This is one of the best articles that the Faker fan community has been sharing over the years, even though it dates back to 2014. Unlike the usual dry and quick interviews, these are truly personal stories that Faker rarely shares, especially as they contain a lot of emotions and the worldview of the Demon King from the early days of discovering the game League of Legends (LoL).
Source of the article: [Magazine S] Faker “No one can be above me”
There’s something about Faker that I can’t quite put into words. This interview didn’t last long, but during that time, I felt an intense and burning passion in him. Perhaps it’s his pride, confidence, or even his competitive nature. But something told me that Faker is very different from others.
Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok is a professional gamer. More specifically, he is a League of Legends player. LoL is currently one of the most famous games in the world, dominated by Koreans.
To be honest, Faker is regarded as the best player in LoL. According to Brandon Beck, CEO and Co-Founder of Riot Games, Faker is the Michael Jordan of LoL, not because he makes a lot of money or looks like Michael, but because of his dominance with exceptional skill in his field. Don’t get me wrong, many might laugh at this comparison and even ridicule the idea of LoL being considered a sport. How dare he compare His Airness to a “professional” gamer? (His Airness is Michael’s nickname). Well, those who love watching LoL matches will simply nod in agreement.
I remember the first time I met Faker was around spring last year (2013). At that time, I had no idea that this skinny boy would become the most famous LoL player in just a year.
– A regular high school student, a God on the battlefield
In the fall of 2014, I met Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok again for an interview. He was still as skinny as before, maybe a little skinnier than the first time I met him. However, he had grown a lot; he was about 1.7m tall before, and now he was nearly 1.8m and still growing. At 18, he was no longer the innocent boy I first met.
– Tell me about your childhood
I was born in Gangseo District, Seoul, and I still live there. I started playing video games when I was very young, but back then I didn’t play on the computer. I often went to gaming centers with friends.
– So did you like being a kid with everyone around you watching you score high and break records?
No, not really. I and my friends often played Tekken and King of Fighters a lot. And I really never played those two games well.
– Are there games you’re not good at?
Yes. I’m not good at all games; there are a few I play well, and some I’m quite bad at. I just remember that I played Maplestory and Nexus: The Kingdom of the Wind a lot. Then there was Warcraft 3, and I mainly played on user-created maps. I’m not too sure about LoL, but I really think I played Chaos very well.
(One thing to note is that many Korean LoL players have played Warcraft 3. Some notable players include Ryu, Score, MakNoon, Lilac, and Flame. One of the user-created maps many players loved was called “Chaos,” a game similar to LoL. Faker also stated that he really enjoyed playing Chaos. Discovering LoL was just a coincidence; he found it while browsing the web. LoL seemed really appealing, and he loved it right away).
Actually, it was just a random coincidence that I ended up in LoL. Before the Korean server launched, I had already started playing a ton of games. I really thought the best way to become pro was to play as many games as possible.
* Fun Fact: Faker initially only played normal games, and the reason he started playing ranked was that he had to wait too long to find a match. His normal game MMR was simply too high for the system to find a suitable game. And so it was only a matter of time before he became No.1 in ranked. During that time, many people wondered: “Who is GoJeonPa” (Faker’s ID at the time). Some said he was one of the pros smurfing, while others speculated he was a foreign player playing on the Korean server. Very few knew that GoJeonPa was just a 17-year-old teen who loved math and was unaware of how good he was at gaming.
Honestly, I didn’t even know I was good at the game. People around me always complimented and told me I played very well, so I knew I was doing okay, but I could never assess myself properly. Then, I was contacted by a pro-gaming organization.
* After much consideration, Faker wanted to become a professional gamer. He watched matches in gaming booths at OGN and wanted to be like them. It was thought that his parents would strongly oppose because Sang-hyeok was doing very well in school. However, they completely agreed and encouraged Faker to pursue his dream.
At that time, my parents told me to follow my passion, do whatever makes me happy, and allowed me to become a professional gamer. Now they can see me on TV and are very pleased with it.
– Faker’s cute hobby: Googling himself
During a break in the interview, I was able to talk to one of the coaches of SKT T1. Choi Byoung-Hoon shared his story about Faker:
At first, Sang-Hyeok was even quieter than he is now. I’m not sure if I should say this, but I was a bit worried that he was the type of person who had speech disorders because he didn’t even speak a word, and his answers were extremely short. When I asked: “Do you want to eat?” he would reply: “Yes,” and if I asked what he wanted to eat, he wouldn’t respond. So I asked again if he wanted BBQ, and he would simply say “Yes.” It’s amazing to see how much he has changed; he is no longer the boy from a year ago.
– A funny story about Faker?
The Sang-hyeok I know hardly cares about girls. Typically, with other gamers, you’d see them set their computer wallpaper as a picture of a celebrity or some Kpop girl, and they often watch MV while gaming. One time, he was focused on his phone for two days straight, and I thought he finally became like the others. But I was wrong; I decided to check his phone to verify, and it turned out he had been playing Janggi (Korean chess) on his phone the entire time, for two days!!!! Another thing I’ll tell everyone is that he really likes to google himself. He often goes on Inven and some other LoL sites when a video of him is uploaded. He enjoys reading the comments to see people’s reactions.
– If the best moment in your career was when you debuted, then the worst moment must be when you faced Samsung and failed to qualify for the World Championships?
Yes, I agree that the match against SSW for the second seed to attend the WC was the worst moment of my career. I played very poorly and made many mistakes in those games. Everyone says I don’t show too many emotions, but deep down, I feel a lot of emotions and anger when we lose. A lot of regret flooded my mind, and many “if only” thoughts.
– How do you assess your confidence? Are you someone who remains calm and doesn’t let failure affect your confidence?
I really dislike when someone surpasses me. In fact, I didn’t even watch the World Championships this year. I mean, sometimes I do lose a few games when I practice, but in real competitions, I really hate seeing others take me down. Still, after all, I love LoL, so I will always strive to improve myself.
(Translated to English by Kaio Shin based on the English translation by Neost1212).