As the situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been getting worse over time, Korea University (KU) students have resumed their studies online in the fall semester as well. Even worse, concerns about the cancellation of the Annual Ko-Yon Games, one of the most representative events of KU, have become a reality. The news has disappointed students from both KU and Yonsei University (YU), especially the freshmen. However, thanks to the efforts of the student unions of the two schools, students in KU and YU had a reason to stay excited for October.

Following the cancellation of Ipselenti—Jiya Hamsung (Ipselenti) in the spring semester of 2020, the cancellation of the Annual Ko-Yon Games due to the prolonged influence of COVID-19 was certainly a more disappointing news to KU students. However, the KU Student Union (KUSU) did not leave the students in their disappointment but decided to collaborate with the YU Student Union (YUSU) to hold an online form of interleague — the Yon-tact:Ko. The electronic sports (E-sports) competition, which kicked off the online interleague, and several other competitions that the two schools have prepared, gave students a motivation to replace their disappointed minds with great excitement.

An Online Interleague Takes Place

KUSU and YUSU have prepared several events for the Yon-tact:Ko, the first of them being the E-sports competition. According to Kim Donghyun, a member of KUSU who is in charge of managing the E-sports competition, “KUSU decided to hold the Yon-tact:Ko because we have been feeling regretful that students could not attend Ipselenti nor the Annual Ko-Yon Games in 2020 due to COVID-19.”

Kim added, “We decided to collaborate with YUSU because they also showed interest in working with us in providing an online form of interleague.” He explained that despite the situation, the student unions in both schools agreed that it is important to keep the bond that has been formed and maintained between KU and YU for a long time. Initially, the Yon-tact:Ko only consisted of the E-sports competition, but as the two student unions were preparing for it, the scale was enlarged to include more diverse competitions and events for students to take part in and enjoy.

KU and YU Students Compete as Game Characters

The E-sports competition took place as the first event in line for the Yon-tact:Ko. The E-sports competition was initially composed of three different video games: League of Legends (LoL), Overwatch, and Kartrider. Kim explained, “We decided that an E-sports competition would be the best substitute of the Annual Ko-Yon Games as the most appropriate form of contact-free competition that can be run online.” He also mentioned that since many students play and enjoy LoL, Overwatch, and Kartrider, KUSU and YUSU selected them as the main events of the E-sports competition. However, due to the low participation rate of Overwatch and Kartrider matches, the two student unions decided to exclude them in the E-sports competition and focus mainly on the LoL match.

Any student from KU or YU was eligible to participate in the LoL match and students were free to form their own teams with six students per team, as long as their team members were from the same school. From October 6 to 12, the preliminary matches took place, which took the form of a single elimination tournament. Based on the preliminary matches, the top three teams from each school were selected to enter the finals. The final group stage for the LoL match took place on October 16, where the winning team of the final match for the E-sports competition won a grand prize of two million Korean won.

Other Interleague Events Prepared for Students

The Yon-tact:Ko consisted of some other exciting events as well. For example, there has been an online duet singing festival as well as some other fun activities and games prepared for students. These events were held for a week, from October 12 to 16 and were shared in the form of announcements on the KUSU Facebook page and livestreamed on the YUSU YouTube channel.

The online duet singing festival took place on October 15. From October 3 to 8, the preliminary round took place, where five students from each of the two schools were selected to enter the final round. For the final round, two students were randomly assigned to be a team and sing a duet. The duet teams that entered the final round had the opportunity to show up on Charming Jo’s channel, who is a singer and Youtuber with a channel of more than six hundred thousand subscribers. The duet teams also had a chance to meet Greg in person, who is also a well-known singer and Youtuber.

Every year, around the time of the Annual Ko-Yon Games, Anam and Sinchon have been filled with banners created by KU and YU students dissing each other. However, for this year, KUSU and YUSU decided to hold a contest for creating banners where KU and YU students can deliver dissing messages to each other online. The Yon-tact:Ko also featured various games such as the outdoor escape room challenge and the Among Us match between KU and YU students. Also, KUSU and YUSU prepared and sold the Yon-tact:Ko gift packet which included many attractive items for students to keep as souvenirs of this unusual but memorable time.

With COVID-19 taking over the entire world today, contact-free interactions among people have become more popular and are now becoming the social norm. The student unions of KU and YU seemed to have offered a wise and reasonable alternative of the Annual Ko-Yon Games through the Yon-tact:Ko, which allowed students from the two schools to have a reason to stay excited during a tedious and repetitive lifestyle of quarantine and social distancing.