The world outside the F-Rank Gate was the same as before—busy, indifferent, and smelling of exhaust and stale street food. But for Dohyun, everything had shifted. He was no longer running on empty.
He had a new status: E-Rank.
The System's notification remained glued to his vision, a proud banner over his raw, throbbing stats: Strength 5.7 \rightarrow 7.7, Agility 5.5 \rightarrow 6.5, Stamina 3.6 \rightarrow 5.1. He was still far from being considered strong in the Hunter world, but he was no longer an absolute weakling. He was solid, efficient, and lethal.
He spent the rest of the day in a haze of pain and recovery, using every ounce of his new stamina to endure the aftershocks of the Plunder overdose. He told his father he'd found a part-time manual job—a lie the exhausted man thankfully accepted.
The Two-Day Grind
The following two days of his suspension were a relentless, brutal campaign. He found a new, slightly tougher F-Rank Gate. He didn't waste time looking for hidden caves or resting. He walked in, killed, Plundered, rested just long enough for his Mana to barely recover, and then repeated the cycle.
The process became a savage meditation. His senses sharpened; his movements gained a terrifying economy. He no longer fought sloppily; he moved like a practiced killer, targeting joints, eyes, and throat.
Plunder. Rest. Kill. Plunder. Rest. Kill.
He began to gain more than mere decimals. After clearing five different F-Rank Gates and successfully Plundering over forty creatures, his stats exploded.
[ Status Update: ]
[ Strength: 10.5 ]
[ Agility: 9.8 ]
[ Stamina: 8.9 ]
[ Mana: 10.2 ]
He had reached the maximum potential of an E-Rank Hunter. The System flashed a new notification: "To achieve D-Rank, further evolution of Plunder skill is required."
Dohyun stood over the dissolving carcass of the final dungeon boss, a massive Lizardman he'd taken down with chilling precision. He was bruised, his clothes were shredded, and he was covered in drying monster blood, but he was not exhausted.
He looked down at his hands. They trembled not from fear, but from the restrained power coursing beneath his skin. He felt the cold, supreme confidence of Escanor surging through him—a conviction that his limits were merely temporary markers on a relentless path.
"Evolution, then," he muttered, wiping blood from his cheek. "I will take it."
He stepped out of the Gate just as the sun was setting on his final day of suspension. He was ready for the school. He was ready for the world.
The Ripple Effect
Miles away, in the luxurious central tower of Seoul, sat Choi Jeong-ho, Guild Leader of the Phoenix Wing Guild—the third most powerful Hunter organization in Korea. Jeong-ho was a legendary figure, known for his cold, calculating mind and his almost supernatural ability to spot potential.
He sat across from his Chief Strategist, reviewing the daily analysis of all active Hunter data across the country.
"Anything interesting, Chief?" Jeong-ho asked, swirling the crimson wine in his glass.
"Just the usual noise, Guild Master," the strategist replied, tapping a stylus on a holographic map. "A few D-Ranks cleared their promotion assessment, and the Ironclad Guild lost three teams in the Busan Gate."
"And the anomalies?" Jeong-ho always cared about the anomalies.
The strategist paused, zooming in on a small, insignificant part of the data stream—the F-Rank and E-Rank Hunter registry.
"Only one, sir. A student from Baekho Academy. Name: Dohyun."
"Dohyun?" Jeong-ho raised an eyebrow. "I know the name. The F-Rank washout. The one with the notoriously useless skill."
"He was the washout, sir. Three days ago, he was F-Rank with Strength 4. Today, he's a low E-Rank, with stats exceeding 10 across the board. The system registered five successful F-Rank dungeon clearances in the past 48 hours. Five solo clearances."
The strategist continued, his voice tight with confusion. "It shouldn't be possible. No E-Rank could survive the Mana depletion needed to sustain that many fights, let alone solo an F-Rank dungeon master with an F-Rank skill. We can't track how he did it. He bypassed all standard metric increases."
Jeong-ho set his wine glass down, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face. This was it. This was the scent of the extraordinary.
"The boy with the Plunder skill, rapidly evolving past his limitations in total secrecy," Jeong-ho mused. "He's not just growing; he's doing it in a manner the Association cannot quantify. He's operating outside the rules."
Jeong-ho stood up, his gaze distant, focused only on the potential.
"He is either incredibly lucky, or incredibly dangerous. He is building strength on his own terms. Find me everything on this Dohyun. His family, his past, his schedule. I want to know who is sponsoring this monster's birth."
He turned back to his strategist, his voice dropping to a decisive command.
"Tell the surveillance teams to monitor him closely. Do not approach, do not interfere. Let the cub play in the yard. But I want to be the first person he sees when he decides to truly hunt."
The Guild Master of the Phoenix Wing was officially intrigued. The nobody F-Rank had just caught the eye of a kingmaker.
The Return
Dohyun walked toward his home, the weight of his new power thrumming beneath his skin. He felt the raw, cold intensity of Sung Jinwoo's aura emanating from him, causing passersby to subconsciously give him a wide berth.
His three-day suspension was over. He had promised his father comfort, and he had promised the world a reckoning.
He knew his sudden ranking jump would cause talk, but he embraced it. He needed the world to know the F-Rank trash was gone. He needed them to be afraid.
He stopped outside his dilapidated apartment building. The climb was over. The ascension had begun.
Let them talk, he thought, pulling his now-tattered school bag over his shoulder. The path to S-Rank requires stepping on every one of their necks.
He was ready to face the music—at school, and perhaps soon, from the most powerful guilds in Korea.