Ranker’s Return

Six players belonging to Crescent Moon were gathered in a moderate-sized room, and five of them were seated in chairs at an elongated table. Meanwhile, Hyeonu was standing with a small remote control in his hand. He said, “Then I will start a presentation on our plans for the future, which is one of the purposes of today’s gathering.”

Right after, Hyeonu controlled the remote control to turn off the lighting of the room and turn on the projector. The walls were painted white, so the projection could be clearly seen without a separate screen.

“There are approximately 45 days left until the start of the next season of the Korean Arena League. That is around six weeks. It’s both a long and short period of time. Regardless, we absolutely don’t have enough time to work on our cooperation, especially in comparison to the other teams.”

Hyeonu pressed the remote control again, and the documents he had prepared were displayed in the projection.

[Short-term Rapid Training]

A red laser came out of the remote control and pointed at the words on the wall.

“What I’ve prepared is a plan for short-term training. There are three main categories: PvP, siege, and raid.”

The red dot momentarily disappeared from the wall, and the image changed again. In the new image, only two words remained: ‘siege’ and ‘PvP’.

Hyeonu turned to look at the five players and stated, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have to prepare anything for the raid. Just do it as usual. It means you have to stick to the role that suits your profession.”

They were cruel words. It was a bitter confirmation of facts—commonly referred to as a fact bombardment. However, their faces didn’t show any signs of feeling bad. Instead, they nodded and agreed with Hyeonu’s opinion. After all, it was irrefutable. Putting aside everything else, it would be difficult for them to exert a great influence in raids. In fact, only the priest’s buffs could be of help to Hyeonu.

“Then I will move on to PvP. As you know, PvP is going against characters with the same specifications. That means individual control is important. Practice sessions will be done with the accounts that Quency gives to us in the near future. Until then, there won’t be separate practice times for this either.” Hyeonu pressed the remote control and the image changed. “Finally, it’s the siege. Honestly, this doesn’t require too much practice either. It is because we are currently practicing for it already.”

Five heads cocked at the same time. It was the exact opposite reaction from before. This wasn’t the expression of a conviction but a question.

“Isn’t this our first official team meeting? Yet we’ve already practiced?” It was Lee Hoon who asked the question.

“Aren’t you doing it right now? Haven’t you been hunting hard in the Balder Mountains?” Hyeonu answered with a smile like it was obvious.

“Indeed. So what does that have to do with siege exercises? Isn’t it just five people hunting?” It was Sunny who asked this time. 

“Yes, that’s right. You will do the same in the siege. There is me and then the other five. That is the basic strategy for the siege.” Hyeonu smiled.

Then he pressed the remote control to display the next image on the wall. The projected image was of two circles. Hyeonu’s and Tang-E’s names were written in one circle, and the other circle contained the names of the other five players.

“This is the basic formation. Tang-E and I will create a battlefield on one side, and the other five will create a battlefield on the other side. We will never fight together. I’ll draw people’s attention while you end the game, or you’ll draw people’s attention while I end the game.” This was Hyeonu’s siege strategy.

***

The presentation ended, and Hyeonu was temporarily absent. The remaining five people gathered to discuss Hyeonu’s strategy. A few of them understood Hyeonu’s intentions, and a few of them didn’t. Lee Hoon was the representative of the former, and Sunny was the representative of the latter.

Sunny tapped the table and grumbled, “I don’t understand what he is thinking.

“I seem to know. You really don’t know?” Lee Hoon laughed at Sunny while eating the snacks on the table. His teasing expression that asked her why she didn’t know was a bonus. It seemed that the two of them had become close after several meetings, and there was no longer a wall between them.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Are you laughing at me right now?” Sunny couldn’t stand it and got up to walk to Lee Hoon.

“Laughing? I don’t seem to have done that? My mouth opened because I put too many snacks inside. Noona, you saw incorrectly.”

This was the surprising thing—Lee Hoon was younger than Sunny. Lee Hoon was actually 20 years old, much younger than his appearance suggested. Meanwhile, Sunny was actually 25 years old, older than her appearance suggested. In addition, her affinity with Lee Hoon was better than expected. During this period of time, their relationship had become that of an older sister and a younger brother.

“What?” Sunny scoffed coldly. It seemed like she would swing her fist at any moment.

“Think carefully. Alley Leader will carry out a guerrilla war with Tang-E while we fight as normal. Our goal is to hold on. That way, Alley Leader’s thoughts will come to life.”

After hearing Lee Hoon’s words, Yuri murmured, “Thoughts?”

What was Hyeonu thinking? Yuri couldn’t guess his thoughts at all. At this moment, words spoken in a beautiful foreign language entered Yuri’s ears.

“I see. That’s what Brother was thinking.” It was Mason speaking English in a low voice.

“You know what he’s thinking?”

“Yes, I understand him too well.”

“Can you tell me?” Yuri asked Mason with a desperate expression.

She was curious about Hyeonu’s thoughts. ‘I want to be helpful.’ 

There were only two reasons why Yuri entered Crescent Moon and became a pro gamer—Hyeonu had requested it, and she wanted to help him. So in order to help him, she needed to be aware of his intentions. It would be even better if she could understand them before Hyeonu spoke. That way, she could prepare faster.

“He just wants to win. To be exact, it’s the championship that he wants to win? He doesn’t want to leave any variables. Therefore, he thought of a strategy that isn’t fun,” Mason told Yuri his thoughts.

Hyeonu’s strategy, as seen in Mason’s eyes, was a stable one that wasn’t terribly fun.

“Why isn’t this a fun strategy?” Yuri cocked her head.

In comparison to the great amount of effort she put into developing her skill, she didn’t pay much attention to Arena. To be specific, she didn’t care about it outside of what she played in the game. So it was hard for her to understand Mason’s words properly.

“No fun means no variables. Crescent Moon wasn’t made to be a joke team like the community says. Brother is aiming for first place. Moreover, what he wants is a perfect win,” Mason declared in a confident voice.

‘The fact that it is so simple makes it scarier,’ he thought.

Hyeonu’s strategy was simple but powerful. Everyone knew that Crescent Moon’s strength was Hyeonu. Alley Leader was the team’s strength, while the rest were its weaknesses.

‘Stop the opponent’s variables while he becomes the variable.’

This strategy wouldn’t just beat the opponents but completely knock them down; it would be hell for the opposing side. Just then, a strong arm was placed around Mason’s shoulder.

“You know it well. As expected, a person dreaming of becoming a pro is different.” It was Hyeonu. He had returned to the room and heard Mason’s words.

“What a surprise! You should’ve said something when you came back.” Mason tapped Hyeonu’s chest with his elbow. Mason had an extremely surprised expression on his face. Simultaneously, it turned white like he had seen a ghost.

“It is a joke, a joke. By the way, don’t you know me too well? I almost thought you had done some analysis on me.” Hyeonu smiled and touched his chest where he’d been hit by Mason. Even though he was smiling, Hyeonu was actually in pain.

Ignoring it, Hyeonu knocked on the wall several times to attract everyone’s attention: “I will say one final thing. Contrary to what some people are saying, Crescent Moon is not a joke. We will go beyond the Korean League and rise to the top of the world. I’ll make it that way.”

Clap clap clap! The room filled with applause the moment Hyeonu’s short speech was over.

‘It really isn’t far away.’ Hyeonu saw the people gathered like this and felt he really had become a professional gamer. It became even more real. There truly wasn’t much time left.

***

After the presentation was over, a party took place in broad daylight. Mason had prepared a buffet.

 “Everyone has already gathered except for me... I feel a bit sad?” Moon Doyeong also participated in the party. Hyeonu had deliberately called him late in order to give the players a bit more time to talk.

“Who made our club owner sad?” Hyeonu greeted Moon Doyeong.

Just then, Hyeonu felt a vibration from his body. He stopped talking as he reached out to Moon Doyeong, lowering his head slightly. Seeing Hyeonu’s gesture, Moon Doyeong pointed to the other players and made a similar gesture to Hyeonu.

“Go. Aren’t there already five other people here?” Moon Doyeong smiled happily.

Hyeonu once again bowed to Moon Doyeong and entered a quiet room. Once inside, Hyeonu took out his smartphone and confirmed the identity of the vibration. A message in English appeared on the screen of the smartphone. The message was very short: -Stream ended. Contact me.

The one who sent the message was Mascherano. It was an answer to the message Hyeonu had sent him. 

‘Okay, the stream’s over.’

Hyeonu called Mascherano right after seeing the message, and Mascherano answered the phone before it even rang two times.

-Aren’t you calling too soon? This is the first time I wanted to wait for a call...

“I’ll hang up. I think I called the wrong number.”

-I’m sorry, Alley Leader. What did you want to talk to me about?

Mascherano was frightened by Hyeonu’s resolute attitude and showed a faintly serious expression. It was a fairly quick transition from his mischievousness before. As Hyeonu listened to Mascherano’s words, he barely suppressed his laughter. Then he said his original reason for contacting Mascherano: “Where are you in the East Continent now?”

-Do you mean us? I think that the places I know about are better than the places I don’t know anything about, so I’m moving around the cities you’ve already made stops at.

Hyeonu felt tense upon hearing Mascherano’s words. For some reason, it seemed like an undesired situation would occur.

‘As long as it isn’t that place...’

“Are you perhaps in Shuiyang? Shuiyang with the Chonghua Sect.”

Sweat flowed down Hyeonu’s forehead as he waited for Mascherano’s answer.

-No, we’ve already passed it. Maybe Reina will be in Shuiyang.

‘Damn.’

“Ah!!!” Hyeonu couldn’t help screaming.

-Did something happen? Mascherano frowned at the monster screaming over his smartphone.

‘Shuiyang right now...’

The NPC whom New World had failed to kill...

He was an elder of the Chonghua Sect.