Crypto (character)

This article concerns the background of the subject in Apex Legends universe. For the subject and content related to it in the main game, see Crypto. For the subject and content related to it in *Apex Legends Mobile*, see Crypto (Mobile).

**Tae Joon Park** (Korean: **박태준**) otherwise known as **Hyeon Kim** (Korean: **김현**) and most well known as **Crypto**, is a Legend first introduced in  Season 3 of *Apex Legends*. A fugitive hacker forced on the run after being framed for the presumed murder of his sister, he joined the Apex Games to clear his name and get revenge on the Mercenary Syndicate for turning his life upside down.

## Lore

### Background

 — Mystik and Wattson

Tae Joon Park was born on Gaea, and was eventually orphaned on the streets of Suotamo. One night, Katerina Tikacek Nox, despairing at the death of her husband and apparent death of her son, sat on the ledge of a bridge in the city. This bothered a twelve-year-old Park, who angrily shouted in Korean that he was trying to sleep. Mystik soon adopted Park, as well as his foster sister, Mila Alexander.

In 2727, Park met with Bangalore, who was searching for information regarding her brother, Jackson. Acting as an informant, he gave her a flash drive and directed her to Singh Labs on the island of Kings Canyon.

To escape a squalid life, Park became a computer engineer and completed jobs for the Mercenary Syndicate , working alongside Mila on many of these. He additionally invented the drone cameras used to broadcast the Apex Games.

### Forever Family

On November 25, 2731, Park and Mila received a work order from a Syndicate representative with the initials Q.W., who asked for work on the Apex Games’ broadcast system. While working on one of its security protocols, the pair uncovered a prediction algorithm for the Apex Games. Mila placed a drive in Park’s computer, wishing to copy the algorithm and use it to find a fresh start for her and her step-brother. However, Park refused, wary of what would happen if the Syndicate found out.

The next morning, he awoke to news of Mila’s abduction and apparent murder, as well as Syndicate agents at his door. Purging the data on his computer and grabbing a jacket, a family picture, and his camera drone, he fled through his window, eventually escaping the agents in a chase through Suotamo. Adopting a new style and a device to modify the shape of his face,  Park went off the grid, swearing revenge on the Syndicate for framing him for his sister’s killing.

He was later believed to have been seen in Suotamo. Mystik was briefly taken into custody for information, but was soon released.

After Park's disappearance, the prediction algorithm found widespread use among members of the Mercenary Syndicate.

### Season 2 Launch Trailer

In his first act of revenge against the Syndicate, Park hacked into and detonated an EMP inside the Repulsor Tower on Kings Canyon, allowing local wildlife such as Prowlers and Leviathans to enter and disrupt the area. The Apex Games were put on hold during this incursion, and were later relocated to a new arena on Talos - World's Edge.

Park could later be seen hacking into the computer systems of Singh Labs.

Park later silently inserted himself into the Apex Games under the alias “Hyeon Kim.” His false persona cleared all background checks, but those within the Syndicate were suspicious that someone like “Kim,” with an entirely clean record, would be entering a bloodsport such as the Apex Games.  He survived his first match, suffering only some broken ribs.  Upon entering the Games, Park hoped to search for evidence in the New Dawn facilities in World's Edge.

### Season 3 Launch Trailer

On the dropship en route to a match, Mirage, happy for a change of scenery, jokes that he needs to “find whoever took the tower down and buy them a drink.” Gibraltar and Lifeline suggested that he ask Park, who “knows everything about everything.” As Mirage approaches, Park mistakes him as someone suspicious and grapples him. Park and Mirage are later placed on the same team for an Apex Games match, where the pair give each other the respective nicknames of “kid” and “old man.”

### Season 5

After the collapse of Skull Town, various IMC bunkers were revealed across Kings Canyon. Park, upon investigating them, found encrypted messages from Mila. She revealed that she is in fact alive, but in hiding. She was questioned by the Syndicate and placed in a secure location, but she was able to escape by overriding the doors’ security systems. She then warns Park that somebody is watching him from inside the Syndicate.

### The Broken Ghost

After Loba joined the Apex Games, she solicited the assistance of the other Legends (sans Revenant) to hunt down pieces of an artifact on an alternate Kings Canyon, in the Shadowfall dimension. Park and Wattson were enlisted to assemble the artifact’s pieces.

Eventually, Wattson is injured during a mission in the Shadowfall dimension. While she recovers, Revenant arrives to harass and threaten the Legends.  After he leaves, Bangalore states her belief that someone is feeding him information. Park offhandedly accuses her of being mole, to which she dismissively brushes the comment off.

Park and Wattson continue to reconstruct the artifact while the latter recovers. During one of their sessions, Revenant returns, this time within the systems of Park’s (seemingly unhackable) drone. While frightening Wattson, Revenant reveals that there is in fact a mole among them. Blame is immediately placed on Park, as his drone was the current vessel for Revenant.  Caustic offers his own argument to corroborate this accusation: as Park and Revenant both want revenge against the Syndicate, it would make sense for them to work together to bring it down. Park rebutts that Caustic must be the mole, as it was clear that the latter’s speech was prepared. During this fight, a distressed Wattson departs with Wraith, stating that she can’t trust someone she doesn’t know.

### Overtime

One Saturday in 2733, Park and Mirage suffer an embarrassing loss during an Apex Games match on Kings Canyon. After this loss, Mirage invites him for a drink at the Paradise Lounge, hoping for some team-building.

At the bar, Park meets with a Syndicate representative working under Boss Willis, seeking protection in exchange for information and a mysterious briefcase. They are then attacked by Revenant, who is under contract to take out Park and retrieve the briefcase. Park, Mirage, and Revenant fight through the streets of Solace City, eventually ending on a rooftop. There, Park is captured by Revenant, and Mirage escapes with the briefcase.

Revenant then takes Park to his client, Boss Willis of the Mercenary Syndicate. As a taunt, Willis takes the briefcase, revealed to be an encrypted communications unit, and decrypts it, revealing Mila on the other end. Park and Mirage are taken aboard, where they fight Willis and his henchmen with the help of Wraith. As a result of this skirmish, the vessel crashes into the local hospital, leveling it.

After Willis is defeated and the hospital’s patients are safely rescued, Revenant hands the now-damaged briefcase to Park.

### Season 7

After a long period of mistrust, Park invites Wattson to a meeting to clear the air, expressing his wishes to tell her something while the two are at Epicenter on World's Edge.  Referencing her statement about trusting someone she doesn’t know, he reveals his true identity to her, as well as the fact that somebody within the Syndicate is after him. Despite Wattson’s confusion about him revealing this knowing her heavy involvement with the Syndicate, the two make up.  She promises to keep his secret, but often slips up and calls Park by his real name in public.  He eventually asked for her help in repairing the damaged briefcase.

Around this time, Mirage pranked Park by gluing his face to the ground.

### The Legacy Antigen

After the outbreak of the Medusa epidemic, the Legends met to discuss a search for a cure. Caustic sadistically opposed, stating that he would not miss an opportunity to watch hundreds of people die. However, Park changed his mind with the revelation that Mystik, their mother, was recently admitted to a hospital with the condition.  The Legends quickly departed for Gaea to hunt for Carthage spiders, which contain an agatoxin that could counteract the disease.

Park and Caustic reluctantly band together during their hunt. During a discussion about how much Mystik misses her sons, Caustic reveals to Park that he hasn’t returned to her because he is afflicted with cancer, and he believes it should have killed him by then. Letting their guard down, the two are captured by a Carthage spider and ensnared in its den, alongside Valkyrie and Loba.  Caustic breaks free and, despite his wish to leave him for dead, frees Park, as he needs someone to look after his mother after he dies. The four Legends return to their ship with the captured spiders in tow.

Returning to Psamathe, the spiders are delivered and a cure is quickly developed and administered. A doctor approaches Park and Caustic and reports that a recovering Mystik is to be transported to Gaea. Additionally, visitors are accepted, but they must only be from family. Park allows Caustic to go in his stead, allowing for a long-overdue family reunion.

Later, Park and Wattson delivered a spider to Caustic so that he may use it to find a cure for his cancer.

### Season 10

Park met with Horizon, giving her codes to break through Ash’s ego retention system and awaken her original personality.

### Trouble in Paradise

During an Apex Games match on Storm Point, Park is placed on a team with Horizon and Wattson. He and Wattson had been scouring the arenas for IMC-produced parts in order to repair a communications unit. After finding a part, the two are suddenly ambushed by Ash, who interrogates them as to the meaning of their hunt. Wattson directs her to Wraith, as Ash is conducting a similar hunt.

At some point after, Park met with Ash, beginning a partnership with the Simulacrum to find information to help him against the Mercenary Syndicate.

### Season 13 Launch Trailer

Park assisted in fighting the beast that came ashore on Storm Point.

### Friends Like These

Park seemingly skipped a party hosted by Mirage. However, as Mirage had simply forgotten to deliver the invitations, he later followed Vantage to the Paradise Lounge to finally attend.

### Season 16

Near the anniversary of the Apex Games, Lifeline recruited Park for an operation against the Mercenary Syndicate. During the operation, which took place at a gala held at the Silva estate, Park waited in the restroom while Lifeline planted a drive on Torres Silva's computer. Through this, he was able to uncover records of a planned off-the-books operation to Salvo by the Syndicate Corps.

### Weekend Warriors

Soon after the operation at the Silva estate, Park competed in a match on Olympus, where he struck Ash and Pathfinder with an  EMP, eliminating them.

### Kill Code

After a raid at an armored facility on Salvo, Park received an encrypted drive from Lifeline containing data extracted from the facility. With Loba present, Park began working to decrypt the data, but quickly met resistance, which he interpreted as someone locking him out of the drive. However, he was quickly able to restore access (albeit with incomplete data), but he felt that it suddenly became too easy. After completing the drive, Loba presented an eye taken from a Revenant head, asking Park to extract any meaningful information from it. Park's efforts reactivated the eye, allowing Revenant to watch the Legends in their hideout. After Loba, Lifeline, Valkyrie, and Mad Maggie departed, Revenant broke in and attacked Park but was quickly apprehended by the Legends.

After some brief discussion, Park and the Legends made a brief truce with Revenant to break into a Hammond Robotics facility in Malta in an attempt to destroy the simulacrum's source code to keep it out of the hands of Torres Silva. Disguising themselves as Hammond researchers, they were quickly discovered after Lifeline's shoddy cover was blown. They were soon cornered by a horde of Spectres, Reapers, and Ticks, and joined forces to fight their way out of the facility - despite some resistance from Loba, who wished for Revenant to stay alive and suffer. After taking down the Reaper, Revenant's source code was taken away by Silva using Loba's misplaced  staff. Park received an eye injury during this fight.

At this point, Park decided to leave the fight, stating that it was a mistake to ever get involved. During a dinner with Wattson, he received an urgent call from Loba, pleading for assistance in escaping an army of Revenant shells. Despite initially rejecting, Park, with motivation from Wattson, sent a ship to Loba as an escape route.

## Appearances

* The Legacy Antigen
* Trouble in Paradise
* Friends Like These
* Weekend Warriors

**Events*** Kill Code Interlude 3

**Transition Blurbs*** Streets of Suotamo (mentioned)
* Books and Covers
* Codename Crypto (mentioned)
* It Takes a Liar
* Destination Unknown
* A Change in Character?
* Gossip Boy (mentioned)
* The Definition of Family
* Paquette Repair Service
* *Kill Code Part 1* (mentioned)
* *Kill Code Part 3*

**Trailers*** Battle Charge Launch Trailer
* Meltdown Launch Trailer
* Ascension Launch Trailer
* Mayhem Launch Trailer
* Legacy Launch Trailer
* Emergence Launch Trailer
* Defiance Launch Trailer
* Saviors Launch Trailer
* Arsenal Launch Trailer
* Resurrection Launch Trailer
* Get Into Her Business
* Reflections (mentioned)
* A Little Voice

**Comics*** A Little Birdie
* Wrong Wraith
* Legacy Lost
* How to Wake Up
* Out on a Ledge

**Teasers*** Crypto Teasers
* Skills and Good Looks Award (mentioned)
* Season 18 Teasers (mentioned)
* *Overtime*

## Trivia

* Character
* Cultural References
* Voice Actor

* Prior to  Season 16, Crypto's age was officially listed as 31 but it was seemingly retconned to be about 22-23 via a motion comic released in  Season 9. Tom Casiello refused to comment on this.
	+ His real name, age, home planet, etc were labeled as [Error] until  Season 5.
	+ Right before  Season 16, his age was changed to 24 on his official bio. Due to pre-Season 16 all legends were 1 year younger, that implies he was 23.
* Mystik is both Caustic's biological mother and Crypto's adoptive mother. This technically makes the two step-brothers.
* Canonically Crypto at least lost twice in Apex Games: First was during S3, where survived with some broken ribs; the second time was right before Overtime, where he and Mirage got last place.
* Crypto shows his opinions about the other Legends very clearly in coded messages/letters to Mystik:
	+ He shows a strong disliking for Mirage, despite acknowledging Mystik's adoration for him. He finds Mirage to be a cocky idiot; despite that, they've developed something of rivalry/friendship over the course of the seasons.
	+ He assumes Caustic is nothing more than a sociopath and seems to avoid him out of intimidation. With further reveals, it could also be because Caustic knows his real identity.
	+ He thought nothing of Gibraltar, but upon closer inspection, found him to be one of the few with morals.
* As explained by writer Tom Casiello, the device around his jawline/ear alters his face, so he doesn’t look like himself from the past.
* Tom Casiello also said that the Hype Beast skin is "his innermost desires come to life. He wants to scream his identity to all within earshot. Because that would mean this nightmare is over."
* Crypto is canonically terrible at naming things. For example, his drone is named "Hack," his Town Takeover on King's Canyon is called "Map Room," and his security system was called "Security" before Wattson named it "Lassie" after a guard dog from Earth.
* Crypto is from Gaea, one of the two planets (the other being Psamathe) in the Syndicate Space with its own police force. It is for this reason he could be framed for murder, as it is legal to kill on other planets in the Syndicate Space.
* According to Mila, Crypto might be romantically interested in Wattson.
* Crypto likes cats.
* Crypto goes an alarmingly long time without eating each day.
* Crypto hosts backup servers in a variety of locations, including Suotamo.

* Crypto's Devil's Advocate skin appears to be based on Dante, the protagonist of Capcom's *Devil May Cry* series.
* Crypto's Rising Phoenix and The Masked Dancer skins are interpretations of outfits used in the Korean Lion Dance, meant to rid a location of evil spirits.
* Crypto's Hack Frost skin is based on Jack Frost, a folkloric personification of winter. It especially resembles his depiction in the film *Rise of the Guardians*, as well as the Snow Miser from *The Year Without a Santa Claus*.
* Crypto's Strength and Power skin is based on Son Goku from the *Dragon Ball* franchise.
* Crypto's  Cryptic Conjurer skin is based on Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange.
* Crypto's Technocrat skin is based on the costume of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from the music duo Daft Punk.
* Crypto's HACKER: 1st Class skin is based on Cloud Strife from the JRPG *Final Fantasy VII* and its remakes.
	+ Its name is also reference to the 1st Class division of Shinra Corp's elite fighting force, SOLDIER.

Gallery
* Devil's Advocate
* Rising Phoenix
* Masked Dancer
* Hack Frost
* Strength and Power
* Cryptic Conjurer
* Technocrat
* HACKER: First Class

* Crypto's voice actor, Johnny Young, has portrayed a variety of roles, including:
	+ Dae-hyun Park in *Overwatch*
	+ Min-gi Park in *Infinity Train*
* Johnny Young is also an active streamer and youtuber, who also plays Apex Legends with fellow voice actors.

## References

1. ↑ Online media - Reflections
2. ↑ Online media - Wrong Wraith
3. ↑ Apex Legends Official Website - Crypto - Surveillance Expert
4. ↑  Inconspicuous skin lore blurb
5. ↑ Pathfinder's Quest Chapter 9 - "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"
6. ↑ Stories from the Outlands - Forever Family
7. ↑  Transition -  Streets of Suotamo
8. ↑ Season 14 Launch Trailer
9. ↑ Season 2 Launch Trailer
10. ↑ Season 3 In-game Teasers
11. ↑  Transition -  Codename Crypto
12. ↑  Transition -  Books and Covers
13. ↑ Crypto's message to Mystik
14. ↑ Season 3 Launch Trailer
15. ↑ Loot Bunker Crypto/Mila messages
16. ↑ The Broken Ghost Prologue - "The Duplicitous Snake"
17. ↑ The Broken Ghost Chapter 2 - "The Detached Chaperone"
18. ↑ The Broken Ghost Chapter 3 - "The Liberated Narc"
19. ↑ The Broken Ghost Chapter 6 - "The Oblivious Mole"
20. ↑ The Broken Ghost Chapter 7 - "The Shattered Spirit"
21. ↑ Overtime Issue 1
22. ↑ Overtime Issue 4
23. ↑ Season 7 interaction at Epicenter - "I thought about what you said. I have something to tell you. But, not here." / "Oh! Well, all right. After the match?"
24. ↑ Online media -  The Truth
25. ↑ Crypto/Wattson Season 7 interactions
26. ↑  Transition -  A Change in Character?
27. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 3 - "She Blinded Me With Science!"
28. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 4 - "Getting the Band Back Together"
29. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 5 - "Haunted by Broken Ghosts"
30. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 7 - "The Terrible Truth About Alexander Nox"
31. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 8 - "Abandonment Issues"
32. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 9 - "Retribution"
33. ↑ The Legacy Antigen Part 11 - "Legacy Found"
34. ↑ Online media - The Legacy Antigen - Epilogue
35. ↑ Online media - How to Wake Up
36. ↑ Trouble in Paradise Chapter 3 - "One Step Forward, Three Steps Back"
37. ↑ Trouble in Paradise Epilogue - "Zeroes and Ones"
38. ↑ Season 13 Launch Trailer
39. ↑ Friends Like These Chapter 1 - "Party Down"
40. ↑ Friends Like These Chapter 7 - "Party On, Elliott!"
41. ↑ Season 16 Comic
42. ↑ Weekend Warriors Chapter 3 - "Remnants of Affection"
43. ↑ Stories from the Outlands - Kill Code Part 1
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Resurrection Launch Trailer
45. ↑  Neon Network Collection Event - "Kill Code Interlude 3"
46. ↑ Stories from the Outlands - Kill Code Part 3
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 A Little Voice
48. ↑ https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/about/characters/crypto
49. ↑ Tom Casiello on Twitter
50. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20191013153808/https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/about/characters/crypto
51. ↑ Tom Casiello on Twitter
52. ↑ Tom Casiello on Twitter
53. ↑ Friends Like These Chapter 2 - "Web of Lies"
54. ↑ FrozenFroh on Reddit
55. ↑ *Apex Legends: The Official Cookbook*
56. ↑  Season 19 Interactions - "This storm wreckage... I must remember to check on... my Suotamo servers."