The Mir Guild, which had been at the center of attention while writing its legend, finally opened the first salvo of the off-season.
[Mir Guild Announces New Business Franchise Café ‘Lair’]
[CEO Lee Shin: “It’s my heart to always be with all of you.”]
[Starting with the main branch (Yeongdo), countdown to openings in Seomyeon, Nampo, and Haeundae]
It’s not particularly unusual for a guild to operate a business.
Anyone who genuinely enjoys the league knows that the Secretariat encourages guilds to engage in business. So, opening a café seemed like a very reasonable choice.
But a franchise?
Everyone raised a question mark at this word.
“Did they write it wrong? No way, don’t joke, why bring up a franchise here?”
What is a franchise?
Isn’t it a business with massive capital and distribution infrastructure input, a high-risk, high-return venture? It was a move completely opposite to the guild’s usual trend of low-risk, low-return projects.
Naturally, Mir Guild became the top trending topic.
By the way, Lee Shin was second, and related search terms included “business mania.”
[Drunk on success, has Lee Shin lost his mind?]
[Café? Not even a private café? A franchise café? Is this a joke?]
[“Starting again?” The long-dormant business mania of the troublemaker has awakened!]
Business mania.
Back when Lee Shin wasn’t the “Lee Shin” of today, when he was a pure, 100% troublemaker, he had a history of ruining countless businesses.
Advertising companies, entertainment, food, general trading companies, distribution, and more.
Even businesses that were nearly impossible to fail would collapse if he touched them. He was sometimes called a “donation angel” for returning the LeeDo Group’s money to society.
Even among fans who called him a god, everyone hesitated at this business announcement for this very reason.
└ Bro, what’s wrong, we were doing fine.
└ Even… even I, God of this guild, didn’t think it would be a franchise…
└ Personal opinion) I’ve never seen the guild succeed with big business.
└ Even if it’s small, everyone will go! Please, keep it small ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
As the saying goes, fools create critics. Around this time, anti-fans who had been quietly waiting for an opportunity began showing their teeth at Mir Guild’s insane move.
― “Breaking news! Lee Shin, former national-level troublemaker and current star CEO, is trying to return to his old ways…”
― “Is business a joke? Is running a business a joke? Franchise~?!”
― “I don’t know why everyone’s excited. When people like him fail, the economy circulates. That nickname ‘donation angel’ wasn’t given for nothing, right?”
Most people would stop here, but because of Lee Shin’s notoriety (charm ‘101’ + reputation ‘0’), even experts hungry for attention joined in.
“Location selection! Distribution network setup! Marketing strategy! I can assert that CEO Lee Shin doesn’t have the ability for this!! If he did, at least one previous business would have succeeded! Am I wrong!?”
“This could be riskier than you think. In past ventures, if he failed, only he failed, but franchises are fundamentally larger. The guild could fail along with him.”
And they warned:
“This is a hopeless business. Prospective franchise owners, think carefully. Are you being enchanted by the name Mir Guild and boarding this runaway train? I swear on my academic career, this will fail. It has no choice but to fail!”
Amid everyone’s concerns, the business briefing for the franchise café ‘Lair’ was held.
________________________________________
Ten minutes before the briefing, in the waiting room.
Humming along to music on TV, Lee Shin loosened up his voice.
He hummed while holding the pad as if checking something, lost in thought.
Why did that scene feel slightly disappointing?
“Dong-ha hyung, Dong-ha hyung.”
“…Yes?”
“Dong-ha hyung, you’ve lost your initial mindset.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“No, look. In the beginning, whenever I did something, you’d open your eyes wide and say, ‘Are you sane? Are you crazy?’ But today, look. You’re sulking. Not fun.”
Ah! Could it be that!
“Are you sulking? Because I hid it from you too?”
“Ah… no?!”
“That’s right. You’re sulking.”
“Don’t kill innocent people. I’m not sulking, I’m just… existing.”
Just a week ago, they had a meeting about financial soundness.
For a franchise project, this timeline was absurdly short, yet surprisingly, the ‘Lair’ café project was already well on track.
Even at this moment, construction inside the main branch in Yeongdo was almost complete.
It was an absurdly fast pace.
There’s only one explanation: it had been planned long ago.
Indeed.
Lee Shin had been sketching out this franchise business since he was promoted to League 3. Back then, the term “financial soundness” wasn’t even on the table.
“I’m curious. Did you intend for financial soundness to become an issue?”
“Intention: No. Problem: Yes. Not like this, but I knew it would happen once. If I had to put a probability, about 95%.”
“Almost certain then.”
“Rational deduction. League 4 guilds aren’t closely monitored by the Secretariat, so somewhat loose management is possible. Actually, it’s not just possible, it’s inevitable.”
Because it was League 4.
“But when a League 4 guild is promoted to League 3, what would people most likely scrutinize first? Something easy to attack without risk, and if they find it, they can 100% make it an issue.”
“…Finances?”
Lee Shin nodded.
“We have very, very, very many enemies. We made it that way. Do you think our enemies would miss such an easy attack?”
Cha Dong-ha nodded.
Listening to this, everything made sense. He wondered why he hadn’t made such rational deductions himself.
At the same time, he was awed by Lee Shin’s drive and self-confidence.
Could this be genius?
“Certainly… at least when it comes to guilds…”
But he didn’t know.
This wasn’t genius but empirical reasoning built through countless repetitions.
“When promoted to League 3, this financial event occurs about 95% of the time.”
100 times → 95 times, 1,000 times → 950 times, 10,000 times → 9,500 times.
Lee Shin had done this more than ten thousand times.
Perhaps that’s why, habitually, he planned business as soon as he reached League 3.
Along the way, he discovered interesting facts and useful items, which naturally influenced the scale of the project.
“Anyway, I was going to do it regardless. Not that impressive.”
“As someone overseeing, what could I say? Just tell me next time.”
“See? Sulking.”
“….”
“Alright, alright. I won’t tease you.”
Cha Dong-ha, who had been giving a death glare, exhaled deeply and changed the topic.
“By the way, CEO, when will you show that secret weapon you promised at the last business briefing?”
“Ah! That. I didn’t show it to you yet. Well, here it comes, look.”
“…??”
Lee Shin gestured toward the TV. Suddenly the TV? Was he going to play an ad?
Before Dong-ha could ask again, the door opened and the business manager entered.
“CEO, it’s time.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Please follow me.”
As Lee Shin left the room, Cha Dong-ha adjusted his clothing and followed.
Then they stepped onto the auditorium stage.
“Hello. I am Lee Shin, CEO of Mir Guild, here to present the business briefing for the new franchise café ‘Lair’.”
He bowed, and the audience applauded.
Despite all the criticisms, half the auditorium was filled. A significant number.
See, even if they deny it verbally, their bodies are honest. Everyone in this field who smells money seemed to have gathered.
“Let’s begin.”
The lights went down, and a PPT appeared behind Lee Shin.
On the giant screen appeared a single word:
“Mutual Prosperity (相生).”
Its dictionary meaning: living together.
“Franchise café ‘Lair’ begins with mutual prosperity.”
In GM, the business aspect is ambiguous content.
If you’re lazy, you don’t need to do it, and there are many things to manage, so people often give up.
Doing it purely for profit is too deep.
GM is already a headache-inducing game, why bother with this too? Better to grow hunters and trade transfer fees, which is not wrong, hence often neglected.
This was unfortunate content but the veteran Lee said, there is no bad content in the world.
This business content, when viewed differently, could have surprisingly great effects.
“If you focus not on money but on awareness and gaining new fans, there’s nothing better.”
Mutual prosperity was born from that calculation.
“Lair’s mutual prosperity starts with employing all staff from the local community.”
Gain fans through employment.
“Additionally, part of the profits will be used to support underprivileged children, single-parent households, and low-income families in the area.”
Promote Mir Guild through goodwill. Hence:
“Emotional interior and comfortable space, desserts directly consulted by the head chef of the 5-star LeeDo Hotel, and 100% Arabica coffee beans.
All of this is sold at a very reasonable price.”
Even with psychological satisfaction, poor accessibility prevents awareness, so some material profit is sacrificed.
Instead, through the process:
“Goods like figurines and mugs will also be sold. Signature goods only available in-store are planned.”
Promote the guild and hunters, gaining intangible benefits.
“Let’s take a brief look.”
-Clap clap.
At Lee Shin’s applause, the business team members who had been waiting came rushing out and handed something to the participants.
It was prototype merchandise: a mug cup set with profile photos and signatures, a cute and lively SD figure set, and various other fancy items.
People’s eyes widened when they saw the figure’s joints move; some were amazed as they held the mug up to the fluorescent light to see the printing.
The quality was entirely different from merchandise made merely to milk money from fans.
“You all know better. This is completely different from the shoddy merchandise on the market. Even just this character figure can satisfy not only fans but also the demand of figure-collecting enthusiasts.”
“If you become part of the Lair family, we’ll sell high-quality merchandise at the prices you see here. Isn’t that amazing?”
Really? Seriously?
The price on the screen was extremely reasonable.
In addition, there was point accumulation through membership points, limited edition merchandise sales, and various events and activities based on the performance or records of the Mir Guild.
Lee Shin was full of confidence, proclaiming success.
‘What? This is more normal than I expected.’
‘Is this… that “Destroyer” Lee Shin?’
The participants who had heard this far were honestly a little excited.
Psychological satisfaction from contributing to the local community, stylish interiors and props, reasonable prices and very good profit sharing, merchandise desirable enough to want to take home. And the name value of the Mir Guild and Lee Shin.
Although unmentioned, the sense of trust from the group behind Lee Shin, etc.
Everything was more solid and excellent than expected. That’s why they were more excited than expected.
But
‘There’s no way this will go so smoothly…’
‘Something, something’s missing.’
Still, there was something that made them uneasy: Lee Shin himself, right there.
He had to have really messed things up before.
Even favorable conditions couldn’t stay favorable. That was Lee Shin’s karma, built up over years.
Even if all the conditions so far were good… this alone wasn’t enough to succeed at a level that would normally be safe.
To truly succeed, one last move was needed, something that could turn the entire atmosphere.
And Lee Shin knew this too.
“I know well what your concerns are. It’s probably because my past has been so flashy. Entertainment, distribution…”
As Lee Shin counted on his fingers one by one, ten fingers were not enough.
Embarrassed, he folded his hands.
“I completely understand. This isn’t a small matter of a few pennies; honestly, even from your position, you’d be reluctant to work with me.”
Appealing emotionally that he has changed at this moment would be a misstep.
This is a business briefing, and their footsteps are motivated by profit—the money that will eventually go into their own wallets.
So he had to show them clearly, his trump card.
The means by which they could rake in massive money in the future!
“So, we prepared it.”
-Clap.
The screen changed in time with the applause, and soon murmurs of admiration spread among the participants.
And among them was Chae Dong-ha.
“…Ah. So that’s it.”
Filling the screen was the animated version of the theme song Lee Shin had been humming in the waiting room just a moment ago.
The cute monsters from the hugely popular cartoon Monster Guild, which had surpassed 초통령 (child president) and 중통령 (teen president) status, now even gaining explosive popularity among adults and stepping onto the global content stage.
“Our franchise, Lair, plans to collaborate with the popular IP Monster Guild to release this.”
A popular item in Lee Shin’s world, which had taken the world by storm but wasn’t present here.
“Sticker seals.”
It was a definitive item.
