I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 81

81.

The grueling training continued for days.

“Kuh-heok, heok, ah, save me…!”

Glug, glug.

Seo-ah barely made it to shore, only to be quickly pulled back into the water.

She didn’t know how much salt water she had swallowed. They showed no mercy.

‘I shouldn’t have said I’d join…!’

Before the training started, Han Seok-hyun and Baek Eun-hee had tried to dissuade Seo-ah. They said the training intensity would be high, and suggested Seo-ah could either do a shorter training or skip this one altogether.

But she felt embarrassed to keep skipping, and also felt sorry for the other Hunters, so she said she would participate.

But lo and behold, the training was literally hell.

They were currently doing underwater training, a joint session between the Taeyang Guild and the Royal Guild.

They divided into two teams: one team played the role of water ghosts, and the other team tried to escape.

Seo-ah was on the escape team, and as befitting her E-rank status, she was almost always the last to escape. You’d think they’d let her go easy, but the opposing team members were relentlessly clinging to her.

“Got it! …Ah…!”

Glug, glug—

But Seo-ah’s hands only grasped sand as she was dragged back into the depths of the sea.

“Seriously, can’t you guys take it easy? What’s going to happen to our Seo-ah…!”

Baek Eun-hee, who was watching the training from the beach, wrung her hands as she saw Seo-ah fall into the water.

“Is it because lunch is on the line? They seem desperate.”

Han Seok-hyun, who was next to her, adjusted the sunglasses he was wearing as he replied.

“Then isn’t it disadvantageous for the team with the E-rank [lowest rank for Hunters]?”

Seol Jin-ah, an A-rank Hunter from the Royal Guild who was standing nearby, suddenly interjected. Han Seok-hyun shook his head.

“Of course, Hunters Park Seo-ah and Kang Soo-jung are excluded from the headcount. But I think they’re just having fun doing that.”

“Oh, my….”

“But Hunter Park Seo-ah isn’t the only one left.”

Han Seok-hyun pointed to several Hunters struggling in the water.

“That’s right, there are still more left. Is that four in total?”

Looking closely, there were three Hunters from the Taeyang Guild and one from the Royal Guild, excluding the E-ranks.

The corners of Baek Eun-hee’s lips turned up, and Han Seok-hyun’s expression stiffened.

“We’ll have to give them extra training.”

“While you’re at it, throw in one of our kids too.”

“Sure.”

The Hunters who were sprawled around, listening to the two Guild Leaders’ conversation, flinched.

‘They’re devils, devils!’

‘Just kill me, extra training?’

‘I’m hungry… sleepy… I want to go home.’

Those who could even think like this were the lucky ones. Most of them couldn’t even hear their conversation, and couldn’t think at all.

They looked as if their souls had left their bodies.

“Alright, lunch is prepared at the accommodation over there, so go and eat as soon as you regain your strength!”

At someone’s shout, they groaned and got up one by one.

But those in the water were still struggling. And surprisingly, Seo-ah was in the lead.

Just then, Yoo Ji-an, who had been away for a while, returned to Han Seok-hyun’s side.

“Oh, Ji-an. You’re back? How is it?”

“You’ll see the whirlpool within two or three days.”

“Okay, we should start preparing soon.”

Yoo Ji-an looked at Seo-ah, who was turning into seaweed in the water, and said,

“How long has it been?”

“About one or two hours?”

“Let’s stop now.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

Just as one of the water ghosts targeting Seo-ah was about to grab her ankle, Han Seok-hyun clapped his hands and shouted loudly.

“Okay, that’s enough for today. Everyone, come out.”

Then everyone crawled out, gagging.

The water ghost team was no exception. They had already been on the receiving end once before going in.

As Seo-ah crawled out, Baek Eun-hee rushed over with a large towel.

“Seo-ah, are you okay? Why did you push yourself so hard? I told you, you could give up in the middle.”

“…….”

It wasn’t that she didn’t give up, but that she couldn’t.

She was told to raise her hand and shout if she wanted to stop, but the moment she raised her hand, she was dragged into the water, and the moment she tried to shout, water entered her mouth.

“Unnie…… [term for older sister or female friend]”

“Yes? Seo-ah.”

“I… I feel so… Ugh.”

As Seo-ah kept vomiting seawater, Baek Eun-hee patted her back as gently as possible, feeling sorry for her.

“I don’t think this is good. I’ll take Seo-ah with me.”

Yoo Ji-an and Han Seok-hyun looked displeased, but nodded with concern.

“That would be best.”

“Take her.”

Baek Eun-hee was also a woman, and there was no one who could take care of Seo-ah as meticulously as she could.

It wasn’t like Seo-ah was just pretending to be sick, and the other Hunters had already rolled around and vomited several times.

Of course, almost no one paid attention to them. Hunters basically had strong bodies.

That was the same for E-ranks, but they were especially lenient only to Park Seo-ah.

Baek Eun-hee lightly lifted Seo-ah in her arms and ran to the resort where she was staying as if she was flying.

Seo-ah was horrified by the rapidly changing scenery and clung tightly to Baek Eun-hee’s clothes.

“Seo-ah, we’re here.”

It was a nice resort with a great view, but Seo-ah didn’t see any of it.

“Unnie… I’m sorry.”

Seo-ah barely muttered before heading straight to the bathroom. Baek Eun-hee stood outside the door, feeling sorry for her.

“Who was the guy who grabbed Seo-ah’s ankle earlier? We need to give him extra training too. Those ignorant people, treating a fragile E-rank Hunter so mercilessly.”

She didn’t even think that she and Han Seok-hyun were the ones who planned this training in the first place.

After a while, Seo-ah, who had finished showering, opened the door slightly and peeked out her head.

“Unnie, are you there?”

“Yes, here you go.”

Before Seo-ah could ask anything, Baek Eun-hee handed her a set of comfortable clothes.

“Ah, thank you.”

Seo-ah blushed and went inside to change. Her original clothes were completely wet, so she couldn’t wear them.

Seo-ah came out again wearing a navy blue tracksuit set. It was a bit tight because it was Baek Eun-hee’s clothes, but it didn’t look bad.

“It fits well, I’m glad.”

“Were you waiting all this time?”

“Yes, it’s a bit far from here to there. I have to take you back.”

Baek Eun-hee said that and sat Seo-ah in front of the vanity.

Baek Eun-hee picked up a hair dryer and started drying Seo-ah’s wet hair herself.

“I could do it myself….”

“Hmm, was the training intensity too weak? You don’t even have the strength to lift your arms.”

“No, I don’t have any strength!”

Seo-ah shook her head in horror, and Baek Eun-hee chuckled as if she was cute.

Weeeeeng—

While only the sound of the hair dryer was heard, the gentle touch that carefully caressed her hair felt good.

Seo-ah looked back and forth between herself and Baek Eun-hee in the mirror, and suddenly remembered Yoo Ji-an’s expression a few days ago.

She had been thinking about it from time to time since then. It was the first time she had seen such an expression on Yoo Ji-an’s face.

‘It was definitely because of Eun-hee unnie. I wonder what happened between them?’

It was too simple to assume they were just ex-lovers; their relationship was too bland.

Baek Eun-hee opened her mouth first at the continuous glances.

“Seo-ah, do you have something to say to me?”

“Ah, that… well.”

“Tell me, it’s okay.”

When her hair was somewhat dry, Baek Eun-hee neatly combed it and finished.

“I saw you and Hunter Yoo Ji-an during the surprise attack last time.”

“Ah, you saw that? Yoo Ji-an running away. Seriously, she always does that.”

“Why… does she do that? Did something happen between you two in the past?”

Seo-ah sat on the chair and turned around, and Baek Eun-hee sat on the bed opposite her.

“Something? What something?”

“Well, like, um, ahem. For example, did you two… da… date or something.”

“…Seo-ah?”

Baek Eun-hee’s voice became unusually low.

“Ah, no! I was just giving an example.”

As Seo-ah desperately waved her hands and retracted her words, Baek Eun-hee smiled again.

“Right? Yes, there’s no way our Seo-ah would think that. Hmm, about the past. There’s nothing really. We just growled at each other whenever we met.”

“But Hunter Yoo Ji-an runs… no, runs away?”

“Yes, she always did that whenever there was something to fight about. I even chased after her and tried to hit her on purpose, but she never fought back and desperately ran away. I guess she didn’t want to get hit again.”

Baek Eun-hee said with a smile, but on the other hand, she looked resentful.

“Ah, I see.”

Then she said as if she had thought of something.

“From the first time I saw her, she acted like she knew me.”

“Like she knew you?”

“She acted rudely. It’s not easy to do that the first time you meet someone, right? So our relationship wasn’t good from then on.”

“…Ah.”

Roughly summarizing Baek Eun-hee’s story, it seemed that Yoo Ji-an and Baek Eun-hee didn’t have anything particularly entangled in the past.

But why did Yoo Ji-an have that expression back then?

The most accurate way would be to ask her, but it was hard to ask.

“Let’s go eat, just the two of us.”

“Just the two of us?”

“Yes, lunch at the training ground today will probably be combat rations. Do you want to eat that?”

“Ah, no!”

“Right? Me too.”

Seo-ah willingly fell for Baek Eun-hee’s trick.

Baek Eun-hee confidently took Seo-ah to a high-end restaurant inside the resort.