Updated on March 4, 3:08 p.m. (GMT+8): Improved relevancy.
The host, interviewer, and translator whose name is synonymous with the LCK broadcast is Park “zeetwo” Jeesun.
She’s been working on LCK since 2017 conducting and translating MVP interviews live. Levelling up, she’s now also a staple at League of Legends’ biggest international tournaments. At MSI 2023 in London, she even joined Eefje “sjokz” Depoortere for an English desk segment for the first time.
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Married to former SK Telecom T1 bot laner and two-time world champion Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, what you may not know about Jeesun is that she’s not just a broadcast talent — she’s also a fulltime live producer for the LCK.
In this exclusive interview with ONE Esports, she talks about her unique journey in esports and what exactly her role as live producer entails.
Jeesun is walking a path only she could’ve forged in League of Legends esports
Jeesun applied to be a Korean-to-English translator for LCK MVP interviews in 2017 and got the job.
Because she’s only involved at the end of matches for a short segment, this meant that she found herself at the venue for long hours.
“At that time it was OGN and SpoTV. I was at SpoTV, so it was only twice a week. I was still studying so it was my part-time job. I went there after school,” Jeesun recalled. “And then Riot decided to take over the entire LCK production starting 2019.”
Knowing that there will be changes, production staff were concerned about keeping their roles. For Jeesun, she didn’t think she’d get picked up because she held “such a small position.”
As things started shifting in 2018 one year before Riot Games took over, Worlds so happened to be held in South Korea, which opened up more opportunities for her.
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“Someone told me they’re looking for a local translator for Worlds. Not only people on camera or for press — they needed translators for the entire event to function behind-the-scenes,” said Jeesun, who agreed to apply for the job.
Even though other professional translators with grad school experience were brought on, her advantage was that she’s already familiar with League of Legends jargon.
“On my first day at Worlds 2018 I was really nervous. Lee Homin (a Rioter who also did translations) knew I was feeling nervous and was trying to make me feel comfortable,” said Jeesun, who was guided to work on the Korean broadcast first instead of the main English stream so that she could ease into things.
It was her third day at Worlds 2018 where a tuning point happened: an LCK producer approached her about conducting interviews for Riot’s official LCK broadcast the following year.
“I kept it low. I was still going to school so I didn’t want to press for it. I didn’t wanna make it look like I was pulling the strings,” Jeesun shared. “I was at school when I got a call from the chief producer of LCK — turns out they needed a translator for LCK English and someone to live produce it.”
As Riot Games Korea searched for a full time live producer, Jeesun temporarily worked the role, learning the ropes. “Compared to Worlds, the LCK Korean and LCK English broadcast is less pressure. It’s mostly just following the Korea program and cutting in when they have Korean casters,” she said.
A year later, they finally found the right person for the job. This meant that Jeesun could now focus on translations, which included translating graphics for LCK English.
Just one and a half years later, however, the live producer left to pursue a PhD. Because Jeesun has been working with her on live production all this while, she believed that she was the perfect person to take over the role, and referred her to Riot Games.
“I did a lot of interviews and got in, so I started doing LCK live production as the official live producer,” said Jeesun. “If you look at the daily routine of someone who translates MVP interviews, that person stays in the control room for the whole day assisting the main producer. I know the flow of work, so it was not a big transition for me because I was in that environment for three years or so.”
As a freelance translator previously, she conducted MVP interviews and translated graphics assets and data packets for casters. In live production, she’s more involved in recruiting talents for the show, planning its yearly programming, and is constantly on the lookout for translators who can help with Player of the Game interviews.
Besides debuting on the English desk at MSI 2023, she also conducted her own interview and translated live for the first time after the Worlds 2022 finals. When the idea was first brought up, she felt “shocked.”
“No one ever had the same path that I’m having right now so there’s no standard or model I can follow,” Jeesun reflects on the future. “I’m always feeling confused most of the time, thinking what is right for me, but I’m happy that I’ve become a live producer and also having fun on the international stage. I’m happy where I’m at right now.”
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