The Hunterverse (or Rankerverse) is a trope founded and popularized in South Korean fandoms. Hunters are humans who possess magical abilities and use them to fight and kill monsters amd alien creatures. They first appeared around the same time humanity was exposed to the existence of gateways and dungeons.
As Hunters turned out to be the only ones who could kill the monsters and close the gates, a global billion-dollar industry eventually developed around them as a result. Guilds also started popping up and became the hub where Hunters could register as a Hunter and gain access to the perks and other such stuff that came with that. Guilds can be managed by the goverment, the military or some kind of corporation and their goal, along with getting rid of the monsters and alien creatures, are to collect the items that can only be found in the dungeons and either use them to raise the rankings of the Hunters registered at their guilds or sell the items at a high price. Usually it's both.
Most Hunterverse stories starts with or mentions "gate shocks" or "gate bursts", which is the sudden occurences of portals or gateways opening and monsters and alien creatures appearing from said gateways. This phenomenon tends to also coincide with or promote the awakening of superpowers. These people are called "Hunters" or "Rankers" and they're tasked to protect the world from these monsters and alien creatures that escapes into the real world from these dungeons.
In some stories the Hunters have to go into the dungeons themselves to defeat these monsters and alien creatures. In others, the Hunters have to defeat a certain amount or ranking of monsters and alien creatures (usually the boss) that come out the dungeon to close the gateway. If the boss isn't destroyed the gateway stays open and worse monsters may even come out of it.
The Hunterverse often utilises the manwha style ranking systems, which range from S-F with characters always aiming for S-class rankings, because that's the highest ranking, while F-class rankings are considered the lowest. Some dungeons also have different rankings that only allows Hunters of a specific ranking to be able to enter them.
In most Hunterverse stories, Hunters are also able to collect items and special equipment found only in dungeons and bring them back to the real world. These items are often sold for a high price, and also have a ranking system with the highest grade items fetching even higher prices.
Some Hunterverse stories might also include game-like systems where hunters can gain ability points or progression systems that can upgrade their abilities, raise their rankings and even allow them to purchase special items if the game system has a store function. In some Hunterverse stories that includes game-like systems, the Hunters might also have to complete tasks assigned by the system to raise their ranks, get special classifcations, points and so on.
The Hunterverse is usually only about the action and adventure, with the stories following the hunters as they battle monsters and alien creatures, raise their rankings and save the world, and romance isn't really a main theme, but there are some Hunterverse stories that have romantic themes as a focus. Though it's usually Guidevese, which is a combination subtrope of the Hunterverse and the Sentinel AU, that has more romance than monster fighting
Some examples of Hunterverse stories include, but definitely isn't limited to Solo leveling, Murim Log-in, The blade of Evolution-walking alone in the dungeon and so on.
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