129. Ranker Announcement Ceremony (1)
Rachel.
Maintaining a relationship with her was not a bad thing for Baek Jinwoo either.
Who knew what would happen tomorrow, when the rankings got overturned, but for now she was still the world’s number one.
Also, Rachel was a ridiculously overpowered player who possessed three S-grade monsters.
‘And above all.’
She had feelings for Baek Jinwoo.
She admired him, gave it her all, and still tried not to fall behind him.
Even while fighting her in the finals, Baek Jinwoo had clearly felt that emotion.
‘I can keep her close.’
Rachel had wanted to meet him privately.
She had not called the other Five Emperors, and had invited only Baek Jinwoo.
“Is it here?”
When he arrived at the place he had been directed to, he saw a splendid villa.
A magnificent three-story house and a vast garden.
Seeing the red rose hanging on the sign, it was obvious this was a building used by Red Rose.
Step.
As he approached, clunk! The door opened automatically.
At the same time.
“You came? Over here.”
A blonde woman came into view, waving her right hand while holding a liquor bottle in her left.
Baek Jinwoo smiled amiably.
“Drinking from the middle of the day?”
“Hey…”
Rachel laughed as if dumbfounded.
“I lost so absurdly badly I can barely speak. Of course I’d want a drink.”
When Baek Jinwoo shrugged, she gestured for him to come inside the villa.
“Come in. This is the first time in nine years we’ve actually looked each other in the face and talked properly, right?”
“Yeah.”
It really hit him again.
His connection with Rachel had lasted longer than he had thought.
In Battle of Summoners, everything had been auto-translated, so it felt like they had always talked like that.
Even among the Five Emperors, Rachel was the one he had communicated with the most.
Gulp, gulp!
Rachel must have been pretty upset, because she was chugging straight from the bottle.
And yet she looked perfectly fine, so apparently she could hold her liquor better than expected.
Or maybe the alcohol content was low?
“Khh… So, did you get the MVP reward?”
“The S-grade?”
“Yeah, you were shocked, right?”
“I was. Normally, even getting one S-grade in ten years is difficult.”
“This is seriously a problem. You were already a monster, and now you’re probably going to pull yet another S-grade summon too. Seriously.”
Rachel had been grumbling jokingly when she pointed at the table in the center of the villa.
“Here.”
There was a sheet of paper lying on it.
“What’s this?”
“A promissory note issued by Yeongran Bank.”
“A promissory note?”
“Yeah, the casino payout. You really hit the jackpot this time, huh? You fight well, act well, and now you’re even good at gambling.”
Ah.
Right.
There had been a casino payout.
“It should be 11 billion won multiplied by 75.36, so 828.96 billion won, but I wrote down a clean 1 trillion won. Take it.”
“…You’re giving me more than I was supposed to get?”
“Yeah. You caught the terrorist during that casino incident, remember? Consider it part of the reward for that. And Britain has finally realized that showing goodwill toward you isn’t a bad thing either. Especially after you stepped all over me that brutally in front of the whole world… sniff.”
“……”
When Baek Jinwoo just stared at her without reacting, Rachel scratched her head.
“Tch! Anyway! I just called you because I was glad to see you. We’ve known each other a long time, but this is the first time we’ve properly greeted each other, right?”
Rachel tilted the bottle back and drained it, then held out her hand.
A gesture asking for a handshake.
Interesting.
Rachel was known for being calm, but seeing her now, she was actually pretty easygoing.
For reference, Rachel was twenty-seven… no, the new year had passed, so twenty-eight.
The same age as Baek Jinwoo.
“Yeah, good to see you.”
He took her hand.
The conversation ended up going on for quite a while.
That was because they brought up some old memories and also talked in detail about the blood alliance.
And then.
“But, you know.”
At some point, Rachel’s expression began to turn serious.
“You… four years ago… when you cleared the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials. That was you, right?”
“……”
“You had definitely cleared up to the 99th floor, and when you said you were going to attempt the 100th floor, you ignored all our messages.”
Ah.
So she hadn’t known.
‘Looks like the message saying I cleared the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials only appeared for me.’
Well.
It was not something he especially needed to hide.
“I did clear it.”
“I knew it. Then… was that what changed this world?”
“What?”
“No, no, I’m not saying that because I’m sure. It’s just a guess. Isn’t it strange? Why did the game we used to play become reality? Is there something behind it?”
‘……’
That was right.
The very thing so many scholars were researching.
Why had the world changed like this?
At present, not a single answer had been found.
It was one of the questions humanity had to solve as soon as possible.
“I think the Tower of Trials is behind it.”
Rachel murmured in a calm tone.
“To be honest, league standings don’t really matter. Ah, of course it’s better if you win, but… in the end, what really matters is climbing the Tower of Trials through the league rewards.”
“You think there’ll be something there if you climb the Tower of Trials?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what, but obviously there has to be something, right?”
Baek Jinwoo nodded.
That made sense.
Up until now, Baek Jinwoo had run forward to grow stronger so he could protect his family, while Rachel seemed to be striving to clear the Tower of Trials.
‘Well, the Tower of Trials. I’ll clear it all someday too.’
He had done it once, so why wouldn’t he be able to do it twice?
‘Just wait until I learn Devour! I’ll crush everything with Explosive Dragon!’
“My only goal is to reach the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials. My opinion differs from the others, but I think humanity absolutely has to conquer it if we want to take a step forward.”
The others?
Was she talking about the Red Rose members, or the Five Emperors?
If he was curious, he could just ask.
“Who are ‘the others’?”
“The Five Emperors.”
It was then that Rachel’s face stiffened.
Huh.
He had thought they were close, but had there been some sort of conflict?
Well, not every one of the Five Emperors had followed Rachel’s lead.
Their communication had only been out of necessity.
“Among them, Moscowman especially hates change. His position is that we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks and should just settle into reality as it is. He probably disapproves of me climbing the Tower of Trials too. He thinks I might end up exposing myself to even greater danger for no reason.”
Ahh.
Now he understood.
This was what Rachel wanted to ask.
The reason she had not invited the other Five Emperors here, and had met him alone instead, was probably because she wanted to ask that.
“Baek Jinwoo.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to conquer the Tower of Trials?”
There was only one answer he could give to that.
“Probably, someday.”
* * *
After finishing their schedule in London, the national team boarded a private plane and returned to South Korea.
To prevent an enormous crowd from gathering if news of their return got out, they arrived secretly at a military runway and quietly entered Yoobaek City.
And then.
When morning dawned in South Korea!
[Ding!]
[Settlement has been completed.]
[Based on one year of records and the results of the World League, global and domestic rankings will now be recalculated!]
[The ranking results will be updated on the Player Zone “Board”!]
At last, the rankings began to be announced across the entire world.
It was the moment people all over the world had been waiting and waiting for.
Whenever the board is updated, South Korea always announces the information through a live broadcast.
And not just South Korea. Most countries probably do the same.
World Ranking Top 100.
Domestic Ranking Top 100.
The updates begin from World Ranking 100.
Maybe it is to build anticipation among people around the world, maybe not.
They reveal them one by one, starting from 100th place at the bottom.
Each broadcasting station had dispatched professional reporters for the live coverage.
Cameras were lined up in front of the board.
“Hello! The heat from the league championship still hasn’t died down, so things are absolutely blazing right now! Let’s carry that momentum right into the world ranking announcement ceremony! How exactly will this league reshape the world rankings? The whole world is watching!”
Yoobaek City also picked one of the broadcasts to watch.
On the large beam projector, the full view of the board was displayed, and a female reporter stood there with a microphone in hand, waiting for the update.
“Alright, alright, everyone gather up!”
“Come on, gather around!”
“Oh my, Ari, you came? Come sit over here!”
After returning.
They had already finished greeting their families.
Baek Jinwoo had greeted his parents too, and they had been incredibly proud.
They were still practically dumbfounded by what their son had accomplished.
“Oh, our Jinwoo is here too?”
“I watched the league. You were amazing!”
Among the guild members’ families, the more sociable ones approached first to greet him.
Even while doing so, they were cautious, probably because he had become that much harder to approach now.
“Ha ha, thank you.”
After greeting them one by one, Baek Jinwoo sat down.
Just like the league, the ranking announcement ceremony was part of the festival.
“First, we begin with World Ranking 100!”
A black board with the numbers 1 through 100 written on it.
At the spot for rank 100, a name and country appeared.
[World Ranking 100: Ishii Makoto (Japan)]
Whoa.
So this is how it works.
Baek Jinwoo also watched the scene with curious eyes.
This was his first time in his life seeing a ranking announcement ceremony too.
The rankings appeared at roughly one every ten seconds.
[World Ranking 99: Ninomiya Atsuto (Japan)]
Japan again!
“Yes! Japan! Both of them were monsters in Japan, expected to enter the world rankings! Based on last year’s standings, Makoto was Japan’s No. 6, and Atsuto was Japan’s No. 5!”
They had entered as major figures side by side.
‘Ohhh, so this is how it goes.’
Everyone watched the ranking ceremony with interest.
There were only two things they cared about.
1. Had any South Korean rankers entered the world rankings? And if so, how many?
2. What rank would Baek Jinwoo be?
This was probably what most of the nation cared about.
The rankings continued to appear.
[World Ranking 98: Greg Kerr (United States)]
[World Ranking 97: Jaelien Brown (United States)]
Up to rank 97, it was the United States!
Those two had been ranked ninth and tenth in the U.S., respectively.
Since they had met them in the semifinals, the names were familiar.
Baek Jinwoo kept staring intently at the screen.
[World Ranking 96: Hobsong Ji Piris (Brazil)]
[World Ranking 95: Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh)]
[World Ranking 94: Tsubrang Arikun (Thailand)]
[World Ranking 93: Kevin Diau (France)]
[World Ranking 92: Pusala Kadu (India)]
Up to 92nd place.
To Baek Jinwoo, those names were not very familiar, but…
Every single one of them was among the top five in their own country.
And then, ten seconds later.
[World Ranking 91: Hwang Juwon (South Korea)]
At last, a South Korean player appeared.
“Huh?!”
“Oh?!”
“Brother Juwon?!”
The guild members who had been watching all shot to their feet at the sight of the familiar Korean name appearing on the board.
Shouts of “Waaah!” and “Woo!” echoed all throughout Yoobaek City.
“Is this real?”
“Brother Juwon is a world ranker? A major figure?!”
“Woooooah!”
The person most shocked by all of this was Hwang Juwon himself.
“Haha… M-me…?”
He had been considered almost the weakest among the guild members, and yet he had made the world rankings?
Then what about the other guild members?
Were they all going to make it in too?
Really?
“W-wait! A-am I seeing that correctly? Hwang Juwon! South Korea’s Hwang Juwon has entered the world rankings! Player Hwang Juwon was ranked 8th in Korea last year! Woooooah!”
And together with the excited reporter’s shout, the festival began all over again.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!