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Retired League of Legends World Champion Reaches Second Peak in Stock Market

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Another Kind of Comeback: Former Samsung Player Imp Increases His Holdings in Samsung after Experiencing the Ups and Downs of His Professional and Personal Life.

Original Title: "When League of Legends World Champion Uses 'God-tier Play' to Play the Stock Market..."
Original Author: CryptoLeo, Odaily Planet Daily

Professional League of Legends players are actively entering the stock market.

MLXG and yagao are two representative players in the LOL scene who are known for their stock market activities, one faced losses while the other made a hefty profit:

Former LPL professional jungler and current game streamer MLXG (real name Liu Shiyu) recently garnered attention due to legal issues and debt problems. When he first started trading stocks, he revealed in a livestream that he had made a substantial profit from stock A, stating, "I earned a month's salary in a day. Streaming is a side job; stock trading is my main job." However, some time later, his tone in the stream shifted to, "Oh, how could a layman like me get involved in this? I've lost money to the point of losing my pants."

Professional player yagao, who mainly competes in the LPL region, was exposed to have heavily invested in NVIDIA between 2021 and 2022 before retiring to "live a normal life," but actually made a fortune from NVIDIA. Data shows that if one had bought NVIDIA during 2021-2022, the investment return rate would be around 500%-1400%.

Compared to yagao, the LOL champion exposed yesterday is truly a case of "silent wealth accumulation." He retired early and usually keeps a low profile, but quietly staged a comeback in another battlefield. He is none other than imp, the S4 World Champion known for his pentakill in the Summoner's Rift and hailed as the "Rat King."

Imp, who used to scream a lot during his streams, has been absent from streaming for nearly 3 months, even missing his stream on his birthday on June 7th. In the past, imp would usually livestream on his birthday and interact with fans to celebrate.

Former professional player Doinb jokingly said in a livestream, "imp has achieved financial freedom by trading Korean and U.S. stocks; he doesn't even stream on his birthday anymore." Doinb mentioned that his information came from Samsung Blue coach BanBazi, Choi Myung-yoon.

Whether he is truly free, imp has not personally responded. Looking back at imp's journey from debut to now, it's a life story that has repeatedly switched between comfort and agony.

Debut to Peak: The 19-Year-Old World Champion

Imp, real name Joo Chung-bin, born in 1995, along with Faker, born in 1996, created the golden age of Korean esports.

In 2012, the 17-year-old imp debuted with the ID "4seasons" on MVP Ozone team, playing as the ADC.

In 2013, MVP Ozone was acquired by Samsung Electronics and split into two teams: Samsung White and Samsung Blue. The ten players from the two teams, known as the "Samsung Ten," were the top 10 players in Korean LoL around 2014. Both teams combined Korean-style management + individual skills to the extreme, sweeping almost all major Korean tournament championships. They often had the "Samsung Civil War" matches and were considered by many veteran players as the strongest group of players in LoL history.

By the time of the 2014 World Championship (Worlds), both Samsung White and Samsung Blue represented Korea. Although Samsung White had not won a domestic LCK championship, they were nearly unbeatable internationally. During the S4 World Championship, Samsung White dominated the competition, only losing 2 games throughout the tournament, ultimately defeating Royal Club 3-1 in the finals. The ADC for Royal Club at that time was the well-known Uzi.

imp's performance in the S4 finals was outstanding. During the matches, imp delivered key plays with the champion "Twitch" (including double pentakills or crucial team fights), earning him the title of "Rat King." The bot lane duo of imp and Mata was considered one of the strongest duos in the world at that time.

At the age of 19, imp won the League of Legends S4 World Championship, while Faker at that time had not even attended the Worlds yet.

From LPL Competition to Retirement: The Helplessness of Genius and the Betrayal of an Ex-Wife

Shortly after the 2014 S4 World Championship, the LPL witnessed an influx of Korean players, and many teams bought Korean esports players. Riding this trend, imp left Samsung White and joined LGD, becoming one of the earliest successful Korean import ADCs, starting a five-year-long career in the LPL.

However, for a player who had won the World Championship shortly after debuting, imp's performance in the LPL was not spectacular. During his time in China, he only achieved an LPL title and runner-up finish. His best result was reaching the S5 World Championship with LGD.

The LGD team back then was considered by Chinese fans as the team with the most potential to win the World Championship and was the top seed from LPL. However, for various reasons, LGD failed to advance past the top 16 in the S5 World Championship. Afterwards, imp transferred to Team WE, then JDG, and finally on November 19, 2019, JDG announced his formal retirement, ending his 8-year professional career. This AD genius, who reached his peak right after debuting, did not secure a second championship in his professional career.

A Rise in Love, a Fall in Career: Part of the reason imp made the retirement decision was a breakthrough in his love life, envisioning marriage and a stable future.

Transitioning to the live streaming field, imp's annual salary was not low. He entrusted all his savings, live streaming income, and more to his wife. Unfortunately, this marriage only lasted a year as both imp and his wife exploded with scandalous affairs and flirtations, leading to their divorce. All of imp's savings ultimately remained in the hands of his ex-wife. The imp who longed for married life ended up losing both his love and wealth.

Long-term emotional and property disputes caused imp to start abusing alcohol and experiencing mental issues. At its worst, in 2022, he was diagnosed with severe depression and was exempted from South Korea's military service due to a fourth-degree mental disorder.

The Retirement Arrow: Imp's Life's Second Grand Finale in the Stock Market

Post-divorce, imp continued live streaming on the Douyu platform, but his eccentric streaming style resulted in lukewarm popularity.

At this point, imp began delving into stock trading. Coming from Samsung, he had a natural affinity for semiconductors. However, his daily eccentric personality led fans to not take his "leaked password" seriously.

Imp had often shared his investment insights during live streams, stating that he invested in both Korean and U.S. stocks, with a focus on semiconductor and tech stocks. He also mentioned that he bought Nvidia before the AI boom.

"Yesterday, if I were a normal person and casually made one or two million, I would have shared it with you yesterday if I made a lot. But I didn't earn anything yesterday."

"Now that I'm live streaming, I don't care about the streaming salary anymore. The streamer will strike it rich tomorrow, earning more in one day than a year's salary. So why should I stream?"

One of the most interesting statements was: "My assets have increased tenfold from March to October this year... Stocks involve gains and losses, and one must accept this reality first." It was once said that imp mentioned in his fan group that he used 5 million RMB with 10x leverage to long Micron Technology. Data boasted in group chats is often exaggerated, but he indeed revisited "heavy positions in semiconductor stocks" multiple times in his live streams. By 2026, Micron had briefly surpassed Samsung to become South Korea's largest market cap, so imp may have truly reaped significant profits.

Coming from Samsung, imp, after experiencing ups and downs, heavily invested in Samsung, Micron, and other semiconductor stocks. "He left Samsung in 2014 but found his way back to Samsung through another route in 2026," completing the smooth circular narrative of a web novel protagonist.

Today, the imp who has yet to directly address the speculation may be at home, looking at the candlestick charts of Shanghai Electric and NVIDIA on the screen, holding a glass of wine, reminiscing about his performance on the League of Legends stage and the stock market.

"The arrow has been loosed, onto a new battlefield, Carry!"