Returned, and the World Didn’t Collapse -78-
078.
Hoo- hoo-
Idohyeok’s usual daily routine was simple.
After waking up, he would go to the track near his house to warm up, followed by cardio training through interval training.
After that, he would return home for simple but intense bodyweight exercises that could be done at home.
There were some basic equipment for weight training, although not as elaborate as a home gym.
Although the warehouse set up for training was a bit far from his home, so he couldn’t go there every day, he never skipped his workout.
Usually, before he knew it, the morning would have flown by.
Of course, since he had stayed up broadcasting until dawn yesterday, he woke up a bit later than usual. So, after finishing his workout and shower, it was already 3 PM.
Ping-
“···Hm?”
Idohyeok, coming out of the shower, opened his smartphone and saw a pile of messages in the chat.
[Kim Yoonseong (Editor): Hyung!! It’s amazing!!]
[Kim Yoonseong (Editor): (Screenshot)]
[Kim Yoonseong (Editor): (Screenshot)]
Messages from Kim Yoonseong that he hadn’t checked yet, as he was focused on his workout.
Upon scrolling through, he realized that it was a screenshot of the views of the YouTube video that was uploaded early in the morning.
[Ohh, delicious!! / Monster Buddies Episode 1]
Views: 210,000 / 6 hours ago
It had been 6 hours since the video was uploaded.
However, the views had already crossed 200,000.
Idohyeok’s YouTube channel had been growing rapidly recently, but not to this extent.
[Hoken is Viking? Hoken is Viking? / Rise of Valhalla Episode 7]
Views: 270,000 / 1 day ago
The views of the previous video, Valhalla Episode 7, were only slightly higher than the latest video by 60,000.
The Monster video had just been uploaded 6 hours ago.
Considering that Valhalla had been up for over a day, the difference was surprisingly large.
Although generally, Iron Fist videos tended to get more views than Valhalla videos, the difference wasn’t usually this significant.
‘Certainly.. This is a big deal, right?’
At this rate, when the video hit the 24-hour mark, it was poised to reach 400-500,000 views.
[Ido Hyuk YouTube / Subscribers 269,000 / Videos 17]
↓
[Ido Hyuk YouTube / Subscribers 317,000 / Videos 18]
Moreover, the number of subscribers had increased by another 50,000 in that short period.
It was evidence that this video had attracted new subscribers.
[Kim Yoon Sung (Editor): hehehehe, I had a feeling it would be a hit watching it live.]
[Kim Yoon Sung (Editor): Even on the community, people are going crazy talking about you.]
[Kim Yoon Sung (Editor): (Links)(Links)(Links)]
[Kim Yoon Sung (Editor): I’ll start editing the latter part of yesterday’s live broadcast!]
[Kim Yoon Sung (Editor): (Emoji) ^^7]
There were also additional links that Kim Yoon Sung sent.
Compilation of various community reactions.
– Ido Hyuk’s gameplay is seriously pure fun, the GOAT.
– Ha, if he made a butchering knife, how many times would it take to disassemble with it?
– If he kills over 30 animals, instead of that, he goes to the merchant to sell them to the mobs.
– Ido Hyuk-sensei unleashed poison on the monsters, whoa.
Thud-thud-
Ido Hyuk sent Kim Yoon Sung a message full of praise and encouragement.
Kim Yoon Sung, who was struggling in many ways.
His dedication was truly commendable, going beyond just being an editor.
Having watched Tworc for a long time, he sometimes came up with various ideas related to broadcasting, which was quite helpful.
Of course, there were times when the overwhelming fan sentiment towards him felt burdensome, but…
“Uh?”
Ido Hyuk paused.
One of the things he had been feeling lately was that he had indeed become a respectable professional broadcaster.
Somewhere along the way, he started having thoughts befitting a broadcaster occasionally.
“Well… it’s fun, after all.”
Until the day the outbreak, anticipated to occur after regression, broke out, he had been running solely for the goal of becoming even stronger.
Perhaps that was why time flew by like an arrow.
The day on Bukhansan, which he still vividly remembered.
From that day on, for a few months, it felt like time stood still in an agonizing way.
Living day by day, but simply enduring each day that came, without any real motivation.
There were times when Ido Hyuk would skip training and just lie down, passing the day in idleness.
His once steel-like resolve had momentarily melted away.
Suddenly, Ido Hyuk remembered the hunters who had retired for various reasons, only to return to the battlefield.
Back then, in a world where despair was more easily cultivated than hope, it seemed like they were trying to lend a hand, even if just a single one.
Now, he could understand why those hunters, who had returned at that time and spent days and nights with high tension, had acted that way.
Perhaps the hunters who had left the battlefield were in a state similar to the Ido Hyuk before starting his broadcast.
“······”
Anyway, these days were different from a few months ago.
The feeling of passing each day wasn’t too bad.
Compared to the days of cutting down alien species, there were several aspects that were actually better.
*Chiiing-*
Ido Hyuk opened the capsule and entered inside.
Then he manipulated something.
*Ting-*
At that moment, a notification popped up on Ido Hyuk’s smartphone placed outside the capsule.
[‘Ido Hyuk’ is starting a stream.]
[Iron Fist, Asia Server 1st Place Racing / Ido Hyuk / 0 viewers]
How many seconds had passed like that?
-Oh
-What’s up?
-How long has it been since the surprise bang-on?
-Oh, found your beginner’s luck?
The viewer count rose rapidly since the start of the stream.
This too had become a familiar sight to Ido Hyuk.
[Current viewers: 2,137]
The thousands digit was increasing every 10 seconds.
[Current viewers: 3,391]
“Viewers, come on in.”
Ido Hyuk opened his mouth to say so.
The chat window quickly filled up.
-hahahahaha
-Come on in lolol
-Lololol already cracking up
-Hey Ido Hyuk
-What’s up? What’s up?
-Can’t see the room title?
**
A training room in a Chinese Iron Fist gym.
“······”
“Chen Long, what’s wrong?”
The strongest in the Chinese Iron Fist world.
Though not known outside of China, Chen Long was called the Emperor within China.
He tilted his head in response to his colleague’s question.
“It’s nothing.”
Although he said so, his face clearly showed otherwise.
With a thoughtful expression, Fist pondered deeply while wearing a serious look.
But he was a colleague who left the practice room without saying a word at the uncomfortable sight of Cheonlong.
In this team, or rather in the Chinese Iron Fist scene, Cheonlong held an absolute position.
In China where Kwonhwang FD was trending, not Iron Fist.
Hence, Chinese competitive gamers primarily challenged Kwonhwang FD, and if they fell behind in that competition, they turned to Iron Fist.
If Kwonhwang FD’s pro scene was the 1st league, then Iron Fist’s pro scene was like the 2nd league or the same.
Of course, since Kwonhwang FD was not consumed in other countries, their 1st league was like their own league, but with a population of over a billion in China, it was possible.
“What on earth?”
In such China, Cheonlong was the only Iron Fist pro recognized in both games.
That was only natural.
Cheonlong was a former champion of Kwonhwang FD, a legendary pro who even heard the GOAT whispers in Kwonhwang FD.
It wasn’t for nothing that his nickname in China was not Kwonhwang.
Just as when someone accumulates groundbreaking achievements in a field, their nickname becomes synonymous with that field, Cheonlong also acquired the nickname Kwonhwang.
A total of 7 domestic leagues in China, 6 championships, and 1 runner-up at the world championships.
“The world is said to be vast, but let me conquer it once and for all.”
When he announced his switch from Kwonhwang FD to Iron Fist.
From Noble mtl dot com
The declaration he made was so grandiose that it was praised to the extent of being likened to the imperial edict raised by the great commander Jeong Ryang to conquer the country, saying it encapsulated the continent’s atmosphere in that one sentence.
At that time, the first Iron Fist world championship broadcast in China by Cheonlong had a staggering 1.61 million viewers!
Surprisingly, the viewer count was calculated without any manipulation.
Anyway, so how did Cheonlong fare in his first Iron Fist world championship…
[VS Tsuki / Semifinals / Defeat]
Defeated 2-0 in a match composed of 3 games and 2 wins by Tsuki.
Of course, the result was such, but in terms of content, it was an incredibly close match.
Tsuki won both sets, but only by leaving one HP remaining in each set.
Thanks to this, Cheonlong received praise like, “You lost, but fought well, Cheonlong!”, “To reach the semifinals of the world championship within 6 months of switching disciplines and engage in a fierce battle with Japan’s strongest Tsuki, truly worthy of Kwonhwang!”, “The revenge of a gentleman may take ten years, but it is never too late, let’s resolve this at the next championship!”
…such comments were heard by Cheonlong.
[VS Anatol / Quarterfinals / Defeat]
And then came the EVO that followed.
This time, a defeat by 2-1.
It was even more regrettable than before.
The first set was won by Cheonlong, the second set ended in a close battle with Anatol’s victory, and in the third set, Anatol continued his momentum to claim the final victory.
Once again, he received praise like, “Slightly disappointing, but regardless of the outcome, showed a good performance.”
“Ugh.”
Then, how did he fare in the tournament that followed, the world championship held just a few weeks ago?
Just thinking about it made Cheonlong clench his teeth even now.
In his first appearance at the tournament, he reached the semifinals, then the quarterfinals… and in the end, he was eliminated in the round of 16.
[VS Kwabna / Round of 16 / Defeat]
The opponent was formidable.
To meet Kwabna, who was currently on the rise, in the round of 16 was unexpected.
As a result, although Cheonlong had undoubtedly improved his skills compared to the previous world championship, and even compared to the previous EVO, his tournament performance had turned out to be the worst so far.
The response within China was also the worst.
In the past, the reactions were more like “Well, it hasn’t been long since the change, so let’s understand the game content,” but this time, it was to the extent of ‘Hmm… Kwon Hwang…? Is it that good…?’, ‘It turns out it’s not just an empty bubble, right…’, ‘Could this be a rocket from the continent?’ The comments were similar to those that would have come from within China itself.
“Hoo.”
Cheonrong, who controlled his emotions through deep breaths.
Just thinking about it made his anger flare up so much, but what was important was Myeonggyeong Jisoo’s heart.
As a master of Chinese martial arts, he knew well how crucial the cultivation of the mind was.
Even when Kwanha blatantly said to him and other Iron Fist pros that they were too weak and that he would leave for another game, he almost faced a crisis of confidence…
“hahahaha. Kwanha… It’s a sight to see you flustered already!”
He was different now.
Of course, the cultivation of the mind hadn’t deepened in that short time.
It was just the new patch that was in Iron Fist today.
And because it involved his main character, Bruce Green’s balance adjustments.
“Since the heavens are on my side, how can I be angry?”
Bruce Green was a character who was a master of Wing Chun in the setting.
And the Chinese martial art that Cheonrong deeply trained in reality was precisely Wing Chun.
The synergy between Cheonrong and Bruce Green was truly formidable.
But this balance adjustment of Bruce Green.
There were buffs and nerfs.
So Cheonrong checked the changed performance through a scrum and practice mode a while ago.
As a result, he could realize.
This balance patch was undoubtedly a buff, and not just a simple buff.
It was reminiscent of the Royde controversy over the previous balance patch.
The current performance of Bruce Green was at a level sufficient to hear talk of surpassing Tier 1 characters.
“Perhaps others have yet to realize this overpowered nature.”
Moreover, what made it even more overpowered was that such overpowering of Bruce Green would only be unleashed when handled by someone like Cheonrong, who had deeply mastered Wing Chun even in reality!
Advanced techniques of adjusting skill-to-skill connection delays by going back and forth between correction and non-correction in the game.
When utilized by someone with exceptional Wing Chun skills, like Cheonrong, that’s when Bruce Green becomes an overpowered character.
The current performance was surely something the developers had not anticipated.
“It’s challenging even for someone with my level of Wing Chun skills.”
Perhaps due to not fully adapting to the patch, there were a few lagging parts for Cheonrong.
But even considering that, the performance was already sufficiently overpowered, and time would eventually resolve it.
Chiing-
With such thoughts, Cheonrong entered the capsule.
“Hmm, but…”
Bruce Green was Bruce Green, and there was still something that Cheonrong didn’t quite understand.
A lingering question that persisted throughout the scrimmage just now.
The opposing team in this scrimmage belonged to a Korean team under the same parent company.
“They’ve all improved overall.”
Being above most Korean pros, Cheonrong could sense the significant improvement in skill among the Korean players compared to the scrimmage they had before.
Especially their adept handling of unconventional top attacks aimed at the head.
Just a few weeks had passed, yet such a significant change.
“They say the Asian server’s level has risen sharply, so the players have adapted to it.”
When asked if there was a secret to why his form had improved against the last opponent, the answer that came back was, “The Asian server…”
Come to think of it, it had been well over a month since he switched to the Asian server.
While the overall level of the Asian server was higher than the Chinese server, it wasn’t significantly different.
Moreover, he had thought that once reaching the Celestial Realm, the difference wouldn’t be that big.
He didn’t worry much about the skill gap among pros, considering there were scrims anyway.
But if professional players were saying that the level had suddenly risen these days…
Ping- Ping-
[Server: Asia]
It seemed worthwhile to take a look around the Asian server in preparation for EVO.
It was also necessary to practice Yeongchun Fist as well.
And…
“Tetsujin, was this the new character this time?”
Snick.
Cheonlong, who saw his first opponent on the Asian server, smiled faintly.
An opponent who brought out a new character.
A character whose style changed every match.
In this case, judging by the fighting stance…
“It seems like Bruce Mode is activated.”
Tetsujin, who was in the same Yeongchun Fist stance.