The Struggles of the #1 Rank - Chapter 28
Joo-ah decided to give the most harmless and boring answer possible in this situation.
“I’m sorry.”
At her quiet apology, Lim Hyuk-jae let out a small snort.
Having to apologize for such an absurd accusation wounded her pride, but she had no intention of taking back what she had just said.
There was nothing to gain by provoking him.
Seo Joo-ah was only D-rank, while Lim Hyuk-jae was a member of the elite unit, someone even higher-ranked groups wouldn’t dare mess with recklessly.
But perhaps she had judged him too easily.
If he were the kind of person who would let things go with a simple apology, he wouldn’t have picked a fight over a slight collision in the first place.
“I don’t really appreciate such a half-hearted apology.”
He bent down to meet Joo-ah’s eyes, wearing a sinister smile.
“An apology should be made respectfully, don’t you think?”
In an instant, the hand that had gripped Joo-ah’s chin moved to her head and began forcing it downward.
Laughing like a madman, he forced her to her knees.
“Apologize properly, according to your place. Hmm? Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness. Go on, grovel!”
“Ugh, stop…!”
His movements were forceful.
He pressed down on her head so hard that her neatly tied ponytail was completely messed up.
Choi Gyeol seemed to lose interest almost immediately. He clicked his tongue and turned away.
Joo-ah bit down on her lower lip.
She was humiliated. If she were in her original body, she wouldn’t have been pushed around so easily by someone like Lim Hyuk-jae.
“…What the hell?”
He muttered a curse under his breath. For some reason, the hand pressing down on Joo-ah’s head had been suspended in midair.
Joo-ah lifted her head, breathing shallowly.
“Haven’t I told you over and over?”
Someone was approaching from a distance, drawing magic in the air with long fingers.
“Don’t embarrass me by making me ashamed to belong to the same elite unit as you.”
His low voice echoed through the quiet space.
Joo-ah’s eyes widened when she recognized his face.
Wearing the same uniform as Lim Hyuk-jae, the man was someone she knew very well.
“Han Se-hyeon, you bastard!”
Lim Hyuk-jae shouted furiously and tried to use magic against him.
However, the dark energy flowing around Hyuk-jae quickly faded, as though something had blocked it.
“Damn it, that bastard Yoo Tae-jun…”
It was probably because of the red spell engraved near his wrist.
Aside from forcing Hyuk-jae to attend Association events under Tae-jun’s orders, Tae-jun had created a spell that partially blocked his magic whenever he caused trouble.
That was because Hyuk-jae’s abilities were so dangerous. Even with some of his magic blocked, he could still hurt other Hunters with even the slightest amount of power.
Se-hyeon had already stepped in front of Joo-ah. He lowered the hand he had raised into the air and smiled crookedly.
“I have no idea what kind of trouble you’ve caused this time to get your magic restricted.”
It was Choi Gyeol who answered him.
“That bastard reported everything to Yoo Tae-jun about how our Hyuk-jae treated one of the Hunters he used to bully. And just like that, our Hyuk-jae became an idiot who can’t even use magic.”
“Ah, shut up.”
Hyuk-jae snapped irritably as Choi Gyeol chuckled.
His hand, which had briefly been suspended in midair by Se-hyeon’s telekinesis, was now free after the magic wore off.
Since Se-hyeon was firmly standing in front of Joo-ah, he had apparently decided there was no need to maintain the ability.
Joo-ah held her breath and stared at Se-hyeon’s back.
Her heart was in turmoil. It pounded painfully against her chest.
…Han Se-hyeon.
He was protecting a complete stranger without even knowing who she was.
Joo-ah’s expression turned sorrowful.
Her gaze traveled up his broad back until she could see his neatly styled hair.
And between the strands of his hair, she could see the edge of his black eyepatch.
She couldn’t see his face clearly because he was standing with his back to her, but the eyepatch visible in his profile made her heart crumble.
“Hey, honestly, aren’t you the ones who have tarnished the elite unit’s name, rather than me?”
Lim Hyuk-jae spoke sarcastically. At the same time, Se-hyeon’s expression hardened ominously.
Apparently pleased with his reaction, Hyuk-jae laughed with exaggerated gestures and continued.
“I mean, think about it. You’re supposed to be members of the elite unit, but one of you was unconscious for three years before finally waking up, another was in a coma until suddenly disappearing without a trace, and the last one…”
He paused for a moment, then looked at Se-hyeon with a grin.
“Lost an eye.”
Joo-ah’s face twisted with anger behind Se-hyeon. She turned her head and glared fiercely at Hyuk-jae.
He casually slipped his hands into his pockets and asked Se-hyeon,
“You still haven’t found Kwon Eun-young, have you? I even heard rumors that she’s become a ghost and is wandering around.”
Lim Hyuk-jae laughed, his shoulders shaking. Choi Gyeol, standing beside him, put on a heartbroken expression.
“Hey, don’t say things like that so carelessly. If our Eun-young dies, what am I supposed to live for? Just thinking about it breaks my heart.”
Choi Gyeol pretended to clutch his chest, then spoke as if making a solemn vow.
“I’m going to find Kwon Eun-young before Team Z does and bring her to our team.”
Hyuk-jae’s expression twisted in displeasure.
“Here he goes again, that bastard. You know how much I hate Kwon Eun-young.”
“What does it matter if you hate her? I fucking love our Eun-young.”
“You know Kwon Eun-young is fucking creeped out by you, right?”
Choi Gyeol shamelessly shrugged as if he couldn’t care less.
Hyuk-jae looked disgusted.
“We don’t even know whether Kwon Eun-young is dead or alive right now, so please stop talking such bullshit.”
Choi Gyeol raised one corner of his mouth and muttered,
“Then I’ll have to bring back her corpse, too.”
Lim Hyuk-jae looked him up and down as though he were a lunatic. Then, apparently bored with the situation, he started to walk away.
Before leaving, he spoke to Se-hyeon.
“Don’t glare at me like that. Even if you begged me to bring Kwon Eun-young back, I wouldn’t.”
He curled his lips into a thin smile and added,
“Though she might already be dead.”
Lim Hyuk-jae had turned halfway around when he suddenly glanced back at Joo-ah, who was standing behind Se-hyeon.
“See you again next time, okay?”
Leaving those words behind, Hyuk-jae walked away. Choi Gyeol, who had been grumbling behind him, followed at a leisurely pace.
Once they were gone, silence settled over the area.
Joo-ah continued staring wordlessly at Se-hyeon’s back.
He watched the direction in which Hyuk-jae and Gyeol had disappeared with an expressionless face, then let out a quiet sigh.
He brushed his hair back with a slightly irritated gesture. His dark hair scattered through the air, cutting across the darkness.
Without saying anything else, Se-hyeon walked toward the elite unit building.
Joo-ah had been silently watching him, but belatedly called out,
“Thank you for saving me!”
Even at the sound of her voice, Se-hyeon didn’t turn around.
He simply continued walking away, gradually disappearing from her sight.
Her encounter with Se-hyeon had been completely unexpected, but after seeing him, Joo-ah became even more curious.
Had Se-hyeon really hidden her body somewhere?
“D-rank, are you even paying attention?”
While Joo-ah was briefly lost in thought, Chan-hee easily sliced through a virtual monster summoned in the training ground.
He rested his enormous longsword over his shoulder and looked at Joo-ah with a crooked expression.
“I told you to keep casting Enhancement magic. Who said you could get distracted?”
Joo-ah had been stretching her hand forward to use her ability. She straightened up and spoke.
“Hunter Yoo Chan-hee.”
At her quiet call, Chan-hee responded by raising an eyebrow.
Joo-ah spoke with an impassive expression.
“When you attended the academy, do you know why students had different class schedules?”
“Where did that come from all of a sudden?”
“Because the amount of time people can concentrate is limited depending on their age.”
Chan-hee let out a small, incredulous laugh at her words.
“So what exactly are you trying to say?”
“Please give me a break.”
Joo-ah pointed to the watch on her wrist and continued,
“We’ve been training continuously for five hours without a single break.”
The other team members had finished training earlier than usual, leaving the remaining time entirely for intensive training between Chan-hee and Joo-ah.
He was relentless.
Whenever Joo-ah’s stamina dropped from continuous training, he used his Controller ability to replenish it. Thanks to that, her body didn’t feel exhausted. However, he couldn’t control her mental strength as he pleased.
Joo-ah thought that if Chan-hee tried to force her to continue training again, she would use the Constellation’s power to knock him unconscious if necessary, just so she could rest.
“Fine.”
Surprisingly, Chan-hee nodded without hesitation.
Joo-ah widened her eyes and asked in surprise,
“Really?”
“Yeah. Let’s take a thirty-minute break.”
He started walking out of the training ground first.
Joo-ah stared at him with a puzzled expression.
Since she had been training continuously, Chan-hee naturally hadn’t had a chance to rest either.
A D-rank Hunter who would be transferred to another team after five emergency calls.
How many people would care this much about a low-ranked Hunter who had neither a reason nor any value to them?
For the first time in a while, Joo-ah found herself seeing Chan-hee differently.
“What are you doing? You said you wanted a break.”
He had been on his way out of the training ground when he turned back toward Joo-ah with a frown. Then he tilted his head and gave her a mischievous look.
“What, now that it’s time to rest, you suddenly want to keep training?”
Joo-ah’s expression immediately stiffened at his devilish face.
“No. Not at all.”
As she hurried toward the training ground’s exit, Chan-hee laughed in disbelief.
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