Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu had been at the gym to receive personal training since morning.

“Sigh...” He sighed while looking at the barbell in front of him. Both ends of the barbell carried a pair of 20-kilogram discs. The barbell itself weighed 20 kilograms, so it was 100 kilograms in total.

A trainer with muscles reminiscent of Raccoon in Arena tapped on the flat bench while saying, “There is no need to sigh like that. I’ll assist you, so just listen. You just need to do 12.”

Hyeonu’s expression distorted as he lay on the bench the trainer had tapped.

“This is the last one, right?” Hyeonu asked. 

"Yes, it will be over today with this last bench press. You just need to do 12.”

After hearing his trainer's reply, Hyeonu carefully grabbed the barbell. Then upon confirming that Hyeonu was holding the barbell, the trainer started shouting orders, “Three, two, one, go!”

In response to the trainer’s command, Hyeonu pushed up his arms as hard as possible. The barbell left the stand. It was held up in the air using only Hyeonu’s strength.

“One! Go down slowly, slowly.” The trainer placed one hand on the barbell and pointed out Hyeonu’s posture. He yelled every time he saw that the posture was becoming disorderly. “Four, focus! Five, focus on your chest!”

Despite the trainer’s loud cry, Hyeonu still felt his arms lose strength. He gritted his teeth and tried hard to push the barbell. Yet, the barbell didn’t move, and his arms just trembled pathetically.

“I’ll help you, so push.” It was only then that the trainer started lifting the barbell.

He didn’t use a lot of strength. He used precisely enough strength for the trembling Hyeonu to push up the barbell. It was the perfect strength adjustment brought about by his long experience as a personal trainer.

“Ten! Two left, two left! Last one!”

‘Two more?’ Hyeonu thought about how today’s exercise would be over if he just lowered and raised the barbell two more times, so he pushed it up again with all his strength.

“11! Good, good! It is perfect! 12! The end! Relax your strength!!”

Once Hyeonu finished the 12th bench press, the trainer lifted the barbell like it was a light twig and placed it down in its original position.

“Good job today. Have you been eating less fried chicken recently? Your body is getting better. Are these due to your genes?” The trainer handed a water bottle to Hyeonu, who couldn’t get up from the flat bench.

“Are you joking? Now you want to be a person?” Hyeonu said as he snatched the water bottle from the trainer. Then he opened the lid and drank the lukewarm water.

“What joke? I just admire you. However, it really is the first time I’ve seen a person get better so quickly like you,” the trainer commented. 

This was the first time the trainer had seen someone like Hyeonu in his 15 years of experience. There was no sign of stagnation in Hyeonu’s body. His progress hadn't been very fast at the beginning. It was a slow but constant development. Now some time had passed, and the situation had changed tremendously.

“I guess it is because I eat well and exercise all the time. I also have a good trainer like Hyung.” Hyeonu shook his head like he was wondering what this person was talking about.

“That is what matters. Keep exercising and eat well. In any case, you’ve worked hard today. See you in two days.” The trainer patted Hyeonu on the shoulder and left. Left alone, Hyeonu literally fell back on the flat bench. He didn’t have the strength to move.

‘Ah, should I go and eat fried chicken with Yeongchan tonight?’

Hyeonu really wanted to eat protein, a lot of it.

***

“Let’s work happily~” Hyeonu was in a good mood at the thought of eating fried chicken at night.

“Let’s eat meat, meat~” Tang-E was also excited.

The meat-crazy bear and his owner walked along the street singing strange songs. At the end of the road, there was a huge stone wall made of black stones.

‘I should work hard on managing my territory.’

Hyeonu was back in Phinis. As the opening of the pro league neared, the time spent on managing his territory increased. Of course, there was little chance he would fail to win the league if he was overwhelming everyone in the PvP and raid stages. It was just that… a powerful territory was also needed to match Hyeonu’s big picture.

‘Royal Roader’ was a title formed from a strategy simulation game that caused the first e-sports boom in South Korea in the past.

The title was given to a player who won in his first appearance in the pro league. It was originally a title given to individuals, but it had recently changed to giving it to a team. Hyeonu thought of one more word to add in front of the title, turning it into ‘Undefeated Royal Roader’.

Royal Roader was a title that was unconditionally given to one team every time a new league was created, so Hyeonu thought it wasn’t worth much. He thought of it as no different from the first league’s winner.

‘To be the best, I should be more overwhelming than everyone else.’

This was the big picture that Hyeonu envisioned, and his territory management was part of it.

“Ah...” Hyeonu saw the statue in front of him and felt his anger rising.

“Do you like it? That thing?” Hyeonu asked Tang-E out of the blue.

Tang-E looked at the statue of himself and nodded without thinking at Hyeonu’s sudden question: “Of course, it is good, Master dude.”

When he heard those words, Hyeonu smiled coldly and said, “Let’s eat vegetable stir-fry for lunch later. I’ve only eaten meat lately, so my stomach is uncomfortable.”

Tang-E’s expression immediately changed. The smile disappeared, and he immediately made a gloomy expression.

“Really? If Master is uncomfortable, then...” A melancholy aura seemed to blossom behind Tang-E’s head.

Seeing that, Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head and comforted him, “No, let’s eat meat. Meat.”

After this brief incident, Hyeonu walked diligently and soon arrived at his destination. The place he headed to was the peak of Mount Canary. The Knights of Keon were here. To be precise, they were the candidates training to become knights and the Knights of Keon.

‘The training is being done in a very dirty place. What’s with these teachers holding the training outside?’ Hyeonu inwardly complained with dissatisfaction as he climbed rough terrain reminiscent of a cliff.

However, he didn’t show it at all outwardly due to the knight that appeared right in front of his eyes.

“Earl, you're here?”

It was a knight that Hyeonu knew. His name was Dumon. He was a Knight of Keon who received Lebron’s full trust and held the position of vice-captain. Although he ranked just under LeBron, Dumon still treated Hyeonu politely. It was because Hyeonu was Lebron’s disciple, and his skills were worthy of respect.

“You haven’t changed your manner of speaking no matter how many times I’ve said it,” Hyeonu pointed out as this was naturally burdensome for him. No matter how young Dumon looked, he was still over 40 years old. It was burdensome when a man of such seniority talked to Hyeonu so politely.

“I think it is the same for My Lord. I remember telling you many times to speak at ease.” Dumon didn’t back down at all despite Hyeonu’s earnest words.

In the end, Hyeonu gave up first and said, “I understand, Dumon. Still, please feel free to talk to me casually next time. It is so uncomfortable.”

“I will think about it.”

“By the way, do you really have to hold the training in a place like this? Can’t you do it in the castle?”

“I heard from Letner that, My Lord, you seem to desire the rapid growth of the candidates. I hope you understand that the proper harmony between training and actual combat is what leads to rapid growth,” Dumon said while naturally leading Hyeonu inside.

Hyeonu couldn’t come up with anything to refute Dumon’s justification.

‘Well... since the NPC says this, I can’t refute it.’

So he just followed Dumon silently. The training ground wasn’t far. He had only walked a few minutes when he heard a scream reach his ears.

“It seems that their training is pretty hard? The candidates’ voices are so intense,” Hyeonu said.

“This is the time of fastest growth, so it is inevitable that their training is tiring. Beyond this time, they can’t do it even if they want to. They are working hard as well.” Dumon spoke words that would cause the trainees to run wild from anger if they heard it.

“So what level are they at now? The candidates I saw last time would never be able to hunt the monsters on Mount Canary.”

“It will be nice for you to see it with your own eyes. I’m proud of what they have achieved.”

Hyeonu felt excited to hear that. It seemed they must’ve grown quite rapidly, or else Dumon wouldn’t say such a thing. Moments later, Hyeonu and Dumon saw the candidates and the Knights of Keon. Each member of the Knights of Keon was fighting against five candidates.

The five candidates skillfully pushed the Knights of Keon, but beyond that, the knights’ responses were overwhelming. They defeated all the attacks pouring toward them with one slash of a sword each.

“Ack!” A short loud yelp rang out.

A candidate was hit by a knight’s wooden sword and then fell to the ground. Starting with this, screams flowed from all over, and the short attack was over. The difference in skill between the two groups was quickly revealed. While Dumon was watching them, he revealed his presence with a shout: “Stop!”

Simultaneously, everyone on the training ground stopped moving. No one moved.

“The earl is here, so greet him! In addition, today’s training is over!”

It was only after hearing Dumon’s cry that the candidates moved. They shouted like thunder, “I greet the earl!”

“Everyone, go and rest. Rest is just as important as training,” Hyeonu responded. The moment he gestured for the candidates to be dismissed, they started to move out of the training ground in an orderly manner.

“The training seems to be going well, Dumon,” Hyeonu remarked.

“I’m glad,” Dumon replied.

“The basics are very solid.”

Hyeonu only spoke about the candidates once they disappeared, but he had found the sight of them very satisfying. They were originally soldiers with some training, but they were ultimately still soldiers. He hadn’t expected them to grow so quickly.

‘Won’t they be useful in the league?’

There was still quite a bit of time until the league. If the candidates trained diligently until that time, Hyeonu would have more overwhelming allies than the other teams.

‘Of course, the territory’s soldiers should be applicable in a siege war...’

This was if the winter league’s siege rules were as Hyeonu thought. If only the territory mattered, that meant the training would be irrelevant to the professional league.

“Earl.”

Just then, the voice of a knight interrupted Hyeonu’s thoughts, and Hyeonu turned to look at the knight who had spoken. The knight continued, “You might feel it is rude, but I am really curious and can’t help it.”

Hearing that, Dumon’s expression distorted, and he said, “Stop right there. What rudeness are you showing to the earl? If you know, then stop it!”

However, Hyeonu stopped Dumon: “No, Dumon, it’s okay. It isn’t too late to refuse after listening once.” 

As he said, he could always refuse after listening. It was okay to show this much generosity to the knights.

‘Rather, it might make me more likable.’

“What are you curious about?” Hyeonu asked.

“The method of magic power you showed to Letner—I also want to see it in person,” the knight said carefully. He seemed to think it was a really rude request.

‘It isn’t a big deal though?’

The knight was referring to the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art—to be precise, the Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength—that Hyeonu had shown to Letner. As such, it wasn’t difficult for Hyeonu to show it to all the Knights of Keon who had learned the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

“Yes, of course, I can show it to you. Aren’t we learning the same method of using magic power anyway?” Hyeonu replied.

Dumon and the knights who heard Hyeonu’s words looked surprised.

‘Okay. Should I score some points?’ A slight smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face.