I Became the Rankers’ Number One Pick

eo Hee-eun sniffled.
“My heart ached at how fragile you are.
I asked them to give you the best nutritional supplements, my darling.”

“Ah, yes… Thank you.”

Seo-ah sifted through her vague memories.

Kang Soo-jung had finally knocked down the Stone Knight when a large stone and a few small ones flew at her.

But she was alive now, which meant someone had saved her.

She looked at Ahn Ji-yoo and Seo Hee-eun alternately, making a sullen expression.
“Well, isn’t it about time? For both of you?”

“You noticed? How did you know?” Hee-eun asked awkwardly, pulling at the skin of her ‘face’.

Ahn Ji-yoo calmly did the same.

As expected, they were Baek Eun-hee and Yoo Ji-an, respectively.

“With your fake names? It was painfully obvious.”

It seemed that even S-class hunters didn’t have a good sense for naming.

Even so, it was when she had shaken their hands that she was able to confirm their identities.
Unlike when she’d touched Soo-jung, her mission points didn’t increase at all, which meant that this was not the first time they’d had contact.

“Hey, who are you? S-class… That…” Kang Soo-jung pursed her lips.

“What even is that? You both looked so different.”

“It’s a face-changing mask for hunters.”

“So why…”

It was a mask that changed one’s features the moment it was put on, a rare object that was only collected in gates.
Aside from how expensive it was, it was also only fit for one use.
Most hunters wouldn’t even think of using it for something so simple as following someone.

Baek Eun-hee carefully examined Seo-ah’s face.
“Darling, are you mad? I didn’t mean anything else, I was just…”

“…”

“Worried,” she mumbled with a troubled face.

Yoo Ji-an, who was leaning against a nearby wall, said nothing but continued to observe Seo-ah.

“Haha…” Seo-ah smiled.

Who else in the world received such attention from high-ranked hunters? Of course, it was more like an act of necessity on their part rather than unconditional favor, but their interest was not particularly distasteful.

She sat up, looking at them, and slowly lowered her head.
“There’s no way that I’m angry.
In fact, I should be thanking you both for saving my life.”

In hindsight, she really had been reckless, applying for a team when she was so inexperienced and ignorant.
In the end, she got into an accident.

Honestly, she wouldn’t have survived without them.

Her sincere gratitude made the two S-class hunters momentarily speechless.

“I didn’t mean to be so late.
I tried to follow you right away, but they were trying to persuade me,” Yoo Ji-an murmured.

Seo-ah paused, pondering over the words, and soon understood that he was referring to Team 1.
“Right, now that we’re on the subject, do you know what happened to them?”

“Gates are dangerous places.
Even if they’re low-ranked, accidents can happen at any time,” Baek Eun-hee smirked, the curve of her lips a little cruel.

“Uh, so…”

Yoo Ji-an added an explanation firmly, “It means that the gate has become their grave.”

“Oh! You mean… You killed them?”

He nodded slightly.
She gulped.

But although their calm admissions were surreal to her, she felt like it would be wrong to criticize them immediately.
Even though they were S-class hunters, she didn’t believe they would kill indiscriminately for no reason.

“I’d like to hear what happened.”

Baek Eun-hee sighed in relief.
“Yoo Ji-an and I went in the directions we were told to, but you were going the opposite way so I only went northwest for a little bit.”

Apparently, the first team had returned to their reference point, where Hong Jae-woo was, and on her way to follow Seo-ah, she met them.
From the beginning, it seemed that their intention was to guard the roads so that the members of the second team could not join the other two in the south.

Also, the injured healer had been healthier than expected.

“In my case, Kim Dae-hoon and Choi Tae-hyun suggested that I let you two die first and then defeat the boss together and divide the rewards by the number of people left,” Yoo Ji-an added.

Baek Eun-hee replied, “I didn’t hear anything like that from them.
Lee So-ri and that healer just didn’t let me go.
Soon enough, they tried to kill me.”

“I guess I looked more useful than you,” he pointed out.

She snorted.
“I’m not envious of being recognized by trash.”

Yoo Ji-an frowned instead of responding.