EPTCommentator Kim Tae Hyung: “I will raise LoL like I raised Starcraft.”
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On my last Medic Date, I met with KT Rolster’s Reach, the last of the 4 Kings still active. As two of the, nay, the only two of the “old” progamers still around, we had a unique opportunity to meet for the first time in a long while and share what we had in mind. We had a very fun time thanks to you readers.
Today we are also going to meet someone who is a welcome face for long-time Esports fans. For the last 10 years, he commentated for the OSL with Caster Jun Yong Joon and Commentator Um Jae Kyung. His nickname is more famous than his real name. He is… Kim Tae Hyung. Recently he’s been interacting with fans through League of Legends and he’s entertaining the fans with his show, “I am a Carry.”
I, of course, saw his show before. I don’t know the game LoL very well, but his show became the most searched on all the portal sites, so I started to watch it. It was a huge surprise for me to see him, who is normally very serious, break down like that on the show.
That shows just how much he’s enjoying LoL not just as a job, but as a game itself. Let us now delve into his world of League of Legends.
Staying up all night playing Starcraft.
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TS: It’s been a few years since I last saw you at the OSL preliminaries. How have you been since then?
KC: I am also very happy to see you for the first time in a long while. Since there was no Starleague for a while now, I had no opportunity to show myself to the public. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but during this break I have been so sucked into LoL time flew by so fast. Once I get hooked to a game, I cannot get myself to focus on anything else and even have a hard time living out my daily life.
TS: That’s me too. If I come across a fun game, I am completely absorbed by it. Just now I thought about the days when I met Starcraft for the first time in its early days. Back then, I stayed up all night sitting in front of the computer.
KC: I did that, too. Guys in particular were hooked really badly, and it wasn’t just at the stage of staying up all night. I’m so glad Starcraft was free. If I had to spend real money to get upgrades, I would’ve sunk millions.
TS: If it was like that, then I would’ve lost BILLIONS. It’s not far-fetched to say that Starcraft created today’s Esports culture. In the end, I think the games have to be fun for Esports to succeed.
KC: That’s it. In the case of Starcraft, so many people enjoyed it to the point of obsession. Even today, I think Starcraft continues as an Esports because many people are still obsessed with it. A game looking to be bigger than Starcraft as an Esport has to be at least as fun to play as Starcraft. We shouldn’t forget this basic fact.
TS: You seem to be staying up all night now with LoL, just like when you stayed up every night with Starcraft when you first played it.
KC: It’s true. For the first time in years, I met a game that I stayed up all night with. Time flies so fast when I am sitting in front of the computer. I am sometimes shocked when I get hungry and look at the time.
TS: I am afraid that will happen to me, so I am avoiding it nowadays. What if I stay up every night playing it like you?
KC: Probably you will.
The nickname more famous than the real name.
TS: You know that many people think your real name is “Kim Carrier,” right? When I did an interview a long time ago, I also said “Kim Carrier” when mentioning you.
KC: Many people think that. To be honest, I like that name so much I want to make that my real name. I think that thanks to that name, as if it was fate, I met a game related to “carry.”
I got the name “carry” in Starcraft because I insisted so much for Carriers to be used. Then, to my surprise, LoL had the term “carry.” In LoL, the “carry” is the one who leads his team to victory. So the term “carry” in LoL has a very beautiful meaning (laugh).
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TS: In PvT, the Protoss often produces carriers. I watch all the Terran games, so I also heard you commentating a lot. Every game, you scream “Carrier” so loud. Is there a real reason for that?
KC: I didn’t really do that on purpose. Since I was a Protoss player, I used Carriers a lot against Terrans on Battle.net. I thought Carriers were really good units. If I was a manager of coach, I would’ve recommended carriers to the Protoss players, but they don’t use it much. I was so sad because of that. Even while broadcasting, emotions came in and before I knew it I was screaming my neck off yelling “Carrier!”
Then, unknowingly, I started to get so excited when
Stork used the Carriers like I thought on stage. After that, I get so excited whenever I see Carriers. I still don’t really know exactly where the name “Kim Carrier” came from.TS: Then you also got the nickname “Kim Yuk-Sung” (T/N: Yuk-Sung or 역성 means partiality) for always predicting wrong. Was that also on purpose?
KC: Everyone thought I did that on purpose. It’s embarrassing for me to say this, but not once did I predict wrong on purpose. I don’t have superhuman powers, but what can I do about thinking that this team or this player might win it all for no particular reason? I predicted a lot correctly, by the way, but I got that image because I only predicted wrong on the biggest games. I, as a commentator, got a lot right!
Master of incidents?
TS: In preparing for this interview, I went on portal sites and searched you, and I got “broadcast incidents” as a related search term. You must’ve had a lot of them over time.
KC: You can say that I was a hotbed for them. A majority of the broadcast incidents in Esports involve me.
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TS: Which one do you remember the most?
KC: There’s so many. Now that I think about it, I can think of maybe 3 incidents. One of them, I said a word that one should not even carry in one’s mouth, so it’s awkward to talk about that now. If I say “Double Nex” I think most fans will know. (T/N: He said Double Nex Boji/보지, which means vagina in korean. Reference Video) What I remember most about that incident is when my fellow commentators couldn’t follow up and just remained silent, even when it’s unusual to have such a long pause during broadcast.
TS: I didn’t see the video clip, but I should see it now.
KC: You don’t really have to see it.
TS: The broken PC incident is also very famous.
KC: That time, OGN was not broadcasting, but MBCGame was, and OGN took that footage and broadcasted it from the Ongamenet studio. Since there was no way to know what happened, we were very anxious. There was just nothing more to say after the 50 minute delay. So I just said, “the PC must have gone kaput.” I was just speaking my mind, but I had no idea that Caster Song and Themarine would just explode in laughter like that. They must’ve thought the same thing. (T/N: Reference Video)
Normally, I don’t curse at all. The people around me know this, so I think they are lenient with me when I make a mistake. They think it’s just an episode. I think I’m lucky in that regard.
TS: I’m also someone who was involved in an incident. Starcue put his headphones on backwards, and his opponent was me. I didn’t know at first, but then he said in chat, “I am wearing my headset backwards.” I remember laughing for so long after that. I think there are many difficult situations that a commentator has to broadcast in. (T/N: Reference Video)
KC: I don’t have anything else to say but buying time is the most difficult. So I hated
GoRush so much. His setup time was so long. We hated him so much we even gave him the nickname “Park-setting.” So I liked players who join right away the most.TS: In all your years as a commentator, who do you remember the most?
KC:
sAviOr.With LoL, I want to be a part of lifting Esports to new heights.
TS: What is the ideal woman for you?
KC: Before, it was Gong Hyun Joo, but now, any lady is good. Everyone thinks I have a lot of girlfriends but that’s so not true. Since my skin got much better because I haven’t been outside much, everyone says I have a boyish face.
TC: What is your dream?
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KC: My short-term dream is to introduce you to LoL. Then you can contribute to the popularity of LoL.
Just kidding. I want to be even just a small force towards making LoL a popular Esport. I confirmed for myself that LoL is a really fun game, so now I have to do my part to popularize the game and to make it succeed as a league. If through it Esports advances and gets to the next level, won’t it be the most fun?
For my personal dream, there’s a really good BBQ joint near Tae-leung (T/N: It’s the burial site of an ancient Choson king) and I want to to take my girlfriend there for a meal. (laughs) I have a lot of dreams. (laughs)
TS: I hope you achieve all your dreams. Now try to achieve the dream of dragging me into the world of LoL.
KC: Let’s go to PC Bang right now. (laugh)
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Writer: Reporter Lee Sora sora@dailyesports.com
Photographer: Reporter Park Woonsung photo@dailyesports.com
Source: DES
Translated by jpak
+ Show Spoiler [My personal thoughts and disclaimer.] +
As usual, if fellow Koreans can refine and correct any mistakes that I made in this translation, I will fix it. Before any of you (especially those who are not familiar with the BW scene) start criticizing Kim Carrier for staying up all night playing a "noob" game, please keep in mind that he was involved in Esports since its very beginning, and he saw and experienced a lot more than 99% of you out there.
I was torn on whether to post this in the BW forum or the LoL forum, but in the end, I decided to post it here because he was a part of the BW Esport for the past 13 years.
I was torn on whether to post this in the BW forum or the LoL forum, but in the end, I decided to post it here because he was a part of the BW Esport for the past 13 years.
