"In some ways, gaming is its own art form. There's a fine line between art and just completely mindless bullshit, and that line doesn't exist. They can be the same thing. Even if the game is just brain-dead button mashing, it could still be art, considering abstract art exists. In a highly structured game such as League of Legends, the art gets more precise. More detailed. More interesting. Sorry, abstract artists, your thing just isn't my thing."
-초성민 (Cho Seong-Min)
"Art is an interesting thing. I don't seem to be very good at it, if it's just drawing and painting. But if art can include anything, then I guess LoL should count too, so I can be good at it for once."
-박진성 (Park Jin-Seong)
"No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown. Just you and me feeling the heat, even when the sun goes down."
-Lana Del Rey, "Lolita"
Only two words are needed to describe 23 year-old Cho Seong-Min: artistic, and genius. And maybe "artistic genius." She works as an artist for the game "League of Legends" at Riot Games KR in Korea. She also plays the game, and let's just say she's pretty good.
As a child and through her teenage years, she was never liked by her teachers and parents, despite always effortlessly being at the top of her class. She wasn't a trouble-maker, a rebel, or a rule-breaker. She was a confident, carefree genius with a thing for art. She was both feared and loved by her peers, for her frightening intellect and her charismatic confidence.
She could never "remember the last time I gave a flying fuck" about anything; anything that wasn't League of Legends. When she discovered the game in 2012 on her brother's computer, at the age of 13, she was instantly obsessed. She would come home from school, rush through all of homework (which would, of course, be turned in tomorrow for another grade of 100%), then play League of Legends until bedtime, only stopping in the middle to eat dinner or go to the bathroom.
She quickly rose to the top of the ranks, for her quick thinking and unbelievable mechanical skill due to being a piano and violin prodigy pretty much since she laid eyes on those instruments.
This was her life for as long as she could remember. But then she turned 20, and school became work, homework became doing adult things, like managing finances or cooking for herself in her small, cozy apartment. The gaming, however, was the same. Always reaching medium-high ranks every season and climbing as high as possible to anticipate the drop at the beginning of the next year, when it would start all over again.
Financially, Seong-Min has always been well off. She came from an upper middle class family, with her parents both working well-paying jobs, and her own seamless transition into her own job at Riot Games KR as an artist and animator, which pays pretty well, considering how many people spend money on a free-to-play game (including herself).
It almost seems as if all the stars had aligned for her to live comfortably and happily: her slightly cushioned childhood, her apathetic parents, who never stopped her from gaming, her unbelievable talent and intelligence, as well as artistic skill, and her well-paying job at Riot Games, all at the age of 20, after speeding through art school with flying colours.
But one star was missing. Seong-Min was a lonely woman. She lived alone, with only texts from her coworkers and brother every once in a while. She never cared to have a significant other, even though she had "crushes," like most other kids. She had eventually learned to let go of crushes and focus on flooring the gas pedal and stomping all of her peers in art school and, of course, grinding ranked in LoL.
Now, you can also use just two words to describe 24 year-old Park Jin-Seong: focused, and crackhead. Or maybe "focused on being a crackhead." He, too, fell in love with League of Legends at an early age, eventually dropping out of high school to become a professional LoL player, which he absolutely succeeded at.
He also grew up with one brother. He didn't slay academically, but he certainly did in LoL, which built his extremely well-paying future career.
He wasn't always who he is now. He wasn't always the insane crackhead, or the jumpy, happy one. In fact, he was somewhat quiet and still is sometimes.
His dad and brother were on board with the idea of him dropping out to be a professional gamer. His mom needed some convincing, but she came around eventually.
Financially... well, he's good now, isn't he? Pro gamers are paid exceptionally well, especially at the highest skill level and on the most prestigious teams (ahem, SKT T1).
In some ways, Park "Teddy" Jin-Seong was just a completely normal kid who just happened to have a special talent for LoL. In other ways, Jin-Seong is the weirdest guy to ever walk the face of the earth. He's left handed, has a small lisp, a slightly crooked smile, and went from quiet kid to wack crackhead seemingly overnight (left handed though, unbelievable).
The stars aligned for him to do something he wants, and yet, still, one is missing. Jin-Seong is a bit lonely. Of course he has his team around him almost at all times, but he's missing something else. Jin-Seong has had "crushes," just like most other kids, but he gave up on them in return for a prosperous career that he loves.
In the end, are careers really worth more than love? Seong-Min would say yes. Lovelessness creates an emotional void in the heart. Poverty creates a physical void in the stomach. Another art form: one of sacrifice in an already easy life.
Jin-Seong would hesitate. Maybe he regrets something.
YOU ARE READING
Ursa Major | Park Jin-Seong
Romance23-year old Cho Seong-Min is an artist working at Riot Games KR on art and animations for League of Legends. She herself is also a casual player of the game, until she meets an unlikely opponent in-game. Little does she know, that player would be th...
