Mistaking the EX-Rank for the Black Market's Ruler?

A massive screen filled the entire wall of the conference room.

Frozen on it was the final scene of the live broadcast set against the Black Market.

A vast darkness. Two women standing before it.

There, the woman with short purple hair threw a single light punch.

And that was the end.

Below the screen, the final system message loomed in large letters.

They replayed the scene again and again, scrutinizing every frame.

Yet not a single executive in the room truly understood what they were looking at.

No one dared open their mouth first.

Even the events of the past few days alone had been hard enough to believe.

And today, something equally unbelievable had happened all over again.

The Strategy Director—the man who was supposed to run the meeting and drive it to a clean conclusion—rubbed his eyes and leaned his weight against the podium.

His necktie already hung loose. Dark circles sat heavy under his eyes. His face still bore the stubble of a man who hadn't properly shaved.

It was the face of someone who hadn't been home in days.

"We'll begin the meeting."

His voice was low and drained of energy—nothing like his usual force.

"First... let's start with the good news."

He pressed the remote.

The display shifted, flooding the screen with dozens of graphs: subscriber counts on the Hunter Association's official channels, growth rates for Irene's personal channel, community mention volume, favorability surveys, donation totals, and more.

"A-rank Hunter Irene, the one with Magical Girl abilities."

He pointed at the graphs.

"It's exceeding projections. She's still accelerating—growing by the second even now."

At those words, the man who had cast Irene allowed himself a small, satisfied smile.

"Frankly, I was surprised myself. After this latest performance, official fan-club membership has already surpassed three times our estimates. Association promo video views hit a new all-time high as well."

He flipped to the next set of materials.

"And across every age demographic, sentiment is swinging hard toward favorability."

Until now, plenty of people had still seen hunters as frightening, conservative figures. Of course the Hunter Association carried the mission of safeguarding world peace, and with hunters routinely assigned to civil service and public-security duties, that image had been hard to shake.

"But through Hunter Irene and her Magical Girl powers, the Association's own image is shifting considerably as well."

Another executive picked up the thread.

"Today's live stream is a perfect example. The way she tried to protect civilians to the very end. The way she attempted to raise another barrier even after taking the heaviest injuries herself. The response has been outstanding."

Heads nodded around the table.

In fact, more applicants were already stepping forward to become hunters after watching Irene, blood running hot. The more citizens who cheered for her, the better the Hunter Association looked by association.

"I'll grant you that much."

"Today's biggest takeaway is this: beyond the Magical Girl skill itself, we've proven that a hunter with the right looks, ability, and personality ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can lift the Association's image even further."

"So going forward we should be pouring budget into putting photogenic hunters like her out front to draw positive public reaction?"

For a moment the room filled with hopeful energy.

But as soon as it came time to discuss the real problem, every face darkened again.

This was the genuine crisis—the one that might decide whether the Hunter Association even had a future.

"Let's look at the most critical scene one more time."

Even if no one wanted to hear it, they couldn't afford not to. Fail to solve a problem like this and you had no business calling yourself an executive.

They closed the first agenda item by agreeing to recruit more image-friendly hunters going forward. The Strategy Director gathered himself once more and replayed the final moments of the live broadcast.

The frozen frame rewound and began to move again.

At the height of Magical Girl Irene's performance, the boss monster appeared. Sensing the crisis, Irene squeezed out every last drop of power and raised a barrier. Then the vast darkness fired its beam. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She managed to protect the people—but was left a wreck herself.

Just as the darkness prepared to fire again, a purple-haired woman appeared from nowhere and walked forward. A blonde woman was with her, but she simply watched. The purple-haired woman moved. She drove a single punch straight into the body of the darkness. And it was over.

They had watched it countless times and still couldn't comprehend it.

A boss monster that had radiated crushing pressure and terror had been erased in a single blow delivered by an S-rank summon acting alone.

"Right now, every community, every gallery... the only conversation people are having is about the EX-rank ability user and those summons."

The Public Relations Director let out a long sigh.

"...Articles about Irene are pulling solid numbers, yes. But the ones outperforming even her are..."

"'Who's the purple-haired girl,' 'the creation made by an EX-rank is insane,' 'how strong is the master, then'—that kind of content."

Another executive checked his tablet.

"Of the top twenty trending videos on Huntube right now, four are about Irene. The rest are all EX-rank related."

"A shame."

"At least Irene and the EX-rank keep trending together. We can count that as a silver lining."

"If only the EX-rank had been a man—and one of Irene's fans at that... Not knowing the identity is driving me crazy."

Irene was one thing, but the real frustration came from having no idea who the EX-rank ability user actually was.

According to today's reports, agents had already been dispatched to every person of interest. Every single reply had come back the same: not EX-rank.

"Still, without Hunter Irene today, less than half the survivors would have made it out."

"The way she gave people hope, the way she commanded the field—both were excellent."

"But people don't remember the process. They remember the result."

The executives smiled bitterly even as they spoke.

In the grand scheme, even this much still wasn't a fatal problem. The Strategy Director summarized everything once more, assigned each executive their follow-up tasks, and pressed the remote again.

The screen went black. A moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠later a new title appeared.

The atmosphere in the conference room turned deadly serious in an instant.

"This is where the real problem begins."

The Strategy Director's voice dropped another register.

"Question: why were creations made by an EX-rank ability user present inside the Black Market?"

No one answered.

The Strategy Director swept his gaze across every face before continuing himself.

"Coincidence? Possible. Swept up by the dungeon outbreak? Also possible. But..."

He advanced the slide.

A full map of the Black Market appeared, along with a chart of its organizational power structure. Not one hundred percent complete, but nearly finished.

"We have to consider the worst-case scenario. The absolute worst case. What if the EX-rank ability user... is the ruler of the Black Market?"

The executives each wore expressions of pure discomfort at a possibility none of them wanted to imagine.

"We have not a single piece of evidence that confirms this at one hundred percent, but...!"

He pointed at the screen.

"The unidentified ruler who governs the Black Market. Someone who has thoroughly concealed their identity and operated from the shadows ever since the market first appeared. Decades of remaining completely unknown."

A figure of that magnitude would almost certainly be a powerful ability user. To stay hidden this long, they would need both strength and wealth to match.

"This is only Strategy Team speculation, but... what if they were originally S-rank, became EX-rank this time around, and are now preparing to step fully into the open?"

Silence fell over the room.

"A dungeon conveniently appears inside the Black Market, threatening the market with damage. The odds are quite high that he stepped out to test his new power."

The first EX-rank ability user in history.

Since that day, everyone had been scrambling to curry favor with the EX-rank: major corporations, large guilds, every power broker large and small—even national leaders.

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if that person was the ruler of the Black Market?

The balance of the entire world would tilt toward the Black Market.

It would mean the birth of a new overlord.

"It may still be coincidence and speculation at this stage. But we must prepare for every possible contingency!"

He forced energy into his voice, tried to rally them all, yet the heavy atmosphere refused to lift.

"The Black Market is crime. Smuggling. Illegal awakening substances. Illegal item disposal and trade. Assassination. Mercenaries. Every dark current in the world converges there."

The Hunter Association might claim stewardship of global justice... but where there is light, there is always shadow. Not everyone in this world walked in the light. That much was inevitable.

"If the ruler of that place is an EX-rank ability user, then that person already holds the largest criminal organization on the planet in the palm of their hand."

The conference room went quiet.

Someone swallowed dryly.

The tension was so thick that even the sound of breathing carried.

"If that person ever decides to act with genuine malice, we currently have no way to stop them."

At those words, no one could speak.

The situation was so hopeless that merely hearing it left them speechless.

Only the Strategy Director kept going.

"Right now, the responses available to us are limited. First: expand intelligence gathering on the Black Market across the board."

"Second: reopen every cold case connected to the unidentified ruler from scratch."

"Third: find evidence that can prove a connection between the EX-rank ability user and the Black Market."

Even as he spoke, his fingertips trembled with fear. Yet the will not to collapse here and now hardened his voice further still.

"As you saw from the last warning, he hates being bothered. The moment we start surveillance, he may interpret it as a hostile act."

He added one final instruction.

"Move as quietly as possible—leave no traces. And every plan from this point forward proceeds under the worst-case assumption: that the EX-rank ability user may be the ruler of the Black Market."

A long silence settled over the conference room once more.

But they had no idea.

That right now, inside the Black Market itself, a nearly identical meeting was underway.

That the deep darkness of the Black Market was instead mistaking the EX-rank ability user for a heavyweight belonging to the Hunter Association.

And above all—that the real EX-rank ability user was already thinking about rising again, starting with a small guild of his own.