He rose from his chair at the Korean International Exhibition Center in May and pranced onto stage, being the first of his team to touch the trophy. His team soon followed, but with his bright blonde hair it was hard to stay focused on anyone other than him. Together, they lifted the Contenders trophy and soon after dispersed to share their emotions through on-stage interviews. Yeong-han “Sp9rk1e” Kim had just won a tournament for the first time in two years, and he wasn’t planning on stopping.

Element Mystic after their first Contenders win. Element Mystic

Having won Contenders at 17 and joining Element Mystic when he was just 15, Sp9rk1e is the epitome of youth Korean esports talent. The face of League of Legends Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok won the League of Legends World Championship at 17. Household Overwatch name Seung-jun “WhoRU” Lee won APEX S2 at 15. Everyday thousands of players in Korea get on their PC’s, determined to make a name for themselves through countless hours of practice and grinding ranked.

“One of my cousins liked games and I first got into games with him. My other cousin recommended Overwatch to me and I quickly got immersed into Overwatch as it was a lot of fun,” he said, thinking back on how he got into gaming and Overwatch.

Sp9rk1e started his career a young inexperienced 15 year old in middle school on an Element Mystic squad consisting players that were all older than himself. As they won minor tournaments, Sp9rk1e looked to his older teammates and now Atlanta Reign Tank player Dong-hyeong “Daco” Seo in particular to grow and mature as both a player and person.

“Before, Daco always gave me strength and motivation, but now it is Doha,” Sp9rk1e stated. “I was always the youngest before and I’m still the youngest most of the time these days. Due to that reason I was always treated harshly and got scolded frequently.”

Being a pro comes with its sacrifices. Sp9rk1e had to make a very hard decision at such a young age — dropping out of school to pursue a career in Overwatch.

“ When I first played as a pro player I had to go to school since middle school was mandatory. It was very tough when I was doing both, so I decided to drop out,” he said.

Becoming a champion is never easy, and he was no exception. Season 1 of Contenders Korea 2018 was Element Mystic’s to lose, with the most wins in the regular season and the favorites going into their quarterfinal match against O2 Ardeont. After a close 3–2 series Element Mystic lost early and failed expectations.

In Contenders Season 2 disaster struck as he was removed from the team due to account selling violations that occurred before joining EM.While other players would possibly retire or stay out of the spotlight, Sp9rk1e did the complete opposite. He rejoined the roster in Contenders Season 3 and helped his team storm through the playoffs undefeated and reach the final where they faced a newly formed RunAway squad. Last year he would never have even dreamed of being in a final, experiencing more grief and hardships than some players will in their entire career. Yet here he was, looking to steal the crown from defending kings RunAway.

Despite him showing off his signature hero Doomfist who he had been destroying the infamous GOATs comp with prior to the final, EM fell to the new iteration of RunAway 4–1, ending the 2018 season with nothing to show but broken hearts and a pat on the back for placing second.

Sp9rk1e and his team weren’t ready for what came next however. Despite only placing third in the regular season, EM’s 2019 Season 1 playoff run couldn’t have been better, mimicking the previous seasons playoffs and reaching the final without losing a single map yet again. Two things were different however — their opponent and the outcome.

With only a few weeks until his 17th birthday, Sp9rk1e received an early present in the form of a Contenders victory, sweeping O2 Blast 4–0 and proving he wasn’t a choker.

“Although it was my first Contenders win, it did not feel like a win because of how easy it was,” said Sp9rk1e. “But, nevertheless, It felt very good and I don’t regret the path that I took!”

Element Mystics streak continued into the Pacific Showdown, where they defeated Chinese team The One Winner and had a Contenders final rematch against O2 Blast, with EM emerging victorious yet again in the grand final.

A hot EM squad soon turned cold shortly after however, barely slotting into playoffs after a tough regular season in Season 2. The rocky regular season was partially due to a newly founded rivalry between Sp9rk1e and RunAway’s newly added DPS Jun-ki “Yaki” Kim, who was added from XL2 at the beginning of the season.

“RunAway’s Yaki came and I had to go up against him. He had been a skilled player for a long time and it was challenging to go up against him,” Sp9rk1e said with praise. “His Tracer is exceptionally good.”

RunAway as well as other teams managed to beat the reigning champions in close fashion, with match scores usually being 3–2.

Despite an abysmal regular season, the EM playoff buff kicked in and they managed to make it to the Season 2 final with none other waiting for them than RunAway.

While they were the defending champions, they had yet to beat RunAway in an important match. A victory here would silence every doubter and cement their status as a team of champions. However in what Sp9rk1e called his “most heartbreaking defeat yet”, EM were not able to scale the mountain seemingly larger than Everest that is RunAway.

Even though he placed second, Sp9rk1e has proven time and time again that his placement is not indicative of his skill. He has his eyes set on something larger than contenders — the Overwatch League.

“ Except for a few, I do not think that OWL DPS players are that good. There are a lot of people that I have gone against in the past who are now in the Overwatch League which makes me think that I can be as good as them. You always have to be confident”, He laughed.

Call him what you want, whether it is a choker or overconfident. There is one thing you cannot deny however — his skill. As he experienced grueling defeats and shocking victories, somewhere along the way he grew into not only a reliable teammate, but leader as well.

He still has many matches to play before then, but come May of next year the most discussed name in the Overwatch community will be none other than Sp9rk1e, as he will be of age to compete and the most sought after player without a doubt.