Ranker’s Return - Chapter 41

The lycanthropes ran wildly toward Hyeonu with their long nails cutting through the air. Simultaneously, another lycanthrope moved. He stretched out his sharp nails, aiming for Hyeonu’s side. However, a small fire sphere struck the lycanthrope’s face. It was Mason’s magic. Seeing the lycanthrope sway, Hyeonu immediately swung his sword. He turned and precisely cut the lycanthrope’s throat.

“Grrruk.” Blood flowed from the slashed throat of the lycanthrope.

[A lycanthrope has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

In the meantime, another lycanthrope was hit by Tang-E. Three streams of lightning flew from Tang-E and gave the lycanthrope an electric shock.

[The lycanthrope has been inflicted with the ‘electric shock’ abnormal state.]

Hyeonu also finished off this lycanthrope neatly. There was increased damage caused by the combination of his sword energy and Heavy Blow. The lycanthrope’s body was split apart like slicing tofu.

[A lycanthrope has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

Hyeonu had no time to check the status window or messages that said he had leveled up. Mason and Tang-E approached him.

“Hyung, can I touch this bear once?” Mason crouched down with shining eyes.

“Master dude. Please protect me. This human dude’s eyes are unusual.” Tang-E grabbed Hyeonu’s pants and hid behind him.

“I can’t let you touch him. He doesn’t like it.” Hyeonu shook his head. There was no need to make Tang-E do something he hated. Of course, that was except for when Hyeonu needed it.

***

[Status Window]

[Character Name: Gang Hyeonu

Level: 86

Class: Knight of Keon

Title: Lebron’s Disciple, Warrior Acknowledged by Khan, New Star Acknowledged by Lebron, First Person to Enter the Imperial Palace, First Person to Meet the Emperor, Achieved 100 Consecutive Wins, Solo Raider, Desert Dragon Slayer

Stats: Strength: 165 (+300) Agility: 260 (+150) Physique: 140 (+280) Magic Power: 130 (+330) Fighting Energy: 83 (+100)

Remaining stat points: 0]

‘I’m leveling up smoothly.’

Hyeonu was smiling. He was very satisfied with the fast rising of his level. His level-up speed hadn’t decreased despite him reaching level 80.

“By the way, what is your class?” Hyeonu asked Mason, who was playing around with Tang-E.

“Ack! Ack!”

“Hehe, hehehe.”

‘I don’t think they are getting along well.’

Tang-E seemed like a one-sided bully. He was pressing down on Mason’s head.

“Me? I am a Magic Tower Magician. I was told it was very good, so I changed to it.”

“A Magic Tower Magician?”

After hearing that, Hyeonu thought about it and was convinced of it. Indeed, Mason’s ability to handle magic was enough to make him a Magic Tower Magician. It wasn’t surprising. Like the Liru Monk which was Kim Seokjung’s second class, the Magic Tower Magician was a class with a lot of information.

The difficulties of the Magic Tower Magician class were also similar to those of the Liru Monk. A person needed to know how to handle a certain amount of magic power before they could change classes to it. There was only one class change quest—use magic power to express three types of magic in time.

However, less than 1% of magician players chose Magic Tower Magician as their second class. It was because only 1% of magician players were capable of doing it.

Hyeonu stated, “I didn’t know you had this type of talent.”

“Hyung, I’m embarrassed. It is more embarrassing because Alley Leader is saying this.” Mason twisted his body at Hyeonu’s half-joking, half-serious words.

He felt embarrassed. After all, Hyeonu was Alley Leader. He was currently the most prolific star in Arena. Additionally, he had the best skills. Unlike the first time, the comparison target was different now. Hyeonu’s status had changed after several videos and streams. People knew his name. It was a situation where he was comparable to celebrities.

“Let’s look around the dungeon a bit more. There is still a bit of time left.”

Both Hyeonu and Mason had time to rest. 30 minutes—this was the time left for the two people.

***

Hyeonu exited Arena and kept moving. He turned on his laptop and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Cold water came out of the shower, and it felt cool at the top of his head. His mind was jolted awake.

“Ah, shit! Yeongchan, you jerk! I told you several times not to turn the faucet back to cold.”

Still, all his fatigue was washed out thanks to the cold water. His head was now clear.

“By now, there will be some results. Has the email come?”

Hyeonu was waiting for Nike’s reply. He was waiting for a concrete plan for his Masked Fighting King.

“First, I’ll have to hide my identity and make an appearance. They will bring in famous celebrities.”

Hyeonu took his favorite chocolate milk from the fridge and sat down in front of his laptop. As he sipped the milk, he checked his emails.

“It came? Oh, what does Ellis want?” There were two emails for Hyeonu. One was an email from Kale, and the other was from Ellis. Ellis wasn’t someone who would send an email first. Hyeonu knew this from his previous experiences of communicating with Ellis. “Did something happen?”

Hyeonu pushed Kale’s email back and clicked on Ellis’ email.

-Congratulations on making your TV debut.

Is it Masked Fighting King? I joined as well. I will be directing the entire program as an executive producer. I am very happy. My dream has been achieved to a certain degree. I sent this email out of gratitude.

P.S. In the future, I don’t need to be paid for video editing. It is enough for me to be able to achieve my dream.

“Hmm...” Hyeonu kept drinking milk. His mood was strange. It was the first time in his life that someone had expressed gratitude to him.

“What email did Kale send me?”

Hyeonu checked the email from Kale.

-Mr. Gang. There is good news.

Everything went smoothly. The planning couldn’t be more perfect. The only sad thing is that we couldn’t gather more rankers. We’ve found around 30 people. More information has been attached separately.

“30 people? It is more than I thought... So what’s the problem?”

Hyeonu was thinking that the Masked Fighting King content could be used four to five times at most, and it would last around a month. Yet Nike had a completely different idea. Nike thought that ‘Masked Fighting King’ would make for killer content. They planned it so that it would dominate the live streaming market. It was a secret weapon to kill Hyeonu’s rivals, the other streamers, and Nike’s own rivals—the giant capitalists.

[P.S On the day that Masked Fighting King starts, I will be visiting South Korea.

At that time, my boss will come with me.]

After reading the email, Hyeonu opened the attached file. The file contained details of Masked Fighting King. Among them were the names of rankers who were scheduled to appear. Hyeonu’s eyes moved quickly. Then his pupils narrowed at one point.

-Sword Eagle Locke (Jung Hanbaek).

The name of trash was written. The opportunity for revenge had arrived faster than he thought it would.

“The heavens are helping me.”

Hyeonu glanced at the clock and crumpled up his empty milk carton.

“I have to catch this opportunity.”

He stepped back toward the A-Cube. A lot of time remained until the time he promised to meet Mason. However, instead of taking a break, Hyeonu had something more important to do—get revenge.

***

Hyeonu slaughtered the lycanthropes in an expressionless manner. It was literally a slaughter. There were no gaps. He kept swinging the Dwarf’s Sword. A level 100 lycanthrope couldn’t survive Hyeonu’s sword energy, which was amplified with various skills.

[A lycanthrope has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

“Tang-E,” Hyeonu called out to Tang-E as usual.

However, Tang-E wasn’t listening. “What’s going on? Master dude.”

Hyeonu’s stiff face looked evil as he kept swinging his sword. He looked like a demon ruling in hell. Until now, no matter how hard it was, Hyeonu would smile and show an interested expression. Yet such a thing couldn’t be seen at all now.

“Why am I so narrow-minded?”

Hyeonu’s words caused Tang-E to grumble, “Master dude. What narrow-minded person made you upset?”

“No, it’s not like that.” Hyeonu lifted Tang-E up. He just wanted to do this. “I am narrow-minded. I lived my life and never once thought I had a bad personality or was the type to hold a grudge.”

“So?”

“Recently I realized that I am holding a grudge.”

Tang-E suddenly changed his position to Hyeonu’s shoulder. Then he started to massage Hyeonu’s head. “Master dude is good. That’s why you’re my Master dude.”

“Hyung is good,” another voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. Hyeonu turned his head and saw Mason staring at him with clear eyes. “Hyung is kind. If you’re holding a grudge, then it is that person who did something wrong. I believe so.”

Mason’s endless faith was a shock to Hyeonu in a different way.

‘I was actually a really good guy.’

“Let’s hunt.” Hyeonu patted Mason’s head.

“Let’s go, Master dude!”

***

Hyeonu brushed off his blood-stained longsword. It was covered in the lycanthropes’ blood.

Five hours—that was how much time Hyeonu’s group spent hunting in the instance dungeon. His break had become time used to find the lycanthropes. He hunted, hunted, and hunted again. Hyeonu made a push to level up, and the result was phenomenal.

At level 86, Hyeonu gained two levels to reach level 88. Meanwhile, the level 100 Mason reached level 101. This level-up speed was beyond common sense. It was a speed that definitely didn’t make sense considering how it usually took two days for a level 100 player to gain one level.

[A lycanthrope has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

“Hyung, I think we’re done with the dungeon now?” Mason hinted at Hyeonu. After getting rid of the last lycanthrope in the group, Mason started thinking, ‘I think we’ve gone one round of the dungeon?’

“Why hasn’t the boss room been found?” Mason wondered.

Hyeonu replied, “I found it earlier?”

Three hours earlier, Hyeonu had seen several places that could be the boss room.

“Hyung, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Then you would stop after hunting the boss. The hunt had to proceed. Besides, aren’t I telling you now?” Hyeonu spoke like he hadn’t done anything.

“Then let’s kill the boss.” Mason shook his head at Hyeonu’s attitude.

***

As a result, it took Hyeonu, Mason, and Tang-E a long time to meet the boss. The boss room was in an area Hyeonu had seen before. The problem was the order. Hyeonu’s group started from the closest of the three candidates. However, all the lycanthropes had already respawned in the dungeon. To make matters worse, the boss was nowhere to be seen at the candidate site they finally arrived at after much difficulty.

The second candidate site was also a failure. Everyone had an anxious ‘please be there’ hope in their hearts as they arrived at the last candidate, which turned out to be the boss room.

Inside the huge boss room, a monster that was different from the previous mobs was waiting for Hyeonu. It was a giant werewolf with grey fur—a Corrupt Lycanthrope.