Anyone Can Be Team Leader
The answer had come to him.
To survive!
In other words, it was because survival instincts were maximized. The burning desire to live completely overtook the body, even unleashing hidden potential.
Desire? Craving?
Something flashed through his mind.
Kim Jun stopped running, grabbed his Leaderbook, and searched for "Maslow's Five Stages of Needs." The content he'd skimmed before now filled the screen in exhaustive detail.
It was a framework established by a man named Maslow.
The most basic was physiological needs—eating, sleeping, satisfying the body's demands.
Next came security or safety.
The urges that exploded during dungeon raids were precisely stages one and two of Maslow's hierarchy. Those two desires sharpened focus, enabling tremendous growth through real combat.
Unfortunately, you couldn't harness those in training. Above all, getting injured during practice was a problem.
Kim Jun examined other desires.
Stage three was belongingness, four was esteem, and the final fifth was self-actualization.
Could he incorporate these into training? As he pondered, an idea struck.
What if they competed for the team leader position?
What if anyone could become team leader?
Only after becoming team leader and receiving the Leaderbook did Kim Jun realize how appealing the role was. Show it to the team members, explain what it could do, then declare that anyone could have it?
Stages three and four would explode.
That fierce emotion would skyrocket focus, and the team's power would surge.
To do that, he'd have to give up the leader spot. No—he had to be willing to hand it over to anyone, anytime.
It stung a little. He hated the thought.
Giving up this convenient Leaderbook...
That's when Kim Jun understood what Yoo Min-jeong had sacrificed. If she'd stubbornly clung to being team leader, he'd never have led Pink Team.
She'd set the example. Ignoring it would be shameful.
"Let's do it."
Kim Jun dove into the specifics.
Choi Muhyun stared at his hands gripping the steering wheel.
These hands... had turned bone-white and torn through that sturdy container wall.
Myeoloksu.
How was that possible?
Myeoloksu
was a notoriously tricky skill he'd never even properly mastered.
He couldn't be certain it was the exact answer, but he could explain. Growing up watching his father, playing nearby while his dad trained Pacheon-gong—maybe that's how.
The secret... was extreme rage.
The fact that his mom was trapped inside, calling for her son—that ignited a fury that transformed his hands into myeoloksu.
He'd tried several times since, but nothing. Even imagining the situation of rescuing her yielded no change.
Not enough rage.
Choi Muhyun kept mulling it over as he stepped out of the jeep. How could he unleash myeoloksu freely? Mastering Pacheon-gong properly would make him a huge asset in this relic quest.
Entering the guildhouse, he saw Kim Jun circling the track.
Still at it, that guy.
Oh, right—his shin bone was broken.
"Jun!"
Kim Jun spotted Choi Muhyun but didn't slow down. He didn't veer off the track or rush over. Instead, he looped wide and approached, bursting into laughter.
"Puhahaha, hahaha."
Only then did Choi Muhyun remember... his face.
He'd swung at his father and gotten thoroughly thrashed. Even wearing Pacheonhyeon-gap armor hadn't helped. No, because he wore it, Dad went all out—unlike usual—and his son had crawled from the depths of agony for the first time in ages.
That morning in the mirror, his eyelids were swollen... the area bruised purple. But when Mom smacked Dad's back for messing up her son's face, it was a small comfort.
Kim Jun, eyes teary with laughter.
"You look like a panda."
A surge of emotion welled up.
Choi Muhyun glanced at his hands—no trace of myeoloksu. This level of feeling wasn't enough.
"Your leg?"
"As you see."
Kim Jun grinned wide.
"Jealous."
He meant it. If he had Kim Jun's recovery, he wouldn't look like a panda. Or even with Ultimation's healing, the bruising around his eyes would've faded.
Choi Muhyun headed to the locker room to change.
Unusually, Kim Jun followed.
"Hey."
"Hey."
They spoke at once.
"You first."
Kim Jun.
Choi Muhyun explained myeoloksu. How, with his resolve to save Mom, he'd unleashed a skill powerful enough to shred the container's steel wall—but now, no matter how hard he tried, nothing.
Kim Jun's eyes widened.
"Why the face?"
"I've been wrestling with something similar."
Now Kim Jun described his brief clash with the guild master to his friend. And how he'd been searching for a way to recapture that real-battle tension.
Kim Jun pulled up the Leaderbook and showed Maslow's theory.
"Five stages of needs?"
"Yeah. I think stages one and two tie into the rage that drew out myeoloksu. It was a fluke back then—we couldn't know. But in training, pulling that desperation is nearly impossible."
"So?"
Choi Muhyun felt impatient. Sharing the same dilemma with Kim Jun was great; solving it together meant mastering advanced skills like myeoloksu. He wanted answers fast.
"We actively tap other desires. Like this."
Kim Jun launched a program.
Anyone can be team leader.
//txt7//
The massive text blared in the center. Only "Anyone" was in bold red font.
He'd never thought of shoving Kim Jun aside to become Pink Team leader. No, that spot suited Kim Jun. He vaguely dreamed of leading his own team someday, nothing more.
But seeing that phrase, his heart raced. Something hot bubbled from deep within.
In that instant, his fingertips turned bone-white.
"Muhyun!"
Kim Jun pointed at the myeoloksu-clad fingers.
Choi Muhyun startled, and it vanished.
"Myeoloksu, right?"
"...Yeah."
It felt like a dream. Even recalling Mom trapped inside had done nothing before.
Emotions couldn't be forced.
They flowed naturally from true desire.
"I learned team leaders can now create internal rules for members. Thinking of making this a Pink Team rule—what do you say?"
"...What?"
Choi Muhyun blinked in shock.
"Anyone can be team leader" meant even ousting the current one—Kim Jun.
No sane leader would make that rule.
This guy's crazy.
Which meant he'd absolutely turn that wild phrase into a rule.
"You think too. What else to add to Pink Rules?"
"If we're doing it, let's all pitch in."
"Okay."
Choi Muhyun changed and hit the track. Whispering "Anyone can be team leader" inwardly, his fingertips whitened again.
Not just that—inner energy in his danjeon, built via Wolyeong Geumgang Simbeop, writhed vigorously.
An old story from his father came to mind. He'd misunderstood it as teasing back then.
"Emotions are like muscles, son. Train 'em like your body."
"Then Mom's the world's strongest."
Young Choi Muhyun took it as a joke.
"Pfft, hahaha. True. I can't handle her when she snaps. But it's fact. Actors memorize emotions in their bodies for roles, right? Intense ones stick deep, pulled out for key scenes. How? They train emotion muscles daily. Without mastering various feelings bodily, no great acting."
Dad was dead serious.
His son just blinked.
Lapping the track, Choi Muhyun finally got it. No martial art—not just Pacheon-gong—unfolded without emotion. Will moved inner energy; emotion sparked the will.
Choi Muhyun bellowed.
"Anyone can be team leader!"
And he surged forward at several times the speed.
Sa Yeonggyo draped the cape last.
As the Konggo set completed, a chill enveloped her, silver-gray light emanating from the items.
She checked her stunning reflection.
Perfect.
If it were the full Konggo collection instead of set, it'd be flawless.
Gathering hard-to-get Konggo series—armor, shield, ring, belt—completed the Kongko collection, but she wasn't that obsessed.
Finally, she spritzed the gifted perfume.
"Looking good."
Winking at her mirror self, Sa Yeonggyo packed the Konggo set carefully and left the hotel.
She sped on her motorcycle to the guildhouse. Even arriving much earlier than usual, she expected the team already running the track.
"Huh?"
No one.
The guildhouse was empty.
"Kim Jun? Choi Muhyun?"
No reply.
Then Yeom Sang-taek peeked from the briefing room.
"In here."
"What's up? No training?"
"Come on. Got something to discuss."
Sa Yeonggyo tensed slightly. Skipping morning runs for talk? Something even Kim Jun couldn't handle?
Exciting, a bit. Maybe her true worth would shine.
Entering the briefing room, everyone was deep in chatter.
"Hierarchy can shift anytime. How's this? We're split into main and second roles now. Make those changeable too—more Pink Team style?"
Skyla.
"Problem's evaluation. Can't swap roles just 'cause you win a 1v1. It's about team contribution."
Yoo Min-jeong.
"For buffers, duels won't show superiority. Detection or buffs don't work that way."
Yeom Sang-taek cautiously added.
Sa Yeonggyo whispered, sitting beside him.
"What's this about?"
"Uh, we're... making Pink Rules."
"Pink Rules?"
Kim Jun stepped in, explaining they were gathering input for internal rules to boost team strength. Then he announced the first decided rule.
Anyone can be team leader.
"You're insane?"
The words burst from Sa Yeonggyo. Kim Jun and the others burst laughing.
Was this funny?
Humans were selfish, always proving superiority even in pairs. For a team to function, command structure had to be ironclad first.
"Anyone can be team leader" as a rule? It shattered that structure—dangerous.
"Great input. Why do you think that?"
Kim Jun.
Sa Yeonggyo unleashed a tirade, citing Africa experience. Strict hierarchy alone maximized team power.
"Hm, makes sense."
Go Cheolmin.
"How about adding 'Obey team leader commands unconditionally'?"
Choi Muhyun suggested.
"I'm for it."
"Me too."
Yoo Min-jeong and Yeom Sang-taek joined.
Sa Yeonggyo gaped at Pink Team. She'd argued the discussion itself was absurd, yet they... incorporated her idea into the rule.
Could "Anyone can be team leader" coexist with "Obey team leader unconditionally"?
No one would follow orders from someone who could be yanked anytime. They'd ignore inwardly until they seized the spot.
Pink was... utterly baffling.
Sometimes monstrously powerful, other times childish and sloppy.
Sa Yeonggyo glared at Go Cheolmin. A former guild master should stop this nonsense.
He met her eyes.
"Seems our second buffer has issues."
All eyes on Sa Yeonggyo.
"Dungeons aren't games. Anyone can die. It's a battlefield. Why's the military so rigid? Why punish disobedience harshly? Clear command saves lives—one more soldier. 'Anyone can be team leader' as rule? Commands fail instantly. Everyone fixates on becoming leader. Team's doomed. Why are you all like this? You know better."
She was more disappointed because she rated Pink so highly.
"Why would I, as team leader, say 'anyone can be team leader'?"
Kim Jun asked softly.