"So, this is the inside of a dungeon..."
Even though Min-jun had already downloaded an immense amount of theoretical data about Gates using the Manager, actually stepping into one was a completely novel experience. The air was thick, heavy, and metallic. It honestly felt like he had just logged into a hyper-realistic VR RPG.
As he stepped through the shimmering portal alone, he found himself standing at the entrance of a massive, dark subterranean cavern.
And it was absolutely swarming with High Orcs.
"ROOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"RAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"HORAAAAAAAA!!!!"
"I have no idea what you're all screaming about," Min-jun murmured, casually adjusting his glasses. "But strangely enough... I feel like I can kill every single one of you."
These monsters were massive, easily twice his height and packed with dense, crimson muscle. They exuded a suffocating, bloodthirsty aura that would have instantly shattered the willpower of a normal human.
Yet, strangely enough, Min-jun felt perfectly calm. The terrifying threat simply didn't register. If he had to describe the feeling, it was like taking a casual stroll through the city zoo. Sure, he was looking at massive, terrifying beasts that could easily rip a human apart, but there was a thick layer of reinforced glass between them. He felt completely relaxed, knowing they couldn't actually touch him.
Of course, if he just stood there and did nothing, the beasts would eventually break the glass. But he didn't even have to lift a finger. The Manager was already handling everything.
[Echolocation mana pulse deployed. Mapping subterranean cavern structure. 4,320 hostile entities detected. Vanguard approaching. High Orc Boss located 3.8 kilometers deep. Boss Shielding: Physical.]
Min-jun didn't even break his stride. He calmly raised his left hand. The Manager instantly took over his motor functions, handling the biometric targeting, the complex trajectory calculations, and the precise mana output.
He didn't even have to think. His body shifted into perfect "auto-pilot" mode. As he raised his arm, the white-gold ring on his finger snapped into the sleek, glowing frame of the Logic Arc. A brilliant blue arrow formed on the invisible bowstring.
Min-jun was almost dumbfounded as he watched his own fingers release the shot.
Swooooosh!
The single blue arrow shot forward. Mid-flight, it violently fractured, dividing into thousands of needle-thin, perfectly homing mana projectiles. They didn't just fly in a straight line; the needles curved sharply around falling stalactites, ricocheted off the cavern walls, and locked flawlessly onto the thermal signatures of the screaming Orcs.
"..." The Orcs paused, looking up at the glowing blue rain.
"Eh?" one grunted.
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
There wasn't a single roar of pain. The entire vanguard of the High Orc army—hundreds of massive, heavily armored monsters—was systematically headshot in exactly 3.2 seconds.
The massive cavern fell dead silent before the heavy bodies even hit the stone floor.
"..." Min-jun lowered his bow, blinking behind his glasses.
At that exact moment, the portal behind him flared. Son Ki-Hoon, Cha Hae-In, and the fully buffed, adrenaline-fueled A-Team charged through the gate, screaming heroic battle cries. They had their shields raised and spells primed, completely ready to dive into the meat grinder to save the arrogant rookie from being torn apart.
Instead, they skidded to a dead halt, completely silencing their battle cries.
They didn't see a desperate, bloody battle. They didn't see a rookie fighting for his life. Instead, they were forcefully slapped with the brutal reality of the Hunter hierarchy. They were looking at the absolute, terrifying difference between the bottom of the food chain and the absolute apex predator.
Is this what an S-Rank Archer actually looks like?! Ki-Hoon thought, his jaw dropping in horror and awe.
Min-jun completely ignored the stunned strike squad. His body was still locked in auto-pilot, moving with the terrifying, flawless precision of a machine. He had become the most perfect, mathematically optimized archer on the planet.
The immediate cavern was entirely emptied of life. The walls were perfectly intact, unscarred by messy explosive magic. All that remained were hundreds of headless Orcs disintegrating into black smoke, dropping glowing loot crystals simultaneously.
But the raid was far from over. There were still thousands of monsters deeper in the cave, and the Boss was still waiting on its throne.
However, instead of taking the normal route, Min-jun utilized a different method—one that nearly gave the veteran Hunters a heart attack.
"Um... Kim Min-jun-nim...?" Ki-Hoon asked respectfully, his voice trembling as he watched the young man suddenly aim his bow at a completely blank, solid rock wall.
Min-jun didn't answer. He was entirely focused on the data streaming across his retina display.
[Boss entity stationary. 3.8 kilometers North-Northwest. Obstacles: 14 meters of highly compressed solid rock.]
Normally, an elite Raid Team has to fight through hours of grueling, bloody combat, clearing wave after wave of minions just to reach the Boss Room.
Min-jun simply didn't have the time or the patience for that.
Standing safely near the entrance of the Gate, he channeled a massive surge of dense mana into the Logic Arc. Instead of a needle, the bow generated a single, blindingly thick arrow that looked more like an anti-tank railgun slug.
He aimed directly at the solid cave wall.
"Um... Min-jun-nim?!" the mages panicked, stepping back.
Cha Hae-In watched him intently, her gray eyes wide as Min-jun smoothly released the string.
SWOOOSH!
CRACK!
The massive arrow instantly shattered the sound barrier. It punched a perfectly round, violently smoking hole straight through miles of solid subterranean rock.
Deep inside the dungeon, the High Orc Boss was vaporized mid-sentence while comfortably sitting on its throne, triggering a massive, cavern-shaking explosion!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
The ground beneath the A-Team's feet trembled violently as a cloud of dust blew out from the freshly drilled tunnel.
[Boss entity eliminated. Dungeon clear confirmed. Portal stabilization in progress.]
"....."
Eh? Min-jun blinked, the Manager finally releasing his motor functions.
Was that it? Is it over?
Min-jun felt incredibly strange. He had read so many manga and light novels where the hero's journey was filled with desperate romance, gripping adventure, and screaming about the power of friendship. But this? This felt exactly like a max-level player with the best end-game equipment wandering back into the beginner tutorial zone and completely destroying the local ecosystem with sheer, overwhelming stats.
"Um... is it done?" Cha Hae-In asked, walking up beside him, looking completely lost.
"Yup," Min-jun nodded.
"....." Hae-In stared at the smoking hole in the wall.
"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Min-jun admitted. "I can probably make it home in time to eat the rest of the pastries with Jinah."
"....." The entire A-Team remained frozen in absolute silence. They desperately wanted to say something, but not a single word could escape their throats.
"Captain Son," Min-jun called out.
"AH! YES, SIR! AWAITING YOUR ORDERS!"
Son Ki-Hoon, one of the most respected, influential veteran Tanks in the Hunters Guild, snapped to perfect military attention. He knew his limits perfectly. He was just an A-Rank. He had always known S-Ranks were on a different level, but the distance between them was an ocean he could never, ever cross.
His veteran pride didn't just break; it completely evaporated. Swearing absolute loyalty was the only logical course of action now.
However, behind him, the rest of the A-Team was currently undergoing a severe existential crisis. If he can literally clear the entire dungeon from the front door in under a minute... what is the point of us even being here?!
"Ask the mining team to come in and start clearing the drops," Min-jun instructed casually. "Tell them to be careful of the structural integrity. The Boss Core is exactly 3.8 kilometers down that new tunnel I just drilled. Make sure they extract it carefully; I want it perfectly intact."
He wanted to personally observe the S-Rank Boss Core to see if the Manager could reverse-engineer it into a permanent battery.
"Y-YES, SIR! RIGHT AWAY!"
While the A-Team was having a collective meltdown inside the quiet dungeon, Choi Jong-In was watching the live mana-feed from his luxury office.
He watched the multi-million dollar A-Rank Gate signature drop from "CRITICAL THREAT" to "CLEARED" in exactly forty-five seconds.
Jong-In didn't panic about his veteran Hunters becoming obsolete. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed hysterically.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He immediately snatched his desk phone, speed-dialing his head corporate broker. "Buy everything! Buy all the heavy mining equipment! Buy every available commercial cargo truck in Seoul! I want dedicated logistics teams working around the clock! Our profit margins just went up ten thousand percent!"
Meanwhile, Min-jun casually walked out of the glowing blue portal, entirely uninjured and not a single hair out of place.
Cha Hae-In followed right on his heels, practically sticking to his shadow. He was the only person in the world who allowed her to breathe without the suffocating, rotting stench of mana. She wasn't going to let him out of her sight.
"Where are we going now?" Hae-In asked softly.
"There should be another A-Rank Gate across town, right?" Min-jun replied, stretching his arms high above his head and adjusting his glasses. "Let's go clean that one up too."
As he walked toward the luxury sedan to begin his second raid of the afternoon, Kim Min-jun had absolutely no idea that his forty-five-second speedrun was about to turn him into a terrifying, undisputed legend.