I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 3

“So, what’s her name?”

“…….”

Ji-an Yoo couldn’t answer. They barely exchanged a few words inside the gate, so naturally, he wouldn’t know.

Seok-hyun Han sighed, as if he expected that.

“We need to know something to even start looking.”

“A woman… with long hair…”

Faced with such unhelpful information, Seok-hyun Han gave up on Ji-an Yoo and took out his phone.

“Ah, hello? Yes, this is Seok-hyun Han from the Taeyang Guild. Yes, yes, thank you for your hard work. Actually…”

Ji-an Yoo looked away from Seok-hyun Han and fell deep into thought again. His eyes flickered darkly.

‘Definitely, it’s that person from back then.’

* * *

Seo-ah Park stood at the entrance of the general hospital, blankly staring into space.

It was a series of misfortunes. Yesterday, she was suddenly caught up in a gate incident, and today, she heard unexpected news.

‘Right now, a liver transplant is the only option. Chemotherapy alone won’t be enough for Park Geon-hoo’s condition.’

It was like a bolt from the blue.

He used to roll around, complaining about stomach pain, and she thought it was just appendicitis. She had been uneasy since the number of tests increased.

The stomachache was just a simple case of enteritis [inflammation of the small intestine], but thanks to it, or perhaps unfortunately, they discovered a serious illness. It was liver cancer.

“Park Geon-hoo, you damn brat. You should have said something right away; you always cause trouble until the end.”

Even as she muttered in anger, tears welled up in Seo-ah’s eyes. After all, Geon-hoo was Seo-ah’s only family. Unfortunately, Seo-ah’s liver wasn’t a match for her only family member.

Even if they found a matching liver, money was the problem.

Rent, chemotherapy costs, loan payments. There were so many expenses. How would she ever afford the surgery on top of all that?

Seo-ah was a psychology student, but she had been on leave for a year due to tuition fees. Moreover, she had just been fired from her part-time job the day before yesterday. Thinking about returning to school in this situation was a luxury.

Seo-ah stood at the crosswalk in front of the hospital with a gloomy heart.

She absentmindedly looked up at the electronic display on the building. On the screen, a dazzlingly handsome man was staring at the camera with a blank expression.

It was ‘Yoo Ji-an.’ The very person she had encountered in the gate that day, the one who had saved her.

“He really was handsome in person.”

And incredibly strong. Beyond anything she could fathom. How much money does that person make?

She shook her head, dismissing the meaningless thoughts. Then, something suddenly occurred to her.

“Either way, I’m a hunter too.”

Even as she said it, it felt unfamiliar.

Could she really call herself a hunter when she had never even been on a raid?

Seo-ah muttered ‘Status Window’ to herself.

A blue system window floated up.

[ STATE ]

[Park Seo-ah (21 years old)

Position: Healer (E-rank), Supporter (!) (S-rank/Locked)

Title: None

HP 10/10 MP 12/12

Stats: Too insignificant to display. (Stats below 1 are not displayed.)

Stamina 3 Mentality 10

Active Skills: Heal (LV.1), Others Locked]

[※ If you fail to activate the ‘Supporter (S-rank)’ position within the deadline, you will die! (D-99)]

[Mission 1. Touch a hunter.]

She had seen it this morning, but it was still unfamiliar.

‘I’ve never even heard of a Supporter position. I guess there are rare positions sometimes.’

Anyway, locked meant she couldn’t use it now, and what she couldn’t use was useless.

Seo-ah sat on a bench by the roadside and took out her phone. With an awkward expression, she accessed the Hunter Community.

“It’s been 10 years…”

Seo-ah touched the icon in there.

Her fingers moved incredibly slowly. She really didn’t feel like it.

It was a place she hadn’t paid attention to since she first awakened and entered it once.

Moreover, after both of Seo-ah’s parents died inside a gate, Seo-ah hadn’t gone near anything related to hunters.

“C-rank dealer, wide-area dealer, tank…”

She scrolled down the bulletin board and clicked on a title that read ‘Healer Urgently Needed.’ But she was disappointed.

-D-rank or higher, experienced healers urgently needed.-

Seo-ah was an E-rank healer. She didn’t meet the requirements.

People called healers precious, but that was really only from D-rank healers and up.

There were hardly any cases where they would take an E-rank healer with only ‘Heal (LV.1)’ as a party member.

At best, she could heal lower-level hunters coming out of the gate? The pay was naturally incomparable to the gate raiding teams.

Ting-

Just as she was about to close the screen, a text notification appeared on the top bar.

Loan Interest Overdue Notice.

The interest on one of Park Seo-ah’s loan products has not been transferred today due to insufficient account balance.

“Ugh, I know, I know.”

Seo-ah shuddered and got up from the bench.

First, she needed to figure out her current situation.

[※ If you fail to activate the ‘Supporter (S-rank)’ position within the deadline, you will die! (D-99)]

This was the most urgent thing.

‘If I don’t unlock it, will I really die in 99 days?’

The place Seo-ah headed to after changing buses several times was the Hunter Association.

After a slight hesitation, she went inside, and the receptionist greeted Seo-ah with a kind voice.

“Welcome! What brings you here today?”

“Um, well.”

“Please, feel free to speak.”

“I came because I want to know myself.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. What kind of adolescent line was that?

See, even the staff member is taken aback.

Seo-ah quickly opened her mouth to correct herself.

“Uh, I, well.”

“Are you a hunter?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“Could you tell me your name, Hunter?”

Fortunately, the staff member professionally hid their expression and put their fingers on the keyboard.

“Park Seo-ah.”

“Park Seo-ah Hunter… Ah.”

The staff member, who was searching, opened their mouth as if they understood something.

“You are the child of the late Park Woo-chan and Lee Je-in Hunter.”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Unexpectedly, she heard her parents’ names, but thinking about it, it was only natural that the Hunter Association would know.

After both of her parents died in the gate, she had been living on the meager pension the association provided.

Even that amount had been halved since Seo-ah became an adult.

“But what brings you here? It seems you haven’t done any hunter work at all.”

“Ah, I came to find out what kind of work I can do as a hunter with my rank.”

“I see, then I’ll guide you to the consultation room first.”

Hunters mostly maintain the rank they had when they awakened. However, depending on individual effort, they could raise their stat values or skill levels, and conversely, they could also decrease.

Of course, there were limits for each rank, but she had heard that there were rare cases where a hardworking C-rank hunter could beat a lazy B-rank hunter.

In front of the consultation room, there was a staff member who looked like a hunter. He offered a handshake.

“I’m Oh Hyun-soo, a consultation staff member.”

There was a clear difference in their attire. How strong was this hunter?

Seo-ah was startled by the phrase that appeared as soon as she shook hands.

[Mission 1. Touch a hunter. (1/10)]

A number that hadn’t been there before was added.

‘Huh? Ah, it’s because this person is also a hunter. So, the number goes up like this.’

Seo-ah tried to understand and followed Oh Hyun-soo’s guidance to the measurement room.

There, there was a shiny disc with geometric patterns engraved below. Seo-ah stood in the center of it.

“Now, let’s start with a simple measurement for the consultation. Please stay still for a moment.”

Wee-ing-

With the floor fixed, the pattern below the disc spun clockwise. The measurement didn’t take long.

The values measured here are used for consultation, but also as basic data for registering and managing hunters.

Hunters themselves can tell their status window, but most people are reluctant to reveal detailed figures.

“Okay, all done. Please come this way.”

The consultation was given directly by Oh Hyun-soo Hunter. She went into the consultation room with him and sat down.

[Healing Type (E-rank), Average Stats 1.2, Skills Possessed 1 (lv.1)]

“Ah…”

Oh Hyun-soo made a small sigh while looking at the results sheet. Then, realizing it was rude, he quickly put on a business-like expression.

“If you’re a healing type, then you’re a healer. Your stats are… um, um, it doesn’t seem like you enjoy exercising.”

“Yes, I hardly do.”

Seo-ah actually had another reason for coming all the way here.

‘The Supporter position still doesn’t show up. Is it because it’s locked?’

“What kinds of positions are there? My status window says Healer, but it says Healing Type there.”

“Yes, the information displayed on the measuring device shows the categories roughly classified by the association. There are usually Combat Type, Magic Type, Healing Type, and Support Type.”

“Usually means there are other types too?”

“Yes, there are also rare Production Type or Research Type hunters. Detailed positions can only be confirmed through each individual’s status window.”

“Ah…”

Then what type is Supporter? Judging by the name, it seemed like it would be a Support Type.

Putting the results sheet on the table, Oh Hyun-soo Hunter said quite seriously.

“Typically, Park Seo-ah Hunter’s parents were Research Type hunters.”

“Ah, I see. I didn’t really know much about it.”

Come to think of it, Seo-ah’s parents certainly participated in fewer raids than other hunters.

They only followed raids with research value, and they had an accident even though they were hunters who didn’t directly engage in combat.