Urek Mazino

Urek Mazino (우렉 마지노, "Urek Majino") is an Irregular, currently 4th in Rank. He is the strongest active Ranker, and also the most recent to be part of the Top 5 High Rankers inside The Tower.

He is considered on the same level as Phantaminum by weaker Rankers, however, his true rank is almost impossible to determine in terms of the Top 4 ranks, because the other three Rankers are inactive and cannot be compared to Urek. He is currently the most famous Ranker, known better than even Zahard himself.

Background
It took Urek only 50 years to pass every test and climb all the way up to the top of the Tower. This is one tenth of the average time it takes to climb the Tower (at least 500 years). He is recorded as the fastest person to climb the Inner Tower through an orthodox method, and it would probably be accurate to say he scaled the tower faster than Zahard himself.

As the strongest of the current active Rankers, and as one of the founders of the Walhaiksong or the Wing Tree, Urek Mazino is one of the most influential people inside The Tower. Moreover, it is not an overstatement to say that his every single move affects the future of The Tower.

Sobriquet
Urek's sobriquet is Ray Barracuda (레이 바라쿠다, "Ray Barracuda"). Ray refers to his combat style, in which he fires Shinsoo at the speed of light. Barracuda is the name of the most aggressive and ferocious shinheuh in the Tower. Although his formal sobriquet is Ray Barracuda, just Barracuda can also refer to Urek in The Tower.

Personality and Appearance
Urek is noted to be quite handsome and has an extremely masculine and magnanimous personality, leading him to be respected by all those who dare call themselves men, and at the same time seems to be disliked by seemingly every woman he meets.

Abilities
Although his main Position is Fisherman, he is proficient in almost every other Position and very aggressive when performing any of them. He is adept in controlling Shinsoo with high movement speed, and this power is unblockable even with the most of superior armor inventories. People who have seen Urek Mazino in combat had evaluated his combat style as 'Aggressive, ferocious and fast, but very beautiful'. Urek possesses the ability to shoot Shinsoo at the speed of light.

Enhanced Physical Abilities: Mazino has enough raw speed of movement in that he can travel roughly fifty metres from one stace to a mid-air kick in a literal instant. He has also displayed the ability to crush a Ranker with a single kick effortlessly.

Force Fields: Urek can create a sort of "shield" of yellow Shinsoo around himself. So far nothing has been observed to penetrate it, except for the scratch which Viole left.

Shinsoo Mastery: He has been seen creating massive explosions and controlling Shinsoo with minimal effort. He can resist Lighthouses and has claimed that even the Opera can only stop him for a fraction of a second.

Supreme King's Scorching Fist of Death (패왕열사권, Paewangyeolsagwon, probably 覇王熱死拳): A technique that Urek claims is "legendary". It was powerful enough to take down Viole in a single strike, even when the latter was shielding himself (You have to take into account he might have stopped his shield to protect Miseng so he probably lost his shield and used a lesser defense on his back).

Urek Mazino, while standing on his final Position, had once knocked down a Light Bearer who was also on his final Position. Figuratively speaking, it's similar to a goalkeeper scoring a goal from across the entire field.

Yu Han Sung said to Lero-Ro that the only known person to use Shinsoo without a contract from the Guardian (before Baam) is Urek.

Plot
Urek Mazino ventured inside Zygaena with the goal of finding Zygaena's Flower for Yuri. He killed several Rankers who were also after the flower.

While inside Zygaena, Urek took a nap because he felt that it wasn't time to leave yet. He wakes up when he senses Team Tangsooyook coming inside, meeting Teddy and Prince later on. He was about to kill them but upon realizing that they were just regulars, he decides to let them walk out alive if they gave up on the test. Viole comes in and refuses to give up and challenges Urek. Since he found this amusing, Urek accepts and decides to play a game with Viole, stating that Viole must get the flower before Urek caught and killed him. He gives Team Tangyoosook time to gather and attack him. He easily swats away their attempts and lunges in after Viole. Just as the two of them were about to exchange blows, Miseng jumps in between them since she was attempting to grab the flower on the baby pig. Viole protects her and is severely injured as a result. Urek is impressed at this and lets them have the extra flower that just grew. As he leaves, Team Tangyoosook is shocked to learn that he was Urek Mazino (seeing the tattoo on his back). Urek exits Zygaena to find three rankers waiting for him. He easily kills two of them and disables Noma. Noma demands to know who he is and Urek replies, "Isn't it on my back? 'Mazino.'" He leaves the testing area. He meets up with one of his followers, Uze, and tells him to tell Yuri that he got was she was looking her. He hands him the pig and discovers that Viole has managed to scratch him. He then tells Uze to have the new slayer candidate watched.

Relationships
His relationships are somewhat dull, partly because of his masculine manner. He has a magnanimous personality, but is very unpopular among women. It is rumored that he has a crush on one of Zahard's Princesses, Garam Zahard, but Garam herself hates Urek Mazino. Of course, this is not actually confirmed.

He is also acquainted with another Princess, Ha Yuri Zahard, and this is because she was present at the planting of "Walhaiksong". Yuri spoke of him and stated, "He's the best man to fight with, but the worst man to live with."

On the other hand, he has great support from men. 'White Sword' Arie Hon praised him as a true warrior after he fought him, this was when Urek Mazino took Arie Hon's test. Arie Hon's task was to endure all of Arie's attacks for 10 minutes, but Urek Mazino fought on even ground with Arie, and Arie even stated that Urek was far better. Urek Mazino has become the most famous Ranker in The Tower thanks to this opportunity. The reward from Arie Hon was the transfer of control of one of the Floors to Urek Mazino's possession. After Urek became a Ranker, the 77th Floor became his, and he transferred the control of the 77th Floor again to Backryun, who set up the stronghold of the Walhaiksong there.

'Blue Advancer' Koon Eduan picked Urek as 'One of the People I Wish to Battle'.

Urek's best friend Backryun said that Urek is the number one comrade and man. Backryun, who is one of the first members to plant 'Walhaiksong', has a special relationship with Urek, and the Two's influence inside The Tower is already equivalent to the heads of the 10 Great Families.

The relationship between Phantaminum and Urek is a very talkative issue, but it seems that Urek tracked Phantaminum and followed him inside the Tower. There was a time when Urek, who had a complaint about his rank being lower than Phantaminum's, broke into the Ranker Administration Office, captured Robert Aisand, and threatened him to raise his rank. To Urek, who asked "Have you ever seen me fight Phantaminum?" Aisand answered briefly and without hesitation "You will be the loser." Urek Mazino, shocked, could do nothing but go home bitterly. As a result of this incident a number of jokes about the loser Urek Mazino emerged, and nicknames like Urek Ma-Loser, and Loser Mazino appeared. This climaxed in production of comic strips featuring the incident which Backryun said would "prove quite useful in the treatment of chronic depression".

It appears that Urek has manged to get over this incident.

It is rumored that Urek is Joochun's drinking buddy, however this is not confirmed.

Notes and Trivia

 * Koon Eduan has stated his desire to battle him, because it was Urek who pushed him out of the Top 5 Rankers.
 * A mistranslation once stated that Urek can create life using shinsoo. However, it is not Urek, but Enryu, who can do this.
 * After Yuri gave half a wingtree symbol to Ship Leesoo, she told him to give it to Baam along with the message that: "Come to the Seventy-Seventh Floor, Urek Mazino is waiting." Urek Mazino may know about or have an interest in Baam.

Alternate Translations

 * (Korean pronunciation) Oo-rehk Mah-ji-no