Oh my gosh, did you see him?
I sure did! You mean the E-Rank, right?
Doesn't he have the hottest body?
His face is kind of average, maybe leaning toward cute.
He's not that huge, but when you see under his clothes, it's like, "Whoa!"
When did we get a patient like that?!
I didn't see him before.
He didn't stand out at first,
but he's apparently been exercising and has gotten pretty cut.
Seriously? There's no way it happened that fast.
Excuse me.
Mr. Sung Jinwoo...
Oh, sorry.
No! Pardon me, actually!
Those really are some incredible muscles.
Did he always have such an amazing body?
Did you need something from me?
Oh, right!
You're going to be discharged today. How are you feeling?
Pretty good, thankfully.
I see!
Well, come by reception when you're ready, and we'll handle the paperwork.
Right. Thank you for everything.
Excuse me!
Y-Yeah?
Could I get your contact info?!
You want... my contact info?
Yes. If you don't mind...
I guess it's to send me test results after I get released?
Understood.
Good morning, everyone!
I'm here with our special guest...
Nice to meet you. I'm Baek Yoonho.
Hunter Baek, you must keep busy as one of the only seven S-Rank hunters in the country.
What's a hunter's life like when they're not exploring dungeons?
That's a good question. There's a lot of training.
You need to hone your skills, each and every day.
If you were to lose touch with the feel of real combat, it could dull your instincts.
Every day, then? That must be tough.
In my case, I made a habit of training back when I was a firefighter.
If I make even the slightest mistake, my comrades could get injured.
The thought of that keeps me on my toes.
I see.
Oh, look at the time!
Jinwoo?
'Morning, Jinah...
You're already up?
I've been up. Be careful on the way to school.
There's some leftovers from last night in the fridge... so...
Have you been working out, Jinwoo?
A little.
And you seem taller. Did the exercise help with that, too?
I guess men keep growing even when they're adults!
I'm heading out.
Hey. Don't forget an umbrella.
It's nice out today. Plus, it'd be heavy.
How's this little thing heavy?
Aw, come on. Quit it.
Better safe than sorry. There!
Yeah, okay. I'm going now.
Be safe!
I can do my running later.
Are these muscles from my stats?
Maybe if I keep leveling up, I'll end up like a bodybuilder?
I still haven't used my points from before.
Where should I assign these...?
Strength increases the damage I do. But if I can't land a hit, it's pointless.
So maybe agility?
I'll increase strength and agility.
Vitality always helps, and perception comes in pretty handy.
Intellect... seems like it'd have something to do with magic.
Do I really need it?
Okay, let's go with this.
That should do.
H-Hello! This is Sung Jinwoo!
You finally picked up.
I'm so sorry. I've actually been in the hospital.
I know that this is about the rent, right?
Right. You hadn't paid for this month yet...
But if you need, we can put it off for a bit.
N-No! I'll get it to you right away!
I see. Well, I'll be waiting. You be careful, now.
Right. Thank you.
I don't know if what I'm experiencing is a re-awakening...
But now that I'm able to kill goblins with ease,
making rent shouldn't be too hard.
That said... It's not exactly easy, either.
To make good money, I need to go through higher-ranked gates.
But no one's gonna let an E-Rank hunter into those.
Maybe I could get re-appraised?
A higher rank could get me into better gates,
and maybe a bit of attention will help me earn more...
I'd definitely stand out, though. Re-awakenings are rare enough.
I've never heard of a hunter who could level up and keep getting stronger.
Which would probably mean even more scrutiny.
The press would eat it up... and there's the saying about the nail that sticks out.
I better not.
Not until I can properly defend myself and learn what the deal is with this power.
Confirm.
Hey, there!
I'm Hwang Dongsuk.
Sung Jinwoo.
You're E-Rank, right?
Right.
Oh, I know this guy! He's actually famous!
I think his nickname is "The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind."
Whoa, are you serious?
Okay, knock it off!
Sorry about my people back there.
No. I am actually E-Rank, so...
Will that be a problem?
Not at all. We need you to meet the quota more than anything else.
I told you over the phone, but just to confirm...
This is going to be a C-Rank dungeon, and we need a minimum of eight people to enter.
Among which at least half of the members need to be C-Rank.
You won't be a combatant, so we won't be sharing the spoils with you...
But we're prepared to pay you 2,000,000 for participating.
Four C-Ranks and two sub-D-Ranks.
Understood. What do you need me to do?
If you could help with our baggage.
It's food to eat on the inside, along with spare clothing and gear...
and a first aid kit.
Wait... Are you doing this without a healer?
I'm sure you know it's hard for independent parties to retain those.
We do all our raids without a healer.
A squad with nothing but tanks and damage dealers... Seems crazy.
And something about the lack of a healer bugs me.
If you could just sign the contract...
No liability for anything that happens inside of the dungeon, huh?
Here you go.
Thanks.
It looks like we're here for the same reason.
I'm Yoo Jinho. Twenty-one years old, D-Rank.
I'm here to meet the quota, too.
A D-Rank with gear like that? This kid's family must be rich.
Is this your first time in a C-Rank dungeon?
It's okay! I'll keep you safe.
Let's be on our way!
Those bags look heavy. Are you gonna be okay?
Thank you, but I'll be all right.
I'm younger, so don't worry about being polite or anything.
Got it.
Did you hear about the president of the firm who was handling this site?
He fled overseas two months ago with 900 billion he embezzled.
The workers and investors were aghast.
Oh, was I rambling without reading the mood again?
I've never been great at social cues.
This is it.
Damn! Get a load of the size of that thing!
Gates this big are pretty rare.
Mr. Dongsuk, is this really a C-Rank dungeon?
Seems kinda... big.
The Association folks checked twice, and they say it's C-Rank. No doubt about it.
That really is a huge gate. Are we going to be okay?
The size of the gate doesn't matter that much.
The level of magic power coming from within is the real indicator.
That's what the Association measures to assign a rank.
Anything dangerous, like B-Rank or higher, is handled by larger guilds.
C-Rank ones and below shouldn't be that bad.
You really know a lot, Jinwoo.
I've been a hunter for a while now.
That said... I've never tackled a C-Rank dungeon before.
Everyone, follow me!
Right!
Let's go, Jinwoo!
Yeah. Okay.
Kyuhwan, we need some light.
Got it.
What is this place? There're no magic beasts...
No light, either.
Most dungeons are covered in glow stones.
A pitch-black dungeon...
It reminds me of the Cartenon Temple.
Jinwoo, what are glow stones?
They're rocks you tend to see in cave-like dungeons that give off a faint light.
They cover the walls and floor, lighting up the inside.
So there are essence stones that you recover from magic beasts,
mana stones that you can mine from dungeons,
and glow stones that light up caves?
Seems easy to mix them up.
You'll get used to it.
There really doesn't seem to be anything.
Jinwoo, are there dungeons without magic beasts?
This sound...
They're here. They just haven't shown themselves yet.
Get ready!
Right!
What creature lurks in large numbers in the darkness and is attracted to light?
They're insect-type beasts!
Insects?!
Damn it! Insect-types?!
Mr. Dongsuk, do you see anything?
No! Nothing!
Damn it, is this an ant nest?!
That'd be really bad!
The noise is getting closer!
Where are they?!
There're too many tunnels!
Above us!
Kyuhwan!
I'll draw their attention!
Right!
Stay close to me, Jinwoo!
Come and get me, vermin!
Wow... All of the bugs are headed toward Mr. Hwang!
A taunt skill? No wonder he's C-Rank.
Jinsuk! Eleven o'clock!
Copy that!
I should help—
Stay back for now!
Mind the countdown!
Five... Four... Three...
Two... One...
Zero!
Here comes a big one!
Chew on this!
Good! Now, let's wrap this up!
Hell yeah!
They're well coordinated.
It's easy to see that they've been working together for a long time.
Still, it might be the lack of a healer, but they're a bit rough around the edges.
As for Jinho... Looks like his gear is making up for any lack of skill.
They're doing a fine enough job, but...
Something...
feels off.
Okay!
Was that the last one? Jinsuk!
Yes, sir. No survivors. We're all done.
Good! All clear!
We grab the essence stones and split them seven ways!
Yeah!
This is my favorite part of the job.
Me, too.
You really helped out earlier.
If we had noticed them even a moment later...
It's all right.
How'd you know they were coming from above?
Instinct.
Well, those are sharp instincts you've got. They saved us.
Mr. Dongsuk! Look at this.
The wounds on these ones...
That's not from a sword strike.
That's what I thought, too. And they're not burns from magic, either.
There's more than a few that look like they were torn to pieces.
Maybe there was a turf battle with some other magic beasts?
That'd imply there's something stronger than these things around here, right?
Something big enough to prey on these bugs...
Did you see me get that beast?!
Yeah.
Jinho. That sword and shield probably cost a lot, right?
Oh, right. Since this is my first raid, my father got me something nice.
I see. Well, I'm not exactly sure why...
but we should be careful.
What the heck was that?! A bomb?
Calm down. That's something you hear all the time here.
It's just the Guildmaster doing his training.
Damn... He blew through that huge stone with one hit?
That didn't even amount to a warm-up.
Hey! Could someone clean up in here?
This is a long path...
The size of a dungeon...
...has nothing to do with its rank, right?
You mentioned its magic power rating before.
Does that mean this dungeon is huge but mostly empty?
Sure does.
It must be hard lugging all that stuff around such a big dungeon.
You sure you're okay, Jinwoo?
It's not that much.
And getting paid without having to fight is a pretty good deal.
A pretty good deal... Maybe too good.
Something keeps bugging me.
They're a battle-tested party... without a healer.
One that needed extra members to fill the quota...
Another half-dead one.
Nice!
Thanks.
This is a bit weird.
We've covered a ton of distance, and we haven't seen a single healthy beast.
Just ones that are injured or already dead.
The boss has gotta be around here somewhere.
Well, obviously, or a gate wouldn't have opened.
Hang on.
Kyuhwan, give us some light up ahead.
Sure.
That's gotta be the boss chamber down there.
Let's go.
What the...
Damn!
Mana crystals!
Damn, just look at them all!
They might not be worth as much as essence stones,
but a haul like this? Even at a glance, there's probably a billion's worth.
Y'know, Mr. Dongsuk, even your brother would be jealous of a score like this.
Hey! Don't bring up his brother!
Dongsoo... It's like I told you.
You don't always get to be right.
And you'd better not think I'm always gonna show deference to you, little brother.
I'm gonna use this haul to grow my strike team!
We really hit the jackpot.
If we split this seven ways, it's gonna be over 100 million each.
How are we gonna carry it all?
Jinwoo, can I see the contract you signed?
I'm pretty good with legal stuff.
Sure.
Excuse me, can I ask something?
This is Jinwoo's contract.
It only specifies that he doesn't get a share of the battle drops.
Since mana crystals are excavated and not dropped by beasts,
shouldn't this be split eight ways instead of seven?
Of course!
Let's split it evenly. I understand.
Still, we'll need to deal with that first.
The dungeon boss!
I'm sure you realize this, but once the boss is defeated, the gate will close.
We'll need to mine and haul the mana crystals out before fighting that spider.
Luckily, it seems to be asleep, which gives us the perfect chance to start excavating.
Chul-jin, where's the gear?
I mean... I didn't expect there to be this many mana crystals.
I left the transport stuff back with my ride.
Damn it, don't I tell you to always bring it?
I'm real sorry.
I'm sorry, but could you two keep an eye on things here?
We need to collect some equipment.
But this is the boss chamber! And it'll be just me and Jinwoo!
Don't worry. It seems to be asleep, probably on a full stomach.
I doubt it'll wake up unless something bothers it.
But...
This is your first raid, right, Yoo?
And this is Sung's first C-Rank dungeon.
Just trust me!
Okay?
I need to discuss some stuff with my team, too,
so we'll take a break while we're at it.
The regulations say you need eight members to tackle a C-Rank dungeon.
Minus Jinho and I, there are six people in the strike team.
We do all our raids without a healer.
He said "all our raids,"
which means they've tackled C-Rank dungeons before.
So wouldn't they have regulars who they'd call up to meet the quota?
Kyuhwan... seal off the boss chamber.
The entrance! But why?!
Does this mean... they betrayed us?
I knew it. Those bastards...
You run into some real crooks in this line of work.
Since it's dangerous, accidents happen regularly enough, right?
But since those accidents are totally isolated,
you could also commit a crime, and it'd never come to light.
There are no security cameras in dungeons,
and if there are no living witnesses, there'll never be any evidence, either.
Sometimes they use weak people as bait for enemies, or abandon them...
like a lizard leaving its tail behind.
They'd try to kill us just for some mana crystals?!
If... If I hadn't mentioned the contract, maybe...
No. Either way,
they were ready to kill us after one wrong move.
More importantly...
P-Please get back, Jinwoo!
I'll manage somehow...
We could get out from there, if we needed to.
That's probably what Hwang's people have in mind.
A C-Rank boss... and an E-Rank hunter.
This thing is literally on a whole different level.
A whole different... level...?
I take it all back.
Jinho. Don't move.
I'm gonna fight this thing.
Wait, wh-what?
I'll beat it.