Ranker’s Return

Teika’s analysis caused a great ripple. The Greg Show starring Teika had ratings exceeding 3%m and the A-World views topped 500 million in one day. It was only on the day that Arena Week started that Hyeonu, the person in question, heard the news.

“Really? Teika said that?” Hyeonu’s expression was naturally bewildered when he heard such words for the first time. Additionally, he didn’t hide his good mood. He always felt good when he heard praise.

“Now the Internet and SNS are buzzing with that story. The hardcore fans of each team are on fire trying to refute Teika’s words,” Kale briefly told Hyeonu what he saw at the scene yesterday. It included the analysis that Teika came up with. “Mr. Teika defined the teams participating in Arena Week as one strong, five intermediate, and two weak teams.”

The power rankings Teika defined were very lumped together. Nominated as the winner, Hyeonu’s Crescent Moon was the sole strong team.

The five intermediate teams were Reina’s New York Warriors, Aike’s PSG, Mascherano’s Red Bull America, Xuanhua led by China’s Wang Chiyou, and Russia’s Karelin led by Zenith. These five teams were all Winter League champions except for Red Bull America.

“The teams that were considered the strongest until recently are still strong today. Isn’t it a natural evaluation criterion?” Hyeonu found the criteria for Teika’s power rankings.

“Red Bull America has an advantage over last year’s Arena Week winner. They were competing with the New York Warriors for first place, which was why they were chosen.”

“The remaining two weak ones are JT Telecom and... England’s Manchester led by Ryan?”

The remaining two weak teams were JT Telecom and Manchester, which passed the wildcard round like Red Bull America had done.

“JT Telecom is a team that was originally already rated as weak on the world stage, but... Manchester is also a weak team? What happened?” Hyeonu found something strange. There was one name missing from among the five teams evaluated as having an intermediate strength. It was Manchester—which was led by Britain’s pride, Ryan.

‘They might’ve lost the top spot to PSG in the Western League, but...’

It wasn’t at a level where they should be tied up with JT Telecom.

Hyeonu’s question was resolved by Kale. He said, “One of Manchester’s melee players announced his retirement. He is a wildcard player, but he said he won’t participate in Arena Week.”

The reason for Manchester’s sharp decline in combat power was the retirement of a main power. One of the melee players who teamed up with Ryan had suddenly announced he was retiring for personal reasons, so Manchester’s combat power was weakened. This led them to occupy one of the two weak spots in PvP, the raid, and the siege.

“So that is what happened... Ryan must be suffering.” Hyeonu felt frustrated just hearing about it. He didn’t know who the player was, but it wasn’t impossible to invite a player with strength. it was just impossible to fully cooperate with the other team members in a short time. Teika also knew this, which was why he chose Manchester as one of the two weak teams.

“Many people feel sorry for him. Ryan’s skills have improved. There are a lot of people who are cheering for him next year,” Kale said, even adding a bit about how the Arena fans had reacted.

Hyeonu shook his head when he heard that. ‘It’s useless.’

Such comfort actually meant nothing to Ryan. Professional players were greedier than anyone else. They were the ones who wanted to prove they were superior to their opponents. Telling him to wait another year? It was just an empty echo that couldn’t touch his heart.

“What is the order of Arena Week, Kale?” Hyeonu asked Kale about the Arena Week schedule that would begin in the afternoon. Hyeonu didn’t know anything about how Arena Week was going to work. Since coming to New York, he had interchanged between resting and playing Arena.

Kale answered, “The Arena Week opening ceremony will take place at 1 o’clock. This is the time when they will introduce and interview the participating teams. After that, the siege and PvP match orders will be set.”

Arena Week lasted a total of four days. As Kale had explained, the first day was a prelude to the competition. From the second day, the siege and PvP matches would take place.

In the siege, one team played the role of guarding the city while the remaining seven teams played the role of attackers. Everyone would take turns as the defender. The rules were the same as before. The defending team would lose the siege when the inner office was captured or everyone was wiped out. Meanwhile, it would be a failure for the attacking side if they were completely wiped out or they surrendered.

“How will the siege be ranked?”

“The number one team will naturally be the team with the best record. How many times you succeeded in attacking, the average amount of time it took to succeed for all the attacks, and whether you failed or succeeded in the defense—everything is part of the criteria.”

“Then that means the drawing order is quite important.” 

Once he’d heard the complete explanation, Hyeonu found that the order of the siege was very important.

‘There is a huge difference between attacking and defending.’

There were different pressures. If he was going to be attacked anyway, it was better to be attacked first. After trying his best to stop the siege, he could focus on attacking with a comfortable attitude. The later one’s position was in playing the defensive role, the greater the burden would be.

‘Based on the way it has progressed so far, it is 100% going to be a draw...’

Considering Quency’s previous decision to have the players choose by tossing a coin, it was highly likely they had prepared something that would leave things to chance again this time.

‘It might be a ladder.’

“First of all, I can be comfortable because there is no game today. The preparations are over... Let’s go to the stadium,” Hyeonu said and got up from his chair.

They had to leave now if they wanted to get there before Arena Week started. It would be like a film festival, so it was best to go as early as possible. Upon hearing Hyeonu’s words, Kale focused on the conversation coming through the receiver in his ear. “Could you please wait a moment?”

After a while, Kale also rose from his spot. “Let’s go. The explanation for the others is over.”

Kale took the lead, and Hyeonu followed. They headed to the hotel lobby, where a lot of people were already present. Among them were paparazzi—who were there to take photos of Crescent Moon—as well as real journalists. The bodyguards of Nike Management blocked their entry and created a path for the Crescent Moon players to quickly enter the prepared vehicle. After confirming that all six Crescent Moon players were in the vehicle, Kale was the last to get in.

“Now, Arena Week is really right around the corner,” Hyeonu said with closed eyes as he buried his body in the car seat. His voice wasn’t excited or depressed; it was no different from usual. “This means it isn’t long until we reach our goal. At the same time, it also means we won’t have long left to spend together.”

The name ‘Crescent Moon’ would remain, but it would be the last time the six of them were professional players. Among the six people, only Mason originally had the desire to be a professional player. Now that he had realized his wish, he would go back to his daily life.

“There is still a lot left. There are three days remaining,” Mason responded playfully to Hyeonu’s words.

Three days wasn’t a long time and would pass by in the blink of an eye. Mason knew that, but if he didn’t say this, he would be in tears right now.

Hyeonu noticed Mason’s underlying meaning, but he still expressed what he wanted to say. “Work hard right to the end. You have tried hard, so you have to get good results, okay? We have come this far. It doesn’t mean anything else. It’s not like we aren’t going to see each other in the future, right? Just... I want to say that we might not meet in the same building in the future, but we will still see each other in Arena.”

He thought he should do this now as they needed time to prepare for the farewell. 

‘I need time to prepare in advance.’

At the end of Arena Week, Dwayne and Mason wouldn’t return to South Korea. Only four people would return, including Hyeonu. Dwayne and Mason had already packed their things and sent them to their homes before leaving for New York.

“So… starting from now, let’s live the next few remaining days in a happier and more enjoyable manner.” Hyeonu shut his mouth after finishing his words. Then he lay back like he was sleeping.

***

It didn’t take long for them to travel from the hotel to New York Arena Stadium—just over 20 minutes. Kale was the first to get off the bus, followed by the Crescent Moon players.

A shower of camera flashes poured toward them. The Crescent Moon players smiled and waved, rather than frowning at the massive shower of camera flashes. They were familiar with this because they had experienced it a lot in South Korea. With the help of on-field personnel, the players entered Arena Stadium one by one.

Hyeonu disembarked last. That was when the shower of flashes reached an extreme, and the reporters asked Hyeonu all types of questions.

“Mr. Gang! What do you think about Teika’s remarks from the Greg Show?!”

“Do you really think you will be the winner of Arena Week?!”

Kale clung to Hyeonu’s back and whispered in his ear, “I think it is better for you to just enter. We have a separate official interview.”

Hyeonu heard Kale’s words, but he stopped walking. He stood in the middle of the entrance to New York Arena Stadium and turned to look at the reporters who were photographing him.

“Can I ask what that question is referring to? What do I think about...?” Hyeonu asked the first reporter who called out that question to him. He wasn’t asking because he didn’t know what Teika had said. Hyeonu was doing this just to attract more attention from the people gathered here.

The reporter didn’t know this fact and asked the question again in accordance with Hyeonu’s words. “It is as I asked. On the Greg Show, Teika called this year’s Arena Week a coronation for Mr. Gang. I want to know what you think about this.” 

“Um... Teika said such words...” Hyeonu paused for a bit. He was waiting for a build-up of tension… like waiting for rice to cook. The eyes of all the people gathered here focused on Hyeonu’s face, and their ears focused on his mouth.

“He is a great person. How could he have such deep thoughts? That’s right. This Arena Week is where I will be crowned forever.” Hyeonu detonated a bomb again for the first time in a while.