Now let’s go back to the Korean star players and see where they ended up going after their life as a professional esports athlete.
Lim Yo Hwan (need a spell check), the Roger Federer of esports, after his stardom in the esports scene, he naturally became a TV celebrity. You could find him easily on television on some entertainment show sharing his experience as the legendary player. Soon, he got married to a quite famous Korean actress Kim Ka Yeon. Yes, this son of a b*tch got a real actress wife. Can’t you imagine? No I’m not writing out of jealousy. Later on he switched his career to a professional poker player, earning a few titles and perhaps more prize money than what he got as an esports player.
Hong Jin Ho, the permanent Mr No. 2, went on TV celebrity route as well. But this time he was more successful as an entertainer than Mr. Lim. His appearance at a TV show called “The Genius”, a sort of an IQ test prison-break show where participants gradually be eliminated one by one, really impressed many people with his intelligence and quick decision making ability. I think he eventually won the program. He appeared in other TV shows on a regular basis, now more known to the public as a funny guy who used to play games very seriously. Along the way, he had scandals with beautiful singers such as Lady Jane. He’s still pretty active in the entertainment scene.
Guillaume Patry, the French-Canadian pretty boy who created many of the now standard Protoss build orders, has went on a similar route as the former two. Compared to his athlete days he picked up his Korean speaking very quickly and became very fluent. One day he became one of the main cast of a TV program called Non-Summit (비정상회담) where they gathered up diverse foreign nationals residing in Korea and discuss about some topics but in foreigner’s perspective, then he got more famous. An interview revealed that along his journey in Korea, it wasn’t always bright and nice — he got tricked by his manager, losing most of his savings and etc. The latest news that I heard was that he recently returned back to his home town in Canada, putting quits to all his entertainment activity at once.
Bertrand, the pair of sunglasses wearing poker face French player, is perhaps the most successful one in terms of wealth. After the Starcraft league, he switched his career to a professional poker player. His battle ground became from Seoul to Las Vegas. With his intelligence and game-savviness, he soon reached the top of the American poker scene, which means that his total prize money went up a couple of digits compared to the computer gaming days. Apparently, he has a global stardom in the poker scene now. I bet he would reminisce the Starcraft years as some juvenile experience as we do the same when we think back of our elementary school days. Yes, he still wears his pair of shades — Lots of respect from me for continuing that.
Lee Young Ho, the Terran god, and Kim Jae Dong, the Zerg tyrant, are both running their own online streaming channel with hundreds of thousands of viewership.
Seo Ji Soo, the beautiful but skillful female professional player, had turned into a CEO of an online apparel company. She also runs her own Youtube channel where she still plays good Starcraft and talks about all the background episodes during her professional days. I believe she is also married now and still beautiful.
Kim Ga Eul, another female professional who might not have reached the stardom as Mrs. Seo back then, became the director the top esports team Samsung Khan. And her team won several championships.
We have other former athletes who became team director, such as Choi Yeon Seung and Kim Dong Soo. Some went back to a relatively normal life, Seo Ji Hoon entering as a gaming company employee for example. And we have those who became a commentator as well.
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