I Became an NPC That Rankers Are Obsessed Over

“Do-hyun, do you know this?”

Ji-soo, with a sword strapped to her waist, asked me.

Her black hair tickled me, and I almost coughed.

“There’s a big bar in Sindorim.”

“Moment? That expensive place where one drink costs 10,000 won?”

“Yes. These days, they offer free drinks to hunters who defeat Grade 7 monsters.”

Ji-soo’s eyes sparkled.

She had always been a natural drinker.

“Even if it’s free, wouldn’t it be cheap alcohol?”

“No way! The drink is called ‘Victory Cry,’ a celebratory liquor to thank those who protect the city!”

Ji-soo clenched her fists with an excited expression.

“So, let’s definitely go there after we catch the wyvern this time.”

She said with a cheerful smile.

“Will the party leader take me along too?”

“Why wouldn’t he? You’re officially our party’s healer.”

Despite her reassurance, I let out a deep sigh.

To be honest, I was someone who didn’t belong with a beautiful person like her.

Though she treated me kindly out of pity, most of the other party members weren’t fond of me, the “outdated” one.

They only held back their disdain because Ji-soo, the party’s key main damage dealer, cherished me.

Sometimes, I wanted to ask her.

Why was she so kind to someone like me, who was neither handsome nor gifted?

Under the gray sky, she smiled at me again.

That smile seemed to answer my doubts, easing the heaviness in my chest.

“It’s okay. Humans weren’t originally creatures who depended on skills, right?”

Her golden eyes gleamed in the glow.

Looking into those vibrant eyes, I felt as if I could truly achieve something, just as she said.

A feeling that maybe, at any moment, a new talent would emerge within me.

That feeling was what allowed me to endure the contempt I had faced while clinging to this party.

“Before the gates opened, we didn’t have system windows or superpowers, did we?”

I froze in place at her words.

The world before the gates opened…

Five years ago, cracks appeared across the Earth.

From those cracks, monsters from another world poured out, and the world I once knew ended.

Through system windows that appeared in mid-air, we were each granted skills.

And we began to fight, either for humanity or for personal desires.

Some gained mythical powers.

Some achieved extraordinary miracles, like something out of a comic book.

But not everyone gained such abilities.

Some, like me, received mediocre healing skills, and others were even entirely powerless.

In an instant, the world’s order shifted from society to abilities.

I suddenly imagined myself meeting Ji-soo before the world changed.

Meeting her at an ordinary university, going on ordinary dates together.

“Hey! Are you coming or not?”

The party leader, Hyun-soo, called out to me in an irritated voice.

Thanks to his harsh tone, I was able to snap out of my thoughts.

“Yes, I’m coming!”

I hurriedly ran toward my party members.

The ruined streets of Yeouido.

A building with its outer walls torn off, revealing unsightly steel frames, was cloaked in dark shadows.

We all knew better than anyone that the grotesque figure was today’s target.

A Grade 7 monster, notoriously impossible to defeat without a major hunter guild.

‘Blue Wyvern.’

Its massive tail coiled around a building.

When it moved once, walls crumbled, and when it moved twice, steel frames bent.

“Everyone, get ready! It’s coming!”

Soon, the world darkened.

The enormous dragon’s wings blotted out the sun.

“—–.”

A deafening screech that felt like it would tear my ears apart.

As I struggled to cover my ears, party leader Hyun-soo and Ji-soo drew their axe and sword with determined faces.

“Gyu-seon, we’re counting on you!”

Gyu-seon, the party’s archer, pulled his bowstring.

Meanwhile, Ji-soo focused all her strength on her legs.

“Here I go!”

As he released the string, a barrage of arrows flew and struck the building.

As if perfectly coordinated, Ji-soo used those arrows as footholds to leap into the air.

She unsheathed her sword and spun mid-air, slashing down with her blade.

Following the arc of her swing, flames erupted and burrowed into the wyvern’s thick body.

“—-!!”

The monster instantly lashed its tail to attack the small swordswoman flying toward it.

This is bad…

A tail strike several times larger than her own body.

No matter how skilled Ji-soo was, getting hit mid-air would be fatal.

“!”

Party leader Hyun-soo rushed forward, wielding his massive shield, and positioned himself in front of the tail.

The moment he caught Ji-soo, the tail’s blow was so powerful that his shield bent under the impact, engulfing them both in a wave of rubble.

They plummeted together with the debris.

I hurried toward my fallen comrades.

This is the only thing someone like me can do.

I dug through the rubble and reached out to them.

「Healing.」

A soft light radiated from my fingertips, enveloping their wounds.

The blue bruises on their bodies gradually turned red.

“That’s enough!”

Hyun-soo abruptly stopped receiving healing and got up from the ground.

“But your injuries still…”

“If I sit here taking your lousy heals, the monster will escape!”

His massive arm batted my hand away.

Catching his breath, Hyun-soo charged back toward the massive shadow.

Falling debris from the collapsing building.

Searing blue flames that made it hard to even breathe.

Cries of my comrades echoed from all directions.

But the tank, the archer, and the swordswoman all charged valiantly toward the overwhelming force before them.

My legs trembled uncontrollably.

It was as if my body knew better than I did how weak I was, sending signals to flee this place.

“Watch out!”

Huh…?

The moment I came to my senses, a chunk of concrete was falling toward me.

Gyu-seon shoved me aside, and we tumbled to the ground together.

“Gyu-seon…!”

“Hyung, what are you doing? Do you think wyvern hunting is a regular raid?”

“Sorry…”

“Gyu-seon, why aren’t you shooting during the damage phase?”

Hyun-soo shouted while bracing his shield.

“Sorry! Do-hyun hyung was in danger just now…”

“Forget about that idiot and focus on your job! He’s not even capable of healing himself properly!”

While Gyu-seon hesitated, the wyvern folded its wings again.

The wound Ji-soo had inflicted disappeared from sight.

“Damn it! Useless fool…”

I felt resentment.

I resented myself for having nothing but a pathetic healing skill.

I resented this world that had suddenly changed.

I even resented the leader who had swatted away my hand, despite my effort to help.

Amid the deafening explosions, I lowered my head and covered my ears.

If only the world would end here.

For a brief moment, a dark thought crossed my mind—that if we failed this raid, the blame would fall on someone else, not me.

As I sank into such negativity, someone reached out a hand to me.

I knew the rough hand’s owner.

It was Ji-soo.

Her face was covered in ash, her body smeared with blood.

I couldn’t tell if the blood was hers or the wyvern’s.

“Healer, can you heal me quickly?”

Ji-soo asked with her usual bright smile.

“…”

I stared blankly at her blood-stained hand.

Her fingers were blistered, a testament to her hard work, making it hard to believe they belonged to a woman.

In contrast, my healer’s hands were as pale as porcelain.

For a moment, I felt so ashamed that I almost slapped her hand away.

“Noona.”

“Yes?”

“After this raid, find a new healer.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I don’t want to burden everyone anymore.”

I let out a heavy sigh.

But that sigh soon turned into a yelp.

Ji-soo had struck my head with her fist.

“You idiot.”

She glared at me, her face filled with uncharacteristic anger.

“Did I ever teach you that?”

“Teach me what?”

“Did I teach you to just run away when things get tough?”

“But everyone’s getting hurt because of me! I hate it. I hate living with the guilt of putting people in danger because of me…”

I lifted my head and looked at her.

Something was caught in my eyes, making her silhouette waver.

“Who starts off strong from the beginning?”

Ji-soo reached her hand out to me again.

“Hyun-soo couldn’t even lift a shield with one hand in the past. Gyu-seon couldn’t hit a stationary apple with his arrows.”

“And I? I used to swing my sword at empty air, even with a scarecrow right in front of me.”

She smiled faintly and asked me in return.

“But do you know how we got this far?”

Under the black sun, her figure glowed.

“We all endured, waiting for each other to grow. And we’re going to wait for you too.”

“Wait… what?”

“Even that gruff Hyun-soo worries about you a lot, you know.”

That irritable leader… worries about me?

“We’re investing in you. So stop saying you’re a burden. If you feel sorry for us, just work harder.”

I stared blankly at her hand.

I felt ashamed of myself for having such embarrassing thoughts.

There was someone right in front of me who wanted my ability.

“That’s all there is to it.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

Then, without a word, I took her hand.

In that moment, a dazzling light burst from our clasped hands.

The brilliance was blinding, unlike anything I had ever seen.

「Angelic Hand」

Ji-soo’s blistered hand was restored in mere seconds, the skin becoming pristine and white.

“Now, watch closely.”

Ji-soo stood up from the rubble, unshaken.

“Watch what the hands you healed can accomplish.”

She gripped her sword tightly with both hands.

Flames flickered along the blade and soon engulfed her entire body.

「 Butterfly Dream」

The pinnacle reached by a flame swordswoman at the rank of an A-grade hunter.

Not a mere swordswoman, but a nameless ranker soared into the sky through the rubble.

Through the pouring sunlight, she leapt with all her might.

And with all her strength, she delivered a final blow to the shadow that covered the sun.

Her red sword sliced through the sky, letting brilliant light pour through the gap.