The Regression of a Challenger-Level Player - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19. Absurdly Easy (3)
“Waaaaah!”
Jung Su-hyeok, who had been watching the broadcast in real time right beside the screen, let out a cry without thinking.
It was a shout tinged with faint terror, shock, and elation all at once.
‘I knew Jae-ha had changed somehow, but not to this extent…!’
Anyone with a functioning brain could tell that the guy he’d treated like a younger brother had shifted into a different state.
The trainee who’d always been melancholy and numbingly kind because the team mistreated him had suddenly become someone else entirely.
At first, he’d thought it was because he’d quit Sky Epic, which had been a thorn in his side, but after learning what happened in the Underground Prison, he sensed something was deeply wrong.
And now.
Shin Jae-ha had swept through half the players single-handedly in the first game of the Placement Exam, achieving first place with overwhelming dominance.
‘Did he really undergo some Fortuitous Opportunity and achieve a Major Awakening?’
It made no other sense.
A player trained as a Supporter displaying such aggressive yet precise Warrior movements.
The sense to turn multi-player combat to his advantage and orchestrate situations where his Skills could perform at maximum capacity.
It was hard to believe this came from someone who’d only just hit Level 10 and was sitting for the Placement Exam.
Jung Su-hyeok’s fists clenched.
He had no idea how this had come to pass.
“Those Sky Epic bastards must be hurting right now, huh? Hehehehe!”
His mood had never been better.
That trainee they’d dismissed and discriminated against, treating like yesterday’s news—he was a flower blooming late!
Jung Su-hyeok felt as refreshed as if he’d chugged a hundred cans of soda straight down his throat.
He hadn’t told Shin Jae-ha, just to be safe.
‘More eyes are on today’s broadcast than I expected.’
The KPL was constantly hunting for talented players.
In that sense, the gameplay Shin Jae-ha had shown in the Underground Prison was the textbook image of a professional at his finest.
Everyone would have been scrambling to recruit him while his market value was still low, and with Te-ya’s appearance all but guaranteed, today’s broadcast was being watched—not to exaggerate—by most KPL teams.
‘Sky Epic wouldn’t be an exception!’
What expressions must they be wearing right now.
He would have paid ten million won just to witness it firsthand.
“Jae-ha…!”
Moreover, watching his younger brother finally step into the light filled him with such pride that he couldn’t suppress his smile.
-Ahahahahah! Kills, kills! The kills keep rolling in infinitely!
…Though the way he was swinging down his hammer with blazing eyes was a little terrifying.
***
[You’ve achieved first place with an unbelievable score!]
[You’ve set a legendary record!]
[Your gameplay will be reflected in your Rank placement.]
[Placement Exam: ■□□]
[Your Level has increased!]
[Stat Point +1]
[Strength +1]
[Magic Power +1]
[+5,000 Credit]
As I stood alone in the Magic City savoring the scenery, reward messages flickered across my vision.
-Two Stat increases at once?
-With 50 kills, that’s about right…
-Five thousand Credits a game lol
-Excuse me sir, if you don’t mind, just one ice cream…
I’d gotten so used to Stats being handed out like that, I’d almost forgotten what they were worth.
Stats were the kind of thing that normally took several games to increase, even grudgingly.
“Right.”
I feigned mild surprise.
-He said that so coolly
-He doesn’t seem surprised at all though
-His acting skills still need work lol
…These bastards.
[‘Quest: Soul Flame Collection’ completed!]
[
“With that much magical energy collected, there shouldn’t be any major spontaneous magical phenomena for a while. Good work. This is the reward I promised you.”
]
[+500 Credits]
[You have obtained a Lower-Grade Magic Scroll.]
After pocketing the generous quest rewards, I logged out of the channel.
“I’ve been waiting for you! I’ve been waiting!”
The moment I appeared, Te-ya threw both arms up in the air to greet me.
Even through his shaggy bangs, I could feel his eyes gleaming.
“I was watching everything from outside, brother! How is it even possible to get this strong in such a short time?! Seriously, my whole body’s been covered in chills the entire time!”
As if to prove his words weren’t an exaggeration, he ran his hands over his forearms and trembled.
“How do you get so strong in such a short period, brother?”
-Reveal the secret!
-Nooo, don’t unfairly grow strong all by yourself~!
Faced with the overwhelming barrage of comments, I decided to be honest.
“You simply need to set dominant records in every game. Then the rewards become generous, and based on that, you can grow even stronger. It’s straightforward, isn’t it?”
-…….
-Right, right lol lol lol just study English, Korean, and math with textbooks and you can go to Harvard lol lol
-Just say you don’t want to teach us
-Downhill! Downhill! Downhill!
This really is the secret, so why are they reacting like that?
There’s technically a hidden secret: “returning from the future.” But since no one else would be able to do it even if I explained, I decided against it.
“Ahaha…! Our brother is such an exemplary person… Well then! Let’s ride this momentum and head straight to the next Placement Exam!”
Te-ya wiped cold sweat from his brow while trying to calm the burning chat.
I shrugged my shoulders and was about to start the next Placement Exam when—
[‘Ju Yeo-ni’ has created a Mission!]
[If you do the next Placement Exam team match: 5,000,000 Won]
A loud sound effect accompanied the mission notification.
-Five hundred?!
-They’re putting five hundred on a single mission?
-That’s insane
-D-d-d-d
A mission worth five million won all at once.
“O… O-five… five million…!”
Even Te-ya, a professional streamer, was shocked enough to stammer.
I was quite surprised myself.
‘They’re spending five hundred thousand on a single mission?!’
Who on earth would place such a mission?
Must be some third son of a wealthy chaebol family drowning in money.
With that golden rush of cash filling my vision, my soul felt utterly blessed.
But there’s always a reason why someone stakes this much on a mission.
‘Usually, it’s better to do the Placement Exam as a solo match, not a team match.’
In solo matches, if you put up decent records, you can get a good evaluation, and if you do your best alone, you’re at least unlikely to get a much lower Rank than expected.
But team matches are different.
No matter how well I play, if my teammates lack skill and we lose, that result gets reflected in my Placement Exam score.
Thanks to that, sometimes I get better results than my actual skill merits, but more often it’s the opposite.
Moreover, in team matches, you sometimes get paired with players who aren’t taking the Placement Exam.
I’ve seen plenty of trolls who say, “Oh? You’re doing your Placement Exam? Good. Just wait, I’m about to give you an absolutely fantastic experience,” and then sabotage the entire game by burning themselves out.
The reason to throw such risky gambles and do a team match anyway….
“I’m on my way right now!”
…is sufficient.
Five million won is chump change?
‘Even split in half, that’s two-point-five million!’
The sweet scent of money seemed to drift past my nose already.
That’s right—you need wealth to have a peaceful mind.
[You are connecting to the ‘Channel’.]
[Prepare for the game!]
***
[Ranked Match: Placement Exam – Team Match]
[Genre: Defense]
[Map: Valkyrie Gorge]
[Objective: Protect the ‘Statue of Hope’ for the given duration!]
This team match was a Defense game.
For a certain duration, the objective is to protect the object presented by the channel from being destroyed.
The moment the location shifted, towering cliffs rose dramatically on both sides.
A gorge of impressive scale that lived up to the name ‘Valkyrie Gorge’.
Ahead lay a passage of modest size, while behind stood a goddess-shaped statue that required genuine protection.
The statue’s eyes were bound, luxuriant hair cascaded down past her chest, and brilliant wings folded protectively around her back.
[‘The Goddess of Hope Sanctuary declares itself active.’]
[Players within the zone receive random buffs.]
[Buffs: Recovery Acceleration (Lv.3), Luck Increase (Lv.3)]
The goddess statue proclaimed the Sanctuary and granted two random buffs to all within it.
This time, Recovery Acceleration and Luck Increase had come up.
“Pretty decent draw.”
-Luck Increase is kind of useless, but Recovery Acceleration works
-Awesome Goddess we stan
-Why doesn’t the Goddess appear in solo stories?
-She does exist though?
As I loosened up casually, my teammates began appearing one by one.
Since Defense relied so heavily on teamwork, the luck of drawing your teammates mattered enormously.
“Khahaha! Is this my battlefield?!”
The first to appear was a man with a boisterous impression.
He was carrying what looked like a Polearm, and I thought if equipment were born in Korea, this would be exactly what it’d look like.
“Ah.”
Next came a mage wielding a staff.
A sharp-looking young man wearing glasses.
‘The man who appears to be a Warrior has some personality, but it’s manageable so far.’
Then came what looked to be an Archer—a short-haired woman.
Finally.
“…Whoa?!”
A man with distinctly slit, snake-like eyes.
Judging by the Gauntlets on both hands and the Shoulder Armor strapped to his body, he appeared to be a Warrior too….
‘Three Warriors…?’
That was strange.
A Supporter position was never summoned.
“It’s great to meet you!”
As I paused to process this, the snake-eyed man approached and offered me his hand.
“You’re Shin Jae-ha, right?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. That’s me.”
“I watch your broadcasts. When you said you were doing a team game, I logged in at the same time to see if I could match with you, and here we are on the same team.”
-Sniping already?
-That’s definitely sniping
-Something feels off….
Sniping.
I’d heard about it before from Su-hyeok.
Malicious users who intentionally logged in at nearly the same time as a streamer to meet them in the same game, then deliberately sabotaged it.
‘Though I suppose there are well-intentioned snipers too….’
But this man right in front of me didn’t give off a pleasant vibe.
The way he kept grinning at me while staring made me want nothing more than to slap that grin right off his face.
Still, I couldn’t exactly beat someone who hadn’t done anything wrong yet, as tempting as it was.
I had my pride as a law-abiding modern citizen, after all.
“How about we introduce ourselves quickly?”
The mage spoke, adjusting his glasses.
Everyone nodded simultaneously, then shared their information one by one.
Level 10 Mage.
Level 10 Archer.
Level 11 Warrior.
When it came to the snake-eyed man’s turn, he grinned widely and opened his mouth.
“I’m Level 13. Position is Warrior, Class is Apprentice Fighter. Rank is Bronze.”
“A Class?! And Bronze at that?!”
“That can’t be… It was supposed to be the Placement Exam…?”
The eyes of the Archer and Mage wavered.
They’d come expecting an ordinary Placement Exam, only to end up in a Bronze-tier game.
“That’s a shame~ I think I know who’s responsible for this, though….”
The Snake-eyed Man gave me a sidelong glance, his laugh dripping with mockery.
“Your skill level must normally be quite high~ It’s just bad luck that you got paired with me, which is why we ended up playing a Bronze-Rank game.”
His tone had a way of needling under the skin.
I hadn’t actually expected to be thrown into the same match as a Bronze-Rank player, I’ll admit.
‘Did I slip into the middle of things and end up on a team with those people and the Snake-eyed Man?’
Put differently, the channel’s system was implicitly accepting me as Bronze-Rank level right now.
Essentially, if I could pull this off, getting Bronze in the Placement Exam was half-guaranteed.
“…Kee-hee-hee!”
-This guy’s laughing again
-???:I have a condition where I can’t hold back my laughter.
-Shin’s creepyyyy
Never mind the Snake-eyed Man.
But the Supporter was still nowhere to be found.
There’s no way the system would make a mistake like that….
‘…Could it be?’
I turned my head slightly to look at the Korean-equipped man.
His eyes brightened as he puffed out his muscular chest proudly.
“I am Level 12! Your Supporter, at your service! Let’s do our best together!”
Wait… seriously?
Challenger-Tier Player’s Return
Author
: Ki-sa-hohn
Publication Date
: August 10, 2026
Publisher
: Acesmedia Co., Ltd.
Editor
: Acesmedia Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by Acesmedia Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260730114

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