I was Kicked Out of the Hunter’s Guild

“Whoa…”

It was early morning, and the warm sunlight was just starting to shine down.

Standing by the side of the road on my first commute to my new job, I felt a mix of nervousness and anticipation.

Iare had told me to wait here, promising to pick me up personally at the appointed time.

This simple gesture already felt vastly different from my experience at that other hunter guild, the one where they’d just thrown an address at me and told me to show up on time without any care for formality or convenience.

But honestly, what made my heart race even more wasn’t just the difference in treatment.

It was something else entirely.

‘I’m going to be riding in a car alone with a beauty who looks just like my older sister. Is this luck? Maybe it’s some kind of good luck after all?’

Though I hadn’t known her for very long, and our meeting had been strictly professional through work, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of attraction toward Iare.

Of course, the root of that attraction was embarrassingly simple, she looked so much like Sooyoung noona.

‘Seriously… I can’t believe I’m getting swayed just because of a resemblance. I really am such a simple-minded person sometimes.’

Feeling a bit self-critical, I let out a small sigh and shook my head.

It was at that moment, while I was lost in my thoughts –

Screech!

A sleek sports car suddenly pulled up in front of me.

The sight of it made my eyes widen in surprise.

‘No way…? Could this be…? Ah, no. There’s no way, right? It couldn’t be… could it?’

The moment I saw the car, I instinctively thought, there’s no way that’s the one picking me up.

Not because of any logical reason, just because I knew exactly what kind of car it was.

A Lamborghini Veneno…

The car with a market value of over 5 billion won.

It was a luxury monster, the kind of vehicle that could buy you two apartments in Gangnam. And here it was, rolling casually down the street in front of me.

With a monthly salary of 5 million, I thought I was doing decently for myself. But this? This was on a completely different plane of existence, something I couldn’t even fathom as a member of the “common folk.”

As I stared in awe, admiring it almost involuntarily, the car’s tinted window began to slowly lower.

And then, sitting inside…

The sight of someone who looked just like my older sister wearing sunglasses interrupted my thoughts.

No, to be precise, it was Iare.

“Hello, I’m here to pick you up,” she said casually, her voice smooth and confident.

“Y-Yes?… Ah, uh… thank you.”

Stammering like an idiot, I hurriedly opened the car door with both hands, feeling strangely cautious even about touching it. Once seated, I gently closed the door, afraid of doing anything that might damage this absurdly expensive machine.

“Sorry for being late. I left on time, but there was traffic along the way,” Iare said, glancing at me apologetically.

“N-No, it’s fine. I just got here too,” I replied quickly, trying to mask my awkwardness.

Her tone was polite, but from my perspective, the whole situation felt surreal, and a little overwhelming. It wasn’t every day someone came to pick you up in a car you’d normally only see in photos or on TV.

Come to think of it… it’s been a while since I’ve been in the passenger seat, I thought to myself.

Back when I had to drive people around, constantly dealing with their nagging and complaints, I never imagined I’d one day find myself here, being chauffeured by someone as composed and elegant as Iare. The sight of her confidently gripping the steering wheel stirred a strange emotion inside me.

“Then, shall we head off? It’s quite a drive, and we’re running a little late, so I’ll pick up the pace,” she said with a small smile.

“Yes, of course,” I replied quickly.

Her voice was calm and friendly, but I couldn’t help but notice something amusing.

Despite the composed tone, it was obvious that Iare was nervous.

Her hand on the steering wheel trembled ever so slightly, and she kept fidgeting with the gear shift like someone who had just recently learned to drive but was trying her best to appear experienced.

Watching this, I couldn’t stop the small, amused smile that crept onto my face.

Her hands gripping the steering wheel trembled slightly, and she kept fidgeting with the gear button.

It was clear she was nervous, but somehow, it only made the car seem even more ridiculously expensive. Still, nervousness and driving skills were two separate things, or so I told myself.

Well… there aren’t too many cars around here. She’s probably going 40 or 50 kilometers per hour. Maybe 80 once we hit the highway…

With that thought, I fastened my seatbelt, feeling reassured.

But then –

Bowaaang!!!!

“?!?”

A deafening roar erupted, and the next thing I knew, it felt like I was riding a roller coaster. My blood rushed to my head, and I struggled to breathe for a moment.

What… what is this?! Why is it so fast?!

Iare had stepped on the gas, and we shot forward at an absurd speed.

A quick glance at the dashboard told me all I needed to know: the car was already hitting 90 kmph, and it didn’t look like she was planning to slow down anytime soon.

It was immediately clear that my earlier assumptions about her cautious driving were very, very wrong.

No matter how empty the roads seemed, this was still a national highway. Cars were driving at 50 or 60 kilometers per hour, there were traffic lights, pedestrians, and any reckless move could easily lead to an accident.

No, no, no! Even if this is a foreign car, is it really okay to drive like this on national highways? I get that signal control here isn’t as strict, but this feels way too dangerous. Right? …Right?!

Despite my inner panic, time passed, and we managed to get onto the freeway without any major incidents.

At this point, the speedometer climbed past 140, and yet… I began to notice something.

Iare wasn’t just speeding recklessly. She weaved between cars with practiced precision, her movements fluid and natural, like she was performing some kind of acrobatic stunt.

I stared at her, dazed.

She’s… better at driving than I am.

The nervous energy I’d seen earlier seemed to have nothing to do with her actual driving skills. If anything, she looked completely comfortable now, as though she’d been doing this her entire life.

Her initial nervousness? It seemed to have been nothing more than a fleeting reaction to the situation, perhaps from picking me up.

Even so, as I watched her handle the car with such ease, I found myself reevaluating my impression of her.

This… is a woman with a surprisingly wild side. She might look composed, but she’s nothing like my older sister.

Unlike my Sooyoung noona, who ran a small café and lived a quiet life with her daughter, Iare was a hunter, a profession rooted in combat and danger.

Add to that the fact that she was driving a car worth billions, and it was easy to deduce that she’d been adopted into a wealthy family after being separated from Sooyoung at a young age.

The worlds they’d lived in were fundamentally different, and naturally, their personalities reflected that.

Once the initial shock of her aggressive driving wore off, I found myself relaxing a bit.

After some time had passed, I glanced at her and decided to ask a question that had been on my mind.

“Come to think of it, there’s something I want to ask. May I?”

“Of course. Ask me anything,” Iare replied, her voice calm yet carrying a subtle tension.

It wasn’t the kind of tension you’d expect from someone driving at high speeds, though. It felt… different.

From the moment I got in the car until now, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. There was something about her that seemed slightly off, as if she was holding something back.

Unable to figure it out immediately, I decided to focus on my question instead.

“Well, since we’ll be working together soon, I’d like to hear a bit about the other hunters I’ll be in charge of. Not for any other reason, just to get to know my future colleagues. Is that okay?”

“Colleagues…”

At my words, the subtle tension in her expression seemed to ease.

A small smile tugged at her lips as she glanced briefly at me, then refocused on the road ahead.

“As I said before, there are about 30 of us in total, but among them, the main ones are three, including me. All of them used to work as A-class hunters in the Hunter Guild before becoming Black Hunters,” Iare explained.

“I see… A-class, huh.”

A-class hunters—the rank just below S-class. They possessed abilities far beyond the average hunter, but from my experience, they were often disappointing when expected to operate independently like S-class hunters.

Unlike S-class hunters, who were unstoppable even in the depths of the Abyss, A-class hunters had clear limitations in their capabilities.

Still, as someone who understood the military’s internal structure, I couldn’t blame them entirely. After all, there was a rule: in principle, S-class hunters—the country’s most powerful assets—were never allowed to fully leave the military.

Even if they found loopholes or technically retired on paper, their bodies still belonged to the military. They couldn’t completely cut ties.

No S-class hunter had ever become a Black Hunter, someone who completely severed their relationship with the military.

It was for this very reason that someone like Na Jiseon, infamous for her explosive anger issues, was still able to remain within the military as an S-class hunter.

In other words, although they were A-class hunters, Iare and the two others she mentioned were likely the most skilled among the Black Hunters.

For me, as someone tasked with formulating strategies, this was something I needed to keep in mind moving forward.

Certainly, their power will be much lower than what I worked with before, which is a bit inconvenient… No, actually, now that I think about it, they’ll probably be easier to manage than those S-class maniacs I dealt with. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

As these thoughts ran through my head, I was about to ask Iare for more details about the other two hunters when she suddenly spoke up.

“We’re here. Right over there.”

“Ah… over there.”

The next moment, a massive building came into view on the outskirts of the city.

Unlike the Hunter Guild, it lacked the cold, utilitarian feel of a military base.

“That’s the Black Hunter company, Dreamers,” Iare said with a small smile. “This is where you and I will be working together from now on.”