In a world where rifts called Portals tear open across the land, humanity faces an unending threat. These gates lead to realms filled with monsters and demons — and once entered, there's no coming out until the beasts within are defeated. To combat this nightmare, global powers established elite institutions known as Hunter Academies, training awakened individuals to become mankind’s last line of defense.

Han Jiwoo was never supposed to be one of them.

Born with no magic, no physical talent, and no noble clan backing, living with his grandfather and sister after their parents had died in an accident, Jiwoo awakened as an F-Rank — the weakest rank of all. Dismissed as a failure, he was cast aside, a dropout with no future in the hunter world. But everything changes when a demon raid wipes out most of his team on his first mission, and Jiwoo is caught in the middle.

Presumed dead, Jiwoo returns days later — alive, but not the same. Unbeknownst to anyone, something awakened within him. Something dark. Something limitless.

Now enrolled at Hunter Academy, where ranks determine worth and only the strong survive, Jiwoo must climb the ranks without revealing the truth:

> He didn’t just survive… He was reborn.
And he’s not leveling up — he’s evolving.

That was all I could hear as the world crumbled around me.


I had never stepped into a Portal before—at least, not like this.


"Perfect for your first mission," they told us.


But there was nothing routine about what waited inside.


My team—experienced hunters, stronger than me—were torn apart like paper.


Their screams faded beneath the sound of ripping flesh and cracking bone.


Just a weak F-rank, trembling in the middle of a slaughterhouse.


The demon stood over me — massive, grotesque, its eyes glowing with hunger.


A screen. Floating. Silent. Glitching with unreadable light.


[Death Condition Met. Awakening Begins.]


Chapter 1 - Prologue