I hastily ate lunch with bread bought from the convenience store, and when I started afternoon work, drowsiness overwhelmed me.

In my absence, the new people made some mistakes and also did some work well.

When there was slightly less than 1 hour left until the officially set quitting time, I finished all the work I had to do for the day and had nothing left to do. The thought of taking on more work briefly crossed my mind. But I quickly discarded that idea and browsed the internet instead.

The internet was, unsurprisingly, full of talk about Cheon Shin Woo’s younger sister and the new S-rank. While Cheon Shin Woo’s sister was newly revealed information, I thought there wouldn’t be much more to say about the new S-rank since that news had been out for a while, but I was wrong.

There were many people who enthusiastically wrote various speculative posts, as if they had nothing better to do. There was a lot of nonsense, but also many stories close to the truth.

For example, someone claiming to be Cheon Shin Woo’s sister’s middle school classmate… What could that really be about? I didn’t even attend middle school.

This self-proclaimed middle school classmate of Cheon Shin Woo’s sister wrote in detail about how much she trusted her elder brother and acted brash and showy. There were even comments agreeing and saying “I’ve seen her too.”

The content closest to the truth was none other than the speculation that “Cheon Shin Woo’s sister and the new S-rank might actually be the same person.” It was truly surprising because it was not just close, but correct.

Of course, there were plenty of hateful comments below like “How could that be possible? That would mean the siblings are both S-rank. No matter how much my life is a bad luck game, it can’t be that messed up.” and so on.

There was also speculation that since there’s the example of the sage and the berserker, twin siblings who both made it into the world rankings, it could be possible. But the majority reaction was that it couldn’t be.

There were also various other posts, like accounts from people who claimed to have actually seen Yohwa, or writings about Cheon Shin Woo, and so on.

“……”

I shouldn’t have looked. I closed the internet browser.

The faces of team members leaving work early looked brighter than before. I bought coffee at the cafe on the bottom floor of the guild headquarters.

I felt a subtle and inexplicable emptiness.

Once, I sat on this bench and had meaningless chatter before getting caught up in an S-rank gate. I wonder what happened to the person I was chatting with then.

As I took a sip of the bitter coffee, this conversation flowed into my exceptionally good hearing:

“No matter if they’re family, the guild leader’s actions were too much. It’s not like the guild belongs to him personally…”

“Right, we all built this guild together, and then some unknown person just rolls in…”

“Honestly, how much has our combat team leader contributed to the guild all this time? To abandon someone like him just because of blood relations…”

“It’s awkward to say this out loud, but our guild leader is a bit, well… I’m not trying to badmouth him, but…”

Usually that kind of talk is badmouthing. I, who never expected to overhear gossip about someone who was at least a blood relative while drinking coffee, pretended to be just a passerby.

Suddenly, I recalled Baek Jangmi and Cheon Shin Woo having a serious conversation.

‘We’ve already rooted out a few moles that infiltrated our side. It’s such a headache, not knowing how many got in. You be careful too.’

‘I’ve already weeded out all those guys long ago.’

‘There’s a reason cult activity is on the rise these days. It never hurts to be careful.’

Didn’t they say that cults had secretly infiltrated the 4 major guilds and caused problems? Despite that, Cheon Shin Woo showed strong confidence in his guild. Whether that confidence was from genuine attachment to the guild and its members, or from self-assurance, I’m not sure.

I wonder if he knows. That just by elevating me alone to the position of vice guild leader, such talk is spreading here and there.

“Hmm…”

Well, he probably knows, since that incident caused quite a stir.

“Anyway, I heard Kang Hoon is planning to start a new guild soon, and I’m thinking of following him.”

“Come on, do you know how many achievement points it takes to establish a guild? And even if you establish one, you think it ends with just clearing gates? If you’re not careful, you could end up just subcontracting for the big guilds.”

“So what, you’re going to stay here?”

“Still, Cheonrang is better…”

Is this a conversation I should be hearing? No, before that, is this even a conversation that should be had out on the street? I started to wonder. Oblivious to my concerns, they continued their private chat as they entered the building.

It’s not new, but really, it’s not new at all.

I could feel how unilateral Cheon Shin Woo was being.

I hear that in Amwol, Yi Hyun is limited in what he can actually do, creating an outsider atmosphere. In Cheonrang, conversely, Cheon Shin Woo is alienating the guild members.

Neither situation is desirable.

“Well…”

Cheon Shin Woo will figure it out on his own.

Many days passed after my first day at work. There were days full of thoughts, and days that were frantically busy.

As Silence predicted, there were no signs of impending doom, nor did any major problems arise around me as it had said it would destroy the world for my sake.

A peaceful, peaceful day.

Amidst such peace, there was something that attracted a great deal of people’s attention, and that was:

“Who do you think will take first place in this ranking battle?”

“Of course it will be our guild leader. He’s not called Korea’s strongest for nothing.”

“But I heard that Amwol’s guild leader has been going around saying he’ll win this time.”

“That person says that every day. That he’s stronger than Cheon Shin Woo.”

“Still…”

“Are you two talking about the ranking battle? Oh, did you know? Actually…”

The fact that the Korean ranking battle was coming soon.

This large-scale event held once every 4 years at the national level aroused the interest of countless citizens.

Of course, there were also people who weren’t interested.

That would be me.

L.R is preparing broadcasts in earnest, top rankers are showing off their respective strengths and popularity, various merchandise is being sold, and their fan clubs are fiercely competing with each other… Having intentionally cut off interest in hunters for a long time, I don’t know much about it.

Wasn’t there a corruption scandal or two in the last ranking battle…? I think there was an incident where the mediating association had to bow their heads and apologize because of that.

The excited atmosphere has spread all the way here. I was just thinking about sneaking out after work and maybe drinking some beer in the park.

While I was lost in such thoughts.

“So what do you think, Ha Young?”

“Huh? What?”

“About this ranking battle. Are there any events you’re interested in, or any rankers you’re cheering for?”

The team leader suddenly spoke to me. It seems she was trying to be considerate of me, who was somewhat out of place in the team, but I’m sorry to say it was bothersome.

“Actually, I haven’t been very interested so far… Are there even different events?”

“Of course there are. My goodness, how uninterested were you…? Take this chance to get interested. There are even events for non-awakened, and many others.”

If there are events for the non-awakened, isn’t that already far from a ranking battle? I barely recalled that long ago, before the day of doom, there was something called national team selection trials in the sports field. I wonder if it’s somewhat similar to that.

“And you know what.”

She whispered to me as if imparting a very confidential fact.

“We participate as a guild unit, so that day is an official holiday.”

“What?”

This is news to me. Participating in the ranking battle as a guild unit and it being an official holiday?

“Except for the minimum personnel needed in case of a break, everyone either participates or goes to cheer. There are also team events by guild unit, and especially this year, the atmosphere is quite excited since Amwol seems to be gearing up for it.”

I see. It’s good to have one more joyful event. I nodded lightly.

Since there was still over a week left anyway, and the immediate work was more important, work began amidst the excited atmosphere.

Working as usual, eating lunch, having pointless conversations with team members.

Days passing so uneventfully that I almost forgot I had awakened as an S-rank.

And so the day of the ranking battle approached.

And on the day of the ranking battle, I forgot it was a holiday and went to work. Damn it.

Even though it takes less than 10 minutes to commute, I felt pointlessly dejected. Maybe it was because I woke up, washed, had a quick meal, and got ready when I could have slept in more.

After wandering around the nearly empty building, I eventually chose to sit on a bench in the guild and contemplate rather than return to the penthouse.

It’s a fancy way of saying contemplation, but really I just bought beer from the convenience store and came to look at the sky.

“……”

Maybe because I was bored, all sorts of random thoughts came flooding in. Most were problems facing my current situation.

Worries like why Cheon Shin Woo acts that way, what I should do, what if my choices weren’t the right ones.

Since I’ve been going non-stop until now, should I just quit work and do nothing for about a year? But I don’t want to rely on someone else’s financial power. No, I’m an S-rank, so what does that matter? And so on.

“Sigh…”

Is it because everyday life is too peaceful? Because the end of the world doesn’t feel real, I didn’t feel the need to do anything right away.

No, it was certain that even the end of the world and Silence were somehow connected to Cheon Shin Woo.

Ah, I don’t know. I should just watch the domestic ranking battle like everyone else.

Information about the ranking battle, which dominated live broadcasts, various live streams, and news articles, was overflowing everywhere. Even walking down the street, you could hear talk about the ranking battle, and convenience store part-timers were watching live broadcasts on their phones, showing how intense the excitement was.

When I turned on a live streaming platform on my phone, a live broadcast channel immediately popped up. I clicked on that channel.

“Oh, Hunter An Ji Han charges right in! It’s an unpredictable development!”

The commentator’s voice boomed loudly as soon as I turned it on. I quickly lowered the volume on my phone.

It was a treasure hunting event where they had to quickly find treasures. I knew it was being held inside a gate, but it was interesting to see it being filmed from multiple angles.

Clicking on another channel, there was also a weapon crafting section. Although it was much less popular compared to combat and other events, the speed of real-time cheering comments was still fast.

The highlight and namesake tournament battles fitting the name “ranking battle” were known to start in the latter half, so Cheon Shin Woo’s face was not visible.