I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 143

143.

My whole body felt heavy, like waterlogged cotton. Even my eyelids felt like lead weights, and Seo-ah just wanted to keep sleeping.

‘No, get a grip.’

Barely managing to pry her eyes open, Seo-ah knew immediately that she was still dreaming.

A familiar space, a familiar scent, even a familiar voice.

These were the things Seo-ah always longed for.

It was the house where she lived with her parents before Geon-woo was even born, a time from her very early childhood. A place that was hazy in Seo-ah’s memory was vividly clear in her dream.

Perhaps she had fallen asleep while reading, as colorful picture books were scattered on the floor around her, and a soft blanket covered her body.

It was her favorite blanket from when she was little. She felt a lump in her throat.

Seo-ah’s hands, wiggling inside the blanket, were very small, and so were her feet.

“Mom…”

Little Seo-ah called for her mom as soon as she opened her eyes. And she toddled over to the door where light was seeping out.

‘I think I’ve had a similar dream before.’

Through the slightly open door, she could hear her mom and dad’s voices.

Seeing that it was a familiar situation, it must have been something Seo-ah experienced in her childhood. A scene from so long ago that it was buried in her subconscious.

“It’s definitely…”

‘That’s Mom’s voice….’

Lee Jae-in continued firmly.

‘I want to see her face, not just hear her voice….’

Contrary to Seo-ah’s wish, little Seo-ah seemed to sense the serious atmosphere and couldn’t bring herself to go inside, just pacing back and forth in front of the door.

This was little Seo-ah’s will.

The current Seo-ah could share little Seo-ah’s senses, but she couldn’t control her body. It was a shame, but there was nothing she could do.

Seo-ah strained her ears to hear Lee Jae-in and Park Woo-chan’s voices as much as possible.

“The information we’ve gathered so far points to only one conclusion.”

“Jae-in.”

Her dad, Park Woo-chan’s voice, was also heard. He called Jae-in worriedly.

“This Earth… has already been destroyed several times in the past. Based on what’s been observed, this is the fourth Earth.”

Seo-ah wasn’t that shocked to hear that. Yoo Ji-an had already said that he had repeated regressions [time loops]. That meant that the Earth from her past life had also existed at some point.

Rather than the fact that Earth had been destroyed several times in the past, she was more surprised that her parents knew about it and were talking about it.

“Jae-in, I’m scared.”

Park Woo-chan said with a sigh.

“If people find out about this fact that we’ve learned….”

“It’s not a problem if people find out. There must be someone who has repeated this destruction and reconstruction. What do you think that person’s purpose is?”

Woo-chan was silent for a moment at Jae-in’s question. Then he slowly continued.

“It would be the one who created this system, opened the gates [portals to other dimensions], and created the existence of Hunters. In other words….”

“The administrator of this system.”

Woo-chan’s voice grew even lower at Jae-in’s decisive words.

“Could they be listening to us right now?”

“Even if they are listening, they won’t be able to interfere. It seems like they can only interfere through gates or the system.”

Hiccup.

Little Seo-ah, who had been standing outside the door for a long time, suddenly hiccuped, feeling a chill.

Lee Jae-in and Park Woo-chan’s conversation stopped at the sound.

“Seo-ah.”

Jae-in called Seo-ah affectionately, and little Seo-ah opened the door and toddled in. Thanks to that, Seo-ah was able to see Lee Jae-in and Park Woo-chan’s faces through little Seo-ah’s eyes for the first time in a long time.

She had seen them in her previous dreams, but it was only for a moment.

“When did you wake up? Did you sleep well?”

“Mom… is the Earth going to be destroyed?”

At little Seo-ah’s words, Jae-in hugged her daughter tightly. Seo-ah could feel the sensation of Lee Jae-in hugging her.

“No, it’ll be different this time.”

Jae-in said to her young daughter as if making a vow to herself. Seo-ah, in her arms, stroked Jae-in’s belly with her small hand.

“There’s a sibling here, you said.”

“That’s right, Seo-ah will have a sibling in a few months.”

This time, Park Woo-chan picked up Seo-ah and placed her on his lap.

“Sibling….”

Seo-ah blinked her big eyes and looked at Jae-in’s belly before raising her head. Jae-in, who met her eyes, smiled kindly.

“Yes, because it’s a world for you and your sibling to live in.”

At Park Woo-chan’s last words, Seo-ah tilted her head back, and he gently kissed Seo-ah’s forehead.

Her dad’s scent felt good.

She didn’t want to wake up from this dream forever.

‘But a dream is just a dream.’

There must be a reason why she’s having this dream in this situation.

She wanted to say goodbye to her mom and dad, but little Seo-ah just smiled brightly and didn’t say anything.

‘I have to wake up.’

Contrary to Seo-ah’s wish, little Seo-ah began to doze off in Park Woo-chan’s arms.

“If we succeed in entering the system… in the safest place….”

“That way, even if we get caught, everyone will protect this child.”

Listening to her parents’ voices fading away, Seo-ah fell back into the dark abyss.

And a little later,

“Haa, how much longer do we have to endure? It’s already been 10 hours.”

She felt her body swaying along with the tedious voice ringing in her ears.

When she opened her eyes, Choi Eun-gyeol was expressionlessly flicking his fingers, frying swarms of black flies with [Electric Shower].

“It seems like this method isn’t working. We need to change our approach. We need to find an exit….”

“We need to be able to move forward, but we can’t because of the flies!”

Cha Tae-woon was carrying Seo-ah on his back, with a shield erected behind him, freezing and killing all the flies that came at him.

In fact, even though it had been 10 hours straight, it wasn’t enough time to deplete an S-class Hunter’s mana.

But the vagueness of not knowing when it would end was gradually exhausting their minds.

‘Ten hours.’

Cha Tae-woon seemed to sense Seo-ah twitching and glanced back.

“Hunter Park Seo-ah, have you woken up?”

“Yes, I’ll get down!”

Cha Tae-woon removed the shield from his back, and Seo-ah jumped down. Just as she was about to sink because her feet couldn’t reach the ground, Choi Eun-gyeol floated her up with a gust of wind.

“Ah, thank you. But where is this? Has it really been ten hours?”

As she asked, Seo-ah quickly cast buff skills on Choi Eun-gyeol.

Then Choi Eun-gyeol stretched his body out as if yawning and twisted his neck from side to side.

He seemed tired, regardless of having plenty of mana left. His expression brightened after receiving the buff skills.

“Keueung… Ah, much better. To be exact, it’s been 10 hours and 37 minutes. This is the gap between dimensions. Those guys are cleaners, as you can see. In other words, they’re treating us like trash.”

Choi Eun-gyeol gritted his teeth.

Of course, even in the midst of this, [Electric Shower] continued to pour down on the flies without stopping. The pure white scattering of light made lightning almost unnecessary.

“Wow….”

Seo-ah watched the scene, unsure whether it was magnificent or tragic, and turned her gaze to Cha Tae-woon. She placed her hand on his arm and cast all the skills she could on him as well.

The air around Cha Tae-woon was much colder than elsewhere. Of course, the low temperature didn’t have much of an effect on his allies.

“I’m sorry, I was just sleeping soundly on your back.”

“It’s alright, I was constantly receiving buffs thanks to you.”

“Re…really?”

“Yes, it wasn’t like the skills were definitely cast, but I felt like something was being replenished the whole time. But it’s definitely different now that I’m receiving proper buffs. I see why everyone wants Hunter Park Seo-ah.”

It seemed that just being in contact with her was enough to produce some level of buff effect.

“But how much longer can we last?”

“Based on my total mana and calculations, I can last about ten more days. I don’t know about Hunter Choi Eun-gyeol.”

“I use a lot of mana. I can’t last that long.”

Choi Eun-gyeol, who was listening, stuck out his tongue, and Seo-ah’s expression darkened.

Seo-ah also took out her Bbyong Hammer and started catching the incoming flies one by one, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

‘This won’t work, I need to think… I need to think.’

Seo-ah carefully looked at the [Black Flies] spreading around.

[Skill ‘Brain (LV.2)’ is activated!]

Thanks to the skill being activated at the same time, Seo-ah’s judgment skyrocketed.

Observing the flies, they seemed to be flying without order, but they weren’t coming randomly as she thought. She felt like they were adjusting their direction and numbers so they wouldn’t collide with each other.

‘Do they have intelligence?’

Seo-ah put on her State Checker [a device to analyze stats] and examined the flies more closely. But among the tens of thousands of flies, she felt a strange sensation when she made eye contact with one of them.

‘Pity…?’

Was she mistaken? An insect feeling pity? No, does it even make sense to feel the emotions of a monster in the first place? Was she just imagining things?

Then Seo-ah suddenly opened her status window.

[Title: Best Counselor – Unique Ability: Emotional Transference (L)]

There wasn’t an exact explanation, but perhaps she had become able to read the emotions of monsters after leveling up to L-class.

She lost sight of that fly for a moment, but Seo-ah calmly looked at the flies in that direction again. Certainly, even as countless flies were flying in to attack, the flies in that area weren’t moving much.

Seo-ah made eye contact with the fly in the center again. The corners of Seo-ah’s lips slightly lifted.

‘I’m sure, that’s the boss.’