For the past few years, choreographer Back Koo-young had quietly begun to wonder whether his time was passing, watching pitches from directors far younger than him getting picked over his own. When he was named the winner of Mnet's "Street World Fighter: Director's War" last week, his 24 years of work in the industry meant the trophy was not a sign of a triumphant comeback but as something closer to a "perfect attendance award" — a reward for refusing to stop even when he believed his star was dimming. "There was a time when it felt like everyone in the industry was looking for me. Then I started to feel that I was fading, too," Back said during an interview with The Korea Times at CJ ENM Center in western Seoul, Tuesday. "I think of this trophy as a reward for the effort I never let go of, even in the middle of that." The title is the first competition win of a career spent shaping some of K-pop's most recognizable work, and it came four years after he fell one step short of the final on the show's predecessor, "Street Man Fighter." He built much of his career as a performance director