Once upon a fabled moon, I asked, “Why are Koreans so good at Starcraft?” That is a question the world has fathomed for over a decade. Recently, I discovered the reason. It nearly cost me my life. But here I am, safe and sound behind the cloak of the Internet … in a place where the tentacles of the Korean Starcraft guardians cannot reach me - ever. This is my testimony. My name is Jack Walsh. I am nineteen point five years old. I currently reside in the Western Hemisphere of planet Earth. Up until three months ago, I was barely hanging by a thread as a college student. What I mean is, I was a top scholar at my university until I began my Starcraft odyssey. I discovered the game in my freshman year and early on, the game was fairly benign. But as my skills progressed, I became madly obsessed. Once I became Grandmaster, the Starcraft virus had truly infected me, not only in the roots of my brain, but in the farthest depths of my soul. I was blazing a trail in the digital universe. As my Grandmaster ranking rose higher, my grades sank lower. It was heaven and hell. Then one day, at last, I reached Grandmaster rank #1. I was top dog, alpha Terran, mission accomplished. I was the best Starcraft player, bar none. *Sigh* (blowing raspberries) … but little did I know, just how blind I was. That’s when Dominique Klinsman walked into my life. *Whistling*, she was a hot tamale. Well, except that she was not Mexican. She is German. But yeah, I’ll never forget the first time I saw her. I turned around in the computer lab and there she stood. Her smile was like morning sunshine wrapping me in a warm blanket. Her eyes froze me. It took all of my mental energy to break away from her hypnotic gaze. When I tried to walk past her, she entangled me with an elegant but powerful, “Hi”. I stopped. Or rather, my heart stopped and perhaps time itself ... because the one second that it took me to reply was an eternity. In a flash, my mind processed her flowing blonde hair … click. Her soft cheeks, lightly powdered like cinnamon buns surrounding a perfect nose and a mouth that could have been sculpted by Michaelangelo … click. Her athletic body looked strong but held elegant curves befitting a Greek goddess … click. In a nanosecond, I took all these mental pictures and spoke the most natural thing that came to my mind. “Hey blonde, you are hotter than a dozen nukes exploding on a Protoss mineral line.” With a puzzled expression, she said, “Pardon?” “Oh, I … just … hey you dropped something.” Her bewildered eyes glanced down around her, “Really, what?” And then I dropped a nuke on her, “My jaw.” Her electric smile returned and she said coyly, “Well then, we should go somewhere so I can play dentist.” … oh crap, was that out loud? No No No … that’s what I was dreaming and you weren’t supposed to hear that … what I really said was … “Hey, what’s up?” I gave her a shy nod and had all the intentions of again, walking past her. “Aren’t you in my calculus class?” I felt like I just got fungal growth’ed. I again froze and my feet were like anchors. I wanted desperately to say “yes”, but in all honesty, this was the first time I had seen her. It was impossible that I would not have noticed her before in class. She said that she always sat in the back, I thought, “cool” and then … but I digress … let me speed things up. We instantly hit it off and she became my girlfriend, I felt like top S!%#@. She was the coolest, prettiest girl that I’d ever met. It took me nineteen years but I’d finally met my soul mate. * Sigh * … little did I know. It was only a matter of time before she saw me playing Starcraft. She mentioned that her brother played the game back in Germany. I said that I was the number one player in the world. I felt groovy. She immediately shot back, “No you’re not.” I did my best to stay composed and said, “Yes, I am. I am Grandmaster, rank number one. Why would you say otherwise?” “Are you serious? Don’t you know? You’re Grandmaster number one in the Americas.” The word, “Americas” lit up my mind like a flash bulb. From the moment I met her, she had a way to freeze me up and she did it again. At my dumbfounded look, she repeated, “Are you serious? Didn’t you ever check the Blizzard website?” To my profound and utter disbelief, I realized that I never bothered. I just relied on the in game rank that appeared after a game. “Show me.” “Oh s#%@*, five Grandmaster leagues!” “How is it that a smart guy like your self never knew this?” “I , uhh, don’t know. I just didn’t.” “So you’re not really number one unless you beat the Grandmasters in the other regions. On second thought, actually, you just have to beat the Koreans.” “Yeah, why’s that?” “Because … uh, according to my ‘bro, the Koreans are the best. If you beat them, then you are the best.” "Hey, hold on a sec. How is it that you know so much about Starcraft?" "Oh, uh, because my brother back in Germany is obsessed with the game. He plays it all the time and talks about it constantly. So I can't help but ...", her voice softened, "... you know ... to know a little bit about the game." "Hrmm ..." Thus began the second phase of my Starcraft madness. Three words danced in my mind like a sacred chant … “Beat the Koreans.” Six weeks later, I was miserable. Not only did I spend $60 to buy another Starcraft license to play on the Korean server, but I was getting jacked up by the Korean Master level players. It took me a few more weeks to adjust and I finally managed to claw my way into the Korean Grandmaster league. Top two hundred, that was the good news. The bad news was that I was near the bottom and getting manhandled by the Krandmasters. The Koreans are damn good. I admit it. Another six weeks later, my grades were on life support and although I remained in the Grandmaster league, I was a mediocre Grandmaster. I was completely frustrated. I cycled through my games in my mind all day, every day. I couldn’t see how I was failing to crack the top one hundred. “I’m worried about you,” Dom broke my concentration. “What do you mean?” “You’re a mess. Why are you so obsessed with that game?” I didn’t answer. How could she understand? How could anyone understand that it ate me up inside to not have all the answers to a game? I can talk quantum entanglement theory with a physics professor. I have near perfect photographic memory. I can cite the number pi up to a few hundred digits half asleep. But I am unable to solve the correct algorithms to beat this game. What it really comes down to is that … there are others who are outplaying me at a game that should be solvable. The permutations of possible maneuvers are not immeasurable. I just cannot bear the thought that I am not the best. “You should go to Korea.” She did it again. She froze me. Heh. I know you must think I’m crazy. To consider going to Korea … but how I got there is the really crazy part. “You should go to Korea .” “What? That’s - crazy.” Dom made no reply. I continued, “And what do I do there?” Before Dom could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Dom said firmly, “Don’t answer that.” “What? What do you mean?” Dom drew her right index finger to her lips to signal silence. In a hushed and unsteady tone, she said, “Please, they shouldn’t be here.” “Huh?” I was confused as hell and my instincts began to blare when I caught Dom’s eyes. She was scared. Suddenly, her cell phone began to ring and she tensed up like a statue. The knock on the door changed from a knuckle tap to a fist. Boom boom boom, and still, Dom didn’t answer the phone, brring, brring, brring. I started towards the door and said, “You going to answer your phone?” I looked back as she finally answered, “Yes, hello?” I turned towards the door, opened it and was shocked to see a large man in a dark navy pea coat holding a cell phone to his ear. Without saying a word, his right hand emerged with a pistol and before I could react, I heard a gunshot. But the gunshot decibel was too low. I thought perhaps it was a silencer but then I felt a slight prick in my stomach as the tranquilizer dart found its mark. I vaguely remember wondering, “Is he calling Dom?” as I dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and blacked out. To be continued ... Admin: Is it OK to mention the story site? www.sc2Saga.com ... if this is not ok, please feel free to remove this last statement, thanks.
