Ranker’s Return

‘This coincidence... Is God helping me?’ Hyeonu had this thought when he saw Jung Hanbaek standing before his eyes. If there was a god, it was clear that he loved Hyeonu. Otherwise, this opportunity wouldn’t have been given to Hyeonu.

The whole reason why Hyeonu tied himself to Arena. The cause of it all was right in front of him. He had gotten revenge a few times, but it wasn’t enough. The things that Jung Hanbaek suffered were just a drop in the bucket compared to the pain that Hyeonu’s parents had suffered.

‘What should I do?’

Currently, Hyeonu had only one worry. How should he deal with Jung Hanbaek? How could he crush Jung Hanbaek so that this person never looked at him again? How could he make Jung Hanbaek quit being a professional gamer?

‘What would be better?’

Hyeonu continued to think about it. He didn’t stop just because he came up with one method. He constantly thought of more ways.

“This is the final showdown between Crescent Moon and JT Telecom. The winning player’s team will take victory in this match. Let me introduce the players who hold their team’s fortune. It is Player Gang Hyeonu of Crescent Moon! And Player Jung Hanbaek of JT Telecom!” the host announced.

Hyeonu’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the host’s commentary.

‘It’s the last one.’

Regardless of what happened, he had no intention of thinking about Jung Hanbaek after today. Hyeonu would leave the rest in his father’s hands.

‘So I have to finish it even more perfectly today.’

Hyeonu smiled and waved at the audience. Then he turned to look at Jung Hanbaek and grinned. He was very excited about the things that would unfold in a few minutes.

***

Hyeonu opened his mouth in an unprecedented manner. During today’s PvP, he had played over 30 games alone, and he hadn’t said a word throughout all of them. Hyeonu opened his mouth and said to Jung Hanbaek, “I will be done with you after today.”

Jung Hanbaek’s expression changed strangely upon hearing Hyeonu’s words. His face had a mix of many emotions, including anger, but he didn’t speak in the end. Jung Hanbaek moved his lips a few times before holding the handle of his sword.

‘Ohu? What is this now?’ Something flashed in Hyeonu’s eyes. If it had been before, Jung Hanbaek’s hot temper meant he would have rushed forward. However, he now knew how to put up with it. Perhaps, he had become sensible, or...

‘Does it mean that his colleagues, this stage, and the job of a pro gamer are really important to him?’

In that case, it was even better. One of the things Hyeonu wanted to make Jung Hanbaek experience was the pain of having something that was precious to him broken. The shock of it shattering before his eyes—Hyeonu really wanted to teach it to Jung Hanbaek.

‘I don’t want you to be on this stage again...’

Hyeonu slowly pulled out his sword. Then he made a few circles in the air for no reason. They formed a figure that was very fancy yet also seemingly meaningless; it was like a clown in a circus. However, that all changed when Hyeonu injected magic power into his sword. A blue light filled the space like lasers shooting through the air.

Jung Hanbaek, who was watching Hyeonu’s nonsense, showed an expression of shock at the sudden shower of pure energies that struck him. Nevertheless, it was already too late. The speed at which the pure energies approached him was very fast.

Jung Hanbaek created pure energy as a response only after several of Hyeonu’s pure energies had already dug into Jung Hanbaek’s skin. Blood splashed from his shoulders and arms. Even so, neither he nor Hyeonu had a drastic change in expression.

‘I cut him lightly. He is bleeding well.’

It was because Hyeonu deliberately controlled the magic power to the point where only blood splashed. There was no reason for a deep cut. If the wound was deep, the game would end quickly. Hyeonu didn’t want to see that.

‘I will deal you with more pain than you can imagine.’ Hyeonu gritted his teeth and moved slowly.

Jung Hanbaek pointed his sword at the approaching Hyeonu. By this time, Jung Hanbaek’s eyes become calm.

‘I have been waiting for today.’ Jung Hanbaek had also been waiting for today—the day when he would defeat Hyeonu. Ignoring the slight pain in his arms, Jung Hanbaek extended his sword toward Hyeonu, swinging it recklessly from left to right and top to bottom. Red pure energy appeared along the trajectory of his sword. Jung Hanbaek showed a considerably high level of magic power control.

‘Has he been hiding his skills so far?’ Hyeonu marveled at the flying pure energy. It was a few steps above what Jung Hanbaek had shown so far. If he had shown this skill earlier, JT Telecom wouldn’t have lost in PvP.

‘Is it because of me...?’ Hyeonu could guess easily why Jung Hanbaek had concealed his skills. It was definitely because of Hyeonu. Otherwise, there was no reason for Jung Hanbaek to hide his skills. It was almost impossible for his skills to suddenly improve at this moment.

‘He abandoned his team to try and beat me once.’

Hyeonu once again corrected his thoughts on Jung Hanbaek. Jung Hanbaek was still the same; nothing had changed at all. He was consistently trash.

‘My conscience is light.’

The weight on Hyeonu’s mind became lighter. If Jung Hanbaek had become a decent human being, Hyeonu would be a bit uncomfortable about crushing him. Now, there was no such thing. Jung Hanbaek was still trash, and Hyeonu was just clearing out the trash. The guy wasn’t even recyclable.

A deep smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face. At the same time, Hyeonu’s sword danced. His sword’s movements were very similar to Jung Hanbaek’s. Hyeonu’s sword cut through the air and created blue pure energy. The blue pure energy completely blocked Jung Hanbaek’s red pure energy and exploded all of it without leaving any remnants behind. The blue pure energies that survived the collision were fired at Jung Hanbaek.

He appeared to be pierced by bullets, and blood poured from his body once again. Once again, they were just shallow wounds. His physical strength wasn’t severely worn out, and there was no significant disruption to his movement. He just felt a bit uncomfortable.

Upon realizing that fighting at a distance was disadvantageous for him, Jung Hanbaek rushed to Hyeonu. This was a natural judgment that the right choice was to get close. However, it was different depending on the opponent. Going into close combat against Hyeonu was like suicide. Jung Hanbaek knew this, but he couldn’t help it. Ultimately, it was better to do something instead of being beaten helplessly.

‘Let’s look at the end.’ Hyeonu saw Jung Hanbaek running over like a bull and sheathed the sword he held. 

The people who saw this scene cocked their heads. Putting the weapon away as the opponent was approaching...? It was an incomprehensible act. Moreover, Hyeonu didn’t take up the sword-drawing posture he’d shown before. He just stood still.

For a moment, Hyeonu closed his hand halfway, leaving an empty space between his fingers and his palm. He moved his hand like he was holding an egg. Then something amazing happened. A blue dagger was formed in Hyeonu’s hand. It was a dagger made purely of magic power.

The people who witnessed it were shocked. The more knowledgeable they were about Arena, the more surprised they were. They were well aware of how difficult Hyeonu’s series of actions was.

Jung Hanbaek was also surprised, but he didn’t reveal his reaction. Currently, his mind was only filled with the determination to beat Hyeonu. Rather, Jung Hanbaek laughed at Hyeonu’s actions and thought, ‘He threw away the benefits of length. He is arrogant, arrogant.’

Hyeonu’s original weapon, the single-edged sword, was much longer than the dagger. The longer the weapon, the more advantageous it was. Thus, this meant Hyeonu had abandoned his advantage.

‘The price of arrogance is defeat, Gang Hyeonu.’

Jung Hanbaek swung his sword to the fullest with a sneer. The distance between Hyeonu and Jung Hanbaek was around three meters. By adding the length of the red pure energy to the sword, Jung Hanbaek could attack Hyeonu as long as he took just one step toward the latter. Meanwhile, Hyeonu held a dagger that was just over 20 centimeters long and could not reach Jung Hanbaek with the dagger’s small range of attack.

So Jung Hanbaek completely regarded this distance as his space because only he could attack. In a way, it wasn’t the wrong idea. However, this was a truth that prevailed only in Jung Hanbaek’s world.

Hyeonu’s dagger lengthened and deflected Jung Hanbaek’s sword. Jung Hanbaek lost his balance due to the unexpected counterattack and stepped back. Right then, Hyeonu rushed forward without missing this chance and quickly swung his dagger. He moved so quickly that it seemed like Hyeonu’s body split into several copies at the same time. His dagger swept over Jung Hanbaek’s body in an instant, from his shoulder down to his ankle.

Jung Hanbaek’s entire body became a great example of what cutting was all about. Jung Hanbaek couldn’t bear the pain rushing through his entire body and screamed, “Kuaack!”

However, this was just pure pain. Almost no deep wounds could be found on his body. If Hyeonu made up his mind, Jung Hanbaek could’ve been defeated with this attack. No, if he had gone a bit deeper with the first attack, it would’ve been Jung Hanbaek’s defeat then. He wouldn’t be able to fight with his arm cut off.

Hyeonu’s latest attack was shallow again. He seemed to be saying that he was aiming to hurt Jung Hanbaek, rather than defeat him.

“Wake up, or surrender in an unsightly manner,” Hyeonu said in a voice loud enough to be heard by Jung Hanbaek, who had collapsed to the ground.

Of course, those who watched the game from outside the arena couldn’t hear Hyeonu. Quency had accepted the claim that ‘trash talk’ was part of the game and made all the conversations between players silent to the viewers.

“You bastard!” Jung Hanbaek rushed to Hyeonu with his entire body covered in blood. There would be severe damage every time he exerted some strength, but he couldn’t fall down because of it. His pride didn’t allow it.

‘He has to be like this. It is why he is agitated.’ Hyeonu smiled upon seeing his provocation succeed. Still, this wasn’t enough.

Jung Hanbaek charged at Hyeonu defenselessly. He held his sword with both hands and raised it above his head while screaming, “Die!”

Hyeonu’s dagger danced once again. This time, it went the opposite way, slashing from the bottom to the top. Hyeonu rotated his body and cut Jung Hanbaek all over. He adjusted the depth this time, meticulously picking out which spots received deep cuts and which received shallow ones.

After finishing the attack, Hyeonu walked forward with Jung Hanbaek still standing behind him. Blood sprayed out from all over Jung Hanbaek’s body.

It was the most one-sided fight in Arena Week’s history. The cruelest and most savage game ended there.