TSOT#1 Chapter 23
by Ren“…You.”
He strode toward her and touched Joo-ah’s system window.
“Did your rank go up already?”
Chan-hee let out a small scoff as he spoke. It seemed he had noticed the change in Joo-ah’s level through the system window. She nodded casually, unaffected.
“Yes, so please stop calling me an E-rank.”
Chan-hee smirked as if he found it amusing.
“Then should I start calling you a D-rank?”
Joo-ah frowned, clearly annoyed. He continued, feigning indifference.
“Or should I just call you Seo Joo-ah?”
As his finger slid across her system window, it naturally brushed against Joo-ah’s brown hair. It was a habitual motion—a subtle, unconscious gesture that often came off as flirtatious.
Joo-ah swatted his hand away with an irritated expression.
“You don’t need to call me by name. Just treat me like a proper Hunter.”
Chan-hee glanced at the hand she had pushed away, then asked indifferently.
“A proper Hunter?”
“Now that I’m ranked, I think I’ve earned the right to be called a Hunter. At least I’m capable of protecting civilians against low-level monsters.”
Her rank might still be unimpressive, but making it into the rankings at all carried significant weight. It meant she was no longer someone to be completely dismissed.
Chan-hee chuckled lowly, shoving both hands into his pockets.
“I’ve never thought of you as not being a Hunter.”
Startled by his unexpected response, Joo-ah looked at him with slightly widened eyes. He shrugged nonchalantly and spoke again.
“No matter how mediocre your abilities are, a Hunter is still a Hunter. Unlike civilians, you can face monsters directly.”
He smirked slyly, adding with a mocking tone, “Even if it means you’ll get killed by a monster in one second.”
His blunt words and annoying smirk made it hard to find anything likable about him, but his earlier comment was surprising.
Joo-ah let out a small laugh and replied, “Well, that’s still better than the chairman.”
Chan-hee furrowed his brows. “The chairman?”
“Yes, Chairman Yoo Tae-jun doesn’t even see me as a Hunter.”
Her calm words made Chan-hee chuckle in amusement.
“You’ve met the chairman personally?”
“We talked briefly about team assignments.”
At this, he scrunched his nose.
“Team assignments? About you joining our team?”
“More like asking him to correct the mistake of putting me in this team. Though, as you can see, nothing changed.”
Seeing her displeased expression, Chan-hee seemed perplexed.
“Why are you so desperate to leave our team? Honestly, it seems like you dislike being here more than we dislike having you.”
Joo-ah replied matter-of-factly, “It’s better to train within my capabilities and achieve good results than to despair over poor performance in training beyond my level.”
Chan-hee laughed dismissively.
“No matter how much you train at your level, you’ll never measure up to our team. The association doesn’t even bother managing lower-ranked Hunters properly. At least for top-tier teams like ours, the government keeps an eye on us, ensuring records and customized training sessions.”
Joo-ah looked at him intently as he spoke, making him narrow his eyes suspiciously.
“What?” he asked.
With an enigmatic smile, Joo-ah replied, “You sound like you’re asking me to stay in the top-tier group.”
His expression twisted in irritation.
“Don’t get it twisted. I’d love nothing more than for you to leave our team as soon as possible.”
But then, as if contradicting himself, he reached out and lightly brushed her hair off her shoulder.
“I just find it annoying that you seem to have no attachment to our team.”
Joo-ah let out a short laugh, exasperated. “So you’d prefer if I begged to stay in this team?”
With a sly smile, Chan-hee responded, “Wouldn’t that be amusing?”
With that, he turned and walked away. Joo-ah stared at his retreating figure in disbelief.
As he reached for the doorknob, Chan-hee turned back for one last comment. Meeting her gaze, he smirked mischievously.
“Don’t go jumping Jae-rim just because no one else is around.”
Joo-ah’s face twisted in irritation as she tried to retort, but Chan-hee waved casually and exited the room.
“Unbelievable,” Joo-ah muttered as she stared at the closed door. With a sigh, she turned and headed toward the training room.
Though her training had been delayed because of Chan-hee, she decided to make up for the lost time.
Instead of heading directly into the training room, Joo-ah entered a monitoring area with a clear view of the training grounds through glass walls.
Although her rank had risen to D, she was still limited in what she could do in an elite training room. So she decided to make the most of the safer training programs available.
She recalled using similar facilities in the past during her time in elite forces, though back then, the person in charge of the sessions had been Chairman Tae-jun.
Smiling faintly at the memory, Joo-ah tapped the glass wall twice.
[Enter Password]
[ * * ]
Joo-ah smirked and tapped the number ‘0’ four times.
[Access Granted]
“You should really change your password,” she muttered.
The virtual training program was managed by the Special Awakener Association. The interface she was accessing was meant for staff use only.
Back then, Tae-jun had entered the password in front of Eun-young without a second thought, fully aware that she was watching.
“Am I supposed to see this?” she had asked, stunned.
Tae-jun had shrugged, answering nonchalantly, “Nope.”
“Then why would you enter it in front of me?”
“Too much hassle,” he’d replied simply.
To this day, the ridiculously simple password remained unchanged.
“Not my fault he never changed it,” Joo-ah muttered as she navigated the staff-exclusive interface.
She scanned through the training options and tweaked a few settings to resolve a familiar glitch Tae-jun had often caused by overloading virtual monster levels. After making the adjustments, she selected her opponents:
[A-rank]
[SS-rank]
Two virtual monsters materialized in the training room below.
Ordinarily, the monsters would target Hunters directly. But thanks to Joo-ah’s modifications, the monsters turned on each other instead.
The SS-rank monster lunged, sinking its teeth into the A-rank monster. Joo-ah watched the ensuing battle with calm interest.
“Guess I should help the poor A-rank,” she said, casting a healing spell. A soft white glow enveloped the A-rank monster.
Health: 766 / 865 (+43)
Joo-ah frowned. The recovery was slightly better than when she’d been E-rank, but still unimpressive.
Next, she used her reinforcement magic.
Attack Power: 784 (+39)
The A-rank monster charged its ultimate move, electricity crackling from the horns atop its head.
But before it could strike, the SS-rank monster closed the distance. A yellow bolt of lightning erupted, filling the room with a blinding flash.
When the smoke cleared, the SS-rank monster was still standing.
Joo-ah cursed under her breath and hastily raised the A-rank monster’s defense, but it was too late. The SS-rank monster grabbed its opponent and hurled it—straight toward her observation window.
Joo-ah squeezed her eyes shut instinctively.
The sound of impact echoed faintly through the soundproof glass, and when she opened her eyes, someone was standing behind her, shielding her with their hands over her head.