The Ultimate Scam
The number 2,000 billion won pressed down on the guild master’s office like an invisible weight.
“……Haha, I let it slide when you snatched Seo Ye-na from me.”
Hijacking?
That kind of thing was common in this industry.
“Even when you suddenly declared you’d devour Busan, I understood. I really did.”
A declaration of war?
I thought the young man had spirit.
But then.
“Ryu Hong-seok, Jegal Min-gi…… You took every single healer I had my eyes on.”
Even the ones that had fallen all the way to the 3rd Division, the drug-addled healer he’d reluctantly gone after, the one he’d practically given up on in League 4, and even the filler healer he’d only picked up to round out the roster.
“Seven. Seven healers. Even two per guild is considered a lot, yet you took seven.”
By this point, Han Jin-chol had already concluded that the man sitting across from him was out of his mind…….
“Now I’m certain. Park Jeong-seok and all those other strays together for 2,000 billion? You’re actually insane, aren’t you?”
Healers were basically useless in the competitive raids anyway.
They were resources used almost exclusively for regular raids. So at a time when the competitive raid issue had inflated prices to absurd levels, who in their right mind would pay three or four times the normal rate to hoard healers?
Han Jin-chol refused to believe it. There was no way someone that stupid could have climbed all the way to League 1.
Which left only one possible reason for this nonsense.
Revenge.
Retaliation for tampering with his hunters, including Park Jeong-seok. Otherwise, there was no explaining why he would throw out such a ridiculous number.
“Get lost. I’m not buying.”
The moment Han Jin-chol turned to leave, contract or no contract, the next words stopped him cold.
“Park Jae-jun.”
“!!”
Park Jae-jun.
He was the main tanker for Haemu Guild, the one who held the top lane in competitive raids. And he was currently…….
“In the middle of a trade after losing an internal power struggle.”
“How the hell do you…….”
Facing the stunned Han Jin-chol, Lee Shin simply smiled.
Want to sit? He gestured to a chair. Han Jin-chol ground his teeth and sat down.
Lee Shin rinsed his mouth with tea and continued.
“First, let’s clear up any misunderstandings. I don’t have any personal feelings toward you, Guild Master.”
“Are you joking? Misunderstandings?”
“The healers were acquired for strategic necessity. Our territories just happen to overlap, so our movements ‘coincidentally’ crossed paths.”
“……Hah. Coincidentally?”
“The declaration of war was the same. It was just a friendly competition. The part that got a little heated…… well, please chalk it up to youthful vigor.”
“……Fine. Let’s see how far you go.”
“And finally, the matter with Park Jeong-seok and his friends. From my perspective it was a bit annoying, but as fellow guild masters, I can understand. I got over it a long time ago.”
“So?”
“The conclusion is that this price is extremely reasonable.”
“……”
“……”
“……You’re serious?”
“Dead serious. One hundred percent.”
Han Jin-chol could see it in those innocently blinking eyes.
Of course, from his own perspective, it was infuriating.
“Hah, you’ve got to be kidding me. Reasonable? Did the meaning of the word change without me noticing? How the hell is this reasonable!”
“Whoa, whoa, relax. Don’t get so aggressive. First, take a look at this.”
“……?”
Lee Shin slid a document across the table. As Han Jin-chol took it, the crease between his brows gradually smoothed out.
It was a detailed report analyzing every single match Park Jeong-seok and his group had played over the past three years.
Loss rate, role execution ability, raid contribution…….
Tiny text packed with every possible stat and graph imaginable.
Even Han Jin-chol had never seen analysis this thorough. It looked like a classified document…… and he was just showing it to him?
Meeting that questioning gaze, Lee Shin dropped all pretense of playfulness and spoke with deadly seriousness.
“These people are talented.”
30% of these numbers should be taken with a massive grain of salt.
“Starting with the first metric, their loss rate is at the highest level in the league……”
That’s right.
This was all bullshit.
A three-year-long, soul-crafted masterpiece of pure bullshit!
“7.8%. An unbelievable figure, isn’t it? The rate at which they let monsters slip past them is a mere 7.8%. Flip that around and their aggro maintenance rate is 92.2%. When you consider that this is the league’s top loss rate, the number simply doesn’t make sense……”
What is a scam, at its core?
It’s a lie. It’s deceiving the other party.
“The team’s brightest strength is their role execution ability. Pulling, surrounding, concealment, ambushes, night maneuvers—they can perform every single role thanks to years of built-up teamwork……”
Contribution, efficiency rating, resource consumption rate, clutch plays…….
From League 4 all the way to League 2, every gate-related metric was top-tier. Especially the teamplay-related stats, which were all ranked number one.
Han Jin-chol, who had started off lukewarm, was now scooting his chair closer.
He had thought it was all nonsense at first, but seeing the concrete numbers made them strangely hypnotic.
Those stats were undeniably real. There wasn’t a single lie in them.
Except for one thing.
Just one thing that had been conveniently left unmentioned.
The legendary commander known as the Mountain King, Kim Jong-pil.
The fact that this was the Mountain King’s team.
The Mountain King, after all, possessed the artistic packaging skill to make even the all-purpose jack-of-all-trades ‘Ten Thousand King’ look like a world-class player.
It wasn’t for nothing that Lee Shin liked to joke, “The real con artist is that old man.”
Thirty percent of the stats he produced had to be filtered out.
They were numbers that ignored averages—numbers only the Mountain King could produce.
And the person who had received the most of that Mountain King care was…….
“Now, let’s talk about Park Jeong-seok himself, not the team.”
The very man he was about to praise.
— “Sir, please give Jeong-seok all the good roles.”
The only person among the old monsters who could actually communicate with Lee Shin was Kim Jong-pil.
And at Lee Shin’s request, he had packaged Park Jeong-seok with utmost sincerity.
So brilliantly that just looking at the wrapping made people think, ‘Oh my, I have to buy that,’ and reach out in a trance.
The result? In the current market, Park Jeong-seok’s evaluation was “a proven diamond in the rough.”
“You can raise his defense and evasion to make him the core of raids, or focus on his attack power and excellent footwork to aim for competitive play. If you also increase his activity and tactical execution, becoming the next ‘Hwarang’ isn’t just a dream.”
“A tanker raw gem that can be shaped however you want. Isn’t that every guild master’s fantasy? That’s why you wanted him too, right?”
It wasn’t a lie.
Haemu Guild was known for its strength in developing hunters.
They had noticed Park Jeong-seok’s frightening growth rate over the past three years and judged that he was worth raising in place of their current top laner who kept stirring up internal politics.
“……I’ve heard you out, but this is still just your data. Why should I believe a word you say?”
“I thought you’d say that. Would you mind turning to the very last page?”
The moment Han Jin-chol flipped to the final page as instructed, his eyes widened.
There, stamped boldly, was the official certification seal of the Bureau.
Lee Shin smiled with satisfaction.
This was it.
This was the ultimate scam—hiding 1% bullshit inside 99% truth!
“This will solve your entry expansion problem in one fell swoop. Since they’ve been on the same team for three years, there’s no need to worry about synergy. And best of all, it includes the most difficult tanker line in its entirety.”
“Eight excellent role players and one future world-class prospect.”
The moment it received the Bureau’s certification, that analysis document became ‘truth.’ Their stats became ‘truth,’ and Park Jeong-seok’s market value became ‘truth.’
The only ‘lie’ hidden within was Park Jeong-seok’s potential of (179/181).
A world where lies became truth and truth became lies.
And Lee Shin could say with absolute certainty that Han Jin-chol would never realize it.
Because unless you had experienced the Mountain King’s command firsthand and received guidance from the old monsters,
There was simply no way to tell the difference.
“So, what do you think? 2,000 billion? Surely worth going all-in, don’t you agree?”
Lee Shin smiled like a man who had already won.
·
·
IN: 150 billion (cash) + 50 billion (items)
IN: Park Jeong-seok (Competitive) + Tanker Line + Supporter + Dealers = 9 players
A profile of Park Jeong-seok appeared on the screen.
Im Cho-rong smoothly ignored the fiery chat and wrapped up her analysis cleanly.
Then a question popped up.
Hunter☆Zen
￦ 300,000
Noona, who do you think will be the ‘main character’ of this Stove League?
The word “main character” instantly told Im Cho-rong that the sender was someone from the industry.
Hell for the guilds, heaven for the fans.
No matter how hard they tried to expand their entries.
No matter how important healers became.
Not even the competitive raid format announced by the Bureau.
None of them could be the true protagonist of this Stove League.
The true protagonist of this Stove League, no matter what anyone said.
A photo appeared on screen.
A picture of an impossibly handsome man that made viewers’ eyes go wide.