Ranker's Return

Reina, who was now a streamer instead of a professional gamer, stared into the air and took a deep breath.

‘Wake up, Reina. It isn’t just once or twice.’

She had experienced this many things, but she still wasn’t used to it. Reina took a few more breaths before calmly stepping forward. The place she was heading to was a place full of ornate buildings.

The imperial palace of the Yusma Empire—this was Reina’s destination.

A guard of the imperial palace recognized Reina and greeted her, “I welcome Viscount Reina to the imperial palace.”

“Hey, this person. What do you mean by viscount? She is the empress-to-be.”

“Is that so? Did the empress-to-be come to see His Majesty today?”

The guards joked mischievously like they were used to interacting with Reina.

Reina felt her face turn red at the guards’ joke. She had heard this joke over and over, but she still wasn’t used to it.

A guard noticed Reina’s reaction and elbowed the side of the guard standing next to him. “These people, what are you doing instead of guiding her quickly? His Majesty is waiting.”

“I can go alone.” Reina shook her hand at the guards and quickly entered the interior of the imperial palace.

Reina was able to regain her composure once the guards were out of sight. ‘What empress-to-be...?’

It was ridiculous. She and Hyeonu didn’t have that type of relationship. They weren’t even dating, let alone married.

‘I’ll have to move soon.’

It was winter in South Korea. Everything stopped there.

‘I don’t have to do anything any longer...’

As a retired pro gamer, she now had nothing forced to do in her daily routine. All she had to do was stream around two or three times a week. However, streaming was possible wherever there was a cube. It was something she could do even with a single smartphone. There was no need to do it in New York.

While Reina was making plans to move in her mind, she arrived in front of Hyenou’s office.

“Don’t come in. Go back the way you came.” Hyeonu’s order to leave came from inside the office just then.

“It is me,” Reina said without panicking.

“Reina? Come in, before that madman comes,” Hyeonu shouted urgently the moment he confirmed that the owner of the energy was Reina.

“I’m coming in.” Reina opened the door to the office and quickly entered.

“Welcome, Reina. Sit on this side.” Hyeonu pointed to the chair next to him. It was usually a chair for Tang-E and Gom-E, but today it was a dedicated seat for Reina.

Reina sat down on the chair without hesitation. Then a purple bear popped out of nowhere and took a seat on her lap.

“It has been a while, pretty human.” The purple bear, Gom-E, waved his paw toward Reina.

“Gom-E is still cute.” Reina smiled as she stroked Gom-E’s head.

“Still? I have become cuter.” Gom-E’s cheeks puffed up and he flew toward Reina’s face.

“Stop it. It is time to work.” Hyeonu moved his magic power to knock Gom-E down. The soaring bear once again fell back onto Reina’s lap.

“Damn Master. I just do work every day.” Gom-E looked at Hyeonu and pretended to swing his paws.

“Little Brother, put up with it. You are the only one who will lose if you mess around.” Tang-E popped out from Hyeonu’s left just then and climbed up onto the desk. Tang-E had given up from the beginning. He realized that denying reality didn’t make a difference. Rather, he accepted that it was right to overcome the adversity in front of him.

“It is sharing pain. Don’t you know? There is a saying that shared sorrow is halved. There are four of us, so it is a halved half.” Hyeonu shook his head at Gom-E and piled up papers in front of Tang-E.

Tang-E saw the pile of papers in front of him and reflexively scolded Hyeonu, “Damn Master, damn Master. A master who will only work for the rest of his life and die.”

“Yes, let’s put a stamp here for the rest of our lives. What journey is a journey, and what Bung Bung Island is Bung Bung Island?” Hyeonu showed no emotional agitation at Tang-E’s words.

It was a conversation that had already been repeated for months. He had only been angry for a day or two.

“Have you thought about what you are going to do today? Now is the time for people to say that they are bored,” Hyeonu said to Reina to change his mood.

“Starting today, I will try to communicate more with the viewers. I think there is still a lot that the viewers want to know,” Reina replied.

The content that Reina prepared was nothing special. It was just a Q&A with the viewers. However, she was doing it with Hyeonu rather than alone.

‘It is an excellent decision.’ Hyeonu smiled and nodded. The content that Reina mentioned was suitable for her to do. It was ordinary, but the viewers always had a demand for such content.

“Then let’s get started.”

***

-Reina, Reina.

-How many live streams is this?

-Don’t overdo it. You just did it the day before yesterday.

-That was a long time ago. I want to see her every day.

The moment Reina turned on the live stream, a fairly large number of viewers entered before the notification even appeared. It was natural as Reina had announced her retirement only a short time ago. This was the time when topics about her were in full swing.

“Hello everyone. I am Reina.” Reina glanced at the rapidly rising chat window and waved to the viewers.

‘Too fast...’

The chat window was still moving quickly. It was to the point where she couldn’t adapt.

‘I have to adapt to it soon.’

She was no longer the pro gamer Reina but the streamer Reina. Amongst the flooding chat messages, she had to be able to choose and read only the funniest things.

-Isn’t this a familiar background?

-How many hours have I seen it yesterday?

Meanwhile, the viewers quickly inferred the background behind Reina.

-It is the imperial palace.

-This is Alley Leader’s office.

The viewers’ speculation quickly turned into facts. The place where Reina was sitting was somewhere they knew all too well. It was the office of Alley Leader, Arena’s strongest player and the best streamer in A-World. She was right here.

Just then, Hyeonu popped up behind Reina like a ghost. “That’s right. This is my office. No, it is a prison.”

-The first joint live stream since becoming a streamer is with Alley Leader.

-I believe you.

-As expected, there is something between the two of them right?

-Please say yes.

The viewers cheered at Hyeonu’s appearance. In fact, it was likely to be a joint stream with Hyeonu from the moment that Reina turned on the live stream in the imperial palace. There was just a difference between what was likely and what was confirmed.

“Don’t like it too much. Today’s live stream isn’t a big deal.” Hyeonu shook his head as he looked at the chat window that had exploded to the point where the word ‘overheated’ fit it.

-It isn’t a big deal?

-What are you doing?

-So what is today’s content?

-Give out the content. Give Tang-E, give Gom-E.

The viewers started to chat with Hyeonu the moment he finished speaking.

“Hey, don’t ask that from me now. There is nothing I can do about it.” Hyeonu shook his hands with a stiff face. He no longer had any content that was ahead of the crowd. Now he was repeatedly showing what he had been doing.

-No, that’s why you should stream more often. I have nothing to do anyway.

-Give Tang-E.

-Give Gom-E as well.

-You should play the arena more often.

-Yes, how about reviving Alley Leader Academy? Isn’t it time for season three?

The viewers didn’t want much from Hyeonu. They already knew that Hyeonu had shown them a lot. Thus, they only wanted one thing—for him to stream more often and for longer. That was all.

“Ah, it is up to here. This isn’t my live stream, so I will be doing some work.” Hyeonu saw that the chat window was starting to be flooded with his name, so he quickly closed his mouth.

‘It is Reina’s live stream...’

It was not a good thing for the viewers’ attention to be solely focused on him.

“Um... Why don’t you do your work a bit later?” Reina understood Hyeonu’s consideration and smiled at him. She didn’t care about that at all. It was because she wasn’t alone in today’s content.

Hyeonu’s eyes widened as he asked, “Huh? What do you mean?”

‘Isn’t she answering questions?’

He didn’t understand it.

Reina clearly said she would be having a Q&A with her viewers for the content today. Yet she needed him?

‘Ah!’

“Am I receiving the questions as well?” Hyeonu asked. There was only one situation. It was a time to communicate with the viewers, but it wasn’t just for Reina. It was also for Hyeonu.

Reina smiled and answered Hyeonu, “To be precise, today I am in the role of a reporter. I will be asking you on behalf of the viewers.”

‘I think I understand now.’ Hyeonu finally realized when Reina turned on her live stream here.

Reina would come from time to time to talk to Tang-E, Gom-E, and Hyeonu even if she wasn’t streaming. He was so familiar with this that he had forgotten.

“Ah... Is that so? Then let’s get started right away.” Hyeonu nodded and took the right posture.

-What? Is it question and answer time today?

-Guys, turn on your notepad.

-Ask anything you want to ask.

-Are there any pushovers who will ask about something weird without noticing?

The viewers noticed today’s content after the brief conversation between Hyeonu and Reina. Then they immediately started to steer public opinion to one side.

-Are you dating Reina?

-Are you still just like that?

-Tell us the truth!!

-No more lies!

The chat window was quickly filled with questions about Hyeonu and Reina. Hyeonu and Reina didn’t even have time to touch on them.

“We aren’t dating. We are good friends,” Hyeonu answered the questions in order to calm the viewers. However, this was pouring oil rather than water onto a blazing fire.

-What? Just friends?

-Friends friends?

-It is outrageous.

The viewers were outraged. Hyeonu’s words were the same as before. Nothing had changed. Thus, things became even hotter.

-How many more times do you have to be caught before you admit it?

-There are already rumors that Reina is called the empress in the imperial palace...

Everyone knew that the relationship between the two of them wasn’t ordinary.

“No matter what you say, I can’t give you a different answer right now. I can’t say that we are dating when we aren’t dating just because of your expectations,” Hyeonu said with a slightly stiff expression.

“Hyeonu is right. Just because you guys say this doesn’t mean that something will happen. So... let me ask another question.” Reina helped Hyeonu lower the temperature of the chat window.

‘Are there any other topics?’ Reina quickly skimmed through the chat window. ‘If it is this... it’s fine.’

She found a pearl in the waves of chat messages that disappeared in an instant.

“Hyeonu.”

“What is it...?”

“Can you tell an old story? I think a lot of people are wondering about it.”

“An old story?”

“It is a story from the days of meleegod.”

The question that Reina found was regarding something from Hyeonu’s past. It was meleegod.