Ranker's Return

In the dense forest of trees, there were places where the trees were cut down to form wide open spaces. The vacant space was surrounded by fences made of cut wood, and there were many people being busy inside. A masked man was bowing and apologizing to a blonde beauty. “I’m sorry. I was wrong, and this happened.”

Shortly after the sudden contact, Reina received a visit from Alley Leader for some reason. She was even more flustered when he apologized to her like this. Reina opened her mouth and said, “If you do this... You have to tell me what’s going on.”

Hyeonu explained, “I heard that a few members of the Warriors were PKed.”

It was only then that Reina realized why Alley Leader was apologizing to her.

‘He heard about it.’

“Thank you for your concern, but I don’t think you should bow for this.” 

Why was Alley Leader bowing his head? Reina became just as angry as when she heard that the team members had been logged out.

Hyeonu shook his head. “No. The biggest problem was my suggestion. This wouldn’t have happened if we had worked together at a leisurely pace. If you wait a bit, there will be good news.”

“Good news?” Reina asked with confusion.

There would be good news from Alley Leader? She couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Hyeonu disappeared, leaving only these words with Reina: “Yes, I will give you some really good news. Reina, just focus on the Pro League and pioneering the Balder Mountains."

*** 

Hyeonu immediately logged out and started collecting information. The information he had about Mano was already sufficient. He just needed to gather information on the other two guilds, Zenith and Five Stars.

‘I will show them how tough the Balder Mountains are.’

Alley Leader would make them tremble. He would make them realize what beggars they were. Hyeonu was strangely determined. It would be better to be tied up with ‘our’ fence than with anyone else. There was no mercy for those outside ‘our’ fence.

Why? It was because Hyeonu was a vengeful man, now and in the past. It would be the same in the future. After gaining a rough understanding of the two guilds, he immediately started writing something on his channel in A-World.

‘Let’s start with the design.’

Hyeonu always thought that justification was important in a fight. Why was he fighting them? It wasn’t his decision; he had no choice but to fight. From the moment he was convinced of this, Hyeonu wouldn’t step on the brakes. Instead, he stepped on the accelerator. He was sometimes tired, sometimes courageous.

[A must-read! It is Alley Leader.]

[-Hello. I am Alley Leader. I’m writing this for viewers who are curious about the main scenario. The stream for the main scenario should’ve started after Alley Leader Academy ended. But now there is a conflict with Zenith, Mano, Five Stars, and some others, and it is disrupting the process. There is a problem, so please understand that the stream for the main scenario will be late by one or two streaming sessions.]

‘Good, good.’

Hyeonu marveled at his writing. There seemed to be no writing that was more inflammatory than this. It was all due to the delay in the release of the main scenario, so they were the bad guys. This was the hidden message and topic of Hyeonu’s post. In short, he blamed others for the delay. Hyeonu rolled around on the sofa with a gloomy laugh while the audience who visited Alley Leader’s channel read Hyeonu’s post.

-Yuljae Breaking the News: They’re crazy. Why are they blocking the scenario from progressing by touching Alley Leader? What are they?

-Muscle Muscle Man: We really need to get rid of kids like that. Zenith and Five Stars are complete gangsters.

-Pro Adriper: Yes. They’re nothing but gangsters. Honestly, I don’t understand why people watch their streams. What’s so good about kids who PK for a power trip? I’m furious.

Why were they stopping the viewers from watching the main scenario by interfering with Alley Leader? Naturally, the viewers were furious. There was only one streamer who streamed the main scenario for free in A-World—Alley Leader. In fact, money wasn’t a big deal. The important thing was that Alley Leader was the fastest. He had an unmatched speed of quest progression. The viewers didn’t want everyone to be slow together. They wanted something fast.

‘Okay. It is a good start.’

Hyeonu was pleased with the reaction that was appearing. This was enough for now. All he had to do was wait for it to boil over, as long as it didn’t get in the way of him hitting them.

*** 

Hyeonu connected to Arena and stopped heading for Cruise Mountain. He just started wandering through the Balder Mountains. This was an intended action.

‘I am bait.’

In Zenith’s case, he was confident they would rush toward him because they already had a record of doing so. Unsurprisingly, his guess was exactly right.

“Hey, who are you?” Someone shouted when they saw Hyeonu’s back as he wandered around.

They couldn’t see Tang-E because Hyeonu was holding Tang-E in his arms. It seemed that only one person was walking.

“Did you call out to me just now?” Hyeonu said.

He had already started recording when he heard their footsteps. This type of activity always gave birth to good content, so recording was a necessity, not an option.

“Who are you...?” The man shouted loudly only to trail off when he saw Hyeonu turning around. It was because this person was too familiar. A man wearing a child’s mask—it was Alley Leader. Moreover, he was holding a bear in his arms. It was Arena’s strongest pet, Tang-E.

“Alley Leader...” The man couldn’t speak properly. He was lost for words when he saw Hyeonu in front of him. Furthermore, he knew the executives of the guild had some friction with Alley Leader not that long ago.

“That’s right. I am Alley Leader. Why did you call me? Based on that mark, you seem to be from Zenith. What is this other guild? I think the guild mark is different...?” Hyeonu was speaking leisurely to a man with white wings on his chest, a guild member of Zenith. Then he deliberately pretended not to know the Five Stars Guild.

‘They will burst with a bit of provocation.’

Regardless of whether he knew Hyeonu’s intentions or not, the guild member of Five Stars calmly opened his mouth. “I am a member of Five Stars, Alley Leader.” 

“I see. Five Stars—it is very similar to the name of a Korean conglomerate. Five Stars... By the way, why did you call me? What do you want?” Hyeonu said.

At Hyeonu’s words, it wasn’t just the two guild members but also the four people standing behind them who closed their mouths like they were zipped up.

‘Ah, why is it Alley Leader?’ The guild member from Five Stars looked like his lips were glued shut.

It couldn’t be like this even if they were unlucky... 

How did they manage to meet Alley Leader while patrolling around?

“Did you contact the guild leader?” The guild member from Five Stars whispered in such a small voice that only the guild member standing behind him could hear his words.

“The guild leader said he will be here soon, so buy some time,” the guild member behind him replied.

“What is this bullshit? How do we delay him? Don’t talk such bullshit. Jean, what are you saying?” Rook bit his lip and swore at the answer that he got.

Delay Alley Leader—it sounded ridiculous. What type of trick could they use to delay Alley Leader if he wanted to go? Jean, the Zenith guild member, said casually, “We are the same. We are together. Yet I have to delay the time?”

“It is a complete mess here and there,” Rook murmured in a low voice before taking a step toward Alley Leader.

They whispered cautiously, but Hyeonu could already hear everything. ‘Buying some time? Who is going to come?’

Hyeonu smiled strangely and asked Rook who approached him, “Do you have something to say to me? Do you? I’m a busy person.”

The moment Hyeonu asked the question, Rook decided he didn’t know what to do anymore. The words he was going to say were mixed with some lies, but he couldn’t help it since he had to buy some time. It was up to the guild leader to clean up the mess.

“Our guild leader said there seems to be a misunderstanding with Alley Leader, and he wants to talk to you.”

“Really? The guild master of Five Stars said that? I see. Then I’ll wait.”

Rook sighed with relief when Alley Leader responded positively. “Phew...”

However, his complexion darkened when he realized he would have to endure the awkwardness until the guild leader came.

*** 

Did they hear Rook’s wish? It didn’t take long for the guild leaders of Five Stars and Zenith to appear. The number of people who appeared was six—the five masters of Five Stars and one master of Zenith.

‘Are they all here?’ Hyeonu thought before speaking to the six men who appeared. “Who wanted to see me? I waited a long time because I heard there was a misunderstanding... Is it possible for me to have a misunderstanding with someone I’m seeing for the first time?”

Some faces started to distort at Hyeonu’s provocative words. Then the rest of the people whispered, and their original expressions were restored.

“Of course, it isn’t a direct misunderstanding with Alley Leader. I saw the post you wrote on your channel, and I think you’ve misunderstood something. This is why I’m grabbing onto such a busy person,” a man in armor with the mark of five stars on his chest said with a fluid tongue.

This man had great eloquence, but Hyeonu’s speaking skills were never lacking. Hyeonu responded, “Oh? Something like that didn’t happen? It is a fact. Fa-ct!”

“No, there is a misunderstanding...”

Hyeonu interrupted the man’s words. “Really? Then I have one question. Did you have a clash with the Warriors?” 

“There was. But that was a misunderstanding...” The man responded by waving his hand.

However, Hyeonu didn’t listen to the end this time. It was more convenient to talk when dealing with this type of person. Hyeonu knew it and said, “Didn’t you PK with the players from the Warriors? Please answer me ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

“There was a situation...”

“Are you saying you did PK them? Are you admitting it now?”

The man was speechless due to Hyeonu’s attitude. Everything he prepared in advance was useless because Alley Leader didn’t want to hear him out.

“I’ll let it pass this one time. The next time we meet in the Balder Mountains, I will punish you with force. The Warriors are my personal allies. Ah! Then what about the Zenith guild leader?” Hyeonu pointed to the man with wings on his chest.

“You should be ready to experience it now. You have a lot of courage, right? Have you forgotten what happened when we met the other day? Or do you think I’m easy?” Hyeonu’s eyes flashed behind his mask.