EPT"Well, Mom, you know how I told you about this computer game StarCraft being a professional sport in Korea? Lim Yo-Hwan is sort of the Michael Jordan of StarCraft, if Michael Jordan had also helped found basketball itself."
"Yo-Hwan ... his parents must have been religious."
"... I guess so, Mom."
+ Show Spoiler +
Does any native Korean speaker know what she meant? I didn't ask and google translate isn't helping.
EDIT: Thanks dinki and pubbanana for revealing that Yo-Hwan is (most likely?) related to the Korean transliteration of the Jewish pronunciation of the biblical name John!
EDIT: Thanks dinki and pubbanana for revealing that Yo-Hwan is (most likely?) related to the Korean transliteration of the Jewish pronunciation of the biblical name John!
About a week before BlizzCon, I was talking on the phone with my mom, a Korean immigrant, after she said she'd help me translate a short speech I wanted to give to the Terran Emperor himself on the off-chance that I'd be able to attract his attention at the con. If everything else about BlizzCon failed - if I couldn't find a place to crash near the event, if I didn't get to see any SC2 tournament games, if I couldn't find any friends to hang out with - I knew that just being able to say these four sentences to BoxeR would make the entire trip worth it and then some. We spent almost an hour hammering out the translation, since according to Mom the stuff I wanted to say to him "weren't things Korean people talk about usually."
~~~~ 1 week later ~~~~~
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/7Zdo3.jpg)
After the BoxeR vs. Fruitdealer showmatch, which was truly a set for the ages, fans swarmed the area in front of the stage right where I was sitting. Some of them were holding actual fruit high in the air and aiming for Kim Won-Gi, but the vast majority were clearly making a collective beeline for the Emperor. Tasteless, standing at the stage signing autographs, was almost trampled: "Wow, I should probably get out of here ... I was thinking 'are all these people coming to see me?'"
A half hour of exuberant waiting and jam-packed jostling later, my heart sped up to 200 BPM and lights began shining unusually brightly for me because I was one person away from being face-to-face with Lim Yo-Hwan himself. My phone's battery having run out, I'd made a deal with a gentleman named Skylar behind me that I'd take his picture with BoxeR if he'd do the same for me. I took one step forward and inhaled, holding my handwritten script in front of me for him to read along as I read it aloud.
"Lim Yo-Hwan!"
"요환시가 공군 StarCraft 팀 시작하는 것 처럼, 제가 이년전에 하버드 대학교에서 하버드 StarCraft 팀을 같이 시작했습니다.
나는 요환시에 StarCraft겜에 성공 때문에 한국사람 일 하는 것이 무척 자랑스럽습니다.
요환시가 프로 StarCraft 겜을 유명하게 만들어 줘서 대단이 감사합니다.
제생각에는, 요환시는 이 겜에 종말 유일한 선수고 앞으로 더욱 큰 성공과 빛나는 장래를 빕니다."
Translation
+ Show Spoiler +
Just like Yo-Hwan [more proper to use instead of "you"] started the Air Force StarCraft team, 2 years ago at Harvard University I helped start the Harvard StarCraft team.
Because of Yo-Hwan's accomplishments in StarCraft, I am extremely proud to be Korean.
For Yo-Hwan making professional StarCraft so famous, I am truly grateful.
I think [lit. "in my thoughts"] in this game Yo-Hwan is a very unique player and I wish him even greater success and a very bright future.
Because of Yo-Hwan's accomplishments in StarCraft, I am extremely proud to be Korean.
For Yo-Hwan making professional StarCraft so famous, I am truly grateful.
I think [lit. "in my thoughts"] in this game Yo-Hwan is a very unique player and I wish him even greater success and a very bright future.
He smiled, I thought, but I couldn't focus on that or I would lose any semblance of self-control. My hands and voice shaking, I then opened my SC2 DVD case and offered the package to him with the data side of the DVD facing up. He asked me what my name was, and I gave him my Korean name (Chung Jeeyoung). While he was scribbling on my DVD, a Korean man with a TV camera gestured to me to lay down my script on the stage so he could aim his camera at it. I managed to somehow coordinate the placement of all of these structures and also ask for a picture, very aware of the mass of people behind me wishing they were in my shoes. BoxeR nodded, and I turned around, autograph/sign book held tightly in my hands below my chin, and smiled for the camera, trying not to realize that Lim Yo-Hwan's face was 2 inches away from the side of my head.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/OcvFe.jpg)
The Klazart Dedication
+ Show Spoiler +
For those of you who might not know, Klazart used to be a very prolific and popular (and infamous) SCBW youtube commentator for the Korean pro scene (his youtube channel). He is known colloquially as the Godfather of youtube commentators because he was the original inspiration for many commentators to start their activities and the community that formed around his work was the core constituency for the site SC2GG, where I used to be head staff.
Klazart has been a mentor and friend to me since summer of 2008 when I first went to Korea and "discovered" the pro scene and the international fan scene. I think he more than any other single person was most responsible for inspiring me to join the international scene as a journalist, site mod, and (for a short time), commentator. Although he is no longer active as a commentator, I respect him very much for his intelligence, passion, accomplishments (mostly outside of SC), and unique perspective on life/StarCraft. That's why the picture is dedicated to him, since I know he was a big BoxeR fan and would've loved to have met him.
Klazart has been a mentor and friend to me since summer of 2008 when I first went to Korea and "discovered" the pro scene and the international fan scene. I think he more than any other single person was most responsible for inspiring me to join the international scene as a journalist, site mod, and (for a short time), commentator. Although he is no longer active as a commentator, I respect him very much for his intelligence, passion, accomplishments (mostly outside of SC), and unique perspective on life/StarCraft. That's why the picture is dedicated to him, since I know he was a big BoxeR fan and would've loved to have met him.
The picture taken, I turned around and thanked him again in Korean and made haste towards the rows of plastic chairs away from the crush of bodies. I heard someone calling my Korean name from behind me, so I turned around and saw ... the guy holding the TV camera. He explained that he was making a documentary about BoxeR and wanted to ask me a couple questions. Still unbelievably high from fulfilling my ultimate BlizzCon goal, I agreed enthusiastically and found myself staring into a big lens about 3 feet in front of my face.
He asked me my name, and then how I knew about Korean Starcraft. I explained that I'd attended an international study abroad program in Seoul 2 years ago and watched a ton of live pro StarCraft games, and then after that had returned to college and (among other things) helped found the StarCraft team. He then asked me what I meant by saying that BoxeR's success made me "proud to be Korean." In halting Korean and then (at his insistence) in English, I explained.
"I'm Korean-American - I was born here in the US. When I was little, people would ask me 'Are you Chinese? Are you Japanese?' and I would say 'No, I'm [ethnically] Korean.' They didn't know what that was. But look at all of this!" I flung my arms out to gesture behind me, to the RTS stage and its still-massive fan crowd. "Everyone here knows Korea! Korea is number 1! That's why StarCraft makes me proud to be Korean."
We exchanged contact information and I finally left to go back to the hotel room and get ready for the TL party. Still in a daze, I missed the turn in the lobby of the Marriott for the elevators and almost didn't remember the right room number, but I did actually make it. I opened my SC2 DVD case and stared at the elegant black curves on shining silver. The readability of the data on the DVD had been sacrificed, but for a noble cause. Just as the bits and bytes encoded on its underside only contained an echo and a promise of the true nature of a living game, BoxeR's signature was just a faint carrier of a noble and ferocious spirit, but it's enough to haunt my thoughts and dreams for a lifetime of StarCraft glory.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/1a39y.jpg)
