its gaze left to right as if to appreciate the
sight of these humans and their expressions of fear and
terror.
“Oh, strong humans.”
The statue spoke up as it began looking at the Hunters with

the eyes of someone finding a delicious snack.
“It seems that there are no shortages for the first sacrifices
prepared for the king.”
If a snake could smile, would that be as disgusting as the

one on this creature? The movements of the Hunters froze
stiff from the smile forming on the angel statue’s face.
‘….The king?’
Could there have been yet another monster here?
Choi Jong-In’s head slanted to the side briefly, but too bad
for him, now wasn’t the time to dissect what the monster
was saying.
The angel statue ripped up the arm of one of the stone

statues strewn about on the floor.
Crack!!
‘What is it trying to do?’
Hunters and their confusion didn’t last for long. It placed the
torn arm in its right shoulder socket that was already
missing a limb, and the two parts suddenly began fusing by
themselves.
‘Heok…!’
As the Hunters gasped out in astonishment, the angel statue
moved the newly-regenerated arm around this way and that.
It was then.
Shooph.
The statue suddenly appeared before the Hunters. They

didn’t even have any time to respond. The angel statue took
a swing with its right arm. The face of the Hunter standing in
front of the group was crushed inward.
Peo-geok!!
The Hunter and his crushed face flew backwards and

slammed into the wall. Other Hunters nearby threw out
urgent counterattacks, but by then, the angel statue was
already gone.
“Where…?!”
“Over there!!”
The creature was now standing on the same spot as before

as if it never made a move in the first place. As a matter of
fact, it was busy fidgeting with its newly-attached right hand
and its fingers. It looked like it was testing out whether its
new limb was functioning properly or not.
“M-Myung-Cheol-ah!!”
“Euh, uwaaaahh!!”
Hunters belatedly discovered the casualty among them and

began crying out in anguish. He was killed instantly. A rank
A Tanker working for South Korea’s best Guild had died in a
single hit.
Choi Jong-In’s eyes as he stared at the angel statue began
shaking unsteadily now.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo fought against such a thing all by

himself…?’
Rather than the pain of losing one of his comrades, his mind
was overcome with this hopeless sense of vagueness at not
knowing how to break out of the current situation.
Unfortunately, not everyone was capable of rational thought

process like Choi Jong-In.
“You son of a b*tch!!”
One of the female Hunters, the lover of the deceased

Hunter, screamed out and dashed forward in anger. A pair of
flames were burning brightly in both of her hands as she did
so.
Just as she was about to launch those flames, someone

grabbed her wrists from behind. The female Hunter looked
to her side and discovered that Cha Hae-In had approached
her before she noticed it. The female Hunter shook her arm
and yelled out.
“Let me go!”
“Unni, you must hold it back.”
“I said, let go of me, right now!!”
“Please, you gotta hold it back!”
The female Hunter glared straight at Cha Hae-In’s face. The

latter carried a grave but determined expression as she bit
her lower lip.
“I’m also holding back, you know….”
Cha Hae-In’s hardened expression caused the female Hunter

to stop writhing around in anger. Because… even she knew
it was unwise to agitate a monster that no longer showed
any interest in their group after making that initial attack.
It was just that, she found it nearly impossible to hold

herself back. Someone she loved was met with a horrific
death, yet she was unable to do anything. The female
Hunter began sobbing under her breath.
“Heuk….”
Once she stopped displaying hints of making a rash

decision, Cha Hae-In shifted her attention over to Jin-Woo
lying on the ground far away. The female Hunter wasn’t the
only one holding herself back, indeed.
For some reason, the monster had stopped attacking the

group. And Jin-Woo looked unhurt as he continued to
breathe normally. His expression was peaceful, as if he was
simply asleep right now.
‘For now…’
….She and others had to buy as much time as possible until

Jin-Woo woke up. That was the best they could do.
It was then.
The angel statue moved its body this way and that before
laughter abruptly broke out from its lips.
“Haha.”
The empty interior of the underground temple was suddenly
filled up with the echoes of the angel statue’s voice. It kept
its laughter short and shifted its gaze over to the Hunters.
“Well now, should I get the fun started?”
The colour of the angel statue’s eyes suddenly reddened up.
Was that the beginning of the assault? The Hunters

strengthened their grips on their chosen weapons and
prepared for battle.
If it was only one… if it was only one enemy, couldn’t they

be able to do something here? Not only did they have two
rank S Hunters present, but there were also dozens of top
local Hunters gathered here at the moment, too.
As such an optimistic outlook quickly raced past the minds

of the Hunters, this happened.
Dududududududuk.
Suddenly, an earthquake broke out inside this huge, open

chamber.
“Ah…. No, this can’t be….”
The dark shadow of despair drew upon the faces of the

Hunters. The broken stone statues were beginning to stand
up one by one, that was why.
The b*stards without heads, b*stards with holes in their

chests, and even b*stards with limbs missing all began
standing up. But the absolute worst among them all was the
statue of the unknown god that could only be described as
truly gigantic.
“….Oh, my god.”
The god statue and the stone statues were standing upright
and glaring at the Hunters as if they had never been
destroyed in the first place. Their expressionless faces only
made the already creepy atmosphere that much more
bizarre.
Hunters began to backtrack a step at a time, only to run into

something solid behind their backs.
“Uh….?”
It was the door.
Even before they had realised it, the doorway to this once-
empty arena was closed shut tightly. It seemed that the
angel statue had no thoughts of letting these humans go at
all.
The angel statue spoke to them.
“Those who manage to survive until all of my dolls have

fallen will be given the opportunity to witness the glorious
rebirth of the king.”
The monster kept saying ‘king’ this and ‘king’ that for a
while now.
‘Just what is it trying to say here?’
Woo Jin-Cheol’s brows creased up.
He just couldn’t understand the words the creature was busy

spewing out. However, one thing was for certain. He knew
that this creature was trying to kill everyone within the
chamber.
He gritted his teeth.
He spent the last four years of his life in the Association.
He had faced plenty of hair-raising situations, but still

managed to pull through by bitterly struggling till the end.
Today would not be any different. He wasn’t planning to die
as easily as the monster wanted him to.
‘Even I can’t make it out of here….’
At least, he’d try to save Hunter Seong.
His thoughts reached there and he glanced at Jin-Woo.

Rather coincidentally, the angel statue also pointed at the
youth lying unmoving on the ground.
“This person was able to destroy all my puppets in less than

five minutes.”
The pointed finger of the angel statue was then locked onto
the rest of the Hunters.
“How many minutes will it take for all of you to die today,
then?”
Just as the words of the angel statue came to an end, Woo

Jin-Cheol cried out at the top of his lungs.
“Everyone, get down!!”
Hunters hurriedly bent down to the ground.
A red laser beam sliced right past just above their heads
with almost no gap to spare. The casualty was zero this time.
It was almost a miracle in and of itself.
The red energy beam shooting out from the eyes of the god
statue slowly dissipated.
‘Ho-oh.’
The angel statue stared at the Hunters with eyes of some

interest as it took a step back. It seemed that these humans
might be able to provide some fun distraction before the
king awakens.
“Pant, pant, pant.”
Woo Jin-Cheol panted out heavily. Cold sweat poured out

from his pores.
If he hadn’t heard about the special trait of the god statue

beforehand, would he be able to survive that blast? His
entire body shuddered from sheer horror. Still, they
managed to somehow live through the first attack.
Of course, that wasn’t the end.
‘No, it’s merely the beginning.’
Woo Jin-Cheol raised his head.
The stone statues were rushing towards them now. They

were so quick that only the high-ranked melee-type Hunters
would be capable of following their movements.
Fortunately, Woo Jin-Cheol was one of the very best within

the rank A Hunters. He rose up from his spot in an instant
and while rotating his waist, sent out a powerful punch. The
specially-constructed glove slammed hard into the face of a
stone statue.
Boom!!
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
‘….??’
He genuinely believed that one punch would be enough.

However, the stone statue was unscathed.
Because he saw that one of this statue’s shoulders was

completely destroyed from an unknown attack, he ended up
making a mistake on his enemy’s durability. It was a gaffe he
shouldn’t have made when thinking back to just who it was
that destroyed all these statues in the first place.
The stone statue’s face was pushed back only by a little bit,
but it recovered from the impact force almost right away and
thrust forward the sword in its hand.
‘Tsk.’
Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly clicked his tongue.
He threw that punch out without taking into consideration

the possible counterattack so he was unable to dodge.
Besides, the enemy wasn’t slow enough for him to evade at
such a close distance, anyway.
But, then.
Ka-boom!!
A powerful explosion wrapped the statue up and it flew

away.
Woo Jin-Cheol frowned and shook his head hard to recover

from the buzzing sensation in his ears. Only then did he get
to hear the voice coming from his side.
“Are you alright??”

It was none other than the ‘ultimate weapon’, Choi Jong-In.
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded once to express his gratitude. They
simply didn’t have enough time to leisurely share a
conversation.
Boom!!
Because, the god statue began moving in earnest, and…
Dudududu-!!
…And, the stone statues had already arrived right before

their noses by then.
“Chairman Choi!! Aggro skills don’t work against these

things!!”
Tankers loudly cried out.
“What was that??”
Choi Jong-In’s expression hardened considerably. If the aggro

skills didn’t work on them, then these creatures would
instinctively start targetting the physically weakest Hunters
present.
If the Healers were killed off first, then their line of defence

would collapse in no time at all. It was nigh impossible for
them to fight against powerful enemies without some sort of
a defensive line to back them up.
Not only that….
Right behind these d*mn stone statues, the massive god

statue was now raising its equally massive fist as well.
‘Can we really get out of this place alive?’

Their situation was despairingly critical.
However, he still could think of one final method. And that

would be waking up the unconscious Hunter Seong.
The angel sculpture b*stard said it, didn’t it?
‘That thing said that Hunter Seong was able to destroy them
all by himself. In less than five minutes, too.’
Their situation could change greatly if his guess was correct

and the only reason why Hunter Seong lost to the angel
statue was that he became too fatigued from destroying all
these stone statues.
Indeed, weren’t there dozens of first-class Hunters present

here that could aid Hunter Seong right now?
That is why….
‘I need to wake up Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.’
Flames alighted on Choi Jong-In’s hands. It was not for

nothing that he was called the ‘ultimate weapon’. Not only
his firepower, but even his accuracy didn’t lose out to any of
the modern firearms.
It was now ‘sink or swim’ time.
Choi Jong-In fired the magic he cast in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Hunter Seong might experience some discomfort, but he

wasn’t weak enough to get injured greatly by this level of
magic. But, if he did wake up from the impact of the
explosion, then the human Hunters would stand a good
chance of surviving this event.
‘That is why, please…!’

The flames flew towards their target while leaving behind a
long trail. However….
Boom!
The flames simply exploded on the torso of the angel statue

that stepped into the trajectory in the blink of an eye.
‘….??’
Choi Jong-In was greatly taken by surprise from the

unexpected interference from the angel statue and hurriedly
raised his head.
Every muscle on the face of the angel was distorted

unsightly until they couldn’t be twisted any further to form a
truly terrifying expression.
“How dare…..”
For the first time ever, the angel statue stopped smiling and
bared its fangs.
“How dare you try to interrupt the slumber of the king!?”

Chapter 163
The king? Who was?
Choi Jong-In couldn’t even begin to figure out heads or tails

of what the angel statue was saying and asked back in a
daze.
“What did you just say….?”
However, the angel statue didn’t reply.
Would a human bother to converse with insects? The same

principle applied to the angel statue, too.
For now, it simply had to assume this form due to some

unavoidable circumstances, but it was still a superior
creature nonetheless. It had no thoughts of having a Q&A
session with this insignificant human being.
If an insect proved to be annoying, swat it to death and that

would be the end of it.
The angel statue raised its fist up in the air and smashed it
down like a hammer. It descended at a super-high speed
straight towards Choi Jong-In’s head.
Swish-!!
Choi Jong-In’s heart tumbled down to the pit of his stomach.

However, he didn’t turn his head away. Do not give up, right
up until the very last moment – that was what he always told
his teammates, after all.
Before the fist landed on top of his head, though, a flash of

light streaked past his eyes.
Boom!!
He opened his eyes to see the blade made out of pure light
wavering in front of his face. Choi Jong-In’s eyes went extra
round.
“Hunter Cha?!”
Cha Hae-In was standing there, blocking the angel statue’s

fist with the skill ‘Blade of Light’. If she was late even by a
millisecond, Choi Jong-In’s head would have been splattered
into a gooey mess.
While he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, she spoke to him

in no uncertain terms.
“I’ll take over from here, so please go help out other Hunters,
Chairman.”
“Got it.”
Choi Jong-In went away and began providing support to

other Hunters busy battling the stone statues. Meanwhile,
the angel statue stared down at Cha Hae-In’s sword, now
glowing with light, and its eyes quickly filled up with
curiosity.
“Haha.”
To think, there was yet another human besides Jin-Woo that

could block its attack.
“You are very amusing. Very amusing, indeed.”
The angel statue put more strength into its fist. Cha Hae-In’s
knees bent down slightly. She had managed to stop its
attacks, but still, she was losing out in terms of raw strength.
“Euh-euhk….”
A thin, weak moan leaked out of her finely-shaped lips. Her

wrists began trembling imperceptibly, as well.
“There, there.”
The angel statue smirked derisively and applied more and

more power as if it was turning up the heat on the stove. The
ground beneath her feet shattered and cracks spread out on
the stone surface.
Just a single arm, yet it was laden with a nonsensical amount

of power already. Cha Hae-In bit her lower lip.
‘At this rate… I won’t be able to endure it.’
She determined that she’d not be able to last long at this

rate, and focused all of her strength in an instant and forced
the angel statue’s fist back.
As expected of the explosive strength befitting Cha Hae-In,

ranked as one of the very best even among the rank S
Hunters!
The angel statue smiled again as it was forced to take a step

back.
“Haha.”
It considered her as a simple fun distraction, yet she

managed to entertain the statue beyond its initial
expectations. It seemed that there was more enjoyment to
derive out of this human after all.
“Very good, very good.”
This time, magic energy began pooling on both hands of the

angel statue.
Gulp.
Cha Hae-In swallowed down her dry saliva. An immense

level of power was oozing out from the clenched fists of the
angel statue. She wanted to escape from this place if that
was at all possible right now. That’s how scared she felt.
‘However….’
With Jin-Woo lying on the ground unconscious, there would

be no one capable enough to face off against this monster if
she were to turn her back and run.
Her glare became even sharper than before.
In complete contrast to her, the angel statue grinned

carefreely and took a large stride forward to stand before
her. The huge enemy nearly three metres tall kept forming
that loose grin. And then, the b*stard’s attacks commenced
for real.
Just like what it did against Jin-Woo, the angel statue

punched out indiscriminately with both of its fists. It was
somewhat regretful that it now had only two arms, but that
was still more than enough for the level of this human.
The clenched fists rained down like a barrage of bullets.
Dududududu-!!
Cha Hae-In’s brows shot high up.
‘Sword Dance!’
Her movements quickened up significantly as if she was

performing a dance, and her sword drew stylish arcs in the
air. Unfortunately, the punches of the angel statue were far
too quick and, instead of attacking back, she could only
defend herself desperately.
The flurry of fatal attacks rained down on her constantly,

with each one powerful enough to kill her if she made just
one mistake.
Khang! Ka-gang!! Khang!! Khang! Khang! Khahang! Ka-

gang! Khang, kahng! Khang! Ka-gang! Khang! Khang!
Khahang! Khang!
“That’s right. Right, like that. Haha.”
The angel statue was really enjoying itself as it continuously

poured out the types of attacks that regular Hunters would
never be able to follow with their naked eyes.
Cha Hae-In was being pushed back bit by bit, her entire
body soaked in sweat.
Was that why? Or did she finally reach her limit?
Her wet hands slipped and she missed one of the attacks
from the angel statue. It was a painful mistake on her part.
Her sword failed to deflect the punch, and it hit her on the
shoulder before sliding past her altogether.
Pah-gahk!!
“…!!”
Cha Hae-In quickly retreated while gritting her teeth.
Unfortunately, her bones must’ve broke, because she
couldn’t feel anything from her shoulder.
And so, she lost her left hand in that fashion. She looked at
her limp left arm with a dismayed, regretful gaze.
“Haha. So, is that all? Is that as far as you can go?”
The angel statue rapidly closed the distance again. The

b*stard didn’t even give her a small break. The attacks that
were briefly paused for a moment or two, rained down on her
again.
Khang! Ka-gang! Khahang!!
She had trouble defending against these attacks when both

of her arms were still functioning. Therefore, having only one
arm was simply not going to be enough. She missed more
and more attacks and gradually, her body got destroyed.
Puhk! Puh-buck! Puhk!
Her bones broke, and her flesh tore away. And then, the
deciding blow landed on her.
Puhk!!
The angel statue’s fist dug deep into her lower belly, and her
feet left the ground. She coughed out a mouthful of blood.
“Keok!”
Her bent figure rose up in the air.
Obviously, her movements in the air would be restricted,

and her preparation to deal with the next attack would be
left incomplete.
The angel statue had finally lost its interest with the broken
toy at this point.
To finish the proceedings off, the angel statue approached

the woman falling head first to the floor. It straightened its
hand into a blade and took aim at her chest.
But then….
A wave of blue light suddenly surged out and enveloped Cha

Hae-In.
She suddenly opened her eyes wide in the midst of

powerlessly falling to the floor. She rotated her body once
and swung her sword, hard.
Flinch.
The angel statue quickly came to a stop and leaned its head
back, but the tip of the blade still managed to brush past its
brow.
Slice.
A thin line was drawn on the face of the angel statue.
Taht!
Finally succeeding in landing a single counterattack, Cha

Hae-In regained her balance with some difficulty and landed
back on the ground. Thanks to that timely healing spell, she
was able to somehow get out of that really sticky situation.
She got really lucky on that one.
However, what was a fortunate event for Cha Hae-In didn’t

prove to be as fortunate for everyone else.
Swish!
The angel statue’s head swivelled in the direction where

that healing spell came in from.
‘D*mn it!’
Cha Hae-In quickly looked at the Healer and cried out.
“Get away from there!”
The main Healer standing behind the Tankers and casting

various healing magic spells until then heard her cries and
flinched grandly.
“Pardon me?”
But, by the time he looked to where Cha Hae-In was, the

angel statue was blocking his line of sight already.
“Ah….”
The mouth of the main Healer went slack.
The angel statue unhesitatingly did what it wanted to do to

Choi Jong-In earlier.
BOOM!
The Healer’s head was smashed down straight into the

ground. His legs quivered and trembled for a short while,
before ceasing their movements altogether.
“Oh god, no!!”
The Hunters surrounded the angel statue and pounced at

their enemy while not even bothering to hide their rage.
Unfortunately, they were going up against an impossible
force. Their measly strength couldn’t defeat the angel
statue.
Pow, pow!!
Every time the angel statue threw a punch, rank A Hunters

died powerlessly as if they were low ranked Hunters
standing before a powerful monster.
“This is no fun. This is boring, humans.”
Now that the fun time was over, this superior being didn’t
feel the need for mercy anymore.
Once the number of Hunters standing towards the rear

decreased, the line of Tankers dealing with the god statue as
well as the stone statues began collapsing in no time at all.
It was pure pandemonium.
The balance of the engagement broke down in an instant.
Boom!!
The god statue avoided the Tankers and slammed its huge
fist down, resulting in the immediate death of two Hunters
on the ground.
Afterwards, stone statues carrying weapons surrounded the

Hunters with a scary efficiency and began rushing forward.
‘God d*mn it….!!’
Cha Hae-In rapidly cut down four of the stone statues

persistently sticking close to the Hunters and pounced on
the angel statue. No matter what, this b*stard had to be
stopped.
However, the angel statue lightly blocked her descending
sword with its wrist and kicked her unguarded side.
SLAM-!!
Now that the angel statue decided to get serious, she too
could no longer be considered its opponent anymore.
Having witnessed Cha Hae-In fly away helplessly like that,

Choi Jong-In tightly grasped the shoulder of Woo Jin-Cheol
next to him. The latter had just finished pounding one of the
stone statues down to the ground and quickly looked behind
him in surprise.
“I’ll try to gather their attention to myself. Chief Woo, you go

and wake up Hunter Seong. That’s the only way.”
“Excuse me? But, I thought Seong Hunter-nim is

unconscious because he was defeated?”
“No, he’s not. He’s simply asleep. Both his breathing and the
flow of magic energy are stable. The way I see it, he’s not
injured, either.”
Could it be that he got done in by sleeping magic or some

such?
Choi Jong-In thought that the reason for the angel statue not
allowing any attack to fall on the sleeping Hunter Seong was
probably because it didn’t want the youth to wake up.
‘I don’t know anything about this king’s sleep or that, but….’
Choi Jong-In recalled the angel statue desperately moving to

‘protect’ Hunter Seong. Without a doubt, the youth waking
up would prove to be somehow fatal to the monster.
“Hurry!”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head.
Meanwhile, Choi Jong-In roused up every ounce of magic

energy he possessed.
Soon, a giant circular shaped mass of flames formed on top

of his hand, and it began spitting out countless sparks to all
over the place.
Each of these sparks flying in a straight line caused powerful

explosions to resound out every time it touched an object.
Swish-!! Swish-!!!
Boom!! Ka-boom!! Boom!! Kwa-boom!!
Naturally, the attention of the stone statues was directed on

Choi Jong-In. While he was buying time in this fashion, Woo
Jin-Cheol hurriedly ran to where Jin-Woo was.
He prayed that Choi Jong-In’s estimation wasn’t off the mark.
Just as Choi Jong-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were doing their best
to wake Jin-Woo up, the angel statue stood before Cha Hae-
In as she lay on the ground while panting heavily non-stop.
Every rib bone on one side of her body got broken when she
was kicked just now. She still tried to reach out and grasp
the sword she had dropped. However, the angel statue
stepped on her arm before that happened.
Kwajeeck!
“Aaaaahk!!”
Cha Hae-In grabbed her broken arm and screamed out.

The angel statue had already killed off all those humans
possessing the ability to heal others, and this woman had
received a grievous wound that disabled her from fighting
anymore.
This was the moment that the lone threat among the
humans had been eliminated.
“Haha.”
The angel statue formed a blade with its hand again.
“This is the end, then.”
The human female glared at the statue, her breathing still

rough and heavy. Everything was indeed over, yet she didn’t
show one hint of giving up on her struggle here.
She certainly resembled that man in this regard. That man

named Seong Jin-Woo. When the angel statue met that man
for the first time, he too carried around those eyes.
Smirk.
The corner of the angel statue’s lips arched up, and it thrust
its hand at Cha Hae-In’s chest. No, it tried to. It had to stay
its hand just before piercing into her heart.
The angel statue flinched slightly and took a step back.

Because… it only now discovered that there was a lone
Shadow Soldier hiding in her shadow.
Because of the rule in this chamber, that soldier couldn’t

come out of her shadow, but regardless, its existence was
not in question.
Seeing the surprised face of the angel statue, Cha Hae-In
formed a puzzled expression of her own.
‘…..??’
That b*stard could’ve ended her at any time it wanted to,

yet now, it looked like it was hesitating somewhat.
Indeed, she was correct. The angel statue was really

hesitating right now. This was a human that the king had
chosen to plant a soldier within her shadow. Did he have a
special plan for her?
Of course, there was a possibility that the human did this,

not the king.
However….
‘Without a doubt – the king and the human are currently

mixed as one, although it is only by a small amount.’
In that case, how was the statue to know whether this action
was from the will of the king or from the will of the human? If
the king had a plan and planted the Shadow Soldier in her,
then the statue knew it couldn’t carelessly touch her.
That was why the angel statue asked the human female.
“Why did you come here?”
“….”
Cha Hae-In didn’t reply. When the silence deepened, the

angel statue decided to change the question.
“What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?”
“….”
There was no reply from her, still.
Cha Hae-In knew very well that she had no obligation to

answer her enemy’s questions.
At this rate, it’d be impossible to make her talk. The angel

statue figured as much, thus deciding to change its tactic.
Snap.
The angel statue snapped its fingers. And that brought

about the immediate stop to the screams of the Hunters.
As if the god statue and the stone statues had received a

command, they stopped fighting all at once and slowly
turned around, before walking to one side of the chamber.
Then, the angel statue extended its hand.
Woo Jin-Cheol, busy approaching Jin-Woo, was pushed down

by the ‘invisible hand’ and got planted on the ground.
“Keu-heuk!”
He tried his best to resist against the power pressing down

on him from above, but he couldn’t even move an inch. Woo
Jin-Cheol’s tightly-clenched fist trembled noticeably as
pained moans escaped from his lips.
The angel statue pulled its hand back.
It didn’t miss a single movement taking place within the

chamber. No matter how much these humans struggled,
they were all trapped within its palm, anyway. That was the
difference between the superior existence and these measly
humans.
It was almost impossible to bridge that gap.

“I shall ask again.”
The tip of the angel statue’s finger now pointed at Woo Jin-
Cheol.
“If you do not answer me this time, I shall kill that man, as
well as every single one of your comrades.”
“….Fine.”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head.
If she could buy more time this way then that alone was
already a good result. The angel statue stared at her as she
forced her upper torso up, and quietly asked her.
“What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?”
“….A friend.”
“And, why did you come here?”
She thought for a little while, before making her answer.
“To save Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
After hearing that answer, a deep smile formed on the face

of the angel statue. Just who was saving who now?
The statue was sure of it. These humans had no idea what
was going on.
It felt embarrassed for even suspecting that the king had a

plan for her. No, these humans only knew about the human
‘Seong Jin-Woo’, and that’s why they came knocking in this
place.
The angel statue could no longer hold back and began
guffawing out loudly. And then, it spoke to her.
“I shall bless you with an opportunity.”
“….What opportunity?”
“Today, in this place, one of the noble Sovereigns shall

descend upon this world. I shall bless you with an
opportunity to witness this glorious moment in history.”
Until the angel statue could confirm the intention of the

king, it couldn’t do anything to Cha Hae-In. So, it had to
keep her alive. However, she was the sole exception and it
didn’t plan on letting other humans live.
“But, every other human beside you….”
The smile was gone from the face of the angel statue, and its
expression became incredibly murderous.
“….Will die here today.”
Indeed, it wouldn’t do for all these uninvited pests to be

present in this glorious moment, would it? However, the
reply didn’t come from the front but from the back, instead.
“Says who?”
“…..?”
Before the angel statue could even turn around, a fist flew in
and punched its face, hard.
Ka-boom!
The statue flew away and crashed into the far wall.
BOOM!!
Cracks ran against the surface of the wall from the sheer
impact force and rubble tumbled down to the floor. Just
before the angel statue could slide down to the ground, Jin-
Woo stood before the creature. He tightly grasped its neck
and growled at it.
“You.”
Jin-Woo’s other hand was pressing against his right chest.
Indeed, he wasn’t dreaming of it.
There was one more heart beating away within the right side
of his chest. Jin-Woo clenched the neck of the statue even
harder and asked.
“What the hell did you do to my body?”

Chapter 164
For a moment then, within the recalled data, Jin-Woo had

become THE Shadow Sovereign. And that’s when he realised
it.
He realised that there was another heart of magical energy

beating within his chest. He felt powerful surges of energy
ceaselessly flowing out from this new heart.
Could he have made a mistake? It was rather easy to confirm

the truth, actually.
‘Status Window.’
While keeping his hand firmly locked around the angel

statue’s neck, he summoned his Status Window. What he
wanted to see out of the many listed values in there was his
current reserves of magic energy, which the System had
designated as ‘Mana Points’ or ‘MP’.
[MP: 109,433]
Jin-Woo’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
‘Over one hundred grand?!’
He confirmed the truth with his own two eyes, yet he still
couldn’t believe it. The last time he checked, he definitely
only had around nine thousand or so. He confirmed it before
arriving here, so he couldn’t have made an error on that one.
But now, it was over ten times greater?
However, that wasn’t the only surprising thing he

discovered.
‘My Title has changed?’
As if to let him know of a big change that had taken place,

the ‘Title’ column was blinking continuously. He didn’t even
change his Title, yet it had been swapped out to something
else.
And the new Title was ‘Demon Hunter’.
He had been putting this Title in the background because its

information was hidden from him until now. Jin-Woo quickly
confirmed its newly unveiled info.
[Title: Demon Hunter]
‘You have satisfied its requirements.’
You have recovered the memories of defeating the King of

Demons, Baran, Sovereign of the White Flames. An immense
power has acknowledged the Player as its new owner.
Effect ‘Black Heart’: Additional MP +100,000
‘Black Heart!!’
This here was the reason why his MP reserves had shot up to
a nonsensical degree.
Additional MP of one hundred thousand – that was enough

power to regenerate his Shadow Soldiers almost infinitely.
Abruptly, Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the Shadow Sovereign

from the recalled data. The beings that fought against the
silver soldiers blotting out the entire sky were part of the
immortal army led by that person.
They went through an endless cycle of destruction and

revival while managing to gradually overwhelm their
enemies.
The silver soldiers, strong enough to easily suppress roughly

the same amount of monsters, couldn’t endure against the
regenerative abilities of the Shadow Soldiers and, in the
end, were forced into retreat.
If it weren’t for the timely arrival of the reinforcements,

those silver soldiers would not have avoided the fate of
being annihilated. And that was all due to the bottomless
amount of magic energy the Shadow Sovereign from the
data had possessed.
‘If that’s the case….’
‘….As long as I have the effect of this ‘Black Heart’, then my

own Shadow Soldiers can become the immortal army, too…’
When his thoughts reached that far, Jin-Woo’s entire body

shuddered from the shock.
“But how….. can you be….??”
Jin-Woo raised his head. A trembling voice was leaking out of

the angel statue’s mouth.
For the first time ever, Jin-Woo saw another expression

besides that disgusting smile or the one of anger from this
statue’s face. The emotion revealed by its new expression
was clearly fear.
The angel statue looked at Jin-Woo with true fear and spoke
as if it couldn’t believe what had happened.
“How can you still retain your former ego, even with the
Black Heart beating within you?!”
‘What was that??’
Jin-Woo heard the creature’s mutterings and quickly realised

two important things.
One, the angel statue was definitely not responsible for this
‘Black Heart’ appearing within his body. Two, the result of it
waking up within him shouldn’t have ended well for him.
Crack!
Jin-Woo strengthened his grip on the angel statue’s neck,

and deep cracks formed on its neck.
“Keu-heuk!!”
The face of the angel statue distorted in pain.
“What is this ‘Player’ thing? What were you trying to do to

me?”
Jin-Woo didn’t lower his vigilance, so he could shatter this

thing’s neck at any given moment. However, it seemed that
the angel statue wasn’t of the right mind to provide an
answer.
“Could it be….?! Y-you, you d*mn Shadow Sovereign, you

dare to… against us….!! You think other Sovereigns will take
this lying down?!”
The angel statue glared at Jin-Woo and kept muttering out

some nonsense.
Crack!!
Jin-Woo’s fingers dug quite deep into the angel statue’s

neck. If he simply pulled his fingers back, the creature’s
neck would shatter into pieces. The enormous pain was
transmitted in full to its real body somewhere.
“Keuaaahk!!”
The angel statue screamed to the high heavens.
“Answer my questions.”
That was why he went ahead and gained the right to ask for
the result of the test. So, it was only right that he demanded
the promised rewards be handed over.
At that time, red lights flashed from the angel statue’s eyes.
“Heok?!”
“What’s this??”
Jin-Woo heard the Hunters’ shocked cries and looked behind

him.
“T-those things!!”
“They’re coming back!!”
Red lights were burning within the eyes of the god statue
and the stone statues that were moved to one corner of the
chamber. And then, they began moving again.
“Haha.”
The angel statue guffawed out loudly.

“If you kill me, no one will be able to stop my dolls.”
‘So, can you really kill me now?’ The angel statue glared at
Jin-Woo with eyes that screamed that question at him.
Inferior beings possessed far too many weak points. Since

this man was also human, this would be one of his
weaknesses, too. Without a doubt, he’d have the so-called
friends among those humans. However, quite different from
the angel statue’s expectation, Jin-Woo suddenly formed a
smile.
‘He’s… smiling?’
Jin-Woo asked the dazed statue.
“So, what will happen if I kill you first, and then destroy
those dolls afterwards?”
The angel statue hurriedly replied in a panic.
“If you kill me, the architect of the System….!”
“You know, I also thought about that.”
Jin-Woo cut the words of the angel statue off. The look in his
eyes was rather similar to what the statue had when it was
looking at the human Hunters earlier on.
“Here’s the thing. Just because the guy who created the
System disappears, that doesn’t mean the System will
suddenly start breaking down, does it?”
The bluff was called.
This human already knew the truth that the angel statue
deliberately failed to mention.
This was a serious miscalculation on the angel statue’s part.
It had forgotten with what criteria this particular human
being had been selected in the first place. This man, even in
the past, was capable of seeing through the set rules.
‘If that’s the case, you’ve forced my hand!’
The angel statue activated the final hand it possessed.
Tti-ring!
[System has denied the System Administrator’s access.]
Tti-ring! Tti-ring!!
Several more mechanical beeps rang in his head. The exact

same Message repeated itself again and again, however.
The face of the angel statue hardened considerably.
It attempted to use the System and do something to Jin-

Woo, but unfortunately, even the System itself had turned
its back on the creature.
Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders, causing the angel statue to

go berserk in rage.
“Uwaaaahk!! You b*stard!”
If this thing wasn’t going to answer, then….
‘….Then, no point in keeping you alive.’

Jin-Woo let go of the angel statue’s neck, but at the same
time, injected magical energy to his left fist and punched
out.
KABOOM!!
The immense impact force broke past the angel statue and
left behind a massive crater on the wall behind it.
Guooooh….
For a moment there, silence filled the surroundings.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Jin-Woo bestowed an appropriate level of punishment to the

angel statue that tried to use him.
Not just its head, but the entirety of its upper torso had been
obliterated. What remained of the creature slid down against
the wall and sunk to the ground.
‘It’s a bit regretful that I didn’t get to hear any answers,

but…’
But, this thing was trying to deceive him from the get-go,
anyway. Could he be able to believe anything such a
creature told him?
‘With this, it’s done.’
As if he was shaking off the regret, Jin-Woo lightly shook the

dust off his left hand. It was at this moment that he heard
the desperate voice calling out to him.
“Seong Hunter-nim!!”
“…Ah.”
Jin-Woo quickly turned around. He was far too focused on
the angel statue and had forgotten about the other stone
statues. These things were indiscriminately attacking the
Hunters as ordered by the angel statue just before its death.
“Hunter Seong!!”
Choi Jong-In pitifully sought out Jin-Woo as he used his

magic to keep the stone statues at bay.
Even then, even as he called out, these statues were still

descending on them in their droves like a black storm.
Pow!
Woo Jin-Cheol was struck in the chin by a stone statue and

he unsteadily staggered on his feet. He tried to maintain his
balance with his faltering legs, his eyes searching to his left
and right.
He caught the sight of the blood and sweat belonging to his

fellow Hunters spraying into the air as they desperately
mounted a resistance against the monsters pouncing on
them.
The inside of his head blanked out.
‘Wait. What was I doing just now?’
Ah.
When he regained his senses, the stone statue was already

right in front of his nose.
He confirmed just what had struck him on the chin just now.
It was actually a d*mn book with a thickness of several
encyclopedias stacked together. Of course, it was made out
of stone so it was only obvious that his head would spin like
that.
‘No, hang on a minute… can a thick book be considered as a

deadly weapon?’
For a brief moment there, Woo Jin-Cheol recalled watching a

certain televised criminal law amendment process and
smirked to himself. In any case, he no longer possessed any
strength to block the book, nor could he avoid it now. He
definitely didn’t have any strength left to throw a counter,
either.
And that’s why he finally gave up with a wry smirk, but

then….
Ka-boom!!
The stone statue’s head split into two and the monster was
flung away as if it got swept up in an explosion.
“Huh….?”
His mind abruptly woke up from that. He blinked his eyes

and shook his head to clear his mind, and finally spotted a
familiar man standing next to him.
“Ah…..”
Woo Jin-Cheol could only gasp out at that moment. That

familiar man was none other than Seong Jin-Woo.
Woo Jin-Cheol kept that look of surprise on his face as he

managed to leak out a question.
“By any chance, you only used bare hands to…..??”

“Let’s talk about the details later.”
Jin-Woo left behind the dazed Chief of the Monitoring

Division and dashed away to elsewhere. Even then, he never
stopped searching and eventually, he spotted a certain
something reflecting the light just over yonder.
It was his missing ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
‘Found it!!’
Jin-Woo extended his hand out to the weapon. He activated

the ‘invisible hand’ and sucked his shortsword back into his
grip.
Grab!
The sense of grip transmitted through his hand remained

top-notch.
Boom!!
First of all, he kicked away an annoying stone statue

blocking his path and began slicing all the statues that had
been tangling with human Hunters.
Fuu-woop.
In the midst of doing that, he took a deep breath.
Time slowed down greatly, but only he remained unbound

and free. Right afterwards, Jin-Woo seemingly vanished from
the spot and, while using the movement that not even the
top-ranked Hunters could follow, he began destroying all the
stone statues.
Slice!!
Thud!!
Four stone statues fell apart simultaneously.
The Hunters who barely made it out alive thanks to Jin-Woo’s

timely intervention could only look on dazedly as their jaws
dropped to the floor.
“Uh….?”
Woo Jin-Cheol eventually made his way next to these

Hunters and quietly spoke to them.
“That’s all you can think of, am I right?”
“….Yes.”
Hunters nodded their heads.
“Yes, I’m the same as you.”
Woo Jin-Cheol had seen this spectacle a few times by now,

but even then, the only thing coming out of his mouth was a
gasp of astonishment. He grinned wryly and placed a
cigarette between his lips. A Hunter from the Monitoring
Division stood next to him.
“Chief, will it be alright for us to step back like this?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Right now, Seong Hunter-nim is still engaging the

monsters…..”
The Hunter from the Monitoring Division turned his head

towards Jin-Woo, but even his jaw fell.
“Huh…..?”
Woo Jin-Cheol placed another cigarette in the slack mouth of
this guy and even lit up for his subordinate.
“Can you see how should we go about helping him?”
“No, sir… I can’t.”
“So, stay here and quietly smoke that.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Hunters gazed at Jin-Woo with eyes of awe but still, didn’t

forget to swarm around Woo Jin-Cheol. And as a result, his
stash of cigarettes ran out very quickly.
But, for some reason, his nose began stinging just a tad.
‘I can’t even remember how many times I nearly died in this

place.’
He thought those monsters were a wall he could never

overcome, no matter what he tried. But now, seeing Jin-Woo
single-handedly sweeping those things away, the sense of
relief and powerful emotion of delight were flooding into his
heart.
“Section Chief? Are you crying, sir?”
“No, I’m not, you idiot. It’s just this spicy cigarette. Okay?”
“Right. It’s also too spicy for me.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Me three.”
Maybe this batch of cigarettes tasted far too spicy for them
today since teardrops were clearly visible within the eyes of
all these Hunters.
SLAM-!!
Sohn Ki-Hoon managed to block the punch of the god statue

with his shield and gasped out a pained grunt.
“Keo-heok!”
His knees were bucking hard. With no Healer around, he had

no choice but to take on the impact force all by himself, but
he knew that anything more than this was asking for too
much.
“S-someone…. Anyone!!”
He painfully turned his head to the side and spotted a quiet

gathering of his fellow Hunters sitting over there.
What the hell.
He was sh*tting blood trying to block the attacks of the god

statue all by himself, yet why wasn’t anyone trying to lend
him a helping hand here??
Sohn Ki-Hoon was royally p*ssed off and angrily yelled at

them.
“What do you all think you’re doing?!”
When he did, the Hunters all pointed above him. Sohn Ki-
Hoon interpreted that as them warning him of another
attack, so he flinched greatly and raised his shield up again.
However, the expected attack didn’t materialise.
‘……??’
He finally noticed that the surroundings had become eerily
quiet for some reason.
‘What’s going on here?’
He sneakily scanned his surroundings below his shield, and

finally noticed that all the stone statues in the vicinity had
been destroyed.
“What’s this?!”
He got startled out of his skin and hurriedly lowered the

shield. And that allowed him to see what was going on
above him. He saw the sight of the god statue, as tall as a
skyscraper, and Jin-Woo standing on the d*mn thing’s
shoulder.
“Huh….??”
Even before Sohn Ki-Hoon was done with his surprise…
Ka-boom!!
Jin-Woo’s punch blew away the other remaining half of the

god statue’s face. With its head gone now, the massive
statue began unsteadily tottering around.
“….Uh? Ehhh?”
Sohn Ki-Hoon sensed something awry was afoot and ran as if

his back was on fire. And just as his senses had warned him,
the god statue crashed down right where he used to be
standing a second ago.
Kwa-boooom!!
A choking dust cloud kicked up and filled the entire interior

of this place.
“Cough, cough!”
Choi Jong-In coughed out repeatedly and while blowing

away the dust from himself, he quickly made his way to Cha
Hae-In.
“Hunter Cha.”
“Chairman….?”
“How are you feeling? Can you stand up?”
She was still lying on the ground, moaning in pain. She

shook her head at his question. Not one part of her body was
okay right now. Choi Jong-In’s brows furrowed as he felt
somewhat helpless at this.
“Let me help you. Try to slowly stand up.”
Just as he was trying to support Cha Hae-In, Jin-Woo arrived

next to him, having finished off all the stone statues in the
room.
“Will it be fine if I aid Cha Hunter-nim?”
“Pardon me?”
Choi Jong-In shifted his gaze towards the direction of that

voice. It was then, he thought that for a little bit there, Cha
Hae-In was pushing his hand away. He replied in somewhat
of a daze.
“Oh. Uh, yes. Why not.”
Jin-Woo quickly lifted her up in an embrace. Cha Hae-In’s

face reddened instantly.
“Please, hold on for a little while longer.”

Jin-Woo promptly ran over to the exit and kicked the closed
door, hard.
BOOM!!
A locked door such as this only needed a good kick from

him. The sturdy door that didn’t even want to budge an inch
when these high-ranking Hunters pushed at it got destroyed
in an instant.
He cautiously laid her down outside the chamber and

summoned up his Store. Her current condition was
considerably bad. Jin-Woo quickly purchased a superior
grade healing potion and carefully emptied the vial in her
mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
Her wounds began recovering at a scarcely-believable rate.
“But, how…??”
“Shh.”
Jin-Woo raised his index finger and pressed to his lips. Right
now was ill-suited to explaining himself, wasn’t it?
Hunters emerged from the chamber one by one. Could this

be called a silver lining within the sea of misfortune? Their
current appearance was truly wretched, but thankfully, none
of them required emergency medical assistance.
Jin-Woo closed the Store’s interface.
Not knowing the existence of the healing potion, Hunters

and their eyes could only pop out of their sockets when Cha
Hae-In stood back up as if nothing was wrong.
“Huh?? But, Cha Hunter-nim, weren’t you…..?”
“Well, I….”
She was about to answer back reflexively, only to sneak a

glance at Jin-Woo and quickly diverted the conversation
away.
“This isn’t the right time to discuss that, so let’s get out of
here first.”
Hunters all agreed with her.
“Are there any more survivors?”
She asked Jin-Woo, who possessed the best sensory

perception among the group. He looked into the interior of
the chamber and shook his head.
Only seventeen remained standing outside the chamber.

Over half of who stepped inside had died. Their joy at
surviving this encounter only lasted for a short while and the
atmosphere grew gloomy and heavy.
“In that case….”
Cha Hae-In turned around with a stiff face, but Jin-Woo

reached out and held her wrist. She turned to face him.
The reason why the Hunters Guild came here was secondary.
He was a lot more curious about something else at the
moment.
“Excuse me, but… what happened to Japan?”
Jin-Woo had entered here just before the dungeon break of

the rank S Gate occurred and so, he was getting legitimately
curious of the news coming out of Japan.
Cha Hae-In hesitated slightly, but eventually, came up with
a suitable description.
“They have been destroyed.”

Chapter 165
So, that’s what happened in the end.
The plan to block up a Gate sounded quite dangerous from

the moment Yuri Orlov came up with the idea. Besides,
wasn’t he trying to deal with a rank S Gate?
Didn’t matter whether it was a Hunter or Gate, rank S

denoted that something was impossible to evaluate.
“Impossible to evaluate” – meaning, no one knew exactly

what would pop out from the Gate, nor what kind of events
would happen next. Even then, Yuri Orlov greatly
overestimated his strength. And, in the end, his stupidity led
to a truly horrifying result.
Jin-Woo’s expression became deeply complicated.
Association President Goh Gun-Hui had told him about what

the Japanese Hunters were trying to do back in Jeju Island. It
was unknown what their real goal was, but nevertheless,
they commenced with their plan anyway.
If Jin-Woo didn’t show up on time, it’d have been extremely

difficult for the Korean Hunters to get out of there alive even
if the mutated ant monster hadn’t shown up.
And, even after trying something underhanded like that, the

b*stard of the Japanese Association’s President had the gall
to visit South Korea to threaten Goh Gun-Hui.
‘That man deserves to be punished, no doubt about that.’
However, that was the story only for the brain trust of the
Japanese Association as well as the top-ranked Hunters who
took part in the stinking scheme.
The innocent Japanese citizens not included in that story

certainly didn’t deserve this.
There might have been some unresolved historical ‘feelings’

between the two nations, but that wasn’t a sin so grave that
whole masses of people had to die because of it.
What’s even worse, this particular dungeon break occurred

in the middle of the city.
Just because of some Orcs that came out from a Gate within
a school, nearly half of all the students there had lost their
lives. However, what would happen if a rank S Gate opened
up in the middle of a huge city with a population of over 13
million? Obviously, it’d lead to a truly gruesome end result.
Not to forget, this result was partially brought upon by

themselves, as well.
‘If Goto Ryuji and the other top Japanese Hunters were still
alive, the end result could have been different.’
Goto Ryuji was strong. He was strong enough to endanger

Jin-Woo for a moment back then. Even he felt greatly
startled when the Japanese Hunter’s attack barely missed
his eye by a hair’s breadth.
Would that be all?
Every single dead Japanese Hunter he found on Jeju Island

was an exceptional individual that surpassed Korea’s own
rank S Hunters.
He might not have known their fighting styles, but at least,

that’s the impression he got after checking out the amount
of magic energy still remaining on their corpses.
Back then, Jin-Woo didn’t want to turn blameless humans

into ‘undead’ so he gave up on them. But they were such
exceptional Hunters that he was greatly tempted to turn
them into Shadow Soldiers.
‘Turning them into Shadow Soldiers would’ve been perfectly

fine when I think about what they were trying to do,
though!’
Too bad, he only got to learn the truth a long time after the
fact, so there was nothing he could do about that.
In any case, such powerful Hunters got massacred in one go

so it was only obvious that Japan simply lacked enough
personnel to deal with a rank S Gate appearing within its
borders.
In the end, this event wasn’t a calamity engineered by the

heavens, but something called upon by the greed of
humans, instead. A man-made disaster, in other words.
“Seong Hunter-nim?”
Cha Hae-In worriedly called out to him. Even now, Jin-Woo

was still holding her wrist.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking of something else just now.”
“Ah.”
Jin-Woo let go of her arm.

The reason why Cha Hae-In called out to him wasn’t because
of the wrist, but his complexion had darkened considerably
out of the blue, that’s why.
Did he have family members or relatives living in Japan?

Such a question fleeted in and out of her mind, just then.
She still had no idea that the Japanese Hunter’s Association

had cooked up such a dastardly scheme. So, she thought of
the events unfolding in Japan as merely an accident – no,
more correctly, a horrifying incident, instead.
He got to solve his first question of what had happened to

Japan. Jin-Woo asked the second thing he was curious about.
“What brought you guys over here, anyway?”
Currently, there were Cha Hae-In, Woo Jin-Cheol, and then,

Sohn Ki-Hoon and his team members, who Jin-Woo met when
fighting against Fangs, present here.
High-ranking Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the

members from the Monitoring Division, the ones that didn’t
really seem to have a common reason to form a team, had
gathered all around him.
Woo Jin-Cheol finished checking up on the injuries of his

subordinates and took a step forward to clarify the situation.
“Actually, we came here first after receiving a report from

this location. But then, we learned that you had entered the
Gate, and the magic energy leaking out from the dungeon
itself was so great that….”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Chief of the Monitoring

Division. Perhaps the number of casualties had been far too
great, Woo Jin-Cheol’s expression was really stiff right now.
“We thought that our strengths would not be adequate
enough so I requested for assistance from the Hunters Guild
that had been getting ready for a raid nearby.”
The right to request assistance in emergencies. It was the

highest form of authority the Association possessed over the
Guilds. Even the Hunters Guild wouldn’t have been able to
reject the request.
Many had come to aid him, and in the process, many

unfortunate sacrifices had to be made. Jin-Woo felt his heart
begin to ache.
As the youth grew quieter in contemplation, Woo Jin-Cheol

cautiously raised a question.
“May I ask you a question?”
“Yes?”
“How did you know that you’d find the dual dungeon in this
particular Gate, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
That was a very pertinent question to ask.
As the Chairperson of the Hunters Guild, which had suffered

huge losses today, Choi Jong-In was deeply curious about
this, as well.
How did Seong Jin-Woo know that there was a dual dungeon
hiding within a rank C Gate, and that a monster capable of
exceeding everyone’s imagination was waiting for him
there?
Hunters who had heard of this before coming here were all
feeling quite puzzled from this unanswered question.
Rumble….
The cavern they were in trembled. The Gate sent them the
signal that it’d close not too long from now, yet the attention
of these Hunters were solely focused on Jin-Woo’s answer.
“The dungeon….”
Jin-Woo decided to be as honest as he could be.
“…It summoned me here.”
“…..Wait, it summoned you here?”
Woo Jin-Cheol asked back, his expression showing his

disbelief.
“Yes. I received a message telling me to come here.”
“Can we view that message, as well?”
Jin-Woo shook his head. Then, he pointed to his temple with

his finger.
“I’m sorry. It was a message that appeared in my head.”
The answer nobody expected to hear rendered everyone

utterly speechless.
Jin-Woo didn’t lie here, though. It was just that he chose to

omit a few other unnecessary details and simply delivered
the core of the truth, that was all.
His straightforward expression of hiding nothing managed to

overpower other Hunters.
Woo Jin-Cheol could legitimately claim that he knew Jin-Woo

the longest out of this group. Even then, he had no choice
but throw up the white flag with a shake of his head.
‘He’s… not someone I can read with my common sense.’
The dungeon summoned him through his head?
Could this youth be some kind of an incarnation of a godly

being sent to this world so he could smash apart all the
dungeons that appear here?
‘Why am I even thinking of such nonsense….?’
Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly gave a wry chuckle. While he was

doing that, Jin-Woo soundlessly brushed past him.
He walked past the broken doorway and re-entered the

chamber. Cha Hae-In panicked and called out to him in a
hurry.
“Hunter Seong?? If we don’t leave right now, it could get

dangerous!”
Jin-Woo turned around after hearing her worried voice and

made his reply.
“I know.”
How could he not know of the dangers?
Jin-Woo had walked on this lengthy passageway to get here

twice already. It was almost an hour’s distance even with the
walking speed of Hunters. If they wished to get out of here
before the Gate closed, they certainly couldn’t tarry any
longer.
Not only that, Jin-Woo’s own old man went missing inside a
Gate, too.
He heard that his dad, despite getting grievously injured,
still managed to carry out his comrades from the boss
chamber one by one before he himself got left behind as the
Gate closed.
There was no one out there who understood the dangers of a

dungeon better than Jin-Woo. That was why his reply of “I
know” was filled with his conviction. Even then….
“I can’t leave behind the Hunters who came running for my

sake, now can I?”
Hunters getting anxious to leave all froze up in their spots

after hearing his words. Every single one of those who lost
their lives inside that chamber was a comrade to them. If
possible, they didn’t want to leave anyone behind.
However, there simply wasn’t enough time to take all the

deceased with them. Not only were these Hunters far too
exhausted, but trying to locate the remains buried under the
debris of the stone statues would mean they had to search
through all corners of the chamber, as well.
And that was why they turned around to leave with bitter
tears in their eyes, but now….
“I’m taking them back with me.”
One sentence from Jin-Woo and the Hunters began

shuddering as if a bolt of electricity was travelling within
their bodies.
No one argued that there was no time, that they had to get
out of here. No, they simply watched on in a daze.
Choi Jong-In, who had been silently enduring until then,

spoke with a powerless voice.
“Can we… ask you for this favour?”
These Guild members were like his family. If it was possible,

he didn’t want them to rot away stuck in a cold corner of this
d*mnable cave.
Jin-Woo nodded his head and turned around.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!
His hearts were quietly beating away.
‘I need to sense a little deeper.’
Basically, his two hearts always beat as one. He needed to

concentrate really hard to separate the sound of the Black
Heart beating from his regular heart. Jin-Woo gathered the
magical energy sent out by this mysterious heart towards
his fingertips.
‘Did he do it like this?’
Jin-Woo tried to mimic the hand gesture of the Shadow

Sovereign he saw within the data’s playback.
His hand reaching up as if he was grasping something –

without a doubt, he could sense enormous magical power
going crazy within his hand right now.
Jin-Woo felt this powerful self-assurance enter his mind.
He immediately located the whereabouts of the deceased

Hunters through their magic energy emission. His eyes
gleamed brightly. Shortly afterwards, he stopped silently
studying the interior of the chamber and spoke up.
“Ruler’s Authority.”
And when he did….
Dududuk….
All the remains of the Hunters buried under the rubble of the
stone statues all uniformly rose up into the air.
“Heok!!”
“But, how?!”
Hunters watching Jin-Woo with bated breaths all cried out in

shock.
Never mind the fact that he was able to locate all the dead
Hunters in such a short span of time, he even managed to
lift them up without touching them? Wasn’t this like one of
those telekinetic superpowers often seen in movies?
The floating Hunters were carried out of the doorway via

invisible hands.
‘How can this be….?’
‘How can something like this even be possible?’
Just like how normal people would get surprised by the

Hunters, these Hunters were getting even more astonished
by Jin-Woo’s feats.
Even Choi Jong-In, who could be called very knowledgeable

when it came to the manipulation of magical energy,
couldn’t quite believe what he just witnessed with his own
two eyes.
‘Just what kind of a skill is that?’

It was certainly a skill he had never even heard of before.
After seeing Jin-Woo’s powers personally, Choi Jong-In

realised that he had been greatly mistaken about
something. When he saw the angel statue for the first time,
he thought that such a ‘thing’ would obviously be able to
defeat Jin-Woo.
However, his thoughts were wrong. It was a complete

miscalculation.
Which monster would be able to deal with a Hunter capable

of wielding powers like this as if it was nothing to him? Not
realising that he was doing it, Choi Jong-In began shaking
his head.
‘Utterly impossible….’
In actual fact, the angel statue was eliminated in an instant

almost as soon as Jin-Woo opened his eyes. Only sighs of
amazement could come out after seeing this young man’s
capabilities.
Jin-Woo carefully moved the cold, unmoving corpses of the

Hunters to one side and summoned out his Shadow Soldiers.
The restriction only applied within the temple itself so he
could call them out no problem outside the doorway.
While the living Hunters couldn’t close shut their slack jaws,
the Shadow Soldiers proceeded to pick up the dead Hunters.
Everyone forgot what they wanted to say and simply looked
at Jin-Woo as he addressed them.
“Let’s get out of here.”
It was then, the dungeon rumbled one more time as if it was

waiting for this moment. The Hunters all nodded their heads.
Soon after they set off, the Shadow Soldiers ran right behind
them. Jin-Woo remained behind and watched them move,
before turning around to face Cha Hae-In who also hadn’t
left yet.
Although her physical wounds had been healed, her

expression showed how fatigued she was.
‘That is obvious, though.’
Even he himself needed to put in a lot of effort to defeat that

angel statue. She’d definitely be exhausted trying to defend
against such a creature all by herself.
Jin-Woo walked over to her and asked.
“Would you like me to carry you?”
Cha Hae-In formed a thin smile and shook her head.
Grasp.
He reached out to grasp her wrist again, and she quietly

stared at him. He wanted her to feel at ease, at least by a
little bit, so he relaxedly spoke to her.
“We should get going, too.”
Nod.
Cha Hae-In, depressed by the deaths of her comrades,

wordlessly nodded her head.
***
Hunters began emerging one by one from the Gate.

Right up until then, those waiting around outside the Gate
had no idea the scale of the event taking place within.
However, they all realised that something really bad had
happened after seeing the deceased Hunters being carried
out by the Shadow Soldiers.
“Are those all….?!”
The members of the Bravery Guild who had reported this

matter, and the female Association employee standing by,
all saw this procession and their complexions turned ashen
in an instant.
The number of casualties was just far too great.
Weren’t these people the elite Hunters of the country? The

Hunters belonging to the Hunters Guild and the Monitoring
Division were called some of the very best, yet….
After everyone had emerged, Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In

simultaneously stepped out of the Gate. Enough time had
passed on the outside and it was night-time already.
Reporter Kim had been staying put until then to keep an eye
on the situation, and when he saw the conditions of those
two, his eyes grew extraordinarily wide from sheer shock.
The heavy traces of intense battle were clearly visible on the

bodies of these two rank S Hunters – dried up, caked blood;
torn, ripped clothing; their dishevelled hair.
Sure, Cha Hae-In still looked quite lovely even then. But
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo gave off a feeling that he’d been
through a bitter war all by himself.
‘This is it…. This really is it!’
Reporter Kim raised his camera with his trembling hands.
This was the reason why he became a reporter in the first

place. And that was to document event such as this one.
He wanted to let others know that there were some people

who willingly put their lives on the line to fight for the
masses in some forgotten corner of their country, even
though everyone’s attention was focused on the events
taking place in Japan.
Almost twenty of the country’s top Hunters had perished

here today. If such a Gate had broken open, then the scale of
destruction and losses to life would have exceeded
imaginations. These people and their sacrifices had
prevented a future tragedy.
However, if Reporter Kim wasn’t here, would others ever get

to know about these folks and their heroic battle today? He
had been circling around the Association just so he could
stumble into a story like this one day.
Click, click!!
He was so emotionally moved that tears were forming in his

eyes as he busily snapped away photos.
Woo Jin-Cheol lost all the strength in his legs right after
leaving the Gate and settled down on the ground. Jin-Woo
looked for him and walked closer.
“….Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Woo Jin-Cheol tried to get up, but Jin-Woo stopped the older
man. Instead, the latter pointed at Reporter Kim over yonder.
“He’s taking my photos, but is that allowed?”
Woo Jin-Cheol smirked and made his reply.
“It is indeed disallowed to film you in an individual capacity,

Seong Hunter-nim. However, just like how it was back in the
Jeju Island raid, it’s impossible to block the report on the
incident itself.”
Mom would get worried if she saw his messed-up

appearance, though. He was sort of worried about that
happening, but then again, it didn’t mean he could forcibly
stop the reporter from doing his job.
Indeed, that reporter was doing what he was supposed to be

doing.
He also wished for someone to let the world know of the

ultimate sacrifices these Hunters made while fighting to
ensure that no tragedy would unfold in the near future, as
well.
A quiet wind seemed to blow by. The sounds of distant sirens

from approaching ambulances were carried by the winds.
Next morning.
Every newspaper carried the front-page headline of the

dungeon break happening in Japan, except for one
publication. It was the only one that carried the news of the
dual dungeon incident.
This paper sold the most number of copies that day.

Chapter 166
The American Hunter Bureau mobilised its agents from the

Asian branch office in order to assess the current situation in
Japan.
A helicopter set off from the safe zone and eventually,

entered Tokyo’s airspace. A senior agent from the Hunter
Bureau, who had risked his life and volunteered for this trip,
looked out of the vehicle’s window and clicked his tongue.
“How tragic.”
The current status of Tokyo was far worse than he had

imagined. The city itself was completely destroyed after the
dungeon break occurred.
Buildings no longer possessed their former appearances;

cars folded and crumpled like bits of paper; street lamps
bent at their waists; burning flames, rising smoke, scorched
remains, and unidentifiable structures turning into ash.
Surely, the word ‘tragic’ was invented just for a sight as

wretched as this one.
The agent’s forehead unconsciously creased up. If someone

were to ask him in the future if he had seen hell, then yes,
he could now say that he indeed have seen one.
Unfortunately, he didn’t come here to mourn the now-

destroyed city.
No, his mission was to assess the current situation. He
continued to film and carefully observed the carnage below,
before asking the Japanese representative next to him.
“Even though the city has been destroyed to such an extent,

I don’t see any human remains?”
The senior agent remembered seeing the images of the rank

S Gate opening up on the island of Jeju during his training
back in the Hunter Bureau’s HQ.
Whether it was from a video clip or a still photo, the streets

of the Jeju Island were filled with dead bodies. Ants had
killed every single resident who couldn’t escape the island
in time.
It was one of the worst tragedies ever in history, and the

Hunter Bureau kept detailed records of what happened then.
But now, even though the city of Tokyo was wiped clean off
the face of the planet, it was hard to see any corpses. No,
there were no traces of dead people to be found, actually.
The Japanese representative spoke up.
“That can’t be helped, actually. The Giants have been eating

humans, you see.”
He was a young man working for the Japanese Hunter’s

Association. It wasn’t all that hard to figure out what his life
had been like recently from his bloodshot eyes and the
overgrown beard he couldn’t trim yet.
He continued to speak with worries forming deep creases on

his face.
“Those b*stards are acting as if to erase all traces of
Japanese people from Japan itself. They destroy all the
buildings, eat humans, and they even pull out trees from the
streets, too.”
Nod, nod.
The Hunter Bureau agent agreed with that.
These Giant-type monsters that came out of the rank S Gate

displayed a certain difference in behaviour from other
monsters. While other monsters concentrated on killing
humans, this batch of monsters was actively trying to
destroy everything they could see.
Only the destroyed remains of the civilisation were left

behind in these creature’s wake. No matter where in Tokyo,
one couldn’t see a building, no, a single house still standing
intact.
“But, thanks to that, we were able to buy ourselves a bit of

time.”
He said, ‘thanks to that.’
The Japanese Association employee formed a smile full of

self-mockery.
Should he be thankful or feel sorrowful for the monsters

proceeding to destroy everything in their path, thereby
buying enough time for people to escape from their
carnage?
Such complicated emotions were writ large on the

employee’s face.
The Hunter Bureau agent looked at this Japanese man and
thought to himself.
‘It’s already something that he’s able to hold on like this.’
After all, the capital city of his country had fallen into such a
wretched state in an instant, had it not?
The sense of loss felt from monsters raping one’s country

wasn’t a foreign concept to this American agent.
The United States also lost a portion of their Western

Seaboard about eight years ago from the single monster
that came out of the rank S Gate, ‘Kamish’.
And, was that all? South Korea right next to Japan also had
to surrender the biggest island in the country to monsters
for nearly four years, only to somehow recover it recently,
didn’t they?
The American agent got to confirm something while

watching the footage of that raid’s ferocious battles.
He had no relations with South Korea at all, yet when he saw

the lone Korean Hunter sweep away all those ant monsters
and even smack that mutated ant a really good one, he
jumped up from his seat and let out an elated cry.
That wasn’t simply because he worked for the Asian branch

of the Hunter Bureau. No, he saw that battle of Jeju not as a
fight between a small nation of Korea and monsters, but as a
proxy war between humanity and the waves of monsters,
instead.
And here, on this land called Japan, there were more battles
taking place between humanity and monsters.
‘The result of that is this…..’
Tatatatatata-!!
The spinning rotors of the helicopter remained an incredible

racket, but the situation on the ground was severe enough
to steal away the agent’s attention from the noise.
He felt angry and frustrated. However, there was nothing he

could do here. All he could do was to carry out the mission
he was given. The agent continued to operate the camera
and asked the Japanese the questions that popped up in his
head every now and then.
But then, he discovered something that took him by great

surprise and he fell hard on his a*s.
“Heok!! T-that thing over there!”
Cold sweat poured out of the American agent as he began

calling out to Jesus. The Japanese Association employee
helped him to stand back up.
“So, you saw it.”
“O-over there! There’s a Giant over there!!”
“Yes. There is one Giant still remaining here. No, rather than
calling it ‘remaining’, should I say that it’s not budging from
the spot, instead?”
The employee’s gaze shifted outside the window. The

American agent wiped the cold sweat off his brows and
cautiously looked in the same direction as well.
A massive monster, bigger and taller than any monster this

agent had ever seen, stood proudly in the downtown area of
the utterly-devastated city of Tokyo.
‘That is the Giant-type monster….’
The helicopter began flying closer according to the

employee’s instructions. The agent hurriedly inquired as his
face paled instantly.
“W-will it be fine to get this close to that thing?”
The American definitely heard this before coming on this

trip. All Giant monsters had left Tokyo now, which meant
that the abandoned city was as safe as it could get under
the circumstances.
But then, wasn’t this way too different from that

declaration?
The Japanese Association employee calmly explained the

situation with a tone of voice indicating that there was
nothing to worry about.
“It’ll be fine. As long as we stay in the altitude that the

creature’s hands can’t reach and we don’t attack first, we’ll
be 100% safe. This has been confirmed through multiple
observation efforts so you can rest easy.”
Gulp.
The American agent swallowed his saliva.
‘Confirmed through multiple observations, is it?’
‘Observation.’
The Japanese employee spoke of that word as if it didn’t

mean much, but just how many people had to be sacrificed
at the hands of that Giant monster in order to come to that
conclusion?
Just thinking about those unlucky few who flew too close to
the reach of the Giant sent an eerie shiver down the agent’s
spine.
In any case, it was highly valuable information for this agent

who was tasked with compiling data on the rank S monsters,
as well as to report on Japan’s current status back to HQ.
His brows gradually rose up as he studied the Giant. Now

that he took a closer look, this creature’s face seemed
familiar to him.
‘That’s right….’
It was none other than the super-giant b*stard that

shattered Yuri Orlov’s magical barrier with its body. Unlike
other monsters that had been scattered elsewhere, only this
Giant monster, designated as the boss rank by many others,
chose to remain here.
The Japanese employee spoke with a bitter expression on his

face.
“Do you also think that the monster is guarding that Gate,
too?”
“Ah…. Well, I….”
“This is my third time seeing that b*stard, but every time I

do, I keep thinking of different things.”
“What did you thought of just now?”
“To my eyes, that thing is…”

The Japanese employee took his time before carrying on a
beat later.
“That thing is waiting for something. That’s what it looks like

to me.”
“I… see.”
The agent shifted his gaze back over to the Giant.
Indeed, it certainly looked like that in a way. He thought that

it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for this Japanese employee
to read the current situation that way.
As these two people conversed regarding the boss rank

Giant monster, the helicopter had arrived near the absolute
limit of the safety.
Even though there was a helicopter buzzing above its head,

the Giant didn’t even lift a finger. As if it hadn’t even
perceived the presence of the man-made contraption, it
remained utterly docile.
However, according to the employee’s explanations, it

wasn’t as if this thing would never attack, either.
“The creature will definitely attack whatever enters the fixed

range. Whether the targets of its attack are people or
machines, nothing can escape from it.”
Just how many observation attempts were needed to find

that out?
The final moments of Yuri Orlov overlapped with that of the

employee’s face in the American agent’s eyes as the
Japanese calmly explained the situation.
The boss monster’s agile movements as it broke past the
barrier and rapidly snatched up Yuri Orlov left a huge mental
shock with all the viewers watching the broadcast at home.
The Russian’s death had been shown live in that manner to
the rest of the world.
The report on the rank S Hunter compiled by the Bureau

described Yuri Orlov as such:
– A man who craves after wealth and fame.
He may have failed in extracting money from Japan, but

well, he had definitely become one of the most famous
Hunters in the entire world through this incident.
‘Not sure if that was the result he’d have liked to see but, oh
well.’
The agent frowned deeply after recalling the final moments

of Yuri Orlov. Meanwhile, the Japanese employee spoke up.
“This is also from a personal point of view, but…..”
He said it was a personal point of view. But the American

agent found this man’s opinions rather interesting, even the
one about the Giant monster waiting for someone or
something.
“Alright, please tell me.”
The agent nodded his head, prompting the employee to

continue on.
“When I look at that thing, I don’t really get the feeling that
the creature is truly ‘alive’, you see? Yes, it’s obviously
breathing in and out, and can move around because it’s
alive, but well, should I say that it’s like looking at a
machine that only acts according to how it was
programmed?”
“A machine, is it….?”
Quite regretfully, the agent couldn’t agree with that

assessment.
The imposing figure of the Giant monster when looked at

from up close was, in a word, overwhelming. When subjected
to the chest-tightening pressure emanating from the
creature, the agent simply couldn’t think of that thing as a
machine at all.
It was then.
The Giant’s eyes shifted in their direction.
“Heok!!”
Tumble!!
The agent fell on his a*s once more. As if he was waiting for
that, the Japanese agent supported the American back up.
He then spoke as if to calm his charge down.
“That thing’s simply looking at us. As long as we maintain

this distance, it won’t attack.”
The agent nodded his head. He thought his heart just fell
out of his chest just now. He belatedly raised his camera up
and recorded the creature in great detail. The reason for the
viewfinder shaking ever so slightly like that was probably
not entirely due to the helicopter busily buzzing around in
the air.
The agent only spoke up again after he figured he had
captured enough data by now.
“How many Giants came out from that Gate?”
“A total of 31. Excluding the boss rank, the rest have evenly
dispersed throughout the countryside.”
“….And how many have been killed so far?”
“Only two.”
“Which means, with the exception of the boss over here,

there are 28 Giants destroying Japan as we speak.”
“Well, there aren’t any Hunters left to fight against the

Giants, you see. Everyone’s been preoccupied with escaping
at the moment.”
The complexion of the employee was gloomy.
On the day the dungeon break happened, Hunters

participating in the crucial battle to buy the residents of
Tokyo enough time to evacuate were all killed.
They were able to kill two monsters in the process, but they
had no other methods left to stop the remaining 28 from
spreading out to the rest of the country.
This here was the reason why the Japanese Association

employee said ‘yes’ without resistance to the request for
assistance from the Hunter Bureau when he should have
been far, far too busy trying to put out the fire burning on
his foot – no, make that on his entire body.
Right at that moment.
“W-what are you doing?”

The American agent jumped up and tried to stop him, but
the Association employee finally managed to bow his head
down. His knees were bent all the way down and his
forehead was pressed to the floor.
Stuff like pride or dignity no longer mattered. No, if the only

cost to pay were his pride or his dignity, then he’d not have
hesitated to do something even more drastic.
And so, still remaining in the kowtowing position, the

employee spoke up.
“Please, aid us, the Japanese.”
The American agent was about to help his Japanese guide

up but stopped in the middle of his actions. He couldn’t say
anything back to the grave determination of the employee.
The Japanese spoke in fluent English and emphasized his

plea.
“If America doesn’t help us, then Japan as a nation will be

finished. Hasn’t Japan been a trusted ally of the United
States all this time? Will you not consider taking on the risk,
just this once, for Japan, the allied nation of America?”
It was unknown whether this was coming from the

employee’s own heart or he was being ordered by the
Japanese Hunter’s Association. However, regardless of where
it was coming from, this young man’s desperation could
definitely be felt in his voice.
The agent chewed on his lower lip and pondered for a bit
before replying with some difficulty.
“I’ll lodge a request for aid to the HQ.”

“Thank you. Truly, thank you very much.”
The American agent couldn’t tell the Japanese employee

bowing his head several times in a row that he shouldn’t get
his hopes up.
Would the Americans, after having lost many of its high-

ranking Hunters from the ‘Kamish’ incident, and thus began
obsessively managing the well-being of their remaining
Hunters, make a move just for the sake of the Japanese?
‘I’m pretty sure they won’t.’
However, how could the agent tell this young man lowering
his head for the sake of his nation, that his beloved country
was already as good as finished?
‘All you can do is to leave it to the will of heavens….’
The agent looked at the sky above.
Unfortunately, the heavens simply stared at the world below

in disinterest, just like how it had been, like how it was doing
right now, and how it would continue to do so in the future.
The agent dazedly stared at the heavens before muttering

to himself.
‘Oh, dear God…. Please, don’t forsake us.’
***
Jin-Woo woke up early in the morning and went to the Guild

office while doing a light jog.
‘Yup, as I suspected.’
His eyes brimming with happiness looked slightly above
from the dead centre of his vision. And he could see the
current status of the Daily Quest there, just like how it had
been until now.
Tti-ring.
[The distance run: 10km]
[You have completed ‘Running: 10km.’]
Even though he got rid of the self-proclaimed architect,

nothing seemed to have changed from before. The System
continued to function as it had so far, and just like before,
the Daily Quest arrived as soon as he opened his eyes in the
morning.
His physical condition was at its peak, too.
Ever since this ‘Black Heart’ took root within his body,
vitality was overflowing within him. He deliberately held
back his speed, yet each of his steps felt light and airy.
However, thanks to the d*mn b*stard getting killed off like

that, he was now left with a ton of unanswered questions.
‘Just what was that recorded footage I saw?’
He kind of figured that watching it was one of the conditions

to unlocking this ‘Black Heart’, but everything else remained
a mystery.
Just as his thoughts were getting deeper….
“Excuse me!! Hold on!”
“Mister Yu Jin-Ho!! May I ask you some questions?”

Jin-Woo raised his head at the noises coming from afar. And
that’s when he spotted the big cordon of reporters camping
outside the Guild building.
Yu Jin-Ho was currently being surrounded by them, unable to

do anything to extricate himself. It seemed that he got
ensnared by the reporters during his morning commute.
The reporters began their barrage of questions.
“Mister Yu Jin-Ho, were you aware of the tragedy of the

Hunters Guild that happened yesterday?”
“Please provide us with a statement as the Vice Chairperson

of the Ah-Jin Guild.”
“What is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s connection to that

incident?”
“Japan is going through a crisis at the moment, but did

Mister Seong Jin-Woo express his thoughts on aiding the
Japanese?”
‘Aha.’
These reporters couldn’t interview him personally, so they

resorted to clinging onto Yu Jin-Ho, who must’ve come across
as an easy mark to them.
Jin-Woo was about to take a step forward, thinking that he

should help the kid out, but then, he discovered something
and he stopped moving altogether.
‘Mm….?’
For some reason, Yu Jin-Ho’s expression didn’t seem so bad
right now.
He outwardly looked to be somewhat troubled, but Jin-Woo’s

exceptional eyes definitely caught the kid trying to forcibly
suppress his smile every now and then.
‘Hah, this Jin-Ho. I didn’t know that he enjoyed stuff like

this.’
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded but still formed a soft smirk

anyway. It seemed that his help was not strictly necessary
here.
‘So, what should I do instead, then?’
Should he just drag Yu Jin-Ho into the office quietly, or go

back the way he came so the kid could enjoy himself a bit
more?
As Jin-Woo seriously considered his options, a car rolled to a

stop right behind Jin-Woo. And its window silently rolled
down next.
“Are you Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
Jin-Woo heard that unfamiliar voice and turned around to

see who it was without thinking too much about it.
However….
‘Huh?’
His brows rose up slightly after he confirmed who it was.

Chapter 167
“It is indeed you.”
The man sitting in the car confirmed that the person turning
around to face him was Jin-Woo, and stepped out of the
vehicle right away. As it turned out, he was actually quite a
familiar face to Jin-Woo, as well.
Heck, he didn’t even need to dig through his memories to

recall this man’s name, either. Because this man appeared
almost non-stop in South Korea’s financial news segments.
Not to mention, he was also ‘familiar’ to Jin-Woo in another
meaning of the word, as well.
“I’m Yu Myung-Han from Yujin Construction. It’s a pleasure,

Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Yu Myung-Han’s back remained straight as he lightly

lowered his head.
It was a greeting neither disrespectful nor lacking in

confidence.
As if he had learned that this was how to greet someone

properly, his action was tidy and disciplined. Jin-Woo was
inwardly taken by surprise.
It was because he didn’t expect a chairman of a huge

corporation to greet a total stranger like himself in such a
dignified manner.
Since the other party came out so dignified and respectful,
Jin-Woo also returned a dignified greeting.
“I’m Seong Jin-Woo. It’s also a pleasure.”
After their brief introductions were over, Yu Myung-Han got

right down to the topic.
“I apologise for coming to see you without prior

communication, but if it’s alright with you, can we speak in
private?”
A small suspicion brushed past Jin-Woo’s brain just then.
‘If he wants to see me….’
It’d have been more convenient for the Chairman to contact

Jin-Woo through his son rather than personally showing up
here. Yet, why did Yu Myung-Han choose to come all the way
out here at the cost of his valuable time?
Jin-Woo swallowed back such suspicions forming in his mind

and asked something else.
“What can I help you with?”
Yu Myung-Han replied with an apologetic face implying that

he had no choice but to do it this way.
“It is regarding a topic that’s difficult to discuss here.”
Now that Jin-Woo took a look around, he could see that,

although no one recognised him in his current get-up of a
comfortable tracksuit with a hood pulled up, several curious
stares were rapidly landing on Chairman Yu Myung-Han.
There were a fair few passersby on the streets, so indeed, it

was not possible to discuss something important in a place
like this one. Jin-Woo understood that point very well.
The only problem was….
‘….I don’t have any important business to discuss with

Chairman Yu Myung-Han.’
He couldn’t even take a wild guess here.
If he were to really, really think about it, then maybe,

something to do with the Chairman’s second son and the
Vice-Master of the Ah-Jin Guild, Yu Jin-Ho?
While Jin-Woo’s reply got delayed, more and more people

began looking at Yu Myung-Han now. Some even pulled out
their smartphones to take snapshots as well.
The Chairman began feeling a bit more urgent compared to

before, as more and more eyes were being directed in his
way.
‘If I miss this opportunity, it’ll only become harder to

converse with him.’
He had a very good reason why he needed to speak to Jin-

Woo. So, he worked up his courage and asked for this favour.
“Seong Hunter-nim. If it’s not too much trouble, would you

like to accompany me for a little while? I promise that I’ll
never speak about a disrespectful subject.”
Jin-Woo took a look behind him first.
He spotted Yu Jin-Ho’s happy, no, ‘troubled’ mug as the kid

was surrounded by the extreme levels of interest from the
reporters. Jin-Woo hurriedly swallowed back his laughter
once more.
‘Looks like Jin-Ho will be preoccupied for the rest of the day,
then.’
Since he had been monopolising high-ranking Gates lately

thanks to the consideration of other major Guilds, he
thought that now might be a good time to take a break from
going on raids for a while.
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han bowed slightly and, as if he was

treating a super VIP, he even opened the rear door of the car
for Jin-Woo.
“Please, get in.”
Jin-Woo climbed aboard first, and the Chairman actually

went around to the other side to enter the back seat next to
him. The car was so big that even with two well-built men
sitting on the back seat, there was still plenty of space left.
Before the car started, though, Jin-Woo asked first.
“Where are we going?”
“We haven’t decided on a destination. Is there a place you’d

like to go to, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….?”
Jin-Woo shook his head, prompting the Chairman to give the

signal to his chauffeur. He then looked back at his guest.
“I know of a place where we can chat without worrying about

the interruptions from other people. Allow me to take you
there.”
Jin-Woo leaned against the back of the seat. Maybe because
this was a really expensive car, the suppleness of the
cushions was indescribably amazing.
The car glided forward without making any noise and

eventually, they arrived in their destination.
“We’re here, Hunter-nim.”
The chauffeur walked over to open the Chairman’s door, but

Yu Myung-Han shook his head, prompting the former to
approach Jin-Woo’s door, instead. He then opened it for the
youth.
Jin-Woo stepped out of the vehicle and looked up at the tall,

tall skyscraper in front.
‘So, this is where we can converse without worrying about

others, is it…?’
As Jin-Woo stood there utterly speechless, a group of

attendants suddenly came rushing out of the building to
surround him and bowed their waists 90 degrees.
“Welcome back, sir!”
“Welcome back, sir!!”
Jin-Woo heard these six people shout out in complete

harmony and could only express his admiration inwardly.
Just how many times did they have to train together to
match each other’s timing this well?
“Let us head inside, Hunter-nim.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han displayed not one hint of putting

on airs and took the lead, walking straight into the building.
The words ‘Yujin Construction’ were clearly legible on the
windows near the top of the building’s roof.
‘……’
Soon, Jin-Woo followed after Yu Myung-Han and entered the

building. The Chairman had been waiting for the youth to
enter and matched the latter’s walking speed.
“This way.”
Employees bent their backs immediately after discovering

their Chairman.
Yu Myung-Han maintained an expressionless face but still

didn’t forget to reply to all the greetings coming his way
with simple nods.
A real big shot – the atmosphere Jin-Woo once felt from the
President of the Hunter’s Association Goh Gun-Hui could
also be felt from Chairman Yu as well.
Jin-Woo silently followed after him while gaining a rough

understanding of the man named Yu Myung-Han’s character
through the gazes of these employees who seemed to
wholeheartedly trust him.
Meanwhile, the employees bowing their heads to Yu Myung-

Han naturally became interested in Jin-Woo walking
alongside their boss.
‘Who is he?’
‘Huh? Isn’t he….?’
‘Could he be….?’
The jaw of every employee fell to the floor after they
recognised the rank S Hunter, as he had taken the hood off
upon entering the building.
The top Hunter of the nation and the top businessman of the
nation. Two such people had stepped into the headquarters
of Yujin Construction, so who would not be surprised by this
amazing incident?
‘Heok!’
The eyes of the employees nearly fell out of their sockets.
The hearts of the female employees began palpitating

unsteadily, while the male employees nodded their heads in
Jin-Woo’s direction.
They didn’t know why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was standing

next to their Chairman. However, when the two men who
could be considered the best in their respective fields stood
tall next to each other, their considerable age gap didn’t
seem to matter anymore, and this dazzling imagery now felt
perfect and complete to the onlooker’s view.
If you were a man, then you’d yearn to be a part of this

amazing sight, too.
And so, as such adulating gazes fell upon them, the two men
climbed aboard the executives-only elevator waiting for
them with open doors. The assistance of the attendants
lasted until here.
As the doors silently slid shut, only Jin-Woo and Chairman Yu

remained within the elevator.
“…”
“…”
As Chairman Yu kept his mouth closed, Jin-Woo followed suit

and didn’t say anything. The elevator didn’t stop and rose
straight up to the top floor, the Chairman’s office.
Ting.
Secretary Kim, the right-hand man of Chairman Yu, was

waiting for their arrival in front of the office. He performed a
quick nod of his head to Jin-Woo as his greeting and lowered
his waist to his boss.
“My apologies, Chairman. There is a guest already waiting

for you inside.”
“A guest?”
The expression of Chairman Yu Myung-Han stiffened up.
“Didn’t I say to not let anyone in whenever I’m not in the

office?”
Secretary Kim rarely made mistakes, if ever. The reason why

Yu Myung-Han’s expression had stiffened wasn’t because the
emotion of anger but rather something much closer to
surprise, instead.
Secretary Kim formed a troubled expression and blurred the

ends of his sentence.
“Sir, I’ve already spoken to your guest regarding your

wishes, but he was so insistent that I….”
“H-mm.”
Yu Myung-Han only needed to hear that much to

immediately figure out who the guest was. He shook his
head helplessly and pointed towards the Chairman’s office
to Jin-Woo.
“It’s nothing to worry about, so you don’t have to pay any

attention. Please, this way.”
Wheeeiiing…
The door leading to the Chairman’s office slid open.
An older gentleman sitting on the couch, passing the time

by browsing through a newspaper, raised his head to look.
“Hyung-nim, why was it this hard to get in touch with you?

You even cancelled our appointment for today, too.”
The man sporting a smooth and reflective balding forehead

was none other than the younger brother of Yu Myung-Han,
Yu Seok-Ho.
As he got up to greet his older brother with a bright face, Yu

Myung-Han returned a bit of a frown.
“Didn’t I tell you that I have an important matter to deal with

today? I’m currently occupied, so come back later.”
“What do you mean? Hyung-nim, I know your schedule back

to front, so what important matter could you be…..??”
Yu Seok-Ho’s words came to a stop once he met Jin-Woo’s

gaze.
“Uh? Uh, uh???”
Didn’t this young man’s mug look familiar, somehow?
Other people would’ve recalled newspapers or images from

the TV news broadcasts, but the first thing Yu Seok-Ho
recalled was the SNS profile of his daughter, Yu Soo-Hyun,
instead. He remembered seeing a photo of two young people
looking quite comfy with each other.
‘Is this really Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??’
In order to confirm the truth, he turned the newspaper in his

hands to the front page. He kept blinking his eyes as he
compared the front page photo and that of Jin-Woo’s actual
face.
This situation was weird enough to fluster Jin-Woo

somewhat, but for some reason, he didn’t find this unfamiliar
half-bald uncle detestable at all.
‘Is it because his eyes resemble Yu Jin-Ho’s by a lot?’
Could a much older and balding Yu Jin-Ho look like this guy
in the future?
Chairman Yu Seok Ho didn’t know that he had instantly

become the aged Yu Jin-Ho in Jin-Woo’s mind. He didn’t even
mind the sharpened glare his older brother was giving him
and extended his hand out with a bright smile on his face.
“Aigoo! Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
“Oh, hello.”
Jin-Woo unwittingly grasped the offered hand and shook it.
Yu Seok-Ho energetically shook hands as if he was greeting

someone he met again after going through many years of
hardship. He then introduced himself.
“I’m sure you have heard a lot about me, but well, I’m Yu
Seok-Ho from Yu-il Pharmaceuticals.”
“….??”
And just where would Jin-Woo have heard a lot about this
uncle now?
Still, it wasn’t cool to shoot down someone greeting you so

happily like this, so Jin-Woo said something suitable as his
reply.
“Ah, yes. Hello. Nice to meet you.”
Yu Myung-Han was worriedly watching on from the side, but

he was now forming a surprised expression, instead.
Meanwhile, Yu Seok-Ho’s back straightened up in pride as if
to show off a little, and he opened his chest up a bit more.
‘See this? Hyung-nim, my little girl’s standards for men are

on this level.’
Yu Seok-Ho had been feeling a slight case of an inferiority

complex over the fact that Yu Myung-Han’s daughter
possessed a genius-level talent in music. But now, he
thought he could definitely regain his self-esteem with this
event.
Because, well, there wouldn’t be that many men as amazing

as this youth in the whole of South Korea, after all.
‘….Seok-Ho’s connections run pretty deep, I see.’
Yu Myung-Han was planning to raise his voice at his little

brother once Jin-Woo had left, but now, after seeing that
these two seemed to have ‘heard’ of each other, his anger
had rapidly melted away and disappeared completely.
It seemed that the talk could go down favourably because of

this.
“Oh, my goodness. Where are my manners at?”
Yu Seok-Ho finally released Jin-Woo’s hand.
“Right, you said that you two have something to discuss,

didn’t you? Looks like this is where I make my exit, so
please, don’t mind me.”
He smiled in satisfaction and turned around to leave the

office, but stopped next to Jin-Woo.
“Ah, and by the way, Seong Hunter-nim?”
“Ah, yes?”
“Please, do stop by at my home if you have some time in the

near future. I shall eagerly await for you, if it’s you paying us
a visit!”
“…..??”
Stop by if he had time?
He’d eagerly await??
“Huhuhuhuht!”
The good-natured uncle said some mysterious things and

left the office like a refreshing breeze passing by.
Even though his loud voice and bright expression ensured

that he didn’t come across as unlikeable, that uncle still
came across as a weird quandary to Jin-Woo.
He stood there tilting his head a bit, and Chairman Yu

Myung-Han cautiously asked him.
“Your relationship with my younger brother is….?”

Since the uncle in question was no longer around, was there
a reason to mind his feelings anymore?
Jin-Woo’s answer was rather straightforward.
“It’s my first time meeting him today.”
His reply caused Yu Myung-Han’s expression to harden

instantly.
‘Yu Seok-Ho, you fool….’
Just as he suspected it. Unfortunately, there was an

important guest present here. As befitting the nickname of
‘Pokerface’, Yu Myung-Han immediately masked his
emotions and suggested that they take a seat.
“Please, have a seat.”
Yu Myung-Han settled down on the opposite side to Jin-Woo.

Secretary Kim entered the office with excellent timing and
asked the Chairman.
“Sir, would you like some tea?”
“I’m fine, so please ask Hunter-nim.”
“I’m also fine, thank you.”
Yu Myung-Han addressed Kim with a grave tone of voice.
“I wish to speak privately with Hunter-nim here, so can you

leave us alone for a while?”
Secretary Kim exited from the office and stood before the
door to guard it. He had received the orders to do so earlier
on.
From here onwards, no one could enter the office, even if it

was the President of the nation coming for a visit. That was
how heavy the weight of the matter today was.
“…”
“…”
Just like how it was back in the elevator, another bout of

silence flowed between Jin-Woo and Yu Myung-Han.
However, there was a certain difference in the weight of the
silence this time.
Yu Myung-Han needed some moment to compose himself.

This wasn’t going to be a carefree conversation to catch up
on old times or some such.
That was why Chairman Yu Myung-Han could only open his

mouth after such a long time had passed by. Enough that
one might start to get slightly bored by it, even.
“Seong Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo had been patiently waiting until then and replied

calmly as well.
“Yes?”
Yu Myung-Han pulled out a cheque from his inner pocket,

issued under his name by a bank that often had dealings
with Yujin Construction.
However, this cheque was somewhat different from a normal
one.
Where there should have been numerical letters denoting

the value of money represented by this slip of paper, there
were none to be found.
“Here.”
He pushed such a cheque forward.
Jin-Woo looked at this blank cheque for a little while before

raising his head back up again.
Yu Myung-Han continued on with some difficulty.
“I’m not some arrogant fool who thinks he can buy anything
with money. Especially even more so, when I’m dealing with
a rank S Hunter such as yourself.”
His mouth was drying up even further.
Compared to when he buried his father and inherited the

corporation, back when he was about to give his first speech
in front of tens of thousands of his employees, even when he
was surrounded by hundreds of reporters and had to suffer
from ignoble insults to his name – this moment made him
tremble more than any of those times in the past.
But, it was obvious why. The importance of this matter

greatly outstripped those moments in his past, after all.
Because, his desire to live, to see the future of the company

he raised up by sacrificing his entire youth, and then, and
then, the greed of a father wanting to see the growth of his
offsprings for just a little bit longer – all of those were
hanging in the balance right now.
“That is why… I’d greatly appreciate it if you consider this as
nothing more than a small gesture of my sincerity.”
Chairman Yu’s eyes were burning in a determined light.
Jin-Woo could now guess the reason for him choosing this
venue to hold this conversation. The things to be discussed
from now on could not be leaked outside of these walls, that
was why.
‘This isn’t about me joining his Guild or something like that.’
That was why the Chairman had chosen his own territory
that he could control 100% per cent unless some kind of a
natural disaster was to befall them.
Jin-Woo had always been quick on the uptake.
That was why he simply asked this question.
“Chairman. Just what is it that you wish to buy from me?”

Chapter 168
Yu Myung-Han spoke frankly about his current situation.
“Actually, I also suffer from the exact same illness as your

mother, Hunter-nim.”
That completely unexpected reply took Jin-Woo by surprise

and he froze up momentarily.
“….Does Jin-Ho know?”
Yu Myung-Han shook his head.
“Aside from my personal physician, only three others know

of my condition. Myself, my wife, and my secretary.”
“And now, it’s four.”
“Indeed.”
Only now did he understand why Chairman Yu didn’t bother

to go through Yu Jin-Ho and instead contacted him secretly
like this. Yu Myung-Han wanted to hide his own illness from
the rest of his family.
‘But then again – his shoulders are carrying the fate of

several tens of thousands of employees, aren’t they….’
If the rumour of the days that Chairman Yu could freely
move about being numbered got out, then it didn’t take a
genius to see what might happen to Yujin Construction as
well as its subsidiaries in the near future.
The reason for hiding the status of his illness even from his
family and keeping a tight leash on the information –
Chairman Yu simply carried far too much weight on his
shoulders to accept his reality as it was.
Even then…
‘He revealed this secret to me.’
It was probably because he had figured out that he needed

to take the risk this time.
Yu Myung-Han was a businessman. Not only that, he was

someone whose vocabulary didn’t include the word ‘failure’.
He was, simply put, a general undefeated in all of his battles
so far.
Such a man would not jump into anything while carrying

significant risk if there was nothing to gain from it.
Jin-Woo could pretty much guess what Chairman Yu was

about to say.
Sure enough – the older man spoke up with a determined

expression.
“I have been scouring the world for a cure, a method, to rid

myself of this illness for a while. In the process, I was able to
discover that a single patient has gained her freedom from
this dastardly illness.”
As Jin-Woo expected, the conversation was heading down
the path he thought it might.
“I don’t think it a coincidence that the sole patient

recovering from the illness happens to be your mother,
Seong Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo had left many in sheer shock and astonishment with

his never-before-seen mysterious abilities. Could he have
somehow cured his mother’s illness with his strange but
wonderful abilities?
Chairman Yu had used various avenues to investigate Jin-

Woo, which meant that him arriving at such a deduction
wasn’t so far-fetched at all.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo didn’t deny nor agree with the claim and quietly
stared at Chairman Yu. The latter swallowed his saliva.
‘I cannot afford to make a mistake here.’
If the talk so far was nothing more than a practice match, an

appetizer, then the real game was about to kick off now. This
was the most important moment.
Yu Myung-Han let out a deep but short breath and spoke up

with some conviction.
“What I’d like to earn from you is the truth, Hunter-nim.”
He then pushed the cheque forward a little bit more with his
hand.
“And as your compensation, this is just merely a small part

of what I’m willing to provide you with, Seong Hunter-nim.”
Not everything, but merely a part, he said.
Meaning, he was prepared to hand over something else

besides money if that’s what Jin-Woo wanted.
“If you help me out on this matter, Hunter-nim, I shall never

forget this favour for the rest of my life.”
The tiger of the financial world lowered his head and asked
for help. If those people who knew Chairman Yu saw this
spectacle, they would have cried out in sheer shock just
then.
However, perhaps surprisingly, Jin-Woo remained calm even

though he was on the receiving end of this plea. His
collected gaze quietly studied Chairman Yu.
‘Doesn’t seem like he’s lying to me.’
The older man’s raised heart rate, his quickened breathing,

and the desperately pleading expression hidden beneath
the facade of unflappable calm told Jin-Woo everything he
needed to know.
Chairman Yu was being truthful here.
However, just because someone earnestly wished to get his

hands on something, that didn’t mean he’d be successful
every single time. After a short deliberation later, Jin-Woo
finally opened his tightly-shut mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
That one short sentence caused Yu Myung-Han’s eyes to

tremble quite powerfully.
“It is unfortunate, but that’s not something I can help you
with.”
“I-in that… case.”
As his hopes riding on this talk had been far too great,
Chairman Yu couldn’t easily accept his defeat here.
“…How did… your mother become cured, Seong Hunter-

nim?”
“Chairman.”
Jin-Woo’s expression became rather serious.
The surrounding air began to grow chilly all of a sudden.

That was enough to remind Chairman Yu just what kind of a
person he was dealing with right now.
Jin-Woo continued on.
“Hypothetically speaking, if I knew how the illness had been

cured and I wished to get rich from that, why would I have
kept my mouth shut until now?”
A handful of possible answers fleeted in and out of Chairman

Yu’s mind. Was it because Jin-Woo was scared of becoming a
target of someone influential? But, that couldn’t be.
Chairman Yu immediately shook his head.
Jin-Woo was the currently-active rank S Hunter. Not only

that, he was an especially powerful one, too. Just who would
dare to think of him as a target, then?
Did this mean he wanted something else besides money?

Unknown to himself, Chairman Yu’s own head moved from
side to side once more. The current Hunter Seong was
capable enough to get all the fame and recognition one
could desire, if that was what he wanted. But then, he hadn’t
done that, either.
‘….Ah.’
Chairman Yu belatedly realised what his mistake was this

time ’round.
One of the basics in negotiation was finding out what the

other party wanted in advance. You’d bring in something the
other side wanted and in turn, you got what you wanted
from them. That was how a negotiation worked.
However, Chairman Yu didn’t know what Jin-Woo wanted.

Not even one thing. It was only obvious that the negotiation
would fail like this.
‘So, it must be one of the two possibilities.’
Either Jin-Woo really didn’t know what cured his mother, or

Yu Myung-Han simply didn’t have what he wanted. Whatever
the case may have been, it was still a despairing result for
Chairman Yu either way.
“….I see.”
Chairman Yu no longer clung onto Jin-Woo.
“Well, in that case.”
The older man saw that Jin-Woo was getting up to leave, so

he also got up in haste and summoned Secretary Kim. The
latter guarding the door quickly entered the office.
“Chair…”
The moment he took his first step inside, he immediately

read the frozen atmosphere flowing between Jin-Woo and
Chairman Yu. This meeting was the final ray of hope for his
boss so even Kim’s complexion darkened rather quickly.
“Sir, have you called for me?”
Chairman Yu powerlessly nodded his head.
“Hunter-nim wishes to return. Please take him back to his

residence.”
“No, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Jin-Woo tactfully declined the offer, and after leaving short

goodbyes to both Yu Myung-Han and Secretary Kim, he
climbed aboard the elevator all alone.
Weeeiing…
The lift moved at a frightening pace from the penthouse

floor right down to the lobby.
He hadn’t noticed it while riding it with someone else, but

now that he was alone, he could tell for sure – this elevator
was simply far too large and wide for only one person to ride
in.
Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh,
“Fuu….”
He didn’t feel so well after rejecting the request. Wasn’t that

man the father of someone he treated like a little brother?
He could’ve extended his helping hand while pretending to
be defeated by his emotions.
However….
‘I don’t know him.’
He didn’t know just what kind of a man Chairman Yu Myung-

Han was. He didn’t know whether he was really suffering
from the illness, or he was scheming something else.
The ‘Divine Water of Life’ used to cure his mother might

possess an otherworldly healing property, but its supply was
also limited. And that was why he simply had to be more
circumspect with their usages.
The terms put forward by Chairman Yu indeed had been

incredibly tempting, but in the end, they failed to change
Jin-Woo’s mind. This was the end result.
Ting.
The elevator arrived on the ground floor in no time at all and

opened its doors. Jin-Woo pulled his hood up and got out of
the lift. Unlike when he was accompanied by Chairman Yu,
no one seemed to recognise him now.
Even those giving him cursory glances simply carried the

looks of ‘Who could he be that he’s using the executives-
only elevator?’
Jin-Woo paid them no mind and walked over to the exit. One
of the waiting employees tasked with guiding people
spotted Jin-Woo’s approach and opened the door for him to
pass through.
Jin-Woo continued on and crossed the lobby, but then, his

steps came to a halt after he heard a voice coming from
somewhere.
[This is the latest update coming from Japan.]
Jin-Woo’s head shifted in the direction of that sound. A giant

TV in the lobby that had been switched off earlier was now
showing the real-time footage of the situation in Japan.
It was the breaking news regarding the dungeon break and

the massive calamity spreading at an alarming rate.
Jin-Woo walked to the front of the TV.
The sight of the ruined city captured from the TV station’s

helicopter was truly gut-wrenching.
The Giant monsters were demolishing the buildings. Those

unfortunate citizens failing to evacuate in time were
captured and immediately thrown into the mouths of these
Giants. What little remained of armed forces poured out all
their firepower but that proved to be a useless endeavour.
It was still impossible to kill monsters without the powers of

Hunters, after all.
Although it was impossible to accurately calculate the death

toll, the rough estimate had come out to well over a million.
In a word, it was an unspeakable tragedy.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened. This would be his first time

seeing the current status with his own eyes. But then, that
made sense.
It was only yesterday that, after emerging from the dual

dungeon, he asked Woo Jin-Cheol to take care of the
aftermath and went back home to crash into a deep, deep
slumber.
He half-expected the worst, but the situation in Japan was
far graver than his initial expectations. This whole thing
reminded him of the nightmare unfolding on Jeju Island four
years ago.
Maybe one could claim that it was a silver lining among the
storm of misfortunes. The dungeon break back then
occurred on an island and the uniqueness of landscape
meant that Korea was spared of the situation possibly
becoming even worse than before.
However, it was a different story for Japan.
It was far too large to simply be called an island. A whole

country was facing total destruction at this rate.
Jin-Woo’s heart quickened as he watched those Giants.
He was feeling rather displeased right now. When he

thought about how such weaklings were stepping on
humans like that, a powerful sense of disgust welled up from
deep inside of him.
But then….
‘Wait a sec….’
Jin-Woo quickly broke out of his reverie.
What did he mean, such weaklings?
He had never fought Giant-type monsters before. And he

couldn’t sense its magic energy through a TV screen. So,
why did he subconsciously think of the word ‘weakling’
almost right away when he saw a Giant monster?
Was this coming from his self-confidence?
Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that, before shaking it
altogether.
‘Huh. Because my head’s so messy right now, I’m even

beginning to think up some weird stuff, too.’
He turned around to leave.
He managed to slip out of the cordon of people watching the

broadcast with worried expressions, and quietly left the
building.
***
The second day of the dungeon break.
The attention of the entire world was focused on Japan. What

was their plan of action against the dungeon break? Did
Japan have any methods left to employ, anyway? If not,
would America really step up to help them?
And then…
Was there a possibility that the Giants, having finished

laying waste to Japan, would cross the ocean and start
causing destruction in other countries, too?
Worried gazes and ones filled with concern descended upon

Japan as it continued to crumble.
Of course, those nations that held an antagonistic

relationship with Japan inwardly thought of different matters
altogether, but outwardly at least, they sent over some
token words of sympathy.
Unfortunately, what the Japanese needed weren’t some
words of comfort. No, they needed actual, physical help.
They needed comprehensive power to rescue Japan from the

monsters. Indeed, they needed the power capable of
‘saving’ them.
As the announcement from the Americans was nowhere to

be heard, the grim news of one-tenth of Japan already being
destroyed became public. The plight of Japanese refugees
filling up the highways continued to travel in the airwaves.
They all abandoned their homes in order to survive and
travelled to the east and west.
However, just as it was the case with every nation on Earth,

the landmass of Japan wasn’t infinite, to begin with. In the
end, these people would eventually be pushed to a corner.
The prophesied end was drawing near for them.
And the world began asking more questions as it watched

this pitiable sight unfold.
– What is South Korea doing?
– Why isn’t South Korea helping Japan?
– Do they not know what owing someone means?
The world remembered seeing the Jeju Island raid that took
place only a few weeks ago.
Japan had lost over half of their participating rank S Hunters

for the sake of the Koreans. So, the world was asking, why
were the Koreans only watching on the crisis unfolding in
their neighbouring country and not doing anything to help?
The scale of destruction and the death toll continued to be
revised hourly. People grew outraged and grieved for the
losses.
As the feelings of sympathy grew larger and larger for the

Japanese, the criticisms towards Korea grew harsher and
harsher in turn.
– Make a move already, South Korea!
– Do they not know of the concept of loyalty?
– Have the Koreans forgotten about Jeju Island?
The mass media of the world was boiling over.
And before long, another question rose up – the one about

why Japan hadn’t requested South Korea with the
subjugation of the monsters.
And so, as the fourth day dawned on this tragedy….
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui, having decided that

now was the right time, stepped in front of the crowd of
reporters.
Noisy, noisy….
Goh Gun-Hui swept his gaze over the tightly-packed wall of

reporters as well as the cameras pointing at him and quietly
opened his mouth to speak.
“I express my condolences at the tragedy unfolding in Japan.

And also, I’d like to reveal the position of South Korea’s own
Hunter’s Association.”
And also….
A little earlier in the day, the American Hunter Bureau also
released a statement, as well.
Chapter 169
In the venue for the press conference held by the American

Hunter Bureau.
The United States of America had opened her mouth to

make her statement.
“We’re currently gathering Hunters to one location.”
Was America finally revealing her hand in order to save

Japan?
Reporters had all rushed to attend this press conference

after the Hunter Bureau announced that they would clarify
their position. They all cried out in elation from this
announcement as if this matter concerned them personally.
No one alive would wish for tens of millions, no, hundreds of

millions of people to die a gruesome death. That was why
these reporters were so enthusiastic about this
announcement.
As the atmosphere within the press conference venue

heated up to an astounding degree, the spokesperson
ruefully shook his head.
“However, it’s not for Japan’s sake.”
What was that?

The gathered reporters began exchanging glances as
hushed murmurs grew louder. It seemed that no one present
here had received any prior warning about this as they were
all cautiously looking at each other’s reactions right now.
The spokesperson pointed to the giant screen behind him.
“….Heok!!”
“What the hell…”
The mouths of the reporters were clamped shut by the

image now shown on that screen.
The chaotic atmosphere cooled down in an instant and it

was replaced by deathly silence instead. And then, as this
weighty silence persisted, shocked gasps could occasionally
be heard in between.
The prepared footage indeed carried that much of an

impact.
“This is the image of the Gate discovered earlier today in

eastern Maryland.”
The size of the Gate was not normal. It was smaller than the
one in Japan, but still, its sheer scale was uncommonly
massive.
The rank of a Gate didn’t always match up to its size. But

then again, a Gate with an enormous size never led to a low-
ranked dungeon, either.
The spokesperson continued on with his explanation.
“According to the measurement taken by our investigative

team, this Gate is also a rank S, exactly like the one that has
appeared in Japan. This nation’s top Hunters will focus all
their efforts in closing this Gate, instead.”
Some reporters covered their faces, some shook their heads

in helplessness, some spat out pained sighs to display the
despair each of them felt in that moment.
An unprecedented event of two rank S Gates being

generated close to one another had taken place.
Of course, the United States of America wasn’t worried in the

slightest. It was now time for the dozens of rank S Hunters
she had reeled in from all over the world to step forward and
easily take care of this Gate.
The problem was with Japan.
‘America doesn’t have the spare manpower to aid Japan.’
When this horrifying piece of news finally made its way over
to Japan, the Japanese people desperately praying for the
Americans’ aid all cried out in despair.
Japan was finished.
The Giant-type monsters were advancing south as it

destroyed everything in their path. People escaping up
north were slowly but surely being forced onto a cliff, as
well.
In this situation, Korea finally broke her silence over the

matter and clarified her position as well.
Goh Gun-Hui stood in front of the reporters and spoke up.
“We will not get involved in Japan’s matters.”
***
A day before the press conference.
Just like any other day, the wide-open office space of the Ah-
Jin Guild was occupied by only two people – Jin-Woo and Yu
Jin-Ho.
The latter’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Hyung-nim? A rank B Gate just became available. Should I

book it?”
“Is it within the Hunters Guild’s jurisdiction?”
“Pardon? Oh, yes it is, hyung-nim.”
“In that case, don’t.”
“Oh…. okay. I got it, hyung-nim.”
Having sacrificed a lot of her elite Hunters, the Hunters

Guild would be going through a seriously hectic time now.
It’d not look good if Jin-Woo’s Guild swooped in to take
advantage of the situation and stole a Gate from under their
noses.
Yu Jin-Ho scratched the side of his head before shifting his

head over to Jin-Woo.
“Hyung-nim? What have you been you looking at so intently

like that?”
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from the computer screen and
leaned his back against the chair.
“Hey, Jin-Ho?”
“Yes, hyung-nim?”
“Should I go over to Japan for a while?”
“Excuse me?”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression hardened.
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten just who was saying those

words. He had seen hyung-nim’s amazing feats closer than
anyone else out there.
However, common sense simply didn’t apply to rank S

Gates. It was impossible to measure, to begin with. Didn’t
that imply such a Gate was beyond the scope of what’s
considered normal?
Just like how there was an unscalable wall even among the
rank S Hunters, no one could tell just what kind of
dangerous monsters would pop out from a Gate that was
impossible to measure.
And that was why Yu Jin-Ho simply couldn’t think of Jin-

Woo’s words of going to Japan as him simply kidding around.
Abruptly, his head shifted over to the computer screen Jin-

Woo was looking at.
‘Ah….’
It was filled with the breaking news regarding Japan.
‘Hyung-nim was worried about them.’
Unlike Yu Jin-Ho, hyung-nim possessed incredible powers. It

was quite obvious that he’d also suffer from the distress that
the responsibility of his power level brought along.
“Hyung-nim, hold up.”

“Mm?”
Jin-Woo only lightly threw that suggestion out but Yu Jin-Ho’s

reactions were rather serious.
Yu Jin-Ho vacated his spot and hurriedly extracted a photo

album from the file cabinet before bringing it over. When he
flipped that thick book open, all sorts of newspaper articles
were clipped onto its pages.
‘What’s this….?’
All of them were articles related to Jin-Woo.
From the incident of the Red Gate – which the media still
didn’t know that Jin-Woo was a part of – to the raid of Jeju
Island; when he solved the issue of the traffic jam; and even
when he took care of the strange, unidentifiable stone
statues alongside the Hunters Guild recently, too.
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded by this spectacle and asked Yu

Jin-Ho.
“You were collecting all of these?”
Yu Jin-Ho’s face was slightly flushed red.
“Okay, fine. But, why are you showing me this all of a

sudden?”
“You know what the common theme among these articles is,
hyung-nim?”
“I wonder….?”
‘….Surely, he’s not trying to say that I’m involved in all
these incidents.’
A short while later, Yu Jin-Ho spoke with a voice softer than

the buzzing of a mosquito.
“It’s that I’m nowhere to be found in all of them, hyung-

nim.”
If it weren’t for Jin-Woo’s high Perception reinforcing his

hearing, he’d have missed that voice.
“What?!”
Jin-Woo looked back, and Yu Jin-Ho raised his drooped head

and stared straight into the former’s eyes.
“Hyung-nim. If you’re planning to go to Japan, please take

me along with you.”
“….??”
Jin-Woo was baffled here.
He expected Yu Jin-Ho to either stop him or cheer him on

when he said he’d be heading over to Japan, but never did
he imagine the kid would say ‘Take me with you!’
However, Yu Jin-Ho was being dead serious.
“Although it is embarrassing to say this out loud, hyung-nim,

you’re my pride. You’re the only thing that I can proudly
boast about to other people, you know.”
“But, you….”
Jin-Woo quickly shut his mouth up.

Yu Jin-Ho looked outwardly as if he had possessed more than
anyone else in the world. According to his own words,
however, all of those were shackles that only managed to
torment him, and to him, they were nothing to be proud
about.
But then, it was Yu Jin-Ho’s own decision to stick around Jin-

Woo, and then to continue developing the Ah-Jin Guild. All
his, and no one else’s.
Jin-Woo could more or less understand where Yu Jin-Ho was

coming from when he said this was his sole source of pride.
“That is why I’d like to be there where you are, hyung-nim.

Please, please take me with you, hyung-nim.”
“You, you haven’t forgotten where I want to go, right?”
Even if Yu Jin-Ho was a naïve, immature kid, he surely would

have heard about what was happening in Japan.
That place was currently a true hell on earth. Demons called

‘Giants’ were judging mankind in the most gruesome
manner imaginable.
Even then, Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head with a determined

expression on his face.
“As long as you’re unhurt, hyung-nim, I’ll be alright as well.

If you get hurt somehow… eiii, I don’t wanna even think
about that.”
Yu Jin-Ho looked back with a strong light of trust burning in

his eyes.
The feeling you’d get from someone trusting you to such an

extent certainly couldn’t be described as bad in any shape
or form.
Jin-Woo felt this strange warmth tickling him in his chest and
he happily ruffled Yu Jin-Ho’s hair. The latter was flustered
but he didn’t withdraw his head.
“H-hyung-nim?!”
“I was only joking, you know? Why would ever I go to Japan

when times are like this?”
Jin-Woo stood up from his spot.
“Hey, that’s enough for today. Let’s just go home. You

worked hard anyway.”
“Uh? You’re going home already, hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo stepped outside the office door while waving his

hands. Yu Jin-Ho bowed his waist deeply to send him off.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, hyung-nim!”
***
Clunk.
Jin-Woo stepped into his house.
A truly mouth-watering savoury scent of stew tickled his

nostrils. He stood on the spot and soaked in the evening’s
smell.
‘This is so good.’
One of the great things about mom being discharged from

the hospital was that now, he had someone to welcome him
back home every day. The dark and quiet home of the past
no longer existed in his life. Not anymore.
“Son, you’re home?”
He heard his mother’s voice coming from the kitchen.
“Yes, Mom.”
He took off his shoes and neatly arranged them before

walking into the kitchen himself. His mother was looking
behind her and he sent her a smile as a greeting.
“I’m home.”
“Will you eat dinner?”
“Yes. What about Jin-Ah, though?”
“She says she’s got no appetite.”
Jin-Woo’s hand suddenly stopped before it finished pulling

out his chair.
“Even now?”
“She couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night. She only fell
asleep not too long ago.”
“…”
Jin-Woo hid his presence and cautiously opened the door to

his sister’s room.
“Mm… Mm…..”
Jin-Ah was rolling around in her bed, struggling to fall into a

deeper slumber. She normally maintained such a bright
appearance, but it seemed that she hadn’t gotten over her
mental trauma yet.
‘Then again…. She had to go through such an experience,

didn’t she.’
His rage towards monsters boiled over whenever he saw how

much his sister was struggling like this.
Why were those things endlessly tormenting humanity?
It was then, Jin-Woo recalled the sight of those silver-clad

winged soldiers pouring out from the Gates in the sky to
sweep away the monsters. The army with its unfathomable
size, burning with clear animosity against the horde of
monsters. If such an army actually existed, then….
‘Are they our allies?’
Wasn’t there an old saying about an enemy of an enemy

being a friend?
Jin-Woo studied his sleeping sister quietly for a little while,

before closing the door behind him.
“Thank you for the meal.”
After finishing his dinner, Jin-Woo headed off to the

Association’s gymnasium to get a little bit of exercise in. It
indeed proved to be really convenient to have a Shadow
Soldier stationed inside the gymnasium.
Sweating a lot was the best cure when one’s head became
clogged full of complicated thoughts. And so, he wanted to
sweat buckets for the first time in a while.
Jin-Woo summoned Beru out.
As he began to lightly loosen his body, the former king of

the ants politely knelt before him and lowered his head.
“Oh, my king…”
Beru was the sole soldier among Jin-Woo’s Shadow Army

that could withstand his attacks, at least for a little while.
But even he flinched grandly after sensing the extent of Jin-
Woo’s change and shuddered where he stood.
“I offer my unreserved congratulations, my king. I sense

from you a far greater amount of power than ever before.”
Beru sensed an electrifying shiver run down his body after

sensing that incredible amount of magic energy oozing out
of the ‘Black Heart’. His head, still lowered to the ground,
was trembling noticeably now.
Jin-Woo didn’t summon his Shadow Soldier out to boast of

his growth, though. He gestured to Beru to stand up.
“….??”
The former ant king tilted his head after picking up Jin-Woo’s
worried eyes, which would be the first time he had sensed
such a thing ever since becoming a part of the Shadow
Army.
Jin-Woo spoke under his breath.
“Attack me with everything you have.”
“Oh, my king. How dare I even…..”
“It’s fine. I just want to shed some sweat for a little while.
And you know no one else besides you can do that.”
“I… I am truly honoured….”
Feeling touched, Beru was about to kneel down again, but

then, Jin-Woo glared at him with a pair of very sharp eyes.
“Hang on a minute. You know, your vocabulary seems to be

increasing every day. You haven’t devoured someone else
somewhere, have you?”
Beru’s shoulders flinched somewhat, but Jin-Woo soon let go

of the matter. He clenched his fists and issued his order
again, instead.
“Remember to hit me with everything you have.”
“If my Sovereign’s wills it, then I shall follow….”
Beru raised his head as his claws lengthened.
“Kiiiieeehhk-!!”
There was no burden on Beru as he knew that his claws

would never touch his Sovereign. Jin-Woo grinned after
seeing that and nodded his head. This was what he wanted,
anyway.
“Kiiieehhk!”
Along with the thunderous roar that shook the interior of the
gymnasium, Beru pounced on his master.
Boom!
Beru slammed down on the floor and was laid out flat on his
back.
“K-kiiieck….”
127 times fought, 127 times defeated.
Indeed, even though he threw everything he had, he failed

to touch even the hair on his master’s body. In the last few
days that Beru didn’t see his king, Jin-Woo had become far
stronger than ever before.
The display of power today only deepened the level of

respect and loyalty Beru held towards his king.
While the former ant king remained sprawled on the floor

unable to move, Jin-Woo settled down next to him. There
were a few strands of sweat on his forehead. But this was as
far as he could take it.
If he moved any harder than this, then this gymnasium

would have been demolished in no time at all.
Jin-Woo remained seated and stared into the far distance.
Beru silently sat back up and knelt down before asking him.
“Oh, my king… Is there a matter that’s troubling you?”
“Troubling me, is it?”
“A portion of our consciousness and the Sovereign’s are

connected as one. The king’s troubles are transmitted as
pain to us, the subjects.”
“…”
To think, he’d get consoled by a Shadow Soldier. Not only

that, from a dude who originally was an insect, too. Jin-Woo
couldn’t help but form a wry smirk.
Now normally, he’d simply chuckle and put the matter to
bed, but this time, things were a little different.
“There’s something I want to do, but I’m not sure how I

should go about doing that.”
The events taking place in Japan were, strictly speaking,

someone else’s troubles.
Who knew what kind of dangers were in hiding and waiting

for him there? Besides, it wasn’t as if he could resolve every
single incident that happened in the world, either.
And not to forget, there was that resolved emotional

baggage between the Korean Hunter’s Association and its
Japanese counterpart to consider, as well.
All these thoughts only served to make the inside of his

head more complicated than ever before.
It was then, Beru suddenly raised his head.
“Oh, my king!”
Jin-Woo looked at Beru with surprised eyes. This was the first
time this guy expressed his thoughts this strongly ever since
becoming a Shadow Soldier.
“Nothing must become a hindrance in the path of my king.”
Beru’s voice filled with conviction made him sound more like
a close aide that stayed by Jin-Woo’s side for a long time
rather than a monster that got turned into a Shadow Solder
recently.
“The one that does what he wants to. That is what it means
to be a king.”
“Hold on. I keep telling you, I’m not a king.”
Indeed, the Class he got coincidentally through the System

just so happened to be the Shadow Sovereign. That was all.
However, Beru strongly denied Jin-Woo’s assertion.
“That is incorrect, my king. My king, you possess the power

to achieve anything you desire.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes shook around heavily.
Ba-thump.
For some reason, his heart began pounding away rather

violently.
“You are, without a doubt, a king.”
‘That stuff about being a king again.’
However….
However, his heart that began racing on its own didn’t want
to calm down that easily at all.
‘Anything I desire, is it…..’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to the distance, but his eyes
were gleaming with a cold light now.
***
Next day.
The United States of America made her announcement, and

the Association President Goh Gun-Hui also clarified the
position of the Korean Association.
“We will not get involved in Japan’s matters.”
Click, click, click, click!!
Camera flashes ceaselessly exploded all around him.
The Association President then proceeded to reveal every

little detail of what the Japanese Hunters were trying to do
back then to these reporters. The proofs he presented only
solidified the inscrutable truth even further.
The CCTV footage of the President of Japanese Association,

Matsumoto Shigeo, brazenly yelling at the top of his lungs at
his Korean counterpart even after he put into motion such a
dastardly scheme left a serious shock to all the reporters
watching on.
And the Japanese reporters, hoping for South Korea to come

to their aid, could only watch the footage with utter
devastation.
Before long, their hands holding the cameras were pointing

down to the floor.
Only a short moment ago the Americans said that they

couldn’t help Japan. In such a situation, the explosive
revelations from the Korean Hunter’s Association were no
different from passing a death sentence to the Japanese
people. Thick, burning tears began falling from the eyes of
the Japanese reporters.
“…..This is everything I wanted to say.”
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui finished saying what

he came to say.
Normally, this would be the time when countless questions
started inundating him, but no reporter present here could
unshackle their mouths from the nasty shock and
astonishment to do so.
The poor atmosphere of the press conference was broadcast

live to the rest of the country through the various TV
cameras. Only then did the viewers watching on realise why
the Koreans had maintained their silence over the crisis
unfolding in Japan.
But then….
“However….”
Goh Gun-Hui looked as if he’d be turning around to leave as

the press conference had come to an end but then, he
continued to speak on.
“This is the decision of the Hunter’s Association, and ours

alone. We won’t stop any individual Hunters from doing
what they wish to do.”
What was he even talking about now?
Noisy, noisy….
Like animals lazily waking up from their winter hibernation,

the reporters still frozen in shock began slowly exchanging
glances with each other again.
“There is one such person. There is one Hunter who wishes

to go to Japan and get rid of the Giant monsters.”
Who could that be?

Who wanted to head to Japan under the current situation all
by himself?
The bottomed-out atmosphere of the press conference

venue suddenly began boiling over. Even the Japanese
reporters shedding tears raised their cameras with their
trembling hands.
‘Please… Please….!’
The lone strand of hope was busy hammering away in their

hearts now.
One of the Korean reporters raised his hand up. The

Association President pointed to this man. Perhaps fearing
that his turn would be snatched away from him, he quickly
asked his question.
“Just who is this Hunter?”
The attention of everyone present in the venue was directed

to Goh Gun-Hui. He took his time for a moment or two,
before pressing his lips as close to the mic as possible.
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Click, click, click, click, click, click!!
That one sentence caused hundreds of cameras to explode

in a wall of blinding flashes.
Chapter 170
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Hunters of the world got to hear the voice of the Association

President, Goh Gun-Hui. Some through the breaking news
coverage, some through being contacted by someone else,
and some through video file sharing sites.
And their reactions were almost identical.
– He wants to go to Japan in such times?
– What is he thinking?
These Hunters also knew.
They knew that it’d be difficult to imagine just how grand

the Japanese government’s financial reward be like if they
managed to put out the urgent fire burning down their
country right now.
However, no sane-minded governments out there would

want to throw their top-ranked Hunters into a crisis of an
unprecedented scale like this one.
The lessons learned from subjugating the monster of the

rank S Gate, ‘Kamish’, the creature that managed to
decrease the number of top Hunters in the world by a great
deal, had made the Hunter communities rather closed and
uncooperative in nature.
So, the current situation was, no one could go even if they
wanted to. But then again, who’d actually want to go even if
they were allowed in the first place?
“It’s just sheer madness.”
Rank S Hunters possessing American citizenship had begun

gathering in the most luxurious hotel in the State of
Maryland by the time news broke from South Korea and
indeed, they all got to hear it.
Most of them had received a boost to their abilities through

the power of ‘Upgrader’, Madam Selner.
It wouldn’t be much of a stretch of one’s imagination to call

this gathering as the world’s greatest armed force.
And, it was precisely a gathering of such individuals that

they could simply laugh off the story of some nameless
Hunter living in a small Asian nation.
“It hasn’t been long since his Re-Awakening, and he’s

already drunk with his own powers.”
“That idiot, maybe he thinks fighting some measly bugs is

the same as fighting against Giant monsters?”
“A Hunter who overestimates his ability will die 100% of the

time. Who knew that the fame he got from killing the ants
would end up shortening his life. How ironic.”
All these people had seen Jin-Woo’s brilliant performance in

Jeju Island.
The power ‘Seong Jin-Woo’ possessed was certainly quite

strong. However, the race of Giants was a whole different
ball game.
Ants pushed forward with their overwhelming advantage in
numbers, and that was why his ability to summon out
countless creatures worked so well against them.
Even if he was physically strong, could he be able to fight

alone against the Giant monsters, each one of them
powerful enough to appear as bosses of the hardest
difficulty dungeons found in the rank A Gates?
Besides, what about the boss-level Giant that used some

truly astonishing agility to snatch up Yuri Orlov? That
movement reminded one of a wild beast, not a humanoid
creature.
Such a huge creature possessing incredible speed and

agility – how could a single Hunter kill a monster like that?
These American Hunters jokingly began making bets.
“I bet my yacht on him getting killed in less than one day.”
“I bet my mansion on two days.”
“Well then, I….”
It was then.
“Will that really happen, I wonder?”
Thomas Andre, quietly dining all by himself in the corner,

lowered his utensils and opened his mouth. He was one of
the five Special Authority-rank Hunters in existence.
Strong Awakened continued to appear after the ‘Kamish’

subjugation operation had ended, but none were able to
exceed the levels of those Hunters who managed to survive
the worst crisis to go down in the history of mankind.
When such a man formed a smirk, everyone else ceased
their useless banter right away.
“I shall bet the Scavenger Guild on him surviving till the

end.”
He leisurely scanned the other Hunters from beneath his

sunglasses and left the restaurant.
“…”
“…..”
Once he left, the uncomfortable silence descended on the

crowd. Eventually, though, one of the Hunters frowned in
dissatisfaction and broke this stifling quietness.
“That man, he just knows how to ruin the atmosphere,

doesn’t he?”
“This ain’t the first time that freak did this, anyway. It’s
better to just forget about him, man.”
“Right. Even if that Korean Hunter is really strong, it’s almost

impossible for him to stop all those rank S Giants alone.”
A Hunter listening quietly to the side chimed in just then.
“I heard that he’s not alone, though? That another Hunter is

going with him?”
It was as they suspected. Even if that Korean was a madman,

surely he’d not think of walking into hell all by himself.
Other Hunters nodded their heads, and one of them threw a
question.
“Which other stupid rank S is following him now?”

“No, I hear it’s not a rank S.”
The three Hunters listening began exchanging strange

glances.
That Korean was going to fight rank S Giants, yet he was

taking along a Hunter who was ranked below S?!
“Is he taking a rank A Healer, then?”
“Nope. A rank D Tanker named Yu Jin-Ho or something.”
As if they had made a prior arrangement, the three Hunters

all forgot what they wanted to say and kept their mouths
shut.
This Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo, he must’ve misplaced

not just one screw, but several of them in his head. Maybe,
these crazies all shared some sort of an understanding?
A single thought brushed past the brains of these three

Hunters that just maybe, it might not be a coincidence that
Thomas Andre happened to support Seong Jin-Woo’s
endeavour.
***
Incheon International Airport.
“Ah, hold on. We’re passing through!”
Yu Jin-Ho parted the sea of people blocking his path and

walked forward in an imposing manner.
A huge pair of sunglasses hid his face, and both of his hands
were carrying two suitcases packed full of their gear.
The determination oozing out of his expression was serious
enough to shame the top movie star about to make his
grand appearance in the climactic battle scene.
“We’re passing through-!!”
Yu Jin-Ho carved out a path, and Jin-Woo wordlessly followed

behind.
Click, click, click, click, click!!
Reporters continued to click away with their cameras, afraid

that they might miss even a second of Jin-Woo. Quite unlike
Yu Jin-Ho, who was quite clearly excited about the trip, he
remained calm and collected, though.
Japan had sent a private plane once they heard the news of
Jin-Woo wanting to go there. And of course, all entry
procedures had been wavered away, as well.
Just before he climbed aboard the plane, Jin-Woo discovered

a couple of familiar faces coming to see him off. They
belonged to the Association President Goh Gun-Hui as well
as Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol.
They exchanged simple nods as their greeting and huddled

together to converse among themselves. It was rather
chaotic inside the airport, but all three of them were top
Hunters with highly-attuned senses. So, there was no need
for them to raise their voices high.
Goh Gun-Hui was first to speak, his expression still one of

rueful unwillingness.
“Even now, I wish I could change your mind.”

Jin-Woo could be seen as the strongest fighting force out of
all the Hunters that South Korea currently possessed. Rather
obviously, Goh Gun-Hui didn’t want to let such an asset
travel somewhere else.
Put bluntly, who could tell what might happen in South

Korea during his absence? Unfortunately, Jin-Woo had made
up his mind already.
“I’m sorry. I want to go there.”
He wanted to kill those Giants and raise his level, as well as

to increase the number of his Shadow Soldiers.
This was the reason why he demanded all rights to these

monsters be handed over to him, and the Japanese
government welcomed that very obvious demand with wide
open arms.
Goh Gun-Hui let a genial chuckle escape from his mouth.
“Is it because of the monsters over there?”
Jin-Woo grinned as well.
“I simply wish to fight against the monsters.”
“If that’s what you wish for, then there’s nothing we can do.”
Goh Gun-Hui extended his hand out and Jin-Woo firmly

shook that hand. As their clenched hands rose and fell, the
former bade his earnest goodbye.
“I pray that you’ll come back to us safe and sound.”
Click, click, click, click, click!!

Hundreds of camera lenses captured the sight of these two
men shaking their hands in its full glory.
***
The news of Jin-Woo coming over became the sole ray of

hope in the storm of darkness for the Japanese survivors.
Those few still-remaining TV stations continued to play the
footage related to Jin-Woo over and over again.
People watched his feats and continued to hold on to this

renewed thread of hope.
They all felt this electrifying jolt course through their bodies
whenever the rank S ant monsters were swept away in their
TV screens. Many Japanese who didn’t show much interest
during the Korea-Japan united raid operation now clung
desperately to the rebroadcast of that raid.
And as the news that the Giants’ relentless march southward

had picked up its pace entered their ears, their desperation
also grew heavier and heavier as well.
“They said that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has arrived in Japan!”
A young boy shouted out as he listened to a radio. The

complexions of people around him brightened in an instant.
However, not everyone had discovered the ray of hope,

unfortunately.
Those trapped in locations where electricity and gas supply

had been cut off from the attacks of the Giants, they weren’t
able to hear about the arrival of the timely help.
Instead, their sole ray of hope remained with the arrival of

the rescue party.
“The JSDF is here!”
Two soldiers carrying pale faces stepped into a small rural

nursing hospital run by an old couple.
The aged doctor and his wife let out a sigh of relief after
seeing the young soldiers, as they had been praying for the
rescue parties to come by.
Unfortunately for them, the situation was not as good as

they have been hoping for.
The soldiers shook their heads helplessly.
“We simply don’t have the space to carry every patient you
have. At a push, we can only accommodate three, four
more.”
The old lady addressed the soldiers.
“But, that can’t be…. We have over ten patients who suffer
from mobility issues.”
The old doctor nodded his head in agreement. Regardless,

the young soldiers from the JSDF stomped their feet in
anxiety.
“Now isn’t the time to worry about those people who might
die any second, anyway! Giants are heading this way as we
speak!”
The young JSDF soldier, his face caked with sweat, got angry
and shouted out.
The residents of the surrounding area had been evacuated

already. This was the sole place where the scent of humans
could be found, so it was only a matter of time before a
Giant would show up here.
The old doctor looked down at the floor for a moment or two,
before raising his head up.
“I can’t abandon my patients. My wife and I have promised

that we’ll stay by the sides of our patients until the end.”
The doctor’s voice carried his strong determination. The two

young soldiers glared angrily at the doctor, but in the end,
had no choice but to pick up their walkie-talkies.
“….Civilians have refused to be evacuated. We are

withdrawing from this location.”
They deliberately spoke loudly as if to let others hear them,

and urgently left the building once they finished their
communication. Soon, the sound of the car’s ignition coming
to life could be heard. The old couple sighed at length and
quietly consoled each other.
But then, one of the soldiers they thought had left suddenly
rushed back inside. He was carrying a cocked rifle to boot,
as well.
“W-what are you doing?”
The old couple was taken greatly by surprise and held onto
each other. The soldier yelled out loudly, veins popping up
on his throat.
“If you stay here, Giants will rip you to death! Rather than
dying such gruesome deaths, it’s better to just die by my
hand!”
The muzzle was pointed at the old doctor before shifting
over to his wife next. The old couple flinched every time that
happened.
“This is your final warning. Will you come with us? Or will
you die by my hand?”
The young soldier stopped talking there and took aim with
his gun.
The old couple didn’t say anything for a long while. How
could they not know that the young man in front of their
eyes wanted to take them with him?
However, the old couple couldn’t reply that easily. Because,

doing that would be akin to turning his back on his belief,
the one that led him to serve his community and its people
for his entire life.
“…”
“…”
Moments that felt like an eternity passed them by.
The young soldier’s face was already a mess of dried sweat,

but then, another thick strand of fresh sweat rolled down his
forehead. It travelled along his brow and entered his eye,
blurring his vision and stinging him somewhat in the
process.
He furrowed his brows just then. Then, this happened.
Growl.
The young soldier’s stomach let the world know of his

hunger. However, he didn’t pay any attention to that and
maintained his murderous gaze. But then….
“Excuse me, young man.”
The young soldier was taken greatly by surprise by the

sudden voice coming from his side and quickly took aim at
the sickbed.
“W-what do you want?”
In that darkened corner of the hospital ward, a grandmother

was sitting on one of the sickbeds. She quietly pushed
forward a tray. There was a couple of ‘onigiri’ on it.
The grandma offered them with a gentle smile.
“If you’re hungry, eat these. I just can’t work up an appetite

nowadays.”
“…”
Only then did the young soldier lower his rifle.
“Come. Hurry.”
As he received the onigiri, the young soldier’s hands

trembled. At that moment, he remembered the reason why
he decided to put this uniform on in the first place.
Didn’t he choose to become a soldier so he could protect

and fight for these kind-hearted citizens? Yet, to think, he
was about to ignore them and run away just because some
monsters were coming to attack this place.
He became so deeply ashamed of his powerlessness.
Tears he couldn’t understand began streaming down his

face.
He quietly picked up his walkie-talkie and sent his comrade
away. The old doctor was taken by surprise and hurriedly
grasped the young soldier’s shoulder.
“What are you planning to do, young man?”
“I’ll stay behind with you.”
The young soldier of the JSDF slung the rifle over his
shoulder.
“I am a soldier, sir. I can’t run away by myself knowing that

there are citizens remaining here.”
He then somehow managed to chew and swallow down the

onigiri, even though his throat was currently choked up with
emotion. He deeply bowed towards the grandmother.
“Thank you for the meal. It was really delicious, ma’am.”
It was then.
Thud, thud, thud!!
The ground began quaking all on their own.
The young soldier formed a resolute expression as he ran out

of the nursing hospital. He found a single Giant monster
approaching this location at a frightening speed. It was
crawling on all fours like an actual wild beast.
‘Isn’t that….??’
As the young soldier took aim, his sights spotted something

off.
The Giant was currently biting on his comrade that had set
off a little earlier. The eyes of the young soldier reddened in
an instant.
“Uwaaaahhh-!!”
The soldier fired his rifle at the approaching Giant.
Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!!
Unfortunately, the weapons of modern civilisation couldn’t

harm these monsters. The Giant easily brushed off the hail
of bullets and arrived before the young soldier in the blink of
an eye.
Click, click…
The ammo-less rifle could only spit out empty coughs and
nothing else. More tears formed in the eyes of the young
soldier.
‘Oh, dear god, please….’
The Giant monster raised its head to swallow the human it

was gnawing on, before leaping towards the young soldier.
It was right at that moment.
A massive Naga slammed into the side of the Giant monster

without warning.
Chapter 171
The Giant monster was flung away and violently rolled on

the ground, before bouncing back up again with a spring-
like movement that didn’t really suit its large frame.
“Gururuk.”
The Giant monster didn’t immediately counterattack,

instead opting to bare its fangs as it remained prone on the
ground. Meanwhile, the giant Naga responsible for flinging it
away stood before the growling monster.
It was none other than ‘Jima’, previously the boss-level

monster of the Naga species that were inducted into the
Shadow Army not too long ago.
Jima reached his right hand out next to him. When he did, a
black spear slowly rose up from the shadow on the ground.
Grab!
Jima powerfully grasped the spear and aimed the weapon at

his front. One could sense his unbreakable will to not let
anything pass by him.
“Uh….? Uh…..??”
The young soldier from the JSDF couldn’t quite figure out
whether the spectacle unfolding before his eyes was a
dream or reality.
To think, a monster was protecting him from another
monster right now.
He thought he’d end up inside the Giant monster’s mouth

for sure. But, having taken a look at the wide, imposing back
of the other monster, he felt several powerful emotions
welling up from deep within his heart.
“Just what is going on here…”
Could they survive?
Could they survive against the Giant monster?
Not just the young soldier, but the old couple and the
patients, too?
The soldier’s thoughts reached this point, and suddenly, all

the built-up tension left him and tears rushed up to his eyes.
“Use this.”
Someone pushed forward a colourful handkerchief towards

the young soldier. He turned his head to the side to take a
look.
A youth who looked to be way younger than the soldier

pointed at the handkerchief with his chin and nodded his
head afterwards.
Since this youth didn’t speak in Japanese, the soldier didn’t

understand him, but it wasn’t all that hard to figure out what
he wanted to say in the first place.
‘Is he Korean?’
The young soldier wiped the streaming tears away with the
offered handkerchief and asked his questions.
“By the way…. just who are you? Wait, why are you even
here?”
The Korean youth silently shook his head before raising his
thumb up high.
“Good.”
“Excuse me?”
“Very Good.”
“T-thank…. you, I guess?”
While the young soldier dazedly expressed his gratitude,

another man who seemed to be the comrade of this Korean
youth appeared from behind him.
Even though this soldier didn’t know a whole lot about

Hunters, he saw all the blood splatters on this man’s
clothing and realised that he was now looking at a powerful
being who existed on another realm altogether from
everyone else.
“This might get dangerous.”
Jin-Woo had taken a look inside the rural clinic before

showing up here, and he told Yu Jin-Ho while pointing behind
him.
“Looks like we’ll have change locations. We’re too close.”
Yu Jin-Ho had witnessed the battle against the Giants a few

times by now so he figured out what Jin-Woo was saying
almost immediately.
“I’ll be on standby over here, hyung-nim.”

“Right.”
Jin-Woo looked at the young soldier next and saw his scared
eyes.
He walked past the soldier and lightly patted the scared,

tearful Japanese man on the shoulder. The gesture meant to
say that the soldier had done excellent work.
What he did, standing off against a monster all by himself

with just a single rifle, was not something any regular person
could even try to imitate.
Jin-Woo had entered many dungeons as a rank E himself so

he knew better than anyone just how courageous this
soldier had been.
The young JSDF soldier looked at the back of Jin-Woo

walking by and let out a gasp of admiration.
“Ah.”
That weightiness brushing past his shoulder, and that

warmth from his hand. Just a single touch, and the terror he
felt forcing him to get ready for his demise completely
washed away.
A powerful sense of relief rushed out from the deepest part

of his heart.
It was then, the young soldier recalled the story of two

Koreans roaming around in his country while subjugating the
Giants.
He recalled the name of one of the two. The name of the

Hunter who also subjugated rank S monsters almost all by
himself in South Korea, was…..
‘Seong Jin-Woo…. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….’
It had to be. That man had to be him.
Ba-dump!
The soldier’s heart began pounding hard after running into a

person he only heard about in passing. He quickly
questioned the Korean youth still standing next to him.
“Is he that person? The rank S Hunter from South Korea??”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head and provided his answer.
“Good.”
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo walked over to where the two monsters

were in a violent melee. His forehead was creasing up.
“Kiiaaaahhk-!!”
The Giant dug deep into Jima’s front in the blink of an eye
and proceeded to powerfully rip into the Naga’s shoulder.
He used to be a boss-level monster of a rank A dungeon.

Even if his attention had been diverted a bit in order to
protect the humans behind him, he should still be a much
more powerful being than other, regular Shadow Soldiers.
To think, he was being suppressed by a regular monster that

wasn’t even on the same ‘boss-level’ as he used to be. This
situation easily demonstrated how strong these Giant-type
monsters were.
Besides all that, Jin-Woo never enjoyed the sight of his

soldiers getting beaten down like this at all. His expression
hardened as he bent his knees. An unbelievable amount of
strength filled up his thighs and shins.
Crack, crack….
The asphalt below that was supporting his legs began

splitting as cracks ran underneath his feet.
Ka-boom!
Jin-Woo exploded up from the ground and shot right towards

the Giant’s face in an instant. In that short moment, the
monster’s darting eyes discovered him flying straight at it.
A glint of understanding filled the flying human’s eyes.
‘As I thought, these guys aren’t your average monsters at

all.’
Jin-Woo’s fist slammed into the forehead of the Giant.

However, the damage dealt was less than he had expected.
The monster pulled its head back just before the hit landed
to minimise the impact as much as it could, that was why.
The monster possessed a massive frame, as well as

surprisingly agile movements. From the perspectives of the
Hunters who had to face off against these b*stards, those
two aspects alone would have been enough to give them a
sense of helplessness.
The thing was, though, that only applied to regular Hunters.
Jin-Woo immediately summoned a ‘Demon King’s

Shortsword’ in the air. And then, he extended his other free
hand not holding anything towards the Giant’s face.
An invisible hand yanked at the Giant’s face with irresistible

force. The distance between Jin-Woo and the monster rapidly
closed up.
“Kureuk??”
The monster didn’t expect the airborne opponent to

immediately start attacking again, and it began thrashing
about in a panicked frenzy, but in the end, it was all for
naught.
Jin-Woo flew in front of the Giant’s nose in an instant and

activated his skill.
“Violent Slash.”
Dududududududu!!
Rapid-fire attacks so fast that they left behind a series of

afterimages turned the Giant’s face into a complete mess.
“Kuwaaaak!!”
Boom!!
The monster covered its face and rolled around on the

ground. It lost its eyesight from that attack and wildly
thrashed about in unbridled pain.
Tap.
After lightly landing back on the ground, Jin-Woo looked on

and sensed that this hunt was drawing to a close.
‘It’s done.’
But then, the Giant sensed Jin-Woo’s approach; its shoulders

flinched greatly before it began running away in haste,
without even bothering to look behind it.
‘It can also sense the presence of others?’
The more Jin-Woo fought these things, the more surprised he

got.
He was speaking from his observations, and it said that

these Giant-type monsters were like specialised weapon
systems that happened to possess large biological bodies.
The Giant quickly distanced itself. Of course, he wasn’t

planning on letting it go.
‘Quicksilver.’
Jin-Woo’s frame slid forward like a bolt of lightning.
The Giant monster ran with all its might on all fours, but
rather than the distance increasing, it rapidly shrank,
instead.
The monster felt terror. It sensed a bone-chilling aura

emanating right behind its back.
The Giant creature belatedly realised that it could never

escape no matter how much it struggled. So, it came to an
abrupt stop, spun around, and tried to pounce on its enemy,
but…
‘……??’
The presence of the human that had been closing in at a

scary velocity suddenly vanished. And then….
‘….!!’
The presence reappeared behind the creature.

Even though its eyes were not working anymore, the Giant
reflexively turned its head around.
That made it easier for him to slice up the monster, however.
Jin-Woo jumped up straight and powerfully swung down the

‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
Swish-!!
The blade overflowing with the magical energy oozing out

from the ‘Black Heart’ vertically split the face of the Giant
monster in one slice.
Slice!
“Gu-urk….”
Like a tree that got hacked by an axe, the monster slowly

tipped over backwards, not even able to scream out
properly.
THUD!!
With that, the third Giant was successfully hunted down.
Jin-Woo cleanly landed back on the ground and let out a

light sigh filled with lingering emotions of victory from his
lips.
“Fuu…”
“Hyung-nim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho had been standing far, far back while waiting for
the battle to finish. Once it was safe, he hurriedly ran over
and presented the lid of the thermos containing refreshingly
cool tea.
Jin-Woo grinned brightly and accepted the lid.
“Thank you.”
The tea in the lid slid down his throat while issuing the
familiar gulping noises.
‘Mm?’
He sensed a presence and looked behind him, only to find

Jima and his slumped shoulders approaching him. The
Shadow Soldier was evidently depressed from losing the one
on one fight earlier.
‘You fought well, regardless. Get some rest.’
Jin-Woo encouraged his underling and had it return. Jima

returned to being a shadow and got absorbed back below
Jin-Woo’s feet.
Yu Jin-Ho stared at that process before raising his voice.
“Hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo returned the empty lid and replied.
“Yeah?”
“You sent out all your other summons on their own, but well,
is there a reason why you decided to act alongside your
Nagas?”
Yu Jin-Ho was feeling puzzled by this.
Just now, hyung-nim was almost solely responsible for killing

this Giant. It seemed as if he didn’t really need the Naga’s
help at all.
Even then, he always sent out the Naga first, in the
beginning of the battle, and only participated after his
summon was pushed to its backfoot.
Yu Jin-Ho was curious as to what Jin-Woo’s aim could be. The

actual reason was simple enough, though.
‘Because, I just wanted to level these guys up, you know.’
The Naga Shadow Soldiers had become a part of the Shadow

Army relatively recently, and as a result, their levels fell
quite behind that of his other soldiers.
That was why he figured that, since he would be fighting

these Giants anyway, he’d raise the levels of the Nagas in
the process as well. However, as it turned out, these Giant-
type monsters weren’t easy enough opponents for his new
recruits to deal with by themselves.
Although it was a bit tedious, this method was still the best
one if he wanted to increase the Nagas’ battle experience.
‘Of course, I can’t really tell Yu Jin-Ho any of this, now can I?’
Jin-Woo formed a smirk.
“Well, I feel like I’m still not too familiar with these Nagas,
you see? If I keep them around me for a little longer,
wouldn’t I become friendlier with them?”
“Oh.”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head.
What an easy kid to lie to, this guy – thought Jin-Woo.
But then, Yu Jin-Ho suddenly fell into deep contemplation,

before raising his voice as his eyes sparkled brightly.
“You even make sure to look after every single one of your
summons, hyung-nim. As expected of you!”
‘……..’
And also, Jin-Woo felt really bad for lying to him, as well.
“Excuse me….”
Jin-Woo’s head shifted to his side.
The young soldier who courageously stood up against the

Giant was walking closer while continuously glancing at the
dead monster’s mountainous corpse. Jin-Woo could also see
the old couple responsible for protecting the hospital behind
the soldier’s shoulder, too.
He hadn’t spoken to them yet, but he could already tell what

they wanted to say simply from their expressions alone.
That was all he needed.
For now, he didn’t have enough time to receive their

gratitude one at a time. Even as he stood around here, these
Giants were busy going on a rampage in other locations.
Jin-Woo took a long look at the Giant’s corpse.
The biggest reason why he came to Japan was lying on the

ground right in front of his face.
“Stop! Stop!!”
Yu Jin-Ho quickly stopped the Japanese survivors from

approaching the location.
Jin-Woo had been feeling it lately, but well, Yu Jin-Ho’s wits

seemed to have quickened up considerably since their first
meeting. Thanks to that, the job of extracting shadows had
become that much easier.
He smirked and looked at Yu Jin-Ho for a bit, before shifting

his gaze back to the dead Giant.
He extended his hands out and quietly murmured to himself.
“Rise up.”
***
“Dear viewers at home…. It’s hard to believe, but the scene

before me is truly happening!”
Tatatatatatata-!!
The reporter riding on the helicopter continuously spat out

gasps of astonishment as if he could hardly believe his own
eyes.
The camera began transmitting the scenes below. Several

hundreds of ant monsters were uniformly marching towards
a certain direction. And in front of them, there was a
mutated ant monster with wings on its back.
Of course, it was none other than ‘Beru’.
He had been advancing up ahead of the marching ant army,

but he abruptly raised his head high up in the air.
“Kiiiiieeehk-!!”
The loud explosion of his screech prompted the reporter to

hurriedly cover his ears. Meanwhile, the ants marching
behind all came to a stop right when they heard Beru’s call.
There were three Giants to their front.

The differences in size were like looking at an elephant and
a mouse.
However, Beru displayed not one hint of fear as his claws

extended out like lengthy blades, and he dashed forward.
“Kiiieeehhhck!!”
And behind him, the army of ants began covering the land
in black.
The intense and bloody battle ended not too long

afterwards.
“Oh my god!! Oh my GOD!!”
As the reporter cried out in sheer astonishment over and

over again, the ants successfully brought the Giants down.
They then began chomping down with their sharp mandibles
and ate the corpses.
Wooduduk!!
Kwajeeck!!
Of course, under Beru’s orders, they didn’t forget to leave

some part of the monsters behind so more Shadow Soldiers
could be created later. As for those ants that got too greedy
for their own good, swift kicks from Beru flew in to sort out
the situation immediately.
The reporter was shouting out in a clearly-excited voice now.
“The Giants are being devoured right now!! These Giants are
being devoured by the insects right now!!!!”
These Giants that instilled unbridled shock and fear with the
actions of devouring humans were in turn, getting devoured
by the ants. The Japanese people watching this scene felt a
certain sense of inexplicable gratification.
That was perhaps the reason why the most amount of

interest was focused on the ant army, since Jin-Woo himself
refused to be filmed from the get-go.
The only problem being….
“Heok!!”
The reporter and the cameraman flinched in surprise and

hurriedly backed away after spotting Beru flying right next
to the helicopter.
The former ant king didn’t even hesitate and snatched away
the camera pointing at him and destroyed it immediately.
Kwajeeck!!
“Keok!”
The reporter and the cameraman embraced each other and

shuddered pitifully in fear.
“…..”
Beru alternated his quiet gaze between the two trembling

humans before returning back to the ground below.
“Whew….”
Both men spat out sighs of relief right away.
There was a reason why they followed around the monster

ant army even as the cameras worth tens of thousands of
dollars were being lost every single time. The countless
viewers were going absolutely crazy with ardent fervour for
these creatures, that was why.
The cameraman quickly picked up the spare camera

prepared for this eventuality, while the reporter spoke the
closing words to the mic as if he was already used to this
whole situation.
“….I’m Kitamura, reporting from the location.”
***
“Kkyaaahk!”
She must’ve graduated from elementary school not too long

ago. This young girl was running away screaming with a
tear-strewn face.
“Ah, ah ah!!”
Right behind her, a Giant gave chase with a disgusting smile

on its face.
How far could she go when running on her still-short legs?

The distance between them closed up in an instant.
The Giant must’ve found this game of tag with a certain

winner set in stone rather amusing to play, because it
continued to form a toothy grin.
It reached out with its arm that was at least 1.5 times longer
than other Giant’s. And, just before such a rough hand got to
snatch the young girl up, a cold flash streaked past the
monster’s wrist.
And the blue-coloured lightning that exploded out
afterwards began burning up the cut surface of the now-
missing wrist with extreme heat.
Crackle!!!
“Guwaaaaahahk!!”
The Giant shot up to its feet and screamed out in pain as it

held its wrist.
The owner of the blue-coloured blade was none other than

‘Igrit’.
He spun around and lifted up the pale-faced girl that was on

her knees shivering, before quickly evacuating from that
place.
The Giant angrily glared below. The creature that had

cleanly severed its wrist was busy escaping with its prey.
The eyes of the enraged Giant were quickly dyed in red.
“Gureuk….”
The scene was scary enough for any observers to wet their
pants. But even then, someone still stood before such a
terrifying monster. It was, of course, ‘Iron’. His armour had
become even more enhanced after his grade rose up to ‘Elite
Knight’.
Iron stabbed the shield down on the ground and stood

proudly with his chest wide open. And then, a truly loud roar
exploded out from beneath his helm.
Wooooowuuuuuhhh-!!
[Iron has activated ‘Skill: Roar of Provocation’.]

[The enemy has fallen into a provoked state.]
The glare of the Giant previously aimed at Igrit was instantly

switched over to Iron.
As if to say ‘Come if you dare’, Iron pounded on his chest

vigorously and raised up high the shield as huge as himself.
“Guwuuurk!”
The fist of the enraged Giant mercilessly punched down on

Iron.
Ka-boom!
However, Iron was not forced back an inch. The effects of his
grade rising up had pushed him to a whole new plateau of
power.
Boom! Slam! Bam!
Iron ably defended against dozens of punches and loudly

cried out again.
“Wuuoouuhh!!”
When he did, the army of Shadow Soldiers and Ice Bears, the
ones that had been with Jin-Woo the longest, attacked at the
same time from either side of the Giant.
The leader of the Ice Bear troops, Tank, shook its head
around and roared out loudly as if he got excited by the
prospect of entering the battlefield after a long time of
inactivity.
“Krrroooarr!!”
His roar was so loud and explosive that even those far away
could feel the faint tremor in the air.
The reporter watching this scene unfold from afar with bated
breath shouted at the camera next to him.
“Can you see this, everyone? These summons, these

creatures summoned by Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, are raiding
the Giant by themselves!”
Could this truly be reality?
This very reporter didn’t believe Yuri Orlov’s claims from the
word go, and quite obviously, he also didn’t hold much hope
with Jin-Woo, as well.
But then, not just Seong Jin-Woo himself, but even the
summoned creatures he ordered to go out on their own were
speedily hunting down these Giants, as if they were nothing.
Maybe, just maybe….
When the reporter thought that, just maybe, Seong Jin-Woo

could possibly save this country all by himself, something
warm and powerful gushed up from the deepest part of his
chest.
It was precisely then.
“L-look! Over there!”
The cameraman pointed at the Giant. The reporter hurriedly

shifted his tear-soaked gaze in the general direction of the
monster.
“How could this be…..!!”
The reporter spat out a moan.

The Giant’s posture was already crumbling. Countless
screaming bolts of lightning, shooting out from the tip of
Igrit’s sword, were pounding down on the faltering monster’s
head.
It was such a mesmerizingly beautiful sight that all those

who looked upon it forgot what they wanted to say next.
Chapter 172
It was obvious that the Japanese Hunter’s Association HQ

used to be located in the central district of Tokyo, commonly
seen as the beating heart of Japan.
But, that was only until the Giants began pouring out from
the Gate, of course.
On that fateful day, as Shinjuku’s rank S Gate morphed into

a full-on dungeon break, the President of the Japanese
Association Matsumoto Shigeo managed to save his life
through the sacrifices of the Hunters and soldiers stationed
on the frontlines. He hurriedly re-established the HQ of the
Association in the city of Osaka’s local government offices.
There was only one reason why he chose this city, rather
than some others located on the north-west of the country.
He figured that, if they failed to protect the city of Osaka

and its 2.66 million inhabitants, then there was no hope for
Japan, either. In other words, this was their last defence line
– their Maginot Line.
And that was also why Association President Matsumoto

experienced the event of his sights darkening from despair
when he heard the news of Nagoya, which wasn’t that far
away from Osaka, falling at the hands of the Giant-type
monsters.
The nation’s utter annihilation was practically around the
corner, but it became impossible to beg for international
help.
The dastardly scheme cooked up by the Japanese

Association was laid bare in full by the President of the
Korean Hunter’s Association, Goh Gun-Hui. No one wanted to
lend their aid to Japan because of that.
After Goh Gun-Hui’s press conference was over, the Japanese

government, temporarily relocated to Kyoto, summoned
Matsumoto Shigeo to appear before them.
He had to kneel down in front of the government’s higher-

ups baying for his blood.
“The responsibility for this crisis rests solely on me.

However, you need someone to sort out this situation.
Please, won’t you delay the handing out of the punishment
until then?”
The Prime Minister of Japan, standing his back to the

kneeling Matsumoto Shigeo, made his reply after a short
deliberation.
“….Fine.”
Without a doubt, the Association President Matsumoto had

brought this crisis upon them, but just as he said, someone
still had to take care of the mess created by the dungeon
break.
The punishment could come afterwards.
It wouldn’t be too late to make an example out of this man

after the flame not just burning on the foot but on the rest of
the body was put out first.
It was around at this point that Jin-Woo landed on Japanese
soil.
The very first person to rush out and welcome him while
forgetting to even put on his shoes properly was Association
President Matsumoto.
His fate was already sealed. That didn’t mean he wanted to

let his mother nation suffer the same fate as him. That’s
what he thought.
When he first saw Jin-Woo at the airport, his entire body was
overcome with goosebumps of nasty shock.
‘How could this be…??’
This man was strong.
Matsumoto had been the Association President for many

years, and he got to meet many powerful beings up until
now. That was how he could tell from just one glance.
He stood next to countless Hunters in his life so far, but

hadn’t encountered many situations where the hair on the
back of his neck stood up straight from the unbelievable
chill he felt.
No, actually, this would be his first time.
If only he had a chance to meet Jin-Woo just once before the

Jeju Island raid took place, he’d have immediately rescinded
the plan to drive the Korean Hunters to their demise.
The words of Goto Ryuji from back then, when he personally

met Jin-Woo, were definitely not wrong. This Korean Hunter
right in front of his eyes possessed such a powerful pressure.
However, the enemies this time were the Giant-type
monsters emerging straight out from a rank S Gate.
Matsumoto judged that, no matter how strong Hunter Seong

Jin-Woo was, he alone would not be enough to contend with
all those monsters. So, he made a desperate plea.
“Please, I beg of you to focus on defending us, with Osaka as

the centre.”
The Japanese Hunter’s Association wanted Jin-Woo to focus

solely on defence and buy them enough time so that they
could negotiate with either the Americans or with the
Russians.
Too bad, that plan was immediately thrown out the window
with one short sentence from the man in question.
“I refuse.”
Jin-Woo curtly stated his position.
It was only obvious that the Association President

Matsumoto Shigeo and all the other Association-related
parties would jump up in sheer fluster. Did he suddenly have
a change of heart and no longer wanted to kill the
monsters?
Matsumoto could only ask with a tightening chest.
“Then…. Then, what will you do, instead?”
Instead of a verbal reply, Jin-Woo answered with his actions.
He separated his summons into three parties and had them

operate on their own, while he too began moving by himself
as well.
The number of creatures he summoned out was already
astonishing enough, but even then, Matsumoto Shigeo was
swallowing his worried gasps over something else entirely.
‘Is he really trying to fight against all of the Giants?’
Every Hunter in the world had all said in one voice that such
a feat was impossible. But, was he trying to do precisely
that?
He had no way of knowing. The best he could do now was to

wait while entrusting his, and everyone else’s, fate to the
heavens above.
He returned to the Hunter’s Association HQ and focused on

gathering information on the unfolding situation.
Unexpectedly, the answer came back soon enough.
“The city of Nagoya, it’s been successfully taken back!!”
Matsumoto Shigeo shot up from his chair from that shocking

news.
It hadn’t been all that long since Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had
set off, yet the Giant-type monster in Nagoya had been
brought down already?
Even before the Japanese Association President had a

chance to calm his fluttering heart, messages began pouring
in from all corners of the country.
“A Giant’s corpse has been discovered in the city of

Nakatsugawa!”
“The city of Shizuoka has been successfully reclaimed!!”

“The cities of Takayama and Nagano both have been…..”
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and his summoned creatures were

eliminating the Giant-type monsters scattered throughout
the country of Japan as they closed in towards Tokyo.
It was truly an unbelievable speed of advancement.
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo saw the power

of the Korean Hunter capable of changing the impossible
into the possible and began shivering where he stood.
His pounding heart showed no signs of slowing down at all.
And finally….
“T-the city of Kofu…. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, he has arrived in

Kofu, sir.”
He plopped down on his butt after hearing the news of all

the Giants being killed off in Kofu, a city only 130 kilometres
removed from Tokyo itself.
“Association President!!”
“Sir, President Matsumoto!!”
His trembling legs didn’t want to listen to him at all.
That Korean Hunter was really planning to kill every Giant-

type monster found in this nation. A certain thought
suddenly entered his mind, then.
‘What he’s doing right now….. Isn’t that what I planned to do

to South Korea?’
He was planning to destroy Korea’s Hunter system, and by

utilising the strengths of the Japanese Hunters, squeeze
South Korea as he willed it. But now, the situation had
flipped on its head.
Japan and its collapsed Hunter system now found itself

under the thumb of one single man, Seong Jin-Woo.
The plan that Matsumoto himself, the Japanese Association,

the top Japanese Hunters, and the government combined
their resources together to put into motion, and ultimately
failed to carry out, was being ably carried out by just one
person. He was being successful in doing so, as well.
“…”
He dazedly sat in his chair, and issued a new order to the

Association’s staff members standing around and worrying
about him.
“Can you all leave me for a while? I’d like to be alone for a
minute or two.”
Soon, his office became emptied. His head slowly drooped

real low.
A powerful sense of defeat the likes of which he had never

tasted before in his life crashed into him like a tidal wave.
He had lost.
He had completely, utterly lost.
However, the emotions rushing in after the sense of defeat

finally left him were a brief moment of self-reflection and
remorse, and an infinite amount of gratitude.
On that day, he silently sobbed.

And also on that day, Jin-Woo and his summons starting from
Osaka and moving eastward, while killing every Giant they
ran into, finally arrived on the doorsteps of the city of Tokyo.
***
THUD!!
Two more Giant-type monsters fell lifelessly to the ground.
[Level up!]
It had been so long since he got to level up so freely like

this. He could barely remember the last time it happened.
Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fists.
As he approached closer and closer to where the dungeon

break originally started, the city of Tokyo, he alone had
hunted down 13 Giant-type monsters. His level rose up by
six during this time.
Each of these Giant-type monsters was on the level of a boss

creature, so the experience points they gave out were rather
substantial. Of course, experience points earned by his
Shadow Soldiers in other locations also played a pretty large
role, as well.
Every time that message of [Level up!] popped up in his

view during his journey, he felt his enthusiasm soar up even
higher and higher.
Just like now.
[Level up!]
‘That’s what I’m talking about!’

Jin-Woo clenched his fists again from that wonderfully-timed
message of a level up entering his view. He also heard a
familiar voice talking to him in his mind.
‘Oh, my king. We have killed off yet another enemy.’
The ones that sent him extra experience points were Beru’s
ant army, who also happened to possess the fastest
marching speed as well.
It was a rather obvious result, though, when considering the

fact that Beru was the strongest Shadow Soldier he had, and
that the number of ants was also quite large, to begin with.
The former ant king always reported back to Jin-Woo every
time after killing their enemies.
Jin-Woo congratulated the achievements of the ant army.
‘Nicely done. You all did well.’
‘I thank thee, oh my king.’
Jin-Woo ended the communication with Beru and used the

‘Sensory Sharing’ to check up on the status of each of his
three armies.
Although it wasn’t to the extent of the ant army led by Beru,

the army of High Orcs led by Fangs and the army of elite
soldiers led by Igrit were also unhindered in their progress as
well.
Jin-Woo felt really pleased by the levels of his soldiers that

had shot up to a noticeable degree.
“Hyung-nim, should we set up camp here tonight?”
Jin-Woo opened his eyes and ended the ‘Sensory Sharing’.

Yu Jin-Ho was asking a question while holding a tent he took
out from the vehicle’s trunk. Jin-Woo raised his head to see
that the day was coming to an end, the dusk casting its
shadow on the ground below.
His ‘Tiredness’ gauge wasn’t all that high due to the effects
of stamina recovery potions he bought from the Store, as
well as from levelling up. However, his mental fatigue had
certainly piled up recently.
‘Looks like I should take a break.’
Today’s campsite had been decided. They quickly set up the

tent and got ready to eat dinner.
The heat had cooled off before long and the breeze of the
encroaching evening felt chilly. It was already autumn now.
Jin-Woo thought to himself that winter was just around the

corner as he warmed up the food the Japanese Association
had supplied him with.
Winter.
If he were to split the rise and fall of the human civilisation

in terms of seasons, then the appearance of Tokyo’s outer
edges certainly gave off the aura of winter in full bloom.
For some reason, though, Tokyo that no longer resembled a

city came across as a somewhat familiar sight to him.
‘Where have I seen this before?’
Jin-Woo combed his memories for a little while before finding

his answer.
‘….The Demon’s Castle.’
The sight of the ruined, crumbling cities he saw back then

resembled Tokyo’s current appearance. The only difference
being, there were no flames burning right now.
When his thoughts arrived at this point, a dark shadow crept

up over his expression.
From the very first floor of the Demon’s Castle, all the way
up to its final floor, every city found within the dungeon was
destroyed almost beyond recognition.
If that was the System’s way of giving away hints, then what
was the so-called architect trying to tell him?
Jin-Woo smirked to himself.
‘Does it really matter now?’
The so-called architect, the manager of the System, was

dead and gone inside a dungeon. Seeing that there was no
further contact after that, the chances of that guy still being
alive were slim, to say the least.
‘And, even if what I saw back then was the prediction of the
coming events…..’
‘….I shall stop them.’
That was why he continued to grow stronger. He chased

after greater strength, because he didn’t want to be toyed
around with by powers he couldn’t fight against.
Raise his level, get his hands on new skills, and raise his
level up even higher…..
And eventually, he had arrived at this point in time.
Ba-thump.
The ‘Black Heart’ beat loudly once as if to react to his

thoughts.
Jin-Woo pressed his hand to his chest to feel that as a thin

smile spread across his lips. The doctor in the hospital told
him that he was completely normal.
[“We haven’t found any abnormalities with you. Hunter-nim,

you’re perfectly healthy.”]
The day before his departure, Jin-Woo went to a hospital to

get a complete check up on his health.
The doctor had him scanned from top to bottom but still
failed to discover the second heart or anything similar to
that.
The ‘Back Heart’, then, couldn’t have been a physical

change taking place within his flesh. It did exist and he
could definitely feel its heartbeat, but it also did not exist in
reality, too.
‘What the heck does that even mean?’
Jin-Woo wryly laughed to himself.
He was sort of relieved by the fact that his body structure

was no different from other people’s, but if that was the
case, where was this tremor from his chest coming from?
It was then – a light breeze blew in from the city centre of

Tokyo. And it carried this sticky and utterly horrifying
magical energy that was hard to even fathom how dense it
was.
“Hyung-nim….”
Yu Jin-Ho formed a worried expression. This was truly an

astonishing power level that even someone like him with a
lower threshold of perception could sense.
Jin-Woo wordlessly nodded his head. He didn’t have to think

too hard where this breeze blew in from. It was from that
massive Giant guarding the Gate in Shinjuku.
This aura was on another realm altogether compared to what

he sensed from other Giants so far. He was this far away, yet
goosebumps broke out on his arms just for a moment there.
However, a smile still formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
As if it was responding to that powerful wave of magic

energy, the ‘Black Heart’ began pounding even harder than
before.
How many levels would he gain after killing that monster?

Also, what kind of a soldier would come out from its shadow?
Anticipation was bubbling up within him already.

Chapter 173
Igrit’s elite soldier army was the first to arrive in Tokyo.
Fang’s High Orc army was the next to arrive.
Igrit discovered the approaching High Orc army and lightly

nodded his head as his greeting to their Chieftain. The
corners of Fang’s lips, hidden under his black hood, arched
up as he too, nodded his head.
The elite soldiers army, the division of Ice Bears that acted
alongside them, and the High Orc army had now gathered in
one spot. And a short while later.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sounds of marching footsteps uniformly resounded out

in the surrounding air. Just beyond the ash-grey fog, a large-
sized battalion of Shadow Soldiers approached the location.
As befitting of the soldiers that had taken the longest route

but also hunted down the most Giants, Beru and his ant
army were the last to arrive. The former ant king led the
pack and emerged from the settling fog of dust first.
Just like before, Igrit sent out a greeting first.
“…”
However, Beru didn’t display any hint of acknowledgement

and walked right past Igrit, strode up to Jin-Woo’s back
before kneeling down on one knee in a dignified manner.
“Ah. You all have arrived.”
Only then did Jin-Woo tear his eyes away from the distant
Giant to take a look behind him.
“Everyone, you all did well.”
As he welcomed them all, every Shadow Soldier followed

after Beru’s example and knelt down on one knee. Ice Bears
couldn’t physically kneel down, so they simply prostrated,
their noses pressed to the ground below.
Everyone, including the elite soldiers, Ice Bears, ants, High

Orcs, and Nagas, as well as other types of Shadow Soldiers
he had recruited in between – nearly one thousand of his
Shadow Soldiers had gathered in one spot.
“All of you, stand up.”
Jin-Woo gestured them to rise to their feet and his soldiers

all stood up straight. It was truly a mesmerising spectacle.
Yu Jin-Ho was utterly arrested by this sight and stared

dazedly at the Shadow Soldiers.
‘What a relief that this is just one of hyung-nim’s skills,

otherwise if these were real monsters….’
Even though he knew no bad things would happen, his body

still shuddered as he imagined the scene of these many
monsters that also boasted such levels of power moving
around as one.
It was indeed a relief that these guys were allies. Where

would he find anyone more appropriate to attach that
description to other than his hyung-nim?
Unfortunately, there was an even more shocking scene

waiting for him right behind him.
Gulp.
Yu Jin-Ho just barely managed to swallow his dry saliva and

cautiously took a look behind him. There was a lone Giant
standing over yonder.
The size of this Giant-type monster was on another scale

altogether compared to the others he saw during his trip to
this place.
Simply by staring at the head of a Giant so, so, so far up in

the sky, he couldn’t tell whether he was looking at an actual
monster or a high-rise building, instead.
“Wowsers….”
A gasp of shock leaked out from his mouth.
There was just too great a difference between seeing it from

a video clip and with his own two eyes like this.
Jin-Woo smiled and placed his hand on top of Yu Jin-Ho’s

head, as the latter found himself unable to shut his mouth at
all.
“Hey, dude. Your jaw will fall off at this rate.”
“H-hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho finally regained his wits and embarrassedly

scratched the back of his head. Jin-Woo withdrew his hand
from the kid’s head and wordlessly glared at the boss-level
Giant-type monster.
‘How can a massive being like that even exist?’
That life-form was simply far too large.
The horrible magic power oozing out from that thing even
made him think about getting away from this place as soon
as he could. It was that unpleasant to behold.
There were two ways of getting rid of this unpleasantness he

felt.
Either running as far away as possible from the source of this

unpleasantness and forget about everything, or, root out the
cause of the problem itself.
Which choice he’d go for was set in stone the moment he

left Korea – no, the moment Jin-Woo had Awakened, as a
matter of fact.
Ba-thump, ba-thump….
He closed his eyes and quietly enjoyed the tireless beatings

of his heart and before abruptly opening them back again.
“Get to a safe distance.”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head with a determined face and

quickly ran in between the Shadow Soldiers to get away
from there.
‘Good.’
Jin-Woo patiently waited for the kid to get to a safe enough

distance away, and then summoned up his newly-added
family members.
“Come out.”
Although not as huge as the boss-level Giant, several

massive Shadow Soldiers rose up from the ground.
From No.1 up to No. 13.
Jin-Woo named his Giant Shadow Soldiers No.1 to No.13,

according to the order of who got extracted first.
He felt rather pleased from the sight of these massive

figures standing in front of his Shadow Army, which made
his entire troop seem even more dependable than before.
‘This should be enough.’
Jin-Woo figured that this was enough preparation and raised

his hand. As his fingertips pointed to the heavens above, all
of the Shadow Soldiers got ready to attack.
Clang!
“My soldiers.”
His soldiers, all decked in black armour and enveloped in

rising smoke – Jin-Woo scanned his Shadow Soldiers one by
one before turning back to face the boss-level Giant.
The creature was indifferently staring down at him as if any

opponents not entering in its fixed range wouldn’t interest it
at all.
‘And that’s what I don’t like about that guy.’
Jin-Woo was quite unhappy at the fact that a measly

monster was looking down on him from that high up.
A vicious grin broke out of his face, then. And the hand
pointing to the sky was pointed towards the Giant next.
“Advance!” (TL note at the end)
Beru raised his head up high and screeched loudly.
“Kiiiiieeeehhhkkk!!”
Ants, Ice Bears, Giants – no, almost every single Shadow

Soldier gathered there dashed forward all at once towards
the boss-level Giant monster.
RUMBLE-!!
The fierce march of the Shadow Army rocked the ground

below. The earth shook and mighty dust storm kicked up.
And soon, Jin-Woo’s soldiers entered the territory of the
Giant.
It happened then.
The surrounding air suddenly transformed.
“What the hell?!”
A scream-like cry of shock exploded out from Jin-Woo’s

mouth.
The boss Giant had disappeared from his view, and when it
reappeared, already half of his Shadow Soldiers had been
annihilated.
‘It did a sliding tackle??’
There was no other fitting term to describe the boss Giant

sweeping away his soldiers with its stretched leg other than
a ‘sliding tackle’.
It was an unfathomable destructive power.
With that single attack, a huge entity that was the Shadow
Army got split in half. Of course, his soldiers weren’t simply
standing back to get massacred out there, either.
Even before the dust kicked up from the Giant’s foot had
settled down, Fangs finished gigantifying himself and stood
before the monster’s face.
Fuu-heuph!!
He then sucked in a deep, deep breath as his chest

expanded greatly. A nonsensically massive pillar of flames
erupted out from his mouth.
Kuuuwaaaahhhh-!!
This attack from Fangs was capable of even melting down

those monsters with innate resistance to fire in a single
breath. Unfortunately, the Giant blocked this blazing inferno
with the palm of its hand.
Jin-Woo could sense Fangs getting astonished by what was

happening.
While still in the lowered position, the Giant snatched up the

ankle of a Giant Shadow Soldier in the vicinity.
His Giant soldier, as big as a regular building, resembled a

small child after it got caught by the hand of the boss-level
monster. And this creature threw the Giant soldier straight at
Fangs.
He was about to suck in another breath for his second

attack, but he was struck down by the flying soldier before
he could and got disintegrated.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit like a blade as he witnessed

Fangs get scattered away in black smoke.
It proceeded from that point on – one thousand against one.
The proper battle between his Shadow Soldiers and the

boss-level Giant truly began. No – this was a far too one-
sided display of violence to be called a battle.
“Kkiiieeehk!”
“Ku-uh-uuhk!”
Shadow Soldiers were crushed constantly and endlessly by

the Giant’s attacks.
A punch, a slap, an elbow drop, a knee, the back of the foot,

and the bottom of it – one movement from the boss-level
Giant, and dozens of soldiers were swept away.
Boom!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!!
The boss-level Giant’s flashy movements easily exceeded

that of the highest-ranked melee-type Hunter’s speed.
“Kiiehk.”
Beru watched the ant army being trampled on and was

about to dash forward, but Jin-Woo raised his arm and
stopped him.
“Not yet.”
Beru took a step back.
Both Beru and Igrit standing next to Jin-Woo and waiting for
his orders displayed visible hints of wanting to join the
battle.
‘However, now isn’t the time yet.’
Jin-Woo’s lips were shut tight in a straight line.
The soldiers repeatedly went through destruction and

revival, resulting in his MP decreasing at an alarming rate. In
fact, the rate was so severe that even the massive reserve of
MP he possessed now thanks to the ‘Black Heart’ wouldn’t
be able to keep up.
However, Jin-Woo remained patient and didn’t move. He

calmly observed the Giant from the distance.
He sent out his immortal army as bait and searched for the
creature’s weaknesses. That was his plan for this raid.
BOOM!!
The Giant crushed Shadow Soldiers with its knee, and

proceeded to punch the ground with its fist.
Ka-boom!!
The ground shook as if there was an earthquake breaking

out and dozens of soldiers disappeared in black smoke.
It was a nightmarish battle situation created by the perfect

defence and the horrifying destructive power of the monster.
However, he did gain something from all of this.

Within this desolate wasteland that once used to be the
centre of Tokyo, Jin-Woo’s irises were gleaming brightly from
his frightening level of concentration.
‘As I thought….’
As expected, no attacks could damage the hardy skin of the

Giant as it had worn its enormous magic energy around itself
like an impregnable carapace.
The creature must’ve been aware of its own defensive

capability, because it didn’t even bother to defend itself and
continued to pour out one attack after another.
However, there was one single exception. There was one

moment that the Giant chose defence instead of offence.
That would be when Fangs spat out the ‘Fire Dragon’s
Breath’ in the face of the Giant before.
Only then did it raise its arm to protect its face.
If, by chance, that was not a simple coincidence, then…..
“Kaisel!”
Jin-Woo summoned out his Sky Dragon.
Kaisel emerged out from the shadow at once and spread out
its massive wings in a spectacular fashion.
Cha-aaahk!
“Kiiiiaaahk!!”
Jin-Woo quickly climbed aboard Kaisel’s back.
“Beru, Igrit!”
Beru’s wings extended out from Jin-Woo’s call, while Igrit
climbed up behind his Sovereign. Soon, Kaisel flapped its
wings and took off while carrying his two new passengers.
Kiiahk!!
The ground quickly grew further away.
‘Let’s go!’
The four of them flew up high in the air and flew in a straight
line towards the Giant monster’s head. It was then.
Sneak.
The eyes of the Giant shifted to its side.
Even though it was in the middle of a violent tangle with

nearly a thousand Shadow Soldiers, it still had time to
discover Kaisel and Beru approaching it at an ultra-high
speed.
Seeing that, Jin-Woo nodded his head in understanding.

That solidified another one of his theories.
This monster could definitely split time itself during the

battle and use it to its advantage just like Jin-Woo would do
with his Agility Stat. And that was why this thing could
display such an astonishing level of speed compared to
other Giant monsters.
The boss twisted its body around. Jin-Woo’s vision caught

the sight of the creature’s massive shoulders moving.
‘Evade it!’
Jin-Woo and Igrit kicked away from the back of Kaisel.

A blink of an eye later, the Giant’s fist slammed into Kaisel.
Ka-boom!
Jin-Woo watched Kaisel explode into black smoke, his brows

quivering. It was still a rotten feeling to watch his soldiers
get destroyed like that.
If there was one saving grace, then that would be the fact
that the target for his anger was right in front of his face.
Igrit was the first to attack. He jumped high up in the air and
swung the ‘Demon King’s Longsword’ down.
Crackle!!
A blue streak of lightning crackling into life from the end of

the sword rained down on the Giant’s face. The boss rapidly
tilted its head back to evade the lightning.
‘Did it again!’
Once more, it dodged an attack aimed at its face. Jin-Woo

was now sure of where its weak point was. He immediately
used ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to reel himself in closer to the
Giant’s face.
Beru followed closely behind.
‘Demon King’s Shortsword.’
Jin-Woo tightly grasped the two shortswords suddenly

appearing in his hands. Beru’s claws had been extended to
full in no time, as well.
The combined assault of Jin-Woo and Beru unfolded in the

sky high up above. The Shadow Soldiers on the ground
succeeded in fully reviving themselves, took aim at the
Giant’s ankles, and pounced on their targets.
BOOM!!
BANG!!
Flames flying away from the hands of the Magic Soldiers

crashed into the Giant’s body and continued to explode.
Bolts of Lightning crackled and stormed down, pillars of
flames erupted forth, and Giants continued to bite and tear.
Yu Jin-Ho watched this hallucination-like battle from

beginning till end without missing a beat.
“….”
He was completely at a loss for words.
This was no longer a battle between a Hunter and a monster.

No, it was a fight between a monster and another monster.
The monster the size of a high-rise building, and hyung-nim

commanding nearly one-thousand summons all at once – if
someone asked Yu Jin-Ho who was even more monster-like in
this picture, he thought that he wouldn’t be able to answer
right away.
‘Truly….’
It was truly a lamentable thing that he was the only one

witnessing this battle. Yu Jin-Ho did his absolute best to calm
his heart, that was ready to explode in his chest, and kept
his eyes firmly locked on Jin-Woo’s position.
That was also the moment when Jin-Woo’s shortsword

stabbed deeply into the eye of the Giant.
Stab!!
The boss rocked its head violently from side to side and
desperately rampaged around. However, Jin-Woo wasn’t
flung away from his spot despite all the shaking.
‘It’s working.’
He grasped tight the shortsword digging into the eye of the

monster and activated a skill with his other hand.
Dudududududududu!!
This particular eye of the Giant was soon torn to shreds. The
monster contorted its upper torso and resisted, but still, Jin-
Woo remained impossible to shake off.
While he tenaciously clung onto the Giant’s eye, he took a

look behind him.
‘Beru!’
‘Your wish is my command!’
Beru understood immediately what his Sovereign wanted

and flew in at an unbelievable speed to enter the hole in the
Giant’s eye.
On the outside, Jin-Woo, while from the inside, Beru. The

combined attacks from the two began ripping apart the
giant face from inside and outside simultaneously.
The Giant monster’s mouth shot wide open as it issued a

soundless scream.
Just as the huge monster stopped attacking for a moment,
ants focused their efforts on the creature’s ankle and finally
succeeded in their goal.
Snap.
After losing a tendon in one of the legs, the Giant

powerlessly crashed down on one knee.
Kwa-boom!
The ground couldn’t deal with the massive collapsing weight

and quaked quite viciously.
Even then, Jin-Woo and Beru’s combined assault continued

on.
“Violent Slash!!”
Dudududududu!!
Dudududududu!!
Dudududududu!!
The Giant thrashed about in pure madness, but the more it

did, the more intense and crafty Jin-Woo’s attacks became as
he clung onto the monster’s face.
From a certain point onwards, the Giant’s resistance

stopped. Its humongous body slowly began tipping to the
side. And finally…
KUUU-WUUOONG!!
The Giant’s truly huge body came crashing to the ground.
It was then, Jin-Woo heard the familiar mechanical beeps

going off in his head.
Tti-ring.
[You have defeated your enemy!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo’s clenched fist gripped even harder.
‘I did it!’
Jin-Woo lightly landed back on the ground and was about to

sigh out in relief, but then, he realised something was amiss
and stopped his movements altogether.
Chapter 174
‘Hold up.’
Jin-Woo hurriedly brought the message windows back up.
He didn’t even have time to enjoy the notices of his level

going up four times in a row, as his eyes were currently fixed
to the very first message.
‘Oh, my god.’
Jin-Woo’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
[You have defeated your enemy.]
‘This wasn’t the boss monster??’
His shocked gaze shifted over to the Giant sagged on the

ground, with no focus to be found within its dull eyes.
The incredible power that was on another realm compared to

other Giants, and the overwhelming aura that even left Jin-
Woo surprised. No matter what, this creature looked,
sounded, and smelled like a boss, yet it was apparently not.
The System’s message clearly said that this thing was a
‘regular’ monster.
It was then.
“Hyung-niiiim-!!”
He heard the overexcited voice of Yu Jin-Ho coming from a
distance.
Jin-Woo raised his hand quickly to signal the sparkly-eyed Yu

Jin-Ho running over here that he should stop right there.
“Heok!!”
It was unknown whether he was a good listener, or maybe

he was just scared easily, but regardless, the kid froze up
right in his tracks.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo’s glare became even more serious than

before.
The message of [You have killed the owner of the dungeon]

hadn’t appeared yet. Which could only mean that this raid
was far from over.
That wasn’t the only suspicious thing here, either; it was

impossible to perform ‘Shadow Extraction’ on this massive
monster, as well. He couldn’t see any black smoke rising up
from the corpse, a telltale sign of it being a candidate for the
extraction.
And, just as he suspected….
When he glared hard at the Giant’s corpse as if to bore a

hole through it, a mechanical beep went off in his head.
Tti-ring.
[It’s impossible to perform Shadow Extraction on the target.]
Jin-Woo’s brows furrowed deeply as the situation began

exceeding his expectation in more ways than one. But then,
he heard the sounds of bones clattering against each other
coming from somewhere.
The jaw of the Giant was suddenly moving again.
The creature’s mouth was pried open and a humanoid-shape

of something emerged from there.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo reflexively got into a battle stance. Flashes of sharp

light gleamed off the blades summoned into his hands.
Fortunately, the voice coming from the Giant’s mouth turned
out to be a familiar one.
“Oh, my king…. It is I, Beru.”
The former ant king managed to extricate itself and stepped

out, before displaying the appropriate courtesy towards Jin-
Woo.
“….It’s only you.”
Jin-Woo lowered his vigilance.
After Beru entered the Giant’s body, his presence got hidden
by the huge monster’s near-bottomless magical energy and
as a result, it became momentarily impossible to
differentiate him.
After confirming that it was Beru for real, Jin-Woo returned

his shortswords back to his Storage.
Beru trudged out forward while covered from head to toe in

the Giant’s flesh and blood. It wasn’t that difficult to imagine
how hard the former ant king struggled within the monster’s
head.
Jin-Woo was about to heartily praise his underling with a
smile but his expression crumpled in an instant.
‘What the hell is up with this stink…..?’
A truly disgusting odour was getting stronger as Beru got

nearer. Perhaps he could also smell it, his expression was
also deeply crumpled as well.
He eventually stood before Jin-Woo and bowed his head in a

dignified fashion.
“Well, then…..”
Jin-Woo was about to pat his ant soldier on the shoulder as a

gesture of a job well done, but discovered a yellowish liquid
of unidentifiable nature there and sneakily withdrew his
hand.
“You did well, Beru.”
“….I thank thee, oh my king.”
Jin-Woo was probably mistaken when he thought that he

heard a slightly sullen tone of voice coming from the ant
soldier.
In any case, what he needed to concentrate on was not the

identity of this weird liquid on Beru’s shoulder. If this super-
massive Giant-type monster was not the ‘owner of the
dungeon’, then where was the real owner?
Just as that thought worked its way into Jin-Woo’s brain, this
happened.
Wuuuuu….
Suddenly, the air all around him trembled.

‘….!!’
Sensing yet another change taking place, Jin-Woo hurriedly

raised his guard up. Beru also sensed the danger only a beat
slower and quickly increased his overall body size to stand
guard before his Sovereign.
“Kiiieeehhk!!”
A powerful gust of wind assaulted them right afterwards.
‘Keuk.’
Jin-Woo’s forehead creased up.
The stormy winds violent enough to rip out trees, roots and
all, swept all around him, but then, they abruptly slithered
off to somewhere else.
The commotion died down almost instantly.
Beru decided that the situation had been normalised and

stepped away from Jin-Woo’s front. Meanwhile, the latter
surveyed the surroundings only to gasp out in pure shock.
‘How could this be?!’
What suddenly ‘attacked’ him just now weren’t some gusts

of wind. No, what he mistakenly thought as storm winds was
simply the horrifyingly disgusting and bottomless magic
energy the dead Giant possessed.
That massive amount of magical energy clawed and swept

everything in the vicinity away as it moved entirely
elsewhere.
‘What about Yu Jin-Ho?!’

Jin-Woo hurriedly turned to look behind where Yu Jin-Ho had
been. Thankfully, the kid was unscathed due to Igrit
shielding him.
Jin-Woo sighed in relief.
‘Fuu.’
Now that he found more leeway to search his vicinity, Jin-

Woo quickly snapped his head in the direction where that
vast magic energy had disappeared to.
‘…..’
It was deep within the Gate.
Every single drop of the magical energy the dead Giant

possessed was sucked into the Gate.
It was as if the Gate itself had swallowed up that magic

energy.
The black ‘barrier’ blocking the Gate had shattered a long

time ago during the dungeon break. The interior of the Gate,
which was the inside of the dungeon, could be seen clearly
from the outside.
Guuoooo-….
The air itself seemed to cry out softly.
Jin-Woo thought that he had experienced all sorts of trials

and tribulations in his life so far, but even he had never seen
nor heard of a bizarre event like this one before.
‘Something else is in there.’

His Perception Stat was telling him as much. Jin-Woo stared
at the interior of the dungeon, his eyes progressively getting
narrower and narrower.
Whatever was waiting for him in there, the moment that he

recognised its presence, the hair on the back of his neck all
stood right up. A deathly chill came knocking and
goosebumps broke out all over his body.
As if it was resonating with the crying air, his heart began

beating faster and faster.
“Hyung-nim….”
Yu Jin-Ho had crept up closer and closer until he was

standing next to Jin-Woo. He too stared at the gigantic Gate.
This might get very dangerous. Jin-Woo looked at Yu Jin-Ho

and spoke in a heavy voice.
“You stay here and wait for me.”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded without raising a fuss. His desire to follow

was quite strong, but at the same time, he figured that he’d
be more of a hindrance than anything else.
Jin-Woo left the kid on standby outside, and led his Shadow
Soldiers into the mouth of the Gate, entering into the
dungeon itself.
‘This is really…..’
While entering a few top-ranked dungeons, he thought that

he got pretty used to the idea of things being ‘massive’ by
now. However, his thoughts had to be revised the moment
he entered this particular dungeon.
‘…..Way too huge.’
Jin-Woo walked within the passage that seemed so

limitlessly tall and wide. It was as if the word ‘massive’ had
been invented just to describe this place, and he continued
to swallow back his gasps of astonishment.
He still didn’t make any noises inside the dungeon, though.
He continued to maintain this habit formed during the time

when he was a lowest ranked Hunter and lacked any means
to protect himself from the monsters, even though he
greatly exceeded the levels of ‘regular’ rank S Awakened by
now.
It was never a bad thing to remain cautious of one’s

surroundings, after all.
Jin-Woo’s eyes glowed softly within the darkness.
He didn’t lower his vigilance, not even for a moment, and

continued to advance towards the end of the dungeon. The
soldiers, having recovered to their perfect state despite
being involved in such a fierce battle earlier on, silently
followed right after him.
And so, just how long did they have to walk?
Jin-Woo’s steps eventually came to a stop.
Beru, walking right behind him, raised his hand to signal the
Shadow Army to stop, as well. Perhaps because he was
formerly an ant, the species optimised for life in a large
group, he was rather adept in commanding the large army.
Chut.
The entire Shadow Army came to a perfect halt. Beru

scanned the soldiers once, before sticking close to Jin-Woo’s
back.
“Shh.”
Jin-Woo raised his index finger, and continued on a short

while later.
“Can you hear it?”
Beru concentrated on the ambient noises for a little bit,

before nodding his head.
“….Yes, I can hear it, my king.”
Beru could also hear it now.
Just over yonder was the end of the dungeon. From the
location where the dungeon’s boss should usually be,
laughter came out from there. It was so soft that only the
beings on the levels of Jin-Woo or Beru could perceive it.
The good-natured laughter of a man continued to resound

out as if he was genuinely pleased about something.
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but get puzzled here.
Even though the darkness of the dungeon had masked them

and they couldn’t see each other, the other party must’ve
felt Jin-Woo’s approach by now. It’d be the same story for the
Shadow Army extending far behind him, too.
‘Even then, it can still laugh like that?’

Of course, Jin-Woo had already assessed the situation.
Incredible magical energy, one so powerful that it even

made breathing difficult, was hidden in the darkness just
over yonder. The enemy’s aura that gave him a foreboding
sensation easily exceeded that of the Giant’s magic energy
when it was still alive.
However, Jin-Woo himself was no pushover, either. He

unleashed all of his cloaked magic power, too.
Wuuoongg-….
Ripples spread out to Jin-Woo’s surroundings.
The massive wave of magical energy rippled out, one strong

enough to knock away all the Shadow Soldiers in the vicinity
if it had contained any amount of malice.
Even then….
Hahahaha-
The opponent didn’t stop laughing, even then.
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips also arched up in response.
‘Aren’t you an interesting fella.’
With a smile on his face, he stepped into the boss chamber.

He was greeted by an unfathomably huge and open space
that should have served as the home for the super-massive
Giant monster.
Jin-Woo continued to walk towards where the laughter was

coming from without a shred of hesitation.
His Shadow Soldiers followed after him and marched
forward, as well.
Chut, chut, chut, chut…. (TL: SFX for metal boots walking on
a hard surface.)
The spectacle of so many monsters enveloped in black

smoke advancing forward in unison was more than enough
to instil fear in the hearts of every enemy watching.
However….
“Hahahaha!!”
However, such a thing wasn’t applicable to a certain man,

whose entire body was tied down by chains, with the sole
exception of his head.
Was it him simply being tied down?
No.
It wasn’t as simple as that at all.
The black chains connected to the walls of the dungeons not

only wrapped tightly around this unknown man several
times, some of them even pierced straight through his body,
the emerging ends seemingly taking root within his flesh.
It was such a wretched sight that anyone watching would

immediately start wondering, if that was punishment then
just how big was the crime committed to warrant such
treatment?
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows.
On the other hand, the man formed a bright smile while

looking at Jin-Woo as if he had run into a very close friend.
“Oh, how humorous this is! So very humorous!! All of you
detestable Ruler b*stards, take a good look at who had come
to see me first!”
Jin-Woo came to a stop, not too far but not too close.
The man quickly carried on.
“The chains… hurry and undo these chains. I know all the
plans of the Rulers. I need to let the other Sovereigns know
of the tru…..”
The man’s words suddenly came to a halt, then. His eyes,

filled with joy only until a moment ago, had cooled down in
an instant as if it had all been a lie.
“…”
This unknown man quietly peered into Jin-Woo’s eyes. While

that was happening, the latter also carefully studied the
former. And it was in that moment he realised that this
man’s face and that of the super-massive Giant guarding the
Gate were exactly the same.
‘It’s not…. a human.’
The ripples of magic energy coming from it were too

different from a human’s. Besides, the fact that it was
speaking the language of monsters so fluently could only
mean this guy was not human, for sure.
However, why was a monster being restrained inside a

dungeon in this fashion?
In the ensuing ten years since the first Gate opened up, all
sorts of different monsters made their appearances, but this
would be his first time hearing about the appearance of a
monster that was all tied down and couldn’t move inside a
dungeon.
However, if there was one clue given away now, it was the
term this being used with such disgust – ‘Rulers’.
“…”
“…”
A short bout of silence flowed in between them.
Only after a while did the lips of this unknown man part
open.
“You are…. not the one that I know of.”
Jin-Woo had no idea who this guy mistook him for, but he
wasn’t planning to deny that, either. Well, he also had never
seen the face of this tied-up man before. Excluding the dead
Giant outside, of course.
Jin-Woo threw a question.
“Did those Rulers or whatever make you look like this?”
“They are trying to use me. As the stepping stone for laying
the foundation of the true warfare about to take place.”
This was the first time something like this happened. Jin-Woo
had tried to initiate conversations with intelligent monsters
up until now, but none of them were able to explain their
origins at all.
But then, the one right in front of his eyes had revealed the
reason for its existence for the first time ever.
It said, to lay the foundation of the true warfare.

Whether those words were truth or lies, Jin-Woo realised that
they could become an important clue to unravelling
everything.
“Just what are these things called Rulers?”
“Ancient enemies of the Sovereigns.”
‘Sovereigns….’
The angel statue back then began to go berserk as it was

being pushed to the corner. It cried out something about
other Sovereigns not taking this lying down. For the time
being, even if he were to set aside what kind of existence
these Sovereigns were….
He kind of realised just where one of them could be right

now.
“In that case, the reason why those beings tied you up like
this is that….”
The man replied with sorrowful eyes.
“I am also a Sovereign.”
And then, he explained further with a desperate voice.
“It is quite likely that both the Sovereigns and Rulers are
aiming for you right now. However, you lack the strength to
fight against them. In order to stand a chance against them,
you’ll be needing influence, too.”
Out of all the hard-to-fathom words being spewed out, Jin-

Woo still managed to catch what this man wanted to say the
most.
“Influence?”
The man nodded his head.
“Release me from my seal. I shall aid you.”

Chapter 175
Jin-Woo could only doubt his own hearing just then.
Who wanted to help who now? A monster helping a human?
He was so flabbergasted that he ended up blurting out what

was on his mind.
“You seriously think I’ll believe you?”
The unknown man formed a serious expression.
“Then, I shall make you believe me.”
He began chanting some kind of a spell as his lips moved at

an incredible speed that looked like a video playback sped
up tens, no, hundreds of times.
At that moment, Jin-Woo sensed the magical energy present

within this empty, open arena suddenly coagulate around
this man. In the blink of an eye, he summoned his
shortswords out.
If the gathering magic energy carried even a hint of

aggression, then the blade of his weapon would have
pierced into the man’s forehead already.
However, Jin-Woo patiently waited.
The amount of magic energy being utilised was very small

when compared to the reserves both Jin-Woo and the man
possessed. And he couldn’t sense any aggression or hostile
intent from the gathered energy, either.
‘……’
Jin-Woo readied the ultimate version of the skill ‘Dagger

Throw’, ‘Dagger Rush’, and waited with bated breaths.
The needle-like tension continued to prick him in his skin.
Eventually, the strange language flowing out of the man’s

mouth came to an end, and a System message popped up in
Jin-Woo’s view along with the familiar ‘tti-ring’.
[King of Giants, the Sovereign of the Beginning, ‘Reghia’ has

activated the ‘Skill: Pledge of Trust (Negotiable)’.]
[Once the ‘Skill: Pledge of Trust (Negotiable)’ has been

agreed upon, both the initiator and the acceptor cannot lie
to one another.]
[Will you accept the ‘Skill: Pledge of Trust (Negotiable)’?]

(Y/N)
What attracted Jin-Woo’s attention, first of all, was not the

contents of the man’s suggestion, but the title denoting
what the man’s true identity was.
‘The King of Giants, is it…..’
He remembered the Giant-type monsters he hunted down on

his way to here. Most likely, there must be some kind of a
connection between this revelation and the reason for the
face of the super-massive Giant protecting the Gate being
the same as this man’s own mug.
As Jin-Woo fell into a contemplative silence, the man
patiently waited for an answer.
‘What should I do?’
Jin-Woo looked at the blinking ‘Y/N’ and pondered his

options.
Seeing that the System even bothered to give him an alert

like this, the effects of this skill or whatever must’ve been for
certain.
He needed to think about who’d be in more of a

disadvantage when unable to lie to the other party here.
However, there was no reason to think too deeply about this
as the conclusion was already clear in his mind.
‘Obviously, it’ll be a loss for him.’
After all, this side was standing on an advantage.
In case a question Jin-Woo could never provide an answer for

comes around, all he had to was to kill this creature, even if
that sounded callous and cold-hearted.
This deal was suggested by the other side, to begin with.

And Jin-Woo wasn’t naïve enough to feel guilty for a
monster, of all things.
‘Yes.’
Tti-ring.
A System message appearing simultaneously with the

mechanical beep quickly informed him of the successful
completion of the negotiation.
[‘Pledge of Trust (Negotiable)’ has been initiated.]

[Through the mutual consent of both the initiator and
acceptor, the two parties involved cannot lie to one another
until the contract has been terminated.]
The King of Giants urgently repeated what he said before as

if he was waiting for Jin-Woo to accept the Pledge.
“Please, free me from this seal. I shall help you.”
“Euph…. Euph….??”
Jin-Woo’s eyes went extra round from surprise. His voice

didn’t want to come out of his mouth as if his throat had
been blocked off.
A smile crept up on the face of this King of Giants after

seeing Jin-Woo’s struggles.
“That’s right. That is the power of the Pledge of Trust.”
“…”
Indeed, the effect had been confirmed to be real.
Half out of curiosity and the other half out of testing

purposes, Jin-Woo was about to answer ‘I shall completely
trust you. Let me undo those chains right away’. But he
really couldn’t say any of those words at all.
‘So, this is the Pledge of Trust at work….’
Jin-Woo confirmed the effects of this ‘skill’ and felt his heart
beat faster.
With this, he could trust to a certain extent what this King of

Giants had to say to him. There was a simple reason why he
didn’t trust 100%, though.
If they had no choice but to speak only the truth from now
on, then it was rather obvious that the other party would
withhold information that might prove to be damaging to
itself.
Jin-Woo’s glare became sharper than when there was no

Pledge between the two.
“How come it’s possible to converse freely with you, unlike

how it is with other monsters?”
“Monsters?”
“Creatures emerging out from the Gates.”
“…Ah, ah. You must be referring to the denizens of the

Chaos World.”
The King of Giants cracked a mocking grin.
“I shall ask you something in return. How could you even

think of placing mere denizens of the Chaos World on the
same pedestal as a Sovereign who rules over them?”
He then formed a dignified expression truly fitting for a

‘King’.
“All the denizens of the Chaos World emerging from the so-
called Gates are, without exception, remnants of the
defeated army. They have lost the battles against the army
of the Rulers and become captives. They had to remain tied
to a leash for an uncountable number of years, so it’s only
obvious that their ego has been eroded somewhat. However,
I am the King. I am different from them. I have patiently
waited for the fated day when I can make my escape from
their grasp.”
The King formed a thin smile next.
“And that’s how I got to encounter you.”
“….”
Jin-Woo worked hard to keep his emotions in check and to

analyse what this guy was saying as objectively as possible.
‘If he’s really an existence on a higher realm than other

monsters, then….’
….Then, he might really find himself with some important

clues here.
Gulp.
His saliva travelled down his throat.
He had a ton of stuff he wanted to ask right now. But, before

he did that, he needed to confirm something else first.
“By any chance, when you said the army of the Rulers, were
you talking about those wearing silver armour with wings on
their backs….?”
“That’s right. Those dogs are the soldiers of the Rulers.”
As expected. It felt as if another puzzle piece had clicked

into its rightful place.
He suddenly thought that the ‘video playback’ the angel

statue showed him was not some make-believe crap, but
someone’s real memories of an event that did happen,
instead.
Just what the hell was going on in this world, then?

Jin-Woo asked another question.
“Why do those b*stards called Rulers keep sending these

monsters to us?”
The reason for the existences of the Gates. If he could find

out the reason why these Gates kept popping up, then
couldn’t he be able to do something about it and stop that
from happening again?
Jin-Woo biggest concern lay with that.
“I have told you that already, have I not?”
The King of the Giants spoke with much more emphasis in

his voice.
“They are preparing for war.”
“War?”
“They will change this world into a suitable battlefield to

engage the Sovereigns in yet another warfare.”
“I don’t quite follow you here… Just by sending monsters to

Earth, this planet suddenly becomes a warzone?”
Well, it was true that sometimes, a situation far more

horrifying than a warzone could develop from a Gate, but
still.
Jin-Woo momentarily recalled the event that took place in

Jin-Ah’s school. Even then, those were matters that involved
humanity. He just couldn’t see how those would serve as
preparations for some kind of a war involving non-human
races.
“It is all to inject magical energy into your world.”

THUD!
Jin-Woo felt as if he was struck in the back of his head just

then.
If monsters were calamities emerging from the Gates, then

magic energy was the blessing coming from the Gates. Not
just the Hunters, but many civilians thought similarly along
these lines.
Magic crystals, as well as Mana stones. These items

containing magic energy were treated as the greatest source
of energy in the modern world.
But then, that energy was actually nothing more than

footholds for the upcoming war?
The King of Giants continued on with his explanations.
“There is simply no better way to propagate the type of

energy that didn’t exist before than by sacrificing the blood
of those that possess the necessary energy. So, the Rulers
decided to utilise the captives they had in their possession.”
There was no need to even mention that the density of the

magical energy around the world was gradually getting
thicker every day.
That was not a naturally occurring phenomenon. No, more

than likely that was the fruits from the trees first germinated
from the fertile field cultivated from the blood of the
monsters.
“The magic energy fortifies a world. They plan to fortify your

world so it wouldn’t get destroyed from the impacts of the
warfare.”
“In that case, this warfare is….?”
“Yet another blood-soaked struggle between the Sovereigns

and the Rulers. Not too long from now, the world you’re
living in will become a true hell.”
A battle between the armies of the Rulers, and the monsters

– no, creatures before they were unwittingly turned into
monsters. Jin-Woo did clearly witness their enormous battle
from the ‘data’.
If Earth had been selected as ground zero for such massive

scale warfare, then the assertion of this King of Giants, the
one about this planet becoming hell, could not be dismissed
as a simple exaggeration.
The complexion of the King suddenly darkened.
“There isn’t a lot of time left.”
“…..?”
“Once the truth about you coming in contact with me gets

out, both the Sovereigns and the Rulers will not simply stay
back and watch on anymore. It is even likely that the Envoys
of the Rulers have begun their schemes already.”
“You’ve been implying that those b*stards will be aiming for

my life, but… Why is that?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
The Kings continued on with his explanations in a tone of

voice thickly laden with pity.
“The power that you possess actually is not yours.”
Nod.
Jin-Woo agreed with that.
The abilities of the Shadow Sovereign were something he

got from the System. He couldn’t deny the notion that this
power was not his from the very beginning.
“The mere fact of that power now residing within you could
only mean that the original owner had betrayed other
Sovereigns.”
When Jin-Woo heard that, he remembered the angel statue

saying something similar in nature. It was likely that the
statue was also one of the denizens of the Chaos World that
followed the Sovereigns.
As the questions in Jin-Woo’s head kept sprouting up one

after another, the King of Giants spoke up.
“You have become the enemy of both the Sovereigns, as well

as the Rulers. However, only I pledge that I shall stand by
your side and fight for you. So, will you not help me?”
The King of Giants had assessed that this much convincing

was enough and formed a serious, determined face.
Unfortunately for him, Jin-Woo calmly asked a question in
return.
“If you wish to stand by my side, then wouldn’t it be simpler

for me to turn you into a Shadow Soldier, instead?”
The King of the Giants flinched in surprise.
It was only for a second then, but for that briefest of

moments, the King saw the actual face of the Shadow
Sovereign and this human’s overlap.
What the human said was not wrong. To him, there would be
bigger merit in having one more absolutely loyal underling
than forming a brand new alliance with a complete stranger.
The King inwardly admired the fact that this human didn’t
miss that crucial point. He spoke up and explained the
situation.
“We, the Sovereigns, as well as the Rulers, are made up of

spiritual bodies. Once such a spiritual body dies, it is
destroyed and can’t be turned into one of your Shadow
Soldiers. Meaning, I can never become your soldier.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head again.
‘So, that was why.’
Here was the reason why the King thought Jin-Woo would
lend a helping hand when there was clearly a much easier
method, to turn him into a Shadow Soldier. As the Pledge of
Truth was still active, there was no need to decipher if that
was a lie or not, too.
Jin-Woo stopped swimming within his thoughts and raised

his head.
The King of Giants asked again.
“Are those enough reasons for you to help me now?”
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the King.
This being titled the King of Giants, it was carrying an

expression of certainty as if it knew that the restraints tying
it down would soon be undone.
Of course, Jin-Woo had no such weird tendencies of feeling
jealous after seeing someone else being happier than him.
Also, this guy said he’d become his ally out of its own
volition, so he didn’t have any reason to reject the offer,
either.
However, why did he keep feeling this uneasiness in his

heart?
‘Something… I’ve definitely overlooked something here.’
One cold sweat drop after another began forming on his

forehead.
The King of Giants, meanwhile, made another plea.
“Unshackle me, I beseech you.”
Jin-Woo took in a deep, deep breath.
No matter how hard he pondered his options, he couldn’t

think of a reason to reject this King’s plea. The longer he
thought about what he had missed, the more he felt as if he
was getting sucked into a quagmire.
‘Am I being too paranoid here….?’
Jin-Woo approached the King of Giants while carrying the

‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
And as he walked right up to its own nose, the King nodded

his head. Jin-Woo reciprocated that nod.
He swung his shortsword laden with his magic power, and

one of the chains powerlessly snapped in half.

His heart was beating louder and louder for some reason.
Why did this indecipherable sense of ill omen continue to

pull back at his hands, even though he had already made
his decision?
Slice.
The second chain was cut in half, as well.
The King of Giants formed a reverential expression that was

neither joyous or sorrowful and waited for his restraints to be
undone.
The third chain.
Slice.
Jin-Woo leaned towards the back of the King in order to cut

the chains taking root within its flesh there. But then….
Ba-thump!!
His heart pulsed incredibly powerfully, right then.
He felt as if his heart had crashed down to the pit of his

stomach.
The chain of thoughts on what he had overlooked, and why

he was feeling that way, violently crashed into his head, as if
it was prying apart the small gap between the tight rock
formation.
Jin-Woo stayed his hands trying to cut the chain, and looked
straight into the King’s eyes.
“You have said that you will stand by my side, yes?”

“Of course I will. If you help me, then I shall help you in
return. This is a fair and absolute transaction between two
Sovereigns.”
He had already heard this reply several times. However,

what Jin-Woo wanted to confirm wasn’t that answer. So, he
threw out the real question next.
“In that case, are you on the side of the humans?”
“…”
The King suddenly became silent.
The ‘Pledge of Truth’. The condition of this spell meant that

the King of Giants couldn’t say anything.
Jin-Woo took a look behind this being’s neck. A jet-black

Mana Crystal embedded on the back of his neck coldly
reflected the ambient light.
As long as that item was stuck in the body, this being would
hear the voices of the Rulers in his head, too.
….Exactly like every other monster.
The words of ‘Kill every human’.
For a brief moment there, a murderous intent flowed in the

air.
With its now-free right hand, the King of Giants took aim at
Jin-Woo’s temple.
Too bad, it was still not enough to reach him. He lowered his
head and evaded the attack, before stabbing the shortsword
into the King’s chest.
Stab!
As if the chains wrapped around its body didn’t even exist,

the sharp blade dug deep into the chest cavity of the
captive King.
“Keo-heuk!!”
The King of Giants suddenly vomited out a mouthful of

blood.
However, that single hit wasn’t enough. Letting this thing

live was far too risky. This thing… could become an untold
calamity.
Jin-Woo analysed the situation as thus and, while evading

the right hand of the King constantly attacking him with
nothing more than tilting his upper body this way and that,
continued to thrust the shortsword into the chest of his
enemy.
Stab, stab, stab, stab!
He stabbed for the sixth time.
Only after his blade entered and left the chest cavity for the
sixth time did the King of Giants stopped moving his right
hand.
It was over.
Jin-Woo extracted his shortsword for the last time. The King
of Giants stared straight into his eyes and formed a
meaningful grin.
“It is regretful, but this here is the end of the road for me.”
“…”
Jin-Woo took a step back and wordlessly shook the blood off
his shortsword. In the meantime, the King continued to
speak.
“As the battles between the residents of your world and the
captured denizens of the Chaos World become more and
more intense, this world will transform further and further
into a battlefield.”
Cough! The King coughed out another mouthful of blood

and formed the last smile.
“I pray… that everything you wish to protect burn into ashes

in the all-ending conflagration of the war….”
“That ain’t gonna happen.”
Jin-Woo curtly cut off the words of the King, and swung his
shortsword hard to cut the being’s head off.
Slice!
[You have killed the owner of the dungeon.]
The moment the King drew his last breath, the ocean-like
magical energy sleeping within the creature exploded into
the world outside.
The transformation of the world had begun.

Chapter 176
A few days before the death of the King of Giants.
A helicopter belonging to America’s Hunter Bureau landed

on the lawn of a certain ultra-luxurious mansion.
Tatatata….
The owner of this mansion, currently enjoying a belated

lunch, stared at that helicopter through his window and
stopped cutting into the juicy slab of steak.
“I haven’t heard of anyone coming to see me today?”
“I shall go and confirm who it is.”
The steward lowered his head and left with a quick trot.
Around the same time, the owner of the mansion spotted

two people climbing out of the helicopter and his expression
hardened in an instant.
“….This could get troublesome.”
The housekeeper carrying away the empty plates heard his

muttering by chance and tilted her head. The dignified
gentleman sitting at the dining table, the owner of this
grand mansion, was one of the only five greatest Hunters
alive on this planet.
His name was Christopher Reid.

He was more commonly known as the ‘Special Authority-
rank Hunter’ rather than by his birth name, though. In any
case, who’d dare to trouble such a person?
The steward ran past the housekeeper and her curious

expression to enter the dining room.
“Sir Christopher!”
“I already know.”
Christopher Reid stopped the steward from speaking any

further and quietly got up from his chair. With a smile on his
face, he then greeted a middle-aged man entering the
dining room one step later than his flustered steward.
“It’s been a long time, Deputy Director. And….”
Christopher Reid’s gaze shifted over to the African-American

lady standing behind the Deputy Director of the Hunter
Bureau.
“….Madam Selner.”
It was already abnormal for someone as important as the

deputy director of the Hunter Bureau to pay a personal visit
like this. But, this lady making a move personally would be
on a whole new scale of seriousness altogether.
Sure enough, the deputy director was carrying a deeply

tense face as he scanned his surroundings. He spoke while
anxiously rubbing his chin.
“We have an urgent matter to discuss with you, so can you

send everyone else away for the time being?”
As Christopher Reid had expected – his prediction of being
troubled had come true.
If his guest was only the deputy director, then he’d have
made the latter wait for a few hours as the price for
disrupting his peaceful afternoon without a heads-up.
However, he couldn’t do something so impolite with Madam

Selner present.
Christopher Reid quietly pondered for a moment while

washing the inside of his mouth with a glass of wine. He
beckoned the steward with his finger. Only after his
employee got close enough to touch his forehead did the
Hunter whisper his next order.
“Until my two guests leave, do not let anyone come

anywhere remotely close to this room. Understood?”
The steward bowed his head, and began ushering everyone

else, including the housekeeper, out from this room. He then
also exited from the room and held the door with both
hands, before bowing his head once more.
Christopher Reid nodded his head, and the door was silently
closed shut.
And so, only three people, the owner of the mansion, the
Deputy Director Michael Connor, and Madam Selner,
remained within this spacious room.
Christopher Reid swept his gaze over his two guests and
couldn’t help but smirk. It was understandable, really.
Wasn’t this the occasion where the worth of the second-in-
command of the government’s most powerful organisation
had become the least important of the trio present?
Christopher Reid himself would be the second as the Special

Authority-rank Hunter. And no one could even begin to
imagine the potential value of Madam Selner, who could
permanently enhance the abilities of a Hunter.
‘Oopsie daisy, where are my manners.’
He couldn’t let these important guests stand around like

that, now could he?
Christopher Reid pulled out two chairs from the dining table
and addressed them.
“Please, have a seat.”
Once he confirmed that the deputy director and Madam had

settled down, he too parked his rear on their opposite side.
“So, now….”
Christopher Reid alternated his gaze between the two

guests and smiled amiably.
“What business brings you two to this distant abode of

mine?”
Madam Selner searched for a sign of assurance from the

deputy director first. He nodded his head to signal go ahead.
But, just before Selner could open her mouth to speak,
Christopher Reid raised his hand first.
“Before we start.”
There were some hints of displeasure evident in his

expression.
“If you have come here to speak to me about that rank S
Gate appearing somewhere out in the east, then let me
make myself clear. I’m still not interested in going.”
He resolutely stated his case. He made sure to drive the

point home so there would be no room for anyone to try
changing his mind.
“As both of you should know by now, the United States

government had promised me the full rights equalling that
of an independent nation. Meaning, I possess the right to
refuse any request made by the U.S. government. And, as I
have stated in my communique sent out earlier, I have
decided not to participate in this raid.”
He was basically a ‘different nation’ within a country.
Such a thing as civic duty simply didn’t hold any meaning

for a ‘Special Authority-rank Hunter’, who was treated not as
a citizen of a country but as a living, breathing nation in
itself and was accorded the same treatment as every other
nation on Earth.
Of course, he could lend a helping hand if he wanted to.

However, there was a reason why he decided to refuse the
invitation.
He figured that there was no need for him to participate in a

raid where every rank S Hunter living in the United States
was planning to show up.
Even if the deputy director showed up here while thinking of

using Madam as a proxy, Christopher Reid held not one
thought of changing his mind at all.
Too bad for him, just as he was firm about where he stood,
Madam Selner too drew a clear line on where she stood.
“I haven’t come to you because of that Gate, Mister Chris.
We have an even bigger problem than that to worry about.”
Right now, the country of Japan was being driven to the

brink of destruction from a single rank S Gate. However, did
she just say that there was an even bigger problem than a
rank S Gate getting ready to open up within the U.S.
borders?
Christopher Reid’s torso leaned in closer towards the

Madam.
“What is this big problem?”
Madam Selner hesitated greatly before she forced her lips to

open.
“Mister Chris….. In the near future, there is a strong

possibility that you’ll get assassinated by an unknown
assailant.”
At that moment, an awkward silence descended on the

room.
Christopher Reid had been wondering why the deputy

director seemed so unsettled and nervous like that. As a
matter of fact, Michael Connor even pulled out a
handkerchief to dab away the sweat soaking his forehead
right now.
“….Madam Selner.”
His voice as he called out to her became heavy, low.
“I’ll never forget the favour you did for me for the rest of my
life.”
Because of her ability, his powers had become stronger than
ever before. He had exceeded his limit that felt like a wall he
couldn’t overcome no matter what. However, that didn’t
mean she was allowed to look down on him like this.
“Just who is supposed to assassinate who here?”
Just who would dare to touch even a single hair on the body
of a Special Authority-rank Hunter?
A cat could never slay a lion. Only a lion could rip apart
another lion to death. However, he was utterly confident of
not losing to any of the lions on the same level as him.
This was the true reason why he opted to stay out of this
raid. How unbecoming was it for a lion to butt in where the
stray cats had gathered? Unless you were a low-class lion
like Thomas Andre, of course.
Madam Selner had clearly sensed the quiet rage burning

within Christopher Reid’s mind, but she didn’t stop with her
explanation.
“Not too long ago, I had a dream related to you.”
“A dream?”
“Yes.”
Madam nodded her head.
Christopher Reid felt flabbergasted, but Madam continued

on regardless.
“In my dream, you were surrounded by some men, and

they…..”
“Look here, Madam Selner!”

Christopher Reid couldn’t hold back anymore and yelled out
loudly.
“Just because of some dream you had, you flew all the way
out to this place to tell me this nonsense, Madam?!”
“This is not nonsense, and I merely wish to….”
“I already know full well what you used to do before

becoming an Awakened, okay?”
Some people believed that, because she used to work as a

psychic, Madam Selner came to possess a unique ability that
separated her from all the other Awakened out there.
However, her former profession still couldn’t excuse this

utterly nonsensical drivel. Christopher Reid’s expression
crumpled rather unsightly.
“I am a Special Authority-rank Hunter. No one can kill me.”
“But, in my dream, you definitely….”
“You and your dream again!”
Christopher Reid spat out a long sigh and then, nodded his
head.
“Alright, fine. Let’s say I believe you, Madam. Let’s say there
are enemies powerful enough to kill me. In that case, if that
is all real, who should I go and ask for help, then?”
Should he call the cops? Or, request protection from the

Hunter Bureau? Against an opponent capable enough to
supposedly kill a Special Authority-rank Hunter?
What a stupid notion that was.

Christopher Reid snorted in derision and continued on.
“If true, there’s nothing that can be done, is there?”
“…..”
Madam Selner silently deliberated for a long time before

making her reply.
“There might be someone who can help you.”
“And just who might this someone be?”
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. If it’s him, he might be able to

protect you.”
Seong Jin-Woo?
Christopher Reid was listening without much interest, to

begin with, and needed to comb his memories for a moment
there. Although the name itself sounded unfamiliar, he was
sure of hearing it from somewhere before.
But, where could it have been?
It must’ve been pretty recent when he heard that name

‘Seong Jin-Woo’, however.
‘No, could it be….?’
The expression on Christopher Reid’s face crumpled even

more.
“Wait, are you talking about that Asian Hunter who went off
to solve the Japanese dungeon break crisis?”
“That’s correct. He’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”

Madam Selner definitely saw it back then.
She definitely saw the near-infinite power sleeping deep

within Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. If it was him, then he might be
able to protect a Special Authority-rank Hunter.
She had spoken these words out of genuine concern

regarding Christopher Reid’s welfare. However, his immense
pride heard them as nothing but insults to his dignity.
Boom!!
He slammed his fist down on the table reflexively and the

furniture buckled to the floor.
“Get out right now, Madam. Right this instant!”
Christopher Reid shot up from his seat and pointed towards

the door with his finger.
“I-if you could just listen a bit more….”
The deputy director tried to persuade Christopher Reid, but

then….
“W-we shall be on our way….”
….He couldn’t say anything else under the sharp, murderous

glare of a Special Authority-rank Hunter.
He hurriedly accompanied the clearly-hesitant Madam

Selner out of the mansion. The steward on standby outside
the room saw the broken table and quickly rushed in.
“Did something happen, sir?”
“….No, not really.”

Christopher Reid slowly shook his head.
If it wasn’t Madam Selner who lent a huge helping hand

when enhancing his powers – indeed, if it was someone else,
then things wouldn’t have ended with that person being
chased out of his mansion.
He could only swallow back the still-burning rage and took a

deep breath.
‘She wants me to ask for help from some second-rate Asian

Hunter?’
There was a limit to how much one was allowed to mock the
one and only Christopher Reid.
He suddenly swivelled his head towards the steward. The

latter flinched a little, but quickly regained his former
composure.
“Do you have new orders for me, sir?”
“That….. That Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo. Do you know

when he’s supposed to start his Japanese raid?”
The story of Japan was one of the hottest talked-about topics

in the world. America was no exception. Quite obviously,
Seong Jin-Woo’s name had become as famous as the
dungeon break that happened in Japan or the Giants that
popped out from the Gate.
The steward calculated the time difference using his

wristwatch and made his reply.
“He should be arriving in Japan in one hour’s time, sir.”
“One hour, is it….”

….He shouldn’t get bored for a little while, then.
Christopher Reid consoled himself with that thought and

continued to glare at the rising helicopter containing the
deputy director and Madam Selner.
***
[You have killed the owner of the dungeon.]
Drop.
The King of Giants lost its head. Jin-Woo quickly stepped

away to evade the fountain of blood gushing out from the
severed neck. It was then.
Tti-ring!
The familiar mechanical beep went off in his head. Initially,

he thought it was just one of those normal alerts the System
often sent out.
However, the message was definitely not normal in nature.
[You have killed one of the Nine Sovereigns, the Sovereign of

the Beginning, ‘Reghia’.]
[Calculating the total earned experience points.]
[Due to the enormous amount of experience points, this

process will take some time.]
‘What the heck?’
Jin-Woo was flustered for a moment there as he had never

come across a situation like this one before. And a little
while later….
Tti-ring! Tti-ring! Tti-ring! Tti-ring!
Mechanical beeps continuously rang inside his head.
And at the same time, Jin-Woo got to spectate on the grand

feast of System messages utterly filling up his vision.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
….
……..
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
‘….!!!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened progressively wider and wider.
Six times the message windows went past his eyes, and
even then, there had to be two additional mechanical beeps
ringing inside his head for the ‘Level up!’ alerts to come to
their end.
Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned up his Stat Window.
‘Status Window!’
Chapter 177
[Level: 122]
‘Heok!’
Jin-Woo confirmed his new level and swallowed back a huge

gasp of shock.
His level reached 100 after hunting down all the ants on Jeju
Island. However, his level stayed pretty much the same for a
little while after that, probably because of the wide gap
between him and the monsters he ran into.
After asking for other major Guilds’ understandings, he got

to sweep clean every single high-ranking dungeon in the
vicinity for a week and only then did his level rise up to 103.
But now, his level had jumped past 120?
This was all thanks to the Giant-type monsters, each

possessing a boss-level worth of experience points, as well
as the King of Giants who gifted him with an enormous
amount of experience points. Which was as much as eight
levels’ worth, no less.
‘Very nice.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head. He had made the right call by

killing the King. It was definitely not a coincidence that his
level shot up by eight in one go.
This being was able to emit enough pressure to make
breathing difficult for him even though its powers had been
sealed away by these special chains. If this thing got freed
and was allowed to roam freely in the outside world, then….
Jin-Woo shook his head left to right.
He should thank the lucky stars that he got to discover its

true nature before that happened.
It was then – the King’s corpse suddenly began splitting up

like the ground suffering from drought, and soon, changed
into sand-like dust and collapsed to the floor.
The words the King told him abruptly brushed past Jin-Woo’s
mind just then.
[“Once such a spiritual body dies, it’s destroyed and can’t be

turned into one of your Shadow Soldiers. Meaning, I can
never become your soldier.”]
The death of a ‘spiritual body’.
For the first time in his life, he got to witness the death of a
so-called spiritual body.
What the King said was right. Its corpse transformed into
sand and no black smokes came up from it, nor did he see a
message regarding Shadow Extraction pop up.
Jin-Woo dug out the black Magic Crystal from the pile of
sand and lightly dusted its surface.
‘It’s a bit of a loss that I couldn’t get me a new Shadow

Soldier, but… I guess I should satisfy myself with this thing,
then.’
Jin-Woo studied this large Magic Crystal.
Its mirror-like clear surface reflected his face. As he peered

deeply into it, he felt the ends of his fingertips tingle from all
the power contained within this thing.
‘So, it’s those Rulers that keep sending these things over
here….’
Why did it happen? Back when he first heard the term

‘Rulers’, a scene automatically began replaying itself in his
mind. And it was about four ‘angels’ descending from the
heavens.
Even though it hadn’t really happened to him, Jin-Woo felt a

chill run down his backside simply from ‘discovering’ them
in the playback.
Tumble.
He felt as if his heart fell to the pit of his stomach.
‘Could those things be the Rulers?’
If those things were planning to invade Earth, then he

definitely lacked enough power to stop them as he was right
now. He gripped the Magic Crystal even tighter.
‘I need to get much stronger.’
In that sense, it was an incredibly fortunate thing that he

was bestowed with the powers of the Shadow Sovereign. He
had gained an unimaginable power, and there was a very
good possibility that he’d grow even stronger in the future.
What would have happened if he lacked enough points back

during the Class quest and was not chosen by the System?
Jin-Woo quietly engaged the yet-to-be closed Status Window
with a bit of banter.
“Oii… Will you say something back already?”
Too bad, the System still didn’t bother to reply back to him.
“….”
Jin-Woo told himself that one day, if he was left with no

choice but to compile a bucket list then he’d definitely put
‘have a serious chat with the System’ somewhere in there.
He stood up from the ground to leave.
But as he turned around, his foot touched something lying

on the floor.
Tap.
‘Mm?’
He took a look below and discovered that it was the black

chain that used to be wrapped around the King of Giants.
Immediately, curiosity filled Jin-Woo’s eyes. And very soon,
that curiosity morphed into full-on interest.
‘Maybe these things…. might come in handy?’
He sneakily reached out and grasped onto one of the chains

still attached to the dungeon wall.
And, sure enough, he could sense his strength being sucked

away.
‘Ohhh.’
Indeed, this chain was absorbing his magic energy.

Only one wouldn’t be a problem, but if these chains were
tightly wrapped around you in several layers, even the
holder of an incredible power wouldn’t be able to extricate
themselves out any time soon.
Jin-Woo confirmed the MP reserve being steadily eaten away

and grinned brightly.
‘Isn’t this an unexpected harvest?’
Feeling rather pleased, he summoned out a ‘Demon King’s

Shortsword’ and cut one of the chains off. However, he
couldn’t sense any magical effects taking place from the
now-severed chain.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t just this one, either. It was all of them.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the dungeon wall.
He grasped a chain still connected to the wall, and felt the

same sealing effect as before. However, all the severed
chains didn’t display that magical effect at all.
He could venture a guess on what was going on here.
‘….So, that’s how it was.’
These chains were not some sort of artefacts. No, the sealing
effect was simply the power of this dungeon. In other words,
these chains were no better than some scrap metal when
outside the dungeon.
‘I can’t use them.’

Jin-Woo lowered the chains that had become regular items to
the floor.
Although he couldn’t say for sure that he didn’t feel a bit

rueful here, he found some solace in the fact that he still had
gained a lot on this trip already.
Through this expedition, the shadows of the Giants had

been added to his Shadow Army, and his level had shot up
to 122 after killing the oversized monsters and their King.
All these alone were results that already far exceeded his
expectations.
Jin-Woo decisively gave up on the chains and turned around

with a grin.
Beru courteously lowered his head at his Sovereign. He then

raised his head back up and pointed to the exit with his
finger. The Shadow Soldiers standing in front of Jin-Woo
stepped aside at once and created a large pathway.
Jin-Woo saw that Beru’s shoulder was all clean from

unidentifiable substances and lightly patted him there,
before walking over to the exit himself.
Beru felt moved by that gesture of his Sovereign and quietly

followed after Jin-Woo as well. And right behind them, the
near-thousand Shadow Soldiers who had contributed a great
deal in the battle against the Giants, maintained the perfect
formation and advanced out of the boss chamber.
Chut, chut, chut, chut.
The interior of the dungeon was soon filled up with the

heavy footsteps of the marching Shadow Soldiers.
In the distance, the mouth of the dungeon could be seen.
Jin-Woo formed a smile as he looked at the sunlight

permeating into the entrance. It was the moment that this
seemingly endless raid had come to its conclusion.
***
The situation room of the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
The inside of this situation room was draped in a deathly

silence; not even a squeaking noise could be heard. It
wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the staff members
had forgotten to even breath right now.
All of their attention had been focused on the giant monitor

located in front of the room.
Gulp.
Gulp…
Only the subtle noises of dry saliva being swallowed would

sometimes murmur out from here and there.
The footage as displayed by the giant screen currently

showed the image of Shinjuku, shot from the spy satellite’s
magic energy detection camera looking down on Earth from
space.
This camera displayed the magic energy detected in terms

of light spheres. The stronger the magic energy, the brighter
the light would be. Weaker magical energy would naturally
lead to a smaller light sphere.
There was not one person among everyone present in this

situation room who didn’t know what that gigantic light
sphere making itself at home in the middle of Tokyo
represented.
Almost a thousand smaller light spheres gathered and stood

right before that large ball of light. Every Association staff
member watching that enormous number turned pale from
sheer fright.
“T-those, all of those are Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s

summons?!”
“Even with a casual headcount, isn’t that over five

hundred?”
The Association President Matsumoto quietly leaned his

head closer to the agent from the analysis department
sitting next to him.
“How many of his summons are there exactly?”
“Because several lights are overlapping with one another,

it’s difficult to tell exactly, but at the least, I believe there
are well more than eight hundred creatures, sir.”
Eight hundred creatures, he said.
Since a member of the analysis department even bothered

to mention ‘well more than’ in his sentence, the offered
number should be seen as the absolute minimum value.
Even when looked that way, this was already twice the
number of summons first seen back in Jeju Island.
Matsumoto was inwardly astonished.

‘It hasn’t even been that long ago, but just when did he
double the number of his summons?!’
No, it was already not normal to increase the number of

one’s summons, to begin with.
His trembling hand wiped the area around his mouth.
If this man was considered an enemy, then without a doubt,

Matsumoto wouldn’t have been able to see a way out, but
knowing that Seong Jin-Woo was an ally, his mind had never
felt this comfortable before.
What a relief it was that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had graced

his mercy on Japan like this. The Association President
Matsumoto barely recovered from the mental shock and
shifted his gaze back to the large screen.
The smaller spots of lights advanced towards the single

large light sphere. It was the beginning of the battle
between Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summons and the Giant
guarding the Gate.
Their palms soaked in sweat, everyone present witnessed

the spectacle of spots of lights endlessly tangle and writhe
around against each other.
And eventually, the flickering large pillar of light….

vanished.
“Waaaaaahhh!!!”
As if waiting for that very moment, cheers loud enough to

rock the entire situation room erupted out.
The employees embraced each other tearfully and rejoiced

in their happiness. Finally, they were greeted by the
momentous occasion of the Japanese mainland being freed
from the menace of the Giant-type monsters.
All these had been the handiwork of a single Korean Hunter.
“…”
The Association President Matsumoto kept his mouth

resolutely shut and watched the screen before nodding his
head to himself.
He blamed the heavens for not gifting such a Hunter to

Japan but to Korea back when Jin-Woo ended up foiling his
scheme. But now, he was thankful that such a Hunter indeed
was gifted to South Korea, instead.
‘If he wasn’t around, then by now, Japan would have been….’
The Association President Matsumoto shuddered from the

horrifying imagery taking root in his head and picked up the
phone in order to carry out the final duty he needed to
perform.
The call got through quite quickly.
– “How did things go?”
The tense voice of the Japanese Prime Minister came out

from the phone’s speaker.
The Association President Matsumoto informed him of the

results with a voice slightly choked up with emotions.
“Japan’s…. Japan’s crisis is over, sir.”
Excited, loud yells could be heard from the phone’s speaker

next.
However, the Prime Minister spoke in a dignified voice,
doing his very best to mask his sheer joy felt in his heart.
– “You worked hard, Association President Matsumoto.

However, this does not mean the weight of the punishment
reserved for you will be lessened, understood?”
“Of course, sir.”
He had already made up his mind.
It was obvious that the general who failed to kill the enemy’s
leader would offer his neck up as compensation. And, what if
that enemy’s leader ended up saving your own country, too?
Faced with the perfect, utter defeat, Matsumoto Shigeo

couldn’t bring himself to mouth any excuses whatsoever.
He simply spoke in a soft voice.
“I shall gladly accept any punishment, sir. That is… the final
duty I must carry out.”
***
The news of the Giants all being hunted down quickly

spread to the rest of the world. From the closest neighbour of
Japan, South Korea, all the way to Brazil in South America,
on the other side of the globe.
The entire world heard of Jin-Woo’s feats.
– A single Hunter rescues an entire nation!
Various social media networking sites were in upheaval with

suggestions of a brand new ‘Special Authority-rank’ Hunter
making his appearance. The difference this time, compared
to the Jeju Island raid, was that such suggestions were being
made not only by the Koreans.
The state of Maryland, in the eastern half of the United

States of America.
The American Hunters who had safely concluded the raid of

the rank S Gate were supposed to be heading to the
celebratory party organised by the U.S. government.
However, all these Hunters didn’t enter the party venue and
simply stood by the hotel’s lounge watching the TV located
there as it continued to transmit the news coming out of
Japan. Their collective jaws were falling to the floor.
“What the hell??”
“No freaking way…. This doesn’t make any sense, logically.”
They just couldn’t believe it.
The most famous Support-type rank S Hunter in the world,

Yuri Orlov, couldn’t do anything before he got killed in the
blink of an eye.
The agile movements of the super-massive Giant captured

by the TV cameras – calling that thing a monster was simply
not enough when considering such a huge body was able to
exhibit such speed.
But then, a single rank S Hunter managed to hunt down

such a nonsensical creature by himself?!
[….Hunter Jin-Woo Seong, accompanied by another Hunter

ranked D, Jin-Ho Yu, arrived in Japan and…..]
No, it’d actually be better if he had done it alone.

But then, to say he killed all the Giant-type monsters with a
measly rank D in tow as well? It was simply too
unbelievable.
Unfortunately, they had no choice but to believe, because

the cameras continued to capture the scenes of Japanese
citizens continuously shedding tears to express their
unbridled joy.
And finally, the footage changed to display the corpse of the

super-massive Giant, currently lying sprawled powerlessly
on the ground.
“Keok!!”
The three rank S Hunters who made bets earlier spat out
shocked gasps almost simultaneously, making it hard to tell
who did it first. Only now could they truly believe that the
monster had been killed for real.
It was then.
“Ah, everyone. So this was where you were.”
The three men’s heads snapped immediately in the direction

of where that voice was coming from. And their eyes all
widened as well.
“T-Thomas….”
Thomas Andre stood before them and with a grin, presented

them with a single slip of paper.
“W-what is this?”
“The promissory note stating that all of you will uphold the
result of the bet.”
“Ehhh?!”
Thomas Andre didn’t really give a d*mn about the stunned

reactions of the three Hunters and began jotting down the
items each of them had put forward in the bet.
“You said your yacht. You, your mansion. And you…..”
Thomas Andre stared straight at the third Hunter and began

scratching the side of his head with the end of his pen.
“What did you bet again?”
The singled-out Hunter gulped down his saliva and hurriedly

raised his voice.
“I didn’t bet anything, actually.”
“Hey, your tie looks pretty cool, no?”
“I didn’t….”
“Your tie.”
“No, wait, I….”
Thomas Andre lowered his sunglasses just a little and

quietly stared at him, causing the Hunter to shut his mouth.
….Because, this guy had witnessed the power of ‘Goliath’

capable of ripping rank S monsters apart with nothing but
his bare hands. This Hunter had not one bit of desire to go
up against Thomas Andre who waltzed around the rank S
dungeon as if it was a low-rank dungeon commonly found
everywhere.
“Your tie.”
The Hunter undid his tie with a tearful face.
A short while later, Thomas Andre walked into the restaurant

of the hotel while whistling to himself before discovering a
familiar face there and stopped his leisurely stroll.
It was the manager in charge of managing the top Hunters

of the Scavenger Guild, Laura. When she approached him,
Thomas Andre showed off his new tie to her and asked.
“So, what do you think about my new tie?”
“It looks expensive, but it does not suit your Hawaiian shirt,
sir.”
“You think so?”
Thomas Andre undid the tie around his neck and chucked it
inside a trash can nearby while replying nonchalantly to her.
“Yup, I thought as much.”
Laura had seen how Thomas Andre operated from a close

vantage point for a very long time now. So, she didn’t
display much of a reaction and simply stated the reason why
she was here.
“We have a problem.”
“A problem?”
Thomas Andre raised his head away from the trash can.
His experience told him that this problem couldn’t have

been a minor one since Laura didn’t use the phone, but
rather showed up here personally to inform him like this.
“What kind of a problem are we talking about here?”

Laura spoke with a worried voice.
“The list of Guilds invited by the Hunter Bureau for this

year’s International Guild Conference has been published.
However, it includes South Korea’s Ah-Jin Guild.”
“Ah-Jin… Guild??”
Suddenly, he was overcome with an ominous feeling.

Thomas Andre’s voice sounded heavier as a result.
Laura nodded her head.
“It’s as you suspect. It’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s Guild.”
As he thought. Why did all the ill omens he sensed never

miss their marks?
Thomas Andre frowned deeply and spoke.
“So, I guess he’s coming to America, then.”

Chapter 178
A certain village located in Ishikawa Prefecture.
The entrance of the village had been bustling with so many

people since early morning that there wasn’t enough space
to walk through.
“What’s going on? What is everyone out here for?”
One of the villagers, who hadn’t heard of the news yet,

looked around and asked his neighbours.
They should be quite busy with rebuilding their village right

now, but for all these people to come out here like this? For
this villager who had been working hard to remove the
debris of a collapsed building, he couldn’t help but be
flustered by this new development.
“You see, the thing is….”
A kind auntie was about to explain the matter to this man

and parted her lips. However, she spotted a vehicle
revealing itself at the far end of the road that led to the
village and pointed to it instead.
“Oh, my goodness!! There they are! They’re coming!”
Noisy, noisy….
The villagers discovered the vehicle and began raising a

fuss.
Seeing the light of excitement gleaming brightly within their
eyes, the whole atmosphere of the place came across as if
they were here to welcome a long-lost relative living in a
faraway land or some such to the confused male villager.
‘But then again, there’s no way that this many people would
share the same relative, so….’
The man used the towel around his neck to wipe the sweat
away and looked on with a puzzled expression.
“I’m asking you, just who is coming here today?”
An uncle on the side couldn’t endure it any longer and

spoke in clear frustration.
“The Hunter-nim is coming today.”
“Hunter-nim? Which Hunter-nim are you talking about?”
“Which Hunter-nim do you think I’m talking about here?”
When the vehicle got closer, the villagers raised their hands
and welcomed it with all of their hearts. Their expressions all
contained genuine happiness and gratitude.
Only then did this villager realise just who was coming to
pay a visit to this village. His head reflexively swivelled
behind him.
And that was where he saw the wretched state of his village,
currently half destroyed at the hands of the Giant monsters.
He could also see resting tools and unmoving construction
equipment brought on to rebuild the village here and there
as well.
If no one stepped up to stop those Giant monsters, would
any traces of his dear hometown have even survived like
this? His home, filled with countless memories of his life,
could have been wiped out without a trace.
‘The schools I went to, the roads I walked on, and even the
place I work for.’
When he thought like that, a certain emotion surged up from

the deepest part of his heart. The end of his nose stung, too.
‘That person is really coming here?’
Swish-!
His head swivelled back to the road.
The villagers gathering like this to welcome the Hunter was

not something the higher-ups had organised, nor were they
putting up a facade for the sake of others to see.
No, they were here because their hearts told them to do so.
It was the thoughts of gratitude that made their legs move.
Before long, the male villager had taken the towel off his
neck and swung it around in the air as he yelled out a loud
cheer at the approaching vehicle.
“Waaaaah-!!”
Even though the top-end black van driving on the empty

road was definitely brand-new, it looked as if it had gone
through hellish terrain from the way it was covered in a thick
layer of dust and mud. It now looked like it had been in use
for at least ten years or so.
The words ‘Japanese Hunter’s Association’ written on the
number plate instead of the actual numbers were covered in
so much mud that they became almost impossible to read.
The van’s rough condition seemed to tell the story of the

bitter, bloody battles it had witnessed in the last few days,
and that in turn warmed and softened the hearts of the
villagers. Those overflowing with rich emotions even began
shedding tears, as well.
A short while later, the van driven with expert skill came to a
stop in front of the crowd.
Screech.
“Waaaah!!”
“Hunter-nim!”
As he received the adulations of the crowd, the sunglasses-

wearing Yu Jin-Ho exited from the driver’s side of the van.
Tap.
Yu Jin-Ho made sure to wave his hands at each of the

villagers rushing in to greet him. It was around then.
“Hunter-nim!”
An employee of the Japanese Hunter’s Association waiting

for Jin-Woo’s group to arrive somehow managed to push
through the throngs of people and stood before Yu Jin-Ho.
Pant, pant.
He bent over and panted heavily to catch his breath before

standing upright to ask a question.
“Are you Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
The Association employee was speaking in Japanese, but

thankfully, Yu Jin-Ho could recognise a few of the words
spoken just now.
“No.”
He leisurely shook his head, before raising his finger and

pointed at the sky.
“De-eol.” (TL note at the end)
When he did…
Kiiaaahak!
….The Sky Dragon Kaisel screeched out a cheerful roar as if

responding to his calling.
“W-what on earth is that?!”
“What? What??”
Didn’t the old saying go ‘once bitten, twice shy’? The

villagers who had been living in fear of the Giant-type
monsters saw the large black lifeform flying in the air and
their shoulders all flinched greatly.
Fortunately for them, Kaisel simply remained circling above

their heads and did nothing else.
Kiiiaaahhk!
The villagers finally recognised that Kaisel didn’t mean any

harm. They continued to look up with mystified eyes,
although their expressions still displayed how scared they
were.
It was then – a dark humanoid shape jumped off from the
back of Kaisel.
Boom!
The villagers watched Jin-Woo land lightly on the ground by

using his ‘Ruler’s Authority’ skill and their collective eyes
nearly fell out of their sockets.
“….”
Especially for the Association employee closest to Jin-Woo –

he stood motionless while tightly holding the ends of his
glasses, utterly unable to mutter a single thing out right
now. So, Yu Jin-Ho spoke to Jin-Woo on his behalf, instead.
“Hyung-nim, this gentleman here was looking for you just

now.”
“Oh, really?”
Jin-Woo turned around and stood before the Association

employee.
The latter belatedly regained his wits after seeing Jin-Woo

approach him and quickly shook his head left and right. The
higher-ups told him in no uncertain terms that he must
never make a ‘mistake’ with this Hunter-nim.
The employee managed to shake off all distracting thoughts

and formed a sombre expression before bowing his head.
“It’s an honour, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. My name is

Tanaka Hiroshi from the Japanese Hunter’s Association,
Kanazawa branch.”
He raised his head and explained the purpose of him coming
to greet the Korean duo like this.
“I am tasked with guiding you, Hunter-nim, during your visit

here today. I’ll be in your care.”
Of course, every single word he spoke was in Japanese. Jin-

Woo glanced at Yu Jin-Ho. The latter stared right back at the
former without a word.
“…”
“…”
Jin-Woo saw the bright, happy-go-lucky smile on Yu Jin-Ho’s

face and spat out a long groan. He just realised that the kid
had not one thought of wanting to understand a lick of
Japanese.
Left with little choice, Jin-Woo summoned a Shadow Soldier

who could act as a trusty Japanese interpreter.
‘Oh, my king….’
Beru emerged out from the shadow and politely bowed his
head. He finished greeting his Sovereign and turned around
to face the Association employee.
‘I shall take care of this man.’
‘No, hang on. When you say that, it almost sounds like you
meant something else and that kinda worries me….’
Jin-Woo must not be the only one thinking along that line,
because not only the Association employee, even the
gathered villagers saw Beru’s imposing figure and their
expressions were frozen solid right away.
“Human.”
Beru walked over to the Association employee and

addressed him while opening up his chest wide.
“What is it that you wish to convey to my liege?”
Gasps of astonishment simultaneously leaked out from the

villagers watching on. Even Yu Jin-Ho was taken greatly by
surprise as he also had never seen a Shadow Soldier talk
before.
“Hyung-nim?? That guy could speak all along?!”
“Yeah.”
The Japanese he spoke was so fluent that it wouldn’t be a

problem to think of Beru as a native speaker. As long as one
discounted the monster-like, loud, ringing voice coming from
him, that was.
‘But, then again….’
Jin-Woo’s head was suddenly filled with a thought that, as

far as the number of people Beru had eaten was concerned,
he had digested more Japanese than Koreans, so perhaps
this should be seen as an inevitable result. For some reason,
though, he felt a dull pulsing ache develop in his head and
began slowly massaging his forehead.
Meanwhile, Beru exchanged a few words with the

Association employee and turned around to address Jin-Woo
next.
“Oh, my king. This human has been tasked with guiding you
through this village. He swears to sincerely serve you to the
best of his abilities, my liege.”
“Okay, fine. By the way, just what did you tell him that the
poor guy’s face ended up completely white like that?”
“I warned him that, if he dares to resort to any underhanded

schemes, I shall devour him in his entirety, from the tip of
his toes all the way up to the ends of his hairs, oh, my king.”
“…..Oh. I see.”
What did it matter, anyway? As long as the intent had been

communicated, it was fine.
The Association employee fearfully observed Beru now

standing behind Jin-Woo and cautiously raised his voice.
“This way, please.”
Jin-Woo found it rather unfortunate that the employee’s

complexion had paled to such a pitiable degree, and nodded
his head.
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo’s group was led to an abandoned storage facility

located somewhere within the village with the guidance of
the employee.
There was no need for an entrance, as one of the walls in the

storage facility had been blown cleanly away. The corpse of
a Giant-type monster lying on its back could be seen within
the ruined structure.
“It’s over here.”

The employee pointed to the corpse and stepped aside.
Jin-Woo walked closer and confirmed the status of the

monster’s remains.
The corpse was filled with clear signs of the bitter, harsh
battle it went through with… And there were a countless
number of bite marks which resulted in various wounds
indicative of the monster having been eaten.
‘Your boys…. Did they chow down on this thing?’
Jin-Woo looked back at Beru as his glare became a level

sharper. The former ant king had bent his waist well before
Jin-Woo even started looking back at him, his gaze firmly
fixed to the ground.
Why was this? Why did Yu Jin-Ho picture a section chief

stuck in his job seemingly forever kowtowing and currying
favours with his department head when looking at the
relationship between his hyung-nim and the ant creature?
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to the monster’s corpse.
In all honesty, as long as some parts of the corpse remained

intact, there was no problem with extracting the shadow.
‘It’s just that I feel a bit weird, that’s all.’
Now that all living Giants within Japan had been eliminated,
Jin-Woo was going around to find those remains of the
monsters killed off by his soldiers so he could perform
‘Shadow Extraction’ on them.
As he immersed himself in this new task, he could easily tell

which division had engaged which creature simply from the
conditions of the monster corpses.
Pretty much all the monsters unlucky enough to run into the
ant army couldn’t avoid ending up in this pathetic sight.
“Fuu…”
Jin-Woo stared at the monster that probably had died while

getting devoured by hundreds of ants and let a sigh leak out
of his mouth. He then rolled his sleeves up.
He pointed towards the corpse. A dignified voice soon left

Jin-Woo’s lips.
“Rise up.”
And then, this happened.
Didn’t matter who it was, the tightly-packed gathering of

villagers following after Jin-Woo gasped out in astonishment
almost all at the same time.
Whoa-!!
Along with the distinctive scream, a Giant soldier, his body

having recovered to full, emerged out from the shadow and
knelt down on one knee before Jin-Woo.
Boom!
It was yet another success. As easy as they come. With this,

he had gotten himself the 27th Giant soldier.
‘I guess there are two left now, right?’
Jin-Woo looked up at the imposing-looking giant soldier and

grinned brightly.
***
At the same time in South Korea.
Goh Gun-Hui was currently sifting through various TV

channels with a remote inside his office, located in the
Korean Hunter’s Association.
No matter which broadcast he changed to, they were pretty

much all dominated by the news of Jin-Woo’s feat in Japan.
However, this phenomenon wasn’t happening only in Korea.
It was the same story even with the international news
channels, as well.
There was no doubt now that, through this incident, Hunter

Seong had branded his name in the psyche of the entire
world.
“Huhuh.”
A bright smile remained etched on the face of the

Association President Goh Gun-Hui as if he was the one
experiencing this event.
What if he managed to dissuade Hunter Seong Jin-Woo that

day when the young man declared his intentions of going to
Japan….? Just thinking about that possibility made him
shudder uncomfortably.
He almost ended up making the biggest mistake so late in

his life.
The status of the Korean Hunter community had seen such a

meteoric rise in fame through this incident that he simply
had to thank Hunter Seong for willingly stepping forward
like that.
All because of the actions of a single person, some are even

openly saying that South Korea had become the new global
Hunter superpower now.
That is why the Association President felt proud and happy

at the feats Jin-Woo had achieved so far. However, there was
one thing he felt quite worried about, and that would be….
“Association President, sir.”
With good timing, Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol knocked on

the door and stepped into the president’s office. He was a
man who, by achieving back-to-back results early in his
career, got to wear the title of the youngest-ever Section
Chief.
He performed a light nod of his head as a greeting and made

a report on the current situation.
“The monster has changed its course towards China, sir.”
“Is that so?”
Now that was an unexpected change in the situation.
As Jin-Woo busied himself with killing the Giants in Japan,

one of them escaped out into the sea. The creature had been
heading into the Pacific, but the news of it completely
changing course towards China was a bit of fresh shock to
the Association President.
Goh Gun-Hui quickly asked.
“How are the Chinese responding to this situation?”
“We heard that Liu Zhigeng will personally step up, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui leaned his back against the couch.
“In that case, there should be no problems, then.”

The Giant-type monster should be ripped to shreds even
before setting a foot on the Chinese mainland now that Liu
Zhigeng, one of the five most powerful Hunters in the world,
had decided to get involved.
It was a big relief that the d*mn monster wasn’t headed to

South Korea when Hunter Seong was still absent from the
country. Woo Jin-Cheol saw the relief in the Association
President’s face and also formed a smile as well, perhaps his
own tense mind relaxing a little now.
His eyes then caught the TV screen.
The scenes of destroyed Japan, painfully sobbing and

screaming Japanese people, as well as the ongoing rescue
efforts and reconstruction work getting off the ground, were
displayed one after the other.
“How unfortunate.”
Woo Jin-Cheol clicked his tongue.
“Indeed, it is unfortunate….. Utterly so.”
Goh Gun-Hui agreed with that simple but succinct

assessment.
South Korea also had suffered similar pain four years ago
back on Jeju Island. The wounds inflicted on that day still ran
too deep to say that he had forgotten how painful it was. The
reconstruction of Jeju Island was ongoing even as they spoke
in this office, after all.
Goh Gun-Hui raised his voice again.
“However, someone’s pain can also become someone else’s

ray of hope.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Do you know the reason why Japan, completely ruined after
losing the war, had recovered to become the second most
financially prosperous nation on Earth?”
“Wasn’t that because of the Korean War?”
“That’s right. Through wartime special procurement. And

something similar is about to happen to our nation.”
With a wry expression, Association President Goh Gun-Hui

placed his hand on top of the thick pile of documents
currently resting on the table.
“These are all quotation documents sent in by the local

corporations wishing to get involved in Japan’s restoration
projects.”
The Korean companies were quick to make their move. Some

of them even sent in these documents as soon as Hunter
Seong had left for Japan. All the other corporations should
have finished with their preparations by now, as well.
‘Someone’s pain can become someone else’s hope, is it….’
No, to be more correct, it’d be someone’s profit, instead.
Having accurately understood what the Association

President was implying just now, Woo Jin-Cheol also began
forming a wry expression to mirror his boss.
Before long though, he quickly spoke as if he recalled

something else just now.
“Ah, by the way, sir.”
“Yeah?”
“The Japanese Association President Matsumoto has
apparently handed himself over to police.”
“He did what?”
Why would such a shameless man suddenly have a change

of heart?
Goh Gun-Hui was about to discuss the details of that news,

but then heard the ringing of the phone and reached out to
it.
Ringgg… Ringgg…
He picked up the receiver only to be greeted by a rather

urgent voice.
– “Association President, sir. It’s me.”
The voice belonged to his personal doctor. He should have

been beyond busy dealing with patients rushing in at this
time of the day, though.
Goh Gun-Hui could only tilt his head.
“My friend, what made you call me at this time of the day?”
– “I thought that the matter at hand was too important, so I

was compelled to….”
“Too… important?”
Goh Gun-Hui’s voice also became quite serious.
Several likely scenarios fleeted in and out of his head just

then. However, his private doctor ended up mentioning a
completely unexpected name, instead.
– “By any chance, were you aware of the condition Chairman
Yu Myung-Han was in?”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han was one of the biggest contributors

to the Korean Hunter’s Association. He was even a personal
acquaintance of Goh Gun-Hui, as well.
What had happened to him, then?
The Association President pressed for an answer, and the

private doctor continued on with his explanation.
– “Chairman Yu Myung-Han has been admitted to our

hospital earlier today, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui shot up from his seat.
“He’s not in any critical danger, is he?”
– “It is truly unfortunate, but… there is not much we can do

for him at this stage.”
A heavy silence descended in the office.
The private doctor’s voice, keeping silent for a moment or

two, quietly continued on.
– “Chairman Yu Myung-Han, he has entered the ‘final sleep’

state.”
Chapter 179
The explosive flooding of phone calls from various TV

stations and newspapers desperate for an interview with
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was so severe that it almost
completely paralysed the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
Ringgg…. ringgg…
“Hello, this is the Japanese Hunter’s Associa….”
– “Excuse me, hi, I’m the guy who called you just now. How
about this? Instead of an interview, just a couple of quick
Q&A sessions with the Hunter?”
“Mister Director, that is the very definition of an interview!”
– “No, no, no! Hang on! How about, we don’t show the face
of the Hunter-nim and just the subtitles….”
“We already stated that the Hunter-nim has refused all

filming and interview requests. I’m very sorry.”
Click.
Ringgg…. ringgg…
“Yes, this is the Japanese Hunter’s…..”
– “This is the head of XX TV’s news programming

department speaking. I’m calling you about….”
“No means no, sir.”
Click.
Such types of calls flooded in hundreds of times throughout

the day, so it was only obvious that no normal work could
get done under the circumstances.
The person in charge of the department tasked with

answering calls began developing a migraine just from
hearing the ringtones of a phone now.
However….
‘This just goes to show that the interest of the mass media is
focused on Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim currently.’
….It wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand their interest, either.

Who’d not be interested in the story of one man solving a
crisis that had destroyed almost 40% of the Japanese
mainland?
Even he himself wanted to know more about who this Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo was, and was also curious to hear what he
had to say, too.
Still, that was that, and this was something else.
He was burdened with the immense weight of the duty that

the title of employee of the Japanese Hunter’s Association
carried.
And currently, his duty was to respect and uphold the desire
of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo who didn’t want to do any
interviews whatsoever, by shutting out in advance all forms
of requests flooding in from the mass media companies.
‘I can’t let the saviour of my nation feel displeased, now can
I?’
The manager nodded his head with a determined expression

on his face. In the meantime, a hesitant newbie employee
approached him to ask something.
“Excuse me…. Manager?”
Even before the newbie could say something, the man in

charge cut him off right away.
“Just tell them no.”
He didn’t have to hear anything, really. Most likely, this

newbie couldn’t endure against the threats thrown around
by some higher-ups in a TV station or a newspaper from
somewhere and just wanted to get the manager’s
confirmation next.
Unfortunately, he was a bit off the mark this time.
“No, sir. It’s not that, but we just got a call from South
Korea.”
“From Korea?”
“Yes, sir. A person calling himself Goh Gun-Hui from the

Korean Hunter’s Association wishes to speak to a person in
charge.”
The manager had been listening to the newbie with some

amount of disinterest, but now, an expression of fluster
quickly filled up his face.
“You sure it’s Goh Gun-Hui?”
“Yes, sir.”
There couldn’t have been two different people with the
name ‘Goh Gun-Hui’ in South Korea’s Hunter’s Association.
The whole world knew about the cordial cooperative

relationship between Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and the Korean
Hunter’s Association. And wasn’t it Goh Gun-Hui who
announced Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s expedition to Japan live
on TV?
The manager’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets,

before he hurriedly ran back to his desk while shouting at
the top of his voice, thick veins now visibly bulging out on
his neck.
“Let the call through!! Hurry up!”
“Ah, yes, sir.”
“You’re now speaking to the person in charge, Association

President Goh Gun-Hui, sir.”
The manager picked the receiver up half in doubt, but his

expression gradually hardened as he listened to the fluent
Japanese coming from the speaker.
“Yes, yes. I understand. Yes, I shall get in contact with them

right away.”
***
He’d never get tired of this sight no matter how many times
he saw it.
“Hee-ya….”
Yu Jin-Ho was letting out yet another gasp of admiration

today.
He felt deeply moved whenever he saw the scene of the
giant black creature standing up from the Giant’s corpse
before kneeling down to swear his allegiance to his hyung-
nim. It was like watching a scene from a movie or something.
‘This is so cool, hyung-nim!’
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes sparkled in respect and admiration, but

then, his ears picked up on the commotion raised by the
shocked voices coming from behind.
“Whoa-!!”
“What the heck, how can something like that….?!”
“W-what’s going on? What’s this?”
Noisy, noisy….
He had seen this sight many times now and still couldn’t get
fully used to it, so how would these Japanese villagers
seeing hyung-nim’s ability for the first time feel right now?
He might not understand what they were talking about, but

he could more or less guess the contents of their
conversation. Yu Jin-Ho felt deeply flattered as if he was the
one being talked about here.
“Ehem.”
Yu Jin-Ho was standing around with a bit of a swollen ego for

some reason, but then, an employee from the Japanese
Association searching for the two Koreans approached closer
and engaged him in a conversation.
“By any chance, are you Hunter-nim?”
“Ah, if you’re looking for hyung-nim, he’s over…..”

When Yu Jin-Ho heard the word ‘Hunter’, he immediately
pointed to Jin-Woo over yonder, but the employee quickly
shook his head and pointed to the younger Korean man,
instead.
“No, no. You.”
Yu Jin-Ho blinked his eyes several times.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Yu Jin-Ho utilised his meagre English skills to reconfirm that

it was indeed him the Japanese wanted, and quickly
received a smartphone from the latter.
And then…. His expression gradually hardened as he

listened to the call.
Until the call came to an end, Yu Jin-Ho simply repeated “Yes,

yes” over and over again.
Jin-Woo finished up with storing the giant soldier in his

shadow and left the damaged storage facility. Yu Jin-Ho
quickly approached him as if waiting for this moment and
lowered his head.
“I’m sorry, hyung-nim. Looks like I’ll have to go back to

Korea right away.”
Seeing how serious Yu Jin-Ho’s expression was, Jin-Woo

couldn’t help but ask.
“What happened?”
“I’m not too sure myself. It’s just that, I’ve been told there’s
been an emergency at home and I need to go back
immediately.”
“….”
Jin-Woo shut his mouth. He could think of a reason already.
‘Chairman Yu’s illness….’
If his suspicion proved to be correct, then it was

understandable why the caller was unable to provide much
clarification over the phone to Yu Jin-Ho. How could anyone
say to a son in another country that his father had fallen into
a comatose state over a phone call?
So, Jin-Woo didn’t inquire any further.
“Okay, got it. You worked hard until now.”
“No, not at all, hyung-nim. I’m sorry about not sticking

around until the end of this thing.”
Yu Jin-Ho respectfully apologised one more time before

climbing aboard the car the Japanese Association had
provided. The driver turned the car around and set off
towards the airport.
‘……’
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the back of the departing car.
Yu Jin-Ho did his best to sound assured and relaxed in front

of his hyung-nim, but in reality, he could barely keep his
worries in check.
He could still recall his mom’s voice on the phone. It was the
first time that her warm and kind voice sounded so shaken
like that.
‘Just what had happened?’
His heart was pounding away madly right now.
Could it be, his father got really angry that his son hadn’t
asked for permission and blindly followed his hyung-nim to
Japan, seemingly without a plan? Surely, no parent out there
would welcome a foolish child willingly walking into a lion’s
den, now would there?
Yu Jin-Ho dazedly stared outside the car’s window before

shaking his head hard as if to clear out all the unnecessary
stuff from his mind.
‘No, I should not think about anything for the time being.’
He had no idea what was going on, so if he kept worrying

about it right now, it’d only make his thoughts more
complicated. As a matter of fact, it could be nothing serious,
as well.
Until he landed back on the Incheon International Airport, he

continued to carry such a hopeful thought, however tiny, in
his heart.
Unfortunately for him…
“Yu Jin-Ho-gun.” (TL note at the end)
….The moment he discovered the swollen eyes of Secretary

Kim ahjussi coming to fetch him, he realised immediately
that something really bad had happened.
“Ahjussi….”
“A car is waiting for you. For the time being, please come
with me.”
‘….What’s going on….’
Yu Jin-Ho so desperately wanted to ask that question.

However, he was scared of the potential answer and couldn’t
mouth those three words.
“Please, hurry.”
Secretary Kim pointed at the outside of the airport.
“Ah….”
For some reason, though, Yu Jin-Ho’s feet didn’t want to

move from the spot. Perhaps understanding what was going
through the young man’s head, Secretary Kim placed his
hand on Yu Jin-Ho’s shoulder.
“Jin-Ho-gun…. You need to stay strong in times like these. I

shall explain everything on our way.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s tears welled up from those words.
Secretary Kim explained Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s current

condition to Yu Jin-Ho as they rode on the car.
But, that couldn’t be; Yu Jin-Ho desperately tried to reject

Secretary Kim’s explanations.
No, he didn’t want to believe it.
Unfortunately, after arriving in the hospital – he had no

choice but to believe when he saw his sleeping father’s face
through the glass wall partition. He remained still as if he
was dead.
At the same time, it felt like something in his heart had
shattered to pieces.
Seeing his father, who looked so mighty and imposing, lying

there on the hospital bed looking so wane and weak,
something hard and powerful welled up from deep within.
“Dad!!”
Yu Jin-Ho tried to rush into the hospital room, but the doctors
quickly blocked his way.
The approach of a Hunter who couldn’t control his magic

energy leakage would only worsen the patient’s condition.
Hearing that explanation from the doctors, Yu Jin-Ho’s
expression became a person whose soul had abandoned
him.
“So, that’s how it was….”
He was a son who always disappointed his father. And now,

he couldn’t even hold his father’s hand for one last time, too.
Faced with such a fitting end for himself, he couldn’t even
shed a tear anymore.
“I see. I’ve been a completely useless son, even till the end.”
Yu Jin-Ho turned on his heels in dejection. But then,

Secretary Kim approached him and handed over a black
leather-bound case file.
“What… is this?”
Yu Jin-Ho weakly raised his head up after receiving this

unknown file. Secretary Kim calmly explained himself.
“This is the item the Chairman was working on before he
collapsed, actually. I’ve kept it with me in case he searched
for it after waking up, but…. But, I thought that you might
need it more than I do, Jin-Ho-gun.”
“This…. you think so?”
Yu Jin-Ho alternated his gaze between Secretary Kim and the

file. Eventually, he cautiously opened it.
It was a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings.
Every single page was packed full of articles from various

newspapers containing either his older brother Yu Jin-Seong
or his older sister Yu Jin-Hui.
‘From father to son.’
Yu Jin-Ho wondered just from where he got this habit of

cutting out and keeping the newspaper articles he liked, but
it seemed that he got it from his father.
‘To think, he had this kind of a hobby….’
Even when stewing in sorrow, a grin still managed to squeak

out as he looked at his brother and sister when they were
young kids.
Both of them were the pride of his father.
In all sorts of academic competitions, talent contests and

concours – they were geniuses that made their names
known throughout the country in their favourite subjects.
It was rather obvious that this scrapbook would be filled with

articles related to the two of them. As he flipped through the
pages, Yu Jin-Ho grew more and more embarrassed by the
fact that not a single photo of him could be found within.
However, just as he flipped to the last page, his hands came

to an abrupt stop.
[The Vice Chair of Ah-Jin Guild: Who is Yu Jin-Ho?]
[Two Hunters heading off to Japan.]
[The choice of a rank D Hunter: Is it bravery or

foolhardiness?]
There were articles containing his name. Even those

meaningless gossip pieces didn’t escape his father’s
attention and found themselves cut out and pasted carefully
within the page.
“Uh…..”
No words wanted to come out of Yu Jin-Ho’s mouth.
While he stood there like that, a newspaper article that

hadn’t been fully cropped out fell to the floor. He hurriedly
bent down to the floor and picked it up, only for the tears to
stream down from his eyes.
It was an article containing the photo of himself beaming

brightly to the camera. That was taken when, after Jin-Woo
killed the boss-level Giant monster, he refused all filming
and interview requests from the countless reporters flooding
into the location, so Yu Jin-Ho stepped up as the stand-in,
instead.
The article was dated today.
Secretary Kim squeezed Yu Jin-Ho’s shoulder and spoke.

“It’s not true that Chairman Yu never loved you, Jin-Ho-gun.
As great as his love for you, he also held equally great
expectations of you.”
Yu Jin-Ho wordlessly sat there, his shoulders shuddering

uncontrollably as he cried. He somehow managed to calm
his aching heart and stood back up.
“Dad… Is there any way to wake my father up?”
Secretary Kim shook his head with a darkened complexion.
There was no officially known case of patients opening their

eyes again after entering the ‘final sleep’ state. With the
sole exception of one person, that was.
Secretary Kim’s thoughts arrived there and spoke up with

some difficulty.
“By any chance… Yu Jin-Ho-gun?”
“Yes?”
“…..No, it’s nothing. Don’t mind me.”
However, Secretary Kim couldn’t bring himself to say what

was on his mind.
Planting a seed of hope when things were uncertain could

prove to be even crueler in some cases. And now would be
such a time.
Yu Jin-Ho continued to shed long, hard tears as he looked at

his father through the glass wall, while Secretary Kim
silently swallowed back what he initially wanted to say.
And the conversation they shared was silently listened in on

by Yu Jin-Ho’s shadow.
Chapter 180
“For the time being, let me accompany you back to your

home.”
“…Alright.”
Yu Jin-Ho left the hospital room of his father, Chairman Yu,

with Secretary Kim a little while later.
But, just before the door to this special hospital room closed
shut, a portion of the shadow beneath Yu Jin-Ho’s feet
separated away and slipped inside the room. No one
witnessed this strange phenomenon happen.
Tak.
The door closed shut and the light within the room
automatically switched off. And time continued to tick by
like this.
When the hour became late and no more people came

around to visit this room, a ‘shadow’ sneaked out from
underneath Chairman Yu’s bed.
Shururuk…
Then, an ant soldier emerged from this shadow. He quietly

looked around the room and discovered the sleeping
Chairman Yu.
What sort of delicious open buffet was this?

Kiieehk.
The ant soldier fixed his gaze on the Chairman Yu and began
drooling avariciously, but too bad for him, he got rapidly
sucked into the shadow and was replaced by Jin-Woo.
That was the effect of the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’.
Jin-Woo already had cloaked himself with ‘Stealth’ even

before activating the exchange. Now that he was here, he
took a careful look around the hospital room.
There was no source of light to be found inside and, as a

result, it was completely dark in the room, but with his
Perception Stat having reached such an extreme peak, he
could see just fine as if this was in the middle of the day.
Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed coldly in the darkness as he finished

searching for the presence of security cameras in the room.
‘Looks like it’s clean.’
The only people nearby were four guards manning the door
from the outside.
As long as there was no event of Chairman Yu Myung-Han

suddenly waking up and start yelling at the top of his lungs,
Jin-Woo’s presence wouldn’t be detected at all.
Feeling sure of this conclusion, he undid his ‘Stealth’.
Shuuuk…
His once-transparent body revealed its faint outer line before

gradually regaining its original colour.
There was a reason why Jin-Woo was being doubly, triply

cautious like this. Because he should not carelessly reveal
the existence of the item called ‘Divine Water of Life’ to
anyone. That’s what he thought.
Not too long ago, Chairman Yu presented him with a blank

cheque. That was not all. He even promised to fulfil
whatever Jin-Woo wished for as long as it was within his
powers.
Did he offer all those juicy terms because he was a kind-

hearted gentleman? Of course not.
No way such a thing was true.
He was a man who stood at the apex of the cutthroat

corporate world where one could only survive by coldly
calculating their gains and losses.
He was also a naturally-gifted businessman who even

managed to turn a small corporation he inherited from his
parents into one of the biggest conglomerates in the entire
world.
He should be fully aware of the true worth of something that

‘can heal the illness he’s suffering from’. And that was his
reason for offering up everything he could realistically put
on the table.
However, not everyone in this world was as gentlemanly in

conduct as Chairman Yu. Desperation could sometimes
become a motive that caused one to make rash decisions.
Meaning, it was for the best not to create a potential source

of trouble.
That was Jin-Woo’s reason for concealing the existence of

the ‘Divine Water of Life’ to the best of his abilities.
Even if he was the father of the kid he thought of as his little
brother, Jin-Woo wasn’t naïve enough to risk unknown
dangers that may or may not occur in the future for the sake
of Chairman Yu, someone whom he didn’t know all that well,
to begin with.
‘Well, there wouldn’t be that many naïve fools out there who
bring out an item like ‘Divine Water of Life’ just because
someone asked them to….’
So, he waited quietly for the best timing to make his move,
and finally, that moment had arrived.
It wasn’t as if Chairman Yu’s life would negatively be

affected or he’d suffer from some after-effects just because
the treatment came about a little later.
If Jin-Woo were to think about those who might be getting a

raw deal out of this, then it’d only be the shareholders who
quickly got rid of all their shares related with Yujin
Corporation after hearing about Chairman Yu’s collapse.
‘Is this why people say investing in stock markets is pretty

much the case of ‘all or nothing’?’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself and accessed his Inventory to

retrieve one of the five remaining bottles of the ‘Divine
Water of Life’.
With the usage of this one bottle, he’d had four more left.
He knew exactly what it was like to lose one’s parent

through this illness. So, he felt that using this bottle for Yu
Jin-Ho’s sake was not a loss to him in the slightest.
‘That kid, why did have to he go and cry like that? Making
me feel all bad and stuff.’
Jin-Woo carefully raised the upper torso of Chairman Yu
Myung-Han, opened his lips, and slowly poured in the
‘Divine Water of Life’.
Very slowly, and only a small amount at a time.
However, Chairman Yu must’ve known that this item was the

sole lifeline capable of saving him, because he gulped the
Water down rather commendably well.
“Cough.”
The bottle became empty in no time at all.
Jin-Woo lowered Chairman Yu’s upper torso back on the bed

and returned the empty bottle to his Inventory.
Just like how he remembered with his mother’s case, the

colour of vitality returned to Chairman Yu’s complexion very
quickly. Even his faint, weakly-beating heart gradually
picked up pace, as well.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in satisfaction.
‘It’s done.’
The medicine was working perfectly.
The only remaining thing would be to escape from this room

before Chairman Yu Myung-Han wakes up and leave not one
trace of himself behind. Jin-Woo reactivated ‘Stealth’ and
stood before the room’s door.
Wuiiing…
“Huh?”
The door could only be opened by pressing an electronic
button either on the outside or inside, yet it automatically
opened up by itself, so the guards quickly fell into a state of
panic.
“Huh?!?!”
Before long, though, they spotted Chairman Yu through the

glass wall.
An event dozens of times – no, make that hundreds and

thousands of times – more shocking than the door opening
up was unfolding inside the hospital room.
The guards all discovered Chairman Yu sitting upright on the

bed and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“Huh? Uh??”
“C-Chairman has… woken up?!”
Guards stood there completely frozen as if they had seen a

ghost, before one of them regained his wits and loudly
yelled out, veins on his neck visibly bulging in the process.
“Doctor!! Where is a doctorrrrr!!”
Excluding one guard who ran to elsewhere in search of a

doctor, the rest quickly rushed inside the hospital room.
“Mister Chairman!”
Yu Myung-Han formed a refreshed expression of someone

just waking up from a good, long rest and took a look at the
guards.
“Why are you people raising such a fuss here? Besides all
that, who are you people, anyway?”
“S-sir, we’re….”
“No, wait.”
Yu Myung-Han cut into the guard’s reply, and took a good

look around his surroundings first. And he found himself in
the VIP hospital room designed to accommodate a victim of
the Eternal Sleep.
He easily recognised this place, because it was he who had

prepared this room soon after learning of his own terminal
condition.
‘Which means, I….’
Could he really have?
“….Did I collapse, but somehow woke up again?”
Wuuiiing…
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s head quickly swivelled in the

direction of that sound. He watched through the glass wall
the electronic door slowly closing shut by itself.
***
Ting!
The elevator’s door slid open.
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the cordon of doctors rushing in

from the other end of the corridor as if they were gathering
storm clouds before climbing into the empty elevator.
Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Yu Jin-Ho’s birthday at
the end of this month?
‘I know it’s a bit early, but well, happy birthday, Jin-Ho.’
His father’s full recovery – Jin-Woo thought that it might

prove to be the best birthday gift for Yu Jin-Ho as he pressed
the button for the ground floor.
Click.
An ahjussi belatedly climbed into the elevator and was

about to press the same button as well, but he stopped after
seeing the light come on all by itself.
“What the…? That’s spooky.”
Jin-Woo was still cloaked with ‘Stealth’ so the interior of the

elevator looked empty. The ahjussi gruntled out ‘Urgh, dang
it’ after taking a look around and quickly left the elevator
altogether.
‘My bad, ahjussi.’
Jin-Woo apologised from deep within his heart and pressed

the ‘close door’ button.
Clunk…
As the elevator began climbing down, he confirmed his skill

window.
‘Skill information.’
The summoner can switch locations with the designated

Shadow Soldier.
Once activated, you must wait two hours of ‘cooldown’ time

before being able to use the skill again. The ‘cooldown’
period will change according to the Skill’s level.
Remaining cooldown time: 01:54:11
‘Still one hour and 54 minutes left….’
Even if he disregarded the 11 seconds, he still had roughly

two hours left to kill.
He hadn’t finished with the task of extracting shadows yet.

Meaning, he still needed to go back to Japan one more time
if he were to seek out the remaining dead Giants and turn
them into Shadow Soldiers.
He did leave a shadow on standby there, so the issue of

travelling back would be resolved as soon as Shadow
Exchange’s cooldown time had elapsed. But his current
problem would be with how he’d go about spending the next
two hours of waiting.
‘Going home…. is out of the question.’
Her son came back home after over a week spent in another
country, so what kind of expression would his mom make if
he had to leave again only a couple of hours later?
He didn’t have to be there to know.
Ting!
The elevator stopped on the ground floor and opened its
door.
Even as he stepped out of the Seoul Ilsin Hospital’s front

entrance, Jin-Woo continued to agonise over what he should
next, but then, a rather nice idea popped up in his head.
‘Okay, should I search for an ownerless dungeon or

something?’
Jin-Woo undid ‘Stealth’ and greatly extended out his sensory

perception.
His senses picked up four or five Gates near his location. He

pulled out his Hunter-issued smartphone and accessed the
Association’s app to confirm the details on those Gates.
‘….Found you.’
Jin-Woo found out that two of those Gates weren’t reported

to the Association yet. A meaningful smile formed on Jin-
Woo’s face right away.
***
“Miss. We’ve arrived.”
“Thank you, driver.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s eldest daughter, Yu Jin-Hui, was

returning to the hospital after escorting her nearly-fainted
mother back home. She stepped out from the chauffeur-
driven car’s back seat.
She felt as if the heavens were crashing down on her the day
she learned of her father slowly dying from that illness.
Even then, she unreservedly believed her father’s words.

[“I’m still searching through all avenues for a cure. I seemed
to have found a strand of hope, so do not worry about me
too much.”]
If someone else declared oh-so-proudly that he’d cure this

incurable illness, Yu Jin-Hui would flat out not believe that
man.
However, just who was her father?
Was he not the one and only Chairman Yu Myung-Han, the

man who could legitimately be called the top dog in South
Korea’s financial world?
That was why she held on to that slim strand of hope, but in
the end, things had become like this. If only she knew things
would end up this way. She’d have thrown away all notions
of studying abroad and spent more time with her father,
instead.
She recalled him doing his best to hide his loneliness when
she told him about her plans to study abroad and quietly
wiped her tears away.
It was around then.
As she raised her head, her eyes briefly caught the sight of a
rather familiar face walking past her.
‘…Uh? This man….’
Hadn’t she seen that face often before?
As she began wondering where she had seen him, the man
also must’ve sensed her gaze, because he pulled the hood
down even further and rapidly distanced himself from her.
She stared at the man’s back and tilted her head just a little,
before resuming her walk. The identity of that man was not
an important issue to her, anyway.
Yu Jin-Hui anxiously waited for the elevator’s door to open

up. But then, her phone suddenly issued out loud ringtones.
Ringggg, ringgg…
With the hour being so late already, the corridors of the

hospital were mostly empty now and the ringtone sounded
especially loud to her ears.
She didn’t recognise the number shown on the screen. She

usually wouldn’t answer a call from an unfamiliar number
like this, but now….
‘Who could this be….?’
Perhaps because she had been experiencing a storm of

events for the whole day, she got this feeling that she
should answer this call no matter what.
Yu Jin-Hui tapped the ‘Answer’ icon and pressed the phone

to her ear.
“Hello?”
– “Yes, hello. I’m calling from Seoul Ilsin Hospital, miss. I

couldn’t get in touch with your mother and had no choice
but to contact you first.”
Her mother had taken a shot of sedative and had fallen

asleep at home, so she wouldn’t be able to wake up and
answer the phone now.
But, why was the hospital calling her like this? Yu Jin-Hui
instantly became scared by this call made by the doctor in
charge.
That was why she was extra cautious when asking back.
– “Actually, Chairman Yu Myung-Han has….”
As she heard the ensuing explanation, her eyes grew as

large and round as a rabbit’s.
This had to be a lie.
‘You, you expect me to believe that?!’
Her eyes were getting wetter and wetter but she still
managed to ask that one last question.
“You… are you telling me the truth??”
– “We also would not have believed it’s real if it weren’t for
confirming the fact with our own eyes. It’s pretty much
impossible to find any patient waking up from the ‘final
sleep’ state, you see. In any case, please hurry and come to
the hospital, miss. We do not know when the Chairman
might fall back asleep again.”
“H-hang on! I’m already there!”
Ting!
With excellent timing, the elevator opened its door and Yu

Jin-Hui practically threw herself inside.
Oh my god.
‘Really…. Truly??’
These few minutes the elevator took to climb up felt like the
longest moments in her entire life so far.
Ting.
The moment the door opened, she rushed out and entered
the hospital room – and was greeted by the sight of her
father’s face shifting towards her.
From the top of his head right down to the tip of his toes, he
was definitely her father and there was no need to even
suspect otherwise.
“Dad!!”
Yu Myung-Han, currently surrounded by a cordon of doctors,

turned his head towards his little girl.
“Jin-Hui….?”
“Dad!”
She jumped into his embrace and as Yu Myung-Han gently

patted her back, he finally realised that he had returned
from death’s doorstep somehow.
‘I’m alive.’
However, could he really describe this as a coincidence?
While the cordon of doctors in charge responded with

whispers of “It’s a miracle”, and with his daughter sobbing
her eyes out as she clung to her dad, Yu Myung-Han began
focusing on the sounds of his own beating heart.
‘B-but…. How could this be??’

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!!
He was already well past his fifties, yet his heart was
pounding away vigorously as if he was still in his twenties,
instead.
Chapter 181
Sure enough….
One of the doctors in charge, who proceeded to check and

observe Yu Myung-Han’s condition throughout the night,
continued to tilt his head this way and that while staring
into the medical chart containing the good Chairman’s test
results.
“How can any of this make sense…..”
Yu Myung-Han saw the expression on the doctor’s face and

cautiously asked.
“Are my results that bad?”
The doctor hurriedly waved his hand around.
“Ahh, no, it’s not that, sir. It’s the complete opposite, in fact.”
He resumed staring back at the results as if to bore a hole

through the paper and carefully asked his question some
time later.
“Chairman, by any chance, have you taken your high blood

pressure medication before taking these tests?”
Only up until last night, he was hanging precariously on the

edge of death. He might be awake now, but that didn’t mean
Yu Myung-Han had the spare mental capacity to take his
meds on time.
“No, I haven’t.”
Yu Myung-Han shook his head.
The doctor nodded his as if he knew that answer was

coming. Then, he formed a troubled expression as he made
his reply.
“Even without the medication, your blood pressure seems to

have completely stabilised to a healthy level. No, wait. With
your current level, you could even confidently say that
you’re even healthier than a regular person, sir.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s eyes grew really large then.
‘What on earth is he talking about??’
He thought that only death awaited him after entering the

‘final sleep’ state, but after waking up, even the chronic high
blood pressure he’d been suffering from for a long time had
all been cured away??
The doctor in charge continued to read the medical chart.
“And also, the rest of your bodily functions have reverted

back to being perfectly healthy as well. Chairman, if I were
to forget about your current age, then I’d have believed that
I was looking at a test result from a young man in his early
twenties.”
How could such a thing even happen?
As great was Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s surprise, the

doctor’s own astonishment was even greater and he
struggled to hide that fact from showing up on his
expression. His own two eyes definitely saw the results, yet
he could hardly believe them even then.
Chairman Yu collapsed for the first time a few weeks ago and
was brought to this hospital back then. The results of tests
taken on that day were printed on a separate medical chart,
and the ink on that thing barely had the chance to dry
properly yet.
So, how could anyone go about explaining this completely

befuddling test result coming out only a few weeks later?
Did he drastically change his lifestyle or some such during

that time period? Not to forget, he was wasting away from
an incurable illness only a night before, too.
The doctor in charge confessed what was in his mind without

holding back.
“I’ve been a doctor for 30 years or so, but this would be my

very first time something like this has happened. This… this
can only be described as a miracle and nothing else.”
A patient woke up from the ‘final sleep’ state of the Eternal

Sleep disorder, and on top of that, his body had become
even healthier than when he went to sleep, too.
Didn’t the word ‘miracle’ exist precisely to describe a

situation such as this one right here?
The doctor couldn’t hide his astonishment anymore and let a

soft gasp of admiration escape from his mouth before a
bright smile bloomed on his face.
“Congratulations, Chairman Yu. Your Eternal Sleep disorder

has been cured completely.”
He then added that the Chairman was healthy enough to

start running the length of a full marathon course right now
if he wanted to.
However…
‘.….’
Instead of celebrating, Yu Myung-Han pondered something

for a while before raising his head to look at the doctor.
“By any chance, are there cameras installed near the

hospital room I’ve been staying at?”
“Pardon? I don’t understand what…..”
“There is something I’d like to confirm first. Are there any

cameras installed inside the room or around the entrance
itself?”
“There are none within the room, but there should be one by
its entrance.”
‘Very good.’
Yu Myung-Han nodded his head.
‘Something like this can not be a coincidence.’
Indeed, this matter had gone far beyond treating it as pure

coincidence now. There was little doubt that someone
possessing an unfathomable ability had intervened in this
matter somehow.
And he had a fairly good hunch who that someone might be.
‘I’ve ended up owing him a great deal.’
Yu Myung-Han had lived without owing anyone in his entire

life. And he wasn’t planning to start now. But then again,
how was he supposed to go about paying the debt of saving
his life?
No, more than that. Putting aside the idea of paying or not
paying the debt, wouldn’t it be a common sense to at least
find out the name of his saviour first?
Yu Myung-Han wished to confirm that personally.
“I’d like to view the footage from the CCTV cameras taken
last night.”
***
Quite obviously, the cameras failed to capture anything.
“Right here. This is the only odd thing that happened, the
doorway malfunctioning this one time.”
The guard pointed at the screen and explained what

happened back then. The windows were confirmed to be
locked from the inside, so the sole exit left in that hospital
room was the doorway.
However, all four guards manning the door said the same
thing. They said that not even a single ant had entered the
room during their watch. And since these guys were
professionals hired from a dedicated security company, they
wouldn’t make mistakes regarding such things.
“H-mm….”
Yu Myung-Han couldn’t have imagined that Jin-Woo

possessed the skill ‘Stealth’ and so, his thoughts had
become quite complicated as a result.
Around this time, Secretary Kim hurriedly entered the

security room as well to bring some news.
“Chairman. I’ve found out what you asked for.”

“Alright. What’s the news?”
“That is….”
Secretary Kim became extra mindful of the surrounding eyes

and ears, leaned in closer and cupped his hand on Yu
Myung-Han’s ear to whisper his findings.
“I lodged an inquiry to the Association, and they say Seong

Jin-Woo Hunter-nim was in Japan the whole time. He’s only
scheduled to return to the country around tomorrow or so.”
“…..”
Here he was, thinking that no one else would be capable of

making this event happen unless it was Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo himself.
Yu Myung-Han finally admitted to making a wrong guess. He

now realised that it couldn’t have been that young rank S
Hunter.
‘If so, then why….’
Even though he had confirmed through all this evidence,

why did a certain amount of suspicion remain rooted in the
corner of his heart?
He just couldn’t understand it at all.
However, there was one thing Chairman Yu Myung-Han and

Jin-Woo had in common. And that would be – they were
rather decisive in moving on when stuck with a quandary
they couldn’t solve just yet.
“I see.”
Yu Myung-Han carried on.

“The doctor says I’m healthy enough to even run a marathon
right now. I shall return to the company tomorrow so make
the appropriate arrangements, please.”
One could say that this was more like him.
Having realised that the attitude of Yu Myung-Han was still

the same as before, Secretary Kim barely held back his
laughter and replied.
“Sir. Do you know what the mass media is calling you right
now?”
It was obvious that there would be quite a bit of chaos

unfolding outside right about now, since a guy who was as
good as dead only yesterday had gotten back up on his feet
perfectly fine.
However, why would such a thing be treated as something

big?
Yu Myung-Han asked without a single noticeable change in

his expression.
“What are they calling me this time?”
“The Invincible, sir. They are calling you the Invincible.”
“The Invincible, is it?”
Yu Myung-Han wouldn’t break out into a smile that easily

over anything but even then, the corners of his lips arched
up ever so slightly after he heard that nickname.
‘Invincible’.
Mass media had been calling him with useless labels like
‘Hand of Midas’ or even ‘Pokerface’ but rather surprisingly,
they managed to cook up a somewhat okay-sounding
nickname this time.
“Huhuh.”
Yu Myung-Han slowly chewed on this new nickname and

formed a satisfied smile.
“The Invincible, is it. The Invincible….”
Didn’t this nickname suit him perfectly, when he had never

bowed down regardless of the obstacle blocking his path
and even managed to survive the threat of a deadly illness?
Yu Myung-Han gratefully accepted this second chance at life

and smiled contentedly.
“I really like that one.”
***
While Korea was set abuzz with the news of Chairman Yu

Myung-Han…
Jin-Woo had sneaked back into Japan and eventually,

succeeded in gathering all 29 Giant Shadow Soldiers.
‘Finally….’
Feeling legit emotional right now, Jin-Woo made the giant

soldiers line up starting from No.1 to No.29.
The process of searching for the remains of the giants to

extract new soldiers reminded him of a certain video game.
But the fruit of his hard labour so far was monumentally
tastier than any video game’s quests and he even kind of
felt apologetic for thinking of comparing the two in the first
place.
The Giant Shadow Soldier No.29.
Looking at the imposing figures of twenty-nine giants with

black smokes constantly rising up from their bodies standing
tall before him, Jin-Woo felt as if he had gained a whole new
army of thousand troops and warhorses.
‘It’s a bit of a shame that one of them escaped from my

grasp, but….’
Excluding the one guarding the Gate, the total of the Giant-
type monsters emerging from there was thirty. One of them
had escaped to the ocean and it was not possible to extract
its shadow anymore.
Still, the sense of accomplishment welled up from deep

within his heart now that he had successfully gathered up all
29 of them. And with them standing tall and proud in a
single location like this, the ruined cityscape suddenly felt
rather full all of a sudden.
Of course, Jin-Woo didn’t summon all of his giant soldiers out

just so he could decorate this empty city, nor was he
admiring his new Giant soldier collection, either.
He scanned the Giant soldiers and addressed them.
“Who among you are the strongest?”
There was a need to find the one soldier among the giants
that could serve as the leader to control the others, just like
how Beru did with the ant battalion, Igrit with the elite
soldier battalion, and Fangs with the High Orc battalion.
The Giant soldiers busily looked around at each other and

didn’t want to step up. Beru standing by the side couldn’t
endure this sight any longer, so he stepped forward and
screeched out loudly.
Kiiiiiieeeehk-!!
The shoulders of the Giants all flinched greatly at that

powerful screech seemingly vicious enough to rip the
atmosphere in shreds.
But then again, there were a few of them who got killed by
Beru, and even if others were lucky enough to avoid that
fate, they should still sense the clear gap in power between
him and them. It was quite understandable why they would
be scared of him.
Kiieehk!
Only after receiving that hot, harsh scolding from Beru did
one of the Giant soldiers hesitantly raise his hand.
Beru turned around and bowed to his Sovereign. Jin-Woo

raised his thumb up high, feeling quite impressed.
“Nice work.”
But then, this happened. Something both Jin-Woo and Beru

didn’t expect unfolded next.
Another Giant soldier watched the hand of his compatriot

raise up and quickly raised his own, as well. The glint in his
eyes even said, “Regardless of what, I’m better than that
guy”.
“Ohhh.”
As it turned out, the soldiers weren’t hesitating and waiting

for others to make a move first but simply that, they didn’t
know who was the strongest among them until now.
Jin-Woo smirked a little at this unexpected situation and

called those two out to the front.
“No.22 and No.6, to the front.”
No.6 and his unusually large fists, and No.22 with an overall
sturdier-looking frame strode forward valiantly.
‘H-mm….”
Just like the assertions of these two soldiers, their individual

quantities of magic energy were quite similar to each other.
Even Jin-Woo’s excellent sensory perception had a hard time
telling them apart.
Now that the matter had come to this, there was only one
way to solve it. Jin-Woo grinned brightly.
“I’m sure both of you are ready, right?”
No.6 and No.22 stood facing each other. Their eyes were
practically shooting out flames born from their powerful
desires not to yield, no matter what.
“Start!”
As soon as Jin-Woo gave his signal, the two giant soldiers

entered into a messy dogfight.
Boom! Thud!! Bang!!
At the end of a lengthy fight, No.6 and his big fist managed
to beat No.22 down by a paper-thin margin of victory.
“Nice work. From here on, No.6 will be appointed as the
leader of the Giant soldier battalion.”
The big-fist Giant raised both of his fists high up in the air,
prompting the other Shadow Soldiers watching to cheer on
loudly as well.
‘So, that’s the issue of the Giants’ leader all sorted out.’
With this, Jin-Woo had finally concluded all the business he

had in Japan. He then summoned out his Status Window
next.
‘Stat Window.’
Along with the familiar mechanical beep of “Tti-ring”, walls

of texts and numbers rose up to fill his view.
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 122
Class: Shadow Sovereign
Title: Demon Hunter (extra 2)
HP: 65,230
MP: 115,160
Tiredness: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 292
Stamina: 281
Agility: 305
Intelligence: 310
Perception: 277
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 65%
[Skills]
Passive Skills
– (Unknown) Lv. MAX
– Tenacity Lv. 1
– Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX (TL: Changing this one from

“Master of Dagger to Master of Shortsword)
Active Skills
– Quicksilver Lv. MAX
– Intimidation Lv. 2
– Violent Slash Lv. MAX
– Dagger Rush Lv. MAX
– Stealth Lv. 2
– Ruler’s Authority Lv. MAX
Active Skills
[Equipped Items]
Red Knight’s Helm (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Earrings (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Necklace (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Ring (S)
Truth Seeker’s Shirt (A)
Truth Seeker’s Gloves (A)
Truth Seeker’s Pants (A)
Truth Seeker’s Shoes (A)
The outcome of his Japanese expedition was all too easy to

see. His Stat values that had gone through the roof like
crazy were the first things to catch his gaze.
Every one of his Stats was now hovering near the 300 mark,
while the Intelligence Stat had shot past that number a
while ago after receiving his concerted investment for
arguably the longest time out of the lot.
All these were the results of receiving the rewards from the
Daily Quests he always made sure to complete every day,
the level-ups he got after hunting down the Giant monsters,
as well as from the defensive artefacts he bought from the
Store after completely exhausting his stack of Gold.
‘The Truth Seeker armament set.’
Up until now, he didn’t care much for any of the available

items in the Store. However, he had no clue how strong the
other Sovereigns and the Rulers were – the ones the angel
statue and the King of Giants mentioned.
And he figured that he might need some kind of tools to

protect him in case he ran into them somewhere along the
line.
‘The King of Giants, almost half a corpse from his powers

being sealed away like that, was already that powerful. So,
it’s more than likely others will also possess truly monstrous
levels of strength.’
Jin-Woo recalled those six-winged angels he ‘met’ inside the

memories of the Shadow Sovereign. If he were planning to
fight them head-on as well, then he simply had to become
much stronger.
His gaze shifted up from the list of equipped items back up

to where his level was listed.
[Level: 122]
Just killing one Sovereign resulted in his level jumping up by

eight in one go.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how far he’d get to

climb up once he started fighting against these Sovereigns
or whatever they were called.
Ba-thump!
His chest was pounding.
It was from fear.
And hidden just beneath that fear – he also could pick up on

the throbbing of his heart from excitement, too.
‘I shall level up.’
And all the power earned through levelling up, it’d become
the bedrock, the foundation, and the support in his effort to
protect everything he held dear.
His heart pulsed powerfully once more.
The symphony of two hearts powerfully beating at the same

time was enough to cause a dull aching pain within his ear
canals.
However, this pain felt pleasant to him, instead.
‘Good.’
Jin-Woo sensed someone’s approach and stored all of his

Shadow Soldiers back into his shadow.
Tatatatatata-!!
In a spot not too far from where he was, the Japanese

Association helicopter coming to fetch him was making its
noisy landing.
For the time being, he’d go home first.
Feeling genuinely happy now, Jin-Woo climbed aboard the

helicopter.
Chapter 182
The Japanese government offered up a suite in a five-star

luxury hotel for Jin-Woo so he could rest in comfort until his
departure from the country.
He was planning to use ‘Shadow Exchange’ to go back

rather than waste time waiting for a plane, so he was
thinking of refusing their gesture of goodwill.
But then…
“Please, help us to avoid the fate of being labelled as people

who had poorly received the saviour of their nation. We beg
of you, Hunter-nim.”
….But then, he ended up changing his mind after hearing

the desperate plea of the Japanese government.
The very first impression he got after stepping into the hotel
suite that reputedly cost over $3,500 per night was, ‘Is it
really okay for me to spend a night alone in such a huge and
luxurious room?’
Jin-Woo studied the gleaming furniture that sparkled

brightly as if they were purchased only yesterday, before
walking over to the window to look outside.
This allowed him to take in the sight of the cityscape all at

once.
He heard from somewhere that the better the view, the
higher the real estate price would get. And as expected, the
view of the city draped in the darkness of the night was as
arresting as the exorbitant price the suite had alluded to.
‘And to think, such a city was about to go up in flames by a

bunch of monsters.’
Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the ruined city of Tokyo and

tutted to himself. In fact, he felt relieved that he got here
just in time before things could get even worse for Japan.
‘….Let’s just go to sleep.’
After a few nights spent camping outdoors, this one night

spent in the hotel proved to be rather bloody fantastic.
***
Next morning.
His departure time neared and employees from the Japanese

Hunter’s Association came to escort him.
“Good day to you, Hunter-nim.”
The Association employee tasked with guiding Jin-Woo

greeted him using fluent Korean.
“We have readied the vehicle that will take you to the
airport.”
What excellent timing it was since he was beginning to feel

bored, staying cooped up in the hotel room. Jin-Woo went
and picked up his bag that had been discarded in the corner
of the suite somewhere and returned to the door.
“Let’s get going right away.”

“Heok!”
Just as Jin-Woo was about to leave the suite, the employee

saw the state he was in currently and formed a flustered
expression.
“H-Hunter-nim…. By any chance, don’t you have any other

set of clothing with you?”
It wasn’t as if Jin-Woo couldn’t understand where this

reaction of the employee was coming from. Blood and sweat
stained both his shirts and pants, serving as clear evidence
of the intense battles he had gone through during the last
few days.
‘I was trying to be as careful as possible, though….’
From the get-go, it was plainly impossible to evade every

single drop of the massive quantity of blood spewing out
from bodies of the Giants. Since the rest of his clothes were
in a similarly sorry state, all he could do was to helplessly
shrug his shoulders as his reply.
The employee suddenly broke out in a grin and politely

made his inquiry.
“If it’s alright with you, may we be permitted to prepare an

extra set of clothing for you to wear?”
That was one of the better suggestions he heard the whole

day.
There was no reason for him to walk around with blood-

stained clothes like this, and also, he hadn’t done anything
wrong either so he was disinclined to sneak around like
some kind of a criminal, too.
The employee figured out Jin-Woo’s answer from his
brightened expression and spoke up with a smile.
“We’ll have them ready right away. Please wait here for a
little while longer.”
The extra clothing must’ve been prepared in advance,

because it didn’t even take ten minutes after the end of the
employee’s phone call for several men to hurriedly rush in to
the suite carrying many business suits.
‘Already?!’
Jin-Woo formed a bit of a suspicious expression, which

prompted the employee to answer with a happy smile.
“We thought that something like this might happen, so we

had them ready in advance.”
Jin-Woo watched as the business suits were sorted into

different colours and sizes in an instant, and somehow
managed to keep the gasps of astonishment to himself.
For something that was prepared ‘just in case’, wasn’t this

just all too well organised?
“If you need anything else besides your clothes….”
Jin-Woo quickly shook his hands around.
“Nonono, it’s alright.”
The services he received so far had already been amply

satisfactory. He could already see that the Japanese Hunter’s
Association was trying to do their utmost best here.
Jin-Woo scanned the displayed business suits before picking

the one that seemed to fit his size. After swapping out his
duds, he stood before the mirror to take a look.
Maybe because all the prepared suits were high-end items,

he came across as a completely new person.
‘Hey, don’t I look pretty cool like this?’
A smile automatically bloomed on his face. He fixed the ends

of the suit and turned around. The Association employee
who panicked earlier about the lack of other apparels began
gasping out in sighs of admiration.
“Those look very good on you, Hunter-nim.”
“Let’s be on our way now.”
“Understood. Our staff members will carry your luggage for

you, Hunter-nim.”
Two burly Association employees strode in as if they were

waiting for this moment and picked up Jin-Woo’s stuff.
He could sense the Japanese Hunter’s Association’s desire to

make sure that he wouldn’t even need to lift a finger from
their extremely considerate treatment. He was still treated
like royalty even when walking out from the front entrance
of the 5-star luxury hotel.
And soon, the black sedan carrying Jin-Woo headed off

towards the airport.
***
When he got near the airport’s vicinity, Jin-Woo began

realising why the Japanese Association was so particularly
mindful of taking care of his appearance.
Because he could see throngs upon throngs of people
outside the moving car’s window. And there were even more
people beyond them.
“…”
Jin-Woo became utterly speechless and silently stared

outside, while the Association employee spoke to him in a
clearly excited voice.
“Everyone gathered here today all wanted to see you at

least once before you depart, Hunter-nim.”
One couldn’t even argue that this sea of people was forcibly
organised either, as there were simply too many of them for
that.
“Just how many people have shown up here today?”
“It’s not an exact amount, but we estimate over one hundred

thousand, Hunter-nim.”
“That many….?”
The vehicle carrying Jin-Woo quietly glided along the road

that had been cordoned off tightly. When they went around
a corner, there was just as big a crowd of people, no, maybe
even bigger than before, waiting to greet Jin-Woo’s car.
“Seong Hunter-nim, you’re a hero that saved Japan.”
“….”
From Jin-Woo’s perspective, he simply did what he was

capable of doing. However, what he did was not something
anyone else could do. No, only he was capable of doing it.
The Japanese people had no choice but to shiver in despair
after seeing the Giant-type monsters through TV broadcasts,
from social media, or even with their own eyes.
No one wanted to help out with the national-level crisis

unfolding in Japan. Instead, they all opined in one voice that
the country was now doomed.
But then, from their neighbouring nation, South Korea – the

man who could possibly be more famous than the country’s
own president, the leader of the Korean Hunter’s
Association, Goh Gun-Hui, made an announcement which
reached the ears of the despairing Japanese people.
[“There is one such person. There is one Hunter who wishes

to go to Japan and get rid of the Giant monsters.”]
Countless Japanese watching the press conference live held

their breaths and focused on their TV screens.
[“Just who is this Hunter?”]
After the reporter asked that question, Association President

Goh Gun-Hui pressed his lips as close to the microphone and
made his reply.
[“It’s Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”]
It was an already well-known fact that Jin-Woo had killed off

every one of the rank S ant monsters occupying Jeju Island
all by himself.
The three letters of ‘Seong Jin-Woo’ coming out from

Association President Goh Gun-Hui’s lips caused much
upheaval within the entirety of Japan. For the Japanese
people, Jin-Woo was their sole ray of hope.
And a week later.
Just as he promised before setting off from Korea, Jin-Woo

had completely annihilated the Giant monsters from the
Japanese mainland and was about to step on the road back
home.
Perhaps it was inevitable that the countless Japanese had

gathered to see him one last time.
The Association employee explained that, if it weren’t for the

country going through the chaos of cleaning up the affected
areas, even more people would have turned up today.
He then added this bit at the end.
“Honestly speaking, our Prime Minister also dearly wishes to

meet you to express his gratitude as well, Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim. May we impose on you for that small matter for
a little while?”
The expression of the Association employee was much more

serious than ever before. Jin-Woo could easily guess the
amount of pressure from the higher-ups this guy must be
under.
Unfortunately, what he didn’t want to do initially, he still

wasn’t interested in doing it, even now. Jin-Woo answered in
the same way as he did when he was asked the first time.
“I don’t want to waste my time doing something

unnecessary.”
The Association employee ended up laughing out after

witnessing Jin-Woo’s direct attitude and nodded his head in
understanding.
“Haha… I understand.”
As they continued to make small talk over this and that, the
vehicle carrying them had eventually arrived at the airport’s
entrance. As usual, Jin-Woo calmly exited from the car and
stepped on to the pavement.
But, in that exact moment, he was showered by the

outpouring of passionate hand claps coming from
everywhere.
Jin-Woo looked around at the gathered crowd.
“Hunter-nim!”
He couldn’t understand anything they were saying to him,

but then again, every one of the lights gleaming in their
eyes, their voices, and their gestures helped him to
overcome the language barrier altogether.
Their bottomless gratitude and respect were transmitted in

the air and he could sense them all.
Beru, watching this spectacle from within his shadow,

quickly engaged him in a chat.
‘Oh, my king. Your loyal subjects are expressing their

genuine adulation and awe towards you, my liege.’
‘It’s not like that.’
‘Oh my king, perhaps it is for the best that you wave your
hand and acknowledge your subjects….’
‘Hey. I said it’s not like that.’

Where did this guy see and learn all this weird stuff from?
Jin-Woo was about to ignore Beru’s advice and turn around,

but then, he stopped in his treks to ask his ant soldier a
question.
‘By the way, do other ants enjoy it when you, you know,
acknowledge them, as you said?’
Beru replied in a very proud voice. As a matter of fact, if he

was standing outside the shadow right now, he’d definitely
have formed a commanding, imposing expression, too.
‘But, of course, my king.’
That was to be expected, though. Beru did possess a skill

that raised up the morale of the ant soldiers with nothing
but his screech, after all.
Jin-Woo nodded his head. All these people came to see him
off, so was there a reason not to greet them back, which was
something even an ant could do?
Jin-Woo stopped and turned around towards the crowd

again. He hesitated and awkwardly raised his left hand,
before waving it around at the people watching him.
The sounds of clapping became even more energetic and

they were soon accompanied by the loud cheers, as well.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
Only then did he notice that the Association employee

tasked with guiding him vigorously clapping hands as well.
The edges of the man’s eyes were even reddening up with
emotions, too.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you very much, Hunter-nim!”
“We’re grateful for everything!”
The Association employee’s nose had reddened by this point

as well, and he addressed Jin-Woo as he wiped the edges of
his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt.
“Let us get going, Hunter-nim. The plane should be leaving

soon.”
Jin-Woo slowly lowered his hand.
Even then, the sound of clapping didn’t cease. They

continued on and on, even as his back disappeared from the
view of the gathered crowd.
The plane carrying Jin-Woo taxied off amidst the sending-off

of over hundred thousand people.
Next day.
A certain well-known Japanese columnist wrote and

published these words.
If the top leader of their nation were chosen through nothing

but the support from its citizens, then they would have seen
their very first non-native Prime Minister elected on that day.
***
In the opulent mansion owned by one of the five Special

Authority-rank Hunters, Christopher Reid.
He suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

The cause? The noises from the surroundings.
As one of the very best Hunters acknowledged by the world,

he’d not be able to fall asleep even for a single day if he
were to mind every little noise he could hear.
And that was precisely it. He didn’t wake up because it was

too noisy around him. No, it was the exact opposite.
‘Why is it so quiet around here?’
All sorts of ambient noises he could hear if he concentrated

just a little were gone as if they were all a lie, to begin with.
He kicked off from his bed and opened the bedroom door. He

couldn’t pick up on the presence of several hired help who
should’ve been located in various spots of the mansion.
As if he had entered an abandoned house, there was this

deeply creepy and eerie atmosphere permeating in the air.
Christopher Reid wordlessly stared at the empty corridor,

before walking over to grab a wine glass left on the table
and came back to the doorway. And then, he threw it in the
corridor.
The wine glass left his hand and drew a gentle arc in the air,
before hitting the floor to shatter into bits and pieces.
However, there were no sounds still. Not even one.
At that moment, a powerful chill crawled up his spine. He

realised that something that could not happen had
happened.
His sharpened senses were sending out warning bells. They

were warning him that he was now facing the kind of danger
he had never experienced before. His instincts strongly
advised him to make a certain action, right now.
He quickly moved away from the doorway. He ran to the

bedside bureau to pick up his mobile phone resting on top,
and at the same time, he yanked open one of its drawers.
There was a piece of crumpled paper resting silently within.
These words were written on its surface.
– If you need help, please call this number. The President of

the Korean Hunter’s Association Goh Gun-Hui will connect
you to that man.
The deputy director of the Hunter Bureau left behind that

note with the steward before leaving.
Christopher Reid learned of this fact a bit later and flew

directly into a rage. He was thinking of disposing of the note
right away, but then, he couldn’t bring himself to do so after
the worried face of Madam Selner kept lingering on in his
mind for some reason.
‘Did the Madam actually predict a moment like this would

come?!’
He didn’t know the answer to that. But, if he wanted to find

out, he needed to survive first.
Christopher Reid quickly flipped the note over. The

Association President Goh Gun-Hui’s phone number was
written on the back. Apparently, the Korean man was fluent
in English. So, there shouldn’t be an issue with the language
barrier here.
As soon as Christopher Reid made this call, he’d get the help
from Mister Seong.
‘…….’
He was rather certain of reading the obituary of that Korean

Hunter a couple of days after the fool flew to Japan. After all,
it did seem like the boy had overestimated himself a bit
there.
However, Christopher Reid’s thoughts went through a very

quick change after watching the feats of the summoned
creatures that guy controlled. The skillset possessed by
Mister Seong was indeed all real.
Madam Selner did tell him this before.
[“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. If it’s him, he might be able to

protect you.”]
Since she said those words, there could be some substance

behind them, too.
Christopher Reid quickly dialled the number.
No, he tried to.
Unfortunately, his fingers had to stop moving once he felt

the presence of people behind him.
“….”
It was too late now to ask for help or let someone else know
of his situation. Christopher Reid put the phone and the note
down and quietly stood back up again.
The first person he saw after slowly turning around was a

blonde man with a bright smile etched on his face. One of
this man’s hands was even tucked in his pocket – a display
of utter leisure.
Such a relaxed demeanour would be rather impossible to
find from a normal person invading the residence of a rank S
Hunter, and not only that, a Hunter boasting one of the
highest levels in the entire world.
Christopher Reid asked.
“Who are you people?”
The blondie in front of his eyes, and two more behind this
one. There were a total of three intruders.
It was already unknown whether he’d be able to fight off just

the one in front, and to think, there were two enemies of
similar calibre present, too.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Christopher Reid’s

forehead. And just as this drop slid past his brow, past his
temple, and all the way down his cheek until it reached the
point of his chin….
The blondie began speaking up.
“If you keep trying to accommodate these humans during

your struggles, you won’t be able to save a single thing, oh
Fragment of the Brilliant Light.”
And worse still, his voice sounded truly bizarre as if it didn’t

even belong to this world in the first place.
‘….Monster language?!’
Christopher Reid’s brows shot up real high.
“Just what the f*ck are you saying here??”
The blondie watched the agitated Christopher Reid react

and raised his finger to press it against his lips.
“Shh. I wasn’t talking to you.”
The blonde’s fluent English this time caused the eyes of

Christopher Reid to grow wider still.
A being that could speak both the language of man as well

as the language of monsters as freely as he willed it – as far
as Christopher Reid knew, no such person existed in this
world.
The finger leaving the blondie’s lips then pointed to the

heavens above.
“Up there. I was talking to the dude up there connected to

you.”
Of course, Christopher Reid couldn’t make heads nor tails of

what this blonde man was talking about. But he was sure of
one thing.
He was sure that this blonde was completely looking down

on him right now. Christopher Reid’s angry voice powerfully
reverberated outward.
“Do I look like a d*mn pushover to you?!”
Crimson light exploded forth from his eyes and soon, vicious
flames began whipping around all over his body. In fact, his
figure became crimson in colour as well as he grew larger
and larger in size. The furniture caught by his expansion
were all knocked and shoved away.
Rumble-!!
His new appearance as the angry flames enveloped his

entire body was that of the God of Fire! Now easily four
metres tall, real flames were spitting out from the creature’s
eyes.
“At the bare minimum, I will take down one of you with me!”
Christopher Reid’s punch collided with the wall and caused a

massive explosion.
Ka-boom!!
The two men behind the blondie stepped aside to avoid the
debris from the exploding wall and revealed themselves in
full.
“Spiritual Body Manifestation….?”
“A human can manifest a Spiritual Body?”
They looked on at Christopher Reid’s new appearance with

some amount of interest. Meanwhile, the floor Christopher
Reid stood on began boiling and melting down.
For the first time since the worst calamity ever to befall
humanity, the ‘Kamish raid’, he prepared himself to die
today.
Rumble-!!
The flames wrapped around him became even more violent

as if they were about to explode and began swallowing up
everything surrounding him.
And as the vicinity was being swept away by his vicious

flames, he stood in the middle of this storm of destruction
and roared out loudly enough to shake the earth itself.
“Die, you f*cking monster b*stards-!!”

Chapter 183
What were the odds of finding a familiar face occupying a

seat next to yours after boarding a plane?
Jin-Woo was guided to the first class cabin by the

stewardess, but before he could take his seat, he could only
stare vacantly at his temporary neighbour. He then spoke in
a rather exasperated voice.
“I hope you aren’t going to blame this one on coincidence.”
“I’d be happy, very much so, if you did, but… yes, it does
sound like a bit of stretch, doesn’t it?”
Listening to a blue-eyed foreigner speak such fluent Korean

still remained a rather disharmonious experience to Jin-Woo.
He didn’t take his eyes off the man as he settled down on his
seat.
“We meet again, Mister Adam White.”
“It’s an honour to speak to you again, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-

nim.”
The Senior Agent from America’s Hunter Bureau, Adam

White, still carried that amiable smile as he bowed his head,
just like the first time they met.
Jin-Woo scanned the rest of the first-class cabin.
‘Ah, so that was why….’

He was wondering why there were two pretty strong Hunters
present in the first-class cabin, but now he could venture a
guess and say that they were also affiliated with the Hunter
Bureau.
Two men kitted out in black business suits met Jin-Woo’s

drifting gaze and silently nodded their heads as their
greeting.
Here was the thing, though – including the people of the

Monitoring Division from the Association as well as these
two, why did these ‘agents’ of something or rather all walk
around wearing black business suits as if that was their
uniform?
Were they trying to show off the fact that they were agents
of some organisation?
Jin-Woo studied those two men with such needless thoughts

swirling in his head. In the meantime, though, Adam White
was letting out a sigh of admiration.
“We’ve only met once briefly, yet you still remember my

name. I’m honoured.”
“Well, let’s just say that our first meeting had been too
memorable not to remember.”
“I’d like to offer my apology about that day’s events. We

certainly didn’t expect there would be a Hunter Madam
Selner’s abilities couldn’t reach….”
Jin-Woo lightly waved his hand about.
Because, as far as apologies were concerned, he heard

plenty from the deputy director himself until he felt almost
fed up on that very day. He didn’t feel like bringing that
subject back up again.
However, he was still curious as to why the agents of the

Hunter Bureau, who seemed to have cleanly given up on
reeling him in, had appeared before him like this.
“I thought our negotiation had broken down completely?”
Jin-Woo’s voice became lower. It was at that moment the

amiable smile disappeared from Adam White’s face.
“We’re aware that seeking you out like this without a prior
heads-up is quite rude, but an urgent situation had
developed and we had no choice but to contact you.”
Jin-Woo abruptly recalled the news of a rank S Gate

appearing somewhere in the eastern US.
“Could it be that you guys also failed to handle that rank S

Gate….?”
“Mm? Ah, no. Not that. We took care of that one, no

problem.”
If this wasn’t about the rank S Gate, then what other

problem could there be? Could this matter be somehow
related to him killing the King of Giants?
When Jin-Woo displayed his clear interest, Adam White

didn’t waste any more time and pulled out a notebook PC.
A video clip came up on the computer’s screen and it

showed thick rising plumes of black smoke as if a wide-scale
wildfire had broken out somewhere. Adam handed the
laptop over to Jin-Woo so that the latter could watch the clip.
He could see that the firefighters were struggling mighty
hard to rein in the flames that were clearly getting stronger
and stronger. Those flames definitely contained magic
energy.
– What is up with this fire? We can’t put it out!
– They can’t be a normal blaze!
– Heeey! Over there! Get away from there! You’ll turn into
charcoal if you get brushed by the flames!
The firefighters were clearly in a panicked state. They

seemed to be trying all sorts of methods but the raging
inferno showed no signs of weakening at all.
No, it was actually only getting stronger and began to slowly

box them in, instead.
A scorched tree toppled over, hitting another tree in the

process and transferring the flames; it was a chain reaction
giving birth to the unending inferno.
The billowing flames crashed forward like an angry tidal

wave.
– Oh, my god!!
– Where is our back-up?!
– When are they arriving?!
It was right then. A helicopter arrived in the nick of time and

several Mage-type Hunters disembarked from the vehicle.
And they proceeded to pour out water-type magic on the
flames.
After magical water spray slammed into the fiery forest
dozens upon dozens of times, the inferno gradually was
brought under control.
Jin-Woo carefully studied the video.
‘All these guys… are top-class Hunters.’
Judging from the strengths of the magic spells used, there

was little doubt that they were top-ranked Hunters for sure.
Flames that could only be barely put under control after

several top-ranked Hunters had to combine their forces
together – this fact confirmed that the cause of the fire itself
had to be one hell of a Hunter, as well.
– Oh, Mister Hunters!
– We, we’re saved….
– Thanks for your help, Hunters!
The firefighters continued to express their admiration as

they gradually killed off the fire that lost most of its power. If
the Hunters had arrived only a second later, there could
have been a costly human tragedy unfolding in that
location.
– Let’s go in deeper!
– The fire is dying out!
– We’ve done it! We’ve put out the fire!
The video clip was nearing its end. Seeing that there wasn’t
much time left in the video’s duration, Jin-Woo felt it strange
and had to ask.
“Why are you showing me this?”
Sure, it had been an interesting viewing experience, but

people coming to see him because of some wildfire in the US
didn’t make much sense to him at all.
Adam White reached out and skipped forward to the last

part of the clip.
“Here… please watch the end.”
The guy shooting the video broke past the thick black smoke
still rising up and continued to venture deeper into the
scorched forest until the footage could capture the origin of
the inferno.
There must have been an incredibly powerful explosion,

judging from the radius of things being swept away.
And in the centre of that radius…..
A single corpse was lying face down there.
There was no need to confirm if the victim was still alive or

not. There was a wide hole in his chest and that should have
been the exact spot where his heart used to be.
“In order to put out the fire this man caused, over 1800
firefighters and 14 Mage-type Hunters had to be mobilised.”
Not only that, they were all top-ranked Hunters, too.
14 high-ranking Hunters had to give their all just to put out

a fire lingering around after the one activating it had died
already? Just from that alone, Jin-Woo was able to make an
educated guess at the identity of the corpse lying face down
on the ground.
“Could it be, is he….?”
As Jin-Woo looked up at him, Adam White replied with a

melancholic expression.
“As I thought, you have recognised him. Indeed, it was

Christopher Reid Hunter-nim.”
The previously-unsure Jin-Woo’s eyes widened in shock.
But, this didn’t make sense. A Special-Authority Hunter, one

of the world’s very best, had been murdered by someone
else?
“We also don’t want to believe it, but he had definitely been
assassinated.”
Right at the end of the video playback, one of the

firefighters flipped Christopher Reid’s body on its back. With
that, one could see the state of the corpse far more clearly.
Not just a hole in his chest, no, there were several horrible
wounds inflicted all over his body, too. They were definitely
traces of an intense battle.
“And finally, these are….”
Adam White pulled out several photos from his inner pocket
and spoke up.
“These are the photos of the being we at the Hunter Bureau

strongly suspect to be the culprit in this case.”
‘….The being?’
Jin-Woo could only feel confused from the way Adam White
said his words, as he didn’t sound like he was talking about
a man or a woman – as if he wasn’t talking about a human
but a ‘thing’, instead. Soon, though, the Korean’s gaze
lowered down to the photographs.
There was no need to even take them for a closer look. Jin-
Woo simply stood up from his seat and beckoned with his
finger, and that caused Adam White to rise up automatically
from his seat, as well.
“Uh, uh?!”
Adam White’s eyes opened up wide in surprise.
Jin-Woo used his ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to drag the American

agent in closer and grabbed hold of the latter’s collars.
“Keo-heok!”
Now that they were close enough for their noses to touch,
Jin-Woo spoke in a voice a few octaves lower than before.
“If this is your way of trying to play some kind of a trick…

you, all of you, won’t walk out of here alive.”
He was not making an empty threat here, either.
Jin-Woo’s cold eyes were gleaming like a wild, ferocious

beast as he genuinely emitted a murderous intent.
Adam White, although his collars were held tight, still

managed to cry out.
“Don’t! Don’t do it!”
Of course, he wasn’t shouting at Jin-Woo.
His desperate dissuasion managed to stop just in time the

movements of the two high-ranking Hunters about to
descend on Jin-Woo.
Having successfully stopped the actions akin to pouring oil
into the fire, Adam White then pleaded with Jin-Woo next.
“That being in the photo walked out from a dungeon! He’s

most likely not the person you know!”
“A dungeon….??”
Jin-Woo’s grip on Adam White’s collars relaxed just a tad.

Being able to breathe just a bit easier now, the American
hurriedly added more explanation.
“The magic energy emission from that guy was a match to

that of monsters, and he suddenly began attacking our rank
S Hunter, as well.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze lowered down to the photos that fell out of

Adam White’s hands. The person being photographed by the
CCTV cameras was…
None other than Jin-Woo’s father.
‘My dad came out of a dungeon, and started attacking other

Hunters?’
As Jin-Woo began falling into confusion, Adam White quickly

clarified himself.
“Do you still remember the accident that happened a few

months ago in the HQ of Hunter Bureau? That explosion?”
How could Jin-Woo forget? That incident caused quite a bit

of clamour around the world, after all.
All sorts of wild conspiracy theories were flung about, such

as – the explosion being the result of a secret experiment
gone wrong, a high-ranking Hunter running amok, or even
two rank S Awakened fighting each other, etc.
“Are you telling me that was the handiwork of my father?”
Adam White nodded his head.
“He beat down one of our Hunters and vanished into thin air.
We at the Hunter Bureau continued to chase him in secrecy,
but as if he had disappeared from this world, we couldn’t
find any traces of him.
“….”
Jin-Woo wordlessly listened to Adam White’s explanation.
“I understand how you feel, Hunter-nim. However, that

person fits the profile best for this particular crime.”
For one, he had the precedence of attacking another Hunter,

he was strong enough to easily exceed a rank S Awakened,
and finally, his whereabouts were a complete mystery. It
would not be all that strange to see the Hunter Bureau
designate the ‘being claiming to be Seong Il-Hwan’ as one of
the main suspects.
However, even if he took what Adam White said as 100%

truth….
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed down to a slit.
“What is your reason for showing me those pictures?”
“The International Guild Conference.”
“…??”
“During the International Guild Conference, where the
representatives from the world’s leading Guilds will gather in
one spot, the higher-ups of the Hunter Bureau are planning
to distribute that person’s pictures.”
Meaning, they would no longer keep the investigation a

secret.
It also meant that the American government had become

really enraged by the loss of an invaluable asset called a
Special Authority-rank Hunter and they would fully mobilise
every resource at their disposal in tracking down and
apprehending the party responsible.
In that regard, there would be no better timing than the

International Guild Conference.
The assassination of a Special Authority-rank Hunter – quite

obviously, gathered Guilds would pay extra attention to this
topic, and the announcement from the Hunter Bureau would
certainly intensify their interest.
“We at the Hunter Bureau would like to continue

maintaining our amicable relationship with you, Seong Jin-
Woo Hunter-nim.”
“So, you came to inform me first before the public

announcement takes place, is that it?”
Adam White managed to move his still-restricted head up

and down with some difficulty.
“I-if you attend the gathering only to be confronted by the

images of your father, you’d no doubt become shocked and
confused by it, wouldn’t you agree?”
Even if it was unknown whether that thing was really his
father returning from the dungeon or a fake that simply
looked like him.
From the death of a Special Authority-rank Hunter, to the

existence of a being calling itself Seong Il-Hwan, and finally,
even about the warrant itself – these were the Hunter
Bureau’s way of showing consideration, as they had rated
Jin-Woo’s abilities very highly and didn’t want to become his
enemy.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo’s silence continued on.
He could sense truthfulness from the pleading eyes and

voice of Adam White. That came from an emotion borne out
of friendly intentions.
Jin-Woo was thinking of not holding back the moment he

sensed even a minute level of hostility here.
However, there was the photographic evidence of the being

that resembled his father stepping on the neck of the Korean
Hunter with American citizenship, Hwang Dong-Su.
He was unable to rebut the assertion of the Hunter Bureau

that the person in these photographs couldn’t be a human
being at all.
“We’d like to ask you for your understanding on why we had

no choice but to do this.”
Only then did Jin-Woo let go of his collars. The red-faced

Adam White coughed and wheezed heavily to the side.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo picked up the photographs from the
floor. No matter how hard he looked, the person in these
pictures was definitely his father. His heart madly pounded
away as he peered deeper.
Around at that time, the announcement from the pilots came

out of the PA system.
[Ladies and gentlemen, the plane will land shortly.]
Even though a commotion broke out in its first-class cabin,

the plane still managed to land without any further incident
on the runaway of the Incheon International Airport.
Using the skill ‘Stealth’, Jin-Woo escaped from the eyes of all
the reporters waiting for him there. The first thing he did
after making his getaway was to call up Yu Jin-Ho.
– “Ah, hyung-nim! You arrived back in the country!”
Perhaps because his father had recovered fully, Yu Jin-Ho’s

voice sounded even happier than before as he welcomed his
hyung-nim back.
However, Jin-Woo was in no mood to smile right now.
“Looks like I’ll have to travel to the US next week, after all.”
– “Pardon? Are you talking about that International Guild

Conference thing? Didn’t you say you weren’t interested in
going, hyung-nim?”
“Situation has changed.”
He needed to find more information.
He needed to know more.

He needed some kind of proof so he could determine
whether that being was really his father or something else.
In order to meet his goal, he had no choice but to attend this

“Can you book me the plane ticket, then?”
When he asked, an unhesitating reply came right back at

him.
– “In that case, I shall book two return tickets immediately,

hyung-nim!”
***
Adam White couldn’t stand back up again for a long while

even after Jin-Woo had left the plane. He tried to get up, only
to stagger unsteadily on his feet. The Hunters escorting him
quickly asked.
“Yeah, more or less. Just that I’m a bit exhausted right now.”
Adam White sounded more like he was trying to console

himself, instead. The Hunters helped him to stand up
straight again.
Because his major was in criminal psychology, he got to

interrogate his fair share of rather horrible human beings so
far. But still, this would be his first time being terrified of
another person to this degree.
He could still recall Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s quiet yet cold

eyes seemingly tightening around his neck like a noose.
Adam White knew full well that the Korean was not going to
come back to harm him, yet just from remembering those
eyes, he felt his bowels tighten.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo before and after the photos was like
two different people altogether.
‘A person can switch that much, huh.’
However, the truly shocking thing was something else.

Adam White asked the Hunters for the confirmation.
“I need to confirm with you both since it happened too

quickly for me. Just now, didn’t Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
somehow move me without touching me at all, right?”
The two high-ranking Hunters, who wouldn’t lose out to

anyone on the matters of excellent eyesight, nodded their
heads as their reply to Adam White’s question.
‘I thought as much…!’
The American agent was now properly freaking out now. He

definitely hadn’t seen it incorrectly. That Korean man, he
could use psychokinesis.
Up until now, he was under the impression that the

psychokinesis was the exclusive ability only available to the
Special Authority-rank Hunters. However, Hunter Seong had
used it without so much as batting an eyelid.
Adam White felt goosebumps breaking out all over his skin.
Seong Jin-Woo was the first one discovered to possess the

psychokinesis skill outside the five Special Authority-rank
Hunters.
‘There is no time to waste.’
His trembling hand picked up his phone. The ringtone went

for a little while before the deputy director answered the
call.
Adam White did his best to calm his trembling voice.
“Deputy director… I just discovered the sixth one.”

Chapter 184
The American Hunter Bureau released the list of the Guilds

invited to the conference.
[Sicario Guild, Alron Diaz (Mexico)]
[Ah-Jin Guild, Seol Jin-Woo (South Korea)]
[Ira et Vitae Guild, Fabio Garco (Italy)]
……
The International Guild Conference.
It was an important event where Guilds representing their

nations were invited over to discuss the current trends and
future prospects of the Hunter community at large.
And ‘Ah-Jin Guild’ had been chosen to represent South

Korea. Its participation in the conference became the hot
topic of conversation for both the local and international
mass media.
The thing was, Jin-Woo was the sole high-ranking Hunter

affiliated with that Guild as well as its Master. This invitation
was no different from the American Hunter Bureau publicly
acknowledging that this single Hunter was in no way inferior
to any of the very best Guilds in the world. Guilds that
countless high-ranked Hunters worked for.
However – no, perhaps unsurprisingly – not one person
raised a voice of discontent. Because, was there really a
need to discuss whether that lone Hunter was qualified or
not in this case?
Jin-Woo already possessed the records of solving two

massive crises on the level of bringing their respective
nations down to their knees in South Korea and Japan. Most
importantly, all by himself, too.
Quite obviously, no one now dismissed the capabilities of

the Ah-Jin Guild, or more precisely, the core of the Guild
itself, Jin-Woo, and his abilities.
No, even more than that – quite a few people around the
world were getting rather hyped up from the prospect of a
brand new super-powerful Hunter participating in the
gathering, where the strongest Awakened scattered
throughout the world would stand on one stage.
Whenever the international mass media talked about the

Japanese dungeon break incident, they also mentioned Ah-
Jin Guild planning to participate in the International Guild
Conference in the same breath as if it was the most obvious
thing to do.
South Korea was no exception.
As the local interest in the International Guild Conference

heated up, one of the TV stations requested the Master of
the Hunters Guild, Choi Jong-In, for an interview.
He knew that the station couldn’t ask Jin-Woo for one and
had sought him out as an alternative, but still, he readily
said yes.
And so, the interview being broadcast live to the nation took
up the time slot of the eight in the evening, the one seen as
the most important hour just before the watershed.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Choi Jong-In, and I’m the

person in charge of the Hunters Guild.”
His handsome visage and the inviting smile made sure to

shake up the hearts of many ladies watching the broadcast.
Currently, the comments section of the TV station’s website

was inundated with complaints from the female viewers at
home. They all said that it should’ve been the Hunters Guild
getting the invite for the conference, instead.
“Thank you for coming, Chairman Choi.”
The female interviewer lowered her head as a greeting and

began asking the prepared questions.
“The news regarding Ah-Jin Guild has attracted a great deal

of interest from many people around the country. But, what
are your thoughts regarding this issue?”
Choi Jong-In didn’t even hesitate for a second before he

made his reply.
“I believe that the American Hunter Bureau made the right

choice.”
“It’s not ‘you understand the reason why’, but you believe it
was the right choice?”
“Yes. I definitely believe that’s the case.”
“But, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the Ah-Jin Guild is

basically a one-man show, is it not?”
“Let’s not forget that that one-man show is currently being
run by none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Choi Jong-In replied with an amiable smile on his face, and

the interviewer also broke out in a smile, as well.
Before her smile could end, though, Choi Jong-In smoothly

continued on.
“If you define the Guild staff members as personnel that

could be mobilised in a combat situation, then you could say
that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo already possesses hundreds of
Guild staff members.”
“Are you referring to Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s summons?”
“That’s correct. I believe that Ah-Jin’s overall combat

potential won’t lose out to anyone, even when compared to
some of the very best Guilds around the world.”
“Just because of Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Yes, because of him.”
Noisy, noisy….
Choi Jong-In’s firm, unwavering reply caused an outbreak of

low murmurings from the audience members in the studio,
but the man himself remained calm in his demeanour.
He had witnessed Jin-Woo’s feats both directly and

indirectly, so he was absolutely certain of this. Even now, his
feelings hadn’t changed.
Every time he recalled Jin-Woo creating a path in that siege

of ant monsters, all the back hair on Choi Jong-In’s neck
would stand up and goosebumps quickly enveloped his
entire body.
‘Just who out there would believe that, in the past, he used
to be a rank E Hunter?’
Choi Jong-In didn’t hold back and acknowledged the

difference in strength between his Guild and that of the Ah-
Jin Guild, and that elevated the atmosphere of the TV studio
to an even hotter degree than ever before.
The interviewer smiled in satisfaction, before cautiously

studying Choi Jong-In’s response.
“Even still, the Hunters Guild can’t be too happy about this
situation. After all, It was your Guild that had been
participating in the Conference for the last several years.”
“Yes, it indeed hurts a little that our dream American trip

had to be cancelled this year. I mean, we have all renewed
our passports and been waiting for the invite to arrive in the
mail, you see.”
Choi Jong-In joked around good-heartedly and that

prompted a burst of laughter from the audience members.
“However, the pride I feel easily trumps any pain in my gut.”
Choi Jong-In’s smile that had been constantly fixed on his

face was suddenly replaced by something much more
earnest. The laughter from the audience members died out
gradually. Meanwhile, the light within the interviewer’s eyes
also became earnest, as well.
Words spoken from now on would be the main topic of this

interview – such atmosphere emanated from the expression
Choi Jong-In was making right now. Quite naturally, the
gazes of the audience members were directed towards his
lips next.
Choi Jong-In had appeared in TV shows quite often and knew

how to play the crowd. He built up some suspense to get
everyone psyched up first before opening his mouth.
“Please, think about it. Even if monsters my powers aren’t

good enough to deal with appear before us, we now have a
Hunter we can completely place our faith in.”
His words spoken from the depths of his heart carried a

certain weight that no simple description could adequately
convey. That weight from one man’s opinion bore down on
the studio, leading to the interviewer and the audience
members to forget what they wanted to say and simply stare
at Choi Jong-In.
As silence filled the once-noisy filming venue, he quietly

spoke up.
“In all honesty, my Guild members and I, not to mention

countless other people affiliated with other Guilds, managed
to survive all thanks to Hunter Seong coming to lend his
aid.”
Choi Jong-In scanned the audience members. He wasn’t

trying to achieve this effect, but still, the atmosphere had
become quite sombre somehow.
In order to brighten up the mood, he formed a warm smile

and finished what he wanted to say.
“I am genuinely proud of the fact that Hunter Seong has

been chosen to represent South Korea.”
When he did, thunderous clapping exploded out from the
audience members.
***
Choi Jong-In successfully concluded the interview and was

about to leave the TV station when he received a call on his
mobile phone.
Vrrr…. Vrrr….
‘Mm?’
He lifted up his vibrating phone to find the number

belonging to his advisor in the Guild, manager Joh Myoung-
Ki.
“Hello, this is Choi Jong-In.”
– “Sir, we got the raid permit for the Gate that appeared this
morning in the suburb of Suseo-dong. It’s a rank A, but the
actual measurement value apparently isn’t that high, sir.”
“That’s good news.”
Choi Jong-In formed a smile after hearing that piece of good

news before tilting his head a little.
“By the way, did Ah-Jin Guild not apply for the raid permit
again?”
– “Yes, sir. Now that you mention it, it’s been spookily quiet
from them lately.”
It had been four days since Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had

returned from Japan. And during that time, four high ranking
Gates had opened up. Basically, it was at the rate of one a
day.
The rate of high-ranked Gates being generated had gone up
quite rapidly, yet the Ah-Jin Guild – or, more specifically, the
entirety of Ah-Jin Guild itself, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, hadn’t
shown any signs of movement at all.
But well, the major Guilds located in the Capital had been in
a constant state of celebration day after day due to these
events.
All because the destroyer of the monsters, the god of

destroying dungeons who rushed in like crazy whenever a
new Gate appeared so he could completely root out all
monsters within, had not shown himself for the last few
days.
However, Choi Jong-In felt a certain strange sense of discord

whenever Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t there at the location of a
Gate, and that made him feel a bit concerned.
‘I’m different from Baek Yun-Ho of the White Tiger or Im Tae-

Gyu.’
If you didn’t care about anything else and simply felt happy
about an apple suddenly falling from a tree, then what made
you any different from a simple-minded ape?
Some would begin drooling at the prospect of free apples,

while some others would start thinking about the laws of
gravity.
Choi Jong-In thought that his class hadn’t fallen low enough
to simply celebrate this sudden slice of good fortune. It was
at that moment he got to hear the bright, innocent-sounding
voice of manager Joh Myoung-Ki coming from the phone.
– “Nevertheless, our profit has gone up by nearly 40% after

not experiencing any competition from Ah-Jin Guild, sir!”
“Well, here’s an ape…..”
– “Excuse me?”
“Ahh, never mind. It’s nothing.”
Choi Jong-In quickly changed the topic.
“Did the Association say they know what’s going on here?”
– “They believe that he’s at home, resting. The way I hear it,
he hasn’t even shown up all that much in the Guild offices,
either.”
“H-mm….”
– “Sir, I don’t think there’s a need to overcomplicate this.

Couldn’t he be taking a bit of break in preparation for the
International Guild Conference?”
Choi Jong-In shook his head.
“I don’t think that’s the case.”
Just what kind of a person was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo? Choi

Jong-In spoke up his explanation.
“Before his ranking reassignment test, he cleared three to

four lower-ranked Gates in a day. And after he became a
rank S, he began intruding into the territory of other Guilds,
and only a few days ago, he went to Japan and sorted out a
rank S dungeon break all by himself. That’s who Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo is.”
Having heard all heard that, even Joh Myoung-Ki became

curious as to why Ah-Jin Guild had suddenly gone quiet
recently. Didn’t Hunter Seong always show up in a place
crawling with lots of monsters? He couldn’t have been
fatigued from the Giant monster raid, right?
He now thought that his boss getting puzzled by the Ah-Jin

Guild’s lack of activity was not so strange anymore.
– “Now that you mention it, sir, it does sound odd.”
“Oh, by the way. Wasn’t the Ah-Jin Guild supposed to

interview the prospective employees today? But, he still
didn’t show up there?”
– “Yes, sir. Seong Hunter-nim was nowhere to be found in the

interview location. It was just that Vice Master, Yu Jin-Ho
doing everything by himself.”
“….”
A short bout of silence flowed between the two men. Choi

Jong-In eventually broke the silence first and spoke in a
relatively calm voice.
“And how do you know that, manger Joh?”
***
– “I might really die at this rate, hyung-nim.”
The moment Jin-Woo answered the phone, Yu Jin-Ho began

bitterly complaining. He couldn’t help but grin a little.
It must’ve indeed been tough staring at the faces of the

applicants the whole day. Although the number of hopefuls
had been carefully filtered and trimmed down, didn’t it still
shoot past several hundred?
The kid might have been young, but he was doing his job as
the Vice-Master of a Guild and the proxy of Jin-Woo
admirably well.
‘Is this why the wise elders say you are your father’s child?’
Sure, his ‘dongsaeng’ might come across as a bit naïve and

dopey, but within Yu Jin-Ho’s body flowed the blood of the
natural-born business tycoon Chairman Yu Myung-Han.
And thanks to that, Jin-Woo could simply leave the running

of the Guild to Yu Jin-Ho and freely pursue what he wanted
to do.
“Thanks. You worked hard.”
– “No, not at all, hyung-nim. By the way, how are things on

your side?”
“Here?”
Jin-Woo looked behind him. The JSDF soldiers on standby

sent him a signal as if the preparations had been completed.
Seeing that, a smile floated back up on his lips.
“Well, it’s the same old story. I guess things could get
delayed a bit here, so close up shop without me.”
– “Got it, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s polite goodbye signalled the end of the phone

call.
An employee working for the Japanese Hunter’s Association

hurriedly ran towards Jin-Woo and received the phone as
well as his luggage. Having handed over his stuff for
safekeeping, he slowly loosened his neck and shoulder
muscles.
This state of heightened feelings he’d get while lightly
stretching his muscles before a raid always served to relax
his mind.
As if to provide a conversation partner while Jin-Woo was

stretching his body, or maybe he was just curious about
something, the Japanese Association employee suddenly
asked a question.
“If you let the world know that you’re busy closing the Gates
being generated in the disaster areas, your fame would
skyrocket even further, so if I may ask, why are you keeping
it a secret?”
Jin-Woo’s reply to that was pretty simple. He finished his

light stretching exercise and grinned brightly.
“I like peace and quiet, you see.”
Humility was one of the highest praised qualities in Japanese

society.
Tears began welling up in the eyes of the Association

employee as he took Jin-Woo’s “peace and quiet” answer as
the latter being modest in his actions.
“If you need anything, please let me know immediately! I

shall absolutely do everything in my power to make it come
true, even if that means I must die!!”
….Well, this guy seemed to be clearly mistaken about

something, but as long as the end result was good, all’s well.
Jin-Woo could only smile awkwardly and lightly patted the
Japanese man on the shoulders before walking nearer to the
Gate.
The JSDF soldiers stepped aside to create a path and saluted
Jin-Woo.
This Gate was ranked at ‘A’. Jin-Woo had been travelling

from Korea and Japan every day to monopolise all the high-
ranking Gates the Japanese couldn’t handle by themselves.
He should thank the Japanese spy satellite that could detect

magical energy, as well as his movement skill, ‘Shadow
Exchange’, for this venture.
Jin-Woo stood before the Gate and looked up. Indeed, it was
a pretty d*mn big thing that totally fit its rank A status.
He didn’t need to spend a heap of cash trying to book high-

ranking Gates here, and the Japanese government even
promised to waiver all related taxes.
However, the financial side of the things was not the biggest
merit for him – no, it’d be the fact that he got to monopolise
every single high-ranked Gates appearing within the
breadth of Japan, a large country that had lost the
functionality of Guilds after the dungeon break disaster.
‘Demon King’s Shortsword.’
Shururuk….
“Heok.”
A young soldier witnessed a pair of shortswords suddenly

materialising in Jin-Woo’s hands and reflexively gasped out
in surprise. And then, as if he got embarrassed by that
outburst, he quickly bowed towards Jin-Woo.
He simply smirked as a reply and began walking towards the

Gate.
‘Four days left until the International Guild Conference.’
Jin-Woo told himself that he couldn’t afford to waste a single

day and jumped straight into the Gate. Along with the
mechanical beep, he was also greeted by the familiar voice
in his ears.
Tti-ring.
***
“Will this be fine, sir?”
Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously asked his question. The Association

President Goh Gun-Hui showed no signs of agitation as he
received a report.
“Regarding?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim…. Recently, he has been

frequently visiting Japan.”
The Hunter’s Association could use the Hunter-issue

smartphones to trace the current whereabouts of individual
Hunters. And they had been feeding disinformation to those
asking for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s whereabouts as ordered
by the Association President Goh Gun-Hui.
“What if Seong Hunter-nim decides to simply stay put in

Japan….”
South Korea would be losing the greatest Hunter ever while

sucking on their thumbs doing nothing. This would be Woo
Jin-Cheol’s worry in a nutshell.
For some reason, though, President Goh Gun-Hui didn’t
seem to be all that concerned regarding this event, even
though he probably held the highest evaluation of Jin-Woo
out of anyone alive.
That appearance certainly caused some amount of

frustration in Woo Jin-Cheol’s heart.
Perhaps finding the anxiety-ridden expression of his younger

subordinate a bit pitiable, Goh Gun-Hui chuckled gently and
finally spoke up.
“You don’t need to worry.”
“By any chance, do you know something, sir?”
“You see, he came to see me before he went over to Japan to

hunt down those Giant-type monsters.”
That sounded quite logical. After all, it was precisely the

Association President Goh Gun-Hui who announced the story
of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo planning to hunt those Giants to
the world.
Goh Gun-Hui recalled the memories of that meeting.
“I, of course, tried to dissuade him. I told him that, compared

to the risk, he’d be earning far too little from this venture. It
wasn’t as if he was promised a huge amount of cash like Yuri
Orlov in the first place.”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head.
Jin-Woo demanded the rights to the corpses of the monsters

and that was all. For the price of saving an entire country,
that was far, far too small.
‘Of course, that didn’t mean there was enough spare time to
negotiate a deal with a country busy losing several cities in
a day….’
One should say that the matters couldn’t be helped back

then.
The Association President should be protecting the Hunters

of his own nation, so it was already an odd thing for him to
let Hunter Seong go this easily.
“But then, he told me this.”
Goh Gun-Hui recalled the conversation back then and

formed a deep grin. Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t win against his
curiosity and asked back first.
“What… did he say?”
Goh Gun-Hui happily replied to that.
“He said, he wanted the Ah-Jin Guild’s territory to also

include Japan.”
“Keo-heok!”
A shocked gasp jumped out from Woo Jin-Cheol’s mouth.

Goh Gun-Hui’s initial reaction after hearing that declaration
from Jin-Woo himself wasn’t all that different, either.
“Japan’s major Guilds lost most of their strength from the

losses incurred on Jeju Island, as well as from the attacks of
the Giants. He told me straight that his Ah-Jin Guild will fill
the void left behind by them.”
“Huh-uh….”
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t shut his slack mouth.

Was it the young man’s confidence or simply an excellent
head on his shoulders that allowed him to think that far
ahead, even before he got to hunt down a single Giant?
Regardless of what it was, Jin-Woo still got to achieve his
objective.
After all, wasn’t this story something the Japanese would

welcome with wide open arms?
“After hearing that, how could I not permit him going there?”
While the major Guilds were busy bickering among

themselves over the comparatively small territory of Seoul,
he’d go and make the entirety of Japan his own.
One of the qualifications to become a true Hunter was the

talent to choose his own hunting spot. And as he even
possessed the necessary power to handle whatever his prey
turned out to be, one could definitely call Seong Jin-Woo as
someone born to become a Hunter.
Goh Gun-Hui let the opinion stewing in his mind, as well as a

sigh of admiration, escape from his mouth.
“He sure is one incredible fellow.”
“….I agree wholeheartedly, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol definitely agreed with that sentiment.
Putting aside the incredible power of travelling between

Korea and Japan in an instant without the aid of an
aeroplane, the fact that he also possessed enough abilities
to make that nonsensical goal into reality, could only bring
about a sigh of admiration from both men.
With excellent timing, the TV that was left switched on
began showing the clip from Choi Jong-In’s interview.
[“I am genuinely proud of the fact that Hunter Seong has

been chosen to represent South Korea.”]
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui leaned against the

couch as a genuine chuckle left his mouth, and spoke back
to Choi Jong-In on the screen.
“I also think the same as you.”

Chapter 185
Goh Gun-Hui switched the TV off. As it turned out, it was

already nine in the evening, a bit too late to say that now’s a
good time to get off work for the day. However, it seemed
that Woo Jin-Cheol still had something else to say.
“The Chinese have requested for information on Seong Jin-

Woo Hunter-nim.”
“Information? You mean, his personal information?”
“No, sir. It’s not that.”
“What do they want, then?”
“The requested information is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s

raid records as well as any official reports related to them.”
That seemed about right; unless the Chinese were truly

dumb, they probably knew they wouldn’t be receiving any
personal information of a rank S Hunter – no, someone who
may greatly exceed that category altogether.
The question was, why were the Chinese showing their

interest in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo at this belated stage? After
all, they must’ve heard his decision not to entertain any love
calls or scouting offers from other countries, which included
China.
“The one requesting the information wasn’t the Chinese

government, sir.”
“Really?”
“It’s actually from a single individual.”
“An individual?”
The Hunter’s Association representing a country would

never release information to any individual Hunters. But to
think, this request was made by a person?
Goh Gun-Hui thought it’d be the obvious thing to refuse that

request outright, so he was puzzled by the fact that the
issue had been brought up at all. Woo Jin-Cheol quickly
added some additional explanation.
“It seems that China’s Seven Star-ranked Hunter, Liu

Zhigeng, has taken interest in Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Liu Zhigeng!
With the mentioning of that unexpected name, Goh Gun-Hui

became somewhat lost for words.
China didn’t accept the global standard in ranking Hunters

and used its own unique ranking system. The higher the
number of ‘stars’ in front of your ranking, the better Hunter
you were. And for them, ‘Five Star’ was the highest
attainable rank.
However, only one person was separated from that ranking

system. Only Liu Zhigeng was ranked as the Seven Star. And
rather obviously, the treatment he received was on another
realm compared to the ordinary Five Stars.
Of course, not one person was brave enough to raise a fuss

regarding the fact that he, a well-known ‘Special Authority-
rank’ Hunter, was receiving preferential treatment.
He possessed abilities that deserved such recognition, and
China herself respected that fact greatly as well.
‘That Liu Zhigeng has taken an interest in Hunter Seong Jin-

Woo?’
The thirst of Goh Gun-Hui’s curiosity was then quenched by

Woo Jin-Cheol’s reply.
“Sir, didn’t Liu Zhigeng fight the Giant-type monster? I’m

quite sure that’s why he’s interested in knowing more about
Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, who had hunted down every
other Giant.”
That sounded logical. Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
Not too long ago, a single Giant-type monster escaped from

Japan and swam towards China. And it had been reported
that the creature was ably dealt with by Liu Zhigeng at the
Chinese coastline.
“The truly strong can recognise another strong being, is that

it?”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a slightly mischievous grin.
The American Hunter Bureau that invited the Ah-Jin Guild.

And China’s greatest Hunter Liu Zhigeng, beginning to show
his interest in Jin-Woo.
Both America and China had finally recognised the true

worth of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. For someone like Goh Gun-
Hui, who knew that man’s true value from the very
beginning, this development certainly made him feel rather
good about himself.
Even then…
‘Even then, that doesn’t mean I’ll hand over any information,
just like that.’
Was there a need to advertise how excellent Korea’s genius

was to those craving after other people’s geniuses?
Sure, a Special Authority-rank Hunter would get quite

annoyed by it, but so what?
‘We have Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, after all.’
Goh Gun-Hui made up his mind and let out a genial, hearty
chuckle.
“That request? Deny it, please.”
***
Dungeons had changed.
That was Jin-Woo’s overriding impression as he cleared all

the high-ranked dungeons being generated throughout
Japan.
As he scanned the interior of this particular dungeon, his

glare became even sharper than before. He could definitely
sense the presence of monsters, but his eyes couldn’t detect
them.
If his sensory perception or experience had been lacking

somehow, this situation would’ve been enough to cause
some consternation. Fortunately, Jin-Woo lacked neither of
those.
‘Is it up, this time?’
Jin-Woo stopped walking and raised his head up. Sure

enough, some type of thick liquid dropped in the spot just a
bit up ahead and began melting the ground.
Chi-jiiiiek…..
Thick smoke rose up from the ground as it melted down by

what was clearly an acidic substance. Perhaps inevitably,
the stink was rather atrocious, as well.
Naturally, Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled unsightly.
When he showed no inclination to come forward anymore,

the large blobs of something attached to the ceiling dropped
down to the ground, instead.
Thud, thud, plop….
These blobs then began assuming humanoid shapes next.
He was now confronted by a strange type of monster whose

face was covered in a white mask, while the rest of its body
was made up of blackish liquid. These bizarre creatures had
never been seen before up until now.
Twelve of them were blocking his path. Jin-Woo quietly

called out the name of his old pal.
‘Knight Killer.’
Then, a single dagger suddenly appeared in his hand.
In the not too distant past, this guy used to be his main
combat weapon alongside ‘Baruka’s Dagger’, but it had
been collecting dust in the corner of the Inventory after he
got his hands on the pair of ‘Demon King’s Shortswords’.
However, he found a good place to use it for the first time in

a while. Jin-Woo briefly felt nostalgic from the familiar grip,
before throwing the ‘Knight Killer’ at one of the monsters
approaching him.
‘Dagger Rush!’
Swiiiish-!
The dagger flew in a straight line while issuing a hair-raising

screech and landed directly in the chest of the monster.
Unfortunately, it simply flew right through as if to mock his
accuracy and stabbed deeply into the wall behind the
creature.
That wasn’t all, either.
The black liquid coated the dagger as it went through the

body of the monster and began melting the weapon down.
Chiii-eeek- Chiiieeek….
The dagger soon turned soft and malleable in no time,

before transforming into an unrecognisable substance and
slid down from the wall.
‘I thought as much.’
His expectation of regular physical attacks not working

against this monster was on the money.
It was then. The monsters didn’t even give him enough time
to eulogise the passing of his old comrade, ‘Knight Killer’,
and pounced on him at the same time. They were
surprisingly nimble, as well.
However, Jin-Woo simply greeted them back with ‘Ruler’s

Authority’.
Ka-boom!!
The monsters were attacked by the unseen hands and were
immediately flung away all at the same time.
Tumble!
The bodies of the creatures were ripped to shreds as they

tumbled back down to the ground, but then, they
coagulated back again and returned to their previous state.
“Huh.”
Jin-Woo chuckled wryly at that gob-smacking level of

regeneration. He was almost tempted to summon out his
Shadow Soldiers and start a competition of who possessed
better regenerative powers, but….
‘….Be patient.’
Physical damage, whether it be tangible or not, didn’t seem

to work. So, then. What should he do next?
Jin-Woo relaxedly dodged the outpouring of monsters’

attacks and pondered this quandary for a bit, before
realising that a particular creature among them was moving
around unnaturally compared to the others.
‘Mm?’
Now that he took a closer look, one of that particular

creature’s arms wasn’t regenerated, and also, the corner of
the white mask covering its face had been cracked to a
noticeable degree. It must’ve been broken off when the
monster was flung away by the ‘Ruler’s Authority’ earlier.
‘Oh, so that was your weak point?’

A smirk floated up on Jin-Woo’s face. As long as he knew how
to attack these things, killing them would be a piece of cake.
Swish, swish!
Jin-Woo continued to easily evade all the punches thrown

desperately by the monsters and summoned out his current
comrades.
‘Demon King’s Shortswords.’
Once he got to tightly grasp the shortswords in each of his

hands, cold glint flashed in his eyes.
Crack!
A monster powerlessly crumbled to the ground as the

‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ stabbed its forehead.
Plop.
That was just the beginning. Jin-Woo moved as if he was

performing a slick dance routine and in no time at all,
destroyed the white masks of all the monsters present.
Crack!
Kwahck!
And eventually…
Crack!
The mask of the sole remaining monster was split in half.

The creature reverted to being pure liquid and lost its overall
shape as it crumbled to the floor.
Easily taking care of all twelve of them, Jin-Woo returned the
‘Demon King’s Shortswords’ back to his Inventory.
If it wasn’t him, but some other people finding themselves in

this situation, what would’ve happened?
Without a doubt, several of them would’ve met their end

before someone finally figured out that regular attacks
didn’t work. And then, a few more would have been
sacrificed until they figured out the monster’s weakness.
Or, even worse – the whole raiding party could have lost
their lives before finding out the weakness. Even if that
party happened to be made up of elite Hunters.
That was how strong, nimble, and dangerous these d*mn

things were. Unfortunately, this was not his first time
running into creatures this strong.
‘For sure…. dungeons have changed.’
On that day, after the King of Giants was killed by his hands,
Mana Stones had disappeared from the dungeons appearing
throughout the world.
The ores that used to suck up most of the magical energy

leaking out from the dungeon itself were now all gone and
so, that magic energy with nowhere to go had all become
part of the monsters, instead.
Meaning, even if the ranking of a dungeon remained the

same as in the past, the conditions had become far more
dangerous.
‘And on top of that, monsters as dangerous as these ones

have begun showing up, too….’
Jin-Woo’s frown grew deeper.
If a run-of-the-mill raid party entered a high-ranked dungeon

willy-nilly, then they would not be able to avoid running into
a serious accident inside.
As a matter of fact, he had been hearing some news of

several ‘accidents’ happening from all over the world lately.
He already assigned the protection of his family to Beru, as
he was feeling anxious about these developments.
If it was Beru, then he’d be able to resolve most crises by

himself even if a dungeon break happened nearby.
‘But, then again…’
It wasn’t all necessarily a bad thing for the rate of Gate

generation to go up, as well as the monsters in the
dungeons to become stronger. At least, for Jin-Woo, that was.
Because, it’d be easier to raise his level this way. For

instance, this dungeon was still full of monsters he hadn’t
disposed of yet. He could feel on his skin a large number of
monsters hiding deeper in the dungeon while emitting
overwhelming magical energy.
A smile now floated up on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘Well, I’m now familiar with how to deal with these strange
monsters. I guess it’s time to start the hunt properly, isn’t
it?’
The warm-up exercises were now over. And the proper

subjugation was about to begin.
“Come out.”
Shururuk….
The Shadow Soldiers stopped hiding in Jin-Woo’s shadow

and appeared behind him in full force. He told them how to
deal with the monsters, so they shouldn’t be experiencing
any difficulty in dealing with the enemy.
Jin-Woo sent out the signal with his eyes. Igrit was now
entrusted with the command of the entire army, since Beru
had become the guard dog protecting his home, instead.
The black knight issued the order for the troops to advance.
Dududududu-!!
The entirety of the huge cavern began rocking loudly from

the marching footsteps of the Shadow Soldiers.
***
The world’s best Hunters began landing on US soil one by

one before the International Guild Conference began.
Among them were, of course, the Special Authority-rank
Hunters.
However, Thomas Andre’s interest was solely fixated on one

single person.
‘Tomorrow’s the day Seong Jin-Woo enters the US….’
He had confirmed Jin-Woo’s arrival schedule earlier, and on

the day before that fateful date, he summoned Hwang Dong-
Su into his office.
“Did you call for me, sir?”
Hwang Dong-Su cautiously studied Thomas Andre’s

atmosphere. It had been a few years since he started
working in the Scavenger Guild, but even now, he found it
rather difficult to speak to its Master.
Because, that man wielded incredible strength, was cursed

with a hard-to-fathom personality, and finally, was even
beset with an extreme case of possessiveness, as well.
Hwang Dong-Su might be a rank S Hunter, but before

Thomas Andre, he became an utterly insignificant being.
“Mister Hwang.”
Thomas Andre went to the main topic right away.
“Do not ever provoke Seong Jin-Woo.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s eyes grew larger. He formed an expression

that seemed to ask ‘How did you know’ before his gaze
drifted towards Laura, standing behind Thomas Andre.
She simply responded with her eyes that said, she only did
what she had to do.
“Che.”
Hwang Dong-Su let a dissatisfied grunt escape from his

mouth. Meanwhile, Thomas Andre continued on.
“I know about your brother and Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. I’m

sure you feel suspicious of some things, and also want to
know what happened back then.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s older brother, Hwang Dong-Seok had

entered a dungeon along with Seong Jin-Woo, only to go
‘missing’ and never came back out.
The eight fixed members of Hwang Dong-Seok’s raid party

were all dead, yet the two people who walked out from that
dungeon alive had formed a Guild together.
So, quite obviously, he had plenty of things to ask Seong Jin-

Woo. Naturally, his dissatisfaction seeped into his
expression.
“But….”
Before he could properly say something, though, Thomas

Andre raised his finger up and waved it around. His lips
below the sunglasses arched up. He was actually smiling.
“I don’t remember giving you permission to speak, Mister

Hwang?”
Keep your mouth shut and just listen – that was the message
of a clear threat.
There wouldn’t be all that many people capable of issuing a

true warning to a top-ranked Hunter in this world. One of
them just so happened to be Thomas Andre.
Hwang Dong-Su was well aware of the gap between himself

and his boss, so he obediently kept his mouth shut.
Thomas emphasized his point again.
“Do not ever provoke Seong Jin-Woo. During the duration of

the Guild Conference, take some time off and relax at the
Guild’s getaway villa in the countryside. So, how about it?
Are you willing to humour my earnest plea?”
“…..”
“Mister Hwang?”
Hwang Dong-Su nodded his head, unable to hold out any

longer.
“…..I shall do as you say.”
“Good to hear. You can go now.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s expression stiffened hard as he quickly

made his escape from the Guild Master’s office. Meanwhile,
Laura asked her boss in a worried voice.
“Will this be enough, sir?”
Thomas Andre’s own expression had hardened as well as he

shook his head.
“No.”
He definitely read the signs of ill intent flickering within

Hwang Dong-Su’s expression just now. That fool still couldn’t
let go of this matter, it seemed.
“Laura?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Until Seong Jin-Woo leaves US soil, place Mister Hwang

under strict surveillance.”
“Will he…. take that lying down?”
Although he had been suppressed by the aura of Thomas

Andre, Hwang Dong-Su’s original personality was as
stubborn as it could get, as well.
However, Thomas wasn’t worried. No, rather, he knew that

this matter wasn’t simple enough to sweat over something
as minor as Hwang Dong-Su’s disgruntlement.
Thomas Andre scratched his chin before making a

nonchalant reply.
“Well… being frustrated should be better than being dead,
right?”
Chapter 186
“Why are there so many reporters here?”
Germany’s best Hunter, Lennart Niermann, set foot inside

the American airport after disembarking from his plane. He
immediately let a surprised gasp escape from his mouth
from the view greeting him.
As befitting the Master of the ‘Richter’ Guild representing

Germany, he got to attend the International Guild
Conference every single year, but even then, he had never
seen this many reporters camping out in the airport before.
As he stood there in shock, the Vice-Master of the Richter

Guild tried to solve the riddle for him.
“Well, that Korean Hunter everyone’s been talking about is

scheduled to arrive today.”
“Aha.”
Lennart understood it right away.
Even if you were a rank S Hunter, it was incredibly difficult

to resolve a dungeon break from a rank S Gate. And, what if
the creatures popping out from that rank S dungeon just so
happened to be Giant-type monsters?
The Hunter capable of solo-clearing a dungeon break that no

one else wanted any part of, was about to step on the U.S.
soil for the first time in his life. So, how could the mass
media remain silent on this momentous occasion?
Perhaps he too got infected by the enthusiasm from all the

reporters here, as even Lennart himself grew interested in
this matter now.
‘So, he’s coming today?’
With excellent timing, the passengers of the plane inbound

from South Korea began pouring out into the airport. The
Vice-Master pointed to the side over yonder.
“Ah! There he is!”
The Vice-Master was also a rank S Hunter. He may not be as

good as Lennart, his boss, but still, his perception was
capable enough to easily suss out Jin-Woo’s face among the
crowd of people.
Lennart Niermann’s eyes gleamed brightly just then.
“Should we go and say hi?”
“Pardon?”
“We’ve got nothing to lose by being acquaintances with a

strong Hunter, right?”
“Well, yes. That’s true.”
The Vice-Master agreed with that idea.
The personal connections built up in such a manner would

prove to be rather beneficial if an event requiring
international cooperation or the aid of another Guild
happened in the future.
This was, in essence, what the whole International Guild
Conference was originally conceived for, where the best
Hunters from the world were asked to come and exchange
pointers, as it were. Especially when it was quite difficult for
these Hunters to actually meet one another like this.
Lennart tidied his attire and approached Jin-Woo’s travelling

group. No, he tried to.
However, he came to an abrupt halt after taking only a

couple of steps. Even his complexion was gradually paling,
too. The Vice-Master ended up walking a step ahead
because of his boss’s sudden stop. He turned around and
asked in confusion.
“Aren’t you going to speak to him?”
Lennart’s expression hardened instantly as he replied.
“That… can’t you see that??”
“Excuse me?”
It seemed that the Vice-Master could not see it at all.

However, Lennart was one of the very best Hunters in the
entire world and he could clearly sense it. He muttered to
himself in complete disbelief.
“Instead of summoning his creatures from some other

dimension, he’s been going around with them all this time?”
“Eh?”
What was he even talking about?
The Vice-Master was taken aback with surprise from

Lennart’s reaction and quickly took a look in the direction
Jin-Woo was walking in from. But, let alone a single summon,
he couldn’t even spot a hair of the summoned creature
anywhere near the Korean man.
“He’s with his summons?”
“That’s right! So many of them, too!”
Lennart could pick up on the presence of the Shadow

Soldiers hiding within Jin-Woo’s shadow. One hundred. Two
hundred. Three…
No, could he even finish counting them all?
He hurriedly swallowed his saliva.
‘From that number alone, I’d have believed it if someone

told me that man came here to wage war against America.’
He stood there shivering while thinking that, if he were

tasked with the role of inviting people over to his nation,
he’d never, ever invite someone like ‘that’.
There could be one of two reasons. Either the American

Hunter Bureau had no clue the true depths of that Korean
Hunter’s power, or they were completely sure that such a
power would never be used against them.
The incredible pressure Jin-Woo emanated grew stronger and

stronger as he got nearer the German Hunter. Such a
sensation could only be felt from those Hunters labelled
Special Authority-rank, such as Thomas Andre or Christopher
Reid.
‘……..’
Lennart’s head faltered lower even before he realised it just
as Jin-Woo walked right past by him. He simply didn’t have
enough courage to meet that man’s eyes at all. His instincts
had dictated his actions.
After Jin-Woo’s group had completely walked past them, the

Vice-Master shot a quizzical look at his boss acting strangely
and asked a question of concern.
“Master? Are you feeling unwell somehow? Your

complexion….”
“N-no… it’s not that.”
Lennart Niermann wiped the cold sweat off his brows.
You could only see as much as you know; being able to

decipher the gap between yourself and the opponent was
also a part of one’s abilities.
But, at least right in this moment, he felt quite envious of his

Vice-Master, or for that matter, the throng of reporters, who
weren’t scared off by the presence of a truly, nonsensically
powerful Hunter.
***
Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that, prompting Yu Jin-
Ho to take a look behind him and ask.
“Did you spot someone you know, hyung-nim?”
“No. It’s just that, some foreigner was looking at me over

and over again.”
Yu Jin-Ho chuckled as if such a thing was nothing to fret

about.
“Hyung-nim, your stories have spread out far and wide to
the rest of the world, so surely, you must have lots of fans by
now. Maybe he wanted your autograph, hyung-nim.”
Well, that guy seemed to be too exceptional a Hunter for

someone ‘hunting’ around for autographs, though.
Jin-Woo smirked and continued on with his steps.
Beside himself and Yu Jin-Ho, two more people were

accompanying them during this overseas trip – Section Chief
Woo Jin-Cheol coming along as the show of support from the
Korean Hunter’s Association, as well as a female Association
employee tagging along as an interpreter.
“Uh! There he is!!”
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo!”
The reporters finally discovered Jin-Woo and his gang.
Click, click, click, click, click, click, click-!!
Bright flashes of light exploded from the cameras wielded by

the throng of reporters. Woo Jin-Cheol quickly yanked out his
sunglasses from his inner pocket and put them on, before
scanning the crowd with a pair of very sharp eyes. Seeing
how tense he was, Yu Jin-Ho decided that now would be a
good time to ask him.
“Now that I think about it some more…. Why are you even
here, Chief Woo?”
Without a doubt, the Chief of a department located in the

Seoul branch of the Korean Hunter’s Association was not
exactly what you’d call an ordinary job.
It was pretty much the same thing as you being responsible
for an entire department.
Sure, Yu Jin-Ho felt grateful that the Association helped them

out with an interpreter situation. His question, though, was
with why someone as important as Woo Jin-Cheol would be
accompanying them like this.
Woo Jin-Cheol briefly studied Jin-Woo’s reactions and replied,

his face reddening slightly.
“I am tasked with… providing security to Seong Hunter-

nim.”
He worked up lots of courage to make that reply, but

regretfully, his words were drowned out by the noise within
the airport itself and couldn’t reach Yu Jin-Ho’s ears. So, the
latter cupped his ear and asked again.
“What did you say?”
“….Bodyguard…. of him….”
“Who did you say you’re guarding now?”
Jin-Woo could see that even Woo Jin-Cheol’s ears were

getting red now. So, he wrapped his arm around Yu Jin-Ho’s
shoulders and put an end to that conversation.
“Hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo pointed with his chin to a rather familiar face over

yonder.
“Over there. Looks like they are here to escort us.”
Adam White was standing near the entrance of the airport

sporting a cool business suit with his blonde hair slicked
back, his face full of a bright, welcoming smile. As if to prove
that Jin-Woo’s guess was correct, the American agent quickly
made his way over to the group.
The two burly guys following after him were the same men
from the plane back then. These two met Jin-Woo’s gaze and
quickly lowered their heads in apparent embarrassment
almost simultaneously.
It seemed that they ended up remembering the time inside

the plane when they tried to protect Adam White by
attacking Jin-Woo, having completely forgotten about the
differences in their strengths.
And well, they were carrying expressions of someone who

might really ask for some autographs given half a chance.
Jin-Woo hurriedly swallowed back his laughter. He greeted
the two burly guys with a simple nod and grasped the
extended hand of Adam White.
The American agent spoke with a cheery voice.
“We were waiting for your arrival, Seong Hunter-nim.”
“I seem to remember hearing that you were responsible for

the Asia branch of the Bureau. Was I wrong, Mister White?”
“Ahaha.”
Adam White scratched the back of his head and continued

on.
“I was, until recently. Now, I’m responsible for matters

involving you, Seong Hunter-nim.”
Adam White used his good-natured smile to greet the others

and guided Jin-Woo’s group outside the airport.
“Let’s get going, shall we? We have cars waiting for us
outside.”
There were two vehicles prepared for them. The two Korean
Association people were guided to the vehicle in the back,
while Yu Jin-Ho naturally headed towards the car in front.
However, Adam White blocked his path.
“….??”
Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho both were puzzled by this. Adam

White spoke in a serious tone of voice.
“Excluding Seong Hunter-nim, the remainder of your group

will be guided to your hotel.”
Adam White then shifted his gaze over to Jin-Woo.
“And, do you mind accompanying us to a different location

for a little while, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
Was this about his father?
Jin-Woo’s glare became icy cold in an instant. Adam White

must’ve felt the temperature suddenly drop, because he
quickly waved his hand around.
“It’s definitely a story that’ll benefit you, Seong Hunter-nim.

Haven’t we already clarified what the Hunter Bureau’s
opinion regarding you is?”
They wanted to maintain a good relationship with him.

That’s what he said in the past.
They did try to help him out, and even now, Jin-Woo couldn’t
sense any malice from the other party. If they were thinking
of doing something dodgy, then his ultra-sharp Perception
Stat would definitely catch onto that.
Didn’t he discover the loophole in the proposed alliance with

the King of Giants that way?
Jin-Woo calmly asked his question.
“Are the topics we’ll be discussing a secret?”
Adam White glanced at Yu Jin-Ho watching and listening to

this conversation with bated breath and formed a somewhat
awkward smile.
“A few topics to be discussed indeed fall under the ‘top

secret’ category, yes.”
Yu Jin-Ho heard that and backed off without complaining.
“Hyung-nim? I’ll see you later at the hotel.”
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo confirmed that Yu Jin-Ho had entered the waiting

vehicle in the back, and climbed into the car in front along
with Adam White. The driver didn’t need any other
commands and he got the vehicle moving as soon as Jin-
Woo settled down on his seat.
As if their destination was not the same, the two vehicles

went off on different directions from the word go. Before
long, the other car couldn’t even be seen anymore. Deciding
that he had been waiting long enough, Jin-Woo began
asking his questions.
“So, where are we going now?”
“We’re heading straight to the Hunter Bureau’s HQ.”

The Hunter Bureau?
Everyone knew that the International Guild Conference

would be held at a rented venue near the hotel. So, that
could only mean that this car had a different purpose than
the Conference itself.
Jin-Woo asked again.
“Isn’t it fine to tell me already?”
Adam White pressed a certain button inside the vehicle as if

he was waiting for this moment.
Click.
When he did….
Shuwiik….
A clear pane of window rose up behind the two front seats

and proceeded to completely separate the front and rear
cabin. And just above the clear window, the English word
‘Soundproofed’ appeared as a hologram and blinked
constantly. The words were actually floating in thin air.
When Jin-Woo didn’t display much of a reaction from that

hologram message, Adam White felt incredibly awkward and
sheepishly asked a question.
“This is the latest available technology, but… You aren’t

surprised?”
“Well, I’ve been seeing something similar every day, so….”
“….”
Adam White must’ve been looking forward to this moment
because he instantly began pouting ever-so-slightly in
disappointment. Soon, though, his original smile popped
back up again on his face.
“Please hold on for a second.”
Knock, knock.
He leaned forward to knock on the divider to confirm before

picking up on the conversation where they left off.
“In all honesty, we’re currently under serious pressure at the

moment.”
One of the two American citizenship-carrying Special

Authority-rank Hunters had been met with an untimely,
grisly death – Christopher Reid.
The American Hunter Bureau had been hurting far greater

than Jin-Woo could ever imagine.
“Christopher Reid Hunter-nim was one of the pillars of the

United States’ strongest combat potential. Because of this,
the Hunter Bureau has become even more desperate to fill
the void in our fighting power. For now, things are calm on
the surface because we haven’t publicly announced the
murder of Christopher Reid yet. But soon, we’ll start the
process of securing other Hunters who can substitute for
him. And spare no efforts in doing so.”
“Am I one of the candidates you’re thinking of?”
Jin-Woo liked the fact the other party was being open and
honest here. Of course, that didn’t mean he’d entertain the
once-refused offer one more time. He displayed a rather
uninterested reaction.
“I thought that part of the conversation has concluded for

good?”
“Yes, of course.”
However, the light in Adam White’s eyes showed that it was

far from over. In fact, he pulled his mobile phone out and
began showing Jin-Woo several of the stored images on it.
“This is a completely different offer, however.”
In the photos, there was…
The worst calamity in the history of mankind.
The raid that no one wished to remember in history.
The Dragon, ‘Kamish’.
Indeed, these photos documented the process of the raid of

the first and the last Dragon ever to appear on this planet.
The world’s best Hunters had gathered and fought a battle

to their death, and only five managed to survive until the
end. Those survivors were now referred to as the Special
Authority-rank.
Adam White stopped flipping through the photos. The photo

he stopped at showed several first-class Mage-type Hunters
extracting a Rune Stone from the corpse of Kamish.
“As you know, the value of a Rune Stone is proportional to

the power of the monster the stone was extracted from.”
He tapped on his phone’s screen one more time to bring up
the next photo. And it showed a Rune Stone sleeping quietly
inside a glass case surrounded by layers upon layers of walls
and security.
It was none other than Kamish’s Rune Stone.
Rather obviously, that was an item where its value couldn’t

even be imagined in monetary terms, never mind getting
one’s hands on it, regardless of the price one was willing to
pay.
It might possess possibly the greatest skill ever to exist!
“We’re currently searching for a new owner of this Rune

Stone.”
Magic energy, skills, or even magic – Adam White didn’t

possess any of those, yet even he felt his heart palpitate
when he saw that Rune Stone.
He was already feeling this excited, so how would Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo feel when he was a Mage-type, to begin with?
Adam White sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo’s direction.
Sure enough, the tense expression was clearly visible on

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s face. He was someone who didn’t
even blink an eye when the latest technology the American
Hunter Bureau possessed was displayed before him, but
now…
‘We did it!’
Adam White clenched his fists tightly. But then, Jin-Woo’s

demand proved to be somewhat off his expectation.
“The photo… can you go back, please?”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to see the photos before this one.”
Adam White tilted his head slightly, but still, he scrolled

back to the previous photos as per Jin-Woo’s request.
“Right there.”
Adam White’s flipping hands came to a stop over a certain

photo. Jin-Woo pointed to the corner of this particular image
and spoke in a low, hushed voice.
“Where is this?”
Chapter 187
The ‘thing’ Jin-Woo pointed to was a pillar of a building. More

specifically, several pillars being constructed alongside the
body of Kamish.
It was evidence as good as any that they were building a

structure to house the dead body of the Dragon.
His eyes shot open incredibly wide after seeing that.
Sure, the monster had died eight years ago. The higher the
ranking of a dungeon, the greater the value of the monsters
that came out of it. The monster corpses would be
dismantled into pieces and be used up where they would be
deemed most needed.
That was why he didn’t hold any hopes of Kamish’s corpse

remaining intact until now. Because, various countries,
corporations and/or laboratories willing to buy the Dragon’s
corpse would’ve formed a proverbial long-a*s queue around
the corner all those years ago, or so he thought to himself.
But then, the remains of Kamish, as seen on the photograph,

were in an utterly pristine state. There were traces of the
intense battle it had been involved in, yes, but the corpse
was pretty much free of any artificial, after-the-fact damage.
The moment he thought of the possibility that Kamish’s

corpse could still be around…
….Jin-Woo’s heart began madly pounding away.

“Could it be that America has been storing Kamish’s intact
corpse until now?”
“W-well, yes. We have, but….”
Adam White couldn’t really understand Jin-Woo’s current

reaction at all.
They were talking about a Rune Stone that all Hunters alive
in this world would drool over non-stop, yet he didn’t show
any interest in such a valuable article and began talking
about a dead monster, instead.
However, Jin-Woo’s attitude was far too serious to steer the

topic of this conversation back on the right course.
Jin-Woo pointed at the photo again.
“Where is this place? Let’s go there right away.”
“Pardon me?”
“I’ve been willing to humour the requests of the Hunter

Bureau until now. I’m pretty sure that I have the right to
demand this much from you.”
“Ah….”
Adam White didn’t expect the situation to go down in this

direction and couldn’t hide his fluster anymore. However, he
also realised that strictly speaking, this was not a bad result
at all.
Between Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and the Hunter Bureau that

Adam was working for, anyone could figure out that the
party desperately needing the other side’s cooperation was,
of course, the latter.
The Hunter Bureau was trying to attract Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo’s interest. That’s why they tried with Madam Selner’s
ability initially. And when that fell through, they resorted to
using Kamish’s Rune Stone to rouse the young Korean
Hunter’s interest.
But then, the spark was lit from an unlikely source, instead.
This was at once a crisis and an opportunity for Adam White.
‘….They said I was free to use any method, didn’t they?’
Adam White quickly recalled what the director and his

deputy said after they had gathered the agents working for
the Hunter Bureau.
They said – ‘do whatever it takes to get on Hunter Seong Jin-

Woo’s good side.’
In order to increase the odds of him moving to the States,

even if only by a little. If the Hunter Bureau was in
possession of something Jin-Woo wanted, then for the sake
of the relationship between them, that thing should be
offered up immediately regardless of what it was.
….So they could get into this young man’s good books.
Adam White remembered this incredibly important end goal

and cleared his throat so he could speak up.
“Actually, even I do not know where Kamish’s corpse is being

stored at the moment. The extent of my knowledge is what
the higher-ups are prepared to let me know, unfortunately.”
For sure, Adam White seemed a bit too ‘young’ to know

every single secret the organisation he worked for might
keep. But, he sounded far more confident as he spoke, which
seemed to contradict the contents of his words from a
second ago.
“However, if it’s you making this demand, then I believe the

higher-ups will give the go-ahead pretty easily. I’ll have to
make a report anyway, so do you mind waiting for their reply
for a little while?”
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened instantly.
The odds of the skill ‘Shadow Extraction’ failing would

increase proportionally to how long the target had been
dead for. And Kamish was killed off eight years ago. The
odds of failure were just simply too high.
The possibility of bothering a lot of people, not to mention

wasting their precious time for what could ultimately turn
out to be nothing was pretty high, too.
However, how should he know without giving it a shot in the

first place?
Even if the odds were extremely low, even if there was only
a chance of ten thousand in one, no, ten million in one, the
moment he somehow succeeds in extracting the Dragon’s
shadow, he’d end up with possibly the most powerful
Shadow Soldier ever in history.
Just thinking about it made his heart madly pound away.
Even if he failed, the only thing he’d lose would be his time.
When compared to what he stood to gain if he succeeded,
well, this was one gamble worth taking, that’s for sure.
As long as the Americans permitted it in the first place, of

course.
Jin-Woo quickly asked Adam White.
“We’re on our way to the Hunter Bureau, right?”
“Since I’m going to wait anyway, why don’t I go there and

wait, instead?”
“Huh….”
Jin-Woo’s overly passionate interest caused Adam White to

form an expression of a man not knowing whether to rejoice
or be saddened.
***
The Director of the Hunter Bureau also formed a similar

expression, as well.
He shifted his head to the side just in case, and sure enough,
his deputy right next to him was also forming the same sort
of an expression. So much so that the director couldn’t help
but wonder, if he were to look into a mirror now, wouldn’t his
face look like that?
“Okay, so. Seong Hunter-nim is in the building with us?”
The director had to confirm it one last time. Adam White

wordlessly nodded his head.
“But, what about the Rune Stone? Didn’t he say anything

about it?”
They decided that using up Kamish’s Rune Stone was worth

it if it meant they got to reel Seong Jin-Woo into the US of A.
Well, a Hunter with an American passport getting stronger
was pretty much the same thing as America getting
stronger, at the end of the day. But, now…
“No, sir. During our trip, he almost never spoke about the
Rune Stone once.”
“Huh-uh… this is troublesome.”
The director could only rub his chin after hearing Adam
White’s answer.
Both Thomas Andre, as well as Seong Jin-Woo – it always

proved to be so difficult to predict how these Hunters
standing at the apex would behave next.
He even thought that possibly, one’s way of thinking would

undergo a drastic change after becoming a top-ranked
Hunter in the world.
“So, what he really wants is to view the Dragon’s corpse?”
“Yes, sir.”
Adam White nodded his head, his expression full of

confidence.
He wasn’t feeling bad at all at the moment. From the get-go,

his role was to bring Jin-Woo to the negotiating table and
have him take part in it.
And with Jin-Woo willingly walking into the Hunter Bureau

HQ, Adam White had pretty much fulfilled the role he was
tasked with. As for the rest, it’d be up to the higher-ups
holding the deck full of negotiable items at the ready.
The person with the final say in the matter, the director
carefully pondered this quandary, before speaking to Adam
White.
“I wish to discuss this matter with the deputy director first.

Please leave the office for a little while.”
Adam White stood up to leave from the office; once he left,

the director turned around and spoke to his deputy with an
awkward expression.
“This… What do you think is the reason for that man

wanting to see Kamish’s remains?”
“I wonder…. Well, one thing we can be sure of is that he’s

not a tourist. It’s likely that Kamish’s remains possess a
greater value than its Rune Stone to him.”
The value of a skill was truly unimaginable. Many Hunters at

the top flight would not hold back on their cash reserves in
order to purchase a Rune Stone they needed.
Even if it cost tens of thousands, hundreds, even millions of

dollars.
It wasn’t as if they had too much money and didn’t know

where to spend it, so they were walking around showering
their surroundings with cash.
No, a skill was basically the strength a Hunter possessed,

and that strength was directly linked to said Hunter’s
survival.
‘Even then, seeing that corpse once is much more beneficial

than getting his hands on a Rune Stone, is that it….?’
The thoughts forming inside the director’s head was then
articulated into words by his deputy.
“It seems likely that it’s related somehow to Seong Hunter-

nim’s ability.”
“…..”
The Hunter Bureau proudly boasted the best information-

gathering network of any organisation on Earth. So, rather
obviously, they had gathered quite a hefty amount of info on
Jin-Woo.
And that was the reason why they could leverage both
Madam Selner’s ability and now, even Kamish’s Rune Stone.
That was why they thought that….
“Wasn’t his ability only applicable to monsters he killed

himself?”
After he killed ant monsters, ant soldiers were added to his

arsenal, and after he hunted down the Giant-type monsters,
Giant soldiers made their appearance next.
The more battles he fought, the stronger Hunter Seong Jin-

Woo would become. That was precisely the reason why the
Hunter Bureau wished to make Jin-Woo an American Hunter
at any cost.
However – what if he could create summons out of corpses of

monsters that had died a long time ago, and more
importantly, the ones he didn’t even kill in the first place?
The deputy director’s eyes grew extremely large.

“He’s planning to make Kamish into one of his summons!”
His voice trembled uncontrollably.
That man was thinking of turning the worst calamity

humanity had faced into his summoned creature. No wonder
he couldn’t care any less about a Rune Stone.
The director resolutely shook his head.
“That cannot be allowed. We simply can’t let one individual

wield that much power.”
“But, sir, if we refuse to accept his demand this time, it’d

become far harder to maintain an amicable relationship with
him moving forward.”
Jin-Woo being in the Hunter Bureau’s HQ to wait for an

answer easily showed how high his expectation was.
It was simple logic, really – if one refused the other’s request

because one couldn’t trust the other party, then the
relationship of trust would break down completely.
“H-mm.”
The director’s forehead creased up greatly as he fell into

deep contemplation.
If their guesses were correct and Hunter Seong Jin-Woo did

really make Kamish into one of his summons, then his
powers would become impossible to control for any one
nation or organisation.
His summons revived right away even after getting

destroyed, didn’t they? What if Kamish possessing the
infinite regenerative power appeared as an enemy?
Indeed, the associated risk was simply too heavy for a
chance to maintain a good relationship with a lone Hunter.
The director asked one more question before he could make
his decision.
“We have Thomas Andre, a Special Authority-rank Hunter, as

well as nearly fifty rank S Hunters recruited from various
parts of the globe. Is there really a reason why we should
continue pursuing Seong Jin-Woo?”
“Actually, sir…”
The deputy hesitated for a little bit before making up his

mind. He had been delaying making a report because its
content was not verified yet, but he decided to bring it up
anyway.
“There is a good chance that Seong Jin-Woo is a brand new

Special Authority-rank Hunter. Sir.”
The director shot up from his seat.
“Agent White made a report about a week ago. Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo can use psychokinesis.”
“…..!!”
With the sole exception of the lone Healer-type, four of the

five Special Authority-rank Hunters all possessed an ability
to exert physical change to objects without actual physical
interaction.
Many strong people had appeared before and after those

five had entered the world stage, but even until now, only
four people possessed that power.
The Hunter Bureau was the only one to have figured out that
similarity among the Special Authority-rank Hunters, and
the organisation had even designated that power as the
prerequisite for being labelled as one of the Hunters
exercising rights equalling a nation.
But now, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was discovered to possess

that power, too?
A certain thought suddenly fleeted in and out of the

director’s brain. He wondered if Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a
gift from God to America, now that she had lost one of her
strongest weapon, Christopher Reid.
‘God bless America.’
God’s blessing always seemed to accompany the United

States of America.
Soon, the director’s expression changed.
“Do you see him as someone worthy of our trust?”
One’s abilities could be assessed subjectively, but the issue

of trust would always be viewed from an objective
perspective. The deputy spoke up of his opinion on Jin-Woo,
which was formed from what he had witnessed so far.
“Can you imagine what would’ve happened if someone

pointed a gun at China’s Liu Zhigeng or Thomas Andre?”
“It’d be horrific.”
Both Thomas Andre and Liu Zhigeng showed no mercy

towards their perceived enemies.
That someone in the hypothetical situation would either die
or, at a bare minimum, lose the arm holding the gun if luck
was on their side.
“However, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t like that. He was

someone you could still talk to and defuse a tricky situation
without violence.”
The director lowered his gaze a little and nodded his head.
Meanwhile, the deputy carried on with his explanation.
“Also, let’s not forget about the matter of Japan. Didn’t he

solve the dungeon break crisis that no one wanted any part
of, all by himself, while not making much of a demand from
the Japanese?”
It was a complete contrast to Russian Hunter Yuri Orlov, who

demanded an exorbitant sum of ten million dollars a day
from the Japanese government.
“….”
The director’s decision-making process didn’t last for long.
His lips remained tightly shut in a straight line for a bit

longer, but he stood up from his seat.
“I shall guide him personally. This could be a very good

opportunity to witness and observe his ability from up
close.”
The deputy’s expression brightened up a notch as he also

stood up from his seat.
“By the way, where exactly is Kamish’s remains stored,

Director?”
Hearing that question, the smirk formed on the director’s
lips.
“Have you ever wondered why our HQ has twenty

underground floors?”
***
Jin-Woo climbed aboard the special elevator with the

guidance of the Bureau’s director.
“I wished to speak to you in a more relaxing environment,

but… I’m sure this is what you want, yes?”
Adam White translated the director’s words into Korean

almost at the same time. Jin-Woo nodded his head to say
yes.
The elevator carrying the director, his deputy, Adam White,

and finally Jin-Woo himself speedily climbed down to the
basement floors.
‘To think, they’d build the Hunter Bureau’s HQ on the very

spot where Kamish had been killed….’
Should Jin-Woo chalk this one up to America being, well,

America?
In any case, he was told that the remains of the Dragon

Kamish would be stored intact forever in order to honour and
remember the lives of every Hunter who valiantly sacrificed
themselves to stop the worst calamity in human history.
Ting.
The elevator finally opened its door on the 24th basement

floor. The staff members waiting for their arrival greeted the
four guests to this floor.
“Director.”
“Sir.”
They must’ve been soldiers originally, judging from the

dignified manner of their salutes. The director nodded his
head to greet them back and continued to guide Jin-Woo
further in.
“Please, this way.”
Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his saliva.
When the door with several layers of strict security finally

opened up, a chilling breeze brushed past his cheeks.
‘No, that wasn’t a cold breeze.’
Although faint, he could feel magical energy infused in the

air. There was no need to even wonder just who this magic
energy belonged to.
His heart palpitated hard upon realising that his odds were
not zero, after all.
Even though it had been eight years, the remains still

emitted some amount of magic energy. So, just how
incredible would its power be after turning into a Shadow
Soldier?
Jin-Woo calmed his heart that was racing fast enough to

explode and wordlessly followed after the Director.
“It’s here.”
Eventually, his steps came to a halt in front of the truly
massive open dome brightly illuminated by countless
spotlights overhead.
And there it was, the remains of Kamish.
The body was perfectly preserved as it were – exactly as it

was from that day it managed to kill several hundreds of
elite Hunters before also getting killed off by the five
remaining Special Authority-rank Hunters.
The Red Dragon!
Even Jin-Woo momentarily forgot to breathe at the creature’s

truly overwhelming presence.
“Actually, all electricity used in the Hunter Bureau’s HQ

comes from Kamish’s Magic Crystal.”
The director proudly explained where all the energy used to

preserve Kamish’s remains came from.
However, Jin-Woo’s ears were not picking up on any of his

words. His gaze was already firmly fixed on one spot.
Seeing that fervent gaze, the Director realised that the

moment had come.
“….Hunter-nim. Are you satisfied now?”
“Everyone, back away.”
Jin-Woo spoke to the people behind him, causing the staff

members to raise a noisy fuss.
“Director, what is that man trying to do?”
“Kamish’s remains is our country’s national treasure!”

Too bad for them, though, the director loudly reprimanded
them right away.
“I already gave my permission!”
In that instant, all unnecessary noises disappeared.
Before they came down here, they had concluded their

conversation. Jin-Woo made a promise that nothing would
happen to the remains. And just like how the deputy had
done, the director decided to trust Jin-Woo’s words, as well.
“Let us observe what will happen next.”
As Jin-Woo had instructed, the crowd retreated to a far away

distance. In the meantime, he extended his hands out
towards Kamish. And then, he quietly spoke up.
“Rise up.”
As if it was waiting for that, a message popped up in his

view along with a ‘Ting!’
[Shadow extraction has failed.]
[Two more attempts remaining.]
Jin-Woo’s expression didn’t change. He calmly moved on and

attempted the extraction for the second time.
“Rise up.”
He wished to take control of the greatest monster there ever

was. His voice, now containing his desire, echoed and
reverberated throughout the interior of the underground
dome.
Rise up…
When that happened, all the spotlights located on the
ceiling suddenly began flickering. And from somewhere
unknown, a streak of brilliantly chilling wind blew in.
Kuwaaaaaahh-!!
Screams of a Dragon roared out from some place that was

impossible to locate and caused almost everyone present in
the dome to cover their ears in a hurry.
The only person who didn’t lose his cool in this chaos was
Jin-Woo, and no one else. He quickly spotted Kamish’s
shadow spreading wide on the floor.
‘Did I…. Did I succeed?’
It was then – his eyes opened super-wide.
A certain something was slowly rising up from the shadow.

The rising shape enveloped in the rising plumes of black
smoke was…. undeniably a Dragon.
“Uh?! Uh, uh!!”
“What, what the… What the hell is that?!”
The staff members freaked out and took several steps back.
Even the director and his deputy, who already had a pretty
good idea on what Jin-Woo’s ability was like, forgot to
breathe in that moment.
Kuwaaaah-!!
The Dragon loudly roared into the air before discovering the
human by its feet and stopped its bellowing.
[Were you the one summoning me? Oh, King of the Dead,
Shadow Sovereign.]
Chapter 188
The Shadow Sovereign was the sole existence capable of

dragging back a soul that had fallen to the pits of the abyss.
That was why the Dragon needed only one glance to
recognise Jin-Woo’s identity.
The King of the Dead, in the body of a human, was staring

right back at the creature with dignified eyes. The authority
of a Sovereign that he possessed sent a powerful chill
through the Dragon’s body.
But, that only lasted for a brief moment.
The creature’s eyes shifted to a location a bit further away.

And that’s when it discovered the stupid-looking humans
and their jaws agape as they stared right back at the
gigantic creature.
‘Humans…. Humans?’
It immediately recalled the bottomless malice it held against

humanity right up until its death. And that also helped the
Dragon to remember the terrible pain it felt as it drew its
very last breath.
‘Humans… must be killed.’
Snap.
That’s where its rationality got cut off. The Dragon raised its
body up as crimson light filled its eyes.
[Every single one of you… I shall kill all of you.]
The air of the underground storage area began boiling right

up.
The Director of the Hunter Bureau spat out a shocked gasp.
This dome had been designed to accommodate the Dragon’s

sleeping figure. So, the whole space seemed wholly
inadequate the moment the creature raised his head high.
Crack!!
The Dragon’s head pushed against the ceiling and destroyed

the concrete there.
“W-what the hell?!”
“No, could it be….?”
They could now see the blood-red light gather within the
open maw of the Dragon.
A mass of red light – both the director and his deputy had
seen the video footage countless times and they knew what
that red light cluster was supposed to do.
Adam White urgently grabbed the director’s shoulder and

shouted out.
“Sir! You need to evacuate….”
“That’s Kamish’s Breath! You think we’ll be safe because we

escaped somewhere?!”
It was rather clear that, once the red light exploded out,
then forget about the underground storage area, the entire
Hunter Bureau building would completely be obliterated in
the blink of an eye. There was no place safe from the
Dragon’s attack, in other words.
Rumble-!!
One of the stationed staff members collapsed to the floor as

if his legs lost all strength from the fright. The other two,
meanwhile, were urgently punching the security code to
open the electronic door-lock in order to escape from the
dome.
The director and his deputy knew full well that was simply a
waste of time. They could only alternate their gazes between
Jin-Woo and the revived Kamish with dazed expressions
etched on their faces.
Kuwaaaaah-!!
The red glow created out of pure magic energy finally

transformed into a sphere of blinding flames. The Dragon
was finally finished with its preparation to erase all ‘humans’
standing before it. Just before it could spit out its ultra-high
temperature Breath, though…
[Die!]
….Jin-Woo roared out at the top of his lungs.
“That’s enough!”
The director and his entourage all raised their arms

reflexively to shield their eyes from the bright, blinding
light. However, after hearing Jin-Woo’s call, they all slowly
lowered their arms.
They thought that everything was over once that light filled
up the inside of the dome. As it turned out, they were far too
hasty in making that judgement, however.
“But, but…. How can this even be possible?”
The flames within the jaw of the enraged Kamish were dying
out gradually.
Did the Dragon that melted away the lives of several

hundred elite Hunters with a single Breath, stop its attack
because of just one command issued by Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo?
Gulp.
The director stared at Jin-Woo with eyes that were clearly

still swimming in unbridled shock. And then, those eyes
nearly popped out of their sockets from an even more
incredulous sight.
Jin-Woo actually began talking to Kamish, that was what.
“The Magic Crystal embedded in your head has been

removed a long time ago. You have no more reason to follow
the orders of the Rulers.”
The deputy director standing right next to his boss

shuddered from a nasty shock and hurriedly asked.
“Is, is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo actually speaking in the

monster language right now?!”
“….Even though I’m looking at it, I can’t figure out how to

interpret this situation.”
While everyone else was still stuck in their pit of pure
astonishment, Jin-Woo was too busy spitting out a sigh of
relief in his mind.
‘Whew-woo….’
He was worried about what he needed to do for a brief

moment there, but the end result turned out to be rather
good. What a relief that was.
Even then, Jin-Woo was honestly almost scared out of his

wits the moment he felt the unchecked rage gushing out
from the Dragon.
‘What kind of a Shadow Soldier possesses this powerful an

ego?!’
It seemed that the thing about higher existences possessing

stronger egos, as proclaimed by the King of Giants, could be
true after all. Meanwhile, the Dragon was quite surprised by
the fact that it willingly obeyed the new Sovereign’s order.
[So, this is how it feels to submit to the Shadow

Sovereign….]
The Dragon then lowered its tall posture and paid its respect
to Jin-Woo. The humans flinching constantly from each and
every movement of the oversized creature finally spat out
lengthy sighs of relief.
The Dragon lowered its head, as if to kiss the floor, and

spoke.
[This lowly servant who once used to serve the Dragon

Emperor pays respects to the new Sovereign.]
There was a great deal of respect in the creature’s voice that
still growled like that of most monsters. Jin-Woo slowly
approached the Dragon and placed his hand on the nose of
the creature. It silently closed its eyes and enjoyed the
warmth of its new lord.
The sensation that couldn’t be described in mere words

travelled from its nose tip to the rest of its body.
Jin-Woo also sensed that the Dragon’s mood was lifting up.
He had barely managed to calm his pounding heart by then,
but now, it was racing hard again.
BA-THUMP, BA-THUMP!!
‘Kamish…. The Dragon Kamish has really become my

Shadow Soldier….’
A broad smile automatically floated up on his face.
Adam White’s jaw, meanwhile, had been hanging slack from

this unbelievable scene right before his eyes. But then, he
discovered something even more incredulous and hurriedly
confirmed it with the deputy director.
“S-sir. Is the Dragon really wagging its tail??”
‘What the heck, the worst calamity in history isn’t some

puppy, so what kind of rubbish is he even talking about?’
The deputy director thought such a thing would be

completely illogical and shifted his eyes to where Kamish’s
tail was, only for a pained groan to escape from his mouth.
“Jesus H. Christ….”
Jin-Woo lifted his hand away and the Dragon’s tail stopped
wagging, as well. It then raised his head up again.
The name ‘Kamish’ was given to the Dragon for the

convenience of humans. Jin-Woo was pondering what new
name he should give to his latest addition to the ranks of his
Shadow Soldiers, before abruptly recalling the words it used
to greet him just now.
“You said you used to serve the Dragon Emperor, right?”
[That is indeed correct, oh, my king.]
The Dragon continued using a polite tone of voice.
[I served the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of

Destruction.]
‘I’m the King of the Dead, the Shadow Sovereign….’
And then, there was the King of the Giants, the Sovereign of
the Beginning.
Jin-Woo realised that the former owner the Dragon served

had to be one of the nine Sovereigns the System mentioned
before.
However, that wasn’t important right now. No, what he

wanted to know was the creature’s real name, so he could
use that one, too.
“Alright, then. What was your original na….”
Jin-Woo couldn’t continue his words, though. His eyes

looking up at the creature began quaking rather violently.
Like a sand castle being scattered away by a gust of wind,
the Dragon’s body was slowly disintegrating right before
him.
[Regrettably, my king… I must bid you farewell.]
“What?!”
Jin-Woo’s Perception Stat communicated with the Dragon’s

current emotion. And it was one of pure sorrow, not even a
hint of falsehood contained within.
The Dragon was truly lamenting this moment.
[It seems that our meeting came about far too late, my
Sovereign.]
Even if it was the power of a Shadow Sovereign, the gap of

eight years proved to be far too wide to bridge. The Dragon
had been trapped for too long within the bottom of the
abyss and as a result, its magical energy had become too
weak and began scattering away in the air.
“System?! Systeeeem!”
Jin-Woo couldn’t accept this and desperately cried out to the

System, but the d*mn thing remained utterly silent, as
always.
Just like how he could sense the Dragon’s emotions, the

creature could sense his, as well.
[I am truly envious of Your Majesty’s soldiers, as they are

now tasked with serving you for all eternity.]
It spoke from the depths of its heart. To the king who didn’t
want to lose his soldier, the Dragon left behind one final
advice.
[Oh, my king. There are four humans who have borrowed the
powers of the Rulers. Please, you need to be wary of them.]
As the Dragon’s body became completely blurry and

indistinct, even its voice grew further and further away.
[I was honoured to be in the presence of a new king…..]
And then, deathly silence descended on the dome.
Like a shifting mirage, the Dragon’s shadow disappeared. All

the spotlights flickering precariously above all reverted back
to working normally again.
The director had been holding his breath as he witnessed

this spectacle. Once the Dragon was gone, he quickly looked
at the corpse of the creature.
Absolutely nothing had happened to Kamish’s remains.
He felt as if he had been dreaming until now and that left

him utterly dazed and confused.
But, then again, if what happened was simply a bad dream,

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wouldn’t be standing around making
such an empty, despondent expression right now.
“….”
Jin-Woo couldn’t rip his gaze away from the spot where the
Dragon’s shadow used to stand. Eventually, the System
message popped up in his view alongside with the familiar
‘Tti-ring!’
[Shadow Extraction has failed.]
[Too much time has elapsed since the target’s death and
therefore, any further attempt at Extraction holds no
meaning.]
[The target’s shadow has returned to the emptiness of the

void.]
Mechanical beeps continued to go off in his head.
Today would be his first time hating the sounds of

continuous ‘Tti-ring, tti-ring’ going off in his head. Jin-Woo’s
tightly clenched fists trembled ever so slightly.
Ka-boom!
In his rage, he punched the ground hard. For a brief moment

there, the entire building shook around just a little.
***
Jin-Woo returned to the hotel.
Because he was in such a gloomy mood, Adam White was

unable to say a single thing during the trip, even though he
was tasked with ‘escorting’ him here.
The American agent checked in for Jin-Woo at the front desk

and that finally presented him with an opportunity to talk.
“I’m in charge of accommodating your needs during your

stay in the U.S., so if you want something, please, don’t
hesitate and give me a call.”
Adam White spoke with a bright expression, but the reply

remained frigid and disinterested.
“….Got it.”
The smile on Adam White’s face hardened instantly.

‘S-scary….’
He learned that standing in front of a very upset top-level

Hunter could be a quite scary experience for the first time in
his life today.
The negotiation had been postponed to a later date. Which

wasn’t surprising, considering Jin-Woo’s current mood. And
well, both the director and his deputy hadn’t regained their
lost spirits so even they didn’t show any signs of
disappointment, either.
Jin-Woo figured that he might as well sleep today’s events

off and was about to head towards his assigned room, but
then….
“Uh?”
Woo Jin-Cheol was coming down to the hotel’s lobby just

then and discovered Jin-Woo here. The Chief of the
Monitoring Division quickly made his way.
“Seong Hunter-nim, why couldn’t we get a hold of you?”
“Oh, that… I was temporarily in a place where no calls could

get through.”
Outsiders were not permitted to carry their personal phones

when inside the HQ of the Hunter Bureau. There was no
exception to this rule even if you were an important guest. It
was a necessity in order to protect the organisation’s many
secrets.
If an important person such as Madam Selner got her face

photographed, the entire Hunter Bureau would be turned
upside down, that was why.
Woo Jin-Cheol scratched the side of his head and asked.
“Did you get to meet Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim, then?”
“Eh?”
Almost right away, an expression of confusion formed on

Woo Jin-Cheol’s face.
“But, I thought Yu Hunter-nim received a message from you

and that’s why he went out? The message said that you
were waiting for him at the Hunter Bureau’s building.”
“That’s where I’m coming from right now, so what are you
even talking about here?”
Adam White was listening to this conversation from the side

and quickly confirmed the fact for them.
“There was no Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim in the visitor’s log.”
“Excuse me? But, how can that be? About two hours ago, a
rank S Hunter came here to fetch him personally.”
Jin-Woo quickly butted in there.
“Which rank S Hunter are you talking about?”
“It was Hunter Hwang Dong-Su. He actually came to the

hotel.”
Jin-Woo couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt this

ominous sensation the moment he heard the name Hwang
Dong-Su, which was in stark contrast to the other two men
who didn’t seem to know what was going on here.
‘Is this because of the Perception Stat?’

Seeing that the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes had become
unusually tense, Adam White quickly pulled his phone out
again.
“I shall call Hwang Dong-Su Hunter-nim’s Guild right now.”
Several ringtones later, the manager in charge of Scavenger

Guild’s high-ranking Hunters, a woman named Laura
answered Adam White’s call. He briefly introduced himself
and explained the current situation.
Surprisingly, though – the voice coming from the phone’s

speaker was calm and collected, which went completely
against Adam White’s expectations. He thought that she
might be as flustered as he’d be, but no.
– “Has Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim learned of this situation

yet?”
Adam White only said that Hunter Hwang Dong-Su had

taken Yu Jin-Ho away, yet Seong Jin-Woo’s name suddenly
popped out of nowhere. He tilted his head slightly, before
sneaking a glance at Jin-Woo.
The Korean Hunter shook his head briefly. Adam White

nodded his head in acknowledgement and came up with a
suitable reply.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim hasn’t learned of the news yet as

he’s still stuck in the Hunter Bureau. However, Yu Jin-Ho
Hunter-nim’s travelling party had called us to find out what
was going on earlier, you see.”
– “In that case, we’ll find out as quickly as possible.”
And that’s where the call came to an abrupt end.

Jin-Woo listened to the conversation without saying a single
word and when the call ended, headed straight to the hotel’s
exit.
“Seong Hunter-nim?! The Scavenger Guild said they will find

out, so we should wait for…..”
Adam White hurriedly chased after Jin-Woo and came out of

the hotel’s exit, but the Korean Hunter was long gone by
then.
“What the hell…? Where did he go?”
Adam White stared at the street with a troubled expression

on his face, not knowing what to do next.
***
Jin-Woo sought out a deserted back alley away from the

crowded main street and undid ‘Stealth’.
A rank S Hunter using his name showed up and took Yu Jin-

Ho away. But then, the Guild this guy worked for didn’t even
try to get a detailed explanation of what happened and
simply stated that they would find out before one-sidedly
ending the call.
‘Something bad is happening….’
And that thing should be related somehow to why that Guild

staff member on the phone mentioned his name right away.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened as he issued a new command.

If that guy was looking for trouble, then he certainly picked
a very bad day for it.
‘Find him.’
If his thousand-plus soldiers dispersed throughout the city
and searched for Yu Jin-Ho’s magic energy signature, then
finding him shouldn’t take that long.
Shashashak, shashashashak…
A thousand shadows breaking off from below Jin-Woo’s feet

quickly scattered in all directions.
***
Thomas Andre scanned the interior of the apartment with a

hardened face.
Inside this luxurious apartment where Hwang Dong-Su

should have been staying, the two Hunters assigned to keep
an eye on him were lying face down with foam bubbling out
of their mouths.
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue and removed his trademark

sunglasses.
“…”
His deeply crumpled expression was finally revealed for all

to see, and the complexions of his subordinates searching
through the apartment paled instantly.
Thomas Andre gnashed his teeth and issued a new order in a

low, growling voice.
“Hwang Dong-Su….. Find him, before Seong Jin-Woo does.

No matter what, we must find him first.”
Chapter 189
Jin-Woo now stood on top of a skyscraper that afforded him a

view of the entire city. His eyesight, enhanced to extreme
heights through his Perception Stat, began scanning the city
from the streets right below the skyscraper all the way to the
residential homes located in the far-off distance.
While doing that, his hearing was focused on the noises his
Shadow Soldiers picked up.
[Hey, Smith! How have you been?]
[Dear customer, our store doesn’t accept returns based on a

customer’s sudden change of mind….]
[C’mon, man. Why didn’t you come to the party last night?]
Pretty much all of them were useless idle talks.
Aside from those, the horns of passing cars, noises from TV

speakers, cats meowing, splashes of water from bathrooms,
etc. – all sorts of sounds made by a living city entered Jin-
Woo’s ears.
Sweat drops formed on his forehead as he utilised his five

senses, plus the sixth one to detect magic energy, to their
fullest extent.
‘I wouldn’t be going through this much trouble if I just left

the Shadow Soldier in Jin-Ho’s shadow….’
Didn’t someone say this before? It was already too late the
moment you start regretting it.
The ant soldier he had inserted in Yu Jin-Ho’s shadow just in

case had been used to get to Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s
hospital room. Jin-Woo became really busy after that, and
since he was planning to accompany the kid during their
trip to the US, he had forgotten about inserting a
replacement.
And the end result from all of that is him working his a*s off
like this.
‘Kamish’s shadow is gone, and Jin-Ho’s whereabouts are

unknown….’
Veins popped up one at a time on Jin-Woo’s forehead. His

already gloomy mood had now hit rock bottom and was
about to convert into a storm cloud.
His knife-like glare, sharp enough to almost shoot bolts of

lightning, darted this way and that as if he didn’t want to
miss a single movement happening down below.
Unfortunately, never mind Yu Jin-Ho, it proved very difficult

to find an Asian youth that resembled him in this city.
‘Could it be…. they are not in the city at all?’
To Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho might be a cute little brother, but the

truth was, the kid was still a melee-type rank D Hunter. Any
ol’ group of regular people trying to jump him wouldn’t work
at all.
If the car supposedly heading for the Hunter Bureau’s HQ

suddenly drove out of the city limits, Yu Jin-Ho would have
realised something was amiss and started resisting his
kidnappers.
The sole problem was…
‘The b*stard kidnapping Jin-Ho was a rank S Hunter.’
Jin-Woo immediately widened the scope of his shadows’

movements.
‘His name was Hwang Dong-Su, wasn’t it?’
Jin-Woo didn’t know why that man faked his name and took
Yu Jin-Ho away. However, this was about ‘Give and Take’. He
was determined to ask for suitable compensation for
provoking him like this.
And, if something untoward happened to Jin-Ho for some

reason…
A dangerous gleam flashed eerily within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
Not too long after, the Shadow Soldiers expanding their

search range sent in countless bits of information that
encompassed the entirety of the city.
***
In the end, Hwang Dong-Su really went for it and caused an

incident.
An emergency situation descended on the Scavenger Guild

once that fact was revealed to its members. Their opponent
this time was Seong Jin-Woo.
Just one misstep and Hwang Dong-Su’s life could be

forfeited.
He was one of the top aces within the Scavenger Guild and
should be considered as one of the core pillars of its combat
force, too.
Thomas Andre couldn’t afford to lose someone like that. But

all he could do for the time being was to sit in his office and
anxiously wait for any news.
“Anything new?”
His subordinate shook his head with a darkened complexion.
“No, sir.”
The frowns on Thomas Andre’s forehead grew deeper by a

level.
Tracking Hwang Dong-Su through his phone was impossible

since he had switched the device off. The places he
frequented had been searched thoroughly by the Guild’s
members, but unfortunately, nothing worthy of note had
been uncovered so far. It seemed that Mister Hwang had
been planning for this day for quite some time.
‘Isn’t he scared of dying?’
No, Mister Hwang was also a rank S Hunter. He should be

aware of the differences in strengths between himself and
Seong Jin-Woo, at the bare minimum.
Even then, he still went ahead and did something so

monumentally stupid. Because he probably had something
he could place his bets on.
‘He knows that I’ll step up on his behalf.’

Well, that fool wasn’t wrong with his calculation. Regardless
of whether that man would cause another incident in the
future or not, he’d still remain as Scavenger Guild’s asset
until the contract duration expired.
The Guild saw potential in Hwang Dong-Su’s skills and had

invested a ton of money on him. He bravely started this crap
with no care for the aftermath because he knew that Thomas
Andre would never willingly give up on his assets.
‘….Did I treat my Hunters too nicely until now?’
Thomas Andre repeatedly told himself to strictly discipline

his underlings as soon as this issue had been sorted out so
they wouldn’t cause another problem like this one in the
future.
The Guild employees in the near vicinity had to stay extra

cautious, even with their breathing, as Thomas Andre’s
upset mood continued to stew quietly.
It was then, his phone suddenly began ringing. Thomas

Andre had been waiting too anxiously for news, regardless of
what nature it took, and hurriedly yanked the receiver up.
– “We might be able to track down Mister Hwang’s location,

sir.”
The voice on the line belonged to Laura. Thomas Andre shot

up from his chair.
“How?”
She knew what he was feeling right now, so Laura didn’t

pause for a second before she quickly carried on with her
explanation.
– “I asked for assistance from the Hunter Bureau and was
able to analyse Mister Hwang’s movement patterns for the
last three months. I found out that there were a total of three
times when he broke away from his usual area of activity
and moved to an unknown location.”
‘Very good!’
Thomas Andre nodded his head. Rather unexpectedly, they

were able to find a clue sooner than he thought.
“Send everyone to that location. I’ll be on my way there, as

well.”
– “Understood, sir.”
Thomas Andre was about to end the call there but hesitated
slightly, before raising the receiver up again.
“By the way… how did you convince the old codgers in the
Hunter Bureau, Laura?”
The Hunter Bureau had a habit of recording the locations

and movement patterns of all the Hunters via GPS attached
to the Hunter-issue smartphones.
Of course, they were not an organisation known for giving

away their information willy-nilly. Even if it was the
Scavenger Guild making the request, the approval process
should take several hours at a bare minimum. But to think,
they spat out Hwang Dong-Su’s records, just like that.
This didn’t sound logical at all. Thomas Andre couldn’t help

but get curious about the methods Laura employed here to
convince them.
However, her answer was rather simple in nature.

– “I only told them that if we don’t locate Hunter Hwang
Dong-Su as quickly as possible, then there’s a chance that
Mister Seong Jin-Woo and you, Master, might collide against
each other.”
***
“Every single Guild member has begun moving, sir!”
Adam White, currently observing the behaviour of the

Scavenger Guild, cried out in an urgent voice at his
smartphone. The deputy director on the other side of the
line quickly asked back.
– “All 100 of them?!”
“I just found out that the raid they were getting ready for
has been cancelled as well, sir. All of their Hunters are being
mobilised to go somewhere.”
– “What on earth…. Just what is going on here?”
“…”
Adam White couldn’t easily open his mouth here.
A rank S Hunter from the Scavenger Guild used Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo’s name and kidnapped Yu Jin-Ho. And then,
both Seong Jin-Woo and the Scavenger Guild had begun
mobilising.
This couldn’t have been something simple at all.
Not to mention, with the entirety of the Scavenger Guild

being mobilised like that, it could only mean that Thomas
Andre was behind the move. The ominous foreboding crept
up on Adam White and he quickly wiped the sweat off his
face.
Sure enough – Adam froze up on the spot after discovering

Thomas Andre walk out of the Guild building’s entrance.
‘Heok….’
The American Hunter took a sweeping look around once

before climbing into a waiting car. The vehicle then hurriedly
set off to an unknown destination.
And it just so happened to be in the same direction where

the Hunters of the Scavenger Guild had disappeared to, as
well. Adam White did his best to calm his trembling voice
and described what he saw to the deputy director.
“S-sir… The Goliath… Thomas Andre has made his move as

well. Sir.”
***
“Is this really alright?”
A man looked at Yu Jin-Ho lying unconscious on the ground

and worriedly asked. Hwang Dong-Su to his side nodded his
head.
“Look, I’m not gonna do anything bad to him, alright? I just

want to ask him about this one thing, that’s all.”
The Guild Master Thomas Andre warned him. He said not to

provoke Seong Jin-Woo.
However, Hwang Dong-Su never planned to provoke that

man from the get-go, anyway. Why? Because there was one
other person beside Seong Jin-Woo that could answer the
question burning a hole in his head. That was why.
The question of what happened on that day – the events

that took place within the dungeon where his older brother
Hwang Dong-Seok, Seong Jin-Woo, and Yu Jin-Ho entered
together. Hwang Dong-Su promised Yu Jin-Ho that he’d be
freed as soon as he answered that question truthfully.
Unfortunately, Yu Jin-Ho didn’t squeak a word out right until

he ended up in such a pathetic, wretched state. The longer
Yu Jin-Ho kept his mouth shut, the stronger Hwang Dong-
Su’s convictions became, though.
All he wanted to hear was one thing.
[“Seong Jin-Woo killed your brother.”]
If he could just hear that one sentence, he’d no longer have

any business with Yu Jin-Ho. But then, with what balls was a
punk with a small physique and a naive-looking face
keeping his mouth shut against a rank S Hunter? His
courage alone was worth praising him for.
‘Of course, his foolhardiness won’t get him off the hook

here.’
Hwang Dong-Su lightly kicked the waist of Yu Jin-Ho’s

heavily-wounded-all-over body.
“Oii. Wake up.”
Would this be the fourth time the kid fainted and was woken
back up again? Hwang Dong-Su’s irritation grew somewhat
at Yu Jin-Ho’s tenacious endurance and his kick became a
little more vicious than before.
“I said, get the hell up!”
Pow!
“Keo-heok!”
Yu Jin-Ho curled up on the floor as he spat out the pooled

blood in his mouth. The third man of Hwang Dong-Su’s
group began cackling out.
“Still, this kid’s supposed to be a tanker, wasn’t he? He sure

can withstand some punishment, can’t he? A regular person
would’ve died by now.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s face now reflected no emotion whatsoever

as he grabbed the back of Yu Jin-Ho’s head to yank it up.
“Listen here. I don’t want to kill you. You see this guy over
here laughing his a*s off? Let me tell you, he’s a Healer with
some considerable skill. He’ll bring you back just before you
are about to die.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s blurry gaze was directed to the cackling man,

and the Hunter grinned brightly and wagged his finger
around as if to greet the kid.
Hwang Dong-Su’s viciously moved his hand.
“Keo-heok!”
Yu Jin-Ho’s head, still grabbed by that hand, also had to

viciously swing to the side. He now could see the dust-filled
interior of a decrepit building. Hwang Dong-Su continued on.
“This here is a factory that closed down over five years ago.
You can scream all you want, but no one’s gonna hear you.”
After grabbing and fixing Yu Jin-Ho’s head in the place,
Hwang Dong-Su brought his own face right up against the
kid’s nose. Their locked gazes grew closer and closer.
“Which means, you will suffer from intense pain forever. That
is, until you tell me what I want to hear.”
When they got close enough for their noses to touch, Hwang
Dong-Su formed a toothy grin.
“So, how about it? Do you feel like talking now?”
“…”
Yu Jin-Ho’s busted lips bobbed up and down but his voice

was too small and even Hwang Dong-Su couldn’t hear it.
“What did you say?”
“….”
Hwang Dong-Su tilted his head slightly in confusion and

brought his ear near the kid. When the ear was only a few
millimetres away from his lips, Yu Jin-Ho whispered softly.
“…..F*ck off.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s expression crumpled instantly.
Ka-boom!
He slammed the side of Yu Jin-Ho’s head on the ground and

panted like an angry bull.
“Oii! Did you just kill him?”
The Healer’s brows shot up and he quickly checked for Yu

Jin-Ho’s pulse.
“Whew-woo.”
After confirming that the kid’s heart was still beating, the
Healer spat out a sigh of relief. Still, there was no doubt that
this young and weak Hunter’s life would’ve been cut short if
Hwang Dong-Su had used a little more of his strength.
“Mister Hwang, be more careful, will ya? I don’t want to

become an accomplice to a murderer just because of money,
alright?”
“…I’ll be more careful.”
Hwang Dong-Su acknowledged his mistake.
Was it because of the precariousness of the situation? The

man who couldn’t hide his worries from the get-go decided
to persuade Hwang Dong-Su.
“Let’s just call it a day and move on. Haven’t you found out
all you can by now?”
“What are you talking about? We’re only getting started.”
The corners of Hwang Dong-Su’s lips arched to form a

sinister smile. His vicious, cruel nature was pretty much the
carbon-copy of his older brother.
The man knew he failed to change Hwang Dong-Su’s mind.

Still feeling worried and anxious, he continued to scan his
surroundings. And it happened at that moment. He
discovered something standing over on the other side of the
disused factory.
What could it be?
The man’s eyes narrowed to a slit.

And then…
“Uh? Huh, uh??”
He became surprised by his discovery and pointed in that

direction. Hwang Dong-Su and the Healer both raised their
heads to take a look. There it was, a High Orc kitted out in
black armour standing over yonder.
“….An Orc?”
Hwang Dong-Su stood up. The Healer checking Yu Jin-Ho’s

condition also got up from the ground.
“Is there a dungeon break happening nearby?”
Hwang Dong-Su shook his head. If that was the case, their
surroundings should’ve become a pandemonium by now.
He extended out his sensory perception just in case and

searched for other presence in the vicinity, but he couldn’t
sense any other monsters at all. This High Orc was all alone.
“Now that’s pretty bizarre.”
That wasn’t the only bizarre thing, though.
The High Orc was actually shivering.
As a matter of fact, its facial expression contained terror. It

looked as if the creature was barely holding back tears
threatening to burst out at any moment. And all four of its
limbs were quivering from pure fright, too.
“Mister Hwang. I think that thing is terrified of you.”
“….I don’t have time to fool around like this.”

White rays of light began coagulating on Hwang Dong-Su’s
clenched fist. He didn’t know where this Orc came from, but
now that he had discovered it, of course, he wouldn’t let it
just walk away.
Hwang Dong-Su strode right up to the Orc and raised his fist
so he could blow the monster’s head clean off. Before he
could do that, though…
….The heavy voice of a man suddenly called out from

somewhere.
– “Exchange.”
Chapter 190
The TV in the living room was showing the scenes of yet

another accident that took place within a dungeon. Those
seemed to happen frequently nowadays.
Although no events that could be called truly enormous

happened so far, the number of Hunters dying during the
raids was on the rise lately, according to the news broadcast.
“I wonder, will my boy be okay?”
His mother, watching the news, recalled Jin-Woo and

whispered to herself in a worried voice.
Didn’t matter how excellent a Hunter her son was, there was
no helping with a mother worrying about her child’s safety.
Beru, hiding within the shadows to protect this home as per

Jin-Woo’s instruction, heard her whispers.
‘Oh, the mother of my king. If my liege meets with an

accident that even he can’t survive, then no one in this
world can.’
Beru did his best to suppress the words trying to jump out of
his mouth. Obviously, he couldn’t surprise the mother of his
liege needlessly, now could he? As his reward, he’d have to
suffer in silent frustration all by himself.
He also found the liege’s mother, currently equating his

liege against those low-class monsters shown on the TV
screen, rather cruel and unkind for doing that. However, he
roused up a super-human level of endurance and
suppressed his desire to preach the incomparable might of
his dear liege to her.
[Next up. We bring you the news on the conference

organised by America’s Hunter Bureau….]
The scene shown on TV changed yet again to that of a

certain American airport as the news related to the
International Guild Conference played out. And then, Jin-
Woo appeared on the screen as he stepped foot into the
airport.
She saw her son walking forward as he was swarmed by the

constant explosions of camera flashes. The worried look on
her face was soon replaced by a contented smile.
“Jin-Ah? Your brother’s on TV.”
“Really?”
Jin-Ah abandoned her studies and quickly trotted out of her

room. This wouldn’t be the first time, but regardless, seeing
her oppa on the TV screen remained a mystifying and
welcoming viewing experience to her, even now.
But the thing was – both Jin-Ah and her mom had no idea.
They simply had no idea that there was someone very close,
cheering on even more passionately then they did while
watching the TV screen.
‘Oh, my king….!’
Beru’s deeply-moved eyes were firmly fixed on the screen as

he watched the clip being played out.
But then, a powerful chill began invading his body out of the
blue. Literally, without warning, his body hidden in the
shadows began trembling non-stop.
This sensation, hadn’t he felt something similar to this in the

past?
When was that?
Beru combed through his memories and finally recalled that

moment. Back then, right when the king’s gaze filled with
killing intent was looking down on him. It was at that
moment.
A feeling of death that could not be avoided. The warning

bells rang out loudly via his instincts after detecting the
unmistakable stench of death.
The king’s rage he felt for the first time since becoming his
Shadow Soldier was so great that Beru’s entire thought
process froze up. However, he was still his king’s loyal
soldier!
He regained his wits quite quickly.
‘….My king has been truly enraged.’
Now that he realised something had happened to his king,

he couldn’t just sit around quivering in fear like this. Beru
quickly sent a signal to Jin-Woo and tried to engage him
conversation.
‘Oh, my king. Please compose yourself. I shall get to your

side immediately.’
The response arrived immediately.

[You…. Don’t make a move.]
Beru heard the king’s voice which sounded like unchecked

rage being compressed into a volatile mass. He could only
tremble like a leaf against stormy winds.
‘I shall obey.’
He could only say that he’d submit to the command, that

was all. But at the same time, he became also curious about
the moron who managed to earn his king’s wrath.
‘Why would anyone do something so reckless and ill-

advised….’
To numb the fear, even if only by a little, Beru hid his still-
trembling body ever deeper into the shadow.
***
In the city of Busan.
The Knight Order Guild was in the middle of preparing for a

raid.
The Master of the Guild, Park Jong-Su, was confirming the

raid party members and their current conditions one last
time, as the will to make this raid a success burned fiercely
within his heart.
“There’s been a lot of accidents happening in dungeons

lately. So, everyone – keep your wits about you at all times!
Let’s make sure that not a single person gets injured today!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Guild members had become rather docile after

experiencing a raid together with Jin-Woo’s summoned
creatures. And now, they even sounded properly disciplined,
as well.
It was at that moment something strange happened.
The Vice-Master of the Guild, Jeong Yun-Tae, was standing

behind Park Jong-Su to nod his head and provide suitable
reactions to his boss’s words. But, he discovered something
and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.
“Heok?!”
Park Jong-Su hurriedly looked behind him.
“What?! What happened?”
Jeong Yun-Tae pointed to the ground and alternated his gaze

between Park Jong-Su and the shadow beneath his boss’s
feet.
“H-hyung-nim!! Your, your shadow! The shadow on the

ground was vibrating….”
Jeong Yun-Tae discovered that Park Jong-Su was glaring at

him with narrowed eyes and stopped talking right there and
then.
“Hey, Yun-Tae? How many times have I told you not to touch
booze before a raid?”
“N-no, hyung-nim! I haven’t had a drop of the stuff today!

But your shadow, it really did vibrate! Like it was alive!”
Park Jong-Su stared at Jeong Yun-Tae with criticising eyes

and spat out a long groan.
“This won’t do. Take a day off today.”

“Hyung-nim! I’m telling you the truth!”
“Okay, everyone! Time to go inside. The Knight Order Guild,

let’s do our best today, too! Fighting!”
“Ahh! B-but, hyung-nim…!”
Just as Jeong Yun-Tae’s voice that protested his innocence

resounded in the air…
Unbelievable sightings of shadows trembling streamed in

from all the spots where Jin-Woo had left behind his Shadow
Soldiers. Shadows trembled noticeably as if they didn’t care
for the presence of witnesses or not.
But then again, the Shadow Soldiers had no choice but to

shiver from the emotion of pure rage their lord was feeling at
that moment.
***
– Exchange.
The High Orc soldier disappeared, only to be replaced by Jin-

Woo.
‘….!!’
Hwang Dong-Su’s group froze up like a mouse confronted by

a snake the moment this unexpected intruder entered the
stage completely unannounced. Especially for Hwang Dong-
Su himself, he nearly even forgot to breathe after
recognising Jin-Woo’s face.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo simply strode past the stunned rank S

Hunter, as if the latter didn’t even exist, and stopped before
Yu Jin-Ho. No one said anything, yet the two Americans
standing near the unconscious kid quickly stepped back at
the same time, as if they agreed to do so beforehand.
After summoning out a healing potion, Jin-Woo began easing

a little bit of liquid down into Yu Jin-Ho’s mouth.
Unfortunately…
[When the remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to

recover HP with healing potions.]
….The message saying it was impossible to heal the kid’s

wounds popped up in his view along with the familiar ‘Tti-
ring’.
Crack.
The empty vial of healing potion shattered in Jin-Woo’s

hand.
The ‘Divine Water of Life’ was meant to heal diseases and

illnesses. It couldn’t help in matters of physical injuries like
this. It was the same principle of healing magic not being
able to cure illnesses.
‘I need healing magic.’
Too bad, the only Shadow Soldier capable of using healing

magic, Beru, was currently back in Korea house-sitting. Even
if Jin-Woo recalled him now, who knows just how long he’d
take to get here…
….It was around this time that Hwang Dong-Su finally

regained his wits and tried to engage Jin-Woo in
conversation.
“You… You, what the hell? That Orc, just now… What the hell
did you do?”
Jin-Woo didn’t respond to that and simply asked the two men
before him, instead.
“Is either one of you a Healer?”
Hearing the word ‘Healer’, the Healer-type Hunter ended up

reflexively nodding his head. Jin-Woo pointed to Yu Jin-Ho.
“Heal him. Now.”
The Healer’s gaze shifted over to Hwang Dong-Su. The latter

shook his head. Jin-Woo carefully lowered Yu Jin-Ho’s upper
torso back down and stood up.
“Final warning. Heal him.”
The Healer’s gaze shifted back to Hwang Dong-Su again, but

the answer remained the same. So, the Healer stared
straight at Jin-Woo and the corners of his lips arched up.
“You see, dude, you should talk to the boss first before…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Ka-boom!!
Just like how Hwang Dong-Su had done to Yu Jin-Ho, Jin-Woo

slammed the Healer’s head on the ground. It happened so
fast that no one saw his movements.
Hwang Dong-Su might have been a rank S himself, but he

simply failed to even sense Jin-Woo’s attack and only
belatedly discovered the Healer lying face down on the
ground.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the second of the Americans.
“Are you a Healer?”
This man finally confirmed the face of Jin-Woo walking closer

to him and his jaw began trembling in shock.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo?! Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
He back-pedalled in panic and began glaring at Hwang

Dong-Su before shouting out.
“Mister Hwang Dong-Su! You promised that this matter had

nothing to do with Seong Jin-Woo! What the f*ck is this?!
Ah?? What is this sh*t?!”
“I asked you if you are a Healer or not.”
“N-no, I, I’m not. I’m just….”
His answer was also abruptly cut off there.
Ka-boom!
Struck by an unseen hand, the man’s head crashed to the

ground like his friend’s before him. In the blink of an eye,
two high-ranked Hunters had lost their consciousness.
Finally getting to witness Jin-Woo’s real strength with his

own two eyes, Hwang Dong-Su felt his heart pounding away
like crazy.
It was then.
“H-hyung-nim…”
Perhaps because the ground rumbled loudly twice in a row?

Yu Jin-Ho had regained his consciousness somehow.
“Hyung…. nim….”
Jin-Woo lowered his body and listened closely to the kid’s

voice.
“Hey, Jin-Ho. I’m here.”
Yu Jin-Ho managed to crack open his swollen eyelids. He

barely managed to move the muscles on his bloodied and
messed-up face, his words clearly being formed with great
difficulty.
“Hwang Dong-Su… little brother… Hwang Dong-Seok…. Be

careful…”
Jin-Woo looked at Yu Jin-Ho breathing weakly with a helpless

expression before stopping the kid’s words.
“Shh. It’s fine. Don’t speak anymore.”
“Hyung-nim….”
Yu Jin-Ho grabbed Jin-Woo’s hand as tears pooled on the

edges of his eyes.
Jin-Woo quietly asked.
“Can you hold on for a little longer?”
Nod, nod.
It became harder to speak so Yu Jin-Ho made do with a nod

to answer the question.
Jin-Woo carefully let go of his dongsaeng’s hand and slowly

got back up to his feet, before shifting his gaze back over to
Hwang Dong-Su.
However, Hwang Dong-Su didn’t back down and shot a glare
right back. His legs were weakly trembling from the pressure
of Jin-Woo’s murderous eyes, but he was not someone who’d
cower and run away.
In the meantime, Jin-Woo’s coldly-flickering eyes were

getting closer and closer. Hwang Dong-Su did his best to
look unruffled and raised his voice.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You killed my older brother, Hwang
Dong-Seok. Am I right?”
Hwang Dong-Su’s scared face grew closer with every step

taken. And then, a certain someone’s face who enjoyed
being strong against the weak, but remained weak against
someone stronger, overlapped with his face in Jin-Woo’s
view.
That caused his glare to become even colder.
Meanwhile, Hwang Dong-Su cried out.
“Answer me!! Seong Jin-Woo, didn’t you murder my brother

and his team?!”
Jin-Woo stopped right in front of Hwang Dong-Su’s nose and

replied.
“Ask him after you meet him again.”
Grit.
Hwang Dong-Su punched with his fist wrapped in bright

light. He was aiming for Jin-Woo’s face. Unfortunately for
him, the latter simply ducked lower to evade that and
shoved his own fist deep into the former’s stomach.
“Keo-Heok!”
Just one hit and Hwang Dong-Su vomited out a mouthful of

blood.
***
“Stop the car!”
“Sir?”
“I said, stop the d*mn car!”
Thomas Andre roared out and the car he was riding in came
to a sudden halt. As the vehicle in front carrying their Guild
Master came to an abrupt halt, the chasing cars ferrying the
Guild members all hurriedly came to a stop as well.
Screech, screeech….
Loud noises resounded out from everywhere. Completely

disregarding that…
Boom!
….Thomas Andre kicked the car’s door away and climbed

out in a hurry so he could glare in a certain direction. His
expression crumpled into a vicious scowl.
“D*mn it….”
The elites of the Scavenger Guild, often referred to as the

world’s best, jumped out from all the halted vehicles.
“Master, what is it?”

Thomas Andre answered briefly to all the hurried questions
from the Guild members.
“It has already begun. I’ll go ahead, so hurry and follow after
me.”
“Sir??”
What had already begun?
Before anyone could ask him for an explanation, though,

Thomas Andre bent his knees. The muscles on his legs
expanded powerfully and the asphalt on the ground began
melting down. Other Hunters naturally took two, three steps
away from him.
Ka-boom!!
Thomas Andre exploded up from the ground and in an

instant, disappeared from their view.
***
‘Something is…. coming.’
Something strong, that was.
Just as Thomas Andre had sensed Jin-Woo’s powers, the

latter also sensed the former’s presence. So, he stopped
moving his punching hand.
His other hand was still grabbing onto the collar of Hwang
Dong-Su, who now was suffering from just as many grievous
wounds as Yu Jin-Ho.
Ka-boom!
A part of the disused factory’s ceiling caved in and through
the open gap, one of the four remaining Special Authority-
rank Hunters in the world, Thomas Andre, flew in and landed
on the ground.
Since he knew that a guest was arriving anyway, Jin-Woo

wasn’t surprised in the slightest as he calmly took a look at
the landing zone.
Thomas Andre stood up straight and quickly confirmed the

situation.
He first saw Yu Jin-Ho, then Jin-Woo, and finally, the end of

Jin-Woo’s hand. His gaze moved in that order, until stopping
at Hwang Dong-Su.
Right away, Thomas Andre’s forehead creased up. Jin-Woo’s

incredible magical energy emission had completely masked
Hwang Dong-Su’s presence and he couldn’t initially sense it.
Thomas Andre took off and discarded his sunglasses.
“Hwang Dong-Su… Is he still alive?”
“For now.”
Thomas Andre resorted to using simple English and

enunciated each word loudly so that Jin-Woo, someone who
might be not familiar with the language, could hear him
clearly.
“Let him go. If you do that, we’ll forget that today’s event
had ever happened. I’m asking you for a favour.”
Jin-Woo strengthened his grip on Hwang Dong-Su’s collar

and asked.
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Then, well. A favour won’t be a favour anymore.”
One of the most powerful Hunters in the world bared his

fangs.
A regular Hunter would start p*ssing their pants right about

now. However, Jin-Woo’s own aura didn’t lose out to Thomas
Andre’s.
“Come, then.”
Chapter 191
Thomas Andre’s brows quivered slightly.
If some insignificant Hunter said that to him, he’d have

ripped that fool into tiny bits and shreds immediately.
After all, the United States government wouldn’t be able to

prosecute him, a Special Authority-rank Hunter, that easily.
He was someone possessing rights equal to that of a country.
As the reward for rescuing 300 million American lives from

the worst calamity in human history, Thomas Andre got to
wield absolute power. This power allowed him to do
whatever he pleased.
However, even if that was the case, he couldn’t immediately

make his move. Because his opponent this time was none
other than ‘Seong Jin-Woo’.
Thomas Andre couldn’t completely suppress his temper and

his hands moved for a blink of an eye. He managed to reel
himself back in, though. He glared at Hwang Dong-Su and
gritted his teeth.
‘And I told him not to provoke that man….’
As expected, Seong Jin-Woo was not an easy opponent to

face. Seeing him personally confirmed this fact. If Thomas
Andre had to describe this feeling into words, then it was
like trying to step into a quagmire.
Dark and ominous magical energy oozed out from Seong Jin-
Woo’s entire body, and Thomas Andre felt as if he’d not be
able to escape once he took a wrong step forward here.
Unfortunately, even he could not back away now. An ace

Hunter of the Scavenger Guild was currently being
manhandled by that man, and most importantly, his pride as
a Special Authority-rank Hunter was at stake, too.
With his expression viciously crumpled, Thomas Andre threw

out a question.
“….You, by any chance, don’t you know who I am?”
Jin-Woo curtly responded.
“Doesn’t matter who you are.”
It was then – Hwang Dong-Su somehow regained his

consciousness and shouted out after discovering Thomas
Andre.
“Master! Kill this son of a b*tch! Hurry!”
Boom!
Jin-Woo’s fist struck Hwang Dong-Su, causing the man to

black out and go limp again. Meanwhile, veins bulged on
Thomas Andre’s forehead.
“You dare….”
‘….You know who I am, yet you dare to do something like

that in my presence?’
His expression was already crumpled into something

unsightly before, but now, it distorted even more to
resemble a devil’s face.
Through personal experience, his body knew how one
should deal with an opponent who didn’t want to submit.
‘White trash; a low-class white man.’
Thomas Andre grew up in a poor immigrant family.
The school located in the poorest ghetto filled with African

youths proved to be a hostile place for a lone white kid who
knew no one and had no friends or acquaintances.
Everywhere was filled with enemies. Just from meeting eyes

did the fights break out. And often, his opponents carried
around dangerous weapons, too. The moments when he had
to fight off multiple enemies happened frequently, as well.
However, the heavens saw fit to bestow a certain gift that

could only be described as unprecedented unto this white
kid who seemingly possessed nothing.
The overwhelming talent for physical power – the power that

allowed him to trample on others!
Paradoxically, the boy’s surroundings became just about a

perfect playground for him to confirm his own talents.
Through the endless, continuous fights, the boy got to
confirm the heaven-gifted talent he possessed.
He clearly witnessed how his powers would change all those

holding hostile feeling towards him. And so, he reigned like
a king.
Power – the authoritative power, financial power, and

physical power. He got to learn quite early on that the many
types of power existing in this world could turn a man into
either a king or a slave.
And when a completely different type of ‘power’ manifested
into this world, he grasped the opportunity and ascended to
the status of a true king.
If an opponent was unwilling to listen, then he’d use power

to make them submit. Someone blocking his path would be
destroyed without mercy.
And he’d make all those looking down on him kneel on the
ground, defeated. Physical power was the truth!
Thomas Andre stayed true to what he knew, to what he was

familiar with.
Time seemed to freeze up. Thomas Andre, now full of malice

and a destructive desire, pounced forward. The distance
between the two men disappeared in an instant.
His eyes met Jin-Woo’s, as they closed in enough for their

noses to touch.
‘Blame your own ignorance!’
Thomas Andre reached out with his hand. He was planning

to grab Jin-Woo’s head.
His incomprehensible gripping power was one of his many

hidden talents. Even if his opponent happened to be a top-
ranked Hunter, he’d easily shatter that person’s skull.
Now that the fool was within his attacking range, victory was
as good as his. The corners of Thomas Andre’s lips curled up.
Too bad, though…
‘Wha….?!’
In that instant, there was a flash of light before his eyes.

***
With fortunate timing, the Hunters of the Scavenger Guild

arrived at the location. And they all got to witness
something peculiar. They got to witness ‘something’
breaking past a wall of the disused factory at an alarming
speed.
Boooom-!!
That ‘something’ destroyed the wall and crash-landed on the

ground. Even then, it continued to slide away for a long,
long time.
Chuwuuuuk…
And when that ‘something’ finally stopped sliding right

before their eyes, the Hunters recognised its identity and
couldn’t hide their extreme astonishment from exploding
out. No one could tell who cried out first.
“Thomas Andre?!”
“Master, are you alright?!”
Just who managed to blow away the Goliath like this?
They simply couldn’t believe it.
The force of the impact was so great that hot steam was still
rising up from Thomas Andre’s entire body.
But then again, the skin on a regular person would’ve been

torn to shreds as he slid on the ground like that. No, before
that, his body would’ve broken into many pieces after
slamming into the wall, instead.
However, Thomas Andre was perfectly fine. Should one say,
as befitting of a tanker who managed to survive Kamish’s
Breath with nothing but his bare body?
It was just that the expression he was making as he stood

back up was not perfectly fine at all. His face hardened like a
surface of a boulder as he stood up. He then took a
sweeping look at his Hunters.
Even though they were on the same side, these Hunters

paled instantly after being subjected to the murderous glare
of a Special Authority-rank Hunter.
“…..”
Without saying anything else, Thomas Andre walked back

into the abandoned factory he flew out from. A dizzying
amount of killing intent erupted out from his entire body.
Step, step.
The Vice-Master staring at that sight in a daze hurriedly

regained his wits and urged the Guild’s Hunters.
“What are you all doing? Get a move on, now!”
One hundred or so top-ranked Hunters all rushed into the

abandoned factory at once.
***
After blowing Thomas Andre away, Jin-Woo clenched his fist

tighter.
Just a second later, and Yu Jin-Ho’s life would have been in

grave danger. It felt like his blood would boil over when he
saw Hwang Dong-Su slamming the kid’s head to the floor
through the eyes of the High Orc soldier.
But, that man wanted what now?
He’d pretend that none of this happened if Hwang Dong-Su

was released? What a stupid suggestion that was.
Jin-Woo pushed himself to the absolute limit and continued

to grow further and further so he’d not get pushed around
by powerful beings. So, such a dumb demand wasn’t even
worth his time to consider.
But then, the response from Thomas Andre was an attack

filled to the brim with the intent to kill.
This battle was far from over.
Thomas Andre might have been flung away to a far off

distance, but he made his way back with an even stronger
intent to kill than before. Jin-Woo discarded the still-
unconscious Hwang Dong-Su to a corner of the factory. And
then, summoned Kaisel and Igrit out.
Shururuk…
A black Sky Dragon and a black knight revealed themselves.

Jin-Woo carefully lifted up Yu Jin-Ho and handed the kid over
to Igrit.
“Take Jin-Ho to the nearest hospital. Make sure he gets the

necessary treatment. Got it?”
Igrit bowed to display his understanding and jumped on the

back of Kaisel to fly out of the factory.
Kii-ahk!
Thomas Andre didn’t give a d*mn about the escaping Sky
Dragon. No, his glare was firmly locked on Jin-Woo and Jin-
Woo alone. Likewise, Jin-Woo’s glare was redirected to the
American, as well.
And he got to see the crumpled expression of Thomas Andre

and top-ranked Hunters rushing inside beyond his
shoulders. Their number was around one hundred.
It seemed that this guy mobilised and brought along all the
elites of the Scavenger Guild, often referred to as the best
Guild in the world.
The thing was, though….
‘…If you want to compare the number of soldiers, then I too

have more than enough.’
Jin-Woo immediately called out his Shadow Soldiers hiding

within his shadow and waiting for his commands. The
darkness slowly spread out from beneath his feet, and one
by one, the Shadow Soldiers rose up from the ground.
Thomas Andre’s steps came to a halt after he discovered all

those soldiers. The number was somewhere near one
thousand. The abandoned factory was completely filled up
in an instant, but even then, the columns of soldiers
extended well beyond to the back as well.
Thomas Andre narrowed his eyes.
‘It’s not just the incredible numbers, either.’
He even spotted several summoned creatures that were

easily on a similar level as rank S Hunters. Such as the
knight holding a massive shield, or the Mage wearing a
black robe, and even those Giants occupying the backline,
too.
Their magical energy emission didn’t lose out to some of the

highest-ranked Hunters out there.
Indeed, these were truly excellent summoned creatures that

even the entirety of the Scavenger Guild participating could
not guarantee a victory against.
Shiver, shiver….
Seeing Seong Jin-Woo’s common sense-breaking summons

in the flesh, Thomas Andre felt this powerful shudder run up
through his entire body. At the same time, he was feeling
genuinely happy.
‘That’s right.’
Wouldn’t he truly get to enjoy the fight now that the level of
his opponent was this high?
A smile broke out on Thomas Andre’s face as he licked his

lips. That fool Hwang Dong-Su no longer mattered in this
fight.
There was only one way to restore his damaged pride. And
that would be to…
‘….Kill that impudent b*stard….’
But, before he did that, Thomas Andre made his final offer of
mercy.
“If you admit to your mistakes and back off, I promise I’ll
spare your life.”
Instead of a verbal answer, Jin-Woo simply flipped him a
bird.
“…..”
Thick veins bulged all over on Thomas Andre’s forehead.
“You f*cker, right until the end….”
Riiip!
Thomas Andre ripped his shirt off – a shirt made out of top-

class material extracted from the monsters was ripped into
pieces like a sheet of cheap paper.
And then….
Wududuk-!
Wuduk!
The muscles in his entire torso ballooned up and hardened

like armour covering his whole body. Magic energy so vast
that it raised goosebumps from the people nearby leaked
out from beneath his feet. It was so vast and powerful, in
fact, it looked as if gold-coloured steam was slowly rising up
from his shoulders.
The world’s greatest Tanker had released his full might once
more.
Jin-Woo wordlessly watched Thomas Andre’s transformation

before unleashing his own magical energy as well.
Shuwahaahk-!!
The magic energy emitted from two monsters occupying

wholly different realms forced the surrounding elite Hunters
to hold their breaths.
‘Heok!’
‘I was wondering just who it was that blew away the Goliath,
but now….’
Their gazes were directed to one location – to Seong Jin-Woo.
For sure, that feat sounded plausible if it was Seong Jin-Woo,

who managed to hunt down all those Giant monsters in
Japan.
The Hunters of the Scavenger Guild nervously swallowed

their saliva as they stared at Jin-Woo.
Unlike them and their heightened state of tension, though,

Jin-Woo was completely calm and collected. He felt that this
was the perfect opportunity to test out his growth up until
now. He was now facing an opponent that he could definitely
go all out against.
Abruptly, Jin-Woo recalled what Kamish the Dragon had told

him.
‘There are four people borrowing the Rulers’ powers, right?’
Could it be that those four were among the five survivors of

the Kamish raid – the four of the Special Authority-rank
Hunters?
If that was true, then the odds of Thomas Andre being a

human borrowing the Rulers’ powers were very high.
Jin-Woo made the first move.
“Advance.”
Almost immediately after their Sovereign issued that
command, the Shadow Soldiers rushed forward with rather
scary vigour.
Thomas Andre also cried out loudly.
“They are coming!”
One man versus one Guild; nearly one thousand ‘summons’

and almost one hundred elite Hunters collided violently on
this day.
Boom-!!
Thomas Andre blew away Iron standing at the front of the

pack and quickly searched for Jin-Woo’s whereabouts as a
bright glare shot out from his eyes.
He spotted someone rushing towards him at an incredible

pace.
‘Over there-!!’
Thomas Andre turned around, but Jin-Woo was faster. The

latter dug into the former’s defence in an instant and
stabbed at the waist with the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
Unfortunately, the blade failed to break past the hardened

skin of Thomas Andre.
‘….!’
Pow!
The American blew his opponent away with his elbow as a

smirk formed on his face.
This was the true power of the Special Authority-rank
Hunter. Jin-Woo might possess a pretty decent turn of speed,
but there was no way he’d be able to exceed Thomas
Andre’s defences.
‘Feel my power and taste what true despair is like!’
Thomas Andre judged that the advantage was now with him.
He didn’t stop his attacks there and reached out with his
hand.
Wuuonng-!
When he did, a powerful pulling force was generated from

his hand and quickly reeled back the flung-away Jin-Woo.
The ‘invisible hand’.
This was Thomas Andre’s ability that managed to drag

Kamish the Dragon from the air to the ground.
Jin-Woo was brought back closer to Thomas Andre at a

frightening turn of speed, but then, his eyes shot open
again.
Koo-woong!
Thomas Andre’s shoulders quivered from the unseen force

slamming down from above.
‘What?!’
He was left utterly stunned after confirming with his entire

body that his opponent also possessed the power only the
Special Authority-rank Hunters possessed.
Jin-Woo didn’t miss that opening; his punch slammed into
Thomas Andre’s face for the second time today.
Ka-boom!!
And for the first time ever after becoming a Hunter, the man
nicknamed Goliath spat out blood from his mouth.
“Keo-heok!!”
***
The Hunter Bureau wasn’t sitting back sucking on its fingers

either. Dozens of vehicles belonging to the Bureau carrying
Hunters were on their way to the same destination as the
members of the Scavenger Guild.
However, the two cars right in front of the pack suddenly

came to a halt not too far from their destination.
The deeply-anxious Adam White had been watching the

passing scenery and was caught unprepared from the
sudden stop.
“Wha-what is going on?”
The vehicle’s driver looked back at Adam White. He was the

sole rank S Hunter affiliated with the Hunter Bureau.
“Agent White. I think it’s time you explained to us what’s

going on here.”
“We don’t have time for me to explain everything in….”
Adam White couldn’t finish his sentence.
Because he saw the complexion of the rank S Hunter

growing pale rather quickly at that moment. It was the first
time seeing such an expression forming on the face of a man
who famously possessed a steely heart, formed after
experiencing all sorts of close shaves in his life.
Realising that something quite serious had happened, Adam

White quickly asked.
“Did…. something happen up ahead?”
The rank S Hunter replied with a frozen-stiff face.
“If we continue on, all of us will have to risk our lives.”

Chapter 192
The corners of his lips bust open from that hit.
While being forced away from the impact, Thomas Andre

was reeling from the shock of the freakish power that
smacked him in the face.
‘How could… how could such a power be…?!’
That punch was heavy enough for his head to shake around.
But, that wasn’t all.
That man also possessed the ability to apply physical power

with nothing but his thoughts. Even then, he didn’t resist
against the pulling force and willingly got himself dragged
in.
Who’d have thought of such a thing?
Unexpectedly, not only did he not use his version of the

‘invisible hand’ to resist the pull, he instead used it as a
distraction to divert the attention of his opponent, and then
threw the real attack that couldn’t be easily avoided.
The acceleration from the pull became the double-edged

blade cutting into the one activating the ability and ended
up causing even bigger damage. Now that was a shockingly
well-tuned instinct for battle.
‘Just how many fights did he go through to even come up

with a tactic like that?’
Thomas Andre had been looking down on Jin-Woo as some
random kid even though he willingly acknowledged the
Korean’s powers. But now, having been struck twice in the
face, his thoughts had gone through a rapid change.
Thomas Andre stopped bouncing away and landed back on

his feet.
Kwa-jeeeek, kwa-jeek!!
The friction destroyed the cement floor below and threw up

pieces of broken-off pebble and a dust cloud into the air.
As expected, Jin-Woo didn’t give the American time to

recover and dashed towards him. That was the sight of an
experienced hunter. It seemed as if he had aimed for that
moment before his target had regained the balance.
However, his prey was the quicker of the two to react this
time.
Thomas Andre discarded all arrogant thoughts from his

head. He also realised that he might lose today if he
continued to fight while being considerate towards his
surroundings.
His opponent this time was far, far tougher than his initial
expectation.
“Reinforcement.”
When he muttered out those words, his body, armed with

muscles that had transformed into solid armour, suddenly
ballooned up explosively.
Shu-wahck!
His near two-metre-tall physique transformed into a monster
over three metres tall in the blink of an eye.
“Uwaaaaah-!!”
Thomas Andre roared out like an angry beast and raised

both of his arms, now as thick as a marble pillar, high above
his head. All of this happened way too fast!
‘…..!’
Jin-Woo, in the middle of his sprint, sensed danger up ahead.
‘What could it be?’
His brain fell into a dilemma. The thing was, not once did his
instincts lie to him in moments of great peril. Jin-Woo
hurriedly stopped his forward movement and almost at the
same time, jumped backwards.
With the difference of a millisecond, Thomas Andre’s

massive fists pounded on the ground below.
Kwa-kwang!!
Everything caught within the radius disintegrated from the

horrifying shock wave.
His skill, ‘Demolition’.
That incredible might forced Jin-Woo to take several more

steps backwards, even though he had already escaped to a
safe zone.
Tumble….
Debris flung up into the air fell down like raindrops.

As befitting a Hunter who subjugated a Dragon, his
sturdiness and destructive power were second to none. But,
there was no time to remain stunned. Another loud roar
exploded out from Thomas Andre’s mouth.
“Capture!”
A powerful gravitational pulling force with Thomas Andre as

the centre began yanking everything within the range
towards him. It was as if he had become a black hole.
Shadow Soldiers and Hunters all got into a messy tangle and
flew towards his position.
Jin-Woo might have been one of the targets of this skill,

‘Capture’, but he used ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to repel away the
pulling force.
And when he finally managed to break free from that

powerful force and jumped rearward one more time….
….Thomas Andre’s ‘Demolition’ skill burst forth yet again.
KWA-JEECK!!
Not just the Shadow Soldiers, but even the Hunters of the
Scavenger got swept away by the shock wave.
“Uwaahk!!”
“Euh, euh….”
Screams rose up from here and there.
The Vice-Master had discovered this horrifying situation

rather late and yelled out at the top of his lungs.
“Get away from the Master! Now!!”

Three, four fleet-footed Hunters quickly retrieved their
injured colleagues and escaped to the back. Meanwhile,
Thomas Andre and his emotionless face viciously dashed
towards Jin-Woo’s location.
A rank of ‘Special Authority’ implied one was afforded the

same level of rights as an independent nation. That was why
he needed to demonstrate what the punishment for
disobeying the king was like.
Thomas Andre arrived in Jin-Woo’s location in no time at all

and threw a powerful punch forward.
Vuuoowoong-!!
His fist scythed the air.
He already knew it all too well.
He knew better than anyone that he was too slow to land a

punch on this b*stard possessing the nimbleness of a wild
beast. Especially so, when he was in his reinforced state.
His strength and defence would be enhanced to an

unimaginable degree, but at the same time, his speed would
drop proportionally. Fortunately enough for Thomas Andre,
though, he possessed a skill that could easily cover for that
drawback.
He extended his hand out to Jin-Woo who was rapidly

creating distance between them.
‘Capture!’
Once more, a powerful, incredibly attractive force activated

between the two men. The American knew he’d not miss his
prey now.
With his body fortified through the ‘Reinforcement’ skill, his
attention wouldn’t be stolen away from some measly
diversionary tricks.
As expected, Seong Jin-Woo was yanked back in with ease.
Leaving his extended left hand as it was, Thomas Andre

pulled his right hand back and clenched it into a tight fist.
An enormous amount of magical energy, enough to smash
the torso of a top-ranked Hunter apart into a gory mess,
gathered into his right fist.
Skill, ‘Power Smash’.
Thomas Andre’s fist, carrying a gob-smacking level of

destructive power, slowly moved forward. But then, it
happened.
‘…..??’
His eyes opened wider. He saw Jin-Woo’s own right arm

muscles suddenly expanding greatly in size.
‘Could he be… thinking of directly confronting me?’
Finding this incredulous, Thomas Andre increased the

pulling power. However, Jin-Woo didn’t try to evade it but
actually used his ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to further increase his
momentum, instead.
The American cried out in shock.
“D*mn it!”
Jin-Woo approached far quicker than Thomas Andre had

anticipated and threw a punch a little quicker than his
counterpart could. At the same time, he lowered his head
and lightly evaded the American’s own belated punch.
Kwa-boom!!
Thomas Andre saw a flash of light before his eyes and finally
realised it.
‘The first attack he hit me with was….’
The attack he failed to see back then was precisely this one.
BOOM!!
Thomas Andre flew away like a rocket, demolished the wall

of the disused factory and rolled around on the dirt for quite
some time. The deep and lengthy pit left behind on the
ground by his sliding body resembled furrows on a field.
“Keu-heuk.”
He hurriedly pushed himself off the ground, but Jin-Woo was

already standing before him by then. Thomas Andre roared
out and threw countless punches.
“Uwaaaah!!”
Every time his fists flew past, the ground exploded and the
air was split seemingly into pieces. Each hit was ferocious
enough to utterly destroy a person’s body from just a light
touch.
Unfortunately, none of those could actually touch Jin-Woo.
He simply dodged all of Thomas Andre’s fists and accurately

landed every one of his counters on the American’s vital
spots.
Kwang!! Ka-boom!! Kwahng!!
Little by little, blood pooled in Thomas Andre’s mouth.
“Keo-heok!”
How could this be….?
‘How can a Mage-type Hunter be this powerful and this fast?’
The more confused he got, the greater the physical damage

he suffered.
‘Am I… Am I losing?’
But, that couldn’t be happening.
No, that must not happen.
His ability to overwhelm his enemies with pure physical

violence was the sole reason for his existence, the only thing
proving that he was him and not someone else.
Thomas Andre gritted his blood-soaked teeth. His eyes

under the arched-up brows emitted a maddened glow.
“Uwaaahh-!!”
He punched with everything he had, but Jin-Woo evaded

that again and smacked the American’s chin.
Puh-geok!
Thomas Andre shook his head hard to get rid of the impact
force ringing in his head. But, in that brief gap, Jin-Woo had
dug in until he was right below the American’s nose and
attacked consecutively and without mercy.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
“Keo-heok!!”
Thomas Andre, who once resembled a towering fortress, now

began faltering around.
He unsteadily tottered about as he backed away. He

somehow managed to regain his balance and cried out
venomously.
“I am none other than Thomas Andre!! You think you can

bring me down with only that much?!”
“That’s why I told you before.”
Kwa-boom!!
Jin-Woo punched Thomas Andre’s chin upwards and spoke.
“It doesn’t matter who you are.”
Thomas Andre’s head was shot up towards the sky, but he

stopped it from going any further. Enraged beyond himself
now, the Goliath raised his tightly interlocked fists up high
above his head.
“Demolition!!”
BOOM!!
The ground exploded and quaked violently as he slammed

down with all his might. Too bad, Jin-Woo was no longer
there.
“Where…?!”
Thomas Andre’s glare hurriedly wandered around to find Jin-
Woo.
It was then.
He belatedly realised that a lump of incredible magical

energy was falling from above him.
He quickly looked up.
Jin-Woo had leapt up before the skill ‘Demolition’ was

activated and now, he was descending towards his American
target.
His elbow powerfully slammed down on Thomas Andre’s

face.
KWA-BOOM!!
***
Dozens of vehicles stopped almost all at once in a location

fairly far away from the abandoned factory. It was decided
that getting any closer would be dangerous for them.
The folks climbing out of the vehicles were elite Hunters

affiliated with the Hunter Bureau. Every single one of them
was a distinguished, excellent Hunter in their own right.
However, despite being with such great Hunters, Adam

White couldn’t feel reassured at all right now. But, that was
understandable when these people were being compared to
Hunters Seong Jin-Woo and Thomas Andre, plus the entirety
of the Scavenger Guild’s elites.
The rank S Hunter tasked with commanding the Bureau’s

own Hunter forces, a man named Brent, could only shake his
head with a stiff facial expression.
“Oh, my god…..”
Just what kind of monsters were fighting right now to emit

this much magical energy?
His feet didn’t want to budge from the spot, but Adam White
was right behind him, waiting to be guided forward with a
pair of pleading eyes. Brent had no choice but to give up
and spoke in a resigned voice.
“It’s over there. However, it truly is dangerous, so my advice

is, you need to be dead sure about this.”
KWA-BOOM!!
It was at that moment something shot up high in the air

along with a loud, explosive noise, before crashing back
down to the ground.
“….??”
Adam White looked in the direction of that noise, before

quickly shifting his gaze back to Brent. The rank S Hunter
couldn’t bring himself to close shut his slack jaw.
Adam White urgently asked him.
“W-what was that just now?”
“If, If I haven’t made a mistake, then that was…..”
How could Brent, a rank S Hunter, make a mistake with his

identification? Even then, he hesitated greatly before
carrying on.
“It was Mister Thomas Andre falling from the air.”
“Even I can’t be sure….”
Adam White’s eyes grew incredibly large as he hurriedly

shouted out.
“Hurry! We need to go there right now!”
Brent watched Adam White run over there and gestured to

other Hunters to follow them.
The Hunter Bureau’s group soon arrived at the location

where two gigantic masses of magic energy were colliding
against each other. And then, they all saw it.
“Heok.”
They saw the scene of the one and only Thomas Andre being
pummelled into a rag by a lone Asian Hunter.
Pow! Pooow! Powww!
Brent freaked out and pointed at that sight.
“T-Thomas… Mister Thomas Andre is being beaten up by

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo!!”
“I can also see that!”
Adam White repeatedly stamped his feet on the ground in

pure vexation. Even from this far, he could tell that Thomas
Andre’s condition as he was getting beaten to a pulp by Jin-
Woo didn’t look so good.
Brent hurriedly asked with an expression of someone not
knowing what to do.
“What should we do now?”
“We need to stop them! Are you planning to stay back and
watch a Special Authority-rank Hunter get beaten to
death?!”
“You want us to stop that?? You mean, stop that man?!”
Brent stared dumbfoundedly at the Asian Hunter emitting a

truly nonsensical amount of magic power – it was so
enormous, in fact, he didn’t even want to go anywhere near
that maelstrom if he could help it.
But, before he had a chance to say those words out loud,

Adam White dashed forward.
He might be a Hunter Bureau agent, but still, he was a

regular person. He could lose his life simply by coming into
contact with magical energy being emitted from a top-
ranked Hunter.
Brent’s expression crumpled as he weighed options, but

eventually, he spat out a pained groan and chased after
Adam to run towards Jin-Woo.
“Agent White!”
***
Thomas Andre’s face was stomped on by the elbow and he

knelt down to the ground. Both of his hands dug deep into
the earth below.
“Euh, euh….Uwaaaah!!”
He somehow managed to raise his upper torso up and
continued with his attacks. Unfortunately, he had sustained
too much damage to his physical body and his fists couldn’t
attack with the same level of destructive force anymore.
Jin-Woo saw those now-sluggish punches and re-confirmed

the tide of battle turning towards his favour. These
powerless flailing arms of Thomas Andre now only contained
the losing man’s ultimately meaningless rage and desire to
kill Jin-Woo.
The Korean Hunter smoothly and easily evaded those

punches and counter-attacked once more.
Kwang!! Ka-boom!!
Unlike Thomas Andre’s attacks, Jin-Woo’s hits constantly

raining down aimed precisely at the American’s vital spots
and as a result, the poor man couldn’t even regain his wits
anymore.
“Keo-heok!”
Every time Thomas Andre’s head snapped in one direction or

to the other side, blood spat out from his face. He lost his
balance and tottered around unsteadily. Jin-Woo remained
merciless as he kicked the American man.
Ka-boom!!
“Keok!”
The colliding magic energy exploded and Thomas Andre’s

body rocketed up into the sky.
‘Ruler’s Authority.’
He yanked at the American man flying up endlessly into the
air, causing his victim to crash-land back down to Earth with
no resistance whatsoever.
BOOM-!!
“Cough!”
Thomas Andre lay sprawled on the ground and vomited out

a mouthful of blood. Jin-Woo mounted on top of him.
And just like when he was fighting against the demon king
Baran back in the Demon’s Castle, he grasped Thomas
Andre’s neck and slammed down with his other fist.
Pow! Slam!! Boom!
He could sense Thomas Andre’s resistance weaken gradually.
Pow! Boom! Pow!
And finally – just as Jin-Woo raised his fist high up to land

the finisher, he heard a certain someone’s desperate cry.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim! Please, stop! I beg you, stay

your hand, please!”
Jin-Woo disinterestedly stared at Adam White running

towards him before clenching his fist tightly again. A
horrifying amount of magical energy roiled around his
greatly-expanded shoulder muscles and his fist.
“N-no! Stop!”
Just before the fist could slam down on the target…
As Adam White cried out, his hand reaching out in

desperation…
….Thomas Andre finally opened his mouth.
“….I lost.”
Whoosh-!
Jin-Woo’s fist stopped millimetres away from the American’s

nose.
As if he had used up all of his energy just to surrender,

Thomas Andre lost his consciousness right afterwards and
went limp.
Only then did Jin-Woo withdraw his fist and wordlessly got
back up.
Soon afterwards, Hunters affiliated with the Bureau

cautiously filed in around him and Thomas Andre on the
ground.
***
“What the f*ck… What the hell is this? Did this really
happen? Seriously?!”
A certain reporter was muttering to himself as he

continuously snapped one photo after another.
Originally, he planned to snap a few shots of the Scavenger

Guild Hunters getting ready for a raid. But now…
All he did was to simply follow after the Hunters who

inexplicably cancelled the raid and began moving to
somewhere. So, how on earth could he explain this?
The reporter initially thought that there was a dungeon

break happening somewhere. But the spectacle unfolding
before his eyes easily exceeded his wildest imaginations.
He used the zoom function to confirm the face of the man
lying sprawled on the ground once more time.
That was a rather familiar face, that’s for sure.
Without a doubt, that face belonged to the Special

Authority-rank Hunter, Thomas Andre.
‘Oh, my god…. Just who can beat Thomas Andre up like

that?!’
The reporter spat out a shocked gasp as he scrolled through

the images he had taken so far.
And at the same time, his heart trembled in excitement after

realising that the photos contained within this little camera
would net him a huge wad of cash.
Chapter 193
Adam White urgently confirmed the signs of life on Thomas

Andre.
He pressed his ear to the chest of the unmoving man and

heard the faint beating of the heart. He even brought his
hand near Thomas Andre’s nose and felt for his breathing,
too. Fortunately enough, he was still alive.
However, he was barely hanging on. He might be alive but,

he didn’t resemble a living man right now. That’s how bad
his condition was.
‘To think, he’s capable of reducing the one and only Thomas
Andre to this state….’
Just how many Hunters in the world would be capable of

doing this? No, was there anyone even remotely capable of
doing that, to begin with?
If this news got out, then the entire world would be turned
on its head almost instantly. Adam White even felt an
emotion similar to awe at Jin-Woo’s strength that had easily
exceeded the Hunter Bureau’s expectations.
Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to stand around in awe.
“Hurry!”
Adam White gestured towards the Hunter Bureau’s Healers.
One of the top-rated Healers quickly ran over and settled

down next to the patient on the ground. After confirming
Thomas Andre’s condition before the healing could properly
commence, the Healer clicked his tongue and spoke up.
“Every bone in his body is broken. Haemorrhaging is quite

serious, as well. I alone won’t be able to heal him. It’ll be
better for everyone to participate at once.”
Following the Healer’s suggestion, more of his colleagues

were added to the process of healing Thomas Andre.
But then, could anyone fill up a lake with water from a tap?
Because of how vast Thomas Andre’s overall health reserve
was, one needed to expend a great deal of effort in order to
heal him.
As the Healers sweated profusely and focused on healing the

American Hunter, Adam White stood back up from the
ground to survey the landscape. He saw the Hunters from
the Bureau keeping themselves busy by pulling out the
injured from the abandoned factory.
“Euh, euh….”
“My leg, my leg!!”
The state of the Scavenger’s elite Hunters were wretched, to

say the least. It was unknown how they ended up in such a
miserable state, but it was not that hard to guess just who
was responsible for them looking like that.
One man versus one Guild.

Just one Hunter managed to utterly destroy one of the top
Guilds in the entire world.
‘Seriously…’
Adam White was utterly flabbergasted by the incredibleness

of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, and his abilities that played a key
role in this display of incredibleness.
‘…Uh?’
Now that he took another look, he couldn’t see Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo anywhere. Adam White searched around to
locate the Korean Hunter, but before he could locate his
query, a rather familiar ‘song’ entered his ears, instead.
It was the ringtone coming from his phone.
“This is White.”
– “Agent White, we discovered Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim’s current

whereabouts.”
The call came from the Hunter Bureau. Out of all the stories
he heard today, this had to be the best one so far. Adam
White’s gloomy-looking expression brightened up once
more.
“Really? Where is he now?”
The caller informed him that the grievously-injured Hunter

Yu Jin-Ho was discovered in front of a major hospital nearby,
and his life was no longer in danger after having received a
timely emergency medical treatment.
“I’ll head there right away as soon as the matters this side
are sorted out.”
– “Understood.”
Adam White ended the call and sighed in relief.
“Whew…”
He had no idea how he’d go about dealing with Hunter

Seong Jin-Woo’s wrath if something really bad happened to
Yu Jin-Ho. Just thinking about it made him dizzy.
Spilt milk couldn’t be saved, anyway. Should he say that the

glass holding the milk not breaking was a silver lining
among the sea of storm clouds?
A small load was taken off his mind and soon, he got to hear
yet another piece of good news.
“We’re finished.”
The Healers tasked with mending Thomas Andre stood up

from the ground. Adam White asked them for a status
update.
“How is he? Is he alright?”
“For now.”
“For now…? What does that mean?”
“His injured body has been healed, but he did suffer many
grievous wounds and it will take some time before he
regains consciousness.”
“Oh.”
Magic from the Healers might be able to restore one’s

physical wounds, but they were unable to lighten one’s
psychological trauma.
And since Thomas Andre no doubt suffered a huge mental
setback this time ’round, his hospital room would have to be
closely monitored. Adam White could only look on at the
unconscious face of the Special Authority-rank Hunter with a
look of pity. Still, the Healer did find words that provided a
bit of comfort and delivered them.
“Even then, it was because it was Special Authority-rank

Hunter Thomas Andre that he got to survive this long. If it
was any other Hunter being on the receiving end of this
much punishment, that person would have died ten times
over by now.”
“What a reli….”
Adam White nodded and was about to say something

suitable as a reply, but then, his words came to a stop.
Only because it was the Special Authority-rank Hunter

Thomas Andre, he could survive this event?
If so, what about Hunter Hwang Dong-Su who must’ve been

subjected to the one-sided outpouring of Seong Jin-Woo’s
rage?
Was that man around here, as well?
Carrying a hardened expression, Adam White quickly made

his way into the abandoned factory as more injured were
carted out. Once inside, he took a look around and heard
someone call out to him.
“Agent White! Over here!”
That urgent voice quickened Adam White’s thought process.

He tried to calm his pounding heart and ran towards where
that call came from.
One of the Bureau’s Hunters with a serious expression on his
face was standing in front of a person lying on the floor.
Adam White recognised who it was and whispered out the
name of the man like a groan.
“Hwang Dong-Su….”
That prompted the Hunter next to him to speak his findings.
“This man is not breathing, sir. His heart is not beating

anymore.”
***
“I hope you ain’t gonna waste my time by telling me some

bullsh*t story about you kidding around or making a mistake
here.”
It was already getting pretty late. The editor of a certain

publication had come out to meet a freelance reporter after
the latter gave him a call. Understandably, the editor’s glare
was icy.
Just who was he?
He was none other than the editor of the newspaper

boasting the highest circulation figures in the eastern
United States.
Originally, someone like a freelancer wouldn’t be able to

summon him out for an impromptu meeting like this. But
then, he had no choice but to make this trip after hearing
the contents of the phone call.
The editor told himself that, if this freelancer was going to

waste his time with a fairy tale, then he’d make d*mn sure
that this guy ended up in jail with a fake crime he came up
with. That was his thought process as he hurriedly put back
on the clothes he wore during the day at work for this
meeting in the dark.
The reporter quickly waved his hands around after being

subjected to the editor’s suspicious glare.
“It’s d-definitely nothing like that. This thing is 100% real. I

thought you only liked stories that are real?”
“Hmph….”
“So, how much are you willing to offer?”
“Let me see the photos first.”
The reporter looked around his vicinity as if he was scared of

something and began pulling out one photograph after
another from his bag. The editor took them with an
expressionless face and began flipping through them, but
then, his hands came to an abrupt halt.
And an almighty earthquake erupted in his eyes next.
‘H-how can this be?!’
The editor’s astonished gaze naturally shifted over to the

reporter’s face next.
His expression clearly was asking, ‘Where did you get these
pictures?’ and that made the reporter feel like he was on the
top of the world. He quickly shrugged his shoulders as his
reply.
The editor continued to flip through the pictures with

trembling hands.
They were exactly as the reporter had described over the
phone.
‘Thomas Andre passes out after getting beaten to a pulp a

day before the International Guild Conference?’
Not only that – the face of the man leisurely turning around
to leave after defeating the American was captured within
these pictures.
Wasn’t that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??
This was a huge scoop.
No, hang on – that word ‘scoop’ wasn’t adequate enough to

fully describe this incredible jackpot. The editor’s breathing
became really rough and heavy now.
Meanwhile, the reporter peered at the picture the editor was

looking at and added some of his explanation.
“That’s the man who beat up Thomas Andre. If you can

investigate and uncover that guy’s identity in an expose, I
think you’re going to create one hell of a firestorm, Mister
Editor.”
What a moron this guy was!
Allegedly, Westerners had a problem telling Asian faces

apart. Maybe because of that, the reporter had failed to
recognise Seong Jin-Woo’s face.
In times like these, the editor felt rather thankful for being
an Asian American. And at the same time, he began cooking
up the headlines that would dominate the front page of
tomorrow’s paper.
[The man who brought down the Dragon, bitten & brought
back to earth by an Asian dragon.]
[The Hunter of Giants, Seong Jin-Woo – now even hunting

down the Goliath?]
[The stronghold of a Special Authority-rank Hunter,

collapsing under the new rising star of South Korea?]
Didn’t matter what headlines he decided to use, this news

would attract the attention of the entire world. Most
importantly, his paper would have the exclusive.
There were dozens of real photographic proof prepared as

well, so how could there not be a huge commotion rising up
in the world come tomorrow?
The actual worth of these pictures could not be estimated at

all. The editor felt his heart quiver.
Having discovered the trembling light within the editor’s

eyes, the reporter quickly snatched the pictures back.
The editor could only lick his lips in wistfulness.
“Now that you have confirmed the veracity of these pictures,

let’s talk about my price. How much are you willing to pay
me?”
“This…. Well, it’s a bit difficult for me to come out with a

price for these pictures.”
The editor hesitated greatly before asking the reporter as he

carefully studied the other party.
“Why don’t you quote me a price you think is fair? So, how
much do you want for them?”
The reporter pondered his options for a while, before
unfurling all five of his fingers on his hand. The editor
nodded his head.
“Fifty grand? Good. We’ll go with that.”
“No.”
The reporter immediately corrected the editor on the price.
“It’s five million dollars.”
“F-five million?!”
Five million U.S. Dollars is a huge amount of money

equalling as much as 6,000,000,000 Korean Won.
Quite obviously, the expression on the editor’s face

hardened instantly.
“If you think the price isn’t right, then I’ll just go somewhere
else.”
The reporter shoved the pictures back inside the bag and
tried to turn around. However, the editor hurriedly stopped
him.
“No, hold on!”
Images of a celebrity couple’s baby would sell for millions of

dollars nowadays, so was there a reason not to spend five
million on a scoop of this magnitude?
Once this news gets out, all the TV stations and other
newspapers would be talking about this story non-stop for
the next few days. He simply couldn’t let this opportunity
slip through his fingers!
Having arrived at his decision with some difficulty, the editor
opened his mouth.
“Fine, you got a deal. However, I want not just the pictures
but the originals, too. And you’ll have to swear never to leak
this out to anyone else. How about it?”
With that, the deal was made.
The reporter had been working as a freelancer and had to

wallow at the bottom of society all this time. He thought
about being able to see his parents again for the first time
since leaving his hometown. His voice trembled slightly as
he made his reply.
“….Let’s do it.”
***
The hospital room where Yu Jin-Ho was currently admitted to.
He had made it out from death’s doorstep, but he still hadn’t

regained his consciousness.
Yu Jin-Ho was still breathing out heavily in pain. The pain-

suppressing morphine didn’t seem to be all that effective for
him.
A little bit of time later, after the doctor doing the rounds
confirmed Yu Jin-Ho’s current status and left….
….A humanoid shape rose up from the blob of shadow

sneaking into the hospital room.
Shururuk….
It was Beru, who swapped locations with Jin-Woo via

‘Shadow Exchange’.
He reached out to heal Yu Jin-Ho, as ordered by his liege.
From the tip of his hands, gentle blue light slowly spread out
in this darkened room.
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression, scrunched up from pain and

discomfort, softened in no time at all.
Beru already possessed powers incomparable to regular rank

S Hunters, so it was quite obvious that his healing magic
would be unmatched, as well. The former ant king diligently
healed his target’s wounds so he could also mend Yu Jin-Ho’s
psychological trauma at the same time.
Wuuonng….
Yu Jin-Ho stopped tossing around in the bed after sensing

the warmth wrap up his entire body, and eventually, creaked
open his heavy eyelids.
“Uh….?”
The first thing he saw was a giant ant head right in front of
his face. On top of that, that giant ant head placed a finger
to its mouth and went “Shh.” as if to tell him to keep quiet.
“….Oh, so I’m still dreaming.”
Yu Jin-Ho closed his eyes shut and went back to sleep with a
happy expression etched on his face.
“…..”
In the meantime, Beru wordlessly concentrated on healing

the kid.
The night wore on.
***
Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.
There was a 14-hour difference between here and the

eastern United States. It may have been in the middle of the
night over there, but it was in the morning in Korea.
The current location was a deserted children’s playground.
A black knight with his head pressed tightly on the ground

next to a swing set asked.
“Oh, my king. How long should I stay in this position?”
Jin-Woo, currently sitting quietly on the swing and waiting

for Beru’s signal, replied disinterestedly.
“I guess…. Until Beru reports back to me that he’s done with

Jin-Ho’s treatment?”
“….”
Perhaps the knight recognised his faults in this matter

because he kept his mouth shut and maintained the
‘Wonsan bombing raid’ posture. (TL note at the end)
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the knight before his gaze

abruptly landed on his hands.
The back of his hands were all messed up. There were
several bruises and he could spot traces of blood as well.
That Thomas Andre, he was truly one nonsensically sturdy

dude. Just from Jin-Woo beating the living crap out of him,
his hands ended up getting bruised to this degree.
Of course, such wounds would be gone without a trace after

a good night’s rest all thanks to the passive buff, ‘Good
Health and Long Life’, but still.
‘….I’m sleepy.’
He felt a bit of fatigue rush in. A chaotic day was finally

drawing to a rather subdued close.
The knight, staying quiet for a while, suddenly addressed

Jin-Woo again.
“What is it?”
“Please, bestow unto me a new name, my king.”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to his brand-new Shadow

Soldier.
[?? Lv.1]
Knight Commander grade
‘Right, I guess you also need a name, don’t you?’
Jin-Woo pondered this dilemma for a little bit before forming

a wry smile as he spoke.
“Since you died because of your greed, how about I call you
‘Greed’?”
Chapter 194
Next day.
Almost every TV station and newspaper under the sun was

talking about the Hunters arriving in the United States
before the International Guild Conference began. However,
only one newspaper from the east of the country dared to
carry a rather different sort of headline on its front page.
[Thomas Andre loses consciousness!]
There was not one American who didn’t know the name of
Thomas Andre. So, they couldn’t quite believe that their
Special Authority-rank Hunter had lost consciousness.
Did he contract some kind of illness?
The passersby were immediately drawn in by that simple-

yet-attention-grabbing headline. They reached out to grab
their copies of the paper and gladly paid the asking price.
But then, steps of the curious buyers came to a stuttering

halt after they unfurled their papers and read the article
within. That rather boring headline didn’t prepare the
readers adequately enough for the bombshell hiding within
the article itself.
It was unknown why the fight happened, but regardless, the

article went to detail the event of a lone Hunter clashing
against Thomas Andre and his Scavenger Guild the night
before.
And the aftermath was laid bare for all to see with several
pages’ worth of large photographs.
They showed bloodied and battered Thomas Andre, as well

as many injured Hunters being carried out from a disused
factory.
If someone who didn’t know any of these people saw the

images, that person might have said that they were victims
of a terror attack. That’s how severe the scenes depicted
were.
However, weren’t these people all top-ranked Hunters in this

nation?
Especially for Thomas Andre – he was the Special Authority-

rank Hunter who survived the ‘Kamish’ raid, referred to as
the worst calamity in human history.
Every single person reading the article couldn’t hide how

shocked they felt. Their breathing became rough and heavy,
just like the editor back when he first laid his eyes on these
images.
And when the identity of the man who drove the Hunters of
the Scavenger Guild to this wretched state was revealed, the
readers focusing on the article cried out in pure shock and
astonishment.
“What in the world….”
“Jesus Christ!”
Why was there an image of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in this

article? Wasn’t he the current darling of the international
media after he stopped a massive-scale crisis taking place in
Japan not too long ago?
The contrast between Thomas Andre lying sprawled on the
ground, and Jin-Woo turning around to leave with an
emotionless face, was so great that it left the readers with an
indescribable level of mental shock.
As almost all of the mass media was focused on the

International Guild Conference, the ripple caused by the
article was even greater than it might have been otherwise.
Rather than traditional media outlets breaking the news,

though, the story first gained traction in South Korea
through social media, instead.
[ROFLOL. Thomas Andre beaten to a pulp by Seong Jin-Woo

was real? Link to the article.]
[Holy cow, it’s real. LOL Thomas Andre showed up with Guild
members and still got ransacked like nobody’s business?]
[Bullsh*t. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Makes no sense. One guy wrecked a

Special Authority-rank Hunter + super-top-number one
Guild?]
└ [Go read the linked article. All true.]
└ [Why did they fight, tho?]
└ [No one knows. No reason provided.]
[LOLOL Yankee bros yapping on about Special Authority this

and that, but now, boom! Maybe, these fools were nothing
but hot air?]
[It’s not Thomas Andre being useless, it’s Seong Jin-Woo

being incredible.]
[Yup, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is the pride of South Korea.]

└ [Kyah~! Barmaid! Time to get drunk! Bring me a tall glass
of patriotism!]
Most of the Korean commenters expressed their surprise at

this event, but on the other hand, the comments filled with
pride quickly appeared on various Japanese social media
accounts.
[It’s only obvious that even Thomas Andre was no match for
Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.]
[Maybe the U.S. didn’t help us because they were afraid of

exposing the truth behind their Special Authority-ranked
Hunters…]
[We need to be grateful that such a Hunter came to lend us

his aid.]
[I’ve been trying to send a thank you gift to Seong Jin-Woo

Hunter-nim for a little while now. Where should I send it so
he can receive it?]
[You can send it here. The address is….]
└ [Hey, dude, why U writing your own address?]
└ [wwwwww What a crazy b*stard.]
Jin-Woo was already the hero of Japan.
The wounded pride of the Japanese people was restored

when Jin-Woo, a man who rescued their country from the
brink of destruction, defeated the hero of America.
Perhaps inevitably, the attention of the world – not just

America’s, where the incident took place – was laser-focused
on Jin-Woo once more, after a short period of peace since the
Giant subjugation.
Why did he do it?
Why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo pummel Thomas Andre and

his Guild members into near-oblivion?
Did something irreconcilable happen between the two men?
Public opinion and mass media were burning up from the

flames of speculation. Everyone that learnt of this incident
could only wait in desperation for some clarity on the
situation.
***
Jin-Woo woke up in the assigned hotel room. He took a look

outside the window and saw the sea of reporters camping
outside the hotel’s entrance and clicked his tongue.
“Where did all these people show up from?”
Sure, it wasn’t as if he had no clue why these reporters had

gathered outside the hotel. No, he simply got surprised by
the fact that the news had spread out this fast, that was all.
Even then, he had no plans to shy away from them. Wasn’t

this a good opportunity to let the world know what would
happen if someone tried to mess him?
It was not against the law to shoot down someone aiming a

gun at you in America. Especially more so, with laws being
amended recently, after the appearance of the Hunters.
The issue might have gotten out of hand if he kept attacking

the unconscious Thomas Andre. But, he wisely stopped right
away the moment his opponent lost the will to fight.
It should be a similar story with Hwang Dong-Su, too. Once

people learn about what he did to Yu Jin-Ho, not many would
point their fingers at Jin-Woo.
So, he stayed calm and waited for Agent Adam White to

contact him. Sure enough…
Knock, knock.
He opened the door after hearing the knock to find Agent

Adam White standing on the corridor with two other Bureau-
affiliated Hunters.
Jin-Woo asked with absolutely no nervousness in his voice.
“Are you here to arrest me?”
The American agent shook his head and hurriedly continued

on.
“We’re here to escort you to the Guild Conference venue

because we are expecting quite a big fuss to develop during
the day. And also….”
Adam White quickly fixed his attire and politely bent his
waist 90 degrees forward, totally out of the blue.
‘…..?’
Feeling puzzled by that gesture, Jin-Woo looked on.

However, Adam White showed no signs of straightening
himself and spoke while maintaining the current posture.
“Also, I’d like to express my gratitude, as well.”

Jin-Woo combed through his memories briefly just then, but
he failed to recall any moments that warranted a thank-you
from the Hunter Bureau.
All he did yesterday was – he lost Kamish’s shadow,

wandered around searching for the kidnapped Yu Jin-Ho,
encountered Thomas Andre coincidentally and beat his a*s
down to the ground. That was all.
‘…….’
Recalling the events of yesterday managed to sour his mood

by a notch.
The American agent probably wasn’t expressing his

gratitude to Jin-Woo for showing him the process of
extracting a shadow. So, why was he saying his thanks for?
Fortunately enough, Adam White opened his mouth just in

time, right before Jin-Woo’s confusion had the chance to
grow any bigger.
“If you hadn’t stopped right then, the United States of

America would have lost both of her Special Authority-rank
Hunters.”
‘Ahh, so that’s what he was talking about.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head as he recalled the scene of Adam

White crying out and trying to dissuade him the night
before.
For sure, yesterday’s result might have been entirely

different if the American agent didn’t show up and Thomas
Andre remained stubborn right until the end.
The U.S. had already lost one of her Special Authority-rank
Hunters. So, the government would’ve done everything in
order to prevent the loss of her second, regardless of the
cost.
Jin-Woo could more or less understand now where Adam

White and his bowed head was coming from.
Meanwhile, the American agent carried on.
“We at the Hunter Bureau will do our best to ensure that

you’re not unduly troubled by this incident, Seong Hunter-
nim.”
With those words, Adam White stood upright again. He

looked dead tired, though.
The Hunter Bureau held a night-long emergency meeting on

how to deal with this event. Naturally, Adam White had to
attend the meeting, seeing that he was in charge of
chaperoning Jin-Woo around.
The conclusion of that meeting was….
– Do not provoke him.
The higher-ups decided to do everything in their power to

make Jin-Woo’s stay in the country that much more
comfortable. His feat of defeating Thomas Andre only served
to improve the Hunter Bureau’s evaluation of him.
The organisation definitely didn’t want to see their

relationship with Jin-Woo souring because of the Scavenger
Guild’s wrongdoings. Most importantly, Thomas Andre
wasn’t dead, now was he?
Adam White was ordered to carry on as scheduled and so, he
came here to escort Jin-Woo. He stared at his charge for a
little while before swallowing dry saliva.
Gulp.
‘This man alone managed to defeat the Scavenger Guild….’
The normal image of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a man of

power for whom common sense still prevailed.
But then, Adam White got to personally witness the kind of

spectacle the Korean Hunter’s wrath could bring about. And
so, he was genuinely envious of Yu Jin-Ho after realising that
such wrath was solely reserved to protect the people close to
Jin-Woo.
“Oops. It’s already this late.”
Adam White confirmed the time and formed a smile.
“Well, then… Shall we get going?”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
Jin-Woo was escorted out of the hotel with the guidance of

Adam White and his fellow agents. The group broke past the
wall of the fervent reporters and climbed aboard the waiting
Bureau-supplied vehicle.
Click, click, click, click, click-!!
Meanwhile, the reporters continuously and tirelessly took

photos even as the vehicle carrying their query gradually
disappeared from their views.
On their way to the conference venue, Adam White

explained the current situation.
“We have secured the testimonies of Hunter Hwang Dong-
Su’s accomplices. The Bureau will soon release a statement
containing the full account of what happened.”
He then went and strongly emphasized that ‘Hunter-nim’

would not be inconvenienced in any shape or form. It was a
welcome piece of news for Jin-Woo, of course.
The reason why he decided to travel to the States had to do

with the ‘monster’ possessing the appearance of his father.
He wished to gather information through the International
Guild Conference.
He asked the newly Shadow Soldier-ified Hwang Dong-Su,

but even that guy didn’t know much about this creature who
could possibly be his father.
According to the former rank S Hunter, that creature came

out of a dungeon all alone, and its magic energy emission
was identical to other monsters. When the issue with the
being’s son was brought up, it became hostile and a fight
broke out afterwards.
That was all.
‘Just what was its real identity….?’
There was a good chance that it might not be his father,

after all. If that thing was really him, then quite obviously,
the first thing he’d do was to come and see his family.
The more Jin-Woo looked into this matter, the greater his
questions became. To confound the matters even further,
several more questions were added on top of the already-
existing ones.
It all started off with the final words of Kamish, just before
the Dragon disappeared for good.
[Oh, my king. There are four humans who have borrowed the
powers of the Rulers. Please, you need to be wary of them.]
Five Hunters survived the Kamish raid. Which meant that

the odds of the four among the five Special Authority-rank
Hunters borrowing the powers of the Rulers were very high.
‘But then… one of the Special Authority-rank Hunters was

killed by someone recently.’
That man’s name was Christopher Reid.
Just who was he fighting that a Hunter as powerful as he was

had to resort to burning down his mansion and the
surrounding forest?
Could it be possible that the Sovereigns mentioned by the

King of Giants were finally making their move?
If that wasn’t it, did the sudden changes dungeons went

through recently have anything to do with it?
As several thoughts fleeted in and out of Jin-Woo’s head, he

could see the venue for the conference getting nearer and
nearer.
***
The moment Jin-Woo stepped into the lobby of the venue,

the conversations and welcoming greetings being shared
among the crowd all came to a sudden halt.
Gazes of curiosity and fear came flying at him from pretty

much all directions.
He was that Asian Hunter responsible for utterly destroying
Thomas Andre, who had been reigning over other Hunters
like a king.
Noisy, noisy….
Quite a few Hunters kept whispering the stories related to

Jin-Woo even now, but none of them dared to approach him.
Because they still didn’t know why he went and wrecked the
Scavenger Guild to that extent.
Seriously now, what if the reason for that unholy mass beat-
down turned out to be nothing more than Thomas Andre
staring at him for too long? If so, wouldn’t one get marked
for death simply by trying to say hello to Jin-Woo?
Even though all these people were ace Hunters that

subjugated scary monsters for a living, they found it hard to
meet Jin-Woo’s gaze right now.
After the cordial lunch prepared by the Hunter Bureau came

to an end, the participating Hunters began filling up the
seats facing the rostrum in the conference venue.
Afterwards, the conference got going, and several topics

were discussed.
Unfortunately, none of those really warranted Jin-Woo’s

complete attention nor his sustained interest. Most of the
things being talked about were similar in nature to status
updates and so on.
‘If only Jin-Ho was here. I’d not be this bored….’
All Jin-Woo could do was to wake up his super-human

patience and wait until the topic he might be interested in
came around.
Quite a while later…
Although it was not the information he was waiting for, a

topic did manage to grab his attention.
“Everyone, you should be aware of the fact that the number

of Gates being generated has shot up recently, and the fact
that stronger monsters have made their appearances, too.”
Initially, it sounded like something everyone knew only too

well.
Since quite a few scientists had appeared before this man to

speak their theories regarding this topic already, the
atmosphere in the venue came across as lukewarm at best.
“However, there should be almost none of you who have

realised that unusual activity has been detected in the skies
above us.”
The scientist named Belzer emphasized the word ‘skies’ and

the Hunters finally began showing signs of interest. Of
course, Jin-Woo was included among those Hunters, as well.
“The truth of the magical energy concentration found in the

planet’s atmosphere getting greater – we all know of this
fact since it has been widely reported.”
Now that he was being showered with the interested gazes

of the Hunters, the clearly-happy scientist carried on.
“I’d like to use a different term to denote the magic energy

found in our atmosphere. Until another more suitable word is
invented, how about we use the term, ‘magisphere’?”
The scientist gestured with his hand, and a huge map was
displayed on the screen behind him. It was the atlas of the
world that contained all of the continents – no, all of the
countries existing on this planet.
The scientist used a laser pointer to highlight several spots

on the map.
“Did you know that the magisphere has begun gathering

and concentrating on the skies of several nations at
present?”
Noisy, noisy….
The noise level among the Hunters gradually rose up. The
scientist implored his audience to quieten down and listen
to him for a little bit longer, before continuing on with his
explanations.
“There are a total of nine spots in the world where the

magisphere has begun gathering into a large mass. My
purpose today is to reveal the locations of the nine spots.”
Doctor Belzer then calmly read off the names of the nine

countries on his list.
“….Province of Alberta, Canada. And finally, this is the spot

with the highest magisphere concentration. City of Seoul,
South Korea.”
The moment those translated words of the scientist came

out from the earpiece Jin-Woo wore – for some reason, every
single Hunter sitting inside the venue shifted their gazes in
his direction all at once.
Chapter 195
Jin-Woo had read the article featuring his feat on his way
here.
After seeing the gazes of other Hunters locking onto him

because of a completely unrelated matter, though, he had to
concede that the ripples created from that article were far
greater than he anticipated.
Jin-Woo scanned the Hunters and they quickly withdrew

their gazes.
‘Come on now. This is just….’
He discovered palpable fear within their eyes and could only

let out a helpless sigh in his heart.
‘Looks like these people are really, seriously mistaken about

something here.’
All he could do now was to wait for the Hunter Bureau to

release that promised statement.
And so – just as the atmosphere within the venue was

getting a bit weird, Doctor Belzer looked in Jin-Woo’s
direction and cracked a joke.
“I’ve also read this morning’s article. But folks, you shouldn’t
be looking at Seong Hunter-nim that way. If he was capable
of causing all this magisphere in the air like that, then
obviously, he’s no longer a Hunter, is he?”
Hahaha….
Awkward laughter came from here and there. Doctor Belzer

smiled refreshingly and carried on with his explanations.
“As you might have guessed, we couldn’t discover any

tangible similarities between the locations I have
mentioned.”
Since there were no similarities, it was hard to figure out the

cause for this change. And since there was also no
precedence, it was equally as hard to tell what might
happen next.
The scientist then brought up another image on the giant

screen.
“This here is a shot of the skies above the aforementioned

nine spots.”
He then added that his team had enhanced the footage with
special effects so that the image taken by the magic energy
detection camera on the spy satellite could be deciphered
far more easily for the audience members.
Just as the scientist had explained, large magisphere lumps

could be seen gathered above, in the skies of the nine spots,
like some kind of storm clouds.
Since ‘special effects’ had been added to the image, the

reality might not be as severe, but still, those things didn’t
look like natural phenomena, all things considered.
“Huh….”
“Mm.”
Hunters began leaking out shocked groans after confirming
the contents of the giant screen. It was definitely bad news
that no one could figure out the reason for this suspicious
phenomenon, or what would come out of it.
The skies above Seoul looked to be especially bad.
Jin-Woo studied the satellite image of Seoul, which seemed

to have become the eye of the storm made up entirely of
magisphere, and wondered why there were nine spots in the
world, to begin with.
‘Is it related somehow to the number of the Sovereigns?

Because there are nine of them?’
To call it a mere coincidence, it just left that vague uncool

aftertaste in his mouth. And also, now that the King of
Giants was slain by him, that number nine should not hold
significance anymore.
It was then – Doctor Belzer shot him a very quick and sneaky
glance. Their gazes met in the air. Unlike the last time this
happened, though, there was not a hint of a smile on the
good scientist’s face.
“Our current situation is that, since we don’t know the

cause, we also don’t know how to respond to this
phenomenon.”
The scientist’s lengthy presentation was about to come to its

conclusion.
“However, let me make it clear. The assertion of being

unable to respond does not mean there is no need to make
plans. It’s eminently possible that our world will experience
yet another seismic shift soon.”
***
As the conference was drawing to a close, the director of the

Hunter Bureau took to the stage. His reason? To make an
important announcement.
Since this wasn’t in the schedule, Hunters naturally became

noisy from his unexpected entrance.
Noisy, noisy….
Was the Hunter Bureau about to make an official statement

related to the events of the night before?
While being showered by the curious, interested gazes of

the Hunters, the director politely requested his audience to
quieten down before he could proceed.
“I have something important I must inform you about,

everyone.”
Every single Hunter gathered here today were the elites of

the elite within their respective nations. The citizens of
those nations would recognise who they were just from their
names alone.
Indeed, these people were not some unruly immature kids or

a ragtag bunch of misfit soldiers.
“….”
“….”
Just one sentence from the director, and in an instant, the

venue was enveloped in an eerie silence.
This was their superhuman-level ability to focus in full

display; the high degree of concentration that no regular
human could ever possess was deeply ingrained like instinct
within the highest-ranked Hunters present in this venue.
The director nodded his head as he found the current

atmosphere much to his liking and scanned the faces of the
Hunters. Eventually, his gaze met Jin-Woo’s.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….’
The director had been fully informed of everything that

transpired yesterday. He sent his acknowledgement in Jin-
Woo’s direction with a brief nod.
He was expressing his gratitude for letting Thomas Andre

live.
Unfortunately, other Hunters had no clue on the ins and outs

of that situation, so they could only begin murmuring their
theories to each other when the director of the Bureau
shared that greeting with Jin-Woo.
After a short while of unease later, the director finally

addressed the crowd.
“My heart is heavy as I deliver this unfortunate news to you

all.”
Finally….
Jin-Woo sensed that the moment he was waiting for had

finally arrived. The director spoke in a low, gloomy voice.
“About two weeks ago, Hunter Christopher Reid was

murdered by unidentified assailants.”
***
‘….!!’
The gathered Hunters were all astonished by the revelation.
One of the top Hunters in the world was murdered by

someone?
Their level of shock transcended what Jin-Woo felt when he

heard the news first. This issue was well beyond the realm of
who won the fight between two powerful Hunters.
The director brought up the relevant information on the

giant screen behind him.
First, the remnants of flames that didn’t want to die out; the
ashes of the mansion; and then, Christopher Reid’s dead
body with a hole in his chest.
Hunters confirmed the death of the Special Authority-rank

Awakened via the provided video footage as well as the
several still images on the screen, and reacted by gasping
out in shocked moans.
Not one person present was able to dispute the fact of that
man being dead now.
As expected, the surprised Hunters began their outpouring

of questions, but the director firmly shook his head, instead.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll answer your questions only after this
presentation comes to an end.”
There was a far more important matter still to be carried out

instead of answering the questions. The director glanced at
Jin-Woo from the corner of his eyes. The young Korean
Hunter and his gleaming eyes displayed no reaction as he
sat quietly in the corner of the conference venue.
His calm attitude managed to rouse up several complicated
emotions in the director’s heart.
However, there was no more time to hesitate. He pressed a

button on the remote controller and the image on the screen
behind him changed again.
“We strongly suspect this man as the perpetrator of this

crime.”
A man’s face now filled up the entirety of that giant screen.

Almost immediately, the gathered Hunters realised that
something was amiss.
That Asian man’s face, wasn’t it uncannily similar to

someone else sitting inside this conference venue?
But then, these Hunters also recalled what happened to

Thomas Andre, and none of them could voice the thoughts
bubbling up inside their minds.
“…..”
Jin-Woo too, closed shut his mouth.
The photograph must’ve been taken moments after ‘he’ had

arrived at the Hunter Bureau for identification purposes.
That face definitely belonged to his old man from his
memories no matter how many times he took a look.
Jin-Woo eventually bit his lower lip.
‘How come it’s my father….’
Dungeons were supposedly the territory of the Rulers.
He couldn’t tell why they sent a monster with the outer

appearance of his father. Regardless of what their intentions
were, though – Jin-Woo could still feel the bubbling pit of
rage slowly building up its intensity deep within his heart.
Too bad, Hunters nearby completely mistook that rage for

something else and they did their absolute best to not look
at his way.
‘Do not look back. Do not look back!!’
‘They just look similar, that’s all! Just similar, and nothing
else!’
‘Asians all look alike, right? Right??’
‘But still, that is just so….’
The director branded ‘Seong Il-Hwan’ as ‘Suspect S’ and

began explaining who this man was. From where he was
discovered, what happened during that discovery, and
finally, what transpired afterwards.
Hunters were taken by yet another surprise from the

revelation that this person actually defeated Hwang Dong-
Su during the interrogation to make his escape.
Just who was Hwang Dong-Su?
The Hunter Bureau acknowledged his powers early on and

offered him a sweet deal, prompting him to emigrate to the
States right away. Moreover, he was also one of the aces in
what many believed to be the best Guild in the world, the
Scavenger Guild.
The shock these Hunters felt was great, perhaps because the
news of his demise hadn’t been publicised yet.
They were now thinking that, if multiple assailants
possessing similar levels of strength pounced on their target
simultaneously, even a Special Authority-rank Hunter
wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
They understood the reason for the Hunter Bureau

suspecting this mysterious ‘Suspect S’ for this crime.
“Several human-type monsters possessing that level of

power escaped from dungeons and attacked Hunter
Christopher Reid at the same time – we at the Hunter Bureau
feel that this is the likeliest explanation.”
As the director continued on, the image of ‘Suspect S’

pressing down on Hwang Dong-Su’s neck with his foot
popped up on the giant screen next.
The scene clearly exhibited the extraordinary power of the

creature capable of subduing Hwang Dong-Su like some kind
of an insect – even though he was a Hunter easily exceeding
the regular rank S classification.
Hints of pure astonishment flashed past within the eyes of

the Hunters watching the footage on-screen. For Jin-Woo,
though, that video clip didn’t come across as all that
surprising.
This ‘Suspect S’ was an existence the Rulers had created for

some unknown purpose. And they possessed unimaginable
powers, enough to generate dungeons, didn’t they?
‘So, obviously, it’s not weird to see Hwang Dong-Su getting

defeated by that creature.’
No, besides that – Jin-Woo was more concerned with what

that ‘Suspect S’ was trying to do. It was engaging Hwang
Dong-Su in a conversation.
‘It’s trying to… talk to him?’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up. He concentrated hard, like when he

would do during battles, and time slowed down instantly. His
sharpened senses began reading the lip movements of the
Suspect S.
– “….in the country. This isn’t for my son, but for your sake.
Even after death, you’ll not be able to close your eyes.”
Ba-thump!
Jin-Woo’s heart pulsed powerfully just then.
Those last words….
‘….Even in death, not being able to close his eyes?!’
If his lip-reading proved to be correct, then that meant that

‘Suspect S’ knew about his existence. Thankfully, he knew of
a way to easily confirm the contents of that little chat those
two had shared.
Jin-Woo suppressed his wildly-pounding heart and called out

the name of the brand-new addition to his Shadow Army.
‘Greed!’
Greed already knew what Jin-Woo wanted to know through

their shared mental link, so he immediately made his reply.
[It is as you suspect, my liege.]
‘….!!’
While the thoughts in Jin-Woo’s head were getting more and

more complicated and confused, the lengthy explanation of
the director was coming to an end.
“We’re planning to ask you, the Guilds of the world, to help
us track down and apprehend this ‘Suspect S’. If you
discover this man’s whereabouts, please, give us a call
immediately. That is all.”
The end of the director’s words signalled the incoming flood

of questions that the Hunters had been holding back until
then. They impatiently raised their hands into the air.
“Yes, the sir over there.”
The director pointed to one of the raised hands, prompting

that Hunter to throw his question out, as if he couldn’t wait
anymore.
“Do you have any proof that this ‘Suspect S’ isn’t a human?”
“We have perfectly matched his magic energy emission to

that of monsters. Next question.”
“That creature insisted that he was someone who went

missing inside a dungeon. However, did a Hunter like that
really exist?”
“Yes, that Hunter did really exist. Next.”
“If that’s the case, why haven’t you revealed the identity of
that Hunter?”
“Oh….”
The director hesitated greatly, but eventually replied while

doing his very best to avoid looking in Jin-Woo’s general
direction.
“We’ve decided not to reveal that information because the

suspect is related to one of the Hunters currently attending
this conference.”
That brought about a prompt and sudden end to the barrage

of questions. The ‘maybe’ changed into ‘as expected’ in that
instant.
The director scanned the suddenly-silent conference venue

and decided he’d wrap up things here.
“Are there any other questions?”
It was then – someone sitting at the end of the audience

seats at the back raised his hand. Even before the director
could call out his name, this guy opened his mouth first.
“Even then, don’t you think it’ll be better to release the

identity of that person, if you really want to arrest ‘them’?”
Hunters didn’t have to turn around to see who asked that

question in that weighty voice. It was spoken in Chinese,
and it came from a certain middle-aged man.
He was none other than China’s Seven Star-rank Hunter, Liu

Zhigeng.
One of the Special Authority-rank Hunters was looking

straight at the director with a sombre expression on his face.
Dozens upon dozens of China’s top Hunters, including his
own Guild members, sat to his right, left, and front.
The director seemed to be at a loss, but Liu Zhigeng

continued to press on.
“Don’t you agree, Mister Director?”
Although it had been urgently decided earlier in the day to

seal the information on the identity of ‘Suspect S’, the
director realised that he didn’t have much of a choice now
and begrudgingly brought up it on the screen behind him.
Beep.
One press of the remote button and the information on

Seong Il-Hwan filled up the giant screen. Soon, surprised
gasps came out from several of the audience members.
To think, the very first human-shaped monster to appear in

dungeons possessed the exact same countenance as Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s missing father!
How could there be such a coincidence?
The once-quiet interior of the conference venue was buzzing

with the hushed voices of the Hunters.
Liu Zhigeng quietly stared at the screen before raising his

hand again. The director had to point to the Chinese Hunter
once more.
“….Hunter Liu.”
“This time, I have a question I want to ask Seong Jin-Woo

Hunter-nim.”
The director shifted his gaze to Jin-Woo. The latter lightly

nodded his head at the former and turned around in his seat
to stare at Liu Zhigeng in the distance.
Shortly thereafter, the Chinese Hunter’s heavy, bassy voice

resounded out within the interior.
“What will you do if this ‘Suspect S’ really turned out to be

your long-lost father, and the Hunters of the world were
trying to hunt him down?”
Jin-Woo pondered that for a little bit before making his reply.
“If that creature is nothing but a monster, then I’ll kill it with
my own hands. However, if it’s not a monster, but really is
my father, then….”
If it was really his father?
The gathered Hunters became intensely curious as to what

he might say next and began swallowing their saliva.
Disregarding them all, Jin-Woo firmly declared his intentions
for all to hear.
“I shall protect my family, even if that means every single

Hunter in the world becomes my enemy.”
Chapter 196
“What you said in there – were you being serious?”
Adam White, waiting outside the conference hall, threw that

question out.
Even though Jin-Woo wanted to ask back, “What are you

talking about?” he said only one thing inside the conference
hall, didn’t he?
So, he simply grinned as his reply.
“Yup.”
“Haha….”
Although this was no time to laugh, Adam White ended up

chuckling after seeing Jin-Woo’s grin, anyway.
Just who were the folks inside the conference hall?
They were 500 or so of the top-ranked Hunters from around

120 countries, who were invited by the Hunter Bureau to
attend this conference. In other words, they were the top
elites humanity had to offer.
But then, this man went and said to them, ‘Even if it means
every Hunter in the world becomes my enemy’.
Any ol’ tough guy wouldn’t even dare to imitate what Jin-
Woo had done. What’s more surprising was the fact that not
one person ridiculed him for making that claim.
Even Liu Zhigeng, renowned for his vicious personality,

simply kept silent and stared at Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. He
made no complaints whatsoever towards the Korean’s
declaration.
Not just the Hunters inside the conference hall, but even the
agents watching the proceedings through various monitors
couldn’t shut their agape mouths. Adam White was among
those agents, obviously.
He sighed in admiration and spoke up.
“Most likely, there should be only two people in this whole

wide world, including you, who could say something like
that in there, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo became slightly curious about who the other guy

might be.
“Who is this other person….?”
“Well, he’s in the hospital right now.”
Jin-Woo saw Adam White’s wry smile and immediately

realised who that mystery ‘other guy’ could be. It could only
be Thomas Andre.
For sure, that guy would do something just as crazy, what

with that arrogant personality of his.
‘But, it’s unknown whether he’ll still behave that way or not.’
Jin-Woo recalled the last expression Thomas Andre made as

he admitted to his defeat, and formed his own wry smile.
In the meantime, Adam White quickly explained the
itinerary for the rest of the day.
“A dinner party has been scheduled to take place this

evening. Since we at the Bureau went all out to prepare this
grand feast, how about sharing a cordial meal with other
Hunters if you don’t have anything urgent to….”
Jin-Woo shook his head right away.
“I’m planning to stop by at a hospital.”
“Excuse me?”
Adam White’s brows shot up.
Did he get injured somewhere last night? No, hang on.

Maybe that was an inevitable result. The Special Authority-
rank Hunter Thomas Andre suffered such grievous wounds
that he still couldn’t recover properly after receiving
concentrated healing from several top-class Healers. That
attested to how violent and fierce the fight was.
So, even if it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, he must have

suffered one or two injuries….
“I’m worried about Yu Jin-Ho, you see.”
“Oh….”
So, he was talking about ‘that’.
Having realised that it was unnecessary to worry about Jin-

Woo, even for a little bit, Adam White could only reflect on
his hastiness in silence. Still, he couldn’t let go and asked
one more time, just in case.
“Uh, maybe your shoulder or wrists have been aching since
last night….?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing…”
While Adam White was getting more flustered than ever

before…
….Hunters that had been gathered in small groups of two

and three to chat among themselves suddenly parted ways
and stood to either side of the hallway. Naturally, both Jin-
Woo’s and Adam White’s attention shifted over there, as
well.
And that’s where they spotted Liu Zhigeng.
China’s Seven Star-rank Hunter was flanked by the ‘Liu

Zhigeng Squadron’ – made up entirely of his direct
subordinates – as he made his way towards Jin-Woo.
As if he already had a destination in mind a long time ago,

the Chinese Hunter walked in a straight line until he was
standing right before Jin-Woo’s nose.
‘Heok…!’
‘W-what are those two up to now?’
Hunters all stopped talking right there and then.
The taut tension flowing between Jin-Woo and Liu Zhigeng

managed to utterly silence the surroundings. The palpable
feeling of unease rapidly filled this place up.
Hunters hurriedly looked around in anxiety.

‘Why is Liu Zhigeng behaving that way?’
‘Is it because of what Hunter Seong Jin-Woo said back in

there?’
‘Yup, I was wondering why he was keeping quiet back

then….’
Without a doubt, what Jin-Woo said could be interpreted as a

provocation towards other Hunters. And the person who
asked him the question even happened to be none other
than Liu Zhigeng.
First, it was Thomas Andre. And now, it was the turn of Liu
Zhigeng?
Hunters paid close attention to the changing expressions of

these two men, as even more anxiety clouded their own
faces, wondering what would happen next.
In the meantime, Adam White found himself stuck between

these two titans by sheer bad luck and his own expression
paled almost instantly.
“E-excuse me, Hunters….”
Before he could finish saying something, Liu Zhigeng took

another step forward and opened his mouth first. His
weighty voice flowed out next. Jin-Woo listened to him and a
sombre expression gradually formed on his face.
‘…….What on earth is he saying? I can’t understand a single

word.’
He had never even gone anywhere remotely close to China

before, so there was no way he’d know a lick of Chinese.
Since the other guy was speaking in a serious expression, he
too decided to form a similarly serious one, but as it turned
out, listening to words he couldn’t understand proved to be
a rather uncomfortable and arduous task.
Just as he began thinking that the Chinese Hunter probably

wasn’t making fun of him with such a grave expression on
his face, Adam White whispered something in his ear.
“He’s saying that he hunted down the Giant monster you

missed during your trip to Japan on the Chinese coast
recently, Seong Hunter-nim.”
A look of surprise spread all over Jin-Woo’s face.
“You even know Chinese?”
“Well, I was in charge of the Asia branch, after all. I can

speak a few Asian languages. Ah, also, I can speak a little bit
of Russian, Spanish, Arabic, as well as German….”
Jin-Woo very briefly thought that it’d become a whole lot

more convenient for him if Agent Adam White became one
of his Shadow Soldiers. Of course, he quickly admonished
himself for even entertaining such a thought.
Maybe he still had lots more things to say? Liu Zhigeng

continued on with his words in the meantime.
“Please, keep translating for me.”
“Alright.”
Adam White nodded his head and, with a determined

expression, began his temporary role as an interpreter.
“He says that he got surprised from how unexpectedly
strong the Giant monster was. And he also says that it was a
difficult battle as he had to fight the monster on the ocean’s
surface.”
Jin-Woo remembered being surprised himself by the strength

of those Giant monsters, back when he was hunting them
down. They had such huge bodies yet they also moved
around nimbly like wild beasts, too.
Since Liu Zhigeng said he fought the monster over the

water, which imposed a greater restriction on one’s
movements, his surprise should have been greater when
compared to fighting the creature on dry land.
As a fellow Hunter, Jin-Woo could pretty much understand

where the Chinese man’s fluster stemmed from.
The longer Liu Zhigeng’s words got, the brighter Adam

White’s expression became.
“Ever since that encounter, he says, he’s been meaning to

meet you. He has been really curious to learn more about
the person capable of easily hunting down all those powerful
monsters. That’s what he said.”
In the same breath that Adam White finished translating, Liu

Zhigeng formed a bright smile and reached his hand out for
a shake.
It seemed that the previous serious expression came from

his nervousness.
Jin-Woo looked at that offered hand for a bit, before shaking

it with a smile of his own. He had absolutely no reason to
refuse a greeting offered up first by one of the best Hunters
in the world.
Adam White had figured out what was going on here and
could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Whew….”
Forming a bond between fellow Hunters – this encounter

certainly stayed true to the original intention of the
As they shook hands, Liu Zhigeng said some other things

with a smile. Jin-Woo looked at Adam White again.
“Sounds like he’s making a joke, so what is he saying?”
“Ah…”
Adam White briefly formed a lost expression, before the

corners of his lips arched up.
“He says that he’s really happy about you teaching Thomas
Andre Hunter-nim a lesson. He doesn’t even have to take a
look to know that it was Thomas who instigated the whole
thing first….”
Jin-Woo grinned at that one.
The Chinese Hunter initially came across as an irritable and

rude uncle, but he turned out to be a rather interesting
person. Now that the greeting was over, their hands parted
ways.
But then, Liu Zhigeng’s complexion darkened somewhat.
Likewise, the smile on Adam White’s face was wiped off as

well. He quickly translated what the Chinese Hunter was
saying.
“That is why he will now pray even harder that ‘Suspect S’
isn’t actually your family member. He says that he doesn’t
want to fight against you, no matter what.”
Jin-Woo wordlessly nodded his head.
“Both of you are here.”
Jin-Woo and Liu Zhigeng shifted their gazes in the direction

of that voice. Although they felt this person’s presence, they
knew he wasn’t a Hunter since he didn’t emit any magic
energy.
Sure enough, that voice belonged to the Hunter Bureau’s

Director. He alternated his gaze between Jin-Woo and Liu
Zhigeng before asking both men. He sounded rather tense
as he did so for some reason.
“Can both of you clear some time in your schedule, please?”
Jin-Woo looked at Adam White for confirmation, but the

latter man shook his head. Meaning, this wasn’t in their
itinerary.
What did he want from them, then?
Before making his reply, Jin-Woo pushed his Perception Stat

to the extreme first and analysed the movements of every
single Hunter within the conference venue.
‘Two people with a huge concentration of magical energy….’
Two very powerful Hunters were heading towards the same

destination under the guidance of several escorts. Seeing
that both he and Liu Zhigeng had been called upon like this,
that event couldn’t be chalked up to being a coincidence.
‘Did something happen somewhere?’
When Jin-Woo looked as if he was hesitating somewhat,

Adam White remembered something and quickly answered
for him.
“Ah, that’s right. Sir, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim said earlier

that he’d go visit Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim at the hospital….”
However, Jin-Woo placed his hand on the American agent’s

shoulder to stop him. When their gazes met, he shook his
head before turning around to face the director.
“Alright, I will.”
The director’s expression brightened immediately and he

looked at Liu Zhigeng next.
“How about you, Hunter Liu Zhigeng?”
“I’m in.”
“Very good. In that case, please, follow me.”
The director’s expression was as bright as a salaryman who

managed to pull off a difficult negotiation. He then took the
lead and guided the two Hunters away.
***
Funnily enough, the destinations for the two were not the
same.
Liu Zhigeng was guided by other agents and went down the
corridor on the left, while Jin-Woo followed the director and
continued down their original path.
‘Isn’t this strange….?’

With the addition of Liu Zhigeng to the ranks of those two
powerful Hunters he sensed earlier, three beings with rather
enormous magic energy had gathered in one spot now.
Jin-Woo thought he’d be escorted to that place as well, but

seeing that he was being led to a different destination
altogether, he began cooking up several likely reasons for
this. He gave up in the end, though, and asked the director.
“Why am I the only one going to the different room?”
“Ah….”
The director pondered his answer for a little bit before

deciding to delay it altogether.
“There is someone waiting for you, actually. She will explain

everything to you once we get there.”
“….”
As a matter of fact, Jin-Woo could sense a certain person’s

aura coming from a room located at the end of this corridor.
‘Uh? Doesn’t this magic energy belong to that….?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider since the person waiting for him
was someone he didn’t expect to see here. As a matter of
fact, he never thought they would meet each other again
any time soon.
“Looks like you have figured out who she is.”
He must’ve been feeling really nervous because cold sweat

drops were visibly forming on the director’s forehead.
“We do our best to not to expose her location if we can help

it. But then, this issue being what it is, we didn’t have much
of a choice….”
“Does that mean the Hunter Bureau demanded her to

come?”
“No, not at all. It was she that demanded to be here. She

specifically wishes to meet you.”
Clunk….
The director opened the door to the room and Jin-Woo got to
meet the gaze of a certain African-American woman waiting
patiently for him there.
“It’s been a while, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
“Likewise, Madam Selner.”
It was none other than the ‘Upgrader’, Norma Selner, the

Awakened possessing a unique ability.
He wondered if she had calmed down now that a bit of time

had passed since their last encounter, but unfortunately, the
light shining in her eyes was the same as before. She still
looked quite terrified of him.
He definitely sensed her strong fear of him from the way she
stared at him. Despite that, she wanted to meet him for
some reason. Just what could make her move in spite of her
fears? Jin-Woo’s curiosity had definitely been stoked now.
“I didn’t expect you to seek me out first, ma’am, so….”
Jin-Woo settled down on the seat opposite hers. Adam White,

once more assigned as an interpreter, stuck close to Jin-
Woo’s side.
Madam Selner politely bowed her head.

“I’d like to apologise for that day. Back then, my mind wasn’t
in the right place to….”
Jin-Woo raised his hands and stopped her.
He wasn’t planning to talk about back then just so he could

hear her apologise. She sneaked a glance at the director,
only to see him nod his head with a hardened expression.
Madam Selner hesitated greatly before her lips parted with

some difficulty.
“I’ve been having the exact same dream every day.”
Jin-Woo was not confident about reading people’s dreams.

And even he could tell that they didn’t ask for him to be
here for that purpose, either. Still, he asked her so he could
get some clarification on the topic.
“What kind of a dream was it?”
“In my dream, I watch the scenes of top Hunters being

hunted down by a group of unknown people.”
A group of unknown people hunting down powerful Hunters,

she said. Almost immediately, Jin-Woo realised that this
matter had to be related to him in some capacity.
“And a few days later, that dream becomes reality.”
“Could you be talking about… Christopher Reid?”
Madam Selner nodded her head.
The director took over the explanation from there on.
“We had warned Mister Reid ahead of time, but he wasn’t

interested in hearing us out. The end result was… well, you
know what happened already.”
Indeed, Jin-Woo had seen and heard enough of Christopher

Reid’s fate.
Madam Selner continued on with a trembling voice.
“Powerful Hunters supporting this world will continue to die.

Those hunting the Hunters will not stop what they are
doing.”
“So, what you’re saying is….”
Jin-Woo collected his thoughts and cautiously opened his

mouth.
“….You also wish to warn me of the dangers….?”
“No, that’s not it.”
She resolutely shook her head.
If she didn’t want to warn him, what did she want then? Jin-
Woo looked at her with a puzzled expression. Madam Selner
then spoke with desperately-pleading tone of voice.
“Please, I beg of you. Protect these Hunters.”

Chapter 197
‘I lost.’
Thomas Andre slowly opened his eyes as his head kept

repeating those two words he never thought he’d say ever
again.
He found himself inside a hospital room.
‘When was the last time I stopped by at a hospital?’
Jin-Woo might have frequented hospitals as if they were his

second home during his early years as a Hunter. However,
Thomas Andre didn’t, and he couldn’t recall a single
instance of staying in a hospital even once, ever since
becoming a Hunter.
Just who would’ve expected to see this kind of a result from

a fight between a Hunter who used to be the worst even
among the rank Es, and a man who started his career at the
very top?
Of course, Thomas Andre didn’t care about Jin-Woo’s past.

He was still deeply flustered with this result, though.
‘I really… did lose.’
Thomas Andre slowly sat up with a dazed face of a man

whose soul had abandoned him.
Tap, tap….
The sound of someone lightly tapping on a keyboard came
to a halt. He shifted his gaze in that direction and found the
main manager of the Scavenger Guild, Laura, sitting in a
location not too far, but not too close, either.
Perhaps she was in the middle of her work because her

slender fingers were still hovering above the laptop’s
keyboard.
“You’ve woken up.”
“….Looks like it.”
Thomas Andre withdrew his gaze and rubbed his chin.
One could estimate just how much time had passed, with
the length of one’s beard. Should he say he felt relieved,
then? Because… his beard wasn’t as long as he feared.
“About… one day, is it?’
“Yes.”
Laura affirmed it for him with a short answer, before

continuing on.
“The first doctor to examine you suggested that I should

prepare for the worst case of you waking up several weeks
later.”
That was how terrible Thomas Andre’s conditions were last

night.
But then….
….She found it bit difficult to decide whether him waking up

after only one day was rather befitting of Thomas Andre’s
capabilities, or the fact that he even blacked out in the first
place was unbecoming of him, instead.
Laura felt this conflict of emotion as she stood next to her

boss’s bed.
“Should I call for a doctor?”
“No, not yet.”
Thomas Andre massaged his aching temples and shook his

head.
The impact force he felt when that man punched him in the
head still remained vivid even now. What a horrible pain this
was. So much so, he no longer wanted to recall yesterday’s
event if he could help it.
A doctor wouldn’t be able to do much anyway, even if one

was summoned here. Besides all that, though – wasn’t there
something else he should confirm first?
Thomas Andre quickly asked.
“What about Mister Hwang?”
Laura’s lips parted for a moment, but she couldn’t verbalise

her answer and simply shook her head.
“….Is that so.”
He pondered for a little while longer, before asking a

different question with an unconcerned tone of voice.
“What about other losses?”
“We have incurred many injured personnel, but thanks to

the timely response from the Hunter Bureau, everyone has
fully recovered.”
Thomas Andre had been maintaining his calm until then, but
he couldn’t stop his voice from going up an octave.
“There were no other casualties?”
“Yes, sir.”
“…..”
His shock soon morphed into astonishment. He began

gasping out inwardly.
Even though the fight had been truly intense, not one
person was killed. It could only mean that his opponent went
easy on them.
This was a clear sign of an overwhelming defeat.
When a person tastes such a complete defeat, one would

often lose any notion of getting angry at the result. That’s
how Thomas Andre felt right about now.
He was also awestruck, as well. Jin-Woo had defeated not

just Thomas Andre, but all the elite Hunters the American
had gathered, all by himself. That made Thomas somewhat
fearful of the young Korean Hunter. No, his emotion had
gone beyond that and almost into the territory of pure
respect.
Thomas Andre always told himself that being powerful was

justice, so the mental shock he felt right now was rather
immense.
However…
However, why was he being like this?

He tasted an ignoble defeat yet he didn’t feel so bad at all.
Maybe, he had no regrets because he got to confirm the gap
between him and his opponent?
He didn’t feel like getting angry at the person who defeated

him. Nor was he thinking of avenging his loss, either.
‘Instead, it’s more like….’
As several thoughts began crisscrossing in his head, Laura

suddenly presented him with a small but lengthy box. It was
a case for glasses.
‘….?’
Thomas Andre accepted this case while sending her a

puzzled stare. She solved his curiosity right away.
“Your sunglasses were recovered from the location, but they

were too damaged to be repaired.”
Click.
He opened the case to find a new pair of sunglasses with the

same design as before that he liked to wear. Thomas Andre
broke into a smirk and put them on.
“Looks like I keep ending up owing people.”
Laura was inwardly worried that her boss would start going
off on a rampage the moment he woke up, but his response
brought about a sense of relief in her and she sighed
inwardly, before forming a gentle smile.
“It’s my job, sir.”
Thomas Andre wordlessly stared into the distance, before

quietly opening his mouth.
“Mister Hwang…. Make sure you hold a proper funeral for
him. He was still one of our own, after all.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and also….”
And also?
Laura stopped jotting down Thomas Andre’s orders in her

memo pad and raised her head.
“Tell Hunter Seong Jin-Woo that the Scavenger Guild will….

No, wait. Scratch that. Send him a message that I, Thomas
Andre, will offer an official apology.”
***
Protect the Hunters.
Why did Madam Selner say something like this? Jin-Woo

formed a puzzled expression.
“….Why me?”
She seemed to be unsure of where to start her story but

eventually, opened her mouth rather laboriously.
“While the dream kept repeating itself, I tried my best to

memorise the faces of those hunting down the Hunters.
However, it was all for nought.”
She explained that all she could remember after waking up

were faces covered in veils of darkness.
“And so, I decided to use another method. Even if it was just

a dream, I’d use my ability to look into their true nature,
their true form.”
“Was that why you looked into my eyes last time?”
“Yes, correct.”
Madam Selner readily admitted to how her ability worked.
Ba-thump.
Jin-Woo’s heart began racing again.
Back then, what did Madam Selner discover inside him that
made her shiver in fear like that? Unfortunately, her story
hadn’t finished yet, so he had to suppress the rising tide of
curiosity and concentrated on her voice.
“What I found within those people was limitless power. But,

when I locked gazes with ‘that thing’, I had no choice but to
wake up from my dream.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze momentarily drifted lower and saw her

fingertips tremble imperceptibly.
“When my eyes looked into it… I can still clearly remember

the words and voice of ‘that thing’ even now.”
Jin-Woo slightly raised his head back up again. Both the

director listening in, as well as Adam White translating from
the side, carried deeply tense expressions.
Jin-Woo asked her in a calm voice.
“What did that thing say to you?”
“It said that I should… quietly go back and wait for the war.”
Madam Selner began shuddering in horror after finally

recalling that memory. The voice she heard in her dream was
far more vivid than any other sound she heard in reality.
Unlike the frightened woman, though, Jin-Woo was focused
on the word ‘war’, instead. That was his clue.
‘It’s similar to what the King of Giants told me, isn’t it?’
The battle between the Rulers and the Sovereigns – didn’t

the King of Giants say it? That ‘they’ were gearing up for
war? Most likely, the Rulers weren’t the only ones preparing
for this upcoming battle.
If that was the case, then, just which side did the b*stards
hunting the Hunters belong to?
Although he felt curious about this, he still hadn’t heard a

reply to his original question. So, he asked again.
“How does that relate to you asking me to protect other

Hunters?”
“….Because, I saw the same power sleeping within you.”
Her cautiously-mouthed words slapped wide awake Jin-Woo

and in the face. The power of the Shadow Sovereign – that’s
what she saw on that day, hiding deep inside of him.
Since she saw the same type of power from the assassins in
her dreams, their identity had to be….
‘….Sovereigns.’
Madam Selner detected the rapid shift in Jin-Woo’s

expression and quickly added more explanation.
“They are existences above the Hunters, and in order to stop

them, we need you who possess the power that equals
theirs, Hunter-nim.”
The director quietly listened up to here and finally entered
the conversation.
“In all honesty, I wasn’t convinced by the claim that no one

can protect the Hunters besides you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim, but, well….”
The reason why this meeting had been hastily arranged

was…
“….My fight with Thomas Andre yesterday changed the way

the Hunter Bureau thinks, am I correct?”
The director replied awkwardly after the truth was

accurately pointed out.
“Yes, you’re correct.”
Thanks to the matters of the day before, the Hunter Bureau

finally learned of the difference between Jin-Woo and other
Hunters. That event might have been a big incident, yes,
but it also helped the organisation to discover a new ray of
hope.
Beings capable of murdering Special Authority-rank Hunters,

and a lone Hunter possessing powers equal to those beings.
The Hunter Bureau was in desperate need of Jin-Woo’s help

more than ever. The United States had already lost one of
her Special Authority-rank Hunters. And from their
perspective, Thomas Andre had to be protected at any cost.
“Of course, we don’t expect a Hunter as excellent as you to

help us without any suitable compensation.”
Anything he wanted, it’d be made available. And that

included the greatest treasure Kamish had left behind, its
Rune Stone.
The new proposal coming from the Hunter Bureau wasn’t

about scouting him. Rather than annoy Jin-Woo by pushing
forward the already-rejected offer, they’d rather borrow his
power to protect America’s greatest combat force. That was
the response the Bureau had decided to go with regarding
the current events, post-Christopher Reid’s death.
“…..”
Jin-Woo shut his mouth and fell into a bit of a dilemma.
Madam Selner came clean on what she saw in order to help

him make up his mind.
“There are Hunters enjoying powerful blessings in this world.

They have supported this world with their powers. If they are
gone, this world will not be able to hold on for much longer.”
Jin-Woo finally replied to them after his lengthy deliberation.
“….I’m sorry.”
His firm refusal that didn’t leave any room for

reconsideration caused the director’s brows to shoot up
high.
“I-is it because of some unresolved emotion towards Thomas

Andre Hunter-nim….??”
Jin-Woo quickly shook his head before people jumped to

wrong conclusions.
There was only one reason why he made this decision.

“It’s only because I don’t know anything about the enemies
I’ll be facing.”
Even if he had a rough idea about what their identities were,

he hadn’t encountered them once yet. It was only obvious
that he’d not make any promises on protecting someone
else when he had no clue on the enemy’s capabilities.
Jin-Woo wasn’t some amateur who’d readily make promises

when he wasn’t sure whether he could keep them in the first
place.
‘I’ll observe the situation for the time being.’
And then, he’d take care of those things he could handle,

first.
His collected ways of thinking hadn’t changed at all from

that day he entered the dual dungeon for the first time all
those months ago.
Thankfully, Jin-Woo possessed several Shadow Soldiers

who’d accurately convey information to him in real time. By
leaving behind his boys in the shadows of all the Hunters
the Bureau was concerned about, he’d be able to respond to
those b*stards in time if they made a move.
“Well, then….”
Jin-Woo began thinking up a suitable response when the

time comes as he stood up from his seat to leave.
***
In the president’s office of the Korean Hunter’s Association.

The Association President Goh Gun-Hui was spending yet
another busy day.
Why, of all possible things under the heavens, did Hunter

Seong and Thomas Andre have to fight a day before the
International Guild Conference?
He was worried about things going wrong on the other side

so he sent inquiries through all available channels and
finally, received a reply from the Hunter Bureau not too long
ago.
Their investigation had found that the Scavenger Guild was

at fault for the incident and that Jin-Woo wouldn’t be unduly
inconvenienced in any shape or form moving forward,
according to the message from the United States.
“Whew….”
Association President Goh Gun-Hui finally could get this load

off his shoulders and plopped down on his chair like a man
feeling greatly relieved. No one could imagine how worried
to death he was as he thought about Hunter Seong getting
locked up in an American prison.
But then again…
‘Hang on a minute.’
….Just who would be capable of locking Hunter Seong up?
Even Thomas Andre had lost consciousness, didn’t he?
Goh Gun-Hui broke into a chuckle after his thoughts finally

reached there, long after the dust on the matter had settled
down.
‘In a way… I was worried about something totally
unnecessary.’
“Huhuh….”
Goh Gun-Hui chuckled for a while before feeling a bit of

thirst creeping in. He searched for something to drink and
found a bottle of water located on top of the coffee table a
bit of distance away from the President’s desk.
‘…..’
Goh Gun-Hui wordlessly stared at the water bottle before

extending his hand out. That prompted the bottle to fly into
his hand.
Grab.
He expertly snatched the bottle up and while unscrewing

the cap, formed a thin smile.
‘Looks like I’ve got yet another story to hear from Chief Woo
once he comes back.’
Huhuh….
Goh Gun-Hui felt quite pleased, knowing that he made the

right choice to forcibly send Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol to
the U.S.
Chapter 198
“Hyung-niiiim!”
Jin-Woo lightly evaded the tearful Yu Jin-Ho’s attempt to

bear-hug him. Then, he coolly addressed Woo Jin-Cheol in
the same hospital room, who had volunteered to look after
the kid during the conference itself.
“What’s gotten into him?”
“Well, I showed him this when he woke up, and now….”
The Chief of the Monitoring Division picked up the

newspaper he was reading.
The front page of the folded newspaper was plastered with

the photographs of Jin-Woo’s beatdown victims, the utterly
wrecked Scavenger Guild’s members, and that of the
bloodied and unconscious Thomas Andre’s face.
It might have been something obvious to him, but the same

couldn’t be said about Yu Jin-Ho who now had seen the
article in its full glory.
Just who in this world would clash head-on against the

world’s most powerful Guild in order to rescue him? Not only
that, when that Guild’s Master, ‘Goliath’ Thomas Andre was
involved in the shenanigans, too?
Yu Jin-Ho was shedding thick tears of heartfelt emotion after

reading the article, so when Jin-Woo arrived in the hospital,
he began expressing his happiness with his entire being.
“Hyung-niiiiim!!”
Unfortunately….
Jin-Woo’s agility had surpassed far beyond what rank S

Hunters were capable of by now. In spite of Yu Jin-Ho
concerted efforts, the target for his manly affection kept
slipping out of his heartfelt hug.
Jin-Woo slipped past yet another attempt of the kid trying to

embrace him, and pointed a thumb at the stumbling Yu Jin-
Ho’s back.
“Are you telling me he read an article written in English?”
“Oh, that. I figured that it’s really uncool to let our employee
get paid without doing a single thing, so I told her to
translate the article for him.”
“Aha.”
The end of Yu Jin-Ho’s nose reddened as if he found Jin-Woo

constantly dodging his attempt at skinship rather cold-
hearted.
“Hyung-nim!”
“Here.”
Yu Jin-Ho took the tissues Jin-Woo handed over and blew his
nose on them.
Sniffle~.
Of course, Jin-Woo knew how the kid felt. Even then, he

couldn’t walk around with a snot stain on the expensive suit
he especially picked for the International Conference, now
could he?
Wiping his tears away seemed to have done the trick and
calmed Yu Jin-Ho down. He asked in a more even-sounding
voice.
“By the way, hyung-nim, since when did you learn to speak
English?”
It seemed that the kid must’ve heard Jin-Woo conversing

with Thomas Andre back inside the disused factory, even
though his consciousness was wavering in and out.
“Well, you have a lot of free time as a low-ranked Hunter,

you know.”
A Hunter without a raid to go to was basically an

unemployed bum. Jin-Woo studied English whenever he had
time, trying to prepare for the eventuality of him quitting
the life of a Hunter someday.
‘I didn’t know it’d come in handy in that sort of situation,

though.’
He felt a bit reminiscent of the times back when he was

studying the language. Never in his wildest dreams would
he have imagined that the first time he used the language
he self-taught to converse was during the fight against
Thomas Andre.
“Oh…”
Yu Jin-Ho recalled that Jin-Woo was a low ranked Hunter once

upon a time and nodded his head in understanding.
When he thought about his hyung-nim’s past in relation to
yesterday’s events, he became even more moved by Jin-
Woo’s loyalty that propelled him to confront the Scavenger
Guild and its entire catalogue of elite Hunters just for his
sake.
Yu Jin-Ho began tearing up again as he emotionally declared

his intentions.
“Hyung-nim! I’ll definitely trust you and follow you till the
ends of the earth!”
His eyes reddened again and snot once more drooped out
from his nose tip, which was cleaned barely a minute ago.
Jin-Woo was grinning outwardly, but too bad…
‘….Having a high Perception Stat isn’t always useful, is it?’
Thanks to his supernatural-level of senses that allowed him

to read every little minutiae of Yu Jin-Ho’s emotions, even
Jin-Woo’s nose began stinging a little bit now. He
deliberately avoided meeting the kid’s gaze and shifted his
attention over to Woo Jin-Cheol.
“Looks like there’s no problem for him to get discharged,

doesn’t it?”
“Agreed. As a matter of fact, the doctor in charge was quite

surprised that Mister Jin-Ho had completely recovered from
his injuries in just one night.”
“In that case, let’s just go through with the discharge

process and return to the hotel. We even have transportation
lent to us by the Hunter Bureau, so might as well.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll get ready too, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo quietly stared at the still-swollen-eyed Yu Jin-Ho

packing up his stuff to leave and felt grateful for the fact
that the kid was safe now. And at the same time, his anger
towards the culprit responsible for this whole chaos
ballooned up in an instant.
‘Greed, when we get back to the hotel, you know what you
have to do, right?’
[….I understand, oh, my king.]
As he was leaving the hospital room, Jin-Woo inwardly

‘comforted’ Greed with an assurance that all the former rank
S Hunter would have to do was to plant his head on the floor
for around two hours, which was neither too long or too short
in his opinion.
***
There were two vehicles prepared by the Hunter Bureau.
Since Jin-Woo had something private to discuss with Adam

White, he got in the car in front where the American agent
was waiting for him, while Yu Jin-Ho and the two Korean
Association employees climbed into the vehicle at the back.
When Jin-Woo opened the rear passenger door with a loud

clunk, Adam White flinched awake from his short nap taken
while leaning against the window frame and urgently shook
his head to chase away the drowsiness.
“You’re here, Hunter-nim.”
The American’s face was haggard, to say the least.

Unmistakable dark circles thickly coated the spots below his
eyes. He was utterly exhausted from the breakneck-pace of
all the events taking place, as well as the packed itinerary,
of the past couple of days.
Jin-Woo looked on at him with pitying eyes, but Adam White

didn’t even notice that and simply ordered the driver to start
the vehicle.
Now that they were moving again, Jin-Woo got down to the
main topic.
“Can you get me the list of the Hunters you people wanted
me to protect?”
Those words seemed to have chased away all traces of sleep

from Adam White’s mind because his expression brightened
in an instant.
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No, but I’m curious about something else.”
“Oh….”
Adam White struggled to hide his disappointment.
He got his hopes raised up before being shot down. Still, he

didn’t think this was all bad news. Because it indicated that
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was still interested in this problem
one way or the other.
Adam formed a smile and replied back.
“I shall draw up a list as soon as I get back to the Bureau.”
As soon as he got back, he said. Jin-Woo snuck a glance at

the time. It was already nine in the evening.
He briefly wondered whether he made a mistake or not when
he saw Adam White’s complexion waning just a little bit
more after the poor man was asked to perform yet another
task.
Not surprisingly, the American agent tried hard to keep his

sleepy eyes wide open to make sure he’d not drift away to
dreamland in front of the Hunter he was supposed to escort.
‘Tsk, tsk.’
Jin-Woo couldn’t watch on any longer and reached out

toward him.
“Uh? Uhh?”
Adam White’s panicky voice cracked up a little when Jin-

Woo’s left hand covered his eyes.
“H-Hunter-nim?!”
Too bad for him, though, just a couple of words from Jin-Woo
and he was petrified in the spot.
“Will you just stay still?”
A normal person doing something similar would send

creeping chills down the hapless victim’s spine. However,
the one doing it right now was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo,
arguably the man most far removed from a ‘normal’ person.
He even beat the living crap out of Thomas Andre until the
latter was almost dead.
Gulp.
Suddenly having his vision blocked by the hand of a rank S

Hunter, Adam White could only swallow dried up saliva of
nervousness.
Jin-Woo leaned the American agent’s head back with his left
hand and with his right hand, poured the healing potion he
just bought from the Store down the now-open mouth.
‘W-what is this?!’
Adam White was obviously very tense from forcibly

swallowing the unidentifiable liquid while his vision had
been blocked. But even he was able to feel that, as more
and more of this liquid slid down his throat, his stamina
seemed to recover more and more.
‘But, how can something like this….?!’
By the time Seong Jin-Woo withdrew his hands, Adam White

realised that the deluge of drowsiness plaguing him was
completely gone.
No, hang on. Was that all?
He felt so refreshed and airy as if he had been asleep in a

comfy bed the whole night and was roused from his slumber
by the gentle warmth of the morning sun.
As if his fatigue had been a lie, he couldn’t feel a single

trace of it anywhere on his body.
“H-Hunter… nim?”
‘….How did you do that??’
That was the question Adam White’s look seemed to be

asking, but Jin-Woo simply shrugged his shoulders as a reply.
“It’s a trade secret, so….”

“Oh. I see.”
Since it was such a mystifying event, Adam White found it

somewhat easier to accept. He moved his body this way and
that to confirm and expressed his admiration in a shocked-
sounding voice.
“You are… well, how should I phrase this…. It feels like,

you’d have greatly succeeded regardless of what you chose
to do, even if that was unrelated to being a Hunter.”
Although this praise seemed a bit excessive when coming

from a ‘special agent’ of the Hunter Bureau, someone so
highly educated that he was capable of speaking ten
different languages according to himself, Jin-Woo still formed
a content smile regardless, after seeing that look of
satisfaction on Adam White’s face.
With this, it’d be easier to ask for the next part of the favour.
Indeed, asking for the list of the Hunters was just the
beginning of his plan.
“And also, can you organise an opportunity where I can meet

the ones found on that list?”
Now was his chance.
Since all the powerful Hunters from around the world had
gathered in one place, just by him inserting his Shadow
Soldiers in their shadows would allow him to respond quickly
to the attacks of the Sovereigns when they happened.
However, Adam White began shaking his head, instead.
This was what Jin-Woo was worried about. Even if the Hunter
Bureau was a powerful, influential organisation, it should
still be quite difficult to mobilise that many top-ranked
Hunters of the world.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened gradually.
“As I thought… I guess it’s too difficult.”
“No, not at all. On the contrary, I meant to say that there’s

no reason to organise such an occasion in the first place,
Hunter-nim.”
Adam White grinned refreshingly and explained the itinerary

for the final day of the International Guild Conference.
“Don’t forget, there is the ‘Night of the Hunters’ still left.’
He suddenly spoke of a combination of words that would’ve

worked well for a video game’s title. For some reason, he
seemed quite hyped up over it, too.
“There is a big party organised by the Bureau. All the

Hunters attending the Conference are invited. If you wish to
meet them, you can most likely do that there, Hunter-nim.”
A party, was it?
Was there a better occasion to meet the Hunters ‘naturally’

and attach Shadow Soldiers on them than a party? Jin-Woo
clenched his fist tightly.
‘This is good.’
Through other Hunters, he’d get to meet these mysterious

Sovereigns. And from that encounter, he’d get to learn who
his real enemies and allies were, and also, how he should go
about fighting them, too.
“I will do that, then.”

Jin-Woo smiled and leaned against the back seat.
The night sky of America was getting darker beyond the

window of the speeding vehicle.
***
The ‘Night of the Hunters’.
The world’s top Hunters and related parties began flocking

towards a gigantic banquet hall, capable of housing nearly
1,500 people.
“Wow….”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets as he

soaked in the sight of the legendary gathering of Hunters
that he only got to see through TV screens.
Funnily enough, though, the gazes of other Hunters staring

at Jin-Woo were quite similar in nature to Yu Jin-Ho’s
reaction. The moment he stepped into the banquet hall,
everyone’s attention was laser-focused on him in an instant.
“Look, isn’t that….”
“Yes, I saw.”
“He’s right in front of us, but I can’t even feel his presence.”
“He’s on a completely different level.”
And with all the attention being poured on him, it was only
natural that even Yu Jin-Ho would be subjected to their
intense scrutiny, as well.
“In that case, the Hunter next to him must be….”

“He fought Thomas Andre in order to rescue that young
fella?”
The situation had settled down somewhat by now after the

Hunter Bureau had released the public statement.
On one hand, every Hunter in here was deeply shocked by

the fact that Jin-Woo was willing to clash against the entirety
of the Scavenger Guild for the sake of his rank D Hunter
comrade. But on the flip side, they were also getting a heavy
case of goosebumps, knowing that the declaration he made
towards the end of the conference’s first day was not a bluff
at all.
[“I shall protect my family, even if that means every single

Hunter in the world becomes my enemy.”]
The photographs accompanying the article clearly

demonstrated what had happened to the Scavenger Guild.
No wonder everyone in this room was dearly praying that
what he said wouldn’t come true.
In any case – now that the Bureau had cleared up the air,
lots of Hunters were beginning to seek out a chance to
engage Jin-Woo in a conversation, busy waiting for the right
moment to strike.
This was the result of his public image going through a

revamp of sorts, going from a monster capable of
pummelling the freakishly strong Goliath, to that of a
monster who’d not hesitate at anything to protect his
comrades.
The thing was, though – the very first person to pluck up his
courage and made his approach was not a Hunter, but a
chairman of a very famous global corporation specialising in
dealing with monster remains.
“It’s my honour to meet you like this, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim.”
The businessman introduced himself first, and then…
“We’d like to purchase the remains of all the Giant-type

monsters you have hunted down in Japan. Do you have
some time to discuss this matter in greater detail?”
Giant-type monsters most of the time appeared as bosses in

rank A Gates, so it was very rare to find a completely intact
corpse of such creatures.
This man’s desire and acute business acumen led him to

make his move a step faster than anyone else present in the
banquet hall.
‘This is a good opportunity.’
Jin-Woo grinned affably and introduced Yu Jin-Ho next to him

to the businessman.
“I’m in charge of the raid aspect of the Guild. I usually leave

all the business-related discussions to my trusted Vice-
Master over here.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Yu Jin-Ho became far bolder than ever before from Jin-Woo

propping him up like that. He straightened his back proudly
and extended his hand out.
“I’m Yu Jin-Ho, Vice-Chairman of the Ah-Jin Guild.”
“Ahh, yes. Hello. It’s a pleasure.”
“I don’t usually discuss business-related matters in

occasions such as this one, but if it’s you, Mister
Chairman….”
Jin-Woo watched on as Yu Jin-Ho expertly guided the

businessman to somewhere better suited for a conversation
like the one they were about to have, and formed a satisfied
smile.
‘This kid. He’s finally acting like a proper Vice Chair now.’
But, Jin-Woo’s eyes sharpened almost instantly afterwards.

Now that the pair of potential obstructions went away, the
real thing would begin now.
Adam White got close to Jin-Woo.
“Here is the list you asked for.”
The screen of the tablet PC he handed over displayed the

ten names of the Hunters who could all legitimately be
called the world’s best in numerical order.
“We at the Bureau had taken all the feats each Hunter had
achieved and converted them into points so we can assign
them numbered rankings. These ten people are the ones
with the highest amount of ‘Hunter points’ in the world.”
The ‘Hunter points’, he said.
Jin-Woo was intrigued by the fact that the feats and

achievements of a Hunter were represented through a points
system. He then realised that his name wasn’t on the list
and asked Adam White.
“Where am I on this list?”
“If we were to include your feat in hunting down the Giant-

type monsters in the points tally, then… you should be
around here.”
The American agent pointed in the spot between 3rd and

4th. The names of Liu Zhigeng, Thomas Andre, and
Christopher Reid occupied the spots above.
The mere fact that he was already located beneath those

three when he hadn’t been a rank S Hunter for long attested
to all the incredible feats he managed to achieve so far.
‘The 4th place is… India’s Siddharth Bachchan. And the 5th
spot is….’
The first five spots naturally belonged to the five surviving

Special Authority-rank Hunters. As for the spots below, they
were also occupied by some of the most decorated,
celebrated Hunters in the world.
It was then, Jin-Woo stopped reading the list and raised his
head after he heard a bit of commotion rising up.
Noisy, noisy….
An unexpected appearance of a certain guest had thrown

the party goers into confusion and chaos. Confirming who
this guest was, Jin-Woo handed the tablet back to Adam
White.
“H-Hunter-nim….”
“You don’t need to worry.”
As he expected, this guest displayed not one hint of

hesitation as he strode straight towards Jin-Woo.
He even proceeded to step aside Liu Zhigeng trying to

dissuade him in the middle of the way and stopped right in
front of the Korean Hunter, before removing his sunglasses.
Jin-Woo mouthed the man’s name.
“Thomas Andre.”
Jin-Woo didn’t lose his relaxed demeanour even when

Thomas Andre was standing before him. However, the same
couldn’t be said about pretty much all of the onlookers
staring at him, and the American with his arm wrapped in
bandages. They were getting properly freaked out now.
The burly American looked at his Korean counterpart, who

was at least a good head shorter than he was.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo… I want to ask you a question.”

Chapter 199
He wanted to ask a question?
Jin-Woo was puzzled by that, but he didn’t pick up any ill

intent within the light gleaming from Thomas Andre’s eyes
so he nodded his head to say yes.
As soon as the answer was given…
“My arm….”
….Thomas Andre raised his left arm, currently wrapped

tightly in bandages.
“I heard that the damage from the magic energy attack left
behind on this arm was so great that Healers were unable to
fix it. Doctors told me the same thing. They said that,
although it’s healing bit by bit, it’ll take a long time before I
can use my arm properly again.”
He used his left arm to block Jin-Woo’s fist lugging around a

considerable amount of magic energy. Right after the fight
ended, the bones in the arm disintegrated into a fine powder
and there was a chance that he’d never get to use his left
arm ever again.
Healers and their immediate response, as well as his own

excellent regenerative power, had significantly improved his
chances, but even then, his condition was still this bad.
That attack was truly, nonsensically powerful.
Traces of bitter battle left behind all over his body gifted him
with all sorts of aches and dull pains. However, the pain also
gave him the clarity of mind to think about what happened,
and then, think some more.
But he failed to arrive at an answer, and having no choice,

he decided to seek Jin-Woo out like this.
Even though the Korean Hunter was staring back at him with
a look that more or less implied, ‘Is he here to boast about
his injuries or something?’ Thomas Andre still asked him the
question in his mind.
“If it was you, you’d have no problem finishing me off, or any

of my Guild members.”
The ones who kidnapped the Korean’s comrade in this

foreign land, and proceeded to attack him when he came to
rescue the captive, were Thomas Andre and his underlings.
Just as the statement released by the Hunter Bureau had

alluded to, even if Jin-Woo decided to kill every single
Scavenger Guild member, he would have escaped any
punishment from the U.S. government.
‘Of course, they wouldn’t have any means to prosecute him

in the first place….’
However, Seong Jin-Woo took the lives of no one, save for

Hwang Dong-Su.
What if Thomas Andre found himself in a similar situation?

He’d not let anyone walk away alive. He possessed enough
power to do so, and he’d even be backed up by a clear
pretext, too.
So, why did Seong Jin-Woo choose to not kill anyone? For the
past two days, this thought occupied a big chunk of space
inside Thomas Andre’s mind and didn’t want to leave him
alone.
“Back then… why did you let us all live?”
Of course, he knew that he was the one who admitted to his

defeat and begged for mercy in his own way. However, Jin-
Woo was the one who made the final decision in the end.
Not to forget, none of the Guild members had been killed

even after being schooled by his summoned creatures.
Thomas Andre was really dying to know the ‘why’ of it all.
Too bad for him, Jin-Woo’s answer was so simple that it

instantly rendered his deep pondering of the past few days
utterly pointless.
“Because none of you committed a crime worthy of death.”
Jin-Woo found it hard to overlook Thomas Andre’s arrogant

attitude, but still, the American only showed up back then to
protect one of his own Guild members, Hwang Dong-Su.
It was the same story for the rest of the Scavenger Guild
members, too. They were in the wrong to start attacking
him, but they had fully paid for their indiscretions.
That was what Jin-Woo thought as he withdrew the final

attack aimed at Thomas Andre’s head that evening.
Once the American Hunter heard that answer, though, his

eyes quaked greatly for a second there.
“….So, that’s how it was.”

Thinking back to the final fate of Hwang Dong-Su who had
committed a crime worthy of death as punishment, that
answer didn’t seem like a lie.
To think, the reason was a pretty simple one all along.
Thomas Andre’s thoughts were even more complicated than

before he heard the answer, but on the flip side, he felt
much more refreshed and could form a relaxed smile now.
“I’d like to treat you to a good meal after my arm heals up.
Can you leave your contact detail with my manager lady
over here, so I can call you later?”
Thomas Andre sounded cautious as he bade goodbye and

turned around to leave. Laura was on standby behind him
until then and lightly bowed her head.
Her boss didn’t even take a second look behind him and
exited from the banquet hall. Every time he took a step
forward, the partygoers parted to the side as if he was Moses
and they were the Red Sea.
Laura watched his distancing back before shifting her gaze

over to Jin-Woo.
“My Guild Master was expressing his gratitude towards you

not killing any of his Guild members just now, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo was instantly struck speechless from those words.

Just how should he go about interpreting what that man said
to arrive at that conclusion??
As if she found Jin-Woo’s confusion not that surprising, Laura

quickly added further explanation.
“He might look that way, but in reality, he is far shier than
you think.”
“Oh, uh… I see.”
Well, if she said so, that must be it, then.
Thanks to the other side showing up like this first, Jin-Woo

got to save time on searching for Thomas Andre and sticking
one of his soldiers in the guy’s shadow. So, he just nodded
his head to say everything was cool.
Laura, now that her job of interpreting her boss’s particular

way of saying goodbyes was complete, pulled out her memo
pad and got ready to jot the information down.
“Hunter-nim, if it’s not too much trouble, may I ask you for
your contact details? Ah, and also….”
The blonde beauty with her hair tucked up neatly into a bun
formed an arresting smile.
“Guild Master wishes to express his gratitude with a gift of

some kind. If there is anything you need or want, please tell
me.”
“Oh. Thank you, but I don’t need any.”
Jin-Woo politely declined the offer.
Laura quickly formed an awkward smile as if she was

troubled by that reply and asked him to reconsider his
decision.
“My Guild Master is…. Well, his desire to emerge on top is

quite strong, so if he thinks he’s owing someone, he will
probably go crazy before long. It really doesn’t matter at all
what the item is, so please, tell me what you’d like to have.”
Jin-Woo was about to decline again but stopped resisting

after listening to Laura’s recommendation.
He figured that, although he didn’t really need anything, it

was against etiquette to reject the other side’s show of
goodwill again when they were willing to go this far.
His sole problem remained the same, though.
‘….I can’t think of anything I need right now.’
Money? He already had a considerable amount of that after

the last few successful raids.
Besides, the Ah-Jin Guild had made more than what a

decently-sized major Guild would make in a year simply by
selling off all the remains of the Giant-type monsters. And
Jin-Woo was the boss of that Ah-Jin Guild, too.
He knew that the financial might of his Guild would be

incomparably small next to the Scavenger’s, but he wasn’t
cheap enough to ask for a handout from the American,
either.
‘I’m pretty sure there won’t be a moment in the future where

I need to ask for help from Thomas Andre or the Scavenger
Guild….’
He changed his mind again, thinking that he should

probably decline this offer. But then, an idea flashed by in
his head.
‘Wait a minute. If it’s the Scavenger….’

This Guild was the gathering of the world’s top elites who
continued to work tirelessly every single day.
It was impossible to count all the dungeons they had cleared

so far, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the wealth of artefacts
they had recovered from those dungeons should be rather
sizeable, too.
There was a chance that a useful ‘item’ might be tucked

away within the storage facility of the Scavenger Guild. Jin-
Woo forced himself to make his reply.
“If it’s a useful shortsword or a dagger….”
He had run into quite a few opponents with incredible

defences recently, and the pair of ‘Demon King’s
Shortswords’ was proving to be ineffective against them.
He thought that it might not be a bad idea to swap his

weapons for something else with the aid of the Scavenger
Guild. Even if no useful item came out from this deal, he’d
have nothing to lose, anyway.
“Shortswords or daggers… I see. Thank you, Hunter-nim.”
Laura smiled brightly after hearing his reply. She finished

jotting down on her memo pad and also left the banquet
hall.
Adam White was scared sh*tless with worry, wondering

whether the Goliath’s unexpected visit might lead to yet
another incident or not. But now that everything ended
without a problem, he breathed out a long, long sigh of relief
and approached Jin-Woo.
“Hunter-nim. Are you going to meet the Hunters on the list

now?”
“Yes, I am.”
“In that case, allow me to be your guide. Our agents are

positioned in several places within the hall, so we should be
able to locate them very quickly.”
“No need,” replied Jin-Woo with a grin. “You don’t have to do

that.”
He had already instructed his Shadow Soldiers to roam

around the party venue. He knew pretty much where all the
Hunters were by now. All he had to do was to meet them one
by one.
Adam White didn’t know what was going on, obviously, and
could only stand there with his eyes going round from
confusion.
“Excuse me?”
Instead of a reply, Jin-Woo asked him a question.
“By the way, there’s one person missing, isn’t there? I don’t
see the 6th person on the list in here.”
“But, how did you….?!”
Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders, and Adam White nodded his

head as if he understood.
‘Ah, right. Trade secret, was it…’
The American agent continued on.
“We lost all contact with that person a few days prior to the
conference, unfortunately. The Brazilian government is
searching for that person’s whereabouts in secret, but they
haven’t found any concrete leads yet.”
He got to attach a shadow on the no.2 of the list, Thomas

Andre, just now. The 3rd place Christopher Reid and the 6th
Brazilian Hunter were not around.
‘Which means there are seven people left.’
Jin-Woo spoke to Adam White.
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Alright.”
The two of them walked around the banquet hall and

greeted the Hunters on the list one by one.
He did ask Adam White to organise opportunities to meet

them earlier on, because he wanted to learn a bit more
about these people he was about to attach the shadows
onto. He started off from the first on the list, Liu Zhigeng,
and moved on down to the tenth.
‘Uh??’
‘Is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo networking using this occasion?’
‘But, aren’t the Hunters he’s talking to….?’
The Hunters scanned the faces of those people Jin-Woo

approached first to share greetings with, and began hoping
that just maybe, he’d also stop by and say hello to them as
well.
‘He’s coming this way….!’
‘I knew it. Of course, I’m the next one he wants to talk to.’
Hunters waiting anxiously to talk to Jin-Woo would drop their
heads in disappointment and wistfulness once he walked
right past them.
In no time at all, his ‘operation’ came to an end. Jin-Woo

successfully stuck Shadow Soldiers on the Hunters found on
the list before leaving the banquet hall along with his
entourage.
“Ah….”
The tenth Hunter on the list cleared his throat and began
talking in a louder voice, his back straightening even more.
On the other hand, the 11th and below could only knock
back their glasses of booze without saying another word.
On that day.
The Hunter Bureau, the organiser of the ‘Night of the

Hunters’ banquet, had to work extra hard in order to find out
the reason for a sudden, unprecedented spike in the
consumption of alcohol during the party.
***
“So, tomorrow’s the last day, isn’t it?”
The deputy director pushed forward a cup of coffee over to

Agent Adam White, currently slouched in an office chair. The
younger man sat upright immediately and cautiously took
the cup.
“Thank you, sir.”
The deputy director lightly tapped Adam White’s shoulder

and settled down next to him.
“I thought I’d faint when I heard the news of Goliath clashing
against Hunter Seong, but… it’s a relief that you worked
hard to avoid a catastrophe. You did excellent work there.”
“You’re praising me too much, sir….”
He might be saying something like that, but who on this

planet would continue to disagree with his superior officer
when he was genuinely being praised?
A bright expression formed on Adam White’s face.
The deputy director looked on in contentment at his junior

officer’s earnest response and took a sip of his coffee, before
asking a question.
“So. What is your opinion on Hunter Seong, now that you

had opportunities to observe him from close by?”
Adam White thoughts for a little while, before making his

reply.
“Deputy director. Did you know that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-

nim still exercises every single day, without rest?”
“Exercise?”
“Yes, I confirmed it personally. Every morning, he runs ten

kilometres, does 100 push-ups, and also, never forgets to
perform sit-ups as well as squats, too.”
“Really??”
The deputy director’s brows arched up.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who could legitimately be called the

world’s most powerful Hunter, was still performing such
basic exercise routines every single day?
Just what kind of an effect would jogging in the morning
have on a physique that had surpassed the limitations of the
human body by an unimaginable degree?
Adam White saw how confused the deputy director looked

and quickly continued on with his thoughts on the matter.
“Sir, I think his exercise routine isn’t about improving his

physique, but more to do with his mental discipline.”
“Training his mind, is it….”
From his cool-headedness at not being surprised by the

technology exceeding what the current level of science
could offer, to his diligence of not even missing out on a
single day of training – and not to forget, his mysterious
ability to recover a fatigued body and mind in an instant.
From Adam White’s perspective, Jin-Woo was a walking,

talking bundle of surprises.
The deputy director listening to those tales with a sombre

expression wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment.
“Indeed, he… he is truly an amazing fellow.”
How wonderful would it have been if such a man was an

American Hunter? He was envious of South Korea for having
a Hunter like that as one of their own.
‘Mm? Did coffee taste like this before?’
The coffee the deputy director was drinking alongside his

envy and admiration suddenly tasted quite bitter for some
reason. In the end, he couldn’t finish it and left behind about
half a cup.
***
There was a well-known saying in Korea.
If you wanted to know where the President’s office was

located in the Korean Hunter’s Association building, just look
for the very last window with the lights switching off.
Even today, Goh Gun-Hui was staying behind in his office till
late hours to finish up the remainder of his work.
The cases of accidents and incidents were happening more

frequently lately as the monsters got stronger, and the
number of newbie Awakened increased.
From the perspective of the Hunter’s Association charged

with managing such situations, it had been a constant
parade of one headache after another.
“Hmm.”
Goh Gun-Hui put the document down on his desk and

rubbed his tired eyes.
‘….This is strange.’
For some reason, his heart didn’t want to stop trembling for
the last few days.
Ba-dump, ba-dump!
His problematic heart had been plaguing him for the last
couple of years, so he wasn’t too bothered by this, but still,
his condition didn’t feel right even compared to the past.
‘Is this…. the limit?’
His personal physician warned him that, if he didn’t stop

working right away, he’d die within the next half-year or so.
But, time continued to tick on for another year. Then, the
second year came and went, too.
And he still found himself in this office after all this time.
‘If this is as far as I can go, then there’s nothing much I can
do about it. It’s already something else that I managed to
carry on this far.’
Goh Gun-Hui formed a thin smile.
“Huhuh.”
Why did he feel like this, anyway? In the past, he’d try to
push himself even further, wanting to endure for a little
while longer. But nowadays, he didn’t feel as anxious as
back then.
‘What has changed?’
What was different now compared to the past couple of

years?
Goh Gun-Hui intently deliberated on this subject matter,

before a smirk leaked out of his lips after realising how
obvious the answer was.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.’
Finally, South Korea possessed the power to combat a rank S

calamity. Just his presence alone, and the status of this
country transformed for the better.
‘Right. That’s why my heart’s probably….’

Did his body carry on so he could meet that young man? A
bitter and lonely chuckle escaped from Goh Gun-Hui’s lips.
“Look at me, busy talking about some nonsense….”
The Association President’s lonely muttering echoed around

the empty office.
‘Now that I think about it, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is

scheduled to return tomorrow, isn’t it?’
Just thinking about how he’d get to hear the eyewitness

account of Hunter Seong’s feats from the mouth of Chief
Woo Jin-Cheol, Goh Gun-Hui’s anticipation began shooting
up through the roof.
It was then.
Ringggg…. Ringgg….
His phone suddenly went off unexpectedly.
‘Who’s calling me at this late hour?’
Hopefully, there hadn’t been yet another big scale incident

taking place somewhere. Feeling quite anxious, Goh Gun-
Hui quickly picked up his phone.
– “Dear, nothing bad happened today, yes?”
The call was actually from his wife.
“….Oh. Hi, dear.”
The wife was calling to find out her husband’s status since
he hadn’t come back home yet, even though it was already
so late into the night. Her voice managed to gradually soften
the stiff face of Goh Gun-Hui.
“What do you mean, something bad? I was on my home
anywa…”
It was then.
Along with a soft ‘chijeek!’ the phone suddenly lost its

signal.
“….Hello? Hello?”
Obviously, he could no longer hear his wife’s voice.
Did something happen? Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head and put
the phone down, before shifting his attention to the outside
of the window unconsciously.
‘…..!!’
He forgot to breathe, then.
Everything that should be visible through the window was

all gone. Various buildings, the roads, even people – all of
them.
The only thing remaining was the pitch-black darkness that

defied all attempt to decipher how deep it was. Only a blink
of an eye later, the scenery outside his window had changed
to something else entirely.
An event like this couldn’t happen.
“But… But, how can this be?”
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui gasped out in pure

shock and was about to get up from his chair, but then…
….But then, he realised that there was someone else in the

office right this moment. Someone he had never even seen
before.
That man was sitting on the couch as if he had been there

for a very long time, too.
‘A human….? No, this isn’t the aura of a human being.’
It wasn’t just the aura, either.
A face as pale as a corpse; long, silvery-white hair; pointy

ears, and silver eyes gleaming brightly like a pair of
gemstones.
It was an Ice Elf. Also known as the White Phantom.
Somehow, Goh Gun-Hui had failed to sense its approach, as

well as its entrance into the office.
He slowly placed the phone’s receiver back into its cradle

and quietly threw out a question.
“Who…. are you?”

Chapter 200
Would talking to ‘it’ work?
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui quietly observed the

uninvited guest.
“…”
However, the creature didn’t say anything.
Different from other monsters, though, it didn’t immediately

bare its fangs. No, it just sat there in silence while ignoring
the owner of this office altogether.
As this uncomfortable silence persisted for a brief period,

Goh Gun-Hui found himself with an opportunity to study his
new opponent in detail.
‘It looks exactly like an Ice Elf.’
An Ice Elf, often referred to as the White Phantom, was a

monster commonly seen within upper-ranked dungeons. The
unique appearances of these creatures were well known
among the Hunters by now.
Strangely enough, although this uninvited guest’s

countenance did possess all the general features of an Ice
Elf, there were a few clear differences present as well. That
made him question whether this creature was actually from
the same Ice Elf race or not.
‘It’s as if….’
….If the Ice Elves were trees that formed part of a forest,
then this silent guest of his was like an aged tree guarding a
desiccated forest all by itself.
Its skin was cracking up like the bark of a tree; its fingers
were bony; a tangled, messy beard on its chin and two
deeply-sunken, hollow-looking eyes.
If an Ice Elf managed to live for hundreds, no, thousands of

years, then it might look like this guy. It was that kind of
face.
The unusual points didn’t end at the creature’s face, though.
Gulp.
Goh Gun-Hui swallowed his dry saliva, unbeknownst to even

himself.
‘Its presence… I couldn’t sense its presence at all.’
An uninvited guest had entered in complete silence and

settled down on the couch, yet he had failed to sense its
approach until he got to confirm the truth with his own two
eyes.
His ultra-sharp senses wouldn’t have missed this creature’s

arrival if it was nothing but an ordinary monster.
‘….This is not an opponent that I can deal with.’
Goh Gun-Hui quickly assessed his situation, and then, very

softly flipped his smartphone up to glance at the screen in
order to signal for help.
When he did that, the monster shifted its gaze over to him.
[All contacts with the outside world have been cut off in this
space.]
Flinch.
Goh Gun-Hui confirmed that the smartphone had no signal,

just as the creature had said, and put the device down.
“Am I dreaming a bad dream right now?”
Not only did a monster intrude into the HQ of Korea’s

Hunter’s Association right in the middle of Seoul, it even
began speaking in Korean, too. If this wasn’t the very
definition of a bad dream, then what else could be?
It was then.
“Keuk!”
Goh Gun-Hui felt a sharp pain brush past his left shoulder
and quickly grabbed it tight.
‘Something’ happened the moment this monster pointed at

him. He cautiously lifted his hand away to discover a cut
wound on the shoulder, as if something sharp had sliced him
up.
The truly mystifying thing was, even though his flesh had
been sliced open, not a drop of blood came from the wound.
Instead, the area around the cut had been frozen solid and
white frost had settled around it.
‘Just… how??’
Goh Gun-Hui dazedly stared at his wound before raising his

head back up. The monster was still sitting relaxedly on the
same spot in the couch.
[Do you think that pain is also a part of your dream?]
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
“I see. So, this is reality. In that case, let me ask you again.
Just what are you?”
[I wanted you to recognise me first, but, in the end, you were

just a simple human.]
“Just a human….??”
The monster slowly stood up from the couch.
At the same time, couches, the coffee table, and other

furniture nearby the creature were shoved violently away
and crashed into the walls.
Kwa-du-duk!!
The furniture froze up in an instant and got stuck on the

walls.
‘Oh, my god….’
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes opened wider.
The goosebumps-inducing chill slowly permeated into the

office of the Association President.
[I don’t have a habit of toying around with a weakling.

Reveal yourself, Fragment of the Brilliant Light.]
Just who would dare to label Goh Gun-Hui as a weakling in

this world?
However, he realised that he couldn’t dispute that claim.

The creature before his eyes possessed this Mt. Tai-like
authoritative power, and whenever it opened its mouth, its
voice reverberated and exploded like a thunderclap.
[Hurry up!]
This thing was on another realm compared to him.
He possessed incomparably excellent senses, so he could

instantly figure out the differences between his and his
opponent’s power level.
Cold perspiration soaked his forehead.
[Are you worried about your vessel breaking? Even if it was

not you, your vessel’s lifespan is almost over, anyway.]
The monster then added, [But, if you’re hiding away

because you’re scared, then…] before flipping both of his
palms up to face the ceiling. Right away, spine-chilling cold
air began condensing there.
[….Then, there is no point in talking to you anymore.]
“…??”
Goh Gun-Hui fell into an extreme case of confusion from the

indecipherable utterance of his opponent, but in the
meantime, that incredibly cold air flew out from one of the
monster’s hands.
KWA-BOOM!!
A powerful explosion swept away the spot where Goh Gun-

Hui had been standing on.
White smoke created from the extreme coldness rose up like

a veil of fog and covered the surroundings until it was
impossible to see anything.
But then, a pair of flames emitting pure light began burning
brightly within this smoke. Those were a pair of eyes glowing
in a golden hue.
The monster confirmed the colour of the light oozing out

from the screen of whiteness and formed an eerie smile,
before throwing the remaining clump of cold air in its other
hand.
“Hmph!”
Goh Gun-Hui swung his arm and swiped that cold air away. It
was flung away and crashed heavily against the wall.
Boom!!
The cold air exploded and the entirety of the wall was blown
away. Through the gaping opening, one could see a space
filled with endless pitch-black darkness.
The white smoke obscuring the view slowly dissipated, and

the unhurt Association President Goh Gun-Hui was revealed
in full. Not just his two eyes, but his whole body was
enveloped in this stupendous golden aura that wavered
around gently in the air.
“You separated the President’s office and hid it in between

dimensions. Quite impressive.”
A completely different voice than how he normally sounded

came out from Goh Gun-Hui’s mouth. The monster began
speaking again.
[Finally… finally, we get to meet each other. Oh, Fragment of

the most Brilliant Light. I’ve wandered around for a long
time to locate you. But, who’d have thought that you were
confined in a broken vessel and couldn’t even wield your
own powers.]
Unlike the tone of voice that sounded emotional, the

monster’s expression remained unchanging. With a frozen-
stiff face, it continued to speak.
[We have already located the whereabouts of your other

seven comrades. And we have destroyed two fragments by
now.]
This time, it was Goh Gun-Hui’s expression’s turn to harden.

Not only him, but the locations of all the Rulers had been
exposed, and two had already lost their vessels, as well?
Such a counterattack was out of the Rulers’ expectations.
[That look on your face.]
The monster formed a creepy smile.
[I always wished to see the panic and fluster in that

arrogant, haughty expression of yours. And now, I can
destroy your vessel with no regret.]
“Do your worst, Sovereign of Frost!!”
Goh Gun-Hui roared out thunderously!
The wavering golden aura surrounding his body intensified

by a step, before transforming into a figure emitting this
bright light from his entire body. The darkness filling up the
space beyond was illuminated brightly in an instant.
However, even though it was being subjected to this

incredible power, the Sovereign of Frost didn’t bother to
wipe that ridiculing smile off its lips.
[Are you planning to resist me? How foolish.]
Ice-cold white light oozed out from the Sovereign’s eyes. At

the same time, the floor beneath its feet began freezing up.
Just like how the bright golden light was enveloping Goh
Gun-Hui, the intense and bitterly cold air surrounded the
Sovereign’s entire figure. And then, the creature bared its
fangs.
[You merely borrow a human’s body, while I have taken over

mine. Do you believe that you can even touch a hair on my
body?]
At this moment, when the Sovereign had let down its guard
– Goh Gun-Hui instinctively realised that this could be his
only chance and dashed forward like an arrow to pounce on
the Sovereign.
Unfortunately, the opponent’s reaction was definitely not

slow, either.
KWANG!!
The golden light and the cold air got into a messy tangle
and caused a series of intense explosions.
Boom!! Kwahng! Kwa-Boom!!
But, as the battle became protracted, Goh Gun-Hui’s

movements visibly dulled. Compared to his enemy, the
injuries on his body continued to accumulate. As his actions
got harsher and heavier, more and more white steam leaked
out from his panting mouth.
“Hah-ahk.”
The length of time a patient at death’s doorstep could fight
while stuck in such coldness was at best, two minutes tops.
Just as the Sovereign had alluded to, the result of this fight
was already set in stone.
His stamina had already reached its limit.
Goh Gun-Hui had already expended more than the

permitted amount of magical energy his body could handle.
His eyes became bloodshot, and blood began leaking out
from the corner of his lips.
Too bad, all of his efforts were for naught.
Stab!
A sharp ice spike stabbed directly into his chest and

emerged out his back.
“Keo-heok!”
Goh Gun-Hui spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Sovereign of Frost inflicted a mortal wound on its

opponent with an ice spike shooting out from the tip of its
hand. Seeing the status of its victim, the creature clicked its
tongue as if to lament this situation.
[Is that as far your vessel can go? How pathetic, oh,
Fragment of the Brilliant Light.]
Goh Gun-Hui’s head was lowered as he breathed and

wheezed painfully. The Sovereign of Frost looked down on
him.
[How long will you take to find new vessels? One year? Two
years? Unfortunately for you, our armies have already
arrived in this world.]
Everything in this world would be destroyed and gone well

before the arrival of the Rulers’ soldiers.
[It was your mistake trying to save the denizens of this

world. Did we look like such weak opponents that you
thought you could win even when diverting your attention
to something else?]
The Sovereign of Frost formed a victorious smile.
[Well, then….]
To put the icing on this cake, the Sovereign raised its other
hand and got ready. Cold aura began condensing in this
raised hand.
The final attack to end the life of the human acting as a

Ruler’s vessel was taking its shape. But, then….
“Ku-hot. Ahahaha-!!”
Out of the blue, Goh Gun-Hui’s blood-soaked lips broke out

into hoarse laughter. The Sovereign’s hand stopped moving.
[….?]
Goh Gun-Hui panted heavily as he intensely glared at his

enemy.
“You think I, cough, fought you without a plan?”
His left hand powerfully and tightly grasped the Sovereign’s

wrist just beneath his chest.
“Just like how we didn’t expect you to imitate our ways, a

huge variable has occurred that exceeds your expectation.”
[….A variable?]
The eyes of the Sovereign grew wider as it studied the

expression of confidence on Goh Gun-Hui’s face.
A bluff? No, it couldn’t be – his expression was too loaded

with hidden meanings for that. Just as the Sovereign’s
thoughts arrived at that point…
….The creature had to hurriedly tilt its head to the side.
‘…..!!’
Truly by a paper-thin margin, an incredible amount of

magical energy shot past the location where its head was
only a millisecond ago. The attack was so powerful that it
even burnt away Goh Gun-Hui’s right arm after firing it.
The magic energy crashed into the opposite wall of the

separated space and caused a ginormous explosion.
KWA-BOOM!!
The entirety of the separated space trembled from the sheer

power.
If such an attack found its intended target, just what might

have happened?
‘….That was dangerous.’
Too bad for the human, the Sovereign had sensed the
enemy’s intention in that instant and as a result, was able to
dodge it at the very last possible moment. The Sovereign
stared at Goh Gun-Hui, who must’ve exhausted all of his
remaining energy from that attack, and formed a smile.
[Was that your final hidden card?]

That smile was clearly one of ridicule. However, Goh Gun-
Hui was smiling along, as well.
The Sovereign discovered that smile floating up on the pale,

waning face of the human and began feeling this puzzling
sense of encroaching ill omen.
How come…
How come it was being overwhelmed by this creeping chill,

even though victory was at hand? Its puzzlement didn’t last
for long, though.
Crack-!
‘….??’
The Sovereign’s gaze quickly shifted to its rear.
The barrier separating this space from the outside was

crumbling into pieces after that enormous magical energy
slammed into it.
‘Was this his original intention?’
Even then, didn’t this act ultimately a meaningless

resistance?
[Nothing would change just because the wall between the

dimensions break down.]
It was then, the consciousness of the Ruler dwelling within

the old man’s body raised the corner of his lips.
“Will it… really be that way?”

Crash-!!
Soon, the barrier shattered completely and the space

regained its original appearance.
Lights from the other buildings; cars on the streets below

those buildings; and the President’s office, too. Everything
returned to their original place.
Which meant…
Goh Gun-Hui summoned up the last of his strength and

shouted at the ground beneath him.
“Now!”
From beneath his feet, a blob separated from his shadow and
rapidly transformed into that of a certain ant. This creature
avoided the Sovereign altogether and, while screeching out
loudly, jumped outside the window.
Kiiehhk-!!
The Sovereign quickly shifted its gaze over to that creature.

It couldn’t understand why a denizen of the chaos world
suddenly appeared here.
However, it was just that, a lone denizen. It was just a

weakling of a soldier that submitted to the King of Insects.
That was all.
Even then – the Sovereign couldn’t rip its eyes away from
that ant getting further and further away.
‘…Could it be??’
Eventually, the Sovereign’s brows shot up higher.

‘Ah, ah!’
It should have realised the truth from the beginning.
It should have realised that the reason why the Fragment of

the Brilliant Light poured out enough power to shatter the
barrier even at the heavy cost to the human’s body, when
the Ruler always chose to conserve its strength, worried that
the vessel would break sooner if it went all out.
Indeed, the b*stard hadn’t been resisting so bitterly in order

to escape from the barrier. There was yet another reason
behind his actions.
‘No!’
The Sovereign of Frost belatedly realised the identity of that

ant and its eyes grew even wider than before.
Pah-bahk!
The Sovereign hurriedly discarded Goh Gun-Hui and leapt in

the direction where that ant had run off to. Cold air
coalesced in its hand and froze up to create an ice sickle.
The creature instantly arrived at the ant’s location and

slammed down with its ice sickle. But then…
Grab!
The wrist wielding the sickle was immediately grabbed by

someone’s hand. The grasping power was so great that the
Sovereign couldn’t retract its arm at all, no matter what.
But, even before the creature had any time to be surprised

by that power, its neck was grabbed hard, too.
[Keok!]
The Sovereign of Frost confirmed just who appeared in the
spot where the ant had disappeared from and felt its heart
tumble to the pit of its stomach. And then, it asked in a
disbelieving tone of voice.
[But, you… Why?]
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo grasped the neck of this Sovereign of

Frost tightly so it wouldn’t be able to escape, and shot it a
puzzled look.
“An Ice Elf?”

Solo Leveling Ch.101-200

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Solo Leveling Ch.101-200

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Chapter 101

Jin-Woo quickly arrived near where Tank’s group was.

In the not too far distance, he spotted the Shadow Beast

Right in front of the pack, Tank was walking slowly but

‘I’m pretty sure the next target will be this group.’

Unfortunately, the comparison didn’t favour him this time.

Since the enemy seemed to possess enough intelligence to

‘Let’s observe for a little while.’

Jin-Woo hid his presence to the best of his abilities and,

And so, just how much time passed them by?

Even after a long period of waiting, no enemies showed

‘Was I wrong about this whole thing?’

He began suspecting that, rather than powerful enemies,

Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.

‘…..Here they come.’

Maybe the enemies were also concealing their presence

His shockingly enhanced Perception began sweeping over

‘Four presences approaching. My soldiers, 20. Demons

Jin-Woo opened his eyes. He decided to get rid of the ﬁve

Jin-Woo activated the Stealth skill to become invisible and

‘….They are riding on horseback??’

‘Not only that, they are armed, too?’

When the enemies came close enough, their names became

‘….A Demon Aristocrat, and three Demon Knights?’

‘It must be those four that attacked my boys.’

They all possessed powerful auras and strong hostility. Jin-

‘Let’s see what happens next.’

‘Monsters capable of massacring Shadow Soldiers, is it….’

He was also feeling a bit expectant, too.

Jin-Woo stopped at a suitable position where he wouldn’t get

Tank ﬁnally discovered the demons.

Once the demons got close enough, they dismounted from

‘Huh. So, those rides were simply a means of transportation.’

Jin-Woo continued to stare at the demons with a great deal

Soon afterwards, the Beast Soldiers became excited by the

Tank took to the front.

He shot forward with every ounce of power provided with his

Tank’s target, the Demon Aristocrat, easily jumped over the

Jin-Woo’s brows shot up.

That wasn’t the end of the surprising spectacle, either. The

The ﬁerce attack containing magic energy put a

From that small-ish frame, an explosive aura could be felt

‘Yup, not a regular monster, alright.’

It wasn’t just the Demon Aristocrat either, but the three

Quite unlike the Superior Demons, which were only big in

‘This was why the rate of regeneration couldn’t keep up.’

Jin-Woo’s expression gradually hardened.

Even before the Beast Soldiers could regenerate, they were

By then, Jin-Woo was carrying a crumpled expression. He

However, he sure as hell didn’t feel pleased watching his

Jin-Woo couldn’t stand it anymore and recalled his Beast

As soon as the Beast Soldiers disappeared after seemingly

It was as if they were celebrating their third victory on the

However, it happened then.

Jin-Woo undid his Stealth in the midst of the demons.

The demons were greatly taken by surprise, but as expected

Jin-Woo punched down bare-ﬁsted on the two knights beside

The spiderweb-like cracks formed on the ground and a

[You killed a Demon Knight.]

[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]

The exact same messages repeated three times.

‘These guys were side distractions, anyway. The real deal is

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Demon Aristocrat. After