Chapter 1225. Organizing (5)

Chapter 1225. Organizing (5)

[Everyone joining us today, you are in for a wild ride! It’s a massive honor to be here, to witness this history-making game in person! This is what esports is all about, folks! This is the epitome of passion! E-athletes from both sides are standing their ground, not giving an inch!]

[The score is tied at 2:2! The next match will decide this year’s champion! I’m getting really tense, so how much worse would it be for the e-athletes in the thick of it?]

[Only those who can overcome this tension can sit on the throne, folks! E-athletes! I know you’re already at your limits, both physically and mentally, but you gotta push yourselves a bit more! Go for that last hurrah! Remember, only one team can emerge victorious today!]

“Wow. These announcers are pretty good.”

Choi Yeon-Ha nodded in approval while glancing at the announcers’ area. She had seen and heard plenty of announcers in her career while attending various events, but not many had been capable of working the crowd as those two.

Thanks to the announcers, the atmosphere in the arena remained boiling hot. Most people would get exhausted while watching intense matches lasting almost three hours, yet the overall atmosphere could almost fool you into thinking that the finals had only just begun.

[Oh, no! We’ve been informed just now that the final match has been delayed a little, all ‘thanks’ to a small hiccup with the setup. We sincerely apologize for the delay and will get everything up and running as soon as possible. In the meantime, we’d like to extend our gratitude once more to everyone attending today’s finals. I mean, we have so many people in the arena today!]

[Yes, I heard that all the available tickets have been sold out. It’s a full house! This huge arena is absolutely filled with eager fans! But that’s because today’s final is history in the making, isn’t it?]

[Of course! It’s the battle between the champion and the fiercest challenger, after all! And a sizable contingent of the audience must be the die-hard fans of Park Yu-Min ready to witness him triumph as the new challenger!]

[Isn’t this so weird? People usually call e-athletes by their preferred nicknames, but not Park Yu-Min. Maybe it’s because his fans have been cheering him on using his name since the beginning of his career?]

[Speaking of which, my fellow announcer! You’ve gifted us with so many memorable moments during the last final he was in, haven’t you? So many meme-able moments, I’d say! You were screaming, ‘Park Yu-Min! Park Yu-Min, Park Yu-Min!’ nonstop. By my count, you screamed his name twenty-nine times in a row back then!]

[What can I do when I couldn’t think of anything clever to say back then? Park Yu-Min has the power to make you utterly speechless, you know?]

[And even after changing to a different genre, Park Yu-Min is still displaying his incredible skills and entertaining us! You’re so cool, dude! You’re a role model to countless aspiring pro gamers out there!]

[That’s right. However, you mustn’t just remain as a role model. You must return to the top! To seize the throne once more! You’re about to create history today by becoming the champion in two different genres of games. Only one more match remains until your immortality, Park Yu-Min!]

[Ah, and now we can see... Is that Park Yu-Min’s family on screen? I mean, they are going all-out to cheer him on and all.]

The massive screen in the middle of the arena displayed a woman holding a sign that said,

‘Park Yu-Min, Do Your Best!’

and a man holding another sign that said,

‘You’re Dead Meat If You Lose!’

Everyone’s eyes widened slightly.

[H-hold up! Isn’t that Choi Yeon-Ha?]

[Yes, you’re right! Folks, Miss Choi Yeon-Ha is actually in the arena, cheering Park Yu-Min on!]

A raucous cheer went around the arena’s grandstands just then. Choi Yeon-Ha smiled brightly and waved back after realizing her face was on the big screen. Naturally, the cheering grew even louder.

[It is her! Holy cow! She’s waving right back at us! Folks, esports have reached a level of relevance that now we get a top star like Miss Choi Yeon-Ha attending one of the finals! I’m so moved by how far we’ve come!]

[I’d like to extend my gratitude to Miss Choi Yeon-Ha for coming here today. Wait, didn’t she shoot that commercial with Park Yu-Min recently? Maybe they became friends during the filming? In any case! Many pro gamers have shot commercials in the past, but none managed to break the curse until now. However! Folks, that commercial Park Yu-Min shot with Miss Choi Yeon-Ha has finally cast light on the darkness of shame blanketing the esports scene!]

[Yes, totally! Dude! That was a great commercial. I think I viewed it at least a hundred times!]

[I’d like to thank Miss Choi Yeon-Ha and the commercial’s director using this opportunity. Also, I’d like to remind you all that quite a few of our e-athletes are lookers, too! Park Yu-Min was great, but please give lots more chances to other e-athletes as well!]

[By the way, I think the gent sitting next to Miss Choi is Park Yu-Min’s friend. Wowsers, he’s a looker as well, isn’t he? Super good looking, actually!]

Kang Jin-Ho faked-coughed while covering his mouth when he heard that.

[You’re right, he is a looker. I thought both of them were actors, but according to the team’s PR personnel, he’s Park Yu-Min’s best friend.]

[Wow! With such folks cheering him on, Park Yu-Min must be raring to go right now! Of course, other e-athletes need to do their best, as well! Because the best way to repay the fans at home and in the arena is to show them a match they will never forget! Great timing, folks, I’ve been told that the minor hiccups have been taken care of. Now, then! Let’s get straight into the match!]

When the screen started showing something else other than his face, Kang Jin-Ho sighed in relief. “I should’ve told them not to film us.”

Choi Yeon-Ha chuckled. “There is no way they won’t when I’m here. It’s kinda obvious, you know.”

“Sounds like you knew this would happen.”

“Of course.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly. Since Choi Yeon-Ha chose to sit here despite knowing the cameras would be on her, it could only mean she wanted to be filmed alongside Kang Jin-Ho.

While thinking that Choi Yeon-Ha was getting bolder every day, Kang Jin-Ho looked up at the image of Park Yu-Min on the big screen.

Park Yu-Min was in his booth, his focused eyes glued to his monitor.

‘It suits him really well.’

No, that wasn’t quite right. Rather than ‘suited’, it should be more like he looked cool.

The “usual” Park Yu-Min, who liked to chuckle sheepishly, was not bad either, but he undeniably looked coolest when intensely focusing on something, like right now.

Choi Yeon-Ha curiously asked, “He’s going to win, yes?”

“Probably.”

“I’m gonna bite his head off if he loses today.”

The truth about their signs was that Kang Jin-Ho was responsible for writing the

‘Park Yu-Min, Do Your Best!’

sign. Meanwhile, Choi Yeon-Ha was responsible for the other, more threatening one.

She asked to switch the signs before the games began. Maybe that was because she was conscious of the cameras picking up on her presence.

Choi Yeon-Ha brought her hands together and assumed a praying position.

She didn’t know the rules of the game. Although she could see

stuff

moving about on the big screen, that was about it, really. The world of computer games was far removed from the world she inhabited, after all. Especially the genre of MOBA; the rules could get a bit obtuse, or maybe downright confusing, for newcomers like her.

Even then, she went along with the crowd and screamed and clapped at the things happening on the screen. Before long, this nervous tension built up inside her. She came here with a mindset of “Whatever”, so getting so invested into the game surprised her.

Choi Yeon-Ha proudly muttered, “Mister Yu-Min is amazing, isn’t he? To think he can compete at the highest level in front of so many people... If it was me, I wouldn’t be able to stand up, what with my legs shaking around so much.”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean? Don’t you act in front of a much larger audience than this?”

“No, not really. All I’m doing is performing for the camera. And the results of my work are shown on TVs and movie screens. This world is completely new to me.”

Even though she was an actor boasting an impressive resume, this spectacle must’ve been fresh and exciting for her.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled gently, then shifted his gaze back to Park Yu-Min.

‘Do your best and win, Yu-Min.’

Losing didn’t mean the end of the world. Since the e-athletes weren’t fighting with their lives on the line, they could always try next time. Compared to the world Kang Jin-Ho inhabited, the world of esports was a little gentler and more humane.

That didn’t mean the athletes’ passion was lacking or not real, though. Because a man would always do his best in his field, regardless of who he was!

The match began.

Choi Yeon-Ha nervously stared at the big screen. On the other hand, Kang Jin-Ho’s gaze was locked on something else. More specifically, on Park Yu-Min peering deeply into the computer monitor before his nose.

A smile floated up on Kang Jin-Ho’s face without him realizing it.

‘He’s changed a lot.’

Indeed, compared to the beginning, they had changed so much. Whether it was Kang Jin-Ho, Park Yu-Min, or the other people in their lives...

That naïve and easy-going kid, Park Yu-Min, matured into a beloved e-athlete capable of representing South Korea. The crowd cheering Park Yu-Min on regardless of the action on the screen was loud enough to be deafening right now.

“Jin-Ho, I... Uhm...”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly recalled the figure of Park Yu-Min weakly muttering away while staring at his own feet, unable to look into the eyes of his own friend. That memory made him chuckle a little.

Who would believe that was the same Park Yu-Min after looking at the current him?

He had changed. But not because he was ‘strong’.

Every human was strong... No, every human had the potential to be strong. It was just that they never got the chance to confirm their potential and had to accept their fate.

Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t think he’d ever live in a brighter environment.

Chang Min didn’t believe he was good enough to lead the demon cult and kept blindly waiting for his liege.

Vator had no idea that a whole other world existed outside of battling powerful foes. Meanwhile, Bang Jin-Hun had given up on getting stronger through martial arts.

But then, they all realized the truth. That they could move forward.

The same story applied to Kang Jin-Ho, too.

‘I wanted to live an ordinary life, didn’t I?’

He thought that would remain as nothing more than a dream. Just how badly he thirsted for an ordinary life! He desired it so much because he subconsciously knew his life was not ordinary at all.

But now?

‘It’s pointless now.’

Kang Jin-Ho’s mindset in the past had been decidedly straightforward: happiness couldn’t be achieved without living an ordinary life.

As Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor, Kang Jin-Ho was Zhongyuan’s greatest, strongest being. As such, he was not granted the joys of simple pleasures and happiness in life.

That was why he became so fixated on the idea of an ordinary life. That seemed like the only way to re-acquire the happiness from his previous life, the one that increasingly felt like a figment of his fading imagination.

But that story no longer applied now. Why?

‘Because I’m having fun.’

So many events had been keeping him mindlessly busy these days. Maybe even busier than when Kang Jin-Ho was known as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor!

Even so, this life filled him with happiness.

Not being ordinary was fine on its own. Kang Jin-Ho now had people he could talk to. People who were willing to lay out places for him to relax. People who were willing to run toward the same goal as him.

That was all he wanted.

Although he didn’t know how long such days would last, as long as Kang Jin-Ho didn’t stray from the path and get lost... His future should be a little warmer than the past.

[Oh, my gosh! Park Yu-Min! Park Yu-Min! He’s going all in!]

[He demands his throne back! Park Yu-Min! He’s definitely smelling blood today! He’s a monster! A monster! Who can stop a monster like him?!]

[This means something! It means so much, everyone! An e-athlete past their prime can’t recover! They can’t regain their former form! Isn’t that what everyone in this field thinks of as gospel? But now! Park Yu-Min is telling us that does not apply to him! That he’s going to overcome all that! That he’s the king!]

[Yes, the king is coming back! He’s coming home! Esports’ king is about to reclaim his throne! We’re on the cusp of history!]

[Park Yu-Min’s fans must be in heaven right now! Even I’m getting emotional here! The former king, Park Yu-Min! He’s finally regaining his throne! This year now belongs to him!]

[Ah! Look! Park Yu-Min! He’s charging right toward the enemy’s nexus! No one can stop him now! They are all dead already!]

[They all get hunted down as soon as they respawn! Because Park Yu-Min is a monster! A monster!]

An ear-shredding roar erupted in the grandstands when Park Yu-Min’s champion destroyed the enemy’s nexus. Almost everyone leaped to their feet and loudly shouted Park Yu-Min’s name.

Even Choi Yeon-Ha shot up to her feet while clutching her fists.

Confetti danced in the air as the deafening roar rocked the arena. As this dream-like scene unfolded, Kang Jin-Ho could see Park Yu-Min jumping out of his booth with tears filling up his eyes.

Kang Jin-Ho smiled happily at this sight.

‘Congratulations, Yu-Min.’

He was genuinely happy for his friend. With that, another page in Kang Jin-Ho’s life flipped over.

As the celebration erupted on the stage, Park Yu-Min looked at Kang Jin-Ho and shouted something. Although the raucous noise buried his voice, Kang Jin-Ho still could understand just fine.

“

Hah

. Why are you crying, though?”

Kang Jin-Ho continued to beam brightly.

What a joyous day it was.

Joyous, indeed!