Don’t Look for the S-Class Hunter with Retirement 9

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9

* * *

Samin was lying sprawled on the bed when he sat up.

“What are you talking about, hyung? Why aren’t you ranked 1st?”

It was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard in his life. Magnetic not being ranked 1st among hunters? Throughout Samin’s hunter life of about a year and six months, Magnetic had always been the star carved at the top of the system-certified leaderboard.

Seeming within reach if he stretched out his hand, yet so distant.

A mysterious existence with little known information, arousing curiosity.

That was hunter Magnetic.

‘But not ranked 1st? When was he ever not ranked 1st?’

Samin was dumbfounded. Even when he reduced his sleep like crazy to conquer towers and dungeons, desperately climbing the rankings, 1st place was something he couldn’t grasp. Yet the person who had engraved his nickname in that position for several years was speaking as if he was nothing more than a relic of the times.

-Aren’t you mistaken about something?

“Hyung. Do you perhaps not access the system…?”

Instead of blaming Doun for that, Samin asked carefully.

-…I don’t.

The current domestic ranking 1st place answered hesitantly with a voice dripping with bewilderment. It was a voice so lacking in confidence and thoroughly intimidated that he could vaguely imagine what expression he might be making.

‘That bastard Timer…’

There were few hunters who didn’t know the story between Magnetic and Timer. Unless they were rookie hunters who had just awakened and were starting to access Veritas, they couldn’t not know about the one-sided exploitation that had occurred between those two.

Rankers’ private lives floated around the Veritas bulletin board like public property. Samin, who had once felt inferior to Magnetic and struggled to drag him down to 2nd place, had also gathered information by searching for all sorts of words referring to Magnetic.

Samin had watched all of Timer Choi Jeongwook’s past misdeeds and the series of disgraceful incidents he had caused just a few months ago.

Still, quite some time had passed since the incident on the 44th floor.

Hunter Magnetic, whom he respected, was a strong person.

He had recklessly approached Doun with inexplicable confidence that if he sincerely reached out, he would be accepted. However.

-Why are you doing this…?

His presumption that things would be fine by now had been his own arrogance. His words about quitting being a hunter might have been sincere too. It wasn’t words to shake off his bothersome self, but he really went into hiding because he was disillusioned with the hunter industry.

Hunters and the Veritas system were inseparable. Just checking the stat window would bring up the Veritas system interface, so not even checking the leaderboard could only be explained as deliberately avoiding it.

‘He deliberately avoided it. Whether it’s hunters or whatever…’

Samin remembered how Doun looked when he first came to the guild lobby. The baseball cap pulled down low and how he was overly conscious of his surroundings. Even when he briefly stopped by the office and was leaving, hadn’t he visibly panicked seeing the hunters gathered in the lobby?

‘I was too focused on my own thoughts.’

When Magnetic went into hiding, public opinion was all busy blaming him. Even people who had admired, supported, and claimed to be his fans changed their attitudes, pouring out all sorts of words about being disappointed or saying they knew it would happen.

Samin thought that maybe Doun might still be misunderstanding. He wanted to tell him that the truth of the incident had been revealed and that there were many people who supported and wanted to see him, but somehow the words didn’t come easily.

-Hey. Are you listening? Why did you suddenly call and then suddenly not say anything?

“Ah, that… Hyung. Don’t misunderstand and listen.”

-What strange thing are you going to say again?

At the thoroughly wary voice, Samin bit his lips and took a deep breath.

“Hyung, you’re still 1st place. In domestic rankings.”

At those words thrown with the feeling that he should at least let him know what he needed to know, Doun on the other end of the phone had no answer.

* * *

What is this supposed to mean?

Doun stared into space without even blinking.

-Even when I became 2nd place six months ago, hyung was 1st. Even when I was determined to somehow become 1st and lived sleeping only two hours a day, holed up in the tower just killing monsters, hyung was still 1st. It’s the same now. Even as of June 21st, 8:07, Magnetic is 1st place.

Samin’s words pouring through the phone were full of unbelievable content.

“No, wait. Isn’t there some kind of error?”

-Hyung, have you ever seen Veritas make an error?

“Well… the ranking system hasn’t been clearly revealed either, and someone with a similar nickname to mine or…”

Doun rambled incoherently. It had already been a year since he stopped going to towers. The top of the leaderboard was a place where rankings dropped after just two days. There was no way he, who had been holed up at home in hiding, would still be 1st place.

‘Doun. Do you really want to be called a has-been? How long do you think you can keep being called 1st place?… Don’t come crying to me on the phone when your ranking drops next week… Do you know how much the kids these days are climbing up… Hyung has done everything he could for you. Whether apologies or recommendations… Now I only have regrets about you too. What happened to Sehwan, honestly if you had just managed your mana well, it wouldn’t have been like that…’

In Doun’s confused mind with tinnitus ringing, voice message fragments left by his former guild master sporadically surfaced. They were things left after sending texts asking to meet to apologize several times, then leaving these when Doun didn’t respond.

Most were words blaming him, so he dismissed them as bullshit, but what was deeply embedded in his heart couldn’t be helped.

It was true that hunter rankings changed in real-time, and if he had just managed his mana a little more thoroughly, at least the guild member wouldn’t have died miserably in front of him.

-Excuse me, is the person answering the phone right now Magnetic Lee Doun-ssi?

Doun, belatedly remembering he was on a call, finally exhaled.

“…Yeah.”

-Hyung. Have confidence. No matter what anyone says, hyung is the man who made the handsome guild master of Korea’s top elite guild Yeoun submit, you know?

“…”

-Do you think I cling to just anyone? It’s because you’re Magnetic that I send these pathetic messages like this.

At the gentle voice that made his heavy breathing lighter, Doun squeezed his eyes shut. He understood it was meant to boost his confidence, but the content was a bit uncomfortable to just listen to.

“Words that could be misunderstood by anyone listening are a bit…”

-What is? Everything I just said was true. Our guild? It is an elite guild, and we even received a Prime Minister’s commendation. Handsome guild master? That’s also true, isn’t it? Wherever I go, I can’t walk 10 meters properly because people are trying to get my number.

“Shut up…”

-This hyung says ‘shut up’ whenever he has nothing to say.

“…”

That was right. It was a meaningless utterance because he had nothing proper to retort with, but he hit the nail on the head again. Doun decided to just keep his mouth shut.

‘There’s absolutely no way to beat him with ordinary eloquence.’

Listening to Samin’s chatter, strangely his distracting thoughts seemed to disappear.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I have too little information. It’s not just one or two floors, but ten floors would be almost a different world.”

Doun had once prided himself on knowing about towers better than anyone. From his experience, the tower’s difficulty increased drastically every time the tens digit changed.

So there would be a considerable difference between his knowledge of the 40s floors and Samin’s knowledge of the 50s floors.

‘Unless I go into the tower and see for myself, even watching videos won’t be much help.’

-I can tell you everything I know, but information is indeed most accurate when you see and confirm it yourself, right?

“…Yeah.”

-A one-year gap? Hyung will catch up quickly, right? If you’re interested, let’s do catch-up floor clearing together. I’ll back you up and provide support too. If we bring our guild members, it’ll be done quickly. This kind of bus service isn’t common, but I’m giving you a ride because it’s hyung.

“With you?”

-Yes. With me.

It was a scary yet sweet proposal. However, Doun knew there was no favor without a price. Humans inevitably demand compensation for favors they bestow on others in some way.

Whether it was exploitation disguised as responsibility, or criticism under the name of feedback.

Samin probably hadn’t proposed this out of pure goodwill either. He wanted to conquer new floors of the tower solo as a guild and unlock new floors, and judged that he needed Magnetic, an offensive hunter.

So after bestowing such favors, he might come running like a loan shark later demanding repayment, saying didn’t he help with your return to hunter life then.

“You said your guild needs to clear the 55th floor, right?”

Doun started with somewhat despairing feelings.

-Yes. We’re still the only guild that has even seen the floor boss’s face. Other guilds formed coalitions of two or three, but they couldn’t reach where we went. The 55th floor is really insane.

“You’re asking me to handle a floor that’s difficult even for you.”

-I think differently though. Um, hyung. Could you tell me why you think you can’t do it?

“I just can’t…”

At Doun’s wavering voice, Samin asked back.

-So why are you so certain you can’t? There must be a reason for hyung to make such a judgment.

At Samin’s voice, not getting angry, not intimidating, but gently reasoning in a soft tone, a strange emotion surged up from his chest.

‘It’s better to let him know I’m useless anyway. Better to detach him before we get more attached… That’s right.’

Eventually, his biggest shame that he had never confided to anyone spilled out as if he had taken truth serum.

“My skill power doesn’t even come out to half.”

-…What?

The voice asking back carefully was clearly flustered. Doun squeezed his eyes shut and continued.

“My head… went crazy.”

-…

“I can’t use skills like before.”

He didn’t know what kind of voice he answered with. Doun inhaled, and Samin on the other end of the phone was silent. The stand lamp illuminating the living room, filled only with irregular wheezing breaths, was flickering on and off.