Ranker’s Return

“It is the last match in South Korea.
Don’t let your guard down until the end,” Hyeonu told the other players behind the stage.

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“When did we let down our guard? We just believe in our strong captain,” Sunny said with a bright smile.

Once it was time to get on stage, emotions different from what she’d felt in the waiting room began to rise within her.
She was filled with sentimentality.

‘I can’t believe I’ve come this far…’

The memories of the past few months passed by in front of her eyes. The first time she met Hyeonu, they had appeared on the stream together, and she was scolded. After that, she invited Hyeonu to her stream. Then…

Hyeonu scouted her as a professional. Many things had happened since then. After joining Crescent Moon, everything went well. It wasn’t just her personal stream channel.
Her gaming skills, which had been in a bad place for all of her life, went through changes and received considerable recognition.
All of this was thanks to Hyeonu in front of her.

“Thank you,” Sunny murmured in a small voice.

Hyeonu couldn’t hear Sunny properly and asked her again, “What?” 

Sunny just smiled lightly at Hyeonu. He tried to ask her one more time. However, he was cut off by Jang Junhyung’s voice ringing through Arena Stadium: “It is finally the last match.
It is the Winter League’s grand finale! Crescent Moon and Mino Dyrus! Please welcome them with a round of applause!”

‘What did she say?’ Hyeonu wondered about Sunny’s words, but he didn’t have time to ask.
They had to go up on the stage right now.

‘Well, I’ll ask her later.’

Hyeonu was the first to climb onto the stage and wave to the audience.

“Wahhhhhhh! Alley Leader! Undefeated!!!” The audience cheered for Hyeonu enthusiastically. Cries many times louder than Jang Junhyung’s voice filled Arena Stadium.

Hyeonu was fully welcomed by such an audience. He quickly ran and stood at the end of the stage, where he shook hands with the audience members sitting in the front row.
Then Hyeonu saw some familiar people. 

“Hyung-nim?”

Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu were shaking Hyeonu’s hand.

“Come on, finish this.
Hyung-nim has prepared a hot party for you.” Kim Seokjung pulled his hand, so that Hyeonu was close to him and patted Hyeonu’s shoulder, seemingly to give him strength.

“I will finish it as soon as possible.
You came all the way to Seoul.
It isn’t polite to keep you waiting.” Hyeonu gave strength to his hands and stepped back. He continued to move and shake hands with the audience.

“Captains of Crescent Moon and Mino Dyrus, please come and decide the coin toss,” Jang Junhyung called out. When Hyeonu heard that, he stopped shaking hands with the audience and moved away from the disappointed audience toward the center of the stage.

“Choose first.
I will pick what is left.” Hyeonu smiled at the man who appeared to be Mino Dyrus’ captain. He was relaxed. It was a generous gift from the strong to the weak and a gift for the shocking scene later.

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“…You are so considerate that I won’t refuse.
I will take tails,” Mino Dyrus’ captain said. Statistically, the coin toss landed more often on tails. It was a holographic coin, but it strangely tended toward this.

“Then I will choose heads,” Hyeonu replied. Upon hearing the choices of the two people, the staff member delivered the results through the microphone.

“Crescent Moon chose heads, and Mino Dyrus chose tails.
If it’s heads, Crescent Moon will be the defenders.
Otherwise, they will be the attackers,” Jang Junhyung informed the audience and viewers of both teams’ choices.

The moment Jang Junhyung’s explanation was over, the holographic coin moved.
It spun quickly before slowing down.

“Tails! The coin has landed on tails! Mino Dyrus is the defender, and Crescent Moon is the attacker!”

It wasn’t a good result for Crescent Moon, but the eyes of Hyeonu and the other players were bright. In any case, there was no major difference if they attacked or defended.

“Hyung will take care of it today…” Hyeonu had already said he would be responsible for everything alone because this was the last official Winter League match and his last official match in South Korea.
Thus, the team members felt like they were watching something interesting as bystanders.

“Players of both teams, please move to your designated cubes.
The siege will start in exactly 10 minutes,” Jang Junhyung announced.

Following that, the players of Crescent Moon each spoke to Hyeonu who had returned.

“You gave way to them…
but in fact, you wanted to attack more than defend, right?”

“Maybe…
Hyung actually really wants attention.”

“It worked out well that he is a streamer…
What if he is an attention seeker? It is terrible, terrible.” Lee Hoon got goosebumps all over from imagining Hyeonu as one of those people who simply sought the interest of others.

‘Ohh…’ Lee Hoon groaned inwardly.

Those who sought attention couldn’t do anything.
It interfered with everything—for example, PVP, boss raid, and hunting.

“It worked out…?” Hyeonu’s hand quickly hit the back of Lee Hoon’s head.
“Stop talking nonsense and go into the cube.”

Lee Hoon entered the cube while pressing a hand against the back of his head that felt like it was burning.
Before entering the cube, Hyeonu turned his head and caught sight of Arena Stadium.

“Last…
This is the last…”

There were tens of thousands of people and the passion they gave him.

‘It isn’t over yet.’

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Hyeonu opened the door of the cube and entered.

***

Hyeonu stared hard at the wall, which looked blurry in the distance.

‘It’s nothing special.’

The walls of Mino Dyrus’ castle were plain. They were made up of stones like normal walls. There didn’t seem to be any magic circles or traps. The soldiers standing on it were also shabby. Of course, it wasn’t actually that bad.
However, there was a serious difference between this and Phinis, Hyeonu’s territory.

‘They didn’t pay much attention to the territory.’

It was the responsibility of the players, but the responsibility of the team was greater. Professional gamers had schedules all day. They hunted to level up and trained for PvP. Since they were in the lower rankers, they were likely to be busier in order to catch up with the top teams.

‘Still, so what? Their management is negligent.’ A sly smile flashed on Hyeonu’s face.
He quickly took out a black mask from his inventory and covered his face.

“Take a rest.
I’ll be right back,” Hyeonu said as he turned to the Crescent Moon players.
“Look forward to the party when the match ends today.”

The expressions of the five people changed at the same time due to Hyeonu’s notice. It was natural. A party was an unscheduled event.

“My hyung-nims prepared it.
Thank them later.” Hyeonu finished saying everything he had to tell them. He turned around again and moved toward the wall where the Mino Dyrus players should be.

‘He needs buffs.’ Yuri shook her head and placed every buff possible on Hyeonu. The light permeated the back of the Hyeonu who was running quickly.

“In any case, we are going to have a party.
That’s good.”

“Yes.
They look hard to get to know, but…
I think they are good people.”

“You shouldn’t judge by appearance alone.
They have good hearts.”

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***

‘The soldiers are mana.
Then…’

It was the 12 Mino Dyrus players that Hyeonu should care about. Unlike the knights of Phinis, the NPCs belonging to Mino Dyrus were of a poor level.
Paying attention to them was a waste of effort.

‘I’ve received buffs.
It will be enough just with Tang-E.’

If it was just them, Hyeonu was confident enough to handle it.
No, he could win even if it were doubled, and it would be an overwhelming victory.

“Tang-E, pay for the meal, the meal.”

At Hyeonu’s call, Tang-E appeared with a colorful light.

“Tang-E’s here!!!!!” Tang-E appeared from the gold light and fell into Hyeonu’s arms.
“Why did you call me, Master dude?”

“Why did I call…
It is because I need you here for me to be strong.” Hyeonu’s words weren’t wrong. It was the effect of Tang-E’s new skill, Dancing with a Bear.

“How can you say that directly, Master dude?” Tang-E accepted it in a different way. He thought his presence was a great strength for Hyeonu. Of course, that wasn’t wrong either. Tang-E was definitely a talisman for Hyeonu.

“Just watch from here today.
I’ll be back before you eat all of this.” Hyeonu put a plate of exactly five skewers on the ground.

“Understood, Master dude.
I’ll eat slowly and wait.” Tang-E barely restrained himself from heading to the meat skewers and remained in Hyeonu’s arms. However, Hyeonu couldn’t help feeling the tremor.

“Eat first and give me buffs.
I’ll be right back.” Hyeonu placed Tang-E down in front of the skewers.
Then he stepped toward the wall at a speed several times faster than before.

“Go quickly, Master dude!” Tang-E shouted at Hyeonu’s back, which swiftly became a dot and disappeared.

All of this was being shown on the screen at Arena Stadium.

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***

Hyeonu moved relentlessly.
Like a general leading a thousand troops, he ran toward the wall with an imposing momentum.

“Alley Leader came alone.”

“Should we attack?”

“It isn’t a trap?”

Mino Dyrus saw that Hyeonu was alone and thought about some possibilities. Yet the possibilities soon disappeared from their minds. Alley Leader had fought alone against teams considered to be several levels higher than Mino Dyrus. He never fought with his teammates. Such an Alley Leader couldn’t have prepared a trap now.

“Fighting slowly has no chance of winning.
We have to be like a storm from the start.” Mino Dyrus’ captain put forward the strategy that had the best chance of winning. However, there was one thing he didn’t know. It was that even the highest probability of victory was less than 1%. In short, it was near impossible.

“Do you have time to talk so freely right now?” Before they knew it, Hyeonu had climbed the wall and sat down on the stone with his legs crossed.

“Alley Leader!”

“How are you here?!”

“Everyone, attack!”

The players of Mino Dyrus were shocked. They immediately pulled out their weapons and pointed them at Hyeonu. The melee classes with swords and spears immediately lunged toward Hyeonu while the magicians with staffs cast magic to blow him away. Sharp metallic sounds burst out one after another like popcorn getting popped.
At the same time, all the Mino Dyrus players who attacked Hyeonu were deflected and thrown against the walls.

“Take this!” The two magicians finished casting in the meantime and sent their magic flying toward Hyeonu in the form of spears.

Hyeonu lightly moved the Mysterious Sky Sword on his shoulder from left to right, creating a black-red line in the air. The line ran from the tip of the Mysterious Sky Sword and passed through the spears of flames to reach the necks of the magicians.
Blood gushed from a magician’s neck.

“There isn’t much time left.
Time…”