On the 13th of February (KST), Hanwha Life Esports swept Gen.G Esports in their seventh match of the LCK. As of this win, they’re now placed at 5th place with a 4-3 record. In this match, veteran bot laner Gwon “Sangyoon” Sang-yun reached the 1,000th kill milestone in the LCK. Playing Ashe in both games, he led the team to victory while becoming the 8th player in the LCK and the first player to reach the milestone in LoL Park.

Below is the interview with Sangyoon.

Q. You won in quite a short time today. How do you feel?

There are players that have hit 1,000 kills and players that haven’t, but I think being the 8th one to accomplish such a feat is pretty good. Since I’m the first one to do it in LoL Park it’s meaningful as well. I’m even happier that we’ve won 2-0 today.

Q. You had a chance to get the 1,000th kill in Game 1. It seems that you didn’t take it intentionally because maybe you wanted to hit the milestone with a cooler kill. What happened?

Actually, it wasn’t intentional. In that fight, Thal kept telling me to go top and I was confused about what to do. I did think I needed that kill, but I just was going back and forth not knowing what to do.

It’s all because of Thal. He’s greedy. (Laughs) He often takes the jungle monsters as well.

Q. Recording 1,000 kills in the fifth year is quite a fast pace. Do you often think of collecting kills in the games?

I don’t really give much thought on getting many kills. It all just naturally happened.

Q. What is it about “I’ll give 1 Billion Won (≒ 11,230 USD) for the 1,000th kill” by your father that was caught by the broadcast camera? Did he tell you that in advance?

I really don’t know about that. I’ll ask my parents later when I see them.

Q. Will you use that money for your teammates and buy them dinner?

I’ll see how they act later on. (Laughs) If I give a definite answer here, my teammates will see the interview and insist I said that I will. I need an excuse to avoid that happening. (Laughs)

Q. How many kills do you want to reach in your professional career?

Now I don’t really have a goal for kills anymore. (Laughs) I don’t think I’ll ever feel this feeling of achieving 1,000 kills. On a less serious manner, I think reaching 10,000 kills will be good. (Laughs)

Q. As a bot laner, is there another goal you would like to reach?

I don’t have a personal goal as a bot laner. It is more important to contribute to the team for the team’s victory.

Q. There are many evaluations of the recent patch saying that marksmen were buffed. How does it feel for you?

What improved for marksmen is that now we have more choices in the item build. Before, we had to buy the B.F.Sword almost no matter what, but now we can choose to buy the Pickaxe. There are more choices now, but it’s not that the stats [of the items] became better. To enhance 100% attack speed, you need to buy three AS items.

Q. Ashe is the most played champion in your career. Is she your favorite champion?

I play Ashe often because she has good synergy with the team and we get good results when I play her. My favorite champion is Kalista.

Q. Thal said that he feels like he can’t lose when he plays Vladimir, but you’re also quite good with Vladimir. Who do you think is better?

Well, let’s say Thal is better. (Laughs) I think I should praise him a bit after such a match.

Q. During the offseason, many LCK players went abroad. Have you ever thought of going to another region?

I did think of going abroad before, but I’m a bit afraid. Up to now, what I’m thinking is “Being a player abroad seems okay… But I’d still like to play in Korea” rather than “I’m gonna go abroad and dominate!” I think the biggest reason is that I’m comfortable here in Korea. Who knows? I may go someday.

Q. If you do, where would you like to go?

LCS. Since the language is English, it would be more convenient and the players that have already gone say that living there is pretty good.

Q. Lastly a word to your teammates who all put in a lot of effort and a word to the fans?

I’m always thankful to the fans that support us, please cheer us on. I’m also thankful to my teammates for doing so well, but we still need to grind more. There still are many mountains to climb.