Jin-woo finds that the voice is Byung-Gyu's soul. Jin-woo raises him as a Shadow, and he promptly heals Hae-in's injuries; at Baek's request, Jin-woo subsequently releases his soul. The remaining ants go haywire and attack the Hunters on the ships and mainland Korea's shores. Jin-woo raises the Ant King, who exhibits the ability to speak due to its high rank; he names it Beru. Using Beru and the risen ant army, Jin-woo clears the ants. In the aftermath, Jin-woo is touted as a hero by the media, though some criticize him for not participating from the beginning. He prepares to start his own guild. On Jeju Island, a clean-up crew encounters two strange and powerful beings, who immediately neutralize them and disappear through a gate; Il-hwan secretly observes the affair. Hae-in decides to train to get closer to Jin-woo.

Jin-woo uses his potions to heal the Korean hunters, though Hae-in is too gravely injured to be healed. Jin-woo's army holds off the ants while Jin-woo faces off against the Ant King and manages to beat it into submission. Realizing its inferiority, the Ant King fearfully attempts to run away, but Jin-woo chases it down and mutilates it. With the threat neutralized, Jin-woo tries to use the Elixir of Life on Hae-In, but that does not work either. In desperation, Jin-woo turns to a voice calling out to him.

The Korean S-Rank Hunters successfully kill the Ant Queen but learn that she gave birth to a superpowered Ant King, who proceeds to tear through their ranks, incapacitating Hae-In and injuring several others, after which he kills Min Byung-Gyu, the healer. Goto confronts the Ant King as a horde of ants arrive to attack the Hunters, but he is swiftly dealt with along with six other Japanese Hunters. Recognizing the danger the operation is in, Jin-woo activates his Shadow Soldiers and swaps places with one of them to join the fray.

The Japanese S-Rank Hunters win the duel, though Jin-woo is forced to step in to protect Hae-In. The Guild Master Goto Ryuji challenges Jin-woo to a duel, but it's called off partway when the duel escalates. Jin-woo again refuses the offer to join the operation, though he hides his soldiers in the Hunters' shadows. The operation starts off well, only for a creature to begin slaughtering the Japanese S-Rank Hunters.

Upon using the potion gained from clearing the Demon's Castle, Jin-woo's mother recovers and poignantly reunites with Jin-woo and Jin-ah, eventually moving back in with them. As such, Jin-woo refuses when Baek approaches him to join the Jeju Island operation. In an effort to convince him, Baek has him meet the combined force of S-Ranks. The Japanese and Korean S-Rank Hunters agree to train through a 4v4 duel.

In the Demon's Castle, Jin-woo befriends the demon noble Esil, who helps guide him to the final floor. On the final floor, Jin-woo fights Demon King Baran, who rides a massive white dragon. Jin-woo just barely manages to defeat Baran, gaining the ability to swap places with one of his Shadow Soldiers and also resurrecting the dragon as Kaisel. Meanwhile, the Korean Hunters Association partners with its Japanese counterpart to plan a fourth Jeju Island operation in order to counter the quickly evolving flying ants.

Jin-woo arrives for his reassessment, overshadowing Minsung's press conference to announce his Hunter assessment. Baek Yoon-ho and Choi Jong-in try to recruit Jin-woo after he is officially designated as the tenth S-Rank Hunter in South Korea. Using his new status, Jin-woo sells items to purchase gear for the S-rank dungeon. Jin-woo sends his shadow army to fight the S-rank dungeon's beasts and must personally fight four knights similar to Igris. Elsewhere, Jin-ho's father becomes ill due to magic exposure and a flying ant appears in South Korea, wiping out an entire town before local hunters manage to halt its rampage.

Kargalgan nearly kills the party leader, forcing Jin-woo to reveal himself. Jin-woo kills Kargalgan and resurrects him as Tusk while the Hunters Association swears the party to secrecy. Jin-ho asks Jin-woo to join the company guild. Meanwhile, famous actor Lee Minsung awakens to Hunter powers to much fanfare.

Jinwoo remains behind in the temple dungeon to save his few surviving party members, and with a swing from the god statue's blade, his life comes to an end—or so it seems, before he wakes up in a hospital bed.

Around ten years ago, gates that connected our world to another dimension began to appear, leading to the rise of hunters who would traverse these gates to fight the magic beasts within. Sung Jinwoo, E-Rank hunter, is the weakest of them all.

Jinwoo and his party appear to have cleared a low-level dungeon, when a hidden path to an unfamiliar temple is revealed. There they encounter a set of commandments and a group of monsters that cause them absolute despair.

Having entered the instance dungeon located inside the subway, Jinwoo levels up time and time again by fighting waves of magic beasts. As he gradually makes his way forward, he finds a long stairway leading deeper underground.

Jinwoo joins a party led by Hwang Dongsuk to meet the headcount necessary for a C-Rank dungeon. Joined by another temporary hire, Yoo Jinho, the party defeats beasts without much trouble, but Jinwoo has suspicions about the group's lack of a healer.

While the C-Rank dungeon raid by Jinwoo and the others seems to be progressing well, the moment they step into an area covered in mana stones with a sleeping dungeon boss, things take a wrong turn.

As Jinwoo continues his training, he completes a daily quest one day by doing more than the quest requires, and a key that leads to a certain item appears in front of him.

Jinwoo answers a Hunter's Association request to take part in the raid of a D-Rank dungeon, where he encounters a few familiar faces.