Ranker’s Return

-Crazy. Going ahead with the main scenario alone?

-Large guilds are doing everything they can while he is doing it alone.

-Does he have a miner for personal use?

-Or perhaps he is being pushed by Quency. What ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-He did it for the fourth main scenario. It is the same for the fifth and sixth scenarios. He is a streamer who eats up all of the main scenarios.

Viewers were no longer surprised. It was just excessive. It wasn’t absurd anymore. It was as natural for Alley Leader to be part of the main scenario as it was to eat three meals a day.

“This is it for the emergency announcement. There was nothing that important, right?” Hyeonu said. The viewers responded to Hyeonu’s bluffing with more bluffs. The streamer and viewers were resembling each other more and more.

-It seems to be an everyday stream.

-This has always been the case.

-No. It is much looser than usual.

-These guys are ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

“Today, I’ll briefly explain the main scenario as I can’t show you what is actually going on. I’m not ready yet.”

In today’s stream, he had no intention of going to the Balder Mountains or mentioning Cruise Mountain. He was only going to talk today.

‘I haven’t confirmed the preparations with New World yet.’

This was what he said, but it wasn’t the real reason. Hyeonu didn’t need to make any preparations if he was moving alone. He would just take Tang-E and head for the Balder Mountains.

‘I will teach them one day later.’

Hyeonu’s stream wasn’t just purely for viewers. Many people from the same industry disguised themselves as viewers and also watched his stream. Large guilds, pro-gamers, and dark gamers—everyone saw it regardless of who they were. It was fun, but it was due to this that information was spread around.

-We can’t do it anyway. Don’t even mention the name.

-Yes. He can just explain it vaguely and crush it.

-How can there be such a thing as just listening to the words? 

-You, what is your affiliation? Get the information yourself. Don’t think about picking up some profits here.

‘As expected. There it is.’ Hyeonu smiled when he saw the chat window. He wouldn’t have hidden it before he entered New World, but he now had family members to take care of. So, he had to keep it a secret for now.

“You know how it hasn’t been long since I went to the East Continent? The scenario is related to it.”

When Hyeonu said this, a few words came to the viewers’ minds. The East Continent...

-It is related to the East Continent?

-Is this main scenario being played out in the East Continent?

-No way? So does that mean New World can get this in the name of Alley Leader? Will there be nothing left in the main scenario?

-Then will it be a war between the West Continent and East Continent?

-Isn’t it possible since Alley leader is Duke Lebron’s disciple?

Speculation was rife. The chat room was full of rumors, ranging from what was happening in the East Continent to war with the East Continent. The moment the chatter died down, Hyeonu opened his mouth and said, “It is relevant to the East Continent, but it isn’t about a war with the East Continent. It is about how to go to the East Continent.”

Hyeonu pulled out the pre-prepared picture. There were strange lines drawn on a white sheet of paper. It was a map of the Balder Mountains drawn by Hyeonu himself.

-Is it overturned? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ What is that? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

-Why take out graffiti?

-It is out of the blue. Why is he joking all of a sudden?

The viewers who saw it started to express their feelings.

It was like a kindergartener student playing a prank.

They didn’t hesitate to criticize it. 

‘Graffiti? Is this a joke?’

“Isn’t this a map? You must be pretending not to know.”

Hyeonu was angry and couldn’t look at the chat window. It was an image that he had drawn seriously, but the result was lousy.

Hyeonu struggled for a long time before calming down his feelings and starting to explain again. “You can see how it is split in the center, right? This is the point that distinguishes the West Continent and East Continent. Here is a barrier. In other words, no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to go to the East Continent. In this main scenario, we need to break it so we can move between continents.”

-Eh? The East Continent is going to be opened?

-So we can go to the East Continent?

-In fact, I’ve been thinking it’s unfortunate that I can’t use martial arts in Arena. This is a huge profit.

-Can we go the moment the sixth main scenario is over? There must be something else.

This time, there was a hot reaction. The opening of the East Continent—this was as hot a topic as Hyeonu becoming a professional gamer and entering New World. The two pieces of news about Hyeonu had completely nothing to do with the viewers. It wouldn’t hinder them from playing Arena if Hyeonu entered New World or became a professional gamer.

This time, however, the story was different. It was clear that the ramifications would involve them.

“I think it will be very difficult to move from the West Continent to the East Continent straight away. It is because the average user can’t cross the Balder Mountains. This doesn’t mean that Quency is a fool. I think it will be possible to create characters in the East Continent as soon as half a year later.”

This was the conclusion that Hyeonu and Nike had come to. In fact, this was actually Quency’s internal policy. In the end, corporate policy was focused on pursuing profit. This meant that such an analysis was possible.

-Half a year? Six months? Isn’t that too long? I want to play Arena with an Oriental backdrop!

One of the viewers was angry and said that half a year was too long. There were many virtual reality games with an Oriental setting, but they weren’t Arena. The viewers wanted to experience the Orient in Arena.

-Why do you think that six months is long? I don’t think I’ll be able to reach my third class advancement after six months.

-There is a lot of content. Have you done your third class advancement? What about the arena? A pet?

-Ordinary people like us can just enjoy it slowly while the large guilds pave the road. Or you can delete your character later and start in the East Continent.

The rebuttal was immediate. Most people wondered why this person was worrying so soon. Six months—it seemed like a long time, but it was actually short. For the average player, six months was barely enough to reach the third class advancement. It was the current theory that after the third class advancement, they would be able to experience a different type of fun from Arena like the arena and pets. There was a lot of content to enjoy even if it wasn’t the East Continent.

-This is true. I am level 150. I can only sigh as I try to reach 200.

-If it is 150, then it is average.

-We can only experience the East Continent indirectly.

-It is by watching Alley Leader’s streams.

“There is no need to be impatient. There aren’t many people who will be able to go to the East Continent in six months anyway. I know that the number of Arena users announced by Quency is just over 700 million. I assure you that it will take a lot for just 100,000 people to go. At best, it will be 0.0001% of the total users. Just feel free to play around in Arena and watch my streams.” 

Hyeonu persuaded the viewers by giving specific figures. He was telling them not to be impatient because time would solve everything. In the meantime, they should just be satisfied with his streams.

“In addition, don’t forget the gold coins.”

Of course, it was after paying a price.

*** 

“Then today’s streaming will end here. Everyone, thank you for watching my live stream today.”

Hyeonu made a 90-degree bow to empty air. Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu bowed in the same direction as Hyeonu. They had done streams before and had no resistance to bowing. Once Hyeonu ended the stream, his voice was as low as usual as he said, “Hyung-nim, should we talk in earnest now?” 

When he was streaming, Hyeonu would deliberately exaggerate his tone. This was the only thing he could do so the viewers wouldn’t be uncomfortable. As a character named Alley Leader, Hyeonu needed a voice that was appropriate.

“Yes, isn’t this the only way to make coming here worthwhile?” Gang Junggu also spoke in a deeper voice than during the stream.

“Well, my dongsaeng took care of it. I can believe in you based on what I’ve seen so far. Isn’t that right?” Kim Seokjung added in a high pitched voice.

Hyeonu smiled and replied to him, “Of course. Just believe in me and follow me. The layout is clear, and the bus driver’s strength is very high, but the levels of the passengers are also different. There is no way to fail.”

“Thank you for saying so,” Gang Junggu responded to Hyeonu’s words with a grin.

“I will stop joking now. First of all, I’m not sure about the specific plan. There are no maps or information on the Balder Mountains. It might be different if I were alone, but it is tougher when we’re doing this in a group. It is less likely that we’ll succeed.” Hyeonu was speaking the truth.

Information on the Balder Mountains was extremely limited, and there was nothing known with certainty. The answer to that problem came from Gang Junggu’s mouth. “That is for us, New World, to take care of. New World is the best before, the best today, and the best in the future. I’ll show you how different we are from those at the bottom.”

Hyeonu smiled at Gang Junggu’s confident answer.

‘If it is New World, then I can trust them.’

Hyeonu opened his mouth and said, “The next story is similar to the previous one. I think we need to make the board bigger.”

“Are you thinking about adding another guild?” Gang Junggu shook his head as he couldn’t understand Hyeonu’s words.

He thought the present state was the best. The more they monopolized information, the higher value it held. New World—or to be precise, Hyeonu—was currently monopolizing the sixth main scenario.

“It will take too long, and it needs more attention. Currently, the attention we’ve gotten is too little. There are at least 100 million people interested in the sixth main scenario. In the next week, we are going to turn everyone’s attention to the sixth main scenario,” Hyeonu explained.

100 million people—this was the number of views gained in around a week by a new video that was uploaded to Alley Leader’s channel.

Hyeonu’s words were extremely theoretical.

He would ‘grow the pie.' [1] 

It still wasn’t big enough yet.

“100 million people? Isn’t this good enough? Do we have to...” Gang Junggu tried to refute Hyeonu’s words.

Yet Kim Seokjung interrupted him. “Junggu, I told you before. Don’t be greedy. In the end, everything comes back to you. Don’t you understand what our dongsaeng is saying? It will take three or four months if we do it ourselves. If we add others, it will end in a month or two.”

Hyeonu added, “Hyung-nim, you are right. That is what it means. In addition, we’ll see the benefits anyway—viewers, advertising revenues, and rewards for the main scenario. The other people are nothing but bridesmaids. I will make it that way. Don’t worry, Junggu hyung-nim.” 

“Then I would like a bit more explanation. How do you plan to grow the pie?”

“It’s simple. Don’t the other guilds have fixed viewers? Their workforce can also be added.” Hyeonu smiled when he finished speaking.

“Viewers?” Gang Junggu was troubled by his inability to understand Hyeonu’s words and cocked his head.

[1] A term used in macroeconomics that could be called more for everyone. Growing the Pie refers to a theory that free market economics grows the size of every slice, and thus raises the standard of living for all participants. This theory proposes that growing the pie is better than redistribution of pie through a centrally controlled economy.