Hello everyone!

Yesterday I came back from Seoul (South Korea). And as we all know, Korea is the most popular country in which, more than anywhere else, Starcraft is very highly respected, and people there play it appropriately, on a very high professional level. And for me, as for a fan of this wonderful game, it would be unforgivable not to visit one of the tournaments, such as GSL (Global Starcraft League) or SSL (Starcraft Star League), and not to see the best of the best. One of big LAN tournaments, which I previously managed to visit, was Dreamhack Moscow 2014. Then the first place in Starcraft 2 was occupied by Acer.MMA, having won $ 10,000. I managed to get an autograph from him (he put an autograph on my T-shirt on the back). From Russian players have signed Pomi, Abver, Slivko, Revolver, BratOK, and from foreigners also Liquid.Snute. T-shirt is kept as a valuable artifact. But it happened now, that I had an accidental and very unpredictable business trip to Seoul. And then I realized that there could be no second chance, and I need to take maximum from it. So, here we go.

I began studying this quest by understanding, where these tournaments are usually held in Korea, in which arenas or stadiums, and where they are all located. My post on Teamliquid did not hang long without comments, a few people wrote me in details how to get to a couple of places where SSL and GSL take place, and thanks a lot to all of them!
GSL is held in FreecUP Studio, which is located at the following adress:
626 Teheran-ro, Daechi 2(i)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
The nearest metro station is Samseong (green line).

+ Show Spoiler +

SSL takes place in Nexon Arena:
54 Seocho-daero 77-gil, Seocho 4(sa)-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
The nearest metro station is Gangnam (green line).

+ Show Spoiler +

This is exactly the same area of Gangnam, about which the Korean singer Psy sang in the insanely popular track Gangnam Style. This is a very “party” area with a huge number of clubs, bars, restaurants, and there mostly hang out Korean youth. We have also visited this area for a couple of hours.

Clubs are full of people:

+ Show Spoiler +

The signs are changing with all possible colors:

+ Show Spoiler +

And here we are, in wonderful warm Korean evenings, walking around along these unusual streets (I am wearing a blue jacket, with a short haircut, and my colleague and friend is also here):

+ Show Spoiler +

Well, let’s come back to Starcraft.
After checking the schedule of upcoming matches at Teamliquid site, my choise was to watch GSL matches, especially since there was a group D in Code S. And Code S is not a joke, as you know. Therefore, our way was to the FreecUP Studio.

It was Saturday, June 3, 2017. After a very busy week, after a tons of meetings and technical discussions, we finally had a full day off to enjoy Seoul, shopping, restaurants, good weather, and of course, Starcraft. We meanwhile woke up early, had breakfast, and went for a walk along the streets near the hotel:
I'm wearing a white T-shirt "Try to stop me".

+ Show Spoiler +

Korean souvenirs:

+ Show Spoiler +

Having uploaded the Seoul Metro app on the phone, it was very easy to build a route from our nearest metro to Samseong station.

+ Show Spoiler +

At that moment we were close to Anguk station (orange line):

+ Show Spoiler +

In the Seoul metro, the principle of its operation is similar to the European subway. The name of the last station, in the direction of which a particular train is traveling, is usually written on the labels. Our last station on the orange branch was the Ogeum station:

+ Show Spoiler +

We take this direction to Ogeum.
Going down to the subway, we had to buy a ticket. Immediately we saw the modern ticket machine:

+ Show Spoiler +

We were touching these screens, found English language, but we still could not buy a ticket. We went to the information desk, and the metro employee kindly agreed to help us. Done, go go go:

+ Show Spoiler +

In the vagons everything is very clear. The direction of movement of the branch with all stations is very similar to the Moscow metro, with all changes. Everything is marked with colors, everything is easy:

+ Show Spoiler +

I liked the separation between the platform and the place where the train itself passes. Everything is very safe, no one will fall. Even when there are lots of people on the platform, nothing could happen. Doors open only when the train has come. And I liked that all people are waiting in the line for the passage to the train, and do not rush into the doors as soon as the doors open, knocking each other. Well done:

+ Show Spoiler +

The wagons inside are very modern: comfortable seats, everywhere screens with running lines and advertisements, the names of the current stations are displayed in large type, no one will miss anything. At least for us everything was very clear and simple:

+ Show Spoiler +

Koreans are very fond of doing plastic surgeries. We found out that parents can even make a gift to children as a certificate for plastic surgery for graduation from the school. I do not know what they are doing there, but I noticed that all Koreans look very good, almost never saw thick or some untidy people. All of them were smart and fashionable. Well, advertising operations are even in the subway:

+ Show Spoiler +

I liked the traffic lights, which show the crowd where to go and where not to go. It seems that everything is so obvious, but nevertheless, there is something like this:

+ Show Spoiler +

Finally we have reached Samseong, let’s go out:

+ Show Spoiler +

Having passed a little on a straight line after an exit from the underground, there was the following building near us:

+ Show Spoiler +

And so finally we saw the magic label of FreecUP Studio and Afreeca TV:

+ Show Spoiler +

The studio is located on the 2-nd floor:

+ Show Spoiler +

Here we are! The pretty girl met us on the entrance and gave us the tickets with the number:

+ Show Spoiler +

It was a ticket for winning prizes from sponsors. The entrance was completely free. And we even took an audio guide with an English translation of everything that was happening. It was also free.
On a reception were lying clean AfreecaTV sheets, which constantly flashed on the vods from the GSL tournaments. On them spectators write different jokes, messages, draw pictures, write words of support to their favorite players, support them during matches and contact with the community, while operators in the meantime catch these tablets with their cameras during games and insert them into the vods. And of course I decided to take AfreecaTV sheet and write something on it from myself. Moreover, I was prepared.

Before this trip I began to learn the Korean alphabet and learned to read Korean hieroglyphics. Also, just for fun, I installed a Korean font on my phone. I knew that I would get into some tournament (at least, I really believed in it). And I knew that these sheets would be there. When I was flying on the plane, a young Korean guy was sitting near me. I did not pay much attention to this fact, I sat quietly with the phone using an app with Korean alphabet. These were the lessons of reading Korean letters. This Korean guy noticed this fact and asked me if it's true that I'm learning Korean, etc. We started to speak. I told him that I'm on a business trip, that I like Starcraft, and that I want to get on GSL or SSL. He was also a Starcraft player, but he plays mostly in BW. I asked him how to write in Korean "Hello, I'm from Russia. Good luck to all and have a good game. GG." Then I gave him my phone, and he printed me these sentences in korean language. As a result, I wrote all this on the AfreecaTV sheet. Here's what I made:

+ Show Spoiler +

Well, now everything was in complete ready. We can finally enter the hall!
WOW, everything was looking so cool... All this I saw a lot of times on the videos, when I watched the streams of tournaments, vods on Youtube, etc. But when you enter inside and see all this with your own eyes, then the feelings are completely different. This sign of GSL with huge gold letters indicates that I'm there where I've long dreamed to be. And this is not just a mid-level LAN-tournament. This is the GSL Code S in Korea. It was very cool feeling. We went into the hall and sat down on the second row. People just started coming up, so we could choose any place. Players already sat in their seats and warmed up. One of them just slept in an armchair.
Here's a short video, as it looked from my place:

In those group pool there were SoO (Z), Dark (Z), Losira (Z) and Maru (T).

+ Show Spoiler +

There were two cameras standing on the both sides, which usually catch the labels from spectators, and of course which showed the players themselves on the main screen:

+ Show Spoiler +

We were also lucky to try the energy drinks Hot6, which were a constant component of all GSL matches. Koreans always drank them between matches. The taste reminded me the Red Bull drink. All drinks were also free, and of course, they were quickly taken away:

+ Show Spoiler +

Further there were a short info regarding each player and their ODDs to go to Ro8:

+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

Everybody are ready, GL HF to all, and let’s GO!!!

+ Show Spoiler +

Starting of games:

Classical “respect” from spectators after announcing the player in the beginning of each match:

We tried to translate it, maybe it means "Hi, man," or "Hello, comrade," or "Good luck, comrade." If someone knows exactly what they are shouting - please write, because this phrase is screamed always and everywhere in all Korean tournaments after the announcement of the players, and it is really interesting what does that mean.
A short moment of battle from SoO vs Losira match:

Finishing of the same game:

Then the funniets events of our entire stay at GSL took place. In the second game of SoO vs Losira, the camera pointed at us, and we, with cheerful faces, began to wave to the camera, I waved with the sign, and we were extremely happy. Here it is this moment:

Well, that's how we noted in the history of GSL. Crazy cool!!! But the most interesting happened after that! After this game, the employee standing next to me said something in the headset and pointed at me. As a result, the administrator came to me and gave me some dark box. He did not speak clearly. I asked what it was. He said something like "Sponsor, sponsor, gift." As a result, it was a license of Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void, a box with Korean characters, a real Korean version. In general, another crazy true artifact. I just was shocked at that moment, but I said thank you very much. Here it is:

+ Show Spoiler +

Most likely the commentators also read my label with Korean letters, they understood that we are from Russia, and so decided to note our efforts. Probably we were the only Russians there at this time, and more over we wrote the whole canvas in Korean. In general, it was the coolest and most pleasant moment of the day. Here we are with our happy faces (I am as usual in a “Try to stop me” T-shirt, holding my letter to GSL community):

+ Show Spoiler +

As a result, all games were finished with the following numbers:

+ Show Spoiler +

Further in Ro8 passed SoO and Maru. I was supporting SoO, so it's perfect. Well, the Ro8 grid turned out to be quite tough:

+ Show Spoiler +

After that, there was a draw of prizes according to ticket numbers, which we were given at the beginning. Won three numbers, but what were the prizes I did not even understand. There were some small packages, which were given to the winners. But I already received my main prize. We went to make photos everywhere, and hoped that it will be possible to take autographs from the players and take pictures with them. People also were standing near their the room waiting for gosu, and we meanwhile went to the Hall of Fame of GSL:

+ Show Spoiler +

There were photos of all the players that had ever won the GSL tournaments, with a brief statistic of them. Someone shouts, someone is waving his arms, someone is kissing the cup. The real place of energy and power.
And here is the general photo with our trophies:

+ Show Spoiler +

We did not finally saw Gosu, because we were already terribly hungry (all this action lasted about 3.5 hours), but nevertheless very pleased and happy we went to eat hamburgers and drink soda. My friend was full of emotions, because for him it was the first kind of such Starcraft tournament, and immediately in Korea. And I still could not believe that all this was happening in reality. But I was really happy and the mood was just in space.

Thanks to GSL for such an unrealistic reception, it was super unexpected and very cool. I believe that I will come back here again, and we will see many more wonderful games (possibly also in BroodWar). In the meantime, I tell "Good bye and see you later" to GSL, and I will tell everyone that Seoul is a real city of future, with all its futuristic skyscrapers, infrastructure and colorful life. And of course, I want to tell a special thanks to the Koreans themselves, who with their diligence and perseverance are doing all these miracles, and who made Starcraft a real art.

+ Show Spoiler +