The Struggles of the #1 Rank - vanish into fiction

Most people would have been hurt by Jae-rim’s words long ago. But she took them in stride and answered him without a care.

He looked at Joo-ah with an expression that suggested he couldn’t understand her. Then his gaze naturally lowered to the back of her small hand, which was tightly wrapped in white gauze.

With the help of a healing-type Hunter working in the infirmary, they had dealt with the immediate problem, but they couldn’t remove the scars.

The battle against the monsters that appeared in the banquet hall had been no minor fight. Joo-ah’s uniform was torn and ruined, a clear sign of how fierce the battle had been.

For anyone living in South Korea, where six Towers existed, fighting monsters probably wasn’t an unfamiliar experience. However, this battle had been on a much larger scale than usual.

Monsters had also appeared at the Special Awakener Academy, which was not far from the training center, but they were weak enough for a few instructors to handle. There had also been only a small number of them.

The same was true for other guilds.

In other words, a horde of A-rank monsters had attacked the training center, where more Hunters gathered than at any guild and where Hunters of higher ranks gathered than at the academy.

Meanwhile, following the incident, the Special Awakener Association issued a directive to provide free psychological counseling for new Hunters.

Jae-rim had even heard that quite a few Hunters had applied for counseling.

He believed Joo-ah must have suffered considerable psychological shock as well and should naturally receive counseling. That was why he had come to the infirmary to inform her about it and ask whether she wanted to apply.

However, even though she had suffered severe burns on the back of her hand, her expression was no different from usual.

She looked relaxed and carefree.

Jae-rim found it so absurd that he couldn’t help laughing.

Joo-ah wrinkled her nose and asked.

“Why are you laughing?”

Jae-rim stared at her quietly before replying in a low voice.

“I think I’m finally beginning to understand your personality, Hunter Seo Joo-ah.”

“My personality?”

When Joo-ah looked puzzled, he added.

“At the very least, I know you’re not the type to make a fuss over trivial things like other new Hunters.”

She smiled faintly and spoke.

“Is that a compliment?”

Jae-rim shrugged lightly.

“As far as I’m concerned, yes.”

Joo-ah nodded in satisfaction. As he met her gaze, Jae-rim asked in a straightforward manner.

“The Special Awakener Association has announced that psychological counseling will be provided free of charge to new Hunters. Would you like me to add your name to the application list, Hunter Seo Joo-ah?”

“Psychological counseling?”

Joo-ah stared at him with wide eyes.

Her expression quickly turned displeased.

‘So new Hunters these days even get support for things like psychological counseling.’

With that thought in mind, Joo-ah answered with an obvious expression.

“No. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need it.”

Jae-rim smiled kindly and replied.

“You should still receive it, just in case you experience any aftereffects.”

Joo-ah furrowed her brows.

She wanted to ask why he had bothered to ask for her opinion when the decision had already been made.

However, she closed her slightly parted lips.

Somehow, she suspected that his firm expression would lead to the boring answer that it was merely a formality.

Jae-rim asked what she planned to do about training today, and Joo-ah thought about it for a moment. Her stats hadn’t fully recovered yet.

“If you don’t want to skip training, let’s just monitor the others today.”

Jae-rim quickly resolved her dilemma.

Joo-ah nodded, and he told her to rest a little longer before coming to the special-class room. Then he left the infirmary.

【The Anonymous Constellation congratulates her, saying her relationship with Shin Jae-rim seems to have improved by the size of a single grain of rice.】

Joo-ah responded with an indifferent smile.

“Sure. Thanks.”

She immediately got out of bed and straightened her disheveled uniform. Another status window appeared in front of her.

【The Anonymous Constellation mentions that Shin Jae-rim said she could rest a little longer and suggests she take a break.】

Joo-ah neatly tied her messy hair into a ponytail and replied casually.

“He said I only need to monitor them today. I should take a break while watching my teammates train.”

【The Anonymous Constellation declares that it will teach his big sister a lesson with sponsorship coupons, wondering how she never seems to know how to take things slowly.】

【The Anonymous Constellation sponsors 50 coupons for ‘An Energy Drink for You Who Work Hard.’】

Joo-ah rested her chin on one hand and watched her teammates training beyond the glass window with a bored expression.

On the first day, monitoring them had been so interesting because she was trying to understand the attack patterns of her unfamiliar teammates that she hadn’t noticed the time passing. But things were different now.

It felt like watching the same scenes over and over hundreds of times.

“Hunter Choi Yeon-joo will use ice magic here again.”

Joo-ah pointed toward the strangely shaped virtual monster, her finger moving lightly.

“But her opponent is an S-rank monster with a Fire attribute. There’s no way ice magic will work.”

Just as she had predicted, the monster easily deflected Yeon-joo’s ice magic. Joo-ah stared at Jae-rim beyond the glass with an unsurprised expression.

“Hunter Shin Jae-rim has high attack power and accuracy, but…”

Watching Jae-rim swing his blade, she muttered indifferently.

“Something about him is slow.”

The virtual monster roughly grabbed Jae-rim’s blade with its hand and flung him into the air. The impact sent Jae-rim crashing to the floor as well.

Joo-ah could see him gritting his teeth as he glared at the monster. Chan-hee slowly stepped forward in front of him.

The virtual monster gathered mana. A dangerous, dark red light formed inside its thick mouth.

“And Hunter Yoo Chan-hee…”

Joo-ah stared at him, her eyes narrowing.

“He’s annoying.”

Following her brief assessment, Chan-hee launched his attack. He rushed toward the monster and took out his Taser Gun from his inventory.

BANG!

He fired repeatedly. However, the dense energy surrounding the monster deflected the bullets.

A chilly silence settled over the training room as flames condensed from mana began leaking out around the monster. Soon, a massive blaze would erupt from its mouth.

Chan-hee, who had been charging toward the monster, suddenly stopped.

At the same moment, the monster unleashed its final Special Skill, Flames of the Wind.

Scorching flames spiraled out of its mouth and exploded in an instant.

BOOM!

A tremendous roar filled the training room, which was soon covered in white smoke. Faint tremors continued to shake the floor.

The smoke gradually cleared, revealing the monster reduced to black ash.

【Training Complete】

【Congratulations! You defeated an S-rank monster in 17 minutes and 42 seconds!】

【The above results will be recorded in detail in the Special Awakener Association’s ‘Training Performance Report.’】

Yeon-joo and Jae-rim stared at Chan-hee with dejected expressions. He merely shrugged as though nothing special had happened.

When the monster used its Special Skill, Chan-hee had used his Controller ability to push its mana to the maximum, forcing it to self-destruct.

Chan-hee turned around and met Joo-ah’s eyes through the glass window. His eyebrows twitched as if asking what she was looking at.

Joo-ah muttered with an indifferent expression.

“I knew I couldn’t stand him.”

Her dislike of Chan-hee had begun when he used his ability on her without permission and made her suffer.

No, perhaps it had started even earlier, when he brought women into the special-class room.

Of course, she had been surprised to learn that Chan-hee was a fan of hers when she had been the number one Hunter. However, his arrogant attitude somehow reminded her of Chairman Tae-jun, making it impossible for her to like him.

【The Anonymous Constellation brings popcorn to watch, saying the next training session should be worth seeing.】

The next training session began immediately, without a break.

Their opponent was an SS-rank virtual monster.

It had four short legs and a body covered in spikes. It looked like a hedgehog, but it was much taller than an average adult man.

Jae-rim launched the first attack. He took out a high-grade longsword and charged at the monster. As he swung the blade, a boomerang-shaped beam of light attacked the monster alongside a swift gust of wind.

However, the monster curled into a ball and raised its sharp spikes to block Jae-rim’s attack. Then, still curled up, it rolled rapidly toward him.

Jae-rim ran up the wall to avoid it. After missing its target, the monster charged toward Yeon-joo, who was nearby.

She didn’t retreat. Instead, she immediately confronted the monster. Mana gathered in both her hands, forming sharp blue blades of ice.

Watching from beyond the glass window, Joo-ah looked intrigued.

“She can even make weapons out of ice?”

Why hadn’t she used such a useful technique before?

Joo-ah’s question was quickly answered by the result of the battle that followed.

Yeon-joo didn’t even get a proper chance to use the blades she had created from ice before she was helplessly struck by the monster’s spike bomb attack.

【Hunter Choi Yeon-joo: Incapacitated】

Joo-ah could see Yeon-joo lying on the floor and muttering a curse under her breath.

Since this was a virtual training session, becoming incapacitated didn’t cause the same impact as a real battle. The Hunter was simply removed from the training session.

Joo-ah watched Chan-hee calmly aim his Taser Gun at the monster. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, something happened.

Chan-hee suddenly hesitated and lowered the hand he had extended.

With a frown, he tapped his system window.