Ranker’s Return

“Player Gang Hyeonu’s victory has confirmed Crescent Moon’s first place in PvP. On the contrary, JT Telecom has a score of 0:7 and has finished in 8th place!” the host exclaimed in a loud voice.

Today’s schedule had basically ended. The rankings of the first, second, and third teams, as well as last place, had already been determined. It would be hard for the remaining fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh places to attract a great amount of attention.

‘There will probably be an interview in a little bit.’

Interviews were held with some players in the break time after the first and second matches ended and the third and fourth matches were getting ready. This interview time wasn’t given to everyone as the available time was too scarce. The number of matches played in one day was 28, with at least six PvP games in one match. It was essential to have a meal or break in the middle.

Currently, it was already close to 8 p.m. By the time the third and fourth matches ended and today’s schedule was completed, it would be at least 10 p.m. It was important to ensure the return time was as early as possible in order to control the players’ conditions, so as many as possible of the interviews were done while preparing for the next match.

“I will talk to Player Gang Hyeonu from Crescent Moon and Player Reina from the New York Warriors,” the host said. There were two interviewees. Coincidentally, the combination that was shown previously had emerged once again—Hyeonu and Reina.

The host gave a strange smile and congratulated the two of them, “Congratulations on being 1st and 2nd in PvP.” 

“Yes, thank you!”

“Thank you.” 

Hyeonu and Reina thanked the host.

“There isn’t much time, so I’ll do a short, bold interview. First, I will ask Player Gang Hyeonu. Crescent Moon has become the number one team in PvP. I would like to ask how you are feeling.” 

Hyeonu said, “I don’t have anything to say. However, I’m a bit sad that my teammates didn’t show enough compared to what they prepared. They did better in practice than they did today... I don’t think it was easy to be on the big stage.”

PvP ended with Crescent Moon as first place, but Hyeonu was left with a lot of regrets regarding Dwayne, Yuri, and Lee Hoon. In particular, he was too sad about the way things had turned out for Yuri and Lee Hoon. Dwayne managed to beat the giant called Karelin based on the strategy Hyeonu had prepared.

Meanwhile, Lee Hoon and Yuri failed to do so. They didn’t meet any of the opponents they’d aimed for, and they only got around one win per match on average. People were already surprised by this, but Hyeonu was different and felt regretful knowing what Lee Hoon’s and Yuri’s skills were usually like.

“It is amazing that they did better than this in practice.” The host looked a bit surprised.

He wasn’t the only one making that expression. Reina, who was standing next to Hyeonu, also seemed quite surprised. Truth be told, no one gathered at Arena Week rated Lee Hoon, Dwayne, or Yuri highly. In terms of PvP, they were just players to fill up the numbers for Crescent Moon. Yet these players who were regarded as weak folding screens killed one player from each team. Of course, that alone was amazing. The one-man team of Alley Leader was instantly transformed into a team that performed excellently.

After that, the host said, “Congratulations to Player Reina, who represents the second-place New York Warriors.”

“Thank you,” Reina replied.

“Player Reina has made a lot of progress compared to last year. Was player Gang Hyeonu’s help really the secret? Can you tell me about how he helped specifically?” 

The host was persistent. He slightly changed the question he asked Reina previously and presented it to her again.

Reina glanced at Hyeonu before answering, “That really is all it was. There was truly no additional help.”

Her resolute answer caused disappointment to appear on the host’s face. However, he quickly removed his disappointment and continued to ask Hyeonu questions.

“I see. I understand. Then I will ask player Gang Hyeonu this time. Player Gang Hyeonu has shown his reluctance to see blood throughout this PvP competition. Yet you were more brutal than anyone else in the last game against Player Jung Hanbaek of JT Telecom. Do you have anything personal against him?” the host asked in a sharp manner.

Hyeonu’s appearance in the PvP game with Jung Hanbaek was strange. In more than 30 PvP games, Hyeonu had never caused his opponent to bleed like he did with Jung Hanbaek. Most of the time, Hyeonu had ended the fight by placing his sword near their vital point without dealing the finishing blow. He always avoided seeing blood, so no one had expected Hyeonu to cause such a sensational bleeding scene in the final game.

“Ah, I’ll say no comment because it is personal.” Hyeonu dodged the host’s question without answering it. He didn’t want to say it. His relationship with Jung Hanbaek had already been cut, and he didn’t want to get involved any longer.

‘He won’t be able to recover anyway...’

In Hyeonu’s view, Jung Hanbaek was already finished as a professional gamer. To be exact, he wouldn’t be able to hold out. In the communities, today’s video of his defeat would always follow Jung Hanbaek like a tag, and he wouldn’t be able to tolerate that. As a professional gamer, Jung Hanbaek satisfied his ego by beating his opponents and receiving the support of his fans. All of that had now turned into mockery, and his skills were questioned. It was the end for Jung Hanbaek.

‘I’m tired of being unnecessarily tangled up with him.’ Hyeonu continued to shake his head.

“Privacy... Okay, let’s pass on this question. Lastly, Player Reina, please tell us about your resolution for the remaining two days.” The host accepted Hyeonu’s answer with a subtle expression before immediately shifting his gaze to Reina.

Reina gave a standard answer, “We are second in PvP, so we will try to achieve good results in the siege and raid time attack.” 

She would do her best—it was an exemplary answer.

Hyeonu and Reina’s interview was over. It was a very compact interview because not much time was given for it. After that, Hyeonu and Reina began heading toward their respective waiting rooms. They left the light-filled stage and entered a dark passageway.

The two people walked silently. Crescent Moon’s waiting room was further in than the waiting room for the New York Warriors, so Reina stopped walking first. Hyeonu stopped along with her. Reina turned and spoke to Hyeonu, “Have you forgotten?” 

“What?” Hyeonu wasn’t sure what Reina was talking about.

“I told you before. There will be a party when Arena Week is over.”

“Ah!” Hyeonu listened to Reina’s words and realized what she was saying.

“I’ll go. Tell me when the details come out.” Hyeonu nodded before he slowly started walking again.

Reina stood still and watched Hyeonu walk away. However, Hyeonu suddenly turned around and said, “You did a good job today. It was really cool. Especially the last game... It was inspiring.”

He turned and left after this sentence. Left alone, Reina held her red cheeks with both hands. She didn’t dare to enter the waiting room in this state.

***

-Alley Leader’s solo run.

-meleegod is eternal.

-Crescent Moon isn’t weak, but Alley Leader is a god himself.

-It is 33:0 in PvP. Who can stop Alley Leader?

Hyeonu and Crescent Moon had been sweeping through the headlines of various communities ever since the end of the PvP event, which took place on the second day of Arena Week and was the first of three events. If 10 articles were posted, nine of them were about Hyeonu and Crescent Moon. Other teams and players were rarely mentioned, with the exception of players like Reina or Aike.

Hyeonu and Crescent Moon sucked up the public’s attention like black holes.

“Tomorrow is the siege. What are we going to do? Do you have any ideas?” Mason placed a plate of food on the table and sat on the chair next to Hyeonu.

“Let’s see? First... should we relax? We don’t have to do everything we can. It is good if the other teams lose their concentration,” Hyeonu answered while eating a steak. He had no major strategies for tomorrow’s siege. This was because the siege wasn’t a short-term event. It depended on how well they developed their cities and how they could efficiently prevent the opponents’ attacks.

“I am relieved because we have a secret weapon,” Mason said while placing roasted vegetables in his mouth.

In fact, Mason wasn’t too worried about the siege as he knew the secret weapon Hyeonu had prepared was powerful. Mason added, “Let Uncle Dwayne and I inject the magic power. It’s good to care for the others.”

Hyeonu’s secret weapon was the magic circle that created a demon world environment. It was a collaboration between Edchan the dwarf and Suped the great magician. In the area of the magic circle’s influence, people without the dark or light attributes would have a restriction placed on their stats.

Lee Hoon was a paladin, so he naturally had the light attribute. Needless to say, Sunny had the dark attribute. Yuri was a priest, so she had the light attribute. Only Dwayne and Mason would have restricted stats because they didn’t have either of these two attributes. As a result, the two of them decided to provide the magic power that was needed to cast the magic circle.

“Yes, that would be good. Even so, I think it would be best for me to do it since I am full of magic power.” Hyeonu’s thoughts were slightly different. With the effect of the gauntlets, Memories of Murder, Hyeonu could restore his health and magic power in proportion to the damage dealt by the opponent. In other words, he could recover his magic power quickly even if he used it, which was different from how it was for the others.

“That’s good. Well... I’ll have to think about the details.” Mason nodded as Hyeonu’s words weren’t wrong.

Hyeonu got up from his seat and told Mason, “Just play a bit of Arena, then go to sleep. I have no choice but to do it because of the quest.” 

Tomorrow, Mason also had an important role. If he stayed up late to play Arena, he wouldn’t be in a great condition and might show a strange appearance at Arena Week.

“Okay, I’ll go to bed soon.” Mason cut off Hyeonu first before the latter’s nagging lengthened. Hyeonu looked at Mason and smiled before leaving.

***

Hyeonu connected to Arena after a day’s absence. Etono looked quite different now compared to when he left.

“What is this?” Hyeonu ran to the city walls to observe the surroundings. He couldn’t understand what had happened.

‘What happened during this one day?’

Etono was fine. The problem was the changed terrain surrounding Etono. There was a flat surface in the place where a mountain had been, and a hot spring had appeared on the originally flat plains.

Just then, someone appeared behind Hyeonu. “You came?”