The Dragon's Triumphant Return
The space was impossibly quiet.
If someone asked how a place packed with nearly a hundred thousand people could be this silent—when even three people together usually made a racket—all they had to do was look at this stadium.
“Gulp……”
“……Hic!”
The Dynasty fans had already cleared out after the crushing defeat in the previous set. Their empty seats were now filled by the Yongbung-i who had been cheering from the giant screens outside because they couldn’t get tickets.
Fans who filled every seat in the 100,000-capacity stadium, all praying with one heart.
A miracle only the devoted fans of a single guild could create.
“Go…… go……”
“Please, please……”
The child who once came to the stadium holding his father’s hand twenty years ago now sat here looking much like that father. He drank with his own father now.
“Get lost, move……”
“I can’t watch anymore……”
“……Hey, it’s almost over.”
The friends who spent elementary school together forty years ago now sat here as parents of their own families. They pooled money to charter a bus for old times’ sake.
“Aigoo, is Grandma Erme crying again?”
“……Don’t talk to me.”
“Your sixty years of this nonsense finally paid off……”
“……I’ll keep doing it for another ten.”
The daughter who once sobbed watching her dad lift a trophy sixty years ago had succeeded in business and gathered people like herself.
She would probably guard this dragon for at least another decade.
It wasn’t just them.
Children, youths, adults, elders.
Lines of time that had once run separately now converged.
They had loved it to death, and therefore hated it to death as well, but in the end…… no, they could never let it go.
They had loved and cheered fiercely.
For that damned dragon. For their guild.
─ “Mir Guild has finished final checks…… and is advancing to mid.”
─ “We’re almost there, you know? The match was basically decided the moment Yu Ri-ra’s snipe pierced Ssaurabi.”
─ “Still, Mir Guild has no choice but to stay cautious. Too much is riding on this game.”
─ “Hoo…… I’m going crazy. My heart feels like it’s about to jump out of my mouth.”
─ “Even the stadium has gone quiet…… Mir Guild enters Dynasty’s formation. They’ve reached the Nexus. Final engagement……!!”
Everyone held their breath.
Time seemed to stop. Even falling tears froze in place.
When Park Su-bin rampaged with the giant’s arms, they trembled with him. When Sanwang and Lee Hye-jung’s mist and poison dance swept the area, they clenched their fists together.
When Park Jeong-seok’s eyes widened and grabbed Ssaurabi, they prayed.
The one who answered that prayer was Yu Ri-ra.
‘Yu Ri-ra’ has defeated ‘Kang Han-bi’.
In that instant, the frozen time of the stadium began to flow again.
─ “The Nexus…… is being destroyed!!”
─ “It’s being destroyed!!”
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah────!!
We won! We actually won!!
─ “Mir Guild wins Round 50 of Guild War League 2!!”
─ “Oh my god, they’re insane! Absolutely crazy!”
─ “They never once lost first place in the 20-round conquest matches. They won every single match in the 30-round team battles too! Mir Guild is rewriting league history!!”
─ “Let’s just forget about that one set loss!!”
After winning the championship in their founding year, Mir Guild had been relegated as if it were a lie. After repeated promotions and relegations, even those stopped sixty years ago.
Exactly sixty years ago.
─ “This year, a story that would get criticized even if made into a movie has been completed.”
─ “Congratulations. Mir Guild, and all you Yongbung-i—you’ve created a legend!”
─ “With this, Mir Guild finishes as first place in League 2 and ascends to the dream stage every hunter longs for—League 1!!”
─ “They’re returning to the majors!!”
A wave of joy crashed over them. The cheers of a hundred thousand people became a tsunami that shook the stadium.
At that moment, the canyon vanished and the players finally faced their fans.
The players, momentarily stunned by the deafening roar, naturally turned toward the stands.
Fans screamed until their voices broke for their players. The players responded in their own ways.
Park Jeong-seok raised both hands and shouted with them, while Lee Hye-jung, unlike her usual self, bowed her head deeply as her shoulders shook.
Yu Ri-ra jumped up and down with both arms raised, then grabbed her duo partner Kim Jong-pil’s hand and jumped again. Kim Jong-pil laughed heartily, hugged her, and clapped toward the fans.
And finally, today’s ace—Park Su-bin.
“Hic, hiccup…… hngh……”
──He was on his knees, crying.
He looked up at the sky and reflected on the past.
A small, frail boy.
A boy who couldn’t even cry out when bullied.
One day, a miracle came to him.
― “I, Lee Shin, have come to save you!”
The miracle had been sincere to the boy.
― “From now on, follow me.”
― “I. Am. Awesome!”
……It had been embarrassing at times, but because it was the first miracle that had ever come to his insignificant self, the boy had always followed it with gratitude and thanks.
That very miracle was now walking toward him.
“Hya~ That was awesome, our Bokchi.”
“Hyung…… hyuuuung……”
“Kek, you crying, Bokchi??”
“Hyuuuung……”
“Puhahaha! Look at that snot. Hey, stay still. Let me take a picture.”
While Lee Shin took a photo and wiped Park Su-bin’s nose with his sleeve, the rest of the guild members poured out to celebrate the promotion.
Not just the hunters. Every front-office staff member, everyone who had worked so hard, came out to share in the glory.
The fans showered them with generous praise.
Kim Yu-shin, the Hwarang who had quietly left like a loser, looked back at the scene and gave a bitter smile.
“……I’m jealous.”
The glory that only a select few in the guild had once enjoyed.
Mir Guild let everyone share it—starters, raid team, and front office alike.
They were truly a family. A family that shared both sorrow and happiness.
That representative really didn’t lie.
Kim Yu-shin watched Lee Shin’s back as he comforted Park Su-bin, then turned and disappeared.
The excited atmosphere calmed with the interviewer’s arrival. Starting with raid leader Kim Jong-pil, Park Jeong-seok and Lee Hye-jung took the mic in order of age.
Representing the front office were Guild Leader Jeong Sun-dong and Vice Guild Leader Chae Dong-ha.
Only after their speeches ended did the mic finally turn to Lee Shin.
By the time Lee Shin held the microphone, the emotional high had perhaps cooled, or maybe his vocal cords couldn’t handle it—applause had replaced the cheers.
But that mischievous representative wouldn’t let the fans’ vocal cords rest……
“I promised I’d come.”
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah────!!
That single line reignited the cooling passion.
Win and win again, promote, promote, promote—reach League 1 in three years.
That was the promise Lee Shin had made when he took over Mir Guild.
“It’s been long, so I’ll keep it short. You’ve been seeing plenty of us lately anyway, right?”
Truthfully, Lee Shin had agonized a lot before stepping up to this spot.
What should he say? Offer ordinary thanks? Encourage them like before with “Don’t act like idiots!”? Or go with the “In that case, let’s conquer the world!” line he’d been thinking of on the way up?
He had worried. He really had……
Lee Shin carefully opened his mouth.
“The first time I met this guild was during the hardest time of my life.”
It was the first time he had spoken his true feelings.
The only truth they didn’t know.
“Back then, everything about me—mentally and physically—was on the edge. Yes, it was an illness. A terrible sickness of the heart.”
When he lost his parents and was left with his grandmother in a single room along with his brother—that broken time.
Looking back, that tiny kid had been so thoroughly shattered.
And the gift his brother bought for him by scraping together his meager allowance was Guild War League—this very world.
“They say a friend is someone who stays by your side when times are hard. Back then, the guild stayed by me. It silently accepted my worries and became my only sanctuary.”
“It was only natural that I fell in love with this guild.”
The fans thought he was referring to his troublemaker days. He had always said the reason he became Mir Guild’s representative was because he fell in love with the guild.
“I love this world. I love our guild, our hunters, and everyone in our front office.”
The broken boy trapped in his room had been healed by this world and was able to step out into society.
He had been hurt and lost things along the way, nearly breaking again, but because this world had always stayed by his side, he could stand back up.
So with a heart full of gratitude, he spoke his true feelings.
“I love all of you who love the guild I love.”
Lee Shin’s wide, radiant smile was brighter than any they had ever seen.
Whether it was because of his extraordinary Charm (101) or because of his sincerity, one thing was certain—the fans felt his honesty.
“As always, we’ll keep moving forward. We’ll win and win again, take the championship, conquer the Asia League, and rise to the dream stage.”
“You’ll still be by our side then, right?”
Yeeeeeeeees──!!
The ground shook. The stadium trembled.
The son who came holding his father’s hand twenty years ago, the friends who cheered forty years ago, even the grandmother who had been in love with this guild for sixty years.
Every fan gathered here went wild.
This was the representative who revived a dying dragon.
He recruited the legendary Sanwang, discovered the world-class local boy Park Su-bin who had been treated like a legend, and even scouted another world-class player in Yu Ri-ra.
Since taking over, they had promoted every single year and never once lost.
Even though the 131-round undefeated streak ended with a set loss in the final 50th round, in an era where guilds treated fans like fools, what fan wouldn’t love a representative who always called them family?
“Alright! Enough with the uncharacteristic serious talk!!”
Returning to his usual troublemaker self, Lee Shin spread his hands wide.
“Let’s go!!”
The moment Lee Shin clapped, front-office staff and even part-timers hired for today all mobilized to help fans exit the stadium.
When the fans stepped outside following the guidance, they all lost their words as if by agreement.
“Whoa……”
“This is insane……”
“He’s actually crazy……”
There, stars that should have been in the night sky had descended to the ground.
Blindingly bright streetlights. Lighting so dazzling it took your breath away.
Mir Guild flags lined both sides of the bridge endlessly, and the shops at the end of the bridge had all opened their doors wide, preparing food.
Everyone realized it.
This was why.
Why Lee Shin had bought up all the surrounding land, turning the entire city into a massive festival ground.
Riding Sanwang’s wind spirit, Lee Shin landed in the middle of the bridge with a hop. He smiled brightly and shouted to the stunned fans.
“Now let’s start the festival! Enjoy yourselves!!”
At the exact moment he spread his hands, countless fireworks shot up all at once. Brilliant fireworks painted over the night sky.
The festival had begun.
* * *
50 Round
Mir Guild (3) : Dynasty Guild (1)
• Mir Guild Victory (+3 Points)
• Total Match Time: 2 hours 40 minutes 54 seconds.
League 2 Ranking: 1st Place (Promoted!)
MVP: Park Su-bin (Rating: 9.6)
Mir Guild has successfully promoted to League 1.
Congratulations. You have successfully completed your entry into the majors.
Achieved a feat close to impossible.
Achieved a feat close to impossible.
Achieved a feat close to impossible.
Performance has been exceeded.
Due to exceeding expectations, rewards will be recalculated.