I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 10

10.

“Ah, no way! Get out of the way!”

While Team 1 struggled to escape with their clumsy movements, Team 2 moved with relative ease, even after hearing the bear’s roar.

The bear, spotting Team 2, charged at them with incredible speed, belying its massive size.

“Those idiots! They’re drawing the aggro [short for ‘aggression,’ meaning they’re attracting the monster’s attention] all the way here!”

Kang Su-jeong raised her twin swords, as if preparing to confront the bear.

“Ugh!”

However, she couldn’t withstand the bear’s paw. Kang Su-jeong quickly retreated, but was grazed. She was sent flying and crashed into a tree.

“Su-jeong!”

Park Seo-ah called out to Kang Su-jeong, but her own situation was no better.

The bear now targeted Seo-ah and raised its paw.

It was then.

An Ji-yu, who had been seemingly inactive, suddenly stepped forward.

An Ji-yu raised a slender wooden staff and gently poked the bear’s paw.

In the meantime, Seo Eun-hee subtly shielded Park Seo-ah.

Crackle—Crackle!

Sparks flew across the bear’s body.

The rock-like bulk trembled, and with that single touch, it collapsed with a thud.

“Wow, she really was a mage! I thought it was a lie.”

The injured Kang Su-jeong limped over, excitedly poking the fallen bear. The roaring bear certainly appeared dead.

Kim Dae-hoon’s team, which had been frozen in place, also slowly approached.

“Lightning… you’re a mage? You should have mentioned it…”

An Ji-yu didn’t even acknowledge Kim Dae-hoon’s bewildered question. Instead, she used a small knife to slice off the bear’s ear.

And threw it to Seo-ah.

“Oh, are you giving this to me?”

An Ji-yu simply nodded. Was she planning to remain silent the entire time?

“The roaring bear’s ear is worth quite a bit.”

At Kim Dae-hoon’s muttering, Seo-ah quickly accepted it without a word.

People gathered around Seo-ah.

In place of the injured main healer, Park Seo-ah cast recovery skills on the injured one by one.

Seo-ah mentally tracked the number of missions as she cast the skills.

‘One, two, three… Now, let’s see.’

[Mission 1. Touch the Hunter. (9/10)]

“Can we even catch the boss like this? And that Roaring Bear seems a bit strong for an E-grade mob [a common, weak monster]? It looked white to me.”

If the monster’s grade was lower than hers, she saw a yellow aura; if it was the same, white; and if it was slightly higher, a blue aura.

If she had a monster detection item, she could know more accurately, but Seo-ah couldn’t afford to buy one right now.

Anyway, this was an E-grade gate [a dungeon or portal to another dimension], and since Kang Su-jeong was an E-grade hunter, it was concerning that the mob was white. Unless it was a mid-level boss.

“Of course, I was just caught off guard earlier because I didn’t expect it. It’s not just a mob; it’s probably a mid-boss.”

“Then are you expecting the final boss? If we fumble like that again, we’ll all die.”

“That kid has been spouting bad luck since earlier!”

D-grade tanker [a character specializing in defense and drawing enemy attention] Choi Tae-hyun, who was being healed by Park Seo-ah, jumped up.

“Hey, do you think we’re so weak that we can be dismissed by an E-grade hunter just because we got a little hurt?”

Park Seo-ah blocked him as he raised his hand as if to strike her.

“What are you doing! To a child.”

“What’s this now.”

“Hey, Choi Tae-hyun! Calm down!”

Choi Tae-hyun, who was about to push her away, barely registered the many eyes watching and stepped back.

“Tch.”

And because the main healer was out of commission right now, even an E-grade healer was needed.

“Hmph, not bad though. The recovery is faster than I thought for an E-grade healer.”

“Yeah. I felt that too. I feel more energetic than before. I feel lighter?”

Kim Dae-hoon, who had just been healed, turned his neck and shoulders from side to side.

In contrast to the Team 1 members, whose condition had improved, Park Seo-ah felt slightly dizzy. Was she overdoing it? Still, she was happy. Seo-ah quickly opened her status window.

[Mission 1. Touch the Hunter. (10/10)(!)]

’10 people! I filled it!’

An exclamation mark appeared at the end.

[Mission 1. Clear! Choose your completion reward. You can choose two skills from the list. Once a skill is selected, it cannot be undone. The remaining skills, regardless of your control…]

‘Oh, there’s so much.’

She immediately opened it, but seeing the densely written letters, she put it aside for now.

It seemed like very important information, and she wanted to look at it carefully by herself if possible.

First, she looked at the other stats.

[Life 8↓/10 Mana 5↓/12 Fatigue 20↑/40]

Life was down a little, and mana was down quite a bit. She was trying to use recovery on Team 1, which was originally the main healer’s job, so she didn’t have enough mana left.

And a new item called fatigue was also created. It seemed to be an item that only appeared when the value increased even by 1.

Still, there was something she couldn’t ignore.

“Su-jeong, come here. You’re hurt too.”

Then Choi Tae-hyun shouted loudly.

“Hey, healer! Don’t waste your energy and stay still. Only use recovery on us from now on.”

“That’s right, you’re probably running out of mana as an E-grade. Don’t waste it on some E-grade dealer [a character specializing in damage dealing].”

Lee So-ri, Team 1’s ranged dealer, added. She had also just had a wound on her back treated by Seo-ah.

Park Seo-ah glared at them with all her might, then silently used recovery skills on Kang Su-jeong.

The grumbling was still audible, but she tried to focus as much as possible on Su-jeong’s recovery.

“Sister, I’m upset, but they’re right. You need to save your strength.”

“No, you’re my priority.”

At Park Seo-ah’s firm answer, Kang Su-jeong stared at Seo-ah with a touched expression. It was the first time in her life that someone had taken care of her like this.

After finishing Kang Su-jeong’s treatment, Park Seo-ah wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Then someone handed her a glass bottle filled with blue liquid.

It was An Ji-yu.

When Park Seo-ah only stared blankly, An Ji-yu opened her mouth bluntly.

“Drink.”

“…Thank you.”

Park Seo-ah didn’t know what expression to make, so she lowered her gaze and quickly took the drink.

As she emptied the bottle, the mana level that had been falling rose to the maximum.

Her body felt better, so she was grateful, but Seo-ah glanced at An Ji-yu as if she was uncomfortable, and then sighed deeply.

“But no matter how much I look, I can’t find where the boss is! Even though it’s so open here.”

Team 1’s ranged dealer Lee So-ri said quite loudly to herself, as if for someone to hear.

Team 1 consisted of four people: melee dealer Kim Dae-hoon, ranged dealer Lee So-ri, tanker Choi Tae-hyun, and healer Hong Jae-woo.

“That’s right, we should split up and look for it.”

At those words, Kim Dae-hoon agreed in an awkward tone, as if he had been waiting, and got up from his seat.

“Jae-woo is injured, so he’ll stay here, and the rest of us will split up and look for it. If you encounter the boss, shoot a firework into the sky.”

He then handed out one firework-like device to each of them.

“It’s dangerous for Seo-ah sister to be alone, so I’ll go with you.”

Seo Hee-eun intervened at Kang Su-jeong’s words.

“What are you going to do with an E-grade dealer? You couldn’t even handle a bear just now. I’ll go. Our healer is so weak that she gets hurt even by those mobs. So I’ll go and protect her for sure.”

It was a tone she had heard often. An Ji-yu also twitched her eyebrows and said quietly.

“I was the one who took down the bear, so I’ll go.”

“Sister, you said I was your priority! You’ll go with me, right?”

“Oh, um… well.”

While the three were bickering, Park Seo-ah was standing in the middle with a troubled expression.

Then Kim Dae-hoon suddenly intervened.

“Park Seo-ah Hunter, can’t you attack at all?”

“No, I can’t.”

At her answer, Kim Dae-hoon looked at Park Seo-ah as if he was dumbfounded.

Park Seo-ah was puzzled. What was wrong?

“Even healers can usually do basic attacks… Oh, that’s right, that’s why they’re E-grades.”

At the words muttered with a look of contempt, Seo Hee-eun retorted sharply.

“They’re blaming the healer for their own lack of ability. That’s why they’re small fries. Who was it that was begging for even an E-grade healer because they were so desperate?”

“Hey, Seo Hee-eun Hunter!”

“What? Do you want to try?”

Kim Dae-hoon raised his weapon. Seo Hee-eun only snorted and scanned Kim Dae-hoon up and down.

Seo Hee-eun was definitely a D-grade, so it was worth a try.

But for some reason, she felt like her whole body was shrinking under Seo Hee-eun’s gaze.

It was like the feeling she had when she accidentally encountered a B-grade hunter before, or even stronger.

“Why, aren’t you going to attack?”

“Kim Dae-hoon, stop it. What are you going to do if you fight inside the gate.”

Lee So-ri came over and grabbed Kim Dae-hoon’s shoulder to stop him, and Kim Dae-hoon put down his weapon as if he had been waiting, even though he was still angry.

Seo Hee-eun snorted and turned her eyes away, and Lee So-ri whispered something in Kim Dae-hoon’s ear. Then Kim Dae-hoon calmed down and gave instructions to the party members.

“Kang Su-jeong, Park Seo-ah Hunter, go south together. An Ji-yu, Seo Hee-eun Hunter, go separately to the northeast and northwest. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll kick you out of the party.”

At Kim Dae-hoon’s words, An Ji-yu and Seo Hee-eun made dissatisfied expressions, but for now, they kept their mouths shut.

After they left first, Seo-ah and Su-jeong also headed south together. As they went, Seo-ah asked Kang Su-jeong.

“What happens if the party leader kicks you out?”

“Um, it just means you get kicked out of the party. It’s a loss. You have to leave without getting the experience or items you’ve earned so far. You won’t be able to participate in the boss co-op either.”

“I see.”

Seo Hee-eun and An Ji-yu didn’t seem like the type to be afraid of that.

‘Why did I have to come all the way here.’

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