Ranker’s Return

Tok.

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Hyeonu put out a blue plastic bag with white plates outside the front door.
Unlike the clean empty plates, Hyeonu’s mind was filled with miscellaneous thoughts.

‘Relaxation…’

The tactful Yeongchan noticed what Hyeonu was feeling and moved away from the topic with humor, but the words still lingered in Hyeonu’s mind.

‘My family problem is over.’

There was nothing wrong with Hyeonu at this moment. His father had woken up and was currently in rehab. His mother was always smiling while helping his father. Hyeonu had paid off the debt early on, and now he was earning more money than at his peak.
As such, Hyeonu was actually raking in money.

‘He told me not to think about revenge.’

The matter with Jung Hanbaek’s father would be resolved by Hyeonu’s father himself. Things were moving along well, so Hyeonu had no more burdens left.
All he had to do was fly away.

‘Is it really okay?’

Could he take a break now? Could he go around and take a look?

Hyeonu was deep in thought with his head stuck out the front door.

“Hey, are you trying to run away because you are afraid to go on the blind date? Ya, then don’t go.
I’m not taking you because you are dirty.
Do you think I don’t have anyone to go with if I don’t go with you? What do you take people’s good intentions for?” Yeongchan shouted when he passed by the living room and saw Hyeonu standing at the front door.

He meant it this time. It was different from before. Yeongchan was genuinely annoyed by Hyeonu. He thought Hyeonu was standing at the front door due to his words.

“It isn’t like that.
When is the blind date? I’ll help out regarding my friend’s love matter.
If our Yeongchan is single this Christmas…
that will be 23 years in a row now.
Then you will be able to use Fireball…” Hyeonu naturally turned back and smiled at Yeongchan. He was obviously smiling brightly to erase his troubles.
Yet in Yeongchan’s eyes, it was only seen as mockery.

“You…
You really don’t need to go.” Yeongchan walked to his room swiftly like he was angry.

“So when is it?” Hyeonu chased after him quickly. 

Yeongchan’s bedroom door slammed shut. Then his harsh voice rang out through it: “12 o’clock on Friday!”

After hearing Yeongchan’s cry, Hyeonu returned to his room. He picked up the padded jacket hanging from the chair and left the house.
Hyeonu was going to take a walk to relieve the satiety from the late meal.

‘Relaxation…’

“Friday at 12 o’clock.” Hyeonu memorized the time that Yeongchan mentioned.

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***

A chubby man appeared in front of Hyeonu, who was currently walking the streets of Etono.
The man’s face was covered in sweat.
In addition, his red face showed how hard he had just run.

“Johnny, what’s going on? Why are you running so fast? Are you trying to lose weight?” Hyeonu joked to give Johnny time to catch his breath.

Johnny breathed roughly for a long time before opening his mouth.

“Earl!” His first word was an intense shout.

Hyeonu frowned and covered his ears. “What is it? Lower your voice a bit.
Did something happen?”

He didn’t relax his wrinkled expression. However, Johnny’s situation wasn’t good either. He had just yelled at Hyeonu, his lord and an earl of the empire. “Yes, something happened.”

“What’s going on?” Hyeonu’s expression changed.
Johnny saying this clearly meant that something serious had occurred.

‘Did something really happen?’

Johnny read Hyeonu’s expression and slowly continued: “A messenger has come with His Majesty the Emperor’s letter.
He is waiting for you in the castle right now.”

“Messenger? When did he arrive?”

“It has been around two days.”

“What is the name of the messenger?”

“I think you should go and see it for yourself.
He said he would wait in the parlor.”

Hyeonu frowned as Johnny shook his head and said he couldn’t tell Hyeonu the identity of the messenger.

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‘He can’t tell me who is here?’

There were only two cases when Johnny wouldn’t answer a question Hyeonu, an earl, asked. It was if the title of the NPC who came as the messenger was higher than Hyeonu’s or if the emperor issued an order.
The possibility of the latter was very small, so it must be the former.

“Then go and do your business.
Aren’t you busy? I will go to the lord’s castle by myself.”

“I understand, Earl.”

“I have to trouble you a bit more.”

“No, that isn’t the case, Earl.”

Hyeonu left behind the bowing Johnny and turned toward the castle.

‘Who is it?’ Hyeonu thought hard about it while walking. Who would be the envoy who came to the demon world to deliver the emperor’s letter? While thinking about this, Hyeonu soon arrived at the castle.

‘It’s empty.’ 

There was no one at the castle entrance.
The guards originally guarding the entrance had been kicked out to another city, and no NPCs were currently in charge of security in Etono as Hyeonu had only brought administrators from Phinis. Hyeonu headed inside the quiet castle and walked toward the parlor, carefully opening its door.

Inside, there was a man sitting alone on a chair.
Due to the structure of the parlor, the entrance was facing the back of the chair, so Hyeonu could only see the man’s back.

‘An old man?’

He could see white hair all over the man’s head.
Hyeonu walked slowly and stood to the right of the chair. Just then, a voice flowed out from the man who was sitting down: “I don’t know why you are going that way…
Earl Gang Hyeonu.”

Hyeonu hurriedly turned his head at the familiar voice and looked at the man.

‘Suped?’

The man’s face was one Hyeonu found familiar. Suped, Mason’s master and a great magician of the empire—it was him.

“Suped, why have you come to Etono? Shouldn’t you be doing magic research in Senu?” Hyeonu couldn’t hide his surprised expression.
A completely unexpected person had appeared.

“It is only natural to run whenever His Majesty calls.
In comparison, research is something I can always do,” Suped answered with an expression that was full of a sense of mission.

‘He is a fanatic,’ Hyeonu thought as he felt the answer that emerged was an expected one.

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In the first place, Lebron was the weird one.
Most NPCs reacted this way; they had absolute loyalty to the emperor. Suped showed signs of drawing out his words, so Hyeonu cut him off and got to the point: “I was told you came with an imperial message.”

“Here is the imperial message.
I want you to tell me what it is about.” Suped gave Hyeonu the letter from the emperor. He didn’t know its contents as the emperor’s message was only meant for Hyeonu. Seeing it first wasn’t polite to the emperor.

“I understand.
I’ll let you know right away.” Hyeonu nodded and accepted the imperial message. Then he unsealed it.

‘Is this an imperial message or a letter?

-Earl Gang Hyeonu.

The beginning of the imperial message was really simple.
Rather than an imperial edict, it was more like a letter.

-The moment you see this imperial edict, tell Suped to stop studying magic in Senu and to study the environment of the demon world.

Hyeonu read the contents and frowned. This wasn’t an edict but a pure errand. He made Hyeonu do what he could have done himself, but even so, Hyeonu had to follow it.
Suped was going to read the imperial message anyway.

“Suped.” Hyeonu began fulfilling the emperor’s order.

Rather than reading the imperial message, Suped turned to Hyeonu who called him.
“What is it?”

“This is the emperor’s command.
Immediately stop studying magic in Senu and study the environment of the demon world.”

“What? Stop researching? Really?!” Suped asked again and again as if he was very surprised by Hyeonu’s words.

Hyeonu nodded.
He had simply read what was written in the imperial message.

“It’s true.
Read the first page here for yourself.” Hyeonu held out the written edict and pointed to where the phrase was written.

Suped read the sentence where Hyeonu’s finger was placed.
It was a short sentence, so it was quick to read.

“There’s no way.
How can His Majesty…” Suped sank down into the chair.

Hyeonu offered some words of consolation to Suped: “Don’t be too sad.
You can continue the Senu research after returning from the demon world.
The research in the demon world might even help you a lot.
Maybe you will be able to get research results that will go down in the history of the empire.”

‘Perhaps…
if things work out.’

The consolation that wasn’t filled with Hyeonu’s sincerity seemed to work on Suped, and the stiff expression on his face eased somewhat.

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“Yes, the demon world might help me a lot with my magic,” Suped said.

Hyeonu took his eyes away from comforting Suped and continued reading the imperial message.

-You seem to be good at your work, so I’m very satisfied. You really brought that guy, Lebron, into the demon world, so I’ve been in the best mood recently. Come to the imperial palace in a week. I have a present for you.

Hyeonu’s expression distorted the more he read.
There were many compliments, but in the end, the main point was that the emperor had summoned Hyeonu to stand before him within a week.

‘Am I his subordinate or his slave? He keeps telling me to come and go.’

In fact, he wasn’t a slave, but it was right that he was a subordinate.
The emperor was the master of the empire, and Hyeonu was an earl of the empire.

‘I don’t know what will happen…
Should I leave this place?’

Etono was changing every day. Hundreds of rankers moved to Etono daily, and several large guilds had settled here. No one could anticipate how Lebron and John Blake would move.
He felt too anxious to leave Etono alone when there were these bombs.

‘By the way, one week? If he wants to summon me, he can do it now…’

Hyeonu cocked his head. It wasn’t immediately clear what the one week the emperor gave him meant. The emperor was the representation of a human bulldozer.
He had a personality where he always wanted to finish things right away.

Just then, Suped spoke to Hyeonu, “What does it say after that?” 

He was curious about the contents of the imperial message.

“His Majesty must miss me.
He told me to stop by the imperial palace to see him.”

“It is an enviable thing.
His Majesty is calling you directly.”

Suped showed no signs of envy at all despite saying he was envious. Rather, he had an expression of pity.
Loyalty to the emperor was obviously a different story from wanting to deal with the emperor’s orders.

“By the way…
is that all? Is there anything else?”

“Yes, that’s it…” Hyeonu stopped and hurriedly glanced through the imperial message again.
It was because he remembered there was something black under the part where his fingers had covered.

-I will visit the city in a month. Did you say it was called Etono? I hope you come back after a week of preparation.

Hyeonu’s expression stiffened.