Chapter 288 – Behind Story
-[Sports // General Sports // 2036-01-01]
-[Lifting the Trophy at the Final Championship… Now is Yoo Jin’s Era]
-[Reporter Kim Kang-hyuk]
– // Advancing through preliminary ranks, KSM, Asian preliminaries, and the Final Championship in a winning streak…
– // Yoo Jin’s shocking announcement… ‘Participation in next year’s Final Championship is uncertain’
– // Uroboros lays down the crown…!
<Lee Yoo Jin lifting the trophy at the 3rd Final Championship. ICARUS International>
Korean representative player Lee Yoo Jin (24) lifted the pure gold trophy that only the champion can hold.
The Korean team, led by Lee Yoo Jin, consistently overwhelmed players from other countries at the 3rd Final Championship held at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York, in 2035. In particular, Lee Yoo Jin won nearly half of the 14 matches held over five days, securing the top position firmly by winning six of them. With this victory, South Korea became the second country after the United States to produce a champion.
Immediately after returning home, Lee Yoo Jin shared the joy of winning the first trophy with her team. Selected as a temporary coach for SSM Entertainment through scrims in the preliminary ranks early in 2035, Yoo Jin consecutively took the top spot in the preliminary ranks, KSM, and the Asian preliminaries.
This season, Korea wasn’t in a good situation. After being pushed by Japan and Russia last year, Korea secured three tickets to the competition as the third-place team in Asia. However, they couldn’t find a clear breakthrough in skills, and the results of tactical exchanges with other countries were far from expected. Therefore, the general prediction was that the Korean team needed time to establish themselves.
However, the situation began to change from August, when the pre-season was nearing its end. Lee Yoo Jin, who appeared like a comet, won 16 out of 23 matches in the scrim sessions hosted by Xi Impressive, completely defeating the trainees and pro gamers who participated as jokers. There were even rumors that more than half of the ten clubs declared wild cards.
Yoo Jin’s progress didn’t stop there. She quickly advanced through the preliminary ranks and secured enough points to promote in the first cycle of KSM. The SSM Entertainment player DICE, selected as the ‘first professional gamer disciple,’ also promoted in the second cycle.
After KSM, Yoo Jin entered individual training with players selected from each club, and the Korean team easily defeated Russia and Japan, the strong teams of last year, in the Asian preliminaries, avenging last year’s results.
One of the most dramatic scenes of this Final Championship was the intense rivalry between the independent player Lee Yoo Jin and the professional gamer ‘Logan’ (real name) from Orvital Gaming.
In an interview before the Final Championship, Logan claimed to be an acquaintance of Yoo Jin, which gained credibility when photos of them together with two unidentified people in New York circulated on SNS (currently deleted). Yoo Jin did not deny this claim, making it widely accepted as true.
However, despite their friendship, Logan demonstrated his skills as a presumed EM-level manifestation, winning four matches and securing second place in the Final Championship. Yoo Jin and Logan faced each other ten times in the TOP 2 matches, more than half of the total 14 Final Championship matches.
In an interview immediately after returning home, Yoo Jin calmly shared some of her thoughts. The most curious point for many was how she maintained a stable mental state and condition, to which she revealed, “Muscle memory that allows you to respond to any situation and calculate the next move stably is most important.”
She also mentioned, “I didn’t care much about winning. I just thought about neutralizing the opponent by utilizing all my skills. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t that nervous, and that aspect might have served as a pillar for the Korean team.”
Shockingly, Yoo Jin stated in an interview after returning home that her participation in the 4th Final Championship was uncertain. There has been no official follow-up response yet, and all the Korean representatives who returned with her have not provided any additional comments either.
<Reporter Kim Kang-hyuk esportsKGH@mdl.co.kr>
“It’s quite a commotion in just a few hours. Is it that surprising to everyone that Yoo Jin won’t participate next year?”
“Well, I’ve been hinting indirectly, so it’s not surprising to DICE and Harmony, but it’s different for others. Brace yourself for the pressure.”
“It still doesn’t feel real. I’ll feel it soon, though….”
“Haha. Anyway, I’ll hang up now. I have a lot to organize.”
“Sure, see you later.”
Clatter, clatter.
Returning home after a long time was chaotic. Gifts from fans were piled up in front of my house—though I didn’t disclose my home address; they delivered to a specific location, and then it was secondarily delivered to my house—and letters were stacked in heaps. I could check emails even in New York, so that wasn’t a big issue.
Anyway, it’s the new year. I texted and shared blessings with my family and relatives. Of course, my acquaintances are limited, so we just shared what we already knew. Surprisingly, the team members were more enthusiastic than my family. People who rarely contacted me were now asking if I got home safely, making a fuss.
On January 2nd, after hastily wrapping up an interview, I finally arrived home. Like last time, an unmanned limousine bus dropped us off in front of our respective homes. Though all five of us lived in different places, it was all within Seoul.
And when I arrived home, I discovered numerous packages, bringing the story back to the beginning.
I had a lot to do.
“Come to think of it, I need to renew my gym membership.”
The problem was, I could only go after dealing with all these packages scattered around my house.
It reminded me of a few months ago when I brought DICE home and we opened countless packages together. Of course, I was alone now. Despite the tape and boxes being tough, they were just tape. A little force made them snap and tear off. I neatly folded the boxes and placed them outside, and orderly arranged the contents in the living room.
There were more ordinary items than I expected. Towels, perfumes, soaps, fountain pens, a snow globe… why is that here? There were also diffusers, clothes… at least the clothes seemed decent. They were free size, so they’d be comfortable to wear at home. There were also traditional Korean sweets. Quite a lot.
Thanks to my sincere requests, fortunately, there were no perishable foods.
‘…Since I have extra rooms, should I use one for storing gifts?’
Or I could repackage the unnecessary gifts later and redistribute them to viewers. It doesn’t seem right to keep things I can’t use. Of course, redistributing gifts isn’t polite to the givers, so it’s best to quickly set up gift guidelines. That would prevent such mishaps.
Thus, the gift items were divided into those to be repackaged and those to be used at home. Towels, perfumes, soaps, fountain pens, diffusers, and clothes seemed usable. The snow globe could stay at home. Traditional Korean sweets and New Year’s food gift sets could be used as snacks during occasional IRL streams.
Since I had announced a stream tonight, I could eat them then.
After happily finishing the organization, it was already 10 PM. The gym I used to go to operated 24/7, so it wouldn’t be a problem to go now. I was quite hungry, so there was no issue going. I mixed various things in a shaker, added milk, and shook it. Since I used almost everything I consumed for energy, there was no reason to gain weight.
So, I quickly got dressed and went out. It was dark outside, but thankfully not worse. No wind, no snow, no rain—just a normal day. The gym wasn’t far. Located in a shopping center connected to the basement of the apartment, it took only a few minutes to get there.
There were few, but not no signs of people. Some exercised late at night, and many trainers set their workout times around this hour. So, there was no one at the counter. I pressed the last four digits of my phone number just in case, but of course, it said the period had expired.
Of course,
“Oh, Yoo Jin! I was just watching the airport interview. How did you get here so quickly?”
“I actually came late after doing this and that at home. How have you been?”
“Oh, we’re always the same. Anyway, congratulations on winning first place in the finals. Should we offer a big discount service? You’re here because your membership expired, right?”
“Yes. And the service is okay.”
What was that supposed to mean?
As the payment was being processed after handing over the card, the manager, who had been standing by, spoke with a somewhat ambiguous expression.
“By the way, if you plan to keep using the gym, you might need to come either a bit earlier or really late like now… since it’s crowded at other times.”
“Oh my.”
“Or, since there is an empty space, would you like us to partition it into a private room? Like a VIP room.”
“Haha, you’re joking.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t get an answer.
“…Seriously?”
“If I can put up a promotional sign using Yoo Jin’s name, it’s absolutely possible.”
Of course, I couldn’t resist the temptation of a personal gym that had appeared out of nowhere.
Quite suddenly, I had my own private space in the middle of the gym.
“…Ah, ah. Nice to meet you all. It’s been a while. It’s good to greet you again. I’ve been breathing in American air. It’s different from Korean air.”
Yoo Jin is back!!!!!
Wow, how long has it been? LOL
Spouting nonsense as soon as you’re backwwww
So you breathed in American air (skipping the middle part)
Why aren’t you mentioning the fact that you won LOL
January 2, 12:00 AM.
The broadcast started quite late.
Actually, this was the earliest I could manage. After working out and showering, two hours felt surprisingly short. Despite simplifying everything, it seemed I had arrived home quite late.
Anyway, the important thing was to appreciate that I even started the broadcast. Thinking roughly along those lines, I munched on some chocolate that came out of a delivery box. It was a box of 32 chocolates from a famous brand. If it had been summer, it would have spoiled or melted in an instant, but since it was left in the cold hallway in winter, it was luckily fine.
I popped one into my mouth, and as I bit down with my molars, the hard outer shell broke, releasing sweet syrupy chocolate. Maybe it was because I was eating it early in the morning or replenishing my energy after a workout, but it tasted exceptional. Of course, there was something I needed to read out.
“Uh, I don’t know if you’re here, but… this is from ‘Even if the mountain is high, it’s below Yoo Jin’ along with a letter. Because of your ridiculous nickname, I’ll express 66% of my gratitude. Next time, please use a more decent nickname. The chocolate is really delicious.”
That nickname LOL
About 2 months ago, I saw someone with the nickname ‘Lip Hunter Yoo Jin from Dongtan’ in
another stream
Those with malicious nicknames would have changed it while peeing themselves if they saw the finals LOL
Oh no, I need to go change my nickname right now
Why do you predict a storm as soon as you arrive, teacher?
Lip Hunter Yoo Jin from Dongtan, what kind of nickname is that?
Although it was a fleeting chat, my unnecessarily sharp eyes caught it. Since it had come to this, I decided to explore the viewers’ nicknames a bit – though most were decent, there were some like ‘SadNippleSyndrome’ or ‘ProteinWarehouseBurglarYooJin’.
My sense of absurdity vanished instantly. I originally intended to share some behind-the-scenes stories from the final championship today, but thanks to these guys, I couldn’t proceed with my content. With a small sigh, I added,
“I’ll give you 5 minutes. If anyone feels guilty about their nickname, hurry and go change it. I’ll recheck in 5 minutes.”
Dome Emperor!
Blood storm (literally)
Trying to resist changing your nickname in front of someone who can cut through a concrete wall with a hammer? That’s a sure decapitation angleww
Oh oh, Yoo Jin teacher is casting Black Dragon Big Wheel as soon as they return!!!!!
I’m never changing~ (frantically heading to the settings)
Even though I said that, the viewers only increased.
Anyway, I thought I should start sharing the behind-the-scenes stories, so I secretly activated the ICARUS Gear and converted some parts of the recorded videos from the past three weeks into images. Of course, the storage was the ICARUS International server. In the past, we used to record the engagement results this way and debrief the situations.
I displayed the first picture. It was the exterior and interior of the unmanned limousine bus responsible for the trip to Incheon Airport. Thinking about it, there were many stories to tell when Dice and Harmony were around, but I had overlooked that. I’ll call them over sometime later.
Besides that, there was something important.
“The seats have names embroidered on them. And my seat has a hole at the bottom for the tail.”
At the same time, I scanned the chat with eagle eyes… no, with Biyam’s eyes.
How much time had passed?
“Gotcha.”
“Kyahhh-!”
“How does this look like a toilet?”
I was sure some people would talk about the restroom, so I quickly put on the device around my neck, activated VR, and transitioned to virtual reality to catch the viewer.
Their eyes clearly showed they knew what they had said. Seeing anxiety and nervousness meant they were aware of their mistake. But knowing the mistake and paying for it are entirely different things, right? At least that’s what I think.
“I hope you are reborn as an upright viewer.”
“Kuak!”
Bang!
One viewer got ‘Shut up!’ and the chat window instantly turned into chaos. Of course, there was no reason to miss this momentum.
“Among the nicknames you’ve given me, there’s ‘Big Sister’ too. I can see everything. Be cautious always.”
LOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOL
She’s really thorough LOL
Teacher, any thoughts of strangling me with your tail?
I think you’ll be strangled until your neck snaps LOL
You said it’s a story-sharing broadcast! You said it’s a story-sharing broadcast! You said it’s a
story-sharing broadcast! You said it’s a story-sharing broadcast!
Ah.
As they said.
My story-sharing broadcast was already veering off course, not towards Incheon Airport, but to the mountains.
These rascals.