S-Class Except Me

Noodle on Haeun’s wrist vibrated. Haeun drew her hand wide down toward the damp garden where hundreds of undead were buried, trying to climb onto the ground. 

Boom, boom, boom! 

At that moment, the ground turned upside down and shook as if it were an earthquake. For a brief moment, the heavy rain changed direction, splashing the soil in the garden and causing a series of explosions.

Boom, boom! 

When the explosion, which lasted for quite a while, finally stopped, what unfolded in front of people was the sight of all the skeletons buried under the ground being fragmented and scattered all over the garden.

Tring–.

[SYSTEM: Synchronization rate has increased.]

[SYSTEM: Current synchronization rate of 21.13%]

As usual, Haeun’s notification window popped up at the same time.

[SYSTEM: Area A breakthrough completed

Achievement rate: 97% (Pass if 95% or more)

Monsters Killed: 243

Duration: 00:21:57]

A notification window popped up saying that the attack in Area A had been completed.

“No way.”

Oh Jinyoung opened his mouth stupidly and dropped the shield.

Kwon Joongseo quickly turned his head to look at the ruined surroundings. Yoo Jihyun froze as she held the sword, and Choi Yeojin dazedly clapped her hands.

And their leader, Seo Dojoon, was somehow impressed.

Haeun, who was struggling with magic, suddenly realized.

“Oh, that’s right.”

I’m here to take a bus today.

At this rate, instead of taking the bus, it was like Haeun was giving them a ride. She suddenly felt a lot of energy, so she acted without realizing it. 

Haeun smiled awkwardly and looked back at the people. Then, the people became completely excited and rushed at Haeun. 

“Oh my! Hunter Jung Haeun! What was that just about?” 

“Is what I saw real? You said you finished it all by yourself?”

“Haeun-ah! You are so amazing!”

“Ahahaha.” 

Haeun laughed awkwardly at the enthusiastic response.

She decided to work hard, but she didn’t want to intervene except when taking down the final boss monster. She did the right thing right from the beginning.

“Wow, that’s almost the shortest time, isn’t it? Has our guild ever shortened the time like this?”

“I’ve been here with team leader Park before, but it seemed like it took two hours even then.”

“Right? That’s really great. Isn’t this the level where you have to get an achievement notification? Is it a system error?” 

Come to think of it, Haeun also faced an alarm that surfaced as an abnormal achievement in the United States. Curious, Haeun asked Kwon Joongseo.

“How do achievement alerts appear?”

“Ah, about that. If the time required is the shortest, or if you show a play that will impress the system, it will come up. Needless to say, I thought it would be the shortest time. It usually takes about 90 minutes to attack Area A.”

“Hmm…” 

Haeun’s record was 21 minutes. There may have been a delay due to rain, but it wasn’t to the extent that they thought it took long. Kwon Joongseo visibly regretted it and grunted.

“If this level of record can’t be registered as an achievement, how many minutes did the first place pass?”

And at that moment, the Constellation spoke to Haeun.

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ asks Haeun if she is curious.]

He acted as if he could show it to her. Haeun opened her eyes wide and nodded. Then, in front of Haeun, a window appeared that showed traces of time different from what usually comes to mind.

[SYSTEM: <The Mansion of Nebiros> Achievement Ranking

* Only one person with a high contribution will be recorded

* Classification: Attack Time

1st place: JHE

2nd place: A.A.A

…

7th place: Jung Haeun]

Haeun was in 7th place. She said the average attack time was 90 minutes, so she thought it would be a decent grade, but it was lower than expected.

However, there was something that caught Haeun’s attention more than the fact that she was ranked 7th. It’s the name that occupies the top row of the list.

‘Me?’

She was shocked to see that the initials were the same.

Haeun could not have missed the notification window informing her that she had completed her achievement for today.

For Haeun, it is the first time in her life to clear the dungeon <The Mansion of Nebiros>. She didn’t suffer from memory loss, and there’s no way she could have forgotten when she attacked it. 

She didn’t know who it was, but it seemed that someone with the same initials as Haeun left a record.

‘You’re good.’

Haeun closed the system window feeling a little proud as a person with the same initials.

“Anyway, thanks to Hunter Jung Haeun-nim, it ended very quickly.” 

“I know. Also, don’t you think the guild leader is in a much better condition than usual today?”

Kwon Joongseo openly smirked at Choi Yeojin’s impression. 

“There must be someone who wants to look good. Don’t you think so, guild leader?”

Haeun is the only new member of Seo Dojoon’s team today.

Haeun secretly checked Seo Dojoon’s face at the words that must have been referring to her. The expression is the same as usual. However, when their eyes met, he secretly avoided Haeun’s gaze. 

‘Huh.’

This is a different reaction than usual. So she wanted to tease him more. Haeun smirked and asked.

“Did you want to look good for me?”

Seo Dojoon’s lips twitched. He tried hard to stick to his expressionless face.

“I always do my best in everything.”

“Aha.”

“It’s true.”

“Who said no?”

“….” 

“Hehe.”

How cute.

“By the way, it keeps raining. What about Lycoris?” 

“The raid on Area A was over quickly, so shall we go after harvesting a little?”

After hearing Choi Yeojin and Yoo Jihyun’s conversation, Haeun looked at the garden in the rain with cloudy eyes.

The problem with the skeleton that was buried in the garden had been resolved so nothing else would come out. But when she thought she had to pluck flowers in the pouring rain, her eyes darkened.

Boo—m! 

As if representing Haeun’s troubled mind, thunder and lightning struck.

“Is it really necessary?”

She really hates to do it. No matter how Haeun vows to live hard from now on, it means that she will fulfill her responsibilities as a hunter, not that she will work on picking flowers in the rain.

Fortunately, Seo Dojoon recognized Haeun’s inner thoughts and sided with her.

“Let’s give up Lycoris. This dungeon has a fast reset cycle, so the next raid will come soon. Or, there is time until the gate closes after the raid is complete, so you can root at that time.”

“Hmm. Well, it’s not that long because the cycle is about 50 days.”

“It rains so much that digging it up without damaging the roots will be difficult. I pass too.”

“Then you know that we all have the same opinion…” 

“But I want to root everything and go?” 

Everyone’s eyes turned backward at someone’s voice of opposition.

After unknowingly exclaiming at Haeun’s performance, Oh Jinyoung, who had kept his mouth shut without saying a word, was the main character of the voice.

Oh Jinyoung crossed his arms and stood.

“Except for Lycoris, there is nothing to root here. Inside, everything is full of useless items.”

“It also has devil horns.”

It is an item that extends the expiration date by grinding it into powder and adding it to drugs. However, Oh Jinyoung protested harshly that it was not enough.

“That’s a completely useless item!”

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ says that Lycoris is similar to a useless item, so he just seems to want to pick a fight.]

“There were dungeons with better things in the first place.”

“Oh Jinyoung.”

“If the rank is high, the unit price is high. If it’s EX-Class, can you do whatever you want? You’re not even a guild member—” 

“Hunter Oh Jinyoung, stop it.”

Only then did Oh Jinyoung shut his mouth at Seo Dojoon’s stern voice. But he still had displeasure in his eyes. He even glared at Haeun.

“Hahaha. Why is our Jinyoung suddenly like this?”

When the atmosphere suddenly became cold, Kwon Joongseo deliberately laughed loudly and tapped Oh Jinyoung on the shoulder.

“The price of devil horns has risen a lot these days. I’ll give you all my share. Let’s sell it to the Hunter Market. Okay?”

“Who wants to have a useless item like that? I could have gone elsewhere today. All of a sudden, Hunter Jung Haeun got involved—” 

“Oh, my. Our Jinyoung must be in a bad mood today. Should this Uncle take a walk with you?” 

Kwon Joongseo, as if trying to block Oh Jinyoung’s mouth, grabbed him between his armpits and dragged him inside. Haeun laughed in vain.

‘Does it seem like there’s something wrong with me?’

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’  gets angry, saying that he doesn’t even want to know about the low-rank punk that isn’t worth it.]

‘Is he defending his territory?’ (t/n: 텃세 means defending one’s territory or the state of a person who settled down first, acting high-handedly to a person who joins later.) 

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ says that Haeun is not even a guild member of the Ahyeon Guild.]

‘Maybe he’s more territorial since I’m not a guild member.’

If Haeun takes issue with Oh Jinyoung’s attitude here, the atmosphere in the team will be tense.  

Of course, it is a situation where it is clearly felt that Oh Jinyoung is picking a fight with Haeun.

But apart from everything, Oh Jinyoung was Seo Dojoon’s team member. Even if he’s on a crooked line for Haeun, it means he’s been acting with others for a long time.

In the end, wouldn’t his arm bend inwards?

“Uhm.” 

She doesn’t think she should have come. Haeun regretted it for the first time.

After all, nothing is free in this world. If she decided to take the Seo Dojoon express bus, the real passengers who were on the bus in advance would have to endure it.

It’s as if Ha-eun was even behind the wheel of the bus!

– Hunter Seo Dojoon, I just want to get off!

– It’s dangerous, so please sit down until you reach your destination, customer.

She wants to get off now, but the bus has already left. Damn it.