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Chapter 10
Dawn Breaking.
As always, Team Leader Jeong Sun-dong, who had come to work early in the morning, peeked at the door, perhaps still unable to get used to the newly changed office scene.
“Where is it! That, that equipment contract we signed last month!!”
“Are you going to keep organizing documents like this? I told you to mark them clearly with sticky notes.”
“Haha, Reporter Park. Could you wait just a little? We haven’t finished organizing on our side yet, so I’ll have it ready by morning just for you…”
The designated start time for work was 8:00 a.m.
Jeong Sun-dong glanced at the clock.
7:00 a.m.
He looked around again. There wasn’t a single empty seat.
Just a few days ago, the office had been pitch dark at this hour. Jeong Sun-dong was always the first to arrive, turning on the lights and adjusting the internal temperature and humidity.
But look at it now.
The rhythmic sound of typing subtly filled the background, and the busy footsteps of the employees moving back and forth set the rhythm, while those answering phones filled in the lyrics.
Maybe the title should be “Passion.”
“Huh…”
A hollow laugh escaped Jeong Sun-dong’s lips.
Passion. If there were a word that least suited the Mir Guild, it was undoubtedly this word, passion.
Originally, this office had neither passion nor even motivation.
Under eyes half-closed from fatigue, dark circles sagged—the exaggeration would be walking corpses.
But now…
‘Just one person came, and it changed like this…’
Lee Shin.
This young CEO had made his presence felt from the first day, transferring both Yang Pan-seok and the entire Raid Team.
Then came the individual interviews. Honestly, up to this point, employees might have been nervous, but few felt a real threat.
It was only the next day, when more than half the desks were gone, that they realized: ah, that handsome man was the so-called “National Team Scoundrel.”
‘What’s even creepier is the aftermath.’
Was it a sort of organized dismissal? If so, there should have been noise, but strangely, there wasn’t.
Jeong Sun-dong didn’t know exactly what was said. He could only roughly guess.
― “I’ll say this just once. Listen carefully. Spit out what you swallowed neatly and quietly get lost. By the way, Yang Pan-seok, whom you all favored, quietly decided to leave too. How about that? Did it help with your choice?”
Perhaps it was natural.
The moment Lee Shin became CEO, traffic control was a foregone conclusion.
Honestly, Jeong Sun-dong had been mentally preparing for it.
Since his appointment, he considered himself diligent and deeply devoted to the guild, but he had always been indecisive, dragged along by the Raid Team, and failed to deliver crucial results.
Even he wouldn’t hire a leader like himself if he were the CEO.
So he had kept his resignation letter in his pocket when facing Lee Shin.
But Lee Shin, when finally met in person… was somewhat… peculiar.
― “Wow, I thought I saw wrong, but you’re the Team Leader here. That’s an extra gain, isn’t it? You must have quite a few connections, right, Team Leader?”
Lee Shin laughed broadly, saying things had gone more easily than expected.
He reacted as if seeing a friend of ten years. How did he even know about the connections?
Of course, Lee Shin only thought of Jeong Sun-dong as the “Vice President of the Awakened Association,” but Jeong Sun-dong, having no way of knowing, was bewildered by Lee Shin’s inexplicable delight.
It wasn’t exactly the atmosphere to take out his resignation letter.
And so, after transferring all of Yang Pan-seok and the Raid Team, who had been considered the guild’s sanctuary, and cutting down more than half of the oversized front office…
‘Finally, I think I’ve found my path.’
The Mir Guild had finally reached the starting line.
________________________________________
The Butterfly Effect begins with the weak flutter of a butterfly.
[LeeDo Group! Pulls out ‘money’ for regional development.]
[LeeDo Group spokesperson says: “First support fund 500 billion, second 1 trillion. Third fund unlimited?”]
[Regional economy obsessed with serving ‘LeeDo’]
500 billion, 1 trillion—calling that a weak flutter seemed laughable, but to the Yongbung-i’s, it really was.
That money wasn’t theirs, and honestly, did they care about the regional economy?
Their entire focus had been on the guild homepage, which had been down for days. Social news articles? Not a concern.
Then, the wind blew.
[Official] League 4 ‘Mir Guild’ mysterious acquirer revealed as ‘LeeDo Group.’
└ ????
└ ??;;;;;;;
└ ??: Why are you there, bro???
Who could have known that LeeDo’s flutter would reach them?
The wind grew, powered by the prayers and wishes of ten million Yongbung-i’s.
It became a typhoon.
[We are willing to pay whatever it takes for ‘Mir’ to be promoted.]
└ Play the fanfare!!
└ Kyaaaaaa☆ Dreams come true!!
└ ??: There’s a League 4 guild owned by Korea’s top group??
It couldn’t stop.
There was no way to stop the raging typhoon.
[The newly appointed CEO Lee Shin did not spare praise for ‘Mir’…]
└ Yup, we love our guild!
└ Wait, Lee… Shin?
└ The Lee Shin I know, the scoundrel?
But do you know?
A typhoon, by definition, is a ‘disaster.’
[We plan to completely transform ‘Mir’ with all-out effort, determined to achieve promotion even if it costs our lives.]
└ Hey. Wait a second. Hold on.
└ Calm down, bro. Let’s hear us out…
└ Cold. A dagger flies into the chest.
And disasters are inherently dangerous.
[‘Mir’ shock transfers!! Yang Pan-seok and the entire Raid Team transferred.]
└ ;;;;;;;;;;;
└ ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
└ Haha;;; Anyone want to go set fires?
Lee Shin’s typhoon lands on the Mir Guild now.
________________________________________
It burns.
“…Let’s go burn the guild down. Where does Lee Shin live? That bastard, I’ll tear him apart…”
It’s blazing…!!
“…Watch your back, holes in your stomach… Hah, as expected from Busan. Tough as nails.”
At the shocking and terrifying transfer announcement fans rose like wildfire, and the community was ablaze with curses too obscene to even say aloud.
And as for the culprit of this arson, Lee Shin, as you can see, is smirking, savoring the insults.
“Geez, they keep asking if my parents are okay. Our vice president has become a celebrity.”
“…Are you enjoying this?”
“Yeah, it’s amazing. Thrilling, always fresh. Attention is the best.”
Attention is better than expected. From the tips of his toes to his prefrontal cortex, a dopamine shower rushes!
Watching Lee Shin give a cheerful thumbs-up, Chae Dong-ha suddenly realizes:
Even though he’s spent the past few days wonderfully overhauling the Mir guild, that guy really is a maniac.
His approach is entirely different. Otherwise, savoring one’s own insults like he does makes no sense.
“Hm, is that it? Well, the reactions were okay individually, but the volume… Is this really Division 4? The follow-through is lacking.”
“The entire ten pages are filled with insults aimed at the representative. Isn’t that enough?”
“Exactly. You can’t ignore the power that comes from sheer page count.”
“??”
“??”
The conversation seems to be going around in circles.
Lee Shin looked at Chae Dong-ha with a tilted expression.
“Look at you, still don’t get it, huh?”
“Get what?”
“This, right now. Busy as hell with just seven hours of sleep a week, yet messing around online, giggling like this.”
“Well… because I like the representative…”
“Hah, you really don’t get it.”
Even the future genius guild leader is still just a rookie.
Chae Dong-ha, flaring at the cold look in his eyes, opened his mouth, but Lee Shin covered it with a finger.
“Shh, watch closely.”
He picked up the phone.
“Director, could you bring the PR team to the conference room?”
A short while later, the entire PR team entered the conference room with Jeong Sun-dong.
“….”
Eight people, roughly, were all that remained.
However, a fairly young-looking woman sitting in the team leader seat, from the department most ravaged by Lee Shin’s storm, was gulping nervously.
“Now, now, don’t be nervous. Everyone here, do you monitor the community?”
“Yes!!”
“Guild Korea (‘Gilko’) we’re always monitoring it.”
“Then you know our guild is burning right now, right?”
“Well…”
“Just so you know, I’m not blaming anyone. I just want to hear the situation objectively. So tell me without holding back. What’s the noisiest issue right now?”
The PR team exchanged glances.
“Do you want to speak? You? Okay, let’s all speak together. Deal.”
After a silent negotiation, all the employees spoke in unison.
“The majority of fans cannot accept this transfer.”
“The most critical point, without a doubt, is Captain Yang Pan-seok. No, it’s the sudden transfer of the former captain.”
“Former Captain Yang Pan-seok, beyond being a guild legend, has enormous influence in this region.”
“He was born here, grew up here, gained fame here, and even recognized nationally, yet he wanted to stay in the place that raised him—a true local boy, isn’t he?”
As expected, the problem, according to Lee Shin, was Yang Pan-seok, a genuine local boy with roots, a legendary franchise star.
His popularity is disproportionately high compared to his abilities, but it’s understandable. Mir Guild’s situation was so desperate that they leaned on Yang Pan-seok, who had proven nothing.
“Good. Thank you for the excellent opinions. Now, let’s talk about the actions we need to take moving forward.”
Mir Guild currently stands at a critical crossroads.
The parent company, LeeDo Group, the appearance of the bombshell Lee Shin, the shocking transfer market, the transfer of the guild’s icon Yang Pan-seok, and the fandom unable to accept it…
How this is handled will determine Mir Guild’s survival.
At this point, the entire PR team agreed:
“We must cover it up as much as possible!”
“Although unlikely, if talk starts among the transferees, things could explode.”
“I think the best approach now is to maintain a friendly stance with the press while keeping things under control.”
Cover it up, for now.
Even Chae Dong-ha, now vice-director, nodded in secret agreement.
“Anyway… this is the time for the new start with the representative coming. If there’s controversy right from the start, it’s not good.”
“They say starting is half the battle. 50% is huge. I agree.”
The early days of a representative’s tenure are when the image is easiest to imprint.
This is Lee Shin, who once ran wild as a national-level troublemaker; if controversy arises, his delinquent image might stick from the start.
Even if there are countless hidden reasons for Yang Pan-seok’s forced dismissal, you can’t appeal to the fans for understanding.
The appearance would be ruined, and if hidden circumstances leak, it will spiral out of control.
So, for now, cover it up…
“Promotion is the top priority.”
Promotion first.
Even if the team legend leaves, even if there’s noise during acquisition.
As long as promotion happens, everything will be forgiven.
Lee Shin nodded repeatedly in agreement, but then one phrase froze everyone’s thought process.
“Good. Let’s turn up the heat!”
“…?!”
What’s good about that? I don’t understand at all!
But Lee Shin’s opinion was clear.
Cover it up? Why? Why cover this perfect chance?
“Everyone, this is a chance! It’s Mir’s last chance to leap back to the majors!”
Lee Shin insisted on one point only: face reality.
Mir Guild hasn’t performed well enough in too long to claim prestige.
“To today’s generation, Mir is just a Division 4 guild in the provinces, nothing more, nothing less. The lowest of the low. Only surviving on name in Busan; nationally? Nothing at all.”
And yet, Mir Guild has returned to the center of attention.
Not for a good reason, but better bad attention than no attention.
Currently, Mir Guild can’t afford to be picky.
“Whether it’s malicious comments, insults, this guy trying to set fire, or someone asking about my parents, we need to use everything to capture their attention.”
Whether it’s a fire show or setting his own body on fire, you must grab attention. Be the center of the story.
So keep adding fuel to the burning public opinion.
“Money doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Hold meetings with journalists. Online articles, communities, N-Tube, all of it. Use whatever you can, grow public opinion.”
But still, it’s Division 4.
Sooner or later, limits will show. And when that happens…
Lee Shin grinned mischievously and pointed at himself.
“Blame me.”
A unique character in the field of notoriety [Reputation 0]
Yet always the center of attention [Charm 101]
“Incitement, fabrication, criticism, all doesn’t matter. Use me however you want. The reactions will exceed anything you imagine.”
A virality cheat code.
This was the character I created: Lee Shin.
“Go. Make the whole world curse me.”
