I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 139

139.

Seeing the situation, Seo-ah picked up her Bbyong Hammer and asked, “Even so… why did you kill them all? Aren’t we looking for the ingredients for the elixir?”

Yoo Ji-ahn pointed towards the entrance of Neverland where they had entered, explaining, “That’s probably because of things like that.”

Following his gesture, Seo-ah turned and blinked in surprise.

A large crowd of people with angry faces was advancing towards them.

“Let’s get up higher first.”

To get a better view, Seo-ah climbed onto a nearby ride with Yoo Ji-ahn.

“…Oh, my god.”

Seo-ah was speechless. The people visible at the entrance were only the beginning. Behind them, and stretching far into the distance, a massive crowd was packed tightly together.

Some carried tools, while others were empty-handed. There were women, the elderly, and even children.

And their target was clear: Yoo Ji-ahn and Park Seo-ah, the intruders in their world.

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, Seo-ah instinctively took a step back from their high vantage point. As she stumbled, Yoo Ji-ahn steadied her.

“Snap out of it.”

“Yes, yes. So… we have to fight all of them?”

“Why, can’t you? Then step back and let me handle it.”

Yoo Ji-ahn stared intently at Seo-ah. She swallowed hard, then raised her Bbyong Hammer.

“No, even for you, Yoo Ji-ahn, that’s too many.”

It was obvious that these were ordinary people with little to no combat ability, so their numbers shouldn’t have mattered. But Seo-ah couldn’t allow Yoo Ji-ahn to bear the mental burden of killing so many people alone.

Yoo Ji-ahn chuckled, watching Seo-ah steel her resolve.

“It’s okay, the place we’re going isn’t that way…”

As he spoke, Yoo Ji-ahn abruptly turned and jumped off the ride without another word.

“Yoo Ji-ahn?”

Flustered, Seo-ah called out and followed him. Although Yoo Ji-ahn was moving at full speed, making it impossible to keep up, she could at least tell which direction he was headed.

Seo-ah hesitantly read the sign at the entrance where Yoo Ji-ahn had gone.

“Horror… Town?”

Gripping the Bbyong Hammer more tightly, Seo-ah walked in, a little slower now.

*Was I ever afraid of ghosts? I don’t know.*

*What’s certain is that people are scarier than ghosts. Especially right now.*

Seo-ah could still see the crowd approaching from a distance. With a more determined stride, she stepped inside.

The horror theme seemed to revolve around an old mental hospital. Medical equipment was scattered around a building decorated to resemble an old hospital. The space was unpleasant and eerie.

“Quite realistic.”

*Anyway, where is Yoo Ji-ahn?*

Seo-ah was wandering through the dark hospital hallway when she sensed a familiar presence and turned around.

“Yoo Ji-ahn?”

But no one was there.

*He definitely just passed by? Did he not see me?*

Seo-ah carefully tried to sense magic power in her own way. But it wasn’t easy to detect the energy of a hunter stronger than herself.

*There’s no choice. I have to run.*

Seo-ah believed that the energy she had felt earlier was definitely Yoo Ji-ahn. She decided to follow that energy first.

She hurried up the stairs in the middle of the hallway.

Arriving on the second floor, she had to choose one of the long hallways on either side. Seo-ah instinctively recalled what Yoo Ji-ahn had said before: ‘The darkest place.’

The path on the left had dim lighting set up by the amusement park. It was probably the designated route for visitors.

The path on the right was blocked with tape bearing the word “Danger” in red. Seo-ah headed there.

She lightly jumped over the tape and crossed into the hallway.

The space was almost completely dark, but she had no problem moving around.

“Yoo Ji-ahn!”

When she shouted in the empty building, Seo-ah’s voice spread out and then faded away. In a normal space, it should have echoed back.

*What kind of place is this?*

She didn’t think Yoo Ji-ahn had abandoned her. Something incredibly urgent must have happened, something that prevented him from looking after her.

And that must be related to the anxiety and fear he had been feeling all along.

“I have to stay sharp.”

Seo-ah widened her eyes and moved more carefully. The building was like a complex and huge maze. It was easy to get lost if she wasn’t careful.

Seo-ah had bought glow-in-the-dark spray at the Hunter Shop. She left marks by spraying a little on every path she took.

Then,

Tadatdak-

This time, she clearly heard it.

“Yoo Ji-ahn!”

As Seo-ah hurriedly jumped into the hospital room, a figure that looked like Yoo Ji-ahn jumped out the window.

As Seo-ah tried to follow, someone grabbed her shoulder from behind.

“Ah…!”

Surprised, Seo-ah turned around and was about to faint from even greater surprise. The person who grabbed her shoulder was Yoo Ji-ahn.

“Yoo…”

Before Seo-ah could even speak, Yoo Ji-ahn asked urgently, “Did he go this way?”

Seo-ah nodded. She grabbed the hem of Yoo Ji-ahn’s clothes as he was about to chase after the other figure.

“What about me?”

A moment of hesitation flickered in Yoo Ji-ahn’s eyes.

“Here… no, follow slowly.”

Then, he pulled his clothes out of Seo-ah’s hand and ran at an almost invisible speed.

“What is it? The person who left earlier was definitely Yoo Ji-ahn…”

Although she had only seen his back, there was no way she could be mistaken. Even his presence and clothes were the same.

*Could Yoo Ji-ahn’s doppelganger really have appeared? What is Yoo Ji-ahn going to do chasing after him?*

But there was no time to keep thinking about it here. The Yoo Ji-ahn look-alike and Yoo Ji-ahn were incredibly fast.

Seo-ah stopped thinking and jumped out the window. She tried her best to find and chase after Yoo Ji-ahn’s traces, but the energy was gradually moving away.

Seo-ah went up to the top of the building and was shocked by what she saw.

Yoo Ji-ahn was chasing Yoo Ji-ahn. And behind them, a crowd of people was chasing both of them.

“What on earth should I do…”

The distance had already widened. Seo-ah slowed down and chased after them, calmly organizing her thoughts.

*Why is Yoo Ji-ahn chasing his doppelganger like that?*

*What Yoo Ji-ahn had said vaguely when he came here… That there would be another person aiming for the elixir ingredients. Is that the ‘other Yoo Ji-ahn’?*

*But how did Yoo Ji-ahn know all this?*

As Seo-ah continued to run, she stopped at a thought that suddenly came to mind.

Then she shook her head violently.

“No, no. What am I thinking.”

Seo-ah ran quickly and blocked the crowd chasing Yoo Ji-ahn. It seemed like things would be resolved if she dealt with them first. Even if not all of them, she needed to reduce their numbers.

As Seo-ah blocked their path, their empty pupils turned to her all at once.

She flinched for a moment at the eerie gazes of so many people, but it wasn’t enough to scare her.

The people reached out their hands and began to rush at Seo-ah like zombies.

“Ughhhhh!”

“Catch…!”

“Must protect…!”

Seo-ah pulled her body back slightly and quickly turned her head. She could have dealt with them as they were, but Seo-ah used her skills to conserve her strength, because she didn’t know what would unfold in the future.

‘Reverse.’

Seo-ah first used [Reverse], which she had obtained from Yang Tae-woo as [Genie of the Lamp], on herself. At the same time, she cast the skills [Ironclad Pine], [Fighting], and [Love Yourself] on the approaching crowd.

Because Seo-ah activated the skills while [Reverse] was in effect, Seo-ah’s buffs would act as debuffs.

In that state, Seo-ah picked up her Bbyong Hammer.

Grabbing the handle of the Bbyong Hammer, Seo-ah hesitated for a moment and changed the option to ‘Lethal’. Calming her trembling hands, she went around tapping the heads of the approaching people.

These were civilians, not hunters. But there were very many of them, and they were aggressive. They were aiming for Seo-ah and Yoo Ji-ahn.

*If the operation fails, Gun-hoo could die like this.*

Thus, Seo-ah justified her killings and knocked down several people per second.

The first time was difficult, but after that, it was smooth sailing. At the attack of an S-class hunter, the people who rushed towards Seo-ah fell like autumn leaves.

At some point, Seo-ah regarded them not as people but as monsters, as targets that needed to be eliminated.

After swinging the Bbyong Hammer mindlessly, she stopped and turned around, seeing hundreds of people lying behind her. Now, Seo-ah was the only one standing.

“…Ah.”

She was slightly out of breath. That was all.

Even after killing hundreds, she was only breathing a little faster. Seo-ah tried to avoid giving meaning to the dead and turned her gaze away.

*I have to chase after them again.*

As Seo-ah tried to regain her composure and find her direction, she saw someone approaching at a terrifying speed.

“Park Seo-ah!”

Yoo Ji-ahn? Yoo Ji-ahn was coming. But the sound was heard later than that. The one calling Seo-ah was not the Yoo Ji-ahn she was seeing now. It was the Yoo Ji-ahn chasing him.

And then the [Treasure Hunt] skill in Seo-ah’s slot 2 shone.

A strong red light was pouring from the hand of the Yoo Ji-ahn doppelganger in front of her.