The Boy Becomes a Man
With her experience handling the younger members of Team 2, Lee Hye-jung skillfully took control of Park Su-bin.
“First, we need to refine the question a little more.”
If he kept spiraling like this, the kid was going to be in real trouble.
It was a touching scene that showed Mommy’s tear-jerking dedication to looking after her younger siblings.
Of course, she never imagined that Park Su-bin would actually say those words on a broadcast—on a live stream with well over a million viewers, no less….
“What if you encounter an impossible opponent? For example, what should I do if I meet someone like the Demon King holding the Baekhwageom?”
By adding “for example” as a cushion, limiting the subject to “I,” and framing it as simple personal curiosity, the question had been wrapped up very neatly.
It was so polished that even Kang Mal-suk clapped like a trained seal alongside Park Su-bin.
“Hye-jung, you seem really smart.”
“Ooh… Sis, you’re the best.”
“Ahem. I’ve always been smart, sis. Anyway, I’ll answer Subin’s question first.”
“Yes! I’m listening.”
Lee Hye-jung delivered the answer she had mulled over several times to Park Su-bin, whose ears twitched with anticipation.
“If it were me, I’d probably accept defeat. I’d humbly acknowledge that the opponent is above me and do my absolute best every single day. Who knows? One day I might reach that same level. That’s what I think.”
It was an answer that perfectly captured Lee Hye-jung’s life—the woman with the lowest potential in the entire guild who had never given up, pushing herself every day to surpass her limits.
Soon after, Park Su-bin turned around.
In that short span of time, Kang Mal-suk had already polished off two cocktails and a draft beer. She gave him a warm, benevolent smile.
“My turn? Hmm, I’m the type who forgets what can’t be done because good is good enough. If it’s a problem I can solve, I’ll stubbornly keep charging at it. But if it can’t be done, it can’t be done. That’s not worry—it’s just stress.”
Rather than challenging the impossible, she chose to let it go quickly and protect her peace of mind.
It was an answer that perfectly reflected Kang Mal-suk’s cheerful, easygoing personality.
Because of it, she was often misunderstood as lacking ambition, but she never cared about such opinions. Her philosophy was that even focusing solely on the possibilities right in front of her was already more than enough work.
Two answers filled with the weight of their lives and personalities.
Park Su-bin chewed over that weight thoroughly, digested it, and rose from his seat.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but his star-like sparkling eyes seemed to have grown a little deeper.
“Thank you! That was really helpful.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Ask again if you’re still unsure.”
With a polite bow, Park Su-bin dashed off toward his next destination.
The two women watched his retreating figure and smiled.
There was cuteness and admiration in their smiles, but at the very end, a faint bitter aftertaste lingered as well.
“A genius really is built different, huh? Our Team 2 kids are all incredibly talented, but Subin…”
“Hehe, feeling that wall now?”
“Yeah. Now I finally understand why the representative told us not to mix the Team 2 kids with those ‘children’ as much as possible.”
“This industry has always been brutally unfair. That’s why I’m so quick to give up.”
Come to think of it, that attitude was exactly like Park Su-bin.
Since his middle school days—back when he was still a little kid who fit perfectly in Lee Hye-jung’s arms—he had genuinely enjoyed training. While other children played games or watched YouTube, he explored magic power with an almost suspicious level of dedication.
Park Jeong-seok, that pathetic fool, only pretended to enjoy it.
But no.
Park Su-bin wasn’t faking it at all. He truly loved it.
The way he spent his vacation pondering strength. The ambition that drove him to climb higher without anyone telling him to. And finally, that sincere smile of pure happiness as he explored the process itself.
He simply enjoyed strength….
“When you think about it, all three kids the representative chose are like that.”
In an industry flooded with fake geniuses and self-proclaimed prodigies, this guild was monopolizing the real ones to an astonishing degree.
Perhaps the real monster was Lee Shin himself—the man who had gathered all these genuine talents in one place.
While Lee Hye-jung was getting goosebumps at Lee Shin’s insight, Park Su-bin continued seeking advice from the others.
The first reactions from most of the team members, starting with Shin Yong-jae, the representative dealer of Team 1, were not much different from the two women before them.
“What…? The Demon King with the Baekhwageom?”
“Does that even make sense? Not just anyone—the actual Demon King?”
“I admit Subin’s amazing, but this time he’s gone way too far.”
“You really are something else, having such boring thoughts even after coming all the way out here?”
Still, he asked persistently, and from Team 1’s advice Park Su-bin was able to distill roughly three main approaches.
The first was the “never give up, just charge in” faction.
“Even if it looks impossible, clash with it anyway. So what if you fail? Your effort doesn’t disappear just because you fail, right? Who knows—you might break through your limits because of this very attempt.”
The second was to give up quickly and find another path.
“A lot of people see giving up as negative, but after living a bit, I’ve learned that giving up is also a form of courage. There are way more success stories that started with quick abandonment after half-hearted effort than people think.”
The third was to completely change the direction of the question itself.
“The goal is too far away. If it were me, I’d start with the small goals right in front of me. Overtake 20th place, then 19th, then the mids one by one while reflecting on myself. Oh, you’ve already passed all of them? Anyway, stop agonizing over impossible problems and broaden your view.”
Besides those, he received all kinds of answers—self-reflection, religious interpretations, are you lonely?want me to introduce you to a girl? and more.
During the process, he accidentally opened the door to the gym and witnessed a horrifying scene….
“My mouth says no but my body is honest. Can you hear the voice of my erector spinae? …I want to exercise.”
“DIE!”
“That’s it! With pure grit and spirit! You can do it, princess! One hundred and eighty squats! Princess, today is the nation you will conquer!”
“Don’t call me princess ughhh!”
Thanks to his stubborn persistence, Park Su-bin managed to hear answers from every colleague except those in Team 2.
One team member even asked him about the behavior itself.
“But Subin? Does listening to all this actually mean anything? I mean, do our answers—or any of our friends’ answers—actually resonate with you or help?”
These people were also praised as talented wherever they went, but next to Park Su-bin that light inevitably dimmed.
They knew Park Su-bin. Looking back, his legendary feat of single-handedly blocking an 8-level boss’s attack in North Korea was still talked about in awe.
Could advice from teammates less capable than someone like that possibly be meaningful?
It was a sharp observation.
There was no one here who could offer Park Su-bin practical, skill-based advice.
In fact, across the entire league, how many people could actually help Park Su-bin? It wouldn’t even take both hands to count them.
So why go through all this trouble? Was it actually helpful?
To that question, Park Su-bin’s eyes sparkled as he nodded vigorously.
“Of course. It’s been incredibly helpful.”
He wasn’t joking.
What Park Su-bin needed wasn’t technical growth—it was human growth.
To be blunt, if his skills had been lacking, Lee Shin would never have left him alone like this.
Perhaps because Lee Shin had managed them with such intense focus from such a young age, all of Lee Shin’s children shared a common trait: their human growth often lagged behind their skill development, whether mentally or physically.
It was a common problem seen in GM when a player poured everything into just a few characters. The only answers were time and experience.
What even Lee Shin hadn’t predicted was that this was reality, and that Park Su-bin’s passion for strength was far more persistent than he had imagined.
Nor had he predicted that boys at this age could change day by day.
What he needed was a very small catalyst. A trigger that would awaken inspiration and turn the boy into a young man.
And then.
“You’re wrong! You’re wrong! Oppa, you need to fix your thinking from the very beginning!”
The catalyst had finally arrived.
A girl who didn’t even reach his waist. A very small catalyst indeed.
“So-yeon will fix it for you!”
The one the genius representative had praised to the skies. The one the SS-rank genius leader had knelt before.
The girl who loved doenjang jjigae but hated vegetables that had fallen into the water.
Daddy’s girl. Mir’s secret weapon.
The supreme devotee of the supporter position! Kim Yu-shin’s beloved firstborn daughter!
All paths lead to the supporter role! Here comes Kim So-yeon of the Sunflower Class!
After meeting Chae Dong-ha and Yoon Cho-a, Park Su-bin soon found Kim Yu-shin and Yu Ri-ra.
As expected, the two were together.
It was already well known that Yu Ri-ra was close with Kim Yu-shin’s family. She was practically like sisters with his wife, and the three of them were often spotted together at kids’ cafes every weekend along with So-yeon.
Anyway, Park Su-bin asked the pair the same question as before and received their answers.
“Don’t worry about it. The representative oppa will solve it anyway. You’ll just get wrinkles on that pretty face. Just think happy thoughts.”
That was the laid-back Yu Ri-ra’s answer.
“Hmm, that is indeed a very serious problem. I can relate. I went through something similar once. This will probably require quite a long conversation.”
Kim Yu-shin slipped into the mode of a generous senior and fully empathized with Park Su-bin’s worries. Perhaps because he emphasized that listening came first, their conversation grew deeper and deeper.
Which meant they completely missed Kim So-yeon, who had boldly planted herself right there in the middle of them.
What happened next was exactly as already described.
Kim So-yeon stared at the two men with clear disapproval.
“So-yeon, what about Mom…?”
“Dad, Mom isn’t important right now!”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes it is!”
Kim So-yeon stood with her hands on her hips and her little belly pushed forward.
Whether it was the way she had climbed onto the chair or the slightly raised angle of her chin, an extraordinary aura radiated from her. Of course, the missing baby tooth made it a little… cute.
“Pfft…”
“Don’t laugh, Auntie.”
“Oh, sorry.”
One of Korea’s current top three AD carries alongside the Flame Queen.
The sight of her suppressing Yu Ri-ra—who was expected to rise to the official rankings next year—with a single scolding word.
True to her reputation as the big shot who ruled the Sunflower Class with nothing but charisma, Kim So-yeon had seized control of the entire group in an instant.
Look at them—overwhelmed by my charisma, mouths opening and closing without a sound.
“……”
“……”
“…Senior?”
“…Sorry. Just play along.”
Kim So-yeon hopped down from the chair with a plop and tapped the floor with her tiny hands.
Tap. Tap.
“Oppa, sit down.”
“Uh, okay.”
Reading the room, Park Su-bin squatted on the floor.
Even then, Kim So-yeon was clearly unhappy that his eye level was still much higher than hers, but she generously let it slide.
She folded her chubby little fingers and continued.
“Oppa said you want to beat the grandfather called the Demon King. Because of that white-white…”
“Baekhwageom.”
“Yeah, that. Because of that you couldn’t do anything and you were so frustrated you cried and cried.”
“I-I didn’t cry.”
“Quiet!”
Scolding!
What did you do to act so proud!
Kim So-yeon looked up at Park Su-bin with stern eyes.
“Oppa, you’re missing something very important.”
“R-really? What do you think I’m missing, So-yeon?”
“Everything! All of it!”
And the biggest mistake of all.
“You don’t understand the team!”
“……!!”
“!!”
“O…?”
The unexpectedly sharp observation changed not only Park Su-bin’s expression, but also Yu Ri-ra’s—who had only seen her as cute—and Kim Yu-shin’s—who had been casually chatting with his wife.
“It’s a team! You have to do it together!”
“Uh, yeah! That’s why I’ve been asking everyone about it.”
“That’s the problem! The fact that you’re asking! You have to move!”
“Huh…?”
A team is friends. A friend’s problem is my problem. My problem is my friend’s problem. Therefore, to solve the problem, your friends must also make the effort.
“Is that Demon King grandfather hard to stop? Then call the Mountain King grandfather. Still not enough? Then call our dad. Still not? Then call the fox oppa from the top lane and that auntie over there too.”
Deciding it’s a fight you have to win alone is already a stupid idea.
We are a team, and a team is one. So speak of your hardship and share it with the team.
“Don’t forget. A team is something that dies together even if it means dying, and lives together even if it means living.”
This was the leadership of Sunflower Class’s big boss, Kim So-yeon.
A silence so heavy it felt like breathing had stopped. The entire group was already overwhelmed.
“Pfft, she’s so cute… Die together? Senior, what So-yeon just said…”
“It’s something her mom says a lot… Ha…”
Yu Ri-ra covered her mouth with one hand and slapped her knee with the other, body trembling with suppressed laughter. Oh my god, how could anyone be that adorable?
Kim Yu-shin couldn’t speak either. He simply rubbed his face. The old saying was right. You really do have to be careful even drinking cold water in front of a child.
But on this side, something strange was happening.
“Ah…”
It was the face of an explorer who had just discovered a new continent.
Or perhaps the face of a scholar witnessing the birth of a new civilization.
Park Su-bin’s big eyes widened like saucers as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
“Use them. Utilize…”
“Subins.”
“Use them all…”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Shh. Miss Rira.”
Realization comes without warning.
If there is enlightenment that comes from great truth, it can also be gained from the everyday life we already know and live.
And what Park Su-bin needed right now was not something grand. It was this very small, very cute realization that didn’t even reach his waist.
“Ahem.”
The Mir Guild’s cruise vacation came to a successful close, filled with laughter, rest, and the growth of a certain genius.
And then came the first match of the second half.
33Round.
Park Su-bin showed a completely new side of himself.
“Park it, Yeon-woo.”
“…What?”
“Didn’t you hear? I said park it.”
“Over there…?”
Into the 2-versus-4 where four enemies were waiting?
Baek Yeon-woo asked in confusion, but Park Su-bin nodded with firm determination.
“Charge in. Leave the rear to me.”
The boy had become a young man.
It was autumn.