Sources: Bushido Wildcats buyout Zest from GameWard for €3,000, Peach joins freely

Top laner Kim "Zest" Dong-min and jungler Lee "Peach" Min-gyu are set to join Bushido Wildcats in the TCL, sources tell Sheep Esports. Peach, currently a free agent, is joining without a transfer fee. Meanwhile, Bushido Wildcats paid a €3,000 buyout to GameWard for Zest, sources added. The Korean top laner had been with GameWard for two splits in the LFL and was recently announced as departing the roster.

While the €3,000 fee is considered unusually low, sources explained that GameWard was willing to let Zest go due to an internal situation that has not been disclosed to Sheep Esports. Bushido Wildcats were especially keen on acquiring Zest, believing that with the right support and playstyle centered around him, he has the potential to become the strongest toplaner in the ERLs.

This isn't the first time this year that Bushido Wildcats have changed their top-jungle duo. After joining the TCL at the start of 2025 through a partnership between İstanbul Wildcats, former player Anıl "HolyPhoenix" Işık, and a Turkish streamer, the team has yet to find success.

They finished fifth in the Winter Split with a topside made up of Yoon "Destroy" Jeong-min in the toplane and two different junglers: Byeon "Citrus" Ji-woong and Tunahan "Kireas" Kevioğlu. In the Spring Split, they placed sixth with Cho "Bong" Bo-woong in the toplane and William "NoName" Jones in the jungle. As the Summer Split approaches, it will now be up to Zest and Peach to turn things around and push for EMEA Masters qualification.

While not all of those roster iterations were built under the same staff, Head Coach Emre "Arkhe" Akpınarlı, who joined for the Spring Split, is responsible for the current changes.

At just 21 years old, Zest is still a relatively inexperienced professional player. His career began with Gen.G Challengers in the LCK CL Spring 2022, where he even played—and won—a best-of-three series in the LCK against Nongshim RedForce. In Summer 2024, he joined Dark Passage in the TCL, where the team finished second after a close 3–2 loss in the finals to Papara SuperMassive.

They qualified for the EMEA Masters but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Team GO. At the start of 2025, he joined GameWard in the LFL alongside midlaner Jonathan "Backlund" Bäcklund, but both splits ended poorly: last place in Group A during the Flash-In stage, and a 7th–8th place finish in the Spring Split.

For Peach, the career is already a long one at 25. The Korean jungler began in the LCK Academy Series 2020 with DRX Academy before moving up to the LCK CL with the same organization. In 2023, he moved to Europe and signed with Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition in the Prime League and went on to win the Spring Split, also reaching the finals of the EMEA Masters. That performance earned him a spot in the LEC for the Summer Split with Excel Esports, where the success continued—they reached the finals and lost to G2 Esports.

In 2024, Excel partnered with Giants to become GIANTX, but results began to slip. Peach bounced between the LEC roster and the academy team, GIANTX Pride, without much success. He has not played since August 2024, aside from a brief appearance at the Asia Masters 2025.