Vortex Gaming

'Cool' Jae-hyuk Lee defeated 'Neil' in the finals of the '2023 KartRider Drift League (KDL)' individual competition held at the Vita500 Colosseum in Jamsil on the 2nd, claiming the ultimate victory. He was the first to reach 80 points with consistent driving in the 8-player match, and in the 1-on-1 against 'Neil', he won the final 5th set after a close battle, savoring the joy of being the inaugural champion.

The following is the full interview with 'Cool' Jae-hyuk Lee.

Q. What are your thoughts on winning the first individual championship?

I was so happy with the process of getting to the finals that I was very worried about the finals. If I didn't do well here, it would all be for nothing. But, I'm proud because I think I did better than expected. I'm happy to have won.

Q. The title of first champion must be meaningful.

There are not many Royal Roaders in all sports, not just kart racing. I can't express in words how I feel to have taken that title. It couldn't be better. It's the happiest of my 7 individual wins, including the original.

Q. The competition for rankings was fierce until the middle of the 8-player match. You must have been nervous.

I thought I had shown a lot of times before that I was in first place, and since the finals are long, I focused on getting points rather than trying to be in first place. So I wasn't too worried about that.

Q. You were steadily accumulating points rather than getting first place a lot. Did it go as planned?

I was also counting points while playing, but after the game, in the broadcast interview, they said that I never fell below 5th place. I kept thinking about that.

Q. 'Neil' seemed to be faltering towards the end of the 8-player match.

I've played against 'Neil' so many times, and I knew that he would get a lot of points at first, but he would lose steam towards the end. The game is long anyway, and I went into it thinking that I would win in the second half.

Q. Why did you choose Forest Zigzag in the first round of the 2-player match?

I'm confident in the 8-player match, but when I go to the 1-on-1, I can't think of a track to choose. There were only ambiguous tracks in my opinion, so I didn't know what to choose. I couldn't think of a strategy to win for sure, and it all seemed similar, so I chose it without a big reason.

Q. In the third round, there was a pretty big gap at the beginning. How did you try to catch up?

I remember it was the WKC Brazil Circuit, and 'Neil' ran away as soon as it started, so I was more surprised than I thought. I thought that if the distance was this far, I might not be able to catch up at all, so I followed him hard. Since it's the finals, I had no choice but to be nervous, and I got a chance because the opponent made a mistake. I was lucky.

Q. Next week, you will play in the team finals against Liiv SANDBOX.

It was the same in Pre-Season 1, but the moment I go to the dorm, I forget that I won the individual competition, and I keep the trophy out of sight. I have a memory of things going well in the team finals that way. I think I'll do that again this time. I think the team members' morale will have risen watching today's win.

Q. Anything else you would like to say?

Thank you to the fans who always support me. I won, but our team hasn't won yet. I hope we can all laugh together by working hard and practicing hard for the remaining week so that our team can win. Thank you always.

웹진 인벤신연재 기자
2023-12-02