Only One
The sound of applause rang out as Lee Shin made his entrance with a greeting.
Many were genuinely marveling at his appearance, but most hid their suspicion behind goodwill and curiosity.
Perhaps that was why. They offered hearty applause and bright smiles, yet they couldn’t conceal the sharp, piercing light in their eyes.
They truly lived up to their reputations as owners and businessmen who had left their mark in their respective fields. The challenge began from the very first moment.
But then again.
The same could be said for this side.
“Haha. Standing in front of such impressive people makes me feel a bit shy. I hope the journey here wasn’t too difficult for you?”
Just a light greeting and a bright smile was all it took for the entire atmosphere to shift completely.
The rigid tension melted away like snow, and the sharp wariness softened noticeably.
The attendees who had come to test the waters were already being drawn into Lee Shin’s gestures without even realizing it. The fact that they themselves remained unaware of this was utterly chilling.
He held their attention with an almost supernatural magnetism.
It felt as if the whole world revolved around him.
And.
It wasn’t just a feeling. It was reality.
Social stats exceeding 90. Dominance maxed at 100. Charm breaking the scale at 101.
On top of that, in this place where the empire he had built stood tall.
Lee Shin was an SSS-class representative and a god.
Let’s begin.
Start it standard!
The World’s First Gate Theme Park
In an instant all the lights cut out, a PPT screen rose, and Lee Shin continued his presentation in a calm, steady tone.
“The world’s first Gate-based theme park. Our Mir Land has created a fantasy realm that never existed before by utilizing special Gates designed so that even ordinary people who have never awakened can enjoy adventures and clear them.”
“Things once considered impossible in this world become possible. You can confront magic power directly and feel it on your skin. You can even catch a glimpse of how a magical world takes shape. Hunters and Awakeners? No. This path has opened for ordinary people—for all of you.”
Gate. World’s first. Impossible. Fantasy country…
The longer the presentation went on, the more provocative words poured out, yet the core message remained one and the same.
Ordinary people.
No matter how magnificent or deified Hunters became, the ones who truly moved the world were the overwhelming majority of ordinary citizens. Without them, society’s veins would have no blood to circulate.
It carried the same meaning as Lee Shin’s constant assertion that without fans, a Hunter was nothing more than one magic user among many.
Most of the people seated before him were unawakened businessmen, so naturally the point he chose to hammer home was this one.
Lee Shin paused to catch his breath, then picked up a white magic stone.
“This is the true form of the Gate you’ve all been so curious about. Its official name is 0-Level Gate! It is one of the core technologies of our Mir Land. I’m sure you’ve heard about it through various channels already—that it is the result of long-term research between myself and the Olympus Magic Tower!”
“I won’t bore you with complicated talk about the first Gate without fixed coordinates or a Gate without precursor phenomena. What matters to us is business. So I’ll speak purely from a business perspective.”
“The white magic stone I’m holding right now is the only Gate that ordinary, unawakened people can conquer through normal means.”
The gentle, breezy Lee Shin who had been smiling radiantly was gone.
In his place on the stage now stood a tyrant who overwhelmed every soul in the room.
“It looks like we’re already out of time. Let’s take a short break and continue with part two.”
‘A break at this timing? Fuck… I got played. Completely eaten alive.’
He had known it wouldn’t be easy, but he never expected it to be this bad…
Pixel’s COO Jeremy Colin swallowed a dry laugh and sank heavily into his chair.
He had always described the business world he inhabited as a battlefield where lives were on the line.
Even the lightest gesture hid countless deceptions, and controlling the tempo required endless calculations.
Some might ask how it could be a battlefield when no one was actually dying.
But that was the opinion of someone who knew nothing.
Once you reached the level of the people gathered in this room—including Jeremy—a single signature could throw thousands of people out onto the street.
Because victory or defeat could hinge on the smallest detail, owners could never let their guard down. That was the nature of this business battlefield.
‘But calling a break in the middle of a presentation? The presenter himself?’
If the sole goal had been sales, he would have ridden the momentum and swept everyone away. He would have overwhelmed them until they signed contracts without even realizing what they were doing.
In fact, the company’s communication specialists had described Lee Shin’s usual business style as exactly that.
They said he captivated people with mysterious charm and rhetoric.
Yet today’s Lee Shin had chosen a different approach.
Even though he could have enchanted them completely, he deliberately created a break and gave them time to think.
In other words.
‘He knows.’
He knew their positions. He knew the value of the weapon he held.
And he knew they could never give it up.
So he was asking them this.
‘Think carefully about whether you can give me what I want.’
The moment that realization hit, Jeremy’s body trembled.
This was never an equal collaboration presentation. From the beginning, the scales had been tipped.
‘Ha… He’s making us fully aware of his superiority.’
The proof was the current atmosphere.
The instant Lee Shin vanished behind the curtain, the quiet conference room flipped 180 degrees.
“This won’t work. We need to offer more…”
“We have to revise the plan. They clearly have no intention of giving up exclusive rights…”
“Trying to tie them down with antitrust laws seems impossible. At this rate they might even abandon the American market…”
Those who quietly slipped away with their phones were the polite ones.
Some groups were urgently raising partitions for emergency meetings, while others could be seen in the corners hurling F-bombs at their subordinates for misreading Lee Shin’s personality.
‘If MK hadn’t given me advice, I would have been one of them.’
Thirty hours earlier.
When Jeremy called seeking advice about Lee Shin, MK had answered with raw intensity.
“Shin? You mean Lee Shin? Um… Yo, Jeremy. I’ll only say this once. That dude ain’t someone I can rate, man. He’s a straight-up monster.”
MK—the owner of the Mets Guild and head of MK Records—had said even he couldn’t evaluate him.
The same crazy bastard who, even after taking a bullet, refused to snitch like a coward and instead dropped a diss track full of “Motherfucker.” If even he hesitated to call someone a monster, Jeremy knew he couldn’t hang up.
He clung to the call and finally dragged the advice out of him.
“Fine, for old times’ sake I’ll tell you this. Shin? First of all, the man’s loaded. Like, fucking stacked beyond belief. He ain’t the type to move for money, period.”
An owner for whom money wasn’t the top priority.
Never try to move him with cash.
Numbers on a ledger held no real meaning for him. Look for other gains.
And those gains were…
“The guild, man. His whole world revolves around his guild. Money, fame, women, pleasure, popularity, respect… those are just nice accessories to him. They ain’t the main course.”
An owner who only cared about the guild.
A man whose priorities were locked onto the guild.
A monster who would do absolutely anything—no matter how insane—if it was for his guild.
“Yo Jeremy, people say a crazy man with conviction is scary, right? That ain’t it. You wanna know what’s truly terrifying? When a real genius pours obsession-level love into something. That’s the real madness.”
True insanity wasn’t a man with nothing to lose throwing himself into his beliefs. It was a man with everything to lose who still charged forward even knowing the cost.
“So if you wanna persuade Lee Shin, there’s only one way…”
While Jeremy was still turning the answer over in his mind, Lee Shin stepped back onto the stage. As Jeremy hid his sweaty palms in his pockets, the presentation resumed.
“Let’s continue. This time I’ll be talking about artificial spirits.”
Lee Shin held up the bracelet as he spoke.
It hadn’t originally been created for this purpose. It was made to identify the wearer’s attributes, and the artificial spirit was merely an additional feature.
His stance was completely different from when he had explained the 0-Level Gate. There were no jokes—only a strictly businesslike, technical explanation.
What was interesting was that the audience didn’t seem to consider it particularly important either.
‘Well, it’s just a character, after all.’
It was true that the “Monster Guild” character was enjoying global success.
From the animation studio’s perspective, the future prospects for the Monster Guild characters were not just bright—they were dazzling.
But that was only in relative terms.
Compared to the 0-Level Gate he had presented earlier? It was perfectly natural to call those small, cute characters “just” that.
It was the natural mindset of an owner.
So Lee Shin was explaining the artificial spirits rather than Monster Guild, and no one around Jeremy found it strange at all.
But at that moment, Jeremy sensed something off.
‘What is it?’
The Lee Shin MK had described was far from an owner who chased profit. He was a madman prepared to throw everything away for the sake of his guild.
Yet here he was, acting like an extremely “normal” owner.
‘If it’s to earn money for the guild, I can’t complain, but…’
Something felt wrong.
It felt like he was missing a piece.
Before he knew it the presentation had reached its conclusion, and without once mentioning the word “Monster,” they arrived at the most important part—the bidding.
“We will now select the company to collaborate with Mir Land. The format will be—”
At that instant.
The famously impatient owner of Dreamwalkers shouted before the method could even be explained.
“One hundred million dollars!”
The proxy from rival company Sky Track immediately countered.
“Two hundred million dollars.”
Once the two opened fire, it became all-out war.
Everyone threw away their dignity and raised their voices.
“Two hundred and fifty million!”
“Three hundred million!”
“Three hundred million including taxes!”
The amounts in the hundreds of millions swelled rapidly until finally—
“Damn it, one billion dollars!!”
It had surpassed one billion. The problem was that it still showed no signs of stopping.
The numbers kept climbing as if there were no ceiling.
It was impossible to predict.
No one seemed willing to back down, and Lee Shin showed no intention of stopping them.
But then.
The moment the words left Jeremy’s mouth, emotion finally appeared on Lee Shin’s face for the first time.
Whether through theatrical films, series, or cameos in Pixel’s popular franchises, we will take full responsibility for elevating “Monster Guild” to the absolute pinnacle of the animation industry.
Thus, every child on the planet would cry out for Monster Guild and dream of Mir Land.
And ultimately…
At that moment, Jeremy was certain.
The victor of this battle was himself.
Because Lee Shin was smiling.
— ‘Decorate his guild for him. Before he’s a representative, Shin is a romanticist in love with his guild.’