Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

“Alright, that’s the last job for today. Let’s call it a day!”

“Good work, everyone!”

“Great effort, all!”

At the gate entrance, the group of porters who had been transporting monster carcasses let out collective sighs of exhaustion.

With a moment’s respite, one of them glanced sideways, nodding towards Habin, whose youthful face stood out among the crowd.

“My goodness, miss. Even with the vigor of youth, this is too much. You look so young, why take on such grueling work?”

“I need the money.”

“Don’t your parents object to their daughter doing this kind of labor?”

“……”

Thud.

Habin tossed aside the last monster carcass she’d been carrying and forced a smile. This was a difficult question to answer.

‘My parents died in the Gate incident.’

If she said that, people would invariably look at her with pity.

No matter how tough things got, she had no desire to be seen as an object of sympathy.

“It’s just my choice.”

“Oh, dear me.”

Habin turned to look back at the gate they had just emerged from with their cargo.

The Gate Crisis.

That’s what people called the incident from five years ago when countless gates suddenly opened, and monsters poured out.

To combat the monsters emerging from the gates, individuals known as “Awakened Ones” with extraordinary abilities appeared to fight back…

‘But well, that has nothing to do with me.’

All that mattered was quick clock-outs and decent pay!

Habin cut off her train of thought and swiftly collected her day’s wages.

What good was an “Awakened” system anyway?

Only those chosen or born with the gift could become Awakened Ones.

They alone thrived as “Hunters,” rising through the ranks.

Unawakened people like Habin could only scrape by, working as porters moving gate byproducts or taking part-time jobs in potion manufacturing plants.

For the record, Habin was doing all of those jobs.

She still needed a lot of money, after all.

“I’ll be heading home early today!”

“Sure, sure. We’ll call you if there’s more work.”

“Oh, and if you happen to spot the person I mentioned…”

“Ah, right. You mean that brother you’re looking for?”

“Yes.”

Habin’s reason for saving money was simple.

Her mother, father, and brother—all vanished in the Gate incident five years ago.

Parents deceased, brother missing. Still, she’d heard that missing persons sometimes turned up alive, so she kept searching.

At the time of the incident, Habin was only a high school student. Unable to continue her education properly, she had to dive headfirst into work just to survive.

Any money left over after covering her living expenses went entirely towards searching for her brother.

‘His name is Hyun Siwoo, and he looks like this. If you see him anywhere, in a gate or elsewhere, please let me know.’

‘Sorry, but I’m busy. Maybe if you offered some money…’

Habin massaged her throbbing temples and sighed deeply.

‘I’ll pay. How much?’

The cost of hiring Hunters for requests was already exorbitant.

She’d poured most of her savings into it, but so far, there had been no results.

“By the way, Habin, didn’t you get that message earlier?”

“Oh, I must have skimmed past it because I was busy. Was it something important?”

Just as she was about to leave the worksite, someone stopped her. Habin looked up with a guilty expression.

She hadn’t expected anyone to ask about this.

The system message.

Occasionally, warning notifications would appear inside the gates. Even non-Awakened civilians could see these basic alert messages.

Starting with this message sent to all of humanity when the Gate Crisis first began, there were notifications from the “system” provided to everyone.

Unlike the Awakened who had surpassed human limits by breaking through dozens or hundreds of levels, ordinary non-Awakened people had no levels.

Though classified as “players” in the system, they were not provided with any leveling up, job classes, skills, or quest functions.

However, basic dungeon alerts, gate occurrence notifications, warning messages, and other miscellaneous pop-ups were still provided to non-Awakened individuals.

“Um… It was just an alert saying the gate would close soon, so we should leave. I wondered if you missed it.”

She had missed it.

And that was the one thing that set Habin apart from everyone else.

Habin couldn’t see any of the basic status windows, system windows, notifications, or anything else.

Just like people in the days before the Gate Crisis,

Like ordinary folks in simpler times.

“…I see it now that I look.”

In these situations, Habin’s go-to move was to pretend she could see it.

Habin deliberately acted as if she was looking at the system window, making an empty gesture in the air and shrugging.

She knew that if she revealed her peculiarity, she’d likely become a research subject or be treated strangely over something trivial. So she’d kept it a secret all this time.

‘There’s nothing good that could come from people knowing, anyway.’

No Awakened abilities and unable to even see the system window! It would be an extremely disadvantageous condition for finding Gate-related part-time work.

Habin nodded, thinking, ‘Yes, yes.’ It was an issue of livelihood that absolutely could not be discovered.

◆◇◆◇◆

The happiest moment is when it’s time to go home.

No matter what anyone says, home is the best.

Habin was already thinking this before she even opened her front door.

The same front door she’d seen for over twenty years.

That familiar scent, perceptible even before opening it.

It felt as if her family might casually welcome her, just like in the old days, the moment she opened the door.

‘Our daughter, why are you home so late? Have you eaten?’

‘Was everything alright at school?’

‘Hyun Habin, by the way, I ate all the leftover pizza in the fridge. Hey, who told you to leave any anyway?’

The house was too big for one person to live alone.

If she had sold the house earlier and moved to a small studio apartment, Habin wouldn’t have had to work so hard.

Just thinking about the mortgage attached to this place made her feel like her back was breaking, but there was a reason she couldn’t let it go…

It was the useless hope that maybe, just maybe, one of her missing family members might come looking.

Even if not for that, she simply couldn’t part with this house filled with memories of her family.

Would the day ever come when she could give up this foolish sentiment?

‘Maybe I’ll just sell everything after this year passes.’

Five years was really a long time to hold on.

Habin opened the front door with a tired expression.

And then.

“Oh, Hyun Habin! You’re finally home. By the way, I got hungry waiting and ate all the leftover pizza in the fridge.”

“What… the?”

It had been just another ordinary day.

On a weary journey home, no different from any other.

Like a lie come true.

Habin came face to face with her brother, sprawled comfortably on the sofa.

◆◇◆◇◆

Habin’s confident stride into the entryway came to an abrupt halt.

The scene before her was exactly as she had imagined at the front door.

The familiar posture of lounging on the sofa, flipping through TV channels with the remote, the familiar voice, the familiar way of speaking.

“…Hyun Siwoo?”

Her brother, with a face so similar to Habin’s—though Habin hated when people pointed this out—the very person she had been desperately asking everyone to help find until just moments ago!

‘Why is he here…?’

Snapping out of her daze, Habin strode over and grabbed him by the collar.

“H-How are you…!”

Is this really Hyun Siwoo? In response to her startled question, Siwoo just smiled as if it was no big deal.

“Oh, I’m glad I came. What a warm welcome.”

“You… Why did you come out of there?”

“I didn’t come out of anywhere. I’ve just been here the whole time.”

“…The nonsense you’re spouting proves you’re the real Hyun Siwoo.”

Habin muttered.

She had imagined this scenario countless times, but now that it was actually happening before her eyes, she couldn’t believe it.

‘My missing brother has returned.’

This wasn’t a dream or an illusion. It was a vivid reality, incomparably more real.

It was fortunate that he was alive, and even more fortunate that he seemed unharmed, but…

‘Where on earth have you been all this time without even contacting me…!’

His nonchalant attitude was probably his way of trying to ease the awkwardness of meeting after so long.

Regardless, Siwoo quickly shook off any awkwardness and started nagging Habin.

“But seriously, how have you been living all this time for the house to end up like this? When I first came, I almost left thinking it wasn’t our house.”

“…I’ve been busy.”

“No matter how busy, this is ridiculous. Is this even a place for humans to live? It took me two hours to clean up…”

“…Hey, wait a second.”

Habin cut off Siwoo’s incessant grumbling, her expression hardening as if she’d noticed something.

She muttered with a stiff face.

“What’s this?”

The clothes Siwoo was wearing.

Habin finally realized the source of the vague sense of dissonance she felt towards her blood relative.

“Hm? What is it?”

At first glance, Hyun Siwoo was indeed the ‘brother’ she knew.

But something was different.

His outward appearance was the same as five years ago, but the feeling was off. The clothes he wore were completely different.

“……”

Though just a lowly porter, Habin had spent the past five years experiencing all sorts of situations in dungeons.

She had met many Hunters. Even without the right to use items or see status windows.

No, precisely because she couldn’t see them, she had studied and observed far more meticulously than others.

The types of hot items, the characteristics of Hunters, high-end equipment.

By now, she could roughly tell at a glance what was good or bad, expensive or cheap.

‘This is the result of all that experience.’

And now, the clothes Hyun Siwoo was wearing…

‘At least A-rank or higher.’

Habin’s eyes narrowed.

Siwoo’s outfit looked like an ordinary hoodie and jeans on the surface. Whether he had deliberately chosen something that looked like casual wear or not…

He couldn’t fool Habin’s eyes.

‘SS-rank crafting Hunter Elemes’s Special Casual Collection!’

That was it. She was certain. This was one of the items Habin had researched online just a few days ago, so she remembered it clearly.

This fit! These details!

Even the slightly hidden black label!

‘There’s no doubt, it’s Elemes’s latest product!’

The clothes top-tier Hunters wear as their “everyday wear.” A special item with not only excellent defense but also resistance to status effects and poisons.

Habin immediately recognized that this was not a fake, but the genuine article.

At this point, anger began to seep into Habin’s tone.

“…Hyun Siwoo. Were you an Awakened One?”

“…Huh?”

“I’m asking if you were an Awakened One. Have you been active as a Hunter all this time?”

And for a Hunter to be using items of this caliber, he must be at least A-rank or higher.

Siwoo backed away slightly, seemingly flustered by Habin’s murderous glare.

“N-Now, that’s not the important thing here…!”

“Without a single word to me? When I thought you were missing?”

“That’s right. I had that missing person report canceled a while ago.”

“Then why didn’t you show up even once all this time…?”

“……”

“I, I really, all this time…!”

“W-Were you worried?”

It was at that moment Siwoo’s expression contorted. To an outsider, this might have looked like a touching family reunion between siblings, but…

“Don’t give me that ‘worried’ nonsense.”

With a smile full of rage, Habin suddenly delivered a swift punch to Siwoo’s solar plexus.

Wham!

“Ugh!”

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered all this time?!”

Habin shouted, unleashing years of pent-up resentment.

You hid this from me?

While I was paying off our family’s debts alone, you were living well and eating well. And you didn’t contact me even once all this time?

Habin spewed out all her grievances in a torrent of words.

“Do you know how much money I spent trying to find you? If you were alive, you should have at least contacted me! Just in case, I dropped out of school to look for you, worked day and night to pay off our family’s debts and make ends meet!”

“W-We had family debts? I didn’t know… Ack!”

“Then what exactly do you know? Did you ever care about how I was living?”

“I had reasons I couldn’t talk about! And I really didn’t know!”

“Reasons? To hell with your reasons.”

“Wait, hold on a second!”

Hyun Siwoo hastily pulled out his phone and started tapping frantically. Alright, let’s see what you’ve got. Habin crossed her arms defensively.

‘I don’t know what he’s trying to show, but no matter what nonsense he spouts, I absolutely won’t let him off the hook.’

She made a firm resolution in her heart, over and over again. No matter how she thought about it, this was unforgivable. This was something she couldn’t forgive even if…!

At that moment, an unfamiliar alert sounded on Habin’s phone.

Ding!

[SPES Pay Transfer—Hyun Siwoo has transferred 10,000,000,000 won to you. Do you want to accept?]

“…?”

“Uh, is this enough to solve the immediate problems for now?”

“……”

Silence.

Unable to even hear Siwoo’s following words, Habin counted the numbers several times with trembling hands.

‘One, ten, hundred, thousand… billion…’

A, a hundred billion?

“……”

It wasn’t a lie.

It really was 10 billion won. In cash, no less.

Click!

Her hand moved faster than light.

In an instant, Habin hit ‘Accept’ and slowly raised her head.

Her once firmly crossed arms were now completely relaxed.

“A-Ahem.”

“……”

Clearing her throat as if something was stuck in it, Habin awkwardly averted her eyes. Her pupils were already subtly wavering with conflicting emotions.

“Um… cough, well, I suppose… th-these things can happen in life.”

A softened tone, completely different from when she was shouting in anger moments ago.

“C-Come to think of it, isn’t it enough that you’ve returned safely? Ah well, that’s what matters. Yes, that’s right…”

“…?”

“You must have… really been through a lot! My dear brother, you’ve suffered so much, truly!”

Finally, Habin patted Siwoo’s back vigorously and smiled affectionately. A complete 180-degree turn that would make even Udyr jealous.

Ignoring Siwoo’s reaction of frantically rubbing his goosebump-covered skin, Habin quickly added with a deliberately serious face:

“Oh, by the way, there aren’t any tax issues or other problems with this money, right? It’s clean money, isn’t it? I’ve already accepted it, but still. Yeah?”

“…It is clean money, but I can transfer more if taxes are deducted. However…”

“Oh, that’s good then. Now, you must be tired after coming home after so long. Make yourself comfortable and rest.”

“No, that’s not the issue. You, weren’t you angry earlier…?”

“Hm? Angry? What anger? It’s all good, all good. I’m not that petty of a person!”

“……”

“There were only two slices of pizza left in the fridge, weren’t there? Aren’t you hungry? Should I order more?”

“……”

Maybe I should have just sent the money from the start?

Faced with this unexpected and intense reaction, Hyun Siwoo secretly broke out in a cold sweat.

It was a secret that could be revealed at any moment, but if he could get past this for now with just this much… Siwoo was willing to transfer money several more times.