The Shadow of Genius
What exactly is publicity?
It’s about stealing the public’s attention and gaze, pinning them in front of their screens!
In that sense, the Saudi Neom League had played a cheat code.
They had seated Lee Shin, the world’s greatest holder of Charm, as a guest commentator.
The picture looked beautiful too.
Lee Shin, the guild master, had taken the guest commentator seat to cheer for Choi Soo-pil, who had been sent on loan to Royal.
After seeing that caption, was there any league fan who could resist watching the broadcast? At the very least, the Yongbung-i could not stay still.
One million, three million, five million……
The viewer count soared at a terrifying pace.
Faced with the Yongbung-i’s overwhelming firepower boiling in real time, Baek Seong-jae and Choi Moon-sung once again realized just how extraordinary a person they had invited.
“Even though the opening match is being held at a somewhat late hour due to the time difference, it’s truly a ‘wow!’ moment. The atmosphere is incredibly heated!”
“Haha, isn’t that all thanks to Guild Master Lee Shin sitting right here?”
“What do you think, Guild Master?”
“I know what this is. I know exactly what you all want.”
The broadcast team, the cameramen, and the PDs all had sparkling eyes. Lee Shin playfully shook his head at the strange fervor.
“If I said ‘It’s all thanks to me’ here, you’d all be disappointed, wouldn’t you?”
“Probably.”
“Please just say it straight!”
If they wanted it, he would give it to them.
Lee Shin looked straight into the camera. He smiled with the brightest expression he could muster.
“Haha! It really is all thanks to me!! Congratulations, everyone—you’ve struck gold today. Order chicken right now. Let’s enjoy this properly.”
“Kyaaa!”
“Hooou!!”
The broadcast team and the chat window erupted in cheers as if on cue, and the hunters stepped onto the stage.
The players from both sides of VS.
They were noticeably younger compared to other leagues.
As expected of fresh faces, their unfamiliarity was only natural. Yet these were the ones who would soon become the future of the world.
Baek Seong-jae introduced them one by one with a sense of mission.
Still, there were priorities, so the local cameraman stopped in front of one particular youth.
A golden-haired, blue-eyed noble adjusting his military cap atop his officer’s uniform.
“……The final member of the Panther Guild has finally revealed himself. Germany’s treasure. Germany’s pride. Germany’s prince—Joachim von Bismarck!”
“Yes, Joachim von Bismarck. A super rookie who has drawn attention in the European league since his debut as the descendant of the prestigious Bismarck family. Even the famous ‘King Arthur’ personally sought him out, yet he stayed behind to make Germany the best in the world. That’s why he monopolizes the love of German citizens.”
“Guild Master Lee Shin?”
“He possesses close-quarters combat with a saber, long-range attacks with a pistol, area attacks using various explosives, and even the S-rank formation control skill ‘Artillery Installation.’ He’s a comprehensive gift set capable of handling every form of attack.”
While Lee Shin’s lavish praise continued—that Joachim would become Germany’s national representative within five years—the chat window was already completely captivated by the charm(?) of the rookie league.
New faces like this had always been a point of excitement for league fans. Especially if those rookies were young and good-looking(?), fans would gladly invest their time and wallets.
Then, the face the Yongbung-i had been waiting for finally appeared.
“We finally see him—Choi Soo-pil, the top laner of the Elan Guild. He’s twenty years old. The hunter who formed the youngest line of the Mir Guild alongside Geoshin Park Su-bin and Genius Baek Yeon-woo is making his debut in the rookie league.”
“Because Geoshin and Genius are such overpowered players, Choi Soo-pil has already proven his talent by occasionally showing his face in the major leagues. Isn’t that right, Guild Master?”
“An all-rounder tanker.”
“!!”
“Guild Master?”
“If Joachim earlier was a comprehensive gift set of offense, then Soo-pil is an all-rounder tanker capable of handling every form of defense that the modern league demands.”
Sincerity, responsibility, and the defensive instinct to protect his allies.
As Lee Shin listed Choi Soo-pil’s outstanding qualities, the Yongbung-i felt strangely moved.
While the broadcast team and Lee Shin continued their introductions, the referee struck the center of the stage with his staff, signaling the start of the set.
The canyon opened immediately after.
The hunters sprinted to their respective lanes.
“Guild Master, what do you see as the key points to watch in this match between Royal and Elan?”
“There are two. One is the strategic difference between the two guilds pursued by Coach De Gaulle and General Model. The other is the head-on clash between the top laners who are the cores of both sides—Joachim and Choi Soo-pil.”
General Model’s assault strategy, ‘Armored Wave,’ and Coach De Gaulle’s defensive strategy, ‘Maginot Line.’
And.
Joachim, the comprehensive gift set of offense, versus Choi Soo-pil, the all-rounder of defense.
Spear and shield.
Strategies and squads of completely opposite natures clashed.
A fiery, all-or-nothing battle was unfolding right now.
“The moment I say that, Joachim pulls the trigger!”
Tang――!!
***
Pazik!
The fired bullets rattled against Choi Soo-pil’s shield.
Sparks flew from the shield. Even though the bullets came from a palm-sized pistol, taking them head-on was foolish because they dealt damage that ignored defense.
As expected, Choi Soo-pil’s shield subtly adjusted its angle in response to the incoming bullets.
The so-called deflection technique.
It was an advanced skill that calculated the trajectory of attacks and tilted the shield to disperse damage.
Joachim realized that Choi Soo-pil’s skill was no ordinary feat as he watched his bullets skim across the shield like stones skipping over water.
Perhaps because of that, he quickly drew his sword.
And charged!
He closed the distance in an instant.
Kwaang!
Joachim slammed into Choi Soo-pil’s shield with a shoulder charge and thrust his sword forward, but Choi Soo-pil did not stay idle. He used the impact of being pushed to create distance and blocked the sword with his hammer.
Chaeng――!
“You deflect well. You’re pretty good.”
“……”
“Hello, I’m Joachim von Bismarck.”
“Choi Soo-pil.”
“I know. Choi is the family name, Soo-pil the given name, right? Anyway, sorry. I think I underestimated you too much.”
“??”
“My rival is the ‘Genius,’ after all.”
Joachim suddenly brought up the Genius. The context of the conversation was odd, but Choi Soo-pil understood immediately.
Like many others, he was probably looking for traces of that person in Choi Soo-pil. Baek Yeon-woo, whose brilliant talent had even the Bureau acknowledging him as a genius.
Without realizing it, a sigh escaped Choi Soo-pil’s lips.
‘Haa, even overseas, that guy’s shadow follows him the same way.’
Light always casts a shadow. And the stronger that light became, the deeper and wider the shadow grew.
Yes, that was the relationship between Choi Soo-pil and Baek Yeon-woo.
Same year of joining. Same age. Same position.
The two had many things in common, and Choi Soo-pil naturally could not help but be conscious of Baek Yeon-woo.
To put it bluntly, that had not been a good choice.
In front of that brilliant light that defied all standards, the ordinary him had vanished without a trace. He had been eroded by the shadow cast by the great talent named Baek Yeon-woo.
From then on, he had drawn lines between himself and Baek Yeon-woo and Park Su-bin, doing things that even he thought were unreasonable for an elder.
Choi Soo-pil recalled the faces of the two who used to ask him to eat tteokbokki together and let out a bitter smile for no reason.
“Ha, maybe I really am narrow-minded.”
“What?”
“It’s…… nothing!”
Shouting “Nothing!” he swung his shield and kicked away a grenade. In that moment, he advanced for the first time.
Tower shield, full plate armor, and hammer.
When the human tank charged at a speed that left afterimages, even Joachim flinched and took a step back.
Choi Soo-pil only stopped after deleting the minions within his straight-line range.
He looked at Joachim, who had fallen far back, and curled his lips into a sneer.
“If it had been Yeon-woo, he would’ve charged in excitedly, you know?”
“……!”
“That guy blocks when he blocks—he never runs away with his tail between his legs.”
“Tail between his legs?! That’s, well……”
“Ah, forget it. Your rival is Yeon-woo? Then should this hyung tell you about Yeon-woo?”
If you want to know, come and get it.
When Choi Soo-pil wiggled his steel gauntlet, Joachim frowned fiercely and charged.
A sharp voice flew between the colliding steel.
“You know how Yeon-woo reads his opponent’s movements, right? He analyzes them by watching their match footage endlessly before the game. Not like you, randomly looking for openings.”
Choi Soo-pil stepped forward as if to show off.
With that single step, Joachim’s footwork became tangled. Choi Soo-pil had already taken the position first, as if he knew Joachim’s movements.
“Right, left. Hey, don’t get excited. If you watch Yeon-woo’s matches, it looks like he’s emotional and gets worked up, right? That’s a scam. He controls his emotions too—he’s not as honest as you.”
Choi Soo-pil’s mouth mocked while his eyes remained cold.
At some point, he stopped moving.
He had read the flow of the battlefield and judged that the enemy jungler was there—and he was right.
By this point, even Joachim realized it. This bastard was teaching him what he himself had been hit with!
“You, this punk.”
“Looks like you finally noticed.”
Yes, he admitted it.
Choi Soo-pil had indeed crumbled before the talent named Baek Yeon-woo. He had indeed been consumed by his shadow.
But.
Even so, Choi Soo-pil had not just stood there doing nothing. At the very least, he had desperately tried to reach that guy.
When Baek Yeon-woo watched footage, he watched footage too. Until Baek Yeon-woo left the training grounds, he had no memory of ever leaving them himself.
Even after being broken, he never gave in and kept standing back up to try again.
Those efforts, those experience points that had merely accumulated at the time, were now melting into his play.
So from Choi Soo-pil’s perspective, wasn’t it ridiculous for Joachim to call Baek Yeon-woo his rival?
“You haven’t even fought him, and you call him a rival? You, who hasn’t even challenged him, dare to say he’s your rival?”
In that instant, the hammer thrust forward like a spear.
When Joachim wondered what was happening, the hammer twisted sideways.
Clack—the extended sword caught on the hammer. At that moment, Choi Soo-pil put his weight into it and yanked hard, pulling Joachim forward.
Choi Soo-pil and Joachim.
Their heads collided.
And Choi Soo-pil growled like a beast at Joachim.
“Look straight, you idiot. The one standing in front of you is me.”
* * *
― “Aah! The Panther Guild’s offensive has failed once again!”
― “How many times has it been a similar scene now? This isn’t good. The Panther Guild doesn’t have much time left.”
― “Forty-five minutes have already passed. Yet the Panther Guild hasn’t scored a single point despite multiple engagements. Anxiety is visible on the players’ faces.”
― “This is exactly what Guild Master Lee Shin said at the beginning, isn’t it?”
― “It’s what I wanted to say. The Guild Master unexpectedly stated that the difference in power would be clear. Especially that the balance in the top lane, which would be the decisive point, would collapse. And he was exactly right.”
― “It’s almost uncanny!”
The broadcast team looked at Lee Shin with amazed eyes as the match unfolded exactly as predicted, but Lee Shin merely shrugged as if it were nothing.
― “Of course. No matter how talented Joachim is, he’s still a rookie in the end. On the other hand, Choi Soo-pil is a ‘hunter’ who grew up competing with a genius.”
Joachim’s offensive talent was real—a versatile attack, solid formation control, a true comprehensive gift set of offense……
But he was still an unpolished gem. A jewel that had barely shown a fragment of its brilliance from the rough stone.
In contrast, Choi Soo-pil was someone Lee Shin had personally honed.
He had supplemented his lacking parts and polished his beautiful aspects to make them even more beautiful.
And not stopping there, by watching his peer Baek Yeon-woo, he had even learned how to shine on his own.
― “The Guild Master said that the key to Model’s offensive strategy was Joachim, and the key to De Gaulle’s defensive strategy was Choi Soo-pil. He stated that whoever won this vanguard battle would decide the outcome of the spear and shield clash.”
― “Yes, Joachim needed to fulfill more roles. He should have targeted his opponent more sharply and more calmly. But he got excited from the very beginning. This is clearly a difference in experience.”
― “Then……”
― The match is already over. The shield will be raised.
A moment later, the Elan Guild erected a wall of shields.
― “They will draw the sword they have sharpened to the limit.”
They advanced with the fully grown marksman at the center.
Choi Soo-pil sounded the fanfare. He picked up speed. The Maginot Line became a wave and pushed forward.
Formations collapsed like dominoes.
In that chaotic scene, Joachim lost his way, and the Panther Guild crumbled helplessly, their previously brilliant offensive rendered meaningless.
And when everyone had fallen.
― “Choi Soo-pil will plant his flag. In the heart of the enemy.”
Behind Choi Soo-pil’s wavering flag, the Nexus was collapsing.
1 set
1 VS 0
52 minutes 51 seconds.