The Miracle That Shattered Plans
……
……
……
Lee Shin’s declaration of “Right, I’m letting go” left the three men frozen mid-toast, as if they had rehearsed the pause.
Their reactions came in quick succession, each one distinct.
Jeong Sun-dong, the Guild Leader, thought, This must be the infamous Lee Shin-style outburst I’ve only heard about, and glanced nervously around the room.
Kim Jong-phil simply knocked back his soju and chuckled. Cheeky brat. Let’s see what he’s got planned.
Chae Dong-ha wore an expression of weary resignation as he chewed on a piece of seasoned meat. Of course. Here it comes.
Once Lee Shin confirmed their glasses were empty, he spoke again.
“I’ve decided to step back, and the Ido Derby played a major role in that decision. I’ll only say this to the three of you—the Derby didn’t go exactly the way I calculated.”
“……?!”
“Representative?”
“You?”
The words themselves were simple, yet they stunned everyone far more than his earlier announcement.
The guild’s resident ghost had been wrong? About guild business?
Lee Shin smiled faintly and continued in a calm voice.
“My prediction that the match would be a commercial success was correct.”
While Lee So-yul had been throwing money around to stir up the community and media, did Lee Shin really just sit back? No—he had been quietly working behind the scenes, coaxing and prodding where needed.
With a compelling story and bottomless funds, the only way the match could have failed to draw crowds was if something had gone catastrophically wrong.
“My prediction that we would win 3-0 was also correct.”
That outcome had been far more certain than the attendance numbers.
He had known about the rental rush through a certain collaborator, and he had even recommended Dr. Hong. With full profiles on the rental players—and even their status windows—how could they possibly lose? That would have been disqualifying for someone of his experience.
He had predicted nearly everything: Park Su-bin’s decisive performance, the massive ripple effect after victory, the subsequent schedule, and even the follow-up plans built around those outcomes.
“……Then what’s the problem? You said you predicted it all.”
“That’s exactly what I’m about to tell you.”
He had predicted it.
But……
Guild War Korea League 3 has recorded the highest viewership in history. (716,441 viewers)
Guild War Korea League overall has selected this match as “Game of the Week.”
“I knew we would win 3-0, but I never expected us to dominate so completely that it barely even felt like a game.”
Match Performance Evaluation.
[Victory against an average League 2 level squad + 200p] [Successful mid-tower defense (15 matches) + 300p] [Below-average deaths in League 3 +100p] [Above-average kills in League 3 +100p] [Damage dealt……
……
…
.
Overall Rank: SSS
Points Acquired: 4000p
A “legendary” match has been played. As a reward, a “Platinum Card Pack (Trait)” has been granted.
“And finally, this is the decisive part.”
Lee Shin had trained the boy toward the perfect form he knew, and even obtained an item that would serve as a compass for his growth.
Yet he had never imagined something like this would happen.
A miracle he had never once witnessed across countless plays in his previous life.
“I never expected Bokchi to awaken right now.”
Park Su-bin (Male, 16) (186▲/200)
Stats
Strength 50 Agility 50
Stamina 50 Intelligence 70▲
Wisdom 65▲ Mana 71▲
Traits (2/9)
「???」, 「Mechanic」(New!!)
“As a result, we achieved something close to impossible. You may not see it, but I do! To me, this is——!”
“Unbelievable! Incredible! Results that far exceeded my expectations—this is! This is nothing short of a miracle!”
As Lee Shin climbed onto his chair and spread his arms wide as if embracing the world, crying out with his entire body, the three men looked up at him from their seats.
“Whoa…… So that’s the legendary Lee Shin one-man show……!!”
Jeong Sun-dong clapped his hands in pure awe.
“Heh heh heh. Quite the performance. A real show.”
Kim Jong-phil sipped his drink with satisfaction.
“Mm. Familiar flavor. Munch munch.”
Chae Dong-ha continued chewing his meat without missing a beat.
Perhaps because they had only spent a year together, the three of them treated Lee Shin’s eccentricities less as shocks and more as entertainment.
“So you achieved results beyond your expectations. That’s what you wanted to say, but what does that have to do with you stepping down?”
“Listen carefully, sir. Those kinds of results are normally only obtainable at the end of League 3. Since we secured them now, the plan I had laid out has completely collapsed. Boom.”
The plan had gone awry—in a good way.
Now that an entirely new board was needed, who would step up?
Was there really any need to ask?
It was Lee Shin. The time had come for him to take the stage.
“That’s why I need all of you. People to run the guild in my absence.”
The true purpose of today’s gathering had finally surfaced.
Handover.
Lee Shin’s gaze turned to Guild Leader Jeong Sun-dong. The man, who had been clapping like a seal while watching Lee Shin’s show from the royal seat, held his breath the moment their eyes met.
“Guild Leader Jeong Sun-dong, please handle the basic operations and all front-office work. It won’t be difficult. I’ve already taken care of anything urgent.”
“Me?”
“Then who else? It’s the work you were already doing as Guild Leader. Have some confidence.”
A timid protest of “M-me……?” reached his ears, but Lee Shin pretended not to hear and turned to Kim Jong-phil.
The older man nodded with interest, as if to say, Go on, I’m listening.
“Sir, you just need to continue leading the raid team as you have been. Honestly, there’s nothing more to say to you. Doing what you’ve always done will be more than enough.”
“What about the records? You’re obsessed with them. Are you sure you’re fine with this? Won’t you be anxious?”
“Well said. There are thirteen rounds left in the season. The raid team will handle things on their own, and as for the team matches…… the opponents will most likely forfeit with high probability.”
“Basis?”
“It’s the latter half of the season—realistically, the time when results matter. Rather than pouring effort into a hopeless game, they’ll focus on matches they can still win. And as I mentioned earlier, Bokchi has properly awakened. I can’t even imagine him being stopped in League 3.”
Finally, Lee Shin looked at Chae Dong-ha. The younger man pointed at himself with a puzzled tilt of his head.
“Huh? Me too? Aren’t I supposed to be moving with you, Representative?”
“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to stay with me this time. If the Guild Leader handles internal affairs, you’ll have to take full responsibility for external matters.”
“External matters…… You mean Lair Cafe and the Yongwanggung project?”
“You’ve seen how both of them operate up close. The cafe has stopped accepting new franchise applications, so just maintain the status quo. For Yongwanggung, you’ll need to coordinate with the district head. You can handle it, right?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
Just as the conversation was wrapping up, an obvious question slipped from Kim Jong-phil’s lips.
“Then what about you? What exactly are you planning to do after dumping all this guild work on us?”
What on earth was he trying to accomplish by handing everything over?
Lee Shin answered with a triumphant smile.
“The stadium. I’m going to build a new stadium.”
* * *
A dim street.
So unnaturally quiet and eerie that not even an ant could be seen.
From the back seat of a black sedan, a man stared out at the sinister road, his face reflected in the window—Assemblyman Jeong Uk of Busan’s Jung-gu and Yeongdo-gu districts, the very man who had caused an uproar over the Yongwanggung project.
Perhaps because he had been utterly defeated in his power struggle with District Head Noh Hyeong-sim and reduced to a political vegetable, his appearance was haggard from the stress.
Strictly speaking, his political death sentence had come not from Noh Hyeong-sim but from meddling in Ido Group’s affairs without knowing his place—and if one traced it further, from daring to offend the iron-willed Chairman Lee Sang-byuk.
Yet Jeong Uk, oblivious to all that, directed his rage solely at Noh Hyeong-sim and Mir Guild.
“Damn it. Those bastards. Those sons of——”
What had he done wrong? All he had done was relay a message after being contacted by that bitch from Ido Group.
There had been a slight communication issue in between, but that was trivial. If anything, Noh Hyeong-sim was the real problem for failing to understand his superior’s intentions!
Yes.
Shockingly, Jeong Uk still had not recognized his own mistake.
He genuinely felt wronged and believed the current situation—being abandoned by his party colleagues and cornered—was deeply unfair.
Since he had done nothing wrong, there was no need for reflection.
Up to this point, it was understandable. Refusing to apologize and deflecting blame was common in politics.
But what made Jeong Uk’s current state truly chilling was that he had taken it one step further.
They attacked me even though I did nothing wrong? Huh? That pisses me off. I have to get revenge!
Objectively, it was an impossible story.
He already knew what stood behind them. Honestly, just maintaining his assembly seat after offending Lee Sang-byuk was, in some ways, a stroke of luck.
The most rational choice would be to lie low like a dead mouse and quietly stage a comeback in a couple of years when an appropriate issue arose.
But a man whose pride ruled his brain was incapable of such thoughts.
None of that mattered. He had to vent his sense of injustice and his boiling rage.
“We’ve arrived, Assemblyman.”
“Good.”
At Jeong Uk’s gesture, his aide quickly got out and opened the door. As he stepped out, the burly men who had followed in the car behind took positions at his side.
“From now on, you see nothing and hear nothing. Understood?”
“……”
“Good. Just do that.”
When they entered the meeting place, a group was already waiting.
Wearing floral shirts, leather jackets, and sleeveless tank tops with no sense of unity whatsoever, the men were members of the Joseonjok organization Palgakhoe from Incheon.
“Oh my, Assemblyman Jeong. What an honor. To have someone as distinguished as you visit such a humble place! Please, have a seat. Would you like something to eat? What about drinks?”
“Cut the crap and get to business.”
“Aigoo, if that’s the case…… Where should we start? From the beginning would be best, right? Mir Guild?”
Yes.
While searching for a way to sabotage both Noh Hyeong-sim and Mir Guild, Jeong Uk’s answer had been these men.
They were true outlaws who had nothing left to lose and nothing left to protect—men for whom even the concept of a nation was faint, let alone law and order.
That was why they did not fear Ido Group.
They had no reason to cross paths with those in the highest echelons, and even if they clashed, the worst that could happen was arrest. To the Palgakhoe operating in the “shadows,” Ido Group in the “light” was not an object of fear.
“So…… You want us to take care of Mir Guild. Is that the understanding?”
“Yes. Block them by any means necessary. Especially this place—make sure to wreck it completely.”
Jeong Uk’s aide handed over a document.
It contained the report on the Yongwanggung project currently underway in Yeongdo.
“Hmm. Yongwanggung. I’ve heard of it. Quite a lot going on. A park, a theme park, a leisure sports facility…… and the biggest one seems to be the ‘stadium.’”
“Handle the rest however you see fit. Just pour filth all over their work! Throw obstacles in their way! Can you do it?!”
Could they?
When Jang Chen, the Palgakhoe boss, grinned and bared his teeth, the knife scar hidden beneath the shadow of his eye became clearly visible.
“Heh heh. You came to the right place. Stirring up trouble is our specialty. Heh heh. Just trust us. We’ll show you what a real shithole looks like.”
* * *
And at the same time, in front of Busan Station’s Chinatown.
A metallic click echoed through the eerie wind.
Click. Dozens of rifles were aimed down the alley.
A man walked in with heavy steps.
“Привет, ребята. I’d like to make a purchase.”
The darkness parted around the glow of a cigarette, revealing Lee Shin’s face.
Lee Shin asked,
“How much are you guys charging?”