Chapter 32: A-Rank Hunter Seo Ye-rin (1)

Song Cheon Hwi single-handedly resolved the Monster Wave.

That fact quickly spread across the internet, carried by the mouths of the ten thousand people who had watched the livestream.

[Kkya-hoo: If this guy turns out to be S-rank, he deserves a massive upvote lol]

(Photo of Song Cheon Hwi using the Mugeuk Ilwon Divine Art)

Starting with me lololol

[Comments]

Big upvote lol

Who’s baiting upvotes again? Ayy lol

Did this dude just call the Grandmaster “this guy”?

Gasps, shaking in fear rn

The first place to blow up was the Chobang Gallery.

It was where Cheon Hwi’s stream had first been promoted, and as a community often abuzz with talk about him, it instantly turned into a festival.

[ToothpasteParrot: Our Grandmaster’s officially a celebrity now.]

(Screenshot of a news website flooded with articles about Song Cheon Hwi)

For real. Getting more attention than actual celebs;

[Comments]

Honestly, it’s deserved

Just listing his accomplishments this past month is insane lol

Trained Choa, bossed around the Association President, and soloed a Monster Wave. That’s three.

Freakin’ legendary lololol

Why’s bossing around the Association President in there tho

That is an accomplishment;;

Not many can command an S-rank Hunter like that

And as shown during Choa’s Red Gate incident, plenty of people interested in Cheon Hwi existed outside of Trizik as well.

Not just the Hunter and training industries, but also journalists always starving for a scoop—and the general public.

He was already famous from the Red Gate event.

Now, with yet another feat under his belt, it was only natural that media outlets scrambled to publish articles about Cheon Hwi.

[Trizik Streamer Song Cheon Hwi, Did He Just End a Monster Wave?]

[Choa’s Teacher Revealed! Song Cheon Hwi’s Skills Finally Unleashed]

[A New S-Rank Awakened in Korea? What Comes Next?]

The streaming platform Trizik has a feature called Replay.

It lets viewers watch past broadcasts, saved like recorded videos.

Unless the streamer deletes them, replays remain available in the Replay tab indefinitely.

Thanks to people revisiting Cheon Hwi’s stream, the already blazing buzz skyrocketed even higher.

[MilkLover: This is absolutely insane lol]

That Monster Wave incident was seriously dangerous.

But he stopped it alone? That makes no sense…

[Comments]

Honestly, no one’s ever recorded something like that before.

Watching the replay, you can see Song Cheon Hwi basically negotiating with the Association President to get streaming rights lol

That wasn’t a negotiation, the President was basically begging, lmao

Clips taken from the Replay, especially the ones showing only Cheon Hwi’s combat sequences, spread rapidly.

The footage of him wiping out hundreds of monsters in one blow, manipulating them to turn on each other, and finishing the boss in an instant.

By that point, people were sure.

They knew what they were seeing.

Korea’s fifth S-rank Awakened had appeared.

In an era where powerful Hunters equated to national power, it was only natural.

S-rank Hunters—those who wielded power beyond human limits—were seen as asymmetric military assets.

Whether or not a nation had S-ranks, and how many they had, directly influenced its standing on the global stage.

Most developed countries had about three S-rank Hunters.

Excluding the U.S. with eight, and China with seven, that was the average.

[Awakening Studies Ph.D. Yoo Seok-min: “It’s time to make thoughtful decisions for the dignity of the nation.”]

[Song Cheon Hwi begins official activity—eyes on his next move.]

[“Too powerful to be wasting time on livestreams,” say some. Song Cheon Hwi remains silent.]

Until now, Korea had four official S-rank Hunters:

Baek Do-hyeon, President of the Hunter Association

Shin Ha-yoon, Master of the Yeomyeong Guild

Cha Seo-hee, Master of the Hwigwang Guild

Kim Seung-hyeon, Master of the Wolak Guild

They were undoubtedly top-class Hunters.

But with neighboring countries like China and Japan holding seven and five S-ranks respectively, Korea had long felt the shortage.

Now, out of nowhere, a new S-rank had emerged.

Naturally, people were ecstatic.

He wasn’t officially a Hunter yet, and the fact that he was active as a streamer did raise some eyebrows—but almost no one doubted that he would soon register and become Korea’s fifth S-rank Hunter.

“When’s he registering as a Hunter?”

If you’d watched the Q&A from his last stream, you’d know—he already said he’s not planning on changing careers.

And just like that, Cheon Hwi casually betrayed everyone’s expectations.

Not that he had ever wanted those expectations in the first place.

“I only stepped in during the Wave because I had no other choice.”

Ugh, clueless newcomers

Go watch the old streams before you start asking

Grandmaster, just stay with us and stream forever

These newbies keep ruining the stream atmosphere

As more and more new viewers flooded in, constantly asking when he’d become a Hunter or if streaming wasn’t a waste of his time, the longtime viewers began to frown.

Even Cheon Hwi, who had been calmly hosting a martial arts lecture as usual, seemed a bit put off. With a sigh, he quietly spoke.

“All that talk about me being an S-rank or whatever—nonsense. I’ve never even gone through an awakening. How could someone who’s never awakened be an S-rank awakened?”

“?”

What is he talking about now?

Grandmaster, we’re confused too?

I thought putting people in their place was only for new viewers…

Now that he thought about it, he’d never properly addressed this.

He’d thrown out vague comments here and there, thinking he’d explain it eventually—but not once since his first broadcast had he actually brought it up.

Cheon Hwi took a breath and continued.

“If you go back and watch the replay of my first stream, I said it clearly, even unawakened individuals can reach the level of awakened ones through training in martial arts.”

Okay, but still

Is that really possible?

Even Choa, who learned martial arts, was an awakened one

Let’s be honest—he’s basically an artificial awakened

The chat was a mess of questions and skepticism.

How should I explain this so it’s easy to understand?

Cheon Hwi fell into thought.

He wasn’t exactly an expert on the concept of awakening, either.

After all, it was a phenomenon that had only appeared after his return.

How could he possibly understand every detail about something that hadn’t even existed in his time?

But there was at least one thing he was certain of.

“Both awakened individuals and martial artists manipulate natural energy—in your terms, ‘magic power.’ That’s the common ground.”

But their essence is different.

Learning martial arts and handling internal energy is fundamentally different from awakening and wielding magical power.

A helpful comparison would be the example he used before, when he compared a martial artist’s realm to an awakened person’s rank.

“Still, they are different. A martial artist who learns to control magic power through martial arts doesn’t gain a Trait. But depending on their realm, they can attain power equivalent to that of an awakened.”

People on Earth don’t distinguish between Sword Qi and Sword Force.

To be blunt, the concept of Kang Qi doesn’t even exist here.

A representative Superlative Realm martial artist who uses Sword Force wields a level of power roughly equal to a B-rank awakened individual.

And yet, oddly enough, B-rank awakeneds can’t wield Sword Force like martial artists do.

Instead, B-ranks make up for that gap with Traits—something martial artists don’t possess.

When Cheon Hwi made these comparisons, it wasn’t to say that martial artists and awakened beings could use the exact same techniques.

He was simply estimating their combat strength and energy levels in practical terms.

“Same goes for me. I’ve never experienced awakening. I grew stronger by building my foundation within the limits of a normal human body.”

Hmm

Is he… serious?

Sounds kinda fake

Can you prove that?

Even some of his regular viewers began to tilt their heads in doubt.

Realizing that explaining it with just words was going nowhere, Cheon Hwi sighed and reached for his smartphone.

Then, a small notification popped up in the corner of the otherwise clean broadcast screen.

[Martial Arts Challenge]

In Progress: Song Cheon Hwi

◇ Time Remaining: 59:57

◇ Prize Pool: 1,000 won

“Up until now, I haven’t really specified the stakes in our challenges… But this time, let’s make it official. I’ll explain the theme and the rules, only those who want to participate should contribute to the prize.”

The streamer took the first mission himself lol

Come to think of it, there haven’t been any missions here yet lol

Why is this stream missing so many basics lmaooo

There wasn’t even a mod before, lol

Mod? Only one mod here and it’s BlueSky-Sect Leader.

A mission titled “Martial Arts Challenge” popped up.

Cheon Hwi hadn’t even explained what it was about yet, but viewers, sensing that dopamine-rush potential, started pouring in donations to build the prize pool.

So what’s the challenge?

Did he set this up to prove what he just said?

The way he just casually throws up a challenge like this… absolute giga chad behavior

The prize pool, originally set at the minimum of 1,000 won, ballooned to 170,000 won in an instant.

Even though Cheon Hwi hadn’t yet explained the challenge, he looked at the growing amount with a dumbfounded face.

Still, he pressed on without hesitation.

“As you’ve guessed, this is a proof challenge.”

Proof of what?

To that unspoken question, Cheon Hwi responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“What else would I be proving, That even an ordinary person can become as strong as an awakened by training in martial arts.”

Sheeshhh lol

Ultimate Cheon Hwi

This is peak Grandmaster energy.

No hesitation—just throws it down. You got a problem? Join the challenge, lol

The viewers were already in full celebration mode.

Skeptics now had a chance to see the proof with their own eyes, and those watching out of curiosity lit up at the sight of something new unfolding.

And the longtime viewers?

That place was always in party mode, no matter what he did.

“The time limit is one month. It might feel tight, but if the goal is just to reach the level of an E- or D-rank awakened, it’s not all that difficult.”

The biggest factor separating awakened individuals from ordinary people is magic power.

The standard line is: can your body contain and control magical energy, or not?

If you compare it to martial arts realms, that level is equivalent to Third-rate or Second-rate martial artists.

As long as he helped, that level of growth was more than achievable within a month.

Finishing his mental calculations, Cheon Hwi laid out the conditions of the challenge:

“If you win, not only will you get a full refund of the mission prize, but I’ll also stream every day for three hours—for an entire month.”

It sounded like a bold offer, but inwardly, Cheon Hwi wore a sly smile.

He had no reason to worry—thanks to the profit from the B-rank Gate he cleared last time, the Association President had already deposited the earnings into his account.

And since Cheon Hwi had no regular job to go to, time was a resource he had in abundance.

In other words, despite being the one who proposed the bet, Cheon Hwi had nothing to lose.

“But if I win… You’ll regret it so much, you’ll want to slam your fists into the ground.”

It wasn’t even a clear penalty—just a vague, ominous threat meant to stir imaginations.

Some viewers—who had jumped in too quickly and tossed in their money without even hearing the full terms—began sweating nervously.

“Did I just screw myself…?”

And sitting in an office, staring at her smartphone, was an A-rank Hunter—
One of those same impulsive “moths to the flame.”

The badge of the Audit Division, lying facedown on her desk, glinted weakly under the light, looking more pitiful than usual today.