Ranker’s Return

The face of the man that appeared after the mask was gone was one everyone knew. It was Ryan.

“Otherworld Warrior is the British pride, Ryan,” Yeongchan stated.

Ryan’s appearance was a shock. They raised him up as the British pride, but in reality, it was half mockery. It was because his title was obtained through marketing instead of his skills.

-His skills have improved a lot.

-If he was this skilled last season, wouldn’t he have been able to win?

The viewers who knew a lot about Ryan felt even more admiration for him. Ryan had made amazing progress.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Ryan. I actually tried really hard. I really tried not to let down the expectations of the fans who love me,” Ryan said after receiving the microphone from Yeongchan. Talking with tears in his eyes, Ryan continued, “I worked really hard today... It seems I haven’t made enough effort yet. However, I’ll definitely get to Arena Week and show you good results. Thank you very much.”

Clap clap clap! Everyone clapped at Ryan’s heartfelt words.

After that, the masked fighters continued to take off their masks. As the viewers expected, Hell Knight was France’s best melee player—Aike. Meanwhile, White Wing’s identity was the Russian brown bear, Karelin.

-It is Shohei.

-This time it is Chi Heng.

-All the superstars are really coming out.

-Nike is crazy. How did they get this lineup...

In addition, Chi Heng from China and Shohei from Japan also showed up and received cheers from the viewers. Now, there were only two people left—Kingsman, who was defeated first, and Emperor, who became the Masked Fighting King. The winner should be the finale. So, unsurprisingly, Kingsman revealed his identity first.

“Gentleman from the island—Kingsman, please reveal your identity,” Yeongchan said.

Like the other masked fighters, Kingsman coolly unmasked himself. A blonde beauty suddenly appeared, and the arena seemed to brighten in an instant.

-Reina?

-Is this real?

-It was Reina who pushed Aike?

It was more shocking than the other reveals. In comparison, Ryan’s improvement in skill was nothing. Reina’s rise in power was beyond imagination. The viewers couldn’t help being shocked. Reina was definitely an outstanding talent, but her limitations were clear. Nevertheless, she was the only female star player who existed among men. Apart from her rarity and star power, her ability was simply excellent.

“What happened? It wasn’t like this during the last league...” Ryan murmured.

Reina’s growth was even greater than his own. It was a surprise.

“Kingsman’s identity is Reina, the best star player in the United States!” Yeongchan’s voice also contained a sense of surprise.

He tried not to show it, but it couldn’t be hidden. It was that shocking. Yeongchan tried to control his facial expression as he handed the microphone to Reina. After being handed the microphone, Reina started to speak calmly, “I’m Reina. It was nice to be able to come to this place today... I’m a bit sorry for losing my chance at victory.”

Then the staff held up a sign and waved it. The sign said: -Chat about Reina’s skills. 

Yeongchan saw it and asked Reina, who had finished speaking, “The chat window is currently filled with surprise reactions to Reina’s skills. I want to ask about the secret behind these skills. If you don’t mind, can you reveal it?”

“First, practice is the most basic thing. Endless repetition. I also studied constantly. All members of the team also helped out a lot,” Reina answered.

“I see. Can I ask what you analyzed?”

“I analyzed my personal videos. That seems to have helped me the most,” Reina replied and stepped back. She naturally blocked any further questions.

Yeongchan also noticed the meaning of the action and prepared for the finale: “Then Emperor of an Ancient Empire who became the Masked Fighting King today and is the eighth Masked Fighting King, please reveal your identity!”

Emperor raised his hand and untied the string behind his head. A golden mask fell to the ground, only to reveal another mask waiting behind it. It was a mask with a child’s face. As everyone expected, it was Alley Leader. Hyeonu took the microphone that Yeongchan was holding.

“Hello, I am Alley Leader. I’m happy to be back on Masked Fighting King,” Hyeonu spoke very naturally.

After all, he originally hosted Masked Fighting King and felt comfortable like this was his home.

-As expected, there is only Alley Leader who can do such a strange concept naturally.

-In fact, Emperor is Alley Leader, and Alley Leader is Emperor...

People weren’t surprised; they just took it for granted. They admired the perfect skill and concept of Alley Leader.

“I came out to experience PvP first before my professional debut, and I’m very happy with the good results,” Hyeonu poured out comments like he had prepared them in advance.

-He seems too prepared.

-It appears he came out with the mindset of winning. 

-It’s creepy that it came true as he thought.

Those listening to Hyeonu’s words felt uncomfortable. His remarks were too neat. Originally, he spoke eloquently, but it was currently at a level that his words simply couldn’t have been thought of on the spot.

Regardless of what people thought, Hyeonu continued to speak: “Now it isn’t long until the start of the professional league. My goal is simple—win the Winter League and Arena Week. Today’s results confirm that it won’t be impossible. Please support me.”

Then Yeongchan approached and grabbed the microphone from Hyeonu’s hand.

“Yes, Emperor’s identity is Alley Leader, and he has expressed his thoughts. Then today’s Masked Fighting King will end here. Due to the short shooting time, a compilation of the behind-the-scenes story will be aired on Sunday.” Yeongchan gave a neat closing remark and waved his microphone.

Then the streaming screen turned black. The recording of Masked Fighting King was over.

***

“You didn’t play around?”

Masked Fighting King had ended. Yeongchan and Hyeonu were talking comfortably in a corner of the training hall.

“Well, it’s over if I do it like a joke,” Hyeonu answered.

Yeongchan nodded. A joke—there was no time for Hyeonu to do that. His appearance in Masked Fighting King today was a test for PvP and a promotion for Crescent Moon.

“By the way, was the result of the research worthwhile? Will you go with today’s settings in the future?”

“No, I think I need to research more. The certain thing is that Masked Fighting King definitely helped.”

Hyeonu thought that his stats setting still wasn’t complete. It seemed that there was still a more perfect setting that could emerge.

‘The framework is complete...’

All that remained was careful coordination.

“I see... This is just like you. Still, don’t worry too much. The setting right now isn’t bad,” Yeongchan said.

However, it was a problem if too much attention were paid to the already completed setting. It would be beneficial to do something else later.

“That’s right. There is nothing major to fix. It should be settled before the league starts.”

“It is coming really soon,” Yeongchan stated.

Hyeonu nodded.

***

The news of Hyeonu’s five consecutive wins among the best PvP pro games was buried sooner than expected. It was because there was a bigger fire. Quency officially announced the rules of the Winter League, and they were definitely different from before. There was a major modification in the way the game was to be played.

“So PvP and the raid haven’t changed?” Hyeonu hadn’t heard the accurate information due to his early morning exercise, so he questioned Yeongchan instead.

“PvP remains the same. Only the character level has been adjusted higher, and skills have been added just like in Masked Fighting King. The siege and raid have changed a bit.” Yeongchan had already confirmed some information through television programs and community sites.

“What has changed?” Hyeonu asked while turning on the laptop. It wasn’t that he couldn’t believe Yeongchan’s words, but he wanted to read the original text, not just rely on someone’s opinion.

“The raid has changed from one time to three times—small monsters, medium monsters, and large monsters. The rank will be decided by averaging it.”

“That is fine. Honestly, it was too light before. It’s one of the three events, but it was only done once. Meanwhile, siege and PvP are every week.”

This change was welcome. The current raid was actually like a game of luck as each team had its own characteristics. There were teams with excellent interpersonal skills and teams that were suitable for hunting large monsters. If a boss monster appeared that matched the team’s characteristics, then a very high ranking would occur. As such, it relied a fair bit on luck. Now such things would disappear through the revision of the rules.

‘Okay, the siege rules have also changed.’ Hyeonu clicked on the banner hanging in the main Arena community site.

This was precisely what he was looking for.

-The change in the siege is very large. Compared to the other two events, it’s pretty much new. It can be seen that almost everything has changed.

‘It has changed a lot?’ Hyeonu only read the beginning and cocked his head.

Then he asked Yeongchan, “Hey, it seems the siege is almost at the level of a remake? Has it changed that much?”

“I have to say that it’s new. It has changed from the very root,” Yeongchan replied.

Hearing that, Hyeonu quickly rolled the wheel of the mouse. The page went down, and additional explanations appeared.

-Siege battles are conducted based on the territory acquired by the team. Attack and defense are randomly decided by a draw. The siege will take place in a virtual space and is carried out with doppelgangers of the territory’s soldiers.

‘That’s it!’

Hyeonu closed his laptop and shouted after reading it, “Hey! This is it! It is an unconditional victory!”

It had been revised as Hyeonu wanted. Now there were no variables at all. Winning Masked Fighting King already proved that PvP was his stage. There was no need to talk about the raid. From the beginning, Hyeonu had an overwhelming performance compared to everyone else.

With five team members joining him, the gap only widened, and nothing was reduced. If he had to pick a variable, it would have been the siege as the rules could change in a direction that wouldn’t be good for Crescent Moon. However, if it changed this way, there would be no variables. Based on this, Crescent Moon was already confirmed to be the Royal Roader.

Hyeonu was in a great mood and declared as he rose from his seat, “Shouldn’t we party on a day like today?” 

“Of course. Should I call the kids?” Yeongchan asked as his mood improved as well.

“Are you crazy? We should enjoy ourselves today. It’s the last supper. There is absolutely no relaxation once the league starts.”

“I guess? Let’s play like there is no tomorrow.”

Yeongchan recalled when he was 20 years old. They had lived like there was no tomorrow before going enlisting for the army. It wasn’t long before the Arena Winter League opened.