Challenge (4)
“Ah, please! Nooooooo!!!”
How the hell did things end up like this? All I wanted was to show off a little since I'm better than most people. King of Fist was the one thing I was exceptionally good at...
The start was solid. The first ten players who joined cleared the initial stage—green belts, brown belts, black belts, colors didn't matter—in no time flat, fair and square. So the one-hour mission felt too short. I figured I'd massacre some casuals to relieve stress and extended the time limit from one hour to two, making it a total of three hours.
With the rules tweaked, another ten players entered the room. But they cleared it just as fast as the previous group. In a setup where losing was obviously the winning move, they got slaughtered without a second thought.
Before I knew it, the room's vibe shifted from the pretty newbie streamer begging for pocket change at launch to a true King of Fist queen proving her chops. Topping it off with a C-Ronaldo celebration via teabagging flipped the atmosphere completely from earlier.
Whether it was a "you still won't lose?" mindset or just pure greed for that room sale payout, the defeat mission pot—which hadn't built up before—kicked back in, and the amount started skyrocketing again.
As the mission gold climbed so high I was thinking about logging off, my resolve started to waver. That's when the third wave hit.
But this third wave was weird. Word must've gotten out somewhere because in came MooMA leading a pack of ten pros—or at least named pros—like they'd formed a party just for this.
Here's how it went down...
MooMA donated 100,000 won to the mission pot!
“Whoa, is that really MooMA?”
“Chat's a mess to find... Ah, there we go. MooMA, I gave you manager privileges, right? Say something.”
“Aish, wrecked? We went full five rounds. But what's up, why're you here?”
“Aigoo... That's just viewers joking around, don't mind it.”
Chucking 100k like that kinda killed the revenge vibe. Aigoo, this guy's really leaning into it after I tried to shake off that image...
“Haha, revenge sounds good. Wanna go right now?”
And so the game began. No pressure this time? It went smoother than the offline match. So smooth that his "revenge" talk rang hollow as I took it 3-1.
The match felt tense offline, but this time—even giving up one round—it was an easy win. MooMA left disappointed, and checking the next opponent's nick, that's when I realized all ten in this wave were named pros.
Maybe because of that, or some community relay, King of Fist randos flooded in, burying chat in related spam. Wait, there were this many King of Fist players in Korea?
Chat was popping off. Casual randos and sweet newbies popped up here and there, but they got swept up in the hype, asking questions and blending in.
On top of that, these named players who just rolled in must've coordinated 'cause they all threw down 100k on the defeat mission pot each. Even got the derogatory nickname "10 King of Fist Water Buffaloes."
MooMA plus about four pros and six nameds. In ranks: two rainbows, five gold dans, three blacks challenging me.
Viewers saw that and dove back into safe asset plays, piling into the success mission pot. It started tiny compared to defeat pot, just a few hundred k, but now riding the wave, it topped 100k.
Still way less than defeat pot, but hey, money's money. Pride's great, but it doesn't pay the bills...
Ahem... Anyway, against those ten nameds, there were close calls here and there, but I held up through nine wins.
But now, with ten wins in sight, I dropped two rounds straight, pushing the queen proof right to the brink. Facing the biggest crisis(?) of the day.
“No way, is Dave that strong?”
“Dengcha, you used to main Beletta too—when'd you get this good with Dave?”
Dodging with a question at his unexpected skill, Dengcha—with manager perms—replied quick.
OhDengCha, who used to grind Beletta with me. Guy walked the Beletta path from 1 to 5, but I'd heard he switched to Dave lately. Didn't know he'd be this good.
First time chatting today, but since he stuck to the same char long-term, I felt kinda close—now betrayal stings.
“Ah, traitor. If I lose this and break the streak, I'm going back to Beletta with you. Gotta stabilize my mind and body.”
“Traitor execution... Let's goooo!”
Down 0:2, the potentially final third round kicked off.
Not ranked, some casual ranks mixed in, but 30 straight wins ain't easy. Plus this third wave's top nameds with wild styles—10 straight ain't a joke.
Deathmatch would've been better. Kinda an achievement with decent viewers, but can't throw away the last win pathetically. Especially not to a traitor.
“Decent my ass. Your record against me sucks so far.”
“Yeah. Not over yet.”
Managed to claw back the first round with some wild twisting, tying it 1:2.
One of the top Beletta mains, so he handles similar-base Dave like a pro—feels like every callout's one step ahead. Lame excuse? I've fought plenty of Daves before.
Nah, Dengcha's just cracked. Wasn't this good before... Or maybe today's just his day to grind my gears.
Funny, King of Fist has no in-game chat, so never talked to these nameds before. Streaming debut and boom, chatting with 'em. Wild.
“Ah, shit. Sneaky bastard.”
Lost to wakeup mindgames. Over half my health gone in a flash, cornered.
Figured Dengcha's Dave would go aerial guard pressure again, so fuck it, I predicted raw super.
Was saving super for next round, but hoarding leads to shit. Better blow it now than hold crap.
Luckily hit, chipped his health even. Tough going in recklessly vs Dengcha's godlike Dave with shitty-frame Beletta, so I chilled watching. That's when cocky Dengcha pressed.
Dave dashes in, jumps aerial. But déjà vu hit hard. Lost round 1 'cause I fell for fake jump into grab at low health—ping! Felt it now.
“Naysha!!!!”
Whew. Somehow tied 2:2. Heart pounding over this? Losing's way more profitable, but damn gamer pride...
Ah... But when'd it pile up this much? Even giving half to the winner, defeat pot's multiples of success pot. Gamer pride? Pfft.
Hm... Losing ain't so bad. I've shown enough I'm the King of Fist king—er, queen. Mind eased up.
Money matters most. Went into final fifth round chill, and it flowed too smooth—I won easy.
“Ack! My 5.4 mil!”
Didn't even realize I got dead serious there.