There is an online game called Crazyracing Kartrider here in Korea (well, all over the world, but it originated in Korea). It has over 230 million players playing all over the world, but an estimated 30,000,000 of them are Koreans. (Fun fact: it is estimated that at least 30% of the entire Korean population has played Kartrider at least once). It is a racing game. There are fantasy cars, and then there are some real-life cars--which are actually developed in collaboration with real companies--like BMW Korea. (Thanks Wikipedia!)
It looks something like this:
You might be wondering where I'm going with this...I'm not a gamer--or even remotely interested. But I promise I have a point.
Well, I was talking to Ms Kim the other day and she mentioned that one of the kids in her class was absent. This is a strange occurrence in Korea. Kids come to school with 103 fevers and are expected to be perfectly normal and smart while hallucinating. The "work ethic" is just phenomenal. So I asked why the kid was gone.
She smiled and excitedly told me the story. The student's name is Moon Ho Joon. He is a "professional gamer." I have always heard of this kind of job title, but really I just thought it was slacker, college guys who refused to get a job so they sat on their butts and played video games while gaining 200 pounds. (Can you hear my skepticism?) But no, this kid is legit!
He is a professional KartRider player. His name is "Black Rider." He is INVITED to play KartRider all over the globe. Last summer, for instance, he was INVITED to SHOWCASE his skills at a conference--NOT compete because he'd kick everyone's butts, but to just play and have people watch him. IN CHINA!
So I googled his name: Moon Ho Joon. And low and behold...he's famous. Not just run of the mill cool--this guy is one of the best in the world.
Look, this is him, dead center!
He is 14 years old!
And read this, it's quiet incredible:
"In this tournament, past winners of the tournament, including MOON HO JOON, Park In Jae, and Jeon Dae Woong, will participate along with notable players such as Ahn Han Byul, Yoo Young, Hyuk, and Kim Taek Hwan. Moon Ho Joon is looking for his fourth straight victory and a record fifth overall tournament victory."
And catch this:
"The total prize money is 30 million won [roughly 30,000 USD], with the winner and second-place finisher getting 15 million [15,000 USD] and 7 million [7,000 USD] each, and to the player who makes a special performance or excited the crowd goes the Hot Rider Award, which plays a 2 million won [2,000 USD] reward."
You can read the whole document at the link at the bottom of the page.
So basically, this kid is "da bomb." (I actually taught my students this phrase earlier this week, so I need to use it so that I'm actually being truthful when I say I use it.) And I mean, he is set. If he can keep up his winning streak, he can have a real job just playing video games.
Ironically enough, this creates quiet a few problems at school. He doesn't really have a motivation to learn English (among other things) because he's found his career. So, he's super smart, but not very motivated sometimes. But, frankly, if I was making the kind of money he makes, I wouldn't be too motivated either.
But yes, I teach a celebrity. Talk about "Oh, only in Korea" moments.
12th KartRider League
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