Ranker's Return Chapter 468

It had been a day since Lebron arrived in Phinis. Many things had happened in the meantime. The most important of these things was the visit of New World and other large guilds to Phinis. There wasn’t just one or two but dozens of them, and this wasn’t the number of people but guilds. The number of people was almost in the thousands.

‘I don’t know yet.’

Hyeonu looked at the players gathered in various spots and smiled. The players were still unaware of the type of place the demon world was and how important magic power recovery potions were. They didn’t know anything at all.

‘I have to tell Hyung-nim about it now.’

The busy mood made it seem like the players would be using the magic circle to move to the demon world immediately. He had to speak to Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu before it was too late so that they would be able to cope with this. Hyeonu quickly moved to New World’s gathering spot.

New World always stood out everywhere. Their gathering spot was a place where the proportion of people dressed in white was far higher than that of other guilds.“Hyung-nim, did you come?” Hyeonu greeted the man who was dressed in the most gorgeous clothes.

“Dongsaeng, you came. It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you? I’m a bit upset.” Kim Seokjung welcomed Hyeonu. Beside him, Gang Junggu was waving.

“You should’ve said it first if there was something as interesting as this. Isn’t it too much to let people know through your stream? I’m disappointed, disappointed.”

The two people played around right from the start, but this didn’t last long. They saw that Hyeonu had quite a serious gaze, and their own expressions turned serious too.

“Is there something wrong? Why do you look like this?” Gang Junggu asked in a low voice.

“I have something to say about the demon world,” Hyeonu also lowered his voice like Gang Junggu had done. It wasn’t serious enough to do this, but he wanted to match Gang Junggu for a more dramatic reaction.

“What is it? What do you know?”

“How much money do you have in New World? I’m talking about gold that you can use right now.”

“Gold? I still have some. We have many divine classes like priests and monks, so we’ve saved up some money.”

This was the greatest strength and feature of New World. They had a much higher percentage of divine classes such as priests, monks, and paladins than that of other guilds. As such, they had a lower consumption rate of physical recovery medicine, and this allowed them to save money.

“Don’t you invest the gold in equipment instead?” Hyeonu stabbed at Gang Junggu’s weak spot.

Gang Junggu tried to manage his expression while nodding. “Yes, it isn’t as much as I thought. Why are you asking?”

“The price of magic power recovery potions will increase. It will at least double. The higher the rating of the potion, the more it will rise.”

The listening Kim Seokjung pushed his face in front of Hyeonu’s and asked, “What does that mean? I think the price of potions right now has already gone up a lot.”

Just like what Kim Seokjung said, the price of potions had already risen quite a bit since some time ago. It was a natural phenomenon for the price of things to go up and down. However, this time it wasn’t a natural fluctuation because it had already risen by more than 20% compared to the previous prices.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Hyeonu continued to speak without any surprise: “If you go to the demon world, your stats will be limited. It means hunting will become harder. There are also no suitable stores there. Moreover, you have to use the magic circle to come back here.”

Magic power was constantly needed. It was necessary for traveling back and forth between the middle world and the demon world, and it was also necessary when hunting.

“In particular, the players will have already poured out all their magic power here to go to the demon world. So how will they hunt? Their stats will be limited and magic power will be exhausted. They naturally can’t waste time, so they will choose to drink magic power recovery potions like water. It is inevitable,” Hyeonu explained.

Only a limited number of people could move to the demon world through the magic circle at one time.

‘There will be 100 people, 200 at most.’

They had to be near the magic circle to actually use it. However, the magic circle carved in Phinis was of a square shape, and it was roughly 7 meters long. It meant no matter what they did, there was a fixed number of people who could use the magic circle.

“If so, the price of potions will rise unconditionally. We have to hurry. We also need a lot of magic power recovery potions.” Gang Junggu nodded.

He beckoned to a guild member behind him and whispered instructions in his ear. Then Gang Junggu turned back to Hyeonu and thanked him: “Thank you for telling us this. We can save some money thanks to you.”

‘30 million gold… Roughly that much?’ Gang Junggu thought. The amount Gang Junggu invested was beyond the imagination of ordinary people. 30 million gold—Gang Junggu’s way of thinking was on a completely different level.

“Hyung-nim, I listened to Hyeonu and invested three parts.”

“Well done. It should be at least to this degree.”

Gang Junggu and Kim Seokjung had their own conversation. They were in an unknown world.

‘Three parts? Based on the word ‘investment’, is it money? So how much is it?’ Hyeonu wondered inwardly. It didn’t seem to be 3,000 gold, and 30,000 gold was too little. Kim Seokjung was rich. It wasn’t an ordinary level of richness but a vast wealth.

‘Then 300,000? No, three million.’

Hyeonu speculated in advance the identity of ‘three parts’. Three million gold was a large amount of money.

“Does it matter if you invest that much, Hyung-nim? If there is a problem…” Hyeonu spoke in a worried voice. No, he was actually worried.

“A problem? Why will there be a problem? This isn’t enough to cause a problem. It’s just three parts?” Gang Junggu was laughing.

30 million gold wasn’t a lot of money for him or Kim Seokjung. It was a drop in the ocean compared to their wealth. Of course, they would feel bad if they lost it, but it would be fine after they had a drink.

“Junggu is right. Don’t worry.” Kim Seokjung also showed the same reaction as Gang Junggu.

‘There will be no damage anyway…’ Kim Seokjung thought. After hearing Hyeonu’s explanation, Kim Seokjung had a feeling that there was no way this could be ruined—absolutely not.

“If it doesn’t work, we will just use the potions. We have to buy them anyway.”

In the worst-case scenario, they could just use the potions. Then there wouldn’t be any great damage.

“Thank you for thinking so,” Hyeonu said.

Gang Junggu placed a hand on Hyeonu’s shoulder and pressed hard against it. “Shouldn’t we be the one saying thank you, Hyeonu?”

“How about releasing your hand first, Hyung-nim?” Hyeonu strived to remove Gang Junggu’s arm.

The two people were struggling when a man approached New World.

“Mr. Jin Sijong, can you give me a bit of your time?”

“Time?”

“I think we need to have a discussion about using the magic circle.”

“Fine. Guide me then.”

Kim Seokjung left his spot, and Hyeonu and Gang Junggu followed. There were already dozens of people gathered in the place where the man led them to.

“Jin Sijong, you’ve come.”

There were familiar faces among them. It was natural. They were always there when large guilds were named. There were new guilds that emerged like comets, but they were greatly outnumbered by the established guilds.

“It has been a while, everyone. Have you been well?” Hyeonu walked to where familiar faces—Liu Shei, Mascherano, and Reina—were gathered and waved.

“It has been a while, Alley Leader.” 

“It has been a while, Alley Leader.”

Liu Shei and Mascherano greeted him in the same manner like it had been agreed upon beforehand.

“Hello, Alley Leader.” Reina’s greeting wasn’t much different.

Hyeonu nodded and talked to them: “Everyone, have you been doing well? Kowloon is still going well… The two of you are competing for first and second in the league.”

Mascherano waved his hand at Hyeonu’s words. “We can’t compare to you, Alley Leader. You are playing in an unrivaled manner in South Korea… I know you’ve already won.”

Even if Red Bull America and New York Warriors were fighting for first and second place in the US, it was by a small difference. Depending on the outcome of the last match, they could finish first or drop to third or fourth. The US was that competitive a league.

“If there isn’t a big incident, one of you will win.”

“Alley Leader said this, so I’m relieved.” Mascherano smiled and nodded. He knew it was flattery, but it still felt good. However, his bright expression didn’t last long. Mascherano’s smile shattered like broken glass after hearing Hyeonu’s next words.

“New York Warriors is currently first, right? Personally, I don’t want the rankings to change. I hope that the New York Warriors will win,” Hyeonu said with a smile. The words Hyeonu just said didn’t have much meaning, but Mascherano didn’t feel like laughing anymore.

‘I don’t feel good when he smiles…’ Hyeonu thought.

Mascherano looked better with a crying expression than a laugh. This was Hyeonu’s opinion.

There was just someone who heard Hyeonu’s words and thought differently, ‘Is he supporting me?’

It was Reina. She thought Hyeonu’s words weren’t directed at Mascherano but were meant as a cheer for her. “Thank you for your words, really.”

Hyeonu involuntarily stepped back at Reina’s words of gratitude. 

“Ah, yes. First place is forever first place, right? Mascherano is second. I don’t know why, but your face matches well with second place.” He attacked Mascherano to hide his embarrassment.

Hyeonu continued to speak to prevent others from talking: “Once the Winter League is over, isn’t there some time until Arena Week? I will go to America to see everyone then.”

None of them actually went through Hyeonu’s mind.

“Ah! Mascherano will be busy without an Arena Week ticket. Then I will meet you all except for Mascherano. Wouldn’t it be better not to see him at Arena Week?”

However, his words were still really savage. He poured out many vitriolic remarks that were normally only aimed at Yeongchan.

“How… these words…” Mascherano heard Hyeonu’s merciless rant and knelt down with a bruised image.

“Okay, let’s meet without Mascherano.” Reina didn’t care about Mascherano and naturally accepted Hyeonu’s offer.

The two people smiled and shook hands.