Weakest Hunter
Rainwater slowly dripped from the broken streetlights outside the Hunter Association building.
The city never truly slept anymore.
Not after the Gates appeared.
Gigantic holographic screens lit up the night sky while emergency news reports echoed through every street.
“Three hunters confirmed dead after a B-rank dungeon collapse…”
“Another unidentified magic signal detected near Busan…”
“S-rank hunter Sung Jinwoo reportedly seen entering a high-level gate alone…”
People watched those broadcasts with admiration.
Hunters had become heroes.
God-like beings standing above ordinary humans.
But not every hunter was born special.
At the edge of the crowded street stood a young man wearing a black hoodie and carrying a cheap iron dagger.
His mana presence was so weak that most people couldn’t even sense it.
Some hunters walking past him laughed openly.
“An E-rank?”
“He still hasn’t died yet?”
“I heard this guy almost got killed by goblins.”
The young man ignored every word.
Because he had already heard worse.
His name was Sung Suho.
The weakest hunter in Seoul.
An E-rank who barely survived low-level dungeons.
No guild wanted him.
No raid team trusted him.
And honestly…
most people believed he shouldn’t even be called a hunter.
But Suho still continued entering Gates.
Because reality was cruel.
Hospitals required money.
Medicine required money.
Living itself required money.
And weak people had no choice but to suffer for it.
Suho quietly entered the Hunter Association building.
The atmosphere inside was chaotic.
Hunters moved confidently through the halls while employees rushed between missions and emergency reports.
Powerful mana filled the air.
Suho looked completely out of place.
A receptionist sighed after seeing him approach the desk.
“You’re back again?”
Suho forced a tired smile.
“Any available E-rank raids?”
The woman checked her screen.
“There’s a small dungeon opening in thirty minutes near District 14 subway station.”
She looked up again.
“You really should stop doing this.”
Suho stayed silent.
Stop?
And do what?
Starve?
He signed the registration papers quietly.
As he turned around, several hunters standing nearby began whispering.
“That’s him?”
“The weakest hunter?”
“I heard he faints after using mana twice.”
Laughter spread again.
Suho clenched his fist slightly…
but kept walking.
There was no point getting angry anymore.
Weak people didn’t have the right to be angry.
Outside the building, cold wind hit his face.
He stared silently at the dark sky above Seoul.
Then—
“Knew I’d find you here.”
Suho turned around.
A tall armored hunter approached while carrying a massive axe on his shoulder.
Yoo Jinho grinned casually.
“You joining the subway raid too?”
Suho nodded.
“Looks like it.”
Jinho laughed.
“Well, at least if monsters attack first, they’ll probably target you before me.”
Suho smirked slightly.
“That’s comforting.”
Despite joking around, Jinho was one of the few hunters who treated him somewhat normally.
The two headed toward the raid gathering point together.
Several E-rank and D-rank hunters waited near the Gate site.
A massive glowing blue portal floated in the middle of the abandoned subway entrance.
The air around it distorted unnaturally.
Even after years, Gates still felt terrifying.
The raid leader stepped forward.
“Listen carefully.”
He pointed toward the portal.
“Small E-rank dungeon. We clear it fast, collect mana crystals, and leave.”
Everyone nodded.
Then the leader’s eyes landed on Suho.
His expression immediately became irritated.
“…Why is he here?”
One hunter laughed.
“Guess the association sends trash with every raid now.”
Another hunter smirked.
“If something goes wrong, use him as bait.”
More laughter followed.
Suho lowered his gaze quietly.
Jinho frowned slightly but stayed silent.
The truth was painful.
If danger appeared…
Suho really would become the first sacrifice.
The raid leader activated the entry crystal.
The Gate vibrated violently.
Blue energy exploded outward.
“Move in!”
One by one, the hunters entered the portal.
Suho took a deep breath.
Then stepped forward.
Instantly—
the world twisted.
His vision blurred violently.
Cold darkness swallowed him whole.
BOOM.
Suho stumbled onto rough stone ground.
The smell of blood instantly filled the air.
A massive underground cave stretched endlessly before them.
Dark tunnels.
Ancient stone walls.
Glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling.
Low growls echoed somewhere deep inside.
The raid leader unsheathed his sword confidently.
“Formation!”
The hunters slowly moved deeper into the dungeon.
At first…
everything seemed normal.
Low goblins appeared from the shadows.
The D-rank hunters killed them easily.
Mana crystals were collected quickly.
Several hunters even relaxed.
“Easy money.”
“Told you this dungeon was garbage-tier.”
Suho quietly stayed behind the group while watching the surroundings carefully.
Unlike the others…
he never lowered his guard inside Gates.
Because weak hunters died first.
Then—
Clang.
Everyone froze.
A strange metallic sound echoed somewhere deep within the cave.
Clang.
Clang.
The raid leader frowned immediately.
“…What was that?”
No one answered.
Cold air suddenly spread through the tunnel.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The hunters slowly walked forward until—
they reached it.
A gigantic stone door.
Ancient symbols covered its surface.
Black energy leaked from the cracks.
Several hunters stepped backward immediately.
“T-This wasn’t in the dungeon report…”
“Why is there another chamber?”
“We should leave.”
Suho felt chills run across his entire body.
Something felt horribly wrong.
His instincts screamed at him to run.
But before anyone could react—
CRRRRREEEAK.
The giant door slowly opened by itself.
Darkness waited behind it.
And inside the darkness…
massive stone statues stood silently in rows.
Humanoid figures.
Gigantic weapons.
Emotionless faces.
Watching.
The atmosphere became suffocating.
Then—
BOOOOOM.
The Gate behind them disappeared.
Panic exploded instantly.
“The exit vanished!”
“What the hell is happening?!”
“Open it!”
Hunters rushed toward the wall where the portal once stood.
Nothing remained.
Only stone.
Then suddenly—
A deep ancient voice echoed throughout the chamber.
“Welcome… to the trial.”
The entire cave trembled violently.
Suho’s heartbeat accelerated.
Fear.
Pure fear.
One hunter pointed toward the statues with shaking hands.
“T-Their eyes…”
Red lights slowly appeared inside the statues’ eyes.
One by one.
Dozens of glowing crimson eyes opened in the darkness.
The giant statues began moving.
BOOOOOOOM.
The ground cracked beneath their feet.
Hunters screamed instantly.
One statue moved faster than anyone expected.
Its giant stone sword descended—
SLASH.
Blood exploded across the chamber.
A hunter’s body split apart instantly.
Silence.
Everyone froze.
Nobody could even process what happened.
Then chaos erupted.
“RUN!!”
“THIS ISN’T E-RANK!”
“WE’RE GONNA DIE!”
The statues began slaughtering the hunters mercilessly.
Bodies crashed against walls.
Screams echoed everywhere.
Blood covered the floor.
Suho stood frozen in horror.
His body refused to move.
Death itself stood before him.
Then—
A blue transparent screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ERROR DETECTED]
[Searching For Compatible Host...]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Suho’s eyes widened.
“…What?”
Nobody else reacted.
Only he could see it.
The screen flickered again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Compatible Host Found]
[Player Selected: Sung Suho]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The cave shook violently.
Another message appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[THE SYSTEM HAS AWAKENED]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And at that exact moment—
one of the giant statues turned toward Suho.
Its glowing red eyes locked onto him.
Then it raised its massive blade.
Suho’s breathing stopped.
The monster swung downward.
And darkness swallowed everything.
TO BE CONTINUED....!!
