S-Rank is My Side Character (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16

[Avatar-exclusive Skill :: Fragment of the Primordial Dream] [Utilizing the power of Constellation ◼◼◼◼.] [Borrowing my father king’s skill.] [Father King ◼◼◼◼ Exclusive Skill :: I exist everywhere. I exist here.]

Clang! Bars descended from above, separating the survivor panel from the current space. Since Kang I Hyeon’s divine flame and aura of sanctity filled the field, Rude activated his skill without hesitation.

Boom! The red dragon stomped its foot, causing the floating rocks in the lava to tremble.

“Ugh!”

Kang I Hyeon immediately caught Rude just before he could fall. Rude then swung the Black Half Scissors.

The red dragon was already preparing another breath attack. Rude wiped the sweat from his brow, slightly frowned, and said to Lee Hyeon,

“Get ready to defend.”

“Yes!”

Lee Hyeon raised his sword. At the same time, Rude also lifted his scissors.

[Paladin-exclusive Advanced Skill – Wall of Sanctity]

BOOM—!!! Kang I Hyeon’s shield clashed once more with the dragon’s breath.

“Guh!”

“Hold on.”

“I will…!”

This breath seemed slightly stronger than before, forcing Kang I Hyeon’s feet to slide backward.

After uttering that dry remark, Rude stepped into Kang I Hyeon’s embrace and looked up. Confirming Rude was inside, Lee Hyeon thickened his golden shield further.

Rude’s eyes locked onto the breath crashing against the translucent golden barrier. With terrifying focus, he pinpointed the spot where heat was most concentrated—the thinnest part of the shield—and channeled mental energy into his scissors.

“Drop the shield when I give the signal.”

“Yes!”

Whoosh! Mental energy explosively enveloped his scissors. The sheer intensity, nearly at his limit, whipped their bangs back with a fierce wind.

Before them raged a colossal breath; behind, a roaring gale. Periodic steam explosions erupted from the lava. Worried Rude might lose his balance, Lee Hyeon tightly wrapped an arm around his waist.

Just as the mental energy swirling around Rude’s scissors neared its breaking point, Rude shouted at the top of his lungs,

“Now!!”

Lee Hyeon retracted his shield. At the exact moment the breath surged toward them, Rude swiftly thrust the Black Scissors into the stream of breath!

[Trait :: ‘Natural Lucid Dream’ activated!]

BOOM—!! The searing heat instantly transformed into piercing cold. Simultaneously, a massive explosion erupted where they had stood, launching Lee Hyeon and Rude into the air.

“Aaah!!”

“Mr. Rude!!”

[Paladin-exclusive Advanced Skill :: Divine Flame Explosion]

Poof! Kang I Hyeon detonated holy flames midair, altering their trajectory and landing safely on a rock farther behind. Rude dangled limply from him, utterly pale.

“Are you okay?!”

“Ah… I guess?”

Had Lee Hyeon not held him tightly, Rude would’ve flown away like a sheet of paper. As a non-physical-class Hunter, direct combat put him at a severe disadvantage.

“Still, we landed a solid hit.”

Huff. Rude blew out a breath, lifting his sweat-soaked black bangs upward.

His mental energy, explosively pushed to its limit, traveled along the breath and clung densely to the dragon’s throat, rapidly converting the breath’s attribute into icy coldness.

[Grrrrrrr…]

The dragon, sensing something amiss too late, halted its breath. Frost now coated its maw. It tried to exhale fire, but only frigid air escaped. Panicked, the dragon scanned its surroundings.

“It’s only going to get worse. Fall back.”

Lee Hyeon grabbed Rude’s waist and leapt toward a rock farther away.

The flustered dragon attempted several more breaths, but instead of boiling lava, only ice formed wherever the breath landed.

Kang I Hyeon glanced at Rude, who sighed as if pondering his next move.

‘Wow… incredible…’

The greatest weakness of field-type dungeons was that the field was always optimized for the boss.

And the dragon’s most powerful, threatening weapon was its breath—but now, that breath had become catastrophically mismatched with the field.

In other words, Rude had instantly neutralized the enemy’s strongest weapon. He possessed immense power, the strategic mind to wield it effectively, and the concentration required to meticulously control such overwhelming mental energy.

He was truly extraordinary. Lee Hyeon couldn’t understand why someone like him regarded himself so lowly.

He was someone who had locked himself away because of an incident ten years ago—but with just a little support beside him, he could surely overcome that past, just as Rude had once done for his former self.

“Ugh, seriously. Let’s rest for just a bit. Just… about twenty seconds.”

Feeling it was enough, Rude gasped wearily and sank down briefly. Lee Hyeon patted his back with concern.

“A-Are you okay?”

“Man, seriously, Grade 2 is brutal… Without you, I absolutely couldn’t have done this alone. Seriously.”

Thanks to their coordinated effort, he’d managed to alter the breath’s attribute. Had he been alone, it truly would’ve been impossible—Rude sighed deeply, then stood back up and swung the Black Scissors again.

“Kang I Hyeon. Let’s first drain that thing’s stamina. While we’re at it, we’ll also shift the field’s attribute. I’ll handle the lava first—just hold it off from the front for a bit. It’ll take some time.”

“Huh? Are you sure you can manage alone?”

“As long as I stay in the back, I won’t go flying like a paper doll again like earlier, so don’t worry.”

Lee Hyeon, still worried, nodded at those words and dashed toward the dragon.

Rude wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead and plunged the scissors into the ground. His breath came short—clearly, his recent attack had consumed a great deal of mental energy.

[Illusionist-exclusive Advanced Skill :: Sensory Disruption] [SKREEEEE—!!!!]

Through the mental energy lodged in the dragon’s throat, Rude’s skill induced sensory chaos within the beast.

The dragon began scattering icy breath haphazardly across the field. Gradually, the field turned colder.

[Paladin-exclusive Basic Skill :: Halo]

As if sensing Rude’s intent, Lee Hyeon pulled out a pendant before him and began muttering something. A golden halo began glowing behind him.

[Grrrrrrrr—!!!!]

Noticing Lee Hyeon’s halo, the dragon redirected its attacks toward him—kicking, clawing, and soon unleashing even more icy breaths.

Lee Hyeon darted around, deliberately guiding the dragon to spray breath all over the area. Rude’s hand, still clutching the scissors embedded in the ground, trembled violently.

Maintaining his avatar, altering the dragon’s breath attribute, and inflicting the sensory-disruption debuff had already pushed Rude to his mental breaking point.

“But I can’t back down now…!”

Field-type Gates were the easiest once you changed the field’s attribute. About ten minutes had already passed, as shown by the timer on the ceiling.

With ten minutes left, he absolutely had to flip this field’s attribute to oppose the dragon’s. Kang I Hyeon was giving his all up front—and so was he. That gave him confidence they could pull it off.

Bolstered by this resolve, Rude poured more power into the Black Scissors. His faltering mental energy began stabilizing once more.

[This is the timeline separator]

“It’s progressing smoothly.”

“That it is.”

Inside the monitoring room, personnel from Seongjeon and Kang Su Jin watched their battle with tense expressions.

Since domestic Grade 2 Gate cases were virtually nonexistent, they had referenced overseas records to construct this simulated Grade 2 Gate long ago.

Hearing rumors that Rude could only solo Grade 3 Gates, they’d deliberately set this simulation to Grade 2.

It was a virtual Gate built but never used—yet now, seeing it put to use, it seemed nothing in this world was truly useless.

“How long has passed?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Amazing… Keep observing. And once five more minutes pass, deploy that item.”

After giving those instructions, Kang Su Jin flipped through Rude’s interview answer sheets, highlighting certain parts, then returned her gaze to the monitor. Rude’s hiring was already internally confirmed.

His strength had already been proven through multiple cleared Gates, making this mock battle unnecessary—but she’d insisted on running it for a reason. Partly for formality, but more importantly…

[Question] How does Seongjeon’s mock battle work?

I passed the interview and have my mock battle test in a week… I heard Seongjeon cares about more than just raw stats. Do you know what else they look at?

[Comments]

– Nobody knows. Last year, an A-rank applicant who solo-cleared a Gate got rejected, while a B-ranker who just trolled got accepted.

– It’s internal company policy—no one knows. But they seem to evaluate personality heavily.

– Former Seongjeon HR staff here. Seongjeon prioritizes growth potential above all else. Can’t disclose the exact process, but they assess based on your resume and interview, so just be honest with yourself.

This was an answer posted by a Seongjeon employee during last year’s hiring season on a job forum.

What she wanted to confirm through this mock battle was Rude’s “growth potential.”

A Guild Master at D-rank. Ten years ago, it was rare for a low-ranked Hunter to hold such a position—but now, it was common. People’s perception of the Guild Master title had clearly changed.

Where once it meant “the highest-ranked person in the guild,” it now meant “the best leader for that guild.” This shift began around the time Kang Su Jin herself rose as Seongjeon’s current Guild Master.

As a D-rank Hunter, she had chosen to study abroad in the U.S. After the East Sea Grade-1 Gate incident, she returned to Korea and completely overhauled Seongjeon, which had been floundering without a Guild Master or Deputy. She swiftly elevated Seongjeon into one of the Big Four Guilds.

[Trait :: ‘Grandmaster of Trait Evolution Studies’ activated!]

She earned this title because she began researching trait evolution immediately after the academic field of “Hunterology” emerged.

Modern Hunters grow by evolving their traits—growth with no endpoint. Thus, theoretically, a Hunter’s rank can keep rising indefinitely. The only hurdle is how extraordinarily difficult trait evolution truly is.

Therefore, dominating the modern Hunter world is nearly synonymous with mastering trait evolution.

This is precisely why every rookie Hunter dreams of joining Seongjeon.

In-house training. Seongjeon’s employee training team is renowned for systematically guiding Hunters through trait evolution. And Rude, soon to be hired, would be one of their trainees.

Kang Su Jin flipped through Rude’s printed interview answers and checked the part she’d highlighted: his reply to “Name one trait you currently possess.”

“Natural Lucid Dreamer.”

It lacked any qualifiers—meaning he’d never once evolved that trait. Yet even without evolution, his power was already monstrous.

“Holy crap… seriously…”

She chuckled dryly and turned back to the monitor. Rude, spreading his mental energy; Lee Hyeon, diligently supporting him—they were both deeply immersed in combat.

For six years, Rude had never evolved his trait even once. And he’d never cooperated with anyone.

Now, inspired by Lee Hyeon, he’d finally begun to move again. Perhaps Kang I Hyeon himself was the perfect catalyst for Rude’s growth.

And perhaps this opportunity would help Lee Hyeon break that “bad habit” of his.

Two Hunters, each possessing unmatched strength, creating synergy together—what could possibly be better?

Convinced she needed to accurately assess both their growth potentials now, she’d deliberately paired Lee Hyeon with Rude in this mock battle.

Kang Su Jin narrowed her eyes, intently watching Rude on the screen. Her eyes gleamed. The five minutes she mentioned earlier were about to pass.

“Then… let’s see. Whether you two truly help each other—or not…”