Jung-hyeon “Willer” Kim is one of the players who drew attention from fans at the “2023 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Spring.” Kim Jung-hyun was one of the vanguards who raised the Liv Sandbox, which was evaluated as one of the weak teams before the opening, to the middle rank.

Kim Jung-hyun, who made his debut through Summer in 2021, went through a difficult process until his debut. He was able to achieve his dream of debuting in the first team only after going through T1 Rookies, Gen.G Academy, Hanwha Life Insurance eSports Academy and Challengers. Even after his debut, Kim Jung-hyun’s road was not easy. He could not digest the full-time starting lineup, and to make matters worse, even the opportunity to play in 2022 was reduced. Nevertheless, the reason he did not give up was because of his will and stubbornness to develop by sequentially increasing his target standard.

Since Kim Jung-hyun achieved his goal of debuting as a professional player, starting as a solo player, and advancing to the playoffs, he set his next goal as advancing to Worlds and vowed to train himself even more. Through this spring, we listened to the story of the past, present, and future of Kim Jung-hyun, who has shined more than ever in his career.

How have you been since this spring split?
During the vacation, I also went to Japan to play and spent time with my friends.

What did this spring mean to you as a player?
I am moving forward while changing my goals. My first goal was to become a pro, and my second goal was to become a regular. This time, it was a good split for me as I achieved my goal of being a solo starter, so I could move on to the next one.

What kind of person was Kim Jung-hyun before becoming a pro gamer?
He really liked sports. Since he was in the first grade of elementary school, he has tried swimming, wrestling, soccer, and basketball. He was an active student when he was exercising. Considering that he has led to the game, I think he has a sense of sports.

Is there a reason you wanted to become a pro gamer?
I liked games when I was in school, and since I was doing better than my peers, my friends recommended it. He started the game as an accidental opportunity, but he gained confidence as he climbed the rankings. I took on the challenge, and after passing the test and becoming a trainee, I started my career as a pro gamer.

Why did you choose to play as a jungler?
When you first started playing LoL, you were midfield, but the jungler was frustrating. So I changed my position thinking ‘I can help the team more than that’. It got better after switching to jungle, but lately there are some friends who stress me out when playing solo queue. Jungle is good though.

These days, it is often seen that parents support the path of becoming a pro gamer. How was Kim Jung-hyun?
At that time, the perception of pro gamers was not good. When he was in his third year of middle school, he said he wanted to become a professional gamer, and he said absolutely no, and he was very against it. With the will to do it, I held almost one-man demonstrations and continued to insist on becoming a pro gamer. Actually, I am very stubborn. When I have a certain idea, I have a personality that pushes it forward, so I think it caused a lot of conflict with my parents. I almost got fired from the T1 academy, but then they told me to return to school, and later, when I debuted in the first team, they cheered me on a lot.

I was a trainee at T1 Rookies. What parts do you remember?
The coach strictly taught me well. I lacked a professional mindset at the time, but he filled it up a lot. Looking back at that time, there were so many factors that hindered me from concentrating on the game. Would you say you have a lot of thoughts? Looking back at myself for not being able to concentrate, I felt a lot of self-doubt, and I was so weak that I thought, ‘Can I continue this?’ He was the kind of person who pretended to work hard and didn’t have much iron. 토토사이트

Hanwha Life Esports would also have seen Kim Jung-hyun’s potential and took him, but what kind of story could there have been
? One of the teams I wanted to go to in 21 was Hanwha Life Esports. I was able to apply for other teams, but my tier was high at the time, so I was confident that I could go anywhere as a trainee if I applied. That’s how I put in the application, and the scouter contacted me, so I entered with the power of the half self-powered class scout.

In the end, through Hanwha Life Insurance Esports, I became active as a main player. Compared to your T1 academy days, how was it different? As I
said before, when I was a T1 trainee, I was mentally lacking. After coming out, I thought a lot about how I could do better and have a more professional mindset. Naturally, I looked for and read a lot of related materials such as articles and interview videos. It’s hard to say clearly how to do it, but I think I learned it naturally.