On June 26, in the 2022 LCK Summer Split, Nongshim RedForce defeated Hanwha Life Esports 2-1 and recorded their second win of the season. In the match, Nongshim RedForce Lee “Dread” Jin-hyeok played a key role in the team’s victory in the last game.

Rather than celebrating the victory, Dread breathed out a sigh of relief. “We won the first game easily, but the following two games were difficult,” he said. "I was much more relieved than I was happy."

As he said, Game 1 was a perfect win, as Nongshim RedForce didn’t allow a single kill, but Game 2 was the polar opposite.

“One of the reasons we lost Game 2 was that we picked Swain when they already picked Senna and Tahm Kench,” said Dread. “When we picked Swain in Game 1, it was great to counter the charging champions like Kai’Sa, so we didn’t change our game plans in the draft.”

In the last game, they picked Rakan as their first pick from the blue side, and paired him (naturally) with the Xayah in bot lane. “Xayah and Rakan are champions that go really well with our team,” explained Dread. “Rakan is one of the top-tier champions, and Effort was confident in playing him.”

“Game 3 was a matchup between Veigar and Azir in mid lane. Since we took the first Rift Herald, we needed to get the second one as well,” said Dread, explaining why the game didn’t go well for them. “Since we collected the dragons, we thought we’d have a chance to win if we fought at the Elder Dragon,” he said. “If the opponent didn’t do the Smite fight and tried to fight, it would have been difficult.”

It was Dread that fulfilled the win condition, as he stole the fourth dragon to gain the dragon’s soul and stole the Elder Dragon as well. “The situation didn’t allow me to go in and fight, so I was only focusing on the dragons’ HP," said Dread, recalling the urgent situation. “My HP condition was bad, but I had my ult and Flash, so I figured that I could contend the Smite fight.”

Those two steals gave Dread his first Player of the Game in the summer split.

“I didn’t expect to be voted as the Player of the Game,” said Dread. “I had 0 kills and one death until the last moment — the only kill I got was when I killed Azir at the end. My damage dealt is probably awful too.”

Although he didn’t expect to be voted as the Player of the Game, he thought the steals were well done.

Nongshim RedForce were able to get their second consecutive win, but their next opponent is Gen.G, who is undefeated this split.

“Peanut is a great player who plays the mind game well. I’ll need to study his movements well if we want to have a chance to win,” said Dread.

Lastly, Dread thanked the fans. “Whenever we play, the fans are packed full, cheering for us. Since all the seats are taken and we can hear the roar of the crowd, it really energizes me. I’d like to thank them for their support.”