Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

67. An Exhilarating Destination for Those Who Know How to Risk Their Lives (2)



“……I just asked nuna, and she said Fides-nim directly stated with his own mouth that ‘he conquered it’.”

[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ insists that it’s true, saying it clearly heard that Fides human claim he conquered the 50th floor!]

“Hmm…….”

Fides, who claimed he conquered the 50th floor.

Regarding this impersonation, Chae Jiseok came to a serious conclusion.

“He must have had some plan. There’s no way he’d do that without reason! He’s absolutely not that kind of person!”

The Fides that Chae Jiseok had observed all this time was not the type to stoop to the despicable act of stealing someone else’s achievement.

If he didn’t know why the 50th floor was conquered, he would have honestly said, “I don’t know why it was conquered either.” If he specifically claimed he did it himself, there must have been unavoidable circumstances.

‘……There might be a bigger picture that we’re unaware of. It’s too early to judge.’

On the other hand, Habin retorted with an incredulous face.

“What? Chae-ssi, are you taking the masked magician’s side? I’m disappointed!”

She opened her mouth while shaking the cup with completely melted ice. Her expression was thoroughly displeased.

“Didn’t I tell you? You never know when people will stab you in the back. He’s someone with so many secrets that he even covers his face, right? He must have some hidden agenda we don’t know about?”

Chae Jiseok shook his head.

“Even if he does, he’s still a good person. There’s no way he did it with bad intentions.”

“Hmm, you seem to trust the masked magician quite a bit? That’s some thick trust.”

Habin furrowed her brows. She continued, grumbling.

“But Chae-ssi, why do you trust the masked magician so much but not me? Try trusting me even half as much as you trust that guy, come on.”

“When did I ever not trust you?”

“Well…….”

At Chae Jiseok’s retort, Habin rolled her eyes as if lost in thought. She popped the last small piece of ice from her cup into her mouth and continued.

“Every time you see me, you nag. Telling me to stop playing around.”

Hyun Habin’s attempts to skip out and have fun were always thwarted by Chae Jiseok’s brilliant interventions.

From the first day at the training institute until now. Chae Jiseok, who would point out “You’re skipping the training institute again today!” every time he saw her face.

He opened his mouth as if to make an excuse.

“Hey. I have reasons for telling you not to play around, you know? How are you going to manage skipping the training institute so much? Honestly, if it weren’t for me, you’d be taking remedial training!”

“You’re not the only one with reasons. I’m the same, you know. I have reasons for everything I do when I’m playing around, okay? Trust me!”

“I absolutely can’t believe that.”

“……See! I knew it. You don’t trust me, do you?”

Habin answered with a cheeky tone and smiled brightly. She placed her hand on the tablet in front of her. Fides’ face was still prominently displayed on the screen. Habin tapped the screen lightly.

“……Anyway, this incident has made me see the masked magician in a new light.”

[I see him in a new light too. I thought he was righteous all this time!]

Ahezar chimed in with a sigh.

[To dare steal your achievement! I’m truly disappointed! A warrior should never use such despicable methods…!]

“Oh no? Why disappointed? I’m grateful for the first time!”

[……?]

Hyun Habin answered with an excited expression.

She wore a satisfied expression. Jiseok wore a puzzled look at this sudden change in attitude.

“Grateful……?”

To Fides?

‘After treating him like an enemy all this time?’

Regardless, Habin hummed a tune.

“Yeah, of course I’m grateful! It was a perfect response. Thanks to him stepping forward and claiming he did it, I won’t be suspected at all. No hassle for me.”

Now no one will doubt that Habin conquered the 50th floor. Habin continued, tapping the screen.

“Hmm, masked magician. I’ll specially postpone unmasking you. I should at least greet you next time we meet.”

She tucked the tablet into her inventory with a pleased expression. She stretched out fully.

“Now it’s time to go watch the sunset! The sun will set completely at this rate!”

“……”

◆◇◆◇◆

In front of the Kill Screen Sunset Cafe, famous for its sunset view. Next to the parasols set up on the beach, they lay side by side on sun loungers.

Their relaxed attitude made them look like typical tourists on this island to anyone who saw them.

Especially Hyun Habin, who was wearing a tourist t-shirt that said ‘I♥KI (I love Killscreen Island)’—who knows when she bought it—and even had sunglasses on.

“Wow, the sunset is beautiful.”

The sky and clouds dyed lavender along the horizon.

Habin raised the glass beside her and toasted to the sky.

Clink-

The refreshing sound of waves, the beautiful sky. And the feeling of a tangy drink sliding down your throat!

“This is so nice! Actually, it was on my bucket list too. ‘Have a Mojito in the Maldives’.”

“Don’t you mean have a Mojito in the Maldives?”

Chae Jiseok, who was drinking a cocktail beside her, interjected. Habin turned her head sharply towards him.

“Huh? Chae-ssi, haven’t you seen the movie ‘The Outsiders’? It’s not fun.”

Habin shrugged and swirled her glass in the air. Jiseok, glancing at it, asked.

“Is that even a Mojito to begin with? The color is different.”

“It’s peach juice.”

“That’s not a Mojito at all!”

“But real Mojitos are sour and bitter.”

Habin answered in a grumbling voice and took another sip of her peach juice.

‘Then why did you write it on your bucket list……?’

Let’s not ask.

Chae Jiseok shook his head and turned his gaze back to the sky.

The sunset sky was quite beautiful. Enough to make him think it was good that he came along.

‘All this time I only thought about visiting for work, this is the first time I’ve properly seen the sunset here.’

As Chae Jiseok was enjoying this rare moment of romance with the cool sea breeze blowing, Habin pointed out:

“Hmm, but is it okay for Chae-ssi to be playing around?”

“Huh?”

“Chae-ssi has a lot of work, right?”

Habin hadn’t forgotten the parade of document piles rushing towards them during their last visit to Solaris.

“It doesn’t seem like the time for you to tell me not to play around. Wasn’t Secretary Lee Junhwi grinding his teeth last time saying there was a lot of work? Won’t he kill you if you don’t go back quickly?”

Murder motive: revenge against a superior for work overload?

At this grim speculation, Chae Jiseok hastily replied.

“……It’s, it’s fine. He won’t kill me, right? If he kills me, he loses another pair of hands. It’s a loss in the long run, isn’t it?”

“Oh, quite rational!”

“And right now I’m resting because I have some free time. It’s a well-deserved break, you know.”

He has free time?

“All those documents, don’t tell me you processed them all? That’s impossible!”

Even at a glance, it wasn’t an amount a human could process.

Habin asked, lowering her sunglasses. Chae Jiseok held up two fingers.

“Now, there are two reasons why I can proudly play around right now. First-“

“First is?”

“Nuna has returned.”

“Aha!”

Come to think of it, Chae Jise had left Kill Screen.

“Now that nuna isn’t staying in Kill Screen anymore, she’s quickly processing work in real-time using online methods.”

Wrap-up meetings for the conquest, preparing press releases, and Solaris work on top of that.

Chae Jise, who jumped straight into her duties without even taking a break after returning from Kill Screen. She really was no ordinary person in many ways.

“Wow, that’s our unni for you!”

“Thanks to her, the work has decreased incredibly. Secretary Lee Junhwi was absolutely thrilled.”

“Then what’s the second reason?”

Habin gestured at the remaining finger. Chae Jiseok opened his mouth with a deep sigh.

“The second is…… thanks to you, I was able to work in Kill Screen too.”

The perfect staycation conditions provided by Ipsine.

Thanks to that, Chae Jiseok didn’t need to fight monsters or camp out, and he was able to process work bit by bit while resting comfortably.

“I can’t believe I actually finished all my work in Kill Screen. It still doesn’t feel real.”

[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ holds its stomach and rolls around.]

[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ says probably no one will believe this, that someone watching movies in Kill Screen or someone processing work are the same!]

“They’re not the same. I did it because it was important work.”

It was work related to Solaris!

Chae Jiseok, who was responding to the message, suddenly seemed to realize something important as his expression turned serious.

“……Ah. Now I’m worried that Secretary-nim might say ‘See? You can work even in dungeons, haha!’ and give me work every time.”

This is a big problem…….

Chae Jiseok shook his head. He added as if coming to a conclusion.

“For now, I’m not going to transmit the completed documents right away, but review them and send them tomorrow. If they find out I did this much work in Kill Screen…… it doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“Oh, even Chae-ssi has days when he uses tricks?”

“It’s not just because of that. It’s a work processing speed that anyone would find suspicious.”

That was the second reason.

Having heard it all, Habin nodded.

“I see. I understand. Then shall we go to the night market together later?”

“Yeah. I’m planning to. Isn’t eating dinner there part of today’s schedule?”

“That’s right! I saw there were so many famous restaurants, what should we eat for dinner among them……?”

Habin’s expression turned serious.

What should we choose for dinner tonight?

A heavy face with furrowed brows as if solving an important problem with the fate of the world at stake.

“The rosé sriracha chicken sounds incredibly delicious, and the clouded cream blueberry cake seems no joke either. Hmm, maybe I should eat this cake for dessert or put it in my inventory…… No, I should just buy all the menu items and put them in my inventory! But I still need to decide on one menu item to eat today……!”

As she was contemplating the dinner menu while looking at the sunset.

Chae Jiseok secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thankfully, she’s letting it go with this.’

He hadn’t mentioned the last reason just now.

The third reason why Chae Jiseok was playing around right now.

It was-

‘Right now, watching over Hyun Habin seems more urgent than anything else.’

The biggest variable that could go off in any direction.

The mysterious world’s strongest who conquered the 50th floor of Kill Screen alone and is now pretending not to know anything.

‘If I let her play alone, who knows what might happen.’

Last time on the 26th floor, when left alone, she took down the boss single-handedly, and this time on the 50th floor, she defeated the boss alone again.

[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ casts a suspicious glance, wondering if she always makes excuses to play alone and then goes around beating up bosses!]

“……”

Even if it’s not suspicion, I just have an ominous feeling that I shouldn’t leave her alone.

He leaned back on the sun lounger and gazed at the fading sunset.

‘But surely nothing big will happen in just two days, right?’

How much trouble could happen in places like a night market or duty-free shop?

◆◇◆◇◆

……About an hour after thinking that,

“I’ll take everything from here to there!”

“Why this? And why so much……?”

“Life is all or nothing!”

“Even so, this is a bit……!”

Chae Jiseok finds himself retracting his prediction.


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