How it unfolded
Lim Yo-hwan had already been recognized as the best Terran player after winning the Hanbit Software StarLeague that spring, and Hong Jin-ho, a Zerg player with the opposite style, split the fanbase against him. Their best-of-five final was staged at Jangchung Arena, and the very idea of holding a computer game final in an indoor sports arena was itself an experiment at the time. The result was a packed venue and a crowd left outside who could not get in. The match played out exactly along each player's identity. Lim built resource leads through what became known as control-focused play, loading small squads onto dropships to harass multiple points in the opponent's base at once, while Hong pushed with sheer unit numbers, taking two maps to force the series to its final game. Lim won the last map 3-2 for his second straight StarLeague title. From this match onward, the rivalry between the two was given its own name, Imjinrok.
Why it still matters
This match proved a professional gamer could become a star on par with any entertainer in South Korea. A broadcast-run individual league, sold-out indoor arenas, and fan clubs devoted to specific players all crystallized around this point, and it became the template the rest of the world would import for esports spectatorship over the following two decades. It was also the match that confirmed Lim Yo-hwan as the sport's first true superstar.