The Inescapable Shadow
Yet, as is the law of human affairs.
Where there is light, there must also be shadow.
While Mir Guild continued its meteoric rise, building its own palace, the other guilds in League 3 were reduced to mere foils, subjected to relentless public ridicule.
No one could deny that Mir Guild's current strength was absurd.
One former pro turned streamer had even blurted out the word "bullying" on air before issuing an apology broadcast. Mir Guild was clearly operating far above League 3 level.
Defeat could never be justified, but when the gap in power was this glaring, there was no need to heap extra blame on the losers. That was the rational view.
Yet in the grinning world of the internet, "rationality" was nothing more than a distinction between men and women.
Hehe, you lost? Then shut up and take the beating.
A lawless land with neither blood nor tears. This place was exactly that.
And even amid this collective lynching, one guild was getting beaten far more than the rest.
Changwon's NG Jaguars were precisely that guild.
The Jaguars fans had never been this irritated.
If only phones and the internet would just disappear, they thought. Merely looking at them made their blood boil.
The underground raids were a means of livelihood for hunters who had fallen out of the professional scene.
NG Jaguars had been born from those very raids. The discarded gathered together, telling themselves "We weren't wrong," and rose through League 5 and League 4, becoming a storm within the league.
Some called it romance. A legend.
Indeed.
The guild that had once held the word "legend"—now claimed by Mir Guild—was none other than NG Jaguars.
That was why they were being mocked even more.
Because that legend was no longer a legend.
In contrast, Mir Guild's legend was still unfolding in real time.
NG Jaguars fans gnashed their teeth at the word "karma," trembling with rage. They pounded the walls at the mention of "gold-plated."
In truth, Mir Guild and NG Jaguars had long shared points of comparison.
If Mir Guild was based in Busan, NG Jaguars was in Changwon—both in the Gyeongnam region, making them natural rivals.
Even the Jaguars fans acknowledged the karma. They had indeed acted arrogantly back then.
Being compared was infuriating when it happened to you, but there was nothing sweeter when you were the one doing the comparing. They hadn't known it would come to this……
Yet the true source of the Jaguars fans' irritation wasn't that.
Disappointing results, exposed limitations, and karma—these were things any guild fan eventually experienced, so they could have accepted them with some humility.
But then……
The real reason NG Jaguars fans were truly enraged was this.
Despite walking the exact same path as the already detestable Mir Guild, one side etched a legend while the other remained stagnant. It was enough to drive them mad.
It was like a song lyric.
That house should've been mine, that car should've been mine……
Promotion in the first year of appointment.
A disruptor of the ecosystem who had never once finished second after taking over.
No wonder the other representatives treated Lee Shin as a public enemy.
When someone produced impossible results as naturally as breathing, it raised everyone's expectations. Now, if you failed to deliver results with investment, the deadly comparison followed: "He did it, so why can't you?"
Even ordinary guilds faced this pressure. But when it was Lee Shin—who received Ido Group funds and was an Ido family member—the comparison became unimaginable.
Of course, there were still fans who clung to reason……
Even the speakers knew what rebuttals would come.
Deliver results. Getting results in the first year is impossible.
Lee Shin did it.
Spend money. Overspending in the first year is poison.
Lee Shin did it anyway.
Find talent. Finding talent in the first year doesn't make sense.
Yeah, Lee Shin did it? And succeeded spectacularly?
Everything ended with "Lee Shin."
That ecosystem disruptor shattered every argument.
And it was a fan's nature to demand answers from the guild for unsolvable problems.
Naturally, the frustration and anger only grew because there were no answers.
NG Jaguars fans had run out of patience.
They needed to see results now.
Lee So-yul didn't have much time left.
Crack!!
"Bullshitttt!!"
Lee So-yul slammed her tablet to the floor in irritation and continued cursing while tearing into fried chicken.
English curses including F and S. If her unnecessarily excellent British pronunciation was the first thing that stood out, the second was the neatly stacked pile of chicken bones.
Dynasty Guild's Lee Myeong-hwan stared blankly at the bones and said,
"Just because you drank some French water…… are you building the Leaning Tower of Pisa with chicken bones?"
"The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy. France has the Eiffel Tower, you ignoramus. And why do you care if I build a tower or make soup with the bones? Mind your own manners."
"So-yul…… shouldn't the word 'manners' be directed at you, who showed up at dawn without any notice and started eating chicken in my suite?"
"Oh my, I see you lack consideration too. That's why you roll around with those low-class X's."
"This X…… Ugh, fine."
Lee So-yul had barged into his suite at dawn without any warning. After suffering various indignities because of her, Lee Myeong-hwan debated whether to kill this woman before swallowing his anger.
Still, he was the older cousin.
Lee Myeong-hwan forced his trembling facial muscles to calm and decided to embrace this reckless younger cousin with magnanimity.
"……So-yul, in this brother's opinion—"
"Cope, oppa. You and I are only five months apart, remember?"
"You X, I've been holding back—"
"What, you X, bring it on."
Yeah, not happening.
When he poured the water from his glass, chicken bones came flying back.
What followed was a barrage of curses involving dogs, birds, specific body parts, and slightly suggestive undertones. Sometimes they even attacked each other's family backgrounds.
After all, they shared the same roots, so it was spitting in their own faces.
Hard to believe, but among their cousins of similar age, these two actually had the best relationship. Truly.
That was why today's meeting could even happen.
"Ugh, seriously…… huff, huff……"
"Fu…… whew, what's with a guy grabbing his hair like that."
Once the fight had somewhat subsided, Lee Myeong-hwan picked up the luxury scarf Lee So-yul had draped over a chair and wiped the sauce from his face.
"……Stop pissing people off and just continue what you were saying."
Using Lee Myeong-hwan's broken phone as a mirror to fix her hair, Lee So-yul resumed eating chicken with dignity.
"Where was I?"
"Mir Guild is making you uncomfortable, and getting tangled up with that troublemaker is X."
"Yes. Correct. Me is very displeased right now. There are other people to get tangled with, yet I end up with that troublemaker. What makes it even more displeasing is that, annoyingly, there's nothing I can do about it right now."
"Well…… you don't really know much about this side of things."
"Yes! Exactly what I said!"
Recognized for her artistic talent, Lee So-yul had lived in Europe from an early age.
Half the year as a Parisian visiting the Louvre, the other half enjoying coffee on a rooftop bar under England's gloomy weather.
Yet here she was, suddenly ordered by her father to take over a guild with the ridiculous name NG Jaguars in Changwon, a provincial Korean city.
"The little old…… Uncle made a mistake."
"If it were up to me, I'd quit the guild and everything and go back to Europe, but the petty old man is holding the art museum over my head. If he's going to give it to me anyway, why does he have to do it in such a vulgar way?"
"Kek, that's how the old men in this family are."
"What's even more unbearable is that the person I'm tangled up with is that troublemaker! You know how much I hate that troublemaker, right?"
"I know…… I know very well."
If Lee Myeong-hwan was obsessed with success, Lee So-yul was obsessed with attention and recognition.
From a young age, she had been adored by everyone thanks to her superior looks and immense wealth, and she never doubted for a second that she was the protagonist of this world.
Yet there was one person who had reduced her to a mere supporting character……
That person was Lee Shin.
"I don't want to lose to him even if I die. I'm going to get serious now. So I'll help you specially."
"What nonsense…… I'm the one helping you, aren't I?"
"You know you messed up and got played, right?"
"……??!!"
"How did I know? Someone who hates Lee Shin as much as I do wouldn't just sit still. So I tested the waters, and I was right."
"You X!"
"Idiot. I'm giving you an opportunity!"
"……!!"
Lee So-yul pointed at him with a cleanly deboned chicken leg.
"The method is yours."
Then pointed at herself.
"The responsibility is mine."
Meaning she would take responsibility, so go ahead and scheme with that sinister brain of his.
"Pleasure without responsibility. That's your favorite thing, isn't it?"
"……X, can't you tone it down?"
"It's sweet. Admit it?"
Lee Myeong-hwan stared at the beer glass she offered, then smirked and clinked it against his whiskey bottle.
"……Admit it."
Before the sun had even risen that day, the phone in the office of the National Assembly member for Jung and Yeongdo districts began to ring.