Ranker’s Return

Tick... tick... tick... tick!

The slot machine deciding Hyeonu’s fate started to slow down.

‘Please, please, please!’

Hyeonu didn’t release the lever. It was because if he did that, everyone would see his hand was shaking. Hyeonu looked up carefully at the slot machine.

[Slot machine results: GGG]

[You have won.]

[The rewards and skills will be paid according to the results.]

[Gold paid: 500 gold.]

[Current number of times remaining: 0/10]

He won a prize. Like Yeongchan, Hyeonu had won twice, and the winning prizes were also the same—gold.

“Uwooooh! It came out!” Hyeonu exclaimed. Now he didn’t have to kneel. Honestly, he hadn’t thought he would win. Every time he pulled the lever, his feelings were a wreck. He became nervous and depressed, and his frustration grew worse. Nevertheless, Hyeonu overcame it at the end. To be exact, it was a thing of luck.

‘By the way... this wasn’t in the scenario.’

There was just one slight problem. They hadn’t predicted a situation where both of them won the same prize the same number of times. It was because Hyeonu had judged this wouldn’t happen. He never dreamed that what he had considered a waste of time would become a reality. From now on, everything was adlib. They didn’t have a script planned in advance, so they had to improvise from now on.

“As you can see, both Argon and I won gold twice, so the bet is a draw. There will be no punishment.” Hyeonu’s first unscripted words resonated greatly. He received an intense consent from the party involved, Yeongchan.

“It is unfortunate that I can’t see you kneel down... Let’s do this. Both of us have no more opportunities to turn the slot machine.” Yeongchan willingly accepted Hyeonu’s suggestion.

He was also flustered as an unexpected situation had occurred. So he chose to give it a rough wrap-up and move onto the next content. There was just something else the two men really didn’t expect. It was the reactions from the viewers.

-How can it end in such a vain manner?

-That’s right. One of you should kneel.

-Let’s set the loser by the amount of gold.

-Omg, what is this draw? There are always only winners and losers.

The viewers objected to the two men’s decision. The chat window was soon filled with all types of messages, so the chat couldn’t be seen properly.

‘What should I do?’ Yeongchan’s mind was a mess. He had no thoughts at all; it was like his brain had stopped. Yeongchan just stood quietly and looked at the chat window.

‘That jerk is out of his mind,’ Hyeonu thought. He had a precise understanding of Yeongchan’s state. They had been friends for over 10 years after all, so he could see what Yeongchan was thinking just by looking in his eyes.

Hyeonu let out a light sigh and spoke to the viewers, “Do we really have to do that?”

He felt like he was sitting at a negotiating table.

-Of course.

-Once you’ve started, you need to watch it through to the end.

-If you pull out a knife, you must slash with it.

-Do you think you can get away from this?

The attitude of the viewers was very tough. They wanted to see someone’s knees touch the ground. This was Hyeonu and Yeongchan’s retribution for acting in order to show a dramatic situation.

‘It can’t be helped.’ 

Hyeonu shook his head as he looked at the messages of the viewers who didn’t allow any compromise. It was already impossible to persuade the viewers otherwise, so all that remained was to decide the winner and loser. Hyeonu approached Yeongchan and poked him in the shoulder. “Then let’s do this. As the viewers said, the one with the least amount of gold earned will lose. How about it?”

Yeongchan woke up upon hearing Hyeonu’s words, but he didn’t speak. It was like he wasn’t quite sober yet. He just looked up and nodded.

“Then we will calculate it right now. How much did you get the first time?” Hyeonu asked.

“1,994 gold,” Yeongchan answered.

“I got 2,416 gold.”

“What? 2,416 gold?” Yeongchan sobered up when he realized the situation he was in. It felt like cold water had just been poured over his head, and his mind became clear. Hyeonu’s 2,416 gold had a great power.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Yeongchan said.

“Why doesn’t it make sense? I saw it just now. Ask the viewers.” Hyeonu was very confident because he wasn’t lying.

Yeongchan noticed from Hyeonu’s appearance that the words were true, but in order to confirm it, he asked the audience about Hyeonu’s result: “Did he really get 2,416 gold coins from the first prize?”

-Yes. It came out.

-2,416 gold is right.

-I saw it earlier. I remember.

-The second time, Argon’s seemed a bit higher.

‘I won more the second time?’ Yeongchan felt a bit relieved this time. He had been flustered because the gap between their wins was larger than he had expected, but he was able to get rid of this worry after knowing he’d won more the second time.

“What’s next?” It was Yeongchan who asked Hyeonu this time.

“Me? 500 gold,” Hyeonu answered.

“500? I got 922 gold. So I won this time?”

The amount that Hyeonu won was 500 gold, the smallest amount that could be won.

‘I have 400 more gold...’ Yeongchan calculated it roughly and shook his head. The total amounts were similar.

“Is it similar?”

Just then, the viewers had already finished counting and had begun chatting.

-1,994+922 = 2,916

-2,416+500 = 2,916

-It is the same?

-It’s exactly the same?

-What is this... It’s a ridiculous situation.

The viewers were quick to say that the situation was ridiculous. This was something that shouldn’t have happened—a tie. Hyeonu and Yeongchan earned the same amount of 2,916 gold without a single difference.

“Now, it’s really over. Did you see it? It is a tie.”

“Then I’ll go onto the next content. Next...”

Yeongchan and Hyeonu streamed smoothly like a snake crossing the wall. It was as if there had been no war of words and no bet.

***

“Did everyone enjoy the stream today?” Yeongchan started wrapping up the stream smoothly. It had already been a few hours since the streaming began. Everyone expected it to be over by now, so there was no backlash. The problem was Hyeonu.

“Yes, I’m glad you all enjoyed it. I’ll be on the show from time to time, but not often. Of course, it should be like this.” He cut Yeongchan’s comment and finished the closing comment. The viewers protested because it happened before they could respond to Yeongchan’s words.

-Not even looking at the chats and talking alone...

-It seems there is no such thing as interaction.

-Do you watch the chat only on your own stream?

-Is it okay to come out as a guest and act like this? Of course not.

The viewers who were feeling annoyed by Hyeonu’s ridiculous actions suddenly stopped the moment Hyeonu implied he would appear on Yeongchan’s stream again in the future. Yeongchan glanced at the chat window and ended the streaming when he saw that the atmosphere was right: “Then I’ll see you next time.”

Hyeonu and Yeongchan ended Arena as soon as they finished streaming. Then they rushed straight to the living room. Yeongchan entered the living room with a white laptop. Hyeonu sat on the couch and urged Yeongchan, “Hey, turn it on. Start the settlement.”

“Wait. What type of laptop turns on during the time you close your eyes and open them? In addition, is it over as soon as it turns on? I have to go to A-World and log in. Then I have to enter the settlement page. Why are you urging me so much when you should be familiar with the process?!” Yeongchan poured out words like tentacles toward Hyeonu, who was just lying there and talking.

“Hey, by this time, I would’ve already opened the settlement page. Don’t talk nonsense and just turn it on. The screen is lit up, you jerk,” Hyeonu spoke shamelessly like a poisonous snake regardless of Yeongchan’s retort.

“Sigh...” Yeongchan sighed heavily as he turned and looked back at his laptop. He quickly moved the wireless mouse to turn on A-World.

‘The settlement page... What is this?’

Yeongchan saw the settlement page and exclaimed, “Wow!” 

The numbers were too different from what he had seen before.

“Why? Did the streaming go well? What is it?” Hyeonu asked. He poked his head over Yeongchan’s shoulder while Yeongchan stared at the laptop with admiration.

‘It’s high?’ Hyeonu thought.

Then he said, “Hey, it’s high. It’s over 10 million?”

11,382,719 was the highest number of viewers Yeongchan had ever recorded in a stream. Yet it wasn’t a very good number for Hyeonu.

‘It is lower than what I usually get on my stream. Why?’ 

Although Hyeonu had an admiring expression on his face, he couldn’t hide his mixed feelings inside. He had done this to help Yeongchan but it didn’t work out as well as he thought.

“How much gold did you get?” Hyeonu’s attention shifted from the viewer numbers to gold. The number of viewers wasn’t what he had expected, but the story would be different for the gold coins. The streaming atmosphere had been very good today, so he naturally expected the amount to be large.

‘It should be at least 50,000?’

Hyeonu remembered the 8,282 gold they received at the beginning of the stream. If that atmosphere continued, getting 50,000 would be easy. That was what he got on his usual stream.

“I got a lot. Around 25,000,” Yeongchan said in a tone that revealed his joyful feelings. His mood was rising. The number of gold coins Yeongchan usually received while streaming was around 5,000 to 6,000. He received 25,000 gold coins this time, so the income was four to five times his usual.

‘It’s only half?’ Hyeonu, on the other hand, didn’t have a very good expression. They’d only obtained half of what he’d expected. It seemed he hadn’t helped Yeongchan out properly with this guest appearance.

“I’m sorry, the results didn’t come out as usual. I should’ve given a notice about this on my last stream,” Hyeonu said while putting his arm around Yeongchan’s shoulder.

“What do you mean by those words? Isn’t this a huge amount? Don’t be like this and think about the dinner menu. It’s my treat today. I’ve earned this much thanks to you. I’ll treat you.” Yeongchan pushed away Hyeonu’s face that was making strange sounds and moved the mouse on the screen while laughing.

He was deeply moved by the numbers he was seeing for the first time in his life. When Hyeonu saw Yeongchan’s unexpected response, he smiled. “Huh? Really? I understand. Then it must be at least 100,000 won today.”

The party involved said it didn’t matter, so Hyeonu’s regret disappeared. Now all that remained in his head were images of the various delivery foods he would eat later.

‘Let’s start with chicken... We should eat bossam too. I want to eat spicy food, so tteokbokki...’

The 100,000 won he mentioned to Yeongchan seemed easy to spend. Hyeonu added, “No taking it back.”