EPTHearing HanBit coach Lee Jae Kyun make such a bold claim instantly reminded me about why I fell in love with the HanBit team so many years ago.
Ever in the vanguard, Coach Jae Kyun formed and led a team to stardom while basing everything off of nothing more than his own faith in his players. His stubborn attitude has since become his trademark and he is, without a doubt, one of the most loved figures in progaming because of it.
Maybe his beliefs will lead him to make the wrong decisions.
Maybe his faith in certain players will lead to him ruining his team's record.
Maybe his love for his players will blind his better judgement.
But until the world comes to an end, he'll be there for that team that he sacrificed everything for.
All alone in this big city,
Thrown away like an empty can
If love isn't love until we know everything about each other
Then let's just sleep forever.
Dark skin, thick accents, and poor skill. This was the image of the Pusan gamer in the early stages of progaming.
And even after witnessing the immense gap in skill between Seoul and Pusan gamers during a PC room tournament, Lee Jae Kyun still insisted on forming a game team right in the middle of Pusan with two nobodies he encountered at the tournament (who now go by the aliases of Kingdom and H.O.T-Forever)
Perhaps it's decisions like these which is why he's now called the Hiddink of e-Sports.
From his small team called SM, he would go on to shatter the progaming scene with his stubborn will to succeed against all odds. In a setting so typical of this thing we call "progaming", he gave up what money he had and made the move to Seoul to look for sponsors.
For Coach Jae Kyun and his boys from Pusan, this would be the start of a journey that has yet to end to this very day.
And so, people seek an answer
And lose something that's irreplaceable
A city filled with desires
Even the stardust in the night sky doesn't shine on us
Due to the success of the HanBit Soft Starleague, the company decided to sponsor it's own pro team. After seeing that Park Yong Wook (Kingdom) had performed well against Guillaume Patry (Grrr) and Lim Yo Hwan (BoxeR) and that he was apart of an amateur team led by Lee Jae Kyun, they decided to let him manage their team.
In May of 2001, the HanBit Stars were born and debuted with a line-up of Kang Do Kyung (H.O.T), Kim Dong Soo (Garimto), Park Jung Seok (Reach), Park Yong Wook (Kingdom), Son Seung Wan (SonJJang), and Lee Woon Jae ([Oops]Lee).
Kang Do Kyung was the first to start what his since become known as the "Jae Kyun Line". Today, it extends all the way to Daum Starleague winner Kim Jun Yung (GGPlay). For the first 5 months of the team's existence, you would have thought H.O.T was it's only member. He placed in the top of the KPGA Tour Leagues and won several smaller tournaments and event games.
The HanBit Stars were living in very modest means, even by the early standards of progaming teams. HanBit Soft's experience was in marketing and selling software, not game teams. Financial instability plagued the team, but because Coach Jae Kyun believed that victory could be defined in 3 letters (H.O.T), they managed to scrape by.
But H.O.T wasn't the first champion to be bred by Coach Jae Kyun. The next one in the Jae Kyun Line was former Starleague winner Garimto. After he triumphed over Lim Yo Hwan in the SKY Starleague finals, the HanBit team had made it's worth known. The next month, Coach Jae Kyun recruited Public Enemy Zerg Park Kyung Rak (Junwi), Fireworks Terran Byun Kil Sup (Sync), and Tyson Zerg Jung Jae Ho (Crystal[InCa]).
Within 5 months, the NATE Starleague had 2 HanBit members in the final (H.O.T vs Sync), but it was the Fireworks Terran who would secure his spot in the Jae Kyun Line.
And 5 months after that, the Legend of the Fall would take place for the first time as Hero Protoss Park Jung Seok defeated Lim Yo Hwan in the finals of the SKY 2002 Starleague. Maybe now that he saw his coach was in good hands with Reach (rather than the other way around), Garimto felt it was appropriate to take his leave for military service not long after.
A year and a half together and they had already gained 4 Starleague trophies. But the year of 2003 was ready to bring a new challenge: the Proleague. And Coach Jae Kyun was ready to answer it.
Before the world comes to an end, please make me listen.
A catastrophy that's well suited to this flower that's in full-bloom.
Though everyone wishes for eternity, nobody believes in it.
Even so, they certainly dream about tomorrow ...
He refused to let Lim Yo Hwan join his team in 2001 because he had defeated H.O.T in online practice games.
In Coach Jae Kyun's mind, nobody beats his H.O.T in online practice games. He must have been hacking.
Now, he's watching him on the stage as he brilliantly defeats NATE Starleague winner Sync in the first match of the KTF EVER Proleague finals of Dong Yang Orion vs HanBit Stars.
Maybe if he hadn't been so stubborn, he'd be watching a different scenario unfold. Maybe if he hadn't had so much faith in H.O.T, then Lim Yo Hwan would be winning that first match for his team.
But knowing Coach Jae Kyun, he probably wouldn't have had this Proleague end any other way. He'd rather be holding the 2nd place medal with his kids that he hand-picked than holding the 1st place medal with anyone else.
His team would go on to place in the top 4 of the next six Proleague seasons on MBCGame and OnGameNet. However, they would lose their best players to wealthier teams, run into more financial trouble, and struggle with rebuilding what was once a glorious team. Things would get worse before they would get better.
But as the rain poured down on them and soaked their bouquets on that humid August evening during the KTF EVER Proleague finals, the world could have ended right then and there. Coach Jae Kyun would have happily died with the taste of his team's first victory fresh on his lips.
Though they've been facing hard times, the HanBit Stars will rise again. Until the world comes to an end, Coach Jae Kyun won't turn his back on this team that he sacrificed everything for.
Until the world comes to an end, we won't be apart.
Though I wished it for countless nights,
Why does the past destroy
Even the worn out heart that continues to shine?
- Wands, Sekai ga Owaru Made wa
