Baek's father was a well
known TaeKwonDo expert. At a young age, Baek learned the ways of the traditional
Korean martial art and won many tournaments, until an injury forced him to take
a leave. Around the same time, Baek's family was plunged into poverty,
increasing tensions. Through this rage, Baek accidentally killed his father
during a sparring match. Grieving and full of remorse, Baek was taken into
police custody, where he spent most of his childhood. During this time, his
TaeKwonDo skills became legendary, as he became totally focused on his fighting
prowess, wishing to honor his father. After three years, he fled the police and
took to the streets, becoming a pit fighter of great strength. He became a firm
audience favorite after striking his opponents again and again to see them
reduced to a bloodied mess. Tracked by a secret organization aware of his past,
Baek was coaxed into the assassination of the owner of a property wanted by the
group, a certain Marshall
Law. Baek was only partly successful, and he entered The King of Iron Fist
Tournament 2 to finish his task and destroy Law.
According to the Tekken 3 storyline, Baek was presumed dead after
encountering Ogre,
the Aztec God of Fighting. One of his closest students, Hwoarang,
entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 to exact revenge for his master's
death and to also have a rematch with Jin
Kazama, the only fighter who had ever fought him to a draw.
It was revealed in Tekken 5 that Baek's encounter with Ogre had left him
in a coma; not dead as initially presumed. He woke up in a military hospital
over a year later (after Hwoarang had competed in The King of Iron Fist
Tournament 3). Soon after Baek wakes up from his coma, the Korean Defense
Minister asks Baek to train soldiers and Baek hesitantly agrees. Baek then began
teaching TaeKwonDo at military bases. Around the same time, Hwoarang was drafted
into the South Korean Military, but he ran away to compete in The King of Iron
Fist Tournament 4. When Hwoarang was arrested by the South Korean Military
Police, he was informed that Baek was alive.
About a year later, Baek writes Hwoarang and asks him to return to the military
and join the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 together with him. However Baek withdrew from
the tournament, when he found out that Hwoarang lost from his rival Jin
and was seriously injured. Baek then rushed to the hospital to visit Hwoarang.
Although Hwoarang's condition wasn't considered as something serious after
his treatment, he wouldn't wake up and Baek started blaming himself for
being an inadequate instructor.
It took
3 days for Hwoarang to regain consciousness. They discussed the details
and Hwoarang told Baek that not only he has to recover, but to strengthen
himself even further. Baek sensed his strong will and his unprecedented
modesty and hence he decided to teach him everything he knows. Baek &
Hwoarang returned to Korea, and endeavored to practice intensely. Eventually
the announcement of King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 came from the Mishima
Zaibatsu and Baek decided to enter the tournament one last time, to widen
his personal experience.
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Updated: Mar. 2nd, 2024
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I'm pretty sure Baek was the
first TaeKwonDo fighter to ever appear in a 3D fighting game. No doubt fighting
game players who also trained in TKD in real life (like myself), instantly took
a liking to Baek. Baek uses authentic Tae Kwon Do and when under the control of an experienced
Tekken player, can fight very much
like a real TaeKwonDo practitioner (minus the cheap juggles of course). ;) Baek's
Tekken 5: DR moveset and new animations redefined his design from the old
days. His fluid
footwork and flashy, yet effective kicks show off what TKD is all
about. Even many of the hand strikes Baek uses are the same traditional strikes
that I've
been doing/teaching in TKD for years. Baek's stance where he keeps his leg up and
hops around is also a TaeKwonDo trademark... and faking into a
spin back kick from that stance? Hell yeah. That's one of my personal favorite
moves
in real life. Someone
at Namco clearly knows a thing or two about TKD, and it's awesome that there are
2 TKD users proudly representing the art in Tekken.
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