Minecraft Mayhem and the Debut Deal
I tend to offer solutions rather than sympathy. Despite my busier-than-expected daily routine, my YouTube subscribers were approaching 200k. No matter how many videos I uploaded, it used to take a full-blown spectacle to hit 100k. But with the Block Craft videos, it felt like they climbed in the blink of an eye. I'd only played for about ten days, but there were so many legendary moments that it stretched to 30 episodes. If I uploaded them all, I could probably hit 500k. Right now, all I could do was grow my subscribers and build recognition. So, to kick off the real content, I prepped Sky Block.
Since no one had tried this kind of content yet, I planned to enjoy it with Harin and Beom-jun. I tried getting Hayun involved too, but she wasn't interested and just buried herself in Mother's arms. I saved all the videos on my computer and waited for Harin and Beom-jun to come home. Sitting in the living room for the first time in a while, Mother glanced at me.
"Harin and Beom-jun are obsessed with it these days."
"They're dopamine junkies, yeah."
"Isn't it dangerous?"
"Better they laugh their asses off at that age than get hooked on something truly addictive, don't you think?"
Mother nodded in agreement. She checked the time and headed out to pick up Harin and Beom-jun. Left alone at home, I texted Kang-chan and Kim Min-hyuk. Beom-jun might be too young, but Harin knew she was appearing on my YouTube. I explained that this session was about survival basics, even showing her the starter tools in the chest. I only gave her the essential tips and let her figure it out herself.
"First, we gotta plant a ton of trees, right?"
"Yep. So how do we do that?"
Harin pondered seriously, then mined trees and expanded the land as efficiently as possible. Beom-jun, not being careful, died with all their items, pissing off Harin. She's only sweet to me—she'd straight-up smashed Beom-jun's head before. Thanks to that, Beom-jun watched her like a hawk.
"Everyone messes up sometimes~"
"Do it again!"
"That'd kill the fun, though? One shot per chance."
It wasn't an essential item anyway, so Harin shrugged and focused on expanding the land again.
"Just trees for expanding?"
"You know what happens when lava meets water, right?"
"Ah!"
Harin set up what they call a cobble generator all by herself. She knew dirt was limited and handled it carefully. Honestly, with three of us, I padded the footage generously. Once Harin relaxed, Beom-jun started messing around. He hit her in a dangerous spot and bolted, so Harin dropped her keyboard and charged to his room. Why had Harin turned so violent...? In my memories, she was just a bubbly girl with a goofy laugh and tons of aegyo. I thought she wasn't like this, but maybe a big brother and little brother's perspective are worlds apart. Watching them, Beom-jun always poked at her first. Maybe he was a big reason she snapped like that. I had to hold Harin back from eating him alive. Beom-jun only acted up because he knew I'd stop her. Once the kids calmed down, we recorded the video.
I had all the Block Craft footage ready. Next, I made videos on an overseas FPS called The Battle. I planned to do it solo, but Harin wanted to play together, so she got into FPS too. Beom-jun, who preferred soccer, kept it short. My YouTube also had separate Vlogs. They mostly featured me, like cultural intros to Korea—hitting up famous eateries, must-try foods for visitors. I raved about chicken and showed proper Korean BBQ.
Young-hoon signed up at the gym too. But I didn't teach him grappling or punches on day one. His stamina was trash—he puked after barely any work.
"Eat more school lunch or something."
"Yes, sir."
Still, he kept pushing without quitting, so his conditioning should improve fast. In jiu-jitsu, his ears turned red but he drilled on. Afterward, Kang-chan and Kim Min-hyuk checked in, then I headed back to the States. Kevin Brown reached out. I arrived, spent time with family, trained as usual. Whittaker's Boxing Gym had way more students now, but Colin ignored the networking and focused solely on his workouts. Looks like producing one star brings in disciples like crazy. When I became WFC champ, tons of guys begged Whittaker for lessons. Colin hammered punch mitts with Whittaker in the octagon. Is that the fire in the eyes of someone with a goal? Every time I saw Colin, my own hunger for the octagon surged. I sparred with him, did my training, then headed to AKT for wrestling with Dominic. Normally I'd hit AKT in the morning, but Brown was coming today. I got to the gym, trained with Dominic, and waited. Then Brown showed up with a few guys.
First, Brown and I talked one-on-one.
"Heard you're big into YouTube lately."
"Just a hobby."
"More fighters want you than I thought. What do you want from them...?"
"Age doesn't matter on the pro stage."
"Anyway, opponent's set—check it out."
My debut foe was a 28-year-old black fighter named Thierry.
"I can post about the fight on YouTube and SNS, right?"
"If you're promoting, we're golden. Your channels are blowing up."
"Can you upload my fight on YouTube?"
"Highlights only."
That was plenty, so I nodded. The contract showed $10k show money for an unproven rookie like me. It screamed Kevin's intent to build a good relationship.
"February next year..."
"Gotta be at least 18."
"Right. But what's with max two fights a year?"
"Push an 18-year-old harder, and we catch heat."
"Tch..."
Not thrilled. Just two fights a year? Still, turning 18 with that was decent pay—it stung, though.
"I know you're loaded, so maybe it's embarrassing, but that's top-tier in the biz."
"I get it."
"Good. We'll redo the contract next year."
I swallowed my disappointment, signed, and geared up to train.
"One shoot first."
"What kind?"
"Your profile video too."
The guy with him must be the camera director. They usually film intros after you prove yourself in fights. Shooting one pre-debut was wild. The gym had a filming area, so we moved there with Brown. He sat like he was hosting.
"Ready? Look at the camera and introduce yourself."
I sat tall, cocky posture, three sets of eyes on me as filming started.
"I'm Yi Beom-ho, born in America, now holding Korean citizenship."
"How was your childhood?"
"Wealthy, privileged, never wanted for anything."
"Not in it for the money, then?"
"Nope."
"You made noise in youth boxing first—why WFC? Got separate goals?"
"Yeah. Something I couldn't prove in boxing, but only possible in WFC."
Everyone wondered what it was. This intro vid would get dissected later, so I went for maximum impact.
"My father's my heart's hero."
They tilted heads at the tame line. I paused, licked my lips, stared at the camera.
"Because of me, he left the military."
"....."
"Plenty know what 'Becker' means in the US military. Our family's lived for soldiering."
They'd asked for goals, got family lore instead—but they listened.
"My goal? Show the world what military blood runs like."
"....."
"The strongest man on Earth. That's why I'm here—to prove it."
Interview wrapped, I went home, crashed on Grandpa's couch. With my cousin's help, I posed flashing a V, emphasizing the Viking compass tattoo on my left hand's back, smirking.
Opponent Thierry—or whatever—could write his own bio. Unknown guys like him get one mic shot, no trash-talk chances. So I used my ticket-selling SNS, dropping a light message to Thierry with his vid attached. Word was he was a hard puncher from French leagues. Grappling's poison for those types, but I had zero plans for that. Past life, I got flamed for spamming grapples. Now with my talents confirmed, time to wash away that scrub era's shame. I turned down all AKT coaches' offers and named Whittaker my specialist head coach. He needed MMA familiarity too—guy's been bingeing MMA footage nonstop. As a boxing outsider, he knew zilch about grappling. Still, I trusted his instincts. Details? Other coaches or me solo. What I wanted from Whittaker was one thing: his eyes for reading the vibe, the flow. Perfect reads on foes' states and moods—that's all.