Episode 82 [Iron Fist] – EVO Tournament (1)
The Evolution Champions Battle, abbreviated as EVO, was the world’s largest fighting game esports event.
In terms of prestige, the only thing that can be compared to EVO is the individual world championships that exist for each game.
However, EVO wasn’t limited to individual games; it was overwhelmingly considered the world’s best competition due to the fact that more than 10 events were adopted and held.
“I didn’t expect the opening ceremony to be this grand.”
Inside the players’ waiting room.
Watching a large display device broadcasting the outside scene, Lee Dohyuk couldn’t help but be amazed inwardly.
A large LED display filled one side of the stadium.
Numerous LED beams dotted the sky.
“There are so many people here.”
“hahahaha, yes. In fact, in terms of scale, EVO is bigger than the Iron Fist World Championship.”
“It’s probably because it’s not based on a single game.”
Anatol and Beyond took turns speaking.
Lee Dohyuk found himself waiting with them after an exchange of greetings.
While from Lee Dohyuk’s perspective, even though it was considered the world’s largest fighting game competition, the scale at which it was being held was quite astonishing, Anatol and Beyond didn’t seem as surprised.
This year, EVO was being held at the renovated Las Vegas Convention Center, which can now accommodate up to a maximum of 65,000 people.
Yet, the massive venue was packed to the brim with not a single empty seat.
[Current viewers: 921,325]
In addition, there were around 900,000 viewers participating through online streaming.
When combined with the on-site attendees, there were over a million people watching the EVO opening ceremony.
Considering this was just the audience for the opening performance before the actual competition began, the numbers were incredibly impressive.
“Almost half of them were Iron Fist spectators over there.”
Currently, Iron Fist held the dominant position in the world of fighting games. And the difference was quite overwhelming.
While Iron Fist wasn’t the only popular game worldwide, when you combined the user numbers of the 2nd to 5th most popular games, it was said to be similar to Iron Fist.
“No wonder my YouTube views have been doing well lately.”
His YouTube views had been skyrocketing recently.
Especially popular were his Iron Fist videos, which had been gaining a lot of traction among overseas viewers, along with the Montver videos that were causing a stir on the forums.
Since unveiling the previous hidden mode in Quabna, the views on his Iron Fist videos had significantly increased.
Overall, the view counts had gone up by 100,000 to 200,000 views each.
Even the Alpa videos that followed after watching the Aphee videos were also seeing a surge in views.
“It’s all thanks to Aphee’s global popularity.”
It wasn’t for nothing that Kim Yoon-sung had insisted on adding English or Spanish subtitles and even applying voice data from overseas voice actors.
Anyway-
It seemed like the opening ceremony was slowly coming to an end.
Currently, a dazzling opening performance was in full swing.
Looking at the players who had started to buzz when the opening singer was revealed, it seemed like they weren’t just any famous singer.
Of course, Lee Dohyuk didn’t recognize the name, but judging by the global fandom’s reaction, the singer seemed to have worldwide appeal.
“Do you know? That singer was originally a gamer, and rumor has it that their skills are…”
According to hearsay, Anatol was a fan of that singer.
Hence, he had been continuously raving about it without being asked.
While Beyond seemed accustomed to such scenes, he paid no attention to Anatol, who was talking to himself.
“Hmm….”
And thus, the performance began.
Undoubtedly, the song was good.
Somehow, the melody felt familiar, as if heard somewhere before.
If he had heard it, it must not be an ordinary hit song.
-♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
Even the song of a popular singer, which Anatole hummed along to – though not pleasant to hear – seemed to be reaching its end.
As the lyrics of the chorus and the melody flowed out.
And at the moment when the singer’s face filled the screen in a close-up.
“…Huh?”
Lee Dohyuk, who until a moment ago had been absentmindedly not paying attention to the screen.
His eyes widened.
‘Is that…?’
The face of the singer visible through the screen.
From what Anatole was excitedly mentioning, he had become a global pop star, achieving the number one spot on the Billboard album chart upon the release of his debut album.
The face seemed familiar for a reason.
[-“Buff Jockey, sing a verse of ‘Buff’.”]
[-“I said don’t sing it like that, didn’t I?”]
[-“Tsk. Bard… talking back?”]
[-“……”]
[-“Oh, if you’re not happy, try catching aliens without tank support.”]
[-“hahahaha. Oh, okay.”]
The effect of Babel was merely for interpretation, but the time spent together by the guild was long enough to understand the deeper meanings embedded in various memes, transcending nationalities.
Hence, when Lee Dohyuk was called Buff Jockey, there was a Hunter who used to boast extensively about how well he did in his prime.
Although due to Lee Dohyuk’s response of ‘Hey, H.C., quiet down and buff quickly.’ whenever that Hunter made such remarks, within the guild, he was only known as Buff Jockey…
Though not a hero, Hazel, a support type supporter who was skilled enough to belong to the last guild of humanity, was undoubtedly right.
* * *
After the opening ceremony.
“Iron Fist players. The team drawing will begin in 5 minutes. Please enter in the order I informed you earlier.”
The staff found the players’ waiting room to announce the start of the bracket drawing.
Unlike in the past where anyone could participate by paying an entry fee, the current method involved assigning points to players who performed well in major tournaments excluding EVO, granting them eligibility to participate.
As such, the participating players were assigned seeds from 1 to 4.
After dividing into groups for preliminaries, those who passed through the preliminaries would compete in a 16-team tournament.
Each group had one player assigned from seeds 1 to 4.
To prevent top-tier players or popular ones from being grouped in a potentially deadly group and facing early elimination.
[Lee Dohyuk – Seed 4]
Lee Dohyuk, who qualified for EVO through a streamer tournament, naturally held Seed 4.
Famous gamers like Anatole, Beyond, and Tsuki were Seed 1.
And the player who was the first to start the bracket drawing among Seed 1 belonged to the previous tournament’s champion, Quabna.
[The group that Kwabna belongs to is… Group D!]
Kwabna drew Group D.
Following the group draw, he once again launched a wide-reaching provocation during an interview.
[“Who do you want to meet? Honestly, I’d like to face all the others one by one. Do I really need to bother dividing the group when I’m going to win them all anyway?”]
The ability to face all participating players one by one without any analysis or strategy.
-lol
-That’s Kwabna for you!
-GOAT
-Not a single wrong word. There’s absolutely no player who can beat him.
-f*ck him
-Doesn’t he know what respect for other players is?
-Respect? Should Kwabna respect the weaklings he never even played a set against?
In the early days, Kwabna, who hadn’t shown anything, received criticism for excessive trash-talking, but that’s all in the past.
Moreover, strictly speaking, everything Kwabna has said so far hasn’t been trash-talking.
Saying, ‘I entered because strong guys were full, but there seems to be no one stronger than me,’ and then winning the first world championship he entered, and continuing to win every championship he entered by saying ‘I still don’t see anyone worthy of being my opponent.’
Kwabna didn’t just talk the talk but ultimately showed an overwhelming difference.
Add to that Kwabna’s unique fiery playing style.
Kwabna has many anti-fans, but he has been a superstar with more than just a fandom for a long time.
“I’ll go first.”
“…Then I will.”
Beyond, Anatol, Tzuki, and others finished the draw.
How much time had passed.
“If you follow me, you can enter.”
A staff member came to inform Lee Dohyuk to enter.
The 1-3 seeds had all finished the draw, and most of the 4 seeds had also finished the draw.
Following Lee Dohyuk were only those who had qualified for the event-like tournament in a similar manner.
“Hmm.”
And then it was Lee Dohyuk’s turn.
[Group H]
The group Lee Dohyuk drew was Group H.
“Hmm…!”
“Phew.”
“…Yoketa.”
These voices could be heard from a corner of the waiting room where they were watching.
Group H was a group that did not overlap with any of Anatol, Tzuki, or Beyond.
[Gatak / Akuma / Jade / Lee Dohyuk]
“…Damn.”
A curse slipped out from one nearby player, but apart from that, there was hardly any reaction in the player waiting room to Lee Dohyuk’s group draw results.
Lee Dohyuk, who had maintained a 100% win rate for the past few weeks and had achieved the top spot in the Asian server, without coming down.
Rumors about him had spread here and there, but it was a story limited to only a few quick informants.
Moreover, even among those who heard about Lee Dohyuk, the prevailing opinion was that the rumors were likely somewhat exaggerated.
“I heard Lee Dohyuk’s gaming skills are no joke.”
“Well, it’s just a ranked game. Do you think the pros really go all out there?”
No matter how high his win rate was, in the end, a ranked match was just a ranked match.
From Noble mtl dot com
Many pros considered ranked games as nothing more than a stage for maintaining form, understanding characters, and checking compatibility.
The places where pros truly showcased their abilities were internal scrims, official tournaments, or at best, inter-team scrims.
Therefore, most pros who heard the rumors about Lee Dohyuk simply thought of him as a “noteworthy figure.”
“Facing India’s Gatuk player, Korea’s Akuma player, and the USA’s Jade player in Group H.”
As mentioned earlier, an interview was conducted after the group draw.
The host asked Lee Dohyuk a question.
“What are your thoughts on avoiding Group D?”
“Group D?”
“Yes. You almost ended up in the same group as the previous tournament’s winner, player Kwabna.”
When Lee Dohyuk drew, there were only four spots left.
One of them was in Group D, where Kwabna belonged.
“Hmm… Kwabna? Is that so?”
The host was taken aback by Lee Dohyuk’s response.
The situation was being simultaneously interpreted by smart devices.
However, it seemed like there was an issue as the meaning was not accurately conveyed.
Just as the host was about to ask what he meant, at that exact moment.
“Well, if it’s fortunate, it’s fortunate. If I manage to beat Kwabna from the group stages, watching the tournament might lose its thrill…”
Lee Dohyuk continued speaking.
Unlike before, this time, there was no need for the host to inquire further.
The meaning Lee Dohyuk wanted to convey was clear.
It was his slightly elaborated response: “Hmm… Kwabna… Is that so?”
-wow
-LOL
-After Kwabna, another trash talker appears
-Who is he? Korean?
-Hmm Is that so? Hmm Is that so? Hmm Is that so?
-hahahaha already calling him ‘Lee Dohyuk’ sensei
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Hmmwa… Akuma…!
-Hmm mode ON
-What’s with that hmm?
-www
-It’s an old tale that Koreans were the best gamers in the world. Anatol is just average these days, right?
The chat window was a mix of languages from around the world.
* * *
Swoosh-
Kwabna smiled as if he was excited.
Why do such guys show up at every tournament?
They have no skills, just running their mouths, claiming, “Kwabna is my goal. Kwabna will kneel before me,” every time.
“A face I don’t even remember.”
This time, it’s someone unheard of.
No matter how much Kwabna is Kwabna, it doesn’t mean he has no interest in his competitors.
The likes of Kurov from Russia, Anatol from Korea, Nick Jackson from the USA.
At one point, Kwabna knew well those who briefly posed a threat to him.
Of course, other players were seen as nothing more than training dummies.
Yet, even Kwabna, with such an attitude, remembered quite a few high-level players quite well.
He even hoped that someday they would grow to challenge him on an equal footing.
Although far from meeting those expectations, due to the growing gap between them and himself, he decided to leave the Iron Fist scene after this tournament.
“A streamer from Korea.”
“What?”
“Just now, that guy. Said he’s ranked 1st on the Asian server. Win rate…”
His agent, who was chattering about Ido Hyuk’s information beside him.
Kwabna clicked his tongue at him.
“…Tsk. Do I really have to pay attention to such guys?”
His agent fell silent at his words.
In fact, it wasn’t a wrong statement.
Whether it’s being ranked 1st on the server or whatever, it wasn’t something Kwabna cared about.
What’s so great about such things.
Kwabna didn’t take any notice of superficial titles like being ranked 1st on the server; he was the one who defeated all the best Iron Fist players from each country and continent.
Such hollow titles were of no importance in his eyes.
“Can they entertain me or not, that’s what matters.”
There were a few of those guys in the past.
Several top-tier players he remembers.
But the current Kwabna no longer finds joy in them.
He only feels a sense of inevitability about victory.
However…
“Hmm?”
Group A’s first match.
1st seed Tsuki against 2nd seed Wanted.
Bang! Pow!
Whoosh!
“Huh… Even though Wanted is the 2nd seed, he shouldn’t be losing that easily.”
His agent muttered something while watching, but Kwabna paid him no mind.
Instead, he focused solely on Tsuki’s gameplay filling the screen.
Spiritual abilities might be inherited through blood.
There was a time when Quabna had such thoughts.
Looking back, he was somewhat fond of this “sense.”
Of course, upon reflection, that sense was somewhat vaguely appealing, and now that he no longer believed in superstitions, it was a thought he no longer entertained.
However, a while ago, Quabna felt something ominous.
No, it was more of a discomfort…
And then, he suddenly remembered his great-grandmother, or more precisely, the strange words she left him.
“Beware of the ninja who cuts lightning.”
-Paj, Jik!
2Seed Wanted pulled out a brain-type character, Seishu.
Wanted quickly caught up to Tsuki with his brain step and extended his extreme power.
Thwack! Kaboom!
But Tsuki blocked it lightly with one hand, and with the ninja he held in his other hand, he split Wanted’s arm apart.
His movement resembled cutting through lightning.
Especially since the character he was handling was the ninja Hattori.
“……”
It was that guy.
Grinning, Quabna now seemed somewhat intrigued.