Baek Juhwan frowned as he recalled Lee Hyunbin’s Special Guard privileges.
“No, just because he’s a Special Guard and S-rank, does he get to do whatever he wants? There has to be some sense of decency, damn it.”
Baek Juhwan, who ran two divisions of the War God, ground his teeth.
“Even if he’s S-rank, he’s alone. And he’s a Supporter type, so he shouldn’t be more than A Grade.”
Baek Juhwan gathered his demoralized comrades and spoke.
Lee Hyunbin is the first S-rank Supporter.
A Supporter is, of course, an indispensable existence in Dungeon or Gate conquests.
A trained wolf might defeat an untrained tiger, but if both are equally trained, you can’t overcome the difference in species.
“We’ll move as we always do. If we kill the Boss first, that’s it. We’re War God. You get that? We’re the top guild in the country—no riffraff can even dream of getting in.”
At Raid Team Leader Baek Juhwan’s words, the entire Conquest Party’s faces filled with pride.
War God isn’t a place just anyone can enter. Only the best elites can make it into the guild.
Recently, due to a drop in conquest rates, they hadn’t managed to take first place, but the guild leader was giving his full support to reclaim the top spot within the year.
“Let’s crush that punk who’s strutting around with his S-rank like he’s all that.”
“Team Leader, didn’t you see that video…?”
“Video?”
Baek Juhwan knew what they were talking about.
He sneered.
“You mean the last hit on the Dragon?”
“The last hit?”
“Hey, do you think there were only one or two Hunters there? Everyone else weakened it, and Lee Hyunbin just got lucky and finished it off.”
The team members couldn’t answer right away and only mumbled.
Anyone who saw the video knew.
How many people could fight a Four-Star Monster solo?
Even for S-ranks, it’s tough—almost impossible.
What’s more, all the Hunters and soldiers who participated in the Dragon Raid were singing Lee Hyunbin’s praises in their interviews.
If he’d really just had good gear or gotten lucky with the last hit, would everyone who was actually there be praising him so much?
More importantly, Baek Juhwan was overlooking something.
Quite a lot of people became fans after watching Lee Hyunbin’s solo hunt video.
Even when his own life was at risk, he never retreated when it meant saving others—that was the very image of the Hero people dreamed of.
But contrary to his team’s thoughts, Baek Juhwan still thought it was doable—no, he was convinced they could do it.
A large party of ten attackers and six Supporters entered the Dungeon first.
Lee Hyunbin was still outside, busy filling out Dungeon paperwork.
‘Cocky bastard. I’ll make sure you never stand in my way again.’
If he, with the S-rank title, let a regular Conquest Party take the Dungeon, his reputation would be ruined.
“Supporters, start full scans. Tanks in front, move in immediately.”
War God’s Supporters are different from other guilds’.
They might have Supporter class abilities, but their specs allowed them to wipe out monsters solo if needed.
“Graaargh!”
The pack of Kobolds that rushed in to block their path was wiped out in an instant.
As expected, their conquest speed was fast.
But they didn’t just recklessly push forward; using their six Supporters to scan and sweep, they cleared the monsters efficiently and safely.
“Team Leader! I can sense the Boss’s magic!”
“Good. Team Two, handle any monsters that approach. Team One, follow me—straight to the Boss.”
A wicked grin curled on Baek Juhwan’s lips.
Everything was going perfectly. He hadn’t expected to find the Boss this quickly.
They headed straight for the Boss room, Team Two peeling off any lingering Kobolds that tried to interfere.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“The Boss’s magic… it’s gone.”
“What? Why?”
Even the Supporter looked perplexed.
“Scan again. Maybe it’s got invisibility or is hiding its magic.”
“I can’t sense anything.”
It wasn’t just the Supporter at the front; the others said the same.
‘No way.’
Baek Juhwan entered the Boss room. And confirmed that there was already a guest waiting.
“Lee Hyunbin?”
“Oh, you’re here?”
The Boss’s life had already ended.
The items from the Boss didn’t seem especially valuable.
There was no high-priced Skill USB, no special weapon—nothing but scraps. But that wasn’t the issue.
A Dungeon they’d won solo bidding rights for had been snatched away.
He tried to see what happened, and it turned out there wasn’t just one path to the Boss room. There was another way from the opposite side.
Baek Juhwan, seething with rage, walked up to Lee Hyunbin.
“Don’t you think this is a bit much?”
“What is?”
“Honestly, I know you’ve got Special Guard privileges and the priority right to clear, but come on. If you have any decency, you wouldn’t just swoop in and steal the Boss like this, right?”
Baek Juhwan had a point.
But Lee Hyunbin just smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting.
“Steal? I cleared it fair and square.”
“No, come on. This was our hunt—shouldn’t we have been the ones to take it down first? Damn it, just because you’re S-rank, you think you can push people around?”
Baek Juhwan’s tone grew openly aggressive. Even the Conquest Party behind him was taken aback.
Electronics don’t work inside a Dungeon or Gate.
Even if you bring them in, they break down right away.
Which means, nobody knows what really happens in here.
“So it’s just, ‘Our guild paid, so it’s ours,’ huh?”
“Whether you pay for the bid or whatever, the country sets the rules, not me. If you want to complain, take it up with them. You realize if you try to spin this in the media, you’ll just be ruining your own image, right?”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“What’s unfortunate?”
“Yes.”
Baek Juhwan felt like he was going to explode at Lee Hyunbin’s calm attitude.
“I get that Dungeons are profitable now, and even a national enterprise.”
Lee Hyunbin looked at Baek Juhwan and the rookie Hunters behind him and continued.
“But when did Dungeons become places for Hunters to come and dig for money?”
“What?”
“Aren’t Dungeons supposed to be closed as quickly as possible? If the Dungeon Boss grows or the Dungeon expands, someone’s going to pay the price.”
“And you say that now?”
“Weren’t you supposed to start the raid two days ago?”
Baek Juhwan frowned at Lee Hyunbin’s words.
“We were supposed to start two days ago, but you won the bid and just left the Dungeon unattended until now.”
“That was so we could prepare…”
“There was already a preparation period. Your bidding plan said the conquest would begin two days ago.”
It wasn’t a huge issue.
Sometimes raids get delayed—unless it’s an emergency Dungeon.
But now it gave Lee Hyunbin the upper hand.
“The so-called Villains use Dungeons to summon monsters. It’s happened before, and it’ll happen again.”
In fact, even the Dragon incident was caused by a Villain pushing the Dungeon into overdrive and releasing monsters.
“If you want to object, you’re welcome to file an official complaint with the authorities.”
With that, Lee Hyunbin walked out of the Boss room.
Baek Juhwan ground his teeth, staring at the dead Boss.
“Damn it, just loot the corpse.”
“Sorry?”
“He came alone, so he probably couldn’t collect the Magic Stones himself. At least grab those.”
“B-but…”
In the end, War God’s Conquest Party had no choice but to farm all the monsters Lee Hyunbin had killed along his path. But—
“There’s nothing here.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are no Magic Stones in the bodies.”
“None at all?”
Baek Juhwan blinked.
There was a pile of monster corpses along Lee Hyunbin’s path.
There were honestly more monsters than they’d killed themselves.
He wondered how Lee Hyunbin had managed to do it alone, but even more astonishingly, there wasn’t a single Magic Stone left in any monster body.
Not bad.
When I first awakened as a Porter, I really cursed a lot.
There is no god. God is dead. I killed him. Hahaha. I felt like saying that.
But now, this is really nice.
With the new Inventory ability, I even managed to rescue a hostage from a Villain last time. And now that I think about it, I can also farm like crazy.
“Store.”
Every Magic Stone inside the monsters was neatly extracted and stored in my Inventory.
Normally, you have to slice open the monsters to collect the Magic Stones—messy and gross. But with this, it’s all taken care of in one go.
Looking at all the Magic Stones piled up in my Inventory, I could tell the profit would be huge.
‘Will War God have another Dungeon coming up?’
Checking the bidding Network, I saw several more Dungeons that War God had won. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smile.
“If a Villain showed up in a place like this, it’d be a disaster.”
- Some say that, for young people, Hunters are the Heroes of this era.
- Others exaggerate and say they’re just miners digging up expensive Magic Stones and living it up, but there’s a Hunter here worth your attention.
- The Delivery Man. Have you heard this nickname? It’s the moniker of Hanul Guild’s Franchise Hunter, who’s been growing at a frightening pace lately.
The first S-rank Supporter.
And the Hunter who recently handled a giant monster in dramatic fashion.
No matter the age or the situation, people have always wanted Heroes.
- Lee Hyunbin of Hanul delivered the profits from defeating the Earth Dragon to the victim’s family…
- Centered around Lee Hyunbin, the Hanul Hunter, victims from the Gate Incident’s underprivileged classes…
Lee Hyunbin returned his profits to society.
It wouldn’t have been easy to give away money earned by risking his own life. But he did.
He never went out of his way to show off his donations. You could call him shrewd.
He didn’t have to announce it—there were already journalists tracking his every move since he was the talk of the town.
Thanks to that, Lee Hyunbin’s image was soaring higher and higher after the Dragon Raid incident. And with his rising profile, his earnings increased as well.
In other words, from a profit perspective, managing his image didn’t hurt him at all.
Whether the person was a real Hero or made into one, the public didn’t care. They only saw what they wanted and only knew as much as they wished.
The earliest S-rank Hunters were typical examples.
During the Gate chaos, people became desperate and needed hope.
And so, all the spotlight was shined on Korea’s first S-rank Hunter, Yomje Hwang Jaeyeon.
However, as strong as he was, his sense of superiority was even stronger.
His skills were undeniable, but his character, shown through various incidents, was the worst.
The public was deeply disappointed.
The spotlight then moved to the second S-rank Hunter, the government agent Lucky Boy Hanseong Lee.
He cared a lot about public opinion. He really did look like a Hero. But every time he drank, he caused scandal after scandal, earning frequent criticism.
In that context, Lee Hyunbin’s arrival was inspiring the public.
Lee Hyunbin’s name became Hanul Guild’s franchise.
All these achievements in just two months since awakening.
There was even talk of Hanul pulling out of the Hunter business, but suddenly, the guild’s growth shot up.
As a result, Hanul, which had been ranked 21st, climbed into the top 10 in just a couple of months.
“This is driving me crazy.”
Kim Shin, War God Guild’s head of HR, frowned as he read the Dungeon conquest report.
The conquest rate is plummeting.
‘That Lee Hyunbin again.’
At this point, it really felt like a fateful rivalry.
With Special Guard privileges, Lee Hyunbin could claim priority access to every Dungeon.
If he wanted, he could monopolize them all.
They’d already complained to the authorities about the damage, but the answer was always the same: their objection wasn’t accepted.
That’s how good Lee Hyunbin’s public image was.
Even this latest case, which could have been an issue, only looked like he was selflessly fighting a war against Villains, not acting out of greed.
‘Damn it.’
He never imagined someone he’d once rejected would grow so quickly.
No matter how high up you are, you can’t know everything about someone from an interview.
That’s why you look at the ‘specs.’
Obviously, TOEIC scores or academic records mean little in Hunter work. But you can see their track record.
A resume’s specs are like a benchmark for picking talent.
Even now, if Lee Hyunbin came to interview, he might get rejected based on his resume alone.
Especially since, back then, anyone who claimed to be a Hero in interviews, or said they were a regressor or returnee, just sounded like a delusional teen.
Whatever the reason, Kim Shin was now becoming War God’s biggest scapegoat.
He’d lost precious talent before, and now he looked like an idiot for kicking away a golden stone like Lee Hyunbin.
‘Shouldn’t have messed with him.’
He’d once pressured the center connected to Lee Hyunbin as a warning. But it backfired.
Starting with the recently returned Raid Team Leader Baek Juhwan, every Dungeon conquest for War God was failing.
Even a party made up of War God’s A Grade elites reported a failed raid just this morning.
“Team Leader. There’s an emergency bid from the conquest team.”
“Emergency?”
“Yes, a Gate opened up in a remote village where the elders didn’t even know what it was, so they didn’t report it. Now the entrance is open, and it’s become a Dungeon. The rating is high grade.”
High grade Dungeon.
At those words, Kim Shin turned to his subordinate.
“What’s Seol Jihoon’s schedule?”
Seol Jihoon. War God’s pride, an S-rank Hunter with Dual Awakening.
Among netizens, there was constant debate over whether he might be the strongest Hunter in Korea.
“He just finished a long-term Gate conquest yesterday and is resting.”
“Good.”
Even if he’s just a Porter, if he’s S-rank, A Grades can’t handle him—but a fellow S-rank could.
Kim Shin smiled, thinking maybe this was just as well.
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