The Black Market Auction
Today marked the fourth broadcast of the Mir Guild raid.
The raid party had already returned days ago and was now deep in training for the next raid. But because the league broadcast was being aired as pre-recorded footage, the coverage continued without pause until the next raid began.
It was almost like a drama series.
Perhaps that was why broadcasters had begun treating league coverage like actual dramas or variety shows. To recoup their expensive licensing and broadcasting fees, they needed to keep every last viewer glued to the screen. So they layered on “entertainment” and “storytelling” to match what audiences wanted.
Some experts even claimed you could judge a station’s true ability by how entertaining they made their league broadcasts.
However, this pursuit of entertainment often—actually, very often—created victims for the sake of ratings. Things like devil’s editing… and more devil’s editing.
And the protagonist, the sacrificial lamb of the fourth Mir raid broadcast, was Park Su-bin.
Honestly, from the broadcaster’s perspective, there was no better subject. He was the youngest professional debut in the world—not just Korea, the entire world! In an era where hunter debuts were brutally competitive, a hunter this young was valuable in and of itself. The gloomy mask was a bit of a problem, but that could be edited out easily enough.
On the other hand, this kind of attention was poison to Park Su-bin. Because right now, he wasn’t performing anywhere near the level of interest being poured on him.
Because of Park Su-bin’s mistake, the raid party briefly exposed a gap. After Kim Jong-phil’s sharp rebuke, they regained their focus and settled back into a stable rhythm. Afterward, Park Su-bin moved with desperate energy, as if trying to make up for his error, but his mistakes continued until the battle ended.
·
·
— Ting!
When the remote clicked, the large CRT screen showing Park Su-bin biting his lip went black. Reflected on the darkened screen were four people.
“So? What are your thoughts?”
With the second raid schedule announced, Lee Shin, Vice-Guild Leader Chae Dong-ha, the head of the power analysis team, and raid leader Kim Jong-phil had gathered in the power analysis room. Chae Dong-ha spoke first after gauging the mood.
“It’s clear he still needs more experience. He looks fine at the start, but from the middle of the fight onward, even I can see how stiff his movements become.”
The power analysis team head quickly agreed.
“Su-bin… ahem, Hunter Park Su-bin has been mentally fragile since the first time I saw him. Even when things are going well, one mistake leads to another. Personally, I think he debuted too early…”
“Oho~” Lee Shin gave a somewhat mechanical response before finally turning to Kim Jong-phil. Unlike the other two, his eyes were filled with anticipation, as if challenging, “Let’s hear what the elder has to say.” True to his reputation as the Mountain King, Kim Jong-phil gave the correct answer.
“Defense. The current raid party has a problem with defense. Overall, their defensive capability is severely lacking.”
“!!”
After watching Park Su-bin’s mistakes for so long, everyone had assumed the criticism was aimed at him. Instead, Kim Jong-phil had pointed out a flaw in the entire raid party. Chae Dong-ha and the analysis team head looked stunned. Lee Shin, on the other hand, finally broke into a wide grin and snapped his fingers.
“Correct! As expected of our raid leader. He gets it.”
That was right. The current limitation and weakness of the Mir Guild was defense.
“A raid party isn’t a solo match. This is a fifteen-person team battle. Su-bin being inexperienced? I know. Being young and lacking experience? Everyone knows that. But those are secondary issues.”
Park Su-bin’s mistake couldn’t be dismissed as just an individual error. The real problem was that a goblin had reached the second line where he stood at the center!
Even though they were surrounded, the goblins had not only pierced through the thick tankers’ shields but also slipped past the surrounding dealers to stab a rusty dagger into him. What did that mean?
“The defensive line. The formation has completely collapsed.”
The scene that proved it was played back.
— Click!
When the play button was pressed, footage streamed from the darkened CRT. It was from the very first battle after entering the gate—the moment they encountered goblins without Kim Jong-phil’s command and fell into chaos.
“You remember this situation, right? Didn’t anything feel off while watching this?”
Lee Shin continued while fast-forwarding through the footage. The tankers were leaning forward, while the second-line dealers who should have been supporting them were falling back. The natural gap between front and back widened, and the goblins seized that space. The tankers became isolated.
“The power gap was obvious. Even after making such a fatal mistake, they ended the situation without a single injury. That’s how overwhelming their advantage was.”
This time, Kim Jong-phil responded.
“Even with such an overwhelming power difference, that scene still happened. That’s the real headache.”
“YES! You said exactly what I wanted to say.”
“Distance, spacing, coordination—nothing was working properly.”
“We can’t forget vision and movement paths either.”
“To put it another way, it’s lucky they were just goblins. Their ranged attack patterns are extremely limited, so mistakes didn’t show up as badly.”
“They were flustered because it was their first time? That’s not even a decent excuse, but fine. I’ll generously let it slide with my big heart. But even taking that into account, their follow-up response was terrible.”
“Terrible. Extremely terrible.”
“And everything we just mentioned…”
“That’s right. It’s all about defense.”
“In the end, the core of the problem is…”
“Defense.”
Back and forth, Lee Shin—the veteran of this field—and Kim Jong-phil—the unparalleled commander—tossed the conversation between them until they reached the heart of the issue.
“Offense draws the crowd, but defense wins championships. It’s an old saying, but nothing could be more accurate. Defense is the clearest indicator of a raid party’s true level.”
“People often think only tankers need to worry about defense, but that’s completely wrong. Ideally, everyone should participate and pay attention.”
“But countless people overlook this obvious fact. Some don’t even understand the concept.”
“I understand. Defense isn’t fun. It’s boring, doesn’t get the spotlight, so everyone except the tankers tends to neglect it. Our raid party, with its low average age, is even worse.”
“Furthermore, since I can’t participate on the front lines, the raid party is effectively fourteen people.”
“Their defense is already weak, and now they’re short one person? Oh my god!”
“Objectively speaking, it’s an organizational issue. The team isn’t fully formed yet. This is something that will gradually improve as they gain experience.”
“Exactly, organizational strength. It’s a problem time will solve.”
After hearing this much, Chae Dong-ha and the analysis team head’s eyes shook violently—they had completely understood the problem.
Yes. The current Mir raid party was terrible at defense. Composed entirely of rookies except for Kim Jong-phil, their inexperience had created a critical weakness: holes in their defense.
Of course, as the two had said, this was an organizational issue. It might naturally resolve itself once experience and time built team cohesion. But the problem was that the announced schedule unfortunately wouldn’t wait for them.
“LV4. ‘Imp Archer’s Forward Base.’ Among the raids in League 4, this gate has the highest attack level.”
Three days left. They had to come up with a solution in just three days. Everyone looked at each other. A brief silence fell.
“……”
“……”
Say something. Under the silent pressure, the strategy analysis team head surrendered first. Chae Dong-ha followed, scratching his head and waving the white flag. Only two remained. Kim Jong-phil shrugged and spoke first.
“It’s not really a solution, but if we proceed as safely as possible, clearing it won’t be difficult. Of course, we can’t expect the kind of record-breaking performance we had in Round 1.”
It was the best plan Kim Jong-phil could offer while unable to participate on the front lines. But Lee Shin didn’t seem satisfied—he kept scratching his chin.
“Hmm……”
What he wanted wasn’t just an average result. He needed an overwhelming performance. To shake off the defeatist mindset surrounding this guild and restore the faded image of a prestigious name, they had to dominate League 4 with crushing results.
—At least, that was the official reason.
Personally, Lee Shin needed to break as many records as possible to earn decent points in the relatively stingy League 4, and the most important among them was the consecutive win record.
“What do you think, Representative?”
The baton had now passed to Lee Shin. Everyone’s eyes turned to him. Lee Shin scratched his chin for a long time, deep in thought, then spoke.
“No choice, then.”
He had found his answer.
“I need to go shopping.”
??
What…… what did he just say??
* * *
A factory district in Sasang, Busan.
The noisy rails came to a halt, and the trucks that had been busily coming and going all left the neighborhood at once. Hardware stores, parking lots, 24-hour convenience stores—every light went out, the entire area came to a complete stop, and night fell.
A night more dazzling than the day.
“We’re opening the store.”
With a rustle, the veil lifted and the door to the underground black market opened. Luxury vehicles of the highest caliber, rarely seen, came to a stop. At the same time, people dressed according to the dress code stepped out of their cars, guided by the host.
The son of a mid-tier company president in Busan waved his hand, and the son of a guild master raised his middle finger in response. Elderly local figures and city council members clicked their tongues at the childish behavior, muttering about “kids these days.”
Busan’s most prominent tycoons and power brokers were stepping onto the red carpet one by one.
Then, at that moment—
A black sedan approached from afar.
At the appearance of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, everyone’s steps stopped as if by magic. The people gathered here were certainly impressive, but only within Busan. Even if they combined all their wealth and power here, it couldn’t compare to that family.
““Welcome.””
At the very top of the food chain—Lee Shin of the Ido Group had arrived.
“Good to see you all.”
At the sudden appearance of this VVIP, every host in the lobby rushed out and bowed deeply. Lee Shin stepped out of the car with a gentle smile, while Chae Dong-ha, who had gotten out from the opposite side, hurried over and draped a coat over his shoulders.
“……He actually came. He’s not crazy?”
……Of course, there had been impure intentions during that process, but Lee Shin was the kind of man who knew how to cover for his subordinates’ shortcomings. He casually pretended not to notice.
Meanwhile, the flustered crowd parted like the Red Sea on either side of the red carpet. Lee Shin strolled leisurely down the carpet as if he were the obvious star of the show.
“For our customers’ convenience, our market offers all services including meals, spa, and massage. If you tell us what service you’d like—”
“Sorry to interrupt, but I believe the auction is about to start. Could we go straight to the auction hall?”
“Not at all. I’ll guide you to the auction hall right away.”
“Thank you.”
“If you require separate identity protection, we can provide a mask prepared by our side……”
“No need for that. It’s not like we’re committing any crimes. Thank you for your consideration.”
Lee Shin smiled brightly. The female employee’s cheeks flushed red.
Now he was openly flirting.
Chae Dong-ha let out a hollow laugh in disbelief and leaned in close to whisper.
“What exactly are you thinking? You should tell us by now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if this is normal!”
“What wouldn’t be normal?”
“What do you mean, what? This! Shopping!! Here!!”
Just four hours ago, this person had been in a strategy meeting, and now he was at a black market saying “Hehe, I’m going shopping. No one can stop me!” At the very least, he should explain why on a human level. Why the sudden madness?!
At Chae Dong-ha’s slightly agitated tone, Lee Shin widened his eyes and gave him a rather charming smile. It was different from his usual crooked, sly smirk—deliberately seductive, the kind of smile meant for seduction.
“Who knows~?”
Lee Shin winked and walked past.
‘Haa……’
Chae Dong-ha (atheist, age 25) found himself believing in God at that moment.
Dear God, just one hit. Please let me land just one solid punch.
Please!