The Day the S-Class Hunters Fell
The news hit like a bomb.
It was the kind of event that would be remembered for decades, the kind of catastrophe that would be studied in history books long after the dust had settled. On that day, every S-class hunter in the country was wiped out in a single incident.
A gate had opened in the heart of Seoul. Not just any gate—an unranked one. Something far beyond the existing measurement system. The government and the major guilds had poured every resource they had into it. Every S-class hunter available had been mobilized.
And not a single one came back.
The country fell into chaos. The Hunter Association building was flooded with emergency calls. The government issued a national disaster alert. Stock markets crashed. People screamed that the end times had arrived.
But the real nightmare was only just beginning.
Without the S-classes, the nation had no answer to the rising tide of high-rank gates. The remaining A-class hunters were strong, but they weren't enough. Not against what was coming. The military tried to step in, but modern weapons were useless against monsters above a certain threshold. Mana-based threats required mana-based solutions.
That's when the government made a decision that would change everything.
They opened the deepest, most secure prison in the country. A black-site facility that officially didn't exist. Inside were monsters of a different kind. Not the kind that crawled out of gates. The human kind.
S-class criminals. Women so dangerous, so unhinged, that even other S-classes had feared them. Psychopaths. War criminals. Living weapons who had been locked away not because they were weak, but because they were too strong to control.
They were given a choice. Serve the country. Or rot forever.
Most of them laughed. A few of them killed the guards who delivered the offer, just for fun. But in the end, they all accepted. Because what else was there to do?
And so the S-class crazy women were unleashed upon the world once more.
They cleared the unranked gate in less than three hours.
The footage was never released to the public. What little leaked out was enough to make seasoned hunters vomit. The things those women did to the monsters inside... it wasn't hunting. It was something far more primal. Something that made the word "slaughter" feel too gentle.
The country was saved. For now.
But the price was steep.
Because those women didn't go back to prison when the job was done. They had tasted freedom again. They had remembered what it felt like to be unleashed. And they had no intention of returning to their cages.
The government panicked. They needed a way to control them. A leash. A handler. Someone who could manage these living disasters without getting torn apart in the process.
That's where I came in.
My name is Seong Yohan. Until recently, I was just another C-class hunter scraping by. Nothing special. Average stats. Average skills. The kind of guy who took safe escort quests and tried not to die.
But I had one thing no one else did.
A unique skill called Prison Warden.
Unique Skill: Prison Warden (S-rank)
Effect: You can create and maintain a conceptual prison that binds those with criminal records or chaotic tendencies. The stronger the target's power, the stronger the binding. However, the prison requires constant mana and mental focus to maintain.
Warning: If the prison collapses, all bound targets will be released simultaneously with extreme hostility toward the warden.
I didn't ask for this skill. I didn't even want it. It had awakened during a near-death experience in a low-rank gate three years ago. Ever since then, I'd kept it hidden. Using it even once had nearly killed me. The mental strain was unbearable.
But the government found out. Of course they did.
They gave me two options. Take the job as the official manager of the new S-class prisoner unit. Or be charged with hiding a national-security asset and thrown into the same prison I was supposed to run.
I chose the job.
Which is how I ended up here.
Standing in front of the reinforced steel doors of what used to be the country's most secure prison. Now it was my workplace. My new home. My personal hell.
The air smelled of ozone and blood. The kind of smell that never really leaves your nose once you've experienced it. My hands were shaking. I could feel cold sweat running down my back.
Behind those doors were five women who could kill me with a thought.
And I was supposed to manage them.
Control them.
Keep them from destroying the country they had just saved.
A government agent stood beside me. His face was pale. He kept glancing at the security cameras like he expected them to explode at any moment.
"They're waiting for you, Warden Seong," he said, voice barely above a whisper. "Try not to die on your first day. The paperwork would be a nightmare."
I almost laughed. It came out more like a cough.
The doors began to open with a sound like grinding bones. Red emergency lights flickered on inside. I could hear laughter echoing from the darkness. Not the kind of laughter that made you feel warm. The kind that made your survival instincts scream.
I took one step forward. Then another.
This was it. No turning back now.
I had become the warden of the S-class crazy women.
And something told me they were going to enjoy breaking me far more than I would enjoy managing them.
Prisoner Unit has been assigned to Warden Seong Yohan.
Current bound targets: 5 / 5
Warning: Mental contamination risk — EXTREME
Survival probability: 12.7%
The laughter grew louder.
I stepped into the darkness.