‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’ is a saying that I’ve actually wept over. Up to the moment that the company made an exclusive contract with Orion and me, I suffered considerably. I felt as though I could understand how Robinson Crusoe felt when he was alone on a deserted island. Besides the fact that I did not have a practice partner, my determination and confidence of playing in a certain way as a progamer was faltering. Then I met someone that saved me. The one that helped me is Joo Hoon, the coach of SK Telecom T1 that I am a part of. Though he has now become the best coach with great charisma, he was like a brother to me only three years ago.

Our first encounter was at the previous company, while I was part of the IS team. In 2001, Hoon-hyung (meaning older brother) explained that he wished to research sports psychology and progamers, and came to visit our team. At first I thought it was a rather strange topic for research, but now that I am under his continual guidance, I begin to realize the effectiveness of controlling one’s psyche. And it was around the time Hoon-hyung became familiar to our team that I left the company.

Not being able to find a practice partner, I found practice through almost begging. When I entered the 2002 WCG, Hoon-hyung found practice partners for me, as well as taking care of the affairs that followed the tournament events. I felt so thankful to him, who was by my side during the moments I felt alone, not a mere entrepreneurial partner but like an affectionate blood-related brother. My father, watching us at the time, suggested that I should create a team with Hoon-hyung as the coach. Hoon-hyung was open to the idea. I was at the time negotiating with Orion concerning the annual salary, and naturally he and I set out to create the Orion team.

We first began to gather the team members. Changhoon ZergLee entered, and Yongwook Kingdom and Sungjae IntoTheRainbow joined together. And with Hyunjin [z-zone]kOs that entered, the members of the family continued to grow. As the Terrans slowly became powerful in the flow of Starcraft, our team also needed a skilled Terran user. It was more difficult to scout a skilled player than anything, so we decided to pick a player among the rookies. Among the rookies was a player that caught my eye the most. It was Choi Yeonsung iloveoov. It was when I struggled with having no opponents to practice Terran versus Terran, that I came to know the gamer called Choi Yeonsung that was quite famous on Battle.net. Because it was quite urgent, I could not afford to be particular between an amateur or a pro, and straightforwardly requested his help. He practiced a few games with me, and at first I did not feel that he particularly played well. But as we repeated our practices, there was a somewhat different feeling from him than the Terrans that I had seen up to that point. In comparison to the progamers, he had no system of organization and had many blind spots, but I felt that he had a lot of spirit and a potential for development. And so I personally suggested that he enter our team.

As one or two gathered in this fashion, before we knew it we had formed a decent team. I did not expect much at first, but as time passed by I came to know what excellent players our team members were. Choi Yeonsung especially continued to grow immensely, receiving praises as the ‘appearance of the monster.’ And so our team entered the Ongamenet Proleague finals that opened for the first time. The opponents were the Hanbit Stars, who were considered to have the best teamwork. Most of the game specialists also predicted the Hanbit team to have the edge.

Our team members’ skills at the time had not been proved to the public, and listed in the entries of the Hanbit team were players such as Kang Do-Gyung H.O.T-Forever, Park Jungsuk [Oops]Reach, Byun Gilsup Sync, Park Gyungrak Junwi_[saM], all who were skilled and had experience in championship matches. On the other hand, we had nothing, so there was nothing to lose. We were proud with just the fact that a newborn team was standing on the stage for the finals. But now that we had entered the finals, our goal was definitely for the championship victory. We had no intension of getting second place. We worked hard, starting with planning the player entries. The maps had already been decided, and because the player entries were announced the day of the match, we had to practice according to which opponent we predicted would appear for the matches. The coach and the players gathered together and spent several days preparing the entries.

August 30, 2003, the finals opened at the Olympic Park Peace Square. The Hanbit team’s entries did not deviate too much from our predictions. Though we were not completely on the mark, we had correctly guessed more than 50 percent, so we realized that if we followed just as we had practiced, we would have the advantage. And so the game finally started. In the best of seven games, the first game was the important match that would set the pace. That heavy responsibility was given to me. In baseball, the first batter’s role must be to get to first base. My role as the first batter was to bring the first win that would lead our team to victory. The opponent was Byun Gilsup, and because we had predicted this, I used the build that I practiced during the Terran versus Terran practices. With a satisfying first victory, to the last win from Park Yongwook that stood as our last batter, our team took hold of the championship cup.

It was for this victory cup that we spent our time at the quarters eating, sleeping, and sweating while we practiced. Others only saw our outward appearance and did not see our true appearances. The secret to our team’s victory was that our players had the endless potential and the hope that our dream would come true, as long as we never gave up. We will shine brighter tomorrow than today, and even brighter the day after.