Ranker’s Return

[New streamer Alley Leader’s passionate streaming begins.]

Hyeonu caught the eyes of A-World viewers today with his stimulating title. Shortly before the streaming started, Hyeonu stood still.

‘Why does it feel like it has been so long?’

It was a question. Obviously, he had never stopped streaming. However, streaming now felt very strange to him.

‘There is a sense of relaxedness?’

This was a type of emotion he couldn’t feel when every day passed by in a rush. It was very unfamiliar to him.

‘Get up and start the stream.’

Regardless, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about these useless things. Hyeonu tapped lightly and started the stream.

“Hello, I am the new streamer, Alley Leader. Please take care of me.”

Hyeonu revealed his goals to the viewers from the start. He was determined to get back the fierceness and urgency he had when he first started streaming. The viewers who heard it had many question marks.

-What are you talking about, Mr. Streamer?

-Do you want to make gold coins? You lost gold after the enhancement.

-He seems to be saying that his account balance is the same as when he started streaming...

-The monster born of capitalism hasn’t disappeared. It hasn’t changed either. A monster born of capitalism is forever a monster born of capitalism.

Hyeonu’s criminal record grabbed at his feet, and the viewers accepted Hyeonu’s greeting as a way to induce gold coins.

‘They never accept it when I try to be sincere...’

Hyeonu sighed a bit and spoke in a cheerful voice as usual.

“They are just words for myself. I will stream as passionately as I did the first time. That is what I meant.”

He threw out a comment to clean things up, but the result was still the same. It wasn’t fixed at all. Instead, he was attacked by viewers.

-You’ve never forgotten your original intention.

-Someone might think you streamed for a long time at first. It was always short, short.

-You hit the nail on the head.

-The fact violence is just... at the level of a +12 weapon.

“I see... I've always been the same. Now I realize it.”

Hyeonu nodded. He would take this opportunity to properly reflect on himself.

‘I haven’t changed.’

-Of course. Like a green pine tree, the streaming time is as short as ever.

-Of course, it is fun.

-The control always seems inhuman.

-It is always the long-awaited stream. This is the first time I’ve ever given gold coins to a streamer.

The viewers felt a sense of crisis at Hyeonu’s words and urgently poured out praise. However, the spilled water couldn’t be recovered.

“I understand. I’m not feeling well today, so I’ll only do it for four or five hours.”

-Ah, this personality...

-Who caused it?

-There is no answer.

“I’m just joking. Once I’m done with the content I’ve prepared today, I will end the streaming at that time.” He said this, but the wounds were strongly engraved on his heart.

‘Bah, it will be four hours today.’

***

The content that Hyeonu prepared wasn’t particularly great or special. It was much like the content of other streamers, but Hyeonu made it into something special. This was just a really simple content of Hyeonu evaluating the combat video of other videos.

“Oh, it was a perfect opportunity just now. It’s a pity to miss this.”

-No... He has been seeing opportunities alone for several hours. What is that gap that can only be seen by one person?

-Alley Leader says it is a weak point even if the other person breathes, but I don’t know.

It was as the viewers said. Hyeonu was always exclaiming and sighing by himself.

“It only needed a knife thrust here, and it would be victory. Just bounce off the opponent’s attack and move closer so that the other side’s movement is inconvenient. Then stab to win!” Hyeonu screamed like it was frustrating.

The reason this happened was simple: the difference between the viewers and Hyeonu was simply too great. In Hyeonu’s eyes, the players in the video were always showing gaps. He couldn’t help seeing them. It wasn’t just the gaps. Hyeonu even anticipated the movements of the opponent.

“Now, focus! I’ll explain the reason for victory! Here, the player with the blue sword will aim at the bottom. Then the opponent will block it, right? Why? There is no way to win if you avoid it. I would use the same skill to fight back.”

The situation flowed as he said. The players in the video exchanged attacks using their skills. Hyeonu watched up to here before stopping the video and opening his mouth to speak again.

“Look, aren’t I right?” 

-By the way, can anyone else anticipate this?

-I thought he would be hit.

-I know that I’m just a deep-sea player.

The viewers took Hyeonu’s words for granted as they thought the situation seemed too obvious. Seeing that, Hyeonu predicted the next situation.

“As for what will happen in the future? This time, the defending side will attack. It is because he won the fight just now. As you can see by the position of the feet, the player with the blue sword is slightly further back. It means the specs are relatively inferior. Don’t miss it when you have the advantage. That is the basics for players above a certain ranking.”

Hyeonu played the video again. The battle continued just as he said. The man with the silver sword swung his sword quickly at the man with the blue sword. The impact was relatively small, so the follow-up hit was quick.

“Let’s look at this battle. Well, what is the use of seeing the obvious? Next time, watch my video.”

Hyeonu ended the video he was watching and shamelessly pressed on his own video.

-I should be surprised from watching the battle, but he is so shameless that I’m surprised about something else.

The viewers were amazed in many ways at both Hyeonu’s eyes and his shamelessness.

***

-This is the Seoul District Court where the Arena League match manipulation trial is being held. A final sentence is currently being made inside the court. A young male reporter held up a microphone and spoke in front of the courthouse.

The Arena League match manipulation trials were the focus of a lot of concern. Going beyond South Korea, the world was also paying attention to this trial. There were other countries where controversy over the match rigging had erupted, but only South Korea had a trial.

“It is delicious because I am eating jajangmyeon for the first time in a long while.” Hyeonu swallowed the jajangmyeon he had just placed in his mouth.

“Is that important? Isn’t there going to be the trial result now?” Yeongchan condemned Hyeonu.

Even so, he also picked up a piece of fried food from the table. Covered in red sauce, the spicy garlic fried chicken was beautiful. A crunchy sound covered up the sound from the television. Yeongchan’s eyes widened, and he recommended the spicy garlic fried chicken to Hyeonu: “This is really delicious.” 

“Delicious. We should order this at home next time.” Hyeonu ate the spicy garlic fried chicken and admired it.

Then his expression soon became dark, and he asked, “When can we have jajangmyeon again? Next weekend?”

“If you give up chicken next week, we can eat jajangmyeon. Will that work?”

“You can eat chicken breast every day. Then it will probably...”

Hearing Hyeonu’s words, Yeongchan smiled bitterly, but it didn’t stop his eyes from shaking. Just then, Hyeonu’s and Yeongchan’s gazes shifted at the sound from the television.

-Breaking news. A final verdict has been made. The prosecution’s sentence has been accepted. 

The expressions of Hyeonu and Yeongchan distorted at the same time, and they spoke the same words.

“No... So how many years?”

“No... So how many years?”

The two heads turned toward each other. Hyeonu and Yeonghan put down their wooden chopsticks and held out their hands.

“Jinx!”

“Jinx!”

Four hands hit each other in the air several times. The winner of the contest was Hyeonu. As a result of enduring PT that was much harder than Yeongchan’s, he now overwhelmed Yeongchan in the fight.

“Hey hey hey. Let go, let go!” Yeongchan quickly tapped Hyeonu’s hand that was pinching him.

Hyeonu only removed his hand from Yeongchan’s body once the reporter on the TV started speaking.

-The court has sentenced Park Jeonghyun, who condoned the match-fixing operation, to one year in prison and two years of probation.

“Isn’t two years of probation too light?” Yeongchan cocked his head.

It just didn’t make any sense.

Match manipulation wasn’t a felony like murder or assault, but it wasn’t a minor crime like theft. This sentence was too light.

“It can’t be helped. Instead, his life is over. We have to be satisfied with this.” Hyeonu shrugged and started to eat the jajangmyeon again.

Then the reporter continued, -The sentences of the players have also come out from the prosecution. By focusing on how actively they participated in the match manipulation and the financial compensation, they have been sentenced to a minimum probation of six months to a maximum of two years imprisonment without probation.

“Is it the leader this time?” Hyeonu spoke while wiping the traces of jajangmyeon on his mouth with a tissue. The judgment of the prosecution and the court was reasonable in its own way.

‘There must be some victims among them.’

Not everyone would have been active in the match manipulation, and some players might have unavoidable circumstances.

‘Still, a criminal offence is a criminal offence.’

It was hard to be innocent.

“Then who is left? Is there only one director left?” Yeongchan asked while dipping a piece of fried pork in sweet and sour sauce.

Hyeonu also picked up a piece of fried pork and soaked it in the sweet and sour sauce before removing it. After that, he put it in his mouth and said, “The director and team owner remain. These two people are actually the leaders of the operation. The operators of the illegal gambling site haven't been caught yet because they are abroad.”

Once Hyeonu finished talking, the reporter started speaking again: -In the case of Kim Junho, the owner of Big Stars, he has been sentenced to five years in prison. His crime is leading the match-manipulation fraud. The same is true for Director Yoon Hyeongu. He has been sentenced to five years in prison for threatening players and leading the match manipulation.

As soon as the reporter’s words ended, people dressed in blue prison clothes appeared at the door of the courthouse. Their expressions were varied. Some looked relieved while others felt despair. The former were mostly young-looking players. No, they were only young players. All the older people had dark expressions.

“Won’t the Winter League be worth watching?” Yeongchan commented.

“Because of me?” Hyeonu grabbed onto Yeongchan’s passing words like a hyena.

“Not you, dude. It’s just that there will be many new faces. Apart from Big Stars, at least two people from the mid and low ranking teams participated in the match-fixing.”

Hyeonu didn’t care about Yeongchan’s words and started praising himself: “Isn’t it fun if I just sweep through them?” 

“Have you not taken your medicine today? You are completely crazy.” Yeongchan looked at Hyeonu and shook his head several times like he was looking at something unclean.

Gulping up the remaining jajangmyeon without even chewing, Hyeonu quickly finished eating and said to Yeongchan, “You clean up. I’ll come out in a bit.”

Then Hyeonu put down the wooden chopsticks and entered his room.