I Have No Idea How Great an EX-Rank Ability User Is (1)

The Hunter Association had remained on emergency footing ever since the EX-rank ability user first appeared.

In preparation for any unforeseen contingency, every employee under the Association was pulling all-nighters. Every hunter affiliated with them stood at full combat readiness. They left no stone unturned, no method untried, in their scramble to gather every scrap of information possible.

The first EX-rank ability user. A being who had transcended even S-rank.

Turning him into an enemy would cast the Association’s entire future into doubt, so they had no choice but to keep relations as amicable as humanly possible. The tension never eased—if anything, it kept climbing higher. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠No one could predict when, where, or how the EX-rank might react or move.

While everyone watched global developments according to their assigned orders—

“Ah…!”

“Here… it just went up!”

“The EX-rank ability user posted something.”

Among the monitoring staff, the F-rank ability users scattered around the room all reacted at once. The translucent windows that only the awakened could open and close were invisible to ordinary eyes, so they had to report the contents out loud.

The executives already standing by—most of them ability users themselves—had seen the messages before the reports even finished and walked straight into the conference room.

“We’ll go into the meeting immediately.”

The Strategy Director took the lead without hesitation.

“For the first time, the EX-rank ability user has stated his own position. At first we considered the possibility of a lie or fabrication, but as you all know…”

Status windows were not within the domain of humanity. They were a convenient function created by something that transcended humans—something no one could properly name. Artificially tampering with one of them? Naturally impossible.

“This is one hundred percent written by the EX-rank ability user. The important point is what we need to pay attention to here. The meaning contained in these sentences is…”

If a low-rank ability user had written that post? It would have been pure chuunibyou, or someone half-desperate to die. Using the semi-anonymous nature of the system to puff themselves up with empty bravado.

But an EX-rank ability user had written it?

Just thinking about it sent a chill down the spine. The unknown terror that if you touched him, you might vanish from this world without a trace—no one would ever know. Even the Strategy Director, who was currently addressing that very point, had cold sweat beading on his forehead.

“He is the most difficult type to approach. He wants nothing, and he is not weak enough to need allies. Until whatever he wants becomes clear, I believe the best course is to stay completely still.”

He brought up the analysis data compiled by the Strategy Analysis Office—every personality and behavioral profile of A-rank and higher ability users, all processed into a report predicting the EX-rank’s likely disposition and future actions, which he projected onto the screen.

“He is someone who pursues solitude. The probability is high that he is introverted rather than extroverted, and that he is the type who chases an ideal.”

It was still only an analysis drawn from fragmentary evidence, but no one could afford to ignore it. Everyone studied the report with grave expressions, turning the implications over and exchanging opinions.

“The problem, however, is that we still have no idea what the creations made by the Ultimate Creator actually look like.”

First there had been Luna, who had moved in complete secrecy. Then the blonde lady knight. And now, thanks to the ability itself, every summon created by the Ultimate Creator appeared to ordinary eyes as nothing more than a normal human. That was precisely why they remained unfindable.

Of course, those who didn’t know that fact…

“Under the ‘what if’ assumption… an analysis has even come out that the Ultimate Creator’s creations might be invisible.”

“What? So we’d have to detect them with scans or abilities?”

“They’re creations made by an EX-rank. Lower-ranked abilities wouldn’t be able to detect them, right? Common sense.”

“If you think about it that way, he could be sitting somewhere in this very room, quietly watching us.”

“……”

An unknown ability user. An absolute being standing in an overwhelming position. Looking only at the power he possessed, these people could not help but sink into a swamp of their own misconceptions. That was how completely the EX-rank tier placed someone beyond the category of ordinary humanity.

Another piece of information arrived. Once again, it was a dungeon clear. They had conquered a dungeon that had remained unconquered for a long time. And—

“Wait, an A-rank creation was added this time? In a single day?”

“If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there’s no restriction on creation and the ranks are this high… in a few more days, how many creations will there be…?”

“Tsk… this is dangerous. Pumping out A-ranks and S-ranks like that!”

“At the very least, we need to run cautionary training so none of the staff end up defecting to some villain.”

The Strategy Director’s face hardened into stone. He still had more to say, but his mind blanked out as if a white fog had suddenly filled it. In the meantime the other executives traded worried remarks about what was still to come.

“Strategy Director. What if the EX-rank ability user’s goal is simply conquering dungeons?”

At one executive’s question, light returned to the Strategy Director’s eyes.

“What if the condition is that clearing a dungeon allows him to increase his summons?”

“Oh…?”

“Still only a guess, but it’s a solid one.”

The first dungeon clear had produced one summon. The next, two. Perhaps the next would be three? If that were the case, they might find at least a partial solution in that pattern.

“What if conquering an unconquered dungeon—or a dungeon with an extremely powerful monster—grants him the ability to create correspondingly higher-ranked summons? That thought has occurred to me.”

The Strategy Director nodded at the suggestion. In his mind he lined up the times the dungeons had been cleared against the list of people who could plausibly be the EX-rank ability user. The two streams of information fused into a single hypothesis.

“The first dungeon was cleared in the evening. This one closer to lunchtime. Therefore, the probability is high that he is a free individual unaffiliated with any organization.”

He opened a new window and pointed to one person among the list.

“Look here. This company and guild. Every executive in this room knows them—a major conglomerate and a major guild.”

“Cheonwoo Enterprise. Cheonwoo Guild. Of course we know them.”

“The chairman of that company, who is also the guild master, is an S-rank ability user, and he has five sons and daughters under him.”

A window containing the information on all five children appeared. From among them the Strategy Director indicated the last one—the youngest son.

“This is a thought that just occurred to me. He had been serving as guild master of a guild that controlled a critical strategic point. The guild enjoyed excellent reputation both inside and out. Yesterday, that guild master was expelled from the guild.”

Excitement sharpened the Strategy Director’s voice. Light flashed off the lenses of his glasses.

“Until now he had no ability whatsoever. But by pure coincidence, the very evening of the day he was expelled, news of an EX-rank ability user’s appearance broke? Doesn’t that at least deserve investigation?”

Hearing it laid out, it did make sense. He had never possessed an ability before, and he was known to be rather introverted by nature. Yet when you fitted the puzzle pieces together, didn’t his movements and the timing line up perfectly with the current situation?

The executives in the conference room looked at one another and began narrowing their opinions. Everyone agreed that a quiet, discreet inquiry wouldn’t hurt. At the same time, they all understood that being discovered would put them in an extremely awkward position, so they decided to move in absolute secrecy.

Top floor of the Cheonwoo Group headquarters.

The air inside the room hung heavy, completely at odds with the view outside. The same cold atmosphere that had filled the space when the chairman and guild master’s youngest son was disowned still lingered here.

The chairman stared at the cascade of articles for a long time without speaking.

“…Father.”

The woman who was the author of this failure carefully opened her mouth.

“Be quiet.”

His voice was low. He was not even shouting. Yet that single word made her body tremble as she clamped her lips shut. The chairman turned his attention to the articles written overseas.

“Fascinating. You marched out so full of confidence and then failed spectacularly? You should have just stayed put!”

She bit down on her lip.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

The chairman ground his teeth. A harsh grrrk of enamel on enamel echoed through the room.

“When you asked me for the guild master seat. Do you remember what you said?”

He slowly rose from his chair.

“‘I can do far better than the youngest. I’ll put an end to this incompetent management that only increases welfare. I’ll prove it with results.’”

He walked toward her as she stood by the door like a child being punished—closing the distance with pure pressure.

“Is that right?”

“…Yes.”

“So I gave it to you. I crushed the opposing executives with force and cleaned out every one of the old officers for you.”

“……”

“I even accepted every single person you said you wanted to bring in.”

The chairman’s voice grew colder by degrees. Rage simmered between ice and heat.

“And this is your first result? Failed conquest. Controversy over the management overhaul. Mass layoffs and a drop in the guild’s credit. Reduced welfare and internal unrest. Collapse of trust in the surrounding region.”

His face flushed deeper red with every item he listed.

“Not a single good article. Not even one! If you couldn’t deliver results, you should have at least managed public sentiment.”

“I’m sorry…”

All she could do was stay silent—or apologize. He looked ready to hit her, but he managed to turn away instead.

“Failure is allowed. Dungeons are dangerous places by nature. But. When you stand in a high position, even the way you fail must have dignity. Yet you finished it by running away!”

It had not been running away. She carefully opened her mouth.

“I did not run. It was a withdrawal. A strategic judg—”

“And did the world see it that way?”

He cut her off at once.

“Was the headline ‘Strategic Withdrawal’? No! People recognized it as failure. They wrote ‘disgrace’ and they wrote ‘incompetence.’”

“We are not an organization that moves on skill alone! Image is also skill. Reputation is also an asset.”

“Trust cannot be bought with money!”

Under the continuous sting of his scolding and shouts, she could only keep her head bowed and say nothing more.

“What you failed was not a dungeon conquest. It was the name of Cheonwoo.”

Silence settled for a moment. Unable to endure it, sweat beading on her skin, she quietly spoke again.

“Next time…”

“Next time? The world. Remembers first impressions for a long time. Especially for a new leader, the first failure is the most fatal of all.”

He looked at his daughter and delivered his final words.

“That is the guild master seat you so desperately wanted. So. Prove it. Prove that you were not wrong.”

His eyes cooled to absolute frost.

“Or else. I will have to admit that I chose the wrong person.”

When those words ended, only silence remained in the vast room. She managed a bow and then fled the chamber as if escaping. At this rate she would have to admit that she was worse than the youngest. Face twisted with resentment, she walked down the corridor—and suddenly recalled the news that had broken only today.

The EX-rank ability user. If she could somehow pull him to her side…

The entire world had been in an uproar over him lately. If she could only manage that, wouldn’t her father—the chairman—finally acknowledge her?

The bitterness and rage filling her eyes shifted. They became the eyes of a hawk locking onto prey. She looked ready to do something drastic.

Of course… the EX-rank ability user had absolutely no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠intention of cooperating with her.

That he already felt not goodwill but active dislike toward her…

She had no idea at all.