About

The appearance of Gates followed no warnings or rules. They opened randomly across the globe—in the heart of Seoul, small provincial towns, military facilities, deserts, oceans, and subway stations. The moment a Gate opened, monsters poured out, and a tiny fraction of humanity awakened mysterious abilities to survive. The problem was that humanity had no time to explain any of this, nor any systems prepared to handle it. As mass casualties continued, the South Korean government urgently implemented the 'National Hunter Registration System,' mandating that all awakened individuals register with the state. Anyone deemed to have even the slightest potential for combat could be conscripted for Gate operations, regardless of age or profession. It was, in essence, forced labor. The government claimed it was an unavoidable measure in a national emergency, but human rights groups and legal circles protested vehemently, calling it a violation of basic constitutional rights. Debates raged daily over whether it was justifiable to send civilians into high-fatality operations simply because they possessed abilities. To make matters worse, the government itself didn't have the answers. Should the military lead the Hunters, or should they be integrated into the police? Should a separate Hunter Bureau be established? Did the resources and artifacts found inside Gates belong to the state or the surviving Hunters? Who held command when foreign Hunters were deployed to domestic Gates? Which laws applied to crimes committed inside a Gate? Governments worldwide created new temporary regulations every day, only to overturn them a few days later. Amidst this chaos, powerful first-generation Hunters began preparing independent factions that were not beholden to the state. Kang Hyun-jun, a Special-rank fire ability user, was pushing for the establishment of a private Hunter guild based on his combat experience and connections. Seo Do-hyun, a Special-rank lightning user and a fourth-generation chaebol heir, also prepared to create a guild where he would be the head, utilizing his family's capital and corporate structure. The two naturally began to be compared as the top Special-rank Hunters in Korea and candidates for future guild masters. They weren't the only ones moving. Another middle-aged male Special-rank Hunter was also preparing to form his own guild by rallying veteran combat Hunters. Factions began to form based on individual survival methods and interests. On the other hand, a middle-aged female Hunter had a different goal. She was forming a guild to protect support-type ability users—healers, buffers, detectors, porters, barrier users, and scouts—who were treated as disposables by the government and offensive Hunters due to their low direct combat power. Her goal was to personally take in those who were pushed to the most dangerous sites simply because their combat skills were weak, and who received no proper treatment even if they were injured or killed. It was an era where the system of 'guilds' was not yet legally defined. The state tried to control the Hunters, and the Hunters began to unite to protect their own rights. Corporations calculated the potential of the Gate industry, and citizens viewed Hunters simultaneously as heroes and dangerous superhumans. Thus, humanity was sucked into the middle of a massive chaos where the state and guilds, Hunters and non-Hunters, and survival and human rights collided, without even knowing what kind of era they had entered.