The Desert's Hope Sets Sail
The New York scene was in an uproar. Amazing Mets Time!
Namgoong Sega’s swords completely crushed Cheonma Shingyo!
America and China. Mets Guild and Namgoong Sega. Two guilds with completely different systems, temperaments, and even continents had secured victories, yet the ripple effects were anything but small.
― “Hi Bro, right, today was supposed to be your day off. I was planning a nice dinner with my girlfriend… S**t, those Mets bastards pulled off a crazy upset! They came back as a completely different guild! How am I supposed to eat after that?!”
― “Hey, this was Mets Guild’s laning from last season. Not bad, right? Then shall we look at yesterday’s game against the Celtics? See how organized it looks? If it’s hard to tell, just watch their footwork. The detail in how they trace the lane with their toes. Damn, it still gets me fired up even watching it again.”
Mets Guild had fixed their chronic, chaotic laning.
― “Brothers, did you see Namgoong Sega beat Cheonma Shingyo? Lightning speed! Swift and decisive! They draw their swords without hesitation! They never retreat! A scar on a martial artist’s back is shame! Haaah, it’s boiling over!”
― “Look, personally I want to praise this initiation scene. It was clearly Namgoong Baekhee’s misjudgment, and because of it they actually handed over a set they had won, but… look! They charged in as one without a shred of doubt, and nearly turned that mistake into the right answer! Isn’t that amazing? This is huge!”
Namgoong Sega had cast off the chains of macro play and become true martial artists.
Fans were content to simply cheer for their guild’s thrilling win. But industry insiders were different. They were people who sought reasons and analyzed.
To them, these two guilds’ victories were beyond impressive—they were magical.
[Monday Nights: Mets Guild’s win makes no sense. “That damn explosive Mets actually did laning. And it looked decent? No—proper! Excellent!! This is a miracle!!”]
[Murimmaeng Ilbo: I have no idea how this happened. “Last season Namgoong poured everything into fixing their weakness in macro, but this season they just abandoned macro entirely. They clearly abandoned it… yet the macro is working! It’s working through chaotic brawls!”]
Those who weren’t directly involved had no answers. So they had no choice but to shove microphones at the people involved.
Reporters from each country rushed to Mets Guild and Namgoong Sega. And there, that name surfaced once again. Lee Shin. The name of Korea’s genius representative.
[Mets Guild manager: It was a victory we predicted, so I’m not surprised. “Basic training, laning skills, recruitment and roster reinforcement—we had the most perfect Stove League with LeeGod.”]
[MVP Destroyer: Time with LeeGod was fantastic. “We leveled up several stages during this training camp. Basics and laning to Namgoong Sega, tempo control to Mir Guild. It was truly incredible. Lee Shin—he’s a god.”]
While Mets Guild worshipped Lee Shin as a god, Namgoong Sega treated him with the utmost respect as their family’s benefactor.
[Namgoong Sega scolded a reporter who tried to point out a teammate’s mistake in the first set. “It was not a mistake. When the path appears, we extend our sword. We do not doubt. We do not abandon family. That is the sword of Namgoong we learned from our benefactor.”]
[When asked if the benefactor was Lee Shin, everyone in Namgoong Sega grew solemn. “He is someone we dare not mention.”]
[Namgoong Min, who remained Changcheon rather than Sword Emperor, called Lee Shin his sworn brother. “We promised to meet again at the top. Are you watching, little brother? This older brother is rising.”]
Now the industry insiders were curious. What exactly had happened between Lee Shin and these guilds in Korea? What had they learned at Mir’s training camp? Just what was so special about this man named Lee Shin?
Everyone showered him with praise. And how did Lee Shin respond to his skyrocketing fame?
He didn’t hold back in the slightest.
[Mir Guild representative Lee Shin: “Haha. It’s all thanks to me.”]
That’s right. The genius representative, Lee Shin. The owner of legends, the Asian champion. The emperor of the great Mir Empire who had discovered Blitz, revived the Genius, and created the Colossus myth.
Standing before cameras from around the world, Lee Shin declared:
― “Do you want to change your future? Do you want to know talents you didn’t even know you had? It’s me. The me you’re looking at right now is the only truth in this industry. So…”
He made his proclamation to the world.
― “Come to Korea. Come to Busan. Come to Mir Guild, where I am. All the answers are here.”
It was a blazing promotional campaign.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince’s office.
A man wearing a turban was holding a document. His name was Salman bin Muhammad Al Saud. The Crown Prince who ruled the nation in place of his elderly father, and the monarch of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, known as the Hope of the Desert for his benevolence and wisdom.
Yet even this Hope of the Desert was shaken today.
“This…! This…!!”
His hands trembled as disappointment washed over him. The veins bulging on his hands and temples made his frustration painfully clear.
“Secretary! Secretaryyyyy!!”
His roar echoed through the room. A turbaned secretary hurried in, only to find the Crown Prince slamming the document onto the desk, his face twisted with rage.
“What is the meaning of this?! ‘Serious concerns regarding league integrity’?!
“Well, that is…”
“It’s those bastards again, isn’t it?! Again!!”
Indeed, the document was addressed to the Saudi Bureau. It was a report pointing out the problems plaguing the entire Saudi league—reckless management, distorted customs, inhumane and immoral behavior, opaque finances, and hopeless talent development.
It was also a warning. Are you going to keep this up? My patience is running out.
A warning from the Bureau to Crown Prince bin Muhammad.
So was his anger directed at the Bureau? Surprisingly, not at all. His fury was aimed at his own cousins.
“Filthy bastards! Stupid fools!! Incompetent, brainless idiots!! May you choke on sand and die!!”
Saudi guilds were strictly controlled by the House of Saud. The royal family’s philosophy was that all military power must be managed by the crown, which meant all twenty guild representatives in the league were blood relatives of the Crown Prince.
And every single problem stemmed from these relatives.
“Why the hell are they using hunters as bodyguards?! Do they think those hunters are their private soldiers?! And this bastard—why is he dragging hunters into his personal hunting games?! Are they insane?! And this one who built a harem inside his guild—how long is he going to keep drooling like a horny dog?!”
Surprisingly, these were the milder offenses. The rest were stomach-churning.
That was why the Bureau, which normally didn’t interfere in matters outside the gates, had finally stepped in. Things had gone too far.
The honest and wise Crown Prince felt nothing but shame—bordering on humiliation—that such worthless fools shared his blood.
“How many times have I told them?! Be careful! Manage your guilds properly! If you can’t do it, just hand it over to the professional managers I assigned you!”
“Please calm down.”
“After what happened in South America, the Bureau’s eyes have been cold. They’re far stricter about league standards than before—keuhk!”
“Your Highness!!”
The secretary rushed over as the Crown Prince clutched his neck, casting a healing spell and offering water. After slowly drinking it, the Crown Prince spoke in his usual gentle tone, seemingly somewhat calmed.
“…Tell me, Hamid.”
“I am here, Your Highness.”
“My dear friend.”
“Yes, your friend is listening.”
“Is my sincerity asking too much?”
“Please don’t say that. It is not too much at all.”
Although mana stones had become the world’s primary energy source, oil was still used for countless resources. As a major oil-producing nation, Saudi Arabia was extremely wealthy, and the wealth of the House of Saud, the true rulers of the kingdom, was beyond imagination.
But this wise Crown Prince insisted that they could not rely on oil forever.
“…Black gold makes people lazy and rots nations. Just as flowers that look toward the sun bloom more brilliantly, we who have only looked underground must now look upward. I believe Your Highness is absolutely right.”
“You understand my sincerity so well. Then why can’t it reach them? Or are they deliberately ignoring it?”
If this oil-rich nation could also obtain mana stones, Saudi Arabia would become a major energy power. And if the wealth gained from resources was reinvested into human resources like hunters, Saudi Arabia could develop in a healthier direction.
That was why the Crown Prince advocated for mana stones and hunters as the kingdom’s long-term vision.
Because of this, Saudi Arabia poured astronomical amounts of money into the league every year and was desperate to recruit famous overseas hunters.
Yet what had they actually achieved?
“Our Saudi league still can’t shake off its second-rate label. Achievements in the upper leagues? Laughable. How many Saudi-born hunters are even there?”
“Your Highness…”
“These days they call it the retirement home for world hunters. Haha, I can’t help but laugh, Hamid. We’re throwing money at old has-beens and begging them to join our league.”
However.
“Over there, they’re bringing money and coming on their own.”
The Crown Prince’s gaze landed on a smiling photo of Lee Shin.
“You investigated and found that this young man planned Korea’s four major guilds, correct?”
“Yes. We confirmed that Lee Sang-byuk of the Lee Do Group met with the chairmen of the other four major groups. We determined that Representative Lee Shin moved Lee Sang-byuk.”
“Haha, so he’s even raising competitors to grow the league? That’s sacrificing himself for the greater good. Just as Evelyn said—a truly clever young man.”
“Of course, there are issues. Korean rankers’ power is too concentrated in the four major guilds. This affects popularity and revenue across the board.”
“And why is that a problem? Look at us. We couldn’t even create one major guild, let alone four, and this is the result.”
Four major guilds being extreme? In a backwater league like Saudi Arabia’s, they couldn’t do it even if they wanted to. The world simply didn’t care.
But Korea currently had the world’s attention. Watching matches between Korea’s four major guilds was no burden even from America, and recently a fan club for that dragon—whatever it was called—had even started forming here in Saudi Arabia.
“I hear he also has talent for nurturing. That… what was it? God’s…”
“Blitz Yurira, Genius Baek Yeon-woo, Colossus Park Su-bin—these three are called Lee Shin’s Children, and lately shortened to Children of God. For reference, they’re ranked 8th, 6th, and 1st respectively.”
“Ah, right. My twins are fans of those three and have been whining about inviting them to their birthday party.”
He had personally created three rankers. In Korea, where competition was fiercest, he had produced not one, but three rankers?
Lee Shin’s nurturing ability was already touching the heavens.
“Haha, growing the league and growing hunters—the talent Saudi Arabia desperately needs was right there.”
“……”
“Korea isn’t enviable, but that Lee Shin is. He’s truly a desirable young man.”
Lee Shin had created with a single smile the prestige that Saudi Arabia couldn’t buy even by pouring out gold equal to the sands of the desert. He burned himself to raise the league’s level and used every method to draw attention, elevating the league’s status.
At this point, shouldn’t they award him a medal? If bin Muhammad were Korea’s award-giver, he would have showered that wise young man with wealth and honor.
Of course, it was purely for Lee Shin’s own amusement rather than self-sacrifice, but the Crown Prince, unaware of that, simply found the clever young man even more appealing.
“How enviable. Truly enviable.”
As he gazed longingly at the tablet, that very interview appeared.
Lee Shin looked straight into the camera with clear, lake-like eyes and declared himself the only truth in this industry, boldly announcing to the world:
― “Come to Korea. Come to Busan. Come to Mir Guild, where I am. All the answers are here.”
The result was obvious even without seeing it.
“…Hamid.”
“I’ll prepare the private jet immediately.”
“I’ll go myself.”
The Hope of the Desert was heading to the Dragon’s Empire.