Season 4: Chapter 10. Epilogue (1)
The sports world was like that. They said everything was judged by results, but reality was a little different. Not all victories held the same value. For example, it was impressive when someone who was always good won again. Despite the achievement, people would react with comments like, “Boring,” or “Him again?”
Fans craved the rise of a new challenger after a certain point. They sought new excitement. In the end, what truly stirred everyone's hearts was the underdog’s rebellion. A struggling team pulling off a miraculous run and winning it all was exactly what Joseon showed this time. Joseon’s victory carried far greater weight than any other wins. However, it came with an important caveat.
"That’s only true among people who actually know Civil Empire."
Just as Ju-Hyeok said, one had to already be familiar with Civil Empire to fully grasp the value of this win. They had to know how weak Joseon used to be, how poor Korea’s infrastructure was for the game, and so on. At the very least, one needed to have watched since two years ago to truly feel the impact of this victory.
"But most people in Korea don’t fit that category."
Civil Empire was an unpopular game in Korea. Most new fans had only joined during the high-profile Korea-Japan match. To them, Joseon’s victory seemed spectacular purely because the back-and-forth, high-stakes games were thrilling or because they beat nearby rivals like Japan and China. It wasn’t because Joseon had been the underdog.
Sure, people knew in their heads that Joseon was the underdog because everyone kept saying so, but experiencing a team's struggles firsthand and simply knowing about them were very different. If one had been following Joseon from the start, they would have sobbed uncontrollably like most Embul users when Joseon won.
[I bawled my eyes out...]
[Never thought I’d cry watching an esports tournament... I can die happy now.]
[Ahhh... Everyone did so well...]
What about the casual viewers who only lightly watched the tournament? Sure, they cheered during the event, but what came after?
"The buzz started dying down pretty fast."