Ranker’s Return

Reina seemed to be in the theater instead of the battlefield. If that were not it, she must be watching a famous magician’s performance. Otherwise, this sight didn’t make sense. Distance was meaningless to Alley Leader. He was able to attack from 10 meters away or at a close range.

Reina began to think, ‘I knew he could use that skill, but...’ 

In fact, she wasn’t sure if it was a skill. Alley Leader wasn’t the type who would abandon a promise he made. Then it meant that this was pure control, not a skill.

‘Is that it?’ In the eyes of Reina who was a top gamer, Hyeonu’s combat itself was a mystery. It was an incomprehensible combat style. It was like...

‘meleegod...?’

The person who led Reina, a pro gamer of other virtual reality games, to Arena... The one who disappeared one day and made people feel regret—he came to mind.

‘It’s a nostalgic name.’ Reina had a dim expression on her face.

Some time passed by.

“Uwah!!!” A scream erupted as another victim emerged. Reina focused on the fight again. Alley Leader stepped back, and black pure energy gushed out from the sword in his hand, striking the opponent’s sword. Just then, another player lunged toward Alley Leader’s arms. As if predicting it, Alley Leader avoided the player’s attacks like a ghost and simultaneously moved his sword in reverse. A long cut was drawn from the waist to the shoulder of the player who attacked Alley Leader. Right after, that player fell down and couldn’t get up anymore.

From then on, it was a series of one-sided battles. There were only two masters remaining, and they couldn’t withstand Alley Leader’s ridiculous control over his pure energy. The exquisite adjustment of strength and weakness caused them to collapse helplessly.

“Are you really going to post the video?” Reina approached Hyeonu, who had finished dealing with all five people.

“Of course not. I have no intention of giving extra information to competing teams.” Hyeonu shook his head. He couldn’t do such a crazy thing. If he had to upload the video, it would be only after his professional debut. Hyeonu would never do it now.

***

[Kill the remnants 666/666]

The quest had come to an end. All the remnants of the leaders had been wiped out, and nearly a third of those brought to the battle by Chen Long had died. Of course, it could be called a small wound compared to the overall performance. However, a wound was still a wound. It was impossible not to feel pain just because the wound was small.

“You’ve worked hard, Hyung-nim,” Hyeonu lightly greeted Kim Seokjung, whose body was soaked with blood.

“Yes, it’s over now. Let’s call it a day. Once you get the rewards, go out and pack.” Kim Seokjung patted Hyeonu’s shoulder.

“The rewards... Right, there are the rewards.” Hyeonu nodded. He was already planning on doing as Kim Seokjung said. In fact, he was also thinking of having a celebration party to commemorate the end of the long quest.

‘Shall I eat some fried chicken for the first time in a long while?’ Hyeonu smiled brightly as he wandered around looking for Chen Long.

Chen Long had a white cloth tied around his waist. It was stained red, which meant he was injured. Hyeonu approached Chen Long and asked, “Are you okay?”

“It's okay, it's okay. It is a cheap price. Now I just need to complete things. There is still a long way to go.” Chen Long laughed at Hyeonu before frowning slightly from the pain. “Is your reason for coming here the rewards?” 

Hyeonu nodded. This was what he needed right now. He wanted to receive the rewards as soon as possible and take a rest.

“As you can see, I can’t give you anything right now. I can only give you corpses. You don’t want to receive something like that, right?”

Hyeonu nodded again, moving his head up and down several times. Meanwhile, the players behind Hyeonu frowned slightly. They weren’t pleased at the thought of not getting the rewards immediately.

“Then shall we come back later?” Hyeonu asked.

“Today, just give me a list of what you want. I will prepare the rewards,” Chen Long replied.

Everyone’s expression brightened when they heard his response. The set rewards, for which they had an unknown receive date, now turned into an opportunity to get what each person wanted.

“I understand. I will accept what you give me, but I don’t know if the others want anything specific,” Hyeonu said.

“Yes, I’ll take care of it for you.” Chen Long smiled when he heard Hyeonu’s words.

Hyeonu finished talking and turned around. He was going to leave. Then he thought of something and turned back to ask Chen Long: “Ah! Can I ask just one thing?”

Chen Long nodded silently.

“The Mysterious Sky Demonic Art... Will you leave it as it is?” Hyeonu asked.

The playfulness disappeared from Chen Long’s face. He stared at Hyeonu with a serious expression and said, “What can I do with it?”

“I don’t care. It doesn’t matter if you learn it or get rid of it. In the future, the Mysterious Sky Sect won’t be in the East Continent.”

“I will handle it well. I won’t even leave records behind about it. There will be no Mysterious Sky Sect in the records of the Gucheon Secret Department.”

Answering with action instead of words, Hyeonu bowed his head to Chen Long, said goodbye, and exited.

***

When Hyeonu emerged from the cube, he went to the living room. The living room was empty, but Yeongchan didn’t seem to be playing Arena. Hyeonu then naturally headed to the refrigerator and took out a small bottle of water. After that, he sank into the sofa. He opened the lid of the bottle of water and gulped the water down.

‘What do I do?’

Hyeonu’s thoughts were complicated. He was thinking about how to enjoy his party. First of all, the ‘who’ was important.

‘Those in the dormitory can’t come.’

He had looked at his ‘Friends’ window before logging out, and it showed that all the Crescent Moon players were online.

‘Should I invite Yeongchan?’

In terms of time, it was his period to rest. Yeongchan’s routine was to eat snacks, lie on the sofa, and watch TV during this time.

‘I will wait for a while. If he doesn’t come out, I’ll go alone.’

Hyeonu was thinking of going outside. On a day like this, he thought he should eat out. He couldn’t just eat chicken at home.

‘I will go outside and buy some fried chicken.’

On such a big day, eating fried chicken was just fine. Hyeonu finished drinking the bottle of water, but Yeongchan still hadn’t appeared.

‘It’s 9 o’clock? I’ll go and eat one leisurely before coming back.’

The time was just right, and so was the day. As for the fried chicken, that was always right.

***

Hyeonu’s outfit was truly comfortable. He didn’t dress up at all. To avoid the cold, he went out wearing jeans and a jumper of moderate thickness.

‘Where did he say it was?’

The place Hyeonu was heading to was a place Yeongchan had told him about a while ago. To be exact, it was a bar. Yeongchan had said it was a hidden restaurant, so there weren’t many customers yet. The bar had a good atmosphere, and the beer tasted great.

‘The best thing is that there are quite a few people here who go out alone.’

At this time, there would be others who, like Hyeonu, went out to eat alone.

“Let me down here. Thank you very much.” Hyeonu got out of the taxi when he arrived near his destination. He walked leisurely toward the place the smartphone map app guided him to.

‘There are a lot of people.’

The streets were surprisingly crowded with people. It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the sidewalks were congested even though it was a Monday.

‘Is it here?’

Hyeonu passed through the crowd and arrived at his destination.

Diririri-

As he pushed open the door of the restaurant, he heard a loud bell ring. The interior of the restaurant was lit up with a slightly dark orange radiance, and the interior matched it well. It was very spacious here, with considerable spacing between the tables. If he didn’t concentrate, he wouldn’t be able to hear the customers seated at other tables. Another peculiar thing was that there was a long table next to the counter like a bar where he could sit. It was a very unique restaurant.

Hyeonu’s expression trembled slightly as he looked at the inside of such a restaurant. ‘No one came alone?’

There wasn’t a single table where someone was sitting alone. Everyone was in groups of two, three, or four. Hyeonu was the only one who had come alone.

‘Don’t panic and act natural.’

Nevertheless, Hyeonu didn’t show any signs of embarrassment and naturally took a seat near the counter. A staff member who was standing at the counter smiled and asked kindly, “How many people are there?” 

Hyeonu answered with a smile, “I’m alone.”

Due to the unexpected response, the staff member exclaimed, “Huh?! Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Well... I’m not proud to be alone. Is this a place you can’t come to alone?”

The staff member waved a hand at Hyeonu’s words and said, “No. Of course, you can. You’re fine as long as it isn’t more than 30 people.” 

“30 people?”

“Our restaurant can only accept up to 30 people. We can’t receive more than that even if we want to.”

Hyeonu smiled when he heard the witty reply and looked at the menu behind the staff. The menu was full of food and drinks, ranging from a simple pepperoni pizza to salads and fries. Nevertheless, Hyeonu had already decided on the menu and didn’t look at it for long. He said, “Can you give me a cup of fried boneless chicken and pale ale?”

“I understand. It’ll be ready soon.” The employee who received Hyeonu’s order nodded and then briefly disappeared into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Hyeonu looked around the restaurant. It was full of people who had gathered in groups to talk. None of them looked at Hyeonu though.

‘It will be okay to come sometimes.’

The atmosphere was good, and Hyeonu liked that no one looked at him strangely even though he came alone. However, this was just Hyeonu’s illusion. Those who saw Hyeonu chatting with the employee at the counter speculated that Hyeonu was acquainted with the employee—to be exact, the employee who was actually the boss of the restaurant. It was because the conversation between them was so natural. This was the real reason why they didn’t care.

“I’ll give you the beer first.” The owner put down the beer and coaster in front of Hyeonu. “The chicken will take a bit of time.”

“It’s fine. I can have the beer first.” Hyeonu carefully picked up the beer that the owner had put down. The beer was filled with white bubbles and seemed refreshing. Lifting the glass, Hyeonu started drinking beer.

‘Delicious.’

It had a moderate bitterness, was soft, and gave off a refreshing feeling. Everything satisfied him. Still, the owner didn’t leave Hyeonu and kept standing there like there was something to say to Hyeonu.

“That...” The owner soon started talking.

However, Hyeonu’s smartphone rang right then.

“Wait a minute. Hello?” Hyeonu said as he picked up the call.

-Hey, where did you go? You went to eat something by yourself! You don’t even compare to ants when it comes to loyalty! Where are you? Give me the address. I’m coming now.

The moment Hyeonu accepted the call, Yeongchan’s fiery words emerged. Hyeonu smiled as he looked at the owner and turned down the volume of the smartphone. Then he answered, “It’s the restaurant you mentioned—the one with the nice atmosphere and a beautiful boss.”

-I told you to go there with me. Just wait. I called a taxi.

Loud footsteps were heard through the smartphone. It was the sound of someone going down stairs. Upon hearing the sound, Hyeonu ended the call and turned back to the boss.

“What were you going to say?”

Hyeonu actively utilized what he had been taught by Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu when conversing. [1] 

[1] For those who are a bit confused, it isn’t common for people to eat alone in South Korea. The trend of eating alone has been increasing in recent years but it still isn’t that common.