Hong Yun-Seong

  
                                                      
 

BIO:

Descending from the same school as Hwang Sung Kyung, the Soul Calibur series' other Chinese swordsman, Hong, builds on his sword skills with a Korean-influenced suite of kicking techniques. For a time, he was a conscript in an army and navy mustered to carry out an invasion of Japan, but from a close comrade he found a different quest, for a sword said to be able to bring about the salvation of his country. His name is also spelled Yun-Seong.

As a child, Yun-seong had idolized Hwang Sung Kyung, but now he was no longer a personal hero, but a goal to surpass. Yun-seong wished more than anything to challenge him to a duel. One day, news reached the Seong Dojang that Hwang was returning from his long journey. Yun-seong saw this as the perfect opportunity to force him to acknowledge his fighting skills, personally entertaining the idea of becoming stronger than his former hero all along. However, his challenge was rejected as Hwang was more occupied with attempting to rejoin the military to help defend Korea in the impending invasion by Japan. Seong Mina, daughter of the dojang's owner, saw this brooding student of her father bitterly angry on account of the rejection of his challenge and handed him a Seong family heirloom: the dao White Storm that, according to legend, possessed the ability to reflect the innermost thoughts of those who wielded the blade. That night, Yun-seong studied the image of himself in the dao and reflected, leading him to the self-realizations that it was foolish to challenge Hwang for personal reasons as Korea was in a state of peril and that if he could obtain the "Sword of Salvation" that Hwang had failed to find, Yun-seong would finally be recognized and his challenge would be accepted. He immediately packed his belongings, took the dao, and left the dojang in pursuit of the "Sword of Salvation", unaware that Seong Mi-na would soon embark on a journey to bring him back home.

During his journey, Yun-seong heard rumors that the "Sword of Salvation" was an evil sword. He arrived in a village inhabited by children who survived a war between neighboring nations over a fragment of Soul Edge that resulted in the destruction of a fortress city where they once lived. He announced that he was searching for Soul Edge, and was greeted happily by the children, except one - Talim, who told him about the dangers of the sword. The children's leader, a sick boy, was startled when the sword was mentioned. Thinking that he knew something, Yun-seong waited for an opportunity to question the boy.

But the opportunity never came, for the boy would always avoid him. Talim tried to treat the boy, but to no avail. Seeing her disheartened, Yun-seong would talk to Talim every chance he could get, and she started to lighten up towards him. As the boy's condition deteriorated, Talim announced she would try a drastic treatment, but the boy refused. Yun-seong stopped him from arguing with Talim and spoke to him alone.

The boy told Yun-seong that he was the son of the lord of the fortress city, who went insane when he obtained a fragment of Soul Edge. He performed terrible human experiments, using his own son as a test subject, resulting in the dark energy within the boy's body. The neighboring cities attacked and the lord was killed, while the boy rescued the children who were going to be used as test subjects. After hearing his story, Yun-seong handed the boy his dao, White Storm, telling him of its ability to show what lies inside the heart of whoever holds it. The boy looked into the blade and thanked Yun-seong.

After the ritual, Talim left the village, but Yun-seong went after her, still having a few unanswered questions. Before he left, the boy told Yun-seong that the wielder of Soul Edge, Nightmare, was in the lands of the west. Yun-seong set out to find out the truth about Soul Edge.

Eventually, Yun-seong caught up with Talim and the two of them continued their journey together. They came across an Egyptian temple that was destroyed, and Yun-seong became more convinced that Soul Edge does exist. Then Seong Mi-na found them, and she told him the Soul Edge will not protect their homeland. Yun-seong had a feeling that she will drag him back home, so he left her and Talim while they were asleep.

As he got nearer to Ostrheinsburg, he encountered Hwang, who also told him that Soul Edge was evil. However, Hwang did not stop Yun-seong from continuing with his quest, allowing the young warrior to find out for himself. As the two of them go their own ways, Yun-seong carried on with faith in his strength.
 
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ORIGIN:
Soul Calibur 2

  
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OTHER APPEARANCES:
Soul Calibur 3, Soul Calibur 3 Arcade Edition, Soul Calibur 4, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny

  



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Page Updated:  Nov. 9th, 2021

I originally thought Yunseong was kinda boring when he debuted in SC2. I found it kind of odd that they replaced Hwang with a similar-looking character, instead of just putting Hwang in the game. :/ In fairness, Hong has nicely developed as a character in the later sequels, and his fighting style definitely became more defined. His personality is kind of funny, yet kind of annoying at the same time. He's got some of the best kicks in the Soul Calibur series though, I'll give him that.... he kinda turned into the "Hwoarang" of the Soul series. ;) On that note, I find it interesting that Yun-Seong's Japanese voice actor voices Hwoarang in Street Fighter X Tekken. :)

Sadly, he didn't appear in Soul Calibur 5... which is odd considering the game doesn't have any Korean characters. If you want to see how Yun-Seong feels about that, check the last two artworks on the page (below). 

Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
Personality  /  Charisma
Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
Effectiveness  in  series
Overall Score

    
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