Ranker’s Return

The moment Rin tried to use the magic, a sound rang out and saved Hyeonu. Like a punishment falling from the sky, three streams of lightning fell on Wei, Xiao, and Rin respectively.

“I came to save Master dude!” Tang-E appeared gorgeously, making three turns in the air before landing without a sound. He made a clean finish and hid behind Hyeonu. “Master dude, are you okay? Weak Master dude, you are nothing without me.”

Tang-E showed the highest level of inconsistency between his words and his deeds.

“As expected, I can only rely on you. Tang-E.” Hyeonu wanted to embrace Tang-E, who had understood his heart. However, the first thing he had to do was kill the three enemies in front of him.

“Damn, what the hell is this?” Rin’s magic was forcibly canceled, and she could not move due to the backlash of magic power. All she could do now was talk.

[Player ‘Rin’ has entered an ‘electric shock’ state.]

[Player ‘Rin’ has entered an ‘internal injuries’ state.]

Typically, high risk gave high returns. It was the most appropriate phrase to describe a magician. A magican’s magic was basically very powerful. Therefore, the internal injuries system existed to balance it out. The magician would receive a huge debuff if the magic was forcibly canceled.

That’s why Arena’s magicians were usually cautious and weren’t stubborn. They cast magic at the right timing or let it fly. There was only one thing they did in common—cast magic without dragging out the time. Originally, Rin didn’t speak when using magic or hunting. It was just that she became angry after chasing Hyeonu for dozens of minutes and two party members had died in vain, so the words had popped out unknowingly.

In any case, Hyeonu aimed Crescent Moon Cut at Rin. A magician was a variable, and blocking all variables was one of the basics of how to succeed in a battle.

“Kyaaah!” Rin was logged out.

The only ones left were Wei and Xiao. There were only two warrior players.

“Master dude, I will help.” Tang-E joined the battle earnestly. During this period of hunting, Tang-E’s lightning had changed a lot.

[Lightning]

[The lightning attribute is emitted from magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: C+

Emits up to nine streams of lightning.

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 seconds.]

It wasn’t simply just releasing nine streams of lightning. If F-grade Lightning was like light static electricity, then the C+ Lightning was like a lightning bolt. Tang-E poured out two lightning bolts. They flew quickly toward Xiao and Wei, who were facing Hyeonu with their weapons.

“Ack!”

“Eek!”

Screams burst out from Wei and Xiao as they were struck by lightning.

[Player ‘Xiao’ has entered an ‘electric shock’ state.]

[Player ‘Wei’ has entered an ‘electric shock’ state.]

Hyeonu didn’t miss this gap. Attacking an opponent who got electrocuted and couldn’t move was as easy as cutting a scarecrow. A red flood erupted from their two bodies.

[Since it was a fair defense, your wicked deeds’ figure won’t go up.]

“It’s over.”

The battle ended. The final winner was Hyeonu, as usual.

‘I heard the name Rin.’

Hyeonu remembered Rin’s name as her corpse disappeared.

***

In the Hejin Great Mountain Range, a player was stepping foot into the Devil’s Valley, which was considered one of the top three roughest terrains. The player muttered in a low voice, “I don’t know anyone in Nike and Yeongchan wouldn’t know, so I had to find him...”

‘It would be crazy to ask Pioneer.’

Hyeonu was struggling with the identities of the five people who came to step on him. Why was Hyeonu here in Devil’s Valley? The Devil’s Valley was currently occupied by the New World Guild. If other guilds or rankers wanted to hunt in the Devil’s Valley, they had to get the permission of New World.

Shortly after the attack, Hyeonu contacted Kim Seokjung. Kim Seokjung had a collection quest and was hunting in the Hejin Great Mountain Range. Once Kim Seokjung was contacted by Hyeonu, he happily met Hyeonu and brought him to the Devil’s Valley. “Hey, dongsaeng. What are you thinking?”

“I was thinking about them.”

“Them? Ah, the ones who attacked you?”

“Yes.”

“You said one of them was called Rin? A female magician with red robes...” Kim Seokjung said. He thought for a while before shouting loudly for Gang Junggu, “Junggu!”

Gang Junggu rushed over. He probably knew that something had happened. “Hyung-nim, did you call me?”

“Junggu, do you know a Rin? A lady magician.”

“Rin?” Gang Junggu was troubled by Kim Seokjung’s words. 

‘Rin? Magician?’ He thought for a moment before exclaiming, “Ah! I know one. However, I don’t know if this ‘Rin’ is your ‘Rin’.” 

Kim Seokjung seemed to see hope in Gang Junggu’s answer. Full of the desire to help Hyeonu, Kim Seokjung urged Gang Junggu, “Tell me.”

“Hyung-nim, you know him too. That businessman who dreams of a sunny life—his secretary is a magician called ‘Rin’.”

“Really? Dongsaeng, have you heard of him?”

Hyeonu asked, “Hyung-nim, who is that guy?”

He might have a name in mind, but Hyeonu asked Kim Seokjung because he thought that the more he knew, the better.

“Him? Tian Hu, the CEO of a large workshop. He might be called president, but at his root, he is just a price manipulator.” Kim Seokjung frowned when he thought of Tian Hu. For Kim Seokjung, Tian Hu was someone he didn’t want to even think about. “There is no one who suits the word ‘gangster’ more. Hasn’t he been focusing on streaming these days? That despicable nature can’t be hidden.”

Market manipulation...

It was a shocking story. This was why Kim Seokjung hated Tian Hu.

Beside him, Gang Junggu explained to Hyeonu, “China has a large population. Do you know what that means? He has many people in his workshop. It means thousands of people are running hundreds of accounts. He is currently farming with a high-level account he made using this method. These days, he is at the entrance of Hejin Great Mountain Range.”

Kim Seokjung smiled bitterly as Gang Junggu’s explanation was insufficient. “That isn’t why I hate him. That guy is playing around with money. Now that he has a place to play here, he is fooling around with rare items between level 160 to 180.”

After Kim Seokjung spoke, Gang Junggu added another explanation, “The items from here are limited. It is natural for guilds to sell things they don’t need. His method is to buy them and manipulate the market by artificially raising prices. Have you ever thought about why Arena’s items are so expensive?”

Gang Junggu made a circle with his thumb and index finger. “There are many people like Tian Hu. It is expensive because they manipulate the market price of items.”

‘That’s why the items I bought were expensive...’ Hyeonu hadn’t confirmed that the five PKers were sent by Tian Hu, but his anger toward Tian Hu started to grow.

‘Please be him. I’m going to step on him properly.’

Hyeonu’s combat power had risen.

***

Tian Hu connected to Arena and was exhausted. All of the advance team had been logged out.

“Fu*k! What is this?!!!” Tian Hu released his anger somewhat by angrily attacking the surrounding trees and logged out.

It was to hear the entire story.

“Rin, tell me. What on earth happened? Why is the entire advance team logged out?!!”

The moment he saw Rin waiting in front of his cube, the anger that had subsided started burning again. Tian Hu threw everything within reach of his hands. Rin bowed her head quietly like this situation was familiar. Soon after, she received Tian Hu’s permission and opened her mouth to say, “It is my fault. I didn’t know Alley Leader was so strong. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me in detail. What happened?”

“I took a video. I originally wanted to kill him and show it to you. I’m sorry.”

Rin held out a small USB containing the video.

“Leave.” Tian Hu sent Rin out.

Then he connected the USB to his laptop and started playing the video.

***

The time Lee Hoon spent as a proxy knight had been greatly reduced recently. No, he stopped being a proxy knight altogether as he had already made enough money. He wasn’t Heder for nothing. The money he earned for the past two years was enough to buy him a shopping mall in the rural areas, even if it wasn’t Seoul.

Now he spent a lot of time developing his character. All of this was due to his meeting with one man—Alley Leader. Lee Hoon’s whole life changed from one confrontation.

‘I want to be like that person.’

He dreamed of making his debut as a streamer. One day, Lee Hoon received a note from Hyeonu.

-It is Alley Leader, Gang Hyeonu.

I am sending you a note to see if you know Rin, the magician who accompanies Tian Hu.

“Rin? Is he talking about her?”

Lee Hoon recalled the woman who visited him in the past. She had introduced herself as the vice guild leader of a huge guild and made him an offer to join it. However, the reality of the guild was a huge workshop. Arena workshops were only available in China and India.

“Tsk, everyone knows that it is a workshop.”

Once he rejected the offer, he was asked to be a sniper under the guise of a proxy knight.

‘I won’t snipe. I might be a proxy knight, but I still have pride.’

Thinking about it now, it was one of the few good choices Lee Hoon had made in his life. Lee Hoon finished his meal and cleaned up his website. It was a place that was no longer necessary. He also deleted the names of all acquaintances related to his proxy knight work from his smartphone. Lee Hoon neatly cleaned up his past and opened the door of the A-Cube to access Arena.

“That’s right, the name of the person who commissioned Clear was Tian Hu!”

At this moment, he remembered the story he heard from Clear earlier.

“Why did I do it? I needed money. I don’t have any better income than this. There is no one in our country who will throw out tens of thousands of yuan at one time. Who gave it to me?” Clear’s mouth stopped moving for a moment.

Clear drank a glass of water.

Then his mouth opened again to say, “Tian Hu.”

***

‘It was him.’

“Still, why is he aiming at me? I don’t have any contact with him at all.”

Hyeonu knew that it was Tian Hu, but he had no idea why this person was targeting him.

‘He is a person I don’t know. I didn’t scold him before. Ah, it’s sick.’

He had sent out the note while grasping at any straw he could, and it came back with a jackpot. Thanks to the note from Lee Hoon, he was convinced that the person targeting him was Tian Hu. Then after a moment, Hyeonu was met with a huge wall. Why? Why was Tian Hu aiming for him?

In the end, Hyeonu exploded, “I didn’t touch his guild. Why is this tough guy fu*king with me?!!!”

Then he came up with a simple solution to this unanswered question.

“I have to meet the bastard in person and ask him.”

Hyeonu’s face was filled with annoyance. His lips curved up, and he eventually made a pleased smile.

“Instead, I’ll get revenge. He’s in the Hejin Great Mountain Range? In that case, I will smash him... severely. I’ll have to smash him completely so he can’t come here again. Then I’ll ask him.”

Hyeonu’s eyes flashed.

“Why did you touch me?”