Director Kim Dong-jun thought himself clever. With one phone call, he twisted the situation, pressing Jo Kang-hyun to offer a reckless challenge. The deal was simple yet cruel—if the returnee, Lee Seong-jun, could clear an E-class gate and defeat the D-class boss within, then he would be granted the highest compensation possible. If he failed, all talk of additional rewards would vanish.
Jo Kang-hyun knew the weight of such a demand. A D-class boss was no ordinary foe. Normally, hunters required months of training and experience before reaching D-rank, and even then, it often took a team to bring down such a monster. The strongest returnees had needed weeks to stabilize their power. For a man who had been back on Earth for less than ten days, the demand was nothing short of outrageous.
Yet when Jo Kang-hyun, ashamed and reluctant, sent the offer to Seong-jun, the reply came at once. He would accept. He asked only for the gate's location and the report.
Shock rippled through Jo Kang-hyun. His heart ached at the thought of sending a promising talent into what looked like certain death. But he reminded himself of what he had seen in Seong-jun's eyes. This was no reckless fool blinded by his past glory. This was a man who weighed every decision carefully. If he had accepted, then he must have his reasons.
When the news reached Kim Dong-jun, he smiled with venom. He thought the returnee had walked into his trap willingly. Soon, he imagined, headlines would cry out that Jo Kang-hyun had endangered a national asset. To the director, it was a perfect chance to crush his rival.
Meanwhile, Seong-jun prepared for battle.
He arrived by taxi at the gate site, where crimson cracks shimmered in the air, distorting the world like a wound bleeding light. His calm steps carried him toward the entrance, where an Association employee stood guard. The man, Choi Gyu-jin, verified his ID with surprise and respect, then introduced himself as a member of the Gate Management Team. In truth, his role was little more than that of an examiner—an E-rank hunter tasked to observe, record, and, if possible, provide minimal support should disaster strike.
Seong-jun quickly measured the man's strength. His senses, sharpened after his job change, could now gauge the power of weaker hunters with clarity. Choi was indeed only at E-rank. Barely above the lowest grade. Sending such a man to oversee a gate with a D-class boss monster spoke volumes of the Association's manpower shortage.
But Seong-jun did not protest. It did not matter. His acceptance of this mission came from confidence, not desperation. The Enhancer's buffs, combined with his mastery of countless martial arts, gave him certainty.
As he stretched lightly before the gate, Choi Gyu-jin watched with growing unease. He had seen returnees like this before—men and women intoxicated by the memories of power they no longer truly possessed. Too many had rushed in with confidence, only to collapse under the weight of reality. In his mind, he already pictured Seong-jun fleeing in terror, dragging trouble onto others. He prepared himself mentally to escape if things turned dire.
But Seong-jun was not like those others. His movements carried no nervous tension, only quiet readiness. His eyes, cold and steady, read the flow of the world around him. When he declared that he was ready, his steps into the gate held the dignity of one who had faced gods.
The inside of the rift swallowed them.
Darkness reigned beneath the canopy of twisted trees, the daylight outside smothered by endless leaves. The air was damp, filled with the sound of strange birds circling above. The ground sucked at their feet with swampy resistance, releasing the stench of decay.
The E-class gate was nothing like the green forest of the F-class rift he had visited before. This world was heavy, suffocating, and wrong.
Seong-jun surveyed the eerie terrain, his sharp gaze cutting through shadows. He nodded to himself, unshaken.
This gate was a place meant to break the weak. But to him, it was nothing more than the first true step toward reclaiming his throne as Demon God.
The hunt was about to begin.