Public Enemy
It was perhaps the most natural thing in the world.
The people gathered at Lee Sang-byuk’s mansion today had been born to rule.
They could do anything they wanted and possess anything they desired. Even if their own abilities fell short, even if something was beyond their reach, the immense wealth they carried could cover any deficiency.
This was the halo that came with the name Ido.
Those who had enjoyed every luxury the world had to offer from behind that halo had now stepped into the world at Lee Sang-byuk’s command. They had taken charge of guilds.
And for the first time in their lives, they tasted frustration. They had failed.
Dynasty Guild Promotion Failed!
In this, the greatest league on Earth, the bundles of cash and the power they wielded were not absolute weapons after all.
So here was the problem.
How would the people gathered here accept failure?
Would they humbly acknowledge their limits and give up? Would they admit their shortcomings and settle for a compromise? Or would they say that failure is the mother of success and work even harder for the next opportunity?
None of the above.
That would come later. For now, they all seemed to share the same thought, as if by prior agreement.
Uh… this is just haters being haters! This was impossible from the start!!
It’s weird to expect results in your first year on the job. Duh!
It was impossible from the beginning. Failure was only natural. In the end, I did nothing wrong!!
Of course it was nonsense. A miraculous leap of logic.
But humans have always been creatures who look for reasons outside themselves rather than within. On top of that, their privileged birth and the blood flowing through their veins refused to quietly accept the reality called “failure.”
If everyone shared the failure and quietly buried it, then the only thing that could make it a problem was someone opening their mouth. If no one mentioned the “problem,” then the failure would cease to be a failure at all.
So they comforted one another, licked each other’s wounds, and tried to quietly sweep the failure under the rug.
If only that bastard hadn’t existed!
Lee Shin.
That’s right.
Because of that damn troublemaker’s success, they couldn’t even find any comfort.
After listening to Lee Shin’s explanation, Lee Yun-ji frowned deeply and looked around.
“What the… So they tried to hide their own failure, but because you succeeded it became impossible to cover up, so now they’re treating you like an enemy?”
“That’s right! Whoever’s little sister you are, you’re pretty sharp.”
“That’s so lame… It’s cowardly. It makes them look even more pathetic than their actual failure.”
“My beloved little sister, humans are inherently pathetic creatures.”
“……?”
The family disgrace, the notorious troublemaker, had recruited a Mountain King and achieved promotion in his first year.
Was that all? He had discovered talented individuals and proven that this absurd success wasn’t luck—it was skill.
When Lee Shin first took over Mir Guild, if someone had said such a thing, who would have believed it? They would have dismissed it as nonsense.
So…
“……From their perspective, they got hit with a completely unexpected blow. Whether you see it coming or not, getting punched still hurts like hell. Your brother knows from experience.”
“Don’t use such vulgar language. What do you mean ‘like hell’? And it’s not the same as getting punched. You haven’t actually done anything to harm them.”
“Why haven’t I? My success has made things difficult for the people standing behind them.”
“……?!”
Lee Shin chuckled and picked up a glass of champagne from a tray on the side.
The innocent Lee Yun-ji saw this as a personal fight and called them cowards, but to Lee Shin, who had lived in the real world, this was far from some sentimental squabble.
“They’re kids who don’t know how scary the world can be. The fact that they’re afraid of failure and trying to hide it means there are people with even more power standing behind them. And who would that be? Their parents, the ones who let them run wild. If it’s their parents, wouldn’t it be the board of directors?”
“Ah…!!”
“You caught on? That’s right, my naïve little sister. This has already gone beyond the level of a simple fight. This is a war over the giant empire called Ido.”
A war where the loser dies and the winner takes everything.
There was no need to inject emotion into any of this. No need for shame or cowardice. After all, history always sides with the victor.
Lee Yun-ji, who had been listening quietly, seemed quite shocked. She kept her mouth open for a long time.
“I just brushed it off when the newspapers were making such a fuss, but… oppa, you’ve really become smart, haven’t you?”
The media had been calling him the genius representative, but Lee Yun-ji hadn’t fully believed it. The brother she knew was somewhat dumb, naïve, and kind. He was closer to a pushover than a troublemaker.
She had wondered if their father had pulled strings to push that kind of person as a “genius representative,” but…
“Hehe, want me to teach you something even more interesting?”
“What?”
Lee Shin glanced around before whispering into Lee Yun-ji’s ear.
“Who do you think orchestrated this whole situation?”
“……!”
“In the Ido Group, the board of directors is nothing more than a rubber stamp. If you ask whether they have any real power to move the group, well? I haven’t seen it myself, but I’d bet a hundred percent that they don’t.”
This country may be a democracy, but here, Ido was an absolute monarchy.
In the end—
“Everything moves according to that person’s will.”
Lee Shin gestured with his eyes toward one spot.
Lee Sang-byuk, who had just stepped out through the mansion doors, slowly looked around and spoke.
“Set the table.”
From the very beginning, Lee Sang-byuk showed his feelings without the slightest filter.
“I am disappointed in all of you.”
Whether grandson or granddaughter, direct or collateral line, he showed no mercy and struck deep.
“I believe there isn’t a single idiot among my bloodline who doesn’t know that the guild business holds the fate of our Ido Group. I personally expected that a few of you would be able to produce results. That is why I gave you this opportunity…”
The people sitting at the table stopped moving their spoons as if on cue.
It was already an uncomfortable dinner, and now they were forced to sit in an even more uncomfortable posture while trying to force down a spoonful, only for it to start with “The commander is disappointed.” What private would be able to eat after that?
The atmosphere was already at its worst.
But the truly horrifying fact was that, no matter how uncomfortable it was, none of them had the freedom to leave this seat.
In the midst of that, Lee Sang-byuk casually moved his spoon and continued speaking.
“…After observing you all, it seems about half of you were desperately struggling to show off, while the other half just thought, ‘Whatever, I’ll just do what my parents tell me,’ and left everything to chance.”
“Tsk. The latter group should reflect on themselves. How old are you that you still can’t leave your parents’ skirts? The former group is no better. You have nothing to be proud of either. What exactly did you know that made you act so recklessly and ruin everything?”
“Just in case any of you are wondering, did you really think I sent you to the guilds because I believed in your abilities? Don’t delude yourselves. To me, you are simply this. This right here.”
Between Lee Sang-byuk’s chopsticks was a shred of angelica root that had been lying beneath the plate of sashimi.
“Do any of you know what this is called? I don’t either. In this plan, that is exactly what you were. Something that doesn’t even need a name, just something laid beneath the sashimi. That was the extent of my expectations for you.”
That was why he had attached professional advisors to them. Shockingly, not a single one of them had ever asked those experts for advice.
“You probably thought they weren’t your people. I won’t blame you for that. I wouldn’t open up my heart to someone who wasn’t an iron fortress either. You wanted to push your own claims? Fine. That’s acceptable.”
“But freedom comes with responsibility. If you were going to enforce your own will, you should have shown results that matched it.”
“However, you failed. Any process that does not produce results is garbage. Therefore, to me, your past year was garbage.”
Someone might talk about beautiful values like effort and praise the process, but this was Lee Sang-byuk’s empire. Everyone gathered here was his subject, and Lee Sang-byuk’s words were law and truth.
Most of them already had their heads bowed toward the table.
But did they know? The real humiliation was only just beginning.
“In the same sense, I praise Shin.”
“……!”
The unexpected name coming from Lee Sang-byuk’s mouth caused every shocked gaze to turn toward Lee Shin.
“Oppa, oppa!”
“Hm??”
At Lee Yun-ji’s urgent nudge, Lee Shin, who had been enthusiastically tearing into some LA galbi, widened his eyes. He had been so focused on the ribs that his lips were glistening with sauce.
Lee Sang-byuk looked at the sight and let out a small chuckle, then jerked his chin.
“Look at him. All of you who failed to produce results are sitting here with long faces in front of this feast, unable to even lift your chopsticks properly. But that boy is different—he’s thoroughly enjoying himself.”
“This is how important results are.”
Was the statement that any process without results is garbage too harsh?
No. If you thought about it the other way, it meant that as long as you produced results, the process didn’t matter. No matter how many small or large flaws there were, he wouldn’t care at all.
“Those who know, already know, but that boy started in an incomparably worse environment than any of you. He didn’t have the advisors I assigned to you, nor did he have the enormous recruitment funds you all took for granted. The conditions were so bad it’s embarrassing to even compare.”
“Yet look at reality. Only he achieved promotion. Only he is the center of attention. Only he has proven himself as a representative. He has even surpassed all of you in management—the very thing you were so proud of. Which of you managed to turn a profit?”
The blatant comparison made Lee Myeong-hwan clench his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms. Lee So-yul lowered her head and ground her teeth audibly. It wasn’t just the two of them—unpleasant emotions began to creep into everyone’s eyes.
“Let me make this clear. I do not demand sincerity from you. I don’t care about your sweat or effort. Just produce results. Results! Just like that troublemaker over there—produce results!”
Clack—!
The terrifying sound of chopsticks slamming onto the table.
At that small noise, everyone straightened their backs at once.
“For the remainder of the period, do not disappoint me any further. I will take my leave first.”
As Lee Sang-byuk stood up, everyone else rose and bowed. It was then that he spoke again.
“Shin, you follow me.”
“Yes? Me?”
“Is there another Shin here?”
Lee Shin grumbled as he sullenly followed behind Lee Sang-byuk.
In that moment, an ugly emotion called jealousy exploded in everyone’s eyes.
Exactly as Lee Sang-byuk had planned.
But from this point on, it was outside of Lee Sang-byuk’s plan.
“Hey, they’re still kids. Isn’t it too harsh to scold them like that?”
“Being scolded is a blessing. In my day, you’d be dead before you even got scolded… What are you doing?”
“Sniff sniff. I’m smelling it. Sniff sniff. It’s been so long since I smelled this rich old-man scent.”
“You cheeky brat.”
The two men entered the study while exchanging casual banter.
Once they were seated, Lee Sang-byuk alternated his gaze between the cheeky palm held out in front of him and Lee Shin’s face before asking,
“What are you doing?”
“You have to pay me.”
“……For what?”
“I played along with Grandfather’s show, so you should at least pay me an appearance fee.”