I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 27

27.

“Wow, is that a C-grade Hunter…”

“The gate opens in 6 hours. Even if we can’t catch the boss, we’ll leave after 6 hours.”

“What happened to Team 2?”

“Since they entered with a 10-minute difference, Team 2 must have been dropped off somewhere else.”

Bae Yong-soo and his group started to move ahead without following instructions.

The others also slowly began to move.

“Don’t stray too far from your teammates!”

D-grade magic swordsman Choi Seok-hoon climbed a tree, passed Bae Yong-soo’s group, and ran forward. As expected, there was no path in the dense forest. They had to cut down or push aside small trees to pass.

Suddenly, Choi Seok-hoon, who was moving through the trees, jumped down with a curse.

“Damn it! Everyone be careful!”

When they looked up, they saw dense gazes.

Squeak, screech-

“Monkeys?”

“They’re not ordinary monkeys, they’re monsters!”

Seo-ah could also see them. The word [Monkey] floated in white above the monkeys’ heads.

‘If it’s white, it’s the same grade as me.’

Hundreds of eyes that met the hunters’ gazes turned bright red. Each individual didn’t seem very strong, but the number was the problem.

“I don’t think they’ll just let us pass.”

“Damn it, there are so many of them.”

They each said what they had to say and slowly took out their weapons. Oh Hyun-soo crossed his arms and took a step back.

Kang Soo-jung took out her twin swords and stood in front of Seo-ah.

“Sister, be careful!”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

It wasn’t just to reassure her; she really felt okay.

She had trained with locust swarms in simulations with Yoo Ji-an, and the number of locusts then was greater than this.

Screech, squeak, squeak-

When the leader monkey gave a signal, the monkey swarm on the trees jumped down all at once.

At that moment, a ball of fire drew a large circle in the air. It was Bae Yong-soo’s magic.

“Hahaha, become all roasted!”

“Ah, be careful! You’ll hurt people too!”

About a dozen monkeys disappeared in an instant, but there were still many more alive.

A D-grade healer was surrounded by Bae Yong-soo’s group, giving them only recovery skills.

Thanks to that, Seo-ah had to take care of the remaining five. Seo-ah watched the people’s movements and gave them recovery skills from time to time. She also occasionally gave them fighting skills.

“Sister, watch out!”

At that moment, two monkeys rushed towards Seo-ah. Kang Soo-jung tried to run over, but Seo-ah calmly took something out and struck the two monkeys’ heads in turn.

Poing, poing!

The something even made a cute sound.

Kang Soo-jung’s expression seemed to say what she wanted to say.

“S, sister…?”

“Ahem, don’t mind me and focus on the fight.”

“Ah, yes.”

Kang Soo-jung turned around with a face that seemed to be holding back laughter and raised her twin swords again.

Watching Kang Soo-jung’s back, Seo-ah secretly hid the poing-poing hammer behind her back. The weapon she received from Baek Eun-hee this time was a ‘poing-poing hammer.’

She wondered if she could really catch enemies with this, but seeing one go down with one hit, the power seemed certain anyway.

Poing, poing, poing!

By the way, can’t this sound be turned off? Every time she swung it, it made a sound, so the hunters kept looking at Seo-ah while fighting.

Seo-ah tried to ignore those gazes and swung the poing-poing hammer at the flying monkey.

After a while, the battle ended as the remaining monkeys ran away, instinctively knowing they couldn’t win.

In fact, there were only a few real monkeys among them, and the rest were all fake. The dead monkeys had all turned into leaves.

“Wow, sister…”

“Huh?”

“Did you catch all of these, sister?”

Kang Soo-jung clicked her tongue as she looked at the pile of leaves around Seo-ah. Seo-ah also scratched her head as she looked down.

“Um, somehow.”

“Sister, you’re so strong! Some people are just being protected from behind!”

The ‘someone’ Kang Soo-jung was talking about was the D-grade healer. He only healed his group and did nothing else.

But Choi Seok-hoon, who was over there, walked towards Seo-ah. His performance as a D-grade magic swordsman was also great.

“Hey.”

His tone was a bit rough, but he seemed cautious in his own way.

“Yes?”

“You were the one who gave me the buff in the middle, right?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

He seemed to be talking about the [Fighting] skill Seo-ah had given him. Choi Seok-hoon indifferently looked at the monkeys that had fallen around Seo-ah and said.

“That was pretty good. How about we go together? Even for me, soloing here seems a bit difficult. And those guys over there don’t seem to want to cooperate.”

The guys Choi Seok-hoon was talking about were already going on their own.

Seo-ah looked at Kang Soo-jung and Min Joo-yeon and Kim Min-joon, who were pale in the back. They were E-grade hunters who were new to the gate.

“We’re on the same team, so we’ll go together. Those people over there too.”

Seo-ah approached them and gave them recovery skills.

“…Thank you.”

Kim Min-joon, who had regained his energy, wiped his sweat and greeted Seo-ah as he got up. Choi Seok-hoon, who was staring at the scene, said to Kang Soo-jung.

“Your sister is kind, isn’t she?”

“Right? My sister is very kind.”

Choi Seok-hoon’s words were sarcastic, but Kang Soo-jung took them as a compliment. But he didn’t argue any further. Kang Soo-jung seemed quite close to Park Seo-ah, and Choi Seok-hoon needed Park Seo-ah.

He thought she was nothing special just because she was an E-grade healer, but unexpectedly, she had a buff skill. Moreover, it was quite efficient for an E-grade skill.

There was only one reason why Choi Seok-hoon wanted to take Park Seo-ah.

‘I must catch the boss with my own hands.’

After the two E-grades got up, they also headed forward. But it was true that they were gradually getting tired in the endless jungle with heat and humidity.

As their steps gradually slowed down, Choi Seok-hoon showed interest in Park Seo-ah’s poing-poing hammer.

“That thing from earlier, it’s not a store item, it’s a rare item, right?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“Can I see it for a moment? I’m very interested in weapons.”

Seo-ah casually took out the poing-poing hammer from her inventory and handed it over. Choi Seok-hoon, who received it and examined it, was surprised and looked at Seo-ah.

‘This woman just hands things like this over to other people.’

[Mace Poing-Poing Hammer (LV.1)]

[An item containing the memories of the boss-level monster ‘Hammer’ in his childhood. You can become invincible at any time with the ‘poing’ sound.]

[Strength+10 Agility+5 Mentality+10]

[User can choose between lethal and non-lethal.]

[10% increase in duration for all buff skills]

The fact that there was a level next to the weapon meant that it was a ‘Legend’ grade weapon.

The highest grade among Normal, Special, and Legend grades was the ‘Legend’ grade weapon. No matter how much money you had, you couldn’t buy this.

The value of a Legend grade weapon was that it ‘grew’ along with the user.

So the initial stats were not even as good as a normal Normal grade weapon. But the more you used it, the more it leveled up and grew to fit the user. There was no clear indication of how far that growth would go.

Legend grade weapons showed tremendous power when they fell into the hands of S-grade hunters like Yoo Ji-an’s ‘Ruin Blade’ and Baek Eun-hee’s ‘Splinter.’

Conversely, it meant that if it fell into the hands of a weak hunter, it would be reduced to a weapon worse than Normal.

Choi Seok-hoon handed the poing-poing hammer back to Seo-ah with a sullen face. The fact that levels were attached to Legend grade weapons was not a widely known fact.

Choi Seok-hoon only happened to find out by chance.

Regret that such a great weapon went to an E-grade hunter named Park Seo-ah, and questions about how she got it, arose together.

In addition, Choi Seok-hoon’s eyes looking at Park Seo-ah could not help but change.

‘She’s definitely not an ordinary E-grade healer.’

No matter how Choi Seok-hoon’s eyes changed, they were heading deeper into the forest.

In the middle, small and large monsters popped out, but they were all E-grade, so they were easily dealt with by Kang Soo-jung and Choi Seok-hoon. Other than Min Joo-yeon screaming in surprise each time, it was uneventful.

They couldn’t even see how far ahead Bae Yong-soo’s group had gone. Oh Hyun-soo seemed to have given up and no longer cared about them.

The sound of stepping on grass and rocks grew louder and louder.

The forest, which was full of all kinds of bird sounds, animal sounds, and water sounds, became quiet.

Park Seo-ah swallowed hard.

This was a situation she had experienced sometime before. Seo-ah, looking around, found Oh Hyun-soo’s hand slyly stroking his sword scabbard.

Seo-ah carefully muttered.

“I think the boss is… coming out soon.”

The footsteps that were walking stopped abruptly. No one refuted Seo-ah’s words. They were also feeling that the air was getting strange.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the gate.

“No, why can’t we go in!”

“The gate door closed earlier than expected, so we waited to see if it would reopen, but it didn’t. We’re sorry. We’ll contact you again as soon as another E-grade gate is secured.”

“Ugh, I really took the time to come here on purpose!”

In the end, the Team 2 members had to return home without even setting foot in the gate entrance.

A few hours ago, the gate closed as soon as the Team 1 members entered. Considering that the entrance usually opens for about 30 minutes to an hour, it was a strange occurrence, but there was no way to fix it.

After everyone had left, two association officials were yawning and waiting outside the gate.

“Will it be okay? Only half the original number went.”

“That’s why Hunter Oh Hyun-soo went in too.”

“I guess…”

Nothing much would happen in a tutorial E-grade gate that a C-grade hunter followed, but they still had to wait.

But one person who was looking into the distance nudged the other.

“Hey, someone’s coming.”

“What? Who? A reporter? Did Team 2 spread the rumors already?”

“No, that’s…”

As it got closer, the car’s exterior became clearly visible. A black H9, one of the best domestic cars, had a familiar shield-shaped mark on the front.

“T, that. Isn’t that the chairman’s car?”