Atla Raid (10)
KUUUUUNG!
A thunderous roar shook the very foundations of the earth. Atla’s colossal body toppled over and, moments later, crumbled into dust.
“Cough, cough!”
The six of them had already landed on the ground, waiting for the dense cloud of dust to settle. Every one of them was drenched in sweat from head to toe, proof of just how grueling the fight had been. Their bodies were exhausted, yet their thoughts ran along the same lines.
Whoa.
We actually did this.
The sense of achievement was overwhelming. In other regions, successful raids had been met with raucous celebration and the cheers of thousands upon thousands. But here in Ulsan? Only the quiet breathing of six people echoed in the stillness.
Ssssss…!
The dust cleared swiftly. Hyun Si-woon had stirred up a wind through Sylph.
“Everyone did great. We took it down pretty easily thanks to Do-hee noona.”
“It was nothing.”
At his brief praise, color bloomed across Baek Do-hee’s face.
“I just got lucky figuring it out, that’s all.”
She said that, but the corners of her mouth were already curling upward, and her eyes sparkled brightly.
And then—
Contribution calculation results.
At last the results appeared.
Seoul Region 1st — Baek Do-hee (76%)
Incheon Region 1st — Jang Cha-yul (44%)
Daejeon Region 1st — Baek Yeon-ho (36%)
Daegu Region 1st — Kang Si-a (77%)
Gwangju Region 1st — Hwang Dae-un (72%)
Ulsan Region 1st — Baek Do-hee (99%)
Busan Region 1st — Hyun Si-woon (35%)
Jeju Island Region 1st — Hyun Si-woon (86%)
The announcement wasted no time. Everything popped up cleanly in one go.
“Whoa.”
“Damn.”
The way every member gasped made it clear the results had appeared simultaneously in the vision of every climber.
Congratulations.
As the 1st place contributor for the Busan region, you have obtained 10 Despair Stones.
Congratulations.
As the 1st place contributor for the Jeju Island region, you have obtained 10 Despair Stones.
Twenty Despair Stones dropped straight into Hyun Si-woon’s inventory.
One detail was a little unexpected…
Do-hee noona took first in Ulsan too?
And overwhelmingly so. Contribution 99 percent. He had no idea how the system calculated these things, but nullifying Atla’s reinforcement effect had clearly carried absolute weight. It wasn’t simply measuring damage output; it looked like players who provided the key to the clear received massive bonus points.
So that’s why Seoul was…
The same logic explained how she had scored 76 percent in Seoul.
We got lucky.
Hyun Si-woon breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Honestly, he had already written off first place in Seoul. Yoo Jin-hyeok’s party had two members there, and the sheer number of climbers was overwhelming. Yet a variable like this had exploded in their favor. Pure luck.
“Uh… whoa.”
The most stunned person was Baek Do-hee herself.
“I just got twenty of them.”
“Noona, you took first in Ulsan too? Ninety-nine percent?”
“You and Si-woon both scored double crowns.”
“For real.”
Baek Do-hee stared down at her own hands with a dazed expression.
“Hey, hey, hey—I thought I was gonna die out there.”
Baek Yeon-ho stepped forward with a grumbling complaint toward the others.
“Do any of you know a tanker’s suffering? While you were swinging weapons, I was cracking that shell with my bare fists!”
“Hyeong-nim, if a tanker’s dealing good damage too, that’s just cheating.”
“Yeon-ho worked hard. Not easy for a tanker to take first.”
“Right?”
Jang Cha-yul’s praise smoothed the frown right off Baek Yeon-ho’s face. The whole group was riding high. How could they not be? No matter how the process had gone or who had posted the higher numbers, every single reward had ended up belonging to their climbing party.
“Everyone did great. Let’s head back to Eden. We can celebrate there.”
At Hyun Si-woon’s wave, a massive shadow raced toward them from the distant sky. Pungjo, who had been waiting for the members. It was time to go home.
At that same moment, the Republic of Korea server community was boiling over like a blast furnace. The hottest topic by far was contribution!
The sheer numbers alone were enough to shock everyone. Each region had at least several thousand people. Even if one person carried the work of a hundred, the ceiling should have been around 10 percent. These figures simply defied common sense.
First, Seoul and Ulsan went completely haywire.
People flocked to the top of the board as if hypnotized. There sat one eye-catching post.
1. Confirmed Fact: Pioneer Hyun Si-woon possesses a high-speed travel method.
This is an irrefutable fact. The main figure in the Jeju Island clear video was the person using the Quad Elementals, correct? That would be Jeju Island 1st place (86% contribution) Hyun Si-woon, and that same person appeared in Busan as well.
Jeju Island clear time: 2 hours 11 minutes after raid start. His first appearance in the Busan clear video: roughly the 5-hour mark. Even accounting for descent time from Hallasan and various variables, covering Jeju Island to Busan in three hours is absolutely impossible by normal means. In other words, Pioneer Hyun Si-woon has a high-speed travel method.
Whether that’s a skill, an item, or some special travel method we don’t know yet is another question entirely.
2. Baek Do-hee suddenly posting 99% in Ulsan?
The problem is Baek Do-hee. Especially since Ulsan was the last to fall, and I understand the Ulsan climbers tried until the end and then left after failing. Yet this Baek Do-hee who took a massive contribution share in Seoul somehow achieved 99% in Ulsan?
I know everyone’s confused. Bottom line: I believe Baek Do-hee is the Saintess of Seoul.
Why? Anyone who watched the Seoul clear footage carefully will know. The decisive turning point of the Seoul clear was her appearance. Right after she used an AoE healing skill from a specific position, climbers nearby suddenly started shouting, “The shell got weaker!” In other words, her skill wasn’t simple healing—it carried a special debuff effect that weakened Atla’s defense. The reason a healer, not a dealer, recorded the miraculous figure of 76% contribution is exactly this.
She was the key to the Seoul clear.
So how did this Saintess Baek Do-hee move to Ulsan and achieve the mythical contribution of 99%?
That secret is unlocked through the connection to Hyun Si-woon in point 3 below.
3. The Rallying Horn of the Party Members.
This is the biggest reason I suspect Hyun Si-woon and Baek Do-hee are in the same party.
Remember? The reward from the second official event, “The First Climbing Party.” The unique item that lets the party leader summon party members to their location: the Rallying Horn of the Party Members.
Hyun Si-woon likely cleaned up Busan with his own power, then immediately moved to Ulsan. After that he summoned the Saintess, weakened the shell, and they cleared the Ulsan Atla together.
He probably didn’t just call the Saintess. He would have summoned his entire climbing party.
Perhaps… every name appearing up there could all be members of Hyun Si-woon’s party?
For reference, the main weapons of every regional 1st place this time are all different. Do you really think that’s a coincidence?
The moment one analysis post stitched every fragmented piece of information together, community opinion tilted almost completely into certainty. Doubt turned into awe; confusion became a chilling realization.
There were other theories as well—that Hyun Si-woon was EndSeeker, that he was the Wandering Merchant—but without solid evidence they were quickly buried.
Meanwhile.
“Haa…”
Yoo Jin-hyeok let out a bitter smile after confirming that none of their names appeared in the contribution results.
So it ended up like this after all.
It was a massacre. Other regions aside, he had at least wanted to compete in Seoul, Incheon, and Daejeon… yet they hadn’t even come close.
We lost.
Yoo Jin-hyeok closed his eyes. He didn’t want to admit it, but this was a clear defeat. They had been overwhelmingly outclassed in every single aspect.
EndSeeker.
Yoo Jin-hyeok was certain. The one who had designed this entire board and swept the raid with strength beyond common sense—this person named Hyun Si-woon—was none other than the single gamer he had always believed he could never surpass: EndSeeker.
“Leader.”
One by one the members gathered at the predetermined location. Complex emotions clouded their faces as well—humiliation, awe, and a touch of hollow emptiness.
“I saw the community. Nothing left to say.”
“Honestly it feels a bit unfair. We dug hard in the places that Saintess softened up… and it just ended up benefiting her.”
Especially Daejeon. They had nothing to say even if they had ten mouths. Because they had lost to a tanker.
“That tanker looked familiar—turns out it was Baek Yeon-ho.”
“The pro gamer, right?”
“Yeah. Watching it, he was cracking the shell with his fists. Not a skill—looked more like some kind of internal energy technique. Feels like there might be methods we don’t know about.”
“……”
Silence settled over them. The pride of those who had believed themselves the strongest was shattering into pieces.
Yoo Jin-hyeok slowly opened his eyes. There was no longer any rage or jealousy in them. Instead, a calm and cold rationality—as if he had set everything down—had taken root.
“First of all.”
The watching Yoo Jin-hyeok spoke.
“There’s no need to feel jealous. What we need to do right now isn’t compete.”
“Then what?”
“We have to take his hand. By any means.”
They needed to claim the seat next to him… or even a seat below him. They needed to share in the information he possessed. That was the only path that would let them survive.
“Jeong-min hyung.”
“Yeah, Leader.”
Oh Jeong-min, formerly of the National Intelligence Service, stood up.
“Contact the Owl Guild right now. Tell them we’ll pay the highest-grade information fee, so please lay a bridge for us to contact Hyun Si-woon’s party. Ask politely, and as humbly as possible.”
Yoo Jin-hyeok understood. When a massive tidal wave is about to swallow everything, clinging to the tiller of a small sailboat isn’t courage—it’s recklessness. If a giant ark is visible nearby, the only way to survive is to abandon the worn-out sail and swim toward it.
And if even that fails? Then stay near it. Lying as flat as possible.