"Ji-hoon, let's talk privately~"

Following Yoo Hana's lead, I walked with her.

"What is it?"

"Hmm~ How about you becoming an S-rank Hunter quickly, Ji-hoon?"

She looked at me with eager anticipation.

"Well, it would be nice, but there are a lot of things I need to take care of first. Besides, becoming an S-rank Hunter isn’t something that happens overnight."

"What do you need to take care of?"

"I was planning to recruit all the S-rank Hunters to our guild first."

"Aww~ But if you become an S-rank Hunter first, then~"

Yoo Hana seemed very interested in me becoming an S-rank Hunter.

"You know that most S-rank Hunters are women, right, Ji-hoon?"

"Yes."

"Except for a few who barely made it to S-rank, all the famous S-rank Hunters are women."

"That's true."

"Then... how about you becoming the number one S-rank Hunter?"

"Me?"

I had never seriously considered it. Of course, I had vaguely thought about becoming an S-rank Hunter, but it was more of a distant goal.

It was more like, "I have a lot of points, so maybe I could do it someday."

"It would be great if you quickly rose to S-rank~"

"Yeah, but I'm still at D-rank. Maybe in about four months..."

"Why wait four months?"

Yoo Hana smiled.

"Isn’t the standard rule that you can only rank up once a month?"

"That's true, but if you have the endorsement of another S-rank, it's possible. I think you, Baek Ji-hoon, could become an S-rank Hunter this month."

This was an unexpected development—becoming an S-rank Hunter right away. I had just reached D-rank, and now I was being asked to jump four levels in one go.

"I heard you were planning to make Lee Soo-ah the top S-rank Hunter, right?"

"Yes."

"Why not aim to become the number one S-rank Hunter yourself? Isn’t this all about taking down Hunter Chae Soo-hyun? Am I right?"

Yoo Hana smiled knowingly, as if she already understood everything.

"Hmm. Yes, that’s true..."

"Ahem~ You mentioned before that you wanted to make someone regret their actions, right?"

"Yes."

"Then the best way to make them regret it is for you to become the number one S-rank Hunter while they fall into oblivion."

"Hmm..."

I stroked my chin, thinking it over. She had a point.

But as someone who had lived a relatively normal life, it was hard for me to suddenly dream so big.

"I agree."

"Then, how about I help you? Let’s do it together."

She looked excited, almost thrilled at the prospect.

"But would it really be good for me to become the number one S-rank Hunter?"

"Ha, of course! My dream has always been to meet a man who’s more impressive and successful than me!"

She exclaimed in a trembling voice, as if she had finally met her ideal match.

"None of the men I’ve met until now have caught my eye. But..."

She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence, just staring at me.

"I’ve never met a man with so many Hunter points before. It’s thrilling."

She wore an expression that was strangely full of excitement.

"Ji-hoon... I want to be by your side, supporting you. I want to see you become the number one S-rank Hunter."

She seemed genuinely excited by the idea.

"Alright. Let’s do it. Let’s move forward quickly."

"Phew... It’s all done."

We spent a very busy time in the break room, setting everything up to become an S-rank Hunter with Yoo Hana.

"Um, so, we’ve got everything set up to reach S-rank, but..."

"Yes?"

"You still have a lot of points left, right?"

"Yes, that’s true."

"Then why not aim to go even higher, maybe even to SSS-rank?"

"Oh..."

I had been carefully considering how to allocate my points. Up to this point, I had followed the well-trodden path without much hesitation. But I was still uncertain about the route beyond that.

"That could be a good idea."

"Let’s aim for the number one S-rank first, and then decide!"

"Okay."

I felt a sense of exhilaration. The points, which had been close to 1.5 billion, had now dropped to just under 1 billion.

It had only taken about two hours of point allocation to reach the level of an S-rank Hunter.

‘Wow. Am I really an S-rank Hunter now?’

I felt a thrill. This was a life I had never imagined.

It had only been about ten days since Chae Soo-hyun broke up with me. And yet, my life was changing completely.

‘And now Yoo Hana is going to be my assistant...’

If I told my friends, they would probably laugh at me. They’d call me a delusional maniac.

"What are you doing here? I’ve been looking for you everywhere."

Lee Soo-ah entered the break room, panting.

"Even though the Blue Guild has flexible working hours, have you really been in the break room for two hours?"

"Yes."

"What were you doing?"

"Allocating Ji-hoon’s points."

"Huh?"

Lee Soo-ah’s face hardened at Yoo Hana’s response.

"Oh... Um... To what level did you allocate them?"

"To S-rank for now."

"Oh... Ji-Jihoon..."

"Yes?"

"Please... don’t abandon me."

Suddenly, Lee Soo-ah collapsed to the floor, clinging to me.

"What? Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"

"I think I didn’t realize your true value. Can you forgive me for how I’ve acted until now?"

It seemed that Lee Soo-ah had undergone some kind of transformation during the two hours I hadn’t seen her.

"Why are you acting like this out of the blue?"

"I’ll do everything you ask, Ji-hoon. Just please stay with the Blue Guild."

"Don’t worry, I’m not planning on leaving."

Lee Soo-ah looked incredibly anxious.

A little earlier.

[Hunter Lee Soo-ah, have you heard the news?]

The rumors about Baek Ji-hoon had finally reached Lee Soo-ah.

[Aww~ There’s no way someone like that exists. If he had that many points, he would’ve become a superpower already. He’d be a super-rich Hunter, totally out of everyone’s league.]

Lee Soo-ah had replied to the message with a dismissive smile.

[Really? But Hunter Lee Ye-ji said it’s true. He just hasn’t used his points yet.] [Aww. That must be a joke. What’s the guy’s name?] [Baek Ji-hoon.]

Lee Soo-ah froze.

Her expression quickly turned to shock, and she dropped her smartphone.

‘Baek Ji-hoon? Huh? The Baek Ji-hoon I know? Wha... What??? Ji-hoon???’

She was completely stunned, staring blankly into space, her body rigid.

"Hmm? Soo-ah, what are you doing over there?"

Chief Cha, passing by, stopped and looked at her curiously.

Even though Chief Cha called her name, Lee Soo-ah didn’t respond. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she was in a daze.

"What’s wrong with her? Did she get hit by Medusa or something?"

"Cha... Chief Cha..."

"Yes?"

"I’m in big trouble."

"What happened?"

Lee Soo-ah’s face was filled with dread.

"Ji... Ji-hoon... I’ll help you with anything. I’ll do whatever you ask."

"You’re already doing that, aren’t you?"

"I mean, differently from before. I want to get closer to you, Ji-hoon."

"Alright, I understand."

I replied casually. I didn’t know why Lee Soo-ah was suddenly acting like this, but it wasn’t my main concern at the moment.

"Ji-hoon, I’ll work hard in the dungeon. That’s what you wanted, right? What else should I do?"

"No, there’s no need for that now. I think I can handle it on my own."

I said it calmly. Lee Soo-ah’s face contorted.

"Oh... No... Don’t say that..."

"Soo-ah, why don’t you stop being a bother and leave? From now on, get my permission before you come close to Ji-hoon. I’m his manager now."

"Wait, what? Don’t push me."

Yoo Hana cut into the conversation, pushing Lee Soo-ah out of the break room.

"Phew. Ji-hoon."

"Yes."

"I’ll take care of organizing your schedule from now on."

"Okay."

Yoo Hana looked at me with an expression full of affection. I felt like I hardly had to lift a finger.

Yoo Hana was taking care of everything, and now Lee Soo-ah was acting strangely desperate.

‘Why is she like this all of a sudden?’

"Huuuuu..."

"Soo-ah... what’s wrong?"

"Chief Cha..."

The quick-witted Chief Cha had quietly approached Lee Soo-ah. Normally, she would have scolded him for slacking off, but not today.

"What should I do? I think I’ve been acting foolishly."

"Why?"

"I think I misjudged people... Maybe I was too confident..."

She seemed to be filled with regret.

"Why do you say that?"

"I think Ji-hoon is someone really extraordinary."

"See? Didn’t I tell you that when he joined? That he’d be the treasure of our guild~"

Chief Cha looked at her with an expression that said everything was unfolding just as he had predicted.

"What should I do... I think I treated Ji-hoon badly... If I’d known this would happen..."

She looked like she was about to cry.

"What can you do~ You just need to do better from now on. The problem isn’t what happened before."

Chief Cha’s eyes gleamed.

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn’t you also be thinking about other S-rank Hunters?"

"Uh...?"

"I think other S-rank Hunters might start causing a stir soon."

"Uh...?"

A sense of unease began to settle over Lee Soo-ah. Her expression hardened as she started to think about how she should act going forward.