A well-known and familiar face from the LCK, support player Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun has retired from professional League of Legends. He announced his retirement today at midnight on Twitter.
Best known for his performance on KOO Tigers in 2015, ROX Tigers in 2016, and Longzhu in 2017, GorillA and AD carry Kim “PraY” Jong-in were a phenomenal bot lane duo. On KOO, he lost to SK Telecom T1 in the World Championship 2015 grand final and missed out on the title.
In the following year with ROX, he was again knocked out by SKT in the semifinals 3-2 in a historic series.
On Longzhu, he ran it down all the way at the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational till the final, where they were defeated by Royal Never Give Up 3-1. He once again made a Worlds appearance in the same year, but with Longzhu, the team were swept 0-3 by Samsung Galaxy in the quarterfinals, who went on to sweep SKT in the final for the championship.
Proficient in both Korean and English, GorillA had a special message to English fans. Previously with SANDBOX Gaming, where they finished 7th out of ten teams in LCK Summer 2020, the 26 year-old wrote that this is the first time he’s finally had sometime for himself in seven-and-a-half years.
“As a player, I had always given it my all. However, I wonder if in that process I was negligent towards myself as a person — myself as Kang Beom-Hyun.”
He reflected on his journey since his debut in 2013, and thanked fans for their immeasurable support throughout the years. He admitted that this year he did not achieve the results he wanted even though he has always given his all as a pro player. At the same time, he also recognized that he has been neglecting himself as a person.
“I wonder if in that process I was negligent towards myself as a person — myself as Kang Beom-Hyun… I’m grateful that you are with me, in my final moment as a professional gamer, and my first moment as a man, Kang Beom-hyun.”
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