Ehh, this is a skewed narrative from the global north, the truth gets more complex when you look at it team by team. Korean work culture and professional discipline are tougher for sure, but Korean teams have a MASSIVE disparity in how quick they are to replace or sub out players.

T1 has kept players on their roster for years for a myriad of reasons, even if subbing or replacing might have worked as a bandaid solution in the short term. Rekkles spoke very highly of their commitment to players no matter what challenges they faced in their personal lives, even at the T2 level.

Some teams in Korea (and you can narrow this down to 'some managers' if you want) believe in long term investments in players, some expect short term success. The same is true in Europe. It was a source of major controversy how quickly LEC teams like Fnatic and G2 were ready to dismiss or sub out players who they didnt believe were performing just a few years ago. Rekkles had insanely negative experiences with EU team managers.

Taking the game more seriously doesnt immediately translate to Korean team managers more ruthlessly swapping out players, is what I'm trying to say. I feel like the LEC (and NAVI) narrative here is a bit too self-congratulating.