EPThttp://www.dailyesports.com/news/view.daily?idx=7236
Flash, who has received 99 votes from fellow progamers as the best terran in the scene in the recent survey carried out by dailyesports has been interviewed as the first part of the "relay interview" to be carried out on the 3rd generation of the "Four Kings", or more famously known, the "TaekBengLeeSsang" (Bisu, Stork, Flash and Jaedong) quartet.
Flash chose TheMarine (the widely known retired terran progamer, currently a commentator for OGN) to rate him as a player. This is TheMarine on Flash.
"Flash is an impressive player whose plays remind you of the greatest terrans of all time: Nada and Oov. He has both the brute force of Oov, and the inspirational genius of Nada, and I don't believe it's a stretch to say he is the best terran ever. He has no noticable weaknesses, and doesn't get content with himself, which makes me expect more from him in the future. He also has a great will to succeed, so I don't think he'll get into a slump too easily. If Flash can maintain his current success and aura of invincibility for the course of around 6 months to a year, it'll be a matter of time before he gets to be the greatest player of all time. From the perspective of a terran player, Flash's play is the closest thing to perfection."
What inquiries does "TaekBengLeeSsang" have on Flash? Stork, showing great interest in Flash, had not one, but three questions for Flash.
Stork: "I've heard that you were good at school. Did your parents forbid you from becoming a progamer?"
Flash: "I wasn't THAT good (laughs). At first, my parents were strongly opposed to the idea, so I asked them to give me just two months. Within that two month period, I succeeded in getting the licence, and got the permission of my parents. They have been supporting me ever since. I want to take this opportunity to thank them."
Stork: "Have you ever regretted giving up your studies to become a progamer?"
Flash: "Of course not. I wouldn't have succeeded in my studies to the degree I have managed to succeed in progaming. Anyhow, getting good grades doesn't guarantee success in life these days. I believe that becoming a progamer was the best decision I've made in my life."
Stork: "As the team ace, you always have a lot of matches to prepare for, and insufficient time to practice for them. How do you manage to maintain your level of success?"
Flash: "I think it's because of my confidence. Because of the mindset that I can win regardless of who the opponent is, the lack of practice doesn't become much of a problem. I can gain advantage by how I use my troops. It's also important to believe in yourself."
Flash answered the questions without any restraint. Despite being very young, he seemed to have great pride in being a progamer. Bisu was more interested in the other progamers' social lives.
Bisu: "Do you have a girlfriend?"
Flash: "I used to have one, but I don't anymore. It's going to be Valentine's Day soon and I'm sad because I have no girlfriend to get any chocolates from. I only have my fans to rely on (laughs)."
Jaedong, the player Flash considers as his rival. They've given us many great matches during their multiple encounters with each other in various leagues.
Jaedong: "How do you think of me as your rival? (laughs)"
Flash: "Our records used to be too lopsided in Jaedong's favour for us to be a rival, but I've caught up a lot now, so I think we can now be true rivals. I always envy Jaedong as a player. I envy how he keeps practicing a lot despite how tedious it gets, and his fast hands. I also envy how he always is in top condition, and his wide range of success in both the individual leagues and the proleague. I guess I'm envious of him in almost all aspects. I hope we keep meeting each other often to have some great matches, and be remembered as the greatest rival of all time."
Leta, also known as "the next Flash". The hottest player in the proleague and individual leagues has said that he wanted to play Flash in an interview. His dreams became true when Flash made it to the round of 16 in the Lost Saga MSL to meet Leta in the brackets. What did Leta have in mind as a player catching up to Flash?
Leta: "Tell me your secret on maintaining your success without getting exhausted (laughs)."
Flash: "The first thing is to have faith in yourself. By believing that you can win against all, playing the games becomes that much easier. It is also important to keep practicing hard. It is a simple thing, but they are not that many gamers who practice hard. It takes both physical and mental strength to endure the schedule. Also, it's important not to get over-confident when you're doing well. I used to do that back in the days, and my level of success dropped immediately. Of course, I don't believe you'll do the same, but I want to say that people shouldn't get over-confident when they're doing well."
Now it's question time for the fans. We took questions from the Flash fans who were on the scene. They were mostly interested about friendships and rivalry.
Fan question: "Who do you to get know closer?"
Flash: "Bisu. I'm friends with Stork and Jaedong but I'm not that close with Bisu. I used to be quite close to him before, but Bisu hasn't been on battlenet recently so we've drifted apart. Bisu! Let's be friends!"
Fan question: "Who among the six dragons do you consider your rival?"
Flash: "I think Stork is amazing. That's why I choose Bisu as my rival. My idea of a rivalry is when fans get really excited about a match between two players. It's fun to have both sides attacking each other non-stop. That's why I think Bisu is my rival."
Fan question: "Excluding yourself, who is closest to the 5th bonjwa?"
Flash: "I think it'll be difficult for anyone to become the 5th bonjwa. The skill of players has increased, so no one player wins everything anymore. Also, the fans get too harsh even if you only loose that one match. So my goal is the become the greatest player ever rather than become a bonjwa."
What are Flash's thoughts on Bisu, Stork and Jaedong? As rivals, and fellow progamers, we've decided to what Flash had to say about them.
Flash on Bisu: "This is the first time I've admitted this, but Bisu is the progamer who improved my skill level the most. This was back then when I was a practice progamer in the Pantech Curitel team. I was already number one in the team in practice tournaments, and beat most of the famous players during practice. I was getting a really big head from all this. Then MBC Game Heroes team contacted us saying that they needed a terran gamer to practice with to prepare for the Proleague Grand Finals. I was Bisu's practice partner on the map Longinus. I lost all six matches to Bisu. The shock was undescribable. I took a look at the replays, and was amazed at how his gateways were always in producton throughout the entire game. After realizing how there were players this good, I stopped getting complacent and practiced really hard. If I hadn't played Bisu back then, I might have been too full of myself to get to where I am today.
I'm also envious of Bisu because he is so handsome and has the potential to be a huge icon regardless of his talent."
Flash on Stork: "He has been getting good results for many years now. What amazes me is how he keeps coming back to the top. When I defeated Stork within the space of a week in the finals of an event league, and the Starleague finals, all my teammates, and my fans said that Stork would never overcome the shock. So I felt really bad for him.
But Stork eventually won the Starleague. His determination and passion really is something else. The way in which he overcame the long and winding road of slumps many times and got to the top really gets my respect."
Flash on Jaedong: "No words neccessary... he is my rival (laughs). If I have a match against him, I really want to win. Of course I want to win matches against other gamers as well, but with Jaedong, the feeling increases much more.
I want us to become the greatest rivals of all time. I said much about him before, so I'll stop here."
Flash mentioned time and time again that he wanted to be the "greatest", and how becoming the most dominant player of the period, "bonjwa", seemed to be not enough for him. We could all see Flash's great hunger for success that TheMarine mentioned.
Flash, who showed maturity beyond his age during the interview, made everyone laugh by saying "time really does fly by".
"It seemed like only yesterday when I've heard about the first "Four Kings" (Boxer, Nada, Reach and Yellow) and wanting to become like them, but now I'm part of the current "Four Kings". Time really does fly by. I won't stop here, and will try my best to be called the best player of all time."
Flash seemed to enjoy participating in this new style of interview that we've prepared. This is what Flash had to say to his fellow "TaekBengLeeSsang" quartet memebers as a last remark.
"As rivals, and as fellow progamers, I think we can all go a long way if we compete against each other. I want our generation of the "Four Kings" to have the best rivalry and drama.
TaekBengLeeSsang Fighting!"
