"Krurruk." "Kuk."
The orcs kicked aside the corpses of troublesome youths and looked around.
"Sniff sniff." "Krurk."
These were hunters who had lain in wait inside the darkness of the Dungeon for a whole week. It was only natural that they grew excited at the smell of blood and flesh all around them. But. They were a scout party. No matter how hot their blood ran, they couldn't move recklessly. Behind that round doorway, dozens more of their kind were waiting for the scout party's report. Many doors and windows cut into angular walls. The orc in charge of the scout party quickly realized that the building they were standing in was constructed in a complex, fortress-like manner.
"Krurruk."
The creature flared its nostrils. There were two choices. One was to leave this castle and hunt down whatever prey they could find, killing indiscriminately. The other was to kill every human in the castle, fortify it into a stronghold, and then begin hunting. Which option was more stable didn't even require thought. The creature spoke to its subordinate.
"Call our brothers."
It then lifted its head and gazed up at the ceiling. Its ear twitched, picking up sounds descending from above. Up there, and even higher up. The building was teeming with prey. Inside its skull, the voice telling it to kill those prey kept ringing so loud it made its head ache.
"Good."
The corners of its mouth peeled back, revealing yellowed molars.
"First, we'll clean up inside here."
* * *
A large crowd had gathered at Gwangalli Beach. Undeterred by the overcast sky, the people all shared a single focus—the massive Gate that had formed on the sand. Police officers and Hunter's Association Busan branch staff, called in to assist, had set up barricades and were doing everything they could to keep citizens from approaching. But somehow, the flood of people kept growing.
"Sunbae."
A junior female employee, having just muscled through the crowd, approached her senior with a worried expression.
"Do we have to go through this every single time a Gate appears?"
Her senior was just as bewildered. He'd never seen the area around a Gate this hectic before.
"Since it's the largest Gate ever recorded in Busan, there's no helping it."
He glanced back as he spoke. Floating in the air was an enormous hole. Just looking at it gave the feeling of being sucked inside, and he was making a conscious effort to ignore it. Of course.
'He knew that as long as a Dungeon Break didn't occur, this thing couldn't hurt anyone, but...'
He still hated Gates. Just like some people irrationally feared outer space or the deep sea, for no particular reason. So when he was on-site, all he could do was hope the Hunters would take care of that ominous hole as quickly as possible. In that regard, this raid was somewhat reassuring. As if the same thought had just occurred to her, the junior spoke up.
"Ah! Sunbae, did you hear?" "Hear what?" "They're saying an S-rank Hunter is coming down from Seoul today?"
As if anyone wouldn't know. Probably half the people gathered here came for the Gate, and the other half came to see the S-rank Hunter.
"Sung Jin-Woo Hunter?" 'Yes! Him!" "Do you know him? Why are you so excited?" "Ah, no."
The junior hastily waved her hands, then squirmed with a slightly flushed face.
"Actually, it's my first time seeing an S-rank Hunter in person..."
The senior looked at her with exasperation.
"Sung Jin-Woo Hunter is also a rookie, and you're a rookie—so why are you two so different?" "Sunbae!" "If you've got energy to chatter like that, why don't you go over there and help out?" "I've been standing since we got here and my legs hurt, so I came to rest for a bit!"
The senior clicked his tongue. From the way she kept darting glances, she clearly felt wronged, but he wasn't buying it. Still. He wasn't entirely unsympathetic to how the junior felt.
"Yeah, I guess I'm a little curious too. He's been all over the news lately." "See? Even Sunbae is curious." "He's the Hunter who soloed the boss of an S-rank Gate."
Originally, the boss-class beast of the S-rank Gate that opened on Jeju Island had been the Ant Queen. But because that battle had such an overwhelming impact, many people who watched the broadcast assumed the giant ant was the boss. Killing the boss-class beast meant closing the Gate. A Hunter who could single-handedly shut down an S-rank Gate. That was why people said Sung Jin-Woo was approaching the level of "national authority." It was only natural that all eyes were on him.
"An S-rank Hunter! What do you think he's like in person?"
The senior watched his wide-eyed junior and felt his own thoughts growing complicated.
'Did this kid join the Association not because the job suited her, but because she idolizes Hunters?'
Regardless of the senior's look, the junior continued, eyes gleaming and voice brimming with excitement.
"Sunbae, Sunbae." "What now?" "I heard the really strong Hunters are hard to even look straight in the eye. You've actually seen an S-rank Hunter before, right, Sunbae?"
The senior recalled a business trip to Gwangju last year.
"...Yeah." "Wow-"
Seeing his junior's admiration, even the reluctant senior felt a little swagger creep into his shoulders.
"What was it like, Sunbae? Were they really scary?" "Don't even get me started. Last year, on Association business, I had the chance to see the Myeongseong Guild's Ma Dong-Wook Hunter in person." "Excuse me, coming through." "Oh, sure."
Two Association employees quickly parted to let a man pass between them, then stood close together again. But.
"Huh?"
The senior looked back at the hooded man who had just walked past.
"What is it, Sunbae?" "Nothing. That man just looked familiar somehow." "Huh? That's weird? I thought so too." "Is he Association staff?" "Hmm..." "Wait, where was I?" "That... Myeongseong's Ma Dong-Wook Hunter!" "Right, right. I had the chance to see Ma Dong-Wook Hunter in person, and his build was enormous—his shoulders alone were this wide." "Wow-"
Like it or not, the senior and junior pair had pretty good chemistry.
* * *
"Sung Jin-Woo Hunteeeer!"
Park Jong-Soo expressed his relief at seeing Jin-Woo with a choked-up voice that didn't suit his late thirties. So much was riding on this raid. Even amid Park Jong-Soo's emotional outburst, Jin-Woo calmly checked the time. The numbers on his phone screen had just ticked over from 10:59 to 11:00.
'Good.'
Jin-Woo gave a slight smile. To avoid drawing attention, he had stepped away briefly with his Stealth skill, then returned—and he had arrived at exactly the right moment. The feeling had been good even before the raid started. He looked up.
'...It's even bigger in person.'
The Gate before his eyes looked far larger than it had on screen. Just as the Hunter's Association had reported to the Knights, the amount of mana seeping out of the Gate was extraordinary.
'What kind of beasts are in there?'
A smile naturally formed on Jin-Woo's face. Beyond that... aside from the absurdly massive Gate, everything else looked fairly ordinary. As was always the case at any raid site, the lower-ranking Hunters had already split into two groups.
'That's the collection team, and over there is the excavation team.'
They said you see what you know? He could easily tell them apart by their outfits and equipment. Thanks to his experience participating in the Hunters Guild's raid.
'Guild officials are still bustling around just like back then.'
Unlike before, when he had been green and didn't know the first thing about any of it, he now had some breathing room. Experience really was the best teacher.
"Huh?" "He's really here!" "Sung Jin-Woo?"
The elite Hunters, who had been gathering at Park Jong-Soo's call, recognized Jin-Woo and broke into bright smiles. Jin-Woo exchanged brief greetings while sizing them up. Thirty high-ranking Hunters. Just as Park Jong-Soo had boasted, the sheer number and quality of A-rank and B-rank Hunters was nothing to scoff at, even compared to the Hunters Guild.
'As expected...'
You could call them a guild worthy of representing an entire region. Moreover, every one of them was thoroughly equipped with armor or magically reinforced defensive gear, making the name "Knights" feel perfectly appropriate. That such a guild was underestimated simply because it lacked an S-rank was a shame. He now understood Park Jong-Soo's impulse to bluntly ask if he wanted to join the Knights. Lost in these various thoughts, Jin-Woo barely noticed that Hunters had already surrounded him.
"Um..." "Hmm."
They eyed each other cautiously, then soon began talking over one another.
"Hunter-nim, the Jeju Island raid was incredible!" "How do you summon those black soldiers? Or are they even summons?" "You'll be leading today's raid, right, Sung Jin-Woo?"
Just as Jin-Woo was growing overwhelmed by the barrage of questions—
"Hey! Enough! Enough!"
Jung Ye-Rim, the healer who had first proposed bringing Jin-Woo along, pushed through the crowd of Hunters and stepped forward.
"Why are you all making Hunter Sung uncomfortable? You're not country bumpkins."
The look she shot her colleagues was razor-sharp. A top-tier healer was the motherly figure who held the team's life in her hands. The assault team members swallowed their objections like children scolded by their mother, falling silent.
'Heh.'
Jung Ye-Rim smiled. She turned gracefully and extended her hand to Jin-Woo.
"I'm Jung Ye-Rim, the main healer of the Knights' elite assault team."
Then, with a gentle, smiling gaze, she continued.
"The person who'll be leading and the team's main healer need to be on the same page, wouldn't you say? Even if no one else cares about that..."
Jin-Woo avoided her conspicuously motivated gaze and looked to Park Jong-Soo.
"You haven't explained yet?" "Ah, well..."
Park Jong-Soo scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
"The schedule has been packed. Filling out paperwork, gathering everyone—I've been running around like a headless chicken."
He smiled sheepishly and looked over the Hunters. It was nice having the entire assault team in one place, saving him from having to repeat himself.
"This raid's leader will be me, Park Jong-Soo."
The announcement that Park Jong-Soo himself would lead caused a stir among the team.
"The boss again?" "But Sung Jin-Woo Hunter is here..." "Is that really okay?"
Park Jong-Soo was a top-tier A-rank tank, so his taking the lead was nothing unusual. Aside from the rare occasion when he sat out due to poor condition, he led most raids. But. Now, there was an S-rank Hunter in the assault team. The stronger Hunter takes the vanguard. That was one of the most fundamental principles of raiding. Park Jong-Soo quickly continued his explanation for the confused team.
"Sung Jin-Woo Hunter will be covering our rear, protecting us so we can stay safe."
Watch over the assault team from behind and ensure their safety. That was Park Jong-Soo's request. It was for the team's safety, and for the guild's reputation. High-combat-power Hunters usually stood at the front. Those in the rear were magic-type, healing-type, or support-type Hunters who were vulnerable to ambushes. Given that the Knights were having difficulty recruiting new members, their survival was nothing less than a matter of the guild's fate. And if Sung Jin-Woo were stationed at the rear? The assault team could push through the Dungeon aggressively while having no fear of the rear being attacked. No—enemies appearing at the rear would actually be welcome. Who was standing back there? The man who had faced thousands of S-rank beasts on Jeju Island without batting an eye and cut through them like butter. If enemies kept showing up at the back, the assault team could call it an early day. That was the first reason. And the second reason, even more important than that... Gulp. Park Jong-Soo swallowed hard as he glanced at the reporters crowded beyond the police line. It was proof that a great many people had their eyes on this raid. If things went wrong, it would be easy for them to look like a guild that was being carried by Sung Jin-Woo in front of all these witnesses.
'Well... it's technically true, though.'
In any case, he couldn't afford to let people see it that way. For the Knights, the true purpose of this raid was to broadcast their continued strength. So Park Jong-Soo had earnestly requested this of Jin-Woo. As a result—
"This was decided after mutual consultation with Hunter Sung. I'll hear any complaints after the raid is over."
He was able to notify his team of the decision. But just then—
"Hold on. I really don't understand this at all."
An A-rank Hunter stepped forward. He was a fresh-faced rookie who had only recently joined the Knights.
"Are we really so weak that we need someone's protection?"
Those words drained the color from the senior Hunters' faces.
'Crap...!' 'R-Rookie!'
The young Hunter, who appeared to be around Jin-Woo's age, had confidence brimming from every pore.
"Isn't that right, brothers? Sisters?"
He had every reason to be confident. He was one of the most talked-about rookies of this year's intake, second only to Kim Cheol in the attention he'd drawn. The problem was who he was up against.
"Does it look that way to you too, Sung Jin-Woo? That our Knights' elite members are that weak?" '...'
Jin-Woo suppressed the smile threatening to escape his lips and silently let the A-rank rookie talk. Of course. The blood-freezing tension was the other Hunters' burden.
'Where the hell does he get that confidence...' 'Don't tell me this kid's a Busan hick who's never even seen an S-rank Hunter before?' 'Someone shut him up!' 'Even spouting nonsense requires some sense of timing before anyone will intervene...'
At a loss for words and staring blankly, the seniors only emboldened the rookie further.
"And you too, boss!" "Me?"
Now it was his turn? Park Jong-Soo pointed at himself in disbelief.
"No matter how high an S-rank Hunter's reputation is, how can you just agree to a condition where an individual takes an equal share with an entire guild?"
'...'
At this point, Park Jong-Soo's head was starting to hurt, and he shot Jin-Woo a sidelong glance.
'Hunter Sung... please, I'm begging you, deal with our rookie.'
Jin-Woo gave a short nod.
"In any case, this absurd contract is something I really can't understand..."
At that moment, Igrit was summoned right in front of the impassioned rookie.
'Huh?!'
Struck by the immense mana emanating from the Black Knight, the A-rank rookie flinched and stumbled backward. But before he could take even two full steps, something hard collided with his back. Startled, he spun around—only to find a knight even taller by several heads staring down at him from above. It was Iron.
"Huhk!"
The grunt he had been trying to swallow escaped involuntarily. This time something nudged his shoulder. His sweat-drenched face turned toward the touch, and there stood a figure draped in a black robe.
"G-Guh!"
The sinister mana that radiated violently from the creature's fangs drained the strength from his legs, and the rookie collapsed to the ground.
'I can't bring myself to call Beru. That'd just be too pitiful.'
At Jin-Woo's gesture, the three knight-class soldiers surrounding the rookie promptly melted back into shadow. Jin-Woo approached the now pale-faced rookie and extended his hand.
"Does it still not make sense now?"
The A-rank rookie gripped Jin Woo's hand, staggered to his feet, and shook his head faster than the speed of light.