Chapter 43
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Rank Reassessment
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‘Is Teacher Jeong-hyun sizing me up as C-rank? This is way too easy.’
Lee Ru-ri effortlessly hurled a decent-sized Extinction and wiped out the Koranbi in an instant.
Han Seung-woo watched her fight without a hint of surprise, as if he'd seen it coming all along.
But Yang Jeong-hyun was a different story.
“Seung-woo, what the hell was that? Am I seeing things?”
“Try her on A-rank.”
“What if she gets hurt!”
“Her re-test will probably involve timing how long it takes to take down an upper-rank monster.”
Yang Jeong-hyun gripped her worried heart and notified Lee Ru-ri in the testing room that she was spawning an A-rank virtual monster.
Lee Ru-ri raised both hands above her head, forming a circle with her thumbs and index fingers.
Han Seung-woo chuckled again at the sight.
‘If it’s a one-on-one, I need at least A-rank to have some fun myself.’
Yang Jeong-hyun tensed up and spawned the A-rank virtual monster in the testing room.
Lee Ru-ri checked the spawning monster’s info.
[A ― White Wyvern: Cannot increase target's favorability.]
‘White Wyvern—that’s the one that shoots lasers.’
Lee Ru-ri dropped into a proper attack stance and waited for the wyvern’s assault.
The wyvern took to the air, flapping its wings before blasting a burst of colorless laser from its maw in a flash.
She dodged the laser nimbly, then kept taunting it to gauge its attack patterns.
She summoned rocks rippling with black mana to block the lasers and tested the range of the black-charred petal storm while steadily chipping away at the wyvern’s health.
The wyvern’s health dropped even when struck by the rippling black mana Extinction.
“That must be the black mana Dae-hee was talking about.”
“Looks like it. The more I see, the more impressive it gets.”
As Yang Jeong-hyun and Han Seung-woo marveled, the wyvern’s health hit zero and it vanished from the room.
Lee Ru-ri clung to the testing room’s glass wall and peered out at the two of them.
Yang Jeong-hyun beckoned her to come out.
[Judgment Result ― Lee Ru-ri (A): Ranged Attack Type (Conqueror)]
The three of them stared at the judgment result, momentarily at a loss for words.
“That’s the same girl who was an F-rank healer just a little while ago, right?”
“Ha, hahaha. M-must be an error? Shall we run it again?”
“No way it’s an error. Not after all the prep we put in.”
“So does that mean I’m really A-rank?”
“We figured it’d come out higher than your original rank, but honestly, I didn’t expect this high.”
“Hmm, time’s a bit tight, but since we’re here, want to give it a go too, Seung-woo?”
“Sure.”
Han Seung-woo stepped into the testing room.
“Just in case, I’ll spawn an S-rank.”
Yang Jeong-hyun flicked on the mic to let him know, and he gave an okay sign from inside.
‘Han Seung-woo got something from Keres too, so S-rank should be a breeze for him. Hmm, he didn’t even use Superhuman Strength buff or call up afterimages to cap it at S. But still, jumping straight to A-rank like that... whew.’
Lee Ru-ri recalled the dizzying moment from seconds ago, lost in thought, when Yang Jeong-hyun patted her shoulder.
“I’ll log Ru-ri as C-rank. We can pass the last one off as a monster test. Publicizing your real status right now doesn’t feel like the time.”
“I think it’d cause a huge stir too. There’s only one other person in a position like mine, Mr. Yoo Il-won, and if what Teacher Ham said is true—that our positions are connected to Chairman Han somehow...”
“Yeah, better safe than sorry.”
As the two continued talking...
Han Seung-woo was properly testing out the killing intent buff he could now use thanks to Keres.
It didn’t seem to have a fixed duration.
The moment he recognized a target that needed killing, it activated automatically.
When he unleashed the killing intent, blood surged violently through his body, and a red aura rippled around him.
At the same time, uncontrollable rage boiled up, making the target’s movements crystal clear.
The problem was that as his attack power skyrocketed, his rational judgment dulled.
A dizzying urge washed over him to harm every living thing in sight while wrapped in that rage.
‘Gotta train to control this fully.’
Before he knew it, the S-rank monster attacking him hit zero health and vanished.
Lee Ru-ri called out to Han Seung-woo as he emerged from the testing room.
“Seung-woo, you looked totally badass.”
Han Seung-woo felt a flush of embarrassment and sneaked a glance at his reflection in the glass to check his expression before striding over to the others.
“Let’s just go with S-rank for Seung-woo. A guild master needs to be at this level. Honestly, his S-rank scores were already maxed out. To think both of you cleared monsters this fast—you’re incredible.”
“Seung-woo said we should train together from now on.”
“He did?”
“For the guild.”
“Oh, the guiliiiid?”
“Director!”
Choi Si-jin burst into the re-test room in a fluster.
“What’s up?”
“Chairman Han and his son, plus Brother Eun-woo, just arrived at HQ!”
“What? Eun-woo said he was coming, but that senile old Chairman Han is too quick. What’s he scheming now?”
“We’ll have to check. I’ll head over. Ru-ri, could you prep for the gate raid? I’ll assign Si-jin to help.”
“Sure thing! Don’t worry.”
“I’ll jump into re-tests with the teachers and key members as soon as they arrive.”
“Got it. Let’s aim for a five o’clock departure. See you later.”
Han Seung-woo headed back to HQ, and Yang Jeong-hyun began checking the re-test room.
Lee Ru-ri left the re-test room with Choi Si-jin and stopped by a nearby café.
Choi Si-jin started recruiting volunteers for the Inex Gate raid, while Lee Ru-ri compiled a list of supplies that might come in handy.
“How about we hit the Yongsan Lounge and buy what we need?”
“Whoa, Ru-ri! That’s a brilliant idea. Ah, but it’s been so long since I’ve been to the lounge—I’m kinda excited all of a sudden.”
Choi Si-jin beamed with enthusiasm.
“I went pretty often since I owed the boss a ton in all sorts of ways. Haven’t been lately, though... Feels like not that much time has passed, but we met in the heat of summer and now it’s already getting cold.”
“Time flies, huh. Well, it’s not like we have a ton of it—shall we get moving?”
“Yeah!”
The two headed to the Yongsan Lounge, meticulously checking off and purchasing items from Lee Ru-ri’s list.
Until the hidden gate storage unlocked, they stuffed everything into the merchant bag she always carried for raids.
Choi Si-jin tried acting tough, claiming he was a guy and all.
But the bag didn’t budge an inch.
Lee Ru-ri grinned at him and slung it over her shoulder with ease.
“This bag holds so much, weighs a freaking ton... Seeing Ru-ri lift it like that is scary all over again...”
“Psh, this is nothing. When I raided solo, I packed it till it was bursting.”
Lee Ru-ri strode ahead briskly, the massive bag on her back.
Choi Si-jin shook his head in disbelief and followed behind her.
When Lee Ru-ri entered Yang Jeong-hyun’s lab lugging a bag that looked three times her size, the key members—who had just finished their re-tests and were sipping tea while awaiting the raid time—widened their eyes in unison.
“Ru-ri? That bag? Wait, what were you doing letting Ru-ri carry that, Si-jin?”
“He couldn’t lift it.”
Kwon Dong-nyeon and Lee Sang-chun, who’d been sitting, reached out to take the bag from her.
Lee Sang-chun toppled over flat, while Kwon Dong-nyeon barely managed to stay upright.
“Damn, impressive. You carried this all by yourself?”
“There’s gotta be like 500 top-grade potions in there?”
“Potions are small, but the weight adds up. Ru-ri, you planning to take this on the raid?”
“Yep! Since we’re all going regardless of rank, I only packed stuff that could be a big help in a pinch.”
Yang Jeong-hyun inspected the bag’s contents.
“You were thorough. No wonder Seung-woo trusted you with this. Si-jin, headcount finalized?”
“Yes. 40 volunteers total. With our key members, that’s 49.”
“Add one more.”
“Who?”
“Ham Dae-hee.”
“Ham Dae-hee? Never heard that name...”
“Hold on, Jeong-hyun. Did you say Ham Dae-hee?”
Lee Sang-chun, overhearing Yang Jeong-hyun and Choi Si-jin, jumped in startled.
“Teacher, you remember, right? Dae-hee’ll be here soon.”
“The Ham Dae-hee I know?”
“Yes. We found the Position Taster, Ham Dae-hee. Well, technically she came to us.”
As Kwon Dong-nyeon and Lee Sang-chun sat there dazed, a whirlwind of emotions on their faces...
Ham Dae-hee shuffled timidly into the lab.
“H-hello.”
“H-how’ve you... been?”
“You rascal!”
Lee Sang-chun rushed over and enveloped Ham Dae-hee in a bear hug.
Kwon Dong-nyeon offered a handshake.
“Good to see you. As long as you’re safe and sound.”
“So Dae-hee’s jumping straight into key member duties?”
“Yeah, Seung-woo insisted. We even did her re-test early—straight S-rank. Chairman Han would flip.”
“He sure would. Gonna stir up a storm.”
“The National Hunter Association’s delegated all authority to individual guilds now, so they can’t act rashly. It’s such a backward move, but they don’t see it... Lucky for us, though.”
“Times like this, I’m glad that old geezer’s an idiot.”
Everyone shared a quiet chuckle at Kwon Dong-nyeon’s words.
Han Seung-woo and Han Eun-woo entered the lab after wrapping up their meeting with Han Ho.
“Everyone’s gathered.”
“What’d Han say, Director Han?”
“A load of nonsense.”
Han Eun-woo answered in Han Seung-woo’s place, his voice quite agitated.
“Nonsense?”
“He had the gall to suggest making Han the lead guild in Korea, with all others as affiliates?”
Yang Jeong-hyun cut in bluntly.
“He’s lost it?”
“There are over 10,000 guilds kicking off operations domestically now. They dumped all the Association’s headaches on us guilds, just wanting to hog the power and perks... It’s disgusting.”
“So what’s the verdict?”
“No chance. The masters of the next-biggest rising guilds already caught wind and are gearing up to push back.”
Lee Sang-chun picked up from the two’s conversation.
“With things turning out like that, they must be getting desperate. Won’t go their way, though. Let’s handle our priorities step by step.”
“Yes. Car’s waiting outside. Let’s move.”
After stopping by where the Light Guild volunteers were assembled to do a final headcount, everyone headed to the Gangnam Inex Gate in high tension.
While Lee Ru-ri and Choi Si-jin distributed supplies to the hunters, Yang Jeong-hyun began inspecting the gate entrance pattern.
As always, it was something entirely new.
Yang Jeong-hyun noted the cycle and called over Han Seung-woo.
“Pattern’s different every time. Can’t predict the rank.”
“When Ru-ri and I checked, there were about 200 C-ranks and a boss surpassing S-rank.”
“With 50 people...”
“If it gets dicey, we pull back for next time. Can’t afford any sacrifices.”
“Right. Let’s do this.”
Han Seung-woo gathered everyone at the entrance.
They waited for his orders, even more tense than at the start.