A Ranker’s Guide to the Good Life
Chapter 3

▷ Locale — Republic of Korea

▷ Domestic Ranker Channel #1 (Rankings #1 - #50)

| 12 | Imagination: Babylon will be ending its attempts on the 38th floor this week. A notice will

go up tomorrow, but please take note if you are currently running any floor-clearing

groups.

| 39 | Goldroger: Huh? Why’s that? Tutorial season’s soon, yet there’s gonna be a long hiatus?

| 8 | Dawit: I know all about it LOL. Bambi’s out of his mind again. How can a floor be cleared

without the guild master? I told him to get more members. This idea of having only a few

elite members is super blown…

| 8 | Dawit: What’s the matter with him anyway? Does he even know where this Jo king is? LOL!

Are they related or something? How can he go after Jo like that? Ain’t it about time he

gave up already? LOL This is effing hilayrious!

| 4 | Yansae Ha: It’s “overblown,” not “super blown.” “Hilarious,” not “hilayrious.” And “isn’t

it”... Don’t write “ain’t it.”

| 8 | Dawit: F*ck off -_-

| 6 | LateNightSnackKing: You’re not going, Jirok? I’m leaving soon.

| 20 | RenewingIDTmrw: You all saw the news, right? America just cleared their 42nd floor.

From what I hear, the floors are connected until the 44th one, so it shouldn’t take long for

them to clear the next ones either. Don’t you guys think that’ll create too much of a gap

between us?

| 12 | Imagination: That’s exactly why our guild master disappeared in the middle of a floor.

“Do you really wanna chase me up a tree? Why do you keep brooding in your bed anyway? What are you, a dragon hoarding gold?”

Ugh... Jio grumbled in her mind.

“This country has no less than four S-tier hunters, and we are ranked third globally! It makes no sense that we failed to at least reach the fortieth floor of our tower! It’s humiliating! I can barely hold my head up outside!”

This kid is such a pain.

Jio clamped her hands over her ears while looking as glum as an overcast sky. Jirok had chased her into her room and was wagging his finger in her face as he continued to nag her.

He was the second-born of the three Gyeon siblings. Although he was born exactly eleven months after his sister, he was an exceptionally high-ranked hunter in Korea. In fact, he was fifth on the rankings board. He was also the fourth S-tier hunter to appear in Korea.

Since he had always been the competitive type, receiving his ticket had been the equivalent of granting him access to his idea of what heaven was like. He’d beaten the tutorial in a flash and managed to meet a fairly decent celestial of his own. Thus, given his tier level, he continued to climb the charts until he reached his current position at fifth place.

As one might expect, just being an S-tier hunter did not mean automatically getting added to the top rankings. A person’s tier merely indicated the person’s potential. The rankings were an entirely different matter.

Plus, a person’s potential alone did not determine their abilities. Abilities could vary greatly based on the sort of celestial a person met and how. The sort of talents they had and how those talents awakened were also key factors.

Moreover, there were a number of AAA-tier hunters who had already overcome the limitations of their tier who were ranked near the top of the board. When people would say, “They’re real monsters,” that was actually a rather fitting remark.

Due to that, even Dawit Choi—Korea’s second S-tier hunter—only ranked eighth. The third S-tier by the name of Twilight came in at sixth. Thus, Jio Gyeon was an exception among the exceptional.

But I, um…

“All you do is eat and sleep, yet you keep getting stronger! Why don’t you grow a conscience while you’re at it? Don’t you feel guilty watching everyone else try so hard, you freeloader?!”

[Your celestial Fate Reader clears his throat. He feels that was a bit harsh, even if it is true.

He looks slightly uncomfortable and says he would have taught the boy some manners if you weren’t his sister.]

Just be patient with him, Big Sis. That’s what I’m doing. Didn’t I tell you? He’s our family’s breadwinner.

Moochers were extremely quick at assessing the reality of any situation. Even if she had certain personality differences with the guy who brought home the bacon, she knew she had to be patient. Jio stared at the new tablet she had bought with her brother’s credit card while she tolerated the noise.

“Are you listening to me, closet hero?”

“Mhm, but I’m not a ‘closet hero.’”

“Then what are you?”

“Hmm... A closet spectator.”

What... the hell? he thought while confusion was visible on his face.

Jirok finally raised his eyebrows from exhaustion as he realized that his rant wasn’t getting through to his sister.

Jio turned her chin up toward him upon catching the abrupt silence. Her glossy black shoulder-length hair cascaded backward.

“I’m just saying that I don’t participate. I just watch,” she reiterated as her brother continued to gawk at her in silence. “I’m serious. My status window even lists my personality as ‘Free-spirited Spectator.’”

As the young man stared into her catlike eyes, he imagined that the twin moles underneath one of them looked more spiteful than ever.

She’s such a useless homebody.

Jirok stomped off wondering what the legal punishment would be for searching online about sibling murders.

* * *

There was a reason the current #1 hunter was never criticized for her inactivity: the rankings, which reflected their overall power levels, were constantly in flux. As a result, Babel Network based its judgment on the absolute value derived from the hunters’ tiers.

The servers for each country would also expand at different rates based on the number of hunters in each tier that country had. The ones who were considered lacking in value weren’t even granted their own subchannels. Rather than take a more thorough approach, the network had decided to only focus on the geniuses who stood out.

It was a shockingly complacent and cruel method since it was essentially a rule that countries received varying numbers of tickets based on their server size. On top of that, the mere creation of local subchannels in each country generated safe hunting grounds known as “formal dungeons,” and it also allowed people to receive early warnings of gate appearances.

The number of tickets was directly proportional to the number of hunters, while subchannels correlated to the safety of citizens. With that in mind, a small number of Awakened were said to be the ones carrying their entire countries on their shoulders. Thus, the value of a high-ranked hunter was equal to that of possessing nuclear warheads as nations did in the past—perhaps even greater than that.

Of course, just having them didn’t guarantee safety from gate outbreaks or other random phenomena, but even those incidents felt different when Babel was providing oversight versus when it wasn’t.

South Korea had once fallen far outside the sights of the network, but had transformed into one of the most powerful and prioritized nations in recent years. Thus, it knew the difference better than most other countries.

The country had been pure pandemonium before the first S-tier hunter had appeared. There was practically no hope for its citizens prior to that event. The few hunters who were there had been forced to travel all over the country while trying to restore order.

The regions they weren’t able to cover were full of endless sorrow and grief. Every citizen would pray in earnest to the heavens and to the network upon seeing how quickly the nations that had gained S-tier hunters managed to stabilize.

“Oh, dear heavens! Oh, great Babel! Please send us S-tier hunters as well!”

Then it happened. The fifth S-tier hunter in the world—the first in Korea—had come on to the scene in the flashiest way the world had ever seen.

During the ten years since then a few more S-tiers had materialized. Even so, the Korean public had not forgotten the anticipation and joy of the first’s emergence. That hunter had become their savior and had brought good fortune to the entire country simply by existing.

All anyone knew about this individual was that their title was “Sorcerer King” and they went by the nickname “Jo.” Nothing else seemed to matter. A hero was a hero, and a savior was a savior.

Therefore, despite their #1 never doing anything to contribute to the cause, they were seldom called into question since coming into being had already done enough. Objectively speaking, she was one of the luckiest people alive.

* * *

“Jio Gyeon.”

“H... Huh?”

In any case, her current life was that of a young woman who had failed to get into a fine arts university two years in a row. The one who provided the money in her house was indeed a force to be respected, but even above that person was the one who had given birth to both of them.

Jio tensed and gulped. The voice of Sunyo Park was audibly edgy because her eldest daughter had once again failed to get into university. Jio had no choice but to live with her head down and be on her best behavior if she didn’t wish to come home one day to find her bed gone again. Such a disastrous event had already occurred in the past.

[Your celestial Fate Reader says that only happened because you stayed out overnight a week before your college entrance exam.]

Big Sis... this really isn’t the time.

Right then Mrs. Park put down her spoon with a loud clack. Jio had been enjoying the spicy tofu stew her mother had prepared, but she almost choked due to the sound.

Mrs. Park was a hard-working mother of three. Her eldest was the closeted #1 ranker in South Korea who seldom showed her prowess. Her second child was fifth in the nation and most often referred to as the “deranged deer.” Her youngest was a publicity-hunting vlogger who had essentially sold her soul to the devil for views.

But it went without saying that the strongest person at their four-person table was Mrs. Sunyo Park. She was the diligent yogurt cart vendor in charge of providing probiotic beverages to the Saetbyeol-1 neighborhood.

“Why haven’t you been asking me for money lately?” their mother asked.

“W-what?”

“Even if you’re trying to be more frugal, you haven’t been using nearly enough, so I started thinking about why that might be.”

Jio had a feeling she was in deep sh*t.

“Have you been using Jirok’s credit card?”

Her daughter immediately hiccuped.

Ho. Ly. Sh*t. Mom has to be some sort of psychic!

As she sat frozen, her eyes became wider by the second.

Sheesh, just look at her. She can’t even come up with a decent lie. She’s hopeless! Jirok thought as he sat beside his sister.

He set down his chopsticks since he realized that the situation had essentially hit rock bottom, then quickly lowered his gaze to the table.

“Jirok Gyeon.”

“Forgive me, Mother! I was blinded by my love for my sister and committed an unforgivable sin! Oh, great Mother! Please dole out whatever punishment you find befitting of my transgression. I deserve no less th—”

“I’ll give you five seconds to bring me the transaction history of the card you lent her.”

“Your wish is my command, Mother.”

Having ensured his survival for the time being, Jirok stood up then prostrated himself on the floor.

G-goddamn it!

Jio shot to her feet and made a run for it. She couldn’t use any of her hunter skills since she had hidden the fact that she was one from her mother. After slipping on her black slippers, she dashed straight out of the house.

[Your celestial Fate Reader sighs and says you should really have thought twice about ordering the latest tablet.]

“Oh, shut it!”

[He says that his future mother-in-law’s jaw is sure to break from hitting the floor once she sees the card’s transaction history. He gives a low whistle and suggests that you head to the tower since you’re out anyway.

[Fate Reader is now plastering a banner on the wall that says, “This handsome guy is waiting around the clock to get to know you better, baby.”]

“And I said NO! Take a hike, you perv! How many times have I told you to hide the fact that you’re actually a creepy geezer?! That’s why I call you ‘Big Sis,’ remember?!”

[Your celestial Fate Reader protests angrily and says, “Who’re you calling a geezer?! Me? A geezer?! Have you ever in your life seen a geezer this charming?!”]

“Well, you’re older than me, which makes you a geezer. Now shut it!”

『Celestial link forcibly activated.』

『■■■■, the “ultimate celestial,” rises from his post and whispers to his only avatar.』

【Kitty, there’s a rift up ahead.】

For the briefest moment, a laughing voice wafted past her ear. Jio halted abruptly. She had been running without looking where she was going, but she suddenly realized she was almost at the subway station.

He actually went as far as telling me that in advance?

Celestial links were evidence of a contract between a celestial and their avatar. They were essentially a window into the soul that connected the two. Jio’s celestial was unpredictable and extremely powerful. There were quite a few times when he would flat out ignore the rules and open the link whenever he pleased.

But no matter how powerful he was, such an act was in direct defiance of Babel’s rules. Thus, he would be forced to remain silent for at least a few minutes afterwards as a sort of penalty. According to him, the time was dependent on however long it took Babel to finish scolding him.

In any case, he knew that Jio didn’t like him doing it either, so he seldom did so unless he felt it absolutely necessary.

Hmm... So was he telling me to avoid it? Sheesh, you could’ve at least given me a bit more information.

Jio pulled her hood down over her face, then leaned against the wall of one of the secluded buildings. After that, she opened the channel window, which she had minimized to one side earlier.

▷ Locale — Republic of Korea

▷ Domestic Ranker Channel #1

| 6 | LateNightSnackKing: Bambi, that bastard! He must have swiped all the magic gems on the

38th floor. That unconscionable f*cker

Hmm... Looks like the usual rubbish chatter. She was about to open the global ranker channel next, but she hesitated.

Babel Network provided excellent translation services, but Jio was still traumatized by her miserable English exam scores. That was why she still felt it was too soon for her to enter a channel full of foreigners.

Yeah... Besides, the rift is supposed to be in Seoul. What good would the global chat do me?

Following her narrow-minded logic, she then checked the national channel and a few of the various regional ones.

The ranker channel had always been as active as a regular group chat, but it only showed Babel announcements. Thus, all she could see was the timer counting down to the start of the next tutorial.

So... there isn’t another monster wave? Then it’s probably just a guerrilla dungeon or a spontaneous gate.

She did find it odd that it had formed near her house though. Even so, the government hunters employed by the bureau could handle something like that just fine. Thus, Jio the perpetual spectator, decided to head to a nearby smoothie shop with a spring in her step. Unfortunately, what followed next left her puzzled.

“Huh?”

Do all the rifts these days have this level of difficulty?

She pondered over the details of the latest gate as she sipped on her freshly-bought strawberry smoothie with a grave look on her face.