REAPER SCANS
How to Raise Your Skeletons
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – BringTheRayn]
Chapter 165: The World Ranker Announcement Ceremony (1)
Rankers! The aspiration and idols of all hunters! Only 1,000 existed in the entire world—only those whose names were listed on the World Ranking Board had proved their worth. And…
—Thud!
“Wow, this is amazing.”
The TV screen Kim Jinah was watching was filled with the massive monument in the eastern United States.
“Alright, alright! Everyone’s been waiting! It’s almost time! There are just 10 seconds left until the world clock strikes midnight! As we welcome the year 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, the board in the eastern United States is being broadcast!”
“As you already know! Unlike the beginning of each month, the beginning of the year sees a massive shift in the world rankings. Are you excited?”
“Of course! Since our nation is a hunter powerhouse, how could we not be excited? Haha!”
With the New Year countdown just moments away, two MCs, a man and a woman, were energetically chattering into their microphones.
“In the end, I’m spending New Year’s alone.”
Kim Jinah turned on a channel that looked decent and chugged her beer.
—Gulp, gulp!
On her phone, live chat messages were streaming in real-time.
> Ahhhh! It’s almost time!
> I’m so excited for the ranking changes! I’m sure the top 20 won’t change this year, right?
> Probably not. There haven’t been any major fights or anything.
> Yeah, that area’s like a concrete wall. It’s pretty much fixed now.
> Hello. I’m going to become a hunter in the new year. Can everyone pray for me, please?
> Ohh, a rookie! You must be so nervous lol.
> Lol. For real.
> Isn’t this the day your life’s trajectory is decided?
> …Please pray that I get a good unique ability.
> As long as it’s not something like Shit Eater, take it gratefully.
> Lol, are people still bringing up that Shit Eater meme? Wasn’t that fake?
> …Hey, watch your mouth. It actually exists.
New Year’s was a festival for all hunters worldwide. It was the day new hunters were born, and the rankings underwent major shifts.
About a decade ago, they used to announce music and acting awards before the New Year bell rang. But now, the most popular event was the World Ranker Announcement Ceremony. It was an event that engraved the names and titles of rankers into the minds of people worldwide once again.
“How many rankers does our country currently have? Can you give us a detailed explanation?”
“Sure! After the addition of the Dark Lord, Kim Hyukseon, our proud Korean rankers now total 37. Let’s take a look at the list!”
Like the roster of soccer players before a World Cup match, the hunters’ rankings were displayed on the screen in an orderly fashion. Ha Sera, Jang Daewoong, Giparang… and so on.
Using the pre-updated data, the MCs began explaining each person.
“Boring. Ugh,” Kim Jinah scoffed and hiccuped.
The same event happened every year, and the same reactions happened every year. For example, when Ha Sera appeared…
“Wow! It’s Ha Sera!”
“Ha Sera! Ha Sera! Ha Sera!”
“Praise Sera and her guild!”
“In the 15th century, we had King Sejong, Admiral Yi Sunsin in the 16th century, and Ha Sera in the 21st century!”
“Honestly, the fact that we’re the second strongest hunter nation is all thanks to Ha Sera. She’s just a beacon of light.”
“For real. Without Ha Sera, we’d drop out of the top 20 immediately…”
The comment section exploded like this. Of course they were promoting national pride, but that had nothing to do with her.
“Hmph.”
Kim Jinah wasn’t usually this pessimistic, but something inside her had twisted after being left alone for so long—or maybe she was just drunk. However, she couldn’t take her eyes off the TV.
“It’s not like I have anything else to do anyway. And I have to see the new rank of our Dark Empress too.”
The Dark Empress, Gi Soyul, was now part of Demir's Workshop, not Parang. So as the vice shop master, Kim Jinah had to keep an eye on her.
The Dark Empress is basically all of our workshop’s strength.
Kim Jinah’s goal wasn’t just to run a workshop. It was to serve the extraordinary Joo Donghoon from the start and build the world’s greatest guild.
The problem is that the owner is a dungeon maniac who’s gone missing for months.
Kim Jinah gritted her teeth again.
I won’t let him get away with this.
She wasn’t going to let this slide unless he came back as a ranker or something.
As she was mentally chewing out Joo Donghoon…
“There are exactly 10 seconds left until the New Year! 10 seconds remaining!”
“Shall we count together? Ten! Nine! Eight!”
Time had already flown by, and a large countdown appeared on the TV screen.
“Seven!”
“Seven!”
“Seveeeen!”
The sound of people counting together could be heard.
“Three! Two!”
Kim Jinah stopped sighing and stared at the screen. No matter how bitter she felt, the anticipation of welcoming a new year made her heart flutter.
“One!”
At the same time, her vision blurred slightly. This was it.
“As expected,” Kim Jinah grinned.
“0!”
As the year 2023 began, a new update message appeared on Kim Jinah’s—no, every hunter’s vision worldwide.
[The rankings have been updated.]
[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]
And then, one by one, the rankings began to appear on the screen.
[Rank 1 - ???]
[Rank 2 - Jack Smith, the Demon King]
[Rank 3 - Ha Sera, the Heavenly Demon]
[Rank 4 - Sophia Silverstone, the Oxford's Sage]
[Rank 5 - Delilah, the Dungeon Maker]
[Rank 6 - Aria Yuel, the Paladin]
[Rank 7 - Nina Christine, the Grace of Yggdrasil]
[Rank 8 - Ichikawa Takeru, the Spirit Emperor]
[Rank 9 - Ronnie Williams, the Roider]
[Rank 10 - Chen Ziyi, the Spear King ]
…
About every two seconds, the rankings began to update on the screen.
“Wow! Once again, our Ha Sera proudly secures the 3rd rank in the world rankings!”
“Amazing! Truly amazing! We’re so proud!”
The MCs excitedly shouted in response—it was their job. Although they were probably shouting to make money, their expressions were genuine, doubling the audience’s excitement.
> Kyaa, it’s Ha Sera!
> Wow! I was so nervous she might drop to 4th. We can’t lose to the UK!
> This is insane. How does such talent come from this tiny peninsula?
> Thank you! We love you!
Ha Sera the Heavenly Demon—she was the very embodiment of our country. In fact, Ha Sera was the first thing that came to mind when people thought of South Korea overseas. And…
[Rank 19 - Jang Daewoong, the Berserker]
> Woooow!
> The Berserker’s rank went up by one!
> Wow, the Berserker… He’s really scary. Isn’t this just about the fastest climb into the top 10?
South Korea’s second-highest rank was still the Berserker.
[Rank 46 - Giparang, the Fine Bow]
Ranked third-highest place in Korea was the Fine Bow. He jumped a whopping 12 ranks from 58th.
“Wow. As expected of the Dark Empress’s brother!”
Even Kim Jinah, who had been indifferent to the news, couldn’t help but let out a gasp at the news of him reaching rank 46. Rank shifts within the top 100 were almost unheard of.
The people outside reacted the same way.
“Wow!”
“Well done, Fine Bow!”
“He must’ve worked so hard for this!”
People cheered, throwing their beers into the air. As citizens, they genuinely celebrated their country’s rankers achieving great results.
“…I wonder if the Dark Empress raised her rank by a lot too?”
In truth, Kim Jinah only wanted to see Gi Soyul, who was ranked 379. Even if she just broke into the early 300s this time, it would be a huge success, as it would solidify the workshop’s standing even more.
“Actually, as long as she doesn’t drop, it’s fine.”
While the top two high-rankers had improved their standings, countless hunters fell just as much as others rose. In fact, that was only natural—that was the nature of the zero-sum game; if someone rose, someone else must fall.
As she watched the foreign rankers pass by at 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 55th…
“…Eh?”
It was then that a familiar name appeared. Familiar, yet… somewhat… unbelievable.
“Huh?” She frowned instinctively as a strange sound escaped her lips.
—Blink, blink!
At the same time, she rubbed her eyes.
“What the hell?”
Am I drunk? What’s going on? No matter how much I drank, there’s no way I’d get drunk on just beer, right?
But no matter how much she rubbed her eyes, the letters didn’t change. The words still floated before her.
[Rank 78 - Joo Donghoon, the Skeleton King]
“Bullshit!” She was utterly shocked.
Joo Donghoon? Even though it was a common name, she only knew of one Joo Donghoon—especially one with a title related to skeletons.
“Is this real? What? Why is the workshop master here?”
It felt like the alcohol had completely worn off. Blood rushed from her toes to her head, making her feel hot. Goosebumps covered her skin, and her hair stood on end.
“How is this possible?”
A Korean breaking into the top 100 was already shocking.
“But he wasn’t even a ranker before!”
And now he had reached 78th in just three months. That made absolutely no sense.
“Ooooh?”
“Huh? Huh?”
Noises of confusion could be heard from outside, too.
“Joo Donghoon? What?”
“78th? Isn’t that a Korean name? Joo Donghoon? I’ve definitely heard that name somewhere. He’s not a Korean from overseas, right?”
“Woah! What is this?!”
Her mind went blank.
“…Ah! W-Wait a minute. What’s… What’s going on here? Joo Donghoon, isn’t that a Korean name?”
“Uh, we’ll need to check on this. We apologize for the interruption in the broadcast.”
The two MCs, who had been enthusiastically chatting, were now buffering.
“Right? I’m not the only one seeing this as strange, am I?” Kim Jinah’s hands were trembling.
Ah. What if… this wsn’t a dream, but real? What if he went to some crazy dungeon and actually became a ranker of that caliber? Or what if he unlocked some hidden power through some method?
Holy shit.
She got goosebumps.
78th place meant that he was South Korea’s fourth highest rank. After Ha Sera, Jang Daewoong, and Giparang, he was in fourth position.
Her dream was the bold ambition to establish a guild with global influence. And the likelihood of that just skyrocketed to the highest level. Countless rankers would want to join just by seeing Joo Donghoon’s name.
“Ah, ahhh.” She looked at her phone with trembling hands.
> ??
> ???? Joo Donghoon?
As expected, the chat was chaotic. Comments were flooding in nonstop, making it hard to keep up.
> Joo Donghoon. That guy! He’s the owner of Demir’s Workshop.
> Right. The guy who makes S-rank weapons!
> Wait, wasn’t he a blacksmith necromancer?
> But it says he’s the Skeleton King, huh?
> What the hell happened? Someone give us some info!
> If there were info, it would’ve been in the news already.
> But if he can make S-rank weapons by himself, isn’t he already a ranker? Rankers aren’t just about combat power, right?
> Still, 78th is a bit too much. Not to mention, he did it in one go. This is unprecedented. Plus, Joo Donghoon wasn’t even in the top 1,000 until just now. Damn. He wasn’t even a ranker.
“Seriously, what is this?”
Kim Jinah was in a daze. If pinching her cheek hurt, then this wasn’t a dream.
At that moment…
—Rustle! Thud!
A sound came from the terrace. When she turned her head, she saw a familiar figure.
“Dark Empress?”
“Sorry, I’m a bit late. I had to bring someone.”
“Pardon me?”
Between the TV and the dazed Gi Soyul, another figure landed in her line of sight.
—Thud!
“Ahh.”
Kim Jinah’s jaw dropped.
It was the man who had been tormenting her heart all this time—the man who was now the talk of the entire nation.
“Sorry for making you wait too long, Vice Shop Master. Ah, um… you might want to close your mouth. You might dislocate your jaw.” His tone was light, almost joking.
“Ah, Shop Master?”
The missing shop master had returned—as the 78th ranker.
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