Ranker’s Return

“What does that mean?”

“Does that mean that Alley Leader paid for that girl’s surgery?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he just wanted to help?”

“Let’s write the article first.”

The reporters couldn’t figure out the exact situation. However, they typed away on their laptops and wrote the report first. They could release the breaking news before supplementing the content in the future.

At this moment, Kale grabbed a microphone and supplemented Choi Yoon’s statement with an explanation. “To be precise, this was why Choi Yoon was selected as the second student of Alley Leader Academy. Mister Gang chose him after seeing his story.”

Anyone could infer the latter part without hearing that since they had already heard Choi Yoon’s words.

“Then I will go in first. Everyone has worked hard.” Hyeonu disappeared into the ballroom inside the hotel while holding Choi Jisu’s hand.

The hands of the reporters left behind moved diligently.

“It was rewarding to be here today.”

***

“You did a good thing.” Reina approached Hyeonu with cocktails in both hands.

“What good thing? It was just a whim.” Hyeonu smiled as he accepted a cocktail from Reina.

“Wasn’t the child cute? I would’ve helped if I had seen such a child.” Reina recalled the face of Choi Jisu, who had gone home. Choi Jisu was definitely cute. She had hovered around Hyeonu and Choi Yoon like a puppy wandering around her owners’ side.

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Hyeonu felt the same as Reina. Choi Jisu clearly seemed cuter than before. It was definitely different from when they met in the hospital.

‘I hope she can keep growing up like this.’

It was only now that Hyeonu could sense Choi Jisu’s age in her behavior. No darkness could be seen in her at all.

At that time, Gang Junggu held a glass like Hyeonu was doing and approached Hyeonu, placing an arm around his shoulder. “Well, isn’t this atmosphere good right from the beginning?”

“Hyung-nim, you came?” Hyeonu greeted Gang Junggu as if he hadn’t heard the latter’s words.

Gang Junggu noticed it and wondered with a frown, “Are you ignoring me now?” 

“Did I ignore your words? When did I?” Hyeonu retorted while blinking. He behaved like Gang Junggu hadn’t even spoken earlier.

“What did I say when I came here?”

“Let’s see...? I don’t really remember?” Hyeonu was consistent despite Gang Junggu’s persistence.

With a playful appearance, Gang Junggu was just about to reply. However, someone approached and placed his hand on Gang Junggu’s shoulder.

“What? I didn’t receive any news that you were going to drink?” Kim Seokjung said.

The moment Kim Seokjung appeared, Gang Junggu quickly removed his arm from around Hyeonu’s shoulder and smiled awkwardly at Kim Seokjung. “Hyeonu was there. It was nice to exchange some greetings.”

“What is so nice? Didn’t you spend the morning with him? Don’t talk nonsense, and come with me quickly.” Kim Seokjung dragged Gang Junggu and disappeared.

Kim Seokjung turned his head while walking away and looked at Reina and Hyeonu, winking his left eye. Hyeonu smiled bitterly when he saw it He felt uncomfortable for some reason. ‘Why is Hyung-nim doing that?’ 

On the other hand, Reina nodded to Kim Seokjung’s wink and responded with a slight smile.

“Shall we have a drink first?” Reina extended her glass toward Hyeonu. The two people’s glasses touched with a clink.

***

‘Ouch, my head.’ Hyeonu grabbed his throbbing head. He wasn’t quite awake, but he had regained his consciousness. At one point, his memory had completely disappeared.

‘How much did I drink?’ He tried hard to recall the night, but he couldn’t remember anything except for the greeting of many people at the party and the drinking.

“Why am I here?” 

Hyeonu calmly observed the surroundings and found that it wasn’t his room. It was the first time he had seen this place. This wasn’t a proper hotel room but a small room off from the banquet hall where the party was held yesterday.

‘Did I sleep here?’

It appeared that Hyeonu had connected several chairs and lain on them to sleep. He quickly got up, grabbed his jacket from the table, and left the room. Hyeonu took the elevator. There was already a passenger inside.

“Where are you going so early in the morning? Why are you dressed like that?” Yeongchan looked at Hyeonu, who was dressed in formal clothing early in the morning, and showed a curious expression. It wasn’t common for Hyeonu to go out in such clothes early in the morning. Nevertheless, Yeongchan immediately shut his mouth. He understood the situation when he saw Hyeonu’s free and unrestrained hair. Hyeonu hadn’t prepared to go out; he was just returning to his room.

“You slept there and only got up now?” Yeongchan asked. Hyeonu didn’t answer the question, but his silence was enough. Yeongchan looked at Hyeonu and clicked his tongue. “I knew this would happen. Drink more moderately. You have to fix that. Does it make sense to sleep anywhere? If this continues, something big will happen.”

Hyeonu nodded as he already knew this. “Yes, I should cut down on alcohol from now on. Previously, I always somehow slept in a room no matter how drunk I was... This time, I drank too much.”

Usually, Hyeonu would go home to sleep even if he was drunk. This time was different. He literally had a blackout. So, he naturally thought he shouldn’t do this again next time.

“Who knows? You? Of course, you will try to cut down, but I don’t know if the people around you will help you,” Yeongchan replied. He knew that Hyeonu was also human, which meant this wasn’t a problem that he could solve on his own. Everyone around him needed to help.

“I agree. I can’t control myself when drinking with the Hyung-nims,” Hyeonu conceded. Every time Hyeonu went through this, Gang Junggu and Kim Seokjung were always drinking with him. He would get caught up in the atmosphere of the two men and drink too much unknowingly.

“By the way, there is a Cube room on the 15th floor. Don’t you have to play Arena?” Yeongchan suddenly said before Hyeonu got off the elevator.

This immediately awakened Hyeonu’s dull spirit. “There is a Cube room?”

He had used his arrival into the United States as an excuse to take the day off yesterday, but he wanted to play Arena as much as possible today.

“Thank you, Yeongchan.”

Hyeonu ran to his room as soon as he got out of the elevator in order to access Arena even a bit earlier.

***

The place where Hyeonu appeared after accessing Arena was Ainpo. He had moved his character here before flying to New York. Ainpo was where he needed to be to proceed with his quest.

‘I will slow down, but I won’t stop the progress.’

The main scenario would keep moving forward under Hyeonu’s control.

‘A proper amount of time has passed.’

The week he’d agreed upon with the blue-haired demon had passed. Nonetheless, it wasn’t because he went to New York and wasted a day. This was all part of Hyeonu’s calculations.

‘I realized it because of Earl Carlsberg.’

It wasn’t good to be unconditionally fast. Accurate timing was important.

‘The time that it takes two demon nobles to die and to return to Ainpo from Etono.’

The schedule was a week when moving on the rhino demonic creature. Hyeonu would be coming back on his own when he returned to Ainpo, so he added an extra day to the calculations.

‘How many people will be there today?’

He hoped there would be an appropriate number. There were eight nobles left, so around half of them would be good.

‘I will persuade them to bring out two more people.’

Three people would also be suitable. It was a number that Hyeonu could still handle simultaneously.

‘I just need to kill three people, and there will be around half left.’

It would be a fight of wits once there were five nobles left. By then, they would be suspecting Hyeonu. There might be no physical evidence, but there was a good chance they would be in a suspicious state.

‘What will they do? There’s no evidence.’ Hyeonu smiled and entered Ainpo’s castle. He moved to the place where he met with the nobles previously. The demon nobles were still there, but their number had decreased. There should be eight remaining, but Hyeonu could only see six present.

‘Where are the other two?’

Two nobles were missing. Hyeonu left his curiosity behind and started acting. He was filled with solemn energy as he pulled a ring out of his inventory.

“Why are you only back now?’

“And the other two?”

“Where is Earl Carlsberg and Viscount Marie?”

The nobles questioned Hyeonu who appeared alone.

Hyeonu scratched the back of his head and spoke in a loud voice, “The two of them were killed.” 

“What?”

“Why did they both die?”

“How did you come back alive?”

Hyeonu didn’t answer their questions. Instead, he approached the blue-haired demon noble and held out the ring. “I barely made it back.”

The blue-haired demon accepted the ring, Barak’s Master, from Hyeonu and asked, “What happened? Explain why they couldn’t come back and why you were able to come back alone.”

Hearing that, Hyeonu slowly started to recite the scenario he had set up. “At first, things worked out. We killed the adventurers in Etono without a hitch. The problem occurred when we were returning. We saw the emperor moving alone in the distance.”

The demon nobles gathered here could guess what happened later without Hyeonu mentioning it. Even so, they wanted to hear the exact circumstances from his mouth.

“Then?”

“The two of them rushed to kill the emperor, and...” Hyeonu stopped for a moment and took a breath. Then he talked about what would’ve happened if the two of them had actually attacked the emperor. “They both died in one blow. Their bodies were torn apart in the blink of an eye.”

The moment Hyeonu’s words ended, a clamor emerged from the mouths of the demon nobles. They didn’t believe Hyeonu’s words. Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg had a similar level of strength to the nobles gathered here, yet they had died helplessly without doing anything. The nobles couldn’t admit it.

“No way!”

“I don’t know about Viscount Marie, but Earl Carlsberg?”

“Nonsense! What did you do?!”

Hyeonu was not agitated at all and responded calmly to the demon nobles, “Then are you saying I killed the two of them? Do you really think so?”

The nobles were speechless. Obviously, Hyeonu was the one who killed Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg, but it would hurt their pride to admit it. Two nobles were killed by a human. They didn’t want to believe it. No, there was no evidence that Hyeonu was stronger than them.

“Stop. There is no evidence that the human killed Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg. In addition, he came back with this ring. If the human’s words are correct, the mistake was made by the two who are dead.” The blue-haired demon cleared up the situation.

Then a message window appeared in front of Hyeonu’s eyes.

[Falsely report to Earl Delrun 1/1.]

[Infiltration for Life or Death has been cleared.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Damanos’ psychological state has changed.]

[The attack of the nobles has been postponed.]

Under the mask, Hyeonu’s mouth spread into a deep smile.