Declaration of War
Lee Shin publicly denounced him, and the media descended into chaos overnight.
Family? Fine. Trust? Fine. Hunters’ rights? Fine.
But Lee Shin saying it? Nah, that doesn’t fly.
Who was Lee Shin? Wasn’t he the very symbol of the cold-blooded representative who tore apart a raid team on his first day in office, a man with neither blood nor tears?
No matter how many times Lee Shin had proven himself a genius representative, the public consensus was that this time he had been too reckless. As if acknowledging the criticism, Lee Shin stayed silent for a while and did not continue his attacks.
It looked as though the whole thing would blow over as a simple incident, but…
“The world is spinning the wrong way!!”
Lee Shin had no intention of stopping.
·
·
Toegail-jwa Park Seong-cheol watched Lee Shin’s broadcast with sorrowful eyes.
“This pains me so much.”
On the screen stood a wounded man.
A genius who had held fast to his convictions despite endless misunderstandings and fabricated stories was now crying passionate tears straight from the heart!
“Ugh!”
Park Seong-cheol empathized from the bottom of his own heart and wept along in silence.
“When I heard the news of the trade, I couldn’t hide my shock. To think there exists a representative less than human who throws away veteran hunters who devoted themselves to the guild like old rags in the middle of the season.”
People said Lee Shin had once torn apart a raid team with Yang… whatever-his-name-was, so wasn’t he the real hypocrite? Wasn’t this the very definition of “do as I say, not as I do”?
But Park Seong-cheol didn’t agree with a single fingernail’s worth of that argument.
“Those two things are completely different.”
At the very least, their Lee Shin had never irresponsibly kicked people out mid-season. He had even considered their futures and arranged suitable jobs for each and every one of them. How could that be the same as being thrown out and discarded overnight?
Look, everyone was proving it.
As expected of the fair and upright Yongbungs, only the most objective facts were written.
“I have never seen such an immoral and unjust trade. I’m ashamed to even hold my head up knowing I’m competing in the same league as the senseless representative who carried out that trade.”
“That’s right! That’s right! You cowards!!”
Park Seong-cheol, who loved the league more purely than anyone, could not stay silent.
Sneaking two rankers in at the very end of the season? That was treating the entire league ecosystem like garbage.
By comparison, the godlike Lee Shin who had written legends with the same League 4 members from the beginning looked even more impressive.
The chat window was no different from Park Seong-cheol’s own feelings.
They were Yongbungs too. Foolish idiots who only knew Mir.
“A guild is not a simple group that can be explained in a few words. It is a big family bound by thick bonds of affection that go beyond mere interests.”
“The front office manages supplies with the mindset that they are feeding their own family. They prepare for matches with a mother’s heart twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They pay attention to what we eat, what we wear, even the rumors floating around.”
“The same goes for the raid team. Every drop of sweat the hunters shed in the training room, every step they take in real combat, is what keeps the guild alive and growing.”
And then.
On screen, Lee Shin pointed directly at the camera.
“That includes all the fans watching this broadcast.”
“It must be hard taking care of this reckless youngest child in place of parents who are busy with work. I’m always grateful.”
Lee Shin then pointed at himself and smiled.
And that smile…
…was impossibly, devastatingly handsome.
Regardless of age or gender, it was lethal enough to make even an alien from another galaxy gasp in awe from every direction.
Having drawn everyone’s full attention, Lee Shin delivered his final line.
“To me, the guild is family. That is why I can never acknowledge the guild of Representative Lee Myeong-hwan, who has damaged the value of his guild because he was blinded by immediate results.”
!!
This was a declaration of war, and at the same time, a formal challenge thrown at Lee Myeong-hwan.
“Stop hiding and come out. Let’s settle this properly. With everything on the line.”
The world wasn’t spinning the wrong way.
Lee Shin was the one spinning the world.
Round and round, dizzyingly.
* * *
·
·
“That maniac can’t stay quiet for even a second.”
Yeah, this was exactly like him.
Lee Shin had been like this since he was a child.
He knew he was charming and wielded that charm with terrifying skill. One smile could melt people; if the situation turned against him, he would throw himself into their arms and create the outcome he wanted. He had even melted his grandfather, a man so stingy he wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed. That said everything.
A life always in the spotlight, always loved.
Even his wild antics were loved. If it had been any other child, Lee Myeong-hwan suspected they would have been shipped off to some rural factory to spend their life chopping wood.
Grind.
How disgusting…
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.
From kindergarten through high school, Lee Myeong-hwan had never once lost the top spot in his class. He had always lived with restraint, exactly as the adults wanted.
Yet he had always been second. Overshadowed by that insane bastard’s brilliance.
So.
“Thank you.”
“I was getting bored because there was still so much time left until the match. How kind of you to build me a ring like this.”
A cold smile hung on Lee Myeong-hwan’s face.
Soon his hand held a phone.
“Communications team, prepare a meeting. I’ll give you ten minutes.”
Exactly ten minutes later, when Lee Myeong-hwan entered the conference room, the entire communications team bowed with military precision.
The conference room was perfectly prepared.
Lee Myeong-hwan nodded and immediately took his seat.
“As you all know, that maniac has thrown down a bold provocation. I wish to accept it. So tell me what stance I should take to extract the maximum benefit.”
Opinions poured out the moment the words left his mouth.
“Our research shows Lee Shin’s strengths are his appearance and friendliness. This appears in his speeches and broadcasts where he always speaks to the fans…”
“Taking the same image as Lee Shin would be like throwing oil on fire. In this case, we should go in the completely opposite direction and build an image as his rival…”
“Lee Shin’s preferred colors are navy and black. His clothing style is surprisingly classic despite his outrageous behavior. We should counter with this palette of colors…”
For an emergency meeting thrown together on the spot, the discussion was heavy, yet everyone spoke without hesitation.
Yes. This was it. This was a proper company. How clean and efficient.
‘The guild is family? Don’t make me laugh.’
No family could expect this kind of sharp, disciplined efficiency.
To Lee Myeong-hwan, a guild was a company. An enterprise.
When orders came from above, professionals below carried them out without fail.
This was exactly the kind of guild Lee Myeong-hwan wanted.
When the meeting reached its final stage, Lee Myeong-hwan nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. Excellent. Then let’s proceed exactly as discussed.”
He checked his watch.
“I’ll give you three hours. Let’s get to work.”
Exactly three hours later, Lee Myeong-hwan stood before the camera.
“Hello. I am Lee Myeong-hwan, representative of the Dynasty Guild. I won’t speak for long.”
“I have nothing to hide.”
* * *
Emergency!
Ultra emergency!!
Lee Shin’s declaration of war had been shocking, but Lee Myeong-hwan went one step further and provoked him right back.
And then—Boom!! The guild world exploded.
Maniac versus lunatic.
Clear-eyed madness versus cold-eyed madness.
This time, there was no need to decide who was the maniac and who was the lunatic. Both clearly qualified on behavior alone.
If there was any difference, it was that one provoked with bright, cheerful eyes while the other mocked in a deep, solemn voice with cold eyes.
Neither backed down an inch.
For every word, they returned one. When Lee Shin turned on a broadcast, Lee Myeong-hwan would magically start one too. When Mir Guild won a match overwhelmingly, Dynasty won its match even more overwhelmingly.
It even reached this point…
Reporters were torn.
Should they treat this as good deeds? Or as a fight?
It got so bad that both men’s names were mentioned not on sports news, but on the 9 p.m. primetime news—and not on just one channel, but every single major network.
The interesting part was that even the broadcasting stations were split in their opinions.
“This is KBC 9 o’clock news. The off-field war of words between Lee Shin and Lee Myeong-hwan is growing overheated. Citizens are growing tired of the two representatives’ excessive media manipulation…”
While one side spoke of the ills of media play and criticized them, the other side saw the positive.
“This is MBS news. The off-field war of words between Lee Shin and Lee Myeong-hwan remains the hot topic day after day. Citizens are enjoying the interesting spectacle…”
The reason for the divided tone was simple.
Broadcasting stations without rights to Mir Guild or Dynasty Guild matches criticized them, while stations that held the rights were screaming with joy.
What was even more amusing was that the Bureau—which should have been the happiest at this moment—found itself in a similar situation.
“Director! This is too much! Those two are in League 4! We’re League 1! The majors! Our League 1 representatives are already complaining that those two are tarnishing the league’s image, and now you want to put them on the main banner for ads?”
“Director, do you want to see me dead?!”
The League 1 department head flopped onto the director’s office floor at the suggestion of featuring Mir and Dynasty’s remaining matches on the main banner.
“Director, look at the numbers. Here’s the ratings chart. Isn’t it insane? Doesn’t it take your breath away?! Every match except the top League 1 games is getting crushed by these two!”
“Director—no, sunbae. This is an opportunity. I’ve suffered enough to know. Lee Shin is the real deal. Let’s ride this wave.”
The League 2 department head was practically dancing with the ratings chart, trying to cash in on two years of suffering.
If even the media and the Bureau—who were supposed to remain neutral—were like this, one could only imagine the chaos among the people below them.
It was pure pandemonium.
“The league is losing all respect! Respect is vanishing!”
“I am truly disappointed. What era is this that such rude, uncultured behavior is happening? We can expect it from that maniac Lee Shin, but even Representative Lee Myeong-hwan should know better!”
“Respect? R~espect?! The league is a coliseum for warriors. Save your respect for your parents.”
“I am absolutely loving this fighting spirit. You find the off-field war uncomfortable? Thirty years ago this was normal. And that was the golden age of the Korean league! If you’re curious, go ask the Mountain King.”
Television, newspapers, the internet—every single medium was talking about it.
Everyone had gone insane.
Now there was no one left in Korea who didn’t know Lee Shin, Lee Myeong-hwan, Mir, and Dynasty.
And within that fire, people naturally arrived at the root of it all.
“Just what is the Ido family that produced such crazy bastards?”
Yes.
It was suspicion about their DNA.