Solo Leveling SI-Devour Ch.1

Chapter 1-Prologue

GO GUN HEE-- The President of the Korean Hunter Association

Decades ago, their entire world had transformed with the appearance of gates, monsters. Humanity had thought its fate sealed as monsters began to ravage their lands, killing thousands. That was until the ‘Hunters’ began to awaken.

Men and women, blessed with power to fight these monsters. Divided into ranks based on their powers, the Hunters became humanity's blade against this injustice of Gates, as they pushed back these monsters and brought back peace.

Yet with these awakenings had come a new era, one which had need of new rules and regulations as the old justice system found itself incapable of dealing with these blessed individuals.

Each Nation took steps on its own to take get a handle on this new authority, yet it was a new world and while many succeeded, many failed as well and saw chaos erupt on their countries.

For Korea, he was the person who had stepped up. Go Gun Hee, a human blessed with enough strength to grant him the S-rank. He had given up much wealth and fame to serve his nation and lay a foundation lest his country fall into chaos.

And as he looked out the giant window of his office and saw the expansive city of Soul down below, bustling with life and activity, he felt some pride and contentment that he had succeeded. That all his efforts were not for naught.

Yet his record was not perfect. There still remained a great blemish in his record. A failure that had resulted in the deaths of thousands and had caused great shame to him and his nation.

The Jeju Island.

Still thinking of that place made him remember the slaughter and the devastation suffered by the people because of his failures. And he rued his health, hating that he was not just a few years younger so that he could go to that wretched place himself and wipe away the shame for them and their country.

Two times they had tried to clear that island, to kill the Ant-Queen who had made the island her nest as she continued to breed and birth an army. Yet each time they had failed, compounding on their shame.

And now they were set to try again, a third time.

“Have the Guilds agreed?” he asked, his second in command, Woo Jin-Chul.

The A-ranked hunter, who was the second strongest member of the Hunters Association, had been coordinating this major raid with some of Korea’s biggest guilds, for none of them had the capability of dealing with this on their own.

“The Guilds have agreed. Teams are being assembled, and they will make the raid in a months’ time,” and that was expected, for the failure at Jeju Island was not just a blemish for him, but was a cause of shame for all these hunters as well.

“Good,” he said, turning to face the young man, who seemed to want to say something.

“There are many within the government that think that we are not ready,” and what would those paper pushers know?

“And do you agree with them?” he asked, and Jin-Chul shook his head.

“No, but even you cannot deny that there is a great risk involved in this raid. With the guilds turning their attention to the Jeju Island and busying themselves in making preparations for that raid, the number of Dungeon Breaks sky rocketed and it took us months to regain equilibrium and even more time to rebuild the trust within the populace,” and he was right, yet the Jeju Island was a source of great humiliation for them and their country.

It was a breeding nest for an S-ranked monster, and sooner or later, they would have to take care of it. Delaying it so only allowed the Monster Ant to increase the number of her armies, and if those armies were to turn their sight towards their country.

“We cannot let those monsters infest Jeju Island like this. Sooner or later, that swarm could turn towards our cities and cause great havoc. It would be best that we deal with it on our own terms, rather than scrambling to deal with it when it becomes an emergency years later,” and Woo-Jin Chul nodded, agreeing with him.

“As for the Dungeon Breaks, I believe I tasked you with making a comprehensive plan to deal with it all. And I am sure that you will not let me down,” and he had full faith in his second in command, who nodded, and put forward a file.

“Of course. I have contacted the Smaller Guilds and asked them to increase their raid frequencies, offering them discounts on the equipment and services needed. The Association itself will also be stepping in to deal with as many gates as possible,” and that was good.

But they had done all this years ago as well, and in his own words, it had not worked.

“That is not all, is it?” and the orange-haired hunter nodded as he took off his glasses.

“You should look at the file,” he suggested and Go-Gun Hee finally opened the folder, and on the first page was a profile report with no picture, along with some news clippings and articles.

“Korea is not the first nation to struggle with an S-ranked Dungeon Break. And while we have S-ranked hunters of our own, there are many smaller nations that lack them, or have too few of them. So, I did a little digging trying to figure out how do these nations survive such a catastrophe, and what I found was rather interesting,” and indeed the report mentioned around four S-ranked Dungeon breaks and two dozen A-ranked dungeon breaks occurring in smaller, less powerful nations.

And yet it was not unusual for stronger superpowers like the USA and China to step in with aid. These countries usually asked for an arm and a leg, preying upon the desperation of these nations to hollow out their resources.

Because, despite the dangers posed by an A or an S-ranked Dungeon, the resources and the wealth they offered were just as enormous, and yet these more powerful nations took all that and more, pushing the smaller and lesser developed nations to the brink of financial and social doom.

And the report painted a rather interesting picture.

“Is this all real?” he asked, the disbelief evident in his voice and tone as Jin-Chul nodded.

“Yes. I confirmed it all through various sources and all that is mentioned in the report is true. The rumors and all the other information that I could not confirm, I have compiled separately on the last few pages,” and he had been very thorough, and given that, despite his position, he had heard nothing about this, meant that it was a rather well-kept secret.

For it seemed there was someone who was pushing back against these massive Superpowers. An S-ranked Hunter, who seemingly stepped in when asked for but a fraction of the fortune demanded by the Superpowers like the US and China, and handled such S-ranked dungeons and Dungeon breaks for the smaller nations.

And as he read more and more, he realised that it was not all he did. The rest of his actions were rather unsavory, for they involved murder and death of a few high-ranked Hunters, and yet it seemed they were not as clean as one may think.

The ‘Awakening’ blessed them with great power, and power caused great corruption. In nations who lacked figures like himself who could keep these powerful Hunters in check they often broke the law with no care, killing, raping and pillaging with no fear of retribution.

It was abhorrent, yet they were simply too powerful to be put down. Even in Korea, he had been forced to crack down on quite a few Hunters who had let their powers turn them towards rape and murder.

Yet it seems he became the Hunter for them, acting on behalf of government authorities, helping them deal with such individuals.

“Do we have any idea about his affiliation with a Nation?” he asked, and Jin Chul shook his head.

“From what I could gather, he is not affiliated with any nation. I reached out to him, through a few channels, about this very thing, and the answer I received was that he is somewhat of a Freelancer,” and that was so strange, and unique in a way.

Yet his strength. Dealing with S-ranked gates was no joke, and he seemed to do so all by himself or with a rather limited team.

That could mean that he was not just an S-ranked hunter. No. He was something more.

“A National Level Hunter,” a rank given to Hunters whose power exceeded the conventional S-rank, and until now, it was given to but five hunters officially—the infamous Five survivors of the battle against the calamity dragon, Kamish.

“Could he be one of them?” and of the Five National Level Hunters, the identity of four was rather well known.

Yet the identity of the fifth person remained a mystery to the world as a whole, for they had gone into hiding soon after the incident, refusing all the fame and glory that came with their achievement.

And he could think of no other Hunter being capable of such a thing.

“Maybe, but he is very peculiar about his secrets. All the nations and people that he has helped made it clear to me that they would not give up anything about his identity and powers at all,” and that would only happen if they respected him too much or were simply too afraid of him.

“It could all be a ruse?” he suggested, and it was in his nature to be cynical given all that he had seen.

“Maybe, though the information suggests that it is not. But I believe that he could be a valuable resource. One that we should explore,” and his suggestion was sound, but unlike the other nations mentioned, Korea was not so powerless.

They had more than half a dozen S-ranked Hunters and had a robust association. Calling in an outsider like this did not sit well with him or his pride.

Yet, this was a major raid. And if the raid failed, or the swarm turned its gaze towards their city, and the mere thought of it all made his face harden as he raked his mind, trying to make a decision.

“Are you certain that he is not affiliated with any nation?” he asked, and Woo Jin-Chul nodded again.

“I am. The US, China, and Europe have all tried to entice him, but he has maintained his independence. One could say that he has made himself their enemy, because with him stepping in, these Superpowers could not exploit these smaller nations as they usually could,” and indeed, that was right.

“Reach out to him then and see if he's available?” he finally decided, for he could not let his pride come in the way of saving his nation.

If this stranger was indeed a ‘Freelancer’ as he claimed to be, then it would be best to have him on standby as a last resort, during the raid.

“I will make the calls,” his second in command said as he gave him a salute.

“I want to meet him first, though, before the final decision,” and with that, Woo Jin Chul reached for the door.

“What is his name, though?” he asked, as the Chief Inspector stopped and answered.

“His real name is a mystery, as all the nations that he has worked with refused to disclose it. What they did mention was an epithet, one that he commonly uses...”

“...Ghoul!”

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Miles and miles away, two people stood outside a massive gate. The mana waves coming off of it put it at peak A-rank, and the bureaucrat holding the file looked at the sole figure standing there with some fear and admiration.

“Are you certain that you can handle it on your own?” he asked, the tall white-haired boy standing infront of the gate with nonchalance.

“I will be fi....” yet before he could finish, they were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

RING. RING. RING.

The young white-haired man reached into his pocket, took out a phone, and put it to his ear.

“Hey, Jarvis what is it?” he asked.

“Hmmm, interesting. I did not expect that. Send them our usual demands, I am just finishing up the Africa job,” and with that he put down the phone and put it back in his pocket.

“Well, then I will be going in then....”

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