Chiyul Song

Chiyul Song is a veteran C-rank hunter who leads the association party caught in the Cartenon Temple disaster. Although the decision to enter the hidden chamber costs him an arm and eleven hunters their lives, he accepts responsibility without evasion, recognizes Jinwoo Sung’s judgment, and later protects Jinwoo’s secret. Outside raid work, Chiyul runs a quiet kumdo dojo and teaches Haein Cha, making him one of the few lower-ranked hunters shown instructing an S rank in refined technique.

Biography

An experienced association leader

By the time the party finds the concealed passage in the first dungeon, Chiyul has been a hunter for roughly ten years. He is only C rank, but the narration treats him as the group’s most experienced member and practical leader. Had he awakened when younger, he believes he might have joined a major guild; instead, he continues taking the association’s lower-level raids and earns enough trust that the other hunters look to him for decisions. When the group debates whether to report the hidden chamber or explore it for a possible boss reward, Chiyul does not impose his authority. He calls a vote and casts the deciding ballot in favor of continuing, a choice he later owns completely (Chapter 1).

Inside the passage, Chiyul lights the way with fire magic and leads the party into Cartenon Temple. He can read the inscription containing the temple’s commandments, but the corpus does not identify this as a separate magical skill. Once the statues attack, experience alone cannot explain the unfamiliar rules. Chiyul therefore listens when the supposedly weakest hunter, Jinwoo, recognizes that bowing stops the giant statue’s gaze. He is the first senior member to bow on Jinwoo’s uncertain deduction, and his example helps the remaining hunters survive the initial execution (Chapters 1–2).

Responsibility in Cartenon Temple

Chiyul loses his left arm while saving Jinwoo from the statue’s eye beam. He pushes the younger man down, takes the blast himself, and calmly performs emergency first aid rather than wasting strength on panic. The injury removes one of the party’s strongest remaining combatants, but it does not remove him from the group’s decision-making. He continues to accept Jinwoo’s reading of the commandments and helps move the survivors through the musical-statue and altar trials (Chapter 2).

The survivors’ fear eventually turns against him. When Sangshik Kim blames Chiyul for leading them inside, Chiyul agrees that the deaths are his responsibility instead of hiding behind the vote. He offers himself as the person who should remain on the altar, but Jinwoo rejects that choice because a one-armed fighter cannot carry the unconscious Joohee Lee to safety. Chiyul then tries to preserve the younger hunters by proposing that Jinwoo and Joohee leave together. When the last escape becomes possible, Jinwoo orders him to take Joohee, and Chiyul carries her out while Jinwoo remains behind (Chapter 3).

Returning to the gates

Chiyul does not let the amputation end his life as a hunter. When he encounters Jinwoo after the latter’s hospital discharge, he is delighted to see the young man alive and his severed leg mysteriously restored. He dismisses concern about his own missing arm, then bows deeply in gratitude. Eleven people died because of the decision he made, he says, but six survived because of Jinwoo. He even tries to conceal an imminent association raid call so that the newly discharged survivor will not place himself in danger again (Chapter 8).

Jinwoo nevertheless joins the raid, which reunites Chiyul with both him and Joohee. Chiyul again functions as the senior hunter in the field. He conjures fire from his fingertips, keeps the group organized, and prepares to defend the party when Taesik Kang reveals that he murdered the prisoners. Chiyul pulls Joohee away from Taesik’s attack and understands that a C-rank mage cannot trade blows evenly with an assassin of Taesik’s B-rank caliber. Jinwoo defeats Taesik before that disparity becomes fatal (Chapters 8–9).

Afterward, Chiyul immediately grasps why Jinwoo wants his actual strength hidden. When officials ask what happened, he claims that he killed Taesik with support from Joohee’s B-rank healing. The explanation is extraordinary but plausible enough to prevent an immediate reevaluation investigation. Chiyul regards the lie as a modest repayment to the man who saved him and the other temple survivors (Chapter 9).

Kumdo master and Haein’s teacher

Chiyul’s later life reveals expertise that his early raid appearances do not emphasize. He operates a peaceful kumdo dojo and is Haein Cha’s swordsmanship master. Haein’s S-rank body makes her incomparably faster and stronger than him, but she still attends because he can correct the technique behind that physical ability. This distinction shows that Chiyul’s authority rests on practiced form and teaching experience, not on pretending his C-rank statistics exceed hers (Chapter 62).

During one lesson, Chiyul notices hesitation in Haein’s sword and stops their practice. Drawing on the fear and disruption he experienced after losing his arm, he gently invites her to discuss whatever is troubling her. He initially assumes her problem may be a combat trauma, but when a call from Jinwoo transforms her mood, he correctly recognizes romantic distraction instead. He is proud of Haein’s discipline and quietly happy that his serious pupil has found someone who can make her react that way (Chapter 62).

Appearance and personality

Chiyul is an older man with grizzled hair. After Cartenon Temple, his left arm ends at the shoulder and one sleeve remains empty. The loss permanently changes his combat options but does not make him bitter toward Jinwoo or the other survivors.

His defining trait is accountable leadership. Calling the fatal vote was a genuine error, and he never rewrites it as someone else’s fault. At the same time, he does not collapse under that guilt: he finishes the rescue, returns to association work, and uses what influence he has to protect Jinwoo. He is humble enough to follow an E rank’s better analysis, brave enough to volunteer for sacrifice, and perceptive enough to recognize both battlefield fear and an embarrassed pupil’s feelings. His warmth appears in small choices—concealing a raid call from Jinwoo, worrying about Joohee, and taking pride in Haein without trying to claim her accomplishments.

Abilities, skills, and rank

Fire magic

Chiyul is a C-rank mage whose elemental specialty is fire. He can form flames at his fingertips, using them to illuminate an unlit dungeon and readying them as offensive magic against Taesik. The supplied chapters do not provide a named spell, measured damage output, or evidence that his fire can bridge a major rank difference. Against an experienced B-rank assassin, Chiyul understands that direct combat is a poor prospect even with Joohee supporting him (Chapters 1, 8–9).

Swordsmanship and instruction

Chiyul is an accomplished kumdo practitioner and teacher. Haein formally calls him master and continues lessons at his dojo despite being an S-rank hunter. He can detect minute hesitation in her sword movement and separate technical discipline from the overwhelming speed and power supplied by awakening. The corpus establishes his instructional expertise but does not show him using a sword during a dungeon battle, so no named sword technique is attributed to him (Chapter 62).

Leadership and field judgment

Ten years of raid experience make Chiyul a natural association-party leader. He organizes votes, reads inscriptions, keeps functioning after catastrophic injury, and changes course when another hunter has a better answer. His record also shows the limits of experience: he chooses to explore Cartenon Temple for the possible reward, and conventional rank knowledge offers no solution to its rules. What distinguishes him is his response to failure. He accepts blame, prioritizes evacuation, and learns to trust demonstrated judgment rather than rank labels (Chapters 1–3).

Losing his left arm sharply reduces his physical options, yet he remains active in raids and continues teaching swordsmanship. No prosthetic, regeneration, or restored limb is shown in the original timeline.

Relationships

• Jinwoo Sung: Chiyul first treats Jinwoo as a weak but thoughtful junior, then entrusts the party to his deductions. Jinwoo’s choices save his life; Chiyul later repays him by concealing his role in Taesik’s death.
• Joohee Lee: A fellow Cartenon survivor whom Chiyul carries out on Jinwoo’s instruction. He continues to watch over her when they return to association raids.
• Haein Cha: His S-rank kumdo pupil. Their relationship is based on technical instruction, candid observation, and Chiyul’s quiet affection and pride as her teacher.
• Taesik Kang: A B-rank association inspector whose murders force Chiyul into another survival crisis. Chiyul is prepared to fight him but recognizes the unfavorable gap in power.

Items

No named item is assigned to Chiyul in the supplied chapters. His dojo contains ordinary kumdo training equipment, and he relies on fire magic rather than a cataloged weapon during the association raids.