Ranker’s Return

Chapter 779

‘Let’s start with the community.’

Hyeonu didn’t make the mistake of rushing to the cube and connecting to Arena. He first accessed the Arena community using his laptop to identify the situation, looking at not one community but four at the same time.

-Who went and picked a fight with the different species?

-It was an attack, not a fight.

-At least one of the different species died.

-Are you talking about that video? An elf died.

It didn’t take long to determine the situation. There was a lot of interest in the different species, even more so because the people who caused the accident were quite famous.

-By the way, will they be okay? The different species are those brought by Alley Leader.

-They can’t do it based on their skills anyway. Maybe they are trying to get attention.

-Isn’t the risk too big just to draw attention? The public sentiment is very bad. They aren’t Alley Leader. In this way, deleting the character seems to be the answer.

-There is no one who doesn’t know that Alley Leader is small-minded. They are the only ones who don’t know.

Hyeonu studied many of the messages. He thought it was better to know a lot of information, even if it was too much, than to just know it roughly.

‘The guild name is Lu Kuan, and all the guild members are Chinese…’

Lu Kuan’s position was obviously between a large and medium-sized guild. They wanted to be more famous and earn more money, but they didn’t have the opportunity to grow because they didn’t have anything special.

‘Do they want to earn money that much?’

The difference between the large and medium guilds was enormous. It wasn’t just a difference in name or size; it was also in the amount of money earned. The number of digits changed.

‘So this is what they chose?’

One corner of Hyeonu’s mouth curled up. It was obvious ridicule. At the same time, it was a complaint.

‘I’ll show you that there is no answer if you fall from a high place.’

Jumping from the first floor wasn’t difficult. It was scary, but there was little chance of a serious injury. However, the story changed if it was the 10th floor or 20th floor. Falling meant death.

***

Hyeonu accessed Arena and appeared near the location of the city being built by the different species.

‘It is the worst time since Raccoon returned to the Black Forest.’

If Raccoon had watched the different species a bit longer, the Lu Kuan Guild wouldn’t have succeeded in their attack. The different species weren’t so weak that they couldn’t hold on until Raccoon sensed the battle and came.

‘He left because he was bored…’

Raccoon might regret it if he heard the news. This wouldn’t have happened if Raccoon hadn’t returned to the Black Forest like he was fleeing.

‘I have to clean up the mess because of it.’

Before long, Hyeonu arrived at the place that roughly had the shape of a city. He could feel a heavy atmosphere from the outside.

“Somehow, it’s chilly?” Hyeonu stroked the head of Tang-E in his arms with a sense of anxiety.

“What’s the matter, Master dude? Just go in like a man.” Tang-E knew nothing and acted as usual.

“Yes, let’s go.” Hyeonu moved vigorously thanks to Tang-E’s support.

“A human?”

“It is a human.”

Hyeonu was trying to enter the city when several different species approached him.

“Human beings ambushed us.”

“That’s right, humans attacked us.”

“Elves died. It was also three of them. So we killed the humans who ambushed the elves.”

“By the way, I heard they are adventurers. They don’t die even when killed.”

Hyeonu was confused by the words of the different species surrounding him from all sides, and his ears seemed to be ringing.

“Well done. Revenge is a must.” Hyeonu thought the priority was to calm them down. Yet when he thought about it, there was no way to calm them down.

‘I have to go to the person I can talk to the most.’

“First, please guide me to the representative leading you. I am on your side. Do you remember what I said when I was with Raccoon? If you remember, please take me there quickly.”

No matter what Hyeonu said to them, it was nothing more than trying to comfort them. It was right to talk to the representatives of the different species in order to come up with measures that would satisfy all the members of the different species.

“I understand.” The different species nodded at Hyeonu’s words. They knew it as well. The human beings who ambushed them were separate from Hyeonu. Anything Hyeonu said to them was no different from mere comfort. It was better to take Hyeonu with them in order to quickly solve the problem.

“Follow me. I’ll guide you to the mayor.” An elf, one of the different species surrounding Hyeonu, grabbed Hyeonu’s hand and dragged him away. The elf’s hand holding Hyeonu’s wrist was trembling.

‘He can’t control his emotions.’ Hyeonu knew that the elves had no hand tremors.

An elf with hand tremors leaving the League of Different Species and coming to a city built among humans…? It was a near-impossible thing for the elves to do unless they were cold-blooded with no blood or tears. The elf walked with Hyeonu for over 20 minutes without speaking before stopping in front of a shabby shack. “It is over there. If you go inside, the mayor and other people will be gathered there. It is to come up with countermeasures.”

“I understand. There will be good news,” Hyeonu said to the elves before knocking lightly on the door of the shack. Then he opened the door and went inside the shack. The interior was filled with wooden desks and chairs, similar to the shabby exterior. He would’ve believed it was a house in a remote mountain village if it wasn’t for the different species sitting on the chairs.

“Hello.” Hyeonu opened the door and casually greeted the different species who looked at him. The different species couldn’t say anything at Hyeonu’s sudden appearance. They had thought he would appear at any time but not now.

“Yes, here comes the one who made such a boastful remark.” An elf sitting on a chair glared like he was going to kill Hyeonu.

“It doesn’t change anything if you glare like that, Nad. Stay calm. You should be angry with your head, not your heart. There aren’t just one or two elves that you need to lead.” Cher, a little person [1] in the form of a small human being, stopped Nad.

It wasn’t a problem that should involve emotions. No, others could be emotional, but Nad absolutely couldn’t.

“I have done everything I could to understand the situation. Humans were denied access for the legitimate reason that the city hasn’t been completed yet, and after a heated argument, a battle broke out. As a result, three elves died, and 34 humans—adventurers, to be exact—died. Is this correct?” Hyeonu said what he was going to say, regardless of whether Nad was angry or not.

He wasn’t going to be shaken by emotions.

‘Those who are blinded by desire… I’m going to clean them up.’

There weren’t only one or two such people, and Hyeonu couldn’t clean up all of them. However, he at least had the ability to clear the obstacles in his way.

“Wrong. It isn’t three but five. There are five dead elves,” Cher pointed out the mistake in Hyeonu’s words with a stiff expression. Due to Cher pointing out his mistake, Nad stopped releasing his hostility toward Hyeonu.

“Five? I see. So what do you want me to do? Shall I find them and kill them all?” Hyeonu spoke without changing his expression. It was as natural as taking out candy from his pocket and eating it.

Cher shook his head. “We know that adventurers don’t die even if they are killed.”

He couldn’t be satisfied with simply death. The balance calculation didn’t match. Adventurers didn’t die when killed, while it was the end for elves who died. The value wasn’t the same.

Hyeonu looked at Cher and asked, “Then what can I do for you? Will you be satisfied if I make it so they can’t step foot on the continent at all?”

Those eyes that curved like a crescent moon and the corners of the mouth that rose in the opposite direction toward the cheekbones—it was definitely a smile.

“Is that really possible?” Nad asked with an expression of disbelief.

His face was clearly saying, ‘Isn’t it a lie to escape this moment?’

‘It is probably this type of thought,’ Hyeonu guessed.

However, his words weren’t a lie. Hyeonu had enough ability to do as he said.

“Do you want that?” Hyeonu asked again instead of answering Nad’s question.

“If that is the case… Good.” Nad nodded. Even the dead elves would be satisfied with this. Not being able to step foot on the continent meant not being able to access cities. It was a shackle. At the same time, it meant being alienated from civilization. It was like how the different species didn’t want to leave the league.

“This is good. It is the best thing. At the same time, it will set a big example about what will happen when you touch the different species.” Cher looked at Hyeonu with a happy expression.

“Do you have any artifacts that can record a video?” Hyeonu asked another question.

“Why?”

“Can you believe what I have been doing without evidence? Will you believe it if I simply come back one day and say they won’t be able to go in and out of any city and have lifelong shackles?” Hyeonu’s eyes narrowed.

Cher met his eyes and coughed. It was because Hyeonu’s words were right.

“I’ll give it to you tomorrow. I want to give it to you right now, but I can’t. It is because no one here has that.”

“No, I have it,” Nad interrupted Cher.

“Why do you have that? Why, aren’t you a completely crazy elf?” Cher stared at Nad with a surprised expression.

He couldn’t believe that Nad had an artifact with the function of storing videos right now. It would’ve been completely useless if this hadn’t happened.

Nad ignored Cher’s words and offered Hyeonu a silver badge. “Here it is. It can be used for around 10 hours. It will turn red if you press the center of the badge using magic power. The artifact will work once it enters that state. Press the badge again, and it won’t have the same color.”

Hyeonu listened to Nad’s explanation and took the badge. “I understand. I’ll see you again as soon as possible.”

He wore the badge on his chest and left the shabby house.

Hyeonu’s mouth curled up in a smile.

‘You are dead, you bastards.’

***

“Hello, everyone. I am Alley Leader.”

Hyeonu turned on the live stream and looked serious.

-Congratulations! Alley Leader escaped from being single!

-Congratulations, congratulations.

-Congratulations to the couple.

The viewers chatted without paying attention to Hyeonu’s expression. However, Hyeonu was just like the viewers. He continued to say what he wanted to say while ignoring the chat window.

“This is what I want to say today. Know your target. Don’t be overly greedy. In addition… I will thoroughly teach reality to those who have turned away from reality because they are blinded by desire.”

Hyeonu’s eyes curved like crescent moons.

1. An actual species, not just calling him a person that is small. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_people_(mythology) ☜