I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 192

192.

Seo-ah was about to retort when suddenly, with a crackling sound, a bright yellow spark shot out from Ruben’s hand.

“Ugh!”

Ruben, startled, yanked his arm away from Seo-ah and stepped back.

“What, what is this!”

Ruben glared at Seo-ah, but she just shook her head, feigning ignorance. Milla scoffed at Ruben and pointed towards Yoo Ji-ahn.

“The culprit is over there.”

“What! You, you oriental…!”

“Seriously, you’re making this ‘oriental’ feel awful,” Choi Eun-gyeol muttered beside Yoo Ji-ahn, and the other Japanese hunters also looked at Ruben with displeasure.

Ruben, ignoring their glares, stomped toward Yoo Ji-ahn and grabbed him by the collar.

“That’s right, you used electric magic too! How dare you play tricks on me?”

Yoo Ji-ahn, looking annoyed, didn’t even bother to reply. He simply grabbed Ruben’s hand and easily brushed it away.

“You, you bastard…!”

Ruben, an S-class hunter himself, was by no means weak. But even though Ruben had grabbed him lightly by the collar, he was brushed off with ease. Still, he couldn’t pull his wrist free from Yoo Ji-ahn’s grip.

His face flushed red with embarrassment and shame. Yoo Ji-ahn didn’t even blink as he looked at the struggling Ruben.

“You son of a bitch, won’t you let go? Let go, I said!”

The moment an enraged Ruben clenched his other hand into a fist and swung it,

Clang!

Something metallic sharply blocked his fist.

A red blade stopped Ruben’s fist right in front of Yoo Ji-ahn’s face.

Yoo Ji-ahn glanced to the side.

“What….”

The Japanese S-class hunter Hitoshi had drawn his weapon. Hitoshi warned Ruben in a monotonous voice.

“If you cause any more trouble, you’ll have to face me.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of facing the likes of you?”

Ruben snarled at Hitoshi. The air was thick with tension, as if a battle was about to break out, and the Japanese hunters watched them closely.

At that moment, Milla grabbed Ruben by the scruff of his neck.

“Just stop it, you idiot.”

“Let go, these savages are treating me like a joke!”

“Stop it, Ruben.”

“Stop what! That guy started it first.”

Even Jackson joined in, but Ruben didn’t seem to hear. At the same time, ice water was poured over Ruben’s head.

Splash-

“Cool your head and sit down. If you still want more, I’ll take you on.”

As he said that, Jackson smiled at Ruben. But everyone there could tell that Jackson was in a very bad mood.

Ruben eventually grumbled and stormed out. Since he wasn’t of much help in the meeting anyway, no one stopped him.

In the ensuing silence, Jackson coldly muttered towards Yoo Ji-ahn.

“It’s a shame you touched my teammate first. We’ll let it go for now since the gate is urgent, but when we get back, you’ll pay the price, Hunter Yoo Ji-ahn.”

“Anytime.”

Yoo Ji-ahn tilted his head slightly and looked forward again. Fortunately, that was the end of it.

Hitoshi gave Yoo Ji-ahn a slight bow and returned to his seat. For some reason, Hitoshi’s eyes seemed to show respect for Yoo Ji-ahn.

‘Is it because we’re both swordmasters?’

Seo-ah watched the back of Yoo Ji-ahn’s head and quietly sighed in relief.

Shizuka, who had been watching the situation, quickly wrapped up the meeting. Gathering these volatile high-level hunters in one place was, in fact, a dangerous thing.

If there wasn’t an S-class gate about to erupt, an accident would have already happened.

The distance to the S-class gate was about 5 minutes.

They quickly ran and arrived in front of the gate.

Looking at the huge purple vortex, Seo-ah clenched her fist and swallowed hard.

[Skill ‘Silent Night’ is activated.]

Even before entering the gate, its power felt like facing a ferocious and strong magical beast. If it weren’t for [Silent Night], she would have already collapsed to the ground in fear.

Come to think of it, the other hunters looked tense, but no one seemed to be gripped by fear. As high-level hunters, they all trusted in their own strength and experience.

‘I need to cheer up too.’

Seo-ah also looked through her inventory and checked the necessary items.

Just before entering the raid, Japanese team leader Shizuka gathered the hunters one last time.

“Do not turn off your radios under any circumstances. And the authority over the final boss rests with each team. So please cooperate in the final moments.”

“Before that, we each get to keep the items we obtain, right?”

Shizuka answered Seo-ah’s question.

“That’s right. Individual ownership is recognized.”

Seo-ah needed to take an S-class magic stone this time. It wouldn’t be easy to obtain a magic stone while moving with Jackson’s team, but she planned to look for opportunities in between.

Yoo Ji-ahn, who had been standing with his arms crossed, opened his mouth.

“I hope no one here interprets the S-class gate’s mission literally. Everyone should think and move at least once, rather than just rushing into battle.”

“Well, even A-class and B-class gates have tricks.”

Shizuka agreed, but Jackson scoffed and refuted him.

“In the end, the gate is cleared by sweeping everything away. Well, I think I heard somewhere that Hunter Yoo Ji-ahn needs to be careful. If that’s the case, it’s better to be cautious.”

Most of the people here didn’t seem to know what that meant. Why would Yoo Ji-ahn be careful?

But those who knew, knew. It was a reference to Yoo Ji-ahn’s [Rage] skill. It was confidential, but it seemed to have reached Jackson’s ears somehow. He had only heard about it and didn’t know how dangerous it was.

‘He probably doesn’t know about the past where he tried to annihilate the Korean hunters out of fear after seeing it…’

But Jackson didn’t seem to know that Seo-ah had permanently eliminated Yoo Ji-ahn’s [Rage] yet.

“Thanks for the concern, you should be careful too.”

Yoo Ji-ahn didn’t bother to correct him.

Jackson didn’t like that Yoo Ji-ahn remained calm even after he mentioned his weakness, so he twisted one side of his mouth.

Shizuka stepped between them, blocking their view, and waved her hand largely.

“Then we’ll depart in 10 minutes. Please check everything one last time.”

Jackson whispered from behind Seo-ah.

“You should say your goodbyes. You never know what might happen. Who knows, this might be the last time.”

At the ominous words, Seo-ah turned her head sharply and stared at Jackson with narrowed eyes. Then, she suddenly said with a pitiful look.

“How did you become so twisted?”

“What….”

Then, before Jackson could even reply, she walked towards the Korean team. ‘How am I supposed to work with those guys? I’m worried about the future.’

Anyway, he’s deliberately giving me time to say goodbye, so I have no intention of refusing.

Looking at Seo-ah approaching, Baek Eun-hee and the others tried their best to put on bright expressions. It seemed they were not comfortable with sending Seo-ah over there.

“I’ll see you inside. Everyone be careful.”

She wanted to give them buffs, but she couldn’t because of the contract. Choi Eun-gyeol smiled slightly, clenched his fist, and winked.

“You be careful, noona [term of endearment for an older sister or female friend]. If things don’t work out, just slip over here.”

“Pfft, okay.”

Seo-ah smiled and replied to Choi Eun-gyeol, then approached Yoo Ji-ahn.

She met his gaze as he looked at her with a firm face and held his hand.

She could feel his warm concern and trust in her hand. Seo-ah deliberately smiled brightly and spoke to him.

“Hunter Yoo Ji-ahn, if you have time, please get me an S-class magic stone.”

“S-class magic stone, I’ll keep it in mind.”

Only then did Yoo Ji-ahn’s expression soften a little. Even so, he regretfully grabbed and released the tips of Seo-ah’s fingers as she pulled away.

A low voice echoed in Seo-ah’s head as she turned away.

– I’ll find you as soon as possible.

Seo-ah smiled silently.

Well, him protecting Seo-ah was unrelated to the contract anyway.

As Seo-ah returned looking pleased, Jackson frowned as he looked at her. Seo-ah calmly looked at his expression and then raised her head as if she had realized something.

“…Ah, right.”

As if she had just remembered, Seo-ah cast buff skills on the entire American team, including Jackson.

If it were the Korean team, she would have given them the full 3-set, but for this side, she only gave them [Ironclad Pine], which focused on defense.

“Wow, this is the famous buff skill!”

Milla openly cheered and gave a thumbs up, while Ruben frowned even more. His train of thought was visible, which was a bit funny. He was annoyed that Seo-ah, who wasn’t even white, had such a coveted skill.

Jackson was carefully checking his condition, erasing his previous emotions.

‘He’s excellent in terms of hunter qualities.’

Meanwhile, the blue-purple gate was gradually turning purple.

Shizuka stood at the front of the team.

“Then, let’s go in.”

The Japanese team’s figures disappeared into the gate as if they were being sucked in.