I was Kicked Out of the Hunter’s Guild

“Ughhh…”

“Hang in there.”

“Ah… are you okay?”

“No, no… I think I’m going to die,” groaned Sunyoung, sprawled out on the ground, her leg severely injured.

“But judging from the fact that you’re still joking around, it seems you’ll survive,” someone replied with a weak smile.

“Ha… if only it felt that way,” Sunyoung muttered, her voice heavy with exhaustion.

Her colleagues surrounded her, helping to carry the injured and tending to wounds as best they could. But despite the fact that the mission was technically a success, the air was thick with despair.

The A-class and B-class hunters, exhausted and battered, were far from celebrating.

Thanks to the timely arrival of the reinforcements, the team narrowly avoided annihilation, and their lives were spared. But the price they paid was steep.

And the cost wasn’t just physical.

The greatest damage they suffered on this mission wasn’t to their bodies—it was to their minds.

In the past, even when they endured S-class missions that were nothing short of hell, they had never felt this way.

Back then, the damage they sustained was far worse than now—casualties, grievous injuries, and even teammates forced into early retirement due to irreparable wounds.

But after those missions, no matter how brutal they were, they could still find themselves laughing and cheering. The satisfaction of completing an “impossible” mission and restoring their target point was enough to drown out the pain, both physical and mental.

This time, however…

As the mission came to an end, there was no joy. No sense of accomplishment.

What lingered instead was a heavy, suffocating despair—a gnawing helplessness that ate away at their pride.

‘We’re the ones who’ve completed S-class missions… and yet, this is how we performed on a B-class mission?’

The thought was unbearable.

‘I knew it… but does this really mean that all our success so far… was because of Adjutant Lee Jinhyun? That without him, we’re nothing?’

It was true that this had been the first mission under the new adjutant, and some level of chaos was inevitable. There was also the string of unfortunate accidents, including the blunders of the S-class hunters which weakened their forces.

But even with all those factors accounted for, they couldn’t escape the truth.

They had fought countless battles, faced impossible odds, and won. They prided themselves on being elite hunters who overcame adversity time and again.

Yet now, here they were—struggling, battered, and demoralized after barely surviving what should have been a routine mission.

It was a psychological blow that cut deeper than any physical wound.

And that blow naturally led to one inescapable thought.

The absence of Adjutant Lee Jinhyun was bigger than they ever imagined.

‘If the adjutant had been here, it wouldn’t have ended like this.’

‘What are we supposed to do now? Forget S-class missions—even A-class missions might be impossible at this rate.’

With those bleak thoughts swirling in their minds, the hunters shrank under the weight of their own inadequacy, their confidence shattered.

At that moment—

“Damn it… That goddamn adjutant, I want to wring his neck right now…”

Seething words full of rage reached their ears.

The one speaking was none other than Isena, the guild master.

The hunters’ heads turned toward and let out a heavy sigh as she stormed past them, her voice dripping with anger.

And in that instant, the frustration and despair they had been bottling up began to bubble over. Though their lips stayed shut, their eyes hardened as they stared at her retreating figure.

It was undeniable.

The real cause of their current misery—the person who had brought them to this point—wasn’t the new adjutant.

It was Isena.

“That bitch will never understand. She’ll never realize why we ended up in this situation.’

‘She probably thinks this disaster happened because of the new adjutant. After all, from her perspective, she did everything she always does—rushed in, fought hard, and danced around the battlefield like a hero.’

‘But she doesn’t realize it. We were doomed the moment that bitch got rid of Adjutant Lee Jinhyun.’

The hunters kept silent, suppressing their resentment.

As much as they wanted to voice their anger, Isena was not just an S-class hunter but also their guild master. In this rigid hierarchy, open defiance was unthinkable.

And yet, no matter how much they tried to bury their emotions, they couldn’t stop the heavy sighs from escaping their lips or the cold glint in their eyes as they watched her walk away.

Meanwhile, Isena—oblivious to the hunters’ glares—boarded the waiting helicopter with Choi Yujin.

Her face was a mask of fury.

“Isena… what are you planning to do?” Yujin asked cautiously, noticing the dangerous expression on her face.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Isena spat, her voice laced with venom. “That bastard adjutant set us up. He humiliated us on purpose. When we get back, I’m going to kill him myself.”

Yujin said nothing, watching quietly as Isena clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white.

And so, completely unaware of how deeply she had alienated her own team, Isena set off to vent her fury—determined to punish the new adjutant she had blamed for her failures.

***

“What? You bastard. Say that again if you dare!”

“I… Wasn’t it the guild master who ignored my command and acted on his own? Why are you blaming me for the damage our allies suffered?”

Isena stood in front of him, radiating an overwhelming aura of death.

Despite her terrifying presence, Choi Han, an S-rank hunter, managed to speak his mind. Even though her threat made him feel like his head could be smashed like an eggshell at any moment, he refused to take the blame for something he didn’t do.

His voice trembled with fear, but he forced himself to push through.

“I did everything I could in that moment! And… even if Isena-sama had followed my instructions perfectly, that kind of damage was unavoidable—”

“Ha! So you’re saying none of this is your fault?” Isena cut him off with a cold sneer. “Fine, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. But isn’t this whole mess because you insisted on taking on such a ridiculous mission as a mere B-class hunter? Even if there hadn’t been advanced Abyss creatures, with the numbers we were up against, this mission should’ve been handled by at least A-class hunters!”

“What? That’s absurd! The number of Abyss creatures was less than 3,000. That’s not even close to being a large-scale operation.”

“Stop spouting nonsense!” Isena snapped. “Do you really think I, Isena—one of Korea’s top 50 strongest S-class hunters—would have struggled so much against less than 3,000 Abyss? Me! The same Isena who’s taken down 10,000 Abyss creatures before! Are you seriously claiming this body of mine, which has faced hordes far greater than that, was overwhelmed by such a measly number? That’s ridiculous—completely illogical!”

“…Kuh…”

Choi Han clenched his fists, biting back his frustration. He was deeply insulted by Isena’s words but couldn’t find anything to say in return.

Her combat record was undeniably impressive, and by comparison, this mission did seem like child’s play.

In terms of combat experience, Isena was leagues ahead of Choi Han, who had only recently been appointed to his rank. Unlike him, who had been coordinating from the rear, she was directly on the front lines, swinging her sword and facing the chaos head-on. It was a perspective he simply couldn’t match.

The situation was fundamentally different for Choi Han, who had only been able to observe the battle through a monitor, restricted to a limited angle.

In the end, Choi Han couldn’t withstand Isena’s oppressive pressure. Resigned, he went back to his desk, intending to write a report as ordered, taking full responsibility for the current situation.

On the other hand, watching him leave in defeat, Isena managed to maintain her stern exterior. But deep down, a wave of relief washed over her.

‘Thankfully, at least this will cover up the fact that I forgot to recharge my weapon,’ she thought to herself.

The truth was, the real reason the battle had gone so poorly was because she’d neglected to recharge her weapon.

Isena was convinced that if her Rosecutter had been operating at full cutting power, the speed and efficiency of the battle would have been doubled. It wouldn’t have looked so pathetic, and she wouldn’t have been pushed back by something as simple as the Beetle.

‘Yeah… in hindsight, this entire mess happened because of such a trivial mistake. Sure, that damn lieutenant tried to screw me over in the middle of it, but there’s no way someone like me could have struggled this much otherwise, right?’

With that, Isena concluded her mental analysis of the situation, reassuring herself that her abilities were as strong as ever.

Meanwhile, back at his desk, Choi Han, thoroughly humiliated by Isena’s treatment, turned on his computer without hesitation. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he started writing.

However, the contents of his report were not exactly what Isena had demanded of him.

Of course, he included the admission of fault, as Isena had instructed, and he officially took responsibility for the incident. But alongside that, Choi Han added something else entirely.

It was a request to transfer out of the guild—a move-out application, not a resignation.

“Goodbye, you bitches! It was a short time, but working with you all was absolute hell!”

With that, Choi Han left the 28th Guild decisively, using the humiliation he’d endured as a springboard to move forward.

But that wasn’t all he left behind in the 28th Guild—or, more specifically, with Isena.

Unlike Lee Jinhyun, who had previously left the guild quietly to avoid disrupting the A, B, and C-level hunters still working there, Choi Han had no such intentions.

Shortly after his departure, a post titled “The Reality of the 28th Guild” appeared on the lieutenant-exclusive community forum, revealing the details of Choi Han’s experience in the guild.

At the same time, news of the post spread to several major media outlets through trusted sources.

And that…

[TL Note: The title metaphorically involves Han River which is a major river in Seoul, symbolizing a peaceful and calming presence in the city. ]