Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

With a swift swing of her sword, Habin cleanly cut the ropes binding Chae Jiseok’s wrists.

As his hands were freed, Jiseok casually pulled out golden pieces and a board from thin air.

[Sun’s Letter Board (Bound)]

Grade: Unclassifiable

Since ancient times, the sun has been revered as a god of prophecy.

When used by designated special classes, this item allows glimpses of answers or the future.

As if to demonstrate, he tossed the golden pieces. The pieces thrown into the air soon fell onto the board intricately adorned with characters and patterns.

Seeing this, Ahezar muttered in surprise.

[…It’s a precognition ability! This human, despite being an assassin class, possesses top-tier precognition skills!]

Precognition.

The ability to glimpse or prophesy information from the present, past, or future.

While it seemed like an ability that might exist, no cases of anyone actually awakening such an ability had appeared since the Gate incident.

There were only rumors circulating that ‘such abilities might exist’. No cases had actually been revealed to the world.

A rare class among rare classes, only passed down in legend.

It was unveiled before Habin’s eyes for the first time.

‘…This I didn’t expect.’

Habin’s expression showed slight surprise.

If this fact were revealed to the world, it would cause enormous ripples. An ability everyone would covet. As if reading Habin’s gaze, Chae Jiseok smiled awkwardly.

“…It’s not that incredible. I can only know things vaguely and abstractly. That’s why I didn’t know exactly what level you were at.”

‘That’s why I made the mistake of entering the Mirror Dungeon with you…’

“I really didn’t know you were this much of an ‘outlier’.”

He chuckled incredulously as he looked around at the devastated surroundings. He spread his hands and said,

“…Right. Everyone only knows me as an assassin class, but this was actually my real trump card.”

Penetrating Eyes, and the Golden Letter Board.

Insight and precognition. The ability to see more, and further ahead, than others.

“Now you understand, right? I didn’t hear this information from anywhere. I didn’t particularly investigate either. I could just roughly figure out who the Guardian of Deception was and how strong they were through this.”

He put the Sun’s Letter Board back into his inventory.

“So you don’t need to worry about information leaking.”

If that was true, it was fortunate. It meant there was likely no one else who could find out Habin’s location.

She asked next,

“Then, what about the quest to kill the Guardian of Deception? What exactly were its contents?”

“Just ‘Find and eliminate the Guardian of Deception.’ That’s all. It seems the only purpose is to kill you.”

“What’s the reward?”

“Ten resurrection stones.”

[…They’re insane.]

Ahezar clicked his tongue. Chae Jiseok continued.

“I was already against that quest, but I came to see for myself what kind of person would warrant such a monstrous quest. My conclusion hasn’t changed, though.”

Habin recalled her brief training life so far.

So his coming as a mentor was also to see what kind of person Habin was. Jiseok continued speaking.

“The guild master and I are still against the ‘Guardian of Deception’ quest. Just because of that quest…”

His gaze turned to Habin.

“…Killing an innocent person is unreasonable from the start.”

As he finished speaking, Chae Jiseok grasped Ahezar, which was still held at his neck. Just as Habin applied pressure, thinking he might push the sword away.

Thud.

It was the opposite.

Chae Jiseok brought his neck closer to the sword. He pressed in so deeply that a thin line of blood appeared. Habin flinched at the sight.

He spoke calmly, without a hint of wavering.

“…This is all true, Hyun Habin. We are on your side.”

“……”

Habin’s face darkened.

◆◇◆◇◆

…That afternoon.

[You did well. Really well!]

Back in the training institute dormitory. Ahezar spoke excitedly upon arriving in Habin’s room.

Habin, slumped face-down on her desk, frowned and muttered in an incredulous tone.

“No, Jaljal, you’re misunderstanding something… This is what I intended to do from the start.”

[?]

Ahezar didn’t seem to understand her words. Habin sighed, “Eh,” and explained concretely and clearly.

“…I never intended to kill Chae Jiseok from the beginning!”

[W-What?!]

That’s right.

In the end, Habin didn’t dispose of Chae Jiseok. The two came to an amicable agreement to keep each other’s secrets and left the dungeon.

‘You keep secret that I’m a power-hiding Guardian of Deception, and I’ll keep secret that you’re a prophecy ability user!’

It was the happy ending Ahezar wanted! An ideal conclusion!

Hearing this, Ahezar was flustered.

[I-Is that true?]

You never intended to kill him from the start? You planned to come to an agreement and move on?

[T-Then why did you point your sword and make such a fuss…!]

Ahezar felt wronged for accumulating a Mariana Trench worth of trouble by intervening to prevent Chae Jiseok’s death. Reading his distress, Habin answered.

“Ah, well… You need to do that much to extract useful information, don’t you? Besides, Chae Jiseok was someone I couldn’t kill from the start! There was never even a choice!”

[…What do you mean, couldn’t kill?]

“…There’s another witness.”

Habin glared out the window. The sky was already turning red with sunset. Looking at the sun dyed golden, Habin propped her chin.

Constellation, ‘Nearest Light’

It had already seen everything from start to finish.

‘Plus, it’s a jointly contracted constellation.’

By now, it would have already run to the other contractor besides Chae Jiseok and tattled everything it saw today. Even if she dealt with Chae Jiseok, silencing wouldn’t work since that constellation knew everything.

She never intended to kill him from the start, but if she had touched Chae Jiseok, that constellation wouldn’t have stayed quiet, and neither would the remaining contractor.

Is that all? The death of an SS-rank Hunter beloved by South Korea would make headlines worldwide. Is it even possible to commit a perfect crime through all that attention in the first place?

“No, it’s not possible. Even the stupidest human couldn’t come to that conclusion.”

Habin nodded, saying, “That’s right, that’s right.”

“Plus, there’s a second reason.”

[Oh?]

“This also gives me a reason to trust Chae Jiseok.”

Habin recalled the final moment when Chae Jiseok brought his own neck to her sword.

…At that time, she was truly surprised.

“There’s a fact Jaljal doesn’t know yet, but if I had made a mistake, Chae Jiseok could have bid farewell to this world right then and there.”

Coincidentally, Habin had the skill active at the time.

[Ignore the health of all entities you face.]

In other words, if Chae Jiseok had been judged as Habin’s ‘enemy’, he would have died instantly the moment he was touched, regardless of health or damage.

Chae Jiseok probably acted without knowing, but it was truly a moment where life and death hung in the balance. He unknowingly risked his life to prove his innocence.

[That…! Now that I think about it, you’re right…!]

“Right. Even now, I think I was careless. Because Jaljal seemed so insignificant, I didn’t think the opponent might die instantly… I was doing such a dangerous thing as pointing a sword.”

Habin nodded again with a deeply reflective face.

“Thankfully, I deliberately specified ‘enemy’s health’ instead of ‘opponent’s health’, just in case. I learned from the mana-sensitive stone explosion incident. If we don’t handle everything as delicately as the salt crystal in an ant’s tear, it’s over for both you and me…”

Chae Jiseok nearly died because of that small difference. It was a chilling fact even in retrospect.

“Still, I don’t know yet if ‘enemy’ is judged by my standards or the opponent’s standards”

[Oh, but it’s impressive! You acted after calculating all that! I see you in a new light!]

Ahezar exclaimed in admiration. Habin nodded with satisfaction, then suddenly opened her eyes wide.

“…But Jaljal, apart from calculations, did I really seem like someone who would just kill an innocent person? Kim Jaljal, what exactly did you think of me?”

[Ahem, well…]

Ahezar cleared his throat awkwardly. Habin was about to grumble as usual, but frowned when she saw what was in her hand.

It was a potion.

‘Still, um, it might not help, but you seemed to have had a hard day, so at least this…’

It was something Chae Jiseok had given her as soon as they arrived at the training institute. Habin tilted the bottle, watching the potion swirl as she muttered disapprovingly.

“That guy is really weird too. Does he want to give something like this to someone who pointed a sword at him… He really has no sense.”

He’s the type to buy someone a jade floorboard or cosign a loan and end up ruined, tsk tsk.

“…Well, it’s none of my business.”

Habin, who had stuffed the potion into a corner of her inventory, buried herself deep in her chair.

◆◇◆◇◆

The next day.

Chae Jiseok had been worried about Habin since morning.

‘She acts tough on the outside, but I wonder if her mental state is okay?’

What happened to Habin yesterday was tremendous.

Learning that the system had issued a quest to eliminate the ‘Guardian of Deception’, and having her identity as a power-hider exposed to one of the country’s top rankers.

Any sane person would be anxious and worried about such things. With her life publicly put up as collateral for a quest, wouldn’t she be worrying every day, every moment, that someone might come to assassinate her?

Yes. How conflicted must Hyun Habin be feeling right now?

What if she’s not even watching her favorite dramas because of the quest targeting her, and is worrying about her life instead?

“……”

Chae Jiseok packed a special meal. No matter how strong Habin is, realistically, she’s just a kid who’s barely become an adult.

Of course, Chae Jiseok is only a couple of years older, but still!

He had contributed to that anxiety, and as a mentor, he was concerned in many ways.

So he bought the Yeomdan pork cutlet that Habin liked, to make sure she at least didn’t skip meals, and went to find her…

“Oh, Chae-ssi! Hi, I’m going to skip training again today.”

“?”

Chae Jiseok, who had gone to Habin’s room out of concern, was greeted by Habin who was diligently preparing to skip!

“……”

Chae Jiseok was so taken aback that he unconsciously asked back.

“R-Really?”

Habin looked puzzled. Her eyes showed disappointment, as if asking if he couldn’t even overlook this much.

“…Why? It’s okay to skip today’s session. I have a class reunion today. I’m going to ditch training to go see my friends!”

Habin hummed as she turned on her Apple computer. There’s still a lot of time until the appointment, so she’ll watch YouTube until then.

‘R-Really… is this okay? She seems too nonchalant? Was yesterday a dream?’

Seeing her carefree attitude, Chae Jiseok finally hesitated and asked a question.

“You… There’s that quest issued. The quest to kill you… Are you really okay?”

“Ah, that.”

Habin opened a YouTube window and answered calmly. Her tone was like saying, ‘Come to think of it, it rained yesterday.’

“To be honest, I’m not really worried about that.”

She was sincere.

Habin glanced at her status window.

skill is currently applied.

Your health stat is considered to be 2.14 billion.

A message that would have shocked Chae Jiseok if he saw it. Habin thought cheerfully as she clicked through windows.

‘They’re going to eliminate me because of that measly quest? Eliminate my foot.’

Ah, well, try killing someone with 2.14 billion health. Can you kill me? Can you? No way!

Whether SS-rank comes, or SSS-rank comes, or even if they all gang up together.

With these stats as a base, and adding the skill that can annihilate opponents?

Even if the world’s #1 ranked Fides used clone techniques and came in hordes, they couldn’t kill Habin.

As for constellations, she could just wipe them all out with Jaljal, who has the trait.

“I shouldn’t let such trivial things interfere with my happy homebody life.”

That’s right, that’s right.

No matter what bullshit the system pulls, it can’t stop me from happily watching YouTube.

Habin’s stance was firm.

‘Instead of wasting time worrying, let’s watch even one more precious video! Does anything change by worrying? If something happens, we’ll deal with it then, right?’

Habin, who had gotten excited again watching videos, turned her head as if she suddenly remembered something.

“Oh right, still, let’s definitely keep each other’s secrets! Even if I’m not worried, if my abilities actually become known and people start swarming around asking questions…”

“Then what?”

“It’ll be hard to have fun.”

“……”

‘Having a hard time having fun… is the problem?’

Chae Jiseok froze in place, unable to follow her train of thought.