Professor Lee's Homework
The phrase “I assigned homework,” mentioned by the commentators after the match, inspired every headline.
[ Mir Guild Assigns Homework Every Hour! ]
[ Mir Guild Wasn’t the Student—They Were the Teacher. ]
[ Let Me Introduce Our New Teacher. “Hey, I’m Lee Shin.” ]
It was easy to picture.
A classroom full of seated students.
The sign above the door read League 1. In the back row by the window—the seat of power—sat Kirin and Baekgeom. Taeyang and Shinseong flipped lazily through their textbooks, while Royal Sword and a few others kept the underclassmen firmly in line.
The power structure had remained unchanged for so long that the classroom felt dull and stagnant. Stagnant water rots; that was simply how things worked.
Then, after what felt like forever, a new transfer student walked in.
Wealthy, brilliant, absurdly handsome, and wildly popular—a transfer student with national-level influence.
The students below grew anxious. Those in the middle tensed up. Those at the top felt their competitive spirit flare.
Tension finally returned to the once-lax classroom.
They had prepared for everything… or so they thought.
The handsome newcomer climbed onto the teacher’s desk and pulled something out. In his hands was an object no one could have imagined—
A pair of taped-together, beat-up spinning glasses.
“Ha… the glasses. The glasses. We were doing so well, and then—those damn glasses again!”
Chae Dong-ha looked down with a sour expression. Lee Shin, lounging in a folding chair with his legs crossed, grinned.
“Heh heh. It’s homework. You’ve gotta endure it.”
Homework, homework…
The more Lee Shin thought about the word, the more he liked it.
“Think about it. What does it mean when we’re the ones giving homework? It means everyone’s acknowledging that we’re on top now. A league run entirely under our initiative! Hah.”
“Isn’t that a bit outdated? These days, teachers and students are supposed to be on equal footing. Haven’t you heard of eye-level education?”
“It’s just a figure of speech. Geez, this is why kids these days… No wonder teacher authority is collapsing.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Anyway.
If he had to sum up everything Lee Shin and Mir Guild had done so far in a single word, “homework” was perfect.
It injected tension into a stagnant league, whipped complacent guilds with a bloody lash, and planted passion and inspiration in those willing to change.
A true teacher guiding everyone in the right direction…!
“That’s why the word ‘homework’ struck such a chord with me!”
“That’s arrhythmia.”
“Don’t you feel it boiling up? Something hot rising from deep in your chest? I’m boiling over. Bubbling!”
“Your blood pressure’s rising, at least.”
“The ruthless, merciless, cruel Professor Lee. How badass is that! Hah…”
“I don’t think we’re having the same conversation here. Do you not see how much trouble your ‘badass’ persona is causing everyone right now?”
As Chae Dong-ha said, staff members were bustling around them.
Most notably, the broadcast director shouting orders while moving equipment, gathering props, and checking cameras.
Enduring the unbearable was fine. Inspiration had struck like lightning, and molten lava called “coolness” was boiling in his chest—that was acceptable.
But why?
“Why on earth do we have to make such a fuss about it officially?”
The moment the word “homework” hit the headlines, Lee Shin suddenly insisted on taking promotional photos in his professor concept.
I want to take them!!
After lying on the floor throwing a tantrum for quite some time, Chae Dong-ha had found himself checking the number for a mental hospital he’d long forgotten.
“Tell me. Why are you doing this to me? I’m already dying of work, so why are you making it worse?!”
“Hah. Why, you ask?”
Right on cue, the broadcast director announced that preparations were complete. Lee Shin left one last remark before standing up.
“Because it’s cool.”
As he walked away, Lee Shin fished something out of his front pocket and put it on. Chae Dong-ha collapsed into an empty chair with a sigh.
“Those cursed glasses. I should’ve smashed them into pieces so they could never be repaired.”
Lee Shin, now wearing the taped-up spinning glasses, donned a white lab coat.
The ruthless, merciless, cruel Professor Lee had arrived.
“Class is in session.”
Hah… So damn cool. No wonder the Yongbung-i fans go crazy for this.
* * *
Meanwhile, the professor-concept photos taken to match the “homework” remark were giving everyone a good laugh—except for the people actually involved.
The guilds currently suffering from headaches trying to solve that damned homework.
“Again? They came up with another one of these?”
“This is insane. There has to be a limit!”
“Even pranks have their limits. Did they eat basic decency for breakfast?”
In truth, this wasn’t Mir Guild’s first homework assignment.
From the opening match, they had miraculously revived the fading Mountain King Kim Jong-phil and turned him back into a league terror. They had also debuted the genius Baek Yeon-woo, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with major hunters despite only recently awakening.
“They started the season with a ridiculous two-team rotation, and now look at what they’re doing with those kids.”
“It’s not a time-attack raid anymore—it’s an annihilation strategy. I’d love to crack open their heads and see what’s inside.”
“That’s not even the end of it. The competitive strategy matches—how many all-nighters have we pulled because of that stupid format?”
“They even had the nerve to ask why we couldn’t make something like Woongjindan. Do they think that’s easy?”
That was the homework so far.
And now, on top of everything, the Hwarang & Mountain King 1-option had appeared.
A new meta of simultaneous roaming between jungler and supporter!
Wasn’t this homework a bit too shameless? Professor, the pace is way too fast!!
While the staff complained, the ones responsible felt their blood drying up day by day.
Haemu Guild’s representative, Han Jin-chol, was one of them.
“Analysis team leader. Report.”
“I have good news and bad news.”
“…Good news first.”
“The strategy itself is very simple. Not difficult at all. Pair a high-spec supporter with the jungler and blow the game open in the early game before growth really kicks in. That’s it. We could do it right away if we wanted.”
“Then what’s the bad news?”
“…The details have very strict conditions. Extremely strict.”
First, a supporter with enough mobility to run with the jungler.
Second, stamina that wouldn’t give out despite that mobility.
Third, crowd control for ganks and enough defense to withstand tower fire, even if only a little.
“On top of that, they need good judgment and combat sense. Individual skill matters a lot in small-scale skirmishes.”
“And the jungler?”
“I was just getting to that. Above all else, they need excellent mobility. Crossing canyon walls is the bare minimum. Ideally, they should be able to bring the supporter over the wall too.”
“So they need utility as well… Just say they need everything.”
“It’s a 1-option. That’s how it has to be.”
A 1-option was a team’s main weapon.
The weapon they were most confident in—the one they believed couldn’t be stopped even if the opponent knew it was coming.
“So you’re saying we can’t use this strategy with our current roster?”
“We could, but at our current level of completion, it would be worse than not using it at all. Unless we can match Mir Guild’s squad and weight class, we need to at least fulfill every role they’re playing.”
“Roles? Simplify it.”
“Think about the scene where Hwarang and Mountain King destroyed the top lane three sets in a row.”
People had marveled at the terrifying power of the Hwasan duo, but that play was only possible because Baek Yeon-woo was constantly pressuring his opponent 1-on-1.
“It looks effortless, but it’s actually a sequence of carefully designed plays. From an analyst’s perspective, it’s chilling.”
“Save the admiration for later. So what do we do?”
“We should proceed with the league according to our existing plan, but start scouting promising talents and resources immediately.”
The meta was definitely going to change. The picture Lee Shin had shown was that effective and that brilliant. It was just that their current squad and circumstances couldn’t match it.
So they would prepare for next season.
After the analysis team leader left, Han Jin-chol lit a cigarette.
“Designed plays… Lee Shin, that scheming bastard.”
Park Jeong-seok. So that’s what he’d been passed off as.
Unable to voice the thought aloud, Han Jin-chol could only grind his teeth on the cigarette.
* * *
While Haemu Guild hesitated at the wall of reality, other guilds were actively attempting the strategy.
Like this one.
“Hmm…”
Cross Iruha, the strategy team leader, and the analysis team were watching the arena screen.
This was Shinseong Guild’s arena.
Practice matches were underway between Team A and Team B.
Team A was running the most popular dive composition. Team B was using the so-called “Hwasan Strategy” that Mir Guild had demonstrated.
Finally, Team B killed Team A’s jungler and broke the canyon’s balance. The strategy leader quickly checked the time.
“7 minutes 14 seconds. Impressive. Faster than expected. The two teams have similar power levels, right?”
“Yes. Team B has a mix of Division 3 hunters and raw-power hunters, while Team A is all Division 3.”
“We matched the conditions as closely as possible with equipment and potions.”
“It seems so. Aside from the difference in individual ability, the overall picture is similar to Mir Guild’s matches.”
Shinseong Guild might not match Mir Guild exactly, but Shinseong Group stood behind them. Their support wouldn’t fall short of the pride of one of Korea’s top four conglomerates.
That was why they had recruited hunters from satellite guilds in the lower leagues who had tools similar to Mir Guild’s members, allowing them to run this luxurious simulation.
“Interesting. How many games is this now?”
“The fourteenth.”
“How many times has that strategy worked?”
“About ten times. Three of those nearly ended the game outright, another three gave a perfect advantage, and the remaining four maintained a slight edge.”
“Roughly 70 percent, then. That’s enough to prove its usefulness.”
It meant that if each position fulfilled its required role at a similar weight class, they could secure an early advantage about 70 percent of the time.
For Shinseong Guild, centered around Cross Iruha and their “zombie concept,” this was very tempting information.
After all, Shinseong Guild’s biggest weakness was getting blown up early by lightning-fast aggression.
Iruha believed the strategy Mir Guild had shown could compensate for that weakness.
“Let me share my thoughts. Even if we adopt this strategy right away, we can’t expect the same destructive power as Hwarang and Mountain King. Do you agree?”
“I do. This isn’t just about the method—it’s a strategy that requires preparation.”
“The more I look at it, the more I see how well-designed it is. I’m sure Lee Shin and Mir Guild put in a tremendous amount of preparation.”
“Good. Then what if, instead of destroying the enemy, we focus on harassing them and disrupting their growth? If we lower the hurdle that much, wouldn’t it be possible even now?”
“Hmm.”
“Well, could we have a moment to discuss?”
“Take all the time you need.”
While the analysis team stepped away to confer among themselves, Iruha continued watching the screen.
Soon after, the analysis team returned with their conclusion.
“It’s not feasible right now. Setting everything else aside, the marksman’s survivability is the issue.”
“In this strategy, the marksman is just as important as the supporter. Can the marksman survive a 2-on-1? That’s the key point. And Yu Ri-ra pulled it off with her incredible agility and attack power.”
“On the other hand, our marksman is the ranked player ‘Blaster.’ Blaster has great range, high burst damage, and powerful area-of-effect bombardment with a strong late-game carry potential, but he doesn’t have the same mobility as Mir’s Yu Ri-ra.”
The conclusion was that it was impossible at the moment.
Still, they promised to prepare as quickly as possible, given how realistic the hurdle Iruha had suggested was.
Iruha nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
He wasn’t an exceptional strategist like Guardian or Mountain King.
But his long experience and veteran insight gave him an exceptional eye for reading the flow of the game.
‘The storm Lee Shin and Mir Guild are creating won’t end as just a passing gust. This is the next trend. This is the future coming for us.’
Whether Lee Shin was the attention-seeker of the century or a true genius representative didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Lee Shin was currently leading this league.
Whether to follow Lee Shin, or to find a different path—one not led by him.
Those were the choices being presented.
And Iruha and Shinseong Guild’s choice was to follow behind Lee Shin.
‘We need to prepare as fast as possible.’
At the very least by the latter half of the season, and at most by next season, they had to provide some kind of answer.
To that thing everyone else was calling “homework.”
“The more I look at it, the more brilliant it seems.”
·
·
But then again.
Even more daring and swift than Shinseong Guild in embracing the meta were others who had appeared.
[ U.S. Eastern League! The Underdog’s Rebellion!! ]
[ 20th Place Mets Guild Defeats 5th Place Lions Guild!! ]
[ David Defeats Goliath! ]
[ Mets Strategy Leader: “We thank Korea’s Gentle Dragon and their representative. They are the true pioneers of the meta.” ]
That place was the U.S.A.
America.
