I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 111

111.

Clack.

“Hoo…”

Seo-ah closed Geon-woo’s hospital room door and leaned against it. Yoo Ji-ahn was waiting in front of it.

“Did you explain it well?”

“Roughly, to some extent.”

First, she revealed that she had become an S-class supporter. This was going to be revealed soon anyway.

She thought that the timing might be a little faster because she had shown herself to the hospital staff in the process of defeating the grotesque sunflower.

But she didn’t talk about sudden gates or system missions.

Since it was all over now anyway, there was no need to bring it up.

“He seems very surprised.”

“He has a reason to be.”

Seo-ah sighed as she looked at the closed door and slowly started walking down the hallway. Yoo Ji-ahn followed.

To get some fresh air, Seo-ah came out of the hospital building altogether. The remains of the grotesque sunflower were still scattered around. Since ordinary people couldn’t clean up the remains of monsters, they had to wait for the Association to come.

After walking for a while, Seo-ah stopped in a deserted place. Yoo Ji-ahn, who was walking behind her, glanced at Seo-ah’s face.

“You look pale.”

“Geon-woo… can’t have the surgery.”

“…Why?”

“The cancer has spread in the meantime… surgery is meaningless. Ha, what have I been doing all this time?”

“…….”

Yoo Ji-ahn also remained silent for a moment, as if at a loss for words.

“I roamed around the gates so much to earn money for the surgery, but now he can’t even have it. If I had known this would happen, I would have just stayed by his side. So Geon-woo wouldn’t be lonely, how much he must be alone in the hospital room…”

“You would have been killed by the system if you had done that, Park Seo-ah.”

Seo-ah bit her lip tightly at Yoo Ji-ahn’s calm words. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Park Seo…”

Just as Yoo Ji-ahn was about to put his hand on Seo-ah’s shoulder, Seo-ah’s cell phone rang.

Yoo Ji-ahn immediately withdrew his hand, and Seo-ah hurriedly took out her phone and answered it.

“Yes, hello.”

– Hunter Park Seo-ah, hello. This is Cha Tae-woon.

“Ah, yes. Association President?”

Yoo Ji-ahn’s brow furrowed slightly at the word ‘Association President.’

– Excuse me, is this a good time for you?

“Time? Uh…”

Seo-ah looked back and forth between the hospital and Yoo Ji-ahn.

– I won’t take long. I would like you to come to the Association for a moment.

“Yes, I understand.”

– Then where should I send the car?

“No, I’ll go on my own.”

– Yes, then. I’ll see you soon.

After hanging up, Seo-ah looked at Yoo Ji-ahn and asked.

“Why does he want to see me?”

“Well, don’t go if you don’t feel like it.”

“No, still… I made a promise.”

Seo-ah headed to the bus stop in front of the hospital, and Yoo Ji-ahn naturally followed.

‘Is he seeing me off? How far is he going to follow me?’

While glancing at him, the bus arrived right away.

As Seo-ah got on the bus and tapped her transportation card, Yoo Ji-ahn just followed her on.

“Hey, hey! Customer, you have to pay the fare!”

When the bus driver shouted, Yoo Ji-ahn calmly took out a high-denomination check and handed it over.

The driver stared at him in disbelief.

“No, who does that on a bus… Huh? He looks familiar.”

Seo-ah, who was about to go inside, panicked and held out her bus card.

“Please, scan it with this!”

Beep-

Seo-ah scanned her card on the terminal and pulled Yoo Ji-ahn’s hand to lead him inside. Seo-ah asked suspiciously.

“Are you going to the Association with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I’m just following you.”

“…Are you free?”

“For a few days. Since I just came out of the gate.”

“I see.”

A hunter who cleared an upper-level gate was given a few days of rest. Unless it was a very urgent matter, they wouldn’t be called.

People on the bus who were slowly recognizing Yoo Ji-ahn were glancing at him. Seo-ah was very conscious of it, but Yoo Ji-ahn, who was always the center of attention wherever he went, was indifferent.

The problem was that Seo-ah, who was talking to him, was also getting attention because of Yoo Ji-ahn.

Seo-ah unconsciously moved a step away from Yoo Ji-ahn. But Yoo Ji-ahn came closer again by the distance that had opened up.

Seo-ah just gave up and looked out the window.

The bus had to detour a considerable distance because roads all over Seoul were being controlled.

The controlled areas were the places where the ‘grotesque sunflower’ had appeared and caused damage. She had heard it vaguely, but looking at it closely, she could see that far more individuals had bred in Seoul than she had thought.

What was fortunate was that there were occasional injuries from monsters, but since they were plant-type monsters, they usually didn’t cause much damage unless you got too close.

‘Hmm, but no matter how I look at it…’

I didn’t think about it earlier, but I felt like I’d seen that grotesque sunflower somewhere before.

“Where did that appear from?”

“Unless it’s a gate break, in cases like that… you can assume they brought it out from inside the gate.”

“But we bring a lot out too. Gate byproducts.”

“It’s okay if you put it in your inventory.”

“Ah.”

Hunters all had their own inventory. It was hard to understand why a hunter who knew that would deliberately carry a creature from inside the gate.

‘Then it might not be a hunter. Where was the sunflower first discovered?’

It was then that Seo-ah was lost in thought.

Screech-

“Ugh!”

“Kyaaa! Drive straight!”

“No, look at that!”

The bus driver slammed on the brakes because of the sunflower that suddenly popped out in front of the bus, and people lost their balance and staggered.

In the meantime, Seo-ah and Yoo Ji-ahn were standing upright without holding anything. It was thanks to the leg strength and sense of balance of an S-class hunter.

Seo-ah was not yet used to this situation. There were times when she still couldn’t believe that she was an S-class, but she experienced it like this from time to time in her daily life.

The people who fell were horrified as they looked at the sunflower with its petals greedily spread open.

“A m-monster!”

“Ugh, what’s with that flower!”

As Seo-ah was about to get off right away, Yoo Ji-ahn grabbed her arm.

“Why? I have to catch it.”

“There’s no need to step in. Look over there.”

“…Ah.”

As soon as the grotesque sunflower appeared, the hunters around them took out their weapons and appeared. And they tried to catch the sunflower as if they were competing.

“It’s mine!”

“I found it first!”

Thanks to them being so proactive, downtown Seoul was relatively safe despite the sunflower’s reproductive power.

However, it was a question.

“Why are they doing that?”

“It’s because of a special item.”

“A special item?”

“There’s an item you can only get from monsters that come out of the gate.”

“Oh… is it that great?”

Yoo Ji-ahn looked at the hunters catching the sunflower with a sunken gaze.

“It’s great, and it hastens death.”

“…….”

Before Seo-ah could find anything to say, the sunflower was quickly taken care of.

The police also appeared and directed traffic. Only then could the bus move again.

Seo-ah suddenly turned to Yoo Ji-ahn as if she had remembered something.

“But how did you get to the hospital earlier? Were you nearby?”

Yoo Ji-ahn’s dark eyes trembled slightly at the question.

“Yeah, I was just passing by.”

“Why? Then didn’t you have something to do?”

“…We’re here, Park Seo-ah.”

“Ah.”

Seo-ah pressed the stop bell and tagged her card in advance.

“Hunter Yoo Ji-ahn probably hasn’t had much of a chance to ride the bus. Have you ever ridden it before?”

“Um, a long time ago.”

“A long time ago? How long ago?”

“About 40 years ago?”

“…Hunter Yoo Ji-ahn’s profile says he’s 25 years old?”

When Seo-ah asked back in disbelief, Yoo Ji-ahn chuckled and got off the bus.

“That’s right, for now.”

Seo-ah followed him with an even more puzzled look.

As soon as they got off, they saw the magnificent Hunter Association building. Seo-ah thought as she walked in.

‘By the way, is it meaningful to continue working as a hunter…’

The system’s threats were over, and she had earned enough money to live on for a while. But Geon-woo can’t have surgery.

“Hoo…”

She sighed again as she thought about it.

She thought it would be better to be by Geon-woo’s side now rather than wasting time on hunter work.

‘I decided to go on a raid with Association President Cha Tae-woon, but…’

Should she tell him the situation and cancel it?

She didn’t desperately need the raid, so was there any need to put herself in danger?

Someone might say it’s a waste that she awakened as an S-class supporter, but Seo-ah had no regrets about it because the reasons she started working as a hunter in the first place had disappeared.

Anyway, Seo-ah, who arrived at the Association, walked into the building with Yoo Ji-ahn.

There were familiar faces there.

“Oh, Seo-ah?”

“Hunter Park Seo-ah? Ji-ahn, what brings you here?”

Guild Leader Han Seok-hyun of the Taeyang Guild and Guild Leader Baek Eun-hee of the Royal Guild turned to look at them with surprised eyes.