EPT
Q: It's said that you did pretty well at high school?
A: Totally wrong. I did very poor in study in high school because I paid no attention on it. Well, I used to be one of the top 10 students in middle school. And forturnately I passed the exam and went to high school. My family scolded me as a fool, which drove me crazy then I started to play SC in 9th grade(last year of middle school). You know, my elder brother was an excellent student. But he always pretended he knew few things and he weren't that good to comfort me. I really appreciate all he had done for me.
Q: Did you come to know your GF when you were famous?
A: No, we met even before I became a progamer. That's my destiny maybe. Female fans could be divided into two types, 1)they are so crazy and try to get close to you. 2)they support you by standing silent somewhere. For me, I rarely see the 1st group due to BoxeR's protection. (laughs)
Q: You played for money at first?
A: Absolutely not. I was obsessed with SC in school days, I couldn't do anything except playing games. Even if I was not playing, all I thought was battles. At that time I intended to go to the army, but I perceived that I loved SC so much and I would played it after my military service. So why not sticking to it? I wanna be successful. Then I went to Seoul. It seems I've made it now. (laughs) It's in TG MSL that I got money from SC first time.
As I gain some money, I bought a house for my parents. Now it's time for me. However, I've no interest in cars. In my opinion, cars are unnecessary for progamers. We are very busy, no time for driving. In addition, we have our own driver. Probably I would purchase one after the military service.
Q: People talk about your parsimony.
A: Yes, I am a cheapskate. I don't buy my teammates a drink or something usually. There are only 3 times I paid the bill. The first time I treated them some bananas and milk; the next time we went to barbecue.(don't know how to express it in Korean style) After moving into the apartment of SKT T1, BoxeR often bought us some nice food, so the 3rd time I bought pizza to teammates. While, I've my plan to save money. That's because I think progaming isn't stable, I'm not sure what will go on in the future. And some progamers don't gain much, it's not polite to splurge lots of money in front of them. Whatever, wasting money is bad, I have to think more about my future.
Q: Some complain your victories are thanks to those lucky secret expansions, how do you think about that?
A: That's undeserved. I always think "the opponent would be unaware if I expand now" in my practice. It's all about timing. It's my strategy that I make a feint of defence, and expand at the very time that others think I won't. But recently other players did very well in scouting, therefore this strategy didn't work out. And the countermeasure is to pretend training units when rivals are scouting. He goes aways, then I expand.
There's only one exception, which the idea stroke on me, the IOPS group battle versus NaDa. Otherwise I well-prepared for the strategy. So it's not the victory by a fluke. I follow my sensing in games, "it's time to expand", so I did it.
Q: You often mention BoxeR in interviews, is that kind of tactics?
A: No. That's because I sincerely admire him. I learn a lot from him. All I can pay back to him is to get better achievement in tournaments. And I've no other chance to say thanks to him in public except interviews. It's true, BoxeR is my mentor. It's not about SC, he taught me many other things.
Q: IloveOov's leading era has come to an end?
A: To be frank, it's the first time I lost in the first round.(IOPS OSL) People thought it's forgivable(I guess due to the OSL champion curse -_-). I was feeling small, like dropping into OCL preliminary. Well with all of that passing away, I regain my energe and aim at the champ in the new season. Perhaps IOPS was an excuse for me to take a break, I didn't perform at my level.
Q: After losing to July, people said you were only good at TvP, isn't it?
A: July gave me a profound surprise at the time. I used to think that I could beat him in IOPS, but I lost all courage. I am an ordinary person, getting mad after loss. I can't accept any loss against any opponent. And I'm confident to conquer July now. My belief is there's no one I can't beat down.
Q: You often type out GG soon relatively, do you?
A: When I think I can't strike back, I just give up the battle. For this, I was reproved by BoxeR several times. He said I was weak-willed so that I didn't intend to strike back. Do you notice even one game doesn't work out for me, I don't type out GG very soon. (laughs)
Q: You seem slender in your suit, and your legs are fairly long.
A: (standing up)I've no idea, I don't really care about my figure. I often do some dumbbelling to keep fit, because my arms are weak after long time gaming.
Q: Are you hauguty?(not sure whether it's in derogatory meaning -_-)
A: Yes, on purpose, so does in interviews. E-sports is Mind-sports. Practice is important, while some factors outside the stage weigh much as well. As a progamer, I should be polite to media and fans, but I don't want to show the impression of weakness to people. I'm always confident of winning, so I express my confidence, which is helpful to the matches in my opinion. After EVER OSL, some said I became modest. Actually everything was fixed up at that time. Dad often suggests me learn from Reach's reaction in interviews(be modest?). Whereas, I don't think so. That's not my style. You see, Zeus is a good example. It's not about who is right or who is wrong. Just do it in my own way.
Q: You lose weight?
A: I was sad to see myself, a fat guy, in the TV.(laughs) Well I was not really fat? Then I determined to lose weight, the lowest record was 74kg which my teammates poke fun at me that I was too thin. Keeping under 80kg is acceptable for me. (weigh himself on the scale)Now it's 79kg.
Q: What's your goal in progaming?
A: I haven't thought about it. If have to, I would say I wanna buy the whole world. To earn enough money to buy the world, I must achieve a lot. I will work hard, so "a goal to win the champ" isn't enough.
Q: Your No.1 position in KeSPA will be replaced by July next month.
A: Yes, and Dad phones me every day when he knows the points in order to force me to work harder. However, I don't care that much because I've signed a new contract with SKT T1.(laughs) If I signed the contract after falling from No.1, my salary would have falling too!(laughs) I take the money so I will carry it out. I will do better.
second translated from Chinese version on www.playsc.com
