Broken Ranker Devours Myths - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker

Devours Myths

Prologue

Lee Hyeon thought his life was like a pearl.

A pearl made by filtering through mud over and over.

Though he had grown up as an orphan without parents and experienced every hardship imaginable, his life had always been a series of glorious achievements.

Top admission and early graduation from the 17th class of Awakener Military Academy.

Becoming the world’s youngest ranker and even taking on a leadership role in the Special Operations Force.

It was a life that could be said to shine as brilliantly as his spectacular career.

But…

[You have fallen into extreme fatigue.]

[Fatigue level: 91]

[Current status: ‘Near Death’]

‘What does any of that matter in a situation like this?’

[The curse ‘Ring of Extreme Cold’ cast by forcibly closes your mana circuits.]

[Core has been damaged. You can no longer operate mana.]

An absolute zero dungeon where even breath froze instantly.

The 4-star dungeon , which had appeared for the first time in 20 years, had become a complete mess from countless fierce battles.

‘Kyeong-ryeol.’

His comrade who was always busy grumbling had his heart pierced while protecting him.

‘Mi-ryeong.’

His junior who respected him despite being only two years younger had half her upper body torn off and frozen to death.

It wasn’t just them.

Throughout the area, most of the unit members who had laughed and chatted with him lay dead or severely injured.

The 66th Special Operations Unit.

The special forces unit commonly called the Awakener Unit, or Blue Thunder, which had been highly active, had suffered near-annihilation.

[Vision damage is too severe.]

[‘Curse of Extreme Cold’ paralyzes the optic nerves. ‘Blindness’ status is added.]

Lee Hyeon wanted to somehow capture his comrades’ forms in his eyes, but his vision began to be covered with ice crystals, making it impossible to see his surroundings properly.

The curse he received while defeating the Ice Palace’s boss monster, the Snow Queen.

That creature wasn’t easy to deal with even until its death.

“…Why did you do such a thing?”

Lee Hyeon approached the person closest to him.

Moon Su-chan.

From the same orphanage as Lee Hyeon, someone who had stuck with him for over 20 years through military academy,

Like an older brother. No, like a parent.

“Heh… Crying? Are you crying…? Seriously… a grown man… bawling like that…”

But he was breathing his last with a dagger stuck in his heart.

His trembling lips were smiling.

He had always been someone who smiled a lot.

“Why did you do such a thing!”

“Well… my stupid little brother… was about to die… so his big brother had to save him… otherwise… who else would…?”

When Lee Hyeon prepared to destroy his mana core and delivered the final blow to the Snow Queen,

he faced a betrayal he had never anticipated.

Four unit members who coveted the Sacred Relic possessed by the Snow Queen had ambushed Lee Hyeon from behind.

The situation unfolded too urgently. Lee Hyeon barely managed to kill two of them, but couldn’t stop the other two.

In the end, the Sacred Relic was stolen, and he was left facing death.

That’s when Moon Su-chan intervened.

He took the blade in Lee Hyeon’s place.

The traitors fled before the other surviving comrades could stop them.

The shock Lee Hyeon received was immense. Among the traitors was even his lover.

“Damn it! Did you think I’d be grateful if you did something like this?”

“Of course not… You ungrateful bastard…”

“Just wait here for a moment. There must be healers outside the dungeon, so I’ll bring them…!”

Moon Su-chan grabbed Lee Hyeon’s wrist as he tried to go outside.

“Don’t… go. I’m done for anyway…”

“What do you mean done for! I’ll somehow take you with me…!”

“You… can’t see, can you?”

Lee Hyeon’s body stiffened for a moment.

Moon Su-chan’s smile deepened.

Golden eyes.

Golden Eye.

The two eyes that were also his codename curved into crescents.

“Seriously… you can’t lie… That’s why you pathetically… get stabbed in the back. That’s why I told you…? Don’t trust people too much… She wasn’t the one…”

“I know. I know, so stop talking! I’ll bring a healer!”

“Take… my eyes.”

Moon Su-chan lifted his head with difficulty.

Lee Hyeon’s tear-soaked figure reflected in his mirror-like transparent golden pupils.

“What are you saying,”

“You know what my eyes are…? I’m finished here anyway… but you… aren’t yet.”

Though not known to the outside world, Moon Su-chan’s eyes were a Sacred Relic.

Golden Eyes of Truth.

Eyes that reveal truth, said to contain the epic of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Son Wukong.

Moon Su-chan said he had gained this ability in a cave he discovered while playing in the mountains as a child.

He said he received it as a gift while playing with monkey sages.

Since then, Moon Su-chan had always been Lee Hyeon’s reliable ally.

He always took the lead to clear the path and scouted the surroundings to check for enemy ambushes.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the unit’s fate rested in his hands.

Pathfinder.

Guide.

Moon Su-chan always said like a habit that he was proud of his two eyes that could help Lee Hyeon.

“Don’t say such unlucky things! I won’t take them even if you give them to me, so get up first!”

“Live for my share too. Work hard.”

“Hyung!”

“Live more frugally…”

Slowly, Moon Su-chan’s eyes began to close.

“No! Open your eyes! Please!”

Lee Hyeon poured every potion he had into Moon Su-chan. He shouted at his remaining teammates to hurry and bring reinforcements.

“But… our little brother… I thought he was handsome… but looking this close, he’s kind of ugly…”

Thud.

But Moon Su-chan collapsed with that same smiling face.

Lee Hyeon’s cries filled the entire dungeon.

[Boss monster strategy has been completed. You have successfully cleared the dungeon Quest.]

[The dungeon is closing. Everyone retreat to the safe zone.]

[10]

[9]

…

And,

4 years passed.

“So you’re going to guide us? I guess you learned some skills at the academy.”

The team members who initially doubted Lee Hyeon’s abilities now looked at him with wonder.

Forest paths winding like a maze.

Traps activating at every moment.

The scent of forest fruits, sweet as honey but causing mental confusion.

Plus zombie monkeys constantly trying to kidnap hunters.

Zombie monkeys had the habit of turning kidnapped people into zombies to make them companions.

How eerie it was when zombies with the faces of former comrades would suddenly appear from the trees.

Because of this, there were talks from higher-ups about upgrading Monkey Den to 3-star difficulty,

but it was repeatedly canceled for unknown reasons, and new strategy teams were deployed instead.

However,

‘This time we’ve progressed to the midpoint with zero casualties. It’s all thanks to Hunter Jang.’

It wasn’t even that difficult.

‘He looks like just a limping guy with weak stamina on the outside.’

Im Won-young found it amazing how Lee Hyeon could dodge traps so well despite his limping gait.

‘It’s also strange how his eyes occasionally flash with golden light. Is it a skill? But I don’t sense any mana… Then it would be an authority, but a ranker wouldn’t be doing this kind of work.’

Im Won-young stopped his analysis and tilted his head in confusion.

‘But Jang Lee Hyeon, Jang Lee Hyeon, I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere. Where was it?’

“Manager Min.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

Manager Min, who was serving as the tank, came running over.

‘Ugh, she’s incredibly pretty.’

Manager Min was startled when Im Won-young suddenly brought his face close to hers.

No wonder she’d received several offers from the entertainment industry due to her striking features.

“What was your relationship with Hunter Jang when you were at the academy?”

Manager Min forcibly suppressed the jealousy that suddenly welled up.

“Are you interested in him?”

“Talent is always welcome. He was the pride of Class 17, wasn’t he?”

Manager Min scratched her cheek as if troubled.

“Yes. If you ask anyone from Class 17, there probably isn’t a single person who doesn’t know him.”

“Stop beating around the bush and tell me the details.”

“Ah, but this is classified…”

Classified?

Im Won-young’s eyes flashed.

“Don’t tell me he was Blue Thunder?”

The Blue Thunder unit was a place only the top graduates from the Awakened Military Academy could apply to.

“Ah, you really can’t tell this to anyone else. Only you should know, Team Leader.”

Manager Min whispered while bringing her face close to Im Won-young’s ear.

“Do you remember the Gangneung incident from 4 years ago?”

“He was a member who participated there?”

“It’s more than that. He was the person in charge there.”

“…!?”

Im Won-young’s eyes widened.

Now he remembered why the name was familiar.

“Then Jet was…?”

“Yes. That’s him.”

Instantly, Im Won-young’s eyes sparkled like someone who had found hidden treasure.

* * *

‘Jet. It’s been a while since I heard that code name.’

Lee Hyeon smiled bitterly while clearing the path ahead.

Im Won-young and Manager Min thought they were whispering quietly, but at times like this, perhaps due to old habits, he could hear surrounding sounds too well.

Actually, Jet was a name Moon Su-chan had given him.

It meant to become the person representing Blue Thunder, Blue Jet.

Moon Su-chan’s shadow always remained throughout every aspect of his life.

‘Hyung.’

Lee Hyeon briefly caressed his eyes with his left hand.

Eyes shining with golden light.

Golden Eyes of Truth.

His brother’s warmth was still protecting him even after all these years.

Based on this warmth, Lee Hyeon pursued the traitors who killed his brother.

For 4 years straight. Every single day without fail.

That was precisely why he had declined his mentor’s request to become an instructor or professor at the Awakened Military Academy.

At the same time,

he didn’t forget to seek ways to regain his strength so he could personally execute the traitors when he met them.

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

With modern medicine, curses inflicted by 4-star boss monsters were close to incurable diseases.

However,

‘What if a being of higher could lift the curse or replace it with something else?’

Lee Hyeon thought that Son Wukong, the original owner of the Golden Eyes of Truth, could definitely help him.

He had some information he’d heard from Moon Su-chan.

-The owner of the Golden Eyes of Truth is in a place related to monkeys. Find him. With him and you… you’ll be able to do anything.

So he put in great effort to find Son Wukong,

and finally,

[‘Sacred Relic: Golden Eyes of Truth’ is currently active. The authority’s effects are minimal due to insufficient mana.]

[The Golden Eyes of Truth detects familiar traces in .]

It seemed he had found those traces right here.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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