EPT
Meet Bisu, the representative of the handsome progamer (T/N: “Handsome” here is “꽃미남” which literally means “flowerboy”, a common expression for a guy who is good-looking in a pretty, cute way, as opposed to being masculine.)
“I want to meet a girlfriend who is considerate of others.”
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With both a good-looking face and being a highly skilled progamer, Bisu can be considered the “best progamer” of this generation. He is currently ranked 1st in number of wins in the 2010-11 Shinhan Bank Proleague and has recorded 3 all-kills in this season’s Winner’s League; Bisu is at his height again.
How could we not interview him in spite of all this! He is the subject of interest for those who want to interview him before the Lunar New Year holiday. Rather than asking him about his matches again, this interview focused more on his private life, which we don’t get to hear about often. Can’t we learn about his individual leagues and the Proleague in the interviews after his matches? Today, lets meet the person Bisu, rather than the gamer Bisu.
“Hobbies? I don’t have any.”
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1296700056_2.jpg)
Even with busy practice schedules, other progamers have at least one personal hobby. Sea enjoys soccer while Light buries himself in books. Canata collects figures (T/N: I’m not sure what they mean by “figures”) while Jaedong participates in health training, for example.
But Bisu doesn’t have any hobbies. Even on rest days he usually stays inside the practice house and spends time by himself. He seems dull if you look at it a certain Way but Bisu doesn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t have any particular hobbies. So on rest days I usually stay in the practice house and spend time there. I watch TV, go on the internet, or exercise, and that’s pretty much all I do. But most of our team members are like that (laughs). Most of their homes are far away and it’s difficult to meet friends so they end up staying in the practice house.”
“But isn’t this kind of lifestyle boring and dull?”
“I don’t think of it that way. Progamers have very tight schedules so we have to rest when we can rest. And most of my friends live far away so unless I have someone special to meet, I just stay in the practice house (laughs).”
So we asked him if he wanted to start up any hobbies because we remember when he enjoyed soccer during his days as a member of the MBC Hero team.
“I think I’d enjoy a sport like skiing or snowboarding but I don’t know how to ride them and I’m afraid that I’ll hurt my hand (laughs). I played soccer a lot back then but now I want to protect my hands so I don’t anymore, and there aren’t really any good playing fields around the practice house…if there is a nice hobby that you can do without having to use your body so much, please recommend it to me.”
Already 6 years as a progamer, he is now a veteran player.
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It has already been six years since Bisu has debuted as a progamer. Since moving to SKT1 from MBC Hero, Bisu, along with his Samsung KHAN counterpart Stork, has been leading the Protoss players, leading both to be called “Twin Carriages”.
Although he is still young in age, he has become one of the senior members of his team. With the exception of their Captain Hyuk, no one else is older than Bisu. Simply by looking at his age (23) and the number of years he has already been in the progaming scene, One can tell how young average progamers are.
“I am very far Into my career. When I was a part of MBC Hero, I was the youngest but after 3 years in SKT1, I guess I’m a veteran now. I’m the oldest after Hyuk hyung. And I’m the same age as Best.”
Since teams have been decreasing the size of their team, SKT1’s number of players have decreased a lot. There was once more than 20 players but now there are just 10 members. Bisu appeared sad that the team was scaled down.
“Teams have become a lot smaller recently and it seems like a lot of energy has disappeared. Our team is continually looking for new players but it seems like the level of amateurs have decreased a lot. I hope we get more players so that the team atmosphere can become lively again.”
SKT1’s lodging and practice house are separated. Players wake up in the morning and prepare for practice and then have to walk to the practice house. This is a rare occurrence in progaming teams.
“Because our team’s practice house and living area is separated, it is hard to walk to the practice house during Winter. We have to walk 10 minutes. But I think that keeping the two places separate is good for us.
“I share the room with Hyuk and Fantasy so we’ve become pretty good friends. But we don’t go out together or have fun together. Fantasy has been busy practicing for his individual leagues and Hyuk and I have to practice a lot so there isn’t a lot of time. Ever since our team got a lot smaller, I miss being able to eat out with team mates .”
Because he was a member of MBC Hero for a while, he is still friends with their players. Recently, Sea, Tyson, and Shark visited the SKT1 lodging and they went out to eat together.
“I usually talk with MBC Hero players through MSN chat. Recently, Shark hyung, Tyson, and Sea came to our place and had cooked gut. There was a really nice restaurant but they suddenly closed so now we can’t go there anymore”. (T/N: Yes I know “cooked gut” sounds really disgusting but that’s the literal translation. It’s just one of hundreds of different dishes you can eat in Korea.)
Handsome Progamer Bisu!
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As we had mentioned in the beginning of the interview, Bisu is one with both skill and good looks. Many girls are surprised at how good he is and how handsome he is at the same time. Bisu gets commented that he is good-looking in every interview, but he denies it…but isn’t it obvious that people will comment on his good looks if he is good looking?
“What do you think of your good looks?”
“No I’m not that handsome. If you saw my actual face, you’d be disappointed.”
“But at the fan meetings, all your fans look at your face and say you are handsome…”
“That’s because I put makeup on. You’ll be surprised if you look at my face without makeup on it. Look at me right now. My skin condition is very bad. I’m worried because my skin on my face isn’t looking very good recently. It might be because of stress, I don’t know.”
To put it bluntly, the player with a nice face will get more attention than the other, even if they are both equal in skill. People are naturally attracted to beauty. By looking it at it this way, Bisu seems like he is really a blessed person.
“I guess you could say that being handsome while at the same time being a good player puts beauty on top of what is already beautiful. (T/N: “금상첨화” is an expression to describe this) I think Junitoss hyung from MBC Game or control are really good looking.”
“But don’t you think you are just as good looking?”
“I think I’m lacking (laughs). There are a lot of players that are better looking than me. I think players like RuBy, Best, and Fantasy are better looking than me.”
“But I think you are better looking than them…”
“That’s because everyone’s standards are different (laughs).”
Even guys who are not that good looking have their moments when they feel that they are handsome. For example, your appearance when you see yourself after taking a shower or after sweating a lot after heavy exercise. Most guys would probably attest to this. So we asked Bisu too: When does he feel he looks the most handsome?
“I’m not sure. I guess my face right when I wake up? It seems cute and funny when my hair is really messed up (laughs).”
Because he is good looking, he is popular with the makeup staff from both broadcasting channels (OGN and MBC Game). One staff member said “Bisu’s face is so perfect that he doesn’t really have to worry about makeup”. Bisu suggested that his TV appearance is better than his regular face.
“The staff members from both companies are really good at putting makeup on. I think the staff at MBC Game have the right style set up for my hair. I like my hair the way it is, not making it crazy (laughs). To be honest I want to lift my hair up to show my forehead but that makes me look old so I can’t do it. I’m already 23 years old so I want to look younger.”
“Don’t you have any thoughts on getting your skin (on your face) checked at a clinic?”
“I’m thinking of doing it offseason. And since I’m already putting on makeup during broadcast, getting my treatment for my skin seems like it won’t be good for it (laughs). But I don’t know any good skin clinics around here. If you’re a fan and you’re reading this interview, please recommend some good clinics near our place.”
Considerate and thoughtful? Then good enough to be my girlfriend!
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1296700056_5.jpg)
23 is an age when one is very interested in the opposite sex. But progamers have limited time to meet people and have busy schedules, making it hard to meet girls. Bisu agrees that he’d like to date a girl but he feels he doesn’t have the chance to, feeling kind of sad about it.
“Do you have a girlfriend right now?”
“Me? No. I’ve actually dated several girls but all of them couldn’t understand my lifestyle. They didn’t understand how I was so busy when all I did was play games so I couldn’t have a long relationship with any of them. I always want to date a girl but at the same time I get anxious that my match records will fall so I keep hesitating.”
“What is your ideal person like?”
“Most guys would agree that it be nice if she was pretty (laughs)? The most important thing to me is someone who can understand my lifestyle as a progamer. I want to meet a girl whose tolerance and understanding of another is deep.”
Bisu and “TaekBaengLeeSsang”
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1296700056_6.jpg)
Bisu is a member of TBLS. Because the four players were put together because of their skill, it seems like Bisu is friendly with all of them. Bisu seems especially friendly with Stork and Flash.
“Stork hyung is really approachable. He’ll do any favor you ask him. He seems very composed and sure of himself. And Flash is very considerate. And because he’s won so many tournaments his wallet is thick too (laughs). After KT won the finals last time, Flash offered to pay for me and Fantasy when we went out to eat together. So we ate a really nice meal, but it turned out that Flash forgot his wallet at KT’s lodging. So I offered to pay that day but Flash insisted that he pay me back and afterwards he gave me the money for the meal. So I got a free meal I guess (laughs).”
“Then what about your relationship with Jaedong?”
“To be honest it hasn’t been long since we’ve known each other personally. I haven’t been able to figure out his personality yet.”
“You seem to be doing the best out of TBLS right now.”
“Not really. Stork hyung beat me in the last MSL. If it wasn’t for him I could have gone higher in the bracket but it seems like I don’t have a lot of luck. And Flash is doing really well too. Flash’s play is always solid but when I see my own play it seems unstable. I feel like I’d lose to him (laughs).”
Happy New Year! (T/N: Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year in addition to the western New Year on January 1st)
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Bisu’s house is in Seoul but his hometown is in Cheonan. He always visits his hometown during the holidays every year and in this Lunar Year holiday break, he’s planning to spend time there.
“I have these cousin hyungs who live in Cheonan that I go to the internet café with to play Brood War. They really like the game.”
“But a progamer playing with amateurs? Your cousin hyungs must be very lucky (laughs).”
"Before I became a progamer, they were much better at Starcraft than me. So I used to think that they were really good. But after playing them now they seem so bad. They didn’t get worse at the game; rather I’ve gotten better than them (laughs).”
Because of the new year, Fomos did fortune telling for some of the well known progamers. Of course Bisu’s fortune has been posted as well, just yesterday. Bisu said that in the New year he’d like to get the most wins in the Proleague and also be able to go to school like a regular student.
“Because I’m doing pretty good right now, I want to get the title for most wins. The Proleague’s standards have gotten higher so the “most wins” title has also become more prestigious so it’d be Nice to win the title. And a lot of fans would Remember my name more. And I want to go to school. I became a progamer when I was 17 so I haven’t Really been able to Live my life as a student. I think it’d be fun to go around having fun with my classmates.”
Bisu is currently attending Sejong Cyber University. Bisu said during the interview, “I usually say that I go to Sejong University,” commenting that it’d be very misleading if a “Seoul Cyber University” student said that he went to “Seoul University” (T/N: Seoul National University is the most prestigious university in South Korea) but just saying that I go to “Sejong University” isn’t as misleading, laughing about it.
(T/N: Bisu is basically shortening his university’s name to just “Sejong University” to make it appear that he goes to a better school than he actually is, and is laughing about how calling his own university “Sejong University” instead of “Sejong Cyber University” isn’t as bad as someone claiming to attend “Seoul University” when in fact they go to “Seoul Cyber University”.)
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1296700056_8.jpg)
The interview went for an hour without any mention of Proleague or Bisu’s matches. It was kind of awkward to interview him about more personal subjects but Bisu laid out a very social and comfortable atmosphere, making jokes and helping the interview go smoothly. In his last interview before the break, Bisu had a few words to say.
“For those who are going south to their hometowns, I hope you have a safe trip. Since you’re meeting your family members in a long while, be sure to play “Yut” and “Hwatu” (T/N: Both of these are traditional Korean games) and other fun games. I hope you have a good time and have a happy new year. I’ll be sure to have a good time myself and return to Proleague with a well-rested appearance. Thank you.”
Interview credit goes to:
Lee Jung-han - 이정한 기자 leoleo@fomos.co.kr
Lee Hae-rin - 이혜린 기자 rynnn@fomos.co.kr
