No, this is not April’s Fools, and you’re not reading The Onion.

Ikssu has officially announced that he will be at least temporarily retiring from professional scene to become an independent Bitcoin investor.

The whereabouts of Ikssu, the formal top-laner of Jin Air Greenwings, have had many LCK fans speculating. On November 2017, Jin Air released a public statement that Ikssu did not renew his contract and that he left from Jin Air Greenwings team. However, no other news about Ikssu was heard after that, and fans were left wondering whether Ikssu was still a free agent or had left for a new team

Well, it seems that for now Ikssu has retired from the League scene and instead has started a career as none other than a Bitcoin investor. On 17th of December, Ikssu made the following announcement in his personal Facebook page:

Hello! I am Ikssu, the formal top laner for Jin Air Green Wings. Yaahooo~! These days, I am an ant laner for Umemployed Bitcoin Investors. (Note: “Ant” is a Korean slang for indpendent stock investor) I’ve been feeling guilty about not having made a proper farewell to everyone, so I thought I’d write this letter to give greetings to everyone. These days, I’ve been living as a Bitcoin investor ant, and I am currently unemployed. I’ve been streaming on Afreeca TV, playing LoL and investing Bitcoin live on stream. I’ve also mentioned on the stream that I no longer wish to be a professional gamer. I left the team because I wanted some space and a chance to wind down, enjoy LoL by myself. So now I’m living not as a professional gamer but as Jeon Ik Suu the Unemployed. I’m sorry for the fans who may have expected a different news. Thank you for having supported me so far! Hue hue I look back at my time as a pro-gamer, and I’m grateful for so many people who have been there for me. I never got to say a proper thank you, so here is my chance to say, thank you all! You are deep in my heart. Especially!!!!!! I want to thank BJ Heun-Han, who once told me “If someone flames you and you change yourself, you can keep progressing; but if you ignore the flame you are stuck where you are”. VERY SO MUCH! THANK! YOU! Well, I’m off now. An ant must continue investing.

Professional gamers, my fans, gl;hf~^^ PS. If you want to say hi to me..

http://afreecatv.com/dlrtn4562

Drop by.

This may sound like an outrageous news to Western fans; in order to understand Ikssu’s choice, more context must be given to South Korea’s current state and its Bitcoin craze. According to CNN, the country is home to three of the world’s biggest bitcoin exchanges, and may account for as much as 20% of all bitcoin trades around the world in a given day. Even Faker, the most symbolic LCK player in our time, was reported talking to a Riot employee for over an hour about Bitcoins. Given these statistics, it is not so surprising that at least one LCK player has been swept away by this crypto-currency fervor.

Many Korean fans have come out supporting Ikssu with his decision, commenting that his bubbly personality and aggressive plays will be missed in Jin Air and LCK. Some Koreans have also noted how happy and lighthearted Ikssu has been in his retirement statement, jokingly commenting – “You sound really happy about this; have you already made a landfall with your Bitcoins?”