I didn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the Shadow Knight's blade coming down. Heard Jung's head hitting the floor. Watched Lee get dragged screaming into the darkness.
So instead, I sat at my tiny apartment's window and watched Seoul's skyline until sunrise. The city never really slept—even at 4 AM, I could see gates floating above different districts, glowing like alien moons.
Ten years since the first gate appeared. Ten years of humanity adapting, building an entire economy around dungeon diving. Hunters became celebrities. Gate clearing became a billion-dollar industry.
And I'd been at the bottom of it all, carrying bags for people who looked through me like I was invisible.
Not anymore.
[Daily Quest Available!]
The notification made me jump.
[Daily Quest: "Preparation of the Sovereign"] **[Objective:
Push-ups: 0/100 Sit-ups: 0/100 Squats: 0/100 Running: 0/10km]** [Reward: +1 to all stats, 1 random item][Failure: -10 to all stats for 24 hours]
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered.
But the penalty for failure was brutal. I couldn't afford to lose 10 stat points, even temporarily.
I checked the time: 5:23 AM. The Association debriefing wasn't until 9 AM. I had time.
I got to work.
Three hours later, I stumbled into the Association headquarters in Gangnam, every muscle in my body screaming.
The daily quest had been hell. A hundred push-ups? I used to max out at twenty. But somehow, with my increased stats, I'd managed. Barely. The running was worse—10 kilometers through Seoul's morning streets, dodging commuters and street vendors.
But I'd finished.
[Daily Quest Complete!][Rewards: +1 to all stats, Basic Health Potion x1]
The stat increase had been subtle but noticeable. And the health potion—a small red vial—had appeared in my inventory. Apparently, I had an inventory now. A mental storage space that held items in some kind of dimensional pocket.
This System just kept getting weirder.
"Kang Hajun?" A receptionist called my name. "Director Sung will see you now. Fifth floor, room 507."
I took the elevator up, very aware of the other Hunters sharing the space. A couple of C-ranks in expensive armor. A B-rank woman whose presence made my skin prickle—these people radiated power.
They didn't even glance at me. Why would they? I was just an E-rank.
Room 507 was a standard interrogation room—one-way mirror, metal table, uncomfortable chairs. Sitting across from where I'd be was Director Sung Taejin, a bulky man in his fifties with graying hair and the no-nonsense expression of someone who'd seen too much.
Next to him sat Han Yuri.
Of course she was here.
"Mr. Kang, please sit." Director Sung gestured to the chair. "This is Hunter Han Yuri from our Investigation Division. She'll be assisting with your debriefing."
Yuri smiled at me. It looked friendly. It wasn't.
I sat down.
"Let's start from the beginning," Sung said, pulling out a tablet. "You entered the D-rank gate at 6:14 PM yesterday as a porter for Park Minseok's party. Walk me through what happened."
I recited my story. The normal clear. The dungeon ogre. The sudden appearance of the Shadow Knight. The massacre. My survival by staying hidden.
Sung took notes, his expression unreadable.
When I finished, Yuri leaned forward. "You said the Shadow Knight disappeared after killing the others?"
"Yes."
"Did it say anything? Do anything unusual?"
I thought about the knight's hand plunging into my chest. The ancient voice offering me power.
"No," I lied. "It just... vanished. Like smoke."
"Interesting." She tapped her fingers on the table. "Because we sent a recovery team into the gate this morning. They found the four bodies exactly where you described. But there was no trace of a B-rank boss. No residual mana signature. Nothing."
Shit.
"Hidden bosses sometimes don't leave traces," I tried. "Right?"
"Sometimes," Sung admitted. "But combined with the fact that our sensors never registered anything above D-rank..." He studied me carefully. "You understand why we're skeptical."
"I know what I saw."
"I'm sure you do." He closed his tablet. "Here's the situation, Mr. Kang. Four Hunters are dead. The Association is liable for their families, their guilds, their contracts. That's going to cost us millions. If this was a system failure—a hidden boss that our sensors missed—that's a scandal. Heads will roll."
I saw where this was going.
"But if it was something else," Sung continued, "if, say, someone lied about what happened in that gate... well, that would be very convenient for the Association."
"I'm not lying."
"Then you won't mind submitting to a magical verification?"
My blood ran cold. Verification magic—high-level skills that could detect lies, read surface thoughts, even extract memories if the caster was strong enough.
If they used that on me, they'd find out about the System.
"That's a violation of Hunter privacy laws," I said quickly. "You need a warrant from a magistrate for involuntary verification."
Yuri raised an eyebrow. "You know your rights."
"I had a lot of time to read while carrying other people's bags."
Sung sighed. "You're right. We'd need a warrant. But Mr. Kang, let me be frank—you're a E-rank porter with no guild affiliation, no resources, and no friends in high places. If we want that warrant, we'll get it. The question is whether you want to make this difficult."
There it was. The implicit threat.
I had two choices: cooperate and risk exposure, or resist and make myself look guilty.
Before I could answer, something happened.
[Warning: Hostile Intent Detected]
[New Quest: "First Trial"][Objective: Prove your strength without revealing the System][Reward: Skill "Shadow Extraction" unlock conditions revealed][Failure: System exposure risk increases]
The notification appeared only in my vision. Sung and Yuri couldn't see it.
Prove my strength? How?
Then it hit me. The Hunter's Gym quest. The Association headquarters had training facilities.
"Director Sung," I said slowly, "what if I took a new assessment test?"
He blinked. "Assessment?"
"My Hunter rank was determined three years ago when I first awakened. People say ranks don't change, but..." I met his eyes. "What if mine did? What if whatever happened in that gate... changed me?"
It was a gamble. A huge one. But if I could show I was stronger now—not E-rank anymore—it might explain my survival. And it would let me complete the gym quest.
Yuri leaned back, studying me with new interest.
Sung frowned. "Ranks don't change, Mr. Kang. That's established science."
"Then the test will prove I'm still E-rank, and we're back where we started. But if I'm right..." I shrugged. "Maybe it explains why I survived when the others didn't."
Silence.
Finally, Sung nodded. "Fine. We'll run a full assessment. But Mr. Kang, if this is a waste of time—"
"It won't be."
I hoped.
The Association's training facility was located in the basement—a massive complex with magical reinforced walls, automated training dummies, and measurement equipment that could gauge a Hunter's abilities down to the decimal point.
Word had spread fast. By the time I arrived in the testing arena, a small crowd had gathered in the observation deck. Hunters loved gossip, and the story of the E-rank porter who survived a B-rank hidden boss was apparently too juicy to miss.
I saw Yuri in the crowd. She waved.
"Mr. Kang, please step into the measurement circle." A technician, a nervous-looking man in a lab coat, gestured to a glowing circle on the floor.
I stepped inside. Immediately, I felt the magic wash over me—scanning, probing, measuring.
[External Scan Detected][System Countermeasures Active][Your true stats will be partially obscured]
Wait, the System could hide itself?
Numbers began appearing on the massive display screen above the arena:
[Hunter: Kang Hajun][Age: 24][Initial Rank: E][Current Assessment...]
The scanning took thirty seconds. The crowd murmured, clearly expecting nothing interesting.
Then the results appeared.
[Current Rank: D]
[Strength: 18][Agility: 17][Vitality: 16][Magic Power: 15][Sense: 15]
The arena went silent.
"That's... impossible," the technician whispered.
The stats shown were lower than my actual stats—the System had hidden about 4-5 points from each category. But even with that, I was showing solid D-rank numbers.
A jump from E to D.
It didn't happen. It couldn't happen.
But everyone was seeing it.
"Run it again," Sung ordered from the observation deck. "Equipment malfunction."
They ran it three more times. Same results.
Yuri was grinning like a cat that caught a canary.
"Well," Sung said finally, his voice echoing through the arena. "It seems congratulations are in order, Mr. Kang. You've... re-awakened. The Association will update your license accordingly."
Re-awakening. That was the explanation they'd settled on. A rare phenomenon where a Hunter's rank suddenly increased due to extreme trauma or circumstance. It happened maybe once every few years, and usually only by one sub-rank.
I'd apparently jumped a full rank.
"Let's test his combat abilities," someone called from the crowd. "Let's see what a D-rank Hajun can actually do!"
Others picked up the call. The crowd wanted a show.
Sung looked irritated but nodded. "Mr. Kang, are you willing to run a combat simulation?"
[Quest Update: "Know Yourself"][Bonus Objective: Demonstrate combat capability][Additional Reward Available]
"Sure," I said.
The technician programmed the simulation. A gate materialized in the center of the arena—not a real gate, but a magical construct that could spawn training monsters at various difficulty levels.
"D-rank simulation," Sung ordered. "Standard Goblin Knight."
The gate shimmered, and something stepped through.
A Goblin Knight—about my height, wearing crude armor and wielding a rusted sword. Its red eyes locked onto me, and it shrieked.
I was given a standard training sword—blunt metal, magically reinforced.
The goblin charged.
My body moved on instinct. I sidestepped—faster than I'd ever moved before—and my sword came up in a basic guard position. The goblin's blade clanged against mine.
The impact would have knocked E-rank me on my ass.
D-rank me barely felt it.
I pushed back. The goblin stumbled. I followed up with a slash aimed at its neck.
The blade connected. The goblin's head flew off in a spray of pixels—training monsters were made of magic, not flesh.
[Training Monster Defeated: Goblin Knight][Time: 4.3 seconds]
The crowd erupted in noise.
Four seconds. That was... respectable. Not amazing, but solid for a newly-ranked D-rank Hunter.
"Another!" someone shouted.
The technician looked at Sung, who nodded grimly.
This time, two Goblin Knights appeared.
I killed them in seven seconds.
Then three.
Then five.
By the time they spawned ten Goblin Knights simultaneously, I was breathing hard but still standing. My increased Vitality meant I could keep going longer than a normal Hunter. My Agility let me dodge attacks that should have hit.
I wasn't skilled. But I was fast, strong, and durable.
The ten goblins took me forty seconds.
When the last one dissolved into pixels, the crowd was roaring. Somewhere in the chaos, I heard someone shout, "The White Hunter awakens!"
Great. They were giving me a nickname.
I stumbled out of the measurement circle, exhausted but alive.
[Quest Complete: "Know Yourself"][Quest Complete: "First Trial"][Calculating Rewards...]
Yuri appeared next to me, offering a water bottle. "Not bad, white-hair. You've been holding out on us."
"I didn't know," I said honestly. "I didn't know I could do that."
She studied me for a long moment. "I believe you. About the re-awakening, at least."
"But?"
"But I still think there's more to your story." She smiled. "Lucky for you, I like mysteries. And you, Kang Hajun, are the most interesting mystery I've found in years."
Before I could respond, the System finally delivered its rewards.
**[Rewards Received:
Level Up! 2 → 3 Skill "Shadow Extraction" unlock conditions revealed Title: "Rising Star" 10 Stat Points]**
[Shadow Extraction (Locked)][Unlock Condition: Defeat a boss-level monster and claim its shadow][Time Until Available: Varies by opportunity]
A boss-level monster. That meant I needed to clear a gate—a real one, not a training simulation.
I needed to get back in the field.
Director Sung approached, his expression complicated. "Mr. Kang, the Association owes you an apology. Your account of the events has been verified as consistent with a re-awakening scenario. You're cleared of any suspicion."
"Thank you."
"However," he continued, "as a newly assessed D-rank, you'll need to undergo probationary training before you can join raid parties. Standard protocol. Two weeks minimum."
Two weeks? I didn't have two weeks. I needed to level up, needed to unlock my skills—
"Unless," Sung added, "you join a guild. Guild-affiliated Hunters can bypass probationary training with guild leader approval."
Of course. Everything in the Hunter world came back to guilds—the organizations that controlled gate access, resources, and political power.
"I don't have a guild," I said.
"Not yet." Sung handed me a business card. "But I suspect that's about to change. You put on quite a show today, Mr. Kang. Word will spread fast."
He wasn't wrong. As I left the training facility, I could already see Hunters whispering, taking photos with their phones.
The weakest Hunter in Seoul just became D-rank overnight.