The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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23
Chapter 23 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
We left the Hunter Association. The world remained unchanged, yet our position within it had shifted entirely.
But we weren’t alone in celebrating our beginning. Inside the car heading back to our base, Park Jae-jung’s smartphone erupted with calls. He pressed the hands-free button.
“This is Park Jae-jung.”
“Ah, Representative Park. It’s me, Kim from the hardware shop.”
It was the voice of the wholesale dealer who’d sold us the scrap yesterday. But something was wrong with his tone—urgent and terrified.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m terribly sorry. I don’t think I’ll be able to supply you anymore.”
“What? What do you mean? Just yesterday you wanted to sign a long-term contract with us.”
“I want to, but I’m getting pressure from above. They said if I’m caught dealing with your workshop, they’ll shut me down completely.”
Park Jae-jung’s expression hardened.
“Pressure from above? Who’s making these threats?”
Kim hesitated for a long moment before answering in a barely audible whisper.
“Steel Fang. Their guild master sent out an official notice. He said anyone selling even a single screw to Renewal Shop will be buried that same day.”
After the call ended, silence filled the car. Park Jae-jung gritted his teeth and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“It’s begun. Steel Fang—they control the equipment market in the Middle District. They’re cutting off our material supply to strangle us out.”
He was right. This wasn’t mere harassment; it was a classic blockade strategy, severing the lifeblood of manufacturing—raw materials.
“The other suppliers will be in the same situation. Ma Seok-gi has a reputation for being ruthless.”
A shadow fell across Park Jae-jung’s face. A crisis right after founding the guild. Even with ten billion won in capital, we were helpless if we couldn’t purchase materials.
I remained calm, gazing quietly out the window.
“I expected this.”
“Representative?”
“We touched their rice bowl. They weren’t going to sit idle.”
I leaned back deeply into the passenger seat.
“If they won’t sell materials, we simply won’t buy from them.”
“What do you mean? Without materials, we can’t restore anything. The business will collapse.”
“Park. Why do you think we were buying scrap in the first place? Because it’s cheap? No.”
I smiled at him.
“Scrap is everywhere in this world. If the wholesalers block us, we buy directly from Hunters. Or we can collect what’s scattered throughout the Dungeons. And there’s one thing they’ve forgotten.”
I pulled out my smartphone and opened the Hunter Net app. The Renewal Shop’s post-purchase review board was flooded with Hunters eagerly waiting for our next shipment in real-time posts.
“We’ve built a fanbase. And in this industry, a force backed by consumer support can’t be stopped by something as simple as a supply embargo.”
I gave Park Jae-jung an order.
“Turn the car around.”
“Where to?”
“Steel Fang Headquarters.”
“You’re going to confront them directly? They’re an armed group—it’s dangerous.”
“Cutting off materials means declaring war. If we back down now, we’ll be treated as subcontractors forever.”
I spoke to Park Jae-jung with absolute conviction.
“I don’t like hiding and taking it. Let’s go see them face to face and ask if they can handle what’s coming.”
Park Jae-jung met my gaze in the rearview mirror, then turned the steering wheel without a word.
The Factory District, located in the northern reaches of the Middle District, was a gray expanse filled with the relentless clatter of machinery and acrid smoke—a stark contrast to the glittering Commercial District. Black smoke billowed from towering smokestacks, and massive cargo trucks laden with monster byproducts crawled bumper-to-bumper along the roads.
Steel Fang Guild dominated more than half of this Factory District, serving as its undisputed overlord. They were less a Hunter Guild and more a colossal military-industrial enterprise intertwined with organized crime.
“There it is.”
Park Jae-jung gestured with his chin toward a factory complex enclosed by towering walls. Above the main gate hung a rusted steel logo shaped like wolf fangs.
Four rough-looking men stood guard at the entrance, clad not in proper security uniforms but in crudely modified Hunter gear. Their demeanor was less about checking vehicles and more about intimidating them.
“Should we just ram through?”
Park Jae-jung asked, half-joking, half-serious. I shook my head.
“No. We’ll walk through the main gate respectfully.”
I parked the truck near the entrance and got out. Park Jae-jung instinctively checked the position of the short sword at his side, while I fastened my jacket buttons and straightened my appearance.
As we approached the main gate, the guards’ attention shifted toward us. They looked us up and down with appraising eyes.
“Who the hell are you two? This is restricted to authorized personnel only. If you’ve got no business here, get lost.”
A large man who appeared to be their leader stepped into our path. A tattoo marked his neck, and an electric baton hung from his waist—the typical hallmarks of third-rate Hunters.
I looked up at him and spoke calmly.
“We’re here to meet Guild Master Ma Seok-gi. Tell him Lee Tae-hyun from Moonglade is here.”
“Moon… what? There’s a no-name guild like that?”
The man chuckled and glanced back at his colleagues.
“Hey, boss. You think the Guild Master is some neighborhood chief? He doesn’t meet with just anyone. Did you have an appointment?”
“We didn’t have an appointment, but he should have received word. He personally ordered you to cut off dealings with us, didn’t he?”
The man’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer to me.
“Ah… so you’re those Renewal bastards? The rats who operate without honor in someone else’s territory.”
He jabbed his finger against my chest.
“You’ve lost your mind. What are you doing coming in here? Leave while I’m still being nice. Otherwise, I’ll make you crawl out.”
His finger was soiling my jacket. I looked down at it. If I were the old me—with an F-Rank body—I would have instinctively cowered before this pressure. One punch from those thick forearms would have shattered my ribs.
But things were different now. E-Rank core energy flowed through my body, and the muscles and nerves rebuilt by my passage through the Forest of Death Spores perceived every movement around me in slow motion.
The man before me was full of openings. His center of gravity was off-balance, his reaction speed sluggish. He was all bulk with no real combat instinct.
“Move your hand.”
I spoke quietly.
“What? What did you just—”
The man’s face twisted in anger as he raised his hand to strike. It looked like he was about to slap my cheek. That was the moment.
A sharp sound.
Time seemed to slow. Within my enhanced perception, the man’s movements became crystal clear—the angle of his wrist, the shift of his center of gravity, the gap at his elbow. My hand moved. I caught his incoming wrist with perfect precision.
“Ugh?!”
A sound of shock escaped the man’s lips. He tried to wrench his hand free with brute force, but my grip was unyielding as steel. E-Rank grip strength—far beyond any ordinary person, capable of overwhelming even lower-tier Hunters.
I twisted the captured wrist lightly, collapsing his center of gravity.
“Aaaahhh!”
The massive man screamed and dropped to his knees before me. It happened in an instant. The three remaining guards behind him panicked and drew their electric batons.
“You bastard!”
“You want to die?!”
As they rushed forward, Park Jae-jung beside me let out a sigh and started to step in. But this wasn’t a stage for a C-Rank veteran. I stopped him with a glance.
‘I’ll handle this myself.’
I used the kneeling man as a shield, pushing him forward as I charged into the approaching attackers.
Fast. My body responded faster than my thoughts. As the first one swung his club, I ducked beneath it and drove my fist into his solar plexus. With a dull thud, he collapsed, retching.
The second attacker came at me with a side kick. I didn’t dodge. I raised my left arm to guard. The impact was solid, but there was no bone-deep pain. My reinforced skeleton and muscles absorbed the blow effortlessly. I grabbed his leg and slammed him to the ground.
The last one panicked and stumbled backward. I straightened my clothes and fixed him with a cold stare.
“Go tell him. We have a visitor.”
He fled into the factory. The three security guards sprawled on the floor groaned in pain, too broken to even attempt standing.
Park Jae-jung whistled.
“Wow… Boss. You’re starting to look like a real Hunter now. Your movements are completely different from before.”
“I learned from you, after all.”
I answered calmly, but internally I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly. It thrilled me. This was power—not merely the strength to hunt monsters, but the ability to suppress those who looked down on me through sheer skill.
“Let’s go.”
We walked past the fallen guards and into the factory.
The interior resembled a massive furnace. Countless Hunters stood along assembly lines, skinning monster hides and processing bones. As we passed, they stopped their work and glared at us with hostile eyes. Hundreds of gazes bore down with crushing pressure. But we ignored them and headed toward the central elevator.
The escaped guard must have called ahead—a Man in Suit waited before the elevator doors. He bowed with formal courtesy, though his expression remained cold.
“The Guild Master is waiting. Fifth floor.”
We rode the elevator upward. The doors opened to reveal a lavish office, completely soundproofed and insulated from the factory noise below.
Behind a massive desk sat a man. Heavyset build, short hair, and a scar running down his neck. Ma Seok-gi, Guild Master of Steel Fang. He was reviewing documents while smoking a cigar when he slowly lifted his head as we entered.
“Moonglade… was it?”
His voice was rough, like scraping metal. He sank deeper into his chair and, without offering us seats, asked arrogantly.
“My subordinates came out looking like ground meat. I’ll give you credit for guts. So, what brings you here? Did you come to beg for your lives?”
Feet propped on the desk, cigar burning—a textbook tyrant. He saw us as nothing but subordinates, treating us like desperate small-time operators begging for survival.
I faced head-on the oppressive aura he radiated—that of a high D-Rank Hunter, perhaps bordering on C-Rank. Killing intent pricked at my skin, but I didn’t flinch. I pulled up a chair in front of his desk and sat. Park Jae-jung stood behind me, calmly surveying the surroundings.
“We didn’t come to beg. We came with a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
Ma Seok-gi let out a derisive snort.
“You’re proposing to me? One phone call from me and you won’t be able to get a single screw. You’ve already experienced it, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we have. Thanks to that, we changed our suppliers.”
“Changed? To where? There’s no wholesaler in this business who defies my word.”
“Not wholesalers. We buy directly from individual Hunters.”
Ma Seok-gi’s eyebrows twitched at my words.
“We deal in secondhand goods. Broken equipment that Hunters have worn out, gear they discard because repairs cost more than replacement. We buy it cheap. No matter how powerful the Guild Master is, you can’t chase down thousands of individual Hunters to block their deals.”
Ma Seok-gi’s expression hardened. He crushed his cigar roughly into the ashtray.
“…So? You’re saying you’ll scrape by eating garbage?”
“Not scraping by. Expanding.”
I tossed an envelope onto his desk.
“This contains our Renewal product sales records and customer reviews. Take a look.”
Ma Seok-gi didn’t even glance at the envelope.
“Get that out of here. I’m not interested in ledgers showing petty earnings.”
“Petty earnings… Yesterday alone, our sales were five billion won.”
Ma Seok-gi’s eyes wavered. Five billion won. Even for a mid-tier guild like Steel Fang, that was no small sum to achieve in a single day’s revenue.
“Don’t lie to me!”
“You can verify it yourself. And there’s one more thing.”
I leaned forward, meeting his gaze directly.
“We’re currently encroaching on Steel Fang’s primary market—budget-grade equipment. Every time our products hit the shelves, your warehouse inventory swells. How long do you think you can hold out? A month? Two?”
Ma Seok-gi’s face flushed crimson as he slammed his fist against the desk.
“You bastard! How dare you threaten me in my own office!”
The office door burst open and armed security personnel rushed in. Park Jae-jung immediately moved to summon his shield, but I raised my hand to stop him.
“It’s not a threat. I’m proposing a business arrangement.”
I continued.
“The harder you try to stop us, the more your guild will lose. We’re a new guild with nothing to lose, but you have plenty to protect.”
I stood up from my seat.
“My proposal is simple. Stop your interference and acknowledge us as competitors. In return, we won’t overstep our bounds.”
“Bounds? What bounds?”
“The raw material mining rights your guild has monopolized. If we touch that, things will get very messy for you.”
Ma Seok-gi’s eyes widened as if they might split. It was Steel Fang’s greatest source of funding—a reverse scale that should never be touched.
“The mining contract renewal is next month, isn’t it? And management fees are three months overdue. If we prepay and take over, your factory becomes scrap metal starting tomorrow.”
The mere fact that I possessed this information was a shock to him. (It was the most critical intelligence Park Jae-jung had uncovered during his all-night investigation.)
“You… did a background check on me?”
“Market research is basic when conducting business.”
I turned to leave. The security personnel blocked my path, but Ma Seok-gi didn’t gesture for them to stop me. He glared at me, radiating killing intent.
“You’re not leaving empty-handed. You came into my territory—you’re giving something up before you go.”
The core energy emanating from his body pressed down on the office air. The oppressive force of a high-tier D-rank Hunter. The glass on the desk trembled slightly.
But I laughed.
“I have nothing to leave behind. But there is something I’m taking with me.”
I opened the door and left one final statement.
“Your meal ticket. All of it.”
I pushed past the security personnel and left the office. Behind me, I heard Ma Seok-gi’s roar and the sound of something shattering.
As I walked down the corridor, cold sweat dripped down my back. My legs trembled slightly. A direct confrontation of wills with a high-tier D-rank Hunter was an enormous drain, both physically and mentally. But I didn’t show it. I walked with such confidence that even Park Jae-jung beside me didn’t notice.
“CEO… that was truly impressive. Ma Seok-gi looked like his face was about to explode.”
“This is real war now. They won’t hold back anymore. Assassination, terrorism, kidnapping… they’ll try anything.”
We left the factory and climbed into the truck. I wasn’t afraid. I fingered the purification dagger in my pocket. I had walked into the wolf’s den of my own volition, bared my fangs, and walked out alive. I had proven it.
The war began that very night after leaving Steel Fang Headquarters. There were no gunshots, but the methods were far more persistent and vicious.
The next morning. Golden Tower 35th Floor, Moonglade Headquarters. Park Jae-jung’s expression looked grave when he arrived at work. He set down his phone and sighed.
“CEO, the situation is not good.”
“What’s happened?”
“Deliveries have been blocked. The premium courier service drivers who were handling our shipments all contacted us this morning saying they couldn’t work.”
“Did they ask for more money?”
“No. It’s not about money. Last night, two drivers were attacked on their way back after completing deliveries. Their motorcycles were destroyed, and one driver’s leg was broken. And apparently, they left a message.”
Park Jae-jung continued.
“If Moonglade sends even one more package, I’ll make sure the next delivery isn’t a motorcycle—it’ll be a person.”
A typical thug’s tactic. We shipped between ten and twenty items a day at most. The goal wasn’t volume—it was to strangle the entire distribution network with fear.
“Other courier companies have heard the rumors and are refusing all our requests. At this rate, all seven scheduled deliveries for today will fall through. For a brand where trust is everything, this is catastrophic.”
‘What do I do?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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