Time passed.
One match became two.
Two became five.
Five turned into ten.
And before Jin-ho realized it, hours had already gone by.
The road to Tekken God Omega was far more difficult than he expected.
At this level, there were no easy matches anymore.
No free wins.
No weak opponents.
Everyone here had fundamentals.
Everyone understood spacing, punishment, movement, and mind games.
Everyone could end a round from a single mistake.
Jin-ho continued playing.
Win.
Lose.
Win.
Lose again.
Sometimes he would go on a streak and feel unstoppable.
Only to immediately lose it a few matches later.
Some opponents overwhelmed him with pressure.
Others played so defensively it felt like hitting a wall.
He fought Mishima players with terrifying Electrics.
Aggressive Hwoarang players that never seemed to stop pressing.
Defensive Steve players who slowly suffocated him.
Even more Kings.
Too many Kings.
At one point, he stared at the screen after getting chain-thrown for what felt like the hundredth time.
“…Why are there so many grapplers today?”
Chat immediately laughed.
Still, he kept going.
Match after match.
Set after set.
His hands were getting warmer.
His movements sharper.
The longer he played, the more focused he became.
Even losses no longer bothered him.
He learned from them.
Adjusted.
Adapted.
Moved forward.
Because every match taught him something.
Every mistake became experience.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
His rank points climbed.
Until eventually,
The screen appeared.
Promotion Match: Tekken God Omega
Silence.
Jin-ho stared at the words for a few seconds.
Then leaned back in his chair and stretched his shoulders.
Finally.
After countless wins and losses…
He made it.
Chat exploded instantly.
Messages flooded the screen.
“LOCK IN.”
“NO PRESSURE.”
“DON’T CHOKE.”
Jin-ho looked at the scrolling messages.
Then smiled.
A calm smile.
“…Alright.”
“Let’s finish this.”
Jin-ho was confident.
But beneath that confidence, there was still a bit of nervousness.
This was it.
The highest rank in Tekken 7.
One step away.
After all the grinding, all the wins and losses, all the hours spent climbing.
He was finally here.
And now that he had reached this point…
He could not afford to let pressure get to him.
So he closed his eyes for a moment.
Breathed in.
Then out.
Again.
Slowly calming himself down.
The match loaded.
Opponent:
Kunimitsu.
Jin-ho’s expression stiffened slightly.
“A slippery character…”
Fast movement.
Strong tools.
Dangerous mix-ups.
Annoying 50/50 situations.
And worst of all…
He barely had experience against her.
Not enough.
Not nearly enough.
The match started.
Jin-ho fought carefully.
Trying to adapt.
Trying to understand the rhythm.
But Kunimitsu gave him no room to breathe.
Teleport pressure.
Movement.
Fake approaches.
Sudden lows.
Constant guessing.
Every time Jin-ho felt like he was beginning to understand, something new hit him.
He tried adjusting.
Tried changing timing.
Tried slowing things down.
But Kunimitsu never let him settle.
And eventually…
Defeat.
Promotion failed.
Silence.
Jin-ho stared quietly at the screen.
He felt disappointed.
Not because he lost the promotion match.
That part did not bother him.
Losses happened.
But losing badly…
That bothered him.
A lot.
For Jin-ho, losing was acceptable.
Getting outplayed was acceptable.
But if he was going to lose…
At least let it be a good fight.
At least make it close.
Instead, he felt completely overwhelmed.
That was what annoyed him.
He stared at the defeat screen for a few more seconds.
Then immediately pressed rematch.
Chat exploded.
“NOOOO!”
“DON’T REMATCH!”
“FIND SOMEONE ELSE!”
“ONE AND DONE!”
People kept telling him not to fight again.
To move on.
Find another opponent.
But Jin-ho ignored all of it.
This was not about rank anymore.
Not right now.
If he avoided the matchup now, he would still struggle against it later.
The promotion could wait.
Learning came first.
So he leaned forward slightly.
Eyes sharpening.
This time…
He wanted answers.
The rematch started.
Then another.
And another.
Jin-ho kept fighting.
At first, the results were brutal.
Loss.
Loss.
Loss again.
Kunimitsu kept slipping through his defenses.
Every movement felt deceptive. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Every approach looked similar until the last second.
One moment she was far away.
The next moment she was already in his face.
Low.
Mid.
Backdash.
Disappearing movement.
Setups.
Jin-ho got clipped over and over.
He lost rounds.
Lost sets.
Lost points.
And before he realized it…
He had dropped all the way back to the middle of Tekken God Prime.
Chat almost looked more heartbroken than he did.
“BRO STOP.”
“THE POINTS…”
“HE’S THROWING.”
“RANK IS GOING AWAY.”
“SAVE YOURSELF.”
Jin-ho read some of the messages.
Then just smiled.
He did not care.
Not really.
Because every loss gave him something.
At first, Kunimitsu’s movement felt impossible to understand.
Then he started noticing things.
Small things.
Habits.
Timings.
Situations.
Certain setups after wall pressure.
When the opponent liked using lows.
When they preferred movement over attacking.
What options came after specific strings.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
Things stopped looking random.
He started ducking more confidently.
Interrupting pressure.
Sidestepping at better timings.
Blocking moves he previously got hit by.
The losses became closer.
Rounds became closer.
Then sets.
And eventually—
He took one.
3-2.
Victory.
Jin-ho leaned back slightly.
Not celebrating.
Not smiling.
Just staring at the screen.
Because the feeling was different.
This was not a lucky win.
Not a gamble.
He understood now.
At least a little.
He adapted.
He improved.
He earned it.
Chat immediately exploded.
“HE LEARNED.”
“ADAPTATION MONSTER.”
“CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.”
“BRO DOWNLOADED HIM.”
Jin-ho looked at the rematch screen.
Waiting.
A few seconds passed.
Then…
Opponent left.
No rematch.
Silence.
Jin-ho blinked.
Then looked at chat.
Then back at the screen.
“…Seriously?”
A few moments later, the chat completely lost it.
“HE LEFT IMMEDIATELY.”
“ONE LOSS AND HE’S GONE.”
“BRO GOT DOWNLOADED.”
Jin-ho stared for another second.
Then let out a small laugh.
After fighting for that long…
After getting beaten over and over…
The moment he finally adapted and won once—
The Kunimitsu player disappeared.
“…I wanted more games.” he muttered quietly.
Because for Jin-ho…
He had just started understanding the matchup.
Jin-ho stared at the screen for a few more seconds.
Then shrugged.
“…Anyways.”
No point thinking about it.
He adjusted the arcade stick on his lap and queued again.
Back to the grind.
Back toward the promotion match.
This time, matchmaking seemed determined to test him.
One opponent after another.
Different characters.
Different playstyles.
Different headaches.
Ganryu.
A character he barely saw.
Then Gigas.
An even rarer one.
Then Zafina.
Kazuya.
Heihachi.
And many more.
Every match felt like opening a mystery box.
Half the time Jin-ho found himself thinking:
“People actually play this character?”
Some matchups felt familiar.
Others looked like entirely different games.
And most annoyingly…
Almost nobody rematched.
One and done.
Again.
And again.
Win or lose, they disappeared.
Jin-ho clicked his tongue.
He hated that.
Because he wanted to learn.
Adapt.
Play longer sets.
But ranked was ranked.
People cared too much about points.
Meanwhile, Jin-ho only cared about improving.
Still, he continued climbing.
Slowly.
Painfully.
One match at a time.
Eventually…
After countless games…
After all the wins and losses…
The screen appeared again.
Promotion Match: Tekken God Omega
Chat instantly exploded.
“WE’RE BACK.”
“ROUND TWO.”
“LOCK IN.”
“DON’T FIGHT KUNIMITSU AGAIN.”
Jin-ho looked at the opponent.
Eliza.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
“…Eliza?”
Another matchup he barely knew.
Not good.
Not good at all.
He had little experience against her.
Divekicks.
Projectile pressure.
Weird movement.
Sleep stance.
Meaning danger.
Lots of danger.
But unlike before…
Jin-ho did not hesitate.
If knowledge failed him—
Pressure would not.
The match started.
And immediately—
Forward.
Dash.
Pressure.
More pressure.
Jin-ho went on the offensive from the very beginning.
No waiting.
No respecting.
No giving space.
He knew one thing:
If Eliza started controlling the pace, he would suffer.
So he refused to let her breathe.
Jabs.
Pokes.
Movement.
Wavedashes.
Mix-ups.
Constant pressure.
Eliza struggled to establish rhythm.
Still…
Lack of matchup knowledge showed.
Several times Jin-ho got hit by things he did not understand.
Unexpected strings.
Awkward situations.
Strange timing traps.
Chat could practically feel his confusion.
“DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING?”
“HE DOESN’T KNOW.”
“HE’S WINGING IT.”
Honestly…
They were right.
Jin-ho barely knew what was happening.
But instinct took over.
Thousands of matches.
Countless hours.
Experience.
Reads.
Adaptation.
And guesses.
Lots of guesses.
At one crucial moment—
Wavedash.
Pause.
Hellsweep.
Launch.
Combo.
The entire chat exploded.
Another round—
Hard read.
Low parry.
Wall carry.
Pressure.
Guess right again.
Slowly…
The momentum shifted.
Round after round.
Until finally—
Final round.
Final hit.
Electric.
Wall pressure.
Then—
K.O.
For a moment—
Silence.
Jin-ho stared at the screen.
Then the rank animation appeared.
Tekken God Omega
He blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then leaned back.
“…I actually did it.”
Chat completely exploded.
Messages flooded faster than he could read.
“HE DID IT.”
“TEKKEN GOD OMEGA.”
“SECOND STREAM BTW.”
“WHAT IS THIS MONSTER.”
Jin-ho looked at the screen.
Looked at chat.
Then slowly smiled.
Not a big smile.
Just a small one.
Satisfied.
Because after all the losses.
All the frustration.
All the grinding.
He finally reached the top.
The highest rank in Tekken 7.
On his second stream.
Jin-ho grabbed his phone and took a quick photo of the screen.
Then he returned to the main menu and glanced at the time.
“There’s still time before dinner,” he muttered.
Before ending the stream, he decided to queue ranked one more time, this time using Bryan.
He selected Bryan and entered matchmaking.
The chat immediately reacted, asking why he switched characters.
Jin-ho answered calmly.
“I’m practicing him.
I want him to reach Tekken God Omega as well.”
He then queued up again.
For today, he did not plan to push too far.
Two hours of play was enough.
After that, he would stop and continue grinding Bryan offline at his own pace.
This session also made him realize his current weaknesses as a streamer.
The lack of a second monitor was a issue, making it difficult to read chat.
But more importantly, his character knowledge was still lacking.
He was fortunate to face familiar opponents most of the time, but unfamiliar matchups exposed his limits.
He often had to guess frame data based on blocking, or rely on basic punishes like 2,4 for 10-frame situations.
There were still many situations he could not properly punish due to matchup uncertainty.
“I’ll go to the arcade tomorrow and play a lot of matches,” he thought.
His first match using Bryan finally loaded.
His opponent was Armor King.
He exhaled softly.
“Armor King… popular character.
Because of his design and moveset,” he said to himself.
Because Jin-ho was already familiar with the matchup, he did not struggle much against him.
His responses came more naturally, and he was able to recognize common situations without hesitation.
Instead of guessing, he played with more confidence and control, minimizing mistakes throughout the match.
Jin-ho won the match, dropping only one round before closing it out cleanly.
After that, he continued grinding ranked without hesitation.
While playing, he began experimenting more with his ideas, especially taunt setups and repeated use of Hatchet Kick pressure to condition opponents.
His goal was to force mistakes, then immediately punish them with high-damage conversions.
As the matches went on, he ranked up steadily.
His progress came quickly, and within an hour he reached Tekken God on Bryan.
The speed of his climb was mainly due to his ultra-aggressive playstyle, constantly pressuring opponents and catching them whenever they tried to press buttons or take their turn back.
His success with taunt setups was inconsistent.
Some attempts worked, while others failed.
After all, every player reacts differently when faced with taunt pressure.
Most of them eventually pressed buttons.
This allowed Jin-ho to catch them with Forward 3, a mid counter-hit launcher.
He also used Bryan’s while rising 3 and 3+4 to catch opponent pressing.
Bryan excelled in situations where the opponent refused to respect pressure, functioning as a counter-hit machine.
He ended up playing for more than two hours, longer than he initially planned.
Eventually, he reached his True Tekken God promotion match.
His opponent was Geese Howard, on Howard Estate.
The combination immediately felt like a boss fight had begun.
However, Jin-ho was already familiar with the matchup.
The real challenge was approach control.
Bryan needed to get in close, but Geese could zone with projectiles and force hesitation.
Still, Jin-ho adapted.
He slowly closed the distance using sidesteps and careful movement, forcing Geese into unsafe options.
Whenever the opponent panicked and pressed buttons, Jin-ho punished immediately.
He chipped away steadily with Hatchet Kick, Down 4, and Down Back 3.
In the end, he secured the victory.
The rank-up animation appeared on screen: True Tekken God.
The chat immediately flooded with congratulations as he achieved the milestone.