The Divine Guild, renowned as the best in Korea.
The Divine Guild earned that image because it boasted numerous top hunters.
When it came to top hunters, Kim Suho was an indispensable figure.
Kim Suho.
He was an A-Rank Hunter, and his background was remarkably exceptional.
He was the only son of the Divine Guild’s Guild Leader.
And that wasn’t all.
He was the top graduate of the 14th class of the Golden Cavalry, where only elite individuals from the Hunter Academy gathered.
He had even traveled to the El Dorado Continent, a place few hunters dared to visit.
And how was it on the El Dorado Continent?
He received formal knighthood from the White Church, the only sect that followed the Goddess.
With all these factors intertwined, Kim Suho quickly reached his current position.
And if one were to ask who the most recognized hunter in the country was, Kim Suho’s name would be the first to be called.
‘How boring.’
However, Kim Suho himself found all of this to be mundane.
It was too dull.
Even now, those around him were only discussing tedious matters.
“…And so, the second son of the Fire Bird Guild Leader has not been seen in public recently.”
It was a guild executive meeting.
It wasn’t a particularly important meeting, so the Guild Leader, his father, did not attend.
Kim Suho attended instead, but the meeting was so boring that he was on the verge of yawning.
“According to the information gathered by our informants, the second son, Jeong Woojin, attempted a dungeon subjugation and failed.”
It was boring.
Why would they even care about the Fire Bird Guild, which was beneath them?
And not only that, but someone who failed to subjugate a dungeon.
Kim Suho didn’t like it, but he put on a show of listening intently.
Of course, his true thoughts were elsewhere.
‘It was more fun when I was attending the Academy.’
He recalled how he freely played with his close friends and how the Academy teachers treated him well.
And.
‘It was really fun bullying that bastard Lee Kanghyeon.’
It was hilarious to see someone without a status window struggling to survive.
So, he lived for the moments he could torment him throughout the Academy, watching him suffer.
Once, he even broke Lee Kanghyeon’s arms and legs.
The more Lee Kanghyeon writhed in pain, the greater Kim Suho’s pleasure became.
Of course, he felt no guilt whatsoever.
Does one feel guilty for stepping on an ant on the ground while walking?
To Kim Suho, Lee Kanghyeon was no different than that.
An existence like an ant scattered on the street.
‘I wonder what he’s been up to lately.’
Recently, so bored was he, that he had been killing people in dungeons to alleviate his boredom.
But even that was starting to get tiresome.
‘I should find out what he’s been doing for a while.’
He had spent a long time busy with guild work, dungeon subjugation, and various external activities.
Therefore, he had forgotten about Lee Kanghyeon.
But the moment he thought of him again, he would be able to find him quickly.
Because the hunter industry was already full of his peers.
Although his peers were not as skilled as him, most of them had decent backgrounds, so a single phone call would be enough to quickly learn about Lee Kanghyeon’s whereabouts.
‘I need to focus on the meeting for now.’
The meeting was still in progress.
Kim Suho pulled himself away from his thoughts and began to focus on the meeting again.
“According to the executive of the Fire Bird Guild we recruited, there were an Incubus and a Succubus in the dungeon they failed to subjugate.”
What?
They were defeated by mere trifles like that?
Kim Suho’s expression contorted.
Regardless of Kim Suho’s expression, the meeting continued.
“The problem is the Succubus. Although there is only one, it is believed to be the master of the dungeon. Its rank is…”
The speaker paused for a moment.
After taking a sip of water, they opened their mouth with a grim expression.
“…It is estimated to be S-Rank.”
S-Rank.
At those words, everyone was aghast.
“S-Rank? Isn’t that a huge exaggeration? Besides, didn’t the second son return alive?”
“The Fire Bird Guild is telling a ridiculous lie to cover up their mistakes.”
“If there were S-Rank monsters, we would have known! What about the government!”
Each of them voiced their disbelief at the mention of S-Rank monsters.
S-Rank monsters.
Kim Suho felt a flicker of interest at the words.
On the El Dorado Continent, it was practically equivalent to a 6-Star being.
But he knew, having studied at the Church.
It was safe to say that there were virtually no beings higher than 5-Star at present.
Of course, there were records of 6-Star beings, equivalent to S-Rank, appearing several times on the El Dorado Continent in the past.
There were even records of facing a 7-Star Calamity, but that was in the very distant past.
Of course, the Demonic Realm might be different.
But that was all stories from the El Dorado Continent, and this was Earth.
On Earth, the appearance of S-Rank monsters could be counted on one’s fingers.
No, to be precise, they were not S-Rank.
They were rated as A-Rank, close to S-Rank.
However, they caused such immense casualties and damage that it was insufficient to be classified as A-Rank, and thus, they were given the S-Rank rating.
But at this point, an S-Rank monster appeared?
If it were true, those who entered that dungeon should have died.
But from what he heard, everyone had managed to survive and escape.
‘Absurd story.’
Kim Suho’s interest soon faded.
A true S-Rank monster is a Calamity.
He knew, having seen the records at the Church.
A single one of them appearing could cripple a small nation.
Why would such a being spare hunters out of pity?
Kim Suho believed the Fire Bird Guild’s story was propaganda to compensate for their mistakes.
Of course.
Now that stronger monsters and dungeons were gradually appearing, he couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t appear in the future.
But at least for now, he asserted that they did not exist.
‘I mean, S-Rank monsters aren’t like some neighborhood dog’s name.’
There was nothing more to hear.
Kim Suho immediately took out his smartphone and checked his contacts.
‘Who is this?’
He received a text message from someone named Kang Jinsoo.
Kim Suho thought for a moment and then remembered that he was an academy classmate.
Even as a classmate, he was inferior to him.
In essence, he was the type of person who flattered those in power.
He easily remembered him as someone who used to butter him up and provoke him when he was bullying Lee Kanghyeon.
Come to think of it, he heard that he was now in charge of magic power testing at the Awakened Center…
“Hah.”
He thought that even insignificant flies were starting to flock to him now that he was managing his image well.
Kim Suho considered deleting the message from Kang Jinsoo but decided to check it out of curiosity.
‘This bastard…’
The message contained information about Lee Kanghyeon.
The content was quite interesting.
“He gained a status window? And he even has Necromancer skills?”
That was all the message said.
Although he was a Necromancer who could only summon one Skeleton, Kim Suho paid attention to the fact that Lee Kanghyeon had gained a status window.
How did he get a status window?
He was intrigued.
‘In that case, I should meet this Kang Jinsoo fellow.’
An old toy he used to play with had returned as a new toy.
Kim Suho was just as excited now.
‘Let me finish my pending tasks quickly.’
He was motivated by the thought of playing with the toy named Lee Kanghyeon again.
* * *
“Maru, let’s go home quickly. Let’s go and make some ramen.”
A Skeleton Soldier next to me nodded.
Although it was a 1-star monster, classified as F-Rank on Earth, it had its uses, so I kept it with me.
I even gave it the name ‘Maru’.
And I was on my way home from the Awakened Center.
I had to report the fact that I had Maru, who was essentially a monster, so I visited the Awakened Center.
The result was that I was successfully certified as a Necromancer.
It was only one, and of course, it was impossible to summon or dismiss it in front of the person in charge.
However, since Maru was so obedient to my words, it was a difficult situation to deny that it was not my summoned creature.
‘Since it came out of my smartphone, it’s my summoned creature.’
In the end, I became a fake Necromancer and obtained the authority to officially take Maru with me.
As I was taking Maru home.
Ding-
Ding-
An alarm rang on my smartphone.
Come to think of it, it rang earlier too. What’s going on?
When I checked the content, it wasn’t a big deal.
It simply stated that someone had intruded into the dungeon and that they had successfully repelled them.
“As expected, Celia is doing a great job.”
Maru, who was beside me, nodded at my words.
– Chief Administrator Celia intends to offer Shadow as a sacrifice to Master.
Shadow?
What is that?
There was no explanation.
It’s unlikely to be the shadow that people commonly know.
But my momentary doubt was short-lived.
– The altar’s level is too low to offer Shadow as a sacrifice.
– Upgrade the altar.
Sigh.
It seems like I’ve been missing out on a lot because of that damn altar level.
Since I couldn’t even upgrade the altar, I could only console myself with regret.
“Isn’t this meaningless?”
As I lamented that.
– The dungeon was successfully defended.
– All minions successfully performed their roles.
– As an additional reward, the time for the currently offered sacrifice is shortened.
– The list of currently offered sacrifices includes a Demonic Sword.
– You can claim the Demonic Sword immediately.
– Do you wish to claim the Demonic Sword?
An alarm popped up, stating that I could immediately receive the Demonic Sword, which was supposed to take several more days to claim.
“That’s it!”
Of course, I couldn’t claim it now because I was outside.
“Let’s hurry home, Maru.”
I’ll show you something awesome, big brother.
