I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 238

238.

Jackson, about to use ice magic, realized his mistake and canceled the skill.

“It’s better to conserve mana. I’m sharing it with Hunter Seo-A Park using [Focus].”

[Focus] is a lending concept, so the mana owner could use the mana if they wanted. But since he didn’t know what situation Seo-A was in, it was better to save as much as possible.

Wang Cheon-yu frowned slightly, then put away the chain and drew his sword.

“Then this is better.”

Of course, an S-class Hunter wasn’t helpless without mana. They had superior stats, after all. It was just a bit cumbersome to have to take care of things physically, one by one.

Whir, whirring-

[Black Flies] swarmed in.

Baek Eun-hee grabbed Splinter directly and swung it wildly to destroy them.

“What is the system administrator doing?”

“Just standing there. To think that such a being is really the administrator….”

Not particularly wanting to help or restore this space, the administrator was just stuck to the floor, taking no action.

Baek Eun-hee clicked her tongue and swung Splinter even more fiercely, and Yoo Ji-an also slashed Ruin Blade horizontally, destroying dozens at once.

Thanks to them, Seo-A, who was lying down, suffered no damage. Seo-A was lying still on the floor, breathing evenly.

On the surface, it looked peaceful, but there was no knowing what she was experiencing in her consciousness right now.

***

She blinked, but her vision was still not clear.

Seo-A, very tense, focused her hearing and touch to keenly sense changes in the surrounding environment.

She was ready to use [Time Stop] immediately if she sensed anything.

Yoo Ji-an’s story of being instantly attacked by something unknown in the 3rd round made her skin crawl the more she thought about it.

[Skill ‘Silent Night’ is activated.]

‘I won’t die, never.’

She held on tightly to her fading mind. Then, the surroundings gradually brightened, and the scenery came into view.

“…Ah.”

A small exclamation escaped her lips.

It was a frighteningly beautiful sight. Darkness poured down over the endless sandy desert, and countless stars twinkled in between.

Then Seo-A saw her shadow stretching out long in front of her. Turning around, she saw a red sun rising behind her.

However, the sunlight was no longer spreading from the point where Seo-A stood. So, the sky was split in half, with night on one side and dawn on the other.

Seo-A decided not to be fooled by this bizarre sight. [The Last Being] might appear at any moment. Seo-A took a step forward, focusing her senses.

The moment Seo-A stepped forward, a wind suddenly blew in the silent world. It was a very faint wind.

But Seo-A realized at that moment.

‘Time is flowing.’

She immediately used the [Time Stop] skill.

[From now on, time in this world will be stopped. However, beings superior to you can faintly sense the flow of time. Duration: 5 minutes]

Seo-A felt the enormous amount of mana overflowing within her. Thanks to that, she gained 5 minutes. It seemed short, but it was quite a long time.

And seeing the counting seconds ticking by very slowly, she could tell that 5 minutes here was much longer than 5 minutes in the original world.

‘Where should I go?’

Seo-A walked a little further and climbed onto a sand dune. From the top, she saw a small dot standing on the distant horizon.

She took out binoculars from her inventory and looked closely.

‘A house?’

A house in a place like this. But that would be the signpost. Seo-A strode forward.

Then the house gradually came closer. At first, she wondered if it was a mistake, but it wasn’t. The house was getting closer much faster than the distance Seo-A traveled.

So she arrived in an instant.

The old wooden house built on the desert sand felt both serene and eerie.

‘It’s here.’

If the opponent was who Seo-A thought they were, she wouldn’t be able to end it with a normal battle.

Before grabbing the doorknob, Seo-A checked her skills. And she knocked on the door.

“Excuse me, may I come in?”

After all, she was visiting someone else’s house, so she asked politely.

Creak-

As if the wind had opened it, the door opened inward on its own. Seo-A carefully stepped inside.

A small, wrinkled old man was sitting in front of an old wooden table.

He smiled at Seo-A.

‘Is this person… really the Last Being?’

All sorts of questions arose in Seo-A’s mind, and she became tense, but thanks to [Silent Night], she was able to maintain her composure.

Looking at the remaining time, only 10 seconds had passed. The perceived time felt like 10 minutes had already passed, which was fortunate.

“Hello, my name is Park Seo-A.”

As Seo-A greeted and introduced herself, deep wrinkles formed on the old man’s face.

“Nice to meet you, someone gave me the name ‘Chronos,’ and I’ve been living with that name ever since.”

Seo-A’s eyes trembled slightly at the introduction.

Chronos.

The name was the name of a god in Greek and Roman mythology. That god, who devoured his own children, was known as the ‘God of Time.’

‘Really… the God of Time….’

As Seo-A stood there blankly for a moment, the old man offered her a seat opposite him.

“Sit down, it seems like there’s time for a cup of tea.”

Come to think of it, the old man was not affected by Seo-A’s [Time Stop]. It was only natural to think about it.

He was a being superior to Seo-A, and if he was really the God of Time, he would not be affected by the skill.

Seo-A sat across from him at the table. Chronos poured tea into an old, small teacup and handed it to Seo-A.

Seo-A looked down at the water in the teacup. She smelled the familiar scent of green tea teabag. As Seo-A looked at the old man questioningly, the old man looked at his own teacup and said.

“It’s made to smell like the most familiar scent to you. Because this place is a world made of data.”

“So this is also a gate.”

“That’s right, it’s a place designed for me to reveal myself and walk around like this.”

“Then….”

Instead of asking him, Seo-A turned on [State Checker].

[Chronos]

[Overall Grade: Cannot be measured]

[Wraith of Time. An existence born from a fragment of time falling out due to lingering attachment to what disappears in vain.]

‘I can’t believe it actually showed up.’

But it wasn’t ‘time’ itself. It was ‘time,’ but a part of it, the ‘Wraith of Time.’

Of course, Seo-A didn’t know exactly what difference that made. In fact, he could control the flow of time.

As Seo-A silently looked at the old man, the old man smiled.

“What do you call that toy?”

He knew that Seo-A had used [State Checker].

“…Wraith of Time.”

There was no need to lie, so she told the truth. Then the old man laughed heartily.

“That fellow, so he sees me like that?”

“When you say fellow….”

“Who else would create gates, create monsters, and create toys containing that information?”

Seo-A blinked once.

“Are you the system administrator?”

“That’s right, it’s him.”

The way he referred to him seemed quite friendly. The old man grabbed his sleeve and sipped his tea. Seo-A fiddled with the teacup but didn’t feel like drinking the tea.

“Still, you’ve reached this place and are facing me. 4 minutes, it’s short, but it’s reasonably enough.”

Seo-A also glanced at the decreasing time. She was a little worried about the outside world. She wondered if everyone was okay.

“How many, how many have arrived here?”

“There were countless.”

“Then everyone….”

“Disappeared. The races with longer lifespans lasted a little longer, but it was only a momentary difference. They all died of old age.”

Yoo Ji-an from the 3rd round was among them. As Seo-A was silent, the old man continued.

“But it can’t be helped. If I want to maintain my ego in this place, it can’t be at this speed.”

The old man smiled bitterly and put down the teacup.

“Still, momentary beings are fleeting and lovely.”

“But why, such a world.”

“Did I make it?”

The old man reached out his hand over the table. Seo-A stared silently at his wrinkled hand.

“Would you like to see it for yourself? It’s a long story. You don’t have much time.”

Was he telling her to use [Emotional Transference]? Fortunately, [Time Stop] consumed quite a bit of mana, but this was Seo-A’s unique ability, not a skill, so it didn’t consume mana separately.

“I understand.”

Anyway, she had to know to solve it. Even if Seo-A attacked the old man, who was now the ‘Last Being,’ there was almost no chance of winning.

Seo-A placed her hand on top of the old man’s hand and closed her eyes.