Ranker’s Return

“I didn’t expect such an interesting thing...” Callioraks looked at the bead that was absorbing Hyeonu’s magic power and smiled. He was very pleased with this situation. He had been searching for something for a really long time, and now he had finally found it.

“Hiding your body in such a messy place... So this is why I didn’t find it,” Callioraks said with admiration as he looked at the dragon corpse.

‘Crazy guy! Save me!!!’ Hyeonu screamed inwardly as Callioraks talked to himself. This was Hyeonu’s only choice because his voice wasn’t coming out.

Callioraks finally looked at Hyeonu before he reached out to Hyeonu while asking, “Why do you keep doing that? Ah, you can’t get out of there?”

Purple magic power from Callioraks’ body wrapped around Hyeonu and the bead.

“Ugh!” Hyeonu was able to regain the freedom of his body.

‘How much was taken?’

[Absorbed magic power stat: 321]

“Uwah!!!” Hyeonu screamed at his missing magic power stat. 321 wasn’t a small number; it was an insanely large number.

“Huh? What is it? Is there a problem?” Callioraks asked the screaming Hyeonu.

“My magic power has been stolen. The magic power I collected...”

Losing 321 points in magic power wouldn’t cause any problems right away. However, it wasn’t an addition but a deduction... 

This was something no one would welcome.

“Magic power? Can’t you just take it back? I don’t understand what the problem is,” Callioraks remarked. He pointed at the bead and then Hyeonu with his finger. A small ball emerged from the bead and flew to Hyeonu under the direction of Callioraks’ finger. It was then absorbed into Hyeonu’s body.

[Your magic power stat has increased by 321 points.]

“Phew, I’m glad...” Hyeonu was so pleased that he forgot about Callioraks.

“This isn’t what I asked for, but... I stumbled upon a trace of my past. Today, I will pay you back for that day’s barbecue,” Callioraks stated. 

He pulled out the bead stuck in the dragon’s forehead. Then he moved his fist lightly, and the bead crumbled in an instant, turning into unidentifiable powder on Callioraks’ palm. Callioraks sprinkled this powder on Hyeonu. Just then, purple energy flowed from Callioraks’ body and covered both the powder and Hyeonu.

[Your magic power stat has increased 500.]

[The chaos attribute has been created.]

[The chaos attribute will be removed due to Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.]

[The chaos attribute will be removed due to the Red Dragon’s Breath.]

[The dark and fire attributes are deleted due to Callioraks’ influence.]

[The chaos attribute has been successfully created.]

‘Huh?’

“Uh...” Hyeonu looked puzzledly at the sudden messages.

He couldn’t shut his mouth upon seeing the unexpected rewards—a rise in stats and a sudden change in attribute.

‘What is chaos? Both the dark and fire attributes are gone... Is this a higher attribute?’

The dark and fire attributes had disappeared, leaving only one attribute—chaos. Well, this attribute was indeed good. Hyeonu knew from his past experiences in many virtual reality games that the chaos attribute was an extraordinary attribute. The thing that surprised him more was how his magic power stat had risen by 500.

500 was a very high number. He would have to eat a few essences to obtain this number. If he wanted to increase it through leveling up, he would need to gain at least 100 levels.

“What is this...?” Hyeonu uttered.

“It is the payment for the meat. It is also a gift for allowing me to see the traces of the past,” Callioraks answered.

Hyeonu still didn’t understand it. What did Callioraks mean by traces of the past?

“Callioraks, is this dragon related to you?” Hyeonu asked.

Callioraks explained, “He is a disgraceful guy. He wanted to experiment, so he ran away with the chaos that I refined... I can’t believe he was playing such a low-grade prank in this place...”

Seeing Fuca—a dragon—pretend to be a corpse, Callioraks murmured, “This isn’t the essence, but... If he has no place to go back to, he will come out.”

Callioraks noticed that Fuca’s soul was elsewhere. It was clear that he planned for the soul to enter the body only when the bead was full of magic power. However, Callioraks wasn’t a dragon who was just going to sit by and watch.

Callioraks observed Fuca’s body before asking Hyeonu, “Do you have anything you want? It doesn’t seem enough to just give you some magic power in exchange for the meat.” 

Naturally, Hyeonu nodded. He couldn’t miss this great opportunity after all.

“Just give me anything from that body... I will accept it with thanks.” Hyeonu bowed.

Callioraks smiled at Hyeonu and cut off Fuca’s impressive head that had towering horns.

Thump! The head of the giant dragon fell to the ground.

“Take it. It’s the last present.” 

Callioraks’ last gift was the dragon’s head. The head was huge; it was dozens of meters in length.

‘A jackpot, a jackpot...’ Hyeonu looked at the dragon’s head and kept saying inwardly that it was a jackpot. He couldn’t think of any other words. It was simply a jackpot.

‘If I ask Edchan to make equipment...’

This would make an item set that would be rated epic at least. It couldn’t be less; it had to be an epic set. The level of the materials was entirely different.

‘It is a mountain of leather. There are also horns and bones.’

Moreover, the quantity of materials was sufficient. No, it was overflowing.

“Can I really take all of this?” Hyeonu finally asked Callioraks.

Callioraks said it was a gift, but it was too valuable to swallow it all up like that. Hyeonu needed the confidence to do it.

“Isn’t it a gift? Take it. Why? Do you want that too?” Callioraks gestured toward the body whose head had been cut off.

“No, it’s fine.” Hyeonu quickly shook his head. That would be being too greedy.

“Really? Then I’ll see you next time. I really hope I can find what I am looking for then.” Callioraks disappeared in an instant, just like when he appeared. Hyeonu was staring at Callioraks, but he didn’t notice when this person left.

“He left the body behind?” Hyeonu was filled with impulsive thoughts after seeing Callioraks disappear and leave the dragon corpse behind. However, he had no chance to do anything. The remaining body part of the dragon corpse soon turned into powder and scattered.

‘Too bad...’ Hyeonu couldn’t hide his regretful expression. There was no need to hide it now since Callioraks had already left. Hyeonu quickly put Fuca’s head in his inventory.

‘Today is a really hectic day.’

He had gained many things from today’s hunt.

***

During the time when Hyeonu was caught up in an unexpected event, something unexpected was also happening in the community. It started at midnight from the second day of Arena Week and lasted until the third day. An anonymous poster who claimed to live in South Korea started publishing a shocking story.

[Article written immediately after seeing the interview with Alley Leader]

[-I am a person who once lived in South Korea and actually knew Alley Leader, although I don’t know if Alley Leader knows me. I listened to his Arena Week interview, and it reminded me of something. Alley Leader’s family ran a pretty famous construction company in South Korea. The company’s vice-president was Locke’s father. Locke and Alley Leader were high school friends.]

The first article was a light read. Hyeonu and Jung Hanbaek had known each other before they became pro gamers. This wasn’t exactly a huge secret, but it attracted attention because some of Alley Leader’s and Locke’s personal details were revealed.

Nevertheless, if it were just this, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Professional gamers were public figures, and acquaintances often talked about them without knowing them. Yet strangely, there were many posts related to Hyeonu today.

[I want to talk about Alley Leader]

[-Who said that Alley Leader’s family owns a construction company? That company closed down earlier. The interesting thing is that the person who tried to stop the company from going bankrupt was Alley Leader’s father. This is completely…]

The second article was written by someone else.

It had content that was more likely to easily attract attention than the first article.

[Everyone seems interested, so let me tell you the behind-the-scenes story.]

[-It seems there are many curious people, so I will keep talking about it. Alley Leader’s father worked hard to prevent bankruptcy, but the company eventually went bankrupt with severe debt. Alley Leader’s father had a debt of 30 billion won. However, Alley Leader paid it all off. It is a famous case in the industry. In fact, 30 billion isn’t an amount you can get easily. Bonds are just paper... He paid off all of it, so rumors couldn’t help spreading.]

The third article was related to Hyeonu’s debt payments. The construction company, which had been a family business, had gone bankrupt, and Hyeonu later paid back the 30 billion won with the money he earned from Arena. 

By this time, there was an explosion of interest in this topic. Hyeonu’s personal history, which had been hidden behind a veil all this time, was finally being revealed, and it was more dramatic than anyone else’s. He was a man who had paid off his parents’ debt of 30 billion won.

At the same time, interest in Jung Hanbaek arose. In particular, the Koreans were curious. The Locke they knew was a man with no shortcomings. He had a good car, a good house, and good clothes. Only these images were posted on social media. He seemed to have nothing to do with bankruptcy.

[I know about Locke]

[-Locke’s father, who used to be the vice-president of Alley Leader’s construction company, is now the director of an investment company. I think he is better off than before. The interesting thing is that the investment company of Locke’s father is the biggest creditor of Alley Leader’s construction company.]

From here, people started to question it as something was amiss here. A company had gone bankrupt, and its boss owed a debt so astronomical that selling all of the company’s property was still insufficient to pay it off. Meanwhile, Locke’s father, who wasn’t the boss but the vice-president, lived on proudly. The vice-president even moved to the company that was the creditor of the astronomical debt.

This was simply an incomprehensible situation. That speculation gave birth to more speculations; it was a butterfly effect. People started producing crazy rumors, making it hard to distinguish between what was true and what was false. It was like that right from the beginning, and it was even worse now.

By morning, the situation had grown so large that no one could stop it. Some people in South Korea even said that an investigation team should be established after Arena Week. Kim Seokjung drank the whiskey in the glass he held while reading the discussions that continued from night to dawn on his monitor. Then he picked up his smartphone and called somewhere. “Junggu, distribute some more flyers. Just throw them all out.”