Ranker's Return

Supplementary Story 1

A man suffered from the pain of having his shoulder broken again today. He wasn’t really hurt though. It was a type of illusion. His body wasn’t injured, but his mind thought it was. This was the result of stamping on paper hundreds of times a day.

“I can’t do it. You had better kill me.”

It happened when the paper stacked in front of the man was half gone. The man threw away the seal he was holding in his hand and buried himself in the ornate chair.

“Master dude, there is still a long way to go. Work quickly.”

“Work, work. You will have to stay here all day if you don’t do this.”

At the same time, two small bears appeared from behind the chair and disturbed the man’s ears. It wasn’t just the two bears who restrained Hyeonu’s actions. Other people were watching them. The live stream had over 10 million viewers.

-Tang-E and Gom-E are right.

-Nothing will change now if you play around.

-Those who haven’t worked can’t rest.

-Can’t you see that only the kids are working right now? Alley Leader, this isn’t the time to rest.

The viewers casually ignored Hyeonu’s whining. They were sympathetic for a day or two. Then after 10 times, 20 times, 100 times...

The more Hyeonu showed how he handled the government’s affairs, the more these feelings dissipated. Now they just stood on the sidelines like it was someone else’s business.

Hyeonu got up from the chair. Then he picked up the jade seal that was lying on one side of the floor. “Why doesn’t my workload decrease even after hiring people? Rather, it feels like it is increasing.”

This wasn’t an exaggeration but a fact. There was also clear evidence of it.

‘The empire contributions are getting higher and higher.’

The more Hyeonu settled into the role of the emperor, the more the empire contributions increased, and the amount by which it rose was increasing.

‘There is no place to gather and use it.’

This wasn’t true. His empire contributions were much superior to the imperial contributions collected by other players. He was able to get even better items and skills than he could obtain with the imperial contributions.

‘It doesn’t mean anything.’

It was just that these things didn’t mean much to Hyeonu. What was the use of good skills and items? He had very limited time to use them.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m going to rest. I just can’t do it any longer.”

Hyeonu placed the seal he had picked up on the desk and buried himself in the chair again.

-Then that person will come again.

-That person?

-Yes. There are people who can even handle Satan.

-Satan: Is the professor still here?

The viewers saw Hyeonu’s behavior and chuckled. It was a sight they had already seen countless times. No one knew what the development would be like afterward.

“No, it isn’t time for him to come yet. There will be one more hour.”

Hyeonu opened his eyes and shook his head vigorously from side to side. He wasn’t an idiot. It wasn’t the time for that person to come as the viewers mentioned. This was why he was so relaxed. However, not everything in the world went as Hyeonu expected. There was an exception.

“Your Majesty, can I come in?” the voice of a middle-aged man came from outside the office.

-He’s here ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-A random check?

-We will hear nagging today.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Is it a homework check?

The chat window was going crazy. The viewers knew the owner of the voice.

“No, don’t come in. Go back the way you came,” Hyeonu resolutely issued an order to leave.

“This is where I have to go, Your Majesty.” The owner of the voice, the administrator, didn’t back down easily. Rather, he replied as firmly as Hyeonu.

“No, this isn’t where you came from. So... go away.” Hyeonu didn’t succumb to the attitude of the administrator and issued another order to leave.

“Can I come in, Your Majesty?” However, the administrator was equally terrible. Despite Hyeonu’s successive orders to leave, he continued to ask for Hyeonu’s permission.

“Come in.” In the end, it was Hyeonu who was defeated. Hyeonu had no justification to block the administrator’s actions.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The administrator carefully opened the door of the office and bowed deeply to Hyeonu.

“Yes, what brings you here?” Hyeonu greeted the administrator with a grumpy expression. He couldn’t greet this person nicely. It was natural based on the administrator’s actions thus far.

“Something has happened that Your Majesty needs to see to urgently.” The administrator approached Hyeonu and politely held out a bundle of white paper. Hyeonu quickly snatched the papers presented by the administrator and looked at them without saying anything.

Just then, a message window popped up in front of Hyeonu. It was a message window similar to what he had just seen.

‘I thought he was just nagging...’

“Ah...!” a sigh broke out. This person really came here with work. This had never happened before.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He has more work, right?

-Isn’t there a bunch of it?

-He will get off work an hour late, right?

-Is this how a snowball rolls and grows in size? ㅋㅋ

-‘Overtime’ is confirmed, Leader-nim. The stream will be a lot longer as well.

-It is very good. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The viewers who saw Hyeonu sigh just laughed. Hyeonu’s response was different from before, so they were happier now.

“Why is it that the workload keeps increasing when I am working so hard?” Hyeonu asked the administrator with a stiff expression after glancing at the chat window.

“Am I the only one doing work? No. The adventurers I appointed also suffer day and night for the empire. So why? Why is it that problems are increasing day by day? Give me an answer. Hurry.” Hyeonu didn’t wait for the administrator’s reply and instead pushed the other person like a storm.

It was as if he was relieving all the stress that he had built up.

“It is very natural, Your Majesty. The problems scattered throughout the empire are still piled up like a mountain. Of course, the efforts of the many people who work for the empire are decreasing it, but... there is a long way to go, Your Majesty.” The administrator wasn’t embarrassed by Hyeonu’s quick-fire words and gave an answer—an extremely logical answer.

“The amount is being reduced?” Hyeonu asked with a relieved expression.

“Isn’t it reduced by the number of documents that Your Majesty sees?” The administrator bowed slightly with an expressionless face, unlike Hyeonu.

“Sigh...” Hyeonu looked at the back of the administrator’s head and thought of someone’s face. It was the face of a sly man whose internal thoughts were unknown.

‘How is this being the emperor...?’

Just thinking about it made him swear.

That was all.

He swore inwardly. There was nothing else he could do—not yet.

‘If I just collect a few more...’

***

In the westernmost part of the Yusma Empire, there was a desolate desert. There were pioneering cities, but they were only at the beginning of the desert. Beyond the pioneering cities was just an endless feast of sand. Humans appeared in the desert where only sand existed. To be precise, it was a human being and a bear.

“Master, is this place called the desert?” a seven-colored bear, Tung-E, asked his master, Alexander.

Alexander, the blonde-haired man, carefully stroked Tung-E’s head and replied, “Yes, this is the desert. It is a place full of hot sun and sand.”

His face was full of affection. Even at a glance, it could be seen that he really cared about Tung-E.

“Then haven’t we arrived at the Holy Kingdom now? Didn’t you say it would appear after we come out of the desert?” Tung-E asked again in Alexander’s arms. Tung-E knew Alexander’s destination well. He had roamed around the West Continent for a long time with Alexander and heard countless stories about his destination.

“You remember it well. You are right. If we pass by this place, we will see the Holy Kingdom.” Alexander’s face showed an even more pleased smile. He couldn’t help smiling. This guy was too smart.

‘It has been less than a year since he was born...’

He was a ridiculous genius considering his age.

“Then let’s go, Master. I’m really curious about what the Holy Kingdom is like.”

Tung-E emerged from Alexander’s arms and floated in the air. Then he started to fly straight ahead.

Alexander stood still and kept his smile intact as he looked at the flying Tung-E. Just then, Alexander’s body floated up and moved at a constant speed.

***

Alexander and Tung-E—their movements were relentless. In the first place, the two of them weren’t walking. The biggest obstacle of the desert terrain was meaningless. Moreover, the heat of the desert had little significance. Tung-E was made of Alexander’s magic power, so it wasn’t affected by natural phenomena such as heat or cold. The same was true of the emperor. His enormous magic power brought him homeostasis.The occasional monsters that appeared also had little effect on Alexander and Tung-E.

“Grrrrrrr!!”

“The instincts aren’t well developed.” Alexander clicked his tongue when he saw the giant ant emerging from the sand. Even if it were a monster, a predator would recognize him. There was no such thing as jumping into a fool’s death. Yet for some reason, a being who violated this law appeared.

“Disappear.” Alexander lightly extended his right hand toward the rapidly approaching giant ant. The ant soared into the ant and fell toward the ground several times faster than when it had flown up. Its body was also completely smashed and torn apart in an unrecognizable manner. It was a terrible sight.

“Let’s go.” Alexander was very calm and didn’t seem like the man who made the tragedy. He smiled with a nonchalant expression when he spoke to Tung-E.

“Why don’t you just ignore it from now on, Master?” Tung-E looked at Alexander with a sharp expression. All he had in mind was the Holy Kingdom. He didn’t like his time being delayed by ants.

“Then why don’t you take care of it yourself before I come forward?” Alexander maintained a friendly attitude regardless of Tung-E’s appearance. Those who remembered him from before would be shocked to see it.

“Okay, I’ll come out next time. Bah.” Tung-E snorted loudly before shooting off so fast that it couldn’t be compared to before.

Alexander looked in the direction in which Tung-E disappeared for a long time before muttering in a low voice, “It isn’t that way. We have to go northwest.”

Within seconds of Alexander muttering, a seven-colored rainbow unfolded in the sky. Tung-E had returned.

“Say that earlier, this... damn Master.” Upon his return, Tung-E opened his eyes wide with his face against Alexander’s forehead.

“It isn’t that I’m slow. It is that you’re too hot-tempered.” Alexander shook his head from side to side before flicking his finger lightly against Tung-E’s forehead. Then he lightly shot forward.

“This... It hurts, Master!!!” Tung-E quickly chased after him.