EPT![[image loading]](http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/294/pusanq9at.jpg)
A Special Gamer
His macro makes jaws drop. His strategies set him far apart from others. Right now when we look at Park Ji Ho (Pusan) in top form, we see that the next generation Protoss players are doing more than their part.
When asked about their goals, all progamers state in unison “to win.” However, Park Ji Ho is different. It seems he has even bigger, more important priorities.
To understand the guy, one does not have to travel too far into the past. Renowned for his great appetite, I managed to lure him into a buffet to converse for a couple of hours.
He would even choose Starcraft over religion.
One summer holiday during his school years, a young Ji Ho followed his friends to a PC-Bang. It was as if he had been introduced to a new world. As someone who had been playing out on the playgrounds all his life, grasping a keyboard and a mouse and studying the screens on a monitor became his newfound passion.
Everyday he desperately wanted to play Starcraft. However at home he wouldn't dare to even hint at the idea of playing games. His parents naturally wanted him to work hard and find a fulfilling vocation. He was freely allowed to go out for study, whereas even a mention of going out to play got him a lot of beatings.
Park Ji Ho eventually thought up a cunning plan.
'Mother I’m going out to study at the local temple.'
The possessor of a very special brand of macro was special from the start. Had there ever been someone who chose a computer game over religion?
A regional representative Park Ji Ho
Still a school kid, Park Ji Ho earned the reputation as the best in the Junpo district of Pusan after a year of playing. He had come a long way since the times he managed to beat his very friends who introduced him to the world of Starcraft.
He decided there was no one who posed a worthy opponent and traveled to every PC Bang to face the best of each district within his region of Jingu.
Fortunately at the time Starcraft competitions were incredibly popular in his local area, and Ji Ho even won a Money Map competition in an anonymous PC Bang. This $50 he earned was his very first taste of success, as a gamer.
The Bewildering Broadcasted Debut
Even after entering the later stages of his school education, his passion for the game were far from subsiding. He played consistently and searched for the paths to becoming a progamer. However he was yet to find any.
Seeing his struggle, one kind friend scoured through the e-sports association homepage and collected the email contacts of all progaming managers. Here, he was accepted for a trial from the Plus manager, who was in a desperate need for players, having seen eye to eye with the desires of Park Ji Ho.
During the trial games, he beat all Plus members and impressed his manager to no end. In only 3 days he was able to participate in the MBC Team League for his team. His first game was a monumental win against a certain Bertand (Elky) of Hexatron, displaying an unusual play style in doing so.
Events after Plus
Having moved to POS after a turbulent time with Plus, he was fascinated by the newcomer called Oh Yung Jong (Anytime) Watching him, he felt many things.
Recalling the times he used to be like a younger brother, trying very hard alongside him, though now they had become an oppositions, he was very happy every time he watched Oh Yung Jong's strong performances.
He was especially moved during the Dual Tournament final when he found that many of Yung Jong’s strategies and build-orders were his very own.
He now claims that, when watching Oh Yung Jong, instead of thinking “My, he has improved a lot!” he is rather surprised at his talent. One of his brother-like teammates had now become a personal rival. He did not feel insulted when Yung Jong was teasing him that he would beat him. Instead it felt good.
Park Sung Suk(Reach) and Park Yong Wook(Kingdom), Lim Yo Hwan (Boxer) and Choi Yun Sung (iloveoov), Hong Jin Ho (Yellow) and Jo Yong Ho(Chojja)...
All great players had rivals. Park Ji Ho himself now considered Oh Yung Jong a rival and became determined to compete.
Thoughts of his parents and looking back
In truth, the situation at home was always difficult. His parents who wished him to study than play games worked very hard to support his studies. His father worked as a street cleaner and his mother sold snacks at the local market to scratch together a living to raise their son. When Ji Ho asked for a computer so that he could “study” they worked determined to get him one.
On the topic of his parents, the mighty Pusan was lost in solemn silence. He lied so that he could play the game he loved and persistently hassled them for a computer. True, he was young and naive back then, however right now he is full of regretful thoughts and finding it difficult to compose himself in midst his thoughts.
That is why he will send his first month’s pay immediately to his parents, every last penny of it.
This is his only goal.
![[image loading]](http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4161/pusan4wv.jpg)
Every step a progamer takes is yet another step further into the fog. Fighting!
-Translated from FiFo-
Yes I agree journalism is about finding a new angle and going with it, the only problem is that a lot of those angles sound like bullshit and what happens when you run out of angles? Am I an expert: no, and i never claimed to be but i am certainly allowed to knock whatever I wish if I have reasons to why i dislike it. I also like how journalism majors believe they are the experts on anything when in fact they are the experts on nothing...journalism is a "general knowledge" subject. If you were an english major I would be much more likely to value your opinion to be honest.
