The King God Emperor Big Event
The ground trembled and the sky split open. It was the hottest match of the second half and the most important game before the playoffs.
King God Emperor Big Event!
55th Round.
Fourth Competitive Raid!!
“—Special Preview Show!”
Let’s kick things off with a bang.
Park Ye-jin arched her back energetically, spread her arms wide, and with a series of pops, confetti exploded as massive banners slid down one after another.
“Here’s the lineup introduction.”
The first banner appeared on the far right. An engine flag with pistons in motion.
“Core Guild. Famous for their solid organization and teamwork. They’ve been stuck in the lower ranks after injuries in the first competitive raid, but their key players have returned from injury and they’ve been steadily climbing in the second half thanks to reinforcements during the breaking season.”
Next!
A banner slid in from the opposite side. Three intertwined swords and a crown flag.
“Royal Sword Guild. Along with Baekgeom Guild, they form one axis of Korea’s Sword Derby. Currently ranked 8th—admittedly disappointing—but with Light Sword Jong-yu and world-class commander Guardian Yeo Eun-seo, two rankers, they will never give up the throne.”
Third.
A banner slid into the empty space on the left of center. A divine beast kirin with a dragon’s head and deer’s body.
“The greatest, the strongest, the most successful guild in Korean history—Kirin Guild. What more needs to be said? An all-star lineup of four rankers: Flame Queen, Spear Ghost, Nine-Tailed Fox, and Tinkerbell, with the legendary All-King anchoring the center. And they must be desperate for revenge. Against the very people standing right here.”
The final first-place team deserves a first-place entrance—flashy and spectacular!!
The moment Park Ye-jin snapped her fingers with a bright smile, flames erupted instead of the expected banner. The transparent space burned away, gradually revealing the banner beneath.
“From League 4 to League 1, undefeated in every round. A guild that has forgotten how to lose.”
From the bottom up: Kang Mal-suk and Shin Yong-jae, Mama Lee Hye-jung wearing goggles, and the princess who now looked closer to Wonder Woman…
“The miracle that rose from the lowest place and now shines the brightest.”
Park Su-bin in black on the right, Baek Yeon-woo in white on the left.
Kim Yu-shin holding a silver shield and Yu Ri-ra flashing a cheerful V sign.
And finally—
“The legend that connects past, present, and future.”
Sanwang Kim Jong-phil wearing a golden laurel wreath.
The dragon revealed itself in full.
“League 1st place. Mir Guild.”
The lineup was finally complete.
Core Guild, Royal Sword Guild, Kirin Guild, and Mir Guild.
Standing beneath the long banner, Park Ye-jin smiled brightly.
“See you in sixty seconds.”
She declared capitalism.
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— “Why is Royal Phone special? Because Lee Shin uses it……”
* * *
After the Ido Group commercials finally ended, Gameday resumed.
At the prepared table sat Park Ye-jin and two guests.
“Gameday, coming in hot from the very opening. I’m already excited. Before we dive into the analysis, let me introduce our two guests. Zen-nim, Im Cho-rong-nim.”
“Hello. First-generation idol, second-generation hunter, now analyst. Three-stage transformation—Zen.”
“Nice to meet you. Analyst Im Cho-rong.”
“The day has finally come, hasn’t it, Zen-nim?”
“It has. The day we’ve all been waiting for. Mir and Kirin, Kirin and Mir—a clash of the century, and in a competitive raid no less!!”
“Im Cho-rong-nim, would you like to say a few words?”
“It’s the big match that will decide the future direction of the league. I’m excited.”
“You can tell. Even the usually calm Cho-rong-nim is fired up for this one! Let’s analyze the ‘55th Round, Fourth Competitive Raid’ right now.”
Despite early concerns over its intensity and safety issues, the competitive raid format had become the hottest attraction of the season. This was already the fourth round. With only five matches in a season, they were approaching the climax, and after adapting, each guild had developed its own countermeasures.
The main point of today’s analysis was precisely those “countermeasures.”
As always, Zen spoke first. True to his straightforward personality, he went straight to the core.
“No need to overcomplicate it. We already saw it in the previous three competitive raids. It’s essentially a battle between the Mir faction and the Kirin faction.”
So far, two answers had emerged.
The “Kirin faction,” which prioritized aggressive herding and interference over clearing to steal victories.
Conversely, the “Mir faction,” which used small elite units to distract opponents while pursuing more aggressive clears.
“And there’s one very interesting point hidden here. You see it too, Ye-jin-ssi?”
“Core Guild and Royal Sword Guild, perhaps?”
“Ding dong dang! Exactly right! Both Core and Royal Sword are Kirin-faction guilds that have actively adopted Kirin’s methods.”
Core Guild had suffered an unfortunate injury due to Haemu Guild’s herding in the first competitive raid. Whether from the shock of that incident or the mindset of “if I’m going down, I’m taking others with me,” Core Guild had since become one of the most aggressive participants in herding tactics.
Unlike the emotional Core Guild, Royal Sword Guild had joined the Kirin faction for more practical reasons.
With Guardian as their brain, they should have joined the more strategic Mir faction, but unfortunately their reinforcements during the breaking season were disappointing. In the end, Guardian chose the easier path of herding to aim for the championship.
“Regardless of their reasons, both guilds adopted Kirin’s herding methods, and in the third competitive raid they each demonstrated extremely high levels of completion.”
“That’s right. Core Guild finished 2nd in Group 3, and Royal Sword Guild took 1st in Group 2, if I remember correctly?”
“Core Guild charged in like they were going to shatter the entire match, while Royal Sword’s intelligent herding using Guardian was brilliant.”
Here came the point Zen wanted to make.
1:3.
“Kirin-faction Core Guild representing the lower ranks. Kirin-faction Royal Sword Guild representing the middle ranks. And Kirin itself. That’s three. Meanwhile, Mir Guild stands alone.”
“Don’t tell me… they’re going to fight 1 versus 3 in that 1:3 matchup?”
“Precisely.”
At first glance, it sounded absurd.
Those on the other side were also competitors. Just because they used similar strategies didn’t mean they would team up—that was quite a leap, wasn’t it?
Even Park Ye-jin subtly voiced this doubt, but Zen smiled and explained.
“There are two aspects to consider.”
First, the strategic aspect.
“When adopting the Kirin faction’s all-out herding tactics, the main force often isn’t clearly defined. Since the goal is to keep the opponent under constant pressure, units must be split as much as possible.”
“Naturally, it becomes difficult to find a main force to dump the herding onto. You’ll remember the spectacle in the third round where guilds couldn’t pass off the monsters they’d herded and ended up wandering the field in circles.”
Mir Guild, however, was different.
They had a clearly defined main force aside from their elite units. Therefore, they made the perfect target for herding.
“A trash can. You can just throw everything in.”
If the first reason was a rational strategic judgment, the next was somewhat emotional.
“Ye-jin-ssi, what’s Mir Guild’s current ranking?”
“First place.”
“Mir Guild was promoted this year.”
“……!!”
“Let me say it again, Ye-jin-ssi. Mir Guild was promoted this year. What does that mean?”
“Is it a matter of pride?”
“Oh! Exactly.”
In the final battle of the first half, Mir Guild had completely overwhelmed Kirin Guild, fundamentally changing the league’s landscape.
From “Mir versus Kirin” to “Mir versus non-Mir guilds.”
“Having come this far, Mir Guild will definitely make the playoffs. They’ll likely aim for the championship with high probability. However, how they’ll hand over that position hasn’t been decided yet.”
Logically, it would make sense to exclude the far-ahead Mir Guild and compete among themselves…
But to hand over the throne without even putting up a fight against a newly promoted guild? That was unacceptable for a major guild, for hunters representing Korea.
“They’ll have to leave some kind of mark. That’s the pride and the struggle of being a major guild. Conversely, Mir Guild must wage a lonely battle under the concentrated scrutiny of nineteen—no, eighteen—guilds. This competitive raid will be a microcosm of that.”
Zen concluded in a heavy tone.
A strange excitement wrapped around the tension.
Mir versus the other guilds—while seemingly arrogant, it somehow fit. When Kirin Guild had monopolized the championship, they had received the same evaluation. Mir Guild had achieved it in their very first season after promotion. Who could argue with that?
‘Still, they need to be taken down a notch at some point.’
Park Ye-jin thought.
Zen’s strength was his fiery passion, but if it burned too hot, the broadcast wouldn’t flow. Balance was essential for smooth progression, which was why Park Ye-jin turned to Im Cho-rong. If Zen was fire, Im Cho-rong was water.
“What do you think, Cho-rong-ssi?”
This was where Im Cho-rong was supposed to pour cold water on the heated atmosphere…
“It’s the end of an era.”
??
?
“Pardon…?”
“I’ll say it again. It’s the end of an era.”
Im Cho-rong had completely betrayed Park Ye-jin’s expectations.
One after another, the reasons poured from her mouth.
They had shown the way in raids. They had opened a new horizon in squad management. They had proven themselves right even in the rivalry matches.
If they won this final competitive raid as well, the league would completely reset from zero.
“It’s the endpoint of the old era, the turning point that divides before Mir and after Mir, and the starting point where everything begins on the new board Mir Guild has established.”
“This 55th Round competitive raid will go down in history.”
The end of an era.
New Generation.
The moment the word that would come to symbolize Mir Guild in the future was born.
* * *
The three-hour special edition of Gameday received the expected fiery response.
The first thing that happened was that countless Yongboong hearts were set ablaze.
Meanwhile, the second thing that happened was that the Kirin fandom was provoked.
The third thing was that even other guilds that had stayed quiet got dragged in.
As a bonus, Ido, who had regained the integrated gallery’s function after a long time, was also happy.
Anyway, it was true that this Gameday special had lit a fire under the fandoms that had already been boiling ahead of the big match.
At first, it was clearly just the community.
A light(?) fight happening on the legal ring called the integrated gallery. But it gradually grew bigger……
Oh? It’s even reaching the official fan clubs?
Because the scale was so large, the Yongboong era, famous for not getting involved in petty fights (though they actually do, using VPNs and proxies), had tried to stay out of it……
Have these bastards gone crazy?
The Yongboong era flooded into the Kirin fandom “Fantasia” cafe.
In truth, there were unspoken emotions beneath this war.
Originally, Kirin’s fandom “Fantasia” had been so refined that words like elegance and grace came to mind. After all, when you monopolize first place for years, you tend to be generous, don’t you?
The problem was that position had now been shattered. Because of those damn dragon bastards.
Meanwhile, the Yongboong era also found Fantasia equally repulsive.
Back when they were subtly provoking people while wearing masks in the lower leagues, and now that we’ve shown a little (?) attitude, they’re treating us like thugs. It was annoying.
The fight that started in the community had escalated into a full-scale fan club war. And the next day, the fire spread even further, turning YouTube into a wasteland.
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(+99)
Perhaps because they were the top two fan clubs in terms of scale, even the scale of the war was different.
Beyond the community, they poured out videos using various burner accounts. On top of that, banners and trucks appeared in front of the opposing guilds.
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(+99)
Thus, even before the match began, the fan clubs waged a bloody external war, doing everything in their power to boost their guilds’ morale.
They did everything……
They really did everything……
The external war wasn’t fought only by them.