Choose Your Ranker (3)
Is this the place where Kim Ha-jin is?
The location the cult leader’s subordinates had mentioned—the abandoned factory.
It had that same worn-out, neglected feel it always carried, as if it had been shuttered for some time before this whole mess began.
Thud. Thud.
I stepped inside and swept the entire place with my eyes, but every machine I passed was already dead, rusting in the dark. No sign of Kim Ha-jin, turned to stone or otherwise.
‘Hmm. I hope they weren’t lying.’
With the cult leader already dead, there was no reason for those idiots to spin a yarn now.
Yet the place felt empty.
‘Did I come to the wrong factory?’
I turned to leave, convinced I had wandered into another nearby site, when a deafening boom echoed from somewhere.
Wham!
“What the—?!”
The sound seemed to come from inside the factory, but nothing existed where I stood.
“Hey. That noise came from here, right?”
“Huh? What noise?”
“I definitely heard a bang!”
“I heard nothing.”
White Dragon reacted completely differently from me.
“Did you hear that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I heard it clear as day!”
“I heard nothing.”
White Dragon simply stared at me with an expression that said he had heard nothing at all.
“What the hell is going on?”
I figured I must have misheard and turned to leave again, only for the same boom to ring out.
Wham!
“I heard it that time!”
“I told you, I heard nothing!”
“Listen closely! It came from right below us!”
White Dragon still showed no reaction.
The sound didn’t seem to be coming from inside the factory at all.
It felt like it was rumbling up from beneath the ground.
‘There has to be a way down.’
I was certain I hadn’t misheard.
I scanned the floor around the source of the noise and found a patch covered by something thick.
‘Here?’
Whip!
I shoved aside the rubber sheet and revealed a heavy iron door beneath it, the entrance to a hidden passage.
“Look! There’s something here.”
“Huh? That’s weird. I still hear nothing.”
White Dragon truly seemed oblivious.
Creak.
I lifted the door and a staircase leading downward appeared.
Absolute pitch darkness.
“Go in, White Dragon.”
“What?”
“Go see for yourself. It’s pitch black.”
“……”
White Dragon looked utterly bewildered by my actions, as if I were treating him like a lamp.
“Come on, just go in. I’ll make something delicious for you later.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
The promise of a delicious meal instantly cheered him up, and he marched inside first.
Simple creature.
Thud. Thud.
I had no idea whether this space had always existed beneath the factory or had been created by the disaster, but it felt deep.
‘Why on earth is there a hidden facility here? And what was that noise?’
Too many unanswered questions. I gripped my knife and shield tight and slowly descended, scanning the surroundings for threats.
After a short while.
Wham!
“I heard it this time! Did you?”
“What are you even saying? I’ve been telling you I heard nothing!”
“I’m not lying! It came from right in front of us!”
White Dragon still stared at me blankly, as if the sound had never reached his ears.
“Hah. I’m losing my mind. Why won’t you hear it?”
My ears might be playing tricks, but I had come this far.
I pressed deeper and spotted iron bars ahead.
‘What’s with the bars?’
Dozen upon dozen empty cages stretched out before me.
‘What kind of facility is this under the factory?’
It was nothing like any normal setup I had ever seen.
I kept going.
Another boom echoed.
Wham!
‘There it is!’
I approached the source, heart pounding, only to freeze in place.
[Baeksan ★ Lv-?]
‘What the—!’
A colossal monster loomed before me.
It was no ordinary creature.
A bear-like beast covered in thick white fur, easily ten times larger than any normal bear.
-Grrrrrrrrr!
Wham!
It had spotted me and began slamming its body against the bars, roaring.
“Insane! Run!”
“Why?”
“Can’t you see it?!”
“What are you even saying?!”
White Dragon looked utterly confused by my reaction.
How could I be reacting this way when such a terrifying monster stood right in front of me?
“There! A monster is inside!”
“What are you talking about?”
With that, White Dragon flew straight toward the cage.
“What are you doing?! Get back here!”
White Dragon charged straight at the monster as if he wanted to die.
‘What do I do now?’
The creature before me was far beyond anything I could handle.
I couldn’t abandon White Dragon, yet I also couldn’t leave him to die.
I was paralyzed.
At that moment.
Roar!
The beast opened its massive jaws, clearly targeting White Dragon.
“White Dragon, run!”
White Dragon ignored my warning and continued leaping around inside the cage with carefree ease.
And then.
Crunch!
“Gah!”
I couldn’t watch. I turned my head away.
The once-unstoppable White Dragon had been wiped out so easily.
‘Sorry. I couldn’t protect you.’
I offered a silent prayer to the fallen dragon, then turned to flee the area.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
A voice reached me.
White Dragon’s voice.
Was it the echo of a dead soul?
“Sorry! Next time I’ll cook something really delicious!”
I made a promise to the deceased White Dragon that if he ever revived, I would treat him to the finest meal.
I tried to slip away, but something white blocked my path.
“Really?! Two already?”
Was I seeing White Dragon’s soul now?
The dead creature floated before me with a happy expression, waving its paws.
“Ugh… I’m sorry.”
I rushed forward, but.
Thud.
“Ouch! Damn it. Why are you hitting me?”
White Dragon clung to my body.
‘Huh?’
Not only did it hit me, it stuck to my hand.
“How are you alive?”
“Huh? I died?”
“I saw you get eaten!”
“I did?”
White Dragon looked utterly baffled by my words.
“The monster… clearly…”
“No monster here.”
White Dragon flew toward the cage again.
Was there truly no monster?
‘There was one.’
Even from a distance, the creature was visible.
Yet White Dragon claimed there was nothing.
‘Wait.’
Something strange was happening.
The monster lunged at White Dragon’s cage once more, but the attack did nothing.
“What? How are you still fine?”
“Of course. There’s nothing here.”
White Dragon’s words were true, but my eyes saw otherwise.
I could still see the monster’s shape.
Yet to White Dragon it was as harmless as a hologram.
‘Wait. This must be…’
The phenomenon only I could see.
The cause suddenly clicked.
‘That skill from back then!’
The skill I had received after completing the scenario quest.
I had skimmed over it in a daze, but it clearly explained the current situation.
[Skill - Gourmet Predator]
[Gourmet Monster Identification ★][Passive]
※ Allows you to perceive hidden gourmet monsters.
※ Only Gourmet Predators can see hidden monsters.
※ Consuming hidden monsters grants special abilities.
‘So that’s why.’
It all made sense now.
Thanks to this passive skill, the monster was visible only to me.
‘If I eat it, I get special abilities?’
I wasn’t sure I could devour it, but knowing it was edible at least sharpened my appetite.
‘Still, where is Kim Ha-jin?’
I searched the area, but there was no sign of him.
He must have been moved elsewhere.
Everything except that monster seemed invisible to me.
I decided to investigate Kim Ha-jin later and focused on whether I could devour Baeksan.
Then a new message appeared before my eyes.
—Hello everyone? This is Planetary Administrator 999. Have you all chosen your rankers well? Voting will begin shortly, so please prepare.
Hello everyone? This is Planetary Administrator 999. Have you all chosen your rankers well? Voting will begin shortly, so please prepare.
‘Voting. Why are they doing this?’
I had no vote, so the timing was meaningless to me, but I still needed to understand how many people were voting and what the results would mean.
Whether voting heavily was good or bad was unknown to me right now.
The outcome of this vote would determine how I acted.
—Then let the voting begin. Vote for your ranker among the 101 rankers. If you do not use your vote, it will be automatically assigned to one of the 101 rankers.
[Time Limit: 00:10:00]
Voting would last only ten minutes.
Real-time voting results appeared beside me.
Voting Rank 1: Rank 1 Kang Ha-seong (Paladin)
Voting Rank 2: Rank 3 Geum Bit-na-ra (Charmer)
Voting Rank 3: Rank 2 Kim Min-sung (Predator)
Real-time rankings.
Honestly, the current standings were likely very close to the actual ranker order.
With only two hours of broadcast time, I had no idea what my choice would bring.
Still, I couldn’t just vote for anyone.
So the top three votes matched the actual ranker order.
But when I saw the fourth place.
I questioned whether I was seeing things correctly.
Voting Rank 4: Rank 99 Park Jin-hwan (Healer)
Jin-hwan had made it into the top 101.
Yet his rank was so close to 100 that he was likely to be eliminated.
That was why he had done nothing notable on the broadcast.
But why was he fourth in the votes?
I had no idea what broadcast he had been watching while I was dealing with Gong Jin-sa.
It was impossible to guess.