The Muse of the World Raid Director
The chat window was flooded with questions the moment the broadcast began.
Q. How on earth did Princess manage to break through the final pattern of ‘Seven Lives Zalts’?
“I knew you guys would ask about this. Damn, you picked the exact one I expected. Alright~ You’re talking about the final pattern, ‘Abyssal Domain,’ right?”
There have been countless competitive raids, and just as many bosses.
Naturally, it’s impossible for regular fans to remember the names of every single one.
Even so, quite a lot of people know ‘Seven Lives Zalts.’ Because that thing is the strongest boss in the Korean league.
People tend to remember the best, the strongest, the number one. That’s why they’re curious. They want to know how Mir Guild overcame a pattern that was practically considered an instant-kill move.
“Alright. If my fans don’t understand, I have to explain it properly.”
A whiteboard appeared almost instantly. Lee Shin rolled up his sleeves and stood in front of it.
“First, remember this. The ‘Abyssal Domain’ pattern is known as near-instant death, but that’s because the damage is insane. The judgment itself isn’t a true instant kill. If you pour in healing that exceeds the consistent damage value, you can survive it.”
“So let’s look at the healing sources, shall we? Behind Princess here are those wings—constant HP recovery. Then we have six healers on the team. No joke, their output is crazy. And over here we have Mountain King’s World Tree. The recovery from that thing is no joke either. Oh, and we can’t forget the shield Hwarang hyung is carrying on his back.”
“If you’ve remembered everything up to here, the basic mechanism is simple.”
Lee Shin drew a graph on the whiteboard.
In the blink of an eye, a damage graph and a healing graph appeared. The points where they intersected, where healing overtook damage, the positions the guild needed to take at those moments, and the precise commands Mountain King had to issue—everything was laid out.
He explained it so clearly that even an eight-year-old could understand.
“Got it? What’s the core point?”
“Here, healing can be replaced with squad synergy, high HP can be swapped for training condition, and item advantage becomes proper equipment status. Therefore, for this single strategy, we invested breathing, effort, and money.”
“Right? Pretty cool, huh? Hehe, now’s the time to shower me with praise.”
Aside from the fact that Archangel’s Touch could be converted into a holy domain, and the personal ability of hunters who sacrificed blood and flesh to convert life force into holy power, he had revealed almost everything to the fans.
To some, this sight was downright shocking.
In some ways, this was complete madness.
The crucial difference between public raids and guild raids, the clear reason why lower-tier guilds and top-tier guilds diverged so sharply—it was all data. Strategy data like this was practically the guild’s most valuable asset. Some pieces of data were even traded for astronomical sums. Enough said.
Yet here he was, casually spilling it all on a broadcast? And not just any boss—the strongest in the Korean league, ‘Seven Lives Zalts’? The reason? Just to communicate with fans and answer their questions.
Does that even make sense? From a guild representative?
But Lee Shin’s reaction remained the same.
Is there a problem?
“Looks like we’ve got some newbies here, shocked by this. Newbies are always welcome. Alright everyone, why do I open up this kind of information?”
“There we go. The more you know, the more you see. The more you see, the more fun it gets, right? Then more fans will join. And once those fans get smarter? The guilds get smarter too.”
“To put it another way? Hey, student in the back, answer me.”
“Right! That’s it!”
Stagnant water rots. You didn’t have to look far—the Korean league before Lee Shin and Mir Guild arrived was exactly like that.
Lee Shin wanted his guild to thrive, and he wanted the league to be healthier. That inevitably meant the level of competition had to rise.
Only then could he, and the raid teams, receive proper stimulation and continue to grow.
That was why fans needed to get smarter. That was also why, no matter how busy he was, he always turned on a broadcast for a Q&A session after every match—to build toward that future.
“If you know that, stop dozing off and pay attention to class. Teacher already told you—this is all going to be on the test.”
Lee Shin spun the wheel with a playful grin.
The second question was fortunately a lighter one.
Q. The surroundings are so noisy it makes me anxious. Aren’t other guilds trying to poach our players?
“Yeah, it really is noisy. I didn’t expect it to get this loud. As for poaching… well, I can’t say it’s not happening. I got five serious calls today alone. Right, Dong-ha hyung?”
At Lee Shin’s question, a voice came from off-screen.
“Those were the serious ones. There were even more attempts that were just probing.”
“You heard him. That’s how it is.”
“That’s a no-comment. What I can tell you is that most of them were foreign guilds. I got to show off my native English for the first time in a while.”
It was a natural side effect of rising value.
Perhaps because the market was so large and competition so fierce? Guilds were always desperate to find good hunters. The Korean league, whose average hunter skill far exceeded market expectations, had always been a prime target.
That was also why every major league had at least one Korean ranker.
As a side note, this was also why lower-tier guilds in Korea had such small fandoms.
The moment someone stood out even a little, not only did top Korean guilds like Royal Sword and Baekgeom come calling, but so did America, Europe, the Middle East, and even China and Japan.
It was impossible to form proper attachments.
“Our Princess is the most dramatic case. Her estimated transfer fee is 250 billion won. Wow… I personally stamped her contract less than a year ago and now she’s worth 250 billion? Isn’t that insane? Hehe.”
But.
“You fans sometimes worry too much about things that haven’t even happened. Hey, you Yongbong fans, who is your representative? Tell me. Who is this person right here?”
“That’s right. It’s hyung. Do I look like the kind of person who would send hunters away for mere money?”
Mir Guild had already built an empire.
It meant they had achieved perfect financial freedom.
Moreover, the representative was Lee Shin. While other representatives might raise their guild’s value and then pivot to business or other fields, Lee Shin poured every single won earned from ‘Woongjindan’—the product that had caused a storm across the global market the moment it launched—straight back into the guild.
That was why he could make this declaration with confidence.
“I’ll make one promise. Our Mir Guild will never send a hunter away for money.”
Unless they failed to prove themselves, requested it themselves, or other exceptional circumstances, there would be no transfers. So please enjoy your fandom without worry.
At Lee Shin’s declaration, the fans’ anxiety vanished like it had been washed away.
After chatting comfortably like that, they eventually reached the final question.
Q. Is an undefeated regular season possible?
“You guys must have been really impressed, huh? That question is already coming up?”
“I see. So our fans are hoping for an undefeated regular season. Hehehe. Since the topic came up, shall we take a look? Aside from a few set losses, we were undefeated in the rounds, weren’t we?”
“Is there any guild that went undefeated in the regular season?”
“Whoa, looking at this, our highest points record is also on the line. I didn’t know that.”
“Really? For real? Team 1 had the old man so it was expected they’d do well, but Team 2 having zero losses is actually shocking, isn’t it?”
“Hmm, then.”
Lee Shin rarely made bold claims about matches, but for some reason he felt like going all in this time.
With a crooked smile, he declared it.
“I’ll make a promise.”
Undefeated championship.
Highest points record.
“We’ll achieve both this year and head straight into the playoffs!”
The chat window exploded with the fans’ cheers.
Lee Shin gave his final greeting to the delighted viewers.
“Then everyone, sleep well.”
But.
He didn’t know at the time.
That this would become a flag…….
Let’s turn back time. This is the story from before the infamous 55th round competitive raid began.
In a dark room, a man sat alone at a desk lit only by a desk lamp.
The man’s name was Hong Han-hyun.
He sipped cheap whiskey with cigarettes as a side dish, staring holes through the documents in front of him.
“Haa… Is this really the best we can do?”
Names densely packed onto white paper.
It was a roster. And the names written on it were ones we all knew well.
Sword Master Park Gwang-seob.
Spear Ghost Yang Kang-cheol.
Guardian Yeo Eun-seo.
Cross Iruha.
Flame Queen Kim Ji……
……
…
.
Korea’s representative rankers.
It was an undeniable fact that these people were Korea’s best and strongest hunters.
It was undeniable… yet Hong Han-hyun was still agonizing.
Were they truly the strongest?
He imagined it. If aliens descended, pressed a beam saber to his throat, and demanded, “Hand over your strongest hunters,” could he confidently present these people?
“Hoo, this is troubling.”
The deeper his dilemma grew, the greater his disappointment.
For no reason at all, he kept drawing circles over and over again above Park Gwang-seob’s name. Staring at the character ‘Yul’ written inside the circle at the very top, Hong Han-hyun could only drink more of the tasteless whiskey.
While his dilemma deepened day after day, that fateful match began. The match that sent Kirin Guild straight into the history books and marked the beginning of a new era.
It was the 55th round, Group 1 competitive raid.
Hong Han-hyun’s eyes widened at the squad that used only healers and no tank. He clapped at the performance of Hwarang, Seo Ye-na, and the monster called Park Su-bin. And at the extreme kiting orchestrated by Mountain King’s brain, he was left utterly speechless.
He simply couldn’t look away.
Had he ever enjoyed a match so purely before?
The single TV he had on the first day became three the next, and by the end of the match, one entire wall of his study was covered in TVs.
In the final split screen, when Seo Ye-na broke through the Abyssal Domain and slammed her mace into the boss’s head, Hong Han-hyun felt as if his own skull was shattering.
“Aaaah!!”
That outrageous squad composition!
That revolutionary operation!
In that instant, inspiration struck like lightning.
Like a lighthouse beacon found in the middle of a vast ocean, Hong Han-hyun had no doubt that this inspiration was the answer he had been searching for. So he obsessed over it.
Fortunately, the inspiration quickly took form.