Esports pro players are frequently asked to share their opinion about their competitors.
Some choose not to idolize, some respect their opponent’s strength, while others may express appreciation for legendary players who’ve influenced them, like how G2 Esports Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther looks up to Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok — but not Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek.
Noah doesn’t just admire — he constantly tweets about his favorite pro player. Publicly.
“When I watch his play, I get a feeling of excitement.”
He was first picked up by KT Rolster’s academy team in 2020 and moved about their Challengers and main LCK roster until 2022 when he left to join Zero Tenacity in EMEA. His biggest break came this year when Fnatic signed him to start over Carl Martin Erik “Rekkles” Larsson for LEC Summer 2023.
Together, they finished second in the regular season, third in playoffs, and second at the LEC Season Finals 2023 which earned them Worlds 2023 qualification.
Making his debut at Worlds, Noah shares with ONE Esports in this exclusive interview the story of how he got started in League of Legends and why Worlds 2017 champion Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk inspires him so much.
Noah’s arc: Why he chose to pursue League of Legends esports as a career — no surprise, Ruler was a factor
In almost typical South Korean fashion, Noah got introduced to League of Legends at the PC bang. When he was transitioning between middle school and his first year of high school, he learned how to play the game with his friends at a cafe.
When he entered high school, his parents and extended family pulled together to replace his old computer with a better one that could run the game. As a result, he started to play League of Legends “more seriously,” he tells ONE Esports.
His first step on the path to pro was through KingZone, a LCK organization that operated from 2018-2019. He knew a trainee in the org and they entered a tournament together, which is where he got to meet KT Rolster’s academy coach, Hwang “BBT” Gyu-beom, previously known as Valentine.
“I made a deal with my parents that if I made it to Challengers, they will let me go pro, and yeah, I made Challengers,” said Noah.
At the end of 2022, after bouncing between KT’s Challenger and Academy rosters, Zero Tenacity contacted him, and he finally made the decision to relocate to the EMEA region. He said yes partly because he didn’t believe he could get into the LEC.
One year later, he defied his own expectations.
“I always worked hard to be recognized for my skills, and finally the opportunity to prove it came. I will do my best to repay the trust to the team that believed in me… I will stomp all LEC bot!” he tweeted in June 2023 when the official announcement from Fnatic was made.
In between tweeting about bot lane, the state of the game, and posting photos of Korean food that he and his fellow LEC Korean players seek out in Berlin, Noah continues to express admiration for Ruler because without him, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
“The first time I saw Ruler play was when he won Worlds back in 2017. He is the reason why I started playing ADC,” Noah shared. “He had an impact on my plays when I was aiming to reach Challengers.”
“Even as a pro player, I consistently try to watch his games,” Noah continued. “Just because I study his plays, doesn’t really mean I can be like him, but I still learn from him.”
Ruler is fully aware that Noah is a big fan of him — and he’s not afraid to show it publicly, doing it for his own “self-satisfaction.”
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They first got in touch when he was still on KT Rolster. When they see each other at tournaments, they’ll exchange words like “long time no see,” and cheer for the other before their match, Noah shared.
“I still feel the same to this day. You know when you see someone you like, you can’t speak properly and get a little nervous?” said Noah. “Yeah, I am still like that.”
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