The Underworld's Shadow
『 Looking back, throughout my time as guild leader, the incidents that cost me the most hair were all those that occurred in the 'shadows'…… (omitted)…… I have something to say to the leaders facing the shadows. Don't chase convenience right away. You'll definitely regret it…… 』
― From the memoir of the former Taeguk Guild leader
One reason GM feels like a well-made game is that it blended unrealistic elements like superpowers with the betrayals, schemes, and conspiracies commonly seen in everyday reality.
If you ask why betrayals, schemes, and conspiracies are everyday occurrences, it means you've never experienced the harshness of society yet.
In that sense, Lee Shin's older brother was naive.
If someone worrying about his younger brother's workplace while wearing hospital patient clothes isn't naive, then what is?
― “Where exactly is the everyday life in that, Shin? Are you having problems at work or something? I was already worried about you not having friends, so stop with that GM stuff and get outside!!”
……Anyway, that was also why Lee Shin's brother matured and came to dislike GM. Too dark a game, or so they say?
Of course, Lee Shin didn't agree. Schemes and conspiracies are everyday life, after all.
Setting that aside, GM's nerds tried to make the unrealistic and realistic coexist. The hunter part with superpowers, and the front part showing reality.
And among the parts showing that reality, the one Lee Shin ranked highest was the 'shadows' part.
This part has no manual. It doesn't appear in strategy guides either. Even the management doesn't mention it.
The part thoroughly veiled in secrecy only gained a concept thanks to veteran player Lee Shin, who named it 'shadows,' and on Reddit it began being called the Underground.
And the reason Lee Shin named this system the shadows is simple.
Once a guild reaches a certain scale and, in vulgar terms, is considered to have money, these shadows come without any message.
Simple thugs, entrenched underground organizations, information guilds that have only tasted it as an appetizer, and even the final bosses of this field, the 'villains.'
The reason these guys are troublesome is that there's simply no method to deal with them.
It's uncannily similar to reality.
They lie down and cause trouble, shit where they eat, and interfere with everything you do, making nuisances of themselves—life's losers.
GM's shadows captured these detailed aspects well.
Since they don't come openly, if you're operating your guild in a carefree manner without thinking, at some point things strangely start slowing down.
Only when a suspicious user presses the [Visit] button on the interface map can they learn the cause.
If you're doing construction, 【 ??? is blocking the construction site and protesting. 】
If you're doing business, messages like 【 ??? is causing a disturbance at the business site. 】
In conclusion, when players face the shadows like this, they stand at a crossroads of choice.
Compromise?
Resist?
The former literally means handing over money to send them away.
After all, these guys are after money. Filling in the amount column feels awful, but if you endure the small sum and the discomfort, things proceed as planned.
The latter is pressing the [Report] button to use public authority like the police. It takes time and effort, but you can realize justice without compromising with injustice.
Choosing the former saves time and gives immediate convenience, but you get tainted without realizing it and related events appear. On the other hand, choosing the latter is troublesome at the moment but leaves no aftermath.
A choice with clear pros and cons that can be called a matter of taste. Depending on which side you choose, each offers different fun.
However.
Lee Shin's way of dealing with the shadows was always the latter.
In every playthrough he did, he resisted all the schemes that blocked his path.
The reason is simple.
Once you listen to them once, they take it for granted, and eventually they point a knife at you demanding more. The situation where continued kindness turns you into a pushover was disgusting.
If you're hit, you have to hit back. If you're wronged, you have to repay it.
If someone gave him inexplicable malice, the one who kindly created a reason for them was Lee Shin.
So he secretly waited for the shadows to come in this world.
In the game, there was no choice option for dealing with the shadows. So he could only resist every time and couldn't touch them.
‘But here, there is.’
He realized it once again while going through the Ido Derby this time.
This place is reality.
It's not a simple game.
Getting hit hurts, getting hit a lot hurts a lot, and getting hit really hard hurts like hell.
That's right.
From now on, Lee Shin intended to assault the shadows.
Gathering all the anger from being wronged in tens of thousands of playthroughs.
That was the reason he sought out the Russian gang in Busan's Chinatown.
An alley filled with tension.
White tattooed giants aiming guns, and Lee Shin and his secretary who looked no different from usual even with guns pointed at them.
“Say it again? How much? The price to buy you guys.”
Hoo~
Lee Shin stylishly blew out cigarette smoke like a scene from a noir film and walked leisurely.
“Don't know how much? Looks like you need time to think.”
“Stop.”
The moment the Russian gang pressed their gun muzzles to Lee Shin's head, but this kind of threat wouldn't work on Lee Shin.
“It's fine, relax. I'm just curious. Heh~ So this is an AK. First time seeing the real thing.”
Normally one's body would stiffen instinctively when a gun is aimed at their head, but Lee Shin caressed the muzzle with an innocent expression.
The gang was clearly flustered by that sight.
‘How did he know to come here? How did he break through the spell array?’
They were a gang, after all. Not just ordinary thugs, but pros who made a name for themselves even in Busan's underworld.
Hiding their base, their only sanctuary, was basic for them, and indeed quite high-level ‘perception disturbance spell arrays’ were installed around this area.
Yet he came in. Standing here perfectly fine.
Could the spell array be faulty? But they could tell from Lee Shin's timely words that wasn't the case.
“Ah, if you're thinking there might be a problem with the spell array outside, don't worry. I just marked the coordinates and came in. It took quite a while to get here.”
“……!!”
“But your situation seems better than I thought? I didn't expect you'd mix illusion spells with the disturbance. How did you get a spellcaster of that level? Must've cost quite a bit, right?”
Clearly the numbers were on their side, surrounding the opponent with dozens of guns aimed.
Moreover, this was their own base.
Even a dog eats half at home, so there was nothing for them to fear.
But why? The menacing gang members were instead completely stiff.
They were tense to a degree even they couldn't understand.
Because their boss who should give orders and all the action team were absent? Or was it the chilling killing intent emanating from the woman behind him?
It was neither.
Surprisingly, the reason the gang broke into cold sweats was because of Lee Shin standing before them.
The eldest grandson of Ido Group's core of the nation's economy, and now the genius leader of Mir Guild, which had become Busan's symbol.
That's right.
They were completely overwhelmed by the charisma (Dominance 70) Lee Shin exuded!
“I think I've given you enough time by now? Haven't you heard that you decide your own value? If it seems ambiguous, just name a price first. I'll be the one judging as the buyer.”
The tattooed white men only rolled their eyes.
Lee Shin was confident. After all, these were small fry.
And Lee Shin's charisma…… no, the Dominance stat of 70 was too high for them to endure.
“Ugh……”
“Hmm?”
Three minutes, five minutes…… As time passed, the men's faces distorted.
But Lee Shin's expression also hardened.
The reason was simple.
Despite provoking them this much, the ‘real ones’ Lee Shin had been waiting for didn't appear.
“Um, guys, just asking in case, but your boss and action leader aren't here right now?”
“……?!”
“Answer.”
“Uh, they're not.”
“Damn it!!”
Lee Shin's face crumpled in frustration.
“Then you should've said that earlier!”
“Eh?”
“Do you know how much effort I put into seeing those guys? Look, I even dressed like this in a Wild Age vibe. Coat and fedora, this cigarette! Don't you know ‘Passion and romance that pass like the wind’? Make my efforts not go to waste! Please.”
At that moment, the heavy atmosphere that had filled the alley dissipated like a lie.
The gang looked at Lee Shin complaining and wondered what was going on.
But from Lee Shin's perspective, it was 100% sincere. Today's meeting was meaningful for him too!
“Well, if they were here, even if I roughly knew the location, the base wouldn't have been raided this easily. Ha…… This is disappointing. I'll come again tomorrow.”
Thus Lee Shin discarded the cigarette he'd been holding in his mouth with a disappointed face and turned around.
But then.
The secretary ran up in one bound and grabbed Lee Shin, lifting him up.
At that instant, with a sharp whooshing sound, three flashes of light streaked through the air.
Shaaak!!
Three scars carved into the spot where Lee Shin had been standing just moments ago.
Soon after, a figure revealed itself from the end of the alley.
The person who appeared from the darkness was a white man with a wolf's maw tattoo covering his bald head.
“Who are they?”
“Well……”
“You guys, prepare yourselves.”
It wasn't a question directed at this side. It was a question to reprimand his own organization members.
Why did those guys manage to enter our base, and what the hell were you doing in the meantime.
The man's eyes sharpened like those of a beast.
……However, if there's someone shining their eyes even brighter in this deadly space, would you believe it?
“Oh……!! I saw that, it's exactly like the illustration!!”
Lee Shin pointed at the man and raised his voice without any tact.
At this, the tattooed man tilted his head crookedly with an expressionless face, then kicked off the ground.
With astonishing speed, he vanished from sight in an instant, and when the man reappeared from a blind spot, his hands had already transformed into those of a beast.
That's right. The man was an Awakener.
Moreover, a beastkin-type Awakener, whom Teacher Lee claimed were a combat race that could basically reach A-rank if transformation was possible.
The tattooed man swung down his extended claws. Three flashes of light cut through the air.
A moment of extreme tension!
However, in that fleeting instant, ripples formed in the tattooed man's emotionless eyes.
‘He's smiling……?’
Lee Shin, whom he was attacking…… was smiling. And genuinely enjoying it, at that.
It wasn't the face of someone being attacked. Something was wrong. The tattooed man sensed something suspicious.
But.
‘Still, it doesn't matter!’
He drew out even more power to protect his nest.
However, combat is always relative. If the opponent is faster than what you sensed, it's useless.
Flash!
If the man appeared from Lee Shin's blind spot, then from that man's blind spot. Radiant eyes shining from the darkness beyond his perception range.
The moment he felt that chilling killing intent.
It was already too late!
Kwaaaang―!!
A shockwave erupted.
In an instant, the tattooed man flew like a puppet with its strings cut.
His flight didn't stop easily, and eventually one wall of the building burst open.
A cloud of white dust rose. A long crater was carved into the floor that had been ruined by the shockwave.
Soon after, the dust settled…….
Under the falling debris, the man opened his eyes. He was looking with eyes that had now completely become those of a beast.
At the enemy who had attacked him.
“……”
The woman standing in front of Lee Shin.
The watcher and protector assigned by Vice Chairman Lee Young-bin.
The scary big sister, according to Lee Shin.
“Noona, I'll ask you for a favor.”
Yun Cho-a nodded and put on her studded gloves, then quietly walked toward the man.
“……Please step back.”