F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 28

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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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28

“Can’t you do it with me?”

“No. There’s a risk of going easy when sparring with someone you’re close to.”

A message I left for Sui since it seemed like I’d be late for our appointment.

As soon as I sent word that I was currently being held by the Association, she appeared right away.

‘Is my opponent the staff member who was holding a sword earlier?’

The opposing side glancing over at us.

The female staff member who had visited our home was actively loosening up her muscles.

‘One-handed sword. She prepared the same type as me.’

The opposing side seemed to have chosen this to get a clear look at my skills.

I heard she has a B-rank Hunter license.

“We’re about to start, so go up there.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“If I don’t use my full strength, I’ll be stuck here forever.”

“…Then just use enough to win.”

Sui leaving quite a difficult request.

I couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.

“You’re talking like I’ll definitely win.”

“Yeah. Because you will.”

“How do you know?”

I didn’t ask this question out of anxiety.

Pure curiosity.

No matter how capable someone is, could you really say they’d definitely win against a B-rank Hunter?

To that question, Sui answered without even glancing at my opponent.

“Because I’m stronger than that person.”

Someone who beat me couldn’t possibly lose to someone weaker than herself.

Even though I heard such a simple answer, my head was filled with questions…

‘If I keep following this train of thought, it’ll never end.’

This wasn’t the right timing for a deep conversation, so let’s leave it at that.

“Got it, hurry up and go.”

“Don’t get hurt.”

Warm words delivered with a cold expression.

Sui walked briskly away and left through the door outside the sparring hall.

The Association staff member and Yena were currently watching from above.

Now only two people remained in this sparring hall: that female employee and me.

“….”

“….”

Silence flows.

I’ve been thinking this for a while, but does that person have a personality that makes it difficult to talk to others?

I’ve never seen her initiate conversation, and whenever our eyes meet, she quickly turns away to avoid it, so I naturally think that.

‘What’s this, is she waiting until I warm up?’

I already warmed up my body completely while talking with Sui.

She couldn’t have missed all of that, so I figured it probably wasn’t for that reason.

“When do we start?”

“Ah! Yes, well…”

She hesitates for a moment.

Then she looked up toward the staff member who was up there through the window.

“Shall we start…?”

“Can they hear us from here?”

“Ah, they can’t hear us, but I thought they might figure it out from lip reading.”

Saying that, she takes a deep breath.

She was like a child faced with vegetables they didn’t want to eat.

“Let’s do it. We have to do it.”

Speaking as if hypnotizing herself, she picks up her wooden sword.

“Please don’t look at me too strangely…”

“Excuse me?”

Without even having time to respond, the female staff member immediately stabbed the wooden sword into her own foot.

My eyes furrowed at the self-harm action that happened in an instant.

‘What the hell is she doing.’

Stabbing her own foot with a wooden sword before the sparring even started.

What was surprising was how she showed no signs of pain despite striking her foot so hard.

She crouched down slightly at the same time as stabbing her foot.

“Begin… begin…”

Creepy muttering to herself.

A somehow eerie atmosphere pierced my ears through her voice.

A sense of crisis.

Juhyeok had seen this scene several times before.

‘Is it a skill activation condition.’

He had occasionally seen this when fighting dolls too.

Dolls that would harm themselves while fighting normally, or even before crossing swords.

Those guys would show behavior completely opposite to their previous actions.

“Shall we begin?”

Yes, just like her who suddenly switched to informal speech with crazed eyes.

‘There’s no way she’d lose to someone weaker than herself…’

Does Sui still hold that unchanged thought even now from above.

That’s not my concern right now.

What’s important are the two people trying to cross swords in this place.

“Bring it on.”

And I’m one of them.

*

“Do we really have to go through the trouble of sparring?”

“It’s necessary. The Hunter Management Department prioritizes accurate assessment of hunters’ combat capabilities above all.”

Yena and the male Association staff conversing while quietly watching the sparring from above.

Yena wondered why they had to go through such troublesome procedures, but since the Association said it was important, she had nothing more to say.

“But what rank does the Association think Jung Juhyeok could reach?”

“…Well.”

The staff member pondered for a moment.

He spoke while watching the female employee charging like lightning beyond the window and Juhyeok desperately trying to block her.

“Based on that video, Hunter Juhyeok is unbelievably strong for an F-rank.”

It was an obvious statement.

If he was at the level of taking down a B-rank boss alone in one hit, there was no need to say more.

It was safe to consider him a hunter of much higher rank than F-rank.

“However, he was wearing quite expensive equipment.”

The equipment shown in the video.

Everything was from Han Sanguk craftsman brands, all high-end gear without a single cheap item.

“His skill is certainly included, but we can’t deny that the equipment helped too.”

The Froking taken down with the help of high-grade equipment.

Of course, the judgment to instantly pierce through the eye all the way to the brain was definitely monstrous.

The rank Juhyeok would receive when calculating everything into consideration.

“Probably somewhere between C-rank and B-rank.”

If nothing else, his internal mana capacity was too low.

With that skill level, if only his mana capacity had been higher, he would have been a once-in-a-millennium genius.

Due to his innate physical limitations, it was difficult to aim higher than that.

“Seeing how much he’s struggling against our A-rank Hunter staff member, that sounds about right.”

“….”

Her words stopped briefly, perhaps because the rank was lower than expected.

Yena remained quiet for a while before looking down at Juhyeok, who was fighting hard below.

“Is it because of the mana amount?”

“Yes, that’s the problem.”

Yena, who knew everything even though the staff member hadn’t said anything.

She kept her gaze fixed on Juhyeok, who was fiercely sparring, with a complicated expression as she spoke.

“If his mana amount had been higher, would his rank have been higher too?”

“It would have been. At the very least, he would have been S-rank.”

“….”

At the very least, S-rank.

It was a story that would make anyone who heard it feel sorry.

Wouldn’t he, who trains by swinging his sword every day, think the same thing dozens of times a day?

If only he had been born with a little more talent.

If only God had shown even a little interest.

He might think such thoughts.

“Actually, I don’t think that way.”

Yena was different.

“If Jung Juhyeok had high mana, would he have been able to hone his skills to that extent?”

Countless promising talents emerge, and as time passes, they all fall into arrogance and lose their lives meaninglessly or fall into debauchery and lose their abilities.

If Juhyeok had even a little natural talent for being a Hunter, could he have become this strong?

If he hadn’t learned in advance how to get back up after countless defeats, could he have created his current self that amazed everyone?

“Jung Juhyeok might say ‘what nonsense’ if he heard this, but I think he was able to become this strong because he’s F-rank.”

“…It’s not entirely unreasonable.”

“Even if he loses today, that will only make Jung Juhyeok stronger.”

She knows.

Juhyeok, who faced the Mutant Orc while battered and bruised.

That same person had somehow carried D-rank Dungeons alone and even caught a Froking by himself.

Explosive growth shown in a very short period.

Although he hadn’t achieved Reawakening, he had definitely become stronger.

‘Sometimes he disappears for a few weeks and comes back noticeably different.’

She didn’t know what kind of special training he was doing.

Judging by the fact that he passed the doping test function installed in the mana measuring device, it probably wasn’t anything illegal.

She had asked out of curiosity what kind of special training he was doing that made him disappear for so long without showing himself, but since he seemed to have no intention of bringing it up, she couldn’t press further.

“Anyway, even if he loses here, he’ll become much stronger from C to B rank.”

“Is that so.”

The staff member quietly responded to her words.

Having investigated all of his actions so far, he roughly understood what Yena was talking about.

“This is troublesome. If he gets stronger here, the entire Hunter Academia will be turned upside down.”

Just an F-rank catching a Froking was already headache enough.

The ripple effect that would occur if Juhyeok didn’t stop here and continued to grow.

As a Hunter Management Department staff member, he couldn’t even crack a smile when—

“He won’t lose.”

Sui, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, spoke.

“Juhyeok will win.”

The staff member turned around.

Sui was still answering while absorbed in watching Juhyeok beyond the window.

The staff member deliberately turned his head away from her and replied.

“It will be difficult. Looking at the current situation.”

The female employee whose usually passive personality had changed after using the Frenzy Skill.

She was rampaging like a berserker, pressing Juhyeok hard.

Juhyeok was in a situation where he was barely managing to defend.

Would it be possible for Juhyeok to turn around this overwhelming sparring match?

‘Sometimes underdog rebellions do happen, but I don’t really see that kind of hope either.’

It might be different if he had landed at least one effective hit.

Right now, Juhyeok was busy defending against the female employee’s attacks without being able to attack even once.

She probably wouldn’t last much longer before running out of stamina and collapsing.

Just as he was thinking that, Sui spoke.

“Left, right, right, left.”

Directions she recited in sync with the female employee’s attacks.

They varied according to the attack speed and grew faster together.

“Right, right, right, left, right.”

Her pupils moved busily.

She was currently in an immersion state.

Deeply immersed in the sparring itself, in a state where no voice could easily disturb her.

Though it wasn’t even her own battle, she had fallen into a trance state over someone else’s fight, continuing to whisper directions with her mouth, then at one timing spoke quickly.

“Now.”

Those words came out even before the sword had been swung.

Sui raised her right hand and took a small stance as if gripping a sword.

Jung Juhyeok below also raised the same hand simultaneously as if they had planned it, and blocked the sword with a twist.

Clang―!

A clean parry.

The powerful attack was perfectly read and the female employee lost her balance.

An action he had repeated millions of times against the doll.

Using the opponent’s superior force against them to collapse their center.

Jung Juhyeok had been continuously watching for that opening, and now made his decisive move against the wavering sword path.

“That’s right.”

Sui had clearly predicted Jung Juhyeok’s action.

Jung Juhyeok thrust his sword at the female employee’s neck, effectively ending the sparring, and when Sui looked at him, she turned her head smoothly toward the two and said.

“I told you. Jung Juhyeok would win.”

“….”

The Association staff member couldn’t manage to say anything.

Frozen like stone, he stared blankly beyond the window at Jung Juhyeok, who had claimed victory despite being battered.

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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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