6.

—Who's the most nervous person right now?

—Kim Buja?

—Correct.

Posts like this were making the rounds on the community forums. It made sense.

—Easy win or not, he went through all that trouble to beat Korea's ranking #1 and secure 20 points, only for the team match to become a total mood killer. It'd be even funnier if it was one of those 'they lost, but they fought well' situations.

—Yep. If the team match is worth more points, and first place gets 23 points while second gets 17, SJ wins in the end.

—On the flip side, Shin Hyeseong becomes the traitor for SJ.

—Both Shin Hyeseong and Kim Buja must be on edge. But since the team match is likely worth more, Buja is probably more nervous.

The feeling was a more intense version of what the team match participants were experiencing. For them, the result was completely out of their hands. At least the team members could look at the individual match results and find either despair or hope, resolving to fight to the death. But Kim Buja, having already secured his result and not even participating in the team match, had nothing to do.

That made it all the more entertaining for the spectators.

—The one match where the 1st place individual player has to pray the hardest.

—Breaking News: Kim Buja currently performing 108 bows at a temple.

—What are you talking about? I saw him at my church. He tithed a Legendary item.

Other people's suffering is its own form of entertainment. People were having fun using the anxious Kim Buja as a topic of conversation, more so than the team match itself.

Of course, they had no idea.

"Wow, who's gonna win? I'm actually curious," Kim Buja said, completely relaxed as he waited with a piece of chicken and a glass of beer.

He had never liked leaving things up to others or to fate. After getting the Gold Maker class, he'd had to accept and adapt to situations that relied heavily on luck, but he still disliked moments where his destiny was in someone else's hands.

This time was no different. If he could have, he would have participated in the team match himself. He would have blended in somehow, synchronized with the team, and used his abilities to strive for a first-place finish tailored to the match conditions. But he couldn't, because the Jeong Cheol Guild had its own circumstances, and he had no right to swoop in and snatch away the fruits of their five years of preparation.

To call it mere pride would be an understatement; the image the Jeong Cheol Guild would have to maintain for years, perhaps decades, was also on the line. When he calculated the monetary value of that image, he concluded that watching was the right call over participating once.

Of course, the biggest reason was that there was no guarantee of a first-place finish even if he did join. It was uncertain. If they won, the spotlight would be on him. If they lost, the ridicule and blame would be just as intense, if not several times worse.

This was actually more comfortable. The moment he accepted that, he also let go of the result in his heart.

"If they win, great. If they lose, it can't be helped. I got what I needed, so I'm fine."

To put it nicely, it was self-rationalization. It might seem pathetic, but he didn't care. Dwelling on a result that was already out of his hands would only make things harder on himself.

In reality, this was just the National Team Selection. It was a qualifier for a country that was no longer considered a powerhouse of rankers, a qualifier where nothing was really at stake in the grand scheme of things. The Korean public might be excited, but the rest of the world would just think, 'Oh, okay. Whoever goes will probably get cut before they even reach Fly.'

And in that qualifier, he had managed to imprint his existence on the Korean public. He had promoted his video channel and shown his potential. That was the difference between the main event and this provisional one: announcing yourself to Korea versus announcing yourself to the world. Even if the team match cost him the chance to announce himself to the world this time, it had been a magnificent debut.

Besides, hadn't he also received unexpected rewards? One level and 4,000 gold. Compared to the effort and fun, the reward was more than excessive. That's what made it possible.

His own way of rationalizing it.

And he was genuinely intrigued. "So the day the SJ Guild and the Jeong Cheol Guild finally face off has come."

Just as Jeong Seora had been a fan who diligently watched all of Kim Buja's videos, he too was one of the many who followed the power struggles between the domestic guilds with great interest. It would be a stretch to say he was a fan of the Jeong Cheol Guild, but he had always pictured that if anyone could stand up to the SJ Guild, it would be them. And now, that moment was finally here.

The most crucial point, the one everyone was watching with the greatest interest, would come down to one thing.

—So what kind of event is the team match going to be?

[The Preliminary Event Team Match (Provisional) has been activated.]

[Would you like to spectate?]

A hologram appeared, just like in the individual matches.

[The Team Match (Provisional) will now begin.]

[Drawing the map for the Team Match (Provisional).]

* * *

[The 'Defense Match' map has been selected.]

[There is 1 active map in the 'Team Match (Provisional)'.]

It was no surprise that the map was a limited one, but he was still curious.

"A defense match, huh," Kim Buja mused.

How would it play out? The map only amplified his curiosity, and his hand reached for his beer less and less.

'So this is what it feels like.'

This must be what it felt like to watch from the sidelines as others faced a fateful moment that could define the next year, or perhaps their entire lives. While he was technically in the same boat, his relationship with the Jeong Cheol Guild was one of mutual coexistence, not shared destiny. So, while he rooted for them, he also hoped for an entertaining match.

The hologram granted his wish in spectacular fashion.

[The 'Team Match (Provisional)' has begun.]

[Each team will be ranked based on their defense against waves of monsters. Points will accumulate based on the number of monsters killed per round, and rounds will continue until a final surviving team emerges. Each round has a time limit, and bonus points will be awarded for various factors.]

[Drawing 'Defense Points' for each team.]

"Wow, I wonder what kind of person designed this," Kim Buja said aloud.

It was a mode you'd see in plenty of games, but there was a world of difference between a plausible concept and its actual implementation. This was the kind of mode that would have stoked the competitive fires of countless players.

Moreover, the true highlight of this team match was the bonus points. They were the hidden variable that could bridge the performance gap created by class differences.

'If we make it…'

He couldn't let defeating the SJ Guild become his ultimate goal. He had to think beyond that.

'If I participate in the main event as the national representative and, by some miracle, run into Fly among the representatives from over two hundred countries… on the same map, under the same conditions, could I win?'

Only one strategy came to mind.

'Secure the individual match and forfeit the team match.'

It was a rational, realistic path to victory. Winning the individual match itself was far from certain, but carefully observing how the bonus point variable worked might create the smallest of openings—a sliver of hope—should he make it to the main event.

[Round 1 will now begin.]

[Time remaining until the next round: 6 hours]

While he was lost in thought, the team match began. Ten teams, ten defense points. The sheer absurdity of the assigned locations drew laughter from the viewers.

—Yo, where is that? LOL, defending in a reed field is hilarious.

—Isn't that actually a monster defense point? You can't even see the monsters coming.

—So this is basically just a trash game decided by RNG?

If the individual matches were about the thrill of seeing tiny variables emerge from a contest of pure skill, the team match was a thrilling, non-stop series of gambles. Everything from the defense points to the types of monsters was random. Though the monsters' stats were standardized, the feel of the battle was completely different for the players at each location. That was the appeal of the team match: how much synergy could a team generate from its given advantages or disadvantages?

His eyes immediately went to the defense points assigned to the SJ and Jeong Cheol Guilds.

"Wow."

It was unbelievable. Unbelievable in so many ways.

"They're both getting a taste of hell in those crappy spots."

You couldn't make this up. Out of ten teams, two received solid defensive positions, and five got decent ones. That left three teams with laughably bad locations, including the reed field, and two of them were none other than SJ and Jeong Cheol.

"Seriously, can they even take second place?" he muttered, clicking his tongue as monsters swarmed in, giving the teams no time to process their reality.

No matter how much people predicted a two-way race, the other guilds were all major players in their own right. The second-ranked guild, in particular, had its pride on the line and would be fighting tooth and nail. A school playground and a cave with openings on all sides. As his interest piqued, the clash began.

* * *

In this day and age, the formula 'Guild = Party' no longer holds true. While most of the world's top guilds operate with parties formed from their own members, it's rare for regular guildmates to party up and clear a dungeon.

The reason is simple, and it isn't a lack of camaraderie; it's levels.

The wide disparity in levels among members is a major obstacle. Furthermore, unless a guild evolved from a single, pre-existing party, most members joined for personal gain after awakening and growing at their own pace. Such players usually have their own fixed parties outside the guild.

In a world where they say you can't even trust your family inside a dungeon, the value of a reliable teammate is immeasurable. So, you're going to enter a dungeon with total strangers, bound only by a guild tag? You'd be lucky to perform at seventy percent of your capacity; it wouldn't be surprising if the conflict created negative synergy that got you killed.

That was why the SJ Guild was number one. It was also why the Jeong Cheol Guild, despite its small, elite roster, held the third spot—and for the past two years, had been widely considered the unofficial number two.

Even with terrible defense points, the rapport they'd built over time was on another level. They couldn't be compared to other guilds whose members only occasionally met up to practice. Even with similar levels and better class compositions, the difference was clear.

—It's true, no one can touch SJ and Jeong Cheol when it comes to guild content.

An average-difficulty challenge wouldn't have been a problem. The levels were similar, and the top ten guilds all had well-structured class compositions. But when the difficulty soared past average and monsters that made players grimace appeared from the very first round, the situation changed entirely.

"Block them over there!"

"This way! Help!"

In the heat of a life-or-death battle, there were inevitable delays between clear orders and their execution. A one-second lag. The difficulty of the team match was so high that it wouldn't tolerate even that.

The first round's monster wave lasted for three hours. The result—a shocking three teams eliminated—only fueled the crowd's excitement.

* * *

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