The Fans' Counterattack
At the time when the Mir Guild was busy rolling around in North Korea under Lee Shin’s leadership, the community had already begun heating up with talk of the league.
This was perhaps when the fans’ happiness circuits were running at full capacity. That was exactly why the guilds held lavish events aimed at these very fans.
The idea was that you had to give them something when they were in a good mood to earn their support. And even though they knew it was all an act, the fans still happily played along.
Then, naturally, the fans began to gather around one particular topic. At this point when the guilds’ recruitment was wrapping up, it was the most sensitive subject of all.
The symbolic weight of the opening match in the Guild War League could not be emphasized enough.
Especially for League 1 and the Major League—the opening match was more than just the protagonist chosen by the Bureau. It was a national symbol.
It was no coincidence that experts often said you could tell a country’s level just by watching its opening match.
For that reason, the opening match was usually given to the guild that had won the championship the previous season.
As a result, Korea had seen the same protagonist for the opening match for five straight years.
Invincible Kirin.
Even fans of other teams had to admit that, in terms of pure power, there was no team in Korea that could compete with them. It was a super team.
The general atmosphere was one of acceptance even among rival fans, while Kirin fans carried an air of “Why are you even asking? It’s obvious.”
But.
There was one fandom that refused to give up.
* * *
Lawless Wasteland.
Dosan Sword Forest.
Once a faction that had dominated the online community’s martial world with an iron fist, counted among the top ten powers.
Though their influence had been declining day by day, they were the ones who had once made the entire martial world tremble with the combat strength of one against a hundred.
The Yongbung Era.
They were finally ending their long period of seclusion and rising once more.
“……Hoo.”
Park Seong-cheol (35, Toegail-jwa) sat in front of his computer after getting off work, rubbing his hands together. His body was trembling from nerves.
“When is the message coming…”
Even when he had faced off against an American buyer a few days ago, his heart had remained calm. But now it was pounding wildly—boom, boom, bang. Calm down, heart. Please.
He was debating whether to take a calming pill when the long-awaited message finally arrived.
Is Toegail-jwa-nim here?
Yes yes yes!! I’m here.
Haha, I’ll change my ID first. There are too many people here and it gets chaotic with special characters.
Aah, I’m sorry
No need to apologize haha. Let’s just go with Toegail-jwa, clean and simple haha
Is this okay?
Much better. I’ll invite you right away. Haha
If you asked where Korea’s best guild was, there would be plenty of debate. If you asked which guild had the most tradition, people would fight all day.
But if you asked which fandom was the oldest and most powerful in Korea, there was no debate.
The number one guild fan club in the Republic of Korea.
The first fan club officially recognized by the Bureau.
The Great Yongbung Era.
Today was the day Park Seong-cheol would become an executive of the Yongbung Era.
Hello everyone. This is Toegail-jwa. (_ _)
……
…
.
These were the 100 elite members, carefully selected even among the notoriously fierce Yongbung fans—people who would break the jaws of anyone who insulted their parents or their guild, even if they could tolerate insults directed at themselves.
These were the executives of the Yongbung Era.
They had supported the Mir Guild for anywhere from fifteen to over forty years.
Having gone through the years of decline together, they were more tightly knit and united than any other fandom.
And the one who led them.
The primordial fan who had witnessed the guild’s very first championship. The one who had created a fan club through postal mail in the days before the internet, and who had recorded thousands of phone numbers in the days before cell phones to build the Yongbung Era.
The mother of this fandom.
Sorry for keeping everyone waiting I’m late because work ran long.
She was presumed to run a large business and was famous for her extraordinary affection toward both the Mir Guild and the Yongbung Era.
Taking care of the executives’ family events every year was a given, and even when she had to step back from fan club duties due to health issues, she covered all event and operating expenses herself.
Shall we begin?
The president immediately brought up the topic now that everyone was present. The group chat of one hundred people fell deathly silent.
Our Mir Guild has advanced to the Major League this time. It’s so amazing I feel like crying. I’m sure you all feel the same.
Park Seong-cheol agreed wholeheartedly. Even now, just thinking about their promotion made his eyes sting with tears.
For the past several decades, we’ve been through so much hardship. We kept collapsing, getting relegated, and when we were demoted to League 4 and couldn’t even use the stadium, we cried so much.
From their first championship to falling all the way to League 4. It had been a horrifying, tear-filled journey.
But three years ago, when Representative Lee Shin took over, the Mir Guild completely changed. They set an unprecedented record in Round 131 and achieved flawless promotion without playing a single promotion-relegation match.
And that wasn’t all.
The central pillar, Sanwang Kim Jong-pil.
The local prodigy of pure blood, Park Su-bin.
The fans’ source of endorphins, Yu Ri-ra.
The reliable support, Lee Hye-jung.
And this time we even recruited Hwarang Kim Yu-shin, becoming the true winner of the Stove League. I’m so, so grateful
The dragon, once a symbol of defeat and downfall, had met Lee Shin and been reborn as a symbol of victory and legend.
That was why she had called them together.
The guild is doing everything they can for us. So what are we, the fans, doing? What exactly are we doing for our guild?
Causing chaos? Fighting for them? Protecting them?
That was basic. Every fan did that.
The president was asking what a true act for the guild would be.
We need to set a clear direction. Pointless firepower? Unity without results? It’s all useless. We need to focus more!
This was exactly when executives were needed.
They had to gather the scattered fandom’s support like sheepdogs herding a flock.
And the target they would focus that gathered firepower on was—
This is what we’re aiming for.
An article appeared in the group chat.
Park Seong-cheol and the other executives watching their monitors tilted their heads in confusion.
Wasn’t it obviously going to Kirin? The opening match always went to the previous season’s champion. It was common sense.
But the president scolded them for accepting that very “common sense” without question.
Why is it obvious? Who decided that? Is it written into law? Let’s look at the fundamentals. Why is Kirin’s opening match taken for granted? Because of tradition? Because that’s how it’s always been? No.
It was something everyone had accepted so naturally that no one had ever questioned it. But the president, drawing from her experience, had found a possibility.
It’s because of viewership ratings. It’s popularity. And if you put it all together, it ultimately comes down to ‘money.’
Money. Cash.
The essence of capitalism.
Everyone, the Bureau is a ‘corporation.’ It is, without question, a business entity.
Though it was built upon the noble value of protecting gates, in the end they were still a company that had to feed countless employees.
The reason Kirin’s opening match is taken for granted is because, as the previous league champion, they reliably draw attention and generate revenue. So then—
What if our Mir Guild can provide far more popularity and revenue than those Kirin kids?
More attention, higher viewership ratings, more money?
As a current business owner, she understood corporate logic better than anyone.
They’ll flip their decision in the blink of an eye. There’s no reason not to haha.
Whoa……
The chat window briefly erupted in commotion.
Everyone was shocked. It was a perspective ordinary people simply wouldn’t have considered.
But finding a path didn’t mean the problem was solved.
If what she said was true, the reason Kirin had held the opening match for five straight years was because they guaranteed overwhelming viewership ratings in the Korean market.
It was a market already dominated by Kirin.
There wasn’t enough time to break into it.
Therefore……
Let’s broaden our horizons.
Beyond Korea. Overseas.
America. From now on, that is our target.
Now it was their turn.
They would aim for the homeland where the Bureau headquarters was located.
Let’s roll out the red carpet for them^^
That was when the “Gentle Dragons” began appearing on America’s largest community site, Reddit.
* * *
·
·
“Hahahahaha! What the hell is this?!”
Why are my hyungs here?
Lee Shin clutched his head and laughed for a long time.
“While you and the raid team were in North Korea, the Yongbung Era side kept promoting our guild on Reddit.”
“Kk kk kk, they conquered America. Amazing. Our fans are something else.”
“They apparently call this ‘missionary work.’”
“Kk kk, missionary work?”
“Yes. I laughed at first too, but after seeing it, the term really fits.”
The cleanly translated profiles combined photos and narratives that perfectly highlighted each hunter’s characteristics.
Moreover, the quality of the highlight videos was almost on par with a broadcasting station.
“……And they’re giving away all the goods, cheering tools, uniforms, and photo cards for free.”
“If you know that, you should take care of them properly.”
“That’s why we’ve been taking care of them.”
“Oh, good. Well done.”
Lee Shin kept scrolling down the site, thinking.
The quality of the profiles and videos, the marketing, the strategy—it was all the work of a ‘professional.’ This level of output simply couldn’t appear without money being poured into it.
In other words, someone was investing funds and controlling the fans’ firepower.
This hadn’t happened in the original story. Which meant this was something that had occurred in reality.
Lee Shin sent all the team leaders out and immediately picked up the phone.
“Guild Master Jeong Sun-dong, could you come to the representative office?”
A short while later, Jeong Sun-dong entered. Lee Shin showed him the community posts he had printed out.
“Do you know about this? Is this something the fan club president you mentioned before is doing?”
“Ah…… it probably is. I understand her husband does a lot of exports to America. Is there some kind of problem?”
“No. I’m grateful. If there’s anything you need, just tell me. It’s awkward for them to come forward, but I’ll provide the goods.”
“Understood.”
“That aside.”
The reason Lee Shin had called Jeong Sun-dong wasn’t because of this commotion.
It was about this. The opening match competition.
“Is this information credible?”
“Well……”
The league schedule was highly confidential. But Lee Shin believed that if it was their network king Jeong Sun-dong, he would have heard something through the grapevine.
And Jeong Sun-dong lived up to that trust.
“It’s not confirmed, but there seems to be quite a bit of talk going around.”
“Hoo, is it Kirin, or us?”
“Since they’re the defending champions, Kirin is currently in the lead, but……”
“Tell me quickly. I’m getting dizzy.”
At Lee Shin’s impatient complaint, Jeong Sun-dong cleared his throat a few times before answering in a low voice.
“It seems the upper echelons of the Bureau and the government are providing support.”
“Huh? Why?”
“The thing is…… the Level 8 Gate incident that our guild resolved this time played a major role.”
To summarize:
The Bureau was grateful that they had stabilized the Level 8 Gate they had been worried about, and on top of that, the government was grateful that they had quietly resolved an incident that could have affected approval ratings.
“Now that I think about it, if we hadn’t cleared it quickly and the rumor had leaked, things would have gotten really messy.”
From what he knew, the current administration was already in its final stretch. If a state of emergency had been declared, it would have been chaos.
“Additionally, thanks to your friend Gale Potter, the ‘Wave Resonance Method’ is becoming a hot topic again in America and Europe. More precisely, it’s being called the ‘Lee Shin System Theory.’”
Gale Potter had been traveling around academic circles in America and Europe based on Baek Yeon-woo’s treatment case, spreading the ‘Lee Shin System Theory’ and shaking up the modern magic world.
“For these reasons, it seems the American Bureau headquarters is paying quite a bit of attention to us. At this point, what remains is viewership and popularity.”
“We’re getting a reaction in America, so they’re conflicted over there too……”
“Exactly.”
Lee Shin, who had stopped smiling at some point, clasped his hands and rested his chin on them.
“I’ll ask you two seriously. The opening match—is it possible?”
Jeong Sun-dong and Chae Dong-ha exchanged glances, then nodded at almost the same time.
“Yes. It’s more than possible.”
“If we get even a little support domestically, it’s definitely doable.”
Lee Shin moved his fingers while maintaining a serious expression.
In GM, it was common sense that the previous season’s champion took the League 1 opening match, so he had never even considered it.
But the butterfly effect of all the ripples Lee Shin had caused until now had led to this moment.
What should he do? He pondered for a moment, but the answer came quickly.
“If we get the opening match this year, it’ll be the first time it’s held in Busan, right?”
“Not the first time.”
“Huh?”
“……It was held in Busan during the first league season. They talked about turning Busan into the mecca of hunters and all that…… and well, that’s what happened.”
“Aaaah…… you mean that opening match.”
“It was the Mir Guild. The opposing guild has since disappeared.”
“Wahahaha.”
Lee Shin clutched his head and laughed. This was a forced checkmate.
They had to take this no matter what. If it were truly the first time, he could have let it slide, but the story was just too perfect.
He wiped the smile from his face with a dry rub and his eyes sparkled.
“This year’s opening match—we’re taking it.”
It was a declaration.
He would make it happen no matter what.
“Then at the guild level—”
“Ah-ah, Dong-ha hyung. The guild can’t get involved in something like this.”
“He’s right, Vice Leader. It wouldn’t look good if we intervened.”
If the guild moved because of the league schedule, it could feel like they were pressuring the Bureau. That was probably why Kirin wasn’t making any moves either.
This had to be a purely external battle.
A fight between fans and the surrounding community, not the guilds.
And in this kind of fight, Lee Shin held a cheat key.
The person whose blood was currently boiling over the guild. The person who would foam at the mouth if they lost the first match to Kirin.
Lee Shin picked up his phone.
“Grandfather. It’s Shin.”