Today marks the start of the fourth broadcast of the Mir Guild raid.
The raid party had already returned several days ago and had begun training for the next raid, but because the league broadcast is run entirely with pre-recorded and edited footage, the commentary continues without any break until the next raid.
You could say it’s like a drama series system.
└ Ooh, it’s starting. Just like the preview, it’s a night hunt, haha.
└ Haha, ordering chicken.
└ Excited, excited!!
Maybe that’s why.
At some point, the broadcasting stations started producing league coverage as if it were a real “drama” or “variety show.”
In order to recoup the expensive licenses and broadcast rights fees, they had to keep even a single viewer glued to the screen, and so they began adding “fun” and “storytelling” tailored to audience demand.
Some experts have even said that you can tell a broadcaster’s skill by how entertaining they make their league coverage.
However, this pursuit of entertainment for the sake of ratings sometimes—no, very often—creates victims.
For example, “devil’s editing,” or….
And the star and victim of the fourth Mir raid broadcast was Park Su-bin.
└ Hey? Is today’s broadcast an X-Man episode or something? Why’s there only one person showing, lol?
└ Told you before—Park Su-bin’s the weak link.
From the broadcasting station’s perspective, there’s no one like him.
The world’s youngest debut! Not just in Korea—the world!
In an era when hunter debuts are tough to come by, a hunter this young is a merit in itself.
His gloomy face is a bit of a hurdle, but that can be fixed with editing.
For Park Su-bin, though, this attention was poison.
Because right now, he wasn’t performing anywhere near the level of attention he was receiving.
└ Look at him, faceplanting again, lol.
└ Wham!
└ Aren’t supporters supposed to be in the third line? Are they normally stuck in the middle like that? I seriously don’t know.
└ Let’s cut Su-bin some slack. He’s still young.
└ Did you see that shield just now? Didn’t even last 0.5 seconds, hahahahahahahaha.
Due to Park Su-bin’s mistake, the raid party showed a brief opening, but under the Mountain King’s barked orders, they regained their focus and stabilized.
After that, Park Su-bin tried to move energetically as if to make up for his mistake… but his errors continued until the end of the battle.
•
•
— Ting!
When the remote control button was pressed, the large CRT screen showing Park Su-bin biting his lip went black, and the darkened screen reflected four people.
“How was it? Any thoughts?”
With the announcement of the second raid schedule, Lee Shin, Deputy Leader Chae Dong-ha, the Head of the Strategy Analysis Team, and the raid captain Kim Jong-pil had gathered in the strategy analysis room.
Chae Dong-ha, after a moment of hesitation, spoke first.
“I think he still needs more experience. He’s fine at first, but from the middle of the battle onward, even to my eyes, his movements get stiff.”
The Strategy Analysis Team Leader quickly spoke in agreement.
“Sub-in… ahem, Hunter Park Su-bin has been mentally vulnerable from the first time I saw him. Even if he was doing well, a single mistake would lead to more mistakes. Personally, I think it was too early for him to debut… That’s my opinion.”
“Oh-ho~” Lee Shin, who had been giving mechanical-sounding interjections, finally turned to look at Kim Jong-pil.
Unlike the other two, there was a lot of expectation in his gaze.
It was a look that said, ‘You saw it too, right, sir?’ And true to the Mountain King’s nature, he gave the right answer.
“Defense. The raid party’s defense is a problem. Overall, the defense is terrible.”
“!!”
They’d been watching Park Su-bin make mistakes for a while, so they naturally assumed it was about him. But instead, he pointed out a problem with the entire raid party?
Chae Dong-ha and the Strategy Analysis Team Leader were taken aback.
Meanwhile, Lee Shin beamed and snapped his fingers.
“Correct! As expected of the raid captain. You get it.”
Yes.
Defense was Mir Guild’s current limitation—and weakness.
“A raid party isn’t a solo match. It’s a 15-person team game. Su-bin being inexperienced? I know. Him being young and lacking experience? Who doesn’t know that? But that’s a secondary issue.”
You can’t just see Park Su-bin’s mistake as an individual’s mistake.
The important point was that a goblin had reached him at the center of the second line!
Even if they were surrounded, the goblin not only broke through the tankers’ thick shields, but also slipped past the surrounding damage dealers to stab him with a rusty dagger.
What does that mean?
“The defensive line. The formation had completely collapsed.”
And the footage that showed this vividly—
— Tick!
When the play button was pressed, the previously blank screen lit up again.
The first fight, right after entering the gate.
It was when they had run into goblins without Kim Jong-pil’s command and were in disarray.
“You remember this, right? Didn’t this seem strange to you?”
Lee Shin fast-forwarded the video while explaining.
The tankers leaned forward, while the second-line damage dealers who were supposed to support them were pulling back.
Naturally, the distance between them widened, and goblins seized that space.
The tankers ended up isolated.
“The difference in strength was obvious. Even after making such a critical mistake, they ended the situation without a single injury. That’s how overwhelming they were.”
Kim Jong-pil responded again.
“Which makes it an even bigger problem that this happened despite the overwhelming power gap.”
“YES! That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”
“Distance, spacing, coordination—nothing was done right.”
“And let’s not forget sightlines and movement paths.”
“To put it another way, it’s lucky they were goblins. Without certain patterns, they had very few ranged attacks, so the mistake didn’t stand out as much.”
“First time, so they were flustered? A ridiculous excuse, but fine, I’ll let it slide with my big heart. But even so, their follow-up was terrible.”
“Terrible. Very terrible.”
“And everything we’ve been talking about…”
“That’s right. It’s about defense.”
“So the core of the problem is—”
“Defense.”
Passing the ball back and forth, the industry veteran Lee Shin and the extraordinary commander Mountain King honed in on the core issue.
“Offense draws the crowd, defense wins championships. An old saying, but nothing is truer. Defense is the clearest indicator of a raid party’s level.”
“People think only tankers need to worry about defense, but that’s not true at all. The proper way is for everyone to participate and pay attention.”
“But so many ignore this obvious fact. Some don’t even understand the concept.”
“I get it. Defense isn’t fun. It’s boring, it’s hard to get the spotlight, so most neglect it unless they’re a tanker. Especially a raid party like ours, with a low average age.”
“Furthermore, since I can’t take the front line, the raid party effectively has 14 members.”
“Poor defense and one man short? Oh my god!”
“To be blunt, it’s an organizational issue. The team hasn’t come together yet. It’ll improve as they gain more experience.”
“Right, it’s about teamwork. Time will fix it.”
At that point, Chae Dong-ha and the Strategy Analysis Team Leader’s eyes shook as if they fully understood the problem.
Yes.
The Mir raid party currently couldn’t defend.
With everyone except the Mountain King being rookies, their inexperience had created a critical weakness in their defense.
And although, as they said, it was a matter of teamwork that could improve over time—
The problem was…
Unfortunately, the announced schedule wouldn’t wait for them.
“Level 4. ‘Imp Archer’s Forward Base.’ It’s the gate with the highest attack level in League 4.”
Time left: three days.
They had just three days to come up with a sharp solution.
Everyone looked at each other but silence filled the air.
“……”
“……”
Say something, anything.
Under the unspoken pressure, the Strategy Analysis Team Leader surrendered first, followed by Chae Dong-ha scratching his head and waving the white flag.
Now only two remained.
Kim Jong-pil shrugged and spoke first.
“It’s not much of a method, but if we proceed as stably as possible, clearing it shouldn’t be difficult. We just won’t be able to expect record-breaking results like in Round 1.”
It was the best suggestion he could give, since he couldn’t participate on the front line.
But Lee Shin seemed unsatisfied, rubbing his chin repeatedly.
“Hm…”
He wasn’t looking for just a decent result.
He wanted overwhelming results.
If they were going to shake off the sense of defeat clinging to this guild and restore the faded image of a prestigious name, they needed to dominate League 4 with overwhelming performance.
—At least, that was the official reason.
Personally, for Lee Shin, League 4 had relatively stingy rewards, so to earn points efficiently, they had to break as many records as possible—and one of the most important was the win streak record.
“What’s your opinion, Representative?”
Now the baton passed to Lee Shin.
What to do? All eyes were on him. He rubbed his chin for a long time, then—
“No choice.”
He found his answer.
“We’re going shopping.”
??
Wait… what??
________________________________________
In an industrial district of Sasang, Busan.
The noisy, bustling rails come to a halt, and the trucks that had been busily coming and going all at once leave the neighborhood.
The hardware store, parking lot, and 24-hour convenience store. All the lights go out, the neighborhood comes to a complete stop, and night falls.
A night more dazzling than the day.
“Opening the store.”
Clatter— The veil is lifted, and the doors to the underground black market open.
Cars with ultra-high-priced entries, all rarely seen, come to a stop, and at the same time, people dressed according to the dress code get out of their vehicles under the host’s guidance.
When the son of a mid-sized company president in Busan waves his hand, the son of a certain guild master gives him a thumbs-up.
An elderly local figure and a city council member click their tongues at the sight of such childishness, muttering about “kids these days.”
The wealthiest and most powerful people in Busan, the cream of the crop, were stepping one by one onto the red carpet.
But then a black sedan approaches from afar.
At the appearance of a Rolls-Royce Phantom, everyone’s steps halt as if in disbelief.
Though the people gathered here are fairly well-off, that’s only by Busan’s standards.
Even if all the wealth here were gathered together, it wouldn’t compare to that family; even if all the power here were combined, it wouldn’t match that family.
““Welcome.””
The apex of the food chain.
It is the appearance of Lee Shin of the LeeDo Group.
“Good to see you all.”
At the sudden appearance of a VVIP, the former host in the lobby rushes out in a hurry and bows deeply.
At this, Lee Shin steps out of the car with a gentle smile, and Chae Dong-ha, who got out from the other side, quickly runs over and drapes a coat over his shoulders.
“…You really came. Are you insane?”
…Of course, there may have been some impure thoughts in the process, but Lee Shin is a manly man who knows how to cover for the faults of his subordinates. He casually pretends not to notice.
Meanwhile, the flustered crowd parts like the Red Sea along the sides of the red carpet, and Lee Shin strolls leisurely down it as though to say, “Naturally, I’m the star of this event.”
“For our customers’ convenience, our market offers meals, spa, massages, and all other services. If you let us know the service you would like—”
“Sorry to interrupt. I believe there’s not much time left before the auction starts—could we go to the auction hall first?”
“Of course. I’ll take you there right away.”
“Thank you.”
“If you require additional identity protection, we have masks prepared—”
“No need to go that far. It’s not like I’m committing a crime. Thank you for your consideration.”
Lee Shin smiles faintly and the female staff member blushes.
Now he’s openly laying it on thick.
Chae Dong-ha lets out an incredulous laugh and sticks close to Lee Shin’s side to whisper.
“What on earth are you thinking? It’s about time you told me, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“I mean, is this normal?!”
“And why wouldn’t it be?”
“What do you mean why?! This! Shopping!! Here!!”
Just four hours ago, the man was in a strategy meeting, and now he’s like, “Hehe, I’m going shopping. No one can stop me!”—coming to a black market. At the very least, on a human level, he ought to explain the reason. What the hell kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden!!
At the slightly heated tone, Lee Shin widens his eyes, then gives quite a charming smile.
Not the usual sly half-smirk that lifts only one corner of his mouth, but a deliberately seductive smile meant for effect.
“Who knows~?”
Lee Shin winks as he walks past.
‘Ha…’
At this moment, Mr. Chae Dong-ha (atheist, 25 years old) came to believe in God.
Dear God, just once. Please, just let me land one punch.
Please!
