The Struggles of the #1 Rank - Chapter 7

“What on earth are you doing here all alone? Are you that desperate to get yourself killed?”

 

Shin Jae-rim snapped at her in an agitated voice. Apparently, he was the one who had made the monster disappear.

 

After waking up and discovering Joo-ah being attacked by the monster, he had rushed into the training room and pressed the end-training button.

 

Whenever someone entered the training room, a dedicated system window was activated. The system allowed Hunters to end their training in case of an emergency.

 

Joo-ah got up from the floor, brushing the dust off her clothes.

 

“When did you wake up?”

 

She had thought Jae-rim would sleep for a long time, but he had woken up earlier than expected.

 

She couldn’t tell whether it was because her Purification magic had been too brief or because her power was insufficient.

 

Jae-rim stared at her expressionless face as if he had been rendered speechless. After a while, he finally spoke.

 

“Is that what’s important right now? The monster Hunter Seo Joo-ah was fighting just now was A-rank. What on earth were you doing fighting an A-rank monster when you’re only E-rank?”

 

Joo-ah calmly explained.

 

“I was just training. It would’ve been nice if a weaker monster suited to my level had been summoned, but the minimum level here is A-rank.”

 

“Even so, why would you summon an A-rank monster without any of your teammates around? You could’ve died.”

 

Joo-ah fell silent for a moment and looked at him.

 

She wondered why Jae-rim, who had barely even made eye contact with her until now, was getting so angry.

 

Of course, it was understandable that he would be dumbfounded. She was only E-rank, yet she had recklessly fought an A-rank monster. He had every reason to be surprised. But Jae-rim’s reaction seemed excessive.

 

After staring at him silently, Joo-ah spoke in a more serious voice.

 

“I’m sorry if I worried you.”

 

Jae-rim continued to glare at her as if he had more to say. In the end, however, he said nothing and left the training room.

 

Joo-ah quietly followed him out.

 

When Jae-rim sat on the sofa, she took a seat across from him.

 

She sat awkwardly in the special-class room, where an uncomfortable silence hung in the air, then reached for her system window.

 

Stamina: 76 / 263 (-187)

 

Mana: 140 / 193 (-53)

 

These were the results of fighting an A-rank virtual monster.

 

Since she had used a longsword, her mana hadn’t decreased too much. However, she had only 76 stamina remaining.

 

If the taser gun she had used at the end had failed, her stamina might have run out first, forcing the training session to end.

 

“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere so icy in here?”

 

Choi Yeon-joo asked in confusion as she opened the door to the special-class room. Yoo Chan-hee was with her.

 

“Looks like these two had a lovers’ quarrel.”

 

Chan-hee strolled over with his hands in his pockets and a playful grin on his face.

 

Joo-ah looked at him incredulously.

 

“What are you staring at? You’re only E-rank.”

 

Chan-hee plopped down beside Joo-ah. There was an entire sofa across from them, so she couldn’t understand why he had to sit next to her just to say something like that.

 

Yeon-joo picked up a blanket carelessly left on the floor and spoke to Jae-rim.

 

“Couldn’t sleep again, so you came here early in the morning?”

 

He simply leaned his head against the sofa without giving a proper answer. It was a silent gesture that suggested this had become routine.

 

Chan-hee clicked his tongue before speaking.

 

“I’ve told him to get some medication from the hospital, but he never listens.”

 

Jae-rim seemed to have heard those words many times before. He responded with a faint smile instead.

 

Yeon-joo briefly explained the situation to Joo-ah.

 

“Jae-rim has pretty severe insomnia. That’s why he sometimes comes here to sleep. He tries to exhaust himself physically so he can force himself to fall asleep.”

 

Joo-ah nodded and glanced at Jae-rim, who had his eyes closed while leaning against the sofa.

 

Now she understood why he had been in the special-class room so early in the morning.

 

Perhaps it was because he had just woken up from a dream.

 

He hadn’t even noticed the blanket lying on the floor before rushing into the training room and shouting at her. Maybe his reaction had something to do with the nightmare he had experienced.

 

“E-rank.”

 

Chan-hee suddenly spoke beside her. When Joo-ah turned to look at him, he raised an eyebrow and asked,

 

“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Oh, so you’ve already forgotten what happened yesterday.”

 

At his words, Joo-ah let out a small gasp as if she had just remembered.

 

“You said you saved me yesterday, right? Thank you.”

 

“I ruined my date because of you.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Chan-hee looked dumbfounded at her emotionless apology, which came without the slightest hesitation.

 

“Can’t you put a little feeling into your words?”

 

“I’m really sorry your date was ruined.”

 

“…Are you making fun of me right now?”

 

Chan-hee looked utterly exasperated, but Joo-ah paid him no mind and turned toward Yeon-joo.

 

“What kind of training should I do today?”

 

For now, she decided to act like an innocent rookie Hunter and ask.

 

After all, in her original body, Eun-young had far more experience than any of her current teammates, not to mention being older than them. But Joo-ah was supposed to be a complete beginner who knew nothing.

 

Yeon-joo stood up and brought over a flowerpot from beside the window.

 

“I think it would be better to raise your stats first.”

 

Pointing at the flowerpot she had placed on the table, she continued.

 

“Bring the flower in this pot back to life within a week.”

 

Joo-ah lowered her gaze to the flowerpot. Inside was a single withered flower. It had been neglected for so long that even its roots had rotted.

 

Yeon-joo prepared to head to the training room. Jae-rim, who had been leaning against the sofa, also stood up. He took a bottle of water from the refrigerator, drank it, and headed for the training room.

 

Chan-hee, who had been sitting beside Joo-ah, slowly got up as well. She expected him to leave immediately, but instead, he suddenly placed something on the table.

 

Joo-ah had been looking at the flowerpot, so she stared in confusion at the two magic stones that had appeared in front of her.

 

Chan-hee spoke casually.

 

“These are the ones you left behind yesterday.”

 

His words reminded Joo-ah of the day she had faced the monsters in the alley.

 

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t managed to collect the magic stones.

 

Chan-hee shoved his hands crookedly into his pockets and said,

 

“They’re supposed to go to the Hunter who killed the monsters, but you didn’t seem interested, so I stole them.”

 

In fact, one of the two magic stones belonged to Joo-ah. She had killed the D-rank monster herself.

 

However, Chan-hee didn’t know that. He assumed another Hunter had single-handedly defeated both monsters.

 

He bent down to meet Joo-ah’s eyes and grinned mischievously.

 

“I’m giving these to you, so you should beg me to let you leave the team as soon as possible.”

 

His words were half a joke and half serious. After saying that, Chan-hee headed toward the training room.

 

Joo-ah quietly stared at the magic stones on the table before putting them into her pocket.

 

She wasn’t in Eun-young’s original body now, so she needed to take whatever she could get.

 

Joo-ah’s eyes returned to the flower in the pot.

 

A faint rumbling came from behind her, where her teammates had apparently begun their training.

 

After staring at the flower for a while, Joo-ah stood up.

 

She watched her teammates fighting frantically inside the training room, then picked up the flowerpot and left the special-class room.

 

As soon as Joo-ah stepped into the elevator, a cheerful notification chime rang out in midair.

 

【The Anonymous Constellation laments that its big sister is skipping training, claiming it must have raised her poorly.】

 

Joo-ah stared in disbelief.

 

“When did you ever raise me? And I’m not skipping training. I’m just going to the flower bed for a moment.”

 

Joo-ah looked at the flowerpot. The neglected flower and the rotten soil were all tangled together.

 

“I need to get the basics right before I can use my abilities.”

 

When the elevator stopped on the first floor, Joo-ah stepped out and left the training center. She headed straight for the flower bed.

 

Carefully, she took the flower out of the pot and placed it on one side of the flower bed. She discarded the soil in the pot and replaced it with fresh soil. Finally, she planted the withered flower in the new soil.

 

“There. All done.”

 

Only then was the soil in the pot neatly arranged. Joo-ah smiled faintly at the result before returning to the training center.

 

She was heading straight for the elevator when someone stopped her from behind.

 

“Well, look who we have here.”

 

Three women surrounded Joo-ah and greeted her as if they knew her.

 

“Isn’t this our amazing Miss Seo Joo-ah? The one who managed to get assigned to a higher-ranked group just because of her father’s connections.”

 

One of the women, who had dyed her hair blonde, draped an arm over Joo-ah’s shoulder and sneered.

 

“How selfish of you to keep the special-class room all to yourself. Why don’t you share some of that wonderful talent with us, hmm?”

 

The other women beside her snickered.

 

Joo-ah tried to figure out what was going on.

 

“I heard you tried to kill yourself, so I thought you were dead. But here you are, alive and well, hanging out with the members of a higher-ranked group.”

 

As she spoke, the woman snatched the flowerpot from Joo-ah’s hands.

 

“Why are you wandering around with a dead plant like some miserable fool?”

 

The woman dropped the flowerpot straight onto the floor.

 

The sound of the pot hitting the ground echoed through the spacious hall.

 

She smiled sweetly and said,

 

“Oops, my hand slipped.”

 

The woman’s shoe kicked the flowerpot lying on the floor. Her friends burst into delighted laughter.

 

Joo-ah stared expressionlessly at the flower that had spilled out of the pile of soil.

 

“Ask your father to get us transferred to the special-class room, too. Got it?”

 

The woman playfully tapped Joo-ah’s cheek before turning around to leave with her friends.

 

“Wait.”

 

But Joo-ah immediately grabbed her wrist with a firm

grip. The woman grimaced in pain and turned back toward her.

 

“Where do you think you’re going after doing all this?”

 

Joo-ah twisted her lips into a smile and stepped closer to the woman. Her grip tightened around the woman’s wrist.