The God of Mets
"This is FOX News. The W. Nationals raid team has turned on Representative Douglas. The team's leader, the Destroyer, claims that Representative Douglas suppressed them through various means. She alleges blackmail, threats, and crimes too horrific to speak aloud during the process."
"Just in. W. Nationals Representative Douglas has belatedly held a press conference. Douglas stated that all the issues surrounding him stem from misunderstandings. He promised a swift resolution and once again apologized to the fans for causing concern."
The last puzzle piece clicked into place.
With Destroyer Catherine Hamilton on board, nothing could stand in Lee Shin's way. Not that anything had before, but now he would be even more wildly free.
Alright kids, it's time to dance!
Time to unleash all the information we'd been keeping under wraps!
The front office handled their side. The raid team handled theirs.
In particular, the house-cleaning of the raid team drew massive attention.
Experts who couldn't understand it: "It's amazing. How did he manage to clear them all out?"
Fans were equally bewildered. "We have no idea either."
The team's evaluation had hit rock bottom, which naturally meant the hunters' competitiveness was weak. Cleaning them out wasn't easy. Sell them cheap? Release them at a loss as a final card?
Any normal representative would have agonized over those two options. But who was Lee Shin? The eldest grandson of the Ido Group who hated taking losses more than death itself. The miracle worker of Mir who created something from nothing.
He broke even at minimum. Some deals even turned a profit at levels that could only be called scams. Kim Seon-dal, who sold water from the Daedong River, would have been left speechless.
A normal guild would have used those gains to jump back into the transfer market or reinvest in higher-grade equipment.
But the Lee Shin before them was a contrarian. He rejected anything ordinary.
Korea and America were different. Every country had its own culture. But there was one absolute, unchanging law.
Fans.
Without fans to cheer them on, a guild had no reason to exist.
That was why the first priority was bringing back the fans who had left.
Not with some pathetic excuse about performing well on the field. It required an overwhelming apology and changes the fans could feel on their skin.
Even if it meant dancing like a suitor!
Not sure how much this guild has changed?
Just believe in me! Me, the self-proclaimed and universally acknowledged genius representative of Korea's number one guild. Lee Shin.
This isn't the same garbage guild that disappointed you before. It's completely new, so come back without worry. Please!
It seemed the dance master Lee Shin's desperate performance was working. The effort was slowly bearing fruit.
Um... anything but that.
In the midst of this, Lee Shin's rebuilding project was finally taking tangible shape.
If Mir's volcano strategy was about converting an early lead into a late-game victory, the Mets Guild was different.
The Destroyer's destructive firepower combined with supporters using extreme crowd control.
They would settle the match within twenty-five minutes.
Survive twenty-five minutes and it's your win.
Break them in twenty-five minutes and it's our win.
The most amazing twenty-five minutes in the world.
This was the birth of what would later become the Mets Guild's slogan: Amazing Mets Time.
They didn't win every match. Numerically, they still had plenty of losses.
But there was one absolute difference from before.
They were never helpless. It was a bombastic style that perfectly struck American machismo. They showed fighting spirit. They displayed passion.
How could the fans not respond to that?
Mets fans were heading back to the pubs of New York.
Amazing was no longer self-mockery or belittlement. It had become the team's spirit and the color they had finally discovered.
The factory that manufactured sadness had officially gone out of business.
And Lee Shin, the man who had shut that factory down...
He had become a god to the Mets.
Busan, Yeongdo.
Mir Guild headquarters.
Chae Dong-ha burst through the door with his phone pressed to his ear. The remaining strategic planning team members started to greet him but froze when they saw his furrowed brow.
"That's impossible. Ha, are you doing this to me again, Mr. Mayor? If you keep pushing this, it's going to be a problem. Fine. Stay on the line. I'll check right now."
He sat down at his hastily prepared desk and turned on the monitor. The screen from last night popped up immediately.
He closed the page and opened the 'Mir City Event' file. There it was.
The promotional materials and the time slot clearly listed 4:30 to 5:00.
Steam shot straight up to the top of his head. Chae Dong-ha muted his phone speaker for a moment and shouted.
"That son of a bitch! I'm dying over here! Argh!!"
Starting from low-level 9th-grade civil servants all the way up through 7th-grade and 5th-grade officials, and now even the mayor of Busan was calling. All of them claiming that thirty-minute event was actually an hour long! Can you believe this?
Chae Dong-ha silently repeated the word for patience as many times as the sum of all the ranks that had bothered him, then turned the speaker back on and continued the call in a businesslike tone.
"Mr. Mayor, I'm looking at the file right now. No matter how many times I check, my eyes clearly see thirty minutes! Thirty minutes!! How on earth does this suddenly become an hour? Why do you keep telling lies that will obviously be caught immediately?"
"......!!"
"Stop beating around the bush and tell me clearly. You've been harassing me every single day this week. We're both busy people. If we can't help each other, at least let's not become burdens. Yes, go ahead and speak."
"......!!"
"What? The mayoral election next year? Hold on, Mr. Mayor. Don't tell me you're planning to make some political statement or mention the election at our guild's event? Of course not! Absolutely not!"
Chae Dong-ha sounded genuinely shocked. In truth, he had known. He knew the current Busan mayor was seeking their support. And it wasn't just the mayor.
Mayors, congressmen, and even the president of the local youth association at the flea market.
Every single candidate running in any election in Busan desperately wanted Mir Guild's support.
Why?
It was simple.
Their influence was terrifying.
They had written legends, earned promotion, and now stood at the top of the majors.
The greatest, strongest guild Busan had ever seen.
And this momentum had an absolute impact on Busan's economic development.
On weekends when matches were held, the entire city from Nampo-dong to Seomyeon, Haeundae, and the newly rising hotspot of Mir City in Yeongdo would transform into a sea of lights.
Watching games on massive beam projectors while cheering and drinking beer had already become a symbol of Busan.
It had gotten to the point where it was a tourist product. People from other regions and even foreigners were coming to experience it.
Thanks to this dynamic atmosphere (and the Chae family pharmaceutical connections), major corporations were gradually moving into Busan one by one. In essence, Mir Guild had become the heart of the city.
That was why anyone who wanted a seat at the table in Busan was constantly visiting Mir Guild.
They knew it was impossible, but they came anyway on the off chance it might work.
"The event is thirty minutes, exactly as written in the file. I'll take that as confirmation. I'll hang up now."
The mayor's urgent voice could still be heard from the phone, but Chae Dong-ha cut the call without mercy.
Never mind being annoyed. The pile of work waiting for him was a mountain.
It was no exaggeration.
When he hung up and looked around, he saw mountains of documents stacked in layers on his desk. The calendar was already covered in writing like an old rag.
What was even more absurd was that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Look at all the heads waiting outside the door, watching his mood.
When Chae Dong-ha gave a slight nod, the strategic planning team members rushed in like hyenas that had spotted prey.
"The equipment repair company wants their logo on the gear..."
"Advertisements are done through bidding. Tell them to submit a bid."
"These are the Ttibuttibuseal stickers that will be released at Lair Cafe. Process the payment and..."
"Lira and Malsook are fixed. The princess needs adjustment. Still, she's a princess. Isn't that too muscular? Please adjust it..."
"We received a call from Sacred Foods. They want to have a private meal with the vice-leader..."
"Is that idiot still clinging to us? Why does he keep trying to get a meal? Next."
Chae Dong-ha revealed his SS-grade genius as acting leader.
Even as questions poured in from all directions, he responded calmly, showing exactly why he was Lee Shin's right-hand man.
"We'll discuss the rest in this afternoon's meeting. Please call all the team leaders."