The Shinsung Guild, regarded as the best guild in the Republic of Korea.
The Shinsung Guild had earned that image because it possessed a great many of the finest Hunters.
And when speaking of the finest Hunters, Kim Suho could not be left out.
Kim Suho.
He was an A-rank Hunter. Even his background was extraordinary.
He was the only son of the Shinsung Guild’s guildmaster.
And that was not all.
He had graduated at the top of the 14th class of the Hunter Academy, the so-called golden cohort where all the most prominent talents had gathered.
He had even been to the Eldorad Continent, where only a small number of Hunters ever went.
And what about on the Eldorad Continent?
He had formally been ordained as a paladin by the White Order, the only order that followed the goddess.
As all these things intertwined, Kim Suho was able to reach his current position in no time.
And if one asked who the most recognizable Hunter in the country was, the first name to be mentioned would be Kim Suho.
‘How dull.’
However, Kim Suho himself found all of it dull.
It was far too boring.
Even now, the people around him were only discussing tedious matters.
“…And so, these days, the second son of the Firebird Guildmaster has not been seen at any official functions at all.”
A meeting of the guild executives.
It was not a particularly important meeting, so his father, the guildmaster, had not attended.
Kim Suho had attended in his place, but the meeting was so boring that he was on the verge of yawning.
“After sending out separate informants to investigate, we learned that the second son, Jeong Ujin, attempted to subjugate a dungeon and failed.”
Boring.
Why did they need to concern themselves with the Firebird Guild, which was beneath them?
And with a guy who had failed to subjugate a dungeon, at that.
Kim Suho did not like it, but outwardly, he appeared to be listening intently.
Of course, his mind was somewhere else entirely.
‘It was more fun back when I was at the Academy.’
He remembered playing around without restraint with the kids he was close to, and how all the Academy teachers had treated him well.
And.
‘It really was fun tormenting that bastard Lee Ganghyeon.’
There was nothing more amusing than watching a guy without even a status window struggle to survive.
So throughout his time at the Academy, he had lived for the pleasure of tormenting him and watching him suffer.
Once, he had even broken his arms and legs.
The more Lee Ganghyeon suffered, the greater Kim Suho’s pleasure grew.
Of course, he felt no guilt whatsoever.
Would one feel guilty for stepping on an ant on the ground while walking?
To Kim Suho, Lee Ganghyeon was exactly that kind of existence.
An existence like an ant crawling all over the street.
‘I wonder what he’s been doing lately.’
Recently, he had been so bored that he had occasionally killed people in dungeons to relieve the tedium.
But even that was gradually growing tiresome.
‘I should find out how he’s living.’
For a while, he had been busy without a moment to spare due to guild work, dungeon subjugations, and various public activities.
Because of that, he had forgotten the existence known as Lee Ganghyeon.
But now that he had remembered him again, he would be able to find him quickly.
After all, the Hunter industry was already full of his cohort mates.
They were inferior to him, of course, but most of them still had fairly decent backgrounds, so with a single phone call, he would surely be able to learn of Lee Ganghyeon’s whereabouts in no time.
‘I should focus on the meeting first.’
The meeting was still in full swing.
Kim Suho shook off his idle thoughts and began focusing on the meeting again.
“According to the executive we recruited from the Firebird Guild, the dungeon they failed in contained incubi and succubi.”
What?
They lost to mere things like that?
Kim Suho’s expression twisted.
Regardless of Kim Suho’s expression, the meeting continued.
“The problem is the succubus. There is only one, but they suspect she is the master of the dungeon. Her rank is…”
The speaker paused for a moment.
After taking a brief sip of water, he opened his mouth with a stiff expression.
“…They say she is presumed to be S-rank.”
S-rank.
At those words, everyone was shocked.
“S-rank? Isn’t that an absurd exaggeration? Didn’t you say the second son even came back alive?”
“The Firebird Guild is telling an outrageous lie to cover up its own mistake.”
“If there had been an S-rank monster, there’s no way we wouldn’t have known! And what about the government?”
Each of them raised their voices, denying the claim of an S-rank monster.
An S-rank monster.
Kim Suho felt a brief flicker of interest at those words.
On the Eldorad Continent, that would effectively mean a six-star being.
But he knew from studying with the Order.
At present, it was safe to say there were virtually no beings above five-star.
Of course, there were records stating that six-star beings, equivalent to S-rank, had appeared several times in the past on the Eldorad Continent.
There were even records of a seven-star calamity appearing, but that was already an event from the distant past.
Of course, the lands of the Demon Realm might be different.
But all of that was merely about the Eldorad Continent, and this was Earth.
On Earth, the appearance of S-rank monsters could be counted on one hand.
No, to be precise, they had not truly been S-rank.
They had been assessed as A-rank monsters close to S-rank.
But because they had caused enormous casualties and damage, it had felt insufficient to classify them as A-rank, so they had merely been assigned the rank of S.
And now, at this point in time, an S-rank monster had appeared?
If that were true, the ones who entered that dungeon should normally have died.
But from what he had heard, everyone had managed to escape with their lives.
‘What an absurd story.’
Kim Suho’s interest soon cooled.
A true S-rank monster was a calamity.
He knew that, having seen the records in the Order.
It was the kind of being that could paralyze an entire small nation if even one appeared.
Why would such a being go out of its way to spare Hunters?
Kim Suho thought it was propaganda by the Firebird Guild to make up for its own mistake.
Of course.
Since stronger monsters and dungeons were gradually appearing even now, he could not guarantee that none would ever appear in the future. But at least at this point in time, he was certain there were none.
‘As if S-rank monsters are some neighborhood mutt.’
It was not a story worth listening to any further.
Kim Suho immediately took out his smartphone and checked his messages.
‘Who’s this?’
There was a message from someone named Kang Jinsu.
Kim Suho thought for a moment, then remembered that he had been a cohort mate from the Academy.
Even if they had been cohort mates, he was someone far beneath him.
If one had to put it into words, he was the sort whose position was to flatter those with power at their side.
He remembered him easily because he had been the guy who flattered him and mouthed off beside him whenever he bullied Lee Ganghyeon.
Come to think of it, he had heard that Kang Jinsu was now working at the Awakened Center, in charge of mana tests or something…
“Hah.”
Now that he had been managing his image well these days, even insignificant flies were swarming around him.
Kim Suho considered deleting the message Kang Jinsu had sent, but then decided he might as well check it.
‘This bastard…’
The message contained information about Lee Ganghyeon.
And its contents were extremely interesting.
“He got a status window? And he even has a necromancer skill?”
That was all that had been written in the message.
It said that he was a necromancer who could only summon a single skeleton.
Judging by his ability alone, he was no better than a maggot, but Kim Suho paid attention to the fact that Lee Ganghyeon had gained a status window.
How had he gotten a status window?
He became interested.
‘In that case, I’ll have to meet this Kang Jinsu guy.’
A toy he had played with long ago had transformed into a new toy and returned.
That was how excited Kim Suho was right now.
‘I should hurry and take care of the work that’s piled up first.’
The thought of playing with the toy known as Lee Ganghyeon once again filled him with motivation.
* * *
“Maru, let’s hurry home. Once we get there, make me some ramen.”
The skeleton soldier beside me nodded.
Although it was a one-star monster, called F-rank on Earth, it had its uses, so I kept it around.
I had even given it the name “Maru.”
And right now, I was on my way back from the Awakened Center.
Since Maru was fundamentally a monster, I had to report it if I wanted to keep it with me, so I had visited the Awakened Center.
The result was that I safely received proof that I was a necromancer.
There was only one, and naturally, I could not summon or unsummon it in front of the person in charge.
But Maru obeyed my words so well that it was awkward for them to deny that it was my summon.
‘It came out of my smartphone, so it’s my summon.’
In the end, I became a fake necromancer and gained the official right to take Maru around with me.
As I was heading home with Maru.
Ding—
Ding—
An alarm rang on my smartphone.
Come to think of it, it had rung earlier too. What was going on?
When I checked the contents, it was nothing serious.
It simply said that someone had invaded the dungeon, and that the invasion had been successfully blocked.
“As expected, Celia really is good at her job.”
At my words, Maru, who was beside me, nodded as well.
- General Administrator Celia wishes to offer a shadow as a sacrifice to Master.
A shadow?
What was that?
There was no explanation.
And it probably could not be the kind of shadow people commonly knew.
The momentary question was brief.
- The altar’s level is significantly low, so the shadow cannot be offered as a sacrifice.
- Please upgrade the altar.
Come on.
It felt like I was taking a lot of losses because of that damn altar’s low level.
Since I could not even upgrade the altar, I had no choice but to soothe my disappointment.
“Then isn’t this meaningless?”
Just as I was feeling regretful.
- You have successfully defended the dungeon.
- All minions successfully carried out their respective roles.
- As an additional reward, the time required for the sacrifice currently being offered will be reduced.
- The list of sacrifices currently being offered includes a magic sword.
- You may receive the magic sword immediately.
- Would you like to receive the magic sword?
An alert appeared, saying that I could receive the magic sword, which still had several days left before I could claim it, right away.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
Of course, since I was outside right now, I could not receive it.
“Let’s run home, Maru.”
I’ll show you something damn awesome.