The Sunbin Guild became very busy. They had decided to crush the three-guild alliance once and for all. There was Song Daechul’s special order to consider, as well.
—
Back at the meeting…
“Good, good. Then, do all of you know what it means to crush our opponents to the point that they can’t counterattack?” Song Daechul asked as he scanned the room.
“We just need to do as Haechang says: gather everything we have in our arsenal and attack with…”
“Tsk tsk tsk.” Song Daechul cut his officer off by clicking his tongue. “Haechang’s observation is the closest to what Sunbin should do, except for one part.”
The officers whispered among each other at what Song Daechul said, but they couldn’t figure out what he meant. That is, except for Lee Jiwon.
Song Daechul turned to Lee Jiwon before speaking, “Do you know what is missing, Jiwon?”
“I think so.”
“What do you think it is?”
“A victory by a landslide means defeating our opponents so much that they won’t ever try anything like this ever again. That means we have to show them the difference in our strengths. We have to show them we can crush them without so much as lifting a finger.”
Song Daechul chuckled. That was the answer he was looking for. He quickly erased his smile and shouted to his officers, “Be strong and bold! Don’t be shaken by their petty incitements! We are Sunbin!”
Song Daechul hadn’t been satisfied with his officers lately, including his own son. Their opponents might be Cheng Long and Nayuta, but petty incitements were still petty. They weren’t full scale battles; they were minor attacks that were to be expected for a guild as large as Sunbin. They were just trying to get a rise out of Sunbin, and to be caught up in the flow of these attacks was embarrassing, to say the least. However, Song Daechul decided not to educate his officers, as this was the perfect chance for them to learn on their own.
“It’s laughable to think that we need to go all out against their petty provocations! That is not the Sunbin I know. Don’t act any different than any other day. Don’t show them that you’re nervous. Don’t even be nervous. Why? Because they are a minor problem! Whatever they do will amount to nothing!”
“…” Song Daechul’s officers fell silent from embarrassment at his admonishing. All they had been doing so far was trying to find the most peaceful solution possible. They had thought that was their best recourse, but they should have realized that it wasn’t much sooner.
“Five thousand! Prepare five thousand of our best soldiers. Everyone else will carry on as normal! No matter how large our enemies’ army is, five thousand will be enough! Show them that we can crush them with only that much. The Sunbin I know is capable of that; does anyone here think otherwise?”
“No sir!”
“Our five thousand soldiers will fight with the ferocity of five hundred thousand!” the officers shouted in response.
Song Daechul just looked on as if that much was obvious.
—
“Damn…should I take a class somewhere or something?” I was in the room the Sunbin Guild had prepared for me and thought back to Song Daechul’s little speech and how vitalizing it was. He whipped his officers back into shape with just a few words. That was when I realized that if I ever became his enemy, the entire Sunbin Guild would rain down on me in full force without hesitation.
“But!” I tightly balled my hand into a fist. “I won’t be giving up the limelight!” The upcoming battle between the Sunbin Guild and the three guilds was the most talked about issue in South Korea, if not the rest of the world. I wanted to shift that attention from the Sunbin Guild to me instead, so that my mom and Lee Kangchan would know who I was and what I was capable of. Of course, the reasons for each person was different.
And so, I decided to call a few places myself.
“I’m happier that I finally have a chance to repay you for everything.”
“Of course we’ll be there.”
“We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Cheng Long and Nayuta are involved. It’s okay if you don’t wish to come.”
“That matters little to us.”
“We already vowed that we would stay by your side in your time of need.”
“We hold you highly enough that we’re willing to take that risk.”
“Thank you.” All three of the places I’d asked agreed to help in any way they could without hesitation. I made sure to let them know that we were to show no mercy to our enemies and my three friends agreed to follow my lead no matter what.
The only reason I called upon my three friends was to make sure I was the star of the upcoming battle. If it were just me helping the Sunbin Guild, only the Sunbin Guild would get all the recognition as the victor, no matter how hard I fought and showed off my skills.
That was why I purposely got more people involved. Of course, I did act with Song Daechul’s and Song Myungsoo’s approval. Showing that the Sunbin Guild had allies like these would also serve to intimidate our enemies!
“Lee Kangchan, I will show you why it was a mistake to go to the Yung Gong Guild to get stronger.” Lee Kangchan had to have been promised something in return for taking his guild’s elites to Yung Gong. He must have believed that Yung Gong was strong enough, and I wanted to crush his hopes for good. If the Sojung Guild was involved in any way, then that was even better. I wanted to see their faces red with anger and embarrassment.
“I can wait a week if it means I can have vengeance.” And so, I spent the next week preparing this and that for the coming battle to make sure we would come out victorious.
—
One week later…
On a huge, open lot located near the Sunbin Guild’s headquarters, five thousand of the Sunbin Guild’s elites were gathered in formation. Off in the distance, a huge number of devas and mortals were on a hill, overlooking the open lot. They all knew about the Yung Gong Guild’s attacks against the Sunbin Guild and about Cheng Long’s and Nayuta’s involvement. This battle was what everyone had been waiting for, and many were curious as to how it would turn out. Among the crowd were spies from many guilds around the world, including spies from Yung Gong, Cheng Long, and Nayuta.
“They’re all obviously the elite of the elites, aren’t they?”
“Of course they are. Just look at how battle-ready they are. There’s no way any of them are rookies.”
“But what do they expect to do with just five thousand soldiers?”
“I know, right? The other side has already revealed their numbers. Forty thousand from Yung Gong, ten thousand each from Cheng Long and Nayuta, and thirty thousand other mercenaries from smaller guilds; that’s ninety thousand strong!”
“But I’m sure than many of Yung Gong’s soldiers just became devas. They’re planning on winning by sheer numbers alone.”
“Still… the devas of the other guilds should be the real deal. At least half of Yung Gong soldiers seem to be veterans.”
“Either way, doesn’t five thousand seem way too few to go up against Yung Gong alone, even if they are elites?”
“You think so too, huh? If they’re thinking of dealing with this in a peaceful way, there’s no need to put on a show like this. I have no idea what they’re thinking.”
The spectators wondered what the point of this show was, but no one seemed to believe that the five thousand-strong Sunbin army could ever win. They were going up against an army almost twenty times its size.
Just then, someone exited the Sunbin Guild’s building and shouted clearly to the five thousand soldiers. It was Song Myungsoo, the vice-master of the Sunbin Guild.
“Listen up!”
“Sir!” the soldiers replied in unison. The soldiers’ energy was so powerful that it shocked even the spectators off in the distance. It was enough to shut up a few who were whispering to each other.
“We’ve ignored their cute antics all this time. We had no reason to react to them. But they have been wanting to play with us so badly lately; that is why we are here today. We can do that much, can’t we?!”
“Yah!”
“I wondered if it was right to go this extent just for some playtime ,but after careful planning, you all have been lucky enough to be chosen for today! Are you ready to go play?!”
“Yes, sir! We’re ready, sir!”
“Good. Let’s go! Let’s go have some fun!”
“Rah!” the five thousand soldiers shouted in unison, but that wasn’t the problem.
“…” The spectators who had much to say a few minutes before were speechless. They had believed that the Sunbin Guild had been quiet all this time because it was unsure of how to react. The losses from a full-scale guild war were too great, even for a guild as powerful as Sunbin.
That was why many smaller guilds had allied themselves with Yung Gong, as they had been promised access to the mid-grade dungeon in Jeju Island. However, Song Myungsoo’s speech showed them that they had been wrong this whole time. The speech proved to them that everything had been petty provocations this whole time, and that Cheng Long and Nayuta only had mercenaries to their names.
“Five thousand, huh…?”
“It should be enough. If he said his speech in front of his entire army, it would be hard to believe. But I can believe him with five thousand soldiers.”
“But will five thousand be enough for the Sunbin Guild? They’re still going up against ninety thousand.”
“If Sunbin can pull it off with five thousand, their names will go down in history. If they can’t, they know they’ll become the laughing stock of the country.”
“The Sunbin Guild made its choice, as burdensome as it is.”
“Leave it to them to come up with something as crazy as this.”
“Yup. Besides, even if Sunbin loses, I don’t think Cheng Long and Nayuta will pull any sort of crap against Sunbin ever again.”
“That’s true. This just proves that Sunbin won’t ever back down and is willing to fight back even harder.”
The spectators and spies from other guilds could only treat the Sunbin Guild with even more respect. Win or lose, the Sunbin Guild would actually come out as the victor.
However, no one knew that Lee Jiwon was there as well…
——
The Sunbin Guild’s army quickly followed Song Myungsoo out of the lot and headed for the Yung Gong Guild’s domain. Fully intending to show the true extent of their power, the soldiers slowly marched south, with the entire nation’s attention on them.
It was an excellent decision made on their part, as many admired their conviction.
On the other hand, the Yung Gong Guild began to feel afraid and pressured as the five thousand soldiers grew ever closer…
