Hunter Ranking

I rested over the weekend.

Of course, even when it wasn't the weekend I was the sort of young man who always rested, but this week I'd been out working so much that the simple fact of resting on a rest day felt oddly more rewarding than usual.

Like I'd finally become a real working adult, maybe?

Besides, it had been a long time since I'd taken a break with this kind of easy, untroubled mind.

Well. I didn't have to worry about money anymore.

Why? Because I was a healer — said to be the rarest class in hunter society after S-rank.

Heh heh heh.

All I had to do was plant myself in front of a nearby high-rank gate, wait for someone to get hurt, take their money, and heal them. That was also why I hadn't asked Han Yuseol to sell magic crystals for me last time. There was no need to scrape cash together by selling crystals anymore.

So what was I supposed to do with the magic crystals, then?

"Pi!"

I planted them in the garden.

Well — I didn't plant them. Pin had been watching me out of the corner of her eye and quietly carted them off herself. I was going to plant them in the garden anyway, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she didn't have to be so sneaky about it…

But is being a healer really just a matter of squatting in front of a gate and waiting?

What if you needed some kind of permit to do spot-sitting?

After a moment's thought, I sat down at the computer desk and opened the gallery. This kind of thing, I could just ask the gallery regulars.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Oh, I see.

Looks like you didn't really need permission after all. Honestly, if I were a hunter and a healer was waiting outside a gate, I'd feel a lot safer myself.

Hmm… so that was a problem too?

In that case, since I was just starting out, charging a reasonable amount was probably the right call. But how much did healers usually take per treatment? Did it depend on how badly you were hurt?

HighSchoolSlasher was an active hunter, so he'd know what healers actually charged, right?

Healers really did rake it in as a profession. Two or three hundred thousand per treatment? Treat ten people and you were already past two million.

The second I answered, a private message dinged in. Checking the sender — HealingGirl.

Uh, well…

Had HealingGirl gotten burned badly by that cartel?

Money before people?

I felt like I could more or less guess what that meant.

I hadn't expected her to hand over her real identity, though…

Apparently there was some kind of complicated power struggle among healers too. I went straight to the Picsta account.

Whoa. She was popular.

She felt like someone who lived in a completely different world from mine. Healers really were rich after all…

Technically I should probably share my own identity here too, but… I was a little… well, considering everything I'd done on the gallery, maybe not.

Well, she didn't seem like a bad person, so if we ran into each other while I was working as a healer, she'd probably fill me in on all kinds of things.

That was when it happened.

"Piiiit! Pipi!"

"Hm? Pin. What's going on?"

"Pipi!"

"Something appeared in the garden?"

"Pi!"

Following Pin's frantic racket, I headed out to the garden with a puzzled look on my face.

"……Huh?"

Something was definitely on the World Tree growing in the garden.

A single golden, glowing fruit hanging from the tip of a branch.

Ah. That was it.

Plop—

As if it had finished ripening, the fruit dropped into the garden bed and split cleanly in half. I checked the contents right away, and sure enough — a fairy, just like our Pin.

But how to describe this one.

She looks like a mage.

Her hair was sky-blue, and her outfit was pure mage through and through — a fantasy-novel-style robe and a wide-brimmed pointed wizard hat to match.

"Ppyu……."

And she was sleep-talking with a little ppyu.

I couldn't leave her sleeping in the garden, so I carefully scooped her into my arms and started back toward the rooftop house.

"Ppyu?"

Of course, the moment I picked her up she seemed to wake.

"……Hello?"

"……."

The fairy stared at me with a blank expression the second she came to, then startled with a jolt and wriggled free of my arms — and just like Pin had on our first meeting, she began a formal greeting.

"Ppyuppyu, ppyuppyupyu."

"……."

Of course I had no idea what she was saying this time either. Roughly "Hello, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Master," I figured?

"Pi!"

That was when our Pin came over and approached the mage fairy. Then, with an extremely elegant gesture and a smile, she spoke.

"Pi. Pipi, pipipi."

The mage fairy smiled back as if in answer—

"Ppyuppyu, ppyuppyupyu. Ppyuppyu."

……Judging by the gestures and mannerisms, it looked like a highly formal conversation had just taken place. From where I was standing, it was just a whole lot of pi-pi-ppyu-ppyu.

Anyway, they seemed to have exchanged a simple greeting.

"So what's your name?"

Our Pin had a real name — Seraphin — so the mage fairy probably had one too, right?

To which the mage fairy said:

"Ppyuppyu, ppyuppyupyu."

"……."

Something with the vibe of "My name is blah-blah-blah," but… yeah, no idea. Could you maybe say it in Korean?

"Guess I'll have to call this one Ppyurong for a while too?"

"Ppyu?!"

Whether my words had startled her or not, Ppyurong started looking frantically around. Then she flew off to the garden and urgently began writing something in the dirt with her staff.

"Arwen?"

"Ppyu!"

So this fairy's name was Arwen. It really did suit her. That… atmosphere of hers, I guess?

"I see. So you're Arwen. Hmm… Arwen is hard to shorten, so I'll just call you Arwen."

"……Pi?!"

Pin looked flustered at that. She stared up at me with an unfair expression that clearly said, Then why do I get the shortened name?

I snorted a little laugh.

"It's a nickname."

"Pi? Pi! Pi!"

Calling it a nickname seemed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠put her in a good mood again — Pin beamed at me, bright as could be.

Well, we had a new family member, so today was a celebration. I should order something delicious.

But what did fairies even like to eat?

Hmm… vegetables, right?

It had been when I first met Hunter Han Yuseol. We'd gone for pork cutlet, and when I offered Pin a piece she wouldn't touch it — she only ate the salad on the side. Fairies were apparently vegan.

So fruit for them, and a chicken for me… that should work, right?

Current time: 11:50 p.m.

The last day of February was ending; ten minutes until March.

The personnel teams of the Hunter Administration Bureau and Korea's four major guilds were all still working overtime. On the last day of every month, most of them put off going home, eyes glued to the rankings that needed watching.

A ranking that reset once a month.

The criteria were the number of gates cleared, the number of monsters slain, and the hunter's own strength. So what was the ranking based on right after a reset, when it refreshed?

No one was going to dive into a gate and start hunting monsters the instant the ranking wiped — so the initial ranking refreshed purely on the hunter's own power. And the single biggest factor determining a hunter's strength was the skill they had awakened.

Just as a five-year veteran C-rank hunter would struggle to beat an A-rank who'd only awakened a month ago — the ranking that updated at the start of each month was, in the end, most heavily influenced by the quality of a hunter's awakened skills.

"Alright, the month just rolled over. Log everything from rank 1000 to 2000 without missing a single entry. Watch the typos."

"U-Um, Manager?"

"What? Pfft — why are your pupils shaking like that. Did an S-rank gate just blow open nearby?"

"Have you checked the rankings from 1st through 5th?"

"……Why would I check the fixed seats?"

"Th-That's……—"

Something in his subordinate's reaction finally told the personnel team manager this wasn't normal. He pulled up the rankings at once and checked the very top of the board.

"……What is this?"

In that moment, the personnel team manager lost the ability to speak.

Sitting there in plain sight at 4th place — someone.

"……Hey. You all keep working for a bit. I need to make a call."

The next day.

The Republic of Korea turned upside down.