Ranker’s Return

Chapter 634

At this time, Hyeonu’s pure energy was at the level of being able to break the city wall. The broken stone masses became sand.

“You!”

In the meantime, a black shape popped out. The identity of the black shape was the demon who previously had the conversation with Hyeonu. It was the one Hyeonu thought was an earl.

“You aren’t dead?” Hyeonu’s eyes widened. The demon he thought had died was still alive.

“Who are you making fun of?” The black skin of the demon turned red. At the same time, a black aura appeared around his body.

“You are a bit better than Earl Kalea,” Hyeonu commented, pouring cold water on the momentum of this demon. Hearing that, the demon stopped as he was about to rush to Hyeonu. 

“Why? Why aren’t you rushing over? Are you going to run away now? Are you scared because I killed Earl Kalea? Huh?” Hyeonu chatted non-stop. He scratched at the nerves of the demon.

“How did you kill Earl Kalea?” the demon asked. 

“I killed him just like that. He died from just one blow. It was wasteful for him to have the title of an earl.”

The movement of the angry demon stopped. It was due to these words that Hyeonu said—’one blow’.

“Don’t lie!” the demon shouted with an incredulous expression. 

Hyeonu laughed and replied, “Why would I lie? You keep treating me as a liar… That is just what you want to believe.”

Without the demon noticing, Hyeonu activated his skills—Fighting Energy Emission and Area Proclamation.

This was a combination he used all the time. It reduced the enemy’s stats and blocked their movements. Now one more thing was added—Dragon Fear.

“You can experience for yourself whether my words are false,” Hyeonu said.

Right after that, sharp reptilian eyes appeared behind Hyeonu’s back. Under this overwhelming fear, the demon stopped thinking for a moment. Hyeonu didn’t miss this opportunity and immediately used Mysterious Sky Steps. The distance between Hyeonu and the demon narrowed rapidly. As if the ground had folded together, Hyeonu appeared right in front of the demon.

The Mysterious Sky Sword made a light sound as it cut through the air. However, the result wasn’t lighthearted. The head of the wide-eyed demon flew high into the air. Then it fell to the ground and rolled around.

[The demon world viscount, Cabril, has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[Demon nobles killed 19/???]

Hyeonu confirmed the messages in front of him and passed by the corpse of the demon to cross the broken city walls.

[Demon world city recorded 3/10.]

In an instant, this message window appeared in front of Hyeonu, and he stopped walking straight away. Then he turned around and returned to where Cabril’s body was.

‘Where is it?’

Hyeonu’s eyes moved rapidly and stopped in one place. He slowly bent down before raising his body. There was a small ring in his hand. Hyeonu naturally put the ring in his inventory before approaching Reina and whispering, “Let’s go before they come to their senses, Reina.”

Reina, who was stiff like a statue, barely came to her senses and nodded when Hyeonu spoke.

‘This is why he can travel around the cities of the demon world…’ Reina was shocked by Hyeonu’s overwhelming force.

Hyeonu didn’t have a big problem even when facing a demon noble in a battle where powerful fighting energy and killing intent broke out.

‘It might also be because he is covering his face…’

Hyeonu’s face was covered, so he couldn’t be recognized as a human at first glance. Hyeonu stepped back to where Tang-E was and gave an order to Tang-E: “Tang-E, let’s hit them coolly before leaving.”

“Understood, Master dude. I’ve been waiting for this.” Tang-E nodded.

“Spit!” He then spat on the soles of both paws and bumped them together.

“Where did you learn that from?” Hyeonu burst out laughing at Tang-E’s absurd behavior. Still, this was only temporary. Hyeonu marveled at the amount of magic power that Tang-E was moving. The magic power flowing to his wish bead was unusual.

‘Look at this?’

The amount of magic power that Tang-E could control had increased to a greater extent than before. The hypothesis of ‘either Tang-E hadn’t shown his combat power so far or he has developed greatly in a short time’ arose.

‘The development… nothing has changed.’

Hyeonu quickly opened Tang-E’s status window and skill window before closing it. He thought maybe something had changed, but nothing much had changed. It was just the skill proficiency increasing by one or two stages.

‘If he has become so strong because of that small change…’

Hyeonu would’ve already reached the level of the emperor and LeBron by now. It was impossible to do that just by advancing one or two stages.

“He can hide some things, but he can’t do this…”

Reina heard Hyeonu’s mutters and asked him, “What is being hidden? Who is hiding it?”

“Tang-E hid his skills. It wasn’t this much originally…”

“Really? He seemed very strong right from the start…”

Reina couldn’t understand Hyeonu’s words. Tang-E had always been strong. In particular, his show of power that she had experienced personally in the siege was enormous.

‘Yet he was hiding some?’ 

Reina’s question wasn’t resolved, but there was no one to answer her. Hyeonu was staring at Tang-E. Tang-E continued to inject magic power into the wish bead sandwiched between his paws.

‘I have to pour everything out,’ he thought. 

Hyeonu would take care of the aftermath anyway. Tang-E was going to use all the magic power he had without leaving anything behind. It was nice to not be able to move. Hyeonu would carry him. It was good to fall down. Hyeonu would take care of him. So Tang-E didn’t care about the consequences. He was just going to release a big blow as coolly as Hyeonu said to do.

‘The one I’m most confident in…’

The magic Tang-E was most confident in was Lightning. It was the one he used most and his personal favorite. Lightning falling from the sky was always fascinating.

‘Today is different.’

Tang-E was currently preparing something different from his previous Lightning magic. The Lightning he commonly used created clouds in the sky or lightning that would fall from the sky to the ground even if there were no clouds. However, neither of those was the case today.

Tang-E’s wish bead started to turn black. When the black part was much darker than the original color, Tang-E moved. He thrust his paw forward. The black wish bead flew through the shattered walls of Tendmul. There was a deafening roar that seemed to tear at their eardrums.

At the same time, a huge golden color wrapped in black moved through the interior of the city. The roar lasted a long time. Once the sound subsided, a small bead flew from the city back to Tang-E. It was the wish bead. The wish bead that Tang-E sent out had come back.

Tang-E accepted it with his paw. Then he collapsed in place. Before Tang-E hit the ground, Hyeonu appeared and hugged Tang-E. Hyeonu carried Tang-E and slowly left the walls of Tendmul.

***

“By the way, I have a question. Hyeonu, can you tell me what quest you are doing now?” Reina asked Hyeonu while they were on the back of the rhino demonic creature.

Hyeonu needed to take great risks for a simple hunt. He had to hunt in such a dangerous place. For Hyeonu and Tang-E, it was beneficial to hunt in places that were far from the cities but were full of demons and demonic creatures. Such places had less risks than the cities.

“I need to occupy ten cities in the demon world. That way, we can start a war in the demon world. Occupying a city isn’t very dangerous to do, but this time was a bit special,” Hyeonu replied while hugging Tang-E in his arms.

To be honest, there would be nothing dangerous if it were just Hyeonu and Tang-E. It would have worked out easily if Hyeonu pretended to be a demon noble and entered the city. However, it was impossible for Reina to enter. It was also annoying to leave Reina and Tang-E alone as he had done in Penn.

‘Next time, I’ll have to stop by the city before Reina logs in.’

From the next city, Hyeonu would only hunt near the city with Reina and would clear the quest when he was alone.

“So it is because of me,” Reina said. 

After hearing Hyeonu’s answer, she finally remembered that Hyeonu had said he had no hindrances when he moved alone.

“It isn’t because of you, Reina. I just think it was strange this time.” Hyeonu shook his head.

It had been Hyeonu’s choice to accept Reina into the party. If Reina were the problem, it was the same as saying there was a problem with Hyeonu for accepting her.

“Then I’m glad.” Reina looked at Hyeonu and smiled.

***

Hyeonu was in the midst of preparing to go out. It was different from usual. He was making great efforts in dressing up. He didn’t wear a down jacket over sweatpants but a suit and a coat. After finishing all the preparations, Hyeonu looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. He tried to maintain a smile that was as natural as possible.

“Are you going home?” Yeongchan asked this when he saw it. It was extremely rare for Hyeonu to dress up like this.

‘He is only like this when going to see his mother.’

In particular, Yeongchan had only seen Hyeonu practice smiling like this twice.

“Yes, I’m going home. Now that they’ve returned home, I should go and see my parents.”

Yeongchan’s guess was right. Hyeonu was so well-dressed in order to go home.

“I have a lot to say to my father.”

“Yes, then go safely. Don’t drag your feet, dude,” Yeongchan spoke playfully to Hyeonu.

“It isn’t me. You are the one who takes a long time to get ready.” Hyeonu left the house with a laugh.

‘How should I say it…’

Hyeonu was worried as he walked through the cold parking lot with no signs of people. He was thinking about how to explain the matter of the Jung father and son to his father.

‘If I tell him the truth… It is possible.’

This was nothing to gain or lose weight over. He just had to tell it as it was. That would be enough. Hyeonu’s red Porsche let out a loud engine sound. He quickly exited the parking lot and sped down an empty road. The place where Hyeonu’s family lived wasn’t far from Yeongchan’s officetel where Hyeonu currently stayed.

Yeongchan’s officetel was in Nonhyeon-dong, while Hyeonu’s home was in Bangbae-dong.

“Mom, it’s me,” Hyeonu said as he pressed on the intercom at the gate.

“Hyeonu? Come on in. It is cold outside. Why did you come?” Hyeonu’s mother greeted Hyeonu, who arrived late in the evening. Unlike her blunt tone, her face was full of love for Hyeonu.

“I just came back from a foreign country, so I have to report in. I came back well.” Hyeonu bowed deeply toward his mother.

Hyeonu’s father, Gang Seokjung, appeared and lectured Hyeonu, “You have to act with your hands, not with words. I don’t know who taught you…” 

Gang Seokjun’s body had recovered a lot. He had gained more weight than when he woke from his coma, and his body was gradually becoming full of vitality.

“I don’t have anything for you, but I brought something for Mom.” Hyeonu smiled at Gang Seokjung. Then he pulled out a small box and handed it to his mother. “This is a gift for you.”

The box contained a brilliant golden bracelet.

“This child… Why did you buy such a thing? You could’ve just come without it.”

Unlike her words, Hyeonu’s mother had already held out her left hand to Hyeonu. It was an act that indicated for him to put it on for her. Hyeonu smiled and placed the bracelet on his mother’s wrist. “Mom, I’m hungry. Can you give me something to eat? I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

“Really? Wait a minute.”

Hyeonu’s mother hurriedly disappeared into the kitchen at her son’s words that he hadn’t eaten dinner. Even if she couldn’t cook for him, she wanted to prepare some snacks.

“I have two things to talk about with you,” Hyeonu said to his father. 

“Two?” Gang Seokjun did not even blink at Hyeonu’s sudden words and just looked at Hyeonu.

“I’m talking about Cheolho ahjussi.”

“Cheolho? If it is about him…”

“There are many backstories. It didn’t happen by chance.”

Hyeonu’s meaningful words caused Gang Seokjun’s expression to shake.

“Tell me more. What happened?”