The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times

Chapter 72

The next morning.

“Ugh… Haa.”

Kang Do-hyeon stretched as he woke up, basking in the morning sunlight.

A quick glance at the clock showed it was 8:10 AM.

Perhaps due to his recent discharge from the military, his body woke up like clockwork, even without setting an alarm.

‘Well, it’s good to be disciplined.’

A regular lifestyle was important for an efficient gaming life.

This wasn’t just a saying—it was a proven fact.

There were even scientific reasons behind it, and most famous God of Savior rankers were known to live regimented lives.

“Let’s make today another productive day.”

Having made a resolution to himself, Do-hyeon stepped into the living room.

On the table, there was a pot of stew, presumably left by Chae Mi-sook before she went out.

This time, it was a spicy tuna stew.

Beside it, a plate wrapped in plastic held Vienna sausages and fried eggs.

“She didn’t have to go to all this trouble… It’s unnecessary.”

Before his discharge, breakfast didn’t seem to matter much to her, but now she was taking care of him even more than before.

The food was still warm, indicating she hadn’t left long ago. Do-hyeon brought over some rice and sat down.

After finishing two bowls with ease, he washed the dishes and glanced around the living room.

No sign of life.

‘Where did she go? Did she leave?’

Only after checking his phone did Do-hyeon realize it was Monday, and he nodded in understanding.

It was natural that Hyun-ah, a college student, wasn’t home at this hour.

Since his discharge was on a Friday, he wasn’t used to seeing her gone.

“Well, I guess I’ll get to work too.”

Not wanting to fall behind while everyone else was diligently going about their weekday routines, Do-hyeon quickly headed to his room.

Though he wanted to dive straight into his capsule, he restrained himself.

There was something to check first.

“Did the view count go up a bit?”

He was curious about the performance of the NewTube video he had uploaded the previous day.

Although it hadn’t even been a full day yet, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

It wasn’t for nothing that NewTubers constantly refreshed their stats.

‘It’s nerve-wracking when it’s your own work.’

The feeling was entirely different from simply appearing in someone else’s video through an interview.

Swallowing his nerves, Do-hyeon logged into NewTube and opened his channel.

A plain, unimpressive channel greeted him.

The design was almost shabby.

“…??”

Do-hyeon’s face went blank as he looked at the channel.

With a perplexed expression, he blinked several times before finally speaking.

“What the… What’s with the view count?”

A staggering 3.4 million views.

Considering only half a day had passed, this number was absurd.

Each refresh brought new comments, and the view count continued to rise.

– Ahh, this is my 12th time watching. I can’t get enough of it.

– I’m going crazy wanting to stan him, but there are no videos… Please upload more. I’m begging you.

– Lost souls… Come to the Kashin Cult.

– I’ll hold my breath until the next video is out. Hup!

– Someone, help! Someone’s dying here!

– Holy sh*t… This is the best play I’ve ever seen. Is this a Korean? I’m astonished.

– Kaiser, what are you doing instead of uploading more videos?

– But seriously, the subscriber count is insane lol. At this rate, you’ll hit a million in no time.

Reading the comments, which included a mix of foreign languages, Do-hyeon froze.

‘A million?’

Staring at the comments in disbelief, Do-hyeon hastily checked his subscriber count.

And there it was.

[Subscribers: 794,000]

“Holy sh*t.”

The subscriber count was genuinely racing toward one million.

Wasn’t it only nine hours ago when he had wished for just 100,000 subscribers?

Was this truly something that had happened overnight?

While he had expected an influx of viewers due to the current hype, this far exceeded his expectations.

The situation was so outlandish that he felt more bewildered than pleased. It didn’t even feel real.

“…Could it be that hitting a million subscribers is easier than I thought?”

That was how unbelievable it seemed.

Of course, this was nonsense.

Although the market had grown compared to before, one million subscribers still placed someone firmly in the realm of major content creators.

It was simply that now there were even larger creators towering above them.

A one-million-subscriber NewTuber could still brag about their achievement anywhere.

“This feels surreal. And what’s this Kashin Cult? A fan club?”

Curious about the strange name mentioned in the comments, he searched for it and found it was indeed a fan club.

Moreover, it had over 40,000 members—a respectable size.

Knowing that it was a fan club dedicated to him felt strange.

While Do-hyeon had been popular during his DemRock days, his fan clubs had practically disappeared after the game fell out of favor.

Having a fan club again after so long stirred up mixed feelings.

‘Did this exist before? Why am I only hearing about it now? Hmm. Well, maybe it was too small to notice back then.’

Shrugging it off, Do-hyeon put down his phone.

What had started as a misunderstanding had turned out to be a stroke of luck.

The biggest hurdle, NewTube, had been cleared.

Now, all eyes were on Do-hyeon’s next moves.

Even the boldest competitors would feel pressured in this situation, but Do-hyeon was used to it.

Meeting people’s expectations was part of his daily life.

“Login.”

Clearing his thoughts, Do-hyeon lay down in the capsule and closed his eyes.

It was time to focus on his main occupation.

[Logging into God of Savior.]

[Have a pleasant adventure.]

When he opened his eyes, the now-familiar scenery of another world stretched out before him.

[Welcome to the Paradise of Adventure.]

[The loyalty of Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ has increased.]

……

[The loyalty of Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ has increased.]

“It’s gone up again.”

As soon as he logged in, Do-hyeon scanned through the system windows that greeted him.

There wasn’t much to see, except the message about Jihad’s loyalty increasing. However, the rate of increase was striking.

[Loyalty: 40 / 100]

‘It went up by 10?’

It had risen by a whole 10 points.

While loyalty typically increased somewhat after visiting the Guardian Room, considering that it was only at 18 even after being severely beaten, this increase was abnormally high.

Even the text under the loyalty bar had changed, as if acknowledging this.

[Loyalty is high. You are maintaining a harmonious relationship with the Guardian.]

“Heh.”

Just a few days ago, this guy had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity to stab him in the back.

Now, it was said they were maintaining a harmonious relationship.

The drastic change in such a short time felt strange.

He wasn’t sure if he should feel proud or flabbergasted.

As he scratched his head, Jihad and Elisa appeared out of nowhere and started talking to him.

-You’re here, master?

-LizaLiza!

The moment he turned his head, Elisa jumped into his arms, rubbing her face against him affectionately as if she were overjoyed.

As he patted Elisa lightly, he felt something unusual around her neck.

When he grabbed it, a long string with a small jewel embedded in a simple design came into view.

“Huh? A necklace?”

-Liza! LizaLiza!

-Oh, that’s Elisa’s most treasured necklace.

-Liza!

Elisa beamed brightly as if to confirm it.

Do-hyeon found himself nodding unconsciously but then paused.

‘Was that always there? What is this?’

He couldn’t remember clearly, but if it had been there from the beginning, he would have noticed it.

And this wasn’t the only strange thing.

Yesterday, she had been so downcast when they parted, yet now, she was beaming with happiness as if she had just finished playing.

“What’s with the cheerful mood? You were sulking yesterday.”

-Hehe, something happened. The walking trail was amazing, wasn’t it, Elisa?

-Liza!

“What was it?”

Do-hyeon frowned as the two of them giggled and exchanged glances, prompting Elisa to explain kindly.

-LizaLiza! Liza… Liza!

“…Translate for me.”

-Ah, so…

Do-hyeon couldn’t make sense of Elisa’s words.

-Liza…

In the end, Jihad explained, making Elisa pout briefly before her mood bounced back as she enthusiastically chimed in.

After listening to their story, Do-hyeon nodded.

“So, the Guardian Rooms merged, and that leash… no, that cherished necklace of Elisa’s came along with it?”

-Exactly.

-Liza!

Jihad clapped his hands in affirmation, looking visibly relaxed.

It made sense.

Thanks to this, they had plenty of time to reconnect, so it was understandable.

The increase in loyalty was a positive thing for Do-hyeon as well.

But it still left questions.

‘Hmm. Is that normal? Is it because Elisa came under Jihad’s command?’

It was the first time he had heard of Guardian Rooms merging.

Although it was an unusual situation and curious, he didn’t feel like delving into it further.

Whether it was due to subordination or other reasons, the outcome was good.

He decided to look into it later if the opportunity arose.

“For now, let’s go…”

“There they are! Over there!”

“A small figure in a robe and someone in black attire… Confirmed. Likely Kaiser. Everyone, request backup…!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the area grew noisier, and Do-hyeon turned irritably toward the commotion.

It was a group of players. They were pointing at him from all directions.

“What do we do, huh? Just hold them off for now?”

“We’ve got dibs! Move aside!”

“Just catch them! Everyone, out of the way!”

The snippets of conversation he caught sounded quite threatening.

While he was momentarily caught off guard, he wasn’t clueless about what was going on, and he certainly wasn’t someone to panic in such a situation.

‘It’s already started. They must have been lying in wait.’

The way they closed in within minutes of him logging in made it clear.

They likely intended to detain him to negotiate or try to crush him outright. Either way, to them, Do-hyeon was a golden goose.

With him being the center of attention right now.

If they succeeded in negotiating and recruiting him into their guild, it would be a win.

On the other hand, if they crushed the so-called “Return of the God,” they would still gain notoriety and make a name for themselves.

This wasn’t just limited to guilds.

‘Considering all the small fry trying to use this as a chance to gain fame… this is going to be chaos.’

There would likely be a truckload—or more—of PKers and fame-hungry players.

This was why he had always avoided attracting attention at lower levels. Excessive attention when lacking power was a dangerous chalice.

Four days into God of Savior, and this was his situation.

It seemed that some fates were unavoidable.

Recalling his countless experiences in DemRock, Do-hyeon gripped Thousand Transformations tightly.

-Wh-What’s going on, master? They’re surrounding us!

“I know. Get ready.”

-What do we do?

“We break through. Follow me closely.”

-Liza?

Taking a stance, Do-hyeon inhaled sharply and dashed forward.

Not toward an escape route, but directly toward the group.

The scouts flinched, startled by the unexpected move.

“Huh? Why is he coming this way?”

“Block him! If we gather, what can he do?”

“Get in formation!”

Despite their surprise, they weren’t amateurs.

They quickly assessed the situation and formed ranks.

Step. Step. Step. Step.

They spread out widely, placing shield-bearers at the front and layers of players behind them.

This human wall was impenetrable unless the level gap was extreme.

Changing direction now would only result in being chased down quickly, leaving no options.

“Ha, let’s see you break through this.”

Even though they were just scouts, they had spent at least several months honing their skills in Brion.

At least in Brion, they were fairly high-leveled players.

But Do-hyeon didn’t hesitate.

[Thousand Transformations changes into ‘Silver-Iron Shield.’]

Whoosh-!

“Wha—!?”

Thousand Transformations morphed into a shield, which Do-hyeon hurled like a boomerang.

The shield-bearer in the front row instinctively flinched, hurriedly raising his shield.

Fortunately, his reaction was quick. He should be able to block it.

The moment the two shields collided.

Boom!

“Gah!?”