Ranker’s Return

A day before Arena Week, broadcasters from all over the world showed programs related to Arena Week. The world’s eyes were focused on Arena Week, so there were many programs and different concepts on it. The most popular program concept was power analysis. Programs that analyzed the power of teams participating in Arena Week and programs that predicted the ranking or confrontation patterns were the most watched. There was only one point of competitiveness between these programs, and that was which guests were invited? As a result, the ratings were divided, and the topics changed.

Naturally, everyone tried to bring in the best guests, but it wasn’t an easy task. Those who were somewhat popular had already been cast for months. Yet, there was one place where the preparations were made in a relaxed manner. Others were busy making phone calls all over the place, but due to an accidental fate, things were solved in a satisfactory manner for this place.

“Kale, what brings you to the set when you should be busy?” Matthew, who became one of FOX’s key PDs due to his great work on Masked Fighting King, welcomed Kale to the shooting site. Kale’s visit was a surprise. Arena Week was starting tomorrow, and there were many things that needed to be attended to, yet Kale had come over like he had nothing to do.

‘Is it because of the guest?’

Today’s guest had been invited to the program through Kale’s introduction. However, Alley Leader had a heavier weight than the guest, so Matthew thought that Kale’s visit didn’t make any sense.

“Why did I come? The shooting of the streamers contracted with Nike Management went smoothly, so I came to watch,” Kale answered Matthew’s question with a smile. In fact, he wasn’t busy as Matthew said. It had already been two days since Crescent Moon arrived at the hotel.

‘It is worth struggling in advance.’

Kale had done the work for Arena Week beforehand, so he suddenly had leisure time. In addition, the guest on today’s FOX show was making his first appearance in the media after signing a contract with Nike Management. So, Kale was naturally going to help him.

Just then, a young man in a neat shirt appeared at a corner of the shooting scene. Kale turned to the handsome young man and greeted him with a smile, “Teika... No, should I call you ‘McCarthy’?”

The name of the young man was ‘McCarthy’, but he was called ‘Teika’ in Arena. Teika felt that streaming was pretty interesting to do after participating in Hyeonu’s stream and thus immediately signed with Nike.

“Call me whatever is comfortable for you. I’m used to both,” Teika replied. He had a good name. His friends around him called him ‘McCarthy’. However, since he was called ‘Teika’ in Arena, more people addressed him by ‘Teika’ rather than his real name, so it didn’t mean anything to him.

“Then I’ll call you ‘Teika’. It is because others need to know.” Kale chose the nickname ‘Teika’ instead of Teika’s real name, ‘McCarthy’.

There was only one reason for this—more people knew the name ‘Teika’.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Are you nervous about today’s shoot? You have streamed occasionally, but as far as I know, it is your first time doing this type of shoot.”

“I’m not particularly nervous. It might be a bit awkward, but... I think it is a good experience.” Teika didn’t feel much pressure to shoot today. He thought there was no reason to be nervous because he wasn’t that type of person in the first place.

“Then I’m glad. In a corner of my heart, I’ve been wondering if I should introduce you to it more slowly.” Kale was relieved by Teika’s answer.

He thought it was a good thing that Teika wasn’t nervous. ‘The first experience is the most important thing.’

If Teika had a trauma, appearing in the media was a big problem to worry about. Still, seeing that Teika was calm, it seemed there wasn’t much for Kale to worry about.

“Then I’ll be watching. I hope you do a good job broadcasting today.” Kale took a step back. Today’s guest had appeared, so the shooting would begin soon.

“Thank you, Kale.” Teika bowed slightly to Kale and moved to his spot on the set. There was a long table and two chairs in the studio, as well as a giant screen hanging on the back wall. Teika’s seat was one of the two chairs. The moment he sat down, the owner of the remaining seat was revealed.

The name of the man with short, light brown hair was Greg. He was the most famous TV host in the United States. At the same time, he was also a very famous Arena maniac. Instead of preparing for the broadcast the moment he sat in his seat, he handed Teika a paper and pen. “I am your fan, Teika.”

Teika was a bit flustered by Greg’s behavior of asking for an autograph. Even so, he grabbed the pen and left a flowing signature on the paper. Requests for an autograph weren’t uncommon, so Teika already had quite a few experiences like this.

“Thank you for liking me. I am also a frequent watcher of your show.” Teika pushed the paper with his signature over to Greg. Greg smiled when he saw it.

Things proceeded with great speed after that. Greg and Teika started the live show under Matthew’s direction. 

“Today’s Greg Show is a live broadcast feature about Arena Week. Thus, a very special guest was invited. It is someone you can only see on the Greg Show. Teika!”

At Greg’s introduction, the camera turned to Teika. Teika had a casual expression as he said what he was supposed to say. “Hello, I am Teika. It is an honor to be on the Greg Show, which I like.”

Greg showed a fond expression as he listened to Teika reading what was on the script. He didn’t hide his feelings at all.

“The Greg Show is a program like this. It is a program that Teika wants to appear on,” Greg said and smiled for a while before starting his next sentence. “So, today I will be doing the analysis together with Teika. We will pick the strong and weak teams of Arena Week and choose the expected winning team. Of course, there will be a separate analysis for each one.”

Teika was mainly going to do three types of analyses on the Greg Show: firstly, an analysis of the teams coming to Arena Week; secondly, the eye-catching players for each event; and thirdly, predicting the winning team.

‘Is the broadcast time an hour?’

Teika hadn’t prepared many materials as he hadn’t felt the need to prepare much. The analyses always ended with Crescent Moon and Alley Leader. It was ‘Everything Leads to Alley Leader’. The other players were just bridesmaids.

“First of all, I am going to show you an analysis of each team at Arena Week.” Teika operated a tablet that was connected to the screen on the back wall. The tablet had already been arranged in advance, so he just had to touch it lightly. Teika gently swept his fingers over the tablet, and the information he’d prepared appeared on the screen.

He said, “The first team I’ve analyzed is one of the European teams, France’s PSG. PSG has Aike, who they claim to be Europe’s best melee player. PSG has made thorough preparations for Arena Week. They are determined to eliminate the regret they felt after failing to win the championship last year.”

The information about the PSG players was written on the screen. It had each player’s class and representative skills, as well as the pros and cons of their style of play. The information was as detailed as a scouting report.

“Did you write this yourself? It’s incredible.” Greg marveled at the systematic report he was seeing for the first time in his life. He thought the viewers who watched this would feel the same way.

Teika replied, “It isn’t that great. It is just roughly what I know. Anyway, I’ll explain it now... In the case of PSG, their melee classes are strong, while their magician classes are relatively weak. The level of their priests isn’t very high either. So, their records in raids and sieges won’t be as good as you think. Instead, they are very strong in PvP.”

The slides changed, and more specific information emerged. For example, there was a player’s competition record, their actual arena ranking, and their estimated specs in the arena. Information containing Teika’s know-how flowed out. He continued, “No matter what, Aike is the most prominent player in PSG. It doesn’t matter whether it is PvP, the siege, or the raid. If there is a player who can relieve Aike’s burden, then... I think PSG will do well in this Arena Week.”

Greg and the other people at the scene listened like they were enchanted. As Teika’s analysis progressed, Greg responded to Teika’s words in a suitable manner. In the meantime, Teika completed the analysis of seven of the eight participating teams. There was only one team remaining.

“It is already the last team now. The last team is Crescent Moon of South Korea,” Teika said.

“Isn’t Crescent Moon the team with Alley Leader? It is the team that’s named as the most likely winning candidate.” Greg was very interested in Crescent Moon as his close friend was playing there as a member.

Dwayne—he was Greg’s friend.

“No, Crescent Moon isn’t the most likely winning candidate.”

“Huh?” Greg was flustered by Teika’s firm shake of the head. Crescent Moon wasn’t the winning candidate? Everyone recognized Crescent Moon as a winning candidate.

At that moment, Teika opened his mouth, and amazing words flowed out. “It is already the winning team. It isn’t a candidate. I think the winner of this Arena Week has already been decided.”

In Teika’s mind, the winning team was already confirmed as Crescent Moon. All the games in this Arena Week were just ceremonial acts.

Teika looked at Greg, who still had a puzzled face, and said, “This Arena Week is a coronation for Crescent Moon—to be exact, Alley Leader. It is a coronation ceremony that’s held in front of people all over the world who like Arena.”

Greg had a baffled face as he asked Teika, “Is there a basis for thinking so? Teika?”

Teika looked at the camera with a slight smile and answered Greg’s question, “No matter what, Alley Leader is the best. He is the best at PvP, raids, and the siege.”

Teika exhaled lightly before continuing, “How do you explain this?”