Chapter Text
‘My names sung Jin-woo’
The crumpled and battered body of Sung Jin-woo lay bleeding on an intricately carved altar. Her hand spasmed as her muscles twisted and contorted,
“Haa”
She grasped the hilt of Mr Kim Sang-Shik’s sword, her dangerously weak grip on the sword almost making her slip and drop it. As she moved the sword in front of her another jolt of white-hot pain attacked her nerves and almost made her fumble with her already weak grip and drop it; the only thing keeping the sword in her hands was blinding vengeance and what was left of her pride.
‘E rank hunter.’
Her already blurry vision was starting to get worse: her sclera had been dyed red from her eyelid tearing and internal bleeding, her damaged forehead had left a rather big splatter of blood across the far side of her face as well as multiple other blood splatters which decorated her face, her nose had started to leave a crimson trail of blood which travelled down her face like a vermillion river.
She gritted her teeth when she felt another wave of unimaginable pain.
“Haa”
She felt the tremors as the knights of that false god closed into her soon to be deathbed- Red hot anger bubble up inside of her
‘The hunters guild’
Her mind was starting to go into hysterics as the absurdness of the situation crept its way into her head and the blinding pain got even worse.
“Haa”
‘...Lowest rank and weakest hunter’
‘I never expected this to happen to me..’
‘Never.’
“Haa”
She felt black dots form in her blurring vision every time she took a gasp of breath. Her blood trailed down the altar and formed a puddle at the base of it,
“Haa”
One of the knights of the false prophet raised its weapon in preparation to finally end her agony, its blank eyes glowed white as it narrowed down on her form.
A wave of bloodlust attacked her senses and she felt what was left of her primitive instincts screech for her to run away; The only thing keeping her planted on that spot was her inability to do said task.
Her face crumpled into a snarl.
“Goddammit”
[Seoul South Korea]
E rank sung Jin-woo weaved her way through the busy streets of Seoul,
With her tied back black hair and average looks, build and height she perfectly blended into her surroundings like a forgettable memory: She had no memorable feature or presence.
‘If you disregard my slightly abnormal strength and regeneration’
If anything her clothing was even more forgettable: a monotone grey hoodie with cheap jeans and an obnoxious green bag, from the bandage and gauge on her it set a pretty likely indicator on what she does.
‘It’s embarrassing to even call myself a hunter’
She felt her mood drop further away from happiness and slouched further into herself as she walked among the other pedestrians.
‘Of course, I’m always getting hurt and even had a lot of near-death experiences’
‘The job where your life’s on the line, the Hunter...’
She felt her mind wander to her family.
‘I’m not doing this because I like it’
[ A construction site in Seoul ]
With stacks of metal pipes and other building machinery placed haphazardly yet in some sort of order with cranes flanking the exterior of the unfinished building- It looked like they were just about to get back to work if it weren’t for the blue specks of magic flowing through the unfinished structure that Culminated at the front entrance.
‘I barely pay my sick mother’s medical bills with what the Hunter’s Guild pays me’
‘For a normal person with no particular talent, I had no choice but to become a Hunter’
Kim Sang-Shik leaned against the blue truck of the hunters Association, his wrinkled face and grey hair showed signs of old age but the confidence in his stance exuded strength as he waited for the hunter association employee to hand him coffee.
“Here, good luck on your raid today”
Kim Sang-Shik graciously took the coffee the employee had handed him, his face forming a confident smirk.
“Thanks~”
“HEY KIM”
Kim Sang-Shik just about dropped his coffee from how startled he was before his eyes landed on the surprising source of the voice; A stout man with quite a bit weight on him. He didn’t look like the type of person you’d expect to see as a hunter, even when it was a well-known fact that a Hunter’s physique doesn't change their power, though his curly hair and sideburns didn’t make him anymore intimidating.
“It’s been a while”
“Wait, bak! What are you doing here?”
Kim Sang-Shik didn’t bother to hide his surprise as he reached out to clasp the hand of his now identified friend Bak.
“Didn’t you leave because you didn’t want to become a hunter?”
Bak's eyebrows creased up and his smile grew weary
“Well, my wife is pregnant with our second son, haha...”
Kim Sang-Shik offered a sympathetic smile towards his friend who had a similar situation to him.
“True, there’s nothing like a raid to earn a fortune”
“ it’s not an easy life to live”
Bak let out a long sigh before continuing on.
“I’m worried...it’s been so long that I might fall behind”
“My skill was already bad, and it worsened after I took a break”
Kim Sang-Shik took a sip of his coffee feeling the comfort of the hot beverage go down his throat. The cold temperature of the day seemed to make it taste even better; The Hunter’s Association made sure to always properly cater to the needs of the hunters.
“Yo~sung you arrived”
Kim Sang-Shik eyes flashed towards the crowd of hunters and felt the worries about the dungeon melt away- being replaced with relief.
“Sung, thanks for coming”
Bak finally seemed to realise the buzz of chatter around and turned around to face where it was coming from.
“It’s cold out there, isn’t it? Good job”
Sung Jin-woo felt someone offer a pat on her shoulder which only served to sour her mood further.
“Haha it’s nothing...I’ll be in your hands today too”
Kim Sang-Shik felt a smile form on his face as he waved at sung Jin-woo.
“Yo, sung! Sung! You eat yet?”
Sung Jin-woo bit down the wave of displeasure from the mocking greetings and instead offered a polite smile.
“Yeah, Mr Kim Sang-Shik. Thanks for worrying about me”
Bak stood staring cluelessly at the petite looking girl who looked much younger than how old she probably was and who everyone was giving joyous greetings to. However, he knew better than anyone to judge how strong someone was based on their looks alone and turned to Kim Sang-Shik to question him about this new hunter everyone seemed relieved to see.
“That girl, is she a powerful Hunter? Everyone’s happy to see her!”
Kim Sang-Shik let out a snicker at his friend's cluelessness to what had essentially become an inside joke.
“Hehehe...you wouldn’t know since she came right after you quit”
Kim Sang-Shik continued to build up to some false big reveal.
“Her nickname is...”
“The worlds weakest”
Baks face contorted in surprise,
“The worlds weakest?, not the strongest?”
Kim Sang-Shik’s mocking smile seemed to grow even wider.
“Bro, that’s we call s rank hunters. Sung is considered to be the weakest.”
“I mean, she’s weak enough to get hurt in an E rank dungeon”
Bak tossed an unconvinced look towards Kim Sang-Shik direction.
“Is she actually the weakest?”
Kim Sang-Shik knew what he was implying but he couldn’t help but agree with the nickname the poor girl was given- after watching her get hurt in an e rank dungeon it was kind of hard not to.
“Yeah, she’s probably the weakest of us all.”
Bak couldn’t help but start to believe what his friend was implying with such confidence.
“She’s actually that weak?”
Kim Sang-Shik had been around long enough to realise the significance of Sung Jin-woo's presence in the raid; Dead weight. hunters at worst tolerated her presence and at best she made them feel some sort of comfort that the dungeon was so weak that the weakest hunter was participating.
“So that means our Dungeon will be weak as well since she came”
Bak nodded at Kim Sang-Shik’s logic, feeling the former worry melt away and slowly be replaced with confidence.
“Ah...I see”
Kim Sang-Shik chuckled, stopping bak from saying anything else.
“Hey, she might hear us. let’s end it, for now, fu fu...”
Sung Jin-woo deadpanned at the obvious gossip about her. She didn’t even need to strain her ears to hear; Sung Jin-woo may be weak but her senses were one of the things she was most proud of, that, and her intuition which was better than most hunters she’s met.
‘I’ve been hearing you, old geezers... Ha...’
Sung Jin-woo shook off the exasperation and approached the familiar blue truck to wash down her sour mood with coffee.
“Hi, may I have a cup of coffee?”
The employee became flustered when he came to realise there was no coffee left and replied with a sympathetic smile.
“Ah, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo. I’m sorry, all the coffee ran out just now...”
“.....”
Sung jin-woo grimaced in disappointment and let out a soft sigh: Her already dull eyes seemed to dull further.
‘Not even coffee....feels bad, man’
The employee felt a pang of guilt after seeing sung Jin-woo’s reaction and apologised again.
“Really sorry about this, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo”
Sung Jin-woo hunched over feeling the displeasure hit her at full force.
“No...it’s fine”
Displeasure knawed at her gut like leeches; A thick vat of oil pouring into her stomach in waves as she wallowed in her own unpleasant thoughts. However, Sung Jin-woo felt her displeasure be replaced with surprise when she heard a cry of worry that almost made her topple over.
“AH! JIN-WOO! YOU’RE HURT AGAIN!!!!”
Ju-Hee panted after running to Sung Jin-woo, the subject of her very clear worry: her long light brown hair that seemed to change colour from the light hung loose reaching to her knees as her blue eyes examined sung Jin-woo’s bandaged face with worry.
“Oh, hi! Looks like Miss Ju-Hee is also attending this Raid?”
Ju-Hee huffed as put her hands on hips in annoyance.
“Of course! But that’s not the problem! Why is your face hurt again!?”
Sung Jin-woo let out a nervous laugh as she avoided staring at Ju-hee and instead chose to stare at the light brown coat that she seemed so fond of,
“Dunno... It just happened while I was Hunting, HaHa...”
“Really... What actually happened?”
Sung Jin-woo and Ju-Hee decided to sit on a stack of iron slabs isolated from the other hunters as Sung Jin-Woo explained what exactly had happened.
“You even went to a hospital?”
Ju-Hee asked in worry, Sung Jin-Woo let out a dejected sigh as she recalled the events of the raid.
“Yeah...”
“We were in an E-Rank Dungeon and I was the only one hurt”
Ju-Hee let out a gasp of surprise; her face contorting in worry and surprise.
“Huh? How could that happen...”
Sung Jin-Woo flinched at her friend's reaction before continuing on.
“The others were all higher ranked so they didn’t even bring a healer”
Ju-Hee quietly voiced her frustrated disapproval.
“Even so, they really didn’t bring a healer just because they would be safe?”
Sung Jin-Woo offered a reassuring smile her mood was significantly better than before after having a talk with her friend, but her words still left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“It’s okay. It’s only because I’m weak...”
“I’m used to it. Miss Ju-Hee also knows that, right?”
Ju-Hee’s face turned despondent as she sadly stared at her friend, wishing there was a way to make her feel better.
“......”
Sung Jin-Woo slowly stood up from the stack of iron slabs when she saw the crowd of hunters slowly begin to gather around the gate trying to shake Ju-Hee out of the gloomy mood she had put her in.
“Well, looks like everyone’s getting ready to go into the Gate. Let’s go as well.”
Ju-Hee felt her heart ache slightly as she quietly added her agreement.
“Ok...”
Song Chi-Yul stood imposingly at the entrance of the gate, being possibly the strongest one participating in the raid in terms of attack power there was obviously a clear difference in power compared to the other hunters as Song Chi-Yul was a C rank and the majority of the raid members were either E or D rank aside from Ms Ju-Hee, of course.
“EVERYONE!”
Song Chi-Yul stood with an easy smile on his face; Even though he was an older man his stance exuded power from years of training with a sword, his copper brown hair was brushed back out of his face marked with wrinkles and smile marks as a testament to his old age.
“We’re off to go hunting so I’m not really qualified to say this, but…”
He paused for a second before confidently presenting his idea.
“I’d like to be the Party Leader for this Raid, is that alright with you people?”
Kim Sang-Shik gave a lopsided grin in approval.
“Mr Song, you’re the highest-ranked here! I’ve got no problems”
Bak gave a wide grin feeling the worry he had moments ago be replaced with confidence at the presence of Song Chi-Yul and Sung Jin-Woo.
“Well, if it’s Mr Song, we can trust him. It’s been a while since I’ve witnessed his skills”
The rest of the hunters participating in the raid slowly chipped in their approval.
“Yeah, I agree as well”
“Yeah, count me in”
“Me too~~ ”
Sung Jin-woo felt a relieved smile creep its way onto her face at the prospect of the party being led by one of the more kinder and capable hunters.
“Take care of us, Mr Song Chi-Yul”
Ju-Hee seemed to carry the same opinions as the others, as no matter how high her rank was she was still a very big pacifist like many healers so it helped ease her nerves that a C rank would be fighting with them.
Pleased by the results Song Chi-Yul let out one finale shout to boost the morale of the party.
“ALRIGHT, THEN LETS ENTER THE DUNGEON.”
“LETS GO!!!”
The crowd of hunters slowly started to enter the ever-moving glowing portal.
Kim Sang-Shik’s ever mocking face glanced back at Sung Jin-Woo.
“Miss Sung, try not to get injured behind us, okay?”
Sung Jin-Woo was never certain that even with his mocking expression if Kim Sang-Shik was actually mocking her or actually was concerned.
“Haha...okay”
She decided to laugh it off rather awkwardly.
“Lets go, Jin-Woo”
Ju-Hee strode into the portal beckoning Sung Jin-Woo to follow her.
Sung Jin-Woo grimaced slightly at the fact that Ju-Hee, the healer and a known pacifist, was protecting her.
“Ok, ok...”
Sung Jin-Woo exhaled out feeling the determination toughening her resolve,
Her eyes sparkled with resolve.
“I’m going to try my best today!!”
With a last boost to her morale, she strode into the swirling portal feeling it converging around her before swallowing her silhouette.
The Hunters Association Employees watched as Hunter Sung Jin-woo entered the glowing whirlpool of mana; they were all non-hunters so they couldn’t exactly sense the mana that oozed from the blue swirling mass but the cold breezes that sent shivers down there spines did more than show what it was.
“All clear! Lets go!”
They let go of the breaths they didn’t realise they were holding; non-hunters always found portals less than welcoming- Something in they’re instincts told them to get as far away as possible.
“Ah, Ok”
The server that tried to serve Sung Jin-Woo stood in front of the glowing portal with a conflicted look on his face. His co-worker seemed to sense his conflicted emotions.
“What’re you thinking about?”
The server continued to stare intensely at the swirling whirlpool of mana with a conflicted look unable to express exactly how he felt, so he instead settled on the subject of his concern.
“It’s just... Hunter Sung Jin-Woo...”
He started.
“I’m a little bothered that we couldn’t give her any coffee”
This caused his co-worker to turn to the gate in confusion still trying to comprehend his co-workers worry for a hunter, until it clicked on who Hunter Sung Jin-Woo was.
“Ah~ The Weakest Hunter in the E-Rank Category?”
He supplied with a newfound interest.
“What rank is this dungeon?”
The servers brows furrowed in concern when he recalled the exact rank of this dungeon.
“They said it’s about D-Rank”
“I’ve never seen Hunter Sung Jin-Woo uninjured in my whole time at the Hunter’s Guild”
Is co-worker shrugged in disinterest while pulling the other away from the Gate.
“A D-Rank Dungeon... Well, don’t think anything’s gonna happen Let’s go!”
The luminous ball of mana worked to heal theee deep almost bone cutting injury that Sung Jin-Woo had received when she got in a scuffle with an E rank monster, Along with multiple other lacerations and bruises.
The worse being a horrific slash across her stomach which Ju-Hee had healed first; Sung Jin-Woo’s figure was enveloped in a warm veil of healing magic, Ju-Hee frowned at Sung Jin-Woo haphazardly sitting on the ground before crouching down closer to her to try and heal the wound faster- even if Ju-Hee was a B rank healer the number of times she had to heal Sung Jin-Woo was taking its toll.
“Jin-Woo, why are you so adamant on working as a Hunter?”
“Fighting like this will only bring even more risks!”
Sung Jin-woo felt her face flush in embarrassment from her friend's reprimands and her uselessness to take out the simplest of enemies.
“Sorry...”
Ju-hee let out a sigh of defeat at her friends mumbled apology.
“I’m not saying this for an apology! I’m just worried”
Ju-Hee’s lecture was cut short when she felt the warmth of Song Chi-Yul’s flames snap her attention away from her former centre of attention, with a casual glance in the direction of the heat showed the beautiful spectre of Song Chi-Yul controlling his flames with the skill of a master swordsman to wipe out his opponents,
A casual glance in the direction showed the other party members finishing off the rest of the monster including Kim Sang-Shik who skillfully cut down his opponents with ease, another cursory glance across the arena showed that the other hunters were all uninjured. Ju-Hee let out a sigh of relief.
‘At least this Raid is almost over’
Sung Jin-Woo’s attention was pulled away from Ju-Hee when she heard the sounds of battle slowly start to stop and she took a glance at her party members.
“Looks like it’s done!”
“Mr Bak, you’re not dead yet, huh?”
“Ha, this is a piece of cake”
Sung Jin-Woo felt shame eat at her when she saw that her party members were completely fine.
“......”
“Jin-Woo, do you have a reason?”
Sung Jin-Woo felt the question snap her out of her reverie and turned her gaze to Ju-Hee.
“To not quit being a Hunter?”
Sung Jin-Woo immediately came up with a nonchalant reply as her dull expression from before turned carefree.
“I’m just a Hunter for fun. If I don’t do this, I might actually die from boredom!”
‘Even though I consider her to be my friend telling her my personal reason will make me even more embarrassed’
Ju-Hee snarked at her comment catching Sung Jin-Woo off guard.
“Looks like having “fun” two times will send you Raiding in the afterlife.”
The suddenness of her statement had caught Sung Jin-Woo so off guard that when she finally recovered the only thing she could do was burst into a fit of laughs.
“PFFFFT- “
However immediately after she came to regret her mistake when her muscles jerked in pain.
“ACK!!”
However, she still couldn’t help but laugh through the pain.
“DON’T LAUGH!! YOU’LL OPEN YOUR WOUND!!”
After Ju-Hee had finished healing Jin-Woo’s they moved over to where Song Chi-Yul was explaining something about magic Crystals to an absolutely riveted audience of hunters. /p>
“Yeah yeah…”
“This is what get after killing a Monster- The Magical Core”
A magical core from even a C- rank monster is worth thousands.
However, since Jin-Woo was an E-rank hunter, C-rank monsters were impossible for her.
Jin-woo face contorted into a bitter expression as she stared at her stock of magic Crystals or crystal.
‘After all my injuries and troubles, I only earned a single E-Rank Magical Core...’
Jin-Woo’s grip on the magic Crystal tightened as displeasure crawled its way into her brain.
‘Considering I put my life on the line to earn this, it’s too small’
“Earning money like this is...”
She mumbled dejectedly.
However, before she could wallow in her self pity any longer...
“HEY! EVERYONE! THERE’S ANOTHER ENTRANCE HERE!!”
The entire party gathered at the maw of what looked like the entrance to a big caving system. Sung Jin-Woo loitered there with the group of hunters not really having a clue what was transpiring, but the countless dungeons she’s raided made her senses immediately sharpen at the sudden change in routine, Song Chi-Yul leaned against the entrance to the cave.
“The Double Lair... looks like it’s actually real”
Song Chi-Yul gathered his mana into a single fireball in his palm before throwing said fireball into the pitch-black cave; The fireball illuminated the path as it whizzed passed. The cave, as expected, had no remarkable features, simply being made out of rock. However what soon became evident was the fact that the distance was so far that not even a speck of light could be seen.
Song Chi-Yul’s eyebrows furrowed before he turned to face the group of hunter.
“Hmm... everyone, listen to me for a moment”
He confidently explained a possible course of action.
“The Gate does not close if the Boss is still alive!!!”
He pointed his thumb toward the entrance of the cave and continued on.
“Since the Gate is still open, it seems the Boss is inside there”
“Usually, we’d need to contact our Guild and await their orders, but…”
The hunters exchanged glances with each other as they finally caught on to what he was implying.
Song Chi-Yul continued to try and persuade the hunters that this was the best course of action.
“If the other Hunters get to it first, our profits would dwindle”
He continued on feeling some of the hunter's heads snap to attention.
“So, I wish for all of us to go kill the Boss…”
“Since it could be dangerous, why don’t 17 of us take a vote?”
He paused.
“And no complaining after the vote results”
Immediately after he finished talking bak and Kim Sang-Shik chimed in their agreement.
“We vote to fight”
Slowly the remaining hunters choose their respective sides.
“Nah”
“I vote to go”
“I say no”
“Let’s fight”
It soon came down to Ju-Hee’s vote and, with her head hung low, but absolutely resolute in her choice, she quietly whispered her choice.
“Sorry… But I don’t want to go”
Song Chi-Yul offered a refreshing smile and read out the current vote tally.
“It’s 8:8 so far, huh?”
He turned to face the one person who still had yet to vote.
“What about you Miss Sung”
Everything depended on Jin-Woo’s vote
Jin-Woo felt sweat build-up at the back of her neck, as the rest of the hunters waited for the deciding factor. Sung Jin-Woo combed through her options.
‘I don’t have enough money...’
She stared down at the magic Crystal gripped tightly in her hands that she had risked her life to obtain.
‘Soon, I even need to send my little sister to college...’
‘And...’
Her resolve hardened when a picture of her gaunt frail mother lying in a hospital bed stuck in a never-ending dream.
My sick mother...’
‘For my family!’
Sung Jin-Woo’s determination flared in her eyes as she shouted her agreement.
“IM GOING!”
‘JUST ONE MORE TIME! LET’S DO THIS!’