A few days before the incident.
The beginning of everything started with this woman, walking through the villa district of Sinchon, Seoul, her face covered with a mask.
“…….”
The woman briefly checked the route on her map app, then continued walking. This area was dominated more by nearby university students than office workers. Perhaps that was why, among the students shining with the color of youth, the woman in a black suit seemed out of place.
One could say a colorless human had suddenly fallen into a world of full color.
― “Sister, can you find someone for me? It’s probably an SBC PD by now. Yeah, SBC broadcasting station. Name’s Choi Bulgul.”
The woman turned into an alley. Walls rose sharply on both sides, casting deep shadows. A blind spot in the city, the back end of society—but the colorless woman was naturally a shadow. Darkness was her camouflage, and this kind of blind spot was her field.
The black suit, which had seemed alien, now wrapped around her like protective coloration, and she melted into the darkness.
― “Already found him? Wow~ amazing, sister, you’re the best! Come to think of it, you’ve never taken a vacation, right? Wait a second. Here’s a bonus. Since you worked hard, go to Seoul, see your family, and relax for a week. But…….”
― “Deliver this.”
When the woman reached her destination, she looked around.
An old four-story villa without a shared entrance, which nowadays was considered essential. She habitually checked the cameras and didn’t forget the black box parked in the lot.
She pulled her black latex gloves up to her wrists and searched the mailbox labeled “404.”
Choi Bulgul. Confirmed.
After extracting some information, she climbed the stairs and stood at the door. She pressed the bell. For a moment, the unpleasant sound of the old-fashioned bell rang.
“Who is it?”
The door opened with a voice heavy with fatigue.
Comparing the man’s face with the photo in her memory, she completed her final confirmation and silently handed an envelope containing a USB to Choi Bulgul before turning away.
“Uh…… huh? Hey, what is this?”
Still half-asleep, Choi Bulgul stared blankly at the place where the woman had disappeared, then realized the envelope contained a USB.
And a moment later, when he checked the files on the USB…he was horrified.
“……Th-this is!”
It was the full story of a massive delivery scandal that would soon devastate Busan.
________________________________________
Yeongdeok Potion Factory, Busan.
― On the rooftop of a slightly separated three-story building. The factory owner could only hide and watch like a mouse as gangsters called “The People’s Cane” destroyed their world.
“Search warrant. Step aside.”
The factory owner looked up at the sky with no shame at all because he had truly done nothing wrong.
Sure, when he inherited the factory from his father six years ago, he did some minor tax evasion, but isn’t that what everyone does?
As an executive of a small golf club for factory owners, he had discussed owners’ rights. Constructive conversations to avoid excessive competition. Talking isn’t a crime, right?
Some guilds showing small “courtesies” during this process was common in the local community where everyone knew each other. Totally fine.
Of course, slightly omitting potion ingredient labels was wrong. But the economy got tough, what could he do! As long as the potion healed, that’s all that mattered. Effects were fine. Probably……
There were other things, countless things that flashed through his mind, but his sense of injustice remained because it had been done since his father’s time.
He had done nothing wrong. He had learned this way and worked accordingly; what was wrong? Even thinking back, he had no shame when looking at the sky.
Then why? If he was so upright, why was he hiding now? No conscience but intelligence, maybe?
Anyway, what did it matter? The law said it all.
You are X-ed.
As the blue boxes full of documents, seen only on the news, piled up in the van, the factory owner’s fingernails ground down short. His mouth went dry. Why was cold sweat streaming down, soaking his neck and shoulders as if they’d been rained on?
“How… how…”
What should I do?
The factory owner repeated “how” like a broken doll and looked around the factory, finally stopping at the employees standing idly in the yard.
Betrayal made the back of his head burn. He considered them family……!
But, had they thought of it, they would have said:
Family? Aren’t you kidding?
“I knew this would happen someday. Gotta take what I can. Tch!”
“Luckily it happened after payday.”
“Where are you going, Hyosung?”
“I’m going to the Mir Guild. I heard they’re hiring newbies lately.”
Negotiations dragged each year over minimum wage.
They wanted little, just enough motivation to improve gradually every year. But why, always around this time, did the company suddenly struggle? Mystery.
Whenever pay might slightly increase, colleagues disappeared.
Leaving one to do the work of two, and then saying, “We raised your salary, didn’t we?”—such audacity.
Recently, the young blue-blooded factory owner’s son even made a fuss under the guise of “director,” so employees individually searched for escape routes.
Now, they could trust only themselves. The factory owner leaned against a wall, holding his phone—numbers of golf club friends.
“Answer the call.”
In the end, it was meaningless because the situation on the other side was worse.
― “Do-you know who I am! I, I’m talking to your chief!! Let go!!”
― “Prosecutor, I’m really innocent. If you talk to me alone, you’ll see my injustice. Aaah! Handcuffs!”
Thanks to his quick wits, the factory owner managed to remain physically free, while all other golf club friends were heading to the prosecution.
Isolated in the dark the factory owner dialed with trembling fingers, clutching hope.
Scavenger. The famous information guild of Seoul.
The factory owner held the phone with both hands and silently wept in prayer. Please. Please. Save me.
Finally, it seemed God responded to his desperation—
― “Hello?”
“Uh, President Jung! I’m the owner of Yeongdeok Potion Factory. In Busan. Our factory is being investigated…”
― “What are you saying? Annoying.”
Beep… beep…
Just now, he had been abandoned by God.
Instead, someone else was called in.
-Tap. Tap.
Someone hit his head. Hit it…?
He was on the rooftop, leaning against a wall; could someone really hit him here?
Startled, he looked up and locked eyes with a prosecutor flying in the sky with “Fly” magic.
“Yong Dae-ho, let’s talk.”
The factory owner sensed the future.
The look in the prosecutor’s eyes staring down at him from the void was: contempt.
________________________________________
[We promise new experiences every season.]
The phrase appeared on the GM’s loading screen.
New players might think, “Looks like the admins care,” and ignore it but soon they’d realize the word missing in that sentence.
One-dimensional: “infuriating.”
More crudely: “shitty.”
In foreign words: “F**ing God” or “holy sht!”
GM’s nerds (admins) shocked players every season in new ways.
An information guild conducting dirty dealings under the surface, monsters invading reality in Monster Waves, villain attacks straight to annihilation endings.
The GM collectively called all these infuriating experiences “random events.”
The “Busan Delivery Gate” was one such random event.
[ Insertions, bribery demands, rebates, collusion—everything possible done! ]
[ SBC <3 Days of Pursuit> ‘19.5% viewership’ investigative reporting’s merit ]
[ Busan’s M Guild leader: “Things had to explode, self-regulation needed.”]
•
•
[ Central Awakening Management Headquarters: “Strong investigation demanded for the safety of Busan hunters.” ]
Local suppliers controlling potions, scrolls, thrown weapons, combat rations, and other raid supplies, manipulating guilds—the unprecedented incident.
The key point: reversal of power between “A and B.”
Suppliers, always in the “B” position, were surprisingly strong when united; the admins wanted to show the power of cartels in the local community.
Of course, the conclusion was criminal overreach, caught running a private gambling house like a certain information guild “cleaner,” ending in handcuffs. But for Lee Shin (17), already cynical about society, it was an impressive event.
“And this Busan delivery corruption event happens two years later.”
Yes.
The Busan Delivery Gate was originally meant to ignite in earnest two years later.
Interestingly, this event was connected to the Mir Guild.
It was this delivery gate that sentenced the persistent Mir Guild to death.
As a side note, the Busan guild scene went into complete stagnation after this incident, and the Mir Guild can be seen as the signal.
“This is only the beginning, though……”
Anyway, Lee Shin triggered this early, immature random event, a kind of real-life cheat code.
In games, random events trigger based on play style, timeline, and conditions, but in reality, there are signs and stages.
“Normally, an event of this scale doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.”
When commuting to Guro-gu, Lee Shin, due to his job, had seen various companies through outsourcing contracts, and for just a few cigarettes, he learned how different shady dealings were carried out.
Using this information, he predicted the final evolved form of the “Busan Delivery Gate.”
If it hadn’t started by now, it wouldn’t make sense!
“Hohoho……”
“……What are you doing? Why are your hands twisted like that, and why is your face covered?”
“Playing the villain male lead.”
“…….”
Chae Dong-ha turned around as he was and closed the door behind him.
“Heh heh,” Lee Shin immersed himself once again in his “mastermind” play.
For Lee Shin the moment he held the key to the incident in his hands this event became a weapon.
He could use it in advance to gain fame, cover up a troublesome issue, or manipulate it for profit.
For example, in this case, it meant there was no problem in adding a few arrogant clients—who informed him of the contract cancellation without a single apology—to a corruption list.
‘Will there really be no dust left if I shake them down? These local companies are rooted in the idea that “what’s good is good.”’
It had always been like that.
Whether it was a sense of victimhood from growing up without parents, or a complex from a poor upbringing, Lee Shin could not tolerate being wronged.
Even though he grew up in the same environment, his older brother was famous for being kind and good-natured, which might mean that Lee Shin himself was just twisted.
But so what? That’s how he was born.
He returned everything he suffered.
If one thing was taken from him, he would take two; if two were taken, he would take four.
If he could not take it back, then at least they would die together. At the very least, he would clearly show that if you intend to torment me, you must be prepared to face the consequences.
Yes, this is that person.
The one who silenced the mouths of those mocking him as the son of a eunuch after destroying a kingdom!
The person Lee Shin respected most as a child, his ultimate pick.
“…I will become Cao Cao.”
Lord Cao Cao said: Even if I abandon the world, I will not allow the world to abandon me.
Lee Shin once again armed himself mentally with that teaching.
Even if I abandon you, I will not allow you to abandon me.
Yet, if you do abandon me?
‘I swear on my grandfather’s honor, I will make you suffer.’
Kekekkkk…kekkkk hahahahahaha—I am Cao Cao aaah cough cough!—puhahaha…
“What… what is that sound… Vice Director?”
“Please, just pass by.”
And not long after, ominous signs began to appear.
