On Apr. 2, in the 2023 LCK Spring Split playoffs, Hanwha Life Esports lost to KT Rolster 1-3 and was eliminated. Hanwha Life Esports wasn’t able to overcome the weaknesses that were pointed out during the season throughout the playoffs and concluded their spring with today’s loss. After the match, head coach Choi “DanDy” In-kyu and top laner Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon joined the media for an interview.
Your spring is over with today’s loss.
DanDy: We didn’t have a good start from the beginning of the season, but we did seem to improve. It wasn’t always good. The more we played, the more it felt that we could beat anybody, so it’s disappointing that we lost 1-3 today. I know that my players can do better, but I wasn’t able to pull out their full potential, so I feel that I need to improve more. It’s a regretful season.
Kingen: We had winning streaks and losing streaks. The whole season was inconsistent. We weren’t able to do our roles as individuals or as a team over the spring. I do believe that we improved little by little toward the end of the season. When we all had different viewpoints, it’s regretful that I wasn’t able to utilize what I saw to their benefit.
I always promised everyone — my teammates, the coaching staff, and the fans — to show a better performance, but I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to make you smile at the end of the season. I’ll be back with a better performance in the summer.
What was the most regretful moment today?
DanDy: All the games we lost are regretful. It feels like we stumbled on our own feet rather than that the opponent was good.
Kingen: There’s the flow we like and the flow they like. We need to make the flow favorable to our side, but we didn’t do that well enough. I think that’s why we lost.
One of the weaknesses pointed out by many people was teamwork. That issue came up today as well. How do you plan to fix it in the summer?
DanDy: It’s quite difficult to make everyone think the same thing. I’ll keep trying to bring them together, but I’ll also consider the option of polishing each player’s strengths too.
What was difficult for you as the head coach of Hanwha Life Esports?
DanDy: I feel that it’s completely different being the head coach of a Korean team compared to coaching a Chinese team. It was my first time being the head coach in the LCK. I felt that I lacked in a lot of areas, and I wasn’t able to utilize good players to their maximum potential.
Any last comments?
DanDy: In the summer, I’ll do my best to fix our problems and the process of preparing for a match to get good results.
Kingen: I’d like to apologize for the bad performance during the spring. I’ll think of it as a vaccine. It is our duty to analyze what went wrong in the spring to show better performances in the summer. I’ll work harder.
