Sources: Hermes set to join DRX for the upcoming 2026 VCT Pacific season

According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Ahn “Hermes” Byeong-wook has reached a verbal agreement with DRX for the upcoming 2026 VALORANT VCT Pacific season and will replace Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk in the roster. The Korean player has established himself as one of the standout revelations of the Challengers Korea circuit with FEARX. Under those colours, he won the Challengers 2025: Korea WDG Stage 1 and Stage 2 back-to-back, finishing first in the playoffs on both occasions, before securing a third-place finish in the Stage 3 playoffs while playing a key role as a secondary duelist/flex.

That upward trajectory continued at the Challengers 2025: Korea WDG Road to Ascension, where FEARX reached the grand final and finished second behind SLT Seongnam. For Hermes, this 2025 campaign adds to an already substantial résumé on the Korean scene: after stints with Maru Gaming, Dplus Esports and fOu Clan, he had already been stacking podium finishes in Challengers Korea in 2023 and 2024, before finding at FEARX an environment that allowed him to convert that consistency into titles, and to gain enough visibility to earn his shot in VCT Pacific.

On the DRX side, Hermes' arrival would come after a 2025 season defined by a return to prominence in VCT Pacific. The Korean team opened the year by winning the VCT 2025: Pacific Kickoff, taking a five-map final 3–2 against T1, a title secured with a revamped five built around Kim "MaKo" Myeong-gwan, Song "HYUNMIN" Hyun-min and No "free1ng" Ha-jun. That victory sent DRX to Masters Bangkok 2025. Back in league play, DRX posted a top-four finish at VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 1, followed by a 5th–6th placing at Stage 2, while still amassing enough points to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2025 in Paris as the region’s fourth seed.

At Champions Paris, their aggression and their double-duelist compositions, often with Waylay and Yoru at the centre of the conversation, suggested they belonged among the world’s top sides, before they fell just short of the final against Fnatic. In that context, the addition of an emerging profile like Hermes, already a title winner and accustomed to Korean finals, would align with a controlled refresh for DRX: injecting new blood into an experienced core in pursuit of the next step forward in VCT.

For more roster changes, check out our Transfers Hub and Offseason Live Tracker.