EPT
CJ Protoss Horang2, the guy who looks like the spring sunlight! (T/N: god it sounds so corny when you change it into English hahahaha)
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After seeing all kinds of leagues all the time, the phrase “that rice and the seasoned vegetables” comes to mind; we always see the same players get interviewed again and again. The popular TBLS are like that and not only them, the teams’ Proleague regulars walk into the reporters’ room like they walk into their house (T/N: I translated the phrase "that rice and the seasoned vegetables" literally so it sounds kind of hokey but it’s a Korean phrase that is used to describe when “things are all really similar and there is nothing new or special” or “business as usual”).
On the other hand, it’s difficult for players who rarely win to get an opportunity to get interviewed, and even if such a player does win in his game, his team might lose the match and he will lose the opportunity for an interview. This is not uncommon.
But even for those who get interviewed because they are regularly winning games, the progamers’ “desire for the interview” doesn’t necessarily settle down. A lot of players want to go beyond the standardized match interviews and instead do a “live interview”, where they want to talk about not only the feeling of victory, but also talk with someone about themselves.
Horang2, not surprisingly, has expressed pleasure at doing a live interview, meeting the interviewer with a smile, saying “I’m really excited to do something like this for the first time”, even after doing match winner interviews, going on Newpace, and doing “20 Questions & 20 Answers”.
Horang2. A day before the interview, he defeated “Tyrant” Jaedong and returned to the practice house where he went on an eating binge and then had to take some medicine before going to bed. Always doing random things out of the scope of expectation, horang2 started his interview in a vague way, still groggy from the medicine before.
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I request a cool, clever, and interesting self-introduction from you.
Hello. I am horang2, who has become a little mature after getting older. I am now at an age where having a coffee is appropriate (laughs). I am very sleepy from the medicine from yesterday so I usually don’t drink any but I’m having some now. Hmm, the taste of coffee as an adult (laughs).
You’ve done a lot of casual interviews like on Newpace and “20 Questions & 20 Answers” but now that you are the focus of a live interview, what is it like?
I finally had an opportunity to have an honest discussion so I was excited and also thought that as a progamer, I had achieved a certain level of record and skill. I learned about doing this interview after we beat Hwaseung OZ yesterday so I felt really good.
Were you envious of Movie and Hydra who both had done a similar interview?
I’m not the kind of person who gets envious about those kinds of things. I was like “oh these guys…” oh wait, Movie hyung is here so cancel that (laughs). I didn’t know what kind of things they thought about even though I live with them but after reading their interviews, there was a lot of fun and interesting information. They had topics of weighty discussion that I wouldn’t have asked them about and topics that they probably would not want to talk about face to face but I learned about some of them through the interview so it was nice.
Quite appropriately for this interview, you defeated Jaedong the day before. Did you feel any different after you slept and woke up after defeating him?
To be honest, I thought to myself “yeah I’m pretty cool” and I also felt very good because I felt that I now truly was one of our team’s strong players. After I had actually won, I only thought about the fact that I actually did win but then when my friends started texting me things like “you put the Tyrant to sleep”, I felt good. I think he is the best Zerg player so I was really happy that I beat him. I won this team with a lot of luck but when I meet him next time, I want to defeat him solely on skill.
Before your match against OZ, you said in an interview that “I will help Jaedong practice for the MSL” but then when you met him in a game, you beat him.
When I saw the entry list, I thought to myself “I shouldn’t have said that. Why does he have to face me? This is annoying” (laughs). Six players get slotted to play and I wondered if he wanted to play me but then luck played a part. Luck helped me out several times during the game, which is why I think I was able to win.
Now that I realize it, when you are talking about a player who you are less friendly with, you use the word “nim”. Any particular reason? (T/N: is an honorific you attach to someone’s name to describe them politely or be respectful. The interviewer is probably asking this question because it’s something you don’t necessarily have to do).
When I first started as a progamer, I was really into anime, which is why I think is the reason I do that. I think it’s a habit but I also wonder if it’s just my personality (laughs). I usually don’t talk that. The majority of people say just “Jaedong” but people sometimes use “Jaedong-nim” too and it’s about half and half. Our team hyungs told me that it means that you are respecting the player when you use the “nim” honorific and they told me that I shouldn’t worry about it so I didn’t try to break the habit and I ended up continuing to use it.
Because of these kinds of things, you were once called “4th dimension toss”.
4th dimension toss? It was a pretty good nickname when I think about it now (laughs). There are so many different kinds of nicknames but “4th dimension toss” ended up being a really good one. But now that nickname has actually gone into the 4th dimension. I can never have it back (laughs).
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1305713896_3.jpg)
Now that you think about it, fans have given horang2 a lot of different kinds of nicknames, similar to popular progamers from before. From “innocent toss” because of his looks to “4th dimension toss” because of his odd image during a group ceremony near the beginning of his career.
I’ve thought of something now that we are talking about nicknames. You have a lot of nicknames but don’t you have any that you really like? I think you’ve once mentioned that you didn’t have any in an interview a while back.
At that time I really didn’t have any that I liked the best. I didn’t really like “innocent toss” either. But when I heard all the other ones, I was very thankful for this one. Compared to others, it is on the level of being a treasure. At least being called “innocent toss” is something to be thankful of; I think I was being too foolish at the time(laughs).
The nickname that you especially don’t like is the one that we are all thinking of right?
People seem to know even if I don’t try to hide it. The one that starts with a “chi” (laughs) (T/N: I think horang2 is referring to the nickname “cheesetoss”. Please let me know if he isn't)
Did you know who that nickname was for? Or did you not know and then look it up? I’m also interested in your teammates’ responses.
I looked it up once because I had no idea who it was for. At first I thought that people would pay attention to it a little and then get over it but then as time went on I realized that the nickname was fitting me more and more so I thought “we can’t go like this anymore”. My teammates also poked fun at me, calling me “bomb-zzang” (T/N: no clue what this means). I got over it without any thought but I don’t want to be stuck with that image.
I think being a fan of anime contributed to the making of that nickname.
Really to be honest, when I saw that picture, I thought “my cheek is kind of similar”…(laughs). I think had an “otaku” image about me and it wasn’t used so harshly so I was able to get over it with a laugh. But then now that almost everyone is calling me that, I need to hurry and clean this up before my parents see it.
Did the fact that having two older sisters have an effect on you too? Like when you were a fan of anime and also your feminine image.
My sisters actually didn’t really like that kind of stuff. I had a large age gap with my big sister and she’s old enough to marry now. When I look back, we fought a lot but now that we have all gotten older, they are both very reliable so I am thankful for that. When I was young, we fought over the computer and got into arguments a lot. When I was young, I was so greedy about food. One time my big sister told me to go buy some ramen but then after I bought it and made it, having to share it with my sister made me cry (laughs). My sisters had a tough time because I was so greedy and so immature but they still helped me out a lot when I was young so I am thankful to them.
After hearing you talk about this, I really think that “innocent toss” fits you. Movie even said that he likes the nickname “princess” that he has.
Like I said before, the “cheesetoss” replaced “4th dimension toss” and now “innocent toss” is holding out so I want to throw my support for that one (laughs).
But isn’t it better having a nickname compared to the players who don’t have any? Isn’t it nice to even be called something? Your teammate Snow wanted a nickname.
Snow does have a nickname. “New Order”. But he hasn’t been doing so well these days so that got buried (laughs). Fans gave him such a good nickname so I hope he starts playing better again. But he practices very hard these days so I believe that he will play better in the future.
What kind of new nickname do you want? Are there nicknames of other players that you think are cool?
Something like “The uncrowned king” (laughs). Whether it’s because I read a lot of comic books, I know a lot of cool nicknames but none of them really fit me. There are so may but now that you ask me, I can’t think of them. Something like “Crown Prince”, that’s pretty cool too (T/N: LOL).
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Because e-Sports has the particular habit of having a fast-paced schedule, it is hard to find time to meet other progamers unless it is during the off-season at special events like soccer games or group ceremonies.
Despite this, a lot of progamers have made a “love call” to horang2 as the progamer that they want to become friendly with. Is the attention because of his regular smiling? I learned more about what he thinks about his relationships.
It seems like you are popular with progamers from other teams; who are you actually friendly with?
It’s kind of embarrassing to say, but I have none. If you leave out progamers from my team, I really can’t name anybody that I’m really friendly with. I appear very outgoing but strangely, I like having a good time by myself. I ride my emotions (laughs). I have a few friends in Busan that I made when I was in school but I still get along by myself pretty well.
Don’t you hang out with your current teammates?
On rest days, my teammates ask me if I want to go out with them but I like being by myself. I once went outside by myself but the idea of “outside” made me feel uncomfortable and awkward. So I’m putting in some effort these days to go out a little bit. I’m the kind of person who hangs out with just a few close friends but because all my close friends who were with me when I was in Hite Sparkyz all left so I don’t have too many close friends. But I’m pretty friendly with all my current teammates so sometimes I want to go out with them and have some fun.
Why do you think you are popular among fans and other players? What characteristics do you think you are appealing? Let’s brag a little.
This is probably self-admiration but even I think that I have a distinct look. Quite distinct aren’t you, horang2 (laughs). I’ve been told that I leave a fresh impression so I think I score points in that way. Besides that I might have certain qualities that I’m not aware of. And because I smile a lot, I think people are able to approach me easily. I’m not trying to cover anything, but I keep continuing to smile. I usually don’t watch talk shows or enjoy them but I generally smile a lot when I go about my daily life. But when my teammates make jokes or make pranks, they aren’t very funny. Someone please make me laugh (laughs).
You must have had a hard time preparing the “gag concert parody” for the recent fan meeting you had.
No. I didn’t really laugh when I saw the actual show but when I did the jokes myself, they made me laugh. It was a really good experience.
Are there any progamers that you want to become friendly with?
Zero hyung. He seems very nice. He has the image of being able to be considerate. We usually just say hi to each other but now we are talking informally and I’ve gotten to know him more.
I thought you were friendly with Kal but that probably isn’t so, even though he was a part of “Horang2-jing incident” (T/N: Don’t know what the incident was about).
No, I actually am friendly with Kal hyung. Someone made a joke about me and then he was clever about it on me so I thought he was trying to make the joke as severe as possible. I tried to forget it but he despaired after seeing my shuttle-reaver get into his main. It was so absurd that I laughed. But I am thankful to the fans who make fun of me. They turn insults into more spoofs or jokes so I don’t feel too bad. It also takes time and effort to make them so I look at them considerately.
You must read a lot of the web toons about other players.
I usually don’t go about searching for them but I see them when someone posts them on Fomos. I am personally a fan of the web toons. I also saw the one where I appeared (laughs). I also laughed at the series where Flash and Fantasy argue over Terran marine-medic builds. They are all very cleverly written.
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hee hee hee~
You’ve made a public announcement that you are single but you do have experience with girls right? You seem to be the type to be popular with girls.
Ha…I do have experiences that make me feel bad when I think about them. I dated just one girl when I was in 9th grade but at that time I think I just dated her without really thinking about it. I really did like her but I didn’t do as much for her as I could. At the end, we separated because of a misunderstanding on my part. But a while back when I went down to Busan, I saw that same friend working a part-time job at a bakery or something. She was doing well. I bought a piece of bread and said hi to her first and I had trouble deciding whether or not I should ask for her number but then ended up not asking. She really is a good friend, it’s just that when I think about how I didn’t do enough for her, it pains me.
When I followed your team for your workshop, I thought you were much more manly when I saw you playing soccer. When do you most feel masculine?
A lot of people around me say that I’m really effeminate. But even I think that I am a little feminine. I don’t really have anything in particular to say about me being manly. I guess when I exercise I do my best? It’s about that. For example, when the guys take showers in the practice house, they all take their clothes off and walk into the bathrooms together but I can’t really do that kind of stuff (laughs).
During the group ceremony, you said that you were confident in your clothing fashion but are you really the type to spend a lot of time on shopping and hair styling?
To be honest, I really don’t buy clothes. I rather put all that money into food. If I take all the money I spend on food and put it together, I bet I could buy an entire apartment complex (laughs). I don’t go out too often and I don’t have a girlfriend…so there really is no reason to buy clothes. I just talked about being fashionable under the pressure. But I think that I have pretty decent body ratio so if I wear the right clothes, I can look really good. Please highlight the ones that are good (laughs).
I agree about your body ratio. You are fairly tall and your face is small too.
Exactly (laughs). Some people who see me only on TV think that I am very small. I haven’t measured recently but I am about 177 cm (T/N: about 5’ 9’’ or 5’ 10’’ in american system). But to be honest I don’t really pay attention to my height. Women today take height into great consideration but I think if a guy is even just 178 cm, that is a good height to be at (T/N: A lot of Korean girls want to date guys who are over 180 cm, or even 185 cm).
That is why some fans call you “Baegul-boy horang2” (T/N: “Baegul-girl” is a slang word that contains acronyms from Korean words of “baby-face” and “glamorous”, so it’s a word used to describe women who have a girly, cute face but at the same time have a very hot body)
I get a lot of comments about my face being small. But my arms and legs are pretty thick. I’m not that satisfied with my body figure but my hyungs tell me that I’m going to look better in the future. I think I appear fat on broadcast. Even though I look fine in real life (laughs).
Because of this year’s S/S season, I wanted to get “Horang2’s fashion suggestions” but now that you say you don’t pay too much attention to clothes, I am kind of disappointed (laughs).
Oh no, I can give you some recommendations. If I wanted to talk about my personal opinion, I think that for guys, jeans are the way to go. Jeans and a neat looking t-shirt. And then a cardigan on top of that. Since it’s summer, a soft gray color?
Not only did you talk about wearing cardigans in the summer but that a light gray is a soft colored one?
What color is considered soft? I don’t know, pass (laughs).
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“Innocent toss” horang2’s games are, like he says, “refreshing”. Contrasting with his soft and careful nickname, horang2’s recent games are macro based while he is on a winning streak.
Horang2 received attention at the beginning of his career for using strategic and clever build strategies similar to “Dreamer toss” Nal_ra but then after becoming a key player for CJ, he has turned into a “macro toss”.
You have gotten a lot of attention recently because your performance has gotten much better. What changes have their been?
I think my record got better because I came to CJ. When I was in Sparkyz, I had to act as the sole Protoss ace and there were no other Protoss players from which I could practice with because they didn’t exist. But then when I came to CJ, there were so many good Protoss players that I started to learn a few things one by one and then at one point I became confident in myself. A while back, I always had confidence about my play but then when we played other teams, I felt that I was going to lose but now I think that our team is the best. We do lose to others but I’ve gotten the confidence that I’m not going to lose in my games.
Do you think there has been some synergy effect after you entered CJ?
I think the core of the synergy of the Protoss players is me. I’m not joking, it really is because of me (laughs). There are three things that must happen for a synergy effect. The first reason is because of me. The second reason is because Movie hyung supports me as an older player and then Snow is the youngest but there are a lot of things to learn from him too. But I still think that I am the core of the effect (laughs).
Fans have recently been worried about our Terran line but Leta hyung takes responsibility of our team very well as captain. His skill is good but he is also very good at holding our team together. Leta hyung and Skyhigh are both Terran players who can play well at any time. I don’t ever worry about things like “what if they cannot recover from their slump”.
Just after you entered CJ, Movie and Snow were doing so well that there were worries that you’d end up being buried by them. Did you know that?
I know it, and that was a time when it was tough. A lot of people got angry at me as to why I joined CJ. At the time, the “CJ” wall was very high. I don’t really put in a lot of effort as I should in general but at that time, I practiced very hard. Our coach told me that “you don’t have a very good record right now but you have the potential to explode”. I even once thought about quitting. All my close friends were gone and my builds weren’t working very well against my teammates. But after Coach Cha came to our team, he gave me a lot of help on mental control and I realized that I couldn’t throw away this chance and practiced hard and now I think that effort is beginning to shine a little bit.
Did the Protoss coaches Coach Zeus, Coach foru, and Coach Nbs affect you a lot? They helped you not only on your fundamentals and builds but also on managing yourself.
They helped me the most on my mind control. Coach Zeus had already been with me during Sparkyz so he had told me already a lot about build orders so he helped me more on the mental stuff. I think it would be a problem if I still had things to learn about the basics so these days I am learning about living as a progamer. Most of our coaches became coaches after being progamers so there is a lot to learn from them. I think it is really wrong for people to ask why there are so many coaches who don’t know anything.
Let’s go back to the talk about your gameplay. How would you explain your macro?
I’m originally half macro style. I thought deeply about whether or not to give up that style. But changing a style in which you are very good is very difficult.
Well I said that a bit strongly but the beginning is the most important. When you begin learning how to play and if, for example, you are taught to scout well, then you most likely end up becoming very good at keeping your scouter alive. When I first started to learn Starcraft, I was told to continuously produce probes and because of that, I now have a very good sense of managing my probe count now. Producing units has become something that I have become very good. I wish I could explain more easily the secret but it’s difficult to explain other than say that habit and repetition is important.
I feel like you became well known more for your clever strategies and build orders rather than the heavy macro emphasis of today.
In my progaming career, I’ve gone through all kinds of ups and downs regarding my play style (laughs). When strategic builds go through well, it feels good but those alone don’t take you very far. You need to be able to possess and unite at least two different styles in order play well. The only exception I can see to this is Stork. He doesn’t necessarily have a particularly unique play style but I believe that he was able to get where he is through fundamentals alone. But to be like Stork, you need an incredible knack for the game as well as effort. Unless you are like Stork, it is very hard to go far with only one kind of style.
In my case, when I was just starting out, I focused on using specific strategies but after I started hearing “all I need to do is block horang2’s strategy and I can win”, I started to practice really hard to switch to a macro based play. I got my second style right there. But now that people are saying “horang2 is a macro toss player” I think I need to find yet another new style (laughs).
I’ve heard that you were an ardent fan of Nal_ra when you were young. Has your past support for Nal_ra have a long-lasting effect on your play style?
I really did use strategic builds because of Nal_ra hyung. I also thought that I could win with a superior build if my skill level wasn’t high enough (laughs). Nal_ra hyung said a lot of good things to me and helped me out in many different ways so I feel very thankful towards him. And I think his basic skill is very good too. You can’t be that good with just using clever builds.
Ah, another thing about your playing style that I can’t forget about is “pretty simcity”. Is there a reason why you do that or is it just habit? (T/N: it is reference to horang2’s habit of lining up buildings in perfect rows and making everything look neat during games)
I just built gateways all over the place in the beginning. But at one point, it became an obsession of warping the buildings in the most prettiest ways. Britney, a player I used to be on the same team with, once said “if you want to counter horang2, all you need to do is burrow zerglings in the spots where he builds his gateways”. The moment I build something crookedly or in the wrong place, the game doesn’t go well, my macro falls apart, and I mess up the game totally. So I often cancel my warps and rewarp them in the right places. This also happens occasionally during broadcasted games. But please, after reading this interview, don’t burrow your units in my base (laughs).
Habits are a very dangerous thing. But at least my buildings all look pretty together so it’s nice. Might as well make it pretty looking right? I’m usually not that organized in real life but I think I’m just like this during the games. If someone wants to learn how to warp buildings in a beautiful way, I will most sincerely help you out so please contact me (laughs).
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1305713896_7.jpg)
Your former team did come together with CJ and because of the naming sponsor’s contract, the name continued to be “Hite”. But a while back, your team has completely gone back to the name “CJ Entus”; doesn’t it feel new?
The name “Hite” is something that has been my team’s name for a very long time and it is also an old name so now that it really is gone I miss it a little. But I think we have returned to the name of a high quality team and I am taking it in good-naturedly.
The gap between SKT1 and KT isn’t that big. In fact, your team’s players’ skills have been rated to be more robust. Do you have the confidence to break upwards on top?
I think Proleague these days are really fun. It is difficult breaking out of this third place mold. The two teams ahead of us are sitting there so we are continually chasing after them but I think if we continue winning and if they lose a few games, then I think we can overcome them so please watch us. But SKT1 and KT are both very hard to beat so it won’t be so easy to get by them (laughs). And Bisu is doing so well these days too. But once we get on momentum we feel we are unbeatable so please anticipate us. Won’t we end up on top at the very last moment?
What were you doing when Hite Sparkyz reached the finals at Gwang-anri in 2008?
I was in the B-team so I sat with the audience. I was watching from the position of a novice. But now that it is totally possible that I could be sent out on a finals stage it makes my heart pound. I think it is the best chance we have ever had so I really want our team to go to Gwang-anri.
I think your team’s atmosphere is very good too. Especially if you see the interviews, there are a lot of funny things going on. Do you all practice together for interviews?
No there is nothing like that, we just talk as we do as usual. It’s just that the interviewers throw questions at us that we can turn into funny jokes. But because our fans also enjoy our interviews, we feel good as well.
But Movie and Snow previously weren’t very witty in their interviews from before. Can you say that they have changed a lot?
I think their dormant instinct has come out. They are both like that. They were suppressing themselves all this time but don’t think any of this is absurd (laughs). They are both more straightforward and also kind people and those traits are showing a little more and since fans are responding positively, I am happy.
Then who is the person who plays the role of the fun maker?
Movie hyung is most active in that. He jokes well and he, Skyhigh, and Leta hyung all lead us well with the joking and keeping things upbeat. I’m very thankful for that kind of stuff. And Hydra usually doesn’t play a part but every once in a while he does something really funny. And Effort hyung is really funny too. He can imitate other people’s voices very well. Most of us have a certain role that we play, and everything in our team house is great, from the mood to the atmosphere.
What is your role?
I just give them the incentive to be funny? They make a lot of jokes about me. I have a short tongue and I sometimes pronounce words the wrong way and they take that and make fun of me about it. A long while back I pronounced “blue marble” as “broodling” (laughs). This is something from over a year ago but they still talk about it. “Hey horang2, we gotta go broodling once”, things like that (laughs). I make a lot of mistakes and so I keep giving them ammunition (T/N: “blue marble” as far as I know is a board game).
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It has somehow been three years since his debut. He was born in 1992 so he is still young but he is already a mid-career progamer in his team.
He hasn’t won in Proleague or in any individual leagues even as a solid regular in the lineup, but if we take his current momentum into account, he is someone to anticipate in the future. What is horang2’s plans for the future?
It’s been already three years since your debut; what kind of player do you want to become in the future?
I started out with having low confidence and being afraid of my opponents but now I want stand in front of my fans and show them that I have the confidence to win regardless of who I face. From the time since I was a poor player, there were fans that encouraged me and supported me and losing games made me feel terrible. I want to be a horang2 that doesn’t lose to anyone. I want to become a great man in front of my fans.
It’s almost the end of the season so please let us know of your determination in Proleague.
Now that I gave my individual league run to Grape, I have nothing but Proleague left. I hope you do well, Grape (laughs). But now I can focus totally for my team so it might end up being better actually. I really want to go to the finals with my teammates. I want to work hard not only for me to get to the finals but also for my team.
If there is anything more you want to say, please tell me. Did you have anything in your mind that you wanted to say but couldn’t because you weren’t asked the right question?
We talked a great deal so it doesn’t seem like I have anything more to say…oh, some people are saying that we unnecessarily have too many coaches and I want to ask them please not to say that kind of stuff. They all do their parts and because people are saying these things just because they don’t appear in public often makes me feel bad. The work that happens behind the scenes is the hardest kind of work.
Please leave a few words for your fans who are reading this interview.
There’s all this random and unimportant stuff about me and if you read this interview without just scrolling down to the bottom then I really want to thank you for that. And I’m not yet a top-grade player but with this interview, I hope to do better so that more people become interested in me. I will become a more active and strong horang2. Thank you.
http://www.fomos.kr/board/board.php?mode=read&keyno=117495&db=issue
기사=이혜린 기자 rynnn@fomos.co.kr
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Thanks a bunch! ^__^
