SK Telecom T1 AD Carry Bae “Bang” Jun-sik said the ROX Tigers and Flash Wolves have given his team the most trouble at international competitions through the years.
In an interview with Fomos’ Park Sang-jin, Bang talked about the different highs and lows of his career. In the semifinals of 2016’s League of Legends World Championship, SKT and ROX put on a clinic of professional League of Legends that is considered perhaps the best match in League of Legends history. SKT managed to step over ROX in a neck-and-neck series and won its second consecutive world championship.
Another team that’s often mentioned with SKT due to its history is Taiwan’s Flash Wolves. The Wolves were dubbed the “SKT Killers,” as they were the only team that routinely bested SKT during international competition. Bang didn’t mince words when talking about the Flash Wolves and was willing to admit that SKT was the lesser team at some point.
“Rather than saying the Flash Wolves had their own unique trait, they beat us because they were better than the other teams,” he said. “At the time, it was fair to say that they were just better than us.”
SKT had a significant shakeup after winning the world championship last year, as veteran jungler Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung parted ways with the team. As a member of the organization since 2013 and Bang’s teammate since 2014, Bengi’s departure was a large blow to not only fans but also to Bang personally. When he heard the news, Bang admitted to taking it quite hard.
“I was also very sad that Bengi and Duke (Lee Ho-seong) was going to leave,” he said. “I couldn’t express it in words so I posted song lyrics on Twitter. I was sad when MaRin (Jang Gyeong-hwan) and Easyhoon (Lee Ji-hoon) left in 2015, and it made me feel worse that Bengi was going to leave. Wolf was also very disappointed, and I remember crying a lot under my bed covers. I think I was even more sad because I relied on him and lived with him for such a long time. Since then, I haven’t cried.”
As one of the best AD Carries in the world, more attention and eyes have focused on Bang’s actions as not only a professional but also as a role model. With the recent controversy regarding his conduct during streams, he has since apologized and reflected on his career as well.
“I am a professional before I am a personal streamer,” he said. “It’s not easy to balance both. The (version of) me before just expressed what hurt me at the time, but I’m now streaming while thinking that I shouldn’t hurt other people because I was hurt.”