The F-Rank Guild Master Has Too Much Money Chapter 1 - Prologue

 

“Run, run away!”

 

“Kyahhh!”

 

Monsters poured out everywhere.

 

They weren’t something you’d expect to see outside of a TV screen—unless you were a Hunter. But now, they were falling from the sky like rain, right before my eyes.

 

It took only five minutes for peaceful Seoul to descend into chaos.

 

And this wasn’t just happening in Korea.

 

Dungeons were erupting all over the world, and there simply weren’t enough Hunters to stop the endless flood of monsters.

 

With the deaths of South Korea’s only SS-rank Hunters, Yeon Do-jin and Choi Tae-hyuk, the entire Hunter system collapsed.

 

Humanity had no choice but to flee and pray for survival.

 

“Aaagh!”

 

Screams echoed all around me.

 

I pounded my fists against my legs, which felt as heavy as stone, forcing myself to keep running from the monsters chasing me.

 

-Grrrrrrrr!

 

I could feel a wave of searing heat behind me, but there was no time to look back.

 

Boom! Boom! Boom!

 

A flying monster’s fire ignited a building, which then exploded.

 

When the sky cracked open and the dungeon alert blared, the only thought I had was:

‘What now? Dungeons in the sky too?

 

Korea had so many Hunters that it was known as a Hunter powerhouse. And in Seoul—where elite S-rank Hunters, including the SS-rank Yeon Do-jin, were concentrated—it seemed like no dungeon could cause serious damage.

 

Everyone thought that.

 

Even I did.

 

But that illusion shattered the moment the small dungeons began to erupt.

 

Cleared dungeons suddenly burst open one after another, and monsters began pouring out.

 

Hunters didn’t even have time to respond as the monsters, falling from the sky, kept coming relentlessly.

 

It was as if the monsters had been commanded to wipe out humanity—slaughtering people and crushing buildings.

 

“Quick, get in the truck!”

 

A male Hunter shouted, pointing to a truck. I summoned the last of my strength and sprinted toward it.

 

Bang!

 

Dark red blood oozed from the vehicle, now flattened like paper.

 

“Ugh…”

 

I frantically looked around for the Hunter who had called out—but all I saw was his back as he fled.

 

‘C-Come back!’

 

I stumbled backward on shaking legs.

 

Clinging to the faint hope that the monster hadn’t noticed me—because of how small I was compared to its massive body—I tried to slip out of its line of sight.

 

But as if laughing at my foolish hopes, a sunflower-like monster’s thick stem whipped out toward me.

 

“Aaagh!!”

 

I screamed as a tight pressure wrapped around my body.

 

No matter how loudly I cried out, the stem bound me tightly and began lifting me into the sky.

 

“Let go! Let me go!”

 

Was this it?

Was I really going to die like this—eaten by a monster?

 

I was born a dirt spoon, orphaned from the start, clawing my way up from the bottom just to survive… and now this?

 

Was I going to die without ever getting a chance to enjoy life?

 

The roaring wind howled in my ears as I ascended, but then, the upward motion stopped.

 

I opened my eyes, which I had kept shut in fear, and saw a man sitting atop the sunflower monster’s head, gazing directly at me.

 

He wore a white suit, and his long black ponytail fluttered in the wind.

 

Even while sitting on top of the monster, his calm expression, if not for his white suit, looked like he was just taking a stroll through a neighborhood park.

 

“So this is what you look like. Amusing.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

The man stood and slowly walked toward me—stepping through the air. Behind him, a soft halo-like glow shimmered as he approached.

 

“W-Who are you…?”

 

“What, you haven’t awakened as a god yet?”

 

He sighed.

 

Then, raising an empty hand, a black spear suddenly formed in his grasp.

 

“Tsk. Even in a human body, I never thought it would take you this long to awaken as a god.”

 

“I… I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

 

“At this rate, we can’t even start the bet. I’ll help you awaken—just this once.”

 

“Huh…?”

 

The man gripped the spear and raised it high—then, without hesitation, drove it straight into me.

 

The black spear pierced through the monster’s stem and stabbed directly into my abdomen.

 

“Kuhh!! … Huh?”

 

I instinctively curled up, bracing for pain—

But nothing.

 

When I opened my eyes and looked down, the spear had gone clean through me.

 

Yet… there was no wound. No blood. Nothing.

 

‘What’s going on…?’

 

The man gently swept back my hair and began massaging my furrowed brow with his fingers.

 

“Why were you so scared? I’d never hurt you.”

 

As he pulled his hand away, the spear dissolved into glowing dust, scattering into the wind.

 

His hand, once on my forehead, now softly cupped my face. He stared into my eyes with deep, black irises.

 

“My sweet little brother… this was just to awaken you. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

 

“I… I really don’t understand what you’re saying…”

 

“So don’t hate me, okay?” he added, almost teasingly.

 

“Please, if you can help me—ugh!”

 

Suddenly, an unbearable pain tore through my body.

 

I froze, unable even to breathe as the searing pain took over.

 

At the same time, I could feel the monster’s stem loosening around me.

 

“Khak…!”

 

The moment the stem fully released me, I began to plummet toward the ground.

 

“Next time, let’s meet not as Ji Yeon-woo… but as Aether.”

 

Those were the last words I heard—as he even waved at me kindly.

 

Then I crashed to the ground.

 

Agonizing pain exploded through my body—then vanished.

 

My vision faded to black.

 

I knew it.

I was dying.

 

But even in that moment, his words kept echoing in my mind.

 

‘Aether? Not Ji Yeon-woo…? What does that mean…?’

 

“!”

 

That’s right.

 

How could I have forgotten something so important?

 

I wasn’t merely Ji Yeon-woo, the nobody scraping by at the bottom of society, unable to awaken in a world overrun by dungeons and monsters.

 

I was the son of the Supreme God—

One of the two High Gods.

 

The God of Wind… Aether.

 

That’s who I truly was.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell?!”

 

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the middle of a street, rain pouring all around me.

 

For a moment, it all felt like a dream—everything I had just gone through—but as a god, I knew the truth.

 

This wasn’t a dream.

 

I had regressed.

 

“Oh wow, where did this rain come from all of a sudden?”

 

“Ugh, seriously? I have an interview today…”

 

I stood frozen as people rushed past, trying to avoid the downpour, my eyes fixed on the sky. There was only one god who would pull something like this…

 

“You bastard, Corne!! Why the hell am I human again?!”