Chapter 265 - 245: The Rising Star of South Korean Esports
Seoul University Road, South Korea, isolated from the bustling downtown in Cultural and Art Street. Inside Emoon Tea House is the training base for the world’s obscure South Korean professional esports team, "Tatazu Freedom Wings."
The term "obscure" doesn’t mean the team lacks skills; rather, the level of professional esports in South Korea is so high that any professional player without needing notable achievements qualifies to play in the main teams of any country. Hence, South Korean esports is a golden signboard, and there’s no need to remember the multitudinous team names like counting cattle hair.
This obscure tea house of team Tatazu holds a very unique position among South Korean professional teams—it’s a school not particularly focused on training professional players!
At this moment, in the elegantly antique tea room, the coaches Cui Yonghao, Jin Xiyong, and Park Dong-hoon are sipping tea while intently watching a live video on the television wall, featuring the number one player from the European Union Zone, Big V, battling a UK professional player over the Valen Strait.
Although these three are coaches, they are indeed only 25 or 26 years old. They were once the brilliant stars of the South Korean esports scene, the absolute kings in the esports domain. Of course, their level is still the same now, but they have stepped back from the front lines as coaches.
In South Korea, esports is both a national sport and a heavily supported project by the country; professional gamers are selected and trained as meticulously as professional soccer players. Being good at games means high income and celebrity status, idolized by boys and girls alike. This is in stark contrast to China, where playing games well is seen as needing treatment.
Due to the high treatment of professional players in South Korea, the competition is especially fierce, and the entry threshold is extremely high, almost as stringent as the qualifications for Go institutes. And in a Go institute, aren’t all who can enter considered prodigious geniuses with astonishing analytical power?
Indeed, the selection of esports players in South Korea is almost conducted in the model of Go institutes, which explains the astonishing calculation abilities of South Korean players. For example, in strategic combat games, a South Korean player needs only one glance at your base to calculate how many troops you can maximize in several minutes!
In summary, South Korean players start their careers from ages 15 to 18, reach their peak from 20 to 22, and after 22, they start to decline and prepare to retire. Those who can still maintain their level and have a wide social network usually become coaches after the age of 24.
Meanwhile, these three coaches are watching Big V’s video with great interest, occasionally bursting into cheers. In the South Korean esports world, their level can only be described as "extra-domain entities," known as "the Three Extremes." Looking at the global esports scene, there is none among the active players they find impressive, except they hold a special respect for Big V, not for his skills, but for his ever-vibrant heart like an evergreen tree.
Indeed, for top masters, the declining of a hero is a very sad thing. They hope to learn the secret of everlasting vitality from Big V. Of course, they also know some things can never truly be learned; rather than learning, it is more about enjoying with a leisurely appreciative mindset, as watching Big V compete feels entirely different from watching those whipper-snappers play games.
Finally, in the video on the television wall, Big V once again cleverly and naturally used an NPC to win the battle, and the Dark Alliance players cheered.
Cui Yonghao clapped and laughed, "Truly naturally stable as a rock, I really want to have a match with him."
Cui Yonghao, gaming ID Stone Buddha. This was his nickname when he was a front-line professional player, implying his psychological quality and facial expressions were as stable as a stone Buddha. Back then, he was a player who seldom joked. After becoming a coach, he always laughed and often described himself as Maitreya.
Jin Xiyong chuckled, "He hasn’t aged, but we are indeed getting old."
Jin Xiyong, gaming ID Director Jin, a nickname he acquired as a coach. Director Jin is also a famous comedic image in Korean film and television. Jin Xiyong’s forte is using all kinds of unimaginable comedic methods to win, making his trainees cry and laugh, his level of skill absolute, his tactics bizarre to the point of being indescribable.
Park Dong-hoon shook his head, "No, he’s now also a semi-amateur player like us; we might encounter him in the National War battlefield."
Park Dong-hoon, gaming ID Dragon Liver. This was also his nickname, implying his courage was astonishing, daring to employ many seemingly unimaginable risky troop movements. If no one knew it was him competing, anyone would think it was a novice messing around. In reality, the only difference between him and a novice is that all his actions are precisely calculated with his computer-like brain.
When National War was mentioned, Cui Yonghao frowned, "Although our country is fearless in competitions, National War tests the overall strength of the country, especially against China and Japan; we absolutely must not lose to them."
Jin Xiyong casually smiled, "Although Chinese players’ levels are amateurish, in the recent National War, they demonstrated astonishing large-scale player organizational ability, which is worthy of attention."
Park Dong-hoon laughed loudly, "Since our National Team chose the Elf Clan for our main attack, we are already prepared to fight outnumbered. Let them worry about that. However, I feel that the Japanese have been very active recently and are making significant moves."
Jin Xiyong smiled, "If the Japanese aim to eliminate NPCs from the Light Camp, then I indeed must express my admiration for their long-term strategy."
Cui Yonghao shook his head, "The Japanese and Americans collaborate the closest, it’s not out of question that the Japanese might obtain strategies through internal channels."
Just then, the door to the tea room was knocked on urgently, and excited shouts of "Teacher, Teacher" came from outside.
Jin Xiyong sighed, "These kids have no manners at all. Come in!"
Clang! The door immediately opened, and in came three teenagers aged 14 and 15: "Teacher, we are very polite! We did knock."
Hong Xiuying, Zhao Shizhe, and Li Yinzhu, the proud disciples of the three coaches, are prodigies with IQs over 160 and the rising stars of South Korean esports. Especially the female disciple Li Yinzhu, with her sweet appearance, she is a hot favorite to become the next esports queen of South Korea. However, since the three debuted so brilliantly, it was not conducive to the growth of young players’ mentality, so the three coaches deliberately kept them under wraps for intensive training.
Cui Yonghao sternly asked, "Xiuying, what’s up?"
A young boy excitedly said, "Teacher, there’s news from the American Hero Headquarters. They’re organizing the first global Heroes Free PK competition in a week. We can register and participate in the game now!"
The three coaches were taken aback.
Cui Yonghao exclaimed, "A competition in just a week? No prior notice? That’s really rushed."
Park Dong-hoon sighed, "It must be a spur-of-the-moment decision to promote the upcoming launch of servers in the Southeast Asia Region and South America in 20 days, using the prize money to attract more players."
Jin Xiyong sighed, "Yeah, the commercial operations of this game are really heavy," then chuckled, "But, I like it!"
Park Dong-hoon asked a young boy, "Shizhe, what are the rules of the competition?"
The young boy excitedly said, "It’s an unrestricted free match, of course! There are no rules; if a level 20 meets a level 30, it’s just their bad luck!"
Another young boy laughed, "It’s more fun if a level 20 takes down a level 30!"
The three coaches nodded in agreement,
Jin Xiyong waved his hand, "Got it, you guys go intensify your leveling and training."
The young girl smiled, "Teacher, aren’t you going to have some expectations for us?"
Jin Xiyong cleared his throat, "Expectations? I hope when you guys get beaten by international pros, you don’t cry and get your helmets all snotty."
The three young men and women laughed loudly, "Even if our teacher accidentally loses to us, we don’t even think about losing to any international pros. We’ll bring home the first place to show you! Hahaha!" With proud laughter, they bounced out the door.
Jin Xiyong smiled bitterly, shook his head, and stood up to close the door they had forgotten to shut, "Really can’t do anything with them!"
Cui Yonghao sighed, "I actually hope they lose a match! Sometimes, you can learn more from defeat than victory."
Park Dong-hoon sighed, "When we first started, we had big Vs holding us back, which was beneficial for rookie growth. But for them, losing to seniors would just be seen as expected and would not elevate their mindset. I urgently hope they lose to their peers."
Cui Yonghao sighed, "It’s just a pity there’s no one among their peers who can beat them."
Jin Xiyong bitterly laughed, "Then let them lose to amateur players!"
The other two smiled wryly, "Amateur players? How could that be—"
Suddenly, all three were shocked!
Cui Yonghao’s face twitched, "Maybe there really is an exceptionally strong amateur player?"
Jin Xiyong’s eyelids twitched, "With no rules like in a free PK match, I’m not sure I’d win against him either."
Park Dong-hoon said gravely, "We have too little information about him; even among the Chinese, few know the details about him."
Cui Yonghao laughed, "I’m entering the competition too!"
The other two laughed, "We’ll go together!"
(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote on QiDian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)