Ranker's Return

Chapter 697

Hyeonu proceeded calmly with the test after the words that attracted explosive attention from viewers. After a light spar, he taught the participants what to fix and proceeded again. During the second spar, he persistently targeted the vulnerabilities he pointed out the first time and evaluated how they compensated for this weakness.

‘There isn’t a single person who fixed it in a short time.’

Unfortunately, not a single one of the first seven people made up for what they were lacking at a speed that was to Hyeonu’s liking.

‘If it was someone who could fix it quickly, they would’ve joined a team earlier.’

Hyeonu realized his desire was greedy and called the next contestant’s name: “Choi Bongjun-ssi, please get ready.”

The eighth sparring opponent was Choi Bongjun. Hyeonu already had no expectations for Choi Bongjun. He had heard some things about the latter, so it couldn’t be helped even though he didn’t want to have any preconceived notions.

‘I heard stories of his past and confirmed the arena ranking…’

Choi Bongjun's arena ranking was considerably lower than his level, and there was the mention of how he had no willingness to improve. The combination of these two things indicated that Choi Bongjun’s skills would be very poor.

“Yes, I understand,”Choi Bongjun briefly replied like he didn’t know Hyeonu’s heart and stepped forward with his weapon.

-He can’t be the best, right?

-Can’t he do it with his level?

-???His arena ranking is the lowest of the nine.

-Ah, sorry.I came in late, so I didn’t see it.

-Isn’t the ranking of those who didn’t make it to the fourth class advancement around 7,900?Meanwhile, he is level 310, and his ranking exceeds 10,000.

-??????It is the level of control.

The viewers had no expectations for Choi Bongjun. This was understandable. Jeong Cheolmin was a platinum ranker within the top 10,000 rankings while he only had his third class advancement. On the other hand, Choi Bongjun was 12,381th in the gold level even after completing his fourth class advancement. Of course, he was the top among the gold medallists, but it was clear that it was a very bad ranking compared to his level.

“As you have seen seven times, the sparring proceeds lightly. You don’t have to be nervous.” Hyeonu frowned slightly when he saw Choi Bongjun’s eyes shaking like an earthquake occurred in them.

‘Fortunately, I am wearing a mask.’

Of course, neither the viewers nor Choi Bongjun could see such an expression due to Alley Leader’s iconic mask. No one noticed that Hyeonu was in a bad mood because his voice wasn’t different from usual.

“I understand.” Choi Bongjun nodded and pulled the wooden sword in his hand toward his body.

The reason why Choi Bongjun was holding a wooden sword rather than a sword was due to fairness. It didn’t matter what weapon the nine participants used. No matter what weapon they used, they wouldn’t be able to deal with the +12 Mysterious Sky Sword. There wasn’t much difference no matter what they used.

However, the viewers watching this didn’t know it. If a person with a good weapon had a good result, they would inevitably associate it with the weapon. Hyeonu thought of this and came up with the wooden sword during the sparring. It was intended to match the conditions as much as possible. In any case, the viewers didn’t care about armor.

“Hap!” Choi Bongjun rushed to Hyeonu with a shout. It was a charge without using any skills.

‘It is a natural choice because he saw it before,’ Hyeonu thought. The reason why Choi Bongjun moved like this was due to the seven spars he saw previously. Out of the seven spars, there was no one who hadn’t used charging skills against Hyeonu.

Beginning from the very first spar, the player charged toward Hyeonu using their skills. The result was obvious. He rolled around on the ground like Lee Hoon had done a few days ago. This was repeated over and over, and starting from the second spar, they never used a charging skill recklessly against Hyeonu. They realized it was a very ignorant act.

‘Let’s see how it comes out.’

Hyeonu put away his preconceived notions of Choi Bongjun. It was more important to see and experience it in person than to hear about it. In addition, there might’ve been a change in attitude that he didn’t know about.

A lot of time had passed since then.

Hyeonu silently waited for Choi Bongjun to attack as he had done so far with the others. The spar was a test on both the offense and defense of the participants. The moment Hyeonu went on the offensive, the participants would have no chance to attack. They had to fend off endless attacks from Hyeonu. Therefore, he naturally handed over the right to attack first, and he would attack later in the spar.

‘What is this?’

The moment the spar began, Hyeonu barely managed to put up with the surprise that struck him. It was due to the way that Choi Bongjun attacked. In short, it was a very monotonous style. Both the fake-out and strength control were very awkward. To be honest, his strength was very ambiguous. It was better than that of most players, but it was too disappointing to say he was at the top.

Hyeonu stopped Choi Bongjun’s rapid sword while questioning inwardly, ‘How did he get up to near 12,000?’

Choi Bongjun’s attack skills were too lacking to be at the highest level of the gold medalists.

‘Is it the typical style where he quickly raises his arena ranking using his level?’

That was all Hyeonu could think of. Choi Bongjun's ability to fight without skills, which could be called the basis of PvP, was very poor.

“Choi Bongjun-ssi?” Hyeonu called out.

Choi Bongjun was wielding his sword in a frenzy only to stop at Hyeonu’s call. “Huh?”

Hyeonu sighed at Choi Bongjun’s behavior of stopping his actions while answering, “Relax. First of all, you aren’t the only one taking on this challenge of a spar. There are still many opportunities for Choi Bongjun-ssi.”

The opportunities Hyeonu was referring to were his skills. He was giving Choi Bongjun time to use his skills blatantly, so the latter should try them out.

‘Let’s see how strong you are.’ Hyeonu was curious about how overwhelming Choi Bongjun’s skills were to be able to raise his ranking with this level of strength.

“I understand, I’ll work hard," Choi Bongjun replied with a nod. He wasn’t an idiot; he was smart enough to grasp the hidden meaning of Hyeonu’s words. Choi Bongjun's face was solemn as he held the wooden sword.

"Haap!” Choi Bongjun approached Hyeonu with a shout like the beginning. However, this charge was different from the first time. It was gorgeous and very fast. Things that were difficult to coexist were coexisting. He was moving like Hyeonu. Choi Bongjun’s wooden sword was split into dozens of afterimages, and the air was filled with Choi Bongjun’s sword.

Hyeonu smiled when he saw Choi Bongjun’s attack that was filled with a threatening momentum.

‘I am speechless.’This was the first thought that popped into Hyeonu’s head when he saw Choi Bongjun’s skills. There was a reason Choi Bongjun maintained his arena ranking even though his basic skills didn’t match the ranking.

‘Let’s see his other skills.’

Hyeonu blocked Choi Bongjun’s skills moderately in a way that other players would’ve done. It was to match the rhythm. This was how Choi Bongjun could come up with the combo he was most familiar with.

‘If he doesn’t have the basics, I can’t expect a flexible usage of skills.’

Basic skills were called basic skills for a reason. It was only by having the basics that one could do more. If Hyeonu blocked Choi Bongjun’s skills using his own method…

‘He will definitely be shocked.’

Hyeonu could tell this was the case without looking. Thus, he matched with Choi Bongjun. This wasn’t for Hyeonu to see; instead, it was to show it to the viewers. It wasn’t easy for them to be aware of this problem because they weren’t dealing with Choi Bongjun directly.

‘I thought it would be blocked anyway.’Choi Bongjun smoothly connected the next skill as if he had expected the attack to be blocked. His magic power was injected into the wooden sword he held. With Choi Bongjun’s magic power in it, the wooden sword bent like it was going to break. Fortunately, the wooden sword didn't get broken.

Instead, Choi Bongjun released tremendous pure energy toward Hyeonu. Choi Bongjun’s pure energy shot forward and gathered at one point. The goal was the middle of Hyeonu’s torso—his abdomen. There was an eerie sound in the air, but Hyeonu’s eyes were calm as he watched the scene.

‘It is a good skill,’ he thought.

Choi Bongjun's skills were good. This type of instantaneous skill was useful with killing monsters and even more useful when playing PvP. The more of Choi Bongjun’s skills Hyeonu saw, the better his understanding became of Choi Bongjun’s arena ranking.

Hyeonu waved his wooden sword at Choi Bongjun’s pure energy as it reached him. Choi Bongjun’s pure energy collided with Hyeonu’s wooden sword and exploded like a balloon.

‘Now, what is next?’ Hyeonu lowered his sword and looked at Choi Bongjun as if telling him to use the next skill.

“This…” Choi Bongjun groaned as he watched his pure energy disappear in vain. Still, this was only temporary. He gritted his teeth as his expression distorted. It was ridiculous for him to be pushed helplessly.

Behind Choi Bongjun, four wooden swords appeared that looked exactly like the one he was holding. Hyeonu instinctively felt that they weren’t simple swords.

‘The momentum has changed.’

It wasn’t simply a change caused by Choi Bongjun’s sincerity toward the spar. The sword itself contained some possibility for Choi Bongjun.

‘Is it a buff skill?’

If Hyeonu’s guess was correct, Choi Bongjun’s class was a really good class. It gave him decent instant skills and his own buff skills. The skill balance was great.

‘It is a good class even if he uses it like this…’

Hyeonu guaranteed that this was the biggest reason behind Choi Bongjun’s arena ranking.

“I’ve had a good look. It is up to here for the spar,” Hyeonu said like he was notifying Choi Bongjun.

“Huh? It's over?”Choi Bongjun asked back with a puzzled expression. The end was so empty. This was too fast, even if he had run out of steam.

“It won’t be much different if we proceed further. So let’s proceed with the feedback first,”Hyeonu replied firmly with a nod. The viewers were surprised to see how hard his attitude was.

-I thought he was resolute, but this is too resolute.

-It is almost at the level of breaking it.

-What did he see from Choi Bongjun?Why is he suddenly being cut off?

Hyeonu ignored public opinion in the chat window and started to express what he felt about Choi Bongjun: “Your skills are very good. PvP and hunting—your skills aren’t skewed to either side, so the balance is very good. I can see why your ranking is 12,000.”

First came a light compliment. However, this was the end of the compliments. Hyeonu’s harsh remarks began.

"Your basic skills are far from good enough. Of course, they are excellent compared to the average level. Choi Bongjun-ssi’s goal is to be a professional gamer, right? The comparison group is different.”

As Hyeonu continued, Choi Bongjun couldn’t help his expression from becoming distorted.

“The most urgent thing for Choi Bongjun-ssi to work on are the basics. Sparring without using your class skills is required.”

Choi Bongjun couldn’t stand to keep hearing Hyeonu’s evaluation and opened his mouth to speak: "Can I say something?"