The Sunfish Evolves

A short while later, only the two of them remained.

Kim Jong-pil and Park Su-bin stood facing each other.

He thought he had grown used to it, but seeing it up close again, the intensity of the shock was on another level.

Park Su-bin must have felt Kim Jong-pil’s gaze, because he lowered his head deeply. In that moment, Kim Jong-pil activated his Spirit Eye and scanned the boy from bottom to top.

‘As expected, every single item is high-grade.’

It was only natural. The moment the schedule was announced, the raid team had entered full combat readiness.

The current problem with the raid team was defense.

The solution to a defense problem was organizational strength. To weld a bunch of green rookies into a single cohesive unit, there was no choice but to work them until their bones screamed.

Yet in this hellish training regimen, the boy before him had been exempted.

All because of a request from Lee Shin.

― “Sir, our Bokchi is fundamentally different from ordinary kids. For Bokchi to grow, he needs to charge forward in a perfectly straight line toward the correct answer! And……”

‘He claims to know the correct answer……’

No matter how many times he thought about it, the statement was absurd.

How could one man possibly know the correct answer for another human being? Could a “correct answer” even be defined for a creature like a human?

But Lee Shin had already proven this ridiculous claim. The evidence sat in Kim Jong-pil’s inner pocket—the manual the boy had written himself.

Perhaps that was why.

― “Very well. I will excuse Park Su-bin from training. In exchange, he must produce results. Results that I and the rest of the raid team can accept. Understood?”

It was a clear overstep of authority, yet Kim Jong-pil had agreed.

Because he was curious.

He wanted to know why Lee Shin, who could dissect a person with a single glance, had attached the label “W.C (World Class)” to this rookie whom even he could see nothing in.

“If you have any sense, you already know. Some of your comrades are not looking at you kindly. There’s no need for me to explain why, is there?”

“……No, sir.”

“Whether you realize it or not, your solo action this time was only possible because of the representative’s strong insistence. He has an almost bizarre level of confidence in you. He asked me to trust him just once. I granted that request.”

“……Th-thank you.”

“Unfortunately, I am not saying this so you can thank me.”

Kim Jong-pil made a scissor motion with his fingers toward empty air.

It was a signal to the broadcast team that might be watching—this conversation was embargoed.

“Our guild is not as optimistic as the outside world seems to think.”

Sponsor, representative, raid leader, squad—everything had changed.

Even remodeling a house felt unfamiliar and disorienting. How much worse was it for an entire guild?

In that situation, the one covering up all the large and small problems surrounding the guild right now was none other than Lee Shin.

“Why do you think Representative Lee Shin deliberately cozied up to the media more than necessary? He is burning himself alive to hide the guild’s problems.”

Kim Jong-pil did not particularly like the rabid-bulldog style of media play Lee Shin employed. Nevertheless, he respected the man.

Because no matter the method, everything was for the sake of the guild.

“And the very first request that representative made was about you. If you fail, it will not be your problem alone. If his judgment is questioned, my authority for approving it will also shake. And the discipline of the entire raid team will collapse.”

This was not about childish lust for power.

The squad members were young and new. Worse, they were the kind of people who had been called “tools” because they couldn’t make independent judgments.

For the Mountain King, who could not step onto the front lines because of the raid, the only tool he had to control these rookies was the authority that came from his overwhelming fame. The moment that authority was doubted, everything would fall apart.

That was why he was speaking like this.

Kim Jong-pil hated scolding a timid young man who already lacked confidence, but the matter was simply too serious to let slide.

“The key point of this gate is defense. If you get swept up by their movement speed, the variety of their magic, long-range attacks, and the agile assaults of the imps, it becomes incredibly exhausting. Your role is the shield of the raid team. Can you do it?”

“……”

Park Su-bin could not answer right away.

But it was clearly visible.

A spark flickering in those unusually dark pupils. That was probably the maximum amount of courage a timid boy like him could muster.

Hmph. Not bad.

Kim Jong-pil patted Park Su-bin on the shoulder and walked past him.

“You really have changed. The boy who couldn’t even meet my eyes before.”

“……!!”

It was true.

The boy who once couldn’t meet the eyes of his own friends had not averted his gaze even once while facing Kim Jong-pil—the Mountain King, one of the legends of the Korean hunter world.

Really.

He had…… changed?

Park Su-bin stared down at his own hands, let out a long breath, straightened his collar, and stepped forward.

Ahead.

A silent field. Darkness draped over every corner of the stone structures.

Since the sun never rose, the night was eternal. Especially now, when an eerie dread crept over everything.

It was a combat situation.

― “Enemy sighted ahead. Now, Lee Hye-jung.”

“!!”

Hye-jung swung her twin blades.

Clang―!

The darkness that shot forward was blocked by her crossed swords.

She angled the blades to deflect the impact, then charged without losing momentum. Like a cat, she kicked off the wall and thrust both blades into the darkness.

Thick blood sprayed. A shape emerged from behind the shadows.

Height of 150–155 cm. Oily black skin, reptilian eyes, bat wings, and a bow made of thorny vines.

An imp archer.

That was their enemy.

― “Enemy formation reacting. One minute. Circle around to the flank as loudly as possible for one minute. I’ll support you.”

Hye-jung nodded and opened her hands.

In the palms that had held twin blades, daggers now appeared.

Wind spirits clung to the daggers slotted between every finger. They were Kim Jong-pil’s wind spirits.

The daggers scattered in every direction.

More than a dozen blades flew like living creatures riding the wind, slicing through the surrounding imps.

Shaaaaak!!

The imp archers, their stealth broken, let out hisses that sounded exactly like snakes. At least a hundred of them were revealed.

If this many had their stealth broken by the impact of the daggers, there had to be at least that many more still hidden in the darkness.

Ugh, disgusting.

Hye-jung did not want to stay in this space even a second longer.

As someone who hated reptiles, she believed everything slimy in this world should die. She scattered the dagger hilts without hesitation.

She stepped in intricate patterns, throwing, throwing again, spreading in a fan shape. The daggers struck everything around her.

Ten daggers at a time, ten volleys—that was a hundred expensive daggers consumed in a wide-area attack.

Yet Hye-jung showed no restraint.

She had the pair of bracers Lee Shin had provided her. A 500-million-won item capable of storing five hundred throwing daggers.

Right now, I am a human blender!

Dodging the barrage of dark arrows fired by the imp archers, she frantically hurled blades of wind forward.

In the meantime, the raid team was sprinting at full speed.

Thanks to the support of Kim Jong-pil’s wind spirits, they moved silently as they circled to the flank.

― “The fast and agile ones hit and run from maximum range. When enemies approach, they hide in the darkness and use stealth. That is the basic attack ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pattern of imp archers.”

― “Which is why getting dragged around by imps never ends.”

The moment the split formation surrounded the imps from three directions.

Exactly one minute had passed.

― “Now!”

Bursts of light exploded around the encirclement.

The luminous stones they had planted while circling the flank all erupted at once, bathing the imp horde in magical radiance.

To the imps who lived in darkness, it was a brief but fatal weapon.

While the imp archers were trapped in the net of light, the raid team—with tanks at the forefront—charged in.

― “Once we close the distance, their speed and range lose all meaning. And if we can even seal their stealth……”

The charge formation “Charge & Pierce” exploded forward. Tanks and close-range dealers smashed and stabbed, bulldozing the imp archers like a tidal wave.

― “The imp archers will have no choice but to use their final weapon.”

The hands of the massacred imp archers turned pitch black as they stabbed their own hearts…… or so it seemed?

Thud―!

The reason the imp archer forward base had the highest offensive level among all League 4 raids.

It was because of the black magic they used by offering their own bodies as sacrifices—the black thorn clusters floating in the sky.

― “It’s coming.”

Black magic manifested by sacrificing the lives of fifty imps.

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dark Spiral, packed with the worst possible options for League 4: dark attribute, target designation, and most critically, physical defense penetration.

As the raid team gathered around Kim Jong-pil, he stared at the sky and spoke.

“Park Su-bin.”

“……Yes.”

Park Su-bin pulled a potion from his inner pocket.

A potion that looked as dangerous as his gloomy eyes. It was a potion that massively amplified magic power for a short time.

Without paying any attention to the gazes around him, Park Su-bin gulped the potion down like water and walked past the others. He leaped onto a collapsed stone wall.

Somewhere, wind caught his black mink coat and made it flutter.

The moment the jewelry on that fluttering mink coat began to shine.

He drew out the magic power of the mink coat.

Park Su-bin’s eyes turned red.

Veins bulged across his body. His face burned as if it would burst.

Steam rose from his mouth like it was the middle of winter.

And finally.

When every single negative trait had vanished.

Finally, a fragment of Park Su-bin’s true talent was revealed.

“Field of vision. Thought. Calculation―”

A brilliant radiance bloomed from within the pitch-black darkness.

“……Analysis. Conclusion. Derivation―”

A sphere of light fifteen centimeters in diameter shone brilliantly.

As if mocking it, dozens of Dark Spirals floating in the sky descended. The moment darkness began to fall.

The moment Park Su-bin’s mouth stopped moving.

“―Spatial Awareness.”

The instant his lips closed, thirteen spheres shot upward against gravity toward the falling darkness.

They collided.

As splendidly as stars.

As fiercely as meteors.

――――!!

Even though hundreds of dark arrows were being blocked right before their eyes.

Not a single sound could be heard.

An eerily quiet silence overwhelmed everyone.

Park Jeong-seok, Lee Hye-jung, the other comrades.

Even the Mountain King himself.

“He’s not blocking it…… he’s devouring it……?”

Shock and astonishment.

That was the common reaction from everyone who had watched Park Su-bin’s performance in Round 2.

- “I-I’m watching it with my own eyes, but I c-can’t believe it.”

- “……Right now, there’s only one thought in my head. What on earth is that?”

The black thorns that had filled the sky were all stopped by white spheres of light before they could touch the ground.

In the blink of an eye.

- “From the moment they boldly drew the enemies in, I thought something was strange. In case any viewers misunderstand, let me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clarify—the self-destruct attack of ‘Darkness Spiral’ is absolutely not something that can be blocked so easily!”

- “Dark attribute, targeting, physical defense penetration. Because of those three traits, the majority of League 4 guilds chose to dodge rather than block that attack, and they had to pay the price with much longer clear times.”

It wasn’t impossible to block. But this was League 4.

Was there any guild in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fourth division capable of blocking a self-destruct attack manifested by sacrificing that many imps? At least not at the moment.

The commentators praised him until their mouths went dry, and the viewers’ reactions were pure astonishment.

Yet the Yongbung fans—who should have been the happiest—were completely dazed.

In the previous round, Park Su-bin had received the lowest score. When he appeared looking like some attention-seeking celebrity from the 80s, the Yongbung fans had torn him apart.

They said even shaving his head and joining the military wouldn’t be enough, yet here he was doing ridiculous stunts for attention.

But after that insane performance, they felt embarrassed.

No matter how quickly boys that age could grow, was something like that even possible?

And so, the Park Su-bin who had gone from “Flopchi” to “God Subin” during the first broadcast.

After solo-marking the mid-boss Imp Ranger, he became “Great God Subin.”

After blocking the self-destruct attack fueled by over a hundred imp sacrifices, he evolved into “Great Emperor God Subin.”

And when he showed overwhelming performance in the final boss fight and earned MVP, Park Su-bin completed his final evolution into “Great Emperor King God Subin.”

Everyone was dying to know.

What on earth had happened to cause such a miraculous transformation?

When the interviewer asked, Park Su-bin answered as briefly as possible (because he was embarrassed) and as honestly as possible (because he was scared).

“Well, you see……”