Korea's S-Rank Hunter
The first Gate anomaly was observed thirty years years ago, in the year 2000.
As humanity stepped into a new millennium, it also came to know of Gates — and of the monsters that lived inside them. No weapon science could produce, however advanced, stood a chance against those creatures. And then there was the Dungeon Break: the phenomenon by which, after a set period of time, the monsters inside a Gate would pour out into the world.
The first people to witness it were certain they were watching the beginning of humanity's end.
But as if answering the Gates and the monsters, the Awakened appeared — individuals who could wield a mysterious power called mana. Through a process of trial and error that cost far too many lives to be dismissed as mere growing pains, the developed nations rapidly acquired the know-how to raid Gates. And those who entered them, hunted the monsters, and erased the Gates themselves from existence came to be called Hunters.
Thirty years after the first Gate appeared, in the year 2030, Gates were no longer a terror before which humanity had to tremble. They were treasure vaults, filled with Magic Stones — a divine, all-purpose energy source. And at some point, nations had begun competing over the conquest of the highest-ranked Gates of all: S-Rank Gates.
The world's strongest hunter nation was, of course, the United States of America, which had produced ninety percent of every related law, standard, and body of tactical knowledge since the Gates first appeared. But there was another country, one that had grown steadily until it now stood on the verge of becoming a new hunter superpower.
The Republic of Korea.
August 2030. Shanghai, China.
"Whoa, that's a lot of people."
"Did they all come to see us?"
"Ugh, why aren't the sedatives doing anything today of all days?"
"..."
This might well be the most important day of my life. I calmly surveyed my comrades. Ten of us had assembled. Two of them were trembling; the rest were laughing.
I wasn't calm because my mind was empty, and I wasn't calm because I felt no fear. I was calm because I occupied the one position that demanded it: leader of the Strike Team.
I might actually die today.
It wasn't a lack of confidence. The hardest task of my life simply happened to be sitting right in front of me.
I, Lee Dohyun of the Republic of Korea, had Awakened at twenty. As an S-Rank, no less. I'd received special treatment from the state, trained as a Hunter, and eventually become someone who participated in the most difficult raids in the country. From the age of twenty-two, I had been the leader of Korea's national Strike Team.
It would be absurd to claim it was all my doing. But from the day I was formally appointed raid leader until this year, at at twenty-five, Korea's Gate-clearing capability had been on a steady upward climb. We had put Japan, China, and Taiwan firmly beneath us, and we stood on the cusp of becoming Asia's hegemon.
Assuming, of course, that we cleared the Gate that had appeared in Shanghai today — currently the highest mana reading ever measured anywhere in the world.
The event was so significant that even the terrestrial networks had shown up. Broadcasting from inside the Gate, of course, was impossible.
"Dohyun... what are you thinking about?"
"Hm?"
We were about to enter the Gate when Han Yewon, an S-Rank on our Strike Team, spoke up.
"Nothing. Just waiting for us to go in."
"Oh? I see..."
"Don't worry. If we stick to the plan, we'll clear it no problem."
"Yeah... I'm not worried. You're the leader, after all."
Han Yewon said it with an awkward little smile. I could see her hands trembling.
She was my age, an S-Rank like me, and we had been together for a long time. She had a timid personality that seemed completely unsuited to being a Hunter. At least she was a healer — that was something.
Han Yewon.
A woman who couldn't be captured by words like "pure" or "beautiful" — someone whose slightest smile changed the air around her. My first love, forever. And the unrequited crush I had already given up on.
There was a time I would have done anything to make her mine. But her heart wasn't in it, so what could I do? Now she wasn't the girl I liked so much as a teammate I had to protect.
Huh?
A pair of familiar faces were watching me.
"What? When did you two get here?"
I called out to the two women standing among the crowd that had gathered around us. They were among the few Hunters I was on somewhat personal terms with.
"We've been standing right here. You're only just noticing us, Sunbae?"
"Dohyun really is heartless, you know. I suppose I should be glad it's not just me?"
The red-haired girl with the sharp tongue was So Yumi, a twenty-three-year-old A-Rank. The young woman covering her mouth with a leisurely smile was Yoon Seonga, a twenty-seven-year-old A-Rank.
I didn't operate exclusively with the top Strike Team, so I'd raided with the two of them more than once. Somewhere along the way, we'd become the kind of people who said hello and grabbed a meal together now and then.
That said — we were the ones running this raid, and they'd still dragged A-Rank Hunters all the way out here under the pretext of cheering us on. Typical. Inefficient as always.
"It's time!"
The president of the Korean Hunter Association, who had come with us all the way to Shanghai, called out.
"Go, Korea!"
"Give it your all, Strike Team!"
Cheers rose from every direction. There were Chinese people shouting in clumsy Korean, and Shanghai citizens yelling Jiayou! — one of the few Chinese words I actually knew.
"Hoo..."
I let out a long breath. As leader, I took the front, and together with the full complement of ten Strike Team members, I entered the Gate.
The reason this raid had caused such a stir was obvious: success would send the nation's prestige soaring. But that meant nothing to me. As raid leader, all that mattered was clearing it safely. I had gained great power at twenty. So I carried great responsibility. That was all.
"Doesn't look any different from the others."
"Kind of cold, though, isn't it?"
Together with my team, I passed through the S-Rank Gate. Every dungeon's interior was different once you crossed a Gate, but the overall framework never changed. There were no mazes, no tricks — just a straightforward path to the Boss Room. Kill the boss, and the Gate would be cleared.
"Monsters will start showing up now. Everyone, get your potions ready."
I issued the order calmly. Hunters had inventories equivalent to a subspace, from which they could draw equipment and potions. Even I — who'd been wearing light armor with a single sword at my hip on the outside — pulled potions and kept them ready to draw. We had a healer on the team, but you still needed them for emergencies.
We advanced at a measured pace. We would be fighting monsters, so Kim Daeho — our Tanker and the oldest among us — naturally took point. Directly behind him was me.
"...Hold."
The words had barely left my mouth before every footstep stopped.
A hundred twenty-one... no, a hundred twenty-two of them?
I rapidly assessed the combat strength of the monsters we were about to encounter. Monsters were violent by nature, which meant I could get a read on their temperament even from this distance.
The reason I had become raid leader so young. The reason so many people called me unusual. I was an S-Rank Hunter who possessed both close-quarters combat ability and sensory detection.
Of course, there were those who dismissed me as a half-measure — close-combat power that wasn't particularly outstanding by S-Rank standards, paired with a detection ability you could cover by simply bringing along lower-ranked Hunters.
"Mingi. Start with a Flame Barrier."
"Yeah, yeah."
Lee Mingi, a mage hunter in his thirties with a blunt, gruff way of speaking, raised his staff. A roaring wall of searing flame erupted into existence, heat rolling off it in waves.
"Heungbin!"
Next, I ordered Son Heungbin — an S-Rank archer and Mingi's partner as our dual ranged DPS — to open fire.
The monsters came flooding in. Wolf-type creatures, at least ten times larger than any specimen you'd find in the outside world.
The fight began. I drew my sword and fought in formation with the other melee Hunters. With a Tanker up front and favorable terrain on our side, we could attack with impunity.
"Yewon! Heal the Tanker! Heungbin!"
Even in the thick of it, I kept issuing orders. From the moment the first engagement began, the fight had gone entirely our way. But we had to be perfect — and then more than perfect. In a Gate, anything could happen.
My blade split the last one cleanly in two.
"Good work, everyone. Anyone hurt?"
"Don't worry about it!"
"Hahaha, that was nothing."
"Easy. Way too easy."
"Haaah..."
It ended in a complete, overwhelming victory. It had been so one-sided that Han Yewon, our healer, was already letting out a sigh of relief. The Boss Room now lay directly ahead.
We're winning this easily?
The mana reading on this S-Rank Gate was definitely higher than the Pyongyang Gate last year — the hardest one we had ever challenged. And yet the monsters outside the Boss Room hadn't been all that different. What was going on?
We moved forward, and the entrance to the Boss Room came into view.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What's wrong, Leader?"
I couldn't help but flinch.
What the hell is this.
My ability to sense a monster's mana after passing through a Gate. That was how I knew.
No.
We could not go into this Boss Room. The mana I was sensing was on a completely different level from the S-Rank Gate we had faced in Pyongyang last year. I didn't know why the discrepancy from the Gate's measured mana reading was this severe. Right now, that didn't matter.
"This raid cannot proceed any further. We are withdrawing. Now."
"What?!"
Everyone reacted at once, and none of them quietly.
"Hey. What the hell did you just say?"
"Leader! Why all of a sudden—"
"That's ridiculous..."
Of course they were stunned. In all my time as leader of Korea's national S-Rank Strike Team, I had never once given an order to withdraw.
"I cannot guarantee a successful clear of this raid with our strength alone."
"I said, what the hell does that mean?!"
Lee Mingi, who had never liked me to begin with, stepped forward.
You've got to be kidding me.
S-Rank Hunters all had their pride. That was unavoidable. But wrong was still wrong.
"Do you remember the Pyongyang raid? That was not an easy fight. The thing in this Boss Room is far stronger than the boss we faced there."
"We already knew that when we came here!"
"No. It's beyond what we anticipated. This is past an S-Rank boss. We would have to call it an SS-Rank boss."
"That's insane. So you're saying we wouldn't even be a match for whatever's in there?"
"I don't know that."
"What? Then why the hell are we pulling back?"
"Because I cannot guarantee a victory."
I looked Lee Mingi straight in the eye as I said it.
They would all be in shock. We had succeeded at steadily more difficult raids, and we had grown accustomed to that success. They would believe we could win even against a stronger boss this time — the mana had been measured from the outside, after all, before I ever sensed it myself.
But this was different. Until now, we had been climbing a staircase, one step at a time. This was not the next step. This was a gap so wide that even a running leap might not get our feet to the other side. I wanted to put it more simply, more clearly. But the mana I sensed wasn't something that could be expressed in numbers. It was genuinely difficult to put into words.
"You— you!"
Lee Mingi seized me by the collar. If he wanted to grab me, I could let him.
"Do you have any idea how important this raid is? If we tear that boss apart right now, we become heroes!"
"I'm aware."
"Then why the hell—"
I said it without a shred of hesitation. But when I looked around, it was obvious that none of them understood me.
"Let me say this one more time. We won the Pyongyang raid without taking casualties — but if we had been even slightly sloppy, someone would have been injured or killed. And we did not come out of that fight any stronger. The opponent in there is far more powerful than the boss we met in Pyongyang. Far more powerful than we anticipated. That is why I have judged it best to stop here. Is that difficult to understand?"
I put some steel into my voice, but not a single expression around me changed. They were not being persuaded as easily as I had hoped.
"I-I still want to try, though."
"Mingi's right. Do you know how important this raid is?"
"That detection ability of yours isn't perfect either, Leader. You said it yourself — you just feel it, right?"
One by one, the team members started voicing their opinions. I was going to lose my mind.
"Um... couldn't we just pull back this time and try again later...?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"A-ah, never mind."
Han Yewon opened her mouth in a voice as small as an ant's, then went quiet. She seemed to be my only ally. She wasn't much help.
If that's how it's going to be.
I had no choice but to come down hard.
Reasoning with them nicely wasn't going to work, so I invoked my authority as raid leader instead. They were all looking anywhere but at me. They weren't happy about it, but they didn't have a choice. The raid leader's authority wasn't something you could laugh off.
"You! If anything goes wrong because of this, I swear I won't let it go!"
"Sure, sure. You do that."
I snorted at Lee Mingi's words. If he wasn't going to let it go, what exactly was he going to do about it? I'd been raid leader since I was a kid. I'd heard that line more times than I could count.
"God, this is driving me crazy."
"I was in such a good mood after we took those monsters down."
"What's the Association going to say?"
"The TV stations are here too, you know? People barely watch TV these days, but raid broadcasts still pull huge ratings. Haaah."
I could hear my comrades grumbling behind me. But I had not the slightest intention of turning around and trying again. The people upstairs would figure out what to do about the Shanghai Gate.
And so we walked out.