Chapter 6: [TS] I only level up alone -Episode 5

A welcome face entered from behind the large, bulky man.

“No, Chairman, if you just barge in like that…”

“Ah.”

Sung Jinah stood in front of me, looking at the large man, and spoke.

“Chairman…?”

“Hmm? Are you Sung Jinwoo? Oh, just as I heard!”

He walked straight to Sung Jinah, clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed heartily.

“Chairman…”

“Hahahahaha!!”

“Um… Chairman?”

“What is it?”

“Sung Jinwoo is over there.”

Woo Jin-cheol pointed at me, sitting on the bed, and correctly told the Chairman, who was strangely mistaken, that I was Sung Jinwoo.

“Huh?”

The Chairman, who had been looking back and forth between me and my younger brother Sung Jinah, approached me with an embarrassed laugh.

“Uh… I apologize, Jinwoo. I made a mistake. Haha!”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

The Chairman approached me, apologized for the mistake, and offered the same apology to Sung Jinah.

Sung Jinah accepted the apology, then turned to look at me, wondering what was going on.

“Ah, Sung Jinah, I’ll explain that.”

Woo Jin-cheol stepped forward, stood in front of Sung Jinah and me, and began to explain.

“First, I’d like to congratulate Jinwoo.”

“Thank you.”

“Sister? What is this about?”

“I’ll explain right away.”

Woo Jin-cheol explained what had happened so far.

The story of how I got trapped in a double dungeon while clearing a dungeon, and how that double dungeon contained monsters of at least A-rank or higher.

And the story of Sung Jinwoo, who had collapsed inside that double dungeon.

Finally, the story of Sung Jinwoo’s reawakening.

“Double dungeon? Sister, are you kidding me?! You said you were just lightly injured! Were you lying? Sister, seriously…!”

“Ah, um… that’s…”

‘Oh, I’m really going to get lectured again.’

I glared at Woo Jin-cheol, and he avoided my gaze.

‘Ugh.’

“More importantly, what you said earlier about not being able to quit being a Hunter.”

“…”

“That, was it because of your reawakening?”

“…”

“Tell me. Was it because of your reawakening?”

“Yes…”

“Sister, seriously…”

‘Normally, wouldn’t someone be happy if they reawakened?’

‘But why is Sung Jinah on the verge of tears?’

“If it’s a reawakening… what rank are you? You were E-rank, so D-rank? Or C-rank?”

“…rank.”

“What? Sister, I can’t hear you well. Tell me properly.”

“S-rank…”

“Ah, S-rank…?”

“Yes. S-rank.”

“S… S?! S-rank??!”

‘Was he on the verge of tears because he thought my reawakening wouldn’t make much of a difference?’

‘That’s sad in its own way…’

“Yes. That’s why our Chairman came here personally.”

“S-rank… My sister is S-rank…? Haah…”

“Huh?”

“Sung Jinah, what’s wrong?”

“Now that you’re S-rank, you’ll be doing even harder things… It makes me sad just thinking about you getting hurt, but I don’t want to think about it, but if, if something goes wrong, that’s not right…”

“Sung Jinah…”

‘I only thought of him as a young kid.’

‘Does this mean he’s all grown up now?’

‘And he can worry about me too.’

“Can’t you… not do it?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, being a Hunter… can’t you not do it?”

“…”

‘Even so, an S-rank Hunter in South Korea isn’t common, and I can’t just not do it.’

‘Besides, my power is probably the strongest in this world right now.’

‘Of course, I don’t have my Shadow Soldiers, but I never relied on them to begin with; I always trained my own power.’

“That would be difficult, Sung Jinah.”

“Hoo… I guess so. It’s not just any rank, but S-rank…”

Sung Jinah sighed as if there was nothing he could do.

“Just don’t get hurt.”

“Huh?”

“I said don’t get hurt. If you get hurt, I’ll make sure you can’t be a Hunter from that day on. Got it?”

It was definitely a lecture, just like before, but the atmosphere of this lecture was different from before.

I told him I understood and not to worry.

“More importantly, aren’t you going to school? You said you were just out for a bit.”

“Oh, right!”

“Goodness, you scatterbrain. Didn’t you say you’d study hard and support your sister? How about worrying about yourself instead of worrying about your sister?”

“Sister, I’m going now! If I leave now, I won’t be late!”

‘I wonder who he takes after, being such a scatterbrain…’

As Sung Jinah hurriedly left the hospital room, the Chairman, who had waited for the family to finish their conversation, spoke.

“It’s good to see him worrying about his sister.”

“Indeed. Haha.”

Woo Jin-cheol echoed the Chairman’s praise for Sung Jinah.

“By the way… since Sung Jinah has left, shall we move on to the main topic?”

Once Sung Jinah left, the Chairman moved on to the main topic.

“Sung Jinwoo, I’ll be direct.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any intention of joining the Association?”

“…”

“I promise you treatment that won’t fall behind other guilds, no, even better than other guilds.”

‘Listening to him, I remembered meeting the Chairman for the first time.’

‘Even then, he told me to join the Association.’

‘But back then.’

‘And now.’

“I…”

‘My answer would be the same.’

****

I stayed in the hospital for a few more days before being discharged.

This was because the test results showed there would be no problem with my discharge.

After being discharged, I applied for information protection until my rank evaluation.

A “measurement impossible” notification appeared, meaning I had to go to the Association to re-measure my rank.

Since there wasn’t much time left, I decided to finish the remaining tasks as quickly as possible and then go.

“No photos allowed!”

“Please evacuate quickly!”

‘Ah. What is this sound?’

“What are the Hunters doing?”

“How long are they going to fight?”

“I wish they’d finish it quickly.”

“The damage is getting worse. What if land prices drop?”

I’m at a Gate that opened nearby, similar to when I cleared an Instant Dungeon a long time ago and came out.

I remember disabling and capturing it by throwing my sword.

‘So why did I come here?’

‘I came because everyone might die.’

‘Back then, it was captured because I helped, but not now.’

‘Still, isn’t it better than everyone dying?’

“Healers! Focus your healing on the Tank!”

“We’re doing our best too!”

“Why isn’t it falling?”

“What are the Dealers doing? It shows no sign of falling!”

“That monster’s defense is too high. And there are only a few magic-type Hunters!”

The Hunters called in a hurry didn’t seem to be very high-ranked.

Crash!

As the Golem brought its massive stone fist down, the knee of the Hunter acting as a Tank buckled for a moment.

“Cough!”

Blood gushed from the Tank’s mouth.

“Ah, no!”

“The Tank is going to die at this rate!”

“What are we supposed to do?! Our mana is running out!”

“Has support from high-rank Hunters arrived yet?”

The Hunters seemed to have reached their limit.

Sung Jinwoo’s eyes, watching everything, gleamed sharply.

‘Now’s the time.’

‘This was the perfect timing for her to step forward.’

Sung Jinwoo slowly began to walk through the crowd.

“Oh, what the…”

“Who is that person?”

“Whoa? You can’t go there!”

“Stop!”

Soldiers ran to stop me, but it was already too late.

Because I had already walked in front of the boss.

“Who is that person?!”

“You can’t come in here!”

“Get back!”

“Who let her in!?”

Sung Jinwoo, having arrived in front of the boss, extended her hand.

The boss looked at Sung Jinwoo and raised its arm.

The aggro had reset because it was distracted by Sung Jinwoo for a moment.

“No!!”

The Tank, thinking of Sung Jinwoo who would die because of him, couldn’t bear to watch and squeezed his eyes shut.

But when no particular sound was heard even after some time passed, the Tank opened his eyes and looked at the boss.

“W-What in the…?”