James “Swedish Delight” Liu will have another year to etch his name into Super Smash Bros Melee history, the player told Slingshot. Swedish Delight will dedicate the next year to traveling the country, working part time and attending the top tournaments in North America.

“I didn’t really know what to do. I was looking around for a little bit — esports jobs like Smash.gg or Twitch — but I don’t really have the background for that,” he said. “I’ll be open to anything, and I’ll be around for another year, at least.”

The Rutgers University alumnus planned on attending medical school during the fall semester, which would have spelled the end to his gaming career. Swedish Delight took two sets off of Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman en route to a second place finish at last weekend’s Smash ‘N’ Splash 2.

“I was applying to medical school, and then that didn’t work out so well,” he said. “I will apply again next year.”

Swedish Delight was ranked No. 31 in Melee It On Me’s 2015 ranking. The Sheik main is on the rise, though. He’s earned placings above top professionals such as Mew2King, Aziz “Hax” Al-YamiHax, Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni and Justin “Plup” McGrath. With school out of the way for another year, Swedish Delight will have every opportunity to explore the world and unleash his true potential on the professional scene.

“I feel like people are taking me easy,” Swedish said. “They think they can play me the way before, but I changed.”

Following the word of Mew2King’s signing with retired NBA champion Rick Fox’s organization, Echo Fox, Swedish — who currently sports a “BERT” tag to represent his hometown crew — could draw attention from big-time sponsors that wish to latch onto the rising talent.

“(Mew2King’s) jersey was really nice,” Swedish Delight joked. “Whenever I wore a tag, it was something related to school or home. No one has really asked me about, and I haven’t really asked anyone about it.”

Swedish Delight will travel to Orlando, Florida and compete against Melee’s finest from Friday June 24, to Sunday June 26, in CEO 2016. As much as he enjoys playing the game, it’s the people and destinations that are just as important to him.

“I talk on Twitter as if I don’t really play this game, but I do put in as much as I can…I’m definitely gonna play it because I enjoy playing it and entering tournaments,” he said. “I have a lot of fun traveling, meeting people and going to see my friends again.”

Cover image: Screenshot