We Weren't Wrong
The Royal Sword Guild’s waiting room.
The moment the match ended, the players who stormed back into the waiting room wore expressions of utter despair.
“Ha, this is unbearable.”
“I said it from the start of the game — this setup is way too extreme!”
“I hated it from the beginning. What era are we in, running a sniper comp?”
“We stacked so much defense trying to counter that genius kid that we couldn’t even kill the slippery bastard.”
The analysts and front-desk staff waiting inside exchanged nervous glances as they handed out potions, massages, and healing spells to the seething hunters.
Of course, even amid the tension, minor friction broke out.
“Kuso!! Don’t touch my body!!”
“……It’s just a potion.”
“…….”
“It’s fine. He’s still rattled from Sanwang. Keep going. You, tone it down too.”
“Chikusho……”
The Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain hunter’s mentality had been reduced to scattered crumbs after being thoroughly dismantled by Sanwang all day. Only after the raid leader, Gwanggeom Jong-yu, stepped in did the commotion settle.
‘Haa……’
Jong-yu let out a quiet sigh.
The locker room atmosphere was abysmal. The shock of losing to second-string players — rookies no one had even heard of — ran that deep.
In truth, Royal Sword Guild had been praised for navigating this Stove League rather well. Every player present was a high-level hunter even by major-league standards. Objectively and subjectively, aside from Sanwang and Blitz, the rest of Mir’s first-set squad simply couldn’t compare.
If it had been a true 1-on-1, every single one of them could have crushed those fledglings without letting them breathe. But this was a team match — guild versus guild, not individual versus individual.
“Hey, analysis team leader. What’s the plan?”
“I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts first.”
“If we stick with the same item builds, the result won’t change even if we rematch.”
“Haa, we reached the same conclusion.”
Royal Sword’s top laner had loaded up on heavy armor to survive Baek Yeon-woo’s destructive aggression. Their support had prioritized movement speed, stamina, and mana regeneration to handle Kim Yu-shin’s insane roaming and to plant more traps. Gwanggeom had done the same — sacrificing some speed for raw power to cut down the monster known as Geoshin.
Yet none of it had worked.
“The top laner lacked the damage to pressure another tank. The support struggled in a lane where trading blows was inevitable. Even I couldn’t cut down Lee Hye-jung once our speeds became comparable.”
“……The analysis team agrees.”
“Enough analysis. We need decisions.”
Only ten minutes remained. Time was short.
“Who’s coming out next set?”
The moment Gwanggeom’s quiet question fell, the room went deathly still — as if everyone had seen a ghost.
If Mir fielded their main roster including Geoshin, they could keep the current builds. No problem. But what if Mir sent out the same slow squad — Lee Hye-jung and the rest — again?
“It’s an extreme item setup. The opponent is deliberately dragging out the laning phase and slowing the game tempo. In the meantime, Sanwang will……”
“Sanwang, you son of a bitch!”
“Sanwang will definitely invade our jungle…… That’s what he’ll do.”
No need to spell it out. Gwanggeom’s gesture toward the still-twitching Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain hunter drew bitter smiles from the analysts and staff alike.
They hadn’t exactly enjoyed the match either. For the entire 44 minutes and 11 seconds of set one, the analysis team and front office had debated just as fiercely as the players on the field. Yet despite sweating through their clothes, they had found no solution.
‘How the hell were we supposed to predict that lunatic would bench his starters for the season-opening match watched by over ten million people?’
‘If we had won — or at least broken even on one lane — we might have found a way. But we played right into their hands.’
‘Our plan collapsed. Theirs is only just beginning.’
After all, the opponent was the infamous Lee Shin. From the perspective of analysts and front-office staff, the man was perhaps even more terrifying than the hunters themselves. Predicting that monstrous brain? If they could do that, they wouldn’t be here — they’d already have been poached by one of the Big Four.
In the end, after agonizing over every possibility, the analysis team leader offered his conclusion.
“……How about we mix the item builds to a moderate degree?”
“You’re saying we can’t predict their next move?”
“Please understand it as an attempt to reduce risk.”
Instead of choosing A or Z, they would pick something in the middle — O or N. That way, no matter which option the opponent chose, they wouldn’t be dancing in the palm of their hand again. It was a compromise to avoid the worst-case scenario.
But one person refused to accept it.
“No. We can’t do that.”
Joanna Lee walked through the door and immediately shot down the team leader’s suggestion.
“That’s just a slower way of losing. I won’t allow it. We pick one path — whether it turns to porridge or rice — and we commit.”
“Representative…… Still……”
“No ‘still.’ This is a match. We only think about victory.”
They had borrowed five legendary items. Acquiring those builds hadn’t been free either. From the representative’s standpoint, the risk had already been taken — compromise now meant failure.
“Then what is your opinion, Representative?”
“Obviously, the next opponent is their main roster. No question.”
“Do you have evidence?”
“Of course.”
A representative had her own perspective. This was the season opener — the most-watched opening match in history. Would Mir really bench their starters for two sets in a row?
“No ranker lacks an ego. These are newly promoted rankers. All of them are single-digit. Their stock prices are through the roof. Do you really think they won’t demand to play? I’d say they were already unhappy after just set one.”
There was more — guild physiology itself provided plenty of reason.
“The center of attention is ultimately the rankers who started with Geoshin. The reason so many viewers gathered is to see them. Can Mir Guild really ignore that?”
Ranker pride. Guild hype. Fan backlash. It was a view detached from pure strategy, yet the logic was compelling.
“Then we’ll return to the original item builds.”
They proceeded exactly as Joanna Lee ordered……
2nd Set
Mir Guild starting lineup.
Top: Choi Soo-pil.
Jungle: Sanwang Kim Jong-phil.
Mid: Lee Hye-jung.
Support: Seo Ye-na.
AD Carry: Blitz Yu Ri-ra.
Ding.
Wrong!
·
·
2nd Set
2 VS 0
45 minutes 00 seconds.
Royal Sword Guild, utterly crushed.
Utland.
The term for stubbornly forcing the same roster and strategy even after suffering mistakes or defeats in the league. When it worked, people praised your grit. When it failed, they called it arrogance and brought down the hammer of fury.
And when league fans thought of “Utland,” it was almost always the latter.
Exactly like Royal Sword Guild — defeated in set one, yet still charging forward with the same squad, same strategy, and even the same item builds, only to self-destruct again.
The top laner’s sweaty struggle. The mid lane tug-of-war between night and light. The bottom lane’s explosive brawl. And in the jungle, Sanwang’s physical jungle-ing tutorial. Even the final Blitz ending — everything was eerily identical.
How dumbfounded must Royal Sword’s fans have felt?
Fans weren’t idiots. They understood who held the advantage. The opponent was Mir Guild — the team that had swept the Korean league and conquered Asia. Sanwang, at his absolute peak, now wielded the best weapon called Hwarang, alongside the young talents known as the Children of God.
Mir Guild was, without question, the ultimate superteam. Did Royal Sword fans truly believe their guild could beat those monsters?
No. Deep down, most had already accepted defeat. The reason they still packed the away seats at Yongwanggung was to welcome their guild’s new family members. To cheer “It’s okay” from enemy territory after a loss.
And this was the half-hearted performance they received in return?
Of course the fans’ anger exploded.
The backlash flooded not only the guild’s official channels but also raid parties and personal SNS accounts — all of it aimed squarely at Joanna.
“Representative, public opinion isn’t looking good.”
“Secretary Yang, I have eyes too. Anything new?”
“The waiting room atmosphere is also quite poor.”
“How bad?”
“……Very bad.”
“At least that’s useful information.”
Too useful, in fact. The moment she opened the waiting room door, the first thing to greet her was shouting.
“Is this all you people are capable of?!”
“Hey, calm down.”
“Calm down?! Let go! What the hell have you been preparing all this time?!”
Despite attempts to hold him back, Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain finally exploded, pointing accusing fingers at the analysts and front office.
“The opponent knew my every movement! Where I’d come from, which route I’d take while jungling — Sanwang was waiting for me the whole time! Everything! Zenbu!!”
He had been perfectly read by Sanwang! In other words, all those strategy meetings had been a complete waste of time.
“You said we had a chance to win the opener?! You said we could do it?! Ha! What part of the plan actually worked?! And you still call yourselves analysts? What do you front-office people even do — sit around sucking your thumbs? Baka!”
Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain couldn’t accept losing to Sanwang twice in a row. After being slammed into the dirt like a bug multiple times in front of over ten million viewers, it would have been stranger if his mentality had remained intact.
The other raid members felt the humiliation just as keenly.
“He’s worked up, sure, but honestly, this is disappointing. What exactly has the guild been preparing?”
“We fought on a tilted canyon the entire second set. You can’t keep shackling us with bad information.”
“We came from Japan expecting a different level of Korean guilds…… I didn’t realize the level varied this much between guilds.”
“Mir Guild and you guys are on completely different planets.”
The analysts and staff bowed their heads at the barbed words, though their flushed, frustrated faces made it clear they had plenty they wanted to say.
‘You were the ones who said we wouldn’t know until we tried.’
‘We presented the best alternatives we could.’
‘And that’s why we suggested mixing the builds, you idiots.’
For the greatest opening match in history, for the guild’s hype and the hunters’ pride, they had assumed the main roster would play. That logic itself wasn’t wrong. Hype meant money, and pride meant self-respect. Any normal representative would have maximized the single-digit rankers to rake in cash while satisfying their egos.
But the analysis team leader bit his lip hard.
‘The opponent is Mir Guild. They’re different from the start. Because Lee Shin is there.’
Lee Shin — a nurturer with unparalleled vision, a peerless commander who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sanwang, a businessman who achieved the financial freedom every guild dreamed of, and the executive building Mir’s century-long foundation.
In Mir Guild, Lee Shin was no mere representative. He was emperor. He was religion. No one could suppress him. No one could interfere with him. No one even dared to think of pulling him down.
Guild power games? Hunter egos? Inevitable choices made for the sake of hype? All of it crumbled before the two syllables “Lee Shin.”
Even the 6th-ranked genius, the 3rd-ranked Hwarang, or the 1st-ranked Geoshin — at Lee Shin’s single word, they could become……
‘……team players willing to sacrifice for the greater good.’
Bringing up hype and pride against someone with that kind of dominance had been the fatal mistake from the beginning.
The analysts’ and staff’s frustration turned toward Representative Joanna Lee. The hunters’ gazes naturally followed. Under everyone’s attention, she finally spoke.
“Let’s focus on preparing for the next set first. If I made a mistake, I’ll apologize after the match. Right now, the game comes first. Analysis team leader?”
The team leader answered with a sigh.
“My answer remains the same. We mix the builds as much as possible to reduce risk.”
They would shift from high-risk to low-risk builds. The returns would inevitably shrink, but it was still better than the current all-or-nothing gamble.
“What about you, raid leader?”
“……Does it even matter at this point?”
They hadn’t lost to Mir’s main roster — they had lost two sets to second-string players. Gwanggeom Jong-yu, the Japanese imports, and the rest of the starters had all taken massive blows to their pride.
If they lost the third set to the same second-string squad with the same strategy, if they showed that pathetic sight once more……
Then it would truly be over.
Yes. At this point, they had only one choice left.
In the bitter silence, Joanna Lee clapped her hands with forced brightness and gathered everyone’s opinions.
“Understood. We’ll keep the borrowed legendary items but change the builds as the team leader suggested. Alright, everyone — let’s give it our all.”
But the truly unfortunate part was that their opponent was Lee Shin.
And when facing him, having only one choice meant the multiple-choice question only had a single option.
·
·
Lee Shin was straightening Baek Yeon-woo’s uniform.
“This is really simple. What’s the one thing I always emphasize?”
“No need to overcomplicate the problem.”
“Right. That’s it, Yeonu. A representative who has to care about public opinion, a front office that’s lost trust, a raid team about to take the blame for a terrible performance — this is a total mess. In this kind of extreme situation, no representative would make an extreme choice.”
“You do it, though.”
“Have you ever seen me gamble with you guys?”
“……No.”
“I might make unexpected choices, but I never create the extreme situation itself. There, turn around.”
Baek Yeon-woo spun once. The well-tailored uniform swayed elegantly — a blend of military uniform and flowing robes.
“Good. You look great.”
Lee Shin clapped, satisfied, then moved on. He pulled out a handkerchief and began polishing Kim Yu-shin’s armor.
“So this is the armor of the 3rd-ranked hunter. It’s shining like crazy.”
“Stop polishing.”
“Hah, that deep voice really suits the 3rd rank.”
“This is embarrassing.”
“Haha, is So-yeon here?”
“She’ll be watching.”
“Kuh! As expected of the 3rd-ranked’s daughter.”
“This guy!”
Kim Yu-shin, clad in gleaming full-plate armor and a crimson cape, looked like a knight straight out of a fairy tale. Lee Shin nodded repeatedly with a proud expression.
Finally, the last one.
Lee Shin placed both hands on Park Su-bin’s shoulders. No further words were needed.
“You ready, the legendary Bokchi?”
Park Su-bin grinned brightly.
“I’ll go smash them.”
Time for player introductions.
3rd Set
Mir Guild starting lineup.
Top: Genius Baek Yeon-woo.
Jungle: Sanwang Kim Jong-phil.
Mid: Geoshin Park Su-bin.
Support: Hwarang Kim Yu-shin.
AD Carry: Blitz Yu Ri-ra.