I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 124

124.

‘That woman was Park Seo-ah.’

Yu Ji-an slowly opened his eyes. Seo-ah, still in his arms, had quieted down, perhaps having stopped crying.

He tried to gently pull away, but she buried her face deeper into his shoulder.

“Park Seo-ah.”

“Um… just a moment, please don’t look at my face for a second.”

“What?”

Seo-ah sniffled loudly once and then quickly backed away, suddenly running down the hallway. She was moving at the fastest speed Yu Ji-an had ever seen her move, but unfortunately, Yu Ji-an was faster.

“Park Seo-ah, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Yu Ji-an thought something truly terrible had happened to Seo-ah. He grabbed Seo-ah’s shoulder and turned her around, but Seo-ah covered her face with both hands.

“I, I’m just going to wash up!”

“Wash up…? Ah.”

Yu Ji-an glanced at his shoulder where Seo-ah had buried her face. The imprint of Seo-ah’s eyes and nose was clearly visible.

Seo-ah’s face turned bright red. She shook off Yu Ji-an’s hand and disappeared into the women’s restroom, immediately looking in the mirror.

“How can I show him this face….”

Even with her eyes swollen, it was still embarrassing to be covered in snot.

She wondered if it made sense to be thinking this way while her brother was sick, but it seemed that Yu Ji-an’s offer to get the elixir had relieved some of her tension.

Seo-ah splashed her face with cold water from the sink several times and looked in the mirror again. Washing her face helped her regain some composure.

“Why did I hug him first… I’m such a mess.”

But at that moment, his words were so comforting, and when she met his eyes, she could feel his genuine concern through his emotional transference, making it impossible to hold back the surge of emotion.

‘But is he okay? He must be pushing himself because of me….’

He had clearly said it was very difficult.

Seo-ah bit her lower lip, feeling a mix of guilt, gratitude, and a touch of embarrassment.

But this was something she couldn’t avoid.

Even if Yu Ji-an told her to join the Sun Guild right away because of this, she would accept.

No, even if he demanded something more than that as compensation, Seo-ah would obediently comply.

That’s how desperate Seo-ah was for the elixir and Gun-hoo’s survival.

Seo-ah wiped the water from her face with a tissue, cleared her throat, and came out.

Yu Ji-an was waiting for Seo-ah, leaning against the wall next to the restroom.

“Are you okay?”

Seo-ah nodded slightly, trying to avoid looking at Yu Ji-an’s still-damp shoulder.

“Song Jin-ah seems to have come and gone.”

“Yes, thanks to her, we got through the crisis. I need to thank Hunter Song Jin-ah again….”

“We’ll be meeting soon anyway, so tell her then.”

Seo-ah stared at him. Then Yu Ji-an said, as if it were obvious,

“Song Jin-ah will be going on this raid too. Cha Tae-woon and Baek Eun-hee as well. As for the last one… I can’t guarantee it.”

“All… all S-Class?”

Seo-ah’s eyes widened.

“That’s the level we need to avoid casualties.”

“But, because of me….”

“Park Seo-ah, weren’t you that desperate? Then let’s make it happen. Of course, we’ll have to give them something in return, but let’s aim to bring them along for now.”

Seo-ah nodded repeatedly at his perfectly reasonable words. And Seo-ah wasn’t without her own thoughts.

She had [Genie of the Lamp].

If necessary, she could offer to grant their wishes as a condition for using this skill. If it’s a wish that [Genie of the Lamp] can grant, it means they need it that much, so it wouldn’t be a loss for her either.

Yu Ji-an made a phone call to someone, and Seo-ah went into the hospital room where Gun-hoo was lying.

Seo-ah sat beside him, gently touching Gun-hoo’s hand, and quietly steeled her resolve.

‘I’ll definitely save you, just hold on a little longer, Gun-hoo.’

***

During the few days that Yu Ji-an was preparing for the raid and contacting the S-Class Hunters, Seo-ah also decided to do her own preparations.

‘I’m going to make the most of [Genie of the Lamp].’

It was the fastest way for Seo-ah to grow right now.

After becoming an S-Class, Seo-ah’s growth rate had almost stopped. Even after catching thousands of grotesque sunflowers, her stats didn’t budge, and neither did her skill levels.

Considering that her stats, except for mental strength, were only around 1000, barely scraping into S-Class, it was a disappointing situation.

But there was no way to change that in just a few days. It was no longer possible to raise them through training as before.

So, all that was left was to use the skill [Genie of the Lamp] to grant other people’s wishes and store the abilities created by those wishes in her slots.

Seo-ah first got help from Oh Hyun-soo to promote the fact that there was a on the hunter community bulletin board.

Because there were many hunters who didn’t even know the existence of the itself.

And the day after posting the notice, her first customer finally visited.

It was a male hunter who looked to be in his 30s.

As soon as he opened the door to the counseling room, he said this.

“Is this free?”

“Yes, it’s free. Come in.”

As if relieved by the word ‘free,’ the man strode in. He looked around the counseling room and then plopped down in the chair opposite Seo-ah.

He had a slightly swaggering demeanor and a somewhat embarrassed expression. Seo-ah smiled slightly to ease the atmosphere and greeted him.

“Hello, I see you saw the promotional post?”

“Yeah, well… I had some business at the Association, so I stopped by. I didn’t know a place like this really existed.”

“First, could you fill out this consultation form?”

The man made a slightly annoyed expression at the paper Seo-ah suddenly handed him, but he eventually picked up the pen.

And he filled in the blanks roughly and returned it.

“Ah, Hunter Hong Jin-soo… D-Class….”

Seo-ah briefly scanned the personal information and saw one word written largely in the section asking about the content of the consultation.

‘Money.’

His concern is money? This isn’t a bank…? If he’s asking to borrow money, I’ll have to kick him out right away.

Seo-ah tried her best to manage her expression and looked at Hong Jin-soo.

“It seems you’re having some financial difficulties.”

“Yes, I’m a support-type hunter. Those damn guys are so fawning when they bring you along, but when it comes to distributing after the raid, they only give you a pittance…!”

“…Ah.”

“Ah, have you ever been on a raid?”

Hong Jin-soo looked at Seo-ah with suspicious eyes. Seo-ah answered nonchalantly.

“Of course, I’ve been on raids before.”

“That’s a relief, then you’ll understand what I’m saying. Just because we’re support-type doesn’t mean we’re just playing around. The danger is the same. Honestly, do monsters distinguish who they’re attacking?”

“That’s right. Raids are dangerous for everyone.”

Hong Jin-soo’s attitude wasn’t exactly great, but Seo-ah was also a support-type hunter, so she could easily empathize.

He poured out his complaints disguised as a consultation, and Seo-ah chimed in appropriately.

“But it seems like there are people you often go on raids with.”

As they talked, the skill [Gentle Sunlight] sparkled. Thanks to that, Hong Jin-soo’s attitude gradually softened and became more honest.

“Yeah, it’s easier to work with the people you’re used to.”

“How about setting the conditions for distribution carefully before going?”

“We’re already close, so it’s a bit awkward to bring up those kinds of things now….”

“Hmm, I see. I guess that could happen.”

It was a conversation that was hard to tell whether it was a consultation or a chat, but the conversation continued.

Judging that Hong Jin-soo had become quite comfortable, Seo-ah checked Hong Jin-soo’s affinity. Thanks to [Gentle Sunlight], [Affinity 1] appeared above Hong Jin-ho’s head in just a few minutes.

“Actually, there are items that aren’t included in the final distribution.”

It wasn’t a big deal, but Hong Jin-soo lowered his voice as if for some reason. Seo-ah nodded slightly.

“You mean the junk items and items you happen to acquire.”

“The reward money and the items from the boss are divided, but you don’t have to share what you get on your own during the process. Ha, but everyone is so quick about it.”

“It seems like other people find them faster.”

“It’s unbelievable, and only the expensive ones… The ones I happen to pick up are all cheap junk items.”

While Hong Jin-soo was still grumbling, Seo-ah looked at the system window that had appeared in front of her with a satisfied smile.

[Received the wish of Hunter ‘Hong Jin-soo.’ Skill ‘Genie of the Lamp’ is activated!]

It seemed that ‘Genie of the Lamp’ was activated when Seo-ah understood to some extent what the other person really wanted, whether she heard it from the other person or figured it out somehow.

Come to think of it, both [Gentle Sunlight] and [Emotional Transference] were skills for the preliminary work to activate [Genie of the Lamp].

‘It’s amazing.’

Seo-ah hid the hand with the sphere of light forming under the desk and smiled brightly at Hong Jin-soo.