One of Korea’s brightest prospects, No “free1ng” Ha-jun will be returning to his home country to join DRX’s roster for the upcoming 2025 season.
SOUTH KOREA – DRX have announced the signing of former Rare Atom star player No “free1ng” Ha-jun to their roster for the 2025 VCT season. The former Dplus KIA and Rare Atom player has been regarded as one of the next up-and-coming players from the Korean scene.
Despite only gaining more recognition in recent months, free1ng was part of the first cohorts of Korean VALORANT players, competing in First Strike Korea with aNg DarkHorse who ultimately finished in 3rd-4th place. During that time, he shared the stage with Ko “Sylvan” Young-sub, who was recently announced as T1’s latest addition. However, free1ng took a hiatus during the 2021 to 2023 Challengers seasons and only returned to full-time play at the end of 2023 with Dplus KIA.
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It was during this period that free1ng truly popped onto the public’s radar with his impressive mechanics while playing as a Sentinel. In Challengers Korea 2024, he consistently ranked as the circuit’s second-best player, boasting an average rating of 1.14 in Split 1 just behind Chae “yoman” Young-mun, and 1.15 in Split 2 trailing Yang “Persia” Zi-on.
Free1ng’s skills were on full display during a Regular Season match against eventual Challengers KR and Ascension Pacific champions Sin Prisa Gaming, where he recorded 37 kills and averaged 315 ACS as Cypher. His performance was the key in helping Dplus KIA secure the first map of that match with a nail-biting 18-16 victory. However, Dplus KIA eventually fell short of advancing in the Ascension and were eliminated in third place during the Split 2 event.
Not stopping there, free1ng crossed borders to join Rare Atom in VCT Ascension CN. Despite the new environment, he made high points of impact in Shanghai, topfragging in four out of five matches, including in the three matchups against the eventual champions, Xi Lai Gaming (XLG). Rare Atom ultimately finished second.
The ongoing rebuilding process at DRX represents the biggest shakeup since the Vision Strikers era, with the team parting ways with Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul and allowing Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung and Kang “BeYN” Ha-bin to seek new opportunities as restricted free agents. Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan will be the only player left in DRX who still carries the experience from the Vision Strikers days when the team was still regarded as the undeniable Kings of APAC.
DRX currently have:
- 🇰🇷 Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- 🇰🇷 Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
- 🇰🇷 Song “HYUNMIN” Hyun-min
- 🇰🇷 No “freeing” Ha-jun
- 🇰🇷 Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung (Inactive)
- 🇰🇷 Kang “BeYN” Ha-bin (Inactive)
- 🇰🇷 Seon-ho “termi” Pyeon (Head Coach)
- 🇰🇷 Soon-woo “Argency” Kwon (Coach)
- 🇰🇷 Kim “glow” Min-soo (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of DRX
