NoveLight ™
[Sports // General Sports // 2036-01-01]
[Lifting the Final Championship trophy... Now is the era of 'Yujin']
[Reporter Kim Kang-hyuk]
The Final Championship Korean representative player Yujin (24) lifted the pure gold trophy that only the winner can possess.
Leading the Korean representative team, Yujin dominated foreign players at the 2035 3rd Final Championship held at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York. Particularly, Yujin achieved victories in nearly half of the 14 matches held over five days, securing a solid first place. With this, South Korea became the second country to produce a champion, following the United States.
Immediately after returning to Korea, Yujin shared the joy of winning her first trophy with her team. Having been selected as a temporary coach by SSM Entertainment through scrims following the preseason rank in early autumn of 2035, Yujin consecutively claimed the top spots in the preliminary rankings, KSM, and the Asian qualifiers.
This season, South Korea was not in a favorable position. Last year, falling behind Japan and Russia, South Korea secured three tickets as the third place in Asia without finding a clear breakthrough in skill. The results of tactical exchanges with other countries also diverged from expectations. As a result, the prevailing outlook was that the Korean team needed time to establish itself.
However, starting from August, as the preseason approached its end, things began to change. The emerging Yujin player achieved a miraculous feat of winning 16 out of 23 matches during a scrim session hosted by Xi Impressive, overwhelming the trainees and professional gamers participating as jokers from more than half of the ten teams that declared wildcards.
Yujin’s journey did not stop there. Having quickly surpassed the preliminary ranks, she gained enough points for promotion in the first cycle of KSM, and DICE, the so-called 'first pro-gamer disciple' selected by SSM Entertainment, achieved promotion in the second cycle.
After KSM concluded, Yujin entered individual training with selected players from each team, and the Korean representative team easily defeated last year's strongholds, Russia and Japan, in the Asian qualifiers, avenging the previous year’s results.
One of the most dramatic scenarios of this Final Championship was the intense rivalry between the independent Yujin and Logan, a professional gamer from Orvital Gaming.
In a pre-Final Championship interview, Logan claimed to be a friend of Yujin, and after photos of him traveling between New York with Yujin and two unidentified individuals circulated on social media (now deleted), his statements gained credibility. Yujin, too, had not denied this, and the claim became widely accepted as fact.
However, friendship and competition seemed separate, as Logan displayed skills befitting an EM-level manifestor (presumed) and secured second place in the Final Championship with four match wins, following Yujin. Furthermore, Logan and Yujin faced each other as the final survivors a staggering ten times, which exceeded half of the total 14 matches of the Final Championship.
In an interview shortly after her return, Yujin candidly shared some of her feelings during the competition. Many were curious about how she maintained her psychological stability and controlled her condition, and she revealed, "It’s crucial to have muscle memory that allows you to handle any situation and calculate the next move steadily."
She also stated, "I didn’t care much about winning. I only thought about exhausting all my abilities to incapacitate the enemy. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t feel particularly nervous, and that might have served as a pillar of support for the Korean representative team."
Shockingly, Yujin also mentioned in the interview after her return that her participation in the 4th Final Championship was uncertain. No official follow-up statement has been made, and the other Korean representatives who returned with her also did not provide any particular answers.
<Kim Kang-hyuk esportsKGH@mdl.co.kr>
"Things are bustling just a few hours later. Is everyone that surprised that Yujin won’t be participating in the tournament next year?"
"Well, I’ve been hinting at it indirectly, so it wouldn’t surprise Dais and Harmony too much, but the others are different. That pressure will soon come pouring down, so prepare yourselves."
"I still can’t believe it. I’ll probably feel it soon, though…."
"Haha. Anyway, I’ll hang up now. I have a lot to organize."
"Okay, see you later."
Clatter, clatter.
It was quite the commotion when I returned home after a long time. In front of my house, gifts sent by fans were piled up high—though I hadn’t given my home address, they were delivered to a specific location that got forwarded to my house—and letters were stacked in heaps. While I could check my mail in New York, it wasn't a big deal.
Anyway, it was New Year’s. I sent texts to my family and friends, sharing good wishes. Of course, since my acquaintances were all limited, it was mostly the same stories repeated. Oddly enough, the members of Team Dagger were more enthusiastic than my family. Those who usually didn’t contact me were making a fuss about whether I arrived safely.
Thus, on January 2nd, after wrapping up the interview, I finally got to my house. Just like last time, the unmanned limousine bus dropped us off in front of each of our houses. Since all five of us lived in different places, it took quite a while to get around, but it was still within Seoul.
And upon arriving in front of my house, I discovered numerous packages, bringing the story back to the beginning.
I had a lot to do.
"I think I need to renew my gym membership."
The problem was that I had to resolve all these packages before I could go.
I recalled the time a few months ago when I brought Dais home and tore through various packages. Of course, I was alone now. Anyway, even if the tape and boxes were sturdy, they were still just tape. With a bit of effort, they would easily break apart. I neatly folded the boxes and set them outside, while organizing the contents in the living room.
There were more ordinary items than I expected. Towels, perfumes, soap, fountain pens, a snow globe… why is that even here? There were also diffusers and clothes… the clothes looked decent. Since they were free size, I could wear them comfortably at home, and there were also traditional sweets. It seemed there was a lot.
Fortunately, it seemed that no perishable food items had been sent, thanks to my earlier warnings.
'…Since there’s an empty room, should I use it as a gift storage room?'
Or perhaps I could rewrap the gifts I didn’t need and give them away to viewers later. It felt a bit wrong to keep hoarding things I couldn’t even use. Of course, it wouldn’t be polite to re-gift something to the person who gave it, so I should set a gift guideline as quickly as possible. That way, this kind of mishap wouldn’t happen again.
Thus, the gift list was divided into items to be repackaged and those to be used at home. Still, towels, perfumes, soap, fountain pens, diffusers, and clothes were all things I could use. The snow globe could be kept at home. The traditional sweets or New Year’s food gift set could be brought out for snack time during an IRL stream.
After all, I had a broadcast planned for tonight, so I could eat them then.
Having cheerfully finished organizing, it was already 10 PM. The gym I used to go to was open 24/7, so going now wouldn’t be a problem. Coincidentally, I was feeling quite hungry, so it should be fine. I mixed various things into the shaker, added milk, and shook it. Since I used almost everything that went inside as energy, there was no reason for me to gain weight.
So, I quickly got dressed and went out. It was dark outside, but fortunately, it hadn’t gotten worse. There was no wind, no snow, and no rain, making it quite a normal day. The gym wasn’t far away. It was located in the shopping area connected to the apartment basement, so it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get there.
While the activity was sparse, it wasn’t completely absent. There were certainly people working out late at night—many trainers usually set their workout times around this hour. Maybe because of that, there was no one at the counter. I pressed the back of my phone just in case, but it only showed that my membership had expired.
Of course,
"Ah, Yujin! Oh my gosh, I was just watching your airport interview, how did you get here so quickly?"
"I actually took my time doing things at home, so I came a bit late. How have you been?"
"Oh, we’re always about the same. Anyway, congratulations on taking first place in the finals! I was thinking I should give you a significant discount service. You came because of the expired membership, right?"
"That’s right. And the service is fine."
Why go that far?
Anyway, after handing over my card and processing the payment, the manager, who had been at the counter, spoke with a somewhat awkward expression.
"By the way, if you’re going to keep using it, you might want to come a bit earlier or work out late like this… other times are crowded with other people."
"Oh dear."
"Or, if there’s an empty space, I could separate it into a room for you? Like a VIP room."
"Haha, what a joke."
Unfortunately, the answer did not come back.
"…Really?"
"If I could borrow Yujin’s name to put up a promotional sign, it would be absolutely possible."
Of course, I didn’t appear out of nowhere as a home gym… but I couldn’t resist the temptation of a personal gym.
In that moment, I suddenly had my own personal space right in the middle of the gym.
"…Ah, ah. Nice to meet you all. It’s great to greet you again after a long time. I just returned from breathing in the air of America. It really has a different flavor from the air in Korea."
January 2nd, 12 AM.
The stream started quite late.
In fact, it was the result of my efforts to start as early as possible. After coming back from the gym and showering, I realized that two hours was surprisingly short. Even after trying to simplify everything, it seemed I had gotten home quite late.
Anyway, the important thing was not that; I should be grateful that I turned it on at all. Thinking roughly like that, I rummaged through a package and found some chocolates. It was a 32-piece chocolate box made by a very famous brand. If it were summer, it would have spoiled or melted in no time, but since it had been left in the cold hallway during winter, it was still intact.
After popping one into my mouth and crunching it with my molars, the hard exterior crumbled, releasing a sweet syrup-like chocolate. Maybe it was the late-night snack feel or the replenishing sugar after a workout, but it tasted especially great. Of course, aside from that, there was something I needed to read.
"Um, I don’t know if you’re here, but… this chocolate was sent with a letter from Taesan is high, but Yujin is low. Since the nickname is like this, I’ll express my gratitude at about 66% instead of the usual 50%. I would appreciate it if you used a more decent nickname next time. The chocolate is really delicious."
What on earth is the Dongtan beauty hunter nickname?
The chat was zooming by, but my overly observant eyes did not miss that nickname. So, since we were at it, I decided to explore viewers’ nicknames a bit—most were decent, but among them were some random ones like Sad X Nipple Syndrome and Pyeongtaek Protein Warehouse Mass Thief Yujin.
I suddenly felt a loss of words. I had intended to share behind-the-scenes stories about the Final Championship today, but thanks to these jokes, I couldn’t proceed with the content. With a small sigh, I added,
"I’ll give you five minutes now; if you feel a bit guilty about your nickname, hurry and change it. I’ll check again in five minutes."
Of course, even as I said that, the viewers didn’t decrease; they only increased.
Anyway, I figured it was time to share some behind-the-scenes stories, so I secretly activated the Icarus Gear and cut some footage from the past three weeks that had been recorded. Of course, the storage was on the Icarus International server. In the past, we had recorded the results of engagements like this and debriefed on how things went.
I displayed the first photo. It showed the exterior and interior of the unmanned limousine bus that had transported us to Incheon Airport. I realized that Dais and Harmony should have been there to share the full story, which I had overlooked. I’d have to call them later.
Aside from that, there was something more important.
"This chair has my name embroidered on it. And my seat has a hole poked in it, of course, for tail storage."
At the same time, I scanned the chat with hawk-like eyes… no, more like a vulture.
How long had it been?
"I caught it."
"Kyahhh!"
"Where do you see this as a toilet?"
I figured one or two people would talk about the bathroom, so I quickly put on the device around my neck, activated VR, switched to virtual reality, and activated the interview function to catch the viewer.
The gaze they had showed they were very aware of what they had said. Given the anxiety and unease in their eyes, they knew they had messed up. But knowing you did something wrong and paying the price for it were completely different matters. At least, that’s what I thought.
"I hope you’ll be reborn as a clean viewer."
"Ugh!"
Clang!
One viewer got hit with a "shut up!" and in no time, the chat exploded into chaos. Of course, there was no reason for me to miss this atmosphere.
"Among the nicknames you’ve given me, there’s also Big Sister. I can see everything. You all should always be cautious."
Sigh.
As that statement went, my storytelling stream wasn’t even five minutes in before it was going up in smoke instead of staying on the topic of Incheon Airport.
These mischievous little devils.
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