Shin Ji-ho vs. Choi Young-jun.

A match famous for the showdown between Twin Star’s Choi Young-jun and Korea’s top Human player, Shin Ji-ho.

The start was in Shin Ji-ho’s favor.

‘A fast double expansion?’

A strategy where the player secures a natural expansion base at the beginning of the game.

It carries a high risk of being defenseless against early attacks, but if successfully executed, it provides an overwhelming resource advantage over the opponent.

If successful, it was essentially a gamble that guaranteed victory.

Shin Ji-ho, having succeeded in this gamble, used his resource advantage to mass-produce units, seize control of the center of the map, and begin pressuring Choi Young-jun heavily.

However, this was merely the prelude to one of the greatest matches that defined Choi Young-jun’s career.

[He broke through! Choi Young-jun has broken through Shin Ji-ho’s pressure!]

[But Shin Ji-ho’s reinforcements are still coming! How will you stop them, Choi Young-jun?!]

An unbelievable sight unfolded.

Choi Young-jun squeezed every last bit of his resources to hold off Shin Ji-ho’s offensive.

Once he had successfully defended, his counterattack began.

The God Race expanded at a monstrous speed.

The God Race poured out units like an unstoppable flood.

‘What the hell is that?’

The sheer, overwhelming number of units that Choi Young-jun produced sent chills down Lee Shin’s spine.

Despite starting with a far greater resource advantage, Shin Ji-ho was being crushed by sheer numbers.

Even though Choi Young-jun had secured fewer resources, he had optimized his resource income and expenditure to produce an army that overwhelmed Shin Ji-ho!

‘How is that even possible?!’

Shin Ji-ho had started with a fast double expansion, yet he was being outnumbered.

Now, Shin Ji-ho was sweating, completely focused on defending.

He blocked and blocked, but Choi Young-jun’s troops never stopped coming.

The legendary defense of Shin Ji-ho, known for its reliability, was starting to crumble.

The commentators, the audience, Shin Ji-ho himself, and even Lee Shin, watching the VOD, were all in shock.

[Ahhh! Incredible! Twin Star’s Choi Young-jun!]

[He’s not giving Shin Ji-ho any breathing room! No matter how much he blocks, the next wave keeps coming!]

[The defense line is breaking! The zealots are charging like madmen! Shin Ji-ho, what will you do? Are you just going to keep guarding and take the beating until the end?!]

[Choi Young-jun’s madness is exploding! The Mad God Tribe, Choi Young-jun!]

Choi Young-jun’s incomprehensible numbers eventually forced their way through Shin Ji-ho’s flawless defense.

[Ahhh, Shin Ji-ho calls GG!]

[Choi Young-jun—!!]

The commentators roared in excitement.

The crowd erupted in cheers and screams.

The MBS team’s bench sat in stunned silence.

‘How are you supposed to stop that?’

Lee Shin could hardly believe what he was seeing. He clicked his tongue at Choi Young-jun’s relentless assault.

There had been no mistakes in Shin Ji-ho’s gameplay.

And yet, he suffered a humiliating comeback loss. It was as if Choi Young-jun had been using a cheat code, the way he continuously churned out units.

As a fellow Human player, Lee Shin couldn’t help but be troubled.

Just then—

“Uh….”

Lee Shin paused the VOD and turned around.

Judy was standing hesitantly, staring at him with an awkward expression.

“What?”

“Coach… that’s my seat.”

“Huh? Your seat is next to me….”

Lee Shin glanced at the chair beside him and flinched.

He really was sitting in Judy’s seat.

Realizing his mistake, Lee Shin quickly moved aside.

“You use the same keyboard as me.”

“Yes.”

“Same mouse, too.”

“Yes….”

Judy’s face turned red.

Her keyboard, mouse, even her mousepad were identical to Lee Shin’s, making it inevitable that he had mistaken the seat for his own.

‘No wonder I thought there were too many icons on the desktop.’

Lee Shin found it amusing how many identical items they had. It was an uncanny coincidence.

‘Anyway, it’s a relief I didn’t return as a player right away.’

Choi Young-jun’s relentless wave tactics—his nickname, the Mad God Tribe, fit him perfectly.

For Lee Shin, who had taken a long break from playing, figuring out how to counter Choi Young-jun seemed like an impossible challenge.

A short while later, manager Bang Jin-ho returned, and Lee Shin asked him,

“Do you have any replay files of matches against Choi Young-jun?”

“Choi Young-jun? It’s been a while since we had a friendly practice with Twin Star Electronics. Why? Are you interested in Choi Young-jun now?”

“Yes, he’s a genius.”

Manager Bang Jin-ho was startled. He never expected to hear the word ‘genius’ come out of Lee Shin’s mouth.

“I want to watch his matches from his perspective rather than just watching the game footage.”

“Choi Young-jun’s personal in-game screen? That’s not hard to find.”

Manager Bang Jin-ho continued,

“During the off-season, Choi Young-jun sometimes does personal streams. You should watch those.”

“…Personal streams?”

Twin Star Electronics, the team that won last year’s Korean Pro League, had earned the right to participate in the World SC Grand Prix team tournament and was staying at a hotel in Paris, the host city.

As the ace of Twin Star Electronics, Choi Young-jun had also qualified for the individual tournament, having finished as the runner-up in the first half of the individual league.

After finishing a simple team practice session, Choi Young-jun returned to his hotel room and powered up his laptop.

He launched the PaprikaTV program and started his personal stream.

The moment he went live, viewers flooded in like crazy.

As the sole ace of Twin Star and a rising star nicknamed the Mad God Tribe,’ his personal streams always drew an enormous audience.

“Hello, this is Choi Young-jun.”

- Ohhh!
- Second!
- Been waiting!
- Are you in Paris right now?
- You must be participating in the Grand Prix.

The chat exploded with messages, and Choi Young-jun laughed as he spoke.

“Yes, I’m currently in Paris, attending the World SC Grand Prix. As some of you may know, I successfully passed the qualifiers and made it to the main tournament in the individual event.”

- Of course, it’s just the qualifiers for Choi Young-jun.
- Another gold medal for Korea!
- Wasn’t the qualifier basically a slaughter?

“Hey, no way. Getting through the qualifiers was really tough. Everyone there is the best player from their respective countries, so how could it be easy?”

- And yet, you went undefeated against the best from every country.
- Human? What human? That man is a god.
- Blasphemy?! *trembling*
- Show us another undefeated championship run!
- If you’re the post-Lee Shin era, a flawless gold in the Grand Prix should be a given!
- Are you all crazy? Why are you forcing a human to achieve divine feats?

- If it’s Choi Young-jun, he might actually do it.
- But what if he runs into Park Young-ho in the main tournament? LOL
- If the Grand Prix finals turn into a Twin Dragons match, that would be insane!
- If you win the gold undefeated, I’ll donate 10,000 star candies!
- At least donate one candy and become a fan first, tsk tsk.

Watching the chat, Choi Young-jun laughed and waved his hand dismissively.

“Come on, an undefeated championship? That’s impossible. You need a lot of luck for that. There are so many different build orders—how can you win every single rock-paper-scissors match?”

- If you’re overwhelmingly skilled like Lee Shin, luck doesn’t matter.
- LOL, honestly, Lee Shin was just lucky too.
- You’re calling Lee Shin’s undefeated gold ‘luck’? Have you even watched his matches? Every single one was a landslide victory.
- The God needed no such thing as luck!
- Stop drinking your own Kool-Aid, LOL. Just because someone’s good in Korea doesn’t mean they’ll automatically win gold. You still think Korea is the dominant force in esports?

- Let’s be real, Korea’s gold medals all came from Lee Shin’s individual performances. The team event didn’t even sniff a bronze.
- If the team event had been a winner-stays format, the God would’ve All-Killed his way to gold!

Since it was World SC Grand Prix season, talk about Lee Shin was exploding in the chat.

But at that moment—

- Player_SIN has entered the chat.

‘Huh?’

Choi Young-jun’s attention was immediately drawn to the newly joined viewer’s ID.

It was identical to the username of a rather famous player in Space Craft Online.