Ranker's Return

Chapter 623

Translator: rainbowturtle

The moment Hyeonu picked up the ring, Kalui ran to Hyeonu. “Guardian!”

Hyeonu put the ring in his inventory as if he was hiding it.

Then he smiled at Kalui. “Yes, Kalui. Speak.”

Kalui bowed deeply to Hyeonu before saying sincerely, “Thank you very much, Guardian.”

Hyeonu tried to use magic power to control Kalui’s body, but his magic power moved too sharply. It wasn’t as finely controlled as he envisioned in his mind.

‘How does the emperor do this?!’ Hyeonu scolded the emperor inwardly.

He quickly scattered the magic power that he had gathered before Kalui noticed.

“It is something that someone would’ve done, even if it wasn’t me. I just want to help you adapt and live in this world,” Hyeonu said pretentious words while grasping Kalui’s shoulder.

‘Of course, as long as it is in my territory,’ Hyeonu thought.

Kalui was unaware of Hyeonu’s true thoughts and bowed again toward him.

“No, no one could’ve taken us out of there without the Guardian’s token. In addition, you have two of the giant’s holy relics… In fact, the true descendant of the empire might be you.” Kalui expressed the conclusion he had come to during the time when Hyeonu disappeared.

Hyeonu was someone who had met Larenix, the last pure-blooded emperor of the empire. In addition, he had two of the giant’s holy relics and was the only guardian of the Luos Empire. If the Luos Empire were to be resurrected, the emperor would definitely be Hyeonu.

“If the Luos Empire is resurrected, you will be made the emperor,” Kalui added.

Hyeonu frowned the moment he heard that. He raised an index finger to his lips and said, “Be careful about those words. I am a loyal noble of the Yusma Empire to the end.”

Kalui nodded. “I understand. I won’t do it anymore.”

Then he turned around and moved to wake up those who were still lying down.

‘He is only thinking that way now. Once all the descendants of the divine world and the middle world have settled down… it will happen even if he doesn’t want it,’ Kalui declared inwardly.

Kalui hid his innermost thoughts and scolded those who were still on the ground: “What are you all doing? Did you want to come outside just to lie on the ground and sleep?!”

***

Hyeonu returned to Etono with the descendants of the Luos Empire after Kalui had woken them up. They had to use the magic circle in Etono to get to Phinis.

The moment Hyeonu showed up in Etono with the descendants of the Luos Empire, the attention of the players focused on them. This was natural as Hyeonu’s mere appearance attracted the attention of players, let alone a crowd of hundreds of people. Nevertheless, Hyeonu ignored the players and headed to Etono’s central square where the magic circle was located.

“This magic circle allows me to move to my territory in the middle world. There are restrictions on the number of people it can move, so Kalui, please pay attention to the distribution of people,” Hyeonu told Kalui once they reached the magic circle.

Hundreds of people couldn’t use the magic circle at the same time because there was a clear limit on the number of people it could transport. Only 150 people could use the magic circle at any one time, regardless of whether it was moving from Etono to Phinis or vice versa.

“Then I’ll divide it into five groups in total. We have 700 people, so the number…” Kalui looked around at those standing next to him. “Rudd, Toro, Tippes, and Burd will command 140 people respectively.”

At Kalui’s words, four men emerged from the crowd. The men divided up the rest of the people in a neat and orderly manner. Those who didn’t receive a command from one of the four people stood behind Kalui.

“Using the magic circle is simple. All you have to do is inject enough magic power so it activates. It is just that the amount isn’t small, so you should judge it well on your own. The word to start the magic circle is ‘Move’,” Hyeonu explained.

This was so that Kalui would be careful. However, it wasn’t difficult to activate the magic circle. Perhaps the magic power of the Luo Empire’s descendants would be enough to activate it.

“I will instruct them well. Guardian, will you move with me?” Kalui asked.

Hyeonu shook his head. As he watched them organize themselves, he made plans to move separately. He would confirm that all of them were transported over, but he didn’t have to move with them.

‘Being a lord is good. I’m not bound by the magic circle.’

Hyeonu didn’t need to stick with others the way members of a guild did. Instead, he used his power as a lord to return to his territory quicker than anyone else would if they were to go alone.

Kalui replied, “I understand. Then what should we do when we arrive in Phinis?”

Hyeonu instructed, “Move toward the lord’s castle. It is the place you can probably tell is the lord’s castle with one glance.”

After hearing that, Kalui nodded and then turned around to shout at one of the men, “Okay. Then we will start moving straight away. Rudd! Start!”

“I understand, Kalui,” the man named Rudd answered Kalui and turned around. He approached the people in his group and explained what they needed to do: “Come out in order and inject 20% of your magic power into the magic circle. Once the magic circle is ready to be triggered, quickly move into the magic circle.”

It was a neat explanation. The descendants of the Luos Empire behaved similarly. No one acted stupidly. They quickly injected their magic power into the magic circle and withdrew repeatedly. After a while, the magic circle started emitting vibrations and bright light, indicating it was ready to activate.

“Move to the magic circle!”

The descendants of the Luos Empire moved. Rudd quickly identified those who filled the magic circle before saying, “I will go first, Kalui and Guardian. Move!”

The moment Rudd shouted the starting word, the figures of those inside the magic circle disappeared from the demon world. The magic circle was triggered successfully. This was repeated exactly three more times.

Hyeonu confirmed Kalui’s disappearance and was about to use the return function to move to Phinis…

However, someone called out to him, “Marquis Gang Hyeonu.”

Hyeonu’s movements stopped in an instant. He turned toward the side where the voice came from and put on a very stiff and fake smile. “Why have you come out, Your Majesty?”

The one who called out to Hyeonu was the emperor. For some reason, the emperor had left the building he was just in. He asked, “What is the identity of those who have just moved to Phinis?”

Hyeonu was speechless.

‘He knew? Or did he feel it with his senses?’

There were two possible reasons that Hyeonu thought of. One was that the emperor had sensed the presence of the Luos Empire’s descendants from inside the building and then hid and observed until the descendants were gone. The second was that the emperor had only appeared just then.

‘Both are problems…’

Either way, neither one would lead to a good outcome. Things were bad once the emperor was aware of them.

“They are ‘humans’ I met while wandering around the demon world. They are those who barely survived in the demon world. I couldn’t ignore them, so I sent them back to the middle world, Your Majesty.” Hyeonu made a plausible excuse.

It was a show of incredibly quick wits.

‘Good. I did well.’

Hyeonu wanted to applaud himself.

“Is that so? Well done. Since you saw them, you naturally had to help them.” The emperor nodded.

“Then I’ll go first, Your Majesty. I have to give them ways to make ends meet…” Hyeonu explained.

The emperor heard Hyeonu’s excuse and waved a hand at him. It was a gesture telling him to go.

“Then go quickly. I caught a busy man for no reason,” the emperor said.

Hyeonu bowed and disappeared.

Right then, the emperor laughed. It was a laugh that gradually became fiendish.

“Come quickly. Come quicker…” the emperor muttered like he knew something and disappeared like Hyeonu had done.

***

Crescent Moon returned to South Korea, but JT Telecom remained in the United States. Externally, it seemed like they had been rewarded with a vacation after Arena Week, but in reality, this wasn’t the case at all. To be precise, it was a vacation only for the players. The coaching staff, including the supervisor, were heavily criticized by Choi Hyunsung.

“Supervisor Yoo-nim, have you come up with a solution? I can’t give you any more time.” Choi Hyunsung had a blank expression as he gave a final ultimatum to JT Telecom’s supervisor.

He had already given the latter two days. Choi Hyunsung asked Supervisor Yoo about the uproar related to Jung Hanbaek on the night when Arena Week ended. He didn’t ask what had happened. He just asked what Supervisor Yoo was going to do. Choi Hyunsung only wanted a solution; the cause of the uproar didn’t matter.

“I will resign, Boss-nim,” Supervisor Yoo said.

“Resign? For what reason? Poor results? 1st in the Spring League, 1st in the Summer League, and 2nd in the Winter League. Are you voluntarily resigning due to the poor result of 8th place in Arena Week? Everyone will laugh at you. I should say that I fired Supervisor Yoo-nim,” Choi Hyunsung continued to talk with a blank expression. “Don’t think about avoiding responsibility and tell me how to solve things, Supervisor Yoo-nim.”

In the face of Choi Hyunsung’s continuous criticism, the supervisor closed his eyes and replied, “I will bear it all. I will release player Jung Hanbaek.”

“The reason?”

“I will gather only what is true from the various communities. Then I will hold a press conference on the grounds of damaging the team’s reputation and personality problems,” Supervisor Yoo responded while sweating.

He hadn’t expected such a thing to happen. This was when he remembered how he had merely questioned Jung Hanbaek and then let it pass when the controversy occurred during the Winter League.

‘If I had known it would be this bad, I would’ve acted earlier…’ Supervisor Yoo thought.

It was a source of trouble that he had passed over because Jung Hanbaek’s skills were too good. He never expected that a small spark would become such a big fire. Compared to Supervisor Yoo, Choi Hyunsung had a faint smile on his face.

“Good. Supervisor Yoo-nim, do what you want. I respect your will,” Choi Hyunsung said shamelessly.

He was the one who forced Supervisor Yoo’s choice. However, Choi Hyunsung had not actually expressed an opinion on the release of Jung Hanbaek, be it directly or indirectly. He just induced Supervisor Yoo to understand what he wanted to happen.

“The date of the press conference will be next week, Boss Choi Hyunsung. I hope you won’t be surprised when there are articles.” Supervisor Yoo ended his meeting with Choi Hyunsung with a bitter smile.

‘Release…’ Supervisor Yoo’s head was already pounding when he thought about the press conference.

“I hope you know your situation well…” Supervisor Yoo muttered as he walked toward the hotel where the players were staying.