Who is Hanwha Life? Facts and curiosities about the HLE players

Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) is a South Korean esports organization with almost seven years of existence. HLE was the first team to qualify for The First Stand, the newest League of Legends international event. It will happen between March 10 and March 16. Let's dive into the current roster's history and path in esports.

Choi "Zeus" Woo-je was born on January 31, 2004, in South Korea. His love for gaming started early with a family tradition of watching esports matches on the Korean cable esports channel, OGN. Before moving to League of Legends, he and his family watched KartRider.

He started to follow big teams such as SK T1 Telecom (now, only T1) and play to get better at League of Legends. His mom chose his nickname and by the age of 15, Zeus reached Challenger in three different accounts.

In 2019, Zeus joined T1 Academy and worked hard for a spot in the main roster alongside Faker and other stars. He only needed a year to make a difference and prove to be one the most versatile and adaptable top-laners.

Alongside one of the famous rosters consisting of Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, and Keria (also known as ZOFGK), he won two LoL Worlds in 2023 and 2024. He is the only top laner in the world to be present in three LoL Worlds finals.

Zeus joined HLE in 2024 after a market exchange with Doran which went to T1. Since then, Zeus completed his mandatory military service and won the LCK Cup 2025 with his team after an intense series against Gen.G.

Han "Peanut" Wang-ho was born on February 3, 1998, in South Korea. With an esports career that celebrated ten years this month, Peanut is one of the most popular players in the country. He went through many teams in his career like SK T1 Telecom, Gen.G, LGD Gaming, and NS RedForce.

Since the beginning, Peanut had huge support from his family, and his mom, who owns a restaurant, made sure that everyone knew who her son was with a lot of posters and other memorabilia of him.

He was the fourth player to reach 1,000 kills and has many titles in his resumé: seven League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) titles and one Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) championship in 2017. He also represented South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games, earning a silver medal in the esports category.

Peanut talked about his dream to win a LoL Worlds Championship, something that he didn't do yet even though he was present in six editions. The jungler joined HLE in 2023 and since then he won the LCK Summer 2024 Championship and the LCK Cup 2025. As he approaches the latter stages of his career, Peanut expressed his desire to be remembered as a "lighthearted and cheerful player".

Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo was born on November 28, 2002, in South Korea. The mid-laner, known for his incredible plays with Sylas and Akali, was not always in South Korea to play League of Legends.

In fact, the player started his career in the KT Academy in 2019 and in the same year he moved to China to play for Vici Gaming and later Bilibili Gaming. His incredible performances, resilience, and overall international experience were enough to get DRX's attention and bring him back to his country in 2021.

A year later, DRX defeated T1 in the LoL Worlds 2022, becoming world champions. That moment was made forever in the LoL competitive history with a victory after a reverse sweep.

Zekas was considered the LCK Player of the Year as well as LCK Mid-Laner of the Year. After this enormous achievement, he was transferred to HLE. Last year, he achieved the 1,000th kill milestone being the 28th player and 7th mid-laner to achieve it.

Park "Viper" Do-hyeon was born on October 19, 2000, in South Korea. Viper is also known as "Teacher Park Do-hyeon" by his fans. The ADC started his career in the Korean team Griffin in 2017 and he consolidated himself as one of the most talented ADCs in the world.

He later was transferred to HLE for a couple of months. He moved to China in 2022 to play under EDward Gaming. Viper even became fluent in Mandarin and fans appreciated the way he could easily communicate with his teammates and conduct interviews without needing a translator.

In 2021, Viper won the 2021 World Championship with EDG where his performance was vital for the victory against DWG KIA (known as Dplus KIA) by 3-2.

In 2022, Viper came back to Korea to play by HLE. Viper is often associated with weird picks in the bot lane. Vladimir, Viktor, Taliyah, and even Teemo are some examples. However, he made amazing performances with normal ADCs such as Kai'Sa or Aphelios.

He reached the 1,500 kills milestone in the LCK being the 15th player to achieve it. He was also the second player after Gu "imp" Seung-bin to score a pentakill both in LCK and Worlds.

Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong was born on September 12, 2002, in South Korea. Previously known as "Wize" and "Crescent", Delight became a pro player at 17 years old.

He started in two of the most important Korean esports academies: the Gen.G Academy and later the T1 Academy. After a passage through hyFresh Blade and Fredit BRION, Delight came back to Gen.G. But it was in HLE that Delight achieved incredible milestones in his career.

In 2024, Delight reached the 3,000 assists milestone in the LCK being the 19th player to achieve it. As a support, he also got two individual awards: LCK 2nd All-Pro Team x2 (Summer 2023, Summer 2024) and LCK 3rd All-Pro Team (Spring 2024).

Like the others, he also won the LCK Summer 2024 Championship and most recently the LCK Cup 2025. Delight is a funny person who often interacts with his teammates in great moments as well as bringing weird characters to the bot lane like LeBlanc and Vi.

That's all for now. Stick around for more League of Legends news and updates on esports.gg.