Perhaps the word "retire" is not appropriate for this particular story—make no mistake, these two players were ousted from the professional Overwatch scene. Lee "Leetaejun" Tae-jun and Geum "dean" Dong-geun recently announced their intent to leave the Overwatch scene in shame after reports arose regarding their conduct away from the keyboard.

News first broke on popular Korean site Inven about the exploits of Leetaejun and dean, who engaged in inappropriate behavior with female fans. Korean users later translated the issue and posted on /r/CompetitiveOverwatch, explaining the situation as it developed. Leetaejun is presumed to have engaged in numerous relationships at the same time in secret. Allegedly, dean engaged in promiscuous behavior with high school students, prompting the issue to blow up even further.

InvenGlobal's article covering the issue pointed out that Koreans have taken to Twitter in an attempt to showcase dean's unsavory behavior to the world—numerous texts and DMs are on display, though they are of course in Hangul.

Originally, the two players were suspended for the remainder of APEX Season 2 by their organization, Lunatic-Hai. However, after immense pressure from the fanbase and overall community, both Leetaejun and dean announced their retirements. Both players have released statements regarding remorse over their actions and promises of further communication, and Leetaejun apologized to an anonymous girl who he also claims to have wronged, but who did not take her grievances to the public like most of the other affected women.

Luckily, Lunatic-Hai was seemingly prepared for this situation, as they still have a full six-man roster that they can field after the departure of longtime teammates.

As it stands, the Lunatic-Hai roster is:

  • Kim "EscA" In-jae (DPS)
  • Lee "Whoru" Seung Joon (DPS)
  • Kim "zunba" Joon Hyuk (Flex)
  • Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk (Tank)
  • Ryu "Ryujehong" Je-hong (Support)
  • Yang "tobi" Jin-mo (Support)

This lineup competed in an APEX match, shortly after the scandal broke, against another team plagued by out-of-game distractions, Luxury Watch Blue. Lunatic-Hai managed to upset their opponents by a score of 3-1, and are now the leaders in Group B. Their next match is on February 24, at 20:30 KST, against European squad Misfits, who are on the brink of elimination.