Physical skill is crucial in fighting games.
Some might argue that strategy and experience are more important, but ultimately, it's the physical ability to execute those strategies that takes precedence.
The problem is, this physical prowess is at its peak at a younger age.
Strategy? The younger you are, the more active your gaming brain tends to be.
Experience? Grind for a thousand or two thousand hours, and you'll naturally accumulate the experience needed to become a big name in the game.
That's why, among fighting game players, the arrival of a young newcomer with incredible physical skills was always welcome.
Some welcomed it simply because a new face had joined the withering fighting game scene.
Others welcomed it with a thirst for victory, eager to show the young upstart the power of experience, to defeat them with strategy, experience, and superior game management.
And some just welcomed the chance to score a win against a newbie.
Amidst these varying reasons for welcome...
"Ah."
...there was a streamer.
"I'm not the best at King of Fighters 35, but I'll give a shot at sniping that ranker~"
— Chat -Making excuses in advance lol -Whining already? -Your uncle would be disappointed.
He looked to be in his early twenties, but his chat was a strange place, seemingly filled with men in their thirties and forties.
The master of this stream, the streamer himself, went by the nickname 'Ogeum'.
"Ah, uncles. I played this a bit when I was a kid, you know? Just got my ass kicked by my own uncle, that's all."
The stream had the atmosphere of uncles teasing a young nephew, or of neighborhood guys who had watched that nephew grow up.
"I'm a pro too, you know? See here, don't you see this mark?"
But the streamer Ogeum was, in fact, a pro.
Even if he was a pro in a different fighting game, talent in the genre doesn't just disappear.
"For my characters, I'll go with Iori, Benimaru, and Orochi Chris~"
— Chat -Picking only the broken characters. -Is that what your uncle taught you? -The ranker was using the Korea Team~
Even as he logged into the game and entered a match room, his viewers were relentlessly teasing him.
But there was one thing the streamer and his viewers all agreed on.
"Ah, come on. I have to win first, don't I?"
— Chat -True -That's right
In a fighting game, you can talk all the trash you want, but only after you've won.
If you lose, you just lose?
That's a saying that has no place in the ruthless world of fighting games.
Especially now, when rankers were being taken down one by one from the bottom up, and the challenge had finally reached the pro level.
"Ah, I got a match."
— Chat -Oh. -Hey. Send the coordinates. This is the stream.
The opponent was found.
The streamer Ogeum licked his lips as he saw the three syllables of his opponent's nickname and the steadily climbing viewer count.
"Ah, everyone. Yes, that's right. I've finally matched with him. The Master Kim who's been hunting rankers lately."
📜 MISSION SET 📜
[Defeat Rasian]
👤 From: Anonymous Supporter
There was even a mission.
The initial prize was only 10,000 won, but soon, people started chipping in to increase the mission reward.
"Wow, look how sharp their character selection is. Do they not play anyone else?"
— Chat -They've never used anyone other than the Korea Team in the first place.
"...Oh."
The moment the mission reward surpassed 100,000 won, another mission was posted.
📜 MISSION SET 📜
[Beat Master Kim and force out Lightning Man]
👤 From: Yeonpyeong-dong Sanggye Arcade
"...Seriously, you think I can't even take out one of them? When I'm using three broken characters?"
The reward for this new mission was 100,000 won in one go.
— Chat -Hopping on the safe asset lol -Maybe in Tekken 10, but King of Fighters 35 is a bit much for you~ -If you win, you get 1 million cheese (not)
As a streamer, he couldn't help but realize these missions weren't set in hopes of him winning, but rather with the sentiment of, 'You think you can win? lol'.
"Ah, damn it. You old geezers who can't even eat fried chicken anymore because it's too greasy."
— Chat -Gasp -Gasp -This son of a bitch
The streamer Ogeum sneered at the exploding chat and straightened his posture.
After all, no matter how much they cursed and raised hell, if he just won, all the mission money would be his, and the community forums would undoubtedly be flooded with praise for him for a while.
"Just you wait. I'm about to serve up a clean sweep."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"I won, 3-0."
Rasian casually sipped her coke and set down the controller.
Having sat in one spot for hours, facing dozens of opponents in a row, she needed some time to rest.
"Good work. That guy you just played, I heard he's a pro, though in a different game."
"A pro?"
"Yeah. Someone who's competed in and won several tournaments."
"I see... In my world, that would be like someone who has won a martial arts tournament held in the kingdom."
Rasian looked at the monitor, her interest piqued.
"He keeps sending rematch requests. Should I accept?"
"If you keep fighting the same person, your rank might not go up, you know?"
"Will it be helpful for the broadcast?"
"Hmm... I'll only use one clip for the video, but having him make an indirect appearance wouldn't be bad."
From what I could see, he had about 200 viewers.
His viewers were jokingly mocking the young man, whose face was flushed red after the defeat, but if he were to keep losing like this...?
'His streaming career is about to enter the octagon.'
It goes without saying that different viewers expect different things from a streamer.
And those viewers want to see their streamer win, not lose repeatedly.
Even if he loses, they'd want him to at least earn some 'respect'.
"Miss Rasian. Sorry to ask, but could you possibly throw a match for him?"
"Throw a match... you mean?"
"Yeah. Accept the rematch, but with a different team. And then lose dramatically, 2-3."
"Hmm..."
Rasian hesitated considerably at my suggestion.
Seeing how she couldn't seem to accept the idea of an intentional loss, it was clear that Rasian hated losing under any circumstances.
'Looks like she can't be the entertainer type.'
Being a streamer involves having a certain entertainer's flair.
'It doesn't seem to be about the hamburger; I think she genuinely just hates to lose.'
At this rate, should I just have her take the route of a pure expert who just happens to stream?
'It's probably for the best, actually.'
The back-and-forth with the viewers will be done purely through gameplay.
We'll focus solely on a skill-based broadcast, and if any part of it doesn't work out, we can adjust the direction later to let the viewers enjoy it freely.
"Alright. I take it back. In that case, let's completely crush him instead."
"Oh, may I?"
"Yep. This time, not with the Korea Team, but with Lightning Man."
Three seconds before the timer ran out.
"Understood."
Rasian accepted the rematch.
I opened the streamer Ogeum's broadcast to see his reaction, and—
— Chat [This son of a bitch, why'd you drag it out if you were gonna accept anyway?]
"..."
The other side didn't know.
That we were watching his stream.
Of course, we weren't stream-sniping in a malicious way, like checking the opponent's hand in a card game or tracking the jungler's position in a MOBA, but we still ended up getting cursed at.
"Hmph..."
Rasian cracked her neck from side to side.
At the same time, her eyes grew cold as she slowly gripped the controller, her gaze fixed solely on the monitor as she steadied her breathing.
"Producer. In magic, you see."
"Yes."
"There is a way to channel mana into one's physical vitality. It drastically enhances one's physical abilities."
"So basically, you use mana to boost your physical skills?"
"Precisely. It's not like taking a drug, but you could call it a form of doping."
"..."
Doping, huh.
It's not illegal.
It's magic.
"Then, from this moment on..."
Rasian clenched the controller.
"I will win without taking a single hit."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
[Three hours later.]
"Kore, nani?"
A video donation arrived on a certain Japanese streamer's channel.
"Eh,
— Chat -Traitor www -Tekken is... finished!
The streamer and his viewers all reacted first and foremost to the player's ID.
They all knew better than anyone that this ID belonged to a Tekken pro gamer, one of the nephews of a legendary former number one player.
"Wait, is he really switching games?"
— Chat -Isn't he just practicing? -There's probably a broadcast station tournament~ -So, is the streamer here any good at KOF?
"Well, I'm ranked up there too, but... wait a second."
— Chat -? -?? -????
As soon as the match began, one side's health bar started to get obliterated.
"What is that? Playing like that with such a trash character?"
— Chat -That's a hardcore expert, isn't it? -Dogani-san can't even get a hit in wwww -It's because he's a traitor. This is a curse for daring to abandon Tekken for King of Fighters.
The opponent was a master.
And not just any master, but one whose movements were reminiscent of a pro.
And they were using a character widely known as trash tier, one famous for being short and fast but lacking in damage.
"That character's hitbox is so janky..."
— Chat -? -What. -Did they just get a perfect sweep without taking a single hit? Sugoi.
2-0, and in consecutive rounds?
The final character appeared.
A character universally acknowledged as broken.
[Asobi wa owari da!!]
A traditionally strong character in the series, one that pros always included in their lineup in the 35 version.
"How do you read this? Ra...sian?"
Against such a character, the opponent blocked every attack and countered easily with grabs.
Only with grabs.
"Whoa..."
The screen momentarily closes up.
As if clipped from the streamer's game screen, the final moment showed a cross-edited close-up of the character getting hit and the defeated gamer's face.
K!! O!!!
[Ya-i ssiba...!]
He shot up from his seat, spitting out a string of curses, defeated.
"Hah..."
— Chat -That's the mainland's shibaru www
His face, flushed red with defeat, looked like it was about to explode. Aside from the cursing, everyone else felt a pang of sympathy, as if they were in his shoes.
"If you couldn't land a single hit for three whole games, got countered only by grabs, and then got clean swept by a super move at the end... well..."
— Chat -True -If it were offline, he would've been killed on the spot
After the video ended.
"...Hmm."
The Japanese Tekken 10 pro and well-known master in the fighting game community,
"I'll form a Japan team and try sniping them for a Japan-Korea match, desu."