A Ranker's Weak Point
Yido Motors President's Office
“......They take the set victory from Mir Guild!!”
“That’s it! That’s what I’m talking about!”
Lee Chan-bin clapped his hands in delight at his son’s victory. Truth be told, he was even happier about that worthless bastard’s defeat.
“How dare that arrogant prick ignore me?”
The memory was still vivid. That disgusting face asking, ‘What should we do, President? Uncle?’ The damn brat.
“Even his annoying habits are exactly like his father’s. Tsk. Hey! Bring me some liquor.”
He flopped down into his seat.
Soon his attendants brought a drinking table, and he lit a cigar while raising a glass of amber whiskey to his lips.
“Khh… Now I feel alive.”
It had been several years since Chairman Lee Sang-byuk declared he would fulfill his long-cherished dream of owning a guild. In the empire called Yido, Lee Sang-byuk’s words were absolute priority, and from that day forward the entire group had poured every resource into making the emperor’s dream reality.
Every executive and entry-level employee across all subsidiaries.
Every single physical and human asset bearing the name ‘Yido’ had been funneled into the guild project.
Astronomical funds. Group-wide personnel.
A true all-or-nothing endeavor.
That was how outsiders viewed the Lee Group’s guild business.
“Heh heh. A dream? You think a man like my father would move for something so lukewarm?”
To Lee Chan-bin it was something else entirely. For the heirs competing to inherit the empire, this was war.
Each mobilized every connection they had, acquiring guilds, pouring in support, and expanding their forces. They competed until only the final survivor claimed everything in a winner-takes-all succession war.
“Weed out the old-generation executives who can’t keep up, purge any impure elements harboring foolish thoughts during the chaos, and tighten the group’s loosened discipline through internal competition.”
“Just how many moves ahead is he looking? Seriously, he’s my own father but he’s terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.”
In any case, thanks to his son Lee Myeong-hwan’s strong performance in this succession race, Lee Chan-bin had gained quite a lot.
If nothing else, simply shutting the mouths of that sneaky third son and the irritating fourth was a huge achievement.
The only regret was…
“Tsk. If only it weren’t for that worthless bastard, we could have crushed the eldest, too.”
Lee Chan-bin had always believed he had overwhelmingly outperformed his brothers in producing superior children. That was why he had thought this war would be the perfect chance to shatter Lee Young-bin’s obnoxious pride.
But an entirely unexpected variable had appeared.
The one currently on the TV—Lee Shin.
Who could have predicted it? While Lee Myeong-hwan narrowly failed to breach the wall of the First Division, that bastard had clawed his way up from the Fourth Division with ferocious tenacity and seized first place this season.
“I still can’t believe it. That worthless punk actually had talent for guilds.”
He hated to admit it, but the kid might genuinely be a genius.
The way he ignored all prejudice and conditions and dragged everything onto his own pace was proof enough.
“……Well, I’ll acknowledge the talent.”
In the end, the one who wins this arena is the one who receives recognition.
And right now, the winner was Lee Myeong-hwan.
“Round 50 Finals. The winner of that nail-biting first set is Dynasty Guild. This is announcer Choi Hee-ra. Hello to our analysts.”
“Hello. Analyst Im Cho-rong here.”
“Good evening. Analyst Han Sang-soo.”
“Let’s get right into the match. What are your thoughts on this game?”
“First of all, I want to say thank you to the Yido Group. Without their aggressive investment, we wouldn’t be watching such an incredible match in League 2.”
“In that case, I’d like to praise ‘Electro’ Jeon Jin-woong on a match level. I believe this game was completely dominated by Electro. Just look at this.”
The points the experts unanimously highlighted in this match were as follows.
First. Could they stop Hwarang’s side push?
Second. How well could Yu Ri-ra perform against Ssaurabi?
Third. What kind of impact would the monster Park Su-bin show?
“We have to give credit where it’s due. At this point, the most reliable card in Mir Guild is the monster Park Su-bin alone. There’s no way the famously intelligent Electro would miss that. He used the lightning faction’s signature rapid attacks to pin Park Su-bin down in mid lane.”
“That’s a very important point. If I may add to Analyst Im Cho-rong’s opinion, Electro isn’t simply an excellent mid—he’s a smart mid who also serves as the shot caller.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Please look at the map here.”
The map enlarged and the footage sped up. The movement paths of each player appeared as dots, instantly readable even to Lee Chan-bin, who had only studied the matches sporadically out of mild interest.
“They’re ignoring mid.”
Exactly.
The noteworthy part was Dynasty’s movement. They were completely ignoring mid and focusing exclusively on the side lanes.
“Electro is famous for using this ace-isolation strategy brilliantly even in League 1. It didn’t work against the top guilds that field two or three aces, which is why some called it a shame… but this is League 2.”
“That’s an extremely accurate point. It’s not for nothing that experts are calling this match ‘Hwarang versus the Monster.’ Those two are each guild’s strongest weapon, and that’s exactly what Electro Jeon Jin-woong judged.”
If the monster stayed silent, the dragon could not fly.
Not a bad metaphor, that analyst.
Thick cigar smoke curled up between Lee Chan-bin’s smiles.
“The truly interesting part here is Mir Guild’s choice. I naturally assumed they would push mid. But what did they do? They went bot. It was Yu Ri-ra.”
“Yes, I thought the same. Mir Guild is famous for selection and focus. Usually in these situations they maximize their strengths rather than cover weaknesses, but this time was different.”
“While Dynasty operated on the sides, Mir Guild obsessively targeted bot. What I’m curious about is whether they went there to protect Yu Ri-ra or to hunt Ssaurabi Kang Han-bi.”
“Does that make a big difference?”
“It does.”
Because the strategic focus was either protection or elimination.
And in that process—
“Ssaurabi was unnaturally helpless.”
“Correct. Two deaths. It’s a number that could be overlooked, but for Ssaurabi it felt off somehow.”
“If they went bot to protect Yu Ri-ra, it means Ssaurabi’s condition is at an all-time low.”
“But if they focused bot to target Kang Han-bi……”
“Then?”
“……Hm. This is cautious speculation, but it would mean Mir Guild knows a weakness of Ssaurabi that we don’t.”
“And quite a significant one at that.”
BANG—!!
“Weakness? Weakness?! A ranker who can’t even do his job properly!!”
Come to think of it, the match had been flowing smoothly until that guy dragged it out. It had nearly turned into a comeback.
If Hwarang and Electro hadn’t shone in the final team fight, the outcome might have been different.
“Still, it was fortunate for Dynasty that Electro was in such good form.”
“Looking at it the other way, the shock to Mir Guild must have been even greater. After all, if you exclude mid, there’s a clear weight-class difference between the two guilds.”
“They’re probably feeling the heat right now. No matter what the strategic focus was, they couldn’t overcome the difference in bot lane.”
“Yeah, well, they won in the end.”
In the sense that they had shown hope and then crushed it, it was actually better this way.
Besides, this was those kids’ first loss, wasn’t it? They hadn’t dropped a single set since League 4, yet they lost the very first set of the final match in the last league. He could only imagine the atmosphere in their lounge.
“What else? They must be losing their minds.”
Rookies with no immunity to defeat had just lost on a big stage watched by the entire nation. There was no way they were calm. It would be lucky if they weren’t grabbing each other by the collars.
“I knew it from the moment they started acting cocky.”
Lee Chan-bin chuckled, blowing out cigar smoke. It felt like ten years of pent-up frustration were finally melting away.
However.
“Hahaha, Ri-ra, look over here.”
“Take a picture, take a picture.”
“Stop teasing meeee! I’m being serious!!”
Contrary to Lee Chan-bin’s expectations, the atmosphere in Mir Guild was not bad at all.
“Uwaaaang—!! Only two kills! I only got two kills!!!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Ri-ra, fighting.”
“You did well. You’re the best. There, there.”
“It’s fine. You got two kills without even having a proper team fight… that’s pretty good, right?”
“Cold-blooded.”
“……Don’t listen to that unnie.”
“Yeah, yeah. That unnie is totally T.”
“You guys comfort me too!”
While the older girls cooed and comforted Yu Ri-ra’s whining, everyone burst out laughing at Lee Hye-jung’s request for consolation.
“Everyone, come here.”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I thought about it, and stopping Hwarang seems impossible. So……”
Park Jeong-seok had suffered all throughout the first set; it wouldn’t have been strange if his mentality had shattered. Yet here he was, motivated and actively searching for his role.
Lee Shin and Kim Jong-pil watched the sight with satisfaction.
“See? Everyone’s fine, just like I said.”
“I was worried, but they really aren’t bothered by the loss at all.”
“Well, it all went according to orders. Plus, this is the team you and I built, sir. Have a little faith.”
“True. Not bad at all.”
Victory covers all problems.
Defeat reveals all problems.
But you can’t always win. Eventually you lose. That was why a team that could find its path even in defeat was a true team.
‘When a perfectly fine team suddenly falls apart, it’s usually because they can’t do this.’
In that sense, Lee Shin was quite pleased with the guild he had created.
Even in their first defeat since coming together, rather than shock they could laugh and chatter with such composure, and they were already motivated to prepare for the next match.
The current Mir Guild was a genuine One Team.
“We can’t lose to rookies. Let’s show them the chemistry between you and me, sir.”
“Good grief, I wonder who’s calling whom a rookie.”
The two men chuckled and quickly entered the meeting.
In truth, the strategy had already been established.
Lee Shin, Kim Jong-pil, and the entire power analysis team had stayed up for several nights. There was no way they had come empty-handed. This was simply a confirmation process.
“As we expected, stopping Hwarang was impossible.”
“After taking a hit myself, I understand clearly. That’s not something we can block at our current level.”
They had never thought it would be easy. The fundamental weight-class difference was simply too large. Especially the top-lane confrontation between Park Jeong-seok and Hwarang—it was on a serious level.
In a normal match, if one lane was completely erased, the game was usually lost. That was why the jungler or mid would normally try to bring teammates over to clean things up, but……
Mir Guild had thought in reverse.
We will completely exclude Hwarang.
Instead, we target the main force. Specifically, two hunters.
Electro Jeon Jin-woong and Ssaurabi Kang Han-bi.
“Jeon Jin-woong’s operation went off the rails because of Ssaurabi’s sudden actions.”
“Heh heh heh. I only watched about two of his matches, but I never expected to see signs this quickly.”
The interesting part was that the reason they were targeting the two wasn’t their concept or playstyle, but something more fundamental—their ‘disposition.’
Correct. This was the answer Lee Shin had provided.
“Sometimes there are people with high confidence but low self-esteem. Ssaurabi Kang Han-bi is one of them. The guy obsessively fills his low self-esteem with confidence. The way he attaches his ranking to everything, the way he looks down on anyone he thinks is beneath him.”
“His weakness is that this shows up in his playstyle too. When he thinks his opponent is weaker than him, he becomes excessively aggressive. So when he wins he gains momentum, but when he loses he keeps getting suppressed until he gradually turns into an idiot…… Why are you looking at me like that?”
Kim Jong-pil was staring at Lee Shin with an odd expression.
“I’ve been curious ever since you threw that so-called ‘manual’ at me. Just how far can you see?”
“Aww, no need to act surprised… Haven’t I always told you? There’s nothing about hunters that I don’t know.”
In his heart he wanted to flip the old man over and beg for endless praise, but now wasn’t the time.
“Please play while excluding Hwarang according to the plan.”
“I’ll tell Jeong-seok to focus on just holding the tower as much as possible.”
“Operate centered around bot where Ri-ra is, and take objectives with as little direct confrontation as possible.”
“That’s no different from the previous game. Don’t tell me that’s the end.”
“Of course not.”
Time to add some seasoning.
“What I need you to do this set, sir, is to relentlessly target this guy.”
Lee Shin, holding a tablet, pointed at one photo. It was Ssaurabi Kang Han-bi.
“Aren’t I already doing that?”
“No, not at that level.”
If you see him, run in and kill him.
Even if it’s an unfavorable fight, kill that bastard at least.
Furthermore.
“Even if we lose this set, kill him no matter what.”
“You……”
Lee Shin’s clear eyes sparkled like starlight.
Kim Jong-pil knew those eyes. It was the same madness from back then—when he had called the Sword King a gorilla and the Ten Thousand Kings a tool that couldn’t tell shit from piss, and used it to persuade him.
“If you keep killing and killing, an opening will show itself. If it’s you, sir, you’ll be able to find it.”
“……Don’t tell me, you bastard?”
“Shh. The board’s already set, I told you.”
And if that happened, the other side would definitely cause problems too. That was just what that kind of character did.
Then now…… from the players’ perspective.
“Bokchi.”
Park Su-bin, who had just returned from the bathroom, widened his eyes.
“Come here. I’m giving you a mission. Listen carefully to what I say from now on. To Jeon Jin-woong……”
And so the second set began.
“H-hyung, you don’t like Kang Han-bi, right?!”
“……?!!”
Park Su-bin spoke with a face flushed bright red.
Take this—MC Sunfish. Trash talking (feat. Lee Shin).