The Perfect Counter
In a quiet corner of the studio.
As the broadcast entered a new phase with questions about Hunters turning into pure entertainment and taking sharp aim at the Guild Sniping angle, Chae Dong-ha watched with a deeply uncomfortable expression.
“Vice-Guild Leader, what’s with that face? Is there something you don’t like…?”
“No. I like it.”
“Then are you feeling sick?”
“Haha, maybe I ate something bad for lunch? My stomach’s a little upset. Don’t worry about it.”
He hadn’t eaten anything wrong.
Chae Dong-ha was simply dying of embarrassment because he was the one who had typed the question [As the God of Voice, are there any Hunters in League 2 that particularly catch your eye lately? lol].
‘The destructive power of a voice and the destructive power of text are on completely different levels. Blegh.’
It had only been the day before yesterday that he and Lee Shin had cooked up this childish scheme. Right after Yun Cho-a had cleaned up all the circulating controversies.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
Lee Shin, who prided himself on a sense of fairness that would make even Hammurabi weep, had declared he couldn’t just let this slide.
If they threw controversy at him, he’d return it with controversy! If they poked him childishly, he’d poke back just as childishly! If I suffered, you should suffer too. Who the hell just takes a dump and runs?
However, even Chae Dong-ha had to raise an objection at this part.
‘We don’t even know who the culprit is. Who exactly are we supposed to be getting revenge on? It still feels ridiculous.’
Sure, revenge was fine. Collecting the bill and squeezing them dry was all good, but did they actually know who the culprit was? They didn’t. Nothing had been confirmed.
Of course, for Lee Shin—the living incarnation of dirty tricks—and Chae Dong-ha, the genius vice-leader who would one day succeed him, guessing whose handiwork this was wasn’t difficult at all.
‘It’s probably one of the people from Ido Group.’
The one who benefits when trouble erupts is the culprit.
If Mir Guild shook from this incident, who stood to gain? The promotion contenders in League 2. And the vast majority of them would be the ‘Ido Group’s children’ who had gone all-in this season.
‘If it wasn’t them, there’d be no reason to waste this much time and money.’
Still, that was only a suspicion.
After all, there was no evidence. No evidence at all.
The moment Chae Dong-ha said that, Lee Shin had immediately done something bizarre…
‘Who the hell suddenly slaps their own face?’
He had hit himself hard enough to draw tears.
The victim’s tears were the evidence, apparently?
And the logic that followed had been truly a masterpiece.
It was so astonishing that Chae Dong-ha, who thought nothing could surprise him anymore, had actually looked up the phone number for a psychiatric hospital for the first time in a long while.
What had he said again?
The conclusion was simple.
‘So since we don’t need to distinguish between allies and enemies anyway, instead of wasting time looking for justification, we can just shoot wildly.’
It was ridiculous, but perhaps that was exactly why it felt so Lee Shin.
His brain knew it was insane, yet his heart somehow accepted it.
It was fun, after all. Let’s have a drink.
In terms of pure entertainment, Lee Shin was currently reaching a career high today.
Who could have imagined it?
The representative of a guild that had held first place in League 2 throughout the entire season appearing on air and openly saying, “No, that’s not how you do it!” while dissing an entire guild. This completely unhinged situation.
That said, Lee Shin wasn’t the type to spout nonsense.
“Why is the White Snake Guild disappointing? It’s simple. They ignore the Hunters’ individual tendencies and only chase what they’re good at. What’s wrong with doing what you’re good at? Isn’t that what you always say, Lee Shin? Focus on your strengths rather than covering your weaknesses? Why is that suddenly wrong?”
“You’re right. You’re completely right! If this were a lower league where you only had to do your own thing, that approach would work.”
He snapped his fingers once, and an old-fashioned chalkboard was brought in.
Lee Shin rolled up his sleeves and picked up a piece of chalk.
“Before I begin, it’d be good if you kept this in mind. Guilds never throw together a raid squad arbitrarily. No matter how much the fans curse us, we’re still professionals. There are many details, but just remember these two things.”
“Core and concept.”
The core was the Hunter who would become the center of the raid squad.
The concept was exactly what it sounded like—the personality of the raid squad.
“Sometimes you pick the core first and build a concept around it. Other times, you decide on a concept and then select a core to fit it. The order doesn’t matter. What’s important is that these two can never be separated.”
“And what I’m going to talk about here is ‘concept.’ The White Snake Guild’s core is one thing, but fundamentally, their concept construction is wrong from the start.”
If there were a hundred teams, there would be a hundred different concepts. Pinpointing a guild’s concept wasn’t easy, and explaining it all here would cause everyone to collapse from information overload.
‘Whoa, this is some ancient insider knowledge. Scary!’ and then they’d run away.
So Lee Shin explained it as simply as possible, just like when he used to teach beginners back in the day.
“You only need to know three basic concepts. Rush, poke, and defense.”
“Rush is charging in. Poke is harassing the opponent using long range, and defense is literally setting up a guard and holding out.”
“All concepts can be seen as derivatives of these three fundamentals.”
And the White Snake Guild’s basic tactic was the ‘rush concept.’
They ended the laning phase standoff quickly and went straight into 2v2 or 3v3 skirmishes, then in the late game, they smashed into full 5v5 teamfights.
To enable this endless fighting, the White Snake Guild had packed their squad full of combat-oriented Hunters.
And at the center of it all—the core—was the jungler.
Among all the FA items this season, he was a top-three melee dealer in the jungle position. Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon.
“The White Snake Guild starts from Bi-yeon’s growth. Until the 5-minute mark, he focuses on quickly clearing monsters along his path with his signature Seven Star Sword to solidify their foundation.”
“Then, after receiving additional buffs, he begins intervening in the lanes in earnest, and that’s when the real Seven Star Sword play begins.”
The basic strategy was to use the overwhelming attack power of the Seven Star Sword, which delivered seven consecutive strikes with a single draw, to crush every lane.
“Cut off the opponent’s early growth at the roots, then later charge in with a fully grown Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon leading the way. That’s the best approach.”
“If the opponent holds out a little? The main force holds mid while Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon rotates between top and bottom for side lane operations.”
This was the victory formula of the White Snake Guild, built around the named first-tier swordsman Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon as their core.
At the same time—
“This is also the White Snake Guild’s weakness.”
The victory formula becoming a weakness? It was a statement that was hard to understand at first.
The chat window was filled with question marks, but Lee Shin’s next words quickly turned those question marks into exclamation points.
“Bi-yeon is a swordsman. If we must classify him, he’s a burst-damage assassin type. And these assassin types, with very few exceptions, have a chronic weakness.”
“They’re fragile.”
The rush concept required bodies to go in.
But if the body was weak? They’d get slaughtered in an instant.
It was a common mistake even among beginner representatives in GM. Mistaking an assassin character’s killing power as suitable for rushing.
“Up to this point, it’s understandable. League is a team game, right? With four teammates, you can cover the weakness.”
“But when you look again, the laners chosen to utilize Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon 100 percent are utility resources focused on defense, initiation, or CC rather than attack power. Oh no!”
To exaggerate slightly, the laners were all assigned to support roles for Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon.
“It’s fine. As I said again, we’re not playing solo, right? We can all come together and change our style… but what did I say was this guild’s problem?”
“Right. That they only do what they’re good at.”
Only doing what they’re good at.
This seemingly correct proposition became a flaw precisely in situations like this. When change was needed, but they were only doing the roles they could handle.
It was selfish. It meant they weren’t willing to bear any risk.
Naturally, that burden fell entirely on the squad’s core, Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon.
“It’s quite a burdensome concept, and his teammates are only looking at him. So Bi-yeon thinks this.”
“I have to do everything myself. The proof is in these bizarre numbers.”
Win rate when Bi-yeon got 3 kills within 15 minutes: 87%.
Lose rate when Bi-yeon got 0 kills within 15 minutes: 83%.
“It’s crazy. The fact that these kinds of numbers are appearing in League 2 itself is the reason I singled out this guild. I criticized them for only doing what they’re good at, but the laners in mid and top here are by no means lacking Hunters, right?”
“This is when the representative needs to step in and coordinate. If changing the concept is too difficult, then change the playstyle. If even that doesn’t work, they should’ve done whatever it took—even rolling up their equipment like a scroll—to reduce this monotonous gameplay and abnormal burden. It’s the guild’s fault.”
It was the guild’s fault.
Those with sharp senses might have already noticed.
Yes, Lee Shin was speaking strictly from the perspective of the individual Hunter.
If you’re not satisfied with your current play, it’s not your fault—it’s entirely the guild’s fault. The guild failed to utilize you properly and didn’t build a strategy centered around you.
It didn’t mean much. It was a kind of petty revenge.
Of course, that didn’t mean what he was saying now was false or fabricated nonsense just to diss them.
While Lee Shin’s view was somewhat biased, it was still quite reasonable and effective… the kind of insight that could only come from a true veteran of the game.
Real pros don’t lie about games. They have pride. And if the squad was truly coordinated and the burden reduced the way Lee Shin suggested, they would see dramatic growth.
‘If they can actually coordinate, that is.’
Lee Shin smirked.
Shall we wrap up this show with a finale?
Lee Shin gave Chae Dong-ha a meaningful look. Chae Dong-ha let out a deep sigh, tapped on his phone, and…
A moment later, a comment appeared in chat.
What’s with the cute emoticon?
Lee Shin chuckled and said what he had prepared.
As he had said before, in this kind of public opinion war, facts were like an all-purpose trump card.
Scattered, messy information could all be turned into truth with a single fact, creating a miraculous reversal—and even justification could be manufactured.
“Hmm, I see. I talked too much, which isn’t like me. Right?”
Lee Shin held up the back of his hand toward the camera and spread three fingers.
“Vague explanations are hard for you all to follow, so I’ll make it extremely simple. Simple enough for a five-year-old to understand.”
He folded his ring finger.
“First, do not fight Seven Star Sword Bi-yeon within 15 minutes.”
He folded his middle finger.
“Second, secure one large object within 15 minutes.”
Finally, he folded his index finger.
“Third, drag the game out past the 40-minute mark.”
Lee Shin flashed a refreshing smile at the camera.
“That’s all there is to beating the White Snake Guild.”
Four days later.
Round 21 VS
The 7th place guild that Lee Shin had just passionately criticized, and the second Ido Derby.
“I’ll show you then. Whether my words were true or false.”
Lee Shin smiled brightly, draped his coat over his shoulders, and disappeared. He threw the doors open with both hands and exited like a scene from a movie.
The moment he left, the frozen chat window exploded all at once.
Comments flooded in endlessly.
Today as well, Lee Shin had torn this scene apart.