Sonic's message about Monkey3 and SSL9

Hello everyone, this is Sonic.
There have been many personally distressing events lately.

I must be the deliverer of sad news.

Due to the breakdown of the contract with Monkey3, which had been slated to be the sponsor of SSL9, the size and schedule of SSL9 may need to be partially modified.

After the contracting the sponsorship, I had been making arrangements for the group selection ceremony in preparation for SSL9. Yesterday evening, Monkey3 requested that we change the content of our contract. After failing to come to a mutual agreement on the requested changes, both parties agreed to annul the contract today. (T/N: We know that the contract was signed already because it needed to be annulled)

Although I did everything to continue with the league sponsorship, I determined that it was too unreasonable for me to impose the new conditions proposed by Monkey3 on you---the viewers. This was the biggest reason for the decision to void the contract.

I must apologize to the players and fans who had been anticipating and waiting. I will start over, beginning with the task of finding a new sponsor. I know that this must be a huge let down for the players and fans, but it is even worse for me, who had been putting in the work on all the details from A-Z; I feel as if the sky has fallen.

For the last few months, I had been spending time away from my business to run around all over the place preparing the information to present to the sponsors. Those of you with real world experience probably understand the difficulty and stress involved in business-to-business meetings, especially in the case when you are an "ul" trying to get business from a "gab" (T/N: "ul" and "gab" are Korean expressions for two parties in a negotiation, where "gab" has all the power and "ul" is at his mercy). You can imagine how much I wanted to proceed as planned with the league given that the sponsorship contract had been attained after having countless meetings over the phone and in person with tens of firms. However, the proposed changes were just too much.

Regardless of the reason, it is ultimately my fault that the plans for the league have been disrupted. I will not ask you to lend me your strength, but please, at least within the confines of my channel, avoid doing things that make me lose the will to go on.

I am saying this because of some things that keep on being written in the stream chat and on the channel bulletin board. I don't know if you will believe me, but there is more to the cost of running SSL than just the prize money. This was true in SSL7 and SSL8. I have been using the entirety of the sponsorship money, regardless of its source, on running the league. In fact, I had to spend an additional $37000 and $33000 on SSL7 and SSL8, respectively. I do not feel like I am sacrificing anything because I want to run and enjoy this league for the game I love. I have never said on my channel that I am sacrificing myself for others.

Some people on various online communities and Afreeca have been saying things that make me cringe, such as "Sonic sure talks a lot for someone who wants to make money on Afreeca" (T/N: As we many Korean sentences, there are many implicit parts here, but it seems that some vocal minority keeps saying that Sonic is too boastful of his contributions to BW for someone who just wants to make a quick buck). It might be an overreaction to the kind words of some fans who view my efforts positively. Some of the exaggerations may be resulting in blowback. :-(

I will take the responsibility and proceed with the league this time. No matter who our sponsor ultimately turns out to be, your passionate interest is needed. I wanted to show the world that Starcraft: Brood War is not yet dead and that it can still attract classy sponsors by attracting a sponsor other than my own company (Shinbalfarm).

I will put my full effort into this and definitely make it a fantastic success.

I will start over from the beginning. I am sorry for being the bearer of bad news.

PS: Monkey3 has agreed to refund those of you who made purchases using the coupon number on my previous announcement notice. If you have not received a refund and cancellation by the next month, please let me know. I will take the responsibility of making sure that you do not lose a single cent.