Steven “Hans Sama” Liv is going viral in Korea for something other than his League of Legends gameplay at Worlds. The K-pop community is abuzz with excitement and a little bit of thirst about his looks, which have drastically changed over the years.
With no glasses and a slick new haircut, you can immediately tell the difference. Sometimes, all a man needs is a fresh haircut and a bit of confidence. There are multiple threads admiring what he’s done to transform his image, and explicitly calling for support for G2’s efforts at Worlds as a result.
The Venn diagram of League of Legends fans and K-Pop enthusiasts might as well be a circle. The game is massive in Asia generally and Korea specifically, and the LoL GOAT, Faker, is also Korean. No wonder Riot Games has made virtual K-pop bands featuring their characters to keep their fans engaged with their games. Arguably the most popular team in the West is T1, which is also Korean.
To top it all off, this year’s Worlds is being held in Seoul and Busan, two of South Korea’s biggest hubs. This year’s Worlds anthem features K-pop stars NewJeans, the first time Riot has used a K-pop group for their official world championship kickoff song.
Beyond Hans Sama’s new style that’s got online communities abuzz, G2 is performing spectacularly at Worlds so far. An 0-2 loss to Gen.G Esports doesn’t look so bad when you factor in that Gen.G is currently the only team at Worlds that hasn’t lost a single game. They beat two formidable teams, Weibo Gaming and Dplus, in best-of-one Swiss stage matches. While there’s still a long way to go for G2 in the tournament, it seems like Hans Sama is already a winner for his impressive glow-up, with a halo effect on his team following in its wake.
