I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 241

241.

Even after the system administrator disappeared, the mechanical sounds in the control room persisted. Each monitor continued to display scenes from various worlds.

Alien races were still battling monsters to protect their planets.

Jackson approached one of the monitors, examining it closely. “It seems the system is running regardless of the administrator’s absence.”

“It must have been set up to run automatically from the start,” he concluded.

Yoo Ji-an, supporting Seo-ah, guided her to a monitor. Seo-ah looked dazed, but her eyes were fixed on one particular screen.

“…Ah.”

Seo-ah’s soft exclamation drew the attention of the other hunters. The monitor she was watching showed a planet being destroyed.

The planet, inhabited by beings with bluish skin, possessed scientific technology that seemed far more advanced than Earth’s.

However, their advanced technology was useless against the overwhelming number of powerful monsters. The planet’s hunters desperately fought back, but the situation was hopeless. They were losing.

The last hunter was devoured by a monster, and the entire planet became a playground for the monstrous horde. Every animal and plant was destroyed. The monitor displayed everything without missing a detail, but the usual numerical data didn’t appear.

They waited, but nothing changed.

Even as the monsters on the devastated planet gradually disappeared, the monitor continued to show the desolate scene.

“This is just a thought,” Baek Eun-hee said, breaking the silence.

“Even if the existing gates continue to function, new ones might not be created anymore, even if that world is destroyed.”

Baek Eun-hee’s words cast a pall of contemplation over the hunters.

If no more gates were created, it would be a relief. But even then, according to the earlier data, over 50 billion gates remained.

50 billion… an impossible number to exhaust in their lifetimes.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just destroy everything here?”

Wang Chun-yu’s chain end, which he was holding, writhed as if eager to obliterate the space.

“Ah, no!”

“Hey, hey. Stop it,” Seo-ah cried out, and the others restrained him.

“Once it’s destroyed, no one can restore it. The administrator is dead. We don’t know what will happen, so it’s better to leave it alone.”

“Tch.”

Wang Chun-yu reluctantly retracted his chain.

Seo-ah sighed and sank into her seat.

Yoo Ji-an knelt to look at Seo-ah. “Let’s go back now, to Earth.”

Seo-ah nodded and tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate. She couldn’t muster any strength.

Even though she was in a spiritual body, she felt incredibly heavy. The tension of facing Chronos [Greek god of time, often personified as ‘Father Time’] and the fatigue from using so much magical power were finally catching up to her.

As Seo-ah hesitated, Yoo Ji-an picked her up without a word. Seo-ah flinched slightly but then relaxed, leaning against him comfortably.

After all, she didn’t have much to do now.

Yoo Ji-an, carrying Seo-ah, and Jackson, Baek Eun-hee, and Wang Chun-yu gathered in front of the red button the administrator had mentioned.

The others also looked weary from battling the fly swarms without their magic.

“Then, I’ll press it,” Baek Eun-hee said, placing her hand on the button and looking at everyone. Seeing their nods, she pressed the red button firmly.

At that moment, they felt an immense pressure and the sensation of being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

“Ugh.”

Seo-ah squeezed her eyes shut and clutched Yoo Ji-an’s collar. Feeling his arms tighten around her, Seo-ah lost consciousness.

***

When she opened her eyes, she saw white walls and a ceiling.

‘Where is this…?’

Seo-ah blinked slowly and turned her head.

A needle was inserted into her arm.

This was a hospital.

‘Why am I lying in a hospital?’

She reached for her phone on the table, but the door opened.

A familiar face beamed at Seo-ah. “Seo-ah, you’re awake?”

“Eun-hee unnie [Korean term for ‘older sister’ used by females]. Why am I here? Where is this?”

“This is a hospital in Hawaii. Everyone is staying here before going back to Korea. Many people were injured, and there are many things to take care of.”

“…Ah, I think I fainted back then.”

“It’s understandable. We also had to lie down for two full days after coming back. I didn’t realize it when I was a spiritual body, but it seems like a lot of magic power was consumed. So how would you be, who used it directly?”

“Umm.”

Enduring against Chronos, the ghost of time, with [Time Stop] had been a significant drain.

But Seo-ah suddenly realized something from Baek Eun-hee’s words.

“Two days? So how long has it been now?”

“About a week since we returned to Earth. Now, tomorrow and the day after, the hunters will gradually return to their countries.”

At that moment, Baek Eun-hee’s phone rang, and she excused herself with a nod to Seo-ah.

Seo-ah looked around the empty hospital room. The white curtains fluttered gently in the breeze that drifted in with the sunlight through the open window.

In the peaceful and quiet atmosphere, Seo-ah felt as if what she had experienced was a dream.

‘No, the gates haven’t completely disappeared anyway.’

Seo-ah summoned her status window.

[Life: 9800/9800 Mana 200/7500 Fatigue 990/1100]

It had been a week, but her mana was only 200 out of a maximum of 7500. Her fatigue was still at 990.

‘I won’t be able to use any skills for a while.’

Looking at her phone, she saw it was out of battery.

While waiting for it to turn on after plugging in the charger, Seo-ah leaned back against the head of the bed. Feeling strangely disconnected from the quiet hospital room, she turned on the television. The audio was in English, but the translator made it easy to understand.

The screen showed videos of monsters pouring out of the L-class gate and hunters fighting them.

Seeing things she hadn’t witnessed firsthand, she felt a mix of novelty and fear. She couldn’t believe she had been running around on that chaotic battlefield.

Just a year ago, she was working multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Overwhelmed by a wave of emotions, Seo-ah lay back down on the bed with the television on.

***

“That’s… the Taeyang Guild.”

Geon-hoo got off at Gangnam Station intersection and gazed up at the towering building.

He had been agonizing over it, but he finally came. He had heard the news from Han Seok-hyun.

Seo-ah had returned safely and was resting in Hawaii. But there was still no contact from her. Moreover, Han Seok-hyun had also been out of touch for the past few days.

There was another reason for his anxiety.

Park Geon-hoo stood in front of an electronics store across from the Taeyang Guild.

The large TV screen visible through the store window showed interviews with hunters who participated in the L-class raid. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find Seo-ah.

So he came to find her in person, even without a specific plan.

As Geon-hoo worried across the street, two middle school students passed by the store. They, too, were watching the TV screen.

“Hey, but why isn’t Park Seo-ah showing up? She even said in an interview that she created some kind of alliance.”

At the name Park Seo-ah, Geon-hoo perked up his ears.

“It’s all just hype. Honestly, even if she’s an S-class, what would a supporter do there? She’s probably too embarrassed to show up.”

“No, there were even rumors that she died? Considering that Royal Guild’s Go Geon-hoo’s death announcement was delayed….”

“Hey! Who died!” He couldn’t stand to hear that Seo-ah had died. Geon-hoo shouted and grabbed the collar of the student who said that.

“What, who is this bastard?”

But the student easily threw Geon-hoo down. It was a simple movement, but he was surprisingly strong.

“If you grab someone’s collar on the street, does that mean you want to fight? What guild are you from?”

At the word ‘guild,’ Geon-hoo flinched.

Because the Taeyang Guild was located here, there were many small and medium-sized guilds in the surrounding offices. Hunters were common, and quarrels between them were frequent.

When Geon-hoo didn’t answer, the student grabbed Geon-hoo’s collar and lifted him up this time.

“What guild are you from? Hey, aren’t you going to answer?”

“I’m….”

Geon-hoo hesitated. Would revealing that he was Park Seo-ah’s younger brother help in this situation?

“I’m an unawakened.”

When Geon-hoo clearly stated that he was ‘unawakened,’ the student frowned. The hand holding his collar loosened slightly.

“What, unawakened?”

If a hunter touched an unawakened person, they would be disciplined by the association. There were no exceptions, even for minors.

“Really?”

As the students debated whether to let Geon-hoo go, a thud! sound rang out from both of their heads at the same time.