Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu slowly got up and went to eat breakfast. On the way to the restaurant, he had to bear the gazes of many people. It was a little too much to say it was because of Arena Week as there was a clear difference compared to how it was yesterday evening.

‘Why are they looking at me?’ Hyeonu entered the restaurant with a shrug. He was getting used to people looking at him, so he didn’t care too much. There were still times when Hyeonu was surprised though. The moment he entered the restaurant, all the people who were eating breakfast inside turned to gaze at Hyeonu.

‘What?’

At this point, Hyeonu couldn’t get rid of the idea that something was strange. He quickly walked to the table where the Crescent Moon players were dining.

“Is there something on my face?” Hyeonu took a seat next to Lee Hoon and pushed his face toward Lee Hoon.

Lee Hoon chewed the bread in his mouth and answered Hyeonu’s words, “No, I don’t see anything?” 

“Then why is everyone looking at me like that?” Hyeonu asked. He felt it was even more incomprehensible now. Hyeonu was exactly the same as he was yesterday, but people’s reactions toward him had changed.

‘If it is because of Arena Week, it should’ve already changed last night.’

Hyeonu forgot to grab food and just sat in a chair in a daze, struggling to find a reason to explain the renewed attention focused on him. Just then, the gazes of the other diners turned toward the entrance of the restaurant again. A man opened the entrance door and entered the restaurant. The man had his hair combed back neatly and wore a dark suit. He wasn’t wearing a tie, and the first few buttons of his shirt were undone, giving off the vibe of being quite free.

The man looked through the entire dining room for someone. Then he walked to the table where the Crescent Moon players were sitting and called out, “Hey, Brother! You haven’t eaten yet?”

This man’s name was Kim Seokjung. He was the one responsible for the current situation. Kim Seokjung casually pulled out a chair and placed it next to Hyeonu.

“Hyung-nim, you’ve arrived? I just got here.” Hyeonu only noticed Kim Seokjung’s arrival when Kim Seokjung placed a hand on his shoulder. Hyeonu stood up with Kim Seokjung’s arm around his shoulder.

...No, that was just what Hyeonu tried to do. Kim Seokjung used the strength of his arms to stop Hyeonu from getting up. All Hyeonu could do was shake his ass slightly.

“Can you eat later?” Kim Seokjung requested with a smile. Hyeonu smiled and nodded. He couldn’t move to get food unless Kim Seokjung let go anyway.

“By the way... from the look on your face, you still don’t know?” Kim Seokjung said to Hyeonu before turning to look at the Crescent Moon players. Lee Hoon and Yuri made eye contact with Kim Seokjung and nodded quickly. They knew that Kim Seokjung was asking if Hyeonu didn’t know. Indeed, Hyeonu was the only one who didn’t know.

“What do you mean?” Hyeonu asked Kim Seokjung, who was saying words he couldn’t understand. Based on Kim Seokjung’s words, Hyeonu thought he would soon be able to figure out why people were looking at him strangely today.

“There are posts on the Arena community about your relationship with Locke.”

“Huh? Jung Hanbaek?” Hyeonu’s eyes widened as he questioned it. Jung Hanbaek—Hyeonu never imagined that name would emerge here.

‘Now I know why they looked at me like that.’

Hyeonu finally figured out why people were paying so much attention to him—his matter with Jung Hanbaek. It was natural for ordinary people to pay attention to what happened to Hyeonu’s family.

‘It isn’t an ordinary story...’

He didn’t know how much of the truth was revealed, but the ripple effect wouldn’t be small. Even if it were only revealed that Hyeonu and Jung Hanbaek were high school classmates, all types of rumors about the two of them could be made.

‘High school classmates. Why are they enemies now?’ Hyeonu thought of the title of the expected post and laughed.

“It doesn’t matter much... It will be revealed sooner or later,” he replied with an indifferent expression. Hyeonu thought that his matter with Jung Hanbaek would eventually emerge one day unless he quit being a professional gamer or streamer. There was no absolute secret in the world. It was just a pity that it burst out at the end of his life as a professional gamer.

“By the way... how much has been talked about? I don’t think there are many people who know the situation,” Hyeonu said. He now wondered how much of the truth had spread and how much of the discussion were just rumors.

“The extent of your family’s connection to Jung Hanbaek’s family, as well as Locke’s and your reputations.”

“There are two extreme reactions. One side is a beautiful story and the other side is a terrible story.”

Mason and Lee Hoon gave a rough explanation of the situation.

“Is mine the good side?” Hyeonu asked.

“Hyung, your friends came out and helped a lot. You have a very friendly image,” Lee Hoon answered Hyeonu’s question with a grin.

‘Friends?’ Hyeonu wondered inwardly.

“My friends?” His body became cold instantly. A chill ran down his spine, and sweat appeared on his forehead.

“Open the community for a moment. No, just tell me. Where did they post?” Hyeonu hurriedly took out his smartphone.

‘I can’t believe those jerks.’

Hyeonu had very little trust in his friends. It was as small as an ant. Of course, it was clear that they were good people, but how were these good people like as friends? Their uncontrollable playfulness and inability to distinguish what should be revealed went beyond the level of being irritating and should be feared.

“Here is a collection of articles from Hyung’s friends.” Lee Hoon handed his smartphone to Hyeonu. Hyeonu accepted the smartphone with shaky hands and started reading the texts on the screen.

[Story about Alley Leader almost repeating the university entrance exam.]

[Enter if you are curious about Alley Leader in middle school.]

[Revealing the scene of Alley Leader whining that he doesn’t want to join the army.]

‘It’s truly these jerks.’

Hyeonu read the articles and grabbed the back of his neck. There was no doubt about it. They couldn’t have posted good stories about him.

“This is the good content? Do these look like good stories in your eyes?” Hyeonu questioned.

“There’s no swearing or scolding, so it’s good. Jung Hanbaek was cursed at,” Lee Hoon answered casually while buttering a piece of bread. In his opinion, the stories about Hyeonu were considerably good since the posts related to Jung Hanbaek only contained negative content.

“By the way, why is this happening now?” Hyeonu muttered while looking at the smartphone. There had been no trigger. Yesterday’s interview was too small to be a trigger, so it seemed like this incident just happened randomly.

“I made it happen,” Kim Seokjung said just then while grabbing the bread from Lee Hoon’s plate. “I don’t know what you are thinking regarding leaving him alone, but... I can’t stand it. I hate when trash like him appear on TV and is seen by people.”

Unlike his harsh words, Kim Seokjung continued to eat peacefully. He applied butter to the bread, ate it, and drank milk.

“Seokjung hyung-nim...” Hyeonu murmured Kim Seokjung’s name. He wasn’t able to continue talking though as Kim Seokjung opened his mouth again.

Kim Seokjung said, “You might think I’ve gone too far and that you could’ve taken care of it yourself. But just... just this once, watch how I handle things. This is an apology—an apology for being so indifferent to you.”

Hyeonu couldn’t speak upon hearing that. In fact, he had no strong feelings regarding Kim Seokjung finding out the matter between him and Jung Hanbaek. If it wasn’t Kim Seokjung, someone else would’ve heard about it.

‘The thing that bothers me the most is that reporters will now rush over when my father goes to work...’

It was because Hyeonu had completely resolved the matter and his grudges from that time with yesterday’s PvP. Now, the family affairs and the rest of the work were to be handled by Hyeonu’s father. Hyeonu waved his hands. “It’s fine, Hyung-nim. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance. I wasn’t trying to hide it. I just didn’t have a chance to speak...”

Kim Seokjung patted Hyeonu on the shoulder. “Once Arena Week is over... Let’s meet your father. I think we’ll have something to talk about.”

“I understand, Hyung-nim,” Hyeonu replied.

***

After breakfast, Hyeonu returned to his room and packed his clothes straightaway. Then he went to the floor with the cube. In the case of a siege, the schedule was quite relaxed because the matches were much shorter than PvP. Hyeonu spent his free time in Arena instead of wasting it.

‘Give up on the instance dungeon...’

He decided to push clearing the instance dungeon out of his ranking for critical tasks since there was no special compensation for hunting now.

‘I can’t level up, and I have no skills where the proficiency can be increased quickly...’

Moreover, even if he gave up the dungeon now, he would be able to get back to it quickly later. So it wasn’t so difficult for Hyeonu to decide what to do next.

“Return.” Hyeonu disappeared from the instance dungeon. The place he returned to wasn’t Etono in the demon world but Phinis.

“Edchan! Edchan, are you here?” Hyeonu’s shout rang out through the workshop, one of the largest buildings in Phinis.

“What is going on? What’s the matter?!” Edchan jumped out from the inner part of the workshop with a hammer and tongs. Hyeonu cocked his head slightly at the sight. 

‘There is something very awkward about this...’

He felt something was strange, but he couldn’t immediately pick out what exactly was strange. After thinking about it carefully, Hyeonu figured it out.

‘Why did he come out with a hammer?’

It was strange. When Hyeonu saw Edchan in the past, the latter had never moved outside of his work area while he was working.

“Did I perhaps interrupt your rest?” Hyeonu asked.

“Cough. You can tell?” Edchan coughed a few times before putting his tongs and hammer down on the table. “So why are you here again today? I finished everything you asked me to do last time.”

“Edchan, I’ve brought you a very curious thing this time.” Hyeonu stimulated Edchan’s curiosity before revealing why he had come.

“Huh? Is there such a thing?” Edchan immediately responded to Hyeonu’s words. Based on the way Hyeonu was speaking, it had to be a material that was at least on the level of the drake leather that he brought before. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to say such a thing.

“It will be hard to show you here. In the mountains, there is a place that the knights use as a training ground. I’ll show it to you there.”

Hyeonu was convinced that he had caught Edchan’s attention and took him to a mountain near Phinis. This was necessary as even the largest workshop would be too small to contain Fuca’s head. A short time later, Hyeonu arrived at the training camp of the Knights of Phinis and pulled out Fuca’s head from his inventory. It was the moment when the giant dragon head spanning over dozens of meters in length appeared in the middle world.

“This is what I want to show you, Edchan.” Hyeonu looked at Edchan and smiled.