Ranker’s Return

“Pick it up, Master dude.”

At Tang-E’s order, Hyeonu silently picked up the gold and material items. Originally, looting was Tang-E’s job. Then not long ago, Hyeonu’s mistake overturned the dominance between the two of them. Hyeonu made concessions to Tang-E because he had done something wrong.

After picking up the items, Hyeonu said, “Now we will go back.” 

Hyeonu chose to return to the imperial rangers camp. It had been a week since the US alliance had taken over the Kunta Plateau, and it was time for the results to come out. 

‘The third class advancements are coming out.’

Hyeonu now felt the need to move quickly. He felt compelled to end the main scenario before things became twisted. It was a burden. The so-called large guilds were burdensome. Their armed force was burdensome. Their labor force was burdensome.

‘It is still mine, but... it is natural for people to want a big cut.’

Hyeonu was already sad when he thought about the rewards he would have to share with them.

“Let’s go, Tang-E.”

Tang-E jumped and landed on Hyeonu’s head.

***

Hyeonu realized a fact that he had forgotten when he saw Garon’s face.

‘Laek!’

There was still Stage 10 in the Laek dungeon. He had to worry about the use of the remaining scrolls.

“You haven’t found the base yet? There isn’t much time remaining,” Garon urged in a hurried manner. There was a bit more than a month left until the scheduled time of the activities. Even if the pillars of the empire like Suped and Lebron were present, the fighting would last a few days.

‘We have to be prepared to die together. The number of troops will be reduced even further.’

The more he thought about it, the more worried he became.

“The other adventurers are searching hard. The conflict must end this time, so I’ll try harder to find it. Wasn’t there any contact from Suped?” Hyeonu answered in a relaxed manner. It was clear that the two large guilds would scour the Kunta Plateau like they were looking for rats. A lot of time had passed, so there should be contact sooner or later.

Garon replied, “Not yet. I think it will take a few more days. Why? Did something happen?”

“No. Then give me the rewards. I caught the tattooed monsters.”

“Understood.”

[Kill the Tattooed Monsters has been cleared.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[850 imperial contributions have been acquired.] 

‘I now have 12,350 imperial contributions.’

Realizing it was a waste of time to talk to Garon anymore, Hyeonu moved on and sat down in the other side of the imperial rangers camp. Hyeonu had to level up, but he had just finished hunting. He wanted to rest a little bit. No, he wanted to enjoy other content. Dungeons were good. Anything was good as long as it wasn’t field hunting.

“Shall I look at my status window?”

He needed something that would be a diversion. Hyeonu decided it would be his status window.

[Status Window]

[Character Name: Gang Hyeonu

Level: 180

Class: Knight of Keon

Title: Lebron’s Disciple, Warrior Acknowledged by Khan, New Star Acknowledged by Lebron, First Person to Enter the Imperial Palace, First Person to Meet the Emperor, Achieved 100 Consecutive Wins, Solo Raider, Desert Dragon Slayer, Ruler of the Spider Mine, Viscount Vampire Killer, First Detached Force Member

Stats: Strength: 360 (+550)  Agility: 460 (+600)  Physique: 210 (+650)  Magic Power: 190 (+800)  Fighting Energy: 297 (+300)

Remaining stat points: 0

Retained Attributes: Dark]

‘Level 180.’

There were now only 30 levels between him and Rain, the current number one in the rankings. This made Hyeonu excited.

‘What should I do if I’m ranked number one? I can make a lot of money even now.’ 

He felt it at this moment. Then the thought of becoming a sage suddenly came to his mind. The time to become a sage was when all of one’s desires and worries were gone.

‘Jung Hanbaek...’

Hyeonu shook his head. This idea wasn’t correct. There was something he still had to do—seek revenge. He would get revenge on Jung Hanbaek. Once the time came for him to move forward without yielding to any variables... That would be the day of Hyeonu’s professional debut.

Then Hyeonu grabbed the back of his head. It was because Tang-E suddenly swung his paws.

“Hey, shit. Why did you hit me? You can’t grasp the atmosphere.”

Tang-E pointed his jaw forward without saying a word. Hyeonu naturally turned his gaze in the direction Tang-E’s jaw was pointing. There, a dazzlingly beautiful woman walked. His eyes felt purified. The past few weeks where he had been living with dark-looking monsters and Yeongchan passed by like a kaleidoscope.

Still, Hyeonu couldn’t forgive Tang-E for hitting the back of his head just for this. He pulled Tang-E to him and whispered, “If it is just this, then you should consider it as your death.”

“Master dude, that woman is walking over here. That’s why I called you.”

“Huh...? Toward me? How do you know that?”

“Stupid Master dude. We are the only ones here.”

At Tang-E’s words, Hyeonu turned his head and looked around. It was as Tang-E said. There was no one around except himself. The dazzling blonde beauty stopped in front of Hyeonu as Tang-E expected.

“Are you Alley Leader?” The blonde beauty said.

He hadn’t known it when he saw her from a distance, but now he did. Hyeonu knew this face. They weren’t direct acquaintances, but he knew it. It was Reina’s face. The only one with this appearance throughout Arena was Reina.

“Yes, Reina. I’m Alley Leader,” Hyeonu replied.

‘Does he know me?’ Reina acted calm on the surface, but she actually liked it very much that Alley Leader actually knew her.

Hyeonu asked Reina who was remaining silent, “Did something happen? What business do you have with me?”

“Please spar with me once.”

“Huh? Spar?”

“Yes, a spar.’

Groan. Hyeonu frowned. He forgot he was wearing a mask and raised a hand to touch his forehead.

‘If I win then I lose, if I lose then I lose. Ahh...’ Hyeonu was troubled.

He didn’t want to say anything carelessly. There was merit in developing a friendship with Reina, who was the captain of the New York Warriors and a famous ranker.

“Just once. It will only be one time.”

At Hyeonu’s words, Reina nodded furiously. She hadn’t thought Alley Leader would accept her proposal. It was the same whether fighting once or twice. The number of times didn’t matter. It was important just to be able to fight.

Hyeonu continued, “Additionally, I will film this fight and post it on my channel. Is it still okay?”

Reina kept nodding her head.

***

Hyeonu and Reina moved. He left the imperial rangers camp and moved to a corner of the Hejin Great Mountain Range.

“This will be filmed, so I’ll make the settings rough. Is this okay?” Hyeonu stopped once he determined they had moved to a safe place.

“Yes, I don’t care. I will do my best anyway,” Reina answered without hesitation.

Hyeonu heard the words and thought about it, ‘Crazy woman. Aren’t you aware that you’re a pro?’

“What if I upload this to my channel? It will reveal your power.”

“It’s okay. My team isn’t weak enough to lose because of that,” Reina answered decisively.

Her confidence in her team seemed great, but Hyeonu couldn’t erase his feeling of reluctance. In the end, Hyeonu offered her another option. “Since it is a video that will be uploaded, set it to the level that has already been revealed publicly so far. Then we will fight one more time after that without shooting. We will fight like Masked Fighting King.”

“Will it be okay? It’s fine for me, but... I hope I didn’t interrupt your rest...” Reina realized that she had been asking too one-sidedly. 

She felt sorry for Alley Leader. ‘Was he resting?’

“No, how can sparring two times be a problem if it means getting close to Reina?”

It was a problem. Moreover, it was a big problem. A fight with a ranker was accompanied by fatigue. Even so, he didn’t express it. There was a possibility of losing today, but it was more beneficial to continue his relationship with the person called Reina.

“Still… I think I should give you something.” Reina wanted to give him something instead of being one-sidedly in debt to Hyeonu.

However, she had nothing to give. After all, he wasn’t lacking money or items.

“Then give me some experience. 30% based on the winning player. How about that?”

At Hyeonu’s suggestion, Reina shook her head. Experience plundering was an almost unused function. There were very few players who wanted to fight with their valuable experience on the line. A high-level player might deliberately lose in order to raise the level of a low-level player, but this would just make a trashy high-level character. They still had low skill proficiency and didn’t gain any titles, so they couldn’t do anything on the field. What’s more, a character in such a state couldn’t break through the quest.

Conversely, a lower-level player could also drive experience to a higher-level player. It was just that the higher the level, the more experience that was required to level up. Thus, it was hardly effective. 

In fact, the experience required to go from level 150 to 151 was greater than the experience required to go from level 1 to level 100. In order to be somewhat efficient, the one who paid the experience must have a fairly high level. How easy could it be to grow a high-level player? Even if it was raised, what was the point of using experience as food? It was much more efficient to party and hunt a monster of the right level, just like how Hyeonu teamed up with Mason and Kim Seokjung. 

Now things were different. Reina was the perfect experience food for Hyeonu. Of course, Reina didn’t think so. “Isn’t it too disadvantageous for you?”

“Me? What do you mean?” Hyeonu wondered about Reina’s words. How was it disadvantageous for him?

“The amount of experience is different, right? I will take a lot more experience away from you.”

“I’m going to win anyway. What are you saying...” Hyeonu spoke without thinking, but his words were extremely true. It was a fight he could win. Thus, what were the disadvantages of such a condition? 

‘What did he say just now? He will win anyway?’ Reina couldn’t shut her mouth.

It was absurd. Her defeat in Masked Fighting King was a defeat caused by a lack of information. Since then, she had analyzed Alley Leader’s videos regardless of the fee.

“Start quickly,” Reina said in a low voice. It was different from the way she had been talking so far. This was an emotionless voice. It was the essence of the ice princess.

“Yes, I’ll apply for a duel.” Hyeonu was unconcerned about the change in Reina and applied for a duel.

‘Originally, people can change just like this? Well... Yeongchan is the same.’

He thought that her attitude changed quickly, but that was it. Hyeonu didn’t think too deeply.

[Player ‘Gang Hyeonu’ has applied for a duel.]

[Would you like to accept?]

‘Sigh... In the next confrontation, I’ll give him such a beating so he won’t have that idea,’ Reina vowed. She was going to change Alley Leader’s thoughts.

[Yes.]

“Set the rules straight away. It is the experience looting rule.”

Hyeonu immediately set the rules according to Reina’s words.

[Player ‘Gang Hyeonu’ has set the rules.]

[The established rule is ‘experience plundering’.]

[Would you like to accept?]

Reina tapped the approval button so quickly that her fingers couldn’t be seen. She wanted to have the showdown as soon as possible.

[Yes.]

The setting of the rules was finished. A huge dome appeared around Hyeonu and Reina in the Hejin Great Mountain Range.

[The duel will start shortly.]

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

Reina felt her heart pounding as she watched the decreasing numbers.

‘We are really fighting again.’

She might’ve been angry at Hyeonu’s words, but this was only temporary. Reina was thrilled to be able to fight Hyeonu again. She was grateful for the chance to get revenge.

[The duel has started.]

Finally, the revenge match between Alley Leader and the Ice Princess took place somewhere in the Hejin Great Mountain Range.