I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 246

One-Pick of the Rankers – Extra Story 1

“Then, we’ll end the class here for today. The exam covers everything from the first page to the last page of the textbook, so keep that in mind.”

“Ughhh, Professor!”

The professor left, ignoring the students’ groans.

“The entire textbook is the exam range… He’s really heartless.”

Seo-ah muttered with a sigh, packing her bag and getting up.

As she stepped outside the building, the now-chilly breeze tickled her nose. The vibrant autumn foliage painted the campus in brilliant colors.

After returning to school last fall semester, a year had already passed, and the same season had returned. Looking around, she walked down the hallway, hearing the chattering of students.

“Wow, did you see him? He’s so handsome.”

Handsome? Who? Seo-ah’s ears perked up.

“He’s way more impressive than most celebrities. But why is he here?”

“Well, you know… his girlfriend is…”.

She could feel their gazes subtly pointing towards her.

Quickly realizing who they were talking about, Seo-ah dashed out of the building.

She could see people gathered in a circle around one person, murmuring. They couldn’t bring themselves to get too close, but they also couldn’t leave, as if they didn’t want to miss the rare sight.

And in the center of their attention, leaning against the wall as if nothing was happening, was a man looking at his phone.

‘Hmm.’

She felt shy about acknowledging him.

When Seo-ah first returned to school, she was quite well-known, and many people recognized her, with even students from other departments coming to see her. It had calmed down quite a bit now, though.

But this was on another level. Especially seeing the hearts practically falling out of the eyes of the women looking at him, she felt a strange irritation creeping up.

Yoo Ji-ahn, sensing Seo-ah’s presence, looked up.

“Hmph.”

Seo-ah, making eye contact with him, turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Of course, he quickly caught up and stood beside her.

“Seo-ah, why are you just leaving?”

“There are too many people. How can you be so calm?”

“It’s something I’m used to. It’s just tiring to be conscious of it all the time.”

She couldn’t directly get angry at him for saying that so nonchalantly.

“…”

Seo-ah decided to keep her mouth shut. Instead, Yoo Ji-ahn, who was walking beside her, spoke first.

“Is class over for today?”

“Yes, but I think I need to go to the library right after eating… It’s exam season.”

Seo-ah trailed off, sounding apologetic, but Yoo Ji-ahn didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about me. I’ll stay for as long as I can before leaving.”

She knew he wasn’t just saying that to be polite. Seo-ah nodded and tugged at Yoo Ji-ahn’s sleeve.

“Let’s eat first.”

The two went to the student cafeteria closest to the library and stood in line. After receiving their food, they went to a corner seat as far away as possible and sat facing each other.

There were people who recognized Seo-ah and Yoo Ji-ahn from time to time, but no one approached them, probably because of Yoo Ji-ahn’s unique, unapproachable aura.

That was probably why he could move around relatively comfortably.

Seo-ah with her kimchi fried rice, and Yoo Ji-ahn with his shrimp fried rice and tonkatsu [Japanese pork cutlet], picked up their spoons.

“Is that enough for you?”

Seo-ah asked, knowing that S-class hunters were quite big eaters. Seo-ah wasn’t quite at that level, but her food intake had increased a bit since becoming an S-class hunter.

Yoo Ji-ahn nodded casually.

“There aren’t many intense battles these days.”

If it was a matter of eating as much as he used to, then fair enough.

Taking a bite of her kimchi fried rice, Seo-ah suddenly stared at Yoo Ji-ahn.

‘Looking at him like this, he seems like an ordinary college student.’

No, scratch that. That face isn’t ordinary. Even if Yoo Ji-ahn wasn’t a hunter, he would have been a famous figure on campus with that appearance.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Yoo Ji-ahn cut a piece of tonkatsu and placed it on Seo-ah’s fried rice plate.

“Just, it feels like we’re a typical college couple.”

In fact, it wasn’t the first time Yoo Ji-ahn had come to campus to eat with her, but it was the first time they had come to the student cafeteria together.

In the beginning, she was conscious of the attention and was careful, even going far away from the university area to eat.

“It’s been a while, for sure. Since I’ve been to the student cafeteria.”

“Have you been here before?”

Seo-ah asked, her eyes sparkling, and Yoo Ji-ahn glanced around before saying.

“I used to go here in my first life, too.”

Seo-ah’s eyes widened.

It was amazing that Yoo Ji-ahn had a real college student life, and that he went to the same university as Seo-ah.

“I didn’t graduate, though.”

Even as he said that, he didn’t seem particularly disappointed. Well, back then, the world was about to end, so college wouldn’t have been an important issue.

“But it looks like you have some free time today.”

“Yeah, for once.”

Yoo Ji-ahn and Seo-ah were both still busy.

Yoo Ji-ahn was still spending his days eliminating high-level gates [portals to other dimensions or monster-filled zones] that appeared both domestically and abroad. In addition to raids, he was often called to various interviews and negotiations between countries.

Yoo Ji-ahn wasn’t the type of person to be easily summoned, but if he refused, they would target Seo-ah next, so he had no choice but to accept.

Yoo Ji-ahn knew that Seo-ah was quite stressed by such fame, even if she didn’t show it.

But Seo-ah had been stressed by something unexpected since earlier.

The gazes of the women who had been following Yoo Ji-ahn since they were in front of the College of Social Sciences were the cause.

Of course, Yoo Ji-ahn had always been popular and had many female fans.

She knew that, but seeing the pink-filled eyes of girls her age pouring over him on campus made her feel subtly annoyed.

‘But I can’t tell someone who came all this way to leave.’

Forcing herself to ignore it, Seo-ah stirred her kimchi fried rice while absentmindedly staring at the shrimp fried rice in front of him.

Then, this time, Yoo Ji-ahn stared at Seo-ah, took a spoonful of his shrimp fried rice, and put it in Seo-ah’s mouth.

Seo-ah chewed on the rice that came in, looking at him.

“Why?”

“Is it good?”

“Um, yes.”

The simple and salty taste suited her palate.

“Then let’s switch.”

As Yoo Ji-ahn switched the positions of the two bowls, Seo-ah looked at him in confusion.

“Ah, it’s okay.”

“You need to eat well.”

In fact, she had been picking at her food because she was conscious of the gazes directed at Yoo Ji-ahn, but she also didn’t eat much of the kimchi fried rice because it was a bit spicy.

“…Thank you.”

Seo-ah felt inexplicably shy at Yoo Ji-ahn’s consideration.

‘I was the only one worrying for nothing.’

Having a campus date with him like this was a precious time that wouldn’t happen often. There was no need to spoil the mood by getting caught up in unnecessary things.

Seo-ah scooped up a spoonful of shrimp fried rice, put it in her mouth, and smiled at Yoo Ji-ahn.

* * *

After eating together at the student cafeteria, the two deliberately took a roundabout route along the ginkgo tree path to the library.

Seo-ah shook her iced Americano, filled with ice, and asked.

“Are you really going to come with me?”

“I’ll just leave if I’m bothering you.”

He would definitely be a distraction. There was no way she could focus on the words in the book with him in front of her.

But a campus couple, a library date! It was like a romantic fantasy for Seo-ah, who always went on gate dates.

And honestly, it would be nice to get good grades, but she wasn’t going to get a job with these grades anyway. Shouldn’t she just study enough to graduate?

Reaching a somewhat rational conclusion, Seo-ah grabbed Yoo Ji-ahn’s wrist and led him along.

“It’ll be boring.”

“Don’t worry.”

Seo-ah took a seat at a wide desk without partitions. Yoo Ji-ahn wandered around the bookshelves and then sat down in front of Seo-ah with a few books he had chosen.

Seo-ah was startled by one of the book covers he had chosen.

“Quantum… mechanics?”

Yoo Ji-ahn had chosen a college textbook, a foreign one at that. Seo-ah looked at him with an expression as if she was looking at an alien, but Yoo Ji-ahn, making eye contact, simply gestured for Seo-ah to focus.

With a reluctant expression, Seo-ah picked up her pen and lowered her gaze.

‘Come to think of it, I never asked what his major was when he was in college.’

After concentrating on studying for a while, Seo-ah suddenly raised her head.

‘Ah.’

Inside the quiet library, Yoo Ji-ahn was seriously reading a book. His fine hair fluttered gently in the autumn breeze blowing through the open window.

Yoo Ji-ahn’s soft expression as he seriously read a book was a rare and precious sight.

I have to keep this.

Without realizing it, Seo-ah picked up her phone and turned on the camera app.

Click.

“…Ah.”

The sound of the camera was louder than expected, startling Seo-ah instead. In the midst of her embarrassment, Yoo Ji-ahn slowly raised his gaze and looked at Seo-ah.