The 8th Place Bombshell
Mir Guild headquarters.
From the main entrance on the first floor, a loud commotion could already be heard.
At first glance, the hallways were outdated and the exterior shabby. Most departments—sales, PR, strategic analysis, broadcasting—had moved into the sleek new annex building. Yet this old, worn structure remained the guild’s official headquarters for one simple reason.
It was the dragon’s head.
“Sales Director, about that winning streak event at Lair Cafe. Yes, the one with the Ttibuttibuseal stickers and the hospital sponsorship. The representative himself personally…”
“I’m sorry, PR Director. I’ve checked the schedule you sent. The representative said he’ll accommodate as much as possible if it’s not on the weekend. Preferably with groups we have friendly relations with…”
“Counselor, we don’t care whose son he is—some chairman’s kid or a local assemblyman’s. The representative already said there will be no leniency. Don’t even mention it.”
The organization had grown at blinding speed while building an empire. The fact that they had erected twin buildings in the heart of it all proved that much.
When the sheer number of people made a “family-like atmosphere” physically impossible, they had made a deliberate choice.
These people were born from that decision.
They paid no attention to departments or hierarchy. Without a shred of personal grudge, without distinguishing between good and evil, they carried out their master’s orders—even if the work was dirty.
An organization modeled after the most capable group in Korea.
An organization created by one man, for one man.
They were the Strategic Planning Office.
Do the dirty work. Never hesitate. One man’s will is absolute.
“Thank you, President Jang Antonton. We’ll pick up the goods today. Yes, yes, don’t worry. The payment has just been transferred… It went through. Would you like to check?”
“Could you hold for a moment? Ah, yes, I’ll look into it right away. Yes… Hey! The bank president suddenly called—who knows him?!”
“Are you recording the boss fight DPS meters right now?! Don’t forget the opposing guilds’ numbers either!”
“Where’s the strategy briefing file?! Grab the approval documents too!”
“The material the representative mentioned earlier… earlier… Ah! The Sword Master file, here it is.”
And now, their master had arrived.
Yun Cho-a rushed forward, opened the door, and Lee Shin stepped in while running a hand through his hair. He waved off the employees who were about to bow. Then he pointed at the earphone in his ear—the universal gesture for “I’m on a call”—while his expression screamed pure irritation.
“…Are you kidding me right now? Does Shinseong Food not even monitor its own products? Our kids clearly said on the broadcast that the food was spoiled and they couldn’t eat it! You need to come up with some kind of countermeasure… What? It’s because it’s from Surim? Too humid and hot?!”
“You want us to stop being so sensitive just because we’re all from chaebol families? Hahahahaha…”
The call was with Shinseong Food. Despite Lee Shin’s explicit instructions, spoiled supplies had been discovered.
What made it even worse was the nonsense coming from the so-called head of Shinseong Food on the other end of the line. ‘There was no problem on our end. Aren’t you being too sensitive?’
Lee Shin had looked into a proper psychiatric hospital after his reformation, but it seemed his grandson was still a first-class lunatic.
But hey, you know what?
Assholes like you are exactly why I exist!
“Ah~ I see. Our kids were too sensitive. It was our big mistake, right? Oh dear, how can I ever apologize? I should call Chairman Grandpa directly and apologize. Right? Or maybe I should head up there right now and kneel on the ground in repentance? Yeah, that sounds perfect.”
“Cho-a, get the car ready. We’re heading to Shinseong Group right now—let’s gooo!!”
The moment Lee Shin roared “let’s gooo!!” a panicked voice finally burst from the other end.
While listening to the pathetic excuses, Lee Shin gestured toward the chaotic office. Several people immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed over, weaving through flying documents and shouts.
“Traffic analysis shows the reaction to this Scramble is far from ordinary. The broadcasting team believes we need to produce content based on it.”
“Regional activity preparations you ordered are complete. Choose from this list and we’ll lock it in immediately.”
“We received contact from Baekgeom Guild. They want to talk about the recent disturbance involving the Sword Master.”
Lee Shin continued the call while scanning the documents. At a look from Yun Cho-a, the staff silently retreated.
The contents were quite interesting. To check them properly, he decided to finish crushing this idiot pretending to be a lunatic first.
“Listen. Hey! Did you think I gave you a chance because I liked you? I gave you a chance because of Chairman Kang’s face, and this is how you repay me? You’re done. Don’t send anything anymore.”
“And what was that about chaebols? A guy whose only life achievement is being born is talking about chaebols in front of the Great Emperor? Damn, I’m getting angry again. What’s your name? Shut up! Why the hell would I need to know a nobody like you?!”
He tore the man to shreds and hung up. Lee Shin stretched with a refreshed expression.
“See, sometimes you just gotta go off. Right, sis?”
“I will contact Ido Food as you instructed.”
“I’ll call Chairman Kang myself, so don’t worry and proceed. Sigh, even turning a guy like that into a proper human must be exhausting our Chairman Kang.”
“……”
“Hmm, sis, your expression looks a bit impure?”
“It’s your imagination.”
Lee Shin chuckled and examined the documents.
Various traffic graphs were shooting through the roof.
“Whoa, we broke the stratosphere. The Scramble really took off.”
“YouTube, internet portals, communities, every SNS platform—‘competitive gate raid’ is trending as a hot keyword across all media.”
“Of course it is. The broadcasting stations would have to be completely brain-dead not to do something about it.”
“The presidents of all the major guilds and terrestrial broadcasters are gathering to discuss it. Vice Leader Chae Dong-ha went on our behalf.”
“Oh right, those two have been acting weird lately.”
“…The leader is currently meeting with the association president. It seems the association wants to reclaim the initiative they lost to the Bureau.”
“That won’t be easy with the atmosphere this good.”
As they were about to enter the representative office through the still-noisy workspace, someone came running from the other side.
“Representative, we have a call from Baekgeom Guild.”
“The one who shat himself is the Sword Master, but the one cleaning it up is the representative. Being a representative really is an extreme job, huh, sis?”
Connect the call.
A voice soon came through the earphone.
“Hello. This is Jang Yo-han, representative of Baekgeom Guild.”
“This is Lee Shin, representative of Mir Guild. You were looking for me?”
“I’m calling about the Sword Master matter.”
The representative’s roundabout wording was long, but the summary was clear: We’ve done enough. Shall we end this between representatives?
He seemed conscious of the recent “collar-grabbing incident” that was making the most noise. His voice was thick with exhaustion, as if he had been thoroughly tormented.
Too bad Lee Shin had nothing more to say.
“Hmm, Representative. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I already apologized to Mr. Park Gwang-seob. I even brought Yeon-woo with me. So what I’m saying is, I already ended it. Do I still need to care about the disgraceful behavior Mr. Park Gwang-seob has shown since then?”
“…I seem to have misspoken. I wasn’t asking you to solve the problem. I simply meant that even if the fans are causing a ruckus, guilds should act like guilds and maintain their dignity.”
Jang Yo-han quickly backpedaled from the nuance of “solve the problem” to “I’m not asking you to fix it, so let’s not escalate this any further.”
It looked like he was hurriedly pulling his foot out the moment Lee Shin, who held the moral high ground, seemed about to explode.
His sense of timing… As expected of the representative of a top-tier guild, he was quite sharp.
Lee Shin didn’t dislike smart people. Perhaps that was why his tone softened considerably.
“Well, it is the beginning of the season, so things are a bit chaotic.”
“Haha, exactly! With everything so busy, there’s no need to pay attention to every little disturbance.”
“Understood. We also have no intention of releasing any statements as long as Mr. Park Gwang-seob keeps his mouth shut.”
“Thank you, Representative.”
“Not at all. Guilds should help each other, right?”
Haha. Hoho.
The call ended on a peaceful note. Yun Cho-a, who had been standing by, asked quietly.
“Is that all right?”
“Hm? What do you mean, sis?”
“Do you really plan to end it here?”
“Ah… Was I too gentle?”
“It was different from your usual style…”
“Hmm.”
Lee Shin smiled wickedly and rested his chin on his hand. It had been a while since he played the role of the shadowy mastermind.
“Heh heh heh… Even if I don’t lift a finger, Baekgeom is going to be plenty busy.”
When Yun Cho-a tilted her head with a question mark in her eyes, Lee Shin answered by pointing his chin at the large screen that covered one wall of the representative office.
The scene showed the Mir raid team hugging Yu Ri-ra. Yun Cho-a quickly turned up the volume.
— “It’s over!! Boss ‘Cocoon Queen Changdo’ defeated! Gate cleared!!”
— “Both Mir Guild and Baekgeom Guild competed for the boss, but the final blow went to Mir’s superstar, Yu Ri-ra!”
— “Baekgeom Guild is falling apart. The Sword Master is even shedding tears.”
— “They stumbled at the start, and then there was ‘that incident’ in the middle… This match leaves a lot of regrets for Baekgeom Guild.”
The shocking rankings followed immediately.
1st — Mir Guild (+3)
2nd — Challenger Guild (+1)
3rd — Baekgeom Guild (-1)
4th — Edge Guild (-3)
Overall League Rank:
1st. Mir Guild
⋯
8th. Baekgeom Guild (▼3)
Eighth? Eighth place?! Was this real?
Yun Cho-a stared at the rankings with a blank face, then slowly lowered her gaze to the floor.
Specifically, to the floor where Lee Shin was currently rolling around.
“Puhahahahahat! Eighth! They’re eighth! Puhahahaha!!”
The competitive gate raid—which had caused a nationwide “Scramble fever” syndrome—successfully concluded.
Attention, popularity, innovation. Fans and stakeholders alike gave it a perfect score.
But.
Did they know? Did they know the aftermath would be this fierce once the results came out?
Baekgeom Guild’s Shocking 3rd Place in Scramble! Receives Negative Points!
8th Place. The Collapse of a Top Guild—Did Baekgeom Start It?
Baekgeom Guild in Panic. Refuses All Interviews!
Baekgeom Guild had stayed in the upper ranks for a long time thanks to the Sword Master and the Ghost Slayer rising to prominence.
During the era of Hwarang, when the “Fire Extinguisher Trio” was still intact, they had been strong enough to compete with Kirin Guild for the championship.
And now that same Baekgeom Guild was in eighth place.
Beginning of the season or not, eighth place!
It was a ranking so absurd that not only outsiders but even the guild members themselves couldn’t accept it.
The situation was so serious that even the angry fans couldn’t easily speak up.
Cold, seething rage. Baekgeom fans desperately wanted to hear anything.
But the guild that was supposed to explain remained completely silent.
The raid team was also in full panic, mouths clamped shut.
So the lost anger turned toward the Bureau.
The snowball of suspicion kept rolling.
When the situation spiraled out of control and even the fairness of the league was questioned, the Bureau finally released an official statement.
In summary, the content was roughly this:
The difference between 2nd and 3rd was extremely narrow, and what decided it was the penalty.
Penalty.
That single word silenced Baekgeom’s fandom.
They had all seen the scene of the Sword Master grabbing Baek Yeon-woo by the collar. Even if they hadn’t, it wasn’t hard to know. Even at this very moment, the Yongbungs were raising hell.
……(+999)……
Those guys were the crazy bastards who wrote “Yongbung” in their occupation field.
No matter how strong Baekgeom’s fandom was, they didn’t want to step into that hellish maw.
So the only thing they could barely cling to was the “both sides are bad” argument.
But from the start, this kind of controversy didn’t gain any traction.
Because a play so shocking that stealing was nothing in comparison had become the real issue.
And that was…
“Wow, I really never imagined it would turn out like this!”
“Yes, we were quite surprised.”
Kirin Guild.