The Second Team's Gambit
Toegail-jwa Park Seong-cheol had never known a year quite like this one.
Mir Guild had finally been promoted to the majors, and after twenty years of being a die-hard fan, he was now recognized as an official executive of the Yongbung era. Not only that—he had even managed to catch the legendary opening show and the historic opening match in person.
And most importantly of all……
Park Seong-cheol (35). Currently in a relationship!
Compared to finding love, getting promoted to department manager at a major corporation was nothing.
The two had met during the U.S. missionary project at the opening match.
That's right—Park Seong-cheol's girlfriend was also a Yongbung. She was the very "Rira-unni" who had invited him when he became an executive.
The moment he stepped inside, his girlfriend Bae Ji-ae gave him a light kiss and popped something into his mouth. Woongjindan.
"Go wash your hands and change into your workout clothes. I've got everything set up."
The once-bare living room had been completely transformed in Bae Ji-ae's style. As the owner of a small women's clothing shopping mall, her interior sense was quite refined.
And right in the center stood two stationary bikes facing a massive 120-inch TV……
That was the real point.
"How much time left?"
"Five minutes."
"Whew, cutting it close."
The biggest reason the Bureau called League 1 the majors.
It was simple. They allowed full live broadcasts of raid matches—clearing operations.
Lower leagues relied on recorded footage and highlight reels captured through broadcasting stations' "Popper observation devices," but from League 1 onward, the Bureau itself took direct control of the gates in true major-league fashion.
"Administrators" attached to Popper observation devices, along with the Bureau's mages.
These individuals manipulated the space-time within the gates……
"Isn't it amazing? Time flows three times slower in there."
"It is. But Ji-ae, it's actually 2.99 times."
"Honey?"
"My bad."
Of course, even in the majors, the standard was a Level 7 gate. No matter how much of a time attack it was, the raid would last fourteen to fifteen days, making a full live broadcast practically impossible.
Still, "close" also meant there was a slim chance it could happen.
While pedaling the bike, Park Seong-cheol checked his phone. As expected, the chat window was on fire today.
"What are you doing?"
"Watching the Yongbungs burn up."
"Ah, that challenge?"
"What about you? Fan club?"
"What else. It's chaos over there too."
This was why the Yongbungs had no idea how their days were passing lately. When you could watch raids live and react in real time, how could anyone resist?
During raid weeks, just watching the raids made an entire week vanish.
On weekends, they could leisurely enjoy the rival matches and beat up the losers if they won.
If they lost? Well, I wouldn't know. We've never lost.
Sometimes he worried about this insane schedule, but as a fan, Park Seong-cheol was simply happy every single day.
In return, he'd buy them plenty of uniforms……
"They're gonna sprint the moment they enter today, right? Malsuk and Hwarang in front, then the tankers, with Subin covering the rear."
"That's Sanwang-nim's textbook formation, isn't it?"
"I want to take a picture. I just think it's so cool when they run in perfect formation. It really gets my heart pounding."
"My guild is pretty awesome, huh."
"Our guild, oppa."
Park Su-bin, Baek Yeon-woo, Yu Ri-ra, Hwarang, Sanwang, and the rest……
What kind of performance would they show today!!
With hearts pounding in anticipation, they waited.
Finally, the time came. When the Nutube and MBS logos appeared and the match began—
The chat window, the fan club bulletin board, every single fan watching reacted the same way as this couple.
"Huh!?"
"What!?"
The people on screen weren't the grand raid team they had been expecting, but the fresh-faced 2nd Team kids and Lee Hye-jung.
* * *
News of Mir Guild spread to other guilds in an instant.
The reactions that followed were, of course, explosive.
"Are those lunatics out of their minds?"
"What the hell do they think the league is?"
The beginning is half the battle. The start matters.
This saying applied to the league as well. How a team built momentum in the early season and how smoothly they rode the flow determined their final ranking.
That was why every guild carefully played their strongest cards at the start of the season, and naturally, lineups had to be centered around the main roster.
But rotating in the 2nd Team at this timing?
It went completely against the league's physiology.
If it were some newly promoted guild that didn't know any better, people would call it reckless bravado, but Mir Guild had Hwarang, a ranked player, and Sanwang, a living legend.
Above all, there was now Lee Shin—the charismatic representative whose genius no one could deny anymore.
Could these people really be unaware of such an obvious fact? Of course not.
Then there was only one answer.
"They must have that much confidence."
"Ha, so they're looking down on us. How infuriating."
"They're saying one round is fine to test the rookies. Those crazy bastards."
The hunters currently participating in the raid were the most prominent in Korea.
They earned billions in annual salary and were once national-level geniuses who had been heavily featured on TV.
And yet Mir Guild was telling them—
—So this is what the majors are like? Didn't you see us wreck the league? We'll give you a handicap, so hurry up and come. If you dawdle, we'll start running away with the lead.
Disregard. Mockery. And provocation.
In their minds, Lee Shin was sneering and beckoning with his finger.
Their heads went ice-cold, as if someone had dumped freezing water over them. Forget caution—this was now a matter of pride.
"If you want to hand over first place that badly…… Everyone, change of plans! The moment we enter, we go all out. No one better complain about being tired, got it?"
"Five minutes until entry? Tell the support team to pack more stimulants. We're minimizing sleep time."
"Damn it, aren't you guys pissed off too?! Even if we're dead last, are we really going to lose to those rookies? Let's win! Let's beat them as fast as we can!"
The enraged guilds charged forward at full speed the moment they entered the gate.
And Lee Shin watched this scene from the darkened representative's office.
"Hmph, just as planned."
"Come to think of it, it's been a while since you've played the mastermind."
"Everything is within the palm of this hand. Hohohoho!"
"Ah, right, that was close."
As Chae Dong-ha rushed to lock the door, Lee Shin's lips curled into a sly grin between the flickering candle flames.
"The stage is set. Go, Lee Hye-jung!"
* * *
A dark night.
The ominous full moon cast its light over the land.
Shattered rocks. Crumbling pillars. Towers that had once challenged the sky now lay broken in two, rolling across the ground as if judged.
This was an ancient ruin.
A civilization reduced to fragments.
And now, the monsters that had destroyed this civilization's people were chasing Lee Hye-jung.
"Whoops!"
Lee Hye-jung stepped on a pillar and nimbly vaulted over a wall. A moment later, an explosion rang out and the wall collapsed.
Through the falling debris emerged the creatures.
Giant frames with grotesquely hunched backs, unpleasant ashen fur like corpses, and muzzles smeared with saliva and blood.
The blood-red eyes gleaming in the moonlight belonged to werewolves.
Specifically, the particularly cunning and ferocious "Grim Werewolf" among their kind.
Auuu――!!
Five Grim Werewolves charged toward Lee Hye-jung.
Was it because they hadn't seen a human in so long, or because of the suspiciously "delicious scent"?
White drool dripped from the corners of the running werewolves' mouths.
Lee Hye-jung confirmed this through her goggles and smiled.
Of course they were salivating. Her body was coated in a seductive poison made from the scent of "rabbit beastkin"—the very creatures that had driven the Grim Werewolves to extinction in their frenzy.
She was the perfect human bait.
Thanks to the appetizing aroma, another one had joined, making six in total. But Lee Hye-jung's feet showed no sign of stopping.
She would lure even more!
She ran without rest.
And spoke.
"Are the herders finding the points properly? Nothing wrong?"
Through the static came her juniors' voices.
― "No problem. Three so far."
― "Hit B point, got two here."
― "C point clear, two here too."
― "Unni, four for me—ack!"
"Be careful! Safety first, safety second!"
Yeeees――!
What adorable kids.
Smiling at their cute replies, Lee Hye-jung quickly wiped the smile away and grew serious.
'Focus. You have to focus, Lee Hye-jung.'
This was the first match since she became team leader.
For her juniors, this was their League 1 debut. As their unni, noona, and team leader, she wanted to give them a good debut. Even if this stage was new to her as well.
'You're not that smart. Keep thinking. What did the representative say? Remember, Lee Hye-jung.'
As Lee Hye-jung sprinted through the ruins, she kept racking her brain.
― "Hye-jung-ssi, what do you think about the current raid format?"
Lee Shin had posed a question about the raid format.
More precisely, he had raised a fundamental question about the modern raid system established by "Sanwang Kim Jong-phil."
― "A lot of people misunderstand. They think the old man's brain plays only came out in rival matches. Well, that's not true. The first time he used his wits was actually in 'raids.'"
The most optimized route—sacrificing some hunting and exploration points if necessary to focus on the category with the highest percentage……
― "Go all-in on time."
Of course, even the optimized route had ways to make up hunting points, and using herders to secure points was necessary……
But the core was "time." Reaching and defeating the boss as quickly as possible via the most efficient path.
It was Sanwang who had established this.
― "A style that reeks of the old man's love for efficiency. And after that, the paradigm of raids changed. That's around when the word 'raid' started being used."
Not "clearing" the gate, but raiding it—stealing and snatching.
The word that was now treated as a synonym carried this history.
― "See? The old man is someone who belongs in textbooks. He's actually incredibly respected overseas. But why isn't this well-known in Korea? Well, let's just say it was because of one man's jealousy. That's not the important part, though."
― "The reason I'm telling you this is because Hye-jung-ssi will never be able to achieve good results with this method."
Was it the disappointment from back then rushing back? Lee Hye-jung clenched her teeth and kicked off the walls between buildings like an acrobat, leaping onto a rooftop.
The sound of shattering and spine-chilling howls rang in her ears, but she still felt it wasn't enough and pushed herself faster.
― "This raid method inevitably requires the commander's brain play. The ability to gauge 'points' based on accurate locations, solid routes, time allocation, and progress information."
Looking back, Mir Guild had never once lost first place in any raid Sanwang had commanded.
― "This isn't a realm Hye-jung-ssi can handle."
Don't forget—Lee Hye-jung had improved a lot, but there was a time when she was so simple-minded that it was hard to tell her apart from that "Park Jeong-seok."
Overcoming her limits was something to applaud, but Lee Shin was the representative, and it was his job to utilize her abilities.
Therefore—
― "Let's do what we can. Instead of trying to make the impossible possible, let's focus on what we're good at."
Beep beep beep―
Lee Hye-jung snapped out of her thoughts at the alarm.
Time was up.
She looked back. Before she knew it, the number of Grim Werewolves had reached thirteen—one more than expected. But it didn't matter. She reversed direction through the alley and exited the ruins.
"Call out your numbers!"
The numbers came through the radio in response.
Counting them up, there were twenty-nine in total. It seemed small at first glance, but given the creatures' characteristics, it was equivalent to a full company of nearly two hundred orcs.
At their current strength, they could easily suffer injuries.
But—
"Approaching the point!!"
Lee Hye-jung had a method.
― "This gate is the 'Level 7 Civilization Destroyer Werewolf.' These guys are canines. They're extremely sensitive to smell."
The moment she arrived at the point, Lee Hye-jung released her "Poison Dance" and spread an even stronger seductive poison around her. Meanwhile, the other herders simultaneously took antidotes and scattered in all directions.
The aggro switch happened almost instantly.
It was a trick they had practiced thousands of times for today, and the result was a success.
Twenty-nine Grim Werewolves, as if entranced, followed Lee Hye-jung into the forest.
Lee Hye-jung pulled potion bottles from her pocket and flung them behind her. The flying potion bottles shattered, splashing water onto the werewolves.
The creatures, annoyed by the droplets, tilted their heads in confusion.
Because there was no attack power. Because they weren't harmful.
Of course not—Lee Hye-jung hadn't thrown poison. If anything, it was medicine by classification.
A drug that enhanced their sense of smell.
Soon after, a white veil descended over the dark forest.
It was a blessing from the holy healer Seo Ye-na that amplified senses. But the target wasn't Lee Hye-jung.
It was the werewolves.
Auuu!!
Their sense of smell, boosted to near maximum by the potion and blessing.
And this moment was the time for the counterattack.
"Magic circle."
Whiiing―!
Like the buzzing of a swarm of bees, mana light surged across the darkness of the forest.
Pure white light carved patterns through the trees. A magic circle.
Then, with a rumble, the ground rose up and trapped the werewolf pack. Even the ones that had been breaking walls at first were eventually sealed in by the continuously rising barriers.
Trapped on all sides, they slammed their heads against the walls.
In the perfectly sealed space, smoke rose from below.
The werewolves' noses twitched and flinched a few times. Then they began coughing violently, staggering as they hacked.
"How's the taste? Special mustard poison."
For werewolves with highly developed senses of smell, Lee Hye-jung's poison was the perfect hidden card.
"Let's take our time killing them and head out."
― "Let's return to the past. Not the time-attack raids that Sanwang-nim changed, but the old 'clearing operations' where we hunted every single monster inside."
A return to the past.
That was Lee Shin's answer.