The Struggles of the #1 Rank - Chapter 8

“Put it back the way it was before you leave.”

 

The woman shook off Joo-ah’s hand as if she had just heard something ridiculous.

 

“Why the hell would I put this piece of trash back the way it was?!”

 

Angrily, she stomped on the plant lying on the floor. The flower was crushed beyond recognition and buried beneath the pile of soil.

 

As Joo-ah stared at it helplessly, a question crossed her mind.

 

What kind of life had Seo Joo-ah lived until now?

 

What had she been through that she couldn’t even find a single decent teammate and was treated like this by someone her own age?

 

The woman still seemed furious. She roughly grabbed Joo-ah by the collar.

 

“Say something like that to me one more time, and I’ll make you regret it.”

 

She looked Joo-ah up and down before spitting out her next words.

 

“You’re nothing but a pathetic low-rank Hunter.”

 

Honestly, it was ridiculous to even consider someone as unpleasant as her a friend in the first place.

 

Joo-ah smiled gently and easily removed the woman’s hand from her collar. Then she moved her fingers across the woman’s system window.

 

A blue screen appeared in midair, revealing an unfamiliar name.

 

“Oh, that’s right. Your name is Boram, isn’t it?”

 

Joo-ah smiled brightly as if she had only just remembered. Boram tried to pull her hand away from Joo-ah’s grasp.

 

“Let go of me!”

 

Watching Boram shout angrily, Joo-ah spoke in a relaxed voice.

 

“You know very well how influential my father is, don’t you?”

 

Boram froze at the sound of Joo-ah’s voice. Joo-ah curved her lips into a smooth smile and continued.

 

“Just like you said, my father’s connections are so powerful that getting assigned to a team was easy. Even the Chairman of the Association can’t do anything when a congressman speaks.”

 

Joo-ah gently brushed Boram’s blonde hair with her fingers. A quiet atmosphere settled between them.

 

“Don’t throw a tantrum at me. You’ll make my father sad.”

 

Joo-ah spoke calmly before releasing Boram’s hand. She hadn’t even used much strength, yet Boram staggered as if her legs had given out. If her friends hadn’t supported her, she might have fallen pathetically to the floor.

 

“You’ve been pretending to be so innocent all this time, but now your true colors are showing.”

 

Leaning on her friends for support, Boram added one last insult, unwilling to let go of her remaining pride.

 

“You miserable bitch.”

 

With that, she hurried away from Joo-ah as if fleeing. The flowerpot remained in a terrible state on the floor, but this time, Joo-ah didn’t stop them.

 

There was no point. Nothing would be resolved anyway.

 

Joo-ah bent down and gathered the scattered soil, putting it back into the flowerpot. She also placed the flower, horribly damaged by Boram’s foot, on top of the soil.

 

By the time she stepped into the elevator with the flowerpot, Joo-ah looked utterly weary.

 

Six months ago, when she had awakened in the hospital, Joo-ah’s parents hadn’t come to see her even once.

 

The Special Awakener Academy had been approaching graduation season, and the students went on vacation just three months later. Joo-ah had graduated before she could figure out her social relationships.

 

The only things she could learn about Seo Joo-ah with any certainty were the personal details displayed in her system window.

 

And perhaps the painful scars on Joo-ah’s wrists.

 

An overwhelming sense of exhaustion washed over her.

 

When she had awakened in Joo-ah’s body, she had begun to understand why the girl had ended up in the hospital. That realization only made her headache worse.

 

After getting off the elevator, Joo-ah entered the special-class room. Her teammates were still in the training room.

 

She sat on the sofa and placed the flowerpot she was carrying on the table. It was in an even worse state than when she had first seen it. Not a trace of the flower remained intact, and even its roots had been crushed beyond recognition.

 

“…Can I really restore this?”

 

Joo-ah sighed softly and wrapped both hands around the flowerpot.

 

Soon, a warm force flowed through her skin.

 

Her power was so faint that it seemed as though it might disappear at any moment, yet it was a pure and clear energy.

 

White light gradually emerged from the flowerpot. It was unmistakably an energy of restoration. Joo-ah hoped that the beautiful light would seep into the soil and breathe life back into the withered flower.

 

However, the dazzling light quickly faded, leaving no trace behind.

 

The strength drained from Joo-ah’s hands as she held the flowerpot.

 

She had failed.

 

She hadn’t expected to succeed on her first attempt, of course, but seeing absolutely no change was still discouraging.

 

Then, a look of confusion appeared in her eyes. She reached out and touched the personal information displayed in her system window.

 

Stamina: 101 / 263 (+25)

 

Mana: 141 / 193 (-10)

 

Joo-ah frowned at the stats displayed before her.

 

Her stamina and mana had been depleted from fighting the virtual monster in the training room, yet her stamina had strangely increased.

 

Of course, stats gradually recovered after some time had passed. However, because Joo-ah’s rank was so low, the recovery process took a long time.

 

Her mana had decreased because she had just used her ability on the flowerpot, but she couldn’t understand why her stamina had increased instead.

 

While Joo-ah examined her stats with a puzzled expression, her teammates finished training and came out.

 

“Looks like we’re still not ready to take on an SSS-rank monster.”

 

Yeon-joo brought over some bottled water and handed it to her teammates. Chan-hee accepted a bottle and muttered a curse before speaking.

 

“Next time, we should increase the number of SS-rank virtual monsters and try fighting them.”

 

Jae-rim sat down on the sofa across from Joo-ah. A noticeable scratch marked one of his cheeks. It seemed he had been injured while fighting a virtual monster.

 

Yeon-joo went to get the first-aid kit from one corner of the special-class room.

 

“I’ll put some medicine on it.”

 

Just then, Chan-hee reached out and snatched the first-aid kit away. He pointed at Joo-ah, who was sitting beside him.

 

“Why use this junk when there’s a Hunter who can use healing magic sitting right in front of you?”

 

Then he turned toward Joo-ah.

 

“Don’t tell me you can’t even heal a little scratch like that.”

 

He laughed mockingly. Joo-ah met his gaze with an indifferent expression, then turned toward Jae-rim.

 

“Let me treat it for you.”

 

However, Jae-rim ignored her and tried to take back the first-aid kit Chan-hee had stolen. It was clear he didn’t want Joo-ah’s help.

 

But Chan-hee wasn’t about to hand it over so easily. Instead, he placed the kit on the sofa across from them, completely out of Jae-rim’s reach.

 

“You told me to stop being so noisy, so why are you treating the E-rank like she doesn’t even exist?”

 

Jae-rim sighed at Chan-hee’s words and leaned back against the sofa. Then he looked at Joo-ah, who was watching him from across the room, and finally spoke.

 

“She’s leaving soon anyway.”

 

He was answering Chan-hee, but it sounded as though he was speaking directly to Joo-ah.

 

Chan-hee sat beside Joo-ah and asked with a playful expression,

 

“Then will you treat her better if she says she doesn’t want to leave the team?”

 

“No.”

 

Jae-rim’s dry voice echoed through the room.

 

“I don’t want more people joining our team.”

 

His tone was firm. Chan-hee looked at Joo-ah with an expression of pity.

 

“What are you going to do? Nobody here wants you around.”

 

Joo-ah had been listening quietly. She picked up the first-aid kit beside her and placed it back on the table before speaking.

 

“It’s not like I particularly want to stay here either.”

 

She glanced indifferently at Chan-hee sitting beside her and added,

 

“Honestly, I had high expectations because this was supposed to be a higher-ranked group, but now that I’ve seen you all in person, there’s nothing particularly impressive about you.”

 

Chan-hee met her gaze head-on and scoffed in disbelief.

 

“Why are you looking at me when you say that? Are you saying I don’t live up to your expectations?”

 

Joo-ah simply shrugged lightly in response. When she didn’t even deny it, Chan-hee looked utterly dumbfounded.

 

Yeon-joo, who had been watching the two of them from across the room, burst out laughing.

 

“I like that Hunter Seo Joo-ah doesn’t seem intimidated at all. And she’s not pretending to be someone she’s not, either.”

 

Yeon-joo took the first-aid kit Joo-ah had placed on the table and disinfected Jae-rim’s wound.

 

Joo-ah picked up the flowerpot from the table and stood up. Chan-hee looked up at her and asked,

 

“Where are you going?”

 

Joo-ah had started to turn away, but she looked back at him and smiled sweetly.

 

“Please stop taking an interest in me, Hunter Yoo Chan-hee.”

 

Leaving him staring blankly after her, Joo-ah walked into the training room.

 

The area where Hunters rested didn’t receive much sunlight. However, the training room had plenty of windows, making it a good environment for growing plants.

 

Joo-ah walked toward the windows, pulled over a chair, and sat down in front of it. Warm sunlight fell across the flowerpot.

 

As she prepared to use her Restoration magic, a status window appeared in midair.

 

【The Anonymous Constellation sends its encouragement, asking its big sister to show her hidden power.】

 

Mysterious energy gathered in Joo-ah’s hands. A transparent light shimmered around the leaves inside the flowerpot. The dead roots slowly began to regain their shape.

 

Joo-ah’s face brightened as she watched the flowerpot. The progress was extremely slight, but she could feel that her Restoration magic had taken effect.

 

However, that moment didn’t last long.

 

The rays of light escaping from her hands suddenly vanished. The faint signs of life that had surrounded the roots disappeared, and they withered once more.

 

Joo-ah sighed, her strength drained.

 

With a disappointed expression, she gazed out the window.

 

Six towering structures stood in the middle of the city.

 

The dark Towers seemed completely out of place beneath the clear blue sky. They resembled hell itself, as if all the world’s negative energy had been gathered in one place.

 

Joo-ah stared coldly at the Towers until her gaze settled on one particular spot.

 

White light flashed from the upper floors of the fifth Tower. At the same time, a window shattered, and an enormous bird burst out.

 

Joo-ah stood up in shock.

 

The emergency alarm on the watch around her wrist began to sound.

 

【Fifth Tower, Floor 622. Gate occurrence detected. Hunters, respond immediately.】

 

It was her first emergency call with her new team.