Shinhan Bank
Hong suffered his last major defeat against Han "Casy" Dong-wook in the semi-finals of the Shinhan Bank Season 1 OSL in 2006, and claimed 3rd place. Due to poor performance in the following OSL, Hong had fallen into a slump from which he has not recovered. Hong reached the round of 32 in the GOMTV Averatech Classic, but was eliminated by oDin (Joo Young-Dal). He is now in the Korean Air Force since November 2008, and has enlisted in the StarCraft team Air Force ACE. After being a member of KAF ACE, Hong is recovering his form. The trigger was an old-fashioned 'storm-like' victory against Bisu[Shield] on 20 June 2009 in Shinhan Bank ProLeague 08–09, after 735 days of silence. He could not qualify for either OSL nor MSL since Shinhan Bank OSL season 2 in 2006, but in the end of Shinhan Bank ProLeague 09–10 season, Hong ended the season securing a 3-game winning streak, including a dramatic victory against Jaedong.