Ranker’s Return

During the time when Hyeonu was using every effort to recruit Heder, something big was happening in the Balder Mountains. The large guilds said ‘Overthrow Alley Leader!’ and formed an alliance. The last two big profits were gained by Alley Leader. So this time, an alliance was formed to stop him.

This was quite an unusual thing—an alliance of large guilds that only they knew about. It was really amazing. However, the secret didn’t last long. The rumor spread quickly. It was true that there were no secrets when there were many people involved. This information was passed onto the other guilds that supported Hyeonu. Various guild leaders and vice-leaders gathered to prepare a countermeasure.

“In that case, shall we join together?” Liu Shei said carefully. Liu Shei was conscious of the man before him, Gang Junggu. In fact, after their encounter in reality, he became even more cautious of Gang Junggu. Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu were people who couldn’t be compared with those in Arena, and Tian Hu was no match for them. If Tian Hu was Iced Americano full of ice, they were espressos. Moreover, they were of a thick full-bodied roast.

‘The guy who laughs well among those monsters is also amazing.’

Liu Shei was once again amazed by Alley Leader, who mingled with them without hesitation.

Gang Junggu spoke toward Liu Shei, who had a strange expression, “We have to come together. It will take them at least one or two weeks to get here. The Balder Mountains isn’t a place that is easy to break through just because there are many people.”

The Balder Mountains were never simple. There was a possibility that the monsters would flock, and they would all be wiped out instantly. Everyone nodded and expressed their agreement.

“One or two weeks? That’s too short. It will take a long time since they’re just basing off the information they can get from Alley Leader’s streams. The place after the entrance is the problem. Once they cut down the black-maned lions, they will have no more information.”

The people present knew that better than anyone else. This place was completely different from the Hejin Great Mountain Range. The difficulty jumped by several times. Anthony, who joined the alliance later, murmured, “Fortunately, there are the videos sent by that person. Otherwise...” He was the master of Blaine, the guild recruited by Reina. He was also a single-digit ranker and a grandmaster in the arena, but Hyeonu had never met him before.

“It was helpful to watch the videos. Then we could gather the magicians to cope with the situation. Even if our items are a bit lacking, the attribute damage is powerful,” JT Telecom’s Kim Jinyong added to Anthony’s words.

He felt that JT Telecom would’ve taken a tremendous amount of time to break through the Balder Mountains if it wasn’t for Alley Leader’s videos. Of course, Kim Jinyong would never have imagined that in the end, Hyeonu had a plan for him. This was the reason why JT Telecom was able to participate in the main scenario and why Mascherano had called them.

“Then how about joining the camps together and doing group actions from today? I think we also need to go deeper in accordance with the schedule...” Mascherano disagreed carefully.

He had to be cautious. Among the people gathered here, there were representatives from only three professional clubs—Red Bull America, New York Warriors, and JT Telecom. Professional teams had a fixed schedule due to the league, so they couldn’t hunt at will. Mascherano thought this was a disadvantage that the guilds didn’t have.

“Then what if we split into two? It will be centered around Red Bull America and New York Warriors. It will be impossible to combine these two teams because they have conflicting schedules,” Mano’s Patrick corrected Mascherano’s comments.

However, JT Telecom’s schedule wasn’t taken into account at all. Despite also being a professional team, they were treated just like Patrick’s group, the Mano Guild. Then Gang Junggu, the oldest one and the organizer of this meeting, spoke up immediately, “That sounds good. Do you all agree? If you agree, please raise your right hand.”

Everyone raised their right hand and agreed with Patrick. Now there was only one matter remaining to coordinate. How should the guilds be divided?

“We will talk about how to split it up. Mascherano is here, and Reina will be on the other side.” Gang Junggu started coordinating the guilds. He placed Mascherano and Reina in front of him and then assigned people to each group.

“Since you’ve brought them into the alliance, shouldn’t you take them with you? JT Telecom and the Tank Corps, stand next to Mascherano. Likewise, Blaine can stand next to Reina.”

Now there were four guilds remaining—New World, Behemoth, Mano, and Kowloon. Two were strong, and two were weak. Among the four, New World and Kowloon were strong while Behemoth and Mano were on the weak side.

Gang Junggu recalled the names of the remaining guilds and frowned. It was because the situation was unlikely to work out the way he wanted.

‘I would love to bring Liu Shei...’

However, Mano was brought in by New World and had to be with New World.

“Then New World and Mano will join the New York Warriors. Behemoth and Kowloon should join Red Bull America, and it will look right.”

One side had New World, Mano, Blaine, and New York Warriors, while the other had Red Bull America, JT Telecom, Tank Corps, Kowloon, and Behemoth. The two sides of Red Bull America and New York Warriors were well balanced. No one made any complaints.

Gang Junggu continued to speak to them, “Starting from tomorrow, we will use New World’s camp here. You just have to consult with each other about the hunting time and let me know.”

Five people, including Mascherano, gathered in a circle to talk. They were probably adjusting their schedules. Gang Junggu saw this and pressed his lips together.

‘There is a minimum level of security.’

It was bad enough to have this many variables just once.

*** 

After exercising in the morning, Hyeonu moved his stiff body and sat on the massage chair. He was holding something in each hand. His left hand held a protein bar, while his right hand held a smartphone. Hyeonu chewed on the chocolate-flavored protein bar while smiling. He was reading an email from Gang Junggu with a brief summary of the current situation.

‘The situation... is okay.’

It wasn’t what he expected, but it was true that many guilds had run into the Balder Mountains.

‘They can’t all follow me anyway.’

It was a conviction that only Hyeonu could have since he knew the most information about the Balder Mountains. The Balder Mountains wasn’t a place that could be entered in just a short time using large numbers. Hyeonu got up from the massage chair and grabbed his laptop.

‘Shall I see how much it has increased?’

He checked it before the streaming yesterday, and the video of him killing the purple ogre had around 100 million views. Starting from today, the guilds that joined Hyeonu were scheduled to begin streaming.

‘Once the new guilds are added, people’s interests will grow.'

What one in ten people saw was different from what one in five people saw. People were instinctively reluctant to be ignored. As a result, there were people who would be forced to watch.

“160 million?” Hyeonu exclaimed with surprise since the number was larger than expected. The number of views had increased like Hyeonu predicted, but the actual number exceeded his expectations.

‘60 million in one day...’

The number of views was growing rapidly even now. Hyeonu soon figured out the reason why. There were people promoting Alley Leader’s channel in their live streams.

-There are many videos of the Balder Mountains when you go to Alley Leader’s channel.

-Don’t you know that the main scenario is Alley Leader’s?

-Go to Alley Leader’s channel to enjoy it all packaged in solo mode. There are many good videos.

‘What? This?’

Hyeonu thought the situation was absurd, but he didn’t care about it much. Why? It was because it was a good thing. What could he say to those who were promoting him without pay? He just had to accept it.

‘Well, it could be something that Nike did.’

Hyeonu expressed gratitude to those who were active.

*** 

Hyeonu walked through the Balder Mountains with a thin booklet in one hand, and Tang-E in the other.

‘Now around half of the Balder Mountains is complete.’

Gang Junggu had written in his email that other guilds had joined forces to enter the Balder Mountains, which meant there were additional completed maps that could be gained. The paper booklet Hyeonu held contained the Balder Mountains maps that had been collected from other guilds.

‘Looking at this, I don’t think there is much left...’

A few days after receiving the guides, Hyeonu madly broke through the Balder Mountains in a straight line. He didn’t stop until he arrived at a field where hunting alone would be difficult. Unlike before, he didn’t go around; he just pierced through in a straight line.

“Where is the right place? Let me make a guess. Ding dong daeng dong dang dong daeng dong daeng!”

Hyeonu stood on top of the highest mountain peak in the area. From here, the surroundings were clearly visible. There were no more than three mountains visible from this peak. It meant one of those three was the Cruise Mountain that Hyeonu was looking for. The problem was that he felt it wouldn’t be easy to get there.

‘Do I have to hunt somewhere else until my brothers come?’

He didn’t have to do it alone. There was still plenty of time. Hyeonu’s current location was too far in for him to be anxious that anyone would catch up.

‘I think it would be nice to level up and raise my skill proficiency.’

Furthermore, Hyeonu still remembered the last colony of legion worker ants. Dozens—no, hundreds of them had swarmed. This meant there would surely be a field or dungeons where the legion worker ants came from.

‘No other guilds can come.’

There would be enough time for Hyeonu and his brothers to clear one dungeon. Additionally, there was one more thing. If the other guild alliances made a mistake, then it was obvious that more viewers would rush to Hyeonu’s stream. Hyeonu and his guild alliance were at the center of the main scenario. Who would watch the streams of other guilds that were just touching the surface? It was impossible unless the viewers had a great deal of loyalty. People always wanted the fastest, and currently, the fastest one was Hyeonu.

‘There are many things that will tilt toward me.’

Everything was working out in Hyeonu’s favor. It was natural as this was a situation he had found and made. Hyeonu overturned the playing board that others set up, and he devoured it greedily. The possibility of giving what he had made to other people made him lose his spirit but he had to do it.

‘Yes, let’s look for an ant dungeon.’

Hyeonu ended his short troubles. This time, he should pay more attention to stability, instead of gambling.

‘I will bring it out during the stream to make things hotter.’

The title of Alley Leader’s next stream would be ‘Ant Dungeon Exploration.’ Thus, Hyeonu briefly departed from the sixth main scenario.