White Magnolia Hunter Hauled In by the Association
A provocative and intriguing post suddenly appeared on the Hunters app, which had been flooded with meaningless crap for a while. It wasn't big enough for the news, but with a string of related incidents blowing up, it quickly became a hot topic on the app.
The post featured a photo of a White Magnolia Guild hunter being dragged in, bound by Association hunters. Reactions were explosive.
Amid the heated frenzy, Ryu Jin-yong, the guild master of White Magnolia Guild watching it all unfold, crumpled his phone like it was scrap paper.
"You there?"
He couldn't hold back his rage and summoned someone.
Shh!
One of Ryu Jin-yong's closest aides appeared—a hunter who'd clearly been nearby from the start. But Ryu didn't give a damn and barked,
"What the hell happened."
"The scene was cleaned up fast, so details are scarce. But from what I dug up, Silver Eagle Guild got involved."
"What? How the fuck did that bitch find out."
"I don't know that mu—"
Bam!
Ryu slammed his desk in frustration.
"Find out. Whatever it takes."
"Yes, sir!"
Shh!
As his subordinate vanished again, Ryu yanked off his tie.
"Daring to tarnish White Magnolia?"
Thinking of all the effort he'd poured into building their image made his blood boil.
"Snow Woman, Min Seol-hee. You started this shit."
She was an S-rank hotshot in a top guild, but Ryu wasn't about to let her outshine him. He'd boosted his own guild's status plenty, and hell, he was S-rank too.
"Not the time for this."
Once Ryu made up his mind, he acted. He stood, grabbed his coat from the rack, and stormed out of his office.
His secretary, waiting outside, fell in step behind him.
"You know the situation?"
"Yes."
"Set up a press conference first. Gotta cut off the tail."
"Understood."
Ryu stood before the private elevator, pondering.
Where do I start screwing them over?
In a world where money bought everything, media manipulation—his specialty—had been key to propping up his guild's image.
Hyun-seong and Hyun-ji had blitzed the reserved 3 PM Ghost Street (Hongdae E-rank) twice, then headed to the Hunter Market to sell their byproducts. As always, they went to the same fair-trade appraisal shop and pulled out the loot.
"Uh, we'll appraise it right away and show you the price."
The clerk couldn't hide his shock at the mountain of byproducts Hyun-seong dumped from his bag. No way could anyone farm that much in a single day.
The overburdened clerk loaded the items into the appraiser, checked conditions, tallied prices. Final total on screen: 11.21 million won.
The siblings locked eyes and high-fived in sync.
The clerk poked his head out. "Proceed with payment?"
Just a formality now that the price checked out.
"Yeah."
Transaction complete, over 10 million won hit Hyun-seong's account direct. Just days ago, he'd been stressing over how to make ends meet—now it felt like pointless worry.
"Let's use this to finish gearing you up."
"That okay?"
"Told you, it's an investment. We'll be facing tougher monsters ahead."
"Kinda scary, though."
Hyun-seong motioned for her to follow anyway and headed to another floor of the Hunter Market.
The escalator led to the budget gear section—affordable stuff with guaranteed baseline quality. Not top-tier, but plenty of usable pieces lined the shelves.
Of course, Hyun-ji's eyes sparkled at first, like a kid in a luxury store, only to droop at the price tags.
"Way too expensive."
"Even budget gear needs a big wallet."
Hyun-seong agreed. What the hell were these made of to cost so much? Curiosity got the better of him.
Sub-class change.
Sub-class change activated.
Familiar status window popped up. Hyun-seong swapped slot 3's Healer for Appraiser.
Appraisers burned mana to reveal item details.
Appraise.
He targeted the leather armor in front of him.
◈ Defense: 10
◈ Durability: 100/100
◈ Budget leather armor made with cowhide mixed with trace amounts of Alpha Boar leather for standard defense.
Nothing special in the specs or description. Hyun-seong got it now.
Shoddy craftsmanship.
He could make better himself.
"Huh?"
His head rang like he'd been smacked.
"What?"
"Nah, nothing."
Hyun-seong sorted his thoughts.
Why didn't I think of that?
He'd mastered most crafting classes, so he could whip up any gear. Top-shelf stuff too, with the right materials.
Decision made, he said,
"This gear's kinda meh."
"That's why I said we'd save up for better ones. This sword's fine for now."
"Yeah."
"Huh?"
"Let's do that."
Hyun-ji blinked in confusion. The guy who'd been nagging to buy gear was suddenly cool with waiting? She stared him down, suspicious.
"What? Hiding something from me again!"
"Nah, just think I could make gear like this myself."
"How? You're not a crafter."
"Got pretty good dexterity."
Not a lie.
Dexterity didn't level up like other stats, so no crafter could match his. Same for the rest, but especially this one.
Hyun-ji scolded him for spouting nonsense again.
"Items aren't made like that!"
"Whatever, no need to buy. Let's go."
"...Fine."
She trudged out, eyes lingering on the gear. Deep down, bummed about missing new kit. Hyun-seong smirked inwardly.
Gonna show her what real gear power feels like.
Over the past week, Hyun-seong had been dungeon-crawling with Hyun-ji, prepping materials for crafting. Whenever she killed a monster, he'd Appraise the corpse to ID usable byproducts, sorting sellables from keepers.
Using his dexterity, he slotted Hunter in slot 1 for Prey Butchery skill, yielding premium materials.
◈ Premium mutant viper hide from expert dexterity and high-level butchery.
◈ Premium mutant viper fang from expert dexterity and high-level butchery.
He also snagged 'Cave Bat Wings' and 'Slime Mucus,' plus held back some mana stones and soul stones for crafting.
"All set?"
Hyun-ji, now a proper hunter, played porter for Hyun-seong without complaint.
"Yeah, this should do."
She always respected his odd tasks, even if they seemed pointless.
"Two left. Let's kill 'em and bounce."
She charged ahead; he nodded and followed. E-rank dungeons were a joke now—no puppets needed in ages.
Hyun-ji tore through the forest biome, iced two mutant vipers calmly, then waited.
Hyun-seong mined the mana stone from one and stood. Shame to waste hide and loot, but bag was full, and time was tight on the second clear.
"Let's go."
"Okay."
They reported the clear to the waiting Association clerk and headed straight to Itaewon Hunter District.
Nonstop dungeon grinding that week had leveled Hyun-ji to 20.
"C-rank exam requirements?"
"15 E-rank clears and 1 D-rank clear."
"E-ranks done. Just need that D-rank."
"Yeah, usually groups of nearby D-ranks party up for it."
"We're duoing anyway."
"I'm the one doing it?"
"Fair point."
She'd been monster-mashing like a maniac to catch up—not entirely wrong.
"Picked a spot?"
"Looked into it. Most hit Spider Cave (Bukaksan D-rank). Sword user's good there, I think."
"Not bad. Good intro to boss fights."
D-ranks ramped up ecology and conditions—like bosses. Could seem easier (just kill boss), but...
Dungeons get massive. Hunting the boss is the gig.
Size mattered too. Either way, gear up before D-rank with Hyun-ji.
"Here."
Hunter Market arrived. Hyun-seong grabbed his material bag exiting the car.
"Sell your byproducts today and wait in the car."
"Where you off to?"
"Hunter workshop nearby. Just browsing."
"Browsers don't haul assloads of bags. Whatever."
Hyun-ji grabbed her loot bag for the market; Hyun-seong shouldered materials and hit the pre-scouted workshop.
Hunter workshops were guild services from Meister Guild—crafters pooling talents. Anyone could observe or rent a basic forge for 300k won/hour.
A week ago, he'd have flinched. Now? Nearly 100 million in the bank.
He rented a basic forge. The clerk clocked the bag and guided him without fuss.
Surprisingly tidy inside. Basic meant sparse, but enough for gear.
Sub-class change.
Ding!
Which class to change?
'Slot 1 Hunter to Tanner, slot 2 Healer to Blacksmith.'
Slot 3 Appraiser stayed. Crafting skills unlocked; he rubbed his hands.
What to make first?
Bag opened to premium materials galore. Skip weapons—need armor and shield.
Leather armor: tan first. Shield: smithing.
He zipped the bag thoughtfully.
No fire lit.
Like boiling ramen—fire first. Gear too.
Pointless overthinking. He torched the basic forge.