I Regressed but the World Didn’t Fall Apart

Episode 83 [Iron Fist] – EVO Tournament (2)

[The World’s Strongest Gaming Nation]

[Korea is number one in the world.]

– Banner for a famous game’s update –

In the past, there was such a time.

When it was said that Koreans are all about games, and games are all about Koreans.

Back then, in the eyes of gamers worldwide, Koreans were the “insane battle race gamers,” and the “country of silent dawn” was a terrifying battlefield where only those who mastered war skills gathered.

Such perceptions persisted until the early days of Full Dive, when the Alfa dominated the world of combat games.

The world championship was dominated by Anatol and the next formidable Korean, sweeping the competition.

It was common for overseas Alfa champions to come to Korea to compete but get swiftly eliminated in the first or second round.

“The finals? Oh, a match where a Korean faces a Korean, so a Korean wins?”

It wasn’t long before such a post appeared on the Alfa board on Reddit and quickly became the most recommended and best post.

But not anymore.

Now, no one suggests giving the tournament trophy to a Korean to start with.

It’s all just a thing of the past glory.

“Beyond the top 8, Evan…;;”

“Ah! Natalie hyung! Stop being annoying!”

“Damn, turned off the tournament… all Korean players are out… Ah, the good old days!”

Because.

Now, Korea was not the only country where the entire population indulged in Full Dive.

In these times where Full Dive was replacing traditional sports.

There was no one left who didn’t know that playing games could make you money.

Now was the time when the number one dream job for children around the world had become a Full Dive Game Pro!

And as a result.

[The analysis team said they doubled in size, but why is Nick Jackson suddenly so much better than before? Seriously, the power of money is insane.]

The U.S., pushing forward with capital.

[Argh… it’s infuriating… that Gatuk guy is so damn good, damn it…]

India, pushing forward with manpower.

[Gulrop, this guy is seriously a monster, right?]

Countries like Russia, nurturing Full Dive players on a national scale.

As countries emerging as rising stars by delving deeper into Full Dive as time went on, Korea was no longer the world’s strongest gaming nation.

“How’s Anatol these days?”

– He’s good… but… players from other countries are too good.

– We’re just being overshadowed by foreign dominance now.

– Even Korean coaches for ‘Strategy Dore’ have all been imported, can’t even use them anymore lol

Thus began a time of humiliation and persecution.

With Anatol’s glory forgotten, and the Korean secret weapon, Goryeo, buried in the nerf,

The era when it became a vulgar joke to say that Koreans were the world’s best gaming nation was approaching, right at that moment…

[-“Hm…”]

And just like a comet, a man riding a white horse appeared, walking onto the EVO stage.

[Hm, get ready to be amazed!!!!!!!!!!]

(Screen capture)

With a winning rate of 100% shining in the player introduction, lol

-hahahaha

-Hm! Hm!

-Wow, amazing

-Please, Master Dohyuk, win EVO…

-To be honest, if it’s Master Dohyuk, he might even be able to defeat Kwan in a fight, right?

-Kim Dae-hoon officially confirms that Master Dohyuk, a world-class genius with exceptional physical abilities, will win EVO for sure

-Who is Kim Dae-hoon?

-Our dad’s son

-Do you have siblings?

-No, he’s an illegitimate child

-This guy, even in that situation, he’s still ‘hm-hm’ing, seriously such a funny guy lol

That ‘hm’ guy, Dohyuk.

Naturally, Dohyuk’s participation in EVO, which caused a huge sensation in the Korean fighting game community, was a big deal.

And there was one person who was properly benefiting from such sensationalism.

[“Brother’s cheering broadcast!! With a special guest of historical significance! / Jianshu / 36,782 viewers]

The guardian of Alpa, Jianshu.

Thanks to her blood ties, she proudly held the honor of being the number one EVO live broadcast viewer (domestically).

“Ho…? A major corporation from day one…?”

Moreover, today’s broadcast by Jianne Chu was no ordinary broadcast.

Jianne Chu was hosting the show with a 3D avatar in hand.

In the avatar making, there were quite a few resemblances to Jianne Chu’s face when looking at just the face, referencing the real-life appearance of Jianne.

– Ugh, this way of talking is so annoying.

– Hey, why is she a YouTuber today?

– I have no idea.

– She said she shouldn’t cheer for the AP League as her main character, the Guardian of Alpa…

– Damn, hahahahaha.

– This sibling duo is seriously a comedy act.

Surprisingly, even in the age of full-dive virtual YouTubers, the world of virtual YouTubers remained vast and expansive.

Despite the dominance of virtual reality, there still existed a demand for virtual avatars.

And today, Jianne Chu made her debut as such a YouTuber!

– So, who’s the guest?

– Maybe she invited someone to do the commentary.

– Among Jianne Chu’s friends, is there anyone who knows about competitive games?

– At best, they might know about the Blue Team…

Not just in the title, but even before today’s broadcast, Jianne Chu had stirred up excitement by announcing that it would be a day for a special guest of epic proportions.

Due to that, questions about when the guest would appear have been flooding the chat since earlier.

“Now, who is today’s guest! It’s none other than…”

Jianne Chu was getting ready to reveal the special guest little by little.

And then, the comments started pouring in.

She scanned through the chat.

– So, the guest is probably that kid Jianne Chu’s been talking about. If she does this, she’s really killing it.

– Even leaking the script, huh?

– Oh, come on.

– If you have a clue, you wouldn’t do such a thing, right?

– Seriously, that’s a slippery slope.

– hahahaha, if that really happens, it’s over.

“…Wha…what…?”

Jianne Chu, or rather, Chu Ming, the rookie YouTuber on her first day, was immediately thrown off.

‘These people…’

Have they already figured out my pattern?!

-?

-??

– Was it really true?

– hahahaha, this is insane, hahahaha.

– I

– Am

– Done

“G-Guest…! Is…coming! Maybe…?”

That was how Chu Ming (the sub character), on her debut day, faced a broadcasting crisis.

Ido Hyuk entered to compete in Group H’s first match.

Swish-

A large display in the center.

The matches unfolded from the capsules placed on either side.

“Hmm…”

When he glanced at the audience, he met the eyes of a few people looking at the stage.

But their eyes seemed unimpressed.

Naturally, it was an expected reaction.

An amateur gamer who suddenly appeared, with only a rank in the rankings and the recent victory in the Beyond Streamer Tournament as his background.

Moreover, according to Anatol and Beyond, his opponent was quite a famous gamer.

It would be strange for people to have high expectations of him.

“Now, the first match of Group H. Gatuk Player was unfortunately eliminated by Kwavna Player in the last tournament, right? He is famous for being the best player in the world handling the character Danila, a practitioner of the Indian martial art Kalari Payattu.”

“Danila, who also received a buff in this patch. The speed of the blade whip through the soft sword has increased by 1.05 times. That’s quite a significant buff, isn’t it?”

The commentators briefly introduced Gatuk and Ido Hyuk.

A clash between the 4th seed and the 1st seed.

Naturally, the commentators’ attention was focused on Gatuk, the player from India who came out as the 1st seed.

Gatuk was a legend in other fighting games, reaching the pinnacle with the concept character of a yoga master in that game.

As the popularity of that game waned, he switched to Iron Fist, and subsequently, he successfully transitioned his career by making it to the finals once and the semi-finals once in world tournaments.

“Facing off against Gatuk Player is surprisingly an amateur from Korea, Ido Hyuk! But he’s not just an ordinary amateur. He’s ranked 1st in the Asia server! And they say he hasn’t been defeated even once this season.”

“A win rate of 100%? Hm, these days gamers from Korea and Japan seem to focus more on scrims than grinding ranks, right? Well, the time when the Asia server was the most competitive server in the world is long gone. The outcome of this match seems quite predictable!”

One was an experienced top-tier professional gamer.

The other was an amateur gamer who had slipped a bit in the ranks.

Just looking at their backgrounds, it seemed obvious who the winner would be.

-hahahahaha

-Gatuk is good, right?

-Just a bit below Kwavna’s level

-Just playing with Anatol, Yondu, and Tsuki?

Of course, it was a clear vote of confidence that Ido Hyuk would win.

“Wow! So, that means Oppa will win!”

Jianchu exclaimed excitedly.

While opinions on the official EVO broadcast worldwide may differ, on her broadcast, everyone seemed to predict Ido Hyuk’s victory.

-hahahaha, saying he’s similar to Anatol, that’s why he might win is quite funny

-Oh, poor Pongtol ㅠㅠ

-But after watching the match earlier, Anatol’s skills have really improved

-Yeah, Tsuki is on fire too

-Wow

-Is this Ido Hyuk’s training ground…

“Surely, there is a part where you unknowingly improve after facing that person.”

The Dark Girl murmured.

Today’s special guest, Drumroll!

The Dark Girl!

Naturally, it wasn’t the original plan. Originally, Jianchu intended to reveal herself as the guest as planned, but in a moment of crisis, she urgently sought help and invited the Dark Girl.

The two had been playing games together in Monber for the past few weeks, building a friendship.

“Interested in the Harang Combo?”

“Yeah! But I feel like I’m doing it right, yet viewers keep saying something.”

Furthermore, Jianchu had been learning Alphard recently from the Dark Girl.

“Yahap! Hap! Hiyah!”

“…?”

“So, how was it, Unni?”

Having only heard rumors, the Dark Girl finally witnessed Jianchu’s Alphard play for the first time.

Her bewildered expression at that moment was captured in a clip, making it into the top 10 Tworc Hot Clip achievement of the day.

Anyway.

[Takt – Danila]

◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈

[Ido-hyuk – Tetsujin]

◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈

The two players who had completed their character selection.

– ‘That Doll’ ON

– Can’t see what mode it is?

– Anyway, whatever pops up, it’s not gonna be Ido-hyuk mode, right?

– Seriously lol

– Ah lol I can’t wait to see Takt’s face after getting ‘Beyond’

“The match begins! Takt has chosen his main character Danila, while Ido-hyuk has come out with the new character Tetsujin this time!”

“It seems that the pro player, especially Takt, is up against a formidable opponent, trying to create as much confusion through Tetsujin as possible. A clever choice. However, such petty tricks won’t work against overwhelming skill!”

Clang-

[GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE]

With high expectations, the match began.

[READY]

[FIGHT!!!]

***

Around the same time.

A place slightly removed from the main stage.

“Player Tsuki. Congratulations on advancing to the main round.”

“Thank you.”

Tsuki, who had already played two matches, was in the midst of a winner’s interview.

In the first round, he faced Wanted, the 2nd seed, and then encountered Stevia, the 3rd seed, winning all four sets without losing a single set, securing his spot in the main round.

EVO’s qualifiers didn’t end in one game but required three sets in total, with the need to win two sets first to secure victory.

“In all four sets, your HP never dropped below three bars. Many expected a close match between Tsuki and Wanted, considering Wanted is highly regarded as the strongest 2nd seed. However, you quickly turned those expectations around right after the match started. How did you feel, Tsuki? Did you anticipate victory before the match?”

“If I said I didn’t have confidence, it would be a lie. I felt that with my recent improvement in skills, if I did my best, I could win.”

“Yes, indeed. Watching from the outside, it seemed like you had the skills to be confident. It felt like you had made significant progress since the last competition. Have you perhaps realized the Iron Fist during this time?”

“Not to the point of realization. Just… trained a bit harder these past few weeks.”

Training… Is it really training…?

Wasn’t it more like one-sided torment…?

─ Thought Tsuki, but he didn’t make the mistake of voicing such inner thoughts in the interview.

In fact, from some perspective, it was truly excellent training.

‘Hmm, yes…!’

Even just recalling that time made his temples automatically ache deeply.

At the same time, in his mind, for some reason, a sound like ─kaang! seemed to resonate and spread.

And then, on some days, it felt like suddenly, not his head but a devil-like persistence was striking at his hips or thighs… questioning why he kept targeting there, saying that love’s whip naturally did that, which was hard to understand…

“…Hmm!”

Tsuki, who had momentarily drifted off in his thoughts, snapped back to reality.

“Yes. I am always grateful for the support from my fans. And I will definitely keep the promise of bringing back the EVO trophy I won in the past to Japan… yes. Someday… I will definitely… strive to keep it!”

After various questions and answers, Tsuki concluded the interview like that.

Then, he turned and headed back to the team booth.

Gathering in the player waiting room was a scene from before the draw for the matches, and now it was time for him to strategize for the next match with his coaching staff in the team booth.

“…….”

At that moment, he felt that persistent gaze once again.

Because of that gaze, Tsuki had been feeling a chill down his spine since earlier.

It was understandable…

‘Why on earth since earlier…’

In an instant, their eyes met.

And then, rather than glaring at him with his neck and hands loosened, now Quavna was squinting at him.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“Heh heh.”

‘Is he savoring the sight of me…?’

Tsuki couldn’t fathom the reason for that at all.