Kingzone DragonX Mid Laner Heo "PawN" Won-seok announced his retirement via his official Facebook page.  In his six years as a professional League of Legends player, PawN won multiple domestic championships in China's LPL, an LCK championship in his home country in South Korea, and a World Championship with Samsung Galaxy White in 2014. 

PawN was last active in the 2019 LCK Spring Playoffs with Kingzone DragonX, but on May 29th, the team announced that PawN would be taking a break for the entirety of the Summer Split for health-related reasons.

PawN has taken several breaks througout his career for various health issues, and while Yoo "Naehyun" Nae-hyun exceeded expectations while standing in for PawN, KZ found itself out of the 2019 LCK Summer Playoffs, and was unable to survive the last gauntlet round of the 2019 LCK Regional Final against DAMWON Gaming. 

Despite a career marred by injury, PawN managed to put together quite the impressive career for himself. Early on in his career, PawN became known as the  "Faker Killer" due to his ice-cold composure when facing off against SK Telecom T1's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok in South Korea's LCK; then OGN Champions.

In addition to his World Championship win in 2014 with Samsung White, PawN won the very first Mid-Season Invitational in 2015 as part of LPL Spring champion EDward Gaming, besting Faker on the biggest stage the two had faced off on at that point in time. Including LPL Splits, Playoffs, and Regional Finals, PawN won nine domestic titles in China with EDG before returning to his home country to join the superteam that was KT Rolster after the 2017 season.

As part of KT Rolster, PawN won the 2017 KeSPA Cup, as well as his only South Korean domestic title in the 2018 LCK Summer Playoffs. Before finishing his career on Kingzone DragonX, PawN qualified for the 2015 and 2016 World Championships with EDG, as well as the 2018 World Championship with KT Rolster in addition to his 2014 World Championship victory. 

In PawN's retirement announcement, the former World Champion shed some light on the reason for his most recent health break: a struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. PawN apologized to his fans for hanging up his mouse and keyboard, and thanked him for their support throughout his career:

"I'm sorry to say hello so late.

I'm sorry for the players, fans and coaches who trusted me in 2019.

All I have to say is I'm sorry.

The reason why I took a break is because of my obsessive compulsive disorder.

From 2018, I couldn't play games at all if I couldn't set up my computer very accurately.

I thought about retiring because it didn't work even if I went to a psychiatric hospital. And I played more during the last Worlds and I thought it was okay so I played in Kingzone. I could do it without any problems during the spring season.

But I didn't know that I would suddenly become obsessive about setting another way in Summer season.

I'm sorry for disappointing my fans to the team.

I don't think I can do pro anymore.

Thank you to all the fans who've been supporting me."


So long, Faker Killer. You have nothing to apologize for, thanks for the memories.