Sorry its a few minutes late. Should have started doing my final edits a bit earlier.

-]|[-

Jinwoo took a deep breath as he exited the demon tower. “…Man, I almost forgot what clean air tasted like…” He bit back a grimace. After a week of nothing but smoke from burning buildings, it was nice to inhale some actual fresh, clean air once more. He opened up a screen and put up a group call. “Hey girls.” He said with a fond smile once everyone picked up. It looked like the girls were all together. “How did your dungeons go?”

“It’s so UNFAIR!” Soohyun wailed.

He blinked in shock as Joohee started to giggle. Raising an eyebrow at his melodramatic girlfriend, he asked, “Okay, I’ll bite.”

“Oooh, kinky.” Miho grinned.

Jinwoo snorted, “What’s unfair?”

“Joohee has minions too now!” Soohyun pouted at their redheaded girlfriend. “Where’re MY minions?!”

“What?!” Jinwoo twitched. “It gave you Shadow Summons too?!”

“No.” Joohee continued to giggle. “It lets me summon the ones I beat in my S-Rank Dungeon. It costs mana though. Nowhere near as good as your skill.”

“Still something.” Jinwoo smiled at her. “Did you finish your Dungeons?”

“No.” Miho shook her head. “All of us started running out of food or supplies.” She told him, “Well, not me, since I was eating the beasts I was killing.” She amended her statement, “But Joohee and Soohyun both did.”

“Same.” Jinwoo frowned, “I got through seventy-five of (I’m assuming) a hundred floors before I ran out. I’ll also need new gear, since the climate started getting worse and worse the farther up I went.”

“Hmm, seems to me like we were being pushed out.” Joohee reasoned, “Which probably means we weren’t ready to continue and need to level up more.”

“That’s a fair point.” Soohyun frowned, “The System totally would do that.”

“A reasonable assumption.” Miho agreed, “Also, I just remembered something.” She said, her eyes widening, “Did your Cursed Loot boxes give you something totally useless?”

“Yeah.” Jinwoo frowned as he pulled the item from his inventory and inspected it.

Joohee’s eyes widened, “Wait, that looks like mine.” She said and pulled hers out. It was the exact same color.

Miho and Soohyun pulled theirs out too and Miho’s eye twitched. “…Son of a bitch. They’re key pieces.”

“Of course.” Soohyun rolled her eyes. “Shall we meet up?”

“It’s almost ten. Kind of late for a party.” Joohee smiled slightly.

“But perfect for some us-time.” Miho purred.

Jinwoo swallowed, “Give me like thirty minutes or so. I want to talk to Jinah.”

“Ah… you didn’t finish the elixir.” Joohee realized with a sad frown. He nodded, “Don’t worry, Jinwoo. One more entry and you’ll do it. We believe in you.”

“We’ll bring food.” Soohyun winked at him before leaving the camera.

“Thanks.” Jinwoo blew them a kiss before ending the call. He cracked his neck and took a step forward. Within a blink, he was almost a mile away.

…

“Jinwoo!” Jinah exclaimed when he walked in. She immediately jumped into his arms and hugged him. “You’re okay…”

“I told you I’d be fine.” He smiled at her.

“You did.” She sighed and smiled up at him, “Guess I just have to trust you now, Mr. S-Rank.” She grinned impishly at him. “…Did you do it?” Her smile fell after a few moments and she asked him.

He shook his head and she looked down, “I was only able to get three-fourths of the way through the Dungeon.” He sat down with a sigh. “After a week of fighting, I just ran out of food. I did get two of the three ingredients though.”

“Then that’s good enough.” Jinah declared and sat with him, dropping her head on his arm. “Next time.”

“Next time.” Jinwoo promised.

“But don’t you dare just stock up and then skedaddle again. Now, you should rest for a bit.” She said demandingly.

“We plan on it.” Jinwoo smiled at her, “Though to be honest, I’ll probably go a little stir-crazy if I just hang out.” He said sheepishly.

“With three babes like your girls, press x to doubt.” She deadpanned and he burst out laughing.

…

Soohyun was the most excitable of the three. She leapt at him and wrapped her legs around his waist as she kissed him.

“Oi, get a room!” Jinah complained.

“Later.” Miho smirked at her. “We brought a peace offering slash distraction.” She held up a bag.

“Fried chicken!” Jinah cheered and grabbed for them. “You girls are going to make me fat!” She whined, causing Miho and Joohee to giggle. The two went over to Jinwoo and Soohyun and pulled the two apart so they could get their own kisses in.

“Welcome back, Jinwoo.” Joohee beamed at him before claiming his lips.

“Glad to be back.” Jinwoo smiled at her, before wrapping an arm around Miho’s waist and kissing her as well. “So, first things first… let’s see those pieces.” He said once they broke apart.

“Yup!” Soohyun said as they all took out their Cursed Lootbox drops. The second they were all visible, they crackled with red-tinged-black lightning and tugged themselves out of their hands. The four pieces connected with another flash and then dropped into Jinwoo’s hand. “So, what’s our next Instanced Dungeon?”

“Uhh…” Jinwoo stared at it. “…I have no idea…”

“Huh?” Miho snatched it from him. “…This fucking System.” She rolled her eyes and handed it to Joohee.

“Everything’s blanked out!” Joohee sounded confused.

“No information at all huh, other than the fact that more details will become available at a later date.” Soohyun frowned at it. “That’s bogus.” She rolled her eyes and handed it back to Jinwoo, who put it in his inventory.

“Let’s go eat before the chicken gets cold.” Miho said as they followed after Jinah. “Woah, chill girl!” Said sister had already nommed on four pieces.

Jinwoo snorted hard, “Like I told Songyi: a sleepyhead who loves fried chicken way too much.”

Jinah stuck her tongue out at him. “So, what are you guys going to do next?” She asked once she licked her fingers and they started to dig in too, “Back into your Dungeons? Jinwoo didn’t finish his.”

“We’re going to go get our S-Rank evaluations tomorrow.” Joohee said, causing Jinah to start to cough.

“S-Seriously?!” She gaped at them.

“Well, the unofficial ones.” Miho said, “Once they figure out they can’t measure us, we’ll have to return three days later for an ‘official’ measurement.”

“How does it work? And why like that?” Jinah asked. Jinwoo was also curious, since he had never gotten the details from them.

Miho chuckled, “Well, it’s like this: All you have to do is touch a Mana Crystal they have, and it will measure your level of magical power.” She told Jinwoo’s sister, “If it can’t display a reading, it means you have more power than the crystal is capable of measuring. AKA, S-Rank. They’ll tell us to come back so they can use a better meter. The three-day grace period will be for the Hunters’ Association to contact us before any guilds. They generally don’t have very strong Hunters because they only handle lower-rank Gates that no one else wants to do. So they can’t offer a competitive salary, and it’s not a very glamorous job. But they’re also the only organization trying to keep a leash on Hunters who think rules don’t apply to them, so it’s an important job. Problem is… they have no S-Ranks other than Chairman Go, who is very old, unfortunately. So they’ll want to get to us first. Once they do that, we’ll officially be reevaluated at the HQ, which amounts to them just figuring out what abilities we have and therefore what class they want to stuff us into.”

“Woah, so you could maybe become Chairman Go’s successors?!” Jinah’s eyes were wide.

“We could.” Joohee said, “But we won’t.”  She smiled a little wanly, “We belong in the Dungeons.” Words that she had never imagined would ever escape her lips.

Jinwoo smiled and hugged her a little more tightly. Her smile became more genuine as she rested against his shoulder.

“But wait, what about the better crystal?” Jinah sounded confused.

Miho laughed, “It’s all BS, Jinah. It can’t measure any higher than the regular meters. If it could, it would probably label us as SS or even SSS, or something silly like that. But it wouldn’t actually be accurate. It’s all just a show for what I said before.”

“Ooooh.” Jinah breathed in surprise, “I guess that makes sense. It’s a shame that Chairman Go will get four noes, though.”

Soohyun smirked, “We’ve actually got a plan for that.” She said, “Don’t worry. Methinks they won’t be all that disappointed.”

The fivesome continued talking for an hour or two as they watched TV on and off. Finally, Jinah started to yawn and went off to bed, but not without a cheeky, “Please don’t do anything without getting some soundproofing first, big brother.”

“Don’t worry, Jinah! I can fix that!” Soohyun exclaimed, before grabbing all three of her significant others and warping them to her penthouse. “Now c’mere, you.” She growled as she began to kiss Jinwoo hard. Clothes started to fly all over her home as the foursome made their way to the bedroom.

-]|[-

The second they stepped inside the Association HQ, a quiet hum seemed to thrum through the building.

“Woah, that’s Baek Miho! What’s she doing here?!” One man asked quietly.

“And Yoo Soohyun! I remember her from a few months ago!” Another commented.

“Hey, isn’t that the Weakest Hunter of all Mankind?” Another jeered, “What the hell is he doing with them?!”

The four ignored all the yapping, for the most part. The girls all hid scowls and took note of all the faces of the ones insulting Jinwoo. Jinwoo mentally smirked. He couldn’t wait to see some of these idiots’ faces. They went up to a receptionist and Jinwoo smiled at the young woman. “Hi, we’re here for reevaluations.”

“Of course.” The lady looked bored. ‘Just some other loser E-Rank hoping for a second chance. And he even brought ‘backup.’ Poor, delusional idiot. I can’t believe Miss Baek of all people would fall for something like this.’ She still smiled at him, “Here is your form, sir.”

Jinwoo raised an eyebrow as he took the paper. “Perhaps you misheard me, miss.”

Miho smirked at the woman’s confusion. “We’ll need three more.” She murmured, “And keep quiet about it, will you?”

‘R-reevaluations? For all of them?!’ Her eyes were wide as she mechanically handed over three more sheets to Joohee. ‘Wh-What is going on?’

…

“Next! Please come inside.” Another young lady looked at a nervous-looking man. He stood and wobbled a bit as he made his way in.

“Looks like the process hasn’t changed much.” Jinwoo murmured to Joohee.

“Really? You’d think that they would have streamlined things.” Soohyun murmured as well.

“Nah, if it works and isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Miho chuckled. “Besides, what would they even change?” She asked reasonably.

“Poor guy.” Joohee murmured as she looked at a heavyset man in front of them. He was one of two others waiting for an evaluation. “He looks like he’s going to puke.”

Soohyun snorted. “Kind of funny. Of the three we were waiting with, he was the strongest.” She whispered.

The other remaining guy tried to reassure him. “Don’t worry, man. Some people change their lives with a new rank, but the majority don’t. As long as you’re not an E-Rank, those guys over there will scout you.”

“I wouldn’t bother with them.” Miho chimed in. “At least not just by looking at the contracts they offer. You’d be better off working for the Association.”

The heavyset man looked confused, “What? But why? They pay well, don’t they?”

“They also go into Dungeons they aren’t really prepared for, and which are often beyond their capabilities.” Miho said simply. “They offer such lucrative-looking contracts because they’re not expecting to have to pay them out too often.” She finished bluntly.

Both men paled. And it wasn’t a surprise. It was a fate Joohee had escaped simply by having been so nervous about Hunting.

“Well, that’s certainly different from when I first got evaluated.” Jinwoo mused. “There weren’t any guilds like that back then.” They listened to the big man’s muttering. Poor guy had apparently lost his family due to his debts. All the guy wanted was to live with his daughter again.

“Don’t worry, man. As long as you’re not an E-Rank, you can make it.” The easygoing guy got called in, only to come out a minute later looking like his soul had been crushed. That made the bigger guy even more nervous.

“Are you okay, sir? Are you feeling sick?” The association rep commiserated with him.

Before he could respond, Soohyun chimed in, “Relax, big guy. You’re about a C-Rank from what I can tell. You’re way stronger than the other two.” She winked at him

“R-really?” he asked.

“Yeah, go on.” Miho jerked her head to the door. He shakily stood up and wobbled his way into the room.

Joohee had an amused smile on her face. “As long as you’re not E-Rank, huh?” Jinwoo shared a look with her as Miho and Soohyun snickered.

A minute later, the big guy came out. “C-Rank! I’m a C-Rank!” He cheered, sobbing happy tears as he walked past.

“Next!” The cute Association rep called out, only to blink when they all stood up. “Uhm, Miss Baek, we only accept one person in the room at a time, please.”

“Trust us, Miss. It’s better this way.” Miho said as she walked past her. Soohyun winked as she walked in and Jinwoo and Joohee simply made their way past her.

“Uhm, okay…” She looked so confused, but she wasn’t about to argue with an A-Rank. ‘They’re all here to be reevaluated? I can’t believe it! It’s usually only E-Ranks like this Sung guy who bother. And why are they insistent on coming in at the same time?’  She cleared her throat, “O-Okay. Mr. Sung Jinwoo first, please.” His sheet was on top. “It should be the same as last time. Just put a hand on that black orb and wait.” Jinwoo did so, and it lit up with a black-orange hexagonal pattern. “Huh?” She blinked, “An error?” She looked at it in confusion. She had never seen that before. “Sorry, can you do it one more time?”

“Sure.” Jinwoo had an amused smile on his face.

“That’s so odd… I’ve never seen it do this…” She put a hand on her chin. “What the heck is wrong with this machine?”

Someone poked his head in, “Hey, what’s the hold up?”

“Oh, Chief!” The rep said, “The machine is acting up. I keep trying, but it isn’t evaluating him.”

“That can’t be right.” He grumbled, “Let me see.” He typed into it, only for it to fail once again.

“See? It keeps happening.” She said, only to blink as he let out a strangled noise, “Chief?”

“It’s not a malfunction.” His entire body had goosebumps. “It’s saying it can’t evaluate him.”

“Wait, but then-” She trailed off, her eyes going wide as it finally clicked for her.

“He’s got more magical power than this machine can measure.” He sounded stunned, “That means…” He trailed off as something caught his eye, “Wait, Miss Baek? Miss Yoo? And-” He turned to his subordinate, “Why are there multiple Hunters in the room? This is supposed to be private!”

The lady flinched, “Ah, I’m sorry, Chief. Miss Baek was insistent.”

“Miss Baek?” The Chief asked her, only to stare in confusion as Miho walked past Jinwoo with a high-five and placed her hand on the crystal. She turned to him with an expectant smirk. Swallowing heavily, he started the machine.

Error.

The two Association reps started to sweat as Miho turned without a word and traded a low-five with Soohyun. The Chief was too stunned to move, so his aide raised a shaky hand and ran the program again.

Error.

Both of them were silently shaking in place. “What is happening?” He whisper-screamed as Soohyun stole a kiss from Joohee as they traded places, the redhead putting her hand on the crystal.

Error.

The lady sank to her knees, “F-FOUR S-RANKS?!”

Miho chuckled, “Told you you’d want us all at once.”

…

There was almost pandemonium in the lobby once they all exited the room. With the Reps doing their spiel about rescheduling the evaluation, everyone in there overheard that none of the four could be measured. The small-time Guilds were caught between the intense desire to recruit them and the knowledge that they didn’t have nearly enough money to actually do so.

The four paid them no mind as they made their way to the exit. Jinwoo caught the eye of one of the guys who had been insulting him earlier and gave him a smirk. The guy flinched and immediately looked away.

And then, to their surprise, someone very important to South Korea walked in. “Choi Jongin!” Miho sounded surprised.

‘I heard that he’s the strongest Fire Mage in the world.’ Jinwoo mused as they looked at one another. ‘The so-called Ultimate Weapon. The one the assholes based my own nickname off of.’

The murmuring reached a fever pitch; all the while Woo Jinchul stared in shock. ‘All of them?! They’re all S-Rank Hunters now?!’

The redheaded man smiled as he looked at the group. The sheer amount of mana he could see pouring from them was beyond belief. ‘They won’t need another Mana Meter. They’re undoubtedly some of the strongest. There’s no need to wait three days for their results.’  He offered a hand, “Hello. I’m Choi Jongin.” He introduced himself. Probably needlessly, but it was best to be polite.

“The Hunters’ Guild Master.” Soohyun shook his hand since she was closest, “Pleasure to meet you. Yoo Soohyun.”

If he had been alone, Jinwoo would have just brushed the guy off. But Soohyun had broken the ice, and so he also followed in shaking the man’s hand with the girls.

Jongin pushed his glasses up a little, “Pardon me for asking, but I believe all four of you were just reevaluated. If memory serves, Miss Baek and Miss Yoo both left the White Tigers. Do you have another guild you’re planning on joining?”

“Don’t bother, Jongin.” Gasps rang out as another man walked in. “They don’t plan on joining any guilds.” Yoonho chuckled as he strode beside Jongin. “Isn’t that right, brat?”

“That’s right.” Miho smirked at him. It widened when she saw his eyes turn gold for a moment and then bug out.

Yoonho shook his head and hugged his sister, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks, jerk.” Miho snorted, “Still not rejoining.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, brat.” Yoonho murmured, “…All four of you are stronger now than you were after the Red Gate.”

“Food for thought, isn’t it?” Miho murmured back as they pulled away.

Jongin looked confused. ‘They’re not joining any guild? Not even the White Tigers?’

“And congratulations to you three as well.” Yoonho smiled at Jinwoo, Soohyun, and Joohee. “And I’m sorry, Miho, Soohyun, for how things went sour the past few months.”

“It’s fine. It’s better this way.” Miho gave him a light tap with the back of her fist. “We’ll call you later, but we’ve got places to be.” Miho said nonchalantly, “Catch you later, big bro.” There was a bit of mocking tease in her smirk as she wrapped an arm around Joohee’s waist.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Choi.” Jinwoo looked amused at the incredulity on Jongin’s face as he walked out with the girls, an arm around Soohyun’s shoulders.

The redhead turned to his rival. “…Are they…?”

Yoonho smirked at him and leaned in, “Hope those years as the top guild were fruitful.” He murmured too low for anyone else to hear. Jongin twitched as he watched his longtime rival walk out after the four new S-Ranks.

-]|[-

The four wasted time doing nothing for an hour or two, before they made their way to the hospital where Jinwoo’s mom was in her forever sleep.  “Hey Mom. I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriends: Joohee, Soohyun, and Miho.” He said quietly as he brushed her hair lightly. “I…I’d hoped to introduce you when you were awake, but…”

“You’ll only have to sleep for a little while longer.” Miho said, the promise audible in her voice.

“You have an amazing son, Mrs. Park.” Joohee said quietly. “He works so hard to provide for everyone.”

“And soon, he’ll save you too.” Soohyun said, patting the comatose woman’s hand. “And we can’t wait to meet you. Properly, next time.”

“Yeah.” Jinwoo said as he stood and kissed her forehead, “Just wait a little longer, Mom.” The four sat in relative silence for a few minutes, both because they were waiting and to have some time alone with their thoughts. Soon enough, they sensed what they were waiting for and stood.

The foursome left the room, only to see Woo Jinchul. “Hmm, you took longer than I thought.” Miho mused.

“I’ve always thought I had a good eye for talent, but you’ve proven me wrong.” Jinchul said softly as they walked out.

Jinwoo chuckled, “Not so much wrong as misinformed, Mr. Woo.”

The man looked at him curiously, before turning his gaze to Miho. “…You were expecting us.”

“We were.” Joohee confirmed for him.

“Then allow me to introduce the Chairman of the Hunter's Association, Go Gunhee.”

The four eyed the man who walked out of the shadows. “It’s a pleasure to meet with you, Mr. Sung Jinwoo, Miss Baek Miho, Miss Yoo Soohyun, and Miss Lee Joohee.” The older gentleman was built like a retired bodybuilder with wide shoulders and a broad chest. He looked strong. He was strong.

They couldn’t quite believe how strong. ‘Wow.’ Miho thought to herself, ‘Other than us, Chairman Go is the strongest S-Rank in Korea. And we’re only barely stronger after all the leveling we’ve done. Even Miss Cha is weaker than him, though not by a whole lot.’ She held back a grin, ‘If only he was twenty or thirty years younger. He would have wiped the floor with those damnable ants.’

Jinwoo took the lead, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chairman.”

“The same to you, young man. Shall we sit and have a chat?” Gunhee asked, and all of them agreed.

…

“So, congratulations on becoming S-Rank Hunters.” Gunhee sat with quiet confidence across from them. They had taken over the lobby of the hospital, and there wasn’t another soul in sight, except for Jinchul. “You gave Mr. Woo here quite the shock earlier today.”

Joohee smiled over at the blonde, “Oh, we haven’t even begun with the shocks yet.” Jinchul raised a confused eyebrow.

“Hmm, interesting.” Gunhee mused. “None of you seem surprised to see me. I suppose I can attribute that to your brother, Miss Baek.”

“Yeah.” Miho agreed, “We knew going in that this would be happening. Yoonho told me all about it.”

“Then I suppose there’s no sense in wasting any time.” Gunhee chuckled good-naturedly. “Will any of you four consider joining the Association? We can’t offer the money or fame the major guilds use to woo Hunters, but we can provide a way forward and a new career path.”

In other words, he was offering them power. A lot of power. He was getting on in years and needed a successor.

“We hate to disappoint you, Chairman,” Jinwoo said, “But we belong in the Dungeons.”

Gunhee leaned back and looked at all of them. He saw nothing but conviction in their eyes. Even Joohee’s. ‘I hadn’t thought my heart could still make noises like these.’ He thought as he pressed a palm to his chest.

“We’ll be forming our own guild.” Miho said after Jinwoo spoke, “And taking on the hardest Dungeons we possibly can.”

‘…Gods, to be even ten years younger. To be able to fight alongside young Hunters like them…’ Gunhee thought.

“But that doesn’t mean we have to leave you with nothing.” Soohyun smirked at them. “Tell us Chairman, what do you think happened in that Double Dungeon?”

He blinked, “It is obvious, isn’t it? You reawakened.” He said, “How you managed to hide that from Mr. Woo here… now that’s the mystery.”

“That’s because we didn’t hide anything.” Miho said, “The day that we were measured, all four of us truly had magical power counts of ten.” She looked irritated over the experience. “Those fancy mana meters didn’t lie. You might as well have given us F-ranks instead of E.”

“But then how did…” Jinchul trailed off, looking confused.

“That… horror dungeon didn’t make us stronger.” Joohee said softly.

“And we didn’t survive a damn thing.” Soohyun told them. “I got kicked in the chest hard enough that I felt every organ in there rupture. Miho got squeezed until she was a mess of broken bones. Jinwoo and Joohee got the worst of it. They were impaled together, chest-to-chest.” She said clinically, nearly disassociating as the two men paled drastically. “We were one-hundred percent dead, if not for what happened next.”

“Right before we died for real, the trial ended and gave us our reward.” Miho smiled humorlessly.

“For facing and surviving its trials, that hell temple gave us a choice. One that was no choice at all, when the alternative was death.” Joohee looked at her hands. “It brought Miho, Soohyun, and I down to the weakest level we could possibly be…” She said softly. “It even healed our wounds.”

“And then gave us the ability to level up.” Jinwoo finished for the group.

“Level up?” Gunhee’s eyes widened nearly to the max, and he felt goosebumps rise on his skin. “You- You mean that even as powerful as you are… you’re only going to get stronger?”

“That’s right.” Miho smirked slightly, “But we can only do that if we can keep fighting. That’s why we can’t join the Association.”

“It’s also why we didn’t get reevaluated earlier.” Soohyun said calmly. “One reassessment would already be unusual. Multiple? Forget about it.”

Jinchul had never lost his cool in public. But as he stared at them, he was well and truly gaping. This story of theirs was ludicrous. And yet the most ludicrous thing of all was that he could feel they weren’t lying.

“That is…” Gunhee leaned back, “Incredible.” He said finally, his mind already whirling. If they could keep growing stronger, then regaining their island would be only a matter of time! But it also made him curious. “And dangerous. Frankly, you have no reason to share this secret with us. So why did you?” He asked softly.

“Because we believe that the Association is necessary, and we all think you two are honorable men who want the best for this country.” Soohyun said softly. “We know full well that beasts aren’t the only monsters in the world. One of them tried to kill Joohee and Jinwoo just a few weeks ago.”

“Kang.” Jinchul said flatly.

“Kang.” Miho agreed. “And Hwang Dongsuk with Jinwoo a few weeks before that.”

“And now his brother Dongsoo.” They had been stunned when Yoonho had called Miho the day after the Red Gate to warn them about how they just barely missed the man, who was after Jinwoo and probably Jinho too. “Who, from what we know, has a hate-boner for Jinwoo and my cousin Jinho after his Lizard asshole of a brother tried to kill them in a dungeon and bit off more than he could chew.” Soohyun said bluntly.

“Ah.” Jinchul shook his head. “I should have known.”

“That’s all wonderful to hear.” Gunhee said, before grimacing lightly, “Well, not that last bit.” He frowned as the group cracked some smiles, “But right now, they’re just pretty words. I’m the Association’s only S-Rank, and unfortunately, I’m too old to keep those like Dongsoo in check.”

“You’re not wrong.” Joohee smiled, “But it doesn’t have to stay that way.” Jinchul and Gunhee twitched. “Just before we got stuck inside that Red Gate, we gained the ability to… induct, shall we say, one additional person each into our ability to Level Up.” Their eyes opened in shock again, “Three of those slots have been used… but we still have one left.” She smiled at the blonde, “So, Mr. Woo…” Jinwoo, Soohyun, and Miho all smirked at the flabbergasted look on their faces, “How would you like to become an S-Rank too?”

Jinchul gaped at them for a moment before Gunhee grunted and his hand went to his heart. Joohee’s eyes widened and she sprang into action immediately, her golden light falling upon the chairman. “Oooh…” He grunted again and relaxed. “My goodness, young lady. You might just be the best healer I’ve ever met.” He sighed in relief. He chuckled as Joohee blushed, “…My, I almost feel like I’m five years younger.”

“I fixed a lot of the damage.” Joohee said, cheeks still pink, “Maybe bought you a few years. I’m not sure… But in any case, I can’t make you younger.”

He let out a laugh, “That’s more than even young Min Byung-Gu was able to do.” He looked to his relieved-looking aide, “What do you think, Mr. Woo?”

Jinchul focused up, “…How does it work?” He asked them.

“You ever play any video games?” A sheepish look crossed Soohyun’s face.

“…I’ve dabbled, yes.”

“Well, it’s kind of like that. You get a video game interface that only we can see, and it lets you allocate stat points you earn from daily quests and stuff.” Soohyun told him nonchalantly, as if she wasn’t dropping the most unbelievable information of all.

Even Gunhee was looking at her with an incredulous expression. Jinchul muttered, “You’ve got to be joking.”

Jinwoo snorted, “Watch.” He raised his hand and brought up his equipment page. It was very clear from his motions that he was touching something like a touchscreen that only he could see, and an instant later, he was wearing Igris’s helmet.

“Well, wonderful.” Jinchul said almost sarcastically as Jinwoo made his helmet invisible once more, “You survived the most dangerous mystery ever in our country’s history and got turned into RPG characters for your trouble.” Joohee and Soohyun started to giggle. Miho and Jinwoo smirked. “Downsides?”

Jinwoo’s smirk vanished, “I didn’t kill Hwang and Joohee didn’t kill Kang because we wanted to.” They both straightened their spines, “Those were the only times this happened, but in my case, after they attacked me and made it clear I wasn’t leaving that dungeon alive, the System intervened and gave me an emergency quest. It was the same for Joohee, and when that one happened, it wouldn’t let me help her. So you have to be careful not to get caught in a situation like that, otherwise the System will make it Kill or Die.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I do have a theory about that…” Miho muttered, making their heads turn to her. “Neither me nor Soohyun have had that happen. And while it could just be because we haven’t run into a situation like that, the fact that it forced Joohee to do it and wouldn’t let Jinwoo interfere might be because it felt she needed to ‘toughen up.’” She shot Joohee an apologetic look when she noticed how indignant she was. “I also think that if either event had happened today, it wouldn’t have given the quests… because it would be like a few cute puppies trying to bite tigers.”

“Ugh, the fact that I can totally see the System doing that annoys me.” Joohee huffed and crossed her arms.

“In any case…” Jinwoo grabbed his attention, “We don’t know everything about the System, and even we don’t trust it fully. But the fact of the matter is, you will become stronger.”

“Whether you want to or not.” Miho patted Joohee on the shoulder. “It’ll push you and push you and make you think it’s trying to kill you, but it’s not. It’ll even weigh the scales in your favor occasionally.”

“The choice is yours, Mr. Woo.” Joohee said, “Chairman Go needs a successor, and it can’t be us.”

“I’ll do it.” Jinchul said calmly, before looking at his boss, “Though I suppose it does mean I’ll have to take a leave of absence for some time.”

Gunhee laughed, “You do what you need to, Mr. Woo. I feel relieved now, knowing that the Association is in good hands once I’m gone.”

Jinchul smiled very slightly, “How do we do this, then?”

“Invite Woo Jinchul to Party.” Joohee said clearly.

Jinchul leaned his head back a bit as the golden screen appeared in front of him. “…This part still feels like an elaborate joke.” He chuckled, “Very well. Accept.” The screen changed to display his stats. “…Interesting.” He smiled slightly as he looked at his stats. “So, what now? Will I be joining your Strike Squad for a time?” He tilted his head to the side, “I can’t imagine how you all managed to grow so strong in only three months. Especially since you only ran C-Ranks.”

“Well, they weren’t only C-Ranks.” Soohyun said as she took out her Dungeon Key. “What does this say?” She had an impish grin on her face.

Jinchul choked, “S-RANK?! It generates an S-Rank Dungeon?! That you have to complete SOLO! And you fools went into them?!”

“How incredibly reckless!” Gunhee gaped, “We lost an entire island to an S-Rank Dungeon! And when Kamish first appeared in America, he tore the entire coast up and killed hundreds of high-rank Hunters!”

“It wasn’t that bad, actually.” Joohee said sheepishly, “They kind of scale up in difficulty. We’ve had them for almost the whole time we’ve been leveling up and have entered them twice now.”

“In any case, they haven’t even been our primary method of getting stronger… even if they were the most effective.” Miho snickered at their looks of horror, “Besides, we’ve already cleared an actual S-Rank Dungeon, so it’s fine.”

Gunhee coughed, “How could you possibly have entered an actual S-Rank Dungeon?” He asked with wide eyes.

Soohyun joined Miho in snickering, “Well, you lot miscategorized a B-Rank Dungeon as a C-Rank.” Jinchul twitched, “We entered it and the Gate turned red.” Now his eyebrow twitched, “Which made it at least B-Rank and normally would have turned it into an A-Rank Gate.” Her smile turned catlike, “But because there were four Players inside it, the System gave it an extra bump up to S-Rank.”

Jinchul pinched the bridge of his nose. “You four…” He said calmly, “Are going to give me an aneurysm.”

Even Gunhee couldn’t help but laugh at that.

-]|[-

“Looks like Jinho got us a C-Rank for tomorrow afternoon.” Soohyun said cheerfully as she got off the phone. She turned to her lovers. Jinwoo was in the middle on his back, and Miho and Joohee were on either side, spooning him. “I wonder if it’ll go up straight to A-Rank with eight Players?”

“Seven.” Miho said, “Jinwoo isn’t invited.”

“Hey!” Jinwoo yelled indignantly as he glared down at her, “Why the hell not?”

“Your fault for getting so far ahead of us, Mr. Shadow Monarch!” She smirked up at him as she pinched his nipple. He hissed as she continued. “Poor Soohyun is nine levels behind! We’ve got to catch up.”

“Oh sure, so I’m just supposed to stay home and be bored?” Joohee and Soohyun started to giggle at the indignation on his face.

“Yup.” Miho shot back, “Serves you right.”

“Why you little…” Jinwoo started to tickle attack her. She shrieked and tried to fight him off, leaving Joohee to roll away over Soohyun to get away from the tangle of limbs. He rolled on top of her as she struggled to get him to stop, and within moments, it started looking much less like a tickle fight and much more like something else.

Soohyun laughed as she watched the playfight. “Hey, he could always go and join the Hunters for a day. Gina said they need miners for those A-Rank Dungeons, don’t they?”

“Oh, wait!” Joohee’s eyes widened, “That’s actually a great idea!”

“Come again?” Jinwoo currently had Miho pinned. She was squirming beneath him, grinding her hips into his and trying to get his newly-erect cock inside her.

“Your Shadows! You should go and check out how high-rank dungeons are run!” Joohee beamed, “That way when we start running them, your shadows will already know what to do. We wouldn’t even need a mining team.”

“Huh…” Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it. “Honestly, that’s not even a bad idea…”

“Plus, you could meet our friends.” Soohyun grinned. “What do you think?”

“Fine, I’ll leave you girls to your fun.” He smirked down at Miho, “Who knows? Maybe I’ll like it so much I’ll join the Hunters.”

She hissed and finally managed to throw him onto his back. Her eyes were glowing as she grabbed his cock a bit harder than she needed to and positioned him. A loud CLAP rang through the room as she slammed her hips down on his. “Mine…” She hissed out as she started to ride him.

“Hey! It was my turn!” Soohyun cried indignantly. Joohee giggled and pushed her down before crawling down. “Hmmm…” Soohyun spread her legs as Joohee’s tongue got to work, “I’m okay with this, actually.” Her short laugh quickly turned into a breathy moan.

-]|[-

“…What do you mean Sung applied to be a miner?” Jinchul asked incredulously as he met up with Miho, Soohyun, and Joohee.

Miho burst out laughing.

…

Jinwoo greeted the mining foreman once he arrived at the Gate. It was pretty huge and swirling ominously. The man turned and greeted him back before looking over his details. “E-Rank, huh?” He eyed Jinwoo’s ID, which was hanging in front of him. “You might want to have that picture retaken, son.” He chuckled.

Jinwoo cracked a grin, “It’s on the list.” He earned a short laugh with that one.

“Any experience mining?” The foreman asked.

“Only basic stuff in low-rank dungeons.” Jinwoo replied. “I know how to swing a pickaxe, at least.”

“Hmm, it’s rare to even need the skill in low-rank dungeons.” The foreman chuckled, “This’ll do you some good, then. What’s your class?”

“Fighter.” Jinwoo replied immediately.

“Good to hear.” He said and clapped Jinwoo on the shoulder, “There’s plenty of guys like you here, so don’t be nervous. We’ll be heading in as soon as the Strike Squad is out.”

“Yes, sir!” Jinwoo responded as he turned to stare at the Gate. After their lovefest the previous night, Miho had given them all some of her wisdom. Of the four of them, she was the only one who had experience in legitimate A-Rank Dungeons. Apparently they were massive to the point that even some of the labyrinths Jinwoo had gotten stuck in were tiny in comparison. They could stretch for miles in the worst cases. That was why multiple teams were needed. Everything inside the Dungeon could be valuable. Everything. Even the sand inside some dungeons could be sold to make magically-reinforced concrete or even glass.

The Strike Squad killed everything within; the mining team would gather the magic crystals; and the hauling team collected the corpses. But obviously, the latter two could only enter once everything but the boss was dead.

Jinwoo grabbed a pickaxe to examine it. ‘Jeez, even this thing has mana in it.’ He turned his gaze back to the Gate, sensing that the Hunters were emerging. ‘So this is the greatest guild in South Korea.’ He mused as he looked at them all. Choi Jongin exited first, followed by what looked like a bunch of Mages, Tanks, and even an Assassin or two. ‘Their gear is immaculate.’ He thought as he lowered his helmet slightly to ensure Jongin wouldn’t catch sight of him. ‘And she must be…’

The ‘she’ in question was a beautiful blonde who fit right in with his girls amongst the prettiest women he’d ever seen. Her hair was cut to about her neck, and she was wearing a form-fitting red suit with a sword hanging off her left hip. ‘Cha Haein. The Vice Guildmaster of the Hunters.’ This was the only Guild in Korea to have a second S-Rank.

‘For now, at least.’ He hid a small smile as he examined her. ‘She’s strong too. Stronger than Jongin is, by far.’ He thought to himself. With his perception stat, he could even see the immense amount of mana radiating off her in golden waves when he focused. ‘She’s actually almost as strong as Chairman Go. He barely edges her out, though I imagine the margin would be much wider if he were younger.’

Something seemed to catch her attention as she looked his way. Her vivid purple eyes gleamed as she stared at the miners. ‘I thought I sensed a strong presence just now… I thought Chairman Go was here for a moment. Did I just imagine it?’ She shook her head and covered her nose with her handkerchief.

‘Her senses are incredibly sharp.’ Jinwoo thought to himself with a small smile. It was little wonder she was formerly the strongest woman in Korea.

“Let’s get cracking!” The foreman called out, before Jinwoo hefted his pickaxe and started walking towards the Gate.

-]|[-

“Hey girls!” Soohyun said cheerfully as they met up with Heejin and Songyi.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Jinho pouted at her. His eyes widened, “Manager Woo?”

“Yoo Jinho.” Jinchul greeted him, “Hmm, and Miss Park and Miss Han as well. I suppose I should have known you were the other three involved in this insanity.”

“Oh, so that’s what you meant!” Heejin exclaimed as she remembered their talks inside the Red Gate.

“Yup.” Miho chuckled, “The Association does important work. Not exactly glamorous work, but important work nonetheless.”

Songyi blinked, “Hey, where’s Jinwoo?” She asked in confusion. “Is he showing up later?”

“No, he’s busy with something else.” Joohee told the younger girl.

“Or to be more accurate,” Soohyun was holding back giggles, “Miho made him go do something else since he’s gotten ahead of us in levels. By quite a bit in my case.”

The three snorted and Songyi rolled her eyes. “Seriously? With his abilities, he’ll just pull ahead anyway, won’t he?”

“Probably.” Miho was just amused, “So it’s our duty to pull ahead first.”

“Even with six of us, I doubt we’d get enough EXP to bridge the gap with just one Dungeon.” Jinho deadpanned, “Especially since we’re at a lower level than you three.” He indicated himself, Jinchul, and the two girls.

Soohyun shrugged, “So we do another tomorrow. Gina and the girls aren’t doing their Dungeon until tomorrow.”

“Poor Jinwoo.” Songyi laughed, “Anyway, do we have to wait for our fillers?”

“No.” Jinchul put his sunglasses away and equipped his gear. “After learning about this System, Chairman Go has given us permission to enter Dungeons with just our party members.” He grimaced, “We’ll just have to take care not to get caught. It’s not official permission the way he likely hopes to get you once you establish your guild.”

“Hehe, time for some rule-breaking then!” Songyi giggled gleefully like a little gremlin as she lunged into the gate. The rest of them snickered as they followed after their youngest Hunter.

-]|[-

The workday had proceeded quickly, once Jinwoo had gotten more information about the mining and hauling teams from the foreman. He had been surprised at the scale of everything. The monsters inside were huge, and because of that, everything inside was scaled up too. None of the miners or haulers inside were afraid of the boss breaking out of the Boss Room, even though that would mean all of them dying. Jinwoo supposed that ignorance was bliss, when the alternative was entering a Dungeon where just the boss emitted Mana Waves stronger than either Vulcan or Metus. It really made Jinwoo wonder if he was strong enough to face whatever being awaited him on floor one hundred if this was the boss of an A-Rank Dungeon. He could take it on, sure, but if this was the quality he could expect from floors seventy-six to one-hundred, he would have to level up quite a bit to keep up.    

But in any case, he got to work after a very short altercation with a ‘big man on the block’ miner trying to start shit with him. The second he did, Jinwoo made several miners’ jaws drop as he effortlessly smashed crystal array after crystal array. Where most miners needed several hits to crack and dislodge a single Mana Crystal, Jinwoo ripped several off the rocks and columns with every swing.

The mining team was absolutely blasting through the work because of him, and they decided to take an early lunch. Jinwoo was fine with it, hiding a grin until he felt them all leave the area. And as soon as they did, like a kid in a candy store addicted to the treasures within, Jinwoo dropped his pickaxe and ran over to the Boss Room. ‘Yeah, I can take this thing.’ Jinwoo was well out of range for the boss to ‘trigger,’ but now he could certainly feel it better. He could even see it now. It was a massive giant of sorts with a single eye that seemed to be frozen or fused to the surrounding cavern wall. ‘Definitely stronger than Metus. Quite powerful for an A-Rank monster. Or maybe it and it alone is S-Rank?’

He wasn’t sure which it was, but he certainly did know that he could kill it. ‘The second I do, the timer for Gate Closure will start. The Hunters’ Guild will lose everything still within.’ He sighed, ‘The girls will be pissed if I do that-’

“What are you doing?”

Jinwoo’s eyes widened. Had he been so distracted that someone had been able to sneak up on him? He turned around and saw Cha Haein for the second time. “Oh, thank goodness!” He exclaimed, playing it up a bit. “I got lost and ended up here.” He laughed sheepishly.

“Lost?” She raised an eyebrow, “Well, get away from there. That’s where the boss lives.” She told him. “Are you on the mining team?”

Jinwoo started walking towards her, “Yes, I am.”

“Just go down three hundred paces and turn right. It’s a straight shot to the entrance from there.” She said, clearly suspicious that he got lost of all things.

“Thank you, Hunter Cha!” Jinwoo smiled at her.

As they passed one another, Haein froze. “W-Wait!” She said as she turned around. He did as well, and then to Jinwoo’s shock, she leaned forward and sniffed him. And then gave him a look that Jinwoo could only describe as ‘blushing surprised Pikachu.’ She very clearly liked it, which confused him, because he knew he must smell pretty rank after hours of sweating and manual labor. She snatched his ID, “Are you really a Hunter?” She exclaimed in confusion as she looked at it.

“Uh, yeah?” Jinwoo responded. Now, another Jinwoo who didn’t have his companions or any experience with girls might have brushed the moment off. This Jinwoo, on the other hand, shot her a cheeky grin, “I’m sure I’d smell better after a shower though.”

Haein’s face went beet red. “I-I mean-” She stammered, looking away from him.

He chuckled, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…”

“S-Same… I… I was just caught by surprise.” She was still blushing but looked at him again. “I… once I awoke, my sense of smell was… unpleasantly supercharged.” She didn’t know why she was admitting that to a stranger, but she was totally disarmed by the pleasant scent he radiated. It wasn’t like any of this was a secret either. The other miners would likely have told him anyway. “Mana smells really bad to me. Like the worst sewage.”

“Ah, so that’s why you have the handkerchief.” He realized.

“Yeah…” She blushed a little again, “Every Hunter I’ve ever met just… smelled like it too. I can’t stand being around other Hunters because of it.” Her cheeks flushed a bit more, “But… for some reason, your mana smells… nice.” She clapped her hands to her cheeks, looking like she regretted everything just then.

“Huh.” That was all he had to say to that for now. ‘Is this a ‘the System strikes again!’ moment?’ He wondered to himself.

She visibly collected herself and coughed into a fist, “N-Never mind. P-Please go back to the mining area.”

Jinwoo chuckled, “Sure thing, Miss Cha.” He started making his way back with an amused smile on his face.

She waited until he turned the corner before covering her face with her hands, “WHY DID I DO THAT?!” She squealed.

Jinwoo heard her anyway and burst out laughing.

-]|[-

“Wait, you’re going back again?!” Soohyun exclaimed once they met up at her penthouse. “Without us even telling you to?”

“Yeah.” Jinwoo cracked a grin, ready for some teasing of his own. “Apparently I was born to mine.” Miho and Joohee started cracking up. Heejin, Songyi, Jinah, and Jinho had joined them for dinner, and all of them started laughing as well, though not nearly as hard as his magenta-haired girlfriend. He shrugged, “Besides, I didn’t meet your friends today. Apparently their team is only going raiding tomorrow.” He eyed Miho smugly, “Plus, looks like you only got one level today.”

“Grrr.” Miho growled before chomping down on some beef ribs.

“Hmm, something else happened. Fess up, mister!” Soohyun pointed at him imperiously.

He smirked slightly, “Welllll…” He said playfully, “I did something I shouldn’t have and went over to the boss while everyone was on break.”

“JINWOO!” The entire room yelled at him.

“Relax, I only checked it out.” He laughed, “Cha Haein caught me there.”

“You idiot.” Miho groaned, rubbing her face. “Did she kick your ass?”

“Nah.” His grin widened as he stared at her, “In fact, something quite interesting happened.” He teased until she looked at him, “When we passed each other, she sniffed me, and apparently my mana smells nice.”

“She sniffed you?” Joohee, Jinah, and Songyi exclaimed.

“Are you serious?” Soohyun blurted, “What the fuck?”

“How is that possible?” Heejin asked with a look of total bemusement on her face, “Hunter Cha is famous for not even being able to be near other Hunters outside of combat situations because of how bad they smell to her! She walks around with a handkerchief just in case she meets one!”

Joohee groaned, “Don’t tell me. The System strikes again.”

“That’s what I figured.” Jinwoo smirked again at Miho, “That’s kind of sad, isn’t it? Since you don’t want me raiding with you, maybe I’ll go join the Hunters and keep her company.”

A tic mark appeared on Miho’s forehead. “Start running.”

He howled with laughter as she started chasing him around the penthouse.

“Hmm, Haein is pretty cute.” Soohyun threw gas on the fire, “Maybe we should invite her over and see if we smell good too!”

“Soohyun!” Joohee exclaimed. She paused, before grinning and getting into it a bit too, “Hmm, maybe we should have five S-Ranks in our new guild?”

“Hey, don’t forget me!” Songyi exclaimed, “I’m joining ASAP!”

Jinah groaned and slammed her head on the table, “What the fuck is my life? When did my doofus of a brother suddenly get popular with girls?! Even my best friend has betrayed me!” She wailed melodramatically. Everyone still at the table burst out laughing. Jinho patted her on the back.

-]|[-

Jinwoo had met up with the Hunters’ mining team once again the next day, though for a lower-ranked Gate first. He hadn’t had all that much to do, if he were honest. ‘I didn’t know the top five Guilds even bothered with raids like this. Training, yes, but this wasn’t training.’

He was surprised when Son Kihoon, the Captain of today’s Strike Squad, walked up to them. “Hello everyone!” Jinwoo looked over, “Is there anyone on the mining team who could help us out? Our Porter never showed up today.”

“You want to use someone from the mining team as a Porter?” One of the miners asked, “Why are you asking us? The hauling team guys are stronger and better at carrying stuff.”

Kihoon chuckled, “Well, since you guys finished early yesterday, they tired themselves out trying to ‘catch up.’ They even skipped dinner so that everyone else wasn’t just waiting around on them. They can’t spare anyone.” He shot them an easygoing smile, “I assure you, you’ll get a big bonus as well as hazard pay if you sign up to be our Porter for the day. Is anyone willing to join the Strike Squad?”

Before anyone could think to refuse him audibly, Jinwoo stood. “I’m game.” He shot Kihoon a smile.

“WHAT?!” The miners nearly blew their eardrums out. “Sung, are you crazy?!” One of them yelled, “You’re an E-Rank! Those monsters will rip you to pieces if you make even one mistake!”

Jinwoo chuckled, “I’m not exactly faint of heart. Don’t worry about me.” He strode up to Kihoon and held out his hand, “Pleasure to meet you, Captain Son. I’m Sung Jinwoo.”

Kihoon smiled back, “Good man, Sung. Welcome aboard.”

The rest of the miners slumped in depression as their suicidal golden goose flew the coop.

-]|[-

The crew sans Jinwoo entered their Dungeon, and almost all of them immediately shivered. “Ugh, not again!” Songyi whined as she reached into her inventory and put on her fluffy coat.

“Brrr…” Soohyun shivered and rubbed her arms before hurrying to do the same, “It’s even worse than the Red Gate! How is it this cold?!”

“Skill issue.” Miho snickered at her freezing teammates, completely unconcerned with the cold.

“I don’t even have a coat!” Jinho complained as he shivered in his armor. It was a sentiment that Jinchul agreed with.

“Buy them from the shop.” Joohee was releasing a bit of aura, which was enough to keep her warm. She didn’t want to risk melting the surrounding ice and drowning them. It looked like the entire cavern system was made of the stuff.

The two hurried to follow her instructions. “I wonder what beasts we’ll face this time?” Jinchul muttered, “Not many creatures live in completely frozen wastelands like this.” The cavern was dark and unlike the Red Gate, there wasn’t a hint of vegetation anywhere.

“Only one way to find out.” Heejin said as she started walking forward. They followed, casting their eyes everywhere. But they weren’t attacked at all for at least the first hundred meters. It put a frown on Heejin’s pretty face. “Do you guys feel anything?”

“No.” Soohyun said, her Gaze of the End activating. “Not a damn thing. Either our enemies are stealthy or- JUMP!”

Everyone did so without hesitation as the ice beneath their feet cracked. These giant… worm-looking things erupted from the ground. Each was over three meters long, looking like undulating tubes topped with gaping maws with four teeth arranged around it. They were all a deep blue and covered in sickly-green spots. “Ohmygod, EWWW!” Songyi squealed as she just barely avoided having one of the slimy creature’s flanged jaws bite down on her leg.

“Fucking dildos with teeth!” Miho cried out, looking disgusted.

“…What kind of dildos have you been using?!” Jinho retched at the thought.

The wriggling creatures were sightless but apparently could track them just fine. They all turned to face the Hunters and spat green acid at them. All of them dodged the sprays, watching as the ice itself started to bubble and boil. “So freaking nasty! Ugh!” Songyi grimaced as she pulled back on her bowstring, unleashing an arrow that cut the nasty creature in half. “EEEEK!” She squealed as the tube didn’t even have the decency to just die. The top half hit the ground and started flopping around while the bottom portion still in the ice writhed and spewed diseased-looking blood everywhere. “Please let’s pick a different Gate. I’m going to hurl!”

Jinho dropped his shield and equipped a huge, evil-looking greatsword. He swiped it through the air, and a ghostly appendage made of white fire appeared and followed a beat later, cutting all of the nasty tubes in half and immolating them.

Jinchul sighed, “Let’s just hope those aren’t the only things in here…” He deadpanned. As they started to walk forward, he turned to Songyi. “Are you solely an archer?”

“Uhh, yeah, why?” Songyi looked at him in confusion.

“I’ve been thinking, and if you have the stats for it, you should definitely have a backup weapon as well. The thing that kills ranged Hunters most often is getting caught in close quarters.”

“To be fair, the thing that kills close-combat Hunters most often is a lack of a ranged option.” Miho chimed in.

“Barely.” Jinchul snorted, “And unfortunately, that stat is very inflated due to lower-rank Hunters.”

“Fair.” Miho allowed.

“What do you think I should do then?” Songyi opened up the shop, “It feels like a waste of gold, but I could always grab a dagger for emergencies…”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Joohee smiled at her. “I’d get a cheaper one though, since Jinwoo can probably make you a better dagger than you could buy.”

“Good point!” Songyi looked at her gold, seeing that she had five million. “There’s this ‘Knight Killer’ in here for a million and a half. Think that’s good enough for a backup weapon?”

“That should be fine.” Soohyun nodded.

Songyi bought it and marveled at the jagged black-and-red weapon in her hand. “Wow, it does twenty-five percent more damage to armored enemies!”

Jinchul let out a sigh. “How ludicrous. I’ve seen weapons of that quality before. You could probably sell that at the auction for a hundred-million Won or so.”

Songyi tripped and almost fell on her face. Heejin had to catch her before she splattered.

-]|[-

Once they drove over to the other Gate, Jinwoo tried to get acquainted with the Strike Squad. Some of them gave him the cold shoulder, which wasn’t unexpected. They greeted him pleasantly enough, but it was clear they felt he was beneath their notice. He had expected better based on what he knew of his girls’ friends and his small interaction with Kihoon.

Thankfully, the girls themselves were a different story. “Wait, Sung Jinwoo?” Jiwoo, the one who looked like a martial artist, had a small smile on her face. “Aren’t you friends with Miho and Soohyun?”

“Little more than friends now.” He said cheekily, apparently dropping a bomb on them if their sudden wide eyes were any indication. “You must be Seo Jiwoo.”

“Guilty!” She grinned back at him. “It’s nice to finally meet you!” She introduced the other girls, “This is Myung Gina, Han Semi, and Lee Bora.” Gina was the strawberry blonde with pretty red eyes, Semi had silky purple hair and equally striking purple eyes, and Bora had a bit of a gothic maid look going on. She looked pretty stereotypically Korean, if not for her violet eyes and small mole on her chin.

All four of them were pretty cute. Gina smirked at him and crossed her arms, “More than friends, huh? With both of them? How lucky, Mr. E-Rank!” She teased him, and for once it had no mean-spirited energy, “What are your intentions with our friends, hm?”

“I thought it was the older brother that did the shovel talk?” Jinwoo shot back with a smirk of his own.

Gina laughed. “Fair enough! It’s nice to finally meet you, Jinwoo. They were quite put out that you couldn’t join us for our last outing.”

He groaned, “I vastly would have preferred going with them compared to that damn raid.” He shook his head.

“Trust us, we know the feeling.” Jiwoo muttered.

“So, you’re really dating both of them?” Bora asked softly.

“Yes.” He had a happy smile on his face. “Joohee as well. I believe you met her that day.”

Their eyes widened. “I suppose it makes sense that you would come together. After surviving what you did…” Bora said with a curious look. “I am… confused as to how such a relationship would work.”

Jinwoo chuckled, “That was part of it, yes. Not nearly all of it though. And very well, I’d hope.” He joked.

Semi looked excited, “Hey, after this we should all get together! We haven’t seen the girls in weeks!”

“I’m down.” Jiwoo grinned eagerly, “Soohyun throws the best parties.”

“Perfect!” Gina smirked, “That’ll give us plenty of time to grill them for the deets.”

“I’ll let them know. They’ll be excited to see you, I’m sure.” Jinwoo chuckled and tossed them a message on his phone. “They’ll get it once they finish with their Dungeon.”

“Oh?” Gina raised an eyebrow, “They went raiding?”

“Yeah.” He smirked, “I usually go with them, but I had some other duties the past two days. We’ve got some fun news dropping tomorrow, and after that we’ll all be gone for a week or so.”

“Oh?” Semi smiled conspiratorially, “Care to let us know a little early then?” Her eyes widened, “Uhh… they’re not expecting, are they?”

Jinwoo balked, “Uh, no. Unrelated. It’s certainly not the time for that yet.”

“Hmm, now I’m curious.” Gina said playfully. “Fess up! I’ll get it out of you or them, mister!”

“Glad to see you’re getting along.” Kihoon strode up and interrupted them, “But we’re ready to go.” He held out a pack to Jinwoo. “This isn’t too heavy, is it?”

“No, this is fine.” Jinwoo effortlessly put the pack on his back.

“Let’s go then!” Bora put on her game face and started walking to the Gate.

Within moments, Jinwoo was staring up at the massive A-Rank Gate. It was utterly titanic, and he couldn’t help but wonder just how large S-Rank Gates must be if this towering behemoth was already so huge.

He commented as much, and Son Kihoon grinned over at him, “You said yesterday was your first time working for the mining team, right? I guess this marks your second A-Rank Gate.” He looked back towards the Gate, “It’s quite big, yes, but the Mana levels the Association detected are lower than yesterday’s.” He chortled, “If the Gate had been too dangerous, the Guild wouldn’t have entrusted it to the Tier-Two Strike Squad.”

Despite him saying as much, Jinwoo couldn’t help but muse that there were few differences between this Squad and the one he’d seen yesterday. There were more Hunters in this Squad (Eleven A-Ranks and six B-Ranks) than the one from yesterday, so the biggest difference was that there were no S-Rank Hunters. He couldn’t help but feel that was a poor allocation of resources. This was the one Guild in the country that had more than one S-Rank (Well, for now.) but both of them were on the same Squad. He did find it somewhat amusing that in any other Guild, this would have been the main Squad and not the secondary one. The amazing gear that they all wore meant even the B-Ranks could maybe tangle with a weaker, unequipped A-Rank.

In any case, he felt comfortable with this Squad, despite never having met any of them before. The girls seemed fun, and while some of the others were cold, he could feel that they took their jobs seriously and wouldn’t let him get hurt. (Well, if he actually needed the help, anyway.) Son Kihoon seemed like a good man as well, and a good leader. The Gate was certainly emitting less mana than the one from the day before, so they could handle this. He would just take this opportunity to relax and enjoy the show.

As they entered, Semi smiled at him, “Don’t be nervous.” She said, “Captain Son isn’t the only strong Hunter here. We all are.” He smiled back at her, letting her know he wasn’t uncomfortable. “Would you like me to help with any of the bags?”

He raised an eyebrow, “Shouldn’t you be focused on any fighting? This stuff will weigh you down.”

“Oh, I’m our Healer.” Semi giggled, “I’ll be in the back anyway.”

“Suit yourself.” Jinwoo kept the amusement off his face when he handed her a single item. She took it… and immediately almost keeled over with a loud squeak from the weight. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he caught her and took the item back.

She flushed, “Aha… maybe… not my brightest idea.” Semi blushed, “Boy, you sure are strong though. That pack must be way heavier than I thought.”

“It’s not that bad.” Jinwoo chuckled again.

“Keep your guards up!” Kihoon called out.

“Yeah, you just focus on staying out of the way, okay? We’ll take care of all the fighting.” Semi told him, “You won’t get attacked as long as you’re behind us. After all, if the Mages get attacked, it’s the Tanks’ fault. If the Healer gets attacked, it’s the Strike Squad’s fault. And if the Porter gets attacked, it’s the Guild’s fault. You should be fine as long as the Strike Squad doesn’t fail.”

‘I see…’ Jinwoo mused, ‘The Porter will only get attacked if the entire Strike Squad is already dead.’ A rustle caught all of their attention, and Jinwoo was impressed as every single member got into their battle stances without a word from their leader. ‘I was right. This is a well-oiled machine of a Squad.’

And then the beasts came running out, and Kihoon yelled, “What the hell!? Dungeon Jackals?”

The Tank, who was completely armored from head to toe, roared and Taunted the Jackals, drawing their attention. They charged at him, and he bashed one so hard that its bones shattered. Using his axe, he damn near cut another one in half. Kihoon sliced one from snout to tail as well.

One of the other male Hunters leapt up and turned another two into confetti. Then Gina told him to duck and unleashed a couple of powerful spears of fire. They moved strangely through the air, practically undulating like snakes. They were also pink in color, unlike regular flames. But they were big enough and powerful enough to annihilate the Jackals they touched. With that, the very quick fight was over. Jinwoo was almost disappointed and was blinking in confusion.

“What are Dungeon Jackals doing in an A-Rank Dungeon?” Kihoon wanted to scratch his head.

“Are they rare?” Jinwoo asked, having never seen them before.

“That’s not it.” Semi said, “They’re C-Rank beasts. They’re far too weak to survive in a Dungeon like this. They’d fall prey to stronger beasts, and there shouldn’t be anything in here that they can hunt. With no food, it’s impossible for them to survive in a Dungeon like this.”

“Hmm.” Jinwoo took a few steps forward and kneeled. He eyed their necks, “Look here, Captain.” He pointed, “Leash marks. These things were domesticated.”

“Hunting dogs!” Kihoon realized.

‘That means they’re smart. Beasts with intelligence are always annoying.’ He stood, ‘Looks like my luck with Dungeons is holding strong.’ He almost rolled his eyes as a rumble filled the cavern.

They all turned to face their enemies, and Kihoon almost choked, “Oh no…” The beasts that had arrived were High Orcs. The most dangerous variety! They were red-skinned and covered in white tattoos and scars. Some were small, some were huge, some were bald, and some had black manes. All were wearing very tribal-looking gear and carrying menacing weapons. “High Orcs?! What are High Orcs doing here?!” Kihoon almost took a step back. “They should only appear in the most dangerous A-Rank Dungeons!”

No one got to answer, because the beasts roared, with one of them throwing a spear at Kihoon. He blocked it with his shield but was knocked back several paces. His shield, one of the best Jinwoo had ever seen, now had a deep rent in it. The spear deflected upwards, smashing into the ceiling. ‘Their strength is incredible!’

And then they were attacked en masse. The red-armored Tank used his Taunt once more, but the brutes ignored it entirely, using him as a stepping stone to get at the backline. “THEY’RE TARGETING THE BACKLINE! WATCH OUT!” He roared as the Mage in the classic wizard robe and hat defended.

He raised his lantern, flinging a fireball at the Orc and sending it flying back. “I’m not going down that easy!” But the High Orc looked like it wasn’t even singed as it ground its feet into the dirt. “Nothing?! How high is its magic resistance?!”

Lee Bora slammed her staff into the ground, and bright purple energy erupted from a magic circle beneath her. The snakes of energy lashed out, wrapping up the High Orc. They then solidified into tough-looking, worm-like creatures. She glared at it, but it took a step forward, “It’s too strong!” She strained, “I can only keep it pinned for a few seconds!”

“I’ll send reinforcements!” The Fire Mage yelled, holding up his lantern. It started to erupt with fire, “You, who my voice awakens…” Two Knights made entirely from flame fell from the conflagration before him. “Collect the heads of my foes!” He declared, and they raced off to fight.

‘Similar… but man am I glad my Shadows cost no Mana.’ Jinwoo mused as he kept a close eye on the fight. ‘He wiped out nearly half of his reserve with that spell.’

Off to the side, Seo Jiwoo was in a kickboxing stance, dodging one of the brutes’ axes nimbly. She ducked under a swipe from a club and immediately retaliated, punching it in the gut so hard it hunched over. She followed up with a spinning whirlwind kick that broke its jaw and dazed it. She landed and prepared to finish it off, not noticing the approaching brute. It smashed into her and knocked her so hard into the cavern wall that she coughed out blood.

Gina let out another firebolt, one more powerful than the other fire mage’s attack. It blew the High Orc away, lighting it on fire that seemed to stick to it like napalm and burning it to death. “Healer!” She called out. “We need help!”

“Hang on!” Semi called out as she healed the Tank. “I need a moment!” The other Healer was also busy with a man who had his arm partially ripped off. He couldn’t help the barbarian-looking dude who was currently being lifted by his skull.

Kihoon saved Jiwoo with a backstab to the one who was about to kill her. “Group up! We can’t get surrounded!” He kicked it off his blade and whirled around, blocking a sword with his shield. “Even one High Orc is already a match for A-Rank Hunters! And there’s so many of them!” His shield trembled from the strain of holding it back. ‘The B-Rank Hunters don’t stand a chance!’

As he was thinking this, one of his B-Ranks had his arm cut clean off. Bora ran over and wrapped up one of the beasts so he could escape. She used a much thicker worm this time. “Next!” She turned around to the next target.

“Don’t move! I’ll heal you right away!” Semi kneeled next to the B-Rank, restoring his arm in mere moments. But then a shadow stomped up behind her, and she shakily turned back. ‘We… we were just having fun outside.’ She eyed the brute that had escaped from Bora’s worm with resigned acceptance. ‘How did things go so wrong, so quickly…?’

‘Damn it… that Stealth skill would have been useful right about now.’ Jinwoo thought to himself as he put the pack down.

Semi closed her eyes in terrified resignation as the High Orc raised its spear. She heard the wind it generated as it swung for her… and yet she felt no pain. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped in shock. Jinwoo was standing in front of her, holding back the beast’s weapon with his bare hands. ‘No.’ She thought to herself, ‘He’s not just holding it back. He’s actively pushing it back with just one arm.’ The High Orc looked as shocked as she did. “J-Jinwoo?” Semi asked in disbelief.

“So much for just observing.” Jinwoo sighed before ripping the weapon from its hands. The High Orc roared before Jinwoo kicked it so hard it flipped ass over teakettle. Jinwoo raised his spear before throwing it. The shockwave he generated was so powerful that it knocked the B-Rank flat on his back. Semi barely managed to stay on her knees and had to brace herself with her palm on the floor. The spear impaled the flying Orc square in the chest and sent it rocketing back. It crashed into another High Orc, and then another, and then another, until finally, the mass of beasts was stapled into the cavern wall.

The fighting froze, with humans and beasts alike turning to face Jinwoo in shock. Semi was still dumbfounded, staring up at him in relieved awe. He took a step forward with his hands held out, his two daos appearing in them, “This is a Hunters’ Guild dungeon, so I really shouldn’t interfere.” Jinwoo took another step, “But I’m not about to let anyone die if I can prevent it.”

Several of them blinked, and that was all it took for him to vanish from their sight. Few of them could even track his movement before he was standing behind the headless corpses of a few more High Orcs. Kihoon was feeling an influx of emotions that he couldn’t quite comprehend at that moment. ‘That movement… it’s like watching the Vice-Captain!’ He grit his teeth in frustration at the knowledge that, even if they cleared this Dungeon, it wouldn’t be their success. “TAKE THEM DOWN!” And then it was pandemonium.

Jinwoo stayed out of the way and let the other members fight. Jiwoo killed one with a devastating punch that blew the brute’s entrails and spine out of its back, and the flaming Knights claimed two heads together before their caster started running low on Mana. Gina incinerated three with her flaming spears, and Bora captured others with her worms. Despite not being able to hold them for long, it was more than long enough for them to be easy pickings.

With Jinwoo having thinned the herd, the other members were able to handle themselves well. He only interfered a single time more, when Bora ended up being surrounded by three. She could only capture one and had no teammates in sight, so he blitzed the other two. He killed one himself, cutting it in half, and the other he kicked at Jiwoo, who had a bit of a slasher smile on her face as she hit the flying beast from behind. The impact was powerful enough to cut it in half.

And with that, the fight finally ended, and they gasped for breath for a few moments. And then they all turned to Jinwoo. Kihoon walked towards him, “Mr. Port- no.” He stopped and looked at Jinwoo seriously, “Hunter Sung … Thank you for your assistance…” He bowed to Jinwoo, before straightening up. “Also… please explain.”

Semi ran up, “Why?” She asked, “First a miner, then a bag carrier? I just… I don’t understand.”

Jinwoo scratched the back of his head, ‘I would have preferred to have done this quietly… but what’s done is done.’ He let out a sigh, “It’s… no big conspiracy or anything like that.” He said quietly, “I suppose it will all be official tomorrow, so there’s no real harm…” He trailed off as several of their eyes widened in stunned realization, “But in any case… As an official E-Rank, I’ve never gotten a chance to see what a high-level dungeon was like. When I mentioned that to Miho, she told me about these raids you all had planned. I figured… what better way to be introduced to more dangerous missions than watching some of the best perform them?” He smiled at them, “I’m… glad I was here.”

“Then…” Gina stepped forward, “Are you serious, dude? You jumped from E-Rank to S-Rank? Is that really what happened?! I didn’t think that was possible!”

“The largest jump I’ve ever heard of was two ranks.” Jiwoo sounded stunned.

Bora smiled at him, “I… I can’t believe luck was all that saved us. Thank you, Hunter Sung.” She bowed, and the rest of the squad was quick to follow suit.

“Guys, relax…” Jinwoo had a mildly uncomfortable look on his face. “You don’t need to bow to me or anything.”

They all straightened up, and Gina had a very Soohyun look on her face. “Oh, so that’s what the big news for tomorrow is! You must be getting your official reassessment!”

Jinwoo chuckled, “Yeah.” He rubbed his chin, wondering if he should ruin the surprise. ‘Eh, fuck it.’ He snickered, “They are too.”

“WHAT?!” The Assassin who had given him the cold shoulder earlier blurted it for everyone.

Jinwoo sniggered, “Ayep, all four of us are S-Rank now.” The group stared at him, completely agog. That wasn’t just news. It was the biggest news out of Korea. Maybe ever. Or at least in the past nine or so years.

Bora, ever the intelligent one, gave him a calculating look. ‘Wait, all four of them survived that horror Dungeon, and now all of a sudden they’re all S-Ranks?’ She definitely would need to talk to Miho and Soohyun about that.

“In any case, we should be exiting the Dungeon, shouldn’t we?” Jinwoo asked them.

“What?” The Tank in the red armor blurted, “But with you here we can-” He trailed off, as if double-thinking what he was about to say.

Jinwoo’s lips quirked, “I’m not a part of your Guild.” He said quietly, “And as such, I really shouldn’t be interfering. I know this isn’t what you wanted for what I think was your first solo outing, Captain Son, but I think we both know your best course of action is to leave now and call for backup.”

“You’re right.” Kihoon smiled, “We’re grateful to you for saving us, of course. But even if we close this Gate, it would be your accomplishment, not ours.” He looked at Jinwoo resolutely, “But it would shame us if we let you leave empty-handed, Hunter Sung. Please, at least take the Essence Stones for this group. I… I’d like to think we could have at least made it through these twenty, but definitely not without casualties.”

“I would be dead if not for you.” Semi smiled at him, “Please.” She waved a hand to the fallen orcs.

Jinwoo looked at them for a moment before sighing, “Alright. Thank you, Captain.” It took them barely thirty seconds to get all the stones out and packed up, before they were on their way back.

-]|[-

Here we are, ladies and gents!

Hope you like it! Had a blast writing this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it!

And don’t worry, next week is more SL. Sorry for missing last week!

Idk why, but every time I write for this story and this story only, I feel like I’m on fire. Other fics I feel like I struggle a lot more. Managed to get multiple 4-5k nights in. I’m actually going to start chapter 12 tonight.