Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

“Chae-ssi! What brings you here?”

“I came as an adjunct professor.”

Habin instinctively smiled with joy, then froze in place with a start.

It was because she felt too many eyes on them from the surrounding area.

‘What’s this, what’s this?’

‘Gasp, Chae Jiseok…’

‘Did that student just call Chae Jiseok-nim “Chae-ssi” despite being a student?’

‘She didn’t call him teacher?’

‘And she’s even speaking informally?’

‘Are they originally close?’

‘What’s their relationship?’

Gazes mixed with surprise and suspicion.

“Da-damn it! Don’t talk to me here!”

Habin hastily fled from there.

Tap tap tap, Hyun Habin swiftly climbed the stairs, heading straight for the rooftop.

Of course, given the characteristics of South Korean high schools, the rooftop was locked, but Hyun Habin simply forced it open with brute strength.

Bang-!

‘This is what stats are for!’

The ‘2.14 billion stat,’ the highest recorded in human history, was put to good use in opening the locked rooftop door.

“Hyun Habin!”

“Aaah, don’t follow me!”

“Hey, calm down! You came so fast you didn’t see everyone else coming up together!”

“Oh, really?”

Intrigued by those words, Habin turned her head towards Chae Jiseok.

“Then I’ll greet you properly. Hello! What brings you here?”

“Aren’t you switching gears too quickly?”

Chae Jiseok made an incredulous expression as he relocked the rooftop door with a click. He shrugged with a knowing look.

“Earlier, you were worried about drawing attention, right? Just like at the night market and Continue.”

Hyun Habin, who had always advised wearing a hat, tourist t-shirt, and sunglasses to escape the attention drawn by Chae Jiseok. She crossed her arms and replied in an annoyed voice.

“Of course! Don’t you know how quickly rumors spread in school?”

“What kind of rumors are you wary of?”

“If rumors spread that I’m close to Chae-ssi…”

“You don’t like being close?”

“……”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Hyun Habin shook her head.

“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant exactly.”

Sensing an opportunity, Chae Jiseok countered leisurely. His tone was tinged with amusement and teasing.

“What’s this? Last time, you openly said we were close in front of that Minsu person. Did you change your mind? Do I need to deposit some friendship fees this time?”

“Ugh……”

He had a point. Until now, Hyun Habin hadn’t particularly hidden her closeness with the Chae siblings of Solaris, except in annoying situations like in crowds or in front of the media.

The problem was that people around her didn’t believe it.

“But this is different!”

“Why is this different?”

“It’s school!”

Habin frowned seriously. She sighed, “Whew,” and then opened her mouth.

“Listen carefully, Chae-ssi.”

“Okay.”

“I’m a student, and you’re a teacher.”

“Aren’t those lines reversed?”

“Anyway, that’s how it is!”

“Okay… So why does that matter?”

Habin lowered her voice and whispered cautiously. She furrowed her brows as if about to reveal an enormous secret.

“You might not know this, Chae-ssi, but when a teacher and student are personally close, it raises a lot of suspicion. For example…”

“For example…?”

Chae Jiseok also leaned in with a serious expression. Habin sighed and whispered.

“…We could be embroiled in college admission corruption allegations.”

“!”

“Like giving higher performance evaluation scores to a close student, or leaking exam questions! Or violating the Kim Young-ran Act!”

“…!”

“People might suspect there’s a high chance of such things happening. So it’s troublesome if this kind of personal relationship is revealed at school.”

“Now that I hear it, it’s surprisingly correct?”

“I’m going to live an honest life of repeating years without needing grade manipulation! But how unfair would it be if such controversies followed me?”

“Y-yeah. It would be terribly unfair.”

“Chae-ssi should be vigilant too. Have you watched Sky Castle?”

“I have, but it’s been a while…”

“Watch it again with Kim Jaljal, holding hands. And engrave it in your mind. School is like a dungeon. You must never let your guard down for even a moment.”

“……”

Only after this passionate speech and disguising Chae Jiseok could Hyun Habin finally leave the rooftop.

◆◇◆◇◆

“This level of disguise should be enough, right?”

Chae Jiseok, using not only dyeing skills and colored contacts, but even items that erase presence and blur perception.

‘We need to change your clothes too!’

Thanks to Hyun Habin’s thoroughness, he even changed into different clothes instead of what he came wearing.

As a result, when he passed by, students no longer turned around in surprise like before. Chae Jiseok spoke up.

“By the way, it’s almost time for class to start. Don’t you need to go?”

“Chae-ssi, what do you take me for?”

Hyun Habin replied with a disappointed expression.

“There’s no way I’d attend class, right?”

“…You’ve been living exactly like at the training institute, huh?”

She must be skipping classes again.

‘Come to think of it, it wasn’t normal when she mentioned repeating years earlier.’

“So that’s why we haven’t run into each other? We’ve been adjunct professors for a while now. Didn’t you hear the students talking about it?”

“I heard that.”

Following the news about Fides, the announcement that the Chae siblings would come to give special lectures caused quite a stir among the students.

‘What in the world is happening at our school?’

‘What? I was already happy that Fides-nim came, but now Solaris’ Guild Master and Vice Guild Master are coming too?’

‘They’ll just give special lectures for a few months occasionally’

‘But still, that’s amazing!’

‘Aren’t we the luckiest class in Ullim International High School history?’

‘We’re a blessed batch!’

Some even speculated:

‘Seeing how both Solaris and Caligo are involved, they must be looking for talented individuals to recruit into their guilds in advance!’

‘So if we make a good impression, we could join Solaris? That’s incredible!’

Of course, regardless of how excited the students were, Habin kept her distance.

“Damn it. The school is getting too noisy.”

Don’t mix in things like Fides, Solaris, or Caligo when I finally have a peaceful daily life!

The students were already in an uproar, and if she even acted like she knew the Chae siblings, there was a 100% chance she’d instantly become the school’s superstar.

‘How do you know Chae Jise-nim?’

‘How are you acquainted with Chae Jiseok-nim?’

Starting with these questions, she’d be bombarded with gift campaigns on every special occasion.

‘Please give this to Teacher Chae Jise! I’m begging you!’

‘I’m such a huge fan!’

She’d hear things like that constantly.

‘I’ve already had enough of that because of Hyun Siwoo!’

Habin made a sullen face and asked Jiseok.

“But why did everyone come without telling me?”

“Well…”

Chae Jiseok rolled his eyes, unsure how to answer.

It all started when Jise first suggested, “Let’s go to the school to see Hyun Habin!”

He had considered joining in because it seemed like a fun event.

For some reason, Fides-nim said he was coming too.

Even Kang Taeseo said he was coming.

Once the situation had escalated (?) to this point, the only conclusion was that they absolutely had to see what was happening at this school.

For now, Chae Jiseok gave the official reason.

“The Ministry of Education recommended it. Giving special lectures to students.”

“But why our school specifically?”

“It was convenient.”

“Besides, you and unni aren’t in the magic field, right?”

“There are many subjects besides magic, like practical situations in gates, subjects related to healing-type Awakened or assassin-type Awakened. We’re in charge of those special lectures.”

“Ah!”

Come to think of it, even Habin, who enrolled here, entered with the ‘Magic Swordsman’ job rather than ‘Magician’. ‘Magic Swordsman’ is a typical dual-class of ‘Magic + Swordsmanship’.

Besides that, there would surely be students with dual-class jobs like ‘Shaman’ who can use both healing skills and magic-type curse skills, or those who use a mix of magic-type skills and assassination-type skills.

Even putting all that aside, the experiences and knowledge that could be gained from Solaris’ Chae siblings would be of great help.

“Then where’s unni now?”

Habin asked as if she had just remembered.

“I should have greeted unni earlier!”

“She should be in class right now.”

“Aren’t you teaching?”

“I just finished!”

Chae Jiseok answered with a grinning expression. This is the leisure of an office worker about to get off work.

Chae Jiseok asked as if he had just remembered something.

“Ah, my sister should be teaching over there right now. Want to go see?”

“Oh? Sure.”

‘Unni is giving a lecture?’

Since Habin had only signed up for elective courses, she wouldn’t officially meet Chae Jise in lectures.

Moreover, the occasional special lectures were first-come-first-served and closed within 0.5 seconds.

‘How could I ever attend those?’

So she had completely ruled them out.

‘But I can watch from the hallway!’

Nodding in agreement, Habin expressed her consent. And so, the two stealthily made their way to find Chae Jise’s classroom.

As they passed by, they could hear the contents of classes from each room.

“Now, look at this. This root herb could easily be found in stationary dungeons, and while it originally had no commercial value, it became explosively popular when it was discovered it could be used in hair loss treatment potions, and is now endangered…”

“While you can encounter lower-level spirits even in low-level dungeons, later when you become Hunters and enter high-level dungeons, you’ll need to be very careful when contracting with spirits. First of all…”

“Um, Fides-nim! Can I present first?”

As they passed the third classroom, Habin stopped in her tracks.

“Fides?”

A student just called for Fides.

“Oh, this really is Fides-nim’s class! Shall we see what they’re doing?”

Chae Jiseok glanced at the classroom window. The subject name was written in large letters on the blackboard.

‘Hunter Web Novel Research.’

“Web novel research…?”

Come to think of it, Habin had considered briefly taking the ‘Hunter Web Novel Research’ course when she was signing up for webtoon and web novel appreciation electives.

However, that course…

Although the name was similar, it was somehow classified as a major course rather than an elective, which gave her an odd feeling, so she avoided it.

‘What kind of subject was it again?’

Conveniently, Chae Jiseok beside her kindly explained.

‘As you know, it’s widely believed that Hunter stories predicted our current situation. So there are active lectures on comparing Hunter stories with the present and learning about dungeons in advance by reading Hunter stories.’

‘Ah, I see.’

Among Hunter stories, novels that were quite similar to the current reality were often recommended for students to read in advance to understand dungeons.

‘Looking at the current situation, it seems they’re just taking turns talking about the Hunter stories they’ve read and their experiences in Kill Screen.’

◆◇◆◇◆

And so, Hyun Siwoo, who took charge of the ‘Hunter Web Novel Research’ lecture.

It wasn’t a lecture he had intended to take on. The original teacher in charge of this subject called in sick today, so Hyun Siwoo just said he’d cover it for a bit.

‘I’ll just have the kids present about web novels.’

“Today, we’ll each introduce a favorite work from the fantasy novels you’ve read and share one memorable quote.”

Since he was just filling in, he planned to keep it relaxed.

“Teacher! Does it have to be a Hunter story?”

“It doesn’t have to be a Hunter story.”

“Do we have to say a memorable quote? I can’t remember any.”

“Then you don’t have to say one.”

Let’s keep it easy, easy.

Just as he finished speaking, a student in the middle of the first row eagerly raised their hand.

“Um, Fides-nim! Then can I present first?”

“Sure, go ahead and speak comfortably.”

Starting with that student, they began presenting about interesting fantasy novels they had read. Most mentioned names and quotes from typical Hunter stories they had learned in textbooks.

“…I was impressed by ‘I Alone Returned as an All-Time Genius Infinite Regression EX-Rank Hunter and Leveled Up!’ and the memorable quote was definitely ‘Status window!'”

“Okay, next.”

“I…!”

The next student stood up, pushing back their desk. Looking straight at Fides, they confidently began to speak.

“I read the classic masterpiece ‘Path of Light’!”

“…!”

Path of Light.

The moment he heard that title, Hyun Siwoo, as a regressor, instinctively flinched.

“S-so?”

“The memorable quotes are definitely ‘Brother, this bastard is laughing?’ and…”

‘Oh no. Stop!’

“‘Leave him be, let him have a good dream.’“

“…Kuk!”

Hyun Siwoo ended up taking massive psychological damage.