Chapter 1
Code Name: Black
Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.
A private whisky bar known only to those who were in the know.
“So who is it in the end? Yoon Taesung? Or Han Baeksan?”
“Hmm… I’d still say Yoon Taesung is the strongest in Korea. My vote’s for Yoon Taesung.”
“Come on, that’s nonsense. Sure, he’s strong, but isn’t he specialized for dungeon raids? He’s not quite the strongest in a straight one-on-one fight.”
“Then you’re voting for Han Baeksan?”
“I am. I even heard rumors he recently obtained an incredible secret martial manual inside a dungeon.”
The executives from the Hunter Management Bureau had already finished a lavish first round at a Korean barbecue restaurant and were now loudly arguing over drinks during the second round.
As always, the topic that excited men the most was simple.
Who was the strongest?
“A secret manual? Doesn’t he have to register that with the Hunter Association? I haven’t seen any recent updates.”
“You’re being naïve. Who actually reports the best treasures they find in this business?”
“That’s true… But I also heard Yoon Taesung recently acquired a rare spiritual herb. Besides, just because you find a martial manual doesn’t mean you become stronger overnight.”
“Even taking that into account, Han Baeksan is still the strongest. He reached the top using nothing but his sword. They don’t call him the Sword Sovereign for nothing. Sword Sovereign Han Baeksan! Haven’t you heard?”
“Forget that. Director! What do you think?”
“Hmm…”
Clink.
The Director lazily swirled the whisky in his rocks glass.
“What does it matter?”
The two would never fight each other anyway.
Both were irreplaceable national strategic assets.
If they even showed signs of clashing, the higher-ups would intervene by any means necessary.
“They’re both just acorns.”
“…Excuse me?”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“They’re just measuring the heights of acorns.”
Everyone exchanged bewildered looks.
Has the Director had too much to drink?
He had just compared the nation’s S-Rank Hunters—the country’s greatest military assets—to mere acorns.
“You idiots.”
“The world’s a big place, and there are plenty of monsters out there. So quit talking nonsense and drink.”
He downed the amber liquid in one smooth swallow.
“Ahh…”
A deep, rich body forged through years of aging inside oak barrels.
He loved this whisky too…
Director Kim Hyung-seok narrowed his eyes as he placed the empty glass on the table.
His unfocused gaze drifted through the air before being pulled back to a memory from one month ago.
One Month Earlier
The Leviathan Suppression Operation in the East Sea.
That day had nearly become the darkest day in Korean history.
The readings on the mana detector shot upward as the warning lights flashed crimson.
Then—
BOOM!
The detector exploded.
The world’s first unmeasurable-class monster had appeared.
Naturally, the entire world focused its attention on Korea.
But no one came to help.
“The Americans say they’d like to assist, but all of their top Hunters are already deployed elsewhere!”
“What about China? They’re right next door!”
“A monster has appeared in the Yellow Sea. They say defending their own territorial waters takes priority.”
“…Those bastards.”
Kim Hyung-seok bit his lip until it bled.
They called it the World Hunter Alliance, but everyone knew the truth.
No country wanted to risk its own Hunters.
They were waiting for Korea to become the sacrificial lamb and gather combat data first.
It was unavoidable.
That was reality.
If the situation had been reversed…
If such a monster had appeared in another country…
And they had requested Korea’s help…
Would Korea really have sent its own greatest Hunters into a battlefield with virtually no chance of survival?
National interest.
Those two cursed words outweighed friendship, honor, and every alliance in existence.
“In the end… it’s up to us.”
“Issue the emergency mobilization order.”
“Gather every S-Rank Hunter!”
Kim Hyung-seok personally led the operation alongside five of Korea’s Top Ten Hunters.
Even gathering five had been difficult.
Han Baeksan?
Yoon Taesung?
The very Hunters his subordinates constantly praised?
One claimed he was inside an unexplored dungeon.
Another was supposedly injured during training.
One excuse after another.
Cowards.
“You are all fools.”
“But I’m grateful that this country still has five fools like you.”
“Please…”
“Please come back alive.”
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life carrying that debt.”
The result…
Was absolute disaster.
“AAAAAAAGH!”
“S-Save me!”
Ten minutes.
That was all it took for five S-Rank Hunters to become mangled wrecks.
Two were already cold corpses sinking beneath the sea.
One had both arms and legs torn off and was left in a permanent vegetative state.
“…This is…”
Standing on the battlefield, Kim Hyung-seok realized they were all going to die.
The remaining two Hunters surely felt the same.
Then—
KRRRRRRAAAAAAASH!!
The sky…
Split apart.
A blinding flash tore across the heavens as the atmosphere above the East Sea screamed in agony.
At that exact moment, every monitor and instrument inside the command center went haywire before exploding one after another.
“W-What’s happening?!”
“We’ve lost satellite signals!”
“Mana levels have exceeded measurable limits!”
“We can’t receive any transmissions!”
“Every camera lens at the scene just shattered!”
Chaos consumed the control room.
And in that instant…
Kim Hyung-seok saw him.
A man casually falling from the dimensional rift.
Dressed in tattered clothing, he looked down upon the colossal catastrophe roaring beneath him.
Then he frowned.
“What is this?”
“Just a pathetic little snake.”
His voice cut clearly through the deafening storm.
A little snake…?
He was calling an unmeasurable-class disaster…
A little snake?
The next moment—
The man casually flicked his hand.
As though lazily swatting away a fly.
SPLAT!!
Just once.
With that single wave…
Leviathan’s head exploded like a watermelon.
Blood poured down from the sky like torrential rain.
The sea turned crimson.
Kim Hyung-seok could only stare in stunned silence, his jaw trembling.
W-What… was that…?
The monster had been killed…
By an even greater monster.
Then that monster muttered,
“Ha… damn.”
“I’m dizzy.”
And like a puppet with its strings cut…
He fell into the sea.
The events of that day were burned into Kim Hyung-seok’s memory like a brand.
Present Day
Hannam-dong, Seoul
In front of a premium government safe house.
“Hoo…”
“Hoo…”
Lee Se-ah, a rookie agent newly assigned to the Hunter Management Bureau’s Special Operations Team, clutched her pounding chest.
Her trembling hands tightened around the tablet she carried.
Displayed on the screen was Korea’s highest-classified document.
Classified File – Personnel Information
Name: Kang Hyun
Age: 33
Rank: Unmeasurable
Special Notes:
- Appeared alongside a dimensional rift above the East Sea.
- Killed the monster Leviathan with a single wave of his hand.
- Suffers from severe alcohol dependency.
- Especially fond of whisky.
- Extremely difficult to communicate with.
- High probability of foreign powers attempting to secure him.
- Requires security equivalent to a top-level strategic national asset.
At first…
She hadn’t believed it.
Leviathan…?
It wasn’t the S-Rank Hunters who killed it…?
This man did?
But she had no choice but to believe.
It was an official top-secret government document.
Only a handful of people in Korea even knew this file existed.
The President.
The Presidential Chief of Staff.
The Director of the National Intelligence Service.
The Director of the Hunter Management Bureau.
The two surviving S-Rank Hunters.
And only a select few members of the Bureau’s Special Operations Team.
At first I was thrilled.
Being granted access to such classified information meant she was on the elite fast track to promotion.
She had even celebrated with champagne.
But now…
It felt less like champagne…
And more like drinking poison.
Because she’d discovered the truth.
No one on the team wanted this assignment.
Even today…
“Who’s going to visit Black?”
The Director’s simple question had instantly frozen the meeting room.
Veteran agents who had survived countless life-and-death missions simultaneously looked everywhere except at him.
The ceiling.
The floor.
Their fingernails.
“Director… my back suddenly started acting up.”
“Ouch… why does it hurt so much today?”
“I have a meeting this afternoon with the Cheonrang Guild Master.”
“I heard he found another secret martial manual.”
“Huh? Manager Kim, didn’t you swear you’d never even pee in Cheonrang Guild’s direction?”
“Director, personal feelings and work are separate matters.”
“I may not pee there, but I still have to monitor national strategic assets.”
Cowards.
The same seniors who loved boasting during company dinners were trembling in fear at nothing more than hearing the name Kang Hyun.
As a result…
“Hmm… can’t be helped.”
“Agent Lee Se-ah.”
“…Yes?”
“You graduated at the top of your class, didn’t you?”
“Show these freeloaders what real talent looks like.”
B-But I’ve never worked in the field before…
She couldn’t possibly say that aloud.
How could a rookie talk back to the Director?
“Just go.”
“I’ll give you five stars on your performance evaluation.”
She swallowed hard.
That was how she had ended up here.
Right…
How bad can it really be?
She clenched her teeth and reached for the doorbell.
Then paused.
“Huh?”
The front door was slightly open.
An intruder?
Impossible.
The safe house’s security exceeded even the Blue House.
Besides…
Considering the monster inside…
She almost felt sorry for any intruder.
“H-Hello?”
“I’m from the Hunter Management Bureau.”
No answer.
She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and cautiously stepped inside.
The interior was dark.
Every curtain had been drawn.
A chilly silence filled the room.
The sharp smell of alcohol stung her nose.
“Excuse me…”
Her eyes drifted toward the sofa.
Then froze.
Baggy sweatpants.
Messy hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed for days.
Dozens of empty whisky bottles scattered across the floor.
That… bum…?
He killed Leviathan…?
She seriously began wondering if the government’s data had somehow been corrupted.
Then—
“Hey.”
A hoarse voice broke the silence.
“Y-Yes?”
“Liquor.”
The man slowly sat up.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
His face was pale as paper.
Lee Se-ah couldn’t understand.
If your head felt like it was splitting apart…
Shouldn’t you drink water instead?
Just give him what he wants!
She quickly handed over the bottle of whisky Senior Kim had insisted she bring.
Whoosh!
The man snatched it away.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Gulp.
He drank the powerful liquor as though it were plain water.
He’s insane.
How could anyone drink whisky like that without even flinching?
No—
He actually looked blissful.
Like a traveler in the desert finding an oasis.
“Ah…”
“Now I finally feel alive.”
Only then did his gaze properly settle on her.
“So.”
“Who are you?”
“I thought I made myself perfectly clear to your government.”
“I told them not to come near me unless absolutely necessary.”
The moment their eyes met…
Lee Se-ah forgot how to breathe.
Those eyes…
Visible beneath his tangled hair…
Were terrifyingly cold.
Gasp…
It felt as though she were a helpless herbivore staring into the eyes of the apex predator.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
I-I have to tell him…
The Leviathan’s corpse was too contaminated.
Its poison was so overwhelming that even S-Rank Hunters couldn’t approach it.
The government wanted to apologize for asking…
But hoped he could dispose of the body.
Yet…
Her lips refused to move.
“Hmm.”
“Actually…”
“This works out nicely.”
“I was just about to ask for a favor.”
At those words, the crushing pressure surrounding her suddenly vanished.
A favor?
Relief flooded through her.
If this overwhelmingly powerful monster was asking them for something first…
Then perhaps negotiations were actually possible.
“W-What kind of help do you need?”
“Over there.”
He lazily gestured toward the television.
Only then did she notice the enormous 80-inch TV mounted on the wall.
The news was broadcasting footage of Korea’s greatest Hunter training institution—
The National Hunter Academy.
Students trained rigorously across the sprawling campus.
“I want you…”
“To send me there.”
Silence.
An unmeasurable-class monster…
Wanted to go to the Hunter Academy?
Why?
Surely not…
As a student?
The answer came immediately.
“If possible…”
“I’d rather go as a professor.”
