The Taste of Blood and the Taste of Victory
Meanwhile, while the guilds were fiercely competing in the Competitive Raid Battle, the world outside the gate was also buzzing with talk of the same event.
When the Bureau first announced the revival of Competitive Raid Battles, the public reaction had been lukewarm at best.
After all, every raid was already a competition, wasn’t it? People grumbled that the Bureau must have run out of ideas, dragging out some outdated format from twenty years ago.
But.
The moment the actual matches began, the atmosphere flipped one hundred and eighty degrees.
To be honest, the old-style raid battles no longer delivered much excitement. The gates, the members, the tactics—everything was always the same. Fans openly admitted that season tickets were basically for the Guild War league, while raid broadcasts were just a bonus pamphlet.
That was exactly why no one had expected much from something called “Competitive Raid Battle”… but wait, what? Once it actually started, it was completely different!
Fans could tell from the hunters’ expressions alone that their mindset was different. The top teams were determined to take first place no matter what. Even the lower-ranked teams were fighting desperately to avoid coming in last.
Of course, this kind of tension couldn’t come from mindset alone. By now, even the viewers had realized the gate itself was different from normal.
And right on cue, the currently hottest YouTube channel, ‘Game Day,’ brought on a panelist who could answer everyone’s questions in one go.
The oldest active panelist in the industry. A man who had refused every single broadcast offer until now had been lured onto the show by YouTube and the Lee Do Group with an amount of money “too big to refuse.”
Information that had been so obvious twenty years ago that no one bothered to mention it. Information that had become irrelevant in the modern era and thus forgotten.
Yet those very details were what made Competitive Raid Battles so much more intense.
Naturally, guilds that had prepared as usual got completely crushed. Several teams, including the Baekgeom Guild, looked so flustered they couldn’t even control their expressions.
It was heartbreaking to see his own hunters so shaken, but to the fans and general viewers, that panic was pure entertainment.
Was it because of this explosive popularity?
An unusual scene had already begun unfolding across Korea.
Lunchtime.
On streets packed with office buildings in Seoul, sandwich boards that had never been seen before were popping up everywhere.
……
…
.
Soup restaurants, set-meal diners, Chinese restaurants—every eatery on the block was advertising their “Competitive Raid Broadcast” to lure in customers. People casually headed to whichever restaurant was showing the team they supported.
This was only two days after Competitive Raid Battles had begun.
It was proof that the current popularity of “Competitive Raids” had far exceeded anyone’s imagination.
Of course, this also created awkward situations—especially when social obligations forced people into the wrong restaurant.
“Alright everyone, let’s grab lunch together for the first time in a while. How about some piping hot sundae gukbap?”
“Haha……”
“S-sounds good, sir.”
“Haha, let’s go to that place. I’m a Kirin fan, after all.”
If your boss supported the same guild, you could just cheerfully shout “Even better!” and call it skillful social navigation. But if not, it was bound to be uncomfortable.
It was already annoying that precious lunch hour had to be an extension of work, but not even being able to cheer for your own team… In his heart, he wanted to say “I’ll pass,” but the boss’s pressure was simply too strong.
However, no matter how oppressive the regime, a hero always rises!
“Boss, I’m on a diet, so I’ll sit this one out.”
“Haha, Mr. Park, you’re quite the joker. Dieting with that body?”
“Yes.”
“……For real?”
“Yes.”
“Uh… well. Alright then.”
“Enjoy your meal.”
The perfect man of the company, Manager Park Seong-cheol (35, also known online as Toegail-jwa), refused to yield.
He’d rather not eat at all. As a devoted Yongbung of the Mir Guild, how could he possibly watch a match played by those “Kirin cockroaches”?
The boss looked a bit sour but let it slide. Park Seong-cheol was a talent that the company executives had their eyes on; they couldn’t push him too far.
Once this revolutionary appeared, others quickly followed suit.
“Oh, me too.”
“I need to watch my protein intake.”
“I-I’m allergic to sundae.”
Everyone had the freedom to support their own guild.
Park Seong-cheol, who had unintentionally become the vanguard of that freedom, bought a simple salad lunchbox and returned to the office. Then, perhaps by some twist of fate—
The moment he shoveled a mouthful of grass into his mouth and started playing the match on his phone, he instantly transformed from the perfect man into Toegail-jwa.
“……Did that son of a bitch lose his mind?”
On the phone screen, the Sword Master was grabbing Baek Yeon-woo by the collar.
The instant he saw Baek Yeon-woo’s mocking smile, Sword Master Park Gwang-seob’s vision went white.
His mid-boss had been stolen right in front of him. And by none other than Baek Yeon-woo, who had openly ridiculed him.
His dignity, his reputation, his towering pride—they all shattered. Unbearable rage boiled over.
After a brief blackout, when he came to his senses, Park Gwang-seob realized he was lifting the arrogant brat by the collar without even realizing it.
“You little shit. Say that again. Laugh at me again, I dare you.”
“Why are you acting like this, se-nior?”
But who was Baek Yeon-woo? He was the owner of the world’s greatest evil and guts—the same person who hadn’t let out a single scream during that agonizing treatment process. He was also the ultimate aggro magnet in the otherwise gentle Mir raid team, the one who understood Lee Shin the most.
Instead of backing down, he smiled brightly, as if daring the man to hit him. Following the teaching of “if someone slaps your right cheek, offer them your left,” he was fully prepared to take a punch to the face if it meant pissing the opponent off even more.
And his spirit of self-sacrifice(?) was eventually rewarded.
“You arrogant bastard, lower your eyes.”
“Hmm. Our height difference isn’t that big, is it? Se-nior.”
“This fucking kid. I let you off once and you think you can push it?”
“Wait, senior, why have you been calling me ‘kid’ this whole time? Am I your kid or something?”
“You damn brat. Do you really want to die?”
“Wow, fuck. Now I’m a brat? Your creativity is really……”
“God damn it!!”
Park Gwang-seob finally raised his fist. The Sword Master blades that had inherited their master’s killing intent surrounded them.
It was then. Right as hostility reached its peak, two figures rushed in desperately.
Baekgeom raid leader, Ghost Slayer Oh Kang-min, and Park Su-bin.
“Gwang-seob! Stop! Are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing!”
“Let go, Oh Kang-min! Let go! You gonna disrespect me too?”
“Yeonu, please stop!”
“I didn’t do anything. He’s the one who got worked up and charged at me.”
“What? ‘He’? You just called him ‘he’? What did you just say? Hey! Come here!”
“Park Gwang-seob!!”
“Yeon-woo!!”
“What are you all staring at?! Come help calm them down!!”
At Ghost Slayer’s shout, the Baekgeom raid team swarmed in. But even though their leader had told them to stop the fight, the atmosphere among the raiders was far from cooperative.
It was true that Park Gwang-seob had crossed the line first, but they had suffered through a brutal night raid trying to take down that mid-boss, only to lose it right before their eyes.
Perhaps that was why. They turned aggressively toward Kim Yu-shin, who had approached to protect the younger hunters.
“Brother Yu-shin. What kind of bad manners is this? This isn’t right.”
“We’re not strangers. Do you really have to go this far, Yu-shin oppa?”
“No matter how competitive the raid is, there should still be a sense of camaraderie. Put yourself in our shoes. Would you like it if you got stolen from, Mr. Yu-shin?”
However, the reply came not from Kim Yu-shin, but from Yu Ri-ra.
“Um, do any of you play games?”
“……What?”
“I mean, isn’t what we’re doing right now a game? Why are you even talking about manners and bad manners? If you say ‘stop!’ are we supposed to actually stop? Should we ask if you’re hurt and wrap you in bandages or something?”
“Hey, you—”
“Auntie, wait a second. Actually, from my perspective, deliberately going easy on someone feels more like match-fixing… Oh? Seniors, isn’t this it?! Match-fixing! This is my first time experiencing it. I might actually be a little excited?!”
“Kid, even when you talk, why do you have to talk like that!”
It was then.
“Ri-ra isn’t wrong.”
“!!”
“Yu-shin oppa!!”
“Mr. Yu-shin!”
Thud.
Kim Yu-shin slammed his tower shield into the ground like a declaration. The enormous shield, large enough to cover his entire body, split the two groups like a boundary line.
Then, as he looked over his former colleagues, he recited the exact words that Lee Shin—no, the cold and thorough Professor Lee—had once told him.
“Kids, why do you think the Bureau brought back Competitive Raid Battles?”
“Well… for the viewership……”
“Oppa, is that what matters to you?”
“Yeah, it matters. They wanted to see us fighting like this.”
“!!”
“No! You can’t attack them!”
“I told you not to attack. I never said you couldn’t interfere, did I?”
“……Still.”
“Still what? If the Bureau just wanted to watch a running race, would they have hyped it up as a ‘Competitive Raid Battle’? Kids, it’s called a Competitive Raid Battle. The word ‘competitive’ is right there at the front. You can’t do things the way you used to. If you keep acting like that, you’re going to be in big trouble.”
At Kim Yu-shin’s sorrowful gaze, the Baekgeom raid team faltered.
Back when he was in the Baekgeom Guild, Hwarang Kim Yu-shin had been the reliable vice-leader who covered for Ghost Slayer’s lacking leadership. Even though he had left the guild after changing positions, many still missed him dearly.
But not everyone felt that way.
“What a load of bullshit.”
The one who pushed through the crowd was Ssaurabi Kang Han-bi.
Having fallen from the rankings, he finally unleashed all the venom he had been holding back.
“It’s hilarious that the guys who stole it are the ones getting mad, and now you’re acting all high and mighty trying to lecture us. Traitor. Who the hell are you to teach us?”
“……Kang Han-bi.”
“You’ve always been like this. When others do it, it’s cowardice. When you do it, you call it competitive spirit. You disgusting hypocrite. If you had any conscience, you’d just shut your mouth.”
“……”
“Just how thick has your face gotten? Ah… right. Your representative has a thick face too. Birds of a feather.”
“Ha…… Han-bi. Han-bi.”
In an instant, Kim Yu-shin’s eyes changed.
The sorrow vanished, replaced by pure pity.
“Are you still throwing tantrums whenever things don’t go your way? Have you already forgotten the disgrace you showed last year?”
“Shut up! Back then—”
“Back then what? It wasn’t your fault? No. It was your fault. It was my fault too. Don’t deny your mistakes. Everyone makes them. You just have to learn from them and grow.”
“Don’t lecture me! You hypocrite!”
“Our representative once said this: if you’re stupid, at least know your place. So please, know your place. That goes for all of you.”
Kim Yu-shin turned his target toward his former colleagues.
“From Park Gwang-seob to Kang Han-bi and the rest of you—in my eyes, all I see is a bunch of children throwing tantrums. Why have you all become so pathetic? Your mentality is more rotten than that of your much younger juniors. And you still call yourselves a guild? Hunters?”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Your words are too harsh, Kim Yu-shin.”
“Are you done talking, oppa?”
“You’ve crossed the line, man. Who do you think you are?”
At Kim Yu-shin’s harsh words, the Baekgeom raid team flared up and started pushing forward.
Ghost Slayer was already struggling to hold back the furious Park Gwang-seob. Now that even the raid team had lost all reason, the situation spiraled completely out of control.
It was a hair-trigger moment.
No one could stop it now.
Someone was going to get hurt before this ended.
But at that exact moment—
“I can’t watch this anymore.”
The moment the voice rang out.
Together with a tremor like an earthquake, trees and vines from the forest shot upward.
The soaring trees blocked out the sky, and the vines cut off all vision.
While the panicked Baekgeom raid team screamed in front of the overwhelming wave of plants—
The vegetation continued to swell as if mocking them. When its growth finally stopped, a massive botanical prison had been completed.
And then.
In the lightless space, everyone stared at the center as if entranced. At the man wearing a golden laurel wreath, radiating the fierce glare of a wild beast.
“I swear to you. If you say one more word—”
Mountain King Kim Jong-pil.
He declared.
“I will send you out of the gate myself.”