Ranker’s Return

“How many people have been dealt with as of now?” Chen Long asked.

“15 people,” Hyeonu answered.

“It’s a good speed... I hope you will hurry though. Things went better than I thought they would on this side.”

Hearing Chen Long’s words, Hyeonu cocked his head while wondering, ‘What is he thinking? No, what’s going on?’

He was frustrated because he didn’t understand what Chen Long said.

“What happened?” Hyeonu queried.

“I will just say it is an internal thing. There will be a full-fledged war soon. The war for supremacy. The thing you are doing now is the cornerstone of that war.”

Hyeonu nodded. He already knew he was cutting off the Samsungga’s information channel first.

‘He is so confident that I’m sure he will do well. I can’t fail anyway,’ Hyeonu thought. 

He had already joined hands with Chen Long. After all, Hyeonu’s target of revenge was Chen Tai, who was on the opposite side of Chen Long. So Hyeonu had to give as much power as possible to Chen Long.

“You can kill all members of the Samsungga that you meet outside. Kill them as soon as you meet them. They won’t be joining me anyway. Kill them unconditionally.” These were Chen Long’s last words to Hyeonu.

At the end of his words, Chen Long turned around and returned to his residence.

***

“The smell of chicken?”

After ending the connection to Arena, Hyeonu came out of the cube and was greeted with a strong scent. It was the smell of fried food.

‘Fried chicken!’

He quickly ran out of the room and found the source of the smell had been placed in the living room. The chicken was golden. Hyeonu couldn’t see where the owner of the fried chicken had gone, but he didn’t care about that. He was already bewitched by the chicken.

“What are you doing?”

Hyeonu’s sanity returned when he felt a cold gaze from behind.

“Uh, you’re? Let’s eat chicken. I left two thigh pieces behind.” Hyeonu naturally raised the two chicken thighs to give to Yeongchan.

“Buddha, Jesus, God. I will kill this jerk today and make him go to hell!”

After saying the short prayer, Yeongchan rushed to Hyeonu. There might be a fight, but the chicken was safe. The only thing they didn’t touch was the chicken.

“Order another one right now.”

“Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll do it,” the chicken thief raised his voice in response to the other person’s angry voice.

“By the way, did you hear? The investigation was closed today. They will be prosecuted immediately.”

“Really? That’s good,” Hyeonu answered while tearing a piece of paper towel and wiping his hands.

“How long will it take?” Hyeonu asked Yeongchan while touching his smartphone.

“Who knows? I don’t know the law very well. Won’t it take quite a while? A trial is slow, and it won’t take just one or two days.” Yeongchan cocked his head as he picked up the chicken thighs. “It might appear if you turn on the game channel. It was like this during the day.”

“That’s right. Today is for managing the impossible.” Hyeonu threw away his smartphone and grabbed the remote control.

He changed the television channel, and the movie on the screen was switched to a scene at a table where people were sitting face to face.

-What does Reporter Choi think? Today, the Arena match fixing case was closed and prosecuted. Thoughts? A host with sharp eyes asked a man called Reporter Choi.

“See. Good luk. It was man...ged,” Yeongchan mumbled while eating the chicken thighs.

“Just eat the chicken. I’m watching the interview,” Hyeonu scolded Yeongchan who couldn’t speak properly and focused his attention on the TV.

-I think the trial will be over soon. There are already over 10 people who have been placed in custody and imprisoned. There is a lot of evidence out there, Reporter Choi calmly expressed his opinion.

His opinion was straight out of common sense.

-I think so too. I don’t think there is any disagreement about this. The prosecution did the investigation properly, and it was done at an unusually fast speed, Reporter Park, the man sitting on the other side of Reporter Choi, added to Reporter Choi’s words.

-I don’t think there is anything more to say on this subject. Then we will move onto the next issue. The topic is ‘Prospects for the Winter League.’ First of all, Reporter Park? Tthe host asked Reporter Park the question this time.

Reporter Park glanced at the tablet PC placed on the table. 

-This league hasn’t been properly organized yet. However, I’m sure it will be more exciting than ever and will receive a lot of attention, Reporter Park answered and swiped his finger over the tablet’s screen. -Due to Quency’s policy, there is a condition for the first division of each country. It is to own a territory. There is currently only one club that owns a territory—the only owned territory all over the world. It’s Alley Leader’s Crescent Moon.

Reporter Choi nodded at Reporter Park’s words, showing he agreed with Reporter Park. He proceeded to say, -It is said that Red Bull America is close, but there is no news yet. It seems that the teams in the current first division league will be able to get the territory. There is something in the East Continent that can secure a groundbreaking amount of imperial contributions.

When the two men showed signs of having a lengthy conversation, the host intervened: -So who do you expect to be number one in the Winter League? The first place team in the Winter League gets tickets to Arena Week, right?

Reporter Park had been preparing to continue Reporter Choi’s words, but he wasn’t flustered by the host’s questions and answered them naturally. After all, Reporter Park already had already experienced this sort of interview many times before.

-I’ll bet it on JT Telecom. Alley Leader might be strong, but the pro league is a team battle. There is a limit to the strength of an individual, Reporter Park said.

Reporter Choi shook his head.

He didn’t agree at all.

Alley Leader’s Crescent Moon was the perfect candidate for the title.

Reporter Choi stated, -I am of the opposite opinion. Alley Leader is strong enough that it’s arguable he can win alone. He only has five teammates, but he is equivalent to 12 people. So why does it matter? Crescent Moon isn’t a team of six people but 17.

***

After accessing Arena, the first action Hyeonu made was send a whisper.

-To Mascherano: Can we talk in whispers now?

Then he sat down on the ground without even thinking of moving from his connection point. The answer came straight away, before even a few seconds had passed by.

-From Mascherano: What’s going on? I’m working hard on clearing the quest right now...

-To Mascherano: Something big happened. It seems that someone is messing around with our quest. There will probably be many obstacles. Don’t split up. Go around together.

Putting aside Hyeonu, the New York Warriors, Red Bull America, and New World all divided into two teams to carry out the quest. Hyeonu was concerned that they would be defeated one by one. Obstacles had appeared in the quest, so it was time to focus more on stability than speed.

‘Speed? Forget it. It is much better to do it slowly than be forced to log out.’

-From Mascherano: ...Right, there was a problem on your stream today. I will do as you say. Thank you for your continued help.

The talk with Mascherano ended with this. There were still two more people for Hyeonu to contact.

-To Kim Seokjung: Brother? Are you okay?

This time, Hyeonu contacted Kim Seokjung, not Gang Junggu.

‘He will go into a sulk otherwise.’

It was because Kim Seokjung would keep sulking the more Hyeonu got in contact with Gang Junggu.

-From Kim Seokjung: Oh, my, dongsaeng. What’s going on? You’re contacting us immediately after the stream? 

Kim Seokjung welcomed Hyeonu’s whisper.

Then Hyeonu told Kim Seokjung a serious story.

-To Kim Seokjung: It seems that someone is messing around with our quest. They are led by Five Stars and Zenith. I’ve had problems with them since the Balder Mountains. It looks like they leaked information to the NPCs.

After Hyeonu passed on the information that he hadn’t revealed to Mascherano, Kim Seokjung was silent for a while. Then he spoke in a pretty agitated tone.

-From Kim Seokjung: What did you say? Daring to mess with my dongsaeng’s thing? I endured it last time but not this time.

However, Hyeonu calmed down Kim Seokjung’s agitation as he wasn’t in a hurry to deal with this issue right away.

-To Kim Seokjung: It isn’t too late to deal with them after this quest is over. You have to first join up with Brother Junggu. I don’t know how many more NPCs will appear. Think of it as the quest rating rising by one or two levels.

The first priority was to bring together the split-up guild members. It would be a headache if there were a problem with one side.

-From Kim Seokjung: I know. I’ll get in touch with Junggu. By the way, look at the date today. I’ll be in South Korea soon. 

Hyeonu already knew that.

-To Kim Seokjung: I understand, Hyung-nim. I’ll see you soon.

The conversation with Kim Seokjung was over.

‘Now there is only one person left.’

Reina, New York Warriors’ captain, was the last person Hyeonu needed to contact.

- To Reina: Reina? Are you in a fight right now? Hyeonu whispered to Reina using polite words.

The answer came a bit later than Mascherano’s.

-From Reina: Yes, please speak. Did something happen?

Reina’s voice was calm.

Hyeonu told her the same story as he’d told Mascherano and Kim Seokjung.

-To Reina: There is a problem. As you can see from my stream today, there were people who interfered with the quest. They are from that time in the Balder Mountains—Zenith and Five Stars.

-From Reina: Is that so? Then what should I do?

Reina questioned Hyeonu, and he gave the answer he had already thought of.

- To Reina: I think you need to unite the split up players. There will probably be serious trouble with the quest. It is better to be safe even if it slows down the quest progression.

Reina made no comment on Hyeonu’s words; she just agreed.

-From Reina: I understand. I’ll do so. Thank you for letting me know.

Then Reina gave her thanks.

- To Reina: Yes, be careful with the quest. Contact me if something happens.

Hyeonu ended the whisper with these words.

There was still a lot of work to be done.

‘There is a place I have to go.’

Hyeonu searched his inventory and pulled out a small piece of paper. It was the return amulet to Taeyang, the capital of the Yuxin Empire. He was going to meet the emperor there.

‘I’m not someone who will be hit again.’

It wasn’t just the other side who could stir up the NPCs to stab someone in the back. Using NPCs to make a profit—the one who originally did this was Hyeonu.

‘Just wait.’