The Return of the Old Style
The TV screens, monitors, phones, and VR headsets—everywhere the Yongbung fans were watching the seventh round of the raid competition, they were riding an emotional roller coaster.
The first drop was, of course, pure panic.
How could anyone stay calm when the second team suddenly appeared without any warning?
The average age of the first team hovered between late twenties and mid-thirties. Of course, that average excluded the Mountain King and Lee Shin’s kids, but that age range was generally considered the prime of a hunter’s career.
In contrast, the second team was much younger.
Most of them were in their early twenties. Especially the buffer-type tanker Choi Soo-pil, who, alongside Park Su-bin and Baek Yeon-woo, formed the nineteen-year-old maknae line. They were ridiculously young.
The general consensus among fans was that they had been recruited for their future potential rather than current skill. With the trustworthy eye of God Lee behind them, it made sense that he was investing in the future.
But then… huh? They were suddenly throwing them into a regular league match?
And with an all-second-team roster? Not even a rotation?
Naturally, that panic quickly turned into rage.
They couldn’t bring themselves to curse at the kids. Those early-twenty-something babies didn’t know any better. So obviously, it was the adult who needed to take the hits.
Lee Shin, falling from god to dog in an instant.
For a while, he got thoroughly roasted by the older Yongbung brothers and sisters… until something strange happened.
Wait. Hold on.
Our second team…
They’re actually… fighting really well?
That was the moment rage flipped into curiosity.
While the Mountain King’s first team crushed monsters with perfect strategy and overwhelming power, Lee Hye-jung’s second team was showing off cute, lively, and creative plays.
Some of their tricks left even the commentators speechless.
“By extremely amplifying their senses, they turned the picture werewolves’ greatest weapon—their sense of smell—against them.”
“The key is terrain manipulation. Normal raid parties launch direct assaults on monster formations. But Mir Guild is different. They’re actively using mages and magic circles to secure the battlefield first, then driving the monsters into kill zones.”
They couldn’t compare to the top-tier Kirin, Sacred, or the raid kings of Taeyang Guild, but they were clearly performing at a mid-tier level—at the very least, far above the bottom.
And among them, one person in particular drew everyone’s attention.
Lee Hye-jung, the second team’s leader and commander.
In battle, she took the lead as the lure, charging into the most dangerous positions.
She applied debuffs using Dokmu and buffs in equal measure.
She was the one feeding the younger team members, waking them up when they fell asleep, and even wiping their sleepy faces with a damp towel. At this point, the nickname “Mamang” was more than appropriate.
By now, the fans had regained their senses.
They realized something was off.
Would Lee Shin—the man who treated the league with deadly seriousness despite his playful demeanor—really send them out just to provoke the enemy?
No way. There had to be a reason.
And after a day or two of the raid progressed, the fans—and everyone watching the match—finally learned that reason and fell into shock.
“Wait, I think I know what this is.”
“What is it?”
“Lee Hye-jung’s Mir raid party… it looks like they’re trying to exterminate every monster. They’re focusing on monster hunting points rather than time score.”
“That’s…”
“Yes. It’s the very early style of raid competition.”
The league hadn’t always existed.
When it first started, raid competitions were nothing more than regular hunters clearing gates. That was it.
And back then…
It wasn’t certain yet, but this… this was no joke.
The shock turned into anticipation, and public opinion flipped completely in an instant.
A return to the past.
The trend the Mountain King had changed was now being revived by the very guild he belonged to. The commentators, officials, and fans alike were stunned by this board-flipping play.
And they thought once again.
Their representative really was Lee Shin.
* * *
Chae Dong-ha, who had been checking community reactions on his tablet, spoke up.
“It looks like everyone’s finally caught on.”
“It was about time.”
In raid competitions, the category with the highest point weighting was ‘time.’ That was an undeniable fact.
But that wasn’t everything.
There were also ‘hunting’ points for killing monsters, ‘exploration’ points for discovering hidden areas, ‘object’ points for destroying or manipulating various objects, and many more evaluation criteria.
“Realistically, it’s hard to expect someone like Hye-jung to match the old man’s movement and strategy. And our second team still lacks the experience and growth to overwhelm with raw power.”
“Then we change the board. We create the best possible environment for them to shine.”
A straightforward extermination that didn’t require quick decision-making or vast experience. It was a little brute-force, but also incredibly intuitive.
It was the method of gaining every point except time—the exact early-era raid style the media was buzzing about.
Chae Dong-ha nodded.
“Since time score is relative anyway, if we give up on it from the start and aim for last place, we gain breathing room.”
“And with breathing room, there’s no need to overthink every judgment.”
“Lee Hye-jung’s biggest weakness disappears.”
“Exactly. She used to be part of the ‘rock-headed duo’ with Park Jeong-seok, splitting first and second place in stubbornness. Now she’s this smart? Wow… You really do need a good teacher. Right, old man?”
“……”
Despite Lee Shin’s teasing, Kim Jong-pil—Lee Hye-jung’s mentor—stared at the screen with deeply moved eyes.
“In the past, everyone cleared raids like that.”
The key had been how many monsters you could kill within the time limit. Luring and hunting in packs using dedicated lurers was the standard.
That’s why even dealers needed basic luring and scouting skills. What they now called ‘points’—locations with large monster concentrations—used to refer to the spots where lure-hunting formations would set up.
“Honestly, I didn’t have some grand reason for creating that style. I was just frustrated. As you can see, it was way too slow.”
Just because time flowed slower inside a gate didn’t mean fatigue decreased. If anything, it increased.
If they killed everything and came out exhausted, they’d have to immediately prepare for the next match.
Kim Jong-pil hated that kind of inefficiency with a passion.
“When I was young, I had a short temper. I couldn’t stand that frustratingly slow process. So I came up with a solution. Let’s finish the raid as fast as possible, even if it’s just one day sooner.”
Obviously, blindly rushing a time attack made it difficult to score well.
You had to calculate how many monsters to clear, how much exploration to do, which objects to destroy, and precisely trim your route while accounting for bonus points.
That was the core of the raid system the Mountain King had created.
“Anyway, to answer your question—you’re right. In a battlefield like that, Hye-jung can truly shine.”
The Mountain King had raised many people.
Some were quite clever. Some were absurdly strong.
Lee Hye-jung was a little different from all of them.
If he had to rank her among the people he had taught, she would be at the very bottom.
“She’s not strong. She’s not smart. And she doesn’t have flashes of brilliance.”
“Yet you still took her as your disciple, old man.”
“Yes. Because I saw what you saw.”
Subjectively and objectively, among the countless disciples the Mountain King had taken, Lee Hye-jung was the least talented. Ironically, that was her greatest strength.
“Maybe it’s because she’s experienced the bottom. Hye-jung keeps her ears open. She has no stubbornness. She knows how to listen. She has a big heart.”
“She’s excellent at self-objectification and knows exactly what she can and cannot do. Most of all, she genuinely understands her younger siblings’ thoughts.”
That was right.
“Embracing power.”
“Empathy.”
Those were the strengths of Lee Hye-jung, currently plunging a blade into the nape of a wolf on the screen.
* * *
Lee Hye-jung scattered poison as she circled the area, finished off the ten wolves summoned by the mid-boss, and hurriedly rejoined the main force.
“Kids! Talk to each other!! Keep communicating!!”
The picture werewolves the main force was fighting were different.
Claiming it wasn’t just any picture werewolf, this specimen was 1.5 times larger with horns—the mid-boss known as the Picture Werewolf Champion.
“Stop attacking for a second! I’ll pull aggro! Just a moment!!”
“Sweep pattern incoming, dodge!”
The smart tanker Bae Young-ho, who could coordinate allied lines, and the sharp Rose Wine, who specialized in reading enemy behavior, quickly assessed the situation.
“Hey, its flank got weaker. It flinched when we hit it.”
“Its legs don’t seem to take much damage. Too bad.”
“I was hoping not, but that thick-headed bastard doesn’t take much from headshots either.”
“Anyone with throwing spears left? Just give me a couple. I’m out.”
“I knew you’d waste them.”
While the dealer siblings relayed information about the monster’s weak points and attack patterns through their strikes,
“I think we need to calm it down. Its pace is different from usual.”
“No, we need to speed it up. Look at its regeneration.”
“The debuff isn’t working?”
The support siblings used buffs to inform the team about their condition and the right timing to adjust pace.
The atmosphere was completely different from when the Mountain King led a raid party.
The Mountain King tried to control every single formation and movement. Because in his head, there was always an answer, and that answer was always correct.
But Lee Hye-jung was different.
She didn’t possess the Mountain King’s brilliant mind. Nor did she have an abundance of experience.
She was lacking in every aspect. It almost felt rude to compare them.
The person who had advised that very Lee Hye-jung was, once again, Lee Shin.
— “Hye-jung, do you think my grandfather became the richest man in Korea just because he was the smartest? No. Ido Group is number one because he knows how to use those smart people.”
— “Leave what others are good at to them. You don’t have to follow the Mountain King’s methods exactly. If I were to give you one piece of advice…”
Listen a lot. Think about it even more.
Lee Hye-jung asked her younger siblings to speak up even more.
Actively participate in the strategy. Offer your opinions.
Freely imagine and share any possibilities that come to mind.
Lee Hye-jung took those scattered opinions, coordinated them, and unified them.
“Keep increasing the attack speed! Focus on the chest! I’ll bring more spears—maintain your positions!”
They were talented, brilliant children. All Lee Hye-jung had to do was listen to their opinions and hold the center.
And sometimes, they would find the path together.
Just like now.
“…Hm?”
The picture werewolves’ horns stood out strangely. They sparkled as they absorbed moonlight.
“Yena, was there any info that this thing’s regeneration increases when it receives moonlight?”
— “There wasn’t. Actually, no one has ever killed this mid-boss before.”
“Really? Then kids, listen to me for a second.”
Soon after, a magic circle formed on the ground and the earth surged upward.
It was the terrain manipulation that had become the second team’s signature move.
The Picture Werewolf Champion tried to escape through the rising walls, but the tankers and close-range dealers held it in place with their bodies.
In the meantime, the rising walls eventually formed a complete roof.
The light of the full moon was completely blocked from the field.
At that moment—
Swish—!
The dagger Lee Hye-jung threw left a wound on the werewolf champion’s arm. She began counting.
One second. Two. Three… A wound that had pierced its stomach had healed in five seconds, yet this one remained even after thirty seconds.
That was it.
The mid-boss’s gimmick.
It was the light of the full moon floating in the sky.
“Wow, sis. You got it.”
“Noona, you’re amazing.”
“What’s so amazing? Come on, let’s finish this quickly.”
Lee Hye-jung scratched her head in embarrassment and joined the kids to continue the attack.
The rookie commander was still growing today.
Collective Intelligence (SS)
The commander demonstrates exceptional intelligence to enhance harmony and cooperation among allies. Communication, confidence, teamwork, strategic understanding, and more—maximizing the abilities of your comrades. They are your power.
Along with the gift Lee Shin had given her.