I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 161

161.

It Became the Top Rankers’ One Pick

Saturday afternoon.

The R Tower housed residential apartments and a hotel on its upper levels, with a shopping center occupying the lower floors.

“Ugh, should I get this one? Or this one?”

As Geon-hu deliberated, holding up two hoodies, Seo-ah, standing beside him, casually suggested,

“Just buy both.”

“Huh, huh?”

“I said, buy both.”

Geon-hu stared at Seo-ah, a bewildered expression on his face.

“Really…?”

Seo-ah chuckled, understanding Geon-hu’s hesitation.

Not long ago, they had struggled financially, only able to afford clothes during sales.

“Believe it or not, I’m an S-Class Hunter now. I can afford to buy you this much.”

“Yay! No take-backs!”

Geon-hu quickly snatched them up, afraid Seo-ah might change her mind.

Seo-ah’s words to Geon-hu weren’t just for show. She genuinely could buy these things without a second thought now.

Of course, buying an 8 billion won [approximately $6 million USD] house was still a distant dream.

Seo-ah looked up and clenched her fist.

‘8 billion.’

Last night, Seo-ah had set a new goal for herself.

‘I’m definitely going to buy that house from Hunter Yu Ji-an.’

She vowed to buy it fair and square at full price.

‘So, I can’t just sit around and do nothing.’

Besides the money, Seo-ah wanted to fill her skill slots with better abilities. To achieve that, she needed to interact with other Hunters more frequently.

“Sis, check this out!”

Seeing Geon-hu waving his hand in front of the cashier, Seo-ah walked over and took her card from her wallet.

“That’ll be 128,000 won [approximately $95 USD]. Would you like to pay in full?”

“Yes.”

After absentmindedly answering the cashier, she reached for her card.

“Ah, shoot.”

Looking at the card, she realized it was Yu Ji-an’s black card.

Seo-ah quickly retrieved her own card and handed both back to the cashier.

“Please cancel that one and use this one.”

‘I can’t use the landlord’s card for something like this.’

“Yes, understood.”

After re-calculating the total, the cashier returned Seo-ah’s card. As she placed the black card back in her wallet, she naturally thought of him.

‘…I wonder what he’s doing right now.’

***

Thud! Bang!

The one who flew and crashed into the wall was none other than Yu Ji-an. Cha Tae-un, who had sent him flying, wore a blatantly displeased expression.

“Are you kidding me right now? Are you looking down on me and holding back?”

The attack just now was barely a warm-up.

Cha Tae-un knew that Yu Ji-an was definitely not someone who would be sent flying by such a weak attack.

Yu Ji-an slowly got up, sighed, and lightly shook his head.

“No, let’s do it again.”

Yu Ji-an took a fighting stance, and Cha Tae-un rushed in.

Hands and feet moved at an incredible speed.

They were currently sparring hand-to-hand, wearing martial arts uniforms.

Since other Hunters couldn’t keep up, S-Classes had no choice but to spar with each other, whether they liked it or not. Of course, they weren’t exactly on good terms, and they were all busy people, so they didn’t do it often.

‘A gap!’

Cha Tae-un lowered his stance and aimed a kick at Yu Ji-an’s ankle. He didn’t really expect it to land.

Thwack!

But unbelievably, Yu Ji-an stumbled from the kick and fell forward, his knee hitting the ground.

“…….”

Yu Ji-an himself seemed dumbfounded, frozen in that position.

Cha Tae-un clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“You’re not concentrating at all. What’s wrong?”

Even as he asked, Cha Tae-un’s tone implied disbelief. For Yu Ji-an to show such clumsiness, even if something was wrong?

When Cha Tae-un and Yu Ji-an sparred, Yu Ji-an won ten out of ten times. But Cha Tae-un gained valuable experience from sparring, so he didn’t obsess over winning and consistently participated as training.

It was practically his first victory against Yu Ji-an, but since Yu Ji-an wasn’t in his normal state, Cha Tae-un was more annoyed than pleased.

Of course, he had no doubt that even this distracted Yu Ji-an would turn ferocious in an actual battle.

Yu Ji-an ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated, and stood up.

“I should stop for today.”

“Alright. Well, are you sick or something?”

It wasn’t easy for an S-Class Hunter to get sick, but he asked just in case.

“No, I just… have something on my mind.”

Yu Ji-an turned away from Cha Tae-un and waved his hand.

Cha Tae-un gave up on getting an answer from him and headed to the locker room.

“Hoo….”

Alone, Yu Ji-an let out a long sigh and picked up his phone from the windowsill.

Looking at the screen, there were two consecutive text messages.

He chuckled at the first message saying his card had been approved, but his lips slowly turned down at the message that followed, saying it had been canceled.

Then, seeing his expression reflected in the window, he covered his face with his palm.

“Ha… I’m such an idiot.”

Yesterday, immediately after parting with Seo-ah, Yu Ji-an had been in this state.

“Things like this… This is the kind of feeling I want to experience.”

The touch, the breath, every scent still remained vividly, making it impossible to concentrate.

Is this the kind of feeling that others commonly experience?

Seo-ah was right to be dumbfounded when she asked if this was really the first time he was feeling such emotions after living four lives.

“I’ve lived my life in vain.”

Even as he said that, Yu Ji-an’s lips curled up slightly. Even though it was the first time he was so shaken, he didn’t dislike the feeling.

Just then, his phone rang.

“Han Seok-hyun.”

Yu Ji-an’s expression returned to its usual calm as he answered Han Seok-hyun.

“Alright, I’ll go.”

After that short message, Yu Ji-an also hurried into the locker room.

***

“Uh, um. Kids, you should say hello first, right?”

Seo-ah smiled awkwardly, standing between the two teenagers.

“I’m Kang Su-jeong.”

Su-jeong was the first to speak. She hugged Seo-ah’s left arm tightly and only poked her head out to speak.

Feeling a strange sense of displeasure at that sight, Geon-hu retorted.

“Uh, I’m Park Geon-hu. But aren’t you sticking to my sister a bit too much?”

“We’re always like this! What do you know?”

“Hey, I’m her real sibling, okay? Where did you come from, acting all familiar….”

At that, tears welled up in Su-jeong’s eyes, and she immediately whined to Seo-ah.

“S-Sister… he… sob.”

“Guys, what’s wrong? You should get along.”

Seo-ah panicked and tried to calm Geon-hu and Su-jeong.

“Did I get a new sibling while I was in the hospital?”

Geon-hu also blatantly showed his sulky side.

She had introduced them to each other, thinking they were the same age and would get along, but she hadn’t expected this situation to arise.

“Sigh….”

Seo-ah put one hand on her hip and ran the other hand through her hair.

“First, Geon-hu, you go inside. I have plans with Su-jeong today.”

“Whatever.”

His grumbling attitude hadn’t changed, but Geon-hu readily agreed, perhaps not disliking the prospect of being home alone.

Seo-ah patted Geon-hu’s shoulder and turned around. Su-jeong stuck to Seo-ah, trotting along as if afraid of being left behind.

They went straight to the subway to go to the Taeyang Guild.

“Thank you for making time for me today, Sister.”

“No problem, really. Congratulations. You’re officially a member of the Taeyang Guild now.”

“Hehe, it’s all thanks to you, Sister.”

Even though she said that, Seo-ah knew. She knew that Su-jeong had worked incredibly hard.

Seo-ah had occasionally increased Su-jeong’s stats with [Breakthrough], but even so, she was still far below the average stats of the Taeyang Guild members.

Yet, the fact that she had completed all the Taeyang Guild’s training meant that it was impossible without tremendous effort.

Arriving at the Taeyang Guild building, they went straight to the training grounds.

And without delay, they began training.

Seo-ah held a squeaky hammer in one hand and looked at Su-jeong in front of her.

“Su-jeong, you know I can’t go easy on you, right?”

“Yes, of course!”

[Breakthrough] is activated when you meet an opponent who seems impossible to defeat. And your own will.

“If you dodge my attacks more than three times, I’ll give you a present.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Seo-ah changed the [Squeaky Hammer]’s option to ‘Non-Lethal.’ ‘I can’t kill Su-jeong.’

“Then let’s start, eek!”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Seo-ah closed the distance to Su-jeong in an instant.

‘There was a time when I envied Su-jeong.’

When she was an E-Class, she was impressed by Su-jeong’s nimble movements.

But now, Su-jeong’s somersaults unfolded slowly, as if in slow motion.

Seo-ah firmly gripped the [Squeaky Hammer] and raised it high. And without hesitation, she jumped up and slammed the squeaky hammer into Su-jeong’s back.

“Eek!”

As soon as it hit, Su-jeong flopped to the floor like a frog.

Seo-ah deliberately attacked Su-jeong with a delayed beat. But perhaps because the difference in ability was so great, Su-jeong desperately rolled around to avoid her, but it was not enough.

Again, a squeak! sound came from her back.

Even though it was ‘Non-Lethal’ and she had minimized her strength, it couldn’t help but hurt.

Su-jeong frantically dodged, her face red with the effort of enduring the pain, and Seo-ah leisurely followed, driving Su-jeong into a corner.

And Su-jeong didn’t know it, but Seo-ah was trying to trigger [Breakthrough] on Su-jeong from time to time.

Their game of tag ended about two hours later.