Opening the Door to an All-Time Season

The one who opened the door to an all-time legendary season was none other than Lee Myung-hwan.

In his official press conference, Lee Myung-hwan left the reporters stunned with a single gesture. He—that proud, arrogant Lee Myung-hwan—bowed ninety degrees before the cameras.

Having floored the reporters with that bow, he immediately followed up with a second blow.

If Lee Myung-hwan had fired the opening shot, others quickly followed.

The children of Ido.

The other guilds acquired by Ido Group all rose up at once.

"Lee Myung-hwan is really going that far? I was already nervous because Lee Shin got promoted, but this is completely fucked, isn't it?"

"That son of a bitch! Fucking bastard! Once he hammers that nail in, there's no taking it back. Argh! Someone get the director!"

"I had a feeling this year would be the last anyway. Why is my bad intuition never wrong? Sigh."

As mentioned before, the people of Ido were raised seeing and learning a great deal. What set them apart from ordinary people was their knowledge of imperial studies and the physiology of power.

They already knew, on instinct, that they didn't have much time left.

Lee Myung-hwan's actions in that situation drove a stake through their suspicions, and everyone began sprinting after him in unison.

When one person runs, it's an incident. When two run, it's personal circumstance. But when this many people suddenly charge forward together?

You have no choice but to run with them.

We call this crowd psychology, or being swept up in the atmosphere.

The other guilds in League 2 were no different.

They, too, caught fire by following the children of Ido.

There were many reasons, but the biggest was undoubtedly the Mir Guild.

"This is insane. They actually came up. If we lose to them, it'll be a real disaster."

"Just imagine our guild's name on the record books. That crazy fandom would grab our heads and spin them like fans!"

"You know what happened to the guys who acted tough in the third division and lost, right? We have to take at least one set no matter what."

Information that outsiders didn't know well:

There wasn't a single guild that had clashed with Mir Guild and come out unscathed.

As if cursed, every guild that collided with Mir Guild suffered internal injuries and walked the path of ruin. Their representative example was the one that, due to reckless leasing last season, was now called the top candidate for relegation...

Unlike the third division, League 2 didn't let you avoid teams based on lucky group draws.

Fifty rounds. Twenty raid matches and thirty confrontation matches.

And there were thirty guilds in League 2 total.

What did that mean? They would meet without fail.

That disaster dragon, of all things!

Nooooooo!!!!

"After the Evil Empire, this year it's the disaster dragon?"

Mir Guild, Mir Guild, Mir Guild. The whole world was talking about the Mir Guild.

And yet I haven't done anything!

"This is exactly why I love the GM. They always ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠throw in these massive events for me."

When Lee Shin clapped like a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kindergartener who had just received a Christmas present, Chae Dong-ha, who had approached at some point, set a cup of coffee in front of him and continued.

"Has the switch flipped again, sir?"

"These guys are provoking me. Look, it says right here, 'We have to show that you can't buy results with money!' Isn't that the son of the youngest uncle? That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guy spent more money than me!"

"What can we do? This is all the harvest from the seeds you planted, Representative."

Luxury, high-class, third-generation chaebol wastrel, show me the money, the one and only under heaven.

These were all strengths of the image called Lee Shin, but at the same time they were weaknesses. A double-edged sword.

"Well, it's my fault for creating the character wrong in the first place. Anyway, let's move on from that issue. So according to these articles, everyone's really going all out? What about those cats from before..."

"It's NG Jaguars, sir."

"Right, them. If they're making all this fuss with only flashy but empty teams like that, I'll be quite disappointed."

"I don't think that's the case. From what I've gathered through the director's connections, they're all truly going for broke. There's already a rumor circulating that major agents are sniffing around the market."

"Then the target is..."

Without needing to decide who would speak first, both men pointed at the same spot on the map spread across the table.

"Here."

"Here!"

Seoul.

More precisely, the League 1 guilds in the capital region were the targets.

"They're swinging pretty hard, huh?"

"This season in League 1, the term 'exodus' isn't an exaggeration. A massive number of major-league Hunters are hitting free agency. If those guilds recruit them..."

"It's a fight over how much of this pie each of us gets to eat."

This was clearly an unusual situation.

Hunters of that caliber usually signed contract extensions a year before free agency. Letting them walk for nothing would leave a guild completely gutted—who in their right mind would do that for free?

Yet this many had been released at once?

Could this really be chalked up to coincidence?

"What I've come to realize lately is that there are no coincidences in this industry."

"That's an excellent observation. Right, there are no coincidences."

"The current market is far too quiet. Suspiciously so."

"Go on."

Though things had improved, Korea was still fundamentally centered around the capital region where Seoul was located.

Yet this many famous Hunters had flooded the market from that very area, and everything was quiet? That made no sense.

"Right now, the resource that China nearby and the big spenders in America covet most is our Korean Hunters."

Just as Chae Dong-ha said.

Korean Hunters were popular worldwide. They had strong loyalty, worked hard, and above all, they were resilient. In fact, even the GM had described Korea this way in its national profiles.

"I'm not a god, so I don't know the process. I only looked at the results. Isn't it true that an above-average number of Hunters have been released in the capital region?"

"It is."

"And yet the entire market remains quiet. Correct?"

"Correct."

"Is this normal?"

"No."

"Is it abnormal?"

"It is."

"Thanks to someone, I've experienced quite a few abnormal situations. And I learned from them. Behind every abnormal situation, there's always a reason that makes it that way."

"How embarrassing."

That was why Chae Dong-ha believed the reason was the 'children of Ido'—the guilds backed by Ido Group.

"Am I right in my judgment?"

After Chae Dong-ha finished speaking, a brief silence fell.

Soon Lee Shin covered his face with his hand, shoulders shaking.

"Heh heh heh... kukuku."

There it was. Lee Shin's dark overlord laugh.

Is this it? Is this the joy of evolution! Is this why people go crazy for Pokémon and Digimon!

"Correct, Dongha-mon!"

Indeed.

Anyone could see that someone was pulling strings from behind the scenes.

And with high probability, it was the children of Ido who had shocked the market. The biggest shock of all had likely been delivered by Lee Myung-hwan.

"Money is money, but to kill information on this scale, you need a real specialist."

"A specialist?"

"The information guilds. The hyenas of the guild scene. Remember that well—you might have to deal with them later."

Good. The problem was identified. The situation was understood.

So far, perfect.

"Now then? You have countermeasures, right?"

"There's a normal version and there's the Representative-style version. Which would you like to hear?"

"Put the first one away. Let's go with the latter."

"I knew you'd say that."

The basic framework of their response started from the premise that 'Mir Guild never avoids conflict.'

"There's no need to bury this topic. In fact, we should welcome it. We've always grown by turning these clashes into nourishment."

"Right, right."

"However, the scale this time is much larger, so we'll need to make corresponding changes. In my opinion, we should first observe without stepping forward."

"Good. Very good."

"Our basic stance will begin with 'indifference.' We are above, and you are below. It is only natural that you challenge us. So do as you please. We will simply ignore you."

"We're showing them their place?"

"They're already trembling in fear first. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There's no reason not to use that, is there? No matter how low we started, we wrote two legends in a row in League 4 and League 3. What more do we need to prove? The path we walk from now on is history itself."

"History~ Uaaaah~ I'm getting drunk off this. This scenario tastes excellent."

"Of course, if we act too indifferent it might look like we're scared and avoiding them. So we'll need to add some variation. That's when you'll step forward, Representative."

"Heh. I suppose I should give League 2 the chance to witness this body's deadly butt-shaking dance."

If things proceeded according to Chae Dong-ha's picture, the Mir Guild would become the 'absolute ruler' of League 2. Despite having only just been promoted.

However, even in Chae Dong-ha's plan, there were variables. Gaps. Blank spaces. Whatever you wanted to call them.

First, the Mir Guild's performance had to match the legendary run from last season.

At minimum, they needed to remain undefeated in confrontation matches.

And there was one more thing.

It didn't sound like much when you heard it, but for some reason it troubled Chae Dong-ha even more than the performance issue.

"But Representative, we don't have any repertoire."

"What do you mean? Repertoire?"

"Aggro, sir. You need a repertoire for drawing aggro. Or in your terms, some 'absolutely insane' repertoire. But nothing immediately comes to mind."

Chae Dong-ha stroked his chin with a troubled expression as he spoke.

Lee Shin looked at him with a pleased smile.

"Ah... I thought it was something serious. First, take this."

Clap clap clap!

He applauded with genuine sincerity.

"Ninety-nine out of a hundred points! You've improved a lot while I was busy building the stadium. The one-point deduction is just to tell you to do even better, so don't be disappointed."

The process of analyzing the situation, boldly omitting unknown information and relentlessly digging for the truth—it was very satisfying.

On top of that, the Lee Shin-style response suited his taste perfectly.

"I think I can start entrusting you with other tasks now. You've worked hard. Leave the rest to me. Repertoire, was it?"

The man before him was Lee Shin.

The one closest to the pinnacle of this world. The superstar of this industry.

"Watch closely. In this scene, I am the genre itself."