Ranker's Return

Translator: rainbowturtle

Editor: LD & Jyazen

Hyeonu and Yeongchan were watching television on the couch for the first time in a while. They both held a bucket of popcorn and candy in their arms.

“Kyah! It is that type of movement.” Hyeonu watched the video and marveled at it. The movement of the man in the video was beyond admiration.

“Are you admiring yourself?”

The video that Hyeonu and Yeongchan were watching was Hyeonu’s second streaming video. He was watching the video for confirmation before sending an email to Ellis.

Hyeon replied to Yeongchan, “It isn’t because I’m the protagonist. The sound just comes out when seeing it. No?”

“Yes, your skin is thick. I shouldn’t talk.”

“Well, there isn’t much to say. Do you want to just send it?”

“Just cut the part about killing the desert dragon and show only that.”

Hyeonu thought about it and decided to follow Yeongchan’s words. Yeongchan had a sharp side when it came to Hyeonu’s career.

“I think this is good.”Hyeonu captured a scene from the video. It was the moment when the unique item’s options came out. “I should put it on Arena’s community and show it off.”

***

Once Hyeonu returned to Lipa Castle, he encountered a baffling sight. The castle that should be empty was crowded with players.

“What is going on?”

The increase in players at Lipa Castle was due to Hyeonu. During his talk with the viewers, Hyeonu had unintentionally revealed the location of the dungeon.

“Is this the right place? Alley Leader’s video was shot here.”

“That’s why we are going to hunt lizards now.”

“Can we see that desert dragon?”

“It has already been two days, but we still haven’t seen it.”

“It is too bad. I wanted to see it for myself.”

In other words, most of the players came here to hunt the desert lizard Hyeonu showed in his live stream. Of course, there were those who were different. There were a few who were looking for Hyeonu. They were hyenas attracted to fame. It was the emergence of the ‘people who follow attention’.

Of course, it was unlikely they would recognize Hyeonu’s face. Hyeonu hadn’t worn a mask in his earlier videos, but Ellis’ efforts meant his face hadn’t been revealed yet. Arena itself had a mosaic function. However, Ellis didn’t use it because it hurt his image. The recent videos naturally had him wearing a mask, so there was no way to recognize him.

Despite this, the Jaguar set Hyeonu was wearing wasn’t obscured. The attention followers aimed at this point. They searched for a player wearing a Black Jaguar set at Lipa Castle. This method was very efficient.

“Hey! Isn’t that Alley Leader?”

Hyeonu heard someone call out to him, but he ignored it. He instinctively felt that he wasn’t being called for a good reason.

‘It must be for no good reason.’

The owner of the voice grabbed Hyeonu’s shoulder. “You should answer when someone is calling you!”

Hyeonu grabbed the hand holding his shoulder.

“Don’t be loud and get lost,” cold words emerged from Hyeonu’s mouth. He didn’t have time to waste on them. He had to clear the quest he received from the emperor. He had to level up.

“Are you not seeing anything else now that you’re doing well?”

Two more men appeared behind the first one, who seemed to trust both of them.

“So what do you want?” Hyeonu was annoyed but he suppressed it. He couldn’t kill them for no reason. It was a penalty he received for being more famous than them.

“We just want to duel with you.”

“Duel?”

“That’s right.”

Hyeonu laughed bitterly. Their behavior was too similar. He wanted to hit them.

“Why? Do you want to have a duel with a character deletion bet? Are you going to stick to it? Or maybe we should just do PK.” Hyeonu stared at the three of them.

He was saying with his eyes, ‘I am making the bet. Now it is your turn.’

The three men hesitated. It was clear they were weighing the value of their characters against the fame they would gain from defeating Alley Leader. At this moment, some words flowed out of Hyeonu’s mouth and drove a wedge in their decision. “Scared? If you’re scared, f**k off.”

“Who is scared? We will do it. Stick to the character deletion bet!”

The prey bit the bait.

‘It makes me feel how wrong it is to fish. It is heartbreaking.’

A bright smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face.

***

Hyeonu and the three hyenas changed their location. There was no place for dueling at the castle. So, they headed to a place near Lipa Castle where there were no people.

“So what are the rules?” Hyeonu asked the three of them.“Captain battle? Team battle? Or do it one by one?”

“Let’s go with a captain battle.”The hyenas decided on the rule without even discussing the situation.

“Really? Then don’t drag out the time and proceed quickly. I’m too busy.”

The hyenas quickly applied for a duel. They thought they could beat Hyeonu, otherwise they wouldn’t have applied for a duel.

[Player ‘Lechi’ has applied for a duel.]

[Would you like to accept?]

“Of course.”

[Yes.] 𝑓𝙧𝘦𝘦we𝘣𝙣𝘰𝘃𝗲l.com

“Then I will set the rules.”

[The rules set are ‘winner-takes-all’, ‘delete character’, and ‘captain battle’.]

“The rules are winner-takes-all, deletion character, and captain battle, as stated. Are there any objections?”

[Would you like to accept?]

Lechi, the representative of the hyenas, nodded. It meant to proceed with the duel.

[Yes.]

[Please determine who will participate in the duel.]

“Me alone.”

“Lechi, Ges, Dira.”

[The number of participants who will participate in the duel has been determined.]

[Gang Hyeonu VS Lechi, Ges, Dira]

Hyeonu opened his mouth and said, “There is one thing I haven’t said. You guys are in big trouble.”

“What are you talking about?” Lechi’s party instantly looked at Hyeonu for an explanation.

“I’m angry. I’m extremely angry.” Hyeonu was clearly smiling but his eyes were sharper than before.

[Please set the order of each team.]

“Lechi, Ges, Dira.”

[The order for each team to fight has been set.]

[1st Showdown]

[Player ‘Kang Hyeonu’ VS Player ‘Lechi’]

[The duel will start shortly.]

A huge dome surrounded Hyeonu and Lechi. It was a temporary space created for the duel.

[5... 4... 3... 2... 1.]

[The duel has started.]

A beautiful voice marked the beginning of the duel, and Hyeonu’s longsword moved like a lightning bolt.

“Keok.”

[You have won the duel.]

Hyeonu’s sword cut Lechi’s neck. The first match was over. Ges and Dira, the two remaining people watching the scene, felt that something was wrong. There was a skill difference that exceeded the expected category.

‘Isn’t he just level 66?’

“We are level 110!”

Hyeonu’s bold voice was heard in the ears of the trash who were denying reality, “I told you I was angry.”

***

[You have won the duel.]

[The rewards will be paid in accordance with the rule of ‘winner-takes-all.’]

“Why touch someone who was doing nothing and make him angry?”Hyeonu clicked his tongue at the three men who couldn’t hear him anymore. Simultaneously, he checked the inventory he gained from the three people. He thought there might be at least one useful thing.

“This is a losing ticket, and this one has a potion. Oh!”

The previous two inventories didn’t have much worth using. To be precise, there was no item that was worth a lot of money. There was naturally no item for Hyeonu to use.

“Body strengthening? This is a profit.”

Hyeonu struck a jackpot with the last remaining inventory. He got a rare skill book—body strengthening. It was also a fairly expensive skill book.

[Body Strengthening]

[-Strengthen your body to make it stronger.

Type: Continuous

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: F

10% increase in strength, agility, and physique stats. Movement speed is increased by 5%.]

Perhaps the guy with this skill book was trying to sell it. It was a very expensive skill. Of course, the guy could learn it himself, but if he had that mindset, he wouldn’t have gone around like a hyena.

“It is good for me.”

This was just the beginning. There were still many people who would come to Hyeonu.

***

Hyeonu felt his good mood plummet once more. There were people blocking the road in front of Hyeonu again.

‘I can see more than 10 people.'

Hyeonu’s tone was sharp as he said, “What is this? It looks like you belong to a guild. Why are you blocking the road?”

The ones standing in front of Hyeonu all had a sun pattern on their chests. To the best of Hyeonu’s knowledge, the only one with such a guild mark was the Mano Guild.

“We are from the Mano Guild. We have a suggestion for you, Alley Leader.”

“Suggestion?”

The person who came out to make the suggestion to Hyeonu was quite authoritative. Hyeonu’s face was covered by a mask. If there wasn’t the mask, his bitter expression would be revealed.

“Join our guild. This is the guild president’s suggestion.”

Hyeonu’s actions were strange. He suddenly placed his hand on his mask and bent over.

“What?” The Mano Guild member asked him a question.

Then a loud sound erupted from Hyeonu,“Puhaha! What is that suggestion? Kukukuk.”

Hyeonu laughed uncontrollably. What the hell was this suggestion? It didn’t make sense.

“Isn’t it normal to be polite when making a suggestion? If you come out like that, a yes would turn into a no.”

The man understood Hyeonu’s words and became angry. He was angry even though it was clear that he had done something wrong. It was what he had been doing so far, so he stayed consistent in this moment. “Can we take that as a sign of rejecting our offer?”

“Rejection? It should be ‘get lost’, not a rejection. Idiot. To think that Mano has people like this... I can’t believe shit like this was sent to me.”

“What did you say just now? You are so dismissive of people just because you are treated as famous?”

“Treated? If this is how you treat people, then what I am doing is entertainment. Think about your own behavior. Think.” Hyeonu tapped his temple with his fingers.

Jason, Manu’s executive, couldn’t resist being provoked by Hyeonu’s successive taunts. ‘I have been patient enough.’

“Kill that jerk!” It was Jason’s declaration of war.

***

Jason took the lead and swung a longsword at Hyeonu. His swordsmanship showed his killing intent. “You’re dead!”

This wasn’t a duel. It was just a one-sided PK. As time passed, the battle turned against Hyeonu. Two people were logged out, but there were still more than 10 people. Nevertheless, Hyeonu didn’t panic. He had something to believe in.

‘It’s time for it to show up...’

Hyeonu was wondering if he should summon Tang-E when the person Hyeonu had been waiting for showed up.

‘Should I just called Tang-E and beat them up?’

“Is that Alley Leader?” A large man in a black suit that didn’t match Arena had appeared.