I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 19

19.

“I missed dinner earlier. I was planning to go to a convenience store later.”

“Convenience… store?”

He looked like he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.

Immediately upon hearing those words, Yoo Ji-an canceled the 5th-floor button Seo-ah had pressed and instead pressed the 88th floor (S). It was the top floor of the building.

Seo-ah looked at Yoo Ji-an, bewildered, but Yoo Ji-an didn’t offer any explanation.

The elevator arrived at the 88th floor in an instant. The top floor of this building was the penthouse where Yoo Ji-an lived.

The Tae-yang Guild had, of course, given the top floor of this skyscraper, built on prime real estate, to Yoo Ji-an under his name.

As soon as she got off, Seo-ah was momentarily stunned by the night view of Seoul unfolding before her eyes.

“Have you arrived, Hunter Yoo Ji-an?”

A butler, dressed neatly in a suit, bowed politely to Yoo Ji-an.

“Please prepare a meal quickly.”

Seo-ah followed behind Yoo Ji-an, looking around.

‘So, this is Yoo Ji-an’s house. Did he bring me here to feed me?’

“Yes, I understand. How many servings should I prepare?”

“You don’t have any stomach problems, do you?”

Yoo Ji-an asked Seo-ah, who was trotting after him like a chick. Seo-ah nodded lightly.

“I eat everything well.”

With this kind of view, wouldn’t even plain rice with water taste delicious?

“Please prepare two servings.”

Yoo Ji-an raised the corners of his mouth as if satisfied, and Seo-ah glanced at his face before subtly turning her gaze away.

‘Indeed, he’s incredibly handsome.’

It was a fact Seo-ah already knew, but seeing him smile, it was clear that he was an unmatched beauty. Yoo Ji-an, who was walking ahead, roughly pointed towards the living room.

“Wait here. I have somewhere to go.”

“Where, where are you going?”

Leaving me alone in his house? Well, the butler is here, so I’m not completely alone.

But Yoo Ji-an wasn’t the kind of person who would kindly answer everything. He left those words and disappeared like the wind. It was the speed of an S-class Hunter.

“Showing off his abilities in a place like this……”

Seo-ah looked around to erase her awkwardness, then slowly approached the glass window.

“Wow.”

The night view of the metropolis sparkled like stars. Captivated by its beauty, Seo-ah stood there blankly for a long time, gazing at it.

* * *

The leader of Tae-yang Guild, the number one guild in the country, a leading figure.

A-class Hunter Han Seok-hyun was working overtime again today.

This year marked the 5th anniversary of the founding of the Tae-yang Guild. The number of guild members alone had now exceeded 100, and including the staff hired to support their activities, it reached 200.

As the family grew, the workload naturally increased. Even with many employees, important tasks still had to be handled directly.

Still, Yoo Ji-an shared his memories from the previous rounds quite well, so being able to know the location and date of gate [dungeon entrance] generation in advance made things much easier.

‘He’s a blessing.’

Yoo Ji-an was in the Tae-yang Guild in the 1st round, but he wasn’t in the Tae-yang Guild in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Han Seok-hyun still didn’t know why Yoo Ji-an had returned again in the 4th round, the current one.

But thinking about it, Yoo Ji-an could leave at any time.

‘I need to coax him well and keep him.’

From the perspective of managing the guild, Yoo Ji-an’s existence was very important.

Han Seok-hyun stood in front of the coffee machine.

Bang-

But as soon as he pressed the button, he suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened roughly.

“Oh, Yoo Ji-an. You’re here so soon. How was it, this gate? Is it the same as the last round?”

Ignoring Han Seok-hyun’s question, Yoo Ji-an sat carelessly on the sofa. Han Seok-hyun also sat opposite him with a mug of coffee in his hand.

Looking closely, Yoo Ji-an’s expression was unusual.

“What’s wrong?”

“Han Seok-hyun, I’m disappointed.”

Taken aback by the sudden criticism, Han Seok-hyun assessed Yoo Ji-an’s mood like a dog with its tail between its legs.

In his mind, he was thinking, ‘What the hell is wrong with that bastard again?’ but considering Yoo Ji-an’s value, he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“Why, is something wrong? You have to tell me.”

“If you keep acting like this, there’s no reason for me to stay in this guild.”

Han Seok-hyun’s heart seemed to drop as if he had been dumped by a lover.

The reputation of the Tae-yang Guild was more than 70 percent due to Yoo Ji-an’s existence. If he left, the leading Tae-yang Guild in the country would fall into mediocrity.

Conversely, even a lousy guild could jump to the top ranks if they recruited Yoo Ji-an.

Even now, there were more than one or two guilds secretly trying to recruit Yoo Ji-an.

The problem was that Yoo Ji-an was not the type to make such remarks idly.

“W-what do you mean? Ji-an, between us…”

“Park Seo-ah.”

“Why Park Seo-ah Hunter? Isn’t she training downstairs?”

Han Seok-hyun realized his mistake.

He had left Park Seo-ah in Kim Cheol-doo’s care and hadn’t been able to take care of the aftermath because he was busy with other tasks. But on the other hand, he trusted Kim Cheol-doo, and he was really too busy.

“If almost dying at the hands of Yoon Doo-hee is training…”

“Huh?”

Because Yoo Ji-an came up as soon as the incident happened, Han Seok-hyun had not yet received a report about it.

“I’ve told you repeatedly that she’s important to me.”

“You did, so I went to pick her up myself.”

“You give someone like that the 5th floor? Is that all I mean to you?”

Han Seok-hyun had not specifically instructed to give her the 5th floor. But because there were no other instructions, the 5th floor was naturally assigned.

The accommodation on the 5th floor was decorated as well as a decent business hotel, so it wasn’t bad. But it was among the lower-ranked accommodations in the Tae-yang Guild building.

But Han Seok-hyun didn’t expect Yoo Ji-an to react this way.

“That can’t be… Ji-an, there must be some misunderstanding.”

Han Seok-hyun jumped up from his seat and picked up his phone.

Listening to him giving various instructions, Yoo Ji-an got up again and went outside.

* * *

“Hunter, the meal is all prepared. Please go in and eat first.”

The butler came out and politely invited Park Seo-ah.

She wondered if she could eat alone without the owner of the house, but she was eventually drawn into the dining room by the delicious smell of food.

But seeing the food set on the table, Park Seo-ah paused.

There was multigrain rice, miso soup, grilled fish, braised short ribs, rolled omelet, grilled abalone, royal hot pot [a Korean stew], japchae [glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables and meat], and various side dishes packed tightly.

It was like coming to a banquet.

“Did you prepare all this yourself? So quickly?”

“Of course not. The chef made it and sent it here, I just set it up.”

The butler pointed to a round, shining disc. Seo-ah tilted her head, and the disc flashed, and a cake appeared out of nowhere.

“Wow!”

“It’s a mini-portal. When I first saw it, I was amazed that there was such a thing.”

“If there were things like that in the world, all the *택배* [courier] companies would go bankrupt.”

“Hahaha, it will be difficult to commercialize. It’s made of magic stones.”

“Ah, but I’m sure I heard it was for two people.”

Seo-ah looked at the table with a still dumbfounded expression.

“Yes, I prepared it for two people as Hunter Yoo Ji-an instructed.”

“It’s too much for two people. Ten people could eat it.”

Seo-ah sat down on the chair the butler pulled out, muttering in an unbelievable voice.

Just as she was wondering where to put her chopsticks first, Yoo Ji-an entered the dining room.

“You said you didn’t have any stomach problems, was that a lie?”

“No, of course not. But how can I eat all of this at once?”

“Doesn’t everyone eat this much?”

Yoo Ji-an nonchalantly sat across from her and started eating, and Seo-ah once again felt the wall of common sense as she put rice in her mouth.

It was really delicious.

As she chewed and swallowed the multigrain rice, she felt Yoo Ji-an’s obvious gaze, which was now even familiar.

“Why?”

“So you can eat a lot and grow up quickly.”

It was as if he was treating her like a child, but Park Seo-ah had become accustomed to such treatment from S-class Hunters. Park Seo-ah chuckled and retorted.

“Are you sure it’s okay? Even if I grow up a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I grow up quickly and become strong and kill Hunter Yoo Ji-an?”

Yoo Ji-an looked at Seo-ah head-on with a calm face. It was a shallow provocation that she tried just in case, but she didn’t feel the murderous intent that he often showed.

He said he would be careful, and it seems he really is being careful.

Is he the type to keep his word?

“Surely… that won’t happen.”

Seo-ah reached for the *불고기* [bulgogi, marinated beef], answering insipidly.

“You never know what might happen.”

Yoo Ji-an said, moving a large piece of *갈비* [galbi, short ribs] to Seo-ah’s plate.

Seo-ah made an unknowing expression. For a matter of whether she lives or dies, Yoo Ji-an was too relaxed.

‘Well, I’m not in a position to talk.’

[If you fail to activate the position ‘Supporter (S-class)’ within the period, you will die! (D-88)]

In the current situation, Seo-ah’s life was more precarious than Yoo Ji-an’s, but she herself was just tearing apart *갈비* [galbi, short ribs] like this.

“Ah, I’ve been meaning to ask since earlier, about skill activation.”

Yoo Ji-an nodded his head as if to say continue.

“I got a passive skill during training earlier. Can it suddenly appear like this?”

“Originally, when you first awaken as a Hunter, you get basic skills, unfortunately, one, or fortunately, several.”

“Yes, at first, I only had one recovery skill.”

“The skills that appear afterward aren’t really sudden, but rather skills that were latent within you are being unlocked depending on the environment.”

After sucking the sauce off her fingers, Seo-ah smacked her lips. It was really delicious.

“Ah, so [Brain] was originally inside me.”

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