The air inside the Seoul Awakening Center's transfer corridor was cold and sterile, lit by white panels that buzzed faintly overhead. Jin Hwan stood in line behind six other freshly awakened hunters, all wearing identical uniforms, all holding silent tension in their faces.
Some looked bitter.Some looked excited.Jin Hwan just looked… calm.
Well, calm-ish—his rabbit ears wouldn't stop twitching.
He tried to fold them down, but they popped right back up, perky and useless.
"Stop that," he whispered under his breath, like scolding a dog. "You're making me look more pathetic."
The guy in front of him, a skinny teenager with a blue shark fin on his back, turned around.
"You talkin' to your ears, bro?"
Jin Hwan raised an eyebrow. "You talkin' to your fin?"
The teen blinked, then snorted. "Fair."
They both fell silent again.
[Underground Evaluation Room — F-Rank Lobby]
A large holographic sign above the sliding doors read:
WELCOME: LOW-RANKED AWAKENERS (E-RANK AND BELOW)Please proceed to Evaluation Rooms 3A–3F.
Inside, things felt different. No flashing lights or cheering scouts like the upper floors. No interview booths. No guild representatives waiting to offer contracts.
Just a cracked floor tile and a sad-looking vending machine that was out of service.
A single old man sat at a desk by the wall, scribbling something on a clipboard. His nametag read:
Kim Byung-Oh | F-Rank Assignment Manager
He didn't even look up.
"Name?" he muttered.
"Jin Hwan."
"Rank?"
"F."
"Beast?"
"…Rabbit."
That got a pause.
The man looked up slowly, eyes scanning Jin Hwan from top to bottom. His gaze lingered on the rabbit ears for a moment before he sighed and wrote something down.
"Yeah. You're gonna love the job I've got for you."
After ten minutes of sitting on a stiff bench, Jin Hwan received a worn folder labeled: "Low-Rank Temporary Assignment — Category D: Field Cleaner."
Inside it was a basic map, some instructions, and a prepaid train card.
[Temporary Assignment: Gate Post 11-B | Yongin Outskirts]
Job Role: Gate Cleaner (Support Staff)
Shift: 5:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Duration: 2 Weeks
Payment: 3,500 won/hour (Hazard Pay Included)
Note: Bring your own gloves. Expect monster blood.
"Blood…" Jin Hwan whispered, flipping the folder shut.
So this was it.
No party invites. No battle squad. No training contract.
He was going to be a gate janitor.
As he stepped out into the late afternoon sun, the golden system flickered back to life, faint and lowkey—only visible to him.
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ONLINE]
Status: StableHidden Growth: +0.05% (Observed Humiliation)System Comment:
"Even the smallest steps leave footprints."
"You're poetic now, huh?" Jin Hwan muttered.
He started walking toward the train station, hands in his pockets, ignoring the stares from passersby. The rabbit ears weren't helping.
One child pointed and giggled. "Mommy, that uncle's a bunny!"
He didn't even bother correcting her. Just kept walking.
Later That Night — Yongin Field Station 11-B
The gate was active. A swirling blue vortex hovered behind a safety wall, pulsing every few seconds like a beating heart. Dozens of hunters in armor were gathered in a temporary outpost near the gate, prepping for entry.
Some wore sleek black gear and carried enchanted weapons. Their ranks glowed on armbands—A-rank, B-rank, even a single S-rank woman leaning against a jeep, sipping coffee like it was just another Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Jin Hwan sat on a stack of crates, wearing a yellow safety vest and a pair of secondhand boots.
"Hey, newbie!" shouted a gruff man in a stained uniform. "You brought gloves?"
Jin Hwan held up a pair of pink rubber kitchen gloves.
The man squinted. "Close enough."
The job was… disgusting.
He cleaned slime residue from monster corpses, mopped up blood trails, dragged torn limbs into waste bins. Most of the time, he did it silently—just listening to the sounds of battle beyond the gate or the laughter of higher-ranked hunters behind him.
But he didn't complain.
He worked.
And each night, the system grew.
[SYSTEM INTERFACE UPDATE]
Quiet Growth: +1.0%New Passive Skill Acquired:
Keen Hearing (Rabbit Trait II)Range of hearing extended. You can now hear whispers at close range and muffled conversations from across a room.
By the fifth day, Jin Hwan could hear enemy footsteps before his fellow cleaners did.By the seventh, he moved so quietly that people didn't notice him sweeping nearby.
No one asked questions.No one noticed the golden light that shimmered behind his irises when he blinked.And that was exactly how he wanted it.
Low rank. Low profile.And one day… high power.
He didn't need to climb fast.He just needed to climb quietly.