Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu was holding his laptop, but his face was stiff like things weren’t working out well. Yeongchan saw this scene by chance as he was passing by. He sat down next to Hyeonu and asked, “What are you looking at so seriously? Are you looking for porn?”

On the laptop screen, a video of a warrior player dueling was playing. Yeongchan’s eyes were excellent. He could see that the player’s level wasn’t adequate enough. It was just right to be called an ordinary player. If the player just wanted to enjoy playing Arena, then he would enjoy it more than anyone else.

“Who is in the video?”

“The second student.”

Upon hearing Hyeonu’s short reply, Yeongchan realized why Hyeonu’s expression was like this.

‘There is no answer.’

It meant that the limits were clear, and that player’s limit was in the middle. It was exactly 50%. This level was far from a bronze medal.

“He is just an ordinary second class advancement warrior. Is it possible?”

Yeongchan thought it was impossible even if the other person was Hyeonu. Well, it might be different if Hyeonu himself were playing with the account. Teaching the player would be pointless.

‘Regardless of who his teacher is, he is the one who will be fighting.’

At this moment, Hyeonu closed his laptop and stretched. “Groan. My waist.”

Yeongchan shook his head at Hyeonu’s casual appearance and asked, “How can you change so quickly? I thought you were just worried. Did you find a solution?”

“I just need to teach. If he doesn’t have items, then I can give them to him. What’s the problem? Won’t I be a good person if I lent them to him?”

At Yeongchan’s question, Hyeonu made a look that questioned Yeongchan.

***

Hyeonu connected to Arena and clicked on the sparkling message window in front of him.

“What is this? Who sent it?”

Hyeonu checked the sender of the note. The one who wrote the note was a player he recently met during the Alkyl battle.

“Liu Shei? Ah! Adidas.”

Hyeonu noticed why Liu Shei had sent him a note. It was due to his words the other day. Hyeonu read the note after seeing the sincerity of the sender.

[To Alley Leader: 

It is Liu Shei, the Third Dragon of the Kowloon Guild.

I want to know when it is possible to have the meeting you promised the other day.

I hope to meet you as soon as possible.]

“It must be pretty urgent.”

Hyeonu took a screenshot of the note and sent it to Kale. Liu Shei asked for the appointment, but he didn’t say the meeting had to be a secret. Moreover, Hyeonu didn’t want to keep this encounter a secret from Nike. Then Hyeonu forgot about Liu Shei, opened his friends window, and sent a whisper to one person. 

-To Sunny: Sunny? Where are you now? I think we have to meet up.

Sunny didn’t answer. Hyeonu thought a reply would come soon and opened the inventory. “What is this?”

Then he saw something in his inventory for the first time. It was a small pouch. Hyeonu had no memory of putting this pouch in his inventory.

‘What is this?’

Hyeonu pulled out a small pouch and checked the information.

[Comprehensive Competition Reward]

[Epic rated compensation for the comprehensive competition.

Rating: Epic

Restrictions: None

Effect: An item will appear randomly.]

“Ah! I forgot about this.”

Hyeonu remembered the day of the comprehensive competition. It was the day when he explained about Masked Fighting King to the audience. Since then, things had erupted unexpectedly and he had forgotten about it. Hyeonu rejoiced like he had found money in his winter clothes. It was an unexpected income. “Shall I take a look?”

Just then, a whisper from Sunny arrived.

-From Sunny: Alley Leader? I’m in Brigs right now. Where should I meet you?

Hyeonu responded to Sunny’s whisper while preparing to open the pouch.

-To Sunny: I will go straight to Brigs. 

He had to start hunting again anyway. Hyeonu boldly opened the pouch and put his hand inside. He was looking forward to what would come out of the epic rated pouch. 

-From Sunny: Ah, really? We should also talk about the stream...

There was colorful fanfare as Hyeonu pulled something out of the pouch. It was a gold coin.

[100,000 Gold Coin]

[As the name suggests, it is a coin worth 100,000 gold coins. Once placed in the inventory, it will instantly be converted to 100,000 gold.]

After confirming the information about the gold coins, Hyeonu screamed and forgot he was whispering with Sunny. “Kuaack!”

Sunny was stunned by Hyeonu’s scream.

-From Sunny: What’s going on? Huh?

‘100,000 gold! The reward from the epic rated pouch is 100,000 gold!’

Hyeonu was quickly awakened by Sunny’s voice and replied while he was still holding onto his sense of reason.

 -To Sunny: I stepped on a stone. It’s fine. Okay, I will go right now.

Hyeonu had tears in his eyes as he placed the coin in his inventory.

‘It is 100 million won. 100 million. Hyeonu, isn’t your bank account really empty right now? It is 100 million won.’

Hyeonu tore the return book to Brigs.

***

“I was really surprised just now. You suddenly yelled...”

Hearing Sunny’s words, Hyeonu scratched his head sheepishly. “Forget about that. I just stepped on a stone...”

Sunny didn’t believe it at all. However, Hyeonu was so adamant that she was forced to move on. Sunny wondered, “The reason you’re looking for me is information, correct? Is it about the territories that will rebel?”

Hyeonu nodded silently.

Sunny watched Hyeonu and continued, “I have one question. Aren’t you curious about how I know this information?”

“If it doesn’t harm me, then I don’t need to know. Additionally, you will try to say it even if I don’t do anything.”

Sunny groaned at Hyeonu’s words. She couldn’t take the initiative this way.

“In fact, I’m the disciple of a fairly senior black magician. My master was in a fairly high position, so I was able to get a lot of information. There was also an NPC who was an older disciple brother, but I think he is dead. On that day, many black magicians were killed and everything was broken.” 

“I see.”

Sunny’s information was fairly accurate. Hyeonu had wondered where she got such information, but she had kept it a secret. He had been curious but thought it wasn’t polite to ask.

Sunny continued, “My master found out the base was wiped out. He is gritting his teeth because his home has been robbed. The leader is already dead. My master is ready to rush to get revenge for the chief and his disciple."

“So which territories are the targets?”

“My master is aiming for right here, Brigs. It is where the strongest force will aim. I’ll send you a note with the other places later. It’s so hard to memorize everything.”

“Is that so?”

‘Then I’ll have to handle this place.’

The strongest force naturally meant danger, but on the other hand, it meant the highest rewards. Hyeonu was working hard to get the maximum rewards.

“Then let’s talk about the stream. I’ll ask directly. When will I make an appearance?”

Hyeonu was generous. He wasn’t proposing a joint stream but a guest appearance. A joint stream would divide the viewers. This might be a boon for Sunny, but it could also hurt her. If Sunny’s viewers were absorbed into Hyeonu’s streaming, then the meaning of the joint stream would fade.

“You want to do a guest appearance in my stream?” Sunny’s eyes widened.

Hyeonu nodded. It was such advanced information that he would make 100 guest appearances if necessary. 

“You have provided this information, so I should do this much. Just let me know when so it doesn’t overlap with my streaming date. Tell me what to do. I’ll fit it in.” Hyeonu left everything to Sunny. It was because he found it annoying.

Yet for Sunny, Hyeonu seemed like a man with infinite considerations for her.

“I’ll send you a note with the data and concept of the stream later.”

A bean pod perfectly covered the eyes of the beauty.

***

“Boss, it’s an emergency. Emergency!” Kale made a fuss as he ran into Jamie’s office.

Jamie stopped what he was doing and turned his head toward Kale. “What’s going on? Did Alley Leader encounter an accident? Otherwise, why else would you be running around like this?”

“There was an accident.”

“With Alley Leader?”

“No, with Adidas!”

“Adidas? Is it the Adidas that I know?” Jamie didn’t seem to believe Kale’s words.

Kale once again said to Jamie, “I got a message from Alley Leader. I was told that Adidas’ Asia branch wants to meet with him.”

“Are you saying they’ve made direct contact?”

Kale shook his head. It wasn’t Adidas but the Kowloon Guild sponsored by Adidas.

“They sent someone else. The Third Dragon, Liu Shei approached Alley Leader.”

Jamie laughed. Liu Shei didn’t have a good relationship with Hyeonu. Yet he approached Hyeonu? This meant that someone from Adidas had bought him. There weren’t many people in Adidas who would move against the Third Dragon. In fact, there was only one person that Jamie knew of who would ignore morality. “It’s Cheong Chen. That fool who only knows money is aiming at Alley Leader.”

“Is he the manager of the Asia branch?” Kale made an expression of understanding after hearing Jamie’s words.

This might be Adidas, but they still abided by commercial morality. Many companies poured money into Arena, and some of them were bigger than Adidas. In other words, it meant Adidas was never in a favorable position when fighting with money. So why did they do something this irrational?

It must be Cheong Chen. He thought any method was fine as long as he could make money.

“So what should we do? Should we ask Alley Leader not to meet him?”

“There is no need. The Alley Leader I know would never sign a contract with Cheong Chen. He is a righteous man. If we leave it alone, he will act on his own. All we have to do is make it bigger and make Adidas suffer a lot.”

“It is nice to hear that, Boss.” 

Adidas and Nike—they were the twin walls of the sporting goods industry and longtime rivals. It gave Jamie great pleasure to imagine humiliating Adidas.

“We need to send a report to headquarters. The boss will love it. If it is Adidas, then won’t Bill Knight want to hit them?” Jamie said. He seemed to be having fun imagining his boss laughing loudly in headquarters. Then he added some brief words, “Maybe there will be rewards. An opportunity like this is rare.”

“It is all thanks to Alley Leader.” Kale followed Jamie in laughing.

“Kale, try to draw up some rough guidelines. You’ll see when it comes out.”