Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

A few days later.

Kill Screen, 26th floor, South entrance.

The joint conquest operation between Caligo and Solaris began.

It was a crucial event that drew the attention of countless people—a collaboration between the two strongest guilds in Korea.

26th floor.

The reason it was designated as the “South entrance” was due to the tower’s unique characteristics.

The tower called “Kill Screen” wasn’t shaped like a typical tower.

An enormous pillar stretching endlessly to the sky’s peak. An exterior wall shimmering faintly with rainbow hues, as if a waterfall were flowing down it.

Moreover, while it was marked by floors, each floor didn’t generate just one dungeon.

Multiple “entrances” generated in all four cardinal directions, and it didn’t matter which one you entered. However, the difficulty varied completely depending on which entrance you chose.

‘It’s more like a complex shopping mall or apartment structure than a tower.’

‘It feels like a wormhole or a massive building.’

Such were the numerous opinions circulating about the place.

Nevertheless, the reason it was still called a “tower” was due to the influence of hunter novels and manga.

‘In hunter stories, structures conquered floor by floor like this were called towers, so let’s call this a tower too.’

The reason for conquering it was also heavily influenced by hunter stories.

‘Usually in hunter stories, the story ends when they conquer the tower. Won’t this be the same?’

It was mere speculation, filled with people’s hopes and wishes. But that wasn’t the only reason. Everyone was eager to conquer Kill Screen because it yielded much better item rewards than other dungeons.

Even the legendary items and ‘Auraiden’-related items that occasionally appeared were all discovered only in Kill Screen.

High risk, high return.

Kill Screen—as popular as it was dangerous, as dangerous as it was popular.

“……So normally, unless you have special permission, regular people aren’t allowed in, you know? There have been so many casualties from random people entering that recently, regulations were put in place allowing only guild-level access.”

In front of the South entrance of Kill Screen’s 26th floor.

Leaning against the wall and playing a mobile game, Habin was questioned by Chae Jiseok.

“……So how did you get in?”

“What about you?”

“What about the training institute?”

“……What about you?”

“……”

Habin’s nonchalant attitude.

Sighing as if he had no choice, Jiseok spoke first.

“Today’s the Solaris-Caligo joint operation to conquer the 26th floor’s South side, you know? That’s why I’m here. I informed the training institute.”

He had even asked other mentors to take good care of Hyun Habin, in case they were surprised by the sudden disappearance of their mentor…….

Only to find her showing up here so brazenly.

“As you know, I’m Solaris’ vice guild master. I came as a representative.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Don’t just ‘Ah, I see’! How did you get in, I asked? Did you skip out on the training institute again? Plus, this is Kill Screen! Beginners can’t come here!”

“Didn’t you say you’re from Solaris? Well, I used my connections on the Caligo side.”

Habin tilted her head. In the distance, Kang Taeseo could be seen among the crowd.

“And don’t worry, I’m not going to participate in the conquest, okay? I’m just putting my name on the list and watching dramas here.”

Habin pressed her back more firmly against the wall.

She absolutely wouldn’t leave this spot.

With just an iPhone and a power bank, she could endure for hours.

“I heard participating in things like this can substitute for practical training at the institute, so that’s why I came.”

“……What?”

That’s right.

During her last visit to Caligo, Habin had partially accepted Kang Taeseo’s proposal.

‘Alright then, put me on that list once. If it works out well after trying it a few times, I’ll seriously consider joining.’

Of course, she probably wouldn’t join Caligo after the training period ended.

‘Just like you said, I’ll only put my name on the list and hang out at the entrance?’

‘This really counts as a substitute for practical training at the institute, right?’

The result was all okay.

Habin picked up the smoothly issued practical training substitute documents with a satisfied expression.

“I’d love to go home right away, but it might be disadvantageous if an audit comes up or testimonies are needed, so I decided to rest by binge-watching dramas at the entrance under the pretext of being on standby.”

“So, you’re saying you came all the way to Kill Screen just to skip out on training institute?”

“Of course.”

“……”

Don’t you know me by now after seeing me all this time? Habin shrugged her shoulders. Chae Jiseok wore a dispirited expression.

“It sounds crazy when anyone else says it, but when you say it, it’s oddly convincing…….”

“Hey, Vice Guild Master! What are you doing here?”

“We’ve been looking all over for you!”

At that moment, people searching for Chae Jiseok appeared and took him away. As Jiseok disappeared, seemingly being dragged away, Habin cheerfully waved her hand.

“Good luck with the Kill Screen conquest, Chae-ssi!”

“Hey, you…….”

“Have a safe trip!”

Habin was always generous when it came to other people’s affairs. After adding her sincere words of encouragement, Habin turned her attention back to her phone.

‘That’s why you shouldn’t become popular. Being in charge is such a headache.’

On the other side, Kang Taeseo, who was in charge of this conquest operation, was doing a final check on the strategy.

“……However, if any stragglers occur during this conquest, we won’t go looking for them until the conquest is completed or aborted.”

“So they have to endure while waiting for rescue until then?”

“Yes. But if you follow this plan well, there shouldn’t be any stragglers. Even the points where there’s a possibility of falling behind are all relatively low-risk and easy to endure on your own…….”

‘So that’s how that guy ended up with that way of speaking. Tsk tsk.’

Now that she looked, the differences between the two guilds were clearly evident.

Solaris used polite speech with each other, but even the vice guild master could be casually dragged away, creating a familiar atmosphere.

On the other hand, Caligo seemed to lack formality in their speech but had a strict sense of hierarchy and following orders.

Habin, who had been half-listening to the important meeting, turned her head. She’d had enough of people-watching.

Then the conclusion was.

‘……Does this mean I’m the only one who can see this?’

Finally alone, Habin glared at the corner of a nearby wall.

Crack-

A static-like phenomenon visible between the walls. A strange ripple, as if the graphics were broken.

‘What is this?’

Habin, who had only encountered “Kill Screen” through media until now and never visited in person.

She felt something was off from the moment she first saw Kill Screen in person.

‘It didn’t glitch like this in the photos.’

A kind of unnaturalness, as if there was a problem with game graphics or a bug had occurred causing them to break.

It was faintly visible in the spaces between, whether it was walls, floors, or ceilings.

What was even more suspicious was that no one besides Habin seemed to have noticed it. People passed by sections that looked clearly strange without batting an eye.

Just in case, she even grabbed someone random to ask.

‘Is this part here, is it always like this?’

‘What?’

But the only response she got was a puzzled look.

‘Can’t even Jaljal see it?’

[What are you talking about?]

“……”

Habin looked around. Fortunately, people were distracted elsewhere at the moment. Chae Jiseok had been dragged away, and Kang Taeseo was busy with the meeting.

Now was her chance.

Habin secretly placed her hand on a nearby glitching spot.

And at that moment,

A new notification appeared for her.

[!! You are the first to recognize an error since Kill Screen’s creation !!]

[You have acquired the hidden title ‘Bug Finder’.]

[A skill is generated due to your special action.]

(Passive)

You can detect errors existing in the world.

Like recognizes like! As a living error yourself, you should be able to get along well with other errors that exist here and there.

Whoosh!

As soon as the skill was generated, her vision flipped.

The identity of the errors came into sharp focus.

Habin’s expression turned peculiar as she confirmed it.

‘This…….’

Is way too overpowered.

◆◇◆◇◆

Although it was a skill she wanted to use right away, Habin couldn’t.

There were too many eyes watching.

Kang Taeseo and Chae Jiseok, who belonged to the ‘conquest team’, had already entered Kill Screen at the forefront. (Habin had given them sincere words of encouragement as they entered.)

The problem was the ‘standby team’.

The reserve personnel left outside the entrance in case of emergencies.

Besides Habin, there were a few others who remained, but as luck would have it, the most talkative one sat right in front of her.

Ham Seok-gi.

One of the hunters who belonged to the standby team instead of the conquest team. He had been nitpicking at Habin about everything since earlier.

“Hey now, why have you been looking at your phone this whole time, student?”

“I’m cultivating my mind.”

“This isn’t just any gate, this is Kill Screen! Is Kill Screen a joke to you?”

“No. Rather, I’m so nervous that I’m looking at it to calm my mind and body.”

Nervous, my ass. She was just watching YouTube because she wanted to.

Habin, who answered with a lifeless tone, hugged her phone screen and rolled over like a sluggish caterpillar.

Seeing her carefree attitude, Ham Seok-gi’s anger flared up.

‘Huh, even nepotism has its limits. They brought in this brat as a parachute hire?’

Ham Seok-gi. He didn’t belong to either Caligo or Solaris, but after much effort, he was finally hired as a temporary employee and made his first entry into the Kill Screen conquest.

But even that was just on the standby team.

And here was this young rookie he’d never seen before, casually hanging out at Kill Screen? Curious about who this person was, he observed and saw her chatting familiarly with Chae Jiseok and even knowing Kang Taeseo.

With some hope, he eavesdropped a bit on their conversation, but all he heard was talk about “What about the training institute?”

‘Don’t tell me she’s a trainee who came to Kill Screen before even finishing her training?’

Judging by the fact that she wasn’t famous and didn’t show up in Hunter Association searches, it seemed to be true.

After pondering for a while, Ham Seok-gi came to a conclusion.

‘That brat must be a parachute hire, no doubt about it.’

Seeing that she knew both Kang Taeseo and Chae Jiseok made it even more certain.

‘Right. Unless she’s a parachute hire, there’s no way she could get in here with those specs.’

This was the type of person Ham Seok-gi hated the most. People who took positions through connections without ability or effort.

Still, if she at least acted like a proper rookie, knowing her place, being quick and sharp, and working hard, he might have looked at her more favorably, but that wasn’t the case either.

Watching Hyun Habin rolling around while looking at her phone, Ham Seok-gi frowned.

“Even if we’re just on standby, does it make sense to only look at your phone? This is why young people these days……”

Ham Seok-gi clicked his tongue. He started nagging, making sure Habin could hear.

“Hey student, wake up! We don’t know what might happen right now, huh? You should be constantly checking your equipment and staying alert to your surroundings!”

The nagging continued endlessly after that.

“Back in my day, if you acted like that in front of a dungeon, you’d get beaten by the seniors! And you know what? You think that’s all? Back then, we’d have to stand here with our heads bowed, and they’d ask if our lives weren’t precious to us, huh?”

“Back in my day, I used to… how much I…!”

“Back in my day…!”

Ahezar, who had been quietly listening, gently asked Habin:

[……Habin, why does this human keep emphasizing ‘latte’?]

“……”

Sensing that he might be ignored again due to Habin’s silence, Ahezar hastily added:

[I know it’s a beverage! But I’m curious why, out of all the drinks, he’s looking for ‘latte’!]

Habin, who was checking her Bluetooth earphones, nodded.

‘Right. You might as well learn this now, Jaljal. The most popular drink in Korea is “latte”.’

[I knew it! I had predicted this all along.]

Habin gave a casual nod to the satisfied Ahezar.

‘Sure, sure.’

At that moment, Habin discovered something and frowned.

‘……!’

The battery of her precious Bluetooth earphones was dead.

And she didn’t bring the charging jack either.

‘The earphone jack and phone jack don’t match, so even if I use the power bank, I can’t charge the earphones!’

It was Habin’s mistake for only thinking about the phone and neglecting the earphones.

‘I can’t believe I made such a mistake…….’

Looking around, she saw other people who had been checking their phones putting them away in their pockets one by one, conscious of Ham Seok-gi’s nagging.

‘Hmm…….’

This was a big problem.

At this rate, Habin’s plan to comfortably watch dramas for hours would be ruined.

With the earphones dead, noise-canceling was impossible.

If she listened through the phone speaker, Ham Seok-gi, who already disliked her using the phone, wouldn’t leave her alone, and it was clear she’d be subjected to more nagging bombardments.

Habin buried her head between her arms with a groan.

‘This…… even I can’t endure this. Let’s run away, Jaljal.’

[Run away?]

‘Yeah, run away.’

Finally making a decision, she glanced to the side. In fact, there was something she had been eyeing since she first arrived here.

The cliff visible right next to them.

It was called an “entrance”, but the South entrance of the 26th floor dungeon consisted of a massive bridge over a dizzyingly deep cliff. The format was to carefully cross the bridge to enter the main dungeon.

Where they were sitting was at the edge of the bridge, in a safe zone.

Habin recalled what Taeseo had said during the meeting.

-However, if any stragglers occur during this conquest, we won’t go looking for them until the conquest is completed or aborted.

‘Stragglers? Stragglers, huh……’

[……?]

‘……So, if I fall from here, I’d become a straggler, right?’

Seeing Habin’s mischievous smile, Ahezar nervously pointed out:

[Wait, what are you trying to do?]

‘If I become a straggler, they won’t come looking for me until it’s over,’

That means I can stay comfortably by myself below the cliff, doing whatever I want.

Habin stood up, dusting off her seat. Ham Seok-gi flinched at her relaxed smile.

“W-what? Why?”

“Listening to you, I realized I was wrong. You’re right, it’s not polite to just lie here.”

Ham Seok-gi’s face softened a bit at Habin’s respectful tone.

“Hmph, well. If you understand, then sit up straight and look around…….”

“Yes, sir. I’ll go take a look around.”

Habin, who had answered diligently, approached the cliff edge. The bottom of the cliff was invisible, buried in pitch-black darkness.

‘Good, perfect privacy secured.’

After making her own assessment, Habin pretended to look around earnestly, and then…

……she deliberately slipped her foot at the edge.

Thud-thud-thud-

“Huh?”

Ham Seok-gi let out a yelp seeing this. Others also turned to look in surprise.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, over there!”

Habin’s posture wobbled and swayed. It was a precarious sight, as if she might fall at any moment. Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events.

Habin uttered her final words in a flat tone:

“Oops, looks like I slipped?”

Her delivery was as soulless as if she were reading from a textbook.

Whoosh-

Before anyone could reach out to grab her, she plummeted downwards in an instant.