Ranker’s Return

-Tang-E!!

-Since when was he standing there?

-When was he summoned?

-Where was he hiding originally?

The audience’s gazes shifted and focused on Tang-E. However, the players at the scene didn’t turn their attention to Tang-E as they were busy responding to the immediate situation. Tang-E poured out most of his available magic power to create something amazing.

It was a small tornado. He made something that could be called a natural disaster. A strong wind was blowing in a 20-meter radius around Hyeonu. This definitely wasn’t a mere breeze. Inside the large ring of wind, the blue-white crystals were coming together.

“Get out of range!” Somebody yelled.

The players who heard the words reflexively turned their heads to look around. They wanted to find a way to escape, but there was no corner to escape to.

“Help me!”

“Uwahh!”

People shouted as they were swept away by an ice storm. Their bodies were scratched by small transparent crystals, but all they could do was scream pathetically. Some players who saw this scene raised their voices even more: “Go over there! You have to go inside to live!”

There was an endless ice storm behind them. This meant there was only one way out—the center where Alley Leader stood. That serene point was like the eye of a storm, and it was occupied by Alley Leader. Thanks to one magic spell used by Tang-E, pandemonium broke out onto the battlefield. There would be a bloody fight to take the place where Hyeonu stood.

‘Tang-E did it correctly.’ Hyeonu smiled as he saw that Tang-E’s magic lived up to his expectations. Handing Tang-E the necklace turned out to be a rather rewarding thing. In fact, it was very satisfying.

‘He did better than I thought.’

Hyeonu had been expecting to see a few magic blows at best or the powerful magic Tang-E had shown a few times before.

‘However, he made a stage like this.’

His pet had been born with a natural streaming talent. This time, Tang-E had created a gorgeous stage—a stage for himself.

“Come, come. Come if you want to live!” Hyeonu’s voice echoed through the mountain.

***

At almost the same time that Area Proclamation and One Who Yearns dissipated, the ice storm created by Tang-E also disappeared. The place where it occurred was covered with human corpses and blood. More blood soared through the air, and occasionally severed arms flew as well.

The battle entered a brief lull.

Hyeonu placed the bloodstained Mysterious Sky Sword onto his shoulder. “Do you regret it yet? Do you regret provoking me? So why follow and chase after me?”

His words were very blatant. This was a statement that properly trampled on the pride of his opponents. It hurt the pride of those who had nothing to do with the situation, let alone those involved.

-Yes, why bother chasing?

-In a way, pursuing like this is also very sincere.

-Still, it is great devotion to go all the way to the East Continent to kill Alley Leader.

-If they did other things with such devotion, then their arena ranking would be higher.

Nevertheless, the viewers watching Hyeonu’s streaming were different. They jumped on Hyeonu’s words and spoke even more vicious ones.

“I don’t regret it. I will target you again.” Bi Yoon bit his lip. He seemed to be full of anger, and the fire in his eyes shone strangely. It was a poisonous gaze.

“Yes, keep coming. I’m already ready,” Hyeonu stated.

‘I can’t hate him since he is creating content for me,’ he thought and laughed loudly. His expression couldn’t be seen, but it could be guessed based on his laughter. The corners of his mouth curved up and then down; he was clearly laughing gleefully.

“Time is up. I will finish it now,” Hyeonu said. 

He stepped toward Bi Yoon, moving slowly. There were no Mysterious Sky Steps. The conclusion of Hyeonu’s big picture wasn’t designed to be such a thrilling move.

‘The most important thing is the ending.’

It had been a long time since he threw away his seriousness. No, it was like this from the beginning. The opponents were just a device for Hyeonu’s stream—a device to evoke a dramatic impression. In Hyeonu’s eyes, it was just to this extent, even though the players might seem fierce or dangerous to others.

‘I have to swing my sword...’ Bi Yoon watched as Alley Leader slowly walked toward him, and he tried to give strength to his sword-wielding hand.

However, there was no strength in his hand. This was inside Arena, yet Bi Yoon had the illusion that his palms were sweating, and he failed to lift the sword properly. It wasn’t until Alley Leader neared that someone came out on Bi Yoon’s behalf.

“Wake up, Bi Yoon!” It was Bachu, one of the five masters of Five Stars.

Bachu raised his main weapon, the single-edged sword, and pointed it at Alley Leader. Holding the single-edged sword with both hands, Bachu never took his eyes off Alley Leader. From every step to every breath, he observed everything about Alley Leader, but there was nothing to analyze. Alley Leader was just walking casually with blood dripping from the sword on his shoulders.

‘Why isn’t my body moving?’ Bachu thought as he let Alley Leader pass by. The moment Alley Leader moved past Bachu, the latter’s body collapsed. Bachu’s head was separated from his body. After that, Hyeonu took a few more steps to stand before Bi Yoon. Bi Yoon was still trying to lift his sword, but it fell out of his hand and onto the ground.

“Next time, gather more people okay?” Hyeonu patted the Mysterious Sky Sword against Bi Yoon’s shoulders. Then Hyeonu neatly swung the Mysterious Sky Sword, and Bi Yoon’s head flew through the air.

***

“I’ll go ahead with Tang-E’s eating broadcast as promised.”

In front of Hyeonu was a roaring fire. Tang-E had brought the wood and set it alight.

“I have to start cooking,” Hyeonu said and carefully placed some meat on a metal stick. He kept doing it until Tang-E nodded. Then Hyeonu continued, “Before putting it on the fire, sprinkle the spices evenly over the meat, then the barbecue preparations will be over.”

He pulled out a small glass bottle from a corner of his inventory and shook it. The colored powder fell onto the skewered meat. Hyeonu rubbed the powder over the meat several times. At first glance, it seemed to be evenly covering the meat with spices, but he was actually injecting magic power. It was to use Cooking Skills of the King of Survival. Every time Hyeonu’s hand touched it, the meat started to shine like it was oiled.

‘It’s done.’

Hyeonu placed the perfectly prepared meat on the roaring fire.

“Now we just need to wait,” he said.

-He is good at cooking.

-Still, I think this cooking...

-It definitely looks delicious.

-It seems to be better than last time?

-Definitely better. Previously, there was Tang-E’s situation, so he wasn’t picky about the taste.

Now viewers couldn’t help commenting when they saw Hyeonu’s cooking. It was a sight they had seen several times, but this time was greatly different from before. He had gone from cooking without knowing the basics to giving off the feeling of an amateur.

“There are some people who have a discerning eye. I got a cooking skill, so it is probably a bit more delicious. It actually tastes better,” Hyeonu remarked.

The red meat cooked quickly and soon turned brown. Just by looking at it, one could tell it was crunchy.

“Tang-E, turn off the fire,” Hyeonu spoke to Tang-E, who was on the verge of drooling.

Tang-E gulped and held out his front paw toward the fire. Then the fire froze. Tang-E put his hand on the skewer. It was an act of his wanting to eat the meat a bit faster. However, Hyeonu’s hand slapped Tang-E’s paw, and Tang-E turned toward Hyeonu who stopped him.

“Tang-E, you just have to endure for five minutes. It will be more delicious if you wait.”

“Bah... One piece needs five minutes before I can eat it. Damn Master dude.” Tang-E scowled. It was the viewers who collapsed when they saw it, not Hyeonu.

Hyeonu shook his head firmly and insisted, “You can’t eat it yet. You have to wait five minutes. Then it’ll be more delicious.”

-Can’t you give just him one?

-It is hard to give Tang-E a piece of meat?

-It doesn’t matter about resting the meat! What is the point of resting meat at a barbecue?

-If Tang-E wants to eat, then give him raw meat!

Hyeonu ignored the chat window and pulled a small box out of his inventory. Inside the box were white plates, knives, forks, and tongs.

“Take this,” Hyeonu said.

Then he threw a plate and a fork to Tang-E, and the latter received them with a pout. Hyeonu picked up the tongs and pulled off the meat that was stuck on the skewer. He placed it on Tang-E’s plate and sliced it to a suitable size.

“Eat this first.”

“Thank you, Master.”

***

After the barbecue with Tang-E ended, Hyeonu finished the stream. Then he immediately tore the return amulet to Linakalu.

‘I need to go as quickly as possible.’

He had been uncomfortable the entire time he ate the meat. The appearance of the Yeokcheon Group here meant that something might’ve happened to Chen Long. Hyeonu appeared in Linakalu and ran diligently. When he finally arrived at the entrance to Southern Star, he saw a familiar face.

“Hey, newbie. Aren’t you too naughty? You can play, but you are playing too much.” It was Bakar, and he was insisting on his usual manner of speaking.

Hyeonu approached carefully and whispered in Bakar’s ear, “There is a problem, Bakar.”  

Bakar immediately frowned before relaxing his expression like nothing happened.

“You want to buy food? What good is food? We have to drink. Let’s go to the captain,” he responded casually to words he didn’t hear and led Hyeonu to Chen Long. 

“What does that mean? There is a problem?” Bakar murmured with a smile on his face.

Hyeonu explained, “A Yeokcheon Group group member showed up while I was killing the 8th group leader. I think the information leaked because there was another adventurer around him.”

“What did the Yeokcheon Group member do? Ah...! Well done. Let’s start by reporting to the leader.” Bakar stopped just as he was asking Hyeonu about the Yeokcheon Group member.

Hyeonu’s presence here meant he had handled the Yeokcheon Group member without much difficulty.

“Leader! Let’s go for a drink!” Bakar screamed extremely loudly.

The effect was certain. Chen Long rubbed his eyes and opened the door.

“Drink? Did the sun rise in the west today? You actually want to drink...” Chen Long was scratching his head when he saw Hyeonu standing behind Bakar. Then Chen Long naturally approached Hyeonu and said, “There are no eyes here, so you don’t have to act anymore. What’s going on?”

Instead of Hyeonu, the answer came from Bakar: “The information was leaked. He said that a Yeokcheon Group member appeared when he was taking care of the 8th group leader. It’s likely that the top ranks already know about you.”

“A Yeokcheon Group member?” Chen Long murmured after hearing Bakar’s words. Then he let out a burst of wild laughter, “Kuhaha!!”