Ranker’s Return

“Do you know Alley Leader’s ranking right now? It is impossible for you to know. What am I expecting when you don’t even know my ranking?” Rain said.

Mascherano wanted to refute Rain’s words, which seemed to disregard him. However, he truly had no idea, so he could only keep silent.

Rain continued to say, “He is currently ranked 1,536th. There are three weeks left until the end of this arena season.”

“1,500... Since Alley Leader’s win rate is 100%, he will probably go up to master level in a single stream.”

“Yes, there is only a short time left. You might meet him if you do a stream in the arena today.”

“Still, is this enough of a reason for you to be wary of him, Rain? His performance is fantastic, but I think you’re good as well...?” Mascherano praised Rain sincerely.

Simultaneously, Rain took out his smartphone. “Thank you for the compliment. But you will understand how much of a monster Alley Leader is if you look at this.” 

Mascherano stared at Rain’s smartphone. He became immersed enough to forget to breathe. After a while, Mascherano finally opened his mouth. “Does this make sense?”

Mascherano was busy stroking the goosebumps on his arm. “Is this possible? I think I would die if I did that.”

The video Mascherano watched was part of Hyeonu’s stream. To be exact, it was a video of him taking a mission during the ranking battle.

“I also didn’t think so, but it is real.” 

“Does it make sense to win with skills restricted against a player ranked in the 3,000s?!!!”

The problem was that the mission involved limiting skills. Alley Leader had swung his sword without using any skills. Even so, there had been signs of him letting the opponent go. Despite several decisive opportunities, he never dealt the final blow until a certain amount of time had passed.

“It is worth being vigilant. No, it’s okay to be afraid. I would feel miserable to be treated like those ranker,” Mascherano said in a helpless tone.

There was even a feeling of shame. He couldn’t believe he was in the same rank as a monster like that.

Rain ignored Mascherano’s words and finally brought up the reason why he came. “That’s why I’m here. Besides what’s known from the videos, what do you know about him?”

“There is no such thing. There is no streamer who has revealed as much as Alley Leader. He showed everything except for his face. His class, skills, level, and pet information—he hasn’t hidden anything.  What more do you want to know?” Mascherano lashed out at Rain.

“Is that so? Then I just have to focus on leveling up. I have to try harder so that my spot won’t be taken away.”

“Don’t be so serious. In any case, I will be hit a lot earlier than you. Come to think of it, this makes me feel pretty bad? I have to listen to someone complaining when I can’t even sit on top of the rankings.” Mascherano quickly started smiling.

It didn’t seem like he would be able to win. There were 20 rankers still above him.

‘I don’t have the confidence to beat them.’

He didn’t know why he had to focus on the rankings this season when there was still the next season. This time, it was reversed, and Rain started to scold Mascherano. “Don’t you have any competitive spirit? Is this the time for you to act like this?”

Nevertheless, Mascherano didn’t feel bad at all and kept smiling. “I already can’t do it. I will aim for next season’s ranking battle.”

***

“Hello, everyone! I am Alley Leader, the man who is aiming for first in the arena rankings. I welcome everyone. It is nice to meet you.” Hyeonu greeted the viewers.

Today was a very important day. It was the day when Hyeonu decided to rise from the platinum rank to the master rank that was beyond the diamond rank.

-Is today’s the stream when he gets the master rank?

-If he streams long enough to show that, I’ll eat this hat in my hand.

-I think the diamond ranks should be scared.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ What’s wrong? We have Alley Leader. Ignore everyone.

Hyeonu’s expression fell when he saw the chat messages. There were no good words on such an important day. It was all about when the stream would end.

“What am I? You want me to lengthen the stream? Since you said so, I can’t do it for long.”

The attitude of the viewers changed dramatically at Hyeonu’s words.

-Who said such messy things? Crazy. I would scold you if you were here.

-Today is the day when Alley Leader will be ranked first.

-The undefeated number one. Kyah~ Take it.

-I will be drunk on Alley Leader today.

Hyeonu smiled as he saw the messages praising him. In the meantime, comments appeared that caused Hyeonu’s eyes to widen.

-If you are ranked first, I will give you 10,000 gold coins.

-You have 10,000? I have 50,000.

-I will treat you!

‘10,000? 50,000?’

They were gold coins promised by rich people. However, Hyeonu’s mood soon went down sharply. He realized that it was impossible to receive the gold coins today. It wasn’t that he couldn’t win. How could he win and increase his ranking if he wasn’t matched with anyone in the ranking battle?

‘In my last stream, I waited 20 minutes for just one match.’

“I’m grateful for the words. Aren’t these completely virtuous pledges? If I want to get the top ranking today, won’t I have to stay all up night for two or three days?”

The viewers started to laugh at Hyeonu’s words.

- Of course, I’m teasing.

-Alley Leader was fooled again.

-Deceived. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-His heart is probably shaking right now.

‘These people?!’

Hyeonu soon found a place to relieve his stress. Still, he ultimately chose to relieve his stress somewhere else. He couldn’t get angry with his audience after all.

“Today, I’m going to stream seriously without any missions.”

The chosen ones were the opponents he would meet in the ranking battle.

-It is a calm stream.

-Today, I’m looking forward to seeing who among the rankers will be humiliated.

-Most of the opponents he will meet with now are streamers or pro gamers.

-I should pray for them in advance. Anyone who is caught will be killed. He is really scary right now. ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ

The innocent players of the arena were thrown into a fire.

***

[The ranking battle has started.]

The message that said the ranking battle had begun appeared, and Hyeonu stared at the opponent in front of him. The platinum ranker took a step back from the pressure that Hyeonu was emitting.

‘Let’s do it in an overwhelming manner.’

Hyeonu didn’t intend to let the opponent go today. He didn’t receive any missions, so he didn’t need to drag out the ranking battle for two minutes. In the previous ranking battles, Hyeonu had received gold coins, so he dragged out each of the battles to two-minutes-long as a minimum courtesy to the audience. There had been numerous gaps in the opponent’s defense, yet Hyeonu hadn’t hit them. Behaving in such a way brought unintentional stress to Hyeonu. As a result, Hyeonu had actually been under a considerable amount of stress without his knowledge this whole time.

“Hello? I am Alley Leader. Please subscribe to my A-World channel.”

Most of the platinum-ranked players were from a world commonly referred to as the Celestial World. Thus, they were mostly polite to the current Hyeonu. The problem was that Hyeonu was in a bad mood, so he was only polite with his words.

“Yes, hello. I am Streamer Goni. Please take care of me.” The swordsman introduced himself as ‘Goni’ while continuing to step back. It was to instinctively avoid Hyeonu.

“You are a streamer, so I won’t waste your time. Let’s finish it quickly. Isn’t time money for us?”

The moment he finished speaking, Hyeonu emitted a red energy toward his opponent.

‘Fighting Energy Emission.’

It was a strong and intense energy.

[Player ‘Goni’ has entered a ‘slowed’ state.]

‘What is this...?’ Goni was quickly perplexed by Alley Leader’s skill that tied up his ankles.

However, he hadn’t obtained a platinum position by playing around. Soon after, Goni used his skills to turn off the CC.

‘Lake’s Blessing.’

[Lake’s Blessing has been used.]

[The status abnormalities have been removed.]

[Magic power recovery speed will increase for five minutes.]

Goni’s body shone with a soft blue light that soon cut off Hyeonu’s fighting energy. As Goni sighed with relief, he thought, ‘It is terrible from the very beginning. By the way, I didn’t know CC can be used like this...? Is Alley Leader the type to use all his strength from the beginning?’ 

Then a message appeared in front of the doubtful Goni’s eyes.

[Player ‘Goni’ has entered a ‘slowed’ state.]

Goni’s expression was perplexed when he saw the message.

“This is a continuous skill. It isn’t an activated one.” Hyeonu rushed toward Goni with a bloody smile.

***

[You have won the ranking battle.]

After Goni, Hyeonu won easily against streamers, professional gamers, and all types of rankers. It was a massacre. Hyeonu literally crushed the arena’s platinum rankers. They collapsed hopelessly in front of Hyeonu’s Fighting Energy Emission and ridiculous stats.

-The diamond rankers are being slaughtered.

-Are they running away? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Real time ) The streams of several arena streamers have ended. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-The scared ones are running away. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The audience’s conversation didn’t end here. The viewers started to discuss the Celestial World that they had never been to before.

-Honestly, aren’t platinum and diamond pretty much the same? The diamond kids are just the ones going back and forth from the master rank.

-I admit it. Honestly, apart from the rankers, platinum is almost the same as diamond.

-Based on that logic, doesn’t bronze = diamond? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-No, the platinum and diamond ranks are really very similar. It isn’t like the people of the deep sea where after winning two or three times, you will rise up before falling. I don’t know because I haven’t been there. ^^

-Shivers.

The viewers argued well even with a topic that wasn’t anything special.

Hyeonu clicked his tongue at the sight of the chat window. “Don’t fight. I’ll teach you precisely.”

-This is Alley Leader’s definition of the arena.

-I’m ready to write it down.

-Spread it to the community the moment the stream is over. In the future, this will be the definition of the arena rankings.

Viewers were thrilled. Alley Leader was inserting a spoon into the bait they had been spinning among themselves.

“The deep sea is the deep sea. It is a place where players are gathered and there are the most possibilities.”

-I admit it.

-I admit to the possibilities of the deep sea.

“The bronze and silver medal ranges are similar. The only difference is the level.”

-I admit this too.

-It is the item difference. There seems to be little difference in skills.

Hyeonu smiled when he saw that they generally agreed with his opinion.

‘I know it all since I experienced it.’

“It is a bit different starting from the gold medal. From here, there is a clear difference in skill. So...”

Hyeonu stopped talking for a moment. The audience’s messages also stopped. All the viewers were focused on Hyeonu’s moving lips.

Hyeonu’s mouth soon reopened, and this was followed by a shocking remark. “What does it matter? It is just a little difference between bad and a bit better. It is like a child playing jokes. If you care about this, then you should hunt one more monster to gain 5 gold coins, or just watch my stream. Why are you arguing about it?” 

Hyeonu simply defined the bait that was heating up the community. A viewer summed up Hyeonu’s shocking words in one line.

-In any case, you are all weaker than me.