Chapter 137
Chapter 137. Ta-da (2)
Yoo Ji-han set the interview location with Lee Wan at a filming studio near the Hero Academy.
A space available for private rental for a certain amount of time.
He refused Lee Wan’s suggestion to hold the interview at the cafe they previously used because he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone else.
“It’s been a while.”
“Let’s go in.”
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu met Lee Wan in front of the studio.
As they entered the reserved space, Min Yu-ri and Chilla arrived shortly after.
“I’m Lee Wan from Hero Daily.”
“I’m Min Yu-ri.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Squeak?”
After a light handshake with Min Yu-ri, Lee Wan politely extended his hand to Chilla as if to offer a handshake.
“Squeak squeak…”
Chilla just stared at Lee Wan’s outstretched hand.
Then, following Min Yu-ri’s earlier action, he reached out his paw to shake Lee Wan’s hand.
Having successfully shaken hands with Chilla, Lee Wan beamed.
“Oh my, how cute! Just as Ji-han mentioned, he’s quite smart!”
“Hmm-hmm! Chilla is indeed smart!”
Min Yu-ri looked very proud of Chilla.
And perhaps thanks to the elixir he had taken, or maybe it was due to being in a new environment rather than just chasing giant cat monsters, Chilla seemed to understand human words more nowadays.
“I really enjoyed your movie.”
“Thank you.”
“The scene where that giant monster covers the sky was just…!”
After everyone in the party gathered, Lee Wan referred to the film they had filmed.
He still didn’t know that Yoo Ji-han’s party had been promoted to Rank 3.
The official announcement would be made tomorrow, after all.
“Reporter. Before we start the interview, I’d like to ask one favor.”
“What is it?”
“I’d like to focus today’s interview on our party’s promotion rather than the hero movie.”
“…Promotion?”
Lee Wan wore a puzzled expression as if wondering what he was talking about.
It had already been a few months since they had conducted the Rank 4 promotion interview.
So, Yoo Ji-han glanced at his party members and said,
“Our party has been promoted to Rank 3 this time.”
“W-what?!”
“Take a look.”
Yoo Ji-han pulled out a document he had prepared in advance.
[Party Rank Verification Document]
[Sweet Fun – Yoo Ji-han’s Party]
A document provided officially by the Hero Department for rank verification.
The freshly printed document stated that Yoo Ji-han’s party was not Rank 4, but Rank 3.
“Gah!”
Lee Wan’s jaw dropped as he read the document he received.
It was undeniably the rank verification document, with an anti-counterfeiting mark engraved on it.
“How on earth!”
“It just turned out that way.”
“…”
“It’s officially scheduled to be announced tomorrow.”
Although Yoo Ji-han casually stated this, Lee Wan’s heart was pounding rapidly upon hearing the news.
“So I hope this interview can be released tomorrow as well. Is that possible?”
“Of course! Just wait a moment. It’ll only take three minutes.”
Lee Wan quickly took out his notebook from his pocket.
Flap flap!
The pages flipped quickly, landing on the section he had prepared with questions for Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Mostly questions related to the movie they filmed.
‘Throw it away!’
Lee Wan discarded the prepared question list and began writing new questions with a pen.
As he had conducted several promotion interviews as a reporter before, it wasn’t a difficult task.
‘This is almost a scoop.’
They gained fame through the movie, and now they had the shortest promotion!
An exclusive interview with this party could easily be considered a scoop article.
“I’m ready.”
Click!
The portable recorder turned on, and the suddenly changing topic of the interview began.
“Congratulations on your promotion!”
“Yes.”
Celebrating the movie’s success followed by congratulations for the promotion?
Lee Wan had to offer his congratulations twice.
“What’s the secret to successfully ranking up in such a short time?”
“Luck, I guess. …Or should I say bad luck?”
The questions and answers continued between party leader Yoo Ji-han and Lee Wan.
Amidst their various conversations, Chilla was just casually scratching his belly by himself.
Then, after the interview had progressed to a certain point,
Yoo Ji-han looked directly at Lee Wan’s face and said.
“I will definitely make this interview a scoop.”
“This is more than enough to be a scoop!”
“No! This alone is not enough.”
“Wha-?”
Lee Wan tilted his head again in confusion.
With a faint smile on his face, Yoo Ji-han said,
Pop!
He summoned a Sylph into the air.
“…?”
Lee Wan, blankly gazing at the green orb floating above him, asked.
“What is this?”
“This is Sylph. A Wind Spirit.”
“…A spirit?”
“I am a Spirit Master.”
Thud.
Startled, Lee Wan dropped the notebook he was holding in his left hand.
Finally achieving his objective for the day, Yoo Ji-han grinned, showcasing his white teeth.
*
The day after Yoo Ji-han conducted the interview.
At 11 AM, a new announcement appeared on the Hero Department’s website.
The announcement of the Rank 3 Promotion Evaluation conducted for Rank 4 parties.
[1. Red Hole – James Kang’s Party]
[2. Dice – Jung Young-wook’s Party]
[3. Happy Time – Kang Soo-young’s Party]
…….
…….
[6. Sweet Fun – Yoo Ji-han’s Party]
…….
…….
The moment the announcement went up, the view count began to rise rapidly.
Thanks to reporters and people spreading information across various internet communities.
[Anon1: Hahaha, guys! Check out the promotion notice!]
[Anon4: Yoo Ji-han’s Party? Those are the heroes who starred in the movie, right? They’re also moving up to Rank 3?]
[Anon13: Didn’t they just get promoted to Rank 4 recently?]
[Anon32: Wow, no way! A real newcomer has emerged.]
……
…….
The list of parties that succeeded in their promotion spread everywhere.
As everyone interested in heroes began discussing them,
The biggest topic that emerged was none other than Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Having already been mentioned in a hero movie, they became a hot topic in various communities.
[Anon55: Who came up with that guild name? Super cringy.]
[Anon46: Why? It’s nice because it’s easy to remember.]
[Anon27: From today on, this place is ruled by Chilla.JPG]
[Anon23: What’s Chilla?]
For about two hours,
The specific community’s board was filled with discussions about Yoo Ji-han’s party.
Even those who hadn’t known about them began to show increasing interest as they kept seeing their name.
And that interest extended to the fan cafe created by Won Yeong-guk.
[Members: 721]
In just a few days, the number of members in the fan cafe, which had been about 100, surged over 700.
After the promotion announcement, the membership was increasing in real time.
[Sweet Fun Official Fan Cafe]
[Yoo Ji-han Party Official Certified Fan Cafe]
…….
…….
Moreover, some similar fan cafes started to pop up around this time.
“Arrogant fools.”
Won Yeong-guk, who served as the president of the fan cafe, snorted and hung a large picture of Chilla on the cafe’s front door.
He also pinned a photo of himself and Yoo Ji-han’s party together at Gye-yang Mountain to the photo board.
To manage the new members, he also posted rules for creating posts.
Meanwhile, at that similar time,
Reporter Lee Wan from Hero Daily confirmed the promotion announcement with his own eyes and released the previously prepared exclusive interview with Yoo Ji-han’s party to the world.
[Sweet Fun – Yoo Ji-han’s Party Exclusive Interview]
[“Heroes that will astonish the world have emerged.”]
As soon as the interview was uploaded, the links to the article quickly spread across various social media.
While the Hero Department’s announcements were already receiving significant attention, the timely release of the interview was like pouring gasoline on a blazing fire.
However, the shocking content delivered within that interview created a new flame, separate from the existing one.
[Wind Spirit Sylph, its contractor is Hero Yoo Ji-han]
The emergence of a new Spirit Master.
And the identity of that Spirit Master would be the leader of the party that had just been promoted to Rank 3!
The incident of a Wind Spirit appearing was treated as a separate topic from the promotion interview, gathering even more attention.
[Anon33: A new Spirit Master has been born!!]
[Anon33: A new Spirit Master has been born!!]
[Anon33: A new Spirit Master has been born!!]
[Anon33: A new Spirit Master has been born!!]
[Anon18: Ugh, can we not spam?]
[Anon33: A new Spirit Master has been born!!]
[Anon35: A new Spirit Master was really impressive!!!!!]
[Anon103: Was the new Spirit Master vivid????]
…….
…….
As a result, various internet hero communities in South Korea…
Exploded.
*
“What? Ji-han moved up to Rank 3?”
“That’s right.”
At the Dice Training Center.
Yoon Do-ha, who was conducting training with Yoo Ji-han from the morning, received the news of his promotion.
“Now it’ll be more convenient when traveling abroad.”
“Pardon?”
“You can prove your identity anywhere without needing a passport.”
Yoon Do-ha’s thoughts on Yoo Ji-han’s promotion to Rank 3 were limited to how it would make international travel slightly easier.
It was certainly a thought befitting a Rank 1 hero.
“So, you revealed you’re a Spirit Master too.”
“I felt it was time.”
“There’s no need to hide Sylph anymore. You can also attend Spirit Master meetings later.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“There’s something run jointly with Spirit Masters abroad.”
Having revealed that he was a Spirit Master,
Yoo Ji-han could now confidently display Sylph wherever he went.
“Let’s wrap up training here for today.”
After finishing the training, Yoo Ji-han had lunch with Yoon Do-ha.
“I really appreciate you.”
“What have I done?”
“Something like that… I’ll tell you later.”
After finishing a simple meal,
Yoo Ji-han took the vehicle prepared by Dice and returned to the Hero Academy.
But when he entered the entrance of the Hero Academy,
“Yoo Ji-han!”
“…!”
“…!”
A stranger on the first floor of the building called out Yoo Ji-han’s name.
At that moment, everyone around turned their gaze toward Yoo Ji-han entering the door.
People sipping coffee in the 1st floor cafe.
People talking privately in the lobby.
Everyone paused their conversations to stare at him.
‘I feel like an elephant entering a circus tent.’
The first floor of the Hero Academy, which had fallen silent like a library.
It felt different from when he had drawn attention with the movie.
One thing was for sure: the level of attention now was much higher than back then.
Yoo Ji-han dodged the burden of people’s stares and headed toward the elevator.
But when he arrived at the floor where the office was located,
“Right here.”
“Thank you!”
Kim Si-hu, nearby the elevator, was signing autographs for people.
From their attire, they appeared to be regular employees working within the Hero Academy.
At that moment, Kim Si-hu spotted Yoo Ji-han and waved.
“Hyung Ji-han!”
“Wow! A Spirit Master!”
“Yay!”
The employees who were getting autographs from Kim Si-hu’s attention shifted to Yoo Ji-han, their eyes sparkling.
In no time, they rushed toward Yoo Ji-han.
“Please give us an autograph!”
“Me too!”
“Ah, sure.”
Yoo Ji-han honestly wrote his name in Hangul at their request for autographs.
“Could you show us Sylph just once?”
“Hey! That’s a bit rude, don’t you think?”
“Get a clue.”
They buzzed like they met a celebrity,
Each holding out their autographs before leaving for somewhere else.
Finally, only Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu remained in the hallway, and Yoo Ji-han said,
“It’s the first time I’ve been asked for an autograph so openly.”
“Earlier, Yu-ri Unni and Chilla were taking pictures over there.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And Hyung! One thing we can be sure of now.”
Slap!
Kim Si-hu declared by clapping his fist and palm together.
“No one will be able to easily disregard us from now on.”
