Ranker’s Return

Time passed by, and the mood gradually got better. Everyone drank some alcohol and rapidly became close. The tension disappeared, and hesitation was lost. Nevertheless, no one made any mistakes with Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu around.

“Should I lighten up the atmosphere?” Kim Seokjung’s face was red as he raised his right hand. Then the sound of wheels came from somewhere and grew louder.

“What is this?” Lee Hoon raised his finger and pointed at something. “Speaker?” 

The sound of the wheels belonged to speakers. Starting with the two speakers, a stage started to be formed.

“We have come to a place like this, so we should sing and dance. How long will we be only drinking?” Kim Seokjung said.

Clack!

He flicked his finger, and an exciting song came out from the speakers. Filled with intense electronic synths and fast beats, it was the typical electronic music.

“I will put on the accompaniment to any requested song, so feel free to sing! The microphone is on the speaker!!!” Gang Junggu picked up a glass of champagne and started shaking his body to the rhythm.

Hyeonu also gave his body to the rhythm. After drinking continuously, his body was on the verge of reaching its limit, and he had gone half crazy. It was similar to that time at Nike’s party in New York. He’d started drinking with Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu the day before the party, then he hit a high at the Nike party itself. Today was progressing in a similar pattern to that day.

“Then I’ll sing a song.” A man appeared and grabbed the microphone. It was Dwayne. He sang an old-school R&B song that didn’t match his appearance.

“What? He sings that well?”

“Maybe he’s actually a singer instead of an actor?”

“Isn’t he much better than many singers? Why doesn’t anyone know about this?”

It was a selection that was the opposite of the current mood, but everyone admired Dwayne’s unexpected singing skills and enjoyed his performance. After the song was over, Dwayne spoke funny words with an amused laugh: “I actually don’t sing unless it is with people I’m really close to. So only a few people know that I can sing a bit. Everyone else thinks I’m tone-deaf.”

He approached Hyeonu with the microphone and said, “Hyeonu, our captain, should sing one song.”

Applause burst from all over. Everyone was hoping to hear Hyeonu sing. They wondered if his singing would be as good as his gameplay. However, Hyeonu shook his head. Singing... wasn’t a field he was confident in.

“I can’t sing. I’m a tone-deaf person,” Hyeonu declined the microphone.

Then just when Dwayne was about to return with a despondent look, someone opened his mouth. He said, “Hyeonu sings very well. I haven’t heard you sing in a long time.”

It was Yeongchan, who knew Hyeonu’s past well. He grabbed Hyeonu’s collar and pulled him over.

“What song do I sing well? Eh?! What do you know?” The flustered Hyeonu yelled at Yeongchan.

Yeongchan pulled out his smartphone without saying anything and fiddled with it. A song soon emerged from the smartphone, featuring a thick voice singing over an intense band accompaniment. When Hyeonu heard it, he yelled at Yeongchan again, “Hey, turn it off!! Are you crazy?!! When did you record this? Who sent it to you? You actually still have this one, you vicious guy.”

“I believed that one day I would use it once. It turned out to be today.” Yeongchan, who had always been beaten, pierced Hyeonu with a mental dagger.

“Isn’t my brother’s singing skillful? You can all look forward to it.” 

Others hadn’t heard it, but Kim Seokjung was relatively near Yeongchan, so he heard Hyeonu’s singing. It was considerably skilled. The video Yeongchan played had a lot of noise, but just based on the video alone, he could tell that Hyeonu’s singing skills were great.

“Ah... I really can’t sing...” Hyeonu received the microphone from Dwayne and pouted. The sensation of the microphone in Hyeonu’s hand felt unfamiliar to him. He had been mainly holding only two things recently—the Mysterious Sky Sword in Arena and the barbell at the fitness club. That was it. He had not been to karaoke at all lately.

‘Was it on my 100-day vacation?’ The last time he held the microphone had been two years ago. Nevertheless, it couldn’t be helped. Everyone was looking forward to it, and he didn’t want to ruin the joyful atmosphere.

“First, I’ll warm up my throat.” Hyeonu took a deep breath and made a regular sound like he was practicing vocalization. Then he awakened his sleeping vocal cords by raising the note bit by bit. Hyeonu warmed up his throat for a few minutes before approaching the man in charge of the accompaniment and whispering a few words. Upon hearing Hyeonu’s words, the man’s expression changed into one filled with great surprise.

“What song did he request for that caused so much surprise?” Mascherano wondered from where he was sitting next to Reina.

“Let’s see...? I would say a shocking song,” Reina gave a useless answer to such a Mascherano.

Mascherano’s expression was distorted into a scowl.

“A cheerful dance song is possible,” Mason said, giving Mascherano a line of salvation.

Mascherano turned his head toward Mason and asked, “Is that possible?

“Based on the surprised expression, I think he must have picked a very difficult song. That should be the reason for the surprise,” Mason guessed. Mascherano and Mason had been talking throughout the party. They matched well; they both liked games and had similar personalities and preferences.

Suddenly, an intense accompaniment came out from the speakers. It was a blend of drums, guitar, and bass.

“It’s heavy metal?” Mascherano’s eyes widened in surprise just like the eyes of the man in charge of the accompaniment a little while ago.

“Ohhhhh...” There were no signs of the Hyeonu who had refused to take the microphone, and he captured the ears of everyone gathered in the garden with his heavy metal screams. “♪ ...You!!! Look out!!! ♪” 

Hyeonu’s voice was admirable. There weren’t any of the broken high notes often heard from rock singers. In fact, the middle and high notes were filled with more rigidity and heaviness, and they filled the entire mansion.

“Oppa, what on earth did Hyeonu oppa do in the past?” Yuri approached Yeongchan, who was recording Hyeonu on his smartphone.

“Ah, shit... I have to stop filming.” Yeongchan heard the noise and put away his smartphone with a frown.

“Him? He was singing before he went to the army. Didn’t you know? I went to bass school at the time because of him.”

Yuri’s memories of the past were awakened. Suddenly, she remembered the appearance of Yeongchan carrying a bass guitar his size on his back, saying he would play in a band.

“Oppa, you aren’t good at playing the bass. How can you be in a band with Hyeonu oppa?”

However, Yuri remembered Yeongchan’s performance had been terrible. His ability had been far inferior to that of the amateur performers commonly seen on the Internet. He was clearly just a common beginner back then.

Yeongchan shook his head and replied, “That’s why we disbanded. He said it wasn’t possible for us and resigned.”

Yuri stopped asking about it and focused on Hyeonu’s song instead. Hyeonu’s song reached the climax, and his voice started to rise little by little as a result. Of course, its thickness remained unchanged.

“Uweeeeeeoh!” A scream that overwhelmed the accompaniment broke out. The devil in hell seemed to be howling.

Once the song was over, Hyeonu approached Yeongchan and handed him the microphone. Then he immediately drank the champagne in Yeongchan’s hand.

“It’s cool.” Hyeonu handed the empty glass of champagne to Yeongchan and staggered elsewhere in the garden.

“Shouldn’t we stop him?” Dwayne asked anxiously. It wasn’t just Dwayne. All the Crescent Moon players had the same worried expression. They could tell with one glance that Hyeonu was drunk. Nevertheless, Kim Seokjung, Gang Junggu, and Yeongchan didn’t move.

Yeongchan understood Dwayne’s words and spoke to Dwayne in simple English, “It’s his habit... to sleep when drunk. He is going to sleep... somewhere in the garden.” 

“Leave him to rest. We will all play a bit more. After a while, we won’t be able to play even if we want to,” Gang Junggu shouted into the microphone.

As the speakers once again played lively house music, Reina carefully extracted herself from amidst the group.

***

After a day of recreation, Hyeonu logged into Arena the moment he returned to South Korea. He felt like there was a ringing sensation in his head even in Arena. The aftereffects of the heavy drinking hadn’t gone away at all.

“I’m going to die, Tang-E.” Hyeonu grabbed his forehead and shook his head.

“Master dude, are you sick? I will protect you if you’re sick.” Tang-E stroked Hyeonu’s forehead.

Enjoying the soft sensation of Tang-E’s paw, Hyeonu said, “I seem to be better now because of Tang-E. Shall we go to the market?”

“Okay!!! I will eat grilled skewers.”

Tang-E was held to Hyeonu’s chest. After a long market tour in human form, Tang-E held a skewer in both hands and looked happy.

“Is it good?” Hyeonu asked him.

“It’s good, Master.”

Following that, Hyeonu headed to Samsungga with Tang-E. He had an appointment to receive compensation from Chen Long, who had become the master of the Samsungga. By the time Hyeonu followed the instructions to make his way to Chen Long, all the other people were already gathered there.

“The main character is here, so shall we start?” Chen Long spoke the moment Hyeonu appeared. “Then I’ll first reward two people, Jin Sijong and Gang Junggu.” 

Once Chen Long finished speaking, the man beside him waved, and men dressed in black appeared from one side with something in their arms.

“Here are the rewards you wanted,” Chen Long stated. The men were holding little puppies with charming white fur.

“They are of the best pedigree in the Yuxin Empire. They are a traditional species,” Chen Long continued to speak. Despite that, Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu weren’t listening to him at all. Instead, they were staring at the bundles of white fur that were handed over to them.

“How big will they grow?” Gang Junggu asked Chen Long.

“A little bit bigger than you when standing on two feet? Sometimes they can get twice as big, so I can’t confirm it.”

“I understand.”

Gang Junggu and Kim Seokjung received the white dogs with grins and left Samsungga. They got what they wanted, so they didn’t feel the need to remain.

“Mascherano, Reina. The two of you... You said you wanted a territory, right? This isn’t something I can give arbitrarily. The owners are the imperial family after all. However, I will be sure to support you when you apply. You have to visit the imperial palace anyway,” Chen Long said.

Hearing that, Mascherano’s and Reina’s expressions changed. They were now filled with a combination of disappointment, reassurance, and questions.

“Why do you say that we have to stop by the imperial palace?” Mascherano questioned Chen Long. They had never visited the imperial palace of the Yuxin Empire before as there was no reason for them to do so.

“You should ask him. He is the one who introduced you to me.”

Mascherano and Reina followed the direction where Chen Long was pointing and found Hyeonu standing there. Upon receiving their gazes, Hyeonu merely shrugged and said, “I will receive my reward first, then we will go to the imperial palace together. Can you give it to me quickly?”