Ranker's Return

Chapter 481

Translator: rainbowturtle

Editor: LD & Jyazen

‘The stream!’

Hyeonu had completely forgotten about the stream. He had been drunk on the win and the atmosphere of being with good people, so he hadn’t thought about it at all. No, he hadn’t been able to do so.

‘Handphone...’

Hyeonu hurriedly turned his head and looked around for his smartphone, which he had just thrown somewhere. However, he didn’t know where it had gone. He once again turned his head and looked at the white wall. A clock was hanging there.

‘It’s 7:30...’

The dark sky outside the window showed it was 7:30 p.m., not 7:30 a.m.

“Crazy.”

Hyeonu unknowingly let out a deep sigh. The situation wasn’t good.

“First... let’s check A-World...”

He didn’t dare enter the communities. It was clear that all these sites would be filled with swearing. Taking a break from streaming without any prior notice was a greatly taboo behavior among streamers. There was only one reason why it was taboo—the viewers didn’t like it.

That was it. There was no other reason. Who would do it if their customers didn’t like it?

‘Comments...’

“What? 137,000?”

That was the number of comments on Hyeonu’s most recently posted video on A-World. This was a huge number considering that the average number of comments on videos was between 10,000 and 30,000. It had only been more than 100,000 once.

‘What should I do?’

His mind was confused. He couldn’t think straight. Hyeonu was literally in a panic.

Slap! Moments later, Hyeonu slapped himself hard on the cheeks in a desperate measure to pull himself together.

‘It hurts...’

Fortunately, Hyeonu finally took control of his mind.

‘This isn’t the time for that.’

Hyeonu rubbed his red cheeks and thought about what he should do.

‘The first thing to do is...’

It was to turn on the stream. That was the beginning. In order to complete this task successfully, he had to turn on the stream.

‘Of course, I won’t look at the comments.’

There was no need to touch this landmine and bleed. It was better not to worry about things like that. Hyeonu got up from the sofa. He didn’t wash properly and just walked into his room in order to turn on the stream even just a bit faster.

“Sigh...”

Hyeonu sighed from the bottom of his heart.

***

[Alley Leader’s streaming starting Thursday.]

Hyeonu soon completed the preparations for his stream. There was no waiting time to try and attract more viewers. The moment he connected to A-World and turned it on, he started the stream immediately.

“Hello, everyone. I am Alley Leader who came back after winning the Korean Arena Winter League undefeated,” Hyeonu greeted the viewers nervously. He showed a rare polite attitude. After all, he was the one who committed the sin.

-Wow, here comes the runaway ninja.

-Did you think about streaming today?

-I believed you would come.

-Yes, you should turn it on diligently to stream three times a week.

The viewers flocked in instantly at a tremendous speed like hyenas who found their prey.

‘The reaction is better than expected?’

The audience’s messages were surprisingly okay. This was going much more smoothly than he thought it would.

-Right, congratulations on winning the championship.

-Celebrate the championship with gold coins.

-It is 7:0, so shall we give 70?

Rather, the viewers favored Hyeonu. They even poured out gold in celebration of him winning the Winter League.

-Tang-E is Cute has gifted you 70 gold coins.

-Tang-E is the Best Best has gifted you 700 gold coins.

-God Alley Leader has gifted you 70 gold coins.

-Leader Big Fan has gifted you 7,777 gold coins.

Hyeonu cheered at the intense gold coin baptism that he was receiving after a long time.

‘Isn’t this a profit?’

“Oh my, thank you everyone! I will stream harder in the future. Thank you so much for the congratulations!”

Hyeonu had no idea what was going on, but he was pleased. Good things just needed to be accepted. There was no need to worry. The viewers could no longer take back these gold coins.

-You haven’t forgotten to make up for everything after the end of the league, right?

-If you have forgotten this, you aren’t a real person.

-You aren’t going to pretend not to know after taking the gold coins, right?

-You aren’t human if you pretend not to know.

While Hyeonu was showing his joy at receiving the coins, the viewers revealed their true colors. These gold coins weren’t ordinary gold coins; they were a chain binding Hyeonu.

‘That’s right. I was going to make up for the days I missed...’

Hyeonu finally remembered what he had promised a few weeks ago.

‘This isn’t a gift. It is a shackle, a shackle.’

Yet contrary to viewers’ expectations, Hyeonu showed no signs of disliking this situation at all. It was because the viewers weren’t actually forcing him.

“I must keep my promise. However, this week only has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday left. That’s three days, so I’ll only stream on one day this week. Starting from next week, I’ll be streaming three times a week until Arena Week.” If there was someone who was in the wrong, it wasn’t the viewers. It was Hyeonu, for speaking without thinking about the aftermath.

-Good. I like this attitude.

-I’ll let you off for yesterday.

-Yes, you won, so you can play for a day or so.

The viewers were very happy with Hyeonu’s words. Even the occasional curses were no longer visible in the chat room.

“Today, I’ve prepared something very simple. It’s a surprise gift for you.”

-A gift?

-Is there such a thing?

-Do we have any affection for each other?

The viewers showed an intense response to the word ‘gift’. Most of the responses were of surprise. Then the viewers soon concluded that it was natural they should get one.

-Isn’t it natural for Alley Leader to bring gifts?He did something wrong yesterday.

-He was thinking about what gift to give us, so he only turned the stream on now.

-Ah, I see.That should be right.

Hyeonu smiled at the viewers’ shameless words.

‘Why are they so shameless?’

“For those who guess the identity of the gift correctly, I will give you a special limited edition video of Tang-E,” Hyeonu said while looking at the chat window. This tarnished the effectiveness of the gift. It was good that the viewers were surprised, but he wanted them to be more enthusiastic about what he was revealing.

-There is no need for useless gifts.Give me the limited edition!

-Limited is the only truth!

-Tang-E or death!

The viewers reacted as intensely as Hyeonu wanted. The problem was that it was focused on the Tang-E video, not the gift.

‘Are they parrots?’

The viewers continued to send the same messages like a printer with an error.

“Then I will reveal the gift.”

Hyeonu struggled for a long time before revealing the identity of the gift while pretending he couldn’t overcome the pressure of the viewers. His magic power slowly increased. The dark-red magic power flowed out from Hyeonu’s body and took the form of a ball that was around 30 centimeters in diameter.

Hyeonu kneaded the magic power. Every time his hand touched it, the sphere changed shape slightly.

-Uh?

-Crazy.

-Where did he get this...

-Where can I learn that skill?I want to learn it by all means...

-Still, it looks really hard. We can’t use it even if we learn it.

The more the magic power took shape, the more the viewers’ response changed. They were increasingly astonished as the magic power had turned into a familiar shape. Hyeonu’s gift was a magic spirit. To be precise, it was a magic spirit in the shape of Tang-E.

“This is the gift I have prepared for you. It is a new skill... Do you like it?”

-Of course!

-Not just one but two!

-Tang-E has doubled!

-I can’t believe heaven is like this...

The viewers screamed happily at the magic spirit that had the perfect appearance of Tang-E. Hyeonu saw the chat window and smiled.

‘This is just the beginning, the beginning.’

It wasn’t the end. The magic spirit in the form of Tang-E moved. It had no bones, muscles, or joints, so there were no restrictions on movement. The magic spirit Tang-E smoothly expressed every move.

“Now, I can move it like this. Unlike Tang-E, I can control it completely.”

The magic spirit, which was originally floating around a meter above the ground, started moving its toes. The movement was small, but it felt very cute and rhythmic. The actions of the magic spirit grew bigger and bigger. It raised its shoulders and then lifted and lowered its legs. It also shook its arms.

Every movement done by the magic spirit had something in common. They were all cute. The viewers were bound to be enthusiastic about Hyeonu’s gift.

-This child...Real... It is real.

-Too cute...

-My mind is spinning, spinning...

-Why is it so good at dancing?

The magic spirit definitely danced better than Tang-E. It was inevitable since Tang-E had to learn the choreography first in order to dance. No matter how good the artificial intelligence was, he couldn’t do something he hadn’t learned. The magic spirit was different. It could dance any dance as long as Hyeonu adjusted its magic power well.

“This guy has a different charm from Tang-E. It is very obedient because I am controlling it.”

The magic spirit flew through the air and landed on Hyeonu’s shoulder. Then it took off the mask covering Hyeonu’s face and placed its lips on Hyeonu’s cheek. Hyeonu made a sound, and the magic spirit shyly lifted its paws and covered its face.

“Even this is possible,” Hyeonu told viewers with a smile on his face. The smile expressed happiness but also another emotion—ridicule. It was an act with this message: ‘I can do this, but you guys can’t.’

-I’m angry...Angry...

-How can this blessing be given to such a person...

-Great demon!Let go of the two Tang-Es!

The viewers rushed at Hyeonu. If he were right in front of them instead of on the stream, they would really grab his collar and shake him. However, they could not meet Hyeonu. Hyeonu was in the demon world, and they were watching the stream through A-World.

“On the other hand, Tang-E has a plump, bouncy charm. Should I say that he is alive? He is cute and charming,” Hyeonu said while stroking the magic spirit. Then he once again looked at the viewers with a smile... a rather strange smile. “Everyone, aren’t you curious? What will happen the moment this guy meets the real Tang-E? How will Tang-E react?”

-...!!

-I want to see it!

-Alley Leader, summon Tang-E immediately!

Hyeonu’s words provoked intense chatter from the viewers. The number of messages that had been released so far was a large amount that hadn’t been seen on other streaming sites. Now there was a flood of chatter that was many times more.

“Then let’s call him together. Tang-E!”