F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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11

“An F-rank killed a Mutant Orc…”

A room with no flashy decorations in sight, furnished only with a few necessary pieces of furniture.

Compared to most major guilds that were lavishly decorated with ornaments, it had quite a minimalist atmosphere.

“That’s the kid who beat the third-year salutatorian, right?”

“Yes, the student who achieved a perfect victory in the tournament.”

“I see… I didn’t witness it myself, but I know it well since it was quite the noisy rumor.”

The underachiever who beat the third-year salutatorian.

Without allowing a single effective hit, he knocked out the salutatorian with one-sided beating in overtime.

“And that same kid stayed behind alone to save our guild member on his first gate raid and killed a D-rank monster.”

“…Yes, it’s all true.”

The Guild Master alternated his gaze between the report and Yena.

He stroked his luxuriously grown beard and let out a contemplative hum.

“So, how did the scouting go?”

“Hunter Jung Juhyeok answered that he currently doesn’t want to belong to any guild.”

“Heh, is that so.”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

To think such a promising rookie had no intention of joining a guild.

He certainly thought it was a polite way of declining.

“It’s not empty words. Currently, Hunter Jung Juhyeok has received recruitment offers from several major guilds, but he’s consistently ignored them all.”

Jung Juhyeok had received even more public attention after coming out of the gate.

Incomparably more than when he beat the salutatorian at the Academy.

It would have been strange if he hadn’t received such attention, considering a rookie had taken down a mutant monster on his first gate.

Rookie hunters usually can’t easily kill monsters even two ranks lower than themselves due to lack of practical experience, regardless of their high grade.

Yet as soon as he entered his first gate, he fought and defeated a mutant alone to save all his party members and returned.

A hunter who was merely F-rank.

“Did he undergo reawakening?”

Here, all guilds had come up with one possibility.

Reawakening.

When they actually investigated Jung Juhyeok, there was a blank period where he had gone missing for a week.

Since he had been diligently attending school every day, everyone found his disappearance puzzling, and seeing him return stronger afterward, everyone thought of reawakening.

“But it seems different from simple reawakening.”

“What’s different about it?”

“Because reawakening doesn’t create experience that wasn’t there before.”

Reawakening increases the amount of mana one possesses and improves physical abilities.

Gaining memories that weren’t there to skillfully kill goblins and achieving victory against orcs he’d never encountered was a completely different story from mana quantity.

“We already knew about his outstanding mental strength from information obtained at the Academy… but his fundamental abilities have changed more than that.”

“Are you saying fundamental abilities mean experience?”

“Not only that, but it can also include fundamentals.”

It wasn’t just experience.

Calm breathing when facing monsters.

Clean posture that anyone could see had no flaws to pick at.

The party member who had gone on the gate raid with him said this while thinking of Jung Juhyeok at the hospital.

“Looking at Jung Juhyeok, he doesn’t seem like a rookie F-rank hunter, but rather like a 30-year veteran D-rank hunter.”

“…”

“Judging by the timing, it seems he underwent tremendous changes during that missing week. The instructor also said he showed remarkable growth after that.”

The blank week.

What on earth had he experienced that a student who couldn’t even make it to 200th place could toy with the salutatorian and take down a Mutant Orc?

Even as a Guild Master who had been through all kinds of hardships, there was no way to know.

“Did you hear anything from Hunter Jung Juhyeok?”

“When I brought up topics related to that, he showed wariness… so it was really difficult to bring it up.”

“I see.”

The Guild Master paused briefly at the unresolved question.

‘Anyway, someone like him would probably connect with somewhere bigger than our guild.’

Jung Juhyeok, who for whatever reason preferred to operate without affiliation.

Even if he changed his mind and wanted to join a guild, he probably wouldn’t suit a mid-tier company like Mir.

Just as he sighed with regret, wondering what it would have been like if they had caught him a little earlier, Yena noticed the Guild Master’s feelings and spoke.

“It was difficult to ask what happened in the past, but we still built a good relationship through this raid.”

“You’re not saying you built a good relationship just by exchanging a few words, are you?”

“No, under the pretext of receiving help during the raid, Hunter Juhyeok requested a small reward from me.”

A small reward.

In fact, even if he hadn’t requested it, Mir Guild would have launched a gift offensive to make a good impression on him, but he requested compensation first.

[If you feel that sorry, then do me a favor.]

Some might call it materialistic, but the moment I heard those words, along with feeling sorry, I thought this was an opportunity.

A chance to look good by giving him two things when he wanted one.

I was thinking of somehow grabbing onto this small thread of connection to get him involved with Mir somehow.

But the reward Juhyeok mentioned there drove me even crazier.

“And the reward Hunter Juhyeok requested was use of the Mana Measuring Device and recruitment of E-rank Dungeon party members.”

“….”

The big stir caused by a rookie F-rank Hunter.

And what he wanted as reward from the guild was use of the Mana Measuring Device and party recruitment requests.

This could only lead to one conclusion.

“It seems like it’s definitely a Reawakening.”

“Yes, I have similar thoughts.”

I can’t gauge how much his mana amount increased, but if he could kill a Mutant Orc, at least D-rank or higher.

For Mir Guild, which was currently desperate to bulk up, he was definitely needed manpower.

“One peculiar thing is that Hunter Juhyeok currently extremely dislikes being exposed to the public.”

Usually, most hunters who have undergone Reawakening are desperate to receive attention from here and there.

But Juhyeok, for some reason, doesn’t try to bring up his past, and his face immediately crumples just hearing about joining a guild.

Is he the type who finds fame bothersome?

Considering his serious personality, it was a reasonable judgment, but still, not even joining a guild just for that reason alone didn’t make sense.

“Could he be someone who has difficulty with interpersonal relationships?”

“No. Both when we entered the Gate together and during his Academy life, there were no interpersonal problems.”

“Then why is he trying to hide himself like that….”

The Guild Master pondered for a moment.

He rocked back and forth in his squeaking chair, then spoke to Yena.

“Just in case, don’t pry unnecessarily and act with maximum respect.”

“Yes, I’ll definitely be careful about that part.”

Everyone has their own unique stories.

Even trying to dig up things they want to hide would only create aversion.

To recruit him, it was important to become a workplace that satisfied his needs as much as possible.

“That aside, how are Jaehwan and Suhwa’s conditions?”

“Although they’re receiving hospital treatment, it’s not to the extent of having aftereffects.”

“…That’s fortunate.”

Moreover, Juhyeok was the guild’s benefactor.

Beyond being important personnel, he was someone who risked his own life so that guild members who trusted and followed him like children wouldn’t die.

Mir’s Guild Master Kim Geonyeong wasn’t such a tactless person as to commit discourtesy to such a benefactor for the sole reason of curiosity.

‘I’d like to visit him personally if I could, but since he’s someone who dislikes being associated with guilds, it would be somewhat burdensome, right?’

Just letting him use the Mana Measuring Device or including him in raid parties wasn’t satisfying enough.

He wanted to meet him directly and express his gratitude, but he suppressed his feelings as much as possible since it might create antipathy instead.

“Alright. You must be tired too, so go in and rest now.”

“Yes, understood.”

Yena bowed and left the office.

The Guild Master fluttered the report in the office left to himself.

‘…207th place.’

A ranking that made his achievements so far unbelievable.

Below were lengthy descriptions of his peculiarities.

[With his sincere personality, except for one week when he went missing, he never missed coming to the Training Ground even once.]

[Showed exemplary conduct throughout all 3 years at the Academy.]

A model student showing not a single flaw.

Even if his grades weren’t good, if he only missed the Training Ground for just one week, the magnitude of that effort was obviously enormous.

“The more I look at him, the more I want to recruit him.”

A rare sprout with tenacious perseverance that’s hard to find these days.

The more he read, the more a forgotten sensation began to stir within him.

‘If he really has reawakened, it might be good for me to personally nurture him.’

A prime period that came with reawakening as someone who worked hard.

To think he possessed unbelievable composure for a rookie hunter along with solid combat ability.

A small passion ignited in Geonyeong’s heart, who had created countless A-rank hunters throughout his life.

*

[I got full permission from the guild master.]

“Thank you.”

A phone call that came while he was resting at home.

News arrived that all the requests Jung Juhyeok had asked for had been approved.

[Don’t thank me yet – is there really nothing else you need?]

“No, just those two things I mentioned and keeping it secret will be enough.”

If word got out somewhere, it would become even more troublesome.

Even now, he was getting annoyed to death by daily contacts through phone numbers he didn’t know where they got them from, and if rumors spread that he was getting his mana measured again, his cell phone would definitely catch fire.

[Hey, who would we benefit by spreading such stories?]

Yena answered with a shameless laugh.

Along with her kind laughter, she revealed her true intentions.

[We can’t leak Jung Juhyeok’s information to other guilds.]

“…Then that’s fortunate.”

As Yena wanted to recruit Jung Juhyeok, she wouldn’t easily leak information.

Of course, it was a request he had made after calculating everything, but it was absurd how she was appealing so openly like this.

[But is there really nothing else you need? Those two things you mentioned seem like too small a reward, so I’m a bit concerned.]

“I can’t really think of anything else…”

Since she was saying this much, maybe he should ask for some cash.

But since he had monopolized all the magic stones from the gate, it felt a bit awkward to demand more.

‘And I don’t really need anything else…’

Jung Juhyeok was about to politely decline since receiving anything more would only weigh on his mind.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, the most important thing flashed through his mind.

[What? Did you think of something you need?]

Her voice gained liveliness now that there was something she could give.

To her, Jung Juhyeok looked at his mother’s back as she washed dishes in the kitchen and said.

“If you know a good hospital, please introduce me to one.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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