Returning to the Past, the World Isn’t Doomed -74-
074.
Though he had been neglecting it more than before due to his focus on recent broadcasts, Yido Hyuk still had a place he visited at least three times a week.
Leaving home, taking a bus towards the outskirts, there was a secluded warehouse.
This place served as a kind of training ground.
Inside the warehouse, there were weightlifting equipment and various facilities for bodyweight exercises.
In one corner, training equipment like sandbags and a pull-up bar were plentiful.
Not only that, there were mats on the floor for shock absorption.
Swoosh-
With his arms spread wide, Yido Hyuk grabbed the mat and lifted himself up using only his arms.
His body formed a straight line, parallel to the ground.
A Swallow movement, considered one of the most difficult in gymnastics rings.
Squeeze.
In that position, only his hands moved without any other motion.
Raising his palm and supporting the movement with just his fingers, Yido Hyuk started to balance.
Gradually reducing the fingers that touched the ground.
From five fingers to four, three… until there were only two left.
Yido Hyuk stopped moving and held the position.
How long did he hold it like that?
“Phew!”
Thud.
With a long breath, Lee Dohyuk finally touched the ground with his foot.
A difficult movement that tensed the muscles throughout his body with just a moment of execution.
Leading his heated body, Dohyuk stood in front of a heavy bag resembling a human body.
Thwack! Thud!
Soon, his arms and legs moved swiftly.
The bag swayed back and forth with his movements.
Even an unknowing observer would have involuntarily marveled, while someone knowledgeable would have been astonished by the skillful motion.
Aiming at his opponent with utmost efficiency, a continuous series of strikes flowed like water.
Crack!
“Although I’ve been a bit sluggish lately…”
His performance skills were not bad.
Probably due to the effects of full-dive.
Just as image training polishes the pathway of communication between the brain and muscles, enhancing the activation level of the muscles, full-dive has a similar effect.
Improving the communication between the brain nerves and muscles.
While it may not increase muscle size like traditional training, it can enhance the efficiency of the nervous system.
Thanks to this, despite focusing more on broadcasting these days and neglecting training compared to before, instead of deteriorating, his performance skills seemed to have slightly improved.
Bang!
Hoken’s combination strike had become Dohyuk’s trademark move.
Having finished the routine with that, Dohyuk stopped his movement and stood in place.
“Phew, phew…”
Sweat flowing like rain.
Dohyuk wiped it off with a towel and looked around.
This place where he had been living as if he belonged for about 7 months since his return.
The lease still had a few months left, so he couldn’t dispose of it yet.
In other words, it also meant that he could finish the contract in a few months and dispose of it.
“Hmm…”
For now, extending it seemed like a better idea.
Dealing with all this equipment would become a hassle, and he would still need a place to train like this one.
No matter how Dohyuk was Dohyuk, in the end, if you don’t use your body, it will rust.
Enhancing physical abilities through full-dive exercise was by no means a panacea.
“Well, I could use it for broadcasting later on.”
In reality, although games are games, there were occasional viewers who wanted non-game content from Dohyuk.
Especially since Dohyuk’s appearance in Real Mode was so peculiar, there were quite a few who wanted to see his actual performance skills.
“I wonder if viewers would like it if I broadcast training like today in the future.”
A sudden thought crossed his mind.
Anyway, usually, Dohyuk would turn on almost every day without specific broadcast or off days.
The reason he took a break today was not just because of passport issuance but also because today was Tworke’s profit settlement day.
Tick-tock.
As Ido Hyuk cleaned up the training ground, he turned on his smartphone.
The settlement amount he hadn’t checked yet.
[Total revenue: 26,131,539 won]
“······”
The impact was tremendous.
Ido Hyuk was speechless.
Twenty-six million won.
Through dual donations, sponsorship amounted to eighteen million won, and live broadcast advertising fees were eight million won.
“Hmm···”
Indeed, broadcasting could bring in an enormous amount of money.
Of course, part of it was because Ido Hyuk’s broadcast was exceptionally popular, but even considering that, it was rare to earn such an amount in this profession.
But it didn’t end there.
Excluding taxes, the prize money from winning Tworke Rivals would be around a million won.
Adding the profits from the collaboration with Jeean, it crossed over 30 million won.
Profits earned in less than three weeks, including the collaboration with Jeean.
Even considering the early buffs, it was an incredibly surprising amount.
“And···”
What was even more surprising was that YouTube settlement money was not included in this.
There were still a few weeks left until the YouTube settlement date.
Being able to check the revenue in real-time, he had checked it yesterday, and the YouTube revenue was no less than that of Tworke.
Beep- beep-
From Noble mtl dot com
Ido Hyuk operated his smartphone.
[Loan balance: 22,328,045 won]
First, he planned to deal with the existing loans.
He had resolved the illegal interest through Tuktuk, but as it was a legal debt with an annual maximum interest rate of 20%, it was right to settle this first.
Beep- beep-
[Loan repayment completed!]
[Loan balance: 0 won]
As Ido Hyuk manipulated his smartphone, a notification arrived shortly.
Though it was hard to estimate when he could pay off everything through manual labor, being able to liquidate all loan balances in less than a month was unexpected.
Of course, there was still one debt remaining.
The debt owed to Jeean.
Just the amount for the full-dive capsule she had generously bought on a 12-month installment plan was almost similar to the original loan amount.
Ido Hyuk planned to pay off this debt today as well.
Adding a generous gift on top of it.
“What do twenty-year-old girls like these days?”
Due to the seven-year age gap with Jeean, Ido Hyuk had always felt the generation gap with his younger sister.
Adding twenty years’ worth of regression to that, Ido Hyuk now had no idea about the current trends at all.
There was no one around to ask.
If I had known it would turn out like this, I should have asked the viewers on the broadcast.
“Uh… I wonder if Jian heard about it.”
Well, anyway, I can try selling my wits at the department store later.
The important thing for now is that I’ve mostly used up the broadcast revenue to pay off the existing loans, so how am I going to repay Jian’s credit card bill as well?
Of course, I’ve already thought of a way.
That’s why I canceled the broadcast today, too.
Ping-
Lee Dohyuk checked his email once again.
[Hello. Streamer Lee Dohyuk. Game production company, Fair Games.]
A symbol of a successful streamer.
A game advertisement.
Lee Dohyuk had received his first advertisement inquiry yesterday.
**
Around the same time.
A thunderbolt-like news reached Iron Fist officials worldwide.
“Wait, wait! Did you just say retirement?”
“Do you have a special reason for deciding to retire?”
Quabna and his agent seated in the press room.
Reporters from all over the world were watching them.
After gathering the reporters by announcing a major announcement, they revealed the retirement news.
“Yes. Player Quabna is aiming for a new challenge in a different sport…”
Quabna’s agent calmly continued the answer.
At that moment.
Thud!
“Huh?”
Quabna snatched the mic from his agent.
The agent was flustered, waving his hands, but Quabna didn’t care.
“The reason for retirement? Well…”
After glancing around, Quabna smirked and replied.
“It’s because of you guys. Those self-proclaimed competitors watching this. Ha! Competition? What a joke. I’m retiring because you all are too weak.”
With his unique gaze, Quabna continued speaking.
His answer made the reporters react quickly.
Quabna’s statement openly disregarding other pro players.
Certainly, his skills were undoubtedly the best among Iron Fist pros worldwide, but isn’t this crossing a line?
“Heh heh. Quabna, as expected.”
Quabna’s impromptu actions were similar.
However, the agent who witnessed it only pretended to be flustered outwardly, inwardly smiling.
It had been several years since he had been with Quabna.
Even if he made a retirement announcement in such a boring way, he was fully prepared for Quabna’s unexpected reaction.
Yet, not stopping Quabna was a judgment call because he believed it would be beneficial.
“In the end, what matters is business.”
These days, e-sports players create far more value than established sports stars. Especially players like Quav, who show insane talent and conquer a game immediately after debut, hold a value that is truly immense.
Quav was indeed a top star on the African continent, and offers of hefty signing bonuses from other sports poured in daily just to capture him.
It is the agent’s job to maximize the value of such players and turn them into bigger stars. And what was happening now could be seen as part of that business.
“What I desire is to fight against true champions. But you are not champions.”
That’s why this stage was being set up.
Given Quav’s personality, he wouldn’t pass by this stage without a word.
The agent discreetly exchanged glances with a few journalists.
Once this press conference ends, they will produce numerous articles about Quav. This will lead to interest in the upcoming tournament, and eventually, Quav, who wins this highly anticipated tournament, will be under an even brighter spotlight.
“Oh, yes. Because of you all, I…”
With those words, Quav revealed a smile.
“I got so bored that I wanted to die.”
Truly a retirement announcement befitting Quav.
***
[Quav to retire after winning this tournament?]
[Reason for Quav’s retirement? “The level of competition is too low…”]
Crash!
A male figure kicked, sending the scarecrow in front of him flying.
The man’s name was Gulof.
Before Quav’s arrival, he was a professional player from Russia known as “Monster, Gulof.”
In fact, the saying that Korea was a gaming powerhouse was a thing of the past. It was a phrase that resonated in the PC gaming era… and in the early days of Full Dive’s emergence.
After the success of Full Dive, with capital that had previously been focused on traditional sports now moving dramatically, Korea had to take a step back from its position as the dominant gaming nation.
With the influx of capital, many professional athletes from traditional sports began to dive into Full Dive. While the athletic skills and in-game mechanics were not entirely the same, there was a certain level of correspondence.
Especially in combat games like Iron Fist, it was a game that could be extremely advantageous for practitioners of traditional martial arts.
Gulof was one of those individuals.
He specialized in Sambo, a Russian martial art, and was famous for his character Ivanov, who wielded Sambo within Iron Fist better than anyone else in the world.
Indeed, Gulof was one of the top-tier pros who had fought Anatol for the yet undetermined throne of Iron Fist in the past.
“That bastard…!”
But even he was one of the many defeated by Quav.
Gulof glared at the screen, seething.
[“I got so bored that I wanted to die.”]
On the screen played Quav’s press conference from an hour ago.
No, that was not a press conference. It was a declaration of war that went beyond provocation.
They had once fought over the top spot in Iron Fist, once threatened Quav, but in the end, they were all defeated by Quav, among many other champions.
“Heh heh.”
A brazen provocation towards them, unmatched in audacity, yet inevitable in its declaration.
“So, this is how it turns out.”
If that’s the case.
Shouldn’t I just do as I please?
In Kurof’s eyes, determination and competitiveness blazed.
“I was trying to save it for the next world championship.”
But-
It turned out, that was no longer an option.
That Quabna, that arrogant one, needed to be put in his place.
With that thought in mind, Kurof sharpened his skills.
And…
Kurof was not the only one displaying such a demeanor.
“hehehe.”
Known as the Fist Emperor within China, Chen Long.
“hahahaha. I never seem to like that guy.”
Nick Jackson, the strongest in the American Iron Fist scene.
Along with players like Jensen from Finland, Gautam from India, Wayne from the UK, and others…
The top players in the Iron Fist world, known as the Iron Fist elite, shared similar thoughts towards Quabna as Kurof.
“I will bring him down.”
And for that, they would spare no effort.
As with most full-dive combat games, Iron Fist also had secret techniques.
For top-tier pro gamers who pushed a specific character to the extreme, there was always a hidden move to be kept.
But once revealed, even if it might be effective during that tournament, it was not crucial in the next as it would have been analyzed by other pros, so it was not often showcased unless it was a critical moment!
To be used against Quabna at the next world championship, they had desperately honed and polished it!
They were willing to lay everything on the line in this tournament.
Only to defeat Quabna!
Of course, among these strong players, there were exceptions like Anatol and Tsuki.
“No, not that…!”
What secret move to reveal?
“Hyokku-san!”
─Kkaang!!
Too busy getting hit left and right.
It was the winter that had arrived in the Asian server.