Chapter 252
Chapter 252
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 252
Chapter Title: 2024, World Ranker Announcement Ceremony (4)
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The Korean "World Ranker Announcement Ceremony," hosted by two male-female MCs.
The rankings up to 100th place, the full list of high rankers, had been broadcast.
Even after the list from 1,000th place scrolled up all at once.
The excitement showed no signs of dying down.
If anything, the forums and communities burned hotter as time passed.
[Ranking 10th, Skeleton Emperor (Skeleton Emperor) Joo Dong-hoon]
An unprecedented hyper ranker in the 14-year history of hunters!
Even after 10 minutes passed, then 20 minutes.
The whole world was filled with talk of "Joo Dong-hoon."
└ Waaaaaah!
└ Insane, for real. Still can't believe it;;;
└ Does this mean we've closed the gap with America? Just having a Korean hyper ranker.
└ Lol seriously thought Berserker would make it first. Ughhh.
└ By the way, Joo Dong-hoon was alive after all? Where'd all those people insisting he was dead slink off to? Lololol
└ Fr lol
└ Chinese kids must be bawling their eyes out. Their one and only hyper ranker got booted.
Hit refresh.
The insane firepower was such that every post on the board vanished in about 3 seconds!
└ Honestly, Joo Dong-hoon is the greatest hunter of this century. Straight up, he climbed from outside the rankings to 10th in like 2 years. Has there ever been a hunter with that kind of explosive rise?
└ Fr, whenever he shows up, it's an earthquake. Give it another 2 years, he'll probably snatch 2nd place?
└ Then Korea becomes the world's strongest nation?
└ Yeah lol
└ Nah, he'll hit 1st, right?
└ Jealous either way. Guy must've saved the country—no, the whole planet—in his past life.
└ No guarantee we'll see another hunter like Joo Dong-hoon anytime soon.
└ Nah we will. Not sure who, but that guy's insanely strong too.
└ ?? Fr? Who?
└ Sword Ghost Bow God.
└ Huh? First time hearing that title, who's that?
└ Me lol
While they were all chattering away.
The male MC, who had been broadcasting with flushed cheeks and fervent energy, suddenly widened his eyes.
- ……Ah! H-Hold on a sec? Breaking news just came in!
- Pardon? What breaking news?
- World ranking 12th—no, now 13th. Doris Caliphena is dead! So the rankings have shifted again!
- Caliphena…… Isn't she that global villain who's a headache for the international community? The one no one can catch?
- Right, she was even featured in a recent documentary. Called "Colonized Groups"……. Did they finally catch her?! Who did it?
The one name that couldn't be stopped even when committing crimes openly.
A being truly outside the bounds of law and morality.
Sea Goddess (Doris) Caliphena.
- Last reported location was our Korea! Uh, uh? And just now, word from the association…… Wha, what?!
- Why! Why are you so shocked? Let us in on it too!
- Th-That is……! Just an hour ago, the group Caliphena attacked was Byulcheonji!
- ……Byulcheonji? That's……
- Yes, the place led by our pride and joy, the hunter Skeleton Emperor!
- D-Does that mean?
Another achievement from Joo Dong-hoon's return.
└ What the?
└ Why, why? What now.
└ No way he pulled off another one right after coming back?
└ Lol I'm association staff and this is news to me.
└ Lmao if he really got her, that's legendary?
└ Then he's a real hero. How many groups and nations were suffering because of that bitch.
└ She's so elusive even hyper rankers couldn't track her down.
That's right.
Taking down Caliphena.
That was an even greater boon to the world than Joo Dong-hoon's survival.
- Yes! Looks like Joo Dong-hoon got her! Need to confirm details, but circumstances point to it!
- Whoa?! Is that for real?
The world erupted once more.
* * *
The two excited MCs.
The TV screen showing them.
In the second-floor building of Demir Workshop, covered in shattered debris and dust.
Woooom!
Dana's holy light enveloped the space.
"Nggh, thank you."
Kim Jin-ah bowed her head toward the skeleton, Dana.
The marks from being bound and crushed by the seaweed were gone.
The pain from being compressed had vanished.
"Everyone okay?"
Kim Jin-ah checked on the rankers first.
Because they were precious hostages to Caliphena.
She had sustained the least injuries here, so she busily tended to the wounded rankers.
These were the brave souls who had faced off against someone who was once world ranking 12th without flinching.
Their conditions were, to put it bluntly, the worst.
Fractures and excessive bleeding were standard.
Most had their internal organs pierced by the seaweed.
They were in states where being alive was a miracle.
"Just hang in there a bit. It'll heal soon."
As Kim Jin-ah murmured while tending to Lee Sun-ah, she thought.
'Still, it's a relief.'
No loss of life.
And with Joo Dong-hoon's return, all these people could be healed in short order.
The entire space was already.
Bombarded with healing from Dana's summoned minions.
"Hoo."
Kim Jin-ah blinked for a long while.
It felt like an enormous pile of events had come rushing in all at once whoosh~.
Put differently, she was dumbfounded.
The guild master she'd been waiting for, whom she thought might be dead, shows up right at the critical moment with absurd news and wraps it all up in one shot?
"Kuhahaha, funny, right? Vice guild master?"
Floa, receiving healing, suddenly burst out laughing.
Kim Jin-ah looked over, and Floa nodded toward Joo Dong-hoon.
He too was bustling about, looking after the injured.
"No matter how you think about it, that guy's got protagonist syndrome. Terminal case too."
Pazzzik!
Even during healing, she stretched without a care.
"Yeah."
Kim Jin-ah nodded unwittingly.
He always vanished and reappeared.
Toying with people's hearts at whim, leaving chaos in his wake.
"And then he drags in these ridiculous results, haa, now I don't even know how to be surprised anymore."
"I told you."
Floa chuckled.
"He's destined to become a legend soon. Vice guild master, you've never dungeoned with him, right?"
"……Yeah?"
"Get the chance sometime. Not regular dungeons—top difficulty ones. You'll figure it out naturally. How absurd the crap he pulls is."
"Really?"
Truth be told.
She already knew without going.
The scene of him taking down Caliphena this time was so unbelievable even to an outsider like her.
He beat world ranking 12th like a ragdoll.
The mighty Caliphena died before Joo Dong-hoon's fists and feet without landing a hit.
Practically a kid vs. an adult fight.
'We've long since decided not to try understanding our guild master.'
Wooong, woooom!
Staring fixedly at Joo Dong-hoon issuing orders to Dana and Demir here and there.
Then.
"Ah!"
She clapped her hands.
"Right! Berserker! What about Berserker……."
Jang Dae-woong, who had rushed to the Love Orphanage.
She was curious what happened to him.
But no need to wonder.
"Kahaha, I'm fine, Kim Jin-ah."
Step, step.
A muscular man.
The madman, Jang Dae-woong, was climbing the stairs with someone on his back.
"The Hell Hound, that dog-bone bastard, I just killed him."
Thud!
He set down what he was carrying on the floor.
A corpse with a massive hole in the abdomen, drained of all blood.
Hell Hound, Nick Zakan.
* * *
To cut to the chase, Jang Dae-woong was an orphanage kid.
Nothing strange about that.
Back when that incident happened 14 years ago.
There were more kids without parents than with.
But.
'Love Orphanage' held special meaning for him.
It was built with his own funds to house the people who raised him.
Jang Dae-woong hated the media spotlight, so he handled everything anonymously.
Which meant.
Even the director and teachers didn't know the orphanage was funded by the Berserker.
"They did a ton of digging, huh. Heh. Filthy pest."
Jang Dae-woong, always showing a bright face.
Muttered darkly as he glared at Nick Zakan's corpse.
"Well, handled it without issue, so all good, but hey, brother."
He called out to me.
Come to think of it, his emphasis on 'brother, hyung' was probably due to his attachment to the orphanage?
"You good? It's nuts out there right now."
"Ah."
I nodded.
The Azure Heaven Heart Technique is second nature now, like breathing.
I could sense how many people were lined up outside.
Like a World Cup winning nation.
The streets were flooded with people cheering.
A national festival wave celebrating my return and Caliphena's death.
"I'm fine. Phew, you all need to watch your safety though."
I muttered.
Apgujeong-dong is narrower than it seems; if too many crowd in, it could get dangerous.
'Might need to relocate soon.'
Back then.
We set up the workshop in a prime, high-traffic spot on purpose.
No need now.
Even if we hid in some Gangwon Province backwater, people would find us; we're that famous.
'Plus.'
This Caliphena incident drove it home.
Those harboring grudges against me.
Villains eyeing a quick fortune.
If they strike when I'm away, Byulcheonji HQ becomes that much more vulnerable.
'Gotta think of something.'
As I pondered with a serious expression.
"Kahahaha!"
Jang Dae-woong grinned wide.
"Anyway, impressive as always, brother! I climbed from 20th to 17th today, but now you're above me?"
"Haha, looks that way."
"So you're the hyung now since you're above me? How 'bout it, Dong-hoon hyung! Kahahaha!"
The "hyung" remark.
It sent chills down my spine, and I waved it off.
"Whoa, no need for that."
Having a dongsaeng like you is a bit much.
Madman seed suits being hyung better.
"Hahaha, really?"
Jang Dae-woong chuckled, flexing his fist lightly.
A casual flex.
But for some reason.
I felt fighting spirit from it.
Like, you know.
Similar vibe to those lunatics I saw in the Fighting God world.
"But brother."
I could tell without asking.
Why?
I feel it too.
「Now that we've met, let's fight」
Is it Mu-gak's influence?
Feels like a warrior's heart awakened in me.
'Need to reorganize, rest, look after the guild…….'
For now, set it all aside.
Want to trade blows with the guy in front of me.
Roll around hard.
In other words.
Like when you get a new skill and just wanna test it.
Right now.
I can't contain my surging power.
"Mind if I ask for a spar? Kahaha! Nice and safe!"
"Sure, hyung-nim."
I grinned confidently.
Jang Dae-woong, whom I used to call Berserker-nim.
Now I could call him hyung-nim boldly.
"Let's move and have at it."